Trapped: Chaos Core Book 1 (12 page)

They were just about to
come out of faster than light mode, and the end of the wormhole ahead
read all clear. Spin got the navigational computer started on
calculating the next jump then stretched and yawned.

The door behind her
opened and she yanked her hands back down to cover her chest when she
realized that she may have approached her morning tasks in the wrong
order. “Get dressed, then check the autopilot,” she said to
herself.

“What’s that?”
Della asked as she brought a small cardboard tray and a steaming
drink in.

“Nothing, just a note
to self,” Spin replied. “Can you pass me the suit?”

Della smiled at Spin’s
strategically placed arms. “I’ve seen everything already. I’d
think you would be more comfortable in your own skin by now.”

“I am, I think I just
got used to being around spacers. They always wear a consuit
underneath their clothes unless they’re on a planet or partying, so
even when they don’t have anything on, they still have a full
bodysuit.”

“Wow, were you on a
small ship?” Della asked, handing her the blue containment suit.

She was dressed in just
a few seconds, happy that the inside of the suit was self-cleaning.
“I love these things. Wardrobe choices are simple, getting dressed
takes a few seconds, and if you spend enough time in the right one,
you forget it’s there.”

“How long did it take
you to get used to a consuit?”

“I never did, not
really, not with the crappy ones I could afford. This one’s
different though, it’s worth about a year and a half’s pay.”

“What? That’s
insane,” Della replied, handing her a non-spill mug. “How big was
the ship you served on?”

Spin relaxed and
sniffed at the drink, her nostrils filling with the comforting scent
of coffee. She pushed the button on the side so the cup stirred in
one helping of sweetener and took a sip. “It’s been months since
I’ve had real coffee,” she said. “Anyway, yeah, it wasn’t a
large ship, I guess. About the same size as this, but more of it was
dedicated to cargo and work. There was a lot less room to relax, and
some of the spots on the hull weren’t quite as trustworthy as
others, so we kept our suits on, even used Hygiene Grubs to get clean
sometimes.”

“Oh, yuk, the ones
that eat dead skin and dirt?”

“Yup, just drop a
couple down the front,” Spin said, pretending that she was dropping
something on her collarbone, “Then two down the back and an hour or
two later you pull a fat, happy grub out of your boot.”

“Sorry, ew. I always
thought spacers were cleaner than grounders,” Della said, popping a
fold out tray on the outside of the pilot’s seat arm up.

“Oh, you should smell
the crew after we’ve been in FTL for a week or two on the Cool
Angel. There are some things sponge baths and grubs can’t clean,
and there was always rationing while we were in high speed transit.”

“Rationing, smelly
crewmates, and soft patches in the hull,” Della said. “I’d have
never thought.”

“It’s a living,”
Spin said. “We always believed we were working our way up to bigger
scores, and that we’d see improvements on the ship, and that
helped, but the people you spend your time with are more important.
It never got too bad as long as I liked who I was around, and I was
free.”

“We’re going to get
some of those people now, right?”

“In a few hours,”
Spin said, finally deciding that it was time to trust her and Mirra
with the details of her plan, to see if they could fit into it.

“I can’t wait to
meet them,” she said. “And I can’t wait for them to see you,
too. Unless you dressed the same way when you were with them.”

Spin scoffed, “nope!
When I begged to join their crew they found me programming ground
tracking systems in Acosta Docks. I was pretty much in rags, crawling
around access tunnels to get to upload the tracking software I made
to all their nodes. The dock master wouldn’t pay me until it was
done, because he didn’t believe the ground tracking system could
work without an artificial intelligence so I was on scraps.”

“Wow, how’d you get
there?”

“That’s where I
landed after getting on an escape shuttle with a bunch of people in
Purdue, a city close to the palace I grew up in. Everything I had was
stolen the first night, so I arrived in Acosta with nothing. I was
there for months, hoping no one would realize I was a doll and
deliver me to the Countess. I learned that, when you’re dirty, no
one looks at you twice, especially if everyone around you is filthy
too.”

“Good lesson,”
Della said. “I’d still rather not have to use that one though.”

“I don’t want to
return to that either. Anyway, Sun saw me running across a landing
platform, then watched me disappear into a crawlspace with a bunch of
old computer equipment, so she kept her eye out and made sure she met
me. It took her a few hours, but she found me and asked me what I was
doing. I showed her, and she offered me a spot as her second, her
Junior Lieutenant, since she just made Lieutenant and had money to
pay one.”

“So you didn’t have
to beg,” Della said.

“Oh, I had to beg the
Captain,” Spin said, remembering the convincing and pleading. “I
think he agreed because I wouldn’t stop, and Sun only encouraged me
by blocking the door so he couldn’t leave.”

“What did you do?”
Della asked.

“A lot of what you
and Mirra have done for me over the last couple days, taking care of
her, the few clothes she had, keeping our quarters tidy, making sure
she had what she needed to do her job. When I wasn’t doing that I
did programming, learned to shoot, taught her martial arts, set up
banking and data security. A lot of things she didn’t really know
how to do as well.”

They emerged from
faster than light travel, and the communications console blinked. It
wasn’t something from the Countess’ people, the receiving number
she set up in the computer wasn’t known to them, it could have only
been one or two things. Her friends, or her money. Spin held her
breath and checked the message.

A stern looking woman
with dark hair and a long, pointed blue hat appeared on the screen.
“We have transferred the requested amount to your accounts and
scrubbed the account number from our systems as an extra measure so
you are not captured before you can hold up your end of the bargain.
Please send the coordinates for the location of Dexter and Tilly
Rinnel as soon as possible. Upon finding them in good condition, we
will not pursue legal or direct action. If we find them in poor
condition, or if you kidnap a member of our household again, you will
suffer.” The message ended.

Spin checked the
account the money was meant to go in and found 154,000,045 United
Core Authority credits. She immediately entered a programming script
that sent it on it’s way through dozens of accounts that would
convert it to strange, alien currencies, put it behind several walls
of secrecy upheld by governments large and small, then land it in her
real personal account. The number of credits was updated to 43, and
she knew it was on its way. A final keystroke sent a message with the
coordinates to the Rinnel family representatives. She activated a
final macro and changed the contact numbers for the Fleet Feather
again. Covering her tracks took work, but she was fairly confident
that she’d get what she needed in the end, and no one would be able
to successfully trace the messages or money.

“Did I just see what
I thought I saw?” Della asked.

Spin activated the FTL
system and the ship began slipping into the jump that would take them
to her friends on Tullast. She smiled at Della and nodded.

“They actually paid,
and fast. It’ll take another couple days for the money to make it
through all the places I sent it to, and that one-hundred-fifty-four
million will look more like a hundred twenty-six when it gets there,
but I’ll still give you guys your million each, and I’ll have
more than enough clear money to do whatever I decide.”

“Why will it cost so
much?” Della asked.

“Every bank I’m
sending it through will take a fee, and a few of them take a big bite
because they defend their transaction data from everyone. If I didn’t
do it that way, the Rinnel company could just take it back, telling
whatever banks I use that the cash was ill-gotten. I’ve done it
before for the Countess and the Captain of the Cool Angel, it works.”

“I didn’t realize
you kidnapped Tilly and Dexter because you knew how, I thought it was
just a spur of the moment thing,” Mirra said as she came up the
steps.

Spin got out of the
pilot’s seat and sat down on her sleeping bag so she could pull her
boots on. “The Cool Angel’s crew stole some things, kidnapped two
people, and committed a few other big crimes while I was there.
Before I came along they demanded to be paid in cash. After I showed
them what I could do, that changed. I still didn’t teach them what
I knew though, not even Sun.”

“So you stayed
important to them,” Mirra said, handing Spin the bun Della brought
for her.

“That’s what you do
on a crooked mercenary crew,” Spin said. “I don’t know if I
want to be a part of that anymore though, it always felt like
desperate times, and even I was looking over my shoulder, and not
just for the Countess’ people. Still, it’s easier to get away
with things now that artificial intelligences don’t watch every
little thing. Programs do, but they can be tricked.”

“Speaking of
watching,” Mirra said. “We wanted you to know, we understand why
you played it safe last night.”

“Thanks,” Spin
replied, unsure of what to say. She inspected the warm bun Mirra
handed her. “Once you get paid I won’t be as worried, because
having the money will make you both accomplices.”

“You’re too good at
crime for where you came from,” Della said, stopping and turning to
Spin apologetically. “I didn’t mean to remind you of the Countess
and all that, sorry!”

“Don’t worry, I
know who bought me, where I was raised. I also know I’m as human as
anyone, and that I got a better education than most, a lot of that
had to do with learning how to rip people off legally, in the name of
my masters. Handling finances, making deals, you know, legal stuff
that’s a moral crime. I was brainwashed into thinking my place was
chosen and Larken and I would be together forever with the Countess.
I escaped the first time because I thought he was dead, all that
programming started falling apart. I have to get used to people
looking at me a certain way when they realize I’m a doll that comes
from a rich house, I think the whole crew I’m going after will know
now. By the way, what’s that? It smells good,” she said, looking
at the bun.

“It’s a baked wrap.
Sanna Egg rolled in with vegetables and rice then baked, it’s
really street food where we grew up, only we use much better
ingredients, so not so much anymore.”

She took a bite and
enjoyed the explosion of rich flavours. It was mild, warm and tasted
of fresh greens, light egg and sweet bun. Spin chewed for a while and
said; “I want to hire both of you forever, but I don’t think I
could afford you now that you’re free. At least stay and cook if I
end up with a ship. This is amazing.”

“I love cooking,”
Mirra said. “Almost never got to though, they had chefs.”

“You’re hired,”
Spin said, looking at the wrapped bun.

“I can help in the
kitchen?” Della asked. “Maybe keep the ship clean?”

“Yup,” Spin said,
before taking a big bite. Chewing gave her a moment to think about
what had to come next, and by the time she was finished she knew how
to approach the topic. “I need your help though, and I have to warn
you that it’s going to be dangerous. I think you can both handle
it, but it could be very rough, so I don’t want you to feel
obligated.”

“Just tell us what
you need,” Mirra said. Della nodded her agreement.

Tullast had become an
ugly place. The cities were still burning in some provinces. At some
point in time someone came in ships and blasted the world with
conventional and electromagnetic pulse bombs, they probably even
dropped seekers – unintelligent machines that roved around looking
for objects hardened against EMP.

She’d seem one once,
covered in drills and cutting tools, made to self destruct as a last
resort. Spin could see how dangerous those might be to an artificial
intelligence carrying robot who survived an electromagnetic pulse.
They were cheaply made, but they could break such a robot apart in
seconds and wipe its program out forever.

Regardless of the
methods, something had gone and wiped out enough technology in the
cities so that the night side of Tullast was almost completely dark.
A few massive fires and a couple tiny energy shield domes dotted the
land.

It made her nervous,
but she flew as low as she could with the transponder and her running
lights off. The engines were running at minimum power, even the
shields were off just to reduce the ship’s energy profile. If they
were detected, it would be because someone was looking at exactly the
right place with a scanner.

Della was shocked when
Spin told her that she needed her to operate a gun turret. She didn’t
protest more than once, and seemed relieved when Spin explained that
her job was to create mayhem and to instil fear, not to actually hit
anyone. Spin knew there was a chance that Della could hit one of the
people she was there to rescue, so she specifically told the jittery
young woman to avoid hitting anyone, just aim for the water around
the ship.

Mirra was far less
surprised. Apparently she’d spent parts of her childhood in a
simulation called ‘Interstellar Soldier’ for fun. Spin gave her
the job of covering the port side, and when the friendly people on
the ground were marked, she was to start shooting the slavers. Even
if she missed most of the time – real shooting and simulations were
two different things – the shooting should drive them under cover.