The Eyes of the Huntress by Niall Teasdale

Author:Niall Teasdale [Teasdale, Niall]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: action, nanotechnology, Sci-fi, Adventure, space opera, science fiction, artificial intelligence, alien, AI, police procedural
Published: 2018-02-22T23:00:00+00:00

Part Six: Home Is Where the Heart Is

Back where I came from, people used to say ‘Home is where the heart is.’ My heart isn’t where I left it, apparently.

– The Memoirs of Shil the Huntress.

StarCorps Sector Base 423, Polydanth System, 207.5021 Local Calendar.

Polydanth was a pleasant sort of world, in some ways. It was warm and moist; the general feel was of a tropical rainforest. People went there on holidays, but they tended to stay out of the jungles. For one thing, Polydanth had its own ecosystem, and that included some dangerous predators. For another, Polydanth’s jungles were even hotter, more humid, and generally less comfortable than the more civilised regions of the planet. Shil had been in Polydanth’s jungles for the last four days and felt as though a lot of the jungle had taken up residence in her skin.

She walked into the reception area of the local StarCorps sector base dragging a man by his shirt. He looked as though he had spent longer in the jungle than she had – he had – and his hands were strapped together behind his back. He was wearing a survival suit, but it had seen better days. He was a local, a danthilli: he looked a little like a lurian, except that the shades were darker, adapted to hiding in the jungle. His ability to blend in had not helped him.

‘Corpsman,’ Shil said as she approached one of the four reception desks, ‘I found the bastard.’ She had picked that desk because the same corpsman had been on duty when she had arrived to start the hunt.

The corpsman, another danthilli, screwed up her face as she regarded the cowed figure Shil was thrusting at her. ‘Morthil Fut. Wanted for drug trafficking and murder. I’ll be honest, Shil, I didn’t think you could get him out of there.’

‘Four days in your lovely jungle, I’ll be honest and say that all I want right now is my money and a bath.’

‘I can understand that.’ The corpsman started typing. ‘Oh! I have an urgent-response notice. I’m to request that you wait here for a meeting.’

Shil frowned. ‘A meeting? Then I’m not being detained.’

‘No, it’s a request, but it’s from a captain with Special Circumstances. He’s here on the station. It won’t take long.’

‘Tell you what,’ Shil said, figuring she knew who this officer was, ‘let’s get this guy processed. If your captain hasn’t turned up by then, I’ll be on my ship, getting your jungle out of my pores. I won’t leave the station until he’s talked to me. Deal made?’

‘That sounds like an amicable compromise. Deal made.’

~~~

Araven was a little annoyed that he had missed Shil at the reception desk. Sector bases were just too big! By the time he had heard she was there, got himself together, and taken a transit tube from main habitation to reception, she had already gone. Still, he figured she had guessed who had asked her to stick around: he doubted she invited just any StarCorps Special Circumstances officer to her ship.

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