Hard Bounty

The wind blew cold and dry against my skin, but I was beyond noticing the pinpricks of ice against my cheeks. I raised the binocks and studied the land around me.

Here, in this desert, in this swirling, ever-moving landscape and on this planet, I would find my prey; though ‘prey’ infers a vulnerability Peero did not have.

I am a hunter; a hunter of sentient creatures unable or unwilling to adhere to the common precepts of legally mandated civilisation. Out here, though, on a fringe world like Helios, ‘civilisation’ meant a willingness to kill to survive. If you weren’t strong enough to hold on to your land, your family, your ideals, someone would take it from you; take it all.

I could see no sign of him through normal vision and my lips tightened, changed the setting to infra. If he left any tracks, I would find him. I needed to find him, and not just for the millions of credits involved.

There were at least another two dozen hunters searching for Peero, but only one – me – had tracked him to Helios. Probably because it was the last place hunters would look.

Peero needed water, lots of it, to survive and a desert world was anathema to him. Yet, he’d left his mark on dozens of other worlds and any with large bodies of water were under guard by the United Worlds Colonial Marines and the UW Police Units.

This hunt had lasted three T-years when I finally caught up with his spacecraft on this barren rock.

I saw the faint, pale blue of footsteps marching up the next dune and smiled. Yay, me.

I activated the booster skis and slid down the dune. They powered up the next, following Peero’s trail. It must be hard going for him, but anything that made his escape hard, made my job easier.

Why was I in pursuit of this s.o.b.? Peero was a killer, but no ordinary killer. Once described as a ‘homicidal maniac’, Peero had raised the bar, all on his own. He turned himself into a genocidal maniac. A creature so deft at the slaughter of planetary populations, there could be no other name for him.

Peero is Ullarian; a species of chameleon who could lay waste planets through viral warfare. The Ullarians breathed air, like humans, but where we expelled carbon dioxide and other chemicals, the Ullarians expelled a symbiotic virus searching for a new home along with the chemical cocktail; a virus that multiplied at astonishing rates and killed anyone else breathing the same air. The symbiote was only non-toxic to Ullarians. When it happened to the first contact team, everyone thought it a contaminant, by the third group death, this one the crew of a superdreadnought ship sent to bring them to negotiations, the United Worlds Council was ready to interdict the whole Ullarian system, or kill them all.

Unwilling to go back into isolation when there were galaxies to explore and peoples to meet and trade with, the Ullarians developed their own filtering system and swore allegiance to the Council.

Peero, a convicted criminal on his own world, disagreed with the restriction and set about creating worlds where only his people could survive; for once a planet had been infected, no other species but those indigenous to Ullaria, could survive.

In some sectors of Ullarian society, he is the World Builder, in others he is what the rest of us know him to be: a murderer of innocents.

I slid up and down shifting dunes, the pale blue footmarks deepening in colour. On a hot world such as this, any cooler blooded creatures steps showed blue; a hotter blooded creature would show up orange or red. The sand still retained the heat from the scorching day, for all the wind’s chilly fury. By nightfall, the sand would cool, too, but I was too close on Peero’s tail for him to stop and wait for better travelling conditions.

I paused at the peak of yet another dune and scanned the area. Beyond the third dune, the desert shifted to a pebbled landscape. He could move faster across that flattened land to the foothills I could see in the distance. Further past the foothills, below the horizon, I was sure there’d be mountains; and in mountains, water could be found.

I knew once in the flatlands, Peero would run on four feet. I didn’t have that luxury, but I did have counter-grav technology that allowed me to bounce across the landscape. I could have used it in the sand dunes, but I wanted to keep a low profile until absolutely necessary. In the flatland, that was a moot point.

If I could see for klicks around, so could he and I had no illusions about him having a personal warning system; just how far that sensor extended was the question. Mine showed no indication of the Ullarian; yet.

I slid down the last dune, removed my skis and pressed the button to shorten them to the length of my hand, shoved them into a pocket.

The binocks didn’t locate the evil bastard, but showed Peero’s steps as lengthening. I was wrong; he didn’t lope on all fours, he had counter-grav tech and I sighed.

I supposed if you rape and kill a dozen worlds, the tech on that planet is all yours; no-one is left to tell you otherwise. It raised the question of what else Peero had in his bag of tricks. He’d been on the run for a long time, but he’d also acquired a lot of tech, weapons, too.

It was time to see how fast he could run and I set off, bounding over hundred metre tracts of land, carefully choosing my landing spots before setting down and leaping off again. It would be fatal to twist an ankle or break a foot in this terrain.

Four hours later, I reached the foothills. Dried grass crackled underfoot. This part of Helios hadn’t seen rain for months and I could easily track Peero in the crushed and dusty footprints.

The air was distinctly cooler and reddened my cheeks. I adjusted the filter mask across my nose and mouth and fixed the multi-functional goggles across my eyes. Ullarians spat blinding venom, too. I set off running again, following his trail.

Peero was mine.

I traversed the valleys and peaks, keeping an eye on the blue tracks. They headed in one direction: straight towards the snow capped mountains.

Peero had come a long way to find water and I slid to a stop on a grassy crest.

Peero had come a long way… I thought, but why?

He could have landed in the foothills, or gone straight to the mountains, hidden his craft within a cavern or a valley. He had no reason to land in the desert. The craft hadn’t sustained any damage or equipment failure – at least, not until I found it and did some ‘creative’ maintenance on it.

What scenario had caused him to land in a desolate, dry place?

I could ask him when I caught up to him, but that was less important than killing him, unless it interfered with the job.

The thought that I was missing something stayed with me as I bounded across the foothills and up into the mountains.

Peero had landed in a desert when he didn’t need to… although…

I checked my scanner again. Nothing yet.

If he were meeting with someone and that someone didn’t want an armed craft anywhere near him, meant I was dealing with more than just Peero. Who would be dumb enough to partner up with him? Criminal elements might accept him. The thought of having a world filled with technology and no people would be an attractive proposition but only for as long as Peero kept himself under control. Eventually, he’d slaughter anyone who wasn’t Ullarian.

It sounded feasible and if that were the case, I needed a little help.

I jumped from rocky outcrop to rocky outcrop and with every leap, I checked my systems for blue prints. His counter-grav was better than mine: for every two leaps I took, he jumped one.

I came to a stop and stared at a four-metre wide chimney of near-smooth dark rock, at least one hundred metres high on one side, twice that on the other and up into the royal blue sky. I held my position and glanced over my shoulder. The sun’s glare stabbed directly into my eyes as it crept lower over the horizon.

Silly bitch. Blind yourself why don’t you?

I waited for my vision to clear and looked back up the chimney. I could do it… just.

My toes swivelled against the rock and I crouched, jumped as high as I could. The counter-grav kicked me up and I reached out my hands, aimed for the top edge of the chimney.

My ascent slowed as I stretched, missed the top edge and slowly descended. I scrabbled for a handhold with my right hand, found a ledge no more than a centimetre deep and stopped against the sheer rock face. I gently beat my head against the cold surface.

I had to get to get better equipment - something that wasn’t a ten-year-old Marine caste off.

The top edge of the rock was a tantalising two metres above my head, and while the counter-grav wouldn’t let me fall quickly, I had nothing but wall to push off from.

I turned my head. Solid, smooth rock rose further than the hundred metres, towering majestically above me. The only option I could see was to drop and try again, but in the gathering darkness, I had less of a guarantee I’d make the leap.

To wait until morning was unthinkable. I was so close to the bastard, I could almost smell him. In fact…

I slowly lifted my head and air above the lip of the chimney shivered, coalesced and Peero’s ugly face appeared, grinned down at me.

“Hel-lo, Say-gan.” The translator in my ear said. “You are late.”

Ullarian vocal apparatus could not replicate human speech. Their language consisted of hisses, pops, squeaks and otherwise sounded like someone torturing wood.

I glared up at his flat, green frond-covered face. Two vertically slit black pupils stared down at me. He had two hands, but fingers grew from all around his palm; he could grasp anything, manipulate anything with all those fingers. And if he lost one, it grew back.

“Peero, I’ve come to execute the United Worlds warrant.” I said and he tilted his head, crouched down. I fumbled with the dart pistol at my waist. The high velocity darts lay flat in the cartridge but when expelled from the barrel, the four wings clicked out like a throwing dart, balancing the half-centimetre wide, sharpened missile. To say it was a messy weapon, even at close range was an understatement. All I had to do was not drop it.

“You are late.” He said again.

“Okay, I’ll bite, late for what?” I unclipped the holster.

“I want you here soon-est; leave trail.”

I adjusted my fingers over the protrusion of rock. “And I followed.” Slowly drew the weapon.

“Say-gan not so good hun-ter. You are late.” He moved slightly then showed me the head-sized rock in his hand.

Not good. My thumb clicked the pistol over from one shot to a three shot burst.

“Look, just tell me what I’m late for, okay?” I was not a left-handed shooter. Oh, I practiced, but it still felt unnatural and I’d have to bring up the weapon in an obvious arc to fire without losing my grip.

“Ullars need meat, Say-gan. Ullars wait long time for you. You good eat-ting?” He smirked down at me and the hot/cold burst of fear exploded over my skin.

Of course. This rock of a planet had limited animals for any carnivore to consume. There wasn’t much vegetation and that meant not many herbivores, ergo, fewer carnivores. It’s primary export? What else but the crystalline sand that covered so much of the planet.

I grabbed onto what he said. “Ullars? There are more of you?”

“Fam-il-y. Big fam-il-y.”

Oh, hell, he’d been breeding! Once I was done with the warrant, I’d have to report it. Whether or not his family lived was up to the UWC, not me, thankfully.

And that was why he’d landed so far out. Anyone who followed in my footsteps would lose my heat signature unless they landed within twenty-four hours; and that wasn’t possible because I hadn’t told anyone my destination for fear of losing the bounty.

Greed and arrogance can be a terrible burden. I thought with a sigh.

The weapon hung down by my side pointed to the earth; Peero held a rock in his hand that would bash my head quite nicely. Timing would be everything and I had one chance.

I shifted my feet to lie flat against the rock face. Peero narrowed his eyes at me and lifted the small boulder in his hand. All he had to do was drop it on me and I was as good as dead.

“Aren’t you going to help me up?” I asked with a sneer.

“You lie; you cheat; you trick-ster.” Peero drew back his arm to hurl the rock. “You dead.” He growled as his arm moved forward to throw.

I pushed off against the cliff-face, lifted the weapon and fired up at him.

The rock slammed into my chest and then I slammed into the opposite wall, but I kept firing as I fell, saw chunks of the Ullar spray backwards in an explosion of green. He wavered for a moment, grasping the holes punched through his body, and then he plummeted towards me.

A hundred metres might sound like a fair distance, but we covered it exceptionally fast. Peero collided with me halfway down, increasing my velocity. A one-person counter-grav couldn’t carry two and it burned hot against my feet, ankles, and waist as it struggled to compensate. I managed to shift Peero slightly to the side before the awful shock of smashing into the ground.

* * *

I opened my eyes to full darkness, zig-zaggy vision, nausea and pain. Lying still didn’t help as jagged throbs pulsed through my chest and head.

On the plus side, I’d done my job. On the negative side, I had to bring back proof and it was a hike and a half to my ship, maybe impossible in my condition.

I lifted a hand to push Peero’s shredded remains off me and agony exploded through me. I’d need a little help; so I reached across my body to unseal the med-kit in my left sleeve, injected myself with painkiller and sat up once it kicked in.

From the same pocket, I took out a syringe, jammed it into Peero’s neck and sucked out a good dose of dna and tissue sample. Then I shoved him off me.

His blood drenched my lower half with sticky green blood; lots of it. If the darts hadn’t killed him, the fall would have given the unnatural floppiness of his head and legs.

I used the counter-grav to help me up and stared into the darkness of the hills with a sigh. I pressed a stud on the back of my wrist. It glowed green and a matching green pulsed not three metres from me. I walked over, picked up the gun and holstered it.

Time to go home.

The relief at the thought, at a job done, though not well and not easily, helped motivate me. I would use that focus on the long march back to my ship.

As for Peero’s family, only the UWC could make that decision; and I would take no part in the slaughter of children.

But that’s just me, Rhianna Sagan, bounty hunter.