Deep Hydra

by Michael Formichelli

  “Fuck,” Nero whispered. “Do what you must to protect him.”

  “What?” Kae shouted. “Is Rune okay? Dammit Nero!”

  “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way,” the spacer said as Nero watched through Athame’s eyes.

  “The easy way,” she replied and grabbed Rune’s hand. She took a step forward and their guns came up to their shoulders.

  Nero’s breath caught in his throat.

  She stopped moving.

  “Where are you going?” the spacer asked.

  “I think she thinks she’s leaving,” one of his men said. He had a long scar down one cheek.

  “That would be the easy way,” Athame stated. A blur of numbers appeared in the corner of her vision. Nero had no idea what they meant, but they were cycling fast.

  That’s machine code. She’s hacking something, Prospero explained.

  Transmit your coordinates, we’re coming, he sent to her.

  A set of numbers appeared in his vision below the window.

  “I know where that is. All world-ships have an observation pod in each major section,” Sorina said.

  “Nero, what the fuck is happening?” Kae shook his head. “Screw it! I’m coming to you. Stay put!”

  No, meet us at these coordinates, he sent.

  Kae’s digital incarnation nodded and vanished.

  “Easy way?” The spacer laughed and a sneer appeared on his face. “Easy for you, maybe, but you have to understand, there’s no way you’re getting out of this pod without giving us the boy.”

  “That will not happen,” Athame stated.

  “Yeah! Fuck you, space trash!” Rune shouted.

  The mouth on that kid, Prospero said.

  Nero smiled. The kid had spirit.

  “You don’t understand, lady. You don’t know what you have, do you? That kid’s worth a lot of money, more if his guardian’s with him. You must know where papa is, right? Tell us and we’ll let you go.”

  The numbers in the corner of her vision stopped changing and flashed. One of Laska’s people twitched and blinked, looking confused.

  No, it can’t be, Prospero said.

  What? Nero thought, but received no answer.

  “Stay behind me.” Athame pulled Rune towards her back by his hand.

  “I can fight,” he said.

  “Not now.”

  The men laughed again. Nero wasn’t sure, but it seemed the right side of her vision was taking on a reddish tinge. Somewhere in the background he heard a faint shout.

  The spacer sighed. “It’s always the hard way. Last chance. We’re about to have company, and the Relaen don’t take kindly to—”

  The confused man turned his weapon to the one standing beside him and pulled the trigger. The laser burned a hole clean through his head and the head of the man beside him with a loud hiss and pop. Athame fired her eye-lasers at the spacer, but his reflexes were superhuman as he ducked out of the way. The eye of the man standing behind him glowed and exploded as the beam vaporized the fluid within. He screamed and fell back, clutching his head.

  “Shit! Open fire!” someone screamed.

  Athame leaped forward and kicked the spacer. He flew up and back, slamming into the wall before starting a slow, limp-bodied descent towards the ground. She turned to the next man and a flash from his rifle filled her vision—

  The feed cut.

  “Shit!” He took a deep breath. “Rune’s in danger. We have to go now.”

  Sorina nodded. “I am contacting station security. I am going to reveal myself. I will have to pull rank and hope my credentials have not been revoked by headquarters.”

  He sighed. “We have no choice, do we?”

  She shook her head. “It will alert Daedalus.”

  “We’ve got a known slaver coming in, and I’m betting that goddessdamned spacer is a bounty hunter—shit, there must be a bounty on us. Let’s go.” He felt terrible about letting Athame take the boy off the ‘Slynn. If anything happened, it would be his fault—just like Ameluan’s death.

  “If they put a bounty on Kaeden and Rune, we probably have one, too,” Sorina said as they hurried.

  “Okay, but the station authorities didn’t stop us the first time.”

  “And they will not. It is a foreign matter.”

  He gritted his teeth.

  “Come on, hurry up.” Nero frowned at his hands as the can-shaped car pulled into the station. Called the “Kor’alan,” the system was a maglev tube that ran throughout the world-ship connecting all of its individual pods into a massive public transit system. He was surprised at how far Athame and Rune got while he and Sorina were occupied. The maglev was now the only way, outside of a spacewalk, to reach the area where Athame and Rune were with speed. Kaeden joined them at the platform as they waited in line for a seat.

  Kae gave him a look that was part glare and part worry. Sorina’s ears were vibrating so fast he was surprised they weren’t buzzing. It was making the other Relaens sharing the car with them vibrate their ears too as they stared muttering amongst themselves.

  Nero looked around, the urge to do something hammering the inside of his ribcage, but saw only the blur of the maglev tunnel racing by beyond the car’s oval windows. Knowing they might be too late was killing him.

  “Dammit, we have to get in there.” Kae clenched and unclenched his fists.

  “I know. We’re on the way.” He tried to sound reassuring.

  “I am monitoring the local station comm traffic. Local security forces have been called. They will be there shortly.” Sorina hesitated before continuing. “And there is an indication that a ship from the Urgoryth has docked with this vessel. The dock market will be opening soon.”

  “Is there a possible link between this and the Urgoryth?” he asked.

  “I analyzed the symbol on their patches. Local records indicate it matches the logo of the Magnetar Bond Services Corp. There are no known links between them and either the Urgoryth or Captain Gorger Tua’Nyn,” she replied.

  Kae frowned. “It could be something new. Magnetar is a merc group when it comes down to it. If Gorger’s paying they could be together in this.”

  “Well, let’s hope we get to Rune and Athame before they get away.” Nero gritted his teeth. He couldn’t believe this was happening. “And let’s hope we get there before the local authorities. The last thing we need is for Athame to get arrested for murdering a bunch of space-trash.”

  “The comm traffic indicates they have units in the pod already.” Sorina’s ears drooped.

  He licked his lips. Was nothing going right?

  I won’t say I told you so, Prospero said.

  Shut the fuck up.

  The wait was interminable, but eventually the car pulled into the station. They were all on their feet and pushing towards its door before the motion stopped. The maglev was fast, zipping down its tube with blinding speed between each pod, but he knew they were too late as soon as they saw the flashing green lights of the station police cars beyond the waiting area.

  The observation pod was smaller than the habitat pods around it, and consisted only of the Kor’alan station, a wide-open area with a few food and souvenir vendors, and the observation deck at the end of a short tunnel. The security forces, dressed in gray and black uniforms, clogged its entrance. Several of them were already pushing back the crowd of onlookers which gathered around to stare at what must be the scene of the battle.

  “Fuck.” Kae pushed his way past the other passengers to exit the car and vanished into the crowd.

  Nero met Sorina’s eyes and they followed after him. Each step seemed a counterpoint to the pounding of his heart. If Rune had somehow come to harm he would never forgive himself.

  “Stand aside!” He heard Kae shout as they rubbed shoulders with the crowd. Pairs of pointed ears bobbed in annoyance, but their owners fell back at the sight of him.

  Nero may not have been wearing his Abyssian uniform, but he was tall, and much heavier set than the
Relaen around him. They may have a distaste for living at the bottom of a gravity well, but it seemed they still respected what a ‘well-forged body could do to their light frames. He saw Kae glaring at one of the Relaen security officers when they reached the front of the crowd. Beyond them he could just see a sliver of the observation deck at the end of the tunnel. Inside, Athame stood with her arms at her sides. Three security officers were advancing on her with guns drawn.

  “Rune!” Kae shouted.

  “Sir, please stand aside. I won’t warn you again,” the officer in front of him said.

  “Comm restored, can you hear me, Nero?” Athame’s voice said into his thoughts.

  Confirmed. Status?

  “Their leader played dead and took Rune while I was neutralizing the others. He escaped down the tunnel shouting for security just before you arrived.”

  He turned, eyes wide, and scanned the crowd. Prospero, give me eyes on the platform.

  Hacking the local security sensors… I’m in. The Magnetar agent is boarding the Kor’alan. He’s carrying some kind of large bag. It is large enough for—

  “He’s back at the station!” Nero grabbed Kae’s arm and pulled. Sorina leaped up onto the conduits overhead and took off crawling along them at high speed.

  Athame?

  “The Urgoryth’s shuttle has just docked with the world-ship. The dock-market will be opening as they offload their cargo. We must guard against he possibility that the slavers are in league with the bounty hunters.”

  We’ve thought of that, Nero sent back.

  “I will make my way there and meet up with you later.”

  How? He frowned, shoving irate Relaen out of his way as he went.

  “Please trust me on this. I calculate this course of action to have the best possible outcome for our mission.” She straightened. The officers to ducked and raised their guns.

  “Don’t move, human!” one shouted.

  Her clothing shifted from the navy-blue spacer jumpsuit to a black that almost seemed to drag the light out of the air. It continued moving, flowing to form boots and the style of the sleeveless long-coat Nero wore for years.

  She’s revealing herself, Prospero sounded shocked.

  It’s a good move, he realized. The appearance of Daedalus’ authority will give her immunity from prosecution and jurisdiction over the entire ship.

  And draw Abyssian attention, Prospero added.

  He knew it would, but there was no time to either criticize or admire her handy-work. He had to trust her as she asked. The doors on the Kor’alan chimed and started to close. He turned around and pushed his way towards it knowing that he couldn’t make it in time, but hoping that either Kae or Sorina would.

  They missed it by less than a second.

  Chapter Ten

  Ikuzlu City, Kosfanter

  J2400:3231

  The taxi banked over the city streets, coming around one of the department-store towers and descending further into the canyon between the buildings on either side of Xaryk Street. The pavement was littered with the usual mess of kiosks and bright spots that marked the tents of thousands of vendors, but there was something different from the last time Cygni saw it. Her eyes picked it out right away, but her brain took a few moments to catch up. Xaryk was one of the three intersecting avenues that made up the Galactic Bazaar. It was, in normal times, the most crowded of them with sentients packing in from building to building. The street she was looking at now could hardly be called populated. It seemed what Baroness Zhào said was true. If the travel ban didn’t lift soon it would destroy the capital’s economy and millions would suffer.

  “Cygni, pay attention,” Premier Dorsky’s hologram said from the seat across from her.

  “Sorry, I was just looking at the Bazaar. It’s practically empty.”

  His digital incarnation shimmered. “The ban isn’t in my hands anymore. It’s up to the Praetor. Nothing can be done right now, so I need you to focus. I asked you if you recognized this woman last night.”

  An image appeared in the air between them. Cygni stared at turquois eyes beneath a short haircut and a pronounced Persian nose. She remembered seeing the woman chatting up the bodyguards at the Venus Club with a glass of wine in her hand, though her clothing put her a station above them. It was notable for that, if nothing else.

  “Look close,” Dorsky said.

  She did. The woman had on a nice piezoelectric dress and some light jewelry, but nothing so fine that put her among the upper echelon of the Barony. She was probably a baroness from a lower House, or maybe a cousin, or a youngest sibling to a minor—she stopped herself. The woman was familiar. If she hadn’t been so outraged with Dorsky at the time she might have noticed it then. A chill ran down her back.

  Run facial recognition, she told her PLIA, and compare it to our logs from the last three months.

  [Affirmative. Running… Match found. Log from 41:3:34 CST, 20:33 HRS, LOC: +29.47823 +0.79920 +011.] A map appeared in the corner of her vision with a blinking dot on the Barony building, and she realized where she saw the woman before. [Barony Security logged the individual’s implant ID as belonging to a Carina Starblood. Citizen number 21FBC03FCA1EE.]

  “Is that the woman Baron Keltan brought with him?”

  “One of the two. Baron Xitar tells me his man observed her talk to the other bodyguards last night outside our meeting at the club.” Dorsky’s face twisted in anger. “So how is it one of Cylus’ creatures managed to pull that off without you or Giselle noticing? What am I paying you for?”

  She bit back her immediate reaction and forced herself to respond with a calm tone. “The electromagnetic shielding in the room… Neither one of us has met this woman more than once. Add to that the out of context appearance and the clothing—”

  “You know that means nothing. Did she have any surveillance equipment on her or in her? Why did Cylus send her there? Does he know about the plan? I know you’re new at this, but you can’t let this stuff get by you or we’ll have another incident on our hands like the kind that killed Thuban.”

  Mentioning Thuban’s death was a low blow she felt deep in her gut. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her nerves. When she opened them he stared at her like she was filth.

  “We didn’t scan her. We couldn’t have because of the shielding in the meeting room.”

  “You should have tapped into the club’s sensor net to do it. I will be heading to Cylus’ tower in a little while to sign off on his moronic power-play. You’re good with finding information. Find out what his agent knows and why she was there.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  His digital incarnation vanished without so much as a “good luck.” She had her PLIA check the connection to be sure he wasn’t spying on her, then thought, Fuck that, do it yourself. He was nicer to her before. She supposed either the decision to kill the Cronuses or capitulate to Baron Keltan’s demands weighed on him—or maybe this was his true nature showing. This whole mess turned her stomach. Killing the Cronus sisters was wrong. Of all the barons they deserved it the least, and yet Dorsky was just going along with the insane plan. She didn’t want to think that the man who saved her and her friends from Baroness Sophiathena’s clutches was as much of a monster as the baroness. If he was, it meant she hadn’t escaped but traded one hell for another.

  Shaking, she reached into her pocket and pulled forth a small, green cube of Kalkoa. She rubbed her thumb across its sandy top, then brought it slowly up to her mouth and placed it on the tip of her tongue with care. It didn’t take long for the tingles to start through her taste buds. She shuddered and half-smiled as she pulled the cube back into her mouth and pressed it against her palate. It broke apart and spread out, flooding first her mouth and then her throat. The waves started soon after that. The fear and pain of Dorsky, and Keltan, and the Cronuses, and this whole bloody mess was muted beneath the numbing sensations of floating inside her own skin.

  The taxicab touched down on one of the wide catwalks that
adorned the buildings. She got out and headed down the metal stairway to the street.

  I need to get out of this, she thought, swaying on tingling legs. The path before her was almost devoid of sentient beings save for a handful of poorly dressed, desperate-looking people. A bum lay on the street, his jumpsuit filthy and torn. Its smartfiber network was corrupted. Before him rested the bottom half of a broken box. He made wild gestures and shouted something, but Cygni stumbled past.

  Ahead, about a third of the shops and kiosks were shuttered with dull-gray security gates. Most of the kiosks stood with their textile shrouds blowing in the briny wind. They had a layer of dark grime along their hems that made the emptiness of the Confederation’s busiest street even more startling.

  Fuck, I gotta find Biren and get out of here.

  A glint of something caught her eye and she found herself drawn to the shop window of a Volgoth jewelry store several meters to her right. For a moment she was sorely tempted to go inside and buy something. The gene-parlor she was looking for was just down the street. She could see a holographic sign projecting itself into her corneal implants that read “Nature Enhancements” over it, but the memory of the Volgoth bathhouse was sharp and insistent in her mind. How nice would it be to settle into a hot, scented bath right now? A smile came unbidden to her lips and she found herself remembering the feel of the spiced water’s heat penetrating her skin.

  How nice would it be to spend her days relaxing in that place instead of stumbling around trying to solve the Spur’s problems. Where had that gotten her, really? It would be better just to quit now, she realized, maybe as soon as she got her friends out of that filthy tunnel. After all this shit she deserved another long soak in those heavenly tubs.

  She sighed.

  Not yet, girl. Gotta do a bit more before we can get off this crazy ride.

  There was a Nyangari walking with a small group of well-dressed, six-limbed sentients enclosed in cloth wrappings across the street. She spied their reflection in the shop window. He looked scruffy and worn. His ears seemed to droop, and his gait lacked the energetic spring that she remembered Shkur had. Was it him? Was he all right? Was he eating enough? Where was he staying? Time seemed to slow as the group of off-worlders—she remembered they were called Fumeni—moved past.