Avalon

CHAPTER 07

WHEN JETH LEFT THE GALLEY SOMETIME LATER, HE RAN headlong into Celeste, coming through the door at the same time.

“Ouch,” she said. “You stepped on my foot.”

“Well, you shouldn’t ambush me.”

“You ambushed me.” She punched him in the shoulder.

Jeth grunted. It didn’t hurt—much—but it hadn’t exactly been a love tap. “What do you want?”

“I . . . I . . . can’t go into the Belgrave,” she said in a rush.

Jeth blinked, not surprised she felt this way, only that she’d admitted it. For Celeste, admitting to fear would be like Flynn going on a hunger strike.

“I’ve been trying really hard to deal with the idea of going in there, but I’m not sure I can.”

“Well, you’ve got to, so get it together.”

She scowled at him. “You don’t have to be such an ass, you know.”

Were those tears in her eyes? Being a little afraid was one thing, but this seemed like a lot more than that. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

Celeste choked on an angry breath, and some of the tears pooling behind her eyes leaked out, leaving glistening streaks over her pale skin. She punched him in the arm again. “It’s where my mom died. It’s why I ended up here.”

Oh. Now, he really did feel like an ass. This was a complication he hadn’t been expecting. Not that it was his fault. There’d been an unspoken rule among all the members of the Malleus Shades from the very beginning—no talking about dead parents.

Feeling awkward and having no idea how to handle an emotional girl, Jeth said in what he hoped was a sincere voice, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

Celeste let out a sob. The reaction was so unexpected that Jeth stared at her a full five seconds, wondering if this was the same person he’d known the last three years. If someone had told him yesterday that Celeste would be crying in front of him now, he would’ve laughed them off the ship.

Now he found himself stepping forward and hugging her. “It’s okay,” he said, patting her back. “What happened?”

She took another shaky breath and then the words began to spill out from her, as if the pressure to tell the story had been building for a very long time and finally reached its breaking point. “Our ship got lost. We were moving from Magren, my birth planet, to Peltraz for my mom’s new job. The cheapest route was through the Belgrave. This was just before the ITA shut down the routes. I was nine. Don’t really remember most of it. Except one night, after we’d been lost for two weeks, my mom just disappeared.”

Jeth frowned, grateful that Celeste’s position in his arms kept her from seeing it. He didn’t know what to think. “What do you mean she disappeared?”

“Just that. We went to sleep in our cabin, and when I woke the next morning she was gone. The crew searched the ship, but there was no sign of her.”

Jeth didn’t say anything, unsure what to believe. Just like Flynn, he’d heard a lot of crazy tales about the Belgrave. Inexplicable equipment malfunction, communication breakdowns, supplies going bad, even ships vanishing and presumed lost. But this one was by far the craziest. How could a person go missing off a starship in the middle of space? Unless she’d been pushed out an airlock. Although he would never say such a thing aloud, Jeth couldn’t help but wonder if her mother had simply abandoned her. A poor, single woman, trying to raise a child out here? Wouldn’t be the first time.

“Sssshhh,” he said, rubbing her back. “We’re going to be fine. My parents surveyed the Belgrave for years and never once got lost in there. Or misplaced a crew member.”

The joke fell a little flat, but he felt Celeste draw a breath against his chest, recovering. That was good. He needed her on her game for this trip. Even though he wasn’t wild about going into the Belgrave, his trepidation had nothing to do with ghosts or some unexplained phenomenon.

Celeste took a step back from him, wiping her eyes.

“Feeling better?”

“A little. I guess I just needed to get it off my chest.”

“I get it.” Jeth patted her arm, the awkwardness returning. It was funny, considering how physically intimate the two of them often were while working jobs. Then again, in his experience, that kind of thing was a lot easier than opening yourself up.

As Celeste started to go, Jeth stopped her with a touch to the arm. “If you’ve got time, I’ve got a job for you.”

Celeste put a hand on her hip. “What?”

“Hammer told me the lost ship is carrying some kind of new weapon. If that’s true, there might be some chatter about it on the net. I’d like you to poke around, maybe see if we can figure out why exactly the ITA is so interested.”

Celeste looked down, examining her fingernails. “All right if I ask Lizzie to look into it? I, uh, need to make a quick trip to Sector Twelve.”

Jeth stifled a grin. A visit with the boyfriend would be an even better distraction. “Just don’t be late coming back.”

The next few hours crawled by as Jeth waited for Hammer’s final instructions to come in, along with the copies of Avalon’s title and transfer papers. He spent the time searching the net with Lizzie. To Jeth’s chagrin, they didn’t find anything. No mention of the Donerail, a missing ship, or even Renford. There wasn’t a single rumor about a secret weapon, even on the conspiracy sites.

Hammer’s instructions and the details on the Donerail finally arrived, but the transfer papers were nowhere in sight. Dismayed, Jeth was about to do something rash and try to get Hammer on the comm when the entry door to Avalon buzzed. He ran down to the cargo bay to answer it.

Daxton Price stood in the doorway.

“Uh,” Jeth stuttered.

Dax grinned and held out an envelope. “Hammer wanted me to give you this before we left.”

Jeth accepted the envelope without even realizing what he was doing. His mind was still several seconds in the past, trying to come to grips with the reality that Daxton Price was standing in front of him.

“You awake there, Golden Boy?”

Jeth blinked away the confusion. “What is it?”

Dax folded his arms, shrugging. “No idea. But I’ll be ready to go in twenty minutes. You’re to meet me with Avalon just outside the short-term docks in Sector Two. I’m going to escort you through the gate, which will get us there a lot faster than the metadrives. Once there I’ll run interference on any passing patrols around the Belgrave until you get inside it.”

Jeth nodded. Hammer’s instructions had said as much, although they hadn’t identified the pilot of the other ship. “Why has Hammer got you doing this?”

Dax chuckled. “Didn’t ask. When the big guy says ‘jump,’ I head for the nearest ring of fire.”

Jeth wasn’t sure whether to smile or frown and ended up doing something in between, looking ridiculous in the process, no doubt. It was clear Dax was joking, and Jeth couldn’t make sense of it. The Malleus Brethren never spoke ill of Hammer. They chose to enter his service and have that thing inserted into their brains.

“Well, see you in a few,” Dax said, and then he strode off, the black implant on the back of his head reminding Jeth again of a giant spider.

He shook off the disorientation and headed inside. It occurred to him that Hammer’s decision to send Dax was yet another indication of how important this job was to him. Whatever this weapon was, he must want it pretty bad. The idea tickled Jeth’s mind with possibilities. Obsession could be a powerful pressure point. If only he had a way to apply that pressure. But he didn’t see how. It wasn’t like he could steal the weapon and hide it. Not if being near it was potentially fatal. There wasn’t much point in finally getting his ship back if he was dead.

Stowing away such thoughts for now, Jeth opened the envelope and examined its contents as he walked along.

“Son of a bitch,” he said when he realized what he was holding. Hammer had sent him a print copy of Avalon’s title and transfer papers. On actual paper. Jeth’s hands curled into fists. He should’ve seen the ploy coming. A print copy would be harder to counterfeit than the official electronic one.

Still, Jeth couldn’t deny the hope he felt at seeing his name there beside the “owner” heading. He hurried to his cabin and stowed the papers in a hidden compartment beneath his bed.

Fifteen minutes later, after he’d wrangled the crew back onto Avalon, Jeth darted up the stairs to the bridge, excitement exploding in his chest. He was going to pilot his ship. Jeth placed his hands on the control column to keep them from trembling as he waited for the locks that had held Avalon captive for so long to finally come undone. A loud, grating creak of metal echoed a moment later.

He waited, unmoving, for several minutes after the sound faded.

“Um, Jeth?” Lizzie said from the copilot’s chair. “Are we going anywhere today, or are we just gonna hang out here?”

In answer, Jeth eased the controls forward, keeping the pace slow despite his desire to push it hard. He met up with Dax, who was piloting the Citation, one of Hammer’s Vipers. Vipers were cruiser class ships, flashy and expensive, but this one didn’t stand a chance of keeping up with Avalon.

“We’ll meet you at the Cerulean Metagate,” Jeth said over the comm line to Dax’s ship. “Avalon hasn’t been out in a while. I want to stretch her wings.”

“Have at it,” Dax replied. “But wait for me before queuing up.”

“Right,” Jeth said, and he disconnected the link. He maintained a steady pace until he was clear of the spaceport’s restricted zone, the area clearly marked on Avalon’s nav system. Then he let her go, pushing her as hard and fast as she would go.

“Hey, whoa,” Flynn’s voice called from the engine room on the ship’s main comm line. “Take it easy up there. The old girl ain’t exactly in shape, you know.”

Jeth pressed the mute button. He didn’t care if Flynn was right or not. He didn’t care about consequences. A wild recklessness had come over him. Avalon felt like something alive, a massive bird of prey. She had so much power and force, yet smooth, graceful control. Jeth had flown dozens of ships the last few years, and none of them had come close to making him feel like this—as if the entire universe awaited his command. The planets and stars would flee before their path or risk being blown apart in their wake. He could fly her forever.

They came into range of the Cerulean Metagate some time later, and Jeth was finally forced to slow down as the nav system flashed a warning that he was entering a zoned area. Speed limits were regulated around the gates due to all the ships traveling in and out. At the moment, the place was so congested, Jeth couldn’t have sped even if he wanted to. Twenty ships were waiting in line to use the gate ahead of them.

“What the crap?” said Lizzie. “Why’s it so backed up?

Jeth turned the ship to port, flying aimlessly as they waited for Dax to arrive. “The ITA closed down the Lateritus Gate for repairs a couple of weeks ago.”

Lizzie made a face. “Another one? They still haven’t reopened the Aurelius Gate. What the heck is taking so long?”

“Don’t know.” Jeth pulled up the nav system, prepping it for connection with the metagate’s Master Control. “But don’t complain too loudly. Shortage is good for our business.”

“Yeah, so long as it doesn’t turn into a none available anywhere situation. Just imagine the lines then.”

“Good point,” Jeth said, picturing the Montrose’s metadrive. “All right, here’s Dax.”

Dax piloted the Citation in behind Avalon, and they headed to the line.

“What’s the holdup, Boss?” Shady said, entering the bridge a few minutes later. “Errr, or should I call you ‘Captain’ now, seeing how this is your ship and not Hammer’s?”

Jeth ignored the question and waved out the front window. “Traffic.”

“What else is new?” Shady sat down at the comm station to the left of the cockpit.

Lizzie sighed. “At least they’re pretty to look at.”

“What are?” Shady propped his feet up on the comm station’s instrument panel. His big boots made a loud bang as he set them down.

Jeth winced. “You break something, and Flynn will kick your ass.”

“Heh,” Shady said, flipping his shaggy hair behind his shoulders, “like to see the little weasel try. So what’s the pretty thing we’re looking at?”

“The stars,” Lizzie said in her most sarcastic tone. “The metagate, you moron.” She paused. “It’s the strangest thing to see colors like that in the middle of space.”

Jeth nodded, fixing his gaze on the nearest edge of the gate, still several thousand kilometers away. The thing was so large that you could only see one section of it when you were this close, but Jeth knew its shape was mostly conical, like a giant malformed doorway in space. Similar to the Montrose’s metadrive, the gate was mostly comprised of that same rough, colored material, with a metal frame surrounding the outer edge and inlaid with wires and conductors and other tech. This one was colored in varying shades of blue, and it glowed bright enough to illuminate all the blackness around it in an aurora display.

“Why do you suppose they come in different colors?” Lizzie asked.

Nobody replied. It was the kind of question people voiced out of habit. The most anybody knew about metatech was that the material that came to make up gates and drives had been invented by ancient First-Earth scientists more than five hundred years ago.

The dazzling light hurt Jeth’s eyes, and he looked away.

“Finally,” Lizzie said some time later as the nav system beeped, indicating an incoming request from the Cerulean Metagate’s Master Control. Jeth opened it, the message the usual payment prompt. He did a double take at the amount.

Lizzie whistled. “Damn, that’s high.”

Shady stood and walked over, taking in the fee as Jeth started to key in Hammer’s account number. “Ouch,” Shady said. “Sure that’s not the rate they charge Independents?”

“I’m sure,” Jeth said, finishing.

Shady scratched his head. “Why are we bothering with the gate at all? We should’ve just used the metadrive.”

“It was supposed to save us time.”

Shady grunted as he returned to his seat.

Jeth switched on the main comm line. “We’re getting ready to head through the gate, people.” He picked up the safety goggles from the dashboard and slipped them over his head as Lizzie and Shady did the same. Then he piloted them into the large, yawning mouth of the gate until the Master Control took over, propelling them through it.

The familiar dead—not dead feeling came over him, the state seeming to both last forever and no time at all, as if the seconds it took them to travel though metaspace were seconds stolen from a different timeline, a different existence.

They came through the other side a moment later, emerging into a vast expanse of empty space, with nothing but the Belgrave awaiting in the distance.