The Last Horizon

by Anthony Hartig

  Scott saw three cars parked in the alley next to it. He pulled in behind them, got out slowly, and walked to the front of the building. A door opened and two men stepped outside of the structure and looked at him suspiciously.

  One had a thick mustache and wore a black tank top and jeans. His arms were sleeved with tattoos that ran up to his neck, and judging from the designs, he got them in prison. The other was heavyset and wore a gray jogging suit. He was adorned with thick gold chain necklaces and an obnoxious wrist watch that must have weighed two pounds.

  “There something we can help you with, yhamo?” The one with a mustache asked with a low, threatening tone.

  “Perhaps. I’m here to see Lazarus.”

  “Wass your name, yhamo?”

  “Scott.”

  The two men looked at each other and nodded. The heavy one went inside the building while the other stood outside with Scott and glared at him.

  A few seconds later, the heavy one poked his head out of the door and waved him in. The building was empty and cavernous. It was dim, dusty, and the lights glowed dully overhead as Scott followed the heavyset man inside while the tattooed one walked next to him.

  There was a long table set up against the east wall with two black cases and a duffle bag on top. Scott noticed there were two other men holding automatic weapons standing at the end of a dark hallway watching him as he crossed the floor.

  “Wait here.” The heavy one ordered as he held up his hand. The one with the mustache stood next to him with his arms crossed.

  A voice came out of the darkness. “So you’re him. The one they call Scott.”

  Scott stood silently as he looked in the direction of the two armed men where the voice came from. A man wearing a dark gray suit stepped forward, walked over to the long table, and stood in the shadows.

  “Come closer.” He said calmly. “I think you’ll find everything to your satisfaction.”

  “I trust that my employers have compensated you financially?” Scott asked as he approached the table.

  “They have. Procurement of these items was difficult.”

  “Lazarus?”

  “I am.” The man leaned forward and stepped out of the gloom. His face was covered with scars and pitted heavily. His nose was also missing.

  “Go ahead. Take a look.” He pointed at the items on the table.

  Scott opened the longer flat case and surveyed nine parts of various shapes and sizes that were held tightly in place by foam cushioning. He ran his fingertips lightly over the pieces that were matted in flat black, and could tell that they were products of precision tooling and engineering.

  “May I?” Scott placed his hand on one of the components and pulled it out of the case.

  “Try not to soil yourself.” Lazarus chuckled.

  It took less than a minute. Scott quickly picked the parts out one at a time and expertly began assembly as the others looked on. He snapped, tightened, and twisted the components and marveled at their fit as they began to take on the shape of a weapon. The others watched quietly as he scrutinized the last piece and slapped it into the receiver.

  Scott grinned as he examined the fully assembled Trinity M341 SWS Rifle with flash and sound suppressor; the rifle’s overall length was only thirty-two inches. Thirty-two inches of high-powered velocity capable of delivering death with surgical precision. He snapped the bolt back to check the action, then peered down the scope that had an anti-glare, infrared lens. The barrel was fourteen inches long with a vented heat shield. He held the weapon up and checked it’s weight and balance. This thing was a demon. “I am become death.” Scott thought to himself.

  “You have six rounds.” Lazarus said coldly. “Two armor-piercing hollow points, and four explosive--as you requested. I also got you the Kirsten Automatic Pistol with four-thirty round clips, and four Pyrogen fragmentation grenades.” Lazarus slid the smaller case to Scott.

  Scott disassembled the rifle and carefully put the parts back into the case. He reached for the Kirsten Auto and flicked the selector switch as he wrapped his fingers around the grip and pulled back the magazine catch spring and let it slap back into position.

  “And last, but not least,” Lazarus picked up a small duffle bag and set it in front of Scott. “there’s six ounces of Black Swan with a transmitter and three detonation receiver rings wrapped in the ghillie suit along with the frags, a range finder, and an area map of Sertina’s Pass.”

  Scott set the Kirsten Auto on the table, unzipped the bag, and unrolled the ghillie suit to inspect the items. “Excellent.” He said dryly as he set the Kirsten and spare clips next to the range finder and detonation rings, rolled everything back up, and stuffed them back into the duffle. “Thank you, Lazarus. You are a great asset to this process.”

  “So, you never saw me, you don’t know my name, and this meeting and conversation never took place. Understood?”

  “Goes without saying.”

  Lazarus turned to his men. “Let’s go.” They surrounded him as they filed through the corridor. Lazarus paused, turned around, and looked at Scott. “Whatever it is you’re here to do,” Lazarus said grimly as one of his bodyguards stood next to him and stared coldly at Scott, “I have a feeling I’ll be seeing it in the headlines.”

  Scott nodded stoically at him and they disappeared into the darkness. He watched them get into their cars and drive down the street where they took a left and vanished from sight. He sighed as he grabbed the case and shouldered the duffle bag; he had a few more things to do in the city, then had to go back to Cybelle to tie up a couple of loose ends.

  I adjusted my fedora as I walked around the Zephyr and assessed the overall damage to my ship. Doolie had already set up a work station and the larger RAM panels that sustained the most damage had been stripped off and stacked neatly on a forklift.

  There was a six-man crew of mechanics and technicians working on different parts of the ship; one of them was on a lift clamping off the control surface on the vertical rudder that was torn to shreds, and the others were either working on damaged wiring or replacing minor components on the Zephyr.

  A couple of welding drones were in the process of reworking the omni-strut panel mounts that got torqued from the attack, and Doolie was doing the final testing and inspections on the quality of the work.

  “Well good morning Nikki.” Doolie removed his face shield and ducked under one of the ventral fins.

  “I can’t believe how fast you guys move on getting things done.”

  “We started last night after you left for the city.”

  “You mean you haven’t slept yet?”

  “Nope, we have direct orders from the man himself to do whatever it takes to get your ship repaired.”

  “Do you have all the parts you need to make the Zephyr space worthy?”

  “I believe so. We still have to replace some sensors before putting on the new panels, but I’m happy with what we’ve accomplished so far. Some of the fiber optics got cooked, but it’s no big deal, the techs are re-pulling them.”

  “Thanks Doolie, I appreciate how hard you and your crew have been working.”

  “No problem. It’s what we do. I took a look at the major systems and avionic controls and everything checks out. That rudder is beat to shit though.”

  “It sure is.” I stepped back to let one of the drones roll by.

  “The subsystems in this baby are in excellent shape. I see you’ve got a lot of aftermarket parts and systems in your ship.”

  “I’ve had quite a bit of work done, and I did a lot of the system bashing myself.”

  “Nice.” Doolie nodded admiringly. “I don’t see magnetic hyper-drive cores very often, yet alone get the chance to work on them, so this is a nice break in routine.”

  “Is this going to cause problems?”

  “Nothing we can’t handle. We’ll even replace the ceramic detonation ring on the docking collar.” Doolie cleared his throat. “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened?”r />
  “Pirates tried to hijack us just outside of Tal-Seti. It got nasty and we got into it pretty bad with them.”

  “They still out there?”

  “No, we managed to take care of them.”

  Doolie rubbed his chin and squinted. “You know, Jase has been down here three times to see how the repairs are going. He’s rarely at port for anything, but he wants your vessel operational as soon as possible.”

  “Can’t wait to get rid of me already?”

  “No, nothing like that young lady. I’m assuming he and Mr. Charon are pleased with the quality of the merchandise and your ability to make the schedule. From the way Jase talks, looks like I’ll be seeing more of you around here.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think after two or three more runs Mr. Charon may bring you in full time.”

  “Full time? Oh no, no, no!” I shook my head. “There’s got to be some sort of miscommunication between your boss and mine, this was a one-time deal.”

  Doolie chuckled. “Nikki, you stand to make a lot of money bringing in more Beta-ephedrine.”

  I tried not to act surprised by what Doolie just said, so just I stood there quietly and listened.

  “That batch you delivered was serious Grade-5 Beta-E.” Doolie whistled. “One hundred percent pure. The guys at the lab are still talking about it.”

  “They are, huh?”

  I wondered what this beta stuff was used for. My mind drifted…damn it, Kurlie lied to me. I told him no drugs! I didn’t want to ask Doolie what this stuff was since he assumed I knew what he was talking about.

  “Absolutely. Jase was thinking about bringing you in every three to four months depending on the demand, so it looks like we’ll be servicing your ship every time you make a drop.”

  “I wasn’t planning on making any more trips to Nexus after this one, Doolie.”

  “That’s between you and the man.”

  “Is there a way you can arrange for me to talk to this Charon?”

  “That’s above my pay grade. You’ll have to take that up with Jase. Hey, if it makes you feel any better, you can use the Cyclone every time you come to Nexus.”

  “I’m going to have to think about this.” I muttered.

  “You wanna take a look around?”

  “Am I allowed to?”

  “I don’t see why not. You’re the one risking your ass getting it here. Let me give you a quick tour of the joint.”

  “Sure why not?” I thought this might be a good opportunity to gain some insight on what Doolie was talking about.

  Cybelle was a huge mining colony but apparently it was used as a front for purposes other than mining. We hopped into an FAV and went to the warehouse that the cargo was brought to. The containers were empty now, and the cosmetics were still being palletized, but the beta-ephedrine was gone.

  Whatever I brought to Nexus seemed to be a big deal and was part of a larger process. That would explain why everyone moved so fast when it came to the offloading, inventory, and distribution of the payload.

  I’m going to have a sit down with Kurlie when I get back home and find out what he got me into. I was under the impression that he made some promises to people here that involved me, and my plans on throwing in the towel were about to be altered.

  “So where did the Beta-E go?” I asked.

  “The labs on the west side of the facility. I’m afraid I can’t take you there.”

  It was about noon when we got back to the hanger where the Zephyr was moored. To my surprise, Scotty had shown up and was looking around and watching the mechanics at work.

  “Scotty!” I beamed as I hugged him.

  “Hi Nikki.” Scott smiled. “How’s everything going here? Is everything all right? Are we still on schedule?”

  “Yes.” I said as I gestured at the Zephyr. “This is Doolie,” I said formally, “he’s the lead mechanic repairing my ship and the manager of this facility. Doolie, this is Scotty, my copilot.”

  “Nice to meet ’cha Scotty.” Doolie shook Scott’s hand. “Well, if you two will excuse me, I have to get back to work.”

  “Thanks for the tour, Doolie.”

  “My pleasure, Nikki.”

  “Scotty, what brings you back here?”

  “I need a favor from you.”

  “Sure, what’s up?”

  “I’ve got some personal things I'd like you to hang on to until we meet up again.” Scotty reached into his backpack and handed me his SCaT Pad and a small key. “I don’t want to lose them in the city.”

  “Okay. Do you have time for lunch?”

  “There somewhere around here to eat?”

  “There’s a restaurant at the complex I’m staying at. Can you give me a lift?”

  “The car’s parked just outside.”

  As we walked out of the facility, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched as we approached the SS-2.

  “What’s on your mind, Nikki?”

  “We need to talk.”

  “This sounds serious.”

  “It is. I just found out about something that I don’t like.”

  “If that’s the case, don’t talk about it in the car. Wait until we get to the restaurant.”

  “You think the Avarno’s bugged?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “But you suspect something.”

  “I suspect everything. There’s no honor among people in this business. We’ll talk about it over a decent meal.”

  We were seated in a corner booth by the hostess, and the moment she left, Scotty moved us to a table outside on the covered patio.

  Scotty looked around and leaned back in his chair. “This is much better.” He sighed as he looked at the sky and grinned. “So what’s going on? How was your first night, did you get some rest or go to Fluture?”

  “I went to the city. I was out pretty late last night. I see what you mean about these thirty-six hour days.” I browsed through a menu for an entrée.

  “Did you find a decent dance club?”

  The waiter came and took our orders. “I went to a club at The Orchid.”

  “The Orchid is the swankiest casino in the city. I’m staying at the La Rouge Hotel there.”

  “Scotty, how well do you know Kurlie? I know I’m not supposed to ask, but I really need to know; do you work for him?”

  “No, I don’t work for Montrell any more than you do, he’s just an acquaintance. Why?”

  “Have you ever heard of Beta-ephedrine?”

  “Yes I have, what about it?”

  “Kurlie told me I was just delivering some high-dollar cosmetics and other luxury commodities. I should have known better than to believe him. Apparently there was a large amount of beta-ephedrine hidden in the cargo. Do you know what it is?”

  The waiter brought our order and I sat quietly until he left our table. Scotty eyed the server and waited until he was gone. He leaned closer to me and lowered his voice.

  “Beta-E is the key ingredient in Crunch Dust. It’s what gives the user that euphoric feeling and light-headed sensation when they take the narcotic.” Scotty stated dryly. “The beta-blocker in the chemical acts as an opiate and also magnifies the effects of the ephedrine. How did you find out you were carrying this?”

  “That mechanic I introduced to you, Doolie. He thought I knew it was part of the cargo and was my primary reason for coming to Nexus. He inadvertently started talking about it.”

  “So Kurlie set you up to smuggle a chemical used to manufacture a narcotic. What do you want to do?”

  “Not much I can do but play along for now. Besides, I need to make sure the Zephyr gets fixed the way I want it. I want departure as soon as possible.”

  “How soon can they have your ship repaired?”

  “Doolie thinks he can have her ready in the next two days. There’s a chance we may be able to get out of here by the 28th.”

  “What are you going to do about Kurlie when we get back to Earth?”

&nbs
p; “I don’t know yet. I’ll figure that out when we get back.”

  “Okay, Nikki, I’ll try to get things wrapped up here in the next day or so. Until then,” Scotty nodded, “you stay alert and be careful. Here’s my room and phone number at the hotel,” He took out a pen, wrote it down on a piece of paper, and slid it to me, “call me if you need anything.”

  “Thanks.” I exhaled as I put his number in my jacket.

  Scotty leaned back into his chair, “All of a sudden things are moving fast,” he said thoughtfully, “Montrell’s connected to someone big in Fluture.”

  “Yeah, someone named Charon. This was supposed to be my last run, but it seems that people here are expecting me to bring more Beta-E.” I frowned. “I have a feeling Kurlie’s going to lean on me about deliveries to Nexus.”

  “The way I see it, Montrell roped you into circumstances that will end badly. If you don’t make the runs, your ass is in a sling for knowing too much about their operation.” Scotty paused.

  “If you continue to work through this, I think you’ll eventually end up in the reeds for the same reason.” He said grimly as he folded his hands on the table. “You’re an expendable asset standing in a puddle of shit, Nikki, and you haven’t got the right shoes for it.”

  “The future doesn’t sound too promising, does it?”

  “These things don’t just work themselves out.”

  “I know. Can you give me a ride back to the Zephyr? I need to pick up my ride and bring it back here, I’m going back to Fluture tonight.

  Chapter 10

  That evening, Scott slipped into the parking garage with his backpack and moved the SS-2 to a more secluded location in the corner of the fifth level of the structure that wasn’t covered by the security cameras. If the car was bugged, whoever is tracking him would think one of the valets just shuffled the sedan to a different spot.