[Zach]
I relished the sweet victory — finally capturing Avia after so long in pursuit. Resourceful, disciplined, and smart, she was no easy target. If freedom was not at stake, mine versus hers, it would have become a game between us. Now, once I logged her arrest into the database, I will have paid my debt to society and be free of the Hunter program. At last!
While Avia snoozed under the sedative's influence, I unwrapped the capture net that bound her and pressed a portable scanner against her forehead for a conformational DNA sample. No makeup marked her gentle oval face, no elaborate style shaped her thick hair, and no fashionable clothes cloaked her willowy body. It was simply Avia. She had an appealing natural kind of beauty, not pretentious glamour — I've had enough of that — but the genuine type that shines from within.
Except for small angled scars behind each ear, you might never had known her head contained one of the most sophisticated computers ever developed, or that she was a wanted fugitive. Sure, many Aberrants went bad, but not her. Avia was in no way deserving of her fate.
But good God, was she infuriating.
Never passing up an opportunity, Avia taunted me mercilessly. And the pranks she pulled — stealing money from my operating account; getting me arrested under false charges; the humiliating fake social posts; and the awkward public gift deliveries — although the birthday flowers were a nice touch. Whatever hindered, embarrassed, or irked me, she did it. Except for my grumpy supervisor, my friends and colleagues took particular delight in my abasement.
Yet underneath it all, Avia had a good heart, and there were limits to her mischief. More than once she could have killed me, but instead only left me stranded. And most of the money she stole went to worthy causes.
I almost felt guilty for hunting her down. Almost.
But this won't go like she believed.
After closing the cell mesh door, I strolled down the hallway, passing through an open metal-bar gate. "She's all yours, Mac," I said to the uniformed gray-haired man leaning back in a wheeled chair behind the long counter. A row of view-screens displayed live feeds of the jail area, including Avia's sleeping form. "A Fed transport should be here in a few hours to take her away. She should sleep right through it all, but if not, just give her another dose." I laid the pneumatic syringe on the counter.
Mac grinned. "Quite a score for you, catching an Aberrant."
"Yeah. Not many left in the wild." I leaned against the counter and raised an eyebrow. "Mind if I stick around a while to fill out all the Fed forms? There's like a hundred of them. I'll buy coffee."
That perked his interest. Coffee was a rare treat at the remote Hephaestus Station. "Sure," he replied, straightening up and pointing at a desk chair to his left. "Use this seat."
After purchasing two cups of coffee at a nearby kiosk — damn, was it expensive — I returned and handed one to the grateful guard, then sighed as I sat down with my tablet viewer. When I said there were a hundred forms, I wasn't exaggerating much. Like, why did they need to know the local weather on a space station?
It took a mind-numbingly tedious hour to complete the forms, even though I left many inputs blank. By that time, Mac's head bobbed periodically and his eyes glazed as the drug I slipped into his coffee took effect.
"You all right, Mac?" I asked.
"Long shift," he replied, rubbing his face.
"Take a rest," I said, tilting my head to the small office behind us. "I'll keep watch."
"Thanks."
He never made it to the office under his own power, instead collapsing back into his chair and snoring from an upturned open mouth. Wheeling him into the office, I propped his head against the back wall, and then closed the door behind me. It will appear he fell asleep on the job.
The next step was covering my tracks. Scooting my chair across to Mac's open terminal, I erased the last few minutes of the video footage, then shut down the whole security monitor system. To the investigators that came later, it will look like Avia's work.
Going back to the cell, I folded Avia's snoozing body and stuffed her into a black duffle bag that usually carried my equipment. She'll probably feel stiff when she wakes up later from the tightly curled position, but she'll get over it.
Whistling a cheerful tune, I strolled through the station to my ship, wheeling the duffle bag behind me, as if I wasn't smuggling out a dangerous Aberrant. On the way, I stopped at an auto-vender and bought all the Goober Gummies it contained. Actually, they were kinda tasty.
*****
Avia laid on the narrow built-in bed in the spare quarters, peacefully sleeping off the sedative. A padded storage bench, a swivel chair, and a small desk, took up most of the remaining floor space. Most everything was made of gray plas-steel and secured to the deck — standard starship design. A narrow open door led to a tiny bathroom. The low thrum of the star-drive provided faint background noise as my ship, the Freebird, sped away into interstellar space.
I rummaged through her backpack, which was frayed from years of use. The contents included spare clothing, rolled up tightly to conserve space; a dark hooded cloak; a half-full plas-steel water bottle and a few meal bars; a thin blanket and inflatable travel pillow; miscellaneous toiletry items; a small stack of credit slips, allowing her to make purchases without leaving an electronic trace; and several packs of Goober Gummies, of course. All things for an Aberrant on the run. Missing were any electronic items, but she had that in her head, nor any kind of weapon for self-defense.
Now and then, she would make tiny jerks and her eye balls moved back and forth under the closed lids. I wondered what she dreamed about? Cyborg sheep?
As I gazed at her, Avia let out a faint moan and her eyelids fluttered open. Her eyes squinted against the bright lights as she scanned the bedroom. Then she wrinkled her brow and focused on my face.
"Have a good nap?" I asked.
As Avia lifted her head, propping herself up on elbows, she wavered and color drained from her cheeks. I guided her head back down to the pillow. "Easy now. There's still some residual sedative effects."
After a few deep breaths, Avia asked, "Umm, where am I?"
"My ship, the Freebird."
Angry fire shot from her narrowed hazel eyes. "I know your ship's name. You own your own personal starship while everything I own fits in an old backpack!"
"Sorry," I replied, actually not feeling sorry. "Life's not always fair."
"Tell me about it..." Avia spat, then let out a long breath. "Okay, so tell me why I'm on your entitled ship and not in some grimy cage on a prison transport?"
"I can still arrange for that."
"Oh, no, I'm not complaining." Avia quickly replied, shaking her head. "Seriously, why am I here?"
I sat down on the bed and took up my hand. "I need your help, Avia. Something terrible is about to happen, and only you can prevent it."
Avia drew her eyes into narrow slits, snatched her hand away, and hissed, "So you kidnapped me?"
"Kidnapping has such negative connotations. So, let's call it... active recruitment? It's either this or Aberrant jail. Your choice."
"Fine, I'll help you." Avia blew out a long, frustrated breath, suggested she really did not think it was fine. "There really was no choice, was there?"
"Nope."
"Did you plan this all along?"
"Yep."
"Couldn't you have told me before?"
"And spoil the surprise?" I responded, putting on a grin. "Have to admit, though, you were much harder to catch that I originally thought. And I needed to turn you in first to fulfill my Hunter contract."
"Then aren't you in trouble for busting me out?" she asked.
"Oh, don't worry. I made it look like you did it yourself. So, I'm in the clear. But you're not."
Avia rolled her eyes. "Great..." With my help, she sat up and swung her feet off the bed. Groaning, she stretched her arms upward and rotated her neck. "I'm so stiff. What did you do to me?"
I pinched my lips together. "Umm, probably just a side-effect of the sedative."
Avia lowered her eyebrows after noticing the thick black ring on her leg. "What's with the ankle bracelet?"
"Additional compliance incentive." I answered, holding up a small, black remote-control button. "If I push this, it will give you a nasty bio-shock. Very uncomfortable, I understand." As she gazed down at the ring, I continued. "It's direct radio link — no computer chips. So you can't hack it with your cybernetics."
"We have trust issues, Zach."
"It won't be so bad, Avia. Better than me turning you over to the Federation, for sure. Besides, there are bonuses."
"Like what?"
"You get to hang out with me," I answered, pointing a thumb at myself. Then I tossed her a familiar candy pack. "And I'll get you all the Goober Gummies you want."
"Oh, wow, "Avia responded in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "You are sooo generous."