The Jolo Vargas Space Opera Series Box Set

by J. D. Oppenheim

  “Hazuki has tried to bring them into the fold, but they object. They are under Hazuki’s protection, but they are a thorn in his side. They do not obey. They do not do the things necessary to survive. Hard things.”

  “What things?”

  “In due time, Captain. Hazuki will inform you when the time is right. It is not my place to reveal his doings to the likes of a few rogue off-worlders who by the looks of it haven’t been here but for a few days. You’ve gone against him so your days will be short.”

  “I’m gone kill ‘im now, Cap’n,” said Greeley.

  But Jolo held out his hand. He knew Wexler was evil and couldn’t be trusted but the old man knew all about this place and would tell them everything, if they lived long enough for that to happen. For now the old man was no threat to Jolo or even Greeley, hobbled as he was.

  The butcher continued along at a fast clip, Greeley barely able to keep up, until they made it to another intersection. He stopped well before and Jolo went on ahead. The air coming through the other passage was cold and clean, which was good, but there was something else. Something about this place he didn’t like. Greeley hobbled over to him. “I don’t like this. And I don’t like the butcher. I say we prep him, Betsy style, right now.”

  “That ain’t our way. You know it.”

  Wexler stared into the darkness towards the other side of the intersection. This was the main crossing, there were more structures on the other side, mere hints of gray in the distance, and Jolo squinted to see them. But suddenly a light from a torch emerged from a high place above, inside one of the buildings across the brick street. And then another to their left, even higher. Jolo instinctively edged away from Greeley, two smaller targets was better than a single large one. But then Wexler started edging away as well and Jolo knew something was up. He motioned for Greeley to push further back. He thought to turn and run but then a voice called out from the darkness.

  “You are late for dinner though I see you’ve brought the package! But why are they not prepped?”

  Jolo remembered the voice: Hazuki. He started to reply but Wexler beat him to it.

  “They lied to me!” There was a desperation in his voice. Panic and fear. Nothing like the insolence and arrogance he’d shown Jolo and Greeley. Wexler edged away from Jolo, bent over, his palms up in supplication. “They told me they were going to eat Little Richard. What was I to do?”

  “I grow weary of your relentless incompetence. And now you stand on the wrong side of dinner.”

  “Yes, but I could come across. I could resume my work.”

  “Your work,” laughed Hazuki, “requires no skill. I kept you as a man keeps a pet and now I am done with you. Your indulgences are your undoing. Now she comes and she does not like to work for her meal. Do you think this will brighten her mood? She has much to do and you are a thorn in her side. They are coming in a fortnight, or have you forgotten? They will shut us down and kill all of us. They’ve done it before.”

  “Step in to the light, Hazuki!” yelled Jolo.

  “Be quiet, dead man! And do your part for the cause.”

  Jolo had the Colt out and was crouched as low as he could. There was no cover and he and Greeley had been inching backwards ever since Wexler started pleading his case.

  The torch on the right moved just a hair and Jolo instinctively fired right at it. The torch fell down onto the bricks and illuminated the corner of a large building. There was a man standing on the ground nearby. Jolo fired again at the man and by then all hell had broken loose. Greeley was firing at the torch on the left but Jolo knew there were more than two guns against them and one was an automatic.

  Jolo and Greeley hobbled backwards firing blindly across the street. Soon, both torches went out so they couldn’t find a target. Twice, Jolo nearly got hit by a bullet. One whizzed past his head and another hit the ground at his feet, kicking up dirt and bits of brick. A large caliber round hit Greeley and Jolo yelled, but then realized it was the bot who’d taken the shot. It fell to the ground in a shower of sparks and Greeley hopped back on one foot.

  “Do not let them get away. Hobble them but try not to kill them!” yelled Hazuki.

  Jolo wanted to turn and run towards Hazuki and kill the man with his bare hands, but that would be foolish. That would be like old Jolo, he thought. He wondered what George would say their odds of escape were. He ran to Greeley’s voice in the darkness. His body was full of adrenaline and he came up to Greeley fast, grabbed the big man and started off to the safety of the street they’d just come from. He’d find a building to hide in and they could come for him and then he’d have the advantage.

  But he never got the chance.

  A big roar echoed through the chikagai and the ground shook and knocked Jolo off his feet. Greeley fell with him and screamed in pain when they hit the ground. Light came into the intersection from somewhere and suddenly Jolo could see men on the other side, guns in hand. He yelled to Greeley to stay low but his voice was lost in a low roaring wail that hit them like a physical blow.

  Jolo rolled, then steadied himself and knelt and fired at the closest man across the path. The man fell onto the bricks into the light. Jolo fired again and again but one by one the men on the other side had disappeared. And there was nothing left but the horrible noise growing louder and louder. It weighed Jolo down, brought him to his knees and his mind filled with dark thoughts: they were all going to die. Katy is gone. Jolo crawled toward Greeley, who was laying on the ground with his hands over his ears. Jolo pulled him as hard as he could back down the path. Greeley was crying. The cat sat on Greeley’s back licking his paws.

  Jolo pulled the big man back, back, deep into the darkness. He made it to the next intersection but it wasn’t deep enough. It would never be deep enough. The thing approaching spoke to Jolo: You are all mine. Why do you run? Feed the children.

  The thing reached deep into the very bottom of his heart. Or were these merely his own twisted thoughts? He couldn’t tell. A large part of Jolo had shut down and lost all hope, but another, smaller part kept going. It was the logic chip, Merthon’s implant, in his brain that still held on--that would not quit, that was wholly unaffected by the sickness that had infected his heart. Why must they all die? Wasn’t there something they had to do?

  Pull. Pull him into the store on the other side!

  I will never see Katy again, Jolo thought. The thing screamed inside his head: You will never see her again. Submit to me and do your part. Sacrifice for the greater good. For the superior race will prevail. Your death will not be in vain.

  The earth shook again and over the deafening roar Jolo could just make out the sound of glass breaking and wood splintering. Greeley fell and Jolo tripped over him and they both ended up on the ground.

  The thing bearing down on them was larger than the Argossy and not of this world.

  Light came into the tunnel and suddenly Jolo could see the building on the corner, it rose high and extended up into the earth, hundreds of windows, the walls made of brick like the cobbled street beneath it. Then the head of the luminous creature came into view, large and rounded like the nose of a freighter. It filled the tunnel completely so that nothing could pass on either side. One huge, yellow eye on the side of its head, wet and oozing, rolled around in its socket, the other a thick mass of gray scar tissue. The roar had subsided for a moment but then the gaping, circular maw of the creature opened to reveal rows of teeth angled inward and it bellowed again and again. The windows shattered on the far side of the street and suddenly Jolo was cut off from the other side of the street. From Hazuki.

  The thing turned and roared again and Jolo couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t feel anything. He and Greeley held onto each other in the middle of the brick covered street in the dark. Greeley was yelling, “Simone! Simone!” Jolo put his hands over his ears but the voice in his head would not go away.

  Stay where you are Jolo Vargas. You have come to do your part for the greater good. Rest now.


  Jolo opened his eyes and could see nothing but the light. The light and the long white teeth.

  Some that Needs to Die

  Katy stared out the small porthole window into the gray-orange ice and sighed. She could hear Barth and Hurley outside trying to find out why the Argossy’s engines wouldn’t spin up. They’d yell and curse for awhile, then get quiet, then there’d be a round of banging noises that reverberated through the whole ship, followed by a brief moment of quiet before it all started up again. Koba was outside digging through the ice trying to make it down fourteen meters to a strange bit of organic matter the scanners had picked up. The scanners said the stuff was organic. Organic is good, she thought. Maybe Jolo was right. Maybe you could eat it or at the very least burn it. Soon they’d be out of fuel and then it didn’t matter if they had food or not. She instinctively put her hand on her belly. She couldn’t tell if she was bigger or not but her breasts ached and she started to feel a good cry coming on. But not now.

  She looked up and George was staring at her. And even though his eyes were glass and his body language was a work in progress, she knew he was worried about her. He put his hand on her shoulder.

  “He’ll come back. Don’t worry.”

  “You get right to the point, don’t you?” A few tears came down, but she wiped them away. She considered telling him her secret but held back.

  “Concise dialogue is good, right?”

  “Yes. Thanks.”

  “Don’t forget. He is Jolo Vargas. He always returns. And if he doesn’t, then George will go and find him.”

  Katy forced a smile and gave the synthetic human a hug. It was like hugging a tree. But she knew George would do anything for Jolo and she loved him for that.

  “What’s the data say?” she said, trying to change the subject.

  George eyed the readout on his display and shook his head. “It says it would be difficult for humans to survive here,” he said. “The ecosystem is shot, gone--its a dead planet. The sun holds the planets in orbit but not enough light can make it through the atmosphere to support plant life as the Earth once was. No photosynthesis. No life.”

  “Then how are we breathing oxygen?” said Katy.

  “My guess would be some other organism or process is at work. Something in the ice, maybe? Not enough data.”

  “So we’ve got ice and oxygen. Isn’t that enough?”

  “What would a mammal eat? How would it stay warm? Is there anything to burn?”

  Just then, Koba poked his head into the makeshift lab George had set up in the med bay. “You know, the pilot aught to be doing some digging. My hands are cold,” he said.

  “She is helping me,” said George.

  “Alright, well, y’all should come out and take a look what I just dug up.”

  Outside Barth and Hurley were staring into a deep hole Koba had dug using a short-range probe jet. Parts of the bullet-shaped probe were laying off to the side.

  “Do you see how I did it?” said Koba, beaming.

  No one said anything. Hurley kicked at some ice and it dropped into the hole. “Well?”

  Still nothing. Finally, Barth said in a bored monotone, “You used the probe jets to burn a hole in the ice. Now what did you find, Genius?”

  There was an old blue tarp on the ground from the storage bay. Koba pulled it away dramatically. Underneath was a dark fibrous piece of something that kind of looked like dirt, but was more dense.

  Hurley sniffed it. “Smells like brown dog after it’s been sittin’ on the table for a few days.”

  “Naw. More like karomite dung,” said Barth.

  “And this pile of shite is gonna save us?” said Katy. She felt the cry welling up again, but forced it back for the second time.

  George put a bit into his mouth.

  “I didn’t think you could, uh, eat?” said Koba.

  “I don’t. But I can get a rudimentary analysis of the dark stuff.” He stood there for a full minute, everyone watching his face for some indication.

  “Well, it is organic,” said George. “No toxins that my scans could pick up, but we should do some more testing in the med lab.”

  “Can a human eat it?” said Katy.

  “I don’t see why not. It is carbon based, 24.5% protein, 14.7% fat, and the rest mostly carbohydrate.”

  Hurley reached down, cracked off a bit, blew off some dirt and took a bite. He chewed on it for awhile and then swallowed. “Ain’t the best tasting stuff I ever ate. But it eats.”

  Koba started to take a bite, but Barth stopped him. Let’s wait and see how it goes with Hurley before we all get sick.”

  “Oh, thanks a lot for that,” said Hurley.

  “Well, I wasn’t the hasty old fart that ate that shite, either.”

  “Well, I ain’t the one with an overabundance of fat reserves and you bein’ awful stingy with the food allotment lately.”

  “Boys!” said Katy. “Hurley, thank you for being the first to test it. We need to know if it can sustain us.”

  “Let’s not get our hopes up,” said George. “There is still only a, uh, a very slim chance of human habitation on this planet. I don’t believe there are any large, air-breathing animals here.”

  “How about them?” said Koba.

  And suddenly through the fog they could see a small group of people heading their way.

  “George, you stay here. Don’t let them near the ship. The rest get inside the Argossy. I’ll get the rifle!” said Barth.

  “Stop!” came a yell from behind them, in the opposite direction of the approaching people. They turned and there was a man in a white coat, both hands in his pockets and a smile on his face. Barth made a sudden move for the Argossy, but the man pulled out a blaster. Katy looked at George. The man was as fast as Jolo. “You won’t be needing any weapons where you’re going,” said the man with a cold smile. “We have plenty of good weapons. You are safe with us.” Soon the others arrived, a ragged bunch of humans with makeshift weapons and tattered clothes.

  “They gots a woman!” yelled a man missing several teeth. He swallowed hard and stared at Katy like he wanted to eat her.

  “Shut up, you fools!” the man in the white coat snarled. Then he turned back to the crew. “Forgive him. He has forgotten his manners.” Then he turned and shot the man. The man with missing teeth lay motionless on the ice. “Take his weapon and leave him for the Queen.”

  Katy screamed and George edged closer to her.

  “There there, little butterfly,” said the man. “You are saved. Oh, and where are my manners.” He cleared his throat and straightened his jacket. “Welcome to Earth,” he said, bowing. George inched a little closer to Katy.

  The man gave them another big, plastic smile. “And now you must come with us.”

  Katy didn’t like this “must” part. She didn’t like this man one little bit. Something was off about him. She stared to think of Jolo again but quickly buried the thought deep in her mind.

  “And now for a bit of business concerning payment for our services,” said the man in the white coat. His three remaining men started to snicker and grin. But another look from the man and they shut right up. “In times past, there would be long negotiations and painful, heartrending deliberations, but I have grown old and wise and feel the best course when executing—” More chuckling from the others. “Uh, when executing a particularly difficult negotiation is to simply do it as quickly as possible.” And with that the man suddenly had the gun in his hand again and pointed it at Barth. “Nothing personal,” the man said.

  George jumped in front of Barth.

  The man shook his head slowly. “See, I’ve just broken my own rule. Should have dispensed with the pleasantries.”

  “Why shoot anyone?” yelled Katy.

  “Actually, two must die!” screamed the man. “But fortunately for you all I’ve already given her one.” He pointed to the dead man.

  “Given who?” said Katy.

  “The Queen,” said the man. And h
e fired once and George fell onto the ice. “Now come with me or die like those two.” Katy looked at Barth and he nodded.

  “We’ll come,” Barth said. And the man in the white coat led them away. They marched out onto the ice, the men with the guns behind, prodding them on. Soon they couldn’t see the Argossy anymore. An hour later, in near darkness, Hurley had begun to fall, and each time one of the men would grab him, one hand by the hair, the other his belt, and jerk him up, poking him with the rifle. And just when Katy was about to fall down herself, they stopped.

  The man in the white jacket pointed at a hole with a stairway leading to God knows where. As Katy went down she took one last look into the darkness. Before, at least they had the Argossy. That was home no matter where they were. Now they had nothing but the clothes on their backs and heavy hearts. One of the men poked her with his gun and she started down the stairwell into the black hole.

  Wild Boys

  Jolo felt something tugging at his arm. He swatted at it, but it came back a few minutes later. This went on for some time but Jolo didn’t know if it had been hours or minutes. He couldn’t remember anything. He didn’t know where he was. The cold crept in, coming up through the floor of the ship. Had the engines died? Was life support down?

  He was the captain and there were people to take care of. They were his responsibility. He was a Federation captain.

  Eventually he sat up and tried to see. There was a man next to him with a look of pain on his face and he wondered if the man was dead. Jolo looked into the man’s eyes and it all came back.

  The worm and the screaming.

  “You okay?” said Jolo. But Greeley just stared at him.

  Jolo put his hands to the side of his head. If he tried he could think of worse ways to die than being eaten by a giant worm. But the worst part was she got into his head. In the end, when she was bearing down on him, he couldn’t move.

  “Greeley. Why are we not dead? And who is Simone? You kept yelling for her.” But Greeley just stared at him. His face went from pain to confusion and back, like he was trying to say something but couldn’t remember the words.