There was movement in the darkness nearby but Jolo didn’t go for the Colt. Anything smaller than a Gemini trash hauler did not seem worth the effort. Soon there was a skinny boy standing there holding a cat.
The cat.
Little Richard jumped down from the boy’s arms and into Jolo’s lap. It purred and rubbed its head on his jacket, soon it found the handle of the Colt and used that to scratch behind its ears. Jolo felt the soft fur and was genuinely happy to see him. “Good to see you, too, Richard.”
“Dat nyanya like you, Ole-man-two,” said the boy. “You gone come wid me? You come wid me or da bitch come back and eat you for shore like she ate the Chopper man.”
So Jolo helped Greeley get to his feet and they followed the boy right back to the bookstore that Jolo had found earlier. He led them between the stacks of books to a back room, then through a hole in the wall to another place that smelled different. The brick road was cold earth and rot. But here were human smells: sweat and old books.
The boy led them to the far side of the big room and gestured upwards. There was a ladder leading to a hole in the ceiling. “Can’t go there,” said Jolo.
“Oh, Ole-man-two cain’t go high?” said the boy.
“I ain’t no old man, and I can go, but not him!” growled Jolo. And the boy stepped back a bit. He motioned to Richard and the cat jumped down from Jolo to the boy. The boy took the cat up into the hole.
A moment later the boy yelled back down. “Ole-man-two?”
“What?”
“Y’all be quiet. I bring Ole-man down to you.”
“Hey, Boy. Can you bring some food?” said Jolo.
The boy looked at him like that was a stupid question. “Food all over,” said the boy.
Jolo propped Greeley up against a wall in a seated position and now that his mind had begun to clear he realized the big man didn’t look too good. He sat down next to Greeley and closed his eyes.
He awoke some time later and the room was full of movement. Jolo was laying down next to Greeley and they both had blankets on them. There was a fire in the center of the floor and pretty soon a man with an old rifle came. He squatted down next to Jolo and felt Jolo’s forehead.
“You supposed to be sick for a week, but you up early.”
“How long have I been out?”
“’Bout three days. They call it the haze. You are lucky to be alive. Does she still have your mind?”
The boy from before came up. He pointed at Jolo. “That one gone be fine.” And then he gestured towards Greeley. “That one nuttin’ but Graja food.”
“Graja?”
“The Queen bitch. The monster.”
“Who are you?” said Jolo.
“Name’s Riley.” The man turned and motioned to one of the kids to bring a drink. Jolo noticed he was wearing a jacket with a Fed merchant patch, but he didn’t recognize the company.
“How’d you escape?” said Riley.
“We went out to get the lay of the land after we crashed. And then got bum rushed by Hazuki.”
The man nodded. “And you lived. Nicely done. You Fed military?”
“Used to be. Most recently a pirate.”
The man laughed. “I was on a Merced freighter out of Darcen. We had a skeleton crew. Idiot for a captain. But the Queen done too care of that.”
A child handed Jolo a dirty plastic cup full of water and he took a long drink. His whole body started to feel better. He downed the whole thing and handed the cup back. “One more?”
“You must be a shite pirate to end up here,” said Riley.
“I came here on purpose.”
“No one but a fool would come here on purpose. All I want to do is get off this dead rock and back to Farrin where I got a wife and kid. I hope they ain’t forgot about me. We saved up for a time so we could get a place close to the core. Safer there. Better for the kid.”
“How long you been here?”
The man looked down. “Ain’t quite sure. Few years I imagine. I seen that one,” he said, pointing to the boy who brought the water, “grow from nuthin to bout as tall as me. Ain’t got a way to mark time. Can’t really see the sun and we hide mostly.”
“You don’t know what happened, do you?”
“All I know is I wanna get out of here and you are the first man to escape Hazuki. You gonna help me get home. You a good pirate?” he said, grinning.
“The best.”
“Yeah, you ain’t much if you ended up here eatin’ grajafun.”
“I am Jolo Vargas.”
The man jumped up and swung the gun around. Suddenly he was shaky, the end of the barrel darting around. And he kept backing up, making the chances of a shot hitting home even that more remote. He acted just like the merchants always did when the pirate Jolo Vargas boarded their ship. Fear and bad decisions.
Jolo held up his hands. “I am no threat to you.”
“Damn you to hell!” the man yelled and the kids all went quiet. Another, taller boy, emerged from the crowd with a rifle and stood beside the merchant, Riley. Jolo took a good look at the guns and ran a quick pattern match search on his internal computer: both Earth-year 1943 Browning automatics. Back when men fought amongst each other on the same planet instead of taking a ship to another planet to do the killing. The schematic in Jolo’s head showed an ammunition clip under the trigger mechanism. Only Riley’s gun had one. The kid’s gun was for show. Stupid merchant, thought Jolo. An unloaded gun is just going to get the boy killed.
Riley stepped forward, the end of the Browning aimed at Jolo’s chest.
“I am not here to fight humans,” Jolo said.
“Tell that to the captain of the Mainte 5, and her crew. All but two fed to that monster like frakkin’ cattle. All except me. Hazuki needed an engineer. And our navigator, a woman he needed for the breeding program. He didn’t need any of the others.”
“The captain knew the risks of going through jump point one.”
“Yeah, he knew all right. But there weren’t no clean routes anymore. The lanes were supposed to be protected by the BG but that was a joke. We had to get to Millicent once a month. If we were late then they wouldn’t take it. We carried food and bio-med that all had expiration time stamps. One second past the expiry and the seals would blow and let oxygen in and all the cargo would be spoiled. No merch hauler company could take a hit like that. We’d have to pay for the cargo and it’d shut us down.
On our last run we were on time and gonna make some good money. But half way there we got a message from a Lawson Railer freighter. There was a pirate waiting in Alent. After getting hit so many times the merchants put away their grievances with one another and started sharing intel on pirate activity. The Lawson Railer got hit in that sector right before we were to come through. The only other option was jump point one.”
“Your captain was a fool. One pirate ain’t enough to make me want to risk Earth.”
“Yeah. But it weren’t no small-time pirate in a two-man runabout with one little turret.”
“Still, the pirate ships can’t hold more than a few containers. Run through and pay a small price and move on.”
“But that ain’t the way of it. This pirate was known. This pirate would kill and not think nothing of it. There were stories. Everyone knew.”
“No pirate killed unless someone was fool enough to fight.”
“Jolo Vargas would,” screamed the man. Five years of hate and anger all coming out at once. He spit at Jolo’s feet. “It was you waiting out there for us in that damn old Alacyte ship that could take a pounding from our turrets and keep coming. So the captain did what just about any merchant would have done and went straight through jump point one.”
Jolo’s heart sank. Suddenly he felt tired. All the dirty kids were staring at him like he was a murderer. No better than Hazuki or the Butcher. “We never killed anyone. That stuff about Jolo Vargas killing people weren’t true. Just Fed lies. I can help you escape.”
“Or she take you,”
said the boy from before. “She take you like she took the ole Chopper man.”
Riley’s breathing had steadied just a little but he still had that panicky, desperate look on his face. “You get me home to my wife and child and I won’t kill you.”
Jolo took a deep breath. The man was desperate and scared but he had survived. He deserved the truth.
“You don’t know, do you?”
“What?”
“The BG attacked the core. The Fed is broken.”
“You lie!”
“No. The BG took the core planets.”
“Farrin?”
“All the Fed core planets near Sol for sure. Not sure about Farrin. I’m sorry. I came here for guns.”
“Ain’t no guns. Hazuki got them all. We got these from a museum exhibit over there in, uh—” He stopped talking and stared at the floor for a moment. Then looked up at Jolo pleading. “My wife and kid are still there. You can’t say they ain’t there. You can’t take that from me!” He started shaking all over again and fell down to his knees.
Meanwhile the kids had started to move in toward Jolo and Greeley. Jolo jabbed the big man with his boot but he just moaned. But maybe it was best that Greeley was out. This negotiation would take finesse.
The boy with the big rifle edged closer, the barrel jutting out, his wiry arms tense. The smaller ones had pointed sticks and a few had kitchen knives and forks filed down to sharp points.
Jolo didn’t know what to do. Riley was still on the floor. What would Katy do? he thought. She’d say a few magic words and they’d all be grinning in no time.
“You want out of here? I can help you. I ain’t staying,” said Jolo in a calm, firm voice.
“Ain’t no where to go,” said the tall boy. “Rats come, like you, then they get et by da bitch. That’s all.”
“Y’all wanna play a game? I’ll be the Fed captain and y’all can be the pirates. That’s fun,” Jolo said with a smile on his face. He smiled real big then remembered Katy said his big smile was kind of scary, so he toned it down but the kids’ cold expressions hadn’t changed a wit.
“We play kill da ole-man-two,” said a boy holding a big metal spoon.
Jolo decided his best bet would be to run, straight out, leading as many as he could, then come back for Greeley. His options were running out.
“Riley! I can help you get off this rock. Call off the dogs!”
By then even more kids had joined, Jolo figured maybe thirty or so in all. Finally, Riley stood.
“Stand down!” he yelled. And all the kids took a step back. Then he turned to Jolo. “Nobody gets off this rock. Best you can do is stay alive and not get caught by Hazuki. He’ll feed your ass to the Queen, or give you duty topside if you’re lucky. He’s a fickle bastard, though, and he don’t seem to care a bit about human life. What makes you think you can escape?”
“Well, I been through worse than this. As long as I’m breathin’ I figure we got a shot.” The man just stared at Jolo with watery eyes. The tall boy’s rifle was pointing down at the dirt but the rest of the kids weren’t convinced. Suddenly, the sound of laughter filled the room.
“Yeah, he got a high opinion of himself.” It was Greeley, his voice even rougher than usual.
Jolo ran to him. Greeley’s eyes were red and he tried to sit up but sank back down again with both hands on his head.
“He’ll have a headache for a few more days,” said Riley.
“You remember what happened?” said Jolo. “When that big—”
And Greeley cut him off, his big hand reaching out to swat down Jolo’s next word. “Don’t speak on it,” he said. “Don’t speak on it.” He took a few breaths, opened his eyes and looked around. “Gotta lot of little uns. I seen ‘em in my dreams. Where’s the crew?”
“We’re gonna get them soon. Then get out of here,” said Jolo. Then he turned to Riley. “Can you lead us back to our ship? I need to get topside without running into Hazuki or his men. Once I get to the ship and get the crew together we’ll come up with a plan.”
Riley, still reeling from the news about the Fed core, just stared off at the kids.
“Well?” said Jolo.
“Your ship could be anywhere. Don’t know where you landed.” The tall boy was standing behind Riley shaking his head.
“Might as well spill it now,” the skinny boy said.
“Spill what?” said Jolo.
“Dey ain’t comin’ back,” said the boy. “Your crew gone-gone.”
Jolo looked at Riley. “What’s he talkin’ about?” But Riley just rubbed his temples and started another round of shaking.
Jolo reached for the boy’s hand, but the boy pulled back and pointed the rifle at Jolo again. In one swift movement Jolo grabbed the rifle. The clip was gone but there was one bullet in the chamber.
Jolo handed the rifle to Greeley, then turned back to the boy. “Now tell me.”
“When the big ships crash, the man in the white coat always come and take the crew. He kill one or two right dere and the Queen come and eat ‘em. The rest he put in the cage. He don’t kill females. They go to the dark place.”
“The dark place?”
“The breeding program at the top of the hotel,” Riley said. “Any women they find they impregnate and keep there. I rescued all these kids from there. They let the boys run around like animals. Naked, with barely enough to eat. Fighting like dogs over a tiny piece of the black stuff. They keep the girls safe and secure, well fed. Can’t even rescue the boys anymore though, ‘cause Hazuki’s put more guards at the entrances after he got sick of losing meat.”
“Meat?”
“Yeah. Meat. That’s what we are. Welcome to Hell.”
“Cap’n,” said Greeley, still sitting on the dirt floor. “I ain’t much of a strategizin’ type. But I believe comin’ here was a shite idea. I’m startin’ to git a powerful distaste for Earth.”
Riley looked Jolo in the eye. The man had regained some composure. “You get me and as many of the kids off this rock as you can and we’ll help.”
Jolo had only one thing on his mind: his crew. And Katy. “Take me to my ship.”
“It may not be there, and you might not like what you find when you do get there.”
Katy
An old woman with wiry gray hair streaking out in all directions grabbed Katy’s hand. She couldn’t see where they were taking Barth and the rest.
“Say your goodbyes,” said the old lady.
There was a finality in her voice that Katy couldn’t bear. She locked eyes with Koba, his face white and defeated. She gave him a hard look and pounded her fist on her chest. Any sign of remorse or fear on her face and he might have cried. He clung to Barth like a dog. Hurley had barely made it but was alive. He limped along behind the rest with one of Hazuki’s men prodding him with the end of a rifle.
Katy yanked on the old woman’s hand trying to get free but she was stronger than she looked. Her wrinkled, mottled hand was like a vice around Katy’s wrist.
“We fight!” Katy yelled as the last of the Argossy’s crew faded into the blackness.
“Still full of piss and vinegar,” said the old crone. “I was too, a long time ago. Housted to Milford and back. Housted to Milford. Two days’ run with a load of titanium and other shite. That’s what we did. Long time ago. You’ll learn the new way or die.”
The old lady took Katy through a dark tunnel, water dripping down from above and the light so low that she couldn’t see anything. The dirt path soon changed to some kind of rock or tile pattern and there were buildings on either side. A hundred years before this might have been a nice place but had been filled with dirt, then dug out again. The old lady tugged at Katy’s hand, pulling her into a hole in one of the buildings, then down a torch lit hallway and then they started up a flight of stairs.
“472 steps we got so pace yerself,” she said. “You lucky. I came here jus’ like you, full of fire. You lucky Mr. Hazuki needs you.”
Half way up Ka
ty started to get tired. She put her hand to her belly. Still to early to show, but she knew it was there. She was there. She didn’t know how she knew, but it was a girl. At step 245—the old lady had kept a count—Katy couldn’t go on any further and she stopped and threw up.
But nothing came out. Suddenly she felt leathery hands on her face, on her forehead. At first she wanted to swipe them away,but then she realized, the old woman was checking her temperature like they did hundreds of years before. No thermal readings from a handheld, just her palm to her forehead. It wasn’t possible to get an accurate reading.
Then the old woman handed Katy a flask of water from some kind of animal skin and she drank a little sip and tried to slow her breathing. Once she settled down and had a little more water the woman handed her a black chunk of something and told her to eat it. She took a bite and nearly spit it out but the woman put her hand over her mouth to keep it in.
It was the same stuff from the hole that Koba made. So that was what kept humans alive, Katy thought. That was one small piece of the puzzle. George would find that interesting.
George.
She started to cry. It all came out, finally. It was ok, here half-way up some stairway in a small landing between flights with no one around except some withered crone. The old woman waited for a moment then tugged on Katy’s arm again.
Katy wiped her eyes on her sleeve and for a moment they were both silent. The orange light from the torch above them danced on the dirty walls.
“Where’s the head around here?” said Katy. “I gotta go.”
The old woman tilted her head, stared down a Katy with suddenly stern eyes.
“Show us yer tits,” the woman said, cold and serious.
Katy stood up and faced the woman. “Why don’t I just throw your skinny ass down the stairs?”
“You could try. Show us your tits and I’ll show you the toilet.”
“No.”
The old woman moved faster than Katy expected. She ducked down and kicked at Katy’s legs and suddenly Katy was on the dirt on her back with the crazy woman on top. The old woman’s hand was right on her belly. Right there where her little girl was just starting to form.
The Jolo Vargas Space Opera Series Box Set Page 49
