It could take months, maybe years, for that to happen.
If ever. The galaxy was filled with mysterious things happening every day. There was no telling if the ship would ever return.
I glanced at Alice out the corner of my eye. In truth, I didn’t like the idea of leaving her behind. The city was safe enough but she was a lone human female. There were far too many smugglers and other dangerous species that might take an interest in her.
We needed a new plan. A way to get my ship back—quickly—so I could return Alice home.
But what?
We entered the city limits. The streets bulged with creatures and sights and smells all too familiar to me.
Even as a child, I hated the city. It was smelly, noisy, and everyone hustled to get their tasks done. No one worked together—not if there was no profit in it.
Alice gaped at each sight, the same way I did as a small child. Trying to take everything in at once.
I took her hand. “Stay close.”
I paused as a pair of Enforcers brought a cart to a stop and began to search it. They were dressed in thick metal armor plate and carried powerful pulse rifles attached to their arms.
I curled my scarf into a hood to hide my features. The last thing I needed right now was to be identified.
“Down here,” I said, tugging on Alice’s arm and taking her down a side street.
I turned one corner after another and didn’t stop until I was certain the smugglers were out of sight. I found myself in a quieter street with carts loaded with books and other manuscripts.
“What’s going on?” Alice said.
“Enforcers,” I said in a hushed voice. “We need to be wary of them.”
I need to be wary of them.
“Why?”
“They carry out the law in the galaxy,” I said. “Often with an iron fist.”
Alice’s eyes sparkled. “They’re cops? That’s great! We can tell them what happened with your ship and crew and they’ll help us get it back.”
I shook my head. “They hunt down smugglers like cockroaches. The second they know I’m a smuggler, they’ll slap me with a lifetime sentence.”
Alice bit her lip in thought. Then her eyes drifted over to the wall behind me.
I turned to look at what had grabbed her attention. It was a wall decorated with hundreds of posters. They showed wanted men and women and a big fat reward attached to each one. There were a lot of them. Most sported moving images of bad guys carrying out illegal activities.
“There was something like this back in Party Central where you abducted me from,” Alice said.
I glanced at the people milling past in the street. I wished she would keep her voice down.
“They had all these missing posters on a big wall like this,” I said. “I guess some of the people on this wall are responsible for those missing girls.”
She was more right than she realized.
“Come on,” I said. “We need to get going—”
Alice lifted one of the posters, revealing a hand-drawn face that offered one of the largest rewards.
“This is you?” she said. “You’re a wanted felon?”
She sounded surprised. I didn’t see why she should be. Still, I didn’t want everyone on this street knowing it. They’d hand me in faster than a winning lotto ticket.
“I’m a smuggler,” I said quietly.
“I thought slavery was common in the galaxy?” she said.
“It is. But there’s legal and there’s illegal.”
She shook her head, disbelieving. “I had no idea.”
“Well, now you do,” I said, removing her hand from the poster so it fell back down over my face. I wished I could tear it off without getting suspicious looks.
“The others have moving images of the criminals,” Alice said. “How come they don’t have one of you?”
“Because they’ve never caught me in the act,” I said, and couldn’t help but feel a little pride. “We’ll need to get off the streets if we want to stay out of their hands—”
Alice fingered another poster. What was it with her and posters?
This one was larger and had an image of a fighting pit at its center. Just glancing at it unleashed a set of memories I didn’t want to recall. I placed my hand over hers, serving to block out the image too.
“We need to keep moving,” I said.
“Is this your fighting pit?” she said.
I searched her eyes. “Yes.”
“It looks like the Coliseum back on Earth. I suppose everyone needs entertainment. Even if it is barbaric.”
“You don’t want to go?” I said sardonically. “I was planning on buying tickets. Front row seats. If we’re lucky, we’ll get sprayed with their blood.”
Alice screwed up her face and took my arm, leading us away. As I turned, my eyes caught something. I looked back.
Just below where I’d pressed my hand was a number.
A very big number.
It was the prize money for the successful gladiators who defeated the three challenges.
“The prize money…” I said.
“The prize for what?” Alice said.
“For beating the three challenges,” I said, a new idea blossoming in my mind. “The prize money accumulates every time gladiators fail to win. Come on.”
I took Alice by the hand.
“What?” she said. “What is it?”
“Our way out of here,” I said.
I led her through the busy city streets toward the largest building at the city’s heart.
The fighting pit.
Despite myself, a grin rose to my cheeks.
My dislike for the fighting pit had made me blind to the opportunity staring me in the face. The best—if not the easiest—way of getting my ship back as soon as possible. But was the prize money still as large as it was on the poster we saw? They were old and weren’t updated regularly.
Hung across the front of the fighting pit entrance, huge banners announced the total amount that would go to the winner.
The amount wasn’t the same as the poster.
It was more.
“This is it,” I said. “This
