What in the fuck is that? I was pretty sure those crosses were made out of human bones, but there was no way the company would allow that, right? I knew for a fact that the company wouldn’t have put a cemetery this close to the center of town, and they sure as fuck wouldn’t shell out for any kind of crypts to be built under the city. In a place like this, a cemetery would have been considered an unnecessary luxury. It was cheaper and easier to cremate the dead. It also cut down on the chance of disease. So why have a building with bones over the door? If that was the sign for doctor here, I didn’t wish a trip to the docs on anybody.
Ice sent a message through the comm letting us know that we had about fifteen minutes more of trudging through this shit before we reached our destination. She didn’t quite say it like that, but the weather and the vibe of this city was starting to make me a little surly.
We probably should have put a little more effort into playing the part by stopping and trying to engage a few of the locals in conversation. That would have at least made it look more like we had no idea where we were going. Hopefully, the company would just think they had listed an address on the contract and we had procured a map of the city somehow. Not that I saw street signs anywhere. Fuck, if we didn’t have Ice I wasn’t sure I could even find my way back to the Talon.
A man walked past us in a black robe. He had a silver chain around his neck with a large bone hanging from it. If I had to wager a guess, it was a human femur. This place just kept getting weirder and weirder. Even worse was the fact that he stopped and watched as we passed him. It seemed the company wasn’t the only party interested in keeping tabs on us.
Why couldn’t things ever be simple? If Ice’s family lived on a core planet, then some jackwad would have been holding her brother for ransom. We could have just gone in and killed him and gotten her brother back. But no, we had to land here, on the grey rainy world of death, where weird priests walked around with human bones draped from their necks. I said it once, and I’d say it again, what in the fuck?
Ice continued to move us through the city until she stopped at one of the squat grey structures. I had no idea how she knew this was the one. As far as I could tell there weren’t any numbers. If there were, then they had either been covered over by the grime or faded away after the years had taken their toll. Ice paused in front of the door before knocking.
A warm glow escaped from inside as the door opened. A man appeared in the door, his expression turned from one of annoyance to outright disbelief. He looked over Ice’s shoulder at the rest of our party and then shouted something that sounded suspiciously like “it’s for you” into the house. Then he just turned and walked away. Not exactly the warm greeting I would have expected for a daughter coming back to a place she hated in search of her missing brother.
Our group started to shuffle inside. Gabe went in, and before I did I turned towards the guards. “You two can wait here.” One of them started to protest, but I just closed the door in his face and followed the others into the house. I had a feeling things were about to get interesting.
Chapter 16
Ice
It was strange being back in the home I grew up in. The brightly painted walls and lamps didn’t ease the chill I felt trickling down my spine. Dad had given me about the best reception that I could have hoped for. Which was to completely ignore me and shout for my mother, making me her problem to deal with. It wasn’t much, but it was better than getting the door slammed in my face. As much as he hated me, if I was here to bring my baby brother back then he could tolerate my presence for at least a little while.
Mom, on the other hand, was ecstatic to see me. Something that I hadn’t expected or counted on. She rushed into the room, her curly hair frizzed out all over the place. The front of her apron was caked in flour. The woman might have never been willing to stand up to my father, but she was one hell of a baker. I’d forgotten how she used to bake when she was stressed. Nothing said everything is going to be all right like chocolate chip cookies.
I tried to pull back a little as she reached out to embrace me. Then I surprised myself by pulling her tightly against me despite how messy she was. The flour would wash off, and so would the old wounds if I let them. Mom was family after all, and even after all the bad blood I knew that I still loved her.
Brushing the flour from the front of my clothes, I looked her in the eyes. “I missed you.” My eyes felt moist, but there wasn’t time to cry. We had to find Nick. That was all that mattered now.
“I missed you too, dear. Now, why don’t you introduce me to your friends?”
Even now, despite everything that was going on, Mom had a found a way to remind me of my manners. “This is the captain of the ship that I pilot.” I pointed at Drake. “Captain Drake. And next to him is his second in command, Maze.”
“Oh, a real ship's captain! How delightful. And how very progressive of you to take on a woman as your second.”
“Oh, it wasn’t out of any progressive nature, I can assure you. Maze was the best person for the job, and that is all that matters in my line of work.”
Before Maze could jump in or the captain said something about her butt that made us all uncomfortable, I continued. “The big block of wood over there is Gabe, and the kind of broody looking one is Samantha.”
“Hey, I’m not broody!” Samantha shouted.
“Didn’t say you were, just that you look the part,” I quipped back.
“Whatever,” Samantha retorted, turning away to look at the rest of the house.
“And who is this lovely lady?” Mom asked as she grasped one of Kyra’s hands in both of hers.
“This is Kyra.” I didn’t know how to say we were together. Being a lesbian in this house hadn’t exactly been something that brought us closer together as a family. Still, it was better to have it out there in the open. The last thing I wanted was for Kyra to feel slighted because I told my family she was just a friend. “We’re kind of together.”
“No kind of about it,” Kyra said putting an arm around my waist.
“Isn’t that sweet,” Mom said, keeping her eyes fixed on my girlfriend. “And what do you do on the ship, Kyra?”
“I just stand where Ice can see me and try and look pretty,” Kyra said with a wide smile.
“Ice?” Mom asked sounding confused.
Kyra pointed at me, and I didn’t know what to say but managed to spit out a lame sounding explanation. “That’s my name now.”
“Well it sounds stupid,” Dad shouted from inside of the kitchen.
“Henry, behave yourself or so help me God, I’ll hit you with the rolling pin.” Only silence greeted her words.
“Actually ma’am, I’m the ship's engineer,” Kyra said with a small shrug and huge smile as she tried to make things a little less awkward.
“My daughter the pilot and her woman is an engineer. Who would have thought it possible?” She smiled and then looked over the team. “Now where are my manners, let’s get you seated and something to eat.”
She waved towards the couches against the wall, and the crew moved towards them. “I don’t have anything fancy, but I do have some soup on the stove and cookies in the oven. Actually, I have lots of cookies. I tend to bake when I get nervous.”
“Cookies for me,” Gabe almost shouted in his hurry to scarf down a home-cooked dessert.
“Cookies would be fine, Ma’am,” Drake said. “We don’t want to put you through any trouble, and we do have a job to do.”
“It’s no trouble at all.” She motioned for me to follow her into the kitchen. “Barbara can help me with the cookies while I try to wrangle her father in here. I’m sure you have some questions for him.”
Mom had let my real name slip. The cat was out of the bag. I hadn’t been called anything but Ice for so long, it almost felt weird being called by my actual name again. A quick look around the room told me that none of them had missed her slip except maybe Gabe, but Gabe was as good at pretending as anyone, so he had p
robably heard it too.
I followed my mom into the kitchen, casting a quick glance back into the room. All of my friends were talking and smiling. Made me think that maybe they had a pool going on my actual name. If they did, I wondered who got the closest.
The kitchen smelled delightful. Was there really any better smell than cookies cooling and the fresh scent of another batch in the oven? If there was I’d be surprised.
Mom pointed to the cooling cookies. “I take it you still know where everything is?”
“As long as you didn’t move it.”
“Nope, it’s all in the same place. Put something together for your friends, and I’ll get your father.” She walked out of the kitchen in the direction of their bedroom.
I put together a big plate of cookies and started a pot of coffee. My parents were arguing behind a closed door, but in a house this small it was almost impossible not to hear it. That meant Samantha and Maze probably already caught most of their conversation as well. It probably sucked to have super hearing sometimes. The main gist seemed to be that my father didn’t seem to think we would be able to help and that my being here put them and my brother in more danger.
At first I thought he was over exaggerating, but then it started to sink in. If the company couldn’t come after me, then they would probably lash out at anyone that I had contact with. Right now only my brother was missing, but if we stayed for too long my parents could end up disappearing as well. Whatever was going to happen needed to happen soon. The faster we got off this damn planet the better.
Gabe almost jumped to his feet when I brought out the cookies. God, that man could eat. I had no idea where he put it all. If I ate like him I’d weigh four hundred pounds. Somehow he crammed all that food in and still looked like a cover model. Maybe he had a Zerellian worm or something?
Gabe snagged a handful of cookies and went back to his seat while everyone else stayed where they were. This was business, and they were all focused on the objective. The only sounds in the room were my parents’ muffled voices and the crunching of cookies as Gabe tried to eat enough to make up for everyone else’s abstinence.
“These are so good,” Gabe moaned, spitting a few crumbs onto the front of his shirt.
“Make sure you tell my mom. It will make her day.” I tried my hardest not to laugh as I watched the speed at which Gabe inhaled the cookies. I didn’t know if I was horrified or impressed.
“I will. You think maybe she would feel inclined to send me a care package of them if we get your brother back?”
Mom walked into the room. “If you bring our little Nicky home, I’ll bake you a mountain of cookies.”
Gabe’s eyes lit up like saucers, but before he could say anything I intervened. “Mom, don’t encourage him!”
“Nonsense, he’s a growing boy, and food speaks straight to the heart of most men. It’s how I caught your father’s attention.”
“Gross, Mom.” Kyra stuck her tongue out at me. Sometimes she was just too damn cute.
She was about to say something else when my father put a hand on her arm to silence her. “Tell me what you want from us, and then get out.”
“Nothing says home like a kind word,” Drake said with a cutting smile. “We just need to know whatever you can tell us about your son’s disappearance.”
Dad’s face was red. He didn’t like being talked back to, especially in his own home. I knew what was on the tip of his tongue even if he didn’t say it. “This is my house, and I will talk to my family in any way that I choose.” And he had, for a lot of years. My father was a hard man who spent his life doing hard labor, but deep down inside I knew that he loved us. Well, maybe not me, but the rest of the family.
He kept Drake fixed in his glare, but if he thought the captain would wilt underneath it, then he was going to be waiting a long time. After all of the things the captain had been through, staring down my old man wouldn’t even make his pulse spike.
Finally, my dad broke the eye contact, and after looking at my mother, he let out a heavy sigh. “It has to have something to do with the Temple of Bones. Those bastards have to have him. I mean you’ve been outside, do you really think the company wouldn’t know what happened to one of their foremen with all those fucking cameras plastered to the walls?”
“There has to be more to it than that.” Drake fixed him with a glare of his own.
“Sure there is, but does it really matter? Nick started to speak out against those bastards when some of his men stopped showing up for shifts.” Dad cocked his head to the side as he said the next bit, almost as if he was waiting to see if Drake understood it. “If you have members of your crew not showing up to work it reflects badly on your leadership. It’s the kind of thing that gets you demoted or snatched away for re-education.”
“And we know for sure that the company didn’t take him for re-education?” Drake looked as if he was contemplating the true meaning behind the word.
“They would have told us if they had taken him or at the very least they would have lied to us about taking him just to keep us out of their way.” Dad looked around the room and shook his head almost as if he didn’t understand why he was wasting his time talking to us. “So when Nick found out his men were missing work to help out at the temple, he started to speak out against them, rallying some of the miners away from their doors. Those bastards had to have taken offense; it’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“And what, you think maybe they are doing a little re-education of their own?” Gabe asked sounding incredulous.
“That or something worse. Rumors have been floating around about missing children. Not just from our world but from others nearby. That, and they have started openly speaking out against the company. Openly telling their parishioners they would return this planet to those that have worked it for generations. The company tried to shut them down, but they managed to put together the first miners’ strike in forty years. The company backed off, but that won’t last forever.”
“Well, at least it gives us somewhere to start. Anyone in particular that we should speak with?”
“I don’t know, our family’s faith is to the Christian God, but Barbara’s friend Sally follows the way of bones, or at least she used too. I’d go and speak to her, I’m sure she would like that.” It came out sounding mean and full of disapproval.
Dad apparently had enough of our presence and conversation after he said his little bit. He turned and headed back into the house, but I saw him grab a cookie from the counter before he snuck back into his bedroom. Mom looked a little sheepish about how things had ended but didn’t make any excuses for him.
She came forward and pulled me into a hug. “Just get him back for us.” She broke the embrace and followed my dad. A few moments later we all heard their voices as they started to shout again.
“Ice, why don’t you and Kyra go see your friend Sally, and the rest of us will go to check out this Temple of Bones,” Drake suggested, rising to his feet.
“I know what you’re doing, Captain. I want to be there when you get my brother back.” Kyra put a hand on my arm to rein me in, but I wasn’t having it. “You promised I could help.”
“And you can help. Sally might know something that we need to get your brother back. She could have information we can’t do this without.”
“Fine, but if you find him without me, I’m going to be pissed.”
“Duly noted,” Drake said with a roguish smile. “Let’s get to work.”
Chapter 17
Drake
Our two escorts were still waiting for us when we exited Ice’s family home. It was drizzling again, the light mist washing away the dust that seemed to cake everything despite the fact it rained less than an hour ago. One could easily start to see why someone would want to leave this planet.
I tapped one of the company’s men on the shoulder to get his attention. He spun away from me and at the same time stepped back and brought his gun up so it was pointed at my ches
t. I held up my hands to indicate that I wasn’t holding a weapon. That didn’t stop my crew from covering both men with their rifles. I couldn’t see into the man’s helmet, so I had no idea how to read him. I’d prefer not to get shot, even if my armor would keep me alive. If he shot me, we’d end up killing some of the company’s men, and that just never ended well for anyone.
“How about you point that thing somewhere else, so we can talk for a bit.” I motioned at the tip of his gun. The weapon didn’t go off, so at least he had a little control over himself after the fright I’d inadvertently caused.
“No fucking tricks! I know all about you,” the man shouted, sounding like he was on the verge of losing his shit.
It surprised me when he lowered the gun just slightly. He still had the weapon pointed at me, but it was down around my knees now instead of my chest. I could work with that. Maybe a few more words would get the fucking thing aimed away from me, or if I was lucky he might even holster the weapon altogether. “I just wanted you to know we are splitting up.”
“You can’t do that.” He paused, clearly trying to keep his composure. When his voice came out this time it sounded less panicked and more in control. “You can’t do that, we have orders to stay in contact with all of your party.”
“Then you will be able to continue following orders.” The man’s body relaxed for the first time since I tapped him on the shoulder. “We are splitting into two groups. One of you can go with each of us to ensure your interests.”
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