Star Warrior

by Isaac Hooke

  Their captor threw Tane and Sinive in front of the Graaz’dhen, and then dumped their weapons at its feet. The Graaz’dhen lifted the weapons in its many tentacles and crushed them easily.

  Dwarfed beside the huge alien was a small service and maintenance droid, replete with treads, pincers for hands, and digitally animated visor.

  The Graaz’dhen emitted several high-pitched sounds, and the small robot apparently translated.

  “We only want to talk,” the droid said. “Mind to mind.”

  Tentacles wrapped around Tane and Sinive. The Graaz’dhen lifted Tane off the ground and hoisted him directly in front of that tall, sideways-opening maw. This one had thousands of serrated teeth lining either side.

  The maw twisted so that it was horizontal, and then it opened, revealing a slithering, multicolored tongue. The tongue shifted in hue as Tane watched. The pattern was… mesmerizing.

  He felt something reach into his mind.

  And he was helpless to resist.

  18

  Tane felt a presence rifling through his memories. Searching his skills. Replaying conversations.

  He was blinded by a flash.

  The Graaz’dhen stiffened, and the tentacles wrapped around Tane’s body loosened.

  The center of the tongue had turned dark: a hole was bored straight through the flesh and into the brain region.

  The head tilted back at an unnatural angle and tore slightly from its neck. The body collapsed a moment later and Tane found himself buried underneath a coil of piled tentacles.

  He extricated himself from those tentacles and saw Sinive doing the same beside him. When she had freed herself, she patted the grime from her suit with one hand, and in the other held a pistol.

  Tane glanced over his shoulder and realized all the other dwellers on the grav tram platform and the pedway beyond had collapsed when the Graaz’dhen fell. It was true then: subordinate dwellers really were linked to the creature, and died when it did.

  He caught sight of the droid: it was racing up the ramp that led to the surface, and vanished before Tane could do anything.

  “Let’s hope that little bitch doesn’t reveal our position,” Tane said.

  “Don’t count on it,” Sinive said.

  “Where did you get the pistol by the way?” Tane said.

  “The Graaz’dhen made some mistakes,” Sinive said. “First of all, it assumed we were disarmed, and turned off its shield generator to bring us in close. Secondly, it neglected to bind my arms to my sides when it grabbed me—I guess it was all excited about interrogating you, and the thought slipped its mind.”

  “But where did you get the pistol?” Tane repeated.

  She patted the chest area of her spacesuit. “Secret pocket.”

  “Why didn’t you use the pistol before?” Tane asked. “When the other dweller was taking us here?”

  “That dweller was actually smart,” Sinive said. “And bound my hands to my sides. But even if I could reach the pistol, I wouldn’t have taken the shot, not then. I was curious where the dweller was taking us, and I also figured I’d only really get one good hit in before they took me out, so I wanted to make it count. And what better way to make a shot count than eliminating one of their senior officers? A creature they’re all linked to?”

  “Well the opposing dwellers back there are no doubt still in the game,” Tane said. “And I’m sure there are other senior officers of this faction somewhere on the surface. More aliens will be here soon. Let’s take the grav tram tunnel to the next stop, and then we’ll head to the surface and rest in one of the buildings.”

  Sinive directed her pistol toward the translucent polycarbonate screen that separated the grav tunnel from the platform, and released ten shots over the next ten seconds, melting holes in the surface.

  “That should be good enough,” Tane said. He took a flying leap at the weakened polycarbonate and slammed into the surface with his shoulder. He struck hard, but rebounded and landed rolling on the platform.

  “I’ll show you how it’s done,” Sinive said. “Step away.”

  With an embarrassed sigh, Tane retreated.

  Sinive backed up all the way to the far wall and took a run. She contacted the surface feet first but the polycarbonate didn’t yield; instead her knees bent and her body crumpled against the surface. She slid down, making an audible squeegee sound, and landed sprawling on her side.

  “Gah,” Sinive said.

  Tane rushed to her.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “Sure, but I’m dying of embarrassment right now,” Sinive said.

  Tane couldn’t resist some snark. “Yep, you sure showed me how it was done!”

  “Thanks for not making it worse or anything,” Sinive said.

  Tane studied the intact polycarbonate. “That’s powerful stuff.”

  “Guess it has to be,” Sinive said. “This is a grav tram after all.”

  She sat up and spent the next few moments melting successive holes into the polycarbonate until she had almost carved out a complete circle. When she connected the circle by punching out the final join at the top, the glass pane fell away, leaving a lopsided circle about one meter in diameter.

  “Got it,” Sinive said.

  Tane meanwhile had stood watch on the far side of the platform, next to the concrete pedway leading to the station, and he spotted the dark shapes of dwellers in the distance.

  “Just in time. They’re here.” Tane hurried to polycarbonate, pulled himself through the hole onto the ledge just inside, and leaped down into the tram tunnel below where Sinive was waiting for him. They raced down the passage.

  There were few illumination globes here, so Tane activated his helmet lamp. He decided to try out the supported infrared band, since the helmet faceplate supported IR viewing; the tunnel became a green monochrome.

  Tane hadn’t seen any vehicles moving on their own in this universe, so he doubted he and Sinive had to worry about the grav tram unexpectedly plowing into them.

  As Tane ran, he suddenly thought of all those alien energy weapons that had just been lying around the grav tram station after the dwellers had fallen. He should have scooped up some of them to resell back in his universe, but the notion hadn’t even crossed his mind back then. He just wanted to get the hell out of there.

  Too bad. He’d just have to keep an eye out for items going forward.

  He and Sinive reached the next station, where it was bright enough to turn off the lamps and switch to ordinary helmet viewing. While Tane kept watch in both directions, Sinive pulled herself onto the ledge next to the polycarbonate screen and spent another minute carving a circle with her pistol. When she was finished, she and Tane pulled themselves through onto the platform. Tane hadn’t spotted any of the dwellers pursuing yet.

  Tane led the way up, taking the stairs of a side passage that led to the surface. At the top was a shed-like structure that terminated in a pair of glass double doors overlooking the street. He went to those doors and surveyed the area while Sinive waited below.

  “You know, I should be the one doing the checking,” Sinive said over the comm. “I’m the only one of us who’s armed.”

  “Shh,” Tane said. He scanned the windows of the shops on the first floor of the buildings across from him, and studied the upper levels of the skyscrapers themselves. “No sign of any kraals or dwellers. That said, I can’t see past most of the upper story windows. The glass is too reflective at this angle. It’s possible some of them are lurking inside, watching, waiting to snipe. Also, I can’t see the alien ship anywhere in the sky. The tall buildings are occluding it.”

  “We have to find cover,” Sinive said.

  “I agree, we can’t stay out in the open like this,” Tane said. “Let’s head to the office building across the street. If it’s not open—”

  “Then I’ll introduce the door to my pistol, all friendly like,” Sinive finished.

  Tane emerged from the shed and raced across the
street to the closest building. He took the steps to the entrance three at a time—nearly slipping on one of them—and hurled his shoulder into the double door at the main entrance. Didn’t open. He realized the doors were rigged to open sideways when visitors arrived, except they weren’t working.

  He slid his gloved fingers into the gap between the two doors as far as he was able, and jerked it hard to the right. Sinive joined him, and together they were able to make a gap about half a meter wide between the doors. It was enough for them to slip through sideways.

  Sinive glanced at the forced doors with a doubtful expression. “Well it’s not obvious we went inside or anything...”

  Together he and Sinive shoved against the far sides of each door, closing them again.

  Tane hurried passed the unmanned front desk. Ordinarily, a directory listing of companies would be overlaying his vision right now, but instead his sight remained eerily free of intrusions.

  Tane tried the elevator button and it lit up. Good to go.

  The doors opened and he piled inside with Sinive. There were twenty levels. He chose the fourth floor button—not so far from street level that they couldn’t make a quick getaway if the need arose, but high enough to hopefully give them some warning before any dwellers arrived. He planned to set up shop close to a window, somewhere he could observe the main entrance to the building below.

  The lift opened into some sort of shared reception space. He stepped past the front desk and walked by doors labeled with the names of different companies. These were all virtual offices, placed here by companies that wanted to have a physical address in the Dhoulan system. Most of the time the rooms would remain locked and unused, unless someone decided to visit the company on that moon—a rarity in and of itself, given the propensity of virtual meetings—at which point an appointment would be made and a synthetic dispatched with the latest mind dumps appropriate for the meeting. There were synthetics that hired themselves out solely to serve as mind receptacles like that, and some actually installed new mind dumps daily, serving as business partners one day and flesh whisperers the next.

  There were windows next to some of the doors, allowing a view into the offices. In one of those rooms he spotted a floor-to-ceiling glass pane that looked down onto the street below. Tane had Sinive open the lock with her pistol, and then he walked straight to the glass. He could see the main entrance below.

  “This will suit our purposes,” Tane said.

  He sat with his back propped against the wall next to the window so that he could observe the entrance. Sinive settled in beside him.

  He checked for a mixnet connection. There was only the local mixnet formed between his chip and Sinive’s, labeled RCONSYS-4542. No Grizznet.

  “Can you reach Nebb?” Tane asked.

  “No,” Sinive replied.

  “You still think he’ll come back for us?” he said.

  “Don’t know,” she told him. She seemed weary, her formerly lively and sarcastic self too tired to make an appearance.

  He didn’t feel much better himself, really.

  Tane checked his oxygen levels. Another six hours to go. Well, the air was breathable on this moon. In theory. The only worry was infection from microcrillia…

  Speaking of which, he glanced at Sinive. He focused on her shoulder where the kraal had bitten into her.

  “Geez.” This was the first time he had actually looked at her injury in detail, rather than in passing. A chunk of the suit was torn away, as was the flesh underneath, revealing red muscle tissue shot through with black in places.

  She glanced at him, and followed his gaze. “I’ll live.”

  “It looks pretty bad,” Tane said. “Hurts?”

  She shrugged. “I numbed the area with my chip.”

  “I didn’t know you could do that,” Tane said.

  “It’s a skill,” Sinive said. “Pain Control.”

  “I’ll have to buy that sometime. What about microcrillia?”

  “What about them?” Sinive said.

  “You’re not worried about infection?”

  “Too late for that now,” Sinive said. “I’ll see a doctor sometime. I’m just glad this moon has a proper atmosphere. Otherwise…”

  Tane shivered at the unsaid thought.

  “In the meantime,” Sinive said. “Would you mind?”

  She reached into the cargo pocket on her thigh assembly and produced a metal container with a big red cross on it, followed by a slightly larger container with a blue circle on the side: a medkit and suit repair kit.

  She doffed her helmet, setting it down on the floor beside her. Tane helped her remove the arm and chest assemblies of her suit next so he could work. The shoulder area of her white dress had been completely torn away, and the surrounding fabric was stained red.

  Sinive stretched the top of the dress down over her shoulder to give unfettered access to the wound, and Tane took the medkit and applied disinfectant. It was tricky working with the bulky gloves of his suit, but he soon got the hang of it. Despite her claim about numbing the area with the Pain Control skill, she still flinched as he worked.

  “The bleeding isn’t too bad,” Tane said. “I don’t think a major artery was hit.”

  “I don’t think so either, otherwise I’d be dead now,” Sinive said, some of her sarcasm coming back.

  With the disinfectant he was able to wipe away most of the black tendrils that had started to take root. He wasn’t sure if that was microcrillia, or what, but he decided he wasn’t going to bring it up. No need to scare her.

  When he was satisfied that the wound was clean, he placed a bandage over it. Sinive shifted her dress so that it sat properly on her shoulder, with the bandage showing through the rip in the fabric, and then he helped her put back on the chest and arm assemblies of the suit. He used the suit repair kit to seal the breach in the fabric, and when he was done he had her don her helmet.

  “Looks good,” Sinive said. “Internal suit pressure is stable.”

  Tane nodded, then he closed the two kits and handed them back to Sinive, who promptly slid them away into her thigh cargo pocket.

  “By the way, did I ever tell you, I like what you’ve done with your suit?” Sinive said.

  Confused, Tane glanced at his arms and torso. The formerly white fabric was stained black by kraal blood.

  He burst out laughing. “Why thank you. I’m George Orblast, alien killer extraordinaire.”

  “You certainly are,” Sinive said. “And a very debonair alien killer at that.”

  “We should change my class to say that on my profile,” Tane said.

  “Go ahead,” Sinive said.

  Tane became serious. “Thanks for saving me back there.”

  She smiled wanly. “Sure. Though a few hours from now, when we start to starve, you might be wishing I’d let it kill you. Trapped in an alien universe, on an alien planet, surrounded by creatures that want to kill us. Starving. Fun times.”

  “Are you always so pessimistic?” Tane asked.

  “Only when the situation warrants it,” Sinive replied.

  Tane sat back and rested his helmet against the wall. “How did you know what that was?”

  Sinive furrowed her brow behind her faceplate. “What what was?”

  “Graaz’dhen,” Tane said. “You called it Graaz’dhen.”

  “Oh,” Sinive said. “I purchased a military upgrade to my chip a long time ago. It has all the known aliens documented. Graaz’dhen are dwellers enhanced with Dark Essence. Essentially commanding officers. Take down a Graaz’dhen, all the subordinate dwellers go down with it.”

  “Lyra told me something similar,” Tane said. “Guess I should pick up a military upgrade to my chip sometime.”

  “Feel free,” Sinive said. “By the way, I just wanted to tell you: for an Outrimmer you’re not so bad.”

  Tane laughed. "Thanks."

  She smiled weakly. "No, I mean it." The exhaustion seemed to be taking over again.

  “You
going to be all right?” he said.

  “Yeah. I’m just...” She shook her head behind the faceplate. “Kind of overwhelmed by our situation.”

  “I hear you,” Tane said. “It’s getting to me, too.”

  She glanced at her shoulder. “I almost died back there. On the rooftop, when those aliens cut us off from the Red Grizzly. We both did. And we’re not out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot.”

  She gazed out the floor-to-ceiling window at the dark blue city beyond.

  “Sometimes I wonder about the course of my life,” Sinive said. “Sometimes I feel like I’m wasting it. I had so much potential when I joined the TSN. If I had stayed in the star navy, I might have been in command of my own ship by now. A small sweeper, sure, but still a ship. Or at the very least, in charge of a troop of junior jump specialists. Sometimes I think I should have never left. But then again me and strict discipline, we never really got along.” She sighed. “If only I knew where I’d end up after leaving. Look at me now. A smuggler, of all things.”

  “You’re not a smuggler yet,” Tane said. “Just working for one.”

  “Yeah, but he’s training me to follow in his footsteps,” Sinive told him. “And did you say working? Does it count as work when you’re doing it for free?”

  “You’re not doing it for free anymore though, right?” Tane said.

  “Yeah, not anymore.” She smiled. “Thanks to you. If I ever get out of this.” She leaned back, closed her eyes momentarily. “I guess I never thought Nebb would cheat me like that. After everything we went through. I used to look at him like a father, you know? Maybe I still do.”

  Tane wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he simply nodded. He liked listening to her voice, either way. It was calming, somehow. Relaxing. Not that he was really all that tense in the first place, though he knew he should have been, given their situation.

  “When I was a kid,” Sinive said. “I dreamed of being a swashbuckling Volur. When I tested positive for Siphoning, I was so happy, just the happiest person in the galaxy. But you can imagine my disappointment when I found out I wasn’t powerful enough to be considered a Volur.” She sighed over the comm.