Chapter Twenty-One

Master Thieves

 

Prime Space Port: Now

 

 

Red Moon sauntered across the tarmac to the yacht. Sleek. The bullet shaped fuselage had an enormous array of engines attached to its ass. Built for speed, this baby was. Illegal to open her up on most planets. The alter-engines would take her into orbit at minimal-legal, getting her far enough away from the outer layers of atmo so that when the after-burners were lit, they wouldn’t burn off ozone or oxygen in their wake. Red Moon ran her fingers over the hull. As payment, it would be a fair trade. What value could you put on the ending of a five-hundred-year war?

Taurok hurried over. “I got us a ride. Crew on a freighter going to Crest Line Two. I told them you were an experienced navigator and I was a Payload Master. They are in a hurry to get off-planet, what with the rumors of giant monsters lurking in the sewers.”

“I want this one,” Red Moon said.

“Red? You wanted a way off this rock. Did you hear me? I got us one.”

Red Moon looked up at him. Her eyes were golden. Not just a slight bleed around the edges. Full blown gold. “I promised you we would go to your planet so you could sing Eliar into the Underworld. Let’s go. Enough of this playing like we are normal beings. I weary of traveling at the whim of some other person’s agenda. I want to be free to go where my heart wants to take me.”

Taurok looked up at the yacht. “It needs a crew.”

“We are the crew, you and I. Come with me, Taurok of Gar. Come be free to travel the stars.”

“You cannot steal a rich man’s yacht from the spaceport of Prime and expect to get away with it.”

“Yes I can. Watch,” Red Moon said stubbornly.

Red Moon put her hand on the pressure plate. “Open. I command you.”

Lights blinked on the console there.

“Who are you to command me?” the AI asked.

“I am Red Moon, daughter of the Crimson Eyrie, last of the Children of the Daughter of the Single Tear. All the universe is mine to command for all reality is held in my heart. There is no authority higher than mine. Open your controls to me.”

Taurok held his breath. This was insane. What did an AI know of the Daughter of the Single Tear? But he had seen crazier things happen hanging out with her. The ship did not respond. Taurok snorted. “That is not how you talk to . . .”

The ship opened and extended a ramp. Red Moon cast a small smile in Taurok’s direction and walked up the ramp into the bowels of the ship.

Taurok stared after her for a moment and then shrugged. “Ach, Eliar, did I not tell you she would take us far?”

He walked up the ramp and into the ship. The AI closed the door behind him and began warming the engines.