Chapter 27

  “Fifty divers, forty nine Model 16s, one more or less intact walker, two EIS drones, and fifty packs accounted for, sir. We’re even heavy one Exotic. Weight readings put us at about 900 kg of salvage,” Dev reported to Captain Reed, back straight and arms at her sides, the picture of formality despite her strange attire not being particularly congruous with said picture. Her long, sinuous arms, black tattoos on gray skin, and sleeveless vest gave her the aire of a gun for hire rather than a soldier.

  The gray woman towered over Captain Reed, who looked worn down but rock solid against the backdrop of space. Dev might have been taller, but Reed was a black hole as far as presence went, dense, easily dwarfing his subordinate in how the world seemed to bend itself toward him. The man had a way about him. That, there was no denying.

  The two divers were in front of a long, curved window overlooking the planet down below, a brown and blue marble that shone spectacularly in the full light of the sun, small enough to cover up with a precisely placed hand. The thing that had my attention, though, was just over one of the poles.

  A hulking shadow floated there, unreal in its size even from this distance. Its shape was long and sleek like a butterfly pupa with hundreds of tiny umbilicals that ran from its nose and tail to the two edges of the dock where it was tethered. Further along the thing’s surface, the smooth shell gave way to imperfections, exposed skeletal girders and frames, thin and incomplete sections, even a huge hole where it looked like something had taken a bite out of the structure and left the hundred or so decks exposed to hard vacuum. Tiny sparks of welder light winked in and out of existence inside of it as hundreds of different pieces of it were worked on by people too tiny to be seen by the naked eye.

  I’d been captivated since we’d entered this room. It was a marvel, a ship so big, bigger than even the beasts of Exodus II, the massive arks where my ancestors slept on the way to Proxis. This thing dwarfed them all. The amount of resources it represented, the man hours, the expertise; all of it was baffling to a kid from nowhere such as myself. People didn’t make things on that scale anymore.

  I was currently sitting on a bench and stargazing (shipgazing?) as the rest of the divers were in the process of decompressing. Some played cards, some slept. The more rambunctious roughoused in the deeper parts of the lounge, arm wrestling or lifting each other like they were weights in a gym. Hall had tried to get me in on that… the arm wrestling, I mean, but I declined as politely as I could while still maintaining that jocular attitude that pervaded the atmosphere here, saying that I’d only do it if we could do it left-handed. No one was taking that matchup.

  The room had a nightclub feel to it, moody with dim lighting to keep the starscape nice and prominent. The scarce exceptions were the lamps over the tables and the navigation lights along the floor. The thin carpet under our feet swallowed voices as easily as it did footsteps, so it was pretty easy to slip into quiet contemplation and stare into space if that was your thing.

  “Don’t forget four wounded,” the Captain rasped quietly. “Themms is fading and Yellen might not walk on that foot again. At the very least, she’s going to need nerve repair.”

  Dev’s eyes softened, her professional demeanor cracking just the slightest bit, but then she raised her chin with pride.

  “It’s a minor damned miracle that we made it out at all, sir, much less with a payday. Goethe’s betrayal would have sent us packing on a good day, killed us if we weren’t as good as we are, but here we are.”

  Reed didn’t acknowledge her words. His brooding gaze was fixed on the middle distance.

  “What about Hiri’s people?” he asked after some time.

  “Her company made out about like ours, maybe a little worse. Only one wounded over there, but they lost a handful of packs in the scramble to the ships.”

  The Captain chuckled darkly. “Would that we had a chance to make that trade. It’s a shame we didn’t.”

  Dev looked like she wanted to reach out, her arm bending just slightly, her fingers curling, but she didn’t. “We’ll run exfil drills as often as the bay will have us until we have it down. Then we’ll drill some more. The 33rd is going to learn from this even if we have to drill it into their skulls.”

  “Good,” the Captain rasped. “Good.”

  “We gonna talk about getting within spitting distance of an elite and coming out alive?” Dev asked.

  “Some other time. Not here. Not sober, at least.” Reed paused, turning his head slightly until his eyes, reflected in the glass, fixed upon me. “For now, we thank our lucky stars and let them have their victory. They paid for it in blood, afterall. How long till we’re ready to head to the station?”

  No, we hadn’t gone directly back to the station. We were currently on a converted orbital dock above the planet, one attached to what used to be a very busy ship-yard back before Sabium died. It was an interesting place, dark and spartan, lots of exposed cabling, hard switches instead of touch pads, mechanical levers to operate doors, and all that. Even the lighting, as I’d mentioned, wasn’t much, just enough to not bump around blindly in the dark when trying to find the bathroom, but not much else.

  The denizens of this place were a similarly strange lot. We’d been greeted straight out of the airlock by a group of three people in black robes, wearing those religious pendants I still hadn’t asked about affixed to chains that draped around the wrists. These people had the same gray skin Dev did, and they tended to talk very little unless it was about business. They’d led us here to this little room after we came off the ship, taken our wounded to the infirmary, and brought food for the gathered divers, which they traded for everyone’s weapons. Everyone acted like the disarming was a normal thing, so I went along with it, showing the tall, gray dudes I wasn’t carrying (in this dimension) and making a mental note to ask about it later. I wasn’t here to be a tourist.

  “Depends on Themms. If he’s stable, we’ll be able to get him on a ship and to a proper hospital. If not-” Dev paused, swallowed, then changed the subject. “You’ll say bye to Mo before we leave, right?” she asked. This time she did reach out and put a hand on the smaller man’s shoulder.

  “Don’t I always?” Reed replied.

  Mo had been led away by the black-robed…. priests(?)... They gave off that priest vibe, for sure. Anyway, she’d been led away once we’d walked off the dropship, and she’d made a big to-do of waving to us all and telling us not to wait up. I thought she’d been joking, like I’d finally get to put a face to the suit when they pried her out of there and she rejoined us, but that hadn’t happened yet. Judging by what Dev just said, Mo wasn’t coming back with us to the station at all.

  Weird.

  True to her word, before she left, Mo did introduce me to the questionably single Penny. She was a short, straw haired woman with a strong jaw and red cheeks, which only got redder when Mo tried to set me up with her.

  “Mo, you’re embarrassing me. He’s- You can’t just do that. Besides, Evin’s going to propose to me soon,” she protested.

  “I’ll believe it when I see a ring. Take it from me, young lady, life is short. Don’t spent too much of it waiting,” Mo had opined sagely, taking the young woman’s hand gently in between her forks and holding some form of eye contact with her. Penny’s hue went even further into red territory.

  A moment after Reed and Dev had exhausted their conversational topics and lapsed into quietly staring into space, one of the black robed priests silently approached the two and gave them a formal bow, which they returned.

  “Honored friends, we have assessed the value of your dive and selected that which will be of use in our great endeavor. A modest price has been set upon these pieces.” He reached into the folds of his robe and slipped a datapad into Dev’s outstretched hand.

  Dev scanned the screen, her face growing more and more dour as she scrolled through the contents. “That’s it? We raided downtown Treiborn for this stuff.”

  “While we value the sacrifices you have made to retrieve this vital salvage, our coffers are stretched after making a large purchase from previous dives.”

  Dev gripped the datapad hard enough I heard the frame creek. “Goethe,” she seethed.

  “Calm. It’s fine, Dev,” Captain Reed admonished her, giving another bow to the robed man. “Thank you for considering our humble offerings. We’re honored to be even a small part of the Keepers’ undertaking.”

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  “It’s not right! Goethe’s flooded the market!” Dev growled angrily. “He took off before us and he’s reaping the rewards before the market corrects.”

  But Cap broke his otherwise unshakeable formality and put a hand on her shoulder.

  “It’s okay. We can still get a fair price on Bright with the rest. It’s also been a while since the Keepers had more tech than they knew what to do with. It’s a good thing, Dev.”

  The priest bowed low again in deference.

  “That won’t pay our guys’ bills,” Dev argued. Her tone was angry, but I could tell she was trying to at least make an attempt at calm.

  “True. The pay could be a lot better, but-,” Reed trailed off, then turned slightly until we locked eyes. “Kotes. Might we have a word?”

  He’d called my name, and, for some reason, I found myself walking over there, not even pretending to not have been eavesdropping.

  As I joined them, the Captain reached out and clasped my hand firmly, lingering a little too long than I was accustomed to. There was a mischievous twinkle in the man’s eye as well.

  “Mr. Kotes, I believe your contract for this dive was with Major Goethe’s Demon Dogs, is that right?”

  I nodded, wondering where this was going.

  Reed grinned wickedly. “In that case, congratulations on your share of the Major’s find. It’s a double share along with a generous bonus on account of having to find an alternate way home, if I remember the law properly.”

  My eyes flicked from Reed to Dev to the priest, who regarded me with curiosity.

  I thought back to the beginning of the dive, the Major’s animosity and aggressive dickishness, the disregard for the rest of us. Then I started to pick up what Reed was putting down. I, too, grinned like the Captain was.

  “Wow. Thanks. Yeah, it was a real team effort, you know? Shame I’m taking such a big share what with us not leaving together and all, but I’m bound by the law like any other man.”

  “Glad to hear it,” Captain Reed beamed. Then he took on a more sober tone. “I also feel it’s incumbent upon me to thank you properly for what you did for the 33rd. You held the LZ together and gave us a payday despite our difficulties. We may not be getting much here, but I imagine Bright Station will still pay us for what is left over. If you’re willing to wait until I can find a buyer, I’d like to give you a share in our treasure too.”

  “Cap, no,” Dev protested.

  Honestly, I was on Dev’s side here. There was no reason I should be allowed to double dip into the pot. I didn’t even come down here for money so much as for experience and raw material, and I was already making out like a bandit in that regard. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to take from these people that had been nothing but fair to me and more accepting than the rest.

  “With all due respect, the lady’s right, sir. I’m more than satisfied with my existing share,” I replied.

  Reed shook his head reproachfully. “But I insist. Your actions kept my people alive and will put food on their tables, and that kind of thing deserves recognition. I won’t have such a valuable contribution go without a reward. If it makes you feel any better, though, I’m not taking from the pot anything other than my own share. After the Keepers take their due, of course. Can all of that be arranged, Keeper?”

  “Of course. Your treasure is yours to do with as you please,” the robed man replied, bowing slightly.

  “Our friend, Ryan Kotes, should be on the manifest for Major Goethe’s ship. Please make sure he gets what is his,” Reed said before I could protest further.

  “I shall make sure he receives his portion from both companies.” The priest bowed to each of us again, even me, which I found disconcerting, then left, looking for all the world like he was floating in his voluminous black robes.

  “You didn’t have to do that. I was fine,” I said when he was well out of earshot.

  “True,” Reed said. “But it wouldn’t be nearly as beneficent a gesture if I did have to do it, right? If it makes you feel better, I didn’t do it entirely for your benefit. I get to engender goodwill with a powerful Exotic and screw over someone like Goethe at the same time. I like the idea of the karmic balance”

  I shook my head. “I still don’t understand this. You’re selling all the stuff you found, right? If these guys… the Keepers won’t give you a fair price, why not just take all the salvage to the main station?”

  “Because the Keepers get first pick at prices they set. Sometimes our pay is generous. Sometimes it’s lean. It’s also not about the money.” He gestured loosely out of the window.

  “It’s kind of about the money,” Dev mumbled, but the long suffering look on her face told me she didn’t actually mean it. She squeezed Reed’s arm, and exchanged a brief look with him before leaving us alone next to the window.

  Reed turned and resumed his vigil over Sabium, his arms crossed, his stubble covered face a mask of contemplation. “Okay. It’s kind of about the money… for some,” he admitted quietly.

  I sidled up closer to him, following his line of sight to the shadowy ship.

  “So, it’s not about the money for you?” I guessed.

  “No. Not really. Don’t get me wrong, Kotes, the rewards for a good dive are substantial, and it’s only fair we be compensated for the dangerous work we do. I just try not to lose sight of why we do it.”

  “I thought it was to help ease problems back home.”

  Reed nodded in agreement. “It is. Necessary work, keeping the station afloat. Complex tech is few and far between in space, since we lack the rare minerals and manufacturing base to produce that kind of thing en masse, and I’m happy to see the things we bring back ease some of the scarcity where we live. But in the end, that’s just a bonus, a luxury that makes our time up here more tolerable. The real reward is seeing it grow.” He punctuated his declaration by thrusting his chin toward the great ship. The welders were still flashing in the dark, exposing little bits of the ship for less than a second at a time.

  “Let me ask you something, Ryan,” Reed began when I didn’t offer up any of my thoughts. “I don’t know where you’re from, but it’s not here. You’re as close to an unbiased outsider as I can get. What do you think of us? The people of Sabium, I mean.”

  That was a hell of a question. How do you just pass judgement on a huge collection of people?

  I stood there in silence for a few breaths. I hadn’t been among them long, less time than it took to need a haircut. Still, there was something…

  “Hard to say, really. Constantly working, building things, fixing things, making do with very little. It’s admirable the way you’ve made it work, living stacked on top of one another like you are. It’s pretty much the opposite of how I grew up. But, at the same time, I get the impression this is more like treading water than swimming. Everything’s bent on maintenance and getting by. Then there’s this other thing too, below the surface. A constant feeling of friction between everyone. People seem ready to… I don’t know… They’re restless.”

  I paused, wondering if I was making any sense. I didn’t know quite how to put it into words, but there was a constant feeling of tension on the station among the lower deckers that was hard to pin down. Everyone walked around hunched and wary, like they were waiting for something terrible to happen, fighters waiting for the knockout blow to land or people living at the foot of an active volcano. I had to leave the station to really notice it, but once I did, it was hard to ignore.

  The Captain let out a long sigh, nodding along with my words. “That’s not inaccurate. Those of us willing to discuss such things openly believe it to be the result of the collapse and subsequent flight to space, cabin fever but at a deep and chronic level. Defeat has robbed us of some necessary parts of our psyches. We’ve become angry and quick to violence over time. Woefully short sighted too, as starving people sometimes are. Goethe is as good an example as any for what I’m talking about,” he declared with a dark frown.

  “I didn’t realize it was that bad. Can’t the Exotics bring in more food?” Was all I could think to say. I hadn’t noticed any starving people in my short time on the station, but, then again, I was new here.

  The man gave me a sideways glance. “I don’t mean physically starving, Ryan. No one is wasting away in their room unless they choose to. The actual point I’m trying to drive home is that we don’t think of ourselves as a people with a future anymore. We survive off the good will of our hosts and do little else. That kind of existence hurts the soul.”

  I sensed a ‘but’ coming, so I decided to head it off.

  “But not you,” I said.

  “Not us.” Reed gestured at the symbols dangling on his chest. There were more of them painted on the walls as well, hanging from the ceiling and light fixtures. It made the whole station feel like a religious site.

  Realization hit me finally. I peered through the glass with a new perspective.

  “You don’t want to retake the planet, do you? You want to leave. That’s not a warship. It’s a cryo ship,” I gasped.

  Reed’s chest puffed out proudly, and he smiled. “It was already under construction before the collapse, just the shell, really, but there it was, our people’s legacy sitting there in orbit. We got the engines working easily enough. Now it’s down to the cryo tanks and life support. We’ve been working on them for a hundred years.”

  “Everyone needs a hobby, I guess, but you guys…” I said followed by an appreciative whistle. “I see it now. You’ve even added onto it there in the middle. You expanded on the design.”

  Reed nodded. “It will fit every single soul in this system and then some. Never know when you might have a population boom.”

  “Heyyooooooo! Life of the party is here!” A familiar giant robo-hauler clomped into the room through the sliding doors. Mo spread her arms wide, taking two separate divers into crushing metallic hugs. The hauler’s leg was fixed, and her chassis shined like new as she was surrounded by the rest of the 33rd.

  “So glad you guys stuck around. Who’s up for charades? You? You? Who wants to be on my team?”

  I leaned in close to whisper to the Captain. “Does she ever come out of there?” I asked.

  The Captain’s face darkened significantly.

  “She has to, someday,” Reed murmured, his tone brittle. Then he straightened and slapped me on the back. “Thank you for listening. Now go enjoy yourself. I have somewhere to be.”

  I didn’t even get a chance to respond before Reed was out of conversation range, already walking briskly past the rest of the divers, waving away invitations to sit with them and offering wan smiles to those that yelled his name. Then he slipped through the exit doors and was out of the room.

  “Oh, come on. How are you not getting this?” Mo boomed in that synthetic voice of hers to a rather confused gathering of divers. “I’m an angel! See the wings? No, if I were a bird I would have crouched down like this.”

  Hey. Thanks for giving In my Defense a chance. New chapters will be posted Tuesdays and Thursdays, eventually ramping up depending on the amount of interest we can generate here.

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