6: Evidence

As the freighter warped its merry way through space, Artur showed me some of the junk they’d salvaged.  Plenty of empty ration cubes, for the plastics.  An ancient energy rifle, horribly corroded, probably only good for melting down.  Several drums of kerosene—a decent find, enough to net them a few grand at a trading post—which Artur said they’d found just lying out in the open.  I picked up a sealed plastic bag, but he took it away from me again.

“Er, best not to.”

“Why not?”

“Clothings, from the skeletons we found.  If your brother—“

“If my brother was among them, I’ll be able to tell from his clothes.”

Artur shrugged.  “Do not say I did not warn you.”

I ripped the seal and rummaged in the bag.  Tattered, bloodied shirts and trousers, but none of them Vig’s.

“His clothes aren’t here.  Maybe he… maybe he’s still out there.  Djann! I knew we shouldn’t have split up.  He can’t be dead.  Not until I see absolute proof that he’s gone, not ‘til then will I believe it.”

I jammed the clothes back in and hurled the bag at the wall.  Breathing deeply to calm myself, I sat down on an old ration cube.

“Maybe he already got away,” suggested Artur, fiddling with a bit of copper wire.  “Maybe another ship found him.”

I shrugged.  “Yeah,” I said, then started to laugh.  “That would be the kind of Djann-head move he would pull.  Hop a ride off-planet and leave me behind.  Jeez, I miss the little bugger.”

“What was his name?  Or is.”

“Vig.  Viggo Kelly.”

“He Navy as well?”

“Marines.  Good soldier, and smart.  I miss him.”

“What did you do in the Navy?”

“I was an officer, on a frigate,” I lied.  It was surprisingly easy to slip into the old lie.

“Which one?”

“HMAS Curtin.  I was their navigation officer.”

“Ah, how funny.  The Walrus said you had to navigate for yourself.  Easy, hey?”

I laughed.  “Yeah, but everyone knows Dessalines.  Don’t you?”

“Sure, but it was really because he gets nervous when he has to do it himself.  Managed to navigate us right into an oncoming shipping lane once, straight out of warp.  Never trusts himself since.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen a ship warp right into an asteroid field.  Everyone jokes about that kind of thing, but if you see it happen right in front of you, boy… let’s just say I couldn’t eat pizza for a while after.”

Artur looked at me funny.  “Why not?”

“The little ship hit this one big asteroid, left a bit of a smear.  You know how liquids sort of make big droplets in zero-G, right?  And water-based liquid will freeze almost instantly?  Yeah, well, they left a great big smear on the side of the asteroid.  It was kind of chunky, too.”

Artur laughed, then stopped himself with a dry cough.  “Sorry, that is horrible.  Should not laugh.  I see what you mean about pizza.”