"I am...the only one...you can trust."
I hated not knowing.Was this a trick or was he really helping me?
"...have to go.Follow...sta-."
With a metallic click, his voice was gone.I was alone again.
The two green circles became smaller until they were solid dots the size of my fist.Were those the stars he'd mentioned?
They flashed simultaneously, then flitted along the walls in jagged, irregular paths.They almost seemed jumpy with excitement.
I didn't really have a choice.I got back to my feet and began to follow the dim light of the stars.
5
Venom
I had barricaded myself into a tiny storage room, but it was only a matter of time until they broke in.The only reason why they hadn't used a blaster on the door yet was because everyone was busy dealing with Jarra.The Prime Game Maker was seriously injured and currently surrounded by an army of medical personnel, but he still found the strength to bark furious commands to find the female.Myfemale.I kept listening to the transmissions from Jarra's quarters while also watching my mate's progress through the pipes.I'd not been able to give her as much help as I'd wanted, but after Briarra had caught me hacking into her uncle's security systems, I'd had to focus on my own safety for a short time.I didn't think Briarra realised that I'd been to blame for Jarra's injuries – not yet, anyway.She wasn't stupid.Eventually, she'd put two and two together.By then, I had to be gone.
Now that my mate was following my guiding stars through the maze of waste pipes, I could take the next step, the one I'd hoped I'd be able to avoid.I had to inform my superiors.My cover was blown.I needed an urgent extraction, but I wasn't sure they would provide one.I hadn't completed my task.Yes, I had gathered highly sensitive information that would get them closer to shutting down the Trials, but was it enough?After the last data transmission, I'd been told that it wasn't.They needed yet more incriminating evidence.Although that had been before the Peritan females had been sent into the Trials.They were innocents, taken from a planet that wasn't even part of the Intergalactic Alliance, thrust into the games by force.That had to be enough.
"Come out now!"someone shouted.I ignored them and pushed my coils tighter against the door.
I typed as fast as I could.First, I started the emergency data transfer to make sure everything I'd collected since the last transmission hadn't been in vain.Next, I deployed a virus I'd written at the very beginning of my deployment to Kalumbu Station.It would wipe all trace of my presence, my work, my hacks.If I was lucky, it would work quickly enough to erase the evidence of what I'd done today.That might just save my life if the extraction didn't happen.
I hesitated before the final step.If I did this, it was all over.No way back.
I'd been desperate to leave Kalumbu for a long time now, but this wasn't how it was supposed to end.I'd failed in staying undetected and in completing my mission.If I got home – and that was a very bigif –I would likely be demoted.
But that didn't matter as long as I had my mate with me.She was more important than any job.More important than my life, even.She was my priority.
Which is why I had to do this.
I closed my eyes and focused on a place deep in my mind that was sort of foggy, like a memory that's almost faded.I'd never had to do this in an emergency situation.During practice, it had been easy – but the last practice was at least two rotations ago.Shouts and banging against the door kept breaking my concentration.
I had to focus.Calm down completely.Difficult when you're about to be captured by the enemy.
I thought of my mate.She was relying on me to get her out of here.If I didn't help her, nobody would.
Focus.
I took a deep breath.The fog lifted somewhat.And there it was, the mind safe.It was locked securely, just as I had left it during the last practice.I entered my combination by thinking of a series of numbers, words and smells that were important to me.For a click, nothing happened.Had I forgotten the right combination?
No, thank Glycon, the safe opened, revealing the emergency comms console.I knew this was only the visual representation I had given it – for other beings, it would look very different.Not that many people were given the implant that made all this possible.It was a dangerous, unpleasant procedure, and extremely expensive at that.
I activated the console and recorded a message.
Agent V-29@#1 requesting urgent extraction for myself and a civilian.Cover blown.Emergency situation.Please send help immediately.
I looped the recording so that it would send continuously in the background, without me having to think about it.The implant in my brain would automatically connect to any communications equipment I was close to, hacking into it to send my message.I hoped it would reach my superiors soon.
They had always been somewhat murky when it came to extraction methods.I knew I was the only agent embedded into Kalumbu Station, so there would be no easy way to get help.They'd have to send a ship, or bribe someone locally.
That gave me an idea.
The Bloodstar was still close enough to Kalumbu to help.I had assisted them in the past, now it was time for them to return the favour.The crews’ previous ship, the Artep, had docked at the station in the past, which meant their captain had the necessary clout with the criminal underworld who controlled this place.But I didn’t know who was in charge of the Bloodstar and whether they were the kind of people who could enter this station.One way to find out.
I started a search for the ship's name in the security protocols.Fuck.It wasn’t listed as an approved vessel.They wouldn't let it get even close to the space station.There might be other ways for it to be of use, but it wasn't going to be an easy ride.I had to contact the Bloodstar.
