Sten

by Chris Bunch

  The gravsled was the biggest thing he could get into position. He'd put all of its anchors down, and hoped it would hold when everything went.

  The wall cracked and peeled and bubbled out until ... the wall dissolved and became exploding blackness. A storm of escaping gasses howled into space. Megacredits’ worth of crystal boulders, vehicles, and tools pounded around the hole and then ripped their way out.

  The gravsled cracked ... anchors tore loose, and then, with a grinding crash, the sled came free and thundered toward the hole. It smashed across the hole but was just too large to fit between two main support beams.

  And then the howling stopped. And what was left of Area 35 was silent.

  Blood ran down into Sten's eyes where he'd slammed into his suit visor rim. He blinked it away and checked his suit carefully for leaks.

  Then he slid around the sled and out the hole.

  He swayed, momentarily vertiginous as blackness and harsh starlight rose around him.

  One way or another, he was out of Exotic Section. And—he managed to grin wryly—achieving one of his dreams. He was outof Vulcan.

  And then he was moving. Away from the hole, away from Exotic Section. Headed North, toward the only hole he could maybe hide in—the sprawling main mass of Vulcan.

  He had no idea where he was going. First he took steps, then as he became bolder and realized there was enough magnetism left in the suit's boots to keep him from spinning off into space, in great meters-long bounds.

  Several times he almost panicked and looked for a nonexistent hiding place, when repair craft and patrol boats speared down toward him.

  Then he realized ... all they were worrying about was the sudden expensive explosion kilometers away in Exotics. If they even spotted him, one man in a worksuit wouldn't be connected with the destruction.

  Not yet, anyway.

  He held out as long as he could—until his suit's air supply began to rasp in his ears, and he could hear the regulator gurgle at him—then went to the first hatchway he saw. Sten guessed it was for routine maintenance.

  He fumbled with its catches, and suddenly the hatch slid smoothly open. He crawled in the tiny lock chamber, closed the outer door, and hit the cycle button.

  The inner door creaked open—at least there was air on the other side to carry noise—and Sten stepped out.

  A long, deserted corridor stretched away before and behind him. Dust was thick on the walkway, and several of the overheads were burnt out. Sten slumped down against a bulkhead. He was free. He was home.

  He considered those two thoughts. And smiled. His smile became laughter.Free. Until they caught him. Home? On Vulcan? But he laughed, as Hite had taught him. It seemed like the right thing to do.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  CHAPTER TEN

  Thoresen hurried off the gravsled toward the shuttle. A few more minutes and he would be off Prime World and heading back to Vulcan. He was still nervous about the Emperor and half believed that at any second he would be arrested.

  The Baron tensed as several guardsmen walked around a corner. But they were deep in conversation and were obviously not after him. He relaxed.

  A certain wild part of him almost wished for a confrontation. Thoresen was not used to bowing to other men. He didn't like the feeling of terror. He walked past the soldiers, thinking that he could take them. Instantly. His mind fingered the possibilities. He would rip the throat out of the first one. The second would die as he broke his nose and drove the cartilage into the brain. The third—he shook off the feeling. He was breathing easier as he started up the loading ramp.

  A little later, he was on the shuttle and heading for the liner orbiting around Prime World. Settling back—really relaxing for the first time since he left Vulcan—Thoresen thought over his meeting with the Emperor.

  There were several possibilities: (a) The Emperor was senile. Unlikely, (b) The man was really trying to soothe a few aides. Nonsense. It wasn't his style, (c) The Emperor knew about Bravo Project. Wrong. Thoresen was alive, wasn't he? (d) The Emperor suspected something was up but couldn't prove it. Hence the meeting to feel Thoresen out and issue a subtle warning. Now, that was more probable.

  All right. What would be the Emperor's next move? That was easy. He'd tighten the investigation. Send more spies to Vulcan.The Baron smiled to himself, feeling much better about the situation. He closed his eyes to take a brief nap. Just before he fell asleep he made a note to himself. He'd order Security to clear with him the credentials of all off-worlders. He looked forward to personally interviewing a few spies.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Sten had been on the run for about a month when he met the girl. She was about fifteen and dressed in a shapeless, grimy black coverall. Her face and hands were smeared with grease. And she came within a hair of killing him. Her name was Bet. Sten thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

  Sten had made it that far by hiding in the ventilation ducts that warrened Vulcan. They varied in size from twenty-meter-wide central ductways to shoulder-wide tubes to individual rooms. The ducts were caked with the grease of years and periodically blocked by huge filter screens. Sten used a small powerdriver he had stolen from a warehouse to get through the screens.

  The ventilation ducts went everywhere, giving him quick access to food warehouses and empty apartments when he needed to forage. The only real danger he ever encountered was when he chanced on work parties servicing the filter screens. But they were easy to avoid. He had also heard strange scrabbling and scratching noises which he figured were groups of Delinqs. So far, he had steered clear of them, pretty sure of his reception.

  The only thing he feared were the periodic extermination raids mounted by the Company against the Delinqs. From what he had heard back in his Mig days, the few survivors were guaranteed brainburn.

  Still, he lived fairly well, and in fact had gained a kilo or two since his escape. He was just getting slightly bored and more than a little picky about his meals when he made a real find.The hydroponics farm was a glistening green world that stretched out of sight into the mists. Towering purple ferns could be seen and row upon row of every conceivable plant, some in flower, some drooping with ripe vegetables and fruit. Sten had never seen anything like it before except at the vid library.

  No humans were about. Only agricultural bots—the lowest form—tending and harvesting the plants. Sten dropped through the duct and landed on the ground. It was soft and green. Sten looked down at his feet. So that's what grass looks like.

  He walked through the rows smelling—fresh air? Flowers? Soil? He picked a handful of what he thought might be grapes. Nibbled on them, his face lighting up at the fresh taste. Sten took off his shirt and started stuffing it until the seams nearly split.

  A soft footfall. Sten whirled, his knife flashing out. Then he hesitated. It was a girl.

  She carried a Sociopatrolman's stun rod, tied to a half-meter-long fiber rod. She hadn't spotted him yet and Sten started to slide back into a row of plants. Then he hesitated. She didn't behave like a Mig or a Tech. She had to be a Delinq.

  Sten suddenly remembered one of his father's phrases: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” He stepped from behind a huge fern into full view.

  The girl saw him, froze, then flipped the stun rod on and drew back her arm, ready to hurl the improvised spear at Sten. “Wait."

  The girl stopped. Still ready to throw. No fear at all. Her eyes widened as his knife hand flickered and the blade disappeared from view. He held out his hands, palms up.

  "You on the run?” Sten nodded. “From where?"

  "Exotic Section."

  The stun rod came up. “Liar! Nobody's ever—"

  "I blew out an area. Came across the outside in a suit. I've been living in the ducts.” The girl frowned.

  "We heard there was an accident. But that's impossible.” Sten waited.

  "You've got the muscles that come from l
ifting. And those scars on your legs ... You're a runaway."

  "Then what am I doing here?"

  The girl smiled humorlessly. “Who knows? Trying to infiltrate us. Just weird. Maybe a real runner.” Sten shrugged.

  "Hold your hands out again,” the girl ordered. “Palms up."

  Sten did as she asked. The girl inspected Sten's calloused and work-torn hands and looked closely at the grime-encrusted ragged nails.

  "You could've faked that. Strip."

  "What?” Sten managed.

  "Take off your clothes. If you're an infiltrator, you'll have a soft body like a socioslime.” Sten hesitated.

  "This stun rod,” the girl said evenly, “is power-jumped. It puts out about two hundred percent more force than it should for about two seconds. Then it burns out. But by then whoever it hits is ready for recycling."

  Sten fingered the fastener, then stepped out of the suit The girl walked completely around him, then stood, considering for a moment, in front of him. The girl smiled slightly. “It's a very good body.” Then her smile vanished.

  "Come on. Get dressed. I'm Bet."

  As he stepped into his clothes, she dumped his “harvest” out of his shirt and handed it to him. She began picking through the vegetables and fruits, tossing some away as too green, stuffing others into a sack."You're lucky I came along,” she said. “Most runners are caught after the first month."

  "You a Delinq?"

  She gave him a disgusted look.

  "I wouldn't be alive if I weren't. We know how to duck the sweeps. We know the places to hide, where they almost never look. A good Delinq can last ... maybe five years."

  Sten was shocked.

  "How long since you ran?” he asked.

  "Three years now."

  She shouldered the Sack and headed for a ventilation duct. “Come on. I'll take you to Oron."

  She slid into the duct, motioned him past her, then replaced the filter screen. Then she pulled what appeared to be a tiny headband from her coveralls, flicked the light on, and wriggled by Sten to take the lead. The soft brush of her body against his turned Sten's mouth dry. He took a deep breath and crawled after her.

  * * * *

  The Delinqs paid no attention to Sten and Bet as they dropped from the duct into the long-abandoned warehouse.

  About thirty of them, dressed in the stolen finery of Vulcan's warehouses, were celebrating a raid on a particularly rich warehouse, and most of them were drunk or drugged. It was one of the strangest things Sten had ever seen: a party in almost absolute silence. Whispering—even in the safety of home base—was second nature to a Delinq.

  Stranger still, they were all children. The youngest, he estimated, was no more than twelve—a girl rubbing oil on the body of a boy about thirteen. The oldest person Sten saw, as Bet led him through them, was in his late teens. Sten felt like an oldman.

  Oron was sprawled in the office section of the warehouse. At first glance, he appeared to be in his forties. A closer look showed that the white hair and withered arm belonged to a man only a year or so older than Sten.

  His face was the worst. Half of it was mobile. The other frozen like a deathmask.

  Beside him sat a pudgy girl, busily working her way through a pile of fruit. Behind him, on a fur-piled bed, were two naked girls. Both beautiful and sleeping—or drugged.

  "This is Sten,” Bet said. “He's a runner."

  Oron turned to the fat girl and pointed at Bet. “Who is she?"

  "Bet. You sent her out last shift to the hydroponic farm,” the girl said, not missing a bite.

  Sten froze, arced his wrist, getting ready to spring out his knife. If this was Bet's gang, why didn't Oron know—? Oron caught Sten's expression. Half his face smiled.

  "Fadal is my memory,” he said, gesturing at the pudgy girl. “I am—am a...” His brow furrowed. “Brainburn,” Fadal answered for him. “Yes. I did something wrong when I was young, for which they ... brainburned me. But something went wrong. It didn't ... take. Or rather ... it only partially worked."

  He motioned at his face and withered arm. “My body. And part of my mind ... So I am an ... amnesiac."

  "Then how do you—?” Sten began. “All that happens this shift is very clear to me. But the next shift, I do not know what went before. I remember how to talk. That I am a Delinq. That I am Oron. Although sometimes I forget that. And that I am the leader of these people. But ... I must be reminded of ... of ... yes ... of their names. And what I asked them to do."

  "He's the leader,” Bet said, “because he can always figure outwhere to raid. And when to move just before there is another sweep."

  "Oron has been a Delinq for twelve years,” Fadal said.

  She seemed to think it was a compliment. Sten guessed it just might be.

  "So you are a runner,” Oron said. “And you want to join us?"

  Sten hesitated, looked at Bet, and then shrugged.

  "Sure. Why not?"

  "Do you vouch for him, Bet?"

  Bet was surprised. Usually there was a test—and questions. Why was Oron willing to rely solely on her word? She glanced over at Sten, who was waiting for her answer. Then she could see it. The look on his face. He didn't care about the Delinqs or Oron. He was obviously confident in his abilities to survive without them. He was here for ... her.

  Sten felt his heart jump as she nodded.

  "Do we team him?"

  Bet met Oron's eyes. Suddenly she laughed.

  "Yes."

  "Bet will be your team partner,” he said to Sten. “Do what she ... shows you ... and you will live. Now, sit ... have wine. And tell me ... your story."

  Sten accepted a glass of wine and sprawled on the floor. He began his story, glancing over at Bet now and then as he spoke.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  "I wanna watch livee, mommie, I wanna watch livee."

  The Creche nurse hustled over to the boy, a warm smile on her face. She hugged him and palmed a button; the wall flickered, became a screen, and cartoon characters scampered in across it. The fourteen-year-old boy giggled in delight.

  * * * *

  Bet's parents had sold her to the Company a few cycles before. The price: Their contracts were torn up and the Mig couple was free to leave Vulcan. It was considered a remarkable bargain on both sides.

  Normally the Company preferred Mig children to grow up into Mig men and women. But there were exceptions officials constantly sought. The Company psych who tested Bet whistled at her raw intelligence scores. Company reps approached Bet's parents, who told her she was going away to a much better place. They kissed her and put her to bed. Bet woke up in a Company Creche, surrounded by mostly younger children. The Company usually started with children of five, but Bet's score had been impressive. It decided to take a chance with the eight-year-old.

  For the first time in her life, Bet was smothered by love and attention. The Creche Mothers hugged her, kissed her, and gave her toys. Very few things brought punishment or harsh words. Still, Bet never trusted the Mothers for a minute. No one ever discovered this, because Bet had learned very young to keep quiet, give answers only when asked, and always do what she was told.

  It took Bet a long time to figure out what was terrifying her. It was the other children ... her playmates.

  * * * *

  Sten crowded past Bet and looked down into the warehouse. It was exactly like Oron's model. Towering stacks of crates and shipping tubes filled with everything from clothing to luxury food items for the Techs and Execs. It was a place that a human—on legal business—never had to visit as all functions and work were handled by bots, from tiny inventory clerks to giant, idiot-brained skip-loaders.

  Bet and another Delinq began looking for the alarm system.Oron had gone over the plan with him and then asked for suggestions.

  "No, Sten,” he had said after listening. “That way ... there is no ... escape. Look."

  His fingers traced the model of the wareh
ouse's interior.

  "Block the exits with crates. But even if you know they are blocked, you must still ... think someone will come through. You must be prepared to ... counter that. To have another..."

  He fumbled for a word.

  "Tactic..To be a Delinq, you must know tactics. Even when your plan is ... perfect ... you must assume it can go wrong. You must never get in a situation from which there is no ... escape."

  Sten nodded. And Oron began showing him how to protect their backs.

  "We will make a backdoor here ... station lookouts here ... and here."

  Bet had found the first alarm and disarmed it. Another Delinq was already unbelting the duct screen. A rope slithered downward and moments later they were on the floor of the warehouse.

  Bet motioned for Sten to follow her to a computer terminal. The other three Delinqs began checking for other alarms.

  "We can't leave any sign that we were here,” she whispered.

  Her fingers flew over the terminal keys. First, she called up the SECURITY INSTRUCTIONS program and ordered the human body detector to ignore their presence. Then she called up the WAREHOUSE INVENTORY. She studied it carefully, made a few notes, and then altered the list."We can only take these items. No one will miss them.” She signaled to the other Delinqs and they went to work, gathering their loot.

  As a Delinq was lugging the last crate toward the piled loot near an opened vent, the Delinqs heard a slight squeaking noise. They leaped for cover as it grew louder. The security bot rolled around a corner, feelers extended for signs of human life. The Delinqs held their breath as the feelers waved around in the air. Finally they retracted and the bot rolled toward the exit.

  Suddenly, the bot squeaked to a halt. One of the Delinqs smothered a moan. He had left a crate standing in the middle of the warehouse floor when he dove out of sight. The security bot's power-hum rose. A stun rod snicked into view and the bot's sensors peered about, looking for the cause. No alarms. It wasn't sure yet. Although unlikely, a faulty worker bot might have left the crate unstacked.

  Bet motioned to Sten. She pointed upward to a high stack of crates. They eased from their hiding place and slithered toward the stack. She clambered up Sten's shoulders, found a foothold and then picked her way up the stack of crates. She reached the top, then flattened as a crate creaked loudly underfoot. The bot rolled toward the sound. In a blur, Bet lifted a heavy crate and hurled it downward. The bot's stun rod came up and the crate smashed into it. The entire warehouse clouded with the most horrible odor Sten had ever smelled. Liquid gushed out of the crate, soaking the bot. It immediately began whirling around and around.