Slow Burn Dark

by A. B. Keuser

  “Should I institute pat downs?”

  She couldn’t tell if he was serious. “I think a scanner should suffice.”

  With a hollow laugh, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know you fired me, but… I expect a raise after all this.”

  “If we pull this off, you’ll get that and more.” If they pulled it off, she’d make him a full partner.

  Forty-Five - Flynn

  The triage station was as clean as they could make it. Still, Chad cringed every time he looked away from a patient.

  Flynn sanitized his hands and moved to help. He wasn’t a nurse, and his Lazarai field medic certification was long out of date, but he could hand tools and bandages over without the need for too much instruction. He’d let those with the ability to assess and treat the lesser wounds take over the bulk of the work.

  When Flynn looked up, hours later, there was no sign of the Refuti. Others might not have noticed yet, but they would, and when they did…. Sophia had better prepare for a siege.

  Putty, face and arms streaked with the long black lines of UPD-5 dust, dropped to the ground and leaned back against an over-large boulder. “What the actual fuck.”

  Agreeing with a half nod, Flynn threw his hand torch to one of the miners and dropped down too. “I’d say you know how to pick them, but…”

  “But you don’t want me to add another line to your neck?”

  “And that’s how I know you’re okay. When you stop threatening me with bodily harm, I’ll have to shoot you because clearly your mind’s been taken over by zombie wasps.”

  “Thanks for that imagery.” Putty’s laugh was hollow, and then…. “Are there actually things called zombie wasps?”

  “In as big of a universe as this? There has to be.”

  “Just one more thing to worry about.”

  “But at least the planet won’t blow up under your feet… tonight.

  Everyone who was able worked in a methodical drone and Flynn blocked them out. His mind on the trail of blood leading down the tunnel toward the Refuti terrafarm.

  Henri and the captains spoke in sharp, hushed tones. Glaring at the crumpled machinery and the hole the Lazarai had intended to use to destroy them all.

  Filling the hole would be easy. Making sure no one else tried to do the same….that would be the true test.

  They were subdued as they discussed what needed to be done immediately.

  A muffled sound from the far end of the tunnel made everyone jump, but the light haze of dust left Flynn guessing Sophia had had her people collapse the tunnel on her end.

  Still he sent someone to check it out and sent another to get the charges needed to do the same on theirs.

  He listened as Henri set up a guard schedule.

  Flynn saw no reason to step in. The suggestions he’d have offered were brought up in their own time.

  The fact he was no longer needed was abundantly clear.

  And he’d leave… just as soon as he got his ship in the air. But that would require cooperation of the man helping to dismantle the last of the machine, directing workers to stack different pieces of it in different sections to be packed away.

  Henri shot him a look—one that said, “go the fuck away” and he wasn’t about to ask for clarification. He let Putty drone on at him and led the way back to the lift. Breathed a long sigh of relief when they stepped out on the surface.

  Hell, he was even relieved his least favorite ACOOR employee was still around.

  “Don’t be so happy to see us,” Flynn said as Bosco glanced at them before turning back to the horizon.

  “You’d think,” Flynn turned to Putty, “that we hadn’t just averted disaster.”

  Bosco scowled at the lightening sky and the rocket trail still fading into the golden-hued dawn. “Giuseppe got off the planet after all.”

  Putty grumbled beside him and said, “Henri isn’t going to be very happy about that.”

  Shrugging, Flynn nudged his brother forward with his shoulder.

  “I was looking forward to seeing him strung up.” Putty looked up as though he might be able to catch the damned thing if he jumped.

  Flynn followed his eye line. “Sometimes, you have to lose to win, sometimes, winning still feels like losing.”

  “Do me a favor?”

  “Sure.” He turned to his older brother and only just managed to dodge the fist that flew at his shoulder.

  “Shut up.”

  Stopping in the middle of the deserted intersection, Flynn stared at Susan’s. Tried to decide if a crowd was what he wanted at that moment.

  When a shadow stepped away from the porch, he knew the answer was no. But the Captain made a beeline for them, and Flynn couldn’t walk away and avoid him forever.

  Stevens stopped a few feet away. Hands stuffed in his pockets. “Thanks for your help.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Putty was the one to answer, but when Stevens spoke again, his narrowed glare was set on Flynn. “I still don’t like you.”

  “Wouldn’t expect you to.”

  Bosco muttered a goodbye, took Steven’s hand and headed for the bright lights.

  The idea was exhausting.

  “Let’s leave the good folks of Sukiyaki to their own devices tonight.” Putty jerked his shirtsleeve, and then led the way through the junkyard gate.

  No dead men haunted the canyons, and what little damage had been done to his ship wasn’t worth inspection.

  They climbed aboard and Flynn let Putty raid the fridge as he climbed out the roof. Bottles clattered and rolled as the hatch displaced them, and he looked at the remains of Putty’s statue.

  His brother sat heavily beside him and looked up to the fractured moon. “What now?”

  “I don’t know. We could stow away on a ship before anyone sobers up and let them figure things out for themselves.”

  “That’s not what I mean.” Putty sighed leaning forward to place a bottle in place to restart the pyramid.

  “Do you think you could help me get this bucket space worthy, or is this mess beyond your skills?”

  Putty shot him a look. “I’m probably the only one on the planet who can get it up and running again.”

  Laughing, Flynn handed his brother another empty bottle.

  A moment of silence passed as Putty scrutinized it. “I’ll do it on one condition.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Take me with you.”

  Leaning back against the still-warm hull, he looked up at the greendark. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  Forty-Six - Kathrynn

  Capo was a beautiful planet at first glance. Nothing but City and glitter and pretty green parks as far as the eye could see.

  They’d even managed to make the ports pretty. The black spiral of jetburn on tarmac somehow turned to mesmerizing mosaic.

  Refuse was scooped away by skittering bots almost before it had hit the ground, and even those whose jobs she knew barely afforded a living—wouldn’t afford one without employer subsidized housing—were cheerful and bright. Half of them had a thick line of gold paint slashed from hairline to mid-cheek over their right eye.

  Corporate employees marked—happily—as though they were slaves to the economic machine.

  Those who moved around the three of them didn’t spare a glance.

  The oddity of Capo lay in its ignorance of those who looked like they belonged… just not quite enough to matter.

  She’d stolen the pewter slick suit from an unlocked bag in the ship’s cargo compartment, and slipped in among the crowd with its hood up to shade her face. Beside her, Trey filled his traveling jacket perfectly.

  The fact he’d had it with him on Sukiyaki was telling in and of itself.

  Sober, but staggering Hele was the only one who didn’t fit in quite perfectly.

  There were no cameras here. Ninety percent of the Colarium’s wealth resided on this sphere. And where the government didn’t budge on its refusal to allow private pads and
hangars for the majority of its populace, they had conceded to allowing them more privacy than any other port system in their control.

  That worked perfectly for her.

  A trio of sisters in robes of white that bled up from glimmering gold and emerald greeted passengers departing and offering them directions to the temple, information on the next services, and the coming high holiday.

  One saw them, and immediately dipped her head in greeting. “Blessings of the Mother, Sister Jenine is waiting for you.”

  Trey stiffened beside her and Hele shot him a look. Kathrynn ignored them both.

  She’d sent word ahead, but her message had been discrete. The sister who led her away from the others had no idea who she was, only that she was one of their order.

  Trey stopped halfway up the sanctuary, keeping to the shadows, and Hele stayed with him.

  Jenine waited for her in a compartment that was partially constructed. Even in the state of disarray, with no light save for the harsh glare of a temporary string, Kathrynn could make out the base template, waiting for its eventual altar.

  Their robes were iridescent in the mirror like walls, and she shared a brief nod with Jenine as the others drew away seeking more newcomers, further from the entrance.

  “Sister,” Jenine said, avoiding her name. “It has been too long since we’ve spoken. Are you well? Your family?”

  Kathrynn smiled at the stilted way most thought they spoke.

  “The Great Mother has been kind, despite all our mortal follies. And yours?”

  Smiling ruefully, Jenine directed her toward a discrete back door. “My sisters are my family, and the Great Mother protects us always.”

  With a wave of her hand, Kathrynn motioned Trey forward.

  “I don’t think the sisters are the only ones.”

  Kathrynn held her breath as she moved out of the way, as she turned her back to give them what little privacy she could. Hele, however, stared… and then, her eyes widened.

  Even in the dim lights of the paused construction sight, Kathrynn saw her blush.

  “They haven’t seen each other in years.”

  “I guess not.”

  Jenine cleared her throat and said Kat’s name, quietly.

  “Praise the Great Mother. Thank you.” Her amethyst eyes sparkled.

  Trey looked unsteady on his feet.

  “I believe, the best place for us, right now, would be the main temple.”

  “Yes, of course, I have a car waiting. I’ll join you there as soon as my work here is done.”

  The last was meant for Trey, and Kat let him acknowledge it.

  A back corridor, three pass coded hatches, and they were in a service dock, where a car and driver awaited them.

  But before Kat could get inside, Jenine clasped her hand, pressing a comm clip into Kathrynn’s palm. “This will allow you to speak to Serbal without Colarim interference.”

  In the dark of the groundcar, Kat ignored the passing scenery, flipping the clip over and back in her hand.

  It was simple tech, but difficult to find. The only reason it didn’t trip the scanners was its rarity.

  Why scan for something only one in six billion people had access to.

  It was also a reminder.

  Even Serbal’s influence was tenuous this close to the seat of the Colarium… she could only rely on the Great Mother here.

  That was why, upon arriving at the temple, she didn’t tell them who she was. She graciously accepted the temporary quarters they offered. But when the halls went quiet, Kathrynn slipped out of the dormitory and sought guidance.

  The temple was empty, most of the sisters asleep, and she walked up the aisle with her head bowed, reciting the litany of the Great Mother.

  The words felt burned into her tongue after all this time, but she never once let them become complacent.

  Instead of walking to the altar, she turned aside, to the arch carved with a sickle.

  It was one of only three locking doors in the entire temple.

  And her blood was the only thing that would open it.

  The chamber had scared her at first. Dark, its only windows paned in red glass. Serbal’s architects had gone overboard with the color thing, but it served its purpose.

  The chamber itself wasn’t ominous—not anymore—and she pulled her shirt off as soon as the hard scrape of the door shut behind her. In here, she could almost feel human again.

  She dusted herself with the dry red powders that removed the creeping sensations coursing over her skin and bathed in the icy water from a black pool that seemed fathomless.

  In the water, she saw the destruction of worlds, the downfalls of governments. Saw the death of her brothers, of her friend… of the sisters who were as much family as the others.

  And she saw all their thwarting.

  Dried, redressed, and with her mind cleared, she settled onto the soft mat set in front of the comp unit that was so old, it didn’t use any of the current satellite lines… it bounced itself off whatever was available, and ate up space looking like nothing more than a transient transmission.

  The comm clip would piggyback her onto Colarium ship transmissions…. And they’d never notice her.

  Tapping through the commands, Kathrynn placed the call and waited for the screen in front of her to bloom to life.

  Serbal was in her chambers, lounging on a raised bed atop a lowly stepped platform. Kathrynn ignored the blood on the floor in the far corner.

  The fresh stain was partially shielded by a heavy curtain.

  She ignored the fact there would be a dead man behind that curtain. Though she idly wondered if Archie had sent one of his men as a sacrificial snack… an offering to keep himself in Serbal’s good graces after his most recent transgressions.

  After so many years, she knew too much about the pagoan woman’s dietary needs.

  “The Lazarai plans to destroy Sukiyaki have been dealt with.”

  Serbal smiled, the points of her needle teeth hidden by her lower lip, and she rolled to her side to better face Kathrynn.

  “Good.” She threw aside something… bone colored. “If that damn fool friend of yours had taken the time to inform us of his plans….”

  Kathrynn didn’t argue her use of words and she wasn’t about to let the woman know about Archie’s secret in the Slow Burn Dark.

  No matter how much UPD-5 the sisters on the planet were smuggling out, Archie would rather cripple himself as he destroyed the Colarium’s most precious resource, than steal it from them.

  He liked explosions… and making overt points.

  “He won't have an easy time getting his men back onto the planet. The locals aren’t going to forget this any time soon. And several know of our involvement in thwarting their plans.”

  With a jerk of a nod, Serbal said, “Good.” She glanced at something out of camera view and licked her teeth. “Give me a full report when you get back.”

  “I will see you as soon as the Great Mother allows it.”

  The feed cut and her chamber fell, momentarily, to darkness.

  She finished dressing. Not bothering to hide her hands, yet, and locked her chamber up tight once more.

  The temple was no longer so empty.

  She cut through side corridors and lesser used gathering rooms until she reached the Temple’s atrium.

  Stuffed to bursting with plants native to ludo, the tiny jungle helped center her.

  It was one of the few things that made being this deep within the glaring glitter and shine of capo’s artificial world bearable.

  Pulling on her gloves and slipping on dark glasses, she stepped out of the temple.

  It was time to start her plan in earnest.

  Forty-Seven - Sophia

  Sophia had once heard it said that “cooler heads prevailed come morning.”

  Whether or not she’d find anything to corroborate that theory….

  She left Banks in the car and stepped into Susan’s to find out.

  �
��Your bounty’s gone.” Sophia said, slipping into the seat beside Flynn.

  He didn’t look up, he just scowled into his glass and said. “So’s your brother.”

  She’d prepared to defend Geo, so she didn’t wait for a second opportunity.

  “Let me tell you a story about a man who loves without knowing exactly how to. One who seeks to protect those people he loves, despite lacking the ability to do so safely.” She smiled a thanks at Susan that the bar owner didn’t return as he sat a glass in front of her. “He’s the sort of person who will do whatever he feels necessary to ensure the safety and happiness of his family. Now... am I talking about my brother, or yours? Am I talking about you?”

  Shifting his shoulders, he turned his scowl on her.

  “My brother was led astray,” she said. “He almost destroyed a planet because he thought he was doing something helpful. And yes, I’m aware that he was willing to kill to ensure my safety and future.” She held his gaze. “Your brother accidentally blew up a moon because he thought he was dumping safe cargo—because he didn’t read a box. And I have no doubt he is willing to kill to ensure your safety and future.

  That pretty mouth of his twitched—no doubt because he knew she was right.

  He shook his head. “They’re not the same.”

  “No,” she said, “They are two very different men who happen to have committed nearly identical sins. Why should my brother face execution and yours not even receive a biff on the nose?”

  “My brother didn’t try to kill a kid and their dog when they got in his way.”

  She didn’t know what he was talking about, but at this point, she didn’t know what she’d put past Geo.

  “No, Putty saw a confused and helpless man and, instead of helping, he blew his leg off.”

  That—thankfully—shut Flynn up for long enough she could take a drink and try to calm the jittering agitation in her limbs.

  “Do not get into a fight with me over whose brother made the worse decisions here, Flynn. Neither of us will win.” She knew the scales would tip against Geo… suspected Flynn did too.

  “If you want to make a claim against Putty in relation to your moon, that’s fully within your rights.” He straightened and turned fully to her, knee knocking the leg of her stool. “I would imagine Giuseppe’s already laid out assault charges. Putty will be present for whatever hearing he’s called to.”