Deep Space Intelligence : Complete Series

by Gary Weston

  His first salvo missed badly but the second one found its mark. The unmanned cannon exploded.

  ‘I want to wreck the whole thing,’ said Raven. ‘Let’s destroy it while we’re here.’

  ‘Tagg. There are people down there.’

  Raven gave Casey a cold look. ‘What they do to others doesn’t give them a right to be called people. Their cannon’s out. Come on, Casey.’

  Casey knew about the way drixolate had destroyed millions of lives. One quarter of all crime on many worlds was as a direct result of the drixolate trade. People would pay anything, and do anything for their daily dose. But she wasn’t happy about killing mostly unarmed humans. She didn’t have time to think about it, though.

  ‘The drone. Raven…’

  Raven could see the drone ship chasing them. Casey was dodging the laser fire, Raven trying to get a fix on the small ship.

  ‘I’m taking us out of here,’ said Casey.

  Raven let off a burst of power, missing the drone. ‘We need to take out this operation. If we don’t, they’ll just move on and start up elsewhere.’

  Casey took their ship out of the atmosphere. The drone still tracked them, firing the cannon.

  ‘Surveillance, Tagg. That’s all this is supposed to be. Come back with a squadron of DSI military.’

  Raven said, ‘They’ll get away if we don’t destroy them right now. Can’t let that happen.’

  Casey made her mind up, taking the ship at speed in a new direction, back towards the planet.

  ‘Get lucky with that damn cannon, Tagg.’

  They raced towards the drone, exchanging fire-power, Casey’s nifty aerobatics all that saved them from obliteration. Raven got lucky. The drone took a body-blow and it disintegrated into a hundred fragments, Casey having to take evasive action to avoid colliding into it. It was close, but they were in clear space. Now all they needed to do was flatten the drixolate facility and kill people. With the ground cannon gone, all Raven had to do was to fire at will. With great satisfaction, Raven laid waste to the greenhouses, the plants inside flaring up.

  But they weren’t about to have it all their own way. From out of a cave next to the greenhouses, which had been turned into living and work quarters, a dozen men ran out, blasting at the ship with laser rifles. Raven cut a swathe with his laser, slicing through bodies like butter. Limbs dropped to the ground, one man still alive cut in half at the waist, still wriggling in the dirt.

  Casey took the ship out of range, then turned so they could finish the job. Rifle fire was coming at them from three different directions, Raven taking out two. He was lining up to wipe out the third, when the man with the rifle found his aim on the belly of the ship. Raven took the head of the man clean off, but it was too late. The ship had taken a fatal blow and had only one place to go. Down.

  ‘Hang on tight,’ yelled Casey, fighting the controls.

  Raven held on as the ship plummeted to the rocky ground.

  Chapter 69

  ‘Come on, damn it. You gotta help me.’

  Casey almost had Raven out of the hatch. Nothing seemed to be broken, other than the ship. That was totalled. It was also on fire. Things were about to blow. Raven groaned.

  ‘Tagg. Come on, yeah?’

  Raven opened his eyes as something behind them exploded. He scrambled to his feet and together they ran from the ship as it became a fireball, and they dove behind a rocky mound as debris rained all around them. It suddenly went quiet. They cautiously poked their heads up. The ship poured out black smoke.

  ‘We can fix that,’ said Raven.

  A disconcerting hiss and a roar came from the wreckage. ‘Down,’ yelled Casey.

  As they curled up and covered their heads with their arms, they felt the ground shake beneath them. They didn’t move for a full minute, then they chanced to look again. The heat had turned the ship into twisted scrap.

  Raven said, ‘A new paint job, you’d never know the difference.’

  ‘Forget the ship. That’s what scares me is that.’

  Raven followed the way she was pointing. There were three trails of dust from vehicles heading their way.

  Casey said, ‘They might not be too pleased with us, I’m thinking.’

  ‘We got about fifteen minutes before they’re all over us. It would help if they thought we are dead.’

  From a dead bush, Raven pulled off a branch. Keeping low, he went to the wreckage and carefully brushed away their footsteps, walking backwards, doubled up. There was a hard rock mound a hundred yards further back. Casey grabbed a branch and with that, worked with Raven to cover their tracks, then keeping as flat to the rock as they could, they climbed it. The rock was a good thirty yards high, creased with natural cracks and crevices.

  ‘We can hide in here,’ said Raven. ‘It has a ledge to cover us. Hurry.’

  Casey wriggled inside the crevice, and then out of sight under the lip inside. ‘Tagg. Come on.’

  ‘I want to see how many they are. Stay put.’

  From his vantage point on the top of the rock, keeping flat on his stomach, he could see the three vehicles heading to the ship. They hovered to the other side of the wreckage and stopped. Raven counted seventeen men and women all armed with laser rifles. They approached the ship, still hissing and billowing smoke. Raven knew what he needed to know.

  Then a woman pointed at the rock. She wasn’t totally convinced that the occupants of the ship had been killed. She and two men climbed it. Like a snake, Raven wriggled to join Casey and dropped into the crevice, filling up the remaining space under the lip. He signalled for her to be quiet, pointing above their heads. The sun cast a shadow from one of the runners, straight across the crevice. A loose piece of rock was knocked down, landing right next to Raven’s head.

  ‘They were fried,’ said the woman. ‘Forget them. We got some shit to sort out.’

  Raven and Casey heard the footsteps as they walked away, but held their breaths for another two minutes. Raven chanced a peek out of the crevice, and in the distance, he could see the vehicles churn up dust devils as they raced back to the mess they had to try to rectify.

  ‘They bought it,’ Raven said as Casey stood up at his side.

  ‘How many? Did you see?’

  Raven said, ‘I counted seventeen. Five women. All were armed.’

  ‘No pressure, then. We have no weapons, no food, no water, and at least seventeen armed people who would enjoy killing us.’

  Raven grinned. ‘Yeah. When you put it like that, it could prove interesting. There is one more thing.’

  ‘Which is?’

  ‘We’ve been sharing a hole with a snake thing. Don’t look.’

  Casey looked. ‘Jeez, that’s big.’

  ‘No sudden…’

  Casey moved like lightning, practically leaping out of the crevice.

  ‘…movements. Crap.’

  Snake was a loose term. It actually had a pair of…legs. Or possibly arms. Short appendages close to its head, four claw-like digits on each. Eyes were on stalks, both staring at the human intruder. The mouth, dripping with saliva packed full of fangs. That the thing could kill and eat him, wasn’t in doubt. Its head bobbed and weaved at him, the eyes checking him out, deciding which part of him to latch onto. Its head went back and it was ready to strike. Raven bounded out of the crevice with the creature snapping and hissing at him. It missed Raven’s leg by a hairy kneecap. Casey swung a booted foot and caught the snake a solid blow to the side of its head. The snake hissed and spat at them, then returned to its home.

  ‘That was fun,’ said Raven, catching his breath.

  ‘Now what?’

  ‘Hmm? Oh. We go kill a bunch of people.’

  Chapter 70

  ‘Two weeks. Don’t you keep telling me you don’t know anything.’

  Boss shook his head. ‘Joy. I swear. I know no more than you do. Tagg said not to expect to hear from them until they were on their way back. As of this moment, nothing.’

  Joy Dainty sl
ammed the walnut veneered desk. ‘Bullshit. So, you call them. Just do it, damn you.’

  Boss decided to come clean. ‘We have tried. For the last two days. A special coded signal. Meaningless except for DSI agents. We got nothing back. I mean nothing. Not even static. Joy. I’m starting to become…concerned.’

  ‘Yeah? And here’s me only worried sick. My husband…’

  ‘You got married?’

  Joy said, ‘We were planning too.’

  ‘So. Not married.’

  ‘And…and the father of my baby…’

  Boss grinned. ‘You are pregnant.’

  ‘We were working on it. But how can we…you know…’

  ‘Work on it?’

  ‘Yes, damn you.’ She waved a menacing forefinger at him. ‘You. Boss. You go get my man back.’

  Boss said, ‘Fine Not a problem. You tell me where they are, I’ll go get them back.’

  Joy wanted to scream or throw something. The something to throw was on the walnut veneered desk. An antique paperweight. It was a rare model of a planet Earth. She’d read about Earth somewhere. The thing to throw at was Boss’s fish tank. She picked up the antique.

  ‘Joy. What are you doing?’

  It was so tempting. Then a particularly ugly looking fish stared at her. Still tempting. Joy put the antique down.

  ‘You. Boss. Go get my man back, or next time, the fish get it. Understand me?’

  Boss’s finger hovered over the panic button under his desk. ‘It’s probably a crime. Fishicide. Fishslaughter. Joy. I swear. The minute we have some idea where they are, we’ll be onto it. You have my word.’

  Joy took a deep breath. ‘Look. Boss. I may have overreacted. Just…’

  ‘Just a touch. Joy. As soon as we can do something, we will. I swear.’

  The door clicked open. Joy nodded at Boss, said nothing, went out of Boss’s office. The door locked behind her.

  Boss got up and went to his fish-tank. The ugly fish stared at him with a “kill me now” expression on its face. ‘She wouldn’t hurt my babies, would she?’

  The fish swam away.

  Chapter 71

  Raven said, ‘That snake thing.’

  Casey didn’t want to even think about that snake thing. It hadn’t been the first time she’d been lying down next to what had turned out to be a total snake in the cold light of day, but they hadn’t been intent on biting her. Well, maybe during…She shook her head to rid her mind of the awful creature.

  ‘What about it?’

  ‘Water. It has to drink, right? It has to eat.’

  Casey said, ‘Yeah. You and me, almost. Your point?’

  ‘So. We have to find that water. Eat that food. What do you know about this planet?’

  ‘Foregone? Been in dispute for…like ever. Habitable. Has marsillium deposits. Three planets have a claim to it. Almost started a war. Caused a split in the International Council. That’s how they came up with the name. They all had to forego it. Foregone.’

  Raven said, ‘Brilliant. You said all that without one useful piece of information. The planet, Casey. The actual rock we’re sitting on.’

  ‘Ok. Foregone. Bags of potential. Air good. Climate, not bad. No moons. Water at the ice caps. A few rivers, not many. Right. Rainfall. Intermittent, but it does rain. When it does, it tends to flood. A diverse but mostly toxic animal thing going on. Snake thing? From what I recall, that’s one of the cute and cuddly specimens. Another reason for being…Foregone.’

  Raven said, ‘All that makes it ideal for drixolate runners. Say. Casey.’

  ‘Karma. Call me Karma.’

  ‘Right. Karma. I’m sorry for dragging you into all this.’

  Karma chuckled. ‘Buy me a beer and I’ll forgive you. How’s things going with Joyce?’

  ‘Joy. Joy Dainty. Man. Am I in for a good smacking when we get home. All I did was leave her a “back home soon,” note. She’ll nail my hide, for sure.’

  Karma said, ‘You deserve it. At least you have somebody who cares. Somebody waiting for you.’

  ‘Oh, come on. A good looking woman like you? No hunk waiting and counting the minutes?’

  A shadow of sadness passed over Karma’s face. ‘Me being a space junky doesn’t help. Guys, now and then. Relationships? I never got the manual on that. You and Joyce…’

  ‘Joy.’

  ‘Right. Joy. So lucky.’

  Raven went for a grin. Almost nailed it. ‘Yes. Yes we are. She blows in my ear, apparently. You know. When I snore. Never works. But, yeah. She’s the one. Helped me move on.’

  ‘From?’

  ‘A living nightmare. Oh, crap. I should not have said that. It was…she was all my fault. I let her down. Tilly Jordan. An agent. She got in the way of some crossfire on a mission. Again. My fault. She had half her face blown off. Look. Casey…’

  ‘Karma.’

  ‘Karma. Another time, ok? We need to eat. Find water.’

  ‘And pee.’

  ‘That would help.’

  Chapter 72

  Joy Dainty looked at the scanner image. She saw a face wrapped up in a silk scarf. She opened the door. Tilly Jordan said nothing but walked in carrying a bottle. Who had bottles these days? She took off her coat and let it drop on the floor, kicked off her shoes, left the scarf on. She took up the sofa, feet tucked up underneath her.

  ‘A drink would be good.’

  Joy picked up the bottle. ‘Bourbon? This is like… expensive.’

  ‘I drink a lot of it. Hilarious, right? I consume it. I haven’t tasted for years. Bummer. It still hits the spot.’

  Joy poured two tumblers of booze and handed one to Tilly. The scarf covering half the face was a real and expensive blue silk. As rare as the bourbon. Fascinated. Joy watched as the pure mohair poncho was pulled aside and Tilly poured the booze into a permanently attached receptacle, to the right of a perfect left breast. Joy couldn’t see the breast, but knew it would be perfect. Tilly had another drink. It trickled into her body, un-tasted.

  ‘I’d like to say this is nice,’ said Joy. ‘I think we both know this is weird.’

  ‘No news on Tagg?’

  ‘You heard? How? I never said anything.’

  ‘I still have friends in the DSI. I hear things. Joy. I never meant to hurt you. You aren’t responsible for what happened.’

  Joy downed the booze and refilled the glass. ‘Neither is Tagg. You have to let him free.’

  Tilly picked up the bottle and poured a measure into her receptacle. She had to squeeze out an air-bubble to get it to flow. ‘You know something? All these years. All I had was his suffering. These days I have to work hard to hang onto that. I don’t have the strength to do that now. You love him?’

  ‘Yes. And he loves me. But you’re like…a big cloud of depression hanging over us. Your bitterness is spoiling something beautiful. I beg you, Tilly. Please. Let him go.’

  Tilly stood up, slightly swaying. ‘You have no idea how much I want to do that. Then. I catch a glimpse of myself in a reflection. In case you didn’t notice, I have no mirrors in my place. Well. Would you? No need to answer that. But do you know what I’m reminded of whenever I see my reflection?’

  ‘How much you hate him?’

  Tilly went to the door and opened it. ‘No. I’m reminded how much I love him. My loss, your gain. I hope he comes back to you, Joy. Goodnight.’

  Tilly walked out and the door locked behind her. Joy filled her glass and knocked the booze back in one hit.

  Chapter 73

  As they walked towards the remains of the drixolate plantation, a relentless sun beating down on them, they kept the conversation to a minimum to conserve their strength. They had walked about five miles when Karma saw something significant.

  ‘Over there. Green. Water, right?’

  It was indeed a livid green. An algae. Spongy underfoot. It spread out into the distance, like a large oasis of fertility. Karma was about to step on it, when Raven stopped her.

  ‘Careful. Look.
’

  Within the greenery, things moved. Just the first couple of square yards writhed with life. Most of it slithered in and out, a dozen different creatures. Most were preoccupied with eating each other. One wicked looking bug was killing critters more than three times its size. Dragging fresh food under the algae.

  ‘Thanks. But look. The water. It’s there in the middle of it.’

  Raven looked at the water, so blue and so tantalisingly close. ‘We walk there, we’ll have no legs left by the time we get there.’

  ‘Tagg. I can’t go much further without a drink.’

  Raven licked his parched lips. He so wanted to rush through the deadly algae, plunge head first into the water. ‘Look beyond the pool. Is that a stream?’

  ‘I think so. Running into the pool. No green around it. We can get to the stream.’

  They staggered on, around the seething green mess of creatures, and finally, they reached the stream. Dropping to their knees, they drank their fill. The water was sweet.

  ‘It isn’t beer, but I’m not complaining,’ said Raven.

  Casey laughed. ‘A stream of beer. That’ll fill a few dreams. What about food?’

  Raven looked back at the algae. He saw nothing appetising in it. ‘We steal it. From the bad guys. When we get there.’

  ‘Another forty miles?’

  ‘We sleep here tonight. Wake up early. Drink a lot of water and go get dinner.’

  Casey took her boots off. ‘It gets cold out here. At night.’

  Raven took his own boots off and lay down. The sun was going down. He had one ambition. To feel the sun as it rose and warmed his face. He thought of Joy, so far away. Boy, was he in so much trouble. Desk. No more ships. Desk flying from now on. What had he been thinking? The info had passed before him. Drixolate. That one word was enough to guarantee his attention. It was his crusade. Tilly Jordan had had her life ruined because of it. Millions had been infected with it. Intercepted messages. Incomplete. Suspicious. Others might have ignored it. Not him. It all pointed to Foregone. He itched for this one.