by Jake Bible
“When I was younger, he used me as a spy,” Ally said. “I would hide in plain sight and listen then report whatever I heard back to him. I made him a lot of credits when he used that info to blackmail people. That went on for years.”
Ally swallowed hard.
“Then I grew up,” she said. “And I decided I didn’t want to do any of that anymore. I think Mott would have killed me right there, but he still needed me. He’d made a few bad financial choices and we found ourselves on the run and broke as all hell. He needed a big score and he had a lead on one.
“Turned out that another crew had a lead on it too. They weren’t too happy with the competition. Mott made a deal with them. He sold me to that crew in exchange for enough credits to make his debts go away. He was laughing when he walked away from me.”
She sniffed and wiped at her eyes.
“I spent eight years with that crew. I was their property. Didn’t matter who I complained to, they had documents proving I was theirs. Not a single planetary or station authority even raised an eyebrow when I told them I wanted to leave that crew. I even ratted them out to a GF investigator. He laughed like Mott did.
“Eight years doing whatever that crew wanted me to do. Eight years.”
She sniffed and took a deep breath.
“Until I had had enough and slit their throats as they slept.”
Roak coughed and turned to look Ally face on.
“You killed them? How many were there?” Roak asked.
“Close to a dozen,” Ally replied. “More if you count their men and women they kept around for pleasure.”
“Do you count them in the kills?” Roak asked. Ally nodded. “Damn.”
“It was easier than I thought and the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Ally said. “But it had to be done. I couldn’t live that way anymore. So I killed them and left. We’d just pulled a huge score, so I had enough chits to keep me comfortable for a long while.”
“Then you caught wind of Mott and went looking,” Roak said.
“Yes,” Ally responded. “He’d found his way to Ligston and got a job as a lawman of all things. I tracked him here and would have slit his throat too, but I couldn’t. I can’t.”
Ally tapped at the back of her skull.
“You have got to be kidding?” Roak exclaimed. “He put an inhibitor chip in you?”
“The man is a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one,” Ally said. “It’s programmed so I can never harm him seriously. A hard slap is all I can manage without my skull splitting open.”
“Once you were back in his life, he reprogrammed it so it keeps you from leaving,” Roak said. “Makes sure you stay close so he can keep an eye on you.”
“I bought the tavern with the chits from the crew,” Ally said. “Mott doesn’t own me personally, but he does own my freedom. I want that back.”
“Why not hire someone else in town to kill him?” Roak asked. “Why have me do it? I may not come back from this.”
“You’ll come back,” Ally said. “You have that aura about you.”
“What aura is that?” Roak laughed.
“Survive at all costs,” Ally said. “Always pay your debts. And never quit.”
“Yeah, okay, I probably do have that aura,” Roak admitted.
“Mott has everyone in town scared of him,” Ally said. “I can’t trust a single person. If I tried to hire someone to have him killed, he’d find out within the day.”
“What about Sha Tog? You seem to trust him,” Roak said.
“Trust him? Are you kidding?” Ally laughed. “Only thing you can trust that Skrang over is that he will always put his own interests first. That and chits can buy anything. Except him.”
“Ah, so you don’t trust him, but he’s the only person in town not bought out by Mott,” Roak said. “Good to know.”
“He and Mott have an understanding,” Ally said. “I don’t know what it is, but they certainly came to some sort of working arrangement. Mott leaves him alone and Sha does likewise.”
Roak was about to ask a question when the jungle suddenly ended. They rolled out onto a huge swath of macadam. In the center of the area was a circular building. Extending up into the sky for as far as Roak could see, was a massive cable that tethered the building to the orbital station above. On that cable was a huge elevator car, easily twice as big as Roak’s ship that waited for him on the station.
“Good, we’re not too late,” Ally said.
“How long before the next car leaves?” Roak asked.
“What next car?” Ally responded as she turned to the right and drove the roller along the edge of the cleared area. “That’s the car we need to get you on.”
“Whoa, what?” Roak asked. “It’s already left!”
“Yeah, of course it has,” Ally said. “What did you think was going to happen? I was going to buy you a ticket and wave goodbye at the gate? We need to get you off planet without Mott knowing. Catching that elevator car before it reaches the next level of the atmosphere is the only way.”
Roak didn’t want to ask exactly how she planned on making that happen. He watched the car continue to rise, his own discomfort at the plan rising with it.
14.
“This thing?” Roak asked, pointing at the pod and the cables attached to it. “How?”
Ally smiled and walked over to the pod. She wiped away the dirt that covered most of it and Roak gasped.
“Oh, hell no,” he said.
Ally cocked her head. “You’re not afraid of heights, are you?”
“No, I’m not,” Roak said as he pointed at the object inside the pod. “But it isn’t the heights that kill you, it’s the fall. That thing is gonna fall.”
“Do you know how fast a helium balloon can travel in an atmosphere that is mostly oxygen?” Ally said. “Roak, you won’t have time to fall. You won’t have time to do anything except jump when the alarm goes off in your suit.”
“My suit?” Roak asked.
“Come on, you have to hurry,” Ally said as she moved to a pile of dead branches. It was similar to the one she’d cleared off the pod, but smaller. “Help me get this open. You have about three minutes to change.”
Roak didn’t argue. He had no choice. Ally said she had a way off the planet. He had to trust her. Even if it meant going up in the air in a helium balloon.
“That? I have to wear that?” Roak asked as he stared at the pressure suit Ally held up.
“Yes,” Ally said. “I’ll attach the cables to these harness points and the balloon will–”
“Whoa! What? Attach the balloon to those harness points?” Roak exclaimed. “I’m not riding in the pod?”
“No, don’t be ridiculous,” Ally replied. “The pod just contains the balloon. You aren’t riding in anything. You are the pod. It’s the only way.”
Roak swore the entire time Ally helped him get into the pressure suit. It was just like one he had back on his ship for when he had to do outside repairs that couldn’t wait until he got to a station and dry dock. It would handle the extremes of space and keep him alive for as long as the air held out.
Ally tapped at the side of his helmet as she locked the seal.
“Can you hear me?” she asked.
“No,” Roak said.
He only knew what she was saying by reading her lips. It was a skill he’d picked up over the years so he could eavesdrop from across loud and crowded spaces such as taverns, bars, nightclubs, more bars, and malls. Targets always seemed to end up at the mall.
“No implant!” he shouted.
Ally frowned then nodded. She made some adjustments to the outside of his helmet and he was almost deafened by an intense, high-pitched squelch of static before her voice rang out and said, “How’s that?”
“Good,” he replied.
She smiled and nodded.
“I can hear you through my comm,” she said. “But we’ll lose the connection when you hit altitude. I’ve set the timer to ring inside your helmet. W
hen you hear the alarm, you release the cables and grab onto the elevator car. From there, it’ll be self-explanatory.”
“If you say so!” Roak shouted.
“You can stop yelling,” Ally said as she winced. “I can hear you fine.”
He gave her a thumbs up.
She grabbed the sides of his helmet with both hands and pulled him down to eye level.
“This was my way off this planet if I ever figured out how to get rid of the inhibitor chip,” she said. “Now I’m stuck. You better come back and hold up your end of the deal.”
“I will,” Roak said. “I pay my debts.”
“You better,” Ally said as she shoved him back and went to grab the cables that snaked out from the pod. “You don’t want to know what I’ll do to you if you leave me stranded.”
“I have some scary guesses,” Roak said.
Ally clipped the cables in place then started pushing the pod out of the dense patch of jungle they were in. Roak was surprised the pod was on wheels, but it made sense. It had to be moved away from the trees or the balloon wasn’t going anywhere.
Once in place, Ally grabbed two handles on the side of the pod.
“I’ve programmed it to take you as close to the elevator as possible,” Ally said. “But there’re always variables. If you aren’t close enough to jump when the alarm goes off then let the balloon keep rising. Get above the elevator car then release and fall on top.”
“Sounds great,” Roak said.
“It won’t be,” Ally said. “Good luck.”
Before Roak could reply, Ally pulled both handles, releasing the balloon from the pod. The cables went taught instantly and Roak was jolted so hard he thought his spine had compressed down into his ass. He flailed his arms and spun about, his hands searching for something to hang onto.
“Relax!” Ally shouted in the comm. “You’ll tangle the cables!”
Roak forced himself to relax. The ride became smoother.
“You gonna watch me?” Roak asked.
“Can’t,” Ally said. “I have to get back to the tavern. Mott will wonder why it’s closed when there are about to be a lot of thirsty people showing up at the doors.”
“Well, then see ya, Ally,” Roak said.
“See ya, Roak,” Ally replied as the balloon raced up into the sky.
Before he could think of anything else to say, the comm turned into a buzz of static then clicked dead when his suit’s tech couldn’t latch onto a signal.
The tether to the space elevator was about fifty meters off. Roak tried to look up to see how close the elevator car was, but the balloon above him blocked his view. So he closed his eyes and grabbed a couple minutes of sleep. That tub of Ally’s may have been the most rejuvenating thing he’d ever experienced, but then he’d also spent a night with Ally outside of it and he was dead tired.
The alarm woke him up before he even realized he was out. Roak panicked for a moment and started to thrash again, but calmed himself when he saw where he was. The elevator car was almost perfectly parallel with him. He couldn’t reach out and touch it, but by the way the balloon was angled, he’d be in close contact within seconds.
The alarm kept blaring and he tried to figure out how to shut it off, but he couldn’t find a way. There were no external controls that he could see.
It finally shut off on its own and Roak sighed with relief. Then panic set in again as he saw that he was going to overshoot the car by several meters. He must have missed his jump window even though he never saw any opportunity where he wouldn’t just end up falling to his death. Ally’s calculations were wrong.
The balloon was flying over and away from the elevator car, and even if Roak disengaged from the cables, he wouldn’t be able to fall on top of it. He was about to head up into the stratosphere where the balloon would burst wide open and he’d just tumble and tumble until he crashed into the jungle, turning into a pulverized mess.
Unless…
“Oh, come on,” Roak muttered to himself. “Don’t be stupid.”
He was going to have to be stupid.
Carefully, but quickly, he worked at the seal around his left glove. If he was going to risk losing a hand, he wanted it to be his left. He studied the distance between him and the elevator car then studied the sky around him. It was turning darker blue. He had only seconds before the balloon burst.
Roak yanked off his glove, letting it hang from the end of his suit by its thin strap. Air whooshed from the breach and he pointed his arm behind him, letting the expelling of his suit’s internal atmosphere push him through the thin air and over closer to the elevator.
Then the balloon burst. Roak could barely hear it, but he sure felt it. He started to plummet.
He snagged one of the cables as it collapsed around him and whipped it out. The clasp end snagged onto the side of the elevator car and Roak whooped in triumph. A one in a million shot!
Then the cable went taught as he continued to fall, and his whoop of triumph turned into a scream of pain as his whole body was yanked up after the elevator car at a velocity a person was not designed to withstand.
He screamed and screamed until he realized he was having a hard time taking each new breath. His scream cut off and he got back to business. First off was to get his glove back on. Not an easy task as he was pulled by his shoulder up into space.
It took him five tries, but he finally got the glove back on. The atmospheric processors kicked back in and his suit began to fill with breathable air. That was the good news. The bad news was he couldn’t feel his left hand. It had been exposed to the freezing temperature of the upper atmosphere for too long. He wondered if it could be salvaged even if he did manage to get to a med pod in time. Which wasn’t likely considering what was ahead.
The station. Right there, looming in space only half a kilometer away.
Roak watched the elevator car dock with the station. He also watched as he kept floating up and up and up until he collided dead on with the underside of the car. It hurt, but nowhere near as much as when the cable had snagged the car.
He pushed himself to get to work. He was able to click on his mag locks and swing his feet up against the car. His boots locked in place and Roak sighed with relief. At the very least, he wasn’t going to float out into space.
He began to walk the edge of the elevator car, keeping as far from the observation windows as he could. It took him a long while, and for a second, he was afraid the elevator car would start to descend before he could get off it, but he finally made it to the station’s outside surface. He decoupled one boot briefly so he could step across a small gap then locked it onto the station. He did the same with the other boot and was about to whoop in triumph one more time.
But the whoop died on his lips when he saw an auxiliary airlock open up and six suited and armed security guards came rushing out to meet him. They had heavy carbines to their shoulders and blacked-out visors on their helmets.
His comm came back alive.
“Do not move!” a voice ordered. “Do not move!”
“Not moving,” Roak replied and put his hands up.
The guards swarmed him and began to shove him towards the auxiliary airlock.
“Get your ass in there!” the voice ordered. “Down the ladder! When you get to the bottom, you will face the wall, legs splayed, hands up! If you do not comply, you will be killed! If you make any move other than what you were just instructed to do, you will be killed! If you resist in anyway, you will be killed! Am I understood?”
“Loud and clear,” Roak said.
He climbed down through the airlock and descended the ladder. When he reached the bottom, he moved to face the wall, his legs splayed and arms above his head. He couldn’t see the airlock close and seal, but he could feel it. The pressure around him changed instantly and the weight of his body came crashing down on him.
Roak stumbled from the transition, and he instantly knew he was in trouble.
“Sorry! Sorry!” he yelle
d into his comm. “It was the gravity shift! Hands are up! Legs are splayed! Sorry!”
“You will be,” the voice said just before the seal on his helmet was broken and it was lifted off his head.
The owner of the voice spun him around and snarled into his face.
“You are under arrest by the authority of the Ligston Station,” the guard said, an angry-looking Shiv’erna.
They were a lithe race, graceful but muscular. Roak always thought they had a certain beauty to them. It was just a bummer they had those elephantine proboscises hanging from their faces. It kind of ruined the appeal. But he did know a few men and women that went for that kind of thing. It just wasn’t his bag.
“Listen, there has been a mistake here,” Roak said. “I screwed up, I know that, but if you take me to your supervisor, or better yet, the commander of the station, I can explain everything.”
The Shiv’erna frowned then started laughing. He looked back over his shoulder at the other guards as they began taking their helmets off. They looked just as amused.
“Who else would we take you to? The head cook?” the Shiv’erna said. “The commander is going to love hearing whatever bullshit you’re about to make up as we walk your ass through the station. She loves a good story. But, I warn you, she has heard them all. If yours doesn’t make her smile then you’re about to be booted right back outside. But without your suit.”
“I’ll make her smile,” Roak said. “Call ahead and tell her she has Roak onboard. That should mean something to her.”
“Why?” the Shiv’erna asked.
“Because who do you think got me down onto the surface of the planet without anyone knowing in the first place, snozz?” Roak smirked.
“Snozz?” the Shiv’erna hissed.
He hit the smirk right off Roak’s face. Then he hit the consciousness away too. Roak slumped to the ground.
“Pick his ass up,” the Shiv’erna said. “Commander Nimm is going to want to talk to him when he wakes up.”
15.
Roak woke up on a very nice couch, which was a pleasant surprise. His hands were bound behind his back to his ankles and he was face down on the couch, which wasn’t a surprise, but at least he wasn’t in a cold holding cell filled with puke-spewing drunks and strung-out junkies.
