The sound of revelry echoed through the bustling streets of the Pit. Beneath the reflected light of the night sun the thieves of a thousand worlds drank and made merry as much as they liked, for there was no law here. Desperus was a world shunned by honest men.
Drunkards swaggered through winding alleys filled with stinking slops and shards of broken glass, fighting and jostling without a care. Among them, oblivious to the stink of sweat and stale beer, strode a tall youth. As much out of place in this den of murderers and thieves as a fish out of water, his elegant clothing and his neatly tied-back hair failed to conceal a powerful frame and a sun baked complexion. He was fit, strong, and obviously a recent arrival to this world.
Striding confidently into a local bar, his smouldering blue eyes surveyed his surroundings © the twitch of his fingers, hovering perilously close to the grip of his blaster warning those around him that he was no easy target for a cutpurse.
He was a professional.
Glowing letters picked out the name of his destination from a crooked signpost - The House of Syn - so called because most of its goods were exactly that. Synthetic.
Pushing into the bar, the youth's eyes adjusted to the dark. The room seemed only to be lit by the holographic slogans which activated as bottles and cans were opened. Party pieces which reminded those drinking of what they had ordered at the bar. It was unlikely that they could have identified their drinks by the taste.
Settling upon a darkened corner, the youth spotted his prey – a fat Usurian fending off the charms of a drunken wench. A creature who, despite his looks, was more out of place in this pigsty than even the boy himself. Any who didn't know he was Usurian would never have guessed - the bald pate, green pallor and bushy eyebrows looked like they belonged there. But then everything about the Usurians was a fraud. They weren't even humanoid.
Crossing the room, the youth took a seat beside the Syrian's chair - an ungainly contraption which, from past experience, he knew contained the true Usurian, suspended in a sphere of alien liquid maintained by complex life support systems. Involuntarily, the Syrian's humanoid form drew back. The youth was unlike any he had previously encountered.
"You are the Representative?" said the youth in a far from friendly tone.
The alien nodded. "You are the successful tenderer for the Solar Contract?"
"I am Joshua. My fee is four hundred thousand credits, half in advance."
"So my records indicate," said the Usurian, drawing a document from a tube held at his side. Unrolling it, he passed it to Joshua for approval.
"It seems to be in order. You will now give me details?"
The alien looked furtively around, shaking his head.
"Not here. Business should be conducted in more... amenable surroundings."
Passing his hand over a control built into his seat, the Usurian moved forwards, his chair propelling him towards a rear exit. Joshua followed him into the murky streets outside. An armoured car attended by three heavily-armed henchmen, was waiting.
They moved inside.
"The contract will be on Earth. The planet is on the brink of civil war, and the political opposition seeks the aid of the Galactic Federation," the Representative explained in the clipped monotone of whatever device was used to simulate humanoid speech.
"As you will know, the Federation is hostile towards the Usurians, and even without Earth's membership they control the Solar System, effectively blockading us. We may only trade with Earth if we are invited."
"So," said Joshua, "you want me to get you an invitation."
"Not quite. We are already in communication with a representative of the Earth government, but he requires a token of good faith before they are prepared to open trade with the Company."
"A token?"
"There is a scientist on Earth, a geneticist called Kislev. Our client has agreed to conduct business with the company if we can secure his secrets."
"Industrial espionage isn't my speciality."
"Kislev lives in a tower - a fortress - near a city called Singapore. He lives there alone, protected by his creations."
"Creations?" Joshua was intrigued.
"Kislev crossbreeds humans with animals for medical purposes. His morals have prevented him from selling his secrets, for fear of exploitation. Not even our Company has been successful in securing his services."
His body projected across the galaxy by the best transmit technology available to his employers; Joshua's arrival at the foot of a rocky cliff upon the coast of Kislev's island was heralded by the sound of a tear in the fabric of time and space. The thief looked around. Violent seas had made coastal access impossible, whilst security screens would doubtless have alerted the scientist to any approach by air or under water.
He began to climb. Bare hands and spiked shoes gave purchase as he rapidly scaled the rock, a master of his craft. Within minutes he had reached the precipice, hauling himself up and over onto rich grass.
Reorienting, he cast a quick glance to the left and to the right. There was no enemy in sight. The island was small, it's raised surface flat and, with the exception of the tower at its centre, was devoted to grassland for what appeared to be large herbivores scattered around. Cattle or pigs, he couldn't be sure which.
Using a broken line of shrubbery, Joshua stealthily made his way towards the tower. A shimmering plexiglas cylinder in reflected and magnified the dim moonlight, casting moonbeams like an ancient lighthouse, warning ships away without the need for fire or electricity. Slender and perfect, it stood a hundred and fifty feet in height, with no discernable entrance at its base. Joshua concluded that entry must be by way of the roof - an anti-gravity vehicle of some kind.
In complete silence he crept closer until he froze, catching the faint trace of animal sweat in his nostrils. Looking behind, he found himself face to face with one of the creatures.
No cow this, but a savage and, at close quarters, immense boar, its breathing suddenly deafening, its razor-like tusks life threatening. The very air became tense.
Locking eyes with the beast, Joshua reached down to his waist, withdrawing a phial, which he unstoppered with his teeth. Spitting the top away he lost eye contact - just for a moment.
With a squeal of rage the boar pounced. Two thousand pounds of flesh and bone prepared to impact upon two hundred pounds of human flesh.
Joshua brought his arm up, casting the contents of his phial into the creature's face even as the impact jarred him, flinging him into the shrubbery which had provided cover.
Fortunately for Joshua, the creature was dead in less than a second - only its momentum carried it, and Joshua, forwards. The volatile contents of the phial had eaten through the face and into the brain before evaporating.
Joshua found himself pinned beneath the creature, his ribs cracking and bruising under the strain. He was aware of more hoof beats - the rest of the herd, no doubt, responding to unfamiliar signals.
Drawing a slender blade from a forearm holster, Joshua felt for the underside of the carcass before slashing away to the left and right, spilling internal organs upon the ground and alleviating the pressure upon his own lower body. If the creatures were carnivorous, they would be interested in something besides him.
Joshua sliding from under the animal, half-limping and half-sprinting towards the tower, keeping a low centre of gravity and putting the shrubbery between himself and the other animals as well as he could. As he suspected, the boars" attention was upon their fallen kin.
Pressing himself against the smooth wall of the tower, Joshua circled the building, feeling for any pits or grooves which may have revealed an entrance. There were none.
Again reaching to his waist, Joshua produced a palm-sized device. Flipping back its cap he revealed a molecular piton - a climbing device which would fuse with a surface upon contact. Holding it above his head, Joshua released a trigger, creating a dull thud as the piton and its trailing cable were propelled upwards and over the rim at the top of the tower. Taking hold of the trailing cable, he tugged sharply - the piton had fused successfully.
A second sharp tug activated the reel - a small device set behind the piton which, like a device once used by terrestrial anglers, pulled Joshua upwards like a fish on a hook. It took less than fifteen seconds.
Sliding over the rim Joshua's suspicions were proved correct - a small air car rested on the roof. At the centre sat a recessed platform, steps spiralling down towards a door set into the floor.
As he moved close to the car, the hairs at the base of his neck warned Joshua. He heard a scuttling noise which was instantly identifiable.
A security drone.
Springing away from the car and into the recess Joshua rolled to his feet, blaster drawn. He had narrowly avoided the scything legs of the spider-like drone, weaving its way towards him from left to right in a random pattern designed to evade gunfire.
Three shots hit their mark, glancing off the ablative coating.
Joshua discarded his gun as the drone sprang. He caught it squarely, wincing as its eight slicing legs bit into his forearm.
Anticipating the drone's next move, Joshua ran to the edge of the tower, using his momentum to swing himself around like an athlete throwing a hammer. Losing its grip the drone flew from his arm, dropping like a stone to the ground below.
Catching his breath for a moment, Joshua returned to the trapdoor. Crouching down he paced his ear against its surface - he felt the recurrent vibrations of the tower's alarm system. His arrival had been announced.
Casting subtlety aside, Joshua laid a dalekanium charge against the door and took cover. Within seconds it was blown upwards into the night sky, and Joshua had entered the building.
Pitching forwards down the spiral staircase, Joshua activated his personal force shield. Cushioning him as he rolled forwards and down, he was buffeted until, at last, he rolled into a circular chamber.
It was not what he expected.
He'd landed in a laboratory. It was a large chamber filled with banks of computers whose function appeared to be exclusively medical. Drips and life support equipment filled the rest of the room, maintaining the existence of its pathetic centrepiece.
A great pig, of identical breeding to those outside, lay sprawled in a tank of nutrients. Intravenous tubing carried food, drugs and waste products to and from the creature. Emaciated and shaven of its hair, traces of blood and pus trickled into the bath from crudely worked stitching and cybernetic interfaces. Fresh scar tissue indicated that a cerebral operation of some kind had taken place. This also explained why the head was firmly clamped into place. Mesh straps also secured other parts of the torso and limbs.
Beyond this nightmare was a further door, towards which Joshua headed. All of the equipment in the laboratory was functional rather than for record keeping, and there had been no notes in sight.
He had taken only two steps across the room when he heard a noise - a guttural, bestial groan. Turning, he locked eyes with the pig. Its eyes stared back.
Human.
A whisper? Joshua barely heard the word. It didn't sound as if it had been forced through the larynx of an animal not used to speech. Joshua froze, uncertain whether or not his heart had skipped a beat. There was no mistake. The pig had to have spoken.
I used to be human.
Joshua was looking directly at the creature, its cracked and suppurating features not moving as the words echoed through his head.
Yes, I do not need vocal chords. I speak with my mind.
"Who are you?" Joshua whispered.
You work for the Usurian?
"You know of my mission?"
I am... was your predecessor. I came hear to steal Kislev's secrets. Instead I became the latest in a long line of experiments. Just as I am proof that porcine body will not completely reject the brain and cervical cortex of a human, so too has my human body been used to maintain the brain and cervical cortex of this pig.
Joshua turned ashen. The price of failure in this mission would be great indeed. He drew his blade, instinctively knowing what the pig beast would be asking next. He moved forwards...
Yes. I want to die. Make it swift and... avenge me. Destroy Kislev's secrets - no price is worth it falling into the hands of the Usurian. Destroy Kislev and his works.
Joshua nodded agreement as his knife flashed out, severing the link between the creature's life and its support systems. He then lunged forwards, piercing the lidless eye and striking deep into the creature's brain. A twist and a flick of the wrist ended its life. A quick end, which Joshua would have appreciated, had their situations had been reversed.
Wiping his blade, the thief turned, leaving the room as quickly as his legs would carry him. Outside the staircase spiralled further down towards a glow of light emanating from a room on the level below. Again his hand slipped towards his personal force shield as he sprang into the room.
Joshua's blaster punched neat holes into the three targets which became immediately identifiable as he rolled across the room, finding cover which, by the time of his arrival, had become redundant.
The first two targets were floating security platforms, whose own ordnance had been disabled before they had positively registered Joshua's presence. The third target was a short slender humanoid in a white coat with grey hair and mottled, ageing skin, and a scorched hole between his eyes. It was the scientist, Kislev.
"Damn."
Joshua had meant to take the scientist alive. Now all that remained was a headless corpse, its melted features hanging in the air for a moment before dropping to the floor.
Noting that there was no more security, Joshua disabled the force shield, rising to his feet and surveying the room. Cleaner than the first room, the format was similar, but with the centrepiece being, instead of a nutrient bath, a large table.
Upon the table was a body - human. Again maintained by life support systems, this one was strapped down and appeared to be unconscious. A glance to the floor - to the boneslicer and laser scalpel formerly held by Kislev - told Joshua that an operation had been in progress.
The body on the table was frighteningly recognisable. Despite the shaven head and open cuts around the face, neck and shoulders, Joshua saw the face of his oldest rival - the man whose brain he must so recently have skewered. Johannes Stark, perhaps the most successful thief ever to have set foot upon Desperus. Until now.
Before holstering it, Joshua circled the room, selecting new targets for his blaster. Bank upon bank of terminals and hardware melted under the onslaught of its energy bolts. There were sparks and explosions as Kislev's research, which had taken decades to put together, ceased to exist.
Only one secret remained. Joshua returned his attention to the table where, again using his blade, he carefully reopened the cuts on Stark's body, loosening stitches and staples before gently easing the brain and cervical cortex from it. As he held the... thing in his hands, he knew that the slightest pressure of his fingers would end Kislev's abominable research once and for all. Instead, he carefully lowered them into a dish - a half-sphere which contained similar nutrients to those in the previous room.
"I'm sorry, Stark," said Joshua, shaking his head, "I can't destroy this brain. It's worth two hundred thousand credits to me."
Cradling the dish under his arm, he raised his other hand to his neck, activating a microphone at the collar of his tunic.
"Mission accomplished. Ready to transmat."
As his molecules scattered to be reformed at the other end of the galaxy, Joshua had no idea what the future would hold. He couldn't know that his actions, by handing the cortex - and with it Kislev's secrets, over to the Usurians, would ultimately be responsible for World War Six.
For the Usurians would be handing the brain to Earth's Minister of Justice... a man called Magnus Greel.