Junkyard Pirate

by Jamie McFarlane

  The approach of a car caught his attention as he slid out of the cab of the heavy machine, having stacked the remains of the van into the crusher. He waved, recognizing Jayne's vehicle. He continued over to the hydraulic controls that would finish the van's transformation to twenty inches of compressed steel and plastic.

  "What's up?" Jayne shouted over the whine of the heavy machinery.

  "Just cleaning up," He said. "Give me a minute to finish."

  He climbed back into the front-end loader and picked a couple of already crushed cars from one of the stacks. He set what remained of Lisa's van onto the pile and then replaced the cars he’d pulled off so Lisa’s was in the middle. He then set about moving another pile of vehicles in front of that stack.

  "Was that Darnell's car?" Jayne asked as he joined her in the darkened yard.

  "Lisa's. Yeah. Long story. Needed it gone."

  "Let me see that shoulder." She pulled at the torn fabric. "Does it hurt?"

  A loud crash from the house caught their attention and AJ pushed Jayne’s hand off and ran for the house.

  "Wait up!" She tried to catch him but stumbled on the gravel. AJ stopped and grabbed her arm, steadying her. "Thanks."

  "Sorry," he said sheepishly.

  "Your arm looks horrendous," she said, as they walked quickly up the wooden stairs to his front door.

  Somehow Darnell had freed one of his arms and cleared the kitchen counter in a desperate attempt to find a cell phone. "Are you fricking kidding me?" AJ shouted, trying to get his attention. "We're in the middle of an industrial complex. No one is around."

  "I can hardly breathe,” Darnell coughed around the gag.

  AJ wrestled Darnell’s arm down and pulled the strap back into place. As soon as Darnell was secure, Jayne came closer and gingerly felt along his nose. Darnell wrenched his head around and tried to bite the doctor, who was just fast enough to avoid the strike.

  "That wasn’t nice," she said, looking like she wanted to punch him herself. "I'm trying to help you."

  "Doc, if he keeps screaming, put a pillowcase over his head. He’ll still be able to breathe."

  "I don't know if I can do that," Jayne said, just as Darnell started screaming again. AJ chuckled as she shook her head and walked back toward the bedroom.

  He pushed his way back out of the kitchen door and into the cool night. "Time for that invention we talked about, BB."

  "An application of forty joules over a period of twelve seconds should do it," Beverly said. "You'll need a simple current limiter circuit and sharpened leads. In all, it will be intensely uncomfortable for both host and rider. Fortunately, only the rider will remember."

  Greybeard woofed and followed AJ out to the shop. "I know; too noisy in the house. Did BB talk to you yet about my friend?"

  "Jack is opposed and Seamus is in favor," Beverly said.

  "What's Jack's beef?" AJ asked, looking at Beverly’s simple schematics.

  "The joining is not warranted. Darnell's life is not endangered and bonding with a sentient with lesser intelligence is frowned upon by the Galactic Empire," she said.

  "Frowned upon or illegal?"

  "Well, Seamus brought up an interesting point," Beverly said. "For the same reason the Galactic Empire is ignoring the presence of Korgul on Earth, their laws do not currently apply to our bonding. If the empire were to enforce that law, they would be forced to recognize humanity as a species and provide protection."

  "Isn't that the purpose of your mission? To show that Korgul are breaking laws?"

  "There is complexity in the law," Beverly said. "Korgul are within their rights to inhabit Earth. They are not within their rights to strip the planet of valuable resources. At some point, Earth inhabitants will meet the requirements for treaty within the Galactic Empire. I'm paraphrasing a considerable amount of extremely technical law."

  "So, they have to leave their hands off the materials, but humans aren't under the law," AJ said.

  "Essentially."

  "So, we're no different than animals to you guys? Playfully intelligent, but mostly beneath notice."

  "That's a considerable simplification," Beverly said.

  "Let me ask the question in a different way," AJ said. "If I steal stuff from Galactic Empire citizens can I go on trial for it?"

  "No. That would elevate humanity’s position within the Galactic Empire."

  "And Korgul can just wipe us out if they want?"

  "Oh, no," Beverly said. "The bonding between Korgul and human is not considered a harmful process. While it is not as beneficial as Beltigersk, it's more like a human using the services of a horse."

  AJ growled. "I don't love your analogies. So, they can imprison us without cause or recourse."

  "Well, actually not," she said. "Humans are treated something like yard pests are treated by humans. Strictly catch and release. No jail."

  "So the Galactic Empire think of humans as raccoons?" he asked. “Well except for Korgul.”

  "It's complicated," she said. "Korgul have made a case that they are helping humanity move toward ascendance."

  "Oh, is that what they're doing?" he asked dryly.

  "There are many species who understand this fallacy," Beverly said. "That is why our mission is so important. If we can prove the Korgul are taking advantage of humanity and stripping Earth of its resources, we could sway the Galactic Congress."

  AJ glowered at Beverly. "That's so goddamn patronizing it pisses me the hell off." He pulled the wires from his workbench and marched angrily back to his home.

  "Make him stop." Jayne met AJ on the porch with hands over her ears. From the kitchen, Darnell bellowed like a wounded elephant.

  "With pleasure," AJ said, brushing past her and stopping at the sink just long enough to grab a frying pan.

  "I must inform you that the vessel you've selected will not hold the Korgul for long," Beverly said.

  "Won't need to." AJ looked darkly at Beverly as he plugged the shock device into the wall. "Doc, the Korgul will probably slide down his cheek."

  "AJ, what you're thinking is murder," Beverly said.

  "If a bear bites a hiker, is it murder?" AJ asked, his eyes wild as he stabbed one probe into Darnell’s neck and held the other against his forehead.

  "Is that how you wish the rest of civilization to view you?" Jack appeared in a fancy tweed suit. "As animals? Think about your actions, Albert Jenkins. They will reflect upon humanity for centuries to come."

  "What is he talking about?" Jayne asked, holding the pan next to Darnell.

  "What, didn't Jack tell you what our standing is in the Galactic Empire and why these Korgul can do what they want with us? It's totally legal under their system. We're like raccoons to them."

  "An unfortunate word choice," Beverly said. "Please, AJ, do not do this."

  AJ peeled off Darnell's gag. "Your turn, buddy," AJ hissed. "And please, take your time, gonna love watching you fry."

  "I will leave of my own volition," Darnell said.

  "Whatever you like," AJ said. "But before you go, give me one good reason not to fry you up and have you for a late-night snack."

  "You wouldn't," Darnell said.

  "Check Darnell's memory. See if he has anything filed under crazy eyes," AJ said, tipping his head wildly at the man.

  "Control knows that someone is interested in the spaceship in Mexico," Darnell said. "We have alarms set on the mapping website you used to locate the junkyard. They couldn’t trace the IP address yet, because you were using software to hide your location, but you might as well paint a target on your back if you murder us. You’ll cause a huge investigation."

  AJ repositioned the leads on Darnell and cackled as his best friend twisted in the chair. After a few moments of twitching, a slimy Korgul dropped into the pan.

  Fifteen

  Alice was an Amateur

  "Fascinating." Jayne stared at the trapped alien attempting to escape over the side of the cookware. “How is it possible such a helpless form
could evolve with such intelligence? They have virtually no capacity to manipulate their environment.”

  “Not so, good doctor,” Jack said, pulling at the lapels of his suit jacket, straightening it. “The Korgul have limited physical needs. It is believed their evolutionary path, as you call it, branched, not in developing their own mode of locomotion, but rather co-opting the planet’s other, already-mobile sentients. In fact, the Korgul utilize the brainstem of their hosts just as they utilize the limbs and circulatory system. Unlike most sentient species, the Korgul are relatively simple beings.”

  AJ gave the pan a gentle tug away from Jayne’s hands. “Sorry doc, science class is over.”

  “What will you do?” Jayne asked. “You can’t kill it. We need to treat them as prisoners of war.”

  “Sure, Doc,” He walked over to the stove and placed the pan on a burner.

  “AJ, no!” she cried.

  He raised an eyebrow as he opened the cabinet under the sink and withdrew a coffee thermos. “Take it easy.” He uncapped the thermos, stopping halfway into unscrewing the stopper to swish the Korgul around in the pan and knock it off the side. “I’m starting my own Hanoi Hilton here.”

  “Can they live in a sealed space?” Jayne asked.

  “Without stimulation, Korgul will ultimately pass into an unconscious state,” Jack said.

  “Does it hurt them?”

  “It is not believed so,” Jack answered.

  “How could you not know?” Jayne asked. “Surely, this isn’t your first interaction with the Korgul as a species? You were, after all, sent to Earth to survey the extent of their invasion. Are you telling me the Galactic Empire didn’t completely brief you about the Korgul? I find that hard to believe.”

  AJ tipped the pan and attempted to slide the Korgul into the thermos. Not as passive as he expected, the Korgul managed to shift to the side and escape to the counter. AJ reached out to scoop the Korgul back into the pan when a long, razor-sharp spike grew from the mass.

  “Well, that’s new,” he said, jerking his hand back.

  “I’m sorry for the illusion,” Beverly said as the spike disappeared. “The Korgul have the capacity to release a powerful paralytic through skin contact. You should not touch them directly.”

  AJ flipped the pan over and used the edge of it to scoot the Korgul back to the middle of the counter. “I think the cleaning crew left rubber gloves, I’ll use them,” AJ said. "You told me that. I should have remembered. Thanks."

  “Thin-walled gloves are also not a good idea,” Beverly said.

  “Let me guess, they have little spikes?” AJ asked.

  “That’s right,” Beverly said, beaming proudly. “How did you know?”

  “Seems the best way to get poison into a bloodstream,” AJ said.

  “AJ, I think you’re missing the bigger conversation,” Jayne said.

  “Oh?” He opened a drawer, looking for a set of tongs, only to notice that Beverly was outlining the next drawer down. Rolling his eyes, he switched drawers and extracted the tongs. “So, Jack there doesn’t know what these guys do when they’re sleeping. I’m not sure I see the big deal.”

  “He’s refused to answer several direct questions,” Jayne said. “And now he’s gone offline.”

  AJ snagged the elusive Korgul with his tongs, dropped it into the thermos, and spun the cap back in place. His eyes drifted over to Jayne and, indeed, Jack was no longer visible. “BB does that sometimes when she thinks I need alone time. I didn’t hear you guys going at it, though.”

  “We were talking privately,” Jayne said.

  “Whoa, wait,” AJ said. “You can do that?”

  “Jack and Beverly are merely projections. They’re not physically talking. They stimulate our visual cortex and auditory nerves.”

  “Sure, but that doesn’t explain how you’re talking to him without me hearing you,” AJ said.

  “Subvocalization,” Beverly said. “Imagine you have a throat mic but don’t push air across your vocal cords. It takes practice, but you’ll get it.”

  “How’d you figure that out?”

  Jayne thumped a finger against the gray hair on her temple. “I’m not just a pretty face.”

  “Can you hear me?” AJ asked, trying the technique.

  “Yes.” Beverly answered, but he wasn’t sure if he was the only one to hear her voice.

  “Doc, what do you think Jack’s been holding back?” he asked.

  “I don’t know that he is,” Jayne answered. “He’s evasive about the circumstances of the Beltigersk mission.”

  “Evasive how?”

  “AJ, I assure you our mission is of the utmost import and our motives are pure. Many Beltigersk and Vred have died and that should be sufficient proof of these truths,” Beverly said, bridging with Jack so Jayne could also hear. “What Dr. Jayne has picked up on is a technical detail. As a whole, neither Vred nor Beltigersk understand much about the Korgul.”

  “And the Galactic Empire hasn’t done extensive surveys of the species?” Jayne asked, her face hardening. “That’s unfathomable. With internet access, I can tell you the details of an earthworm’s dietary habits, their reproductive cycle and their preferred habitat – to name only a few of the myriad details available. How is it that the Galactic Empire knows less about Korgul than humanity knows of the lowly earthworm?”

  “It’s not that … exactly.” Beverly started to answer hesitantly but was cut off by Jayne.

  “That’s right. It’s not,” Jayne said.

  “What are you saying, Doc?” AJ asked.

  “I think it’s rather clear,” Jayne said. “The Beltigersk mission isn’t sanctioned by the Galactic Empire. Tell me I’m wrong. Jack? Beverly?”

  “It’s complicated,” Beverly said.

  “What’s complicated? You told me you needed to complete the survey and get that information back to the Galactic Empire.” AJ was trying not to lose his temper.

  “I may have exaggerated the Galactic Empire’s interest in the data.”

  “Nothing complicated about it,” Jayne said. “Korgul invaded Earth and the so-called rulers don’t give a shit.”

  “I know this is upsetting,” Beverly said. “Please allow me to add context. The Galactic Empire is composed of hundreds of sentient species and thousands of worlds. There are wars, famines, natural disasters, and every manner of trouble that demand the attention of the centralized government. The plight of an undeveloped and relatively unharmed adolescent species has difficulty attracting enough attention to cause action.”

  Jayne nodded as she took in the information. “Disappointing, but not outrageous,” she said. “Is that the extent of Jack’s subterfuge?”

  “I am not sure,” Beverly said. “You should know, I’ve ordered Jack to limit his interaction with you until I am able to come to a better understanding of his communication style. Over time, he will become more comfortable in his role, and your relationship will be allowed to strengthen.”

  “I don’t believe that is necessary,” Jayne said. “I am plain spoken and expect those whom I call friends to do the same. I do not require an answer for every question I ask, but I do expect honesty.”

  The conversation was interrupted when Darnell gasped deeply from where he sat in AJ’s wheelchair. “What’s going on?” He struggled against the straps holding him down and his head twisted wildly. “AJ?” His voice was frantic as their eyes locked.

  “It’s okay, buddy,” AJ rushed to his side and unclamped the straps. Darnell jumped up and stumbled on the wheelchair’s footrests. AJ caught him and guided the big man to the floor.

  “My face!” Darnell brought his hands up to gently examine his bloodied, broken nose. “I just can’t …”

  AJ helped him lie back, but his friend was no longer conscious. A moment later Jayne was by his side. “Jack, I need information about Darnell’s vitals,” she ordered.

  “2-F has bonded with and is monitoring him,” Jack said, appearing next to Darnell’s head.<
br />
  “I did not ask that,” Jayne snapped. “You will show me blood pressure, respiration, oxygen saturation and temperature and you will do it, stat! Nod if you understand.”

  Jack’s eyes widened as he stared at the doctor, unblinking. He finally nodded and a virtual panel of data appeared in front of her.

  “Thank you,” she said tersely. “2-F, please sedate Darnell Jackson. This must be very distressing and I don’t need him waking again. AJ, help me carry him back to your bedroom.”

  AJ chuckled, grabbing beneath Darnell’s arms. “Best lessons are hardest learned,” he said, winking at Jack whose image had frozen.

  “That nose is going to be a problem,” Jayne said as they struggled to get Darnell onto the bed. “2-F, give me a map of the damaged cartilage. Something like our x-rays, but in three dimensions.”

  AJ shook his head as a three-dimensional rendering of Darnell’s nose appeared in front of Jayne. Even to his inexperienced eye, the damage looked severe. AJ winced as he recalled how the bones had felt as they’d broken beneath his fist. At the time, Darnell-plus-Korgul had been his enemy. Now, he felt regret for his best friend’s pain.

  “That’s going to be really hard to explain,” he said. “I’ll get a washcloth and clean up his face.”

  “That you broke his nose?” Jayne asked. “I’ve always wondered why science fiction movies depend on poor explanations of minimally complex topics. In a ninety-minute movie, the concepts are explained to the audience with extreme depth, complete with emotional impact and the like. But for some reason, the characters themselves can’t possibly understand why hard choices were made, even though the audience does. Why is that?”

  AJ wet a washcloth and walked back out of the en suite. “Because the audience watched the movie?” he asked.

  “Science fiction is about advanced technology. How hard could it be to simply show the characters a movie that explains the so-called difficult to understand issues?” Jayne said.