Keeper Hunter

Copper stared at me one last time and flounced out in a huff. I began to wonder travelling with her would a good idea. I turned my attention back to the corpse.

“Right,” I said and halted. I was definitely going crazy I’d started talking to a corpse.

I held my breath as I eased the comms bracelet off the body. It stank and I wasn’t about to touch the body if I could help it. Unfortunately the need to find out who this was weighed heavily on my mind. He must have had some family someone looking for him. I knew I wouldn’t be able to rest until I found out the truth. I took the bracelet over to the sinks to wash traces of the corpse off it only to realise there was no water coming out of the faucet as I turned it on. I hadn’t realised how bad the situation had been for the people living here. No water meant death for them and for us. Luckily Copper had the foresight to bring plenty of water with her and I wasn’t going to waste in on this. I’d have to live with the stink on my hands for now.

By the time I had gone to the ATV for the comms reader and come back Copper was already in bed. I noted she had placed her sleeping bag next to mine it was obvious she’d never had to rough it in the way I had to. On a last test before I confronted the Black Stripes in the Hall of Elders I was on one such training mission. All I had was a knife and coil of rope. No sleeping bag nothing else but myself and the leather clothes I was wearing. The same training mission that had two Valkyrie opposed to those with mixed blood try to kill me. I managed to subdue them and tie them up only to find Thirika had been following me closely and I hadn’t even known.

The little folding shovel was by the door and it had been used. I picked it up and went outside to do what I had to do

Copper was awake when I came back in. “Well?” she asked.

I knew she wasn’t talking about the use of the shovel. “What?” I replied feeling the weight of my fatigue. All I wanted to do was sleep.

“The body?”

“Oh that, he was Arthur Michel. And no I’m not moving the corpse I’ll end up stinking to high Heaven. Only you know where the next town is?”

“Arthur you say?” Copper paled. “I knew him he was the mayor of the town.”

“Did he have any relatives.”

“No,” Copper said. “He had no family that I know of.”

“If I can I find his next of kin I’ll pass the comms bracelet onto them?”

“That important?”

“To the Valkyrie it is it will be like Solstrid’s bracelet. They believe its part of your soul and needs to be returned home.”

Copper only nodded and closed her eyes she hadn’t asked me about Solstrid. “The next town is about three hundred ’K’s further down the highway.” She turned over and faced away from me.

I held a sigh. It was going to be long journey and more than likely the road trip from Hell. It would have been quicker and easier if we’d taken a shuttle.

Morning came too quick. Blurry eyed I got up I had had a bad night. Not because I was worrying over the corpse but because Copper snored. She wasn’t quiet and there were times I nearly strangled her. We set off from the town leaving the corpse behind unburied. Back on the highway we passed kilometres of harsh scrubland with no green in sight. Most of the vehicles on the road were transports carrying huge containers from place to place. Copper insisted that she drive and we travelled at a constant pace in silence Copper not saying a word to me. I reckon that if she weren’t in debt to Lady Broaden she would have ditched me and headed home to where ever home was for her. The flat featureless plain gave way to the hint of mountains that grew closer with every passing kilometre. The mountains I could see were snow capped. Green staining the grey stone of the peaks. The highway curved as it climbed zigzagging up the steep sides of the mountains. Traffic slowed as transports struggled with the terrain. We were stuck amongst the traffic with Cooper not seeming to take the initiative and pull ahead. She seemed to have masochistic tendencies and I silently ground my teeth at the delay. Another checkpoint was waiting for us as we crested the mountain. We passed through that without delay after they checked my comms. I did get to wondering about that it seemed too easy. A sizeable town lay beyond the checkpoint. The highway crossed over it on a series of bridges several exit ramps led down to it. Copper took the exit ramp down and into the town pulling to a stop in the car lot of a motel. It looked better that the last motel we were in. I was glad of the break. I longed for a long hot shower to wash the stench of death from me.

“Wait here,” Copper said the first words she had uttered since leaving the abandoned town.

I let her go waiting patiently until she returned. She wasn’t as long as I thought she’d be.

“I’ve booked two rooms,” she said handing me a keycard. “This is yours.”

I got my gear out of the ATV and headed to my room.

The room was standard with a basic shower/ washroom combo with a bed and breakfast nook. The first thing I did was have shower to wash the stink of that town off me. Feeling clean I took a short trip to a diner opposite the motel and dined on the local burgers and fries washed down with some sort of soda. I was just glad it wasn’t ration packs and water. Copper was waiting for me as I got back to the motel.

“Copper?” I said cautiously.

“Glenda,” she said slowly as she glanced around. It was obvious she was being careful and not calling me by my real name. “We’ll hit the road at about 0600 that ok with you?”

“Certainly,” I replied. “Have a good night Copper.”

She just nodded and left. I swiped my card on the door to my room and went in. First things first I’d have to make report to Lay Broaden before I could even think of turning in for the night. I sat in front of the comms trying to order my thoughts, I took a deep breath.

“Message for Lady Camelia Broaden from Glenda Hampton,” I said to it as it came to life. I didn’t really expect to see Lady Broaden just one of her lackeys.

“Glenda what a pleasant surprise,” she said to me through the holo screen of the comms.

I stared in shock surprised to see her. I did note she called me Glenda and not Gwen. So this connection wasn’t that secure.

“Lady Broaden,” I replied reassessing what I was going to say. “Didn’t want to disturb you? I only meant to leave you a message you have better things to do then listen to me?”

“Glenda I’ll always have time to listen to you.”

I nearly did an eye roll she was laying it on a bit too thick which made me suspicious.

“So what is the problem Glenda?” Lady Broaden said.

I told her about the abandoned town and the corpse we found there. “There are millions on Earth that would love to make a fresh start in a place like that?”

“To starve, to die of thirst,” Each word she uttered bit like a bullet into my soul. I hated it but she was right. “To become refugees?” she continued. “We don’t have the resources. We may be pushing the Orsini out of the worlds they have taken but this isn’t over. The cost of liberation is high. I really don’t want to add to Constantina’s burden knowing she’s sent hopeful colonists to their deaths.”

“Ask the Confeds for help?” I knew my words would be futile but I had to say them.

“I can’t ‘officially’, too many discontents of the ‘Usurper’s’ regime still remain.

They’d love an excuse to destroy what Constantina is trying to restore.” ‘Usurper’ was her word for the former Emperor the one that was working with the Rhosani.

That was easy to see. I still hated it but I could see it from her point of view. “So you can’t help?”

“Officially I can’t.”

It was then I caught on to what she was saying. It explained Copper she was a smuggler. But there were too many ‘ifs’ here there had to be something that connected the both. “Copper?” I said absently.

“Copper?”

I started I’d forgotten I was on the comms to Lady Broaden. “Alanna, “ I added.

“You mean Alanna Cuivre. Yes I saved her from prison. Best we not talk about that. I’ve taken up enough of your valuable time Glenda we’ll speak later,” she said making it seem she called me and not the other way around.

I suspected something else was going on here. Why put I was related to her dead husband on my comms? The comms cut out. There was little else I could do so I went to bed. Things could be fixed in the morning.