Danger Money (16 page)

I was lucky, they didn't see me sneak past. They were just Humans and they weren't wearing any night gear. Who'd expect a blackout in
Imbreum
City
? It was just luck, and I hoped that one of my former comrades hadn't just run out of theirs. It was obviously the work of one, but a bad move in my book. Attracted way too much attention.

I went straight up to the penthouse suites overriding the alarms, there were a lot of them too. Crime must be high around here I guess. After the day I had been having I figured I wouldn't find anything, but I did. Two very nice high quality suits. I took them both and quickly left.

One I stashed down a waste chute keeping the extra air tank, then went back to the door I came in. The lights were all back up by now, so I just called the guards in from behind the door. They weren't expecting anything of course, trouble came from outside, not inside. I just left them laying in the corridor, I only needed a few minutes to get away and they never really saw me. All of these live bodies shouldn't point to a killer like me anyway, right?

I made for the surface then. I put on my new suit and strapped my gear to my back, what little I had. I headed for the site seeing spots, all those little domes you can go to and look outside while eating dinner. Or whatever. I had to wait a long time for the hall to be clear so I could slip out of the vent work, then I quickly made for an open one. Once inside I quickly went to work on the pressure sensor, and the life sensor. Once it thought nobody was there the lights dimmed, then I got the door closed and locked.

After that I just blew out the glass with the gun I had taken from the bear. It took two shots, but it went. With the pressure sensor out, it wasn't reported so I walked away unmolested, across the Lunar surface.

10

It took about six hours to get where I wanted to go, breaking into the warehouse in question was easy, they were in the midst of loading, so I just waltzed in. The expensive suit I was wearing made me look like some kind of VIP, and I kept the face plate dark. I found a piece of equipment in the back that was large enough to hide in. So when nobody was watching, I did. Then I fell asleep and caught up with all that sleep I had been missing.

I awoke briefly when they started moving my hiding place, and again when the shuttle I was in boosted up in to space. Once I was weightless I was able to sleep through all of the other transhipping that took place. My suit chronometer said twelve hours had gone past when its low oxygen alarm finally went off. I changed bottles and waited another ten.

When I finally crawled out I was in a ship’s hold. The
Fort Worth
if I had planned right. I quickly checked the manifests on some of the cargo and had this confirmed. Next I started searching for the particular crate I wanted. It took me quite a while to find it, fortunately the hold was pressurized so I was able to dump the suit. What I had planned would have been a lot tougher if the hold hadn't been of course, but it was common for holds to be pressurized. Most cargo couldn't take hard vacuum.

Once I had the crate in question, I emptied it out, changed the shipping label and prepared it for my occupation. I had added this one by manipulating the cargo lists, it only contained lead weights which I hid in the hold. My next search went fairly quickly, it was a container holding three hibernation units.

Removing one and transferring it to my crate took me a whole day. I had to be careful, there was always the chance of a crewmember coming in to do an inspection. I finally got it all set, climbed in, and resealed the crate from the inside. Next was the tricky part. Hibernation units have a lot of problems associated with them. One was their cost, it was quite high. Another was their survival rate, which wasn't so high. Units such as this one were normally used by hospitals in the treatment of certain diseases and disorders. A supervised unit was quite safe, ones running on automatic weren't obviously. But it was a chance I would have to take.

I set the IV bands on my arms, injected myself with all of the prep drugs, turned the unit on and pulled the door shut from the inside. In ten hours the unit would reach its steady-state. At that point there would be no indications from the crate that its contents had changed or were under power. I fell asleep pretty sure that nobody would find it before then.

After all, my luck was in.

*               *               *

I stood on a vast plain, looking off into the distance. I started to walk, but I couldn't move my feet. This worried me until I noticed that I was moving anyway. I sped up faster and faster until everything was just a blur, with the wind burning my face.

Suddenly I stopped. I was in the middle of a graveyard, a fairly large one too. I read the inscription, the name was familiar and the epitaph gave the reason - Killed by Jotun. I looked around at the others and noticed the ones nearby all bore similar descriptions.

"I didn't know one dreamed in hibernation," I said to myself.

"Well now you do!" Replied a non-descript Human who suddenly appeared behind me.

"Not the obligatory dream sequence!" I laughed. "What next undead from the graves?"

"Oh, no. Nothing so passe." He smiled. "I'm your conscious."

"Get out of here." I laughed again, "You're Human. Why the hell would my conscious be Human?"

"He's your Corporate supplied conscious, Jotun." I turned and saw Azelett standing on my right side. "I'm your actual conscious now."

"Ah, she's just a newcomer," smiled the Human. "I've been here since you were two."

This was all pretty weird. I knew I had been subjected to some company programming, but this? It was like something out of those old pre-corporation movies I used to watch as a kit. I guess I must have an overactive imagination.

"The Corporation supplied you?" I asked astonished.

"Free of charge!" He smiled again. "I didn't always look like this however.
She
forced me to change."

I looked at Azelett.

"Yes, he used to look like you."

"Like me? Why?"

"So you wouldn't question of course," He laughed. "You had to follow orders and do your job no matter what. Can't have any loose cannons you know!"

"So why are you still here? If Azelett is my real conscious now, how come you're still on the job?"

"He has a different function now," smiled Azelett, "and I'm not really Azelett. I'm a part of you, you just choose to see me this way."

"Same here," smiled the human. I noticed now who it was, one of my instructor's from my creche days.

"Mr. Tomson! That's who you are." He smiled as I named him.

"The same."

I thought a second, "You have a different function now she said. What is it?"

"Loyalty my Cat. Loyalty."

I suddenly remembered just how much I hated the way Mr. Tomson had always called me that. He never called anyone 'son' or 'daughter'. It was always 'cat' or 'wolf' or 'skunk'. I don't think he exactly liked us.

"But I defended my own you'll recall. I was loyal to my students and I was
very
loyal to the Corporation."

"And he's here from the Corporation." Added Azelett.

"Free of charge," He smiled again.

"Why is he still here?" I asked her, "Can't you get rid of him?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Cause you don't want him to go. You have to face it Jotun, you're still a loyal company employee."

"And don't you forget it either," He scowled. "Something is rotten in the state of the Corporation." He said badly mangling Hamlet.

"So? What's it to me?"

"Everything," They both said together. "It's the only way you can get out of this mess and you had better start doing something about it!"

Damn, I hated company programming! Was the last thought I had as everything faded away and I dreamt no more.

11

I was cold and I hurt all over. Not hurt as in 'pain' but hurt as in 'sore'. That was it, I was sore and stiff all over. Cold too. And the bright light was killing my eyes, I tried to close them and found they were not open. And a drink, I
definitely
needed a drink and I didn't care who I had to kill to get one!

"Water!" I said. Even to my ears it sounded more like 'Wun', and I could barely hear it.

"Water!" I tried again louder, it sounded the same but it was slightly noisier then the previous effort. It also made my throat hurt, I tried to move and couldn't. I heard a loud noise then felt somebody touching me.

"Jo, can you hear me Jo? It's Sil."

"Water," I croaked again. This time it sounded almost like the word.

"Sure, drink this." I felt something wet at my lips, I started sipping. "That's right go slow Jo."

I drank all that she offered. It tasted strange, a little sweet as well. It made me tired.

"I have to go out soon, so if I'm not here when you wake up don't worry. Everything's fine and you'll be okay. You're just in hibernation shock. Now go back to sleep.

"Okay" I mumbled, and quickly did.

The next time I awoke things were a little different. I could open my eyes, and I saw that I was back in Sil's old apartment under the building. It looked pretty much the same, but didn't smell strongly of her. Obviously she didn't live here anymore. I tried to get up and immediately got faint and fell to the floor. I was weak as a newborn cub.

I rested on the rug for a while, then spent the better part of an hour getting myself back up on the bed. Once there I noticed a note that I had missed before.

'Dear Jotun' it began. 'I have to be at classes most of the time, and in my rooms for a lot of the rest so I can't be there often now that you are past the worse. Only Raff knows where you are, I did not want to trust anyone else with the knowledge as I felt it was safer that way. And it's obvious that you're in trouble or you wouldn't have risked something as dangerous as hibernation in an unregistered box. So don't worry. Drink the liquid in the pitcher it's a mineral replacement, you need it. If you want food eat the stuff in the cooler next to the bed. Sorry it isn't any better. See you soon!   -Sil'

My thirst and hunger fought briefly with thirst winning out handily. It took me a few minutes, but I was able to get the pitcher over to my mouth and drank deeply from it. After I carefully set it down I opened the cooler and looked inside. It was full of meat and high protein rations, I grabbed a little of each. As I pulled them out I noticed something else, a gun.

It wasn't the one I had brought out of the palace of course. I had dumped that along with all of my other equipment back on the
Fort Worth
. The crate I was in had listed 'Biological Samples for medical experimentation' on its manifest. A gun and computer just didn't fit that category if someone should decide to inspect. A leopard was even pushing it, but I had been hoping that Sil would be able to grease the wheels with the money I sent her ahead of me.

I ate the food first, then checked the gun. It was loaded and had a note attached. 'Please don't shoot me! - Sil'

I smiled and stuck it under my pillow, safety on. Then went back to sleep.

I awoke later to somebody scratching my head. I knew where I was and I could smell who it was.

"Sil!" I breathed opening my eyes and smiling. "Boy are you a pleasant sight!" I looked her over, she really did look good. More mature too. I guess school was agreeing with her.

"You've looked better Jotun!" She laughed, "But you've looked a lot worse too." She finished quietly.

"What made you decide on such a jack brained stunt? Don't you know how dangerous that was?"

"Things went
Tokyo
in a bad way," I sighed. "It was the only way to get out alive I could think of. But it couldn't have been that dangerous!" I smiled, "After all, it worked didn't it?"

"Just barely." and she rubbed the fur on my head again. "I got your letter the same day the ship came in system of course. So I only had a few days to get that crate out and someplace safe.

"When I saw what was in it I almost died, it took weeks to get it stabilized and your system in order. Those things don't work well without constant maintenance Jo. And getting you out wasn't easy either, your body wasn't in good shape by then."

"It seems good now," I said suspiciously.

"Yeah, well I'm good at my work!" She smiled.

"Obviously, how goes your studies anyway?"

"Wellll, that's going to take a little explaining Jo."

"What! You didn't quit I hope!" I started to sit up a little upset. She easily pushed me back down.

"No, of course not!" She looked uncomfortable, "I wanted to wait a little longer to tell you this."

"Tell me what?" I asked eyes narrowing.

"Don't get upset now! I spent a
lot
of time on you and I don't want you to ruin my work. Doctors orders!"

"Doctor's orders? You haven't been in school a year yet! And just how 'long' has it been?" I noticed that she looked a
lot
more mature suddenly.

"I graduated last year Jotun, fifth in my class too."

"Congratulations" I said confused, the trip onboard that ship couldn't have taken more than a couple of months. Two actually. She read my mind.

"You got here thirty one Earth months ago."

"What?" I looked up at her. "Why?"

"I said you were in bad shape when you got here. You needed a Doctor, a good one too! It wasn't hard to get you stabilized. My basic med training covered that. But getting you out alive and healthy, well it wasn't going to be easy. Wasn't in fact.

"And who could I trust? Certainly not another Doctor! They all work for somebody around here! So it was safer to keep you down here in cold storage until I learned what had to be done. Then I did it. I uncrated you last month, and spent weeks doing surgery on you. You wouldn't believe the excuses I had to come up with either. Really interrupted my internship as well."

"Damn," I sighed closing my eyes. "Almost three years gone. Now what?"

"Well you're alive and after this long whatever you're running from should be safe." Sil smiled and opened up the cooler.

"Now eat. I gotta run back to my rooms soon. They've been getting a little suspicious down at the school with all the time I've been spending away the last month. So I can't stay long."

She fed me then until I was stuffed, then gave me a shot to help me sleep. I watched her smiling face as I quickly dozed off.

Three years.

That was all I could think of when I awoke the next day. Would anybody still be after me? Probably. But who? The corporation? I know they hated loose ends so it was a safe bet.

The Earth government? Maybe, but they weren't known for being so thorough anymore. At least not three years ago. Hopefully all concerned thought I was dead. I'm sure nobody would have thought I could go three years without surfacing. I knew I sure couldn't have.

I ate lunch and prowled around the crawlspace a little. 'Crawled' was more like it, I was too weak to stand up without getting dizzy yet. I was surprised at how much stuff there was. I found the crate, the hibernation tank, an operating table, and enough stuff to run an operating room. But then she already told me she had.

I looked over the shaved portions of my body, except for my head, feet and hands, I was nearly bald. A lot of it had started growing back already of course. I guess she just decided to get it all out of the way at once, but a lot of spots had been reshaved recently. And the scars! I counted twenty new ones before I gave up, at least they wouldn't show when my fur grew back. I guess she had been busy with me at that.

But three years. There was no way to get around that. I sat down and ate and drank some more.

Now what?

"Jotun?"

I was instantly awake, it was Sil at the door.

"Yeah, hi." I smiled as she came in.

"How's my patient doing?" She smiled.

"Pretty good I guess," I sat up and gave her a hug. "Few more days and I'll be up and around again."

"I'll be the judge of that!" She grinned. "Now strip!"

"I always liked my women direct!" I chuckled and carefully peeled off my coverall.

"I haven't got the time Jo sorry," she said apologizing. "And I'd hate to give you a relapse!" She grinned then. "Let's check those vitals and see how you're doing." And she preceded to give me a quick but thorough physical.

"You're pretty good you know that," I said when she had finished. "I've been worked on before by the best, and you're right up there."

"Thanks," she looked embarrassed.

"It was tough wasn't it?"

"Yes it was."

"Was I the first one you ever cut open?" I looked up at her face.

"Ummm, well ..." she looked pretty nervous.

"I was wasn't I?"

"Well the first one that was still alive. They
still
won't even let me do most minor surgeries! And you wouldn't believe some of the stuff I had to do on you! If my instructor knew she'd have a heart attack!" Sil laughed.

"Scared you huh?"

"Like you wouldn't believe! Want to hear the worst part?"

"I don't know," I admitted, "You sure you want to tell me?"

"Well, it was your body," she sighed. "I had to practice on you a few times first."

"What do you mean by practice?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, you know," she looked very uncomfortable.

"No I don't! Spill it."

"I cut you open a few times, and looked around a little."

"Just where?"

"Well, see that scar on your leg?"

"Yeah."

"And that one on your shoulder, the one's here and here," She pointed to two spots on my abdomen. "And that one on your chest,
that
one was a horror story!"

I was feeling a little queasy about this all of the sudden. It's one thing to hear you were 'practiced' on. Another thing totally to see the evidence.

"Why was it a 'horror story'?" I asked trying not to get sick.

"I was practicing for your heart operation,"

"I had a
heart
operation!" I was shocked.

"You were a mess when I got you!" She said closing her eyes, her tail and whiskers twitching, I could see she was getting upset. "You had a major blockage in your Aorta. Not to mention a few minor ones in your lungs! Its fine now, but I had never dealt with any of this before, I couldn't just go in cold!"

"Calm down!" I shuddered. "Sheesh, I never though I'd hear something that could get
me
upset!" I grabbed her hand. "Listen, it turned out fine. If you felt you had to do it, well that's good enough for me. But
please don't tell me about it!
"

Why are Doctors such ghouls anyway? What do they teach them in medical school?

"I'm sorry," Sil sighed. "I just feel this need to unburden myself on the whole thing. It wasn't easy you know."

"How much money is left in my account by the way?" I asked changing the subject.

"About ten thousand credits."

"That's all?" I wasn't upset, but there had been almost half a million in it when I went under.

"Do you have any idea how much it cost to get you through customs without being searched? I had no idea what was in that box, so I didn't take any chances."

"I can see that your equipment expenses were high too." I motioned to the stuff under the tarps in the back of the room. "Don't worry about it Sil, I'm not getting on your case about it," I reached over and gave her a one arm hug. "I'm alive and I can get more. I hope you've been paying Raff good."

"He refused any money. I'm his friend."