“Are we safe if we keep our suits on, Kim?” Qin asked as she helped Bonita return the case to its hiding spot. “You can go out in space in them. They’re airtight.” Qin looked at Bonita, the grim young woman willing to torture men gone and a scared teenager peering out through those cat’s eyes. “Right?”
“They could protect us from a bacterial infection,” Kim said, “but I’d hazard a guess that any protection would only be temporary. A couple of those labels mentioned acids, and I’ve heard of plenty of bioweapons with the ability to eat through hazmat suits as well as flesh and muscle. The vile people who make these things don’t want them to be easily defeated.”
Casmir held up a gloved finger. “Easy, Kim. You’ve seen me hyperventilate before. You don’t want to deal with the consequences.”
Kim shook her head at the joke—or maybe it wasn’t a joke—and watched Bonita secure the panel, the case now tucked back into the hidden compartment.
“What are you going to do?” Kim asked.
“I don’t know yet.” Bonita rubbed her face. “I don’t know.”
12
Casmir willed his stomach to stay calm and enjoy the motion-sickness pill he’d taken as he gripped a handhold built into the wall near the porthole and looked at what he could see of Forseti Station—so far, only the asteroid exterior that protected it from radiation and space trash.
He’d had to remove his helmet for long enough to refill his suit’s water reservoir and pop the pill into his mouth, and his rush to affix it again had made Kim smile. He’d been careful to stay fully ensconced as much as possible since their little discovery. It had been days, but he hadn’t slept much since then. He’d been too busy imagining some horrible manmade disease eating him from the inside out before it ate everyone else on Odin from the inside out. He couldn’t keep from glancing uneasily in the direction of the lavatory ten times an hour.
“As far as we know, it’s still contained,” Kim said after one of his glances.
“Which should make me feel much better, I know, but I keep worrying about it. I can’t even go in to use the facilities on this level, because I’m afraid if I flush too hard and rattle the bulkhead, one of those vials will break, and we’ll all die horrifically.”
His boots lifted slightly from the deck, and his stomach lurched with queasiness at the strange sensation of almost floating. Two days earlier, the ship had flipped over, and they had been decelerating toward their destination since then. Now that they were almost there and barely moving, there wasn’t a force in play to keep their feet, or anything else, on the deck.
His toolkit was on the verge of floating off the table. He scrambled over to get it, half walking, half pushing off the wall and furniture bolted to the deck.
“Exactly what are you doing when you flush those toilets?” Kim asked. “It sounds like you have an oddly vigorous technique.”
“How can you be so calm? If anything happens to that stuff, we’ll die. If Lopez sells it to pirates who decide to unleash it on the station, we’ll die. If the people who originally ordered it show up and take it back to its original destination of Odin, where it was presumably to be used, everybody we know and love could die.”
Casmir thought of all his friends at work and of his parents. And of the mother he’d never met but who had cared enough to leave money sufficient to fund his education—and who’d sent a knight to warn him to get off-world. She probably hadn’t meant for him to get off-world in a ship carrying a genocidal bioweapon.
“I’m not pleased about the situation, I assure you,” Kim said. “Especially since I don’t trust the captain.”
“I think she’s decent—she hasn’t threatened to kidnap us and ransom us back to our families, so I can overlook that she’s a smuggler. She helped me out of an uncomfortable situation, whether she intended to or not. But she hasn’t said what she’s going to do now that she knows what she’s got.” Casmir, toolkit in hand, made his way back to the porthole where Kim also hung on to a handhold. “With that kind of threat, she could inadvertently cause something awful to happen. An accident could cause something awful to happen. And that’s making me nervous. I packed my meager belongings, under the assumption that she’ll ask us to get off here—and I think I should figure things out from somewhere with more resources before fleeing farther out of the system—but can we just walk off the ship knowing what we know? That a horrific weapon is stashed in here, possibly available to the highest bidder?”
“I was thinking of…” Kim glanced toward the speakers on the walls. She activated her chip and sent him a text message that scrolled through his vision. I considered sneaking in there and taking the vials to dispose of myself, but with the ship’s computer aware of everything that goes on, I assumed it—he—would alert her. And then she would shoot me. She has a twitchy gun hand.
I noticed, Casmir messaged back.
My current plan is to walk straight off the ship and find the Kingdom Guard station, or whoever handles law enforcement here. I have enough experience to advise, if necessary, but dealing with containment isn’t my area of expertise. With luck, they’ll have an expert trained to handle infectious diseases and threats like this since a fully enclosed station is a place where something could run rampant and kill the entire population.
I’m sure a space station has an amazing filtration and air-scrubbing system in place.
That might or might not be enough. Something designed to thrive in human hosts could hunker down and pass from person to person through contact. Kim shrugged. With luck, it’ll be a non-issue, because they’ll find the shipment and dispose of it properly.
I could use some luck.
The Stellar Dragon sailed closer to one of the asteroid’s poles, over banks and banks of solar panels attached to the rocky surface, and into a massive tunnel. Bright lights illuminated the manmade passage, and they flew past a couple of passenger transports on their way out. Their freighter navigated around a few turns, and one of the circular ends of the station came into view, reminding Casmir of the top of a fizzop can. A miles-wide, spinning fizzop can.
All along the rim of the can, numerous sets of hangar doors were set into the surface, as well as banks of airlocks and the massive open bays of repair facilities. Flashing signs promised the availability of various types of fuels, cheap hotel rooms, reasonably priced repair facilities, and all-you-can-eat buffets. Dozens of ships were docked at the airlocks, which were tiny compared to the mass of the station. They reminded Casmir of little barnacles attached to the side of a sea-going ship. He hoped the size and population of the station meant it would be easy to disappear inside and that few people would notice the arrival of the Stellar Dragon.
“Let’s hope we don’t run into any of your friends here,” Kim said, switching back to voice.
“I wonder if it’s better for us to leave right away or wait a few hours and depart in the middle of the night.” Casmir wondered how days worked on the station, if there was perpetual artificial light, or if there were day and night cycles.
A knock sounded before the hatch to the lounge opened. Qin stuck her helmeted head inside.
“Captain says it’s been nice knowing you and to grab your stuff and be ready to depart as soon as we lock up.”
“Thank you, Qin,” Casmir said.
Kim snorted. “Apparently, we’re leaving right away.”
Qin shut the hatch again without mentioning the case or what Lopez intended to do with it.
“So it seems,” Casmir said.
He hoped Kim’s plan to visit the Kingdom Guard office would be easy to implement. Maybe he could make inquiries about his own problem there. Would the local authorities have access to the Odin systems? Maybe by now, someone had figured out who sent the crushers.
A clang reverberated through the freighter as they docked. Casmir’s feet clunked down to the deck, and a wave of nausea came over him. They were piggybacking off the station’s spin gravity now that they were attached. He did his b
est not to think of them twirling around in space like kids on the playground pushing a merry-go-round to spin faster and faster. Horrific devices. Of course, he’d had a seizure and fallen off one once, so that hadn’t helped him fall in love with them. That had been the year before his doctor had found a more effective medication for him.
Now, if he could just find a more effective medication for motion sickness.
“Easy, stomach,” Casmir murmured, patting it. “Enjoy your drugs and ignore the craziness of our new reality.”
“Does talking to it make it less queasy?” Kim headed for the corridor.
“It hasn’t yet, but I’m an optimist.”
“I’ve noticed.”
After Casmir collected his gear, he headed up the ladder well instead of down.
“Where are you going?” Kim had already started down to the cargo hold, but she paused.
“To say goodbye and thank the captain for her hospitality.”
She squinted at him. “You’re trying to figure out what she’s going to do with the case, aren’t you?”
“Certainly.” He hadn’t considered it—the idea of letting the authorities handle it sounded stellar to him—but it sounded silly to admit that his parents had always insisted on good manners from him.
He gave Kim a knightly bow from the ladder, then climbed out and wobbled to navigation. The gravity was steady, but it was still different from what he’d grown accustomed to the last couple of days.
The hatch stood open, Lopez in her pod, the sides peeled back so he could see her profile.
“Captain?”
She looked warily over her shoulder.
Casmir repeated the bow, this time offering a more genuine version. “Thank you for bringing Kim and me along to the station. I know you hadn’t planned on us being here and sucking down your food, and I regret that I can’t offer you more money, but even when I dare access my banking chip, it’s not connected to a great deal of wealth.”
“Tell me about it.”
For a confused moment, he misinterpreted her sarcasm and thought she referred to his situation. But that wasn’t it.
“Funds are short for you as well?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t have gotten myself into this mess if they weren’t.” Lopez flung a hand in the direction of the lavatory. “Don’t get married, kid. Especially not to a conniving ass of a man who’s oh-so-good at making you believe his dreams are your dreams, and then disappears with everything in your savings account and all of your clients.”
The openness of the rant surprised Casmir, and he wondered if she had been drinking. Having an awful bioweapon on one’s ship probably warranted alcohol, but she had also been piloting her freighter into dock, so he hoped for soberness.
“I’ll keep that advice in mind, Captain. Though I don’t have plans to marry a man, so perhaps I’m saved on that front. That’s not allowed on Odin, you know.”
“It’s a backward little planet.”
“I’ve heard that often, but it works for the backward individuals on it. At least these days, there are other options for those who don’t fit in.” He spread a hand, thinking of how often he, as a kid, had dreamed of escaping to another system, one where hulking masculinity was considered a suggestion of simian ancestors rather than a desirable trait, and where beautiful women fantasized about smart scientists and engineers rather than knights and sports stars. But he’d never been positive such a place truly existed or that modifications and augmentations did anything to change human nature. “Regardless, I do hope that you find a solution for your financial woes. I’m sure it’s very difficult to start over. I fear I may be about to find that out personally, if I can’t get to the bottom of my own problems so I can go home again.”
All he received was an indifferent grunt.
Casmir thought about doing as Kim had suggested and asking what Lopez intended to do with the bioweapon, but he doubted Lopez would answer, and he might rouse her suspicions if he pried.
“Goodbye, Captain.”
She flicked her fingers in what was either a vague farewell wave or an attempt to remove a booger.
Kim was waiting for Casmir in the cargo hold, her bags over her shoulder, the wooden swords once again affixed to one. They found Qin waiting at the airlock hatch, her hands clasped behind her back.
Lopez’s voice floated down the ladder well from above. “Don’t let them forget to leave my suits.”
Casmir touched his helmet, reluctant to take it off, much less leave it behind. He could think of all manner of situations where a self-contained suit might be useful on a space station, and he wagered most of the residents had their own tucked away in emergency lockers.
He almost asked if they could borrow them and send them back, but Kim was already removing her suit and helmet.
“Right,” Casmir muttered and shed his own.
Even though they were older models, they were probably worth more than he’d paid for passage.
“It was interesting to meet you.” Qin stuck her hand out to exchange grips with them. “It was great how you disabled the merc ship, Casmir. You’re smart, and I wish you were staying on.”
“Thank you,” Casmir said, surprised but pleased by her words.
Now, he wished he’d gotten a chance to know the young woman better. Despite her fearsome looks, she was a far more amenable soul than the captain.
“Be very careful with that case,” Kim told Qin for her parting. “Very careful.”
“I understand. I’m sure we can get rid of it in a way that it won’t be put to horrible use on anyone.”
“Good.” Kim nodded.
Qin tapped a control panel, and the hatch swung open, revealing a short walk to the station’s also-open hatch.
Casmir crossed first, vowing to keep his eyes open for threats. He accessed the network and called up a map of the station as well as the location of the nearest Kingdom Guard office. The idea of sending uniformed men to the captain’s door as a thank-you for her help made him squirm with guilt, but they couldn’t ignore the threat on her ship.
All of the airlocks funneled their crews out into a tiered concourse bustling with people, exotic food smells, and thousands of noises from conversations to robot vendors hawking their wares to the rings and clangs of gambling machines. Booths and shops ranged from the practical—food and fuel stores—to the whimsical—robotic squirrels that rode on a person’s shoulder—to the salacious—hotel rooms with men, women, and androids for rent by the hour. Casmir had heard that such offerings were tame in System Lion and that one could find far more exotic sexual entertainment in the other systems.
He started into the concourse but noticed Kim hesitating in the airlock chamber. Hesitating and grimacing as if she were in pain.
“Are you all right?” Casmir asked.
“Yes.” Kim took a breath and visibly collected herself. “It’s just noisy.” She waved at the concourse. “Let’s hurry through, please, and find someplace less… less.”
“Right.” He remembered her once admitting that she got headaches and had a hard time focusing on conversations if there was a lot of other stimulation around. As someone whose seizures were sometimes triggered by flashing lights, he could empathize completely.
They strode into the concourse, and Casmir headed toward a Kingdom Guard office identified on his map, though his eye was drawn to the robot squirrels. He wondered how realistic their ambulatory range was in comparison to the flesh-and-fur creatures that had inspired them. As he drifted toward that shop, simply to ask the merchant for confirmation on how to get to the Guard station, of course, he was so busy looking at the robots and the tools along the back wall that he almost missed the tall figure striding purposefully toward them.
“Casmir.” Kim elbowed him.
A large blond man in dark silver liquid armor and a purple cloak veered out of the traffic to walk beside Casmir. His stomach knotted for reasons that had nothing to do with gravity. A knight.
Wou
ld he deliver another warning? Had the crushers beat Casmir to the station?
The knight kept facing ahead, not speaking at first. He showed them his pertundo, the telescoping halberd currently in a compact form that hung from his belt, as if to prove his identity. Or maybe he was simply showing he was ready in case he needed to put it to use.
Casmir thought of the knight who’d died for him, and the urge to apologize profusely to this man swarmed over him. He opened his mouth to ask if he had known Sir Friedrich, but the knight spoke first.
“The ship you stepped off is carrying something dangerous.” The knight looked at Casmir and Kim out of the corner of his eye.
“Yes!” Casmir blurted, relieved the authorities already knew. “Someone needs to—”
“Not here. Come with me.” The knight unclipped his pertundo, twitched it for emphasis, and pointed the sharp tip toward doors at the end of the open mall area.
Casmir realized the man wasn’t using the weapon to identify himself. It was a veiled threat. Comply or else.
Casmir was so startled he almost tripped. Why would a knight feel he had to even subtly threaten him? He looked at Kim. Her grave expression said she’d already figured out the threat.
We may be considered guilty by association, her text message floated through his vision.
Casmir held back a groan as the knight ushered them into a room.
Two uniformed Kingdom Guard officers stood behind a table inside, wearing the same blue-and-gray uniforms that the Guard wore on Odin. Their hands rested on stunners in holsters, and their faces were icy.
A sign on the back wall of the room read Customs Interrogation. Casmir doubted they were about to be searched for smuggled fruit.
“Hello, officers.” Casmir waved and did his best to sound cheery, not like a man with something to hide. “And Sir Knight, I didn’t get your name. I’m Casmir Dabrowski.”
He looked to Kim to see if she wanted to do her own introduction. Her mouth was sealed shut.
“This is my friend,” he offered, smiling. “Can we help you?”
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