Starchild exile, p.15
Starchild- Exile, page 15
Kalh frowned. “The same thing that stops them now: nothing. You think democracy has ended murder?”
Nak winked at her. “Okay. Fair point.”
Benton piped in again: “Economic progress stops murder much more than government. And, honestly, killing will still happen, but hopefully at a lower rate. People can protect themselves or hire a privatized police force like they do on Iod, which, incidentally, has the lowest crime rates in our galaxy.”
“And people will get killed by the ones instead of the billions,” said Kalh.
“So you’re taking power away from the bureaucrats.”
“Yes.”
“I’m all for it.” Those bastards. It was Taiberos’s face he saw.
Nak glanced at the nearby streets again. Honestly, this was killing him. He prided himself on maintaining his poise, but he had no idea what might be happening to his ship. He was about to give the command, except he didn’t want Kalh to think of him as a selfish jerk for cutting the cub loose.
Benton’s eyebrows had an earnest tilt to them. “Those who believe in bureaucrats have an inherent distrust of people. Their logic says the populace can’t be trusted.”
“That’s because it’s true,” said Nak.
“Right?” said Kalh.
“So to fix the problem,” said Benton, “they elect members from that exact same untrustworthy populace and give them power.”
“It’s like choosing kids to be parents of the other kids,” Kalh interrupted. “It’s nonsense. They’re all kids.”
Benton acknowledged her comment with a glance and gentle smile. “And people who strive for political power, power over others, tend to be the worst of us. The bottom line is that it makes no sense to put all the power at the center. Much safer to diversify it. Any choice that can be made by the individual should be made by the individual. That’s what our revolution is about.”
“So it is a revolution then, huh?”
Benton paused, realizing his slip. “I didn’t say that specifically. But if it were, you’d be welcome to join.”
Nak held his hand up by his cheek and rubbed his thumb against his first two fingers, gesturing toward Benton.
Kalh wiped a hand across her face. “So you in?”
* * *
Nak laughed aloud.
His elbow pointed forward as he began massaging his neck. “I think it would be easiest to lie and say yes.”
She sighed in surrender, as if planning to delay the fight till she felt better. “Your neck sore from that spill?” The passion in her tone had vanished, replaced by mildness, exhaustion, and maybe a little flirtation.
So it was working.
Nak didn’t look at Benton, but he had an idea of how this interaction might’ve made him feel—after the way he’d talked about her on the trip. Nak made a chivalrous attempt to end the flirtation: “I’m fine.”
“I could take a look at it?” She still looked pale.
“You a medic?”
She raised her eyebrows. “You could say that.”
“Or I could say what instead?” asked Nak.
“I know a little about healing.”
Nak didn’t move. “All right, take a look. What do you see?”
“You need to be lying down.”
“Oh, I see where you’re going with this.” He couldn’t help it.
She might have begun to smile, but her reaction was interrupted by a snarling scream—
“HEY!”
—and Liink came racing toward them in the brightening dawn. He had a new cut across his face, with bright red blood streaking down from the dark fur of his skull.
“What?” Nak, in his mind’s eye, saw Taiberos’s troops at The Spirit.
“Bounty hunters!”
“What?”
“I’ll tell you on the way!” Liink froze between the two groundrunners, with a question written on his face.
Kalhette climbed on behind Nak and slid her hands around his stomach, just above the belt. He pulled his shadowlyss goggles over his eyes. They tinted the morning a few shades darker.
Liink jumped onto the back of Benton’s groundrunner. “Go!”
The two machines sped off across the charcoal desert.
Nak aimed toward a plain between massive lumps of rock. He started easing his groundrunner close to Benton’s so they could talk.
But Benton kept checking the distance and withdrawing.
“Hey!” Nak yelled over the rush of wind. “I’ll worry about this! You focus on driving straight ahead!”
Benton did as he was told.
“What’d you see, Liink?” shouted Nak.
Liink’s mild voice was hard to hear over the roar of air, but he got the message across to the other three—about the bounty hunters and the poster.
“You’re sure it said Taiberos on it?” yelled Nak, but of course it had: This had revenge written all over it. Hopefully the posters at least meant that Taiberos hadn’t found the ship.
“Yes. And I think those two thugs and their friends must be right behind us.”
Nak checked his rear-view mirrors but found nothing. Then he glanced to both sides, gently craning his sore neck.
Ah ████.
Two groundrunners appeared from just over Liink’s shoulder. Each held two riders. They were faster, higher groundrunners too. They came from behind one of the rock formations, driving at an angle to intercept Nak and Benton.
“They’re right there.” Nak lifted his chin and pointed with his lips. He drew his groundrunner away from Benton’s and squeezed the last bit from the throttle—aiming for more giant rocks that might serve as cover. He hoped it wouldn’t come down to dropping the tow to get more speed.
As the groundrunner lurched, Kalh pulled herself against him more tightly.
“That’s as fast as this piece of junk goes!” Nak looked over at Liink—the perfect copilot for one of these because he could hang on and shoot at the same time. Nak tried to turn his neck for better vocal projection but didn’t get it to move very far. “Kalh!”
“Yeah?” Her body leaned against his back.
“Grab my pistol, and don’t drop it. Hold on to my belt if you need to. I’ll keep the runner steady.”
Her voice fought through the wind at his right ear. “You’ve never seen someone use a psykatana, have you?”
“Uh, no?”
“Let’s use the pistol as our backup.” Her calm might’ve been actual peace or maybe just tiredness. “I think we’ll be fine if it’s a handful of civilians.”
But it wasn’t just a handful of civilians. It was Taiberos. And he was after Nak’s hand.
The harsh headwind shoved across Nak’s scalp, tickling his skin as his hair shook back and forth. As he swerved, the trailer whipped along behind them. He wished he didn’t have it, but how else was he going to get The Spirit out of this hell?
The two groundrunners approached as if from one floor above—because the new contragravs had a lot more boost. Laser-beams shot down, red streaks slicing just in front, just behind, and just overhead.
Apparently it’s for dead or alive.
It was always hard to hit a moving target, harder still while you were moving too, but take enough shots, and you were bound to land one eventually.
Nak weaved around a row of rocks, which shielded the lasers momentarily.
The moment he was back in the open, they came back with fury.
Liink, on the other groundrunner, fired back rapidly. It kept the bounty hunters at a cautious distance.
But Kalh only stretched out a hand behind and into the currents of wind, like she wanted to grab them, like an infant reaching toward starships in the sky.
“Kalh, what are you doing? Grab my gun!”
She reached her hand farther into the wind’s waves, leaning.
Nak’s groundrunner jerked violently as red blasted across the hull.
With his feet planted and his steel grip on the bars, Nak shimmied but maintained his position as the groundrunner jerked.
Kalh, however, did not.
With only one hand holding on, she twisted back and to the left. The hand that had been scraping at the air now scraped at Nak’s jacket and then caught the rim of his pants, pulling on them. For extra friction, her bald skull pushed into his back.
The ground, less than a meter below, scraped past at deadly speed.
“Kalh!” Nak slowed, though only a little, hoping to somehow help. That let the pursuers close the gap. Streaks of red light flew all around.
She clung to him and the groundrunner desperately, growling as she heaved herself back into the seat. Once safely in place, she squeezed him more tightly, now with both hands, and even laid her head on his back.
He felt her heart beating against his spine, and he felt glad he’d coerced her into coming. With a grin, he said, “Now’s not the time, Kalh!”
She thumped a fist into his stomach.
He ripped at the throttle, and the groundrunner jumped.
Benton and Liink had now shot ahead, while Nak steered off course, hoping to split the pursuers.
Both stayed with Nak and Kalh, though, cutting in a wide arc to follow, as if they knew exactly whose names were on that poster.
Kalh shouted, and her voice revealed just how exhausted she was: “Get me a little closer!”
Nak’s groundrunner now had black scorch marks across the front. The lasers continued to rain down. “You know I’m trying to get away, right?”
The two enemies held position at an angle above and behind, speeding along side by side.
“I want to show you a trick,” she shouted.
Nak shook his head and swooped toward the pursuers, dropping the throttle and letting the laser blasts get dangerously close.
Kalh reached out a hand and shoved at the wind.
The enemy on the left swerved sharply to the right, colliding with his accomplice.
Three bodies went flailing into the air.
Where they hit the ground, gray dust puffed up like smoke.
The empty groundrunner flew ahead and smashed into a lump of rock, creating a mass of flame that climbed up and over the boulder. The only still-seated rider braked and turned to help his comrades, who, Nak guessed had at least a small chance of survival.
“Holy—” Nak let the wind wash away the unspoken profanity. “Did you just…?”
He could hear the grin in her voice, even above the foaming sound of the air rushing past. “I am so tired.”
He didn’t slow down though. He had to get back to The Spirit. “But really, you just pushed those groundrunners into each other?”
“No, no,” she shouted. “I just shoved the handlebar a little. Much easier.”
“Really! How?”
“It’s… a lot to explain. Can we write it off as magic for now?”
“Uh… No.”
“I can touch things from a distance. Kinosis.”
“Oh—” Nak shook his head. “I just can’t believe…”
“It’s not so amazing. Benton could’ve done the same thing if he’d have gotten a little closer.” She mumbled something after that.
“But…” Nak stopped his sentence, not sure what question would get him to the answer he wanted.
“I’ll explain when we’re holding still.”
The groundrunner sped across the dark ground as the sun reached its zenith. Yet even with Kalh’s strange miracle echoing, Nak’s thoughts turned to face Taiberos. It had to be more than a few mercenary thugs. If Taiberos knew they were still on Toar—that The Spirit was still on Toar—he’d do everything in his power to stop them. And that was a lot.
Nak released and cranked the throttle again, making sure that was really all it could give, and the groundrunner rocked. His ship was his one safe place in the galaxy. Anywhere else, they could get at him. Take his hand and take his life. But in The Spirit, he was untouchable. He had to get back to her.
After a long time in silence, Kalh tapped him on the belly and said, “Hey, slow down.”
He turned his stiff neck ever so slightly, wanting to hear a reason.
“I think there are redhelms ahead. Slow down.”
“Where?”
“At the ship.”
“We can’t see the site yet.”
“I know. Slow down before we get into the open.”
Nak raised a fist in the air, signaling to Benton, and then slowed his groundrunner to a crawl. The sound of rushing wind died, and the motor quieted to a hum.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
Her response was nonchalant: “Let’s just approach slowly so we don’t give ourselves away.”
Benton seemed to agree that this was a good idea, so they crept forward, keeping the sound of the engines low, which made them nearly scrape bottom, as they practically sneaked around the corner of each rock.
In this area, the largest canyon made a wide gorge, winding like a crooked snake. Offshoots slithered away from it on both sides, leaving more deep cracks in the ground, like ribs spurring off some unholy spine. The Spirit was docked in one of these dark offshoots, nestled on a ledge far below the surface.
Nak looked up at the sky. “Wait.”
“What?” Benton and the others looked where he was looking.
Nak pointed ahead. ████. “Right there. It’s a seeker.” He eased the throttle, moving closer to the main canyon’s edge. He stopped what he imagined might be uncomfortably close for Kalh and looked down. Here the canyon walls fell crookedly, but the gap was wide enough to show an orange glow climbing up from the bottom, in bright contrast to the dark, charcoal gray of everything else.
It looked like an insect of unholy proportions, or a grezyk, thin wings spreading out in four directions from a sickeningly thin body. It was a long way down in the canyon, and it seemed to be searching the walls and crevices. At least it meant they hadn’t found her yet, but it wouldn’t be long, not long at all.
“There’s another one. He’s searching for her.”
He moved the groundrunner on toward The Spirit.
Taiberos had an unfair advantage in resources, but Nak knew he could still beat that bastard. Just like last time.
As they rounded the final rock, he saw just what Kalh had magically predicted: a squad of redhelms, rifles in hand. Nak eased his groundrunner back out of sight and dismounted. He got up close to the rock for a better analysis, and the others followed him. “Dang it. They must have found the grappling gear.”
“Looks like they might send a guy down.”
They wouldn’t be able to fly it without his hand though, but it wouldn’t stop them from hauling it off with an attractor beam. “We’re going to have to move fast. And I mean fast. They outnumber us three to one, but we do have the element of surprise.” Nak looked at Kalh.
“Are you talking about me?”
“No, sorry. But, yes, we also have you. Here’s what we do. We stash the fuel batteries and replacement parts here.” He pointed at Benton and Liink. “You two provide a distraction in that direction—some laser fire. Try to draw the troops after you. Their instinct will be to move away from the canyon so they don’t get pinned down. They’ll likely move toward that cover there. Which opens up a gap for Kalh and I to sneak in and down to the ship. With me in the ship, we’ll have the upper hand. I’ll rush them from behind and then pick you guys up. Then we hop over here, grab the batteries, and get out of here.”
“What if our distraction makes them call in for backup?” asked Benton.
“It probably will, so we move quickly. The shields should be somewhat recharged by now, and, worse case, we hide somewhere in the canyon network again. Okay, we’ve got to move. Everyone good?”
Liink nodded eagerly, the other two affirmed, and the foursome split.
Waiting for the fireworks to begin just about killed Nak. The redhelms were climbing down to his ship!
Just when he’d made up his mind to charge the squad alone, he heard several laser blasts come from a distance. They spiked out toward the unsuspecting troops. And just as predicted, the redhelms turned to face the onslaught, moving toward cover and away from the cliff face. At first they moved cautiously, wary of an ambush from any other direction, but soon their focus turned almost entirely toward Benton and Liink.
A bad feeling hit Nak.
Just then a suborbital whistled in the sky overhead, its engines drawing nearer. Reinforcements were coming. And something told him this was Taiberos himself. Worse, the incoming ship would turn heads in Nak’s direction, ruining the whole distraction. “I can’t wait anymore,” Nak breathed. He moved forward in a crouch then began to dash toward the cliff face.
“Nak, wait! Stop!” But Kalh’s hissing whisper didn’t have enough force to change his mind.
He ran across open ground with her on his tail, hoping the redhelms wouldn’t look this way. He then skidded behind cover and crouched, looking back to see how Kalh had fared.
She’d followed, feebly sprinting the last of the distance, clearly running on empty.
Just as she ducked behind the rock, a laser blast came flying over their heads.
“Damn.”
“Guess they saw us.”
Nak looked down the cliff face. The rope was still attached. A thought, unbidden, popped into his mind—that he should let her go down first—but he pushed it to the back of his mind. He needed to get to his ship. “Cover me. I’ll be back up here with the ship before you know it.” Without waiting for her approval, he grabbed the rope and went over the side.
The cliff was sheer enough to keep his boots on the face the whole way down. Near the top, another wall stood at his back, creating a narrow channel that opened up after you dropped a couple meters.
Hand over hand, he descended, landing at the bottom with a thud and squatting into the impact. The space was enclosed enough that it felt like a cave. He sprinted toward his ship.
“Nak!”
Her voice echoed down the canyon walls.
He turned and looked.
The rope dangled, slithering back and forth, agitated by some commotion. If she was coming down, she was too high for him to see her. That meant she had a long way to go. What are you doing, Kalh? Just hold them off.
