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Five
After a standard hour the Reaver they called Sarge finally came for a visit. By then Alice had fully recovered from being tranqed, and was pretty pissed by then. Sarge stared down at her, a look of pity on his face. He had close-cropped dark hair and a faint, pink scar running down his left cheek. “Sorry we tranqed you,” he said. “But we weren’t expecting company.”
“Ditto,” Alice said.
“Who are you?”
“Alice.”
Sarge nodded. “Yes, the twins told me. That’s your name. But how are you?”
“Let me out of this cage and I’ll show you who I am.”
Sarge laughed. “I fighter. Girl’s got spirit, I’ll grant you that.”
Alice noticed for the first time the bot, Tweedledee, standing behind him.
Sarge paced before the cage. “Let me hazard a guess, then, Wonderland? You’re one of the girls from Wonderland, aren’t you? Is it final exam time? Last time I ran into one of you people, she almost took my head off trying to take out someone else. Are you all so feisty and reckless?”
“Fuck you,” Alice spat.
Sarge laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
He stopped pacing and leaned against the cage. It was too small for Alice to stand. “I think you’ll like where we’re going.”
Alice stared, pretending she didn’t know what he was talking about. Dodgson was her one ace. If she showed it now, they’d simply double back and destroy her ship and leave her without an escape.
“They’ll love you in the pit.We just might make a profit on this run after all.”
Alice gripped the bars of the door of the cage. “Whatever you’re being paid, Wonderland will double it.” Alice had no idea if this was true. Even if they cared enough about her to get her back, would they risk the exposure? She doubted it.
Sarge laughed. “I’ll call that bluff.”
Alice scowled. “Fine. But they know I’m missing by now. And soon they’ll know the Jabberwock didn’t kill me. And they’ll find you. And you won’t like it when they find you.”
“I wouldn’t be much of a Reaver if I was scared of a bunch of little girls,” said the Sarge. “I’m Reed Callisto, by the way. Only the grunts call me Sarge. I don’t suppose you have a last name.”
Alice shook her head. Having no family meant no surname. She had never really given it much thought, but the fact that Callisto was so condescending about it made it rankle her.
“But let’s go at this another way,” said Callisto. “You are trained to be mercenary, as am I. There’s room in my unit for a young woman of your obvious talents.”
“Are you offering me a job?”
The Reaver shrugged. “Sure. Why not? Were you actually going to kill people for the rest of your life?”
Alice glanced at the floor of her cage. She hadn’t thought about that either. She knew what she was being trained for, but she had been taught that political assassinations and the like were often necessary expedients, no different than embezzling funds or moving corporate or clan stock around in clandestine fashion. It was just business. But in truth, Alice simply wanted to be free of Wonderland, free of Miss Cheshire and her endless rules.
But Alice realized what Callisto was actually offering her was a way out of this cage.
“All right,” said Alice. “I accept your offer. Sounds fun.”
Callisto laughed. “It’s not so easy as that, I’m afraid. First of all, how do I know you’re not just telling me what I want to hear so I’ll let you out of this cage? You’ll twist my neck, grab your weapons and kill everyone aboard this ship.”
“You have my word?”
Callisto banged on the top of the cage. “I like you, Alice. I think you’re going to fit in very nicely. But as cargo, not as a member of my crew. At least not yet.”
He drummed his fingers on the roof of the metal cage once more before sauntering out of the room, Tweedledee dogging his heels.
“Come back here, you bastard.”
The Jabberwock rumbled in its sleep with a ruffle of its semi-transparent scales.
“Well, my friend. It appears I’m in just as much trouble as you are.”
Tweedledum brought her tube spam and water. It tasted terrible, but she’d had worse. Punishment for dropping a fighting stick or letting one of the sparring robots get the jump on her. The little robot stood by while she ate, presumably to take her canteen when she had finished. She watched it, wondering how advanced it was. She guessed its intelligence was somewhere between an expert system and Dodgson. Could she befriend it? She wondered.
“What do you do aboard ship?”
“Whatever Sergeant Callisto commands of me,” said the little bot. It’s virtual face smiled down at her.
Alice gulped down the last of her tube spam and tossed the plastic wrapper at it. A port in the lower half of its body irised open, and a skinny metal arm shot out and grabbed it up, pulling it inside. That face continued smiling. Alice cringed, turning away from it. Its friendliness was a facade. An act. She hated being lied to. It was standard operating procedure at Wonderland.
“Go away.”
The little robot attempted a bow before singing, “As you wish” and wondering off. Still the Jabberwock snored, but its breathing became more hurried and regular. It was going to wake up, and Alice didn’t want to be in here with it when it did. They must be getting close to Perdition. She hoped Dodgson was almost there as well.
Reed Callisto returned, this time with both Tweedledee and Tweedledum. He pressed his palm against a plate on the door of Alice’s cage, and the door opened with a heavy kthunk of magnetic clamps. Even more surprising, he reached in his hand to help pull Alice out.
She refused it, crawling out and climbing unsteadily to her feet. She stretched her back, her arms. “It’s about time.”
Callisto grinned. “You’re welcome.”
Alice glanced at her weapons.
“I’d advise against trying anything heroic. “The twins don’t look like much, but they are faster than you and stronger than me.”
Alice gave the bots a bemused grin. She thought about calling his bluff, but she suspected he wasn’t bluffing. “Fine. Have it your way.”
Callisto gestured toward the door. Tweedledee took the lead as they filed past the still sleeping Jabberwock.
“He’ll be awake soon,” said Alice.
“I know. We’re in orbit around Perdition now. We’ll have him unloaded by the time he’s coherent enough to be cranky.” He petted the huge beast as he moved past it.
The ship was indeed large. Alice was led through a labyrinth of narrow, nearly identical corridors. She tried to memorize turns so she could find her way back to her weapons if she needed to, but she soon lost count as they moved through ship to a large open area that appeared to function as the Reavers’ meeting room slash mess hall.
The other three men were there, as well as a woman, her bald skull covered in implants. A cable snaked from one of them into a nearby console. She smiled at Alice, flashing titanium teeth. They each studied Alice from head to toe, sizing her up, and she returned the gesture.
“Men,” said Callisto. “This is Alice. Alice? The guys.”
“Charmed, I’m sure,” said the nearest Reaver.He was the blond Alice had seen on Crispin’s Menagerie. “I’m Razor.” He bowed theatrically. A variety of throwing knives glinted in the pouches of his tactical vest.
“That’s Socket plugged into the ship over there,” said Callisto, indicating the woman. And that’s Carpenter and Plex over there. Tweedles Dum and Dee you’ve already met.
“Just you guys in this big ship?”
Callisto shrugged. “That’s all we need.” To the crew he said, “Reavers, Alice here is thinking of joining our merry little band.”
Socket gave a derisive snort. Everyone else chuckled.
“Think she’s got what it takes to be a Reaver?” Callisto asked.
“Let’s find out,” said Razor.
The Reavers jumped up from where they had been sitting. Socket unplugged from the console, the cable spooling back into the wall. They formed a loose semicircle, which Alice entered, glancing at each of the Reavers in turn, wondering which of them would be the first to make their move. She wasn’t worried about Callisto. He had instigated this to see what she would do, but she was prepared to deal with him forcefully as well if need be.
Razor struck first, bringing one of his knives down toward Alice in a slashing arc. She sidestepped the blow, grabbing his wrist and snapping it easily. Then she spun around, getting inside his reach and elbowing him in the chin before taking his arm and flipping him over her shoulder. He yelped as she twisted his broken wrist once more, then whimpered when she kicked him solidly in the balls.
Socket was next, delivering a solid roundhouse that Alice was barely able to block before getting punched solidly in the nose. Blood spurted from Socket’s nose as Alice delivered a side kick that sent the Reaver woman sprawling.
Carpenter and Plex attacked in unison, rushing her. Alice blocked their blows, kicking Plex in the right knee and Carpenter left before delivering a volley of rapid-fire punches that sent both men crumbling to the deck.
Callisto gave a slow clap as his fellow Reavers slowly recovered themselves. Alice watched them all with a wary eye, heart racing, adrenaline coursing through her veins. The Reavers groaned, staring at the girl with a mix of anger, disbelief, and respect.
“Bitch broke my nose,” said Socket, her voice muffled by her hands clutching her face.
“Go see the auto doc,” said Callisto. “You’ll be fine.”
“What the hell, Sarge?” said Plex.
“You just got your ass kicked by a girl,” said Callisto with a laugh. “That’s what the hell.”
Callisto fixed Alice with a bemused grin. “The job is yours, if you want it.”
“And what job is that?”
The Reaver’s commander shrugged. “Beat people up. Kill stuff. Get paid. Things for which you are uniquely qualified. Don’t tell me you’d rather remain under Wonderland’s thumb.”
“What I want isn’t exactly the issue,” said Alice. “What do you want with the Jabberwock?”
Callisto shook his finger at her. “Ah ah. That’s proprietary information. Need-to-know. And you don’t need to know because you’re not a Reaver. Yet.”
Razor jumped up from where he’d been sitting, clutching his balls. “You mean this was a job interview? Getting lucky in a fight doesn’t make someone a Reaver. Why don’t you just shag the girl and be done with her?”
Callisto’s eyes narrowed to slits as he punched Razor solidly across the jaw. He went down in an unconscious heap. The other Reavers stared in shock and disbelief.
“Last I checked, I was still in charge of this outfit,” Callisto said evenly. “If anyone else has a problem with that, the airlock’s that way.” He jerked a thumb to his right. Everyone went back to nursing their wounds or pretending to read navigational data from the ship’s display consoles.
He glanced at Alice, a bemused grin on his face. If he was expecting Alice to thank him, he was going to be disappointed.
Socket slapped Razor back into consciousness and helped him up. He glared daggers at Callisto, who seemed to get off on it, and went back to checking readouts. Alice hoped they were near Perdition. Once they landed, she planned on giving these idiots the slip and returning to Wonderland, hopefully with the live Jabberwock in tow. She wanted to drag it right up to Miss Cheshire and plug it in the head while she and the other instructors and students watched. It would be glorious.
“Grab a crash couch,” said Callisto. “We insert into Perdition’s orbit in about forty-five standard minutes.”
