The Shadow Order - Books 1 - 8 + 120 Seconds (The complete series): A Space Opera

by Michael Robertson

  A moment to think when the alleyway straightened out, Seb’s body wobbled from the demands he put on it. He had to do something other than run.

  When he rounded the next bend, Seb stopped and rested against a cold wall. The wind from the sea barrelled through the tight walkways, blowing his hair back and cooling the sweat on his forehead.

  Then Seb heard it.

  Distant, but clearly the slap of his pursuer’s feet. Impossible to tell and probably more a reflection of his exhaustion, but they sounded like they could run forever.

  Seb’s chest rose and fell with his heavy breaths. His heart beat so hard it felt like it would burst. He couldn’t keep up this pace, but should he fight the creature? If it had been sent by Moses, it would be harder to beat than most.

  A manhole cover sat nestled in the ground by Seb’s feet. The sewers had been far from a pleasant experience the last time he went into them. Although, compared to the ones on Solsans, they were a stroll in a meadow.

  The sound of his pursuer grew louder.

  After another round of deep breaths to try to recover, Seb darted over to the metal circle and dragged it free. He bit down on his bottom lip as the large disc scraped over the concrete ground. A fine balance between removing it and not giving himself away.

  The cover halfway clear of the hole gave Seb enough of a gap to squeeze through. The collective smell of a thousand creatures’ excrement rushed up at him. It hit him on the back of his throat like two strong fingers and he gagged. Another look in the direction of his pursuer. Still no sign of them, but they sounded close. The last roll of the dice, he’d hide down below. If they followed him in there, he’d have to stand toe to toe with them.

  Another quick scan around, Seb then slipped backwards into the sewers.

  The temperature dropped as Seb descended. The metal ladder rungs were frigid and damp with condensation.

  Once Seb had climbed low enough, the smells increasing with every inch he dropped down, he pulled the metal cover back in place. The same scraping noise as before: metal against concrete. Hopefully he’d done it quietly enough to keep his whereabouts hidden. The sewers were lit up. Only a weak glow, but enough to guide his way now he’d shut the light out above him.

  At the bottom, the sound of rushing water louder than before, Seb waited and stared up. The back of his neck ached from looking straight up the ladder he’d descended, but he had to be sure he wasn’t being followed before he moved on.

  It only took a few seconds until the heavy stamps of something running over the manhole cover clattered above. Seb watched it, waiting for a spotlight as the cover was pulled back, but it never came. He heaved a relieved sigh. Maybe he’d gotten away.

  A few hours to kill before he returned to Buster, Seb walked away from the ladders and delved deeper into the sewers. A walkway ran along the side of the river, the shitty water about a metre below.

  The sewers in Aloo were similar to the ones in Solsans in many ways. But Aloo’s sewers had lighting, albeit weak lighting. Dim bulbs sat encased in dirty glass domes every ten metres or so. It showed Moses understood the need for infrastructure and some level of investment. Even if that level could have been much higher. Better to build and maintain a sewer than risk an epidemic.

  If Seb wanted to remain hidden, he’d have to tolerate the damp stench of shit and mould. But if it meant avoiding the Shadow Order’s complex until he had answers, he’d stay down there for days.

  Now Seb had stopped running, the aches and pains from the beating he’d taken in the docks, combined with the fatigue from his run, caught up with him. Were he to stop at that moment, he wouldn’t move again, so he plodded on, his steps heavy, his legs leaden.

  Seb’s breaths finally levelled out as he rounded the next corner. Although the sewage ran a loud course in the canal, he heard something else and stopped. Just to be sure, he held his breath and listened again. Voices. High-pitched voices. Either children or tiny creatures. Either way, they sounded distressed.

  Then it came back to him. So much had happened since he’d been down there last, what they’d experienced previously had slipped his mind. The being traffickers. Had they returned?

  His back against the cold and damp wall, Seb slid along it and edged towards the sound. When he got close to the next bend, he stopped and listened to a voice close by.

  “Shut up,” it barked, its deep baritone booming through the sewer’s tunnels.

  Where the small voices had been just noises until that moment, Seb’s heart twisted to hear one of them cry, “I want my mummy.” It drew the breath from his lungs. It took all he had not to charge around the corner.

  “You’re dreaming if you think you’re going back to her, boy.” This time a gruff female voice.

  Another female added, “You’d best get used to a life without her.”

  At least three beings around the corner, they all laughed. Their collective cackle sounded like sewage catching in a drain.

  The sobs of what sounded like more than one child called through the sewers. The haunting call of loneliness. Of fear. Of losing hope.

  When Seb peered around the corner, he saw a line of four small cages. Each one had two children in it. At least, they looked like children. The one that had spoken clearly was. Not many adults cried for their mummy, no matter how dire the situation. Three slavers stood in front of them, staring in at the wretched things. They all looked like they were the same species as the porcupine creature Buster had drowned. One of them raised a metal pole, stepped close to the sobbing child, stuck it through the bars, and jabbed it hard in the ribs.

  The child yipped and withdrew to another round of cackling laughter.

  Seb had only come down into the sewers to hide. To kill a few hours before Buster told him more about the parasite. He didn’t need to get involved in this. It would save him a lot of hassle if he just walked away. Slavery happened. Everywhere. Jeopardising what he had to do wouldn’t change that. Maybe he could tell Buster about it when he saw him. Yes, that would work. Buster sorted things like this out for a living. He’d know how to best deal with it.

  Seb pulled away from the bend, turned his back on the traumatised children, and strode off in the other direction. Then he heard one of the slavers say, “Anyway, your mum’s dead,” and he stopped in his tracks.

  The word that rang through his mind in the spaceport returned to him. Down! The female voice. The voice he didn’t recognise. Or had maybe forgotten. It had been so long since he’d heard it. It had to be her. It had to be—

  “Mummy,” the child cried out again.

  Chapter 14

  Seb clenched his steel fists as he looked back at the bend he’d just peered around. A quickened pulse, he clamped his jaw and headed back towards the slavers and their victims. Who was he kidding? He couldn’t walk away from this.

  Unlike his last approach, Seb showed zero caution as he strode around the bend. He appeared in plain sight of the three creatures and caged children.

  The child who’d called for its mum—a green frog creature—lay huddled in a ball. It whimpered but didn’t call out anymore. A deep breath to slow his world down, Seb watched one of the other children point at him.

  As one, the slaves and slavers looked at Seb.

  A brief glance at the incarcerated children, Seb then shook his head as he took in the porcupine beasts. All three of the fat little things were brown and wore dirty sneers on their devious little faces. The tallest—if tall should even be used when considering the odd species—barely made it to four feet. It held the metal pole it had prodded the child with.

  “There’s nothing to see here,” it said.

  “That normally works, does it?” A nod past the creatures at the cages, Seb said, “Looks like there’s plenty to see here.”

  The place looked like an underground plaza. The shitty water ran around the outside of the square of raised rock like a moat. Before the creature could reply to him, Seb strode directly towards it, closing down the
few metres that separated them. Although he could have drawn his blaster, he kept it tucked into his belt. He hadn’t come here to kill anything.

  “Don’t say we didn’t warn you,” the tall one said, brandishing its weapon. At that moment, all three of them doubled in size. Not that any of them grew taller. Instead, their flat spines popped out in every direction, turning them into deadly balls. The two that didn’t have poles raised their fists to fight.

  A look from one to the other, Seb couldn’t see where to attack them. No weak spot stood out. If he punched them hard enough in the face, they’d probably go down, but he hadn’t had this problem before. Everything had a weak spot.

  The beasts rushed Seb. The lead one raised its pole above its head as if it were a sword. It yelled out with a feminine cry, and when it got close to him, it brought it crashing down.

  Seb darted to the side, the pole sending out a splash of sparks as it connected with the concrete ground.

  The creature who’d tried to attack Seb sprang backwards before dropping down into a defensive crouch. It left another one of the little beasts between them.

  Seb lunged at the one closest to him and punched it in the face. It turned into a ball and rolled a few metres away from him before it got up again, apparently unhurt.

  “Huh,” Seb said to himself as he stared at the snarling thing.

  The distraction gave the lead creature an opening. At the last minute, Seb saw the swinging pole and dodged it. The clang of metal connected with rock again. More sparks in the dark space.

  Then Seb saw it. As he watched the pole-wielding brute retreat, he saw the weak spot in the centre of its back, buried deep within its spines.

  The next beast came at Seb, the one he hadn’t encountered yet. Although he knew it to be ineffective, he punched it in the face anyway. A crunch as his metal fist sank into its snout and it too rolled into a ball away from him. The other two rushed him again before he had time to think, the patter of their hard little feet crossing the cold ground between them.

  This time Seb went on the offensive. He ran to the side to avoid the pole-wielder and punched the other one in the face again. He hit the thing so hard it lifted from the ground and flew backwards. Before it landed, it turned into a ball and rolled to safety. The punches must be hurting it, even if they didn’t knock it out.

  While the other two recovered, Seb looked at the leader’s twisted face as it raised the pole again and attacked him. He avoided yet another skull-cracking blow, and as soon as the pole hit the ground for a third time, he brought a sharp chop down on the creature’s left wrist.

  A snapping of bone, Seb winced to watch the small beast’s left hand fall limp as the pole clattered against the ground. It grabbed its injury while Seb grabbed the pole.

  One of the other two came at Seb again. He lost track of which was which—not that it mattered. Both hands wrapped around the metal pole, he drove a full-bodied swing at it.

  The end of the metal bar connected with the thing’s small jaw. A wet crunching sound rang out and the creature spun away from him, turning back into a ball like they had every time he hit them. Although not as perfectly formed this time. It was clearly getting worn down from his attacks.

  Seb chased after the rolling sphere of spines and jabbed his pole into the weak spot in the middle of its back. The creature unraveled instantly and ended up flat, its spines as flaccid as the rest of it.

  Malice turned to fear in the eyes of the other two, but before they could react, Seb rushed forward. He came to the one with both wrists intact, whacked it with the pole, and then jabbed its weak spot as it spun around from his blow. The same limp reaction, it too lay on its back and stared at the ceiling.

  The leader of the three had taken the opportunity to run, clutching its wrist as it moved. Seb gave chase.

  The creature headed in the direction Seb had just come from. It vanished from sight momentarily as it rounded the bend.

  When Seb followed it, he saw it running along the damp walkway next to the river. It moved fast for such a fat little thing.

  The pole still in his hands, Seb gritted his teeth and sped up. The dim lights kept the creature in his line of sight. Then it disappeared around the next corner.

  Seb panted as he ran to keep up with it. Whatever happened, he couldn’t let it get up top. He’d only just lost his tail, he didn’t need Moses locating him again.

  Before Seb saw the creature, he heard its hard little feet against the metal rungs of the ladder. If he hadn’t broken its wrist, it would be hard to catch. But when he got sight of it again, he saw it made slow progress.

  The creature turned back and looked down at Seb. It bared a small mouth full of sharp teeth and hissed. Seb drove the end of the metal pole into its spiky back.

  The beast fell and Seb could have caught it, especially as he saw its spikes droop. Instead, he stepped aside and let it hit the ground with an oomph. So loud, it sounded like it had driven all the air from its body. It lay motionless from being knocked out.

  The creature’s spines made a whoosh sound as Seb dragged it down the tunnel back to the slaves and its two unconscious friends. He then went to the first cage with the whimpering child in it and undid the lock. The frog creature looked up at him through watery green eyes, its lips buckling out of shape. It looked like it wanted to say something, opening and closing its distorted mouth, but no words came out.

  Seb held his hand out to the small thing and helped it stand up. “I’m getting all of you out of here.”

  “And what about them?” Another prisoner—a tiny thing covered in blue fur—asked him.

  “I’ll lock them up down here. Give them a taste of what they gave you.”

  While Seb spoke to the small thing, he felt something on the back of his belt. By the time he’d spun around, he saw the frog boy with his blaster in his hand.

  The kid aimed it straight at Seb, the weapon trembling with its grief.

  “What are you doing?” Seb said.

  Where he’d seen sadness in the kid’s green eyes, he now saw fury. Rage shook the kid’s entire form, but he said nothing.

  Chapter 15

  It only took a few seconds for the kid to speak. It felt like longer to Seb as he looked between the end of the kid’s shaking blaster and his watering eyes.

  “Don’t stop me,” the boy finally said. The high pitch of his voice rang through the sewers, riding the sounds of the rushing water around them.

  “It looks to me like you’re the one calling the shots at the moment,” Seb replied.

  To Seb’s relief, the boy turned the gun away from him. “What are you doing?”

  The only response came in the form of three green blasts aimed at the unconscious slavers. Each one scored a direct hit, the porcupine creatures convulsing with the shots to the face.

  Seb stared at the boy, the air hanging heavy with the stench of the slavers’ singed hair and cauterised flesh. After a deep exhale, he said, “Damn.”

  What had been sad green eyes now steeled as they focused on Seb again. A shake of his head, the boy said, “They killed my mum in front of me.” Suddenly his fury broke and his body fell limp as if taken over with exhaustion. As he crashed down to his knees, he hunched over and addressed the damp, concrete ground, his voice wobbling with his grief. “And that wasn’t the worst of what they did to us.”

  The other kids seemed to share in the boy’s trauma. Not quite sure how he knew it, but Seb felt the collective sadness swell in the air around him. Whatever had happened, it had clearly happened to all of them. A shared experience that none of them seemed willing or able to talk about. Nausea balled in his stomach, forcing bile up into his throat.

  If Seb had had the words at that moment, he would have used them. But how could he offer these children comfort? How could he begin to understand what they might have been through? The shock of the boy killing the slavers had gone. They deserved everything they got. In fact, a blast to the face seemed like a far too easy out for
them.

  It took until that moment for Seb to realise the kid still had the gun in his hand. He held his open palm in the boy’s direction to take it back.

  Although the kid reached across with it, just before Seb could close his grip around the weapon, the boy snapped the gun away from him, shoved the end of the barrel up against the bottom of his own chin, and pulled the trigger.

  “Jeez,” Seb yelped as he heard the wet pulse of laser fire and watched the blast fly out of the top of the kid’s head, dragging brain matter and blood with it.

  A cloud of crimson mist, some of it floated over to Seb and rested against his face. He kept his lips tightly pressed together while he wiped it away with a shaking hand.

  Then the first child cried. A second later a couple more started up. It took just a few moments for every one of them to break down. Seb used all his strength to stop himself from crying with them. He swallowed against the rock of grief wedged in his throat and looked down at the froggy kid. He lay face down. Limp. Lifeless.

  Chapter 16

  A small time passed as Seb stared at the dead child. The damp weight of sadness dragged on his heart and rooted him to the spot. It took for a little hand to slip into his to break him out of it. When he looked down, he saw the tiny kid with the blue fur. Damp tracks ran down her hairy face and her eyes searched his. She needed an adult’s guidance. They all did. For the first time since he’d been in Aloo, it didn’t matter about him being human, the only thing they cared for was his help. He pulled his shoulders back and straightened his posture before nodding at the little girl. Together they turned to the cages behind them.

  Once Seb had freed all the children—the newly liberated slaves helping as they moved down the line of cages—he turned back to the slavers and the dead green boy. As much as he wanted to speak, the threat of tears wouldn’t let him. The sound of rushing water ran through the cavernous space. The drips of leaks were everywhere. The heavy breaths of the scared and grieving children.