by RJ
“Damn, that’s why I need a gun on me,” the mutant said calmly, looking in the direction of the bodies.
In return Nea, surprisingly even for herself, lightly chuckled. She caught her breath, calmed down and tried to remember what they were doing before the incident.
“Let’s go, we have things to do,” she said.
“Yes, mommy. And I hoped to skip school today,” JB replied sarcastically.
“Hysterical.”
“What about that one?” JB nodded at the unconscious, yet alive, froll.
“Don’t worry about it. I can handle it all by myself.”
“Yo, the last time I heard that from a woman, I…”
What was supposed to be another thematic joke from JB went into silence when Nea gave him a look. It wasn’t any kind of ‘shut up’ look. In fact, that look radiated hope and gratitude. So JB didn’t want to spoil the moment and show less of himself with that toilet humor.
Nea walked him to the ranger center entrance, just as she promised. And they said goodbye till the evening.
She had a lot on her plate because of what had happened. Witnessing the first event of the discovery of a hostile race’s spies and then combat involving them would take lots of paperwork. There were certain questions that had to be asked. How did the frolls get into the city? With what purpose? And that was just the beginning.
JB had left one of them alive on purpose. Now someone had to make sure that that creature would get into the right hands. Nea was that ‘someone.’
The police were done with their customary work. The victims had been taken away, the frolls had been secured. Now it was the National Security Agency’s turn. When the police cars went on, leaving the crime scene, Nea followed them, keeping close to the precious cargo.
RANGER JUICE
Half of a day passed. JB had sat through several space traveling lectures, where the primary subject was the physics. He checked the schedule for the rest of the day. More lectures were ahead.
Still being agitated by the morning action, the mutant couldn’t take that studying dullness anymore. He needed fresh air.
JB left the ranger center to have a walk in the city. There was no defined destination, just a walk. He wandered around for a few hours. Looking at architecture, transport, people, aliens and anything else that might interest him even a bit. Thus, he found himself at the edge of the plateau soon. No matter the abrupt cliff, life there was the same as closer to downtown. Lots of structures, a busy crowd, et cetera.
There was some kind of workshop at the end of the cadet’s path. Right on the edge of the cliff. He couldn’t recognize the exact purpose of that establishment at once. Then, a massive hovercraft slowly drifted to the one of the platforms located on the edge. It moored down for the personnel to provide a technical service. JB considered that view quite exciting, so he came closer to get a better look at the local spaceships. He turned off his music and shoved the earphones into his pocket.
The mutant came closer to the edge. He stood there, on the platform’s end, and carefully looked down the cliff. There was no land, just white clouds floating under the city. For a second JB had a feeling that there was no land at all, only that whiteout. What seemed strange to him, though, was an absence of any sort of precautions. No railings or walls.
“Hey! You’re blocking my view!” a stranger shouted from behind.
Just as JB was going to turn around, something light hit him on the head and fell down. An empty can appeared at his feet. Usually by that time a hooligan would have been sorry for his actions, but JB didn’t wish to get into another fight. He lowered down to pick up the can. ‘Ranger Juice’ was written on it. The mutant turned to where that can had been launched from. There was a young man sitting near the wall on the other end of the platform.
The stranger looked like a ranger. He had long black hair, sleepy eye bags, a bright yellow pilot suit full of various gadgets, and a weapon on the belt.
“How far is the surface from here?” JB asked. He passed the can back to the stranger.
“Six point five kilometers,” the stranger replied and got on his feet. “Hey, are you deaf? I told you to get off my platform.”
The mutant kept skipping the pilot’s ignorance and took another broad look at the sky space.
“Why is there no fence or something? What if someone falls?” JB wondered.
By the time the mutant took another look at the pilot, he already had another drink in his hand.
“Wanna try?” the stranger asked.
Standing one step from the edge, JB took that as a threat from the ranger closing in. He braced up and bent his knees a bit getting ready to fight.
“Look, you don’t want any trouble,” JB warned the stranger.
“I’m serious, man,” the ranger's face suddenly cheered up, he took another sip. “Let’s try it!”
The next second the ranger turned back to grab a passing clomtueen. He squeezed that thin neck with one hand and pushed him off the cliff with the other. All JB managed to catch was the fall as that alien vanished in the white clouds below. Then his look went on searching for that ranger, who had disappeared somewhere. Suddenly, a strange feeling of fear went through the mutant’s body. As if something vital was missing. He moved his hand to his belt fearfully. The sack with the gibsonium crystal was gone.
In a second JB was full of frustration and anger. He turned around expecting the thief to be running away. But he stood right there, next to JB himself. It didn’t look like the ranger wanted to steal the sack, he was just studying it with interest.
“Give that back!” JB said severely, his finger pointed in the guy's face.
“What’s inside?”
“Something that might kill ya if you touch it.”
The pilot looked at the mutant with sort of bored disgust.
“What a drama queen,” he said and tossed the sack back to JB.
As the bag flew, it almost slipped from JB’s fingers to fall off the cliff, but at the last moment the mutant got it. He put the crystal back in its place.
“I’m Corvin,” the stranger offered a handshake.
“JB,” the mutant shook it.
He squeezed the ranger’s hand firmly and kept to it for some time to make Corvin feel the weakness. So it happened, the pilot’s knees got weakened and he felt lightheaded. A small revenge for the disrespect that had taken place before.
Some distance aside men noticed a compact spherical droid which had brought the clomtueen pushed off by Corvin.
“You see,” the ranger pointed at the arrived alien. “They got it!” The next second he made a sip and kicked the droid. “Stupid can!”
The droid was gone. Corvin looked at that alien, who was walking away. The clomtueen looked quite irritated already. Then Corvin finished the drink and threw it at the creature’s head as hard as he could.
“Stupid animal!” he shouted.
Perhaps that was the limit of his patience. The alien got angry. It turn back instantly, braced into an attack position and charged at those two. Even though JB was much bigger and heavier, the four-handed beast seemed pretty threatening to him. Not being able to reach his prime target, the alien was intercepted by the mutant and then thrown off the cliff once again. The two men looked carefully as the poor thing was twitching in that free fall and the rescue droid chased after him.
“Nice throw, man! You’ll make a fine ranger!” Corvin shouted out loud and clapped JB on the bare shoulder. The flash of weakness that followed took away some of his excitement. “Awe!” Corvin squeezed out.
“What are you drinking?” JB wondered, looking at the third can in Corvin’s hand by that time.
“Oh, this, my friend, is the drink of gods!” Corvin moved the can up, presenting its greatness, as every ranger thought highly of that beverage. “So, you’re not from around, right?”
“That noticeable?”
“Here, have some!”
Corvin took out another can from the containe
r, which lay near the place of his rest, and tossed it to JB. The mutant was thirsty, so he took a deep greedy sip at once. It was a cold, sparkling, sour-sweet substance with a bitter aftertaste. In a few seconds, JB felt a sudden burst of energy and unexpected cheerfulness.
“Da fuck is that?! Fucking ‘Tentrum’ of the future, yo!”
“No, my friend. Let me present to you the ‘Ranger Juice’ – a drink for rangers!” Corvin said enthusiastically.
In the next couple hours, about a dozen rangers gathered up there. They started a contest of throwing the clomtueens off the plateau. Pilots were relaxing, having fun, drinking the juice and chatting. In that such a diverse company of seasoned rangers JB had found out more about the ranger craft than the learning program would have taught him. At least, those guys kept insisting on that. They seemed to hate learning programs of any kind, and the government, and clomtueens, and everything else. In general, rangers made an impression on JB as arrogant, narcissistic, and reckless rednecks. He liked them.
Staying in their sneaky cover near the wall where they thought they were invisible, despite that it was a bright day and they were in a crowd, the rangers waited for the next catch. Clomtueens were the target. And the guys wanted to catch a fresh one. Or an old one. Sometimes there were the same ones trying to pass through. The crowd didn’t care much what they threw, it was quite fun anyways.
When JB’s turn came, he stepped ahead to get the next alien. And one was almost there. The crowd went calmer. Giggling and whispering, they snuck around that wall waiting for another share of laughs. Suddenly, JB noticed a familiar face not far from there. It was Mia, she walked straight to him.
The mutant apologized to his new buddies and paid attention to the girl. Mia looked upset. JB started thinking that she came there looking for him.
“Having fun, aren’t you?” the girl said.
Not being sure yet how to act, JB caught the drift. It seemed she expected for him to be sorry for something. So the big guy tried to camouflage his bright mood.
“What’s up, kid?” he asked, walking the girl aside from the platform.
They took a seat on the bench.
“What are you doing here, B?” Mia started.
“Just… You know… Giving up to the local culture,” he shrugged.
“You aren’t going back, are you?” the first glare of tears emerged in the girl’s eyes.
“Are you alone? How did you get here?” JB asked, suspiciously looking around.
Mia exhaled heavily and tried to calm down. It took her a few minutes to put herself together and share her feelings.
“They are going to send us away from Earth,” she said. “They say that there is nothing except this place on the planet. And we don't belong here. They also said a lot about the war and that to gain a citizenship we have to go through the adaptation program. They want to brainwash us! They did that to everyone else already.”
“And you ran away?” JB implied.
“I saw you on a news channel. You fought those beasts. I knew it was you. Only you have that courage. Just like you fought those monsters on the island.”
Listening to those words of admiration from that teenage girl JB felt miserable and insignificant like never before. He couldn’t fulfill her expectations by any means. That girly crush on him wouldn’t bring any good to either of them. In no scenario JB meant to break her heart. But it started to feel to him that it was inevitable.
“Mother went through adaptation,” Mia continued. “She’s a medic. After a suitability test, she was offered a job at some medical center on Venus.” Mia went crying. “Venus, JB! Fucking Venus! It’s not fair! Two months ago there were no people on Venus! Two days ago there were no people on Venus. And what now? You’re here. Having fun with a bunch of space pilots and pushing off the aliens from the hovering plateau. It’s madness!”
Even before JB questioned himself why he and Gibson took a time leap so readily when they were supposed to go insane. Mia’s reaction seemed more natural to him than anything he had seen in that city up to that moment. Nea told him something about that. Something about that it was a primary purpose of the adaptation process, to help people to accept. They implanted some basic knowledge about the modern world. The acceptance came hand in hand with understanding.
JB continued listening.
“They want to send me to Venus as well. Said there are many excellent academies, where I can study. Why? I have nothing here!”
“You have a family,” JB said.
“Just my mother. And you…” the girl looked up into his eyes, hoping to hear something similar in return.
“We have to go different roads from now on, Mia. Listen to Ellison, she will take a good care of you.”
“What about you? You don’t have anyone here but us!”
The mutant smirked involuntarily. But then he rushed to straighten his face so she wouldn’t think that he was laughing at her.
“I have everything I need.”
“So it is true! You don’t need us! You don’t care for us!” Mia went agitated. “Why did you rescue us from that island then?! So you could trash us here, like that?!”
“It’s not what it looks like…”
Partially JB wanted to tell her about the deal with the government. So at least one person knew how much he sacrificed for those people behind the scenes. As any person in his place, JB wished to be appreciated. But he couldn’t, it was a secret. It had to stay that way. Even if he would be hated for that.
“Don’t lie to me, JB! You’re a coward! First you give us hope, then you run!”
Mia stood up and started backing away. Just as the mutant was going to go after her, a familiar voice came from aside.
“Mia?! Mia!” Ellison called for her.
She was about fifty meters away. Skyman walked next to her. And they were accompanied by a few blue army soldiers. They seemed to have been searching for Mia for quite some time. The woman ran towards her daughter, hugged her, and finally felt relief.
“He’s here, mom,” Mia said.
“Who’s here?” Ellison asked.
“Look, there…”
When Mia turned back to point at the bench where JB was supposed to be, it was empty. Just a pair of red earphones and an old music player stayed behind on that bench.
Later that evening, Nea arrived at the spot where she had left JB. There were much fewer people near the ranger center’s area now. The mutant stood leaning against the wall, waiting for his ride. Some cadets were glancing at him every now and then. By the evening, everyone there had heard about the morning fight, and most of the people knew their hero by his face.
A hover car came closer to the ranger center. Nea stepped out. She looked calm and in a great mood. The morning terrors seemed to not bother her anymore. The woman came closer to the big guy to hand him a half-transparent white card.
“Here, take it,” she said.
The cadet pushed off the wall to stand straight.
“What’s that?” he asked turning the thing in his hands.
“A government agent’s credit card. Unlimited resources, tracking proof.”
“Wow, nice. That’s all that I’m paid?”
“It’s not yours. That one is for emergencies. You were wired one hundred thousand galls today to your own account. This money you can use for personal expenses.”
“Is that a lot?”
“Enough to not worry about money for quite some time. The GU appreciates its agents very highly.”
“So I can invite a girl I like for dinner now?”
“Really? You’ve found a girl already?” Nea smiled.
“It was more like an accident.”
“And you’re that confident that she’ll agree?”
“Well, I sure hope so…”
Their eye contact lasted for quite a while. It felt right.
“Okay, I know an excellent place not far from here.”
“Awesome, let’s go,” JB smiled widely and the
y walked to the car.
It was a small cafe. Just about fifteen tables inside. A long bar with a dozen more seats. And the interior was in a form of half circle, where the arc windows opened to a great look over the night city. Most of the walls were made of that yellow material, just like the rest of the city. The tables had a round shape and they glowed with dimmed whiteness.
The bartenders were humans, a man and woman. But most of the rest of the personnel were acleemans. Everyone who worked there was wearing a uniform: fitting white suits with short sleeves and high collars. In general, the place had its balanced dark light theme and felt very comfortable. No wonder Nea liked it, JB thought. There was not that eye eating brightness, as over the rest of the city.
“I thought that a retro style bar would make you feel at home,” Nea said when they were coming in.
“It looks more like Grid,” JB commented on his impression.
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, nothing. It just reminded me a cartoon I saw once.”
The restaurant was half full, there were humans as well as beings of other races. JB got used to them by that time. It all became part of a blurred background.
The couple took one of the tables near the window. They sat close. The mutant wouldn’t let her out of his sight. Nea was beautiful that night. JB was also very interested in getting to know her better. The woman of the future world was still a mystery to him, especially since she was from a distant planet. The more JB thought about her, the more he felt her. He could sense her curiosity and sympathy towards him. That feeling seemed real, no lies. It was a unique thing in the world where he had come from.
On her side, Nea watched JB carefully too. When the sun went out, his eyes gained that slight blue glow. She couldn’t have enough time to stare at them. The difficulty in reading the mutant attracted her even more. She felt sadness in his eyes, but at the same time there was a sweet promise of something new, unknown and refreshing. His brutality and overall confidence might have seemed strange at the beginning, but now it felt right. As if the man was meant to be like that.
