5

A week later the One Way Ticket slipped into orbit above Rommel, the system’s largest planet. Atom plotted a lazy course that dropped the ship on one of the smaller, but more affluent continents. A desert world, Rommel lacked surface water, but its people lived on rocky continents surrounded by oceans of sand and shallow dune seas.

Atom recalled visiting the planet once on an imperial tour, but their hosts had confined their stay to the capital city, and Atom had seen little of the actual populace.

Now, however, as he settled the ship into an assigned docking slip he looked over the bustling people who skirled just beyond the boundaries of the slip. Shi poked her head in the bridge door and scowled at the market scene outside.

“Why here?” she complained with a roll of her eyes.

“Why not?” Atom retorted.

“Look at this ball of rock,” she leaned on the back of the pilot’s seat to look outside. Subtle tension flitted through Atom’s limbs, but her attention remained focused on the dusty throng outside.

“See any trees?” Atom spun the seat, forcing Shi back a step.

“No.”

“Then what price do you conjure timbers will bring us?”

Shi paused. Her brows knit.

“Exactly,” he grinned up at her with a knowing nod. “Now just picture your cut. You might not want to spend it on this rock, but I’m sure you’ll find something to spend the ko on at our next drop. I’ve laid it for you, we stay clear of the law, and we all come out richer on the other side.”

“I ain’t tight with lawmen, so you’ll get no problems from me there,” Shi pulled her hair back behind her ears and looped a leather thong twice about her head to hold it in place. “Where you need me?”

“First off I’ve got to find a buyer, so I’ll have you keep an eye on the ship for the moment. By’s a good lad, but I don’t know that he’d have much hope holding off a pack of dogs, much less someone more interested in what we’ve got aboard.”

Shi barked a coarse laugh. “I’ll keep our hold safe.”

“Once I’ve a buyer, you’ll be free to wander the port ‘til I have need of you,” Atom rose, standing head and shoulders taller than Shi, and stretched his cramped back. “Just make sure you sync up your internals with Kozue before you leave so I can be in touch when I need to.”

Knuckling her brow in mock salute, Shi nodded.

––––––––

Atom stepped from the cargo ramp into a gust of oven dusty air. Squinting against the blown grit he raised a shielding hand and took stock of his surroundings. The polarized atmosphere shaded everything a reddish-grey, haunting the eyes with ghostly images of absent colors. In the back of his mind Atom tried to adjust to the lack of blues and greens.

“Why don’t you inform the others of your side business?” Kozue asked as Atom retreated up to the hatch door at the top of the ramp.

“I don’t want them involved,” Atom replied as he punched through the hatch.

“But they could help.”

Atom glanced at Margo. Looking up from the pram she beamed a smile.

“Dada dirty,” she clapped her hands shook with a gleeful giggle.

With care he wrapped a mesh hood around her head and fixed a filter over her mouth. She reached up to pull the hood off, but Atom took her hands and set them in her lap.

“Leave it,” he commanded and Margo complied. “We’re going outside, Go. It’s dusty so let the hood be.”

Margo nodded. She turned her attention to looking through the polarized lenses covering her eyes. With a furtive glance to Atom she reached up and adjusted the hood. Atom raised an eyebrow, but he saw the smile lift her cheeks beneath the light material.

Satisfied with Margo’s elemental protection, Atom punched the hatch open again and pushed the pram out into the gusting wind. As he tromped down the ramp he wrapped a light scarf around his mouth and nose.

“They could help, but they could also prove a liability,” he continued the conversation as he slipped into the crowded the street at an easy stroll. “Plus, I work better alone.”

“You take Margo.”

“Truth, but she’s blood. She’s a part of me.”

“She’s a child, Atom.”

“And I trust her more than either of the other two in a fight. I know what she’s capable of.”

“There’s something frightening in that statement,” concern laced Kozue’s words. “Especially since one of your crew is a known gunfighter with a rap as long as my hair.”

“You don’t have hair.”

“I did, and you remember.”

Atom fell silent. His feet pressed forward through the dust laden throngs. He had lined up a buyer on the slow orbital descent, but he preferred meeting face to face, a habit from his days as an admiral.

Following Kozue’s directions he wound his way through the thriving spaceport to a well-built residence nestled between the slums and the affluent.

At his first knock a young servant woman opened the door with a genuine smile

“Make yourself welcome,” she said as she slammed the door against the wind. “I will let Staroste Moncrief know you have arrived. He was pleased and surprised by your request to meet in person.”

“I aim to surprise,” Atom smiled as he pulled his scarf down. “In a good way of course.”

The servant bobbed her head and disappeared through a door at the rear of the tall entryway. As the door closed on the servant’s heels, Atom unwrapped Margo and surveyed their surroundings. From the outside the building appeared squat and plain, but the interior told a different story. The entrance hall showed modest opulence. Built of solid sandstone bricks, artisans had carved delicate floral scenes of off-world Edens into every surface. Soaring twenty feet overhead, a broad, tinted skylight allowed a comforting warm glow to enter and offset the cool, misted interior of the building. Underfoot a thick carpet of intricate weave covered the broad sandstone blocks of the floor in an inviting manner.

“Welcome, Mr. Ulvan,” the servant opened the doors to the interior and motioned for him to follow. Atom picked up Margo and strolled after the serving girl.

The remainder of the building, a hybrid mansion and business, maintained the same level of modest wealth presented with the foyer. Fountains splashed merrily in glass covered courtyards and Margo eyed the water like an eager puppy.

“Later,” whispered Atom in his daughter’s ear.

He followed after the scurrying servant as she led them past a bustling office with dozens of clerks whisking about and down a long hallway framed in exotic, dark wood. The further they pressed, the more impressed Atom became with his current business partner.

After a half dozen distinct sections of the mansion, Atom found himself ushered into a final courtyard lacking the hubbub of the previous rooms of the building. This atrium presented a sense of botanical calm. The largest fountain in the building sat in the center of the broad tiled room, but unlike the previous lively fountains these waters flowed with a lethargic and hypnotizing cadence. Bordering the lush chamber, flowers bloomed and aromatic plants of varying worlds climbed a fine lattice of misters.

“Mr. Ulvan,” an accented baritone drew Atom’s attention from the surroundings to the broad-shouldered man seated beside the fountain in a fine rattan lounge. “It’s good to meet you. Too many of my contacts are conducted over the sub-net, and I don’t get to show off my home.

“I’m Moncrief,” the man rose to his feet and set a small, steaming cup of frothy black liquid on a small table. “Oraibi Moncrief.”

A wide smile split the man’s sun-browned face and revealed bright white teeth offset by solid gold bicuspids. Atom took the man in as he returned the smile with a slight curling at the corner of his mouth. Half a head shorter than Atom, the man radiated power in his stance and confidence.

Moncrief held out a hand, palm up.

“It’s a pleasure, Mr. Ulvan,” he stepped forward, not in threat, but with accustomed authority.

“The pleasure is mine,” Atom met the man as an equal and laid his own hand atop Moncrief’s open palm. “I always like to do my business in a more personal manner than my competitors. It avoids outside tampering and allows me to get a feel for the people I’m doing business with.”

“Sage,” Moncrief’s chuckle well from deep in his barrel chest.

Atom glanced around the room. As his gaze fell on the fountain he set Margo down and pointed out the fish swimming lazy circles in the crystal clear waters.

“This is my daughter, Margo,” Atom turned back to Moncrief.

“She is true beauty. This lovely flower must get her radiance from her mother. You are too hard for her nature to come from you,” Moncrief laughed.

A shadow flitted across Atom’s face.

Catching the look, Moncrief reined in his laughter and arched his brow. He bowed his head in apology and swept his arms wide. “I do not aim to offend,” he said with a tender look in his eye. “Sometimes my sense of humor turns caustic. Perhaps....”

“No,” the ghost of a smile returned to Atom’s face as his gaze drifted to his daughter. “We recently... lost her mother. It’s still something we’re dealing with.

“I agree she took her mother’s looks and temperament,” he turned to Moncrief and left Margo to lean on the fountain with childlike innocence. “But unfortunately, she has a touch of my stubbornness and dry humor.”

“I am relieved. At least she can hide those attributes behind her mother’s looks.”

“I’m probably too attached, but I bring her everywhere with me,” Atom folded his hands behind his back and scowled. “But after her mother’s passing,” he hesitated at the phrase. “I wouldn’t risk losing Margo on some foreign planet.”

“Laudable, but let us leave the pain of your past alone and turn to the future,” Moncrief gestured to a second rattan chair. “Please seat yourself and let us discuss business.

“I understand you have a hold full of Oligumpian hardwood,” he waited for Atom to take the seat and then followed suit. “You know that on this planet wood of any kind is worth its weight in gold, or whatever you want to trade. I won’t personally be buying them, but I will act as your broker on this and promise you the best prices possible.

“Remember,” Moncrief poured a second cup of the steaming liquid and handed it with care to Atom. “The better price I get you, the better my cut. My usual commission is ten percent.”

“Five,” Atom countered, taking a sip of his steaming black bitter. “Is that a hint of saffron?”

Moncrief raised an eyebrow. “Well trained palate. Eight,” he sipped his own brew.

“Six.”

“Seven,” Moncrief delicately set his small cup down and extended his hand, palm up. He locked eyes with Atom.

“Seven,” Atom set his own cup down and placed his hand over Moncrief’s.

“Now that we are in agreement, I will have my people start the search for potential buyers here on Rommel. Would you like your payment in ko or trade?”

Moncrief flicked a finger and the servant girl, who had remained beside the door, disappeared like a specter.

“You’re biggest exports are beef and raw laser gems,” Atom leaned back in his seat, steepling his fingers in thought. “I want ten crates of raw gems and the rest of my hold filled with stasis beef. I’ll fly up the Fingers and fetch a good price at the Knuckles.

“The gems will increase in value in that direction as well,” he nodded and flashed a half smile.

“Wise,” Moncrief agreed. “Stasis beef sells well on the more populated worlds. Even with the gems, I would estimate you will only use a quarter of your projected profits on the sale of the lumber.”

“I’ll take a marker to cover the difference.”

“Settled,” Moncrief refilled both shallow cups and flipped a switch dropping a damping field over the fountain and surrounding area. “Now I have one further piece of business I would like to attend to.”

Atom looked around at the shimmering walls of the damping field. Margo glanced up at the field, but returned her attention to the fish with a shrug. Lifting his cup again, Atom took a small sip and shifted in his seat. As he turned he loosened his pistol in its holster with a casual adjustment of his gunbelt.

“You have my attention,” he replaced the cup and leaned forward conspiratorially.

“One cannot be too safe,” the smile faded from Moncrief’s face. Anger slipped in to replace the former good natured attitude displayed by the Rommelian broker. “What do you know of our politics?”

“Not much beyond the cursory trade laws I had my AI scan on the way in.”

“Then you do not know that despite our cursory free trade, my government has its hand in every pot on the planet. Now confidentially, my business is not as lucrative as my abode would lead you to believe. I owe a great deal to the credit guild.”

“What’s this to me,” Atom demanded, leaning closer to Moncrief. “I’ve brought you my business. It won’t solve your problems, but I imagine your cut on my goods can only help.”

“This is a matter outside our normal channels of business,” Moncrief looked abashed at his words. “I have a venture dabbling in land spec to cover my debts.”

“And you found something?”

Moncrief nodded, his eyes wide. “We found a crystal vein that could turn my family’s fortune, but law dictates the mine should revert to the government. The law states that anything below twenty meters belongs to them unless special political arrangements have been made.”

“And I suppose you’ve passed that mark.”

“Well past it,” Moncrief relaxed and even managed a laugh. “We’re so far past the line I’m afraid the government has the right to dissolve my family holdings and even slap us with exile.”

Atom nodded, a look of puzzlement tightening his features.

“And you don’t have the political clout?” Atom asked.

Moncrief shook his head. “Knowing the dangers of the mine I have kept the information to myself and the two other investors. The mine is completely automated so we don’t have to worry about workers. It works around the clock, pulling crystal ore as fast as possible and storing it in warehouse facilities on the moon Cruel to slowly sell off.”

“So where do I play into this story?”

“Our neighbor,” Moncrief began drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair.

“Tell me everything,” Atom gave a wan smile. “There can be no secrets in this line of work. I need to piece everything together and be able to anticipate all contingencies.”

“Our neighbor asked for a cut to keep her mouth shut. She comes from a small family of cafe owners. I’m sure her request has more to do with the fact that the vein we followed runs under her holdings, than any other reason.

“In fact,” Moncrief scratched at the back of his neck. “She asked. She didn’t demand anything. That’s good, right?”

Atom stared at Moncrief, then he scrunched his face in question. “What are you asking me to do? I see how this could be a problem, but I tend to solve problems by removing them.”

“I think that’s what I need.”

“You want me to remove your neighbor?” Atom cocked an eyebrow.

“She has been taken into custody on some tax related charges, but it’s only a matter of time before my wrongdoings come to light.”

“Ah,” Atom sat back and shook his head. “Do you think she would intentionally involve you in this? Does she have anything against you personally or against any member of your family?”

“We’ve always been on good terms, but I’m afraid it will eventually come to light,” Moncrief dropped his gaze and focused on removing an invisible spot of dirt from his pants.

“How do you know?”

“She was overheard talking about coming into money. The government will want to know where it came from and they will trace it back to us.”

“But if she keeps her mouth shut this could all blow over?”

“Hypothetically,” Moncrief looked at Atom with desperate hope.

Atom leaned on his knees, his eyes locked on the bubbling fountain and Margo. His mind raced. As he traced probability lines he reached out and lifted his cup. The bitter liquid had just passed his lips when the door burst open and a bloodied man stumbled into the room.

Before the man took a second step, the servant girl leaped into action. Without hesitation she threw herself between the intruder and Moncrief. Atom also noted her hands slip into the folds of her dress. However, before any deadly action occurred recognition lit her face and she pulled her empty hands from their hiding place. She caught the unsteady man as he began to fall forward. Wrapping her arm around his chest she helped the man stumble to Moncrief. There the man dropped to a knee.

“I think this would be a good time for me to excuse myself,” Atom said as Moncrief dropped the damping field.

“Go,” he whispered and without hesitation she left the fountain and ran to her father. He scooped her up and made his way to the door. “I can show myself out Mr. Moncrief.”

“I’ll be in touch,” the merchant said without looking away from the newcomer.

Atom touched his forehead with a respectful salute and ducked through the doors. He retraced his steps through the house, his rapid footfalls muffled by the thick carpets. In the entryway he arranged Margo in her pram and swept the dust hood over her head. Just as he reached for the door to exit the house he hesitated.

With his hand inches from the latch he looked down to Margo.

“Go, what are your thoughts?” he whispered.

Innocence reflected back at him. She shook her head.

Atom jerked his hand back from the front door and ducked back into the house. Instead of returning to Moncrief he turned aside in the first atrium and followed a clerk along a divergent hallway.

“Is there a servant’s entrance?” he tugged at the man’s shirt.

The clerk jumped at Atom’s touch. With trepidation he studied Atom before indicating another hallway.

“Door at the end will drop you in the side alley,” the clerk pulled at his collar.

“Many thanks,” Atom gave a polite bob of his head. Then, before the man could reply he turned down the indicated hallway. Glancing over his shoulder he found the man standing with a confused expression plastered on his face.

Atom smiled down at Margo as he opened the outer door with his hip and pulled the suspensor pram out after him. He peeked around the door to make sure no surprises lurked in the alley. Satisfied, he kicked the door shut with his heel.

“Thanks for the help,” he adjusted Margo’s mask and hood and made for the rear of the expansive house. The narrow alley afforded protection from the sun and wind, and even projected a cool remnant of the house’s misty interior.

“Men. Outside,” she said as she looked up at the bleached grey-pink of the desert sky.

“I figured as much,” Atom ducked down a side alley and looped around a smaller side building cut from the same stone as Moncrief’s. “Let’s see if we can get a look at whoever chased that boke in.”

After some calculating and navigating, the pair assumed a casual stroll back onto the main street. Traffic had thinned from their inward journey, but enough people bustled along the dusty road for Atom to blend in. He sauntered past the front of Moncrief’s home like a man out on an errand.

As he pushed the pram, he scanned the street in a distracted manner. Before reaching Moncrief’s front door, he noted two men and a woman who stood out against the constant motion of the street. Their positioning gave them away more than their stationary stances. Atom noted they had perfect vantage points for keeping surveillance on the front of the building. He wondered when they had arrived. Searching his mind he brought to the surface the glance he had taken past the door. Their positions had been vacant when he had entered.

Content in his anonymity, Atom made careful note of their faces and strolled down the boulevard. As he turned the corner he looked back in time to catch Moncrief leaving with his servant girl a step behind.

The three observers discretely detached from their posts and followed.

––––––––

“We have a buyer,” Atom reached for the bowl of mashed potatoes. “I told you we’d get a good price out here. Our broker takes seven percent and we net eighteen-three. At four cuts that’s just shy of five thou apiece. And that’s after we fill our hold for the next run.”

“Four cuts?” Shi asked around a mouthful of fresh braised beef.

Atom scooped a pile of steaming potatoes onto his plate and added a smaller amount to Margo’s. “One for each of you,” he pointed to Shi and Byron with the heavy, plastic serving spoon. “One for me. One for the Ticket.”

“Ship gets a cut?” Shi propped her foot up on the bench and popped a spiraled bean into her mouth.

“It covers upkeep and then I don’t have to ask you for a portion of your cut when something goes wrong. Ships always need love. If I stash aside from each job we’ll always have the money to cover fuel and repairs.”

“I thought that’s what he was for,” Shi nodded at Byron, who ate his food in silence, ignoring the others.

“He can fix anything, but he needs the parts to do that.”

“Oh, yeah,” she agreed.

“Best angle of this deal is we’ve got the next cargo lined up.”

“So why you keepin’ me ‘round fer all this?” Shi swirled her potatoes with a finger. “I kill folk and keep other folk from killin’ the likes a those who pay right. You’re just humpin’ stuff along the Fingers.

“No danger in what yer aimin’,” she opened her emerald eyes wide.

“You never know,” Atom gave a light laugh. “I may go a pirating one of these days and you’ll sure come in hand with that.”

Shi frowned. “Reckon it would be better prof if we come away clean.”

“I don’t plan on pirating, but I’ve no qualms with a stand up fight,” Atom scooped a spoonful of mashed potatoes topped with a small sliver of meat into Margo’s mouth. “I’ve been in these skies long enough to know you’re never truly safe. There’s always a need for one more gun in a fight. The One Way Ticket doesn’t run heavily armed, but that sure doesn’t mean we lack teeth.”

“Fair ‘nuf.”

“So darl, what’s our next order of op,” Byron asked, surprising the others after his lengthy silence. They stared at him.

“What?” he demanded. “Where I sprout it’s crude to stuff yer gob and spit. We wait ‘til our gullets is stuffed, then we convo.”

“Don’t expect us to follow that,” Atom flicked an eyebrow as he stuffed a bite in his mouth. “As long as our talking and eating doesn’t bother you too much.”

“I’ll survive.”

“Your question,” Atom gulped from his mug and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “We wait for the business to wrap up here and then, with our cargo hold stuffed with stasis beef, we make for the Knuckles. We might even make it all the way to the Palm, depending on pricing.

“I’ll have Kozue track the market and we’ll follow the heaviest ko,” he reclined in the booth and rested his hands on his lean stomach with a contented sigh.

“Don’t get used to this, though,” he closed his eyes as a slight smile played across his face. “Spacers don’t get to eat this good very often. I know we’ll have a hold full of stasis, but every bite cuts into our profits.”

“Our base eats is better’n the slop they feed ya in the fleet,” Shi chipped in, stuffing another bite of steak into her mouth. “This is heaven.”

Byron shot her a nervous glance.

“Don’t fret it, By,” Atom opened his eyes a crack to catch the look. “Spacer fare will keep you running and it won’t kill you. Fact is, it might not be the tastiest mash you’ll eat, but it’ll be packed with everything you need to function at a top notch.

“I’ll make sure we eat like this as often as we can squeak it,” he pointed at the food on the table. “Just remember, the longer we sit, the better we eat.

“But the less we make,” he slid from the booth. “Take care of your own dishes. By, you’re on cook detail tomorrow. Impress me.”

––––––––

The sun drifted toward the horizon and the temperature slid into a more comfortable range. With the approach of evening, the ever present, dusty winds tailed off to light zephyrs and created a pleasant atmosphere for the inhabitants of Rommel. The streets of the city thronged with people, but their pace lacked the frenzied, business oriented drive of the daylight hours.

Atom strolled, floating among the citizens enjoying the cool of the evening.

Along the streets, both main and side, businesses closed and restaurants opened. Atom passed them by as the outdoor tables filled with laughing people. He allowed the noise and hubbub to soothe his mind. As he studied the people, plans and ideas circulated through his thoughts.

“What should we do, Go?”

Margo looked straight up so she appeared upside down. She smiled at him, a gap toothed child’s smile of content happiness.

“You’re right,” Atom pondered. “I don’t know how deep this goes, so I need to come at it from another angle.”

“Angle,” Margo agreed, mimicking her father’s concentration.

“I need to know more about this.... Did he ever give the name of the neighbor, Koze?”

“No, we were interrupted before that information was presented.”

“Can you dig?”

“Of course,” as Kozue spoke, Atom envisioned the tilt of her head in his mind.

“I wonder if there’s a good spot to grab some cocoa around here?”

“Just around the corner is a small café that is known for their light cocoa and crimpits.”

“I’ll take your word for that, but I’m sure Go and I could both use some settling,” Atom made for the café and found a small table off to the side with enough room for the pram.

––––––––

Atom sat in silence, enjoying the flow and relaxed energy of the Rommelian evening. He watched traffic wander by in an unending stream as he sipped at his steaming cup of spiced cocoa. A small plate of pressed pastries sat on the table. Periodically Atom broke off a piece of the flakey, buttery delicacy, dipped it in the cocoa and fed it to Margo.

He sat alone, wrapped in his own world of thought with two cups of the frothy beverage, until a familiar face flashed by in the crowd, snapping him from his pondering.

“Koze, what’s Byron doing wandering around?” he debated whether to follow the youth, but hesitated.

“He’s looking for you.”

“Well, tell him where I am,” Atom followed Byron’s progress as the child wove through the crowd.

As tenacious as a bloodhound, Byron pressed forward into the thicket of pedestrians. Just as he reached the limit of Atom’s vision he leapt to the side. Like a wild animal at bay he pressed his back to a nearby wall, searching through the crowd.

Pedestrians eyed the boy with suspicion and began to give him a wide berth.

“I said to tell him where I am, not scare the poor kid to death,” Atom scowled and rose to his feet.

“I do have a sense of humor, Atom,” Kozue’s delicate laugh brought a wry smile to Atom’s face. “You know that better than anyone else.”

“Truth,” the smile broadened as he stretched to his full, lanky height and waved to the panicked Byron. Relief flooded the boy’s frame and as he scampered over to Atom’s table a smile seemed to encompass his whole being. “You always had a knack for finding ways to amuse yourself.”

“I still do.”

As Byron reached the low row of potted plants fencing off the café’s patio he leapt sideways with a look of terror surpassing his earlier surprise. In the dusky light his eyes flashed a brilliant white.

“Stop, Kozue,” Atom hid a smile behind a hand and a polite cough.

Wide-eyed, Byron crept through the crowded patio and slunk over to Atom’s table.

“I told you she could do that,” Atom waved to the proprietor and signaled a fresh pot of spiced cocoa and a third cup. “And don’t forget she delights in amusing herself at our expense.”

“Jeesh,” Byron plopped into the low metal seat and slouched down as the other patrons of the café turned back to their conversations and cups. “Sometimes I wanna gaff the boke who invented the AI. But then it spins my pan that I can’t do much without ‘em.

“She nearly scared me skin right off,” as the server approached with the requested items, Byron snatched his cup up and held it out for Atom to fill from the little pot.

“She’ll do that,” Atom poured cocoa into the small metal cup in a smooth, chocolaty stream, despite Byron’s shaking hands.

“But I’ll always bring you home safe,” Kozue chipped in.

Atom flashed a lopsided grin. “So what brings you out tonight? I know I never set restrictions on leaving the ship, but I didn’t expect you to trail me on my stroll.”

“I weren’t trailin’ you, darl,” Byron blew a wisp of steam from his cup and took a tentative sip. “I asked Kozue where you’d hopped. A pair a bokes knocked on the ship, scanning for you.”

“Men?” Atom frowned as he broke off a piece of crimpit, dipped it in his cocoa and fed it to Margo.

“Yip, looked more common than most a the folks I’ve seen you deal with. They weren’t merch, tha’s fer sure. Couldn’t tell what side a the law they fell ‘pon, but the bokes looked blue.”

“Blue?” Atom stretched his legs out and crossed his ankles as he relaxed in the cool evening air. “Like grunts? Or were these men escaped slaves?”

“No, sir. They weren’t no slaves. I can smell a slave an’ these two be freemen. Grunts, but free.”

“Did they say what they wanted? I’m assuming they weren’t looking for us to ship something. Although, I suppose they could have a parcel, or maybe they’re aiming to be our first passengers. It’ll be cash if they’re headed in our direction.”

“They just said they heard talk of a merch with a wee one to takes side jobs.”

Atom sat up.

“They said what?” Atom stared holes through Byron, causing the boy to shrink back.”

“Did I spit somefin’ wrong? They asked if you was out fer hire.”

“You said nothing wrong. This could be a side job, nothing more. Finish up your cocoa, we need to be getting back to the ship.”

“But we just got a fresh pot,” Byron frowned at the steaming cocoa.

With a shake of his head, Atom pushed his cup away and rose to his feet. Pulling a ko from his pocket he punched in enough to cover the meal and tossed it on the table. Then he maneuvered the suspensor-pram from the corner and made his way out into the evening foot traffic. Behind him Byron grimaced and pounded down the remnants of his cup and grabbed the two remained crimpits before bolting after Atom’s retreating form.

The previous sauntering air fled like mist before an oncoming storm. Atom strode forth with purpose and the crowds parted before him, drawing back like a herd before a wolf as he made for his ship.

“Why the press?” Byron asked as he caught up with Atom and Margo.

“If people know I’m here, we need to be more cautious.”

Byron stared up at his captain.

“Are you more upper than you let on? You got bounties on yer face?”

“You could say that. On your level, I’m a marked man trying to disappear down the Fingers. I don’t plan on starving, or letting those with me starve, but I can’t afford to let my past catch up with me.”

“Well, I can sleep with that,” Byron tried to laugh, but proved too short of breath from keeping pace with Atom. “Now, if you was one of the emp’s tumblers, skittered or such, we might have a differing situation.”

“That’s closer than you know, but it’s not your worry.”

“Oi, we’ve all got our past. Now how these bokes play into this past? They from another life here to collect a mark?”

“Doubtful. My guess is they heard my name and tales of what I do.”

“And that would be?”

“By, you ask too many questions,” Atom’s face softened, but his legs continued to pump. “My side work is mine. If you freelance your skill on-planet, I’ll pay no mind as long as you put the ship first. The day you miss lift is the day you decide another line of pay suits you better. I’ll miss you, but your destiny is your own. I’ve no say in the matter, unless you’re aboard my ship.

“I’m cap there, and there’s no discussing it,” he fired a stern look at Byron.

“That’s what I signed on for,” Byron clutched at his side as a cramp started stabbing beneath his ribs.

Atom fell silent for a time. His footsteps providing the only cadence and conversation to their journey. Byron, in slipper soft shoes, trotted at his side in silence.

Shortening their journey, Atom directed their steps through several alleys. As they slipped from the shadows into a moonlit courtyard tucked at the rear of several buildings, a figure emerged from a doorway opposite them.

“Hold up, stranger,” the man stumbled toward them.

Atom pulled to a halt, eyes narrowed in the moonlight.

“Don’ I know you?” the man slurred his speech as he took a long pull from a bottle. “Wha’s yer name?”

Atom’s features settled into a stony glower as he shifted into the shadows, back towards their point of emergence. Another figure stepped out, blocking their escape. Beside the pram, Byron froze, uncertain of Atom’s intentions.

Then he stepped forward. “We don’t wan’ no trouble you drunk boke,” he placed himself protectively in front of the pram. “This here’s me cap an’ he don’ owe you nuffin. You best be watchin’ yerself ‘fore you get gaffed.”

The man laughed. Strangely, the laugh held a dark, firm quality, unusual for a drunken state. He shifted from his stumbling gait like stepping through a door and squared himself into a natural fighting stance.

“I suggest you step aside, By. This is the past I was just jawing about,” Atom released the pram and let it hover away.

“It is you, Lord Atomic Ulvan of the Meriwetherhan, high admiral of His Imperial Fleets.”

Byron turned to look at Atom with stunned disbelief.

Atom barked an easy laugh. “If only that was me, I’d have a might fancier ship than the one I’m flying.”

“Voice recognition,” the man grunted “It’s you. Take him boys.”

A handful of shadowed figures appeared and closed the noose.

In that instant Atom grabbed Byron by the nape of the neck and dragged him to the ground. A soft pop echoed from the pram as they dropped. Byron tried to look, but Atom forced his head back down just as an explosive concussion ripped from the air above the pram.

Atom waited.

With ringing ears he lifted his head to survey the courtyard. His vision swam. Taking a deep breath he forced himself up to his knees. His first thought took him to the pram, and as he blinked away the effects of the concussion he found a protective energy shield had covered Margo. Atom’s conditioning drove her instincts as she lay on her belly in the bed of the pram with her arms wrapped around her head.

Assured of Margo’s safety, Atom drew his pistol and swept it over the courtyard. Four forms lay scattered about, limbs akimbo, blood pooling from countless shallow wounds.

“What the kack was that?” Byron croaked as he ventured to open an eye.

“Laser betty with a pre-concussion,” Atom stumbled over to the nearest assailant who still moved. He lifted the man’s head by the hair and studied his face.

The man’s eyes rolled about, wild and unseeing. Atom dropped the man’s head back to the pavement with a thunk. Scowling, he stood up and casually put a rail-slug through the man’s head. He made the rounds to the other assailants and offered them each a similar fate.

“Why’d you do that,” Byron stared at him with terror. Skittering backwards on all fours, the boy tried to keep the pram between them.

“They wouldn’t have told me anything. They’re gen-mod assassins so I’d have a better chance making a blind jump and hitting my target planet than actually learning anything from them. But their being here tells me enough,” Atom holstered his pistol and returned to the pram.

Byron scuttled away.

“You’ve nothing to fear, boy.”

Byron continued to stare. Then he started to shake.

“By, you’re crew,” with the danger passed, Margo’s shield faded into the night, leaving Atom to stroke the girl’s back with a gentle hand. She popped up to study the carnage. “I would do this over again to protect you. While you fly with me, you’re under my protection.

“Come on,” he waved for the mech to join him “We need to get out of here before people come wondering what the commotion was all about.”

Byron rose on quaking legs and giving the corpses a wide berth, he followed as Atom pushed the pram down the street with a practiced calm. As they exited the alley Atom blended into a group of walkers who wandered the street with a festive loudness.

Byron stared at the ground, keeping a hand on the pram for guidance.

“I’m hoping the noise of the street covered all that,” Atom said to Byron with a relaxed smile. “If anyone was home in those buildings they probably heard, but we should have enough time to disappear.”

One of the pedestrians gave the pair a funny look, but Margo dispelled any misgivings as she grinned and waved to the colorful woman. With a shrug the woman adjusted her multi-hued shawl and turned back to her conversation with her group.

––––––––

“He ain’t who he says he is,” Byron jabbed a finger at Atom. Shi and Atom sat facing each other at the horseshoe booth tucked in the corner of the One Way Ticket’s galley. Between them Margo bounced back and forth.

“And just who did I say I was?” Atom yawned as he eyed the pacing boy.

Flustered, Byron fumbled his words. “Well, you never let on who you is.”

“You didn’t ask, and I’m more than happy to just be a small fish captain, floating the black, trying to carve a living,” Atom folded his hands on the table and gave Shi a casual shrug.

“I never asked, nor do I care to now,” the gunslinger stared at her pistol sitting on the table. She gave it a tap and sent the death-dealer into a slow spin. “I’m happy with the Atom I know right now. It saves me trouble later on. Less I know, the better.

“You ever had a deep brain scan?” she turned her gaze on Byron.

The boy froze in his pacing. “No.”

“Ain’t the most pleasant thing,” a grim smile touched her features. “Funny thing about scans, though, if you don’t know the information, they can’t dredge it.

“Give me a target, and I’m happy,” she said to Atom. “Let’s leave it at that.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Atom thumped the table.

“How can you do that?” Byron demanded. “How can you just twitch ‘alf yer t’inker off? How can you live life without knowin’ what’s goin’ on ‘round you?”

“Weren’t you a slave?” Shi growled.

“Indentured.”

“Par,” Shi snatched her pistol from the table and slid from the booth in a fluid motion. Planting herself before the boy, she forced him to crane his neck to look up to her. “Did you know everything your master did? Did you know his plans? Did you know his past?”

“As much as I could,” Byron thrust out his chin in brash defiance.

“Your loss,” Shi shrugged and flourished her pistol into its holster as she walked away. She paused at the galley door. “Worrying about other people’s problems just leads to more of your own.”

And she disappeared.

Byron whipped around with words on his tongue, but he hesitated.

Atom picked up on the pause. “Sometimes you have to worry about others, but you have to choose wisely, or you’ll carry too many burdens to keep walking forward,” Atom beckoned Margo with a twitch of his head and she came over to snuggle up next to her father. He placed a protective arm around her and her eyes drifted closed in comfort. “So tell me of these strangers who visited the ship. Were they like the men from the alley?”

“Nah, I already told you they was blue,” with reluctance Byron slipped into the booth opposite Atom. “They ‘ad a differing smell, they did. Those in the alley, they was pawns. The alley kin take orders. They follow orders. They don’t use their gaff much on their own.

“No, sir. These bokes was blue. I knowed it from the second they stepped foot aboard the ship.”

“You’re like a hound,” Atom bounced Margo with a soft chuckle. “Maybe I should always take you with me to tell me who’s who.

“Anyway, what was he looking for? Did he want to meet somewhere?”

“He didn’t say what he was aimin’ fer, but he did say he’d stop back sometime and he hoped you’d be ‘round,” Byron leaned his elbows on the table. “What do you t’ink he wanted? What is it you actually do?”

“Didn’t we just cover this?” Atom gave his head a shake. “Just leave it as I help those that need helping.”

“A helper?”

“Sure, it fits the advert. I help people for the right price,” Atom rose and lifted his slumbering daughter with a tender hand. “I have a skill that served me in a former life and I can put it to use now. It might just keep us flying the black longer than straight trading.

“Go get yourself some sleep,” Atom wandered from the galley with light steps. “And if this boke comes back have Kozue reel me in.

“And those brain scans Shi was talking about, they only happen on capital planets. They don’t have the tech out here in the Fingers to ever do anything close to a deep scan. So rest easy.”

––––––––

Atom rented a sand skimming skiff and took Margo for a pleasant tour along the coast of the sand sea. As usual the Romellian sun blazed away, scorching the surface of the planet and forcing the pair to take refuge beneath the skiff’s small awning as Atom guided the craft along the rocky shore. Out of the sun a pleasant breeze gave the journey a vacation-like feel and Margo soon drifted off to sleep.

Alone, Atom scanned the bleached, pinkish-grey horizon, watching as other vessels plied their trade across the sand sea. He found peace in the solitude. And for a time he let the vessel wander over the swirling air currents of the super-heated sea.

As the sun drew near its zenith, Atom guided the skiff toward a narrow inlet between two arms of the rocky coast. Another vessel bobbed with hypnotic lethargy, moored to a stake planted well ashore. Eyeing the low cliffs with suspicion born of experience, Atom sidled his craft alongside the other. He clipped a harness around Margo to ensure her safety and hopped over to the other boat.

“Hello?” he called from the stern of the larger sand-ship.

At least three times the size of his rented skiff, the sand-boat hovered and bobbed a foot off the tops of the shifting dunes. The fore and aft of the gently heaving vessel sat open to the brutal glare of the sun, but a wide screened-in cabin occupied the center.

Atom loosened his pistol in its holster and opened the rear door of the mobile veranda. There he found Moncrief’s servant girl. Prim and patient, she lifted her eyes.

“You took your time,” she stated without annoyance. “A precaution, I assume.”

“Of course,” Atom glanced over his shoulder to scan the horizon one last time. “I made sure I weren’t wasn’t followed. I can assume they haven’t connected my presence to your need.”

“Outside of trade, we have no connection. However, our need grows in importance.”

Atom paused.

The girl rose to her feet like a graceful dancer.

He studied her. Nothing about the servant stood out. Short brown hair poked from beneath a scarf and her light brown eyes lacked any luster to draw attention. Conversely, nothing about her seemed unattractive. Middle-ground plain defined her in Atom’s eye, plain in a way that made her inconspicuous in any situation. The young woman wore her role as bodyguard and personal attendant like a second skin.

“I’ll take care of it,” Atom spoke with confidence. “What’s your name?”

“Nadia,” the girl spoke with a soft musical voice, dropping her eyes demurely. “And you are Atom Ulvan. I have studied your credentials. I hope it is everything....”

“It is,” Atom took in the martial positioning of Nadia’s feet. “Am I a threat?”

He lifted his eyes to meet Nadia’s impassive gaze.

“No,” she shifted her stance and resumed her seated position on one of the long cushioned benches that ran the length of the vessel’s airy cabin.

“Habit?” Atom nodded in approval. “Moncrief is smart to keep you on his roll. So what are your thoughts on the situation? This neighbor, Miss Polmero, if my sources are correct, what is her current situation?”

“She is currently in custody,” the girl stated as if in a mission briefing. “To our knowledge, she has not spoken, yet. She is currently being held at her home under guard, but she is scheduled to be transferred to the capital tomorrow. She will be guarded by six government sentinels.”

“Six? I know sentinels. There will be three times that number in flanking positions, not to mention local support,” he crossed his arms as he continued to stand in the door with a scowl.

“Does that mean you cannot accomplish this task?” she seemed pleased. “I suppose I could clean up....”

“Not at all,” Atom grinned. “It means it’ll be fun.”

––––––––

“We need a pilot,” Atom said to Shi as the pair walked along the evening streets.

“Do you take your kid everywhere?” Shi eyed the pram. “Ain’t that a danger?”

“For others,” an easy laugh loosened his shoulders. Despite the short time with Shi aboard, he had grown fond of her brusque mannerisms and rough edges.

“So why’d you drag me out to walk your kid?”

“Like I said, we need a pilot.”

“I kill things for my kip. I ain’t got sense for pilots. Plus, you’re a pilot. Don’t reckon we need another?”

“As cap of my ship, I can’t always be tied to the yoke. There are times I need to be off ship and know it can get where I need it without having to fly it myself,” he leaned over the pram to check on Margo. The child stared at her surroundings, enraptured by the flavor of the night.

“I ain’t never seen a man take such care of his kid,” she wore a look bordering on disgust. “Fact is, I hate kids.”

“She’s the only family I have left on the black tides. Not a soul will take that from me unless we’re going out together. It’s all or nothing for the two of us,” Atom lifted his eyes from Margo and locked Shi with a steely gaze.

The gunslinger broke away.

“So where’re we headed for this pilot?” she changed tack.

“There’s a bar up ahead,” Atom relaxed, and the easy smile returned to his face. “I’ve asked around and from what I gather there’s a pilot named Daisy who tops all the rest... as long as she’s sober.”

“Will that be a challenge?”

“No idea,” Atom pressed forward through the light foot traffic, moving into a darker section of the busy city. “I’m guessing if they bothered to tell me about the drinking it might be a problem. How hard can it be if we’re in the black, though? It’s not like she can stop off for a pint out there.”

“Reckon she runs a deep-space still?” a slight smile creased Shi’s face.

“That might be a problem for us all.”

“So where are we looking for this girl?” Shi kept her hands hidden beneath her rough poncho, but Atom knew she caressed her pistols. “Are you sure we shouldn’t a left Go with Byron? It might a been safer that way.”

“We’ll be fine,” Atom checked his own pistol as he eyed the rows of dark alleyways and dim watering holes that lined the street. “I have you here to protect us.”

Shi nodded. “I can do that.”

“There it is,” Atom pointed to the biggest saloon in the area. “The Dark Horse Tavern, that’s where they said we could find Daisy.”

“Rough,” Shi eyed the rundown façade.

“What do you expect in this part of town?”

Shi shrugged. “Any idea of what this Daisy looks like?” she asked as she hopped across a foul smelling gutter and stepped up onto the wooden boardwalk.

“Not really,” Atom followed and backed the pram into the saloon.

Four burly security guards sat at a table just inside the door of the crowded bar, playing cards. They eyed the pram with curiosity. One of the guards leaned back from the table to block Atom’s path, revealing a wicked looking auto-shotgun resting in his lap.

The man gave a pleasant smile. “You lost, grandpa?” he patronized Atom.

“No, sir,” Atom lifted his hands. “Got no cause for trouble. We’re just looking for Daisy. I’ve a need for a pilot and got some good recommendations.”

The guards exchanged a quick glance that worried Atom.

“Check up at the bar. The tender can point you in the right direction,” he said with a shake of his head before turning to Shi. “And you both will be leaving your guns with us. Check them and save us all a world of trouble.”

Shi slipped her pistols from their holsters and spun them around. “Take good care of them,” she gave an evil grin. “We’ve a special relationship.”

“How do you know she doesn’t have a backup?” Atom laid his pistol down.

One of the guards tapped beside his eye. “Oc implant lets me scan for contra. Aside from that knife tucked in the back of your belt we’re good to float.”

“You said guns,” Atom held up his hands. “I didn’t mean any harm.”

He fumbled the knife from his belt and handed it over to the guards. They laughed at his bumbling antics and turned back to their card game, leaving Atom and Shi to enter the Dark Horse.

Atom pushed the pram through the noisy, smoky throng as he wound his way toward the bar. Shi trailed along behind, her eyes in continuous motion as she gauged the temperament of the patrons.

Shi touched Atom’s shoulder.

He turned and ducked his head down to her level. “Everything looks fair calm,” she said, keeping her eyes to the crowd. “How’s Margo handlin’ all the noise?”

“I think she finds it entertaining,” Atom glanced down to see Margo kneeling in the pram, rocking her head back and forth as she tried to take everything in. “We’ve been in rowdier places.”

Shi shook her head in amazement.

“I never wanted one,” Shi nodded at Margo. “But she’s full of surprises.”

“That she is,” Atom mumbled as he looked over to the bar. “See any Daisies?”

“We’re looking for a pilot. Only daisies I’m seeing look like tumblers.”

Atom gave a questioning look.

“You know, toss them some coin and they tumble into bed,” beneath her poncho Shi’s hands drifted to her empty holsters. “Speakin’ of, I feel as bare as a paid tumbler without my girls.”

“You’ll get them back soon enough,” Atom shook his head and turned to scan the room once more.

Only three women stood at the bar and they seemed overly interested in finding a paying customer. Pressing his way through the crowd, Atom drew the barkeep’s attention. As the burly man finished pouring a round, he slapped a dish towel over his shoulder, and plodded the length of the bar.

“What’ll it be?” the keep drawled.

“I’ll take an iced tea and a...”

“Whiskey,” Shi snapped over his shoulder before turning back to the room.

“Sweet or now?” the barkeep asked Atom.

“Now,” Atom placed a dozen square coins on the bar. “And I’m looking for a girl named Daisy. She’s supposed to be one hell of a pilot.”

The barman froze. “Down the far end,” he ducked his head and busied himself with a pair of glasses. “Whiskey neat or a rock?”

“Neat,” Shi gave the barkeep a puzzled look.

“You want me to bring your drinks down there,” he nodded to the end of the bar. “Or will you be coming back for them?”

“Down there is fine,” Atom gave a friendly nod.

He tapped Shi on the elbow and began maneuvering the pram along the bar.

Neither of them noticed the barkeep tap his earpiece and whisper as he filled their drinks. Shi did take note as two of the guards rose from their seats and made their way to where the barkeep stood. Keeping an eye on the guards and scanning the crowd for the cause of their interest, she felt a gnawing worry grow in her belly.

“Atom,” she touched him in the small of the back. “Somethin’s afoot.”

“What do you smell?” Atom halted halfway down the bar.

“Something’s stirring. Got a feelin’.”

Atom lifted his eyes from Shi and surveyed the room. The noise level remained constant. No large groups had entered to change the dynamics. He saw no weapons. But the guards had shifted. Two leaned on the end of the bar conversing with the barkeep and the one of the others wandered with haphazard purpose through the crowd.

One of the guards at the bar glanced in their direction. He made brief eye contact, but turned back to the barkeep.

“It’s us,” Atom said.

“But we ain’t a threat,” Shi turned to look, but Atom gripped her arm and pulled her back to him.

“We move forward, but if anything happens we need to be innocent bystanders,” he brought his face close to hers. “We don’t want any trouble here. We’re just looking for a pilot. If we don’t find her we’ll walk out of here calmly and under our own power.”

“Gotcha, cap,” Shi frowned, but followed the orders.

Atom let her go and as he turned back to the pram he cast a cautious glance toward the guards at the bar. Both of them returned his look with an anticipating calm and tracked his movement as he pressed on.

“What are we getting ourselves into?” Atom muttered as he began nosing the pram through the crowd with excuse me’s and apologies.

As they carved their way, the parting crowd jostled the suspensor-pram as they tried to clear room, forcing Margo to grip the sides to stay upright.

“Hold tight, Go,” Atom called like a captain facing a storm.

Margo grinned and bobbed her head against the buffeting.

Seeing the child smiling did more to part the crowd than any of Atom’s words and more than a few scarred scrappers tousled her hair with drunken sentiment. Atom tolerated their touches and words.

After what seemed an eternal journey, they reached the far end of the bar. A black man, massive as a bear, perched on a stool and shared an intimate laugh with one of the barmaids. Casting a casual glance at Atom and Shi the man picked up a pint in a hand that made the glass look like a child’s cup.

“You need a drink,” the man growled.

“I believe the barkeep should be bringing our drinks shortly,” Atom gave a pleasant smile.

As if on cue the bartender dropped the two drinks beside the hulking figure and retreated to the far end of the bar.

“Seems I’ve stirred something up,” Atom ducked his head in apology as he reached between the man and woman to retrieve their drinks. “Although I’m not sure exactly what I’ve done.”

“Well, what brings you here?” the man drained his pint glass and slammed it down on the counter with a fiery, drunken grin.

“Wodka,” he roared to the barkeep.

Like a sleepy bear he rolled his head back to Atom.

“I’m looking for a pilot named Daisy,” he turned to the girl. “That wouldn’t happen to be you, would it?”

The grin fell from the hulking man’s face. Wide eyed, the barmaid backed away from Atom. A hush fell over the bar in a wave as everyone turned to the corner in anticipation. The guards struggled to make their way through the press with grim determination on their faces.

“You aren’t Daisy?” Atom cocked his head in confusion. “The barkeep said Daisy was down at the end...”

“I’m Daisy,” the huge man lurched off his stool. His breath came in short, rage fueled gasps. “An’ nob’dy calls me Daisy, ‘less they got a want for death.”

Like a piston his arm leapt forward and with ease he grabbed the front of Atom’s brown coat and lifted him off his feet. Atom stood over six feet, but Daisy towered over him and he lifted Atom until their noses almost touched.

“Got a wish, little man?” Daisy growled.

A look of calm filled Atom even as Daisy’s liquor laced breath washed over him. Without looking he held up both hands to his side, one halting Shi as she prepared to launch herself at the towering man, and the other stopped Margo as the child reached for the weapons controls hidden in her pram.

“I’ve no wish for death, sir,” Atom replied. “I arrived on the recommendation that you were the finest pilot available for hire.”

Daisy pulled him closer.

Atom held up his hands as a gesture of surrender. “If you’re unavailable for hire I apologize and to show my goodwill I’ll buy your next round.”

For a moment Daisy held Atom off his feet. Then he lowered him to the ground. The drunken grin returned as he dusted off Atom’s coat. Daisy turned his grin on the crowd and spun in a slow circle.

Atom motioned for the barkeep and pointed to Daisy’s cup. “Another for the gentleman.”

He smiled up at the giant and pulled a stack of coins out of his pocket and placed the leaning tower beside the empty pint glass. As he did so the guards finally fought their way through the crowd and stepped up behind Atom.

“I think it’s time you be on your way,” one of the guards growled in his ear.

“This is too much,” the bartender said as he approached with a fresh bottle.

“It’s your tip,” Atom said as he turned and pushed the pram to Shi.

Taking her cue from Atom’s uncharacteristic separation she took Margo and began backing her way through the crowd. Atom turned back behind her.

“And if I offended you by calling you Daisy, then I’m sorry,” a quirky smile touched at his mouth. “But may I ask, if it’s your name why do you hate it so much?”

Daisy froze. The refilled pint hovered near his mouth. Then with a cry of rage he slammed the drink down on the counter. Like an icy meteor it shattered and sprayed the area with glass and liquid.

Once again Daisy’s hands flew like pistons, but this time Atom moved. A slight shift of his head and Daisy’s fist drove into the face of one of the guards.

The man flew into a crowd like a limp doll. Beer spilled. People fell.

The bar erupted.

“Get her outside,” Atom yelled over his shoulder as the other guard grabbed him from behind. Kozue relayed his words.

“What about you?” Shi called back as she struggled to guide the bobbing pram through a sea of writhing, tussling bodies.

“Don’t worry about me,” Atom dropped limp.

The guard looked surprised as another bone crushing punch missed Atom and crashed into the man’s face. Atom stumbled as the unconscious man dragged him along into the seething crowd.

Bottles flew.

Fists flew.

Patrons flew.

Atom rose. Standing tall amid the tumultuous battleground, he locked Daisy with an unwavering glare. Atom stood steady as the bear-like man charged forward into the fray. Casting people aside as if they weighed no more than light barstools, Daisy carved a path through the throng.

Atom stood his ground.

With a final cry of rage Daisy threw himself at Atom, but with a shadow’s swiftness Atom slipped to the side.

Like a matador Atom danced one step ahead of the lumbering bear as he led him on a merry chase across the frenzied battle floor. Fists flew, but none struck true. Atom refrained from retaliating. Instead he let Daisy tire himself.

“Come on Daisy,” Atom goaded as he drew near the front door. “If you want to work for me, don’t you think you should be able to beat me in a fair fight?”

Atom passed the guard’s table and snatched his knife and pistol from the weapons bin and ducked through the doors, leaving them to swing shut behind him. Two steps carried him from the wooden porch and he hopped over the streaming gutter onto the street.

Shi stood a dozen paces away, watching Atom’s dance. With her poncho flipped back over her shoulder, the gunslinger’s hands hovered over her pistols. She stood still, but every fiber of her being vibrated with anticipated tautness. Margo, however, watched with casual interest.

Before Shi had time to utter a word the doors exploded from their hinges and Daisy plowed through their vacated space. The behemoth screamed and ripped a post from the porch railing as he lumbered down the stairs after Atom.

With disregard he splashed through the foul gutter.

“Stop,” Atom yelled in his most commanding tone. “Daisy Solomon I have no desire to fight you. I’m walking away right now and you don’t ever have to see me again. Fair’s fair. If you want a job piloting my ship drop that post and follow me. Seeing what’s behind you that might be the wiser option.”

Behind him Shi sidestepped across the street with light steps.

Daisy’s chest heaved. His eyes narrowed.

Atom noted his hand gripping tighter around the post. Daisy took a step forward. His jaw clenched.

“Should I walk away?” Atom cocked his head and studied the giant.

“Shee, no,” Daisy tossed the lumber over his shoulder. “I ain’t pissed ‘nough to turn down a jib.”

“Come along then,” Atom turned and walked away.

“How’d you get that name anyway?” he asked as Daisy fell in at his side. “It seems you don’t like it very much. You do know you can change your name to whatever you want?”

“Ma gave me the name, said she wanted a girl. Thought she’d be a funny bast ‘fore she burned for the black,” Daisy grumbled. “I could change it, but it gives me a reason to blow off steam from time to time. Guarantee I can rationalize a laugh into breaking a face or two.”

“Not on my ship,” Atom said. “What you do dirtside’s your business as long as trouble doesn’t follow you aboard.

“Sometimes a man’s got to bust a few heads to feel grounded,” Atom smiled at the thought. “If things work for us, I might join you sometime.”

Daisy laughed from deep in his belly, causing both Shi and Margo to perk up.

––––––––

When they arrived back at the ship, Atom found Byron chatting with a pair of rough looking men in the galley. He left Daisy in Shi’s care and laid Margo down in her little bunk before joining Byron and the others.

As he walked into the galley he nodded to Byron and the mech scampered away.

“Captain Ulvan,” he introduced himself to the men with a polite nod before sitting and pouring a mug of tea. “So what brings you aboard my ship?”

The two men exchanged a nervous glance.

“Captain Ulvan, I am Roger Thach and this is my brother Barnes. We are miners,” he spoke with a thick, lilted accent. “We have trouble and have heard rumor that you are the man to resolve trouble.”

“I’ve been known to live up to that rumor a time or two,” Atom gave a pleasant smile as he relaxed and draped an arm over the back of the bench. “I tend to avoid looking for it though.”

“You have time to help us, yes?”

“Depends on what kind of trouble you have going on,” Atom tilted his head like a bird of prey. “I need to know everything before I take a job. I don’t like surprises.”

“How are we to know that you will not inform on us,” Barnes demanded.

“I’ve worked for bigger game than you and never said a word. It’s bad for business, both above and below the table. People have even tried to silence me for what I know.

“They don’t last long,” Atom clicked the cylinder of his pistol below the table.

“So are you going to tell me your story,” Atom sipped his tea. “Or am I going to walk away now?”

“We work the moon Shelley....”

“A moon of the planet Mary of the Nievaal System,” Kozue whispered in his ear.

“It is our home and we have mine for several generations. In past year we hit major vein. Am talking change life, planet owning level of wealth,” Roger Thach glanced to his brother, nervous sweat standing out at his brow. “So fat men want to take over and they are protected by government. They want to take control and keep profit for themselves.”

“We aim to stop them,” Barnes interjected.

“Sounds like you’ve got the worlds against you,” Atom tapped his boot against the table leg as he digested the information. “How are they attacking you exactly? Is it paper or are they trying to muscle in on your property?”

“They say the moon is property of the government and we can work the mines at a salary, but anything coming out of mines is theirs,” Roger wore the look of a broken man grasping at his last straw.

“Is not so,” Barnes leaned in, thumping a fist on the table that rattled Atom’s mug. “We laid legal claim to our piece of rock when it worth zero. We pour blood and lives into that chunk of moon dust and now that we struck something they are bent to hell on snatching it from under us.”

“So what are they doing?” Atom’s intrigue fueled his patience.

“They demand we sign deed over to them or they will not be liable for any outside incursions,” Roger played with the lip of the table, but he shot a flickering glance of hope to Atom.

“Mercs,” Atom leaned forward with anger simmering just beneath the surface.

“Mayhaps,” Barnes said. “We do not know that they are actually in pay of the government. They could be raiders invited with promise of plunder and no sanctioned repercussions.”

“Or maybe our luck is cursed,” Roger moaned.

“Not so,” Barnes snapped. “They are too organized, too orderly in goal.”

“How so?” Atom interjected.

“They terrorize our people and our home. But never touch mines or equipment.”

Atom held up a hand for silence. He leaned forward and folded his arms as he scowled down at the table in thought. The miners stared at him, curious, but too respectful to break into the mullings of their potential savior. Atom knew their eyes remained fixed on him. He ignored them. His gaze wandered the battered old surface of the table as if seeing the battlefield laid out before him.

After several minutes of quiet he looked up.

“What would you have of me?” the conspirator in him crept out. “I could remove the mercs, but chances are your government would simply send more. I could go after the source of the problem, but that would leave your system in upheaval and would be exponentially more difficult.”

“You could do that?” Roger asked in awe. “You can really destroy entire system government, yes?”

Atom shrugged. His face remained impassive. “The third choice would be a dabbling of the pair,” he said. “It would take less time and if I tie all the strings together it could solve your problem.

“Also,” his voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. “I work alone. My crew is not to be drawn into this. My ship and crew are on the up and up and I aim to stay legitimate.”

“How you stop a government by yourself?” Roger demanded. “Is impossible, no? Are we waste our money talking to you? Everything we hear about you is just rumor and very little of that.”

“You want proof?” Atom slid from the booth. “Be at Hendrik Square at five tomorrow evening and stay for dinner. You’ll want a table inside though.

“I’ll visit your moon. My price is 50,000 firm. I’ll be there in a week.”

Nodding to the miners he turned and strolled from the galley. Behind him the two men exchanged a nervous glance, trying to decide what they had just committed to.

––––––––

Atom waited. Like a hunter in a blind, stalking a deer, he perched at the corner of a rooftop in a holographic, camouflage cloak and scanned the road below. Pedestrians trickled by. The residential nature of the road confined most of the heavy traffic to paralleling thoroughfares.

“Is it the best idea to use your daughter as bait?” Kozue asked.

“She’s safe in the pram,” Atom replied without shifting his eyes from the street. “Plus she’s right below us, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Atom leaned over the edge of the single story building and looked down to where Margo sat in the suspensor-pram playing with her worn doll and an equally shabby toy knight Byron had crafted in his shop

“Hiya, Go,” he called down in a stage whisper.

Margo looked up and smiled as Atom parted the cloak enough for his face to peek out from the late afternoon sky.

Margo laughed the beautiful laugh of pure innocence.

“See, she’s fine,” Atom turned back to the road with a grin even as a couple walking by looked over and contracted the child’s infectious smile. “In a neighborhood like this it’s not uncommon for parents to put their children out for some fresh air as the temp drops in the afternoon.”

“So what are we waiting for? I thought you planned to hit this convoy at Hendrik Square.”

“Truth, but I need a few supplies first.”

“If you wait too long I predict you shall miss the transport when it passes through the square. By my calculations they will depart promptly at 6. Under current traffic patterns that places the convoy in the square between 611 and 613. That is a relatively small window if you aren’t there to complete your task.”

“Blast, woman,” Atom growled “I have more than an hour to get from here to there and it’s only a five minute stroll.”

“I just don’t want you to be late.”

“I’m stalking now. There’s no late when you’re running on the prey’s time.”

As he spoke a man and woman rounded the corner and walked down the empty street. They talked, although Atom could not make out their words, and as if scripted, one would laugh or smile.

“That’s them,” Atom slid back from the edge of the roof until just his eyes poked above the adobe lip.

“How can you tell?”

“They’re off.”

“Nothing stands out about them. Their clothing fits current styles and looks nice without being fresh from the package. Their dialect is local. I’m not detecting any transmissions from them.

“What sets them apart?” demanded Kozue.

Somewhere, deep in his subconscious, Atom visualized Kozue tapping her little foot, folding her arms, and affecting a pout.

“They’ve walked two blocks and they haven’t looked at each other once.”

Kozue paused. “You are correct,” she sounded impressed. “And they have maintained a strict distancing, always between twenty and twenty-five centimeters from one another.”

“That’s what I’ve been waiting for,” he flashed a wolfish smile.

He watched in silence and focused. As the couple drew near his muscles coiled.

“Would you look at that,” the woman cooed as they passed Margo’s pram. “Isn’t she the most precious little creature you ever did see?”

“She’s cute,” the man replied without taking his eyes from the street. He turned his back on the girl and scanned the surroundings with narrowed eyes. For a moment they kept their façade, but after a heartbeat it fell.

“Think she belongs to this building?” the woman dropped her voice as she drew close to the pram. “No other children on this segment of road.”

“Usually there’s a parent or tender nearby to keep an eye on the kid,” he replied.

The man’s head moved on a swivel. “Something’s off,” he looked up just as Atom dropped from his perch.

A straight leg and an upturned face led to a fractured neck. The woman spun as the man crumpled to the ground. Atom landed in a crouch beside the body. Training drove the agent’s hand for her gun, but before she could draw a long spark arced from the pram.

The woman contorted as electricity slammed through her body. Her face locked in a deathly grimace as she clawed and jerked at the air. Behind her Margo flipped a switch in her pram and the woman crumpled to the ground.

With a solemn nod the girl turned back to her dolls.

Atom glanced up and down the street and whispered a quick word of thanks that the only pedestrians walked in the opposite direction.

“Koze, keep eyes for me while I get these bodies off the street,” Atom began dragging the man away from the curb and up a nearby alley. Heaving the man by the ankles he made slow progress against the surprising bulk.

“Atom,” urgency lace Kozue’s words. “I am detecting a group nearing the corner of the next street.”

Dropping the man in the middle of the alley, Atom sprinted for the street and just managed to toss the woman over his shoulder and duck back into cover before a group of youthful teens rounded the corner with boisterous energy. He dumped the woman down a shallow set of stone cellar steps and managed to drag the man to join her before the group reached the pram.

“I’m going to check Go,” Atom yelled to nobody “Do you need anything for supping while I’m out? I can run to the grocers.”

He hopped up the steps and trotted back down the alley to where a pair of girls from the group had stopped to fawn over Margo. He nodded a cordial greeting and ruffled his daughter’s hair.

“Cooling off nicely,” he gave the girls a warm smile.

“Ya, gotta be outta doors on eves like this,” one of the girls said as the pair smiled back. “You should take your dot for a stroller.”

“That’s a good nosh,” Atom kicked the brake off the pram and pushed it out onto the sidewalk. “She can run with me to the market.

“Have a nice one,” he called out as he walked down the street with a whistle on his lips. The girls waved to Margo and then ran to catch up with their friends amid a twittering flurry of giggles.

“Smoothly done,” Kozue purred in his ear. “Did you get what you need?”

Atom patted the pocket of his jacket. “ID badges,” he glanced over his shoulder before ducking the pram down a side street. “It means their agents keep moving, and I can get close.”

––––––––

The sun drifted toward the horizon. The Thachs sat inside a café on Hendrik Square watching as the shadows crawled across the chained off inner segment of the stone sprawl. They sipped at steaming cups of liquor laced bitter.

“Mind if I join you?” Atom slid into an empty seat at the table

“We’ve been here an hour,” Roger said in a hushed tone. His cup rattled as he set it on the table.

“Nervous?”

“Should we be?” Roger tensed, preparing to run.

“This is my audition,” Atom cracked his knuckles. “I should be the nervous one. A payment rides on this.

“And some future employment,” he gave a lopsided grin and patted Roger on the shoulder. “Keep an eye on my pram for me. One of my crew will be by to pick Margo up. My AI will know her when she gets here. You can tag along and we’ll give you a ride home.”

“Where are you going?” Roger’s breath grew shallow and a light sweat dappled his forehead.”

“I’ve a job to finish.”

Atom picked up Roger’s cup and slugged a mouthful before heading to the door. Outside he spat the bitter on the ground and frowned as his face twitched against the unaccustomed grain alcohol.

At a jog he dodged the slow moving traffic and began crossing the broad square. Just as he reached the center and rounded the extravagant fountain, a small convoy entered from the opposite corner. Two ground-cars bracketed a small armored personnel carrier.

Atom began waving his arms with frenetic energy.

“Turn around,” he screamed, his voice lost among the hubbub of the crowded square, but nearby people turned to look. “Ambush. They’ve got an ambush laid up ahead.”

He put on speed. His long legs kicked out and devoured the paving stones as he wove through the pedestrian traffic.

The convoy continued on, not seeing Atom’s frantic gestures. As he drew close the bubbled laser turret atop the APC swung in his direction. For a moment the twin laser cannons trained on him, but Atom breathed a sigh of relief when the system registered the stolen ID tags and shifted away.

After the information relayed from gunner to commander the cars slowed and made their way over to the side of the busy street. Flashing lights diverted traffic around them as Atom breathlessly stumbled the last twenty yards to the vehicles.

A uniformed guard stepped from the front car, hand on his sidearm.

“Ambush,” Atom said, doubled over with his hands on his knees. He pointed toward the near corner of the square. “They’re planning on killing her. Tried to call it in, but they’re jamming.”

The guard drew his weapon and knelt in the cover of the ground-car. He tapped his ear and spoke to the convoy commander.

Atom straightened up with a grimace. He surveyed the convoy and drifted back towards the APC. As he moved an explosion ripped through the peaceful cacophony of the crowded square.

In a deluge the pedestrians surged, a tidal wave of humanity as they fled the explosion.

Guards poured from all three cars.

Atom blended, drawing his pistol and crouching down beside the chest-high wheel of the APC. He trained his weapon towards the billowing cloud at the corner of the square, but his eyes roamed the convoy. Screams of terror and pain filled the air. Debris began raining down, shards of plastic, paper, and undistinguishable fragments of office detritus.

Shielding his eyes, Atom scanned the troopers as they fanned out to form a perimeter around the three cars. The rear door of the front car flew open and a uniformed woman emerged.

Atom spun to train his gun on the figure.

“No weapon,” Kuzue said.

Atom nodded, studying the woman’s face as his aim drifted off into the chaos. He turned his attention to the APC. Stepping away from the wheel, he banged on the side hatch.

Nothing.

He banged again and the hatch cracked. A worried face peered out.

“What?” the man demanded.

Atom pointed to the smoky remnants of the explosion. At that moment a second explosion rent the air, adding momentum to the maelstrom of humanity.

The guards on the perimeter kept their weapons trained outward, searching the oncoming crowd for identifiable threats, but registered only terror and confusion in the people mobbing toward them. Weapons swayed, moving from target to target, searching for an excuse, but nothing appeared.

A third explosion detonated in close cadence with the previous.

The unarmed woman from the first car bolted for the APC, but a guard appeared from the smoke to corral her. She kicked and pleaded as the officer dragged her back and muscled her in the ground-car.

Atom noted the woman’s hand press against the rear window.

“The cap in there?” Atom asked.

The man gave him a questioning look, but shook his head. “He’s in the rear car. You know, the safest place in an ambush.”

“Good,” Atom shoved the man back and ducked into the side hatch, just as a wave of people washed over the perimeter. He tossed a small satchel beneath the APC as he did so. “It’s going to the void out there. I need a second to catch myself.”

He dropped into the seat beside the door with a weary groan and shook his head in disbelief. A quick scan of the interior revealed a crew of three.

“Whatever,” the soldier grunted as he pulled the hatch shut behind Atom. “Just don’t take too long. The cap don’t like us pulling laze like that.”

“Not a problem,” Atom wiped dirt from his weary face.

Without hesitation he put a bullet in the man’s head, dropping him to the deck with a thud. The driver turned with a look of confusion and fear.

Atom fired two shots in rapid succession. Two more bodies joined their companion, leaving Atom in possession of a fifteen ton light tank. For a moment he toyed with the idea of driving out of the situation, but discarded the notion as impractical.

“Why’d you do that?” a young girl asked from where she huddled at the rear of the carrier, eyes wide like a frightened fawn.

“Your mom asked me to keep you safe,” Atom relaxed and a relieved smile creased his face. “She was worried about what these men might have done, so she asked me to rescue you. Now I can’t get her out just yet, but I’ll get you out safely.

“Come over here,” he beckoned. “You’ll ride on my back. I’ll keep you safe, I promise. There are a lot of people out there right now and I don’t want you to get lost.”

“Will you save my mommy too?” the girl asked with a quiver of her lip.

“When the time’s right,” Atom reached out a gentle hand and tucked a stray strand of hair away. “For now you’ll have to trust me. I have a family that will take care of you until your mommy is free. But right now we need to go. If we wait, we won’t be able to get away and your mom will be sad that I couldn’t do my job.”

With a timid look the girl slipped from her seat and walked down the cramped aisle to Atom. The APC began to rock as the human tsunami hit the armored sides of the vehicle, causing the girl to clutch the seat with added fear in her eyes.

Atom turned and knelt with a reassuring smile. He motioned the girl to climb his back where he looped an empty ammo belt around them both and cinched it snug.

“I don’t want to risk losing you. It’s a little crazy out there. Hold on tight and I’ll keep you safe,” he kept one arm under the girl. With his other hand he holstered his pistol and reached out for the door.

“Kozue, trip it,” as he spoke a concussion rocked the APC.

He threw open the door. Smoke billowed into the interior. Someone slammed into the door, throwing it shut again. With a grunt of frustration Atom kicked the door open and launched himself into the swirling, smoky throng before anyone else could run into the door.

The girl coughed. Atom grimaced as tears sprang to his eyes. Squinting, he burrowed his way through the fleeing figures. In moments he disappeared, but not before passing the front car and grief stricken mother with tears streaming down her face.

The girl waved farewell.

––––––––

“I didn’t ask for a child,” Moncrief dropped his voice despite the damping field. “You were to take care of our situation and remove Polmero from a position to harm my family.”

“I did just that,” Atom looked over to where the young girl played by the fountain with Margo. He smiled. “You are placed in a unique position of power. Your options are open. Polmero knows you have her daughter. She won’t say a word. If and when she is released you can claim that you rescued the daughter to keep her safe. Maybe you thought the daughter might not be as resilient as her mother so you kept her from harm’s way.

“You don’t ever put to words the fact that you held her as leverage to keep her mother silent,” Atom sipped at his steaming chai. “The bonds between parent and child are the strongest in the universe.

“Lastly,” Atom set his cup on the table before looking over to the girls again. “You have the honor of keeping Polmero’s family alive. If she dies in custody you can ensure her lineage continues. Perhaps a union of the two families, a consolidation of wealth?”

“How could we do that if they know she was rescued from their custody?”

“I’m sure you can think of something, legal or otherwise. Is it lawful to take a six-year-old and arrest her? Maybe you rescued her from a third party? The choice is yours.

“What I’m leaving you with is a much smaller problem than what you faced when you hired me. You have the problem of choosing which option is most beneficial to you and your family,” Atom sat up with his hands on his knees and stretched his back before rising to his feet. “Now I believe my fee is in order.

“I thank you for your business,” Atom bowed from the waist.

Moncrief stared at the girls a moment, his mind turning. He flicked a finger and the servant girl stepped forward from the shadows with a string of coins held respectfully between her hands. She returned Atom’s bow as she handed over the string. With a jingle he tied the fortune around his waist. Then, he gave a flourishing flip of his coat to cover his new belt.

“You don’t count them?” Moncrief raised an eyebrow.

“You won’t short me of payment,” a slight smile appeared both disarming and predatory in the same twitch. “We both know that.”