by G J Ogden
Tory engaged the engines, and then got up to recalibrate a number of secondary systems, in order to compensate for their earlier power drain. However, before she sat down again, she stood in front of Griff, then leaned in close enough that her hair swung down and almost touched Griff’s face. Despite everything that had happened and gone on between them, Griff couldn’t help but feel slightly aroused. Then Tory spoke, and Griff’s excitement was rapidly snuffed out.
“Oh, and by the way, Inspector Griff, you’re not untouchable,” said Tory. Her words were like poison being poured into his ear. “Not by me…”
CHAPTER 31
The waiter delicately placed a crystal tumbler onto the fine linen tablecloth. The deftness had been required because the tumbler was filled with what Tobin had described as, ‘an obscene quantity of whiskey’. The waiter then picked up a champagne bottle from the ice cooler beside the table and topped up Tobin’s crystal flute, before gracefully stepping away.
“Are you sure you don’t want some of this?” asked Tobin, tapping his ornate glass, which chimed musically as he did so. “It’s a pretty good vintage.”
“I’m sure it is,” replied Liberty, before taking a healthy gulp of the whiskey. She set the glass back down and tapped it, mimicking Tobin’s earlier gesture. “But it won’t kill as many brain cells as this stuff.”
Tobin laughed, “And that’s a good thing?”
“Probably not,” admitted Liberty, smiling. “But it certainly takes the edge off, that’s for sure.” Then she looked out at the Martian landscape through the grand panoramic window of the restaurant, and sighed. “And this helps too,” she said, gesturing to the rolling red hills and valleys. “I don’t think I’ve eaten as well as this, and in such amazing surroundings, since… well, ever!”
“It’s my pleasure,” said Tobin, beaming back at her.
He was wearing an expensive-looking light-blue suit, which he had assured a disinterested Liberty was the latest fashion on Mars. Liberty was still wearing her relic hunter gear, though it had been patched up and cleaned, courtesy of the hotel’s laundry service.
“We have cause to celebrate,” Tobin continued. “We all escaped, and Pearl is going to make a full recovery.”
“Thanks for footing the cost of her surgery,” said Liberty. “You might be a spoilt little rich kid, but you’re a half-decent kinda guy too.”
“Gee, thanks,” said Tobin, sarcastically. Then he raised his glass. “How about a toast?”
Liberty smiled and lifted her tumbler. “What shall we drink to?”
“How about, new friends?” said Tobin.
Liberty nodded, but then thoughts of Hudson flashed into her mind. She still didn’t know whether he was alive or dead. Even with Tobin’s influence and connections on Mars, he hadn’t been able to locate VCX-110 M7070-Orion anywhere. She hadn’t given up hope, though. Hudson was a survivor. She brought the tumbler closer to her lips, and said, “How about to new friends and friends lost, but not forgotten?”
Tobin acknowledged her with a short nod, and emptied the champagne flute in one, before letting out an exaggerated gasp of satisfaction.
Liberty laughed, “I should introduce you to Ma. If that’s how you normally drink champagne, you’d make her a rich woman.”
Tobin frowned, “Your mother owns a bar?”
“No, she’s not my mom. Ma is short for Martina.”
“So, what about your folks?” asked Tobin, a little tentatively. But when Liberty’s face fell, he quickly added, “Hey, sorry, that was way too personal.” Then he smirked and added, “Especially for a first date.”
Liberty smiled again. “Don’t push your luck,” she said. “Besides, I’m half surprised you didn’t invite your own mother to our little celebratory dinner.”
“Ah, she’s on business on Medusa Four,” said Tobin, with a dismissive waft of his hand. “Or was it Zeus Two? Anyway, she’s opening some new facility or whatever. Besides, I’m more interested to hear about this Martina character. Is she another relic hunter?”
“She was, but now she runs a place on Brahms Three. A safe place, and a good place if you like to drink hard.”
The waiter returned and topped up Tobin’s glass again. He thanked him, and took another healthy gulp. “I think I’ve had my fill of dangerous backwater planets. For the time being, at least.”
Liberty was only vaguely paying attention to Tobin’s answer. A small crowd of people had gathered around an infopanel behind the bar area.
“What’s going on over there?” asked Liberty, nodding over to the bar.
Tobin looked over at the crowd and shrugged. “I have no idea. Why don’t we go and find out?”
Liberty picked up her tumbler and wandered over with Tobin to get a closer look. It took a few moments to jostle into a position where she could see the screen, but then she realized what the excitement was about.
“Another new portal has been discovered,” said Liberty. “Near a planet called Sapphire Alpha.” Then she frowned, and looked at Tobin. “Where’s that?”
Tobin thought for a moment, before answering, “It’s a fringe world, I think. Technically, it’s a member of the OPW, but it’s an out-of-the-way, nothing place, really.”
“Another backwater planet, huh?” said Liberty, referring to Tobin’s jibe about Brahms Three. It didn’t seem to register with him that Liberty had been affronted by his unkind description of the world. Since becoming a safe haven for the Orion, and for herself and Hudson, she’d developed more of an affection for the sweaty little planet.
“It’s probably the most backwater of backwater planets,” said Tobin, taking another slurp of vintage champagne.
Liberty turned her back on the crowd, and locked eyes with Tobin. This appeared to make him very nervous.
“What? What have I done?” he asked.
“Nothing, yet…” replied Liberty, cryptically. “But there is something I want you to do.”
“Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like it?” said Tobin, partially hiding behind his champagne flute.
“I want you to get me to Sapphire Alpha.”
“Why the hell do you want to go there?” asked Tobin, almost spilling his champagne.
Liberty pulled him away from the crowd, and they sat back down at their table. “Look, the only way to find and open a new portal is with my scendar device.”
“The thing those assholes who sold you to the Council stole?” asked Tobin. During their flight back to Mars, they’d had plenty of time to talk. Though Liberty had left out the part about the alien artificial intelligence, Morphus. She figured that little nugget of information might have been a bit too much to swallow, especially after their recent excitement.
“Yes, and that means that Cutler and Griff have opened that new portal,” replied Liberty. “I have to get that device back. And, if Hudson is still alive, it’s my best chance of finding him.”
“You think he’d go after them too?” said Tobin.
Liberty nodded, “I know it.”
Tobin blew out a heavy sigh, and rested back in his chair. “It’s sounds pretty dangerous, Liberty. If you’re caught…”
“I can take care of myself, Tobin,” interrupted Liberty.
“Hey, I know that,” said Tobin, sounding a little annoyed at being cut off. “But there are three of them, and only one of you.”
“Look, can you get me to Sapphire Alpha or not?” Liberty wasn’t interested in entertaining a conversation about how dangerous it was to go after Griff and the crystal. She was going, with or without his help. “With your fancy name, you can help charter a transport, or redirect a freighter or something, right?”
Tobin shook his head, “Even I don’t have enough sway to redirect a ship way out there. Not any time soon, anyway.”
Liberty sighed and downed what was left of the whisky in her tumbler. She placed the glass down and stared aimlessly out of the panoramic window. “There has to be a way,” she said out loud, but she was talki
ng to herself, rather than to Tobin.
Tobin picked up Liberty’s glass and waved it at the waiter, before placing it back on the table again. “There is one way,” he said, making it sound like he was about to reveal a dirty little secret.
Liberty cocked her head, and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. A streak of blue hair fell across her face. “That sounds ominous…”
“I may not be able to redirect a ship to Sapphire Alpha,” Tobin went on, his expression adopting an air of mischief, “but I can take you there myself.”
Liberty turned to face him. “You have a ship?”
Tobin smiled, “Benefits of being a rich kid, I suppose. It’s a two-man personal shuttle. Luxury, of course.”
“Of course,” parroted Liberty.
“But it’s comfortable, and it will get us to Sapphire Alpha, if you still want to go.”
Liberty felt a rush of excitement; it seemed like the ideal solution. However, she then realized that she’d be putting Tobin in the line of fire, and her enthusiasm waned.
“It’s a kind offer, but I’d be putting you in a lot of danger. You’ve already done enough.”
It was now Tobin’s turn to stare wistfully out at the Martian landscape. “I’ve not done a damn thing of value in my entire life,” said Tobin. He sounded angry, but it was directed inward. “Helping to get you and the others off that station is the only worthwhile thing I’ve achieved.” Then he met Liberty’s eyes, and the playfulness that usually shone in them was replaced with a fresh resolve. “I want to help.” Then he rested back in his chair again, and the roguish smirk returned. “Besides, if I don’t get off Tharsis City before my mom gets back, she’ll probably lock me in the condo, under armed guard.”
Liberty laughed, “Penthouse suite, right?”
“Of course,” replied Tobin.
The waiter brought over a fresh glass of whiskey, and placed it in front of Liberty. Before he left again, Liberty called out, “Wait, can you bring another, please?” The waiter nodded, and moved away.
“I’ve got my champagne, thanks very much,” said Tobin, lifting his flute.
“If we’re going to do this, then we need a proper drink to seal the deal,” said Liberty, thinking back to her first moments with Hudson. “Captain’s orders.”
Tobin frowned, “How come you get to be captain when it’s my ship?”
The waiter returned and placed the second glass of whiskey in front of Tobin, before again moving away.
“Because I call the shots,” said Liberty, raising her tumbler. “I know these assholes better than you do. If you’re coming along, you need to do as I say.”
Tobin swapped his champagne flute for the tumbler of whiskey. He sniffed it and turned up his nose. “I hope that your choices as captain are more informed than your choice of drinks.”
“So, do we have an agreement?” asked Liberty.
“You’re the boss, Boss,” said Tobin, raising his glass.
Liberty smiled, then downed the contents of her tumbler in one. She placed the empty glass down on the table and then looked at Tobin, expectantly. The young man blew out another sigh, then threw back the contents into his mouth. He swallowed hard, looking like he’d just eaten a thistle, then coughed and thumped his chest like a gorilla.
Liberty laughed, before reaching over and slapping his back. “I think you and I are going to make a great team.”
CHAPTER 32
Hudson pressed his thumb to the credit scanner to pay the docking and repair fee at Deimos Station, and then strolled onto the corridor outside the hangar. He stopped, taking a look back at the Orion; the ship that had saved his ass more than once already. She was a fine companion, but she wasn’t whole yet. She was still missing one of her crew.
He had managed to dock at Deimos without a swarm of MP military ships descending on him, thanks to his modified registry ID. The docking manifest had listed the ship under the ID, VCX-110 K2000-Shadow. However, it was still the Orion to Hudson.
Turning away from the docking hangar, he walked down the corridor and made a bee-line for The Winchester. It was early evening, Martian time, but Hudson wasn’t tired. He’d been unable to stop his mind from fizzing with thoughts and ideas. He wondered how Morphus was, and where in the galaxy it was headed. He’d never thought to ask where the Corporeals' homeworld actually was. And he wondered about where Griff and Cutler had gone, and what they had planned for the scendar. Perhaps they had sold it off already, he mused.
Most of all he wondered where Liberty was, and if she was alright. It was this latter thought that had compelled him to head for The Winchester. He needed something to help him forget, if only for a moment.
He pushed in through the fake oak-paneled doors, and noted that the place had been given a minor face lift. There were a few new tables, and a fresh lick of paint, that still somehow seemed to look old. It had no doubt been funded by the hardbucks Liberty had unwillingly handed over, after their bar brawl.
The old-fashioned weapons hanging on the wall behind the bar remained, and they again made him think of Tory Bellona. However, he didn’t want her in his head at that moment; not after she had been complicit in what happened to Liberty. That she’d seemingly again saved his own life on the alien world was secondary.
“I was wondering when you’d show your face again,” said Roy the barman, as Hudson pulled up a stool at the bar. Roy then peered behind Hudson, with a concerned scowl on his face. “Where’s your companion? She’s not going to tear up my bar again, I hope? I just got it all fixed up.”
“She’s not with me at the moment,” said Hudson, resting his elbows on the bar.
Roy’s eyes widened slightly. He then reached below the counter and brought up a bottle of Bourbon and a single tumbler. “Want to talk about it?”
Hudson sighed and helped himself to a generous measure. Roy made no attempt to take the bottle away. “Not right now, thanks,” he said, shooting a weak smile at the barman.
“Well, let me know when you do,” said Roy, cheerfully. “I’ll be here.” Then he slid away to the other side of the bar to serve another customer, leaving Hudson alone. It had been some time, he realized, since he had drunk at a bar by himself. He hadn’t minded being alone back then, but now he couldn’t bear the feeling of emptiness.
He drank the first glass of Bourbon and then poured another. Then he pulled the datapad he’d taken from the dock master on New Providence out of his pocket, and slid it onto the bar. He’d already had time to check through its contents during the flight back to Deimos. Though if it contained evidence of ships’ captains smuggling people off the station, he couldn’t find it. And, if he was honest, that hadn’t surprised him. It wouldn’t have been much of a covert operation if it was all neatly recorded in the shipping logs.
However, Hudson had found something else on the datapad that he hadn’t expected. When Morphus had interacted with the device, it had done more than merely counteract the station’s security lock-down. It had also inadvertently unlocked access to New Providence’s entire database. Including, crucially, the dealings of the Council.
There was nothing especially incriminating. The information had been logged in such a way that it sounded perfectly innocuous. However, nestled in amongst the mass of data, had been a clue to Liberty’s fate. Her name was set against an entry that merely said, ‘In Processing. Transfer approved.’ Hudson could only guess at what this actually meant, but the chances were that Liberty was already no longer on New Providence. And he had no idea where to look next.
There was a commotion across the other side of the bar, and Hudson wondered if another card shark was causing trouble. He glanced over to see a group of patrons huddled around an epaper, chatting excitedly.
Hudson frowned, and caught Roy’s attention. “What’s going on over there?”
Roy sidled back over in front of Hudson, smiling. “Big news; someone has found another new portal, way out by Sapphire Alpha.”
Hudson jumped off h
is stool, as if a thousand volts had just flowed through the seat. “Sapphire Alpha, are you sure?”
Roy nodded. “It’s all over the news. Same big-ass surge of Shaak radiation, just like when they found the one near Phobos.”
Hudson’s hand clenched the glass of Bourbon more tightly, then he slammed it down on the table, spilling some of the liquor onto the bar. I’ve got you now, you bastard! I’ve got you now… he told himself, feeling the vitality return to his bones. Logan Griff had just shot up a flare, and now he knew exactly where to find him.
“You okay, Mr. Powell?” said Roy, seeming to be genuinely concerned.
Hudson drank down the rest of the Bourbon, and patted Roy on the shoulder. “Not by a parsec, but I think I’m going to be.” Then he turned away and headed for the door.
“Hey, where are you going?” Roy called after him. “You haven’t paid for your drink yet.”
“Put it on my tab,” Hudson called out. “I’ll be back.”
“You don’t have a tab!” Roy called after him, but Hudson had already pushed through the doors. It was true that he had no idea where Liberty had been taken, but he’d bet money that Griff did. And he was going to make Cutler Wendell and Logan Griff tell him where she was, one way or another. He’d take back what they’d stolen, and leave them with nothing.
Hudson continued to march along the corridor, back to the Orion. If there was one thing he’d learned since becoming a relic hunter, it was that he didn’t want to do it alone. He was fired up, determined, and scared as hell, but he was going to find Liberty Devan, if it was the last thing he did.
The end.
EPILOGUE
