Desert Bound

1: Ryann Ryann Ryann turned to the door of her cell the moment the eye-slot clunked back. As the guard looked in, she met his gaze. She knew he was coming, of course. Even though the walls were thick, she could still feel his trace, that sensation of presence every person emanated. She’d never fully understood how traces worked‌—‌and she strongly suspected that even her instructors didn’t have all the answers‌—‌but she knew how to read them. It helped that this man, and his two colleagues, all had lattices. Like many law enforcers in this place, their lattices were original Kaiahive set-ups, but hadn’t been tweaked. They were a step up from dormant, but only just. Not like her own. The hybrid tech layer sat under her skin, reading signals from her body and communicating with her mind. It allowed her to pull up filters on her lenses, to read data from external systems or her own node storage at the base of her neck. It gave her communication to any other person with a lattice. And, where she’d been tweaked, it enhanced the performance of her own body, increasing her natural abilities. But not enough to prevent her capture. Not enough to stop the swarm of enforcers who descended on her, dragging her off to this holding compound out on the edge of the desert. The guard at the door narrowed his eyes. Ryann smiled. He snorted. “I could do with a drink,” she said. The guard didn’t respond. Ryann knew he was waiting for her to repeat her request, so she stayed quiet. But she didn’t look away. After four long breaths the guard slammed the eye-slot shut. Ryann settled back on the rough, narrow bench. The cell was pretty much what she’d expected, when they’d brought her in. There was this bench, a bucket in the corner, rock walls and flooring, and bright light flooding in from above. If she stood in the middle of the cell, she’d be able to reach both walls at the same time. The bench was barely long enough to lie down on. She didn’t want to sleep in here. There was no telling what the guards would do to her. There were stains on the bench that looked like blood, and others she didn’t want to recognise. So Ryann kept her eyes open as she ran through, again, what had happened, looking for her mistakes. Maybe coming to this dry, forsaken place had been one of them, but since she’d led the crew away from the company her options‌—‌their options‌—‌were limited. They needed to get off-planet, and that didn’t come cheap. So they needed funds. Being fugitives‌—‌not technically, but being wanted by the company amounted to the same thing‌—‌they couldn’t take legitimate work, so they were forced to take alternatives. And the city of Athelios looked promising. An important archaeological site, but also a refuge for criminals and degenerates. The outlying towns were even worse. Lisit, the site of this holding compound, was a prime example, filled with crumbling, half-empty buildings and a population that would as soon stab you as look at you. For Ryann and her crew, it was ideal. She’d made enquiries, as discreetly as possible, and had approached Porfirio Fay. Even thinking the man’s name made her shudder. But he’d offered a decent reward for the capture of Castor Martell, and Ryann couldn’t turn the job down. She couldn’t see exactly where things had gone wrong, though. They’d hunted‌—‌predominantly herself and Brice, with Piran scouring what systems he could access in search of information‌—‌and they’d caught Martell’s trail. They’d tracked him to an old warehouse on the edge of Lisit. They’d set up surveillance, and when they knew he was alone they’d gone in. Only he hadn’t been there. Instead, Ryann had been captured. It had been a set-up. At least she was alive, though. As were the others. Keelin, Piran, Brice and Deva. Her crew. Her family. She shook her head. For a moment she was certain the voice was a memory. But it came through her lattice, and although the signal held an edge of distortion it was strong enough to tell her one thing‌—‌Keelin was close. she sussed. And in her mind two images rose. The first was Keelin as she’d been a little over a year ago‌—‌young, hair obscuring half her face, confident and bubbly. And then there was the current Keelin, towering over Ryann, leathery grey skin that covered hard muscles, lower face pushed into a snout. A monster, created by Kaiahive. But she was only a monster in appearance. Inside, Keelin was still that young girl. Ryann continued. There was a smile in Keelin’s tone. It set Ryann’s heart pounding. she asked. Keelin didn’t respond straight away, and Ryann imagined her grinning as she eased back in her chair.