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  The servants did as ordered and left us alone.

  “I have many slaves now. I love it when they don’t know anything. Unnecessary knowledge is the leading cause of headaches,” said Grandar, sentencing his servants to death. Formally speaking, it’d be a cinch to eliminate two Precians. Although, a plan of my own had just occurred to me when it came to that business, but I wasn’t going to let the emperor’s favorite in on it. It couldn’t hurt to have an extra ace in my sleeve.

  “Isn’t it just swell when everyone sees eye to eye?” Grandar took our silence for consent. “I need two days to prepare your transportation. Send half of the payment to my account today. I will share the information with you right this instant. Aren’t you a pirate, Surgeon? Would you mind doing a small chore for me? Naturally, I would like to see what you’re capable of before I decide whether we should work together or not.”

  “What do you want?” I stiffened, expecting some new chore.

  “Nothing too complicated. I just need you to make your way into one of the cruiser’s compartments and steal the ‘Oblivion of Jarullah’ for me. It should be a mere trifle for a pirate like you. Isn’t that so? For my part, I will make sure that the ship does not jump to hyperspace in the next three hours.”

  Grandar’s hand casually reached for his PDA. I had seen one like it before. A mere touch and an impenetrable shield would appear around the Precian. And, I imagine prior to that, an alarm would be sent to security, notifying them that the emperor’s favorite had been attacked, at which point, our little raid would come to an inglorious end. It seemed I had no choice.

  “We will get you the Oblivion — as soon as we find out what it is and where it is.”

  Chapter Two

  The pretty and tempting name of ‘the Oblivion of Jarullah’ belonged to a mysterious artifact which the Precian Emperor had personally presented to his third adviser for destroying the Zatrathi flying fortress. The emperor had been impressed by the courage of his subject, who had rushed into the thick of the fight, risking even his binding to the planetary spirit. For this as well as other numerous services, the emperor presented the adviser with a jewelry box and commanded him to open it at least once a day. Then he sent his empire’s most dedicated workaholic on mandatory leave. That is, right from the award ceremony, the adviser had been taken under his blue armpits and escorted to the departing cruise cruiser.

  Not daring to oppose the will of the emperor, the third adviser went on the vacation, yet he did not hurry to use the artifact, just as he did not hurry to share with others why exactly this imperial gift was so valuable. Upon arrival on board, he simply handed the jewelry box over to be stored in the ship’s vault with the explanation that he was fearful of losing such an important object.

  The natural question was what did Grandar have to do with any of this? Well, the imperial favorite harbored a deep envy of the adviser and could not forgive the imperial honor and respect bestowed upon his rival. His plan was to steal the mysterious artifact, find out what its value was, and then let it slip as court gossip that he had seen the adviser scorn this incredible present. Such are palace intrigues.

  But I do have to say that this time, my intuition failed me thoroughly. I should have blasted that toady as soon as he walked in on us without any further conversation. I mean, this situation was the last thing I needed!

  “Ideas?”

  “Seems impossible,” Eunice said what we were both thinking. The vault was impregnable.

  “That’s why I made you the offer.” My wife’s negative mood did not bother Grandar at all. “If anyone on this ship can pull off this little heist, it’s you and no one but you.”

  I stared at the schematic again, meticulously searching for non-existent gaps. Brute force wouldn’t work, even with my upgraded armor suit. Two automatic beam cannons were a good impediment to trying the strong-arm approach. Brainiac already explained that he couldn’t disable them. And these cannons were the same reason we couldn’t just come in from the hull side. Goddamn beam cannons. Should I cut a hole from the neighboring cabin? Not an option — I’d have to get in there first. And the cruiser’s bridge was no place for a stowaway like me. Which reminds me…

  “Listen, the items from the vault…Do they have to be picked up by their rightful owners exclusively or do you think that some authorized representative could retrieve them?”

  “Come on, Surgeon, what a stupid question! As if the aristocracy would deign to wander around the ship in search of a glorified storage locker! Of course we have our proxies to deal with such matters!”

  “What would we need to prove our authorization?” Finally something resembling a plan began to take shape in my head.

  “Access from the personal PDA of the owner,” said Grandar and then, seeing the satisfaction on my face, quickly added: “Hacking it won’t work. I have tried.”

  “Is it biometrically protected?”

  “No.” The imperial favorite waved his hand. “Just a password, no fingerprints.”

  “Well…Do you have anything valuable in the vault?”

  “Me?” Grandar echoed, puzzled. “No, I keep my valuables on my person.”

  “Well then you need to authorize me to deposit something for you. That’ll get me into the vault. Then I’ll barricade myself and try to find the adviser’s jewelry box. After that, you’ll report me and claim I killed your servants and snuck into the vault. By the way! Tell them that Narlin was the one who told you to send your servant into the vault. We’ll blame the whole thing on him. We need to look out for our rapport — we still have to work together after all. While I am busy with the jewelry box, Eunice will drag the duke into space and wait until the cruiser jumps into hyperspace. After that you can handle the rest yourself.”

  “I’m not going anywhere without you!” my wife objected, but I stopped her.

  “As soon as I have the jewelry box, I’ll respawn. We’ll meet up in two days at home.” I made sure to emphasize the last word.

  “Wait!” Eunice refused to relent. “I can do a better job with the vault and the jewelry box than you! Women are more trusted. I already have a cover story and I speak Precian! So why not?”

  “Because we can’t have you showing up on their radars,” I snapped. “You will be the one to go to Zalva with Grandar, not me. You will infiltrate the prince’s ship and download the coordinates with Brainiac’s help. You were training to become a marine, so get on with it! Meanwhile, I’ll make a ruckus in another part of Galactogon to draw any suspicion from Grandar. No one should be able to connect today’s raid with your appearance on Zalva. Any more questions or objections?”

  “It seems to me that this is the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership,” said Grandar. “I am heartened. Now I won’t have to turn you over to the cruise’s security.”

  “That was your plan?” I asked without the least bit surprise.

  “Who do you take me for? Of course that was my plan!” said Grandar astonished, as if this was the most obvious thing ever. “I was going to send you into the vault and then hand you over. Why not? I’d be rewarded for my heroic deed and honored as defender of the empire!”

  “And what about the trip to Zalva?”

  “One thing doesn’t interfere with the other. How would you know that I betrayed you? Security would shoot you on the spot and that’s it. No questions asked. I can solve the problem of Narlin on my own.”

  “What exactly did the duke do to displease you?”

  “Why I almost lost my current status because of that fool. But now, it does not matter!”

  “And in the meanwhile you wanted to turn over Surgeon to security?” Eunice refused to believe Grandar’s story.

  “Of course! Betray and conquer! We are losing time! Come here, number 10.”

  The door immediately opened, and the next servant came running in.

  “I need you to deliver a gift of the Emperor to the vault.” Grandar removed the medallion hanging around his neck. The servant bo
wed low, accepting the errand, but did not have time to take the object from the Precian’s hands. A shot from the blaster turned him into a shimmering crate of loot — which contained a set of Precian servant’s clothes.

  “Snap to it! Your new garb awaits!” ordered Eunice, replacing the blaster in her inventory. She had interpreted Grandar’s actions accurately. If anything happened, he had asked his servant to take the medallion — not me. And he could testify to this under oath without fearing discovery.

  “It looks good on you Surgeon! Really! If you get tired of piracy, I will gladly accept you into the ranks of my slaves.”

  “Doesn’t seem like a very long-term position,” I muttered, adjusting my snow-white robe with the emblem of an imperial favorite. Throwing a hood over my head, I took the medallion, imagining myself a courier, not a slave.

  “I’ll start worrying about my servant in ten minutes,” Grandar warned. “You must infiltrate the vault within this time frame. Meanwhile, I will go look for the captain. I need to delay the cruiser. Let’s get to it then!”

  “I don’t like that jerk.” Eunice stared suspiciously at the door that had closed behind the Precian. “He’s a bit too overwrought for a simple ‘local.’ There’s an advanced AI running him.”

  “That’s precisely why you need to get out of here urgently,” I agreed. I rummaged through my inventory and pulled out two armor suits. Boy do I love convenient game mechanics and an expanded inventory! “Take this. We need to cover our asses. We’ll freeze Grandar’s servants and store them with Narlin. They may come in handy later on, if this whole business goes sour. Never hurts to have an ace up our sleeve.”

  A grin appeared on my wife’s gloomy face. She liked this scenario better than a simple murder.

  “Don’t be late. I’ll wait for you on Blood Island.”

  Eunice pressed her lips to mine, wishing me good luck in my coming adventure, and busied herself with the unconscious bodies. Understanding the importance of her assignment made the girl compliant, affectionate and tuned to the cause.

  I looked at the duke’s chambers with melancholy. So near and yet so far! Grandar, that bastard, even managed to spoil things here. He knew that I was suffering from an advanced stage of kleptomania, and yet no: “In ten minutes, I’ll…” He sure had learned the intricacies of surviving at the highest levels of power quickly.

  It turned out to be much easier to move through the cruiser in the habit of a servant than an engineer’s uniform. I should take this as a lesson for future escapades. The guards just watched me pass, without bothering to ask for my papers, please. I even entered the bridge deck without any trouble, merely showing the guards the medallion and explaining that its owner wanted it deposited in the vault. The vault itself was a separate room at the back of the bridge. In addition to various instrument panels and consoles, the main crew of officers piloting the cruiser was stationed here. Brainiac howled in grief when he saw the network integration panel. If I could connect him here to the ship’s mainframe and buy him a minute or two of calm intercourse, the cruiser would be ours. However, I was not allowed to linger and examine anything in detail, but was hurried along with a careless wave to a corridor where there was already a group waiting in line. Three people were allowed inside the vault at a time, while the line to deposit or retrieve property from the vault consisted of about twenty Precians. Since I was the only human, I naturally drew everyone’s attention. Fortunately, they limited their discussion not to my immodest person, but the eccentricity of Grandar, who allowed himself to have a human slave.

  The line moved slowly. I fretted and fidgeted and kept glancing at the time. Three minutes. Yet my persistent desire to scatter everyone aside and simply rush into the vault was preempted by the guard’s watchful eye. Grandar’s deadline approached inexorably and I had only advanced halfway.

  “Let me pass!” I heard a demanding voice. Just in case, I pulled my hood tighter over my head and hunched in an attempt to appear smaller and less conspicuous. The imperial adviser suddenly burst onto the bridge deck. “Everyone out! I must enter the vault immediately! This is an emergency!”

  “Step aside!” cried the guards, rushing to clear the way. The line parted, but suddenly the third adviser stopped and tilted his head to the side, as if listening to something. I glanced around uneasily. The crew members and guards froze for a second with him. My time had run out and Grandar had turned me in! No doubt there was an alert active on the internal communication system.

  With lightning speed, I sidled up to the adviser. Puzzled, he looked up from Grander’s patch to my face. His blue Precian face gaped in amazement. It looked like he refused to believe what he was seeing. I reached into my inventory and pulled out a Zatrathi grenade, one of my prizes from their base. Its explosion could break the binding to the planetary spirit and send any NPC to permanent oblivion. A player would simply respawn at the nearest respawn point. This last bit would be very inconvenient for me at the moment, but Grandar had left me no choice.

  “Everyone step back or the adviser gets it!” Before the Precian could react, I quickly turned to him and explained: “This grenade annuls planetary spirit bindings. Don’t bother using your personal shield, I’m much too close to you. If you turn it on, I will set off this grenade and that will be the end of you forever. Now order everyone to step back!”

  “Do not shoot! Everyone step back!” The adviser had enough presence of mind to quickly grasp the situation and gesture to the guards rushing at us. “What do you want?”

  “I want to get inside,” I pointed to the vault. “We can talk inside.”

  Just in case — so that the Precians didn’t get any ideas — I took out my blaster and shot both beam cannons to splinters. If anything, this’ll make me feel calmer.

  “Do not interfere!” the adviser barked with a sidelong glance at my grenade. Yes, he had definitely recognized it. His nervous sigh was further proof of this.

  Your access to the Precian Empire has been adjusted.

  You have limited access to the trade planet Belket in the Precian Empire. You may visit the planet once a week for a period of no more than five hours.

  “The Precian Empire will not forgive you for this,” the adviser added irritably as my rapport with him dropped to zero.

  “Step inside. We can talk about forgiveness later.” I gestured at the vault. After ordering the servants out, I shut the door and barricaded it with a massive table. “Your sidearm, adviser…”

  The adviser reluctantly tossed me his blaster. Then he vacillated for a moment and added a second one.

  “Now we can talk in peace. Tell me, adviser, why were you in such a hurry to reach the vault? It’s not like you to be in a rush.”

  “A human named Nurse. I recalled where I had encountered that name. She was with you when you came to Zalva. It did not take me long to understand the obvious — she is a pirate just like you!” A knotty blue finger pointed in my direction. “What could a space pirate be up to on this ship? The only possible answer is to steal something. So I immediately rushed here, too late, alas!”

  “I must praise your perceptiveness,” I cast him a conciliatory smile. “Let’s not beat around the bush. I propose we get to business right away. I need the Oblivion of Jarullah. I will get it anyway, with or without you. It will be easier with your help and there won’t be any consequences for you. We have worked together a lot. I wouldn’t want to spoil a nice memory.”

  “So this is all over the Oblivion?” The advisor craned his long neck in amazement. I nodded silently. “What do you know about the properties of this artifact?”

  “Nothing, but it does not matter. Let’s dispense with the small talk. Hand the item over to me and we can conclude this mutually unpleasant encounter.”

  “Let me remind you, Surgeon, that at the moment, you still have access to Hansa. It may only be once a week, but that’s better than nothing.” The adviser had turned into an ice sculpture, full of cold pride and frosty dignity. “If
you plunder the emperor’s gift, the Precian Empire will be closed to you completely!”

  An unpleasant weight settled on my chest — the adviser had struck me where it hurt. The new orbship I had obtained at the Uldan base was good but not perfect. I had already upgraded its hull and navigation system, and even shared a few gadgets I’d found on the base with the Hansa engineers — so that they could consider how to give me the third list of upgrades in circumvention of the ban. Vargen explained that only a few guilds had such access, so it was worth gaining it at any cost. Yet the other side of the scale was weighed down by a check for a billion credits. Damn! Grandar stated unequivocally that he would not work with me without the emperor’s gift.

  “Adviser, let’s be honest. I have been contracted to obtain the Oblivion of Jarullah by a third party. Maybe we can negotiate…”

  “A third party?! The name!” the Precian cut me off. “I demand you name the scoundrel!”