“Very few people have seen it,” Moses explained. “A very secretive woman, it takes a lot to get close enough to get her picture.”
The recycled air left a stale taste on Seb’s tongue. The image of the woman seemed to bring the bad taste to the foreground of his mouth.
“Camoron has been there for a few years. The reason we’re only going on a rescue mission now is because the Camorons have sent this to me.” Moses fished a small plastic device from his pocket and held it up in a pinch.
“A memory stick,” Sparks said.
“It certainly looks that way,” Moses replied. “But I can’t be sure because we can’t access it.”
When he showed Sparks the connector on the end of it, her purple eyes narrowed, crushed by her frown. “What the …”
“I know, right?”
Seb glanced at SA and Gurt. They looked as confused as he felt.
Moses turned the memory stick to show the rest of the room. “This connecter is alien to us. To break into the stick to retrieve the data could corrupt it. Our best guess is that the systems on Solsans use these ports on their machines.”
The chair groaned beneath Gurt’s girth as he leaned toward Moses again. “So we’ve got to go and find a computer to access it? What’s supposed to be on there that’s so special?”
“The information for the whereabouts of every prisoner on Solsans,” Moses said, “including Camoron. The Camorons had to pay handsomely for this little stick. The smuggler who brought it off Solsans can never go back for fear of a run-in with the Countess.
Something about the mission sank cold dread through Seb, and when he looked to his left and right, it would appear that his colleagues felt it too. Well, SA looked her usual serene self, but the other two wore heavy frowns of concern.
“Now,” Moses said with a clap of his hands that cracked so loud it made Seb’s ears ring, “go back to your rooms and get everything you need. We’re leaving for Solsans in two hours’ time.”
Chapter 16
Seb and Sparks had left their cube of a room set up as a bedroom. So when they returned to the small space, Seb climbed up to the top bunk and lay down.
Whenever they left the room unoccupied, the temperature quickly dropped, but before Seb could say anything, he looked over to see Sparks adjust the thermostat in the panel of buttons on the wall. She clicked it up to twenty-four degrees Celsius and pressed the button next to it labeled boost. Within seconds, the room’s temperature rose to the one specified, encouraging him to relax into his pillow.
A dull throb ran down Seb’s shin from attacking Gurt earlier. He must have clattered into something on his way over the tables.
The heat of the room combined with his exhaustion turned Seb’s body to lead and he sank into his mattress. He continued to watch Sparks, who paced the room with her screen in her hand. The glow from the tiny device lit up her face and reflected off her glasses. As he watched her, his eyelids grew heavy.
“What are you doing?”
Seb woke with a start, his eyes burning and his vision blurred. “Huh?”
“What are you doing? We need to get ready to go to Solsans.”
Seb blinked repeatedly to try to banish the sting in his tired eyes. “You might be getting ready to go, but I ain’t. Moses doesn’t own me. What if I object?”
“We’ve been through this already. If you object, you go to prison.”
Although Sparks had spoken to him, she hadn’t taken her eyes off her screen as she walked around the room and gathered up a small bag of things. Without looking, she filled her rucksack with cables and wires.
“This is bullshit,” Seb said.
Sparks finally looked up at him.
“We have to risk our lives on some planet in the arse end of nowhere to save some clueless rich imbecile who deserves to be locked up anyway.”
“There’s a lot of assumptions there.”
“Come on, Sparks, Moses told us the guy went there to see if he could mine the planet for their resources. You said their company bleeds planets dry and then leaves them decimated. Can you seriously tell me you want to do this?”
“Of course not, but we don’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice.”
“Yeah, prison or mission. And let me tell you, prison doesn’t pay.” Sparks continued to look at Seb, one of her hands on her hip and her eyebrow cocked. “Look, you know as well as I do that we’re going on this mission because Daddy has a lot of money, and he’ll pay anything to get his little darling back. But if you knew what the Crimson Countess was like, I think you’d want to go regardless. Now don’t get me wrong, she scares me more than almost anything else scares me—”
“More than fire?”
“I said almost. But this woman needs to be stopped.”
Sparks crossed the room and held her small computer up for Seb to see. Images flashed across the screen. It showed the slums of Caloon that Moses had shown them—the dwellings that surrounded the rich and elevated part of the city. They lay at the feet of the wealthy’s raised plateau like followers prostrate in the shadow of a deity. “These people live like rats while the Crimson Countess and the others in the elevated city lord it over them. This isn’t pretty, but watch.” Sparks then played a video for him.
An army of soldiers, who all wore red robes, appeared on the screen and ran into the slum. The stamp of their feet beat against the ground in time like the fast beat of an executioner’s drum. “They’re the Crimson foot soldiers, the Countess’ army.” The screen then suddenly lit up with a rush of fire and a loud whoosh sounded out. Thirty to fifty soldiers in total, they used flamethrowers to set fire to the tightly packed buildings in the slums.
A few seconds after the soldiers had torched the place, creatures of all shapes and sizes ran from their huts, screaming and crying. Ablaze like their properties, they fled the soldiers, but when they got a certain distance away, another line of the robed army held shields up at them and forced them back. The soldiers with the shields closed in from every side and drove them into the ones with the flamethrowers, who continued to set fire to everything.
The chaos of it sent Seb’s mind reeling as he watched the innocent creatures burn. Some even cradled smaller versions of themselves in their arms. The cries of the newborns became the only decipherable noise in the bedlam. A shrill expression of pure agony. Fire didn’t discriminate or show mercy; if you stood in its way, you burned. A glance at Sparks and Seb saw her wincing at the footage.
Then, as quickly as it had started, it ended. The video jumped forward in time. Where there had been bright orange flame, there now lay smoking huts and charred husks. In the short space of time, the skin of every creature—regardless of the colour before—had turned black and—depending on the colour of their blood—had lightning bolts of pink or green or blue streaked through them. Such vivid images, Seb could almost smell the burn of their flesh.
After Sparks lowered her computer, Seb looked at her, breathless and at a loss for words.
“That massacre happened because one person in that area of the slum stole a clean set of warm clothes. They caught him and decided to punish anyone who may have known him. This isn’t an isolated incident.” Sparks raised the mini-computer at Seb. “I can show you more if you like?”
Seb briskly shook his head. “No, thanks.”
“I’m with you on the whole George Camoron thing,” Sparks said. “The guy’s a waste of oxygen. He’s been preened and mollycoddled for his entire life and has no grip on reality, but that isn’t why I’m going to Solsans. I’m going there to prove to the Crimson Countess that she doesn’t have control over everything. That she can’t do what the hell she likes. I’m going to rescue that rich imbecile just because we can, and if I get a chance to have a pop at her while I’m there, then I’m going to damn well take it.”
The tiredness had left Seb and he sat up in his bunk. After he’d swung his legs over the side, he slipped off it and landed on the chrome flo
or of their room with a gentle thud. A nod to Sparks and he said, “Okay, you’re right. We need to go there and try to do something about this demonic woman.”
Chapter 17
The small ship rocked from side to side, tossed about by the snowstorm like a leaf in the wind. Seb stood up with Gurt, Sparks, and SA. They all held onto the railing that ran through the gunmetal grey vessel. To remain upright, Seb gripped the railing so hard it hurt his hand. Moses stood at the back of the ship, furthest away from the hatch that would open soon. Too soon.
The ship rocked and weaved in the extreme weather and Moses shouted to be heard by the recruits. “Sorry about the bumpy ride, but this is the only way onto Solsans. We need to get in and drop you off unnoticed if you’re to stand any chance of completing this mission.”
The shark-like creature’s words sent a buzz of anxiety through Seb’s guts. Stand any chance seemed much less positive than anything he’d heard before that. Not that he could do anything about it now. A deep breath did little to help, so he busied himself with getting dressed one-handed. He slipped on a thick coat and trousers like the others were, ready to face the snowy conditions below them.
The craft lurched sharply to the side and everyone went with it. Although Seb remained anchored to the rail, the muscles in his arms ached to maintain his position.
Zero emotion sat in Moses’ black glare when he continued to address the recruits. “There’s a lot riding on this mission. We complete it successfully and the Shadow Order will be okay for cash flow for some time.”
“So don’t cock it up,” Gurt called at Seb, a smug grin lifting his wide face.
After he’d locked stares with the ugly creature, Gurt’s broken tusks rising with his facetious smile, Seb glanced at Sparks and then SA. The same azure compassion looked at him as if urging him to ignore the big idiot that she’d had to partner up with.
The coldness of Solsans’ atmosphere worked its way through the gaps in the ship, and Seb’s exposed hands stung as they turned numb. Clumsy with his diminishing lack of feeling, he grabbed his coat’s zip in a pinch, did it up, and gripped the rail again. He then slipped his gloves on one at a time, using his teeth for the second glove.
Once he’d gotten himself ready, Seb looked at the others. Sparks checked her rucksack full of wires and devices. Gurt kept his coat open as he stuffed an unreasonable number of blasters inside, strapping them, it seemed, to every spare inch of his body. SA sharpened her knives, which seemed to be a favourite pastime of hers, and slipped them into her complex leather harness, which held more than seemed possible.
As if seeing his insecurities, Gurt nodded at Seb. “That’s all you’ve got, is it? Your own two fists and your not so sharp wit?”
Moses spoke before Seb could respond. “We’re going to drop you on the highest peak on Solsans so you can get into Caloon unnoticed. You’ll need to use these”—he held up four snowboards and slid them along the ship to each member of the team—“to get down the mountain. At the bottom, you can dump all your gear.”
“And how will we get off the planet again?” Seb had spoken without thinking, his directness leaving him open to criticism for insolence. But when the rest of the team, even Gurt, looked at Moses for an answer, he relaxed a little. At least they were united on that front.
The few seconds that Moses watched Seb for lasted an age before he said, “You get creative. We pay you guys because you come up with answers to problems. You’ll work something out.”
The four team members looked at one another.
Before anyone could say anything else, Moses shouted over the noise of the wind outside, “We’re dropping you off in fifteen seconds. Get ready.”
Seb had never been on a snowboard in his life. Maybe the others had, but he didn’t have the first clue about using one.
“Ten seconds,” Moses said as he pressed a button beside him.
The whir of the exit ramp on the ship sounded out. A second later an icy blast snapped Seb’s body tight. He gripped onto the railing with all he had, his hair flapping in his eyes because of the strong breeze.
“Five seconds.”
Gurt moved forward first, using both hands to pull himself along the railing above him toward the exit. His snowboard scratched against the ship’s metal floor. Even the cocky Mandulu seemed to be questioning his courage as he looked out onto the mountain range below. They had about a five-metre drop to negotiate that could quite easily damage Gurt’s knee.
“Go!” Moses called, and Gurt jumped.
SA followed a second later, launching herself from the ship with her usual grace. She took to the air like a bird in flight.
Sparks followed them out and Seb looked over his shoulder at Moses one last time. A detached glare met him. A glare that offered no way out. A deep breath and he jumped from the ship, all of his attention on the snowy peak beneath him where his teammates had already landed with ease.
Chapter 18
Immediately after touching down on the mountain, Seb plunged into a snowstorm. It restricted his visibility to just a few metres and the fresh snow crunched beneath his board as he raced over it. Unable to see the others, he called out, “Sparks?” but the wind grabbed his voice and obliterated it. With no other choice but to continue on, he pointed his board down the mountain and picked up speed.
After just a few seconds of what felt like maximum velocity, the snow smashing into his face and his ears on fire with the cold, Seb’s world dropped into slow motion. It became much easier to see the dark grey rocks that jutted from the ground, and he managed to angle his body to avoid them. The starkness of his white surroundings enabled him to see the hazards.
Were it not for the slow motion, Seb wouldn’t have made it. However, it made it so he felt the cold torture of every snowflake in the air as it hit him and then melted on his exposed skin. The cold had teeth, and after a short while, it felt as though nature had torn chunks from him.
The storm diminished as Seb got lower down the mountain, affording him a clearer view. The white expanse of the snowy slope lay before him. Three figures weaved in and out of one another and all three of them moved with a competence he could only dream of. Sparks, on a diminished board, zigzagged, hopped, and jumped, SA glided down the piste as if levitating, and Gurt cannoned toward Caloon like an avalanche. Seb only cared about remaining upright.
Now he’d left the clouds, Seb saw the dark city of Caloon below. Or rather, the elevated part of the city; the lower area sat hidden beneath a blanket of fog. It made the place seem impenetrable, but they’d find a way to complete their mission. They had to.
With his board pointing straight down, Seb caught up with the other three, receiving a long thumbs-up from Sparks, a smile from SA, and a look of utter contempt from Gurt. Despite the fierce concentration he needed to remain upright, he relaxed a little. At least he had his team around him.
Seb tried to slow himself down by snaking from side to side, his world still locked in slow motion. But instead of slowing down, he continued straight past the others as he gathered more momentum.
When he looked back up, he suddenly saw something that none of the others were aware of. Huge like elephants, they had brown fur, thick and powerful legs, and massive paws. Their faces were so crammed with teeth, it took him a second to see anything else in their gargantuan heads. They all had large red tongues that lolled from their drooling mouths. A herd of fifteen, maybe twenty, the huge bears gained on the other three as they ran down the slopes behind them.
Unable to slow himself down, Seb tried to shout at his team, but they couldn’t hear him. He had to do something; otherwise he’d be arriving in Caloon on his own.
Chapter 19
One last look at the bears—the brown creatures galloping down the hill like hippos on the charge—and Seb wobbled on his board. The wobble turned into a snaking flick-flack and he went down. Even in slow motion, which gave him more of an ability to control his landing, the impact against the hard slope rattled his ske
leton.
A sharp burn tore through Seb’s shoulder when he hit the ground for a second time. He then smacked the side of his head against the slope. It rocked his world and sent stars flashing across his vision. The board remained attached to his feet as he rolled over and over.
By the time Seb stopped, his face stung from where he’d smashed into the snow. He looked up and watched Sparks, SA, and Gurt all flash past him. With the bears on their tail—all the more terrifying for his slow-motion perspective of them—he jumped up again and headed down the hill after the others.
Within seconds, the bears at the front of the pack caught up with Seb. One on his right opened its mouth so wide, he felt like he could be sucked into it. He’d certainly fit. The creature didn’t have any visible weak spots, so he used the tail of his board to whack the beast’s nose.
It knocked the large creature over, turning it into a ball of kicked-up snow and brown fur.
Another one replaced the beast, and when Seb looked down the mountain, not only did he see his team looking back up at him and his posse of bears, but he saw the huge rock that jutted from the pure white snow in the middle of the slope. With what little boarding skills he had, he edged toward the rock, turned to see the creature had all of its focus on him, and cut across the front of the large boulder at the last minute.
The creature yelped when it collided with the stone. It sounded like a puppy being kicked over a fence. All the more satisfying for the long, drawn-out slow motion Seb witnessed it in. Not that he had much time to enjoy it; three more of the beasts drew level with him, their heavy breaths and thundering paws coming on top of him like a landslide. Their hard respiration reeked of stale blood.
Before Seb could think, a red beam shot past him. It hit the bear closest to him directly between the eyes. Slowed down like everything else, he heard the squelch of it enter the creature’s forehead, and then watched the explosion of blood, bone, and brains fly backwards away from the bear as it decorated the stark white snow behind it. The large brute fell and rolled sideways, tripping another one of its posse.
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