* * *
Inside, the Corn Store was lavishly decorated with a tasteless blood red on the walls, while the floors sported bare concrete. Nothing said, “I need to bleach regularly to get rid of the evidence,” quite like bare concrete, Basil thought. Around some of the outer planets, where volcanic glass was too expensive, concrete was often used for flooring in places where wood wouldn’t take the weight, for example in warehouses like this one. He especially hated the wall hangings. At some point, Gar-Kon had clearly decided he needed to feel more cultured—or he was trying to give that impression to people—by commissioning some sort of epic tapestry, commemorating the way (according to him) his rise to the top of Pombos’s criminal underworld had happened. Rudimentary pictures of gangsters with machine guns, threatening some elderly couples, were followed by the portrayal of Gar-Kon, resplendent in a blood-red suit, shooting the gangsters, which in turn was followed by an image of the elderly people cheering and deciding to hand large wads of cash to Gar-Kon. The other enthusiastically embroidered embellishments were just as bad.
“I wonder if he actually goes to bed at night believing this crap,” Flin whispered, staring at the silken image of a shopkeeper handing Gar-Kon a wad of cash, after Gar-Kon ‘defeated’ a group of thugs that were probably on his own payroll. Basil nodded.
“Why bother fooling any of the people, any of the time, when you can just fool yourself?” Basil asked. It wasn’t a question that required an answer.
Basil and Flin continued to make their way through this most peculiar of criminal hideouts, which was brazenly incriminating but utterly devoid of hard evidence at the same time. After all, Basil thought, no court in the galaxy would admit a self-commissioned tapestry as evidence of mass murder, extortion, or violence unless it had somehow been the weapon used to commit the crimes.
In an inner sanctum, sitting on an actual throne, Gar-Kon smoked a cigar while sycophantic attendants brought him things to sign, read, eat, and approve of.
“Gar-Kon! You owe me a hot dog!” Basil said. It was the only thing he could think of to say, since the last time he’d seen the man, he’d knocked the food from Basil’s hand. Flin elbowed him but the damage had been done.
“In the history of one-liners, that was the worst,” Flin murmured.
“Who the halbardet are you’se two, and who let ya in?” Gar-Kon demanded, turning an angry shade of red.
“I’m Basil, this is my business associate Flin, and we are here to ask you to stop searching for the girl named Laila,” Basil announced.
“Heh, is that so? She hired some fellas to get me off her trail, eh? Bet she didn’t tell ya she’s got no money to her name. She can’t pay you’se two a penny.”
“We’re working pro bono,” Flin said sharply.
“Oho! Oho! Is that so? You’se both working for her, eh? Sounds like she’s learned a trick or two since she was with me, if she’s got’s ya wrapped around her finger like that. Fucking her was like being in bed with a dead fish, and she’d got the personality of a raincloud to match. She’d just lay there and maybe cry. I could always shut ‘er up though.” Gar-Kon punched a fist through the air into his other hand, in case it wasn’t obvious enough that he’d mistreated Laila, Basil thought angrily. Basil knew Flin was on a very short fuse.
“Sounds like you have quite the way with the ladies, Mr. Gar-Kon. Or should we call you Gar? A smart, wealthy guy like you could have any chick on the planet; what d’ya want Laila for?” Basil tried to speak civilly while using words Gar-Kon might understand.
“Ya know, I got prettier girls on the payroll, sure, but Laila… ah, she had hopes and dreams. It was entertaining to keep crushing them, watching the light in her eyes go dark, hur hur, as she learned there was no hope of ever escaping, on account of her being mine. I only fucked her because it upset her so much. I’m sure you’se two are men of the world who know what I’m talking about, eh? I’ll enjoy seeing that again, but I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll put her on a shorter leash this time, hur hur.”
With a roar, Flin was across the room and had the enormous Gar-Kon pinned to the wall by the throat, his silly throne upturned on the floor. Attendants were swarming around; a few of them attempted to pry Flin off their boss, but when Flin simply scattered them like bowling pins, they hung back, uncertain about what to do. Flin had that effect on people, Basil thought, as he watched the chaos.
Gar-Kon merely laughed, “You’se’ll never walk out of here alive if ya kill me. I only need one of you’se to take me to Laila, ya see.”
“She’s with our friend. Same size as Flin here. He’s flown her somewhere we don’t have the coordinates for, so there’s no chance of either of us giving her away. When we give the all clear, they’ll meet us somewhere. If we give the wrong signal, he’ll fly her out of the galaxy. Then you’ll never find her,” Basil bluffed in a matter-of-fact voice.
“Call off your search,” Flin insisted, slamming Gar-Kon against the wall again.
“Hmm… I could use men like you’se. You’se got a ship, yes? I tells ya what, I’ll make ya a deal. You’se fly to Parathos, the predator planet, and get me the egg of a quorak. Bring it here, and I’ll think about calling off the search for Laila. Be warned though, I’ve got men who can tell the authenticity of just about anything. You’se try to cheat me, you’se will both be in the river, being fed to the fishies.”
Basil nodded, and muttered to Flin, “No biggie; he just wants us to go to the planet where humanoids ‘relocated’ all the deadliest non-sentient alien creatures and bring back the egg of a strong and cunning predator.”
“Hmm, that doesn’t sound suspicious at all,” Flin agreed, under his voice.
“You’se have one week to bring it to me, or I’ll double the reward for Laila,” Gar-Kon said. “I might double the reward anyway. It’s not like I’m going to pay it when I get her, hur, hur, hur.” His laugh was slow and sounded more like he was retching. Flin released his hold, and he and Basil left the building in disgust.
Outside, a woman ran over to them. Wearing a silk dress with flowing skirts, she was overdressed for the time of day and the part of town she was in. Basil judged her to be in her late thirties, maybe forty.
“‘Scuse me, good sirs. I noticed that you are both off-worlders,” she said. Her smile was as fake as her unnaturally red hair color.
“Indeed.” Basil was suspicious.
“And you’ve just been to see Gar-Kon?” She batted her eyelashes and thrust her ample bosom out toward him.
“Regrettably,” Basil replied.
“I… I don’t suppose you were here about my daughter? Bringing her back, I mean. I know he’s got half the galaxy searching for Laila,” she said, with another eyelash flutter.
“You’re her mother?” Flin asked; the astonishment on his face must have mirrored Basil’s own.
“Sadly, yes. You have no idea what she’s put me through! The girl’s been addled from a young age, good sirs, and she lies as easily as most people breathe. She can’t think properly, you see. I don’t blame myself, though. Some children are just born like that. When she was six, she was expelled from school you know; we couldn’t toilet train her, and they just didn’t have the patience for her behavior, you see. And I went to all the trouble of setting her up a match with the good Mr. Gar-Kon, a lovely fellow. Oh, he knows how to treat a girl. Laila would have wanted for nothing, you see. But she ran off, first chance she got, and left her poor mother starving and destitute.”
“You look neither starving nor destitute, madam,” Flin said flatly. Basil stifled a laugh. The woman’s face twitched slightly, like Flin’s words had sideswiped her.
“It’s a figure of speech. If you see her, tell her I’m worried about her. The poor girl is mentally backward, but she’s good at hiding it with all her lies, and she can’t cope out there on her own. She needs to be at home, with her family.”
“You mean, like her three brothers, who you sold to the phosphorus mines?” Flin asked. The woman
’s face changed to an angry snarl for a moment, then she regained control and laughed.
“Is that what she told you? And you believed her? Oh, poor, addled Laila. This is what I mean; she never stops lying. You could ask her if it was day or night, and she’d say the opposite. Her brothers voluntarily went to the mines, to help out their poor, destitute, starving mother, after I’d just been widowed.” The way she reused certain words made her patter sound like she rehearsed it to say to people. Basil decided he wouldn’t put it past her; this woman was toxic.
“Fascinating. And what was the cause of death of your husband, madam?” From Flin’s icily polite tone of voice, Basil could tell that Flin was running out of patience with the woman. Neither of them were fond of people who habitually lied or manipulated other people. They watched the hateful woman’s face turn to gray, then she pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket with a flourish and theatrically dabbed her dry eyes with it.
“It was tragic! My life has been dreary ever since! And I would rather not talk about it!” she declared. “If you see Laila, tell her that her mother misses her! I only want the best for her!”
With that, she flounced off, her silk skirts rustling.
“No job, no husband, where’s she getting the money for clothes like that?” Basil wondered aloud. He knew women were forbidden from working on Pombos once they reached sixteen.
“Probably convinced a shopkeeper to give it to her. Do you think she’d know the truth if it hit her in the face?” Flin asked.
“Doubtful,” Basil conceded. “I think her and Gar-Kon were made for one another. Except for the fact that I bet neither of them work well with others like themselves.”
“Did you get her name?”
“No. Didn’t care enough to ask.”
* * *
Back on the ship, Laila awoke to hear people moving around. She must have fallen asleep reading Where’s Spot? (or, more accurately, she pointed out to herself, she had probably fallen asleep while staring at the pictures and imagining all the other goings-on in the world of Spot the Dog). With no idea what time it was, or who she could hear on the ship, she picked up the blaster gun and gripped it tightly, ready to shoot anyone who moved the sheet covering her cage.
A whirring vibration sound that she also felt through the floor told her that someone had started the ship’s engines. Was it Basil and Flin, getting her back to safety, or was it Gar-Kon, moving the ship to somewhere more private where he could take it apart at his leisure and find her? The terror of going back to Gar-Kon reminded her of how dangerous this whole plan had been. Her fingers sweated as she tried to maintain her grip on the gun. When she heard footsteps out in the cargo bay, she hunched against the back of the cage, as far from the door as possible. She didn’t dare to blink in case she missed an opportunity to shoot Gar-Kon.
The sheet moved in a fluid motion and she jumped with fright. She started to scream, and looked around wildly to see where to point the blaster.
“It’s all right, baby girl, it’s just me.” When she heard Basil’s voice and saw his face, Laila felt relief surge through her, and she began to cry a little.
“Daddy, I was so scared!” she declared as Basil opened the door. Crawling out of the cage was difficult because she was dragging her blankie, Where’s Spot? and Mr. Unicorn, and she only had two hands.
The moment she was out of the cage, she dropped all the things she’d been carrying because Basil swept her up in a big cuddle. His strong arms, the squishy wooly sweater he was wearing with the slight smell of his aftershave, and the beating of his heart, which she could hear when she rested her ear on his chest, all soothed her and made her feel safe, and she just knew nothing bad could happen now that her daddy was here.
“Did you win?” She wasn’t sure it was the right question, but it was close enough.
“Mostly. Gar-Kon has promised to stop offering a reward for your return, if we go to Parathos and get him the egg of a big alien predator, called a quorak. We’re hoping to find out who he’s acquiring this egg for, because that could be dangerous if it hatches on a populated planet.” Basil’s words made her heart sink.
“That doesn’t sound very good. Didn’t you say Parathos was a planet full of dangerous and deadly predators—that it wasn’t safe for humanoids to go there?”
“Yes, but Flin and I are going to do it anyway, because we both want you to be safe,” Basil explained. Laila didn’t like the sound of this at all.
“I don’t want you two to get hurt, just because of me. He’s sent you there so you get killed. If it’s a choice between knowing you two are dead or going back to Gar-Kon, I’ll just go back. At least then, I’ll know you’re both safe.”
“We’re in the cargo and logistics business, pretty lady; ain’t nothin’ ever safe,” Basil said, and Laila got the impression he was quoting something, but she didn’t know the reference. “Flin and I put ourselves in danger every day we take a contract. Only thing that’ll happen if you go back to Gar-Kon is we’ll both miss you. And so will Mr. Unicorn. Gar-Kon’s a real piece of work, Laila, and I’m not letting you go anywhere near him. Some of the things he said to Flin and me were really awful, and I’m just sorry I didn’t get to rescue you from him sooner.” He kissed her on the top of the head and she smiled.
“I love you, Daddy,” she replied, looking up at him earnestly. The words just felt so natural at that moment. Basil didn’t say anything, and his face took on one of those strange expressions that Laila couldn’t make sense of.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to put you on the spot! If you don’t love me back, I’ll understand…” she babbled, worried that she had said the wrong thing. He put his finger on her lips and looked into her eyes.
“Stop worrying. I love you too, baby girl,” he replied in a soft voice. Laila broke into a big grin and squeezed him tight.
“Really?” she checked.
“Of course I do. You’re my little princess.” Basil continued to cuddle her, and he kissed her on the top of her head again.
“I’m glad.”
They remained snuggled together for several minutes before they were interrupted by Flin appearing at the top of the cargo bay’s stairs.
“When you’ve finished, Casanova, perhaps you could attend to your ship. There’s a warning light flashing on the console and I can’t figure out the cause.” Flin announced, before turning and leaving again. Reluctantly, Laila let go of Basil and watched him hurry away to the cockpit. She picked up Mr. Unicorn from where she’d dropped him and gave him a kiss on the nose.
“Did you hear that, Mr. Unicorn? He told me he loves me!” She spun in a circle, then gathered her blankie and her book and ran to put them away.
Chapter Twelve
“Even if you find the person who wants this alien egg, it won’t help you get Gar-Kon to stop broadcasting his search for me, will it?” Laila was on form today, and Basil wondered when she’d started becoming so precocious.
“Got any better ideas, sweetheart?”
“No.”
“Then while I agree with you, it’s still our best shot.” He was proud of his little girl, although he noticed that while she’d learned how to point out the flaws in other people’s ideas, she hadn’t got to the point of coming up with her own. He was sure she’d get there in time.
Parathos was three days away, so Flin and Basil had returned to their usual flying routine, where they both took turns to pilot the ship. They liked to completely stop the ship for eight hours’ rest once every twenty-four hours, to keep a sense of normality. While it was Basil’s time off, he liked to spend it with Laila.
“Daddy, can I have a bath, please?” It was the first evening away from Pombos, and Laila stood in the cockpit doorway wearing a towel.
“Just as soon as I’ve got the reverse thrusters to work, otherwise we’ll float through space all night,” Basil explained.
“Won’t we get there faster?”
“‘Fraid not, honeybun. There’s a chan
ce, in this star system, that we’d hit a rock or a piece of debris while we slept, and then we’d have a damaged ship.”
“Oh. Okay. I’ll wait here for you.” She was staring at a fluffy corner of the towel and running her fingers over it.
“Are you okay, Laila?”
“Uh, yeah, just feeling a bit squishy.”
“We’ll sort this out with Gar-Kon. If he doesn’t accept this quorak egg as the end of his business with any of us, I’ll orchestrate a takedown if I have to. It’d be a lot of effort but I bet I could find someone willing to take over criminal business interests on Pombos if that’s what it takes.”
“C’monnnn! I want a bath!” She resolutely ignored his reassurances and changed the subject. Basil guessed that she probably didn’t want to talk about Gar-Kon, and he regretted mentioning him.
“Couple more minutes.” The reverse thrusters fired up and the ship began to slow.
“I need a bath! I missed you!” Laila stamped one of her feet. Basil tried to tune her out so he could bring the ship to a controlled stop. Once the ship was at rest, he turned everything off and stood up, frowning at Laila.
“It’s not safe for you to distract me while I’m flying the ship. I don’t mind you coming and talking in reasonable conversation, but when you’re demanding my attention by being naughty, you’re heading for trouble.”
“But I need a bath! I’m all icky from being in the cage!” Laila stamped her foot again. Basil wondered if she was really this upset, but he strongly suspected she was just trying to challenge him as a result of them not being able to resolve the business with Gar-Kon. Regardless, it wasn’t acceptable, and she had to learn that.
“That’s it. Young lady, you’re coming with me.” Basil took her ear gently and walked her to the bathroom. He wanted her to know he was in control, but he didn’t want to hurt her yet.
Her Daddy and Her Master Page 18
