Gambler (16 page)

"Next time, tell me he's listening!" Nova
said through gritted teeth.

"Don't worry, Nova." Aart chuckled. "All I
heard was you grumbling. So… Me. You. Drink. Where do you want to
meet?"

"What are you even still doing here?" Nova
turned her attention back to Aart. Her hands clenched into fists at
her sides.

"Not stirring up trouble," Aart said. "When
I heard you were sticking around, I figured I may as well stay
nearby. You know how you always get into trouble."

Nova smacked her forehead against the metal
console. The dull thudding made the frustration just a little more
bearable.

"Don't be like that," Aart said. "My shout.
Where do you want to go?"

"Not The Lucky Coin," she said.

"No problem. What about Traveller's Rest?
It's pretty good."

"On the edge of Inner Tabryn?" Nova
asked.

"That's the one."

"Fine. I'll meet you for one drink, but
after that you're going back to the Maw."

"Whatever you say, Boss," Aart said. "I've
got a surprise for you."

Nova groaned. "No, Aart! What is it? Don't
—"

"See you in ten!" Aart said as the screen
flicked off.

"I'm going to kill him," Nova said in the
silence. "That's the only way. I'm going to kill him."

***

The Traveller's Rest was a seedy bar set in
the basement of a dilapidated apartment complex on an empty street.
The paint peeled off the outside and graffiti covered the stairs
leading down to the bar. The only noise came from the raised voices
and rowdy music floating up the stairs through the wooden door.

Nova took a deep breath and pulled her coat
tighter so that it hid the gun in her belt. She'd changed into
jeans and a simple black top. She'd be ready for trouble if it came
along. If she knew Aart, it probably would.

She stepped down the small flight of stairs
and pushed open the wooden door. It squeaked in protest, before
light and noise poured over her. The atmosphere rushed through the
open doorway like a river. The music had a strong rock beat that
made the stairs vibrate. Smoke hung in the air and seeped up out
the top of the door.

Nova slipped inside and closed the door
behind her. People pressed together in the crowded bar. Most of
them had drinks in hand and spoke loudly to each other. Swaying
bodies made use of a small dance floor near the live band.

Nova scanned the bar-room. It wasn't hard to
spot Aart. He rested against the bar and grinned at her. She rolled
her eyes and stomped over to him.

"Best cheer up," he said before she could
open her mouth. "I hear they chuck people out if they're wrecking
the mood."

Nova couldn't help smiling. "What the hell
are you doing here?" she said. "I told you to get your arse
gone."

"Yeah, yeah," he said. "But I ran into some
people."

"What people?" she said, eyes narrowing.

"Your surprise!"

He waved his hand and suddenly the people
gathered around him turned and smiled at Nova. Her face went bright
red. She knew most of them from The Jagged Maw. They were some of
the few people she'd call friends.

"And last but not least," Aart said, nodding
to the space behind Nova.

She frowned and turned around. Tanguin stood
beside her with a blue drink in hand.

"What are you doing here!" Nova said, mouth
dropping.

Her cheeks and ears flushed red. She hated
attention and now here she was right at the very centre of it.

"I may have mentioned that you were having a
bad time of it," Tanguin said in a low voice. She smiled, but
looked guilty at the same time.

"So here we are to cheer you up!" said
Aart.

Nova groaned. "You guys know I don't have
time for this. I'm on a job."

"We know, we know. Hell, Tyra is working the
same case," Aart said, nodding to the brown haired girl with a
leather jacket.

Nova groaned. "Please tell me you didn't
invite Vicki."

"No," Aart said, with a smirk. "Tanguin made
me promise I wouldn't. I hope you appreciate that. She would have
made this place a whole lot nicer to look at."

Nova shook her head and rolled her eyes at
Aart. "You're a perv. And, you owe me a drink."

Aart smiled back and waved at the bartender.
Nova ordered a blue Saturn. It came in a triangular glass with ice
that glowed blue and a thin layer of mist across the surface.

"Let's take a seat," she said, nodding to
the tables.

The other Hunters followed her and they
gathered around a large table. Nova's drink was delicious. It
tasted like blueberries mixed with lemon. The zingy aftertaste made
her mouth tingle.

It didn't take long before the Hunters were
contributing their own uproarious conversation to the general din.
With the others distracted, Nova turned to Tanguin, her heart
aching.

"They put me in an arena. Made me fight. It
was a cyborg," Nova said.

Tanguin's eyes widened with horror; the
Un-Connected were especially sympathetic to the cyborg cause, being
almost the same thing in many respects. "You didn't kill it?" she
asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"I had to. It was me or him. Or both."
Nova's head shook as she remembered the twitching body and the
smoke wafting up out of the hole her shot had made.

"There must have been another way. How could
you?"

"I had no choice!" Nova said through gritted
teeth.

Tanguin turned from Nova and feigned intense
interest in the far side of the bar. Her expression was unreadable,
like a cold sheet of ice.

"Tanguin, please. You know I wouldn't have
done it if I had another option."

"I know," Tanguin said, but didn't meet
Nova's eyes.

Nova sighed and took a large gulp of her
drink.

"Nova, I haven't had a chance to
congratulate you on your wicked win," said Tyra, leaning across the
table.

"That race was incredible," said Orion,
slapping his hand on the counter and grinning.

"Kero's still furious, you know," said
Tanguin, her gaze returning to Nova and softening.

"Do we really have to congratulate her?"
Aart groaned. "Don't you think it'll go to her head if we keep
pointing out how well she did?"

"Are you kidding?" said Orion. "Flying like
that, she's allowed to have a big head."

Nova grinned. The space race had been
spectacular.

"I'll assume those lecheon bastards didn't
stand a chance?" said Aart.

Nova frowned and looked around, expecting to
see a lecheon glaring at her from the shadows.

"Oh, as if they'd be here on Tabryn," Aart
said, waving his hand. "They'd be shot before they breached
atmosphere."

Nova nodded. He was probably right. Tabryn
took a very dark view to the lecheon species. They were bad for
business.

"How're you going with this case?" Tyra
asked. Her eyes looked desperate. She'd probably had as much luck,
or less, than Nova had.

"Not good," Nova responded. "Everything
seems to run into dead ends. Although after the last few days, I'm
not so interested in catching the thief as congratulating
them."

She may be friends with these Hunters but
that didn't mean she was going to give up her pay check by sharing
her hard work.

Tyra rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it. I'm
thinking of just heading home with this lot. Save my time and do an
easier job."

"It's crossed my mind too," Nova agreed,
nodding.

"And what have you been up to, Gus?" Orion
asked the big man sitting on the opposite side of the table. Gus
had a bald head and tattoos, and his muscles bulged out of his
shirt. Nova hadn't seen him since she went to Taive and was nearly
taken over by a brain-slug.

"Same old," said Gus. He took a long swallow
on the thick amber liquid in his jug. "Getting money where I can.
There are some good mercenary jobs going at the outers."

"That'd be just right for you!" Aart said
with a grin. "I wouldn't want to mess with you. I've seen what you
can do with a gun."

Gus nodded without speaking and took another
drink.

Their celebrations continued for many hours.
The highlight was when Aart suggested they play a game of
Mars-pool. The Hunters cheered and gathered around the table.

The bar had cleared and there was now room
enough to move around easily. Some of the smoke had dissipated and
it was much easier to see through the hazy air. The bartender had
kept their drinks full and Nova had already had four Saturn blues.
She figured another one would probably knock her right out. Still,
she was determined to conquer the others at pool if it was the last
thing she did.

"Alright," Aart said, taking charge as
usual. "Standard rules. No cheating. No happypins. No yokels. No
rounders. All clear?"

"Yes sir," the rest of the Hunters said in
unison and gave Aart groggy salutes.

"Alright. Then game on. Today we're
competing for the ultimate reward. The winner will get the title of
greatest pool champion of all bounty hunter history."

The Hunters cheered and made a circle around
the table. It was a simple enough game. Each player was assigned a
ball and they weren't allowed to sink any ball directly. They had
to use other balls and bounce them indirectly into the pockets. The
last player with their ball still on the table won. It added
another layer of difficulty onto the usual game.

"So alphabetical order it is," Aart said,
snatching the cue.

Nova smacked her forehead with her palm. One
day she'd remember to call out a different rule before Aart took
control.

"Prepare to be amazed," he said.

The other Hunters looked on. Tanguin swayed
on her feet. She'd only had two Purple Blasters, but she was the
lightest drunk Nova had ever seen, thanks to her Un-Connected
heritage.

Gus looked the most stable of them all, even
though he'd had the most to drink. His eyes glittered as he watched
the table.

Aart was up to his usual tricks. He often
pretended to be far drunker than he actually was and he'd hustled
countless games of pool with that strategy. Usually Nova helped
him, but today she had to keep focused. She'd beat him.

Orion and Tyra hung off each other, laughing
hard. Their hearts weren't really in the game. They'd probably take
a few shots and get disqualified; no real competition there.

Nova smiled. Games like this always made her
competitive streak come right to the front.

"Here we go," said Aart.

He leant over the table and pulled the cue
back. He tested the shot three times and then let fly. The white
ball shot out, slammed into the cluster of balls, and sent them
skittering across the table.

The nine went down. No one had the nine, so
Aart took another shot. This time he set up the shot to try and get
Nova's seven down. He missed and her ball sailed just to the left
of the hole.

"Cosmic craphole," Aart said, handing the
cue to Gus.

Gus took his time. He walked around the
table and examined every possible angle. He bent over and tested
different shots only to stand up and do another lap of the
table.

"Oh come on, Gus," said Orion. "We'd like to
get out of here sometime this century."

"Magic takes time," Gus replied.

He settled on a shot, drew back, and struck.
It was perfect. The six careened into the ten which bounced off of
the twelve and dropped into the pocket.

"You did that on purpose!" said Orion, his
face flushing.

"You're the ten?" Gus said, innocently.

Orion scowled. "This game is rigged!"

Play continued. Nova took her turn but she
was a little bit shaky and overestimated the distance. The ball
went way too hard and missed her target by three inches.

"Grishnak!" she cursed.

Orion was already out so he didn't get a
turn.

Tanguin was so tipsy by the time it was her
shot that she accidentally sunk her own ball. She laughed and
collapsed onto a nearby stool.

After just three rounds, only Aart, Gus and
Nova remained. It got harder with fewer balls on the table. There
was less chance for a clean hit, and fewer options. It was Nova's
turn. Gus's ball sat in front of Aart's. If she got the angle just
right then she should be able to sink Aart's ball. It was a hard
shot though; she'd have to rebound it off the cushion. She'd done
much harder shots before but this time her eyes wouldn't focus.

She forced herself to take a deep breath and
steadied her hand. She pictured the straight lines on the table;
how the slight tilt of the table would cause the balls to curve.
She bent over and closed her left eye, drew back her arm, and let
fly.

The white ball rolled across the green
table. In Nova's mind it moved in slow motion. It collided with
Gus's ball which also rolled in slow motion. It curved with the
tilt of the table and clipped Aart's ball on the side. Aart's ball
bounced away and fell into the corner pocket.

"No!" he yelled. "No!"

Nova held the stick above her head and
cheered. The other Hunters joined in, applauding.

"No!" Aart said again. "You can't beat me at
the space race and pool."

"Sorry," Nova said with a wicked grin. "I
guess this just proves who the real champion is."

"Now, now, let's not forget that it's not
over until it's over," Gus said from the other end of the
table.

Nova's cheers stopped and she handed Gus the
cue. She held her breath, her chest tight. Somehow in the
atmosphere of the bar and with her friends, the casino job didn't
matter. All that mattered was that she won this game. She would be
the greatest player.

Gus's shot was difficult. There were only
two balls left on the table; his and Nova's. He would have to hit
his own ball and use that to sink Nova's. Neither of them were in a
very good position. He'd have to pull off a miracle to make it
work.