Empire of Light

Pulling his hand back, he pitched the burning seed directly towards her. Dakota watched mesmerized for a second, as the object arced through the air towards her. She turned, throwing herself on to the nearby walkway, its metal surface clanging noisily with her every slamming footstep.

The explosion lifted her off her feet and sent her sprawling. Dakota shrieked, and twisted around on to her back just in time to see the fire-breather stepping on to the same walkway. Moss hadn't moved from where he stood.

Without really considering what she was doing, she hurled the broken remains of the pulse-rifle at the fire-breather.

The ensuing detonation ripped away the platform section where he had been standing. Dakota grabbed hold of the handrail while the entire walkway buckled under her, swaying wildly as some of its supporting cables snapped. By the time the flimsy bridge had stopped swinging and bouncing, she caught a last glimpse of the fire-breather's broken corpse being sucked into the watery depths below.

She looked back to the ledge beyond, but it was too far to jump. And no way in hell was she taking her chances with the whirlpool.

'Dakota Merrick!' Moss screeched. 'Do you remember our last conversation?'

'You'll have to remind me, Hugh,' she yelled back, her voice almost lost amid the roar of the surging water.

'I promised you that if you ever stood between me and Trader in Faecal Matter of Animals, I would do terrible things to you – things that would make you wish I had only killed you. I said, I believe, that I would make a symphony of your pain.'

'Well, we need to talk about that, Hugh.'

'What is there to talk about?'

'I need you to back off. I need Trader because he can help me stop the war between the Shoal and the Emissaries. If you don't, there's a good chance we're all going to die.'

She heard him laugh, and watched as he took a few steps closer to her. 'Are you appealing to my sense of decency? I'm disappointed, Miss Merrick. I thought you knew me better.'

'I'll kill you if I have to, Hugh.'

'You do realize that Trader is manipulating you, surely?' Moss moved closer. 'He's never honoured an agreement in his life. You know, I rather thought he would find a way to send you after me eventually. In fact I almost hoped this day would come.'

Fuck it, Dakota thought to herself, then hurtled towards him with a yell.

Almost at once she felt a powerful shock spasming through her body, an electric jolt that set her nerve endings on fire. Something crackled faintly just in front of her, staining the air itself a barely perceptible shade of blue.

The pain receded and she found she was caught in a shaped-field bubble. She had unwittingly run straight over a set of field-generators fixed to the floor of the walkway.

Dakota tried to stand up, but the ensuing jolt of pain was so enormous, that it forced her back on to her knees.

She waited, with a heavy, cold feeling in her gut, as Moss knelt down beside her. The shaped fields then snapped off at almost the same moment she felt her filmsuit finally drain itself back inside her body. Moss reached out and touched her shoulder. She jerked away as she felt a stinging sensation there.

'Get it over with,' Dakota seethed. 'If you're going to kill me, then kill me. Just don't stand around gloating.'

'Kill you?' Moss affected confusion. 'Always that desire for death. Why would I kill you?' He gave her a lopsided grin. 'Tell me, was I right? Did Trader send you here specially to keep me from chasing him?'

'What makes you think that?'

'I can't think of any other reason you would have bothered to come here. The last time we met, I gave you my word that I wouldn't destroy Ocean's Deep, and in return you gave me Trader. That should have been the last time we ever saw each other – and yet here you are.'

'I already told you why, Hugh. I'm not going to repeat myself

Moss rocked back on his heels, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. Dakota now had a good view of the long knife he gripped casually in one hand, poised close enough to slash across her exposed throat.

'Would you say I'm a man of my word, Miss Merrick?'

'I don't know what you mean.'

'Let me explain, then. I once gave you my word over Ocean's Deep. Did I honour our deal?'

'Yes,' Dakota admitted, forcing the word out.

'Then please allow me another question. Do you think Trader's the type to honour his promises?'

Dakota ground her teeth. If she made any move, he could cut her throat in an instant. 'No… no, I don't.'

'Then let me suggest a deal of my own, one we can both walk away from alive and feeling satisfied.'

She stared at him with an expression like a trapped animal and said nothing.

'Whatever Trader has told you,' he continued regardless, 'he will betray you. That's his nature. So when that time comes, you should really try and have some kind of advantage over him. Now, you gave me the resources I needed to track his ship anywhere within our galaxy.'

She licked her lips. 'Go on.'

'Allow me, Dakota, to give you in turn the means to control his ship at will. Observe.'

Dakota felt that familiar tingle in the back of her head that told her a large piece of data had just been dumped into her implants, whereupon she remembered Moss was himself a machine-head now. She discovered a moment later that she had come into possession of a complete command structure for a Shoal yacht, entirely configurable to her own needs.

She looked at him with an incredulous expression. 'Why, Hugh? Why are you giving this to me?'

'Because in exchange you will promise never to return, and to always, always leave me in peace. I believe you will now give me your word, and I will believe you when you give it, regardless of this particular transgression.'

'No,' she shook her head, 'it's not that simple. There's something else you're not telling me.'

He stood up now and looked down at her. 'Very well, let me put it this way. Trader's great skill is in surviving by treachery and lies. I've come close to catching up with him in the past, but he always finds a way to escape me. When he betrays you – and he will – you will have the advantage. Use it to destroy him, Dakota. Save the galaxy the trouble of letting him live.'

'And if he doesn't?'

Moss laughed. 'Will you promise me something, Dakota? When he turns on you, will you put an end to him so he can never turn on you again?'

'And you'd let me go?'

'But of course,' Moss replied, sounding almost magnanimous. He stepped away from her, and sheathed his knife.

She staggered slowly upright, breathing hard.

'So.' He smiled again, in a leathery splitting of his face like the wide yawn of a hungry snake. 'Do we have an agreement?'

She thought over her options. Would Trader even be able to tell if she was lying?

'You're serious about this?' she asked, licking her lips. 'Quite, quite serious.'

'Then I'll do it,' she replied, and realized with a shock that she meant it.