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  Nova glanced around the yard. She didn't want to give away how much she had straight away; on the other hand, she didn't know how much a ship should cost.

  "I've got a thousand credits," Nova said. It was half true.

  "Ha!" the man laughed, turning away. "You couldn't even get a broken hovercraft for that, let alone a working ship."

  "I didn't say it had to be working," Nova said. It took all of her might to keep her voice steady. True, she would rather have a working ship, but she knew mechanics. She could get it running if she had to.

  "Oh really?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

  "Yes," she replied, standing straighter, her chin jutting out.

  "Hmph. The cheapest piece of junk I've got here is going to cost you two thousand at least. And I don't think you'll be able to get it working at all."

  "Which one?" Nova asked.

  The mechanic nodded towards a rusted ship. It was half buried in the sand with dents running up its sides. There were metal panels hanging off its side, and plenty of other chunks of metal scattered all around its base.

  "Another drunk driver," said the mechanic as he shook his head. "I don't know how it happens when the ship has autopilot, but there you go."

  "How bad is it?" Nova asked.

  "I was gunna sell it as scrap metal. But I guess you could probably try to make it fly. I don't know how safe it would be though."

  "Five hundred," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. There was no way a damaged ship was worth two thousand credits, and she was no stranger to haggling.

  "Get out of here!" he scowled, turning away from her. "I wouldn't part with it for less than one thousand five hundred."

  "I'll give you one thousand if I can scavenge pieces from your other wrecks and store it here while I fix it up."

  Nova's heart fluttered in her chest. It was a fair deal but that didn't mean the man would take it. She was just hoping that he was as down on his luck as everyone else on this damned planet and needed the money.

  The mechanic stared at Nova for a time, his white hair waving in the desert breeze. "Alright," he growled.

  Nova nodded and pulled out her cred-stick, laying it on the bench next to the mechanic's. The numbers counted down from her total and were added to the mechanic's.

  "Good luck," he said, turning his attention back to the ship he had been working on when she arrived.

  Nova nodded and headed for the ship. The desert wind of Tabryn blew against her as she made her way across the red sand. Bits of grit flew up into her eyes and hair. She squinted against the glare of the desert sun and scurried up to her new home.

  The front of the ship caved in where it had crashed into the sand, and wires poked out everywhere from the metal exterior. The ship was a dull grey and as Nova got closer she could see chips of red paint that had peeled off under the buffeting of the desert sand. The red block letters spelled out the name of the ship.

  "Crusader," she said under her breath. It seemed to suit the ship perfectly.

  She gripped the crude handle and yanked the door open. It squealed in protest. Nova stepped up inside, having to lean to one side because the ship was lodged in the sand at a strange angle. Inside, the ship was simple, but perfect for what she needed.

  As she wandered through the storeroom, she opened various lockers and cupboards. Begging for some money or rare jewels, but of course all that was left was junk. The mechanic had already thoroughly inspected the craft for valuables.

  Nova came to a single locker which was embedded into the ship's wall; it sat apart from the others and had the letters C4L inscribed on the front. She opened the door with curiosity. Inside she found what looked like a heap of scrap metal.

  Wires and curved metal plates lay piled in a heap at the bottom of the locker. The power socket at the back had been torn part of the way out of the wall. Beneath the metal plates she found tiny robotic limbs and tools, as well as a hard metal ball.

  Nova turned the ball over in her hands a few times. It didn't take long for her to piece together what she'd found. It was obviously a Class 4 Labourbot, or C4L for short. C4L's were robotic drones responsible for servicing small crafts, but it had been a very long time since this one was used.

  She clicked her tongue. If she could get the robot working it could help her repair the rest of the ship. It shouldn't be too hard to fix; she'd done similar to robots she'd found in the Tabryn dump. She went to another locker in which she had previously spied a toolbox and sat on the floor of the ship, spreading the C4L's parts about her.

  It was a painstaking process and Nova continuously found herself on all fours looking through the locker and the surrounding floor for the tiny screws which held the metal parts in place. It was like a three-dimensional puzzle as she tried to fit all of the tools around the inner ball in such a way that the outer casing would fit. There were some parts that were beyond salvaging, but luckily these were, at least for the moment, not necessary. She did have to scavenge some wires from the main ship to replace the ones which had been fried by the power surge from when the previous owner had crashed the craft. She made note of changes which would have to be made to the robot once the ship was fixed and she had the money.

  It took the rest of the afternoon and most of the night, but eventually Nova put her tools aside and rested back against the wall. It was only then that she noticed the hard metal floor on which she'd been sitting for hours and the dimness of the room, lit only by the ship's emergency lights.

  A pile of burnt wires and broken metal sat on her left, but resting on the floor between her knees was a large metal orb which looked almost as good as new, albeit with some minor dents and scratches. She reached down and lifted the orb until its projector eye was level with her face.

  "Class Four Labourbot; power on," she commanded.

  At first there was no response, but after a few moments Nova felt a slight vibration through her hands and a tiny red light blinked at the side of the robot. An audible whir emanated from the robot's centre. She was wary in case the robot exploded in her hands, but thankfully it stayed in one piece.

  "Class Four Labourbot reporting for duty," the slightly digital male voice said from its invisible speakers. "Reporting massive damage, alert, alert, massive damage. Main control room non-responsive."

  Nova breathed a sigh of relief as the robot reeled off the damage report.

  "Thank you Class Four—" Nova looked to the side of the robot's swivelling eye where the acronym C4L had been stamped. "—Cal, from now on you will respond to the title Cal," she said.

  The robot, now named Cal, fell silent at her words and the whirring got louder as it processed the new information. "Acknowledged."

  "Good. I need to sleep now, but we'll get onto repairing the ship tomorrow. Please run a full diagnostic tonight and generate a list of urgent repairs required before the ship can fly."

  "Acknowledged," said Cal, lifting up from Nova's hands and gliding through the storeroom.

  Nova got to her feet with a groan as her cramped muscles straightened out. She hobbled from the storeroom to the tiny alcove which served as a bedroom. She tapped the button in the wall and the bed folded down. She wrinkled her nose at the obviously used sheets and pulled them from the bed, throwing them to the floor before collapsing onto the bare mattress.

  It took almost a week with Nova and Cal working full days before the ship was flight-ready. It had required a lot of negotiations with the old mechanic for parts, but eventually they got everything they needed.

  "Reports show a less than 60% chance of a successful flight. I recommend further repairs," said Cal as Nova took the pilot's seat.

  "No-can-do I'm afraid, Cal. We've run out of money and it's time to move on."

  A sequence of beeps emanated from Cal's centre which over their week together Nova had come to recognise as his version of a sigh of frustration. It was a very human expression; she suspected that some of his inner circuits had been affected when the ship crashed.


  "Ready, Crusader?" Nova asked with a grin.

  "As you know, I share the same circuits as the Class Four Labourbot and strongly recommend further repairs," the soothing female voice emanated from the central control panel. Nova understood that in the past, marketing research had indicated this voice template was the most preferred by all drivers, and the same research had also shown it improved pilot mood and reduced moments of rage while flying.

  Nova rolled her eyes. "Let's go!" she commanded.

  She sat back in the pilot seat and watched as numbers flashed over the front screen. The engine was running as well as could be expected. It whirred into standby mode, before gradually lifting up from the planet's surface.

  "Where to, Captain?" the ship's voice asked, with a hint of sarcasm.

  "Away from here," Nova said. "Take us to the nicest planet you can, with the fuel we have. We'll work it out from there."

  The ship's engines hummed louder and the interior began to vibrate. Nova clutched the arms of her chair and held her breath as the gauges climbed higher. The needles flicked in and out of the red zone as steam hissed from the control board.

  The ship rocked as it climbed higher and reached the edge of the atmosphere. Metal panels squealed in protest as they strained against each other. A part of Nova wanted to close her eyes, sure that she was about to burn up in a grizzly fireball, but another part of her didn't want to miss any part of this moment.

  Crusader's engines choked as the ship blasted higher. Nova bounced in her chair and was almost thrown out. She braced her feet on the metal floor as the ship burst through the clouds and soared into space.

  The wild shaking stopped and she let her breath out. Crusader's front screen showed Tabryn as it shrunk behind them. Nova watched her childhood planet disappear, a smile playing at the corner of her lips. Her heart burst in her chest and adrenalin surged through her veins; for the first time in her life she felt truly free.

  From there, Nova travelled from planet to planet, getting work where she could. Finally, she found herself where she was always going to end up: The Jagged Maw; home to all of the bounty hunters and adventurers worthy of the name.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Nova sat up on the bed and yawned. She shook her head to remove the memories of her past. She hadn't thought of Caila in a very long time.

  She stood and hit the button at the side of the wall, causing the bed to spring back into the side of the ship. She marched, now fully awake, to the control room.

  "Show me the view," she requested as she settled into the pilot's seat.

  The front screen changed from readings of the engine to the view outside the ship. They were still a way out from the planet and Nova could see the bright lights of Inner Tabryn lighting up the night like the beacons of a siren. Outside the brightly lit capital there was only darkness, hiding the squalor that spread out through the desert.

  Thanks to the tilt and rotation of Tabryn around its sun, Inner Tabryn experienced nights almost twice the length of its days, but of course that suited the citizenry just fine.

  The lights of Inner Tabryn got brighter, until they filled the entire view screen. They flashed neon colours, promising happiness and fortune with their cold glow.

  Usually Crusader wouldn't land on a planet, as the energy cost of landing and take-off was massive. But Nova would never be able to afford a room in one of the casinos and she'd be damned if she ever spent another night on the streets of Tabryn.

  Crusader slowed its decent as they neared Tabryn's biggest casino, The Lucky Coin. All around the main building, ships were parking and taking off. The entrance to the casino surged with fresh cash. Crusader's rusty bulk rumbled until it came to a screeching halt on the ground next to a sleek red ship. Nova recognised it immediately. She had drooled over the new Sunstar 3000 only days earlier when an ad for it appeared on her screen. It must have cost the owner a fortune.

  "Now, Cal, remember what happened last time we were near a casino? Stay away from the roulette tables," Nova said, pulling her thick black trench-coat from the back of her chair.

  "If I recall correctly, it was in fact your poor gambling strategy that lost us that game," Cal said, his voice condescending.

  "Well then your memory chips have been fried, my friend," Nova said, sauntering away from the command pod.

  She yanked out her 'mission bag' from a wall compartment and slung it over her shoulder, and clipped a stunner onto her belt. Her trench-coat fell back into place, hiding both the gun and the stunner.

  The gun laws on Tabryn were loose at best but it could be a dangerous place and Nova would never be caught unprepared.

  Cal floated behind her. "A technical scan reveals no faults in my memory chips."

  Nova rolled her eyes and smiled as she reached Crusader's main exit door. She had upgraded the security system since she first bought the craft. It was one thing that she had refused to skimp on and it had saved her and her cargo more than once.

  "You two stay here and monitor as usual," Nova said, stepping out of the craft. The door slid shut behind her.

  She took a moment to survey her surroundings. As expected, the rest of the ships parked around hers were the latest models and gleamed in the casino lights. Crusader stood out like a rotten apple in a pile of jewels. She stood on the footpath and watched, as all about her milled the beautiful people of the world, with their expensive clothes and store-bought bodies.

  Cosmetic surgery had taken off in the last hundred years and those that could afford it rarely kept any of their original selves. Noses, chins, arms, eyes. All were replaceable either with human parts or engineered parts; it was personal preference which you preferred.

  Nova frowned at the long forgotten, but still familiar smells of Tabryn. Here at the casino there was an overwhelming scent of perfume but even that couldn't hide the underlying odours; the desert sand, the squalor of Outer Tabryn, the smoke from the cheap factories running in the slums.

  She turned her head from the bright lights running down the footpath and instead focused on following the milling crowd through the gold-painted doors of The Lucky Coin. She was almost past the entrance and into the cacophony of noise and lights beyond when a firm hand grabbed hold of her arm and jerked her out of the flowing crowd.

  The bouncer's hand tightened around her wrist as he sneered down at her. "I'm afraid you don't meet our dress standards, sweetheart." His voice was rough and thick with a Tabryn accent.

  Nova glared at him before twisting her wrist and yanking it out of his hold. Before he could recover she whipped a thin knife out of her belt and pressed it against his throat. "Hands off, sweetie. I'm just here to see the boss." She held out her bounty hunter ID.

  "Take it easy, you crazy bitch," he said, shoving her away. "This way."

  He led the way through the crowds and slot machines, past the many tables and up the marble steps which separated the main floor of the casino from the high-roller rooms. Nova moved as fast as she could to keep up with the large steps of the bouncer.

  At the top of the stairs they stopped in front of a broad wooden door and the bouncer knocked three times. It swung slowly open to reveal the lavish room beyond. Gilded chairs with plump cushions sat about the room. Ancient paper books, the likes of which Nova had seen on only one other occasion, lined the walls along with ornaments and paintings. Commanding it all was a sturdy wooden desk and the man standing behind it.

  The man turned from the huge glass windows which looked down on the casino floor. He pulled a thick cigar from his mouth and stamped it out in a glass ashtray on the corner of his desk. A plume of smoke floated out of his mouth as he nodded to Nova and sat on the large chair behind his desk.

  Nova took a seat opposite but stayed on guard. She took note of the two big men who stood with their arms crossed at each side of the room and casually placed her left hand near her waist, where her gun was within easy reach.

  "No need for that, Hunter," said the man with the cigar.

&
nbsp; Nova tried not to inhale as his smoky breath blew across the table to her. All of his features seemed proportionally large to his body; from his thick lips, to the big nose, to the beefy hands. He wore a white shirt and black pants but on top of these he wore a purple velvet coat that reflected the neon lights from the casino floor. Nova didn't respond, keeping her hand near her gun.

  The man shrugged as he leant back in his chair. "I'm Cracos, owner of The Lucky Coin. If you take the job, you'll be working for me."

  Nova nodded, but said nothing. Her violet eyes stared straight at Cracos as she waited for him to continue.

  "Here's our problem, bounty hunter. There's money disappearing from our casino, but we don't know where it's going. The books match at the end of the night but somehow we're leaking cash."

  Nova nodded, behind her expressionless mask her mind raced. Casinos were known for having the best security systems money could buy. For them to be bleeding money like this meant a professional was involved, probably an inside job.

  "How long's this been happening?" she asked.

  "Month or so."

  "Two thousand credits when I catch the thief?"

  "That's the deal, but I should warn you, we've got others working the case. Whoever catches the thief gets the money. There are no free rides on Tabryn." Cracos smiled as he pulled a new cigar from the top draw of his desk.

  "Ain't that the truth," said Nova, standing and heading for the door. She stopped with her hand against the wooden panel and turned back to Cracos. "I'll need full access to the casino and your staff."

  "Of course. I'll have Brick get you an ID," Cracos said with a greasy smile and waved his hand at the large security officer who had brought her to the office.

  Nova nodded and pushed open the large door. Brick led her to a small room further down the hallway. He went to work updating her ID chip to include access to the casino. She placed her arm under the scanner and the computer added the extra files to the microchip hidden just below her skin's surface.

  The chips had been introduced almost a century before. Initially it was a means of ID but now they housed almost every piece of information about a person, and could be updated at will. They were embedded directly after birth and began collecting information from there. They were designed to continually measure chemical levels to detect disease, to act as keys, and as a form of ID, and eventually to act as a biography after a person's death.