Act 4: The black hole


    “Eight million, that’s my price!” a Davoc merchant bellowed loudly, and it had to be him. A crowd of interested and confused buyers were milling about in front of his cheap, wooden stage, but that wasn’t why the customers were standing in line. They were there for the impressive rocket launcher that the merchant offered for sale and praised for its versatility . “This weapon is not just for attacking or defense, oh no! A weapon like this gives you authority and can decide a fight without having to fight it!”


    None of them were ordinary buyers or nice neighbors from next door. Almost everyone’s attire alone made them look like robbers, mercenaries or warmongers. “I’ll give you four million!” shouted a Talin from the crowd.


    The merchant wanted to haggle over that. “Only if you become my personal slave afterwards and bring at least three other charming ladies with you!”


    “Never, you hairy beast!”


    “Then we have no deal!” the Davoc said, waving his hand wildly. Batteries like this were normally found on cruisers or battleships, and he knew how to play that card. ”We’re talking about a CT 32 here! That means thirty-two warheads ready to fire, with enough firepower to devastate an entire city, and that’s not all! Thanks to the integrated energy converter, the missiles are coated with a regulating particle bubble, which means that they are not only partially protected against attacks, but can easily slip through most protective shields!”


    That spurred the auction on. “Six million!” a one-eyed Hishek bid, surrounded by a dozen of his kind, all clearly under his command.


    “Six million?!” the Davoc pretended to be shocked. ”Six million is what Scarface wants to give me! A good start, but I want no less than 7.5 million! Who will bid me that?”


    A Galig raised the previous bidder’s price. “6.4!”


    “Bid 6.4 and I’ll go for 7.4!”


    “And I’ll go up to 6.7!” a visibly aged human bid, triggering an avalanche of prices.


    “6.8!”


    “6.9!”


    “7.1!”


    “7.25!” a Calan man blurted out. ‘The battery is mine!’ That was just what was needed to heat up the atmosphere even more, and a wild tumult arose among the bidders. The dealer on the stage was more pleased than frightened, though, and he literally rubbed his hands together.


    However, he was not the only one to feel this way, because the market was not limited to the rocket battery and extended over an enormous distance, surrounded by narrow canyon walls. Everything your heart desired was for sale here, and currency flowed in streams. In particular, goods that you wouldn’t find in any normal store, such as drugs, slaves, or heavy war machines, were the focus of customers, and those with the currency could shop without restraint. There were hardly any rules or laws.


    That’s why even a lethargic Eporan could sell his sentry bots in the middle of the street, for which you normally needed a license—both for selling and owning. “They’re used, but they’re almost like new!” he promised grandly. “A brand-new sentry costs 100,000 foreign exchange, but with me you only pay 90,000! Buy five at a stroke and you get another 10,000 foreign exchange discount for each machine, which means you would only spend 400,000! Get them from me individually and you pay 450,000 for the same number, or 500,000 fresh from the factory, but why would you do that? Better take it and get my quantity discount!”


    Trade, trade and more trade! That was the sleepless Counting Office, as they called it, and as her alter ego Nora Faith, Kysaek was standing in the middle of it. She looked down from a high curve into a lane where a dozen crooks were facing each other and all had their fingers or other extremities on their weapon belts, ready to attack at any moment, but she knew that this was normal here. She had heard enough stories and Tavis had confirmed most of them. It was always hot, but not only because of such things, because the heat in the canyons was quite intense. Thirty degrees was the norm and made Kysaek uncomfortable and exhausted. Now she wished she were a Hishek or a Palanerin. Then these temperatures would be mild for them and even at double that, it would only slowly get nicely warm.


    “Seen anything interesting yet?” the Palanian asked, appearing next to Kysaek and looking down as well. He still didn’t know who Kysaek, Thais and the others really were.


    “This is my first visit here. Apart from the heat, I’d have to look for uninteresting things, but I don’t see them.”


    “You’d be better off not looking for it. In this place, the uninteresting can quickly become a trap.”


    Kysaek’s mouth twitched. “I’ll keep that in mind. Has Pashalia reported in yet?”


    “She rented the room,” Tavis replied. Thai’s task was to get a room in a small but centrally located hotel in the area that the Palan had deemed trustworthy – if you paid hush money.


    “And do you have any ideas yet?”


    “I’m still thinking. We know what we’re looking for. Only the where remains unclear.”


    “They had plenty of time on the flight here,” Kysaek said. Caution was still required of them, which is why Thais was supposed to ask Tavis about Kysaek during their hotel assignment. It was a good opportunity for the Talin, without the Palaner, whom Kysaek was probing. ”Is that so hard?”


    “One yes, the other no,” Tavis replied, looking out over the sleepless square and grasping the railing in front of him. ”Finding out who is organizing these transports should be easy. But with the list, we have no clue where the masses of slaves are being distributed here before they are transported on.”


    “If we know who’s doing the whole thing, couldn’t we just grab another list?”


    “This isn’t some cheap port on Central where the only thing we have to worry about is a few thugs,” Tavis warned, tensing the handle on the railing. ‘If we do the same thing here, someone is bound to get suspicious and hunt us down.’ We have to be extremely careful about our next steps.”


    “I suppose that’s a good point,” Kysaek reluctantly admitted. A quick solution might not present itself, but after all the running and hiding, she was eager for a real success. ”Let’s meet with Pashalia. If we’re going to find out who’s behind the shipments, we should do it together.”


    “We should definitely do that.”


    Even in disguise and with an expert like Tavis at her side, Kysaek had a healthy respect for Themis. Threats were not uncommon, nor were isolated shots, and from what felt like every other bar, she heard the sounds of a brawl or saw visitors leaving in front of the entrance, beating each other up, when a bouncer wasn’t kicking out a drunk or unwanted guest. However, that was certainly only one side of what this world had to offer and despite the rough surroundings, Kysaek enjoyed the atmosphere in places. If you ignored the flourishing trade and the pronounced gambling in the narrow alleys, alcohol also flowed freely, there was laughter in the crowd and the light girls bewitched the people, often very openly and liberally.


    “And this is everyday life?” Kysaek asked, still looking around in awe. ’Every day? Every hour?”


    “The market is called the Sleepless Kontor for a reason,’ Tavis emphasized with a claw in the air. ”It never sleeps and the lights are always shining brightly.”


    For Kysaek, ‘shine’ was almost the wrong word, because she had seen the shining lights of the canyons clearly from space. Like rivers of gold, the fine, animated scars stretched across a large area of this barren world. ‘It’s hard to believe what has been created here,’ Kysaek said, since the many canyons were not natural.


    Over a thousand years ago, Themis had been discovered and it didn’t take long to find out that the planet was a chamber full to bursting with minerals – a real goldmine, the likes of which were not often found in the galaxy. These were resources, especially the rare ones, in masses that were in high demand in modern space travel and among interstellar civilizations, and so the term resource depletion took on a whole new meaning with Themis. The irony was that no consideration had to be given to the environment, since the planet offered a hostile environment. It was a lifeless desert of rusty stone, without the slightest sign of water, plants or air to breathe, and the local sun did the rest. It was in the final stages of its existence and on its way to becoming a red giant, which meant that the surface temperatures on Themis were hellishly hot and the night phase lasted only three hours because the sun was almost continuously in the sky due to its incredible volume. Governments and especially private companies had taken these adversities into account, however, in view of the indecent profits and amounts of resources, until the most productive areas of Themis had been completely plundered after two hundred and fifty years and further mining was no longer worthwhile for most, compared to their immense costs. Only a few insignificant mining companies remained on Themis, until today, when there were still enough small deposits, but the important names disappeared immediately and left behind more than just the dug gorges. An unused, heavy industry lay idle and within the scars of the mines, the infrastructure, such as apartments and all kinds of facilities for consumers, which the companies had originally built for the needs of their workers, as well as a veritable network of underground tunnels, chambers and maglev tracks, were abandoned. Nobody wanted to live there anymore or had any use for Themis, with one exception: pirates and smugglers. They took over the neglected world and its legacies in a few years and although today no one knew how and who exactly had started it all, it was the cornerstone for the present Themis and the emergence of the so-called Maw, the most extensive spot on the galactic map where the criminals ruled.


    What were the chances of meeting someone like Tavis, who knew his way around here? Who was in his element? Or maybe it was just time for a little luck, or it was due to the paths Kysaek and her group had taken. An unavoidable encounter? “Pay attention here,” Tavis remarked as they left the sleepless office and entered one of the well-developed underground tunnels, where the Palan was careful to lower his voice. “Taking a wrong turn here can quickly prove fatal.”


    “Come on,” Kysaek said, slightly arrogantly. She wasn’t any more or any less afraid than before, but she adjusted to the tone level. ”You’d have to tell me what I can do here safely, rather than constantly pointing out this and that threat. It’s a bit annoying.”


    “I take my work very seriously and safety... mh, safety... no, I’m sorry. That doesn’t exist on Themis.”


    “And what about the tunnels?” Kysaek asked, ignoring the fact that apartments were carved into the stone. ”Is it because someone could rob us here anytime?”


    “That could be.”


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    “Great,” Kysaek sighed sarcastically and dared to harbor the doubtful hope that she would not be doomed to live in such a hole all the time. ”How can such a chaotic place be held together?”


    “Many areas on Themis are divided and controlled by different groups, and they all bow to an Eporan woman - Ilia Volon.”


    “She is well known,” Kysaek nodded. ”And who does she have under her? Who bows to her here?”


    “Take the Disciples of Dealith, for example.”


    This mention came as a surprise to Kysaek and almost made her lose her composure.


    “The Disciples operate throughout the galaxy, and you’re surprised they’re on Themis? There are plenty of jobs here.”


    “And do we have to worry about the Disciples?”


    “I don’t want to annoy you again, but we should-”


    “I got it,” Kysaek smirked. ”You just love repeating that, don’t you?”


    “What can I say?” Tavis replied contentedly. ”It’s my trade, and I’m good at it. Besides, I want to hold on to this little thing called life, which, right now, includes me getting you and Pashalia through here, so I guess I’ll be endlessly annoying.”


    “At least you’re getting it across without coming across as a smartass.”


    “How flattering.”


    “My specialty, but tell me, what makes Ilia so powerful that she has Themis under control?”


    Tavis answered as a matter of course. “If you know one or two stories about Ilia, you know what she can do, and that’s only half the story. No one knows for sure, but rumor has it that Ilia is almost four thousand years old and she made a name for herself before the Maw was created, and a name alone can be powerful. It doesn’t take hordes of thugs or weapons to do that.”


    “But it’s not useless either and I don’t think Ilia can do without henchmen.”


    “She doesn’t. She doesn’t depend on the loyalty of foreign groups because she controls two of the largest mercenary organizations in the galaxy, in addition to her own minions.”


    That was new information for Kysaek and made the whole thing more plausible for her. “A proper mercenary army, that would be something for us,” she joked when Thais appeared.


    “How did it go?” the Talin asked, because she wasn’t the only one who was supposed to get something done.


    Kysaek hadn’t just been strolling with Tavis, but had run a few errands at the sleepless Counting Office and they had gotten everything. ?Great. The equipment will be stored not far from our hotel.?


    ?And all that technology is really necessary?? Thais asked. ?A bit more firepower seems more appropriate to me here.?


    Tavis was firmly convinced. “We’re not here to start a war, and force will only help us to a limited extent and then probably attract unnecessary attention. Help with decoding code locks and kits is more important than weapons. We should only use those and the explosives if absolutely necessary.”


    Kysaek saw it the same way. This was not a brute force mission, but a secret one. “We have enough to defend ourselves if it comes to the worst.”


    “We do,” Thais nodded. A wrapped cloth covered her mouth for camouflage, but it lifted. A sign that she was grinning. “But more firepower is never a bad thing.”


    “Is that the wisdom of a Hishek or a Davoc?” Tavis doubted and tried to gain an assessment. ”Since when have Talin been so fixated on fighting?”


    “Since I fought in the greatest of all wars.”


    “Ah yes, the old days,” Tavis understood with a certain humor. “Back then it was certainly a wise philosophy, but be open to new ideas and do it like the young Palaian in front of you, who did not experience that tim.”


    Thais patted her pistol holster. ’As long as the young Palanian in front of me can show results, I might be willing to discard my old way of thinking.”


    Kysaek shook his head in amusement, but this was no place for small talk. “We’d better talk about everything else at the hotel.”


    “We probably should,” Thais agreed. “And there are nice, soft beds there.”


    “Yes,” Tavis said, raising a claw. “Let’s say beds.”


    Thais led the way, since she already knew the way to the hotel, but the further they went through the tunnels and smaller and larger chambers, the more caution was required. It was confusing in places and a dangerous atmosphere took the place where the glistening and lively atmosphere of the sleepless office had been before. Obviously, gangs or mercenaries were present here and there, keeping an eye on who was walking around or entering their territory. Drug dealers conducted their business as usual, passing on their goods to a wide range of customers, from respectable consumers to down-and-out addicts.


    “Don’t look at anyone,” Tavis said. ’Look straight ahead and keep walking.”


    Kysaek didn’t need to hear that twice. ’I’m not interested in looking at anyone here.”


    “We’ll see.”


    At the end of a living chamber, a desperate and shaky Davoc found himself surrounded by shady individuals, to whom he held out a cheap magnet pistol. “You won’t get a single coin out of me!” he squeaked, swallowing helplessly. “Your boss has tricked me and I’m tired of paying his excessive interest rates! I can’t make ends meet anymore and I’ve paid back all my debts twice over! Enough!”


    None of the figures around the Davoc flinched from him or his drawn weapon. They even found it amusing and held their own, much better magnet and plasma rifles loosely and with their muzzles down. “Are you trying to scare us?” asked the only Galig in the group.


    “No! I just want this to stop!”


    “I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you – it won’t, and we’ll get our currency.”


    Another case of extortion, and it stirred up fresh feelings in Kysaek, feelings she still had from Vincent Luan’s gang. She didn’t want to just stand idly by and watch these crooks attack the Davoc.


    “Don’t look!” Tavis whispered, grabbing Kysaek’s arm like a child you couldn’t let out of your sight in the big, wide world. ‘Don’t interfere!’ The Palan was about a head taller than Kysaek when he was standing normally, but he wasn’t an overly powerful representative of his kind, and yet his grip was enough to subdue her without being too conspicuous. Besides, Tavis pushed himself up next to Kysaek, blocking her view of the action.


    “I’ll say it again!” the Davoc gulped, pointing his pistol around randomly and shakily. ”You’re not getting anything more from me! I’d rather die than let you exploit me any longer! Leave me alone, you cheap stra--” Suddenly, a bullet pierced the side of the man’s head.


    A Calanian criminal had shot him from an blind angle, and after the debtor lay on the ground, the Galig sneered. ”We can make do with that. We’ll get the currency from your family later.” She only had to wave her hand and the group retreated, while the extremely dark red blood of the Davoc quickly lined the path and no local cared that the man was lying there like a pile of garbage, let alone that he had been killed.


    “You can let go of me, Papa!” Kysaek said testily, tearing her arm from the handle.


    Tavis hadn’t seemed like a cold-hearted man so far, but that just suggested it or he was simply used to it. “I know what you were going to do,” the Palan replied dryly. “However, we have enough to do, so put your principles aside.”


    “Listen to him,“ Thais added. ’We’re not here to help people, but to help ourselves.”


    Kysaek couldn’t change anything anyway and tried to catch herself. ’For now...” she ground. However, it was unclear to her whether she could constantly look away from Themis when things like this happened.


    “You seem to me to be instinct-driven and impulsive,” Tavis said openly. That didn’t make him happy. ’Does it happen all the time? This urge for heroic deeds?”


    “What does that have to do with heroic?’ Kysaek replied, offended. ”In what normal galaxy do you just watch something like that?”


    “They clearly need to relearn their definition of normal,” Tavis said, suddenly sounding like Thais did back then. He was just less philosophical. ”There are no hard and fast rules, no absolute morals. I abhor gratuitous violence and ruthless depravity, but you have to think of your own life, as this Davoc just did. He may be dead now, but he thought of himself and defended himself. It wasn’t for us to save him. It wasn’t our place, nor would we have been able to do it.”


    “Sounds a bit like an excuse to me,” Kysaek replied, looking around. One thing puzzled her. ”How was he supposed to survive at all? Surely a non-criminal doesn’t have any currency here?”


    “On the contrary,” Tavis remarked elegantly. ”Criminals can live quite well here, but ordinary people and honest work have their place even on Themis.”


    “There is honest work here? Apart from the mountain farmers, that is?”


    “Seekers, transporters, technicians, food vendors, and whatever else a world needs. I won’t claim that normal work makes up the majority and that it’s the best infrastructure, but a maglev train doesn’t run on goodwill and rotten rails, any more than sewage flows through leaky pipes and electricity doesn’t just bubble out of a generator.”


    “Let me guess,” Kysaek surmised, rubbing her thumb on her index and middle fingers. ”Even though these people keep everything running, they still have to give a share to the criminals?”


    “It doesn’t matter how you make your money here – everyone has to pay someone, somehow, somewhere, and that especially applies to the common people. Often, they have to give a good half of their income to several sources.”


    “That’s quite a mess.”


    “Why do you say that? What’s so bad about it?”


    As much as Kysaek appreciated Tavis’ knowledge and talents and kept in mind that he was a criminal, she didn’t like the Palan’s trivialization of the situation. ?Are you kidding me?! People keep everything running and get robbed for it?! What do you call something like that?!?


    Tavis’s answer was short and to the point. “Taxes,” he said curtly. “On Themis, there are probably many words for it, but elsewhere you pay taxes. Taxes, taxes and more taxes.” With this statement, he managed to do what only a few had managed before – he rendered Kysaek speechless for the time being.


    Private guards, armed security bots, automatic defense systems and the obligation to hand in all weapons upon entering: that was the hotel they had booked. Contrary to appearances, it even looked reasonably acceptable from the outside. It was not a resort, but there was no sign of trouble here. Handing in their weapons at the entrance was an additional guarantee of some peace and quiet, but also a risk.


    Kysaek, in particular, felt at the mercy of the scanner after all that time on the run with her empty weapon belt, but there was no way to get around the scanner at the front desk, and she took comfort in the fact that she could still fall back on her prismatics in an emergency. Otherwise, she was still amazed by the solid condition of the hotel, which she, in the face of Themis, had expected to be more of a flophouse for drug addicts.


    “I need to sit down,” Thais sighed wearily as they finally went to the room, where she collapsed on the sofa there.


    Talin’s condition reminded Kysaek of the situation in the package warehouse, only it was less extreme now and she wasn’t worried. “So how exactly do we proceed now? We’re constantly racking our brains and coming up with no solution.”


    “Maybe a break would do us good,” Thais suggested, rubbing her now uncovered face. ”All this stress and pressure. A little more rest might free our minds and give us fresh ideas. Besides, I’m really thirsty. This heat is drying me out and it’s not good for my skin.”


    Tavis put his bag down on a metal chest of drawers. “A strong woman like you is worried about such trivial things?”


    “Sure, to keep everything nice and smooth,” Thais smirked slyly. She stretched out her arms and fingers and the following went to the Palaner. “I like to feel everything when I beat someone up.”


    “I forgot,” Tavis said and went to a small refrigerator that was even stocked with drinks. A blast of cold air streamed out of the container and he took out a clear, misted bottle of water, which he brought to the thirsty Talin. ”Mammals have other problems. For us Palans, our shell is more of a tool and of a practical nature.”


    “Saved by the bell,“ Thais replied, accepting the misted-up bottle with a grateful nod.


    “What would you have understood better?” Kysaek asked bluntly and sat down on one of the two beds in the room. “Teeth?”


    “Claws,” Tavis replied.


    “Claws?”


    “Oh yes. The claws of Palanian women can never be thin or long enough. Men should have thick ones, of course, but above all, cleanliness is very important,” Tavis noted, showing his claws: pointed, rough and strong, but sparkling clean.


    Kysaek considered and went more for fetishes than aesthetics. “Some people also have it with fingers, but I don’t understand the attraction.”


    “No? The nice feeling when a woman’s long, delicate claws wrap around your broad fingers like tendrils around hard stone,” Tavis said, as if he was picturing it in his mind. ”Well, I don’t think you can understand that. Nevertheless, I’ll give you the Palanian view of beauty: claws, bony ridges, and eyes.”


    “I’ll be sure to internalize that,” Kysaek joked, rubbing her slightly wet face as well. Fortunately, the bio-layer over her true appearance was of good quality and defied the heat by letting the sweat out from the inside out, like a normal face.


    “Well, we’re all exhausted and it’s been a long journey,” Tavis stated, folding his claws. ’And as the minority of our group, I’ll be the first to use the bathroom.”


    “No one’s stopping you,’ Kysaek waved him off and buried her face in her hands. Her tiredness was genuine, but she was using it as an excuse to get the Palan out of the room.


    “After that, it’s my turn,” Thais announced, letting a refreshing gulp of water gurgle down her throat. It looked wonderful, as did pressing the cold bottle against her cheek.


    After Tavis had disappeared in the bathroom and the electronic door to the room had been red-locked, Kysaek pushed to the bottom of the bed.


    Thais closed her eyes and spoke more haltingly, just because of her tiredness.


    “Only if you don’t mind a shotgun at your back.”


    “Just don’t ask for details,” Thais groaned. She kept her eyes closed and drank from her water bottle from time to time. ”If there was any reason to worry, I certainly wouldn’t have walked here with him.”


    “So it’s all true? Is he what he claims to be?”


    “Not that he’s the most well-known outlaw in the Maw, but if anyone knew him or had heard of him, they all spoke rather similarly about him,” Thais reported, grinning as she relaxed her legs over the back of the sofa. ”Some aren’t exactly thrilled about Tavis and his rules, but that speaks more for than against him. I think we’ve made a good catch.”


    “That would be something,” Kysaek agreed and struck a thoughtful pose. ”However, that doesn’t mean that it’s good in the long run with him. We still have to be careful.”


    “Above all, we need to rest,” Thais waved it off. Only the steamed-up glass with the Talin fingerprints still testified to the cold water from the bottle. ”At least we won’t experience a situation with him in the next few hours that’s safe for or against us, so shake off those thoughts and relax.”


    “Mhh, that might even work,” Kysaek nodded and ran her hand over the bedclothes with a smirk. ’It’s comfortable and looks so enticing... but only after my shower.”


    “Sure, after me,’ Thais sighed contentedly and calmed down. It was questionable whether she would be awake for her shower