A Drop in the Ocean

by James Cooke

  The man snorted, mocking Brian.

  ‘Whoa, what the fuck is that shit?’ he taunted, and then a split second later he rushed Brian and tried to plunge the knife at him.

  Just as Brian anticipated his move, he quickly blocked his right arm holding the knife, spun around and launched into a spinning back kick, which hit the side of the man’s face.

  It exploded in a shower of blood and teeth. The man collapsed onto his knees, head rolling side to side. Brian stepped back assuming he’d just collapse and admit defeat, but as it turned out, he wasn’t quite finished. Springing back up suddenly, he attempted to grab the fallen bowie knife, in a feeble attempt to have another go at Brian.

  He wasn’t anywhere near quick enough.

  Taking a wide and low stance, Brian drew his fist back and unleashed an almighty ball busting punch to his groin. The man writhed in agony on the floor cursing and spitting blood. Although he would certainly recover, it appeared doubtful that he would ever be able to get someone pregnant. It was the first time Brian had used his martial arts training in full self-defence mode, and he was relieved that he’d remembered it so effectively. Recovering his breath, Brian glanced at Lucy.

  ‘Why did you incapacitate that man Brian?’ Lucy asked with a puzzled expression.

  Brian was taken aback by that, not understanding why she would need to ask that considering the situation.

  ‘Why? Because he was trying to take advantage of you, Lucy, don’t you see that?’ he replied.

  ‘Interesting. I was in full control all the time. You just saved him, I was just about to remove his head as it did not seem to be functioning correctly. Are there many malfunctioning people in your society Brian?’

  This was the first time Lucy had said something controversial, and Brian didn’t quite know how to respond at first. Does she literally mean remove his head? Brian wondered how on earth she might do that, without surgical instruments at least. Somehow, he could sense that she was very serious and matter of fact about it.

  ‘A few, but we try to help them first. We don’t normally go around removing peoples’ heads’ generally. Never mind, it’s over now.’

  Sarah appeared just in time to save Brian from explaining basic social human interactions.

  ‘Oh my god what the hell has happened, are you alright?’ Sarah asked.

  Standing there, wiping the sweat off his face, Brian composed himself.

  ‘Yeah, I’m fine thanks. That son of a bitch over there isn’t though; he came at me with that knife lying there after I asked him to stop groping Lucy. He just wouldn’t back off.’ Brian tried to explain.

  Sarah scanned the carriage automatically.

  ‘Dammit Brian, keep your head down, now. Don’t turn around, there’s a CCTV camera over the bar.’ Sarah whispered.

  ‘Okay, what do we do now? Either he gets off here, or we do; we can’t continue to Edmonton and be greeted by the cops.’

  Sarah went over to the bar and asked the old bartender if he saw what happened.

  ‘Sure lady, it was a case of self-defence alright. That guy had it coming to him. I also asked him to leave that poor girl alone, but he just wouldn’t listen.’ he replied.

  ‘Okay, thanks, mister. When’s the next stop, sir? We’ve got to get off early.’ Sarah asked.

  ‘Well let me see now, we’ve not long-gone past Fox Creek. The next unscheduled stop would be Whitecourt, but they don’t usually let people off there, they only stop to pick up the mail and other stuff.’

  ‘How far is that?’

  ‘About sixty miles or so I should think, you could get off at the last carriage, I guess, there’s not much there.’

  ‘That’ll do fine, is there somewhere we could put him out of harm’s way? He is dangerous, after all.’

  ‘Sure, I’ll get the conductor down here. They should be able to restrain him in the luggage carriage until the Police can deal with him.’

  ‘One last request sir if I may, could you please deny all knowledge of our conversation if anyone should ask, and I don’t suppose the last twenty minutes of video footage might be corrupted somehow?’ Sarah smiled sweetly, holding out three one-hundred-dollar bills.

  The bartender gave Sarah a kind smile and said ‘I ain’t seen or heard nothing and don’t worry about the camera, it hasn’t worked in months,’ while plucking the three bills out of Sarah’s hand.

  ‘Wow, very impressive,’ Brian congratulated Sarah.

  ‘Thanks, you’re not the only one with moves, mine are more subtle.’

  I think we’re gonna make a good team at this rate, just hope we don’t need to go through that again, Brian thought nodding his head in agreement.

  As the train slowed then came to a halt at Whitecourt, Brian opened the rear carriage door and stepped down onto the track, followed by Lucy and Sarah. The place was pretty dead for lunchtime mid-week. Across the street, Sarah noticed there was a diner, straddled either side by a small Walmart and a used car lot.

  ‘I’ve got an idea, but first things first, I’m starving, how about you, Brian?’

  ‘Yeah sure, I think we could all do with a change of scenery.’

  It was surprisingly busy inside, and no one paid much attention to their entrance, apart from a couple of young local fellas sat at the counter, noticeably leering at Sarah and Lucy. Judging by their lecherous expressions, Brian could read their minds, that they might be in with a chance of hitting on Lucy and Sarah. Brian pitied them and thought if only they knew the truth. Shortly after they all sat down, a local sheriff’s car drew up outside, and a male and female officer stepped out and entered the diner. As they made their way slowly through the diner, they greeted and chatted with several people. Reaching across the dining table, Brian gently squeezed Sarah’s hand and whispered, ‘Don’t turn around straight away, cops’ have arrived.’ Sarah took a compact out of her handbag and deftly observed the two officers in its mirror.

  ‘Relax, it’s probably just their normal routine.’ Sarah whispered. The officers continued through the diner until they reached Brian’s table. They observed Brian, Sarah and Lucy carefully, as if cross-referring their appearance with the wanted person database; and nodded as if to say “morning, you folks, you’re not from around these parts, are you?”

  Brian’s heart thudded like a bass drum, temporarily speechless. Sarah coolly acknowledged the officer's attention, ‘Good morning officers, lovely day ain’t it?’

  The two officers just nodded and carried on and sat near to the two young fellas a few yards behind Brian, remaining within earshot. Waiting for service, they occasionally glanced over, no doubt trying to figure out who Brian, Sarah, and Lucy might be. Sarah knew that it wasn’t a good idea to hang around and caught the attention of the waitress walking past and asked for the cheque.

  ‘Sure, was everything alright for you folks, and nothing for you honey?’ she asked, writing the cheque out and at the same time, glancing at Lucy.

  ‘I do not require food or liquid to function.’ Lucy announced.

  The waitress pursed her lips and frowned.

  ‘Oh sweetheart, you’re not on one of those wacky diets, are you? You’re perfect as you are.’

  Brian could sense that they were attracting unwanted attention and saw the need to move things along before things got out of hand.

  ‘Come on, guys, we need to get going. Mam, may we pay here, please?’ Brian asked the waitress.

  ‘Well, I guess so. I was only asking the lady,’ the waitress replied indignantly.

  Sarah conveniently intervened.

  ‘She’s just off her food at the moment, stomach bug probably, but what we’ve had was very nice thanks,’ Sarah replied, smiling and handing over thirty dollars. The waitress took the cash and moved along while muttering something under her breath.

  Just as they all got up and proceeded to the exit, the two police officers received a despatch message asking them to check out an assault on the Viarail train, the one that they had just alighted. O
nce outside, Brian and Sarah stood trying to think of their next move when Sarah pointed towards the adjacent building.

  ‘Brian, this is perfect. Used cars! Which one do you fancy?’ She asked.

  ‘Jesus Sarah, how much money do you have?’

  ‘As I said before, plenty. You don’t need to worry about that. Now pick one, a cheap one, we’ll dump it once we get to Calgary.’

  Bizarrely, things couldn’t have been better. Brian had always been a big fan of old school muscle cars and bikes. Basically, anything with a big engine in it come to that and before him stood a beautiful array of vintage muscle cars in various states of disrepair. One car, in particular, caught Brian’s eye; a 66 Oldsmobile Toronado. It had a matt sky-blue paint job that was aged with surface rust, which gave it a weathered bronzed patina effect. The interior was equally tired and shabby but fit for purpose. This particular car had been on Brian’s bucket list radar for quite a long time, so this opportunity wasn’t going to be missed.

  The sticker on the windscreen said three thousand dollars. From the contorted expression on Sarah’s face, Brian could see that it didn’t exactly float her boat. However, he could also sense that she wasn’t exactly in the mood for browsing either now that the cops had made a rapid departure in the direction of the train followed by the two fellas returning to back work at the same car lot. Before the jovial suited salesman could kick-off his selling pitch, Sarah pointed to the olds and said, ‘We’ll take it right now, as it is. I assume it drives okay?’

  ‘It sure does. Forgive me, Mam, if I sound a little bit condescending, but wouldn’t you rather have a newer car, something how can I put it, smaller and more economical? How about that little Ford Focus over there for example?

  Brian could see Sarah turning red at the audacity of the salesman, he ain’t going to be selling cars much longer at this rate, he thought with a wry smile on his face.

  ‘How about you just sell me the olds and keep your opinions to yourself before I change my fucking mind?’

  The salesman was temporarily speechless.

  ‘Hey mister, don’t ask me, I suggest you do as she says before she really gets mad.’ Brian said. The salesman obviously wasn’t used to this type of customer and had the sense to do as he was asked and accept the sale.

  ‘Sure, that’s cool. Whatever you want mam. If you’ll just follow me through to my office please, we can do the paperwork.’

  ‘Mister, we don’t need any god damned paperwork. Look, here’s four grand cash, just take it and give us the fucking keys. We’re kinda in a hurry.’ Sarah retorted, arm out and palm up waiting for the keys.

  ‘Hey relax Mam. I can do that, just give me a second, they’re in the office.’

  The salesman disappeared only to return a few minutes later with the keys and a bill of sale.

  ‘She’s got some gas, but you’ll wanna fill her up asap.’

  ‘Thanks, Mr.’ Brain said.

  After Lucy climbed into the back of the two-door coupe, Sarah got in, and Brian fired up the big V8 which had a satisfying rumble. ‘Jesus Brian, it doesn’t take much to please you I can see,’ Sarah declared.

  Two minutes later, the trio were all cruising out of town in a fifty-year-old car.

  ‘Jesus Brian, why did you choose this heap of crap?’ Sarah exclaimed.

  Before Brian could respond, she smiled and went on, ‘Wait, don’t answer. Actually, I have to admit, it’s quite a cool set of wheels. It obviously goes quite well, from the feel of it. But for god’s sake keep the speed down, just follow the signs to Edmonton, then Calgary. I’ll give you the address once we get there.’

  ‘Glad you like it, how about you, Lucy?’ asked Brian.

  Lucy leaned forwards, ‘It is an interesting machine, what is its power source? It sounds similar to a faulty fusion generator or possibly a badly damaged dark matter drive? I have detailed knowledge of these and could repair them if you wish.’

  ‘Woah are you serious? I’m afraid it ain’t anything as fancy as that. No, it's just a big old lump of Detroit iron on regular pump gas. Let me explain.’ Brian enthused.

  Sarah shook her head, ‘Oh god, a petrol head. Please, you two carry on; I’m gonna take a nap.’

  After explaining the intricacies of the internal combustion engine to Lucy, Brian stretched back into the seat with yet another grin on his face, and had another surreal thought; here I am, cruising down the highway in my bucket list car with two fascinating companions, effectively on the run from the cops and far worse; on the way to a godforsaken island that most people had never even heard of, and all in order to save the world. How much weirder can this get?

  Chapter 15

  Brian clocked up the miles, driving on through the night, stopping twice for gas. Several hours later, Sarah wakened from her sleep, just as a brilliant sunrise of warm orange light flooded into the car.

  ‘Hey there, you slept well, you were out for hours,’ Brian said.

  Sarah scrunched her eyes. ‘Umm yes, thanks. Where are we now?’

  ‘About a hundred miles from Calgary, I think. I’ll stop at the next service station for a break.’

  ‘And how’s our Lucy this morning?’

  ‘Why don’t you ask her, she’s wide awake. In fact, she hasn’t slept at all as far as I can tell.’

  ‘Hi Lucy, everything okay? Why don’t you tell us a bit more about yourself?’ Sarah asked.

  ‘What would you like to know, please be specific,’ Lucy responded.

  ‘Well you know, things like how old you are, where you’re from, who sent you, that sort of thing.’

  Lucy pondered the questions before replying.

  ‘I do not know how old I am. I was activated approximately four days and three hours ago. My creators, the Quassac’s, are from a planet they call Ultar, which orbits a star known to humans’ as Tau Ceti,’ Lucy replied, before continuing, ‘I do not know much about the Quassac’s, only that they provided me with certain information about your planet including your languages and basic human social interaction; and lastly what I am expected to do.’

  Sarah's eyes widened.

  ‘No shit, you’re at least twenty-five give or take a year, where were you born?’

  Was she not listening when I said she wasn’t human, thought Brian?

  ‘Sarah hold your horses, remember what I told you about Lucy not being human – yeah?’ Brian interrupted.

  Sarah rolled her eyes, ‘Oh yes, sorry. I remember now. Lucy, carry on darling.’

  Darling? Getting a bit familiar, aren’t we? Brian muttered to himself.

  ‘I was created by the Quassac’s and came into activation a few days ago. According to my data bank, I am modelled on several human female athletes. As I understand it, the Quassac’s designed me for optimum biomechanical performance in order to maximise mission success; which is to help you find and de-activate the Kel-Taire. The Ultarian Quassac’s decided not to use your world for colonisation. They have not said why that is.’

  ‘C’mon Brian, is this a wind-up? She clearly appears to be human to me. I mean she damn well feels human, and I should know.’

  ‘Yeah, I’m sure you do.’

  Brian smiled with frustration.

  ‘Sarah, believe me, believe Lucy. This is as real as it gets. Lucy is what she says she is. One of those robot cyborg type things, you know like the guy on Star Trek, whatshisname.’ Brian countered.

  Sarah rolled her eyes sceptically.

  ‘Really? You mean Data? She can’t be, surely? Oh my god, is that right Lucy? Are you an artificial person of some sort?’

  At last, it’s finally sinking in! Thought Brian.

  Lucy was trying hard to explain what she was and where she came come from.

  She repeated, ‘I am not like you, I am not grown organically. My creators manufactured me. Unlike you, I do not need to eat and drink in order to function, but I do need oxygen to survive, that is all I know.’

  Sarah gawped and shook her head in disbelief.


  ‘Holy Mother of God Brian, do you realise what would happen if the government were to get their grubby little paws on Lucy? No? Well, I can tell you; it would be goodbye Lucy and hello dissection table. Whatever happens, I think we’ve absolutely got to try and keep our Lucy here safe and secret, if that’s at all possible.’ Sarah protested.

  Brian’s mind was racing ahead, trying to calculate the bigger and longer-term picture.

  ‘Perhaps she could live with you, Sarah, once this is over,’ he suggested with a tongue-in-cheek smile.

  Sarah threw Brian a contemptuous glance.

  ‘Ha-ha, please don’t be puerile Brian, I know what you mean. At least she wouldn’t be as pathetic as some of you men are, and anyway she might not want to.’

  ‘Oh, so you wouldn’t mind then.’

  Sarah flipped the bird, smiling smugly. ‘What if I did, it’s none of your business, after all, you don’t own Lucy. Anyway, leaving that aside, for now, we’ve got more important things to sort out first, as you already know.’

  She’s right, I’m digressing thought Brian.

  ‘Hey, relax Sarah; I was only fooling, I don’t mean anything, and yes we have. Hey, it’s only twenty miles to the outskirts. Didn’t you say you wanted to pay someone a visit here?’ Brian replied, eating humble pie.

  He didn’t want to argue. Sarah soon calmed down.

  ‘Yeah take the next left and then the second right, it’s about a quarter mile from that point.’

  Ten minutes later, Brian pulled up across the street in a drab part of suburbia. It was a quiet area, run down properties intermixed with pawn shops and convenience stores.

  ‘So here we are Sarah, just where you said, what’s the deal?’ Brian asked.

  ‘Okay, so a friend of mine, someone who might be able to help us get to Houston and possibly into South America, lives here. If I remember rightly, he’s an ex-military pilot. I suggest you two stay here; I’ll go and see if he’s actually in. I might be a while, so don’t worry.’ Sarah replied.