Nori's heart skipped a beat as she realized the alien had caught her bluff. By now, everyone in the Grand Mall already knew about the station orbiting the planet.
To her relief, the alien continued talking. “Hours ago, a group of people on another part of your continent made contact with me. Some of them figured out how to reactivate your communication systems, and I’m certain that they will soon acquire the necessary means to come up here. So, I’m sorry, but I must decline. I do wish to see your species flourish, but I have already given you as much as I can in good faith. The rest is up to you.”
“Alright. Then how about we buy a bunch of cheap Trinium-based equipment from you and turn it into ammo?” Nori suggested.
“It is possible, of course.” Alzigo looked down at the holo console on his arm and tapped it for several moments. “I have some spare power coupling I can sell you. They are made up mostly of Trinium. By my estimation, you’ll be able to create two hundred cartridges from one. I can sell you them for two hundred a piece.”
Nori frowned. “We can’t afford that. We need thousands, tens of thousands of rounds.”
Lana took a deep breath and spoke up. “There might be another way.”
Everyone looked at her.
She smiled apologetically. “I didn’t mention it before because it didn’t seem all that important, but now it might be. When I played around with the freighter’s logs, I discovered the last flight path it took. It originated from a place outside our solar system called Hammerhead and made a short stop on our moon.”
Bulco shrugged. “So?”
“Don’t you see?” she said excitedly. “The first aliens arrived here six months ago and I think it's obvious they came here to shower us with Tec. We already know there was more than one freighter involved … but not how many, exactly ...” She looked at the alien expectantly.
He bowed his head slightly. “Again, assuming your suspicions are correct, which I highly doubt, it would take a small fleet of freighters working for weeks to infuse an entire planet.”
“See? That adds up!” Lana continued, even more excitedly. “There was more than one ship, and if one made a stop on the moon, the others probably did as well. You heard Alzigo, it would’ve taken them weeks to infuse the Earth. They would have to have some sort of base to fall back to, to make repairs, and … I don’t know … take a break and play cards. What if they established a post on the moon? What if there’s a bunch of alien equipment there, just sitting around, waiting for someone to take it?”
Bulco shook his head. “That’s a lot of maybes. How are we even supposed to get there? I’m not sure the shuttle can make it, it’s a long way to the moon, you know.”
“I guess we can try purchasing the extended cells upgrade,” Lana said hesitantly. “But we lack the funds at the moment.”
“I’ve got a better idea,” Nori said. “We’ll take the freighter. Its thrusters are much stronger than the shuttle’s, and we can fit a lot more into it if we do find what we need.”
“Again, a lot of ifs,” Bulco said. “Even if we could somehow fix the main power core, the thrusters code got all scrambled, remember? It won’t accept commands from the ship’s controls, so that’s a bust.”
Nathan shook his head firmly.
Bulco looked up at him and frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
The young man lowered his head timidly.
“Nathan, you did it?” Lana gaped at him. “That’s amazing!”
“What? What’s going on?” the large man demanded.
“Nathan fixed the ship’s systems!” Lana exclaimed. “He says he rebooted everything and started something called ‘slow adaptive reintegration matrix’. So we’re good on that front.”
Bulco stared at her. “You got all that from a single glance and a shifty foot?”
“Err ... yeah?”
His chest swelled. “But that makes no se--”
“Bulco,” Nori put a hand on his shoulder. “If Nathan says he did it, I believe him. I would’ve been dead, twice, if it weren’t for him. So we just need to fix the main power core now, right?”
“Yeah, but as I told you, it’s unfixable, the entire casing needs to be replaced.”
“I remember,” Lana smiled at him. “I also remember you saying that unless I have the number of an inter-galactic spare part shop that delivers, it can’t be done. Well, it doesn’t exactly fit that description, but I think it’s pretty close.” She looked at the tall alien. “Any chance you have in stock a casing for a power core, of, err …” she looked expectantly at Bulco.
“Inthidlon standard type three power core,” he grumbled reluctantly.
“As a matter of fact, I do,” Alzigo said. “That type of power core is quite common.”
Lana’s gave a victorious smile.
“Hold on,” Bulco said. “Are you guys seriously suggesting we go crashing some unknown alien’s secret base?” He sized up Alzigo’s imposing form. “If there’s even someone there, those guys are probably not pushovers, and I doubt they’ll be happy to see us.”
“Aside from the two ships that had recently landed on your planet, I haven’t detected any other vessels in the system. It was weird, they both declined my communication attempts.”
“See?” Lana said. “Just the two ships were here. The place is abandoned; we can waltz right in.”
“Of course, you can,” Alzigo nodded. “The moon belongs to you humans, after all.”
Lana looked up at him in surprise. “It does?”
“Naturally. Your people were the first species to lay claim to it. There’s a beacon clearly marking and claiming it as your own. Even if you hadn’t marked it, according to galactic laws, absent local enlightened life forms, a moon belongs to the inhabitants of the planet it orbits and can only be claimed by another via trade or conquest.”
Lana gulped. “That’s … reassuring. I guess.”
Nori stepped in. “So you’re saying that according to the law, we’re basically the landowners and can kick out any non-human who might be there?”
“Yes. However, I would advise caution. Your current technology is far behind the galactic standard, and you have no active human base to cement your claim. Any enlightened species who chose to come here would have its own agenda, and I doubt they would take kindly to being ‘kicked out’ as you put it. That said, I reiterate, I have detected no active ships in the system for some time now.”
“We’ll risk it then,” Nori said firmly. “It’s bigger than just a resource grab mission. Any alien technology they might have left behind could be a huge asset in our struggle to survive.”
“It’s settled then.” Lana smiled. “We’ll take the freighter. So we’ll need that core casing after all. How much do you want for it?”
“A pittance, Miss. Fifty thousand piTec.”
Lana’s jaw dropped. “Fifty … thousand?”
Alzigo held up his arm. “Please believe me, that this is a bargain price. I recognized the urgency and your need, so I am doing my best to help. Fifty thousand would barely reimburse me the cost of materials and maintenance.”
Lana looked at Nori expectantly.
The taller woman shook her head. “We don’t even have a fifth of that, and what we do have was gained by the efforts of several groups. Now that it has gotten harder to find lone Warped to hunt, it could take us a long time to gather that much. Assuming, of course, the horde at Lou’s Yard doesn’t suddenly decide to leave and swarm the rest of the shelters.”
“A Warped horde?” the alien merchant’s said in surprise. Weirdly enough, his eyes glittered. “What an excellent harvest opportunity! Tell me, do they have a Broodmother?”
Nori was taken aback by his reaction. “A what?”
“When a Warped reaches level ten, it can sometimes transform into a Broodmother. A Broodmother is an intelligent specimen, capable of drawing in and directing the lesser Warped. Broodmothers are highly valuable hunting targets as it’s possible to extract a significantly large
r amount of piTec from their bodies. They also drop essence cores which can serve as a component in extremely advanced technological branches, and therefore worth quite a lot. You’ll have no shortage of funds should you kill one and its horde, I’m sure of that.”
Bulco gritted his teeth. “How hard is it to understand? The entire point of us being here and considering going to the moon is so we can kill those sons of bitches.”
“Please excuse our Engineer,” Lana smoothly cut in, throwing a warning glance at Bulco. “He hasn’t slept much lately. He does have a point, though. We first need the casing if we want to have a chance to hunt down this ‘Broodmother’. Is there a chance to come up with some sort of another form of payment?”
The alien nodded. “Of course, I understand. I am well aware of your intention and was beginning to suggest a possible solution when your Engineer ...” he paused to look at Bulco, “started cursing. You want to fix your freighter to reach the moon, for that you’ll need the core casing, of course. But that’s not all. If you’re planning on going outside the ship you’ll need spacesuits, communication devices, and possibly a multipurpose land vehicle to move around. I can offer all of that - and at a very affordable price.” Seeing as Bulco was about to snap at him again, he hurried along. “I understand the cost surpasses your current means, but should you succeed in your mission you would have no issue paying me back.”
Nori frowned. “Are you just going to give us everything we need and trust us to pay you back later?”
Alzigo craned his neck as he looked at her. “Of course not. I’m a merchant. I run a business, not a charity. I’m offering to give you a loan to buy everything you need. A loan which you’ll have to repay within a set amount of time, along with a small interest.”
“Alright,” Nori said, a bit too quick to Lana’s opinion. “Sounds fair, let’s do it.”
“Excellent. I will, of course, require collateral. Your shuttle will do.”
“You want to take away our shuttle?” Bulco nearly yelled, the veins in his neck popping.
“As collateral,” Alzigo stressed. “I’m sorry, that word must not exist in your vocabulary. You see, the idea is that you loan someone money and they give you back an object of similar or greater value to hold until they pay you back.”
“I know what collateral means,” Bulco growled. “There’s no way you’re getting our shuttle.”
Lana looked at Nori, and her eyes darted toward the angry man. Nori nodded and grabbed the Engineer by his elbow, turning him around. “Come on, big boy, let’s go for another walk.”
Lana turned back to the tall alien and gave him her most charming smile. “Let’s talk about that loan thing.”
***
The shuttle left the station, heading back to the planet.
“I still can’t believe you agreed to give him the shuttle as collateral,” Bulco grumbled.
“It was the only option,” Lana answered. “We couldn't afford all that stuff otherwise.”
Nori took in the pile of equipment they carried. A box of ammo containing a thousand rounds sat atop the large core casing that took up most of the shuttle’s floor.
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing at a large bundle next to the ammo.
“That’s a sealing kit. Alzigo said it could be used to make almost anything spaceworthy.”
Bulco frowned at her. “And why would we need that?”
“Well, you remember he mentioned we should have a vehicle to move around? I thought he had a point. Your Hummer should have no problem fitting inside the cargo hold, right? So I thought if we seal it up …”
Bulco chuckled. “You wanna take my Hummer for a spin on the moon? Ha! Good one, girl.”
Lana looked at him with a serious face. “I mean it. You mentioned before that you replaced the engine with something that’s Tec-based, right? So it can run in an environment without oxygen.”
Bulco stopped chuckling and furrowed his brow. “You might have a point there, kid.” He chuckled again. “I’ll be the first black man to drive a Hummer on the moon. I’m sure there’s a joke in there somewhere. Huh, probably going to be pulled over by some hillbilly moon-cop. Anyway, what’s that blinking panel below the kit?”
Lana smiled. “That’s an anti-grav carrier. Sort of like a futuristic wheelbarrow. I thought it would come in handy, seeing as we’re looking to move around a large volume of resources.”
The large man nodded approvingly. “Good thinking. I’m a little surprised that’s all you bought. I was sure you were going to leverage that loan for all it was worth.”
“But I did,” Lana flashed a smile at him. “It will take Alzigo a little while to collect everything, so I arranged for us to pick it up on our way to the moon.”
“Really? Huh, good thinking, kid. So what will be waiting for us when we get back?”
“Well …” Lana tapped her teeth. “I bought three extra spacesuits, Alzigo said the one we found earlier would work for humans, six personal communicator implants--”
“Why six?” Bulco interrupted.
“Umm, four for us and I thought it would be a good idea to keep in touch with Martin and Diamond. These ones have a limited range—you need a communication tower to allow for a longer range—but the ship can boost the signal a little on its own, so--”
“Six cell phones. Got it,” Bulco cut her off again. “What else?”
Lana seemed to lose some of her excitement. “I got us four grav-boots, so we can walk on the moon’s surface.”
“That was some good thinking on your part, Lana,” Nori said encouragingly. “Is that all?”
“Well …” the dark-haired woman blushed. “I got another implant, a sensory enhancement one. It lets the user get detailed information on their personal view and also improves computer access.”
“Sounds like a handy tool,” Bulco nodded. “So what aren’t you telling us?”
“Well …” Lana looked down. “It has a prerequisite. A person has to have an Intelligence score of six to use it, and … well, it was a little pricey.”
Bulco frowned. “How much is ‘a little pricey’?”
Lana twiddled her thumb. “Five thousand piTec.”
“Five thousand! For an implant?”
“I will be able to use it next time I level up,” Lana said hurriedly. “I already put the point from the last level in Intelligence, so I’m already at five.”
“Lana,” Nori said in a serious tone, looking with fresh eyes at the piles of equipment. “Just how much did you spend on everything?”
She fidgeted uncomfortably. “Including the casing … eighty-five thousand.”
“What?”-- “WHAT?” Nori and Bulco exclaimed in unison. Even Nathan looked incredulous.
“That’s okay,” Lana said hurriedly. “Alzigo rounded it down for us and I talked him down on our interest. And he was kind enough to let us use the shuttle to get back.”
“Lana,” Nori said with a worried tone. “Just what sort of deal did you agree to?”
“It’s a good one,” she looked at them earnestly. “He started by asking for a three percent interest rate, but I got him down to one. We have to pay him in full within thirty days, or we’ll lose the shuttle. That ought to be plenty of time to accomplish everything, don’t you think?”
“Alright, I guess you did good,” Nori obviously relaxed. “One percent is pretty good. We’ll only have to pay him eight hundred fifty piTec as interest, that’s not too bad at all.”
“Ahem … the interest … its … well … it’s daily.” Lana said lamely.
“What?” Bulco yelled, nearly breaking out of his harness.
“Lana, that's over twenty thousand in total,” Nori said in exasperation.
“I know,” the younger woman said, looking distressed. “But I did the best I could. I even got a message while we were haggling that my Path score had increased by one.” She took a big breath. “It’s not that bad. We don’t have to wait to the last day, we can pay him before that
. If we bring him the piTec in a week we’re only looking at an extra six thousand.”
Bulco grunted. “I don’t know why I’m so riled up by this. All we have to do is fix an alien spaceship, fly it to the moon, raid an alien outpost, fly back to Earth, and storm a castle guarded by a Warped Broodmother. I’ll probably be dead in a week, so I won’t have to worry about paying back the stupid alien’s loan.”
“That’s the spirit.” Lana smiled at him. “It’ll all work out in the end, you’ll see.”
“Alright, we’re nearly back at the freighter.” Nori’s hands blurred over her console. “Prepare for landing.”
“Remaining strapped in place - check,” Bulco grunted.
The monitors displayed the freighter approaching fast, then the faintest tremor ran through the shuttle and they were docked.
A message flashed on Nori’s view.
Navigator score increased by 1
“You’re getting better at this,” Lana complimented her. “I barely even felt it this time.”
“Yeah.” Nori nodded. “My Tec seems to agree. I just received the same message as you about my Path score increasing.”
“I wonder how it works. We should ask Alzigo next time we see him.”
“Come on.” Nori released her harness. “Let’s unpack everything.”
It was easier than they expected. The anti-grav carrier unfolded to the size of a dining table and hovered a few centimeters above the floor. Bulco and Nori easily piled all the equipment on top of it and then pushed it out of the shuttle. Once they were out, Nori input a series of commands on the light console outside the shuttle. The door closed, and the little shuttle hummed back to life. It levitated on its own and slowly flew out of the launch chute.
“I’m going to miss her,” Nori sighed. “A girl never forgets the first time she flew a shuttle into space.”
Nathan stopped next to her and patted her back sympathetically.
Nori blinked and looked at him in surprise. “Eh … thanks, I was only kidding.”
Nathan’s expression didn’t change, and he patted her one more time before turning to follow Bulco and the carrier.
Earth Force (Relict Legacy Book 1) Page 15