C.M. Simpson's Blog

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Carlie's Chapter 9 - Dear Tiger: Don't Look Back

LAST WEEK, Simone told Tiger just how angry FedExplore were with him. This week, Tiger reveals that someone sent an assassin after him, and he's running scared.Chapter 9 – They Tried to Shoot Me

Dear Simone,
Today, someone tried to shoot me. I think it was with a stunner, but I can’t be sure, even if the bounty FedExplore are offering is for bringing me in alive. Now, I’m wondering if there’s another one out there that just wants me dead.Tell me it’s not Odyssey.Tell me they’re okay with me, that they’re not going to hurt me when they bring me in—because I don’t know what’s going on.It all started when we got to the end of the run.They did the usual download at the comms node, and then the captain called me in.“Have you seen this?” he wanted to know, and I shook my head. I’d been down in the hold making sure things were lined up for off-loading. So then he told me to take a look.I sat down when I saw what he was pointing at. I’m worth the cost of two pallets of luxury goods—which is what we’re carrying, in case you didn’t know. First thing I did was check the door, and then take another look at the captain’s face.He was giving me this real serious stare, and I just had to ask him what he was going to do about it. That made him smile.“Nothing,” he said, “and my crew won’t, either. Not if they want to keep their jobs.”I didn’t know what to say, but he wasn’t done talking.“The question is,” he tells me, “what are you going to do about it.”And I still didn’t know what to say.He waited, so I offered to leave the ship, but he said he didn’t think that was a good idea. For one thing, people probably weren’t going to wait until I disembarked, and, for another, bounty hunters have been known to kidnap crew just to try to find out where a target is going next.I’ve never been called a target before. The whole idea just turns me cold inside. I asked him what I can do, seeing as he seemed to know a whole lot more about this situation than I did.At first, he told me I should just stay aboard, and do my job from on the ship. He figured that if no-one saw me, then no-one would know where I was—and that’s when things got weird. Someone got on board the ship.I don’t even know how they managed it.One minute, I was working, perfectly safely, inside the cargo hold, well out of camera range, and out of sight of the docks. The next thing I know the loadie shouted at me to duck. It was a good thing I was between crates. I mean, if I’d been carrying one, they’d have had to dock my pay—and I’d have been hit for sure.I ducked, and the metal frame of the crate above me lit up. It was like lightning was dancing all over its surface. Right where my head had been before I ducked. What makes me think it was a stunner is the fact there was still a side of the crate left. No dent. No scorch mark. Just the lightning dance to show anything had happened at all.Of course, I didn’t stop to wonder what was happening. I was already crawling backwards between the stacks. At the same time, I was also trying to work out where the shot had come from, and where the shooter might move to, next.I’m not like a soldier, Sims. I don’t even have the training of your average security guard. I haven’t played any of those first-person sim games, so I only had a vague idea of what to do next—and that was from listening to the others talk about this war simulation, or that tactical shooter game, or one of those plague-apocalypse things that are so popular.Right then, all I knew was that I had to hide, and try and guess what the dude might do next.It’s a good thing the loadie, and the shuttle pilot had a clue.I listened to the sound of their footsteps as they ran across the deck and along the walkway, and I kept my head down just as low as it could go. I figured if I could keep out of sight, then I might be able to hide somewhere the shooter didn’t know. The loadie said I did the right thing.But, I don’t know.They shot him—the intruder, not the loadie.And then they dumped him out the airlock.Without a suit.I don’t get it. Why not just hand him over to the authorities? Why did they have to kill him?I was still shaking when they came and found me. I was hiding in a box of frillies—and I know you just snorted whatever it was you were drinking, so stop laughing, because this is nowhere near as funny as you think it is.The captain put me off the ship.He said he was sorry, and he paid me an extra bonus, and then he left the cabin while the loadie gave me the address of someone who could fix me up with a brand new I.D. Said the guy stuck to that line of work, and didn’t shop his customers, which is a reputation that keeps him alive.Well, it has so far.Anyway, if Odyssey didn’t shoot at me, maybe it would be better if they stayed away from me for a while, because everyone has me spooked, right now. Maybe it would be better if they waited until I said it was safe to see me.I haven’t even had time to check if they have an office here.And that does mean exactly what you think it does.The loadie’s friend was on-world, which is a good thing because after they made a big show about putting me off the ship, the captain and the loadie got me to come round to the loading dock, and stuffed me back in that case of frilly underwear. After that, they shipped me planet-side.They said it was the only way they could be sure I got off the station without being caught.I won’t say what kind of establishment they were shipping the underwear to, but its boss was kind, and she got me out of the box and into a spare room in the closest café without anyone finding out.So, now, I’m terrified of two things: that the aliens might find me, and that some bounty hunter looking to earn the FedExplore bounty might get to me, before I can get back into space.Keep your fingers crossed for me.If you say they didn’t come after me, then I’ll contact Odyssey as soon as I can.

Tiger.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The complete series is available as short, individual ebooks, and will become available as an omnibus, later this year. In the meantime, you can find them on this blog, until one week after the last chapter in the last book of the series has been posted, at which point this series will be taken down, and a new series serialised on site.