Chapter 18 #2
She shrugged. “I don’t have to. These MTVs are programmed to not even allow renters to take the wheel.
The companies don’t want the liability of a renter having fun driving one of their MTVs around Solace Moon, leaving tracks in their precious sand.
All I have to do is enter the destination, and it’ll auto-drive us.
It looks like it only allows four destinations—lucky for us, one of them is the private shuttle terminal. ”
She pressed a button on the dash, then the door closed and the airbridge retracted. The MTV’s engine rumbled silently to life, vibrating the seat.
I sniffed the air. It was cold, dusty, and lighter than I’d ever breathed before. “Are you sure it’s safe without suits?”
She chuckled. “Trust me, it’s safe. No company wants to pay out a death benefit. It’s a lot cheaper for them to keep the air processors running and decent seals around the doors.”
“Sure, until the price of air processors goes up.”
“True. It’ll be a different story then. Do you know if air processors have gone up in price?”
“No idea, but everything else has lately.”
She inhaled deeply. “Let’s hope they’re the exception.”
The MTV backed away from the dock so slowly, I could’ve crawled faster. Once it was clear, it rotated around and started just as slowly toward the horizon. “We might die from old age before we reach the terminal,” I quipped.
“Don’t worry, it’ll pick up speed. Then you’ll wish it’d slow down.”
As I waited, I looked across the endless glittering desert dotted by artificial docks and towers.
Behind us, dust puffed up in glittering smoke from the MTV’s tracks.
I saw construction underway on another set of docks that likely connected to another wing of Solace Station.
I counted three different mining rigs set up within a half-mile of where we’d left Solace Station, which made me realize that they most likely built the station outward based on where the mining was taking place.
I’d almost forgotten that nearly all of Solace Station was underground.
The space docks stood over the horizon—I couldn’t see them yet—but Lyra was right about the MTV picking up speed.
It must’ve sped up to fifty miles per hour by now.
Not riding in a vehicle until recently, I found the speed unnerving.
Your stress levels are climbing, Cal. Do not fear. You are safe in this vehicle. Its systems are fully functional for the most part.
For the most part? “For the record, I’m not scared about this MTV; I’m scared about this MTV colliding with that.” I pointed to a large rock that we were quickly approaching.
“Don’t worry, we’ll miss it. Look at the tracks in the sand—you’ll see we’re on a regular route,” Lyra said.
Listen to Lyra. As I told you before, she is intelligent.
I focused on the ground, but it was moving too fast and just amped up my tension.
I looked at the horizon, but my eyes kept darting to the rock as we drew closer.
We whooshed by it with at least twenty feet to spare, which surprised me.
I didn’t let my guard down—if there was one rock out there, that meant there were more that I couldn’t see.
And with the MTV picking up speed by the second, we could ram a boulder before I ever saw it.
Lyra seemed unbothered—she’d clearly been in vehicles plenty of times before.
In the last week, I’d ridden in my first car, first shuttle, and now first terrain vehicle.
I didn’t find any of them enjoyable. Feeling the constant thrum of the engines in my seat cushions reminded me that I was just a sardine in a tin can.
And just like sardines, I didn’t want to be in a tin can either.
The MTV continued to pick up speed until it was going so fast that everything whizzed by, and I couldn’t focus on anything except the horizon ahead. The vehicle never swerved, just cruised straight ahead.
We are within signal range of the spaceport.
“Then where is it?” I asked.
“Where’s what?” Lyra asked.
“The spaceport,” I answered.
She swiped through the screen before her. “This says we’re only twenty miles out. We should see it soon.”
And sure enough, once we crested a hill, Solace Moon’s spaceport sprawled before us.
From the outside, it was a long line that branched on either end.
One end contained private docks identical to docks lining the, er, line, while the other end had no enclosed docks.
Instead, two massive spaceships sat there with long, flexible airbridges connected to each of their hatches.
The spaceport didn’t seem like an efficient design, but it must’ve been the cheapest to accommodate the incoming and outgoing shuttles.
I noticed other MTVs then—or at least I noticed their dust clouds.
Several were driving around the spaceport, and as we drew closer and began slowing down, I noticed the MTVs were large vehicles transporting crates.
It made sense that the Solace Moon had to import most of its supplies and food, and I wondered how much of those supplies came from Dreswick.
I’d read that the cost of space travel was so low now thanks to never-failing self-fueling engine systems, that it was cheaper to fly across a star system than it was to fly into a planet’s atmosphere.
As a kid, I’d always wanted to see the stars, but Grandmother had cautioned me to keep my feet on the ground at all times.
I didn’t know what she meant at the time.
I wasn’t even sure I understood now, but I at least had the gist of it.
The MTV slowed to a crawl as we approached the branch with docks.
“This’ll park us at the rental dock, so we’ll still have to walk to the shuttle,” Lyra said.
“And I was getting used to getting chauffeured around.” I sobered. “Byte, can you see if there are any enforcers in the area?”
There is a squad of enforcers stationed at the security check. You will need to avoid them when entering the concourse.
I turned to Lyra. “Bad news. We’ve got a whole squad of guys who can’t wait to meet us at the security checkpoint.”
She blew out a breath. “I should’ve figured as much. I was hoping enough time had passed that they’d given up the search at the spaceport and moved their resources to the inner station.” She grumbled a curse. “They want Byte too much.” She then sent a message on her armlet.
She sent a request for help to a name of KK, but there are no additional details on the individual in her contacts. I do not know if we can trust them.
Kynan Kade. Not for the first time, I wondered just how high up Lyra was in the resistance hierarchy.
If she could pop off secure messages to the leader of the resistance on a whim, then the resistance was either pretty dang small or she was pretty high up, and I was guessing it was the latter.
I wish I could telepathically convey what I wanted to say to Byte.
Since I got the amp, I had only a few hours alone, and much of that was spent passed out or running.
There was so much I wanted to talk to it about—to learn about its capabilities—but I didn’t want an audience.
Even though I mostly trusted Lyra, I still didn’t want her to know as much about Byte as I did.
At this particular moment, I chose to remain silent as I’m sure Lyra wouldn’t be too pleased if I pointed out that my amp was spying on her.
The MTV slowed to a slug’s pace as it lined up to a dock that had several smaller doors just large enough for a vehicle. As we approached, one door opened. It was too dark to see what lay beyond.
“Byte, tell me we’re not going to get shot as soon as we drive inside,” I said.
The station’s camera in the rental return bay detects no humans.
It is a fully automated section, so it would be unlikely to have any station personnel.
And the enforcers have wisely centralized at the bottleneck entering the concourse as all passengers must proceed through the security checkpoint.
“Yeah, like us,” I said.
“What’s that?” Lyra said.
“Nothing. Just not looking forward to poking the wasp nest.”
There are no wasp nests on Solace Moon. The environment is unforgiving to most life-forms.
I couldn’t tell if that was Byte making a joke or just pointing out a fact. Its sense of humor was that bad.
I tensed as the vehicle drove into its rental return bay, expecting enforcers to pop out at any second.
Instead, the only thing that popped out was the airbridge, which sealed onto the MTV’s hull with a sucking sound.
A moment later, the vehicle’s lights came to full brightness, and the screen before Lyra flashed the message: Oakland Mining Company hopes you had a nice ride. Enjoy your flight.
The door next to me opened.
Lyra’s armlet chimed, and she read the message. “We’re good,” she said.
“We’re good?”
“A friend’s going to meet us,” she said.
“That’s it?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Pretty much. He’s got a plan for getting around security.”
KK responded. They sent instructions. Would you like me to cover them with you?
“Okay,” I replied, answering Byte and appeasing Lyra at the same time. I exited the vehicle and made my way through the airbridge.
As Byte fed me the plan, I was careful to keep my features straight, to not give away what I was doing, let alone what I thought of the plan.
It was a very lousy plan.
“Are you okay?” Lyra asked.
I jerked. “Yeah, why?”
“You look… constipated.”
I’ve never been a very good liar.
“I’m fine.”
She probably would’ve pressed, but a man stepped into the doorway, blocking it. He was about my age, with dark skin and a thin moustache that wrapped around to connect with his goatee. He wore a green stocking hat and green coveralls.
“Talon,” Lyra said, surprise filling the name.
He smiled. “In the flesh.”
Interesting. His face is associated with thirty-one different identities, but none have the name Talon.