When they neared it, the details of the Archway become clear. Smooth silver sculptures of eagles, lions, dragons, and humans covered the entirety of the arch, at least as far as Alice's implant-enhanced vision could see.
Its most bizarre feature, however, was the shimmering liquid substance that passed from edge to edge of the span. She thought it was like looking into a still lake, but beneath the surface, she saw only another world, rather than a reflection.
Alice paused before passing through the barrier. All the atmospheric readings on the other side were scrambled. Redden looked at her pointedly, and unless it was a phantom of her thought, a hint of compassion had entered his gaze.
"It's fine, he declared. "It's just Council theatrics. I've been through it a few times. It's not gonna ruin you any more than you already are."
Without another word, he turned and marched through the barrier. After a few ragged breaths, and a few more feeble thoughts of escape, Alice followed.
Part 1: Osiris & The Ark
Chapter 1
"What you drinkin', spacer?" the smiling bartender asked the man who had just sat down at the bar.
"Beer!" the man barked. "Preferably craft. Preferably cold."
The bartender closed his eyes and released a long, hearty laugh that seemed to emanate from his ample belly.
"Beer, huh? Where the hell do you think you are, Earth? You think we get a lot of barley and hops shipments out here?"
Apparently amused at his wit, the bartender smiled wider as he let out another, louder laugh.
The man's face fell into a cold glare. His mood, which had just been elevated by a large payment from a particularly needy client, was being soured by the bartender's less than stellar sense of humor.
"No beer... Then tell me what exactly this shithole of a bar does have to offer someone of my very hard to satisfy tastes."
"Hey, no need to be all piss and vinegar!" the bartender shouted. "We got what we got: The purple shit with synthetic alcohol in it, and the blue shit with synthetic alcohol in it. We ain't fancy here!"
Before continuing, the bartender paused and leaned closer, then lowered his voice to a whisper. "We do have some other stuff, though... Maybe a little something to make all the little machines in your brain go to sleep..."
The man shook his head. Drugs were widespread on Osiris Station, and the offer hardly surprised him. A few years prior, he might have said yes, but he had turned the page on that chapter of his long life. Randell had given him a new identity, and it was as pricey as they come. He wanted to make the most of his time on Osiris Station, and try to build a life worth living there.
"No thanks. Blue. Triple. Now."
The man placed his left hand down on the bar with his palm facing up and the bartender stared at it. "Your wish is my command... Mr. Leonard."
"Call me Leo. Leonard was my father's name," Leo impatiently replied.
That was a lie, though. Leo didn't know his father's name. The memories that told him he shared his father's name, tall frame, long blonde hair, and piercing gray eyes were fake. The real memories of who he was had long ago been wiped from his mind.
The bartender nodded and turned away as Leo mentally queried his remaining credit balance. Numbers instantly appeared in the upper-right corner of his vision. 96,534 Origin credits, he saw with glee. The number was lowered by one, however, as his drink purchase was processed.
Leo glanced around the bar as he waited for his drink. According to the neon sign near the entrance, the bar was named "O'Hearn's." It had a reputation of being among the cheapest joints of the thousands on Osiris, but it seemed like an excellent place to avoid those who might be looking for him.
The bar wasn't the most elegant establishment, but as Leo looked around, he realized he did like the decor. Welded pieces of the hulls of bygone ships lined the walls, and Leo did have a fondness for old ships.
Leo's instincts kicked in as he waited for his drink, so he performed a quick scan of the bar, first examining it for escape routes. There was the main entrance, and an emergency exit in the back. That was good. He would have no problem escaping if trouble found him.
Next, he scouted out any potential threats by swiveling his head around and scanning the other patrons of the bar with his ancient ocular implant.
He was the lone person sitting at the bar, but there were twenty other guests seated at dirty tables and booths throughout the small establishment. He noticed a few loud and boisterous drunks, but they weren't armed...
Then, he saw her.
A beautiful young woman with raven hair and piercing violet eyes made his heart jump. She was sitting alone, and a small, sly smile spread across her lips as he scanned her. She turned and stared back at him as she chuckled to herself, then slowly shook her head before casually looking away.
She had a scan detection system, he realized. Only a premium system would pick up his scans, considering how old his implants were. She would need quite a bit of disposable income to purchase an implant like that. Perhaps she was some mining mogul's daughter or a highly sought after courtesan...
While he was intrigued by her access to rare and expensive technology, it was the look in her eyes that truly sparked his interest. They were bright and intelligent, and there was something within them that made him want to laugh. It was as if she alone knew the punchline to some secret, and truly gleeful joke within them, but she would never reveal it to anyone.
Suddenly, she snapped her head to look at him again, and he saw her eyes flash dangerously. He immediately nodded to her and ended his scan.
As thoughts of the raven-haired woman swam in Leo's mind, he turned his attention back to his drink. He watched closely as the bartender turned to face a small array of metallic taps and filled a mug with a blue liquid.
The liquid oozed forth rapidly and reached the brim in just under a second. Leo watched each detail of the process intently as he wished to remain sure that there was nothing nefarious within his drink.
After filling the mug, the bartender carried it over and slammed it down in front of Leo. A fair bit of the drink spilled over the rim and slowly ran down the edge of the mug before settling on the bar.
As Leo took hold of his drink and brought it to his lips, his motion detection system suddenly buzzed like an electric shock in his mind.
With an instinctive burst of power, he threw his upper body to the left and fell off his stool as he twisted into an evasive roll. When his shoulder met the rough metal floor, he tucked his head to his sternum and used the force of the station's artificial gravity combined with his accurate movements to somersault away. He ended the roll with his feet solidly beneath him in a squatting position. Somehow, he still held his drink upright and had avoided spilling it.
Milliseconds later, a small man crashed headfirst into the bar, right where Leo had been sitting the second before.
The small man used the barstool to hoist himself to his feet. Then he brought his mouth down to the bar, smashing his forehead into it in the process, and began to lick up the blue liquid that had dripped from Leo's mug moments before.
The drunk started laughing maniacally and spurted out words in between his rapid fits of licking. "Ahahahaha! Ohhhhh, yes, the blue stuff... So goood. I neeeeed it, yessssss."
Leo remained in a squatting position and quickly looked around the bar to ensure that the drunk wasn't a distraction tactic. As he wheeled his head around, he saw the other patrons of the bar looking at the drunk. Some were laughing, and others looked disgusted.
Still primed for further defensive action, Leo continued to scan the bar until he was satisfied that no other threat was imminent. Then, he returned his focus to the drunk, whose actions had drawn the fury of the bartender.
"What the hell are you doing?" the bartender roared."Get the hell out of here! Now! Before I shock the shit out of you!"
As he spoke, the bartender reached under the bar and pulled out a long metal pole with two spiked prongs at the end. Then, h
e pointed it at the licking drunk and pushed a button on the handle that caused crackling electricity to arc menacingly between the two prongs.
The crackling of electricity drew the drunk's eyes upward. He quickly stopped his licking and thrust his hands in the air. Then, he let out a wild, animal-like squeal, before releasing a spewing stream of slurred speech.
"Hey man, d-don't shock the shit out of me! That will make a big mess! I was h-helping! Look, look! Now you don't have to wipe the bar!"
As the slurred gibberish poured of his mouth, the drunk wildly gestured towards the bar, which was now covered in a mixture of blue liquid and the drunk's drool. "See, it's all cleeeeaaan!"
Without further hesitation, the bartender jabbed the long pole into the drunk's sternum. The snap of electricity blended with a sharp yelp of pain as the drunk fell and flopped across the floor. He stopped twitching after a few seconds, then rolled onto his belly and took a few heavy, laborious breaths.
The bartender leaned over the bar to observe his handiwork, then seemed to decide that he hadn't been severe enough. His eyes never left his quarry as, with surprising speed and strength, he vaulted over the bar and landed on the other side. There, he stood ominously above the drunk, who was now lying still and whimpering in pain.
Everyone present had fallen silent and fixed their eyes on the ridiculous altercation. An expectant silence now replaced the dull hum of their intermingled conversations.
Leo could have easily used the dispute to get away and avoid the unsavory scene that was playing out there, but he felt that things could spiral out of control very quickly. He had no desire to allow unnecessary violence to occur at a place that should have been a refuge from the madness of life. So, he remained still and waited to see what would happen next.
As pitiful moans continued to emanate from the drunk's fallen and electrocuted body, the bartender looked down with disgust.
"Don't screw around in my bar," he growled, before thrusting the pole taser into the drunk's side a second time.
The drunk screamed louder this time but managed to control his vocal cords enough to plead for mercy. "Pleaaaaase! Nooooooooo! Please, God, Anyone! Help meeeeee! I'm so fucking hungrrrrrrry. Please!"
His panicked words melted into more and more intense howls of pain as the bartender shocked him a third time.
"Don't! Screw! Around! In! My! Bar!" the bartender roared. He punctuated each word with another stabbing, crackling shock from the pole taser.
Leo slowly stood up and raised his mug to his lips. Without looking away from the spectacle, he downed all the remaining blue liquid in one long draught. When he finished, the drunk was no longer screaming. The only noise that now came from him was his ragged, labored breathing.
The bartender was not in a merciful mood. He continued shocking the drunk, and began taking long pauses in between each shock to deliver several brutal kicks to the drunk's fallen body.
First, he targeted the drunk's liver, then his kidneys, and then his crotch. With each blow, the bar echoed with a sickening thump. When the bartender's boot sank into the flesh between the drunk's legs, he let out an eerie and keening moan, though he made no move to defend himself.
As the bartender moved into position to deliver another kick, this time to the head of the now beaten and electrocuted drunk, Leo finally decided that the stupidity and violence needed to end.
"Stop. Now," Leo commanded. It wasn't the volume, but the venom in his voice that instantly grabbed the attention of the bartender.
The bartender didn't seem to be in a mood to listen. "This is my bar, and I'll do whatever the hell I want," he shouted as he turned and pointed the taser at Leo. "Anyone who wants to come in here and cause trouble needs to know that there is a world of pain waiting for them!"
The bartender lowered his taser towards the drunk once again. Then, he looked Leo dead in the eyes as he defiantly jabbed the taser into the drunk's neck.
"He doesn't deserve to be tortured," Leo halfheartedly declared.
When the bartender made no move to obey him, Leo sighed and turned away, seemingly losing interest in his intervention.
Leo waited patiently for a few seconds with his back turned. Then, just as he expected, he felt the prodding touch of the pole taser against his back. Electricity crackled through the air as the bartender attempted to turn the weapon against Leo.
A surge of joyful energy coursed through Leo, and instead of falling to the floor in agony, he casually turned towards the crude device and the now confused man wielding it. Then he grabbed the business end of the pole taser as it snapped and popped against his skin. With an exaggerated flourish, he raised the end of the metal pole to his mouth before placing it directly on his tongue.
"Please, tickle me again. I like to be tickled," Leo taunted. Then, he chuckled as he placed his other hand farther down the metal shaft, and effortlessly snapped it in two.
Leo dropped the broken taser to the floor and walked a few steps back to the bar as the other patrons looked on in stunned silence. Then, he took a seat at the same stool he had occupied before the nonsense had erupted.
He looked over his shoulder at the now speechless bartender. "Hey! I'll take another drink, purple this time, still a triple, but this one is on the house."
The bartender looked at him blankly, then slowly walked back behind the bar, eyeing Leo as if he were a venomous snake that might strike at any moment. He then hastily filled another mug with purple liquid, turned, and set it down carefully in front of Leo.
"Fine. One more, on the house, then you'll leave and never come back here," the bartender grunted. He seemed to be trying to convince himself as much as Leo.
Leo took a long drink of the purple liquid, downing nearly half of it before answering. "Mmfh... Y'know, the purple stuff ain't half bad. I'll finish this one, then leave. Don't worry..."
Leo took another drink, this time just a sip, and turned his attention back to the electrocuted, bar-licking drunkard. Surprisingly, he had already managed to raise himself to a sitting position.
"Stupid... Stupid... I need to eat. What am I doing?" the drunk mumbled, just loud enough for Leo to hear.
The bar patrons, sensing that their crude comedy was now complete, returned to their conversations and their drinks. Within a minute, the soothing buzz of people sharing lively conversation filled the air once more. The bartender had turned his attention to other customers at the other end of the bar, and Leo could relax once again.
Minutes passed as Leo nursed his drink. He had made a deal with the bartender and didn't plan on breaking it, but they hadn't decided how long it should take to finish one more drink. He would stay as long as he needed to ensure the bartender didn't take his anger out on someone else.
Leo sipped slowly, knowing it was also his responsibility to make sure the drunk didn't cause any more trouble. He had nowhere else he needed to be, anyway. He was in no hurry to return to his ship, or try to find somewhere else to wile away his lonely hours.
Ah yes, his ship, he fondly reminded himself. Now that he had money to spare, he could outfit it with a ton of new tech. It was a Mark III Nydus Personal Shuttle. It was capable of moderate speed and possessed a few respectable defense mechanisms, but it was very old.
Leo had christened it "Arcturus." He had wanted to visit the Arcturus system for as long as he could remember, although the journey would require hundreds of years of cryo-sleep. Maybe he was now rich enough to install a cryo-bay on it, he thought with amusement. The look on Randell's face when he made that request would be priceless...
He now had enough money to purchase a newer ship, but why would he when the one he already owned served his needs so well? He had survived hundreds of Council operatives, countless attempts on his life, and it had seen him safely through it all...
Technology that was reliable and had no inclination to destroy its owners was rare, in Leo's opinion, so he was especially appreciative of older, less fickle ships. Rather than buying a new one, he wo
uld be better off outfitting his with a new weapons system, or perhaps a new bed. Yes, a new mattress would make him much happier. Maybe king-sized if he could squeeze it into the tiny quarters...
Suddenly, Leo was stunned out of his revery. His heart skipped a beat as the raven-haired woman brushed past him and settled down on the barstool to his left. Fleeting, nervous thoughts raced through his mind as she adjusted her seating position and leaned over to speak to him.
After a few seconds, she spoke in a quiet and cheerful voice. "Want another drink, Leo?"
He swiveled on his stool to face her. He didn't know what to say to her, or even why she wanted to talk to him, so he instinctually turned to dry hostility as the safest option.
"You know my name, but I don't know yours. How about we get that out of the way before we talk about anything else?"
The woman giggled before replying, and interestingly, the sound slightly lifted his spirits.
"No shit... My name is Darcy Annabelle Persephone the Third, but you can call me Annabelle since it seems you prefer shorter names, just like I do."
Leo took full advantage of the opportunity to look at Annabelle up close. She was short and slim, with long black hair and violet eyes to go with pale, porcelain toned skin.
A black, skin-tight nano-suit hugged her well-proportioned body like a glove, but it was her eyes that especially appealed to him. They stared at him brightly, and he could see a fire that burned within them, along with that knowing glint of humor untold.
"How about Anna?" he asked. "Annabelle is still a little long for my tastes."
He saw a barely perceptible expression of grief run across her face, but she hid it quickly and let out a trilling, melodious laugh before answering. "Beautiful name... That was my mom's name, but it's not mine. Annabelle or nothing, I'm afraid..."
Leo grinned at her spirited response, and his spirits were lifted further by the indefatigable tone that raised her laughter.
The Ganymede Legacy Page 2
