HAWK

CHAPTER TWO: ARTIS (3/6)

Eight hounds came aboard - twice the usual pack. They were usually in and out in five minutes, but this time they stalked around the ship for over an hour.

Kas liked hounds about as much as she did X1's, but they were different in that they weren't entirely machines - they were bio-mechs: animal-machine hybrids.

During her last year at the academy, Kas had protested the creation of bio-mechs with little result other than to highlight her as a disobedient, which was never a good sign for a trainee. She knew there were other recruits who felt the same way as her, but they were all savvy enough to keep their mouths shut and attend their graduations with bright beaming smiles. Kas didn't attend graduation, and the bio-mech industry flourished. She didn't care though. She didn't need a diploma to do what she wanted.

Hehe...

The hounds had spent most of the hour analysing Hik who did nothing but stand there until the bio-mechs eventually grew bored and retreated. The last one to leave had licked him and Kas knew he was tagged.

I guess that means he's safe...

Once they were gone, Kas donned her favourite coat - a long faded brown duster she wore just about everywhere. It had plenty of hidden pockets within and was great for stashing small weapons, though she would be travelling unarmed from there on out thanks to Chantos's disarmament laws.

She disembarked her ship to find the Artisseum's duty warden already waiting for her - a tall, overweight man in black coveralls. Beside him was a small, mousy looking girl with a smear of dirt across her face. Neither of them looked impressed.

'Been waiting for you for over an hour,' the warden said as he chewed on some gum.

'Not my fault,' Kas replied with zero trace of apology. 'You want to blame someone, blame security. I've had hounds on my ship since I landed.'

The warden cleared his throat of phlegm and looked at the inventory reader in his palm. 'Says here you got three Class-2's for me.'

'That's right.'

The warden matched Kas's stiff look and waited for her to continue. She didn't, so he tried again. 'Where are they?'

'Centrifuge chamber in the cargo hold.'

The warden stopped chewing. 'You put them in a centrifuge chamber?'

'You got the booter on there too?'

'Booter?' As if he'd somehow only just noticed the second ship protruding from the back of the Calista, the warden looked back at his reader and sighed. With a heavy slump of his shoulders, he picked up his duffle bag and dragged his feet towards Kas's ship, cursing under his breath.

Kas was about to leave when she saw again the mousy girl left in the warden's wake. She was sitting on top of a storage crate, staring at Kas's mohawk. Her dirty little face was framed by a hideous crop of blonde hair that was not fashionable on any world Kas had ever been to. For a moment they just stared at one another, neither seeming sure what to make of the other. Kas was the first to speak.

'How's it going?'

The small dirt-smeared face curled up like burnt paper and regarded Kas with utter bafflement. Kas reckoned she was no older than eight and would usually have figured she was a street urchin, except...

How did she make it all the way down here without getting stopped by security...? Maybe she's the warden's kid...

That made more sense. Kas tried her again, this time speaking slower and louder and pointing a thumb over her shoulder.

'Is he your dad?'

The girl didn't reply but she reached into her pocket and took out a small square of clear glass. She handed it to Kas who turned it over in her hands. It was an identity card. On one side was a holo-ID of the girl's face, and on the other were two short lines of writing that made Kas frown.

OVERHAUL SHIP REPAIR

MECHANIC: WORM

'You're from Overhaul?' Kas said, failing to keep the doubt from her voice. It actually wasn't all that uncommon to come across child workers on Chantos - the moon had very relaxed child labour laws - but even so, it was unusual to come across a girl so young, and a mechanic at that. One of the reasons Kas liked Overhaul was because they were one of the few companies that didn't seem to employ kids, but apparently, even they weren't averse to cutting costs.

The girl called Worm suddenly slid off the crate and grabbed one of its huge handles with both hands. She started pulling it towards the Calista, having to use all of her strength to do so. Not wanting to see the girl struggle, Kas grabbed one of the crate's handles and helped her pull, but Worm flashed her an angry stare and batted her hand away. Kas stepped back and laughed uncertainly.

'Just trying to help, kid.'

Worm ignored her and continued to inch the crate towards the ship, leaving Kas shaking her head in disbelief.

'Moon people are the craziest.'