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Ace raised her hand for another shot, and one was slid down the bar towards her. She popped the lid open and downed its contents, then slammed it down again with a satisfied sigh.
This - drinking, pounding music, thrashing bodies - was her environment. She fully expected to die tonight, but at the very least she would have some fun beforehand.
“Next round’s on me,” she called, and the whole bar cheered. She laughed, wiping her face with the back of her hand, a small grin coming through.
The patrons of the bar came and went, but one hovered for a moment. Ace examined her. She was her own age, and startlingly pretty. She was sipping something hyper, and her eyes were locked onto Ace.
They both ordered another shot at the same time. Ace lifted it across the bar to her, then took it down in a moment. It sent a ringing through her head, and by the time it had subsided, the woman had moved over to her.
“What’s your name?” she called, over the thumping perlin beat thundering through the speakers. None of the artificial fuzz of a translator.
“Dorothy McShane,” replied Ace. No point in trying to hide, or be coy. “But you can call me Ace.”
The woman grinned. “Do you let a lot of people call you that?”
“Only the ones I like.”
“Ace, then. I’m Shou Yuing.” She lifted a hand to get some more alcohol slid over to them. “You’re indulging yourself.”
“I’ve got an appointment I don’t expect to miss.”
“Living wild?”
“Nah, just waiting for some familiar company. You?”
“Nothing interesting.” She sipped it slowly. Ace copied her, wincing.
“You have a strong taste.”
“Bad habit. Trust me, I’m trying to kill it.”
“Trying to kill yourself, more like.”
“No, I’ve got a friend I need to be picking up. Can’t do that if I’m heading to a burial planet as the cargo.”
“A friend?”
“Private affair. Come dance with me?”
Ace got up. “If I tell you to run, run.”
“I have no intention.” Shou Yuing took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor, where they joined the other dancers swaying as a mob. Ace pulled Shou Yuing closer, their bodies not quite touching, pulsing in, out, in, out, in perfect tune with each other as the hypno beats around her reached a crescendo. The lights were flashing on, off, on, off, and this continued moment was becoming unbearable, till Ace heard pounding footsteps and someone burst through a door.
In moments, people were scattering around them. Shou Yuing glanced at her. “Your appointment, I assume?”
Ace opened her mouth, to say something about inevitability and carpe diem, but before she could get a syllable out Shou Yuing had a foot hooked around her ankle and, with a quick twist, flung her behind a table. She had a pulse pistol in her hands, and it exploded one, twice, thrice. Only when she had made her shots did she turn, bending to seize Ace’s hand and sprint out with her.
“At this point,” she shouted, weaving through the scattering crowds outside, “I’d recommend breaking away and bolting, but I’m assuming you didn’t have any plans?”
“I’m all yours,” Ace replied, sliding under a barrier. Shou Yuing found a motorbike and shot the lock clean off, and she climbed on behind her. “Who’s this friend you’re picking up?”
“I say friend,” said Shou Yuing, “it’s more of a robbery.”
“Wicked.”
“Unfortunately, unforeseen circumstances, bit of a time crunch.” The bike shot to life under them, and Ace tightened her grip on Shou Yuing’s waist.
“Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. You need a way off this planet?”
“Wasn’t planning to, but if you’re offering.”
“Can you blow up a building?”
“That’s what they’re after me for.”
“Brilliant.” She revved the engine and sped off, weaving through stalls and buildings and back doors, never once slowing. Ace turned her head back.
“They haven’t caught onto our trail yet.”
“They will, soon. But you know what happens when big arrests are made on small colony satellites? Security tends to be loosened elsewhere.” She tightened her hold, and the bike under them sped up accordingly. “I don’t suppose you know the TARDIS Institute?”
“You’re not.”
“The Eye of Harmony.
“You’re not!”
Shou Yuing killed the engine, and they soon just glided. She hopped off, punched in the combo for a street-locker, and pulled out a bag. Ace young could just smell the explosives within.
“I thought the building was blast-proof,” she commented mildly, eyeing the back of the TARDIS Institute, as a fire alarm rang out from within.
“Not with a big enough blast.”
“Trinitrotoluene? This is the forty-first century. You need something with more brisance.”
Shou Yuing shot her a slightly unamused look. “Like what?”
She slid a few cans out of her jacket. “I wasn’t going to be entirely defenceless, you know.”
“And those are…?”
“Watch.” She put all but two on a pile by the door, then kissed one and tossed it right at the pile, using the same trick Shou Yuing had pulled on her to drag her to the ground.
By the time Shou Yuing had got up, Ace was inside the building, and the supposedly nuke-proof glass case was shattered. She pulled out the Eye and wrapped it in her jacket.
“I hope you have a ship waiting at the docks.”
“I hope you can run.”
They took off together. The explosion had finally told the police where they were, so now they had to contend with keeping to the alleys their hovercars couldn’t reach. Shou Yuing could aim well, so she’d frighten them off with a few shots, but they stuck steadily to their trail.
The docks were out in the open, and Ace didn’t like their chances there. But there wasn’t time to stop and ask if Shou Yuing had a plan, so she kept running. Shou Yuing reached out, snatching the Eye from her jacket. She seized Ace’s hand in hers, then flung it on the ground, shattering it. Ace was about to ask her if she was insane, but then the world around them slowed to a halt.
The guards and policepeople chasing them were all frozen, some with their blasters out, some pointing, some mid-way through shouting. Shou Yuing’s grip tightened and she began to lead her, sprinting, across the dock to a small ship as time began to unfreeze. The shards of the Eye reformed in the air and shot across to Shou Yuing’s hand, and the moment she caught it, time resumed as normal.
In just a few steps they were inside the ship, a dozen shots hitting the door, and Shou Yuing went to the controls, lifting off. The ship broke through the atmospheric shields and into space as the shields reformed under them, a course set far away from here. Ace sank to the ground, breathing in slowly.
“You,” she said, “are mad.”
Shou Yuing fell against the wall and laughed with her whole chest.
Ace got up and kissed her. Shou Yuing hummed appreciatively, then leaned back.
“Do you have anywhere you want to be, once we lose them? Avallion keeps her promises.”
“Avallion?” Ace’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re joking.”
The most notorious thief in the galaxy held up the Eye to demonstrate. Ace finally nodded, accepting the claim.
“I wasn’t really thinking that far ahead. Carpe diem.”
“Carpe diem?”
“Old… something. Enjoy the day while you have it. Time had - seemingly - caught up to me. As had the police. I thought one last night before a last stand, better make it count. Then you came in.”
Shou Yuing smiled, and kissed Ace quickly once more. Then she wove out from under her limbs and wandered back over the control panel. “You’re a good accomplice. If you want, you can hang around a bit longer before I let you off.”
Ace smiled. “Yeah,” she said. “I think I’d like that.”