Then he was on top of her, inside her. He was rock hard. She could feel his intense heat colliding headlong with hers. He began slowly but firmly, his eyes never leaving hers. Charley gripped the edge of the desk, knowing she was gone. The older man built the momentum, his hands now on her breasts for support. He pulsed in and out with relentless power. Charley arched her back and gasped, her whole body throbbing with release. Harry let himself go at the same time, almost crying out with the sweet sensation. At length their bodies seem to sag into each other. Breathing hard, Harry finally withdrew, giving Charley one last respectful kiss on the nape of her neck.
Charley took a few moments to savor the aftermath. Her body shook a little more and she let the ripples wash over her. Finally she stood and set about stepping into her tight utility suit again. Harry Teks sat naked behind his desk, lighting a hatake dart and blowing the dark green smoke across the office. The musky smell seemed perfect after what they’d just done. Harry offered Charley one and she accepted once she had her weapons back in place. She definitely wasn’t about to activate FIGJAM any time soon.
“Thank you,” said Harry softly. “I think I needed that.”
21
Charley smiled. “I think I did too,” she replied. “Warp travel does strange things to a woman.”
“I know what you mean,” Harry said. “It messes with the hormones somehow.”
Both of them laughed.
“Harry,” Charley said at length. “Why are you here? You should be out there in the black, doing what you’ve always done.”
Harry sighed. “You’re asking if I sold out,” he said heavily. “Well I didn’t really have a choice. Fucking bandit cartel moved into my regular run. Beluga Run. One of the most profitable in the galaxy. I couldn’t keep it, Charley. I lost my crew to those thugs. My entire pirate fleet. They call themselves the Night Runners. Organized. Ruthless. Most of my pirate allies are dead. We had no chance against the new breed of criminal. They have no respect for the old ways. They’re just interested in money.”
Harry looked up at Charley with sorrowful eyes. There was deep pain there.
“How long have you been at the Academy?” Charley asked.
“Two years,” came the reply. “The Night Runners have a bounty on my head, but so far they haven’t thought to look here. I’m on borrowed time, Charley. Silverton is too.”
“He’s dead, Harry,” Charley said. “Tox-stick got him in the end.”
Harry smiled, but there was no humor in it. “Well that’s a poetic way for that fucker to bow out,” he said. “He was once a rival, then we began to work together. Against these new bandit cartels. A true pirate, he was. A true gentlemen. But it wasn’t enough. I don’t think there’s many of us left.”
Charley’s heart sank. Far from being a bustling, thriving scene, the pirates looked to be a spent force in the galaxy. Charley had heard reports of ruthless bandits taking over the lucrative runs throughout the galaxy, but hadn’t know the situation was as dire as this.
Harry got a glimpse of the pellet rack hanging from her belt.
“I see Silverton entrusted you with his best gear,” he observed. “I wish I was able to teach you the ways of the pirate. You might have been my last pupil.”
They laughed again at that. Charley couldn’t think of anything better than staying here and learning from this man. And not just about being a pirate …
“I was on the run for over a year,” Harry went on. “All I had was the credits I could shove down my pockets. It was enough to buy me three years tenure here at the Academy. I fooled them into thinking I’m a mercantile expert. I am, in some ways.”
Harry sounded wistful, as if his tenure at the Academy couldn’t possibly last. All of a sudden Charley had a sense of imminent danger.
“They couldn’t find you here, could they?” Charley asked worriedly.
“You did, Silverton’s daughter,” he pointed out.
“Please,” she said. “Call me Charley.”
At that moment a heavy knocking came from the door.
“Open up,” a gruff voice said. “This is Academy Security.”
“They’re not Security,” Harry said, his face turning pale. “The Night Runners have found me. They’ve found us.”
“What do you mean?” Charley asked, panicking. “How do you know?”
“I saw two goons enter the grounds a week ago,” he said. “I think they’ve been casing me ever since. They must have seen you enter my office and decided it was time to strike.”
“What do we do? Fight?”
Harry considered the situation. The door shook from a violent impact. Whoever was on the other side would be in soon.
Harry looked Charley in the eyes. “I could escape them now,” he said tiredly. “But they would keep coming. There’d be no rest. But they haven’t seen you. They don’t know there’s one last pirate in this sad old galaxy.”
Harry’s eyes twinkled. Charley’s heart swelled with pride. Harry actually thought she had the makings of the pirate!
“I won’t leave you,” Charley said. “I know nothing about being a pirate, but I do know that anyone with the Silverton name would fight by your side. To the death.”
Harry looked at Charley with something more than pure physical affection. “Yes, I can see you would. But I can’t allow that.”
Harry pressed a button under his desk. A door slid open in the corner of the office. Beyond it a stone staircase descended into darkness.
“Most of the professors have one,” he said apologetically. “For sticky situations.”
Charley grinned. The man was an old rascal.
“Let’s go,” Harry said. He waited until Charley had gone beyond the secret door when he said: “You aren’t Silverton’s daughter, are you?”
Charley shook her head, feeling like a fraud all of a sudden. To her immense relief Harry smiled.
“I knew it,” he said. “Wherever you came from doesn’t matter.”
Those words probably meant more than anything else Harry had said. “Really?” she asked, incredulous.
“Of course not,” Harry said. “What matters is the fighting heart in here.” He pressed a hand over Charley’s heart. “A pirate’s heart.”
And with that, Harry Teks activated the door but remained in his office on the other side.
“Harry!” she screamed. Blaster shot could be heard in the office. Fear clawed at Charley’s heart. She scrabbled at the door for full minute but was unable to find a way in. Tears in her eyes, she ventured down the stairs and emerged into a corridor two levels down.
She climbed a drop shaft back up to Harry’s level and rushed to the front door. A number of students had gathered around the office, where the violent scuffle was already over.
“They left through the window,” one student was saying. “There were two of them.”
Charley pushed her way into the office. With a sinking heart she saw a sickening stain on the floorboards. It was scarlet with a few chunks of ragged flesh. Harry had died here and had been broken down with a corrosive charge. Charley had seen one in action on Sandflower Downs when a gang had actually killed one of Boss Pete’s goons. They were pellets that activated a chemical process that broke a corpse down in less than a minute.
Charley stifled a sob as she considered the situation. The Night Runners had struck quickly and decisively. And Harry had protected her in the end. There was no reason to believe that they knew - or cared - they she had been in the office with Harry. It was too late to give pursuit. Those goons were long gone by now. Charley felt a strong emotion well deep within her. It wasn’t something she was used to feeling. It was hatred. Hatred for these thugs who had muscled their way into the pirate fleet’s whole way of life and taken control of the entire illegal space trade.
At least Charley now had a name to go with - the Beluga Run. She knew it was a famous run between two star systems and it would require more research.
The students behind her start
ed whispering nervously. Charley realized she was now the center of attention. She backtracked into the corridor and took a drop shaft before Security could arrive to investigate.
Tears were still welling in her eyes as she found a quiet alcove in the Academy grounds. If she hung around too long she would be detained for questioning, that was certain. She might even be accused of murdering Harry, especially with the weapons she carried around.
With great regret and a heavy heart she made her way to the shuttle bay. She didn’t care where she went next. She assumed it would be somewhere on Danderly. Charley made sure she was in the next shuttle that arrived. It was headed for Galveston, a city in Danderly’s northern hemisphere. The CabinBot accepted Charley’s very last credits. She literally had nothing in her pockets.
The shuttle filled quickly and before long that familiar chime sounded and it had been catapulted towards the port gate at the top of the Academy dome.
Charley barely noticed as the shuttle soared in the face of the brown planet and sought orbit over the northern hemisphere.
What could she possibly do next? She was penniless and her only contact in this part of the galaxy was now dead. Worse still, there wasn’t a pirate culture, or even a guild, to speak of. All the old pirates were dead and it appeared there were no younger apprentices coming through the ranks. Except for her.
What she really needed was a place she could hole up and think. Things were moving too quickly. If she really had to she could fence once of her blasters for a few hundred credits. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. She considered FIGJAM hanging at her belt. She couldn’t bring herself to sell the PalBot. After all, the annoying robot had been the one to allow her to leave Abeyas in the first place.
The shuttle broke orbit as Charley was deep in thought. The vessel soared over mountainous terrain with deep valleys choked with tall trees. At length it reached a wide basin with mountains to all sides. Charley was surprised to find a city spreading out in this cauldron. A bustling, teeming city far larger than Spacetown. The shuttle settled into an air lane thick with all manner of private craft. She marveled at how the crazy traffic seemed synchronous somehow. She noticed air traffic control towers rising above the general skyline. There were several large buildings, most of them adorned with huge neon corporate logos. Charley’s wrist pad told her the local time was 1530 hours. She found she was extremely hungry and couldn’t wait to get her hands on a few credits somehow.
The shuttle cruised low, joining one of the busier air lanes. A chime sounded and the vessel dipped into a huge building that looked to be Galveston’s main shuttle terminal. It was an elegant structure with some kind of flowery creeper covering the transparent walls. An old, mechanical clock face beamed over the various shuttle tracks. With the sun shining through the effect was very pleasant indeed.
Feeling a little more hopeful than she had when she climbed aboard the shuttle, Charley disembarked and wandered the crowded terminal. She found the main entrance and emerged onto a packed concourse that spanned two tall office buildings. Various bars and drinking holes lined the concourse to either side. Charley selected a particularly edgy looking place and settled into a shadowy booth in the corner. She ordered a glass of water from the ServiceBot, wondering how long it would take for the proprietor to kick her non-paying ass from the place. For the first time since she’d met Silverton outside Sandflower Downs, Charley had no money to speak of.
22
Galveston seemed much more prosperous than any place on Abeyas. Charley wondered if the job situation was any better. Did Galveston have a job center or anything like that? She consulted her wrist pad, trying not to think about Harry Teks. Her passionate and ultimately violent encounter with the older man had left a strong impression on her. She felt saddened that yet another old pirate had died. At this rate there’d be no one left to teach her the old ways.
Nex told her that Galveston did indeed have a job center. Charley hated the idea of a regular paying job, but just a few days might be enough to rent a room somewhere and consider her next move.
As Charley finished her water, she activated FIGJAM, thinking the PalBot might just have something to contribute on her current situation.
“Man, you are the sexiest piece of ass I’ve ever laid eyes on,” FIGJAM immediately gushed. “The way you nailed that old man was enough to have me leaking oil.”
“Wait,” Charley said, thoroughly disgusted. “You were still watching? I thought I killed your power.”
“You just muted me,” said FIGJAM through a shrill laugh. “I can’t actually be deactivated unless I do it myself.”
“Great,” said Charley sarcastically. “I can’t believe you saw all that.”
“Did I ever,” said FIGJAM. “You’re smokin’. Prime slab of meat.”
“Such a sweet talker,” Charley muttered, but she could barely contain a smile. “What do you make of this place, FJ?”
FIGJAM snorted. “This place is stuffed full of cash for the taking. I talked to Nex while you thought I was deactivated. Galveston is flush with educated professional types. Has a great art scene. One of Danderly’s most livable cities apparently.”
“That’s great Figgy, but it doesn’t really help us.”
“Hang on, I’m getting to that,” FIGJAM said irritably. “I’m couldn’t help but notice you talking to that Teks character about being a pirate or some mumbo jumbo. Well, I listened in between oogling your superb tits. Anyway, I think visiting the job center is a waste of your fucking time. You might get a job cleaning excrement off hotel walls for a few days and get paid barely enough to survive. You might as well have stayed in Sandflower Downs.”
“No, I don’t want that,” Charley said with a vigorous nod.
“So here’s the deal,” FIGJAM said earnestly. “I did some diggin’. Seems there was once a Pirate Guild. All its members are presumed dead, but ten years rent on a guild hall in Galveston was paid eight years ago.”
Charley took a moment to absorb the information. “I wonder if there’s anyone there?”
“Squatters, probably,” warned FIGJAM. “I haven’t found any records of pirate activity on Danderly for several years.”
Charley beamed at the PalBot. “Then let’s go check it out,” she said. “Good work, Figgy.”
“Figgy,” FIGJAM repeated. “I like it. It sounds like you’re about to suck my cock.”
“You don’t have a cock, FIGJAM,” said Charley, rolling her eyes.
“Killjoy.”
Charley went back to the concourse and headed east on foot, following FIGJAM’s directions. Neither of them were familiar with the city and frequently needed to double back and head down a level. Before long they were in one of Galveston’s less salubrious areas, a ghetto-like slum under a huge, arching concourse. Groups of homeless men huddled around tin drum bonfires. The wind blew spiraling dust devils in the air. FIGJAM directed Charley to a rundown street lined with old, crumbling buildings. Charley saw shadowy figures passing lobing starter kits to each other and resolved to keep her eyes firmly on the road ahead. Lobing was the practice of recalibrating the neurons in the frontal lobe that somehow triggered a flood of dopamine. A neural field generator was required for the task and was easily available in little fold out packs. No research had been conducted into the phenomenon but there rumors that several ‘lobers’ had been found dead in a ‘ghost house’ in Ulia, another city on Danderly. Or so Nex informed her, anyway.
Charley quickened her pace and picked her way through a number of prone bodies. She couldn’t tell if they were asleep or dead. FIGJAM told her to stop outside a nondescript concrete bunker. A skull and crossbones had been painted on the metal door. Charley smiled at the retro humor.
At first she couldn’t see a way in. She was about to head round the back when a projection spewed from a tiny aperture in the door.
“DNA scanner,” FIGJAM muttered. “You’re not related to Silverton even thought you have his name now.”
Charley
felt a wave of frustration. “Now what?” she asked. “We didn’t come all this way to be held back by a fucking door.”
“Let’s head round the back,” FIGJAM suggested.
Charley had to backtrack around the entire block to get at the back of the bunker. Luckily there was an abandoned lot on the next street over but it was piled with trash. Charley climbed over the stinking garbage and saw a ragged hole in one the steel panels to the rear of the bunker.
“We def got squatters, hot stuff,” FIGJAM observed. “Get your blaster out. Whatever you do, don’t listen to this scum.”
Charley held her right blaster ready as she climbed through the hole and let herself fall a couple of meters to a decrepit, trash-filled room. It was almost completely dark in the foul-smelling bunker.
She padded through a central hallway and into a larger room. Wrinkling her nose, she noted the feces on the floor and smeared on the walls. An even worse smell came from the corner, where a muted yellow light suggested human presence. There were two divina junkies there, wide-eyed and paranoid.
“The fuck?” one of them said, rising quickly. He was tall, gaunt and covered in scabs. “We got no juice for you, motherfucker.”
The man reached for his weapon, a rusty knife hidden in his oversized boots. Charley squeezed her trigger without hesitation, sending the junkie against the wall with a hole through his heart. The other junkie yelped and reached for a sawn-off shotgun. Charley’s targeting computer made things easy. She fired at the red graticule and the junkie’s hand disappeared in a puff of red mist. Her next shot struck him flush on the forehead and finished him off good.
The smell in the old Guild Hall was fearsomely bad, and adding two corpses to that wasn’t gonna make it any better.
The Space Pirate 1 Page 11
