Chronicles of a Space Mercenary 0: Tanya (10 page)

Tanya screamed in agony, her back arching dangerous
ly as it tore her apart. She
thought it would just be more of his perversions, twisted into some new sickening avenue, but the mindless agon
y made no sense to her. They
strapped her to an examining table, hooked a medica
l device to her, and then it
injected something into her. The agony
began
almost immediately.

Handler was there. He was now there in all of her remembrances, but there was another with him this time who seemed either to share an equal measure of authority or more, a woman Tanya had never seen before. She had the aspect of a shark.

“She's rejecting it.” The woman said, obviously angry.

“No she's not.” Handler said. “You'll see.”

“All I see is a lot of credits going down the drain!” The woman snapped. “You should never have tried that experimental strain!”

Even in Tanya's agony she could see the frantic look on the doctor's face as he did things to the control panel of the medical device
attached to her. In her agony, as she screamed in irrepressible shrieks that were ripped bloodily from her lungs, spraying bloody droplets across the room, Tanya
wasn’t
able to scream loudly enough to compensate for the agony, the entire Universe now no more than the profound pain assaulting her, and suddenly she knew that it was over, that she was dying.

But then some change began to occur within her. She could not explain how she knew it, but her body began to
accept whatever it was they
put in her, possibly as a result of her will alone. She could not say. All she knew was that suddenly the pain was lessening and wh
atever it was they had put in
her began to alter her. She could feel it mutating her, changing her, adapting her to some new form.

“What are you doing to me?” Tanya croaked out, the first words she had spoken in her entire life that she was aware of, the horror of not knowing what was being done to her unlocking whatever had been holding back her voice. They only ignored her.

“I told you so.” Handler said to the woman.

“
Let it be on your head.” She told him. Then the woman
turned and left.

Chapter 23

There were few humans aboard the Station in the first place, in relation to the multitudes of thousands or hundreds of thousands of the various races which both lived and congr
egated aboard the Kievor S
tation.
Tanya had now abandoned the areas most frequented by humans, that being the reason she was here. So when she saw this human, there was no doubt in her mind that he was an Organization Operative.

He didn't see her
immediately when he walked in
the bar. Tanya was in the back corner, at a table set into the juncture of two back corner walls, both at her back. The lights in this establishment were set low to accommodate the race which most frequented this watering hole, a race of reptiles that were both quick and intelligent, and in many cases wealthy.
Since
the l
ights in here were always dim,
with her enhancements it gave her an edge over many who came here.
 
It had been a wise choice, and she was very glad for it at this moment. The Operative had obviously simply paid the Kievor's fee to locate her. The Kievors did not care what your purpose was with the person you were seeking, only that you could afford to pay their fee. There was no question in Tanya's mind that he was an Organization Operative, because he walked in with laser-pistols filling both hands.

He turned towards her even as she rose. He was fast and his hands were already holding his weapons, so Tanya dove to the side even as the air sizzled where she had been, twin ruby streaks that would have meant the end with
out a ‘doc, and no one here
going to take the time to rush her to one. He was Simian-enhanced. That meant he was as fast as she, or faster!

‘You’ll be the next one he turns on.’ Tanya thought as she hit the floor rolling, not bothering to say it aloud because it wouldn’t do a bit of good. Handler had controlled her throughout all these years by suppressing her memories and implanting the thought that she was extremely happy with her life, and if
she
had not been able to break
those cerebral commands, not even knowing they were there, then there was no way this one was going to be able to do so either. The Simian-enhanced Operatives were little more than animals. Very dangerous animals, but never what you would call
higher thinkers
. The Simian-enhanced always lost a lot of their humanity in the bargain, though as Tanya now knew, very few if any had volunteered. She almost felt guilty.

Tanya rolled along the floor with her laser gripped in both hands to steady it as she rolled, the laser shoved straight out in front of her, firing along
the floor as
she
rolled
. A lizard which
wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way lost both legs in the same
burst
that took the Simian’s legs off. Then Tanya was on her feet and running even as the Simian fell, her laser cutting him in half before the four new parts of what had been two legs separated fully as he toppled. He was dead before she got to his side, now cut into five parts.

Tanya kept moving, her eye n
ow on the
lizard she had truncated, in case it was thinking about revenge, but it was in an agony of its own and not thinking any thoughts of fighting. The legs had been cauterized so it would survive to get into a ‘doc. She held its look as she made her departure, then she was in the corridor outside the bar scanning for backup, but there was none. Tanya hadn’t expected any. Handler had expected the Simian to finish her. Once again he had erred.

So it wasn’t to be over after all, Tanya thought grimly, and then she was someplace else.

Something fundamental was being revealed in the memories opening to her now, but Tanya couldn’t figure out immediately what it was. Then it snapped into focus; the Tanya of the remembrance did not
remember her youth!! Here then was the transition in her memories that brought her fully up to date with her present self, or nearly so, her mind seemed to be filling in many of the blanks on its own so that now when she tried to remember things that hadn’t been there before they surfaced normally without effort. It was a restoration! Here finally was closure. There were many things she still did not recall, but they would come to her. She had remembered enough that she had been able to use that information to save her life.
That was what mattered.

Tanya was on the mat with her Judo instructor while Handler stood off to the side and watched. He
was always
there in the early days, she now remembered clearly. The Tanya of then smiled up at Handler as she easily defeated one of the Instructor's holds, her face full of pride and joy at the things she was learning, all her memories of how he had acquired and used her gone from her mind.

She only remembered how Handler had picked her up off the streets and given her the job with the Organization. There followed two decades of paid training in every skill imaginable. No university of higher learning ever sent such a fully
prepared student out into the U
niverse. The Organization would, over those two decades of training, mold her into the most lethal weapon it had ever created. She did not need the restored memories to recall these times, because these memories were of the only life she had known up until recently; and it had been someone else’s life all along, not even her own! Now, this very moment, was the true b
eginning of her life. Tanya
never had a life of her own, not from day one. Her life in the ghetto had not been Handler’s fault, but the entire rest of it had.

Handler
would
pay.

Chapter 24

“Leaving us so soon?” The Kievor sitting behind the desk asked her immediately as she walked in.

“The thought has crossed my mind.” Tanya said slowly as she seated herself in the only chair present and
gave the Kievor a good looking-
over. The Kievor did not need a chair. The Kievor’s awkward posture as it sat behind its desk looked entirely uncomfortable to Tanya. The Kievor was
large,
the approximate size of an Earth horse, and it had to sit on the floor to be level with Tanya in her chair. The desk was little more than a stage prop in Tanya’s opinion, but that wasn’t important. Leaving was. She had informed no one that she had decided to purchase a ship and depart. She had no friends in any case with whom she might have shared that information, but she didn't let the Kievor's all-knowing wisdom surprise her.

“We have a number of used human ships for sale.” The Kievor spoke, its very mobile lips fitting the words poorly, the same mobile lips which the hooved Kievor race had used to manipulate the tools necessary to build a civiliza
tion and expand into space. The
movements of
its lips
didn’t
quite
fit the words that were coming out of its mouth, like a poorly dubbed voice-over movie dialog, though the grammar and syntax were perfect. The Kievor did not bother to mention how those ships it had for sale had been acquired and Tanya did not ask. She had no doubt whatsoever that she had left a good number of those ships
owner-less herself; quite a few of them, in fact! “In what price range will you be seeking accommodation?” The Kievor added.

“You don't know that too?” Tanya asked slyly.

“Simple statistical analysis,” The Kievor said, “unfortunately, we have not acquired enough data concerning your personality to make such a complicated assessment. Would you care to stay on a bit longer?” The Kievor added with what Tanya definitely recognized as a sly tone of its own.

“I think I've gotten what I came for.” Tanya replied. If there was room to put more diamonds around her neck, she could not find the place. Undoubtedly, the
assessment
the Kievors had been unable to make was whether or not Tanya was going to be willing to part with any or all of her new jewels as part of the purchase price of the ship. She was not. There was always room to put more credits in one's account, but unfortunately such pleasantries would have to be delayed temporarily.

“And you have been an informative visitor to us.” The Kievor said. Tanya had a fairly good idea what the Kievor was hinting at. It was always hints, hidden clauses and innuendo with the Kievor, nothing straightforward unless you were ready to pay for it.

“As far as the type of ship,” Tanya said, ignoring the sly innuendo, “the fastest you've got within my price range; what I have in my Kievor account.
Fully stocked and fueled.”

She liked the ship that her Kievor account had paid for, and which had nearly entirely emptied it. The Kievor charged when they knew it was appropriate. They had charged her
very
appropriately, in her opinion, considering how many of those ships had been delivered unto them by
her own hand. She supposed the price they had charged was in large part due to the fact that they knew how she had gotten her funds. They didn’t care how she had gotten those funds, but they did charge for it when they could; this was obviously how they got their cut!