Star Binder

by Robert Appleton

  Despite Thorpe-Campbell’s advice to soft-peddle, to stay away from the heavy stuff, we both jump right in. She’s not as brittle as she looks. Far from it. She’s feisty, very matter-fact about everything, and sometimes on the nose, a bit like Lys. She doesn’t remember much about her PriPod expedition, only that it was a disaster before the nanobugs ever got involved. There’d been a serious equipment malfunction en route through the Binder, which had killed Sheila Rheingold and forced them to stop at the nearest station, one they knew nothing about. On only their second recce in the rover, they drove too near the edge of the crater and crashed.

  “The only thing I remember after that is setting off on a long, long search, but I can’t tell you what I was searching for or how long it took, or if I even found it in the end. I had help, I know that much. It was a while coming, but at some point I felt that with that help I had at least a chance of finding what I was looking for. Sorry if that sounds vague, sweetie. It’s just that it was vague. The whole time. Like a wire vibrating through every single dream—the same wire. I couldn’t pinpoint it, but I knew it was there, vibrating, communicating...something.”

  “A part of you knew you were trapped and wanted to wake up?” I suggest.

  “Maybe.” She slides her fingertips down my cheek. It tickles. “But shall I tell you a secret?” she whispers.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “I’m communicating with them now.”

  “Who? The nanobugs?”

  “Uh-huh. They’re outside, aren’t they?”

  “Um, yeah. They’ve built—”

  “Our house. In Bowman’s Reach.”

  I gaze into her wide-awake-but-bloodshot eyes. There’s a fire raging behind them. “How are you—”

  “Communicating with them? I don’t know. But they’re listening to what I tell them. And do you want to know something else?”

  “I guess.”

  “They’re going to help me carry out a new search. I’m awake now, so I know what I want, what I have to do.”

  “What’s that?” But I’m not sure I want to know the answer. Mum and I are together. That’s all I want.

  “I knew it almost as soon as Charlie told me what happened that day at our home. First, I’m going spend all the time I can with you, get to know my boy all over again. I’m going to meet your friends, watch you settle in here at Alpha. Then, when I’m on my feet again, I’m going to get fighting fit. In tiptop shape. Because I’ll be heading back through the Binder. For one last score to settle.”

  “Mum? What do you mean?”

  “I mean Nessie. And Sam. Someone knows who killed them, and I’m going to find out who did it.”

  “I—I know who the investigating officer was,” I tell her, stupidly hoping that will be enough.

  “Ferrix Vaughn, I know. And he’s where I’ll start. Or should I say, where my friends and I will start.”

  “Let me come with you!”

  She stares away across the room, pulls me close to her. My head touches her shoulder, but the bone’s so sharp and she feels so brittle, I daren’t put my weight on any part of her. For chrissakes, how is she ever going to be strong enough to take on a galaxy of Sheikers and Finaglers?

  “We’re all going to have to face that choice soon,” she says. “Fight or flight. Charlie might have made all this seem like it’s the best thing for everyone, the only hope for mankind and all that, but from what he tells me the war still isn’t over. And it won’t just end when they take control of our worlds. Human resistance is always strongest when its back is against the wall. I’ve already heard your friend Lohengrin is planning to go back when he comes of age. To join the resistance.”

  “He sort of mentioned it. Some of the others, too, I guess.”

  “Rachel?” she asks.

  “No. I mean, I don’t think so. What made you say her?”

  She shrugs.

  “So you’ll let me come with you?” As I speak the words, I’m torn. On the one hand, I don’t ever want Mum to leave again. But if I go with her, I might have to say goodbye to Rachel. And Lys. And...

  “When you come of age, you’ll have to decide,” she says. “But I can promise you this—as soon as I’ve done what I have to do—the second it’s over—I’m a Binder girl forever. I’m not going back for the war. I’m going back to settle a score. After that I’m coming straight back here, to help the Initiative in any way I can. This is what I believe in. And if you decide that’s what you believe in too, I’ll join your PriPod in a heartbeat. We can discover the galaxy together, go as far as we want. If what Charlie tells me about you is right, you were born for it, just like I was.”

  “Mm.”

  “Something to think about.”

  But I don’t want to think about any of that right now. I’m just happy to be with Mum. Abs and her nephew, Mayor Prendergast, said that home isn’t any one place, it’s a sense of belonging. You can always find plenty of other places you feel you belong to. I don’t know if that’s true about places, but with people, I think it’s limited to a few. I think there are only a select few you can ever really connect with, that when you’re with them, you genuinely feel like you belong.

  So, for me, right now, Alpha is my only home. All the people in the galaxy I care about are here.

  I’m a Trillion (miles) from Mars. But I wouldn’t have made it this far if it weren’t for one person.

  “Mum?”

  “Yes, sweetie.”

  “There’s someone I need you to meet.”

  She looks at me and smiles. “I’ve been looking forward to it. Go fetch him.”

  It isn’t easy finding a stubborn Russian who doesn’t want to be found. After searching everywhere I can think of—his quarters, the gym, the playing fields, the VRI building—I’m about to give up when Lys catches up with me and spills the beans.

  “If you hurry you might catch him,” she says, breathless after a long sprint, “before he sets off.”

  “Sets off where?”

  “God knows. Those damn sand bikes of his. Ever since we got here, he’s been talking about stealing one and taking off. Just...” She whistles the sound effect of something zipping by at high speed. “What a doorak. Has he always been like that?”

  “You’ve no idea. Where is he?”

  She directs me to the low-alt vehicle compound on the south-east edge of Alpha town. Beyond it is a lumpy desert, mile after mile of rolling sand dunes and sharp rocky outcroppings. It looks unexplored, untamed. No wonder Sergei’s drawn to it. He can be alone out there.

  I find him packing supplies into his pillion bag behind one of the maintenance sheds: days’ worth of food and water, and a sleeping bag. Not only will he be AWOL from the academy if he goes, he’ll be a criminal to boot. This is Initiative property he’s stolen. When he’s found out, his PriPod days are over.

  “So, what are you?” I ask him.

  He stops what he’s doing, checks to see if I’m being followed. “What am I? Out of here.”

  “I see. Any idea when you’ll be back?”

  “When the free stuff runs out, I guess.”

  “Lys came to find me. She thinks you’re being a doorak. Can’t say I disagree.”

  “Yeah? What do you care?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  The sleeping bag doesn’t quite fit in the way he wants it, so he punches it in, tears the pillion bag. “Sonofa...”

  I tell him, “Mum wants to meet you. She said she’s been looking forward to it. I told her you have, too.”

  “Really? What d’ you tell her that for?”

  “’Cause I want you to meet her. She’s one of us. She’s cool.”

  He resumes his packing. “Maybe some other—”

  “Come on, big guy. Come back with me, see what she has to say. Then we’ll both go for a ride, I promise.”

  “Why would you want to?”

  “Why wouldn’t I?”

  He shrugs, gazes out across the desert, then down at h
is feet. “She’s like you remembered her?”

  “I didn’t...remember her. Not really.”

  “I wish I could forget mine.”

  “Come on, Sergei. You’ll like her, I promise. And she’s heard all about you.”

  He’s silent for a while, shaking his head as if there’s no way his pride will let him give in. Then, out of the blue: “Okay, I’ll see her.” He looks up at me, guarded. “But only if we ride out tonight.”

  “You’re on.”

  “Now who’s the doorak?” he says.

  “Mm. I had a good teacher.”

  He’s so shy as he enters Mum’s room, practically peeling himself off the door frame as he twists around it, tangled in his own feet, avoiding eye contact with her, it’s hard to believe this is the same guy who made that legendary ballsy entrance in the Hex.

  “You must be Sergei.”

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “I’m Marina, Jim’s mum.”

  “Yeah. Nice to meet you,” he mumbles.

  “It’s lovely to meet you. Won’t you take a seat? My eyesight’s still a bit fuzzy; I can’t really see you way over there.”

  He glances at me, as if for permission. I mouth the words, Go on, and nod him over to her. The strongest guy for his age I’ve ever seen barely lifts a lightweight plastic chair into position next to her.

  “Sergei, do me a favour,” she says. “Lean in close. There’s something I want to tell you.”

  Again he glances my way. This time I just smile. When he leans in, she takes his face in her hands and kisses him on the forehead. “That’s for taking care of my boy, for always being there.”

  “Ithwa...” He unties his tongue. “I mean it wasn’t nothin’, ma’am.”

  “I understand you lost both your parents when you were young.”

  “In the riots.”

  “What were their names?”

  “Petr and Julija Balakirev.”

  He never told me that! He always said he couldn’t remember their names.

  “Well, I know Petr and Julija would be proud,” she tells him. “And though no one can ever replace them, I want you to know, as of right now, you’re not on your own, Sergei. And you never will be. I’d like you to think of us—that’s Jim and me—as your family from now on. You’ve been his brother all along, all this time. That makes you my family too. And if there’s ever anything you need—anything—you come to me, okay?”

  He stares at her for a moment, then tries to scowl—that big Soviet face-scrunch that happens whenever he’s uncertain—but his emotion won’t let him. Instead, he gently takes her hand and kisses it, the way a Russian prince might kiss the hand of a tsarina.

  “You’re sweet,” she says.

  “You remind me of her.”

  “Who? Julija?”

  He beams his most charming, lopsided smile. “I used to call her Mama.”

  Then he gets up and walks away.

  On his way out he gives me a sideways nod, as if to say, You were right, Trillion, she was worth the wait, then turns to look at her again, perhaps to make sure she’s real.

  “Come and see me again soon,” she calls after him.

  He touches a fist to his heart and gives a manly bow.

  Like they do in Minsk, I guess.

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Based in Lancashire, England, Robert Appleton is an experienced science fiction and steampunk writer with a background in film and media. He also ghostwrites across an eclectic range of genres. His most recent publisher is Harlequin Carina Press. In his spare time he hikes and kayaks whenever he can. His favourite books and movies, like his own fiction, usually take place in the distant past or the far future. The night sky is his inspiration.

  Amazon Author Page

  Website: https://robertappletonscifi.com

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/robertappleton

  Other science fiction titles from Robert Appleton, set in the same universe as Star Binder:

  Alien Safari

  Warning! Wildlife may be dangerous. Proceed beyond this point at your own risk.

  When celebrated detective Ferrix Vaughn is called in to investigate a deadly breach on Hesperidia, a protected planet full of indigenous wildlife, he doesn’t know what to expect. The place used to be a tourist attraction, but the safari tours were discontinued long ago due to rampant poaching. Only a handful of researchers live there now, including Jan Corbija, the young woman who reported the breach.

  The deeper Vaughn digs, the more the evidence seems to point to a recent raid on a biotech facility in a nearby system. Whatever was stolen from there, it’s attracted the attention of major political players in a time of war across the colonies. Vaughn suspects the secret is on Hesperidia, in the hands of the two fugitives who fled the murder scene.

  If he wants to get to them first, he’s going to need Jan’s help. Her Alien Safari tour will have to reopen for this final excursion. But to survive it, they’ll both need to face their demons, for a predator far deadlier than man roams the wilds of Hesperidia. And this is its killing season.

  This way for the ride of your life.

  Borderline

  Pyro Canyon

  Copyright @ Robert Appleton 2017

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Characters, names, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This edition published by Mercury Seven Books

  2017

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