Saturn tightened her thighs around him and gripped the back of his jumpsuit as they went around a bend. She said over the whooshing air, “Are you sure you can see alright? Maybe I should drive.”
“I’m fine,” Liam called over his shoulder. He took one hand away from the handle and rubbed his eyes with the back side.
Nix and Sestra were leading the way in front of them, the blue glow of the hover bike illuminating their tan scales and dark cloaks. Ju-Long accelerated until he was side by side with Liam. He fiddled with the foreign controls on his bike which make Liam’s dash buzz. Liam put a hand over the screen and Ju-Long’s face appeared, his voice coming through the speakers.
“Do you see that to the left?”
Liam broke Ju-Long’s gaze and looked to the left. One of the spires’ faint purple glow turned more vivid for a moment. The energy pulsed from the base until it shot out a beam of violet light from the top, up into the atmosphere. Liam looked back at the screen. “What was that?”
“A signal of some kind?”
Several of the other spires also sent up bolts of light, dozens of them in a row, until nearly every spire was lit up in the night. The beams curved until they connected with each other in a web over the colony, illuminating the streets like daylight. If the Ansarans were trying to find them they would have a much easier time of it now. Liam couldn’t help but think the light had another purpose. That thought would have to wait.
Nix’s bike began to slow and he pulled into an alley ahead of them. Liam broke hard and followed him in. They stopped a block ahead, parking their black hover bikes against a clay wall. They powered down the bikes and the blue light faded until they were left only with the purple glow emanating from the sky. Nix got off his bike first, both him and Sestra shielding their eyes from the light. It seemed to affect the Dinari far more than Liam and his crew.
Nix pointed at the back entrance of a building and said, “We must get inside. Quickly, move.”
Nix was visibly frightened, even with most of his face obscured by a hood and his shielding hands, his tone of voice betrayed all. Whatever was happening with the spires was taking its toll on the Dinari. Liam nodded and followed them inside, Saturn and Ju-Long close behind.
“What was that, Liam?” Saturn asked. “It looked like a web. Does that mean we’re trapped inside?”
“I don’t know.”
Ju-Long scratched his short black hair and said, “At first it looked like signal fires, then it seemed to become more of a crowd control device. On Earth, the police use bright lights to disperse crowds.”
“Or maybe dissuade the Dinari from leaving their homes,” Liam replied.
Nix was a few paces ahead of them in the dark clay corridor. He didn’t give their conjectures any acknowledgement. He only led them through the passage to a rounded wood door with soft light seeping under the frame. Nix turned to them, his golden eyes reflecting what little light filled the corridor. “I warn you, this place is not the friendliest of establishments.”
“That’s an understatement,” Sestra said.
“Regardless, if you’re looking for answers, you go to The Sand’s Edge.”
Nix pushed open the door and stepped through the entrance. Soft yellow light poured down from many hanging orbs of all shapes and sizes. There were several tables and a long stone bar, glass bottles lining the shelves behind it filled with multicolored liquid. A dozen Dinari occupied the tavern, talking in boisterous voices over their drinks. When Liam and his crew entered their voices trailed away until every head was turned in their direction. After a few moments of silence, the Dinari patrons pulled out all manner of weapons from their cloaks, bolts of electricity balling up at their tips as they pointed them at Liam and the crew.
19
Nix stepped forward with his hands raised defensively. He pulled down the hood of his cloak to show his face. Sestra stepped in front of Liam and crossed her arms, her expression defiant. There was a moment of tension before some of the patrons began lowering their weapons and returning to their conversations. Nix spoke to everyone in the room, “The outsiders are with me. They are no friends of the Ansarans.”
The tavern slowly returned to its raucous laughter and loud conversations and Nix led them to the bar. Liam could feel several pairs of eyes on him as he walked. His right hand remained close to his weapon in case someone decided they didn’t want to play nice. Nix stepped up to the bar and began speaking with the bartender. “We request an audience with him. We will not waste his time.”
The bartender, a muscular Dinari with dark scales that were charred black in some sections, nodded and stepped away from the bar. Liam came up beside Nix and asked, “What the hell are we doing here? Is this going to help us off this planet?”
Nix’s eyes darted between Liam and the others, his clawed hands fidgety. “Patience, we’re meeting an old friend who may be able to give us some answers.”
Ju-Long put his hands on his hips, stretching and popping his back. “This place is shady, but maybe we can get a good drink.”
Liam’s stomach growled audibly, making him rub his hand over his belly to calm it. Saturn let out a short laugh. “You too?”
The bartender returned, scratching one of the charred sections on his face and letting one of his scales fall to the stone floor. His dark yellow eyes moved between Liam, Saturn, and Ju-Long, observing their features curiously. He stood a whole head taller than Liam and looked like he’d been in one too many fights. He wasn’t someone with whom Liam would want to tussle.
“He’ll see you now,” the bartender said. “Down the stairs at the end of the bar.”
“Thanks Riken, those marks are looking better by the way,” Nix said.
The bartender shook his head and returned to cleaning glasses with a dirty piece of cloth. Nix led them to the end of the bar, where a set of earthen steps led down, curving into darkness. Before descending, Nix turned to Liam, his eyes serious, and said, “When we get down there, let me do the talking. He doesn’t take kindly to strangers.”
Nix didn’t wait for Liam to agree before starting down the stairs. He seemed more confident than he was in the spire, despite his occasional ticks. It was as though he was more at home the seedier the setting they encountered. At the bottom of the stairs, Nix pushed through another wood door and led them into a room with a large stone table and curious etchings adorning every inch of its grey surface. Most of the room was taken up by the table and the three large orbs that hung from the ceiling by unseen threads.
At the opposite end of the table sat a fat Dinari with lightly tanned scales and a thick neck. He had vacant eyes that rolled back as he bit into a slab of dark meat with his many pointed teeth. The large Dinari didn’t acknowledge them as they came in. Instead, he finished the last bites of his meal and picked his teeth with a single clawed finger. Juice from the moist piece of meat seeped out of the corner of his mouth and down his neck. It didn’t seem to bother him at all. The fat Dinari wore pants and a cloak that were adorned with colorful jewels, in sharp contrast to the other Dinari whose garments were quite plain.
When he was finished with his meal, he gestured to the long benches on either side of the table. “Nix, it’s been a long time. Sit. Tell me why you bring outsiders into my place of business. Are you trying to scare off all of my customers?”
Nix slid into the seat closest to the gorged Dinari. Sestra took the seat next to him while Liam and the crew went around the other side and sat opposite them. Nix put his hands on the stone table in front of him and let a brief smile cross his face. “Zega, this is Liam Kidd, Saturn Vera, and Ju-Long Ma. They were attacked by the Kraven Throng in their system and have found their way here.”
Zega appeared intrigued. “Found their way how?”
“A wormhole. Liam estimates they traveled ten thousand light years.”
Zega grew silent. He examined Liam and his crew with a mixture of curiosity and revulsion. “They are squishy, like our meat.”
&n
bsp; Saturn spoke up first, “I assure you, we are not food.”
“It speaks! A pity, I prefer my food not speak.”
“This wormhole,” Nix said changing the subject. “What do you know of it?”
“The wormhole,” Zega repeated, drifting off into wonder. “It is true, then.”
“You’ve heard of it before?” Liam asked.
Zega made a face like he had a bad taste in his mouth, his cheeks puffing out in anger. Nix shook his head subtly, his face bearing an expression of warning. Nix turned to the fat Dinari and said “Zega, any information you have could be helpful to us.”
“I may know something, but my knowledge will require one favor.”
“I don’t like where this is going,” Ju-Long said.
Zega laughed at Ju-Long’s remark. “I like this one, he catches on quick.”
“What favor do you ask?” Nix asked.
Zega smiled wide, each of his yellow pointed teeth showing proudly. He let out a throaty laugh once again. “You are lucky, Nix. Our goals align.”
Nix’s jaw clenched tight. Their Dinari guide knew something that he wasn’t telling Liam and the crew but he was keeping that information closely guarded. Liam looked Zega up and down. He was far more affluent than the other Dinari he’d seen. He could have been a mob boss, maybe no better than the cronies at Vesta Corporation. However, from experience, Liam knew sometimes he had to deal with the devil he knew to accomplish lofty goals.
Zega continued, his voice growing darker by the word, “This wormhole you speak of; I have heard whispers of the Ansarans devising a machine that can create this anomaly. The machine would not be small, though if my information is correct, a key component of it is.”
“The Ansarans have that power?” Liam interrupted.
Zega’s mouth contorted and he turned toward Nix, speaking directly to him. “Go to Garuda’s moon to the Disciples of Re. There you will find your answers.”
“The Disciples of Re?” Nix asked. “What would that cult know?”
“My sources say they came upon a Gift of Re, the God of the Sun. This gift is said to bridge the farthest reaches of the galaxy.”
The room was silent while Nix processed this new information. Ragnar had flatly denied to Liam that the Ansarans knew anything about the wormhole. Though, if the Ansarans really did create a device capable of producing a singularity, they would surely lie about it to an outsider, as they’d called him.
“Is your source reliable?” Nix asked.
Zega laughed from his belly. “Of course they’re reliable, Nix, if they weren’t they would be dead.”
Liam could feel the sweat seeping through the back of his grey jumpsuit. Zega was sounding more and more like a crime boss, and not the kind Liam liked to work for. His tone as he spoke of death was too casual. There was no paying him back or performing extra favors if a job went south. Zega was not the kind of person he wanted to owe.
“What favor do you ask?” Nix asked.
“I will provide you with my fastest ship. She can make the journey to the moon in a matter of hours.”
“What favor?”
Zega’s eyes traveled down the row from Liam to Saturn, and finally landed on Ju-Long. He looked him up and down with a petulant grin. Zega pointed a clawed finger at Ju-Long and said, “He will be a formidable contender.”
“Contender for what?” Ju-Long asked.
Nix replied first, his head shaking as he spoke. “The Dinari hold a series of fights every year. Zega would ask that you fight for his sector. Sector Seven.”
“What exactly does that entail?” Liam probed.
“Each of the sectors in Garuda Colony, twenty-four in all, put forth two fighters. The fighters wear gloves that deliver small shocks to the opponent, who fight one-on-one until there is a winner. It can be a brutal sport, with the last man standing reigning over the sectors until the following year. It’s a fiat title, but a lot of notoriety comes from it. Zega’s fighters represent Sector Seven. This year’s fights aren’t starting for a couple of months.”
Liam remembered the bartender upstairs. His scales had been burned to a crisp all over his face and body. Without scales for protection, he wondered how Ju-Long would fare in such a contest. Liam eyed Ju-Long, who sat stolid. He said, “I’ll leave this to you, Ju-Long. You don’t have to agree. I’m sure we can come to another arrangement if need be.”
“No,” Zega said. “No other arrangements. One of you will fight. I have already provided you the favor of information, so choose, outsider.”
“It’s okay, Liam. I can handle it.”
“You’re going to get yourself killed,” Saturn said.
“Enough,” Ju-Long replied. “I’ve been waiting for a good fight. I accept.”
Zega’s smile creaked even wider, his puffy cheeks curling up toward his sinister eyes. His thin tongue licked at his horrible yellowed teeth. The cantankerous Dinari clasped his hands together, still wet with the juice from his meal. Zega’s dark voice slipped out into his dining room, deeper than before. “It will be a fight to remember.”
20
Nix waved his hand and an orb of light slowly illuminated the guest room. Liam entered the small room above the bar and looked out the window to the colony. Purple light still emanated from the web overhead, pouring through the window with blinding intensity. On the street he saw groups of Ansaran soldiers searching the streets.
“Step away from the window,” Nix warned.
Liam clenched his jaw before collapsing on the nearby mat. He didn’t like taking orders and he felt like he was losing control of his little group with each passing moment. Downstairs, Nix had given them a small piece of what tasted like compact bread. It was dense and sparsely flavored, but it did calm his stomach a bit.
“You moved the bikes, right?” Saturn asked the shifty Dinari.
“Taken care of. They were moved into the loading bay. Sestra is down there with them now.”
“How long until light?”
“A few hours,” Nix replied, finding his own mat and lying down. “We’re going to need the rest.”
Saturn and Ju-Long laid down on their mats and were quiet for several minutes. Saturn spoke up first. “Nix, how do you know Zega? Are you sure we can trust him?”
Nix’s face was motionless, seemingly sleeping with his eyes open. Liam watched for several moments, waiting for his chest to move, but it never did. Finally, Nix put his hands behind his head and spoke, staring at the ceiling. “Zega is an important man in this sector of Garuda Colony. When I was a child he saved my life from an Ansaran soldier who was trying to make an example out of me for disobedience. Zega’s ways are not always eloquent, but he does put the interests of his people first. It is because of him that I came to work in the spire, an upper class position for a Dinari.”
“He put you there to spy,” Ju-Long stated.
“Yes. But I could have been lying in a ditch. Instead, I helped the cause.”
Liam moved his eyes up to the purple web in the sky outside the window, its brilliant energy flowing through the air like so many fireflies. Nix had probably given up more than anyone to get them out of the spire. He hadn’t even asked for a favor like the others. Nix was different somehow. Maybe some things were more important than compensation. Liam was conditioned to think in terms of reward. Being a freelancer will do that. At least now he knew that Earth wasn’t the only planet hung up on money and power and status. It was a small comfort.
“Thank you,” Liam said. “You gave up a lot for us.”
“It was a small price to pay.”
Ju-Long turned his head and asked, “What do you mean?”
Nix tilted his head to make eye contact with Ju-Long and spoke soft enough that the whole room had to prick their ears to hear him. When he spoke, he did so without any of his prior ticks, as though they were part of some elaborate ruse for the Ansarans’ benefit.
“You do not yet realize your importance. For thirty thousand years the thre
e intelligent races of this system have traveled this system. We’ve been to other stars too, but ultimately decided to stay in this one, settling every planet and every moon in some fashion. The best technology we could muster couldn’t detect your species all that distance away. The fact that you’re here at all is a testament to how little we really know.”
“What are you implying?” Liam asked.
“The Ansarans will remain in power as long as they hold the best technology, the means to stay on top. Your presence mocks them and their knowledge of the galaxy. They would use you as a bargaining chip to broker peace with the Kraven, and if that fails, they would kill you themselves, anything to keep you from the public’s knowledge. They will search this colony top to bottom to protect their illusion as the all-knowing leaders of the alliance.”
“What would happen if our presence didn’t remain a secret?” Saturn asked.
“Who knows?” Nix replied. “It’s unprecedented. They may still kill you, or maybe they would let you live as a testament to their benevolence.”
“If our options are to be killed or possibly be killed, I’ll take the latter,” Ju-Long said, sinking back to his mat.
“I thought you’d say that. That’s one reason Zega asked you to fight. Your face would be immortalized as the first outsider to fight in our ring. Every Dinari in this colony will know your name.”
“And the Ansarans wouldn’t try to kill a celebrity of the Dinari,” Liam mused. “Too much bad publicity.”
Saturn let out a sharp laugh and said, “Even on the other side of the galaxy it comes down to appearances. I feel right at home.”
Nix rolled over onto his side, the purple light from the web of energy piercing the window and bathing him in violet. His golden eyes now seemed dark and faded, colored with sadness. “You’ll find much of what happens here is under the surface, hidden from view.”
The Corsair Uprising Collection, Books 1-3 Page 9
