Sol System Chapter 15

Driftwave felt lucky that there was an open barstool; he wanted quick access to absurd amounts of alcohol. He fumbled through the currency he had left, sectioned off what he needed for one more nights stay at his motel, then separated his drinking budget. He paused for a moment, then doubled his drinking budget and put the little rest away. He ordered the strongest drink he knew, drank it as quickly as possible and ordered another. He stared at the colors it made with different alcohol, curious about one thing or another, some of it here, some of it elsewhere. He was lost in his own thoughts till he realized he wasn’t drunk yet, and downed the second drink as he waved for a third.

Driftwave activated the holographic display on his new computer. With the jacket on all you see was a large and elaborate watch, but it attached to a series of modules strapped to his forearm, thin cables running between them. It wasn’t nearly as powerful as his custom rig, but it was portable, could do what he needed, and luckily customizable so he could adjust and upgrade it as he was able to. It had a keyboard that could extend from one of the arm modules as well as a projection, but he opted for its third interface feature, a small device he extended by cord from of him from his arm, projecting a screen and keyboard, a bit easier to work with when he could. He began fine tuning its systems, over clocking what he could, installing some of his custom software, he would have to rebuild much of it to avoid it being linked to him, and he would need a new handle, any forum with the words drift or wave in it was probably being flagged. He ordered his fourth drink as he considered the workload, avoiding thinking about where he was going to go tomorrow at all costs.

“That’s an old school set up.” He heard a female voice and looked over only for a moment. He saw chopsticks holding back her hair and makeup that matched the black and red colors on her top. She was leaning between barstools a seat away, ignoring the people between them as she talked. “I’m surprised you didn’t just go for a cybernetic system.”

“There’s not a planet sterile enough.” Driftwave retracted the display and interface and pulled back his jacket to see the entire unit, then began tweaking the settings as various lights and beeps emitted.

“I’m also surprised you’d come all the way here just for that.” This time the voice was closer, she gently pushed her way between driftwave and the man on the barstool next to him, accidentally rubbing an exposed portion of breasts against an exposed portion of driftwave’s arm. She flashed a smile that was somewhere between an apology and your welcome, then set down her drink, turning her head just slightly too long as an invitation for wondering eyes.

“Its probably worth about half as much as what I traded away, but hotel and drinks can add up.” It was difficult to sip a mixed drink that came in a stein respectably, but driftwave gave the attempt.

“So what you’re saying is...” The Asian women delicately grabbed the display projectors around driftwave’s left wrist, bringing his arm between Their faces as if to inspect the device, but then brought his arm down on the other side of her, allowing room for her to move a bit closer. “…next round’s on me?” Driftwave smiled nervously, and she matched, perhaps he was lucky again.

Bonus! short story : Spitfire

It was more than gears and levers. She took a step back as her smile grew larger. She looked at the culmination of months of work and knowledge she’d gained from years, and it looked amazing. It would be a bit large for her size, but manageable, it was simple enough to teach to others, she even kept all her drawing and schematics so that she could make more. She stepped closer and picked it up, heavy like she thought, but manageable. She was about to leave when she remembered where she was and quickly set the large arm cannon of an invention back on its stand. A hasty few minutes later and all the tools where put away, the workbench was wiped off, and she was cleaning the last of the grease of her hands. She ran to a nearby mirror to make sure her short hat was aligned, with the large bow just right of the center symmetry of her face.

She ran to the invention and picked it up by the handle, she tried carrying it by that, but her pace was slowed having to swing the heavy weight with her steps. She switched the handle to her left hand and grabbed the crank on the device’s side with her right. She paused for a moment; she should have made a strap. She looked back down the hall at the door leading to the cargo hold; no she wanted to show it off now, the strap could wait. As she lugged it down the hall a crew member named Gibbons turned sideways to get by her, much of the hall taken up by the awkward way she held the device.

“Oh apologies ma’am.” The eager girl turned to look at what Gibbons meant, worried he had knocked a piece off her beautiful creation, but from the awkward way he raised his foot and the scuff mark on the back of her dress, he had accidently stepped on the excess length of her deep red garb that trailed behind her when she didn’t wear its frame, the heavy nuisance.

“It’s quiet alright, is Dad up top?”

“Ai, manning the Helm, ma’am.”

“Thank you Gibbons.” The lady continued her awkward steps up 3 levels, finally appearing on deck of the airship. She took a moment for her sight to adjust; the sun was high and peering between the two large balloons holding the dirigible in the freedom of the open skies.

She scanned the deck for a moment, looking just above the head line of most the crew for her father, but just as Gibbons had said, she found him standing like a statue, both hands gripped to the wheel that kept the Hawk in the wind. She lugged the device closer to the helm raised above the deck, and called to her father.

“Dad! Its finished!” She raised the device high above her head for him to see, shaking a bit to keep its heavy weight balanced.

“What would be finished Nessy?”

“My invention!” Nessy took a slightly pouty tone to her father looking into the wind while she tried to show off what was currently, her greatest creation.

“And what’s this one called Nessy?”

“The SPITFIRE!” Nessy added a flare of dramatics to the announcement of her invention’s title, the only reply she got was a chuckle from a crew member near her father. The towering figure of Benjamin Hawkins subtly raised an eyebrow to the crew member, who upon noticing cleared his throat and turned away to find whatever task he could, unable to remove his grin.

“Well, sounds a tad bit dangerous, I’d better inspect it.” Hawkins taped the ships navigator, Sterling, to take the helm, and made his way down the stairs to his eagerly waiting daughter, he had been inspecting her “inventions” since she was old enough to pronounce the word, and Hawkins had suspected after, that many of the stuck together toys she would carry over to him before she could speak were meant to be inventions as well. He handled the invention with easy as he took from Nessy’s proclaiming arms and inspected it, having not a clue what it was or supposed to do.

“So the Spitfire huh?” Hawkins held the obvious grip of the device and let it hang to the side of him, where as it nearly reached the ground in Nessy’s arms it had a clear foot and half of clearance in her father’s arms. Next to him, Nessy looked like a small child even though she was a fully grown young woman. Stout was a word used to describe people who were almost as large as Benjamin Hawkins. He was clearly taller than any other man on his crew, and could clearly best any of them, or all of them, physically. He had a beard just long enough to show he was older then you, with a slight amount of grey on his sideburns and in the hair line that arced around his ears to say he was smarter then you as well. He used to say he designed this ship in his mind and built it with his hands, leading many of its crew to envision him actually ripping out a tree from its root with his bare hands and slicing the wood into planks in the same manner. He was simply that kind of man.

“Want me to tell you what it does?” Nessy lit up, her father’s opinion meaning more to her then her own thoughts.

“Always Nestasha, always.” Especially after that time when she was 14 and nearly blew off one of the balloons while they were over the ocean. Hawkins gave the device back to his daughter, and she followed him as he inspected the various operations happening on the deck.

“Ok well you remember when we got attacked by pirates over the coast a while back and we had all that wreckage on the decks and I thought we should save the wood and you said to sweep it off the decks even though I thought we could use it and you said it wasn’t good for more than kindle wood?”

“….yes?” Hawkins remembered being a bit more concerned with making sure his ship didn’t fall apart.

“Ok well I thought about that and I realized, that would be an amazing weapon! Using wreckage from our own ship that’s just going to be wasted and using it to attack another ship-“

“Nestasha Hawkins if you are lighting fires on board my ship again…” Hawkins held the bridge between his eyes as he squinted remembering the terror he had felt for months every time she got a near a match.

“Daaaaaaaaadd!” Nessy’s whining being another reason she looked like a child in front of her father. “It’s not even on yet, and look I used those chemicals you got me, they don’t light unless their mixed together its fine!” She still held the gun with both hands yet maneuvered it to show the vials sticking out from the back; she raised her eyebrows at her father to emphasis how obvious their safety was.

“You and your alchemy.” Hawkins sighed and kept walking below deck.

“It’s not alchemy its chemistry.” Her and her chemistry then. “Right so, after you use this muncher here the material gets formed into this ball, and the best part is only most of it has to be flammable I figure shards of glass and stuff could really hurt if they were mixed in then-“

The cry of “Captain” could barely be made out from below deck, but the tone spoke to its urgency. Her father’s head turned like an eagle just spotting its prey. He looked upward and over as though he could see through the wood of the ship and look directly at where it had come from. He managed to push past Nessy gently as he made violent haste for the deck. Nessy followed as quickly as she could while lugging the spitfire with her. She heard her father’s voice while her eyes still adjusted once again on deck.

“Why didn’t you see them sooner!?”

“I’m sorry Captian! They were waiting in the trees below they just inflated balloons and came about now?”

“So quickly?” Her father’s voice replaced its anger with bewilderment

“They must be using a heated hydrogen system, I’ve heard about those, there dangerous but quick for something like pouncing on-“

“Nessy get below!” her father cut her off.

“But-“ Nessy turned to see the pirate ship’s balloons coming up off the port side, they were already close enough for her to see the men clearly.

“Nestasha NOW!” Nessy’s legs were moving her below deck before she even realized she was complying with her father’s orders. She leaned to the side of the staircase to clear the way for a few of the crew to get by, swords in hand, one loading a musket. She stayed at the stairway for a few minutes, then she heard the cannons fire and the impact against the Hawk. She could hear where each impact hit, only really worried about the ones on the upper deck that could hit the crew. All would be well if they didn’t get close enough to board.

“Take the ship!!!!!!” That voice was clearly not one of the crew’s or her fathers, she heard swords clash and short range muskets fire not twenty feet away, then another cannon blast and the stair case filled with debris and dust in an instant. Nessy coughed as she picked herself up, she still held the spitfire in hand, and as the dust cleared she saw the debris littering the staircase. It looked just like the piles that had littered the deck months before. Nessy’s willpower overcame all other notions.

This was it, she thought, this is the day I prove myself as an inventor, right now is when I prove what I can do, to my dad and to myself. Nessy knew her father supported her, but she always held a lingering thought that maybe he doubted the usefulness of what she could do, but not after today.

Nessy began turning the crank on the right of the spitfire, she munched up all the debris it could hold and compact into the spherical container, it was harder then she’d thought, but the leverage of the large gears made it work. The next part she was really proud of, she held the gun straight, the munching crank had loaded the spring she now released. The munching apparatus was one piece that connected to the spherical chamber, the rest of the gun forked around that piece. The core of the spitfire snapped upward then clamped back down, the added weight from the debris causing Nessy to almost drop it. She inspected that everything was locked in place, the munching mechanism now pointed back and the spherical chamber was at the end of the gun. The gears on the crank had re-aligned now, and she turned it half way, the motion causing the back cover of the gun that had the chemical vials on it to move forward, beneath that cover, the vials connected to disperse small amounts of the liquids into the debris chamber, all taking only a second.

As Nessy emerged from below the deck, the spitfire was already glowing as pressure built. She looked around at the scene, the men fought, better trained then pirates but with less experience then a marauding scoundrel at fighting. The navigator, knowing in humility that he was little good in a fight, had stayed at the helm, trying to maneuver the Hawk away from the pirates, but the pirate airship was about to come around, and already another line of them was getting ready to board. She took aim, the spitfire would release automatically if the pressure grew critical, but she wanted to do this herself. The ship grew closer, then gun got hotter, she needed to time this right, not too close not too far. She released a breath, and then the trigger.

The recoil nearly knocked her over, and pushed a high pitched eep out of her. It appeared more as a orange hot shotgun blast from the mouth of hell then a fireball, but the larger pieces, now covered it burning chemicals and on fire themselves, moved forward. The sound of the release got the attention of everyone, but it was what came next that astonished them. A few of the large pieces pierced the starboard balloon of the pirate airship, and the dangers of using a hydrogen balloon were never clearer.

In an instant, what seemed like the birth of a phoenix replaced Nessy’s target. Its flames burned brighter then she had ever seen, and the heat alone she thought might scorch her hair. Instead of soaring like a firebird, flames dropped like dead weight. The pirate airship instantly tilted now that it had only its port balloon, pirates who did not hold tight fell from it to the trees below, though a tight grip did not supply mercy, as the ship followed downward, only slowed by one balloon. Nessy went to the edge of the ship and leaned over to watch the fireball explode again as the ship crashed. Every person on board, crew and pirate, looked up Nessy in time to see her straightening her hat, which she would now call her lucky hat, and strike a smiling pose, leaning part of her weight on the Spitfire as if it were a closed parasail. The pirates all dropped their swords, then Nessy dropped the gun, not realizing how hot it had gotten.

Sol System Chapter 14

Oliver inspected the crates, checked the inventory on his tablet, and then moved to the next pallet. Typically this type of thing would be done to ensure no agency had shortchanged the expedition on their supplies, but in this context, it was to make sure none of the illegally obtained resources were misplaced. He checked off the last of it, then moved to the region of the warehouse with the heavy equipment, these things would have to be either sold off world, or striped for parts and melted down for raw materials. Oliver checked the numbers on the heavy tractor, the hover cranes, and the tunneling drill.

“Is everything here?” Oliver rolled his eyes at the sound of Xiao Ling’s voice. “Because it would be terrible if the government tried to cheat us out of our rightfully acquired colony aide.” He laughed at his own joke as he made his way between the large machinery.

“It’s all in order, I don’t have any connections to get this stuff laundered or whatever the term is, so that’s on you guys, now for the part of the plan where I finish school and lay low for-“

“About that…” Xiao had a playful grin and adjusted to his authoritative mannerism. “It’s been decided that with how much heat will be on over this, it’s best if you take your laying low off planet.”

“That wasn’t part of the deal, I don’t have anywhere to go-“

“Oh don’t worry Oli, we have it all worked out for you.” Xiao addressed him like a younger sibling worried about how he would eat since mom wasn’t cooking dinner. “We have a place for you to stay, even a job to keep you busy.” Oliver squinted at Xiao, he knew the Triad would try something to sweeten the deal for themselves.

“I made this deal because I needed protection but there’s only so far I’m willing to go-“

“Oli Oli Oli, you act like I just asked you to kill somebody, I would never do that.” Xiao put his hands on the sides of Oliver’s shoulders, and then lowered his voice slightly. “You can obviously take care of that kind of stuff on your own.” Xiao laughed again at his own humor while Oliver brushed off his grip. “C’mon this works out for anyone, you get some time away, and no one can accidently see you walking the streets of Chinatown, you know how that place is, and those tattoos can only protect you so far.”

Oliver scratched at the brand on his arm, it had already healed, but for some reason that was the place that would itch sometimes. He obviously wasn’t getting out of this. He wanted to convince himself that this really would be a vacation, that they’d have him running part of some illegal casino on Venus or something. Oliver had made some mistakes, but he was smarter than that.

Sol System Chapter 13

Vanessa was sweating, she didn’t like to sweat, it reminded her of a bad memory. However, Happy hour made this place get busier then the strippers that needed “a little extra for rent”. She was filling drink orders as fast as she could take them, and yet still somehow she was being treated like she was falling behind. She heard the fourth broken glass of the night land behind the bar, she had at this point forgone sweeping and proceeded to drop a towel on the ground and kick the mess out of the way as she took another order. She turned quickly as an unfriendly hand gripped her arm.

“Heyive been waitn iwonmy drin…” The rest was a garbled mesh of drunken incoherency, this valued patron had obviously received his fill for the night, and Vanessa politely removed his hand, and then motioned the club’s bouncer towards him. This club could get wild, but it had lines, the first line being touching. She had almost forgotten about the scruffy man by the time she heard his drunken ramblings once again, this time shouting at the bouncer. It had only taken a few seconds for the bouncer Earl to get to the overindulged drunk, but her mind was moving so fast to keep up that her shift in attention drew out the time. Normally the 6’6” Earl had little trouble removing anyone from the premises, and while this man had the slightly stout build of someone who did manual labor but didn’t take care of themselves; it was his rowdiness that made him difficult. As Early began to drag him out, the drunk’s kicks and flays began to hit the bar and the other patrons, the people trying their best to give space, but the crowded area gave little, and a tension began to grow.

Vanessa still barley noticed the commotion as she walked by behind the bar, unfortunate enough to time her passing with a violent kick from the drunk; he hit a heavy glass stein on the bar and sent it flying, clipping Vanessa and still having enough force to shatter against the opposing wall. Vanessa fell into the shards of glass. Good portions of the club now focus on the events of the bar, even over the loud music. Earl threw the drunk against the bar for a moment, and then leaned over to check on Vanessa, asking loudly about her status.

Vanessa heard none of it though, the deafening noises had become a background static to the sound of her beating heart, her eyes saw blood red as the gash in her head bled into her eye, she looked at her hands, one had glass stuck in it, she pulled it out, and once again had blood on her hands. For the slightest moment she didn’t know where she was, her eyes saw a bar In ganamyde city, but her mind saw a monster’s apartment in New York, a body in front of her, its white robe separated from the white carpet by blood. She looked upward in a panic, trying to lose the vision, but the drunk leaned over the bar, mouthing that she should have just given him what he wanted, but in her mind she saw John States, telling her how he got everything he wanted. Telling her about he would get away with everything because of the deal he made, and brushing off the fact that he had tricked her into helping him do it.

But the moment could not be changed, the events could not be rewritten, and so like on she did on Earth, Vanessa picked up the first thing next to her, this time not a heavy trophy like she now remembered, this time a handful of glass. She pounced the drunk in frenzy, the crowd parted like splash. Vanessa didn’t just punch with the glass that cut her hand as much as his face, she choked him with her free hand, she used the leverage on his neck to bash his head into the floor, she screamed about events and names that only made sense to her. It was only a moment to the crowd, but a lifetime to her that she once again took out her revenge against a man dead two planets away. Earl had grabbed her as soon as he could, trying to keep the glass hand still and hold her back, as scarred for her as he was of her. It wasn’t until Amber had leapt off the stage and ran to her that anyone got through to Vanessa. Amber held her face between gentle hands, ignoring the kicks and flails; she told her it was ok, that whatever she was thinking of was over. Vanessa stopped shouting as her tear soaked eyes locked with Amber’s, she stopped fighting Earl’s grip, she went limp, and Amber kept eye contact as Earl carried her into the back and set her on the tile floor of the kitchen. Amber said nothing; she sat with her friend curling against her, holding Vanessa until she was ready to stop crying.

Sol System Chapter 12

The most amazing thing about Europa city was the waterfalls. They came out of every structure. Two types of buildings formed the metropolis, sturdy structures built into the thick ice, and giant skyscrapers like icebergs, towering above the ice with over half of their size beneath the water. Rheed had read somewhere that many homes had waterfalls for doorways; mechanisms would part the water for people to enter and exit, then freeze it over as a lock. He also heard that the water falls were part of a system to keep buoyancy for the floating building. One thing he knew for sure as the shuttle brought him between the buildings like a bird, the view was amazing. Rheed wasn’t sure if this was the standard flight path or if the officials were showing off a bit, but either way he didn’t mind the 20 minutes it took for him to get to the capitol building.

“You got everything you need Danica?” Rheed spoke through his earpiece to his orbiting partner.

“Oh yes, yes, yes I do. Did you know this ship is a mega yacht, a mega SPACE yacht? I think I saw this ship online once.”

“Yeah Greg said it was a seized from a drug dealer a while back, he thought it would be comfortable.”

“Oh yes, yes I am. Did you know this is the master suite? It’s bigger then my whole apartment, why did you let me have it again?”

“You’re going to be there more running support, so do you have everything you need to do that, the “your job” part?”

“Huh? Oh right, I’m connected to the planets internet, just waiting for all the official red tape for you to clear up so I can access all their law enforcement databases, or yaknow, I could just…”

“No, just play something on your new super computer.”

“Everything’s so pretty……..”

“Not like this…” Rheed watched the cityscape vanish as his shuttle entered the dock in the capitol building. He turned his attention to the shuttle’s door, straightened his tie and collar, and removed his badge from his vest, placing it in the outer pocket of his heavy coat. One he bought when he realized he would be traveling to the cold depths of the solar system. It had an internal microfiber system that allowed it to be much warmer and stronger then it looked, and it had a brown earthy tone that unexpected to Rheeds intentions let everyone know where he was from.

“Marcus Rheed!” The European official said the words like an excited old friend; Marcus didn’t recognize his face or name. His entourage of security and aides suggested status, but no one seemed thrilled with being there, they all looked like they were at work. “Welcome to the crowning jewel of the Galian moons!” His open arms didn’t close until he was within a yard of Marcus and dropped them for a far too excited handshake. “I am Senator Jonas Fortune” That explains it. “Come, I’ve arranged a whole day of tours around our great city, we will start at the north eastern-“

“Thank you but that won’t be necessary at the moment.” Marcus felt a part of himself die as he spoke the words, but he was here to work, at least this time…

“Of Course of course, you’re reputation precedes you, I’ve had the police chief standing by to greet you personally, and my staff has been told to take all your calls and ensure you are seen to, do you have arrangements for a place to stay? I have rooms on reserve at several of the finest-“

“Again, thank you, but that won’t be necessary; I don’t know how long I’ll be staying. I will however need the appropriate credentials assigned to my partner on board my ship so she access all the law enforcement databases to look for our target.”

“Ah yes your ship, The Rain, such a beautiful name,” Actually it was The Reign, the drug lord who owned it liked the play on words it achieved while he would float above regions he controlled. “The only such rain on Europa comes from our great waterfalls; I’ve heard natural rain like on Earth and Venus is quiet spectacular, yes?”

“…………..uhm, yeah, it’s awesome.”

“You know I hope to one day stay on earth for a while, maybe as, oh an ambassador or something.” He tried a bit too hard to make it sound like a casual achievement.

“You don’t say.” Marcus dropped any attempts to disguise his lack of interest in the brown nosed senator.

“Well I’ll let you get to work, no rest for the wicked, yes?” The senator smiled largely and patted Marcus arms, Rheed thought the Senator might not actually understand that phrase. “I have designated my lovely assistant here to take you wherever you need, and grant you every service you require.” Did he just say… “It was good to meet you Marcus!”

Rheed was unable to help watching the Senator’s entourage leave the docking bay, turning around just in time to notice the attractive yet nerdy looking aide pulling her skirt slightly higher, then quickly unbuttoning one more button down her blouse before looking straight at him through her thick black glasses, smiling and striking a pose. Marcus starred for a second as he considered the amount of paperwork required in accusing a Senator of prostitution, and then dismissed it as a lower priority due to the redundant nature of the accusation.

“Uhm, so, the central police station?” The girl straightened immediately and nodded, eagerly running ahead in heels that were obviously a bit taller than she was used to, making more noise then necessary due to the many short steps the tighter then she was used to skirt cause her to take. Rheed followed at a casual pace.