by K A Bledsoe
“Old? He’s a month older than we are. I am sure that your parents have picked a wonderful boy.”
Maya looked away in disgust. “Yeah, whatever. He’s still a stranger.” She turned back to Lara, a smile twitching her mouth. “Hm. You play my double often enough, maybe you could with that too.”
Lara took a swing at her best friend. “Stop it!” They both burst into laughter but Dhan hushed them.
“We’re here,” he said quietly.
They went through a wooden gate and the spaceport loomed in front of them. Well, the back of it anyway. Pictures they had seen showed the regular entrance with beautiful glass windows that stretched from floor to roof and flags of sister planets flying. Here instead were solid concrete walls with a few doors, one or two small windows up on the second and third levels, and even a couple of colossal garbage bins.
Dhan led them to a door slightly behind a wall. It was locked but he punched numbers into the code pad and it opened noiselessly.
“My dad gave me his code in case of emergency.” He shot a grin back at the girls. “Fifteen credits seem like an emergency to me,”
Maya grinned back as Lara rolled her eyes, but all went through the door eagerly.
Twisting and turning again down corridors that seemed unused made Lara uncomfortable again. They passed nobody and her instincts started screaming a warning. Dhan glanced back and appeared to sense her discomfort.
“These halls are for the workers to come and go without being seen by the customers.” His lips twisted and Lara felt the sting of the underprivileged. “There won’t be a shift change for another couple of hours.”
Well, that did explain the emptiness of the halls, but she only relaxed slightly. Maya ignored the entire conversation, eyes sparkling in anticipation of seeing the huge starships.
Dhan brought them to another coded door and then they were through. A pile of crates surrounded them, but they could see the sky above easily.
“Ok,” whispered Dhan. “Be very quiet as there are cameras and sound pickups stationed throughout the platform but if you edge around this way…” The girls followed until they came to the end of the boxes. They couldn’t hold back a gasp. There was the landing and take-off platform just like he promised. It was large enough to house several shuttles, four medium ships and one starliner.
“Beautiful,” breathed Maya.
“That one looks like a cargo ship,” said Lara. “Two small shuttles and what is that middle ship?”
“Private yacht,” said Dhan.
Lara looked at him, eyebrows raised.
He shrugged. “Being around them all my life, I kinda got to know all the types.”
“Look! The cargo ship is lifting slightly on its antigravs. Must be getting ready to launch,” said Maya.
“Yep, it’s moving toward the center of the platform.” All Lara’s tension was forgotten as she focused on the fascinating scene. All their eyes were riveted on the ship as the antigrav lifted straight up until clear enough to engage the drive.
“This is entirely worth it,” said Maya.
“It’s so majestic,” replied Lara and Maya nodded in agreement. The flare of the drive caused the girls to squint and sigh in satisfaction.
“Ok, let’s go,” said Lara.
“No, let’s watch another,” answered Maya.
“We need to leave.” Lara’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Something is not right. Dhan has led us down a path I can’t retrace, and he hasn’t even asked you for the money.”
“Oh, come on. He’s just a kid.”
“Call your parents. I’m telling you, this feels wrong somehow.”
“What a smart little girl.”
The two girls spun around at the male voice behind them. Lara reached for her knife but a blue beam enveloped them both and they dropped to the ground helpless. A man’s face came into view to look down at them.
“I did good, didn’t I, Borat?” said Dhan.
“You fool. Do you know who this is?” The man sounded angry and spoke into his wristcomp something about “immediate removal.” Lara’s fear rose several notches. She struggled uselessly against the paralyzing effect of the stun bolt.
“Two girls. It’s what they want, isn’t it?”
“These aren’t just two girls. It’s the Princess and her Companion.”
***
