When I opened the door as instructed, I expected to enter a room like Mark’s quarters, fairly small but plenty of room for a few people. I didn’t expect to enter an immensely vast storage bay, the chamber extended left and right for what looked like miles, lining the entire distance were storage crates, shelves, and random junk I couldn’t discern from my distance to it. Pirates would go feral in here just trying to bring all the loot out, let alone fighting over the spoils once it was safely aboard. Who could possibly need all of this stuff?
Ahead of us were my allies, and a force of almost a dozen armed men and women. All aside from one, who I felt confident in assuming was the infamous ‘Hoss’. He was shorter than I expected, rounder too, he had the appearance of a man who did no dirty work but had his underlings do it for him, a type of man I was far too familiar with. Like the others, he wore an unnaturally clean suit, though his looked marginally better fitting, he also wore a long coat like the others, though he hadn’t bothered wearing the sleeves on his arms, instead using the garment as more of a cloak. His fingers were adorned with a variety of flashy rings made of metals and gems I didn’t know the names of, they could have been glass for all I cared. He took a drag from one of his own cigarettes as I entered, then waved us over, he seemed less demanding than I assumed he was going to be, I had prepared my ears for barked orders and uncreative insults but instead it looked like he was asking for a quick favour, like passing him a drink.
Inim, Mark and Lance all looked tense, their eyes darting between the figures of the large fighting force ahead of us; something had gone wrong, I just had to find out what. Hoss inhaled another breath of his smoke, his wrinkled face grinning widely as he scanned our faces, clearly enjoying the discomfort he was imposing on us. I, meanwhile, was scanning the help. They were all armed with unfamiliar models of gunpowder weapons, and they all looked like they knew how to use them. That was annoying. At the very least, the storage bay we were in had enough junk where escaping was far from impossible, but considering how many there were, unless there was an impressive distraction, I would be gunned down before I had a chance to duck.
“So,” He coughed after a few more seconds of silence, “Lance here tells me he’s sick of Garant, Whaddayathink? I’m quite partial to the rock, myself.”
He was addressing me, clearly this was some sort of test, did he suspect me? Or did was this something to do with Lance’s past dealings?
I shrugged, “There’s better.”
Hoss laughed hard, and insincerely, he turned slowly to his henchmen who chuckled with an identical amount of sincerity, all aside from the guard who I had entered with, who wore her face like stone. “You’re funny! Why don’t you remove ya hood, so I can get a good look at ’cha?”
I sneered, I couldn’t help it, but I had heard this all before. This fucker was no different to the people I had escaped, more so than anybody else I had seen so far. I knew then that it wasn’t likely either of us would leave this unharmed, coming to this conclusion early already gave me an advantage, I just had to take the opportunity when it came.
I still removed my hood though, for now I would play along.
His smile somehow got wider, “Lance, what are ya bustin’ my balls for? I don’t care that ya used the panic number, I care that ‘cha lied about why ya needed it. We could’ve split this bounty easy, but now I gotta get my hands dirty.”
“Listen Hoss you owe me,” Lance sounded desperate, not good, we wouldn’t win this debate, I unzipped my coat, hopefully it looked like it was part of pulling my hood down, and not getting better access to a loaded firearm.
“Remember the driving job I did for you? For the festival?” Lance continued, “You and I both know how much you should’ve paid me for that.”
vfcHoss laughed again, once more encouraging his entourage to join, “You had the right ship at the right time. Please, tell me how that is the worth twenty-five-thousand Standard in front of me right now, I really wanna hear this.”
Lance’s face had the most emotion I had ever seen it convey, contrasting his regular apathy. His jaw was tense, his temples strained, he wanted to lash out, needed to, but couldn’t. Mark was as unnaturally stoic as he had been in the bar, for such a quaint man he was astonishingly calm for the stakes. Inim was worse for wear, her eyes continued to dart at all the guns around her.
Her size should’ve meant that she would be the biggest threat our side of the fight, but it looked as if she would only be a detriment to us all.
Hoss raised his eyebrows dramatically, as if impatiently waiting for the excuse that would win him over, but nothing would, even I could see that.
“Alright, I can see you are havin’ trouble so here’s what’s gonna happen. I’m gonna take this bounty, and you will get your fuel, for free. That payment seems right, yeah?” He turned again to his group, who all nodded enthusiastically.
“What if we refuse?” Mark spoke up.
Lance could’ve pulled a muscle with how quickly he looked back at the priest, Inim looked about ready to faint.
“What was that?” The boss demanded, he clearly didn’t even like the idea of things not going his way.
“Refusing means saying no. What happens if we say no?” Sarcasm was new from him, I didn’t hate it.
Hoss furrowed his brow, “I know you. I know where you live, who your friends are, who trusts you and who doesn’t. You’ve been in this city making plays longer than I have, and with a young face like that, you must be loaded. So, listen closely you mothafucka. You won’t say no, because letting you live and continue your deceptively long life is the best payment you are gonna get, and you are only gonna get that, when I get what I want.”
Again, Mark had proven his aptitude for distracting people; none of the guns were pointed at me anymore, underestimation continued to be my greatest strength. I took a step back, the closest cover, an open shipping container filled with food that smelt rotten, was a good few paces away from me. Too far to dash to safely, but close enough where I could easily make my way toward it if I remained in their peripheral vision.
“I think we are entitled to better payment than just the fuel we came here for, don’t you think? You have a lot of stock back here, surely not all of it will be missed.” Mark negotiated, I took another step.
Hoss straightened his tie, it looked like it was choking him, “Fine, you are a businessman, I get it. But I also see 9 submachine guns pointed at you, and-“ He scanned the surroundings dramatically, his eyes skipping over me during the gesture, “I don’t see any guns pointed at me! So you can TAKE THE FUCKIN’ DEAL I FUCKIN’ GAVE YOU, BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND AND JUST FILL YA FULL OF LEAD!” His voice echoed for multiple, long seconds. One more step.
Mark shrugged, unmoved by the man-child’s admittedly humorous anger. Last step.
I was close enough now where I could hide, but nothing would stop them from just giving chase and bringing me right back, I needed to let them know I was dangerous to approach.
I just hoped Cerim would forgive me.
Slowly, yet smoothly, I wrapped my hand around the grip of the gun underneath my jacket, it was uncomfortable, the hard polymer dug into my palm. I kept my eyes on the exchange happening between Mark and Hoss, currently they had reduced themselves to a silent staring contest, waiting for the other to budge just a tiny bit, with no luck. The guards had also joined in on the game, waiting for Mark to do something so they could shoot him, Stars above their trigger discipline was poor.
Then I noticed him, a younger man in the group, who wasn’t looking at Mark, but me. Having a hand concealed beneath a great big coat was not a good look, and he had quite rightly noticed who the real threat here was. I could see sweat trailing down his youthful features, a function which didn’t look like a recent development. He was inexperienced, nervous, ready to prove himself. A grand shame he noticed me.
Because I really wanted to shoot Hoss first.
I drew my pistol, the long barrel almost getting caught on the lining of the coat, the boy raised his gun, but hesitated. I still don’t know why, was it nerves? Had he underestimated me, like so many had before? Or had he not factored in that to kill a human, you must first look them in the eyes for that last time? All I noticed in his eyes was a plea. A plea to be spared, as he knew he didn’t have the guts to shoot first.
I had gotten over that whole thing a while ago.
My first shot missed, a supersonic crack echoed from the distant and reflective walls, it continued to echo when I pulled the trigger again. In the split second between shots, the kid had pulled his own weapon up to his shoulder, and began to squeeze the trigger, I obviously couldn’t see this, but it was the only reason the gun continued to fire after a needle passed cleanly through his neck and severed his spine. A spray of bullets kicked up concrete shards like puddles of water as I took cover behind the shipping container I had previously been making my way towards.
Even after taking cover, the bullets kept erupting from the kid’s gun, his fingers seizing tightly against something that had a much larger magazine than I had predicted, I heard Inim scream.
Then, silence. Ear ringing, heart and head pounding silence.
“WAT DA FUCK!” Hoss screamed, I couldn’t stop a grin creeping across my face, he sounded unfamiliar with vulnerability. “WHICH ONE OF YOUSE WEREN’T LOOKIN’ AT HER?”
“Where is she?” A woman’s voice demanded.
“I saw her go behind that shipping crate! The blue one!” A man’s replied.
“Don’t talk so loudly!” Someone hissed, “She can hear you as much as I can!”
I let myself breath out as the guards got their bearings.
Two shots down, 6 left. One guard down, that I knew of, 7 of them left. 8 with Hoss but I doubted he would pose a threat. No matter what, the maths did not work out in my favour. I had no idea how my three allies had faired, Inim had screamed but it sounded more in fear than in pain, the difference, however, was subtle, and hard to discern over gunfire.
“YOU!” Screamed Hoss. “YOU SHOT A GOOD KID! BUT IM WILLIN’ TO LET YOU LIVE, BECAUSE YOU’RE A LOT MORE VALUABLE WITH A BEATIN’ HEART. JUST THROW YOUR GUN AWAY, BEFORE MY GUYS GET TOO NERVOUS.”
“No.” I almost snorted, usually in a moment similar to this, even though a stand-off was a first for me, I would prefer to keep silent and let them tell me where they were and how nervous they were. But hearing a man like Hoss sound so desperate, so terrified, it made me feel oddly satisfied.
Knox, you need to stop relishing this.
Wait Knox? Is that who I am now?
No, of course not. If I were I wouldn’t be asking. Would I?
“ALRIGHT THEN!” Hoss interrupted my minor lapse in sentience, “YOU MUST HAVE FORGOT, I GOT LEVERAGE.”
I heard shuffling, then struggling. I wouldn’t dare look around the corner I dodged behind, I didn’t need them seeing me. Instead, I manoeuvred slowly backwards towards the shelves making sure to keep the container between me and wherever the guards had taken cover. The haphazard placement of everything in the hall made it easy to find a spot to peek my eyes through. As I peered between two boxes of random wires and electronics, I spotted what plan Hoss had come up with to lure me out.
Mark was in the centre of the open space we had been convening in. He was on his knees, with a barrel pressed firmly against his head. His eyes were closed and I could see movement on his lips, though I couldn’t even hear a whisper come from his direction. My eyes darted around, I made sure not to move my head in case someone was looking for movement. But as much as I looked I couldn’t spot Hoss, I could however spot a few of his guards, more than half, they had all taken cover and weren’t moving, only visible through a peeking shoe toe or hat brim.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“I COULD USE A MECHANIC, AND A PILOT,” I heard his voice echo, though it’s origin still escaped me. “I GOT NO NEED OF A HOLY MAN. I DON’T WANNA SHOOT’CHA, BUT I WILL. YOU CAN PREVENT BOTH YOUR DEATH AND YOUR BUDDIES IF YOU JUST CO-OPERATE”
Despite his appearance, Hoss was a good negotiator, his offer was a tempting one, made all the more difficult by my lack of attachment to my ‘buddies’. I didn’t want them to die, of course not, but Hoss had assumed my loyalty to them was stronger than it actually was. I only really needed Lance to get out of here, everyone else was a luxury.
Mark is the reason we are still free, he deserves better than that.
I don’t owe him anything, he doesn’t need congratulations for basic kindness.
I hate to agree, but kindness obviously isn’t a guarantee down here, even if it is from someone this annoyingly self-righteous.
I grimaced. As much as I knew that, rationally, Mark dying wouldn’t have any long lasting consequences for me, I wasn’t the only one I had to worry about. If I acted as I wanted without thinking of the others, I’d be as bad as Knox, and she pissed me off more than anyone outside my skull ever would, I would not let her be the standard I would set. And surprisingly, it seemed even she wanted to keep the priest around for a bit, I’m sure she excused it as taking advantage of him or something, at least Cerim was more honest about her feelings, however immature they were.
Fuck.
“I AM GONNA COUNT TO 3, THEN AFTER HIM, IT’S THE MECHANIC!” Hoss screamed again, his voice breaking often.
A plan then, I can’t just give myself up, that will just put me where I started, I need a way to get all three of us out of this.
“ONE!”
Shooting the goon who had his gun at Mark’s head wouldn’t be safe, there was a good chance that his finger would seize and the priest would meet whatever gods he worshipped.
“TWO!”
I could feint a surrender, but then what would I do after that? I’d have at least seven guns pointed at me, and all my advantage had been spent with those first two shots, they would never stop looking at my gun hand now. But there was truly no other way to get him to stop shooting Mark…
“THREE-!”
“ALRIGHT” I shouted, “I’LL COME OUT!”
This is stupid, even by my standards, this is dumb.
Shut it.
I raise my hands above my head, moving out of my cover, I kept my thumb in the trigger guard of the pistol, I would try to delay letting go of it for as long as possible. As I became visible to the small army ahead of me I heard their guns all snap to aim at me, it made my heart sink a bit, there was no taking back this stupid mistake. And I still didn’t have a plan.
Hoss made himself visible now, revealing himself from behind one of many unassuming shipping containers. “Well!” He clasped his hands together, “This is pleasantly surprising, that trick don’t usually work.”
“Let him go then,” I commanded.
Hoss frowned approvingly, then waved at the man who was holding the priest at gun point.
The gun was lowered, and Mark was quickly grasped by the collar and thrown to the side, where I could now see Inim and Lance, all of them in plain view of the guards, if shooting were to start, they would barely have a chance. Lance was shaking his head disappointingly at my decision, though there was understanding behind his eyes. Inim’s hands were shaking and she seemed to have shrunk in her fear. What was the point of becoming so huge if you cowered at the first sign of strife?
Hoss straightened his tie with a wince, “So. You gonna drop that gun?”
Before I could answer, I heard a loud knock on something loose and metal, like the garage doors at Inim’s shop.
“Oh right, tell them we’re all good here now, no back up needed.” He ordered the woman who I had conversed with earlier, she still was not openly armed, and she did not meet my eyes as she moved out of sight.
Hoss turned back to me, his eyebrows raised expectantly.
“First a question, what made you call me in? ” Come on think of something, this can’t work for long.
He stuck his tongue into his cheek, “Really?”
I shrugged, the movement caused some of the guards to tense up, “If I try anything you’ll shoot me before I can pull the trigger, but then you lose what was it… twelve and half thousand Standard? If you answer my question I won’t half your bounty.”
Hoss glared at me, then grinned widely, “I dunno what you’re tryin’ here, but I like this gal! Alright, I’ll play along. My top gal, who you met earlier outside, she got a way of lettin’ me know if there’s some PEAs in pods comin’. Wordlessly, through a little gadget implanted in my hand.” He held the back of his left hand up, wiggling the fingers for emphasis. “She just let me know there was something of interest outside, and I clocked your face the moment you walked in.” That sickening grin split across his face again.
Another knock crashed against the door, louder and longer this time.
“Oi! Can you tell them we are good already?” He shouted towards the noise. I noticed the guards shuffle uncomfortably.
“Do you know who you would be handing me to?” A question I would have levelled at someone who had a chance of listening to their conscious, I had no doubts what his response would be, I just had to delay enough to thing of something.
“Don’t know, don’t care,” Like clockwork, “You gonna put down your gun now?”
I hesitated, breathing out. I cursed myself for being so stupid, and Cerim for getting attached too quickly and forcing me into this whole sacrifice. I started bending my knees, allowing myself to place the weapon down more comfortably.
As I finally lowered the weapon to the cold frictionless floor, a loud crash echoed throughout the hall, it sounded like someone falling onto metal grating, only it was heavier. I froze, not wanting people to get jumpy and shoot me if they thought I was trying anything.
“The fuck is that?” Hoss said, softer than his usual tone, he seemed a bit more uncomfortable than he had been a second ago, I remained as calm as I could, but also felt myself becoming nervous.
The sound of running bounced softly from the walls. Soon after I had noticed the noise, the woman from outside returned, her expression hard to read, but she was obviously disquieted.
“Boss,” She nodded to him, “We have to go. Now.”
He gestured to me with both hands silently, as if I was a radio he didn’t want to pause.
She shook her head, “Now. She brought trouble.”
As if mention of the trouble summoned it, another sound echoed, this one was far more uncomfortable. It was the sound of screeching and tearing metal, a part of me panicked before I realised there wasn’t the threat of the vacuum of space, then I felt a moment of dread as I had no idea what was coming our way.
“What the fuck…” Hoss gasped.
“Now, Boss.” She began ushering him away towards where we entered.
“You.” He pointed to one of his guards, a man about as young as the one I had shot, who was still bleeding into the concrete in the corner of my eye. “Grab her. Leave the others.”
“Leave her,” The woman commanded, surprising her boss, “It is here for her, we will not out run it.
Hoss shook her off him, “Fuck that! She is worth too much to just leave her here, I command you, you hear? You do-“
I had stopped listening to them at that point, because I had spotted it.
Something in my chest seized in an unfamiliar sense fear when I saw it. It was so close, closer than the exit was, and I couldn’t even hear it. Sound in this hall carried itself across and back again for minutes, and it had somehow made no sound at all.
It was some kind of machine, but one completely unfamiliar to me, I couldn’t even think of anything to liken it to. It stood taller than any man, at least twice Inim’s size, maybe more. Long, slender limbs imitated the beginnings of something humanoid, but the comparison fell apart with the backward jointed knees, and the complete lack of a torso. Instead of one, there was a single sphere in the centre of its figure, orbited by simple discs that followed the limbs like joints, only these discs too, were disconnected from them, with only air between what they were ‘connecting’. The head, likewise was unconnected to any of it’s other features. It was a long, white oval shape, with only a cycloptic red eye resembling any kind of feature. Why wasn’t it making any damn noise? The feet were touching the ground in mimicry of human locomotion, but did it need to? Or were they just following that orb in the centre of it that it’s body parts seemed almost magnetically attracted toward?
The worst thing was, I could do nothing about it, the guards were either pre-occupied glaring at me, for I still hadn’t put the gun down, or they were invested in the disagreement Hoss was having with the woman. Look behind you you damn idiots, there are bigger problems.
“Oh… fuck.” I heard Lance’s voice hiss on my left, he had noticed it too, as had my other allies who remained understandably silent.
When it encroached on our territory, I had expected something grander, or at least more violent, but it just stopped still, as quiet as it had been. Although not entirely now. Now it was close I could hear a very faint, and very low, humming sound, it was low enough where I assumed I couldn’t hear most the frequencies it occupied, especially since my eardrums felt like they were about to pop. I could also hear it more clearly now, because Hoss had stopped arguing. He looked up at the thing with what I could only describe as utter dread, which surprised me. It was certainly intimidating, but he wasn’t lacking on firepower.
The thing looked at me first, right through me like I wasn’t even there. I needed it to make a sound, I was frozen in indecision from the lack of any human readability. My arms were beginning to get tired and sore from holding them up for so long. Then it started looking at the other occupants of the hall, it’s head pivoting singularly without any movement from the rest of it, spinning a full 360 degrees with no fault. When it settled on Hoss it paused, just for a moment, then it fell back to me.
The voice was deafening, coming from somewhere within the head but amplified beyond any reasonable measure.
Hoss’ face went almost completely white, as did everybody else’s for that matter. I felt a sense of unease, but not more significantly than before, I was surprised at the concept of teleportation however, I was under the impression it hadn’t been invented yet.
A pregnant silence filled the room as nobody lowered their guns, everybody waiting for the one person in the room who could cut the tension to let them be free of it.
“SHOOT THE TIN CAN! GET ME OUTTA HERE!”
I had never been in a room with more than one gunpowder weapon discharging at once, they seemed to be rarer on ships, and one of the reasons why became immediately obvious. When all of Hoss’ goons opened fire, every sense was dulled by an unrelenting assault of explosions, I involuntarily scrunched my eyes closed and winced in pain, holding my hands to my ears. Every single shot reverberated from the walls back to us, then again, multiplied what felt like hundreds of times. When the last gun clicked empty, it had felt like it had lasted only a single second, but the echoes continued for seconds more, like the room was relishing the memory.
When I opened my eyes I realised just how out of our depth we all were. The robot was completely and utterly unharmed. Bullets were lain at it’s feet like an offering to a cruel god. They hadn’t hit it even once, the bullets had somehow just stopped in front of it, like the brass itself had been too intimidated to even try to scrape the paint off.
It turned its whole body to face Hoss, head and all. Maybe it was because he made it obvious he wanted to leave, or because he initiated the violent response, but now it was no longer looking at me. I should’ve made a move right then, do something, try and escape, but I was frozen in place by the spectacle.
The guards hurried to reload, boxes dropped to the floor in a chorus of clattering metal. Bolts were driven forward again with a collection of snaps. They all raised to fire again the moment the machine moved.
But it didn’t, what in the stars was it doing?
There was one woman who was closer to the machine to the rest, she fell first. It looked almost comical, a simple palm strike to her nose and she crumpled like a bag of canon shell casings.
Then the shooting started again.
Now, after already witnessing one, I was more prepared for the next onslaught. I could now see what was happening to the bullets, they literally were just stopping abruptly in their paths. The moment they came close to the sphere in the centre of the machine, they just fell to the ground, some of them got tantalisingly close to their target, but none of them even dinked it.
Enough staring, use the advantage.
I clambered up from my crouch, taking no time in getting to the other three. Mark and Lance were shaken but functional, Inim was worse for wear, her eyes glazing over slightly.
“We go. Now.” I ordered, another audible crack came from behind as a young man received a blow to the neck.
“No complaints here, get to the car I’ll meet you there.” Lance ordered back. “I still need those fuel rods.
“Where is it?”
He pointed to an open cardboard box that was not in the centre of the ensuing fight, but was definitively in the thick of it. A few guns went silent as they reloaded again. I saw Hoss leaving through the door, the tall woman following close behind, he didn’t spare a second look to the men and women he had just doomed.
“I’ll get it, you go.” I wouldn’t risk the most important role in my escape for something I could do.
He shrugged, “No complaints.” He grabbed Inim by the arm, Mark nodded at me.
“We stick together.” He said.
“Sure.” Another dead guard, I didn’t see who died or how, but I heard them gurgle on their blood through a crushed lung.
I kept my head low, and dashed in a crouch towards the box, I crossed in front of one or two guards, but they were too busy firing at the machine to care about me, and their target was so high off the ground I ran little risk of being hit. It didn’t stop me mildly flinching every time a bullet whizzed over my head, it was an unfamiliar and uncomfortable sound. I placed my pistol down beside me as I flipped open the surprisingly squat box. Inside were around a dozen featureless metal cylinders, all of which were about the size of a hammer handle. Was this our fuel? I knew what ship fuel was like, or at least the type my Ship had run on, the objects in front of me closer resembled cans of food than the currency for interstellar travel.
I decided now was probably a bad time to search for anything that resembled more of what I was familiar with and grabbed three with one hand, only to find I could barely lift them. They were heavy beyond measure, especially for their size, what was in these damn things? I settled on pulling out two with both hands, behind me I saw Mark, who had kept a mild distance from me, the gunfire the paused again for a reload, (their last from what I could see). I kicked one with my heel, rolling it towards him, then the second. He seemed confused until he picked them up, also seemingly surprised at their density.
Not just me then…
I picked one more up, I knew one was about the limit I could hold in a single hand, and I wanted to keep my gun.
I looked around me, only 4 guards left, enough to buy us enough time to get to the car, hopefully. The machine seemed more inclined to murder those that attempted to be a threat, rather than those who up and ran. At least now I didn’t have to duck as much under the gunfire.
When we got to the door, only two remained, their guns empty, their bodies shaking. They didn’t even attempt to run.
Outside, I was immediately sent into shock from the cold rain, then from a familiar figure in front of us, that both Lance and Inim had froze in the presence of.
Another Automaton. Standing in the rain. Completely dry as the water moved politely out of the way of whatever invisible field surrounded it
Then a thought, some of the bullets that had been fired at the first one had come so close to hitting what I now believed was some kind of central power unit, or at least what was making it defy the laws of gravity. Lance had said my gun shot at a faster velocity than anything gunpowder based. There was a chance, a small chance, that it would be just enough to do some damage, maybe even kill it.
I would only have a single chance though, the first person to die in the warehouse had done so in a blink.
I just had to raise my gun, fire, and hope.
I took a deep breath.
Then the Automaton exploded.