Her Brother's Keeper - eARC (15 page)

“Wow. I don’t really know much about Mandalay. What’s it like in those forests?”

“Oh, you don’t go into the forest, not if you don’t need to. There are all kinds of things that will kill you there: plants that will wrap you in vines and suck the juices out of you, animals that will swallow you whole, even a kind of fungus-type stuff that’ll dissolve you in acid. The local wildlife doesn’t care that it can’t digest our alien protein. Everything on Mandalay wants to kill you. The terraformed zone is surrounded by a fifty-meter-high wall to keep the native species out as much as possible. But you didn’t answer my question. What brought you out to New Austin?”

“Huh? Oh. Well, like I said, Langley isn’t a great place to live. The remaining inhabited landmass is crowded. They had this big population boom after the war, with refugees from other colonies moving in and people deciding to have a lot of kids. I guess a brush with extinction triggered the “go forth and multiply” instinct. Most people around Langley live in these massive arcologies. Each one is a self-contained little city, hundreds of stories high, with thousands or tens of thousands of residents, shops, services, you name it. The place is so crowded there aren’t enough jobs for everybody. With that kind of unemployment, crime is high. The government starting cracking down more and more on the crime, and it just got to be ridiculous. There were police checkpoints all over the place, the government monitors electronic transmissions, there were cameras everywhere, and where there weren’t cameras there were robots following you around, recording everything you do. They used to joke that you couldn’t swing a dead cat without breaking ten different laws, but one time I watched this crazy homeless guy
literally
swing a dead cat around, by the tail, outside the northwest gate of the base. Right in the middle of an intersection! Turns out, that
is
illegal. This cop tried to talk him down and he hit him, you know, with the dead cat. Right in the face. Three other cops shot the guy and dragged him off while the first cop tried to wipe, I don’t know, whatever juices come out of a dead cat, off his face.”

Devree snorted loudly, trying not to choke on her water as she laughed. “I shouldn’t laugh. They shot an obviously disturbed man. It’s screwed up. Still funny, though.”

Wade continued, “I know, right? I swear to God, that actually happened. That’s when I told myself that I needed to get off that fucking rock. The worst part is, even with all the heavy-handed policing, the cameras, the searches, the checkpoints, it’s
still
not safe to go into some places in the city. The gangs there are well armed, and they fight with each other and the cops all the time.”

“Holy shit. I can see why you left.”

“Yeah. I knew I wanted to get out of the Defense Force, but I sure as hell didn’t want to live anywhere on Hayden. There are places that aren’t as bad as Langley and places that are really nice, but there are no jobs in the not-bad places and I’m not rich enough to live in the
really
nice places. I found these advertisements for emigration to New Austin, and it looked amazing—wide open spaces, clear skies, fresh air, plenty of room, low crime, and a government that minds its own business. I said, sign me up!”

Devree took a long sip of water and ate some of the tortilla chips that were left in the basket on the table. “That’s what they told me when they offered me a list of places I could go. No crime syndicates on New Austin, they said. No native ecosystem trying to kill you, either. Just mild weather and friendly people. At least that’s what they said.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, what happened to you? Mandalay is an Inner Colony world, right? What brought you out to the frontier?”

Devree stirred the ice in her water for a moment, thoughtfully, as if trying to decide what to say. “I was a sniper on one of the Colonial Enforcement Bureau’s tactical intervention teams.”

Wade raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, we called them
TITs
,” Devree said with a grin. “It’s actually a really prestigious unit, and it’s hard to get into. The regular Police Academy was tough, but the selection course for the TITs has something like an eighty percent washout rate. Not a lot of women make it through, but I did.”

“Your prosthetics are…extensive. How did you get them?”

Devree held up her artificial right arm, and examined it quietly for a moment. “That’s kind of how I ended up out here. I was flesh and blood when I went through the academy. I mean, afterwards, they gave me the usual boosters to keep me in top shape, but I got through selection on my own. These,” she said, indicating her prosthetic legs, “these are the result of an attempt to kill me.”

“Jesus,” Wade said quietly. “How bad was it?”

“Both of my legs were traumatically amputated above the knee. My right arm was mangled so badly that it couldn’t be saved. My left arm was in better shape, but I lost fingers on the hand. I had extensive internal injuries, my eardrums were burst, I was temporarily blinded by the explosion, and I had extensive second and third degree burns.”

“Explosion?”

Devree nodded. “We’d been cracking down on a crime syndicate called the Black Hand for over a year. When we started, they ran a good portion of the capital city of New Dawn. When all was said and done, they were on the run, but they didn’t go out without a fight. There was a standoff. We had one of their big-time players, son of one of the Black Hand’s bosses, surrounded in a warehouse. We busted him in human trafficking and smuggling. He took one of the kids hostage.”

“Kids?”

“Yeah, kids. They were his cargo. There’s still a market for that kind of shit in some places, I guess. He took a hostage, this terrified teenage boy. My spotter, Samseer, was with me. I took the shot. I blew that son-of-a-bitch’s head clean off, through a skylight, from this really tall communications tower nearby.”

“So what happened?”

“The syndicate boss went insane. He had his few remaining loyal soldiers just start wreaking havoc in New Dawn. They killed police officers, judges, lawyers, city and government officials, whoever they could take a shot at. It got so bad that the governor declared a state of emergency and sent in the Colonial Guard. But the Black Hand had eyes and ears everywhere, even in the Enforcement Bureau. Somebody talked. They found out I was the one who made the shot.”

“Oh no,” Wade said.

“Samseer and I were in an unmarked ground car, headed out to lunch one day. All I remember is a car pulling in front of us, and this woman standing in an open sunroof with a missile launcher in her hands. I was on the passenger’s side. The missile hit the driver’s side. Samseer was killed instantly. I don’t know how I survived. I woke up in a city hospital a few days later. I couldn’t see, I could barely hear, and I was missing my limbs. Machines were keeping me alive.”

“I’m so sorry,” Wade managed. “That’s horrible.”

Devree shrugged. “Is what it is. They fixed me, as you can see. My arms and legs are better than real ones. They feel pretty real to me. It’s still a little different, but it feels mostly natural when someone touches me. My new organs are better than the ones I was born with, I can run faster, and I don’t have to worry about spraining an ankle anymore. It could’ve been a lot worse. Like Samseer.”

“You seem pretty positive about it.”

“I have to be. My partner was killed, I was blown to pieces, and I had to drop my entire life and come out here just to be safe. I can’t dwell on all that. I’m lucky to be alive and I need to focus on that.”

“It sounds like you’ve had this argument with yourself before.”

“I drank heavily when I first got here. I was out every night almost. I’d go home with just about anybody, I’d start fights, I even spent a couple nights in the Aterrizaje city jail. That’s when I realized how stupidly I was acting. I quit drinking for over a year, got a job, and put my life back together. I figured I owed it to my partner to not waste the rest of my life.”

“So what brought you on this mission?”

“Same thing that brought you, Wade,” Devree said with a smile. “The money. Also, I’m bored. I’m not the workaday kind of person, never was.”

“Well, if you’re interested, when we get back Marcus and I might be able to get you on the Marshal’s Service. They’re pretty shorthanded. The pay’s not great, and it’s usually dull, but it’s not a bad job.”

“Well…one thing at a time. When we get back I just might take you up on that. And I’m sorry I told you my entire life story. I get chatty when I drink. Thank you for being a good listener. Most guys only listen to me when they’re trying to get in bed with me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Wade said with a wry grin. Devree laughed.

* * *

Near the Aterrizaje fairgrounds was a large caravan park. People came in from all over the terraformed zone to attend the Stampede, and the caravan park was full. So full, in fact, of mobile homes, trucks, trailers, and other vehicles that they had spilled over into the dusty open areas beyond the park. Annie had heard about the parties that could happen out in the caravan park. Tonight was a big one. Multiple bonfires had been lit. Dozens of horsemen, cow punchers, riders, party girls, and roughnecks drank, caroused, blasted music, and had a good time. The Aterrizaje city police didn’t bother them unless someone reported destruction of property, and the fairgrounds’ robots generally stayed away as well. They were tasked with monitoring the livestock and weren’t concerned with drunken human antics.

At sixteen standard years, Annie was below the legal drinking age on New Austin, but tonight nobody seemed to care. Young people, teenagers to twenty-somethings, gathered around a large bonfire as music played. People danced, drank, played games, and made out. Nobody asked her to verify her age before handing her a bottle of beer.

“See? It’s not so bad,” Carlos said, sipping his own drink. Nobody was getting out of control or anything.

“I guess,” Annie said, sipping the beer in her hand. “My dad would be so mad if he knew I was here, though.” She took another sip and frowned. “Drinking, no less. What is this stuff, horse piss? Is someone playing a joke on me?”

Carlos looked at her bottle. “It might as well be horse piss. Try this.”

Annie took the bottle from Carlos and took a long swig.

“Easy there. I don’t think you drink much.”

“I don’t drink at all,” she said, handing the bottle back. “That’s better, but…ugh.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just think I’m done with this,” she said, pouring the remainder of her beer into the dirt. She tossed the bottle into a waste receptacle and looked up at Carlos. “So is this what people do in the city?”

“What do you mean?”

“I live in Laredo Territory. The nearest actual town is Red River.”

“That’s not much of a town.”

“It’s not. It has maybe four thousand people, and it’s an hour away by road. I almost never see people my own age, you know? Or people at all, except for my parents. I guess I thought it’d be more exciting than this. I don’t know.” She looked around at the revelers. It was getting late and things had calmed down somewhat. “Everyone is just sitting around, or drinking, or making out. Nobody is talking to anybody.”

“Parties are more fun when all your friends are there,” Carlos said.

“I don’t have a lot of friends. Not face to face friends anyway.”

“You had fun in the city though, didn’t you?”

Annie smiled. “I did. You’ve been the sweetest tour guide. Thank you for showing me a good time.” Nearby, a woman, probably in her early twenties, kneed a drunk, oafish young cowboy in the balls and knocked him to the ground. A group of people cheered and laughed at his pain as the woman grabbed her hat and stormed off. Annie shook her head. “And thank you for being a gentleman, Carlos. Hey, you want to get out of here?”

“Where do you want to go? My dad’s car has autodrive.”

“I want to go check on Sparkles.”

Carlos nodded. “The robots will let us in if we display our passes. Do you have yours?”

Annie nodded, pulling her ID pass out of her pocket and hanging it around her neck. “Let’s go.”

The huge stable was darkened, except for navigation and safety lighting, to calm the animals. As expected, a robot checked their passes when they entered, but ignored Annie and Carlos after that. They made their way along a row of stalls to number 067, but stopped when they saw a group of what looked like teenagers gathered around Sparkles’ stall.

“What the fuck?” Annie snarled, and took off at a run, leaving Carlos to try to keep up with her. Swearing aloud, she pushed her way through the gaggle of inebriated teens to find Victoria Alexander in Sparkles’ stall. The horse was taking something from the palm of her hand.

“What the fuck are you doing to my horse?” she said. With a push of her arms she cleared the stall door and landed next to Victoria. “What did you give her?” she snapped, shoving Victoria with both hands.

The rich girl slammed against the stall wall, but only started laughing. She wasn’t looking so good; her hair was a mess, her clothes were disheveled, and she stank of alcohol. Her eyes were bloodshot and red. “Hey there, desert rat,” she said. “Just seeing if your horse likes to party. Want some?”

Annie’s heart was racing, her hands shaking. She grabbed Victoria by the shirt and pulled her in close. “What did you do to my
horse
, you fucking bitch?”

Her head lolling around, Victoria showed Annie a small, empty vial. “Red Eye, baby. You want some? It makes you fly, fly, fly!”

The group of teens were watching uneasily, and no one said anything. Annie could feel the rage boiling up from deep inside her. She didn’t know if she wanted to scream or cry. Shoving Victoria aside, she turned to the group. “You let her do this? You let her? Somebody call the vet! She poisoned my horse!”

“I’ll do it,” Carlos said, touching his handheld. “What the hell is wrong with you people?”

An older guy, probably in his twenties, smacked the device out of Carlos’ hand. “Who you calling there, dirt farmer? You trying to bring the law down on us?” Red Eye was a dangerous synthetic drug, one of a few such substances that was banned for personal consumption on New Austin. It caused erratic and sometimes dangerous behavior in its users, and simple possession was a criminal offense. Carlos shoved the older guy back and bent to pick up his handheld. “I don’t give a damn about your stupid Red Eye, asshole! Her horse will die if we don’t—” Before Carlos could say anything else, the other man punched him in the face, and the fight was on.