The Space Needle (League of Cosmic Justice Book 2)

by Sam Sea

  “Of course I know about that…”

  “Do you have a tracker-buster?”

  “No…Do you?”

  “I used to…” Mikka said thinking about all her belongings which was impounded when she was arrested.

  “I placed it safely away, far away, where it could not be tracked…Don’t worry about that.”

  “You have to understand something…” Mikka tried to explain, with softness and understanding slowly returning to her voice. “I am not used to being stupid, or being around stupid. In my job, that just gets you killed. So you better change how you think. If you want to work on a side, go ahead, and do it. I have nothing against it. I’ve already told you that you owe me nothing….I release you from your bond, or whatever that hand cutting was-“

  “The blood pledge – that was the blood pledge… And I swore my oath to you. I will not break it.”

  ‘Whatever…But as long as you are with me, around me, you better think hard when you want to take on a job, take on a risk. You better ask me everything…I mean, the place you cleaned, do you know who it belongs to? You do not. Do you know what you stole? You do not. We could had taken cared of this before you went in there blind. Understand?

  “You probably do not even know how much the paintings are worth on a black market. Do you know that there will be an investigation now? And for what? A year supply of food? That investigation might lead police to you, and that will be unfortunate since then it will lead them to Silent and me. And you know we cannot have that happen. So, what do we do now?”

  Irkoniss had no answers. He felt like a child being scorn by his father, holding on to his mother’s apron.

  “And for what? Fifty thousand credits? That is not enough to buy you a decent place to live. Besides, you do not need do worry about the money…I’ve already decided to take on another job. And it’s worth twenty times more than what’s on that ring.

  “Really?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but, It’s worth a million credits, and that.. should be good enough to get me back in the game.”

  “One million? That is…a lot…I thought you didn’t want to do those kinds of things anymore.”

  “I don’t…but…”

  “How can I help?”

  “You can’t. I work alone. I can’t worry about you making a mistake. I’ve done so many of jobs, and I almost never make a mistake. You understand? I’m not ready to start doing it now.”

  “But, really, maybe I can help.” Irkoniss was encouraged at Mikka’s softer tone. He wanted to be part of her life even

  “Do you know how to kill the Emperor’s Investigator Commissioner?” Mikka asked. “How to kill him, and get away with it so nobody ever questions you about it?”

  Irkoniss became suddenly very quiet again. He knew she was not going to give him a break. Maybe he did not deserve one either. Maybe he did belong on cannibal planet like Pluk.

  Minutes had passed and nobody said anything again. In that silence, his mind started to play a trick on him again, drifting again, away from that kitchen table, away from the apartment, the Capital and the galaxy.

  In the end, he got up and stretched his body on the couch, thinking again about the night of his first hunt.

  Chapter 3 - The Thirst

  Planet Ertovax V

  Irkoniss threw a thick bear skin over his back and crawled out of the forest. He tried to be tough and fought the urge to look back to his father for guidance and assurance. He was not sure he would get any, so he was the first one to move ahead and never looked back.

  He saw shadows of his friends started to move along his left, advancing fast, and decided to pull further to the right, and distance himself from them.

  We are supposed to do this all on our own, alone. Besides, whatever I do, nobody needs to see it, he let his thoughts come out as a whisper.

  As he studied the wall, he picked a spot in the distance as his target, the place where the fire burned the hardest, and the light was the brightest.

  Soon the night swallowed all three of them, and he could not even guess where his friends were anymore. After a while of crawling forward, and stopping to listen for any sounds, he realized that he was going way too slow. Certainly, he didn't plan to be the last one to return with a chopped head.

  So, he got up, and started to move faster, using tree stumps for the cover. His eyes steadied to the ground, and he made sure that no twig was stepped on, no sound emitted. It took him almost an hour to get close enough to lights to understand that things will not go as smoothly as his older brother told him would be.

  They didn't say anything about the wooden wall guarding the village. I was just supposed to go, catch the warrior, sitting and sleeping by some fire and slice his life away from him…Now what do I do?

  The wall was at least twenty feet tall, composed of rough tree trunks. It was by far the biggest man-made construction he ever saw. Every fifty feet, there was a tower on which a pile of logs were burning bright.

  I guess that is that is where all the forest went… but why? That wall cannot keep me out. He lost just a bit of respect for sky people, thinking that maybe it is true that they are actually very stupid indeed.

  They may know of heavens and stars, but certainly not of earth… no fence can keep us out.

  He thought about climbing it. He certainly could do that easily. But that might make too much noise. He was a good climber, but could he do it without making the sound? Maybe if he took his leather boots off, used his bare feet.

  He felt the dirt under the wood planks. It was soft. Winter didn't freeze it yet here. How deep did wood planks go into the ground? He could not tell. At least a foot, he thought. For such a tall trunk to be firm, it had to go deep. And how long would it take him to dig a hole, and go underneath it? Maybe an hour, maybe even more if no sound was to be heard. He didn't want to wait that long.

  The thought about going back and telling them that they were wrong about sky people has leaped through his mind. But to face the shame, and mocking? He doubted any of his friends would not tease him for the rest of his life. No, he could not do that.

  Don't hesitate…he heard his uncle’s voice. Decide, and go for it. Don’t wasting even a blink of an eye on guessing if you can do it or not…for that blink of an eye can cost you your whole life. Do you understand?

  He steadied his breathing and went closer to the wall. The second moon was already way past zenith, guarding his back. In less than an hour, it would be gone, lost passed the forest, his village and melted in eternal snowy mountain tops that lay further west. He wondered if his mother was watching the big moon at that very moment.

  He realized he didn't have to go inside the village at all. There were guards, two as he could see, being posted in each of the guard towers. So he will get two of them. He will take two heads, and not just of anyone. Those would be guards, warriors. He would take their weapons as well so he could show it to everyone in the village. How would his father feel about that? That would be even better than his brother did.

  He picked the tower which seemed to have the least fire coming from and watched it. Guards there seemed to be sleeping already as they did not move at all.

  He didn't take his eyes of them for another minute, and then decided to climb.

  It was easier than he thought. His knives slit easily between the wood trunks, and he used that as a support to move higher. His heart raced though, trying to leave his chest, and jump out of his mouth. He thought its beating could be heard through entire forest. Even his breathing seemed way too loud. But in less than a minute, he was already halfway there.

  Guards seemed still sound asleep, motionless, not making even the smallest of chit-chat.

  Stupid sky people, tonight, you pay for your ignorance.

  Even the fire on the tower seemed to have died completely down providing even more darkness to hide his slender figure. In another few minutes he was but a jump away from them.

  He visualized
how it was all to happen. The one guard showing him his back will get a knife right in the back of his head. That should kill him instantly. If he makes any sound, that will be the dying breath. He will leave his knife there, in the back of his head. With the dagger that was given to him, he will attack the guard that will face him. If he has no time, he might make the eagle fly…if he had to. He would not miss for the awaken warrior would be slow...

  The other man will definitely be scared if he wakes up at all. His bear skin was still guarding his back, and the charcoal powder his face.

  I would be scared. If I ran into myself right now, even I would be scared. He will probably, instinctively try to protect his face.

  So he will stab his hearth, just to make sure, and then cover his mouth with his free left hand, and then no sound will ever leave his mouth.

  He decided, and didn’t want to wait anymore. With his left hand and legs, he pulled himself up, inches from the guards head, and shoved, with all his force, his dagger through it. It went in so easily, frightening easy, nothing like butchering a deer. But he didn’t wait another second, as he pulled himself up in the tower and jumped on top of the second guard, just like he planned. The eagles dagger was gripped in his hand, and he lifted his hand high up to strike a deadly blow.

  Only then did he realized, there was no second guard. He looked around. There was no any guard. He killed nobody.

  They were only scarecrows, made of straw, made to look like real guards. He felt so stupid and took his knife out of the scarecrow’s head.

  If they ever find out what he did, the whole village would laugh at him. They would even tell the stories to their children, and their children would laugh at him as well. Anywhere he would go, they would point a finger at him, and laugh. Maybe even the other tribes would know him as ‘the hunter of the scarecrows”. They would make fun of him until the end of his days.

  They can never find out. He looked around to see if he could see his friends. The shock of embarrassment could not make him think or do anything else.

  Until he heard voices of men approaching, talking. He hid.

  "I think that is all kind of spaceshit mambo-jumbo! Of course, I don't believe it at all. I can’t imagine you do…I know of no bears that could chop person's head off and leave the body laying there. Maybe eat the whole body, but chop his head off just for the hell of it? And you said you heard this from whom?”

  “I’m telling you…this guy on the space dock, he swore on his mother’s life, that’s what he saw…He said after spending two years in the hell here, he was tired of being scared…easier money to be made elsewhere, he said…

  “So, tell me then, if that is true, why did we place those scarecrows there, I mean if we are afraid of the bears coming and chopping our heads off? Who are they supposed to scare off? Maybe craws chop people's heads off?"

  "I do not know...I know I like to keep my gun next to me even when I sleep…This place gives me creeps. “

  “This all doesn’t make any sense…Instead of mining the river for gold, we wasted time doing this…”

  Their accent was hard for Irkoniss to understand at first, but as they got closer and stopped next to his watchtower, he could make most of their words out.

  ‘How come sky people speak the same language as us? Can it be true the stories my mother told me, the ones she heard from her grandfather, about us being from the sky as well? Can it all be true?’

  “Look, that is what the town's mayor said to do, so who am I to know? He has been here longer than us, plus he is the man in charge, so who am I to debate that with him?”

  “But bears?”

  “Well, they may not be bears… Some say, they are monsters...forest monsters, beings belonging to the forest that come out…who knows man? Did you see the size of the forest to the north? You know, nobody even cared to map it yet. In a few years, maybe the colony will have enough credits to get ships to run thermal scans of the whole area and find out what kind of beings live there, find out who those monsters are…”

  "Spaceshit! I don't believe it. I do not believe in monsters. I’ve seen too much space to believe in such a child scaring stories.” They were right underneath him. “I mean, I heard stories of other beings, some which even had great intelligence, like us…but it is said that humans exterminated them all tens of thousands of years ago, and there you go…

  “Believe whatever you will, but the people who lived here for a while say that beheadings happened here last year, on this very day. A guy lost his head, I am telling you. And nobody saw or heard anything. That’s why they decided to put that wall up. And other villages along the coast have the same types of stories. It is not just here."

  “Come on man! Just stop it! We’ve been here already 3 months, and I have not seen any types of monsters roaming through the forest. And you know how far I went in it? A full day’s walk! Must have been 10, 15 miles at least. I do not understand why you all are so scared of the forest. It is no ‘magical’. It is just a bunch of trees that are waiting to be chopped down. When we have enough money, we will get a decent port build here where a transporter can land, and then, you will see, we will chop half of that forest down. Good money to be made on it. Back in the Capital, they would pay good money for this wood.”

  “Well, most people say you were fool to go that deep inside. Some that went never came back. So, people that lived here more than a season just do not dare to go deep into that forest, I am telling you…your plasma rifle will not help you. People here swear on the name of their unborn children that those beings are real. Man, they are scared!"

  "They are chicken shit. Well, if you believe in their stories so much, why don't you go up the stairs to the tower and light up some more of that fire then?"

  "That's what they send us here to do, so give me a hand.”

  Irkoniss crunched under the seat, ready to leap out. He will slice open the first man, then jump on the man down, and make sure he believes in the power of the forest before he cuts his head off. Irkoniss suddenly felt no fear, only an urge to cut these stupid sky people out of his forest. He breathed deeply in a raising rage and squeezed on daggers in both of his hands.

  One of the men placed his foot on the wooden latter. Irkoniss heard the step up. But then the woman’s voice could be heard coming from the distance, from one of the houses where a strange white light shining the windows revealing her shape. The woman seemed calling one of them, even waved to them.

  “Let’s see what that woman of yours wants. I bet there is some more soup left for us. We better hurry, and let’s have some more rum, unless it is all gone. We can come back here in less than an hour. There is still some fire in there. No need to rush.”

  “Fine, but we better be back here soon. I do not want a mayor chewing our asses of.”

  “Don’t worry…the old fart is probably sleeping in his cozy little home…He will never know. And how come he is the only one that has a brick build home, and the rest of us, have to sleep in these log cabins? Some of them seem nothing more than huts.

  “Why don’t you go and ask him?”

  “And why didn’t he put lights on the wall to begin with? It could have saved us so much time not having to light those fires.”

  “Two of the generators are down… We don’t even have enough for the home use as is…You won’t even get a hot water tomorrow morning.”

  “Well, we can always, light up fire for that…”

  “Unless we use all the logs in these fires tonight.”

  As he heard them slowly leave, he felt confused again.

  ‘Why didn’t they come up? Do I wait for them to come back? Maybe I can go and sneak behind them? But if the woman, she will see me…She will scream…wait, they will be back…They said they will be back.’

  He decided to compose his breading, and after he could not hear their steps, he sneaked out from under the bench.

  The whole village lay in front of him. Hundreds of houses were neatly placed next to each oth
er. They look sturdier than any house he ever saw before. Every few of them had unnatural light emitted from its windows. The closest one to him, the one that two men probably went to, was a good fifty steps away. In between, he could see some vegetables being grown, but of what kind and taste he could guess not.

  ‘Spacemen’s food’, he thought with outmost disgust.

  ‘What do I do now? Do I wait for them to come back? Am I going to be the last one to go back?

  He looked over the village again, and it seemed so full of light he could not think how to sneak to any of the homes there. He looked over the other towers. The fire seemed to be burning hotter there, but he could not tell if there were real guards in them. He decided to try his luck on one two towers away. He thought he saw people move in there.

  The towers were not connected by walkway, and he needed to climb down the wall. But before he could even put his foot over it, the whole hell broke loose.

  Men started to shout in the distance… he could not see them. But people started to run out of their homes with weapons he never saw before. Soon, the song of thunders pierced the air.

  ‘Maybe one of my friends already made a kill, maybe was detected. Maybe with so many people, now I can make mine…’

  But then, suddenly countless suns, small, not bigger than his head, suddenly lighted over the village. They blinded him as he could not take his eyes away. It was the first time he saw high reflector beams shinning all the darkness away, and he didn’t know what to make of it.

  The bells tolling, another sound foreign to him, brought him back. As they rolled, other thunders could be heard, overpowering the bells. He sensed that he had to get away from the village right away. Even more men came out of their homes, and their shouts he cared not to hear anymore. He felt new fear strike his heart. It was not any more about bringing back the head. What if he gets caught, and he never gets out alive?

  He started to climb down the wall, but that was too slow, and he jumped last ten feet down. He could see the darkness in front of him and raced toward it. He heard shouting behind him. The bear skin covering his back seemed to slow him down, so he dumped it off his back and ran as fast as he could toward the forest. He turned around to see the lightning strike the bear fur he dropped, turning it to a dust in an instant. He ran into the darkness, and hid behind the tree stump. He heard more thunder, and only when their terror died down, did he dare to run toward the next stump closer to the forest.