The Orpheus Plot

by Christopher Swiedler

  What was McKinley doing here? And who were those people with him? The way they were watching Lucas made him feel like a lobster who was just about to be auctioned off. He grabbed Elena’s arm.

  “Come on. Let’s go somewhere else.”

  “No way,” she said, shaking him off. “I want to see this.”

  “Yeah,” Rahul said, looking down one of the rows of spectators. “And I want one of those tofu burgers.”

  They found an empty row of seats near the front and sat down. Lucas kept his eyes on the back of the woman’s head in front of him. Maybe McKinley hadn’t really seen him? Maybe they’d all been looking at someone else?

  Rahul went off to the concession stand and came back a few minutes later with a tray of food. “French fries for everyone.”

  “Wow,” Elena said as she popped one into her mouth. “It feels nice to eat something that doesn’t float away.”

  “Mmm,” Rahul agreed through a mouthful of fries.

  The first bout was more of an exhibition of gymnastics than actual fighting. Two men did backflips, somersaults, and flying kicks without ever touching each other. At the end of their ‘fight’ Elena stood up and clapped loudly, to Rahul’s obvious embarrassment.

  The second match was much more serious. The crowd cheered as a big man with tattoos that curled around his biceps climbed up onto the ropes. The lights dimmed and smoke bellowed out of hidden vents in the floor, and a wiry man pranced out of a doorway and vaulted into the ring, followed by Mai, the girl who had handed them the glowing cards. Mai walked around the outside of the ring holding up a sign that read GARTH XI, LOW-GEE JUDOKA.

  Garth did a series of high, looping somersaults over the big man’s head, shouting insults the entire time. The crowd loved it, cheering him on as if this was exactly what they had come for.

  “Lucas!” a voice said. Lucas turned and saw McKinley standing in the aisle, smiling broadly. His mouth went dry.

  “Hello,” Rahul said. “You’re from the Orpheus, aren’t you?”

  “I’m Abbott McKinley, bosun’s mate and a good friend of Lucas’s here.” McKinley shook Rahul’s hand and then paused as if an idea had just come to him. “Speaking of friends, there are a couple of old mining hands I’d like you to meet, if you’ve got a moment.”

  Lucas glanced at Rahul and Elena with a frantic, wide-eyed expression, but Elena patted him on the back, oblivious to what he was trying to signal. “Sure, of course he can. Go on, we’re fine here.”

  Lucas tried to think of an excuse, but nothing came to mind. “Gee, thanks,” he muttered to Elena. He exhaled slowly and followed McKinley around to where his friends were sitting. Maybe he could find some way to make this brief.

  “Lucas, meet Stockton and Willis, two of the best uranium miners in the Belt,” McKinley announced.

  Stockton reached out and shook Lucas’s hand. “Nice to meet you, son.”

  “It’s a pleasure,” Willis said with an unsettlingly wide smile. “You’re a bit of a celebrity with us miners, you know. A Belter kid teaching the Navy how to fly! Even the ones who’d rather boot the muskrats straight back to Earth get a kick out of that.”

  “Thanks,” Lucas mumbled, though the idea of being a “celebrity” with these particular miners made him feel uncomfortable. Something was not at all right about any of this, though he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. He looked back at where Rahul and Elena were sitting. How long before he could make a polite exit?

  Down in the cage, the tattooed man was taking haymaker swings at Garth, who danced out of the way, sticking out his tongue and shouting vulgar taunts.

  “Were you there when they nicked the Charlemagne?” Willis asked. Without waiting for a response, she shook her head. “Hampton and Nichols were good.”

  Lucas looked at McKinley in surprise. Had he not told Willis and Stockton that Lucas was the one who’d figured out the trick of the decoys?

  “We were there,” McKinley said smoothly. “It was a real shame.”

  “Goddamn muskrats,” Stockton growled. He glanced at Lucas. “No offense.”

  Willis shook her head. “Hampton had been bragging to everyone how his new decoy system would let him escape any Navy ship. But they caught him anyway.”

  “So, Lucas,” Stockton said, in a let’s-change-the-subject tone. “How is it studying with the Navy? Are they letting you get some flight time in? Those patrol ships are little beauties.”

  “Sure,” Lucas said. “I’ve done a bit of flying.”

  “And bridge simulations too, I’d guess?” Stockton said.

  “Sometimes,” Lucas said, a little guardedly. What was Stockton getting at?

  “That reminds me,” Willis said. She pulled a little data chip out of her pocket and handed it to Lucas. “A few of us put this together for you. Thought it might help you out.”

  “For me?” he asked in surprise. He held the chip up to the light to examine it, but she grabbed his hand and closed his fingers around it.

  “Put it in your pocket now, and don’t let anyone see it. We’ve put a lot of high-quality VR simulations in there. Stuff that’s really hard to get.”

  “Sims for all the most advanced ships,” Stockton put in.

  “Nothing there is illegal, exactly, but the Navy probably wouldn’t look too kindly on it, either,” Willis went on. “But it’ll give you a good leg up on the competition, so to speak.”

  Three different alarm bells went off in Lucas’s head at the same time. Did they really think he was stupid enough to take a data chip from people he’d just met and bring it onto the Orpheus? Based on their expectant faces, this was exactly what they thought.

  The safest thing to do, he figured, was to play dumb. “Oh, great,” he said, with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. “Thanks!”

  “Looks like the next bout is coming up,” Stockton said. “Sit awhile and watch with us.”

  Lucas nodded, not really listening. Why were they giving him this chip? There had to be something more to it than VR simulations. He was still mulling it over when Mai jumped up onto the top rope of the ring with a microphone in her hand.

  “Ladies and gentlemen! Our next challenger hails from a place called Peru, where the sun is always warm and the water is always cold. She has a black belt in judo and says her favorite animal is the Scottish terrier. Please give a warm Vestan welcome to Elena Pruitt!”

  Lucas sat up so quickly he nearly fell out of his seat. He stared in shock as Elena climbed into the ring and held up her hands. The crowd roared its approval.

  “I’ve got to go,” Lucas gasped. He sprinted around to where Rahul was sitting, vaulting over rows of empty seats like an Olympic hurdler. As soon as Lucas ran up, Rahul raised his hands defensively.

  “I tried to talk her out of it!”

  “Is she crazy?” Lucas said. “Does she know what he’s going to do to her?”

  “He won’t actually hurt her, will he?” Rahul asked. “This is all just for show?”

  Garth bounced back onto the stage. The crowd screamed in delight. He grinned and did a high backflip.

  “Let’s have a good, clean fight,” Mai said into her microphone. “Are you both ready?”

  Elena nodded. Garth stuck out his hand toward her. She looked at him in confusion for a moment and then reached out to shake it.

  “No!” Lucas screamed.

  Garth grabbed her hand and twirled around, slinging her over his shoulder in one quick motion. She hit the mat with a loud thud. The crowd screamed in delight. Garth danced around the ring, shaking his hands above his head as if he’d already won the bout. Elena sprang to her feet and shouted at him angrily. Garth put his thumb on his nose and blew a raspberry at her.

  “The girl has spunk, you have to give her that!” Mai said. “But she’s down one throw to none.”

  Elena moved toward Garth, keeping her feet wide and her hands out, looking for a chance to grapple. He darted toward her and tried to knock her off-balance, but she turned to th
e side and grabbed his upper arm. Garth went flying toward the other end of the ring, but he executed a graceful midair somersault and landed on his feet. He grinned and nodded at her in acknowledgment.

  “A good throw! But the champion remains on his feet. The score is still one to zero.”

  Again Garth danced toward her. Elena shifted to one side and reached out for him, but Garth sidestepped and kicked at her leg. She stumbled, and before she could recover he hooked his arm around her elbow and threw her to the mat.

  “Two for Garth!” Mai yelled over the roar of the crowd.

  Garth shook his fists and bounced up into the air. Elena rolled toward him and swung her leg along the surface of the mat. Her foot caught his ankle just as he was landing and he toppled backward.

  “A tricky, underhanded move!” Mai shouted, and in response the crowd booed her loudly. “But it’s still two throws to one, and it’s the last chance for the little girl!”

  Garth shouted something at Elena. His maniacal expression had been replaced by a dark glower. In response, Elena wiped the sweat off her face and held up her fists.

  “He didn’t like that,” Rahul said.

  Garth strode quickly toward Elena. They grappled, and for a moment it looked like Elena might have gotten Garth off-balance. Then he brought his knee up into her gut, and she doubled over. Garth wrapped his arm around her waist and threw her to the mat.

  Mai jumped up onto a corner of the ring and waved one arm above her head. “Our challenger has been defeated!”

  The audience cheered and hooted. Elena rolled over onto her side, clutching her stomach. Garth stood in a corner of the ring, holding his clasped hands above his head and shouting to the crowd.

  Lucas and Rahul ran down toward the ring. “We’re with her!” Lucas shouted as a guard tried to stop them. The guard glanced back at Elena and let them by.

  “Elena!” Rahul called, leaning into the ring. “Are you okay?”

  Elena stood up and limped toward them, pressing her hand against her left side. “I’ve been better.”

  “Come on, let’s get you to a medic,” Lucas said.

  She shook her head. “I want a rematch.”

  “A rematch?” Rahul said. “Are you serious?”

  “Now that I know how he fights, I think I can beat him.” She turned and glanced back at Garth.

  “It’s a trick,” Lucas said. “There’s no way you can throw him in this low gravity. He’ll land on his feet every time.”

  “It was crazy enough to fight him once,” Rahul said. “At least you’re still in one piece. Who knows what he’ll do if you fight him again?”

  “I’m not giving up,” she insisted. She straightened with a grimace and waved her hand at the announcer.

  “Lucas, do something!” Rahul said.

  “Elena, wait!” he called. Elena turned toward him. “There’s only one way you’re going to beat him.”

  She cocked her head. “What’s that?”

  “Can you make him mad?”

  Elena nodded.

  “Then here’s what you do.”

  “Ladies and gentlemen, our spunky friend here is asking for a rematch. What do you think? Do you want to see her go up against our champion one more time?”

  The crowd roared its approval, and Mai grinned. An older man walked over to Elena, who was still rubbing her rib cage. He handed her a towel and shook his head. “Be careful, sweetheart. That waiver you signed covers death and dismemberment, for good reason. Francis has a real temper.”

  “Francis?”

  The man smiled sheepishly. “That’s his real name. Francis Bonaforte doesn’t have quite the same ring as Garth Xi, does it?”

  Elena raised her eyebrows and glanced at Lucas. “No,” she said thoughtfully. “It really doesn’t, does it?”

  She walked over to the center of the ring, where Garth was already waiting with his hands on his hips. The man who had given Elena the towel ushered Lucas and Rahul to a pair of empty seats in the first row.

  “I’m not going to go easy on you this time, little girl,” Garth said.

  “Give it your best shot, Francis.”

  Garth clenched his jaw and waved his arm at Mai. “Readysetgo!”

  He lunged toward Elena and grabbed her arm, lifting her in one quick motion and tossing her toward the side of the cage.

  “Elena!” Rahul screamed.

  But Elena pulled her legs in toward her body and did a quick somersault, landing on the balls of her feet. As nervous as he was, Lucas grinned proudly. Elena was a fast learner.

  She raised her fists and waggled one finger at Garth. “You’re going to have to do better than that, Francis.”

  Garth screamed and charged toward her. Elena ducked down low and bent her front knee. As he reached her, she grabbed his arm and pivoted. Garth tumbled over her shoulder. Immediately, he curled up his body and started to roll, preparing to land on his feet.

  But Elena didn’t let go. Instead of continuing with the throw, she reversed her motion, jerking him backward. The move caught Garth by surprise. He tried to straighten out, but it was too late. Elena held on tightly to his arm and let Garth’s own rolling motion do the work. There was a loud pop, and he tumbled onto the mat.

  The crowd went silent. Even though he’d been expecting it, the sound of Garth’s arm dislocating from his shoulder made Lucas wince. Garth grimaced and clutched his arm, which hung at an odd angle from his body. Mai ran over to him, waving frantically at a pair of assistants just outside the ring.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Mai said, scowling at Elena, “it appears our champion has been defeated by an ugly and dangerous trick! One that certainly does not deserve the payout of the thousand-sol purse.”

  The crowd booed.

  “Pay her!” one man shouted.

  “She won fair and square!” a woman called out.

  “Keep it,” Elena said. She vaulted out of the ring and down to the floor of the amphitheater. As soon as she landed, she grimaced and clutched her side. “Okay, that was a mistake.”

  13

  “THAT WAS AMAZING,” Rahul exulted as they helped Elena back through the bazaar toward the naval base. “Lucas, how did you know that would work?”

  “Basic physics,” Lucas said. “But also I saw someone do the same thing on Ceres.”

  “He’s going to be okay, right?” Elena asked, looking back toward the Janusarium. “I didn’t actually want to hurt him.”

  “He’ll be fine,” Lucas assured her. “Just a dislocated shoulder.”

  “Hey,” Oliver called, jogging over to them. “Sanchez is looking for you.”

  “For us?” Rahul said anxiously. “Why? Did we do something?”

  “Dunno.” Oliver cocked his head to one side and looked at Elena. “You okay? What happened?”

  “I was in a low-gee judo match,” she said, wincing a little. “I think it’s just bruises, but it’s possible I cracked a rib. Lucas says I dislocated the other guy’s shoulder but he’ll be okay.”

  Oliver stared at her. “A quick word of advice. If anyone else asks you what happened, don’t tell that story.”

  “She’s a Truther,” Rahul explained.

  “Oh,” Oliver said, as if this explained everything. “Well, then, just hope nobody asks. And get to medbay as soon as you get back to the ship.”

  When the three of them arrived at the hangar, Captain Sanchez was standing near one of the Orpheus’s patrol ships, talking to a few other officers. Elena straightened up with an almost imperceptible wince and strode confidently toward her, with Lucas and Rahul hurrying to catch up.

  “Ah, cadets,” Sanchez said, turning toward them. “I’ve got a job for you. Come with me.”

  They followed Sanchez through a wide door on the other side of the hangar and then down a long corridor as she explained. “There’s a power unit that’s failing in a radar station a few kilometers from the base. We need a repair party to go out and replace it. Normally the crew here would handle
it, but I see this as the perfect chance for a training exercise. And Cadet Adebayo will be able to practice some cross-team leadership skills.”

  “Cross-team leadership?” Lucas asked.

  Sanchez turned and headed through the doors of a large cargo airlock. “Indeed. This will be a multisection effort. The engineers here have already briefed the rest of your team on the details.”

  Lucas stopped short. Through the window in the outer doors of the airlock he could see a flatbed rover parked out on the surface. Its cargo area was taken up by a large, boxy device that Lucas guessed was the replacement power unit. Willem, Katya, and Aaron were sitting on the rover’s tailgate, dangling their legs and talking among themselves.

  “Them?” Rahul said, with obvious dismay. “Ma’am, you can’t be serious.”

  “I gather you find them difficult to work with?”

  Rahul nodded. “Extremely.”

  “Good. Find a way to overcome that.” Sanchez turned to Lucas. “Remember our discussions about leadership.”

  Sanchez headed back out into the corridor, closing the inner airlock doors behind her. As soon as she was gone, Rahul groaned.

  “She’s serious about this?”

  “Apparently,” Elena said, grimacing at the three delta-section cadets through the window. In response, Willem waved with mock cheerfulness.

  “If he never makes it back inside, will that be considered a failure of the mission?” Rahul asked darkly.

  “I’m guessing so,” Lucas said. He took a suit off the wall and paused. “Hey, maybe you should both ask the captain to skip this one. Between star vertigo and a hurt rib—”

  “I’ll be fine,” Rahul insisted. “There’s gravity here. It’s totally different than being in space.”

  “I’m not missing it,” Elena said flatly.