by Naomi Lucas
There was no more time to wait. We need to take off now.
“Say goodbye to Hell, Allie.” He lifted her up and settled her into the co-pilots seat, strapping her in. “Prepare for takeoff, it’s going to be a blast.” He would have snickered if the situation was less dire.
Jack clambered into the captain’s chair and strapped in. There was nothing but golden brown sand swiping across his view screen and it was darkening by the second.
Placing his hands on his ship’s activation pads, he connected with his engines for the first time in nearly two weeks, powering them on. He forced the last of the diagnostics in record time as he initiated lift off.
A powerful vibration surged throughout the metal frame as every wire, circuit, processor flooded with electrical energy. The power flowed through his ship, back through him, and then back through his ship again; he felt at home at last.
Now Allie would be a part of it too. He would teach her how to copilot, install some big energy cannons she could control. She may want her own cybernetic enhancements in the future. His thoughts briefly drifted as he mulled over the possibility.
“Jack, are you sure– “
“It’s too late now, the wurms are enraged. We take off now or we die.” He cut her off and coming back to the present situation as he pushed his impulse drives, deluging them with energy; the newly repaired one was taking longer than normal. The lights flickered as a loud impact hit the top of his ship and they lifted off of the ground.
“What the fuck? If there is one more scratch on my ship I’m going to blow up this planet.”
“Jack, go up!” Allie screamed. Static lightning hit the ground before them, illuminating the landscape in flashes. The biggest wurm he had ever seen shot out from the ground. If it landed on them, they would be crushed.
Allie’s knuckles went white beside him, clutching the armrests of the chair. She’s going to crush them. Her mouth was hanging open in a silent scream.
“Sweetheart, I should be the only one making you scream.” He teased as he thrust his ship skyward and propelled forward, narrowly missing a legion of giant wurm heads bursting from the ground. His ship jerked from the stress, momentarily faltering as his systems caught up. He could feel microchemical reactions, catalysts initiating, and electrical explosions throughout his ship’s reactor as it struggled to supply enough charge throughout the vessel. It made him giddy with adrenaline.
Jack kept his eyes on the storm before him but his mind was with his ship. He used his cybernetics to right any wrong with his systems, ensuring no major malfunctions would occur, that nothing would overheat during acceleration. If he could pilot a flagship battlecruiser during the war, he could handle anything his personal battle flyer could throw at him.
They slowly but steadily ascended into the sandy sky, at times dodging as large rocks flew by and blasts of static lightning struck. It was only when they were clear of the forest of wurms that violent winds tore at his vessel. The winds acted like giant hands, pushing them off course, demanding they come back to the destructive surface.
He put everything he had in that moment to break through the ghostly barrier.
A tortured wail erupted around them as his ship broke through the sandy wall, moving above the riotous winds.
Allie was as white as a wraith, struggling with her straps and vomiting over the side of the chair.
Below them a giant series of derecho storms spotted Argo’s surface, centralizing where their ship had been located. Even he could see the violent blasts of golden lightning litter the storm clouds from his vantage point. They looked like long skeletal fingers scratching at the surface.
Red lights blared around them just as they broke into the thermosphere. His ship canted as it flew towards the stars.
“What’s happening now?” She squeaked.
Jack steadied his ship and opened up the intercom screen, reconnecting with the intergalactic network. The screens covered up a wide berth of his view station as information downloaded into his ship’s database. The atmospheric barrier of the planet must have stopped any signal from coming through.
“It’s a distress beacon.” His smile transformed into a wide, evil grin. I’m taking cues from a shadow demon. “It’s the man I have been hunting.” He felt his luck changing the further they flew away from Argo.
“Your mission?”
“I’m a bounty hunter, Allie, and it looks like I’m about to catch my prey.” He maneuvered his flyer to follow the beacon, inputting the coordinates as another giddy rush of energy coursed through his body.
***
Allie had been scared before, terrified on several occasions, some of those occasions happened to be very recent. But the nauseous gut reaction, the speed of change, and having a front row seat made her want to curl up in a corner and die. Everything was happening right before her eyes as the cockpit, co-pilot’s seat had a 180-degree view.
One moment she had been reading up on the communications system, standing up to look at the window and the next they were taking emergency lift-off procedures. She had been reading up on cybernetics when an unusual movement caught her eye. She had turned to look, moving closer to the enforced glass window when a splatter of dirt blew past the gloss. Speckles of dust stuck to the panes upon impact.
Peering out over the landscape, gusts of sand were flying in erratic patterns for miles in every direction. It was the beginning of a sandstorm and it was developing fast, faster than she had ever seen before. Allie felt the color drain from her face. Her muscles twitched in anticipation, urging her to run for cover.
The color had yet to return and she still wanted to run screaming but there was no place to run. They were flying above the storm now and she couldn’t see the surface of the planet anymore while with every heartbeat the ship picked up speed and moved further away from her former life. She watched at what had been her life, her home for the past half decade fell away, becoming an insignificant orb amongst the stars.
She had never thought she would leave ‘HIS,’ that she would exist on its surface until death came for her. Her entire world was changing so quickly and it was hard to make sense of it.
The planet was now a golden speck in the distance as Jack’s ship flew further into the void.
Allie took several deep breaths to calm her nerves, each frayed ending had been on the constant brink of explosion for so long she couldn’t recall what it felt like to be relaxed.
“It’s our lucky night.”
She turned toward Jack with a modicum of apprehension; wary of what he meant by ‘lucky’. At least I’m saying goodbye to the planet and not him. “Because we survived?” Allie couldn’t keep the cynicism out of her voice. Every day she spent in his presence the more her outlook on life changed.
“We’ll always survive.” He grumbled at her. “That distress signal,” he flourished his hand toward the blinking red lights before them, “is from Captain Larik’s ship. It’s moving at a slow speed. He’s either adrift in space or attached to an asteroid.” Jack laughed, the sound evil with just a hint of glee.
“He’s the man you’re hunting?”
“Yes. He’s the piece of shit that led me all the way here to the fringes of Trentian air space.”
Confused, she asked. “Why are you hunting him? Did he hurt you?” Curious about his motivations.
“I’ve taken a contract and my current employers, the Earthian Council, require his capture– for a myriad of crimes. Once I capture my target, I’ll receive a bounty. Hence, bounty hunter.” She jerked back in her seat as he warped his ship. The next moment a cluster of giant rocks expanded before them, floating aimlessly through space. “You’re now my partner.” He looked over and grinned at her.
“What do you mean, your partner? I don’t know how to bounty hunt.” Allie’s eyes widened as he moved forward to float between the asteroids, keeping the ship just far enough away to not collide.
“You’ll learn. T
onight.” He stated with stern authority, brokering an end to the subject.
Allie just couldn’t get a break. If I could still see my Hell-in-Space I would probably look at it longingly. Her stomach welled up in disgust at the thought.
Jack got up from his seat and came over to her, unbuckling her straps and helped her stand. “How are you feeling?” His eyes flashed. He was reading her.
“I feel everything.” She murmured honestly.
His enchanting smirk lit up his intense face as his eyes bore through her and penetrated her soul, he was cyborging on her again. “That’s good. It means you’re alive.” He offered his arm, “Come with me. It’s time to suit up.”
A little while later they were in the double thick, locked room off of the storage unit and Jack was fully dressed in his battle armor, guns, daggers, and clips that were strapped to his body with thick black military-grade buckles. He frightened her when he exuded an almost over-kill aura of lethal.
But the room made her feel oddly secure. She had stumbled after seeing what was stored within.
Guns.
Hundreds of them, all different. There were guns displayed on every wall around her, some as small as her hand while others were as large as her body. Cases of ammo sat behind concealed laser barriers and scattered throughout the dull grey mass of weaponry were long knives, daggers, swords, and sets of armor. It had to be the biggest room on the ship except for the central room and the cockpit.
What was she going to do with this stuff? She didn’t know how to use a gun.
Instead she decided to stand back quietly and observe Jack suit up. She watched as he picked out choice weapons from the walls and equipped them; one gun in particular clipped over his arm like it was being plugged in. It powered to life and sent an electric blue streak up to his neck. The light still haloed him although the gun appeared to immediate power off.
“Why does your armor have blue streaks of light?” She was curious.
Jack stopped what he was doing and looked at his arm. He ran his finger over the source. “It’s specially made Cyborg armor. It connects into our cybernetics.” He turned around to continue gearing up. “It glows for one reason only,” he paused for a moment. “So our enemies would be attracted to us as targets and not to the fragile humans around us.”
“Why do you still wear it then?”
“Because it works. It works very well.” He said ominously.
Once he had buckled the last strap, she had to will herself to step forward because he looked like how he did that first day. A dangerous enigma of a man, exuding the lethality and power that was needed to own everything he laid his eyes on.
She had been lured in herself but it wasn’t because of the weapons or the clothes he wore. It was because of the man underneath.
Allie wanted to tear off his bodysuit and find that warm-blooded man. She wanted her Cyborg bounty hunter all to herself. Why did he have to leave to capture this man now that they had the freedom to explore the stars?
Feeling a little crazy, moderately emboldened, and frustrated beyond belief, she plucked a conservatively sized gun off the wall and pointed it at him.
He looked at her, his eyes slowly moving up and down her body as a devilish smirk twisted his lips. “Good choice, not my first pick for you but you’ve always exceeded my expectations.” Her blood heated as a girlish blush materialized over her skin.
“What?” Confused and oddly pleased she looked at the gun in her hand.
He walked over to her and slid his thumb down the side, the handle heated up under her palm. “This is a semi-automatic laser pistol.” He turned it in her hand, “point at your target and pull this trigger.” He showed her a curved black nob. “There will be a little recoil but it won’t hurt you.” He continued, reaching around her and pulling a heavy vest over her head– which appeared like magic– strapping the uncomfortable padding down her sides. “Don’t get trigger happy, laser pistols don’t have clips like normal pistols do but they will overheat and burn out. Make your shots count.”
“Jack, I don’t think I can do this.” Feeling the strange alien weight around her.
“Of course you can. It’s the best therapy for people like us.” He curled a tendril of her hair around his finger. “Allie, you won't have to do anything but pretend. Point the gun at our target, Larik. If he moves toward you or tries to get away, if he aims a gun or brandishes a knife, shoot. But it won’t come to that.” He stepped back and looked at her. “All you need now is some sturdy combat boots, my cute little bounty hunter.”
Jack picked up a spare pair of boots with one of the armor sets and threw them into a box on the wall, punching in a code. Once a light flashed he opened the box and pulled the shoes back out. “Put these on.”
With an exasperated sigh, she stuck her feet into the tough material. The boots were padded but it did nothing to alleviate her swollen foot. It’s better than going barefoot. She looked down at the warm gun in her hand and wondered how she ended up here.
A light tug on her hair brought her back to the present as Jack came up behind her and pulled her tangled waves back, tying them loosely at the base of her neck. “You never want anything on or near your head that might block your sight when in the field.” He tugged her hair and turned her around, perusing her from head to toe. “I can’t wait to tear all of this off you later.”
Allie’s fingers twitched in arousal. She had been thinking the same thing about him just minutes ago. “Agreed.” She breathed.
His leather encased hands cupped her face as he leaned down to kiss her. Their tongues warred in excitement and desperation. When he pulled away, she gasped deeply, filling her deprived lungs. “Do you think I’ll be good at this?”
After everything that I have survived, I really don’t want to die now. Not without him. Not without experiencing what a life with him would be like.
“You’re going to be great. Listen to me and you can do anything, just remember–”
“Aim to kiss.” She interrupted. “Err, I mean kill. Kill.” Allie flustered.
He grinned, “yes. Always.” Jack grabbed two visors off a shelf. “Unless we need our target alive. Any kiss you give a strange man will be a kiss of death.” He placed one over her head, a clear transparent screen covered her eyes. “Take my arm, this next part is going to be bumpy.”
When she latched onto him he placed his hand on a keypad on the wall, going stone-still. The ship jerked beneath her; a tug of gravity hollowed out her stomach. He took her arm and led her back to the cockpit, moving toward their designated chairs.
Jack stopped her and seized her waist, sitting her on his lap before strapping the two of them in. “You stay with me.” He said as one arm coiled around her while the other reconnected with his ship. They flew through the rocky belt at a death-paced speed.
Allie wanted to be connected with him as he connected with his ship. She wanted to feel him in every molecule of her being as an urge to be apart of the circuit of his life filled her broken soul. He was warm, solid, and safe and she was beginning to believe that nothing could happen to him, even her cursed self.
“Look.” He nudged her shoulder with his chin.
Right outside the view screen, a small black ship was attached to an asteroid. They were close enough that she could see right through and into a darkened cockpit across the space.
The vessel was a spider clinging for life with no web to break its fall. The mechanized flyer, smaller than Jack’s ship, was a bundle of metal carnage.
A quick spark pulsated over the crystalline glass barrier, briefly obstructing her view. They were gliding forward, the structure growing before her eyes. A static pop nipped her ears, followed by a steady stream of white noise as an unfamiliar voice cracked through the room. She was unable to locate its source.
“Of course you’re alive.”
“It’s nice of you to wait for me, Pirate, you really didn’t have to.” Jack taunted beh
ind her.
“Fuck you, Cyborg.” The static barrage of the unknown male’s voice grated her nerves.
A blast of black shrapnel erupted from the metal mass as cylindrical drones filled the distance between them. Jack laughed as his ship tilted dramatically to the right as huge chrome plating opened up before them on both sides and pushed forward as cannon-like structures descended into its vacated space. The giant guns dropped their safety as beautiful blue streaks, similar to Jack’s armor, blazed around the openings.
The cannons aimed at each drone, assaulting them with bright continuous streams of lasers. The colors lit up the dark void of space, blasting each battle-drone until they ruptured. Dozens of bots crackled with fissures of energy just before they ceased to exist. Orange plasma fire flared out like bullets amongst the intense streams until each drone disintegrated into dust.
Jack’s ship had barely moved. Not one hit made it through.
“Is that all you have, Larik? I must say, I’m disappointed.” Jack sighed. “And here I thought you were a challenge.”
“Cut the crap, robot, you can see my ship’s cannons are damaged. I’m just fucking happy that it's lifeless enough that you can’t infect it with any real effect.”
“I can control a vessel that's running on generators.” Jack’s fingers twitched as the broken junk before them lit up.
“But you can’t make it fly. Come and get me, I’m growing tired of this conversation.” The static vanished with a fizzle. Allie’s ears opened up with relief.
Jack was quiet as he maneuvered his ship next to the pirate’s broken one. A translucent green shield tunneled out to the hatch of the other ship. A layer of silver framework slid over and attached each vessel together, creating a passageway between them.
She was out of Jack’s lap now and pressed up against the abyss-cold glazed glass, enthralled by the floating debris and colors. She knew Jack was controlling everything, even the foreign ship as it met the tunnel halfway. His abilities were fascinating and frightening. I’m happy I’m not the one being hunted.
