by Sara King
“Academy,” Rabbit muttered, wiping his mouth.
“Knew it,” the big man said, slapping a meaty thigh. “Well, no wonder the Utopia dropped him. You wanna leave him here with me? I’ll give you someone with some hair on his balls.” He glanced behind him at the five men waiting for them in the hall. One of the men was wearing a butler’s uniform, carrying a tray of drinks on one hand. “But enough chat. Hate to do this to you, but you feel good enough to eat? It’s dinnertime here on Erriat. Kinda interrupted me in the middle of things. Mel’s got places set for you, if you’re up for some good ol’ fashioned beef ‘n potatoes.”
Stuart felt his host’s stomach churn, on impulse. Beside him, his two comrades had paled considerably.
“I take that as a no,” the big man said, glancing from one to the other. “Fine, I suppose I can skip dinner for once. My wives won’t like it, but what can you do? Usually just a gossipy bitch-fest anyway.” He sighed and made a dismissive gesture at his butler with a gold-heavy hand. “Come on. I’ll take you to the den.” He grinned at them. “Speaking of bitch-fests, did you hear there was a woman dropped off the other week? A woman! What kind of twisted freak is that Governor Black, anyway?”
“That’s why we’re here,” Rabbit admitted, taking up a spot at Angus’s right. Stuart followed a short distance behind him, and Colonel Howlen reluctantly fell in beside him.
Angus Greele nodded as they walked, not looking surprised. “Thought so. I rarely ever get a special delivery from T-9, and it’s even rarer I see you. So the two put together can’t really be a coincidence. She a friend of yours?”
“One of my employees.”
Angus pursed his lips. “Poor man. I hear she’s a real harpy. Escaped Orplex three times already.” Then he cocked his head. “But Hell, that’s prolly why you hired her, eh? I still haven’t gotten a good look at her. Was kind of waitin’ for the wardens to calm her down a bit before I checked her out. Could use me a fourth wife. It’s hard to convince women to move to a dusty hellhole like Erriat.” He waved a gemmed hand at the fancy reception hall they were passing through. “Not even a big bank account’s enough anymore.”
“We need to talk to her,” Rabbit said. “She’s got some codes I need.”
Angus flipped a big, ringed hand to one side. “I get it. You want to talk to her. Wink, wink. She disappears and it’ll be one big mystery. Am I right?”
Rabbit shrugged. “Would like to take her back with me, but if not, it won’t be the end of the world. Just need the codes.”
“Oh come on,” Angus laughed, “Just because I’m the Overseer doesn’t mean I won’t make a few allowances for my friends. Technically, everybody here is a citizen of Erriat, and I can do whatever the hell I want with them. So if you want her back, just say so.”
“We want her back.”
“There!” Angus boomed. “Was that so hard? Do you really trust me so little that you’d think I’d turn you in for coming to save a friend? Really, Rabbit, I thought you knew me.”
Rabbit looked a bit abashed. “We haven’t had a chance to talk in awhile.”
“So true! I’ve had nothing to do here but play cards and count my prisoners! You know, I grossed more than a billion last year? I’m thinkin’ about buying a nice little tropical planet near the Black. Get me out of this place once and for all. Put a manager in charge, let his ears fill up with sand. Did you know that if you don’t wear headgear around here, your ears fill up with sand? It’s nasty stuff. There are bugs in it that lay eggs in your head and then hatch inside your eardrum. You ever had a migraine? Well, that’s nothin’ compared to this. It’s like your eyes are gonna pop out of your skull. Sometimes they do, from all the pressure.”
Stuart cocked his head at Angus’s back, trying to determine if the casual comment could have been more than a random subject of conversation. Already hyper-sensitive to S.O. operatives, he was not liking the parallels the man was drawing.
You’re too paranoid, part of him thought. Rabbit’s not turning you in.
No, probably not, Stuart thought, glancing at Howlen out of the corner of his host’s eye. But he might.
Catching his glance, Howlen gave him a suspicious look and put more distance between them as they walked.
They paused outside an elegantly-carved wooden door with a gigantic bull posing in its center. Angus pushed it open. “You see this? Purpleheart. The real stuff from a real timber planet. A thousand credits a square foot. More expensive than gold, this stuff. But no biggie. Erriat produces more gold than the rest of the Utopia combined. Like dirt, around here.”
Angus led them inside and directed them to low, plush leather chairs surrounding a small golden coffee table. A straight-backed man in a black suit placed a decanter of amber-colored liquid on the table along with four gleaming crystal-and-gold glasses, then left them alone. The others in Angus’s party were nearby—Stuart had seen at least two of them take up positions at the door, and was pretty sure the rest of them were right around the corner.
“See here?” Angus said, lifting the crystal decanter. He swished it around so that the amber substance inside sloshed freely. “This stuff’s even more expensive than good wood. This bottle alone cost nearly ten thousand. You can tell by the aroma. See what I mean? You can almost smell the vineyards. They say it’s got a hint of apples, but I can’t taste it. I don’t got the tastebuds. All I know is it gets me drunk faster’n rubbing alcohol.”
“I really hope you don’t plan on pouring me some of that,” Rabbit muttered. He was staring at the decanter with tight white lips. Stuart wondered if he was going to vomit again, and scooted an inch or two further down the couch.
“Thought you might appreciate it, since you like to run a bar,” Angus said. Then he shrugged. “Guess you don’t have to, seein’ how you had a rough ride, but let me tell you. It works. Got drunker than a dog offa two glasses the other night. Had a whopper of a headache the next morning, but that’s my own fault, for drinking too fast. My wives can hold their liquor better than I can.”
“Prolly because they were all whores before they got sent to Erriat.”
Angus paused, and Stuart watched the emotions in the man’s face change with alarming speed. For a tense moment, Stuart thought he would call his guards and have them all arrested. But he just laughed, slapping his palm on the table hard enough to knock over one of the crystal glasses.
“Ain’t that the truth! And damn, do they know how to please a man. Marya, now, she’s a hottie. Only seventy-five and got an ass like a pumpkin.” He shaped his wealth-encrusted hands in the air, to demonstrate. If anyone else had noticed the sudden violence that had been lurking momentarily behind Angus’s muddy hazel eyes, Stuart wasn’t sure, but it seemed Rabbit had tensed slightly.
Angus frowned and pointed at Rabbit. “I know. Last time you was here. She was the one in that little pink tanktop. Nice, huh? And she swears she never had any surgery! All my bodyguards stare at her when she’s in the room, and if I was a jealous man, I’d think she was sleeping with all of them. Can’t be, though, since I had all their balls chopped off as soon as they started working for me.”
Rabbit, who had reached out to retrieve the crystal glass from where it had tipped on its side, blanched. “So you say the woman is in Orplex?”
“Yeah,” Angus said. “What’s her name again?”
“Trish.”
“Funny, that’s not the name she’s using. I think she calls herself Scorpio or something stupid like that. Everyone says she looks like a man. First thing she did was get a buzz-cut and a big ol’ tattoo of a scorpion across her back.”
“Sounds like Trish. She was a scrapper.”
“Yeah, well, tattoo’s the first thing ta go, if I like her looks, and if I don’t, well…” He shrugged his massive shoulders. “She ain’t gonna last long on Erriat. You’re definitely doing her a favor. She’s gonna get herself killed. What’s wrong with women nowadays? You remember back when they knew their place and never had a mind
to talk back?”
“Damn straight,” Colonel Howlen muttered.
Angus swiveled to grin at him, gesturing at the colonel’s chest. “See? He knows what I’m talking about. Good ol’ days. Miss those.” Then he frowned. “But I guess even then back there were pushy broads like Athenais running around. How is our beloved space captain doing, by the way? You really must tell her to come visit me. I’d give her a time she’d never forget.”
The vicious way his eyes went dark left Stuart feeling cold.
“Haven’t seen Attie in years,” Rabbit said carefully. “Last I heard, she was headed out to Millennium for some blackmarket goods.”
Angus snorted. “They really oughta give me a go at her. I could wipe all that pirating trash right outta her skull. The Utopia’s too easy on her. I don’t give a damn if she’s Marceau’s daughter or one of the originals. It’s not like she ain’t replaceable.” He grunted and took a moment to pour himself a hefty glass of the amber fluid, his rings tinkling against the crystal as he moved. Then, drinking it down in a long swallow, he slammed the glass back to the table and growled, “Besides, she’s got no respect for anything but herself and her goddamned Beetle.”
“That’s true,” Rabbit agreed. “But what can you expect, after all this time? What does she have left to care about?”
Angus waved a ringed hand. “Don’t get me started. I didn’t ask for this, but I found myself a niche anyway. I got a job I’m good at, and I do it. Hell, she could damn well settle down and be a housewife for all I care. She gives the rest of us a bad name.” Angus cocked his head. “You’re lookin’ a mite better. Brandy?” He held up the decanter.
“Maybe a little.” Rabbit reached out and took the glass of brandy Angus proffered.
“Anyway, tell me about how T-9’s treatin’ you,” Angus said, sipping on another glass of alcohol. “I hear that new Governor Black’s a real hardass. Threatening to shut you down unless you give him a cut of your profits.”
“That’s nothing new,” Rabbit said, sounding wistful. “Only thing that changes is who we send the money to.”
“Ain’t that the truth! Well, I got my own place, here. It may be a real shithole of a planet, but it’s mine and there’s not a goddamned person in the Utopia who can tell me how to run things on my rock.” He winked. “Not unless they wanna take on the Erriat fleet, and nobody’s dumb enough to do that, eh?”
“Not a chance.” Rabbit glanced around at their surroundings and nodded. “Sounds like things are going pretty well for you, then.”
“Sure are! We just discovered a new rhodium vein out east. Only four miles down! I’m gonna open her up, but I think I’ll have to let it loose on the market slowly, to keep prices up. Oh, well. Rhodium’s better than gold, anyway. Lighter, twice as valuable, easy to pack up if you need to make a quick getaway, right Rabbit?” He chortled.
“Err, yes. I suppose.” Rabbit glanced at Stuart, looking nervous.
“Not that you’d know anything about that,” Angus snorted. “After all, you built your empire on T-9 from the ground up, right? Sweat and brains? Hard work and dedication? Couldn’t have anything to do with the seventy million that went missing on Millennium, could it?”
Rabbit reddened. “That was centuries ago.”
Angus tapped his skull with a heavily ringed finger. “Yeah, but ol’ Angus is sharp. I remember everything from the last seven millennia, thanks to Athenais.”
The bitterness in his voice could have cracked glass.
“She got stuck with it same as you or I.” Rabbit was definitely looking nervous, though, Stuart decided. Was it time to start thinking about departure routes? He glanced at the colonel, who was watching Angus a bit too closely.
Well, at least he wasn’t a total imbecile.
Angus leaned toward them over the golden table, his hazel eyes flashing. “Don’t tell me she had nothin’ to do with it. You don’t think her father dosed her and then she begged for him to dose all her little playmates, too, so they could live happily ever after?”
“Even if she did, she was a child and Marceau was the adult,” Rabbit reminded him. “If you’re still stuck on the whole affair, you should blame him, not her.”
Angus brushed off Rabbit’s statement with a dismissive grunt. Glancing at Stuart, he said, “And who are these two? More trash you scraped up from the edges of T-9?”
“I’m Tommy Howlen,” the Colonel said, extending a hand. “His navigator.”
“Did I ask you?” Angus asked. His face remained pleasant, but there was hardness in his eyes that Stuart did not like. “In fact, why are you even here? Did I bring my bodyguards to the table with me?”
“They’re not bodyguards,” Rabbit said.
“Then what are they?” Angus demanded, gesturing rudely at Stuart and the colonel. “Some two-bits you dragged in off the street? You’re making me wonder whether you trust me anymore, Rabbit.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rabbit retorted. “I could bring a hundred men in here and all you’d have to do is wiggle your pinkie and we’d have a thousand Home Guard destroyers blow Retribution a new airlock.”
Angus grunted. His eyes swept past Tommy and stopped on Stuart. His silty hazel eyes swept Stuart’s host’s body up and down, no doubt taking in the multitudes of scars. “And what about this piece of work? Don’t tell me he manages your portfolio.”
“I work on com,” Stuart said. “Rabbit hired me to keep Retribution singing on the ride here.”
“Really? What’s the difference between a longspan antenna and a short-drive transmitter?”
Stuart grinned. “Hell if I know.”
Angus laughed and started counting off fingers. “So you got a navigator that couldn’t find his asshole with a UPS, a com tech that looks like he came straight from a bar fight, and a pilot that never learned to fly planetside. I’m surprised you made it here in one piece.”
Colonel Howlen straightened. “My navigation skills are impeccable.”
Angus turned back to the colonel, smiling. “Oh? So why did Retribution land a few hundred kilometers off course? Instrument failure? Or were you intending to stake out Erriat before you made your presence known to us?” Angus spoke the last to Rabbit, his eyes calm but deadly cold.
Stuart peered at Angus. Even though he rambled and acted addle-headed, the man was sharp. He found himself wondering if the whole greeting had been an act.
As if to answer his question, Angus said, “I know why you’re here, Rabbit. Don’t insult my intelligence. Of course I checked her out as soon as I found out they’d sent me a woman. And I’m sure as hell not giving her up now that I’ve got her. Take your incompetent crew and get off my planet.”
He paused and looked directly at Stuart. “Oh, and I’ve given my men instructions to shoot me in the head if I start acting at all strange. Capiche?”
Stuart swallowed hard. How did he…?
“Attie told me Rabbit had taken to runnin’ with a suzait,” Angus said, eyes fixed on Stuart. “When I was tearing out her spleen.”
Beside him, Rabbit was already standing. “We didn’t come here to cause trouble,” he started, sounding genuinely nervous.
“‘Course you did,” Angus said. He shrugged his burly shoulders. “But it’s not like I can hold it against you or anything. I mean, friends are friends, even if they’re an arrogant bitch like Attie. I’m gonna keep her for a few more years. Work some things out. Then we can talk.”
Rabbit winced. “Years?”
“I heard you’ve got property on Laia.” Angus snagged his glass of brandy as he leaned back. He looked up at them over its rim. “That’s a nice little island planet, right? Tropical, from what I hear.”
“You want to trade?” Rabbit said. “I’ll sign the paperwork right—”
Angus snorted. “Just get out. She’s mine. She owes me a couple years, at least. I’ll send someone to come get you when I’m ready. Until then, you try anything, I will shoot you down, Rabbit, and then you’ll be j
oining her.” He grinned, and his golden teeth glinted. “Figure there’s at least a few things you’re owing me for, as well. Maybe seventy mil worth? They tried to pin it on me at first, you know. Spent a few months in jail while you hightailed it across the galaxy.”
“Gods be merciful, Angus, that was millennia ago.”
The big man reached up and tapped a bejeweled finger against his skull, his eyes filled with malice. “Long memory, thanks to our friend.” He smiled, settling his cup on the table in front of him so he could stretch out his silk-covered arms along the top of the couch back. “Tell ya what, brother. You figure out a way to make me forget, I’ll call it even. Will forget we even had this discussion, and Marceau can keep on looking for you in all the wrong places.”
Rabbit scowled at Angus, visibly ruffled for the first time Stuart had seen him. “Come on,” he said, bitterly, to Stuart. “Let’s get out of here.”
Marceau is looking for him? Stuart thought, stunned. Since when could Marceau not find anyone he wanted, simply by snapping his fingers? How long has he been running? Stuart wondered. Rabbit had said millennia… Realizing that, Stuart gained a whole new respect for the wiry little criminal.
Angus clapped his hands together. “Well, now that that’s settled, get out. I’ll still lend you a pilot if you want, but only for old-time’s sake. This is one too many times you’ve stabbed me in the back, Rabbit. Like I said, I don’t forget. Next time you set foot on Erriat without invitation, you’re staying here until I get a shuttle from Millennium.”
The three men came back with glum looks on their faces.
“So how’d it go?” Dallas asked cheerfully, tossing the rag aside and once more taking up the controls. She hadn’t had so much fun in the air in ages. She’d even managed to clean up most of the vomit in their absence, leaving the cockpit smelling like green apples.
“It went bad.” Rabbit slumped into the chair beside her. “Really bad. He was waiting for us.”
