by Trevor Gregg
Unlike Magar though, the population here was composed primarily of aliens. Humans, while present, appeared to be a minority. Kyren shouldered his way into the press of travelers, trailing Alis and Elarra in his wake. Reaching the street, he flagged down a cab.
Once they had piled in, Kyren turned to the Oracle and asked “where to next? How do we find this relic hunter of yours?”
Elarra turned to the robotic driver and said “Zauhaus bar.”
It responded robotically, “affirmative.”
A short while later, the cab left them on the corner of a rather unsavory block. They approached the faded and worn facade of the bar. Kyren heaved one of the massive carved wooden doors open, letting light stream into the darkened bar.
As he entered the dim, smoky interior, he marveled at the diverse crowd, far more varied than even Magar’s own Yellow Zone. At the bar were two creatures that appeared to be giant ferns on spindly stork legs. At a nearby table, two leathery skinned humanoids were using their long prehensile proboscises to shove morsels of some foul smelling meat into each other’s mouths. A centaur-like something with a human torso and a body like a six-legged hippopotamus trundled past Kyren and the others, heading out the door.
The Oracle pointed and Kyren’s eyes followed her finger. Next to what appeared to be a hookah smoking caterpillar accompanied by several giant fly-like creatures sat a man, alone at his table. In his fifties, he had silver hair cropped short, with a strong jaw and alert blue eyes. He seemed to be paying them a great deal of attention.
“Let’s go, I will introduce you,” she said, making her way through the maze of tables.
He neither stood nor acknowledged them as they sat down. But he spoke once they were seated.
“Hello Oracle,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “It’s been a long time.”
“Hello Theo, it is good to see you again,” she replied with genuine affection in her voice.
Speaking quietly, Theophax leaned in and said, “I’d love to chit chat and catch up, but if we’re gonna get out of this, you three need to follow my lead. Behind me and to your right are three thevars at a table. Those suckers are nasty, we have to be careful.”
“The thevar race are part of the Crevak Tribe, the loose alliance of barbaric races that fought the Consortium in the Millennium Wars,” Alis explained to Kyren.
“Those scum are bounty hunters, here to collect me. The only reason they haven’t taken me yet is that they are trying to figure out a way in which they can both collect the bounty and eat me,” he said self-assuredly.
Kyren chanced a look at the creatures. They bore pistols, rifles, and knives. Their oily green scales glistened faintly in the dim light. Set in a wicked scowl, their lizard-like faces bore four large nostrils, seemingly suitable for hunting by scent. They saw him looking at them and all three peeled back their black lips, revealing wicked razor sharp teeth. He quickly looked away, and wouldn’t admit to himself he was shaken.
“First, kid, keep your hands hidden under the table. Then, tell your ladies to go get transportation secured, and fast, okay?” he urged in a whisper. When met with a blank stare, “do it, you tell them.”
Kyren played along and told them to go find a cab. He kept his hands hidden beneath the table. Alis and Elarra got up, Elarra grabbed Kyren’s bag and slung it over her shoulder. Kyren watched as they exited the bar quickly. Once they were safely outside, he turned his attention back to the relic hunter.
“So what now, daddy-o?” Kyren asked, trying not to look directly at the thevars. He felt the butt of a pistol shoved into his hand under the table.
“Take this. You’re going to have to shoot me,” Theophax said.
Kyren’s eyes went wide, so Theophax said “don’t worry, it’s an ion blaster, it’ll just knock me out. Then you claim your bounty. Today, kid, you’re a bounty hunter. They have a code. They don’t steal another’s claimed bounty.”
“So… when I give the word, you throw the table back and blast me. Say something about collecting a bounty and then haul my ass out to the street and into your ride,” he instructed.
“And hope they buy our act,” Theophax finished, rolling his eyes over his shoulder.
He looked Kyren in the eyes, and mouthed “now!”
Kyren sprung up, tossing the table aside and raising the blaster. He squeezed the trigger and Theophax was hit in the chest with a burst of crackling blue energy that washed over him like water. He spasmed and toppled his chair over backward, sprawling his limp body on the floor.
He quickly glanced at the thevars and they were already beginning to stand. He aimed another shot at Theophax’s chest and yelled “I’m collecting the bounty on you, you fucking dog!”
Kneeling, he maneuvered the relic hunter’s dead weight over his shoulder. Groaning and straining, he managed to get to his feet. Kyren was grateful Theophax wasn’t a large man, but it was a struggle nonetheless.
He staggered out the door into the afternoon heat, quickly looking around for Alis and Elarra. As he turned, a fourth thevar, who must’ve been guarding the door, stepped close, beginning to draw a long wicked knife from its belt. It bared its lips at him and he staggered backward.
The knife cleared the sheath but then there was an audible click, as the Oracle stepped up behind the distracted thevar and cocked the hammer on Kyren’s massive revolver.
“I can’t miss at this range, lizardman,” she said wickedly, stepping around the creature to stand by Kyren’s side. “Behind you Kyren, down the block, Alis has a cab waiting.”
He turned and spotted the cab and Alis standing on the curb, looking worried. They backed away slowly, Kyren straining with Theophax’s weight. He was staggering by the time he reached the cab, barely managing to plop him into the back. Alis shoved Kyren inside and he collapsed on the far seat, panting heavily and wiping sweat from his forehead with his hand. Elarra and Alis scampered in after him and simultaneously ordered the driver to “go!”
27
Fancy Meeting You Here
They had been driving for nearly twenty minutes when Theo began to come around. He stared bleary eyed at Kyren and the others, obviously struggling to regain control of his wits. Kyren wondered where this was going to lead.
“Ow…” was all the relic hunter said.
After a few moments, he struggled into a sitting position, turning to face them, “Well, since we didn’t get formal introductions, I’ll start. I’m Theophax.”
“Hi, I’m Alis,” she said, delivering a shy little wave, her ears twitching nervously.
“Kyren,” he said with a nod, extending his hand, raising his eybrow and looking sidelong at Alis.
Theophax shook Kyren’s hand firmly and finally turned to Elarra. “Oracle, I would say it’s good to see you except I know you’ve brought me trouble. What is it this time, which vision are you pursuing now? Who are these kids you’re dragging along?”
“The great evil I told you of many years ago, it is here now. We need something to even the score. We need the Ashari,” she said plainly.
“You remember what happened the last time we went to Pharos, right?” he retorted sharply.
“I remember, yes. But perhaps the situation has changed. We won’t know until we get there.”
“I know we received the signal from the ship, but what if it isn’t operational? What then?” Theo questioned.
“I’ve seen that it will be functional.”
Theophax straightened and looked out the window, obviously trying not to acknowledge what she said. “Where are we?”
“Sinjan district, or at least that is where we are heading. The driver is taking us to a hotel,” Alis replied.
“No good, we need to find a quiet way off-world. Once those thevars and other bounty hunters discover the kid, I mean Kyren, didn’t turn me over, you’ll all be targets too,” Theophax warned.
“Elarra, you know the Ashari may not be there anymore,” he pleaded, hands open.
“I have
faith that it will be where it needs to be,” she said enigmatically.
“Fine. If we are going to find the Ashari though, I have to retrieve my data core from my apartment, it has the coordinates. Problem is, they’re gonna be watching the place, the bounty hunters are,” he explained.
“What exactly did you do to deserve this kind of attention?” Alis asked, looking shocked.
“My last trip was a bust. My employer, a strong-arm warlord from Xeros sector named Rusico, blames me for the expedition coming back empty handed,” Theo said bluntly. “It wasn’t my fault, many of the entries in my data core are no longer relevant. There’s no way to know for sure until you check them out.”
While Kyren and Alis listened attentively, the Oracle rolled her eyes. “But you pitched the idea to your backer.”
Theophax feigned offense.
“Am I wrong?” she pursued.
“No,” he said dejectedly. “So the expedition was my idea, but he knew the risks, he knew there wasn’t any guarantee,” was Theo’s excuse. “So now he wants to sell me to recover the cost.”
Kyren blanched and looked sidelong at Alis, who was mirroring the gesture. “Shit, we can’t let that happen. I know something about that sort of scenario,” Kyren exclaimed.
Alis just sat there looking horrified, nodding.
“It’s okay, we don’t have to worry about it if we do it my way,” Theophax said. “Driver, take us to Erzon street,” he instructed, and began to explain his plan.
28
The Hegelin
The afternoon was wearing on by the time they reached the block where Theophax’s apartment resided. Elarra paid the cab to wait and they split up according to Theo’s plan, Alis with Elarra and Kyren with Theo.
Kyren followed Theo down the sidewalk as they circled the block from the opposite direction. The sun beat down mercilessly on him, the heat of the day making him sweat. The sidewalks were occupied by only a few pedestrians, but the streets were filled with steady traffic. The sun beat down heavily on Kyren as they approached the high-rise where Theo had his residence. He was grateful for the cotton robes they had purchased at a marketplace along the way, the large cowl shading his face.
“So what do we do if there’s one in your apartment?” Kyren asked quietly.
Theo patted his blaster under his robes, “We’ll improvise, kid.”
As they neared the high rise where his apartment was, Theo dragged Kyren into an alleyway and back into shadow. “There, bounty hunter, right there, and there too,” Theo said, pointing them out to Kyren. “But the one near the door is the only one we really need to worry about. The others are watching from a distance, they are expecting to intercept me after I leave so they can rob me too. That doss there is just too eager to get a hold of me, he wants to catch me on the way in.”
He watched as the Oracle approached the entrance of the apartment tower from the opposite direction, having circled around the block. She moved to the the bounty hunter who was near the door of the tenement. Playing the lost little girl card, she was sobbing and clinging to the doss bounty hunter’s leg.
While the bounty hunter was distracted, Theo and Kyren dodged through the main doors and shucked out of their robes, tossing them in a trash bin. Quickly riding the elevator up to the fourteenth floor, they exited into a cool dim hall. As they entered, full lighting flickered on. Ion blaster drawn, Theo crept down the hall toward his door, motioning to Kyren for silence.
Reaching his door without incident, he palmed the reader and the door slid open. He spun around the corner, pistol sweeping the room, but it was empty, devoid of bounty hunters. As Kyren relaxed, he realized he had his hand in his bag, grasping the revolver’s grip.
The room was quite spacious, and the far wall was a full window, floor to ceiling. The furniture consisted of a small bed, some cabinets, and whole lot of shelves, which bore all manner of technological relics. A small bathroom and kitchen sink occupied one corner.
“Nice place,” Kyren admitted. It was far larger than the tiny apartment he and Athar had shared in Dust Quarter.
Theo began rummaging through bins, looking in storage cases, checking his shelves. “Aha, here it is!” he exclaimed, holding up a cylindrical device about four inches long and two inches in diameter.
“And I’ll be taking that, along with your ass,” a voice said behind them as the door slammed shut.
Kyren watched as a strange creature faded into sight, its shimmering camouflage giving way to a body covered in brown bony plates and a face only a mother could love. And only if that mother was just as ugly. It seemed some oil or fluid was being excreted from the joints in the creature’s plating, and it smelled noxious.
It extended both arms, flattening its palms and exposing its wrists. A fine jet of flame spewed forth from each one, streaming through the air next to their heads.
He could feel the heat of the fire and cringed back. Theo took a step forward and said, “what are you gonna do, burn me? The bounty is for me intact. I mean, who sends a hegelin bounty hunter, really?”
“I’m not gonna burn ya,” it croaked, and surged forward, lashing out viciously with a bony plated fist slamming into Theo’s face and sending him sprawling. Kyren ran to his side and helped him into a sitting position.
He handed Kyren his data core and said “put that in your bag kid, don’t lose it. I’ve got to rumble with this guy here,” he said while getting to his feet.
The hegelin laughed a laugh like gravel being shoveled. His laugh cut short as Kyren drew his gun.
“No, don’t shoo…” Theo was cut off by the gun’s BOOM! The revolver kicked but Kyren was ready for it. To his surprise, the round took the hegelin square in the chest. As it was driven backward, gouts of flame erupted from its wrists and then its entire body burst into flame.
As the hegelin’s body hit the floor, Theo tackled Kyren, knocking him behind a row of low cabinets. Then Kyren’s world literally erupted around him. The concussion from the blast knocked the wind out of him. He gasped for breath, smoke and fire all around him. Theophax grabbed him under the arms and dragged him across the floor toward the great window, which was cracked from the blast but still unbroken.
“That was a hegelin, kid, you weren’t supposed to shoot him. They’re like a walking bomb,” Theo explained through wheezing coughs.
Half of the apartment was engulfed in flames, the heat and smoke stinging Kyren’s eyes. “I understand now,” he replied, dazed.
“We’ve got to get out of here before the rest of its oil sacks detonate,” Theo said while rummaging through the spilled contents of the toppled shelves.
“How? The doorway is entirely engulfed in flames.”
“With these,” Theo said triumphantly, holding up two pairs of robotic-looking boots. “Quick, put these on,” and tossed a pair to Kyren. “They’re durian jet boots, the on switch is in the tongue.”
Theo seemed to have no trouble donning his, and immediately began rummaging the spilled contents of another shelving unit, coming up with a large sledgehammer. Coughing from the smoke, he strode over to the window just as Kyren finished fastening his boots.
Theo swung the hammer in a great arc, pushing a button on the haft about halfway through the swing. With a burst of flame a rocket engine on the backside of the hammerhead fired to life, accelerating the hammer to high velocity. It impacted with the great glass window and it shattered outward, blown into a million pieces by the rocket powered hammer. Smoke billowed out of the opening. As the air rushed in Kyren could actually hear the fire intensifying.
Theo bent down and thumbed the switches for his rocket boots. The jets on the sole of the boots flared to life and he began to float free of the floor. “When you take off, you’ll want to be careful not to…” he started to say but was interrupted by another BOOM!
A second explosion rocked the apartment as the hegelin’s remaining internal oil sacks ignited. The blast wave sent Kyren and Theo, and half the contents of the apartment f
lying out like pellets from the barrel of a shotgun. As Kyren fell he realized he hadn’t turned on his jet boots.
Panic set in as he scrambled to reach the switch as he fell. Fumbling, he grasped at the tongue, desperately seeking the on switch. He glanced down and felt terror take hold as he saw the ground rushing toward him. Redoubling his efforts, trying to ignore his impending death, he reached into the boots again.
Finally he found it, and flicked the switch. The boots ignited, sending him spiraling downward at an even faster rate. He strained to arrest his fall, managing to get his feet under him at the very last moment. He came to rest hovering a few feet above the street. Cars and motobikes careened around him as he looked up in surprise.
With a few tentative moves, he tested the foot controls, and then shot off down the street after Theo. Around the corner, Alis and Elarra waited with the cab. Kyren watched out the back window as several bounty hunters rounded the corner after them while they sped away.
29
Skurn
Theophax gave the gruff rillian driver a new address and he immediately spun a u-turn through the middle of traffic, earning honks and rude gestures from all manner of alien appendages. They had to traverse nearly the entire city of Nasain to reach their destination, so the ride lasted nearly an hour. The cab pulled up in front of a large warehouse or some sort of abandoned industrial facility and Elarra paid the driver.
They followed Theophax up to a massive roll-up door. He banged hard twice and the sound echoed inside the large space. A muffled call came from somewhere deep within the structure. Several minutes later the door began to roll upward and they were greeted by a diminutive creature, which stood about four feet tall. It’s upper torso was more or less humanoid, but the face had elongated features, slits for a nose, pointed ears, and a small tight mouth. The lower torso was composed of a central mass around which four short, powerful legs were arrayed in an X shape. It had green hair to compliment its bluish skin tone and was wearing a grease-smudged lab coat.
