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THE SIGN OF ONE

INTO THE NO-ZONE

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

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PART ONE: EVASION

1: FEELING GRIM

2: CHANGE OF PLAN

3: BUSTING OUT

4: MURDO’S STORY

5: DECISION TIME

6: DIVERSIONS

7: SHANGLO BACKWATER

8: BLAST FROM THE PAST

9: CHASING THE DEAL

10: SO CLOSE, SO FAR

PART TWO: TEMPTATION

11: MAROONED

12: SURVIVAL

13: OPPORTUNITY

14: KYLE AS RINGER

15: IN THE CAGE

16: ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

17: ONE LAST FIGHT

18: AN UNEXPECTED OFFER

19: INITIATION

20: A LUCKY BREAK . . . OR NOT

21: BUST UPS, BUZZING SKULLS

22: MARAUDERS AND SCREAMERS

23: A HARD DOCKING

24: A HARDER CONVERSATION

25: THE PLEASURE ZONE

26: A WALK AND A TALK

27: SOME NASTY SURPRISES

28: TIME TO CHOOSE

PART THREE: REDEMPTION

29: SUCKING ON EMPTY

30: TELLING AND SHOWING

31: RETURN TO THE ARK

32: FROM BAD TO WORSE

33: HARD NEWS ALL AROUND

34: HANGING OR BAIT

35: SUICIDE SQUAD

36: THE BAIT IS TAKEN

37: TRAPS, TWISTS AND TURNS

38: A FINAL BETRAYAL

39: FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT

EPILOGUE: SIX STANDARD-MONTHS LATER

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PART ONE

EVASION

1

FEELING GRIM

‘Is your friend no better?’ one of the other prisoners asks.

‘What’s it look like?’ I say, real short.

I shouldn’t be bad-tempered. The girl was just asking. But Sky’s getting sicker so fast she’s scaring me. That, and I’m lightheaded with hunger and choking with thirst. My skin is sore too, horribly prickly, almost as if it’s trying to crawl off. It’s like that healing itch us nubloods get when we’re recovering from an injury, only loads worse.

Which is weird, because I’m not injured.

A dozen kids are stuck in this caged-off part of the star freighter’s hold with us. All idents, nubloods like myself. They’ve got the skin-crawling thing too, but you’d hardly know looking at them. They’re ident camp veterans, the toughest of the tough, and well used to suffering.

‘Why haul us off-world only to let us starve?’ I mutter.

Sky’s green eyes are sunk into her face. She stifles a cough. ‘Relax. They’ll feed us. We’re worth less dead.’

I hope she’s right. We haven’t seen our captors since we were loaded aboard. How long ago was that? At least three days, to be gnawed at by hunger so bad. One thing’s for sure, we’re not on Wrath any more. We’re off-world. In space. Tunnelling through the big cold empty.

Where to? Guess we’ll find out when we get there.

I lick my dry lips, imagining what I’d see if I could look back the way we’ve come. A scatter of stars, one of them the sun I squinted up at for sixteen years. Even if this freighter’s drive is as shagged as the rest of it looks, we’ll already be a good few light years on our way; too far to see the brown speck of Wrath, our barren little dump world.

Did I do right by coming with Sky? Don’t know.

All I know is that with every breath I take, I leave Colm further behind. If my twin’s still alive. By now he’ll have led the attack on the Slayer spaceport we found hidden in the heart of the No-Zone. Knowing him, he’d be fool enough to lead from the front and get himself wasted.

At the back of the cage a pipe drips water into a little plastic beaker. When it’s full the girl watching it so intently will drink it down. It’s her turn and fairer than passing it around. Some kids take bigger gulps than others. Must be getting close too, because she licks her lips and nods to the waiting youngsters to get ready. While she drinks, they get to cup their hands under the pipe so no drops are wasted. I’m after the redhead lad. Three more beaker-fills between me and a few mouthfuls of brackish water.

At the rate the pipe drips it’ll keep us alive . . . just.

Sky says it’s set like that on purpose, to keep us weak.

I squeeze my eyes shut and try to forget how thirsty I am. Flashes of light spark on the back of my eyelids, in time with the vicious prickling of my skin. Somehow I end up thinking about that Peace Fair I went to, where this all began. Seeing idents for the first time. Wondering which one was evil. Missing the Cutting ceremony, but watching the Unwrapping in the middle of a baying crowd. Everyone straining to see as the bandages came off. Which twin would show the impossibly quick healing, the telltale sign of the nublood monster? The sickening executions that followed. Nooses around children’s necks. The bang of the trapdoor as it fell open. The drop. A bar-taut rope twitching as a young life kicked itself away. Never for one moment suspecting that I was an ident myself. Worse still, that I was the one with the monster nublood pumping in my veins.

Now we know the hangings were faked so the kids could be spirited away afterwards. Like the ones in here.

I open my eyes and the redhead lad is next for the cup.

For maybe the thousandth time I reach inside my jacket, making out like I’m having a scratch. Feel the cold and reassuring metal of my snub-nosed blaster. When we were loaded aboard, the freighter crew couldn’t be bothered searching us. They’ll have figured their Slayer buddies would’ve taken care of that. Didn’t even find Sky’s leg brace, which would have taken some explaining.

‘Don’t!’ she hisses. ‘What if they’re watching?’

‘I’m sick of this,’ I whisper. ‘I say we bust out now. If we wait any longer, you’ll be too sick to back me up.’

She shakes her head, sending her white dreads flying.

‘No. We wait. I’ll be fine.’

‘You keep saying that; what if you’re not ?’

That’s my big worry. All us nubloods feel like crap, but we’re not getting worse. Sky is though. I grew up with a healer for a mother, so I know ill when I see it. Sky won’t admit it, but whatever’s hurting us is hurting her much worse. See, she’s only pureblood and weak already from the darkblende poisoning that’s slowly killing her. And that boiled buzzweed she takes for her lung pain doesn’t seem to help with this, so how much more can she stand?

‘We stick to our plan,’ she snarls.

Our plan? Hers, more like. Sky’s betting that we’ll be taken to the same place they took her sister, Tarn. Her plan is to keep our heads down until the freighter lands and unloads us, before shooting our way clear. Yeah right. Me, I’m for busting out the first chance we get, jamming my blaster in the pilot’s ear and making him take us some place safe. And this way we could give these other nublood kids a chance too.

But Sky won’t have it. Says they aren’t our problem.

‘I don’t like the way you look,’ I whisper.

‘Find someone cuter then.’

‘That’s not what I meant, and you know it. You –’

A violent lurching sensation shuts me up. My seeing goes all strange. Everything around me streaks away, smeared out to an impossible distance. For one heart-stopping second I swear our star freighter has slammed into something. But a few frantic blinks later everything snaps back. Something has changed though. That awful prickly feeling scratching at my skin is gone.

Sky lets out a sob of relief . . . so it’s not just me.

‘What just happened?’ I gasp.

‘Whatever it was – I’ll take it,’ she says.

The other kids are swapping startled looks when a loud metallic snick jerks our heads round. It’s followed by a soft sucking sound and then a soft breeze that’s there one second and gone the next. Beyond the thick mesh caging off this part of the cargo hold, a rust-streaked hatch set into the forward bulkhead slides slowly open. Two men clamber inside through it, hauling a large dark something between them.

That something . . . is a man.

Slumped, unresisting, his head hangs down, hiding his face from me. But I see the matt-black uniform.

A Slayer!

Sky stays sprawled where she is, squirming to see past kids in the way. ‘Are they bringing us food?’

‘No, another prisoner. A Slayer. In a right state too.’

The black uniform is torn and filthy and he’s clearly taken a fierce beating. His legs kick feebly as the crewmen drag him closer before dropping him. His head hits the deck with a loud thwack. Slayer or not, I can’t help wincing.

One of the crewmen unslings a killstick and waves it at us. ‘Back up, away from the cage door.’

‘You heard him,’ the other growls. ‘Shift yourselves.’

Sky and me, we’re already at the back of the caged area. Kids nearer the door haul themselves slowly and grudgingly to their feet before shuffling back towards us. The unarmed crewman unlocks the cage door and swings it open.

‘Won’t get a better chance than this,’ I whisper to Sky, slipping the words out of the side of my mouth.

‘No!’ Her cold claw of a hand clamps round my wrist.

While the guy with the killstick covers him, his buddy grabs the Slayer by his heels and drags him inside the cage. The man’s head leaves an ugly red smear behind on the deck plates. I’m raging, but Sky’s still got hold of me. The crewman dumps the Slayer, retreats and clangs the cage door shut again. Gives it a tug to check it’s secure.

‘Some company for you,’ he jeers.

‘What we need is food,’ somebody calls out.

‘Eat this guy then,’ the crewman says, and laughs.

They both clear off, and the hatch shuts behind them.

Sky lets go of me at last.

‘Great!’ I thump my head into the hull behind me.

Meanwhile, the nublood kids gather round the face-down Slayer. I see clenched fists and angry looks. One mean-looking lad growls something about it being time for payback and kicks the guy in the ribs.

I hiss out a breath and clamber to my feet. ‘Hey! Quit that!’

Growler boy sneers. ‘What do you care?’

‘Yeah, back off,’ a tall girl with a pox-marked face snarls.

I don’t need this. Twelve of them, only one of me, and I’m supposed to be keeping my head down. But now I get my first good look at the Slayer. I see the way-too-long-for-a-Slayer blond hair, matted with blood.

‘Oh, no way. It can’t be!’

I barge past the kids, drop to my knees and roll him on to his back. Stare in disbelief at the battered face.

‘What the frag are you doing here?’ I hiss.

2

CHANGE OF PLAN

Murdo! Still in the captured and patched Slayer gear he wore the night he marched us over to be thrown inside the loading cage. But what’s he doing here? We left him behind on Wrath. Unless they caught him? Crap! Does this mean they’re on to Sky and me too? Nah. Can’t be. The crewmen didn’t even glance at us when they threw him in.

I’m working on winding my gob shut when growler boy grabs hold and hauls me to my feet.

‘Mate of yours, is he? This Slayer?’

I’m collecting hard stares from the rest of the nublood kids too. And now that lurch thing happens again. We all stagger. By the time my eyes quit playing the fool again, the prickly skin feeling is back with a vengeance.

The kid holding me seems unfazed; he shoves his face at me. ‘You and your sick friend over there – who are you?’

We haven’t told them yet, or why we tricked our way into the cage and off Wrath, in case somebody squealed. Early on, one kid asked us where we’d appeared from. Sky told him a made-up ident camp name. And lied about us being shipped into the No-Zone weeks earlier to slave away on fetching and carrying inside the Slayer dome, until it came time to ship us off-world. Since then we’ve kept ourselves to ourselves and our mouths shut.

‘What do you mean?’ I say, stalling.

He’s half a head shorter than me, but much broader and stockier. And I’m pretty sure his name is Cam. The way he carries himself tells me he knows how to use his fists; the harsh look on his face says he likes using them.

He jerks his head at Murdo, who still hasn’t moved.

‘You know that Slayer, don’t you?’

‘How about you let go of me?’

‘How about you tell me why you’re mates with a Slayer?’

He shoves me a step backwards, and his mates crowd round too, peering at me suspiciously. Behind them, I catch a glimpse of Sky struggling to stand up.

‘You’re asking for it,’ I snarl. ‘Let go of me, or –’

‘Or what ?’ Cam gives me a harder shove that slams me back against the bars of the cage, rattling them.

That does it. I’ve had enough of being pushed around.

I crouch, which pulls him closer. Fists together, I burst upwards and lash out to break free. Before he can react, I’ve spun and hip-thrown him on to his back on the deck. He stares up at me, mouth open, winded and shocked. I’m guessing nobody’s ever body-slammed him before.

His mates look gobsmacked too. Good.

It’s tempting to be all sneery and ‘I-did-warn-you’. Instead, I hold my hands out in front of me to show him I don’t want to fight. And I go for my most reasonable look.

‘Okay, you’re right, I do know the guy. His name’s Murdo Dern. But it’s not what it looks like. He’s no Slayer. He’s just wearing their gear and pretending.’

Even to me it sounds lame, heading for unbelievable.

I step back. Cam picks himself up, glaring at me the whole time. ‘Pretending? Why would he?’

‘It’s a long story,’ I tell him.

‘And not one we want shouted out loud,’ Sky says. She’s up now, but it looks like it’s costing her.

‘So get telling then,’ Cam growls.

‘It’d better be good,’ the pox-marked girl says.

Now I’d rather be finding out from Murdo how in hell he’s wound up in this star freighter’s cage with us. But, short of pulling my blaster, that’ll have to wait.

‘Tell them, Kyle,’ Sky says. ‘But keep it down. Okay?’

‘Fine.’ I whisper the telling in as few words as I can manage, starting with Sky, Murdo and me being ident resistance fighters. Their eyes go wide. People fighting for them instead of against must be hard to take in. Skipping the bad stuff – that we were making our last stand out in the No-Zone – I bang on instead about the Facility raid and the hundreds of nublood kids who were found there and brought to safety. At least for a while anyway.

One of the younger kids cheers, but I shush her.

I move on to how we stumbled across the Slayer spaceport. ‘That’s how they smuggle their mined darkblende off-world. And nubloods, like you guys.’

Cam recoils, like I’d punched him. ‘We’re off-world?’

‘They didn’t tell you?’

‘No. We’re just beasts to them,’ the girl says. ‘We thought we were being moved to a new camp.’

Sky’s scowl slips. She looks almost sympathetic. ‘We don’t know where we’re being taken, but it won’t be on Wrath. This is a starship, not a windjammer.’

I see and hear the shock at our news. Fair play though, nobody wails or cries. Like I said, toughest of the tough.

The lad shakes himself. ‘Were you captured then?’

‘Huh?’ I say, confused.

‘You’re in this cage with us. How come?’

‘Oh yeah. I mean, no, we weren’t captured. That’s why Murdo’s wearing the Slayer gear. We scavved it off troopers we’d killed. He walked us to the cage like he was our guard. Two prisoners, late for loading. The guards didn’t ask any questions. Why would they? They’re more worried about you guys busting out, not us breaking in.’

Cam looks like his head will explode. He’s not alone.

‘Knowing you’d be taken off-world, you got yourselves chucked in this cage?’ he says, his voice climbing.

‘Why would you do that?’ pox-girl says.

Can’t help it – I glance at Sky. She narrows her eyes.

But what can I do? I’ve a dozen mean-looking nublood kids glaring at me. I have to give them something.

‘We got in,’ I say. ‘And we can get ourselves out.’

Slipping my hand inside my jacket, I flash my blaster. Just enough that they see what it is before I tuck it away again.

I see lots of eyes light up with hope.

Cam darts a look at Sky. Scowling, she nods. But makes no move to show them that she’s carrying too.

‘Well, what the hell are we waiting for?’ he snarls.

Yeah, good question! Before I can answer him though, a groan reminds me that Murdo’s still lying at my feet. I look down and see one of his blue eyes is open. The other looks like it’ll be swollen closed for a while.

‘We can’t wait,’ he croaks. ‘It’s bust out now, or never.’

‘Who asked you?’ Sky snaps.

Clutching his ribs, Murdo struggles to sit up. I help him to lean against the bars. He spits into his hand loudly and bloodily, fishes a tooth out of it, curses and chucks it away.

‘How are you even here?’ I whisper.

‘Tell you later,’ he whispers back. And then, so that everyone can hear: ‘You don’t get it, Sky, do you?’

‘Don’t get what ?’ Sky says, scowling down at him.

Murdo shows her his blood-framed teeth in a grimace. ‘Feeling sick, Sky? Guts twisting themselves inside out? Skin crawling? You look like death, you know.’

‘You don’t look so great yourself,’ she hisses.

Murdo just glances past her at the watching kids. ‘Yeah, even you lot will be suffering.’ He jerks his head at the hatch he was brought in through. ‘There’s a big red sign on the other side of that. It’s a warning. Says this hold is unshielded. Which means that while they’ve got this tramp freighter’s leaky old drive going, you’re all being zapped. No big deal for nubloods – you heal fast enough to take it or they wouldn’t carry you back here. But Sky and me, we’ll be dead long before we make planetfall.’

Sky snorts. ‘Bullshit!’

‘Is it? You’ll have felt them kill the drive before they dragged me in here. Why do that? So they didn’t get zapped, that’s why. And they were hardly in here any time at all. What’s that tell you about how lethal it is?’

Feeling as crap as I do, I don’t doubt it’s the truth.

‘Fine,’ I say. ‘We bust out next chance we get.’

A glance at Cam and the others and I don’t see anyone shake their head. They look well up for it. Sky, trembling visibly with the effort of staying on her feet, shoots me her darkest look, curses and nods.

‘We’ve no choice,’ I say.

‘Story of my fraggin’ life,’ she says.

Growing up in the Barrenlands of Wrath, I’m no stranger to seeing people on the receiving end of beatings. Murdo’s looks worse than it is. A cracked rib or two; a lumpy, battered and bloody mess for a face.

‘You’ll live,’ I tell him.

Fishing with a finger inside his torn mouth, Murdo glares at me out of the one black eye he can still open.

‘Only if we get out of here.’

‘Yeah, yeah. We heard you the first time,’ Sky says.

‘So come on, Murdo,’ I say. ‘How did you end up here?’

But he says that telling can wait until after we’ve busted out. We’re all crammed up against the bars of the cage now, as far from the drive compartment as we can get, with us nubloods shielding Sky and Murdo from whatever crap the freighter’s drive is leaking out. That was Anuk’s suggestion, the girl with the pox-scarred face.

Sky says it helps, but she’s clearly still suffering.

‘What are we up against?’ Cam asks.

‘There’s only five crewmen aboard,’ Murdo tells us. ‘Two gave me my kicking, another three watched.’

‘Good odds,’ I say. Especially with us being nubloods.

‘So we wait until they bring us food, then you pull your blasters and make them open the cage?’ Cam says.

‘Or shoot them, then blast the cage open,’ Sky says.

Murdo shakes his head. ‘Bad idea. See that hull? It’ll only be a few mils thick. A stray blaster shot, even on low power, will punch through it like a hot knife through lard. And that’s vacuum the other side. One hole and it’s goodbye to the air in here. We’d be sucking on nothing.’

I groan. ‘You mean we can’t use our blasters?’

Sky curses. ‘Course we can. We don’t miss, that’s all.’

Murdo rolls his eyes. ‘No! You don’t need blasters. There’s loads of us, five of them. And they won’t have energy weapons either, just killsticks or blades.’

I picture the guys who brought Murdo in. And it’s true – neither carried a blaster.

Sky snorts, clearly unconvinced.

‘You spring us out of this cage, we’ll take care of the crew for you,’ Cam says. And cracks his knuckles loudly.

His hard-eyed mates nod behind him.

‘Should we blast the lock?’ I ask Murdo. ‘To get ready?’

‘No. Could be alarmed. Best wait until they show up to feed us. We’ll know they’re coming when the drive shuts down.’ He winces. ‘With luck, I’ll still be alive.’

I glance at Sky. Will she last that long? I’m sure she’s thinking the same dismal thought.

Next thing I know, she’s hauling out her blaster.

‘Uh, Sky,’ I say.

Before I can stop her, she squirms round and snaps a crackling shot off through the bars of the cage. My skin was crawling off me; now I nearly jump out of it.

‘Are you crazy!?’ Murdo hisses.

‘No. Just sick of being fried, that’s all.’

Her blaster round has hit one of the wooden crates stacked further up the hold. Flames lick at the blackened and splintered hole. I smell the choking stink of smoke.

‘Oh great,’ I moan. ‘So now we get to burn to death!’

A siren starts to wail . . .