Junkie

by Bryant, S. J.

  "I can't help it if women find me irresistible," he said.

  The others chuckled and moved forward.

  ***

  After the reception area they stepped into a labyrinth of tunnels and doorways, constructed specifically to slow down invaders. The hidden files on the Cloud said that traps lined the tunnels, waiting to kill anyone who happened to take a wrong turn. Real Confederacy troops had emitters that shut off the traps when they got close, but Tanguin hadn't been able to find the signal anywhere, and so the Hunters were left to hope they saw the traps in time.

  The layout of the labyrinth had been easy enough to find. Lots of people had made copies of it and saved it to their personal computers, probably to stop themselves from taking a wrong turn, Tanguin had found it in no time. Unfortunately, the traps weren't marked because the Confederacy troops didn't need to know where they were.

  "Alright, here goes," said Aart as he stepped to the front.

  They tried to look casual as they moved through the corridors. They laughed and chatted about mundane things whilst pretending they had walked this path a hundred times. The security surveillance in Cyon was unmatched; their every footstep would be being monitored by security bots and human guards alike. One sign of trouble and they'd be obliterated. The robots could scan for body stress, facial expressions, eye movement, and a million other things that Nova could only guess at.

  They stayed silent for the most part to avoid giving themselves away by some poor word choice. It wasn't unusual for Special Forces to be the strong, silent type.

  Aart led them through doors and corridors, weaving an intricate path through the maze. Each of them had a copy of the map overlaid on their vision via their brain chips. Nova kept track of their progress; they had to be about halfway. She stared at the floor just in front of Aart, ready for any sign of trouble.

  "How about the Mars space-race?" she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

  The others froze and turned towards her. They kept their expressions neutral but the sudden halt in conversation at the mundane topic must have looked as unnatural as a flying elephant.

  "Um, I can't believe they let Yilat Flanderbot win," Aart said, lifting one eyebrow.

  They'd practiced dialogue to fill in such a gap in conversation but all of their minds must have gone blank because neither Gus, Tyra, nor Orion said anything.

  "Oh come on, you've always had a thing against the Flanderbot's," Nova said, improvising and pushing through the others. Pretending frustration with their obsession over the race, she stepped in front of Aart and then very deliberately stepped over the tripwire. The faintest glimmer had given away the tiny piece of platinum that was otherwise invisible.

  Beads of sweat sprung out on Nova's forehead as she stepped over the wire and continued walking. She dare not look over her shoulder to see if the others had caught her subtle signal. They had already given the game away by halting mid-conversation. Damn, damn, damn, there was no way the security bots didn't catch that.

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  "Bloody space-race is a waste of time if you ask me," said Gus from behind Nova.

  His gruff voice made Nova breathe a sigh of relief. The footsteps tapped not far behind. They'd seen the tripwire. Now she just had to hope that the security bots had chosen that exact moment to look the other way.

  "You're only saying that because you couldn't fly a racer to save your life," Aart said, pushing past Gus as if in disgust. He came up alongside Nova, eyes darting left and right.

  They walked on in silence, keeping their shoulders relaxed, low, and their faces neutral. An outside observer would see deep space Confederacy agents back from a long haul on the outer planets. Of course they'd be tired and a little out of sync. Nova let her head hang low, it hid her face from most of the cameras but it also meant she could keep a firm eye on the floor in front of her feet.

  She spotted two more tripwires before they came to the end of the labyrinth. She was sure to step over them very deliberately and caught Aart's eye each time so that the others would pay attention. It was far more obvious than she would have liked, if only they'd organised some kind of other signal, something less obvious. It was too late now. They were on their own.

  ***

  "Good to be home," said Nova as they stepped out of the final doorway. Orange globes lit the broad metal corridor and tall buildings. It looked more like a street than a space-station. The lights cast a warm light over the otherwise cold scene. Metal structures rose out of the smooth steel floor, matching the cold walls. Black numbers painted over the doorways and ladders acted as the only decorations.

  "I expected something more… opulent, in a Confederacy base," said Tyra.

  Nova frowned and nodded.

  "I guess the rich and powerful don't come here," Aart said. "Just soldiers or something."

  "If that were true we wouldn't be here," Nova said. A cool chill tickled her skin and brought goose bumps up across her flesh. "It's something else. It's like they rebuilt the place and stripped away anything that didn't have a function. The political leader of this quadrant lives here, why wouldn't he want to be surrounded by nice things?"

  The others shrugged but no one had an explanation.

  At the end of the entrance corridor they stopped to gaze out at the main tunnel. People surged in a single-minded wave towards wherever they were headed. Their measured footsteps tapped in time with each other like a rehearsed dance, or an army.

  "Creepy," said Orion.

  "Institutionalised is what it is," said Aart.

  "Shhh," Nova said, whipping her head back to stare at them. They would be monitored just as much here as they were in the labyrinth. The last thing she needed was their big mouths getting her killed.

  "I think I'm going to take a load off at the club," she said. If she'd learned anything from her life as a bounty hunter it was that the best place to get information was the local bar. Alcohol and friends made tongues loose, she couldn't count the number of times she'd cracked a mission because she'd been listening in the right bar at the right time.

  "I'll come with," said Gus.

  "Count us in," said Tyra.

  They did their best to march in time through the crowded streets to the local bar. Like the rest of the station it was made from smooth metal plates.

  Inside, a chill filled the air, amplified by the bare walls and metal furniture. The dim orange globes inside matched those in the walkways outside, and did nothing to lift the bleak atmosphere.

  A single man stood behind the bar wearing a well-made shirt with long black pants. He wiped the bar with a blue cloth as he watched them enter. The empty room created repeating echoes of their footsteps.

  Nova shivered as she sat down in a corner booth where she could see the door and the bar. The others took up similar seats around her, all of them with their backs to the wall. Aart strode up to the bar with a smile on his face.

  "Evening," he said.

  "Evening," the barman replied, his face emotionless.

  "It's been a while since I've been in these parts," Aart said. "What drink would you recommend?"

  The bartender shrugged. "We've got 'em all."

  Aart paused and stared at the man before widening his smile and barrelling on. "Excellent, then I'll have five Tinnies for me and my friends."

  "Righto," the barman said, lifting five spotless glasses from under the bar. They gleamed in the dim light as he filled each glass with amber liquid from the centre tap. "Fifty creds."

  "Wow, price has gone up since last time I was here," Aart said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cred-stick.

  The barman's response was another shrug.

  "It seems awful quiet in here," Aart said.

  "Shift doesn't end til eight."

  "Oh," Aart said.

  "Seems you and your friends are mighty lucky to be off so early," the barman said, looking at Aart and then each of the other Hunters in turn.

  "Ah, we don't run on the
same clock," Aart said, gathering up the drinks in his hands, deftly balancing them against one another. "We just came from the outer planets, and trust me, we deserve an early finish."

  The bartender grunted and went back to wiping down the bench. Aart spared him one last nod and came back to the table with the glasses in hand. He laid them down and each of the Hunters took one, cradling them in their hands.

  The hardest part about this mission, Nova decided, was not being able to talk freely. There was no way for her to communicate with her companions. She couldn't say how the bar would be no good to them with no one in it, and that they should keep moving. All she could do was watch, wait and hope that their limited code words would be enough. She couldn't even talk to Cal and Crusader because it was too risky.

  They'd planned on finding out what was inside the Confidential area before going there, in case it housed a nuclear reactor that would incinerate them as soon as they opened the door. They also needed to find the core if they were going to plant the bomb, but that hadn't been on Tanguin's blueprints either. The bar would have been the perfect place to find information, if there was anyone other than themselves and the surly bartender inside.

  Nova sighed and pulled out a deck of cards from the inside of her jacket, dealing them out to the other Hunters. They each picked up a hand and began a very disjointed game of poker. Nova was usually very good at it, being able to see straight through people's faces, but today her mind was not on the game. Her eyes roved about the room, cataloguing escape routes, weapons, and potential traps.

  Her stomach tightened as the bar remained eerily empty. Their whole plan to gather information was falling apart faster than she could deal the cards. Cold sweat dribbled down her neck.

  The others were similarly distracted, if the poor bets were anything to go by, but the game provided a pretence for them staying in the bar. The barman was suspicious enough as it was, the last thing they needed was to look out of place.

  ***

  Half an hour later, Nova was ready to hurl the deck of cards to the floor. She gritted her teeth and glared at the cards in her hand, sure they would burst into flames at any moment. Her foot rapped against the ground in an agitated rhythm as her eyes flew between the empty door and the cards. There was nothing they could do, even talk, and until that moment there hadn't been a single peep of another soul, aside from the gruff bartender.

  At eight o'clock everything changed.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  An alarm sounded three times. Moments later people poured through the open door. They chatted and jostled one another as some grabbed tables and others grabbed drinks. What had until that moment been a quiet barroom turned into a rowdy hall in a matter of seconds. Drinks splashed over tables and chairs, dripping down in pools to the floor. People laughed and giggled, breaking out cards of their own.

  The bartender lost his angry expression, replaced with a welcoming smile. He patted regulars on the back as they ordered their drinks and slid glasses down the bar, into the hands of waiting patrons.

  "I feel offended," said Aart as he watched the bartender laughing and joking with a pair of men leaning against the bar.

  "It's weird," said Nova. "Go up and order some more drinks."

  "We've barely touched these ones," Aart said.

  Gus grunted, took in a deep breath and laughed at the top of his lungs. He slammed his large fist down onto the table and swept it across the wooden boards. His meaty arm collected the glasses as it glided along and set them all crashing to the floor where they smashed into a thousand tiny, sparkling pieces. The amber liquid spilled out over the floor, creating a slippery puddle.

  Nova winced at the sudden noise and startled glances of nearby patrons. Gus wasn't the perfect choice for a covert mission.

  "Oops," Gus said.

  "You owe me fifty credits," Aart said, pointing his finger as Gus. Gus shrugged, wiping the drinks from his arm onto his shirt.

  Aart stood and strode through the crowds of people. Some had stopped to stare at the group of Hunters, startled by the smashing glass. They watched for a few seconds before growing bored and turning their attentions to their own conversations. Even the puddle didn't last long; an instant later a small labourbot appeared. It soaked up the spilled drink and swept the shards of glass off the floor, disappearing as fast as it had arrived.

  Nova watched Aart at the bar. She couldn't hear what he was saying but the bartender smiled and nodded. An instant later Aart strolled back with a handful of drinks.

  "Definitely weird," Aart said as he laid down the glasses.

  "Why?" Nova said, reaching for a glass and taking a long swallow. The cool liquid felt good on her throat. She couldn't have too much though, she needed a clear head.

  "He was all friendly. Like a completely different person," Aart said, also taking a drink.

  Nova frowned. "That's not the only weird thing."

  "What?" Gus said.

  "Look at them," Nova said, nodding her head towards the crowd.

  The other Hunters swept the bar with their eyes.

  "What is it?" Gus asked.

  "Just look at them, really look," said Nova.

  The others peered harder. The sight sent a shiver up Nova's spine. How had she not seen it straight away? There was too much going on, too much noise for her to see the real danger underneath. The crowd gathered in the barroom looked normal to any passing observer but when you looked closer the cracks started to appear.

  Goosebumps ran up her arms and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

  "It's like they're all… stuck," said Orion.

  "Exactly," said Nova.

  The individuals looked normal enough but if you took the crowded room as a whole, it was clear. Every ten seconds half of the bar-room took a drink. Ten seconds later the other half took a drink. It was like an intricate ongoing dance. Add to that the timed laughter; every five seconds a new group laughed, loudly.

  "Are they bots?" Gus asked. His shoulders tensed and his hand slid off the table, ready to pull the gun from his back.

  "I don't think so," said Nova. "But they're not entirely human either. I think something much worse than a power-hungry minister is going on here."

  "The guy in the corner," Tyra whispered. "He's not doing it."

  Nova slid her gaze across the room, roving past the corner. The man stood out amongst the other patrons, he hugged his glass close to his chest and glared down at the table. He sipped randomly, out of sync with the rest of the room.

  "There's two more." Orion flicked a stray droplet from the table towards the far side of the room.

  Sure enough two men with red lieutenant stripes sat at a table talking in low tones and ignoring the rest of the bar. They too kept their own time, and in a way that was more sinister.

  One of them looked up and caught Nova's eye, whispering something to his companion.

  Nova's heart fluttered and she ducked her head, taking a long swallow of her drink. The liquid burned down her throat and her eyes watered as she placed it back on the table, not daring to look back at the two men. "Are they still watching us?"

  "Not anymore," Gus said, his chair naturally facing the two men. "But they look like trouble."

  "If the rest are all just pawns being controlled then those guys are the most dangerous things in this place," Nova said. "We've got to be careful."

  Orion chinked his glass to the table. "At least if they're not following the pattern we don't stand out so much."

  "We should mingle, try to get some more information," said Aart.

  "Agreed, but take it easy. Stay away from the ones that aren't in sync. Be careful and keep your eyes open," said Nova.

  "I'll observe from this table, meet you all back here in an hour," said Gus, leaning deeper into his chair and taking a long drink from his glass.

  Nova stood up and walked away from the others, straight for a table where a group of people were playing cards. Based on their body mods and the tattoos
on their wrists they had to be Confederacy foot soldiers. Perhaps they had been among the ones that attacked The Jagged Maw.

  "Hello friends, mind if I play?" Nova said, her voice light.

  "Plenty of room for all!" said one man as he reached behind and pulled a chair over from a nearby table.

  Nova smiled at him and sat down. The dealer gathered up the cards and dealt a new hand.

  "Standard Confederacy rules, twenty credit minimum," said a woman with a firm nod in Nova's direction.

  "The usual then," Nova said, picking up her cards.

  While she pretended to study her cards, she looked around at her fellows. They were all stern, military types, and they kept the same freakish patterns which had taken over the rest of the bar. The woman and the dealer lifted their glasses at the same time and ten seconds later the rest of the table did likewise. Even their light conversations seemed rehearsed, false.

  Nova played the game, keeping her bets simple, normal. She didn't want anybody remembering her the next day. She needed to melt back into the faceless mass of the bar. As she played, she noticed the conversation of her companions circling. They returned again and again to the same rehearsed dialogue. Even their bets were rehearsed, completely separate from the cards they were actually holding.

  "So how'd the raid on those Hunters go?" Nova said, stepping out onto a precarious ledge with her choice of conversation.

  Her fellow players stopped and looked at her. Their faces wore puzzled frowns as they glanced first at Nova and then at one another.

  "I beg your pardon?" said the dealer.

  "Oh come on, you don't have to pretend with me," said Nova. "I'm Special Forces, just got back from some work in the outer planets and heard about your little foray."

  The others stared at her. Nova took a long sip of her drink to hide her trembling hands.

  "It went well," said the dealer. "The bomb got them in the end. Blew the bloody Hunters to smithereens."