“Kaskey this is Stephen Regrette. Regrette, Kaskey. He’s going to be working with us,” Grant said.
“Wait, didn’t you just say he’s…”
“The Wraith?” Regrette laughed spookily.
“Er, well, yeah. Heavy…” he started.
“Really?” Grant asked.
“Right. No,” Kaskey shook his head. “Just didn’t think you were real.”
“That helps in my line of work,” Regrette said.
“You took out Tommy Bones,” Kaskey said suddenly.
“I remember. Now, Grant, what are you up to?”
***
They took the Lark and landed on the planet of Ijo in the Sparnmet Galaxy. Right out on the edge of the Universe.
Many years ago, during the Earthen Victorian era, Grey aliens perfected a technology that let them jump through space and they set out to make contact with other Galaxies. As they did so they built the star-gates from the same technology. Unfortunately when they got to the Milky Way they quickly realised that Earth had not evolved sufficiently to travel it’s own solar system let alone galaxy and decided to leave it alone.
Well not completely. They wanted a bit of a nose and so went down in disguise. They were quickly outed by the Victorian British that bumped into them and these fellows thought that adding the rest of the Universe to Queen Victoria’s most splendid Empire would be top-ho. Once out into space they worked with the Greys to create the Universal Trading Network under which the whole Universe could band together and share the many wonders of other galaxies.
Once the Network was up and running, and fewer inhabited galaxies were being found, the exploration was scaled down so as to strengthen the Network. Galaxies such as Sparnmet were the last ones to get star-gates before the creation of them stopped altogether. This meant that Sparnmet, previously uninhabited, was open to colonisation and being out on its own attracted all sorts of nefarious types.
Of course with star-gates this was not really true, but psychologically everyone still thought of such galaxies as far away. Because even in space, what people think usually trumps the truth.
“So what are we doing out here?” Kaskey asked as they left the spaceport.
“People smuggling,” Grant said.
“Not really my area of expertise.”
“See? He’s funny, that’s why we’re keeping him around,” Grant told Gulch.
“There’s a good chance that these men came through here at some point,” Regrette said.
“Why?”
“Recruitment,” Grant said. “These men, boys, didn’t grow up in the Underworld, they got in. This is a good place for it.”
“And people are gonna be like what? ‘Oh yeah I hired those guys to kidnap girls for me’?”
“If I have my way,” Regrette smiled.
“I don’t like that,” Kaskey said to himself as the other two walked away.
He caught up with them in a bar just outside the spaceport. It was rough and dingy, full of rough and dingy men and women of all sorts of races. It was the type of bar where you found business, work or a ship out. What Kaskey found was a lot of people stopping talking to eye up Grant and Regrette. He was sure a few tensed and then relaxed as they walked past.
“Dangerous place for you to be,” the bartender said.
“Three bottles of Pargkat,” Grant replied.
“You think you’ll have time to drink them?” the bartender smiled.
“You think this place is tough?” Grant asked Regrette.
“Not unless they’re hiding the tough guys out back.”
The barman eyed Regrette. He was tall and lean, people thought he was skinny, but it was all muscle. He dressed well, always in some kind of suit, mostly favouring a shirt and waistcoat combination and sometimes a long coat if he wanted to hide his guns. Kind of like a cowboy. Well, a lot like a cowboy; he had a thing for Earthen Westerns, but only those that were allowed in The Albatross knew such things.
“You’re pretty cocky for such a skinny thing,” the bartender said. “Reckon my little niece could break you in half.”
“You do seem like the type of man who would send a little girl to fight for you,” Regrette replied.
The bartender’s face turned red and scrunched up in anger.
“Whoa there, come on guys,” Kaskey placated. “We’re all here, we don’t need to throw around our manliness. We all know who we need to be to be in a place like this. We’ve nothing to prove.”
The bartender grunted, turned around to grab three bottles of beer and put them on the counter. Grant placed his card down next to them, but the bartender didn’t take his eyes off Regrette.
“It says, Pan-Galactic Location Agency, that’s me. Us. We’ve been hired to find a missing girl. We’re looking for this ship,” he put a photo next to the card.
The bartender looked at the card and then the photo.
“Pretty ship.”
“It is. Young lads, maybe from money, looking for action.”
“This ain’t the place for the likes of them.”
“Where is?” Kaskey asked.
“Try Barnabee’s”
“You’ve been too good,” Kaskey grinned at him.
They turned from the bar to be met with a small group of people.
“Like I said,” the bartender said from behind them, “you reckon you’ve got time to finish that beer?”
He barked a laugh that turned to a cough.
“Grant,” an Albertine said.
“Know you?”
“You knew my cousin.”
“That’s swell,” Grant smiled.
“And my sister,” an Oncolutian said.
“Well, you know, I don’t do that anymore. I left.”
“My sister still ain’t left prison.”
“Maybe she shouldn’t have broken the law,” Regrette suggested.
“I will break you in two,” a burly Human threatened.
Regrette sighed a long sigh.
“Gonna talk us out of this one?” he asked Kaskey.
“Nah, only one way through this,” Kaskey said and punched the Oncolutian in the face.
Grant and Regrette immediately dived in fists first to avoid getting punched themselves. Kaskey tried to beat a line to the door as Regrette and Grant fought those around them. The whole bar was either trying to get involved or trying to get close enough to enjoy their beer with a show. A glass bottle was thrown in and as Grant ducked a fist it flew over his head and smashed against the Reutorgian that was trying to hit him. He punched it in the stomach and stepped forward as he brought his fist up and uppercutted a Human. Kaskey somehow lifted a Merrick (a Humanoid alien with a nose like an elephant’s trunk) above his head and threw it at two Oncolutians that were near the door. They tried to avoid the Merrick and their long, flailing arms took out another three people.
The three men burst out of the door as a Human and another Merrick fell out after them. Regrette kicked the Human in the leg before they legged it down the street and away from the spaceport.
They slowed to a walk and got their breath back before Regrette flagged down a taxi and they drove to Barnabee’s.
“I can see why Gulch stays in the ship. I ain’t sure I want to go in there with you,” Kaskey said as they stood outside.
“You started the fight,” Grant pointed out.
“I think you started that fight years ago,” Regrette mused.
“Possibly,” Grant admitted. “Still, look at this place, reputable.”
“Is there such a thing in this city?” Kaskey asked looking around.
“It’s all relative,” Grant said.
They walked in and the restaurant was certainly much nicer than the bar they had been in. This wasn’t for the common-or-garden variety criminal, but what they would think of as a better class. To Grant they were all just different types of scum. Still it was much more the type of place these boys would have come to if Grant was right in his thinking.
Rich
boys who had been given everything they had ever wanted and had become shallow and hollow. Nothing gave them satisfaction because they didn’t have to earn it. Nothing gave them a buzz until they started doing things they weren’t allowed to do. Getting things they couldn’t be given. Still, they couldn’t get too out of their depth, they’d be eaten alive in a place like the bar they’d just come from, but this was much more what they were used to. They were still being eaten alive, it was just that this way was from the inside out, too slowly for them to notice ‘til it was too late.
They walked past tables in the half full room. A man from one table looked at Regrette and made a quick run for the door in fear.
Grant raised an eyebrow at Regrette who gave a little shake of the head. The guy wasn’t running to get others, he just knew who Regrette was and felt it wise not to be in the same room as him. Which was wise.
They took a table, Grant and Regrette taking the chairs with their backs to the wall.
“So what’re we doing? We not gonna flash the piccys around?” Kaskey asked.
Regrette smiled at him.
“Funny?” Kaskey asked.
“A little out of our depth are we?”
“A little? A lottle, mate.”
“Don’t be convivial with me, boy,” Regrette warned.
“OK, I’m just going to talk to good cop from now on. Grant?”
“This is a bit more top end, Kaskey, less likely to just sell others down the river, less likely to find kidnapping so appalling.”
“More likely to be involved in it. People trafficking is one of the biggest businesses in the Universe, boy,” Regrette said.
“So what are we doing?” Kaskey asked.
“Waiting,” Grant said.
“Here are your drinks, gentlemen,” the waiter said as he put them on the table.
“Hey, man, we didn’t…” Kaskey started before getting kicked in the leg by Grant.
“Thank you, my good man,” Grant smiled up at him.
“When you’re finished I suggest you retire to your room at the Six Seasons Hotel. It was room 104, was it not?”
“I believe you’re right,” Regrette smiled up at the waiter.
The waiter flicked his eyes over at Regrette, but did not hold them there. Kaskey thought he saw a flash of fear on the waiter’s face.
“You don’t know who I am,” Regrette told him.
“No, sir, I’m sure I don’t.”
“Good answer.”
The waiter scurried away.
“Way out of my league,” Kaskey said and took a sip of his drink. “Mmm, it’s good.”
“Is he your student now then?” Regrette asked.
“I like him,” Grant replied. “He’s useful.”
“Mssh. Alright, boy, we didn’t go to that first bar because we thought we’d get anywhere, OK?”
“OK…”
“We went so that people would know what we were looking for, there’s a good chance that information got sent up the ladder.”
“To the type of people that come to a place like this,” Kaskey realised.
“See? Good student,” Grant said sipping from his drink. “Mm, it is good.”
CHAPTER 9
“So how do we know this isn’t a trap?” Kaskey asked outside the Six Seasons Hotel.
“We don’t, we just assume it is,” Grant said looking up at the imposing building.
“Designed by Graxil,” Regrette said. “Absolutely terrible. She should pay for crimes against the Universe.”
“I like it. I like her,” Grant said.
“Yes, but then I’ve flushed away more class than you were born with,” Regrette condescended.
“As much as he might hate me for it, I agree with Regrette,” Kaskey said. “Not about the flushing, I just think the building’s ugly.”
“He’s growing on me,” Regrette told Grant.
They walked into the large foyer and Grant got the key from reception. They shared the lift with a small group of Carutes.
Carutes had bodies about twice the size of a basketball and have a number of tentacles underneath. Some shorter and like an octopus’ arms, some longer and thinner like a jellyfishes tentacles. On either side of its head/body were two sets of eyes, one set slightly forward the others set slightly back, all four about the size and shape of a tennis ball.
Being maritime creatures they travel around in floating ‘bowls’ of water called HoverSpheres.
“Afternoon,” Grant said politely.
“Good day,” one of the Carute answered.
After that they stood in silence. Well, the Carutes floated. Which niggled Kaskey.
“Do you need a lift?” he asked.
“Excuse me?”
“Well, you kind of fly, why’d you need a lift.”
“Mssh,” Regrette said to himself.
“It wouldn’t do to just go careening around public places would it?” one of the Carute asked.
“Would save you from awkward lift conversations,” Grant noted and they stood in silence until the lift reached the second floor and the three of them got out.
“I would,” Kaskey said after the doors had closed.
“Yeah, but you don’t think do you?” Regrette accused.
“Whoa, man, I was just making conversation.”
“This hotel, this city, is full of criminals. Now look at yourself, it doesn’t take much for an Albertine to be big and scary; how scary do you think you need to be when you float around in a glass of water?”
Kaskey thought about it and his face dropped into a frown.
“Just be careful who you talk to,” Grant said. “And what you say.”
He patted him on the shoulder as they reached the door.
“So?” he raised an eyebrow to them.
“It’s a lot of trouble for revenge, they could have hit us in the restaurant and no one would have cared,” Regrette said.
Grant shrugged and unlocked the door.
“Ahh, there you are,” a tall man in long robes said from a small bar in the corner.
“Nice room,” Kaskey said before catching himself.
“New recruit?” the man asked with a sly smile.
I say man, but he and his race merely took on the form of wise looking Humans that one of them saw in a book once. He was an Enthusian, a race with no real corporeal form, which made flying spaceships a tad on the tricky side, hence their Human guise.
“He’s good at finding things, that’s what I do now,” Grant said.
“Oh, I know that, Grant. I’ve not called you all this way just to kill you.”
“Didn’t think you had reason to,” Regrette said.
“No, neither do I,” the man said. “You on the other hand…”
“Business is business, you know that, Hounsards.”
“I do, I do,” he stood up and spread an arm to invite them to sit.
They did, except Regrette who kept one eye on each door. Quite a feat considering there were four in such a luxurious suite.
“Drinks?”
“We’ll pass,” Grant said.
“Still all business, I see. Very good, I suppose.”
“What do you want and more importantly, why?” Grant asked.
“To help, of course,” Hounsards said.
Regrette barked a laugh.
“Oh helping you helps me, of course. Business is business, is it not?”
“Isn’t this lovely? Should we leave you two alone?” Grant asked.
“You’re quite right, all this talk of business and none being done,” Hounsards said. “You’re looking for a bunch of kidnappers from what I hear.”
“You hear correct,” Regrette said.
“Nasty pieces of work, and not in the way I like. Looking to sate their own desires rather than succeed in the Underworld. No one wants that, they’re a liability.”
“But someone hired them,” Kaskey said.
“We have a smart one here, don’t we?” Hounsards smirked.
“My patience is beginning to run dry, Hounsards,” Grant warned.
“Very well. Four young men, looking for criminal enterprise, had done some things themselves, but wanted more. They got a few offers of low-level work to test them out. Everyone wants educated young men in their crew, but they weren’t interested. In fact their attitude started to get them in trouble, another day and they’d be dead or ransomed back to their families.”
“What changed?” Grant asked.
“Cobroy,” Hounsards said dramatically.
Grant shook his head. “Means nothing to me.”
“Perhaps to The Wraith.”
“Perhaps,” was all Regrette would admit, but Hounsards smiled.
“Works for Maggie Desard, I guess even as an InterG you wouldn’t have heard of her.”
“I have,” Kaskey said.
“You have?” Hounsards couldn’t keep the surprise off his face. Or out of his voice. It was just generally everywhere, that’s how surprised he was.
“Last year, maybe the year before now, there was a package. Seemed like a sweet deal, but I got warned off it. Told it was a Desard Case, a test for employment. I still went for it until the guy who told me ended up dead. Nastily dead.”
“I’m impressed. Your source was right, sometimes they fish for people, set tests to see if anyone is good enough. You can also see how brutal they are to people who know too much.”
“They? You keep referring to the plural,” Grant said.
“Indeed. The Desard Family, Mr. Grant.”
“Back to Cobroy,” Regrette said.
“Hmm, someone contacted him, just the kind of people Cobroy looks for, mean and willing. And expendable. You find them, you won’t find who you’re looking for, nor will they know anything.”
“Though fascinating, not very helpful, is it?” Grant said and stood.
“Gothra. I suspect it was her. Recent change in fortunes, was here at the time. You can find her here,” Hounsards pulled a slip from his robes and handed it to Grant.
“What about the why?” Kaskey asked as he too stood.
“Do you think I’m someone to be messed with?” Hounsards asked him.
“You seem nice enough,” Kaskey shrugged.
“But I’m not. The InterG would love to get their hands on me, put me behind bars forever. I didn’t get to this position in the Underworld by being pleasant. I am one of the Universe’s biggest criminals, but really I should add ‘known’ to that sentence.
“People like Grant and his InterG friends know about people like me, but there are people they don’t know about, people who really run the Universal Underworld. You only hear snippets of them; usually as myths or legends, like the Shen Mi. Or the Desard Family.”