“Fuuuuuuuuuu hu hu hu hu ck! Oh shit. That hurt!” Denise held the side of her head and slammed back her drink.
“What the hell is wrong with you two?” Amanda glared at Denise.
“Other than getting low jacked and roofied? Not a damn thing. Life is otherwise just peachy.” Denise reached across the table and snatched an unclaimed drink, chasing down the first drink with it.
“Are you kidding?” Andy asked as he stood. “Here ya go,” he said, dropping a minuscule metallic oblong shaped thing on the table in front of Denise. He snatched the empty glass from Denise and slammed it down on the table with a frustrated huff.
He turned back to Amanda. “Once we woke up and found each other I did a scan to see what the aliens had done to us. I started picking up high readings of cobalt nitrate behind each of our left ears. Apparently, they low jacked everyone after gassing us in that chamber. So, I poked around at it with my pliers and eventually dug out my implant.”
Amanda stared back at him in shocked disbelief. “Okay...”
“Better to be safe than sorry, I always say.” Andy waived for a waitress, holding up his empty glass. “What if it was rigged to blow a hole in our heads if we didn't comply with our new alien master overlords or something? Then what would you do? Hu?”
Denise dug a finger into her ear and shook it about violently. “Dear God, what is that horrible squealing?”
“I know, I hear it too,” Andy said. He craned his neck, looking in the direction of the noise.
“What squealing,” Amanda asked.
“Oh, my fucking god! You don't hear that?” Denise pointed toward a group of aliens a few tables away. “Really? You seriously can't hear that?”
“I don't hear anything besides some random conversations,” Amanda said.
“Here you go sweetie, compliments of the house,” the waitress said to Amanda as she returned with a drink on a tray. She placed a napkin in front of Amanda, then a tall glass that contained a smoking fluorescent lime green liquid.
“Thank you very much,” Amanda replied. “But I think I’ll just have a water for right now if that’s alright.”
“Well now,” the waitress said, taken aback. “I didn't peg you to be a big spender.” She flashed a surprised smile at Amanda.
Denise tugged on Amanda’s sleeve. “What the hell is she saying?”
“Hu? What?” Amanda mimed that she couldn't hear Denise and turned back to the waitress. “What do you mean, big spender?”
“You’re kidding me, right?” The waitress laughed with a roll of her eyes. “A glass of plain water alone is worth over one hundred Polsion credits. It’s even more expensive if you splurge and go for the top shelf spring water.” She pointed to a series of clear vessels perched on the top shelf of the bar.
“What...the...hell...is...she...say...ing,” Denise growled.
The waitress glared at Andy and the tool in his hand. He quickly hid the chip and multi-tool behind his back.
“I said you two are ignorant asses for taking out your translator chips,” the waitress yelled.
“Well, excu...se, me,” Denise said sarcastically. She snatched Amanda's drink and sipped at the exotic drink.
Amanda turned back to the waitress. “Is that a bad thing, that they removed their chips?”
The waitress grunted with another eye roll. “Only if you don’t want to pay a fortune to have another one installed. The Polsions install the first implant free of charge in hopes that the investment will spur new business and add to the local economy by making transactions easier to accomplish. The more transactions carried out on the station, the more taxes that they can collect.”
“Well, that makes a lot of sense, I guess,” Amanda said.
“It won’t take long before the newness of you lot wears off from the locals,” the waitress admitted. “Pulling a stunt like taking out your implant will only annoy the rest of the people on the station.”
“The newness off us,” Amanda asked, “I don’t understand? What’s special about us?”
“Everyone on the station has heard about your arrival,” the waitress giggled. She looked over Amanda with a sidelong leer. “It’s rare that a ship shows up with unplanted crew. Then to top it all off, an entirely new species.” She winked at Amanda.
“Hu,” Amanda mumbled to herself.
“Did you still want that water?”
“Um...no,” Amanda replied. “No, but thank you for all of your help.”
“You are very welcome,” the waitress said with a predatory smile. “It’s always nice to meet a pretty new face. Just let me know if I can get you anything.” She turned and began clearing empty glasses from a nearby table.
“Rude ass bitch,” Denise mumbled, then took another sip from Amanda's glass.
“Seriously? Can you stop complaining and being a rude bitch yourself for just one second.” Amanda scowled at Denise. “She was being very helpful.”
“Not to me, she wasn't. You'd think she'd be able to speak plain English if she's going to serve us, but nooo. She had to go on with all of that weird-ass gobbledygook of hers.”
“Ouch, shit, get it off,” Andy said. He leapt from his seat frantically shaking his hand. The tiny translator implant landed on Denise's sleeve. Dozens of hair-like appendages extended from the tiny cylinder and began to climb her arm.”
“Uh, help!” Denise screamed in panic, swatting at her arm. “Get it off! Get it off!” The chip bounced and skidded across the table. It stopped dead in mid slide as the needle-like tentacles impaled the tabletop to arrest its momentum. The implant spun in place for a moment and once again began toward Denise.
“Die, tool of Satan!” Andy smashed the device with the heel of his boot over and over again. The entirety of the bar turned toward the commotion at the back of the room.
Amanda shook her head in disbelief. “Something is seriously wrong with the two of you. You know that don’t you?”
“Eh, it's all good. I've got free drinks.” Denise smiled and took another sip.
“Ya know,” Andy interrupted. “That big blue guy is still staring this way.”
Amanda and Denise turned to look in the direction that Andy nodded. A very large and bright blue alien in what looked to be a flight suit of some sort curiously watched their every movement.
“Eh, it's a free country. He can look all that he wants.” She choked as she took another sip. “Oh hey, there’s a thought. I wonder what color he'd turn if you strangled him. Would he turn flesh-colored since he’s already blue?”
“Oh hey,” Andy scratched at his stubble covered chin. “That's a mighty good question.”
“Could one of you please tell me where everyone else went to?” Amanda crossed her arms with an impatient huff.
“How the hell should I know? I'm not their keeper,” Denise grumped.
The waitress returned with a tall, frosted glass of bubbling blue liquid. Using a set of long tongs, she placed the glass gently down in front of Denise. “From an admirer,” she said with a nod toward the bar, then returned to her duties.
Denise immediately looked at Amanda. “What did she say?”
“If you'd left in the translator, you'd know.” She scoffed. “Apparently someone bought you a drink.”
Denise pushed the bubbling drink away. “Did she say what it is? I'm not sure that I want to try this one.”
“Just take a sip and taste it. See what color it smells like,” Andy suggested.
“What the hell,” Amanda shook her head. “Did you pull a wire loose in your head when you yanked out the translator?”
“What? No...It's a well-known fact that smell and taste are tied together,” Andy defended.
“Well hell. You only live once, I guess.” Denise gripped the glass with two fingers and carefully lifted the bubbling concoction toward her face. She puffed at the misty white fog, then blew it away from the top of the glass and inhaled. “Hu...It doesn't smell too bad.” Cautiously, she sipped. “Hey, this isn't ba
d at all,” she said through smacking lips. She smiled and held up the glass in salute with a thumbs up in the direction of her large blue benefactor.
The blue alien returned the salute and held his drink high in the air.
“Hell, that's a first,” Denise said scornfully.
“What's a first,” Amanda asked.
“No one has ever bought me a drink before,” Denise said. She blinked away a stray tear, wiped her eyes on the arm of her flight suit, then gulped down half of the alien drink in one gulp.
“You never know,” Andy mused. He placed a gentle hand on Denise's shoulder. “It could be love at first sight.” Andy abruptly doubled over, gasping for air after Denise's elbow firmly made contact with his unprotected midsection.
Denise continued to sip at the blue bubbling liquid.
“Oh my god, will you two quit it,” Amanda said. “Do either of you have any actual idea at all where the others may have gone?”
“I think Janey said something about checking out the medical facilities,” Andy said coughing between gasps of air.
“Big Willy seems like the type to be the boy scout and offer our services to the station manager.” Denise took another long sip.
“I'd bet you could find Fergus and Trae in the hangars checking out the ships or shopping for new equipment,” Andy added as he slid into a seat at the table.
“What about Jenny?”
“No idea,” Denise said between sips. “I do know that she got thrown out of the bar a few hours ago for harassing the customers.”
“What? Why?”
Denise laughed, then looked at Amanda with those, do you really want to know eyes. “That crazy bitch was so excited about all the different species in here that she started harassing everyone in the bar for information about themselves, their species and their languages.”
“Any idea where she might have gone after she got thrown out?”
“Don’t know and don’t care,” Denise said. “I just wish she’d stayed long enough to get the free drink so I could have snagged it too.”
“Are you really sure those free drinks are even suitable for humans? I mean, look at them, they glow,” Andy said.
“Eh, they taste fine,” Denise said. “This one kinda tastes like a light purple.”
“Oh, like lavender or more of a mauve?” Andy asked.
“Neither,” Denise said. “It has this slight tingle to it. So more like a,” she smacked her lips together, “maybe an electric purple.”
“I swear,” Amanda huffed. She turned to leave and ran face-first into the chest of a large, leather-clad being. She craned her neck back to look up at a very large blue-faced alien that smiled down at her.
“Well hello there little one,” the blue alien said in a smooth baritone voice.
“Hello,” she said, smiling back.
He turned his attention toward Denise and smiled even wider. “Do you mind if I stare at you up close, instead of from across the room?”
Denise looked at the blue alien, completely confused, then to Amanda. “What did he say?”
“Um...I think I’ll let you figure that out for yourself.” Amanda nodded a smile at the blue alien. “Please, excuse me,” she said, then sidestepped the large alien and headed for the bar entrance.
“Dammit! Traitor,” Denise shouted after Amanda. She looked back toward the big blue alien. “What the hell do you want?”
“Blurrrrbb branthata groool bant.” He raised an eyebrow and winked at Denise with a cheesy, big-toothed smile.
“Oh really? You really want to go there, do ya?”
“Duratha pa groooom,” he whispered seductively as he sat in a seat at the table.
Denise held up her hand, rubbing her thumb and forefinger together, making what she thought was the universal sign for cash with an expectant gaze.
The large blue alien excitedly smiled and fumbled through the pockets of his flight suit. He produced a small golden-red bar of metal, stamped with strange hieroglyphic markings.
“Sure...Why not. What the hell do I have to lose,” she said, then guzzled the remainder of her drink and snagged the bar of metal from the table. “Alright, papa smurf. Up and at em’ if you want to complete this transaction then let’s get the show on the road,” she said, motioning for him to lead the way.
Andy sat quietly at the table, picking at a dark spot under a fingernail while watching the dozens of video displays around the room.
cHAPTER 55
Anderson (Eltanin 2) Mel’s Diner
September 18th, 2176 / Evening (Dragon time)
“I
thought that was just a rumor,” Doug said. “You seriously shut down the environmental systems for Mars station Alpha, to stop a riot? They must have known that their balls were in a vice just as soon as the circulation fans shut down.” Doug blinked in amazement. “It had to be pretty bad for you to go to an extreme like that.”
“Yup, it was,” the Chief admitted. “It was the only way to shut everyone up and get them working together for a change. Sometimes an extreme measure is the only measure that will set things straight, but I think that you already know that.” He sipped at a cup of dark coffee. “Granted, that was all before Sadowitz took over the place and turned it into his personal shrine to Hitler.” The chief's brow furrowed. “It's strange...His fanaticism was so addictive and total to the colonists that it swept through the Martian colonies in under a year. In something like nine months to the day that he accepted office as the colony overseer, Mars declared their independence from Earth, the I.A. and all Earth governments. Even the damned Chinese colony signed on to be part of the Martian Reich.”
“Did they willingly join, or do you think they were pressed into service,” Doug asked.
“I really don't know, and I never had the care to ask,” the Chief said. After all of that hard work that me and my crew put into establishing those colonies on Mars, they were useless to us and to the mission. The I.A. decided that it wasn't worth the resources to take over the colonies by force and they shifted my mission focus to establishing the Jupiter and Saturn satellite colonies.”
“Are we late, boss man?” Danny and Chris trotted into the cantina.
“Good, I was hoping you’d be the first to show up,” Doug said, then stood. “Help me to drag these tables together,” he said as he moved the homemade chairs away from a nearby table.
“You got it, boss man,” Danny said as he and Chris hopped to work.
“What in the friggin' hell do you think you’re doing? I’ll have work crews here in less than an hour for chow and you want to go and rearrange the place on me?” Mel glared at them from the entrance to the kitchen with her hands on her hips.
“It's only for a little while. The diner is the closest thing that we have to a meeting area, and it is by far the largest area with tables,” Doug said.
“Ya know, at the rate things are progressing, it wouldn't be a bad idea to set up a real command center,” the Chief added.
“We’ve already started on one, but it was put on hold because of the away mission. Lizz already has the beginnings of an Overseer's office. It'll just take a little time and extra hands to complete.”
“What the fuck ever!” Melanie threw her hands up into the air and huffed back into the kitchen. “Just put it all back when you're finished,” she shouted from the kitchen.
“Well now, would you look at that,” Doug said, smiling.
The Chief turned to see Wes enter the cantina, cane on one side, Kara on the other with Tiff, Krista, and Maggie close behind as he shuffled forward one small step at a time.
“Wesley, you are looking strong and very much on the mend,” Bob said as he and Lizz entered the diner behind the small group.
“Good, you made it,” Doug said. “I'd like to introduce you all to our new senior crewmember.” He stood behind the Chief and patted his shoulder. “He has had more experience establishing new colonies than all of us combined. His methods of solving problems and makin
g things work may lean a bit toward the unorthodox, but they have worked well for him in the past. It might be a little bit of a shock to a few of you once you find out who he is, but after reviewing his experience and credentials, I think he’ll be a great addition to our colonization efforts.”
Rachel wheeled herself through the doorway and skidded to a stop behind Wes. “Come on already, man! Move it, gimp boy, you’re holding me up. I've got a freaking meeting to get to. Beep beep mother fucker!”
“Cap, remember what I told you about that one,” the Chief warned as he stood from the table.
“Relax, Chief. Rachel, mouth shut and stay where you are,” Doug ordered.
“But Cap,” she argued.
“Eh! Zip it Cheezy.”
Wes laughed between snorts and gasping breaths. “He just told you!”
“Shush it gimpy.” Rachel glared at Wes as he took a seat at the table.
“Alright then, back to business,” Doug said. “I believe that you all know the Chief from his pain in the ass moments through the years,” Doug motioned to the young, but white-haired gentleman seated next to him. “He is also known as John D. Thomas. The same John Thomas that established most of the colonies back home in the Sol system.”
“Yes! I freaking knew it,” Rachel cheered.
“Zip it, crazy lady,” the Chief demanded. “If I walk, I’ll personally make sure you live the rest of your days in paranoid hell, missy.”
Doug cleared his throat and continued. “The chief will be assisting and advising on all projects to help establish our foothold in the Gamma Draconis system and especially here on Eltanin 2. Danny, Chris,” he said, turning to the two mechanics at the table. “I especially want you two to work directly with the Chief to get the Ethel fully operational. The sooner that she's up and running at full refining capacity, the sooner that we can start retrofitting the other ships with flux drives. Geek, Cheezy, I need you two working to fully integrate our systems with the alien tech that we are salvaging from the Reds and the cat cruiser.”
Flux Runners Page 39
