HAWK

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: PEGASUS (5/6)

The Pegasus ascended like a sunken ship being dragged up from the bottom of the ocean. Kas peered out of the viewport and saw the ground inching further away as they rose above the jagged grey mountains.

The ship swayed unsteadily as it passed through the dirty pink and blue clouds, but once it pulled clear and was skirting the limits of Xeo's thin atmosphere, it seemed much calmer. Soon, the Pegasus was soaring calmly into the Black, once again free from the aches and pains of gravity as outer space welcomed her back to her rightful home.

Back in the cockpit, all were glad to know that the artificial gravity system was functioning normally - none fancied spending six days floating around in zero-g. Sudds brought up the ship's itinerary and input the IRIS's projected path. The ETA came back several hours shy of six days, just as Astrid had calculated. They set the ship to autopilot and the group breathed a collective sigh of relief as it commenced its journey.

'Who wants a drink?' Mack asked.

Everybody assented but Kas.

'You don't drink?' Pari asked her with a frown.

'Not in the Black,' Kas replied. 'One of my rules.'

'I didn't know bounty hunters had rules,' Sudds said.

'Just the kind that keep me alive.'

The group freed themselves from their seats and made their way into the cargo hold. While Mack, Sudds, Pari and Beak ascended a ramp at the side of the hold on their way up to the living quarters above, Kas entered the hatch marked 'ENGINE ROOM' and descended a narrow ramp that led down below.

The engine room was as noisy as it was big. A huge fusion reactor took up the centre of the room like a twenty-foot wide pillar. It was a little like the one that powered the Calista but ten times the size. The air was warm and thick and seemed to slow Kas down as she crossed the space in search of Worm. She found her on the far side of the reactor, standing beside her X1 suit while her small hands reached inside a square hole in the wall, adjusting something out of sight.

'Hey, kid,' Kas shouted, but her voice was drowned out by the droning of the engine. She saw Worm was wearing earplugs and tapped her on the shoulder. Worm jolted and looked back at Kas with a cross frown.

'How's it going?' Kas asked.

Worm's frown deepened, not sure what Kas was saying. Kas briefly thought about shaking her head 'nevermind' and leaving, but instead, she brought her hands up in front of her and tried to remember some of what she'd learned from that book on Xeo.

'How is it going?' she signed. Worm stared at Kas's hands like they'd just created fire out of thin air. She then looked up at Kas and took her hands out of the wall.

'OK,' she replied.

'Can I help?'

'I don't think so.'

'OK. I'll be upstairs.' Not wanting to push her luck anymore, Kas walked away, leaving Worm gazing at her back with a look of sheer wonderment.

Back in the cargo hold, Kas followed the ramp up until she came to a doorway marked simply as 'LOUNGE'. She pressed the touchpad to open it but nothing happened. She tried it twice more before the door suddenly slid open, revealing Sudds on the other side holding a bottle of beer.

'It sticks,' he said. 'You gotta hold it down.' Without waiting for a reply, he turned and went back inside.

Kas followed him in and found herself inside a wide lounge that was warm and musty. At the near end was a family of faded red sofas gathered around a few perma-moulded tables, while at the other was a small workout area with some basic training equipment. Mack, Beak and Pari were reclined on two of the sofas with a beer each. Sudds sat down next to Pari and put his feet up on the table.

'Is this how you plan to spend the next few days?' Kas asked them.

'Not much else we can do,' Pari replied. 'May as well get comfortable.'

'Have all of you forgotten why we're here? If that alien breaks out, what do you plan to do? Throw bottles at it?'

Pari reached beside her and picked up an EMP rifle. 'If it breaks out, I'm ready for it. Are you?'

Kas scanned her eyes across the four soldiers and realised she was the only one without a weapon. Pari and Sudds shared a chuckle.

'They're over there,' Mack said, nodding to an open crate in the corner. Kas walked towards it and took out the last of the rifles.

'When's the last time any of you shot something?' she asked.

'Every day,' Sudds replied. 'One good thing about Xeo is there's plenty of time for target practice.'

'Did any of those targets shoot back?'

'You questioning our ability to fight?'

'Better to ask now than find out later.'

'Oh, give it a break,' Pari moaned. 'We get it - you're a bounty hunter. Stop trying to act like you're better than everyone.'

'Who's acting? So far, I'd say you're making it pretty easy for me.'

Pari leaned forwards in her chair and fixed Kas with an unblinking stare. 'You need to learn when to keep your mouth shut.'

Kas laughed. 'I'm sorry, is that look supposed to intimidate me?'

Pari stood up.

'OK,' Mack interjected, 'I know it's hard, but can we please try and keep the peace for longer than five minutes?'

'I'm peaceful,' Pari said.

'Yeah,' Kas replied, 'that's obvious.'

Pari's face flooded with anger. 'If you wanna fight, we've got plenty of space.'

'Take as much space as you want, I could take you standing still.'

'Then put down your gun and let's go.'

Kas placed her rifle on the table and cracked her knuckles.

'Wait!' Mack said. Everyone looked at him. 'I don't want any injuries. If you have to get this out of your system, at least use body pads.'

'I'll get them,' Sudds said as he practically leapt out of his seat.

'Where are we doing this?' Kas asked.