Hard Luck Hank: Screw the Galaxy

by Steven Campbell

  CHAPTER 16

  I picked up some food at a corner joint and from there headed to Jyen and Jyonal’s apartment. I wondered if I should grab some kind of gift, but I didn’t want to contribute to them feeling at home. The sooner they left Belvaille, the better.

  I buzzed the door and Jyen let me in.

  “Hank!” she said, looking thrilled. She gave me a hug straightaway, wearing a robe that was obviously for lazing around the apartment. “We weren’t expecting you.”

  “I figured we could do dinner, I brought some food,” I said.

  “Let’s go out. We hardly ever leave. You know the station so well.”

  “Uh, sure,” I said reluctantly.

  “I’ll get changed and let Jyonal know.” She practically danced out of the room.

  Left alone with three hot meals in my hands, I looked around the apartment. Much to my concern, it seemed even more domestic. Desks crammed next to couches next to tables next to chairs. Whether Jyonal had conjured them up or they had purchased them was unknown to me.

  After a bit, Jyen returned wearing a low-cut blouse and skin-tight slacks. She had Jyonal in tow, who looked terrible. He could barely stand, the skin on his face was considerably darker, his hair had fallen out in patches, and he looked emaciated. He had seemed so healthy last time I saw him.

  “Some days are worse than others,” she explained, seeing my expression.

  I needed to take them to a place that was inconspicuous or where I didn’t know a lot of people. A low-class place might not be phased by Jyonal’s dubious eccentricities, but it also might have clientele with no manners. I could take them to some small restaurant in a business district, but then it would be obvious I was trying to hide. I didn’t feel it was wise to offend them.

  I decided on Daavisim’s club. He was an old boss I had worked with long ago. Smart guy, mostly kept to himself. I wished I could work with him more because he had no drama, but because he had no drama, he never needed my help.

  Jyen was absolutely tickled to be out. She was almost skipping down the street as we headed for the train. Jyonal was another story. He had yet to acknowledge my presence and only seemed to be following Jyen out of habit. I can safely say it troubled me having a mutant of his power scuffing his feet and wobbling along next to me.

  I didn’t know the doormen at the restaurant, but it was clear they knew me, as they stopped talking when we approached and nodded in the way tough guys do on recognizing another tough guy. Jyonal was invisible to them. Jyen got more than an appreciative glance.

  Inside, the place had been redone and it was all bright lights and open tables. It seemed mostly to be a dancing and drinking establishment now, with the tables occupied by working girls and guys.

  I asked someone nearby by if they still served food here and he said he thought so.

  “Let’s stay,” Jyen said, excited. “Even if they don’t have food we can have some drinks. You want a drink, Jyonal?”

  “Yeah,” he said immediately, which was the first sound I’d heard him make all night.

  I led them as far away from the main floor as possible and we got a small table in the corner.

  A waitress came by and asked for our orders. I was thinking of the weakest alcoholic drinks to get everyone. I ordered a Fizzback, a weak girlie drink, and told Jyen it was really tasty in hopes she would order it too.

  “Double Gofuse,” Jyonal slurred. It was one of the strongest mixed drinks there was. Jyen also ordered a Gofuse.

  “The News said you’ve killed people before. What’s that like?” she asked inquisitively.

  “Well, I’ve never killed anyone who wasn’t asking for it. Or, anyone I wasn’t paid to,” I amended after a moment. “I don’t go around shooting people. But some guys are just stupid. A lot of guys. If given the choice between backing down and living, or standing tall and dying, a lot will choose dying. Even though no one will remember what you did a month later.”

  “Do you have a girlfriend?” she asked, those brilliant crystal eyes peering into mine. “Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t know how it is on Belvaille. And with your culture. Please tell me if I’m being rude.”

  It felt odd talking like this in front of her brother, even though he was only slightly more active than a lamp.

  “The station is a really small community, only like fifty thousand people here. So everyone knows everyone else’s business. You know.”

  Jyen looked confused.

  “So you’re not seeing anyone?”

  “No,” I said plainly.

  “Do you like men?” she shrugged, confused.

  “Are those my only options?”

  “Well, you seem to be really popular. I figure you could be with someone if you want, right?”

  I looked around for our drinks.

  “I’m just not really big on talking about myself. Tell me about you, Jyen. Where did you grow up?”

  “A military laboratory, mostly. Once they found out about Jyonal, they locked us both up and worked on us. They thought I might have the same potential as he does, though I don’t. But they kept me around to keep Jyonal happy and to threaten me. I don’t know what happened to our parents. We never knew them. We didn’t even have any parental figures on the base, because the leadership kept changing.”

  “Ah,” I said, now really looking for those drinks.

  “So why don’t you like talking about yourself? You seem so interesting.”

  “It just makes me uneasy. I don’t know.”

  “Not even about the fights you’ve been in?”

  “I honestly can’t remember them all that well. And The News exaggerates quite a bit.”

  “It’s so wild beating up people is your work,” she said.

  “That’s not all I do,” I said defensively. “I’m an arbitrator. There are all kinds of regular businesses on Belvaille too, you know.”

  The server finally came and I snatched my little fruity drink in its goofy artistic glass like my life depended on it. Though I could probably drink a thousand of them and not feel a thing—other than my bladder rupturing.

  “Cheers,” I said. And Jyen and I clinked glasses as Jyonal merely downed his.

  I was saved from more awkward talk when Daavisim himself walked up.

  “Hank, my friend, I haven’t seen you in ages.” He was dressed in a smart suit that had more flash than I was used to seeing on him—it literally had blinking waves of light. He didn’t wear it well. Presumably his club’s transformation had required him to adopt this new look and he wasn’t easy with it.

  “Good to see you too,” I said.

  He looked over at Jyen, waiting for an introduction. I said nothing.

  “I’m Jyen,” she said, darting out her blue hand. “And this is my brother Jyonal. We’re good friends of Hank.”

  “Hank’s friends are welcome here. Especially one so lovely,” Daavisim said. He then regarded Jyonal, expecting an acknowledgement, but found him staring blankly at the wall, so he returned to me. “If you have a moment could we talk, Hank?”

  “Sure,” I said, standing immediately.

  “Want me to refill your drink? What are you having, a Gofuse?”

  “Yes,” I answered, quickly nudging my Fizzback closer to Jyen.

  “Can I come?” Jyen asked, like we were going to play a game.

  We both glanced at her and Daavisim raised an eyebrow at me.

  “We’ll be right back. It will only take a minute, right?”

  “Absolutely,” he said. “Some more drinks over here,” he snapped to his servers.

  His office was small, modest. There were crates stacked along the walls. It smelled like boxes. I liked it.

  “First, I want to thank you for all you’ve done for us recently. You need any help with your hospital costs?” he asked, after closing the door behind us.

  It was the first time I’d thought about it.

  “I think it was free. No one mentioned it,” I said.

  “I’ve been g
etting a kick reading about your old stories in The News. Belvaille sure was a rough place a while ago.”

  “Most of that stuff is made up,” I brushed it aside, wanting to get past the small talk.

  “Is that your sweetheart out there?”

  “Her? No, I barely remember her name,” I said.

  “Jyen, I think she said.”

  “Hmm. So what’s up?”

  “Do you think I could get a hit done?” he asked plainly. He sat on the front of his desk with his arms folded. There was a chair behind the desk, but it was covered in junk.

  “You’re kidding,” I said, surprised. “You were at the meeting. No fighting.”

  “This is a special case. Oluv-Jos.”

  He laid the name out there with finality. I struggled with it a bit.

  “Oh, Ddewn’s guy?” I remembered.

  “That’s the one. He knocked over my register, took a decent bit of change.”

  “After the meeting?” I was shocked. The guy must be suicidal.

  “No. No.” Daavisim stood and looked around for someplace else to sit, saw there was none, and sat back down on his desk. “I think a few days before. But still.”

  Daavisim wasn’t speaking plainly, which wasn’t like him. As I recalled, the same guy had taken Tamshius. The two acts were probably linked. Not that he robbed Daavisim to pay Tamshius—he was probably trying to start a war. This was the trigger. It wasn’t an easy thing, starting a war. You’d think it would be, but in the short term, it’s always bad for business.

  “It could cause problems,” I said.

  “Better done now and we start with a clean slate, or have this thing explode when the cops are here?” he asked innocently.

  “Whoa! Garm will beat the crap out of you if you threaten her like that. You know she’s panicked as it is.” I wondered if the new club-owning Daavisim had been required to change personalities.

  “I’m not threatening anyone, Hank,” he protested. “We’re just talking. I’m talking to you as a pal. I’m not the only one out for him, right?”

  “I know there’s Tamshius,” I said.

  “And I think Leeny,” he said, as if he didn’t know, but he obviously did.

  And my brow furrowed. That’s three bosses Ddewn was bugging. At least. I didn’t see any connection between them, though. They weren’t geographically near each other or joined by past partnerships—of which I was aware. What was his goal?

  This stuff could get so confusing. It could be a brilliant, subtle plan or it could have been the dumbest of dumb mistakes. Oluv-Jos might simply be a moron. There was no way to know.

  This was when my services were usually employed. I could go between the bosses and straighten this stuff out, as I didn’t really work for anyone and they couldn’t brush me aside by blackmailing my kneecaps.

  “Garm will want it talked,” I said resolutely.

  “But what if they won’t repay?” he asked with exaggerated sincerity. “That’s a lot of bad blood stewing for however long those cops are here.”

  I could see what he was getting at. They weren’t so blind as to miss the play going on. But now that Garm had put her foot down, they figured they could use that as cover to take out Oluv-Jos and whatever coalition, if any, was behind him wouldn’t be able to react. Either way, one side or the other would be upset.

  “The simple answer is you’re going to have to speak to Garm,” I began.

  Daavisim was about to respond when he started shaking uncontrollably and then collapsed on the ground.

  I hurried over to check on him when I heard Jyen scream from outside. I rushed out the door. The music had stopped and there was no movement at all in the building.

  Except for one person.

  I looked back at our table and saw the most frightening thing I’d seen in my life.

  Jyonal was floating a few feet from the ground, his arms were thrown wide, his eyes glowed with that otherworldly glare, and his face was stretched into a scream that was so ferocious I couldn’t tell if it was terror or fury.

  The entire club full of patrons was lying on the ground unmoving.

  “It’s not his fault,” I heard Jyen say at my side, but I couldn’t process it. He just murdered hundreds of people.

  Like a light switching off, Jyonal immediately dropped to the floor, as if he had been suspended from strings now cut.

  I stepped through the bodies over to Jyonal’s still form and my hand was going into my jacket. This…thing can’t live. He’s too dangerous.

  Jyen stepped in front of me, her hands on my arm.

  “Hank. They’re alive. It just knocks them out, they’ll be okay. It doesn’t work on me. I guess it doesn’t work on you. It wears off, I promise. When you were gone some men came over and they were bothering us…,” she trailed off. As if there could be any kind of valid reason for doing this.

  I paused and looked down at one of the partiers. His eyes were closed and his mouth open. My fingers were too thick to feel a pulse, but I crouched down to examine him. I could see his chest rising and falling. I looked at others and could see them breathing as well.

  “Take him. Take Jyonal home,” I said with difficulty.

  Jyen started to answer.

  “Take him home!”

  Jyen ran over to her brother and coaxed him to his feet. I didn’t want to look at them. All I could see was this club full of bodies that had been so lively a second ago.

  How was I going to explain this? How does a whole club get knocked out cold?

  I could tell the doormen that…that some electrical thing happened. Yeah. Like wiring. Come quick. Yeah. They wouldn’t know. It would hurt Daavisim’s business, but they wouldn’t know.

  I got to the front door. I paused to rehearse my lines. Be startled. Act surprised. I didn’t think that was a problem.

  I threw open the door.

  “Come quick.”

  The doormen were lying on the ground.

  I looked up the street and there were nothing but prone figures as far as I could see.

  I stumbled out of the club and began walking. People with shopping bags. People with their children. All unconscious. I checked a few more and they all appeared to be breathing. How long did this last? How far did it go?

  I turned a corner and it was the same. I walked dumbly, looking for someone still moving. Waiting for it to end.

  I turned another corner and it was the same. The whole city? Was it possible? I felt like I was going insane.

  Suddenly I heard a noise and looked up.

  There was a mechanic strapped to a train support pole looking down at me from maybe ten feet up. He was dressed in work clothes that were designed to protect him from the heavy machinery of the train.

  I gave him a small, hesitant wave.

  He struggled with his harness, fell to the ground, and ran away from me as fast as his chubby legs could carry him.

  CHAPTER 17

  I crept around the empty city like the last survivor of a war. I wanted to avert my gaze, as it was very disconcerting seeing all the bodies, but I also didn’t want to step on anyone being as hefty as I was.

  There was no way I was going back to my apartment. I felt sure Jyen would come over and try to explain how all this was totally normal for them. How level-ten mutants, when they weren’t getting high, making themselves new bodies, or handing out delfiblinium, were busy knocking whole cities senseless.

  I went into a diner. The occupants were on the floor or with their heads on the counter, and decided to fix myself some food. All the appliances seemed to be working so it was a matter of finding ingredients.

  It was a simple meal because I didn’t want people to start waking up and find me preparing some fancy seven-course dinner. But it turns out there was no fear of that. After two hours and my meal long gone, I was still the only one awake.

  But soon enough I heard a cough by the counter. Very slowly the patrons were stirring.

  I immediately sprawled myself ag
ainst a countertop and played dead. After a few more minutes, there were screams and yells and all kinds of commotion.

  I got to my feet last, confused at this strange happening.

  But as soon as they saw me there, I was accosted with questions.

  “Hank, what just happened? What’s going on?”

  People kept asking me as if I had all the answers. I did, but it was irritating that they would assume I did.

  I just shook my head and did my best to feign shock, though I don’t think I sold it well, as the diners kept pressing. Finally, I had to leave so I wouldn’t be bothered by a lot of scared folks whose problems I couldn’t resolve—not without breaking my word to keep Jyen’s and Jyonal’s identities secret, anyway.

  At home I turned off my tele and the doorbell and went to sleep.

  I woke up to harsh light in my eyes.

  “What did you do?” I heard Garm ask before I could see her.

  With one eye open I could barely distinguish her outline in my bedroom. I checked my tele. I had only gotten about four hours sleep.

  “Come on, we can talk about this tomorrow, I’m tired,” I slurred.

  Bang!

  I grabbed my head where Garm had just shot me.

  “Hey.” I stumbled out of bed and reached with an arm to try and snag her, but she easily sidestepped me. I tripped and landed hard on the floor.

  “I know you hate getting shot, so if this is what it takes, I got all night,” she said.

  “Garm, I don’t know. Ask anyone, I was asleep too,” I said.

  “Do you think I’m stupid? You’re the worst liar in the galaxy. You weren’t in the restaurant before it happened and suddenly you’re there, in someone else’s seat, covered in food.”

  “It must have messed with our memories,” I pondered mysteriously.

  “Hank. The city was paralyzed. Everyone. We’ve already had five deaths from it and there’s probably going to be more. So tell me,” Garm said, her gun pointing at me again. “What in the 440 states is going on? When the troops get here, they’re going to ask about it. They’re going to assume the Dredel Led made the station unstable. This may even be the rationale they need to destroy Belvaille. Eighty thousand people just don’t simultaneously swoon.”