by James Wisher
Raan waved his upper right hand. “A minor issue. Few species build their ships to accommodate beings of my height. I never got a chance to thank you for saving my life.”
Marcus smiled. “All part of the job.”
The intercom beeped. “The transport just emerged from hyperspace.”
Marcus pressed the talk button. “Thanks, Solomon, tell them link up with our airlock. I’ll take Raan back.”
“Will do.”
Marcus motioned the negotiator to follow him to the rear of the ship. It always surprised Marcus when he walked into an empty cargo hold. He hadn’t reset Herc to guard mode so the giant robot ignored them. He led Raan to the airlock. Through the viewport he watched the diplomatic courier maneuver into position. When their airlocks aligned the ship shuddered a little, Marcus assumed they’d activated a tractor beam to help hold the ships together. A docking tube extended from the transport and locked against the star.
Marcus punched his code into the keypad and opened the airlock door. “Off you go.”
Raan took his hand in a four fisted grip. “I won’t forget what you did for me.”
The negotiator stepped into the airlock bent almost double. Marcus closed the door behind him. When the light went green Raan glided across to the other ship. A couple minutes later the tube retracted.
Marcus double-timed it up to the cockpit. “Any communication from the transport?”
Solomon shook his head. “All I got was an acknowledgment that Raan made it aboard safe. No new orders.”
The courier shot into hyperspace. It seemed the first councilor had nothing for them to do. Maybe he could make a quick trip to see Iaka.
CHAPTER TWO
Iaka studied the image beamed back from the probe her chief technician guided through the caves of a distant mountain. They’d established a comfortable if small base of operations on the ruins of the old Omni lab. Iaka smiled. In the past six months they’d made huge strides in understanding the natives and their habitat. To her delight they’d located six more tribes scattered under the mountains. The Shaman had introduced her to one group and they had made peaceful contact. The natives were a kind people and after some initial hesitation welcomed her with open arms.
“Radiation spike,” Lorren, her second officer, said.
Iaka refocused. The natives always built their villages in areas of high radiation. Something moved at the edge of the probe’s view. The image shifted and heat signatures from dozens of small figures filled the screen. She shared a high five with Lorren. “Seven tribes and we’ve only surveyed twenty percent of the caverns.”
“How many do you think we’ll find?” Lorren asked.
Iaka shook her head. “I don’t know. When we started the survey I didn’t expect to find seven so I’ve already exceeded my expectations. Finish surveying the area and update our map, I need some fresh air.”
Iaka left the computer shack and took a deep breath of the sweet jungle air. Some big red blossoms had opened the day before and their perfume filled the clearing. She sighed. There was always something new and wonderful to find on this planet.
She turned toward her tent hoping to catch a nap before the evening staff meeting. Halfway across the clearing a young man shouted, “Iaka!” He waved his arms and ran toward her.
Iaka turned toward her over eager communications specialist. Red haired Timmy O’Sullivan had graduated from college on Earth three months ago and promptly signed up for a job as far from his home planet as possible. “What is it, Timmy?”
“You’ve got an incoming call, civilian channel.”
Iaka smiled. Maybe it was Marcus. She missed the handsome captain and wished their jobs let them get together more often. The natives could also use a fresh reminder of her friendship with the god of the dark depths. “Send it to my tent.”
Timmy ran back the way he’d come and Iaka continued on to her tent. She stepped through the tent flap and found the light flashing on her small comm unit. Iaka sat in front of the screen and tapped the flashing light. Her breath caught in her throat. Instead of Marcus’s familiar, scruffy face she found the haggard, red eyed, but still familiar face of her old boss, David Shea.
“David? I thought, I mean, I assumed you were dead.”
David offered a weak smile. “That’s what I wanted everyone to think. People don’t try as hard to kill you when they think you’re dead already. I have information about Earth Force that the council needs. You’re the only one I trust to meet me.”
“They know about the illegal experiments.”
David waved his hand across the screen. “That’s nothing. Since I went to ground I’ve been digging into things. What I learned, well I can’t talk about it over an unsecured connection. Meet me at this location, there’s a small cafe, I’ll be there tomorrow at noon Earth standard.”
The screen went dead. “David?” Iaka scrambled to find paper and a pencil so she could write down the location before she forgot. What the hell had he got himself into? Part of her wanted to contact the council and let them handle it, but she knew if David saw anyone else he’d vanish. If he had important information, and given David’s experience and skill she suspected he did, she had a responsibility to get it.
Iaka powered up her data slate and connected to the hypernet. She typed in the location David provided and information popped up. He wanted to meet on a space station used by the natives of the nearby planet as a tourist destination. It seemed an odd place to meet, but if that’s where he wanted to rendezvous she’d accommodate him. Given the limited capabilities of the shuttles the council provided she’d need to leave in the next two hours if she wanted to make the meeting.
She powered off her slate and packed an overnight bag, just the basics since she figured she’d only be gone for a couple days. She slung the bag over her shoulder and left her tent. It hadn’t been long, so she figured she’d find Lorren still hard at work in the computer shack. Iaka hurried back and poked her head in. Lorren bent over a console inputting data.
“Lorren.” Her second looked up and Iaka motioned her over. They went outside a little ways away from the shack. “I need to head off world for a few days. Can you take care of things here?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“An old friend got in touch and we’re getting together to reminisce. It’s kind of spur of the moment I know.”
Lorren waved of her explanation. “You haven’t taken a day off in four months. Go have fun, I’ll hold down the fort.”
Iaka hugged the younger woman. “Thanks. I’ll see you in a few days.”
She headed over to the landing area where the team’s two shuttles waited. Iaka had minimal pilot training, but both shuttles had full built in auto-pilots so that wouldn’t be a problem. The ship powered up at her command and she input the destination. The autopilot hummed to life and the shuttle lifted off. With nothing better to do once they entered hyperspace Iaka reclined her seat and fell asleep
***
The space station filled the view-screen of the little shuttle. It had a central cylinder surrounded by three rings connected by tubes. The station orbited a green and blue planet that reminded Iaka of Earth, only with more green and less blue. The station computer connected to the autopilot and guided the shuttle to a landing pad in the largest ring.
Her shuttle set down in a landing zone filled with dozens of different makes of shuttle, most of them small, personal transports like hers. Based on the number of shuttles in this area she figured there had to be several hundred guests using her landing zone, and there were four more landing zones elsewhere on the station.
When the shuttle had settled on its landing gear Iaka powered down and climbed out. She had half an hour to get to the meeting. A glowing path on the floor guided her to the exit. Outside the zone she found a computer kiosk built into the wall. She typed an inquiry and received directions to the cafe. According to the computer she needed to go down to the lowest ring and enjoy the excellent view of the p
lanet from the cafe’s all glass outer wall.
A line of three locals had formed behind her so she ignored the rest of the sales copy and moved out of the way. The natives appeared near human save they retained a tail and had thick talons in place of fingernails. If you wanted to blend in it wouldn’t take much to add a false tail and some plastic nails. No wonder David chose this place; he could blend in, disappear at will.
Iaka crossed to the central cylinder via a connecting tube, a lift brought her to the bottom ring’s entrance. She walked through automatic doors and joined the crowd headed toward the cafe. After a short walk she reached the door to the cafe, inside she found the dining room half full, most of the customers stared out the windows at the planet below. After a quick glance Iaka took an empty table near the side wall and sat down to wait. David hadn’t said exactly where to meet so she assumed he’d find her.
She ordered tea from a passing waiter, sat back, and scanned the room for anyone that resembled her former boss. A waiter returned with her tea and sat down across from her. “I see you remember some of your training.”
“David?”
He held a finger to his lips. She looked closer and despite the skin darkening cosmetics and fake eyebrows it was him. Heavy bags under her eyes spoke volumes. “Thanks for coming. When I saw you survived I knew you were the only one I trusted.”
“Trust with what? David what’s going on?”
He reached into his jacket, retrieved a data chip, and handed it to her. “This contains detailed notes on everything I’ve discovered about Director McDonald’s illicit activities. He’s been a very busy and very naughty boy. You need—”
An explosion rocked the cafe. Screaming locals ran for the exits. Through the chaos she spotted a man in a shiny black mask standing by the far door. He looked their way and raised a weapon attached to his right wrist. David grabbed the edge the table and flipped it over an instant ahead of a green blast of energy.
“Damn it! They found me.” David drew a compact blaster. “Get back to your ship. I’ll try and draw him away.”
Before she could say anything he broke cover and fired at the strange figure. Alarms blared and mingled with the screaming patrons. David slipped through the closest door and Iaka risked a peak over the table. She spotted the back of the masked man’s head as he retreated.
Iaka sat down and took slow, deep breaths. It couldn’t be happening again. She’d left this world behind. Iaka bit the inside of her mouth, the pain focused her. She needed to get back to her ship and get the hell out of here. If she could get the chip back to the council whoever wanted it would have no more reason to come after her.
Iaka peaked over the table again and found the cafe empty. She sighed and stood up, the masked man must have followed David. She retraced her route to the lift. A knot of tourists crowded and pushed to board first. Iaka kept her distance, not wanting to get caught up in the chaos.
A voice made an announcement in the local language over the loud speaker. The translator in Iaka’s implant instantly rendered the words into Basic. “The station is closing due to an emergency situation. Please make your way to your transport and exit as instructed by the main computer.”
Emergency situation seemed a mild way to describe a homicidal maniac on the station, but no doubt the authorities wanted to avoid causing a panic. A broad shouldered man tossed a slender woman aside to get closer to the lift doors. So much for that plan.
Iaka spun on her heel and ran to the right. There had to be another lift. She jogged for five minutes before she came to another crowd of two hundred tourists waiting for a ride up. This one seemed calm. An armed guard directed people to enter ten at a time in an orderly fashion. Perfect. Iaka got in line to wait her turn.
The lift took about a minute round trip. Iaka inched forward when the next load finished boarding. She glanced over her shoulder. No! The black masked figure stalked down the hall toward them. Had he gotten David?
Iaka got out of line and stumbled up to the guard. “Sir, please.”
“Back in line.” He put a hand of his blaster.
“The killer.” She pointed down the hall at the stranger.
The guard looked and his tail twitched. He yanked the blaster out its holster and fired. He missed. Tourists screamed and stumbled over each other to escape The killer raised his weapon and fired. A fat woman near the guard glowed for a second then disintegrated. He had a molecular disruptor. The guard fired again. The blaster bolt struck the killer dead center in the chest. The masked man never flinched; a personal shield absorbed the energy blast.
The killer fired again and the guard disintegrated, leaving only his blaster behind. Disruptors didn’t affect metal or other dense materials. A chime sounded and the lift doors opened. Iaka grabbed the blaster and dove through ahead of another disruptor blast.
She leapt to her feet and jabbed the button to take her to the middle ring. A green blast illuminated the crack of the door as they shut ahead of another blast. The lift vibrated as it shot up the central column of the station. Iaka’s breath came in ragged gasps. She hated this shit. Running and getting shot at, she’d left that all behind when she took the job on Alpha. She was a scientist, damn it, not a secret agent. Damn David for dragging her back into this life.
The lift chimed and the doors slid open. Chaos reigned outside the doors. Shouting tourists ignored instructions and panicked all over the place. How would she get through this crowd and back to her shuttle without getting trampled?
Iaka raised the blaster and fired two shots over the crowd. The panicked crowd rushed to get out of her way. She ran through the crowd, shooting whenever she reached a stubborn knot of people. Her method didn’t endear her to the locals, but it got them out of her way. The sooner she got of the station the safer they’d be.
Iaka ran down the connecting tube toward the landing zone where she’d left her shuttle. She rounded the corner and through the automatic doors. The masked man stood in the center of the zone. She skidded to a halt and backpedaled behind a two seat sport shuttle. No green energy splashed over it. She allowed herself a moment relief that the killer hadn’t seen her.
Her relief didn’t last long. Laser blasts stitched the side of her hiding place. A laser and a disrupter, not to mention a personal shield, what sort of monster was he? More to the point how did he get ahead of her?
Iaka ran toward a different shuttle, a big, commercial transport with enough seats for fifty tourists. Reflected in the transport windows she saw the killer raise his weapon toward her. Iaka dove out of the way of a disruptor blast. How the hell did he get behind? Laser fire tore through the shuttle on the opposite side, shattering windows and covering the floor with glass. There were two of them!
She ran through the lanes of shuttles, each step bringing her farther away from her transport. She had to get around them somehow. Iaka fired a shot at the one behind her. The blast went wide, but the green pulse that streak by her showed she’d gotten his attention. She dropped to the floor and slid under a shuttle. The power cell of the big transport sat a little ahead of the rear tire. The second killer stood a few feet away. Iaka took careful aim and fired.
The power cell detonated, sending the killer flying. He slammed against the wall. Iaka crawled back toward her shuttle. Please let that be enough to distract them so she could escape. She stayed low, crawling under one shuttle to the next. If she’d weighed a couple pounds more she wouldn’t have fit under a sleek black model directly opposite her shuttle.
Iaka looked left and right. One killer stood in the middle of the landing zone, unmoving, no doubt waiting for her to show herself. The one she’d blown up had already regained his feet. She needed to move before he recovered. Iaka aimed at the power cell of a shuttle close to the first man. She fired. The cell sparked, but didn’t blow. The masked man turned toward her. Damn it! She scrambled out from under the fancy shuttle, not wanting to get caught under it. The masked man raised his weapon and the power cell she’d shot e
xploded. The killer staggered. Iaka ran for her shuttle. She punched in her access code. The door didn’t open. She slammed her fist on the door. Damn it! She’d transposed the last two numbers. She looked back. Both killers stalked toward her.
She took a deep breath and typed in the correct code. The door popped open and she leapt in. A short command activated the automatic pilot. The shuttle powered up and the antigravity kicked on. The shuttle rocked to the left when a laser blast struck near the right engine. She grabbed the yoke and shoved it forward. The shuttle lurched toward the exit.
Another blast rocked it then she slipped through the force field. Half a dozen alarms flashed on the console. She flipped the master alarm and the lights went out. “Set course for the Galactic Council.”
“Unable to comply,” the computer said. “Hyperdrive damaged. Please effect repairs and restate request.”
“Shit!”
“Please restate request.” An alarm went off. “Environment compromised. Pilot survival compromised. Emergency protocol activated.”
The ship spun toward the planet and shot forward. It took a moment, but Iaka found the oxygen meter. It was dropping fast. She figured the shuttle needed to be in the atmosphere within ten minutes or she needed to learn to breathe vacuum. The shuttle hurtled toward the planet at maximum thrust. Iaka tried to take shallow breaths, but the oxygen meter didn’t slow its drop.
The needle hit zero at the same moment the shuttle struck the atmosphere. Despite the restraints the rough ride shook Iaka like a mouse in a cat’s jaws. The heat warning blared a moment before the oxygen warning. Iaka resisted the temptation to blast the console. With her luck she’d destroy the autopilot and set off yet another alarm.
The cockpit turned into an oven and Iaka coughed. She couldn’t catch her breath. Her vision narrowed and spots swam before her. She sagged against her restraints. This was it. She was going to die above a planet she’d never heard of trying to do a favor for a former boss she didn’t even like.
