The Star 9

"We've scouted out this tube and everything checks. It's usefulness as long term shelter is unarguable. Enough fresh water for maybe half our long term needs is a nice bonus. Now, what do YOU want?" the older man asked.

Sonny sat stock still in his chair and said crisply, "A reply from the overseer of this drop site. I shouldn't be a headache for you to have to worry about much longer. Either the next group comes with a favorable reply and an unreasonable request or they p*ss me off and there's nothing further to discuss."

The older man said, "The name's Chris. Contrary to belief, not everyone who ends up as a death row criminal is a flaming pile of garbage. Some of us were good people once. Life throws ha-"

"I apologize for the rudeness, Chris, but I'm well aware it's the powers that be that are the real flaming piles of garbage. Have you forgotten that you're talking to a science experiment turned child soldier? If you have a request or want to make some kind of deal, just ask. The worst I'll do is say no," the young adept said.

The older man shook his head, more to himself than at the young man. "Surviving here is hard. Going it alone is suicidal. You could do worse than sticking it out here... Deep space, boy. You want to be in charge? I'll happily step down into an advisory role."

Sonny was ready to give his polite refusal when he suddenly changed his mind. The bow manifesting archer was making another check in to make sure everything was alright. And in much closer proximity, the young adept noticed a few details that he hadn't before. The older man had a keen, naturally cunning mind and didn't miss the falter.

"Assuming the overseer watching us from their eye in the sky doesn't make things hard on me, I'll work with you to help by scouting for a couple of months. As a gesture of goodwill, your subordinate here will be my second in command and verify my findings," the young adept said as neutrally as he could.

There was a look of apprehension and even a slight touch of fear on the archer's face. The older man was unreadable but there was a small spike of activity in his energy field that signified a mild surge of emotional distress and a much larger surge of mental activity.

"We have a deal as long as you can do one thing for me," Chris said.

The archer's heart tightened in a temporary moment of pain before evening out. A listless sensation of dulled emotion lazily rippled across his aura as he accepted that he'd been traded off in a pact between two devils.

The older man continued after a slight pause. "If you don't want to be in charge, you let me do my job to keep order here. You have no idea how bad things will get if people start thinking its alright to question me. And, all it will take is you setting the example once."

Sonny sighed. "I won't question you in public but I won't follow your orders either. Feel free to bark whatever you like."

It was Chris' turn to look put out but he simply said, "Tell me your plans in advance so I can at least give the illusion you do and let me know if you change them."

The young adept could accept that compromise. He listed off his plans for the next few weeks and the scenarios most likely to change those plans. Over the next two days while they waited for the next group, Chris took advantage of the situation by making a display of getting Sonny to do things for him.

The funny thing was, the old fox was an expert of making Sonny enjoy it, like they shared some kind of joke that everyone else wasn't a part of. A conspiratorial wink, subtle friendly gestures and increasingly paternal praise, even affection, made their way into every interaction. The man was dangerous. It wasn't because he was evil, more because he was relatable, sometime a little admirable.

"What a two-faced son of a b*tch!" the archer said.

After a couple of days of being Sonny's shadow, the guy started ratcheting the anxiety back down a few notches. The young adept almost wished he had the nerve to make a pass or do something else misleading to clam the chatterbox back up. But with the guy's 'just get it over with' attitude, he was too afraid of his bluff being called.

Besides, Wade was so eaten alive by curiosity to see the face behind the featureless helmet, he was nearly ready to bite a belt if that's what it took. With the way things seemed to work around the camp, biting a pillow instead might even be a preferable option. The poor young adept could read emotions and intent to some degree but a person's private thoughts weren't in any danger of being revealed to him any time soon.

"He has a talent for leadership. It's kind of implied. Don't just focus on the surface action and look at the results. If you can do that quietly, even better," Sonny said.

Wade rolled his eyes and said, "Why don't you show me your deformed and burn scar covered face? Maybe it'll scare me quiet."

He tried his best to scrutinize Sonny's reaction to yet another random stab at trying to figure out the answer to his new superior's reluctance to flash mug.

"If it'll buy me a moment's friggin peace, I fully plan on staying clean in the field. Eyes don't leave bruises. So, help yourself then. I'm not taking my helmet off because there's another projectile manifestor watching my every move. There's no reason to give whoever it is behind that an opening to force me into murdering some idiots. It's that simple," the young adept said.

Wade went pale.

Sonny said, "Damn it! Really!? If they were that direct, you would have already been taken out. I'm free game because I took the first swing but jockeying for leadership is a lot more complex. Unless someone wants to rule with fear, a bad move in this crowd, a new leader's first act would be to bring the killer of the first one to justice. If they don't produce the aggressor or a believable scapegoat, they'll be spending the rest of their time in power having to worry about a very high chance of the same thing happening to them."

Wade, lost in thought, gave Sonny some peace and quiet. It didn't last for that long but it was enough to endure the next round. "The overseer threatened to wipe us and start fresh if we didn't shape up. Why would they risk taking you out and throwing things into chaos?"

"That is the million chip question. And depending on what, if any, answer I get from the overseer to my request, it might be one I don't like. If that ends up being the case, you'll be glad I kept you from burning bridges with Chris," the young adept said.

After that, Sonny found himself with all the peaceful quiet he could have hoped for. That peace lasted until it was broken by the leader himself and his actual right hand.

The leader's second said, "The warp of electromagnetics above us is outside of acceptable levels for group or equipment transfer but I have a response for you. Your evaluation for cause of death wasn't accepted. It was determined to be a malfunction of safe hyper pad transfer due to illegal interference of operation.

"Furthermore, approved criminal charges have been filed against you for said operation and wrongful death. In absence of the ability to exercise jurisprudence, you have a minimum fine charge added to your account. The five year voluntary term has been extended by an additional five years. Your initial term may still be lessened by valuable contributions but the criminal term must be paid by meaningful effort and gainful contribution."

Sonny chuckled. "Eclipse is now aware. They'll be forced to purse. It's too serious of a threat to ignore."

Chris let out a breath of relief. "Here I was, ready to let you know how this side of things worked if you didn't know but it seems that was a wasted few minutes of indigestion."

Somewhat baffled, the chief's right hand said, "You already knew they were going to increase your sentence?"

The young adept nodded. "The next step will be for them to frame me for a few excessive force incidentals or a good couple of involuntary homicides until they can bump me up to about twenty years. After that, they'll lay off and wait to see how I do. Earning carrots or sticks, I'll be lucky to get out of here even then.

"Chris, I'll be on scouting for two months unless someone or something derails our agreement. It's almost guaranteed to happen at some point. But hopefully, if I stay out on assignment long enough, I can honor that much.

"By the way, Sniper is potentially yellow level. If he isn't a plant for this drop site, he's Yessamin's secret husband or whatever. If you think you'll get tired of playing daddy to this bunch of heathens, give joining her in an advisory capacity a try. She's doing an admirable job keeping her girls and, uh, gurls relatively safe."

Looking a little worried, Chris said, "What's your plans after the two months of scouting are over?"

The young adept said, "Secrets hunting. I'm not going to play for peanuts at a fairly straightforward mining operation site for twenty years. That would make me the level of insane everyone thought Grant and I were for coming here to begin with."

He handed two of the three remaining blaster caps back to Chris as he opened up a charcoal drawn map. "Use those at these two marked locations. That will open up access to two more cavities. I prioritized shelter and potential other sources of fresh water over acquisition but there will be plenty of surface minerals and ore for months before tunneling's necessary. That's assuming you can keep some idiot try-hards from getting the overseer to raise your quota from unrealistic to impossible."

Taking the last statement as a sarcastic warning rather than the bland statement it was meant to be, Chris' second in command said, "Are you going to needlessly tell us to not kill the creature in the lake or collect our waste as fertilizer to start growing our own crops as well?"

In a dead monotone, Sonny replied, "I don't give a damn what you do. But if you plan on recycling the poison in the supplements and provided food rations back into your local produce, make sure the women are getting food grown from creek silt mixed soil. That is, if you want living, healthy children."

The man, eager to discredit him in some way said, "So, would you say you favor Yessamin's little wh*re faction, then?"

Chris was torn between laying into his subordinate for aggravating a person who could become a powerful enemy and supporting him to keep loyalty strong.

Sonny gave the chief a light clap on the shoulder and said, "Fortunately, I won't be around long enough for that question or your insecurities to matter. But if I were, I'd lay my chips where your boss points his nose. If he does decide to let someone stand on his shoulders, use yours to support the other foot but keep a finger in his belt loop."

The man left in a huff to wait outside the pop-up module Sonny had been provided with after wisely choosing not to take the swing he contemplated throwing. Once he was done exchanging a few more pleasantries and finer plan details, Chris left as well.

Sullenly, Wade said, "Why didn't you gaff that jacka** with a broken spear like you did Jaws the other day?"

"He's the plant. Chris knows it too. He's here to make sure this place thrives but not enough to get rebellious. I mean, I'm not certain but he didn't look seriously unhappy until after that remark about being too productive with mining," Sonny said.

The archer said confusedly, "But you said Sniper-"

"Chris knows what I was trying to tell him. Feel free to speculate reasons but for the next two months we aren't going to be around here much. A lot can change in that time. So, unless petty camp intrigue amuses you more than my protection's worth, stay out of it and in my line of sight,"

After tying a black rag on his outside door handle, he added, "Get in as good a nap as you can after handling your personal business. We leave after 'night chill'."

***

It was hard for others to notice but Wade caught the few seconds delay Sonny took every time they passed the mouth of the irrigated channel.

To make conversation, he asked, "Why do you do that? That little pause before you enter or exit the tunnel to the creek, is it some kind of superstitious thing?"

Sonny said, "I guess you could call it that."

Feeling like he was pulling teeth, the archer asked, "... What kind?"

"Paying respects to the dead. If you feel like playing jump rope with my last nerve, how about asking questions that are useful to you before I tell you to shut up and you lose the chance," the young adept said.

Wade kept his peace until they passed the 'water guards' and were fairly well down the tube. "Why did you ask for me? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you didn't want me for what I thought you did but you don't seem that happy to have me around."

Sonny stopped his distance eating stride and said, "I'm just not happy in general. Don't take it personal... It's the energy around your bow manifestation. For some reason, it reminds me of something. I keep hoping that things will get clearer if I keep you around but it's like a word you think you should know. The harder I focus on that feeling of almost remembering something, the more out of reach it seems."

An uncharacteristic silence surrounded the archer and it continued for the next few days. The first round of scouting was a simple day's walk out and circling the barren and rocky landscape around the caldera. Along the way, Sonny made a detailed list of anything and everything he thought worthy of note. It wasn't much but he did find a few spots of interest.

Following the above ground exit to a drainage for a tributary on the southeastern side of the caldera, he decided to follow that back as far as it went. A little less than ten miles from where he guessed the base of the caldera started, signs of life like cave minnows and milky eyed crayfish dwindled. A few luminescent mushrooms and cave lichen patches shrank to nothingness as well. In their place, only a sporadic handful of pale white mushroom caps could be seen close to the water for a little further before even that was gone.

For the first time in nearly four days, Wade broke the silence to say he felt dizzy and a little nauseous. Checking for sources of illness, Sonny was coming up with nothing. Recalling a portion of finger and then a whole hand's worth of his suit, the young adept waved his exposed digits in the air.

He couldn't sense anything wrong with the environment but there was no doubt, as they pressed on, that something was wrong with Wade. Taking a small risk once the archer stumbled and fell, complaining about a headache and blurred vision, Sonny opened a small vent in his helmet to test the air. He quickly closed it and grabbed up the archer in a fireman's carry.

He didn't backtrack but quickly got to the other side of the wide and mostly shallow, water filled depression they were in. Once safely on an incline, he let Wade take a rest break until the archer got his wind back. Their trip suddenly had gained them something vitally important to report.

Sonny handed Wade a canteen cup with what looked like a couple of small swallows worth of water in it that had a sharp but clean scent. They hadn't built up a great deal of trust yet but the archer didn't think Sonny had carried him for nearly a quarter mile at top speed just to turn around and poison him. So, he drank it in one go and started wheezing.

"My god! Thank you but could you warn me it's strong liquor next time? Ah, damn but that burns so good!" the archer said through watery eyes.

"It's medicated and one of my biggest secrets. I WILL murder you if you say a word about it to anyone else," Sonny warned.

Wade chuckled and made a zipper motion across his lips.

Sighing, the young adept added, "Well, it's open now and it starts losing its good stuff pretty quick after the seal's cracked, especially here... Might as well make camp and get the best use out of it."

Sonny dropped his pack, and for the first time since he walked into the drop site settlement, retracted his suit for a quick clean up in the creek stream. Wade nearly dropped the bottle that had been handed to him over the sudden and unexpected shift of showing nothing to exposing everything that the young adept pulled. Finishing quickly, he wicked away the water and snatched the bottle back from Wade who had been taking turns gawking and pouring shots for himself.

Nervously and already slurring a little, Wade said, "What do you want me to do?"

Sonny looked at him like he was an idiot. "Clean up before you pass out. I'd say you have three more minutes before you'd be challenged just trying to take a p*ss without falling in it."

Unbeknownst to Wade, he had started sweating out nasty and the young adept would have thrown him in the creek if he hadn't followed directions. While the archer handled business, Sonny snatched up the guy's clothes, performing a lightning fast clean and mend before dropping them towards the edge of the chemical light's soft glow. After taking a couple of shots himself, he laid out a pallet and let his skin get some much desired air.

It was more a psychological need than a real one. The suit could likely be worn indefinitely but he wasn't used to it and it felt kind of suffocating going nearly a full week without a single sensation of open air exposed face. He hadn't expected his traveling companion to be impacted by his actions so strongly. But since it was comical and non-threatening, he decided to let misunderstandings slide until they resolved naturally.

That ended up being something that would take some time. Wade barely managed to unroll his own pallet sloppily next to Sonny's before belly flopping onto it in a stone cold knockout. He chuckled and shook his head at the softly snoring archer.

After giving a thought to the mostly returned to mundane alcohol, looking out into the darkness from which they came, he said, "As long as you keep your manifested weapon away, you can have the last three shots out of this bottle. Or, you can stay out there and be a creeper. Your choice."