The Gift Read online

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  Marlon spotted the silhouette atop the speckled diamond butte and froze. Beyond the figure, the fierce lights of the research base lit up the night as if Helios itself was about to rise. There was a faint trace of soot in the air.

  He returned his focus to the figure. A poor sentry position, thus likely his guy and not a navy guard, but not guaranteed. Using the inverted stalagmites as cover he snuck around the back of the butte, up a chiselled stairway, behind the figure and tapped him on the shoulder.

  The figure leapt a foot high and would have fallen over the edge if Marlon hadn't grabbed him. Definitely just a scientist.

  "Doctor Grey I presume?" Marlon said.

  "Merciful Diety," hissed Grey, one hand to his chest, the other clutching Marlon's arm. He breathed deep, straightened his black standard-issue TCN blazer and looked Marlon over. "How long did you work on that witty line?"

  Marlon snorted. Jumpy but level headed. He'd chosen well. "All trip."

  Grey withdrew a vacuum packed blazer from a pocket and passed it to Marlon. "Let's go."

  Marlon shrugged into the blazer and followed Grey down the steps. Hidden within a ring of columns were the roofs of blankicite-fabbed buildings, candle towers and a large gabled structure of either glass or clear diamond. Between the buildings was a navy shuttle and beyond, the salvaged debris of Marlon's ship.

  "The man upstairs is inspecting your wreckage," Grey whispered, pointing upward as he weaved through the buildings and his peers.

  Marlon looked upward. The battleship seemed to hover directly overhead, so close it looked like a stain upon the cosmos, an aberration at odds with the serenity around it. He swore he could see downward pointing laser blisters even at this distance.

  They entered the 'city square'. The navy shuttle sat inert on its landing claws. Blazer-clad researchers laughed around a sooty fire that seemed to burn from the crystalline ground itself. Marlon felt uncomfortable. Why were so many out after curfew? No, it was a civilian base. He still couldn't shake the military training, even after so many years.

  They left the square via an alley. Two guards stood at the end, one with his rifle raised, finger twitching, the other his palm out. "This area is off limits." His tone left no room for rebuttal. Shrugging, Grey took Marlon back, out of the base and around.

  "I call this the savannah," Grey said, waving to his surroundings. Marlon thought the description apt. Where the other side of the base had had a regular grid of square columns, this area was mostly flat, dotted with tortured blobs of different sizes and shapes. They looked like melted golems, frozen mid-death. Not great cover.

  He checked for spotters, snipers and drones. Clear. Of course it was all moot if the battleship above had cameras trained on him. They bent low and raced between golems to the edge of the clearing. He pulled Grey down to a squat by a golem that reminded him of a tree in hoar frost.

  The clearing was lit by three candle towers. Three men wandered amongst the debris. One wore the ubiquitous blazer and gestured at the intact cockpit frame, his frantic motions suggesting alarm or excitement. Marlon's heart squeezed his chest. Had they figured out his plan? He couldn't help glancing over his shoulder looking for an ambush.

  Another man waved a scanner past the debris. The third, a navy Captain by his uniform followed a few steps behind. The Captain kept glancing at his wrist and gesturing at Scanner. Finally he sighed at the sky – or his ship – and nodded. He turned and left, Scanner in tow, leaving Blazer to smile at himself.

  Marlon turned to Grey, relief filling his chest. "So far, so good. I just need one more thing."