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The ship descended through the atmosphere and the sky shifted from star-speckled black to blazing yellow-orange to wispy white on white, finally settling on a dull, cloudy gray that stretched from horizon to horizon. The surface of this world was painted in mottled tones of brown, black, darker gray, and occasional green. Funny how every planet looks flat from orbit, the pilot thought. He guessed at which swatches of color might be mountains, but they were still too high up to tell.

There were two men aboard. The pilot’s name was Baijin; he made minor adjustments to the controls in front of him as the computer guided the pockmarked, oblong metal bubble across the sky. The navigator, Sage, looked at a 3D image of the terrain below. His brow was furrowed and he squinted, as if looking for something small and easily missed.

They had not spoken much during the descent. The entry coordinates had been discussed at length at an earlier point in the excursion, and there wasn’t much to say. Now, it would get more interesting.

“This heading work?” Baijin asked.

“Hang on,” Sage replied. He focused the image on a particular area and zoomed in; a few moments later, he nodded. “Yeah.” He pulled the image back to a broader view and highlighted what looked like an urban center, farther to the west.

“Anybody following probably thinks we got a lead on some buried vault in Vegas,” Baijin said. “We stick to the plan.”

Sage nodded. “Head west, draw them out, double back. Stick to the plan.”

Souk Baijin looked at his reflection in the glass of the tiny viewport. The suit hid most of his slightly-pudgy late-thirties body; only his olive-skinned face and his short, dark, close-cropped hair was visible. He was a bit shorter than his former classmate and current companion, Charle Sage, whose lanky frame just fit behind the navigator’s console.

He was as surprised as anyone that the two of them had reconnected. Sage was smart, quiet, and, as far back as he remembered, the type who steered clear of trouble.

Not like me, Baijin thought. He had never quite found his niche, but neither had he completely given up on the idea that his lucky break was just around the corner. It’s not like I ever got in too deep, he thought. Not for lack of opportunity.

He focused on the wisps of distant clouds and the rapidly-approaching landscape. Though the ship was moving fast, there was little noise or vibration inside. An observer on the ground might have heard the odd sonic boom, but noise was low on the list of concerns for both of them. The planet didn’t have a large permanent population—or many visitors, for that matter. And, most of those were scavengers.

Like us, Baijin thought. Trash miners. Prospectors of second-hand gems and used ore, cruising the junk heaps of known space for the garbage of dead cities and lost moons. They spent their days shoveling scrap into a beat-up ship that half looked like it had been looted from a junk pile itself. It was a living—barely—and usually a lonely one at that.

He glanced at his partner. Sage didn’t have a lot of vices, but he did like cards; his streak of bad luck at the poker table turned out to be good luck for a pilot like Baijin, who needed a navigator. A smart kid like him should’ve ended up as something better than this, he thought. But hey…maybe our luck is about to turn around.

He looked back at the viewport. At least this area is pretty well picked over. Less competition, fewer complications. Other than anybody who followed us here.

As if on cue, a warning chime sounded. Baijin looked at an instrument panel and his chest tightened. “Company,” he said.

Sage exhaled; he had seen another ship while on their way in. “I knew it!”

“Well, at least we have a plan,” Baijin said, his voice wavering slightly, and started inputting commands. “I’ll nose down like we’re heading into—you see here?” He set a pointer on his display; it appeared on Sage’s as well.

“That looks good,” Sage said, clearing his throat and trying to sound confident. “Hopefully the maps are up to date.”

“We can adjust as we get closer.”

“You think they’ll buy it?”

“Gonna find out.”

Though their pursuers were out of visible range, flying through atmosphere at speed did everything but paint a neon trail behind them; it would be trivial to follow. I’m glad it only looks flat from a distance, Baijin thought, as they headed towards the shelter of a wide, very three-dimensional canyon carved deep into the red-brown desert rock.

Detailed topography appeared on the viewer, mainly as a courtesy to the human occupants of the ship—the computer and its AI did the heavy lifting. Manual controls hadn’t even been an option for longer than either of them had been alive.

Baijin reviewed several possible paths. He settled on one that took them within a few meters of the surface, along the main branch.

He felt a knot of anxiety building deep in his torso and grappling its way up his chest. Though the maps were recent, wind and weather and earthquakes could and did change topography without notice (as the warning on the map data package made clear). And even computers made mistakes, and there wasn’t much room for error.

Behind, the pursuing craft broke through the clouds. Baijin glanced at a screen that displayed the other ship’s heading.

“Pretty clear who they’re here for,” he said, trying for a sarcastic tone.

Charle Sage nodded, but his jaw was clenched. Baijin looked at his partner. Things were about to get uncomfortably real, and he hoped he was ready for it…he hoped they both were.

Souk Baijin forced a thin smile. “Well, we’re not sharing.”

Read Part 2 here