The message cut off and repeated.
Only a recording. Regers mulled it over. More static, then the message faded out to background. White noise. The Mentera’s life extinguished with it.
“What’s that all about ‘Kraetoria’?” muttered Deakes.
Regers curled his lip. “Guessing that my good friend Yul went to that Dim Zone shithole. Narrows down my search then. Once we pawn off this tech, we’ll head to Kraetoria.”
“No way, Regers,” said Deakes. “Why insist on one-upping this fucker Yul? You’re alive, can’t you just leave it at that?”
Regers fingers twitched on his E1. “This is my ship, my way, Deakes.”
“You’re asking for trouble. Those bugs will cut us up and eat us for breakfast.”
Regers grinned a toothy grin. “Not while me and my blaster are on duty. I’ll be kicking some bug ass before long, you wait. Jiminy, cut that annoying bug signal.”
Jennings flipped the switch. The circuit went dead.
Dez vaulted over to grasp at Regers’ arm, mouthing words in a strained voice. Regers winced at the man’s breath and his unwholesome pallor.
“You have to turn this thing around, Regers! You heard about the alien invasion of human worlds. This tech is all the more important. Mathias is dead. You’ll not find Yul here or on Kraetoria. A waste to keep me hostage here.”
“Pay me my money, you fucking bastard, then we’ll talk.”
“You’ll get your damn money, Regers. Seems that’s all you care about.”
“Damn right. I’ll tell you what, I’ll sell the mechno to you, even deliver it. Price is a million yols.”
“A million yols?” Dez gaped, a strangled croak gurgling from his mouth. “No bloody way, Regers, that’s highway robbery.”
“What happened to ‘worth its weight in gold’?” Regers smirked. He mimed quotation marks and knew by the feigned outcry that the CEO would pay more for it if he had to. Sell his own mother on the streets, considering the scope of the mechno’s application. The dragonfly-driven tech would be worth a hundred-fold more than his asking price once Cyber Corp got its marketing machine going.
“Take the offer now, Dez, before it goes up another million.”
Dez bit his lip. He looked here and there, flush-faced, like a snared rabbit.
“Price just went up,” Regers said after the man’s hesitation. “A new ship too, an Alpha Roamer X4 or better. One mil yols plus ship payable on delivery.”
Dez squirmed like a worm on a hook. “Okay, deal.” He wiped at the sweat gathering at the bags under his eyes. “Why am I going along with this?”
“Because Mathias’ll give you a cherry, maybe even suck your dick as a bonus, if he ever surfaces from his hiding.”
Vincent choked out a laugh. Dez grimaced and hissed between his teeth.
“So we’re good, one million plus a new ship? I’ll throw in Xaromar as a freebie once you hand over my Roamer.”
Dez nodded, clawing at his pale ruff of sea-oat hair.
Regers slapped his thigh. “Now there’s business I can feel good about. I’m getting all tingly and warm thinking about it. Practically getting a hard on. Dez, you drive a hard bargain. So, let’s say we haul ass back to Phallanor with your bug armor. Perfect timing now, that old butterfly boy is left light years behind.” He grinned.
Regers stepped closer to the quivering man and spoke in an amiable voice. “Let’s firm it up, our deal, before you go changing your mind, like a little chicken shit bastard turned tail. You’re a slippery fellow, Dez, and I gotta keep my eye on you. Some time later you’ll send a gaggle of lawyers on me and weasel your way out. A man can never be too careful.”
Regers rummaged through the forward bin. He pulled out a lumo pen and phosphor pad and scrawled some hasty words on the back of what looked like an old parts requisition form. “Sign,” he said.
“As if I had any choice,” Dez panted, puckering up his mouth. He scribbled his signature.
Regers scribbled his own mark while the others looked on in wonder. Regers signaled both Deakes and Vincent over to sign as witnesses.
“If it makes you feel better, Dez, if you hadn’t agreed to those terms I’d have sicced Vincent on you, had him shove this rifle end down your throat till you were chirping birdshit like a big fat robin hunting worms in the morning dew.”
“You’re a pig, Regers. If I ever—”
Regers held up a hand. “Save it. Just a lot of windy air, we both know it.”
Dez fumed, his eyes blazing like a man who knew he was powerless in Regers’ clutches.
* * *
Far away somewhere in the ruins of the forgotten research station, CEO Mathias hung suspended like a dead fish in his brine-filled tank, huddled in the murk of a broken Zikri Orb. He had missed his chance of rescue by a thin hair. In universal terms, this was significant, considering the billions of unknown worlds in the galaxy and the zero likelihood of any human venturing to these remote planets on the edge of The Dim Zone. As Regers and crew, oblivious to the CEO’s presence trapped in the tank, scooted off down the light highways at inconceivable speeds, never to return to Remus, Mathis continued his dreamless vigil. Luckily, for him, the brine would keep him alive indefinitely. Unluckily, there was no reason for human, alien, or anything else to ever return to that primitive, mysterious world.
Chapter 16
A few days later, Xaromar made a pit stop at Vendrome planet. They acquired food and battle gear, then headed straight for Phallanor. The planet’s blue-green disc yawned below them, a human hub of hubs expanding from horizon to horizon, getting larger by the minute. The ship impulsed down on its still weak power, transporting its precious cargo,
