Titanborn

by Rhett C. Bruno

  “Mazrah,” I whispered.

  “Sorry, Malcolm, I did not hear you clearly,” Zhaff said.

  “I have an old connection here. She goes by Mazrah. Whether that’s her real name or not, I’m not sure. The only thing I know for a fact is that she has the capability of sending out a recording like that if she wanted to. I’ve seen her hack into the Pervenio security mainframe on Darien like she was doing a children’s puzzle. If something goes down in the Ring, she knows at least a little about it.”

  “And you believe it was her?”

  “Nah. She never was one to play sides. Honestly, I’ve never even been sure whether or not she’s a Ringer. She might be able to lead us to whoever is responsible, though. She’s an information broker holed up deep in the Darien lower ward. You mentioning that the Drayton kid was from there made me think of her. It’ll be a steep price, but she may be able to find us some clues as to who uploaded that recording. If we find that person I have a feeling they’ll know not only where the people who attacked the Piccolo disappeared to, but where our smugglers from Earth are.”

  Zhaff leaned in, his luminous eye-lens poring over my face. “Why do you seem hesitant?”

  I exhaled. “I’ve been doing this for a long time, Zhaff. Mazrah and I, we have a history.”

  “You do not trust her then?”

  “Trust has nothing to do with it.”

  Mazrah didn’t allow many people into her life unless they were willing to pay a hefty sum, but we’d been intimate more than a few times while I was stationed in the Ring years back. She had a thing for collectors, or so I was told. I just hoped she didn’t take it personally that I’d lost touch with her.

  I may not have been sure if she was a full-on Ringer or not, but I knew she’d lived on Titan long enough to have adapted many of their tendencies. They could be very sensitive about people they considered to be their mates leaving, although she hadn’t made an effort to contact me either. The last time I’d heard from her also happened to be the last time I saw Aria, so I usually tried not to think about it if I didn’t have to. Bringing Mazrah’s name up out loud caused the memory to come rushing back to me as clear as day…

  I sat on the edge of my messy bed in a room on the highest level of the Pervenio-run hotel in New Beijing, Mars. It was a fancy place, with painted walls trimmed with burnished steel and faux wood, and a beautiful viewport looking out over the colony. The planet’s thin atmosphere gave everything beyond it a reddish tint, even the other tall towers rising beneath New Beijing’s four-kilometer-wide segmented dome enclosure. A few hover-cars darted by, hauling freight from one of the nearby vertical farms.

  The shower was running in the bathroom, where Aria washed off Elios’s blood. She’d been drenched head-to-toe in it when we sneaked back in. I myself was covered in hardened muck and a stench so foul that I would’ve thrown up if I wasn’t already so used to it. I held a half-drained bottle of liquor in my hand. I wasn’t sure what kind because it was unmarked. I’d snatched it from a dealer on the way up and didn’t really care what I was drinking so long as it was dulling my mind. It actually had a relatively smooth taste considering how little it cost.

  “Trying to start a family without me, Mal?” a woman asked me, her voice sounding like it came from somewhere far away. “Who are they?”

  I glanced down at the hand-terminal sitting on my lap, almost having forgotten that I’d made the call. I took a long swig from the bottle, placed it down, and then lifted the device. A live feed of a stunning woman was on the screen. She had skin as pale and smooth as the paper in ancient books, and lips colored bright red. As far as beautiful offworlders go, I’d say she was second to none.

  We’d met on Titan during a recent mission when I was trying to locate a contentious Ringer with a knack for taking out Pervenio officers. She hacked into a few local monitors for me and found his location. We’d been close ever since. I wouldn’t say I loved her, but she was the closest I think any woman had ever come to that in my life, even more than Aria’s mom. Calling over Solnet when she was millions of kilometers away on Titan was a huge step for me. Plus, I needed a distraction.

  “Who?” I asked.

  “Right behind you.”

  I looked back over my shoulder and remembered that Elios’s twins were sleeping on the other end of the bed. The sheets would never recover from the muck they were covered in. I’d allowed Aria to bring them up with her on the condition that she’d start looking for a nice clan-family to drop them with as soon as they were rested.

  “Oh, them. They’re the kids from the assignment I messaged you about.”

  “I figured as much. How’s Aria?”

  I checked to make sure the water in the bathroom was still running and then replied: “She’ll be fine, Maz. She’s stronger than she looks.”

  Mazrah grinned, and maybe it was the alcohol in my blood, but it was exactly what I needed to see. She had the kind of smile that could make a man forget everything he stood for. “Oh, trust me, I know that. I met her, remember? Still, it’s not an easy thing sometimes to do one’s job.”

  “I doubt it was for me at that age, either.” I shrugged. “I can’t really remember.”

  “That probably doesn’t help,” she jested. She didn’t point, but I could tell her gaze had shifted to look straight at the bottle pinned between my lap and my stomach.

  I smirked as I lifted it to my lips and took another swig. Mazrah rolled her eyes, but given how good our connection was she couldn’t hide her snicker, subtle as it was.

  “She’ll come around,” I decided. “She always does.”

  “Well, if she doesn’t soon, you bring her over to me and I’ll make sure to tell her about all her father’s ‘finer’ qualities.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind if I ever come back there. You know I can’t stand the cold.”

  “You’ll be back,” she said, her trademark confidence oozing into her tone. “We’ll make it warm enough for you together.”

  “Seeing you this clearly is going to make it hard to stay away.”

  “I’ll be sure to start some trouble to get you back quickly, then.”

  “Fine by me. Just nothing too bad or I’ll have to lock you up.”

  “Oh, I’ll think of something.” She put on a wicked grin for a moment, then her lips straightened. “Now go. Talk to her before you lose her and worry about me later.”

  I sighed. The shower had turned off anyway so I knew I didn’t have long before I’d have no choice.

  “You’re right. Bye, Maz. We’ll talk soon.” I wasn’t sure if I should smile and nod or blow her a kiss, so I settled on something in the middle. I can only imagine how ridiculous I probably looked to her. I really never was very good with women beyond the first night.

  Her expression told me that she was doing her damnedest not to laugh. “Bye, Mal. Don’t keep me waiting here too long.”

  The sound of the door to the bathroom coming open with a whoosh stole my attention and caused me to miss how she handled the farewell before the transmission cut out.

  Aria walked out, wrapped in a plush towel as white as she was. Her skin was clean, but her lips continued to tremble as they had since the moment I shot Elios.

  “Was that Mazrah?” she asked, her voice brittle. She didn’t even look at me when she spoke. Her eyes stared forward blankly, as if she had watched a gory scene from an old horror movie over and over again until it made her numb.

  “Yeah,” I replied. “She gives her best.”

  “Good…I like her. For you, I mean.” It was obvious she was just trying to make small talk to try to avoid the situation. I was perfectly fine with it. Aria had never known her mother, so she was constantly trying to push me to meet someone. Hell, the way she’d looked at Mazrah the first time they met was half the reason I was willing to give her a real shot.

  “Me, too,” I admitted.

  Aria took a seat on a couch across the room, her hand quaking as she used it to brace herself so
she didn’t fall. She stared out through the room’s viewport and we both sat there wordlessly until the silence made me itch.

  “You feel any better?” I finally mustered the willpower to ask.

  “No,” she mumbled, still unable to look at me.

  I raised my bottle to my lips and took another sip. “You will.”

  “I won’t!” she said, bristling. This time she stared daggers in my direction. And it wasn’t merely the kind of look that every daughter gives her father when she’s upset. Aria meant it.

  I returned an icy glare. I knew I’d done what I had to under the circumstances. She had to know it, too. If she’d told me what was really going on maybe I wouldn’t have pulled the trigger. Secrets always have their price.

  “Are you going to hold this against me forever?” I asked. “Two weeks you disappeared with that man. Of course I thought something went wrong.”

  “Like it would have made any difference? I’m not a child anymore. I took care of the job my own way.”

  “Your way is dangerous. Fugitives will say anything to survive, Aria. You can’t believe a word he said to you.”

  I could see tears beginning to well in the corner of her eyes again as she stared toward the floor. “We could’ve loved each other…I know it.”

  I pointed at her with the head of my bottle and then took another sip. “There’s no room for that in the life of a collector. You’ve learned a valuable lesson.”

  “What about you and Mazrah?” she snapped.

  “That’s different. She’s not my target.”

  Aria remained silent at first. She turned her head and gazed back through the room’s viewport, her whole body trembling as if she were ready to explode.

  “I was only trying to protect you,” I said before she could think of anything.

  “That’s all you’ve ever been trying to do!” She sprang to her feet. I heard the two boys on the bed roll over to see what was going on. “Ever since I was a girl. You remember that Departure on Earth? When you left me alone on a roof for hours to keep me safe. I couldn’t even see my hands it was so dark when you got back.” She took a deep breath and fell back into her seat. “What’s the point of being safe if you’re alone?”

  “Alone? I brought you with me everywhere! Do you know what would happen if Pervenio Corp found out about that?”

  “I never asked you to.”

  “And I never had a choice. Not every collector has an illegitimate daughter handed off to him. Would you rather I left you with the USF in the hope they’d match you with some worthless clan-family? Girls your age dream about seeing the things you’ve seen—about walking down dark streets and knowing they can handle anything that comes at them.”

  She opened her mouth to respond and then stopped herself. I could see the roll of her throat as she swallowed hard. She sat back down on the couch and returned to gazing through the viewport. “And I thank you for that, but I’m done.”

  I was lifting the bottle when her words sank in. I froze. “What?” I questioned.

  “I’m done,” she repeated. Her voice may have sounded calm, but her eyes were glazed over and bloodshot. “You’re right. I’ve spent my whole life traveling around Sol with you, and for what? I don’t want to be a collector. I never have. I only wanted to make you happy.”

  I put down the bottle, got up, and walked over to her. I figured she was just acting impulsively because of what had happened. That she needed some time to cool down. I tried to place my hand on her slender shoulder, but she turned her whole body toward the window to avoid me.

  “You do.” I sighed. “Now get some sleep. When you wake up I’ll even help you find Elios’s children a proper home and we’ll put all this behind us.”

  She turned her head toward me, and for the first time in my life I saw in her face a girl who was completely shattered. The job had broken many before me, but I never thought it’d get to Aria. If I wasn’t already drunk the sight might’ve made my stomach turn over.

  “You will,” she whispered sharply. “I won’t. I can’t. I’m not going to hold you back anymore.”

  “Aria—” I began. She silenced me.

  “No, I’m done. This was my last mission either way. I sent an application to be a nurse at the new Venta Co hospital going up here before I ever met Elios. If they accept me I’m taking the job. If not, I’m going to keep looking. You won’t have to worry about keeping me a secret anymore. I know how to get around off the grid.”

  My mouth fell open. I stumbled backward, unable to believe the words I was hearing. Venta Co had been Pervenio Corp’s foremost rival since before I was born. I never cared about what’d caused it, but after years on one side of the enmity I naturally found myself bitter toward the other.

  “Venta?” I mouthed. “You don’t just go behind my back, but right to our rival?”

  For a moment Aria’s anger with me fell to the wayside and she grew defensive. “I didn’t go behind anything!” she said. “Pervenio doesn’t have a hospital here on Mars. I’m trying to help the best that I can.”

  “No.” I shook my head in disbelief. “No. I won’t allow it! You’re too damn good at this! A few more jobs and Director Sodervall won’t be able to deny you’re worth taking officially into training when I tell him all that you’ve done. You’ll be set up for life.”

  She jumped back to her feet and one of her arms accidentally slapped my pistol off the couch’s end table. She glared straight into my eyes, her cheeks flushed with indignation. “Sure,” she said, “as long as there are more of us offworlders to put down.”

  I was incensed, unable to control myself as I raised the back of my hand to smack her. I stopped before I actually did it, but it was too late. She’d seen the motion and that was all she needed to see. She didn’t even wince, as if she’d expected me to do it. She just pursed her lips and then stormed over to the bed. I didn’t hear what she whispered to the terrified twins, but she got them up and dragged them out of the room without looking back, not even caring that she was wearing nothing but a towel.

  I didn’t watch her leave, either. I cleared my throat as I knelt to place my pistol back safely on the table. Then I shuffled back to the bed, snatched up my bottle of God knows what, and held it against my lips until it was empty.

  —

  I never did find out whether or not she got that job. I didn’t have the stomach to ask during one of the few occasions we exchanged messages after that day before even that stopped, but it was hard to imagine her doing anything else but helping people. She always had a propensity for it, even if I was too blind to realize it at the time.

  The memory made my chest sting far more than any other ever could. A part of me always wished that I’d gone after her, but I was too damn proud. It was the last mistake I’d ever get a chance to make with her.

  I suppose that was why I lost contact with Mazrah afterward. I knew she’d always remind me of that day and so did she. But it was time to get over it. We didn’t have the best history, but I had little doubt I might be able to convince her to help for the right price. She was an information broker first and foremost. If it meant beating Zhaff to a lead, then it was worth finding out.

  “Malcolm?” Zhaff said.

  I shook my head and glanced at him. He was leaning in close and analyzing my face with his eye-lens. The bright overhead lights of the interrogation room drew my gaze to the mottled skin around the scar across the bridge of his nose. “Sorry, what was that?” I asked.

  “I said, if you have described her accurately, we should pursue her. It is a sound strategy. Otherwise we must begin investigating every incoming ship and every hangar throughout the Ring after interrogating the rest of the Piccolo’s crew.”

  “I’d rather eat a bullet.” I exhaled slowly. “Fine, I’ll contact her. Hopefully she hasn’t changed too much over the years.”

  I took out my hand-terminal and searched for the last bit of contact information I’d used to communicate with her. It’d
been roughly six years so I wasn’t even sure it would work. I typed out a message anyway.

  MAZ…I’M NOT SURE IF YOU STILL USE THIS LINE. SORRY IT’S BEEN SO LONG. I’VE RECOVERED A DEVICE I THINK YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN LOOKING AT. I CAN BRING IT TO YOU ASAP. WE CAN DISCUSS PAYMENT LATER, BUT I PROMISE IT’LL BE WORTH YOUR WHILE…MALCOLM

  I stared at the screen for a few seconds, swallowed, and then hit SEND. “There,” I said. “Now we better get down to Titan so we don’t keep her waiting if she answers. The director can handle the survivors from here.”

  “Agreed,” Zhaff said. “I will tell him to prepare a shuttle for us as soon as possible.”

  I feigned a grin and nodded to him. Whether or not it was my own fault, the mission that had started all the way back in New London was dredging up pieces of my past I would’ve rather left buried. As I watched Zhaff stroll calmly out of the room, all I could hope for was that getting it done right would be worth the trouble.

  We were only halfway back to our quarters when Mazrah answered and it was too late to turn back.

  I’M INTERESTED. COME MEET ME, SAME PLACE WHERE WE USED TO. DON’T KEEP ME WAITING AGAIN…MAZ

  Chapter 15

  Following the Piccolo incident, it was going to take a few hours for Director Sodervall to prepare a ship down to Titan that wouldn’t draw attention to us. When it came to meeting with Mazrah I wanted to avoid making a scene. I didn’t mind the short break, but as essentially a base of operations for gas harvesting, Pervenio station had little in the way of amenities. There were a few places to get a drink near the docks, sure, but tired laborers weren’t the best company, especially ones who were afraid the Ringer members of their crews were going to try to space them if they got the chance.

  When shifts finally ended that evening, we were to be stuffed onto a public shuttle headed to Darien, Titan. Director Sodervall led us to the hangar early, a host of officers surrounding him. He wasn’t planning on taking any chances with the populace he oversaw, it seemed, even on his own station.