by Saxon Andrew
“Do I have anything else?”
“Emmett left a dark blue jumpsuit in his closet that will fit you.”
“I don’t feel right putting it on.”
“I’m sure he’d insist that you do.”
“What about my eyes. Not many humans have blue eyes with gold around the blue.”
“I suggest you wear goggles and tell anyone that questions you that you suffer from light sensitivity. They will break up the shape of your face and make it look different. You don’t need to do anything with your hair, the blonde color is the exact opposite of the black you’ve had. I would also suggest you either talk louder or softer than normal.”
“Why not just speak in a higher or lower tone of voice?”
“Too much to remember. You’ll find yourself not paying attention and your voice will go back to its normal tone. Softer and louder is much easier to do consistently.”
“It’s really not a deception about light sensitivity, I do have a problem with bright light.” Gregor hesitated, “How do I go about finding the one that bugged me?”
“Simply look for someone you know whose standard of living has gotten much better. That is the one that did it.”
Gregor nodded. Sometimes this computer actually appeared smarter than he thought it was. Now was one of those times.
Chapter Two
Gregor saw the filament was going to pass Jester in an hour and said, “I want to take a shuttle down to the surface.”
“I can take you down,’ the Computer responded.
“My appearance has changed but yours hasn’t.”
“You’re right; just keep your link to me open and I’ll come down and pick you up if a problem arises.”
“I want you to place an order for brews and food from the local supply houses while I’m on the surface and have them delivered to you by shuttle.”
“I’m also going to need to go down and suck up some atmosphere before we leave. We used most of our spare atmosphere getting your smell out of the ship.”
Gregor nodded, “Don’t rub it in! Do this. Go down and suck up some air, blow out the ship again, suck up some more air, and then come back up and place the orders for the shuttle to deliver.”
“Keep your link active! And I do hope you’re going armed.”
“I’m actually going to fake poor vision and use the sword disguised as a guide rod.”
“I’d prefer you take a hand blaster.”
“It would be detected the moment I entered a business. The sword will get me by.”
“I’ll keep you informed if anything is happening outside your immediate location.”
“Contact a shuttle to come and pick me up.”
Gregor waited and heard, “I’ll arrive in thirty seconds.” Gregor went to the landing bay and waited for the shuttle to lock on the port. He was sober for the first time in a long time and he felt like he wanted to throw up. He wondered if his new look really would deceive anyone that knew him. Oh well, let’s go and get this over with. He felt the shuttle bump against the hull and then saw the green light illuminate next to the port. He used the sword scabbard to assist him getting through the port and the shuttle driver rushed over and assisted him to his seat.
“Sorry, I didn’t know you weren’t whole.”
“I have very poor vision. Thank you for your assistance.”
“Where to?”
“Take me down to the end of Mgowck Street.”
“Which end?”
“According to the filament map on Jester, the entertainment places start on the north end of Mgowck.”
“North end coming right up.”
Gregor had his hands folded on the scabbard’s handle in front of him and he kept his head pointed forward. He watched the Arepian out of the corner of his eyes as it started moving his shuttle toward the planet’s surface. He watched it close and didn’t see it touch his communicator. Arepians were friendly for the most part but they could turn ugly in an instant. The large claw on its right arm could easily sever a limb and the spurs on the back of its feet could rip you open if it delivered a kick. They were the local species that evolved on Jester and were well suited to local conditions. Most of the planet was covered with water and Arepians were excellent amphibians. No one really knew if they evolved from an aquatic or land creature and they were comfortable in both environments. Their world was the entertainment planet in this corner of the universe and they had businesses both underwater and on land to meet any visitor’s needs. This Arepian’s shell was currently red, which showed it was relatively happy. If it turned dark green, it was time to get away…quick.
He worried that his ship might be recognized but Emmett had installed an electronic coating on the hull that would change color from black to royal blue with the activation of a small electrical current. The computer insisted that it had never come to Jester with its blue color activated. Gregor couldn’t vouch either way, he was usually five sails in the wind before he ever arrived in the past. His nausea was not getting any better and he really needed something to drink. The blue colored hull activated a different transponder whenever it was used and, if the computer was right, the local space port would consider his ship a new visitor.
Emmett really didn’t scrimp on putting the best technology in his ships. The computer was the most expensive piece of equipment on board. Very few personal starships had a military grade positronic computer. Emmett had never told him how he came about owning one.
“How long are you staying? Do you need a ride back to your ship?”
“I really haven’t decided and I’ll probably just have my ship come and pick me up after it completes the shopping list. You might contact it and see if it hasn’t already called for a shuttle to deliver the items.”
“I’ll do that. You have my frequency; call me if you need a ride.”
“Thank you, I will.”
The Arepian lifted its communicator and began speaking into the hand-mike. A moment later Gregor saw the computer send a query to his brain via the internal link. He nodded slightly letting the computer know this shuttle driver was ok to use. The Arepian ended the contact and looked over his shoulder, “Your computer has accepted my offer to transport your shopping list. Are you going to pay or will the computer send the payment electronically?”
Gregor continued to stare straight ahead as he said, “If you don’t have a problem, I’ll pay you in coin. How much will it be?”
“Hey, it’s fifteen and I won’t raise it if you’re paying in coin.”
“Does that include the fare down to Mgowck?”
“It does.” Gregor reached in his pocket and pulled out a gold colored round piece of metal. He held it out to the shuttle driver as he reached back and took it in his claw, dropped it into an electronic box, and three small bronze colored coins came out. “Here’s your change.”
“Keep one of them for your good service.”
The Arepian turned brighter red in color, “Thank you! Be sure to contact me if you need a ride back up!” Gregor nodded and saw the surface of Jester moving closer. Gregor saw something on the floor of the shuttle and he put his foot on it and pulled it over to him. He leaned down and picked it up. It was a deep space message with his picture on it. Fortunately, it was a picture taken when he was filthy. Someone was offering three hundred coin for finding him. He was shocked at the bounty. Seventy-five coin was the most ever offered in the past for reporting his location. He decided he needed to determine if his appearance was radical enough to prevent him being recognized.
“I’m sorry, I just stepped on this and I hope I didn’t mess it up.” He extended his arm and the Arepian reached over his shoulder and took it in its claw. The Arepian glanced at it and shook his head, “No, it’s still clear. It must have blown off my seat after my last toll.”
“I can’t see it very clearly but that human is really ugly.”
“Honestly, you humans all look alike to me. You’re much lighter in color than the one on th
e poster. It would be nice to be the one to find that human.”
“Why is that?”
“Three hundred coin is why. I don’t know why the Dragons are looking for him but they’ve been sending that poster out pretty much every other day. He must have done something to really tick them off. Truthfully, even if I did find him, I’d probably just not report him.”
“Why is that?”
“I don’t want to have anything to do with a Venzel Dragon. You can’t spend it if you’re dead.”
Gregor nodded to the Arepian, “You sound wise beyond your years. That’s enough coin for them to kill the one that turns him in.”
“Tell me about it but there are some whose greed exceeds their wisdom. Hey, I’m landing in a moment. Stay put and I’ll assist you getting out.”
“That will be greatly appreciated.”
• • •
Gregor watched the shuttle as it moved above the buildings and then boost toward orbit. He was going to start on this end of Mgowck and work his way toward M’s tavern. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“Why?”
“For one thing, not every species on this planet thinks all humans look alike. Some of them can see differences. Secondly, if you’re going to start walking into taverns and not order anything to drink or female companionship, you’re going to start drawing attention to yourself.”
“Maybe I should just order one brew in each establishment.”
“You’d never make it to M’s doing that. There are fifty of them between you and his place. Besides, this is worse than I thought; the Dragons have wanted posters out on you.”
“Maybe I should just call this whole thing off and get out of here.”
“Well, you’re probably right but you’re on the ground and you should at least take a look at M’s place. Just take it slow and try not to do anything to get you noticed. So far, no one around you appears to show any interest.”
Gregor started walking down the crowded street and used his scabbard to touch the sidewalk in front of him as he walked south. He had to stop three times as brawls spilled out of taverns into the street. It was all Gregor could do to not jump into the middle of the brawls. Resisting a good brawl was harder to resist than drinking. Well…it was just as hard to resist. A good fight was incredibly satisfying. But he used his scabbard to move around the fighters and strangely enough, the brawlers actually stopped in several instances for him to pass. On Jester, the tourist was king and causing an incident with one was punished more severely than crimes like theft, robbery, fighting, and larceny.
Gregor was getting better at acting like an almost blind tourist. He found that his goggles fed him views from in front, behind, and to both sides of him. The computer built the small receivers from many of the parts that were in the bug that was put on him. The goggles were dark and, even though the entire street was lit up in brilliant colorful lights on the front of each establishment, eyewear that dark would make it difficult to move around during the Jester night hours. Hell, they were dark enough to make moving around in daylight difficult. Gregor smiled, the goggles actually made everything brighter and clearer. They were up to the best nighttime vision devices currently being used by the military.
Gregor finally arrived outside of M’s place. The sign on the front of the building had some incoherent alien symbols followed by a large letter M. It was the inclusion of that large M that told humans that there were human females inside for entertainment. Actually, it was that M that originally drew him to the place. He walked up to the door swinging the scabbard in front of him and the giant Ohincet Bouncer opened the door for him, “Thank you.” The Bouncer just held the door open and didn’t respond to Gregor. For one thing, the Ohincet communicated with high-pitched frequencies that very few species could hear and secondly, its entire focus was on making sure no one below the class of the clientele inside managed to get past him.
Gregor wondered when the Ohincet had been hired. Last time he was here, he was allowed entry and he wasn’t exactly clean. Matter of fact, he was filthy. M’s had made some changes since he was last here. He stepped through the door and immediately saw a sign to the right that said in Cartian, “Under New Ownership.” The large tavern was standing room only. He moved through the mass of aliens and humans toward the bar. It took ten minutes but he finally managed to move to the right end of the bar and as luck would have it, a couple stood up to leave and he found himself in a chair. He sat down and heard, “Is this seat taken?”
Gregor didn’t look toward the voice as he said, “I’m alone. I suspect you can have it.”
Gregor looked at the view from his left side and saw a human female sit down in the empty chair next to his, turn her back to him, look toward another human, and start talking. Gregor sat in his chair and faced straight ahead. He used the goggles to look around and immediately saw that the bartender was new. Tick wasn’t around and that was unusual. Tick was always there, especially when there was a crowd this large. Tick was here when he first found this place two years ago. He started to ask the computer to see if it could see Tick anywhere but the bartender walked up, “What’ll you have?”
Gregor flinched like he was surprised and said, “Give me an Oily Ground Moth.”
The young Arepian lowered his eyes, “Let me check and see if we have any stored away.” Gregor nodded and the Arepian asked the human couple beside him what they wanted. He continued to stare straight ahead and decided not to query the computer. The woman’s chair had been moved closer to him so that her companion could stand next to the bar. He didn’t want her to hear his mumble. She probably wouldn’t be able to hear him over the crowd noise but he decided not to take the risk.
He closed both eyes and then opened the left one. He waited and heard, “I’m scanning the room now but this huge crowd is preventing me from really being able to track where everyone is placing their attention. Things have changed rather dramatically since you were here.” Gregor blinked. “Yes, I saw the new ownership sign.” Gregor was astounded that the computer could decipher what his blink was asking. This had to be one of the great mysteries of the universe. How did it do it?
The bartender walked back up and said, “Sorry, we’re out of Oily Moth. Would you like something else?”
Gregor knew they were out. Tick told him that the place had every drink known in this quadrant except for Oily Moth. When Gregor questioned him about it, Tick had laughed saying that there was no such drink. The final bottle had been sold years ago just after the Moths went extinct. “No, I had my heart set on a Moth. You’re rather young to be working here, aren’t you?”
“I’m of age to serve.”
“I have no doubt that you are. How long have you been working here?”
“How did you know I’ve not been here long?”
“Actually, I didn’t. But the place smells like its new construction.”
The bartender smiled, “I’ve heard that beings with poor vision have an exceptional sense of smell. I can’t smell anything different. The entire building was rebuilt after Tick bought it from the original owner and it reopened about two weeks ago.”
“You have a huge crowd for a business that only opened two weeks ago.”
“Our opening was advertised on the view frequencies prior to the doors being opened.”
“Where is the owner? I’d like to complement him on his new business.”
The Bartender nodded over his left shoulder, “I don’t think you can get near him. His bouncers pretty much keep everyone at arm’s length.”
“Well, tell him one of his customers complimented him on what he’s done here.”
“I will.” The Bartender walked away and Gregor looked in the direction the bartender had indicated. It took a few minutes but he eventually saw Tick sitting at table with a voluptuous Human Female. The two giant Ohincet bouncers standing close to his table were constantly moving their heads watching the crowd. Now he knew who had bugged him. Tick was the one that took
him away from the bar the night he had passed out.
His eyes narrowed behind the goggles and he decided that he and Tick were going to have a discussion about why he did it. He knew Tick was going to go to one of the upstairs rooms later on and he was going to be waiting for him. The woman sitting beside him turned around and said, “I don’t think you’re going to able to do that. Two Dragon Warships are moving here on the filament and they’ll arrive in less than an hour. I really suggest you get out of here now.” The woman stood up, moved out into the crowd with her companion, and disappeared.
Gregor was stunned but before he could gather his senses, the woman was gone. “Did you hear that!?”
“I did. I’m coming down in the field behind the building you’re in. Get out of there now!”
Gregor stood up and moved toward the back door. He knew it well from using it to escape the civil authorities during the many brawls he fought. He moved past the back rooms where drug deals were happening and he almost stopped to purchase some Enhance but heard the computer say, “That woman is right. Two blips are boosting this way as we speak.”
Gregor moved through the back door and saw his ship moving down at high speed toward the field behind the building. “What’s your hurry? You don’t have time to spend with your old friend?” Gregor turned to the right and saw Tick with the two Ohincet Bouncers. Tick smiled, “You thought I wouldn’t recognize you. You were right, sort of. However, you made the mistake of ordering Oily Moth and I knew it had to be you.” Gregor leaned to the right and in an instant, one of the Ohincet moved into his path.
“What’s going on, Tick?”
“I honestly don’t know. I do know the Dragons want you in the worse possible way. Well, they want something you are associated with in the worse possible way. It’s a shame you found the bug. But what’s done is done and now I’m going to be paid more than I ever dreamed by the Dragons coming to take you. So don’t do anything stupid and just stay still until they arrive.” Tick looked at the Ohincet Bouncer on his left, “Did you scan any weapons?” The Ohincet shook its head. Taking the Ohincet’s attention off Gregor was a mistake. In the moment where they talked, Gregor snatched the sword out of its scabbard and swept it at incredible speed toward the second Ohincet. He immediately spun in the opposite direction and savagely swung the sword into the surviving Ohincet’s legs. The huge creature stood there a moment wobbling and then its body fell away from the two severed legs. Tick’s eyes were wide and he tried to move his hand into his belt to pull a blaster. Gregor smiled, “Being paid is worthless if you’re not alive to receive it.” Gregor slashed across Tick’s shoulder and the arm with the claw fell to the ground. The rest of Tick followed it a moment later. Gregor was at the port to his ship in an instant. Tick’s last thought was to wonder how a human as big as Gregor was able to move so fast. He died before he could get an answer.