Drifter's Run

by William C. Dietz

  Lando cleared his throat. "That being the case… maybe we should forget the gold. You know, stash it somewhere. After all, somebody killed the courier, that's clear, and your lieutenant will assume they took the gold."

  Cap forced his eyes up and away from the gold. "Killed? Why do you say that?"

  "Somebody drilled him with an energy weapon," Lando replied patiently. "He was wearing one of those top-end self-sealing suits, but the bolt went clear through, and that made him extremely dead."

  The intercom bonged over their heads. The voice belonged to Cy. "Cap, a navy shuttle just came alongside, and a Lieutenant Itek requests permission to come aboard."

  There was a long moment of silence during which nothing was said but the two men continued to look each other in the eye.

  Cap was the first to speak. "All right, Lando… let's stash the gold and hope for the best. You've got the body?"

  "It's inside the trap."

  Cap nodded and yelled toward the overhead. "Okay, Cy. Give us a moment to get clear, tell Itek to come aboard, and depressurize the bay. We'll meet him when he clears the lock."

  "That's a roger," Cy answered crisply, and clicked off.

  Forty minutes later the gold was safely hidden, Cap and Lando had phony smiles plastered across their faces, and Lieutenant Itek was stepping out of the lock.

  He was short as naval types go, about five feet five or six, but athletic in a low blocky way. Itek's space black uniform hugged his considerable muscles and suggested a good tailor. He had short sandy hair, a nose that was a little too large for the rest of his face, and intelligent brown eyes. Extremely intelligent brown eyes. So much so that Lando felt his heart sink as he shook the other man's hand.

  "Pik Lando, Lieutenant, and this is Cap Sorenson."

  Itek smiled. "It's a pleasure, gentlemen. Sorry to take your valuable time, but the Emp gets rather protective when it comes to his couriers, and it happens that one is missing. Interesting ship, Captain… a custom design?"

  Cap replied that it was, and as he led Itek toward the cabin that he used as an office, he proceeded to describe Junk's dubious merits.

  Lando had a bad feeling as he followed along behind. For all his casual chatter, and flip references to the Emperor, Lieutenant Itek was no fool. Quite the opposite. Under the friendly surface Lando sensed an agile mind and a heart of pure steel. And unless Lando missed his guess, they were in deep trouble.

  Cap's office showed signs of a recent cleanup, Melissa's doing no doubt, and the three men were able to sit down without clearing stuff off their chairs. The piles of printouts, worn-out ship parts, and keepsakes from Cap's more memorable tows were still present but neatly stacked. If the ship's argrav shut down, it would take years to collect the stuff and get it under control.

  Doing his best to look relaxed and confident, Cap leaned back in his chair and clasped both hands over his stomach.

  "We're glad you came, Lieutenant. As it happens we do know something about the missing courier. Unbeknownst to me, Lando here found him, and was on his way back to our tender, when parties unknown hit him with a pressor beam. Well, that put Lando out of commission for a while, so he couldn't tell me about the body. I heard about it a few minutes ago."

  Itek raised an eyebrow. "Excellent! The search is over. Body you say. Poor Nugleo. The Emp will be quite upset. Any signs of foul play?"

  Lando nodded. No doubt about it. Itek was a dangerous man. The naval officer was way ahead of them. Lando felt a trickle of sweat run down his spine.

  "I'm afraid so, Lieutenant. The light was poor, but it appeared as if Nugleo had been hit with some sort of energy weapon. Whatever it was went straight through and out the other side."

  Itek nodded as if expecting to hear something of the sort. "And the location of the body?"

  "It's inside the trap. As Cap indicated I was on my way for help when somebody gave me a love tap with a pressor beam."

  Itek pulled a communicator off his belt and spoke into it. "Ensign Davison, do you read me?"

  "Loud and clear, Lieutenant."

  "Keep an eye on item Tango. No one in or out without my permission."

  Davison answered, "Aye, aye, sir," and clicked off.

  Lando felt the trickle of sweat that ran down his back become a river. Itek had provided himself with a backup, a backup that was close enough to watch the trap. Now why would the naval officer do that unless he was suspicious?

  Itek returned the communicator to his belt. "Sorry about the pressor beam, Citizen Lando… you're lucky to be alive. Parties unknown? A bit unusual, don't you think?"

  There was just the hint of a smile around Itek's mouth as he spoke, as if to say that they could claim whatever they wanted, but he wouldn't believe it.

  The truth was that Cap wanted to report Willer, but they had no proof, and without it the accusation would do little more than cause more trouble. All Melissa could do was testify that a darkened ship had passed through the area, that someone who sounded like Jord Willer had made threatening comments, and presumably hit Lando with a pressor beam.

  Lando shrugged. "Very unusual. And very unpleasant."

  "Yes," Itek agreed. "I'm sure it was. Well, enough of that. There's another matter to discuss however… and that's the satchel that Nugleo wore prior to his death."

  Lando started to speak but stopped when Itek held up a well-manicured hand. "Please, Citizen Lando, let me finish. You'll be glad you did. Even seen one of these before?"

  Lando stared at the little black box that the naval officer had removed from his breast pocket. He knew exactly what it was, and a single glance told him that Cap did too. Still, there was no point in admitting any more than he had to. When he spoke Lando's voice was a croak. "I don't think so… what is it?"

  "A low-powered detector," Itek answered conversationally. "It doesn't have much range, but when it gets within a few hundred yards of the proper transmitter, this light blinks on and off."

  Cap stared at the ruby red light as if transfixed.

  "The really interesting part," Itek continued calmly, "is that the transmitter's woven into the fabric of the satchel that Courier Nugleo carried, and it's somewhere aboard this ship."

  A moment of silence passed before Cap cleared his throat. "Yes, well, I, that is, we were going to mention that. I didn't want to say anything over the air lest the wrong ears hear, but when Lando discovered Nugleo, he fastened the satchel to his suit for safekeeping. I'll go get it."

  Itek held up a hand. "That won't be necessary, at least not yet, and maybe never. You're businessmen… so let's discuss some business."

  Cap sat back in his seat and Lando paid close attention. As his fear began to disappear it was replaced by a growing sense of excitement. There was a deal in the offing, a deal in which they could keep the gold! Now for the price.

  Itek looked at Lando and smiled. "Here's the situation. Assume that Courier Nugleo was less than perfect. More than that… assume Nugleo fell in with bad company. A woman named Leslie Corbin to be precise, and that she taught him to do naughty things, like steal gold from the Emperor."

  Lando swallowed and forced a smile. By now his entire body was bathed in sweat.

  "Not that poor old Nugleo thought he was stealing the gold," Itek continued softly. "Oh, no. By the time Corbin was finished, Nugleo believed that the government owed him the gold, in return for his many years of outstanding service.

  "So the two of them hatched a plan," Itek said, staring off into space as if he could actually see it. "The plan involved using the gold to buy some drugs, yirl to be exact, and selling it for an enormous profit. Enough to live on for the rest of their lives."

  Itek looked down, first at Cap, then at Lando. "It didn't work. Corbin used her connections with the underworld to set up a buy. For days they sat next to a comset and waited. When the call came they were given two hours to make a meeting in space. They blasted off in Nugleo's official speedster, found the right ship, and landed in a huge bay.

 
; "They took a look around, but outside of the two men waiting to greet them, the bay was empty. They climbed out of the speedster."

  Having participated in similar meetings himself, Lando could imagine what it was like. The knot of fear in your stomach, the bright green cargo lights, and the sound of your own breathing inside the suit.

  "The bay was unpressurized," Itek continued, "so Nugleo and Corbin stayed in their suits. Negotiations got under way, and things were going well, until time came to exchange gold for drugs. Suddenly all hell broke loose.

  "Five or six men dropped down from up above. Nugleo nailed one, Corbin another. Nugleo took a bolt through the abdomen. Corbin grabbed him and dragged him toward the speedster. In the meantime energy bolts were flying every which way."

  Itek smiled cynically. "It's hard to say whether Corbin was trying to save Nugleo or the gold. She claims it was Nugleo, I think it was the gold. In any case, Corbin saw that the speedster was hopeless, so she did the next best thing. She jumped out of the open hatch with Nugleo in tow. As Corbin cleared the ship's argrav and hit zero G she fired her suit jets and was gone."

  Was there a trace of admiration in the way Itek told the story? Lando thought so, but couldn't be sure.

  Itek shrugged. "From there it's somewhat obvious. The drug runners gave chase, Corbin gave them the slip, but lost Nugleo in the process. When her air ran low, Corbin activated her emergency suit beacon, and as luck would have it, a navy shuttle got to her before the smugglers could.

  "Suffice it to say that we asked her a lot of questions, and in the long run, she gave us a lot of answers. We'd spent two weeks searching for Nugleo's body by the time I heard about your orbital cleanup contract, and the rest is, as they say, 'history'."

  "That's all very interesting," Cap said, "but I fail to see how it impacts us. You said something about a business proposition."

  "Correct," Itek agreed cheerfully. "I'm coming to that. First, however, you must understand that the Emperor has an ironclad policy regarding his couriers. It goes something like this, 'Touch them and you die.'"

  Itek looked from one man to the other. "Yes, even if the courier does something criminal. You see, given the fact that science has yet to bless us with some sort of faster-than-light radio, and given the fact that the Emperor's dispatches travel by courier, he insists they be absolutely untouchable. That's why he ordered the navy to find Nugleo's killers and bring them in."

  "Or?" Lando asked, knowing the answer.

  "Or kill them," Itek answered easily, "and that's where you come in."

  Cap ran his tongue over dry lips. He forced a smile. "Where we come in? I don't understand."

  Itek smiled. "Not you, just Citizen Lando here, crack pilot and smuggler extraordinaire."

  "Smuggler?" Cap looked from Itek to Lando.

  "Ooops!" Itek held a hand to his mouth in mock chagrin. "Did I let the secret out? Did Citizen Lando forget to mention smuggling on his resume? How embarrassing!"

  Lando shrugged in answer to Cap's unasked question. "Yeah, I used to run some of this and that, it was no big deal."

  Itek shook his head in mock concern. "Citizen Lando is far too modest. The truth is that he's wanted for murder. I know, because I ran a routine background check on your entire crew just before I left Pylax."

  "It wasn't murder," Lando said stubbornly. "It was self-defense. My father bribed a customs inspector to look the other way. When we landed the inspector killed my father in cold blood. I evened the score."

  Itek smiled patiently. "Whatever. It makes little difference to me. With the exception of cases like Nugleo, the navy doesn't enforce civil law."

  "Well, it makes a difference to me!" Cap said angrily "Lando, you're fired!"

  "Whoa," Itek said, holding up a hand in protest. "I said a 'business' deal, remember? And Citizen Lando is an important part of the deal."

  Lando ignored Cap. "Tell us about this 'deal' of yours."

  Itek grinned. "I thought you'd never ask! It works like this Corbin knows where the killers are, or thinks she does. We go there, arrest 'em, and bring 'em back."

  "And if they don't want to come?"

  Itek shrugged. "We shoot 'em."

  "Well, the plan is certainly straightforward," Lando said dryly. "But why me? What you need is a squad of marines."

  "That would be nice," Itek agreed, "but a squad of marine can't get me onto Devo's Disk. That takes a one-hundred percent-pure dyed-in-the-wool criminal, and that's you."

  Lando thought it over. He didn't care for the word "criminal" but Itek was right nonetheless. Nobody got aboard the space habitat known as Devo's Disk without the recommendation of a known criminal. And much as he hated to admit it Lando fit the bill. He'd been there many times over the years both with and without his father, and would have no trouble getting aboard. And based on his recommendation, they would accept Itek as well.

  Yes, getting aboard would be easy. Getting off, well, that would be a problem. Especially with one or more prisoners in tow or, if worse came to worst, a firefight raging around them. Still, given Itek's none-too-subtle threats, he didn't have a whole lot of choice.

  "I go and the gold is ours?"

  Itek smiled. "That's right. And I forget we ever met."

  Lando looked at Cap. "I get my back wages, plus a full share of the gold, plus I stay aboard as long as I want to."

  Cap glowered, started to say something, and nodded instead "Right."

  "Good. Okay, Lieutenant, I sure hope you're a lucky man, 'cause we're gonna need all the luck you've got and then some."

  9

  Sunlight glittered off the space station's alloy hull so that Devo's Disk hung like a golden crown against the blackness of space. Its multicolored navigational lights sparkled like precious gems, the forest ot antennae that circled the habitat's outer edge looked like gold filigree, and the mile-long rail gun that floated nearby had the appearance of a silver scepter.

  Once, hundreds of years before, the disk had carried settlers to their new homes among the stars. But that was long ago, and now it had a different purpose.

  Now it was home to thieves, smugglers, and worse.

  And rumor had it that pirate ships stopped there as well, not the ragtag collection of bandits who plagued the asteroids, but the real thing.

  Men and women who fought for the Confederation and lost, or were born to those who had, and made a precarious living raiding the frontier worlds.

  In the beginning they were soldiers, defenders of a crumbling democracy, patriots who believed in a noble cause. They fought battle after battle but in the long run lost the war. Most surrendered, accepted the generous terms offered by the newly proclaimed Emperor, and turned their attention to war-ravaged planets.

  But some refused to quit, vowed to fight on, and did so. Over time, however, idealism had given way to self-centered pragmatism and left them little more than thieves.

  Powerful thieves, however, since the pirates had their own planet and other haunts as well, Devo's Disk being one of them.

  Lando checked his readouts and cut the scout ship's speed. It was a handy little vessel, incredibly fast, and better armed than one might think.

  Having entered hyperspace off Durna, the scout exited three days later near Eron IV, and headed in-system. This was where Lando had been born and spent his younger days. It was also the system in which his father had died and he was wanted for murder. A fact that took any pleasure from his return.

  Impatient to get the trip over and return, Lando pushed the ship hard, racing away from Eron IV's fiery shape, and toward the darkness of the frontier. And there, hovering between the human empire and the dark unknown, was Devo's Disk.

  The location was no accident. Following the example of countless merchants before him, Devo had positioned his business next to an important trade route, and thereby gained an advantage over most of his competition.

  Positioned as he was, halfway between Eron IV's developed planets and the frontier, Devo bought rim good
s low and sold manufactured goods high. People complained, but Devo had a standard reply:

  "You want a better price for your grain? Fine. Go ahead. Spend the next week traveling in-system. The inner planets will pay you more… and get it back when you buy their fuel!"

  When convenient, Devo gave the opposite argument as well.

  "You want more money for your robo-reapers? Great. Take 'em out along the rim and sell 'em yourself. Assuming that the pirates don't steal your cargo, and the II Ronn don't use your ship for target practice, the settlers will pay you more. Good luck."

  That was the honest and aboveboard part of Devo's business. But there was another part as well. Due to its location the Disk was also the perfect place to broker drug shipments, buy stolen goods, and sell supplies to the pirates.

  Yes, Lando reflected, it was a good location indeed. He yawned.

  The trip had been relatively quick, but even so, the better part of a week had passed since breaking orbit off Pylax and Lando was tired. Tired of Itek's superior attitude, tired of a trip he didn't want to take, and tired of the tiny ship. There was barely enough room for Lando, Itek, and Martinez to sit in the control area all at once.

  Martinez was a pilot, a rather hot pilot according to Itek, although she didn't look it. At the moment she was slouched in the co-pilot's position, apparently half-asleep, humming tt herself.

  She had short black hair, little-girl features, and a skinny body. It was warm inside the small ship and Martinez was dressed in regulation blue shorts and halter top. Lando noticed a small tattoo on her left shoulder. A skull and crossbones. Weird. Like everything else on this trip Martinez was a mystery, a piece of the puzzle, a part of Itek's master plan.

  With Lando and Martinez sitting up front, Itek was crammed into a jump seat located slightly to the rear.

  "Why the cut in speed?" the naval officer inquired, looking up from the holo reader on his lap.

  "So they don't blow us into the next galaxy," Lando answered crossly pointing up at the main screen. "Take a look at that rail gun."

  Itek looked at the main screen and saw that the silver scepter had changed position. It was now pointed in their direction.