Shockwave Read online

  “I’m not sure, but Casmir knew what they were. He called them crushers. I haven’t heard of them before, but if they’re trendy on Odin, that’s another reason never to come back.”

  “I guess I won’t get to see a knight.”

  “Trust me, you’re better off this way. Go tell Casmir to fix my reactor, will you? I’m ready to leave this world.”

  5

  Casmir stepped back from the reactor shielding and considered his handiwork. All it had needed was a simple patch, and he’d had his own soldering tools with him, so it hadn’t taken long. The true test would come when they fired up the reactor, but he was confident it would be fine. The only problem had been a giant bullet of some kind lodged in it. A drone could have patched it up.

  The bullet had been slightly alarming, suggesting that Captain Lopez had problems of her own in addition to his. Casmir appreciated that she’d given him a ride, but he would part ways from her as soon as possible.

  All he wanted was to be left alone for a few hours on a station or moon base with network access so he could do some research and figure out who was after him and why. And who his mother was, and why she hadn’t told that knight to share her name as well as her warning.

  Casmir hoped that leaving Odin would mean leaving his trouble behind, but he couldn’t disappear into the starry ether of space forever. Even if he did feel safe enough to use his banking chip elsewhere in the system, he only had a few months’ worth of savings in his account. A few months of paying for regular stuff, like rent and food. Not tickets on spaceships and rooms in fancy space-station hotels. Even when he’d worked for the military, he hadn’t made piles of money.

  A cleaning robot whirred past on the deck, almost running over his boot as it vacuumed the area where he’d been working. Casmir didn’t think he’d made much of a mess, but it zipped all around.

  “It’s working?” Kim asked from the hatchway.

  Casmir jumped. He hadn’t realized she was still in engineering with him.

  But where else would she be? The captain was busy flying and hadn’t given them cabins or a tour or even directions on where to sit. And the furry, uh, woman—Qin?—had disappeared right after the fight. The fight in which she’d almost singlehandedly kept the crushers from coming aboard. Casmir owed her thanks the next time he saw her. He vowed not to gape again. Belatedly, he’d realized that had been rude, but until now, genetically modified humans had been something he’d only read about. The Kingdom news feeds and dramas rarely showed videos of the universe outside of their carefully preserved system, and he couldn’t ever remember seeing a six-foot-tall cat woman with a giant gun.

  “It should be fine.” Casmir put his tools away, shouldered his satchel, and walked over to join Kim.

  The deck vibrated under his feet. His stomach had forced him to curl into a sick ball wedged in a corner of engineering during the wild gyrations Lopez had put the freighter through during the fight, but since then, the ride had been smooth, with cool air filtered in through a vent somewhere. That always helped. His airsickness was more likely to rear its head when he was hot and claustrophobic.

  “I’m sorry you’re stuck here,” Casmir said.

  “Me too.”

  “Are you pissed? I’m never quite sure with you.”

  “At the situation, yes, but not at you. I assume this isn’t your fault unless you got into a fight with someone rich and powerful and dared him or her to throw your own creations at you.”

  “Yes, you know what a fighter I am.” Casmir flexed his nonexistent biceps.

  Kim frowned and shook her head. “You hardly ruffle anyone’s feathers. What could this be about?”

  “All I know so far is what the knight told me, that the mother I didn’t know existed told me to flee the planet.” He bit his lip. “I’m going to research assiduously as soon as…” He trailed off when Captain Lopez appeared in the hatchway.

  She’d changed into a form-fitting black suit with a bulge just below the back of her neck. A galaxy suit with a Glasnax helmet that could unfold from that bulge. He only recognized it because people wore them in dramas about space pirates and invasion fleets. He grimaced at the realization that they were going somewhere where such a suit might be required.

  “Progress?” Lopez jerked her chin toward the reactor.

  “Yes. It’s repaired.”

  “Already? Did you use a technical manual?”

  “What?”

  Kim snorted.

  “Not to solder on a patch,” Casmir said.

  “Right. We’re flying down the coast to the launch loop. Let me give you a quick tour and show you where to sit so you don’t get plastered against the bulkhead when we’re on the mag launcher. Or after that.” Lopez waved for them to follow her.

  “I guess I’m not going to get an offer to be dropped off somewhere,” Kim murmured. “Do you think there’s decent coffee on this ship?”

  She looked around dubiously at the dented and scratched bulkheads.

  Casmir patted her on the shoulder on his way out of engineering, regretting that she’d been brought against her wishes, but another concern took up more prominent real estate in his mind.

  “Captain? The, uh, launch loop we’re heading to—will there be an inspection there?”

  “Sometimes they do a physical check, sometimes they don’t. It would be better if we were taking off at a busy time rather than during the middle of the night, but I’m not inclined to linger longer on this planet.” Lopez strode across the cargo hold and toward a ladder.

  “I only ask,” Casmir said, hurrying to catch her, “because I’m trying not to be noticed by anyone right now.”

  Anyone else, he thought, the crushers popping into mind.

  “You and me both, kid.” Lopez led them up the ladder to the middle of the freighter’s three levels.

  “I don’t suppose there’s any chance this ship can make it into space without using the launch loop?”

  “On some planets it can. You know, nice planets with no atmosphere and a tenth the gravity of Odin.”

  “Ah.”

  They entered a corridor, and she pushed open a couple of side hatches. “Guest quarters are here and there. You can stow your gear in those cabinets—make sure you don’t leave anything out. Nobody needs hairbrushes bobbing around and cracking them in the head when we’re in space. You can each have your own cabin, but I’ll have to ask for a fee for Kim, since she wasn’t part of the original arrangement. I’ve got plenty of rations, since I like to fly safe, but we don’t do any free rides here.”

  “You could drop me off,” Kim said.

  “There’s not much up this way except for the launch loop itself, and every time I land on this planet, I get jumped.” Lopez waved into the nearest cabin. “You can strap yourself into the bunks at night, but some people sleep in the chair pods. They’re designed to cushion you like an egg during extreme acceleration, but they’re comfortable anytime.”

  Casmir rubbed a fresh bump on his head. If what they’d experienced already was an indicator of what space would be like, he would happily spend the whole trip in one of these pods.

  “There are a couple of older galaxy suits in the cabinets that you can try on for further protection. They’re made from SmartWeave. Gives you some defense against weapons, keeps you cool in a hundred degrees C, and keeps you warm in space. Attach one of the air tanks—” she opened a cabinet in the corridor to reveal a rack of oxygen tanks secured so they wouldn’t bang around, “—to the back of the suit, double-check your helmet lock, and you’re good for up to twelve hours of poking around on the hull.”

  “That won’t be required, I hope.” Casmir smiled.

  “You did offer to fix things. Sometimes, the broken bits are on the outside.”

  “Er, right.”

  Casmir’s stomach gave a queasy lurch as he envisioned floating around outside a spaceship in zero-g. He didn’t consider himself unnaturally claustrophobic, but he’d always feared swimm
ing because of his potential to have a seizure in the water. Having a seizure in space could be equally detrimental to his longevity. He’d picked up a two-month supply of his medicine before leaving Zamek, and it worked well in his day-to-day life, but he worried it wouldn’t be up to keeping his brain functioning optimally during periods of extreme stress. Which it looked like he was going to be having a lot more of.

  Lopez took a few more steps up the corridor and pushed another hatch open, revealing what looked like a combination lounge, mess, and kitchen, with all the furnishings bolted to the deck and made from a gray molded material that didn’t appear comfortable. Casmir supposed pillows and cushions weren’t practical for space travel.

  “A couple of pods over there by that porthole.” Lopez pointed. “You might as well sit for now. You can watch the launch if that excites you.”

  She shrugged as if she couldn’t imagine it—and maybe she couldn’t after as many times as she’d been into space. Her long hair was all gray, her face pale despite an olive skin tone, and he would believe she didn’t spend much time in places where the sun warmed her cheeks.

  “There’s some exercise equipment that folds out of those walls.” Lopez waved to rows of cabinets in a bulkhead behind the pods. “Not a bad idea to run and push the weight bars around if you’re going to be out in space a while. We only get g’s when we’re accelerating and decelerating, and muscles like to get lazy if they can.”

  “Right.” Casmir had always imagined that if he had to go to space for any reason, it would be on a transport ship large enough to spin like the big habitats did, providing a reasonable amount of artificial gravity for the passengers. He supposed if something as small as this freighter spun for that purpose, it would have to rotate so fast that it would leave them all puking. “I know I wasn’t particular back at the shipyard, but do you have a destination in mind?”

  The knight’s warning rang in Casmir’s mind, but he couldn’t truly see himself fleeing the entire system. Surely, one of the moon bases or habitats that orbited Odin would be beyond the reach of the crushers, at least long enough for him to do his research and figure out what was going on. Right now, his embedded chips were offline, so he couldn’t be traced, but he ached to check the news and start scouring the university and public networks.

  Lopez hesitated before she said, “I haven’t decided yet. I need to make a few comms. My drop-off here didn’t go as planned.” She waved them toward the pods. “Have a seat. You’re welcome to anything in the lounge, and there’s a lavatory at the end of the corridor, but don’t wander around the ship and poke into things.” She leveled a warning look at them. “I like my privacy.”

  “Naturally.” Casmir smiled, hoping it would make him seem agreeable and trustworthy.

  He was surprised Lopez hadn’t interrogated him yet about the crushers. Was it possible she believed they had been sent because of whatever trouble she’d stirred up? Considering her ship had been damaged on the exterior and the interior, it seemed reasonable to believe there were also people chasing her.

  “Is there a coffee maker?” Kim asked.

  “There are some pre-made coffee bulbs in the mess. You can throw them in the zapbox to warm them up.”

  Kim gave Casmir her first scathing look of the night.

  “Pre-made coffee bulbs? That you heat up in a box?” She curled a lip. “Those can’t be drinkable.”

  “I’m sure they’re not as good as what you’re used to, but think of this as an adventure. Like camping out under the stars. This will be even better. We’ll be among the stars.”

  “Without drinkable coffee. Expect me to have headaches and be grumpy.”

  “Will that be different from now?”

  Her eyes narrowed, and her fingers twitched. She’d never throttled him before, but she appeared to be contemplating it.

  “My apologies.” Casmir bowed like the knights in the vids, pretending to sweep a cloak wide. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I should have offered to build an espresso maker into the kitchen over there.”

  “And acquire fresh-roasted coffee beans and a grinder for me.”

  “Absolutely. I’ll add that all to my priority list. Above find-out-who-my-mother-is and just below find-out-who’s-trying-to-kill-me.” Casmir arched his eyebrows. “Is that ordering acceptable?”

  Kim waved in agreement, or simply to end the conversation, and glanced at Lopez, who’d paused at the ladder leading up to navigation and was watching impassively. Casmir had forgotten she was still there and wished he’d kept his priority list to himself.

  Kim walked to the porthole and looked out to where the base of the launch loop was visible, magnetic tracks leaving from the terminal and angling up into the sky and out over the ocean. A hulking gray power plant sat next to the terminal, providing power to keep the massive structure working and accelerate ships along the tracks. Casmir had seen plenty of vessels take off on the news, usually when there was a story about how expensive the infrastructure was to maintain or how it had been damaged during a storm, but he’d never been here in person.

  “Captain?” Casmir asked as Lopez started up the ladder. “When will we know if customs wants to inspect the ship before we go?”

  Lopez grimaced. “Soon.”

  “Is there somewhere we can hide if they come aboard?”

  “Hiding spots are already taken. You better find a mask if you’re worried about your identity being revealed.”

  “I think masks only work for the pirate Tenebris Rache.” Casmir waved his index finger to indicate the chip that would identify him to anyone with a scanner.

  “Pirate?” Lopez asked. “To most of the rest of the systems, he’s a mercenary.”

  “He doesn’t prey fanatically on the rest of the systems’ ships, outposts, and refineries.”

  “Guess you people did something to irk him, eh?” Lopez waved them to the pods again and disappeared into the ladder well.

  The lounge wasn’t a brig, but Casmir couldn’t help but feel like a prisoner. How had his life turned so insane in less than twelve hours? And how had he managed to take his best friend down with him? He was glad he wasn’t here alone but felt like a total ass for getting Kim involved in this. He’d intended to protect her, not the other way around.

  Kim sat in a pod and looked out the porthole, perhaps wishing she’d had time to buy a few cases of quality coffee to bring along. He sat in the pod across from hers. It was bolted to a short track, so he could push it around and also have a view of the launch loop. He wished he could listen in on the captain’s conversation with the customs agent. Were ships even allowed to take off in the middle of the night? He didn’t know.

  “I’m fairly certain our captain is a smuggler,” Kim said.

  “That’s what I gathered. We knew when we headed to that special shipyard that we weren’t likely to wind up with someone operating a legal business, right?”

  “True. A legitimate transport wouldn’t have taken us on without asking for ID.”

  Casmir leaned back in the pod, feeling claustrophobic as its insulated interior automatically tightened slightly to enrobe as much of his body as possible. Presumably, it got a lot tighter once they were hurtling along the tracks to build up speed to escape Odin’s gravitational pull.

  “The net has a record on her.” Kim touched her temple to indicate she was accessing the network. “Bonita Laser Lopez from System Diomedes. She’s listed as a bounty hunter, no warrants out for her arrest anywhere.”

  “That’s promising. That she’s not a known killer.”

  “Known. I wager a lot of things go unknown in the dark between the planets.”

  “I suppose so.”

  Casmir risked taking his own chip back online to access the net, not to look up their captain but to see if his name came up in any news stories. Unfortunately, he didn’t know his birth mother’s name, so he couldn’t look her up. As a curious teenager, he’d tried to dig up information about his biological parents, but wi
thout knowing their names, it had been difficult. The agency that had placed him with his foster parents, who had eventually adopted him, had shut down a few years after the fact, leaving no contact information or records.

  Casmir found his résumé and career highlights online, the papers he’d published over the years, even his grades from school. There wasn’t anything in the public record about his three years working for military research, but that wasn’t unexpected. That had all been classified work. The government hadn’t wanted to announce the creation of the crushers. Casmir wondered how many of them existed these days. And how many were after him.

  When he didn’t find anything out of the ordinary on himself, he looked up the colleagues he’d worked with at the military research facility. A part of him dreaded what he would find. Had crushers also come to their doors and killed them all? He had been the team lead, but they had all contributed to the project. If he was being targeted, it seemed likely that they would be too. But by whom?

  The Star Striders or Cosmic Hippies? Some group who resented mankind’s warlike tendencies and tried their best to put a halt to them? The zealots from those religions usually protested terraforming and the destruction of native planets and moons, not the creation of robots. There were several anti-artificial-intelligence movements, but wouldn’t it be hypocritical of them to use an AI to kill someone?

  Nothing came up on the news about any of his old colleagues. Huh.

  He risked sending a couple of messages to make sure they were all right. The part of him that had seen numerous spy dramas as a kid knew he should stay off the grid and not use his chip or a traceable comm system if he didn’t want to be found, but the government should be the only institution with access to his chip coordinates. If they were after him… Well, he doubted there was anywhere he could go that would be out of the Kingdom’s reach. Even if Odin and the habitats and stations in this system were the only entities under royal rule these days, King Jager had a long reach.

  But one of the king’s knights had come to warn him. So it wouldn’t make sense for the government to be after him. Unless that knight had gone rogue for some reason.