The Gabriel had jumped to the Aspro system so the Cartella could appear to be a private Theo vessel, travelling between Paradeisos and Dasos.
Andy had agreed to pilot them there and was now on final approach to a small domestic space port on the surface of Dasos, around forty kilometres from the outskirts of Kentro City.
‘It’s certainly pretty with all the snow,’ said Andy, peering out across the winter landscape as he slowed to allow a Regg’Taa-registered freighter to take off.
‘The gravity’s not so attractive though,’ moaned Dewey, grimacing at Bache, who’d agreed to travel with him and give him some support.
‘Nothing like a bit of gravity to keep you fit, James,’ said Bache, grinning back.
‘Bollocks to that,’ he replied, winking at Andy, as it was one of his English phrases he’d borrowed.
Andy smiled as he turned the ship and plonked it down on a carpet of fresh snow, the soft powder on top billowing out around the ship, agitated by the antigravs.
They both donned warm coats and hats as Andy ordered a flyer to take them into the city centre.
‘Any problems, I’ll be right here,’ said Andy. ‘I don’t think there’s any glühwein available in this ski resort anyway.’
Two blank expressions indicated neither got the joke, so he hit the open airlock icons just as a city flyer landed on the adjacent pad. He could feel the freezing air wafting in the door from the pilot’s seat and quickly closed the inner airlock door as both James and Bache negotiated the steps and waded their way through the snow to the waiting flyer.
The first inkling Bache had that everything was not as it should be was when the flyer pilot didn’t ask them where they wanted to go. Andy had deliberately not given a destination and when they just took off and turned towards the south of the city, all Bache’s hackles stood to attention.
He winked at James to indicate he was about to do something unexpected and leaned forward to speak to the pilot.
‘Hey buddy, that’s really cool you turning up,’ he said in a coarse non-local dialect. ‘I was just about to call for a flyer anyway. Can you take us to the Pink Flame Club on the south side? My friend and I want to try out some of these famous Dasos girls.’
The pilot’s face turned from a determined expression to one of confusion.
‘Are you a GDA commander and an ambassador?’ he asked, as he slowed the flyer and looked nervously over his shoulder.
‘Hell, no,’ said Bache. ‘We’re miners from Krix’ir.’
He gave James’s knee a squeeze to stop him saying anything.
‘We got off the freighter from Regg’Taa that just left. We were asking the pilot of that small ship if he operated a taxi service and now you come to mention it, there were two important-looking gentlemen waiting on there. Did you pick us up by mistake?’
The pilot swore under his breath and dropped the flyer straight down and landed with a thud in some sort of housing development.
‘Hey, you can’t leave us—’
‘Get out,’ the pilot sneered, a weapon of some sort suddenly appearing in his hand.
Bache opened the door quickly and dragged a rather confused James with him. The flyer’s engines screamed as it took off again in a hurry, causing them to shield their eyes from a blizzard of snow blasted up by the antigrav. It turned away back towards the space port and soon disappeared in the low cloud coming in from the west. More snow began to fall.
‘What the fuck was all that about?’ demanded James, looking at Bache weirdly as though he’d grown two heads.
‘We were being abducted,’ Bache replied, striding off and nodding his head to indicate James was to follow.
‘We were?’ said James, puffing to keep up. ‘Do you have to go so fast?’ he added, when he got no reply.
‘It won’t take that pilot long to realise I bullshitted him,’ said Bache, steering James towards a small row of shops. ‘He’ll be back, probably with reinforcements. So, we need transport and fast.’
‘How did you know?’ James asked, again struggling and puffing like an old steam engine.
‘He flew off in the wrong direction and why would a taxi flyer pilot have a concealed weapon?’
‘Fuck,’ said James. ‘I’m not cut out for all this cloak and dagger shit, obviously.’
As they approached the row of retail shops, a lady exited the second shop and opened the door of an old and dirty grey ground vehicle. Bache wasn’t going to bother with that one, but noticed it was one of the few vehicles with snow-cutting wheels. He pulled a hidden laser pistol and when the lady got into the vehicle, he jumped in with her, making sure the weapon was low but very visible to her.
‘I’m sorry, we won’t harm you, we won’t rob you, we just need you to drive us somewhere,’ he said to the terrified woman.
She started crying and making a high-pitched keening noise.
‘This is Ambassador Dewey from the GDA council,’ said Bache, pointing at James as he climbed into the vehicle and joined them.
‘Sorry, miss,’ James said, in a soothing tone. ‘It’s an emergency, we really need to get into the city quickly. Can you do that for us?’
She quietened a little and nodded on hearing James’s less threatening inflection. Bache pulled the door down and closed it, as she programmed a route into the city.
They both kept one eye on the sky as the old vehicle hummed its way out into the traffic and headed north east, its snow cutters occasionally clattering noisily on the clear patches of roadway under the overpasses, bridges and trees.
‘I know where we are now,’ said James suddenly as they neared the centre. ‘Turn right down there,’ he said, pointing.
The woman retook manual control and turned right where the ambassador was pointing.
‘There’s a rear entrance we use to come and go without having to run the gauntlet of tourists at the front,’ James said. ‘Pull up at those gates over there.’
She did as she was told and as they neared the gate, James waved a black bracelet on his wrist at a panel set into a low pillar. The gates powered open, revealing a darkened passageway dropping down below ground.
‘I’m not driving down there,’ she said, nervously.
‘No, you’re right,’ said James, patting her on the shoulder. ‘We can walk from here. Come on Bache, we don’t need to frighten the poor lady any more do we?’
‘Absolutely not and again, sorry to have scared you.’
The woman half smiled as they exited the vehicle, then reversed up and drove off at great speed, snow cutters clattering noisily as she went. As the two of them turned and stepped through the gates, a sudden roar came from above and the old grey vehicle disappeared in a ball of fire.
‘Holy crap,’ shouted James, as the concussion from the blast almost knocked him off his feet. Bache grabbed his arm and bundled him down into the underground gloom of the GDA Council Plaza.
‘That poor woman – we didn’t even know her name’ said James, wistfully looking over his shoulder as they ran through the lines of parked vehicles.
Bache gritted his teeth and swore to himself he was going to do something very unpleasant to whoever was calling the shots of this murderous fiasco.