Maggie
“Do you live here?” I ask as Kes leads me past the waterfalls and into another area which looks for all the universe like an empty swimming pool.
“Here?” Kes queries. “No. Why do you ask?”
“It would be a very weird place to live.”
“It’s full of water.” Kes looks at me, head slightly on one side, as if I’m a bit stupid. “Why would anything live here except water breathers? We use it for storage as it hides our weapons from the Ulep’s roving scanners.”
“The Ulep who have my Sarkarnii?”
“Probably have your Sarkarnii.”
“And they knew he was here due to the roving scanners?”
“No, they knew he was here because they got some intelligence he would be arriving soon.”
I growl under my breath. The traitor who gave us up on Szorn has somehow followed us here. It has to be the baron.
“Your Sarkarnii has made an enemy of the Ulep,” Kes says.
“And you’re not?”
Kes splutters out a snort of pure anger.
“Any creature who likes its insides to stay on its insides, providing that’s where they were in the first place, is an enemy of the Ulep, if they know what’s good for them!”
“So why does this planetoid shield them?” I respond. We pass the empty pool, duck under a large pipe which curls around another, looking for all the world like a flume, but it simply can’t be, and then head out through a small airlock so that we’re in a long passage.
“There is no governing body here. All you see is out of necessity. Nothing stays long enough for it to be an issue.”
“You mean no one is making any credits?” I say, dryly.
“What money is there to be made out of dust?”
“Given the number of life forms here, there are credits to be made. This place is useful for plenty.”
“This place is where you go when all else has failed. What would be the point of governing it?” Kes presses his little paw on the wall, and an airlock opens up jerkily.
He gestures for me to go inside. I still have my pulsar pistol, although in a confined space, I’m not sure how much use it will be, and given we came purely to look and then leave, I already know I’m not in any position to resist should there be any fighting.
Still, just knowing I have the thing gives me a confidence. One I didn’t have the first time I was taken by aliens, or the second. I won’t count Driok as a third occasion, nor Kes as a fourth. If only for my own mental arithmetic…and sanity.
In my pocket, my comm vibrates. I look briefly at my surroundings, which are a jumble of weird furniture and so many surfaces covered in what looks like rubbish.
So far, so raccoon. I dig out my comm. On it there are messages…messages from my friends. New ones.
For a moment I stare at it, my mouth open.
Kerra
Darax says Dalox is closer to finding Maggie and Driok
Lydia
It’s about time, they’ve been gone too long
Scarlett
Driok can’t be trusted. He’s probably sold Maggie into slavery or something
He has not!
Rosalie
Maggie??
Lydia
Is that really you?
Kerra
Maggie!
Scarlett
I knew you weren’t sold into slavery
I don’t know how I’m getting our messages
Driok and I were nearly blown up
Then we ended up on a city planet
It’s a long story but now we’re trying to get his crew back
Rosalie
Is Dalox there too?
I don’t know…I sort of lost Driok :S
Scarlett
Ale-wine?
No, ale-iens
Kerra
:D
Lydia
:D :D
Kerra
What can we do?
Get a message to Dalox
Use my comm for co-ordinates
I’ve found a friend and I think Driok could do with one
Rosalie
Will do
I think I probably have the best friends in the universe. After all, we’re all abductees, and yet we’re all still sticking together.
Love you guys
Lydia
Oh god it must be bad
Scarlett
Maggie’s lost it, send help
Rosalie
We’re all doomed
OK I take it back
Fuck you guys
Kerra
Phew, she’s back
We’ll let you know about Dalox :)
I shove my comm back in my pocket before pulling the thing out again. After all, if it’s somehow getting back to Vorostor, then it must be possible to get hold of Driok.
“Don’t use that in here.” Kes is by my side, attempting to grab the comm.
“What do you mean?”
“The Ulep might be able to track you.”
“I’m sending messages, not talking to anyone.”
The Paralnyi grumbles under his breath. “Just stop using it and turn it off.”
I can see his logic, although if I’m being tracked, it’s most likely too late, but I do as Kes suggests and turn my comm off.
“I need to get back to Driok and our ship. I have a remote set up there I can use,” I say, sweeping some rubbish off a stool in order to take a seat and take a load off my feet, which are aching, along with my back.
You’d have thought I was pregnant or something.
I rest my arm over my stomach and glare at Kes.
“I have something we can use.” He disappears behind a pile of things which are precariously balanced on each other before he reappears with something that looks like it’s from the 1940’s and places it on the counter.
“A Sarkarnii scanner?”
“No, it’ll break up the Ulep transmissions, make it harder for them to communicate,” Kes says, plugging some wires in the back. “I need to take it above ground. Stay here.”
“Not like I have somewhere else to be or anything,” I grumble as Kes scuttles to the rear of the messy room and climbs up a ladder I previously didn’t see but hope I don’t have to use. For a short time, he disappears, but then he’s back, brushing down his fur.
“So?” I raise my eyebrows at him.
“So?” He looks back at me, his little dark eyes glittering.
“You saved me. Why and what for?”