A Check for a Billion Read online

  “Impossible!” the eggheads crowed in unison when I showed them the video of the battlesphere toying with Warlock. To celebrate my new discovery, the Hansa Corp even went so far as to offer me some tea. After a couple of hours of brainstorming, one of their engineers came to me with an unpleasant verdict:

  “We need more time to study the problem. At the moment, we can confidently say that what we observed were localized, micro-hyperjumps. Modern technology does not allow us to calculate hyperdrive instructions with such precision. And speed. We need time and further data. It would be beneficial if we managed to examine the ship somehow. If you manage to arrange this, we will give you a fourth list of upgrades.”

  “You have a fourth one too?” I asked surprised.

  “But of course,” grinned the Precian. “Who do you take us for? The fourth list is dedicated to unique prototypes. These are singular devices that have not been mass produced. If you want it, you must deliver the battlesphere to us. That is all for now. We are busy.”

  I was carefully shooed out and a message appeared on the wooden door of the reception room: “The Corporation is not available for the next 72 hours.” I glanced at the countdown counter and was impressed with how seriously the eggheads had taken to their new task!

  Eunice now and then suggested we explore the remaining planets, but I decided to play it safe. The first thing I did was have my wife pick up the fighter she had bought back when she started her game and fly it over to Blood Island. For, if we were shot down, we would respawn on the planet, while the orbship would be sent to a ship graveyard a good distance from it. In that case, getting over there to recover the orbship without any transport would pose a problem. And then, suddenly, Grandar appeared on Belket before the designated deadline.

  For our outing to Zalva, the imperial favorite had assembled an impressive fleet consisting of a legendary cruiser, five destroyers, hundreds of frigates and a whole swarm of fighters. The Precian had his own personal palace on Belket, which I entered without any inspection. When I saw my host’s cordial demeanor, it occurred to me that I could be wrong in suspecting him of a playing a double game. But as soon as the doors shut behind me, this nonsense instantly cleared out of my head.

  “Surgeon, store the orbship in my cruiser’s hangar. My engineers must go over it. You’re still a pirate after all!”

  The Precian’s tone did not brook any objections. He himself was sitting in a jet seat, so as not to belabor his feet with having to walk. And he was barking out orders, poking his finger here and there, telling people where to go and what to do. If one of the servants did not understand his orders, then he would receive a lashing. As I noticed, there was a special affection for this activity around here. Even the personal bodyguards, circling a couple of meters above the ground, did not neglect to apply lashes to any slaves who seemed sluggish. I examined the properties of the archaic whip: the creator was a human engineer named Marat. Here they are, the ample opportunities for self-realization that a game offers: Beyond the endless base raids, gunfights and dogfights, the game also offered an elaborate economic and social environment. In pursuit of pleasure or profit — and frequently just to stave off boredom — players could take on any number of at times peculiar roles and occupations.

  “Brainiac, do as he says, but don’t allow anyone to board the ship,” I ordered, prompting Grandar’s displeasure.

  “Right, this I don’t like one bit!” he objected. “I must be able to dispose of all the property on my ship! Otherwise we will not be able to pass customs!”

  The Precian had changed entirely since our last meeting, even in his tone of voice, which had become arrogant and condescending. It was as if in deigning to speak to me, Grandar was showing me mercy or something.

  “I will grant access to Warlock only once we’re in orbit around Zavala,” I replied. “That is where I will pay you the second billion as well.”

  “Quiet!” Grandar hissed, glancing around. “No one should hear this! The walls have ears! Zander! Change the slaves!”

  The head of Grandar’s security swooped down to us, casting down chains to five of the slaves. They obediently attached the chains to their collars and Zander abruptly pulled the poor fellows toward him, knocking them all together. Using the same chains to fetter their bodies, the guard departed, leading the slaves away. Others immediately took up their places, waiting on Grandar with all the zeal they could muster.

  “Fine then,” the Precian grimaced in displeasure. “You will grant me access later. Now get on with it!”

  Once I had seen my orbship tucked away in one of the hangars and set my rhino as a sentry, I joined Grandar in the cruiser’s mess hall. Eunice stayed prudently back on the orbship. If they tried to disable it with an EM blast before taking it by force, she would have time to set off the self-destruct mechanism. We entered hyperspace, and the captain reported that we would reach our destination in six minutes.

  “Your jewelry case.” I pulled out the emperor’s gift and offered it to the Precian. In turn, he placed his hands behind his back and demonstratively indicated the desk with his eyes. Remembering the adviser’s instructions, I just shrugged, replacing the jewelry case in my inventory.

  “No, Grandar, this won’t do. The transfer must take place from hand to hand, otherwise I haven’t technically fulfilled your order. Will you receive the item or should I look for a more reliable buyer?”

  “Come now, Surgeon, what is this? This is an unpleasant surprise,” Grandar clasped his hands affectedly. “Are we not partners?”

  “Sure we’re partners,” I said easily. “Did we not have a deal? We did. Have I done as you requested? Nearly. I merely wish to hand you what you ordered and no more. That is the only way this mission will be complete and you won’t be able to complain later. This is a strict policy of mine, surely you understand. I am risking my reputation with future clients.”

  “All right, hand it here,” Grandar twitched impatiently. “What’s in there?”

  “I have no idea,” I answered honestly, taking out the jewelry case again. The snake did not bother to say what she had put in there. “Can we consider my assignment fulfilled? For the sake of paperwork?”

  “Are you sure you haven’t opened it?” the Precian asked, squinting suspiciously as his hand hovered over the case.

  “Of course not,” I confirmed, recalling that Oleander was the one to open it. Grandar still hesitated.

  “Swear it!”

  I took an oath with a clear conscience and waited for Galactogon’s system to confirm it.

  “In that case,” the imperial favorite sighed, “I confirm that you’ve completed my assignment. You have done well and all that! Hand it over!” He snatched the box out of my hands, fumbled with it for a while and then looked at me with puzzlement: “Now what? How do I open this thing?”

  I just shrugged. Grandar went on:

  “Doesn’t matter. I’ll deal with it later. I want my second billion now!”

  “Once we’re on Zalva,” I reminded him. “That was the deal.”

  “Plans have changed!” Grandar barked. “Zander!”

  The head of security entered the mess hall.

  “What is the status of the orbship?”

  “Everything is ready, master. We have identified the self-destruct mechanism’s detonators and set up the EM field.”

  “Very good. Now listen here, Surgeon. Either you give me my two billion credits now, or you say goodbye to your ship!” It looked like the Precian had decided to clean me out thoroughly before we reached Zalva. “Why are you silent? Make your decision. There is not much time left!”

  I just sighed and shook my head. Realizing that the second billion was out of the question did not upset Grandar too much. He was already beside himself with his delight at the ruse he had spun. He had deceived a pirate, stripping him of his money, the jewelry case and even his orbship! A rare ship that would be his mark of honor and glory for dealing with me.

  “Grandar,”
I warned, “a greedy Precian is a dead Precian.”

  “I’ll take everything from you! Your ship, your money, even your name! You’ll spend the rest of your days rotting in the raq mines. We’ll make sure to break your binding first, just to break your hope of escaping. Everything will be mine! Even the empire itself!” The Precian’s joy at his success made him start running his mouth.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed several guards with their manipulators pointed at me. I would surely be restrained at the slightest movement so I didn’t rock the boat. There was no need.

  “Your grace, we have received a request to exit hyperspace! It is a customs inspection!”

  “Wonderful!” Grandar smirked. “Activate the EM field around the orbship. Ensure that Surgeon cannot contact it. Place the pirate under guard and notify the authorities that I have a dangerous criminal on board! An enemy of the Precian Empire! Tell them that I have personally detained and neutralized him!”

  At these words, the guards wrenched my hands behind my back and Grandar himself snapped the handcuffs on my wrists so that everything corresponded to what he just said. The cuffs came as an unpleasant surprise, since now I couldn’t use any devices. I’ll need to get a pair of these for myself. They could come in handy.

  “Docking request received.”

  “Permission granted. Take Surgeon to the brig! Don’t let him out of your sight for a second! He must not be allowed to die before his binding is adjusted!”

  For the second time in two days I found myself imprisoned. This time was different however. Back on the cruiser it had all played out by chance, whereas now it was of my own free will.

  When my cell door opened again, I encountered Grandar in the company of the third adviser — and there was not a trace of his former joy on his face. He stared at me in perplexity, trying to fathom where he had miscalculated and how bad everything was for him. Now it was my turn to triumph over Grandar’s greed.

  “Release him!” the adviser ordered, and the guards of the former imperial favorite rushed to perform the order with the same zeal with which they had recently dragged me to the brig. Getting in each other’s way, the meatheads almost broke my hand as they removed the handcuffs.

  “On behalf of the Precian Empire, I thank Surgeon for his help in exposing Grandar,” the adviser proclaimed. With each word, the proud Precian’s shoulders slumped lower and lower. Grandar hunched over and began looking around desperately in search of an escape.

  Mission accomplished: Double Agent. Reward: Unlimited access to Belket, official permission to receive the third list of Hansa upgrades, −15% discount on Hansa equipment.

  “This belongs to me!” The adviser slipped his hand into Grandar’s pocket and retrieved his jewelry case. Nodding in satisfaction, he ordered the guards: “Take him away!”

  The same guards who had only recently groveled before Grandar moved towards him menacingly and at this point, their former leader lost his last nerve:

  “No! You wouldn’t dare! The Emperor will have you all flayed alive! What did this pirate tell you?! It is all lies! I have been framed! The case was planted on me! I demand a fair trial!”

  “You shall have your trial!” grinned the adviser, pointing to the far end of the corridor. There, surrounded by a dozen warriors, stood Narlin along with Grandar’s former servant. The adviser had brought them along. Grandar’s face stretched to its limits and he cut himself off mid-sentence. Only when his dazed look reached my face, did he begin to mumble:

  “You were supposed to kill him. I ordered you to kill him. I asked only one thing. You were supposed to kill him. I ordered …”

  The record broke, the transducer blew, and Grandar went on repeating the same thing even as he was dragged off to meet his destiny.

  “Do you not feel sorry for him?” asked the adviser and turned to the guard: “Bring Nurse here!”

  “Why would I feel sorry for him? Let the traitor suffer his just comeuppance. He tried to deceive me and turn me over to the authorities. I turned him over first. It’s all fair and square.”

  “It amuses me to hear a pirate speak this way. Welcome to the Precian Empire, Pirate Nurse. Now I remember you as well.”

  “Good afternoon, adviser,” my wife smiled radiantly. The emperor’s soldiers had by now completely captured the cruiser, allowing Eunice to join us.

  “I won’t beat around the bush. You have succeeded in your mission and the Precian Empire and I are prepared to work with you again. I know why you decided to treat with Grandar. Do not interrupt, it is my turn to speak. It is true that the emperor allowed Oleander’s supporters to download information from his son’s ship and send it to you. But I must disappoint you. That which you seek is not on any of those planets. Don’t look so surprised — what kind of adviser would I be if I didn’t know what was going on in my government? On behalf of those who organized the search for the check, I officially notify you that the prize’s location has been changed. Of course, you can check the remaining three planets, but you will not find anything there. Assume that I am saving you some time.”

  “What do you mean it’s changed? On what basis?!” My wife flared up. “That would be a violation of the terms of our agreement!”

  “Do not get excited, Eunice. We continue to strictly adhere to our agreement. All our actions are consistent with the contract, you can check if you wish. Moreover, as a sign of goodwill, we will let you know where the check is. This way you won’t have to waste time looking for it.”

  “Let me take a guess,” I said on a hunch. Since we were no longer speaking with the adviser, but with one of the admins, there was no need to stand on ceremony. “The check is on the Zatrathi homeworld. The same staging point of the invasion that everyone is looking for.”

  “You have deprived me of my moment of glory and the pleasure of seeing your surprise,” smiled the ‘adviser.’ “That is all correct. A check for one billion credits is waiting for you in the hall of the planetary spirit on the Zatrathi homeworld. I now bid you farewell and transfer control over this NPC back to its rightful AI. Have fun and may your search be a fruitful one!”

  Chapter Five

  How about: ‘Honey, you take everything too much to heart’…?

  Boom! A grenade blasted the nearest cliff to smithereens.

  No, not like that. Smacks of cheap melodrama, I might even draw her aggro.

  Maybe: ‘Don’t be so upset, darling. The doctors say that the baby should be surrounded by beauty and tranquility.’

  There was a low uterine roar and then a loud explosion. One of the drums of fine dust, which had remained in our hold after the operation with the cruise liner, went shooting into the air in perfect silence. At the peak of its trajectory, the drum burst into a cloud of dust which whirled and dispersed, shimmering with the cooler hues of the color spectrum. There’s that beauty and tranquility for you.

  “Cap’n, say something to her! I don’t have anything left!” The snake popped out of Warlock’s hull.

  “Bring out the drones,” I sighed, looking at my wife. Until she blows off all the steam, I’d rather not risk letting her back on the orbship.

  “Not the drones!” the engineer dug in. “At this rate we’ll be left destitute. Why did you have to marry her anyway? Or even if you did, why bring her on board with us? She’s a maniac!”

  “Why, why…Because a man must take responsibility for his acts,” I sighed. “All right, come on and bring out the drones. Otherwise I will sic her on you in the ship. Then you’ll have to deal with her yourself.”

  “No, no, no. I read you loud and clear,” the snake ducked back into the ship, casting a wary look at Eunice in the process. “You can figure things out here on your own. I’m going to run and uh…oh I’ve got so many chores…There’s the welding and the oil pressure! But you can’t have my drones!”

  The hatch closed behind her. I looked in her wake and grinned. Here was that crucial moment when the mother-in-law makes up her mind about the youn
g bride.

  “Honey, have you calmed down a little?”

  “I was never not calm,” my wife replied, looking around the carnage. She had let off her steam thoroughly — I was even envious. What was the big deal anyway? After my conversation with the adviser, I’d be happy to join her in this improvised training session too. However, as the snake correctly pointed out, there aren’t enough planets and property for the two of us. So I could only express my solidarity with my wife’s outrage quietly and to myself.