No Stone Unturned

By Ryan Viergutz

In the prison station of Sunspot Rack, the two fugitive leaders of the resistance plot their next moves. Silph Marron and Leah Erafallt appear stymied while they make repairs after a narrow escape. In the end a pair of unexpected circumstances will force their hand. A mysterious message comes in with a connection to the ghosts that have hounded Silph for months. They may not live to see it because the Controllers have come.

The team sent to eliminate the resistance have a double agent with an agenda that goes much further than a simple capture. While Silph and Leah attempt to cause uprisings and evade capture, the assassin Shekri slowly turns the warrior Worochre's team to her personal direction. This leads to a showdown in a station sparsely populated with shapeshifters, where Silph and Shekri each learn more about the underlying mystery.

The ghosts, the message and the double agent in Shekri's head all will divert to a lonely bunker. Who will reach it first? What will they discover?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ryan Viergutz
• Release date: Nov 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463555422

Ryan Viergutz

I'm a freelancer, writer, roleplayer and gamer. I don't want to live in the same place any longer than a year for a very long time and I am always yearning for adventure. The first two overlap often enough that they're almost the same thing, though they aren't by anyone's measure. Regardless of the state I'm in, I am always roleplaying and I allow myself to indulge in gaming, usually of a video game variety, sometimes. At any given time I will have a scifi or fantasy book in my hands or in my travel bag.

Book preview

Chapter 1

In a few days shy of two months, the Spark had rapidly weakened into a sputtering needle-thin light hardly worthy of the name. Nebulous masses made of organic flesh and artificial implants had grown among its construction, two separate gangs had fought and bled in eleven of its fourteen tiers and the four top layers had blown up in a conflagration that still made Silph's head reel when she thought of the sheer unlikelihood.

For a pair of would-be revolutionaries she and Leah had fucked up but good. They'd built this ship themselves in the span of several years, outran death robots who had gunned for them for two weeks, and somehow escaped their grasp. From the moment they arrived on Sunspot Rack, their already dismal state had fallen straight into the shitter, and the fellow rebels that they'd thought would help them never stopped telling them how badly they'd done so far.

Leah's voice crackled in her ear through Silph's worn-down comm. Got any good news?

Silph laughed raggedly. Let me think for a minute. I'm sure I'll find some.

Mein Gott, it's that bad? Leah said.

Silph swiveled her flashlight throughout the sixth tier of their treasured starship. Lengthy shadows crept across its corners, as far as she could see, and she wondered which one of the masses lingered closest to her. She'd grown accustomed to them in recent days, and knew better than to run if they came too close. It didn't help her shakes, though. I don't have any lights on any level of this ship. I did last week. Any idea what happened?

Leah sighed. Silph could imagine that she dragged a hand over her face. I can cite you any of a number of reasons. Foremost among them, the lack of frigging power since the Turquoise and their stealth leopards caught us with our pants unzipped. It's hard to turn on lights when you have a lack of electricity, mein freund.

Silph sighed. That did happen this week. I forgot. Too much all at once.

I take it that means the whispers are getting worse.

It's hard to get worse when it never got any better.

I don't know, Leah said. I can imagine some pretty terrible turns...

Silph paused for a dramatic length of time. A silence between Leah and herself would never feel uncomfortable, but she liked to ham it up for the metaphorical camera anyway. Today they've started talking to me every hour. I haven't made any sense of them for weeks now, but the frequency worries me. They're always the same ones, too.

Leah puffed a breath. Do they come from any of the resistance?

No. Only civilians, Silph said.

Is that surprising?

I don't know. I don't know enough about any of them to be sure yet.

Still?

The hairs on her neck tickled. Silph whispered to Leah to hush and stalked forward into the tunnels of her spacecraft. She wasn't alone, and until she knew the nature of her visitor she wanted to concentrate. Between the Turquoise gang, the dozens of ghosts and the mass, she never felt fully alone. That feeling had grown worse since the mass had slithered off more sections of itself in some form of parthenogenesis.

Silph found a half-open door and saw herself reflected in its mirrored steel for a moment. She looked bedraggled and shabby, as she'd expected. Her eyes looked half-lidded, a sign of too little sleep and too much urgency. Her hair, in a blue tint darkened by the lack of lighting, stuck up in every direction. Her canvas cloak and combat pants looked distressed from the grime, grease and pools of water, oil and chems in the Spark.

Before her pursuer could catch, gnaw or harangue her, Silph holstered her pistol, bit on her flashlight and pried the door open the rest of the way. She shone her light into it first, spied a mess hall with pockmarks and bloodstains, slipped in and closed it behind her. She slipped ahead into the room and drew her pistol again. The feeling diminished. Probably the mess then, since gangs knew doors and ghosts didn't need them.

To her astonishment she didn't recognise the mess hall. Since she and Leah had put together this ship from scraps and pieces, they'd mapped it out and knew every inch of it. She suddenly felt cold and uneasy. They could handle a home invasion. The gangs served as evidence for that. It wasn't like that anything they owned would prove valuable to anyone else. No, this was different, like someone had changed it, out from under their feet.

Silph felt tipsy, like she'd drank too much, and stumbled onto a nearby bench. Out of the corner of her eye, halfway down the two-hundred-foot room, she saw the head of one of the three most recurring ghosts she'd seen. The ghost of a young woman in her early twenties, either blond or bald with no distinguishable pattern, looked at Silph and suddenly appeared before her. Dressed as badly as Silph, she had a constant hunted demeanor, and often vanished as quickly as she arrived.

Silph dropped her head on a hand. Oh, it is you.

Stay here, One said.

I can't do that. Silph sighed. It's the miracle the Controllers haven't found us yet.

One wrung her hands. She looked fully clear and bright. Ghosts always did, even when Silph turned the lights off. One month. One more. It's all you need.

Silph smiled. She liked talking to this One. The woman reminded her of a path she might have taken in her life if she hadn't dredged up the courage to rebel. You know what I'm going to ask. Get to the point.

You're too important. You can't take that risk.

Watch it. If you say that too often you'll sound like a Controller.

The woman stood straighter and huffed. I never will.

Be careful what you say, Silph said. They're always listening.

The woman bent toward Silph, at the waist, and stared at her. She didn't often make that gesture, but Silph had seen it before, and didn't move nor flinch away. Have I said too much?

No. I don't think so, anyway. Why have I become so important?

The woman looked behind her, and without a glance at Silph suddenly vanished. The unfamiliar room felt cold and chilly again. Silph held her cloak around herself, closed her eyes and shuddered. The quiet sounds of the Spark reassured her, its hisses and groans and cracks. Somewhere above her, between the tiers, a girder fell to the ground. Silph chuckled.

What did she have to say? Leah said.

The usual. I'm so special, I have to stay, Silph said. Yada yada yada.

Leah exhaled with exasperation. You think she'd learn we can't.

Maybe she isn't that smart? Could be residual.

You know that's not true. You see her too often.

I know. So what happens when we leave Sunspot, Leah? Will the Controllers find me right away? Have they set up a trap? Is the whole station surrounded? Silph said.

We have no reports of that. We've only seen small contingents of Controllers in the station itself, Leah said. They have increased, though.

And that is worrying. We have to hurry. I don't know how much longer we have.

Leah spoke quietly. She means you can see her, you know.

Silph shook her head. That can't be all of it. Why me? Why haven't we seen another medium? She gripped a coffee pot on the table and squeezed its handle. It had dregs in it and the smell of old, weak grounds got her to giggles.

What in the world? Leah said. Silph?

I realised where I am. It's the mess hall we built to house the central resistance. Silph shook her head and drooped onto the table. She shut off the flashlight and breathed into the shadows of her home. If the Controllers shut her down, and did everything they wanted to do, at least they couldn't take away their accomplishment. She and Leah had made this. It belonged to them. I think one of the lower gangs used it for a while.

I didn't know that, Leah said. I thought I've kept up on it.

Silph pocketed a pair of rocks from the table and sketched a smooth, elegant gang symbol scrawled on the wall. The graffiti warred with its style. They pretty much rebuilt the whole room and fought to keep it. I don't know who won. I don't think it matters. She looked up at the ceiling. One can say what One wants. We need to get on our feet again.

Leah sighed. I'm getting your data now. It's going to take months to clear this place up, three at the least, and now you're saying they completely remodeled whole rooms? This place is a wreck.

Silph headed back into the hallway, closed and locked the door, and felt a surge of defensiveness steel her spine. The creeping feeling returned and she stalked through it. It's our home. Sunspot Rack isn't. One has it all wrong. We need to leave as soon as we can. We can't mount a resistance like the system has never seen from one single station.

Xattra says if we liberate this one, others will follow.

Silph gritted her teeth. Xattra's forgotten his drive. We have to show them what a true resistance can do. If they won't come with us, like we intended from the start, we'll do it ourselves.

That won't get us very far.

We have a mass, Victory and ourselves, Silph said. We have enough.

No, we don't, Leah said. Silph, I have incoming.

Silph froze and held the comm closer to her ear. What do you mean?

The sensors have acquired a large signal, Leah said. It's a Controller cruiser. They're finally coming in force.

Do we have a trajectory?

Not yet. It came in a minute ago.

Silph started into a run. Keep them in sight. I'm coming.

As soon as she'd reached the end of the hallway and opened the door to the elevator, One appeared in front of her face and held out a hand palm first. Silph's sight blurred, her thoughts fuzzied and she staggered to a stop in the center of the floor. One shook her head slowly back and forth and stepped forward. Silph felt like someone had spiked her drink and pinned her to one spot with a force field.

Silph's vision turned into a slurry like her eyes had melted. A dozen rivulets of multicolored light flashed down through One's body and the tunnel. Confused and terrified, Silph clasped her hands over her eyes and felt them fully intact. The rivulets remained, as though she still held her eyes open, and small specks of skin boiled into them. She shook her head in an attempt to remove the lines from her vision. They wouldn't disappear.

One? Are you doing this to me? Silph said.

What's happening to you? One said. You're acting like you've gone blind.

Silph bent down and pressed her hand to the floor. Sometimes, the masses would make noises when they slithered toward her. Nothing like that happened now. The chunks of skin stayed where they were, as though a pot of boiling oil had frozen in place. She swallowed down her bile and concentrated on them. She might have seen an infinitesimal change, though she couldn't go on that alone.

While she fought down a wave of panic, she considered any other possibilities that could cause her vision to become blurry. Diseases could cause it, and indeed she had some in her family line. That alone wouldn't explain it and none of those she knew had images amid the blindness. The Controllers might have the ability, though if they had come this close they would already have imprisoned her. Could a ghost do something like this? They had strange abilities.

One? Silph's voice sounded unsteady.

Yes?

What are you doing, right now?

I'm blocking you from the elevator.

Panic or hope surged in her. She couldn't tell which one she felt. Have you moved, at all, since you held out your hand?

One hesitated. No.

Lower your hand, Silph said.

One didn't reply at first. Silph started when she spoke. Do you know what will happen if you leave, Silph Marron?

Can you hold me like this forever? Silph said.

If you leave this ship at this time, you will doom untold numbers of human beings. You're the only one like you, Silph Marron, and you must listen to me!

If I'm trapped they'll find me!

One, in this mode, spoke in an ethereal, distant voice. Silph didn't like it. If you hunt for them they will hunt you too. Give me time to help you.

You're hindering me, not helping me.

Suddenly, as though she had awaken from a terrible nightmare, the skins and the rivulets vanished from her vision. No other signs showed up, either sounds or a pressure lightened. After a few seconds, Silph removed her hands from her eyes, turned on her flashlight and saw the dim lighting of the tunnel again. The elevator waited ahead of her. One, as she almost always did after her enigmatic conversations, had disappeared.

Silph turned on her radio. Leah? Are you there?

Where are you?

Silph stepped onto the elevator. I'll tell you when I'm there.

Chapter 2

Leah sat at the captain's chair, sprawled across the console. She clicked a few keys in frustration until the whole screen went black, at which point she pounded her fist on it. The bottom half-inch of the screen crackled and burned. She snarled and kicked at the wiring and circuitry under her feet. Sparks and tiny flames erupted from the screen. Leah glowered at it, heard the elevator grind to a stop, pulled her pistol and turned toward it.

She pointed her pistol at the floor and waited for Silph to enter. Once she met her friend's eyes, she nodded and placed it at her side again. Silph gave Leah an uneasy smile, hunched her shoulders and turned to the elevator. After a long look at it she puffed out a breath, stalked over to the console and flopped down in the co-pilot's chair. Leah looked over at her and saw that her friend's dismay reflected her own.

Silph had taken to wearing dark, heavy leather cloaks with deep cowls in the past two months, and they lended her an air of cryptic mystery. She'd grown superstitious by increments, too, and now a handful of canisters with ritual ingredients on a belt hidden beneath its hem accompanied her survival gear. While she often looked dissatisfied, her investigation of the Spark's tunnels had given her face a worried cast. She turned toward Leah and gave her a crooked grin.

What the hell happened down there? Leah said.

Silph looked away, curled her legs up toward her waist and wrapped her arms around her knees. I had another vision, if you can call it that. For a moment I went blind. Then I saw these pieces of skin in the darkness. Leah squinted. No, really. Skin. I don't know what it meant.

Leah looked at the Controller transport that flew across the radar, tore a package and nibbled at an energy bar so she'd avoid her fingernails. What triggered it? Did a ghost find you?

One got ahold of me. She told me to stay here, on Sunspot Rack, or the Spark, or wherever, and then that happened.

She hasn't shown abilities like that before, right?

Never. Silph shook her head. She's glued to my feet to the ground three times now. Remember when I tripped on the tertiary reactor railing? Stopping people seems to be her skill. But skin? I don't get it.

Leah shrugged. Ghost shit. It doesn't sound immediate. Unless she has something that isn't a cryptic warning or some sort of prank, I'd say this takes precedence. Leah pointed at the screen with her pinky finger and suddenly felt a hankering for a cigarette instead of the energy bar. Pity she'd smoked them all earlier that morning. Controllers on the move. By my estimate it's a mid-class transport. Minimal armament, dozens of soldiers. They don't expect anyone to shoot them down.

Or they have backup somewhere else, Silph said. How far does our radar extend?

Not very far. Leah nodded behind them. It's a miracle the elevator had that much power right then. Even Victory's sleeping. I don't think she's lazy, it's that the system can't support her except for emergencies.

This isn't one? Silph sounded shrill. One had freaked her out.

Silph. I know One frightened you.

Silph crossed her arms and slumped into the co-pilot's chair. It's not that bad.

Leah shifted uncomfortably. If you think so. She waited for her friend to reply, and when Silph didn't, she continued. We have decoys planted on the station. They can't find us for about a week. Leah slid down onto the console and groaned. And the Spark needs two months to repair. Why do we have the worst timing in the world, Silph? Why can't we luck out just this once?

Silph dropped her feet onto the floor with a thud. We'll have to accelerate the repairs. We both knew we'd never have the Spark up to full speed. The Controllers can't catch us. That's all there is to it. If Xattra bitches about it he can bite my ass.

Leah's gaze slid to one of the five camera feeds mounted on the exterior of the Spark. They had their own batteries independent of the ship so at least those could still operate with the reactors worn down to danger levels. The oldest resistance fighter on Sunspot Rack, with hair like thin steel wool and a beaten-up grey coverall, had crept into the camera's view. Xattra stood there like he'd stumbled into it. Silph groaned beside Leah.

Spreche der Teufel, Leah said, and pressed the comm. Door's open, Xattra. Come on up.

Neither Leah nor Silph spoke while Xattra rode the elevator, ascended a flight of stairs and walked across the length of the ship to reach the bridge. Leah zoomed the scans on the Controller's transport to acquire a better view of its broad structure and possibly determine its precise manufacture. Beside her, Silph adjusted the fine details and searched for a readout that might complement Leah's own intel.

By the time they heard Xattra's footsteps down the hall, they had a better picture of the transport, from its model to an estimated number of soldiers. They'd misinterpreted it and the picture looked a lot worse than it had before. The Controllers had sent a heavier transport, with twice the number of anticipated soldiers, and according to the fuel its model often held, it would need the support of a larger ship. A scout alone would suffice, but that hardly helped them.

Leah threw an arm over the back of her chair and swiveled it to face Xattra Limald, the leader of Sunspot Rack's resistance movement. Here in person, she could see him more clearly. A man in his sixties, he had two prosthetic hands, the right only baseline quality, the left one augmented for strength, and a face pitted with scars. He'd broken his nose half a dozen times and one ear had no lobe. He had more, she knew, but he wore a brown-grey coverall to blend into the greater population.

You took precautions? Leah said.

Xattra gave her a square look. No one knows I'm here.

You look like you got done with a shift five minutes ago, Leah said.

Xattra crooked his mouth into a half-smile. I can fake the runs. It's disgusting, but it serves, and nobody will ask questions about that.

Silph grimaced. I sure don't want to. Yuck.

Leah glanced aside. You've done that before.

Silph flashed a grin from her cloak's shadow. Yeah. I already know how gross it is. Do you know what people did two days later, when I got back? They treated me like I was in quarantine. She laughed and gestured Xattra to the console. Nobody will ask.

Xattra folded his hands behind his back, stepped half a foot to Silph's right side, and looked at the various monitors, readouts and panels on the Spark's console. He'd learned a month ago what happened if anyone stepped between them in any way. A pair of scars on his lower ribs, on either side, had appeared that afternoon.

Tell me what I'm seeing, Xattra said.

Leah spun the image on the screen to show the transport from different angles. I believe it is a D-54 medium transport, with space for three hundred Controllers, depending on their size and frame. If they're mostly Warriors or Fighters, or the larger models of Architects or Explorers, it'd be three fourths that. I'd estimate two hundred and fifty soldiers.

Why are they coming now? What's changed?

Leah shrugged. As far as I know, nothing. We're still laying low until we can get this thing back in action. That's still two months away.

Or less, if we push it, Silph said quietly.

Xattra nodded. He glanced between Silph and Leah and then turned his attention to the console again. Is that your intention?

If we stay here, they may well find us. Two hundred and fifty Controllers could investigate a lot of ground quickly. If they're Explorers, even faster.

Xattra frowned. Leah saw the anger that boiled behind his dark green eyes. You know where I stand.

We can't allow them to catch us, Silph said.

Then we fight them off.

You know that won't work. Silph swiveled her own chair now and spread her hands in placation. We can't mount a direct, sustained resistance against the Controllers until we have the rest of the system behind us. We can't do that without the Spark. She narrowed her eyes at Xattra. If we got lucky, and fought this force away, they'd send more. There's a lot more of them than there are of us. We're specks in their eyes. You know this.

Xattra glowered at Silph. So you'd flee? Again? Like you did in Knife's Edge?

Rage flooded Leah's sight. She saw red, got up from her chair and before he could respond she slapped Xattra hard. The old fighter reached for her hand. She caught his by the wrist and forced him down to the floor. His augmented power didn't account for his reflexes, and she had the speed and agility of less than half his age. To his credit he did slip from her grasp and bring himself back onto his feet.

Leah's anger subsided. Xattra breathed hard and flexed his fists.

We had no choice. We fucked the whole op in Knife's Edge, beginning to end, and we ran with our tails between our legs. That won't happen again. Leah kept her eyes trained on his. Through her peripheral vision she saw Silph half out of her seat. This time, we haven't crashlanded in the wrong position, and we have the time to think ahead. Let us do that. She pointed at his chest. You think of a way to keep them off our tail. We'll liberate this system, piece by piece, but we can't do it if they get to us first.

How long before they arrive? Xattra said.

Silph gave Leah a quick, assessing look, and then turned to Xattra. Three days. Another three until they see through our decoys. That's a week to decision time.

Xattra smiled