Gambler (14 page)

She held her hands out to break her fall and
managed to roll off to the side. Agony whipped up from her injured
side and blood wept from grazes on her hands.

The crowd sneered down at her, laughing. A
fat man in a blue suit spat at her, the goblet landing on her bare
leg.

Bile rose in her throat as she pushed the
pain out of her mind and scrambled to her feet. She spun in tight
circles, searching desperately for any way out, but there were no
stairs and the pit was too deep for her to jump and reach the
edge.

"What are you doing?" she yelled up at the
faces.

No one replied.

"Sensing distress. Is intervention
required?" Cal's voice was like that of an angel in Nova's ear.

"They've trapped me! They're planning
something. I need you to—"

"She's got a chip!" the man in the blue suit
yelled.

"Start the interference," another voice
said.

"Awaiting further command," Cal said.

"Cal, I need you to—" but the rest of Nova's
message didn't reach Cal. The casino was well equipped with jamming
devices. Usually, they were left off for the pleasure of the
clients, but here in this room, in the Hole, anything goes.

"Dammit!" Nova said and spun in a desperate
circle.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

Nova stopped mid-spin when she caught the
sound of screeching metal. On the other side of the Hole, two large
men lowered a cyborg soldier. Nova's eyes widened with horrified
realisation. The individual looked as if it had been made of two
separate creatures, then stitched together. The left half was that
of a man, with brown hair and a green eye that eventually fixed on
Nova. He had no shirt and the muscles of his arms and shoulders
glowed in the neon lights. Over his waist he wore a simple pair of
jeans and a thick boot covered his left foot.

The left hand side, the man, might have been
handsome if it wasn't for the right half. The right side had no
hair; instead a shiny metal surface reflected the many lights. A
dark orb sat in place of his right eye. His nose and mouth were
gaping holes.

Where skin met metal it looked as though the
two had been fused together with extreme heat. The seam continued
down the bare chest, which on the right side glinted hard steel.
The metal groin and leg were unclothed, the jeans crudely cut in
half. Nova tried not to let her gaze linger too long on the
cyborg's crotch, although a part of her wondered how that part of
him had been fused.

The cyborg reached the floor of the Hole
with a crunch and the crowd cheered.

"What is this?" Nova yelled up at the
people. No one responded.

"Begin in five seconds," the cyborg said.
His voice was an odd combination of human and computer and the lips
of the man moved while the robot's features remained
motionless.

"Cracos!" Nova whirled around to get a look
at the man but he was nowhere to be seen. "This is madness!"

"Three, two, one," the cyborg counted down,
its tone remaining consistent.

At zero Nova pulled the gun from her belt
and rolled to the side. The cyborg raised its right hand and a red
beam of light shot out. It hissed over Nova's head and slammed into
the far wall, creating a burning hole.

Nova rolled to her feet and turned on the
cyborg. The creature was fast; it had already got her back in its
sights and she was forced to roll to the side again, sending new
waves of pain up her side. She clenched her teeth and hoped that
her stitches stayed together.

She darted towards the cyborg before she'd
even finished her roll and fired at the creature. Her own gun
emitted a blue flash as it sent out a deadly blast. The cyborg
stepped forward and the blast made barely a dent in its metal
surface.

"Shit," Nova said, running as fast as she
could to the other side of the Hole. Sure enough, another beam of
red shot across the arena and left a burning crater.

"Look, let's be reasonable," Nova said as
she darted around the small area. "I don't want to kill you, and
you don't want to kill me. Let's call it even."

"The main imperative is to survive. Only one
of us can leave the Hole," the robot voice responded, much to
Nova's surprise.

"No, no! I promise to lay down my weapon
just as soon as you lay down yours. I've been a friend to the
cyborgs, I always supported your rights," Nova said, pleading with
her eyes as the creature fired at her.

The battle for cyborg equality had been
going for decades; the right to marry and the right to bear
children had all been hard won, and still there were many areas of
the known universe that a cyborg shouldn't tread - at least not if
they planned to go on living.

"It is not my decision. It is them." For
just a brief second the cyborg stopped shooting at Nova and
gestured to the jeering crowd.

Security guards with large guns resting on
their shoulders stood at intervals around the Hole.

"Only one will live. The imperative is to
survive." The creature stopped talking and started barraging Nova
with red blasts of energy.

She dropped low to the ground to avoid being
hit and ran, half crouched, towards the creature. She refused to
think about the man before her and instead focused on the gun in
her hand. She ran past red energy blasts and dodged the pieces of
rubbish hurled into the ring by the onlooking crowd. She sprinted
up to the human side of the creature and there she stopped.

She took one second to look into the
creature's human eye. "I'm sorry," she said as her gun fired and
her blue plasma bolt punched through the man's skull, through the
brain and into the robot's circuits. The moment her shot went off
the cyborg's arm dropped to its side and its eyes went blank. Just
a few seconds later the body collapsed to the ground.

The two halves twitched, out of tandem with
each other as if they were trying to get away from one another.
Nova stared down at the display and nausea rolled through her. All
around her the crowd roared, the noise pounding Nova's eardrums.
She wanted to turn her gun on the watchers and fire until either
there were no more bullets or no more people, but she held back. If
she wanted to survive, she had to hold back.

She refused to look up at the crowd as they
cheered. She gazed at the cyborg until it twitched its last and lay
still. She then went about checking her gun and when she was
satisfied all was well, she stood still, staring down at the floor
of the Hole.

Her elbows and knees dribbled blood and her
black dress hung in tattered rags from her hips. Dirt covered most
of her body, interspersed with purple bruises, but she didn't react
to the pain or the filth. She stared at the ground, unmoving.

The crowd lost interest as Nova refused to
move. Their cheering died as they moved away from the Hole to find
different entertainment. A grimace crossed Nova's face as she
caught the scent of burning plastic from the cyborg's head. The
scent of boiling flesh came next. The smells and a faint smoke hung
in the air.

Rage boiled through Nova's veins, coursing
through her body like rivulets of fire. Her hands clenched into
fists at her side as she imagined the many ways Cracos and the
onlookers would pay for what they'd done to the cyborg, and to her.
Her anger choked her throat and made her breath ragged, stinging
her eyes with furious tears.

"Quite a fight," the familiar voice came
from above the Hole. Nova refused to look up.

"I have to say I'm surprised. Gendon has
been with us for some time and never lost. Until now, of
course."

Nova glared at the floor, ignoring Cracos.
Whatever he wanted, she wasn't interested.

"Just shoot her!" Zodac growled.

"Now, Zodac, don't be spiteful; Nova's paid
her debt."

"And what did he do?" Nova glared up at
Cracos. Her shaking finger pointed at the fallen Cyborg.

Cracos smiled down at her with his bloated
lips. "Freaks will not be tolerated here on Tabryn." His many chins
jiggled as he laughed.

"He was just a man," she said, cursing
herself for speaking to Cracos, but at the same time unable to
stop.

"An animal; nothing more." Cracos's tone
lost its humorous edge and he sucked hard on the cigar in his
mouth.

Nova's mouth formed a hard line and she
returned to glaring at the ground.

"You're free to go, Nova. Your punishment is
done," Cracos said.

Nova didn't look up.

"Lower the ladder," Cracos ordered, stomping
away from the Hole.

Nova heard the rope ladder fall down the
Hole's wall and come to rest a foot from the ground. Only then did
she lift her gaze, and only enough to see the ladder and make her
way to it.

She climbed the twelve rungs with ease, as
quick as a sewer rat, despite the pain coursing through her. She
crested the lip of the Hole and stood to her full height. Her
expression made the security guards take a step back and glance at
one another.

Nova's eyes flashed with intense anger.
Murder filled her mind.

"I- er- think you should leave," said the
first security guard who had initially tossed her into the Pit.

The second guard nodded but said nothing,
his eyes wide.

Nova had kept her gun in hand as she climbed
the rope ladder. She took her time inspecting it and watching the
way it reflected the casino back at her on its shiny surface.

"Er- firearms are not to be possessed within
the casino," the first guard said, stepping forward as if he meant
to take the weapon.

In a move too quick to follow, Nova swung
the gun down and pointed it at the man's chest. "That's close
enough," she said.

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to
leave."

"Oh I'm going. I wouldn't stay in this
cosmic craphole for another second." She glared at the men, the
only ones left near the Pit. "I just want to make sure that I
remember the faces of the men who let this happen."

"Look, we're just doing our jobs." The first
man held up his hands. Nova's gun remained aimed at his chest.

"And what a fine job you did too," she said
between clenched teeth.

"Cracos said you can leave," the second
guard said.

"Hmm. I suppose I'm off then," she growled,
her finger twitching against the trigger.

She turned towards the casino's main exit
but not before moving the gun to the second man and pretending to
shoot him, and then blowing imaginary smoke from the barrel of her
gun.

She sauntered towards the main exit,
followed by hundreds of stares, the very picture of cold
confidence. Inside, she reeled with revulsion, guilt, and anger. A
part of her wanted to take out her gun and go on a shooting spree
throughout the casino. She would kill as many as she could on the
way to Cracos's office. When she finally reached his door, she
would burst through and fill his body with her deadly blue blasts.
In her imagination, Vicki was in his office too and they would both
be filled with plasma shots, until Nova was surrounded by cold,
lifeless corpses.

In reality, Nova put her gun back in its
holster and pushed her way through the milling crowd. Her
expression was as dark as thundering storm clouds and the crowd
parted before her, leaving a clear way to the exit.

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

Nova stormed towards Crusader and climbed
aboard with a grim expression. As soon as she was past the
entrance, Cal flew to her side.

The robot was piled high with medical
supplies as he raced towards the ship's entrance. His tiny arms
balanced bandages, skin grafts, and anti-septic in a precarious
pile.

"Communication was blocked. Report
injuries," Cal said. The concern in his robotic voice nearly made
Nova smile, but not quite.

"Minor injuries, Cal. Liquid bandage should
suffice."

Cal juggled the items he carried until the
can of bandage was at the top. Nova plucked it from the pile and
sprayed it onto the grazes that covered her arms and legs. The
liquid was cold as it came out of the can and formed a clear layer
over her wounds.

"Thanks, Cal," she said as she placed the
can back onto the pile in Cal's arms.

She marched through the ship and sat in the
command chair.

"Perhaps a status report would be best?" Cal
asked as she stared at the air in front of her.

She didn't reply. Her mind raced with
everything that had happened, but she couldn't think through the
haze of anger.

"Commander, perh—"

"Yes, Cal, I heard you," she said, waving
her hand. After a few more moments of silence she proceeded to
recount the events of the last fifteen minutes, since her
communication with Cal had been cut off.

The robot watched her and didn't move an
inch through the entire story. Nova's voice grew hoarse as she
described the cyborg and how she had had to kill it. When she
finished her tale, she slumped into the chair, her shoulders
bent.

"Analysis of the facts suggests this event
is not tied to the casino theft," Cal said.

"No, I don't think it was. Just Zodac
wanting revenge; and Vicki, of course, fanning the flames."

"What further commands do you have?" Cal
asked.

Nova stared at the robot. She considered
leaving Tabryn and the ridiculous casino case. A part of her hoped
Cracos did get all of his money stolen; the man obviously deserved
it. She opened her mouth to tell Crusader to lift off from the foul
planet, but she stopped before the first syllable. Her mind turned
to Vicki. That was exactly what she wanted, to scare Nova away.
Nova couldn't allow that. She couldn't let Vicki win again.

Nova bit her bottom lip. She didn't give two
craps about the thief now, but she would make Cracos and Vicki pay.
They'd nearly killed her, and they'd tortured and killed the
cyborg. There was no way Nova was going to let them get away with
it.