Chapter 13
New Austin
Lone Star System
Aterrizaje, Capital District
Southern Hemisphere
The Aterrizaje Stampede was a big event, spanning six days and dozens of events. It was as close as New Austin came to having its own Olympic Games, and this year was its biggest showing yet. The whole thing had been a whirlwind, and Annie found herself in awe of the spectacle. At its peak, there were fifty thousand people in attendance at the fairgrounds, and countless more watching the media coverage. It was positively overwhelming for a simple country girl from the outback, but Annie was holding her own. She was enjoying the freedom of being away from her parents, but at the same time found herself wishing they could be there too. Her mom was busy opening a new mining claim, trying to get it up and running while she could still travel comfortably. Her dad was off playing soldier somewhere in the city. Both of them called her every night.
In any case Annie wasn’t lacking for company. Carlos had made good on his offer to show her around the city, and she’d visited her friends from school as well. Aterrizaje was a small but rapidly growing city of a quarter million people. It could be tough to navigate sometimes, but between the mass transit system and the autotaxis, getting where you needed to go wasn’t too difficult. There was a lot to see and do, even outside of the rodeo. Annie’s event wasn’t until the final day, so until then she was free to explore. There was one place in the city she really wanted to see, though.
“Here we are,” Carlos said, stopping his father’s automobile in an otherwise empty parking lot. “The northwest viewing area of the spaceport. Why did you want to come here?”
Annie didn’t answer. She hopped out of the vehicle, closing the door behind her, and looked longingly to the south through a high, chain-link fence. As the sun sank toward the horizon, a dozen ships of various shapes and sizes were silhouetted against the fiery red sky and golden clouds. “There,” she said, pointing at one of them. “That one off to the left? That’s the Andromeda.”
“Did you read that from your eyepiece?” Carlos asked, standing next to her.
“Yeah, but I already knew which one it was. I know her captain. Nice lady named Blackwood. She had dinner at my house. It was no big deal.”
“Really? That’s crazy.”
Annie’s expression sank. “My dad is leaving on that ship. He’ll probably be gone for over a year.”
Carlos’ expression softened. He very lightly patted Annie on the shoulder, but quickly yanked his hand away, as if he thought she would bite. “I’m sorry. Why is he leaving?”
“Work. It’s a long story.”
“You want him to stay, don’t you? It’s okay. I’m close with my papa, too.”
“No, that’s not it.”
“You don’t want him to stay?”
“No, I want to go with him!” Annie insisted, looking up at her friend. “I want to be on that ship! I want to go to space! It’s not fair. Dad doesn’t even really want to go, we just need the money. It’s my dream and I can’t go.”
“Do you really want to leave? Things aren’t so bad here.”
Annie looked up into Carlos’ big brown eyes and felt her face flush again. “No . . . no they’re not,” she said, managing a smile. He moved closer to her then, gently taking her by the hand. Her mind racing, her heart pounding, not knowing what to do, she closed her eyes and let it happen. Their lips touched, butterflies fluttered around in her stomach, and she wanted to melt. Then the ground started to shake. Wait, she thought. The ground is shaking.
Pulling away from Carlos’ embrace, Annie ran forward to the fence and watched, in awe, as one of the ships lifted off from its launchpad. Her eyepiece identified it as the Amerigo Vespucci, a merchant vessel registered on Earth itself. She was tall and sleek, a new design from the heart of the Concordiat. The ground shook and a huge plume of dust and smoke spewed forth as she lifted off like a volcanic eruption. The fires of her fusion rockets were nearly blinding as she throttled up and began to accelerate. She watched the ship roar into the darkening sky, leaving a trail of smoke behind it, for what seemed like a long time. The rumble of her engines faded as she disappeared over the horizon.
“Wow,” she whispered. Carlos coughed awkwardly. Annie spun around to face him, hands behind her back. She could tell she was blushing. “Sorry about that.”
“No, I am sorry,” Carlos said sheepishly. “I was an ass. I didn’t mean to . . . you know. I’m sorry.”
“What? No! No, no!” Annie said, stepping forward and looking up into his eyes. “That was . . . that was amazing. I just . . . I’m sorry I’m such a schiz. I get distracted easy. My mom says I get that from my dad.”
“So,” Carlos said, looking around. “What do you want to do now?”
Annie raised an eyebrow and folded her hands across her chest. “I don’t know what you think you’re going to get, cowboy, but let me tell you something . . .”
“No no no!” the young man pleaded, the color draining from his face. “That’s not what I meant, I swear!”
Annie softened her expression, smiled, and shook her head. Before Carlos could protest anymore, she shushed him. “I’m just teasing you, stupid. I’m sure you don’t want to sit out here and watch ships lift off with me all night.”
“I will if that’s what you want to do,” he said. “But I’m hungry.”
“Me too. You want to get something to eat in town?”
“I know some places that are good. Do you like tacos?”
“Everybody on New Austin likes tacos,” Annie said.
“There’s also a party tonight, if you want to go.”
“I heard about it. People say it gets crazy.”
“It’s not bad. Everyone is easygoing. No drama.”
Annie looked longingly at the spaceport one last time. “You know what? Let’s go. I haven’t been to the city in years. I never get to have a life. Tonight, I’m going to have a life. I’m going to have fun and not worry about tomorrow.”
“Don’t you ride tomorrow?”
Annie frowned. “Okay, I’ll worry about one thing that happens tomorrow. I ride in the afternoon. When is your event?”
“A little earlier than yours, but still after lunch.”
“Good. I want to sleep in in the morning.”
Carlos’ jaw fell open. “What?”
Annie punched him in the arm and laughed at him. “You’re so easy to mess with. It’s adorable.”
* * *
After the sun had gone down, as New Austin’s twin moons rose into the night sky, Wade found himself driving the rented van on the way to the evening’s entertainment. Their destination was a popular bar called Denim & Diamonds. It was a stereotypically New Austin establishment, complete with twangy Western-style music and line dancing (which New Austin classified as a Heritage Art Form), but the drinks were cheap, the beer was good, and they had plenty of pool tables. Wade didn’t like to drink much, so he volunteered to drive the van so everyone else could have a good time. They could’ve simply hired an autotaxi, of course, but why spend the money when Captain Blackwood had already paid for rental vehicles?
Denim & Diamonds was jumping, but Wade had screened ahead and reserved a table for the team. He sipped water for the next few hours while the team caroused, drank, laughed, and enjoyed greasy bar food. Marcus didn’t drink that much, but he got goofy when he’d had a few, and was laughing at Randy Markgraf’s dumb jokes. Randy didn’t stay too long; he lived in Aterrizaje and went home most nights, preferring to sleep in his own bed. Marcus said he’d be going to bed before it got too late; Annie was in town for the big rodeo and he wanted to watch her ride the next day. Hondo took an autotaxi back to the ship so he could screen his wife and children, as he did nearly every night. Ben Halifax was last seen leaving the bar with two pretty young women, and had them both laughing and giggling as they went out the door. The brash, loud, abrasive mercenary certainly had a way with the ladies. It was baffling.
Ken Tanaka, despite his reserved, quiet demeanor, lightened up after a few shots of sake and whiskey. He was off at the billiards tables with Marcus, who was teaching him to play pool. Marcus was so good at pool that Wade had accused him of being some kind of wizard. He’d spent half the night whupping all comers and winning a few credits in the process.
Wade found himself alone at their table, sipping a fizzy soft drink and feeling a little bored. He didn’t abstain from drinking on any religious grounds. He just didn’t like the feeling of being drunk. He didn’t like the loss of control or cognition. It was a personal quirk, but he’d seen enough of his compatriots in the fleet get in trouble from alcohol-related incidents that he thought of it as an advantage. He’d never had to go stand in front of the CO and explain some ridiculous behavior from the night before. No, being sober allowed Wade to execute shenanigans without getting caught, and usually without being suspected. He smiled at the thought.
“What’s so funny?” It was Devree Starlighter. Wade hadn’t noticed her come back to the table. “Where is everybody?” she asked.
“Marcus and Ken are shooting pool. Everybody else left, and I think those two are going to want to go after they finish their game. Where have you been?”
“Dancing!” she said with a grin. She’d had a few drinks and was a lot bubblier than usual. “I’ve lived on New Austin for almost three years now and have never been line dancing. I can’t believe how fun it is!”
Wade couldn’t help but size the lovely sniper up as she sat down next to him. She had dressed the part for a night of line dancing at Denim & Diamonds: short denim skirt, cowboy boots, sleeveless blouse, and a cowboy hat. All of the stuff was brand new, but she wore it like it had been made for her. Despite being a little tipsy, she gracefully crossed her legs after sitting down.
And what nice legs they are, Wade thought, trying not to stare. He could see the line where flesh gave way to prosthetic, but it was barely noticeable at a glance. There was another such fine seam on her arm.
“See something you like there, buddy?” Devree said, with a twinkle in her cold blue eyes.
Wade felt his face immediately flush. He’d been caught staring. Smooth, he thought to himself. “Uh, sorry,” he managed. “I was just . . . you know, your prosthetic.” Yeah, that sounds reasonable.
“They’re pretty realistic, aren’t they?” Devree said. She hiked up her skirt a little and slid a finger along the fine line where biology met machinery. “I’ve seen a lot of people with ugly gray replacements, where they look like robots. That’s the fashion in a lot of places. I paid the extra for the insurance coverage to get the top quality replacement parts, and I’m glad I did.” She took a sip from a bottle of beer.
“You can barely even tell they’re not real,” Wade said.
He fell silent when Devree grabbed his hand and placed it on her thigh. “Right?” she asked. “It’s okay, touch it. My legs use the heat produced from their normal operation to make the synthetic skin warm to the touch. It feels almost like real skin, doesn’t it?”
“It . . . uh . . . it sure does,” Wade managed.
Devree’s expression softened. She sat up a little straighter, pulled her hemline back down, and looked apologetic. “Oh my God, I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m embarrassing you.”
“No!” Wade protested. “It’s okay.”
“Oh, I’m sure you enjoyed that,” she said slyly. “But this is unprofessional. I just haven’t dressed up and gone out in a long time. I sure as hell shouldn’t have had that shot of tequila. Nothing good comes of it when I drink tequila. That’s how I ended up married.”
“You’re married?” Wade asked, mortified.
“No! I mean, I was. Not anymore. Back home. I went to the academy with him, we were young, we were stupid, we got married on a crazy impulse, and it was a terrible idea. We lasted six months before we split. Luckily, getting divorced on Mandalay is pretty easy.” She chuckled.
“Well, I’m sorry it didn’t work out,” Wade said.
She shook her head. “It’s better this way. His name is Heath, and we’re still friends. Marrying another cop is a bad idea anyway. Too many work problems get brought home.” She took a sip of water from a glass on the table. “What about you? Are you married?”
“Me? Nah. I, uh, wouldn’t have been touching you like that if I was married.”
“Oh really?” Devree laughed and shook her head. “You’ve been on New Austin for a while though, haven’t you?”
“I immigrated here . . . it’ll be four years ago, four local years I mean, next month.”
“What in the world brought you all the way out here?”
“I lived on Hayden, like Marcus. We were stationed at the same place. There’s this giant CDF base outside of the city of Langley, I mean, a huge base. Probably fifty thousand personnel there. I lived on base, in bachelor quarters. I’m glad I did, actually. Langley is a shithole.”
“I’ve heard that,” Devree said. “I’ve never been on Hayden, but you don’t hear a lot of good things about it.”
“They got the hell blasted out of them by the Maggots during the War. Hayden isn’t that big, and it’s like eighty-five percent covered by ocean to begin with. The Maggots leveled most of the terraformed landmass, and I mean they obliterated it. If you go up north there are crater fields stretching as far as you can see in every direction. They say it took years for the dust to settle. There are the ruins of cities and towns, parts of ships that survived reentry, all kinds of stuff, but almost no one goes up there. The colonial government tries its best to keep people out. A lot of the ruins are still radioactive from the Maggots’ particle beams, they say, and the place is a graveyard. They don’t want grave robbers looting what little remains.”
“That’s . . . depressing,” Devree said. “Mandalay is beautiful. It didn’t get hit in the war. The terraformed zone is huge, and outside of that it has its own ecosystem. Plants, animals, everything. There are jungles of these . . . well, they’re not really trees, but they kind of do the same thing. Some of them are eighty meters tall. When they bloom, it’s the prettiest thing. They turn dozens of shades of bright colors. If you see it from a distance, the whole forest looks like a bowl of candies.”
“Wow. I don’t really know much about Mandalay. What’s it like in those forests?”
“Oh, you don’t go into the forest, not if you don’t need to. There are all kinds of things that will kill you there: plants that will wrap you in vines and suck the juices out of you, animals that will swallow you whole, even a kind of fungus-type stuff that’ll dissolve you in acid. The local wildlife doesn’t care that it can’t digest our alien protein. Everything on Mandalay wants to kill you. The terraformed zone is surrounded by a fifty-meter-high wall to keep the native species out as much as possible. But you didn’t answer my question. What brought you out to New Austin?”
“Huh? Oh. Well, like I said, Langley isn’t a great place to live. The remaining inhabited landmass is crowded. They had this big population boom after the war, with refugees from other colonies moving in and people deciding to have a lot of kids. I guess a brush with extinction triggered the ‘go forth and multiply’ instinct. Most people around Langley live in these massive arcologies. Each one is a self-contained little city, hundreds of stories high, with thousands or tens of thousands of residents, shops, services, you name it. The place is so crowded there aren’t enough jobs for everybody. With that kind of unemployment, crime is high. The government starting cracking down more and more on the crime, and it just got to be ridiculous. There were police checkpoints all over the place, the government monitors electronic transmissions, there were cameras everywhere, and where there weren’t cameras there were robots following you around, recording everything you do. They used to joke that you couldn’t swing a dead cat without breaking ten different laws, but one time I watched this crazy homeless guy literally swing a dead cat around, by the tail, outside the northwest gate of the base. Right in the middle of an intersection! Turns out, that is illegal. This cop tried to talk him down and he hit him, you know, with the dead cat. Right in the face. Three other cops shot the guy and dragged him off while the first cop tried to wipe, I don’t know, whatever juices come out of a dead cat, off his face.”
Devree snorted loudly, trying not to choke on her water as she laughed. “I shouldn’t laugh. They shot an obviously disturbed man. It’s screwed up. Still funny, though.”
Wade continued, “I know, right? I swear to God, that actually happened. That’s when I told myself that I needed to get off that fucking rock. The worst part is, even with all the heavy-handed policing, the cameras, the searches, the checkpoints, it’s still not safe to go into some places in the city. The gangs there are well armed, and they fight with each other and the cops all the time.”
“Holy shit. I can see why you left.”
“Yeah. I knew I wanted to get out of the Defense Force, but I sure as hell didn’t want to live anywhere on Hayden. There are places that aren’t as bad as Langley and places that are really nice, but there are no jobs in the not-bad places and I’m not rich enough to live in the really nice places. I found these advertisements for emigration to New Austin, and it looked amazing—wide open spaces, clear skies, fresh air, plenty of room, low crime, and a government that minds its own business. I said, sign me up!”
Devree took a long sip of water and ate some of the tortilla chips that were left in the basket on the table. “That’s what they told me when they offered me a list of places I could go. No crime syndicates on New Austin, they said. No native ecosystem trying to kill you, either. Just mild weather and friendly people. At least that’s what they said.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, what happened to you? Mandalay is an Inner Colony world, right? What brought you out to the frontier?”
Devree stirred the ice in her water for a moment, thoughtfully, as if trying to decide what to say. “I was a sniper on one of the Colonial Enforcement Bureau’s tactical intervention teams.”
Wade raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, we called them TITs,” Devree said with a grin. “It’s actually a really prestigious unit, and it’s hard to get into. The regular Police Academy was tough, but the selection course for the TITs has something like an eighty percent washout rate. Not a lot of women make it through, but I did.”
“Your prosthetics are . . . extensive. How did you get them?”
Devree held up her artificial right arm, and examined it quietly for a moment. “That’s kind of how I ended up out here. I was flesh and blood when I went through the academy. I mean, afterwards, they gave me the usual boosters to keep me in top shape, but I got through selection on my own. These,” she said, indicating her prosthetic legs, “these are the result of an attempt to kill me.”
“Jesus,” Wade said quietly. “How bad was it?”
“Both of my legs were traumatically amputated above the knee. My right arm was mangled so badly that it couldn’t be saved. My left arm was in better shape, but I lost fingers on the hand. I had extensive internal injuries, my eardrums were burst, I was temporarily blinded by the explosion, and I had extensive second and third degree burns.”
“Explosion?”
Devree nodded. “We’d been cracking down on a crime syndicate called the Black Hand for over a year. When we started, they ran a good portion of the capital city of New Dawn. When all was said and done, they were on the run, but they didn’t go out without a fight. There was a standoff. We had one of their big-time players, son of one of the Black Hand’s bosses, surrounded in a warehouse. We busted him in human trafficking and smuggling. He took one of the kids hostage.”
“Kids?”
“Yeah, kids. They were his cargo. There’s still a market for that kind of shit in some places, I guess. He took a hostage, this terrified teenage boy. My spotter, Samseer, was with me. I took the shot. I blew that son-of-a-bitch’s head clean off, through a skylight, from this really tall communications tower nearby.”
“So what happened?”
“The syndicate boss went insane. He had his few remaining loyal soldiers just start wreaking havoc in New Dawn. They killed police officers, judges, lawyers, city and government officials, whoever they could take a shot at. It got so bad that the governor declared a state of emergency and sent in the Colonial Guard. But the Black Hand had eyes and ears everywhere, even in the Enforcement Bureau. Somebody talked. They found out I was the one who made the shot.”
“Oh no,” Wade said.
“Samseer and I were in an unmarked ground car, headed out to lunch one day. All I remember is a car pulling in front of us, and this woman standing in an open sunroof with a missile launcher in her hands. I was on the passenger’s side. The missile hit the driver’s side. Samseer was killed instantly. I don’t know how I survived. I woke up in a city hospital a few days later. I couldn’t see, I could barely hear, and I was missing my limbs. Machines were keeping me alive.”
“I’m so sorry,” Wade managed. “That’s horrible.”
Devree shrugged. “Is what it is. They fixed me, as you can see. My arms and legs are better than real ones. They feel pretty real to me. It’s still a little different, but it feels mostly natural when someone touches me. My new organs are better than the ones I was born with, I can run faster, and I don’t have to worry about spraining an ankle anymore. It could’ve been a lot worse. Like Samseer.”
“You seem pretty positive about it.”
“I have to be. My partner was killed, I was blown to pieces, and I had to drop my entire life and come out here just to be safe. I can’t dwell on all that. I’m lucky to be alive and I need to focus on that.”
“It sounds like you’ve had this argument with yourself before.”
“I drank heavily when I first got here. I was out every night almost. I’d go home with just about anybody, I’d start fights, I even spent a couple nights in the Aterrizaje city jail. That’s when I realized how stupidly I was acting. I quit drinking for over a year, got a job, and put my life back together. I figured I owed it to my partner to not waste the rest of my life.”
“So what brought you on this mission?”
“Same thing that brought you, Wade,” Devree said with a smile. “The money. Also, I’m bored. I’m not the workaday kind of person, never was.”
“Well, if you’re interested, when we get back Marcus and I might be able to get you on the Marshal’s Service. They’re pretty shorthanded. The pay’s not great, and it’s usually dull, but it’s not a bad job.”
“Well . . . one thing at a time. When we get back I just might take you up on that. And I’m sorry I told you my entire life story. I get chatty when I drink. Thank you for being a good listener. Most guys only listen to me when they’re trying to get in bed with me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Wade said with a wry grin. Devree laughed.
* * *
Near the Aterrizaje fairgrounds was a large caravan park. People came in from all over the terraformed zone to attend the Stampede, and the caravan park was full. So full, in fact, of mobile homes, trucks, trailers, and other vehicles that they had spilled over into the dusty open areas beyond the park. Annie had heard about the parties that could happen out in the caravan park. Tonight was a big one. Multiple bonfires had been lit. Dozens of horsemen, cow punchers, riders, party girls, and roughnecks drank, caroused, blasted music, and had a good time. The Aterrizaje city police didn’t bother them unless someone reported destruction of property, and the fairgrounds’ robots generally stayed away as well. They were tasked with monitoring the livestock and weren’t concerned with drunken human antics.
At sixteen standard years, Annie was below the legal drinking age on New Austin, but tonight nobody seemed to care. Young people, teenagers to twenty-somethings, gathered around a large bonfire as music played. People danced, drank, played games, and made out. Nobody asked her to verify her age before handing her a bottle of beer.
“See? It’s not so bad,” Carlos said, sipping his own drink. Nobody was getting out of control or anything.
“I guess,” Annie said, sipping the beer in her hand. “My dad would be so mad if he knew I was here, though.” She took another sip and frowned. “Drinking, no less. What is this stuff, horse piss? Is someone playing a joke on me?”
Carlos looked at her bottle. “It might as well be horse piss. Try this.”
Annie took the bottle from Carlos and took a long swig.
“Easy there. I don’t think you drink much.”
“I don’t drink at all,” she said, handing the bottle back. “That’s better, but . . . ugh.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just think I’m done with this,” she said, pouring the remainder of her beer into the dirt. She tossed the bottle into a waste receptacle and looked up at Carlos. “So is this what people do in the city?”
“What do you mean?”
“I live in Laredo Territory. The nearest actual town is Red River.”
“That’s not much of a town.”
“It’s not. It has maybe four thousand people, and it’s an hour away by road. I almost never see people my own age, you know? Or people at all, except for my parents. I guess I thought it’d be more exciting than this. I don’t know.” She looked around at the revelers. It was getting late and things had calmed down somewhat. “Everyone is just sitting around, or drinking, or making out. Nobody is talking to anybody.”
“Parties are more fun when all your friends are there,” Carlos said.
“I don’t have a lot of friends. Not face to face friends anyway.”
“You had fun in the city though, didn’t you?”
Annie smiled. “I did. You’ve been the sweetest tour guide. Thank you for showing me a good time.” Nearby, a woman, probably in her early twenties, kneed a drunk, oafish young cowboy in the balls and knocked him to the ground. A group of people cheered and laughed at his pain as the woman grabbed her hat and stormed off. Annie shook her head. “And thank you for being a gentleman, Carlos. Hey, you want to get out of here?”
“Where do you want to go? My dad’s car has autodrive.”
“I want to go check on Sparkles.”
Carlos nodded. “The robots will let us in if we display our passes. Do you have yours?”
Annie nodded, pulling her ID pass out of her pocket and hanging it around her neck. “Let’s go.”
The huge stable was darkened, except for navigation and safety lighting, to calm the animals. As expected, a robot checked their passes when they entered, but ignored Annie and Carlos after that. They made their way along a row of stalls to number 067, but stopped when they saw a group of what looked like teenagers gathered around Sparkles’ stall.
“What the fuck?” Annie snarled, and took off at a run, leaving Carlos to try to keep up with her. Swearing aloud, she pushed her way through the gaggle of inebriated teens to find Victoria Alexander in Sparkles’ stall. The horse was taking something from the palm of her hand.
“What the fuck are you doing to my horse?” she said. With a push of her arms she cleared the stall door and landed next to Victoria. “What did you give her?” she snapped, shoving Victoria with both hands.
The rich girl slammed against the stall wall, but only started laughing. She wasn’t looking so good; her hair was a mess, her clothes were disheveled, and she stank of alcohol. Her eyes were bloodshot and red. “Hey there, desert rat,” she said. “Just seeing if your horse likes to party. Want some?”
Annie’s heart was racing, her hands shaking. She grabbed Victoria by the shirt and pulled her in close. “What did you do to my horse, you fucking bitch?”
Her head lolling around, Victoria showed Annie a small, empty vial. “Red Eye, baby. You want some? It makes you fly, fly, fly!”
The group of teens were watching uneasily, and no one said anything. Annie could feel the rage boiling up from deep inside her. She didn’t know if she wanted to scream or cry. Shoving Victoria aside, she turned to the group. “You let her do this? You let her? Somebody call the vet! She poisoned my horse!”
“I’ll do it,” Carlos said, touching his handheld. “What the hell is wrong with you people?”
An older guy, probably in his twenties, smacked the device out of Carlos’ hand. “Who you calling there, dirt farmer? You trying to bring the law down on us?” Red Eye was a dangerous synthetic drug, one of a few such substances that was banned for personal consumption on New Austin. It caused erratic and sometimes dangerous behavior in its users, and simple possession was a criminal offense. Carlos shoved the older guy back and bent to pick up his handheld. “I don’t give a damn about your stupid Red Eye, asshole! Her horse will die if we don’t—” Before Carlos could say anything else, the other man punched him in the face, and the fight was on.
The group of teens formed a semicircle to watch Carlos fight Victoria’s friend. The older man was bigger than Carlos, but he was inebriated and clumsy. The young gaucho grabbed him by his shirt and flung him into the boards of the stall, following up with a flurry of punches. Some of the teens fled, but others stayed and cheered. The bigger man shoved Carlos back and came at him once more.
Victoria was laughing uncontrollably the whole time, leaning on the stall door. Annie was on her handheld with emergency services, explaining that her horse had been poisoned. The call finished, she was about to throw Victoria out of the stall when Sparkles convulsed.
The horse, her breathing labored and slow, fell to her knees, then collapsed to the dirt floor of her stall. Annie watched helplessly as she convulsed, cried, and kicked, foam coming from her mouth and nostrils. Annie felt sick as Sparkles suffered, vomiting up a bloody mess before lying still.
“No . . .” she said, dropping down next to the animal. “Sparkles?” The fight going on right outside of her stall, Victoria, the drugged-up teens, all of it faded away as she placed her hands on her horse’s still form.
Sparkles’ ragged breathing slowed and then stopped. She died.
Tears streamed down Annie’s cheeks. She buried her face in her hands and wept. She was snapped back to reality when Carlos slammed the other man into the stall door again. Startled, she stood up to see what was going on.
The other teens scattered as a trio of utility robots rolled up to the scene of the disturbance, politely insisting that the two men stop fighting. The lead robot was knocked to the ground as Carlos threw his opponent into it, sending man and machine tumbling to the stable floor in a heap. The robot’s wheel spun helplessly, kicking up dirt, as it tried to right itself, but the weight of the unconscious man on top of it was too much.
Carlos, with a swollen face and blood leaking from his nose, stepped over to the stall door. “Are you okay?” he asked Annie, breathing heavily. “What . . .” his voice trailed off when he noticed Sparkles’ body on the floor of the stall. “Oh no. Victoria, how could you do this? What is wrong with you?”
Victoria seemingly ignored him as she tried to climb over the stall door. Before she could make it over on her own, Annie grabbed her legs and shoved her over the top. The rich girl fell face-first to the dirt floor and struggled to get up.
Annie wasn’t about to give the bitch the chance. In a flash, she leapt over the door and came down on top of Victoria. She dragged the inebriated girl to her feet and threw her back to the ground as hard as she could. Before the robots could do anything, before Carlos could say anything, she came down on Victoria like an orbital strike. “How could you?” she said, so enraged that she was crying. “How could you?” She didn’t give Victoria the chance to answer; she sat on top of her and punched her in the face, then again, then again. “You fucking bitch!” she shrieked, hitting her over and over.
A mechanical claw clamped down onto Annie’s arm, snapping her out of her rage. The robot ground its wheel into the dirt, pulling her off of Victoria. “Get off of me!” she said, shaking free of the robot’s grasp.
Carlos was at her side then, and helped her to her feet. “Annie, you need to stop,” he said quietly.
Annie didn’t say anything. She looked down at Victoria, bloodied and bruised, and felt sick. Victoria’s eyes were swollen shut, blood leaked from her nose and mouth, and her breathing was ragged. Annie’s knuckles were bloody. Shaking her head, not knowing what to do, she turned to Carlos, buried her face into his shoulder, and cried.
* * *
Annie opened her eyes, squinting in the dazzling lighting of the holding cell. Despite how uncomfortable the bed was, she’d managed to sleep for a while. She’d been taken into custody by the Aterrizaje Police, but they were mostly nice. They bandaged her hands and didn’t restrain her when they drove her to the station. Once they got her there, though, they did a blood test and found a little bit of alcohol in her system. They promptly wrote her a ticket for underage drinking.
Still, they let her tell her side of the story, and said they would look at the logs from the security cameras and the robots. They said that the veterinarian had taken a blood sample from Sparkles and would be able to determine if there were any illegal substances in the horse’s system. Annie’s handheld had been broken in the scuffle, but the police said they’d notify her parents for her. This mortified Annie, but there was no way to hide this from her parents. She wasn’t under arrest, technically, but they wouldn’t release her without a legal guardian. They put her in a holding cell so they could monitor her until someone came to get her. It had been hours and hours. It had to be mid-morning already. She had no idea how long she’d been in there, or when anyone would arrive.
Annie sat up quickly when she heard the door unlock. It slid open and her father stepped into the room. Jumping off the bed, she ran to him and hugged him tightly, trying not to start crying again. “Daddy, Sparkles is dead! She killed her!” she sobbed.
Her father held her tightly for a long moment. “Come on now, baby girl,” he said. “Let’s sit down a moment.”
“We’re not leaving?” Annie asked, unable to hide the fear in her voice. Was he just going to leave her here?
“I need to talk to you about what’s going to happen,” he said. “Then we’ll go.” He seemed tired.
“Okay,” she sniffled, sitting back down on the bed. After her father sat next to her, she asked him what was going on.
He shook his head sadly. “I’m going to be straight with you, honey: this isn’t good. That girl you beat down, Victoria? She’s in the hospital with a fractured skull and a broken nose. You did a number on her.”
Despite the pit forming in her stomach, Annie was defiant. “She killed Sparkles! She poisoned her with Red Eye! Red Eye, Daddy!”
“I know, I know,” her father said reassuringly. “The city police have the video recordings from the cameras and the robots. Your friend Carlos corroborated your story, though the police told me both of you had alcohol in your system.”
“I just tried beer,” Annie pleaded. “I didn’t even finish it. I didn’t like it.”
“Ok, honey. Neither one of you was intoxicated. It certainly seems like Victoria was, but they’re not going to tell me the results of her blood test. They did find vials of Red Eye on her and that clown that Carlos whupped the shit out of, though.”
“She should be the one in jail!”
“You’re not in jail, Annie. Calm down. If she wasn’t in the hospital getting her face put back together she probably would be. Things being as they are, though, it’s not so cut and dry. Her father is an influential man with a lot of money. That son of a whore actually had the gall to call me, a peace officer, and offer me a shady deal.”
“What?” Annie asked. “What kind of deal?”
“He said he’d pay me a lot of money if I didn’t press charges for his daughter poisoning your horse. He said that if we didn’t press charges, then he wouldn’t either, and this would all go away.”
“But she had Red Eye!”
Her father shrugged. “He has enough clout to make sure she just gets sent to rehabilitation.”
Annie was scared now. “Why didn’t you take the deal?”
“Because it’s not right, Annabelle. Guys like that need to learn that sometimes, having money to throw around doesn’t mean you can do whatever the hell you want. If this thing just gets quashed, that girl won’t learn anything from this. Nothing will change, and she’ll grow up to be a horrible human being because she never had to live with the consequences of her actions.”
“She’s already a horrible human being.”
“I agree, honey, but she’s seventeen years old. Nobody’s life is over at seventeen. There’s always time to turn it around.”
“But she killed Sparkles!” Annie said angrily. “Why are you taking her side? Now I’m going to go to jail!”
“Annabelle Winchester, I am not taking her side, and you’re not going to jail. Calm down and let me finish. That girl’s daddy threatened me up and down. Threatened to sue, threatened to ruin our lives, threatened to get the book thrown at you, and threatened to have you tried as an adult. He made those threats and I have witnesses that saw him do it, like your Uncle Wade. I didn’t, uh, exactly tell him other people were listening, but it’s not a recording and their testimony will hold up in court if he tries anything.”
Annie looked down at her lap. “What’s going to happen now?”
“Right now? I’m going to take you back to your room so you can get cleaned up and get some rest. We’ll get something to eat on the way there if you’re hungry. Worst case scenario, you might be looking at a year in juvenile detention for assault.”
Annie looked up, eyes wide, feeling sick. “A year?” She couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. “It’s not fair. You said to always finish a fight. You said.”
“Hey now, baby girl,” her father said, putting his arm around her. “I didn’t mean you just beat the shit out of someone who wrongs you, even if they have it coming. This is the real world, honey. There are consequences for your actions, even if you thought they were justified. Juvy ain’t the end of the world. It won’t keep you out of most schools.”
“I don’t care about schools. I want to go to space.”
“I know. Don’t worry, some time in the pokey won’t keep you out of the Spaceflight Academy or the Defense Forces, either. You’re going to be okay.”
“But I don’t want to go to juvy,” Annie cried. “It’s not fair!” How is he letting this happen?
Her father gently brushed the hair out of Annie’s eyes. “Come on, honey, no more tears for right now. I’m going to talk to the judge and see if there is another arrangement we can work out. You’re a minor, you’re under a lot of stress because your mom is pregnant and your father is leaving, it was your first time alone in the city, and a drugged-up hooplehead poisoned your horse. Those are some pretty extenuating circumstances. I called my lawyer and she’s pretty confident we’ll be able to make a deal.”
“But . . .” Annie protested.
“No ‘buts’ now,” her father said. “There’s nothing for it. Come on, let’s get you out of here. Captain Blackwood gave me a pass for two days, so I’m here for you.”
Annie sniffled as she stood up. She felt sick. It was all too much. “I wish I could just go with you, Daddy,” she said. “I just want to leave this stupid planet.”
Annie’s father stood up and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Yes, well, one thing at a time. Let’s get you signed out.”
* * *
It had taken some legwork, and he’d had to call in some favors, but Marcus was able to get his daughter a court hearing the very next day. This was fortunate, because he was scheduled to lift off from New Austin shortly after that, and didn’t want to have to ask Captain Blackwood to delay for his sake.
Marcus had been afraid that Ellie would go ballistic when he told her what happened. Annie had tried beer and beaten a girl so badly that she’d been hospitalized. She was mad at Annie but she was furious at Victoria Alexander and her sleazy father. She considered him and his entire family a bunch of degenerates who were a blight on New Austin. Marcus happened to agree, but they were a blight with a lot of money and good lawyers. He had to take that into consideration.
Marcus’ lawyer, an old friend of his named Serendipity Kim, represented Annie during the hearing. The Alexander family lawyer, a well-known, high-priced celebrity attorney, made an appearance and demanded the hearing be dismissed. He insisted an adult criminal trial be scheduled, but the judge wasn’t having any of it. Especially, Marcus noted with a smile, when both Wade and Captain Blackwood herself testified to the judge that they’d overheard the conversation wherein Mr. Alexander threatened Marcus and his family. The judge had dismissed him from the courtroom, and made it clear that the Alexander family was to leave the Winchesters alone.
Upon the advice of Ms. Kim and her father, Annie pled guilty, as a minor, to an assault charge. It could have been a lot worse, but given the circumstances the judge didn’t want to throw the book at her. By old law going back to the founding of the colony, stealing or harming another colonist’s livestock was a serious offense on New Austin. Given that, Ms. Kim was able to convince the judge that Annie didn’t deserve to go through an adult criminal trial.
The question remained of what was to be done with her? Marcus knew there was no way the judge was going to let her be released into the custody of her mother, especially since Victoria wasn’t going to get off so easily either. In trying to calm Annie down, Marcus had downplayed juvenile detention somewhat. It wasn’t horrible, but he didn’t want his daughter out doing manual labor projects with a bunch of underage criminals, separated from both of her parents and far from home. She was distraught enough with everything going on, especially with her horse having been poisoned, and he feared juvy would make a bad situation for Annie a lot worse.
Not having many options, Marcus approached Captain Blackwood with a proposal: Annie would be released to her custody and would serve as a crewmember-in-training for the duration of the mission. Space was dangerous, yes, but at least he didn’t have to worry about her being all alone, or getting attacked by some crazy delinquent.
Captain Blackwood surprised Marcus by readily agreeing to the proposal. She had the bunk space, she explained, and such arrangements were quite common on her adopted homeworld of Heinlein. A shipboard environment offered discipline and structure that would straighten out a rowdy teenager. She’d be in a secure environment, and the mission to Zanzibar wasn’t as risky to the ship itself as, say, pirate hunting.
Annie, predictably, was thrilled at the proposition. Ellie, on the other hand, was adamantly against it. She wasn’t going to allow her daughter to leave her for up to two years, with no real way to communicate with home. “I’m losing my husband,” she’d said, “I’ll be damned if I’m losing my daughter too!” She especially wasn’t happy with some of the hazard clauses in the proposed contract, similar to the one Marcus had signed.
Captain Blackwood must have taken a shine to Annie, Marcus thought, because she was being very helpful through the entire ordeal. She’d sat down with Ellie for an hour, over coffee and tea, explaining exactly what shipboard life was like, the risks, the realities, and what Annie would be in for. Marcus didn’t know what she said to her, exactly, but after they were done talking Ellie agreed. She broke down and cried, hugging Annie tightly, but she agreed to let her go.
And why not, Marcus thought to himself. He was only a couple years older than Annie was now when he’d enlisted in the Espatier Corps, and he’d been a hell of a lot less mature than his daughter was. At least this way he could keep an eye on her, and she’d be a very long way from Carlos and other teenage boys. Not that Carlos was a bad kid. He’d gone to the hearing to testify on Annie’s behalf. He’d stood up for her and beaten the shit out of a drugged-up adult. If Annie insisted on growing up and having a boyfriend, Carlos seemed like an alright kid.
Marcus was relieved, and Annie ecstatic, when the judge agreed to the proposal. She was to be released into the custody of Captain Catherine Blackwood for a period of not less than one local year. He reminded Annie that if, upon her return, the captain reported that she was not satisfied with her service, that she could be sent straight to juvenile detention. Annie said that she understood, the judge banged his gavel, and that was that.
So it was that shortly before he was supposed to leave New Austin, Marcus found himself outside of a courthouse in Aterrizaje with his wife, his daughter, his new captain, her XO, Wade, and his lawyer. It was enough to make a man’s head spin, but he was happy that it had all more or less worked out. Annie had loved Sparkles dearly, and losing the horse was devastating for her. Shipboard life, with the discipline and work that it entailed, would keep her from dwelling on the loss.
Annie approached her parents in tears nonetheless. “Thank you, Daddy,” she said, hugging each of her parents tightly. “Thank you, Mom.”
Ellie was crying too as she held her daughter. “You be careful, do you hear me?” She looked over at Marcus. “You bring my little girl home safely, Marcus. You bring her home to meet her sibling.”
“We’ll be home before you know it, baby,” Marcus said, even though they all knew that wasn’t true. “I’ll look after her.”
“Please don’t make me regret this,” Ellie said. “Please, Marcus. Look after our little girl.”
Captain Blackwood approached. “I hate to interrupt, but we do need to be going. Crewman Apprentice Winchester has a lot to learn and will be doing a lot of on the job training. I’ll keep her busy.” She looked Marcus’ wife in the eyes. “And I’ll keep her safe.”
Ellie nodded, wiping the tears from her cheeks. Annie stood up a little straighter and thanked the captain for her help.
“Don’t thank me yet, crewman,” Captain Blackwood said. “I promise you this will be the hardest thing you’ve ever done.”
The resolute expression on Annie’s face made Marcus proud. “I won’t let you down . . . Captain,” she said.
Captain Blackwood nodded at Annie, then looked over at her executive officer. “Wolfram? She’s all yours.”
Nodding, the stern, Germanic spacer turned to face Annie. “Crewman, come with me. We’re heading directly back to the ship. We don’t have time for a proper orientation before liftoff. You’ll need to pay attention and learn fast.”
“Okay,” Annie said.
Wolfram leaned down so that he was eye to eye with Annie. “Crewman, when addressing an officer, you will address him by his title and call him sir. Am I making myself clear?”
Annie’s eyes were wide. “Y . . . yes sir!”
“Good,” Wolfram said. “This is not like the netcast shows, Crewman. The Andromeda is not staffed by a band of plucky misfits. Space is a harsh mistress, an alien environment unfit for human life. We survive there only through good order, discipline, and hard work. Failure to do your duty, and do it correctly, will get you and others killed. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir!” Annie replied, standing up so straight she looked like she was going to break. Marcus remembered his first day in boot camp and tried not to laugh at his poor daughter.
“Good,” Wolfram said. “Now come with me.” He looked up at Captain Blackwood. “Kapitänin,” he said with a nod, and led Annie off to the rental van.
Captain Blackwood looked apologetically at Eleanor Winchester. “Wolfram can be tough, but he’s fair. He runs a tight ship. Annie’s in good hands. We’ll make a spacer out of her.”
Ellie looked thoughtful. “You know what? Maybe this is good. She’s out here drinking beer, getting into fights, and who knows what else. She thinks she’s all grown up now? Let her live by grown-up rules. She’ll appreciate how good she had it.”
Captain Blackwood nodded. “I need to be going myself. Mr. Winchester,” she said, looking at Marcus, “you can take the rest of the day off to spend with your wife. We’re in final preparations for our departure, but I don’t need you on the ship for that. Just make sure your people are all accounted for and in place well before our scheduled launch.”
“Yes ma’am,” Marcus said. As the captain left, and his lawyer excused herself, he turned to Wade. “Hell of a day, huh?”
Wade agreed. “It worked out. Too bad about the horse, though.”
“If I ever get my hands on the little bitch that did that to my daughter, I’m going to choke the life out of her. I’m glad Annie broke her face.”
“I’m gonna take off, Boss,” Wade said. “I’ll screen the others and let them know we’re on liberty until liftoff. Go spend some time with your wife.”
“You should go visit your sexbot,” Ellie said, a twinkle in her teary eye. “She probably misses you, all alone in that storage unit. You keep neglecting her and she’ll start cheating on you with the other appliances.”
Wade shook his head. “You know . . .”
Marcus laughed out loud. Ellie was sad, but she was tough. She’d get through this.