Pilgrim (23 page)

“How did it come out of his stomach when it
crawled into his brain?” Nova said out of the corner of her mouth
to Tanguin.

“The drug notes said the initial reaction is
for the slug to slip down through the sinuses and into the throat.
I guess that’s just how it works.”

“What the hell is that?” Aart said when the
vomiting slowed.

“That's the slug that took control of your
brain,” Nova said.

“That’s disgusting,” Aart said.

“You’re telling me,” Nova replied, “It’s on
my ship’s floor.”

“Well it was in my head.”

“Let’s just all agree that it’s pretty
gross,” Tanguin said.

Nova and Aart nodded.

“Well I don’t know about everyone else, but
I am more than ready to get off of this hunk of rock,” Nova
said.

“Me too,” Tanguin said.

“Me three,” added Aart.

“Well you’re not going anywhere in the state
you’re in,” Nova said. “We’ll walk you back to your ship and the
three of us will stay there again tonight. If you’re back in shape
tomorrow we can head off.”

“Thanks,” Aart replied. “Although that would
be a lot easier if you would let me out of this cage.”

“Of course,” she said with a smile. She
thrust the key into the lock and the cage door creaked open.

“Thank you,” Aart said, stepping over the
pile of vomit.

“Cal, I’ve got a job for you,” Nova
said.

Cal hovered into view. He came to her side
and his single eye looked down at the puddle on the floor. “Oh no,
no you can’t be serious,” he said.

“You’re a labourbot, it’s your job,” said
Nova.

“Cleaning up vomit was not part of the job
description,” Cal replied.

“C’mon, it’ll take two seconds,” she said.
“Meanwhile, Aart needs a drink and I’m pretty sure I could do with
one too.”

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

The next morning, Nova waved Aart and
Tanguin off as they left in Sylar. They were heading straight for
Zyx to make some quick cash before returning to The Jagged Maw for
some much needed rest. The silver ship flashed up into the sky and
then disappeared with a single sparkle.

Nova breathed a sigh of relief. As much as
she liked her friends, she found a special kind of peace in being
on her own. The stress of the last few days had given her a
permanent headache and she was looking forward to being able to
sort through all her emotions without the pressure of people
watching.

The planet was eerily quiet. It was filled
with the ghosts of all the people who had died and yet they were
silent. Nova shivered as she turned and marched back to Crusader.
She didn’t want to spend another second on the damned planet, but
she didn’t have much of a choice because she still hadn’t found the
warp converter. She kicked the dirt as she walked, cursing under
her breath.

Crusader’s door slid open as she approached
and she stepped inside. Cal was already hovering just inside the
door. The ship was clean, the black soot marks on the wall were
gone, and the pool of Aart’s vomit had disappeared.

“Well, it’s been an interesting trip so
far,” she said, wiping the sweat off her forehead with the back of
her hand.

“Indeed,” Cal replied.

“What I want to know is, why was Aart still
infected? You said if the queen dies then all the slugs die too. So
are you wrong or is there another queen we have to go after?”

“I believe the slug that infected Aart was a
new queen. They were trying to start new colonies with the infected
vomit.”

“Then I suppose it’s lucky none of the rest
of us were infected,” Nova said, wiping her eyes with her hand. She
shivered as she imagined a slug crawling into her ear and gnawing
on her brain.

“Yes.”

“Still haven’t found the damned warp
converter though.” She sighed and leant against a stack of
boxes.

“Or have we?” Cal said. He hovered closer to
Nova and his panel lifted up. Nested inside the small compartment
was a sparkling gem.

Her eyes opened wide and her mouth dropped
open. She stepped closer to Cal and gazed in at the jewel. It had a
million facets which glinted in Crusader’s lights and also an inner
glow which cast a green hue over Cal’s compartment.

“How?” she said.

“I was studying the children. They were
infected: it’s some kind of larval form, and it needs to grow
inside a human child. After it’s grown it takes over the child’s
mind and forces them to walk back to the hive.”

“I don’t care about the children,” she said,
waving her hand. “What about this?”

“I’m getting to it,” Cal said, his tone
terse. “Anyway, the children in the village were connected to the
same hive mind as the people in the colony ship. When you killed
the queen they dropped dead too. I decided to use the opportunity
to look around. Guess what I found sitting inside a tent?”

“Cal, you’re amazing,” Nova said,
breathless. She ignored her conscience which sent a spike of guilt
through her stomach over what happened to the children.

“I know,” he replied.

“Do you know what this means?” she said.

“We’re a step closer to getting past the
Confederacy’s borders and into outer-outer space?” Cal said.

“Exactly.” Her face was covered in a bright
smile.

“Good. Just think of all the information I
could add to the Cloud if we could get out there, past the border,”
Cal said, his voice oddly excited for a robot.

“Hold onto that with your life,” Nova said.
“In-fact, seal that compartment closed. I don’t want anyone getting
hold of it.”

“Affirmative,” Cal said, hovering to the
nearest workbench to begin modifying himself.

Nova’s heart was light at the discovery. Not
only did it mean she could leave Taive right now and not have to
spend days trekking across the planet trying to find the jewel that
had brought her here in the first place; it also meant that her
goal of breaking free of the Confederacy was a little bit closer.
The jewel was one of very few unmarked warp converters. The secret
for their creation was closely guarded; a combination of facets,
energy signals and radioactive isotopes went into creating one.
Somehow, they were the key to getting past the Confederacy borders
and finding true freedom.

Ever since she was a child, Nova had dreamt
of nothing more than breaking free of the Confederacy’s imposed
borders. They got bigger every year, giving the human population
more room to expand, but always with the same all-seeing,
constricting oversight. The Confederacy’s enforcers looked over
everyone’s shoulders. The bounty hunters were somewhat less under
the Confederacy’s thumb but it was still too much.

There was still a lot Nova had to work out
before she could break free, including how the warp converters
worked. But she was determined to get out of the Confederacy’s zone
of control. She would get out into the beyond and breathe in
untouched space.

***

“I still don’t feel comfortable about this,”
Cal said as they put the metal panel back in place on Crusader’s
wall and screwed it shut. The glowing mushrooms were locked safely
behind the wall, out of sight.

“I really must adjust your law-abiding
chip,” Nova said, returning her screwdriver to the toolbox.

“Yes, well maybe you should,” Cal said,
hovering away from the landing bay.

Aart had returned to normal. From all
reports, he had been successful in selling the mushrooms. Nova and
Crusader were parked at The Jagged Maw, preparing to head to Zyx
themselves. The mushrooms were carefully hidden inside the wall
panel so that if the Confederacy did do an inspection, they’d find
nothing but a few bottles of ethanol.

Not that they would look very hard. Half of
the Confederacy enforcers around the Pleasure District were hooked
on the drugs themselves. It made for a very lax security system.
The officers in this part of the galaxy never looked too closely at
the cargo. Firstly because they usually got a kickback from the
smugglers, and secondly, they were usually so high they could never
be sure if they’d actually seen something or if it was just another
hallucinogen-induced mirage.

“Alright, Crusader, take us to Zyx. And
remember, if you get us and our cargo there safely there’s a new
depth detector in it for you,” Nova said as she plonked herself
down into the pilot’s chair.

“I don’t know why you think it’s so funny.
You’ll be the one dying in a horrible inferno if I misjudge the
distance,” Crusader responded as she lifted up into the air.

Nova waved her hand at the ship and swigged
the soft-drink she’d taken from the food-generator.

Crusader lifted up into the air and then
shot into space, leaving The Jagged Maw far behind.

“Imagine if those creatures had taken
control of you,” Cal said. “They’d have spread throughout all the
known universe by next week.”

Nova chuckled. “Should you check my ears for
an infestation?”

“I already ran a brain scan before we left
Taive,” Cal said. “Crusader refused to leave until we were
sure.”

“You did what?” Nova said, rounding on the
robot.

“All in the name of intergalactic safety,”
Cal said, hovering out of her reach.

“Damn robot,” Nova muttered.

She couldn’t help smiling. She felt lighter
than she had since seeing the Ancients and for the first time in a
long time, it was as if things were going her way. The money from
the mushrooms would go a long way to helping her learn the secrets
of the warp converter. She was a step closer to achieving her
life-long dream.

***

They made it through the galactic
checkpoints without a problem. Crusader stayed in space above the
planet. There were all manner of rides scattered about. On the
planet’s surface, the bright lights of a city covered with disco
balls and laser lights flashed against the night sky.

“So we’re agreed?” Nova said to the face on
the screen. “Credits, in my hand before you get the product.”

“Yes, yes agreed. And if you try to screw me
I’ll have your arse faster than you can say Haven,” the face
replied.

Nova nodded and strode back to her storage
bay.

The exchange went down without a hitch. She
dropped off the blue mushrooms to her contact on Zyx and received a
healthy handful of credits in return.

She shrugged, what people chose to do in the
Pleasure District was their business. She’d spent her childhood on
the next planet over, Tabryn. While Zyx was famous for its
hallucinogenic drugs and killer raves, Tabryn was the casino
capital of the system and the gaming tables went all night. There
were more casinos than anyone could count, catering to all types of
people.

She shuddered. The best decision she ever
made was to get off of that planet.

She hurried back into Crusader and the door
slid shut behind her. She hid the credits in another secret wall
compartment before returning to her captain’s chair.

“Let’s get out of here,” she said.

The rusted space ship lifted into the sky
and shot away towards the stars.

Nova's
Journey Continues…

Ever wanted to hunt a vampire?

They're nothing compared to the lecheons Nova faces
in this gripping action adventure.

The blood-sucking lecheons are running rampant on
Boullion Five and the police have been over-run.

Nova is the only one who will take the job, but with
deadly cunning, super reflexes, and a thirst for blood, the
lecheons could prove too much, even for her.

It will take her killer instinct to survive, and
even that may not be enough..

The Nova Chronicles continue with Book
Three: Hunter.

Find more information at:

http://www.saffronbryant.com/books/hunter