Steel Apocalypse

by Rodney Hartman

  Two workers were standing on a raised platform working on the Paladin’s engine. One of the workers wore a greasy blue mechanic’s uniform. She was a human female with jet-black hair and a smile that seemed to be permanently attached to her face. When she noticed Jake, she waved.

  Jake gave a slight wave back to Tilley, one of his oldest and dearest friends. From his earliest memories, they had worked on one broken thing after another in a seemingly eternal effort to fix things others thought unfixable.

  The second worker wore an orange jumpsuit denoting personnel specializing in electronics. Jason wasn’t the real name of the eight-tentacle octopod, but since his real name was an unpronounceable high-pitched screech, everyone called him Jason. He’d shown up on Aretillo when Jake was thirteen. No one knew how old he was or why he’d come to a planet known more for its deserts and copper mines than oceans supporting aquatic life. All Jake knew about the good-natured octopod was that he claimed he was from a planet called Storage and had no idea where his home world was located. Other than that, Jake only knew he was good at electronics and a loyal friend.

  Jason’s four eye stalks swiveled to glance at Jake. He raised one of the four tentacles he used for arms and gave a wave. Spinning on the four tentacles he used for legs, the octopod touched a control panel. The platform began lowering to the hangar floor.

  A third person with red hair sitting on the Paladin’s left shoulder had been giving advice to the two mechanics. Maggie’s image disappeared and then reappeared next to Tilley and Jason.

  Once the platform reached the hangar floor, Tilley eyed Jake and shook her head. “That bad, huh?” She nudged Jason on one of his tendrils. “Looks like we aren’t getting paid again this month. I guess it’s another night of leftover pactar patties for supper.”

  Maggie’s hologram laughed. “I told you it was a waste of time asking the Conglomerate to bend the rules. One of these days you’re going to start listening to me.”

  A small translator on Jason’s belt crackled. “Pay no attention to them, Jake. You know we do not mind giving up our pay until you get back on your two feet.” A mechanical laugh came out of the translator. “Too bad you do not have four appendages for walking like me. It is easier to get back on your feet when you have four of them.”

  “Who you trying to kid?” asked Tilley, smiling. “You don’t even have feet. You’ve got suckers.”

  Jake tried to smile but couldn’t quite make it happen. “Both of you will get paid. Bookkeeping’s transferring ten thousand into my account. As soon as it’s processed, I’ll send you last month’s pay along with enough to pay for space transport back to Aretillo.”

  “Back to Aretillo?” said Tilley. Her smile remained on her face, but it was significantly reduced in size. “Things must be worse than I thought. You know you don’t need to pay me. Honest, I don’t mind leftover pactar burgers.”

  “Speak for yourself,” said Maggie, her eyes taking on the light blue that meant she was getting ready to say something she thought was humorous. “I don’t even eat food, and just the thought of pactar burgers turns my stomach.” She looked at Jake, her eyes turning a darker blue. “So how bad is it?”

  Jake shrugged. “Pretty bad. The Conglomerate won’t pay for any of our repairs. The bean-counters say we went outside our orders when we entered the swamp. They blathered something about standard operating procedures and reading the fine print. The end result is that all repairs are on me. They’ve also given us two days to get the Paladin out of their hangar. They say if we are unavailable for missions in the foreseeable future, we aren’t authorized to use the bay.” He tightened his fists into balls before relaxing them and letting out a sigh. “Unless…”

  Tilley and Jason leaned forward as if hoping for a silver lining.

  Maggie’s hologram simulated locking eyes with Jake. “Don’t tell me. Let me guess. They wanted you to take out a loan. Courtesy of the good old Conglomerate. I hope you told them what they could do with it.”

  Jake smiled. “I was about to do just that when two gorillas showed up. They escorted me to the door and wished me well.” He eyed his AI. “By the way, how are you outside the cockpit?”

  Tilley laughed. “You’ve got Jason to blame for that. He conned one of the other techs out of an external holograph projector her pilot scavenged off one of the Crosioians’ Psy-Ops vehicles.” She nodded toward the top of the Paladin’s cockpit. “Maggie and I helped him mount it on top of the Paladin. It’s got a range of fifty meters before it starts to bleed out. Of course, it’s not as good as the equipment we put inside the cockpit, so it tends to flicker.”

  When Tilley stopped without explaining, Jake folded his arms and frowned. “What did you put inside the cockpit? We don’t have any credits for parts.”

  “Relax, Tiger,” laughed Maggie. “It was all free and clear from Jason’s friend, courtesy of the bat’s Psy-Op vehicle.”

  Jake didn’t drop his frown. “So, what is it?”

  Mechanical laughter came out of Jason’s translator. “This I think you will like. It is a thermal beam correlated into the cockpit’s hologram and tractor beam projectors.”

  The smile on Tilley’s face and the bluish blush on Jason’s head made Jake hesitate to splash cold water on their obvious enthusiasm for what they’d done.

  “Well, I hate to burst your bubbles,” he said, “but that’s not going to do us much good at the moment. We’ve got to be out of the hangar in two days, and I ain’t got the credits for the parts we need.”

  Jason scratched the top of his head with one of the four appendages he used for hands and arms. Two of his eye stalks swiveled to look at Jake while the other two turned to stare at the Paladin. “So what are we going to do? It will take us longer than two days to put Maggie back together. How are we supposed to do that?”

  With a sigh, Jake shrugged. “We aren’t. It’s my problem, not yours. I’m the one who’s got to figure something out. The two of you should just collect your pay and head back to Aretillo while the gettin’s good.”

  “The hell we will,” said Tilley, somehow sounding angry while keeping the smile on her face. “And what do you plan to do about Maggie? She’s our friend too. Are you going to pay her off and buy her a one-way ticket to Aretillo? I think not. While we’re at it, what about your family? You told your mom that you were going to make sure your brother and sister have enough credits to go to a university. Steve’s sixteen. He’ll be applying soon. Cathy won’t be far behind him. Plus you’ve fallen behind on payments to the bank again. I like Mrs. Striker. Hell, Steve and Cathy are like family to me. Face it. Jason and I aren’t just hired workers to be let go when times get rough. We’re a team. We’re not leaving you.”

  “Amen to that, Sister,” said Jason. “Teammates do not leave teammates to face sharks by themselves. We are keeping our tentacles stuck to you, Jake Striker, so you had best get used to it.”

  “Yeah. What they said,” laughed Maggie. “My advice is to load as much of me as you can gather onto a hover-truck and stick me in a storage unit while you head over to the casinos. I think I’ve come up with a plan even more foolproof than the last one. Hell, with a little luck and a few hacks of the gaming tables’ computers, we’ll probably be able to buy our own hangar. The Conglomerate can stick their loan where the sun doesn’t shine.”

  Jake shook his head. “No. I told you already, I’m not going back to gambling. I won’t risk my family getting hurt by some criminal element as an act of revenge against me for cheating at one of their casinos. There are ways to earn credits without gambling. I’ll think of something.”

  “Like what?” asked Maggie. “I’m a computer, and there’s no logical way to get out of this mess barring a little innocent cheating at electronic cards.”

  Jake shook his head. “No. I’ll come up with something. I always do.”

  Maggie’s eyes turned a dark blue. “I’ll say it again. What are you going to do?”

  Jake stared back at her. “I ha
ven’t the faintest. Maybe I’ll get lucky.”

  Chapter 5 – Friends

  _______________________

  Leaving his friends, Jake made his way to the part of the hangar reserved for offices. He took the stairs to the second floor and found the door marked ‘Commander Onstott’ already open. Inside, the leader of the 57th sat with his boots kicked up on his desk and a cup of steaming liquid in his hand.

  Glancing at Jake, the big man sat up in his chair and nodded at an empty seat in front of his desk. Once Jake was seated, Onstott pushed his cup of coffee across his desk.

  “Here. I think you need this more than me. I gather no luck with the corporate bigwigs.”

  Jake grabbed the cup appreciatively and took a sip. It was hot and had an aroma that simulated coffee could never duplicate. “One of these days you’re going to have to tell me who your supplier is for real coffee, Commander. The muck Maggie serves for java in the Paladin tastes more like waste oil and grease than anything else.”

  Commander Onstott laughed. Jake had always found him to be an easy-going fella when he wasn’t on missions, instilling terror in new lieutenants fresh out of one of the Conglomerate’s mercenary training academies.

  “Believe me, Jake, you couldn’t afford what my guy charges for this stuff.” He grinned and winked. “Thanks to your little show of heroics on Thrakis, I’ve got credits to burn from my part of the salvage.” His grin faded. “Sorry. Bad joke. I did try to get you to go for the salvage option before we left on the mission.”

  Jake took another sip of coffee and shrugged. “I know. You don’t have to remind me. I needed the guaranteed credits for repairs.”

  Leaning back in his chair, Onstott eyed Jake. “I received a high-priority message from corporate an hour ago. I’m to make sure you and your Paladin are out of here in forty-eight hours. They also stressed that I’m not to provide any Conglomerate assets in helping you get your cat fixed. I gather you pissed someone off this morning.”

  Jake drained the last of the coffee and smiled. “Not as much as I’d have liked to.” He set the empty cup on the desk. “I’ll get Maggie out of here on time. I’m not sure how I’ll do it, but I’ll get it done.”

  Commander Onstott shook his head. “After four years, you’re still too proud to ask for help, aren’t you? I was Robert’s friend. When are you going to learn I’m yours too?”

  “I know you’re my friend. But you just said your orders from corporate were—”

  The big man laughed. “Since when do I do everything those bean-counters tell me? I know how to play the corporate game and what I can and can’t do. As it so happens, I’ve got a friend who owns a hangar on the civilian side of the spaceport. It’s not much of a hangar, but it beats being tossed out onto the street. As it so happens, he’s back on Velos. His hangar here is empty, but there are still a lot of tools and electronic diagnostic equipment in there. I took the liberty of calling him earlier. He says you’re welcome to use it for as long as you need.” Commander Onstott smiled. “Of course, he said he might need you to return the favor someday, but what’s that between friends?”

  “Does this friend of yours have a name?”

  “He does, but I think I’ll keep it to myself for now. If he ever needs you, he’ll contact you.”

  “I don’t like being in debt, financially or otherwise.”

  Commander Onstott laughed. “No you don’t, but trust me on this one. In the meantime, you’ve got a place to hang your hat. I’ll have some of our mechanics help Tilley and Jason load your Paladin onto a hover-crane and get her moved this afternoon.”

  Jake wasn’t sure what to say. Sometimes the idea that people were willing to help him with no strings attached was a hard concept to grasp. He accepted it from friends like Tilley and Jason. He supposed his commander was a better friend than he’d realized. “I can’t let you get in trouble with corporate for using the 57th’s assets.”

  “Don’t you worry about me. I’ve worked with the Conglomerate since before you were born. I know how far I can push the line without crossing it. What you need to do is get back to town and see if you can hustle up some gig willing to advance you some credits. You’ve got a hangar and tools, but without parts, you’re still up the meteor shower without a hyper-drive to get you out.”

  Jake shook his head. “I don’t take loans. That’s one thing I learned from what happened to Dad.”

  The commander smiled sympathetically. “I know you don’t take loans. If you did, I’d give you the credits myself. I said an advance. That’s different. I’ll give you a couple of names. Go talk to them and see what they’ve got available. Once you get back on your feet, come back and see me. You’ll always have a spot with the 57th as long as I’m the commander.”

  Jake nodded, more appreciative than he could say. “Thanks,” was all that came out.

  Commander Onstott smiled. “Save your thanks until after you see what kinda crummy missions my contacts offer you. You may not thank me then. Now, get out of here. Some of us have jobs to do.”

  Jake hesitated for a second. He’d never been good at touchy-feely things. He took the easy way out and headed for the door.

  I’ve got a few things to do myself.

  Chapter 6 – Job Offer

  _________________________

  Once he saw to the move of the Paladin and his friends, Jake made his way back to the city. After four hours and three meetings with Commander Onstott’s contacts, he understood why the big man had said to save his thanks until after he’d heard the missions. The best was a low-paying escort on some backwater planet that promised to be more trouble than it was worth. The other two were shady deals with one being downright illegal. He’d turned all three down on the spot.

  Sitting at a table in the restaurant of the low-budget hotel he was using as his headquarters in town, Jake stared at his bank account on the electronic pad in his hands. It was a sorry sight.

  At least I got Tilley and Jason paid. That doesn’t leave me much for repairs. I’ll hit the streets tomorrow and see what I can scrounge up. One of the bars by the docks may give me a lead.

  He pushed away his half-eaten plate of what the hotel called food and got ready to leave.

  “Mister Striker?” came a feminine voice to his left.

  Looking up, Jake saw a tall woman wearing one of the business suits popular with corporate bigwigs. Her blonde hair was in a tight bun on top of her head, and she appeared to be in her late twenties or early thirties. With the skill of plastic surgeons nowadays, it was always hard to tell. For all he knew, she might be in her fifties. Despite his dislike for corporate ladder-climbers, he had to admit the woman was well built. It looked like someone had poured her into her tight-fighting suit.

  “As long as you’re not from the Conglomerate, I am.”

  The woman laughed. “Trust me. I’ve no more love for the Conglomerate than you have. I work for, uh…a different company.” She nodded at the seat across from Jake. “May I?”

  “Be my guest.” He started to stand up.

  Waving a hand, the woman smiled. “Please. Stay in your seat. My company’s an equal opportunity employer. We don’t go in for polite niceties like standing for ladies.” Her smile grew larger and her eyes twinkled. “And believe me, I’m no lady.”

  Although she might not be a lady, the way she slid into her seat while emphasizing her main attributes told Jake she was all woman. It was difficult not to stare. “So, uh, just who are you? What do you want with me?”

  The woman nodded. “Fair enough. Straight to the point. Just the way I like it. My name’s Phyllis Gegorma. I work for a company called Transporters International.”

  “Never heard of it.”

  The woman smiled. “I’d be surprised if you had. We, err…work in areas where we prefer to stay out of the limelight. Suffice it to say our business is very profitable.”

  Working in the Aretillo copper mines had made Jake cautious by nature. He did his best not to be pulled in by t
he woman’s good looks. “Well, Mrs. Gegorma, I—”

  “Please. Call me Phyllis.”

  “All right, Phyllis. Why have you taken the time out of your busy schedule to come see me? From the way you’re dressed, I’m guessing you’re not staying at this hotel.”

  Phyllis laughed. “Not hardly, Jake. May I call you Jake?”

  She had a nice laugh. He nodded.

  “I stay at the Trillian Astoria on the north side of the city. You should try it. The accommodations there are…” She pushed a water-spotted glass away from her side of the table. “Well, let’s just say the Trillian Astoria’s standards of cleanliness are a little higher than your current place of residence. No slight to you intended.”

  Shrugging, Jake picked up a half-filled, water-spotted glass and drained it dry. “No slight taken. As it so happens, I’ve got a feeling your Trillian Astoria’s a little out of my price range.”

  “It doesn’t have to be.”

  Jake sat up straighter, his scam sensors on high alert. “How so?”

  Phyllis gave an alluring smile. “Well, Jake, it just so happens that Transporters International heard about your exploits on Thrakis. Very impressive. We also heard the Conglomerate wasn’t as appreciative of your efforts as maybe you’d like. My sources tell me that your contract with the Conglomerate has been terminated.”

  “Oh really? By any chance does your source look like a vulture wearing granny glasses?”

  Phyllis laughed again. It took a moment for her to regain control. “Forgive me. Your description of our dear Mister Antripels is quite apropos. Still, we’ve found him to be useful in the past. Like I said, we heard about your exploits. As it so happens, I have a proposition for you that you may find to your advantage.”

  Jake’s scam sensors went on even higher alert. “Hope you don’t mind if I’m a little leery of a gift falling out of a pactar’s mouth, but I’m not used to beautiful women offering me something for nothing.”

  The woman eyed Jake as if trying to figure out if he was making a compliment or hinting at something less complimentary.