Hollow Space Book 1: Venture (Xantoverse)

by T. F. Grant

  The ship was called the Spacewolf. She wasn’t a scavenger; she was a refitted lawkeeper gunboat, a fighting ship, which was why Linus had bought her.

  His pilot, a human named Jones, who had lost an ear in a firefight, grinned. “Gonna be lively in there, mate.”

  “Yeah,” Linus said and checked his carbine.

  “I like it lively,” Evangeline breathed. Even under her armor, her voluptuous form bulged in all the right places. She smiled happily and checked her machine pistol.

  “I like it quiet,” Whiack whistled. The muscular kronac already had his two revolvers in two of his hands.

  “Quiet don’t make the credits,” Linus said.

  “I know,” Whiack whistled.

  The dalgref storm troopers Splin and Nilp sat in their heavy armor and said nothing.

  ***

  “We got them off safe,” Tai called. “Touch and go with the damage to the ship, but they’re safe.”

  Drifts spoke by some strange process of airholes and leaves. They could speak Anglic or kronac, or any of the major languages aboard Haven.

  “That was a very dangerous maneuver,” Sweet-Sap-Rising wheezed. “The survivors of the Lost Jump might have been killed.”

  “Yes.” Miriam stepped into the conversation at just the right time. “And now they have been forced to vacate their ship.”

  Tai held his hands out. “No air on their ship, no scrubbers on mine, what was I supposed to do?”

  Haggard spat on the deck. “Their ship is no longer defended; therefore they lose all claim to it.”

  Sweet-Sap-Rising rustled his branches. “They have newcomer status, Commander.”

  Tai nodded. “But somebody has to give a shit.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Sara asked.

  Tai shrugged. “This is Hollow Space, this is Haven. Nothing comes for free here.”

  NINE

  “Are you joking?” DeLaney said to the Drift and the woman in red leather. She stared down at him as if he had just blasphemed their most revered God. “You want us to fight for our own stuff? What kind of crazy operation are you lot running here? We’re supposed to take the word of an overgrown shrub and some woman in a fancy dress?”

  Sara got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She looked down the length of the dock; a mix of aliens and humans were preparing their crafts. Things looked about to get ugly. She thought of all her, and the other crew’s, stuff on board the Venture about to be picked off.

  Although she could live without most possessions, she thought about Telo’s core and a few personal items she had from her ancestors back on Earth. If it came to it, she would fight for those, but their odds weren’t looking good.

  The Drift shook its leaves. Sara took it as a sign of anger. “My name is Sweet-Sap-Rising-Long-And-Slow-Filled-With-The-Sanctity-And-Beauty-Of-Life-In-A-Universe-Defined-By-Boundaries-And-Edges-That-Bud-And-Flower-Into-The-Essential-Chaos-Of-Existence.”

  “Yeah,” Tai said. “We call him Sweet-Sap-Rising for short.”

  “Or Sap, if we’re in a hurry,” Hela added.

  “But we never call him what you just did,” Kina said. She leaned close to Sara’s ear. “At least not where he can hear us.”

  Tai gave DeLaney a nudge. “If we’re quick enough, you might not have to fight. But all the time the ship’s empty, it’s open to free-salvage laws. Those who live on it, claim it.”

  “Then why did you take us off?” DeLaney’s voice pitched up an octave. Sweat beaded on his forehead.

  Sara moved to his side. “Calm down, DeLaney. Just listen to what they’ve got to say first.”

  Miriam gave her a curt, respectful nod.

  “You didn’t have any air,” Tai said to DeLaney but looking Sara over. “Your hull had a breach.”

  “Because of you!” DeLaney pointed his finger in Tai’s face. The mood shifted then. Haggard and Hela both seem to tense and focus on DeLaney. Sara felt as though they were on a knife edge here.

  Tai smirked. “What can I say? Spacecraft are tricky to pilot at the best of times here.”

  DeLaney span away, wiping his hand across his head. Margo and Murlowe remained passive, their lips twitching with micromovements, a sign they were doing their weird head-talk thing. Bookworm was standing by the Mary-May, watching as two of the kronacs lifted the stasis unit on to the dock.

  “So what’s the situation?” DeLaney said, calmer now. Even he couldn’t miss the growing tensions between the groups—or Miriam’s glare. She cut an imposing figure surrounded by her entourage, despite her middle-aged and plump body being squeezed into that ridiculous red leather outfit. Even the scavengers along the dock seem to look her way before they did anything.

  The Drift shuffled up to DeLaney, its leaflike limbs fluttering as it spoke. “For now, newcomer, you have two choices.”

  Haggard followed up, “You can come with me and get settled into the station, or you cut a deal with Miriam here and go back to reclaim your ship. But if you’re staying, you start at ground zero.”

  “What do you mean exactly?” Sara asked.

  “You’ve nothing to trade, no power, and nothing to bargain with. This is a station of deals and favors. Coming into it naked, you start at the bottom. Ground zero.”

  “I’ll have you know I’m a highly regarded representative of Crown Central,” DeLaney said. “I don’t start at ground zero.”

  Haggard spat at DeLaney’s feet. “The Crown means shit here, son. You start at the bottom. Now, it’s your choice.” He looked over to Tai, who could barely suppress a grin. “Tai, you taking this shower of a crew out or what? Seems like competition is heating up.”

  Sara looked around, watching the buzz of excitement as dozens of crews and gangs continued to prepare their ships. It felt like a stampede at feeding time on one of the colony planets.

  “In good time, Commander.”

  “You don’t have long,” Miriam said. “My offer will only last for a few more minutes.”

  DeLaney faced Miriam. “What offer?”

  She stepped forward until her presence was merely inches away. “My dear man, I have a proposal. I’ll pay for the fuel for the Mary-May and its repairs, and my good, beloved scoundrel of a son here will take you back to claim your ship. I’ll also, out of the graciousness of my heart, ensure that none of these other… business enthusiasts take off from the dock and try to claim your ship and its possessions. Oh”—she paused as if just remembering something—“and I’ll supply a couple of tugs to drag the… Venture, is it?—such a romantic name—closer to the station. All part of the same deal. It will make it easier for you to keep it protected.”

  DeLaney thought for a moment.

  To Sara it sounded like the best they could do right now; they had nothing of note to bargain with, other than the stasis unit, but there was no way Sara would agree to give up their people or the tech that kept them alive. So far it was the only thing that hadn’t malfunctioned since coming to this hellhole.

  “That’s very generous of you, Miss Cauder,” DeLaney said, getting more into the mode of the station. It seemed to Sara that anything was up for grabs, laws could be bent, but it came with a cost.

  “Ms.”

  “Sorry, Ms. Cauder. If I were to accept your offer, what would be your terms?”

  Sara couldn’t help but notice Tai’s amused expression. He looked on at DeLaney’s attempt to strike a deal as though he were a mouse negotiating with an eagle.

  Miriam pursed her lips, closed her eyes briefly, and then with a tight smile said, “Eighty percent.”

  “Erm… of what?” DeLaney asked.

  “Everything.”

  “I’m not following.”

  Miriam’s entourage, Haggard, and Tai chuckled under their breaths. Sara, for once, felt sorry for DeLaney.

  “My dear man, it’s rather simple. I loan you newcomers, as a group”—Sara noted the slight emphasis on the word ‘group’—“the resources to get your ship back and its p
ossessions, and you pay me back that loan with eighty percent interest. Or you can just pay the interest.” She smiled. “Every twelve cycles.”

  Sara balked. The words came from her mouth before she even realized. “That’s outrageous. We’d never be able to pay that back. Your commander here said it himself that we start on zero.”

  Miriam shrugged. “Those are the terms. And, sweet girl, you’re not starting on zero if you have me in your corner, and of course, you do have the resources of your ship to sell. Would you rather compete against that lot?” Miriam turned and pointed to the dozens of ships on the dock preparing to launch. “From ground zero, as our esteemed commander so colorfully put it.”

  “They’ll be on your ship like a rash within minutes,” Tai said. “And those odds are too crazy even for me. I’d fight for some of the gear on your ship, but not against those numbers.”

  Sara felt like Miriam and her son, Tai, were setting them up, but what other option did they have? “What do you think, Bookworm?” she said, turning to her ally, who, like the twins, had remained silent and seemingly uninterested up until now.

  He gave a noncommittal shrug. “I don’t care. I just want to get my stuff. That’s my priority. Don’t care about anything else.”

  “Fine,” DeLaney said, holding out his hand before Sara could even suggest a counteroffer. Miriam’s hand darted out like an eel snagging its prey from a shipwreck.

  The instant the handshake occurred, the other scavenger ships powered down. The crews departed, and a grumble of disappointment broke out.

  Sweet-Sap-Rising shuffled between Miriam and DeLaney. Bushy tendrils reached out. A square piece of leaflike paper came from the Drift’s body. Miriam took it. She removed a small, wooden-looking stamp from within the folds of her red leather suit and pressed it against the paper, making a semitranslucent green print. The image resembled her likeness.

  The Drift raised another of the branchlike limbs and the only word Sara could come up with was ‘excreted’ another similar stamp. Even in reverse she could tell it was a picture of DeLaney, although she noticed it was more caricature than portrait compared to Miriam’s.

  “Conclude the deal,” Sweet-Sap-Rising said, passing the chit to DeLaney, “with this, your stem-seal. The deal will go into the Book of Trades. If there are any disputes, the Scholars will act in arbitration.”

  DeLany took the wooden stem-seal and pressed it against the chit. A green enzyme printed his image into the leaf-paper. The Drift announced the deal as complete and placed the chit within the shrubbery covering. Then waited, seeming to turn toward Tai.

  “Eight hundred, plus expenses,” Tai said.

  Miriam laughed. “I don’t think so. One hundred.”

  “I’m flying into a firefight, my crew needs combat pay, and I’m putting my ship at risk. Seven-fifty.”

  “Oh, very well, three-fifty.”

  “You could fly out there yourself, Mother. I’ll loan you the Mary-May free of charge. Six-fifty.”

  “Four.”

  “Six or do it yourself.”

  “Oh, very well. Six.”

  “Plus expenses.”

  Miriam grinned at DeLaney, and Sara realized that they, the crew of the Venture, were picking up this tab. “Of course, plus expenses.”

  The hands shook, the seals touched the chit, and Sweet-Sap-Rising placed the chit away so quickly that if you had blinked, you would have missed it.

  The Drift seemed to bow slightly at Miriam and Haggard before shuffling away.

  As it moved down the docking bay, each crew shut their ships down and followed behind, heading back into the station.

  “Well, that’s that, then,” Haggard said. “You newcomers better learn quickly. You’re in for a rough ride, and even help is a traded commodity. Be sharp, be observant, and watch your backs as well as your fronts. Maybe, just maybe you’ll survive your first week unscathed.”

  “What are the odds, Haggard?” Tai asked, his eyes glinting with amusement. “About five percent was it with the last crew that turned up?”

  “Four,” Haggard said with a throaty laugh as he followed the Drift down the bay.

  Given the way Miriam hadn’t stopped smiling, Sara had a bad feeling about this deal. But in the meantime, at least it meant recovering their possessions, and Telo. Perhaps she could get him up and running again.

  “What about the stasis units?” Margo and Murlowe said together. “We’ll need to recover them. They are our people.”

  “They, my dears, come under the same deal,” Miriam said. “They are part of the Venture too, no? I’ll arrange collection with Tai, but you’d better be quick before they drift out of view of the station.”

  “Why?” Sara asked, knowing she wasn’t going to like the answer. “What happens then?”

  Tai placed his arm on her shoulder. “Law of Sight. Anything not visible to the Scholars in the station doesn’t come under their protection. It’s a free-for-all out there.”

  Sara gasped and shrugged out from under Tai’s arm. She noticed Kina watching with an easy amusement on her face. Sara blushed when they locked eyes for the briefest of moments. Getting back to her thoughts, Sara said, “The stasis units are all over the place, though. We have to get them back.”

  “I can provide affordable services,” Tai said.

  “You’d charge us to save our own people?”

  “Get used to it, sweet girl,” Miriam added. “It’s the way of the station.” With that, Miriam gave her a nod and turned her attention to Tai. “Credit the fuel to me, son, and go get these people their ship back. Report back later. I’ll leave Hela to accompany you.”

  Hela, who had stood next to Miriam and hadn’t said anything since the joke about the Drift’s name, didn’t even acknowledge the order. She just strode up to the Mary-May and got on board. The kronacs were still busy repairing the underside of the ship.

  “Always a pleasure, Mother,” Tai said before turning his back on her. He spoke to the kronacs. “Take the stasis unit to my lockup. We’ll deal with it when we get back.”

  Tooize whistled in agreement and hoisted the stasis unit to his feather-covered shoulder with ease. He moved off in the opposite direction, taking the unit through a pair of sliding doors and disappearing into the station.

  “Where’s he taking it?” Sara asked.

  “My lockup. Don’t worry; it’ll be safe. We can’t just leave it out here on the dock. What’s not bolted down will be gone before you can blink in this place.”

  “And how is it that the power is still working on the stasis unit when the Venture’s systems are down?” Sara said.

  Tai shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out as soon as we’ve got your ship secure. Oh, and that stem-seal,” he said, addressing DeLaney, “that’s one of a kind and unique to you. Don’t lose it. Ever.”

  “Why? What would happen?” DeLaney said.

  “You’ll be in debt to the Scholars, and you really don’t want that.”

  Sara was really beginning to hate this place. They’d only been here for five minutes and already seemed entirely out of their depth.

  “Right, people, enough gassing, let’s go get us some loot. Erm, I mean recover your worldly possessions.” Tai clambered onto the Mary-May, grinning like a child at Christmas.

  Kina took Sara’s elbow and led her to the ship. “It’ll be okay,” she said.

  “I’m not encouraged,” Sara replied, trying to give a smile, trying to see a positive side to all this beyond Kina’s company. At least she was cute and friendly—a rare good thing in a world of shit so far.

  Bookworm, DeLaney, and the others followed them onto the ship.

  Prescott looked scared as he came to a stop before he got onto the ship. “I don’t want to go back out there,” he said. “It’ll be safer if I stay here.”

  “Like hell it will,” Tai said.

  “Prescott, grow a damned spine. It’s your stuff on the ship too. You’re crew, a part of the team, dammit. You have a responsibi
lity,” Bookworm said as he turned and pulled the young Crowner by the arm. Despite the other’s protest, he followed the rest into the ship, muttering his complaints.

  They got settled into the back when Tooize returned and closed the door behind them. He carried a large handled container that he placed on the floor of the hull before opening it up. Inside were a number of old shotguns.

  “I hope you lot know how to handle boomtubes,” Tai said as he fired up the ship’s engines. “Today is not a walk in the park.”

  TEN

  Tai watched Bookworm pick up one of the shotguns.

  “Lever action,” Bookworm said. “Seven-round magazine. Short barrel. Ten gauge.” He whistled. “Don’t see many of these anymore. Bit heavyweight for the girls, though.” He worked the lever. It dry clicked. “Got any ammo? Or are we supposed to club them to death?”

  Tai grinned. “Impressive, Dylan, my man. Don’t find many newcomers who know their way around good old-fashioned firearms.”

  Bookworm shrugged. “It’s a hobby. Got any insulated shells for this?”

  Kina handed him a box of shells that would prevent too much heat radiating out into the vacuum and getting too cold to fire. Tai had learned that as a young kid. Weapons dealers on Haven didn’t exactly have a responsibility to inform their buyers of the effects of a vacuum on firearms.

  Bookworm glanced at the end of the barrel. “Full choke. That there is rather nasty.”

  “Yeah,” Tai said. “I use chain rounds myself, so I don’t need it.”

  “Aren’t they inaccurate?”

  “Not when they’re made by a chyros. And not in a vacuum.” Tai grinned. He glanced across at Tooize. “The cannons ready?”

  “Loaded, warm, and free on their gimbals,” Tooize whistled.

  “Get to your seats and strap in,” Tai said. “It’s going to be a full-boost spintastic sprint.” He clambered up to the flight deck, Kina close behind him.

  “Hatch closed,” she said. A light flickered green on the console. “We have integrity. Try not to break the tank this time.”

  “Yeah, I’ve got to get that auxiliary tank fitted.” Tai glanced over his shoulder. The newcomers were all struggling to strap into their seats. The kronacs were helping them while Hela ignored the confusion and checked her guns. Her armor was in a bag pushed into the web under her seat. None of the newcomers were close enough to hear Tai’s conversation with Kina. “I can probably afford to get that aux-tank fitted now, what with this sweet deal we just signed. Collecting those stasis chambers is going to be very lucrative.” He laughed. “Tugs. To bring the ship closer to the station. ‘To make it easier for you to keep the Venture—such a romantic name—protected.’ Damn, my mother is sharp. That’ll rack up thousands on the debt.”