#25

DEAD END STATION, DEEP SPACE

The crowd inside the cantina pressed into Seven from all sides. There were all sorts of species there, large and small. The Saiyan squeezed his way through, bumping and colliding with bodies until he found an opening near the bar. He realized, once he was out of the mass of bodies, that people were gathered around a large monitor that hung from the ceiling. It streamed a cast of some sort of insectoid creatures battling in an arena. It was a gruesome display of flying chitin and spraying green ooze.

Papers and credit chips flew from the crowd as one of the insectoids finished off another. There was a boisterous roar from the victors and heavy scowls and boos from the losers.

The place smelled of sweaty bodies and piss. He was sure there was a puddle of it under one of the tables. Those that weren't into the betting were too drunk to do so, leaning in their chairs or slumped against the wall. One fat lizard alien was upside down, his legs in the air, fast asleep in the corner.

He found a stool at the counter and sat down. The bartender was a Segalid with one eye and a trio of large scars from his cheek down the back of his oblong head. It looked like he had been clawed by some giant beast.

"What do you want?"

"Some liquor, strongest stuff you got," Seven said.

The bartender's brow rose and he chuckled. "You even old enough to drink?"

"Didn't see a sign outside that said no young people. I'm good on the credits," Seven said.

He produced a silver chip from the small pocket on the inner seam of his body armor and waved it in the air. The bartender shrugged and poured him a clear liquid from an unmarked bottle and slid it over.

"It's not for the faint of heart," the bartender said and slinked off to help another patron.

Seven lifted the glass and took a sniff. The burning alcohol tantalized his nostrils and felt himself suppressing a cough. He brought it to his lips and slammed it back. The burn coursed down his throat and filled his belly. Seven's gut wanted to retch the vile booze back up, but he forced it down and held it there with his will, forcing his body to submit.

After a moment he felt a strange ease go over him. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the bar and let his whole body relax.

It had been a stressful week, on the run from Lord Uzu. But, that hadn't been as bad as what had happened to him in The Crag. Seven had lost control there, and had done the one thing he had been avoiding for so long. Guilt and shame wracked him. He couldn't sleep and had kept to himself in his quarters.

Herm and Birne had come to visit him a few times and check up on him, but he didn't say much. They wouldn't truly understand. They were the sorts that would have told him to not worry about it, that they would have killed Seven if he hadn't killed them first.

Seven knew in his heart that he wouldn't have had to kill them. It was his lack of control, as Lord Uzu, had pointed out to him-that had been his downfall. He still couldn't figure out how he was supposedly just as strong as Lord Uzu, yet he couldn't touch him.

The more Seven thought about it all, the worse his head got and he found himself going to sleep more often than naught. Being a recluse within his quarters on the Blushing Maid was no different than his cell back on Sorn. In fact, it had brought him a measure of comfort.

But, he also knew that he couldn't hide forever. He would have to fight again. When he did, he just hoped he could hold back that side of himself. Seven wanted to be above that primal feeling, that bloodlust. He had felt so confident he had stripped himself of it.

You can't hide from what you are, the King's voice said. You're a Saiyan. No matter how many weak fools you run around with, you'll always be more than them.

How do I rid myself of you?

You can't, I am an integral part of you, put into your brain before you were even a person. You were just a baby.

All you do is tell me to hurt people. But, you have no real answers to the questions I ask. How do I control my power, how do I become as skilled as Lord Uzu.

The voice had no answer. Seven raised his hand and ordered another drink. The liquor went down easier this time, but his mind seemed to drift deeper into troublesome thoughts. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder, a cursory glance showing rough purple skin. Amboss plopped down on the stool beside him and rested his elbows on the counter.

"The ship should be stocked up and fueled in an hour or so," he said.

Seven nodded. The bartender filled his glass again.

"I'll have what he's drinking," Amboss said.

A moment later the bartender set a glass down for Amboss. Seven went to lift his glass and Amboss plopped his hand on his arm.

"Hold," he said and lifted his own glass. "Let's make a toast."

"A toast?" Seven asked.

"Yes, to finding the legendary Repository of the Gods, where so many have failed," Amboss said.

Their glasses clinked together and both downed their drinks. Amboss's face went sour and he busted into a fit of coughs. He regained himself after a moment and shook his head side to side.

"Damn kid, that's some strong stuff. I didn't know you were such a serious drinker," Amboss said.

Seven couldn't help but chuckle at that. The Captain always had a way of cheering him up, even in the darkest of his moments. Amboss was in many ways a simple person. He was devoted and unyielding. Seven wished he could be more like Amboss, so free of guilt and doubts. Then again, perhaps he did have some. Everyone did it seemed. Just some handled such things differently than others.

"Well, Herm said that with my Saiyan metabolism I need to drink harder stuff than normal," Seven said.

"We Rhondorians don't grow hair on our bodies, but as the Aestrulians say, it will put hair on your chest," Amboss said shaking his head some more.

The bartender returned but Seven dismissed him. He didn't want to drink too much. The warm buzz he was feeling was enough for now.

"I wanted to thank you," Amboss said.

"For?" Seven replied.

"You bought us time down on The Crag. Also, you managed to divert Lord Uzu's attention for now. Bought us even more time to find this treasure."

"I really didn't expect Lord Uzu to go along with it," Seven said. "I think that he's more curious than anything else. He said he will never yield hunting you, but if we pay him he might actually consider it."

"He does have a reputation of being fair," Amboss said. "I haven't heard of him double crossing anyone. A person's word, in this wild space we live in, is their reputation and their legacy. Lord Frieza was notorious for following his words and threats through with resounding force. Thus he was feared and revered by many."

"I just wish I could have stopped him," Seven said and shook his head. "I just wasn't skilled enough to take him down."

"You did enough. Leave this part to me. Remember, I'm the one he's hunting. I am grateful everything you've done so far. It won't be long and I'll be free and we can go back to the way things used to be," Amboss said.

"You seem confident that we'll find it. Did you figure something out?"

Amboss chuckled. "As you know, Lord Frieza had a giant fleet and billions of soldiers at his disposal. He would have found the Repository eventually, but at a great cost I think. He was mapping and charting the sector in space that it was rumored to be in. The information Papya gave me had plenty of maps of the area. But, I could have found those anywhere. The useful information was the legends and lore about the place. Typically only the chosen and worthy are allowed to visit. As well as those that discover an artifact from the supposed gods.

"That in itself is fine and dandy. Maybe if we found such an artifact one of the messengers would come to us requesting we bring it there. I thought initially about trying to maybe trick one of the messengers to visit us. That was before I found an early spacer's travel log, one who claimed to have been invited to the Repository to garner great knowledge. He spoke of it being a great library with halls of treasures and vaults deep below ground. It's not only a repository of physical items, but also of knowledge. He said that he made a vow that he would never tell the location of it, at least not directly.

"He said that for any that seek the place, he would only say one thing. That it could be found between the shadow of two stars."

"That's vague. There's usually only empty space between two stars," Seven said.

"Well, I thought a lot about it. It was no wonder that Lord Frieza dismissed his claims, or at least ignored that part. It makes no sense. If you look at it literally. I think that instead what we have is a metaphor," Amboss said.

"Maybe, but aren't there thousands of stars in the sector that Lord Frieza was mapping," Seven said.

"Two hundred and forty thousand stars to be exact. At least seventy five thousand of them are binary stars. But, the more I got to thinking about it, I came to think perhaps the word shadow is key here. Space is a shadowy place, but there is but one shadow that you can't see, at least not forthright-a black hole," Amboss said.

"So you think it's referring to a black hole between two stars?" Seven replied.

"Yes and of all seventy five thousand stars in that sector, just one pair was found to have a black hole between them," Amboss said.

Seven leaned back on his stool and rested his hands on his thighs. He felt a leap of excitement in his gut, and it wasn't the liquor. He had begun to think that the possibility of finding the place was small, a shot in the dark as they said. Amboss proved his navigational genius and for the first time since his encounter with Lord Uzu, Seven had a glimmer of hope.

"Going near a black hole will be tricky. Could there really be a planet there?"

"You would be surprised," Amboss said. "There have been quite a few planets discovered near black holes, sitting at the edge of disaster. I mean, it seems a foolish place to put a place to store legendary artifacts. But, at the same time, not many people go near black holes looking around for such things either."