Justice (8 page)

All of this
went through Nova’s head as she crept deeper into the forest. There
were so many foreign plants. While her heart raced, she couldn’t
help but enjoy the coloured foliage and many flowers, shining blue
and purple. Some of them glowed with bioluminescence. Others
followed their progress through the trees; their flowers moving to
face her as she walked past. Those were the worst. They sent a
shiver down her spine as if she was being watched, which she
supposed she kind of was.

“
Damned creepy place,” Jack said.

“
Yeah, although if we survive we could probably write a book
about it and retire rich.”

“
Ha! Yes I suppose that’s one option.”

They walked on
in silence, scanning the ground and the trees for any sign of
movement. As they got deeper into the forest and away from the
complex, less sunlight filtered through the trees until they were
left in a deep gloom. Mushrooms sprouted at the base of the trees
and left powder scattered on the ground around them. The tiny
spores lifted up into the air with the motion of their passing,
floating away on the breeze to land some distance away and start a
new collection of mushrooms.

“
How monitored is the intercom?” Jack said
suddenly.

Nova glanced
back at him, not that she could make out any of his features behind
the reflective helmet. “Not at all. Cal made some adjustments.
They’re only linked to each other and then we’ve got our personal
communicators to connect back with the ship.”

“
Good,” Jack said. “I wanted to resume our conversation about
Aart.”

“
I know, I know, he’s a fool and I should shut him up,” Nova
said, snapping a passing twig.

They’d come to
a particularly thick region of forest. The tracks disappeared
through a wall of foliage but no matter how hard Nova pushed
against it she couldn’t make her way through. She pulled a long
knife from her belt and hacked away at the vines and branches that
blocked their path. She cursed whoever they were following because
their tracks barely changed; it was as if they’d walked straight
through the wall of trees.

“
That’s not what I was going to say,” Jack said as he too
pulled out his knife and worked away at the green wall. “I had to
keep up appearances in there. You know the Confederacy has eyes and
ears everywhere.”

“
Oh,” Nova said, her eyebrows furrowing as she hacked and
slashed with her knife.

“
He’s right, Nova. Things in the Inner Galaxies are out of
control. The Confederacy has gone mad with power. I see a lot more
of it during my personal security jobs, but it’s all hushed up.
They block communication; change stories; kill anyone who won’t
follow their instructions. From what I’ve managed to put together,
it’s a powder keg.”

“
But why? Where’s the conflict coming from?” Nova
asked.

“
Well, firstly you’ve got people like Aart. They’re ordinary
people from the Outer Galaxies and the Resources District and they
want fair treatment. They’re sick of being bullied by the
Confederacy’s lackeys. Normal peaceful methods haven’t worked so
they’re rioting. There are more people like Aart than you would
guess, each of them gathering their own little forces.”

“
But it’s useless. Small divided armies would never make any
difference to the Confederacy,” Nova said.

“
I know that, but there’s more.” Jack lowered his voice as if
that would stop anyone hearing their conversation. “Some of the
higher ups in Quadrant Two? You know, the people who really run the
Resources District? There are rumours that they’ve gone mad;
insane.”

“
That’s ridiculous. That would just be stories started by the
rioters; people like Aart.” Nova shrugged as she sliced through the
vines. Each Quadrant contained a small group of planets, all of
which were managed by a small group of Confederacy leaders, and a
horde of administration staff and soldiers. The Quadrants were
similar to the countries of old-Earth.

“
That’s what I thought at first too, but then I took a trip
in.”

“
You went to the Inner Galaxies?” Nova said. It was very rare
for someone from the Outer Galaxies to be allowed past the strict
border control of the inner region.

“
Yeah, I’ve got this one client. She quite likes me if you
know what I mean. Wanted me to accompany her in during a
Confederacy meeting. Anyway, I got to spend some time with my ear
to the ground, and things are weird.”

“
Weird how?” Nova asked. She panted and rested against a
nearby trunk, as sweat dribbled down her forehead. Her mind raced
with what Jack had said, what could be so bad that he couldn’t talk
about it in public?

“
There are stories of cannibalism,” Jack whispered.

“
What?” Nova slipped against the tree, spinning to face
him.

Two faceless
suits stared at each other, surrounded by trees and leaves. Her
heart kicked into overdrive and a chill swept up her spine.

“
Yep. Word is, some of the higher ups in Quadrant Two enjoy
feasting on certain meat. It’s all supposed to be very hush hush
but you hear about it. Criminals going missing, never making it to
the black holes they were supposed to be dropped into. Packages of
unlabelled meat arriving.”

“
How does that even happen?” Nova asked, aghast.

There were
some cannibalistic planets scattered in the Outer Galaxies, but
they were barbaric civilisations with their occupants running
around in loincloths. Cannibalism was not something she associated
with the gold-trimmed superstructures of the Inner Galaxies.

“
I don’t know, but I’m almost certain it’s true. These weren’t
stories from some drunk at the back of a bar. I heard the same
thing from multiple people and they were all scared, Nova; really
scared.”

“
But surely if people knew what was going on? All the Inner
Galaxies would revolt against Quadrant Two and those few would be
killed.”

“
You don’t understand. These are the very top of their
Quadrant. Their word is practically law in their districts. Anyone
who has been heard even mentioning it has gone missing the next
day. It’s like a deadly bubble of silence.”

“
The one time when the Confederacy should be taking control! I
suppose it’s a little bit of a relief that they’re only eating
people that were sentenced to death anyway,” Nova said in a soft
voice as she tried to reconcile the image she had of the refined
Confederacy with a room full of blood-thirsty cannibals.

“
But that’s just it. They’ve got plans,” Jack said.

They stood
still, looking at each other through their reflective helmets. It
was impossible to go on cutting through the forest when it seemed
that everything Nova knew about the Confederacy was crashing down
around her.

“
They’re part of some kind of cult,” Jack said, “and they keep
recruiting members. I heard stories of people whose best friend
would suddenly stop talking to them and start associating with the
high society of the Quadrant, including going to these mysterious
feasts. I don’t know how they’re brainwashing people, but it’s
working.”

“
How many do you think they’ve got so far?” Nova
asked.

“
It’s almost impossible to say. That’s why you can’t talk
about it in public because anyone could be a spy, listening in. I
would say at least three hundred.”

“
What are they going to do with all those people?” Nova asked.
“Just keep eating people and bringing more to their
cause?”

“
That’s just it,” said Jack. “They’ve apparently got bigger
plans. They want to expand. The way I heard it, it’s almost like
they want to invade the Outer Galaxies and take everyone hostage,
as a kind of feeding farm.”

“
But that doesn’t make any sense. They need the Outer Galaxies
to mine their precious metals.”

“
I know. But it’s like they don’t care about that any more,
the most precious resource of all has suddenly become human
flesh.”

“
But it’s a big galaxy. Surely hundreds of people would have
to go missing a day for anyone to even notice?”

“
Exactly,” Jack said, nodding. “It’s getting worse. We
probably still wouldn’t know about it if it weren’t for people like
Aart who are actually bothering to investigate. That and some of
the Inner Galaxy people are scared. You don’t see that very
often.”

“
I can’t believe we haven’t heard about this
before.”

“
Like I said, they’re keeping a very tight lid on it. If we
hadn’t come out here where no one could hear us, I wouldn’t have
told you either.”

“
So, what are we going to do about it?”

Jack shrugged.
“Usually I’d ignore it, let the Inner Galaxies do whatever they
want. But I think they’re serious. And if they keep recruiting
people, they’ll have a bloodthirsty army to do with what they want.
Imagine everyone in The Jagged Maw being dragged off to feed the
Confederacy. At least at the moment it’s only Quadrant Two, but
what happens if they take over the rest of the Confederacy?”

Nova saw it
very clearly in her mind’s eye. She saw Aart and Tanguin lying on a
wide table, tied down, while a man in a crisp suit carved into them
with a serrated blade. Blood poured out onto the table and stained
the white tablecloth crimson.

“
Grishnak,” Nova said.

“
What are you going to do?”

“
Tell Aart when I get a chance.”

“
Be careful,” Jack warned. “They’ve got spies everywhere. I
bet even The Jagged Maw has been infiltrated.”

“
No way,” Nova said, shaking her head.

Jack frowned.
“Just be careful.”

“
I will. I have to think about this, and just when we’ve got a
dead president to search for. I don’t suppose he could have been
eaten?”

“
Zorka is here,” Jack said with a snort. “But somehow I don’t
think she’s taken to cannibalism yet.”

“
I don’t know. She looks like a man-eater to me,” Nova said
with a chuckle.

She turned
around and hacked at the forest with new vigour, her arms whipping
back and forth. The branches and vines finally began to part before
her in a flurry of falling leaves.

14 Hours after
Power-Out…

Hours later,
the complex was far behind them and the forest stretched in every
direction, an endless expanse of green leaves. The silence lay over
them like a blanket, making Nova feel stifled and suffocated inside
the suit.

“
I hope we find him soon because I do not want to spend the
night out here,” said Jack as he stomped behind Nova.

“
Just be grateful the days are thirty-six standard hours.
Imagine if we were on a planet with a twenty hour cycle,” Nova
said.

Jack grumbled
something unintelligible.

“
You know what I don’t get?” said Nova. “There are no
footprints coming back.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Look,” Nova pointed at the ground. “There are the footsteps
leading away, and then the drag marks, but there aren’t any coming
back.”

“
Maybe they’re still out here?” said Jack.

“
But we know they got back to the complex, remember the water
dripping from the used suit?”

“
Oh yeah,” said Jack. “And all the suits were accounted for,
so no one is out here except us.”

“
And they must have been quick. Look how long it’s taken us to
get this far and they managed to get all the way out and back again
in just a couple of hours.”

“
Either way I’m charging them overtime,” said Jack.

“
Who are you going to—”

Nova’s mouth
snapped shut on her tongue as her feet were snatched from
underneath her, ripping her backwards. Her body flew forwards and
lifted into the air, so she dangled from her feet. She let out a
cry that was echoed seconds later by Jack.

She pulled out
her knife and twisted around to look at what was holding her. A
massive vine wrapped around her ankles.

Blood rushed
into Nova’s head, making it throb.

She pulled in
her stomach muscles and lunged up with her knife, grabbing hold of
the vine and slicing through it.

The vine was
almost the size of her waist and made of a tough green covering.
The waxy surface made it difficult to hold on to. The vine lifted
her higher into the air until she hung twenty metres from the
planet surface. From the corner of her eye she saw Jack similarly
dangling. He too had his knife out, but he couldn’t reach up to
attack.

She ignored
her companion for the moment and put her full strength into cutting
the vine. Inch by inch the plant gave way beneath her blade. The
green flesh opened up and sap leaked out of the wound. She curled
her body away from the white liquid as it bubbled out of the plant
and dripped to the ground below.

The last
stringy fibre of the plant broke and Nova’s body dropped. She
curled up and landed on the ground with a solid thud, rolling as
best she could. The severed vine slammed into the ground a few
inches to her right while the rest of the green limb retreated and
disappeared into the jungle undergrowth.