Chapter 3
Alice
Alice stared at the alien before her. The one with the giant jowls, the one with the skin that hung off its arms, that bunched in great bands around its legs and stomach. To many of the softer races, especially the humans, the alien before her would have appeared disgusting. From the green slime slowly dripping off its pale yellow skin, to the red bloodshot eyes, to the way it talked – it was not a pretty sight.
But Alice didn't have the same sensibilities as a human; she couldn’t afford them. She survived only by hiding amongst the worst scum of the galaxy. So slime and rotting flesh weren’t even worth a grimace.
‘Please, I need to get past,’ Alice tried again, maneuvering her body slightly to the left, catching a glimpse of the corridor beyond her.
‘No,’ the alien replied. It had a distinct voice. A really, really horrible one, and every time Alice heard it, her back creaked and crawled.
While the alien was giant, Alice was not. She was relatively small as far as aliens went. If she had been as large as one of the rock warriors from the Carion Cluster, then maybe she would have been able to bowl into the creature, nock it to the left, and continue on her way.
Alice did not have size on her side. Then again, that didn't mean anything. In her case appearances were misleading. Very misleading.
Alice was strong. No, she was more than strong, she was incredibly, incredibly powerful. If she wanted to, she could redirect the special energy coursing through her to maximize her strength, resilience, rigidity, intelligence, anything. It was up to her. If she felt like making a scene, she could leap right over this creature's head. If she felt like making even more of a scene, she could grab up its fat, drooping tail, pick it up without much effort, and throw it right out of the smart-glass ceiling high above.
She could not afford to make a scene though, she could also not, however, afford to stay here while the creature sat there in her way, stopping her from moving anywhere.
‘What is it exactly that I have to do in order to get you to move?’ she asked, making her voice clear, really trying to keep hold of her disdain as she stiffened her lips and chin into a semi-affable smile.
‘Nothing,’ the creature answered, that voice of its still hissing in her ears.
Clamping down on her jaw, bringing her hand up until she created a tense fist, Alice looked its way.
Then she turned around.
She was not going to make a scene.
She would have to find some other way around.
Alice would not get that option though.
Just as she turned, it let one of its awful fleshy arms dart her way, then it grabbed her around her middle.
A human might have screamed. Most of the other races would certainly have protested, but Alice didn't do a thing.
She noted the move; she could feel the pressure around her middle, and her brain certainly did register the fact she was now dangling a meter or two in the air as thick slime covered her clothes and skin.
Alice didn't bother to shriek, she did not shift, and she did not beg to be put down. She did, however, blow a huff of air through her pursed lips.
She also redirected her energy into her arms, middle, legs, and torso. It made them strong. Ridiculously strong. If the alien suddenly got the idea that it would be fun to squeeze the life out of her, it could try for the rest of its horribly short existence to give it a go. But as one of its long arms wrapped around and around her, it would soon find that her skin was stronger than reinforced diamond, more resilient than even the toughest materials out there.
‘Pay,’ the alien told her, its voice strong and sharp.
Pay? Did this guy fancy he was a troll of some sort?
Alice was quite fond of old tales from Earth; she liked to read books, watch movies, even listen to poetry. And she understood what a troll was. She could appreciate the concept too. They would hang around under bridges and wait for unsuspecting travelers. Then they would pop out, demand a fee, or said unsuspecting traveler would not be able to pass.
Well troll or not, Alice was not going to pay.
If it came to it, she would fight though. Not at the full range of her abilities; she didn’t want to blow a hole in the side of the planet. But she would defend herself. Then she would run. Find some other slum on some other backwater planet. Find some dark and thick shadows to hide within.
‘Put me down before the security forces come,’ she said in a very calm if bored tone.
Because the security forces would come. No doubt the sophisticated computer that ran all the way through this section had already picked up on the fact there was an altercation going on. It would send that information back to the central computer, and whatever alien was sitting on the desk at the security forces would be alerted. Within seconds bots would be deployed.
Alice really, really didn't want to be dragged up before the security forces.
Fighting this guy was one thing, but there was something far worse Alice could never let happen. She could not be scanned. Her biometrics could not be read, and they could not be checked up against the Great Universal Database.
While she had the appearance of a human or one of the other soft-fleshed races, that was where the appearances ended. If anybody got a detailed biological scan of her form, they would see what she really was.
As the creature twisted Alice around, letting her body jolt from side to side as its arm dangled her in front of its face, she didn't even bother to let out a sound. Not a scream or a yelp or a semi-frightened gasp.
Because she wasn’t scared. Though the creature had a gleeful look in its eye, Alice was not in any real danger.
Well, she would be if the security forces arrived, but she still had several minutes before that, didn't she? As they were always a little slow when responding to altercations in the lower levels.
The higher levels, on the other hand, were a different story. If someone so much as stubbed their toe, they would have an entire security force at their door within seconds.
The higher levels were where all the richer people lived. The important people, the people that the galaxy decided were moral and just and rich enough to be worth saving.
The lower levels, however, housed the scum. The detritus, the nasty little part of the universe that nobody else wanted to look at. So while security still had to be kept, it wouldn’t rush its way to get here too quickly, because if they were lucky, whoever was involved would wipe each other out.
‘Hey, put her down,’ somebody shouted from behind Alice.
Great, somebody was about to get involved. Just what she needed. Somebody trying to be a hero. Usually you didn't get it that much around these parts, because usually everyone understood that around these parts there was no point. There was no justice to be had, just survival. Just walk on by with your head low to the ground, eyes locked on something innocuous. Ignore the screams, ignore the shouts, doge the blasts and blows. Survive. Because no matter how powerful or strong you were, there was too much crime, there was too much muck to wade through.
Without the help of the rest of the universe, you wouldn't be clearing up places like Orion Minor. You would need everybody to change their attitudes, and more importantly, you would need the Government to help, to finally send resources, to finally stop taking away money and land and jobs.
Alice rolled her eyes. She did not suddenly scream at whoever was behind her that she need their help.
‘It's okay ma’am, just hold on,’ the man assured her.
Oh great, what was he going to do? He wasn’t going to tackle the alien, was he? Because Alice could see that would be a sure ticket to the morgue.
That however was not what happened.
There was a sharp slice of light, a sound that reminded her of 1000 airlocks blasting into space, and then a clap.
Then the big, fat, green, slimy alien fell over. He sounded like a tree splitting in half. In fact there was a moment when he teetered on his feet, his large eyes closing, that massi
ve tongue of his slapping to the side as his body grew slack. And then he fell. And of course Alice fell with him. Still stuck in his arm, still unwilling to use her own strength to muscle free, she found herself slanting towards the ground.
She did not reach it though.
Someone caught her instead.
In a burst of speed, their shoes making a loud scratching noise against the already scratched floor, somebody jumped. They leapt right at her. They grabbed her, and they pulled her out of the creature’s arm. Swift, fast, and very strong.
Then Alice found herself in a strange position. She found herself in a position she had never been in. In a human man’s arms.
Confused, but still a little angry, she looked up to the guy’s face.
‘It’s okay, ma’am; I have you now,’ he assured her.
Was he trying to be gallant? Was that why he had that particular silly smile on his face? Or was that just what humans looked like? Though Alice had seen her fair share of them in the news and from the movies she watched, there weren’t that many humans around Orion Minor. It was a very long way from Earth, after all.
And then Alice stopped.
Because recognition began to flicker within her. A sharp, painful recognition. It felt like a spear had been stabbed and rammed into her ribs.
She knew that face. She’d seen it many times before.
She knew the name too. John Doe. Commander John Doe.
Damn it. About the one person in the world, about the one person in the galaxy, the one person in the entire universe, that Alice absolutely could not afford to run into. And now she was tucked neatly in his arms.
‘Put me down,’ she said, inhaling fast. Her voice was snapped, quick, gasped, and strangled.
The man blinked, receding slightly, looking shocked. Perhaps that was not how people were meant to react. Perhaps when somebody shot an alien that was trying to strangle you and caught you in their arms, you weren’t meant to snap at them to put you down.
‘Of course,’ he mumbled, and then he complied by putting her down, but gently and carefully, as if ensuring that she didn't suddenly fall over from surprise or anything.
Alice stood with her back as stiff as possible. Her hands clutched into tight fists, the blood pumping around her body, her ears ringing. She was most definitely sure she had a frantic, unfriendly look on her face.
Maybe the guy paled, maybe he stood a little straighter, maybe he started to get a mildly suspicious, worried look on his face.
And why wouldn't he? That was John Doe, Commander John Doe, one of the men responsible for heading up the new wave of security into the Rim. He didn’t belong in the slums, that was for sure. While everyone around here would have been content to see Alice squeezed to death by the alien, he was a member of the Union Forces. They were there to ensure peace. Even if they had to beat it out of you.
She’d read about him in the news, she'd seen the feeds, she’d heard the audio. She knew who this man was.
No doubt he would truly believe in justice, no doubt he was the kind of guy who would throw himself into any altercation, regardless of whether it had anything to do with him, no matter how seedy and scummy the combatants were. Because no doubt John Doe would believe in heroes.
And no doubt right now he was wondering whether Alice herself was the criminal, not the victim.
‘Are you okay? You should get to a medical facility. The grip of a Parsi arm can be ferocious,’ he nodded down at her, indicating her middle.
She understood that. She knew what species the alien was behind her, and she could appreciate the exact mechanical attributes of its grip.
But she did not need to go to the medical bay. Because if Alice ever went to the medical bay, well, her life would soon end afterwards.
She shook her head very quickly, the tendrils or her blue-black hair flying around and up, slapping against her face and nose, and resting against her neck.
‘I'm afraid I’m going to have to insist. You look like you are in shock,’ he said.
Was she shocked? Absolutely. Was she in shock? Hell no. While she was freaking out at the prospect of what Commander Doe would do to her, Alice’s body had sustained no injury. And unless John here decided to chuck her into the sun, she was not going to.
Shaking her head again, she started to take several steps backwards. ‘I'm fine,’ she tried to say in her most natural, authoritative tone.
It didn't come out as natural and authoritative though; it came out shaking and gasping.
If she was trying to convince the Commander, she was failing, and very badly.
Narrowing his eyes, he took another step towards her, nodding his head.
And then she heard it. Or rather she felt it. Her race had been possessed of the most sensitive, incredible abilities. She could pick up sounds that most of the softer races could hardly detect with recording equipment, let alone their ears. She could also sense the smallest movement in somebody's body, the tiniest change in blood flow, even the slightest electrical impulse across their scalp. So she could tell when someone was using an implant.
And right now Commander John Doe was making a call. Grafted into his brain would be various implants that would help him control everything from devices to ships to weapons. They were standard for all security forces. They also enabled instantaneous communication. Silent and undetectable; unless you were Alice that was. Because she could hear it. With a quick clench of her jaw she could smell the change of sweat as his attention refocused, see the shift in his blood flow as his pupils dilated.
He would be calling her in. While she did possess incredible senses, she could not read his mind. She didn’t need to however; there was only one thing the good Commander would be doing to the suspicious woman in the slums.
So Alice did the only thing she could think of.
It was mad.
Absolutely mad.
But she ran. She ran from John Doe. She didn't have anything else she could do.
She could not allow herself to get caught. She could not be scanned. Alice had to run.
And she could run fast.
She did not have to put on the full burst of speed that was possible for a member of her race; she kept it to a healthy pace, yes, but not something fantastic.
Turning on her foot, her shoe making a squeaking noise against the floor, she pushed herself forward. She didn’t do a fantastic leap over the comatose body of the alien, but she did deftly jump over its tail, land, and start sprinting down the corridor.
Luckily she knew the slums and she had memorized the best places to hide from the security forces.
Luckily she was also motivated. Terribly bloody motivated.
Because if John Doe found out who she was, she could kiss her life and the universe goodbye. He was after Old Technology, wasn’t he? That was the entire point of the new Union Forces’ mission to the Rim. That was why Alice forced herself every single morning to watch the news. Even though she hated it, even though it made her sick, she made herself trawl through every single one of the newsfeeds mentioning that section of space.
All that Old Tech.
Ever since some pirate ship had crashed on a Rim planet bulging full of it, there had been a race to secure the whole area.
It was like drugs, or money, or worse. The most addictive thing you could imagine. It was by far the most powerful technology in the universe, it outstripped anything the Union had by miles and miles.
People were willing to fight over it, die, do the most atrocious things. Even for the stuff that no longer worked, that had run out of juice centuries ago. As for the Tech that still ran – the Union and the pirates were willing to lose entire systems in their desperate grab to obtain it.
If either of them ever found out a member of the Old Ones still lived, Alice would be done for. The resultant war over her would likely take everyone else with her too.
So Alice ran.
Her boots scampering over the floor, she turned the corner, almost slammi
ng face first into a robot that was cleaning graffiti off the wall.
The robot muttered out an electronic sorry, but Alice didn't have time to reply. She used the robot’s stiff arm for purchase, grabbing hold of it in order to sling herself around and down the corridor.
She could hear him behind her. His footfall was frantic. No doubt he had all sorts of fancy implants grafted all over his body, devices that would account for usual human weaknesses. They would give him extra strength, speed, agility, maybe even intelligence.
But no matter how fancy John Doe was, he was not an Old One.
Alice was.