Repo Earth

by Jeff Walsh

  “Your Bond-o-Threads are linked to you,” Alvin said. His voice coming from the pods intercom system.

  Marcus craned his neck slightly to look into the pod, his head resting on the lip of the entryway.

  “It saved my life,” Marcus chuckled. “That heelak had me dead to rights. Next thing I know these arms sprung out of my shoulders and zapped the crap out of that thing. How did it know what to do?”

  “Just as before on the Platnuim,” Alvin said. “When you and the others tested your clothes out, the same happened here, just more instinctual. The Bond-o-Threads merely sensed what you needed and reacted for you. The heelak will be fine, don't worry.”

  “Yeah,” Marcus said. He sat up and looked around. Dozens of female heelaks were sleeping close by. “It's not him I'm worried about.”

  “The male heelak will reclaim his alpha status from you after we've gone,” Alvin responded. “And his heard will return to its natural working order shortly.”

  Marcus jumped to his feet.

  “We're getting out of here?” He asked. “The others contacted you? Is Genny okay? Please tell me Genny is alright.”

  “Unfortunately,” Alvin said. “No one has made any contact, which is why we need to leave.”

  “I don't understand,” Marcus said. His voice cold and defeated. “We've only been here for a few hours. Taam said he'd be back for us in a couple days.”

  “It appears things haven't gone as planned,” Alvin said.

  “What makes you think that?” Marcus asked.

  “Once the captain was aboard the Imperium he was to send a relay informing us where to meet up with the rest of our group,” Alvin said. “The two pods have a communication link I've been masking since we left. But no such relay has been given and I've been forced to cut the link.”

  “Then we need to go back,” Marcus said. “That's my wife, and my best friend on that ship. If things aren't going well I don't want to be here relaxing with my new heelak family.”

  “While I understand your desire to see the safety of the others, returning would not be the best course.”

  Marcus sighed.

  “What do we do?” He asked. “Why can't we just wait here for Taam or Bartl to contact us?”

  “With the Attillian and Prime Command searching for us, and the bounty set for the scavs, we don't have the luxury to remain in any one place for long.”

  Marcus looked back over the scenery of Wex. The heelaks raised their heads and looked to Marcus. Soft chirps and calls of exotic animals could be heard in the distance. Marcus shook his head slightly as he focused on the noise of the waterfalls as they floated above. The sounds of splashing water vaporizing into mist calmed, almost relaxed, him.

  “If we get out of all this,” Marcus said. “I'd like to come back here. You know, when space people aren't hunting us down and the animals here won't try and kill me.”

  “The Festival is only three of your Earth years away,” Alvin chimed in. “I'm sure all of you would have a most wonderful time celebrating it here on Wex.”

  Marcus stepped aboard the pod and the door lowered and sealed shut.

  “Where are we headed?” Marcus asked as he plopped down into his chair.

  “I'm afraid we must go shopping,” Alvin responded.

  “What?” Marcus asked.

  “Up until this point all communication has been filtered through the ship's computer,” Alvin responded. “Bartl was wearing a translator when you first met him, which is why you understood him. However, if we are to be separated from the Platnium and crew for a short while, you will need to be able to understand and communicate with other species. My capabilities, at this time, are a bit limited seeing as I'm currently locked away in this pod.”

  “Okay,” Marcus said. “So we need to go get me one of those translators; that doesn't sound too bad. But why don't we just get you a new body first, that seems like a pretty high priority at the moment.”

  “I am a very unique bot. My operating system is quite complicated, which requires a custom built housing. This would require both a lengthy amount of time and far more resources and currency than we have at our disposal.”

  “New, or repaired, translators are far more typical within the Central Core,” Alvin continued. “While typically a planet within the Central Core would be the safest route for you to take, too many questions would be raised as to why you show no signs of a prior trans-comm unit. Prime Command would most certainly be alerted and your presence quickly discovered. We'll need to travel to the Trade Sector of Qynn. There's a fairly transient station on the rim; many traders and travelers frequent it. We should be able to purchase and install a translator without too much cause for concern.”

  “Wait,” Marcus said. “Install?”

  “Yes,” Alvin said. “After we purchase the trans-comm unit it must be implanted and attached to the dominant hemisphere of your brain.”

  ҉

  Taam and Bartl made their way down the corridor. They turned left at a cross-section and stopped. From the other end of the corridor came another contingent of guards. Taam snapped his dual pistols forward and fired. Blasts of electric energy slammed into the chests of four guards.

  Bartl took aim and dark-matter blasted another two. Both Bartl and Taam dove back around the corner as the ten remaining guards lowered their golden staves. From behind, beams of orange light collided into the wall. It rippled and shuttered as it attempted to absorb the energy.

  “Heat-sinks,” Bartl said. “Those'll leave a mark.”

  “Only for a second,” Taam replied. “Just long enough to incinerate every molecule in your body.”

  “Want me to take the lead?” Bartl asked.

  Taam poked his head around the corner and fired a single shot. He pulled back hard and another series of heat-sink shots whizzed by into the wall.

  “The maintence shaft has an access panel half-way down the corridor,” Taam said. “Shot missed though. Ten more still approaching.”

  “Are you crazy?” Bartl replied. “You stick your face out there again and we won't need to worry about your poisoned blood killing you.”

  “They're quick on the draw,” Taam said. “But only if they can see me.”

  “Don't you even think abou--,” Bartl said.

  Taam punch his wrist unit and his vac-suit broke into pieces once more. As it reformed his entire body went invisible.

  “Every second you're running that camo you're killing yourself faster,” Bartl said.

  Taam turned to Bartl, his translucent form rippled slightly.

  “Last time,” Taam said. “I promise.”

  Taam rolled across the hallway, his form nearly invisible. Slight ripples ran across his suit as he moved. He stood, pistols raised, and froze in place. His cloaking camouflage went clear, with not a ripple to be seen. He watched as the guards paused for a second, possibly having caught a glimpse of his form as it adjusted to his prior movement.

  A second later the guards pressed forward, staves lowered and ready to fire.

  Taam breathed slowly, careful to make no noise. He watched as they got closer and closer. He wanted to make sure he could maneuver around without giving them a clear shot.

  The guards were no more than a few feet ahead. Taam squeezed the triggers. Blasts of electricity struck three guards. Arcs ran across their bodies as they dropped to the floor. One of the guards spun to take aim toward the area from where the blasts came.

  Bartl poked out around the corner and shot him. This pulled the attention of the remain gaurds back to Bartl's position. Without hesitation they unleashed their weapons. Bartl dove under the heat-sink beams. Bartl leapt to his feet and darted to the other side of the corridor. The guards unleashed their weapons once again, but their staves slammed into something preventing them from taking aim at Bartl. They puzzled a moment. A blast of electricity rocketed out, point blank in the face of one guard. The soldiers convulsed violently for a moment then fell limp to the floor. The remaining five
were no longer fooled by Taam's camo.

  The guard closest to Taam landed a kick into his midsection; air shot from Taam's lungs and his suit rippled. The remaining four spun their staves and began to swing for Taam's form. One such swing smacked Taam across the face, he stumbled to the side, and black blood spattered across the wall behind him. Another guard stepped back and lowered his stave, ready to heat-sink Taam into nothingness.

  Bartl peeked around the corner once again and fired two shots. The guard taking aim was hit square in the chest. He flew back a couple feet and crashed to the floor. The other guard took the shot across the face. His head spun hard to the right. Taam heard the soldier's neck snap. The guard collapsed.

  Taam reached out and pistol whipped one guard across the face, spun and kicked forward. The guard stumbled back. Taam brought his pistol out and around his back and fired. The stumbling guard took the brunt of the shot, convulsed a moment and collapsed to the floor.

  The two remaining guards stepped forward, one with his stave ready to fire at Bartl, the other taking a defensive stance against Taam.

  Taam remained motionless. His form had gone invisible once more and the guard lost him in the commotion.

  “Where is he?” The guard asked.

  “We just lost most of our unit,” the other responded. “Stand fast and keep focused. Another group is approaching our location. Keep these two pinned down and we'll be fine.”

  “Wrong,” Taam said. His form rippled for a moment as he brought his pistol up and into the face of the guard. The other, taking his attention away from Bartl's position, spun in an attempt to swipe at Taam. Bartl snapped out and fired two shots. Both guards were tossed back and fell limp to the floor.

  Taam's form came into view as he deactivated his cloak.

  He coughed hard and spat up more black blood.

  Bartl cursed. “What are you at?”

  Taam worked is wrist unit, “Sixty-eight percent.”

  “No more Taam,” Bartl said. “Eighty plus and you're on cleaners for life. Anything over ninety and you know what happens. This is exactly why I told you to not install a cloak. Anyone willing to use those is insane.”

  “Let's get the hatch open before the other group gets here,” Taam said, ignoring Bartl's frustration. His complexion was now pale.

  The two darted down the corridor and pried the panel from the wall. Taam climbed in, followed by Bartl, who reattached the panel from inside. The two crawled through the space for a few moments. From behind they heard the footsteps of more guards.

  “We've lost them,” they heard a guard say. It went quiet for a moment then, “I don't care if you need to use up every bit of power on this vessel. Unscramble the code and bring up the computer's tracking system. Sir Halen will end us all if we don't find the Heezarians.”

  Bartl looked to Taam and smiled. “Well done,” he whispered. “I was wondering what you were doing while we were with Halen.”

  “Oh you know, took a tour, grabbed some food,” Taam replied as the two crawled through the maintenance shaft. “Oh, and I watched one of the service workers access minor bridge control from a service terminal.”

  They came to a vertical cross-section with a hatch leading upward and downward. Taam slid the floor hatch shut, stood, and opened the hatch above.

  “Saw his passcode and all. Once he left I slipped in a little bit of Alvin's code and sent it to work.”

  He jumped, caught the bottom rung of a ladder, and pulled it down.

  “It's taken the entire trans-warp system offline and the ship's bio-tracking has been disabled.”

  Bartl crawled out from the space and laughed. “Oh, so it was you who took the trans-warp offline,” he said. “You know I could've warped back into the docking bay from that room I was trapped in if you hadn't done that.”

  “And they could've warped a set of drones into the room with you,” Taam replied.

  “I created an OSH seal preventing them from warping in,” Bartl replied.

  “And that same OSH seal would've prevented you from warping out,” Taam bickered. “You probably didn't even check for a trans-warp before you rigged an OSH seal over the room did you?”

  Bartl opened his mouth to respond but remembered that he brought up the seal first.

  He chuckled.

  “That's what I thought,” Taam said.

  The two climbed the stairway for two decks and stepped off into a walkway.

  “Which way?” Taam asked.

  “How should I know?” Bartl said. “I haven't spent that much time on these things.”

  From just beyond the wall to their left they heard, “Hello? Is someone in my wall? Not very stealthy if I'm being honest.” Anthony said.

  ҉

  “Proceed to docking station R2D,” a voice said over the pod's intercom. “You can scan our prices for refuel on freenet, sub heading Qynn-9. Also, estroban drives require our own crew for fueling and filter removal, which is also listed on the Qynn-9 page. Please assign account for docking charges.”

  “Currency type: CC Obits,” Alvin responded. “Account H-49-ZZ-01-IAN.”

  “One moment for verification,” the voice said. A moment later, “Transaction access codes please.”

  Marcus watched as the ships main display flashed through a series of screens.

  “Codes sent,” Alvin responded.

  “You're all clear,” the voice confirmed. “Proceed to docking station R2D. Docking charges start now.”

  The pod cruised around the perimeter of the orbital station. Alvin cleared the display giving Marcus a chance to see it all.

  Marcus smirked as it came into view.

  The station consisted of a massive outer ring with a disc-like section placed within its center. Four pylons stretched connected the outer ring to the center section. Two other structures, attached to the outer ring like colossal spikes, stretched up and downward. At the most extreme tips of these structures were red lights, which flashed off and on. Resting at the very center of the disc-like section was a tower, atop of which shone a bright white light.

  Marcus could barely see, but there were large crowds bustling about, traveling along the passageways within the outer ring. Sections of windows allowed Marcus to peer into the center section where he saw even more alien species moving about. Lights gleamed everywhere, through thousands of windows, across both the center and outer sections. All along the outer perimeter were other docked ships. There must've been a hundred or more by Marcus' estimation.

  He watched as the pod made its way into the docking station. He felt the pod begin to rotate in order to line up with the docking clamps. The pod shuddered for a moment as it attached, then came a hissing sound, which grew louder for a moment then quickly dissipated.

  “Okay good sir,” Alvin said from the intercom. “Here's what we're going to do. I'm able to load a section of my programming into an ear piece we have aboard. It won't be much but I'll be able to talk in order to guide you. I'll also be able to translate some of the more popular languages here on Qynn-9.”

  “Okay,” Marcus responded.

  “At the back of the pod you'll see a standing row of panels,” Alvin said.

  Marcus stood and walked to the back. “Yup, I see them.”

  “The second one down,” Alvin said. “Tap it; the ear-comm units should be inside.”

  Marcus opened the panel and resting within were three ear pieces.

  “They look like wireless phone headsets from Earth,” Marcus said. He chuckled.

  “Grab one and in the compartment below you'll find a blue cable,” Alvin said. “I'll need you to plug one end of the cable into the unit and the other into a port here on the pod's main console.”

  Marcus followed Alvin's instruction and watched as installation bars flashed across the ship's display.

  “Okay,” Alvin said. “Well done good friend. Now pop the unit on and let's see if we're in business.”

  Marcus wrapped the ear piece over his ear and adjusted
it so it sat snugly in place.

  “Can you hear me?” Alvin asked, his voice coming from the ear-comm.

  “We're up and running,” Marcus said. He took a deep breath and held it. A second later he exhaled. “I'm about to go out onto that space station aren't I?”

  “Yes sir,” Alvin said, voice sounding happy. “But I'm right here with you. Don't worry, as long as you keep to yourself no one will pay you any attention. Most of these folks want to be left to their own business as well.”

  The pod's door unsealed and slid open.

  In a quick burst of smoke Marcus' clothing changed from the dark blue vac-suit into more casual clothing. Marcus looked down and noticed he was wearing black work boots, a heavy pair of brown trousers, a cream colored t-shirt over which was a black zip up hoodie.

  Marcus shoved his hands into his pockets and paused for a moment.

  “Everything okay?” Alvin asked.

  “If something goes wrong in there,” Marcus said. “Or somehow this ear-comm thingy shorts out, what then?”

  “Good sir,” Alvin said. “You've only been in space for a few days. Since that time you've faced a tracker-rat and looked the Prime Command Imperium in the face. You've handled kidnapping, being pulled into space, and stared down a band of mercenaries. Not to mention, you took over an entire heard of heelak during their prime mating season. If something happens here on Qynn-9, I'm confident you're smart enough to get through it.”

  Marcus looked to the ship's main display. He could see Alvin monitoring his vital signs. He smiled.

  “Thanks Alvin.”

  Marcus stepped from the pod and followed the corridor for a few feet. It was dark with only a small amount of light coming from the edges of the floor. He stopped at a door.

  “Press the button on the right,” Alvin said.

  Marcus reached up and pressed the round metal button. The door screeched as it slid open.

  A second later a dark, red skinned man stepped into the doorway. His tattered clothes fluttered about as he moved. The yellowing of his long finger nails contrasted greatly against his skin. He barked at Marcus, “None of your kind here!”