by Scott Moon
“That’s what I figured. I grew up on a ranch with less technology than this backward planet. I mean, we had what we needed, but it was a simpler life. Spent a lot of nights watching herds of cattle and whatnot. Read some books.”
The sheriff yawned. “Good for you. Is this going to be a long story?”
Sledge shook his head in disappointment. He hoped the man could be a kindred spirit, somebody who knew what it was like to always be the heavy. Maybe Thaddeus Fry was an intellectual at heart, but it was looking like the man didn’t appreciate literature. Sledge loved to read. He learned a lot about places and people and what happened when you put the two together. The story of the last sheriff was pretty common, but also classic.
“The sheriff before you was called David Rings. His little brother is the guy who kicked your ass,” Sledge said.
“I know his name. Also checked his rather uneventful military record. People tell stories, but there’s no real information on why somebody blew up his office. My office now.”
“Wow, you’re pretty sharp. They teach you that in sheriff school?”
“Ha, ha. We both know you actually have some training on how to conduct an investigation. I was a front-line soldier. We passed our prisoners off to the intelligence section.”
Sledge wished he could start the conversation over. “All right, here it is. Sheriff David Rings had a brother by the name of Stacy. Stacy Rings didn’t like that name so he changed it to White Skull. There is, in fact, a long story leading up to that, but I don’t feel like telling it right now. Sheriff Rings and White Skull had been close, until they weren’t.”
“Where did you gather your intelligence?”
Sledge sighed. “I work for SagCon. Where do you think I got my information? I didn’t get it from the Company Man, if that’s your worry. Darklanding is an investment property. We have a file on it.”
Sheriff Fry seemed to think about that for a moment. “I’m not calling him White Skull.”
Sledge grimaced. “Call him Stacy and you’ll probably get killed. Course, you’ll probably get killed anyway. Because you’re stubborn.”
“Why did you come to Darklanding?” the sheriff asked.
“We covered this already.”
“I’m out here in Transport Canyon investigating an act of sabotage that has cost SagCon billions of credits. You’re a special investigator for SagCon. Don’t you have an obligation to help me with this?”
Sledge had seen this coming and let the moment draw out. “I can help.”
“That’s it? No conditions?”
“I am looking for someone. When I find her, that will be my number one priority regardless of what kind of mess you’ve gotten yourself into,” Sledge said.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Title
Twin moons looked down through a gap in the stormfront above Transport Canyon. The dense fog of A19 was finally starting to dissipate, though it gave an unreal quality to midnight. Ryan Gulliver was exhausted from hiding the children and helping the salvage operation. They’d already recovered a substantial amount of exotics and other minerals. It wasn’t as much as he had hoped, but it would fund their town for several months. He climbed to the top of a rock spire and set up his camera.
“What am I doing up here?” he muttered. His hands felt like he was wearing mittens as he tried to set up the tripod. More than once, he had nearly fallen. He always wanted to be a photographer but never thought he’d get himself killed pursuing the dream. This night was the first time he had a chance for a decent glimpse of the hunt that so terrified the creatures of the canyon. Maybe this would be his chance to get a clear shot at the packs of Ungwilook wolves.
He’d never seen a wolf clearly. About a year ago, he had taken a long-distance shot and caught a group of them running down something that looked like a herd of gazelles. Despite the campfire ghost tales, he believed they were just animals. Every ecosystem had predators. Their savagery was fascinating.
For nearly an hour after he set up his telescopic lenses and fought to stay awake, nothing happened. His hopes rose when he saw a distant cluster of shadows running across one of the shallow streams near the edge of the canyon. He took several shots even though they were too far away to see clearly. Almost a minute after he saw them, he heard their distant howls and yapping.
He took some pictures of the moons and the stars, then watched the transport lanes where ships queued up in the upper atmosphere before descending to the Darklanding spaceport. Commerce never slept. He took a few pictures, not excited about them, but understanding some people found them fascinating. Everybody liked big ships and shiny lights.
One by one, ships peeled away from the normal orbit and pierced the atmosphere.
Ryan started clicking as fast as he could, turning one of the cameras to video mode. At this distance, they were just specks of light, but they were moving fast.
His heart beat faster. He keyed up his radio. “Amanda, I’m sorry to wake you.”
After a long delay, she answered. “But you’re going to anyway, I see. I’m not really up for this tonight.”
Ryan lowered his head and closed his eyes. She was drinking again. Every time White Skull came, she thought of David Rings and started drinking. She was a quiet drunk, wallowing in sadness and rarely lashing out with her anger.
“Listen, Amanda. I’ve been taking sky shots and there’s something happening. A whole bunch of ships are pulling off the normal descent vector. There’s really only one place they would be going. I think the real salvage teams are arriving.”
Amanda swore bitterly. “I bet I know exactly who called them. I almost want him to take all the loot and get it over with. Maybe then he would leave us alone.” Static crackled across the line as she pulled on her outdoor gear. “I’ll start moving the kids to bunkers and disperse the rest of our salvage teams. In a best-case scenario, these thugs are going to put us to work. The way things have been going, I’m not sure we can expect the best-case scenario.”
“You think we should go to Darklanding and appeal for sanctuary?”
“I’ve already considered that. We don’t have the funds,” Amanda said.
Ryan started packing up his gear. “Okay, I’m coming in.”
Rather than answer, Amanda just clicked her radio receiver twice.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Black Ships, Black Ops
Thaddeus stood on a rock formation near Raven’s Haven. Sledge stood on his right. Ryan and Amanda, who he learned were the lead scientists of the original mission here, stood off to his left talking amongst themselves. Thaddeus had heard enough of their conversation to know they disagreed on whether or not they should stay or run.
“There is nowhere for them to go,” Sledge said.
“I think they know that but are hoping for some kind of option,” Thad said. “If you have more information on this White Skull character, now would be a good time to share it. Shaunte will be pretty bent out of shape if we lose an entire shipment of exotic ore. What I’m worried about is that this is something worse. Bringing in space-capable ships is a big deal. I’m not sure there’s enough exotic material on the floor of Transport Canyon to pay for that type of expedition.”
“Amanda Preston was engaged to David Rings. His brother was a type to take things away in fits of jealousy, even if he didn’t want what he was taking. Maybe this time it was different, but they had a war over Amanda. If you ask me, I think it’s a bit psychotic that both Amanda and White Skull are still living in Transport Canyon. Maybe they deserve each other,” Sledge said.
“Tell me the rest of it, please. I think you’re holding something back,” Thad said.
Sledge raised a pair of binoculars to study the ships as they landed two kilometers away from Raven’s Haven. He talked without lowering them. “You know what, I agree with you. I don’t like White Skull either. Stacy Rings has a pretty violent streak. I’m not quite sure why you’re still alive. He’s big on extortion. Not afraid to get blood on his hands either. If he takes hos
tages and says he’ll kill them, then they are as good as dead.”
Thaddeus lowered his voice. “I think we should consider a real evacuation.”
“If you get Amanda to agree, I think that’s a good idea. Either way, we’re in for some rough times. I didn’t want to drag you into this, but I’m here to find Ruby Miranda. That’s the name she goes by, anyway. I’ll help you, but if I go down, you have to promise me you will find her and hold onto her until another agent from SagCon can get here,” Sledge said.
“When we get back to Darklanding, I can help you round her up without too much trouble,” Thad said.
Sledge started laughing so hard he bent over and held his knees. He stood up, then started laughing again. “Thanks. I needed that.”
“You’re welcome,” Thad said dryly.
“I’ve got good information she took off into Transport Canyon to get away from me. There’s a whole lot of reasons why that’s bad, but the fact that White Skull is ready to slaughter an entire town is even worse. So we stop him, we find Ruby, and then I’m done with this planet.”
“Fair enough,” Thad said.
“Don’t you have some deputies?” Sledge asked.
“My deputy requested a leave of absence to handle a personal matter of spiritual development,” Thaddeus said.
Sledge turned around and looked at him, surprise twisting his broad face. “Your deputy’s an Unglok?” He shook his head. “Now that you mention it, I do remember that. Didn’t really believe it. I hope you’re not expecting him back any time soon.”
“What are you talking about?” Thaddeus had a bad feeling.
“Sheriff, you really need to read some books. Every culture has its own version of a spirit quest. I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure the Ungloks tend to get themselves killed to prove their worthiness to their society. Either way, it’s a lot different than running down to the cathedral to toss out a couple of Hail Marys.”
Thaddeus swore under his breath. He shook his head, and walked toward Ryan and Amanda. “This is looking less and less like a criminal enterprise and more like a war. SagCon has enemies that could finance an attack like this. I think you should evacuate Raven’s Haven. Make an appeal for sanctuary in Darklanding,” Thad suggested.
The frontier scientists looked at each other, communicating with tense body language and facial expressions. Neither seemed ready to make a decision. Thad thought they were also holding back information. It seemed to be a tradition in all parts of the planet.
“We have some time,” Amanda finally said. “Now that Rings has his reinforcements, he will secure his control over the crash site. We’ve taken some resources that might buy us passage. The rest of it is lost to us now.”
Ryan shook his head. “It’s not enough.”
“Nothing is enough if you’re dead,” Sledge said from where he stood watching Transport Canyon.
Amanda never looked away from Thaddeus.
He searched for answers in her eyes but could not reach her. “At least evacuate the children. I fought on Centauri Prime and know the devastation wrought in a real battle. If this turns into a combat zone, there will be no way to protect families.”
Amanda nodded.
“Why does this guy hate Raven’s Haven so much?” Thaddeus asked.
“He asked us to help salvage the train wreck before they attacked it, and we told him no,” she said.
Ryan jerked around and stared at her in surprise.
Thaddeus held up his hand to forestall the interruption. He stepped closer to Amanda. “You’ve been in contact with this White Skull character?”
She looked at her feet in shame. “He promised to leave the rest of the town alone.”
The admission had been in a low voice, but everyone heard it. Ryan stalked back toward the town. Sledge laughed.
“Doesn’t seem like he’s a man of his word,” Sledge said.
“This is important, Amanda. Do you really think they will secure the site of the train wreck first?” Thaddeus asked.
She nodded. Tears leaked from the corner of her eyes. “Only three things are important to Stacy Rings. Power, money, and winning.”
“I bet he’s going to get all three this time,” Sledge said.
Thaddeus rejoined the SagCon SI on the highest portion of the rocks. “Are you going to stay in this fight once it starts?”
Sledge smiled broadly. “Yeah, I think I am.”
* * *
P.C. Dickles sat up in his cot. The room he slept in wasn’t much bigger than the cot, but he had a private dormitory, such as it was. In the corner was a small basin where he could wash up. Next to that was a footlocker with two neatly folded jumpsuits. He had bought them after the last windfall of overtime, thinking he would switch out his uniform more often.
It was an idea, at least. The thing was, he had to go through the decontamination shower scene in full gear whenever he went into certain parts of the mine. As a supervisor, that meant about every day. So his mining gear was about as clean as it ever would get, changing out or not. It wasn’t like the place had an excellent laundromat. He looked around the room, eyes well-adjusted to the dark after several hours of sleep.
“I guess I’m up,” he said to the room. After washing his face and then his armpits in the sink, he dried off and pulled on his gear.
The hallway he stepped out into wasn’t much taller than his cubicle. He came to an intersection and decided to head toward the warehouse and loading docks rather than the cafeteria. His mind was a tangle of emotions and worries, but what he couldn’t stop thinking about was the two unworn jumpsuits. As soon as this mess in Transport Canyon was over, he would take all of his extra stuff to his apartment in Darklanding. And then he would start spending more time there.
There was no place he would rather be but mining, discovering all of the planet’s secrets no matter how deeply they were hidden. But he was a human, not an Unglok.
He held his left hand up to shade his eyes as he emerged onto the open area where mountains of ore had been stacked. In the early days of the crisis, it had been packed into crates and locked. Now there were piles of raw ore spilling everywhere. The warehouse was completely full. They had been able to store more inside by leaving the doors open so that it could flow outward when there was too much.
Still thinking of his extra jumpsuits, he walked toward the ledge that overlooked Transport Canyon. He wondered if he could store some of the exotics in his footlocker. Not for himself, but until it could be taken to Darklanding and exported from the planet.
The clouds of A19 were thinning. He could see more of the canyon than he could the day before. Something about the scene was wrong, but he could not describe what it was. There seemed to be an unusual amount of activity down there.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Heavy Transport Ships
Thaddeus counted each of the children as they crammed into Sledge’s vehicle.
Ryan hesitated at the door to the cockpit. “I should stay. I know the canyon better than anyone.”
“No. I need Sledge here with me. Amanda can show me where the rest of the townsfolk are and get them out before they’re hunted down and put to work by Ring’s goons,” Thaddeus said. “I’ll get these to safety. If anyone gives you a hard time at Darklanding, say that you’re all temporarily in my custody. That should buy you some time until we can figure out something more permanent.”
One of the scientific radios they were now using to communicate with beeped on Thaddeus’s belt. Sledge’s voice pushed through the static. “You better come have a look at this.”
Thaddeus pointed at Ryan. “Every one of these kids is your responsibility now. Don’t let them down.” He turned and jogged toward the observation point Sledge had set up.
There were about a dozen townsfolk who had returned from their scavenging operations. Thaddeus had placed them in observation posts and threatened them with arrest if they disobeyed his orders. It wasn’t the best way to inspire people, but he didn’t have time to b
uild up goodwill.
When he arrived at the edge of town, he saw that there were several more that had struggled in with truckloads full of exotics.
He pointed at the driver of the first vehicle he came to. “Take that truck to the third building on the right and park it on the lines I painted there. We might need it for cover if this turns into a firefight.”
“Are you kidding me? This thing is full of exotics. We need to hide it until we have a way to sell it,” the driver said.
“It’s hard to sell anything when you’re dead,” Thaddeus said. “You know the White Skull raiders better than I do. Think about it. But think about it when you’re doing what I just told you to do.”
He started running even before he finished giving the order and soon reached Sledge’s position.
“This would be a lot easier if these dumb-asses would just evacuate everyone,” Sledge said.
“No argument there. What’s the emergency this time?”
Sledge handed him the best pair of binoculars in Raven’s Haven. “Look down on the far end of the canyon. More ships have landed. These look a lot bigger to me.”
Thaddeus agreed after the first glance. There were ten of the new space vessels, each three times the size of the initial wave of reinforcements. “I think they brought too many ships. There’s no way they’ll fill those with what’s scattered from the train wreck.”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Sledge asked.
Thaddeus cursed. “They probably didn’t stop mining when the train stopped running. They’re not just here for the train wreck, they’re here for everything.”
“Here comes your girlfriend,” Sledge said.
Thaddeus turned to look.
Amanda walked briskly toward him, took him by the arm, and led him away from Sledge. “I talked to one of the drivers. That girl you’re looking for is near the oasis. There’s at least one squad of the White Skulls between us and her.”
Thaddeus looked at Sledge, who was still watching the new arrivals across the valley. Thad stared into Amanda’s eyes. “Why didn’t you tell him?”
