Page 27 of Fighting Gravity
When a four-legged nozun crossed my path carrying a vibro staff that I was certain had come from a gek, I stopped him. Nozun weren’t pleasant to look at. Their skin was dry and thick with a gray tone to it. Their eyes were big and droopy and their teeth were flat and always exposed. Their limbs were long and powerful, but if caught off guard, it was easy to throw them off balance.
“Hey,” I said to him, shoving his shoulder. His lips quivered with irritation. Eyeing the vibro staff, I cocked my head and bore my teeth. “Where did you get that?”
“Ik al ak ki ra ti,” he grumbled.
His insult was weak and slurred. He was drunk. Veron laughed again. Growing impatient, I snatched the vibro staff from his hand and twisted the handle. From the tips appeared hand-length electrical blades. I shoved one side up through the nozun’s chest where I knew his oversized heart was. There was a precise space at the base of the protective armor encasing it through which I jammed the spear, stopping him instantly. The nozun slumped forward on the staff and, propping it on the ground, I left him there for all to see as his black blood pooled on the floor.
It didn’t take long for people in the square to notice. Most were too high or drunk or too careless to make a scene, but it would only take one. And that one was a female shikari who began screaming at the top of her lungs. And her scream riled everyone else and started the commotion I was hoping for. People began to scramble about in a frenzy, avoiding the violence in the middle of the square as if they thought I was on a rampage.
I was gek. It wasn’t that hard to believe.
“And they’ll be coming to arrest you in three, two…”
Veron couldn’t even finish her sentence before shikari guards were flooding the square. Not that they cared too much about murder and crime. The port was full of wrongdoers. But what Ket-ram did care about was excuses. He was always looking for an excuse to make bargains. And since I was never going to find him by looking and asking around, I thought I’d get his attention.
“This is going to hurt,” Veron sighed.
One of the shikari guards circled the murder scene, glancing up at me with his round, yellow eyes. Shikari were tall, lanky creatures. Intelligent, but not always physically captivating. Their skin was any shade between yellow and red and their muscles were long and thin. Spikes covered their shoulders and heads, but they didn’t exactly make them look scary. Just goofy, in my opinion. But they were always covered in armor which made them a bit more formidable. When the guard looked at me, I shrugged.
“He stole my staff,” I said.
The nozun were more liked in that quadrant than gek so I knew my word wasn’t exactly enough in that situation. That was alright. That was the point.
The shikari pulled out a shock stick. Another guard came up from behind and shocked Veron to her knees before tapping Quinn on the ribs. Quinn convulsed, letting out a clipped scream before she was on the ground.
She probably could have done with a milder hit.
Lastly, the shikari jammed his shock stick at my chest. I stared right at him as the electrical current bit at my nerves. I could withstand it long enough to remember his face and he knew it. His eyes widened a little when I didn’t immediately go to my knees, but with another jab, I was right where he wanted me to be. In cuffs.
Six shikari guards escorted us through the port and through a pair of metal gates that led to a quieter part of the asteroid. Already, they were making eyes at Quinn. Even covered in a cloak, her scent was different. She kept her head low, learning quickly that this was not the place to be foolish and definitely not the place to run away from me.
Maybe I should have sent her with Kaar.
Down a long, metal walkway, we found ourselves outside a building constructed right into the rock. Loud music vibrated the walls and I could tell I was going to get irritated before they opened the doors. And, as I suspected, when the entrance slid ajar, the music was deafening.
Music on Gathea and Zadus 3 was much more organic and used mostly for ceremonies. To have it corrupting the senses at all times seemed like a disruptive way to live. But the shikari were all about escapism. Hence the port filled with people looking to escape their lives and their minds. Providing them a means to do that made Ket-ram a powerful man in his own way.
The club was seedy and smelled like sweat and mixed drinks. I saw at least three species intermingling on a polished stone dance floor. Lights flashed, nearly blinding me every time they hit my eyes, and people were stumbling into us left and right.
The guards shoved us through the dancing mobs to a back room where the music was muffled behind thick walls. They closed a glass barrier behind us so the noise was not so overpowering and then stood us in the middle of the chamber. There was a patched-up sofa near the back wall and a metal table littered with cups and bottles and the remnants of food. Sitting on the sofa with a female on either side of him was Ket-ram. It had to be him. The smug look on his slender face said he owned the whole damn rock.
Ket-ram had red skin and his head of spikes was askew with many of the spines broken or cracked, which gave his skull a lopsided appearance. He had deep frown lines and wore layers of clothing in odd materials like he was trying to start a trend, but no one was following it. When he looked at me, he sighed like I’d interrupted a good time.
I knew better. Despite the smiles on the girl’s faces, they weren’t there by choice.
“So?” Ket said in whispery, sharp language. He tapped his curved nails on his skinny knee, waiting for someone to say something.
“They killed a nozun in the square,” one of the guards said. “Told us he stole his staff.”
Ket raised his brow. “Who was the nozun?”
“Bora Tuss.”
Ket sighed again and rubbed the flat surface of his nose. “He was a very important ambassador. I hate arguing with the nozun and now that’s what I’ll have to do. Do you know who I am? What is your name, anyway?”
I opened my mouth to speak when the guard nudged me with his elbow. Annoyed, I looked down at him and let my Thel take on a deep, threatening tone. He shrunk away, but not before I slammed my head into his, breaking one of his spines. He stumbled with a groan while Veron chuckled behind me. Two other guards rushed forward with their aggravating shock sticks.
“Enough,” Ket said. “Your name?”
