Day Four of NaNoWriMo. 1495 words.
Zy terminated the transmission, and let a strangled growl escape her throat. She pulled up the hyperspace calculations. Finish the downloads, bury Corbaine, and she could still make it to Ecan 2 by tomorrow. Good thing she could sleep in space.
She took a deep breath. Beat Xeryl to Ecan 2, nothing better than rubbing his smug face in it. That was the best plan. She pulled up what Sara was downloading. She couldn’t search it yet; she couldn’t read the language it was written in. She would have to wait until Sara had enough computing power to start searching. Sara needed to compare Corbaine’s employee list with the one she had for Ifeket. She would have to get a current list from Xeryl; Zy gritted her teeth. Looking for Ifeket and Possatact’s names would be the next step.
She got up and went to the door of the saucer. A stack of wood was already forming across the roadway to the doors of the bunker castle.
A rift in the thick purple clouds poured the orange setting sunlight onto the plateau. Zy pulled her leather jacket tighter around her. Where Mylte had found enough wood to make this pyre, she wasn’t going to ask. He had wrapped the corpse in a white sheet and set it on top, refusing any assistance from her. “My last service for Master” was his explanation.
He thrust the torch into the wood five times, waiting for the kindling to catch before moving it. He left it in the last time.
She cleared her throat when he stood next to her. “Would you like to say something for Corbaine?”
“I have no words, Mistress.”
Zy swallowed hard. Everybody should have something said at their funeral. “I haven’t had much use for God since I saw babies murdered. And I try not to think about the afterlife. I don’t know what kind of being you were before, and God will have to settle your afterlife. But I promise to catch whoever is responsible for your death. Rest in peace and don’t become a ghost or something. Amen.”
The fire crackled, wrapping around the sheet. They moved so they stood upwind of the thick, black smoke.
“How did that sound?”
“It sounded fine, Mistress.”
The Personal Journal of IGA Agent Zy
18.3.1012/July 20, 1998
Man, man, man, how did this happen! I don’t know what to do. Have to calm down while writing this down.
HE KISSED ME! Yeah, that’s calm. I’ve been working for the past week in Xeryl’s office. He’s not someone I would have pegged as a racketeer. He doesn’t feel sleazy like Ifeket does. What the hell I’m I listening to my feelings for? They’re just going to make the job more complicated.
Anyways, he had me drop him off at a meeting this afternoon. Someone else was picking him up. He’s good at drawing people out; we were chatting like old friends by the end of the ride. Then before he got out, he leaned over and kissed me. On the lips too, since I turned my head to see what the hell he was doing.
What am I going to do? Nobody covered what I should do if the shadow boss puts the moves on me!
Chapter Five
Word Box on Left
Ecan 2 is classified off-limits. The editors cannot stress this badly enough. Tourists have been hunted as sport, and their heads sent back to their nearest relations. IGA considers anyone going to this planet either suicidal or a criminal.
Galactic Travelers Savings Express
Sara freed up enough computing power to upload what IGA had written on Ecan 2. It matched the entry in Galatic Travelers Savings Express, but offered some more gruesome details like the pictures of the murdered tourists’ remains. Spaceport meant park on the outskirts of a town. Largest metropolis was Ursay, and Fudlack’s organization was headquartered there.
“Okay, Sara, I’m going to bed. Finish going through Corbaine’s records and land us outside of Ursay.”
“Acknowledge, Agent Zy.”
Sleep was hard. She kept waking up from stone hallways and funeral pyres. She had gotten enough hours to be functional, and was awake and dressed when the saucer landed.
She strapped her laser pistol gun belt around her waist. Mylte stood by the door out. “I want you to stay here, Mylte.”
“I cannot protect you if I remain here, Mistress.”
“I don’t need protection. They’re all out in the open, not hiding in dark hallways to pounce.” Mylte stared at her. “Just stay here. One less thing for me to worry about.” She locked the saucer, and headed into town.
Ursay was built out of low-slung, stone buildings. Nothing was taller than three stories. The streets were tarmac, and an assortment of wheeled and anti-grav vehicles parked and in use. Zy moved closer to the buildings, which seem to be the undesignated pedestrian crossing. The building at the end of the street seemed to be one of the local bars with brightly lit signs. When in need of information, a bar is usually the best place to pick it up.
She plunged into the darkened interior, not lingering in the doorway. Most of the bar patrons and the bartender were Ecanians. A few humanoids were mixed in.
Word box on Right
Ecanians have eight tentacles on a long trunk. The four lower are used as legs; the four lower have smaller tentacles for the grasping of smaller objects. The few that live outside the Ecan system do so in IGA prisons.
Ardley P’kins
Sentient Cultures of the Galaxy Third Edition
Zy sat at a table close to the bar, and ordered a drink from the tentacled waitress. Before she had a chance to survey the crowd, four humanoid men got up from their table and surrounded hers. “A pretty lady shouldn’t drink alone.” Zy didn’t recognize their species. “We should join you.” They seated themselves around the table.
“Make yourselves at home. Maybe you fellas can help me.”
“What’s your problem, pretty lady?” Their spokesman leaned in his chair, trying to do a sexy sprawl. His shirt hung open so you could see his pale purple chest.
“I need to see Fudlack. Can you point out any of his men to me?”
“Fudlack? What do you want with that boss when you got us?”
“That’s between me and Fudlack. Can you help me?”
Another one leaned forward, his red eyes glittering. “You have no business with Fudlack, if you think his underlings is the way into his organization.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Zy frowned.
“You better come with us.” He reached out for her arm.
Zy jerked it back. “Oh no, you don’t. I need to see Fudlack.”
“Part of you will see Fudlack, pretty lady.” The one who had spoke first laughed. The two men on the left and right grabbed her arms and hauled her out of the chair.
“Let me go!” She kicked her right leg back, but he moved his leg out of the way.
“Take it outside!” The bartender yelled. “I don’t want to clean the bar again.”
She planted her feet on the floor but they jerked them loose. They dragged her into the street and forced her to her knees. Her gun was jerked out of the holster.
The one who told her she had no business with Fudlack reached under his jacket and pulled out a knife as long as his arm. “We will not be disturbed by….” A dark grey blue landed on his back. The grey arm grabbed the purple wrist and stabbed the knife into the purple chest. Mylte flipped off the falling body and landed on the street.
The other pale purple man swung at Mylte, but the lithe fighter ducked and kicked. The kick swept his legs out from under the man.
Zy kicked with her right leg. The man on her right was hit, but didn’t let go. He let go when Xeryl spun him around and punched him in the face. “Fire and ice, Zy! Why didn’t you call me!”
The last purple man standing tried to run. Zy jumped to her feet, grabbed his amr, and jerked him to a stop. Her right fist connected with his jaw and he crumpled. She kicked him in the torso just to make sure he stayed down.
Xeryl grabbed her arm, and yanked her to face him. “I told you how this organization is! This is my field of expertise. I have spent years learning how the racketeers operate, years of experience you’re not going to get if you keep reacting out of stubbornness!”
The grey talon latched on the Xeryl’s outstretched arm. Mylte snarled as the cloth constricted under the talon. Xeryl’s fingers opened up and released Zy.
“Mylte! Let him go. He wasn’t going to hurt me.” She frowned at Xeryl’s still grimacing face. “And I was not reacting out of stubbornness.”
“Oh please. You hate the potentiality of me being right about something, so dive into it to prove you don’t need me. And I thought you didn’t work with partners.” He glared at Mylte, who glared back.
“He’s not my partner, he’s my witness. And I told you to stay in the saucer.”
Mylte didn’t take his eyes from Xeryl. “I could not protect you from the saucer, Mistress.”
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