Pursuit

by Val St. Crowe

  Because it wasn’t as if she didn’t have a choice. She did. The visions were glimpses of the future, but they were not ironclad. If one wanted, one could make it so the visions did not come true. One could sidestep them, change the future.

  In fact, sometimes, the visions came as warnings. The most often-given example was of Brother Phelan, who had created the Cloister in the first place as a response to the vision he’d had of the alien attacks. It was back before anyone knew about the Xerkabah, many years ago, when the human race was first attempting to set up a colony of Ceymia 4. In those days, the humans who had visions didn’t even understand what they were. They thought they were meaningless dreams.

  But Phelan had known the visions meant something, and he had taken them seriously. He had constructed the Cloister, digging into the earth to make the hidden rooms and tunnels, while others scoffed at him, saying he was insane, saying there was no reason for what he did.

  Phelan knew there was a reason. In his visions, he’d watched his children die.

  When the Xerkabah rose up, Phelan retreated to the Cloister. His children survived. He changed his fate because of the visions. The future was not written.

  So, Eve knew that she could refuse this journey. It wasn’t as if the universe was exacting its inexorable will on her to do as fate demanded. She had choices, at least technically.

  But there was really no way she could choose not to save the human race, was there? She had to have this child, as woefully unprepared for the responsibility as she felt she was.

  She didn’t even know how to be a mother. Her own mother had died when Eve was young. Eve remembered a soft voice and a whisper of lips on her cheek, but not much else. And she was supposed to raise a champion, the man who would save a species?

  It was insane.

  The radio crackled again, interrupting her thoughts. “We are at go time, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s move it.”

  Brother Lorcan put the hexacraft into gear and it lurched forward, heading for the spaceport’s main building at full speed.

  * * *

  The Star Swallow hovered in the outer atmosphere, just outside of the range of any instruments on the planet that could sense their presence. They were waiting for the go ahead to land. There were about five other ships nearby. They all had to move at once, when the Xerkabah weren’t watching.

  Going in for a landing was tough. All the ships headed in at the same time, and they were all working as quickly as they could, hoping to get to the ground and out of sight in the window of time they had before the Xerkabah would be scanning the skies again. As Gunner understood it, there were two times during the day when the guards changed, and during that time, no one was manning the store down there. They were lucky to have those two breaks, or they’d never get in and out of Xerkabah-controlled planets.

  Possibly running into another ship while landing was a real danger, because they were all converging on the same place, and they were all hurtling through the air at top speed. Not only that, there was no one on the ground in a control tower organizing them to land in an orderly fashion.

  No, that was all up to the pilot.

  Which was just another chance for Pippa to prove her brilliance. She wove in and out between other ships, pulling a hard right here or accelerating several feet higher there. They never so much as bumped another ship, and she set them down nice and easy right behind the main building of the spaceport.

  Once on land, all the members of the crew gathered in the main cargo bay before exiting the ship.

  “Saffron, I need you to try to trade for more foodstuff ration bars,” said Gunner. “We’re low on those, and they don’t go bad.”

  “Oh, send the woman for groceries,” said Saffron.

  “You can take Breccan,” said Gunner.

  “Should I be insulted about that?” said Breccan, good-naturedly slinging his arm around his wife.

  “Things are tasteless,” said Pippa.

  “Maybe so,” said Gunner. “But you’ll be glad of them if something goes wrong. I ever tell you about the time that I was on a ship and the rescav thrusters went down?”

  “Yes, actually, you have,” said Calix Winn. Calix had been a field doctor in the war. He was Gunner’s close friend. They’d been traveling together for a very long time. Not back when the rescav thrusters had malfunctioned, though. Gunner hadn’t been with any of them then.

  “Four or five times, captain,” said Saffron.

  “Yeah, and your story’s always changing,” said Pippa. “First time, you told me it was three weeks to the closest planet without faster-than-light speed. Next time, it was three months. Now, I think you’re up to six months.”

  Gunner rolled his eyes. “The point is, we had those foodstuff ration bars—”

  “Or you would have had to land on that black hole planet,” said Calix, grinning.

  “Salz?” said Gunner. “We weren’t even in that system. I’m only saying that the ration bars kept us alive—”

  “And you survived,” said Breccan. “We get it.”

  “Good, so no more lip about trading for them, then,” said Gunner. He turned to Pippa. “You think you can handle asking around to see if there are any paying jobs to be had?”

  “If we have to fly pigs across the galaxy again—”

  “People like bacon,” said Gunner. “If it’s pigs again, and the price is right, we take it.”

  She sighed. “I’ll ask around.”

  “Good, so you see to that,” said Gunner. He pointed at Calix. “You’re with me. We’re looking for passengers.”

  Calix gave him a nod.

  Gunner liked to have Calix around for that. Calix was a smoother talker than he was. Charming and educated. Gunner had a tendency to scare people off without meaning to.

  There was no set currency these days, although some people still had coin and credit chips from the days before the war. People still dealt in that, but it was down in value. Most trades went for tangibles—food, water, weapons, that sort of thing.

  Gunner hit a button on the wall and the exit ramp of the ship lowered. Together, they all trooped out into the afternoon sunlight of Ceymia 4.

  Outside, others from the other ships were hurrying toward the main building of the spaceport. It was unlikely that the Xerkabah would see them out here, because they didn’t come out scanning this place often, assuming it was abandoned. Rushing was habit, though. They all ran like scared rabbits these days, Gunner among them.

  He picked up his heels and sprinted. Calix kept pace with him.

  They entered through one of the old gates where passengers had queued up to get onto flights back before the war. There was a string of abandoned restaurants on either side of the room. The convenience kind, that used to sell sandwiches and fried potatoes.

  Gunner couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a potato, fried or no. They had been to a planet out in the Nor system where the farmers claimed they were trying to grow potatoes, but they said their entire crop had been eaten by some sort of strange native bug.

  The number of planets that were habitable was limited. Before the war, humans had been expanding throughout the galaxy. If they found a planet that was hospitable to human life, they tended to set down a colony there. All of the colonies had been wiped out in the war. Anyone left on those planets was cowering, trying to keep a low profile and hide from the Xerkabah.

  Now inside, Gunner surveyed the spaceport. There were a few people milling about near the gate, but not nearly as many as would have been back in the time when the spaceport was actually open for business. People didn’t come here unless they had important interests here. It was too dangerous otherwise.

  The spaceport had its own internal organization. There were places set up to negotiate for food or trade for clothing or that sort of thing. They all split up to go to complete their various missions.

  He and Calix went to look for passengers.

  The designated spot to try to make deals for pass
engers was one of the old restaurants, but not one of the convenience ones. This one would’ve had waitresses and menus. It was used primarily because there were a lot of tables there. Gunner chose a small table on the right hand side of the room, with the wall to one side. He felt irrationally safer when he only had three directions to worry about trouble coming from. There were only two chairs there, so they pulled a few more over, and then he and Calix sat down.

  They waited. There were a few other ships’ captains set up at tables on other sides of the room, but it didn’t seem as if anyone was coming in to look for passage.

  It was funny, because you would think people would be pouring out of the slums to get into space. The truth was, out on the untamed planets, it was rough as well. You could die out there just as easy as here. Furthermore, if any of the outposts were discovered, they would be destroyed immediately. People were afraid.

  It was Gunner’s experience that most people weren’t extraordinarily brave anyway. People like the tried-and-true. Even if the tried-and-true was awful, it was familiar. Some people would always choose familiar misery over the unknown. It was a special person who struck out and tried new things. And now, with the specter of the war hanging over them and the brutality of the aliens, people were more timid than ever.

  Eventually, though, people began to trickle into the old restaurant. A man came in with a much older woman, who was probably his mother. He had a small child as well. Probably, the man’s child. Gunner did not make eye contact. He didn’t particularly want a small kid underfoot on the ship. He didn’t have anything against children, but they tended to get into things.

  Luckily, that group went to another ship.

  Afterward, another man and a woman came in. Well, it might’ve been more accurate to call them a boy and a girl. They were in their late adolescence and they were holding hands. They look like terrified mice, wide-eyed and looking everywhere as they made their way into the old restaurant. They spotted Gunner.

  Gunner looked them over. If they could pay their way, he was fine with them on the ship. He gave them a little wave.

  They hurried over.

  “Hi there,” said Gunner. “Can I help you?”

  “Were looking for passage to Hoder,” the boy said. He sat down and tugged the girl down into a chair next to him.

  Gunner nodded. “Your parents know you’re leaving town?”

  The boy laughed harshly. “What parents?”

  The girl leaned forward. “I lost my family in the war.”

  “And I lost mine afterward,” said the boy. He turned to look in the girl’s eyes. “We’re all we’ve got in this world. Each other.”

  Gunner shrugged. It was an all too common story these days. “Well, riding on my ship ain’t free.”

  The boy nodded again. “No, of course, I know that. We can pay.”

  Gunner waited. When the boy didn’t say anything, he said, “What’s your offer?”

  The boy pursed his lips. “You think I was born yesterday? I can’t give you everything I have. You tell me your rates.”

  Gunner sat back in his chair. “Well, it’s hard to say these days, isn’t it? It’s not as if I have a rate schedule seeing as currency is in such flux.”

  The boy didn’t appear fazed. “We got credits. You got a rate schedule for that?

  Credits? Well, they could be useful these days. Gunner considered. “Twenty-five.”

  The boy glared at him. “You trying to rob us? I wouldn’t go over fifteen. Besides, I haven’t even seen your ship. Could be a hunk of junk.”

  “Trust me,” said Gunner. “The ship’s got it where it counts.” He paused. “I might be able to go as low as twenty.”

  The boy shook his head, disgusted. “Well I guess we might be able to swing that, but it’s still too rich for my blood.”

  The girl leaned close. “We have to get a ship,” she whispered.

  The boy shot her a glance, shaking his head.

  Gunner smiled a little. Credits weren’t worth that much these days, anyway. “Seventeen.”

  The boy and girl both looked at him gratefulness all over the faces.

  Thanks,” said the boy, “we appreciate it.”

  They did the business of doling out payment and then Gunner told them where the ship was docked. They’d all be stuck inside the spaceport until later that evening, when the changing of the guards would happen again. Then they’d be able to take off. It was important they be there at that time. No matter what, the ship couldn’t wait if they were late.

  The boy and girl promised to be on time and then they left together.

  Gunner watched them go.

  Next to him, Calix chuckled softly. “Well, I don’t know why you brought me here. You handled that on your own just fine. You were even a little easy on them.”

  Gunner shrugged. “They were kids. The slums here are miserable. We’re not going to make any money if the passenger rooms are empty.”

  “True,” said Calix. “And we have to stick together as species.”

  Gunner snorted.

  “Seriously,” said Calix. “We can’t be squabbling amongst ourselves.”

  Gunner looked up to see that a man and woman were in the room. They were both dressed all in black. The woman had on a shapeless sort of dress with a black bonnet on her head.

  Great. The Cloister. The last thing Gunner needed was those nut jobs. He nudged Calix and nodded at them.

  Calix leaned close. “They’ve been here for ten minutes. Wouldn’t talk to the other captains.”

  “What?” said Gunner.

  But the Cloister people were sitting down now at Gunner’s table.

  “We’ve been waiting to talk to you,” the man said.

  Gunner narrowed his eyes. That was peculiar. He couldn’t figure why anyone would be waiting to talk to him. “Well, what can I help you with?”

  “I need to secure passage on your ship for this woman, Eve Harlowe.”

  He said the name as if it was supposed to mean something. Gunner had never see the woman before in his life. He couldn’t even really get a good look at her, considering she was hiding under that bonnet and the black dress was so shapeless.

  He cocked his head to one side, looking at her, contemplating what she might look like under that dress.

  The woman raised her gaze to meet his.

  He looked away, embarrassed. What was wrong with him, anyway? He never had those sorts of thoughts.

  Celibate too long, Gunner, he thought to himself.

  But now he’d completely lost the thread of the conversation. The man from the Cloister was speaking, but he hadn’t heard a word of it.

  Now the man stopped, looking at him expectantly.

  Gunner didn’t have the first idea what to say.

  Luckily, Calix jumped in. “Unfortunately, all we can offer is a passenger service, not any kind of protection. We aren’t bodyguards.”

  “Of course,” said the man. “I realize that. It’s only that this woman is very important to the future of the human race.”

  Gunner couldn’t help but let out a guffaw.

  The man turned to him sharply.

  Calix glared at Gunner. “Don’t mind our captain. I think he’s suffering from some indigestion.”

  That was obviously a message for Gunner to keep quiet. He shut his mouth and folded his arms over his chest. Fine. Calix could handle this.

  Gunner didn’t have a lot of patience for the silly things that the Cloister believed. There were a bunch of people down there doing hallucinogenic substances or something, having “visions” of the future. He didn’t buy it.

  Sure, he’d heard the stories. That the first colonists on Ceymia 4 had been exposed to some kind of electrical storm that had altered them on a fundamental level, even altering their DNA, so they passed down this ability to see the future to their children. They even went so far as to say that the Xerkabah, coming from Ceymia 4 as they did, could all see the future as well, and that was supposedly
why they’d been victorious in the war. According to the rumors, the storms happened pretty regularly near the planet’s equator, but not near the human slums, so that was why the humans all sequestered on the planet didn’t have the ability. Only the original colonists, their offspring (who were all pretty much part of the Cloister and had started these rumors), and the Xerkabah.

  Gunner could see why people wanted to believe it, even though it was ludicrous. It was easier to think they’d lost the war because the Xerkabah had some kind of unfair advantage. And believing that some humans had it too gave them hope.

  He couldn’t fault them wanting hope, but sometimes having it just made a person stupid.

  “All right,” said Calix, “we’ll do our best to make sure she’s safe, then.” He turned to the woman. “Eve, is it? What’s your destination?”

  The man spoke for her. “The destination isn’t important. What’s important is that she take this ship. It has been foreseen that she leaves with you.”

  “Well, she can’t stay on the ship forever,” said Calix. “Besides, the destination will affect the rate we charge.”

  The man waved this away. “I have seen a vision of this meeting. We agree on a rate of four pounds of potatoes. We grow them in the Cloister, and your captain is fond of them.” The man looked at Gunner pointedly.

  Gunner’s jaw twitched. He didn’t like this man’s attitude, and he would have turned down the fare if he hadn’t just been thinking of potatoes. Four pounds? That would be enough to have them fried, baked, and mashed. And potatoes kept well without much fuss. “Fine,” Gunner grunted. “We’ll take her on.”

  “I still think she needs a destination,” said Calix.

  “I hardly see why that matters,” said the man.

  Gunner gave him a nasty smile. “Didn’t foresee this part of the conversation, then?”

  “As a matter of fact, no,” said the man.

  “Because everything you’re doing is just educated guesses. You know that potatoes are rare and near everyone likes them. I bet you can trade potatoes for most anything, am I right?”

  “We do little trade,” said the man.