The Last Human

by T F R LeBoomington

  Rick could see Luna City and the shimmering dome that protected it. The shuttle glided indoors through great hangar doors and hovered above its designated landing pad for an instant before setting down. The space bus has landed. Passengers were all in a hurry to get off, and Gary signalled Rick to wait. He waited, and while he waited, he peered over the seats, trying to catch a glimpse of Moongirl. He didn’t. Maybe she’d travelled some other way.

  The spaceport was crowded, and the flow of passengers never ebbed. They’d landed in the Moon shuttle terminal. To their left, Rick spied the cab terminal and private vehicle parking. He was glad they’d taken public transport, he’d never have met Moongirl otherwise.

  The group headed straight out of the terminal and towards the train to Luna City. Rick was a bit surprised there wasn’t a fanfare waiting for him when he got off the shuttle and again when they exited the terminal. He had walked unimpeded all the way to the train. Weird. Rick wasn’t sure how he felt about the lack of attention.

  “Gary!” Rick reached out and tapped his shoulder. “What’s the plan man?”

  “We’re taking the train to Luna City. Like everyone else.”

  “Is that it?” Rick tried to hide his disappointment.

  “Yeah, we’re done for the day.” Gary grinned at Rick, “You wanna work some more? Are you OK? Do you have space fever?”

  “Fuck you, Gary!”

  “Early start tomorrow. Don’t stay out too late.” Rick had no notion of how much time had passed since their departure from Earth, but maybe it was time for a drink and a bit of night crawling. “Is it night?” Rick asked Amy.

  “It is currently night yes. And it will be for the next thirteen Terran days. Moon days last 708 hours, or 29.5 Terran days.” So it’s night then. Rick’s mind drifted to pit thoughts.

  “Do they have a pit in Luna City?”

  “They do but Rick I should warn you. They might not cater to humans.” No human booze. Rick didn’t believe that for one second. And he could just drink mutant booze. It was stronger, but he’d done it before. It had not ended well.

  “Take the camera bots.” Gary loved pit footage. Rick didn’t like the idea of the camera bots following him all the time. Those clumsy robo-ninjas attracted too much attention.

  “I’m not going there for work Gary! I just want a drink and maybe some tail. Don’t need everything to be in the show.”

  “Yes, but everything you say and do is great TV. So the bots follow!” It was pointless arguing more; it would just rouse suspicions. The pits were chaotic places. People got lost in the pits…

  The train connected the spaceport to the city centre in a few minutes. First, they passed the farming zone. It was proportionally much larger than the ones on Earth. The farming districts seemed in full production; big machines tended crops as far as the eye could see. Rick had never seen these machines in action. On Earth, the farms mostly served as learning centres. They passed the residential areas and entered the tower district. Rick commented on the puny towers’ heights and was told by Amy that structures on Luna couldn’t go very high.

  “The crust is low density and just a couple of miles deep. Then it’s the alien structure’s metal.” Amy projected a cross section of Luna for Rick and showed him far more than he cared to learn.

  The train dropped all its passengers at the Luna exchange. From there people could reach all areas of Moonland. Gary led Rick and the others to another train which would drop them in the hotel district. Which Rick had recently learned was close to the pit district. It’s almost like Gary wants me to drink… The Luna City pit wasn’t dug very deep for the same reasons the towers weren’t high. So it wasn’t really a pit, more like a big sprawling mishmash of debauchery. It still ticked most of the boxes. As Rick gazed out at the city, he thought the place was a mess, a stunted, dirty version of the Zero Cities of Earth. Not that this was a bad thing. The clean life of Earth hadn’t worked out for him, time to get dirty.

  The Plot Thickens

  So far so good. Brock must have thought it a hundred times since they left Terra. They’d arrived at the hotel and checked-in without a single fan bothering them. Brock didn’t like unknown environments. He’d been surfing the QI for information, studying the plans and geography of every one of their destinations ahead of their arrival. QI was the internet but in space. The Quantum Entanglement Internet was how Terra stayed in contact with the colonies and more importantly how people could watch Netflix in faraway systems. Brock, like everyone else, was bewildered that it even worked. Even those that had built it were unsure of its exact workings.

  Rick had insisted they go looking for a bar the moment they’d dropped their bags. Brock knew where to take him. He’d made the arrangements before even leaving Terra.

  Mr T led them through the crowded streets of Luna, so crowded. The grim-faced moonlanders paid no attention to them. The upside was no annoying fans. The downside was getting body-checked by every passing person. Not so much a problem for Brock, but Rick had had enough fairly quickly. He’d gotten behind Brock to let him do the shoving. The camera bots were struggling to get in position for their shots. Good.

  Brock wasn’t sure at what point they’d entered the pit. It only became clear to him when he started noticing scantily clad ladies of the night. Smooth transition. Brock knew where to go but was waiting for the opportune time to spirit Rick away.

  “Any place that serves human booze?” Brock frowned, Rick was always so impatient.

  “Searching the QI now.” Amy, annoyingly, was always so helpful.

  “I know a place. Follow me.” Brock started pushing through the crowd with Rick in tow.

  “Hurry up fool.” Mr T zoomed ahead, and Amy followed, shouting at him to slow down.

  Brock pulled Rick through the crowd. He felt him bounce like a rag doll but didn’t slow down. Had to lose those cameras.

  “BROCK!”

  “What?”

  “Stop pulling me! My head is ringing from getting smashed into by all these fucking blind cunts!”

  “We’re almost there!” Brock pulled Rick into an alley and down some stairs into the underground part of the pit.

  They hurried down some dark corridors and pushed through a red door. The place had an old-school arcade vibe. Seventies decoration and eighties neon lights. Video games everywhere. All the classics. Pinball machines, pool tables and ice hockey. The place had an authentic feel to it. Brock instantly loved it, and he knew Rick would too.

  “Do they serve humans here?” Rick’s face showed wonderment but also worry.

  “I had them stock up before we arrived. What do you want?”

  “BOOM! You’re a legend mate! Whiskey chaser please!” Rick turned to the Space Invaders machine and started playing.

  Brock was gone a while, but Rick didn’t notice. When he returned, Rick had challenged some guys to Street Fighter XII, and a whole tournament had started. Brock couldn’t help but think this must’ve been the first time Rick was winning a fight.

  “Where the fuck have you been? I’m parched from all this ass-kicking!” Rick executed some vicious flying uppercut move and finished his opponent. “Boom! Next!”

  “I was talking to some old friends. I’d like you to meet them.”

  “What? Now? But I’m kicking some serious ass!” Rick turned back to the game. Everyone was leering and urging him on. He had one eye on the screen, and the other strained to look at Brock. “Mate, can’t this wait?”

  “Rick this is serious. You can play later.”

  “Come on fool!” Brock guffawed. Rick must have wished he’d gotten up before Mr T spoke. “That’s right fool.”

  “Get some practice! I’ll be back later to kick your asses!” Rick grabbed his drinks, sipped some beer, popped his shot bubble and sipped more beer. “So what’s up Brock? Who are these friends of yours?”

  “Just follow me.” Brock led Rick to the back, through a service door, past the cellar and through a secret wall Brock activated wi
th a series of manoeuvres. The wall slid open revealing a steep staircase that led to a lift. It took them deep beneath the bar and opened onto a dark sloping corridor with lights at the end. Brock led Rick into a large brightly lit room. The light came from the metal surfaces themselves. No fixtures and fittings as far as Brock could tell. “We’re here.” Furniture had been brought in. The same kind of stuff as in the bar. It looked alien in this immaculate room. Brock nodded at Pops and Jin. Pete was also there. They were sat around a table, looking all serious. Brock looked at Rick. He seemed perplexed.

  “What’s going on Brock?”

  “Rick, these are old friends. I served with them in the Council’s special forces a long time ago. Now they help colonists. You’ve met Pops. He was our commanding officer back in those days. Now he coordinates from Terra.” Rick still seemed silenced by confoundment, so Brock continued. “This is Jin, he owns The Arcade Bar above and coordinates on Luna. And you’ve met Pete, which was unfortunate, fucking Gary. I didn’t know Pete was on that elevator. I’d’ve stopped Gary if I’d known. That was my bad.”

  “No that was bad comm. All of our faults.” Pops’ brow deeply furrowed.

  “It’s my fault. But I had to get out quick. They were onto me.” Pete had apparently done some great acting earlier. But if they were onto him already the point was moot.

  “Hopefully Pete can complete his mission before they catch up to him.” Brock smiled at Rick.

  “Not so simple bud.”

  “None of this is making any sense to me. I’m thankful for the introductions mate, but I have no idea what the fuck you’re on about. What the fuck are you all coordinating? What’s Pete doing with the dinosaurs?” Brock stayed quiet as Rick scanned the room for a response. Pops met his searching eyes.

  “Sit down Rick, and be quiet.” Brock pulled out a couple of chairs and Rick took a seat.

  “Rick, you have been oblivious to your own life and the happenings of the world around you.” Brutal statement but true, Rick stayed quiet. “Confined to an existence dedicated to debauchery you have until recently been uninterested in the lives of people. Not even your own was of concern.”

  “OK well, that’s not very nice.” Brock put a quieting hand on Rick’s shoulder.

  “The reality is that just like your father once did you will have a big part to play in the coming events. This is unfortunate because you’re a selfish man and an idiot.”

  “Did you bring me here to be insulted? ‘Cause you could just write hate mail like everyone else…”

  “When Brock first made me aware of your desire to challenge the Agency and Council I assumed it was for your own selfish reasons. And it was.”

  “You know that was a perfect opportunity to say something nice?” Rick shrugged, and Jin cracked a smile, Brock gave him the evil eye. Don’t encourage him.

  “But after your Atlantis episode, we started thinking maybe you had the right stuff. Maybe you could be an asset.” Pops paused, Rick probably wanted to shout at him to come out with it already. Brock was enjoying watching Rick squirm. “There are problems, on Terra and the colonies, issues you seem to have become aware of through your selfish introspection, but you’ve reached the correct conclusion. The Agency is a problem.” Brock knew that would pique Rick’s interest. He was probably imagining a ridiculous scenario instead of listening to Pops. “We have reason to believe the production ship that follows your show is tasked with destroying any dissenters identified during the show. We think they’ll be targeting Pete as soon as they’ve reviewed the footage.”

  “I can tell from the stupid look on your face that you’re confused. Now’s the time for some questions mate.” Brock tried to encourage Rick with a smile.

  “What’s there to be confused about? The Agency is subverting the system to pit the colonies against each other and Terra.” Pops waited for a nod. It didn’t come.

  Brock took it upon himself to explain a few details to Rick. Food was the root of this problem. Not enough Mr Food stem cell cartridges were exported to the colonies and the company that held the patent and rights wouldn’t share the tech. Under advice from the Agency. This was contrary to the vision of the founding Council, but no one did anything about it. Attempts to reverse-engineer Mr Food machines had all failed. The device was magic.

  Brock explained that the only available choice for the colonists had been reverting to agriculture to feed their growing populations. Many in the colonies suspected the shortage of Mr Food cartridges was a manufactured lie, which led to unrest, which led to the resistance. The resistance was formed to help the colonies achieve some form of food autonomy. Their goal was to decentralise the production of life-sustaining resources. Stop the us and them rhetoric promoted by the Agency. The inner system produced food and tech and the mid-system produced raw materials and fuel. They needed each other. The resistance mainly carried out industrial espionage. Operating in the shadows trying to acquire technologies that would help bring balance.

  “It should all be public domain anyway.” Jin was right.

  “The colonies just want manufacturing and production independence. Not political independence but it seems this is hard to believe for some paranoid Terrans." Brock continued, but Jin interjected again.

  "Anything that benefits civilisation should be shared. It was a core principle of the new world. Your father said that." Brock paused to scowl at Jin and Pops took over.

  “The Council fears rebellion. The Agency’s media factory has poisoned Terran minds. They are shoring up military presence rather than face the Agency and the real problems they’ve created." Pops had stood and was approaching Rick. "By advising their clients to create monopolies, they are returning disparity to civilisation. We have ascertained that part of their strategy is discrediting the resistance. And they are planning to achieve this with the use of mercenaries.” Brock knew Rick had to ask questions now. He could feel it.

  “Right, Brock what the fuck?” Good first question. A look of disbelief came across Pops and Pete, and Jin was visibly amused. Brock was not surprised and answered.

  “We all served in the the same unit. Pops here fought in the war. Though his war quickly became about finding and protecting us lost kids. He adopted us at different times. Trained us. Made us into the warriors we are today. We started doing dirty work for the Council, bringing "order" and "peace"." Brock had done some questionable things but now was not the time to discuss them. He'd given Rick some air quotes to let him know there was more. But he'd probably missed them, Rick's bemused expression said it all. Brock continued, "I left a little over ten years ago and became a bodyguard. The unit disbanded, and we all went our separate ways. Until a few years ago when Pops started the resistance. I was brought in a few months ago after Atlantis. Things got a little more serious after I joined. An old contact reached out to Pops offering mercenary work. The bad kind.”

  “They tried to hire us to undermine our own operation!” Brock could tell Pops was seething underneath his composure.

  “We believe the corrupt elements of the Council want to use mercenaries to create instability in the colonies and justify a military response. And we know this because they tried to hire Pops.” Brock waited to see if Rick had processed everything.

  “OK, so you’re all super spies and warriors. Explains how you know all you know, I guess. The Agency is poison. We all agree here. And they are corrupting the Council and bringing back the old ways, and starting shit between colonies." Rick stopped, he had that chuffed face Brock hated. "Yeah? OK. And Solus Tour is being used to identify opposition. And mercenaries following us will destroy them and generally cause shit in the name of the resistance. All so there’s more war, money and whatever bullshit. Is that about right?”

  “Yes.” As Brock answered, he saw the features on the others soften.

  “OK well, the only thing I don’t understand is what Pete’s mission is.”

  “Pete is transporting valuable info to Alpha for reproduction and disseminati
on.”

  “What kind of info?”

  “Research on how to manipulate stem cells and how to build food cartridges.”

  “So no dinos?”

  “I’m carrying the dinos too. It’s my cover.”

  “It has taken a long time to acquire this data. We’ve made copies for Brock to carry. Should Pete fail in his mission, we believe Solus Tour would be a great backup team.” Pops stopped, and they all waited for Rick’s reaction.

  “It was my idea, Rick.” Brock put a comforting hand on Rick’s back. His mind was probably a little blown. Things had escalated substantially.

  “So they’re going to eat dinosaurs?” There was a long silence, and no one answered. Not what the audience expected, Brock was less surprised.

  “Times are hard Rick…” Brock stifled a grin. Pop shot him a disapproving glare.

  “Rick they manipulate the cells to create different things. They don’t eat dinosaurs.” Rick seemed somewhat disappointed by that answer.

  “What about Jurassic Park?”

  “What about it?”

  “Are they building a dino theme park in Proxima or Alpha?

  “I don’t know… And it’s not important bud.” Rick thought it was.

  “Where are we right now?” Everyone sighed.

  “We’re in an undiscovered room in the Alien Moon Base, dug beneath Jin’s bar. Very far from researchers so unlikely to be discovered any time soon.” Rick begged for more information, but Brock was dragging him out. He’d used up everyone’s Rick tolerance for one session.

  Brock took him back to his Street Fighter tournament and watched him win. Rick seemed happy. It was a nice change.

  Moongirl

  The base was not a tourist location. They had the museum for that. Moon had told her supervisors as much. She was annoyed at having to play tour guide. The base was a serious place for serious people. That was the warning given to Rick when his party had arrived. That fool was swooning all over her again, and she didn’t have Moondog to distract him this time.