Wanderer's Escape (29 page)

“
We're branching out into hunting trips,” Elizabeth answered.  “Big game hunting, only on planets where it's allowed of course.”

“
Of course.  All is in order.  I can authorise delivery as soon as we receive payment then, as I'm sure you will use the items... responsibly.”

Even having been warned of this by Elizabeth Jess found the brief exchange shocking.  She'd explained that the arms dealers wanted to keep a respectable image, to claim they only supplied weapons responsibly.  A complete sham but one that prevented the authorities from looking at their business too closely, provided those authorities were suitably bribed of course.

“The payment is in our shuttle,” Elizabeth replied.  “We will unload it for you before leaving.”

“
Excellent.  Now, would you care to join me for a drink?”

Without waiting for an answer he pressed a button set into the table.  A small side door opened and... something... walked in, carrying a tray with three shot glasses on it.  Jess stared at the creature.  Covered in short dark fur its main body was horizontal, supported by four short legs on each side.  It's body was rectangular.  Maybe two metres long and half that wide it almost looked like a walking, furry table.  A long flexible neck and two equally flexible arms rose from the front of its body.  The arms ended in many sucker tipped appendages, the neck was topped by a narrow head with a small mouth and two sets of eyes
– one set close together like a hunting animal, the other set wide on its head to give excellent peripheral vision.  A large silver band circled its neck, with a start Jess recognised it as a form of control collar.

The creature reached the table and set the tray down with a slight bump, spilling a little of the contents.  It cowered back immediately as the arms dealer scowled at it.

“Useless creature!” he shouted at it.  Reaching out he pushed another button on the table, immediately the creature collapsed to the floor writhing in agony.  Jess stared in horror, his life as a prisoner meant he could recognise a control collar in action even on such an amazing creature.

“
Stop it!” he shouted.  “You're hurting it!”

He went to stand but Elizabeth grabbed his arm, glaring at him.  The arms dealer grinned at Jess, keeping his finger on the button for several more seconds before relenting.  The creature remained on the floor, whimpering in a deep tone.

“Do you like my pet?” the man asked.  “It is amazingly rare.  I found it in a damaged ship, nearly thirty years ago now.  It may not be the best servant but it is the most unusual.”

“
I want to buy it,” Jess said.  “How much do you want?”

The man laughed. 
“It is not for sale, not that you could possibly afford the price if it was.”

“
How much?” Jess demanded, standing.  “I want it.  How much will it cost?  We can pay!”

The arms dealer's face twitched, annoyance showing through his fa
çade of reasonableness.  Elizabeth stood and grabbed Jess by the arm, forcing him to sit again.

“
Jess!  I won't have you showing me up like this.  I brought you on this trip to see how I do business, to start to learn, not to cause a scene and embarrass me.  Now sit down and
shut up
!”

Jess, calm down.  It's too risky.  Get hold of yourself.

Jess forced himself to take deep breaths, the message from Sal having far more of an affect than Elizabeth's words.

“
I'm sorry,” Elizabeth said, turning back to the arms dealer.  “It's my own fault.  He's my only child and I've spoilt him, always let him have anything he wanted.  He needs to learn there are things in life he can't have.  Something we'll be having a long discussion about as soon as we get back on my ship.”

The arms dealer visibly relaxed, a smile that was more like a sneer on his face.

“We were all young once,” he said.  “We all had lessons to learn, if we lived that long.”  The last statement carried a clear threat.  Jess stared at the table sullenly, not trusting himself to look up.  He was still incredibly angry and felt helpless, desperate to help the poor creature but unable to.

“
Get out of my sight!” the arms dealer ordered the creature.  It quickly slunk out through the side door.  “Now, please join me in a drink.” 

He took one shot glass, pushing the tray with the other two towards Elizabeth and Jess.  Elizabeth took one and pointedly set it down in front of Jess, then took her own.  She knocked hers back in one hit, as did the arms dealer.  Reluctantly Jess followed suit, coughing as the strong spirits burned his throat
– much to the arms dealers enjoyment.  For a moment Jess worried what might be in the drink but his implants quickly confirmed it was simply alcohol, though particularly strong.  The arms dealer stood.

“
Thank you for your business.  You will be escorted back to your shuttle.  Please unload the payment and we will arrange for the containers to be delivered near to your ship, ready for your shuttles to collect.  As agreed.”

“
Thank you,” Elizabeth said.  “And I apologise once again for my son's outburst.  Come on Jess.”

They stood and followed the guards out of the room, robots once again following close behind.  Still seething inside Jess played the part of a petulant teenager without any need to act.

I'm sorry.  You couldn't save that creature.  I know it's hard.

The message from Sal didn't make him feel any better.  He trudged along the warren of passages before they finally entered the main corridor.  Elizabeth didn't try to speak to him and he had no desire to talk.  They reached the shuttle in silence.  Elizabeth walked to the shuttle and entered a code on the control panel by the cargo door, a panel that wasn't connected to anything.  Jess sent a pulsed command to the shuttle and the door opened.  To the guards it appeared to be a normal shuttle with a security lock.

“Unload the cargo,” Elizabeth ordered the robots.

Again this was just for show, the robots were under Sal and Ali's control.  They marched in and started unloading the contents.  Large bars of gold and other precious metals were carried out and then scanned by the guards.  Jess had no idea of the value, other than that it was far above a reasonable rate for their supplies.  They were paying a huge premium to get the items with no questions asked.

The guards confirmed the payment was valid, that the bars were pure all the way through.  Elizabeth sealed the cargo hatch, then she, Jess and the robots entered the shuttle's flight deck via it's airlock.  Sal sent a message to confirm that the containers were being delivered.  Everything had gone completely according to plan, yet Jess's mouth tasted of ashes and he had a heavy lump in his chest.  He couldn't get the image of the poor enslaved creature out of his head.

They lifted off without issues and flew out of the station's docking bay.  As they cleared the structure Elizabeth let out a huge sigh and visibly sank into her seat.

“My god Jess, what the bloody hell were you thinking?  You bloody idiot!  They coulda killed us both!”  As always when she was stressed or angry her speech became clipped.

“
I'm sorry.  I couldn't help it.  You saw what they did to that creature.”

“
Yeah, I know.  Sorry, shoulda known how it'd affect you.  Bloody hell though.  That was too feckin close.”

She paused for a moment, took several breaths to calm herself down.  It must have worked as her speech became less clipped.

“Sorry, I wish we could've helped it too.  We couldn't though.  At best we'd have blown the deal.  At worst they'd have started shooting, even with the robots I didn't want that.  You OK?”

“
Yeah, I'm OK.  Really.”  Jess replied, smiling.

She studied him closely. 
“Why the sudden change?  I thought you wanted to save it?  Now suddenly you don't care that we left it behind?”

“
We didn't.  I just checked the shuttle's sensors.  It's standing behind you, against the wall.”

Elizabeth span round, staring at the wall.  Jess knew she couldn't see the creature, nor could he with his own eyes.  It was showing up clearly on the shuttle's internal sensors though.

“There's nothing there!” Elizabeth said.

“
Actually, there is.”  Sal's voice sounded strange coming from the robot's speaker grill.  “Now Jess has pointed it out the robot can just about detect it, not easily though.”

“
Try scanning for electrical discharge,” Jess said.

“
Wow... yep, it's glowing away there.  Amazing.  It seems to be standing on the rear two sets of legs, the front half of its body is tilted up by ninety degrees and it's front two pairs of legs are just hanging down.”

Suddenly a chunk of the shuttle's back wall seemed to flicker and they could see the creature.  Flexing its long neck it faced Jess.

“Found me have you.  Take me back not.  Please.”

It's voice was deep, the words more rumbled than spoken.  Jess stared at the creature for a few seconds, amazed that it could speak.  The alien he realised, for it couldn't be anything else.  Realising it was waiting for a reply he tried to speak, only managed a squeak, cleared his throat and tried again.

“No.  Don't worry.  We won't take you back, I promise.”

“
Much thanks.  Kind are you.  Pain recognised you.  Slave recognised you.  Slave were you?  Your eyes saw it in.”

Jess struggled for a moment to make sense of the creatures words, then it struck him.  The creature was asking if he had been a slave, was saying it saw that in his eyes.  The creatures broken speech had led him to think of it as stupid, he realised with a shock that he had seriously underestimated it.

“Yes,” he said softly.  “Yes.  I was a slave.  Until recently.  I didn't want to leave you there.  I couldn't get you free though.”

“
Matter not.  Myself freed did.  Easy was.”

“
Wait... your collar is gone.  How did you do that?”

“
Easy.  Long time do could.  No point.  I go where?  Waited.  Long, long waited.  Right soul for waited.  Right soul found.  You.  Stay can?”

“
I... I guess so.  I need to speak to the others, we need to learn more about you.  Whatever happens we won't take you back though.  You'll be free.  I promise.”

“
You thank Jess.”

“
You're most welcome.”  Jess grinned.  “What's your name?”

“
Can say you not.  Use you Teeko.”

“
Teeko?  OK Teeko.  We'll be back at our ship soon.  Is there anything you need before we get there?”

“
Need no.  Freedom I have.  Much thanks.”

Once they returned to the Wanderer, Jess introduced Teeko to Ali and Sal.  Both looked nervous.  Jess could understand why, they had a complete unknown aboard the ship.

It's OK
he pulsed to them. 
The ship can track it, I'm keeping a close eye on it.

Sal caught his eye and nodded once to show she understood.

“How did you get aboard the shuttle?  How did you know where it was?”

“
Followed did I.  Followed to shuttle.  As door opened entered did I.  Fast am I.”

“
And they didn't know you could do this, that you could disappear from sight?”

“
No.  Careful been I.  Saving escape for.  Saving today for.”

“
How did they capture you?” asked Jess.  “They mentioned a ship, were you flying it?”

“
Memory not have.  Memory start slave as.  Young maybe was.  Baby maybe was.”

“
Have you met any others like you?”

“
Not met.  Want to much.  Travel want to.  Family find.  Find you with?”

“
Maybe.  I need to talk to the others.  You've managed to deceive those arms dealers for years, we have to decide if we can trust you.”

Teeko became agitated, weaving its head in a figure eight pattern.

“
Deceive not them.  Tell nothing them.  Say not can hide.  Tell you now.  Tell you trust can.  Tell you hurt will not.  You fellow not-slave.”

“
All right, calm down.  We still need to talk about it, and we need to deal with the shipments coming across from the station too.  Are you hungry?  Would you like to rest?”

“
Hungry now not.  Rest like.  Pool water warm like much.”

“
Warm water?  Well you can use the bath in my room.  Anyone else want to ask Teeko anything?”

The others shook their heads, faces still troubled.  Jess led Teeko to his own cabin having ordered the bath filled, then left it, locking the door behind him.

“Well, what do you think?” he asked as he reached the living area again.

“
Could be a spy,” Elizabeth said.  “Classic way to get an agent aboard.  Though I would've expected messages from the station, something about it having escaped and being very dangerous.  Something to reinforce that it had escaped rather than been let go.”