Slave Empire - Prophecy (17 page)

"Really. You
must be an important person, then."

"I have some
important friends. The council will pay for my return."

He shook his
head. "As much as I would like to oblige, I'm afraid it's out of
the question. You see, there's a price on my head on Atlantean
worlds. A very large one. If they catch me, they'll kill me, so I'm
not going anywhere near Atlan."

"Well, just
let me go then. I'll call my friends, and they'll come and get me.
I'll make sure you still get the reward."

"The
Atlanteans, come here?" He gave a soft, mirthless bark of laughter.
"That would be risky. Besides, you have no money, and, unlike on
Atlan, a space line costs money here."

"Oh. Perhaps
you could..."

"Lend you
some?" He chuckled again. "Why don't I just take you to a
law-abiding world, then you can call on a free space line?"

She glared at
him. "You're not going to help me, are you?"

"No. I have
plans for you. I didn't buy you just to give you back to your
Atlantean masters."

"Damn you!"
She tried to wrench free, but only succeeded in jerking herself
closer to him, something that, oddly, seemed to discomfit him, for
he stepped back. For a moment she was close enough to sense his
warmth and strange, powerful charisma. Startled, she stepped back,
then realised that his laser was within reach, grabbed it and tried
to yank it out. It seemed to be stuck, and his grip on her wrist
tightened painfully as he pushed her away, releasing her.

"That was a
really stupid thing to do," he said.

"If you think
I'm not going to fight, or try to escape, you've got another think
coming."

He gestured to
her wrist. "Did I hurt you?"

She looked at
it, surprised by his concern. There was a red mark around it, but
no real damage. “No, it's fine."

"Good." He
paused. “For future reference, in case you’re tempted to try that
again, my weapon is keyed to my DNA, so you can’t use it, or even
release it from the holster.” His tone became brisk. "We're going
to my ship now. We'll be more comfortable there. Stand next to me,
so I can activate the transfer Net."

Rayne longed
to refuse, but there was no escaping, and if she did he would only
force her to do as he wished, a humiliation she chose to forego.
The golden light of an energy shell engulfed them, and dispersed to
reveal a room decorated in pale blue and cream. A thick carpet of
the grey moss covered the floor, and comfortable chairs formed a
half circle around a low glass table. Two slanted windows gave a
view of Gergonia's dull yellow globe and the sullen red planet
beyond it.

The Shrike
went over to a console and placed his hand on the sensor pad. The
crystals lighted and sparkled at his touch. Although no sensation
was evident, she sensed that a Net link had been forged, and the
ship headed into the unknown. A glance at the windows showed a
golden haze crawling over them, obscuring the view and confirming
her suspicions.

"Where are we
going?"

"To my
base."

"Where's
that?"

He shook his
head, studying the holographic readouts that scrolled up from the
console.

"Won't you at
least tell me your name?"

"Most people
call me ‘the Shrike’." He wandered over to a chair and sank into
it, indicating that she should take the couch opposite, and she
perched on the edge of it. She longed to point out that this was
not the answer she had been looking for. It sounded more like a
title.

"So, who's
your benefactor on Atlan?" he enquired.

"Commander
Tallyn."

"Ah, Tallyn."
He nodded. "Now there's a man with a devious mind."

"He's a good
man."

"Oh yes, he
is, and you seem to like him."

She looked
away, embarrassed. "He was good to me and my brother. He saved
us."

"Why?"

She shied away
from telling him the reason for her rescue, which was also the
reason for her kidnapping. He might be another enemy of Atlan, and
decide to kill her if he knew who she was.

"It has
nothing to do with you."

"Don't be
difficult."

"I don't have
to tell you anything. If you want to force it from me, then put a
slave collar on me."

"I'm not going
to collar you."

She stared at
him, puzzled. "Why did you buy me?"

He shrugged.
"I have my reasons."

Rayne glanced
around, a few wild and improbable plans presenting themselves for
her common sense to dismiss. If she could escape from the room, she
might be able to evade pursuit long enough to locate the emergency
life pods. Once on board one, she could escape, deactivate the
pod's beacon until the Shrike's ship was out of range, then
reactivate it and wait for rescue. Her roving eyes lighted upon the
open door, which seemed to beckon to her, inviting her to use it
and find the freedom she craved. Glancing at the Shrike, she found
him facing her, his hands clasped before him. He seemed to be
watching her, but it was difficult to tell. As she looked at the
door again, his deep chuckle made her tense.

"That's the
most ridiculous plan I've ever heard. Even if you managed to escape
this room, which you won't, do you really think you'll be able to
launch a life pod by yourself, and without any of my crew
noticing?" He chuckled again, and her humiliation grew.

"You shouldn't
read other peoples' minds," she retorted, wishing she could think
of a more scathing rebuttal.

"Probably not,
but yours is most entertaining."

Rayne tried to
imagine what he might look like, conjuring an image of a deformed,
malevolent alien much like the mutants she had seen on Earth.

"How
unpleasant," he said. "I can assure you, I don't look anything like
that."

"To me you
do."

He sighed.
"Will you tell me your name?"

After a
moment's hesitation she did, aware that he might try to learn it
telepathically if she refused, and discover her secret. She tried
to block his mental intrusion with the method Tallyn had taught
her, aware that she pitted slight and unpractised skills against a
vastly experienced intellect.

The Shrike
stood up, taking her by surprise. "I must go and see to the running
of my ship. I'll see you later."

Rayne paced
the cabin, racking her brains for a way out of her predicament. The
door was locked, and no other avenues of escape offered themselves.
Getting off a space ship in flight had to be almost impossible, she
had never heard of it being tried. Once they reached their
destination, her chances would be even slimmer, and she did not
even know where they were going. Appealing to the masked marvel
seemed hopeless, so she had to find her own way home. After an hour
or so of fruitless pondering, she sat down, deciding that she would
have to wait for her situation to change.

The door
opened as she was dozing off, and she jerked awake, cursing the
fact that she always seemed to be falling asleep whenever she was
left alone for a while. The Shrike stood in the doorway, and
gestured for her to precede him into the corridor. Grey moss
carpeted it, and the smooth white walls seemed to have been moulded
from a single sheet of plastic, or whatever they were made from.
Harsh white lights overhead cast stark shadows, and the only
colours seemed to be grey and white. The cold corridor led to a
smooth, featureless room, rather like a shuttle bay, where two
guards waited. At the Shrike's signal, they stepped forward and
gripped her arms. Before she could protest, the shimmering gold of
an energy shell engulfed her.

When it
dispersed, she stood on a planet's surface. The increased gravity
made her knees buckle, and the guards held her up. It must have
been half again as much as Earth or Atlan, whose slightly stronger
gravity she had grown accustomed to over the last four years. She
stood at the edge of a vast transparent dome, and, beyond it, a
desert strewn with rocks of varying shapes and sizes stretched away
as far as the eye could see. It reminded her of Mars. A wind blew
dust against the clear barrier with a soft hiss, and she sensed the
aching cold beyond it.

Scudding
clouds moved across the grim planet's dull grey sky, and the sun
was a dim glow. She turned to look at the dome's interior, which a
sprawling city filled. The air was calm and warm, and stunted trees
bordered the road that led into the metropolis. The guards guided
her between white buildings, some festooned with greenery. Skyways
looped overhead and gravcars hummed past. The plasglass dome
created a tropical greenhouse where the desert soil yielded all
manner of vegetation. Further off, between the buildings, water
sprinklers irrigated tracts of agricultural land, and the dome gave
the sky a pearly glow.

They entered a
nondescript building and traversed a short corridor to a door,
which slid open. The guards pushed her inside and the door shut.
She gazed around at a sleek, modern room with elegantly understated
décor and every creature comfort. Light poured in through
skylights, and a warmly decorated bedroom, plush bathroom and an
auto kitchen led off it, all tastefully furnished. After an hour or
so, she decided to have a hot bath to ease her tension. When she
was dressed again, she wandered about, growing bored and
restless.

Chapter Eleven

In his Spartan
quarters, the Shrike faced a space line screen and activated it
with a flick of his thoughts. The wafer-thin crystal that stood on
a graceful wand of pale green quartz filled with the chubby,
cheerful face of his most trusted friend and second in command. The
man's eyes twinkled and his grin revealed square white teeth.

"Well, it's
good to see you. Where are you?"

"Ironia. I
have the bait, Vidan. Set up the meeting."

Vidan sobered.
"You're sure he'll go for it?"

"I'm sure.
She's perfect. I paid a hundred thousand for her on Gergonia."

Vidan pursed
his lips in a silent whistle. "She must be perfect. I'll contact
Urquat."

"Make sure he
knows the deal. Jamdar must bring two hundred low-grade slaves,
rejects, cripples, burn outs, I don't care, but he must meet Urquat
in person. Find out where and when, then contact me."

"You sure
Urquat can be trusted?"

"He knows what
will happen to him if he betrays me, and he's being paid handsomely
for the cover, so why would he betray me?"

Vidan shook
his head. "Okay, but I'll need something to whet Jamdar's appetite.
He'll want to see the goods."

"I'll transmit
a holoimage."

"Right."

The Shrike
turned away as the screen went dead and retracted into its
slot.

When no one
came for several hours, Rayne decided that she had been left alone
for the day and tried to pry off the lock plate on the door, but it
foiled her. She cursed it, boredom and frustration fraying her
temper. She turned her attention to the rest of the complex,
determined to find an egress of some sort, an air duct or
maintenance hatch. After searching all the rooms, she came to the
disquieting conclusion that the apartment had been designed as a
prison.

Sitting on the
sofa, she thought about that. It meant the Shrike kept prisoners
here, which did not reflect well on his character. She found it
strange that he had locked her in here; it did not strike her as
the usual quarters for a slave. The rooms seemed to be designed to
look like guests' quarters, but to imprison anyone in them.

She jumped as
the door opened to admit the Shrike, who glanced around at the
disarray her search had caused.

"I trust
you've been having fun?"

She glared at
him. "What sort of man keeps his guests in a carefully designed
prison?"

"A real guest
would never know, since they wouldn't try to escape. But you're not
a guest, are you?"

"Then you
should have put me in the slave pen, with the rest of your slaves.
As for your guests, I pity them. Just because you're a crook, you
think everybody else is, too."

"Most of the
people I know are, and they're not the sort I want wandering around
my base."

"So you lock
them up."

He shrugged.
"If they find themselves locked up, it's only because they tried to
escape."

His logic
confounded her, and she frowned. "How long are you going to keep me
here? Don't you have any use for me? And if not, why did you buy
me? Was I an investment?"

He faced her,
and she longed to tear off the mask and see his face, its mystery
ate at her. She went on, "Why don't you sell me again? Make your
dirty profit. Perhaps the next person will be more helpful than you
and take me home."

"If you
believe that, you're not as smart as I thought you were. Or perhaps
you're just naive."

"Does that
reduce my value? I'm not stupid. Others would do it for the reward,
ones that don't have a price on their heads. You should sell me
while you can, Tallyn will be looking for me."

He folded his
arms and leant against the wall. "He won't find you."

"You don't
know that. The council will send a search party."

"What makes
you so important to the Atlanteans? Why did they save you and your
brother?"

She rose and
wandered away, buying time to formulate an answer. Stopping beside
a shelf, she fiddled with an ornament. The few moments did not
allow her to come up with anything intelligent, so she settled for
hostility. "Wouldn't you like to know? Figure it out for yourself,
if you can."

"Maybe I'll
have someone look into it."

"They won't
find out. Only a few people know, and they won't talk."

"So, it's a
big secret, is it?" He pushed himself away from the wall. "I'll bet
Drevina knows. She seems to know everything. And she doesn't
usually sell her merchandise herself. I was surprised to see her on
Gergonia, at least, at a slave market. She's been to a few of the
more unsavoury parties, but she's not a great business woman."