The Shadow Order: A Space Opera Read online

  Although the challenger had watched the commentator for the entire time and nodded his agreement, Mathusa said nothing as she stared at her opponent.

  The commentator left the ring. The only sound in the entire place came from Mathusa’s heavy breaths as she rocked with her respiration and stared at the monster opposite her.

  ***

  The atmosphere wound so tight it could snap as everyone in the pit waited for the bell to ring, the challenger paced back and forth with his eyes on Mathusa. Mathusa remained dead still and breathed, almost as if in meditation.

  The bell sounded as a loud clattering ring that sparked Mathusa to life. She charged straight at the four-legged creature opposite her.

  The challenger rose up on his rear legs and kicked the onrushing champion. Both hooves caught Mathusa in the chest, and the large warrior stumbled backwards and fell with a loud Ooof.

  A quick glance at the box and Seb saw the creature in the suit jump to its feet. This clearly didn’t happen often.

  Before Mathusa could get up, the challenger ran over to her and played a drumbeat against her face with his two front hooves. The champ looked like she could go down.

  Then she caught one of his feet with one of her large hands; then the other. Although the challenger kicked and twisted, he couldn’t get free from Mathusa’s tough grip. Like a fly caught in a web, the challenger shook with panic, seemingly powerless to escape.

  A broad grin stretched across Mathusa’s wide face and she slowly got to her feet. As she stood up, she pulled the challenger with her, and the pit fell silent once again.

  With one of her large fists clamped over each of the challenger’s feet, Mathusa lifted the creature from the ground as if its considerable weight meant nothing to her.

  The challenger seemed to be caught like a fish on a line, and Mathusa held him far enough away from her that his flailing arms and legs came nowhere near making contact.

  When her already wide grin stretched into a sadistic grimace, Seb’s stomach tightened.

  A second later, the ripping sound of breaking bones cracked through the pit from where Mathusa had taken the front feet of the challenger and pulled them apart so fast, it tore the creature’s chest wide open.

  A hot copper reek filled the air, and Mathusa laughed as she bathed in the black blood of her opponent.

  For the next few seconds, she stood with the dead creature limp in her grip. When she let him go, the creature crashed down to the ground with a heavy thud as if its flaccid body had never been animated. It lay there like a bag of rocks, just a sack of muscle and bone.

  The crowd erupted into cheers and whoops. With the same stony expression that had crushed her face for the entire time she’d been in the ring, Mathusa looked around at the gathered spectators. A sneer of contempt arched her lip and she grunted before she walked toward the gap that had opened up in the pit wall again.

  Sure, Mathusa looked like she could fight. A brute, she could tear most opponents apart just like Seb had witnessed, but most opponents didn’t have Seb’s fighting skills. Three thousand credits would certainly help his current predicament, but the promise he’d made to his dad echoed in his mind. He’d already broken that promise once; no way could he break it another time. There had to be a better way to get the funds he needed.

  A more honest way.

  As she disappeared, Seb got to his feet. He could beat her if he wanted to. Size didn’t matter when you had his skills. But he couldn’t fight. He’d promised. With a shake of his head, Seb turned his back on the fighting pit and left.

  Chapter Twelve

  Despite the bright glare from the ocean, the mood in Aloo failed to lift. Everyone walked around with a permanent scowl as they dipped their heads into the salty wind. Any attempt to commune with a stranger resulted in an angry glare or worse. Mistrust ran high in Aloo, and it seemed that most beings had something to hide, especially when they came into contact with a human.

  As Seb walked past the lines of ships docked and refuelling, he saw that every one of them, without fail, had a guard by the cargo hold. Each guard had a blaster of one description or another, and each guard looked more than prepared to use the weapons they wore. Would working for any one of this lot be any more reputable than fighting in the pit?

  In the middle of what seemed to be a particularly busy area for the ships to dock stood food stalls where different merchants sold different delicacies. The smell of spices made Seb’s mouth water, and his stomach rumbled. His wage wouldn’t last long, but he needed to spend some of it on food. He had drinkable water back at his hotel, and although it tasted like crap, he could get by on it until he could afford the bottled stuff.

  Despite the fierce winds, when Seb got closer to the counters, the smell of spices and oils increased tenfold. A quick scan of the prices and he walked over to the cheapest of the four. Cheaper by a long shot, he’d have to eat there. Until he got a job, he couldn’t fritter his credits away.

  The vendor smiled at Seb as he approached. At least, it looked like a smile. With such a small mouth and black eyes, the creature about to serve him didn’t look like it had smiling in its repertoire. When the creature blinked, its eyelids met in the middle as a vertical slit. At about four feet tall, it looked like one of the sea slugs it had laid out on the counter in front of it—minus the slime.

  “Um, hi,” Seb said.

  The creature dipped a short and sharp nod at him.

  As Seb looked down at the trays of slugs, the beginnings of a heave rose up in his throat. “So this is all you have? Sea slugs?”

  The creature nodded again, slightly less patient for the question.

  “And I can eat them, can I?”

  On the same sign that displayed the cheap price of the slugs sat several images. Each one had a picture of a species on it, and they’d either been surrounded by a red circle with a stripe through it, or they had a green tick next to them. When Seb saw the human image and the large green tick next to it, his entire being sank. He had to save money and he had no excuse not to eat here.

  Seb handed over his credit card. A quick check of the sign again for the prices, and he said, “Just a quarter of a slug, please.”

  Unlike the slugs on the tray, the vendor had arms. They might have been small and had shrivelled hands on the ends of them, but they seemed to work just fine. It took Seb’s credit card, processed it, and passed it back to him. When it lifted a huge meat cleaver, longer than its own little arms, the sun caught the blade and glistened off both the metal and the slug slime and guts that coated it. Swirls of green and red slug innards shone on the hefty cleaver. No matter how many times Seb swallowed, he couldn’t relieve the nausea in his guts.

  The blade cut through the slug with a whomp that removed a sizeable chunk from the thing. The vendor then lifted the floppy slab of slimy meat and passed it to Seb on a napkin.

  The goo instantly soaked through to Seb’s hand. The cold dampness of it against his palm sent his skin into a writhing spasm. He gulped several times as he looked down at it. “Hey,” he said and looked back up at the vendor and smiled, “I don’t suppose you have any work going, do you?”

  Although the vendor might have struggled with joy, it seemed to have a good handle on contempt as it screwed its face up at Seb, clearly disgusted by his suggestion.

  Deflated from both the prospect of his lunch and yet another rejection, Seb walked away.

  Once several paces from the vendors, the wind battering him and stinging his skin, Seb lifted the slug to his mouth. As he opened wide, he caught the first reek of the creature. Somewhere between rotting food and sewage, the strong stench choked Seb momentarily. But he wouldn’t be beaten by it. He needed to eat and couldn’t afford to let his meal go to waste.

  Another deep breath and Seb opened wide. When the strong wind rushed into his mouth, Seb tasted the salt in the air. With his eyes closed, he bit a large chunk of slug away from the squishy and slimy lump in his hand.

  The meat
gave way to Seb’s bite like jelly and damn near disintegrated as he chewed on it. A strange metallic taste rode the slime down his throat, and Seb nearly stopped. But the need for sustenance overrode his disgust, and the vendor had said the food would be edible for humans.

  Seb battled his body’s reluctance. He chewed with a weakened jaw and gulped against his need to vomit. The longer Seb ate, the more the taste changed. Once metallic, it now took on a strong and sour flavour. The rich taste ran a convulsion down Seb’s neck, and his guts flipped as if to reject it before it had entered his body.

  With further mastication, the slug turned into sludge in Seb’s mouth. It felt like swilling snot, and after another hesitant gulp, Seb spat the rest out. When he dropped the part he hadn’t eaten, the meat hit the ground with a wet squelch and lay quivering on the pavement like a beached jellyfish. The napkin caught in the wind and flew away from him like a greasy gull.

  Seb watched it for a second or two longer before he looked up at the vendor who’d refused him work, shook his head at him, and walked away. It didn’t matter how hungry he felt, he’d have to spend more credits to get a decent meal.

  Chapter Thirteen

  It didn’t matter that Seb had found some other food—a cooked and spiced rodent from a planet he’d never heard of, its chewy meat tasted a lot like chicken—he couldn’t banish the experience of eating the slug from his mind.

  Even after he’d walked down the spaceport one more time, looking for work, and met aggressive rejection after rejection, nothing affected him quite as much as his attempted lunch had. The slimy memory would stay with him for a long time. He could still taste the metallic goo in his throat.

  At the end of a row of cargo ships, Seb returned to the bar he’d seen when he first walked the length of the spaceport. Maybe the only one in Aloo—he certainly hadn’t seen any others—he walked up to the ramshackle premises. It stood detached from the other buildings around it. Within staggering distance from the fighting pit, it no doubt saw a lot of rowdy customers.

  It had been a long day and Seb needed a drink. He could spend a few credits relaxing. He’d find a way to make the money he needed, but for now, he had to switch off.

  When Seb stepped into the bar, the large place fell quiet. As one of the early empires in the galaxy, the human race did some abhorrent things in its quest to colonise other worlds. Often met with open hostility wherever he went, Seb still hadn’t gotten used to the way an entire room could turn to look at him like it did at that moment.

  A bar on one side ran the length of the room—at least fifteen metres long. A quick check for the most shadowed space along the dark wooden counter, and Seb saw it unoccupied. He walked over and took his place there.

  A few seconds later, the bartender—a spindly chartreuse-skinned creature with loose limbs that looked like a giant stick insect—walked over to Seb, stopped in front of him, and stared at him with its lime-green eyes.

  When it said nothing, Seb laughed to himself. “Um … can I have a drink, please?”

  The silence in the place hung thicker than before and the barman continued to stare at Seb. After a deep breath, Seb raised an eyebrow at the creature—calm in the face of its hostility—and he stared back. Although his species might have been responsible for pain and suffering, he had no say in it and wouldn’t be bullied because of it. “I said—”

  “I heard what you said.”

  Agitation snapped through Seb and his heart rate increased. Seb straightened his back. “Well, get me a drink, then, bar keep.”

  “Why should we serve your kind here?”

  “Because I’m paying. My credits work just like all of the others’ credits do. So get me a drink.”

  Pains streaked up the side of Seb’s face as he ground his jaw and refused to break eye contact with the creature in front of him.

  The bartender finally placed a shot glass in front of Seb and filled it with a brown spirit.

  Seb knocked the drink back, the liquid setting fire to his throat and then burning when it settled in his gut a few seconds later. As much as he wanted to avoid it, Seb flinched at the strong taste of the drink before he looked back at the bartender. “Another.”

  Before the bartender served a second drink, he held his hand out for Seb’s credit card. After he’d swiped the card to claim the credits, he gave Seb another drink. “I’d take that one a bit easier if I were you. As a human in a new place, it may be sensible to keep your wits about you.”

  ***

  Seb took the bartender’s advice and sipped the fiery liquid he’d been given. With a slight light-headedness from the first drink, he needed to remain vigilant. From the way the patrons stared at him, it looked like any one of them would love an excuse to fight him.

  Before Seb took another sip of his drink, the bar fell quiet again. He’d thought he’d get a couple in before the other beings in the bar turned on him. After a deep breath and exhale, Seb closed his eyes before he shifted around. If he had to fight, he would. If his life rested on it, his promise to his dad would go out the window.

  But the silence hadn’t happened because of him. Instead, he saw Mathusa—complete with about ten hangers-on—stride into the bar. Seb pulled into what shadow he had in the corner and watched the circus that surrounded the large fighter.

  As she reached the other end of the bar to Seb, Mathusa slammed her fists down on it so hard Seb’s shot glass jumped, and a small amount of the liquid spilled onto the dark varnished wood.

  “Drinks for everyone, please, bartender.”

  With no trace of the hostility the bartender had aimed at Seb, he nodded at Mathusa, lined up glasses on the bar—his long limbs dragging the containers over from anywhere and everywhere—and began filling them so fast his arms turned into a blur.

  Every creature in the bar got to their feet to wait in line for Mathusa to hand out the drinks.

  Still covered in the dark blood of the creature she’d fought in the pit, Mathusa sniffed her clothes and released a maniacal shriek. “Poor thing. It didn’t know what hit it when it stepped into the ring with me.”

  The very edges of Seb’s consciousness slowed down as he looked at the brute in the bar, but he shook it off. There would be no fighting today.

  “Raise your hands if you came to the fight.”

  Most of the bar had formed as a circle of sycophants around Mathusa, and nearly every one of them raised their hands.

  With both hands resting on her ample stomach as if to contain her mirth, Mathusa arched her back, stared up at the ceiling, and laughed with all her might. Seb felt the bass of it in his chest. “I ripped it wide open. I didn’t need to kill it, I could have knocked it out easily, but creatures need to learn. What happens when they step into the ring with the mighty Mathusa?” The huge brute paused, looked at those around her, and cupped a hand to her ear.

  The sound of at least thirty voices said in unison, “They get finished.”

  Mathusa and the gathered crowd laughed as one. Some clearly forced their reaction, their eyes giving away the derision they felt for the Arkint warrior. Clearly in awe of her, some, however, meant it,

  Visibly roused by the attention, Mathusa stepped up onto a table. Most tables would have groaned beneath her huge weight, but most bars had reinforced furniture. Always a place for violence, any bar owner with a brain made sure they furnished it so it resembled a fighting pit. After all, they didn’t need to worry about the decor because the booze brought the customers in. With both of her large pink arms raised aloft, Mathusa drew a deep breath and released a booming roar.

  In the pit, much farther away than he currently sat, Seb had felt her mighty roar push against him. Now he sat much closer, the deep rumble shook his bones.

  The bar cheered.

  While stood on the table, Mathusa looked around until she made eye contact with Seb. She stopped and glared at him. She’d obviously seen he hadn’t applauded. The place fell silent and Seb sank with a sigh. This didn’t need to be happeni
ng now. He took a sip of his fiery drink and his face twisted involuntarily.

  When Mathusa jumped down off the table, Seb’s stool shook. Each heavy step slammed down against the hard floor. The tension in the bar hung so heavy, it pressed against Seb’s skin.

  As Mathusa walked closer, not only did she bring her stench of rotten meat with her, but her large form blocked out the light in the bar. “You ain’t laughing.”

  Everything slowed down, so Seb forced it away with a deep inhale. He didn’t need it now because he wouldn’t fight her, no matter how much she antagonised him. “I don’t find you funny.”

  A collective gasp swirled around the room.

  As Mathusa stared down at Seb with her hands on her hips, she tilted her head to one side. “Oh?”

  “Look, I don’t want any grief. I just don’t find you funny is all.”

  “I’m afraid it’s too late to avoid grief, you stinking human.”

  It always came back to that. A legacy left behind from his ancestors, Seb had to pay the price for their murderous domination of the galaxy.

  Instead of responding, Seb turned away from Mathusa and sipped his drink again.

  “Well? What do you have to say?”

  In one movement, Seb could jump to his feet and lay her out, but it would serve no purpose. If he ever were to fight this being, he’d make sure to do it in the pit, where he’d get paid for it.

  “Look,” Seb said, “I’m sorry I’ve offended you.” He held his glass up. “Let me buy you a drink and we can forget about this, yeah?”

  Mathusa knocked the glass from Seb’s hand. The slow motion returned and Seb watched the glass spin through the air in an arc that ended with a splash of breaking glass. With his pulse as a swollen and slow throb in his ears, he looked at the monster in front of him. The spot on her temples stood out prominently. One whack and she wouldn’t know what had hit her.

  As Seb pulled back from his fighting state, he focused on the room around him again and smiled at Mathusa. “I’ll take it that you don’t want a drink, then, shall I?”