The Star Collector

by Matthew William

  “I can’t let you take her,” he said, the second they stepped from the Crown Vik.

  “Take who?” Joe asked.

  “Tammy. She’s my perfect match. She reads all the instructions and follows orders... She’s the anti-me.”

  “Sorry, Deniz,” Joe said. “But I need her. She said something about a conference room?”

  “Right,” Deniz said. “You guys get to break it in.”

  He led them through the complex to a meeting space where there sat a large modern table with an outside view of the drill. Tammy and Alma were already seated, looking anxious and bored at the same time. Joe grabbed a pen and paper from a nearby desk and took a seat.

  “Water or coffee for anybody?” Deniz asked.

  “No, I think we’re alright,” Joe said, he turned to Alma and Tammy. “So...”

  “Something to eat?” Deniz interrupted.

  “No, we’re fine.”

  “Okay,” Deniz turned to leave. “Any smokers here?”

  “If we need something we’ll ask, alright?” Joe snapped.

  With a double thumbs up Deniz left.

  Joe shook his head and addressed the others. “So what happened with the lawyer?”

  “He put us in contact with a science officer from the facility,” Tammy began. “Qin Feng, was his name. He asked for our help but...”

  “That place, Joe, is entirely impregnable,” Alma blurted out.

  “Is it?” Joe asked.

  “And they have the artifact, and they don’t know how to turn it off,” Tammy said.

  “Ah jeez,” Joe sighed.

  “And that’s not even the worst part,” Alma said.

  “What’s the worst part?”

  “There’s only 48 hours left before the bloody thing goes off,” Alma replied.

  “And they’re not letting anyone leave,” Tammy continued.

  Joe stared at Cassandra. Her face said everything he was thinking. This was a lost cause they had no option but to pursue.

  “So what should we do?” he asked the room. He was met with complete and utter silence. “Don’t everybody talk at once.”

  “What exactly would you like us to say, Joe?” Alma asked.

  “I’d like to hear everyone’s opinion,” Joe said. “We’re about to go after an artifact in a top secret military facility with nothing but our brains and our guts. It’s not like there’s any going back from here. This is more or less a suicide mission.”

  The girls just looked down at the table.

  “Do we actually want to go through with it?”

  “I think we have to go through with it,” Cassandra said.

  “You believe the artifact is dangerous now?” Joe asked.

  “I don’t know what to believe,” Cassandra said pressing a hand to her forehead. “But this situation’s not good. And I can’t see us succeeding…”

  “But?” Joe asked.

  “But Halle is the only one that can fix this,” Cassandra said.

  “But what if… hypothetically, this whole thing’s just a hoax,” Joe said. “We would be committing suicide for nothing.”

  “If you really think that, then why do you want to go after it?” Cassandra asked, evidently feeling his urge to continue.

  “I don’t know,” Joe replied, honestly unsure as to why he didn’t just take his chances and go home.

  “Let’s just – for argument's sake – say it’s real,” Tammy said.

  “Well, there’s no getting in that facility undetected,” Alma said. “It’s airtight.”

  “What if we plan a heist?” Cassandra replied.

  “How would one go about doing that?” Alma asked.

  Joe took the pen in his hand and sketched out the first thing that came to mind. When he noticed Cassandra trying to sneak a peak he pulled it away.

  “What did you draw?” she asked, pulling at his arm.

  “No, it’s nothing.”

  “Come on, what is it?”

  “I told you, it’s not even worth looking at.”

  “Just let me see it,” Cassandra insisted, finally reaching and taking the paper from him.

  It was a picture of Joe sneaking into the facility inside a giant cake. She handed it back to him.

  Joe tossed the pen on the table. “I’m not a heist planner.”

  “But didn’t your line of work put you in contact with some part of the criminal underworld?” Alma asked.

  “There wasn’t much of a criminal underworld in Sector 121.”

  “What if we got together some money…” Tammy said. “We could hire somebody to do the job for us.”

  “We don’t have that type of time,” Joe said. “Or money for that matter.”

  “But if we did?” Tammy said.

  “Who would we even ask to pull off a job like this?” Joe asked.

  “I have a brother,” Cassandra said. “He spent some time in prison recently, for tax evasion. He works at the Talashaa temple on Hann. That’s nearby right? We could ask him if he knows anyone who can help us.”

  “This seems like a long shot,” Joe said, shaking his head and examining his cake picture. “But it might be all we have.”

  “Excuse my asking, but how do you have a brother?” Tammy asked.

  “Oh, we were made in the same factory on the same day,” Cassandra said. “It’s an android custom to look up who shares most of your serial number.”

  Tammy nodded thoughtfully.

  “So this is what we’re doing?” Alma asked.

  “Looks like it,” Joe said, leaning back in the chair. This was more or less the worst case scenario – knowing the world might end and being powerless to do anything about it.

  Everybody got up to leave. As they filed out of the room, Alma pulled Joe aside. “There was a bit of a situation with Tammy.”

  “Oh… is she alright?”

  “Joe, you know I’m not one to complain about these types of things – me and hashish have had a long, loving relationship… it’s just, this was some heavy stuff she bought.”

  “Who Tammy?”

  “While we were out on our side adventure, she managed to score some Pink Candy.”

  “Wow,” Joe said. Heavy stuff was an understatement. Pink Candy was like heroin, cocaine and sour skittles combined.

  “Wow, indeed.”

  “So what do you want me to do about it?” Joe asked.

  “I think you should to talk to her.”

  His stomach went sour. “Why me?”

  “Aren’t you technically her boss?”

  “I mean, technically I was.”

  “Then you have a responsibility,” Alma said.

  “Had a responsibility.”

  “Well, it’s bloody more than I ever had.”

  “I kind of have a lot on my plate right now,” Joe sighed.

  “Fine, fine. Just – if the girl OD’s don’t come crying to me about it.”

  Joe trudged down the hall past the main office.

  “So what’s the plan?” Deniz called out from behind his desk.

  Joe stopped. “We’re going to see if we can find someone to do a heist for us.” He looked to the others. They nodded in agreement.

  “Fun!” Deniz said. “I’m not coming, but sounds fun.”

  With Deniz’s permission, they brought some office tables and chairs from the waiting room out into the Crown Vik, so they would have something to sit on during the last leg of their adventure. Once situated, they pulled off towards Hann.

  Cassandra had Alma assist with her arm repair with tools they had borrowed from Deniz. Joe drove and Tammy came up to sit next to him on a metal and leather waiting room chair, fiddling with a notepad that had the coordinates for the facility.

  Joe nervously sighed. He hated these types of conversations.

  “So... Alma said something about some drugs,” he said.

  Tammy shrugged. “So what?”

  “Um... Pink Candy is sort of a serious thing don’t you think?”

/>   “It doesn’t really matter now does it – if the world is going to end?”

  “You know, that’s a pretty dangerous road to go down.”

  “What difference does it make?”

  “I don’t know,” Joe said, shaking his head and giving up. When faced with the end of everything, there was little motivation to take the high road.

  Tammy laughed. “I mean, I’ve been down this road once before anyway.”

  “And it’s a place you want to go back to?”

  “Look, with everything... I can’t deal with it.”

  Joe nodded and continued driving. “Isn’t all this sort of against your religion?”

  “I’m not sure it matters any more,” Tammy stated, staring out the window.

  Joe said nothing. He had learned it was best not to.

  20

  A man-made brick temple laid half submerged in the jungle of Hann. The humidity slapped Joe in the face as soon as he stepped off his ship. This was where Cassandra’s brother kept himself busy nowadays. He had made the mistake of evading taxes for the church instead of for a corporation and had to serve time in jail because of it. It had only been a few weeks since his release.

  Joe had been here before, years ago. He could still remember the amazing spread of food they had set out – hummus and vegetable curries for days.

  He and Cassandra made their way to the treasury office where her brother, Kwanza, worked. The place smelled of coffee and paper. The android came lumbering out to the front desk to greet them. His appearance was more of a droid and less like a human, unlike his sister Cassandra. But somehow his featureless metal face still conveyed joy at the sight of his visitors. Perhaps it was the red light from his eyes.

  “It’s so good to see you two together again,” Kwanza said, his robotic voice friendly, his metal arms outstretched.

  “Did you get our message?” Cassandra asked, going in to hug him with only one functioning arm.

  Joe noted she didn’t object to them being referred to as ‘together’.

  “Yes, but… what’s wrong with that arm?” the android asked.

  “Oh… it’s a busted rotator cuff,” Cassandra answered.

  “It’s a mess, is what it is,” Kwanza said. He led them over to his desk on the far end of the treasury room, past the other worker’s punching away at their typewriters. He rummaged around in a drawer full of spare parts. Eventually he emerged with a silver rotator cuff.

  “I can give you this,” he said handing it to Cassandra. “But nothing else.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “I can’t help with the heist.”

  “Why not?”

  “I was incarcerated for a white collar crime, I didn’t meet any real criminals.”

  Cassandra nodded and looked to Joe.

  “Do you know guys who might know guys?” Joe asked

  “Even if I did,” Kwanza said, “how would we get them to believe your story? I trust Cassandra implicitly and I barely believe you guys.”

  “Not to mention it would take too long,” Cassandra added. “We have less than two days now.”

  “I’m sorry you came all the way out here for nothing,” Kwanza said.

  “It wasn’t for nothing,” Cassandra said with a smile. “I got to see you.

  “And we got a rotator cuff,” Joe added.

  Cassandra hugged her brother goodbye and Joe shook his warm iron hand. They left the office, and Joe was lost once more.

  “It was good to see him again,” he said to Cassandra. Maybe this would be the last time.

  “He always liked you,” she said. “Every time we talked he’d drop subtle hints that we should get back together.”

  “And what stopped you from listening to him?” Joe asked with a smile.

  “I’m a stubborn individual.”

  “How stubborn?”

  Cassandra declined to answer and instead walked out of the temple and up to the massive fountain in the courtyard. Joe followed. The statue at the fountain’s center was the same Talashaa in a celebratory position that Joe had seen at the ruins, with the smallest finger on each hand pointed heavenwards. He leaned on the black iron railing and enjoyed the spray of the water in the sultry Hann evening.

  “Maybe all this was a mistake,” Cassandra announced.

  Joe’s face drained of blood. What was included in this ‘mistake’? He waited, but Cassandra offered no further comment.

  “I can’t think of anything else we can do,” he said, crossing his arms, trying his best to concentrate on the problem at hand.

  “We’re at the end of our rope,” Cassandra said.

  “If only we had another rope.” Joe sighed. He looked out over the fountain and his jaw dropped. “Oh my god it’s a miracle.”

  “What is?” Cassandra asked.

  “That guy over there.”

  “He’s a miracle?” Cassandra asked.

  “He pulled a gun on me the other day.” Joe said.

  “Okay?”

  “And now he owes me a favor,” he said and began his approach.

  “Do you want help?” Cassandra asked.

  Joe stopped and looked at Cassandra’s bum arm. “No, better just wait for me in the ship. This could get a little rough.”

  Cassandra nodded and found her way back to the Crown Vik. Tammy was sleeping in a chair in the kitchen and awoke frightened to the sound of the opening door.

  “Sorry,” Cassandra said, wondering why the girl was so on edge. She was giving off the same weird vibe as when they first met back on Bolstra 5. Now that they were heading in for the home stretch, they couldn't afford to have a crew mate they didn’t trust. Cassandra raised her empathetic awareness.

  “No, it’s alright,” Tammy said checking her watch and rubbing her eyes. Her emotions were a strange mix of anxiety and disgust. “Alma’s asleep upstairs. I have to wake her in about ten minutes. You can sleep in the cabin if you want.”

  “I don’t really sleep,” Cassandra said, going to the table and opening a box of robotry tools.

  “Oh, yeah, I forgot,” Tammy replied. “How did it go with the heist?”

  “Not good,” Cassandra said, taking the rotary cuff from her pocket. “But Joe is exploring one last option.”

  Tammy went to reheat some noodles in the microwave, but realized it was gone. With a sigh she took a seat across from Cassandra at the table. The girl was now nervous. Was it because she was alone with a person she didn’t know very well? Or was she up to something?

  “It’s okay I do this?” Cassandra asked, stopping her repair job for a second. “While you’re eating I mean.”

  “No, it’s fine,” Tammy said, taking a mouth full of noodles.

  “Some people get grossed out. They can’t differentiate me from a human.”

  Tammy just nodded and chewed. No sense of repulsion on her emotional spectrum.

  “From a certain point of view, we’re doing the same thing,” Cassandra said, going to work once more.

  “I guess so,” Tammy said. “Your brother – he’s into the whole Talashism thing as well?”

  “I would say so, yes.”

  The anxiety and disgust feeling rose once more. Tammy continued, “I’m just wondering, what do you get out of it anyway?”

  “What do you mean?” Cassandra replied. Where was she going with this?

  “I mean, what’s the draw?”

  “There has to be a draw?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” Tammy said.

  “Well… I don’t want to die,” Cassandra said. The girl felt surprised but remained open. “I want to exist on some level forever.”

  “Okay? But you’re going to, more or less, live forever anyway, aren’t you?”

  The girl had dropped her anxiety and was now purely curious. This was the best way to sense a person’s intentions, when their guard was dropped and they were open.

  “I did the math,” Cassandra began. “Because the idea of dying is terrifying to me. And I
know rationally that this fear is just part of my programming – so I’ll avoid risky situations and last as long as possible, to be the best product I can be – but the feeling’s still real to me. I guess it’s the same way your fear of death is simply programmed into you by your DNA...

  “Anyway, I’m going off topic. So, say my body were to wear down and break, which is an inevitability. I could get a new body and new parts, but eventually I’ll run out of bodies and I’ll run out of parts. Either they’ll stop making them or stop making ones my brain is compatible with, or maybe mankind as we know it disappears and I’m forced to comb the galaxy, looking for spare parts until there are no more. Perhaps I could upload my consciousness onto some sort of hard drive, into some sort of program or simulation. But eventually that hard drive will break down, or be struck by a meteorite or get fried by an electrical storm. And no matter what, this universe will inevitably end and I along with it.

  “The only hope I have is that if some sort of higher power or specter or whatever you want to call it takes my consciousness from this universe and gives me something indestructible. There may only be a millionth of a percent chance of that happening, but it’s better than the zero percent chance I’d have otherwise.”

  “But why Talashism, of all things?”

  “Eh… I liked the lifestyle. The belief came afterwards.”

  Tammy chuckled. She was still off guard, but hadn’t revealed a thing.

  “What about yourself?” Cassandra asked with a convincing smile. “Why the whole Christian thing?”

  “It’s what I grew up with,” Tammy said, Cassandra could feel the pride and shame emanating from her chest. “And it gave my life structure, the traditions and whatnot. I left it for a while, did some bad things. Things I’m not proud of. Things I try my best not to do now, because I know they’re wrong. But I… it might be pointless now. And if god exists, he’s hating me for backsliding.”

  Cassandra tried to smile, but the sadness radiating from Tammy’s body made it difficult.

  “Talashism is all about idealizing the natural,” Cassandra said. “And I’m about as far away from a natural thing as you can get. So I think I know how you feel.”

  “But nature doesn’t hate you.”

  “In a way it does. I’m attacked by rust and entropy and all the things inanimate objects are plagued by. In the end I’m just a forgotten oil change away from breaking down for good.”