by Harp Truman
Someone had once given that to him, and he knew what it meant.
Five
Huck walked through the crowd of scrubbers. He looked across the bay at the kid he’d given the flight suit to. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he hadn’t done enough. Life expectancy out in some of those scrubber buildings was below forty. A good suit would help, but it wouldn’t solve anything.
He knew the power of hope.
Hope could heal a person, build them up, save them from whatever trials and tribulations they faced. False hope pretended to do that, but in the end those people would be crushed. He felt like he’d given the kid false hope.
He tried to take his normal route back to his quarters but the way was blocked by armada security guards who were extra sensitive due to the influx of scrubbers. There was a festive air now, with the crowds marveling at the frigate, but they knew all that could change in a second. The empire wasn’t popular everywhere, and the armada was the symbol of its power. That made it a target, especially in a poor place like this where the benefits of the empire were very hard to see.
One of the guards, a rotund man with terrible breath, put a hand out to halt Huck in his path.
“Where do you think you’re going, worker?”
Normally Huck would take the high road. He wasn’t one for violence and knew that it wasn’t worth getting into trouble with guys like this. Life was hard enough.
“Back to my quarters” he said.
The security guard shook his head.
“Not through here, you’re not.”
The guard crossed his arms as if to say that was the end of the conversation.
Huck looked at him, his pristine armada uniform with perfect ventilation and radioactivity shielding, his fat, well-fed belly, the arrogant expression on his face. Who was this guy to come here, to his home, and tell him where to go?
“This is the way I always take. So if you don’t mind…” Huck said.
He tried to pass the guard but he stepped into Huck’s way, blocking him.
“Like I said, not today,” the guard said.
For a moment there was a stalemate. Huck and the security guard had their eyes locked on one another, waiting for the other to make a move. It was only then that another security guard, a woman with hair down to her lower back, stepped in between them.
“All right, are you two done measuring dicks now?” she said, pushing them apart.
She then turned to Huck who already had his fists balled.
“I saw what you did for that boy. You used to be a scrubber kid?” she said.
Huck took in a deep breath and let the tension out of his body.
“Yeah,” he said. “A long time ago.”
His gaze was still fixed on the other guard.
The woman gave him a warm smile.
“Feels like you can still smell the Breeline sometimes, huh?” she said.
Huck looked at her in disbelief. Breeline was the cheap excuse for bread that all scrubber kids used to eat for breakfast. It was all they could afford and if you toasted it and smeared it with jelly you could just about fool yourself into believing it was the real thing.
“You grew up in the scrubs too?” Huck said to her.
“Sure did.”
For a moment they shared a brief smile.
“You said this is the way back to your quarters?” she said.
Huck straightened up and nodded.
“Yes it is. Takes me through the station. Only other way is to go right through the main service loop. Takes about thirty minutes that way.”
The woman stepped out of his way.
“Well, okay then. Let him through,” she said.
Immediately, the other guard started to protest.
“Wait, what? Boss you can’t be serious?” he said, but it was no use.
The woman gave him a ‘don’t fuck with me’ look and he moved out of the way. Huck smiled at the woman and walked past, winking at the other guard.
He continued through the dock when something caught his attention. On the far side of the frigate, he noticed some scrubbers unloading a supply ship. That was odd. Loading didn’t usually take place at this time of day and there should have been security guards and customs guys overseeing the process. It especially didn’t make sense given all the heightened security surrounding the frigate’s visit.
Why was nobody supervising the scrubbers?
Maybe schedules were running differently today because of the frigate. He went down a gangway overlooking the bay so he could get a better look.
Something definitely wasn’t right. His eye caught the familiar green glow of a radioactive core. After years on Io, there was no chance of mistaking it. It looked to Huck like the craft had a photon core. That wasn’t as powerful as the ion cores used by the armada, but it was still way more power than any local supply skiff needed.
One of the scrubbers unloading the craft looked up at him and there was something hostile about him. Huck turned around and hurried back to his cruiser. The woman security guard eyed him as he passed.
“Sorry, I left something in my ship,” he said.
She nodded and he hurried on. He got to the cruiser and took off, flying slowly across the bay, past the immense hull of the frigate. He kept a low altitude and popped open the cockpit when he got to the guys unloading the ship.
“What is it?” one of the scrubbers said up to him.
Huck put the craft in hover mode, about a foot above the ground, and leaned over the edge.
“Hey, I just saw the photon core and it kind of surprised me,” he said. “I didn’t know we used them for supply ships. Is that a new thing?”
The scrubber looked back at the ship, then looked at the other men who were unloading with him.
“Hey,” one of the men said, “why don’t you go fuck off. We’ve got work to do.”
Huck was only half paying attention. On his proximity sensor he could see that someone was approaching the back of his ship. A red dot on the screen showed that a phaser had been charged. Someone was about to take a shot at him.
He waited for the man to get closer than gunned the thrusters.
A scream from behind told him he’d burned the man. The other two leapt behind their craft and Huck jumped out of the ship after them. As he ran around the back of the supply ship he noticed the crates being unloaded were marked with the empire’s trade symbol for weaponry.
What followed happened without a thought. Huck leapt like a wild animal to take on the two men. Others were coming out of the craft now, seriously outnumbering him. He got to the first guy and ducked just in time to avoid a hard blow to the face. He hit the guy with an uppercut, and then felt the impact of a punch above his eye. It had come from the second man.
Huck stumbled back, blinded with rage, as the pain of the impact coursed through him. He charged forward and took the scrubber down. They wrestled on the floor but Huck had the upper hand. He kneed the scrubber straight in his chest. The man grabbed his chest, struggling to catch his breath.
Huck was about to move in and finish him but two other men who’d come out of the craft fired their phasers at him. He ducked just in time, but the shots hit his cruiser, ripping through its light-weight shell and sending it crashing to the ground. It had been built for speed, not resistance.
The men grabbed him from behind and dragged him toward the back of their craft. They were about to lock him in the storage compartment when he swung his leg and swept one of them off his feet. He jumped up and gave the other guy a clean left hook to the jaw. The man went down like a sack of potatoes. The other man was on Huck in a second, throwing lefts and rights.
Growing up a scrubber , Huck had learned to fight at an early age. He was good with his hands. He covered up, blocking as many blows as he could and then delivered a quick rabbit punch to the man’s throat. The man collapsed.
Huck struggled to catch his breath. He was about to call out to the guards who were way back on the other sid
e of the frigate when he felt a heavy thud to the back of his neck. He spun around to see a sneaky-looking scrubber with a gun in his hand.
That was the last thing he remembered.
Six
Commander Keller was on his way back from seeing the governor when the sound of commotion caught his attention. He took off in its direction, signaling for the same security that Huck had encountered to follow him. Together, they ran at speed as the noise got louder, and found Huck impressively fighting the scrubbers. Before they could get to him and warn him, the shot had already been fired.
Huck passed out and the scrubber with the gun took off. Security chased him, while calling for backup and warning dispatch that a shooter was loose on deck.
Keller got to the unconscious Huck and realized he wasn’t bleeding. His flight suit had taken the brunt of the blow. The woman Huck had met came running back with two medics. They started to work on Huck while Keller looked on.
Huck came to in the hospital, his mouth dry and his mind racing.
Did he really just get shot by some scrubbers?
He reached behind his neck and felt the nanobots that were busy stitching up his wound. That was when he saw Keller in the corner of the room writing something down. He smiled at Huck when he saw him awake and motioned at his pen and pad.
“I know it looks weird to see somebody writing with a pen and paper these days. Just feels so natural, you know? Call me an old man, I like to do things the old fashioned way.”
Huck wanted to say something but his throat was so dry he couldn’t make a sound. Sensing his distress, Keller got up and poured Huck some water. Huck took the glass with a trembling hand but managed to quench his thirst.
“Thanks for that. I didn’t know getting shot made your throat so dry,” Huck said.
Keller laughed lightly, then drew his chair forward to sit closer to Huck.
“You did real good out there, kid. Where did you learn to fight like that?”
Huck sat up in the bed with a wince.
“I didn’t grow up in the best of places. I don’t think there was ever a day when I wasn’t fighting,” he said.
Keller nodded knowingly.
“I’m surprised,” he said.
Huck looked at him. “You didn’t think that off-worlders could fight?” he said.
Keller looked at him for a moment before answering.
“No, it’s not that. I just didn’t think you guys would fight each other for, well, us! I thought off-worlders hated people like me,” Keller said.
Huck shrugged.
He said, “I mean look, I’m not gonna bullshit you. A lot of off-worlders hate you guys with a passion. But that doesn't mean innocent people should die. That convoy they’re sending out there is for all of humanity. It’s for all of us. I don’t know what those guys were up to but I know those weapons weren’t for show and tell.”
Keller looked away, thinking of what to say.
“It’s bad isn’t it?” Huck said. “You can tell me, I’m feeling pretty good considering ... you know.”
Keller turned back to him. His face looked pained as he spoke.
“They were terrorists. Their plan was to blow up the frigate and take as many armada lives as possible in the process,” Keller said.
“But you stopped them right?” Huck said. “They didn’t get away with it.”
Keller gave him a grin.
“Actually, you stopped them. All by yourself. If you hadn’t got there when you did, well, we might be having a very different conversation right now,” Keller said.
Huck breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank God, nobody should have to die like that,” Huck said.
“You can thank God, but I want to thank you. Have you ever been to Earth, son?” Keller asked.
Huck could hardly believe his ears. He knew where this conversation was going.
“No, I haven’t, I mean, I’ve seen all the holograms and everything, but not the real thing, sir.”
“Keller. Call me Keller. If you’d like, I want to offer you an all expenses paid trip for two. Full ride the whole way. Hotels, restaurants, whatever you want.” Keller said. “I know off-worlders spend their whole lives wondering what earth is like. I think you’ve earned the right to see for yourself.”
Huck needed a minute to process the information. Of course he wanted to go, who wouldn’t?
He’d love to take Fern and watch her heart explode with joy as she got to do all the things that real earthborn ladies got to do. All the things she used to dream about when they were growing up. But he was concerned too. How would he and Fern feel when they had to leave that paradise to come back to the drudgery of Io Station? Was it really worth it to bite the apple from the garden?
“Thank you for the offer,” Huck said, “but I think I’ll have to decline.”
Keller couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but before he could say anything there was a knock on the door and in walked Fern with some flowers.
“Oh sorry, I didn’t know you had company. I can come back,” she said.
Keller rose to his feet. “Oh no, it’s fine, I was just leaving” he said.
He grabbed his pen and pad and looked from Fern, to the flowers, then back to Huck.
“Think about my offer, Huck,” Keller said, then smiled at Fern and slipped out the door.
Fern looked at Huck.
“Was that Commander Keller?” she asked, rather impressed.
“Yeah, you know him? I’ve never seen him around before,” Huck said.
“He’s a big deal, Huck. He’s all over the news. He’s one of the men in command of a convoy battleship. They’re making him admiral. He’s going to take humanity to another star.”
Fern walked over and touched Huck’s forehead to see if he had a fever. Huck wiggled out of her grip and shot her an annoyed look.
“Can you stop that? You’re not a doctor,” he said.
“And you’re not military, so what the hell do you think you were doing trying to take on terrorists?”
“I just acted in the moment. What’s your problem?” Huck said.
Fern threw the flowers at him.
“You’re my problem, you idiot. You could have died,” she said.
Tears began to fall down her cheeks.
Huck could see how badly he’d scared her. He held out a hand and she took it. He brought her closer and she climbed into the bed with him. The lay there for a minute in each other’s arms.
“I’m not going anywhere, okay? You’ve got me for life,” Huck said.
Seven
Keller stepped into the command center to find the governor going over reports of what happened with the terrorists. He sat at a desk, flipping through documents and gritting his teeth as he scanned each one. Keller approached and looked out the window across the station. He shook his head and sucked in air through his teeth.
“We got lucky today,” Keller said.
The governor took off his glasses and threw them onto the desk.
“Five years,” he said with a sigh. “I’ve been here five years, and not a single politically motivated attack or serious incident in the station. Then today, of all days, these damn bastards try to blow up everything we’ve worked so hard for.”
Keller turned around, leaning against the window.
“I guess this is just something we’ve got to learn from. I’ve always said it ain’t right the way they treat these off-worlders,” Keller said.
“You know that’s out of my hands,” the governor said. “Orders come in and I follow them. It’s just how it’s always been.”
Keller stepped forward and put his hands on the table, covering a few of the reports.
“That doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. That’s one of the reasons why I volunteered, you know? I wanted to make things different.”
The governor sat back in his chair and put his glasses back on.
“You’re right about that. And when you’ve got a plan, let
me know.”
Keller smiled mischievously.
“I may just have one. The pilot who stopped the attack today.”
“Who, Huck Renoy?”
“Huck, yes. That’s right.” Keller said the name like he was saying it for the first time. “I want him as part of my crew. Can you make that happen?”
The governor looked taken aback.
“You want Huck to join you? But he’s so young,” the Governor said.
Keller smiled to himself and nodded.
“I like that kid. He’s got heart. He’s exactly the type of guy I want with us. Besides, Alpha Centauri is six years away. He’ll be a man by the time we get there.”
The governor started to search around on his desk, going through the files.
“What are you looking for?” Keller asked.
“One second. I know I’ve got it here.”
The governor produced a brown file in his hand with Huck’s name and identification number on the top. He slid the file over to Keller.
“This is his file. You might want to have a read before you take him on,” the governor said.
Keller pulled up a chair and joined the governor at the table. He started to read through it and his eyebrows furrowed as he took it all in. He finished and slammed the file shut.
“I see what you mean. The kid’s a little rebellious,” Keller said.
“You got that right,” the governor agreed.
“That doesn’t mean we can’t use him. Look, he worked his way up from scrubber to the station. We both know how hard that is. And from what I’ve seen today, he’s got heart. I can accept a little bit of a rebellious side in a man like that,” Keller said.
“You sure?” the governor said.
“The kid’s one of your best pilots. He’s flown more missions than anyone else on the station. More even than most of the fighter pilots. And he’s volunteered for all the most dangerous jobs. Every time he’s out there his life’s at risk. But he still comes home. That’s what I’m looking for.”
“All right, but if anything happens, don’t bring that shit back to me. I’ve got enough to handle here.”