Drifter's Run (23 page)

Willer stared into Dee's eyes as if trying to impress his thoughts on her by force of will. "I'll tell you something, bounty hunter, something I've never shared with another living soul. I'm convinced that somehow, some way, Sorenson
knows
where the
Star
is located. Weird, huh? But
I feel
it and know it's true."

Dee swallowed hard. On the one hand it seemed as if Willer was more than a few planets short of a full system. On the other hand there was the matter of Sorenson's coordinates. What if they were real? She played along.

"So? Where do I come in?"

"You have an opportunity," Willer answered softly. "An opportunity to live and profit in the process. Thanks to the salvage Sorenson has more money than ever before. He'll use it to resume the search. Soon, within days, he'll head for the asteroid belt. You'll go with him. My crew and I will follow. Then, when the critical moment arrives, you'll strike from within."

Dee considered the cyborg's proposal. What he wanted her to do was no worse than many things she'd done in the past. Still, the thought of Lando, of Melissa, even of Cap hardened her resolve. She would not betray her friends.

Fine, but should she lie? Tell him what he wanted to hear? Buy time? No, something about him, something about his expression, demanded the truth. Dee got ready to pull her gun. She gestured with her left hand to pull his attention away from her right.

"Thanks, but no thanks, I'll take my chances right here."

Time stretched thin. Dee waited for the cyborg to move, waited for the slug between the shoulder blades, waited to give and receive death. It never came. Willer allowed the barrel of his shotgun to fall toward the floor.

"You gave the correct answer, bounty hunter. I place no value on words said under duress. But I believe in
you.
I believe in your hunger, your need for more, your predatory instincts.

"So I make you this offer: When the time comes, take my part, and I'll give you ten percent of whatever's realized.

"Right now you say no, but during the coming days you'll think about it, dream about it, and want it. In the end you'll make the right decision."

Dee looked over her shoulder at the man and woman, then back to Willer. "Am I free to go?"

Light rippled off the cyborg's upper torso. For one brief moment he looked like one of the sculptures that surrounded him. Then he spoke. "No, there's one more thing."

Strong arms grabbed Dee from behind. She struggled but it was too late. The man and woman had her.

Willer approached until his Adonis-like features were only a foot away. His words came out like the hiss of a snake. "Even though I desire your cooperation I cannot allow your actions to go unpunished."

He gave a twisted smile. "It would set a bad example for the others."

The cyborg held up a hand. There in his huge palm Dee saw a small disk. It was secured to his middle finger by a ring.

"You know what this is?"

Dee felt something heavy fall into her gut. "A neuro-stim."

"That's right. A little reminder of what happens to those who cross me."

Willer placed both hands on either side of her head much like a parent preparing to kiss a small child. Dee felt the disk free itself from the ring and bond to her skin.

Willer stepped back. "Until we meet again."

The pain came like a white-hot spear. It filled her brain with fire and ran like molten metal through every nerve. Her body jerked and spasmed. She staggered around in circles, bumped into a large sculpture, and sent it crashing to the floor. With darkness came relief.

When Dee awoke it was to the feeling of movement and cold stone under her cheek. Something had her by one foot and was dragging her across the floor.

Sitting up she saw that a medium-sized maintenance bot had spotted her, taken her for a drunk, and was dragging her toward the door.

"Hey! Stop that! Let go!"

The sound of her voice made Dee's head throb but had the desired effect. The maintenance bot dropped her foot and whirred away. A couple of other robots were struggling to right a fallen statue. There was no sign of Willer or his crew.

Dee ached all over. She checked for injuries. There were none as far as she could tell. Neuro-stims were incredibly painful but left no bone or tissue damage. Unless you broke something while thrashing around, that is.

Dee felt dizzy. It took a while to stand up. Finally she made it. Staggering past the sculptures, past the electro-sculpture, she made it to the door. It slid aside.

Outside it was bright and sunny. The warmth felt good on Dee's face.

The tender had been back for an hour now. Cy was puttering around the drive room, Melissa was tucked into bed, and Cap had passed out. It was amazing that he could even walk much less fly the tender.

There was a tap on the door frame. Lando didn't turn. He continued to stuff clothes into a duffel bag. "Yes?"

"I wondered where you were."

Dee's voice was level but he sensed the tension. He knew what she really meant but refused to acknowledge it. How could he? How could he do anything with a price on his head?

"Just gathering up some odds and ends. It's amazing how much baggage you can collect in a short period of time."

Dee lounged in his doorway. "Yes, and how easily you can leave it all behind."

Lando turned. "That's not fair, Della. I don't want to run. But I haven't got much choice. I've got some money now, enough to get a long ways away, far enough to start over."

Her red hair shimmered as Della shook her head. "It won't work, Pik. I found you, and others will too. There's thousands of bounty hunters out there. How many can you kill before they kill you? Very few will give up a rich bounty for your questionable charms."

There, it was out in the open, for better or worse. There was a long silence as each searched the other's eyes. It was a turning point, a critical moment in both lives, and each of them knew it.

Dee had considered telling Lando about Willer, about the neuro-stim, but decided to wait. It was something he needed to know, but not here, not now.

Now she wanted a decision based on emotions other than anger at what Willer had done to her, and fear of what he might do to Cap and Melissa.

Lando spoke first. "I wondered if you'd come with me… but didn't dare ask. I don't have much to offer."

Dee smiled softly. "You have yourself. You're worth money. That's more than most men can say."

Lando laughed. "All right then, come with me! We'll find something out along the rim, a little freight line maybe, or a farm."

Dee shook her head. "It won't work, Pik, not until you get the price off your head."

"So what's the alternative?"

"Stay aboard, save your money, hire a good lawyer."

"And in the meantime?"

"And in the meantime we'll see. Good things take time."

Lando walked over to the hatch. Dee stepped into his arms.

"How much time?"

"As much as it takes."

"You're beautiful, but frustrating."

She smiled. "I'm glad you noticed."

Dee started to say something else but Lando's lips covered hers and the words were forever lost.

17

With every sensor on max, and Lando's nerves stretched tight,
Junk
approached Gate Twenty-one. If he'd learned anything during his first trip to Durna's asteroid belt, Lando had learned that gates were dangerous as hell. First there were the pirates, and then there was Willer, either one of whom could be waiting in ambush.

Lando was furious over the cyborg's attack on Dee and only her stubborn resistance had kept him from tracking Willer down.

Dee wanted revenge too, but said it was stupid to attack someone on their ground, and smart to wait for a better opportunity. Lando had reluctantly agreed.

But forewarned is forearmed and after leaving Pylax, Lando detected a tail. The other vessel was too far away for positive identification but there was little doubt as to the snip's identity. Willer was following them. He knew where
Junk
was headed and intended to share in anything the tug found.

Lando responded with a trick learned from his smuggler father. Although hyperspace jumps are normally reserved for long distances, they can be used in-system, and a series of quick hops is almost impossible to follow. And because they are carefully calculated within a volume of known space, they're reasonably safe.

So Lando set up the NAVCOMP, turned it loose, and tried to keep his lunch down while
Junk
made a series of stutter jumps. His stomach never had approved of hyperspace jumps and six in a row was about five too many.

The crew meanwhile was on full alert. Cap had strapped himself into the top weapons turret with Cy to starboard and Dee to port. The addition of Dee to
Junk
's
,
crew had strengthened their defensive capabilities considerably.

Lando checked his sensors one last time. Nothing.

"See anything?"

The voice belonged to Cap. The combination of tension and an ugly hangover had coarsened his voice.

"Nothing so far," Lando answered. "Nothing but a zillion asteroids, any one of which could hide a pirate ship."

"Or
be
a pirate ship," Melissa said, remembering their last run-in with the roid pirates.

"I heard they nailed that bunch some weeks back," Cy put in. "The leader was a Finthian."

"I hope you're right," Lando said tersely. "'Cause here we go!"

It was impossible to put on much speed without running the risk of a collision, but Lando crossed his fingers and punched up fifty percent power.

A few seconds later they were inside the belt and working their way through the maze of slowly tumbling rock. There was no attack. The crew let out a collective sigh of relief.

Lando tapped some keys and watched Cap's coordinates appear on the nav screen. A roid miner's lie? A way to turn a fast credit? Or Sol's own truth?

There was, as Cap put it, "only one way to find out."

It wouldn't be easy. Lando made a face at the screen. In order to reach those coordinates he'd have to pick his way through the worst part of the belt. The part that was only superficially charted, the part where the asteroids were thicker than Ip Mites on a Zerk Monkey's tail, the part where smart people didn't go.

"Well, that explains why I'm here," Lando mumbled to himself, and began the long torturous process of finding his way through the belt.

It took the better part of two standard days to reach the correct quadrant and ease their way in toward the point specified by the coordinates. Long hard days of unrelenting concentration, tension, and hard work.

The asteroids were thick, so thick that most showed signs of multiple collisions, a fact that didn't bode well for their mission. After all, if the asteroids bumped into each other that frequently, how 'bout a ship? Wouldn't it be hit as well? And a single collision would destroy even the largest vessel.

Cy put the odds of finding the ship at just about zero and Lando agreed. That's why he came a half foot out of his chair when the alarms went off.

The sensors thought they'd located another ship but that couldn't be! For one thing they were still a half day out from the roid miner's coordinates, and for another the readouts didn't make sense.

Lando scanned the board. What the hell was going on? The sensors claimed there was metal up ahead, lots of it, and a substantial amount of heat as well. But how could that be?

"What've you got?" Lando turned to find Cap at his shoulder. The other man had whiskey breath, shiny skin, and unnaturally bright eyes.

"I'm not sure, Cap. Something that's made of metal and generates lots of heat."

Cap's face dropped. "Generates heat?" Like Lando, Cap knew that the liner's drives would be stone-cold. That left two possibilities. Some sort of mining rig or a pirate.

Cap turned away. "I'll man my weapon."

Lando nodded. "An excellent idea." He punched the intercom. "Battle stations, everybody… there's something strange up ahead. All weapons are armed."

"That's a roger," Dee answered. "The port blister is on-line and ready to go."

"Ditto the starboard," Cy answered.

"The top turret is on-line," Cap added tensely. "Tell us what you see."

Lando didn't bother to answer. He was too busy sliding around a rather large asteroid. Lando kept it between
Junk
and the metallic object for as long as he could. But the moment finally came when he couldn't hide any longer and the tug was forced out into the open.

Lando couldn't believe his eyes! Beyond the asteroid there was an open space, and in the middle of the open space there was a ship! A long, thick ovoid and, as far as Lando could tell, largely undamaged.

That was strange enough, but the vessel also gave off a greenish glow as if lit from within, and was flooding his sensors with interference.

Lando touched a button and shunted video to the top weapons turret. "We've got something, Cap. Is that the
Star of Empire
?"

There was a moment of silence as Cap studied the video, then a long drawn-out sigh. Lando could almost hear the hope flowing out of him.

But to Cap's credit he kept his composure. "Nope, I don't know what that is, but it's not the
Star.
That greenish glow is very strange. Try for a contact."

Lando turned to the com screen. "Unknown vessel, this is the salvage vessel
Junk,
do you read me?"

The response was sudden and completely unexpected. Dee saw it coming, tried to give warning, but couldn't speak the words fast enough. "Watch out, Pik… it launched some sort of…"

Then Lando saw it for himself. A green blob that raced toward them and hit the ship's hull.

Much to Lando's surprise the blob passed right through
Junk
's
protective force field without setting off a single alarm. A hallucination? No, it hit
Junk
with enough force to rock the entire ship and snap his head back.

Suddenly every one of Lando's screens were filled with snow and his instruments produced impossible readings.