I might have been the only one awake to hear it, but that changed by the second knock when K'rth sprung to his feet. He's even quicker to wake up than Nix, which is pretty amazing considering how lightly the Wraith sleeps but I still managed to beat him to the door.
There wasn't any peephole, but like the fat man had said, we weren't on Mort anymore. Maybe they didn't have serial killers and gangs waiting to mug you right outside your door but then Mort didn't have a BLUE sky and a sun either so it was an even tradeoff from my point of view. When I saw that it was Harper, I opened the door all the way and glared. He didn't wait for me to say anything before getting started.
"Roman has a job for you," he said and I wiped at my eyes. I'm not sure if I actually slept last night or not and the fatigue probably showed on my face.
"Great. Give us ten minutes," I said and closed the door absently
"Whahizit?" Obie asked as I sat down and pulled on my clothes. The Chagrin needed the least preparation to get ready, but was somehow always the slowest to get moving. It was probably because of stupid questions like that and no one wasted time trying to answer him. As Nix and K'rth maneuvered around him to get their equipment together, I heard more than one curse from the Wraith about him making a better wall than a door and shook my head. Her cooling suit was still leaking coolant and she was pretty edgy. We needed to talk to Roman about getting it patched before it failed completely.
"Time for us to earn our keep."
Harper started knocking just as we were leaving and K'rth threw the door open with a little more force than was necessary and hissed. The man recoiled, this time without falling down, and had the same look of absolute terror that had brought Nix's comments to mind the last time. He just definitely terrified of everything that wasn't human and now I wanted to find out why also.
We followed him through the darkness towards the gate and I heard a low "burr-burr" sound from somewhere off in the distance. It was familiar but I wasn't able to place it until something buzzed past. Two men on motorcycles raced through the blackness across the rough ground, nearly leaving their seats as they pushed their luck. Circles of lights bobbed and bounced in front of them as they went across the rough ground and I wondered if they could see in the dark or just thought they could.
"Do you still remember how to ride one?" K'rth asked, startling me. Even with the cooler air, I was still in a thin fog but his voice cut right through. I was suddenly aware that the heat of the day was gone and stifled a yawn.
"I think so," I answered. I used to ride one when Tony wanted me to run deliveries, but it was a lot smaller than the type of dream bikes you'd see on the TV. In the past few months, I'd been toying with the idea of getting a big Kalaharvey some day but that day had never come. Now, it might never.
People milled about near the gate with flashlights sweeping the ground around them and across us, as we got closer. With the background noise of the buzzing motorcycles and the flickering lights, I thought of flies in a sewer. I didn't think the locals would appreciate the comparison and kept quiet. It turned out to be just Roman and a bunch of Props.
"Good Morning Alex," Roman said, as we got closer. "I trust you've slept well."
"Yeah fine," I said, a little irritated. He was still calling me by my first name, but then that seemed to be the story of my life. "What do you want?"
The flashlights made his face look even less human than it was, but the lines showed he was concerned about something.
"There's been a desertion and I want you and your squad to bring the man back."
"Why do you insist upon this being 'My' squad?" I asked, but K'rth's glance told me to drop it and I lost the attitude. "Okay, who is it, what does he look like, and where did he go?"
"His name is Barrow. He's a Brain Waster and we believe he's fled north."
"A Waster?" I asked mostly to myself. That had to be the guy who had performed the healing on me, but I hadn't seen him since I was conscious and didn't have an image. Of course out here, how hard could it be to find a Brain Waster anyway? "Is that your medic?"
"Yes," he answered. "And we need him brought back unharmed."
"Okay but a question or two first," I said. There was a lot of difference between "run away" and "deserted," and I wanted to know who the other side was. "Where did he go and who was he running to?"
Roman shook his head and held up his hands as he spoke.
"Alex, there really isn't time for questions right now. We know where Barrow has run to and need for you to go in and get him before someone gets to him first."
"Who else would-" I started to ask, but someone interrupted.
"Look, Mr. Roman. If these ops are too chickenshit to go after the freak we'll do it." It was Schrader again and it sounded like he was still a few years short on his beauty sleep. "Done it before and brought him back in pretty much one piece."
Roman threw a disdainful glance back at the Props then turned back to speak when K'rth cut him off.
"We'll go after him now," the Shaktar rumbled. "And you can provide the briefing you offered later this morning."
It was an order instead of a request and the human nodded acceptingly as he spoke. "That will be fine," he said. "Ms. Goya will fill you in as she guides you."
Goya confiscated flashlights from the Props before walking over and I was sure that she had taken a parting shot at Schrader before she finished. With the Props already stewing for us doing their job, prodding them couldn't be considered a good. She passed the lamps out and winked as she handed the last to me.
"Ready, partner?" she asked and I winced. I wasn't going to justify that with a comment and shrugged instead.
"Lead the way."
We set out walking in the darkness as the sky to my right shifted from pitch black to a dark gray. It caught my attention enough to distract me from the woman's creepy presence.
"This will be the first sunrise that you get to see," K'rth said and I looked up at him and then back to the sky. It struck me as funny that it took me this many years before I got to experience something he had known since he was a small child.
"If he lives that long," the woman cackled sharply, sending another chill up my spine.
If I hadn't known better, I would have sworn that she had the same laugh as the woman in my dream and I shuddered again.
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