Horizon Seeds (Complete)

Chapter Seventeen

Headline: SPAIN, GREECE AND ITALY TO DISCUSS RISING SEA LEVELS
Headline: VIOLENT PROTESTS SHUT DOWN ART EXHIBITION
Headline: OTHSHALI'I LEADERS TOUR MONTANO'S COROMANDEL PENINSULAR
Headline: UK ROYAL PRINCE BORN, NAMED PEACE
Headline: LOTTO DRAW AWARDS $56 MILLION TO FORMER PARALYMPIAN

'Stay in the truck.' Val's voice left no room for arguing but Five wasn't human and he argued anyway.

'Why, what purpose does that have?' She stopped halfway out of the vehicle and realised she had no jurisdiction over him any longer. Technically, she wasn't his guard any more, but her training kicked in and it was her errand that lead them to the pub.

'I'm going to talk with the owner about a purchase.' She left him in the truck, hoping he'd stay and made her way into the Rotten River. It still stank. She turned towards the bar and watched as the owner moved from one end to the other, ready to walk out the back through the side door. He's seen her but he wasn't interested in talking. She walked past the diminutive figure who was returning empty glasses to the bar, her oily hair a cascade around her face. Val purposely ignored the girl and stepped through the side door and knocked. She stepped back and bumped into someone close behind her and turned to find one of the local loggers standing there, arms crossed, scowl on his face. She looked him in the eye and stepped towards him, something that he hadn't expected her to do. He stepped back and growl when he realised what he'd done. He almost stepped towards her again but two grey figures appeared out of nowhere beside her. She hid her surprise at their presence and knew that Five was in the building now that they were. The logger dropped his arms and moved away, knocking in to Felicity as she passed. She shied away from the large man quickly she looked back at Val with a look in her eyes that could only be described as desperation.

'What is a child doing in a place like this?' Five whispered and of everything that just happened in the last two minutes, his quiet voice was the one thing that made her jump. She placed a hand over her racing heart and decided to ignore him, turning back to the door just as the bar owner stepped out with a crate of beer in his arms. He made an attempt to knock into her on his way past but Gary, tall, grey and completely alien stepped in the way and the bar keeper nearly dropped his cargo as he recognised him. The guy's reactions flickered from anger to surprise back to frustration again. He put the crate down and began to unload its contents.

'What do you want?' He looked at Val and then to someone over her shoulder. His eyes widened slightly.

'I need a laundry maid. How much to buy your girl's debt.' Neither Gary or Mo moved an inch from either side of her, but she felt, rather than saw, Five shift behind her.

'She's not for sale, I just got her.' The grubby man looked about the room for the subject of their conversation but she had obviously made herself scarce.

'A waif like her, can't be much help in a place like this.' Val tried to reason with the guy, bargain for the girl's life but she only had so much to go on without pulling rank.

'She's bloody useless, is what.' The barman moved to put more bottles on a shelf under the bar and came back to her wiping the faux wooden bench down.

'So, let me take her off your hands. What's your price.' She was starting to lose her cool and it sounded in her voice.

He looked up at her, squinted, then continued to smear grim across his bar. '10 grand, take it or leave it.'

She released a breath. 'Take. Give me an hour,' she said and left the bar.

'What is going on, Val. Why is that child in there and what is this about buying her? I don't understand, how can anyone buy a child?' Five asked his questions incessantly until she climbed into Parker's truck again and she turned to the alien to explain a darker aspect of human nature.