Omnigalactic

  Maintenance mechs floated slowly upward toward the surface. Bubble trails from their propulsion systems created foamy, white streaks, slowly floating up and away from the murky seafloor. Clouds of sand kicked up and obscured my vision.

  “See anything?” I asked Jord over the intercom.

  “Nothing yet,” his voice crackled. “Wait… what's that by the kelp?”

  I shined the floodlights over by the kelp. A trio of mechs fled from the seaweed forest. They followed a stretch of piping that cut across the seafloor and ran up to the beach. I wasn't a plumber, but I guessed it must have been some kind of waste pump. Was that the reason the animal was so violent? I shook my head. Finding out why it was mad wasn't the reason I was there. “I see the workers. Is that what you meant?”

  “No,” Jord said. “The other thing.”

  A long, ink-black tentacle slithered out from the kelp and snatched one of the mechs, wrapping around its legs. The worker flailed inside the mech's glasteel command pod. He slammed his fists and let out silent screams of horror as the mech was crushed in the tentacle's grip. Thank the Pantheon, I couldn't hear his screaming, because I could tell they were the kind of screams you’d let out when death was inescapable, certain. What had I gotten myself into? This was the stupidest thing I'd ever done.

  I shivered as I watched the man die. “What do we do now?”

  “Bring us closer,” Jord said. “I need to get a better shot.”

  “Closer? Remember what it did last time? It'll grab the ship and crack us like an egg.”

  “Trust me, Sai. Get us closer!”

  My hands shook as I increased the prograde thrust. There was a crack, then a bang. The cockpit lights flickered twice, and the engines shut off completely.

  “What's going on?” Jord yelled from down the corridor. “Why aren't we moving?”

  I repeatedly slammed the thrust and flicked the ignition on and off. “We lost power!”

  “Shit! What do we do?”

  I ripped out the ship's manual from under the captain's chair and flipped through it. A roar pulsated through the water and shook the ship. I glanced up and saw the maintenance mechs, grasping the tentacle with their pincers. No way they were going to hold that thing for long.

  I found the troubleshooting section in the manual. In the event of engine failure, there were two options: One, have a licensed technician run a proper diagnostics check on the vessel's internal systems to ensure quality repairs; and two, if a technician was unavailable and it was an emergency, please call the local authorities and remain in your vessel until help arrived.

  Useless! I hurled the manual behind me. I had to think quickly, or else we'd end up like those workers. A-ha! I remembered the time when I was on Utanab, a jungle world. Some pests had chewed through the engine's protective barrier with their corrosive saliva, causing rainwater to flood the engines.

  I tried to flush them. They engaged for a second or two, then crapped out and died again. Damn it.

  Wait. “I have an idea!” I yelled to Jord. My boots clanked against the floor as I sprinted for the engine room.

  “You’d better do it quick!”

  It was as I suspected - water leaked from the main engine. The room was flooded with ankle-high water. Now, how to get it out? A five-foot-tall metal locker was on the wall opposite the calibrator consoles. I flung it open. A gas-welder and a dust-covered, four-armed, yellow envirosuit hung inside. I snatched it, put it on, and grabbed the gas-welder. Cool air filled the suit from the external air-filtration system on my back. The extra pair of arms hung limply from my side. They flopped and danced behind me like tassels on a flamboyant parade costume. I won't lie; I didn't feel graceful in that suit. It was dumb-looking, too.

  I ran to Jord. “I have to fix it from the outside. It’s the only way.”

  “I'll keep you covered, bud. Good luck.”

  “It's going to get in here if we don't close the boarding ramp as soon as I go out. Close it behind me.”

  Jord nodded.

  I dove into the sea and swam as fast as I possibly could in the clunky, Celyrian-specific envirosuit. My mask started to fog up from my heavy panting, so I wiped it away with a yellow hand. A trail of bubbles floated toward the surface from the main engine. Upon closer inspection, I could see a long crack in the outer hull of the main engine. It looked like a fractured arm bone. There were scores of slash-marks, as well; leftover from our run-in with those damn harpies.

  The railgun boomed and seemed to echo for miles undersea. I turned to see a massive, black shadow swimming toward us, and I instantly regretted my decision to leave the inside of the ship. It moved with the speed of a blood-crazed predator and swam right up behind the ship, right in front of me. I activated the gas-welder, yanking at the release valve. Seawater turned to blistering steam as white-hot flames emitted from the welder tip.

  The creature — still only a shadow obscured by the darkness of the ocean depths — was not deterred by my puny, makeshift weapon. A tentacle snatched me by the legs and pulled me in. Its grip tightened, and the blood flow to my feet ceased. My feet tingled with encroaching numbness. I put the welder to its tentacle and seared it off. Dark ooze seeped out and clouded the water between us. The creature shrieked at me as I swam back toward the ship. I had to fix it! But, I was grabbed again — this time, around my torso. The welder slipped from my hand and plummeted toward the bottom of the sea. It squeezed, and the air from my lungs escaped and wouldn't return. My eyes felt like they would explode from my head. That was it; I was going to die.

  A blue streak flashed past me and into the dark shadow of the beast. It released me. I gasped, and air filled my lungs again. I dove into the darkness for the welder. Another blue streak came from the railgun and illuminated the ocean floor for a few seconds. The welder landed on a rock formation that was jutting upward like a clenched fist. I felt around on the rock, until my gloved hand found it. Using the rock to propel myself, I shot upward like a rocket and looked around for the shadowy, black animal, but couldn't find it. Had the railgun scared it off? There was no time to worry about that, so I activated the welder and sealed the crack.

  I swam to the underside of the ship and opened the boarding ramp. The floor of the ship was flooded with even more water — roughly two-feet high — but I could still traverse through it.

  I yelled to Jord over the intercom, “I got it sealed! How are we doing?”

  “Looks like he gave up on us and decided to have another go at the workers!”

  I flushed the engines and flicked the ignition switch. The Lady Luna puttered, then hummed as her engines came to life. I knew she had it in her.

  Jord hollered, “You did it, you crazy bastard! Now, get me close! Let's kill this thing!”

  I flew us toward the black, tentacled mass. Jord opened fire on it and blew off a number of its arms. Dark ooze poured out from its severed limbs, and it disappeared into the kelp. I chased after it. Kelp slapped against the cockpit as I followed the trail of inky goo. Jord continued blasting the railgun, creating a kelp-and-tentacle salad. Up ahead, the creature tossed and turned in the sand, until it stopped.

  Before I could react, the ship slammed into the hulking mass. I engaged the retro thrusters and stopped the ship. The creature lay there, lifeless. It was over; it was finally dead.

  My jittery hands rested on the controls. My breathing slowed. “We did it.”

  Jord's howls echoed through the ship. I would have joined him, but I was still processing our victory.

  When we returned to the surface, I landed the Lady Luna on the beach to check on the surviving maintenance workers. Seawater poured out of the ship as Jord and I walked down the boarding ramp.

  The two workers leapt from their mechs and dashed toward us, then grabbed our hands and shook them. “Thank you!” they shouted. “Thank you so much! You saved our lives!”

  A crowd of Melvillians gathered around us. One of the workers said to them,
“They did it! They killed it!”

  There were cheers, hoots, and hollers. I couldn't contain myself. A smile crept onto my face, and my chest swelled. It felt pretty damn good — something I hadn't felt in my entire life.

  Doctor Rupert emerged from the crowd and walked up to us. “I was beginning to think we hired the wrong people,” she said. “I was wrong to doubt you two. With your help, we can now get back to completing our research. Thank you.”

  “Just one more thing,” I said. “You have anything to drink around here?”

  “Someone get them fresh water!” she yelled at the crowd.

  I chuckled. “I meant something harder than that, if you know what I mean.”

  Jord wrangled me around the neck with his cybernetic arm and gave me a hard noogie. “‘I need a shot’ is what he's trying to say.”

  I laughed and shoved him off me. “Forgive my partner's lack of professionalism. But yes, I need something stiff. Is there a bar of some kind on this island?”

  An engineer ushered me onward. “Right this way, Sir.”

  ****

  The sun retreated to the edge of the horizon. Warm oranges, blues, and purples filled the sky. A gentle breeze cooled my skin, and the crashing of the waves accompanied the sound of playful chattering and laughter. Despite having no previous knowledge of the place's existence, I could tell peace had returned to Melville. A tropical getaway like that wasn't the exact location I'd expect to find an enormous, man-killing animal. Stranger things had happened, I guess. Then again, who would've known an ex-commercial pilot would have been responsible for slaying the thing? If I had been a gambler, I wouldn't have bet my last five bitcreds on a guy like me.

  The Melvillians, Jord, and myself were at the island's recreation area - a thirty-by-thirty-foot, fenced-in area of beach attached to a wooden cabana. The locals lit torches once the sun had finally set for the day.

  I had a really good buzz going, right at the equilibrium between becoming more sociable and stumbling over drunk like an idiot. I nursed some kind of Human beer called a “lager” that wasn't half-bad.

  Jord came back from the makeshift bar, clutching a tray of hard liquor.

  I held out my hand in protest. “No way. I want to be able to fly us out of here tomorrow.”

  Jord slammed a shot glass down in front of me. “We're celebrating Omnigalactic's first big contract,” he slurred. “You are going to drink this, or I will pry your mouth open and pour it down your throat. Drink it.”

  “All right, fine,” I said and held the glass out in front of me. “To what?”

  “To that tentacled son-of-a-bitch; may his rotting corpse feed the fish of the deep.”

  I drank the shot. Fiery liquid burned a trail down my esophagus and into my guts. I winced.

  Jord patted me on the shoulder. “You did good, bud. I knew you had it in you.”

  “You did all the shooting,” I said. “All I did was fly the ship.”

  “You don't give yourself enough credit, Sai. I wish you were alive during the AI War. Could've used a partner like you back then. Anyway, the business is off to a good start. You're a natural for this line of work.”

  I took a sip of my beer. “Honestly, I think if it weren't for my dad's book, I would've never made it this far.”

  “Book? What book? The one I've seen you reading? Is that why you've been acting like Mister Business Guy?”

  I scoffed. “‘Mister Business Guy’? What's that supposed to mean?”

  He started to move his arms stiffly, like a robot. “Beep boop. I must be professional around clients. Boop beep boop. I must secure capital.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked. “My dad's book is a foolproof way to become an entrepreneur. Every decision I've made was based on that. Look where it's gotten us.”

  Jord slammed another shot and shook his head. “You're acting like a drone.”

  “Shut up. You're wasted.”

  “That's just a marketing ploy to get suckers to buy into it. Like a self-help book for assholes who can't do anything on their own. Always need somebody to tell them what choices to make and what to believe. Not just anybody can run a business, Sai. It takes talent and smarts. You're just too blind to see it.”

  I leaned in close. “Are you saying my dad's a conman?”

  “That's exactly what I'm saying,” Jord slurred. “You got duped. You didn't pay for it, did you?”

  I clenched my fist and hit Jord in the face. He careened over in his stool and fell to the sand with a hard thud. The chatter died. Onlookers watched us, some silently, some in hushed whispers.

  “Only I can talk bad about my old man,” I declared. “Nobody else.”

  Jord wiped a trickle of purple blood from his lip. He stood up, stumbled, and leaned his weight against the fence. “Forget what I said about you. Maybe you are just a mindless asshole who reads self-help books. Another drone.”

  He staggered out of the recreation area. I glanced over at the crowd, still staring at me. They looked away and returned to their idle conversations.

  I slumped back into my chair and took another sip. That had been very professional of us. Couple of drunken morons, almost getting into a fistfight.

  A dressed-down Doctor Rupert walked in. She wore a simple, yellow sundress and had her golden locks of hair tied up in a bun. She saw me and waved. I waved back, and she came over to my table.

  “Glad to see you’re still here,” she said. “I was afraid I’d miss out on the party. Oh, where’s Jord?”

  Of course. The bastard had put the moves on her. I wanted to tell her he was too hammered to even stand, so he went back to the Brick to sleep it off. “He had to go back and get the ship ready for the next assignment,” I lied.

  “You're leaving tomorrow?” she asked. “Already?”

  “Omnigalactic never stops, Doctor Rupert.”

  “That's a shame. We're resuming our study of the ruins tomorrow morning. I would love to show you what we've found.”

  “What is it?” I asked and took another sip.

  She smiled. “You have to see it in-person. It's a sight to behold.”

  “By the way, do you want a drink?” I asked.

  “Oh, no, I don’t drink.”

  “Oh, come on! It's time to celebrate. Loosen up a bit. The entire time I’ve known you, you've been all stern and wound-up tight. Heck, I was scared of you at first.”

  “You thought I was scary?”

  I chuckled. “Yeah. I felt like if I even cracked a joke, you'd snap my head off.”

  She bit her lip, fighting to hold back a smile. But, she lost the battle and gave a toothy grin. “I suppose you're right. I should loosen up.”

  She ordered herself a glass of red wine. Strange; I would've thought she'd order a fruity, slushy cocktail like all the girls drank.

  As I waited for another one of those Human lagers, we engaged in idle conversation. But as the drinks kept coming, her tense demeanor melted away, revealing the truer, more laid-back Ellen Rupert. As it turned out, we had a bit in common. We both hated the cold, loved to sleep on the couch, and had a sizable horror movie collection. She was actually kind of cool.

  “So, you said those ruins are a sight to behold, eh?” I looked out at the ocean. Jord would be hungover and sleep in, for sure. He'd never make it. I looked back at her. “I guess we could stick around for a little longer. Might be interesting to see.”

  She touched my hand for a brief second. I fought back a blush. You didn't see too many women when you worked in the shipping business. “Trust me; it is.”

  “So, uh… what brought you out here?” I asked.

  She retracted her hand and grabbed her drink. “You don't want to hear that; it's a boring story.”

  “Try me.”

  “If you insist,” she said. “Well, I’ve always loved studying xeno-archeology, even when I was a child. Alien cultures are just so fascinating. I wanted to make it my career, m
y life’s work. But, my parents said it was useless and unbecoming of the family name. So, I went to university to practice medicine. After a few years working on Koris, I had to leave. I was restless. I found out about the research project here and signed on as the chief physician.”

  “Talk about deja vu. Sounds a little something like my family.”

  “But, I want to return to school to practice medicine on aliens, as well,” she said. “It may not be archeology, but at least, I'll be able to explore the galaxy a little more.”