Gun Runner

by B. V. Larson

  “I killed Jensen,” she said in a whisper. “I released the radiation that filled the ship—I killed the whole crew.”

  Frowning, I felt a sudden urge to defend myself, but I didn’t move or speak. I just sat there and listened.

  “Jensen was a bastard. All the customers liked him. Even Kersen liked him—but he abused me. He abused everyone aboard the ship. When he demanded that Kersen pay him more, Kersen ordered me to flood the ship with radiation and that vile parasite made me go through with it.”

  “Ah…” I said, finally catching on.

  I recalled the first days after we’d met. The ship had been occupied by model-Ds whose primary job seemed to be shoving bodies into the engine core. There’d been no one else aboard—except for Sosa.

  “So… if you killed Jensen—who killed me?”

  She looked up at me, her eyes brimming with tears.

  Suddenly, I felt I knew the truth. She was about to confess to my murder. That was a cold shock.

  How could I work with such a woman? How could I do anything else other than space her immediately?

  A hard, mind-numbing decision was coming at me. I could feel it.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  When Sosa told me what had happened, I found it difficult to believe. But over time, I came to accept it as the probable truth.

  “Jensen killed you. Kersen pulled the same trick. You wanted more money, so he told your first mate he could have the ship if he would only flood the vessel with radiation. Those same model-Ds shoved your body—and all the others—into the core.”

  “How could anyone survive aboard with the ship contaminated?”

  “There’s a compartment under the emergency pods. It’s heavily shielded. To kill everyone aboard this ship, all you have to do is open the core vents and huddle down there. The model-Ds will do the rest of the work. They’re scripted specifically for that.”

  Thinking hard, I began to see how diabolical it all was. Kersen had it down to a science. He was always looking for a new crew. Maybe he got them to work cheap at first.

  Inevitably, they would demand their fair share of the loot. At that point, they’d outlived their usefulness. He would set them up against one another and start over.

  “What a devil Kersen really is…”

  “Yes. I’m sorry.”

  “Why are you sorry? You didn’t kill me, right?”

  “No… but I was thinking about it. Kersen promised me this ship. But I’ve seen the trick played twice. He’d only do it to me later on. Besides, you’ve been so… nice to me. I’m sorry for having been an ice-cold bitch. You can’t get close to someone you’re supposed to kill.”

  “Right…”

  Sosa looked up at me, and in that moment, biting her lips and eyes full of tears, she looked more human and vulnerable than she ever had since I’d met her.

  “What do we do now?” she asked me.

  “Now? Now we go back to the Ceti station, and we screw over Kersen.”

  She smiled. “I’d like that.”

  We joked about the idea, and we relaxed together. It had been a long time since I’d sat on a bunk in the dark with a woman who was on the verge of tears. I couldn’t resist. I snaked my arm around her shoulders.

  She sucked in a gasp at first, but then she relaxed. She put her head against my shoulder.

  “I really am sorry,” she said. “I couldn’t kill you. You’re not like Jensen—not at all.”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  We began to kiss, and eventually we made love. I figured Jort was going to be impressed in the morning.

  Afterward, with Sosa sleeping next to me, I found I couldn’t relax. After all, this girl had been planning to kill me since she’d met me.

  And that guy Kersen, my supposed boss. He was a real gem. He’d planned to pay me nothing for this long, hard run—then kill me later. Maybe he’d have given me another job before getting rid of me, making it a two-for.

  All of this was overshadowed by my third thought: Kersen had already killed me once. He must have been shocked to see me return. No wonder his initial reaction had been so hostile, so cold. He thought he’d gotten rid of old Gorman, only to find him back at his doorstep a year or two later.

  Many details of my past were still unclear, but I at least knew the basics at this point. What I wanted now, most of all, was some solid revenge. How could I turn the tables on Kersen? How could I make him pay for killing me, abusing others, and plotting a second murder of my clone? It was hard to come up with a suitable response to such offenses.

  I lay awake, while Sosa softly breathed nearby. She was sleeping the easy rest of those who have confessed their worst sins and been forgiven. In the meantime, I was seething.

  Plans came to mind, flaws were found, and new plans were formed. The process went on until the ship gently raised the lights, simulating dawn and commanding our bodies to awaken.

  Pretending to be in good spirits, I yawned, stretched and stepped out of my cabin.

  There, standing and wary, was Jort. Behind him stood two model-Ds.

  They were all armed. Jort had a Sardez rifle. The model-Ds had their grippers upraised and open, like the jaws of snapping turtles.

  I behaved coolly, but the truth was I was more than a little worried. What if Kersen had two agents aboard my ship, not just one?

  “Uh…” I said. “Is this some kind of mutiny, Jort?”

  He pointed over my shoulder with the muzzle of his rifle. “I’m here for her. Glad you had a fun night, but she’s a bad one. I think you’ll decide she must die when I tell you the truth.”

  My eyebrows arched, and I nodded appreciatively. I was glad his target wasn’t me. “You mean about her killing Jensen? Working for Kersen?”

  He looked startled and took his eyes off Sosa for the first time. She was getting up slowly, her face registering alarm. She pulled the sheets around her nude body and stared at us.

  “You know she a scammer huh? You no care?”

  “Yes. I know who she is, and what she’s done. Let’s have some coffee and talk about it.”

  After pulling on some clothing and calling off the model-Ds, the three of us sat around the table in the galley and looked at one another warily.

  Jort pointed an accusatory finger at Sosa. “Don’t believe anything she says. She’s evil.”

  Sosa looked down. “I suppose I deserve that.”

  Imploring everyone to remain calm, I placed three hot beverages on the table and lit up a stim. The fog in my mind from the sleepless night lifted soon afterward.

  “Listen,” I said. “We’ve all got flaws in our past. Jort, let’s not forget you were plotting to kill me just a month ago.”

  He looked contrite but rebellious. “You cheated me out of my money and sold me a stolen ship. I was right to seek revenge. Now, we are partners.”

  I nodded, having to concede his points.

  He jabbed a finger at Sosa. “This one is ungrateful witch. We save her life, we take Tulk from her body. We shared life and death with her. What does she do? She plots to burn our lungs with radiation. Here, come, let me show you chamber where she plans to squat while our skins boil!”

  “Let’s see it,” I said.

  Jort led me to the compartment. It was small, and hidden under the upper deck lavatory. I saw the genius of it immediately. All the saboteur had to do was vanish into the toilet and never come out. The others would die, and even if they searched for the perpetrator, they would never find them.

  “So, you did this to Jensen and his crew?”

  Sosa was sulking again. “I told you the truth. I did what I had to do. I… I wouldn’t do it again. Not to anyone… except maybe Kersen.”

  Jort turned to me. “You have her words. This is your crew, Gorman. The job of every captain is hard. What do you say?”

  Jort was right. My role was a difficult one. If I’d been running a simple patrol boat, I’d have a book full of regulations to guide me. Laws would dictate my resp
onses, and my actions would be swift and sure.

  That’s not how things went when your crew was a handful of pirate rabble. Even the two model-D androids seemed hushed and curious as to what I’d say next.

  The only happy detail was the simple fact they were all looking to me for judgment. That meant I was still respected, still their captain.

  Puffing hard on my stim, I looked at them through a plume of aromatic particles. “Listen,” I said, “normally, I’d space her.”

  Sosa gasped while Jort smiled darkly. He liked the idea.

  “But,” I said. “I only have a crew of five counting the robots. I’m short-handed. So, here’s what we’re going to do: First, we’re going to remember she had a Tulk in her guts when she did these things, but now it’s gone, and she’s made her peace with me. So… we’re going to focus on our shared goals and work toward them. We’re not going to keep looking into the past—not as long as everyone behaves.”

  Jort crossed his thick arms and huffed.

  “Listen, Sosa, who do you want to kill?” I asked her. “Who deserves death more than anyone else?”

  “Kersen, of course. He saddled me with a rider and made me do unspeakable things. He plotted all of our deaths.”

  “Right. Jort, who do you want to kill? Who is our greatest enemy?”

  Jort’s eyes flickered over to Sosa before answering. I could tell he was considering naming her.

  “Kersen,” he said at last. “He is the evil behind the evil we see before us.”

  “Hey!” Sosa protested.

  I shushed them both with upraised hands. “Okay. We have a consensus. We all hate Kersen more than anyone in the universe. Our enemy is Kersen. Let’s work together to bring him down.”

  Jort and Sosa stopped giving each other hateful looks and turned to me in surprise.

  “Kill Kersen?” Sosa asked.

  “Kersen is… big time,” Jort pointed out.

  “We can’t defeat him,” Sosa agreed. “He bribes all the patrol commanders—the human ones, that is. Sometimes he programs the androids as well.”

  With squinting eyes, I thought this over. “Sosa, do you think Kersen could have paid patrolmen to follow a ship across several systems? All the way out from the Conclave?”

  She shrugged. “It’s possible. He has a network of servants. Some are obvious, some are not.”

  I was left thinking of Rose and her father’s yacht. The patrols had pursued me through multiple systems, something they didn’t often do. Could Kersen’s reach be so vast?

  Forcing a smile, I turned to my small, feisty crew. Smugglers and pirate crews were always like this. The kind of people that signed onto such ships were naturally aggressive and irritable. In the past, all my crews had been at each other’s throats from time to time. It was part of the captain’s job to keep them together.

  Slapping my hand over each of theirs, I got their attention. “Excellent! It’s decided then. From now on, we’ll focus on our real enemy. Kersen must die!”

  These words seemed to work magic. They were both looking at me thoughtfully, hopefully. I congratulated myself on a sharp turn-around. Our ship was sailing again—not smoothly, mind you, but not disastrously either.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The days went more smoothly aboard my ship after our little talk in the galley. We had a common goal now, and our other differences had been set aside for the moment.

  The following evening, however, after we ate dinner and cleaned up, I snaked an arm around Sosa’s waist. I’m not sure what she did with my arm, but I pulled it back quickly, cursing.

  “You talked about spacing me,” she said, glowering.

  “Jort mentioned it, not me.”

  “You nodded. You considered it. Stay in your own cabin tonight.”

  She left me muttering to myself. When I caught sight of Jort later, he gave me a little knowing smile. There was no way to keep a secret on a ship of this size.

  Several more days passed. During that time, while we crossed interstellar space, we talked and plotted. We came up with a dozen scenarios, each of which resulted in Kersen’s death. None of them seemed realistic.

  “The minute we get into the Ceti system,” I said thoughtfully, “he’ll have the patrols on us.”

  “Without a doubt,” Sosa agreed. “Even in this fast ship, we won’t be able to reach the space station without being tracked and followed.”

  I shook my head. “We have to change course. We can’t just waltz in there—we need a new approach.”

  They looked at me. Sosa was clearly out of ideas—and Jort had never had one.

  “We’re changing course to go to Prospero. We’ll fly another week, and we’ll—”

  “That girl!” Jort boomed suddenly, pointing a thick finger in my direction. “She’s the one you stole that ship from in the first place!”

  I gave him a dark look, hoping he’d shut up, but Jort didn’t get hints often.

  He laughed with a nasty tone. “You always liked that Conclave girl, didn’t you? What was her name?”

  “I don’t remember,” I lied.

  Sosa watched me closely. After a few long seconds she got up without a word and left the table.

  Damn, why did women think they owned you after one night? She’d never come near me since, but she was still acting jealous. This was the kind of thing that I worried about when I slept with a crewmember. I knew it was a bad idea. The trouble was, when it came right down to the moment of truth, I often couldn’t resist the bait.

  “Rose,” I told Jort after Sosa had left. “Her name was Rose.”

  “Ah! Right… I remember now. I helped you remember, no?”

  “That must be it.”

  We changed course that night. Sosa had disappeared, and I became worried. I walked swiftly to the lavatory, tore open the secret compartment and looked inside.

  She wasn’t there. Breathing a sigh of relief, I checked all the Geiger counters anyway. They were all clean, ticking softly to themselves with background cosmic radiation that occasionally made it through the ship’s shielded hull.

  Just in case, I put a counter in my cabin. If it started rattling, I’d wake up.

  When my shift ended, I went to my bunk and stretched out. Each of us was on watch for eight hours at a time. Sometimes the others were awake, sometimes they weren’t, but someone had to watch the bridge around the clock.

  My cabin door slid open about an hour later. My eyes snapped open, and I sat up blearily.

  A shapely figure stood framed in the doorway.

  “Sosa?”

  She didn’t say anything for a few moments. “Who is Rose?” she asked finally.

  “Uh…” I said, then I sighed. I told her most of the truth—but I left out the part about making love to her then sending her home.

  “She helped me,” I said, “but she didn’t really want to leave Prospero. She was too young, too soft.”

  “I bet.”

  “Jesus, girl. You and I had one night, and since then you’ve been cold. What’s this all about?”

  She dithered in my doorway. “Do you want a second night?”

  “Um… sure.”

  Sosa came in, and we touched. It was good. Even better than the first time. Maybe this false business Jort had brought up, about her having a rival, had heated up her passions. I wasn’t sure.

  The next morning, at least Jort wasn’t standing at my doorway. He was, however, making breakfast in the galley. He hooted when we entered together.

  “You two are embarrassing! One moment a fight, next comes the rubbing. How can a man stay alert on watch all night with such a display?”

  Sosa gave him a disgusted frown, but I couldn’t muster a bad mood. I was too happy to have Sosa coming around again. The girl was intense.

  We ate fried meat and tidbits of alien grain. It tasted like food from Baden, and most of it was.

  “Here’s what we’re going to do when we get to Prospero,” I said, and I laid out my plan.<
br />
  They went along with it, but Sosa didn’t look happy. She now seemed to believe my entire purpose was to find my old girlfriend. I’d tried to dissuade her from that opinion, but I could tell she was still jealous.

  We arrived at the Prospero system with a new ID and registry. Naturally, we completely avoided the slip-gate—but a patrol ship was dispatched to investigate us anyway.

  “Your ship is not in our known records,” the model-Q captain of the patrol ship complained.

  “Naturally not,” I said. “We’re from Baden, as I said.”

  “Ships registered to colonial worlds are not common. This is the Conclave. There will be no errors allowed here.”

  By “errors” I knew he meant no funny business. Nothing even bordering on the criminal was allowed around Prospero. If I’d been able to hang on to that yacht I’d stolen from here, I never would’ve been allowed to return.

  Fortunately, Royal Fortune was a ship that had never been to the Conclave, not with any registration or ID. With confidence, I agreed to a boarding party and a search.

  “Are you crazy, Captain?” Jort demanded. Sosa looked like she agreed with him.

  “Nope. We’ve got nothing to hide.”

  “A civilian ship with torpedoes and neutrino-gun turrets?”

  I frowned at that, but shook my head. “We should be okay. You can’t have a ship like that in the Conclave worlds, but we’re not carrying cargo. We need weapons to protect us from pirates. Even these dumbass robots know that.”

  Nervously, Jort opened the hatch when the model-Ks came knocking. We all forced smiles and held our hands out to our sides when a flood of police androids climbed down the ladder and stood on our command deck.

  The patrolmen looked like men, except for their shiny, plastic-looking skin. Worse, they all had the same face. They weren’t programmed to have expressions, but at least they moved their mouths when words came out of their speakers.

  The captain was a model-Q. I’d hoped he’d be a real human that I could reason with, but on Prospero, taking a Navy job would have been humiliating for any local inhabitant.