“I’m normally not this clumsy. Thank you. Say, where did you come from? I just crashed.”
The woman looked nervous. Her jumper didn’t have any insignia denoting where she might have come from and it also didn’t have her name on it. In fact, it didn’t even look like it might belong to her given that it was a couple sizes too big.
“Well, I saw you crash. I came right over. My ship isn’t far from here. Who are you?”
I had given her my name, but I felt as if I should avoid giving any further details until I knew who she was and what her intent was. Being unarmed made me feel a little more than defensive.
“I think I asked that first. Where’s your ship? What are you doing on Hepta? No one ever comes here.”
She studied my bare feet in the sand and shook her head. “I don’t think either of us are giving ground on that. Now that I know you’re alright, I guess I’ll just leave you be. I’ve got some repairs to get to with Andy and it looks like you have the same problem we do.”
“We?” I had to jump on that. It was the only piece of information I had to go on. I couldn’t possibly have been lucky enough to crash land near the runner, could I?
The woman turned and ran, her boots having little trouble with the hot sand. I gave chase, but quickly discovered two things; one, the sand was hot enough to fry breakfast on and two, it was soft enough that my feet sank completely under the surface. I gave up chase after three or four steps and tried to get back to the ship. I could feel the blisters growing on the pads of my soles before I got back.
I spent the next several minutes digging inside Lucky to see if there was anything to help me out. The controls were completely dead at the moment and no amount of banging around did any good. I thought of pulling the wiring and wrapping that around my feet, but then thought better of it. I may need to get the ship in some semblance of working order before the day was out.
In the back corner cabinet of the lower hold, I did find four jugs of water and a small knife. I drank my fill and dumped the rest of the two jugs. I cut some non-critical wiring and after cutting holes in the jugs, secured them to my feet. At least, I wasn’t completely helpless or defenseless anymore.
It was slow going, but I followed the woman’s footprints through the sand. Her boots left great depressions for me to follow in the pristine sand. I also saw several other tiny prints of local wildlife. If I was stuck, I would at least be able to find game. Sooner or later, Lucky would fire back up, even if I had to bang on the console all night, and I could get a signal back to base of my situation. First I needed to see if this woman would lead me to the runners.
The tracks led me into a small section covered in dense, sharp grasses and small, scrubby trees. Thankfully the jugs provided a level of protection that kept me from suffering as I worked my way into the growth. When the ground hardened, I lost the easy trail, but her boot prints coming and going were still visible enough.
Someone shouted in the distance. I ducked and held my breath. There was no way that anyone could have seen me, but regardless, I felt safer being low and listening. The shout had been a man and a return shout was distinctively a woman’s. They were just ahead, probably no more than a hundred yards or so. I stayed low and continued through the grass and brush. Only once did I slip and fall. A strained grunt escaped my lips as a sharp blade of grass stabbed my face too close to my eye for comfort.
I crawled the rest of the way, not wanting to slip in my makeshift shoes again, cutting the sharp grass out of the way as I went. By the time I made it to the edge of the cover, I could hear voices and the clang of metal on metal.
The ship had no identifying markings. It was a simple beast, being mostly a massive box with a smaller front cockpit for a couple of pilots like you might find on some shipping vessel. The landing gear had sunk into the sand leaving the ship resting on its belly. The woman was nowhere to be seen, but two large men were at the back of the ship pulling on a long cylindrical object. It had to be either a fuel cell, or one of the engines. I didn’t recognize the make of the ship. It almost looked as if they’d assembled the large beast out of scraps of other ships and painted it a dull reddish color. On the side, in bad printing, someone had painted ‘AND13’. This must be the Andy the woman wanted to get back to.
I was a little surprised at the fact there were three people, one being a woman, in the ship, but that made little difference. The penalty was still the same. I needed to report them and make sure that penalty got carried out.
The knife in my hand felt tiny compared to the blaster I normally carried. I’d only been in two firefights and both of those were ten years past and were fought with four other men at my side. An aerial assault finally ended that mission and we all went home winners. I knew deep down I wouldn’t be able to look a man, or woman for that matter, in the eye as I stabbed them. My best bet was to get back to my ship, get things in working order, and call in for help.
Back at the ship, I once again found myself in the hold. I banged, I thumped, I pounded. Nothing came back on. I tried unplugging connections and plugging them back in, but still nothing happened. I opened the compartments outside the ship and checked connections in there. I got one beep and some sparks, but little else from Lucky. It was no better to me than a giant rock I could hide inside.
I sat in the seat and looked again at the little knife in my hands and the jugs on my feet. I wasn’t equipped to deal with this. If I had a blaster, I could take care of all three quickly enough. The knife wouldn’t be enough to keep them at bay. The wrench the woman had was longer than the knife I held. There had to be something else I could do.
Perhaps I could sabotage their ship and keep them from getting off the moon. That was something I could do. All I would need to do would be to wait until it was dark and make my way over to their ship, open any compartment and start cutting. Enough damage and I could keep them grounded until base came looking for me.
They knew I was on Hepta. They just needed to give up the chase and come looking for me. Last time we’d lost a man it had only been a day before we went looking for him.
I sighed. I had no food, but I did have two jugs of water. I could hunt, but I needed to save all my energy for when the sun went down. Hunting could be done when the sun came back up again. I wasn’t that hungry and I could honestly afford to skip a meal or three.
I pulled the cockpit closed, took the jugs off my feet, reclined my seat, and settled in for a nap.
When I opened my eyes, it was completely dark. I had slept longer than I had intended. Hopefully AND13 hadn’t gotten repaired. I didn’t like the thought of them getting away. I also didn’t like the thought of being on Hepta after dark and alone. I had been in space so long, I’d almost forgotten what it was like to be in a place where there was a difference between day and night.
I reattached the jugs to my feet, took up my little knife, and opened the cockpit. My breath caught as I felt the instant chill. I had also forgotten the changes in temperature between day and night. I shivered for a moment, caught my bearings, and climbed out. Sabotaging their ship wasn’t going to get itself done.
The starlight was barely enough to navigate my way with. Flying a ship in space was one thing. Walking through obstacles another entirely. I found my way back through the brush and spotted the ship. Lights had been placed around the outside of the ship. Getting close would be difficult, but there were gaps in their lighting. Enough that I would be able to approach unseen, do the damage I needed to do, and get away before the three of them even knew I was there.
My best bet was the front of AND13. The lighting focused mainly on the side and rear of the vessel. Even though I knew it would be impossible for them to see me, I still crouched low and ran as silently as I could. The light jog warmed me up. The ground got softer, similar to how it was around my ship. I had to slow my pace as the water jugs I wore filled with sand. I came to a full stop when I heard a rumbling growl off to my left. Somewhere in the darkness of Hepta, somethin
g stalked me.
I would have stayed still, but I was certain that whatever it was could smell me if not fully see me by the starlight. Even though I was still a good distance from AND13, I made a run for it, waving my arms and yelling as I went. I wasn’t even sure if they’d let me in, but hopefully they would. They’d left their lights on. Surely they had someone keeping watch.
Redirecting my course, I made for the rear of the ship. I had known it was big when I’d seen the two men working on it. I hadn’t been certain just how big until I got up on it and realized the ship could hold far more than just the three people inside. They must be smugglers if they had a ship this big. I wondered how many times they’d managed to sneak off planet using their cloaking device.
I had to get my mind off the job and focus on getting to safety. If I could get onto their ship, I could sneak away and signal the base the coordinates of the ship, head back to Lucky, and wait for pickup. All I had to do was get them to let me in first. Getting to their communications console would just be a matter of time. Perhaps I could even gain their trust. The woman didn’t seem to know I was a border watcher. Perhaps the men wouldn’t either. After throwing down the knife, I moved into the light and waved my hands in front of their camera.
I stopped moving when I heard the growl again. I’d never been on Hepta for any reason. Sure, I’d flown over the moon and orbited it many times over the years, but I never landed on it. For that matter, I hadn’t set foot on any solid body in over a decade. I didn’t see any reason. I had my job and little need for anything else. Suddenly I regretted not getting out more. Perhaps even just spending time reading up on the planets and moons in our system. At least then I wouldn’t be afraid of something I couldn’t see and had no idea what it was.
Banging on the side of the ship, I started shouting louder. I wasn’t about to become something else’s dinner. I wasn’t going to die like that.
Something plowed into me and knocked me into the sand. I felt daggers punch into my shoulder. I yelled in pain and fought to keep from being dragged through the sand. I had shut my eyes to keep from seeing the terror that would surely bring me death. Curse those three inside their ship.
A bang sounded and the beast released its bite and disappeared. The sound was reminiscent of an ancient projectile weapon. Something I had seen in vids, but had thought long since unused. I really did need to get out more.
Hands grabbed and dragged me. At least this time I wasn’t worried about being eaten. Pain blurred my vision, but I was certain I saw more than three people, many of them with long projectile weapons. The dragging didn’t last long and soon I was carried inside their ship. I let unconsciousness overtake me.
“…and I say we kill him. There’s no way we’re going to leave a skud on this ship!” A woman, angry as could be, yelled.
A skud was slang for the border officers. I’d only heard it spoken once over radio communication right before I shot a runner’s ship. The term had been spoken as a jest on board the ship, but this person was serious.
“You don’t know he’s a skud. Perhaps his ship lost power just like ours. You know this moon had spotty gravity wells and will suck a ship in. We all knew the risks. That’s why we fly so close to Hepta, so it’ll hide our exact location,” one man said.
“Are you trying to tell me that he’s a runner like us?” another man asked.
“Runner or not, we can’t risk it. Put him back out. We have enough people at risk already and we can’t afford to put any more weight on this ship.”
The argument swelled and receded. It seemed there were far more than just two men and one woman based on the number of people arguing and the general murmur inside the ship.
I sat up and bumped my head on the rack above me. I heard children giggle. Looking out of the bunk I’d been laid on, I saw two girls and two boys, all under ten years old. Dirty faces, but smiles made them look far brighter. I smiled back. One of the boys, probably no older than six, hopped off the bed and ran to a nearby woman sitting in a circle of people just on the other side of the bunks. Twenty adults sat in the circle and at least that many children.
“He’s awake. Bring him over here and let’s ask him.”
Two men with beards grabbed and pulled me out of the bed. The pain in my shoulder flared as they carried me and dropped me in the middle of the circle.
“Who are you and where are you from? Are you a skud?”
I didn’t see who asked, but I knew how I had to answer.
“No.”
How could there be so many people on this ship? It was as if there were entire families on board. This wasn’t what I’d been taught. I’d always been shooting down single person ships. Sometimes two people. Always people trying to get off planet without permission. There wasn’t supposed to be a family on these ships and certainly not multiple families.
“He’s lying. Look at him. Of course he’s a skud. Who else would crash on this planet?”
“Why would he be barefoot and flying a ship? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Someone pushed me as I started to stand and I fell to my knees.
“Did anyone see his ship? That’ll tell us real quick if he’s a skud.”
“I saw his ship.” The woman with the coveralls and grease on her face stepped forward. “I’m not sure if it’s a skud ship or not. It’s buried pretty deeply in the sand. He crashed hard. There’s just a tail fin sticking up with the number ‘13’ on it.”
“He’s got to be a skud. Probably just an unlucky one. Even if he’s not, we need to throw him out.”
A hand grabbed my shoulder and started to pull me backward.
“No! We’re flying Andy, perhaps it’s fate that he’s flying a 13 also. Let him go.”
The hand released me.
A man with a red beard streaked with gray stepped forward. Like all the people on the ship, he wore little more than rags and coveralls, but his stare chilled me. “You’ve been too quiet. Why don’t you tell us now what we want to know, and perhaps we’ll let you get back to your ship.”
Someone laughed.
“Quiet!” The man knelt down to speak to me. “One more time. Are you a skud?”
Nothing made sense any more. All I wanted to do was get out of their ship and back to Lucky. Things made sense on Lucky. They didn’t make sense here. Why were there so many people on board this ship? Had I shot down ships like this before? Had I killed children? Families?
“Why so many here?”
“That’s not important. I need to know who you are and why you’re here. Are you a skud?”
“Where are you headed? It’s illegal to leave the planet without authorization.”
This brought laughter from many of the people on the ship.
“We’re little better than slaves living in poverty and just trying to survive. We don’t want to just survive. We want to live. All of us do. If you weren’t a skud, you’d know that. Only a skud would need to ask a question like that. How long have you been killing runners? Five years? Ten? If you’re as stupid as your questions I’d say probably closer to twenty. Do you even know what’s happening on the planet? Have you ever stop to wonder why there are so many runners?”
“I didn’t know.” I looked at the eyes of the children hiding behind mothers and fathers. I wanted to cry, but didn’t get a chance.
“I’ve heard enough from this skud. Let’s toss him back out where the carja can get him.”
Cheers went up and once again I was being dragged around like a rag doll. I couldn’t blame them. If I’d come across a person that had killed countless families just trying to leave the planet for a better life, I’d want to kill that person as well. What they said couldn’t be true, could it? Had I really been so clueless? Had I lost touch with everything around me by being a border officer for so long?
The rear hatch of the ship opened and I found myself tossed down into the sand. Another cheer went up.
“Stop!” The old man with the red and gray beard hop
ped onto the sand next to me. “We’re not going to leave him out here to die. That makes us no better than he is. We’re not killers. Not one of us is a killer. That’s not how we want to get our start. We’re going to escort him back to his ship.”
The big man that had dragged me and thrown me outside also hopped into the sand. “No, we’re not killers, but he is. Letting him die is the only justice he deserves.”
“I didn’t know,” I mumbled.
The big man kicked me. “I should kill you.” He pulled back his fist, but the old man held him back.
“I said no! Now get a party together and let’s get him back to his ship.”
“Why? So he can signal the base and give them our position? It’s suicide to do that.”
“Staying here and arguing gives us just as little time. We need to complete the repairs to the ship, then we can get going once more. They’ve called off the search by now.”
The big man pointed a fist at me. “Do you think they called off the search for him?”
The old man looked at me, his eyes sad and weary. “I cannot condone the killing of someone, even one such as he. Return him to his ship and make sure his communications are disabled. There are people on this planet. Perhaps we can notify one of his whereabouts so he can be picked up. Once we are on our way of course.”
My whole life was a lie. Everything that made me happy, shooting down smugglers, runners, pirates, it was all a lie. These people just wanted a life. I didn’t doubt what they said was true, how could I? Who would risk their entire family? Certainly not someone trying to run illegal contraband. How many families had I destroyed in my twenty years?
Five men with long rifles came out and stood next to me.
“Take him back to his ship. He should have supplies to get him through the next couple of days. We will alert someone of his location once we have finished the repairs on our ship and are on our way.”
Lucky or Unlucky? 13 Stories of Fate Page 15
