The small room’s thick wooden door creaked open and a Dinari popped his beige head through. The alien’s thick and sandy scales had dark shadows hiding in the seams even as he came out of the half-light. His large golden eyes stuck a little too far out of his head, making him appear surprised most of the time. There was something familiar about his appearance, like the lizards she’d read about in textbooks during her youth. Nix had been their guide for some time, and the strange being had proven himself to be one of their few friends throughout their many adventures.
Nix was taller than Saturn but hardly towered over her. The coarse brown fibers of his cloak seemed to soften his features, making him seem less intimidating. Though initially his snake-like appearance was disconcerting to Saturn, after working together for some time she knew he was mostly harmless. The Dinari waved a clawed hand for her to follow, his demeanor grave.
Saturn nodded and approached the Dinari, the alien’s golden eyes darting between her and the sleeping form on the ground near her feet.
“What is it?” Saturn asked.
“It’s best discussed in private,” Nix whispered before turning and making off into the dark corridor which led to the bar on the first floor of the building.
Saturn glanced at Liam, holding her eyes on his bare muscular frame a second longer than she’d intended. She huffed and followed Nix down the dim hallway. Saturn didn’t like private dealings where her crew was concerned. If she was going to plot behind someone’s back she’d prefer it be against a mark, but if Nix had news it usually wouldn’t do to wait.
Saturn caught glimpses of the Dinari’s rough skin with the stray bands of light seeping in through slits in the wall, large enough for a slight breeze but not so wide as to let in a glut of sand. Nix was an odd fellow, whose intentions appeared to align with hers, but he was just enough of a wild card to cast some shade of doubt in her mind. It wasn’t so much his intentions that bothered her, but his reliability. Months ago, he’d almost gotten their crew member Ju-Long killed as a result of his negligence. Ever since Liam and Saturn had confronted him, he’d been better about his drinking, but she still didn’t know what the problem was, something which bothered her deeply.
The stairs ended on a floor of smooth stone with a curved bar that seemed to be cut from the same single piece of rock as the ground beneath her feet. Behind the stone bar were lines of strangely-shaped bottles filled with endless types of liquor, some in impossible shades that ranged from appetizing to repellant. The bright green hue of one of the bottles made her think of a science experiment gone awry. Nix shimmied up on top of the bar and grabbed a bottle of brown liquid from the back.
“Can I get you one?” he asked.
“It’s barely past dawn.”
“The sun only really sets for a few of your Earth hours anyways. I don’t understand this human notion that one can’t drink at certain times of the day.”
“It’s how we know someone has a problem.”
Nix shrugged and poured them both a small glass despite her objections, sliding the wide, squat bottle away down the bar. The Dinari picked up one of the short glasses and placed it in Saturn’s hand. Nix gripped his own glass and took a deep sip, savoring the taste and rolling back his eyes as he swallowed. It was when he ate and drank that Saturn noticed just how alien to her he was.
He looked back to Saturn and said, “Some conversations require a drink, regardless of the time of day.”
“What kind of conversation is that?”
Nix peered at the bottom of his glass and swilled the remaining liquid around.
“The traitorous kind, of course.”
2
Saturn emptied the liquor into her mouth, taking a bit too much and swallowing forcefully to keep it down, a strangely cool burn coating her throat. The substance reminded her of a highly potent liquid-mint that she found oddly refreshing. She set the glass back on the stone bar top, making a clacking sound as she slid it away from her. She regarded Nix with her head cocked to the left, trying to determine the Dinari’s intent.
“Really Nix, mutiny?” she asked incredulously.
“You misunderstand. This isn’t about us at all. It’s about what Zega is after. What Liam is after as well, for that matter.”
“Don’t lump Liam in with him. You know as well as I do what kind of prick Zega is.”
“Liam’s been doing an awful lot of solo missions lately. Haven’t you wondered what he’s up to?”
Saturn turned away and cradled her elbows defensively, saying under her breath, “I’m sure he has his reasons.”
“You know Liam has a way of trying to do the right thing and getting people hurt along the way.”
Saturn looked over her shoulder to see Nix pointing at the scar on his left shoulder where an Ansaran laser blast had cut out a chunk of the muscle tissue, leaving an oddly-shaped valley where a tan scale should have been.
“I assume you’ve got some kind of proof if you’re trying to bring me into this?”
“My friends in the spires have told me that Liam has been visiting a lot lately. He’s not just making deliveries for Zega, he’s stopping to talk to the elusive Caretaker as well.”
“Toras?” Saturn asked, dropping her arms to her side. “What would Liam have to talk to him about?”
Nix took another sip of the brown liquid and said, “Can you think of nothing? I suspect Liam and Zega have an angle that will somehow undermine the Caretaker. I don’t have all of the details yet, but I do know Zega. He wouldn’t be sending Liam there alone for nothing. Do you remember the deal we made with him?”
Saturn placed a hand over her eyes and tried to remember. Finally, she replied, “We promised to back up Zega when the time came, no matter what.”
“And what time do you think he means? He plans to overthrow this colony, installing himself as leader, I’m sure of it.”
“Would that be such a bad thing? Zega’s no prince, but the Dinari would finally be in power. That’s got to be a good thing, right?”
“It depends. The Ansaran High Council would bear down on this world with all of their might, and Zega would rule the same way as he makes his deals, full of secrets and ruthless intent. I fear we’ll have been complicit in the rise of a despot.”
“Zega is just one of twenty-four Dinari in charge of the different sectors on this colony. If he wanted to seize power, he’s still got a few obstacles in his way. That’s not even counting all of the Ansarans and the Caretaker. Do we even know what tools they have at their disposal?”
“In truth, no. Liam and Zega have been working for months toward some end. While we can suspect all we want, we need hard evidence.”
“Say we got the evidence, what then? This is Liam we’re talking about.”
Nix looked around the bar and whispered, “What do you do with a good person who does the wrong thing? Restrain them.”
“What about Zega?” Saturn asked, unconvinced.
“Let me worry about him. I want you to keep an eye on Liam. If he’s going to do something stupid in the name of doing the right thing, stop him, or he might just get himself killed. Or worse, all of us as well.”
“I hope you’re right about this.”
Nix nodded and gripped the edge of the bar.
“Me too. Otherwise we’re going to look pretty foolish.”
“Who else knows about this? Ju-Long? Astrid?”
Nix cringed at the sound of Astrid’s name. He still hadn’t gotten used to having an Ansaran in their inner circle. When they’d found her on the planet Narra, she and Nix had been at each other’s throats. Now they seemed to avoid each other for the sake of the rest of the crew. Nix had sent her to live with his friend Sestra, a Dinari woman who’d helped them once or twice before. Now Saturn was worried they’d owe her a second favor, something that wasn’t taken lightly on Garuda.
“Only the two of us. We both know Ju-Long has had other things on his mind lately.”
Ju-Long was the first human challe
nger to compete in the Dinari’s annual Tournament of Fists. The tournament was a lot like boxing, but with electrified barbs attached to the knuckles of the fighters. It was more of a nuisance to the Dinari with their thick and scaly hides, but it proved a far more dangerous sport for a human competitor. Still, Ju-Long came out on top and became an overnight sensation among the Dinari people. To say becoming a celebrity went to his head would be an understatement.
Saturn heard a clunk at the door and turned to see dust falling from the cracks in the seams of the wooden planks, shooting out where the morning light seeped through onto the stone floor. The door swung open and a short, brawny human stumbled through, holding a lump on his forehead. Ju-Long was a stout man with more muscle than he knew what to do with and subtle Asian features that made him pleasing to the eye, supposing his personality was taken out of the equation.
“Did one of you change the door handle?” Ju-Long slurred, checking the bump on his head for signs of blood.
“Yes,” Saturn said sarcastically, “We live to torment you.”
Saturn turned her back to Ju-Long and covered her face with her hands, embarrassed for her race. She knew Ju-Long was a lot smarter than he let on, but she was afraid his escapades would make the human race a laughing stock. There were only three humans in the Ansara System and she felt a need to be seen as something other than fools. Anything other than fools, in fact.
Nix noticed her expression and said casually, “What? I like drunk Ju-Long.”
3
Saturn watched Ju-Long stumble up to the bar, finding his way onto one of the open stools with great effort. Nix poured him a glass of clear liquid and slid it down the bar to his crewmate’s waiting hand. Saturn clenched her jaw in frustration and shot Nix her coldest glare. Perhaps Nix had finally started to understand her expressions, because he nodded, confidently acknowledging her annoyance.
“Drink up, Ju-Long,” the Dinari said.
Ju-Long chugged the entire glass, far more than an average shot. Saturn got a sick feeling in her stomach just watching him. It really was too early to be drinking. When he was finished, he set the glass down hard on the stone top, chipping the bottom edge and sending a crack up the side.
“Yuck,” Ju-Long declared before examining his cracked glass. “Whoever built this bar wasn’t thinking right. You must go through a million glasses.”
Nix replied, “Dinari don’t slam them down when they’re finished. How do you feel?”
Ju-Long eyed him quizzically and replied, “Fine. Clear. What was in that?”
“An ancient remedy. Riken gives it out when someone gets too rowdy. It helps diffuse the toxins in your blood.”
“Well, thanks, but I spent a lot of time and effort getting drunk.”
“Saturn has a job for you.”
“She does?” Ju-Long asked
Saturn’s eyes widened. “I do?”
The edges of Nix’s mouth curled up and his long tongue massaged his pointed teeth.
“Sestra tells me that Astrid’s been giving her problems. She doesn’t like being in hiding. If she’s anything like the other Ansarans I’ve met, her sense of superiority will only let her stay put for so long before she does something stupid. Let’s not forget she still has information we need.”
“You’re wanting us to get close to her?” Saturn asked.
“I think Ju-Long has already done a fine job of gaining her trust. Your façade has worked better than any of us could have hoped.”
Ju-Long squinted and asked menacingly, “What façade?”
“She does trust you,” Saturn said to her human companion. “My feelings about her aside, Nix is right. If we can find out anything more about The Azure Key or these other devices Vesta Corporation has made, we need to do what we can to make sure we get our hands on that information.”
Ju-Long crushed the already chipped shot glass in his hand and sprinkled the tiny chunks onto the stone bar. The pebbles of glass were tinted with scant droplets of his blood. Ju-Long wiped his hand off on his loose tan shirt and regarded Nix angrily.
“Astrid will tell us what we need to know when she’s good and ready. I won’t use her in whatever sick game you’ve dreamed up. You should look in the mirror, Nix. You’re becoming more like Zega every day.”
With that, Ju-Long brushed past Saturn and pushed his way out the door into the bright orange morning light. Saturn could hear a hover bike jump to life outside and the dull whoosh as it sped away, sending a plume of sand through the still-open door.
“I better follow him,” Saturn said, making for the doorway.
Nix called after her and she stopped, turning to see a look of concern cross his visage. The Dinari cautioned, “Ju-Long is getting too close to her. She’s an Ansaran. We both know what she’s capable of. I think it’s better if we look at this situation as transactional in nature. I don’t want to see Ju-Long hurt any more than you do.”
Saturn lowered her eyes and mumbled, “I know.”
Without making eye contact, she took hold of the rusted metal handle and shut the large wooden door behind her. A flurry of sand brushed past her face and was immediately entangled in her brown ponytail. She’d stopped trying to keep the sand out months ago. It was futile. The tangled mess that was her hair wouldn’t be tamed and it wasn’t as if the bald Dinari or Ansarans had a hair brush at their disposal.
Saturn walked around the side of the building to where she kept her own hover bike. Even when its engine wasn’t running it had a way of hovering slightly off the ground, as though it was resisting a hidden magnetic field slightly under the surface of the planet. She mounted the long bike and took hold of the two leather-trimmed handles. With a single push of a button, the bike lifted up another half a meter and the console lit up, showing her a detailed readout of the colony. She found the tracker in Ju-Long’s bike and watched the yellow dot flash as it moved along one of the main roads toward Sestra’s shop at the edge of the Sector Seven.
Saturn tilted her foot down on the pedal and the bike zoomed out of the alley and onto the much larger main street. The sun was at a steep angle at her back, lighting up the low buildings all around her as well as the countless spires in the distance, each so high she couldn’t see the top even if she craned her neck all the way back. The sun continued to rise higher; soon the temperature would be uncomfortably hot. Due to the location of the colony, there really wasn’t any sort of seasons Saturn could discern. There was only hot and arid. She rotated her foot farther forward. The sooner this was over with the better.
•
Nix poured himself a glass of the clear liquid and raised it above his mouth, pouring it down his throat and bypassing his tongue entirely. The fluid cooled his throat on the way down and made his golden eyes perk open wide. His pupils darted to the top of the stairs. He’d seen it before his ears had picked up the sound. Bare feet shuffled down the steps and the half-naked Liam appeared, the rest of his clothes in hand.
“What was all that racket?” he asked, dropping his boots to the floor and slipping his ivory shirt over his head. The ragged deep V was held together by lightly-colored strings and the material looked to be soft to the touch. Not that Nix’s scaled fingers would be able to tell much of a difference.
“Saturn and Ju-Long were just heading out to check on Astrid. Where are you going so early?”
Liam avoided making eye contact with Nix. He continued to dress and said, “I’ve got a quick job to do, nothing too important.”
“Another job for Zega I presume?”
“Like I said, nothing too important. I’ll be back in an hour.”
Liam slid one foot after the other into their respective boots and tightened the laces.
“I see,” Nix said flatly. “Could I tag along? Don’t want to get rusty.”
Liam had finished dressing and stood up tall before him. He regarded Nix apologetically and hedged, “It’s not the best time. I’m working a mark for Zega and I just can’t bring anyone else in on it yet.
You understand.”
“Of course,” Nix said with a grimace, watching Liam make his way to the door.
“I’ll be back soon. Maybe we can take another quick job when I get back.”
“I look forward to it,” Nix said with an unintentionally dark voice, his eyes narrowed as Liam shut the door behind him.
Nix quickly poured another shot of the clear remedy and tilted his head back, swallowing it all in one gulp. He clacked the glass down on the bar a little harder than he intended and a chip flew out from the bottom. So much for the level-headed Dinari stereotype. He cursed and reached behind the bar to retrieve a small leather sack, slinging it over his shoulder and out of the way of his cloak. He raised the hood of his cloak right down to the edge of his golden eyes, veiling much of his face in shadow. He wrapped his clawed hands around the front door’s handle and yanked. It slammed against the wall, shutting firmly behind him a moment later as he made his way out into the sand after Liam.
4
The streets that had been packed with crowds of people a few days before were now nearly bare, with only a few brave Dinari still tending their shops at the markets. Festivals came and went on Garuda with no apparent rhyme or reason. It was as though they didn’t fall on any sort of calendar date, only when a wild hair came over a few dozen shopkeepers. Enterprising Dinari from the twenty-four sectors of the colony would find out and set up shop for a day or two. Word had it the last pop-up market hadn’t gone as expected. Several Dinari were murdered with no suspects.
Saturn let up on her bike’s accelerator and slowed to make a turn near the edge of Sector Seven. Overhead, two Ansaran ships hovered fifty meters over the street, their dual rotors sending up plumes of sand in all directions. Saturn stopped her bike and covered her eyes with her bare forearm. The rough grains of sand pelted her tanned skin.
The Ansaran vessels ascended high up into the sky, leaving Saturn flummoxed. The Ansarans had been cracking down recently, but mostly at night. Strict curfews had been in place for weeks. Nix was right about Liam, and Toras must have been aware of whatever was going on with him as well. She still couldn’t see what angle they were playing, but it was clear that at street-level things weren’t going well for the Dinari. There was unrest bubbling at the edges of every alleyway.
The Corsair Uprising Collection, Books 1-3 Page 34
