The First Run: Episode Four

The hum of a ship’s quantum drive against my cheek woke me. Lying on my side, I pressed my palms against my eye sockets and rubbed until I could see again. Whatever had knocked me out left me groggy, like every thought had to be routed through a bucket of mud.

When I sat up, the restraints rattled against the door panel. Wire loops had been fastened around my wrists. The other ends were screwed to the floor. I had enough play to reach my face, but nothing more.

The pilot seat swiveled around, revealing the brute who’d stolen my MobiGlas. He wore a navy blue pressure suit, minus the gloves and helmet. He steepled his fingertips together, narrowing his gaze at me, and I felt like chicken in a coop being sized up for slaughter.

“You don’t want to kill me,” I blurted out.

His eyebrow raised. “I don’t? Educate me, little scrum.”

I couldn’t help but shake my head in a double-take. That erudite voice coming from that brutish body was a contradiction.

It also occurred to me that it was an error on my part to have spoken before I knew the score. Behind the brute was the black emptiness of space through the view screen, except for a little reddish dot, dead center on the screen. It looked like a planet by the thin nimbus around it. Probably a gas giant.

“What’s your name?” I asked, stalling.

He licked his lips. “Burnett.”

He said the first part of his name like burr and the second part he rolled over his tongue.

“Well, Burnett,” I replied, glancing around the cockpit, “I’m Sorri, but not sorry.”

At my joke, his upper lip curled back, showing his teeth. “I know who you are.”

Right. Which put me at a major disadvantage. I didn’t know who this Burnett was, except that he’d stolen my MobiGlas and kidnapped me.

I craned my neck to see the control panel for the ship, which was no help. I didn’t know the difference between a jump-capable ship and just an in-system flier.

Burnett seemed content to watch me like a cat observing a trapped mouse.

I searched my memory for anything that might help, when I remembered the last thing Burnett had said to me: It seems Dario found himself an ally.

Now what in the deep space did that mean?

My eyes widened when I connected the dots. “Dario, the guy from the Solar Jammer, put something on my MobiGlas. That’s what Security saw. She should have never let me go.”

The words trailed past my lips, half-realization, half- regret.

The corners of Burnett’s eyes creased and the cramped cabin seemed to shrink even further. I was two steps from this erudite beast of a man, and he had a blade on his hip. When I looked at the hard metal flooring, he laughed.

“Don’t worry. I won’t cut your throat. Your blood would seep under the plates and interfere with my electronics. When it’s time to get rid of you, I’ll just throw you out the airlock.”

When. He said when.

“Then what are you waiting for?” I asked, chin raised, looking directly in his green-brown eyes. I bit my lower lip to keep it from trembling.

“You looked like a talker. I hoped you might just spit out whatever plan you and Dario had, saving me the trouble of torturing you.”

“But I don’t know him. I’m just a courier for FTL. You know, when you need a message delivered, nothing’s faster than light?”

The words fell over themselves on the way out of my lips. I could feel my life’s clock ticking down to the final seconds.

He squinted and shifted forward in his seat, which with his bulk, practically bent the steel bottom. “It feels like you’re telling the truth. But I might just need to put the knife to you, to make sure you’re not simply a good liar.”

“What do you want to know? I’ve got nothing to lose, right?”

Burnett seemed to consider my offer.

“You don’t know Dario?” he asked after a time.

“No,” I said. “I spoke to him on the trip out, mostly at the beginning. He must have hacked my MobiGlas when I was asleep. Put that file on it. I guess whatever it is, it’s important?”

“Don’t worry your little head about it.”

I had a moment of insight. “He’s your rival, isn’t he? You figured out what he was going to do. Use me to get the file past local security. So you just waited on planet and grabbed it.”

Burnett nodded in agreement. “No harm in telling you that much. New couriers are never given important files, in fact, usually they’re given fake stuff to test them. So you didn’t have the high class security afforded that kind of data. When I caught Dario sniffing into your background, I took a chance that he’d pull this trick again.”

Then he stood up and the chair groaned beneath his effort. He had to keep his head ducked to keep from hitting the ceiling. When he pressed his lips together and blew a sighing breath out his nose, my stomach twisted into a knot.

“And now it’s time to say goodbye. I’m really sorry Dario used you, but you shouldn’t have followed me,” he said, grabbing a screwdriver from the seat next to his.

When he advanced on me, I thought about scratching and clawing at him like a frenzied cat, but that would only make him mad. I needed to keep my wits about me, but it was hard, really hard.

He leaned down and began unscrewing the cable from the floor without the least bit of concern. I felt like a child next to him. The knife on his belt was only an arm’s reach away, but I knew he’d be faster than me.

I looked out the viewscreen at the front of the ship. The reddish gas giant was now a decent-sized object on the screen, its features beginning to appear.

“You’re going to sell the data to some pirates, huh?”

I smirked and nodded my head towards the front of the ship, but I was afraid it came off as amateur. His right eye twitched.

“Sort of,” he said, stepping on the first cable so I couldn’t move my arm and starting work on the second one.

“I bet they won’t be happy when the UEE shows up,” I said.

He narrowed his gaze as he loosened the second cable, but kept working. He grabbed the ends and yanked me up. He pulled me behind him into the main cabin behind the cockpit.

Dumped out on a table were the contents of my backpack, including the other MobiGlas and my personals. At the back of the room was an airlock. Burnett led me to the door and began putting on his pressure gloves, sealing them tight. Each snap of the glove connecting to his suit hardened my stomach to lead.

Then he pulled his screwdriver out and started undoing the clamps around my wrists. His meaty hand, even with the pressure glove, was a vise around my arms. I would have complained about bruising, but it wasn’t going to matter long.

“You know this isn’t going to work,” I said, but Burnett kept working. “I wouldn’t have come after you if I didn’t have a fail safe.”

He shrugged and tugged the screw out of the first clamp. The metal clattered onto the floor near my foot.

“I’m not dumb,” I said. “I figured out where your lander was pretty quickly, didn’t I?”

He paused with the screw halfway out of the second clamp. The salt and pepper stubble on his chin bunched up as he frowned.

“Talk,” he said.

“FTL. The courier service. They have two fail safes. One in the company issued MobiGlas —” I caught him glancing at his chest pocket, “— the other they inject into us somewhere. It emits a beacon if we die, or if the MobiGlas is destroyed, or any of several other reasons. It might even be transmitting right now.”

Burnett growled and tapped on his MobiGlas with his gloved fingers. When he made a grunt of satisfaction, I knew he’d scanned for communications and it’d come up empty.

Burnett scowled in my direction and finished removing the last screw. When it hit the floor, I twitched.

He released my wrists, so I stood back and rubbed the feeling back into them. Needles ran up my arm, so I shook them until they went away.

The whole time, Burnett was watching me, one hand limply holding the screwdriver, the other on the handle of the knife.

I had the unhealthy feeling that he was thinking about cutting me open to look for the non-existent beacon.

The ship sent an announcement over the speakers, “Approaching destination. Arrival in five minutes.”

At the front of the ship, the gas giant blotted out the screen, but hovering in the middle was a grayish ice moon. Our destination, I assumed.

Burnett reached towards me, and I thought he was going to slam me against the airlock. Instead, he poked me in the chest and growled.

“Fine. I’m not throwing you out the airlock. But you’re going to wish I had before long.”

I wanted to swallow, but couldn’t get the spit down. “Why’s that?”

“Have you ever heard of the Stardevils?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“WiDoW junkies. They make SLAM-heads look like saints. Rather than kill you, I’ll just sell you to them. Make a little profit, and when they accidentally kill you in their special pain orgies, your little beacon, if it’s real, will bring the UEE down on their maggot-infested heads. But that won’t matter to me because I’ll be long gone.”

Much to my shame, my legs weakened and I collapsed against the door, halfway holding myself up against the airlock. My weakness was mostly hunger — I hadn’t eaten in days now — but this new vision of what was to become of me made me even dizzier with worry.

Burnett’s lips stretched back revealing his teeth. “Sure you don’t want to go out the airlock now?”

to be continued …

Das Summen eines Schiffes Quantenstoßes gegen meine Wange weckte mich. Auf meiner Seite liegend, drückte ich meine Handflächen gegen meine Augenhöhlen und rieb sie, bis ich wieder sehen konnte. Was auch immer mich niedergeschlagen hatte, ließ mich groggy zurück, wie jeder Gedanke musste durch einen Eimer Schlamm geleitet werden.

Als ich mich aufhielt, klapperten die Fesseln gegen die Türverkleidung. Drahtschlaufen waren um meine Handgelenke gelegt worden. Die anderen Enden wurden mit dem Boden verschraubt. Ich hatte genug Spiel, um mein Gesicht zu erreichen, aber sonst nichts.

Der Pilotsitz drehte sich um und enthüllte den Rohling, der mein MobiGlas gestohlen hatte. Er trug einen marineblauen Druckanzug, ohne Handschuhe und Helm. Er stemmte seine Fingerspitzen zusammen und verengte seinen Blick auf mich, und ich fühlte mich wie Huhn in einem Stall, der zum Schlachten ausgelegt war.

"Du willst mich nicht töten", sprang ich heraus.

Seine Augenbraue hob sich. "Ich weiß es nicht? Erzieher mich, kleines Luder."

Ich konnte nicht anders, als den Kopf im Doppelpack zu schütteln. Diese gelehrte Stimme aus diesem brutalen Körper war ein Widerspruch.

Es kam mir auch in den Sinn, dass es ein Fehler meinerseits war, gesprochen zu haben, bevor ich die Partitur kannte. Hinter dem Rohling verbirgt sich die schwarze Leere des Raumes durch den Sichtbereich, bis auf einen kleinen rötlichen Punkt, der genau in der Mitte des Bildschirms liegt. Es sah aus wie ein Planet durch den dünnen Nimbus um ihn herum. Wahrscheinlich ein Gasriese.

"Wie ist dein Name?" fragte ich und hielt sie hin.

Er leckte seine Lippen. " Burnett."

Er sagte den ersten Teil seines Namens wie Grat und den zweiten Teil rollte er über seine Zunge.

"Nun, Burnett", antwortete ich und blickte durch das Cockpit, "Ich bin Sorri, aber es tut mir nicht leid."

Bei meinem Witz rollte sich seine Oberlippe zurück und zeigte seine Zähne. "Ich weiß, wer du bist."

Richtig. Was mich in einen großen Nachteil brachte. Ich wusste nicht, wer dieser Burnett war, außer dass er mein MobiGlas gestohlen und mich entführt hatte.

Ich drehte meinen Hals, um das Bedienfeld für das Schiff zu sehen, was keine Hilfe war. Ich kannte den Unterschied zwischen einem sprungfähigen Schiff und einem In-System-Flieger nicht.

Burnett schien zufrieden zu sein, mich wie eine Katze zu beobachten, die eine gefangene Maus beobachtet.

Ich suchte in meinem Gedächtnis nach allem, was helfen könnte, als ich mich an das Letzte erinnerte, was Burnett zu mir gesagt hatte: Es scheint, dass Dario einen Verbündeten gefunden hat.

Nun, was im tiefen Weltraum bedeutete das?

Meine Augen weiteten sich, als ich die Punkte verband. "Dario, der Typ vom Solar Jammer, hat etwas auf mein MobiGlas gelegt. Das ist es, was die Sicherheit sah. Sie hätte mich nie gehen lassen sollen."

Die Worte gingen an meinen Lippen vorbei, Halbwissen, Halbwissen.

Die Augenwinkel von Burnett knitterten und die beengte Kabine schien noch weiter zu schrumpfen. Ich war zwei Schritte von diesem gelehrten Tier eines Mannes entfernt, und er hatte eine Klinge an der Hüfte. Als ich mir den Hartmetallboden anschaute, lachte er.

"Keine Sorge. Ich werde dir nicht die Kehle durchschneiden. Dein Blut würde unter die Platten sickern und meine Elektronik stören. Wenn es Zeit ist, dich loszuwerden, werfe ich dich einfach aus der Luftschleuse."

Wann. Er sagte, wann.

"Worauf wartest du dann noch?" fragte ich, Kinn hochgezogen, schaute direkt in seine grün-braunen Augen. Ich biss mir auf die Unterlippe, damit sie nicht zitterte.

"Du sahst aus wie ein Schwätzer. Ich hoffte, du könntest einfach den Plan ausspucken, den du und Dario hattet, und mir die Mühe ersparen, dich zu foltern."

"Aber ich kenne ihn nicht. Ich bin nur ein Kurier für den FTL. Weißt du, wenn du eine Botschaft überbringen willst, ist nichts schneller als Licht?"

Die Worte fielen auf dem Weg aus meinen Lippen über sich selbst. Ich konnte spüren, wie die Uhr meines Lebens bis auf die letzten Sekunden tickt.

Er blinzelte und schob sich in seinem Sitz nach vorne, der mit seiner Masse den Stahlboden praktisch verbog. "Es fühlt sich an, als würdest du die Wahrheit sagen. Aber vielleicht muss ich dir nur das Messer in die Hand nehmen, um sicherzustellen, dass du nicht nur ein guter Lügner bist."

"Was willst du wissen? Ich habe nichts zu verlieren, oder?"

Burnett schien mein Angebot in Betracht zu ziehen.

"Du kennst Dario nicht?" fragte er nach einiger Zeit.

"Nein", sagte ich. "Ich habe auf dem Ausflug mit ihm gesprochen, meistens am Anfang. Er muss mein MobiGlas gehackt haben, als ich schlief. Leg die Akte darauf. Ich schätze, was auch immer es ist, es ist wichtig?"

"Mach dir keine Sorgen um deinen kleinen Kopf."

Ich hatte einen Moment der Einsicht. "Er ist dein Rivale, nicht wahr? Du hast herausgefunden, was er vorhatte. Benutzen Sie mich, um die Datei an der lokalen Sicherheit vorbei zu bringen. Also hast du einfach auf dem Planeten gewartet und ihn gepackt."

Burnett nickte zustimmend. "Es schadet nicht, dir so viel zu sagen. Neue Kuriere erhalten nie wichtige Dateien, in der Tat, in der Regel erhalten sie gefälschtes Material, um sie zu testen. Sie hatten also nicht die erstklassige Sicherheit, die diese Art von Daten bietet. Als ich Dario erwischte, wie er in deinem Hintergrund schnüffelte, riskierte ich, dass er diesen Trick wieder aufgriff."

Dann stand er auf und der Stuhl stöhnte unter seiner Anstrengung. Er musste seinen Kopf geduckt halten, um nicht an die Decke zu stoßen. Als er seine Lippen zusammendrückte und einen seufzenden Atemzug aus seiner Nase blies, verdrehte sich mein Magen zu einem Knoten.

"Und jetzt ist es Zeit, sich zu verabschieden. Es tut mir wirklich leid, dass Dario dich benutzt hat, aber du hättest mir nicht folgen sollen", sagte er und packte einen Schraubenzieher vom Sitz neben seinem.

Als er auf mich zukam, dachte ich darüber nach, ihn wie eine wilde Katze zu kratzen und zu krallen, aber das würde ihn nur wütend machen. Ich musste meinen Verstand über mich behalten, aber es war hart, wirklich hart.

Er lehnte sich nach unten und fing an, das Kabel ohne Bedenken vom Boden zu lösen. Ich fühlte mich wie ein Kind neben ihm. Das Messer an seinem Gürtel war nur eine Armlänge entfernt, aber ich wusste, dass er schneller sein würde als ich.

Ich blickte aus dem Sichtfenster an der Vorderseite des Schiffes. Der rötliche Gasriese war nun ein anständiges Objekt auf der Leinwand, dessen Merkmale zu erscheinen begannen.

"Du wirst die Daten an ein paar Piraten verkaufen, was?"

Ich grinste und nickte mit dem Kopf zur Vorderseite des Schiffes, aber ich hatte Angst, dass es als Amateur abläuft. Sein rechtes Auge zuckte.

"Irgendwie", sagte er und trat auf das erste Kabel, damit ich meinen Arm nicht bewegen konnte, und begann mit der Arbeit am zweiten.

"Ich wette, sie werden nicht glücklich sein, wenn die UEE auftaucht", sagte ich.

Er verengte seinen Blick, als er das zweite Kabel löste, aber er arbeitete weiter. Er packte die Enden und zog mich hoch. Er zog mich hinter sich in die Hauptkabine hinter dem Cockpit.

Auf einen Tisch geworfen wurde der Inhalt meines Rucksacks, einschließlich der anderen MobiGlas und meiner Kontaktlinsen. Im hinteren Teil des Raumes befand sich eine Luftschleuse. Burnett führte mich zur Tür und begann, seine Druckhandschuhe anzuziehen und sie festzuhalten. Jeder Schnappschuss des Handschuhs, der sich mit seinem Anzug verbindet, härtete meinen Bauch aus, um zu führen.

Dann zog er seinen Schraubendreher heraus und fing an, die Klammern um meine Handgelenke zu lösen. Seine fleischige Hand, auch mit dem Druckhandschuh, war ein Schraubstock um meine Arme. Ich hätte mich über Prellungen beschwert, aber es würde nicht lange dauern.

"Du weißt, dass das nicht funktionieren wird", sagte ich, aber Burnett arbeitete weiter. "Ich wäre nicht hinter dir her gewesen, wenn ich nicht einen Fail Safe hätte."

Er zuckte mit den Schultern und zog die Schraube aus der ersten Klemme. Das Metall klapperte auf dem Boden in der Nähe meines Fußes.

"Ich bin nicht dumm", sagte ich. "Ich habe herausgefunden, wo dein Lander ziemlich schnell war, nicht wahr?"

Er hielt mit der Schraube halbwegs aus der zweiten Klemme heraus. Die Salz- und Pfefferstoppeln an seinem Kinn bündelten sich, als er die Stirn runzelte.

"Rede", sagte er.

"FTL. Der Kurierdienst. Sie haben zwei Fail Safes. Einer in der Firma gab MobiGlas heraus -" Ich erwischte ihn, wie er auf seine Brusttasche blickte, "- die andere, die sie irgendwo in uns injizieren. Es sendet ein Leuchtfeuer, wenn wir sterben, wenn das MobiGlas zerstört wird oder aus anderen Gründen. Es könnte sogar gerade übertragen werden."

Burnett knurrte und klopfte mit den Fingerhandschuhen auf sein MobiGlas. Als er ein Grunzen der Befriedigung machte, wusste ich, dass er nach Kommunikationen gescannt hatte und es leer werden würde.

Burnett blickte in meine Richtung und entfernte die letzte Schraube. Als es auf dem Boden aufschlug, zuckte ich.

Er ließ meine Handgelenke los, also trat ich zurück und rieb das Gefühl zurück in sie. Nadeln fuhren meinen Arm hoch, also schüttelte ich sie, bis sie weg waren.

Die ganze Zeit beobachtete mich Burnett, eine Hand schlaff den Schraubendreher haltend, die andere am Griff des Messers.

Ich hatte das ungesunde Gefühl, dass er daran dachte, mich aufzuschneiden, um nach dem nicht existierenden Leuchtfeuer zu suchen.

Das Schiff schickte eine Ansage über die Lautsprecher: "Erreichen des Ziels. Ankunft in fünf Minuten."

An der Vorderseite des Schiffes löschte der Gasriese den Bildschirm aus, aber in der Mitte schwebte ein gräulicher Eismond. Unser Ziel, nahm ich an.

Burnett griff nach mir, und ich dachte, er würde mich gegen die Luftschleuse schlagen. Stattdessen stieß er mir in die Brust und knurrte.

"Gut. Ich werfe dich nicht aus der Luftschleuse. Aber du wirst dir wünschen, ich hätte es bald getan."

Ich wollte schlucken, konnte aber die Spucke nicht runterkriegen. "Warum das so ist?"

"Hast du schon mal von den Sternenteufeln gehört?", fragte er.

Ich schüttelte den Kopf.

" WiDoW Junkies. Sie lassen SLAM-Köpfe wie Heilige aussehen. Anstatt dich zu töten, verkaufe ich dich einfach an sie. Machen Sie ein wenig Gewinn, und wenn sie Sie versehentlich in ihren speziellen Schmerzorgien töten, wird Ihr kleines Leuchtfeuer, wenn es echt ist, die UEE auf ihre von Maden befallenen Köpfe herunterbringen. Aber das wird mir egal sein, denn ich werde schon lange weg sein."

Zu meiner Schande wurden meine Beine geschwächt und ich brach gegen die Tür zusammen und hielt mich halbwegs gegen die Luftschleuse. Meine Schwäche war vor allem der Hunger - ich hatte seit Tagen nichts gegessen -, aber diese neue Vision von dem, was aus mir werden sollte, machte mich vor Sorge noch schwindliger.

Burnetts Lippen dehnten sich nach hinten aus und enthüllten seine Zähne. "Sicher, dass du jetzt nicht aus der Luftschleuse gehen willst?"

wird fortgesetzt.....

The hum of a ship’s quantum drive against my cheek woke me. Lying on my side, I pressed my palms against my eye sockets and rubbed until I could see again. Whatever had knocked me out left me groggy, like every thought had to be routed through a bucket of mud.

When I sat up, the restraints rattled against the door panel. Wire loops had been fastened around my wrists. The other ends were screwed to the floor. I had enough play to reach my face, but nothing more.

The pilot seat swiveled around, revealing the brute who’d stolen my MobiGlas. He wore a navy blue pressure suit, minus the gloves and helmet. He steepled his fingertips together, narrowing his gaze at me, and I felt like chicken in a coop being sized up for slaughter.

“You don’t want to kill me,” I blurted out.

His eyebrow raised. “I don’t? Educate me, little scrum.”

I couldn’t help but shake my head in a double-take. That erudite voice coming from that brutish body was a contradiction.

It also occurred to me that it was an error on my part to have spoken before I knew the score. Behind the brute was the black emptiness of space through the view screen, except for a little reddish dot, dead center on the screen. It looked like a planet by the thin nimbus around it. Probably a gas giant.

“What’s your name?” I asked, stalling.

He licked his lips. “Burnett.”

He said the first part of his name like burr and the second part he rolled over his tongue.

“Well, Burnett,” I replied, glancing around the cockpit, “I’m Sorri, but not sorry.”

At my joke, his upper lip curled back, showing his teeth. “I know who you are.”

Right. Which put me at a major disadvantage. I didn’t know who this Burnett was, except that he’d stolen my MobiGlas and kidnapped me.

I craned my neck to see the control panel for the ship, which was no help. I didn’t know the difference between a jump-capable ship and just an in-system flier.

Burnett seemed content to watch me like a cat observing a trapped mouse.

I searched my memory for anything that might help, when I remembered the last thing Burnett had said to me: It seems Dario found himself an ally.

Now what in the deep space did that mean?

My eyes widened when I connected the dots. “Dario, the guy from the Solar Jammer, put something on my MobiGlas. That’s what Security saw. She should have never let me go.”

The words trailed past my lips, half-realization, half- regret.

The corners of Burnett’s eyes creased and the cramped cabin seemed to shrink even further. I was two steps from this erudite beast of a man, and he had a blade on his hip. When I looked at the hard metal flooring, he laughed.

“Don’t worry. I won’t cut your throat. Your blood would seep under the plates and interfere with my electronics. When it’s time to get rid of you, I’ll just throw you out the airlock.”

When. He said when.

“Then what are you waiting for?” I asked, chin raised, looking directly in his green-brown eyes. I bit my lower lip to keep it from trembling.

“You looked like a talker. I hoped you might just spit out whatever plan you and Dario had, saving me the trouble of torturing you.”

“But I don’t know him. I’m just a courier for FTL. You know, when you need a message delivered, nothing’s faster than light?”

The words fell over themselves on the way out of my lips. I could feel my life’s clock ticking down to the final seconds.

He squinted and shifted forward in his seat, which with his bulk, practically bent the steel bottom. “It feels like you’re telling the truth. But I might just need to put the knife to you, to make sure you’re not simply a good liar.”

“What do you want to know? I’ve got nothing to lose, right?”

Burnett seemed to consider my offer.

“You don’t know Dario?” he asked after a time.

“No,” I said. “I spoke to him on the trip out, mostly at the beginning. He must have hacked my MobiGlas when I was asleep. Put that file on it. I guess whatever it is, it’s important?”

“Don’t worry your little head about it.”

I had a moment of insight. “He’s your rival, isn’t he? You figured out what he was going to do. Use me to get the file past local security. So you just waited on planet and grabbed it.”

Burnett nodded in agreement. “No harm in telling you that much. New couriers are never given important files, in fact, usually they’re given fake stuff to test them. So you didn’t have the high class security afforded that kind of data. When I caught Dario sniffing into your background, I took a chance that he’d pull this trick again.”

Then he stood up and the chair groaned beneath his effort. He had to keep his head ducked to keep from hitting the ceiling. When he pressed his lips together and blew a sighing breath out his nose, my stomach twisted into a knot.

“And now it’s time to say goodbye. I’m really sorry Dario used you, but you shouldn’t have followed me,” he said, grabbing a screwdriver from the seat next to his.

When he advanced on me, I thought about scratching and clawing at him like a frenzied cat, but that would only make him mad. I needed to keep my wits about me, but it was hard, really hard.

He leaned down and began unscrewing the cable from the floor without the least bit of concern. I felt like a child next to him. The knife on his belt was only an arm’s reach away, but I knew he’d be faster than me.

I looked out the viewscreen at the front of the ship. The reddish gas giant was now a decent-sized object on the screen, its features beginning to appear.

“You’re going to sell the data to some pirates, huh?”

I smirked and nodded my head towards the front of the ship, but I was afraid it came off as amateur. His right eye twitched.

“Sort of,” he said, stepping on the first cable so I couldn’t move my arm and starting work on the second one.

“I bet they won’t be happy when the UEE shows up,” I said.

He narrowed his gaze as he loosened the second cable, but kept working. He grabbed the ends and yanked me up. He pulled me behind him into the main cabin behind the cockpit.

Dumped out on a table were the contents of my backpack, including the other MobiGlas and my personals. At the back of the room was an airlock. Burnett led me to the door and began putting on his pressure gloves, sealing them tight. Each snap of the glove connecting to his suit hardened my stomach to lead.

Then he pulled his screwdriver out and started undoing the clamps around my wrists. His meaty hand, even with the pressure glove, was a vise around my arms. I would have complained about bruising, but it wasn’t going to matter long.

“You know this isn’t going to work,” I said, but Burnett kept working. “I wouldn’t have come after you if I didn’t have a fail safe.”

He shrugged and tugged the screw out of the first clamp. The metal clattered onto the floor near my foot.

“I’m not dumb,” I said. “I figured out where your lander was pretty quickly, didn’t I?”

He paused with the screw halfway out of the second clamp. The salt and pepper stubble on his chin bunched up as he frowned.

“Talk,” he said.

“FTL. The courier service. They have two fail safes. One in the company issued MobiGlas —” I caught him glancing at his chest pocket, “— the other they inject into us somewhere. It emits a beacon if we die, or if the MobiGlas is destroyed, or any of several other reasons. It might even be transmitting right now.”

Burnett growled and tapped on his MobiGlas with his gloved fingers. When he made a grunt of satisfaction, I knew he’d scanned for communications and it’d come up empty.

Burnett scowled in my direction and finished removing the last screw. When it hit the floor, I twitched.

He released my wrists, so I stood back and rubbed the feeling back into them. Needles ran up my arm, so I shook them until they went away.

The whole time, Burnett was watching me, one hand limply holding the screwdriver, the other on the handle of the knife.

I had the unhealthy feeling that he was thinking about cutting me open to look for the non-existent beacon.

The ship sent an announcement over the speakers, “Approaching destination. Arrival in five minutes.”

At the front of the ship, the gas giant blotted out the screen, but hovering in the middle was a grayish ice moon. Our destination, I assumed.

Burnett reached towards me, and I thought he was going to slam me against the airlock. Instead, he poked me in the chest and growled.

“Fine. I’m not throwing you out the airlock. But you’re going to wish I had before long.”

I wanted to swallow, but couldn’t get the spit down. “Why’s that?”

“Have you ever heard of the Stardevils?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“WiDoW junkies. They make SLAM-heads look like saints. Rather than kill you, I’ll just sell you to them. Make a little profit, and when they accidentally kill you in their special pain orgies, your little beacon, if it’s real, will bring the UEE down on their maggot-infested heads. But that won’t matter to me because I’ll be long gone.”

Much to my shame, my legs weakened and I collapsed against the door, halfway holding myself up against the airlock. My weakness was mostly hunger — I hadn’t eaten in days now — but this new vision of what was to become of me made me even dizzier with worry.

Burnett’s lips stretched back revealing his teeth. “Sure you don’t want to go out the airlock now?”

to be continued …