Prison Ship (6 page)

“Before you go crazy, hear me out,” she said.

Steiner was so furious, he almost forgot where he was. “You have the ‘Killer Cyborg’ on this ship?”

“Before the accident, he was one of the best weaponry specialists in the fleet,” she replied.

“It murdered two innocent men.”

“He was forced back into duty before he had time to adjust to his new form. The transition was too much for him. He’s had eight years to assimilate. He’s ready to serve again.”

Steiner fought to keep his temper under control. “I refuse to work with that thing.”

“Stop referring to him as an inanimate object. He is alive. I’ve spoken with him. His warden described him as a quiet, solitary individual who never harmed, or attempted to harm, any other inmate.”

Steiner huffed. “If it murdered once, it will again. Maybe that’s who killed Barker.”

“That’s not fair. Give him a chance. When you reach your first port, if you still feel you cannot trust him, you can have him transferred off.”

“I don’t want Tramer here at all—not after what it did.”

Suzanne rolled her eyes. “Many other members of your crew have murdered people.”

“But not crumpled their victims.”

“Listen to me, Jake. I’ve interviewed him in depth several times. He’s the same man who helped us upgrade the
Valiant
eight years ago.”

“No,” Steiner shouted, pounding his fist on the table.

The noise startled several of the convicts close to them. They turned to stare. Steiner ignored them and sipped at his drink as if nothing had happened. The men lost interest.

“Maxwell is dead,” Steiner said much softer. “Some cyberneticists created their version of life using what was left of his body. Don’t ask me to treat it like anything except what it is: a killing machine.”

“I would transfer him off if I could, but no facility in the area is equipped with the security needed to house him.”

“What about its previous prison?”

“It’s located in the Southern Territory of the galaxy. No vessel is available to transport him there before the P.A.V. launches. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to take him as far as the Tycus base. That’s where you’ll get an encrypted Orders disk.”

“That’s two weeks away. I don’t want that thing on board for a day. Use your prestigious rank to influence someone to take it.”

Her countenance darkened. “There’s nothing I can do. You’re stuck with him for a while.”

Steiner wanted to hit the table again but couldn’t afford any more attention. “I can’t understand why you ever enlisted Tramer to begin with,” he said.

“I gave him a second chance, just like I gave you,” Suzanne replied.

Loud cheers rose from the counter, where a group of prisoners had rallied together. Bricket grumbled as he backed away from the assembly. A man climbed up on the bar and danced around, shouting for everyone’s attention.

When the room quieted, the man stood erect. “Do you know who I am?”

The crowd responded in an unintelligible chatter of individual voices. Steiner recognized him as one of the maintenance personnel but couldn’t remember his name.

“I’m Captain Barker, raised from the dead,” the man shouted. Boos and hisses rose up in reply. “I’m here to make soldiers out of you all. We’ll start with our daily exercises.” He did jumping jacks while being assaulted by wadded-up napkins.

“I’m sure they’re just venting their frustrations,” Suzanne whispered.

Steiner imagined the real Joseph Barker acting like this caricature. Maybe that was why he was killed. Maybe he tried to make this ragged bunch into a model crew.

“If anyone does anything wrong,” the phony captain threatened, “I’ll punish all of you.”

“Kill him,” several people chanted.

Reaching under his tunic, Steiner’s fingers tightened around the handle of his AT-7.

“Don’t do anything yet, Jake,” Suzanne pleaded. “They’re just fooling around.”

Louis Rathen, one of the pilots she had briefed him about, jumped onto the counter. The audience went wild as he bowed. “Time to die,” he bellowed at the other actor. He reached into his shirt and pulled out a pistol.

Steiner sprang to his feet and stormed through the crowd, shoving convicts out of his path. Somewhere behind him, he heard Suzanne shouting for him to stop.

Louis Rathen pretended to shoot his gun. The “captain” grabbed his chest and fell into the raised arms of nearby patrons. When the mob lowered the actor to the ground, Steiner greeted the man with an uppercut to the jaw. Rage constricted the faces of all the spectators. When Steiner whipped out his AT-7, they backed away.

Louis Rathen stood motionless on the counter, staring down in apparent bewilderment.

With a powerful swipe of his free hand, Steiner knocked the pilot’s feet out from under him, sending him crashing down against the hard surface. While Rathen was still dazed, Steiner whisked the pistol from his grasp.

“Jake,” Suzanne screamed.

Steiner spun around in time to see a convict grab her by the wrist and rip her hat off.

“It’s a woman,” the man exclaimed.

Steiner aimed both gun muzzles, causing everyone in their sights to drop to the ground. “Let her go,” he ordered, then squeezed the triggers. Energy bolts dug into the table right next to the man holding Suzanne, shattering all the glass mugs on it.

The convict released her and threw up his hands.

Silence engulfed the room as all eyes fixed on Steiner. “I’m your new captain,” he shouted. “I won’t be as easy to kill as Barker.”

Suzanne stepped through the gathering, giving him an irritated glare.

“I expect all of you to be cleaned up for the launch tomorrow,” he bellowed at the men.

After handing the confiscated pistol to Suzanne, he yanked Rathen off the counter and dragged him toward the exit. A path split apart for them as they passed through the crowd. Before leaving the establishment, he took a last look at his future crew, making sure they didn’t make any sudden moves. They appeared too surprised to do anything but gape. Behind the counter, Bricket’s bearded face grinned with pleasure.

Steiner led his prisoner some distance from the bar, then shoved him up against the bulkhead. “Where did you get a pistol?”

“I can’t remember.”

Steiner pressed the barrel of his AT-7 into Rathen’s nostrils. “Since I’m a convict, too, it wouldn’t make much difference if I burned your head off right now.”

“One of the visiting technicians sold it to me,” the pilot blurted out.

“How many more weapons are on board?”

“I don’t know—maybe a dozen.”

Steiner leered at Suzanne. “So much for your tight security.”

She ignored the remark. “What are you going to do to him?”

“Throw him off this ship as an example to the others.”

“You need three pilots. How am I going to find a replacement by tomorrow?”

“Can you enlist anyone?”

“Just about. Why?”

“I know a pilot.”

“I can’t believe I agreed to do this,” Mason said as he looked out a window at the docked P.A.V. “A Peacemaker. They haven’t made one of these in about thirty years. We’ll be outmatched by every vessel we encounter.”

As Steiner expected, Suzanne responded immediately with her defense. “As I pointed out to you earlier, Mr. Mason, you won’t be required to engage any enemy craft. Your missions will only be of an information-gathering nature.”

“Oh, I forgot. We’re pirates, working
for
the U.S.S.” Suzanne rolled her eyes, muttering something under her breath.

Steiner hadn’t been surprised that Mason had joined the program. The man probably would have done anything to escape his mundane prison life.

Sam pressed his face against the transparent glass. “What’s it like traveling through phased space?”

“You’ve never experienced the fifth dimension?” Mason asked.

The teenager’s eyes widened as the pilot exaggerated about interphasing in order to traverse the galaxy at greater speeds than physically possible. Mason emphasized the need for highly skilled hoppers, like himself, to make sure that they didn’t collide with anything along the way.

Steiner smiled, amused by Sam’s innocent excitement. When he had visited Atwood to enlist Mason, he had never intended to bring Sam along. But the boy had begged to come, and suddenly it had seemed like a sort of solution since the alternative was leaving him behind at Big Al’s mercy. Besides, Jake needed a friend he could trust.

Suzanne drew Steiner back from his fellow shipmates. “How do you know Rick Mason is any good at space piloting? When I did a background check on him, I came up empty.”

“The stories he told in prison were too technical to have been made up,” Steiner replied. “He even described some of the captains perfectly.”

“Can you trust him?”

“More than Tramer.”

The retort earned a glare from Suzanne. “Let’s go. Your meeting with your crew is in fifteen minutes.” She started down the corridor.

Steiner called Mason and Sam from the window, then led them after her.

Three station personnel passed by in the opposite direction, eyeing Steiner and his convict friends with looks of disgust. Steiner ignored them. He expected this kind of behavior from other military personnel.

Mason scratched his neck. “Regardless of what that old medicine man told us, I can still feel that piece of circuitry he shot into me.”

“It’s your imagination,” Suzanne said from the front. “The tracers are painless.”

“That’s what you think, Legs,” Mason replied.

“Get used to it, Shorty,” she shot back.

Mason grinned. “A beauty with a mouth.”

Suzanne stopped at the security checkpoint for the docking tube.

A young male guard saluted.

“Has the vessel remained secure during the night?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am. All the prisoners are accounted for.”

The way the guard answered her aroused Steiner’s suspicions. He stepped forward. “Has anyone gone on board?”

The guard didn’t even acknowledge him but kept his attention focused on Suzanne.

“Did you let someone pass?” Suzanne repeated his question.

The guard hesitated. “A technician went through earlier this morning to retrieve a tool. He only took a minute.”

Suzanne flushed. “I explicitly told you no one goes on or off without my permission.”

The young man stiffened. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”

“Did the technician have anything on him?” Steiner asked.

The guard ignored him again.

Steiner reached over, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him half over the desk. “Answer me, now.”

“The security sensors didn’t detect anything,” the man stammered.

When Steiner released his hold, the guard drew his sidearm. Steiner slapped the weapon from the young man’s hand. It clattered across the floor.

“At ease, Private,” Suzanne shouted. “I’ll handle it from here.”

The guard scowled at her as he picked up his pistol and departed.

“With security like that, no wonder half the convicts are already armed,” Steiner grumbled.

“Why did you do that, Jake?” Suzanne shouted. “Nothing gives you the right—”

“While we were at Atwood, I got the impression the warden was stalling us,” he cut her off. “I think this technician might be the reason.”

“You think Ralph sent him?”

“Of course—who else? I want my gun back.”

“Not until we get on board.”

“I don’t want you coming with us.”

Her countenance darkened. “If you’re worried about my safety, don’t bother.”

“That wasn’t my concern. If I’m going to succeed, I need to portray myself as a strong leader. Having my superior with me might tarnish that image.”

She glanced over at Mason and Sam, watching a few feet away, then nodded. “You win.” She extracted a holster with an AT-7 from her handbag. “Just don’t kill anyone yet.” As she handed the belt to him, she kissed his cheek. “Keep in touch.”

Steiner strapped on the pistol. “If you don’t hear from me, it means I’m dead.”

Suzanne frowned. “Your crew is better than you think.”

Steiner beckoned Mason and Sam to follow him into the docking tube. When they were all inside, Suzanne wished them well, then closed the entrance.

Steiner walked in silence through the transparent tunnel, gazing out at the old ship he was about to board. During last night’s visit, his disguise had offered some protection. Today, the gold-and-silver rank emblems on his black jacket made him a target. When he focused on his reflection in the heavy glass, he was reminded of the way corpses were dressed up before being laid in their coffins.

“Did I understand you and Legs correctly?” Mason asked. “Is someone still gunning for you?”

“That’s why I got this,” Steiner said, as his hand slapped the holstered AT-7.

“Just make sure I don’t get caught in the middle.”

As he stepped into the P.A.V.’s air lock, Steiner pulled out Suzanne’s computer pad and searched for the password to open the interior hatch. “Don’t worry. I can handle myself.” He punched the designated code into a keypad. A gush of air blew into his face, forcing him to blink, as the door slid aside.

The bright interior lighting blazed into the darkened air lock, stinging Steiner’s eyes. Despite the luminance, the ship’s walls appeared bleak and colorless. Steiner stepped on board hesitantly and looked around. The three branching passageways were empty, but voices and noises echoed from deep within them.

After sealing both hatches to the air lock, Steiner led Mason and Sam toward the heart of the vessel. Steiner’s throat felt as dry as the air flowing out of the ventilation ducts. He caressed the inviting handgrip of his AT-7.

He tensed when he saw two crew members turn the corner toward them. They talked casually, then froze upon seeing Steiner. They stood at attention and saluted. When Steiner returned the gesture, the men continued walking by, casting a couple of curious glances behind until they disappeared down the junction by the air lock.

Steiner exhaled with relief. Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as he expected. The scorched walls reminded him otherwise.