Stars in the Sand (13 page)

 “
Forget the cares of the world,” a soft, feminine voice said from behind him. He turned, keeping a hand close to his wallet, and saw a stunning, dusky woman who was looking him over; her costume was cut to encourage closer examination of her figure, and for a brief second he was almost tempted. Then he spotted Barbara over in the corner, making her way towards him with a bag in her hands, and he shook her head.

 “
Some other time,” he replied, walking over to meet her.

 “
I see you are enjoying the view,” she said with a smirk.

 Shrugging, he replied, “I can hardly help the effect I have on women, can I?”

 “
Showering a little more often might solve that problem.” She waved the bag, gesturing with her hand, “You been to any of the stalls yet?”

 “
Just to have a burger. I would never have thought I would miss a carniculture vat.”

 “
Are you feeling well?” She said, shaking her head. “I managed to pick up some incense on the cheap.”

 
“
Won’t that cause problems with the air circulators?”

 “
I’m rather hoping it masks their musk. You want a drink?”

 “
Music to my ears,” he replied. “Any idea where is good?”

 “
That depends whether we are being prosperous or frugal, I think.”

 “
The Captain told us to have deep pockets.”

 Gesturing behind her, she said, “I think a few of the others are gathering at the Rusty Rocket back there. I seem to remember a saying about safety in numbers.”

 “
The Rusty Rocket?”

 “
Hell, I don’t care what it’s called as long as the beer is good. There’s a sign up there saying that they brew it on the premises.”

 
“
Well, that could be good, or it could be bad, but it’s definitely worth further investigation.”
Arm in arm, they walked through the concourse, each keeping an eye on the other’s wallet. Along they way, they picked up a selection of knick-knacks of various forms, a bottle of aftershave for Cooper, a box of music crystals for Barbara, a bottle of something purple and alcoholic for both of them on the flight to their next port of call.

 Their destination proved to be a rocketpunk bar, decorated with a selection of old mission badges from the 20th century, images of rockets launching from Earth on every wall, a huge model of the first International Space Station hanging from the ceiling. Grogan and Manning waved at them from their table, a group of empty glasses indicating that they had already been here a while.

 “
Come on, sit down,” Grogan said. “I’ll get a round in.”

 Cooper looked at Grogan, frowning, and quietly said, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to get too drunk out here, Kate.”

 “
We’re having a night off, Gabe,” she replied. “Let your hair down a little.”

 Barbara looked at him and shrugged, “If you want to stay sober tonight…”

 “
I didn’t say that, exactly.” A waiter came over with four drinks in tall glasses, placing them down in the middle of the table and collecting the empties. She tapped a sequence of buttons on the table, and a hologram flashed up with the menu.

 “
Special today is the egg salad; made with real duck eggs. Want something more substantial, the goulash is pretty good. Try the soup at your peril. We don’t do refunds.”

She strutted away, Cooper looking after her in disbelief, “Looks like the manager’s having trouble getting good wait staff.”

 “
Real eggs, though,” Manning said, shaking his head. “I haven’t had them since I left Mars.”

 “
Come on, there’s got to be something wrong with them,” Barbara replied. “You think a place like this is going to have something that good on the menu?”

 Cooper took a sip of his beer, then a swig, and said, “This is good stuff.”

 
“
Told you,” Grogan said. “Nothing but the best for this crew; the skipper said we should have deep pockets.”

 Sighing, Barbara shook her head, muttering, “And now the price of everything just doubled.” She took a drink of her beer, and gestured towards a corner, “Looks like we have company.”

 A group wearing purple and green uniforms walked in, a logo on their shoulder. The manager walked over to them, followed by a server carrying a tray of drinks, obviously on the house. Cooper looked them over; all of them looked fairly similar in build – muscular, toned, and fit.

 “
Some sort of corporate group,” Barbara said, quietly, and Cooper nodded.

 “
Acting like they own the place,” he replied.

 “
Maybe they do.”

 One of them pointed towards their table, and a short, heated discussion commenced, not one word of which Cooper could understand. Then, taking reluctant steps, the manager walked over to them.

 “
I’m afraid I need to ask you to move to another table. This one has been,” he glanced over to the group, “reserved by Holstein Enterprises.”

 “
There wasn’t any sign on the table when we sat down,” Grogan said, stifling a belch. “Why should we move?”

 “
The error is mine,” he said. “Notification should have been present. I will provide you with a round of beer on the house to make it up to you.”

 One of the men walked over to the table, looking down at them with a sneer, “They should not be bribed to move, just do as they are told.”

 Manning looked up, his face flashing red, but Cooper shook his head, “Take it easy, Clive. We’ll take the drinks. Any other table do?”

 “
No, we’ll take the drinks. Have them delivered to us.”

 Glancing at Cooper, Manning said, “Are we just meant to take this?”

 “
Plenty of space in the bar for both of us,” Cooper said. “Come on. Someone help Grogan.”

 “
Yes,” the man sneered. “Someone help Grogan. You can leave the pretty one here, though, she can entertain us until the dancers come on.”

 Cooper stood up, looking the man in the face, “We’re moving. All of us.”

 “
Maybe she’d like a real man, not one with a metal hand.”

 Since it was fitted, Cooper had wondered what would happen when his new, titanium hand connected with another man’s face. The result was a rather satisfying, bloody mess, and the man collapsed down onto the floor screaming in pain. No doubt the manager would have liked to ask him to leave, but he was too busy diving for cover as his compatriots raced over to avenge his injury; Barbara and Manning rose to stand by his side, Grogan sitting at the table drunkenly cheering them on.

“
This can end now,” Barbara said, but one of the women dived towards her, fists flying through the air as they both crashed down onto the floor. Cooper moved to help, but soon had problems of his own; two of them had grabbed onto him, trying to push him down to the ground as well. Manning threw a few ineffective punches at them, but they didn’t even seem to notice as they wrestled Cooper down. With a twist, he managed to get his legs underneath one of them, sending him toppling, smashing into the table; beer, glass and metal flew through the air, Grogan leaping to her feet in rage.

Somehow, Cooper found himself on top of the throng, but when he tried to bend his hand for a second try, he found it would not respond. With a sickening feeling, he lashed out with his legs, managing a kick that connected with an elbow; he found, after listening to a crack, that he could suddenly get to his feet. Barbara was on the ground, wrestling with her opponent; before he could do anything, Grogan had smashed a glass over the crew-cutted figure on the deck, knocking her to one side.

 Glancing up, he saw another group in uniform heading in their direction and yelled, “That’s it for this party, back to the ship!”

 Grabbing at Barbara with his working hand to get her moving, he started to walk out of the bar; the room had emptied at a spectacular rate, drinks and food abandoned in the rush for safety. A crack rang out, and he realized that someone had just decided to escalate. He didn’t waste any time trying to find the culprit, instead, throwing himself to the ground, toppling a table to provide him with cover. With an effort, he tugged his pistol out of its holster, looking around the room from his safe vantage point.

 Grogan was still on her feet, and another crack close to her must have missed by inches; Manning, crawling on the ground, pulled her at the knees to send her to the ground, knocking her cold in the process. That was probably for the best, he mused, as he looked around the room. The gunman had taken a position behind the bar, and was well covered; the surface was some sort of metal, but the side was just plastic. Fairly thin plastic.

 Taking a shot that was as much guesswork as training, he fired through the thin material and was rewarded by a string of curses from behind the bar; he’d managed to shoot somewhere painful, but not fatal. Unfortunately, they were no longer the only ones with weapons in the arena. He saw at least two weapons out, and a crack from nearby told him that either Barbara or Manning was getting involved in the action; he would have bet on the former.

 His guess would have been wrong; he turned to see Cantrell sprinting down the concourse, gun in hand, firing into the bar. He frowned at first, her shoots seemingly wild, but then smiled as he realized she was keeping them pinned down, shooting over their heads to hold them while she got in position to make some better shots. She might be doing something stupid, but she was at least doing it in a clever way.

 “
Here comes the cavalry!” she yelled, hurling herself into position next to Cooper. “Heard the fun clear across the room.”

 “
So did their friends,” he said, gesturing to the far side of the bar; another three figures were moving into position. One of them moved, and he took another quick shot, a glass shattering and sending its contents flying across the room.

 “
You’re slipping,” she said with a smile, lining up another shot. His eyes widened; she was aiming right for the head, and he batted her arm away with a curse.

 “
What the hell do you think you are doing?”

 “
Trying to get us out of this mess,” she replied.

 “
Killing someone isn’t going to help.”

 He heard a hissing noise from overhead, and looked up to see something coming out of the air vents. Obviously security had finally woken up to what was going on, and had decided to intervene; the concourse was full of coughing and spluttering. Pulling his shirt over his face, he took a couple of deep breaths while the air was still breathable, and clambered out of his position to make for the exit.

 He managed nine steps before collapsing to the deck, his last thought that the pickpockets were going to have an absolute field day.

Chapter 13

 “
This way,” Karim told Marshall, gesturing him down a corridor marked ‘Detention’. They walked past jeering drunks and sullen inmates, past a group wearing tattered purple-and-green uniforms who kept staring at him, until he reached the final cell, holding five of his people. One of them, Grogan, seemed to be fast asleep on the floor; the others leapt up as he approached, barely able to stop the reflex of standing to attention.

 “
Under other circumstances,” Karim said, “I would note and admire the discipline of your crew. As it is, I will leave you to speak to them. Call the guard when you wish to leave.”

 Marshall stood at the entrance to the cell, looking at each of them in turn, then said, “Anyone have anything to say?”

 “
I’m responsible, sir,” Cooper said. “I threw the first punch.”

 “
Damn it, Gabe,” Manning said, “You were well and truly provoked. That guy wanted a fight, and you gave it to him. He just didn’t realize the odds.”

 “
Perhaps he will think again when his facial reconstruction is completed.”

 Cooper looked down at his still-broken hand, then said, “I didn’t realize it would have that much of a kick.”

 “
What the hell did you think you were doing, anyway?”

 Caine walked down the corridor, nodding at the guard, and moved to stand behind Marshall, “I’ve spoken to the manager of the bar.” She turned to look at them, “For reference, nineteen thousand credits. And that’s with the bill split between two ships. No doubt he ripped us off, but I wasn’t really in a position to negotiate.”

 “
Thanks, Maggie,” Marshall said. “Have you anything to say for yourselves?” He tapped a pocket, and said, “I have taken steps to make sure we can’t be overheard.”

 
“
You can’t blame Cooper,” Barbara said. “He tried to calm everything down, but Manning’s quite right; he was asking for trouble. We weren’t getting out of there without a brawl.”

 “
A brawl is one thing,” Caine said. “Pulling out pistols is another.”

 “
I didn’t fire first,” Cooper said. “When they started shooting, I had to defend myself, but I made sure not to shoot to kill – just to put down.”

 “
The medical bills are about as substantial as the damages to the bar, but I understand they are claiming off their insurance,” Caine replied, looking up at Marshall, “I think their commander feels the same way about this affair as you do.”

 
“
Hell,” Barbara said, “I could make an argument that we were only trying to keep cover. It would have looked strange if we’d just s
lunk
away. There’s such a thing as keeping too low a profile.”

 Marshall shook his head, “You will all no doubt be glad to know that the Station Administrator has agreed to release you all into my custody. Over the next couple of weeks you will all be intimately familiar with the rather more disgusting areas of Ouroboros; I’ve arranged for some cleaning equipment to be provided for you all.” He tapped a button, and the door slid open. “All but Cooper, get back to the ship.”