Survivor (5 page)

"Thank you for your information," Codon said
slowly. His eyes flicked around the room, perhaps hoping for a
solution to appear on the wall. "I'll have my soldiers look into
it."

Nova's neck tensed but she kept her face
serene. She needed this job for the reward, it was no good if Codon
went and found the fugitives himself.

"While I'm sure your soldiers would do their
best," she said, glancing over her shoulder at Alaina. "This is a
job for someone with more experience."

Codon frowned and glanced at Alaina. "What
do you mean?"

"Well," she said, her mind racing for a
solution. "You're a man of science. I wouldn't expect you to march
to war."

Codon nodded slowly at her, still
frowning.

"Well, in the same way, we can't expect
simple soldiers to understand the intricacies of such a delicate
political situation. These kinds of fugitives are volatile and
could break at any moment. If you send one of your soldiers in to
handle something like this it would more than likely blow up in
your face. Literally."

Alaina's face was red and her jaw
clenched.

"And you've dealt with this before?" Codon
said.

Nova smiled her most charming grin. Honesty
had no place in matters of life and death. The lie came easily to
her lips, "You could say it's my specialty."

Codon straightened his shoulders. "You're
not to go to the dig site. You're not to interrupt my soldiers.
Your purpose here begins and ends with those men. You can't
jeopardize this dig. It's too important."

"Of course," she said, keeping her smile
pinned to her face.

"Well, yes. Good. Just sort out the criminal
problem and everyone walks away happy. I should warn you; if I so
much as think you're thinking about interrupting my project, you'll
be locked on a prison asteroid faster than you can say 'not
guilty'."

She raised two fingers to her head in mock
salute. "Yes, sir. And what exactly are you digging for? The Cloud
has no mention of sentient life on this planet."

"I don't see how that's of any concern to
you," Codon said. His tone had levelled out and he gazed down at
Nova with barely concealed contempt.

"If I'm going to find these men, I need to
know what's going on here," she said. She cursed fate again for
getting her stranded on a desert planet run by the Confederacy.

"Let's just say the door promises 'enter and
you will have the power to control the universe'."

"That's a big promise," Nova said.

The guard on Nova's right glared at her and
cut in. "It's just what we need to bring the outer planets and you
damn bounty hunters into line."

The soldier's harsh tone snapped Codon out
of his hypnotised state. He shook his head and the frown
returned.

"Remember the rules," he said.

"You've got it," Nova said. She turned to
walk away. As soon as she moved, Alaina was at her side, gripping
her upper arm.

"Your project sounds great," Nova whispered
as soon as they were outside of the ship and back in the sun.

"Careful, hunter. It's an outer planet;
accidents happen."

"Not to me."

Nova's hand flicked to her belt and she
pulled a tiny blade out of the lining. It was razor sharp and so
thin that it could curve in tandem with her belt. She ripped the
knife through the air and pressed it against Alaina's jugular.

"Keep your threats to yourself and we'll get
along just fine."

"We'll see," the soldier said, her eyes
flicking between Nova's face and the knife.

"Yes," Nova said, keeping her knife in hand.
"We will."

Nova stepped away from Alaina and started
down the stairs. She was keenly aware of Alaina's eyes on her back.
She wouldn't dare shoot here. Later, definitely, but not right
here.

"Just remember, go snooping and you'll end
up on a prison asteroid," the woman called after her.

Nova raised one hand but didn't bother to
turn around. She glared at the man at the bottom of the stairs and
held out both of her hands.

The soldier scowled at her for a few moments
and glanced at Alaina before grunting and taking Nova's weapons out
of his belt. He handed over her gun and knives. His face grew
darker with each weapon. By the time she had all her weapons back
the man looked like a thundercloud ready to burst.

She nodded once and walked away. They didn't
follow her.

CHAPTER FIVE

"Cal, did you get all that?" Nova said.

"Confirmed. The Confederacy is spending more
money on a quest to control the outer planets and the fugitives may
or may not be here."

"You've got that right. I don't know if the
fugitives would waste their time on something as fruitless as this.
Although I suppose there are a lot of Confederacy soldiers to wipe
out."

"What's your next step?" Cal said.

"I'll ask around, see if anyone's seen these
guys. I'm going to try and blend in, get my info from the inside.
Don't wait up."

She entered a brown, canvas tent where over
twenty men and women in dust and sweat-stained clothes were
gathered around flimsy tables. Small silver bowls of brown gruel
congealed in front of them, and they shovelled it into their
mouths.

She glanced down at her worn jacket. It was
already so covered in dirt and sand that she could have spent the
morning working down in the tunnels. She walked to the serving
table and grabbed a bowl before sitting down at a long table. She
squeezed in between two large men who were intent on their meals.
They barely acknowledged her as she sat, their attention returning
to their food.

She spooned two mouthfuls and let the slimy
paste slide down her throat. There was no flavour to the gruel at
all. The worst thing about it was the feel of it. It was like
chewing on glue, it stuck to her teeth, gums and tongue; it coated
her mouth with a smooth layer of gunk. She forced herself to
swallow and the glue went down her throat, leaving a slimy
trail.

"You'd think with food generators they could
give us something better than this," she said under her breath.

The men on her left and right grunted and
continued to eat while opposite her a woman nodded her head.

"Still too expensive," the man on her right
said. "Trust me, we've asked."

"Damned Confederacy," Nova said. "So how'd
you get stuck working for 'em?"

The man shrugged, still eating. "Same as
you, I'd warrant. Need the money and there's nowhere else to
go."

"Ain't that the truth," she said. "I was
working out in the Resources District. Came out this way looking
for some friends of mine."

"Oh yeah?" the big man said without
pause.

She studied his face out of the corner of
her eye. It was square and set. He had a broad chin and a thick
neck. His hair was cut short and muscles bulged out of his shirt.
His whole body was large, threatening to break the table where his
elbows leant against it.

"Yeah. Maybe you've seen them around?" she
said.

The man's back stiffened and he lowered the
spoon from his mouth. He laid his forearms on the table and turned
slowly to stare at Nova. His bushy brows were drawn together and
the corners of his mouth turned down.

"Maybe I have and maybe I haven't," he said.
"What was your name again?"

"Lara," she said. A slight flutter in her
pulse warned of her racing heart. It was all very well to make
small talk but these weren't simple peasants. The scars across each
of their arms and necks were proof enough that they'd seen their
share. She had no doubt that the big man would see her dead if he
thought she was some kind of Confederacy spy.

"I know what you're thinking," Nova said and
held up her hands. "I just want to find my friends."

The man studied her before speaking. "Maybe
they ran off."

"I heard they came here. I'll show you the
pictures and if you haven't seen them then that's that."

The man's eyes remained fixed on Nova. His
tongue worked at one of his yellowed teeth, perhaps it was about to
fall out. He frowned again and then nodded.

"Show me the pictures."

Nova didn't waste time. She went to her
pocket and drew out the screen. The two figures projected up out of
it and looked at the man. Their sneering mouths and hard eyes were
lifelike, unnerving.

The man glanced at the two criminals. His
hand clenched tight around his metal spoon. "Never seen 'em," he
said.

There was something in his eyes, a flicker
of recognition.

"Are you sure?" she said, her stomach
sinking.

He turned back to his gruel. "Sure."

Nova sighed and looked at the pictures of
the two men. They had probably had their faces completely
redesigned since these images were taken. If she was on the run
from the Confederacy that's exactly what she'd do.

"Aren't they Doyle and Pete?" the woman
across the table said, her eyes squinted.

"You recognise them?" Nova said.

"I might. They've got the same look as Doyle
and Pete. Can't quite say what it is though."

The big man on Nova's right looked at her
with narrowed eyes. "Wouldn't you know their names?"

Nova deliberately returned his hard stare.
"My friends may have had reason to change their names."

The man grunted.

"Well if they're not the same boys then
they're some kind of relative," the woman said.

Nova turned her full attention to the woman.
"Where are Doyle and Pete?"

"Oh they're on digging. It's kind of their
thing you see, they like working in the dark. Weird if you ask me,
but each to their own."

"So they're down in the tunnels?" Nova
asked.

"Yep that's right. I seen 'em a couple of
times. They're quiet, keep to themselves."

"That sounds about right," Nova said.

The woman nodded. "Times like these, I'd
want to find my friends too."

Nova tucked the small screen into her pocket
and rose from the table. She glanced around at the other faces but
none of them seemed interested in her.

"Aren't you going to finish your food?" the
big man asked.

"What?" she glanced down at her bowl; she'd
barely touched the food since her first few bites. "Oh, no. You go
ahead."

The man grunted and pulled her bowl over,
spooning grey mountains onto his tongue. Nova smiled once more at
the woman and walked away. There were too many people for her to
make a break for the dig site. No doubt by now Alaina would have
warned all of the soldiers. They wouldn't let her even get a smell
of the dig-site, let alone descend into the tunnels. She'd wait
until dark, when there should be fewer people around.

She walked away from the crowded tent, back
up the hill. Her footprints were instantly buried under a new layer
of sand. Grey-green clouds filled the skies and were buffeted
through the air by the unpredictable winds.

It was a peculiar planet. Barely a speck in
the greater scheme of things and yet here the Confederacy was,
ploughing through it. She wondered what they were looking for.

"Cal, can you bring the lander closer. I
think it's safe from being shot down, at least for now."

"Not if that captain has anything to say
about it," Cal replied.

Nova sat in the sand. She gazed out across
the heat-hazed horizon. The Confederacy was up to something, there
was no doubt about it, but that wasn't why she was here. She had
one mission and one mission only; get the fugitives, and get
paid.

She raked her fingers through the warm sand,
drawing patterns in the grains. She chuckled as she drew Cal and
imagined him buzzing around Crusader's storage bay.

An hour later a high-pitched buzz made her
lift her head and gaze out at the horizon. The lander was just a
faint silver glimmer through the heat. The buzz got louder as it
approached until the shimmering silver blob resolved itself into
the sleek lander. The ship parked out of sight of the Confederacy
ships.

She trudged over in silence. Her ship
already had a small pile of sand stacked against its side. The
metal was dull and rusted compared to the ships of the Confederacy.
She shrugged. It was hers.

She climbed inside. The engine roared into
life and the glass bubble closed around her.

The ship rumbled and lifted off the ground.
It hovered above the desert, sending swirls of sand into the air.
Nova gripped the armrests, take-off was always the worst part in
the small lander. The main thrusters ignited and the lander zipped
away from the sand. Gravity and inertia tugged at Nova's body and
she was pushed back into the chair. Her body vibrated with the
movement of the ship.

Thick clouds zoomed past. The ship streaked
up, carrying trails of mist through the air. In a burst of energy,
the small lander shot out of the top of the clouds. Drops of
moisture coated the glass bubble. The drops streamed off as the
ship shot forwards.

It was a short journey out of the atmosphere
and into the darkness beyond. The ship quaked harder as it shot
through the atmosphere. Heat poured off of the outer shell and
coated Nova's skin in a thin layer of sweat.

The blue sky and clouds were replaced with
darkness and speckled stars. The heat dissipated in the vacuum of
space and the wild shaking became a dull vibration. Nova allowed
herself to breathe again. A deep sigh escaped her lips and her
shoulders relaxed back into her chair.

The homing function guided the small lander
straight to Crusader. The bigger ship loomed like a grey whale in
the vast emptiness. The older ship was covered in rust and dents.
From the outside it looked like a metal bubble with extra bits
stuck on. The pilot's pod was a smaller bubble at the front and the
cargo pods were small capsules attached to the sides. The model was
massively outdated, but Nova loved it all the same.