Anomaly

2017 | English | Short story | Full

(*) Image by Max Pixel, licensed under CC0 Public Domain.

Details

• Year: 2017
• Language: English
• Word count: 6K

Text

I never should’ve returned to Mara IV. That’s the name of the place where I got caught. By a saurian, no less… Nasty creatures, known for their ferocity and total unscrupulousness. The advantage of a lizard brain, I guess. Anyway, of all those bounty hunters I’d met in my life it had to be a saurian the one who finally got me. Maybe you’re enjoying a comfortable life in a forgotten galaxy somewhere far away and don’t know anything about them, but take my word for it: tough luck would be an understatement…

I know what you’re thinking: Why should anybody trust the guy in the detention cell? And a human, no less… Well, let me say something on behalf of the few humans left in the universe: we are not the same ones that left Earth.

Back at Mara IV, there is a human colony. Conditions on the planet are so rough nobody cares if they thrive or not. In that harsh limbo, they at least try. At a slow pace, of course, and it goes without saying, some sacrifices. That’s the only reason I came back: to procreate.

Our numbers were so low over time it became a sort of duty, and everybody is OK with it. Now, about those sacrifices. There is a simple rule in the repopulation business: you do them all. That means the pretty ones, the ugly ones and everything in between. Genetic pool maximization demands it. I’ve had some experiences that would make my saurian friend attractive by comparison. There is another rule, more like a custom perhaps: if love sparks, you can stay in the colony. A sweet deal, sure, but I always considered myself a wanderer, and that’s a lonely road. Sad thought, you say? Hey, it was working well until Mara IV.

The saurian finally paid me a visit in the cargo hold. You could see at first sight it was one badass big lizard: half the body marked with scars and the other half replaced by all sorts of bionic implants. If you think about how old a saurian can get and add some more years with all that cyborg crap, it meant the tough son of a dragon had had more than his share out there. I was definitely in trouble.

“Who’s your boss?”, I asked. I don’t know why, those lazy lizards seem incapable of learning any other language than their own horrid mix of growls and hisses.

“Why do you carre, human?”, it surprisingly replied. I bet the prosthesis in its head had something to do with it. Anyway, it was probably the first comprehensible dialogue between our two species, or maybe just the first dialog, period. As far as I know saurians never have difficulties finding enemies, and in matters of war they aren’t lazy at all.

“I like to know where I’m going, saurian!”, I shouted, full of confidence behind the force field that separated us.

It warily approached the cell, looking at me for a second before shaking its head in a weird way.

“Don’t botherr!”, it said, as if reaching my mind somehow, as if it already knew I was looking to escape and every piece of information was vital. “You won’t meet him. Not in the way you have in mind at least.”, it followed, again with the same head twist I believe now is how they laugh. “Humans…”, it added shaking its head once more.

Humans, indeed. Every race in the universe hates our guts. Just the mention of the name makes entire species shudder. Others, unfortunately, go grab their weapons. Why, you ask? Well, everything happened a long time ago, so long the records are not exactly clear. But the way I learned it goes like this.

People from Earth finally got their answer: they were not alone in the galaxy. It may seem obvious now but believe me, back then it was like fifty-fifty. They also got it the hard way, the very same day the Moridian invasion started. Millions died, sure, but the Moridian got it even worse and that first victory galvanized mankind so much that they fought back wave after wave of invaders until they eventually stopped coming.

That enemy left for good, but there were others willing to try their chances at this new force from a forsaken star system. Fortunately for us, these first invaders had also left behind some valuable technology and, more importantly, a new understanding. The Lathians, the Thul Conglomerate, the Morks… Not long after the Moridian attack was considered something like a drill. Long story short: after a while, humans were running the show.

They spread and conquered in such a brutal way that things only settled down once there was no one left to fight. This new regime had a name too, the Copernican Empire. Believe it or not, the underdog had beaten all its rivals. It was time to rest and flourish, and that they did.

After a while, though, as any other power in history, it was time to fall. And they did that, too. From inside they bled, painfully and slowly: corruption, moral decay, economic disasters, civil unrest…

The Copernican Empire, mankind, was then tore to pieces by its enemies. No longer a threat, humans were persecuted, killed for mere sport or revenge, to the point of being almost wiped out. A stigmatized and deeply despised race, its remaining survivors left to be abused and decimated as any other weak fish in the big puddle of stars.

Humanity could very well deserve this hate, those guys from Earth were too eager in their expansion, taking shortcuts all the time, but we, their descendants, are the ones paying the consequences.

Oh, and the few that don’t hate us like us too much. I mean, they would eat us literally. Humans, human organs especially, are a delicatessen for some creatures, who are willing to pay fortunes to get a bite. I realized then, after what the saurian had said before leaving the cargo bay, what my final destination was going to be: a very expensive dish in someone’s dinner.

There’s plenty of room for new ideas in a holding cell, but for some reason only the old ones came to mind. Speaking of old, I fell for the oldest trick in the book: the girl. I liked her braided black hair too much, true, but she also was different. She wanted to leave the colony, see other worlds. I just told her the truth: “There is a lot to see, but not for us, not for humans.”. She didn’t believe and kept trying.

Newborns are a collective issue in the colonies, being a mother means something different nowadays. No more families as it was understood back then. With no attachments of the sort, it was possible for her to leave anytime, as it is for any other woman in the compound, but she wanted to do it properly. That included a ride, a bodyguard and some cash. She had all figured out that one, she had a plan. We toasted to it and, next thing I know, I’m a prisoner. She had a plan all right, and I truly was a part of it, she just forgot to mention what part!

That’s the thing about humans: we are not always committed to the truth, to say the least. Masters of lies, if you ask me. That’s an answer for all those who still wonder how a race of small bipeds from Earth could conquer galaxies and make empires fall. I have given it a lot of thought and the only reason that makes sense to me is that aliens in general, insensitive and ruthless as many of them are, don’t like playing dirty as much as we do. The girl from Mara IV surely enjoyed it, and if she was actually onboard the ship, she got the ride, the bodyguard and the cash. Well played, bitch.

“What’s wrrong, human, you seem uneasy.”, the saurian said through the intercom.

I have to give it that, the lizard surely had good timing. Or maybe it was capable of reading my thoughts. If the implants weren’t the right tool I bet some other machine in the ship would do the trick. I had to be very careful from that point forward.

“Why are you doing this to me? Did I offend you?”, I asked out loud. Rumor has it that saurian people are thin-skinned but have a great consideration of honor. And in that paradox they live and, more often than not, die.

“Business”, it simply replied. But it was worth the try. And that was it for the first day.

Second day it brought me some food. Saurian food, mushy, with goo all over the place. Repugnant no matter how you look at it, so I didn’t touch it, but it lowered the cell’s force field. Unfortunately, it didn’t do the same with its guard.

Truth is I wouldn’t stand a chance against that lizard. Even if it dropped the Malduvian pistol by chance, and by some miracle I could overpower it, I’m sure there were other lethal gadgets ready to be used in that cybernetic half-body armor. No, to get physical wasn’t the way out this time.

“You have that thing set on stun mode, right?”, I joked. A connection had to be made first, and I thought humor might help lift the spirits.

It laughed again -if I’m right, and that head wince is actually a laugh- and put the Malduvian weapon away, showing confidence in its own strength.

“Malduvian people did not have a worrd for prrisoner. They were a rruthless rrace that made space a big grraveyarrd.”, it said scooting away from the ship for a second, as if remembering some horrors from the past. It was not possible, though, no saurian could live that long, even with all that machinery attached.

“But do not get the wrrong idea, human, this ship has an excellent rrefrigerrator system and I do not need to deliverr yourr whole body.”.

It reactivated the force field and I started to feel my chances shrink.

“I have a business proposition for you, saurian!”, I said with no discernible effect. “More than you would ever get for a human anywhere. Easiest money you’ll ever make! That’s right! I’m hiring you to free me. Once I give you the coordinates to this place I know, trust me, you’ll be the richest saurian ever! Rich and with no time to waste on humans like me. What do you say? Ready to begin a wonderful new life?".

My understanding of business is limited to one rule: you do it for the profit. In that regard, nothing else matters but the final deal, the one that makes you rich. I didn’t know the saurian had a different set of rules. It haughtily looked at me once again.

“Forrget it! Even if you had the money, which I doubt, I am a prrofessional.”. And that was it for the bribe attempt. Not that I had any actual money to give, did I mention we humans lie a lot?

At some point, it noticed I had not eaten anything.

“You arre not worrth to me sick.”, it said without emotion. “Maybe I could find some human food nearrby.”.

I wouldn’t have expected that from a saurian, to be honest, but it altered course just for that, and I felt my confidence growing.

All that I learned in life was about hiding and getting away from peril. Bastards like that lizard bounty hunter had been training me for a day like that, the day you find yourself in real trouble. “The saurian can be beaten, even killed if it comes to that.”, was the persistent thought in my mind.

As humans we have to survive no matter what. “Improvise and adapt”, is the mantra. It’s not easy to bear the weight of an endangered species on your shoulders. All and all, I’d like to think we do the best we can.

The ship slowed down. Right after that, docking procedures started. My reptilian friend didn’t talk to me in a while, silence was driving me crazy.

Normally someone used to jail has learned the value of patience, but not in my case. Despite being chased since I was born, dodging all sorts of bad stuff and badder dudes, my tolerance levels were at their minimum inside that cell.

I realized what freedom really meant, even the shitty freedom of running and fighting was better than any prison. I wanted to know what was going on but I only could hear the static from the force field and the soft buzzing of the cargo machinery.

Then, some frantic voices, agitated threats and two familiar hisses echoed in the corridor. Shots fired from a Malduvian pistol, no doubt. I have a nasty scar in my leg to remind me of its peculiar sound.

Right after that, the saurian came back to the cargo bay, raised its arm and showed me the prize: a creature similar to a Rak pig. Not the real thing but close enough.

“You got lucky, human, therre werre Izuka trraders closeby.”, it simply said.

“You’ve killed them.”, I thought out loud, assuming two shots meant two corpses.

“So you can eat now. That is the human way, is it not?”, the saurian replied with no remorse whatsoever. What else could you expect from a cold blooded giant lizard?

“Why do you hate us so much?”, I asked without thinking of the consequences. Unwise to mess around with a saurian once they’ve tasted blood.

“You arre dangerous, worrse than verrmin. I cannot wait to get rrid of you and yourr kind.”

“We’re not the same ones who came from Earth!”, I replied in my defense, as I had done so many times in the past.

“I see no differrence.", was its reply. Quick to judge, these saurians, just as any other race out there.

I ended up eating that thing -whatever it was- once properly cleaned and surprisingly well cooked by my custodian. Afterwards, however, I felt bad thinking I was going to be eaten as well. It was hard not to despair in that moment, I admit, but I had the feeling that I wasn’t going to make it out this time and live to tell the story. It was a grim place to be.

Misery loves company, though, no matter how despicable it may be, so I tried to reach to my captor once again.

“What about you, saurian?”, I asked, although it probably wasn’t listening. “What are you planning to do with all that money?”. If it was paying attention, it wasn’t in the mood to chat.

That night -at least I was sleeping when it happened-, we got hit by something. The whole ship shook and the violent wince woke me up.

“Whats going on?”, I asked while pulling myself together.

“It is a rrogue asterroid field, not charrted. I need yourr help to navigate the ship out of it.”. Another one of those ice rocks got us, throwing me down again to the floor.

“Why should I help you, saurian?”, I asked once I finally stood up after a few failed attempts to keep balance.

“If you do not, human, we die herre.”, its reply was dry as a stick, but I had nothing to lose at that point.

“I’m already dead, remember?”

A long silence followed, as if the universe was giving us some slack, no other asteroid hitting the hull. A brief truce to catch our breath, perhaps. Too brief, for a new hit shook the ship soon after.

“You said you werre differrent frrom the otherr humans.”, I finally heard the saurian say. “Show me.”

In my hesitation, the force field was lowered.

I got out the cell in puzzlement, drawing a quick breath that tasted like freedom. That alone pushed me through the shaking until I made it safe and sound to the cockpit. “Hurrry, human.”, the saurian said while going all over the control panel.

“What do you need me for? I can’t make those disappear, you know?”, I said mockingly pointing to the asteroids hovering all around.

Part of me wanted to help, don’t get me wrong. I’ll take a plausible death over a certain one any time, but what if one leads to the other? I didn’t know the answer to my dilemma so I stood there, mystified by the thousands of rocks that surrounded us.

“Arre you going to help orr not?”, the bounty hunter turned to me for a second, holding its efforts to fly away from the hammering storm. It had a point being the one trying to save the day on its own, obviously, but I hadn’t reached a decision yet. On the other hand, I was afraid to rile it up to the point of no return, so I tried to gain some time despite how close the giant dirtballs were getting.

“How?”

“Humans learrn to fly even beforre they learrn to walk!”, it angrily answered. “I will give you the coorrdinates, make the calculations forr each move!”.

“You know a lot about us for a hater…”, I protested. But it was right. Turns out humans usually make good pilots. I can’t tell if there is a genetic reason for that, maybe we just need to flee a lot.

So we worked together, well enough to dodge some of the huge ones -no veer would keep us away from the smaller ones, those gave the ship’s hull a hard time- and we finally were able to maneuver out of the deadly rogue field.

Our hearts still pounding, I thought maybe a new bond was growing between us. Empathy, believe or not, was also my only hope to avoid that cell in the cargo bay.

“About that money…”, it painfully reminded me my fate, “.. this ship will need some rrepairrs”. So the lizard had a sense of humor deep inside all those gadgets. That was a step forward, no doubt. A good-humored guardian is always preferable to an angry one.

Every man can be bought, it’s just a matter of finding a weakness. Does the same principle apply to saurians? Well, I was just about to find out.

“She’s a fine one”, I patted the ship as if it was alive. “Truly resilient”.

“She is special.”, it nodded. Or maybe it was a laughter, who knows? Thing is it was talking to me in a different way, and that was progress. It didn’t mention anything about me getting back to my cell and while recuperating ourselves from the recent challenge we sit on the floor, face to face and back against the wall.

“She sold me out, right?”, I finally confronted it with the one question I didn’t want an answer for.

“The ship sold you out?”, it was squeezing its only snake-eye -the other was robotic-, as if trying to understand.

“The woman on Mara IV.”, I clarified.

“She did. Not cheaply I must say.”. Then, the saurian shook its head once more. If it found the whole thing amusing or just the look in my face it only knows, but it was slowly dropping its guard.

“I should’ve not trusted her.”, I thought out loud. “Who am I kidding? I never should’ve returned to that dull planet in the first place!”

“You arre still in denial. Arre human females less inclined to deception than males?”, it seriously asked. It was however a funny thing to hear. It deserved a good explanation.

“Let me tell you something about human females…”

After a while, it was back on the panel rerouting our course, hearing all I had to say but focused on the job. All I could see was its back and its gun. The Malduvian pistol rested in the holster around its leg, but it was nearly impossible for me to grab before being noticed. My eyes found the solution on their own not far from where I was standing: a pipe. Nice tool, always great to have one at hand, and so I found the determination to take action. No one would come to help me in our unfriendly universe, and becoming someone’s dinner was out of the question. Only one road to walk left for the human.

I was towering him over, pipe in hand and ready to strike, when in utter disbelief I suddenly fell down right before smashing his head with a strong blow. The saurian had hit me with its tail, the only part of its body I didn’t pay attention to. It also let me know in the process that I had never been out of its sight.

“Human scum!”, it shouted after grabbing the pipe and bending it without breaking a sweat.

I knew the game was about to change, a twist for the dramatic if you want. I was going to pay for my boldness, pissed-off saurians are not exactly merciful. Fortunately, it was a professional and I was still its cargo. He put me back in my cell without any more violence, showing a restraint I never thought possible in a lizard.

Hours later I heard its voice again.

“I underrstand your angerr.”, it said through the intercom. “The human female… She is special, too, is she not?”

Imagine this: You’re an Izuka, so you probably trade for a living. That doesn’t mean you can’t do bad things to people here and there but normally you don’t. Profit is always more rewarding than conflict, especially if you’re not particularly strong or prone to violence. One day, someone crosses your path and kills two of your friends for a few fake Rak pigs, that is, almost nothing to be blunt. What would you do?

The Izuka are not an aggressive species by nature, so those folks must have been important to them somehow because they followed us almost immediately. They had to wait for the asteroid field to pass -traders as they are they won’t let vengeance blind them enough to go through- but soon enough they were after us again.

The ship took a few warning shots just before slowing down and letting herself be boarded. My custodian hadn’t said a word after that last comment on the comm, and no matter how much I asked what was happening I never got any answer from the machine.

It was only when a few Izuka entered the cargo bay that I got something to work with. And I didn’t like it.

“What is this?”, the first Izuka said with an ominous tone. “Human thrash!”

Yeah, I forgot to tell you the Izuka despise humans too.

“No trace of the saurian.”, someone said to the likely leader of the boarding party after a thorough search of the entire ship.

It was hard to believe a big lizard like that could go unseen, almost as much as letting the Izuka take its ship without a shot being fired. I was wondering about my immediate future, so I didn’t think much of it then. The Izuka traders decided to take everything, including the human, so I ended up in their own ship, inside a holding cell not much different than the previous one. I was relieved in a way: someone’s dinner just got canceled.

Reality hit me flat in the face right after that short, sweet feeling. Hatred is all we humans had left behind, and hatred has always a stubborn way of coming back to you.

Once the ship landed in a small moon, an Izuka trading post no doubt, they put me in chains and dragged me to a low-ceiling cage, clearly made for a different kind of beast. There, people came to insult me, spit on me and even throw a few nasty things at me.

They were outraged, and for a good reason, I thought: two of their people had been murdered, in cold blood, for what amounted to nothing. The perpetrator gone, that made the human a convenient scapegoat, wouldn’t you say? Not this time. It turned out the Izuka couldn’t care less about the lost traders, but they did care a lot for the Rak pig-like creatures the saurian had brought on board after the deed.

Every seven years they had this ritual to bless the next period in which those pigs were sacrificed. They would send an expedition to a far away star system just to get them. That team was about to return home when the saurian got in their way. As a last-minute replacement, they would skin the human alive and make a fur-lined coat with him.

That’s more or less what I picked up from the threats and insults. It’s OK, we humans are used to it. The coat? Sad to say it wasn’t a first either… To be honest I could’ve eaten the saurian food too, so maybe I’d earned some of that anger. On the other hand, it seems quite a punishment for a missing rodent.

Things were quickly getting ugly in that moon. I tried to explain to the Izuka that the saurian was my enemy too and I, his prisoner. That as such I hadn’t had a say on the menu and that humans nowadays are not the same that the ones that came from Earth, but despite my efforts they wouldn’t change their minds.

I also begged within the small cage. Not my finest moment, I know, but I wasn’t kidding when I said: “whatever it takes to survive”. At some point, my muscles hurt so much I started to think death couldn’t be that bad.

Believe it or not, it was about to get worse.

Imagine you’re a saurian now. That means you’re big and short-tempered. You’re used to have things your way and you like to fight. And, of course, you’re nasty and mean. Letting some weak traders take your ship could be a huge offense, but allowing them to do the same with your cargo, preventing you to keep your word to a client? That’s just shameful. What would you do?

I witnessed the slaughter from the cage. Who would’ve thought? Safest place on the moon. The lizard’s revenge was as brutal as you can imagine, and then some. Suffice it to say, after a while I closed my eyes in disgust and covered my ears to try to hide from the screams. Some of the memories still come up every now and then, making me feel sick at my stomach every time. Those Izuka wouldn’t need a coat anymore.

The saurian picked me up when he found me, cage and all, and left the place on its own ship.

“It wasn’t necessary to kill them all, women and children…”, I managed to say once on board, still numb from the carnage.

It looked at me from above with its remaining biological eye and just replied: “Human way.”

I got back to my old cell -after the Izuka cage it felt like a palace, though- and we were still heading towards that dinner party somewhere. Prospects weren’t looking good, let me tell you, no matter where or how, the human would die soon.

Opportunity. That’s what I craved for, a chance to knock it over and free myself, but the saurian was no fool and had its rear well covered all the time. It was a professional all right and I couldn’t find a way out.

So I gave up. No shame admitting it, every human has a breaking point. Evolution may have weakened it but it couldn’t make it disappear. That flaw, among others, is part of our nature after all. The thing is I didn’t want to fight anymore. Mentally and physically exhausted, there was no much to do anyway. I didn’t want to die with too many questions in my head, though.

“How did you pull that off?” I asked out loud, the only way for me to communicate with the cockpit. “They searched the whole ship and found nothing. I mean, you’re not the smallest of creatures, are you?”.

“In this trrade, human, you learrn some trricks along the way.”

It then explained how it had hid itself inside a secret compartment during the Izuka boarding, followed them to their den afterwards. That gave me a final and desperate idea. The only way I would ever get it out of its game was by driving it real mad. So I thought some nasty things to say and hoped for the best.

“What a stunt, saurian! I thought your race was honorable but it seems now you lizards are nothing but a bunch of cowards!”, I tried to hit a nerve, see the reaction. “Hiding and ambushing is how you win wars? Pathetic!”

Unfortunately it didn’t work as expected. Silence is all I got back. Frustrated, I leaned back against the wall and tried to sleep, have some peaceful moments for a change. Hard to find, however, when you’re going to be slashed from head to toe in a few hours. I honestly didn’t want to end like that, so after a while, the struggle became how to stay awake from the apprehension.

Thinking about it, something wasn’t right. The saurian, for example, didn’t show any typical flaws of its race. It was not short-tempered, nasty or mean, and it didn’t like to fight. Human weaknesses make us human. What makes saurian a saurian? A light sparked in my head all of a sudden.

“You’re not a saurian.”, I said out loud.

“That is corrrect.", he finally broke the silence. “The Saurrian is underr my contrrol. A strrong and long-standing rrecipient, no doubt”.

“Who are you?”

And just like that the flame was back, I had a chance again. That’s how it felt at least. A new adversary could mean a new set of rules. Hell! A new whole game! I needed to know more.

“I am an old crreature who found its way to surrvive.”, it said. It was in the mood to talk, surprisingly. “I have been arround a long time, and I know everrything therre is to know about you, humans.”.

“What do you mean by that?”

“No morre talk. The trrip is overr.”, it finally said after a long pause.

Docking operations completed, we set foot on a space station. It was a huge behemoth floating in the middle of nowhere. I can’t say what its purpose was but it definitely meant the end of the road for me. The saurian had lowered the force field, handcuffed me and dragged me all the way in. My heart was pumping like crazy and my mouth was dry as Mara IV. I should have never returned there. It’s funny in a certain way, trying to create new life I was about to lose mine. What a joke!

Walking down the station, under the inquisitive look of all those different species, I finally understood there was no point in living like hunted animals. Humans had had a chance and we blew it. The aftermath of all those wars from the past was a price too high to pay, and I was tired of running. I stumbled in purpose and fell to my knees. The saurian helped me out almost unconsciously. Then it hit me.

“You’re one of us, aren’t you?”, I finally understood what was troubling me.

“I was from Earrth, yes.”

Well, that was a disturbing thought. One that caught my attention so intensely that I almost sleepwalked through the corridors, elevators, levels and sub-levels that the cyborg-thing pulled me through like a chained dog. But was it even possible? Could a human from Earth still be alive? How? Brain transplant would be a lost cause even with potent regenerative drugs, and uploading a conscience to a machine was never perfected by the Copernicans. And what about controlling the beast? I bet those implants had something to do with it, if true.

We entered a large room, after inputting the security codes the client had set for the meeting. Unusual, no manpower whatsoever. Inside, another bounty hunter stood waiting. He wore body armor, a helmet and held a large harpoon. A strange choice of weaponry if you ask me but it’s a huge universe out there so no judgments. No trace of the filthy rich bastard that wanted me for dinner, though, just his goon. My custodian suspiciously took a quick look around.

“Arre you the client?”, it asked.

“Messula sent me, if that is what you’re asking.”, the bounty hunter replied with a robotic voice. “Now, hand me the human!”.

“Make the payment and it will be yourrs.”, the saurian replied. I couldn’t take my eyes off the nervous movement of its tail.

The new bounty hunter seemed to look for the money chip inside a pocket of his armored vest, but threw something at us instead. A nuclear grenade! The damned thing rolled over until it stopped just between our feet -and tail-. It was a quick throw, really, but it felt like an eternity. I don’t know what my reptilian companion was thinking in that precise moment but I couldn’t believe the balls of the anonymous scavenger. Was he suicidal? A nuclear grenade explosion has quite a radius and would vaporize everything inside it, not to speak to the possible damage to the station. Whoever sent that guy wanted me dead for good! I couldn’t recall at the time the names of those who I’d deeply offended in the past, but certainly such a weapon was too much for a culinary caprice.

The grenade never exploded, however, it was a fake. But that second we both froze, believing it was about to, was also the second the masked stranger needed to stab the saurian with his harpoon, instantly releasing bursts of electricity all over its body. A weapon long enough to keep the distance, and with some sort of nanovirus to nullify the implants. Clever.

“Quickly, we don’t have much time", he said to me. “Take me to its ship!”.

The saurian staggered and fell. Its biological eye, the only part that still moved, tracking us as we left the area. I learned later the tip of the spear was also coated in a powerful narcotic, supposed to put it to sleep for a few hours at least. It all happened so fast at the time there was no time to think then.

“Who are you?”, I asked in astonishment as we rushed through the corridors back to the space dock.

He removed his helmet allowing me to see his face. He was really a “she”, and she had a too familiar black braid: the girl from Mara IV.

“I told you a had a plan and you were a part of it.”, she calmly said. “Now, let’s get out of here!”

We left the station, and the quadrant, in the saurian’s ship, leaving behind one powerful pissed-off lizard. I wouldn’t shed a tear for it, the big fellow had it coming, but in a sense it was still one of us.

It turned out she had tricked it as well, creating this phony client Massula, a fake network of contacts and a reputation for lavish caprices and quick payment. He was supposed to be dying for a bite of human flesh at the time. Back in Mara IV she had drugged me and sold me to the saurian, who believed in profit just as well as any other human, alive or dead. And flawed that way, it fell for it. I did too, no shame admitting it. First payment got the girl a ride and a fake nuclear grenade, a costly item indeed. Second one gave her a ship and a bodyguard. She had a plan to get the cash, too.

Still, she was too clever for her own good, so I dumped her first chance I got using that secret compartment the saurian told me about. It was not that hard to find once you’re looking for it. The girl was special, don’t get me wrong, and maybe the saurian was right about humans after all, but I also had told her that I fly solo. Wandering is a lonely road.

Speaking of which, I’m on my way now to Mara IV for, you know, re-population.

END