Drifter

Eli maneuvered Cavalier into the lower atmosphere of a rocky world, vectoring over a city. This city was much like those he had visited back on Earth. A miserable sprawl radiated out from a hub of tall, well-lit buildings.

Ships formed long lines that stayed somewhat in the vicinity of the designated traffic lanes. Countless vehicles moved along the highways and streets. Monorail tracks ran all over, stretching out to the horizon. There, dust clouds threatened to overshadow the buildings.

Eli landed at the designated spot. He lowered the boarding ramp. A pair of local police officers entered the vessel. Eli met them in the cargo hold, escorted them to the guest cabins.

They opened the door to cabin 4 cautiously. The prisoner greeted them with a sneer which was human enough that the tadvash wasn’t needed. Other than her bright blue skin and the set of antennas that poked out of the mane of neon purple hair, she looked human. None of her features hinted at her status as a murderer.

“How’d you catch her?” one of the cops asked.

His response was simple, “She let her guard down.”

The officers left with their sneering charge. Eli checked the room, in case she had left any surprises. Satisfied that the job was complete, he went to the cockpit and called the broker that had given him the tip.

“Chiron, target has been handed over to the authorities.”

“Eli, I was about to contact you. There’s a big opportunity on that world.”

“I’m listening.”

An image appeared on his wrist computer. It was a male humanoid being, hairless, sporting a bulbus head and puffy features, including a pair of pleated lips. His periwinkle skin was covered with big, deep pores. Nothing good could be seen behind his beady eyes.

“Aydem Lynard was spotted in one of the residential blocks. He’s wanted on Ujita. A bank job went bad, and he shot the place up. Nineteen bystanders were injured, five were killed. He’s been on the run ever since.”

“Sounds like a real piece of work. Who spotted him?”

“I work with an individual that lives there, a dealer in many things, including information. He caught sight of him in section 7A of block J-018. He watched him go into apartment 104.”

“I’ll take a look.”

“I have to warn you. This information broker more than likely sold the find to others. The authorities on Ujita aren’t the only ones that are after him. Several criminal enterprises have put a price on his head. Expect company.”

“Do you think any of them could get violent?”

“I’d count on it. Happy hunting.”

***

The sun had just begun to set. The apartments were arranged in a fashion that was not unlike prison cells, uniform and stretching on. Existence, and nothing else.

Eli wore a black duster. Under it, an armored vest and a few weapons. He had discovered that the Megau spear had a telescoping shaft, so that it could be more easily carried. It was slung across his back in a simple leather sheath. His jungle boots were starting to get scuffed.

Metal and concrete towered over Eli, surrounding him on all sides. The sight and the nature of his visit combined to conjure a memory. A similar place, countless lightyears away, yet so similar. The subject had jumped bail. The charge was the violation of an eight-year-old girl.

Eli and two colleagues tracked the target to a distant city. The team kicked down the door to his apartment, a dirty hole for a parasite to hide in. He was all smirks as they zip stripped and searched him. Then he started bragging about what he had done, his eyes full of defiance.

The collapsible baton made a satisfying sound when Eli extended it. The training he had received on its proper use vanished, the muscle memory burned away by rage.

Each strike was a moment of purist bliss. With each impact, something from deep inside, or perhaps from somewhere outside kissed him. The baton connected with the soft tissue over and over again. When bones broke, the sensation danced its way up the weapon and into his hand, where it brought even more joy.

Twenty minutes later, Miguel was trying to revive the subject. Ron was on the phone with emergency services, talking the ambulance in. He didn’t make it. The broken rib that had impaled his heart was listed as the cause of death.

The subject had resisted, come at them with a kitchen knife. Miguel and Ron were adamant about this fact. He must have been on something, something strong, to have kept coming at them like that. If it hadn’t been for Eli, they wouldn’t have made it out of there alive, their children would have had to have grown up fatherless.

Focus. Force your mind to return to the present. The target is known to be violent.

Eli cautiously approached the target’s apartment, taking the stairs one step at a time. There was no one around. He moved to the door and pressed the open button. He was surprised when it slid out of the way. Weapon at the ready, he entered.

The place lacked decoration. The furnishings were sparse, functional. The only unessential item was a large television set and the comfy-looking chair that sat in front of it.

Eli methodically cleared the apartment. He checked every corner, every potential hiding place. When he finished, he did another sweep, hoping to catch anyone that had come out of hiding off guard.

Eli returned to the living room. A strange feeling crept in. He was being watched. Quickly closing the door, he gave the room a more detailed check, searching for cameras or other monitoring devices. He found none. The feeling remained. He decided to start searching for clues.

One of the cabinets had been left hanging open. Cans and boxes of food had been haphazardly piled up on the countertop across from it. A wooden board sat on the floor, propped up against the wall.

Cautiously, he looked in the cabinet. It was empty. He noticed that at about the halfway point there were brackets. He concluded that a secret hiding place had been installed in the back of the cabinet. There were no clues as to what it had held, but he guessed that it had contained a go-bag. The subject had gotten spooked and bolted.

No computers or tablets had been left behind. The target appeared to own no physical media, and he could not find the device it was stored on.

A search of the nightstand’s drawer revealed a few colorful chits. Upon closer inspection he saw that they were from a gambling den on the city’s northeast side.

He popped the lid off of the toilet tank, found nothing. He tore the vent covers off and shined a light inside, nothing. He ripped open the cushions and the mattress, still nothing.

The feeling that he was being watched was still there, despite the fact that he hadn’t discovered any cameras during his search.

Eli took one long look around. He noticed the trashcan. They always forgot about the trash. Flipping it over, he dumped it out onto the floor. He used his foot to sift through the garbage, found the usual refuse. The only thing of note was a ticket.

He picked the ticket up, wiping a smudge away. The colors were dark, metallic. The design and general energy of it was reminiscent of some sinful thing you could buy out of a vending machine back in the day, something found on the floor of a strip club. Images of piles of coins glittering in exaggerated glory were pictured on it. It was from that same casino.

The hunter gave the trash another look. There was fast-food packaging, most of it was from places located near the casino. The same was true of a cup that was from a place that sold a liquid stimulant, an analog of coffee. He also found a receipt from a convenience store that was located on the most direct route to the place.

Eli contacted Chiron, “The target is on the run. What do you know about the local syndicates?”

“There’s only one, at the moment. I’ve dealt with them before. They run a gambling den and a brothel. They smuggle in stuff that the local government doesn’t want the miners getting ahold of.”

“They smuggle anything back out?”

“Like people? I don’t know, but there’s nothing stopping them. The casino’s just down the street. It’s run by a woman named Yorai. Place is a cash cow and I’m sure they launder money out of there.”

“Thanks for confirming my suspicions. I think I know where I can find him.”