Second chapter, any comment or reviews will be appreciated.

Septima City, Septima.
   
Travelling via chartered craft, we arrive on Septima in the late hours and after a short journey by land vehicle. Skimming the outskirts of the city, we now stand outside the darkened closed reception area doors of the Empoc facility. I’d planned the timing of our arrival to coincide with when Empoc’s security would be patrolling the rear of the facility. This will allow us the much-needed uninterrupted time to break in.
   
“We will need to gain access without alerting the local authorities,” advises Apri. 
   
“Not a problem.” I answer with a smile, as I proudly produce one of my many fake ID’s and swipe it through the entrance slot.

The door swishes open allowing us to step through.
   
“Impressive!” she says as the door closes behind us.
   
I’d before on the odd occasion had cause to infiltrate this establishment, and that’s how I knew their security patrol routine. I had also retained the expensive Empoc staff ID for future use, just like today. It pays to have certain contacts within the mire of the underworld, and of course knowing Empoc’s security guards are too damn lazy to alter their timing and routes.
   
“Always pays to be prepared;” I smile and add; “Now all we have to do is make sure their auto-surveillance system don’t pick us up! As long as we don’t move to the reception desk we’re safe!”
    
Apri’s eyes suddenly looked glazed, as if she is fixed in a trance.
   
“I am attempting to override the system,” she states.
   
“You can do that?”
   
“I have the necessary programming and clearance. I am extracting the command codes; it should not take long now.”

I stand there silently watching her a short time passes, probably only seconds but seems hours before she announces.
   
“Done.”
   
Nodding in acceptance I gesture to which direction we will need to take. The layout of the place is fairly standard and I recall the records hall is situated on the next level towards the rear. By the time we get there the patrol will have moved on to another part of the building, hopefully allowing us time to do what was needed before they return.

Records Hall, Empoc.
   
As I sit at the computer terminal, Apri peers over my shoulder watching Empoc’s records scroll on the screen.
   
“I’m looking for the log record; everyone entering Empoc has to log a record of when and why they were here. Hopefully, if I can locate the right record it’ll tell us who Fizz and Hacker met with.”

Apri places her hand gently atop mine halting my progress.
   
“I can tell you whom they met with!”

I frown and look up at her.
   
“Cavas Sontarus. They met with Cavas Sontarus,” she confirms.
   
Her tone remains calm as if the name means nothing. For me, the name Sontarus makes my hackles rise and sends a cold shiver down my spine. Cavas Sontarus is the director of Empoc’s board. To all, a highly proclaimed citizen of irrefutable reputation, and a much respected businesswoman, that’s to all who only know her public persona. Those of us who delve into the muck ridden underworld know her as the head of the most powerful crime cartel in the galaxy. A hardened gunrunner, narcotics pusher, credit fence, and trader in human flesh who’d not think twice about have anyone who crossed her ‘removed’.
   
“How do you know that?” I inquire.
   
“This information was within Opas Holburn’s subconscious memories.”

Her answer shakes me a little, but doesn’t fully take me by surprise. It was only a matter of time before the Syndicate brain-boxes came up with an android that is capable of reading thoughts. This scares me slightly. Can she read what I’m thinking?
   
“Yes I can, however if you wish, I will not in future,” she confirms.

Well, that sure answers the question!
   
“Look…er…well, I’d rather you didn’t.”

So why didn’t Holburn tell me I could catch up with Fizz and Hacker here?
   
“Consider it done; I will no longer penetrate your thoughts.” Apri replies.
  
“And how do I know that for sure?”
  
“I have told you, and I do not tell untruths.”

Wow, an sinthoid with built-in morals; but can I trust her?

I wait to see if she’d respond to my thought, but she remains silent. 
   
“Don’t suppose you know why they met with Sontarus?”
   
“Holburn knew of the meeting, however I found no evidence of the reason,” she answers flatly.
   
“He could’ve hid it from you!”
   
“Unlikely, Holburn does not know of my telepathic ability.”
   
“How’s that?”
   
“He does not hold a sufficient security clearance grade.”
   
“Yet you told me.”
   
“I did. I am assigned to you; the information is beneficial to our mission.”

I nod and resume scrolling through the records.
   
“Well we still have to locate the log record. With any luck it’ll hold a vid-scan which hopefully will give us a clue to where we can now find Fizz and Hacker.”

Perhaps she really knows what this item is Holburn wants so badly and didn’t want to tell me before, suddenly dawns on me.
   
“You sure you don’t know what the item is?” I ask without looking.
   
“I am not privy to the information at this time.”

Damn, thought that would be too easy!
   
For the next several minutes I continue with my visual scroll through the records. Apri stands at my side in silence until. 
   
“Security is beginning its sweep; they will arrive at this terminal in four point five minutes. I suggest we go.”
   
“Not until I have what we came for!”
   
Apri gives my seat a shove forcing me aside. She extends her slender hand towards the computer’s terminal port, a needle thin electrode slides out the palm of her hand and into the interface port.
    
“I am downloading the required records; you may view them at your leisure when we are clear.”

I look at her with astonishment. Holburn is right; she is one of a kind. Wonder what other little surprises she might be holding out on?
   
“Well why didn’t you say so before?”

She looks me straight in the eyes, but doesn’t answer as she extracts the probe. Heavy footsteps echo out in the corridor, footsteps that are closing in.

Cyber café, Septima.
   
Previous experience, and a whole lot of luck allow us to avoid Empoc security and gets us safely out. Though at one point it is an extremely close call when Apri needs to override the lock on our exit door. Unbeknownst to us security changes all the access codes at irregular intervals. She manages to override it in the nick of time thus avoiding capture and a long stint being interrogated for corporate espionage.
   
We now sit in one of Septima’s all-night cyber café’s, being in the public eye is probably the safest bet for now as the café’s are frequented throughout the night by the students of Empoc University.
   
The café isn’t overly busy, just a few students sitting at the bar chatting, which allows us a little privacy for Apri to plug herself into the terminal without notice and upload our stolen data. She skips through at speed until she locates the required section.
   
“I have located what you were looking for.”
  
At this point, the waiter comes over with the much-deserved coffee I’d ordered on arrival. He places it on the counter and glances at the screen; luckily Apri is quicker than he and shuts down the visual. He smiles a knowing grin, probably thinking we are scanning porn or something, and goes about his business. I take a sip from the rather tepid coffee, grimacing as I do so, and lean close to Apri as she reinstates the visual.
   
For the first time, and being so close to her, I notice she wears a scented fragrance that pleases my nostrils. My senses are quickly drawn from this to the screen where Cavas Sontarus is in conversation with Fizz, Hacker is nowhere to be seen. Sontarus hands something to Fizz.
   
“Activate the audio; I want to know what’s coming off!”  I order abruptly.

Apri gives me one of those pleasing smiles of hers and replies.
   
“The audio playback has been erased.”

Shit!
   
“Alright, replay in slower mode.”

She does as asked, I scrutinise the playback hoping for any kind of clue, and then there it is hitting me square in the face.
   
“There!” I holler.

Apri freezes the playback without skipping a beat. I glance round to see the students look in our direction. I nod politely and they returned to their own tasks.
   
“Close in on Fizz’s hand.”

I move closer to the screen.
   
“Can you clean it up a little?”

Apri augments the required section.
   
“That’s a boarding pass for the liner Valcuri, it’s due to cruise the lower islands.” I state.
   
“You believe they are to take the cruise?” 
   
“Why else have a boarding pass?” I shrug and follow with, “got’a be, maybe he’s smuggling for her, or maybe it’s some kind of payoff meet. I’m not sure really, but it’s a lead!”
   
“Then perhaps we too should acquire passage?”
   
“That was my thought. Can your probe thingy access the Valcuri’s passenger schedule from here?” 
   
“Of course,” she answers and proceeds to bring up the required schedule, and then confirms. “The craft is due to depart at seven hundred hours.”
   
“Are Fizz and Hacker on the manifest?”
   
“They are. They are allocated cabin six on the promenade deck. You wish me to place us on the manifest?”
   
“Absolutely. Oh, and first-class sounds about right.”

Cruise liner Valcuri.
   
We make the Valcuri in good time; Apri books us on as a couple of high powered shipping cartel moguls taking a well deserved vacation. She even manages to swing the allocation of one of the prestigious cabins normally reserved for the owners of the Valcuri line. This allocation secures us privacy from others on the ship with the cabin being located just below the promenade deck and towards the aft section away from the public decks.
   
Unfortunately, there had been a small altercation on our arrival, firstly with the confiscation of my blaster, it’d slipped my mind again that weapons aren’t allowed. Secondly, a rather loud argument transpired when the original assignees to the cabin had been abruptly moved elsewhere. The First-officer, believing Apri and I are Valcuri line board members did eventually smooth things over resulting in the cabin remaining in our possession. 
   
The Valcuri’s cruise of Septima’s lower islands is scheduled to last eight days. I am hopeful we can locate and grab the illusive item, and be on our way back to Centura city by the time the Valcuri reached the first island. This achieved, we can then gain passage on an alternate craft for the return journey.
   
The Valcuri set sail on schedule, by which time I was ravenous, not having eaten for the past twenty-four. Our gear, what there is of it, is safely tucked away so we head for the restaurant on the observation deck. We enter and are quickly ushered to a table by a waiter, who elegantly places menus into our hands.
   
“May I suggest the Prosovian light breakfast, it is prepared with fresh Colo squibs,” the waiter announces with bravado.
   
Apri immediately places the menu on the table while I peruse the list on offer. Prosovian Colo squibs, hmm…don’t like the sound of that! I could really do with something less aquatic, maybe some fruit-bread and coffee. The waiter waits patiently while I slowly make my choice.
   
“Two rounds of fruit-bread, a large pot of coffee, and a couple of Tavarian beers.”
   
“Will that be all sir?”

I look to Apri forgetting she wouldn’t need sustenance. 
   
“I do not require anything,” she confirms politely to the waiter who retrieves the menus.
   
While I tuck into the fruit-breads, and down a strong coffee, Apri sits quietly taking in the pleasant ornate surroundings, and watching our fellow passengers. I wonder if she’s reading their thoughts. I found myself waiting for an answer, one that never came. Well at least she can’t be reading mine anymore!
   
After approximately thirty minutes, and while I was downing my second beer, I nearly choke as Apri casually announces.   
   
“Opas Holburn is a passenger on this vessel,” and she quickly continues with, “Excuse me, I must return to our cabin for a few moments to recharge my auxiliary power node.”
   
“Hang on!” I said grabbing her arm as she stands.
   
“What’d ya mean Holburn’s on this vessel?”
   
“Opas Holburn is allocated the executive suite on the promenade deck, some two doors down from Fizz and Hacker.”
   
With that, she removes my hand and heads back to the cabin leaving me to mull over what she’d just enlightened me with. What the hell’s going on? Why didn’t she say so earlier? Why is Holburn on the Valcuri? All these thoughts bombard my mind and I couldn’t figure an answer.
   
Downing the final dregs of my beer I slowly eye the area, looking to see if Holburn, Fizz or Hacker have made an appearance. They haven’t, although for some reason there are a few faces known to me, a few past acquaintances of disrepute. Wonder why there are so many rogues on this ship? Maybe Holburn has something going on he didn’t want me to know about? Or maybe this illusive item he’s after is of interest to these others, maybe it’s something everyone’s after!
   
After about fifteen minutes, I sit pondering what it is that could be so valuable that it would bring some of the known scum of the galaxy together in one place. At one table a few meters to my right sits Salom Bovar, a gangland thug, pimp, and hijacker with a scar running the length of his forehead that he’d received while serving time on a penal asteroid. Bovar is extremely touchy about this and often tries to kill anyone who mentions it.
   
Sitting at Bovar’s left is Nobius Nix. A blue skinned Trovian, an accomplished embezzler and corporate thief who sometimes works for Sontarus. At Bovar’s right is Lula Vortel, a bitchy seductress with a passion for poisoning her acquaintances after emptying their accounts.
   
Apri returns and sits as I clock the ominous presence of Pilo Hand, a killer with no remorse or compassion, a slave trader, and expert hunter. Hand’s full-length black trench coat billows out beneath the table, I clock a glimmer of a leg knife hidden just above his boot.
   
Leaning against the bar are the Daco brothers. Spee Daco, the taller of the two is the most reasonable of the brothers. He’d kill you quick and move on. Bann however, likes nothing more than to savour the pain of his victims and relishes his work in his own sadistic way. I’d only gone against the Daco’s once, and had somehow come out alive with all my bodily parts intact. If they are involved in this I’d better be on my guard.
   
“You know some of these people?” Apri inquires.
   
“Something ain’t right with all this! Something’s going down here that I’m not party too! Why didn’t you tell me before Holburn is on the ship?”

Apri remains composed; her facial expression doesn’t reveal anything as she speaks.
   
“While you were imbibing in sustenance I used the time to scan the private manifest, which was not originally available when we first scanned at the cyber café. It was only then I found Holburn’s booking.”

I look at her. She cracks a pleasing smile, and says.
   
“Do you know who that is at the far end of the bar? The man looking over here.”

I hadn’t noticed so look, sure enough she’s right. The guy is staring right at us and doesn’t bother to turn away when I eye him.
   
“Nope, no idea!”
   
“He is Orlan, a PV-two android, bodyguard to Navan Seecresh, President of Seecresh Bio-tech. If he is aboard so is Seecresh.”
   
“So!”
   
“Holburn holds stock with Bio-tech, and Seecresh runs a smuggling operation out of Japora.”
   
“And you think Holburn’s using Seecresh to do what?”
   
“I did not say Holburn is using Seecresh for anything, I am simply stating the facts.”
   
“Well, he’s sure got his beads on us. Let’s get out’a here.”

Entertainment suite, Valcuri.
   
Spending the rest of the day secluded in our cabin, at nineteen-thirty hours we venture down to the ship’s entertainments lounge where Apri will wait and keep a watchful eye on Holburn. I know Holburn has a fixation for alien harmonics, and as luck would have it one such alien group is entertaining tonight, virtually guaranteeing Holburn’s attendance.
   
While Apri keeps her vigil I causally stroll the decks for forty-five minutes seeing if there’s anyone else aboard who I might recognise before moving up to the promenade deck. Standing next to the guardrail I look out over the ocean, Septima’s twin moons cast shards of yellow light that ripple across the calm surface. The silhouette of a giant Nash is outlined as it flies in front of one of the low moons. Its huge wings flap in slow motion as if performing a mesmerising dance.
   
“Evening,” a fellow passenger says in passing, I turn from the picturesque vista and nod politely.
   
“Lovely evening,” the guy says.
   
“Sure is.” I answer and continue on my way.
   
Something nags at my mind about the guy as I walk along, something about the way his large brimmed hat conceals his facial features. I can’t quite put my finger on why, or even if I’d seen him before. I glance back and catch a glimpse of the guy’s long grey coattail as it billows when he rounds a corner and vanishes. I quickly replay the brief encounter in my mind. Still can’t put my finger on anything, I shrug and continue towards Fizz and Hacker’s cabin.
   
Alien harmonies echo up from the entertainments lounge as I stand outside Fizz and Hacker’s cabin door. I feel the thrum of the ship’s engines in my feet as the deck plates vibrate slightly. I reach out and try the door; it opens. Strange!
   
The cabin is in total darkness; I glance from side to side making sure the coast is clear and step in.
   
“Lights!”
   
Nothing happens so I reiterate the command, still nothing. Seeking out the manual override I fumble across it and thump the plunger hard. The lights spring on. Instantly I know I am in trouble, across the room, lying face down on the deck is Fizz’s blood soaked body. Crossing to him I kneel and feel for a pulse, even though I already know he’s a goner. 
   
An excruciating pain floods my head, my eyes water and roll, a feeling of nausea wells in my stomach; the light flickers and darkness once again envelops me. I vaguely remember reaching out to stop myself as I hit the deck.

Shasta Island Detention Centre.
   
I awake still with a gut feeling of nausea. I’m lying, looking up at a bright white light with still impaired vision. A low droning noise rings in my ears, a drone I recognise as the sound of an energy field. How long I’ve been out I don’t know. My head pounds as if a troop of Sumo wrestlers, wearing diving boots are tap-dancing in my brain; I lift my head up slowly and swing my feet to the ground.
   
“Ah, about time!”
   
Glancing in the direction of the voice, I squint; looking hard through the shimmering force field that secures me inside what I now know is a cell. Shaking my head, Damn Sumo’s, to try and clear my vision, I focus on the individual who is sitting on the other side of the field. Slowly my vision clears. A male human approximately the same age but of a more slender build than myself. My vision becomes clearer; dark, deep, penetrating green eyes stare at me; he sports a small white goatee beard. My vision gains perspective and now I know who he is, Federal Inspector Sherice, shit!  That’s all I need!
   
“Inspector Serice. You wouldn’t happen to have any painkillers on you would ya?” 
   
“Diamond.” Serice greets in an official tone. 
   
He stands and moves closer to the energy field, all I can think of now is Where’s Apri? And I wish these damn Sumo’s would cut it out!
   
“Got yourself into a bit of a bind this time Diamond!  Suspicion of murder no less!”

Murder? This is bullshit!
   
“Murder? I ain’t murdered anyone!”

Serice shrugs and smiles, a grin that tells me he has me bang to rights, or so he thinks.
   
“Unfortunately Diamond that’s not what the evidence points too. Oh, I suppose you could call it removal of the garbage, and Fizz won’t be missed by anyone other than Hacker maybe, but I doubt the Justice Department will see it that way! However, if you decide to cooperate I could make things easier for you.”

I knew that grin would cost me!  As far as I can recollect Sherice is a decent enough Fed, straight as they come so I’m informed, but that grin gave me cause for concern. I wonder what he’s after.
   
“Cooperate? How?”
   
“Come on Diamond, you expect me to believe you don’t know what this is all about!”
   
Feeling had now returned to my legs, I get up and close on the energy field; Sherice backs off slightly.
  
“Serice, I don’t have the foggiest what you’re talking about! Now, about those painkillers?”

He looks round, checking the cell level entrance, presumably to make sure we are out of earshot of anyone who might listen. As far as I can tell, all the other cells are empty.
   
“The Arkas pendant, I want it!” Serice mumbles.

I give him a puzzled look. So all this is about a piece of jewellery.
   
“What makes ya think I know anything about the Arkas?”
   
“Don’t presume to treat me like you would one of you lowlife acquaintances Diamond. Fizz was carrying the pendant for Cavas Sontarus, and Holburn hired you to get it for him. Fizz is now a corpse, and Hacker’s disappeared. So that leaves you my friend!” 
   
“And why would the great upstanding Inspector Serice want this pendant?”

I might as well ask, I just might learn a thing or two. Besides, I really wanted to know what makes an ancient mythical jewel so valuable it brings so many crims together. Serice glares at me, his penetrating eyes cut through the energy barrier as if wanting to burn the truth from me. He clasps his hands in front of his drab brown tunic.
   
“You’ve heard the stories!”
   
“All I’ve heard is rumours, legends, and myths. I sure could do with a little pain relief.” I reply.
   
“Then you’ve either been misled, which I doubt, or are more stupid that I first thought! The Arkas pendant is the key to…”

Damn it!
   
Before Serice can enlighten me further, two more Feds walk in. Serice clams up instantly. He converses with the other two in muted tones, and it becomes obvious Serice is somewhat annoyed. The drone of the energy field subsides.
   
“Okay Mister Diamond you’re free to go,” advises one of the other Feds.

I step through the downed energy field. Serice fixes me with his damn green eyes, and halts me by extending his arm across my torso.
   
“Luckily for you someone has put up bail. It appears you have friends in high places. So for now you go free, but don’t get any big ideas of leaving the island, I haven’t done with you yet!” he warns.
   
“No painkillers then! Who put it up?” I inquire.
   
“I did!” Apri’s voice echoes from the doorway.

I nod; glad she’d found a way of getting me out. The damn Sumo’s in my brain continues their relentless dance routine.

© Copywrite  J Marriott.