Black Sheep

by Rachel Aukes

  Finn took a seat. “This room may be safe, but as soon as we leave, we have to be careful about anything we say or do as long as we’re in their territory.”

  “We will. We’ll use texts on our wrist-comms to convey any crucial information,” Throttle said and turned to the three crew members with her. “Here’s where we stand. We have two of our ships docked on opposite ends of Jade-8. We know that Sylvian, Eddy, Aubree, and Garrett are safe—at least for the time being. We don’t know if the sleepers are still on board the Gabriela or if they’ve been moved somewhere else. We don’t even know if they’re still in their cryopods.”

  “We don’t know if they’re even alive,” Birk added.

  Throttle gave a small nod. “We don’t know for sure, so we can only assume they are until we find out differently.”

  “Then our first step should be to do recon to find out if they’re still alive and where they’re being held,” Finn said.

  Throttle nodded. “The way I see it, we have only two options. We can either find a way to get the Javelin back and escape this shithole and then come back for the sleepers. Or we stay here and put all our effort into getting the sleepers back, knowing the Javelin will have to cut loose and leave us if Jakob West gets tired of politely trying to get onto the ship.”

  “No one on the Javelin can fly it,” Nolin said.

  “Between Rusty and Sylvian, I’m sure they can figure it out if things get bad enough,” Throttle said.

  “I see it that we only have one option,” Birk said. “None of us would be able to sleep at night if we left the sleepers behind again and by the time we returned for them, it turned out to be a day too late.” He looked over his shoulder at the mattress. “Not that we’re ever going to have a good night’s rest here.”

  Throttle smacked her hands on her legs. “Then it’s settled. We go for the sleepers, even if it means greater risk to us. Agreed?”

  All three men voiced immediate agreement.

  She pushed up her sleeve, revealing her wrist-comm. She figured that if Don’s glasses could scan for weapons, they also indicated there was technology on each of their forearms. But since Don hadn’t taken the comms, she assumed West didn’t consider the tech to be either a risk or an asset.

  She tapped her wrist-comm to open the channel. “Throttle to the Javelin. Check in.”

  A response came immediately. “This is Sylvian. It’s so good to hear from you. A couple of guys have been down here for over an hour trying to get the airlock open, but Rusty’s keeping us safe and tight for now. It’s even darkened the windows so no one can see inside.”

  “How long do you have before they break through?”

  Rusty answered, “They can’t break through using their current tools, but they haven’t used tools that could damage my hull, such as laser torches. I believe they are trying not to damage my airlock.”

  “If they find something that will breach the airlock, I want Garrett ready to aggressively persuade any trespassers against trying to enter the Javelin. Jakob West may think he has the Javelin because it’s docked at his docks, but as long as you’re all safe on board, it remains our ship.”

  “I’ll let him know. When will you be back?”

  “It could be a while. We’re not in any immediate danger here, so we’re biding our time as we figure out a plan to reclaim the sleepers. We’ll keep you posted.” Throttle sighed. “Now, Rusty, can you connect to any of Jade-8’s systems?”

  “I have limited read-only access to their systems through their dock network, as they must expose them in their attempts to scan my systems. I have been reading any data I can access to update my databases.”

  “Can you access Jade-8’s inventory logs?”

  “I haven’t yet acquired access to non-dock systems connected to the Jade-8 network, but I expect to gain access to additional systems as they make new attempts on my network,” Rusty said.

  “Keep working on it. When you get in, see if you can’t track down what they’ve done with the sleepers. They’re likely on the Jade-8 East side. I’ll check in when I can.” Throttle tapped to disconnect the call.

  Throttle turned to face Finn. “We should check out this colony to see what we’re facing. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find out where they’re keeping the sleepers, and recon is right up your alley.”

  Finn acknowledged with a small tilt of his head. “West knows that we want to free the sleepers, so he’ll have eyes on us to make sure we don’t cause too much noise. We don’t know how much West’s sister on the East side knows, but we have to assume they’ll also be watching us.”

  “We have to assume that they’ll scatter the sleepers soon, if they haven’t begun to do so already,” Throttle said.

  Finn thought for a moment. “We should break into two teams. A place this big must have a central meeting place with bars. One team mingles with the locals while the second team recons the other side of this station to get a feel for what we’re up against.”

  “Sounds like a solid plan,” Throttle said. “Men—especially drunk men—tend to open up to women easier, so I’ll hit the bars.” She glanced over the three men and motioned to the least threatening looking of them. “Nolin, how about you come with me.”

  Nolin nodded.

  Birk pushed to his feet. “That means Finn and I will take the East side.”

  “We’ll meet back here in three hours,” Throttle said, then thought of the size of Jade-8. “Better make it six. And keep us and the crew updated.”

  Throttle’s wrist-comm chimed, and she tapped to answer. “What is it, Sylvian?”

  “I wanted to let you know that they’re no longer trying to get on board. They gave up and left.”

  Throttle frowned. She’d expected West’s people to break into the ship, even if they had to cut through the hull.

  The small scratched panel on the wall beeped, and she looked up to read a message:

  Captain Halit Reyne: meeting with Jakob West at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday.

  The bottom right of the panel displayed a calendar, which now had the meeting listed in a box for the following morning.

  Birk chuckled. “I guess he’s figured out that the Javelin is a bit harder nut to crack than he originally thought.”

  Throttle spoke into her wrist-comm. “Looks like I get to talk with Jakob West again in the morning. Until then, let’s hope you don’t see any activity outside the airlock.”

  She could hear Sylvian’s sigh of relief through the comm. “Good. You have no idea how hard it is trying to hack into systems with people pounding on the airlock.”

  “Keep me posted if anything changes,” Throttle said.

  “Will do.”

  The two teams on Jade-8 took different elevators at the El-hub, with Birk and Finn taking a connecting tube to the East, and Throttle and Nolin going down to the main community listed as “Jade City” on the wall screens. Their elevator had a window facing the hub, which revealed a huge, round city well over a mile in diameter and at least eight levels in depth. The highest, domed ceiling was painted with scenes of a sunny sky that looked nothing like a real sky. Massive air-filtration units hung down and rumbled as they processed air.

  As the elevator lowered, Throttle looked across the city, seeing level after level, block after block of storefronts and restaurants. None had walls or roofs, likely because the weather never changed on Jade-8 and building materials were scarce. Instead, every vendor had a brightly colored banner spanning their establishment, bringing a vibrant, almost circus-like feel to the city. As they went down, each level seemed dirtier than the one above. They stopped a couple of floors above the lowest level.

  They stepped off the elevator and took a tram to the Eastern district. After they stepped off the tram and onto the metal grated floor, they began walking.

  Jaders paid them no heed as they went about their day. Many had the unmistakable gray pallor from the combination of being malnourished and having a vitamin D deficiency common on windowless station
s. She suspected that, over several generations, these colonists would develop mutations like she’d seen at every other colony, such as height differences or skin tone.

  There were no outward signs of slavery, though Throttle wasn’t sure what would mark someone as a slave versus a free person.

  She was surprised to see that the majority of Jaders wore no obvious weapons, and she realized that, while Birk had pointed out that this place was a pirate cove, it was also a home to thousands of people who just wanted to carve out a living somewhere.

  After a couple of blocks, Nolin spoke. “This place is huge. I don’t even know where to start.”

  Throttle nodded toward a row of colored banners that were faded and dirtier than most. “We start there.”

  When they reached the first bar, Throttle said, “You take this pub. I’ll take the next one.”

  Nolin ventured into the open-air bar, and Throttle headed to the bar next door, though it had no door. Black fabric was draped over poles, forming a ceiling and darkening the small area that stank of old beer and greasy food. A dozen or so patrons were spread out along the only seating available at a bar that traveled the length of the pub.

  Several gazes met hers as she strolled inside. She grabbed a seat at the bar that had openings on either side.

  The bartender, a young man whose eyes looked older than the rest of his body, immediately came over. “What’ll you have?”

  “Something with a kick,” she said.

  He turned, grabbed a metal canister from the shelf behind the bar, and poured amber liquid into a tin cup. He placed the cup before her.

  She took a swig. It burned her throat like she’d drank hot sauce straight out of the bottle. She managed to swallow without either wincing or coughing.

  “It’s the house whiskey. What do you think?”

  She’d had better. “I’ve had worse.”

  “Haven’t seen you around here before,” he said.

  “First day on Jade-8,” she replied and took another drink. The fire in her throat burned fewer flames than before.

  A drunk grinned and ambled over. “First day, eh? Well then, you could use a tour guide. I can show you all around. We can start on twenty-six. That’s where my place is.” He winked.

  “Lay off, Duggar,” the bartender said. “She’d have to get a lot more drinks in her to want to go to your place.” He then turned to Throttle, leaned on the bar, and whispered, “Watch out. He’s got more diseases than a gutter rat.”

  “Thanks for the tip. Any other tips for a new girl on Jade-8?”

  He examined her for a second. “Well, since you’re in this bar, this far down the levels, then I’m guessing you came here with no credits and are already under contract.”

  “You’re right on one, but I haven’t signed a contract yet.”

  He seemed surprised. “How many credits did they give you when you arrived?”

  “A thousand.”

  “Ah, the usual welcome packet. That won’t get you far. You’re going to want to find yourself a contract fast. With your looks, you could land a gig at a bar real easy—that’s what I recommend. The work’s not bad and the tips are better than what you’ll get at most other jobs.”

  She frowned. “Why do I need a contract?”

  His eyes widened. “Oh, you are new, aren’t you? You’re lucky someone hasn’t conned you into a contract already—there’re plenty of folks out there with no qualms about taking advantage of newcomers.” He inhaled. “In a nutshell, Jade-8 is built on a tenure system. Work of any kind requires a contract. Myself, I’m on the last year of a five-year contract at this place. Then I can either re-up or move on.”

  “What happens if you decide to quit before your contract’s up?”

  “I’d have to pay back a percentage of my earnings for the life of the contract. With how bad inflation is around here, that means I’d have to spend the rest of my life trying to pay back my penalty. Even worse, I’d get a black mark on my pass-card for being an oath-breaker. If you get one of those marks, good luck finding a decent job in Jade City again.”

  She leaned back. “Well, that sucks. I was hoping to just take the odd job here and there.”

  He brushed his long hair off his shoulder. “Your options are going to be limited around here. Jade City is your best chance for shorter contracts. You get down to these lower levels, you can find a contract for under ten years. But be careful about those black marks. If you get one, you’ll find yourself working for Anna East, and she usually sets lifelong contracts, and she has a tendency to sell off contracts to the asteroid mines. Jakob West would be a lot easier to work for, but he won’t take oath-breakers.”

  “I thought Jakob and Anna are brother and sister.”

  “They are. Jade-8 was founded by the West family ages ago. But the rumor is that Anna didn’t want to share leadership, so she gave herself a new last name and tried to take over the whole colony. Jakob West stopped her, and they decided to split the colony in half, with Jade City neutral territory, though most of the West Jaders stick to themselves, and the East Jaders stick to themselves nowadays.”

  “And what does that make you?”

  His eyes twinkled. “Neutral.” Then he motioned to the bar. “But everyone you see here lives in East housing. I do, too.”

  She downed her drink and pushed the glass for a refill. “So it sounds like I need to take a contract around here or end up working for East for the rest of my life.”

  He chuckled before filling her cup again. “If all else fails, you could also go live with the gutter rats, but trust me, if you’re considering that as an option, that means you’ve hit rock bottom. Those Jaders have no contracts and no credits, so they can’t catch a flight to Hiraeth. During the day, you’ll see them at the free-food cafeteria on L-One—that’s the lowest level. They only serve gut-rot down there, mostly leftovers from the restaurants that’s gone moldy or sour. It’s nasty stuff, but just about every Jader at some time or another has had to eat down there. With your thousand credits, you’ll be eating down there plenty. But look on the bright side, it could be worse.”

  She gave him a droll look.

  He slid her cup forward. “No one on Jade-8 starves.”

  “Where do the gutter rats live?”

  He motioned to her left. “They live in sections of Jade-8 that have been compromised at some time or another, and the gutter rats sealed them up and took them over. The rats own those tubes, even though they’re hazardous to be in. In those tunnels, they are the only law you’ll find. Neither East nor West security forces will go down there. Rumors are there’re cannibals in those tubes. Trust me, you’ll want to avoid that area. Look, there’s a rat now.” He pointed.

  She turned and saw someone stepping out from what looked to be an access tunnel near the tram. A red hieroglyph was painted on the door. She was too far away to make out the person’s features, but the girl—at least Throttle thought it was a girl—was filthy and moved like the homeless street urchins she’d seen at every colony.

  She turned back to the bartender. “What’s the mark on the door?”

  “Just something they use to mark their areas. Janitors used to scrub the marks off every week, but the marks would show up the next day, and I think the janitors finally gave up.” He shrugged. “It makes it easier for Jaders to know which tunnels are best to avoid.”

  She blew out a breath and tried to act depressed. “I came here for adventure. I didn’t realize I was going to come up against the same red tape I had to deal with back home. I’m going to end up in the gutters.”

  He thought for a moment. “Well, if it’s adventure you’re after, there’s always the salvage crews. Most offer short-term contracts—usually for a tour or two—but it’s dangerous work and not many women sign up. Those guys generally aren’t the nicest to be around, if you get my meaning.” He glanced at her, eying her weapons. “But I’m guessing you can hold your own against most men.”

  Throttle smiled. “Mo
st.”

  “Salvage crews are where the real money’s at. I know a few crew members who stop by whenever they’re docked, but they’re all out on tours right now. Your best bet is to walk down to the docks and try to catch one. I know the Harlot just returned with a huge salvage, so they’ll be docked for at least another week or more waiting to get that sorted out and to get their payments.”

  “Thanks. I think I’ll do exactly that.” She downed her drink and pulled out her pass-card.

  “That’ll be one hundred credits.”

  She paused. “A hundred credits for two drinks?”

  “Inflation.” He gave a commiserating half-smile. “I warned you that you’d be eating on L-One a lot. A thousand credits won’t last you very long around here.”

  She rolled her eyes and handed him her card. He ran it under a scanner and handed it back.

  “See you around,” she said and headed out.

  “Wait, honey.”

  She turned to see Duggar hustling toward her.

  “Listen, friend. I’m not going to sleep with you. Not now, not ever,” she said.

  Disappointment flashed before being replaced by a grin. “You say that now. I bet I could change your mind.”

  She started walking.

  “I work at the docks. Want me to show them to you?” His breath stank of alcohol and rotten teeth.

  She paused, then motioned for him to come without looking back.

  He hustled to catch up. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “No touching,” she said.

  He removed his hand.

  She stopped at the next bar and made eye contact with Nolin, who was sitting in a booth. He said something to the man he was sitting very close to before sliding out of the booth and walking toward her.

  “Who’s he?” Duggar asked like a petulant child.

  “My friend. We arrived on Jade-8 on the same ship.”

  “Oh.”

  Nolin eyed the Jader as he approached.

  Throttle glanced at the drunk before making eye contact with Nolin. “Duggar is going to show me the East docks. Care to join us?”