KEEP AWAY

  STARSHIP FOR SALE, BOOK THREE

  M.R. FORBES

  Published by Quirky Algorithms

  Seattle, Washington

  This novel is a work of fiction and a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2022 by Quirky Algorithms

  All rights reserved.

  Cover illustration by Tom Edwards

  Edited by Merrylee Lanehart

  CHAPTER 1

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, staring at Keep through the bars between our cells. “Of all the places in the universe where you could be right now, you’re here, in prison, in the cell right next to mine?”

  Keep shrugged as he lit his cigarette, taking a casual drag and blowing a few smoke rings before responding. “It’s not like I booked a vacation down here, kid. Turns out you aren’t the only one experiencing a run of bad luck.”

  “Do you have to smoke?” I asked.

  “What? Are you worried it’ll give you cancer?” He laughed at my reaction, stymied by his retort but still against the act. “Badabing badaboom! Let me repeat my query. What are you doing here, Bennie?”

  “What does it look like?” I growled, keeping my distance.

  “Let me rephrase that. What are just you doing here? Where’s Matt? Alter? Don’t tell me they’re dead.”

  “You know how hard Alter is to kill, right?”

  “A thermobaric grenade says otherwise. But, okay. They’re still alive. That’s good. They still have the ship? The Star?”

  “What does it matter to you? You sold them to us, remember? They don’t belong to you and aren’t your problem anymore.”

  Keep pulled on his cigarette again before dropping the three-quarters of it left onto the floor and stamping it out. “Peace offering,” he said. “I can tell you’re having a bit of a moment.”

  “A moment?” I hissed. “Sedaya just threw half his mercenary army at us and practically destroyed an entire city to get that slab you left me with, right before I was framed for murdering the guy you killed and sent to prison, and you think that’s a moment? Ever since Matt and I got here, all we’ve done is get chased around the damned universe by the demented fake ice elf upstairs.”

  “You’re completely exaggerating,” Keep said calmly.

  “No, I’m not,” I snapped back.

  “Yeah, kid, you are. Taking that job on Cestus was your decision. You didn’t have to pick up the slab. I’m sure there were plenty of other high paying jobs to choose from at the exchange. You weren’t being chased then.”

  “We were still attacked.”

  “Maybe, but they were waiting for you. There’s a difference. And they would have attacked anyone who had the slab. It wasn’t personal. For them or me.”

  “So you didn’t plan the whole thing out?” I asked. “To have Alter take that job? To set us up to take the fall?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. How could I possibly plan something like that?”

  “Considering you seem to be the only person in the universe who can teleport between Earth and the Spiral, planning something like that seems pretty damn simple by comparison.”

  “They’re two completely different things.”

  “But they both involve you,” I growled. “Coincidence? I think not.” Keep exhaled sharply, reaching into his coat pocket for his cigarette case. “Seriously? What happened to the peace offering?”

  He picked a cigarette from the case and dropped it back in his pocket. “I won’t light it. It just helps calm me down.”

  “Oh, are you worried? Stressed a little?”

  “I’m in Duke Sedaya’s dungeon,” Keep said. “I might be a little stressed.”

  “How do you think I feel?”

  Keep stared at me as if he had just remembered that a month earlier he found me on Earth playing a video game. He exhaled again. “Sorry, Bennie. Don’t get too bent out of shape over it.”

  “No? Why not?”

  “Well, for one thing, if Sedaya planned to kill you, you’d be dead already.”

  “Good try. He gave me two hours to decide whether or not to drag Matt and the others back here into a trap or be slowly tortured to death.”

  “Oh.” He paused, looking for another silver lining. And failing to locate one. “Let me guess, he wants the slab.”

  “You already knew he wanted the slab. What better way to try keeping it from him than by joining it to the other thing you knew he wanted. Since we were already trying to avoid him, right?”

  “That might hold water except for the part where you were incarcerated.”

  “Which you very neatly arranged.”

  “Honestly, I thought Alter would get you out of that mess. She’s slipping.”

  “Or maybe she’s just developing a conscience. One that understands that killing innocent people is wrong, no matter what it might personally cost you.”

  “On the bright side, you got yourself out of that sticky wicket. Golf clap.” He actually did the soft clap. He was lucky there were bars between us. “In all seriousness, kid, you did a great job busting out of Persephon. That’s never been done before, you know. It just cements my already decent opinion of you and your overall potential.”

  “Are we back to the Last Starfighter again?”

  “I didn’t try to recruit you to be a pilot, Bennie.”

  “Then what were you recruiting me for?”

  “To be my protege.”

  I laughed in his face. “Your protege? A slimy starship salesman understudy? Or do you mean a failed ward to a missing Duchess? Did she really disappear, or did you run away when she most needed you?”

  His hand stretched through the bars so fast I didn’t have time to move. He grabbed me by the throat with a vise-like grip. “You listen to me, you little…” He thought better of assaulting me and let go, leaving my already sore and bruised throat throbbing. “Shit. I’m sorry, kid. It’s a bit of a touchy subject for me.”

  I grasped at my neck. “Screw you, Keep. This is all your fault. I’m in here because of you. Matt’s in danger because of you. You sold us a dream and then set us loose in a damned nightmare.” I retreated to the back of the cell, dropped onto my ass and slumped against the wall. “I couldn’t hate you more if I tried.”

  Keep’s voice softened. “Awww, come on, kid. It hasn’t all been bad, has it? I mean, space! Aliens! The adventure of a lifetime!”

  “Violence, destruction, death,” I said. “And I still have torture to look forward to. Your galaxy sucks, Keep.”

  He laughed. “It has its pluses and minuses. Sedaya is a definite minus. What do you say I give you a real peace offering?”

  “Like not choking me again?”

  “How about if I give you some answers?”

  “How about if you give me some honest answers?” I replied.

  “Fair enough. Bada…” He trailed off. “Eh. I’ll try to stop that. I know you don’t like it. It’s a habit I picked up on Earth. Just straight answers, kid. What’s your first question?”

  CHAPTER 2

  “What are you doing here?” I asked for a second time, figuring I would get a more complete answer now. Not that it was the most important question I had. It didn’t really matter that much in the larger scheme of things. He was here, and that was that. But it felt like the right place to start.

  “Same thing you are,” Keep replied. “Sedaya wants the slab. He thought maybe I had it. When he found out I didn’t, I guess he came after you.”

  “You evaded him for over twenty years, and he managed to catch you within a couple of weeks?”

  Keep shrugged. “What can I say? I’ve been out of the game for a while. I’m rusty. And I don’t have a ship of my own, which complicates things a little. That’s why I didn’t pay the parking bill. I needed the electro to move on. And it did have its fringe benefits.”

  “I’m still not convinced you’re being honest with me.”

  “Cross my heart, kiddo.”

  “Can you please stop calling me kid, kiddo, or anything else that sounds patronizing or condescending? I think I’ve earned that much respect.”

  Keep laughed. “Yeah, I suppose you have. I’ll try. Is it okay if I call you Bennie?”

  “Good enough.”

  “I also spent a lot of those years hiding on Earth,” he reminded me. “Sedaya couldn’t reach me there. Not at the time, anyway. But it was never meant to be permanent. Nobody can hide from their responsibilities forever.”

  “What responsibility is that?”

  “Finding the Duchess, for one. Killing Sedaya, for another.”

  “Neither one of those looks very attainable right now.”

  “I’m not giving up. Are you?”

  I looked at him from my seated position at the back of my cell. He had a strange look in his eye that gave me what was most likely unreasonable hope. “No,” I decided. “Not until I’m dead.”

  “Good. I know you were counting on getting fixed up. Gyer wasn’t your only shot.”

  That piqued my interest enough to put me back on my feet, walking over to him. “You know someone else?”

  He put his hands up in capitulation. “Whoa. Hold on. I’m not promising anything. But I might. Honestly, it’s probably a long shot. Besides…” He rattled his bars again, reminding me we were trapped. My hope diminished, but it didn’t completely fade. “What’s your next question?
”

  “What do you know about the slab?”

  “Other than Sedaya wants it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Nothing.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “I’m telling you the truth.”

  “You knew to be at the Persephon spaceport to intercept the delivery. You knew when to be there. But you don’t know what makes the slab important?”

  “Nope. What I did know was that Sedaya and Nobukku went the extra mile to move it quietly. I swear to whatever you believe in that I didn’t know you would be the one transporting it. I had planned to catch up to you again later on in the story, once I had more of the plot figured out. And once the wetness behind your ears had dried up some. Just a happy coincidence in the end.”

  “It wasn’t so happy for me. If we hadn’t been there, or you hadn’t been there, Matt and I wouldn’t have wound up in prison.”

  “Maybe. But look at it from the other side. If I hadn’t been there, the courier would have taken the slab back to Nobukku, and Sedaya’s plans would be more advanced. I might not know exactly what that plan is, but I can guarantee you it isn’t good for the Spiral. Or the Empress.”

  “Thus, your warning to me.”

  “Bingo, kid. Err, Bennie. And like I said, you escaped. Nobody else has ever done that. You’ve got skills you might not even realize you have.”

  “I have a lot of dumb luck.”

  “In my experience, life is half skill, half dumb luck. And you can’t put one to good use without the other.”

  “So what made the coincidence good for you?” I asked.

  “It gave me the opportunity to pass you the slab. Of course, I knew Sedaya would come after me for it first. He knew I was back in play, and he knows I want him dead.”

  “Wait. Why hasn’t he killed you yet?”

  Keep laughed. “He planned to use me as bait to bring you in.”

  “He has me. Why hasn’t he killed you yet? ”

  “He doesn’t have the slab.” He shrugged. “He probably just hasn’t gotten around to it yet. Maybe he even forgot I’m down here.”

  “I doubt that.”

  “You don’t know him that well. He’s a vengeful son of a bitch, but he also thinks little enough of people that he loses track of them if they aren’t part of his immediate goals. Or maybe he thinks if you can't convince Alter to bring me the slab, I can. Which is never going to happen.”

  “She’ll never turn it over to him,” I said.

  “Nope. She hates his guts with a fury I’ve never seen in anyone else.”

  “For good reason.”

  “She told you about that?” Keep asked.

  “Yeah. I know pretty much everything.”

  “I could tell she liked you from the start. I’m glad you got along. Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

  “I’m not going to speak for Alter. And if there’s something you don’t know, she probably didn’t tell you for a reason.”

  “Oh. No, not about her. I know what I needed to know.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Do you know what’s on the slab?”

  I hesitated before answering, unsure if I should tell him the truth or not. He had given me a peace offering, and he was trying to treat me with more respect. Besides, we're both in the same shitty boat right now. “Yes,” I admitted.

  He grinned widely and clapped his hands together. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down. Hot damn.”

  I glared back at him. “So you did leave me the slab because you thought I could get into it.”

  “You went to college to learn to do that, didn’t you?”

  “No, actually. I went to college to be a programmer, not a hacker.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  “Forget about nuance. I definitely didn’t do it to get mixed up in intergalactic espionage and mayhem.”

  “Yet here we are.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Here we are.”

  “I don’t suppose you want to tell me what’s on the slab?”

  “No.”

  “Is it bad?”

  “Honestly, I have no idea. Like you said, if Sedaya wants it enough to pay off a Duke for the privilege to attack one of said Duke's planets, it must be a pretty big deal. And since it’s him, then it’s probably bad.”

  Keep pressed his head against the bars, making a thoughtful expression. “Have you told anyone else what’s on the slab?”

  “Not yet. But Alter planned to try to get the information to the Empress through the Royal Guard.”

  “I see.” He fell silent, eyes closed. I thought it would be a short break, but a minute passed and he remained fixed there.

  “Keep, are you awake?” I asked.

  “Yeah, Bennie. I’m just thinking. Did you have more questions?”

  “I do.”

  His eyes opened and he raised his head. “Shoot.”

  “When you say you want me to be your protege, what do you mean by that?”

  “It’s kind of hard to explain,” Keep said.

  “Try me.”

  “No. Not right now.”

  “What? We had a deal.”

  “I know, I know. Fine.” He shrugged out of his overcoat, letting it fall to the floor. Then he held up his right arm and unbuttoned the cuff of his shirt so he could roll it back. He turned his wrist, showing me the back of it.

  “Is this a joke?” I asked. His wrist was slightly scarred but otherwise ordinary.

  Keep whispered something I couldn’t quite make out under his breath. Beneath his skin, a symbol lit up in green.

  My heart began racing as I stepped back from the dim glow penetrating his flesh. I knew the symbol. I had seen it in the Grimoire. “What the hell?”

  The light faded without effect. Keeps’ eyes locked onto mine. “You already know what it is, don’t you? I saw the recognition in your eyes. And your reaction? Cautious, but not terrified. This isn’t the first time you’ve seen a Sashkur sigil.”

  “No,” I answered. “The slab. It’s full of images of symbols like that one, etched into some kind of metal.”

  “Shit,” Keep hissed. “It is bad.”

  His reaction caused me to keep going. “That’s not all. There was a Niflin on Furion. He tried to stop our escape. He had a glove with symbols like that one on it. When he used it, it was like he had the Force.”

  “The what?”

  “The Force. You know, Star Wars?”

  “I’m not familiar.”

  “How do you know the Last Starfighter but not Star Wars? I know you weren’t living under a rock.”

  “It didn’t seem relevant.”

  “Yeah, it’s only the biggest sci-fi franchise on Earth. Probably in the universe. But you never heard of it.”

  “I didn’t say I never heard of it, I said I’m not familiar with the Force. I didn’t see the movies.”

  “Or read the books? Or subscribe to Disney Plus?”

  “What do I look like? Pop culture isn’t a priority for me.”

  I shrugged. “Anyway, the Force is like magic. But in space.”

  “Well, if you’re going to be that generic then I suppose using a Sashkur device is like using the Force.” He shook his head. “Can we move on from the inane part of this conversation? I assumed whatever Sedaya was up to was bad. This is on the verge of catastrophic.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Sashkur tech is supposed to be lost tech, and for good reason. If Sedaya knows about it, if he’s seeking it out, if he’s found some…” He shook his head. “This is bad, kid. Very, very bad. We need to get out of here. Right now.”

  CHAPTER 3

  “How do you suggest we get out of here?” I asked. His reaction to what I had said left me shivering. Lost technology? Except it wasn’t so lost.

  “I’m working on that,” he replied.

  “How?”

  “Thinking about the problem. Give me some time.”

  “I’ve got less than two hours before Sedaya has me tortured. If there’s any way out of here, I’d like it to be before then.”

  “Me too, Bennie. Me too.”

  He tapped his fingers against his cheek, shaking his head slightly. I guess he was thinking, or at least making a good show of it. But his expression didn’t inspire confidence.