Helium3 Box Set by Nick Travers

  Chapter 14

  As ten o’clock approached, the Misfits weaved through the throng and slid back into their. Bar-None looked like a popular evening destination. Mervyn scrolled across the backed bar trying to identify their contact. Stately Zetoigs moved through the throng head and shoulders above the crowd. The Rinhus still held court in the adjoining booth, now surrounded by its own kind now -- the booth shook alarmingly as they all snorted their laughter. A lumpy crustacean, whose exoskeleton bumped and banged as it illustrated some adventure to the ever-present Silvin, sat in the corner previously occupied by the Centaph. Nearby, a blue reptilioid squatted on stool wheezing into a face mask.

  ‘I though they breathed oxygen,’ Tarun whispered nodding towards the reptilioid.

  Loren followed his eyes, ‘They do. Don’t you pay attention in ecology?’ Tarun looked blank. ‘The mask is for our protection. They poisoned their world so badly that even their breath is toxic.’

  Now Tarun looked impressed, ‘Bunghoy! You mean it can kill you by breathing on you?’ He breathed all over Loren to illustrate his point.

  ‘Something like that. Look here’s our guy.’

  The bartender approached with a small mammal covered in razor-sharp scales, ‘This is Valna, he’s a Polerna. Call me if you need anything.’ Mervyn had heard of Polerna: scaled mammals that could roll themselves into an impenetrable ball when threatened.

  Valna’s little ears twitched continuously as though scanning the bar chatter for trouble, ‘So, you are son of Damien Bright?’

  ‘Yes, he’s my Father.’

  ‘He is great leader.’

  ‘Why?’ Aurora asked leaning across the table. ‘What makes him great?’

  Scales raised above the Polerna’s beady black eyes in what Mervyn took to be a frown.

  ‘Only asking... ,’ Aurora said.

  Valna stared at his paws considering the question, ‘Bright stands up for Outworlders -- deep-space communities like ours.’

  ‘Ethrigia does that too.’

  ‘Begging your pardon, miss, but Ethrigia looks only to itself these days. The prosperity of this sector lies with the Republic. The Republic is the future.’

  ‘You approve of the Republic?’

  ‘Oh yes. I could not run my business under Centaph rule.’

  ‘You mean crime.’

  Valna grinned, showing Aurora a row of sharp pointy teeth, ‘I prefer to think of it as the grease which keeps the economy running. Besides, I not fancy being a Centaph’s main course. Are you getting the drinks in?’

  ‘Yeah, sure.’ Mervyn order more Quaff. While they wait, Valna casts nervous glances across to the Rinhuses in their booth. At last the Quaff arrived, Valna raised his tankard to the others and took a deep draught, ‘To business. You have basically two options -- barter your sleds to pay for your passage or raise enough credits to take the sleds as well.’

  Tarun looked startled by Valna’s bluntness, ‘Cage will kill us if we return without the sleds.’ The other Misfits nodded in agreement.

  ‘How much to take the sled?’ Mervyn asks.

  ‘A thousand each, plus a hundred for each of you, and fifty to cover backhanders and smooth the whole process. More if you need to leave in a hurry.’ Considerably higher than Mervyn expected.

  ‘And if we raise the credits you can get us home?’

  ‘For sure. But you must pay in local credits, and to exchange your galactic credits for local ones will cost another ten per cent.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because the Rinhus requires it to be so.’

  ‘What have Rinhuses got to do with anything?’ Aurora asks angrily.

  ‘Shh, they will hear,’ Valna implored glancing nervously at the booth where the Rinhuses continued to enjoy their jokes. ‘Not Rinhuses, The Rinhus -- he heads the crime syndicate which controls Revlon, takes a cut of everything. If you do a deal you must pay his share.’

  ‘That’s not fair,’ Mervyn said.

  ‘Life is not fair,’ Valna mumbled into his Quaff.

  ‘I say we talk to someone else,’ Aurora said leaning across the table once more. ‘See if we can’t arrange a cheaper deal.’

  ‘I hear the Naga of Pershwin is looking for Academy students,’ Valna murmured.

  Aurora went ballistic: she looked as if she might reach across the table and grab the Polerna’s snout ‘Are you threatening us?’

  ‘He pays handsomely for return of his students,’ Valna said. ‘And there you are parading round in your uniforms for all to see. You think anyone else will talk to you?’

  Mervyn scanned the bar anxiously -- Aurora’s outburst had attracted a fair amount of attention, even the Rinhuses stared in their direction, ‘So why are you talking to us?’

  Valna looked more nervous than ever, ‘I talk too long already.... come back when you have the credits. Bartender knows where to contact me.’ He got up to leave.

  ‘You haven’t answered my question,’ Mervyn said. The answer suddenly seemed important as though his future depended on the outcome.

  ‘You are Damien Bright’s son,’ Valna said and disappeared into the crowd. With Valna’s departure the noise levels increased again as the observers lost interest and returned to their former business.

  ‘I don’t trust him,’ Aurora said removing her Academy tunic and stuffing it under the table. Mervyn took his cue from her and removed his tunic too -- if the Naga was hunting for them then the less conspicuous they appeared the better. Tarun and Loren followed suit.

  ‘We have to trust him,’ Mervyn said. ‘We don’t have any other choices.’

  Aurora leaned across the table, ‘There is no way we can raise enough credits to get the sleds and us out of here.’

  ‘I agree,’ Mervyn said. ‘We ditch the sleds and just concentrate on our own passage.’

  ‘Cage will kill us if we don’t return with the sleds,’ Loren repeated.

  ‘I’ve thought of that,’ Mervyn said. ‘What we do is send the sleds off on autopilot to designated co-ordinates, then the Academy can collect them later.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘As soon as possible so we don’t have to pay any more docking fees.’

  ‘No,’ Loren said. ‘Not until we have a berth out of here. In an emergency the sleds are the only way off. We’ll just have to cover the cost until then and stay here a bit longer.’

  ‘But they’re nearly out of fuel. They won’t get us anywhere,’ Mervyn argued, but found himself up against the Ethrigan instinct to play safe. The others were unanimous: the sleds stayed.

  ‘Look, there’s an easy way out of this,’ Aurora continued. ‘My uncle transfers the credits tonight and we are out if here by tomorrow morning.’

  Mervyn shook his head, ‘You really think Valna will let us go once he knows who you are?’

  ‘I’d be more worried about The Rinhus,’ Loren said.

  ‘Ok, so I just tell my uncle where we are and ask him to come and get us.’

  Mervyn stared in disbelief, ‘That’s worse than the first idea. Didn’t you see the gun emplacements when we landed? It’ll take a whole fleet of warships to crack this place open. And what are the chances of us surviving that?’

  Aurora shrugged, ‘Ok smarts, how do we get the credits then?’

  ‘We earn them,’ Mervyn said.

  Tarun looked from one friend to another, ‘How?’

  ‘Get some jobs.’

  Aurora swallowed hard.