Red Sun Bleeding (21 page)

Skrat swished his tail thoughtfully. ‘So, this rather begs the question, what do we tell our Mister Durk of what we’ve uncovered?’

‘Absolutely nothing. The fewer people that know about this, the better,’ insisted Lana. ‘The triple alliance, the skein, there isn’t a superpower in the galaxy that wouldn’t chase us to the ends of the universe to get their hands on Calder. Imagine! A key for every Heezy artefact they’ve collected and haven’t got a hope in hell in understanding for the next few millennia. What a mind-skeg. The best Calder could hope for is having his DNA scanned before being locked in a very deep, very secure pit for the rest of his life.’ She didn’t have to say that the more likely option was a trip to a cellular-level incinerator via a very hard, cold dissection table.

‘From what I understand, he’s the last of his family line,’ said Skrat. ‘Hesperus’s ice age was savage… it claimed millions of lives among the original settler group after their civilization collapsed. Mister Durk may well be the only surviving descendant of the original science team that worked on Pluto. He’s quite possibly unique.’

‘We’re all unique, Skrat.’

‘That’s as maybe, but nobody’s willing to kill for
my
blasted DNA. There’s something else,’ said Skrat. ‘I think that Zeno might suspect something of Calder’s true nature. He was plugged into the Heezy control board in the cavern, seeing whatever Sebba was seeing. The professor was about to tell you about something she had noticed, something “impossible”, but Zeno interrupted her before she could finish speaking. What if the good professor had detected the presence of a living Heezy genetic control set interacting with the cavern’s machines?’

‘Zeno’s said nothing to me about Calder?’

‘Maybe he’s considering selling Calder to the highest bidder? The dear boy is utterly priceless, you know. What I discovered hidden in his DNA was enough to give even an honourable chap of my calibre pause to think. I could purchase back my lost position in the nest. Good heavens, I could buy enough voting shares to anoint myself President of the whole blasted skirl home world!’

‘Zeno wouldn’t do that,’ protested Lana. ‘There has to be an alternative explanation for what he discovered down on the planet while plugged in.’

‘Your people place too much faith in your AIs,’ said Skrat. ‘It’s not a mistake you will find many skirls making. We prefer our machines dull, obedient and resolutely without sarcasm and a talent for answering back.’

‘When I came out of a cold sleep capsule as a vegetable, it was Zeno who nursed me back to health. I was nothing more than a penniless amnesiac refugee,’ said Lana. ‘One among thousands. He’s been with me from the start. Zeno’s never betrayed me yet and I can’t believe he ever would.’

‘The android’s survived for over a thousand years – who knows what strange alien perspectives his mind’s developed across the centuries. To him, we’re little more than mayflies flickering out in the dark. A brief dance and… gone. Keep both your eyes and mind open for unpleasant possibilities, captain,’ advised Skrat. ‘That’s all I suggest.’

Unpleasant possibilities?
After this Dollar-sign debacle, she’d need to find something a little more profitable than those to haul across the galaxy. And the irony was, in their latest crewman they had their very own dreams-beyond-avarice-fortune walking around on two legs. Lana snorted and her eyes drifted down to the star charts on her screen. Somewhere in the Edge was a job that paid well and wouldn’t leave the
Gravity Rose
with hull damage.
Somewhere out there
.

Skrat made for the door of her quarters. ‘Maybe you should consider selling Mister Durk, captain. We could all depart the next port as trillionaires.’

‘What, and live it large like a damn episode of
Lives of the Planet Kings
? I have something that most trillionaires will never have,’ said Lana.

Skrat flicked his tail curiously. ‘And that would be?’

Lana reached out and tapped the hull of her ship. ‘Enough.’

FIN

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