Journey to Marrachi

by Dan Oakley

  I placed my palm flat against the wall and focused my energy, accessing the votoom zone almost immediately. I was getting better at that.

  Magical energy flowed through me, leaving my core, tingling through my arm to my fingers.

  I experienced the odd sensation of the magic being sucked away from my hand. It wasn’t painful, but the diffusers were extracting my magic and then converting it into a harmless form. There was a small puff of smoke, and the wall grew warm, but apart from that, it was undamaged.

  I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned at the wall. An idea struck me as I remembered the rune book I’d been studying. The text had said something about amplifying energy by using more than one of the same rune. Maybe I could use that to my advantage. If I created enough runes, the amplified energy could be strong enough to overwhelm the diffusers.

  But I was getting carried away. I had no equipment. To draw the runes, I would need paint or a pencil or an engraving tool.

  What a shame. I’d seen the destructive power of the fish rune on a sheet of paper. I would have liked to see what a collection of them could have done together.

  The guards had taken everything from me. I had no tools, no coins…

  Stretching my hand, I smiled at the rust-coloured blood dried over my knuckles. That could work.

  I’d grazed my knuckles as they pushed and shoved me on the way to the brig. I used my nail to scratch off the dried blood and immediately fresh, red blood welled from the small wound.

  I dipped a finger in the blood and began to draw the outline of the fish just below the rectangular hole in the door. I worked quickly. Every time the wound began to scab over I scratched again to produce more blood.

  I drew the fishes in a circle, head to tail, and wondered again why fishes were a symbol of destruction. An odd choice. But better minds than mine had come up with the ancient runes.

  When I was finished, I took a step back and looked at my handiwork. I was no artist, but it would do. Not knowing how much power this would unleash, I moved to the back of the room. If this worked, I didn’t want to be injured by flying debris.

  I figured I would try it from a distance first. If that attempt was unsuccessful, I would try again with my fingers actually touching the blood drawn runes.

  I took a deep breath and focused my energy. I felt a jolt as I accessed the votoom zone. Then the magic flew through my outstretched arm, shooting towards the runes. It worked fast and better than I’d expected.

  A flash of light was followed by a tremendous bang. A plate-sized piece of wall hit me square in the gut, causing me to double over in pain. Temporarily dazzled by the light, I blinked at the huge hole in the wall.

  I grinned. Now I just had to find a way off the ship without being caught.

  Tentatively, I climbed through the smoking hole in the wall. Grimacing, I saw the bodies of the two men who had been guarding me. One was bleeding from a head wound and the other was slumped against the wall. I hoped they were unconscious rather than dead, but I didn’t stop to check.

  Because at the very moment I stepped out into the corridor, a high-pitched alarm sounded and I began to run.

  Skidding to a halt at the end of the corridor, I blinked and scanned for an exit. The bright white corridors all looked the same.

  It didn’t help that my eyes were still impaired from the flash of the explosion.

  The peal of the alarm rang in my ears. Behind me, I was sure I could hear the marching boots of the Kingdoms guards hot on my trail.

  My heart thudded, and my mouth was dry. I had no idea where I was. Looking desperately for the colour-coded stripes I remembered from my previous experience on the KSS Morellic, I pushed on. I saw a red line leading to engineering, but that wasn’t the way I wanted to go.

  I turned and then stopped. I couldn’t go back that way. I’d run straight into the Kingdoms guards.

  I had to push on. It was my only option.

  I slowed as I approached a large grey door. At one time, I’d been able to use the scanner beside it, but I was pretty sure my biometric data wouldn’t be in the system now.

  Before I had a chance to test my theory, I heard a sharp sound to my left.

  “Psst.”

  I spun around just as a door on the left side of the corridor slid open. It was labelled as a meeting room, so I’d run past it.

  I raised my hand, ready to defend myself with an energy bolt if needed.

  “I guess you couldn’t wait for my plan, huh?” Draylan stepped into the corridor. He looked around, and seeing we were alone, grabbed my arm. “I suppose I can’t blame you.”

  “You didn’t even tell me what that plan was.”

  “Fair point.” He pulled my arm. “This way, mage.”

  I hesitated for just a split second. Who knew if I could trust Draylan? But one thing was certain. If I stayed where I was, I would be captured by the Kingdoms guards.

  The room was filled with tables and chairs and we ran between them to another door at the far side of the room.

  Draylan used his fingerprint to open the door and then held up a hand while he checked the corridor.

  When he was sure it was clear, he set off again. I followed closely, not taking my eyes off the laser weapon on his hip. If we were cornered by the guards, would he turn on me and pretend he’d been trying to catch rather than help me?

  The next door he opened led into the laundry. It was a large room, mainly operated by bots. The air was warm and steamy and smelled of soap.

  “Are you sure this is the way out?”

  “I have been aboard the KSS Morellic for years. I know the ship like the back of my hand.”

  I took that as a yes.

  We were almost through the laundry, when a bot rolled in front of us. It’s clear, almost featureless face tilted towards us.

  “Prisoner alert. Do not approach. Shall I sound the alarm?” the bot asked in a mechanical voice.

  “No,” Draylan said. “It’s fine. I’m escorting the prisoner off the ship.”

  The bot reversed a little. “You are taking an unusual route.”

  “Yes,” Draylan said, and we both tried to move forward, past the bot.

  But the bot hadn’t finished with us yet. “May I recommend escorting the prisoner to the exit via the main deck? That is the most efficient way to proceed.”

  “No, we’re taking the scenic route,” Draylan replied.

  My whole body was tense as I waited to find out what the bot would do next. But it wheeled itself over to the workbench, to resume folding towels.

  Shaking with relief, we made it out of the laundry and into the loading bay. I made for the main doors, but Draylan stopped me, pointing to a smaller door behind a bunch of crates. “That exit isn’t guarded.”

  I muttered thanks as I clambered over the crates. The door was open, and a set of steps led down to the dock.

  I wanted to get away from there as quickly as I could, but I couldn’t run. That would only draw attention.

  I’d taken a few quick strides when Draylan called to me, “Don’t you want this?”

  He threw my wrist device at me, and I caught it one-handed.

  “Thanks. Why don’t you come with me? They’ll know you helped me.”

  “More than likely,” Draylan said grimly. “But I’ve put my plan into action, and soon they’ll have more important things to worry about.”

  “What exactly is your plan?”

  Draylan looked over his shoulder and then waved me on. “You’ll find out soon enough. Now, get out of here.”

  Chapter 27

  I walked swiftly back to the boardinghouse, only pausing to look over my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t being followed.

  I felt cold fingers of dread creep up my spine when I saw the swish of a cloak behind me.

  I darted into a crowd, hoping to be swallowed up and hidden from whoever was pursuing me.

  It wasn’t a red cloak, though, so it wasn’t an inquisitor. That should have been a
relief, but it didn’t calm my speeding pulse.

  After a minute of walking amongst the jostling shoppers, I paused in a shop doorway to see if anyone was following me. Panic tempted me to run all the way to the boardinghouse, but I didn’t want to lead them back to Kira.

  My paranoia was so great, I strode straight past the boardinghouse and walked around the block. Only on my second circle past, when I was sure there was no one watching me, did I duck inside.

  Rather than head straight to my room, I went to the communal bathroom and splashed cold water on my face. My usually tanned skin, looked pale in the mirror, and my green eyes stared glassily back at me.

  Damp strands of black hair fell over my eyes. I gripped the edge of the basin as I realised how close I’d come to becoming another victim of Commander Taggert.

  I stayed there until I’d caught my breath. The last thing I wanted to do was worry Kira any more than necessary. She was tough enough to handle it, and now I had to admit she’d been right about my foolhardy mission, but it was my fault she was here on Marrachi.

  I sighed, left the bathroom and headed to my room. I knocked on the adjoining door between my room and Kira’s. She opened it almost immediately, as though she’d been waiting on the other side.

  “Flaming fires,” she said, her brow knitting in frustration. “You took forever! I’d started to think something terrible had happened.”

  “Well, it didn’t exactly go according to plan,” I admitted.

  “What happened?”

  “I got onto the ship with Draylan’s help, but the commander discovered me in his quarters.”

  Kira’s eyes widened, and she clapped a hand over her mouth.

  “It went downhill from there really.”

  “How did you get away?”

  “I blasted a hole in the wall and then Draylan found me and showed me how to get off the ship without getting caught.”

  Kira walked over to the window beside the wash basin. She looked out into the street below. “What if somebody followed you back here?”

  I stood beside her, looking down at the quiet street. There were only three people in the street. A woman with a child, and a man carrying a bag of shopping. Neither of them looked like a threat.

  “I was careful.”

  “So you didn’t find any information that could prove he left his sister to die?”

  I tapped my wrist device and scrolled through the files that had been downloaded. Alerts flashed up to tell me the data wasn’t complete.

  Somehow, in transferring the files, I must have jumbled up the information. “I’ve got some data, but I think it’s incomplete or corrupt.”

  “Transfer it to me. I can take a look.”

  I did as she asked, but within a couple of minutes, she was frowning. “It’s going to take us years to try and make sense of this.” She sighed. “And he’s probably deleted everything incriminating already. He’s an evil man, but I don’t think he’s a fool.”

  It pained me to admit everything we’d done hadn’t been enough to bring down Commander Taggert. The focus tea had helped to a point. I’d hacked the data. It was just a shame I’d transmitted it in an unusable form.

  “You’re right. Draylan said he had a plan. Let’s just hope he has more luck than me.”

  Kira narrowed her eyes and looked at me with suspicion. “What’s his plan?”

  “He didn’t actually tell me.”

  Kira sighed and turned away from the window, leaning on the wall. “Maybe it’s safer if we leave it for now anyway.”

  “But the KSS Morellic is only docked here for a few more days.”

  “That doesn’t mean we should rush things. Rushing causes mistakes.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. “Maybe.”

  It stung to imagine Commander Taggert sailing away on the Morellic without having to face punishment for his misdeeds. It hurt even more to realise that I’d probably made matters worse. The space station would be crawling with Kingdoms officers for the next few days. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put up wanted posters, displaying my face for all to see.

  Kira watched me carefully. “I don’t mean we let him get away with it forever, but we should just wait until we’re in a stronger position.”

  I nodded, unable to argue against cold hard logic. I perched on the edge of my bed, tapping my wrist device. I left the jumbled data and accessed my messages. Nothing.

  “No messages,” I said dully.

  “When you took so long, I considered sending a message, but I didn’t want to get in contact while you were on the ship,” Kira said. “I figured if something happened they would take your comms device.”

  I’d actually been wondering why I hadn’t heard from Trella yet.

  “I don’t suppose you’ve heard from Trella, have you?”

  Kira shook her head. “No, but I didn’t have a wrist device or my own comms link when Trella was around, so she wouldn’t have my number. She’d contact you.”

  “Well, she hasn’t.”

  “That doesn’t necessarily mean anything bad has happened. Maybe she’s just busy.”

  “Maybe.”

  I started scrolling through the data again. It might be a waste of time, but I couldn’t just give up.

  “How was Finn?” I asked as I studied the numbers.

  Kira smiled. “He’s good. His family are very nice.”

  Even though I was concentrating on the data, I couldn’t miss the wistful note in Kira’s voice and wondered if she was considering looking for her own family.

  I was about to reply when my wrist device beeped with an incoming message.

  Trella?

  But it wasn’t from Trella. It was a message from Draylan.

  We need to meet. Explorer’s Inn in one hour. Bring the girl.

  I sat up straight. Was this a genuine message from Draylan or had the Kingdoms officers realised he’d helped me? They could be using him to draw me into a trap.

  I looked up, my gaze locking with Kira’s.

  “It’s a message from Draylan. At least it’s come from his comms link… He wants us to meet.”

  The Explorer’s Inn was packed when we arrived. It took me a few moments before I spotted Draylan and Bayliss sitting at a table close to the bar.

  Bayliss waved us over, but Draylan barely glanced at us. His gaze was fixed on the large screen behind the bar where a female news reader was delivering the evening events. The volume was low, but subtitles ran along the bottom of the screen. There had been a skirmish among colonists still living on the planet Marrachi, who were refusing to leave.

  I wasn’t sure why Draylan was so fascinated by the news story.

  Kira slipped into the seat opposite him and I sat down beside her.

  The bar was heaving with customers so I was glad to see Bayliss and Draylan had purchased a large jug of beer and fresh glasses were waiting for Kira and me.

  Bayliss poured our beer while Draylan collared a young man carrying a tray of drinks to the table next to ours.

  “Do you work here?” he asked.

  The young man nodded and attempted to steady the tray as he was jostled by a group heading for the door.

  “Turn the news report up, please.”

  “We don’t like to have it too loud. Most of our patrons…”

  He trailed off when he saw the look on Draylan’s face.

  “I don’t care about most of your patrons. Just turn it up. There’s only five minutes left anyway.”

  After the young man left to deliver his tray of drinks, Draylan glanced at his wrist device. He looked nervous… Or impatient… He was hard to read.

  “Draylan has been telling me about your eventful day,” Bayliss said, smirking, and then took a large gulp of beer before smacking his lips together in satisfaction.

  “Eventful is one word for it,” I muttered, taking a sip of my own beer.

  “How have you been finding life on Marrachi?” Bayliss asked, turning his attention to Kira.
/>   “It’s… busier than I’m used to,” she said, lifting her glass. “But I’m getting used to it. I think I could like it here.”

  “Why haven’t they turned it up yet?” Draylan grumbled.

  “Is our company and conversation not good enough for you?” I asked. When he ignored me, I continued, “Anyway, you told us you wanted to meet. Why?”

  “You’ll see soon enough.” Bayliss beamed.

  I didn’t like being kept in the dark like this. It made me nervous. But Bayliss’s presence was reassuring. I might suspect Draylan of luring me into a trap, but Bayliss would never do such a thing.

  “I did my best,” I said, looking earnestly at Bayliss. “I tried, I really did. I managed to get some data from the commander’s personal files, but it was scrambled.”

  “Luckily, we don’t need that data,” Draylan said, pointing at the large screen.

  Kira and I both turned in our seats.

  My throat tightened when I saw an image of Commander Taggert on the screen.

  The volume had been turned up, but it was still hard to hear over the noise in the bar, so I read the subtitles.

  Commander Taggert, a member of the influential Taggert family, has been taken into custody this evening for the attempted murder of his sister and gross misconduct unbefitting to an officer of the Kingdoms. A spokesman for Commander Taggert said his client is innocent and is the victim of a smear campaign. As more allegations are coming to light, this is looking like a case even the powerful Taggert family can’t ignore. We will be updating this story throughout the evening as we learn more. Now, back to the colonists on the planet Marrachi.

  A hush had fallen over the bar as more and more people noticed the story. Most of the men and women in here served the Kingdoms and I imagined a lot of them served aboard the KSS Morellic.

  As the image of Commander Taggert disappeared from the screen, I turned back to Draylan. “How?”

  He grinned at me. “Teamwork.”

  Kira frowned. “What does that mean?”

  “Although Tomas’s plan was brave, I knew the chances of one of us getting caught were very high. I figured if we did get caught, Commander Taggert wouldn’t be able to resist gloating about his crimes. So I put a listening device on Tomas’s shirt and had one on my own collar.”