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“You might know it’s a female that lured the great Rokai out of retirement,” another said laughing.

“Do you know what I want to know?” the first one asked.

“You know I won’t tell you, whatever it is,” Rokai said, shaking his head enough to send his multitude of braids rattling all the way down his back.

“But it’s not incriminating! Gaishon! Gaishon was a friend, too. What happened to Gaishon? Did the Consortium get him?”

Rokai shook his head more gently this time. He thought about being evasive, then simply decided that Gaishon deserved to round out his own reputation with something of a reward. “Believe it or not gentlemen, Gaishon has found his one and only and is busily building the family we all wish we had.”

“No! He’s allowed himself to be caught?!” one of the males drunkenly spewed, his face wearing a look of dismay.

Rokai smiled. “I don’t think he could have fought it no matter what he did. She’s kind and loving and adores every single thing he does. She’s as smart and pretty as you please. He did well.”

“To Gaishon!” one of them called out, raising his glass in the air.

“To Gaishon! May we all be so lucky!” Rokai said, smiling secretively as he thought of his Rosie and just how lucky he was himself.

A sudden burning pain surged just under the skin at the outer edge of his ribs on his left side. He hissed a little and curled his body to the side to try to alleviate the pain that felt like he’d been stabbed with a white hot poker.

“What is it then?” one of his friends asked.

“If I’d known I’d live this long, I’d have been kinder to my body. The scars and breaks remind me just about every day of some adventure I’d have been better served to avoid.”

“Are you saying you’re old, Rokai?!” the male asked, as they all laughed boisterously.

“Old indeed. So old in fact, that I’m going to call it a night,” Rokai said.

“But we’ve just begun!” one of them objected.

“Look at the dust out there,” Rokai said. “It’s got a glow. That means the lights are being turned up. It’s morning again. We’ve drunk through the whole night.”

“You don’t have the stamina you used to,” one said.

“I’ll not even argue about that. What’s stamina? I don’t know!” Rokai said, causing them all to laugh again.

“I shall see you again soon. Remember me fondly, yes?” he asked, staggering away from the bar.

“There is no other way to remember you!”

“I’m very glad that you live, Rokai!” another called.

“Hey, listen,” said the drunkest of them all, “if I see the girl you’re searching for, I’ll track you down.”

“That’d be appreciated. I hear she might be in trouble, and she was always a favorite of mine.”

“Then why didn’t I hear of her?” another asked.

“I said she was a favorite of mine! Why would I share her with the likes of you?” Rokai retorted.

They all laughed again, as he stumbled out of the bar, giving the impression to all who might be watching that he was fully drunk. After quickly taking stock of the street he was on, and those hanging around it trying to look uninterested, he straightened his stooped body and made eye contact with a few of them before starting down the street, his demeanor indicating he was on a mission and had no intention of being interrupted. He snarled again as the burn from the implant he’d allowed to be placed inside his body years ago reminded him once again that it was there.

The only male with the courage to consider intercepting him quickly fell behind and changed direction when Rokai snarled.

Rokai glanced over his shoulder quickly and felt a little disappointment. It had been a long time since he’d been involved in a true battle to the death. The implant surged again. “Gods damnit, Gaishon! I’m coming!” he growled out as he made his way clear of the shanty town and toward the area near the rusted reservoir where he’d left his ship cloaked and waiting.

Chapter 30

Walking right up to a spot that seemed to be nothing more than windswept scrabbles of grass desperately attempting to cling to life as they sprang up from between rusted metal plates of forming the outer edges of the water reservoir, he lifted his hand and waved it in front of himself. Immediately the outline of a sleek ship, in much better shape than it had once been, shimmered in the dust that blew ceaselessly from the huge turbines that circulated the air.

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