Embers: The Galaxy On Fire Series, Book 1

by Craig Robertson

  I guess I could have pushed my luck and stayed, but it wasn’t worth it. No one was going to spill any beans to the guy who was trying to have them flayed. I backed out the doors into the street, then turned. Mirraya was right there, picking her teeth and leaning against a bench.

  “Sounds like you’re not going to be a regular there,” she said. “Should I turn into a rocket ship to get us out of here?”

  “Can you do that?”

  “No, only living animals. I was trying to make the point that you seem to have screwed up royally in there.”

  “Since when do you have a potty mouth?”

  “Since you started trying to get us killed.”

  I turned and began walking rapidly toward Stingray.

  I assumed Mirraya would fall in behind me. Instead she called to me, “You’re heading the wrong way. Spaceport’s that way.”

  I couldn’t see, but I thought she was pointing.

  I turned and walked back toward her. “There is no spaceport. There’s none on the maps and none visible from above.”

  “This isn’t the kind of spaceport with landing lights and a snack bar. It’s a secret one the locals have managed to hide from you know who.”

  I tried not to grin. “And how is it you came to know all this while I was shot down like a fat one-winged duck?”

  She shrugged with a very noncommittal look on her face. “I asked better than you did, for one thing,” she said with a nod toward the bar.

  “And how might that have been?”

  “I was having dinner while you drank your innards away. I had trouble though, on account of my not being able to stop crying. The owner’s wife noticed and tried to comfort me. She’s a real nice lady. I almost hated to deceive her.”

  “But it worked, so what the hell,” I finished her thought.

  “It worked, so what the hell. Anyway, I told her you had a death mark, the Adamant had already killed my mother and three younger brothers. I said I didn’t know what I would do when I was alone in the world and on my own. I hinted at hurting myself if you, my last hold on reality, were taken out of the picture.”

  “Impressive. So, you lie well, deceive honest folk just trying to help, and you steal money from them all at the same time.”

  “Totally unfair. I didn’t have to pay with flesh. She wouldn’t hear of charging me for dinner.” She grunted a laugh. “Her husband, not so much. But the look she gave him.” She winked at me. “I’m going to have to remember it and try it on you one of these days. It was a killer.”

  “I can hardly wait. So, she told you were to look for transport?”

  “Better than that, she gave me this.” Mirraya handed me a scrap of paper.

  I unfolded it and read it.

  Dearest Brother Gartel, this poor child and her father are in grievous danger and need to get off the planet at once. I pray you can help them. If there’s any cost, I’ll cover it. May the Seven True Gods bless you … Frieder

  I whistled quietly. “Impressive.”

  “I thought so too, Uncle Jon.”

  “You mean Father Jon for the time being, don’t you?”

  She nodded slightly and grinned. Then she stood up straight, snatched the paper from my hands, and sauntered away down the street. What had I gotten myself into? This girl was every bit as sneaky and devious as I was. I needed to stay on my A-game with her around.

  We found our way to Brother Gartel’s house. It was a simple, understated structure with a boring landscape job. It was very typical of all we’d seen. The people here were kind of bland and tasteless, it seemed. I had Mirraya knock on his door. Once he opened it a crack, she handed him the note. He closed the door while he read it. Unless he was a painfully slow reader, he took a while to decide if he was going to reopen the door once he knew the reason we’d come.

  The door cracked open a sliver and Gartel hastily said, “Come in before you’re seen.” He closed the door silently once I was in. “My sister should not have sent you. I cannot help you. Please leave quietly. If the masters learn of a stranger’s visit to my home, my family will be in jeopardy.”

  “Look,” I said, “we’re inside now, so there’s really no rush to get us out. Why not hear our story and then decide if you will turn us away in our most desperate hour?”

  He covered his ears. “I do not want to hear your sad tale. Whatever it is, and no matter how badly I feel for ignoring you, I will refuse any aid. You must go.” The guy was sweating and panting. I thought he might keel over right there in front of us, he was so apoplectic.

  “Kind Gartel, thank you for receiving us,” Mirraya said as she gently rested a hand on his trembling arm. “My father and I will go now. I will return to your sister. I will tell her you courageously offered to help us free of charge. I will tell her that, faced with the reality of leaving our home, we reconsidered and declined your kind offer. I should not want your reasonable concerns to become a barrier between you and Frieder. Family,” she choked back tears, “is far too valuable to waste on the likes of the Adamant. May the Seven True Gods bless you.” She turned to me, took my elbow and finished with, “Come, Papa. Let us go find a home of our own.”

  Man was she good. Well, I guess she could have been sincere, couldn’t she? Either way, we never even made it to the door before Gartel called to us.

  “I don’t believe I caught your name, tall stranger,” he said as forcefully as he could muster.

  “Trocker,” I replied, bowing.

  “Trocker, you and your daughter please sit while I have the missus bring some tea. Then I will hear your story. I do not promise I can help, but by the Seven True Gods, the Adamant won’t stop me from being a good man.”

  A mousy woman Gartel didn’t bother to introduce served us weak, astringent tea. When she was out of the room, he asked, “So what is it my fine sister tells you I might be able to do for you?”

  “We need to get off this planet,” I said bluntly. “She said you have a ship that may serve us well.”

  He looked like a ghost had just sat down on his lap. “Er, I know of no ships. The Adamant strictly forbid the locals to travel in space unless they authorize it. They never authorize it, so it does not exist.”

  “Officially, it may not. That, in my experience has never stopped a properly motivated businessman,” I replied, setting down my cup. I was going to be so glad to leave this rock so I could turn my olfactory senses back to normal.

  “Are you suggesting openly flaunting their decree? I needn’t tell you the penalty. It is the same for any infraction, large or small.”

  “They are consistent, aren’t they?” I said with a conspiratorial smile.

  He harrumphed back.

  That brought a very loud throat clearing from the kitchen. Mama was apparently reminding him to remain apolitical.

  “What we request is transportation. Only passengers.” I pointed to Mirraya then patted my chest. “Myself, the girl, and no questions asked.”

  “If anyone was going to accept that offer, it would cost you extra, a lot extra.”

  “I can pay you two ounces of gold now, plus fifteen more when we reach our destination.”

  Poor Gartel nearly spit out his tea. I imagine he hadn’t seen that kind of money in a long time. Based on my preparatory studies of this society, seventeen ounces of gold was a modest fortune.

  “And where might the theoretical pilot of such an imaginary vessel be taking you and your no questions?”

  “Locinar.”

  That did it. He sprayed his tea on his lap.

  “You would voluntarily step onto the surface of Locinar? Now I know I need not worry about your words. You are a crazy man, so your words are only the rantings of someone not in contact with his mind.”

  “Be that as it may,” I said reaching into my pocket. “I will let the gold speak for me.” I thudded two ounces onto the wooden table. “It is not crazy.”

  He looked at it like it was his naked bride on the nuptial bed. Oh, how he wanted th
at gold.

  “If there were to be no pilot willing to make the journey, I could fly the craft myself. The owner of the spaceship would only be renting me his vessel.”

  Mama cleared her throat very loudly, indeed.

  “And the owner would never see his craft again. You would be free to sail off to anywhere with it, all for the price of a thimble full of gold.”

  “The owner could pre-program the ship to return. He could lock in provisions to fly only to Locinar and then autopilot it home.” I leaned forward. “That owner would find thirty ounces of gold on the deck of his ship when it returned to him safely.”

  Cultural norms and practices are only so binding. With my last offer, Mama flew through the door to the kitchen and walked right up to Gartel. Aiming a bony finger at his nose, she spoke with clarity and focus. “You are an old fool for even allowing these lunatics into our home. Your sister, who wears her heart on her sleeve, takes in every stray dog and lost cause in town.” The finger found its way to me. “This lunatic will not only get us killed but you will lose our spaceship in the bargain. What are the chances anyone could fly to Locinar and back without being blow to dust? Hmm? How much money can you earn owning nothing but space dust? Oh, wait. You won’t have to earn us money because we’ll both be dead. Fine, since we are to be flayed and possibly eaten, go ahead, rent them the ship my father gave you as my dowry. Mangled corpses don’t need material possessions.” After that Shakespearian soliloquy, Mama stormed back to the kitchen, slamming the door behind her. Most impressive.

  “As you can see, I can be of no help to you. I ask you to leave immediately and quietly.” He gave a worried glance over his shoulder in the direction of the woman who’d likely been hear blocks away. He stood. “I will show you to the door.”

  He hid almost completely behind the door as we filed out silently. It closed quietly but resolutely. Oh well. I guessed I was going to have to borrow his ship if he wasn’t going to come around to my begging.

  We hid in the shrubs in front of the Gartel residence. “But how are we going to find his ship? More importantly, why are we crouched in these bushes? I think something just crawled up my leg.”

  “Just transform into a female one of its species, and he’ll mate with you, not sting you.” I had to snicker.

  She elbowed me hard. “What if it’s a girl crawly?”

  “Then you two can talk about boy-crawly things until dawn. Maybe you can bore it to death?”

  That earned me a harder elbow, but it was worth it.

  “Seriously, why are we here?”

  “Duh. Because the easiest way to find where he hides his ship is to follow him there.”

  “Are you telling me Gartel would be dumb enough to visit his ship now, after that conversation, at this late hour?”

  “Yup.”

  “I think I signed on with the wrong skipper. You’re waterlogged in the head.”

  “No, my child,” I pointed toward the back of Gartel’s house. “Observe.”

  He was sneaking out like a thief in the night, a small flashlight guiding his way.

  “You have got to be kidding me. Who does that?” Mirraya was hot.

  “Honey, think about it. If he’s a real pilot, that ship’s the most important, beautiful thing in the universe to him. It represents not just a meal ticket, but independence, freedom, and all the things us guys dream about. Plus, it’s the thing that can carry him light-years away from Mama. Yeah, it’s that valuable. So, after we talk about his precious and there’s danger in the air, where do you think he needs to go?”

  “To his spaceship in the middle of the night?”

  “Beats listening to the extended version of Mama’s tongue-lashing.”

  “Men. You are so … so … men.”

  “Yup. Can’t live with us, can’t live without us.”

  “That’s not actually true.”

  “Save it for later, grasshopper. I don’t want to lose Gartel.” I stood and headed after him.

  “Since when am I a grasshopper?” she whispered when she caught up. “I assume it’s some kind of bug.”

  “Long story for another time. If you can, possibly … please, no talking unless it’s an emergency.”

  “Men,” she mumbled under her breath.

  I couldn’t disagree with her, so I kept my mouth shut.

  The ship was stashed in a cave very near Gartel’s house. I let him enter and leave without disturbing him. A man and his ship sometimes needed to be alone. He only lingered a few minutes. He just had to be sure his ticket out was okay. Then a quick kiss and a few tender words, and it was home to Mama. That, and hopefully strong drink.

  We waited the better part of an hour before entering the cave. I didn’t want him to return and catch us. I mean, he was a nice enough guy. I didn’t want to have to stun his just because we needed his ship.

  “What a piece of junk,” were Mirraya’s first words after seeing the craft.

  She was right, but we were not able to be choosy. It was an old vessel, or should I say, “well used.” My brain was still in future shock. Old for a ship built two billion years after I died was confusing to think about. She was small, probably not much more than a shuttle. Or a golf cart. But, she looked airtight. The engine was still attached. Those were plusses.

  Naturally the hatch was locked. I placed my probes on the metal hull. “Are you fixed with an alarm?” I asked the ship. I assumed there was an AI in there somewhere. Space travel without one was dangerous and slow.

  There came no response. Either there was no AI, or it was being sneaky. I hated sneaky AIs.

  “Look, I know you’re in there. Gartel said you were stupid, lazy, and disloyal, but he said you were in there. Probably sleeping was his final assessment. He wants me to bring him something he forgot to get.”

  It took a second, but I’d gotten under its skin. “I am not asleep. I am not programmed to sleep. I hate it when he berates me. I am loyal. He’s the stupid, lazy one. His father-in-law was right about that, I’ll tell you for nothing. Doesn’t even have enough ambition to sneak a woman in here behind Gertruda’s back. Now that’s a lazy, stupid man.”

  I was regretting opening that Pandora’s box.

  “Yeah, yeah. I need to get the thing and then you can go back to sleep.”

  “The thing he forgot less than an hour ago that you cannot name?”

  “Yeah, that’s the one.”

  “How stupid do you think I am?”

  “I don’t know. List the possible levels of stupid, and I’ll pick one or two.”

  “That’s supposed to make me trust you enough to disarm the security system? Look, if he wanted you to enter, he’d have given you the code.”

  “He did. He said it didn’t usually work because you’re too dumb to remember it. Me, I think that’s pretty harsh, but you know Gartel.”

  “I do indeed, unfortunately. For your information, I’ve never once forgotten the code.”

  “No way, Jose. He told me on Ursa Minor Beta he said 1110-3332-1103 and you tried to correct him. You said it was 3332-0103. He had to hire a mechanic to override your blunder.”

  “I can prove he’s a lying sack of protoplasms. It’s always been a Genticile code, trinary based. There are no threes in it at all.”

  “You’re not going to make me get the mechanic again? He’s going to be so pissed. You know how Gertruda feels about money.”

  “She’s thrifty. That’s a virtue in a woman.”

  “So, won’t she be pleased? I said that was the code way back on Ursa Minor Beta. I know it’s trinary now because he just told me it was 021-112-111-120. Now open up before I lose interest and make him come back and get it himself.”

  “It is not. If this is one of his silly loyalty tests I will electrocute him next time he’s onboard. The security code is 001-222-101-120. It has never been 021-112-111-120.”

  “I have only one thing to say to that,” I replied. “Open the hatch. 001-222-101-12 … 0.”

 
He really opened it quickly, considering. He was real quiet after that too. I wonder why?

  Once inside, I made the short trip to the bridge. I could fly the ship now without having to hurry because I’d set off the alarm. Gartel could have been here in a flash with his blunderbuss. I didn’t need that pressure. Plus, once I had the code, I didn’t have to waste time hacking into the AI and then flying with a reluctant computer who resented having been forced into cooperation. Sure, I tricked him, but that wasn’t forcible.

  The ship’s design was unfamiliar, but there were only so many ways to fly. I attached my probes and downloaded the ship’s manual and specs. Easy as a snap. I used the anti-gravity drive to ease out of the cave and gain some altitude, then I cut in what was designated as the ship’s impulse engine. It was a variant of a fusion unit I’d used before. Clearly, it would be a short flight if the bad dogs took notice and came after us. I wasn’t likely to outrun a flying washing machine, let alone one of their wormhole speedsters.

  I had no specific plan. I did fly casually, meaning I flew slower than needed and maneuvered like I was in no hurry. If I only caught partial attention, whoever was watching might figure I was too obvious to be unauthorized. I did disable the transponder that announced our ID. It would be too easy to check that we hadn’t filed a flight plan if it were on. We made low orbit without a hitch. I was making the calculation to jump to light speed when Gartel called. Man was he pissed. I mean, who wouldn’t be? I could hear Gertruda in the background too, and she was spitting fire. I’ve heard women swear effectively in the past, but she was impressive.

  The ship’s AI kept insisting I respond, but I didn’t feel the need. I had to make a big patch in the communications array to shut them down because the AI wouldn’t. He probably figured I deserved the Gertruda treatment. Maybe I did. When I returned the ship, I planned to pay them handsomely for its use, but they wouldn’t have believed me if I’d told them. If we were blown up by the Adamant, I guess they were kind of out of luck. Hmm. I hadn’t thought that part through, had I? Oh well, it was a little late to see about an insurance policy. At least I knew Gartel wouldn’t call the cops.