The trouble was, I had nothing to dwell on aside from morbid questions. What would happen to Varok? How safe was the bunker? How could I protect myself if things went wrong? That brought my attention back to the skimmer, and The Night Watch still secured in its crate. In an emergency, how fast could I get it turned and upstairs? The answer was obvious—not fast enough.
So, swearing as I worked, I swung the skimmer around. The tight confines of the stairwell made it difficult, but I’d never been afraid of hard work, and I needed the distraction. More than an hour later, I’d finally gotten the skimmer facing the stairs. Whether its jury-rigged engine would manage the slope without exploding, I had no way to test aside from firing her up. At least now, I’d be able to find out fast if necessary.
Sitting down, back against the skimmer’s drive port, I checked the time and swore. Far too soon to expect Varok’s return, but my stupid brain told me to worry.
“He’ll be gone forhours,” I said to myself. Would hearing it out loud work again? “If he gets back sooner, it’s because something’s gone wrong.”
A thought struck me, one I didn’t want to entertain. I couldn’t ignore it, though. Varok had left, abandoning the prize we’d fought for with me. I had the painting and the skimmer.
This was my best—maybe only—chance to escape with The Night Watch.
Am I really considering running off with it now? Betraying Varok and abandoning him?Covering my face with my hands, I groaned. Yes, I was considering exactly that. I liked Varok—more thanliked,though I wasn’t ready to think about that—butit didn’t change the facts. He was a professional thief and con artist. How could I trust him?
If we got off-world together, what would keep him from taking The Night Watch and selling it? Nothing except his feelings for me.How can I trust him? Every mark believes the con artist isn’t tricking her.
I’d run enough scams of my own to know that and fallen victim to them often enough to know I wasn’t immune. Should I escape and then come back to save the infuriating alien after I’d handed it off? Except it’d take days or weeks, and he’d be dead by the time I got back.
None of this matters without a way off-planet,I told myself. With the spaceport locked down tight, I had nowhere to run. If there were working spaceships elsewhere on Wardal, I didn’t have the faintest idea where.
“I guess it can’t hurt to check again,” I said aloud, my voice sounding tiny in the gloomy concrete corridor. “A gap might have opened in their coverage.”
Unlikely, but I had nothing to lose by checking. At least it gave me something to do aside from fret over whether I could—orshould—trust Varok.
Debbie had recharged since her last outing, so I double-checked her scouting settings to make sure she’d stay safely out of the gem-droids’ sensors. Satisfied, I opened the bunker door just wide enough to toss her out into the frigid air beyond. Her rotors sprang to life, lifting and steadying her, and a second later she was gone, speeding off to probe the spaceport’s defenses. I slammed the door shut against the cold and sat down, resting against the dark metal.
Okay, it’d put off fretting for all of ten minutes. Better than nothing, but with Debbie gone, I was back to worrying about Varok.It’s not like we’re partners, right? Allies of convenience, no more, no less.
Yeah, right. I always fuck my allies.I pulled a face but didn’t argue the point. We’d crossed a line there, and he meant more to me than just someone I’d met on a heist. But did that outweigh my responsibility to Earth?
I didn’t have an answer by the time Debbie returned, flying into the heavy outer door to attract my attention. Heart in my mouth, I let her in and started playing back her latest recording right there on the stairs.
A guilty relief shot through me as I saw the security at the port hadn’t weakened since my last try. Without somewhere to take it, running off with The Night Watch served no purpose. Debbie had spared me the need to make a choice, thank goodness. Between my whisperlight and skill, I spotted a few gaps I might get through alone. But on the skimmer, carrying the bulky container? No way.
About to close the holodisplay, I paused as something moved in the distance. Even at maximum zoom, the image wasn’t clear. Something was going on, though—the Collectors’ gem-droids swarmed over, firing wildly. It took one of the crystalline robots exploding into a shower of sparks for me to understand.
Some of the Collectors’ guests were attacking the spaceport, hoping to escape. I couldn’t see how the assault was going, but what mattered was that they’d drawn the gem-droids’ attention. Most of the spaceport was wide open.
I checked the timestamp—this had all happened ten minutes ago. My only chance of getting into the port undetected might have closed already.
18
VAROK
The cold seeped into my bones, and every breath of freezing air hurt. I might have exaggerated my cold resistance, but Penny didn’t need more reasons to worry. My human mate needed food, so I would catch her something to eat, and that was that.
If my hunt brought me close enough to the spaceport to examine its security first-hand, that was a happy coincidence. Penny would never approve of the risk, but she relied too much on her technology. Her drone was a useful tool, yes, but it would miss things I might spot in person.
As long as the Collectors didn’t catch me sneaking around, of course. If that happened, at least I wouldn’t doom Penny along with myself.
The thought of her warmed me, kept me going. Alone, the brutal cold might have been the end of me, but I just needed to think of the human’s warm embrace, her glittering green eyes, her crooked little smile. I refused to fail her and would not give up while she relied on me. The warmth filling my heart was enough to keep me going, though the hunt wasn’t going as well as I’d hoped.
Hunting on an unknown planet is always challenging. This planet, slowly freezing into a ball of ice, was worse than most. There were predators, so prey had to be close, but finding them proved impossible. The hunters themselves were easier to track, and I followed their trails on the assumption that they had to cover the best hunting grounds. It also increased the odds of running into a pack, but I’d deal with that when it happened.
Maybe there’s good eating on them,I told myself with a silent chuckle. Unlikely, as predators rarely taste good, but as long as their flesh was edible, I’d do my best to make a meal from it. The bigger issue was finding one alone. Each time I saw their tracks, they were in groups of at least three. Tough odds for little reward. I crept through their territory, moving from one ruin to another and keeping out of sight as much as possible. It made for slow going.
The mountaintop spaceport loomed over the city, and the roads rose as I approached it, joining with one another until they became one broad highway, the one on which we’d encountered the forcefield. I didn’t go that way, though. The Collectors were no fools, and they’d be watching for us. Instead, I sought a vantage point from which to assess the port’s security.
A ruined skyscraper gave me the height I needed, though I didn’t want to risk going inside. My best option turned out to be a gigantic pyramid of stone and glass. It had weathered the years well, and though I didn’t trust the interior, the outer slope was climbable. The remaining glass creaked under me, and the metal struts supporting it had twisted over the years. Every step was a risk, and I wondered if I’d overestimated the pyramid’s stability.No one’s been here for decades. If it hasn’t fallen yet, it won’t collapse under my weight.
