by James McEwan
They rode for a few hours before the skyline of New Houston came into view. It was a sight to behold; the stark contrast between the dirty industrial buildings of the lower city and the flashing lights, bold signs, and cheesy gimmicks of the casinos.
Thad knew that they could not enter the city through any of the regular ports, so he led them under the city where the maintenance robots operate. They ditched the bikes and started the long climb up the maintenance pathways. The climb was hot, dirty, and at times very tight. Thad led the way, he would climb up to the next level and then turn around and help Doctor Hammer, while Quincy was on the bottom usually with Doctor Hammer standing on his shoulders to make the climb.
It was slow going, as the maintenance areas were made for robots,not for humans, and this soon became a big problem. Thad had just pulled Doctor Hammer up when a bio-removal bot started sweeping the pathway with a spinning red laser burning off any biomaterial, effectively cleaning the metal surface. As it approached, Quincy shouted up to Thad. “Hey we have a problem!”
“What?”
“Pull me up now!”
Thad poked his head down to see the approaching bot with its spinning lasers of death. He yanked with everything he had. Quincy was jerked off his feet and upwards. Thad continued to pull Quincy onto the floor of the next level. Quincy still not quite out of the range of the lasers, was frantically trying to find something to grab to help pull him out of the way.
The floor of the maintenance way was slick, and Thad slipped. Thad, sitting on his butt, with Quincy’s still in hand, he heaved one last time. A laser flashed through the opening. Quincy screamed as a toxic, burning stench filled the air.
Quincy landed on top of Thad and they were face to face. Quincy was still screaming. “Do I still have my feet? I can’t look.” Thad tried to look down to see if Quincy had indeed lost his feet to the lasers, but he couldn’t see Quincy’s feet.
Doctor Hammer grabbed Quincy, rolled him over, and off of Thad. “Let me have look.”
Quincy covered his eyes. “I can’t look, just tell me. Are they still there?”
“Do you feel any pain?” Doctor Hammer asked.
“No, no pain just heat. What does that mean?”
“It means that your feet just got the closest shave of your life.” Doctor Hammer said, as he examined Quincy’s feet.
“What?” Quincy sat up to see that he still had his feet and from what he saw, nothing was wrong at all. He looked at his boots and wondered what the doctor was talking about. “Doc, are you okay because I don’t see anything wrong.” Doctor Hammer didn’t say anything just ran his finger along the bottom of Quincy’s exposed foot.
Quincy giggled. “That tickles. Oh.” It took a second for it to dawn on him. He bent his leg and looked at the bottom of his feet. The soles of his boots had been completely burned away leaving his feet bare, but unharmed. “I see, talk about a close call.”
Thad helped both men up. “We need to find a way out of these maintenance ways before we run into more of those cleaning bots.”
They moved much more quickly now that they knew the danger. Thad found a hatch that led out of the maintenanceways and into a dark and foul-smelling hallway. “My God! What is that smell?” Quincy asked as he exited the maintenance hatch.
“I have no idea, but it isn’t pleasant and I don’t want to hang around to find out. Let’s get moving.” Thad said, as he pushed past them and into the darkness.
As they walked, the smell became stronger. It was not long before Thad stepped on something that went squish . “Ah, what the hell was that?” He lifted his foot to find a thick snot-like substance sticking to the bottom of his boot.
Before they knew it, all three of the men were under attack. Tiny tentacles wrapped around Thad’s legs as a dozen or so creatures that looked like a cross between a banana slug and an octopus scurried out of the darkness. They were incredibly fast and strangely strong as they climbed Thad’s body with ease, despite his efforts to pull them free.
Thad could hear Doctor Hammer and Quincy struggle, fighting the creatures that had attacked them. Unfortunately, Thad was too busy trying to keep one of the creatures from strangling him, to render any assistance to the others. It seems that these creatures strangled their prey and they were doing their best to squeeze the life out them. It was impossible to stay on his feet and once Thad went down he fell into Doctor Hammer and knocked him over and he in turn like a domino knocked Quincy down.
The three men lay on the metal floor covered in slime and fighting for their lives. Every time Thad pulled one free, another jumped on top of him. It was a losing battle and he feared that if he couldn’t beat these things off, the others stood no chance at all.
Just then, a ball of flame filled the air space in the hallway above them. Thad recognized the sound of a flamethrower as another ball of flame belched forth overhead. Whoever was using the flamethrower was not trying to fry them because the flame was high enough that there was almost no heat at their level. One more blast of flame and the creatures let go and seemed to slide off of them as if they all had just died at once.
Thad rolled to his front, then he pushed himself up to his knees before he regained his feet. He helped Doctor Hammer to his feet while Quincy was being helped by their new best friend. The man behind the flamethrower was human. Short and stocky he looked like the kind of man that was well suited for working in this kind of environment.
“What are you three doing down here?” The man asked.
Quincy answered first. “Would you believe we are lost?”
The man looked at him, shrugged his shoulders. “Not a good place to be lost in.” He slung the handle of the flamethrower across his chest. He donned elbow-high black rubber gloves. “Yep! Not a good place at all to go wondering off without a flamethrower. These little buggers are a nasty bunch; they like to nest in the dark moist places down here in the maintenance tunnels.” He paused to pick up one of the creatures. “These things are a pain, because they gum up the workings, causing all kinds of problems with city’s systems.” He dropped the creature into a robotic anti-grav tank that was floating behind him.
They stood and watched as their rescuer continued to pick up creatures and drop them into the tank. “My name is Bernard, but my friends call me Bernard and you can call me…”
“Bernard.” Quincy said before he could.
“Yeah, you got it.” Bernard said. “Anyway, I work for the city’s Public Works Department and my job is to wander the maintenance ways and clean out any nests I find.”
“Sounds like a dream job.” Quincy said in jest.
Bernard picked up a large one. “Yeah, it has its moments, but I make a hefty sum for my troubles.” He dropped the creature in the tank. “Excuse me please.” he asked as he grabbed the flamethrower with one hand and pushed past them with his other arm. He let loose with another couple of bursts of flame.
“So the city pays you well for this kind of work then?” Doctor Hammer asked.
Another burst of flame, then Bernard responded. “Nah! The city pay is pretty low actually, but my bosses don’t care what I do with these little buggers as long as I keep them from gumming up the works.”
Fascinated Doctor Hammer asked. “So what do you do with these buggers as you call them?”
“I sell them to a Terrellian chef I know. Apparently, they are a tasty treat for Terrellians. They love these things and are willing to pay handsomely for each one.” Barnard said, as he picked up two more.
“Not a bad deal to get paid to kill them, then selling their corpses on the side. I need a gig like that.” Quincy said.
Barnard dropped the two into the tank. “Stun them. I stun them, not kill them. The flame seems to scare them into some kind of paralyses.”
“Very interesting, much like a possum playing dead to ward off predators.” Doctor Hammer said, as he picked up one to examine it.
“Yeah sure, whatever a possum is.” Bernard said.
�
�It is an Earth mammal that when threatened falls over and plays dead much like these creatures here.” Doctor Hammer said, as he flipped the creature over.
“Earth, never been there.” Bernard stuffed two more into the tank.
Thad had been listening to the conversation while he tried his best to clean the slime from himself. “This has been very educational, however, we need to get moving. I thank you for your help Bernard, and I need to ask one last thing of you.”
Bernard didn’t stop from his work of collecting creatures. “The closest exit is three hundred meters in that direction.” He pointed down the hallway.
“Thank you, Bernard, for everything.” Thad said.
“My pleasure. Now gentlemen, I have work to do” Bernard said, then unslung the flamethrower once again and shot a few blasts of flame ahead of them down the hallway. “That should stun them if there are any more of them hiding in the darkness.”
“Thanks again Bernard.” Doctor Hammer said.
They left Bernard to pick up the rest of the stunned creatures and they made their way unmolested to the exit door that Bernard had told them about. The door was more of a hatch with a release lever that looked like it had not been used in a long time. The thick layer of rust on the handle did not instill confidence in them.
“Do you think we can get it open?” Doctor Hammer asked.
“I don’t know, but we can give it a good try. Quincy, give me a hand.” Thad said as he grabbed the handle. Quincy took hold of the handle, the two men pulled and pushed, and slowly the handle gave way. It creaked in protest as Thad and Quincy groaned.
“Keep going lads, it’s moving.” Doctor Hammer cheered them on.
Thad threw one leg up on the doorframe to give him extra leverage, which seemed to do it. The release gave up the fight and turned. There was a hiss of air as the seal was broken. Thad and Quincy pulled the hatch door open on protesting hinges.
Doctor Hammer wasted no time and marched right past them and through the hatch. Thad looked at Quincy. “After you.” he pointed towards open the hatch.
“Why thank you.” Quincy said, as he stepped through the hatch. Thad followed taking up the rear.
They followed Doctor Hammer as he led them down the hallway to a door which opened without the fight that the other had. On the other side of that door, they found that they were not alone. They walked through the room which seemed to be some kind of locker room and inside were a variety of non-humans.
A Terrellian stood with a towel wrapped round its waist. It just stood there staring at them with his single large yellow eye. Thad stepped to the front. “Hi there” he said, but the Terrellian didn’t move. “Exit?” Thad asked. The Terrellian pointed with is tentacle-like arm. “Thanks” Thad said and moved for the exit.
They walked past a large bath with several Nektons and another Terrellian sitting in the steaming green bubbling water. Feeling awkward, the three moved as quickly as they could. The group came to a set a stairs and they raced up them only to run into another door. On the other side of this door was a large glass window that looked more like an aquarium. As they walked along it, something big swam pass.
“Did you see that? I think it was a Nautiloid.” Doctor Hammer said, surprised to see one here on Nueva Texas.
It swam pass again, this time, a little more slowly. “I think you are right Doc, that is a Nautiloid.” Thad said looking through the glass into the murky water.
“Nautiloid here? Aren’t they reported to have a rather nasty disposition?” Quincy said as he peered through the glass trying to get a better look.
“Yes, they tend to be highly aggressive and usually don’t get along well with others. So it is rare to see one. Most of the people that have seen them did so in battle.” Doctor Hammer said.
Thad didn’t want to hang out in the alien bathhouse any longer. “Time to move on.”
They had to climb two more flights of stairs before they found the exit to the street level. As they walked out, Quincy couldn’t help but wave at the stunned Terrellian who was manning the check-in desk.
After they left, a Nekton waddled up to the desk. “Did you see that? Humans in here, what kind of place are you running here, Glack?”
Glack, the Terrellian, ignored the Nekton and slid his tiny tendrils across the com screen. A human male face appeared. “Hey Glack, what’s up?”
“You know those humans the organization was looking for?”
“Yeah what about them?”
Glack leaned closer so he could speak softer. “They just walked out of my place.”
“Are you sure?” the man asked.
“Yes, I’m sure. I don’t allow humans in my place. They must have come up from underneath.” Glack replied.
“Okay, I will pass it on, I’m sure there will be a reward for your help. I will be in touch.” The comm screen went blank.
The Nekton had tried his best to eavesdrop on the comm call, so he was still standing there when Glack finished. “What are you looking at?” Glack snapped. The Nekton put his head down and fled the room.
Out on the street, Thad looked around, not sure where to go next. “Any ideas?”
Doctor Hammer spoke. “First, I would like to find a place to shower and get some new clothes. If you haven’t forgotten, we smell like Ralnai droppings.”
Thad laughed and Quincy asked. “What’s so funny?”
“He’s right! We do smell like Ralnai droppings.” Thad said.
“How do you know?” Quincy asked.
“Trust me, I know.” Thad said. “I think the better question is how the good Doc knows.”
Doctor Hammer chuckled. “Trust me, I know.” he mimicked Thad.
“Okay boys, we need to find a credit dispenser.” Quincy said.
“Quincy, we can’t use any of yours or Doctor Hammer’s accounts.” Thad said.
“Who said anything about using our accounts.” Quincy smiled.
“What do you have in mind son?” Doctor Hammer asked.
“Well, driving a cab doesn’t always pay the bills so on a rare occasion I have had the need to hack a dispenser.” Quincy said.
Doctor Hammer gave him a stern look, but Thad smiled. “Quincy, I could kiss you.”
“Whoa there big guy! I said I have done it, I’m not saying that I can do it again. Wait until we have a pile of credits in our hands before you start celebrating.”
“I’m sure you can do it. Let’s go find a dispenser, so you can misbehave.” Thad said, as he threw his arm around Quincy’s shoulders.
Chapter 29
St. Claire woke to find himself in his bed in his suite. He was dressed in fine white silk pajamas, which he could not remember getting into. He was not sure of much this morning other than his head felt as if it weighed a ton. He slid out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom. He flicked on the lights then decided that was not a great idea and he flicked them off again. St. Claire turned on the cold water and splashed his face. He looked at his bloodshot eyes in the mirror. “I’m getting too old to be out all night drinking.”
The sound of muffled arguing drifted through an open door. St. Claire stopped brushing his teeth and listened. He was unable to make out what was going on, so he spit out the toothpaste and rinsed his mouth. He left the bathroom and followed the sound of voices. It was coming from one of the two balconies attached to his suite.
The soft off-white curtains were swaying slightly in the wind. St. Claire parted them and stepped out onto the balcony, As he did the arguing stopped. Seated at a glass table, which was set for three, was Mr. Black. He saw Kára standing at the rear railing. She was dressed in a full-length white silk dress, which flowed over each of her perfect curves. She was also sporting a matching wrap that draped off of her arms. Not the attire he was expecting to see her in this morning.
“Ah, Dominic” Little Dickie’s voice came from the table. “Please join us for breakfast.” He pointed to the spread of food on the table.
St. Claire sat down and
picked up a bagel. As he spread some butter on it, Kára walked over to him, picked up the carafé of coffee, and poured him a cup. “Thank you.” he said.
Dickie, aka Mr. Black, spoke. “It appears that you have won the heart of our fair maiden here. I have never seen her serve anyone before, including me.”
Kára poured herself one and sat down next to St. Claire. “When you no longer need a woman to protect you then I will serve you too.”
St. Claire almost choked on his bagel, but Mr. Black just laughed. “Women never change, no matter how many battles you win with your brain it never seems to impress them, but punch a guy out and they fall all over you.”
Not sure what to say, St. Claire just lifted his coffee and washed down the piece of bagel that was stuck in his throat. Kára was not going to let that go unanswered. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate a man who can out-think his enemy. It’s just that man who has fought an Eli warrior and lived to tell the tale is worth my attention.”
“If that is all I have to do, then I guess I best find me a short, blind, fat, out of shape, idiot Eli to fight” he said in jest.
St. Claire couldn’t hold it any longer and he laughed. There was a brief moment when St. Claire noticed he was the only one who was laughing. He looked at Mr. Black, and then at Kára worried that maybe that was the wrong thing to do when they started laughing.
Relieved, St. Claire addressed Mr. Black. “So to what do I owe the honor of breakfast with your grace this morning?”
Still laughing, Mr. Black’s face contorted. “Your grace? Hardly. I have little time to attend to private affairs. After all, running a massive criminal empire is more than a full-time job. So I find that meals are a good time to deal with those kinds of issues. Now you are more or less a personal issue, at least for now.”
St. Claire was not sure he liked what his onetime friend was inferring. “For now? Do you care to expand on that a little?”
