Hello, BABIES! Yeah, I'm back - just had to deal with several family crises and a certain DROUGHT in my country. Bah. Anyway. Yes, I'm back, and we have a new chapter. Hope you enjoy, love it, stroke it, review it. Yeah. All that stuff. Please note that Chapter Five could also be some time away.

But anyway. Let's not worry about such stuff and nonsense. HAVE A READ, MY CHICKENS!


They stayed in Utopia 12 for one more day. The big bruiser who had led the search team for Grenade the night before came in to check on them the next day, seeing how Karma was. Karma seemed very pleased that he'd showed up, because she led him inside and made him sit down, babbling on about how decent it was of him to come. He introduced himself as Anchor, the chief of Utopia 12. "We couldn't find your muggers, ma'am. Real shame that we didn't – they would've had a real talkin'-to after what they did."

Karma shrugged, and then winced at the movement of her shoulder. "Yeah – ow – I prob'ly would've joined you."

"How's your shot, ma'am?"

"Don't know. Looks like its OK, but hey. It was only last night."

"Not infected," Modo added. "Might've done with a few stitches, but she's a stubborn lady."

Anchor leaned forward. "I got a question for you, ma'am." His eyes met Karma's easily. "That story about your mother – it sounds… interesting."

Karma's face blackened immediately. "Interesting ain't the best word you could use. You wouldn't be the first who didn't –"

Anchor held up his hands. "Easy, Miss Pop, easy up. We believe you, we all do – there's been similar cases goin' around and more than a few people here can relate to you. What would you say if I got some of my boys together and we helped you out? Only as far as the next main road. But I guess every little bit counts."

Karma almost smiled. "You're very decent."

"Anything for a lady." Anchor smiled back. "We help out anyone we can."

Karma sat back and thought. "I think we'll be OK."

"You sure?"

"I just need to get home. Issue a subpoena, all that."

Anchor nodded. "Wise choice, ma'am." He winked at Throttle. "I bet you had a word with her about that."

Throttle almost choked. "Y-yeah." Karma was smiling at him too, with venom in her eyes.

"Yeah, we had a talk last night." Throttle could tell that she really didn't like pretending he was her boyfriend. "And we agreed."

Anchor nodded. "Well then, if you've agreed…" he got up. "If I don't see you, have a safe trip home."

"Thanks for coming." Karma got up too. "We appreciate it."

"Hope that arm gets better." Anchor waved to them and left.

The expression on Karma's face was enough. "Well, shit." She got up from her place on the couch and watched him leave on his bike. "That didn't go well."

"'Lots of similar cases goin' around…'"

"Shut up," she snapped at Throttle. He withdrew quietly.

Karma paced around the room, holding her shoulder. "Alright. Calm down. Think, girl." She closed her eyes and rubbed her shoulder obsessively. "I've started off badly. I'm being too hasty and I'm missing things."

"Our fault, I expect."

"Oh, I'm willing to let you take the blame." Throttle was learning that Karma always smiled her most beautiful smiles when she was annoyed. He found it so ironic.

Karma's tail flicked from side to side. "We can't stay here now. We've backed into a corner. Get your things and we'll go."

"What, now?"

"You got ten minutes." Karma stalked into her room and shut the door to wrestle her belongings one-handed into her bag.


They did as they were told and took ten minutes. Karma came out with her jacket on to hide her shoulder and dumped her bag on the back of her bike. "Anybody know what we owe the landowner?"

"Already asked. Seventy-nine."

"Jesus, that's too cheap. How's she gonna feed her kids?"

Vinnie shrugged. "I'm just sayin' what she told me."

Karma considered, then dismissed it. "Whatever. You boys be nice and pitch in." She pulled out a small envelope from her pocket. "I got twenty in there. You split the rest."

They did. Karma was gnawing on her lip as they put in their bit, her eyes narrowed. "Hang on. Do you boys still have that cheque?"

"Why? You want it back?"

"Yeah."

Vinnie was indignant. "What?"

"Well, I gave it to you so you'd go away. And considering you haven't pissed off yet, I want it back. Who has it?"

Vinnie glared at her. "That's just…"

"Give me the cheque, Vinnie."

Vinnie grumbled and fished out his wallet from his saddlebag. "Don't spend it all at once," he snapped as he handed her a piece of paper, folded once.

"Don't plan to." She pulled out a pen from her jacket and scrawled something on the back of the cheque, before opening the envelope with the accommodation money in it and stuffing the cheque inside. Then she sealed it. "She'll only try to give it back."

"What're you doing?"

Karma didn't reply. "Back in a sec." She walked across the courtyard towards the owner of the inn, who was sitting on the veranda breastfeeding one of the babies. They exchanged a few words, during which Karma handed her the envelope. Then she waltzed back down the steps and jogged back across the yard. "Time to go, boys." She pulled her helmet on and they wheeled out of the courtyard.

It wasn't until they were back on the main road, due east, before somebody said something.

"Miss Karma…"

"What?"

Modo's voice was low. "That was… that was real decent of you."

"Well, did you see how many kids she had? She needs to buy them some shoes." Karma brushed Modo off with well-practiced indifference.

Modo only smiled to himself.


The woman who owned the inn in Utopia 12 was called Apache. She had seven children under the age of nine and was a widow as of three months ago. Her husband, a local scouter, had been shot in a Sand Raider ambush by the side of the road. He had been coming home after spending six weeks scouring the country for the very Sand Raiders who killed him.

Apache had no money outside of the financial support given to her by the rest of the utopian citizens. She was very proud and hated taking charity, but when Longshot died she hadn't had any other choice. Her second-youngest child was a chronic asthmatic and couldn't even run without wheezing – he'd nearly died twice after he stopped breathing in his sleep, and had to be monitored all the time. The medical help available in Utopia 12 was limited to treating external wounds, and the cost of a doctor to come and visit was astronomical for her now that Longshot was gone. Everyone pitched in, but now it was even harder, especially when she had two new babies in the house.

When the woman with gold fur came in and brusquely asked for a room, Apache had been as accommodating as possible. Is there anything you need? I'll get one of the kids to run down to the store if you want. Do you want to have dinner with us tonight? Is your bedroom OK? She'd been so desperate to receive a customer that she was more than willing to grovel.

The woman was abrupt and bordered on rude. Feeling very deflated, Apache had gone back into her own cabin to be presented with a coughing toddler and a pair of howling babies. The twins didn't sleep and were poor feeders. Her oldest child Elation was only eight and had to act as a second adult. She couldn't even afford to buy her kids shoes. I'm a bad mother. I'm a bad mother.

She'd sat on the couch and tried not to burst into tears as she tried to get the twins to latch onto her swollen breasts. They wailed themselves to exhaustion and fell asleep while weakly mouthing her nipples. Apache leaned the back of her head on the couch and dreamed about sleeping herself when Jostle, her five-year-old, started screaming for her outside. Apache passed one of the twins, Helix, to Elation and staggered onto the veranda, squinting in the bright light. There were three men outside, half-mounted on bikes. She looked at their outlines and knew they'd be around the same age as her. Suddenly she felt old and saggy, like the skin of a fruit.

Jostle scampered up the stairs and hid behind her, yelling and waking the twins up. Apache really was on the verge of crying then – she was hot and sore and had given birth to a pair of underweight babies barely a week ago. Didn't she deserve some peace?

When one of the men spoke, she thought for a blissful second that it was Longshot. It wasn't, of course – but his voice was so gentle and soothing that she revelled in it for a few moments, letting it wash over her.

"Sorry for the bother, ma'am. We only need a room for one night."

She swallowed her tears. "Yes. Fine. Take any one you want." I don't give a fuck if you sleep on the roof.

"Thankyou so much." He paused. "How old are your chilluns, ma'am?"

Apache met his eyes in surprise. "These ones? They're five days old." He wore an eyepatch and his fur was pewter grey. Her heart ached for Longshot.

"Lordy." He looked over at Elation. "You helpin' your Mama out, little lady?"

Elation smiled. "Yeth-thir. They're called Hitch n' Heelick-th." Her lisp was getting worse as her teeth were falling out. Apache corrected Ellie mechanically, pronouncing Helix's name sans lisp.

"They be real strong names, ma'am." He didn't say anything else; his eyes rested on little Hitch as Apache rocked him.

The one with white fur spoke up. "We'll pay extra, ma'am. For your trouble."

Apache forced herself to smile. "You don't need to." I know exactly what you're thinking. "We're alright."

They looked at each other and asked if they could take their own keys. She only nodded and told them the keys were all the same anyway, and hustled Jostle inside. He fled to his room and Ellie looked up at her questioningly. "I'm gonna go thee if he'th OK." She gave Helix to Apache and went after her younger brother.

Apache looked at her babies in despair. The twins pouted hungrily and screwed up their faces. She held them to her bosom wearily, expecting hopeless mewls and butterfly brushes on her painful breasts.

Instead, she felt a hard tug on her nipples.

She looked down, and this time she really did cry.

The twins were finally feeding properly.

Now she was sitting on her veranda, holding a baby in one hand and an envelope in another as she watched the woman with gold fur join the three bikers out on the main road and ride away. She shifted Helix so she could open the envelope. Two nights accommodation, paid in full.

There was another slip of paper in there as well. Apache pulled it out and her mouth dropped open. It was a cheque for $5,000.

She read it over and over again, trying to convince herself that they must have left it there by mistake. Helix snorted in his sleep. Apache turned the cheque over and suddenly began to cry again, quietly.

There were five words written on the back of the cheque. Spend it on the kids.


Karma muttered to herself mutinously as Modo redressed her shoulder at the next service station. Her gunshot wound had bled through the bandages overnight and she hadn't said a word – they stopped for petrol and Karma disappeared around the back for half an hour. When the guys went to find her, she was sitting on the step, trying to redress the wound herself.

"We're stuck in this thing t'gether," Modo preached as he took the bandages out of her hands. "Like it or not, Miss Karma, you might well ask us fer help."

Karma only snorted and bared her shoulder for him. "You did a shoddy job," she snapped. "It bled through."

"You slept on that shoulder, ah bet."

Karma didn't say anything, well aware that she was only making herself look like an idiot by answering back.

The back door of the service station swung open and hit Karma in the back of the head. She swore loudly and a boy about fifteen stuck his head out. "Oh, shit – sorry."

"Fuckin' better be, kid, I got enough things to worry about."

"Hawly crap." The boy peered at Karma's shoulder. "What happened to you?"

"I had a domestic with my back window," Karma growled. "Don't ask me to get into it."

The boy almost withdrew back into the service station. Almost. "Do you need anything for that?"

"Ow! For fuck's sake, Modo!"

"Bein' as gentle as I can, Miss Karma – if you just stop wigglin' –"

"I'm not wigglin'!"

The kid's head turned back and forth as Karma and Modo exchanged their banter, and tried again to interject. "We got some tea-tree oil if you need any –"

The panic in Karma's eyes was all Throttle needed to sit back and laugh. "Don't worry, kid, we got this covered."

"If you need anything, just gimme a yell."

"Leave, boy." Karma was rapidly being reduced to the psychological state of a bad-tempered animal – her eyes were bloodshot and her jaws were slathering. The kid bolted the door.

"You frightened the poor child away," Vinnie admonished. "And he was even gonna get you some tea-tree –"

"Say one more word and he won't be the only one runnin'." Karma was very pissed. "I will make you eat a tea-tree if you don't shut up."

"You're so cute when you lose your temper."

Karma actually made to get up, and only stopped when Modo pulled the fur on her arm. "If you keep movin' you'll be dressin' this yourself. And you've proved that you cain't really do that too well."

Karma grunted and sat back down heavily. Modo tied off the bandage and looked at her with concern. "You really should get this looked at, Miss Karma."

"I think I've had enough of people pokin' around my various wounds for one day." She wasn't going to get into it.

They bought a map at the service station and asked for directions. They were told that there was a bed-and-breakfast about twenty miles west, or another one about a hundred miles up the road. Karma was adamant that they weren't about to get off-track. "Bullshit. We've lost ground as it is." She reached for her helmet. "We'll ride in the night. Go fast. Fill your tanks up."

"All night?"

"S'matter, baby, you want your bedtime?" Karma gave Vinnie a poisonous look.

"How do you even know he went this way?" Vinnie demanded.

"I've explained this, you idiot!" Karma's temper was thin. "We need to move before he gets out of reach."

"I know that, woman!"

"Then why're you complaining? I made it clear when I said you boys could come that you had to do what I said. Like it or lump it." Karma tightened the straps on her saddle-bag just so she could turn her back to him. She only made it worse.

"What if he's not there? We'll be riding all night and then realise that he might have turned off the road! We'll lose a day!"

Karma was quiet. "I know he'll be there because one, I'm a professional, and two, I know what I'm doing. See above."

"You seriously think you're the best, don't you?"

"My rep didn't come easy, you arsehole." She was really getting nasty. "It's probably a lot more credible than yours."

"Oh, so Karma the Great can do it all herself." Vinnie's pale hackles were standing on end.

"If Karma the Great didn't have idiots like you to work with, she definitely could. And would." Karma leaned on her bike with her arms folded. "You think I like luggin' you three along? I like workin' by myself. I'm good at it."

This was getting too far. Modo tried to intervene. "Hey, this isn't the best time to –"

"Shut the fuck up, farmboy. If Snow-Balls wants to have a bitch, I'm more than willing to play." Karma stood up. "Speak to me, Vin."

Vin spoke. "You think you're this shit-hot tracker. You've got this unbelievable reputation. And so far all you've done is bitch, treat us like shit, dump us and then expect us to just follow you like puppies."

"That'd be so nice if you did."

"I'm not doing that! I want to get this job done and for all I know you could be utter shit."

Karma started at that. "So you want me to prove myself? God, you're pathetic."

"Hey, I think me and my bros have proved that we're good enough when we found you at Utopia 12."

"That was a one-off." Karma looked away, like it wasn't worth talking about. Even Throttle felt a sting.

"What do we need to do, Karma? I don't give a shit if Carbine says you're good, I wouldn't take her word for anything. I'm not gonna keep tiptoeing after you while you work behind closed doors. I'm here and my bros are here and you're stuck with us and we're doing this together."

Karma laughed at him. "If I left you boys to yourselves you wouldn't even know where to start."

"You don't even know if Harley's where you think she is! You haven't done anything!" Vinnie spat. "Stop being a stubborn cow and do some tracking!"

Karma stared at him and he closed his mouth. Oh, shit. Karma just kept staring at him, face unreadable.

The teenage boy who'd stuck his head out of the door was moving around the front yard, checking the petrol gauges. Without a word Karma got up and flounced around the front of the station, eyes still locked in Vinnie's.

"Hey kid."

The boy looked at her nervously, as though she might bite. "Yeah?"

Karma turned her head and talked to him properly. "You seen a white truck go by here recently?"

The kid considered. "Two."

Karma raised her eyebrows. "Two white trucks. You're pickin' up business."

"You could say." The kid stopped what he was doing and faced her, regaining some composure. "Why're you interested?"

Smartarse. Karma kept her temper in check. "Was one of 'em a white Dazzler, by any chance?"

"Maybe."

"It's mine. Someone stole it."

The boy smirked. "And you're goin' all the way out here to find it?"

"My sister was inside it at the time. They stole her too."

The kid's eyes widened. "A girl?"

"My sister, yeah."

"Does she… look like you?"

Karma raised her eyebrows and pulled Harley's photo out of her wallet. "She look like this?"

The kid held the corner of the photo carefully with his grubby fingers. "Yep." He looked again. "Blue eyes, pretty face. They took about five litres of petrol."

"Who was with her?"

"Don't know. They didn't come out. They yelled at her to hurry up, though, and it sounded like a guy."

Karma nodded. "Where'd they go?"

"Kept goin' down the road. Only way to go." The kid pointed. "This was about a week ago, lady – you got a lot of ground to catch up."

"Looks like it." Karma took the photo back. "Thanks for your help."

"Anytime. Hey –"

Karma stopped. The kid fidgeted. "Um… if I annoyed you, back there –"

"It's no problem, kid."

Karma went around the back of the station again and confronted Vinnie. "There. Did my tracking. They're where I thought they'd be."

Vinnie didn't say anything.

Karma reached for her water bottle on her bike and tipped the entire contents violently over her head. Water droplets clung to the golden down on her cheeks and her eyelashes. In the light, she looked like she was blinking away diamonds.

She ran her fingers through her hair and closed her eyes. "This is a shitty job. A shitty dragon's den. And I've got this idiot to deal with." She threw her water bottle on the ground. "Fuck this!"

Her bike, up until then, had been totally quiet. In fact, the guys had had their doubts about it being A.I. At that moment, Karma's little Sandskater roared and pitched itself forward. Karma swore at it and the bike swore back. "You little shit!"

The bike turned and growled at her. She kicked the front wheel, her tantrum now in full swing – the bike lurched forward and dared her to kick it again.

Karma glared at her bike with venom. The bike's headlight turned on and it glared right back at her, as though telling her off.

Karma folded her arms and scuffed the ground at her feet. "Yeah? Well maybe I thought I could."

The bike grumbled and she sneered. "Since when did you like company? I thought it was just you and me." The bike only throbbed, but Karma reacted with electrical rage. "What the fuck would you know?"

The bike bellowed right back and threatened to run over her foot. Karma sidestepped and almost fell over. The bike approached her and snarled for a good minute, obviously giving her a lecture. This time, Karma actually listened.

"So? That's it?"

Rumble.

"And that's the only explanation you're gonna give me?"

Rumble, again.

Karma sat down and rubbed her forehead. "Yeah?"

Rumble.

Karma thought about that last rumble for a very long time. Her face twitched with various emotions and frowns as possibilities whirled in her head. Finally she pulled a face. "OK, Karma. You can do this. You've screwed up early, but you can fix it. You've been too busy bitchin' about the boys, but you really can't change that anyway. You're only gonna have to get used to 'em. This is only a hill that you need to climb over."

She looked up at the guys. "Alright. Let's get some supplies, somethin' to eat and then get ready for a long night. We'll stop at the next town, get some breakfast, and then I'm gonna sit down, smoke and have a good long think."


It was half past noon when they pulled out of the service station and prepared themselves for a long ride ahead. The road widened and then sort of merged in with the dust at the side. A road-sign written in Misaa presented them with a skull and red letters that screamed out danger about five miles down.

"Landmines," Karma said when asked. "You're ridin' through the biggest minefield that the Plutarkians have ever created. If Mace tried to turn off at any point along here, we'd know." She shifted to the middle of the road. "Best stay in the centre. I don't wanna be blown up by some stinkfish bomb."

The road was totally empty and there was nothing in the way of scenery. Boredom quickly set in.

After about an hour, Karma switched her bike to cruise-mode and sat up straight, cracking her back. "Road just goes straight on. You can relax, guys." She leaned back and put her feet up on the dash. "Before it happens; if any of you are about to start singing, I will puncture your tyres."

They were silent. Karma suddenly laughed. "God, you were, weren't you? You sound so crushed. I'm almost sorry."

"Are you now, Miss Tracker?"

"Not that sorry, Mr Wordsmith." She might – just might – have smiled at him as he rode next to her. "This ain't a road-trip."

"Hey, we cain't keep sombre awl the ta'ame." Modo rode up on the other side of her, hands behind his head.

"Stay in the middle of the road, you drongo," she said easily. He dropped behind.

Hours and hours went by. The guys eventually did sing, and Karma put up with it admirably for a very long time. Finally she smiled at them and told them to stop. Throttle could have sworn it echoed over the plains; "Shut the FUCKING FUCK UP! God, you could kill someone!"

The sun went down and the temperature slid sharply. Karma snuggled into her jacket and curled up on the back of her bike. "You doin' OK, Baby?" she yelled into the wind.

Her bike honked loudly. "You tell me if you need to stop."

Honk.

"Great." She turned. "Hey Vinnie."

"What?"

"Not to pry, but I heard you knew Harley well."

Vinnie, who was lying back in a similar fashion that she was, sat up and glared at Karma. "What's your point?"

"You might know some things that I don't. It could help."

"Help what?"

"Why do you have to be the big man?" Karma snapped. "You're doing this job because you want to find Harley. You care about her, right?"

"Who told you that?"

"I wouldn't need to ask. You're getting all defensive. Spectacular giveaway."

Vinnie was quiet for a few seconds. "She was my girlfriend."

"For how long?"

"About five seconds."

Karma tried to absorb that. "Is your relationship history really that sad?"

"Hey, if Mace didn't dive on her right after I kissed her it would've been different."

Karma eyed him. "You saw the kidnap."

"You make it sound so technical, woman. I saw Mace hold a blaster to her head and threaten to blow her brains out if I did anything."

"Did you do anything?"

"Yeah. Tried. I was a kid. He didn't shoot her. He pissed off with her." Vinnie looked up at the stars. "I know her pretty well. Or I did. What do you need to know?"

"Nothing right now." Karma shook her head. "But when I do, you'll be the first person I'll be askin'. Got that?"

"Sure."

Nobody said anything after that. The stars kept them company.


Throttle must have fallen asleep, because he woke up with Karma's voice in his ear. "Time to wake up, boys. It's five in the a.m. and there's a bed-and-breakfast up ahead. Don't know for sure, this map is about twenty years old – but it's a check-off point, so it should be there."

He opened his eyes blearily. The sun was just beginning to rise and he was freezing cold. Karma was sitting astride Baby – God, he thought, I'd never humiliate my bike like that – with the map unfolded and pinned to the dash. "If we don't find it, we'll just keep goin'. Clear?"

"Karma."

"What?"

"Nature's callin'."

"Vinnie, you are such a child."

"I'm stoppin' right here."

"It's a minefield, you muckhead!"

"Oh. Yeah."

"Hold it. Or else." She looked around at him. "I mean it."

Vinnie didn't reply.

By the time seven a.m. rolled around, the sun had risen properly and they were all hot, grumpy and starving. And, in Vinnie's case, very highly strung. "Karmaaaaaa…"

"Oh, for the love of God." She pulled up. "Just go. If you step on a mine, it's not my problem."

Vinnie smiled and pulled out his blaster. Karma looked at him warily. "What're you doing?"

"Makin' sure I don't step on a mine." He fired a shot into the ground next to the road. "Nope. No mine there."

"Jesus Christ, you are not sane." Karma watched him in seeming fascination as he shot himself a pathway through the minefield. "Vincent van Wham, you are unbelievable."

Vinnie relieved himself and strode back to his bike. "Karma, you are officially full of shit. There's no mines at all."

Karma smirked at him. "Show you something." She pulled out her Derringer and levelled her arm at eye-level. Three shots. Bang, bang, bang.

The bullets whistled in unison and hit the ground about six metres away. The ground erupted in a cloud of dust and sand. The noise was earsplitting. When the dust finally cleared, there were three massive craters side by side. Three mines in a row.

"Yeah. No mines at all." Karma put her Derringer back in her holster under her jacket. "Just really pissed-off dirt." She smiled again. "Or maybe that should be pissed-on dirt. Not sure which."

"Shut up."

"Damn, I'm funny. Come on, boys."


Half an hour later, Vinnie stopped again. Karma looked at him sparingly. "Do you have a death wish or a bladder problem?"

"I'm gonna get something to eat." He began to rummage through his saddle bags.

"There's a bed-and-breakfast just up ahead! Save the food in case we need it." Karma leapt off her bike and physically stopped him. "Please. Just save the food."

"I'm hungry. I'm not putting up with your crap, woman. Maybe you run on air with that lovely body of yours, but I have muscle to sustain and I'm getting some food."

"Vinnie, please don't eat anything. I promise I will buy you as much breakfast as you want."

Vinnie looked her up and down. "What's your problem?"

"Just do what I say." Karma regained some of her bitchiness. "Consider yourself lucky you're being treated."

"How far is it?"

"Two miles tops. Don't eat that food."

"You've got two miles, lady."

"You've got two seconds if you keep goin' like that."


True to her word, Karma found the bed-and-breakfast. "Thank God. I was scared it'd been blown up." They pulled into the yard, avoiding the areas marked with yellow tape that signified the presence of more mines. "You boys don't say a word – I need to tell her a password or she'll kill us all with a sniper rifle."

"Bullshit. Who?"

"Woman who runs this place. I told you, it's a check-off point run by the government. The woman who runs it was incarcerated in a mental asylum before she got a job here."

"Why'd they hire her?"

"They could depend on her not falling for any fakes." Karma smoothed down her jacket. "Problem is she didn't fall for some of the real ones too."

They knocked on the door and waited. It opened a crack and a woman with yellow fur and pink eyes answered it. "Howdy." She had a lovely grandmotherly smile. Throttle dismissed Karma's warnings as crap.

Karma went right to the point. "You're a bed-and-breakfast, yeah?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Could we skip the bed and get some breakfast?"

The woman looked her over and frowned. "Ooh, you wand'rers never eat enough. Din't yer mother never tell ya t'take any food?"

Karma grinned and relaxed. "Good to see you, Fettle."

"Git'cher sorry ass over t' the kitchen, Karma-girl. Who're yer friends?"

"They're with me. Too dumb to know passwords."

Fettle shrugged. "'Slongs they don't steal nothin', ah don't ma'and."

As Throttle passed Fettle and followed Karma to the kitchen, he glanced down at something she was holding by her side. He nearly had a heart attack.

Karma wasn't kidding. Fettle had a sniper rifle.


The boys were extremely careful to be extra polite to Fettle, or "Mrs. Madde" as she asked to be called. Karma was the only one allowed to call her by her first name, and Throttle wouldn't dream of going against the wishes of a septuagenarian woman with a loaded gun. She gave them possibly the best breakfast that he'd ever had and left them to it. "Call me if ya need anythin'. Ah'm goin' out t' patrol in 'bout twenny minutes, so mek it quick. You stayin' th' na'at, Karma?"

"Yeah. I got some calls to make."

"Who yer lukkin' fer now?"

"Rat called Mace Sordovsta. Know 'im?"

"Ah don't mix wit Rats. Mek a point of it, really." Fettle wandered out of the kitchen and down the hall.

"Patrol?"

"She patrols the road. Habit of hers."

"What's with the Mrs. Madde? Who'd stay married to her?"

"She killed her husband. You really want the details?" Karma was sitting up on the bench, swinging her legs like a little girl, eating a piece of toast. Harley's file was open in her lap and she was dropping crumbs all over it. "Hey Vinnie. Your girlfriend's got a criminal record." She took another bite out of her toast and raised her eyebrows. "As a hacker."

"I know."

She looked at him sharply. "How?"

"I was there. We were hacking into government files."

"What for?" Karma leaned forward, not noticing that her hair had gotten caught in her toast.

"We were bored. And she had her laptop. And… we were bored."

"You would've been…" she glanced at the file again, "sixteen?"

"She was sixteen, I was eighteen."

"What'd you hack? How did she hack?"

"We hacked into the Wanted Criminals database and put Sergeant Scabbard on the Public Enemy list. Man, that was so funny." Vinnie leaned back and grinned at the ceiling. "We laughed about it for ages."

"Did she have a lead?"

"What's that meant to mean?"

Throttle couldn't stand seeing her hair stuck to her toast anymore. "Karma. Your toast."

"What? Aw, crap." Karma untangled the toast from her hair and inspected her locks closely. "Shit. I got honey in it." She went to the sink and ran her hair under the tap. "Anyway. Was she hooked up to the database where those files are kept, or wasn't she?"

Vinnie still looked confused. "Look, we went on the Net, we went onto the government website, and then she just did something and about five minutes later we were on the Wanted Criminals database."

Karma turned her head and looked into his eyes squarely. "And she was sixteen."

"Yeah."

Karma scrubbed her hair for a little longer under the tap before speaking again. "Look, I'm not into computers. I'll admit that now. I suck at hacking. It's not my forte. But I know that what she did is the hacking equivalent of me breaking into a maximum security Plutarkian death camp. Alone."

"What, impossible?"

"Oh, it's possible. I could do it. But Hell, it'd have to be for a real good reason or a helluva lot of money. And I'd want immediate backup in the form of fighter jets on standby, a two-way radio and some very big guns." She turned the tap off and ran her fingers through her hair viciously. "Shit. Still sticky. Where's my toast?"

"I threw it out. It had hair in it."

"Ew." She turned back to Vinnie. "Did she ever do something like that again?"

"Not like that, I don't think. But she was always making new modification programmes for A.I. bikes so that they'd be easier to manoeuvre… she was real nifty with that. And I think once she hacked into the exam programme during cadets and changed all the questions."

Modo rolled his eye. "You still sore about failin' that exam?"

"I'd never seen questions like that in my life! 'Name three different hand-to-hand combinations that can be used to disarm an armed adversary.' It was in the first year! How was I meant to know that?"

"Everyone else did."

"I maintain that she did that. But that was before she was nice."

Karma snorted. "Whatever. I'm not gonna get involved in this." She leaned against the bench, thinking. "I think I might ring Hew."

"Who's Hew?"

"Friend of mine." She smiled as she said it, like she couldn't help it. The guys looked at her with new interest.

"Anyone we should know?"

"Shut up." She smiled again, a very beautiful smile that had something akin to love attached to it. She picked up her mobile and scrolled through her numbers' list, hit 'Call' and waited.

The phone rang twice and then someone picked up. Karma reacted with thrilling excitement. "Hi, baby!" she sang into the phone. "How are you…? I'm good, I'm good… oh, I love you." She paused. "No, I love you more." Another pause. "I don't think so, I love you more…"

This went on for some time until Karma finally gave up and laughed. "OK. Alright. You win. Could you put Daddy on the line now, sweetie?"


Alrighty, mon bebes. Now you've read it. Now you've loved it. Now you've stroked it.

What's left, chilluns?

Love you all. Love you more if you review.

Mad-Eyed Owl