Page 2 of Escape from Nova Nine
The short man tapped his tablet. “Call me Fortezza. Tell me your names and if you got any certs.”
Zade pegged it for a nickname, since it meant “fortress” in Italian and shielders like such affectations. Still a black hole as far as his talent could tell. The short man’s accent was different from the other voice, but still had multicultural cadence. No jewelry and no visible art on his dark brown skin to hint at origin or affiliation, either.
One of the women fluttered three beringed fingers. “I’m Robb. Navigator 2-E.” Tasteful tattoos on her slender brown neck surrounded the jack interface behind her ear. Her accent hinted at something Slavic as her primary language.
“Jurten. Commtech 4E,” said the man in coordinated shades of gray that contrasted with his white skin and pale blond hair.
Zade and the others gave their names, with no certifications to claim.
“Okay. Any of you minders?” He pointed to himself, then aimed a thumb over his shoulder. “We’re minders ourselves. Adir and me are shielders. Us and our sister ship just like to know who we’d be traveling with.”
The wariness in the group spiked.
“I’mnota minder,” said the navigator with a forward jut of her jaw. “Will that be a problem?”
“Not unless you refuse to work with minders,” replied the short man.
The navigator shrugged. “Not a problem.”
He nodded, then looked around the group.
The communications technician crossed his arms, sliding his hands under his armpits. “I’m a filer.”
Zade envied the man’s ability to remember everything. Wo Zhur, the other woman, admitted to being a fixer and good with ship engines and environmental systems.
Waorani, a broad-faced man with swirling runic patterns on his deep olive skin, said he was a low-level sifter. Another talent Zade appreciated. It’d be nice to know when unshielded people were lying or about to become violent. Not to mention, know when other minders were activating their talent. Zade knew from experience that his was hard to detect, but high-level sifters could sense it, even if they didn’t know what it was.
At the short man’s questioning look, Zade shrugged one shoulder. “Lunaso. Low-level empath.”
The short man moved a few things on his tablet. “Okay, we’re green go. Your quals check out, so you’re all hired. I’m sending you the contract...” His tablet suddenly went black. He swore. “Cool your jets a sec.”
He strode out of the circle toward the large entry lock. “Adir, I need a new tablet. Mine’s malfing.”
“Again?” the amplified voice boomed. “Garka, get out here and give him yours.”
The only warning Zade had of trouble was the sudden look of panic on Waorani’s face as he launched himself away from the entry lock.
Pain exploded in Zade’s neck. Fire burned his hand. He staggered toward the darkness. Another jolt.
Around him, the others fell, twitching like dreeno addicts on a too-high glide.
His knees buckled, throwing him forward to the floor. Pain shot through his shoulder as he landed badly, tearing his tunic open. His backpack stymied him from rolling out of the kill zone. Two meters away, a loading bot rigged with a stunner shot him square in the chest.
Twilight descended. Light closed in on him as he lost control of everything. Stunners were especially effective on minders.
All he could do was watch as the shielder Fortezza smiled and danced his way through the flopping bodies, bending over each one. When got to Zade, he pulled the coat open and slapped a dormo patch on his neck. “Good dreams,compagno.”
Zade kicked himself for jumping from one chaos storm into another. Twilight sucker-punched him into darkness.
2
NOVA NINE FACILITY • GDAT 3243.106
He woke to blinding brightness. Turning his head away helped, but stiff neck muscles complained. His eyes felt gritty.
The rest of his body registered grievances. An aching left shoulder, sore spots on his back and butt, and an empty stomach demanded his attention. Not much he could do about them, since he appeared to be naked and strapped down on a high metal table. Flexible bands held his legs, torso, and arms tight.
His table was a couple of meters from a streaked, dull gray wall. Through the fading afterburn spots in his vision, he saw an untidy stack of dusty crates in the corner that made the room look more like a storeroom than a medical facility.
