Starship Swindlers: Outsiders Trilogy Book 2 Read online

  “Rurthk is a smooth talker. He has the same manner as a con artist.”

  “You think it could be a trick?”

  “It is possible. But then, it is equally possible he could simply be making the case eloquently because he is in a difficult position.”

  “Look at this,” Illipa said. She gestured at her tablet, and sent something to Laodicean's neural link.

  It was a review of old GEA files. Laodicean read it. Superficially it looked like a random selection. The pattern was subtle, but it was definitely there. Dozens of minor references, in throwaway lines from informants or intercepted communications. All pointed to a secret Sweetblade science project. And it matched the time period Rurthk was talking about.

  Laodicean flared his tentacles and came to a halt. “Impressive work,” he said.

  Illipa beamed.

  “Yes,” Laodicean went on. “I think we shall take Rurthk up on his offer. But we shall have to be very careful.”

  *

  Rurthk was leaning against the wall of the interrogation room when the investigators returned. One door each in the water and air portions of the room.

  “You don't have any blood, do you?” said Rurthk. After a moment, he added, “Fermented, I mean. Not inside you.”

  Laodicean ignored the request. “The trade, then, is as follows: You will help us find this laboratory and whoever is running it. In return, we will give you your ship back and forget about your previous legal infractions.”

  “Alright,” said Rurthk.

  “I have one further question regarding this Sweetblade laboratory,” said Laodicean.

  Rurthk strode across the room and sat back in the chair, facing the investigators across the desk. “Shoot,” he said.

  “How did you come by this knowledge? In our interviews with your crew, we have seen no point where you might have learned about such a secret.”

  Rurthk hesitated. The answer felt like a betrayal.

  “I need an honest answer before we can go any further,” said Laodicean.

  “Dr. Wolff,” said Rurthk after a moment. “He used to work there.”

  “I suspected as much,” said Laodicean. “He was the most likely candidate.”

  “Can we get moving now?” said Rurthk.

  “I want to hear it from Dr. Wolff himself,” said Laodicean. “But he refuses to answer. A brief statement from you might help.”

  Part of the desk's surface rose up smoothly into a white pillar. It stopped when at eye level, and a tiny black dot appeared, facing Rurthk. A camera.

  “Do not tell him what to say, only to reveal what he knows,” added Laodicean.

  Rurthk sighed and faced the camera. “Doctor,” he said. “They're going to let us continue with this mission if we go along with their plans, but they need you to tell them how we know about the lab. Just go through with it, and we should walk away free.”

  When he was finished, the pillar retracted into the smooth surface of the desk, as if it had never been there at all.

  *

  After a long wait in his cell, unsure what was happening and whether or not the plan was going forward, Rurthk was confronted by two GEA guards. They were both Albascene. They stood side-by-side in the doorway, in suits so identical it was impossible to tell them apart.

  “It is time to go,” said one.

  Rurthk had been dozing. He blinked blearily at them.

  “What?”

  “It is time to go.”

  They led him down the featureless white corridors, at last emerging into a room with a docking tube.

  At the end of that, sat the Outsider's cargo bay. The guards led him aboard his own ship. “Wait here,” they said, then vanished down the docking tube.

  Rurthk looked around. Coming back to the Outsider was like waking up from a featureless nightmare into something real and physical. Here, the environment finally had real colours. Dark grey carbide and the bright yellow and red of warning signs, dirty ochre stains and the vivid flash of Eloise's paint, had never felt so welcoming.

  Rurthk took a step forward, hearing the reassuring clank of his boot against the floor.

  It took him a moment to realise the ship was a mess.

  There were holes in the floor and walls, where the plating had been roughly pulled away. Some parts of the superstructure had been torn open. The plating itself, twisted and misshapen, was stacked nearby. The hatch leading to the corridor at the top of the stairs had been torn away and now lay on the floor of the cargo bay.

  And there were other structures, embedded in the walls. They were shallow disks with sloped edges. He walked over to one of them and tapped. It sounded dull, like strengthened polymer.

  He couldn't tell its exact purpose, but he could guess why it was there. To track, to monitor, to remind him that his ship wasn't really his anymore.

  “Rur?”

  By the time Rurthk turned, Eloise was already running across the cargo bay towards him. She grabbed him for a brief, tight hug, which he awkwardly reciprocated. She stepped back and looked around the cargo bay.

  “Shit,” she said. She had lost her vibrancy aboard the GEA ship. She looked pale and uncertain. “Have we got the ship back?”

  “Yes and no,” said Rurthk.

  There were more footsteps in the cargo bay.

  “Olivia!” said Eloise. She greeted the girl with a hug too. “Are you okay?'

  Olivia seemed momentarily bewildered to hear her name. “Yeah,” she said. “Just … tired. How long were we in there?”

  Rurthk checked a panel. “Just over seven hours,” he said with a growl. “More time than they needed.”

  The rest of the crew arrived one by one, all looked drained in their own way.

  The last to come was Dr. Wolff, who gave Rurthk a long look. “I told them,” he said. “I hope you know what you're doing.”

  “So do I,” said Rurthk. He looked over his crew in silence. Then he walked over to the staircase and thumped it. The resulting clatter got everyone's attention.

  “You all want to know what's going on.” Rurthk said. “Here it is. We go free and we keep the ship. In return, the GEA are coming with us on the next mission. In a manner of speaking.” He pointed to the disk on the wall. “They want to find this secret lab as much as we do.”

  Mero raised his hand. “Does this mean we won't get our treasure?”

  “I very much doubt it,” said Rurthk.

  Mero's ears fell flat against his head. “By the ancestral abyss,” he muttered.

  “Captain Rurthk is correct,” said a calm voice. Everybody turned to see Laodicean gliding out of the docking tube into the cargo bay. Illipa came bounding along behind him. Laodicean went on, “When we find the lab, we intend to confiscate it and everything in it. When the mystery is solved, we will allow you to go free. Your payment for this mission will be your freedom and your ship.”

  “But we'll always be on record, right?” said Mero. “So you can swoop down and take us any time you feel like it.”

  “Correct,” said Laodicean. “But I assure you, we will be focused on bigger prey.”

  “A promotion's in the offing,” Rurthk told Mero, and shrugged.

  If he noticed the attempt to needle him, Laodicean didn't respond. He glided over to the disk in the wall. “You will notice structures like this in various places throughout your ship. Be assured they are not the only ones. They will ensure your co-operation. We will remove them when the mission is over. Until then, please do not tamper with them.”

  “Why?” said Mero. “Will they explode or something?”

  “No, but we will see you, end the mission, and seize the ship.”

  “Ah. Right. Fair enough.” Mero shrugged.

  “That is all. I wish you well on your mission,” said Laodicean.

  Illipa waved. “Bye bye!”

  Summoning a grin from somewhere, Mero waved back.

  The investigators turned and headed back down the docking tube. Rurthk hit the button to close
the cargo bay ramp.

  Chapter 13: Matter of Honour

  Mr. Chase stood in his meeting room, looking out through the giant triangular windows onto the rust-red Martian desert and the shallow slopes of Olympus Mons. Evening was creeping across the landscape, turning it the colour of venous blood. The wall screen behind him displayed a static image, a historic photograph of the old Saturn V rocket taking off.

  “Sir,” said an underling, entering the room.

  Mr. Chase spoke over him, his tone sharp but controlled, silencing the other man instantly. “It has been two months. If you have not found her, leave immediately.”

  “We've found her,” the man said quietly.

  Mr. Chase turned his icy gaze on his underling. “And?”

  “One of our friends in the GEA says she has been arrested, along the crew of a ship called the Outsider.”

  “Excellent. When will she be returned to Mars?”

  “Well, uh, it's not that simple sir.”

  Mr. Chase's sharpening look was all the prompt his underling needed.

  “The investigators overseeing the case have allowed Miss Chase and her … allies to return to the ship. It appears to be part of a gambit to learn more about Sweetblade. When they have finished, the ship will be turned free, but right now it is being tracked.”

  Mr. Chase turned back to the window. “Have our people ready. I want an armed presence on every major planet. Give them everything they need. Have them follow the ship, but wait. It would not do to interrupt the GEA. But as soon as the investigation is over, we find the ship and take her back.”

  “The rest of the crew?”

  “Expendable.”

  The underling nodded, went for the door, then paused. “Sir,” he said. “If I may …?”

  “What?”

  “If the teams to take your daughter back are armed, and she tries to avoid being taken back … uh … wouldn't her safety be at risk?”

  “I hire only the best,” Mr. Chase said. “Are you suggesting otherwise?”

  The underling shook his head. “No, sir. Not at all.”

  “Good. Given their competence, it is an acceptable risk. But... assure them that if my daughter comes to any harm, there will consequences.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Now leave.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  *

  Rurthk stood in the gallery of the opera house, looking out over the performance on the stage below without really paying attention. Dr. Wolff sat beside him, looking rather more appropriate in a tuxedo, and giving off an air of easy geniality.

  But beneath that, beneath the sounds of the backing orchestra, a chill silence stood like a wall of ice between them. Whether it was because of Rurthk's decision to tell the investigators about Wolff's past, or because of the fact that Laodicean was listening in through their comms at this very moment, Rurthk didn't know. Most likely it was both.

  He looked past the singers to the back of the stage where less than a day ago, Mero had squeezed a stealth shuttle into the auditorium to rescue them. The event didn't seem to have affected the opera house much. Perhaps Laodicean had smoothed things over.

  Rurthk settled back in his chair to wait. The door to his right opened, but it was just a couple of humans leaving.

  After being released, Rurthk had looked through the Outsider, noting the damage done, and the invasive disks attached to the bulkheads. The feeling of being watched, of being monitored, was impossible to escape. He supposed the disks served as a tool of psychological warfare as much as listening devices.

  The door opened, and a Varanid in a worn, scruffy, navy blue coat. stepped through. Its reptilian head turned slowly as it checked the gallery, before settling on Rurthk and Wolff.

  “That's him,” said Wolff. “Krito.”

  Krito nodded at them, then turned and headed back into the hall outside. After a moment, Rurthk and Wolff followed him.

  Krito was waiting in the hall. In the light, Rurthk could see the signs of age – discoloured scales, a thinning skin that revealed the ridges of armour beneath, a faint but noticeable caution in the Varanid's movements in response to weakening joints.

  “Krito, Krito, Krito,” said Anton. He slapped the Varanid's shoulder in a friendly way. “In the flesh at last. You're looking well, old friend.”

  “No I'm not,” said Krito, with a rumble of laughter. “And neither are you. Entropy has done neither of us any favours.”

  Wolff laughed. Even given the situation, with shameful pasts unearthed and the GEA breathing down their necks, it was genuine mirth, real camaraderie.

  “And you, I presume, are Captain Rurthk,” said Krito, turning to him.

  “Pleased to meet you,” said Rurthk. “Shall we get a move on?”

  “Yes, yes. Let's,” said Krito. “It would probably be safer to talk aboard your ship.”

  “Do you think you're being watched?” Rurthk asked.

  “I have no idea,” said Krito. “But given the circumstances, I think it's possible. I don't want to take any chances, at least.”

  Rurthk nodded. “Alright. Before we go any further, though, there's something I should tell you.”

  The comms buzzed in Rurthk's ear. A moment later, Laodicean's voice came through. “Rurthk …” he said in a warning tone.

  Krito gave Rurthk a serious look. “What is it?”

  “Something happened when we first arrived,” said Rurthk.

  Laodicean spoke again. “Do not tell him about our presence. It will jeopardise the mission.”

  Rurthk looked at Dr. Wolff, who could also hear Laodicean. Wolff gave him a grave but encouraging nod.

  Turning back to Krito, Rurthk said, “The GEA caught up to us soon after we arrived. They've got us on a leash and they're listening in. Now, I think they want to see the lab of yours taken down as much as you do. So they're letting us go forward. But if you want to walk, now's the time.”

  Krito turned to Wolff. “Anton?”

  “It's true,” Wolff said. “We haven't had the greatest luck lately.”

  Krito sighed. After a moment, he started down the stairs. “Are you coming?” he said.

  Rurthk and Wolff hurried to catch up with him.

  “I take it you're coming with us?” said Rurthk.

  “I'm already risking my freedom doing this,” said Krito. “The GEA doesn't change that.” He paused. “Thank you for your honesty, by the way.”

  As they crossed the Foyer and stepped out into the street, Laodicean returned to the comms. “That was foolhardy,” he commented.

  Rurthk tapped his comm. “It was,” he said. “But it was also necessary. Matter of honour. Not something you'd understand.”

  Chapter 14: Interrupted

  Krito settled onto the floor of the observation lounge, taking up most of the floor space. Rurthk and the crew sat, stood and hung around the table.

  The kitchen was still a mess. Most of the cupboards had had their doors pulled off and their contents torn apart. The floor plating was opened up in places – a large hole by Krito's tail exposed the structures beneath. Another GEA disk was embedded in the wall above.

  “Let's start with some background,” Rurthk said. “How did you find out the lab started up again?”

  Krito nodded slowly. “A couple of months ago I received an anonymous message offering to pay me a lot of money for advising a new biomedical engineering project. It wasn't explicit, but the subtext was obvious, given the secrecy of the thing and my past.”

  “I didn't get a message like that,” said Dr. Wolff.

  “Perhaps they think you have more moral fibre than I do,” said Krito.

  “They were wrong, I take it?” said Wolff.

  “Perhaps.” Krito shrugged. “I declined the offer, anyway. They told me not to tell anyone else, and that was that. But the message piqued my curiosity, so I did a little digging. I didn't dare talk to any of our fellow colleagues at that stage, but I looked to see what they were doing on the assumption so
me of them had also been approached. And sure enough, within the next few weeks, three of them quit their jobs and moved.”

  Krito paused to collect his thoughts, then went on, “I thought about dropping it, but in the end I couldn't help myself. I have a few contacts, and some skills myself. I started listening in. The suppliers of your old lab started getting new demands. There were new offers for young and brilliant scientists making their way through the grapevine.” He gave Wolff a weak smile. “You know, the same way we were recruited.”

  Laodicean's voice sounded openly over the ship's internal speakers. “Do you have evidence?”

  Rurthk, momentarily startled by the interruption, growled at the speakers. “Bloodline, Laodicean! What the hell was that?”

  “Now you have revealed my presence,” said Laodicean. “I may as well speak openly.”

  “Hello, Investigator,” said Krito. He seemed more amused by the interruption than anything. “Since you're here, may I ask, will I be prosecuted for this?

  “Unlikely,” said Laodicean. “Now, Dr. Krito, did you collect the evidence you saw?”

  “Yes,” said Krito. He took a contracted tablet from within his coat and dropped it on the table.

  Rurthk gave the disk on the wall a meaningful look, then took the tablet and gestured at it to expand. “Yes, very impressive,” he said loudly. “Lots of evidence here.”

  “Please connect the tablet to one of our trackers,” said Laodicean.

  Rurthk ignored him and turned back to Krito. Speaking normally, he said, “And then?”

  “I decided I had to do something about it,” said Krito. “It was a slow realisation, but, well, once it had a hold of me … Anyway, Anton was the only one of my colleagues I felt I could trust.”

  “Which brings us to here,” said Rurthk. “What, exactly, were you working on in the lab?”

  “Biological weapons,” said Krito. He sighed. “You won't be at risk of infection. Can we just leave it at that?”

  “Alright,” said Rurthk. “I don't need to examine all the skeletons in your closet.” He stood up. “Krito, go with Mero to the cockpit and give him the co-ordinates for this lab, would you? Let's get this done.”