The Cold Dead Earth (The Jolo Vargas Space Opera Series Book 3)

by J. D. Oppenheim

  The thing turned and roared again and Jolo couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t feel anything. He and Greeley held onto each other in the middle of the brick covered street in the dark. Greeley was yelling, “Simone! Simone!” Jolo put his hands over his ears but the voice in his head would not go away.

  Stay where you are Jolo Vargas. You have come to do your part for the greater good. Rest now.

  Jolo opened his eyes and could see nothing but the light. The light and the long white teeth.

  Some that Needs to Die

  Katy stared out the small porthole window into the gray-orange ice and sighed. She could hear Barth and Hurley outside trying to find out why the Argossy’s engines wouldn’t spin up. They’d yell and curse for awhile, then get quiet, then there’d be a round of banging noises that reverberated through the whole ship, followed by a brief moment of quiet before it all started up again. Koba was outside digging through the ice trying to make it down fourteen meters to a strange bit of organic matter the scanners had picked up. The scanners said the stuff was organic. Organic is good, she thought. Maybe Jolo was right. Maybe you could eat it or at the very least burn it. Soon they’d be out of fuel and then it didn’t matter if they had food or not. She instinctively put her hand on her belly. She couldn’t tell if she was bigger or not but her breasts ached and she started to feel a good cry coming on. But not now.

  She looked up and George was staring at her. And even though his eyes were glass and his body language was a work in progress, she knew he was worried about her. He put his hand on her shoulder.

  “He’ll come back. Don’t worry.”

  “You get right to the point, don’t you?” A few tears came down, but she wiped them away. She considered telling him her secret but held back.

  “Concise dialogue is good, right?”

  “Yes. Thanks.”

  “Don’t forget. He is Jolo Vargas. He always returns. And if he doesn’t, then George will go and find him.”

  Katy forced a smile and gave the synthetic human a hug. It was like hugging a tree. But she knew George would do anything for Jolo and she loved him for that.

  “What’s the data say?” she said, trying to change the subject.

  George eyed the readout on his display and shook his head. “It says it would be difficult for humans to survive here,” he said. “The ecosystem is shot, gone--its a dead planet. The sun holds the planets in orbit but not enough light can make it through the atmosphere to support plant life as the Earth once was. No photosynthesis. No life.”

  “Then how are we breathing oxygen?” said Katy.

  “My guess would be some other organism or process is at work. Something in the ice, maybe? Not enough data.”

  “So we’ve got ice and oxygen. Isn’t that enough?”

  “What would a mammal eat? How would it stay warm? Is there anything to burn?”

  Just then, Koba poked his head into the makeshift lab George had set up in the med bay. “You know, the pilot aught to be doing some digging. My hands are cold,” he said.

  “She is helping me,” said George.

  “Alright, well, y’all should come out and take a look what I just dug up.”

  Outside Barth and Hurley were staring into a deep hole Koba had dug using a short-range probe jet. Parts of the bullet-shaped probe were laying off to the side.

  “Do you see how I did it?” said Koba, beaming.

  No one said anything. Hurley kicked at some ice and it dropped into the hole. “Well?”

  Still nothing. Finally, Barth said in a bored monotone, “You used the probe jets to burn a hole in the ice. Now what did you find, Genius?”

  There was an old blue tarp on the ground from the storage bay. Koba pulled it away dramatically. Underneath was a dark fibrous piece of something that kind of looked like dirt, but was more dense.

  Hurley sniffed it. “Smells like brown dog after it’s been sittin’ on the table for a few days.”

  “Naw. More like karomite dung,” said Barth.

  “And this pile of shite is gonna save us?” said Katy. She felt the cry welling up again, but forced it back for the second time.

  George put a bit into his mouth.

  “I didn’t think you could, uh, eat?” said Koba.

  “I don’t. But I can get a rudimentary analysis of the dark stuff.” He stood there for a full minute, everyone watching his face for some indication.

  “Well, it is organic,” said George. “No toxins that my scans could pick up, but we should do some more testing in the med lab.”

  “Can a human eat it?” said Katy.

  “I don’t see why not. It is carbon based, 24.5% protein, 14.7% fat, and the rest mostly carbohydrate.”

  Hurley reached down, cracked off a bit, blew off some dirt and took a bite. He chewed on it for awhile and then swallowed. “Ain’t the best tasting stuff I ever ate. But it eats.”

  Koba started to take a bite, but Barth stopped him. Let’s wait and see how it goes with Hurley before we all get sick.”

  “Oh, thanks a lot for that,” said Hurley.

  “Well, I wasn’t the hasty old fart that ate that shite, either.”

  “Well, I ain’t the one with an overabundance of fat reserves and you bein’ awful stingy with the food allotment lately.”

  “Boys!” said Katy. “Hurley, thank you for being the first to test it. We need to know if it can sustain us.”

  “Let’s not get our hopes up,” said George. “There is still only a, uh, a very slim chance of human habitation on this planet. I don’t believe there are any large, air-breathing animals here.”

  “How about them?” said Koba.

  And suddenly through the fog they could see a small group of people heading their way.

  “George, you stay here. Don’t let them near the ship. The rest get inside the Argossy. I’ll get the rifle!” said Barth.

  “Stop!” came a yell from behind them, in the opposite direction of the approaching people. They turned and there was a man in a white coat, both hands in his pockets and a smile on his face. Barth made a sudden move for the Argossy, but the man pulled out a blaster. Katy looked at George. The man was as fast as Jolo. “You won’t be needing any weapons where you’re going,” said the man with a cold smile. “We have plenty of good weapons. You are safe with us.” Soon the others arrived, a ragged bunch of humans with makeshift weapons and tattered clothes.

  “They gots a woman!” yelled a man missing several teeth. He swallowed hard and stared at Katy like he wanted to eat her.

  “Shut up, you fools!” the man in the white coat snarled. Then he turned back to the crew. “Forgive him. He has forgotten his manners.” Then he turned and shot the man. The man with missing teeth lay motionless on the ice. “Take his weapon and leave him for the Queen.”

  Katy screamed and George edged closer to her.

  “There there, little butterfly,” said the man. “You are saved. Oh, and where are my manners.” He cleared his throat and straightened his jacket. “Welcome to Earth,” he said, bowing. George inched a little closer to Katy.

  The man gave them another big, plastic smile. “And now you must come with us.”

  Katy didn’t like this “must” part. She didn’t like this man one little bit. Something was off about him. She stared to think of Jolo again but quickly buried the thought deep in her mind.

  “And now for a bit of business concerning payment for our services,” said the man in the white coat. His three remaining men started to snicker and grin. But another look from the man and they shut right up. “In times past, there would be long negotiations and painful, heartrending deliberations, but I have grown old and wise and feel the best course when executing—” More chuckling from the others. “Uh, when executing a particularly difficult negotiation is to simply do it as quickly as possible.” And with that the man suddenly had the gun in his hand again and pointed it at Barth. “Nothing personal,” the man said.

  George jumped in front of Barth.
/>
  The man shook his head slowly. “See, I’ve just broken my own rule. Should have dispensed with the pleasantries.”

  “Why shoot anyone?” yelled Katy.

  “Actually, two must die!” screamed the man. “But fortunately for you all I’ve already given her one.” He pointed to the dead man.

  “Given who?” said Katy.

  “The Queen,” said the man. And he fired once and George fell onto the ice. “Now come with me or die like those two.” Katy looked at Barth and he nodded.

  “We’ll come,” Barth said. And the man in the white coat led them away. They marched out onto the ice, the men with the guns behind, prodding them on. Soon they couldn’t see the Argossy anymore. An hour later, in near darkness, Hurley had begun to fall, and each time one of the men would grab him, one hand by the hair, the other his belt, and jerk him up, poking him with the rifle. And just when Katy was about to fall down herself, they stopped.

  The man in the white jacket pointed at a hole with a stairway leading to God knows where. As Katy went down she took one last look into the darkness. Before, at least they had the Argossy. That was home no matter where they were. Now they had nothing but the clothes on their backs and heavy hearts. One of the men poked her with his gun and she started down the stairwell into the black hole.

  Wild Boys

  Jolo felt something tugging at his arm. He swatted at it, but it came back a few minutes later. This went on for some time but Jolo didn’t know if it had been hours or minutes. He couldn’t remember anything. He didn’t know where he was. The cold crept in, coming up through the floor of the ship. Had the engines died? Was life support down?

  He was the captain and there were people to take care of. They were his responsibility. He was a Federation captain.

  Eventually he sat up and tried to see. There was a man next to him with a look of pain on his face and he wondered if the man was dead. Jolo looked into the man’s eyes and it all came back.

  The worm and the screaming.

  “You okay?” said Jolo. But Greeley just stared at him.

  Jolo put his hands to the side of his head. If he tried he could think of worse ways to die than being eaten by a giant worm. But the worst part was she got into his head. In the end, when she was bearing down on him, he couldn’t move.

  “Greeley. Why are we not dead? And who is Simone? You kept yelling for her.” But Greeley just stared at him. His face went from pain to confusion and back, like he was trying to say something but couldn’t remember the words.

  There was movement in the darkness nearby but Jolo didn’t go for the Colt. Anything smaller than a Gemini trash hauler did not seem worth the effort. Soon there was a skinny boy standing there holding a cat.

  The cat.

  Little Richard jumped down from the boy’s arms and into Jolo’s lap. It purred and rubbed its head on his jacket, soon it found the handle of the Colt and used that to scratch behind its ears. Jolo felt the soft fur and was genuinely happy to see him. “Good to see you, too, Richard.”

  “Dat nyanya like you, Ole-man-two,” said the boy. “You gone come wid me? You come wid me or da bitch come back and eat you for shore like she ate the Chopper man.”

  So Jolo helped Greeley get to his feet and they followed the boy right back to the bookstore that Jolo had found earlier. He led them between the stacks of books to a back room, then through a hole in the wall to another place that smelled different. The brick road was cold earth and rot. But here were human smells: sweat and old books.

  The boy led them to the far side of the big room and gestured upwards. There was a ladder leading to a hole in the ceiling. “Can’t go there,” said Jolo.

  “Oh, Ole-man-two cain’t go high?” said the boy.

  “I ain’t no old man, and I can go, but not him!” growled Jolo. And the boy stepped back a bit. He motioned to Richard and the cat jumped down from Jolo to the boy. The boy took the cat up into the hole.

  A moment later the boy yelled back down. “Ole-man-two?”

  “What?”

  “Y’all be quiet. I bring Ole-man down to you.”

  “Hey, Boy. Can you bring some food?” said Jolo.

  The boy looked at him like that was a stupid question. “Food all over,” said the boy.

  Jolo propped Greeley up against a wall in a seated position and now that his mind had begun to clear he realized the big man didn’t look too good. He sat down next to Greeley and closed his eyes.

  He awoke some time later and the room was full of movement. Jolo was laying down next to Greeley and they both had blankets on them. There was a fire in the center of the floor and pretty soon a man with an old rifle came. He squatted down next to Jolo and felt Jolo’s forehead.

  “You supposed to be sick for a week, but you up early.”

  “How long have I been out?”

  “’Bout three days. They call it the haze. You are lucky to be alive. Does she still have your mind?”

  The boy from before came up. He pointed at Jolo. “That one gone be fine.” And then he gestured towards Greeley. “That one nuttin’ but Graja food.”

  “Graja?”

  “The Queen bitch. The monster.”

  “Who are you?” said Jolo.

  “Name’s Riley.” The man turned and motioned to one of the kids to bring a drink. Jolo noticed he was wearing a jacket with a Fed merchant patch, but he didn’t recognize the company.

  “How’d you escape?” said Riley.

  “We went out to get the lay of the land after we crashed. And then got bum rushed by Hazuki.”

  The man nodded. “And you lived. Nicely done. You Fed military?”

  “Used to be. Most recently a pirate.”

  The man laughed. “I was on a Merced freighter out of Darcen. We had a skeleton crew. Idiot for a captain. But the Queen done too care of that.”

  A child handed Jolo a dirty plastic cup full of water and he took a long drink. His whole body started to feel better. He downed the whole thing and handed the cup back. “One more?”

  “You must be a shite pirate to end up here,” said Riley.

  “I came here on purpose.”

  “No one but a fool would come here on purpose. All I want to do is get off this dead rock and back to Farrin where I got a wife and kid. I hope they ain’t forgot about me. We saved up for a time so we could get a place close to the core. Safer there. Better for the kid.”

  “How long you been here?”

  The man looked down. “Ain’t quite sure. Few years I imagine. I seen that one,” he said, pointing to the boy who brought the water, “grow from nuthin to bout as tall as me. Ain’t got a way to mark time. Can’t really see the sun and we hide mostly.”

  “You don’t know what happened, do you?”

  “All I know is I wanna get out of here and you are the first man to escape Hazuki. You gonna help me get home. You a good pirate?” he said, grinning.

  “The best.”

  “Yeah, you ain’t much if you ended up here eatin’ grajafun.”

  “I am Jolo Vargas.”

  The man jumped up and swung the gun around. Suddenly he was shaky, the end of the barrel darting around. And he kept backing up, making the chances of a shot hitting home even that more remote. He acted just like the merchants always did when the pirate Jolo Vargas boarded their ship. Fear and bad decisions.

  Jolo held up his hands. “I am no threat to you.”

  “Damn you to hell!” the man yelled and the kids all went quiet. Another, taller boy, emerged from the crowd with a rifle and stood beside the merchant, Riley. Jolo took a good look at the guns and ran a quick pattern match search on his internal computer: both Earth-year 1943 Browning automatics. Back when men fought amongst each other on the same planet instead of taking a ship to another planet to do the killing. The schematic in Jolo’s head showed an ammunition clip under the trigger mechanism. Only Riley’s gun had one. The kid’s gun was for show. Stupid merchant, thought Jolo. An unloaded gun is just going to ge
t the boy killed.

  Riley stepped forward, the end of the Browning aimed at Jolo’s chest.

  “I am not here to fight humans,” Jolo said.

  “Tell that to the captain of the Mainte 5, and her crew. All but two fed to that monster like frakkin’ cattle. All except me. Hazuki needed an engineer. And our navigator, a woman he needed for the breeding program. He didn’t need any of the others.”

  “The captain knew the risks of going through jump point one.”

  “Yeah, he knew all right. But there weren’t no clean routes anymore. The lanes were supposed to be protected by the BG but that was a joke. We had to get to Millicent once a month. If we were late then they wouldn’t take it. We carried food and bio-med that all had expiration time stamps. One second past the expiry and the seals would blow and let oxygen in and all the cargo would be spoiled. No merch hauler company could take a hit like that. We’d have to pay for the cargo and it’d shut us down.

  On our last run we were on time and gonna make some good money. But half way there we got a message from a Lawson Railer freighter. There was a pirate waiting in Alent. After getting hit so many times the merchants put away their grievances with one another and started sharing intel on pirate activity. The Lawson Railer got hit in that sector right before we were to come through. The only other option was jump point one.”

  “Your captain was a fool. One pirate ain’t enough to make me want to risk Earth.”

  “Yeah. But it weren’t no small-time pirate in a two-man runabout with one little turret.”

  “Still, the pirate ships can’t hold more than a few containers. Run through and pay a small price and move on.”