Children of Steel Read online

  "Well, we found out yesterday about his offers, and decided to get you this morning. Just in case."

  "Do you think the company rep will sell my contract?" I asked curious.

  "Nah, he knows I'd kill him if he did. That's assuming the Captain didn't have him arrested first. The company frowns on that kind of thing."

  "But we were still afraid he might try and do something to make you miss ship's movement," added Herza.

  "So that was why Helena had the palm needle," I sat back amazed, "Gee how sweet."

  "How sweet!" thundered Herza furious, "Raj, they were going to make you a slave!"

  "Actually more like a pampered pet," I replied smiling.

  "And that's okay with you?" She stated still steaming.

  "Weeell," I said slowly, "it's a tough call. She's really something else, her Master seems to be an okay guy, and they treated me better than anybody in my entire life." I leaned over and goosed Herza, who jumped. "Except of course for you folks."

  "I still think you're an idiot to even consider it," she mumbled, somewhat mollified.

  "It has its advantage's, I'll give you that," put in Balizar from the front seat.

  "Especially when it's somebody really important you're owned by."

  "What's that on your arm anyway?" Asked Herza, "It must have cost a fortune."

  "Oh, I stopped somebody from assassinating him, and this was my reward. Nice huh?" I took it off and showed it to her.

  "I take it that happened about two days ago?" asked Balizar.

  "Yep, so I guess that was when he decided to try and buy me for Helena. You know I'm going to have to send her an apology, Herza's hitting her with that sap really wasn't very nice."

  "Probably a good idea, who knows when you'll be back, right?"

  The drive back turned out to be anti-climatic, with nobody trying to stop us at the last minute, or anything else equally exciting. Balizar did order me back to the ship as soon as we stopped however, so I went to my room and got into a uniform, grabbed my stuff and went. The things I had bought on that first day were sitting on my bed, so I just tossed them into my bag with the other stuff.

  I wrote a quick letter on the way up though, and had it sent by local mail to Helena. In it I apologized about what Herza had done, but told her that the needle had been a bad idea. I also told her that the next time I came through, I expected to see her again and who knows? Maybe I'd stay too.

  Loading went fairly quick, as we were taking back mostly jewelry and other craftworks. That kind of stuff, while expensive, doesn't really take up all that much space and we left with one of our pods two-thirds empty.

  I was surprised to receive a letter from both Helena and her Master before we left orbit. She accepted my apology, and hoped I would return, saying she would miss me greatly. Hyberious commended me on making my escape, saying he was still sorry to see me go and that if I should change my mind in the future, the offer still stood.

  I felt good about that last part; it's always nice to have an option.

  21

  As always, things went back to their normal routine once we broke orbit. I wouldn't say totally normal, there was some fallout from my little adventure. The first was that pictures started appearing on some of the ships bulletin boards, of me all done up in jewelry and lying on the litter with Helena. I got a lot of ribbing about that, it seems quite a few members of the crew had seen me during leave too.

  I finally managed to track down the culprit, and wasn't too surprised to find that Rudy was the responsible party. He didn't look very happy when I finally caught up with him in the flight room.

  "Hey, can't you take a joke Raj?" he looked at Dave and Gabe for help. They just ignored him.

  "Calm down, I just wanted to get some copies," I told him, laughing at his expression.

  "You're not going to get any revenge?" he asked skeptically.

  "Well, I don't know about that," I smiled, "But to be honest I had a great time, and wouldn't mind some pictures to remember it by."

  "Any truth to the rumor that they tried to buy you?" asked Gabe while he was checking his cards. We were a day from jump and the traditional poker game was in full swing.

  "Sure is, they really appreciate talent back there on Pharaoh," I smiled smugly.

  "More likely they appreciate stupidity," said Dave raising the bid, and I snorted at his comment. "I also heard that Balizar and Herza had to drag you out of there, that they weren't going to let you go," he finished.

  "If it wasn't for my desire to be with Cassandra, I can tell you right now I probably would have stayed. As for being rescued, well Helena was considering trying to get me to miss ship's movement. I guess she figured I'd give up and stay then."

  "What'd she do?" asked Gabe.

  "She was going to hit me with a slap needle, but Herza laid her out from behind with a sap."

  "Ouch!" said Dave, "You better watch out for Herza Raj, I think she considers you her property."

  "Nah, she's just overly protective." I replied, but I wasn't so sure I believed it even as I said it. She'd been avoiding me since I came back on board. Mist and Katrine had both been by; they thought the whole thing rather funny. But Terease and Lyle had both confirmed that she was in a bit of a funk at me, I just hoped she never ran into Cassandra, or there would be fireworks for sure.

  We made jump the next day without mishap. There was a clan meeting set for that night and I had definite plans for Herza, regardless of what she thought.

  I arrived a little late to find everybody comfortably sprawled about. I plopped down next to Herza, and when she tried to turn away, I put her in a leg lock.

  "Knock it off Raj," she hissed quietly.

  "Am I forgiven?" I asked quietly.

  "I haven't decided yet."

  "Well can you at least be civil until you decide?" I asked smiling.

  "Okay, but no funny stuff, you're still in the dog house buddy." she growled, but stopped trying to turn away.

  Balizar had been watching us, and now that it appeared settled he started in with some questions. "Any regrets about coming back Raj?"

  "No, not really. It was a tempting proposition though, I mean I might have ended up a slave, but I would have been a very pampered one at that. He's a very powerful man on Pharaoh, and actually quite nice."

  "First time you lost it he would have turned you into dog food!" Herza said growling crossly.

  "No, actually he liked my propensity for violence," I turned back to Balizar, "Do you know he had a copy of my entire record? Everything? Including my screw ups?"

  "Really?!" said Balizar shocked, "How in the world did he get those? I'm going to have to do a security check immediately."

  "And he still wanted you after reading it?" said Terease laughing, "No wonder you were so tempted! They must be as crazy as you!"

  "Worse actually," I grinned evilly at her, not hard after watching Helena for a week. "Made me feel like the voice of reason for a change."

  "Now I know it's bad!" chuckled Banner, "Remind me never to get in trouble there."

  I then showed everybody the armband, as well as the other things I had gotten as gifts.

  "This must be worth two hundred thou easily," Sharazad told me while given the stuff careful examination.

  "You're kidding!" I said abashed.

  "No I'm serious. Pharaoh is known for their art work, and this is top quality. On some major planets you could get as much as a quarter mil for the armband alone. If you decide to sell it, wait till we're someplace that has a lot of rich people."

  That made me stop and think for awhile. I had been pretty lucky once again; this stuff would make a real dent in my bill. On the other hand though, if I should ever go back to stay I wouldn't need to sell it. Decisions, decisions.

  Everybody talked then about what they had done and seen while planet side. I heard the story from Balizar about how the Captain notified him that someone was trying to buy out my contract, and how they had tried to call me several
times after that.

  "Fortunately, Mist and Lyle remembered where the place was and told us. But after seeing all this wealth, maybe we didn't do you any favors, huh?" We all laughed at that one and after everybody had calmed down I reassured them that I was happy to be back.

  "Nothing makes you feel so wanted as a daring rescue!" and I gave Herza a hug, who grumbled at me again.

  We broke up a little later after that, and I got up when Herza did.

  "And what do you think you're doing?" she said looking at me. Those who were still there watched with interest.

  "Going with you, what else?" I replied innocently.

  "Oh no you're not!" she replied hotly.

  "Okay," I said as I quickly tripped her from the side, "I guess you're coming with me then!" And I scooped her up before she realized what I was up to. Throwing her over my shoulder I made quickly for the door as everybody applauded. Herza started biting kicking and clawing for all she was worth.

  "I'm going to kill you for this you lousy bastard!" she yelled between bites. I ran to my quarters as fast as I could, it hurt like the dickens.

  I made it there in record time, about twenty seconds, tossed her in and locked the door behind me. I had a large gash below the ear, several deep bites on my shoulder and who knows how many slashes on my back. I could see my blood on her claws and muzzle.

  "Let me out of here now!" she growled at me.

  "Not until we settle this," I growled back, I was hurting now and that started to trigger my own temper. "I want to know why you're so mad at me. So I thought about leaving, we're not mated and you don't own me!"

  She just came at me with her claws out then and attacked. At least she didn't touch her knife. It was a rather quick if bloody and vicious fight, she managed to rake my legs with her feet when I grabbed her, and I got a sore head from head butting her a good four or five times. Once that slowed her down a bit we traded some elbow and knee shots, then just as suddenly as she had started, she stopped.

  I leaned back against the wall; my head rather dizzy from those headbutts myself.

  "I just didn't want to lose you yet, that's all," she said collapsing on the bed with a choked sob. "It's bad enough that you're already spoken for, but then you go and consider giving up on that commitment, and I'm not the one you were going to give it up for! Of course I'm mad, madder than hell! I love you Raj, and I want you for myself!"

  Whoa! That stopped me in my tracks, I had never really believed that Herza could be interested in me, despite what the other's had been hinting. After all I was just some young cub, she could do a lot better than me anytime!

  "I hadn't realized you felt that way," I admitted, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor, my back felt rather sticky and I winced. "But if it makes you feel any better, Cassandra was the reason I decided to go. I just couldn't give that up. As for the reasons for staying, I did lose it once down there I guess, lost it big and helped them kill someone. They though it was great. As for Helena, she's got more bloodlust than anyone I've ever seen. They train for it down there.

  "So of course I wanted to stay, the very thing that's almost gotten me 'put down' here, is desired there." I went over and sat down next to her.

  "You know," she said motioning to the wall, "Your back is bleeding pretty bad, I should know!" I looked at the wall and saw a large red blot there.

  "Ugh, let's go wash up. My field kit is in the cabinet there, you can fix up your handy work." I looked at her, "That is of course if I'm forgiven."

  "Yes, I forgive you." she gave me a long kiss then. "Now let's get you cleaned up before you stain the sheets beyond repair."

  We went to the refresher, and after a painful shower she patched up the cuts. She had a few too, but they were pretty small, I wasn't the one trying to do a filet job.

  I did get even though; I made her do all the work that night. The next morning as we ate breakfast together in the mess, we were joined by Kate and Franz.

  "It's nice to see that you two made up," said Franz.

  "And I can see you still haven't lost your way with women Raj," said Kate looking at the taped up gash on the side of my head. "I suppose there are more underneath the uniform?"

  "Of course," I sighed, "One of these days I'm going to discover a less painful way of dealing with women. At least I hope so."

  "Stop trying to solve everything with force," she suggested, "You'll get bit less."

  "Unfortunately it's all I know." I admitted sheepishly.

  "The sooner Cassandra takes him off the market, the healthier he'll be," said Herza surprising me. "I get the impression they don't ever fight."

  "That true Raj?" asked Franz.

  "Of course, I learned long ago that she's always right." I paused a second, "and I'm afraid to hit her. She gets even, usually late at night when you're asleep." I finished dejectedly.

  They all laughed at that for quite a while, I could see that things were back to normal now and I was quite happy about that indeed.

  Our next stop was a mining installation on a reject of a planet called Osborn.

  It really was a reject too. It was about twice the diameter of the Earth's moon, the atmosphere wasn't breathable, there was no life at all, and the gravity was only about one half earth normal. This of course meant that the atmosphere was so thin, we had to wear light pressure suits if we went outside or risk the bends. The only reason there was a mining installation on Osborn in the first place was that it was composed mostly of heavy elements and super dense materials.

  We were going there to bring supplies, that was what the last loaded pod contained, and pick up a load of processed ore. The supplies we were bringing were mostly replacement parts, vitamin supplements, some foodstuffs that they couldn't grow themselves in their hydroponics’ section, and of course the ever popular entertainment material.

  That was one of the nice perks about working for a corporation which had an entertainment company as one of its original parents. They still made motion pictures too, both in Holo and the old flatscreen style. They even had a division which handled other forms of entertainment as well, which when you consider that any company which does a lot of deep space work is going to need to keep the troops happy, was a very good idea. Profitable too when you considered that most other companies either couldn't afford, or didn't want, to waste time with such a division. So we made a nice profit selling to those companies, and don't forget the public market, they did well there too.

  Unloading took us about four days, the lesser gravity helped a bit and they had a large pressurized hanger to unload in once down.

  Loading was a different matter entirely. Even in a half G field that stuff was heavy, and that's not even mentioning its mass, which was considerable. We worked only eight hours a day, as everybody was pretty tired after that. We also had to shift all the stuff from the partially full pod into the Astra's internal holds so the ship would still have its center of mass through its axis. That alone took three days, but at least it wasn't heavy stuff.

  So it was two weeks after we started the loading until we were done. At that point the Captain gave everybody two days off duty. If we had been someplace worth seeing I'm sure everybody would have complained, but as it was we just wanted to make our next port, which was obviously Hobson.

  As for what Osborn looked like it was pretty bleak, the surface being mostly iron. It was extremely rough terrain, the process of erosion being unknown here. It was also about one fifty in the shade, so I only saw it through an observation port. I had no desire to go out in that heat.

  Twenty percent of the mining was strip mining above ground. I wouldn't have wanted to work out there, that was for sure. But I found out the underground mining wasn't any picnic either, casualties ran to about twenty five percent a year. With a working crew of eight hundred or so, I could understand why the local security detachment carried automatic weapons.

  One miner actually tried to get me to smuggle him off planet, but when I showed him the scars benea
th my fur from last year, he decided he'd rather stay.

  I was surprised at first that the moral here wasn't lower than it was, but then Dave explained it to me.

  "A lot of these people either couldn't or wouldn't learn a skill, the rest are either working for large bonuses, or are here as punishment.

  "In any case, the chances of dying here are just as bad as any place else. The Astra's overall mortality rate may only be about eight percent, but that's because we have a lot of people who never leave the ship and that brings down the curve. One good space combat though and it could jump way up there, even to one hundred!"

  I thought about that, it didn't bother me much but I bet some people would find it hard to sleep at night with that fact in their heads.

  He continued, "So they're about as bad off here as anyplace else. True it's a boring place and all that, but at least there's very little chance of it being totally destroyed in combat or lost in space due to a drive misfunction or any of the other myriad of things that can plague a spaceship."

  "I'd still take the Astra any day!" I said smiling.

  "Hell, me too! I hate mining!" Dave laughed, and we went back to our drinking. Which was one thing we did do a lot of in those two days. So much so that I had to be carried back to my room that night, and got violently ill. At least nobody saw me puking on the floor, but I got a lot of harassment from the people who had to carry me. As they had dropped me twice, once down a staircase, I told them to stuff it.

  At least they have a cure for hangovers in the twenty-second century, or I don't think I would have ever survived. I still felt like crap that day when we returned to the Astra, at least I wasn't flying.

  The trip out from Osborn was real slow. Normally with only two pods on the Astra can make pretty good headway, and once in jump travels at about four lights. But we had a lot of superdense material aboard so we were down to less than three; it was going to be a long trip back, nearly three months.

  My tour on the Astra was for six years and I’d completed almost two and a half years of it, and by the time we hit Hobson, it would be thirty one months since I had signed on. That would make it nearly the halfway point in my assignment.