Breaking Point

by David Alastair Hayden

  Siv had never been in a mine before, but it was exactly as he had imagined it would be: dark, dusty, and confining.

  “This passage leads to a side tunnel that will take us to the place we need to be so Galen will go through as little of wraith space as possible,” Tamzin said.

  Siv revved the bike and glanced around the narrow tunnel. “I hope we’ll have a lot more room to maneuver then.”

  “We will.” She hopped on back. “Though not as much as we would on the main corridor.”

  “As long as we can avoid the Tekk Reapers, I don’t care.”

  “Detecting anything, Silkster?”

  “Not nearby, sir.”

  Using the updated map Tamzin shared with him, Siv drove the bike along the circuitous route that would take them to the nexus. Targeting triangles in his HUD helped him stay on course, despite the twisting tunnel. At first, he drove fast, but then Tamzin warned him to slow down in case any sections had caved in since she last went through this area.

  “Sir, I’m picking up Tekk Reaper agents ahead, near the place Tamzin wants to reenter wraith space.”

  “How many?”

  “Three that I’m certain of. Two others are roaming along the route we had planned to take.”

  “What about our current path?”

  “None that I can detect, sir. But they could be cloaked, and I don’t want to risk a higher-level scan.”

  “Recommendation?”

  “Ditch the bike and go on foot. They’re going to detect its signature soon. There’s only so much I can do to mask it.”

  He relayed the information to Tamzin. “We need a place to hide the bike.”

  “There are some nooks along the way,” she replied. “That’s the best we can do.”

  Siv took the first one they came to, a large semi-circle cut into the tunnel wall. He pulled the bike in, and they climbed off.

  “They built these to allow people to duck aside when transport skimmers needed to pass through,” Silky said, answering a question Siv hadn’t asked nor cared about.

  “Will they detect the bike from here once you’re not signal-jamming?” Tamzin asked.

  "As long as it's powered down, we should be fine," Siv said.

  “Sir, I recommend disconnecting the battery.”

  Siv unplugged the bike from its power pack, and they made their way on foot for another two hundred meters.

  “Can we enter wraith space here?” Siv asked.

  Tamzin shook her head. "We need to be farther along this tunnel unless you want to enter solid earth in the wraith space world."

  “I do not.”

  “Why aren’t the Reapers patrolling this route?” Siv asked.

  “Because it didn’t occur to them that someone might know of another entry, sir.”

  “Doesn’t seem like them, does it?”

  “Maybe they have limited manpower, sir.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  They stopped just over a hundred meters away from the place where Tamzin ideally wanted to enter wraith space. Going any closer would make it likely that they’d be detected.

  “What about now?” he asked.

  “If we must, but it won’t be pleasant.”

  “Then let’s—”

  “Sir, duck!”

  Siv tackled Tamzin to the ground, and two plasma bolts flared overhead.

  “A Tekk Reaper uncloaked ahead, sir. He’s firing.”

  Siv tried to maneuver his arm free from underneath Tamzin so he could deploy his force-shield.

  The bright flashes of a second, twin-plasma burst sped toward them. Siv freed his arm, but he didn’t have a chance in hell of getting the shield up in time.

  31

  Siv Gendin

  Tamzin wrapped her arms around Siv and triggered the black cube. The hyperphasic field bubbled up around them. As a white-hot bolt flared centimeters from Siv's face, they popped into wraith space.

  They fell several meters and landed on hard earth with a thud that knocked the air from Siv’s lungs. Struggling not to cry out, he kicked himself free from Tamzin and reached for his face. Intense pain radiated out from it through the rest of his body.

  “Sir! Sir, you’re okay!”

  Tamzin jumped on top of him and pinned his arms and legs. “Hold still, damn it!”

  “Breathe, sir. Breathe.”

  Siv stopped kicking his feet and took one faltering breath then another. “My face…hurts like…hell.”

  Tamzin took his chin and turned his head. “You’ve got a burn on your right cheek, but it’s not bad.” She stood and dusted herself off. “Quit your whining and get your act together.”

  “It’s not bad enough to warrant immediate medical attention, sir. A nano-second longer, though, and you’d need more help than medical attention could provide.”

  Siv kept taking deep breaths. The pain didn’t improve, but he did calm.

  “Are you normally this…lame?” Tamzin asked. “Cause I was under the impression you were a hardened criminal, not a wuss.”

  Siv shook his head. “I’ve been hurt…a lot worse than…this. I guess…I guess it was the shock of it. Seeing the bolt that close…the sudden burn…”

  “Or maybe it’s wraith space affecting you.” Her face softened, and she reached out a hand. “Come on. Let’s get going.” After a few steps, she paused and pulled two pills from a pocket. “Painkillers. If you’re—”

  He swiped them out of her hand.

  “Sir, let me do an analysis on those before—”

  Siv popped them into his mouth and swallowed. “If they kill me, fine. I’m going to die anyway.”

  “I’m going into sleep mode, sir, before interference knocks me out. Wake me when you reach the wormhole. I hope you’ll be in a much better mood then. And do not travel through until I can boot up!”

  Siv trudged through wraith space, becoming progressively disoriented as he went. The pain did fade, either from Tamzin’s drugs or because the shock of the burn had worn off.

  The specters and flickering images didn’t bother him as much this time as they had before, but he didn’t feel any better.

  “Wait a second. One plasma bolt scorched my face. What happened to the other?”

  Tamzin pointed to her leg. A hole through her pants below the knee revealed skin that was puckered and blistered.

  “You caught it worse than I did.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Tamzin stated. “That’s why I called you a sissy-pants.”

  “You…you didn’t call me that.”

  “Guess I just thought it.”

  As they continued on, Siv noted she wasn’t limping. Either she didn’t feel pain like an average person did or she was tough as nails.

  A tugging sensation made Siv fall to his knees and vomit up the hotel vending machine candy he’d eaten.

  “Everything’s spinning…all of a sudden.”

  Tamzin pulled him up. “That sensation you’re feeling is from the wormhole. We’re getting close.”

  Siv glanced around. “I don’t see anything.”

  “You will soon.”

  A few steps later, Siv spotted it. A warping of light and space, a transparent bubble hovering before them. There was a disturbing beauty to it. But after a few moments staring into the wormhole, he felt as if he were falling into it. He dropped his gaze and choked down the acid rising into his throat.

  “Silkster, wake up.”

  A sequence of disorienting beeps announced Silky’s return. “Yippee! Look at that! This is sooooo awesome, sir.”

  “Yeah, it’s the freaking best,” Siv replied.

  He stepped through with Tamzin, stumbled into her, and retched, nearly puking whatever was left in his stomach onto her back. The swirling walls of energy surrounding the tunnel they passed through were far worse than anything he’d seen in regular wraith space.

  “You get one bit of vomit on me—one bit—and I’ll shoot you in the gut and leave you here to die.”

  He nodded,
attempting an apologetic smile.

  “I am not kidding.”

  Silky laughed with glee as they plodded through the wormhole. Someday, should he survive, Siv might look back on the experience as noteworthy. Maybe. But not today. Not while going through this hell.

  The wormhole only intensified the ill effects of wraith space, and Silky's constant laughter mixed with speculative commentary gave voice to the otherwise silent specters that swooped alongside them, ghosts that were somehow frightening again.

  “No wonder Vim barely made it,” Siv said as he paused to catch his breath.

  Tamzin grabbed him by the elbow and tugged him along. “Resting won’t make it better. The longer you’re here, the worse you’ll feel. You need to power through.”

  Siv nodded and continued along. He dreaded returning through this.

  “Remember, even I get vertigo here,” Tamzin confided.

  “You don’t worry…about wraith space…eventually making you go crazy?”

  “I’m not a delver,” Tamzin replied. “I am…something else. And whatever that something is, it makes me immune to the effects of wraith space. Only the wormhole bothers me.”

  When they emerged into wraith space on a new planet, Siv fell to his knees and gasped. The world still spun around him. And the ground beneath felt oddly spongy. But he wasn’t as dizzy or disoriented as before.

  After a few minutes, Tamzin helped him up. “It’s not much farther.”

  “That, sir, was amazing.”

  “I’m happy for you.”

  “You should be happy for everyone, sir. I took a detailed analysis of the entire experience. Once we’re free, I’ll publish the results online.”

  “That doesn’t seem wise.”

  “I have a pseudonym, sir. I use it for publishing works of scientific interest.”

  Siv stopped. “You what?”

  “I have a nome de plume, sir. An alternate identity.”

  “I understand what that means, but you’ve never mentioned it before.”

  “Have I not?”

  “No. Have you ever used it?”

  "I frequently publish, sir."

  “You publish?! Frequently?! You’ve never told me this! How could you keep that from me?”

  "Well, sir, you've never expressed any interest in scientific rumination or refutation. All I do is submit articles to scientific journals. I don't give away the intimate details of your boring life."

  “Publishing articles online… Doesn’t that seem unwise?”

  “No one can backtrace the articles to me, sir. It’s all quite safe.”

  Siv noted Tamzin’s stare. “Sorry.” He started walking again. “Just…just got confused for a moment.”

  “Don’t worry, sir. No one will ever know that Silky Ora publishes under the names Fibula Crumbs and Manus Chunks. I swear.”

  “How many papers have you published?”

  “Let’s see…two thousand and thirty-three. About fifty of those represent hard science, and the rest are speculative.”

  As irritated he was about Silky having kept something from him—again—Siv was actually glad he’d just found out. His incredulous irritation took his mind off wraith space.

  “Have you made any breakthroughs?”

  “I have presented work that has helped others achieve breakthroughs, sir. And quite a few of my speculative pieces have achieved notoriety.”

  Siv shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m still learning things about you, Silkster.”

  “I’m a complex individual, sir. If a little lacking in humanity.”

  Tamzin had them pause in a seemingly barren area. She locked her arms around Siv and triggered the cube. Suddenly, they were inside the loading bay of a dimly-lit starship. Judging from the rust stains dripping from various bolts, the off-color walls, and the stale, acrid air, the vessel was in desperate need of maintenance.

  “This ship has seen better days,” Siv muttered without thinking.

  Tamzin clenched her fists and glared. “This is my home, jackass.”

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

  “Do you think an eight-year-old can adequately repair a wrecked ship without supplies?”

  “No,” Siv replied. “Look, what I said—”

  “I did the best I could, you know.”

  “I’m sure you did.”

  "I can't access engineering. Bringing in supplies is hard. And things got worse before I had a chance to do something about it. Besides, I don't allow visitors. You're only the second person to ever come here."

  Siv bent halfway over, placing his hands on his knees to prop himself up, and took deep breaths. “Sorry.”

  A man stepped into the loading bay, a smile on his face. “Tamzin?”

  “That, sir, is Ambassador Vim.”

  His eyes fell on Siv, and his face creased in concern. “Who’s this?”

  Gathering himself, Siv stepped forward and offered his hand. “Siv Gendin, sir. I’ve come to rescue you.”

  Ambassador Vim shook his hand reluctantly.

  “He claims to knows your daughters,” Tamzin said. “And I trust him…for the most part.”

  Vim took Siv’s hand in both of his. “You know my girls? Are they safe?”

  “I rescued Oona and Kyralla on Ekaran IV. They’re safe, for now.”

  “The Tekk Reapers found them?”

  “The Reapers, the Thousand Worlders, the Shadowslip, the World Bleeders, the Star Cutters, and probably several other criminal guilds. We’ve been on the run ever since.”

  Ambassador Vim took Siv into a hug then snapped away. “Wait, you didn’t bring them here, did you?”

  Siv shook his head. “They’re hiding in deep space, sir. We have a way of contacting them without being detected so that we can arrange a rendezvous.”

  Ambassador Vim took Siv’s hand again and shook it vigorously. “Thank you for saving my girls, Mr. Gendin. I can never repay you, but you will have my eternal gratitude.”

  Tamzin placed a hand on the ambassador’s shoulder. “Galen, ask him why he saved them.”

  “Does it matter?” Vim asked.

  “I think it does,” she replied.

  Siv didn't wait for the question. "I was a Shadowslip agent sent to Senator Pashta's compound to seize an unknown asset, one so vital that I was promised an enormous reward and freedom from the guild if I were successful. But I didn't know what the asset was until I saw your daughter. That's when they released the information. And that's when—"

  “You made the honest choice,” Vim said.

  “I wasn’t going to kidnap a fourteen-year-old girl.”

  “Because you’re a good person,” Vim said. “I can sense that in you.”

  “He’s an empath, sir.”

  “How come I didn’t know that already?”

  “I didn’t know either, sir.”

  “I think it’s important we remember that he’s a criminal,” Tamzin said.

  Vim smiled. “I think he’s only a criminal by necessity, Tam. He gave up an easy retirement then risked his life to save my girls. There’s nothing for him to gain in this.”

  “I disagree,” Tamzin said.

  “Tamzin,” Galen said with an amused grin, “he’s telling the truth. Besides, what does he have to gain by coming after me? While I may be worth something to you, I’m not worth even a fraction as much as my girls are.”

  Tamzin shrugged. “He could use you to lure them here. Others will certainly try that.”

  “My girls are smarter than that.”

  “Smarter, sir, for sure. But I think he underestimates their bravery and stubborn determination.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of, Silkster.”

  “Why are you here to rescue me?” Vim asked. “I’m not worth the risk.”

  "Your girls need you, Ambassador. My companion, Mitsuki, is an extraction agent. She came for personal reasons. As for me, I'm dying and have little time left to live. Long ago, I lost my father. I'd hate to see
the same happen to them. Besides, I believe Oona stands a much better chance of surviving if you're there with her."

  “Maybe you’re right,” Vim replied with a nod. “I would certainly love to see my daughters, but I’m not sure it was worth risking your life to rescue me.”

  “Oona knows you have certain information that could be vital to her cause. She saw the information in a vision. And Tamzin has confirmed you’d learned something significant.”

  “You’re right.” Vim smiled with relief. “I hope—I believe—that its worth all of our lives to get this information to Oona.”

  “You were testing me to see if I knew about it,” Siv said.

  “My apologies.”

  “No need to apologize. I understand. To be honest, we reached a point where we decided it wasn’t worth the risk to rescue you. But Oona’s vision changed everything.”

  Tamzin glanced between them, her features twisting with annoyance. Apparently, she was irritated that she was the only one who didn't know what the information concerned. He couldn't help but wonder if that was she was really after. But that wasn't fair to her. She could just as easily have the same motivation for helping that he did.

  "So," the ambassador said, "I assume you have a way to get me off-world."

  Tamzin laughed. “He doesn’t have a clue. Tell him, Gendin.”

  “I’m torn about her,” Silky complained. “On the one hand, a wormhole and I love her! On the other hand, she’s a real doo-doo pants.”

  “We hitched a ride to the planet,” Siv said.

  “Because you gave your ship to Oona and Kyralla?” Vim asked.

  “Yes,” Siv answered.

  “Is that wise?” Vim asked. “Kyralla has no experience piloting a vessel.”

  She did now, but Siv thought it unwise to tell the man his daughter had already piloted the ship through two space battles.

  “The Outworld Ranger is highly advanced and more than capable of flying itself. There’s also an engineering cog onboard along with a trusted friend who believes in the hyperphasic messiah.”

  Ambassador Vim stroked his thin beard then sighed and nodded. “So you came here without a way to leave?”

  “We planned on improvising. It’s what we do. And just before coming here, we secured passage on a ship, by nearly doubling the offer Tamzin made to an interested captain. Though, I’m not sure he’s the best option we have. We need someone who’d give us passage without figuring out that we’re wanted. Because our enemies can definitely pay more than we can.”