The Pink Heist

by Adam El Shalakany

  Mancy nodded still dazed.

  "Thought as much. Alright Zenny, get VII awake and up to speed and get ya' boys ready to run. We're gonna be coming in hot, hold on….."

  The hull of the Heister screamed out in pain as the mines exploded nearer and nearer.

  "Got two more jumps to go. One sec." The propulsion started again and swerved to the left. "Shen'amn torpedoes. One more go and then we're hot. Y'all folks ready?"

  VII woke up violently, flailing at Zenbot and the smelling salts. "What do you mean we're abandoning ship? That wasn't part of the plan." She grabbed at Zenbot's robes. "I refuse. I refuse. I want out."

  "Too late, VII." Mancy spat out menacingly. "We're already in. No getting out of this one."

  "Hold on…"

  The Heister shot through the field and flared towards the moon, swerving to the left and right, ducking the oncoming barrage from the base. Technicolor bursts of light erupted around the ship.

  From that close to the moon, the crew could clearly see the red rock, lava and molten magma flow across the surface of Qamar in hot rivulets. The mercenary base stood in stark contrast to the rest of the moon. A clear outrock of a fortress, three rings of white walls shot up from the hard stony surface. Between the fortress and the rivers of magma there was a parking lot where the mercenary ships were parked.

  The Heister aimed towards the parking lot, breaking through Qamar's atmosphere. The ship's hull heated up. Its passengers, all finally awake, stood near the center of the mess, sweating from the heat and fear. Captain Pippy pulled the brakes, and forward jets of blue fire pushed against the Heister's momentum. The ship crashed next to an array of parked ships in the parking lot, digging itself into the earth.

  The crew were out in less than twenty seconds. When they dusted themselves off and looked ahead of them they saw an army of mercenaries lined up outside the base, armed and ready.

  Zenbot leaped forward in a blur. A whirl of motion, the inorganic made quick work of the soldiers. The bullets ricocheted off its body, tearing holes through its robes and doing nothing more. When the dust had settled, VII grumbling, walked towards the large gated entrance to the first wall ringing the base, over the crumpled unconscious bodies of the soldiers. She placed one of the small drives into a side panel and in a few seconds the door was open.

  Zenbot rushed ahead. The pops and rattles of laser and gun fire could be heard beyond the gate.

  Mr. Qruise and Freedman accompanied Mancy and Captain Pippy as they ran from the ship towards the door. The night sky was littered with the explosions of more mines as the armada approached Qamar.

  The faster of the bounty hunter ships opened fire on the Heister and the running crew. Trails of laser fire blazed behind them as they ran. Smoke and dust followed in their wake. A few of the hunters targeted the Heister, bombarding it as they approached from above.

  "Ya bastards. Don't hurt her ya bastards. She's a better ship than any'a yours." Captain Pippy tried to run towards the Heister but Mr. Qruise and Freedman pulled her inside the protective walls of the base.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The First Gate

  VII closed the first gate with a push of a button as soon as Captain Pippy was pulled through the door. The gate closed with the click and hiss of hydraulics, as the massive door panels slid back into place.

  The crew found themselves in a large round entry hall, well lit, with large mosaic depictions of marital prowess on the walls. Soldiers of every species stood tall on the walls. Humans fought with swords and shields. Spaceships dropped bombs from overhead. Blobbed beings stood over their enemies or in other panels consumed them entirely. The worst panels were of the tentacled beings like Glok.

  Unconscious and broken mercenaries were littered around the hall beneath the mosaic walls. Zenbot unharmed, surveyed the scene.

  There were three exits from the hall not counting the entrance. The earth shook with the thumps of the bounty hunters' ships landing outside.

  "How long will the gate stay closed, VII?" Mancy asked.

  VII sat slumped by the gate's control panel, sweat rolling down her forehead. She rubbed her shins. "It'll stay closed for a while, boss. How long it'll last if they plan on beating the gate down I can't tell. Ain't my area of expertise. All I can say is that we should get on going to the second one. You wanna lead the way?" VII pulled herself off the floor.

  "Right I suppose so. Everyone stick close, now. Mr. Qruise don't look so glum. We're near the end now. You'll be free to hide away in the forgotten holes of the 'verse soon. Zenbot, please lead the way through the door on the right."

  Zenbot led the crew through the exit on the right. They found themselves in a small corridor that curved its way around exterior ring of the base. The crews walked slowly, their steps ringing out loudly on the metal grated floored.

  Mancy whispered. "Try and stay quiet. This service corridor should be empty but we can't be sure. I'm speaking to you, Mr. Qruise. Stop dragging your feet."

  "Where does this go, Ms. La2x?" Freedman asked. Their steps sounded out through the corridor, echoing back from in front and behind. Freedman spooked, looked behind him every few feet.

  "We follow this for ten minutes and then with any luck," Mancy said, "we'll find an exit hatch on the left which will take us to a short cut to the second gate."

  "Luck?" Zenbot asked.

  "Turn of phrase, Zenbot. Sorry. No luck here." Mancy grinned. The master's eye slits couldn't roll but they did.

  Zenbot stopped with a halt around a bend in the corridor." I would say you jinxed it, Ms. La2x. If there are Shens, then they're playing with me. Ms. La2x, I advise you to take the others and immediately turn around and run."

  The others bumped into Zenbot. The inorganic stood looking down the length of the corridor. Its eye slits were a wild mix of red and black, of horror.

  A large man sat cross-legged in the middle of the corridor in front of the access shaft leading to the second gate.

  "What's going on master? Who's that man?" Freedman asked.

  "That man," Zenbot didn't take its eye slits off the cross-legged man, "is my first master and one of the five beings in this 'verse that I fear. My advice still stands. If you value your life you will run right now."

  "But we can help you, can't we gang?" Freedman turned around and found no one behind him.

  "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap." Mr. Qruise was gasping and speaking at the same time. "Did you see that, VII?"

  VII shook her head silently. " I just saw you running and ran on the assumption."

  Ms. La2x and Captain Pippy were at the other two exits to the hall. They peeped around both exits making sure they were clear. Freedman entered the hall white as a sheet.

  VII looked up, surprised to see him. "Looks like Zenbot's got two cowards for students."

  Freedman hunched over gasping for air. His eyes were red and teary. He stared back at the corridor he just came from.

  "Leave the man alone." Captain Pippy put an arm around Freedman. "He was just followin' his master's orders. Don't take no mind of VII, Freedman. She's got a mean streak, that's all."

  Freedman rested on Captain Pippy's shoulder. He couldn't make up his mind. "We should go back. I should go back. Shouldn't I, Captain?"

  Captain Pippy looked back towards the exit on the right. "Hon', I wouldn't go back down that way for all the favors in the world and I surf suns for fun."

  Mancy gestured for the others to come to the central exit. "Zenbot can take care of itself." She said in a hushed voice. "Let's focus on the mission. This way leads to the gate. Come on, no time to waste."

  "We can't go forward without Zenbot." Mr. Qruise stared at the ground. VII hid under a bench by the side of the exit.

  "I know, Mr. Qruise." Mancy straightened up confidently. "We have no choice but to go on. Don't forget the best fighter in the galaxy has been training you."

  "You know, Mancy." Mr. Qruise kicked his feet, hands in the pockets of his robes. "I think Zenbot's fighting t
he best fighter in the galaxy at this moment." Mr. Qruise helped VII up. The both of them held onto each other as they stepped through the main exit.

  "It's been a while…it's Zenbot now right." The cross-legged man was still sitting in the corridor. He chewed on a piece of straw. Two sheathed swords lay in his lap and a leather bundle was by his side.

  "It has. I don't call you master anymore so please forgive the familiarity, Jack." Zenbot's eye slits slowly lost their black fear and became a constant bright red.

  "It's alright, Zenbot. This has been a long time coming, I think we all knew, the day you left, that we'd have a fateful showdown at some point. You were one of my best students I got to say. The longest lasting as well. All the rest are dead or maimed or lost, or all three." Jack laughed. "But you're still there Zenbot, healthy and wise. Wiser than the day you left, I hear."

  "Thank you, Jack." Zenbot nodded to its former teacher, bowing slightly. "You're incorrect. There is no fated battle between former master and former student. There is no fate."

  "You're wrong of course, as usual." Jack slapped his thigh. "We have to fight. Fate or no fate. I've been compensated handsomely by the La2x family to stop your passage to the vault. Sit down Zenbot will'ya. Hurt's my neck just looking up at ya."

  Zenbot sat on the floor, ten paces away from Jack. "So Mancy's father knows about us?" Zenbot rubbed its jaw. "That was expected. Can't you let me return the way I came? I don't wish to hurt you ma…Jack. I don't wish to hurt anybody anymore. This is unnecessary."

  "Unnecessary, but an obligation on the both of us. I s'ppose." He chewed some more on the straw, twirling the end of it with a hand. "We can free your family if you wish."

  "You know about them?"

  "We do. And we know where they are held. We can free them from Mancy's clutches without harm. All you have to do is stand down."

  "I need to think about this. You wouldn't have any tea would you?" Zenbot eyed the leather bundle.

  "Of course." Jack took a clay pot out from the bundle by his side. "Who could forget your strange obsession. Do you mind if I smoke."

  Zenbot shook its head. It prepared the tea while Jack rolled himself a cigarette.

  Laser beams and bullets sprayed over the desk the crew were hiding behind.

  "So," Captain Pippy shouted over the sound of the gun fire, "none of us thought to bring any firearms?"

  "I guess we got too used to Zenbot by our side." Mancy shouted.

  "There are some guns back in the main hall." Captain Pippy pointed with her head to the door which led back to the hall. Ten paces too far from the safety of the desk. "Any volunteers to run across the room and get some?"

  VII, Freedman and Mr. Qruise were huddled together at the center of the upturned desk, holding onto each other.

  In answer to Captain Pippy's question a bullet ricocheted off the wall and and shot back towards them, boring a hole through the desk in between VII and Freedman.

  "Mr. Qruise." Mancy shouted. He couldn't hear. She tugged on his robe, pulling his ear to her mouth. "Can you pop back to the room?"

  "Pop back? Pop back? You're giving me the go-ahead to run away?" He raised his hand, fingers at the ready to snap, a goofy mad grin on his face.

  "Yes." Mancy held Mr. Qruise's fingers in place. "On the condition that you come back with the guns."

  Mr. Qruise kept smiling. "And if you die? You can never blow my brains up?"

  Mancy bit her lips. "We're putting our trust in you, Mr. Qruise."

  Mr. Qruise closed his eyes. "Don't worry, Mancy. You can trust me. I'm a good guy after all." He said, grinning, hand ready.

  Captain Pippy prodded his shoulder gently. "Puh-lease don't screw us, Mr. Qruise. We're a team." He opened his eyes to find her eyes wide and innocent and trusting. His grin disappeared and he hung his head. He looked at his fingers and closed his eyes. "That's not fair."

  He snapped his fingers and opened his eyes.

  The desk behind the crew vanished, disappearing suddenly from reality. Captain Pippy's mouth hung open. Her trusting innocent eyes turned murderous. "I'll kill ya. I'll kill ya. You've Shen'damned screwed us all."

  She didn't have time to kill him. The crew scampered back towards the main hall beneath a hail of bullets.

  "Shen'amn ya, Qruise. Can't ya do nothing right man?" Captain Pippy lay against the mosaiced wall in the main hall.

  "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Mr. Qruise stared at his fingers shaking his head. "That's never happened before."

  "How ya gonna finish this thing if ya can't Shen'amn 'pop'?"

  "Enough Pippy." Mancy paced back and forth. "Mr. Qruise for better or for worse you got us out of that thing. How is everybody? Everyone in one piece?"

  "Boss…boss…" VII panted. "I didn't sign up for this boss. I'm gonna just hide here until you finish it." She kept repeating, "I didn't sign up for this," shaking her head and hugging herself.

  Mancy held VII by the shoulders. "Hold yourself together, VII. We're almost there. Just one door between you and your running off and being done with this thing. I'm guessing no one wants to go back in there." She pointed to the exit they'd just come from, "and Zenbot's not back yet, so that leaves door number three." She walked over to the exit on the left. "I didn't want to take this route. It takes us up the ramparts of the walls, exposed. We can take an access tunnel from there but we'll have to find a way down from the wall. Maybe Mr. Qruise can make the wall disappear."

  "I'm sorry." He said again.

  "It's alright. Everybody arm up. We don't want to forget to take some weapons again. And everyone….take care. I didn't choose this route for a reason."

  Zenbot and Jack sat sipping their tea. Jack lay on his back smoking his rolled cigarette, one knee resting on the other, waving his leg lazily.

  "You know Zenbot, I'm happy for ya to sit here and drink tea with me. So long as ya don't go back and help Mancy achieve her mission. But you know, and I know, that once we finish drinking this, you're gonna decide to go back and help her, even though I've given you my word your family'll be safe." He let out a puff of smoke, forming a ring.

  Zenbot tipped the clay cup towards its mouth and let the hot liquid roll down inside its throat.

  "You know, Jack, I chose this body because it has ingestive sensors. I don't metabolize the tea or the food, but I can sense it and I enjoy it. Let's enjoy the tea. Former master and former student. Let's not think of the future."

  "That woman really did do a number on you Zenbot." Jack sat up. "Where's the old killing machine? You're so calm. So collected. Nothing like you used to be. But I know the old beast's in there." Jack pointed at Zenbot's heart, or where its heart would have been, if it had one. "I know you'll choose fame and fortune. I know you'll choose the fight. You'll dress it up in loyalty and all that bull. You'll say you gave your word to Mr. La2x's daughter. But I know the full of it. No matter how much ya hide it, you're still that bloody beast I taught to kill and we're gonna have a proper fight of it. Mano e mano." Jack flicked his finished cigarette behind his head and placed the straw back in his mouth.

  Zenbot filled both their cups with some more tea, and took another sip.

  The third exit led to a small staircase which took the crew high above the ramparts of the outer defensive ring. Mancy took a peep above the last step and saw the night sky in all its beauty. Mines floated above Qamar like shooting stars, buzzing and whizzing and occasionally exploding like fireworks. A line of ships floated over the base searching for the crew, spotlights hovered over the base and the outer ramparts.

  She raised a fist, gesturing for the rest of the crew to stop. They'd never seen the gesture before and bumped into her. "Hey. That means stop," she whispered. She readjusted herself and took a peep above the wall to the side of the rampart. An army of bounty hunters were outside the base breaking down the main door with a makeshift battering ram. Other more intelligent bounty hunters were throwing catch lines up over the wall. Thus far failing.

  Mancy looked at
VII and Mr. Qruise. "You're not going to like this." The two of them held onto each other like life rafts of sanity.

  "More? How much worse can it get?" Mr. Qruise gripped VII tighter.

  "Well… It's not as bad as whoever scared Zenbot."

  "Uh-uh." The both of them nodded.

  "And it's not a frontal assault against a contingent of killers."

  "Uh-uh." They nodded again.

  "It's…..well….there's no good way to say this. We're going to have to make a run for it across the rampart. It's just a five minute jog to the next stair case. I can see the exit stairwell over there." She pointed to a small buttress peaking above the flat, exposed rampart.

  Mr. Qruise poked his head above the last step and peeked above the rampart. "That's alright then. What's so bad about that?"

  "You're right, Mr. Qruise. You're right. Nothing bad about it. Just a leisurely jog. Just, most importantly, don't stop. You first, and you know what, you after him VII. We'll be right behind you." Mancy moved behind VII and Mr. Qruise. She winked at Captain Pippy.

  "Should I close my eyes, boss? You know I limp, boss, right?" VII held onto Mr. Qruise as Captain Pippy and Mancy pushed them up onto the rampart. "If anything happens to me you're all up shit creek, boss. Remember that."

  "You probably should close your eyes, VII. Just run straight."

  Mr. Qruise took a few steps onto the rampart and saw the soldiers on the ground and the ships over head. He stopped and turned to run back down the stairs but Mancy and Captain Pippy pushed him back onto the ramparts.

  "Let me back in. Hey, stop pushing. Stop pushing. This isn't funny."