Wrath of the Void Strider (26 page)

He furrowed his brow.  “An atom wrench?  It’s not worth 250,000.”

She nodded.  “I know, but mine is on the fritz, and they’re really hard to find these days.”

Reynold looked puzzled for a moment and wagged his head.  “Fine, take it.  In fact, you can keep it.  I have three more in the basement.”

“Thanks.”  She retrieved a data cube from her purse and pressed it into his hand.  “It’s got a proximity lock that’s keyed to my starship.  As soon as she’s out of range, you’ll get access.”  After placing the atom wrench inside her purse, she closed and latched the briefcase.  “See you around.”

“Wait,” he nervously interjected.  “How do I know if you’re telling the truth?”

Zerki tucked her purse under her arm before picking up the case.  “My reputation opens doors or burns bridges, and you’re my ticket to a much wealthier class of clientele.  Do you really think I’d risk either of those things on a double-cross for half a million credits?”  She held his worried gaze until his anxiety began to fade.

He sighed.  “I suppose not.”  For an instant, he looked about to say something more, but the temptation was gone as quickly as it had come.

With a curt nod, Zerki turned and headed for the front door.  She stepped outside and hailed a taxi.  Her heart was pounding as she climbed in and programmed her destination.  It was almost sunup before she had returned to her room at the VelAquant.

·· • ··

Gavin bounded from star system to star system, like a frog leaping across a pond cluttered with lily pads.  All around him, the heavens danced like fireflies.  He froze, taken aback by the beauty of a particularly vibrant gas giant planet.  Reaching out, he stirred it slowly with his index finger, blending the colors until they were gray, and he found himself swimming in its ashen seas.  Waves tossed him about, ejecting him skyward.  Terrified, he plummeted toward the ocean’s surface as it turned to stone.  He impacted with jarring force and awoke with a start.

He exhaled as he realized he was lying flat against a hard white surface. 
I must’ve fallen off the bed
, he thought. 
But wasn’t the hotel room carpeted
?  He idly wondered if he had been kidnapped, though only for a moment as he rolled onto his back and found his bed high overhead, its covers in disarray.  They clung to their sheets, brazenly defying the laws of gravity.

In that instant, he realized
he
was on the ceiling.  The forces that had been holding him there fled, and he dropped straight down.  His bed thumped and creaked, and the force of the impact knocked the wind out of him.  He took a moment to regain himself as scattered sunlight trickled in through a rain-soaked window.

With a giddy smile, he replayed the moment in his mind.  “I did it,” he whispered, and he righted himself.  Closing his eyes, he used starsight to observe his room.  He saw a tiny, wrapped bar of soap in the bathroom, and from where he sat, he reached out for it.  It felt like he was shaking hands with a mountain.  With a discouraged sigh, he opened his eyes.

“No.  I need to focus,” he muttered, and he closed his eyes again. 
I can figure this out
.  As before, he located the bar of soap, but this time he enclosed it within an unseen ball of force.  Taking up the sphere, he felt it falling through a tunnel toward the bed.  When he opened his eyes again, he found the bar of soap within his grip.  At a loss for words, Gavin held his prize tightly against his chest. 
I have to find Zerki
. 
I have to tell her about this
!

He heard rustling from the other bed, and he looked over to find a blanketed lump.  He heard Filan’s sleepy sigh, and Takeo whispered something inaudible.  She softly answered, “No.  I’m okay.”  With a shallow yawn, she rolled onto her side to face Gavin, though her eyes remained closed.

When it sounded like they were both sleeping again, Gavin stood up, dressed in plaid pajamas.  He crossed to the easy chair to retrieve his piled clothes, and after sorting them, placed his shirt, pants, socks and underwear neatly upon the bed.  “Morning, Filan,” he whispered as he noticed her looking toward him.  Her eyes faintly glowed.

“Hey, Gavin,” she yawned, and she smiled brightly.  “Are you awake for the day?”

“Completely awake.  Do you need to use the bathroom?  I was hoping to grab a shower.”  He tossed the bar of soap into the air and caught it.

“No,” she answered, “I’m fine.”  Still in the throes of slumber, Takeo draped his arm over Filan’s side, and she hugged it close against her.

 “Awesome,” he replied and made his way to the bathroom.  He took his time under the rush of warm water.  When he had finished, he stepped back into the room wearing a towel and lobbed his bedclothes onto the easy chair.  With overflowing good cheer, he donned a dark, button-up tropical shirt and a pair of sandy-brown pants.

As he pulled on his socks, Filan whispered, “You look nice.”

“Thanks,” he replied and regarded her with a grateful smile.  He shoved his feet into his shoes and said, “I’m heading down.  I think I saw a coffee bar in the food court when we got here.”

“Does Takeo like coffee?”

“He does.  Do you?”

She sneered slightly.  “I hate coffee.”

He chuckled.  “So do I, but I still drink it.  Actually, for as much cream and sugar as I put in, I’m not sure it still qualifies as coffee.”  Leaning forward, he set to tying his shoes.  “You want something else?  Tea, maybe, or a dessert drink?”

“No thanks.  I’m waiting for Takeo to wake up.”

“That’s sweet.”  Gavin finished tying his shoes and stood up.  “I’ll be back soon.”   He stuffed his wallet and keys into his pockets and exited the room.

·· • ··

Within her hotel room, Zerki hastily stuffed her belongings into her suitcase.  Exhausted, her movements were clumsy, and she knocked over the briefcase Reynold had given her.  “Calm down,” she whispered to herself, and she stood up straight, closing her eyes.  A loud knock came from her door, and Zerki jumped.

“Captain, are you in there?”

Her phone buzzed, but she ignored it as she retrieved the atom wrench from her purse.  “Gavin, is that you?”

“I should hope so,” he quietly laughed, and Zerki pulled the door open slightly.  “I’m heading down for some coffee…  Wait, are you alright?”

Her chest heaved as she muttered, “I’m fine.  Did you see anything strange on your way here?”

He tilted his head.  “I don’t think so.  What’s going on?”

Anxiously, she urged him inside, and she closed the door.  “Nothing I can’t handle.”

“You look scared.”

“I’m a little on edge.”  She drew a calming breath and picked up the briefcase to set it down on the bed.  “I haven’t slept all night.”

He nodded.  “I’m going to go with ‘no’ on the coffee, then,” and he winked lightheartedly.  “Maybe you should take a moment to relax.  I can help you pack while you have a shower.”

Zerki set the atom wrench down on the holobox table and shook her head.  With an exasperated sigh, she sank onto the edge of the bed.  “Actually, that’s not such a bad idea.”  She glanced to her phone and saw a text message alert.  Picking it up, she stared fixedly at her guest and insisted, “Don’t let anyone in here unless you’re 100% sure you recognize their voice, okay?”

He eased down next to her and asked, “Captain, what’s going on?  You’re acting really strange.”

Taking a moment to compose herself, she whispered, “There’s an assassin after me.  I think he might already be here at the VelAquant.”

He winced.  “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”  She got back to her feet and looked at her phone as she walked toward the bathroom.  The text message read, “DO NOT ANSWER THE DOOR. –RC.”  Her breath stilled, and she stopped.  Counting on the position of her body to block his view, she plucked the atom wrench from the table.  “Wait,” she muttered, and she quietly twisted the end of the rod until the safety cap came off.  Her back to him, she asked, “Gavin, how did you find my room?”

He snickered, and she heard the bed creak as he pushed off to stand.  “It wasn’t hard.  You aren’t that far away.”

She swallowed to moisten her throat.  “I didn’t tell anyone where I was staying.  Not even Val.”  Timidly, she glanced sidelong at him and immediately spotted the soft white glow of his eyes.

“It would’ve been easier if it looked like you slipped in the shower,” growled the assassin, and his forearm took on the shape of a heavy blade.  “Less painful, too.”  He reached back to strike, but Zerki spun around and plunged the exposed tip of the atom wrench into his chest.

She snarled, “Not for you!”

An excerpt from Thorne’s Galactic Encyclopedia, regarding the atom wrench…

The atom wrench was invented decades ago to give laymen a way to build their own nanobots.  Powered by a cold fusion core, it was roughly the size of a large flashlight and weighed about the same.  Within its quantum chamber, the atom wrench sustained a minute spacetime singularity, and with it offered the user control over the strong and weak forces on a molecular scale.  Nanobot hobbyists scooped them up as soon as they reached the market, and material synthesis labs found them to be invaluable.  But they were risky to use, since they were prone to internal decay, and the safety caps had a bad habit of falling off at inopportune moments, leaving the singularity exposed.  Direct contact with the singularity led to disruption of the contact site on an atomic level.  Invariably, this resulted in a gust of hydrogen ions and a bloody stump.

Zerki twisted the wrench and switched it on.  The assassin’s eyes widened as most of his trunk instantly vanished.  White fluids cascaded from the gaping wound, as he reverted to his true byriani form and collapsed, lifeless, on the ground.  She switched off the wrench and capped it.

·· • ··

Far below in the VelAquant’s sprawling food court, Valerie walked alongside Taryn as they sought any place that sold doughnuts.  “You’re in a good mood,” Taryn noted.  She regarded Valerie curiously.  “What’s up?”

Valerie mitigated her cheerful smile with a deep breath.  “Nothing, yet.”

“That sounds juicy,” she snickered.

“It’s getting there.”  Hesitantly, she offered, “I really like Gavin.”

Taryn looked forward and quietly laughed through her nose.  “I wasn’t expecting that.  He doesn’t seem like your type.”

“I have a type?”

Taryn shrugged and jammed her hands into her hoodie’s pockets.  “Obviously, I don’t know you well enough to know what your type is, but…  I don’t know.  He’s so naïve, and you’re… not.”

Valerie abruptly stopped.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Taryn sighed.  “Don’t read into it.”

Tapping the side of her head, Valerie said, “That’s kind of my thing.”

At first, Taryn rolled her eyes, but she paused and nodded thoughtfully.  “Sure.  It means you’ve been through a lot.  I can see it in your eyes.  You’re hurt to your core, and you want to be loved, but you keep a gun next to your heart, and that makes you dangerous.”  She released a weighted breath.  “To him.  And he’s going to screw up.  That’s
his
thing.  He’s going to hurt you without even realizing it, and you’ll rip his heart out.”

“You don’t know me at all!”  Taryn’s images flashed through Valerie’s mind.  “Oh, I get it.  Gavin was your first kiss.  In fact, he was your first love.”

Blushing now, Taryn balled her fists and muttered, “Please get out of my head.  Those are my memories, and I didn’t mean to share them with you.”

“I’m sorry.  I can’t always control it.”

For a moment, Taryn merely regarded Valerie, her jaw clenched.  “Whatever.”

“Do you still love him?”

Gazing pointedly at the ceiling, Taryn said, “That’s a stupid question.”  Looking back to her companion, she added, “Of course I do.  But it’s not like I can go back in time and magically make it work.  Not that I’d want to, anyway.”  She resumed walking, and Valerie paced her.  “We make great friends, but we were a horrible couple.”

“What was so bad about it?”

“He pissed me off all the time.  He could only see who I might be, never who I was.  He couldn’t accept that I didn’t have the same big dreams for myself that he did.”  She chuckled dryly.  “Anyway, yeah, I still care for him.  That’s part of the reason why I dated so many humans after him.”

“I see.”  She spotted a Donut Hopper and pointed it out.

After getting in line, Taryn added with a sly smile, “Besides, there’s this D’Arro guy.  Maybe you know him?”  She smiled wistfully, then distantly.  “I can tell he’s into me, but he won’t dance.  I can tell he wants to, but I can’t figure out why he won’t.”

Valerie wore a pained expression.  “He lost his life mate two years ago.”

Taryn looked surprised.  “He never told me!”

“He won’t, either.  After she passed, he took the Vow of Interment.”

“Oh.”  She sighed, and wiped at her eyes.  “It figures.  I finally meet another ospyrean I could actually fall in love with, and he’s mourning for the rest of his life.”  Crossing her arms, she regarded Valerie askance.  “How do you know so much about ospyrean customs, anyway?”

With a sheepish laugh, Valerie admitted, “Your people think very loudly.  No offense.”

“Yeah, sure.  None taken, I guess.”  She brightened, looked ahead, and she waved.

“Hey you two,” said Gavin as he stepped close.

Valerie turned to regard him.  “I thought that was you.”  She smiled as she fought back a giddy surge.

Taryn said, “We were just talking about you.”

Soon, they emerged from the shop with drinks and doughnuts, and they retired to Gavin’s room.  Takeo and Filan were already dressed.  Seated upon the beds, they talked happily as they enjoyed their spoils.

“Check this out,” said Gavin.  “I wanted to show the Captain first, but I couldn’t find her.”  He picked up a doughnut hole and walked into the bathroom.

“What exactly are you planning to do with that?” teased Valerie.

“You’ll see.”  He cleared his throat and closed his eyes.  “Okay, Takeo, open your mouth.”