The desert streaked by below them, the rock and sand seeming to glow gold under the bright moonlight. No one spoke so Sayeeda, figuring her ruse would gain her no more information, opened her eyes.

“Where am I? Who are you?” she asked, making a show of tugging at her bonds. The turbaned man was gone, presumably off to do whatever task these men were compelling him to attempt. The city was already vanishing over the horizon. As far as she knew Neil was still back at their rented lodgings, unaware of what had transpired. The armored man, clearly an off worlder, sat beside her, while the local man was in the driver's seat head of them, separated by a sheet of transparent plastic on a metal frame. His skin was bronze from the sun though he had probably been born a paler shade, his head was bald with the recent application of a razor and he kept a goatee that was beginning to get out of control. It gave his already lean head an almost gaunt look. He wore a vest of woven carbon fibre which Junebug translated as ‘light infantry’ but which she knew probably just meant he was in a dangerous line of work. As kidnapping her certainly was.

“My name is Canek,’’ he said pleasantly, “and you are in an air car with me miss…”

“I am Captain Cyckali, what the fuck am I doing here?” Canek relaxed slightly at the words as though she had passed some test she hadn’t been aware off.

“Well Captain, you saw me conducting some sensitive business with the Pasha’s customs inspector. Given that man was about to soil himself before you showed up, I had to reassure him that you weren’t going to be a problem.” The man was infuriatingly calm, Junebug tugged at her restraints but they had done a professional job, she wasn’t going to get loose of them easily.

“Alright, so I’m not a problem, any chance of dropping me back at my ship? I really don’t know or care about anything you have to talk with a customs inspector about.”

Canek looked regretful but shook his head.

“Things are very sensitive right now,” he said with a glance back towards the fading lights of the canyon city.

“I heard some talk of selling me as a slave,” she said, narrowing her eyes.

“Ah not as unconscious as you made out, smart,” Canek said with a sharks smile.

“Well I could probably move you I suppose, your pretty enough but your a little old for a harem or a brothel, plus you look like the sort that would be more trouble than they are worth. I don’t care if you slit the throat of some fat merchant but who wants the trouble getting back to them?”


“Well you didn’t kill me so you must have something in mind,”Sayeeda said arching an eyerow. The air car was circling now, there was a small canyon, barely a fissure in the rocky landscape, the vehicle began to drop towards it. They passed within 30 feet of the rock to where it opened out into a large cave. Inside of which men and women were moving around, some of them servicing vehicles, others operating modern communications equipment. There were several light attack vehicles and a heavier hovertank concealed by tarps and tie down. Canek pulled a knife from his belt and held it up before him. After a moment he sliced through her bonds.

“Well Captain, if you can keep your mouth shut for a few days, I thought I’d offer you a job.”