Ship of Cards

[Korto]

The story has been updated, to reflect corrections and changes in the main manuscript

A few months ago I joined a local writing group. At the group, each fortnight you bring in something you've written, inspired by one of the prompts you got given at the previous meeting, and between 500 and 600 words, and so I decided to serialise so I could tell a longer story.
Of course (as expected) the other people are all old farts so I'm the only SF/Fantasy, so I figured I might put it up here as well.
While I've got a few parts written, I'll put them out one-by-one to allow any discussion between parts. I'd be interested in reading any speculations you have about the world. It's original, not fan-fiction (although that doesn't mean it's all totally original. What did Carroll say "You can try to be original, or you can try to be good"? I'm having a hard enough time trying to be good ). Anyway, without further ado...


SPShip of Cards

SPSeven days ago, I lost my ship. And now no one will talk to me.
SPNow don’t try getting funny with me. Don’t ask ‘Did you check the back of the couch?’ or ‘Which space parking lot did you leave it?’ or any nonsense like that. No, I lost it in a poker game, which if you knew me better wouldn’t surprise you. I know it didn’t surprise the rest of my crew one bit.
SPNot that they took the news real well, mind you. Johnny, quiet as ever, just looked at me, shook his head in disgust, and walked off to the engine room. Zarrin, well you know how emotional the Tai!Qu are, he let out a huge bass roar that was so subsonic no one else could hear it, but every bone could feel it, and then punched the bulkhead so hard I swear he’s put a dent in it. And you can’t dent ceramic-steel composite. It’d shatter first, and that’d take an artillery shell.
SPAnya, well she’s got little use for men at the best of times. That’s just her Kali background, of course, but did she let me have it with both barrels. She left me in absolutely no doubt what she thought of me, and what she would do to me if I didn’t get our ship back. That ship’s become a sanctuary to her, ever since we pulled her in when we found her spaced. Just a few hours drifting loose with no hope of rescue can be enough to screw some people up, and Anya had been drifting for weeks. It’s amazing she’s as sane as she is. Has a few issues, can’t stand the dark, things like that, but all in all she’s OK.
SPNow, it’s hardly like that ship isn’t home to me, too. I’m the one who bought the bloody thing, using my grandmother’s inheritance, and she was an old wreck. The ship that is, not my grandmother. Well, I suppose she was too, considering she died and all that, but I meant the ship. Johnny and I worked on it for months, welding, replacing parts. Some parts we couldn’t afford to replace, and Johnny either made them work, or just bypassed them. When we took off, we only had life-support in half the ship, and some of that half you’d hold your breath before going in. So it’s not like I’m just “La de da, I’ve lost my ship, wheee”
SPThe only mercy is, he’s let us stay on board for the two weeks he’s given me to come up with the money. With the coils drained and the lien on the ship registered with the port-master, it’s not like we’re going anywhere.
SPStill can’t believe he beat four tens. I wouldn’t have risked my ship if I didn’t have an unbeatable hand. Thought I’d died when he put down those four queens. I’d think he was cheating, but Povolski’s known for running a tight place, and he’s been hosting that poker game for years, so it should be straight. No, I’ve just got to accept I lost fair and square, so now what I’ve got to ask myself is, how the hell do I get my ship back?

[Korto]

Fuck it. It's too short. I'll post what I've got at the moment. But after this, it'll be dribs and drabs.


SPShip of Cards (II)

SPBig Don climbed up onto the bar stool and looked up at me shrewdly.
SP“I’ve heard you’ve lost your ship. I’d think you’d be too busy getting it back to be looking up old drinking buddies.”
SPI wasn’t surprised he’d heard about the game. It was what he did, and why I was talking to him now.
SP“Any other time, we’d be knocking back drinks and talking about old times. Right now, though, I need to know what you know about Gilbert McArthur.”
SP“Old times…” Big Don trailed off, and then said casually “You remember when that young laddie, Jack Phillips was his name, embezzled that money two years ago? Last time you were here, in fact.”
SP“Not much. They got a Kerridan in, and it picked it up, or something”
SP“Actually, they got it to go over the books every year, standard procedure. Of all the ways to con a bug, the kid thought he could do it with numbers. It didn’t even realise what he was doing, just pointed out the books were wrong and asked for the raw data. His bosses knew, though. Old Nick would like to know where he could find the lad; have a word about some missing money. He would pay well for information. I recall you left the planet very shortly after the lad vanished.”
SP“Yeah? No kidding? Ain’t coincidences funny.” I returned Don’s searching gaze with my own amiable blandness.
SP“Yes laddie, coincidence, of course”
SP“So, can you tell me anything about McArthur?”
SPDon nodded. “I can tell you what’s common knowledge, but there’s not much to tell. Mid fifties, runs a construction company, law-abiding, been playing in Povolski’s game for two years now, wins some, loses some. It took you to give him his first big score.”
SPBig Don grinned a pumpkin-faced grin on his leprechaun-like body. I glared back.
SP“Religious, big in the Fegis Revivalist Church, and gives twenty percent of his profit to charity; been married twenty one years and has a seventeen year old daughter named Crystal”
SPBeing religious was interesting. Very few people believed in divine powers. Well, amongst humans anyway, the Tai!Qu have an endless variety of beliefs. Gilbert may either be credulous; but not from his poker playing; or a romantic. Quite generous too, so maybe a soft touch?
SP“What’s the charity?”
SP“The poor, and medical care for kiddies. Frankly, he’s a popular laddie.”
SPBugger. I would’ve far preferred him to be gutter scum, someone I could quite happily rip off. If I pulled a scam on this bloke, I’d feel really guilty about it, and I hated feeling guilty. It sounded like the whole of the Fegis colony would want to lynch me, too, and I’d hate that even more. Bugger.
SP“What about the wife?”
SP“Sinead. Attractive woman. Involved with the Church and her husband’s business”
SP“The daughter?”
SP“Smart lassie, going to Uni, doing a business degree. Apparently doing quite well. No boyfriend I’ve heard about. Keeps her nose clean.”
SPAbsolutely nothing. She could have had the decency to be involved in a drug ring, or be estranged from her father, or something. Some people are so inconsiderate.
SPI sighed, and looked up at the pub’s grimy ceiling “That’s all you got?”
SP“We could talk some more about this Phillips lad. Maybe while we’re talking, something will come to me”
SPI got up off my stool. “I know nothing about Phillips. Thanks for your help”
SP“That’s fine, laddie, but there’s others who don’t have my easy nature who may not believe you. Keep your eyes open”
SPI smiled “Thanks”
SP“And if I was you, I’d look into the wife. There’s talk of gambling debts that her husband doesn’t know about”


SPShip of Cards (III)

SPThe shapely brunette walked quickly down the darkened street, and I padded quietly behind, keeping my distance. I wasn’t normally in the habit of following women, attractive or not, but Big Don had suggested I look into her gambling habits, and I didn’t think just asking would do the trick. Yeah, I could just imagine that conversation.
SP“Hi, you don’t know me but I was wondering about your gambling debts you haven’t been telling your husband about. You see, I lost my ship to your husband in a poker game, so I was looking for some way to ingratiate myself to him. So, was there anything you’d like to tell me?”
SPOh yeah, that’ll go real well.
SPThe woman, Sinead, entered a small and seedy-looking casino. It was a casino I’d never been to, and I’d been to a lot, so I didn’t know anything about it. I straightened my clothes and walked through the door.
SPThe E.M. detector through the door was a budget version, a cost-saving theme that was continued in the décor, furnishings, and gaming equipment. I was informed at the counter that the casino was members-only, and if I would like to join I would need to fill in an application, something I did while the woman locked away my phone and VR glasses.
SPIt wasn’t a good joint. I’ve been in a fair few casinos in my time; I could see the sharks swimming in this one, and most of them were running the games. I played some blackjack for a while, while watching Sinead; she had the manner of someone desperate, someone who had lost deeply and was trying to win it all back, a brand of idiocy I well knew. She was almost certainly heavily in debt to the casino, at usurer’s interest rates, despite both being against gaming laws in Fegis.
SPHaving seen all there was to see, and having had my fill of the air of desperation and hopelessness that seemed to seep out of the furnishings themselves, I left.

SP* * * * * * * *

SPThere were ways around E.M. detectors, particularly cheap models, and Johnny had come through again. I tried to ignore the small package taped to my leg that if found in a legitimate place would see me thrown out and barred from every casino in Fegis for life, and in a seedier joint would likely have me quietly murdered; and smile at the girl behind the reception counter. I wasn’t alone, I had Anya with me and she had to sign in too; listing herself as being from Botany, same as me. Well, she could hardly say she was a Kali’s Daughter, could she?
SPAfter an hour of play, Anya, just returning from the toilet, started shouting angrily, accusing one of the other patrons who had the misfortune to return from the toilets at the same time as her, of groping her. His flabbergasted denials were lost as she sunk a powerful kick into his ample gut and he collapsed to the floor. Anya was shouting and striking out at other luckless patrons too slow to get away from her while Security recovered from its shock.
SPIn the meantime I’d ripped the package from my leg and was waiting for Security to get its act together. As soon as I heard the sound of taser fire blinding the E.M. detectors, I slapped the first of Johnny’s toys over the security door lock, and opened the door, quickly stepping through into the back rooms.
SPIt was a simple plan. Find the computers. Get in. Get out. Don’t linger.


SPShip of Cards (IV)

SPI floated through the back rooms of the low-rent casino like a grey ghost through the darkness. Yeah, right, I wish, but Anya’s distraction out the front as Security tried to take her down covered a lot of sins on my part. By now, they would have realised the tasers weren’t working, probably assumed she was wearing cling-skin, and closed in to take her down by hand. I spared a brief moment of pity for Security.
SPAs luck would have it, I found an exposed computer link, in the Security room. There were two guards in there, glued to their screens and swearing in shock. Anya was in fine form, never standing still, leaping and striking like liquid fire and using every obstruction in the gaming room to avoid the half a dozen guards from ganging up on her. Probably wouldn’t have worked if they were well trained, but a place that skimps on quality equipment like this one did also skimps on quality guards. I considered looking for another link, in an unoccupied room, but I could run into someone at any point and forced to explain exactly what I was doing there, and what a fun explanation that would be.
SPThe guards hadn’t taken their eyes off the action on screen, which was good for me right now. Hardly daring to breathe, I crept into the room and pressed Johnny’s little black box over the wall where the link wires should be. A tiny blinking green light told me the thing was working and a connection was made, and all I had to do was hold it here while it downloaded the casino’s records and whatever else was stored in their computer’s memory. In the Security room. With two Security guards in the room. Fan-bloody-tastic. Maybe it would have been better to try and find an empty room, but a bit late now.
SPBlink, blink, blink, blink… come on, hurry up… blink, blink, blink, blink… and finally it shone an unblinking solid. The job done, I stuck the box in my pocket and crept back out of the room, leaving the two guards oblivious, still glued to their screens, casually joined a small exodus of patrons and got the hell out of that casino.

SPAnya and I met back up in a little park, a randomly picked place on a map. She was glowing with excitement, and almost unmarked. Only a few bruises where her Kali battle suit; her “magic suit” as I called it; hadn’t covered her, to try and maintain the deception.
SP“Any try to follow you?” I asked
SPAnya sneered, “I would hardly think so. Do you see a gaggle of useless feebs in wheelchairs pushing themselves along behind me?”
SPAnya’s confidence was well deserved. She was lethal in close combat, even without her blade in her hands; a credit to her people’s training. She was also a crack shot, cool under fire, and trained in small-unit tactics, first-aid, and heavy weapons. Skills which, if I had any say in it, we very, very rarely had any use for. Unfortunately, I didn’t always have a say in it.
SP“Well,” I said, pulling the black box out of my pocket, “We better take this little baby back to Johnny, and see what he can find.”



SPShip of Cards (V)

SPTime pressure is a bitch, I could feel the weight of it bearing down on me. There was little more than a week left before the guy I lost my ship to in that poker game would put it on the open market, leaving me and my crew stranded planet-side with only what we could carry out. I had to find a way to get the money to pay him. I now knew something he didn’t; his wife had gambling debts, big ones, to a rather unsavoury group of people. What I didn’t know was how to make any use of that.
SPI was slowly wandering down an industrial street near the spaceport, trying to figure this all out; the street was empty, it was late at night and everyone had gone home. Johnny was still analysing the data-files I’d stolen, seeing if he could find anything else of any use, but so far it wasn’t heartening.

SPGo to McArthur and tell him about his wife’s gambling debts? Hardly see him being so overjoyed with the news he gives me my ship back, and there’s something… distasteful… about being a snitch. Blackmail the wife with the threat of telling her husband? The amount she owed was less than what I owed, and if she couldn’t pay her own debts she certainly couldn’t pay mine. Anyway, if being a snitch was distasteful, it wasn’t nearly as disgusting as blackmailing the poor woman just to get myself out of trouble. Blackmailing the casino she owes, however, that was another matter. Those bastards had it coming.
SPI kicked a stone down the street, watching it bounce about before ending up in the gutter. I was pinning a lot of my hopes on John and those files, and I knew it.
SPThe quiet was broken by the crunch of tyres on gravel behind me, and the diminishing hum of a car powering down. Feeling a twinge of concern, I glanced back; the vehicle was large and midnight blue in the dim street, the windows were totally black. Maybe tinted, maybe they were one-way. It gave me a bad feeling, with the car just sitting there, so I quickened my pace. It was time to get back to my ship. While I still had a ship.
SPI heard the doors opening behind me. I spared another glance back, and saw four men getting out of the car, looking at me. They were large men, conservatively well dressed. My bad feeling solidified into dreadful certainty, and I started running while fumbling for the phone in my pocket, they started chasing after me.
SPI didn’t get far before the muscle-spasming pain of a taser rifle brought me crashing to the ground. Before I could recover and regain my feet, they were upon me. One kicked my phone from my hand, another kicked me in the ribs for good measure. My VR glasses were ripped off my face and smashed under a boot heel.
SPI managed a pained smile, lying on the ground staring up at the four thugs.
SP“Hey, is there a problem?”
SP“Get up. Mr Nicholas would like to talk to you.”

[Korto]

SPShip of Cards (VI)

SPBeing taken for a ride late at night to places unknown by four silent thugs who work for a man of rather unsavoury reputation who believes you were involved with someone who stole a rather lot of money off him gives you plenty of time for reflection. I was starting to doubt the wisdom of returning to Fegis. I could have gotten a good price, maybe as good, for my cargo on another planet, and on another planet I might not have put up my ship for collateral in a poker game. And lost. And I wouldn’t be on my way to see Old Nick, a meeting I could quite happily miss if that was an option. From the size of the goons on either side of me, it probably wasn’t.
SPThe car stopped. We were at a large warehouse, and a long and quite inadequate looking flight of steps ran all the way up the outside wall to a small brownish-red door high above the ground. The group of us tramped up those steps noisy as a herd of vraxen in tap shoes; the door opened as we neared the top.
SPA quite attractive young woman with long black hair had opened the door, she looked oriental, maybe Chinese, Korean, I don’t know. Also in the room was an old man, withered and drawn, with a cruel look. I’d never met Old Nick, but I was willing to hazard a guess.
SPWe were in a staff-room; there was a sink, a drink machine, and a handful of small tables with fold-up chairs. There was also a large hole in the floor in one corner, two metres square. A temporary barricade had been moved aside, and a chair was placed right on the edge, so whoever was sitting there would be sitting with their back to a two-story drop. Call me psychic, but I had a feeling about where I’d be sitting.
SP“An elevator’s being put in” the old man said, “Have a look down the hole. Go on”
SPI did.
SP“See the formwork? They’re concreting down there tomorrow. A good, thick layer. Take a seat. Careful now, you wouldn’t want to fall. I have a few questions about Jack Philips.”
SPThe interrogation was measured and intent, asking me about my routes, my cargoes, my finances, telling me that they knew I took him off-planet and demanding to know where to, me denying time and time again that I had ever met Jack Philips or took him anywhere, all while sitting in a chair bare millimetres from a sudden lethal plunge and a permanent home encased in concrete. I knew Old Nick would be running a lie detector app on his phone, probably a good one linked to his VRs to pick up mannerisms, sweat patterns, and believe me I was sweating. Of course, those things have never been brilliant, they become… unreliable… when the subject is under stress, and they’re so widespread that a lot of people have practised fooling them. In any case, Old Nick obviously wasn’t getting the answers he wanted, and I could see the doubt in his face.
SPFinally he sat back, looking at me appraisingly.
SP“You’re either innocent, or you’re a great liar. You better hope it’s the latter, because you’re going to do a job for me, and then we’ll be quits. You’re going to play a game of poker for me, and if you win, I’ll let you walk.”
SPI think the Devil made me ask, “And if I lose?”
SPOld Nick glanced at the hole just behind me. “I wouldn’t dwell on that.”


SPShip of Cards (VII)

SPOld Nick reassured me that while he expected me to put in a good show, and he’d pay off my debt if I won, killing me if I lost this poker match of his was just a joke. Yeah, bloody funny. None the less, Old Nick decided to keep me around, in case I did a runner before his big poker game. Not that I could, with a lien on my ship from gambling debts, the port-master wouldn’t recharge the coils. I had nothing else to do but get some sleep, something I was doing when there was a knock on the door.
SPI wondered at this. I wasn’t really in a position where you traditionally expected a lot of courtesy. I invited whomever it was in, the door lock beeped, and the attractive young Oriental lady from earlier slipped into the room.
SPShe was clearly scared, and not of me. She shut the door gently behind her, looked at me hesitatingly, and then asked me in an urgent voice.
SP“Can you get me off planet like Jack Philips?”
SP“I never took Jack Philips anywhere. I never met Jack Philips”
SP“So you can’t get me off planet?” She sounded crushed, close to tears.
SP“I didn’t say that. I could, but there are a couple of problems” and I looked pointedly around the room I was being held in.
SPAfter some discussion, it turned out Lin Yan could get word to my crew where I was. She could also get my gambling debt paid, and make sure any red tape was processed without delay. What she couldn’t do was get me out of Old Nick’s clutches, something that was a bit of a problem when I finally thought of asking whom it was Nick was matching me up against. Clair bloody Slean. I wondered how Old Nick’s sense of humour would take me, and by extension, him, getting absolutely humiliated.
SPI could forget Nick paying my debt, I wasn’t going to win, and I could just hope to do well enough to avoid having my kneecaps broken. This deal with Lin Yan was the best bet, and we shook on it.
SPWhat she did next took me completely by surprise. Biting her lip nervously, she looked up at me and whispered, forcing me to lean in close to hear her, “I have a confession to make. I think I love you” and she kissed me uncertainly.
SPI kissed her back, and while the rest of the world slept, we explored each other’s bodies in that Spartan cell

SPLin Yan slipped back to her room some time later, leaving me to think. While her declaration of instant love was flattering, it wasn’t real. A practised poker eye could see the second face, and this was all just to try and make sure of her place on my ship. Which she already had, she carries out her part of the deal, then I carry out my part, so this was completely unnecessary. But, if it made her feel better, who was I to tell her no? It will certainly make for an enjoyable trip.
SPThere was really nothing else to do but sleep.


SPShip of Cards (VIII)

SPI was lying back enjoying some sun, when a shadow loomed over me. It was Old Nick, come to talk to his captive and unwilling poker champion, give some encouraging words. Ah, good old Nick.
SP“I’ve got my heart set on you winning this match, you hear?”
SPI nodded. The game was in two days. Nick had promised to pay my gambling debts and get my ship out of hock if I won.
SP“I said ‘You hear?’ boy!”
SP“Yeah, yeah. No worries”. Except that I’m up against Clair Slean, a woman I’ve never been able to beat; she can just read me, and I can’t read her.
SP“Don’t you ‘No worries’ me! You win this game, or you can forget ever getting your ship back! I’ll buy it for scrap! You got that, lily-ass?”
SP“Like I said, no worries. Everything’s under control” I had a deal going with his PA, where she’d arrange for my debts to be paid, and I’d get her off planet, fast and quiet.
SP“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Lin Yan. What’s that all about?”
SPSudden complete change of subject, meant to throw me off balance. This was important, the real point of this morning “chat”. Any wrong word in the coming conversation was going to be deadly.
SPThe Beginner’s Guide to Successful Lying (To a Sceptical Audience)
SPI smiled in a calm, friendly, open manner.
SPOne – Cultivate a “face”, it should be honest and friendly. Use it at all times, when lying, telling the truth, or going to the toilet.
SP“I don’t know” I said, “I guess she just couldn’t resist my charm”
SPTwo – Take your time. Don’t blurt out anything you may regret. A small joke not only gives you more time to think, but may put your audience more on-side.
SPOld Nick took my hand almost lovingly in his, and then started bending my fingers back.
SP“I don’t find you charming, gyp! What’s going on?”
SPThree – You may not like pain, but you’ll like being dead even less. Keep a level head at all times.
SP“She still thinks I know where Jack Plilips is! She thinks she can charm it out of me!”
SPFour – Keep your story short and simple. It’s not only easier to keep straight, but more believable.
SP“Is that it? You haven’t touched her?” Nick demanded, bending my fingers back further.
SP“No, I haven’t touched her! That’s it, far as I fucking know!”
SPFive – Don’t make absolute statements about things you couldn’t know for sure if you were telling the truth. If asked, “If you didn’t do it, then who did?” the correct answer is “I don’t know. I wasn’t there”
SPOld Nick slowly released my fingers, I massaged some relief into them.
SP“Finally got some truth out of you”, Old Nick said with satisfaction, then to himself said, “The girl showed some initiative, but she’ll have to be reminded of her place”.
SPHe then looked back at me, eyes narrowed.
SP“As for you, boy, keep your hands off. You lay one finger on that sweet ass, and I’ll strangle you myself. You hear me? You just keep yourself to yourself, and you’ll get to walk out of here."
Six – Tell them what they want to hear, and they’ll find it easier to believe.


SPShip of Cards (IX)

SPHaving been warned off spending time with Lin Yan, I instead got my minders into a few hands of poker. The feel of the cards reminded me of the big game tomorrow. Old Nick was looking at me to win, but that wasn’t going to happen, not against Clair Slean. While he’d given his word that, win or lose, after the game I was free to go, he also promised that if I do lose I’d never see my ship again. That would be a real problem if his PA, Lin Yan, hadn’t had a burning need to get off-planet fast and in secret, and so was paying off my debts without Old Nick knowing, and probably using Old Nick’s money.
SPTwo pair, threes and sevens.
SP“So what’s with this poker match tomorrow, anyway? Your boss seems pretty intent about it”
SP“’as it every year, ‘e does, ‘gainst his brother” the one on the right answered, looking over his cards. He kept on looking at them, as if he expected them to change.
SP“Didn’t even know he had one” Thug on the left was too confident. Smug. I fold.
SP“So, they get someone to play poker for them every year? Never heard of it”
SP“Nah, it’s a diff’rent thing ev’ry year. Las’ year was target shootin’, year before that was trivia” said the one across from me. Greasy hair, and his eyes darted constantly. Might be a tell, but too early to tell (ha!) yet.
SP“’e’s lost the last five inna row, ‘e be real off ‘bout that”
SPPair of aces, draw three. Nothing, but worth giving a push.
SP“Yeah, this year they havin’ a poker match”
SP“And Nick didn’t have any anyone for it, with a year to work it out?”
SP“He did, yeah, but he gotta trip ta hospital instead, jus’ five days back, an’ that put the frightners in ev’one else. Then that mick, Big Don, turns up singin’ ya praises as a player”
SP“Did he now?” Must make a point of passing on my thanks to the bloody shortarse.
SPTwo pair beats my one. New hand, pair of fours, no one else seems happy with what they got. Draw three, a pair of nines, and still no-one else seems happy. Draw them in gently…
SP“That’s why ‘e’s keeping ya close. ‘e don’t want you in ‘ospital, too”
SP“Nice of him” One’s folded, the other two stay in, but all they have is a pair each.
SP“Your shuffle, I think”

SP* * * * * * * * *

SPLater that night, a gentle nudge disturbed me from my sleep. The lights were dimmed, and there was a black silhouette looming over me.
SP“Lin Yan? What are you doing here? You’ll get us both killed”
SP“I had to talk to you. I heard Mr Nicholas talking to his guards. They’ve been told not to socialise with you.”
SPWell, that seemed a bit mean. Petty even. “Why?”
SP“Mr Nicholas feels it’s bad for his image to have you walking about, whether you were involved with Philips or not. After the game is finished, he’s told them to take you out to one of our construction sites and kill you.”

[Korto]

SPShip of Cards (X)

SPIt was almost time to leave for the big match, a poker match that, win or lose, I lose, since my employer has instructed his men that after the game I’m to be taken somewhere and killed. You know, I’m sure that’s not Award conditions.
SPFortunately, Old Nick’s PA, Lin Yan, has slipped word to my crew about what’s going on. Unfortunately, the last she spoke to them they had no plan about what to do about it.
SPI’m bundled into a car, and we go off for a ride in the country. Leaving the colonised area, the native vegetation quickly takes over; slender tangled struts holding up thin shell-like domes of dappled reddish grey; it reminds me of home, despite there being no similarity to Botany’s bluish cotton-ball tufts, as large as your head and dangling on gossamer threads from translucent white trunks.
SPI’m getting maudlin. Happens when I’m being taken somewhere by people who plan to kill me.

SPA gate silently opens to let us in, and the difference is jarring. Lush green grass and Earth weeping willows. Someone has money.
SPThe house is large and elegant, the architect had achieved eclectic life while avoiding garish vulgarity; carved vines wound around columns, gargoyles grimaced down upon us below while cherubs peeked out from hiding with looks ranging from surprise to impish glee. It wasn’t the best example of Tikan-Rococo I’d seen, I’ve seen ship bridges where, no matter how familiar you were with it, there was always something new to see, another sculpted figure, a face, or hinted story in a sidelong glance, but this was good none the less. It showed taste.
SPThe car’s hum died as it powered down and we got out, stepping onto white crushed gravel. Two large men dressed in sombre black were walking towards us from the house. Security types. I could see the needle pistols under their coats.
SP“Mr Nicholas? Mr Nicholas is...”
SPThe words were interrupted by a nearby thunderous boom, and I had already started to run while the guards were reaching for their guns and turning towards the noise, and then the whole world went sparkling, hissing, white.
SPWite-Out (tm), opaque to most known scanning; radar, infrared, ultrasonic; and Zarrin’s favourite smoke bomb. In a flat run I was out of the obscuring cloud, and eyes streaming, running for cover and freedom. SPBehind me I could hear the ear-splitting crack of hypersonic needle rounds as someone returned fire.
SPA rapid booming beat of a bass drum, and more billowing white clouds appeared, the house responded with a huge crack as if a forest-full of trees had all snapped like dry twigs.
SPA heavy needler? That’s military issue! What the hell had I gotten myself into? How quickly can I get myself out of it?
SPAnother cloud of Wite-Out stopped the heavy fire, and skimming swiftly towards me in a cloud of dust was a ute I didn’t recognise but with two occupants I did.
SP“In! In!” screamed John, but it was advice I scarcely needed as I wrenched open the door and piled into the cabin. The ute lurched momentarily as the vertical thrusters compensated for the added weight.
SP“Welcome home!” shouted Anya from the driver’s seat, “Now we pick up Zarrin!”
SPI laughed. “You’re my three musketeers!”
SPAnya caught the reference and smiled, “All for one, and one for all.”

[Korto]

SPShip of Cards (XI)

SPZarrin leapt into the back of the ute, his three quarter tonne weight causing the vehicle’s tail to briefly brush the ground before the thrusters straightened it back up.
SP“Move! Move!” I shouted to Anya as Zarrin slapped another magazine into his ‘Boomer’ (as known to humans, the Tai!Qu name is unpronounceable) and looked behind us keenly for targets. Anya jammed the stick forward, and the ute surged ahead, skimming half a metre off the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust. Behind me, I could hear the not terribly distant crack of needle fire, and the answering bass boom as Zarrin lay down clouds of smoke to cover our escape, each thunderous shot shaking the cab.
SPA boulder nearby shattered. Moments later I heard the crack of a heavy needler firing.
SP“Zarrin! What are you doing back there?” Anya shouted, but I doubted he could possibly have heard her, then she turned on me, “All this over a poker game? It’s not good enough, you nearly losing our ship?”
SP“Hey! No!” I cried; with all the violence outside, it was oddly quiet inside the cab; “Bloody Nick wanted to know if we took Jack Phillips off planet, after he stole from him. I convinced him we didn’t, but then he wanted me to play some damn poker game against his brother. Some big competition every year!”
SP“Didn’t know he had a brother! That woman, Lin Yan, said they were going to kill you?”
SP“Yeah, that was the funny bit! After the match, he was going to kill me anyway! Turns out it’s bad for his image to have me running around when everyone thinks we took the kid!”
SPThere was a loud bang behind me, and the ute started listing; a high-pitched, desperate whine could be heard from the back. John handed me a welding helmet that had been sitting on the floor, identical to the one he was already wearing. I slipped it on and immediately all I could see and hear took on a subdued, filtered note.
SP“We’ll all be running soon!” shouted Anya, “We just lost two of our stern port thrusters! The last one’s taking the full load! As soon as it overheats, it’ll shut down!”
SPZarrin bashed on the window, and pointed at a side road just ahead of us, leading up to some kind of factory building. Anya immediately turned onto it, and got most of the way to the factory before an oddly calm electronic voice announced the vehicle was shutting down, and we settled gently to a halt.
SPWe piled out and Zarrin quickly heaved the ute off the road and down a deep ditch, where it might escape immediate notice; we set off at a run for the factory.
SP“What is it?” I yelled, nodding at the installation as we ran towards it.
SP“Map visual planning phase, simultaneous sighting it was!” Zarrin barked back, “Meat processor! Humano-automated! They’ll trucks possess! Additional animal protein! Lots and lots of meat! Because I’m starving!”


SPShip of Cards (XII)

SPSeeing a hungry Tai!Qu eat is an awesome sight. Zarrin weighed three quarters of a tonne, almost all of it muscle; and with a very active metabolism, he goes through something like twenty thousand calories a day, standing still. Tai!Qu also only eat once a day, so that’s all at one sitting. Even with a longer and more efficient digestive system, it still makes for a diet almost entirely meat and fat, and lots of it.
SPZarrin had a large salami in one hand, it looked like a party frank in that massive armoured paw, and the other was scooping out great globs of purified fat from a barrel and shoving it into his mouth. It was disgusting.
SPThe meat plant was mostly automated, only a few workers who we’d rounded up and locked in a closet. Least I hope we got them all because I had no idea what we’d tell the cops, but John hadn’t picked anything up, so we were probably OK.
SPJohn was jumpstarting a truck to replace the ute that had been shot out from underneath us, while Anya was at an upper window watching for any pursuers. Zarrin was taking the chance to stuff his face, although right now he had his phone out in a fat-covered paw and seemed to be making a spectro analysis of something?
SP“Security lockout. Trucks”
SP“What?” I asked, preoccupied, wondering what Zarrin was doing.
SP“Security lockout. Trucks”, John repeated factually, “Engine, steering, brakes.”
SP“Can you fix it?”
SP“Yes”
SP“Do it then”
SPIt was odd they would have such a high level lock on a work truck, you know, just on. No reason they couldn’t, I suppose, but it’s really something reserved for special occasions. Unless…
SP“Anya! I think we’ve got…”
SP“Company coming!” Anya yelled from her lookout above.
SP“Zarrin!” I snapped, “Stop stuffing your face and help Anya! John! How’s that truck coming?”
SPNo reply. He had the bonnet up and a network of wires running from the truck’s innards and plugged to his phone. It was best not to disturb him. Trying to hurry John was generally counter-productive.
SP“That meat is quite singular.” Zarrin growled as he hurried forward, boomer in one hand, bucket of processed fat in the other.
SP“Three cars, fourteen men, light armour, shielding, armed with needle rifles, one micro-missile launcher.”
SPBloody hell. Over-react much? OK, there’s Zarrin in his battle armour, and Anya’s wearing her magic suit, but they’re not to know that. If they’re this upset, why haven’t they called the cops? Or have they?”
SP“Zarrin! They called the cops yet?”
SP“Monumental negatory, commandant! Reason to which cognizant!”
SP“Well, don’t keep us in suspense!”
SP“They’re meat-putting rock fairie”
SP“What?”
SP“Green-eyed rock fairies. Insured indigenous, not cleared for human eating. Hombre found visual delusions caused in, assumedspeaktruth local university database.” Zarrin held up the remains of the salami he’d been eating.
SP“If human I,
SPAs kalik fly
SPRight to sky!”


SPShip of Cards (XIII)

SPWe were bailed up inside a processed meat factory, with fourteen armed men outside. They even had a drone up, we could hear the damned thing buzzing around above us, and Zarrin tuned into its signal so we could see what it was seeing. It had a pretty good view.
SPJohn had one of the trucks running, but just driving off was no longer much of an option. The men outside weren’t just well armed with military needle rifles, they also had a micro-missile launcher. Stick our heads outside the factory, and we’d get them blown off.
SPYou know, even saying that, if we all went in a rush in the truck, I wouldn’t bet against Anya and Zarrin making it to the men anyway; certainly one of them would, and then, well, let’s just say I wouldn’t be betting on those fourteen. It would be horrible.
SPBut that’s Anya and Zarrin. Neither John nor I were wearing, or even possessed, close assault battle armour, so let’s just call that Plan ‘B’, shall we?
SPEqually, the men outside had no interest in coming in. I assume someone had told them about Zarrin, and facing a Tai!Qu you heavily outnumbered from set positions with good fields of fire was one thing, going into a close, complex environment hunting blindly for a Tai!Qu lying in wait for you was another thing entirely, called suicide. They weren’t interested in dying, and neither were we, so they stayed out, and we stayed in.

SP* * * * * * * * * * *

SP“Festivities now possesses an additional car, skipper! We should be selling tickets! Multitude additional warriors, joyous hope! Chance in their possession then to enter, the bottle. We can RUMBLE!” Then, moments later, he said, “Nyet. Twin elderly masculines, additional female, proper noun, Lin Yan.” He sounded quite disappointed.
SP“John, lend me your phone.”
SPI patched Zarrin’s visual into my welding helmet.
SP“Yeah, that’s Old Nick, the other’s probably his brother. Looks like they want to talk.”

SPWhile his brother stayed back with his men, Old Nick walked right up to the door. Give him that, the old man has guts.
SP“Come on out, Tjapukai. Time to talk.”
SPLeaving the phone and helmet behind, I went out to talk to the man.

SP“You’re trapped, boy. You’ve got no way out. Just give yourself up; we’ll let your friends go and pretend this never happened.”
SP“Yeah, ya’ know, that’s not gonna happen. I reckon we’ll just hang out, catch some sun, and when we get bored, we’ll call the cops. Then your brother can explain about the salami he’s making. You know, the special stuff with the hallucinogenic meat. Or you could try and get us out. That’ll make Zarrin happy. He’s getting bored.”
SPOld Nick was furious, but hiding it well. His eyes just narrowed slightly, and his jaw tensed.
SP“I’ll tell you what.” I continued, “Why don’t you just let us drive out of here, free and clear, and we’ll all just mark it down to experience.”
SPOld Nick was quiet for a moment, and then he spoke. “All right, boy, you can do that. You can hop in a truck, and just drive off. But when you do, when you reach that crossroads at the bottom of the hill, I want you to think about something. There’s Lin Yan,” he said, pointing to where she was standing next to his brother, “I know she helped you. You reach that crossroads and you turn left, go back to my brother’s property, and win that poker game, and you can take her with you. I have no further use for her. Or, you can turn right and drive back to town, and no-one will ever see her again.”

[Korto]

SPShip of Cards (XIV)
SPDriving down the road in a truck we had “borrowed” from the meat factory, I could see an intersection rapidly approaching. An intersection? THE intersection. The intersection where Old Nick, cutting us loose from the Mexican Standoff we’d managed to get ourselves into, had told me I was going to have to choose.
SPTurn left, and I was going back to a poker game against a woman I’ve never been able to beat, who could read me like a large-print children’s book, all for a promise that if I won, Old Nick would release Lin Yan, the woman who helped me escape his clutches in the first place. This promise I put absolutely no credence in. Actually, what I fully expect from him, win or lose, is that after the game he’ll just have the whole lot of us killed anyway.
SPOr I could turn right, drive back to my ship, and be done with it. That would mean leaving Lin Yan in his clutches, who had paid me quite handsomely for safe passage off-planet, and if I did that Old Nick had promised me that she would never be seen again, in the only promise he had made that I actually believe.
SPI swore quietly and pushed the control stick left. There was never really any choice.

SP“John,” I said through the little window from the cabin into the cargo hold, “You’re taking my place in the poker game”
SP“What! Have you gone mad?” exclaimed Anya, staring at me in shock from the seat next to me.
SP“No play. Play finished.” said John, shaking his head.
SP“Yes, John, you’re playing. Trust me.”
SP“Trust you! John can’t play poker! He can barely talk!”
SP“He talks just fine!” I snarled back at Anya. “He knows the rules, and he can hold a hand of cards. He can play.”
SP“No play. Play finished.”
SP“He can’t bluff, he can’t read people, and you’re talking about him going against a professional player!”
SP“Exactly! This is a woman I can’t beat in a pink fit, but do you know the most frustrating opponent for a professional? A complete rank amateur! They do the most stupid things! They think an inside straight is a good hand, they can’t bluff to save themselves, and they decide whether or not to fold based apparently entirely upon the voices in their heads!”
SP“No play. Play finished.”
SP“You spend the first hours of play completely discounting the face they’re giving you, because it’s too bloody blatant to be true, searching for the truth behind the mask, when it wasn’t even a mask to begin with, and all the while you’re sending them subtle feints and false tells, which are completely wasted because they’re going completely over their heads!”
SP“No play. Play finished.”
SP“Now, I’ll play against anyone, so I’m used to it. It can make it more a game of luck, but no worries. Slean, though, she’s proud. She only plays professionals, never amateurs. And we’re talking John here. The match could be over before she gets close to figuring him out.”
SPAnya looked unconvinced. “You’re the captain”
SP“That’s right. I am.”
SP“No play. Play finished.”
SP“Now, John, this is what’s happening…”

SPShip of Cards (XV)
SPTurning up at the Nicholas mansion, the negotiations start. They want us to turn over all our armour and weapons, the truck, phones, everything, and put restraints on Zarrin. I tell Nick that if that’s his attitude, we’ll be turning around and leaving right now, since it’s obvious we wont be leaving afterwards. I have a lousy hand, but Nick really wants to win this game, so in the end we agree that John, Anya and I will go into the house, and Zarrin will stay in the truck, with all our stuff.
SPOld Nick meets us inside with half a dozen guards, long flared lace-trimmed coats over light armour and needle pistols, al Kembri shields casting a dark shadow over all. There’s the stench of paint thinner down a hall. Nick glares at me.
SP“The game starts in ten minutes. These two wait in here.”
SP“Yeah, about that. I’m not playing. John here’s taking my place”

SPOld Nick takes a bit of convincing, but in the end I win him over, grudgingly, by the lavish praise I’m heaping upon John’s poker skills. He’s a mechanic, I say, unreadable, master of the unexpected; but it’s possible Old Nick believes me only because he knows I know he’ll carry out his threat if we lose.
SPLin Yan. The attractive young oriental woman who paid a lot of money to get my ship out of debt in return for passage off world. The same woman Old Nick had promised to kill if we lost this poker game against his brother’s champion. The reason I had put myself and my crew back in Nick’s clutches despite knowing he meant to kill me anyway.
SPIt was a shame John couldn’t play for shit.

SP“Lin Yan?” I asked.
SPOld Nick thinks briefly, nods. “This way. No, just you.”
SPAnya and I exchange a look, but we couldn’t afford any upsets yet, so I go along with Nick and three of his guards. It’s a bit of a walk; it’s a big house. The halls are hung with paintings, Impressionist images of imps, nymphs, and satyrs, and I see in the centre of one room a statue of a dancing Indian Apsara, scantily clad and heavily bejewelled. It’s absolutely breathtaking.
SPLin Yan was unhurt, and quite happy to see me. She rushes forward and before I can react gives me one big passionate kiss, full of seductive promise. You know, it only takes one mistake to screw an operation over, and this was a big one.

SPI’d rarely seen a man as furious as Nick was right now, his face working, trying to get words out, and only bits of spittle flying loose.
SP“Get him!” he finally snarls, “Take him downstairs and lock him up! Once this game’s over, Tjapukai, I don’t care who wins, you’re going to die. Slowly!”
SP“Yeah, yeah. You’re gonna kill me, you’re not gonna kill me, you’re gonna kill me, you’re not gonna kill me. I don’t care, OK? Just fucking make your mind up, because frankly I’m getting tired of it.”
SPNick whirls and smashes his fist into my face, but with three guns pointing at me, I stifle the urge to flatten the withered prick.

[Korto]

Author's note - The "prompt" for this part of the story was the music for "Oh Fortuna". I'm curious if anyone can work out how I used it.

SPShip of Cards (XVI)
SPAfter Lin Yan let the cat out of the bag about how intimate she and I were to her evil, withered and apparently very jealous employer (and I prefer not to think about the implications of that, suffice to say it does offer one explanation of why she’s so eager to get off-planet), I’m seized by his men and taken downstairs, where I’m shoved into a small concrete cell with a bare ceramic steel door. There’s a camera in the far corner, behind an armour-glass shield, but nothing else. No bed, no toilet, nothing. There’s no light either; I’m plunged into total darkness as someone, somewhere, decides not to waste power on me.
SPIt’s only just after my eyes have fully adjusted to being totally blind in the pitch darkness that the light is switched back on. With my screaming eyes tightly clenched shut, I hear the door open, and Anya’s voice.
SP“Lay one hand on me, and I’ll break it.”
SP“Get in, bitch.”
SPThe door slams shut.
SP“Ah, Captain! How nice of you to proceed me.”
SP“Welcome to my lovely abode. Where’s John?”
SP“In the poker game. He has no idea.” Exactly what she was referring to there was open to question.
SP“Well, Zarrin’s in the truck, but we’ll have to get…” Suddenly the lights flicked off, plunging us back into darkness.
SP“NO!” Anya screamed, “Turn it back on! TURN IT BACK ON!” She started screaming incoherently and striking against the concrete.
SP“It’s all right, Anya, I’m here. I’m here. Give me your hand.”
SP“NO! DON’T TOUCH ME! DON’T TOUCH ME! TURN IT BACK ON!”
SP“Listen, Anya! Breathe. Breathe.” I breathe so deeply my head spins, but I could hear Anya copying me, and then chanting a mantra she’d learned from an ancient story; her voice is quavering and desperate.
SP“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me and when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
SPI must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me and when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
SPI must not fear…”
SPAfter a while, the constant chant just becomes a drone in my mind.

SPThe light blazed on, and again I was painfully blind. I hear the door open, and Anya charging with an incoherent scream.
SP“Stop!” someone yells, and they open fire, the cracks of the needle pistols thundering in the tiny concrete cell. Blind and deaf, I curl up on the floor, desperate that no stray needles or concrete shrapnel find me. I dimly hear gunfire and someone screaming, and then there’s only the ringing in my ears.

SPThere’re two dead men in the doorway, one has a crushed larynx, the other’s helmet is half yanked off and he’s shot in the head. There’s a woman halfway up the stairs, shot in the back. Anya is staring wild-eyed, shivering.
SP“All clear now, Captain.”
SP“Yeah… Remind me to buy you a night-light.”
SP“I’ve got one.”
SP“A spare…”
SP“I’ve got one. Two.”
SPI looked down at the two dead security guards. “I wonder what they wanted?”


Authors noteSpoiler

It's the tempo

[Korto]

SPShip of Cards (XVII)

SPI grabbed a helmet off one of the guards lying dead at the entrance to our cell and jammed it on my head. It was tight, printed to fit a man who’d learnt that a helmet didn’t protect you from a crushed larynx, but if there was more shooting, at least it’d protect my eyes and ears.
SPA dead woman lay on the stairs, shot in the back; a steam cleaner lay half under her. A maid. Anya just shrugged.
SP“She moved.”

SPWrong place. Wrong time. Sorry, whoever you were.

SPThere’d been a camera in our cell, so if Security were paying attention, they knew we were out.
SP“Secure the game room. No-one goes in. No-one tells them what’s going on.”
SP“Where?”
SP“Follow me.”
SPAnya’s embroidered knee-length jacket, thigh-high boots and split skirt liquefied and flowed over her body, reforming into skimpy, form-fitting mail, spike festooned shoulder plates, and a bronze, high-crested helm. Totally ridiculous, until you looked closely and noticed that even where her flesh looked bare, it was covered by a second skin, clear as glass, stronger than ceramic steel. The ancient look was an illusion, the only thing she was wearing was solid, one-piece alien armour so advanced our best scientists didn’t have a clue how it worked.
SP“Yeah, second thoughts, you go first.”
SPScrew it. Let the girl wearing the magic bloody suit get shot at.

SPWe got about halfway before we ran into trouble. Four guards were waiting for us, al Kembri fields turning them into shadowy figures, who immediately opened fire. I dove for cover behind a potted plant while Anya charged with a ferocious yell.
SP“Die, bitch!” one cried, as blue-white flashes on another marked multiple hits, thumb-sized white glowing circles left behind as their field and light armour barely managed to resist the supersonic rounds, and then Anya was in the middle of them, armour-plated fingers stabbing with crushing force at the throat of one, as she sprayed a volley of needles towards another. The fingers missed, at least one needle didn’t, there was a pained cry as he clutched his shoulder.
SPIt’s funny. A needle wound itself is a minor thing. Smooth, and a couple of millimetres across, it does little harm except in the right place. It takes a spray of molten steel and knife-edged ceramic fragments from penetrated armour to do the real damage.
SPAnother, kneeling, raised his pistol and rapid-fired point-blank into her, I winced but even at that range he wasn’t going to penetrate. Anya spun and kicked him in the head, slamming it against the wall; he slumped to the floor, twitching.
SP“Kali! The mother-fucking bitch is Kali!”
SPWhile one kicked out her legs, another rammed into her hard, sending her sprawling; he leapt to pin her to the ground, but Anya had already recovered and met him with a vicious punch, his own momentum hitting him with the force of smashing your face into a concrete post.
SPSomeone kicked her in the head, and then grabbed the guy Anya had punched and they fled down the hall. Anya fired a few shots, and then threw the pistol after them as it ran out of ammunition.
SP“They’re going for bigger guns. Needle rifles, maybe that mini-launcher.”
SP“Yes.” Anya was taking the pistol off the one she had kicked, still lying there twitching, and his spare magazines. “Too weak. Get my sword.”
SP“I’ll get Zarrin, too. Then you can both be in your happy place.”

SPShip of Cards (XVIII)
SPHaving escaped from the bare concrete cell Old Nick had locked us in, I sent Anya to stop any of the guards getting to him or his brother and getting orders. I don’t see why they should have any idea what to do when I didn’t. We’d already run into a few of them, Anya had sent them packing, but they’ll be back soon enough, and with bigger guns.
SPSo I was after some big guns of our own. Zarrin was waiting back at the truck.

SPThe truck was where we left it, parked on the grass across from the door, and there was Zarrin, sitting in the shade against the truck.
SP“Hey! Zarrin!”
SPNo response. A fine porcelain vase sat on a small table nearby. It sailed through the air and shattered against the truck.
SPHe’s not moving. Shit.
SPI’m going to have to go out there. Hope that bloke with the heavy needler isn’t watching.
SPSkin crawling, I zigzag across the grass and leap behind Zarrin’s massive armoured body. No one fired. Peeking back at the house, I can’t see anyone. Maybe they’re all inside, dealing with Anya. Zarrin’s helmet’s off, he’s bloody asleep, and there’s a medical Sleeper attached to his neck keeping him that way. Big red button cancels Coma mode, and Zarrin stirs slightly as the Sleeper starts pumping antidote, but it’ll take too long, and I don’t dare mess with it.
SPThe back of the truck is hanging open, someone’s been inside. I have a quick look, but the needle rifle’s gone, I can’t find my pistol (did they even bring it?), and someone’s smashed Zarrin’s boomer. Probably too heavy to carry. Worst of all, I can’t see Anya’s talwar anywhere. I’m dead. All that’s left is the ammunition for the boomer, so I pocket some rounds; they’re dual-purpose; and swap the guard’s helmet for a welding helmet, the damn thing was giving me a headache.

SPSomeone’s up on the second floor balcony, just settling in, with a rifle. Wild plans leap to mind, but with Zarrin here helpless, most are rubbish.
SPA Wite-Out canister; ideally I’d throw it at the gunman, but I’d never reach, so I lob it just ahead of me, and another past it, and run.
SPCracking fire, and the sound of needles hitting the gravel around me, but he’s firing blind, and nothing comes close. Everything’s hissing white, can’t see a damned thing, the white’s thinning and I kick something hard and crash heavily onto the tiled floor.

SPBlood in my helmet; smashed my nose against the visor. There’s cracking fire ahead, from the direction I smelt the paint thinners. Where the poker game was. Anya’s in a nearby doorway, she’s armoured right up, thick plates and spines; she sees me, fires a couple of shots down the hall, and then dashes over.
SP“Where’s Zarrin? Where’s my blade?”
SP“Zarrin’s out cold. Someone’s been in the truck, and…”
SPAnya’s armoured fist grabs me by the throat! I feel my windpipe being crushed, and sharp pain and a tickle as thin trickles of blood run down my throat.
SP“And they took my sword! You. Are. Dead!”


Author's note - If anyone's got comments, questions, or desires to send me large sums of money, don't be shy.

[Korto]

SPShip of Cards (XIX)
SP“Stand down, soldier!”
SPAnya jerks straight, her hand falls away from my throat, and blood-tipped claws melt away back into her armoured suit and vanish. I breathe again.
SP“Situation report!”
SP“Four down the hall, in doorways either side. Two pistols, two on a heavy needler on overwatch.”
SP“They’re not firing it?”
SP“No”
SPThey were probably worried about stray shots; that gun could send a one hundred millimetre needle through every concrete wall in this mansion, one end to the other.
SPAnya glanced around the corner, carefully aimed her own pistol, and squeezed off a couple of shots at the lightly armoured guards, ignoring the return fire shattering impotently off her own far heavier armour.
SP“No movement from the target room. Door’s stayed closed, but they know we’re out here, unless they’re deaf.”
SP“They don’t. They are.” Hmmm… “So there’re four down the hall. Anyone else?”
SP“Two went in with the Nicholas brothers.”
SPThere were fourteen armed guards when they bailed us up in the meat factory. When we broke out of the cell they locked us in, Anya killed two. She kicked another one unconscious, and I doubt he’ll be up and about for a while. There’s one keeping watch for us to try to get away in the truck, there’s two in the poker room guarding Old Nick and his brother, no doubt watching John lose horribly, and four guards down the hall trying to get to the poker room to tell Old Nick and his brother what’s going on out here. That’s ten.
SP“So where’re the other four?” I wondered, shaking my head.
SP“Likely down the other hall there, in ambush. They must be leaving it clear for a reason.” Anya paused, I could see her thinking, “They should put the mini-launcher watching the truck. It’s probably there now, high position. There’ll be someone else with him.”
SPA sudden chill went through me.
SP“I left Zarrin out there, waking up. As soon as he moves, they’ll shoot him. How much longer can you hold here?”
SPAnya glanced around the corner and squeezed off another careful shot. “About five minutes.”
SP“Oh shit. Well, give me all you can. Here. Take a couple of these.”

SPThere were only two directions to go, down the other hall, but I was prepared to accept Anya’s judgement on that, and out the front door into the yard, but the guard with the rifle was watching from a second floor balcony, and now probably had a friend. Of course, I didn’t have to go out into the yard.
SPOne thing about Tikan-Rococo architecture, with all the cherubs and grapes and vines and demons carved into the marble, it gave you plenty of handholds. I’d managed to climb up onto the first floor balcony across from where the guards watched. I could see them both now, although they were looking the wrong way to see me.
SPNot a bloody clue what to do about them, though. No gun, got a couple of Wite-Out and EMP grenades from the truck. The Wite-Out will blind them… until the smoke blows away and then the only change will be they’ll know I’m here, and start shooting at me, something I’d prefer to avoid. The EMP may take out the mini-launcher, depending upon the model, and the explosion would kill anyone unprotected, but I could see the rippling shadows of an al Kembri field over their armour; they weren’t unprotected.
SPTook me a few minutes to get up here, out of the five Anya felt she had, so only a couple more minutes to rush back down and do… I don’t have a bloody clue about that, either.
SPThe only thing above their balcony is the roof. Maybe there’s something big and heavy up there that I can drop on their heads? One of those gargoyles, perhaps.
SPBack into the mansion, it’s a kid’s room. I hope there’s no kids here, that maid was upsetting enough. Almost like they’re summoned by thought, I barrel into another one. She screams and tries to run, but I grab her.
SP“I need to get to the roof!”
SPShe stares, terrified.
SP“The roof! Roof!”
SPFinally she points down a hall at some service stairs. I let her go and run for them.

SPOh. This is… interesting. The top of the roof has been largely covered by some kind of black foaming jelly thing, with clumps of orange-green spines spotted all over it. Is this native? Animal? Vegetable? Hungry?
SPNever mind, I’ll just pick my way around it. Yeah. No worries. The two guards are below me now, but I can’t see anything convenient to drop on them, except maybe scooping up some black foaming thing, and I’d really prefer not to touch that.
SP“Hey… the ape’s starting to move.”
SPHe means Zarrin. Tai!Qu do look kind of like apes. In the dark. If you squint. The same could be said about us.
SP“His helmet’s off. See if you can drill him, so I don’t have to blow up the boss’s truck.”
SPThere’s no time for this now. I fumble for a Wite-Out canister, but drop the bloody thing, and then drop it again. By the time I’ve managed to pick it up again and thumb it off, the guard’s already braced and aiming. The grenade drops, lands with a clatter below.
SP“Grenade!”
SP“Shit!”
SPThere’s a rifle crack; Zarrin jerks as if shot, and then a great cloud of hissing white blinds me.
SPThere’s nothing more I can do. I’ve got to get back to Anya.

SPOh. That black foaming thing moves. It’s surrounded me like a black sea, with a whole forest’s worth of orange-green spine clumps, all clumped together hedging me in.
SPI pat my pockets.
SP“Uh, you want a biccie?”


SPShip of Cards (XX)
SPBubbles burst on the surface of the black sludge, and the orange spines tremble, clicking and clattering together.
SP“Nice sludge monster… Good sludge monster…”
SPThis is wasting time. Anya’s probably out of ammunition by now; John’s playing poker when he can barely grasp ‘Good morning’; and Zarrin… Zarrin I don’t know until this bloody smoke clears.
SPIs that thing closer?
SP“OH FUCKKK!!!”
SPOww. I hurt. My whole body’s in pain, and the last few moments runs repeatedly through my mind. The thing surged towards me, I leapt back, something hit me behind the legs, and I overbalanced and fell.
SPObviously, I landed on the balcony below. The smoke’s finally clearing, and there’s two guns pointing at me. Brilliant.
SP“Get up.” The voice sounds tinny. Cheap speakers in the coif masts.
SPI struggle to get up, but then I collapse. “My leg. I think it’s broken.”
SP“Oh shit, man, let’s just shoot the sucker.”
SP“The boss might want him alive. You cover me.”
One deactivates his field, revealing a pale man with a wary look. He helps me up, while the other keeps his pistol pointing at me; some weight goes on my leg, and I immediately collapse sobbing, clutching at my ankle.
SP“Think his ankle’s broken. I’ll carry him. You cover.”
SPPop!
SPWhat was that? Faint, it came from above. Sounded sloppy, like bubbles bursting in thick mud.
SPPop! Pop! Pop!
SPPOPPPPPPPPP!!!
SPA storm of popping, like a roller over a field of bubble-wrap, and a thunder of wings in flight! A huge swarm of black bird-like creatures has burst into the air from the roof, just above us. The noise is deafening. As one mass, they swirl one way, and then another, blotting out the sun.
SP“Like a flock of starlings” the one holding me murmurs, to himself I think.
SPThe flock swirl around in the air, weaving in and out of itself, thousands of creatures moving so tightly, and somehow, magically, not hitting each other.
SPAn explosion of stone smashing into stone, and something stings the side of my head. I catch myself on a railing as the guard holding me pushes me away and dives for the floor, diving straight into the path of another hard-flung missile that must have been thrown before the first had even hit.
SP“Sequence transpired!” Zarrin laughs; a gurgling, clucking sound.
SPOne of the guards is dead. I wont reach through his field to check his pulse, but he took a solid stone cherub to the head, and no-one’s neck is supposed to be that angle. The other’s unconscious, bloody but no heavy bleeding, probably a shattered shoulder and fractured skull. More real than my ankle, that’s for sure. He might live, but that’s not my problem.
SP“Zarrin! Take these!” I throw him the last of the grenades. “Through the doors, go straight. They have a heavy needler, pistols, maybe rifles.”
SPThis last will send him wild.
SP“Anya’s in trouble.”


SPShip of Cards (XXI)
SP“Anya’s in trouble”
SPZarrin was gone before the words had even finished. No time wasted with questions, expressions of shock or anger, or doubt. He knew what he needed to know, and what he needed to do. Anya’s in trouble.
SPTo understand, you’d have to know how Anya and Zarrin met, years ago. We’d just jumped into a waypoint system, and in the downtime till we could jump out again we were marking time with ship’s duties. John was scanning the space around us, checking the rocks, something he likes to do although the rest of us find it mind-numbingly dull. I’d tuned him out, until his voice changed; he sounded affronted.
SP“Ice? Not ice. Not ice. Ice? No. Not ice”
SPPatching in, there’s an odd-shaped body tumbling through space. It gleams slickly, like ice. Just another oddly shaped icy lump, like space is full of at this distance.
SP“Not ice. Not ice.”
SPOK, I’ll have a closer look. Zoom in on a couple of stills. Odd-shaped ice. Odd-shaped ice. Hang on. That’s not ice.
SPWhat I’m seeing suddenly clicks. Not odd-shaped ice, but two arms, two legs, a head… a person! A person at weird angles, in a suit covered with weird spikes and shit.
SPWhoever he is, he’s certainly dead. We’ve been here for over a day now, no other ships, so he’s been spaced longer than that. His air would’ve run out. And short trips are a pain, we have to get the field back up, use up power and reactant, which we can’t get back out here, all for a spaced corpse and a worthless ship-suit. Maybe it’s not even a real person, some kind of dummy dumped into space for some reason.
SPOh, fuck it. Nothing else to do.
SP“Zarrin? Wake up and get up here. We’re checking something out.”

SPThe suit looks like it’s made of thick steel plates welded together in some amateur’s workshop, and covered with rusty iron spikes, and that doesn’t make any sense. It’s solid, rock hard, like a statue, and that doesn’t make any sense either. No one would make a statue in a pose like this.
SPAttach a line, pull it in.

SPThis statue… suit… thing is one solid piece, and it’s not steel. I don’t know what it is. Hang on. Yes I do.
SP“It’s a Kali battlesuit. There’s someone inside.”
SP“Vitae?”
SPWhat’ve I heard about Kali suits? There was something…
SP“When the woman dies, the suit just kinda melts off. She’s still alive in there.”
SP“Kardi!tak ! Female we must egress!” Zarrin grabbed up a friction cutter.
SP“No! The suit feeds off body heat to hold itself together. Try to cut it; she’ll freeze to death. She has to get herself out, if she can.”
SPZarrin takes this silently. Nothing more I can do, so I leave them there.

SP*SP*SP*SP*SP*SP*SP*

SP“Mine kapitan! Le femme wakes!”

SPCan’t get to sickbay fast enough. She’s on the bunk, the suit face is just melting away She dead? Her eyes open, blinking.
SP“Kardi!tak. Kardi!tak.”
SP“What the hell does that mean?”
SP“Star-born. Died she has, star-born she is. She is sacred.”
SPThe kali looks at us, and she screams.
SP“She is reborn!”


SPShip of Cards (XXII)
SPGraceful willows sway in the breeze. The swarm of black… things… have stopped circling and are flying off towards the evening sun. The sky is blue, only a few clouds. If you don’t look past the compound walls, you could think you’re on Earth.
SPI’d told Zarrin Anya was in trouble. Well, she was holding off four heavily armed men with a pistol and no ammunition, which seems to fit the definition of “in trouble” for me. Zarrin's response was predictable. I could hear it inside the house, smashing, frantic yelling, and terrified screaming.
SPOut here, all is calm. Peaceful. You could almost think you’re on Earth.
SPTwo guards lie at my feet. One’s dead, the other’s probably dying. One dropped a mini-launcher; I don’t know how to use it, it looks bloody heavy anyway. The other has a needle rifle. Point. Shoot. Nice and simple.
SPThe noise inside has died down, only the occasional burst of needle fire. I better have a look.

SPTwo guards are down the stairs ahead of me, occasionally firing around the corner.
SPOh, that’s right. Zarrin doesn’t have his helmet. With his helmet and armour on, field up, he could charge down the hall and rip their arms off before they managed a wounding hit. No helmet, he could be killed by one good pistol shot.
SPThe guards have light security armour. Rated seventy percent against needle pistols. Against a rifle, might as well be tinfoil.

SPZarrin’s not in great shape. Deaf and half blind by gunfire, there’s a bloody score across his face where a needle made a grazing hit, and matted blood where another passed through his neck. It can be fixed at the ship, lucky they were using needle rounds.
SPAnya’s turned turtle. Her suit’s thick, spiky, and forbidding. The armoured eye slits are so narrow I can’t make out a thing.
SP“Anya! You in there?!”
SPNo response. Unconscious.
SP“Female bondage with torrential rounds.”
SPPinned and machine-gunned her, so her suit would kill her. Can only hope she’s not too far gone.
SPThe poker room door is white, decorated with blue curling tracery. What’s going on in there?
SP“Did they scan John for metal before they went in?”
SP“Way self knowing, how?”
SPGood point. “I reckon they did. I reckon they scanned everyone for all metal and electronics, and they’re playing by Jameston Rules. Full paranoia mode. Smell the thinners? Spray Shield. Under Jameston, both sides put on a good, thick layer. They’re deaf and blind to the world. No metal, no electronics allowed inside. So no guns. Zarrin, open the door, will you?”
SPZarrin gives the door a cursory shove, heavy tape and foam rubber rips loose inside and the door opens. White chem-lights light the room; the sharp tang of chemical air cleaners absorbing CO2 tickles my nose. Everyone inside is staring at me, at the gun in my hands, with the exception of John, who’s staring at his cards. He’s got a small pile of chips in front of him. His opponent, Clair Slean, has a larger pile.
SP“How dare you! Get out!”
SPI wave my gun at Old Nick’s brother. “Shut up. I want John, I want Lin Yan, and then we’re going.”
SP“Don’t bother pointing that at me. You wouldn’t dare shoot!”
SP“We’ve already killed ten of your men getting here. I killed two myself. What the hell makes you think I wont kill you?”
SPThe man sneers in contempt. “Because I’m not like you. I’m rich”
SPI feel so tired. “Oh, fuck off.”

[Korto]

Ship of Cards (XXIII)
SP“Give me that!”
SPOld Nick’s brother suddenly grabs the rifle in my hands and tries to pull it away from me! His bodyguards leap to their feet, only to stop short and sink meekly back down as Zarrin next to me peers around the doorway. I fetch the brother a hard crack with the rifle butt across his head and he falls to the spongy floor, moaning.
SP“STAY! ANYONE tries anything, and I start shooting! John, we’re leaving. We’re finished here.”
SPJohn smacks the table hard, sending chips flying. “Not finished! Not finished! All finished, finished!”
SPOh, for Christ’s sake.
SPClaire’s looking at me, wondering what to do. I give her a nod.
SP“Keep on playing. Finish the game. It’s not like we’re going anywhere. It’s not like it’s urgent or anything.”
SPBloody, goddamned little… Calm. I am calm. Just relax. Go with it. There’s other business.
SP“All right, Nick. Where’s Lin Yan?” The young woman had paid a rather substantial sum to get my ship out of hock, in return for passage off-planet. I believe she embezzled the money from her boss, Old Nick here, something I’m not sure he’s aware of yet. He probably doesn’t need to know.
SP“She’s in a cell downstairs.” Nick’s voice is angry, but tightly controlled.
SPThat would be her reward for helping me escape. No worries, I know where that is.
SPJohn’s pushed all his chips into the centre of the table. Claire looks at him searchingly, trying to get some reading, eyes frowning in concentration.
SPShe sags in defeat, and pushes a matching pile of chips into the centre, laying her cards down. A full house, sixes over kings.
SPI can’t see John’s face, he’s got his back to me, but I can see the cards as he lays them down. A pair of eights. A pair of bloody eights.
SPClaire looks up at me, utterly gobsmacked.
SP“What is wrong with him?”
SP“That’s none of your bloody business.”
SPJohn looks at me mournfully. “All gone.”
SP“Yes John. All gone. Time to go.”
SP“Before you go, Tjapukai, you may be interested to know something.” Old Nick has a malicious little grin on his face. I don’t like it. “I’ve booked your ship in for extensive remodelling and customisation. Very, very expensive. Three times what you owed before, I believe.”
SP“So? I’ll cancel it.”
SP“Unfortunately, it’s already received final confirmation, and only the money’s outstanding. That means nothing in the program can be altered until the money’s paid. Once the money’s paid, however, you will be able to cancel the program, so you wont have to pay any money. I do hope you appreciate the humour in that.”

[Korto]

Ship of Cards (XXIV)
SPDriving back in the truck, things are pretty quiet. Zarrin’s in the back watching over Anya, Lin Yan’s picked up my mood and keeping quiet, and John doesn’t talk much anyway.
SPDamn that bloody bastard Nick! I pay my gambling debts, get abducted, escape, rescue my crew and save the girl, scattering so much shit behind me that all I want to do is jump on my ship and get off this planet before it all washes back over me, and he’s booked my ship in for so much work it’ll literally cost more than my ship is worth.
SPI know. I checked. I can cancel the work, but only after I pay for it, and then my money will be fully refunded. Which would be fine, if I had the damn money to begin with! As it is, my ship’s grounded until I can work something out.
SPWe left Nick and the rest of them locked up in the cells in his brother’s basement. Zarrin wanted to kill them all, of course; to him, it was just more convenient. No, we locked them up. Someone will let them out sooner or later. Probably more sooner than later, but I’ll jump off that bridge when I come to it.
SP“John, I need you to get into someone’s mailbox for me.”

SPFinally back at the ship; God it’s good to see her again. Anya woke up during the drive, which was a huge relief to all of us.
SP“Zarrin! Get you and Anya to Sick Bay. John, time to unload the truck. We’re unloading the truck now. Lin Yan, go with Zarrin. He’ll get you settled in.”
SPWhile I insist on protective gear at all times, eye and ear damage is a fact of life for a gypsy trader; it’s a poor ship that doesn’t have a medical printer and stem-cell kit onboard. I keep a well-stocked sick bay. It’s good for crew morale.

SPIt took John less than an hour to get into Big Don’s mailbox, time I took perusing some files we copied from a small and rather shady gambling house about a week ago… Was it only a week? Seems longer. We didn’t find what we were looking for, but there was some interesting stuff; stuff that the cops could find interesting. I am, after all, a very public spirited person, but a bit shy; I do hate the limelight; so that’s where Big Don’s mailbox comes into it. I’m sure he could use some good karma with the police. Honestly, sometimes I am just too generous.
SP“Zarrin? Read through the ‘Sent’ folder here, will you? I want a letter to the cops, alerting them to illegal gambling practises, and inquiring about the chance of a reward.” I’m sure Don would want a reward. He can thank me later. “Spelling, grammar, feel; all has to be identical.”

SPTen minutes later, and the letter’s ready for sending. Written, not voice. Copying voice to the cops is for the experts and idiots. It’s a good letter; tight and believable. All I’ve got to now is say…“Send!”
SPThere’s John. “All! we need to do is…”
SPOoops! I said “Send All!” That’s sent it not just to the cops, but to everyone in his address book! I do hope that wont cause any problems.

[Venator]

I know this hasn't been posted in for a month or so, but the updates themselves have often have been at least that far apart.

Having just burned through this, I really hope there's more coming. I really like how you wrote the narrator; it feels like there's a sympathetic, very human character but with a lot of jaded hardness over top, and several chips on his shoulders. Loving the setting too - catching some Fireflyish vibes, but with a lot of unique touches too.

[Korto]

I've got feedback! Wheee!

Sorry it's been a while, I could talk about how there's all this other stuff going on, etc, but let's just say I'm a slacker, and we'll go with that, hey?


Ship of Cards (XXV)
SPWell. That’s it then. Nothing to do but sit back and wait. Nice to be sitting back in my own chair, though, in my own ship, even if the Port Master wont recharge the ship’s coils until I get us out of this complete overhaul refurbishment that decrepit bastard Old Nick booked my ship in for. I suppose I could ask Old Nick, a leading underworld figure, if he could cancel it for me. Let’s see, he wanted to kill me right from the start, just a small misunderstanding, nothing really, I then slept with his PA, a rather attractive young lady that apparently he considered his personal property, I think she then stole a lot of money off him, and we left his company by shooting our way out and stealing a truck, while leaving him and his brother locked up in a basement cell in his brother’s mansion. With the light’s switched off. Because it seemed the thing to do at the time.
SPYeah, I didn’t see that going well. Nick has honestly left me no way to get out of this mess; fortunately that does leave dishonestly, and if I can pay back one or two people I owe on the way, all the better.

SP“Officer Joshua Hill requesting permission to board the Summer Lady.”
SPWhat the hell? “Captain Tjapukai, of the Summer Lady. What’s this about?”
SP“I could really discuss this better on board, in person, sir.”
SP“Yeah, that’s nice. What’s this about?”
SP“We were wondering if you could answer some questions regarding a recovered Rendal Farmdog Pickup.”
SPMute the line outside. “Zarrin. That ute you picked me up in. It was clean?”
SP“Operation Pristine. No watchers on scene. Vehicle given thorough screen, and rendered perfectly clean.”
SPSo why are the cops wanting to talk to us? The only people who know it was us is the Nicholas brothers, and they wouldn’t report it, with what I got on one of them.
SPHang on. Except they loathe each other. Would Old Nick tip off the cops, knowing I could spill on his brother? Yes. Yes, he would.
SP“Sorry, officer, but the Summer Lady flies a Botany flag, and is Botany sovereign territory. You have no authority to enter, and I must refuse on principal.”
SP“We can contact Botany and have that privilege revoked”
SP“You could, but that’s almost two years round trip, travel time alone. If you’ve got anyone going that way. I’ll will, however, be happy to put in a quote for the job. And you do have evidence? Because they’ll need that.”
SP“Your coil recharge is frozen. We can keep it that way. Keep you here as long as we like. Or you can give some DNA samples.”
SP“You’ll need a court order, and evidence. Feel free to try, but you’re getting nothing from us. Tjapukai out.”
SPThey won’t dare breach sovereignty and risk trade over a stolen car. Just stay in here, give them nothing, and they can’t touch us. I can do everything I need over the radio.
SP“Don?”
SP“Yeah?”
SP“Talwar sword requires Anya does.”
SPOh bloody hell.


Ship of Cards (XXVI)
SP“Big Don! Great to hear from you!” An old drinking buddy, and local information broker.
SP“Bloody hell! You kidding me? Fuck… you’re in deep shit.” Seems someone’s leaked a bunch of files from a local casino to the cops. The casino’s been raided, people arrested, and everyone thinks it was Don who gave the cops the files. A few powerful people are a little pissed off with him.
SP“Yeah, no worries mate. Of course I can give you a lift off-planet. But it will cost you. It costs power, food, and I’m running a business here. You know how it is.”
SP“It’ll cost you thirty five thousand drenna.”
SP“Well, no, Don, you’ll find you can’t buy your own ship for that, and even if you could, who could you get to fly it? I’ll take you, you’re an old mate, but no other ships will. Who-ever does will never be able to come back here again.”
SP“Well, yeah, I can’t come back here anyway.” Not only does a local underworld figure, Old Nick, want to kill me, but the cops want to ask me about a stolen car and will arrest me if I step outside my ship. The only reason I’m still here is because Old Nick set up a scam stopping my ship being recharged and cleared until I have over a hundred thousand drenna to my name. “So, I’ll take you, but the price doesn’t change. Come on mate, you really don’t have much time to think about it.”
SP“Good. Transfer twenty thousand into my account. Here’s the details. The rest, use your contacts, buy some soup cable, and send it over.” Super conducting cable is a harder interstellar currency than any colony’s money. “Make sure it’s good stuff. We’ll be checking it en-route, when we’re deciding where’ll be a good place to drop you.”
SP“See ya soon.”

SP“Mrs McArthur? My name’s Karl Tjapukai. I know your husband.” I lost an awful lot of money to him in a poker game recently.
SP“Yeah, I’m calling you because I need your help with a problem. It’s perfectly safe, perfectly legal, wont cost you anything except some time, and I’ll pay you big for your trouble.” And I know you have big gambling debts yourself, which you haven’t told your husband about.
SP“I need you to pay Richardson’s Ships one hundred and seven thousand, then cancel all the work, and get your money back, and then…”
SP“Yes, it is a lot of money, I know.” I also know you can access it, through your husband’s construction company. “You just pay it, cancel all the work, get all your money back, and I’ll pay you twenty thousand drenna. Twenty thousand.” Which will get you out of your own debts.
SP“Look, give them a call, check it out, and give me a call back. No tricks, twenty thousand.”

SP“Don! Yeah, I see you. I’m lowering the ramp, just ride your bike into the hold and Zarrin will secure it and settle you in.”
SP“No trouble with the soup cable? Good. Nice bike, by the way.” Wonder how much I could get for it?

SP“Zarrin, tell me that wasn't Anya I just saw riding off on Don's harley.”
SP“Oh, fucking hell!”


Ship of Cards (XXVII)
SPJust when everything was all coming together, it gets stuffed right up. I’d paid my gambling debts, escaped from the clutches of a mob boss, and rescued a beautiful damsel. It even looks like I’m finally going to get my ship recharged. And then bloody Anya buggers off trying to get her goddamned magic sword back!
SPDon says there’s no radio on his bike; Anya doesn’t carry a phone, her suit interferes with any electronics it encases. There’s no way to get in touch with her. Assuming the cops haven’t picked her up.
SPWell, I know just where she’s going. Back to Old Nick’s brother’s mansion, where her sword is. Because, when we were leaving, I forgot it.
SPWhen I was a kid, there was this painting on the family room wall. Well, a copy of a painting. It was a Britannic knight, the Earl of New Avalon, I think. He was standing there, fully armoured, visor up and staring boldly out into the distance at challenges that he could see, and a kid could only imagine. Fighting pirates, Tai!Qu raiders, exploring new planets, defending his family and people. You could break rocks on that look of resolve on his face. He would never leave his friends when they were in trouble, and I don’t either.
SP“Zarrin, suit up and get yourself ready. We’re going after Anya.”
SP“Agreed, comrade. Inquiry: equipment? Plan we have?”
SP“I don’t know, and I don’t bloody have one.”
SP“Gear template Epsilon will take.”
SP“Sounds fine.” Zarrin’s ‘Epsilon’ is a good mix of stuff, but still light-weight. Jack-of-all-trades sort of thing.
SP“John, I need you to listen to the police talk. Relay to me anything about us, or Anya. OK? Anything about us or Anya, relay it to me. OK?”
SP“Us or Anya. Relay OK.”
SP“Good.”

SPIt’s a long way, crawling on my hands and knees to the truck while wearing a plastic shell on my back painted to look like the tarmac, but there’s no way to know if the cops are watching for us to set foot outside the ship. They want to talk to us about a stolen car, shot up a teeny bit, and left abandoned, but as long as we stay on the ship, they can’t legally touch us.
SPIf the cops are watching, they’re probably doing it through the port cameras, and they’ve probably given the job to a computer, and computers can be fooled. Since the cameras are visual only, this will probably work. Probably.
SPZarrin climbs into the back of the truck; trying to keep what cover I can, I climb into the cab. Should be safe now; any computer watching can’t be set to react to trucks. Not in a space port.
SP“What do you think Anya’s planning? What’s she thinking?”
SPSilence.
SP“Infiltration. Predication: Scan net security breaches remaining. Predication: Guard unit complement unreplenished. House sneaky sneaky in, grab someone showy way findy sword. Run run fast fast. Predications true, prognosis good.”
SP“If they’re not?”
SP“Prognosis not good.”


Ship of Cards (XXVIII)
SPThere’s workmen at the Nicholas mansion. Three trucks, two vans and three utes; a security company, an electrician, print-builder, carpet weaver, interior stylist, wood inlayer, and a stone former.
SPLooks like a bit of damage was done when we left before. Would have been nice if I’d remembered to take Anya’s bloody sword with us when we escaped. But no, I forgot the damned thing, and so bloody Anya takes off and right now no doubt is trying to sneak her way back in. Probably doing a damned good job of it, too; she’s like that. Unless they’ve already caught her, and she needs our help.
SPWell, the only way to know is to get in there ourselves, somehow. But how? Just drive in through the front? We are in one of their trucks, but we’ve got nothing to tell them at the gate.
SPThe mansion’s perimeter sensors were breached when my crew were springing me. That’s probably what the security company’s here about, but if it’s still down, that might be a better way in. A bit of a look wont hurt. Have to hide the truck.

SPThere’re a couple of people out here, working on the sensors. Walk past them? Dangerous, they could get curious and call us in.
SP“Hey! What are you two doing there?”
SP“We’re… working on the sensors, sir. We’re with Apollo Security.”
SP“You got ID on you?”
SPThey hand me their cards. I compare the pictures with the workers, and scan the data-strip. SP“OK. Mr Nicholas wants to know how much longer this is going to take. He doesn’t like his sensors being down.”
SP“Repairing and testing will take two and a half hours, sir, before it can be switched back on. We’ll have to switch it all off tomorrow for the upgrades, but only for half an hour.”
SP“All right. While it’s down, you see anything strange out here, you call it in to the house, you got me?”
SP“Yes, sir.”

SPPeople are fixing the wall outside where a hard-thrown cherub had hit it, and others are coming in and out the front door, where a watchman’s been set up.
SP“You got a card pod for your phone?”
SP“Da, mine master of shadows.”
SP“Lend me your phone.”

SPOne minute to set the phones up, a goddamn eternity before everyone around the door had pissed off and stopped staring at us, but it’s finally clear. Holding my phone screen to the camera, I wave Zarrin’s phone over the card reader and click a button.
SP“Fred Lomax of Apollo Security.” The phone made a passable imitation of the man’s voice.
SP“You are standing too close to the camera. Please move back.”
SPI gently pull my phone back. There’s a musical tinkle, and the door unlocks.
SP“Always protect your security data. Never allow others to enter with you. Have a nice day.”
SPYeah, yeah, whatever. Zarrin and I go in.

SPBest idea is to find somewhere quiet and wait. Some kind of storage room, a broom closet or something.
SP“You two! Who are you? What’re you doing here?”
SPA security guard, he’s a shimmering black silhouette beneath his active shield, and he’s holding his gun on us. Shit.
SP“Department of Workplace Safety. There’s a lot of work being done here, and under our powers we’re performing an unannounced OH&S inspection.”
SPZarrin’s looking at me. Zarrin, in his heavy assault armour, mace and auto-cannon. There’s a heavy weight over my shoulder of a military needle rifle, and I’m wearing military armour myself.
SP“Cogitation query: Object specific?”
SP“I have no idea what I was just thinking.”


Ship of Cards (XXIX)
SPWhen you’re breaking into the mansion that just days ago you shot your way out of, when you’re dressed in military armour, assault rifle over your shoulder, accompanied by someone built like the proverbial brick shithouse and just as big, dressed in heavy assault armour and carrying even bigger weapons; telling an understandably taken aback guard that you’re government officials here for a surprise occupational health and safety inspection isn’t the greatest explanation for your presence it’s possible to come up with, but it’s the one I just gave.
SPDon’t ask. I don’t know.
SPHe’s not buying it.
SPAn encrypted radio burst from the guard. No one with shields could receive anything that dense, it must be meant for central security.
SPHe’s got a gun pointing at us, but there’s two of us, and only one of him. If we tried something, there’s a good chance he wouldn’t be able to kill anyone before Zarrin tore him to pieces, and if he did, it would only be one of us.
SPIt’ll probably be me. Bugger that. Different if we had our own fields up, of course, but they’re a pain for stealth, and they take minutes to get up so it’s a bit late now.
SPIncoming transmission. Thin and slow, unencrypted, to get through a field. More guards coming.

SP“Tjapukai. I am surprised to see you again.”
SP“That’s Captain.” Mr Nicholas's office is rich and luxuriant; stained glass windows, thick red velvet curtains covered with gold embroidery, and a white wooden desk with intricate inlays in black, port, and deep auburn. Antique holo-art decorates the walls, with three looking like Daverest’s.
SP“I’m here because enough people have died already. You have to give back Anya’s sword… or she’ll kill you.”
SP“Anya? Ah, the woman. She still lives then? No matter. She wont penetrate my new security.”
SP“Yeah, you have no idea. She’s an expert in tactical operations, infiltration, sniping, close assault, electronics, security, and explosives. She’ll watch you for days, you’ll never see her, and then one day, there’ll be a bomb in your car, a bullet from nowhere, or a knife in the dark, and you’ll be dead. As long as you have that sword, she won’t stop.”
SP“Don’t be ridiculous.”
SP“You say that now, but she’s Kali. Kali. You know what they say about them; they don’t say enough. Not near enough.”
SP“I let the authorities know we have a Kali here, they hunt her down and arrest her.”
SP“If that happens, the cops get some meat we got from your factory. The ingredients are fascinating.”
SPNicholas is smiling. There’s something important here I don’t know.
SP“Your threats are meaningless, Tjapukai. You can’t threaten me with prison, or with death from your Kali crewmember. I’m already dying.” He taps himself his head, “Cancer, quite incurable, quite advanced.” He’s quiet. Thinking.
SP“Instead, we will play a game.” Nicholas gets out a deck of cards, “If you win, you get the sword and my silence. Deal?”
SP…
SPI deal the cards. I have the eight of hearts, four of spades, three of spades, five of spades and seven of hearts. Total rubbish. I can’t tell what Nicholas has, I’ve never played him before. It’s a cold hand.
SPIt really doesn’t matter what he has. It’s a single hand, winner takes all. If you can’t fold, you can’t bluff. No point to secrecy.
SP“I take five.”
SP“I hold.”
SP“Two pair, aces over fives.”
SP“Ah.” Nicholas is looking at his cards, considering. He’s putting his cards down. Face down.
SP“I fold. Take your sword, Captain, and live well.”

[Venator]

Man, you like throwing your protagonists some ugly curveballs. But for some reason, maybe having run into them a few times, the idea of a walking tank making an OH&S inspection just makes my day.

Curious what on earth Nicholas is playing at with this card game.

[Korto]

Ship of Cards (XXX)
SPWell, things seem to be back on track. After breaking into Old Nick’s brother’s mansion in what wasn’t the worst planned mission in history only because there wasn’t any planning at all, promptly getting caught, and taken to see Mr Nicholas, he lets us go, with the goods, after I win a single poker hand. Seems that after a severe blow to the head he’d received a few days ago, a thorough medical found a brain tumour, buried deep, untreatable. He’s re-evaluating his life at the moment.
SPNice of him to overlook I’m the one who thumped him on the head.
SPWhen we used the PA to call Anya out, it turned out she was already inside the mansion, which gave Security a nasty shock, with some plumber’s ID, whom she probably killed.
SPI’m sorry about that; this has been such a fucking mess.

SP“Captain. Captain.” It’s John from the ship.
SP“Yeah, John?”
SP“Listen. Radio. Listen. Radio. Police. Radio.”
SP“Encryption Alpha Epsilon Beta, John, Alpha Epsilon Beta.”
SP“Oh. Alpha Epsilon Beta. Oh. OK.”

SP“Listen. Radio. Listen. Radio.”
SP“OK, John. Put it on. Put it on, John.”

SPWell, that’s great. The cops have a description of the truck, roadblocks, and we’re described as armed and extremely dangerous. However, they’re saying it’s just me and Zarrin, and no location, so I don’t think Nicholas dropped us in it. Maybe someone looked at the Port cameras?
SPWe’ve gotta lose the truck. There’s the harley in the back, that can take me and Anya, but never Zarrin. He’s too big, and doesn’t have the endurance to walk. We need a new vehicle.
SPWell, there’s a beautiful coincidence. Someone up ahead has a ute for sale.
SP“Anya, drop me off here, and you and Zarrin find somewhere to hide the truck. Zarrin, change to Beta Beta Beta. Is there anything in this truck I can change into? I’m gonna look a bit sus knocking on the door in full combat armour.”

SPA long trench coat might hide that I’m stripped down to my underclothes. Anya volunteered to get the ute herself. No. Just no.

SPA small and delicate-looking young man answers the door.
SP“Yes?”
SP“You selling that ute, out the front?”
SP“The pick-up?”
SP“Yeah, the pick-up.” It’s a bloody ute.
SP“Sure am. There’s nothing wrong with it, just don’t need it any more.”
SP“OK, tell me about it.”
SP“Sure. Say, how’d you get here?”
SP“Oh, me and the wife were out joyriding. She wanted to keep going, so she dropped me off.”
SP“Sure.”

SPIt’s a good vehicle, kept in good nick by the kid, who’s a bit of a backyard mechanic. He’s also a dab hand at electronics, which leads to a possibility.
SP“Can you disconnect the security circuits?”
SP“You mean the anti-theft devices?”
SP“No. All of it. The anti-theft, the locator, immobiliser, speed monitor, everything.”
SP“Sure. Why?”
SP“Well, sometimes me and the wife like to go a bit fast, you know?”
SP“Sure, but it’ll cost you extra.”
SP“No worries.”
SP“The cover comes with the pick-up?”
SP“Sure does.”
SP“And can I have a couple of those old pallets there?”
SP“S’pose so.”
SP“Thanks.”

SPCruising down the road, I’d call Zarrin to find where they’re hiding except I left my damned phone with the rest of my gear. But they can’t have gone too far, in case I ran into trouble.
SPSilhouetted by the sun on the crest of the next hill is a woman sitting on a harley; I pull up beside her.
SPShe’s waving a phone at me. “Forget something?”
SPSmart-arse. “Oh, shut up.”



Ship of Cards (XXXI)
SPAnya’s on the harley, scouting ahead. She’s got my phone with her in case she finds anything.
SPThe cops have road-blocks up, a description of Zarrin and me, and we’re designated “Armed and Extremely Dangerous”. Well, I suppose we are, but I’d just prefer it if they wouldn’t call us that. It all seems a bit of an over-reaction for a simple stolen car, even if the back of it was shot full of holes. Sometimes I wonder if I’m cursed.
SPCan’t whine too much, really; it’s all largely my fault. If Zarrin and I hadn’t left the ship, the cops wouldn’t be able to touch us. We left to rescue Anya when she went back to the Nicolas mansion to recover her sword, because I’d forgotten it and left it there after my crew had freed me from being held prisoner by Old Nick. Old Nick’s grudge goes years back, but he only heard I was in town because I lost a heap of money gambling and I drew too much attention trying to pay off my debts.
SPYeah. Apparently I’ve cursed myself.

SP“Checkpoint ahead. Take your next left, and wait for me to re-acquire.”
SPLeft is a minor road. We’re still some way from the port, so I wouldn’t think we’d have trouble yet. Maybe it’s just a traffic stop, random drug testing or the like.

SP“Intersection’s clear. Proceed; wait. I’ll scout the right”
SP“OK, sure, but then come back in and join us. We need to make a plan for the port.”
SP“Yes, sir.”
SPA plan. Crazy idea, but it just might work.

SP“OK. According to John, there’re cops all over the port gates, with a tac squad. They’re fielded up; we’ll have to be too. They’ll definitely have a heavy merf, and probably glue guns. If we just burst the gate, they merf the car, we’ll be on foot, a lot of tarmac to cover, they glue us, end of story. That’s their plan.”
SP“Potential counter massive momentum vehicle killed massive energy radio frequency still ship reach?”
SP“Fail. Too much incoming, never open the doors for evac.”
SP“Here’s an idea. They don’t know you’re with us, Anya, or the new car here; as long as we keep that secret, this can be simple. Anya, you just drive through the gate in the ute. We’ll put the bike in the back, no reason to leave it here. Zarrin and I wait for you near some isolated side fence of the port, near the ship. You come around inside, when we see you we cut our way through the fence, alarms go off, but we pile into the ute and drive straight up into the hold before the cops know what’s happening. Cool?”
SP“Not near the ship. The fence’ll be under heavy obo.”
SP“OK. Fine. Where then?”
SPA satellite picture of the port appears before me.
SP“I enter here.” A gate highlights.
SP“Zarrin and you wait here.” A fence in the arse end of nowhere, and well away from the ship.
SP“There’s a ship here, here, and here, and some transport crates here.” Red blobs appear on the map. “Heavy cover all the way to the hold ramp here.” A green circle is my ship, with a dot marking the hold. “Easy.”
SP“Fine. Let’s do it.”
SP“Karl Tjapukai. Zarrin. Anya Ingadottir. You are all under arrest. Do not enter your vehicle. Lie face down on the ground and await further instruction.”
SPA bloody u.a.v.! Where the fuck did that come from? I am bloody cursed!

[Korto]

Ship of Cards (XXXII)
SP“Anya!”
SPDiving to the ground, there’s a staccato crack of needle fire.
SP“Fields up!” Wasting my breath. Zarrin already knows, Anya doesn’t use them. It’ll take minutes for it to get up; possibly should have had it up earlier, but they have problems.
SPSudden bang overhead. UAV is flipping over and over, crashing heavily to the ground. Anya must have hit the turbines.
SP“Anya! You drive! Lose them!”
SPI leap in the back, onto a pallet to protect any electronics under the skin from the distorting effect of the al’Kembri field. Zarrin climbs in beside me. The ute sags.
SP“The port!”
SPThe ute surges forward. The world is wavering; coiling and jumping, with the colours shifting weirdly. My field’s coming on. I’ve got to concentrate, get the whole thing to feel right in the balance box. ‘Feel right’ is vague, but there’s no way to define it. It just feels right, and it took me months to learn how.
SPGot it.
SPNo follow-up on the UAV, operator must have jumped the gun, not waited for backup. Bit of luck. Need to make more.
SP“John. Shield protocol Nine Alpha. Nine Alpha.”
SP“seY. S…ld yoto..co Nine …pha. sYs.”
SPShields distort anything they don’t block. Shield protocol converts speech into a simple, bold, digital code, which penetrates better.
SP“Put me through to Lin Yan. Lin Yan, John.”
SP“..yali.. Here”
SP“Lin Yan, just listen. Get a lawyer. Get the cops off us. Injunctions. Whatever. Stop any grounding orders.”
SP“They… Will… Xeno… To… Be… Paid… Queen… Advance… For… That…Sir”
SPNever said it was perfect.
SP“Just tell him we’ll pay him later. No! Tell him you work for Old Nick. He needs the Summer Lady to lift off, and he’ll pay triple.”
SP“Make it a lawyer you don’t like.”

SPAnya’s being smart, dodging around but keeping close to other vehicles. Cops can’t shoot if they might hit someone else. Even a merf, only frying electrics, could be lethal at road speeds. And someone could have a heart regulator or something. Must be scaring the shit out of some of these other drivers, but.
SPNot seeing cops, but eyes in the sky.
SPRoadblock! Anya’s cutting a sharp corner. Zarrin dropping Wite-Out behind us. Big clouds of white smoke.
SP“Truck!”
SPZarrin bellows. Screeching right, nearly thrown out, barely missing the huge bloody thing! It thunders past, horn blasting. That was fucking close.
SPAnya’s giving some hand signal. Can’t make it out. Zarrin turns and fires Wite-Out in the air, above and ahead. He’s so used to making sense of field warping. Anya turns a sharp left, we’re in a warehouse, people diving for cover, ute screeching to a stop before running into the back of an auto-fork.
SP“You hey !sloof hi… si private You property. … have killed somI’bomdy! ca…n … … , os … etgeo NOW!”
SPWoman. Probably supervisor. Gone silent, looks scared to death. Zarrin and Anya are both pointing guns at her.
SP“No! Guns down! We’re not going to hurt you! Anya, get us out of here!”
SPRacing towards an exit at the rear, the workers behind staring.
SP“Emp them. Careful!”
SPZarrin loads a grenade, fires, hits the far wall A small explosion. No one hurt, but phones will be fried.
SP“Anya. To the port. Ram the bloody fence.”

Ship of Cards (XXXIII)
SPIt’s pretty dark, as Anya veers into another large warehouse, keeping to cover as much as possible getting to the port and our ship. If we can get to the ship, we’ll be fine. Anyone onboard is legally protected from all planetary law, unless rescinded by our flag nation. As Botany’s a couple of years away, round trip, I don’t see that happening in a hurry. They could, of course, get a grounding order from the courts, preventing us from lifting off, but hopefully I’ve got a lawyer working on stopping that.
SPIf they catch us before we get on board, well, originally they just wanted to talk to us about a stolen car. Now they could also add destruction of property, reckless endangerment of life, and using EMP in a built up area. Oh, and driving without a license. So, yeah, we’d be officially fucked.
SP“Anya! STOP! STOP!”
SPA truck’s being loaded, two women staring at us in shock. I switch voice to ‘Intimidate’, upping the bass, putting in some supersonic that makes people uneasy. Bit of cheap theatrics, but whatever. Zarrin jumps out with me.
SPThe two women start to run. A couple of warning shots; they stop.
SPAdd brandishing a deadly weapon in an intimidatory fashion, and firing a deadly weapon in a built-up area.
SP“You two! Phones and glasses! Now!”
SPThey dig out their phones, take off their VRs, and hand them over.
SP“This ute belongs to Old Nick! He wants it at the…” Oh, where the fuck does he want it? “…the water purification plant at the power station! I’ve told him you’re coming; you’ve got twenty seven minutes!” Be a bit of a rush.
SP“What you are ..ki.. bowahoot? … This’s! you ingtonoth do with us!”
SP“Shut up! We’ve got your phones, your names and addresses are on the phones! Go, stop for no one, or Nick will want to know why!”
SPThe two women look close to tears, getting into the ute. I’m such a prick sometimes.
SP“Twenty six minutes!” They tear out of the warehouse at high speed.
SP…
SP“Right. We take the truck.”

SPAnya’s driving more sedately now, past the warehouses, which is good because the truck’s loaded with Agamen crystal goblets, all unique pieces; high-quality export shit. Score. It’s quite dark, they don’t have much lighting out here, and it seems quiet and peaceful. There’s a lot of chatter on the police band, I can’t make it out, but it seems excited. Hopefully they haven’t caught those two women yet, they should buy us at least ten or fifteen minutes, surely.
SPThe truck’s accelerating. Zarrin wraps a big arm around me; the other’s holding onto the truck.

SPThe floor smashes into me like a massive fist, boxes full of very expensive crystal go flying, the truck jumps the gutter and ploughs through the light fence without slowing. Sirens goes off, the whole port flooded with light.
SP“John! Open the hold! Open the fucking hold!”
SPAnya’s careering madly; there’s ships, loaders, stowage points, flying away behind us from my view out the back. Suddenly, the engine cuts, the truck goes into auto-brake.
SPShit! The cops activated the anti-theft!
SP“GO!”
SPZarrin jumps out, I follow, Anya’s ahead of us, our ship’s in sight. There’s a boom, and a cloud of Wite-Out where the ship’s hold should be. That door had better be fucking open. More booms. Wite-out obscures most of the path; I start running. There’s the cough of glue guns, and something slams into my back, picks me up, starts bounding ahead.
SPThere’re few things faster then a sprinting Tai!Qu.

[Korto]

Ship of Cards (XXXIV)
SPThe world is a hissing, dimly glowing white opaque place; pounding and jarring with every springing step Zarrin takes as he runs with me over one shoulder, Anya draped half over his back, through the blinding chemical smoke.
SPEvery leap's taking us closer to the ship and once inside we’re safe. The cops, firing glue-guns blindly, wanting to ‘talk’ to us about a stolen car and probably a few other issues, wont be able to touch us, and we'll lift off before any grounding order gets through. Hopefully.
SPZarrin pounds to a halt, swings an arm forward, there’s a loud clang as armoured paw strikes closed hold door.
SPShit.
SP“John! John! Open the main hold! Open the bloody main hold!” The smoke's clearing. I drop to the ground. There’s a musical lilt in my ear, warning of jamming. I turn the direction of the sound. There's a police cutter. The Lady Claire. Her transmitters jamming all radio on my ship.
SPWell, doesn’t that just take the biscuit.
SP…
SP“No killing!” I dive behind a landing strut. Zarrin whirls and grabs up Anya.
SP“!llaB” he roars, spinning and throwing her skimming across the tarmac towards the police merf cannon. Zarrin dives behind next to me, and hurriedly rams another magazine into his boomer. The cops are scattering, firing wildly, or not at all
SP“Wite-out?”
SP“All out.”
SPJohn’s inside the ship, all he has to do is look out, see what’s happening, and press one button to open the hold. But he wont. I know exactly what he’s doing. He’s fixated on trying to fix the jamming, while screaming in rage and throwing a temper tantrum, and I wish I were bloody joking but I’m damned well not.
SPAnya thumps into the trailer with the merf, she jack-knifes up onto it, kicking some poor bastard standing there in the gut. He falls out.
SPZarrin leaps out, rapid-firing at the Lady Clair’s transmitter, explosions tearing into the array. Bet they wish they had the fields up now. They probably wanted her for lethal backup - no fields, no mistakes from distortion.
SPAnya’s turns the merf on the Clair’s transmitter. Wont cause any damage, but could trip circuit breakers, that’ll be enough.
SPJamming’s down! “John! Open the main hold! John! Open the god-damned main bloody hold!”
SP“OK. … … …hold… …OK… …Open… …”
SPJamming’s back up, too late. Zarrin tosses a grenade straight up in the air, there’s an actinic flash and loud bang. Be nasty without suit filters. Anya looks over, Zarrin signals her in. The cops are starting to get their shit together, started shooting. Still with glue guns. Not the best; bad range, inaccurate, limited ammo, needs lots of hits all over. Meaning they all need their shit together, not just a few. Anya’s leaping from the trailer, dodging her way across the tarmac, under increasing fire. Starting to stumble! Zarrin’s charging to her. The hold’s opening behind me, the beautiful light of safety, can’t take it yet. The cops have split their fire. Bad choice. Anya’s practically hopping. Zarrin grabs her up, bounding for the ship. Time to get into that bloody hold.
SP…
SPThere’s the crash of Zarrin on the ramp. I hit Close, and run to the bridge, knocking Big Don to the floor as I rush past, and log onto ship-net. Coils are recharged. Thank fuck for that.
SP“Everyone! We are taking off NOW! Passenger’s brace! Crew, get your arses HERE! We are taking off before something else goes bloody wrong!”

[Korto]

Ship of Cards (XXXV)
SPPlugging in the optic cable from the ship into my helmet, foam padding automatically clamps around my body, holding me firmly into my chair. Some prefer wireless, but I reckon flying a ship is one place you don’t want static or bandwidth problems.
SPOutside the ship, I can see the cops milling about, unsure what to do. They had a go grabbing us outside, but we got onboard, and now they got a problem. The Summer Lady is a trading ship under a Botany flag; any action against her not only might be considered an act of war against Botany, but also may get them blacklisted by other traders. Of course, if they can get a lawful grounding order, then they’ll be able to keep us grounded, and take all necessary steps to do so.
SPSo we’re getting the hell out before they do.
SPCoils, fully charged; landing gear, green; turbines… fuck it. Pre-flight checks are for fairies. Fire her up.
SP“Botany Trader Summer Lady! You are not cleared for takeoff! Please power down immediately!”
SPAnd fuck you, too.
SPCops outside take cover from the blast of the screaming turbines; I ease the Summer Lady, shuddering, off the tarmac, clawing for altitude; with clearance height I nose her forward, getting up speed, slipping into aerodynamic flight.
SP“Captain. Multiple drones launched.”
SP“Keep an eye on them. Zarrin, get our field up.” Flying over inhabited areas with fields is illegal, of course. They can add it to the list.
SP“Ummm, uh, Sir…? Captain…?”
SP“Yes, Lin Yan?”
SP“Mr Jarrin just called, of Jarrin and Slate. He said that with the port incident, they've overturned the injunction and are applying for a grounding order.”
SP“This guy’s an arsehole, right?”
SP“He forces himself on female staff.”
SPThat’ll do. “Tell him Nick will double what he’s already getting if he can delay long enough for us to get away. And they should have given you a crash harness? Strap yourself in."
SPOh yeah. "Don, strap your arse in."
SPThe world outside the ship is wavering, as if I'm looking at it through ripples in water, now the colours distort, and objects are jumping about, twisting and stretching and shrinking, sometimes all at once. Rainbows shoot out randomly.
SPField distortion, you gotta love it. Once you had to take drugs to see shit like this.
SP"Police cutter Lady Clair has launched."
SP"Zarrin! That bloody field stable yet?!"
SP“Worm most miserable I be, bestowing upon you apologies as the thousands of raindrops falling from the far heavens above, for as yet not have I accomplished your bidding most glorious”
SPOh, shut up. I dive the ship skimming low, the ground is rainbow chaos, trying to get as much speed as I can, get as far away as I can.
SP“Circumstances re preceding inquisition rendered gratifying”
SP"Drones are closing."
SP"Shoot any too close. Do NOT target anything manned unless they shoot first, got that?!"
SP"Yes , sir."
SPWe can handle the cutter. We can handle the drones. What we can't handle is the colony's defence array, dozens of high-powered pulse laser cannons quantum-entangled to form a virtual lens over fifty miles across. They may be trying right now to get clearance to use it, and I don't want to make it too easy for them.
SPWhat I want is to get over that god-damned horizon.
SPIt's still seven minutes away.
SPFive.
SP"Missiles incoming. EMP spread released."
SPI slam the ship sideways; I see Zarrin flicking his head searchingly from side to side, gesturing in the air, working virtual controls only he can see, keeping our field balanced against the energy surges of beam strikes on our ship; hallucinogenic blobs, missiles, rendered dumb by the EMP blasts, streak by us.
SP“Kill the drones.”
SP“Yes, sir.”
SPA drone’s down. Another, Another.
SPTwo minutes.
SPModern defences have really made anything large enough to have a field mostly immune to anything the same size. Beams can be absorbed by the field, and while missiles can be made large enough to be a problem, without fields they can be shot down themselves. The only practical way for a single cutter to defeat another cutter is to board and the crew fight it out. They’re not going to do that.
SPOne more minute to the horizon.
SPThirty seconds.
SPTen. If those cannon are going to shoot, it’ll have to be soon.
SPFive.
SPFour.
SPThree.
SPTwo.
SPOne.
SPSAFE. We’re over the horizon. They can’t hit us anymore. We're safe.

SP“John, check systems for any damage. We’re leaving this god-damned planet. Lin Yan, when we reach space, we’ll settle you into my cabin for the trip.”
SP“Negative, sir. Lin Yan is berthing with me.”
SP“Anya said she’d teach me something called ‘The Silver Spoon’!” Lin Yan shyly giggles.
SPWhat? Lin Yan and Anya? Oh, bloody hell, I was looking forward to spending the trip with Lin Yan.
SPI wonder whether they’d go for a threesome?
SPAnya’s expression, looking at me, is cold, devoid of humanity.
SPNo. Probably not.
SPOh well. At least I get to tell Don about his bike.

SPThe End