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[Episode 7
is left to us in tatters. A common occurrence here when works in
progress are suddenly shelved. It is cobbled together here as
best as possible from the surviving notes.]
Episode 7
Hawkins left his compartment and strode down
the hall, primping his cuffs as he made his way to breakfast.
Within hours they would on Pani and out of trouble. The meat
would be gone and Teri would be back home where she belonged away
from the madness that clung to her matriarch, Diane Danez.
"Dave?" He looked up to find Carter
Lebo's dinner companion from the previous evening. He smiled
to himself, noting she seemed to remember him today.
"Cassandra. How are you?" The
lanky man bowed deeply, taking her hand. He flashed his
patented smile. She, much like Hawkins himself, was freelance
but the majority of her work came from the Blairmanns which placed
them on opposing sides on occasion.
"Quite well, thank you. Since you've
only just arrived aboard ship, I thought I'd bring you up to speed
on shipboard gossip."
The mercenary took his arm and they walked
together towards the lifts. "It's about your ward, Mistress
Reed--Don't bother to deny it. Pacra is very interested in
her. He suspects that her companion is a certain enforcer who
has gone missing from the Emperor's training compound."
"And what does our scaly friend intend to do?"
She smiled sweetly, and reached up to toy with
one of his auburn locks. "He intends to have them subdued by
the ship's captain until the young man is identified. Which I
knew'd be difficult with you on the job
. . ."
"I'm flattered."
"I thought you would be. That was why I
decided to meet you before breakfast and detain you."
Cassandra broke into laughter as Hawkins'
expression blanched. He was gone in the next moment, diving
into the opening lift. Her laughter rang in his ears like a
nightmarish Fate. He punched up Teri's level and hoped he
wasn't too late.
***
Jim and Teri bumped into the cruise ship's band leader
during their breakfast. He strutted in wearing a dark blue suit and a black turtle
neck. The singer was at least a head shorter than Jim with
collar length brown hair and sideburns.
"Hallo Teri."
He straddled the vacant chair between the couple. Her
companion
certainly held her entranced Tom considered, giving the man across
from him the once over. He wasn't one of her family nor one of
her insipid upper class friends. Tom could see that from his
carriage.
"Hallo Tom. This is Jim Harris.
Jim, Tom Sheehan. His band played at dinner last night."
The men shook hands and reclaimed their seats.
"Great fun, isn't she?" Teri caught a
nervousness in his eyes which betrayed his outward manner.
Jim smiled in response, at a loss for words.
He glanced to Teri for a prompt of some sort but she was lost in
thought again. She'd been preoccupied most of the morning.
"Is this a private party?" Pacra hissed
and seated itself at their table.
"As a matter of fact, it is," the singer
retorted.
The Saurian hissed, its small eyes widening
briefly and then it seemed to decide to ignore the small man. "As
I passed by this table, I saw you and remembered!" The Saurian
slapped the table, causing the silverware to jump and Jim to ease
away. "I wanted to talk to Mister Harris some more." Its
smile sent a chill through the young man.
"I'm confident I'm of little interest."
He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.
"Are you aware of the fact that you have no
records in the Hemlin Empire Archives?"
This comment seemed to bring Teri back to the
table.
So much for the Blairmanns' disinterest. She carefully folded
her napkin and began to speak when Tom spoke up.
"Look scale-head, he probably just
arrived in your Empire. You know how slow they are processing
data--" Tom sprung back, narrowly avoid a flailing claw as the
alien lashed out at him.
Teri barely had time to shove Jim
backwards, upsetting his chair and knocking him over as Pacra
smashed their table. Its brute strength compressed the
furniture down to almost half its size.
Jim slammed onto the floor and raised his head
in time to see three giant blue-grey security-bots silent glide into
the restaurant. A few patrons close to the melee moved
discreetly away and the remainder continued eating. Dazed, Jim
found himself marveling at how swiftly they arrived, alerted by the
ship's security system. Slade's plan of robbing the ship was
insanity.
Pacra spared only a glance at the 'bots before
turning and running. Teri rose to follow the Saurian's exmaple, only to collide
with one of the machines. It discharged a stun beam, and
caught the unconscious woman before she hit the floor. A set
of arms on the back of one machine became active, unfolding and
extending. They picked her up and locked her into place on the mechanoid's back.
Jim and the singer were secured in the same
fashion. None of the machines showed interested in Pacra.
Hawkins arrived in the dining area and skid to
a halt. He watched helplessly while they were carried into a
lift. His gaze fell from them and then he turned an went to
search out the ship's captain.
The prisoners were smoothly deployed to the
perimeter of the cruiseship. "The FidesCAD cruiseSHIPS canNOT
proPERly DEAL wiTH vioLENCE OF Any FORM. IT was THEN deCIDED,
in the YEAR 3040, THat all forms of vioLENCE were to BE SWIFTly
dealt with by EJECTion of the ofFENDING passenGERS from transPORT--"
the android holding Tom droned.
Jim's arms were pinioned by the machine's
limbs. He fought off the temptation of kicking it, having
heard of the security 'bots defense systems. They were the
largest mechanoids in the Fidescad line and because of their cost, used
exclusively on their own cruiseships.
Five people tumbled out of a lift at the end of
the hall and chased after the machines. They scattered about
like children, whopping and hollering for their companions to hurry.
A heavy-set woman leaned again the wall to catch her breath.
"You're crazy, Genga!" she gasped to the man in the lead. His
long red-blonde hair reached his calf, making him resemble a very
thin Pafkoian.
"Roxxa, you stick with the agent," he replied.
"You idiots! Stay back!" the singer
bellowed. They continued on save the heavy-set woman who held
her position. The 'bot holding Tom opened a small circular
hatch set into the wall and tossed him through the opening. He
landed on his shoulder blades and tumbled to his feet. Teri &
Jim were thrown in after him and they were followed by the few
pursuers who could squeeze in before the hatch closed.
Their cell was a small remote commuter. Its only exit was
the hatch they'd entered through.
There was no vid screens for them to monitor their own passage.
"Why are we in a commuter?"
"They have no holding cells."
***
"Captain, you've locked up a member of the
Danez Clan. Not to mention Madam Danez's heir! I was--"
"Young man, I've had enough from you."
The captain stopped and turned to face
Hawkins. "I appreciate your situation. Now appreciate
mine. I'm told that this woman was trying to smuggle a
prisoner out of the empire. Until I know fore sure, I WILL place
them in confinement. I have alerted the enforcers on Pani and
they will collect the man in question. By the time we reach
port, you will no doubt have alerted your clan and they will take
custody of the heiress. And THAT will end the matter."
The captain turned on his heel and strode off.
"They're not my clan. Captain!"
Hawkins bellowed, staring in disbelief as the captain turned a
corner and vanished from sight. "Dammit!" The mercenary
spun around and drove his fist into the wall.
"Taking things a little hard, aren't you,
Hawkins?"
"Go away, Cassandra before I do something I
won't regret." He skulked off down the hall, with the woman
staring after him.
"This isn't like you."
"I have a problem with loosing my charge, who just happens to be the
great granddaughter of a very powerful woman. And then she is
locked up with plans to be handed over to the enforcers."
The smile on the mercenary's face faded.
One brow arched. "You're joking, right?"
Hawkins exhaled an angry gust of wind and
stormed off. He found himself jerked to a halt by Cassandra.
"You're not joking? Hawk, I give you my word. Pacra told
me that only the boy was to be captured."
"Well, he lied. I intend to give Madam
Danez a full report for a change. Don't worry. I will
detail your involvement in the matter." He left her standing
in the hall dumbfounded. When his last comment his her with
its full impact, she dashed after him.
***
"What do we do now? Jim asked, breaking the
long silence.
"We wait. When we reach port, we'll be
turned over to the authorities. I'll be shot and you'll be
hung outside the ship."
"What about Captain Slade?"
"What about Slade?!"
Jim swallowed then managed, "I thought you
were exaggerating.
"I wish I KNEW I was." She smiled icily
at the singer. "Thanks, Tom."
"Hey, if that Saurian knew what he was talking
about then I did you two a BIG favor. At least your fellow
will be safe for awhile."
"He was safe before you blundered into this."
"Way to go, Tom," the long haired man
grumbled.
"And who are these people?!"
"Oh, this is my band. Genga and Obab.
Roxxa would be here too but she couldn't keep up." He smiled
with satisfaction. "But don't worry. They'll all keep
quiet."
"Are you really an escaped prisoner?"
Genga asked. Jim groaned and sank to the floor, his head in
his hands. They looked up as one hearing a hiss at the access
hatch. Fingers reached in and held it from closing. "Can
you open it any farther?" a male voice demanded.
"Hawk!" Teri pushed her way past the
musicians and reached up to the hatch. Still only his fingers were
visible.
"No. I told you it'd jam. Now
hurry up and give her your stupid message," a female voice snapped
back.
The hatch slid open a bit further as Hawkins
forced it back until part of his face was revealed. Seeing
Teri, he gave her his best smile, ignoring the sweat which trickled
down his forehead.
"Looks like I'm in a mess now, hunh?"
"You have no idea, kiddo. We're hours
from orbit on Pani. And honestly, I think it's just going to
get worse from there."
"What can we do, then?" she asked.
"Good girl. The only thing I can think
to do is launch the commuter."
"Launch?!"
"Who's in there?"
"Hawk, there isn't time."
"She's right," the female voice agreed.
"Get it done."
Hawkins bit his lip, then handed in comp-map.
"I'm going to send you toward Adal, Pani's sister planet. I've
a friend who's planetside. Get to him by those coordinates."
"Hawk!"
"Good luck!" he cried as the panel snapped
shut. Then the commuter was jarred from its bay. They
set down fifteen minutes later on a weed-infested landing field.
The hatch opened and the unwilling passengers scrambled off.
The commuter craft's hatch snapped shut and they could hear the
engines winding back up.
"What's it doing?" Obab asks
leerily.
"Being recalled to the mothership."
"We didn't have to get off?"
He dashed toward it only to be caught in the window storm its
departure generated. Then the
craft was lost from sight. "We didn't have to get off?!!"
Teri shielded her eyes from the mid-morning
sun and studied the surroundings. She could hear Jim working
the comp-map, getting their bearings. It was hot and felt like
it would be worse before the day was out. They sat on a valley
floor surrounded by rolling hills. A ruined spaceport stood a
hundred meters to the north. The only sign of civilization was
that of a village on a hill crest to their east.
Episode 8
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