My jaw clenched. Maybe I should have been more vague with my request until after we’d settled on a price. I hoped Tee was right that Goloran might be willing to cover the costs in exchange for access to the Wardenship.

  “Well, Levain is dead,” I said. “So you only need to worry about Zariv.”

  “That makes me feel so much better.”

  “If you give us good candidates, trouble won’t find you,” Matt said. “Consider it an incentive to pick the right programmers.”

  “Or to raise my prices,” Hzzt countered. “You are aware that most code is written by bots."

  "We figured as much,” I confirmed. “That's why we came to you. We need flesh and blood engineers who don't ask a lot of questions. Discreet types willing to take payment in quark and not run to the authorities."

  “You make it sound more appealing with every word out of your mouth.” Hzzt’s expression soured further. "I want no part of this."

  Matt shifted subtly against the wall, deliberately drawing Hzzt’s attention. "Perhaps for the right price?”

  “Levain and Zariv have hired the majority of the remaining organic programmers. And all of the especially competent ones. No amount of quark will lure them away. And I’m certain Zariv will or has already absconded with Levain’s programmers.”

  Matt and I looked at one another. I thought Tee might say something snarky, but he kept quiet, letting us negotiate with the alien.

  “We’ll settle for the best of what’s left then,” I said.

  Hzzt hesitated, his skepticism at war with his opposing greed. Finally, his shoulders sagged. “It will be difficult to locate available engineers worth risking my own neck over, but I do have contacts. For a substantial fee, of course."

  "Naturally," Matt answered dryly. “Make it quick and the payoff will be worthwhile."

  We hammered out terms Hzzt deemed reasonable—a six thousand quark flat fee for introductions, plus another thousand per engineer. If he came through, we'd be down eight thousand quark. But it was that or wander Portus knocking on doors or leaving without Nyree.

  Matt extended our payment stick once we finished haggling. Hzzt tapped his device to it, his mood visibly improving. "Pleasure doing business with you. I’ll go speak to my contacts immediately. Wait here while I make arrangements.”

  “Do you want to take Archie with you?” I asked.

  “Is that your gelatinous friend?” Hzzt replied. “I would prefer not. Please.”

  “Don’t cross us, or we will find you,” Matt said.

  “And I will let him eat your brain,” I added.

  Hzzt found another shade of pale as he bustled out. Matt lowered his voice. “I don't like leaving our fate in this guy’s hands, but he's our best option if we want to stay under the radar."

  "No argument there.”

  “I hope he finds us workers willing to keep quiet about why we need their help. The last thing we want is Zariv’s combat bots storming this place.”

  I shuddered. “Yeah, let’s try to avoid that if we can.”

  “Well, whoever he finds, I hope they’re at least halfway competent,” Tyler said. “Because the last time I checked, stopping an army of killer robots isn’t exactly an entry level IT job.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Hzzt returned forty minutes later, wearing a self-satisfied grin. "Good news, my human friends! I've arranged a meeting with two gentlemen who I believe suit your needs. Discreet professionals currently employed at the shipyard.”

  “That was fast,” Tyler said.

  “Yes, well, many of the yard’s engineers frequent the local tavern after their shifts end. I simply visited the bar and extended an invitation.”

  I met Matt’s eyes. Neither of us felt thrilled about negotiating for technical help in a seedy bar, but Hzzt had kept his part of the bargain.

  “Six thousand quark, and all you did was stroll over to a nearby pub?” Ally said.

  “I arranged for you to meet potential help,” Hzzt replied. “As per our deal. The cost is for the risk to my life and limb once you are captured and tortured.”

  “Now that’s what I call positive thinking,” Tyler said.

  "Excellent work, Hzzt.” Matt clapped him enthusiastically on one narrow shoulder. “Lead the way."

  Hzzt wasted no time guiding us deeper into the bowels of the shipyard district. The smell of hot lubricants and scorched metal intensified the deeper into the yards we traveled. The smell clung to the workers we passed like cloaks leading us to our destination as if we were mice chasing after cheese.

  The tavern Hzzt led us to was an old stone hovel jammed between two windowless warehouses. Rust mottled the corroded alloy door, which whined aside at our entry. I coughed in the hazy atmosphere, assaulted by a combination of spilled beer, smoke, and sweat. The place reminded me of every seedy watering hole featured in the old detective thrillers Dad had always loved, minus the fedoras and dive bar chic. Just surprisingly organic servers and a dozen or so patrons in various stages of drunkenness.

  Four aliens that might have been related to Hzzt occupied a corner booth embroiled in a game involving strange octagonal tiles. Their raucous laughter carried over the low murmur of other patrons ringing the bar. He engaged the spiny, four-armed bartender in animated conversation. The barkeep pointed toward a table along the rear wall where a lone Hemid slouched, nursing a beer. Hzzt waved acknowledgment and turned to us, jerking his head toward the Hemid. “Come on, one of my contacts is here. I'll make introductions," he said before hurrying toward him.

  I exchanged uneasy glances with Ally before following Matt across the stained floor tiles. The Hemid remained hunched over his glass, not bothering to look up as we approached. His oversized forehead matched others we had encountered, but he seemed even more slope-shouldered and world-weary. Maybe he wanted to be out in the ‘burbs or living the high life in Cacitrus with the rest of the Hemid instead of stuck in the daily grind. Which seemed strange to me. He should have been worth a fortune as one of only a few non-machine coders.

  How good could he be?

  Hzzt cleared his throat. "Tarvik! Thank you for agreeing to meet with my companions."

  Tarvik raised bloodshot eyes with a disinterested sigh. "Let's get this over with."

  His icy stare raked over us. The guy definitely didn't ooze expert engineer vibes. But beggars couldn't be choosers. I went for charming, the way Mom always did.

  "Hi there. I'm Noah. We really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us." Tarvik grunted something unintelligible and took a long pull from his glass. I pushed forward awkwardly. "So Hzzt tells us you have engineering experience? What's your specialty?"

  Another noncommittal grunt. "Depends what you’re after."

  "Know anything about hacking networks or tinkering with AI?" Matt interjected, his tone razor-sharp. "Maybe writing control firmware for bots?”

  I winced at Matt’s lack of subtlety. So much for keeping a low profile. Tarvik seemed unfazed. He leaned slowly back and swiped a sleeve across his mouth before answering.

  "I know firmware. And bots. Not that it matters anymore.” His shoulders sagged further as he turned his attention back to his empty glass. “Organic engineers are outdated unless you’re the best-of-the-best, super-genius type. If that’s what you want, that isn’t me. Even the shipyard’s been scaling back us breathers. They just canned my friend Lantzy last week, and I’m sure I won’t be far behind. Buy a bot, they say. Train it on your code, they say. Sit on your ass all day trying to find something to do because you don’t have to work, they say. Bah. Soon enough, there won’t be any room left on Warexia for us.” Bitter self-pity dripped from every word.

  An awkward beat passed while I tried to keep him engaged. “I still bet you know more than we do," I offered with forced cheer.

  Tarvik barked a humorless laugh. "I should hope so!”

  “Where is Lantz, Tarvik?” Hzzt asked.

  "He went to drain the jurg but should return shortly.”

  The single alien word didn’t translate for me, even though its reference seemed clear. Or was there something else a Hemid might need to drain that wasn’t what I thought it was?

  “Lantz specializes in networking,” Hzzt explained. “He’s the best I know.”

  “Didn’t he just get fired?” Tyler asked.

  “Laid off,” Tarvik corrected. “Like I said, I don’t know any of Levain or Zariv’s coders. Like it or not, our best is probably their worst. But you obviously don’t want to involve anyone connected to either of them. Makes sense since you also intend to poke one of those two grithyakan.”

  “Is that like a grithyak?” Ally asked.

  “It’s an ancient ancestor. Six times the size and as legend has it, ten times as mean. Anyways, I can guarantee that as long as the pay is good, we’ll give you our best work, and our mouths will stay shut. And considering the shallow pool you’re swimming in, that ought to be worth quite a lot.”

  “It is worth a lot,” Matt agreed. “The only question is whether this effort is worthwhile if our odds are as low as you make them sound.”

  Tarvik reacted as though Matt had just lit him on fire. “Whoa, wait a second,” he said, waving his hands in the air. “I didn’t intend to make it sound as bad as all that. Lantzy and I are true professionals, unencumbered by algorithms to prevent us from taking on the kind of jobs you’re hiring for. We may not be top-notch like some other engineers, but we can get the job done. I’d bet my life on it.”

  “You just might be betting your life on it,” Matt said.

  Tarvik’s gloomy disposition returned almost as quickly as it vanished. “It’s either this or wait for the shipyard to fire me.”

  “Lay you off,” Tyler said.

  Tarvik frowned up at him before his attention went past us. My first instinct was to reach for my blaster. My hand rested on the grip as I turned with the others to inspect the other prospect approaching our table. All hope of success faded the instant my eyes registered the newcomer. No way was this guy an engineer. Above sharp cheekbones, his eyes swept the room before settling on our group with burning intensity. Hzzt waved him over, and he threaded his way toward us through the mostly empty tables.

  Around my height, but athletically built with huge muscles, he looked more human than Hemid, with minimal cranial expansion. For all I knew, he could have been a different human-adjacent species altogether.

  With a stylish cut to his dark hair, I would have actually pegged him as a celebrity or model, not a techie. He carried himself with total confidence, like some action hero ready to crack skulls or charm enemies at a moment’s notice. His sharp jaw showed several days of stubble, and he had faint bruising around his left eye.

  Hzzt performed awkward introductions. “Lantz, I’m glad you could make it. These are the⁠—“

  "I can introduce myself, thanks,” Lantz interrupted. He cracked a gleaming smile, his smooth, cultured speech at odds with our dingy surroundings. "I’m Lantz. Pleased to make your acquaintances.”

  Matt made quick introductions as Lantz sat down beside Tarvik, giving him a friendly shoulder-squeeze that only earned a light grunt. Ally seemed to have already forgotten all about Matt, the way her eyes lit on the newcomer. I had to admit, the guy was an impressive mountain of a man.

  "So!" Lantz rubbed his palms together briskly, completely at ease. "Hzzt says you're looking for technical experts open to...unconventional opportunities?”

  “We have need of a few particular skill sets currently in short supply among flesh and blood individuals,” Matt acknowledged. “Hzzt tells us you’re an accomplished networking expert?”

  “I don’t know if I would say expert,” he replied, surprisingly shy in the face of Hzzt’s praise. “Especially since the shipyard just saw fit to toss me to the curb and replace me with one of Zariv’s latest models. Bastards. I gave them fifteen years, and they gave me the boot.”

  I smiled inwardly. The way this guy seemed to hate his former employers for replacing him, he would probably be excited and incredibly motivated to pull one over on Zariv.

  “So you haven’t worked with networks before?” Matt asked, concerned. He glanced warily at Hzzt. “Because he said you did.”

  “Oh, yeah. I’ve worked with networks. I used to run penetration testing on all the new systems that went into our ship builds. Internal and external. If there’s a way into a system, I’ll find it.”

  My eyebrows went up. This guy seemed too good to be true. Had Hzzt really come through on such short notice?

  “Let’s say we needed to gain access to a restricted system, upload a package, and then deploy that package to additional remote systems,” I said. “Would you be able to do it?”

  “For the right compensation, sure,” Lantz replied confidently. Maybe too confidently. It made me wonder if the guy was all presentation and no performance. As in, take the money and run.

  But we didn’t exactly have a line of candidates going out the door. Hzzt said he had coordinated with the two best prospects he knew. Maybe what he meant was that he’d arranged the meeting with the only two prospects he knew.

  “I expressed to Tarvik that we may cancel our plans if we aren’t adequately convinced of your abilities to meet our needs,” Matt said. “Both of you.”

  The two men looked at one another. Tarvik did the talking this time. “Look, we can’t promise you success, and I doubt you’d trust us if we did. But we’ve been working on systems related to your needs with the shipyard for years. We don’t have identical experience, but pretty close.”

  Lantz turned his attention to us, his million-dollar grin lighting up his face. “Besides,” he said jovially. “There’s literally no one else. So I think we should talk about payment.”

  CHAPTER 21

  Matt and I left Tyler and Ally with the engineers at the tavern as human collateral while we headed back to the Portus Spaceport to meet with Princess Goloran.

  "I really hope she's willing to fund this crazy plan," I said as we crossed through the noisy Portus streets.

  "She seemed pretty eager to discover more about the Warden," Matt replied. “Since this is currently our best shot at doing the same, I think she'll come through."

  I nodded, hoping Matt was right. So much depended on acquiring capable help to deal with Zariv. Without it, it seemed impossible to free Nyree and get to Levain's hidden space station.

  We returned downtown, finding our way to a stable where we could get a robot-carriage ride back to the spaceport. This time, we managed to avoid drama, and I even enjoyed the ride. I found the clomping of the metal horse’s hooves on the asphalt strangely soothing and had fallen asleep by the time we reached the underground garage on the other side.

  “We’re here,” Matt said, nudging me from my light snooze. I followed him to the elevator, and we rode it up into the spaceport terminal.

  “Where do we go now?” I asked as we held up before reaching the monitored checkpoint. “Princess Goloran didn’t tell us her bay number.”

  “Are you kidding?” Matt replied. “She’s a princess. Top ten, for sure. Only one problem.” He motioned toward the checkpoint we would need to go through to reach the landing bays.

  “Yeah. How do we get past them?” I asked. “You think we can talk our way through?”

  Matt considered before shaking his head. “Maybe before the gunfight at the not-so-O.K. Rooftop Corral,” he answered. “Now?” His face pinched up, and he clamped his teeth together.

  “Not so good.”

  ”No, but I have an idea. Come on.”

  We made our way through the terminal to a deserted corner of the terminal otherwise thronged by travelers of wildly varying shapes and sizes. Matt reached into his right pocket, gently withdrawing Head Case. He reached up with his other hand, hiding the RFD in his palm as he scratched his cheek with his forefinger. “Ben, do you copy?”

  “I copy,” he replied in his chipmunk voice.

  “Do you think you can sneak past the checkpoint and into the landing bays, find Goloran’s ship, and have her or Kloth come out to meet us?”

  “Standby.” A short pause followed while I figured he was consulting with Meg and Leo. “Do we have any other options?”

  “Not unless you have something.”

  “I’ve got nothing, but maybe I can provide a distraction.”

  Less than a minute later, Head Case’s tiny thrusters ignited. Matt opened his hand, and the golf-ball-sized ship lifted off, quickly ascending toward the terminal’s high ceiling. “Don’t stare,” Matt warned. “It looks suspicious.”

  “So does standing in a dark corner,” I replied.

  I followed him into the soaring atrium. Rather than trying to take in the variety of alien life passing through the terminal, my eyes drifted to the guard bots positioned strategically across the terminal. They seemed on a higher level alert now than when we first arrived.

  Because of us? Probably.

  Distracted, I nearly plowed into Matt's back when he halted abruptly. "Well, speak of the devil,” he laughed, gesturing across the terminal.

  I spotted Kloth standing rigidly near a bank of public interfaces, the werewolf's yellow eyes constantly sweeping the milling crowds. "Bingo." I grinned. Princess Goloran couldn't be far away.

  “Ben, hold tight wherever you are,” Matt said. “We just put eyes on Goloran’s bodyguard.”

  “Got it,” Ben replied. “We’ll be waiting for you in the first passageway past the checkpoint.”

  “Copy,” Matt said before tucking the RFD back in his pocket.

  We threaded through the terminal, circling wide to avoid sneaking up on Kloth. The grithyak’s laser-like stare coalesced on us instantly as we approached. Matt raised both hands in greeting before we drew within speaking distance.