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  “Bring them inside, Ryan,” Amanda said. “The air is filthy with A19.”

  “I didn’t think A19 was dangerous to humans,” Thaddeus said.

  “It’s not lethal to humans. That doesn’t mean it’s good for us,” Ryan said. “That’s where everyone is. They’re all hunkered down until this mess dissipates.”

  “Interesting,” Thaddeus said. “I was going to ask where everyone was.”

  Thad studied his two companions as closely as he could without appearing to be checking them out.

  Ryan and Amanda looked uncomfortable, shifting nervously and avoiding eye contact.

  They led Thaddeus and Maximus to their science building. He recognized the antennas and other measuring devices on the exterior of the prefabricated structure. It was slightly larger, but in his experience, there would be few comforts inside. Scientists were even less concerned about aesthetics than soldiers were.

  He noticed a line of patched holes on the door. “Who’s been shooting at your building?”

  “Outlaws,” Amanda said.

  CHAPTER SEVEN: The Running Girl

  Sledge bolted up the stairs and kicked the girl’s door off the hinges. Inside, he found the window open with the curtain blowing in the wind.

  Pierre, moving much faster than Sledge thought he could, arrived a second later. “What the hell are you doing? You’re gonna pay for that door. No one comes up here without my permission or Dixie’s approval.”

  Sledge glanced over his shoulder to confirm his suspicion that the owner of the Mother Lode was carrying the stun gun. He spun quickly and lunged for the man, slapping the weapon to the ground.

  “I’ll pay for the door. Let me give you a piece of friendly advice. Don’t ever point a weapon at me,” Sledge said in a low and dangerous voice. He returned to the girl’s room and looked around, briefly checking under the bed and in the bathroom. He knew she wasn’t there, but he liked to be thorough.

  “Hurry up. If Dixie sees you up here, we’re both in trouble,” Pierre said.

  “So now it’s okay with you if I come up here?” Sledge asked, not really caring about the answer.

  “You know that’s not what I meant.”

  Sledge didn’t even turn around. He went to the window and looked down. “Looks like I’m in luck, for once.”

  The alley below the window only ran one way. The girl had a considerable head start, but there was only one direction she could go. He climbed out onto the steep rooftop, slipped and grabbed hold of the windowsill. With two careful steps, he reached the edge and jumped.

  The drop was higher than he was comfortable with. Even with the moderate gravity of Ungwilook, his size punished him when he hit the ground. He absorbed the shock with his knees and hips, coming almost into a kneeling position before standing.

  He glanced up and saw Pierre staring in wide-eyed surprise from the girl’s window. Some kind of local animal made noises near the end of the alleyway. Sledge started to jog.

  “Come out, come out wherever you are, Ruby Miranda or whoever you’re calling yourself these days,” Sledge said.

  He passed into the street, looked both ways, and then ran into the next alley. He doubted there were a lot of concerned citizens in Darklanding, but suspected the sight of a young prostitute fleeing the Mother Lode would at least draw attention to the girl as she escaped.

  He thought she would use the alley until she got further away from the saloon.

  Before long, he crossed the vacant lot where the sheriff often trained like a special forces commando. If the girl had thought to hide there, she had moved on already. He barely gave the place a second thought. The sheriff and his dog were nowhere to be seen. Deputy Mast Jotham was also absent.

  A persistent haze, probably caused by the recent train derailment everyone was talking about, occluded the already insufficient night lighting of Darklanding. He continued to another one of the best hiding places in the prefabricated town. No building was taller than three stories, and few were two stories. There was an intersection, however, between granaries where locals stored some of their foodstuffs.

  Anyone fleeing this direction would have to pass through the offset intersection.

  “You’ll never catch me,” a voice said from above him.

  He looked up and saw the girl. A confusion of emotions shot through him. He wasn’t sure if he should be excited, sad, or afraid. There had been other times he was this close and had failed to capture her. It was too soon to get his hopes up.

  “Okay, Ruby. You know I’m not that good of a climber so why don’t you just surrender and I will try to make this easier for you,” he said.

  She drew back into a shadow of the granary tower she had climbed halfway. “I’m not sure I see what’s in it for me.”

  “It was worth a try,” Sledge said. He jumped, maximizing all of the explosive strength in his legs, and grabbed a railing only inches from the girl. She scrambled up and around the building as he knew she would and he immediately took a horizontal path to try and head her off.

  Going up was useless. He knew she wanted down the other side so she could continue running. His goal was to force her into action and then be there to cut her off.

  Dropping to the ground, he turned and looked up.

  She jumped at the exact same moment, stepping on his forehead with her left foot as she sprang over him.

  He roared a curse and spun, but it was too late. He was fast, but could not maintain a sprint for as long as she could. They had run this race before. Nevertheless, he charged forward and tried to grab her.

  He slowed to a walk as she pulled away. “Darklanding isn’t a big place! You painted yourself into a corner this time!” he yelled after her fleeing figure. “Dammit.”

  * * *

  Ruby ripped the tarp from the three-wheeled buggy she had stolen and hidden shortly after arriving in Darklanding. Reaching into the side pocket of her safari pants, she pulled out the ignition ring needed to start it. They weren’t supposed to be removed and were nearly impossible to replace. As an experienced vehicle thief, she knew the best ways to keep a vehicle from being stolen.

  With a quick push and two quick turns, she reassembled the ignition mechanism, then hotwired it. The engine, louder than she had hoped, started right up. She jumped behind the wheel and raced out of the trash pile and onto the street, tires squealing as she mashed her foot down on the gas pedal.

  The SagCon goon was right. She had painted herself into a bit of a tight spot. Darklanding was too small to hide her for long. She only wished it had taken Sledge longer to track her this far.

  Violent memories slammed through her consciousness as she sped across the Darklanding mesa. Her original plan had been to follow the trolley route toward the mine if and when she needed a fast escape. One look at the clouds of dust covering the canyons below the mesa changed her mind. She veered toward the dangerous switchback roads leading downward into a seemingly magical dust cloud.

  Snap decisions had helped her escape many times. This was different. Going into the canyon was a mistake. She felt it in her gut. It went against everything her father, grandfather, and great grandfather had taught her.

  The go-bag behind her seat only held food for a week and water for two days. She was small and thought she might stretch it a bit longer. Wishful thinking was another dubious survival tactic the icons of her family frowned upon.

  The exhilaration of escape faded as she steered aggressively around each turn leading into the canyon. She tried to look up and see the enormous mesa that Darklanding was built upon, but the angle was bad and all she felt was an oppressive shadow weighing on her. Visibility was decent here, but she could tell that the farther she went into Transport Canyon, the denser the lingering cloud of dust would be.

  She only wished she wasn’t right about the train derailment. Thaddeus Fry and Mast Jotham were respectable and honorable, for lawmen. She hadn’t seen the Unglok deputy for a while and wondered where he was. Fry was gone now a
s well; she had looked for him during her escape from the SI goon.

  She hit the brakes and cranked the wheel, sending the buggy into a slide that almost went over the edge of the narrow road. This was like climbing a ladder in a vehicle and was a lot more difficult than it looked. Especially at high speeds. She slowed down and wondered why she was thinking so much about the type of people she normally avoided on other planets. Sheriffs, cops, and special investigators were never friends to runaways.

  But she hated seeing them make a fatal mistake. I could be wrong, she thought. But I guess I’ll have a look for myself.

  CHAPTER EIGHT: Morning in Raven’s Haven

  The accommodations in the science depot were everything Thad expected and less. Gale force winds had picked up throughout the night, and he hadn’t slept much listening to sand and other debris impacting the walls of the prefabricated structure. When morning came, he stepped outside to one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen.

  The cloud of A19 and other atmospheric debris had somehow coalesced after the storm blew it back and forth across the canyon. Visibility remained limited, but sunlight streaked underneath the clouds, turning them red and gold and orange. He watched the mist churn like a disturbed space nebula and slowly expand toward the ground. Soon this place would be submerged in darkness once more.

  Raven’s Haven was a town so small that wild animals crossed the streets and did their business as they saw fit. He looked down the center of the main road and saw a pack of four-legged creatures running toward a distant stand of trees—some type of oasis in the midst of a cold desert landscape. The lack of precipitation had dried the area out, leaving only tundra.

  “I have to quit using my Earth preconceptions of what I see,” Thaddeus said as he sipped coffee from a SagCon mug that had seen better days. Sitting on the porch with the dog-thing was relaxing. He wondered if he should spend more time away from Darklanding in the future.

  “Huff,” Maximus said.

  Ryan and Amanda emerged a short time later.

  “Good morning, Sheriff,” Amanda said. “I apologize for our deficiencies as hosts, but we have some chores that need attending to.”

  Ryan nodded but didn’t stop to chitchat. He moved down the street picking up debris without making eye contact with Thaddeus.

  Thad raised his coffee cup to Amanda and smiled. “Good morning. Let me know if I can be of assistance.”

  He finished his coffee, watching the clouds settle lower and lower until the whole world seemed to be the town and nothing else. He wanted to put away the coffee cup, but worried Amanda and Ryan would think he was snooping around if he went back inside. He found a hook on the railing that was probably for a hat and hung the cup there.

  “Maximus, let’s have a walk,” he said.

  The dog-thing pulled itself to its feet and followed him. He made a quick tour of the main street buildings, noting there were bullet holes and scorch marks on virtually every structure. He discovered part of the road had a deep gouge that was unlikely to be repaired without resurfacing the entire street. Memories of Centauri Prime began to circle his mind.

  There wasn’t much else to see, so he stood near his ship and watched Amanda and Ryan. They did the work of a dozen people. After cleaning up the debris from the night’s storm, they checked each building and secured several of the protective shutters on windows. They checked instruments on the exterior of their science building, then went inside looking exhausted.

  He didn’t trust the two scientists, or whatever they were. He also felt bad for them. This town was off the radar, and in a technical sense, a haven for outlaws. They were operating without a SagCon charter and without support. Few frontier settlements were self-sufficient enough to keep them from being vulnerable.

  The evidence of frequent raids was hard to miss. What disturbed him more was the fact that there were outlaws in this area capable of doing such damage. Finding their hideout would be his next order of business, right after he figured out what had caused the train derailment. He wasn’t an expert regarding transportation of heavy materials, and Shaunte had not been forthcoming with whatever evidence she had regarding the incident.

  Ryan and Amanda would have to provide some answers. He didn’t trust them and they didn’t trust him, so he imagined it would be a long day.

  A settlement that was off the grid. Outlaws on a SagCon planet where there shouldn’t be any. A train derailment that shouldn’t have happened. A SagCon special investigator appearing in Darklanding at the same time.

  Thad didn’t believe in coincidences.

  CHAPTER NINE: Positive Balance

  Dixie resented the need to evade the hulking SagCon SI. He was too clever for his own good. Ugly as Maximus, he’d somehow become the favorite of all the girls at the Mother Lode. She knew he’d never taken one upstairs or bought them drinks. The reason for his popularity eluded her.

  Twice a month, she checked on her investments. Privacy was her paramount concern. What did it matter that she was curious about the ugly brute? Just because Ruby Miranda had upset her financial safety net didn’t mean she needed to start looking for allies. And if she needed someone other than Pierre or the sheriff, it certainly wouldn’t be a man like Sledge.

  The SI thug would be gone in a week, if not sooner. She wasn’t about to trust anyone who worked for the company that had brought her here as a child. Well, maybe not a child exactly, but younger than Ruby and not nearly as resourceful. She saw through his façade. In her experience, men as large as Michael “Sledge” Hammer backpedaled when someone actually stood up to them.

  It was pathetic.

  The main room of the Mother Lode was half-empty, which made her job difficult and easy at the same time. She descended the stairs and scanned the room, cataloguing all the mistakes her girls were making while she simultaneously looked for her nemesis. Not finding him, she went straight for the front door and stepped outside.

  The street was deserted because it was between shifts on a Wednesday. She moved along the broad porch that had been added to the prefabricated building when the Mother Lode was built. Leaning on the railing with both hands as she was prone to do when bored or showing off, she gave the street a second look. She didn’t put it above the man to hide in one of the dark alleys and spy on her establishment. Well, Pierre’s establishment, technically.

  After a few minutes, she reached a tenuous balance between impatience and confidence. She moved down the stairs and into the street. She strode forward as though she meant business. Real business, not picking up Johns for the Mother Lode.

  After three laps of her evasion course—a switchback path she had designed between buildings and utility boxes, some of which were bigger than the pre-fab buildings—she felt better. Worn, dirty, and neglected, this neighborhood was the best place to lose a tail.

  Each time she doubled back, she looked for Sledge. It used to be Pierre she worried about, but he had quit trying to follow her long ago.

  All clear, she thought. Something moved on one of the rooftops. Could a man built like an ox even get up there? She thought not.

  There was one way to lose a follower for sure, and that was to cross Darklanding during the livestock drive. She’d used the tactic in the past, losing her imagined pursuers in a herd of pigs—or whatever you called a group of them.

  The smell wasn’t worth it today and waiting for the herdsmen didn’t appeal to her.

  She looked around for a while and grew bored with the game. No one ever caught her and no one ever would. Maybe she had secretly hoped Sledge would offer more of a challenge.

  I just thought of him by his nickname, weird. She shook the thought away. He was a special kind of unappealing—too big and hairy for a delicate woman like her to endure. She sighed and walked toward the first of three greenhouses.

  One and two produced the disgusting Ungwilook vegetables that smelled like dirty feet and tasted like sour milk. The third, however, was heaven.

  She nodded to t
he Unglok manager but didn’t attempt small talk. He, or maybe it was a she, couldn’t or wouldn’t speak any of the human languages.

  The door to her secret greenhouse was unlocked. She stepped back and looked around. The Unglok watched her.

  “Why is this unlocked?”

  The Unglok manager shrugged.

  Dixie harrumphed, then turned to the door. With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, she stepped inside.

  “Hello, Dixie. I hope you don’t mind. I sampled a few of your peaches,” Special Investigator Michael “Sledge” Hammer said.

  “You!”

  “I was hoping you might not charge me for the first one. My expense accounts have limits, believe it or not.”

  Dixie felt blood rushing to her face but couldn’t speak.

  “Maybe this unlicensed venture should be our little secret,” Sledge said. “I would like to know how you smuggled viable seeds and soil past customs, but maybe it’s better I don’t know.”

  She crossed her arms and locked her jaw.

  “You have a new girl working for you,” Sledge said between bites of his second peach. “Any idea where she might be right now?”

  Juice dribbled down his chin, and he used the back of one hairy arm to wipe it off.

  CHAPTER TEN: The Silence of Mast Jotham

  Thaddeus Fry stayed in Raven’s Haven for two days to gather information on the train derailment. His hosts had a secret and he wanted to learn the truth of it. Ryan and Amanda set him up in one of the smaller domiciles that seemed to have been long abandoned. He admired the way they kept him from exploring the rest of the town.

  Maximus, for once, hadn’t grown bored. It seemed as though he would gladly trot up and down the short street forever. He sniffed and snorted and farted like he was made to live in the barren canyon.

  The second day was when the trouble began.

  He made his coffee and went to the narrow porch that required him to stick his toes over the edge just to sit comfortably in the rocking chair made from fiberglass piping and metal slats. The first sip was too hot. He blew on it. In an effort to kill time and wait for it to cool, he stared out across the floor of Transport Canyon before the debris cloud once again settled.