Archangel

by Scott Harrison

  ‘Why are you doing this?’ Blake asked.

  Kodyn’s head swung quickly around, his eyes desperately trying to focus on Blake’s face as the pain seemed to become almost unbearable. ‘S-S-Sigma Mi-Mi-Minor. Wan-n-n-nt to go-go-go back.’

  ‘Why? You were a prisoner there. At least here you’re free,’ said Blake.

  ‘After a fashion,’ Avon said dryly. He’d reached the bottom of the steps now and was slowly unhooking his gun belt. He held it up, to show Kodyn that it was no longer a threat to him, then he opened his fingers, letting it fall to the floor.

  ‘Go back there and sooner or later you’re going to end up dead. My money’s on sooner.’ Blake pointed a finger at Kodyn’s face, at the clumps of purple bruises that were now turning a deep angry brown. ‘If the work doesn’t kill you then the constant beatings will. How many more do you think you can take?’

  ‘Wh-wh-who are you?’ Kodyn was sounding weaker now, his voice little more than a whisper.

  ‘It’s me, Blake. Roj Blake. Don’t you remember?’

  But before the man could answer Zen spoke again, the lights on the oval panel blinking in time.

  ‘INFORMATION: LONG RANGE SENSORS DETECT THREE FEDERATION PURSUIT SHIPS AT EXTREME SENSOR RANGE ON AN INTERCEPT COURSE WITH LIBERATOR, BEARING FOUR-FIVE-TWO, MARK TWO-NINE.’

  And at that moment Blake knew that they were the same ships that had attacked them above Sigma Minor. Or, at least, what was left of them. They’d been following the Liberator all this time, just beyond Zen’s detector range, homing in on the unique high-frequency pattern emitted by the tracking device hidden inside Kodyn Tam’s body.

  He had to get to that device and stop it transmitting, even if it meant killing his friend.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The wall panel behind Kodyn’s head exploded violently outwards, showering him and Vila in a cloud of fiery red sparks. Instinctively Kodyn dropped the knife, raising his hands up to protect himself from the explosion.

  Vila screamed, covering his head with his arms and dropping forward onto his knees, dragging his captor off balance.

  Now that Vila was out of the way Avon had a clear shot. Zen’s report had distracted Kodyn long enough for Avon to drop down onto one knee and make a grab for his discarded gun. He knew that he didn’t have long, a second or two at the most—after that, Vila was a dead man.

  But Avon had been quick.

  By the time Kodyn had realised it was too late, Avon had pulled the gun from its holster and fired off a shot.

  Now he aimed the weapon for a second time and pulled the trigger. This time the blast hit Kodyn square in the shoulder, flinging him backwards against the secondary computer banks.

  Blake ran forward across the flight deck towards the crumpled form of his old friend. It was apparent that something was very wrong. Kodyn was convulsing violently, his body jerking and twisting as though he were being electrocuted; his eyes had rolled back into his head so that nothing could be seen except two strips of gleaming white, and a milky foam had begun to collect at the corners of his mouth.

  Vila was still kneeling a few feet away, fingers in his ears and his eyes shut tight, unaware that the worst of it was over. He opened one eye and scanned the flight deck, noticing that it was now empty, that everyone seemed to have gone. It wasn’t until he heard his crewmates carrying the injured Kodyn across to the seating area that he realised that he was facing the wrong way and that they had all been standing behind him.

  By the time they’d managed to get Kodyn to the seat, the convulsions were beginning to subside and his breath was becoming slow and laboured, rattling in and out of his body like a broken air-filtration unit.

  Blake knew that a decision had to be made and quickly, even if it wouldn’t be popular with the others. ‘Zen, set a direct course for the Dionysus platform, speed Standard by eight.’

  ‘CONFIRMED,’ Zen replied.

  ‘Is it just me,’ said Vila, ‘or does that sound like a really bad idea?’

  ‘Vila does have a point.’ Jenna agreed. ‘Last time we almost got caught. One of these days we might not be so lucky.’

  On the seat in front of them, Kodyn was starting to calm down a little. His breathing seemed a little easier now and he appeared to be dozing.

  Avon opened the front of the man’s tunic and studied the wheel of scar tissue just above his solar plexus. The two puncture marks at its centre had opened up again and the wound looked sore, glistening wetly in the harsh overhead lights. It was roughly where Orac had said the homing device was. Avon reached forward and gently placed a hand on the patch of burnt skin, snatching it away again almost immediately. He stood up.

  ‘There’s definitely something in there. The skin above it is almost scorching hot and there’s an odd sort of…vibration.’ Avon glanced up at Blake. He looked very serious. ‘If we don’t get this man to a medical facility straight away, that thing in his chest is going to kill him.’

  Blake looked at each of his colleagues in turn before he spoke, wanting them to know that he was as much in the dark about all this as they were, and that he was open to any suggestion—providing it was a good one. ‘We can’t let him die now. Not after everything we went through to get him out of that labour camp on Sigma Minor.’

  He pointed towards Zen, or at least towards the oval panel that was, for the crew, their principal focus for the computer. ‘The Dionysus may not be the safest place for us to be right now, but it’s close, and it has the medical facilities that we need—that Kodyn needs.’ He paused, then added grimly. ‘And I want to have a little chat with one of its owners. But, we had a deal and I have every intention of sticking to that. I’ll leave it to you to decide what we should do.’

  He turned abruptly on his heel and marched across the flight deck towards the main entrance. He paused briefly at the threshold, glancing back over his shoulder at the others who were still

  gathered around the seating area, around the unconscious Kodyn Tam.

  ‘I’d advise you to make up your minds quickly, as at a speed of Standard by eight we’ll be at the leisure platform in under two hours.’

  And with that Blake stepped from the room and disappeared off towards the teleport area.

  *

  Of all the places Vila could have chosen for their meeting, from the thousands on offer in the hologram archives, for some reason he’d settled on Sabbath Row in Teshak City. Also known as the skin district.

  They were quite near the harbour and, when the wind was in the right direction, could smell the acrid stench of the flesh factories on the other side of the river.

  Above them, the sky burned like yellow chrome, the twin suns sitting low and heavy in the sky, while all around the city gently basked in the lazy afternoon heat; clouds of grubby white steam seemed to ooze forth from every grill and vent and drain cover.

  Jenna made a sunshade with her hand and peered up towards the massive support-tower of the space lift that stood out on the high promontory of rock further along the river. Only its lower portion was visible, a thick canopy of low-lying cloud and air pollution hid the rest. As she watched, a handful of taxi-pods and low-orbital skimmers buzzed around the structure like fat, lazy flies, their pilots giving the paying tourists inside plenty of time to take vidsnaps and holoprints to show their friends back home.

  It was a perfect copy, right down to the squalid, almost palpably aggressive, atmosphere.

  ‘It’s amazing. Just like the real thing,’ Vila said. He was watching a group of scantily clad skindolls slinking along down the other side of the street and Jenna wasn’t entirely sure if he was referring to them. For her own piece of mind, she decided that he was actually talking about the quality of the hologram games system and left it there.

  Blake emerged from the mouth of an alleyway further along the street and quickly headed towards them. Jenna noticed, with some amusement, that he was making a concerted effort not to look at the skindolls across the street.

  ‘Tobin is
on his way down. Avon and I are meeting him at the main entrance.’ He jerked his chin towards Jenna. ‘I need you to go up to the sickbay and see Kodyn. Orac has flashed all the details across to their medical computer but the doctor said he may need to ask a few more questions.’ He thought about this, before adding, ‘Just be careful what you tell him. I know this platform is supposed to be neutral but there’s no point taking any unnecessary chances. Take Vila with you.’

  This got Vila’s attention at least. He tore his gaze away from the tantalising sights that were parading and strutting their way along the length of the street, his face the very picture of disappointment.

  ‘But I don’t want to go with Jenna, ‘ whined Vila. ‘I’m enjoying myself here. I’ve been dying to try out these hologram suites for ages.’

  ‘We’re not here to have fun, Vila, and we certainly haven’t come to indulge your somewhat dubious fantasies,’ Blake said. ‘There’s a fleet of pursuit ships just two hours away, so the last thing we need right now is you wandering off on some hedonistic crusade.’

  ‘None of us have quite forgotten what happened back on Space City,’ Jenna reminded him. ‘Especially Cally.’

  ‘Hey, that wasn’t my fault,’ whined Vila. ‘All I was after was a little rest and relaxation. How was I to know that Orac was going to go funny like that?’

  ‘Well, this time I want you where we can keep an eye on you, just to be on the safe side,’ Blake said.

  Vila seemed genuinely taken aback by this. He didn’t wait for Jenna, instead he stalked moodily away with his hands thrust deep in his pockets, reminding her of a kicked dog who was slinking off into the nearest corner to lick his wounds.

  With a sigh, Jenna trotted after him.

  *

  Blake waited until they had both exited the hologram suite before he retraced his steps back along the street in the direction of the harbour.

  Avon was waiting for him at the bottom of some old stone steps by a wooden jetty, watching a cargo of Teshak whiskey being loaded aboard a nearby sailing skiff. The skipper of the vessel was an old, hoary-looking rogue who stood on top of the engine housing with his hands on his hips, his sleeves rolled up to reveal skin like tanned leather. As Blake approached, Avon pointed towards the anti-grav crane that was loading the last vacuum-sealed crate into the skiff’s hold.

  ‘Teshak whiskey, skindolls and bodyride booths. Is there one single thing in this hologram simulation that isn’t outlawed on every civilised world?’ he asked.

  To their right, the air began to shimmer and warp, and a brilliant circle of orange light spiralled slowly outwards. There was a hiss of hydraulics followed by the squeal of shifting metal and abruptly the spiral of light became a hole in the landscape, beyond which Blake and Avon could see a twisting corridor, along which people scurried to and fro. The hole continued to iris outwards until it became a doorway, at the middle of which stood a slightly stooped, balding figure clad all in robes. Tobin shuffled quickly through and the door contracted shut automatically behind him. He looked about him for a moment or two, as though taken aback by Blake’s choice of surroundings. Then he noticed the two men looking at him and he moved towards them.

  ‘Forgive my lateness, my friends,’ he said. ‘I was not expecting another visit from you so soon.’

  ‘We hadn’t planned on it ourselves, until a few hours ago,’ Blake said.

  ‘Call it circumstances beyond our control,’ Avon told him.

  But Tobin was busy gazing at his surroundings, his brow crumpling into a frown as he peered across the river towards the hazy, towering form of the space lift. After a while a thought occurred to him, one that appeared to delight him enormously. ‘This is Teshak City!’ he said, shielding his eyes from the blazing twin suns. ‘Sabbath Row, if I’m not mistaken. I didn’t realise we had this in the games library. If only I’d have known…’ he looked suddenly wistful. ‘It’s been simply ages since I was here last.’

  Blake said, ‘It was chosen by a member of my crew, although I’m beginning to wish that I hadn’t given him such a free hand now. It’s hardly appropriate for the situation.’

  Something in Blake’s tone caught Tobin’s attention. His head snapped around quickly, the digital simulation of Teshak City seemingly forgotten. ‘You are quite right, of course,’ Tobin stammered. ‘Where are my manners? You have not come here to hear me talk about my misspent youth, you have come here to…’ he paused, not quite knowing how to end the sentence. ‘Actually I am not exactly sure why you are here, again.’

  ‘We’re here to find out why you lied to us, Tobin,’ Avon told him, his eyes on the nearby skiff once more.

  Tobin raised an eyebrow, his eyes shifting uncomfortably between the two men. ‘Lied? I’m not sure I follow you.’

  ‘No? Then maybe this will jog your memory.’

  Avon was quick. So quick that Tobin didn’t know what was happening until it was much too late. The first punch hit him squarely on the jaw, knocking him backwards against the rotting stump of the capstan, to which the old sailing skiff was moored. The second broke his nose, causing Tobin to yelp in both pain and surprise. Blood poured from the broken appendage, splashing down his chin and staining his robes. His hands flew up to his face, eager to inspect the damage, and Tobin yelped again as fiery tendrils of pain exploded beneath his own probing fingers.

  ‘I-I-I think he’s broken my nose.’ Tobin said, hands hovering in front of his face in an attempt to protect himself from another onslaught.

  ‘Why did you lie to us, Tobin?’ Blake asked. ‘Who are you working for?’

  ‘I-I don’t understand…’

  ‘They were waiting for us, on Sigma Minor. They knew we were coming.’

  ‘Sigma Minor? I don’t know anything about Sigma Minor…’

  ‘Someone gave you the data-slug, told you to pass it on to me. They knew I’d come to you eventually.’

  ‘You asked for my help and I gave it to you. Please, my nose. I need to get to the sickbay.’

  ‘They even knew we would rescue Kodyn Tam, so they put a tracking device inside his body, thinking we wouldn’t find it there.’

  ‘I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.’

  ‘You’re not being very helpful, Tobin.’

  ‘You’re crazy, do you hear me? I will not be treated like this on my own leisure platform.’

  ‘I just don’t think I’m getting through to you at the moment, Tobin. That is a pity. I really didn’t want to have to hand you over to my friend Avon again, but you leave me no choice…’

  From the corner of his eye he saw Avon start to move forward and Tobin held up his hands in surrender. ‘No, no, wait…’

  ‘A name, Tobin, that’s all I want,’ Blake said.

  Tobin spat the blood from his mouth before answering. ‘Travis. It was Space Commander Travis, all right?’

  *

  The view from the top of the spire was quite breathtaking. From here Vila could see all the way to the Spider Nebula, an unbroken view along the free-trading routes and out into neutral space.

  For the second time that day, Vila thought how nice it would be to just cut his losses and run. All he needed was a little of that fortune Jenna had found on the lower decks. He wasn’t greedy, a handful would do. OK, perhaps not a handful, but a few good scoops, fill every pocket with gemstones, gold coins and urulian bars—come to think of it, maybe he’d fill one of the holdalls too, just to be on the safe side. With money like that he could buy his way across the galaxy, get his own spaceship even; nothing too ostentatious, just a nice little two-seater that would get him out into neutral space without attracting the attention of a passing Federation patrol. Most importantly it would get him away from Blake and the others.

  Let’s face it, they don’t need me anymore, thought Vila miserably. And they certainly don’t want me around, not really; they’ve made that perfectly clear.

  No, it would be best all round if he were to just up and go, Vila decided, leave th
em all to it. They probably wouldn’t notice he was gone anyway, not until they needed someone who was expendable, someone to risk their life needlessly as a distraction while Blake was off doing something brave and heroic.

  Vila turned away from the viewport with a sigh. Behind him Kodyn lay sprawled in the cot bed sleeping quietly while a medibot buzzed and clicked across his chest, cleaning up the wound and changing the dressing.

  Over in the corner, Jenna was eyeing the medibot with obvious distaste, shuddering as it slithered over the injured man’s body like some oversized metal serpent.

  The door opened and instinctively Jenna reached for her gun, though she relaxed again as the tiny form of the doctor shuffled into the room. He paused, briefly seeming surprised that the two visitors were still here.

  ‘There’s really not much point in you waiting around,’ he told them. ‘It won’t make his wounds heal any quicker, you know.’

  The doctor slipped a small control device from his pocket and thumbed the command button. The medibot responded almost immediately, slithering down off the bed and across the floor, before folding itself neatly away into the charging unit over on the far wall. He approached the bed and bent over the patient, carefully inspecting the new dressings. Once he was satisfied, he turned his attention to the room’s two other occupants.

  ‘Your friend is a very fortunate man,’ he said. ‘Another inch or two to the right and the energy emissions from the device would have most certainly stopped his heart.’

  Jenna stepped towards the bed, peering down at the man who stood on the other side of the bed. She was a good foot or so taller than the doctor and under different circumstances the scene would probably have looked quite comical. ‘But he’s going to be all right?’

  ‘Oh I expect so.’ The doctor waved his hand vaguely. ‘Now that we’ve managed to deactivate the transmitter it shouldn’t pose any further danger to him.’