Always on Time

The pod was spacious. There was enough room for fifty people. A small window on each side, each with a row of seats beneath it.

Zedka lay down across the seats on one side of the pod. Opposite, Ropo sat on a single seat, hands on her pistols.

"You look tired, maybe I should hold your guns while you sleep," Zedka was on her back, looking over at Ropo

Ropo stared out of the window above Zedka's makeshift bed. Beneath them the ground started to rumble. The shuttle began to move. Warp speed was not permitted in the Xelon sector, so they would continue with standard propulsion until they reached the Tectracht Corridor.

"Let's set some ground rules. You are not to move. No you cannot take a closer look at anything anywhere. No, you cannot make use of some facilities to relieve yourself. You stay right where you are until we reach the Lunar Prison."

"How about a blanket?" Zedka asked rubbing her hands together.

Rapo blinked and swiped the air, "I've just sent you some nanomites."

Zedka's hands began to feel warm.

"I've got nothing against you, I've just got a job to do," said Ropo. "I get a name, I bring them in. 160 to 0, I always find my con and I always bring them in, always on time."

Zedka stared at the marshall. Her eyes darted to the window above the marshall's head and then back again. She inspected the graphene fibre wrapped around her wrists.

Ropo sat down, and closed her eyes. After a few minutes, Zedka rose slowly. She glanced over Ropo's kit. At least three pistols were in plain sight. Zedka focused in on one and walked over slowly until she was standing right over Ropo.

Without opening her eyes Ropo swung her gun up so that it was pointed right at the center of Zedka's forehead.

"Mods, Zedka," Said Ropo, "Even when my eyes are closed I can still see you."

With her left hand, Ropo launched Zedka into the air, against the far wall.

"AR lenses, nanomites and an exoskeleton," Zedka said coughing, her body writhing."You really went all out.."

"What can I say, I like a bit of DIY on the weekends."

"You built this all yourself," said Zedka. "Impressive."

"Well, if you're sufficiently impressed, I hope we won't have any incidents for the rest of our journey.

"I had to try."

"There's nothing to try Zedka."

"You know what I can't get my head around," continued Zedka. "I can't help thinking, what's a woman like you doing travelling across the galaxy, bothering people simply minding their own business?"

"Let's call it a lucrative hobby," replied Ropo. "Bringing in one of your kind feeds my family for a month. Then I spend the rest of my time as a research scientist at the Daga Institute."

"So you do the research for the love and the wrangling for the loot, got it," said Zedka."But that's what, all in, ten thousand intercredits a month?"

"Thereabouts."

"Not exactly the lap of luxury.."

"It's an honest living."

"Let me tell you, a dishonest living is a lot more comfortable."

"Well, that dishonest living has earned you at least 25 years of extreme comfort."

"You're very confident aren't you?" "That we'll make it to the Lunar Prison."

"Like I said, I always get the job done."

"We'll see," said Zedka. "How did you even become a marshall, I take it the science career came first."

"I spent a lot of time consulting with the cyber marshals on new kit," explained Ropo. "I ended up testing a lot of the kit in the field with them and the rest, as they say, is history."

"So basically you were bored as a scientist, so you decided to take a side job with the risk of death."

"The woman responsible for the biggest fusion reactor disaster in history wants to talk about risky professions."

"I'm just concerned for the children," Zedka said feigning concern. "Surely they'd pay any price for their mother's safety.

"So that's what you were getting round to," Ropo said, the realisation dawning on her. "You wan to know if I have a price."

"I may be... calculating."

"There's not enough money in the universe."

Zedka scoffed. Ropo opened her eyes and looked at her prisoner intently.

"The real reason I do this job is because scientists like me are responsible for enabling criminals like you to wreak chaos across the universe. And then we kit out marshals to risk their lives going after you. I can't build things with such high stakes and completely cut myself of from the reality of all that."

A green light began to flash on the panel next to the doors signalling that they were about to enter warp drive. Both of the women sat down and strapped in. Atmospheric and gravity controls on a ship the size of a shuttle meant that even at the highest warp speeds, things were stable, but caution was always the order of the day in space. For the next few hours, the two sat in silence.