“They didn’t fire me.” Though I wish they’d at least shot me. Anything to explain this pain.
“And they did not harm you.” Gaz’s frame went subtly rigid as she spoke. Until Alaya herself had pulled the move and gotten caught out by Nissa, she wouldn’t have noted it. Now that she thought about it, Gaz was always going stiff like that. Alaya would take whatever mental distraction she could, as soon as that track ran out she stared at the limp cloth hanging from a girder.
Scratch marks along the edge showed where it had likely been moved. The cubby they sheltered in wasn’t the only little abandoned home in this place. To Alaya, the signs had been clear. Different groups used different symbols, but pretty much everyone took to scrawling information in the sides of stations. Graffiti was one of the oldest forms of human art. She had no need to decode those glyphs, their presence showed her what she’d been looking for.
Near the upper sections of this room the outer walls had small metal objects shoved into them. Was that how station security figured out this community was here? No. They would have known from the beginning. Rust had covered up those scratches on the edges parts of these girders had cracked. The station saved energy and mass by letting them rust. They probably collected the dust and recycled it rather than go at the girders directly. It would be a paltry amount, but Alaya understood the power of small things accumulating over time better than most.
Nothing spoke to her of the end of this community. Had they moved out? Had disease killed them off? Or were they massacred? There was no evidence of an attack, but on the timescale Alaya suspected those signs would have faded or have been covered up. Little remained of these people save for the skeletal frames of their homes and a few bits of sinew in the forms of cloth.
Once Alaya had seen Gaz’s cyborg-capable full body freeze, she couldn’t unsee it. How had I lived with her for eight years and failed to notice that? “There is something troubling you. Is it the boy, Kirk?”
Emotions rolled over her as the last of her mental barriers finally crumpled. It was his name. Alaya had to physically stop her tear response and still covered her face with her hands. “I think I ruined his life today. Bad.”
“I do not know what happened. Was there an accident with the loader?”
“Yes.” Alaya stared into the darkness of her hands. She hated to tell Gaz to leave her alone. But in the moment, she found herself craving true solitude. Ignoring the need, she forced the words out of her mouth. “He was piloting, something he’s actually pretty good at. There was a mechanical failure. Never seen anything like it. And the AI must have glitched too because the loader and the two-seater crashed. Killed three people instantly and injured several more. Did some damage to the docks, the works.”
Alaya snorted at herself. It wasn’t funny, but for some reason, Kirk’s fate bothered her more than the deaths his accident caused. Nissa and the higher-ups wouldn’t see it that way.
“Have you reviewed the incident yet?”
This time she groaned. “No. I need to have a coproc do it. But I haven’t had time.” Ugh, she stiffened again. If Alaya was guessing, Gaz had just stifled some kind of suggestion. Most likely about reviewing her memories. “Wanna help me do it?” It was a dirty trick to slough her work off on Gaz, who agreed automatically.. But analytical memory review took time.
They were already hardline connected, so Alaya sent a sensory package over to Gaz of the event and five minutes either side.
When she finished sending the information over, Alaya found herself oddly light. Kirk’s fate remained undetermined. Her own fate too. But sharing what happened with Gaz had somehow helped her. Alaya would need to figure that too too. Later.
“There is a matter I encountered which may be related to your peer.” Gas twitched when a communication broke out over wireless to Alaya.
Like most normal people Alaya was not open to unsolicited communications. She kept her Loop Charter on full lock down. No reason to broadcast her location the rest of the Loop Council. But station protocol allowed supervisors to force a communique.
“Alaya, please report to my office immediately for… tea.” This was Nissa’s voice. Not Grun or one of his bosses. But the underboss herself.
Alaya locked eyes with Gaz. “Don’t follow me into her section this time if you’re gonna get caught.”
Gaz smiled. It was self-deprecating and modest. As far as Alaya was concerned, that smile was a cheese platter topped with chili peppers. Delicious and dangerous. “McRory.” The name broke Alaya’s mental image and replaced it with the security chief.
“Oh.”
“Yes, unfortunately I alerted an AI sensor inspector and did not realize it. But I escaped him. I believe I could defeat him if had a chance to scan him thoroughly, surprise, and only modestly better weapon options.”
Those words chilled Alaya. She knew there were more dangerous people in the Loops around sol than Gaz. They terrified her. Most likely she was about to shuffle off and meet those people. “You heard the lady, I need to rocket.”
“I worry about you when you meet with her.” The expression Gaz now wore struck a nerve. Alaya struggled to just walk away from that. They’d watched each other’s backs and protected each other for so long. But Alaya needed to do this. Nissa was the gate between Alaya and Kowal, who was the gate to the other pirates. “I…”
Gaz would have console herself. “No, Gaz you stay here or go back to work. If you come in with me and they hard scan me… you know how bad that will be.” They both knew, from personal experience. The results would have been bloody.
“Okay.” She stiffened again. “I will return to my security duties.”
Alaya hurried away, not wanting to provoke Nissa’s ire. Where Gaz was concerned, Alaya didn’t know what to do or say. She knew how important it was to Alaya to capture Kowal. Wait, did we even talk about that? Oh crap, no. Well we can’t talk about it over air.
She initiated careful mental blocks to keep her association with Gaz out of her mind as she reached Nissa’s section of the station. Olin stood there waiting for her wearing station-level tactical armor. The kind of armor with motion and balance assist. It was the sort of thing security personnel wore to provide the same protection as the walls of the station. Motors on the gauntlets flexed and hissed when Olin spotted her. Beneath the glass dome mask, he grinned. “I got my chopping blade nice and sharp for you mousey. Go on in. Nissa will call me when she wants me.” He winked at Alaya but didn’t move otherwise.
Now that she was here, Alaya took her time. No sense in giving Olin the satisfaction. Walking right into Nissa’s office was the kind of thing eight-year old Alaya might have done. Present-day Alaya knocked.
“Come in Alaya. Please.” Nissa’a voice sounded soft and welcoming. Assuring it was not.
Three people sat in the room aside from Nissa. One of them took up as much space as three normal-sized people. He loomed over Alaya and grunted at her. “It’s not her. Hasn’t even been close to it.”
The bow of her lips stretched down as Nissa’s eyebrows rose and her head bobbed. “Pleasing, but not entirely surprising,.” She clicked her eyes once at Alaya. “Please sit down.”
McRory, the one who’d spoken and who took up as much space as three people resembled nothing more than a giant at the moment. His frame was blocky in the way the ring fighters were depicted in the leagues which required humanoid forms. Grey haired, muscular to the extreme, he was simply human expanded in every dimension. His grey suit and dark glasses did nothing to hide the fact he was the second most dangerous person in the room after Nissa, his boss.
The other two people set Alaya’s teeth on edge. She’d not paid them much attention, devoting a coproc to assessment. Reading the abstract made her focus on them.
Furthest from Alaya, in the corner draped in shadow sat a small woman who’s skin reactively broadcast optical camouflage. Sensors outlined her, though Alaya could almost guarantee the woman could go sensor-dark if she cared to. Why have the optical camouflage added if not EM, thermo, and arcane?
Next to her sat a perfectly average-looking man. Brown hair, fair complected and 5’11”. He was too average, each part of his appearance carefully crafted to match a literal statistical mean. Darkness, deeper than the emptiest place Alaya had ever crawled, lurked behind that man’s light brown eyes. Pain, both the giving and the receiving, had been a long part of Alaya’s life. Whoever this guy was, he made Alaya’s own little pit look like an ink stain on a station pass.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Fuck McRory, this guy scared the absolute shit out of Alaya. McRory would kill Alaya in precisely the manner Nissa order and then only if she did. Whoever this brown-eyed every man was, he would kill Alaya because he liked to make the red waters flow.
No one had spoken while Alaya inspected the room. From the shadows, a whispered voice said, “she doesn’t look like much to me.”
“I like her.” Mr Brown-dead eyes spoke in an even, emotionless voice. It was one bit of static away from an AI’s voice. “She’ll do just fine.”
Nissa’s eyebrow actually rose. Probably just lost a bet. Alaya snickered in her head until Nissa spoke: “Five thousand credits to be exact.” Alaya’s gag reflex kicked in. No one else commented or reacted to her. She pointed to the people on the couch. “The lady in shadow over there is Vora. On the chair next to her is Isham.” Nissa raised her toros and turned to face Vora. “State your objection plainly.”
“This little newborn chick is gonna get us all rolled or caught by security. I signed up to steal things, not teach preschool.” Isham snorted at her. “You got a problem with what I said?”
“You are blind.” He motioned to Alaya. “She is blooded. Before she entered this room had an exit strategy, knows how she would try to kill all four of us and has planned the assassinations of both McRory and our esteemed employer.”
Cyber-locking, maybe there was a better name for it, might have given her away but Alaya did it anyway. Isham had to be guessing, but he’d guessed remarkably correctly. She cleared her throat and said, “I have no idea how I would kill Nissa.”
Nissa tilted her head and clasped her lower hands together. “Why?”
“Why what?” It was insanely dangerous to play games with people like Nissa. Even Go.
“Why have you not planned a way to assassinate me?”
Fuck it. Let’s tell her the truth. “Because I think you’re broadcasting here from off station and that means there’s basically no way to reach you. “Plus, that probably means you’re treating this as an extra source of income or as game. In either case, if I piss you off enough, you’ll just nuke the place and move on.”
Both pairs of hands clapped. “Amusingly said! And generally correct, though I will say I place value in Bahl-Mau over and above its position as an income stream.”
Because her optical camo made it hard to be sure, Alaya could only guess that Vora was staring at her. “How’d did you know that in the first place?”
“It is obvious.” Isham answered for Alaya.
Or I’ve met people like that before and they are usually narcissistic psychopaths. It’s kinda reassuring Nissa isn’t one. But then again, that is generally what a narcissistic psychopath would say. Yes, it was possible Nissa would detect those thoughts. But Alaya wanted her to hear them.
“Enough.” Nissa didn’t bother clapping her hands. It wasn’t necessary any way. Everyone looked at her. “I want the three of you to steal every item of value you can from this ship and from her captain. Everything.” The way she emphasized the word made Alaya tilt her head. This sounded personal, which was weird. Considering how today had gone, weird should have been expected. A packet containing the necessary information fell into Alaya’s proverbial lap. The others didn’t react so either they had more control than her or they’d already been briefed on this job.
The file opened and displayed a holographic image of the exact same tourist Alaya had flagged earlier. “I, uh…”
Nissa pursed her lips. “Yes?”
“I’m just a dock drudge. I’m glad, Mr Isham thinks…”
“Please, call me Isham. No mister.”
“Sorry, I’m glad Isham thinks I’m cherry fresh. But Vora is right. I have no idea what’s going on. I’m no thief or burglar or whatever.”
Vora’s outline shifted and her hands pointed to Alaya as if she’d made Vora’s point for her. “Why is she in on this?”
“Because Alaya brought me the information on our guest and because I think you will appreciate Alaya’s skills more than Isham.” Nissa’s head ratcheted toward Alaya and met her gaze full on. “And because Alaya will be paid handsomely for completing this task.”
This was gangster-speak for a non-optional assignment. “Well that sounds great. Why didn’t you lead with that?” There might have been better ways to kiss the ring and beg apologies, but Nissa appeared to accept it with a nod.
“Excellent. I expect this matter will be resolved within forty-eight hours?”
Isham stood with a shake of his head. “We will not need so long.”
Vora and Alaya stood shortly after the man. Headed for the door in the hopes of avoiding this very fate, Nissa interrupted Alaya. “Wait a moment, please little mouse?”
Fuck. “Sure Nissa. No problem.”
McRory stood and walked out as Alaya sat back down. The big man turned his backside toward Alaya as if to say: “whatever plan you have for me doesn’t scare me in the least.”
Under entirely different circumstances, Alaya might have assured McRory she didn’t have that much faith in her own plan either. But how did she tell someone that in the first place, much less in front of someone else?
The moment the door closed, Nissa unfolded her body onto the couch with a look of relief. “Care to join me here, Alaya?”
There was nothing casual about the offer. Heart suddenly racing Alaya licked her chapped lips and said, “I’d rather not if that’s okay?”
“Of course it is.” Nissa slid up the side of her couch and perched herself onher right wrist. The one on her upper set of arms. The lower fiddled meaninglessly with the tea set on the table. “The incident today at the docks. Who’s responsibility was that?”
Right. “It was mine.”
“How so?”
“With Kirk’s implants, and the general danger of the loader, someone is supposed to help clear people away and generally ensure nothing goes wrong with the loader. That person was me.”
“You don’t blame the young man.”
Alaya bristled. “Of course not. Whatever this was, it looks like mechanical and AI failure to me. Not that I’ve seen the direct evidence.”
“Hmm.” Nissa’s lower arms drummed on the table. “I will take what you’ve said under advisement. Now go and lead your team to success. Earn this delicious bonus I’m offering you.”
“Speaking of…”
“Thirty percent.” Nissa’s lower left hand snapped. “Of your outstanding dock debt here, gone. Instantly.”
Okay. Fuck yeah. “Oh. Neat.”
Thirty percent. She and Gaz would have spare change after they paid off what they owed. And just as Kowal showed up. Alaya wanted to get this job cleared up as soon as possible. That way she could refocus on Kowal and clear that tick mark off her bucket list.
Isham and Vora stood outside Nissa’s section, waiting for Alaya where Olin could see them. “Let’s go talk about this where we won’t be heard.”
Vora folded her arms. “No. You’re not the boss here and I’m still not okay with you even coming on this op.”
“Vora. Our boss has made her orders unequivocal.”
“I don’t care. I won’t follow…”
“What the fuck do I have to do to prove myself to you?” Before she’d finished speaking, Alaya had marked Vora’s scent. Blocking sound, sight, and even electronic sensors was hard. Chemical sensors was next to impossible.
“We’re supposed to trust you with leadership and tech. If you’re so good, come and find me.” The moment she finished talking all sign of Vora vanished. Just as Alaya had suspected.
“This is so stupid.” Alaya said the words out lout, but didn’t expect an answer.
Isham said, “perhaps it is stupid. But if Vora insists, you will have to satisfy her or complain to our boss.”
Fuck option number 2. Alaya kicked on her olfactory systems. This was how Gaz had tracked her down back in the day, this was one of the first augmentations Alaya had installed. Just as she suspected, Vora did not have a way to deal with the chemical trail she left, not completely.
Some kind of suction and filtration was doing its best to scrub her presence from the air, but Alaya had picked up her exterior scent so there was nothing Vora could do to avoid her. If Alaya had been trying to pick her trail up cold, she would have failed utterly. But this was the minuscule traces Vora left behind blazed a path right to the woman. Right to Olin.
Alaya stopped in front of him and said, “I’m done playing hide and seek. Either come out or go away and we’ll find someone else to take your payout.”
Olin didn’t react, but Vora appeared next to him, close enough to brush her hand across his chest. Upon her appearance, he did the same cyborg-stillness thing. There was a term for when one learned about a word they started hearing it all the time. The stillness was like that. “Fine you win.”
“Perfect. Can we go talk now?”
There was a time in human history when bars and other pubs had formed the center of social communion. Now no such physical space really stood in for the same. But virtual places had risen up to fill the role. Many of them were stylized as if to memorialize the distant past, preserved now through the retelling of tall tales and the re-release of some ancient film or story.
DallNet access, long the white whale of Alaya’s young life came free and easy to her. It was one of the only benefits to the Loop Charter Alaya regularly made use of. She wore an old duster, cowgirl hat, blue jeans, and a black plaid western shirt. She wore the all black garb of the traditional Western hero right down to her black iron spurs. Not that she had any idea what the hat, boots, or spurs were for.
Vora logged in as a woman in bright red hoop skirt, blond hair piled atop her head, and bosoms all but exposed by her neckline. Isham looked exactly like himself. No surprise there.
DallNet was officially neutral and zealously protected its users’ privacy. In practice there were always organizations with enough financial or governmental pull to subpoena records from the company. Add to that the fact the owner of a DallNet space could chose to listen in on every part of the room or record everything said or done within and a lot of people didn’t trust DallNet or any of the public ‘nets when it came to privacy.
But Nissa owned this space and they were only going to discuss the job.
“What’s the plan, boss?”Vora checked her hair and face out in a hand mirror, pulling at her curls as she did.
“I am going with simple.” She pointed to Isham. “You’re muscle and what?”
Isham stuck his chest out and said, “I am muscle and medical.”
“Vora, you’re entry and what?”
“I can manage some technical, but I hate it. Same with fighting.”
“Okay. I’ll handle tech and big picture. I can use a weapon and I think we should definitely go with simple here. We break into Mr Adventurer’s suit. Take his stuff. Kill him if he resists.” Sorry mom, sorry dad.
Vora said, “kill him only if he resists?”
Isham shrugged, but Alaya said, “Nissa said to take everything of value. If she asks, we can tell her that. I’d prefer not to kill anyone. But if he resists, he’s trying to hurt or kill us. I’m not okay with that.”
Both of them shrugged and Alaya suspected Mr adventurer’s days were numbered. She’d sloughed his name off on a coproc, not wanting the identity of the man she might have to murder on her conscience.