Children of Junk (Rogue Star Book 3)

by Wisher, James

  Behind him something clunked. Marcus scrambled to find a better hiding spot. He nestled into a narrow gab between two slabs of broken concrete. A moment later three Scrappers carrying rocket launchers ran past his old hiding place. Marcus grinned as they ran past. Those would get the assassins’ attention.

  When the Scrappers had moved out of sight Marcus worked his way free of his hiding spot and retraced the Scrappers’ path. If they had a way out of the tower he could use it to get inside. Beyond the rubble was an alley between two partially collapsed buildings. He searched around checking the ground and peering into the rundown buildings. There had to be something. There! A flat stone halfway up a pile of rubble with a wet boot print on it. Marcus clambered up the pile and looked over the back.

  A clean spot in the floor marked the location of a hatch, the Scrappers had knocked all the dirt off of it when they came out. An explosion sounded behind him, rattling the walls and sending dust raining down on him. They put the rocket launchers into play. He jumped down beside the hatch. How the hell did you open it? Marcus groped around the edges, ignoring the crud on the floor oozing between his fingers. His hand sunk into a depression and a few feet further on his other hand found one. He pulled, groaned, swore, and after a moment pried the hatch up and swung it open.

  Bent over and gasping for breath, Marcus looked down the dark opening. A crude iron ladder, its rungs hammered into the stone of the tunnel, provided a sketchy way down. Marcus wiped his filthy hands on his pants and climbed. It was a nerve-wracking thing, reaching one foot down into the darkness, hoping to find another rung. Slow and methodical he made his way down, always keeping three points of contact and easing his weight onto each rung. At last his foot hit ground instead of a rung. He let go of the ladder and shook his aching hands, he’d gripped the rungs tighter than necessary.

  When the feeling returned to his fingers Marcus switched on the light in his gauntlet and got his first look around. The walls, floor and ceiling were rough stone. He couldn’t decide if it was a tunnel the Scrappers built especially as a secret exit or whether they tapped into an old sewer line. It made little difference. He swept the light across the floor and soon found their tracks in the dust. Whatever its purpose they didn’t use it much.

  Marcus followed the Scrappers’ back trail through the dark; his little light inadequate for the amount of darkness around him. The tracks ended at a blank stone wall. Great, another secret door. He felt around, pressing any protrusions or dents, hoping one of them would release the door. He groped around a couple minutes before something gave under his hand and the wall slid back and to the side.

  Beyond the wall a dim, bluish light filtered down from the ceiling high above him. Marcus shined his light around. The old, almost primitive stone of the tunnel gave way to shining metal floors and walls. Above him the ceiling was so high he couldn’t make out any details. The room was round and empty, the floors so spotless it looked like someone had polished them.

  Marcus stepped away from the tunnel door and it slid shut behind him. Marcus frowned. He didn’t want to go back that way, but it would have been nice to have the option. The blue light seemed sufficient, so he turned off the flashlight in his gauntlet. A quick circuit of the room turned up nothing but smooth, metal walls. The sounds of the battle outside didn’t penetrate the room. It must be sealed tight to keep out the blasts of the rocket launchers. The silence unnerved him more than the dark tunnel. Marcus couldn’t remember a time when no sound reached him, it was unnatural.

  He moved to the center of the room and a tremor ran through the floor. A circle appeared around him and the floor sank, carrying him deeper under the tower. He looked up in time to see the circle of blue light seal behinds him, sinking him once more into total darkness. He scrambled to get the flashlight switched on.

  It proved unnecessary. After a couple seconds of darkness more of the blue lights sprang to life. All around him fifteen strange aliens, with tiny, withered bodies and giant heads sat floating in individual cells surrounded by what looked like an electrical storm. The aliens had large eyes, but no other sensory organs and no mouths. How did someone survive without a mouth?

  The lift continued its leisurely descent, giving him plenty of time to study the odd beings. They didn’t look like Scrappers, none of them had any mechanical parts, and they certainly didn’t resemble any sort of Void creation he’d seen judging by the lack of killing implements.

  “Solomon, can you hear me?” His voice sounded so loud in the silence. A few seconds with no reply confirmed his fear; he was too far underground to maintain contact. Shit.

  At least the big-headed aliens didn’t seem interested in him. Once in a while a bolt of electricity struck one of them in its huge skull and it would arch its back and shudder, whether in pleasure or pain Marcus didn’t want to know. Time passed, he didn’t bother checking his watch to see how long, and at last the lift passed through another opening and into a cavern filled with electronic components and lit by bright white lights hanging from chains attached to the ceiling. Good thing Solomon didn’t come with him. He’d never have gotten him away from all the gizmos.

  The lift settled into a raised platform with a short flight of stairs down to the stone floor. Looked like his ride was over. He climbed down the three steps and wondered through the heaps of stuff. He recognized some of the items, hard drives, cables, data chips and other components. There were bins full of nuts, bolts, and other fasteners. As he walked through the piles Marcus understood what this place was, a repair shop. This must be where damaged Scrappers came to get fixed after a battle. If any of them survived the Void he suspected they’d need a great deal of repair work done.

  That begged another question. If this was their repair shop, where was the mechanic?

  Marcus continued to move through the piles, there seemed to be no end to them. Everything looked precariously balanced and he dared touch nothing for fear of getting buried. As he approached what he thought was the middle of the cavern flashing lights from an active computer terminal caught his eye. He headed towards it hoping to find something besides piles of junk.

  The computer terminal attached to a massive processor, perhaps fifteen feet high and ten wide with dozens of old fashioned whirling hard drives. There was a monitor with an old office chair in front of it, but no sign of a person to sit in it. The only bit of technology he didn’t recognize was an odd metal orb that looked tacked on to the top of a server rack they’d converted to hold a bunch of daisy chained CPUs. The screen flashed and a face constructed of geometric shapes appeared. “Sit down, Captain Drake, we have much to discuss.”

  Marcus stumbled back a step and stared at the screen. “How do you know my name?”

  “I know more than your name, but more important you are an enemy of the Void and that makes you a potential ally.”

  “This would work better if we spoke face to face. Where are you.”

  “This is the only face I have and I’m right here beside you.” The orb vibrated and the metal sheath slid back revealing a brain floating in a clear dome. “This is all the Void left me after they finished their experiments.”

  Marcus shook his head and sat down. A brain hooked to a computer, wonderful. “What are those big headed guys up above, are they another of the Void’s experiments?”

  “No, those are the Ka’Rea. You may think of them as our landlords. They let us live in their city in exchange for bringing them fresh sources of sustenance.”

  “Sustenance?” Marcus didn’t like the sound of that.

  “Yes. They’re a fascinating species. The Ka’Rea derive nourishment from the psychic emanations of other species. Good emotions or bad makes no difference. They came to this planet during the rush to feed on the highs and lows of the miners. Later they provided this city to those too poor to leave the planet. When we arrived the population was in decline and we agreed to provide prisoners from the ships we take in exchange they let us stay here.”

  “How co
uld they stop you from staying? They don’t look especially formidable.”

  “Not physically,” the brain said. “But they can affect your emotions, turn simple anger into overwhelming rage, sadness into suicidal depression. Despite our mechanical portions, we still, for the most part, retain our minds. That made us vulnerable to their powers. In the end I think the bargain worked out well for everyone.”

  Marcus’s stomach churned at the matter-of-fact way the Scrapper spoke. “I doubt the people I saw strapped to those chairs would agree.”

  “It no longer matters. The Void have come and our time on this world is over.”

  “Why don’t your friends upstairs use their powers to turn the assassins away?”

  “The Void assassins are little more than meat machines. Their masters have altered them to the point they feel no emotions of any sort. The Ka’Rea are powerless against them. We will fight them, but we can’t win. I wish to strike a bargain with you captain.”

  Given the bargain the Scrappers struck with the creatures above Marcus didn’t know if he was interested in making a deal. Of course, he had no way out and no idea where the generator was so a deal might be a good idea. “I’m listening.”

  “I will give you the Hyperwave Generator and safe passage out of here in exchange for you warning the rest of our colonies that the Void have moved against us. A simple enough bargain wouldn’t you agree?”

  It was simple, too simple. “Why don’t you warn them yourself? You must have a transmitter here.”

  “Indeed I do, Captain. However the Void cruiser in orbit is jamming all transmissions and we have no ships capable of eluding it. I and all my brothers and sisters on this planet will die today, but if you agree to help me many others may be spared.”

  Marcus got up, paced in a little circle, and then nodded. “Deal. What do you need me to do?”

  A data chip popped out of a slot in the terminal in front of him. “This contains a list of all the channels we use and their encryption keys. Broadcast a warning on all the frequencies using the correct keys and my people will get the warning.”

  Marcus took the chip and put it in his pocket. “The generator?”

  The brain sphere rose up on six mechanical legs giving it an insect like appearance. It clattered down from its pedestal, the tips of its legs clicking against the metal frame. “Follow me.” The voice came from speakers below the sphere.

  The sphere clicked along through the piles of junk moving deeper into the cavern. It moved along at a good clip for having such short legs. They reached the rear of the cavern and stopped. A box with a small dish sat on a steel pillar. The thing couldn’t have been more than a foot square. All this trouble for something so small.

  Marcus picked it up and grunted; it was heavier than it looked. “You mentioned a safe way out.”

  “Yes, this…” The brain trailed off. What was the holdup? “The Void cruiser has deactivated its cloak and powered up its weapons. I believe they have decided retrieving the prototype is no longer worth the effort.”

  The cavern shook and gravel rained down on them. “Planetary bombardment?”

  “Correct, Captain. You should hurry. This cavern is deep in the earth, but their weapons will reach us in short order.”

  “What about you?” Marcus’s question surprised him.

  “We have nowhere to go and no way to escape the Void.” A tentacle snaked out of the base of the sphere and pressed a section of wall. Another secret door slid open. “Hurry, Captain. Save my people.”

  Marcus nodded, tucked the generator under his arm, and ran down the tunnel.

  16

  Marcus switched on his light a moment before the tunnel sealed behind him. In the barely adequate light he found himself in a tunnel much like the one he took to reach the tower. They probably ran all over the place under the city. Another blast shook the tunnel and Marcus picked up the pace. The last thing he needed was to get buried under a city.

  The tunnel ran mostly straight, sometimes curving a little to his left, but no branches presented themselves. Five minutes later he reached another set of rungs hammered to a stone wall. He flashed his light up at the ceiling, another hatched waited twenty feet up. Getting it open might be a trick if it weighed as much as the last one he had to open. Marcus clambered up the rungs, they felt sturdier than the first set he climbed down. At the top he put his shoulder into the hatch and straightened his legs. It rose easily and the rung he stood on held rock steady.

  The moment he cracked the seal on the hatch the rumble of explosions reached him. He climbed clear of the tunnel and found himself in an alley between a pair of undamaged buildings. He ran to the end of the alley and turned back to face the tower, crimson streaks rained down like lightning, blasting the tower and the surrounding area. The cruiser had blown the dishes off the tower. The top half of the tower itself lay in a pile beside the base. Flames shot out openings lower in the structure. As he watched, another blast streaked down from the sky and blew a chunk out of the side of the tower. He shook his head. In a couple minutes there’d be nothing left but rubble.

  “Marcus, can you hear me?” Solomon sounded frantic in his ear.

  “Yeah, relax, I’m fine, and I’ve got the generator.”

  “That’s great, but the three Void assassins prowling around a couple hundred yards from the ship won’t let me relax. Where have you been? There’s a cruiser pounding the city from orbit.”

  “Underground, and I noticed the bombardment. It was kind of hard to miss.”

  “What should I do about the assassins? I can take them easy enough with the ship’s cannons.”

  “No!” Marcus had a moment of near panic. “Whatever you do don’t lower the cloak. The second you do the cruiser will spot you and then we’re screwed. Hanging tight, I’ll deal with the assassins. I’m about twenty minutes away if I hurry.”

  “You’d best hurry then, because if they get much closer they’ll see the shimmer of the cloak and call it in.”

  Marcus flipped off his flashlight and jogged towards the ship through silent streets. All the Scrappers must have fallen back to defend the tower and the only other people in the city were sitting catatonic in overstuffed chairs so their brainwaves could feed a bunch now most likely dead aliens. Marcus hesitated, should he try to collect the prisoners? The ones he saw didn’t look in very good shape and who knew what mental damage they’d suffered. No, he had to get back to Solomon and get the generator to Dra’kor.

  A blast of green disruptor energy shot out of an alley to his left and missed him by a foot. He dove toward the alley, hoping to cut off the assassin’s angle of attack. He rolled, popped back to his feet, drew his blaster and ran on. Marcus skidded to a halt beside the left hand building and leveled his blaster. A second later a black mask appeared in his sights and he fired. As advertised the blaster penetrated the assassin’s shield and blew its head to bits. Marcus grinned. He’d have to thank the boss for such a useful toy.

  “Solomon, are the three assassins still there?”

  “Yes, but they’re all looking away from the ship.”

  “That’s probably because I just killed one of their buddies. Are they moving my way or just looking?”

  “Just looking for now.”

  “Good. Tell me if they move.”

  Marcus ran away from the alley and started on a long loop that would bring him to the ship from the opposite side from the assassins. The rough streets made it tricky to run without losing his footing, but he didn’t dare slow down. If he could get to them before they lost interest in their dead friend he’d have a huge advantage.

  Dirt and razor ferns indicated the edge of the city. In the dim starlight the field where he landed the Star was just visible. If he didn’t know he’d landed there he’d have no idea his ship sat just a few hundred away. Marcus slowed, both to catch his breath and so the assassins wouldn’t hear him coming. He set the generator down and pulled an adhesive grenade out of his satchel. He didn’t want to
risk damaging the stupid thing now that he’d almost gotten away with it. Marcus pulled the pin, but held the lever down.

  He eased closer, one of the razor ferns sliced his pant leg and the skin beneath. He stifled a curse and kept moving. Crouching to shrink his silhouette, Marcus peaked across the clearing. Three Void assassins milled around as though uncertain what to do next. He’d never seen the black masked killers acting uncertain. Well, he didn’t plan to complain about his good fortune. He threw the grenade which landed right in the center of the group. They looked down at it an instant before it blew, sending streams of industrial adhesive spraying over the unfortunate assassins. Stuck in place, their weapon arms immobilized, the assassins squirmed, trying to wriggle free. Marcus finished them with three well placed shots.

  Before he could board his ship and run for his life he jogged back to where he left the generator and collected it. He used his gauntlet to lower the ramp, it looked like it appeared from nowhere. Marcus raced up the ramp, and closed it behind him. The generator fit snugly in one of his storage bins. He snapped the lid shut and ran up to the cockpit.

  “You got it?” Solomon turned toward him when the door slid open.

  Marcus nodded. “Locked down and ready to go.”

  “Great. How are we going to get out of here?”

  Marcus activated the antigravity generator and retracted the landing gear. “Very carefully.”

  He turned the ship away from the burning city and flew toward the opposite side of the planet. With minimal thrust and staying as close to the ground as he dared, Marcus did everything he could to avoid attracting the attention of the huge back Void ship raining death down on the planet. When the curve of the planet blocked them from the enemy ship’s scanners Marcus shoved the throttle forward and shot into orbit.

  “Course laid in,” Solomon said.