Nerthraiat Anthology STAGE V (sec 0&1)

STAGE V:

A Shrinking Universe

The fog was thick that night in Jupiter VII as the long range shuttle exited the gate system from Venus.  It entered the atmosphere of the terraformed moon Adrastea and came in for a landing at the Spaceport on the far west of the town.

As the jetway extended to connect to the shuttle, a voice came on over the PA system and said, “Welcome to Jupiter VII.  We hope you’ve enjoyed your flight on Nerthraiat Transports.  The Adrastean Climate Control Center’s report says that the fog will clear up in the morning and then it’ll be sunny for a few days.  Have a nice stay here on Adrastea, and remember to take pictures of Jupiter—we’re the closest space colony to it!”

The jetway finished connecting to the shuttle; the passengers all rushed to the baggage claims area and waited for their luggage.  The last person off of the shuttle was a nineteen year old girl who had shoulder length black hair.  Her bangs covered her blue eyes.  In her left hand, she carried a bass guitar case which was covered with stickers from many countries and planets.

She looked around slowly before walking through the terminal.  Climbing up the stairs to the street which passed through the terminal, she got into a waiting taxi and shut the door behind her.

“Where to?” the taxi driver asked as she shut the door.

“Best hotel in town.”

“Ah, that’d be the Adrastean.  ‘S about ten minutes from here.”

“Sounds good,” the girl said, moving her long, black bangs behind her right ear as she glanced at her watch as the taxi lifted off the ground and accelerated before merging onto the freeway.

“So what’cher name?”

“I’m Anaya.”

“Well, Anaya, nice to meet’cha.  Name’s Duren.  This yer first time on Jupiter VII?”

“Nah, I’ve been here twice before.”

“Well, ya here on J-Sev. for business or pleasure?”

“Business,” Anaya said, trying to indicate by her tone that she wasn’t interested in banter.

“Would that business have anything to do with that bass guitar ya have there?”

Anaya nodded as the taxi pulled off of the freeway and onto the main thoroughfare of Jupiter VII.

“So what kind of bass is it?”

“It’s a Takeda Wakizashi, custom made by one of my friends.”

“Can I see it?” Duren asked.

Anaya opened the case and pulled out the bass.  The guitar was a work of art from the head to the output.  Five long strings stretched from the tuning pegs to the bridge, a red oriental dragon painted into the black wood behind the strings.  The dragon’s head started on the head of the guitar and the tail ended on the black, angular body.  Golden stars marked the standard frets.  The words Takeda Wakizashi were on the body in white.

Duren looked at it as they pulled up the Adrastean and whistled again. “That’s a beautiful bass guitar you’ve got.”

“Thanks,” she said, slinging the strap over her shoulder and reaching into the case to get the money for the fare and handed Duren the money before sliding out of the car and walking into the Adrastean.

Anaya’s phone rang as she entered the hotel.  She pulled out her phone and answered it.  “Hello?”

“Anaya?” the caller asked.

“Hi, Devain,” she replied.

“Where are you?”

“The Adrastean in Jupiter VII,” she replied matter-of-factly.

“Why are you there?  We’ve got a new—”

“I’m looking for a bounty already, Devain.”

She shut the phone and recalled the information she read earlier before walking up the main stairs of the hotel.  She grabbed the head of the bass and pressed a button on the side.  The strings tightened and the head slid down the neck until it hit the body, where it locked in place.  The neck was then released.  Anaya took the neck and attached it to the belt of her waist, gently placing her right hand on the hilt of the hidden katana within before flipping a switch on the bass case and reopening it.  Now, there was a holstered pistol and a couple clips.  As the elevator doors closed behind her, she clipped the holster onto her belt before pressing the button for the fifth floor.

As the elevator went up to the fifth floor, Anaya ran all the information through her head.  The man she was looking for was named Aiden.  He was fifty-five years old with brown eyes and gray hair.  He would be in room thirteen on the fifth floor.  She stepped out into the fifth floor hallway as the elevator doors opened and she glanced at the numbers of the rooms on her right and left before turning left and heading towards 513.

Upon reaching the door, she set down the suitcase and the bass case and reached for the door handle.  She slid the panel covering the keypad the employees used to enter the room and punched in the master code.

Aiden stood near the door, a briefcase in one hand and a large yellow parcel in the other.  Aiden looked at Anaya and a sad look crossed his face.  “They put a bounty on me?”  Anaya slowly nodded and Aiden said, “I knew this was coming as soon as I read those classified documents.  If only I were brave enough to have done something with them after going through the trouble of duplicating them.  And now it’s too late.”

Anaya rested her hand on the hilt of her sword.  As she stepped forwards, Aiden flung open his briefcase, turning the papers inside into a distraction.  The sword flashed from its sheath and cut through the papers and Anaya saw Aiden rushing towards the door to the balcony.  He struggled with the locked door and failed to unlock it before Anaya’s blade got under his chin.

“I’m guessing there’s no way to persuade you to let me live?” Aiden said, a look of sheer desperation crossing his face.

Jupiter’s red tint reflected off the blade, which struck like red lightning across the man’s chest and into the sheath, starting a red fire in the brush it struck.  Aiden fell against the door and slid down, leaving a trail of blood as he did, screaming as he did.

Anaya quickly turned the sword and sheath into the bass guitar’s neck again and picked up Aiden, who was moaning in pain.  She tore a piece of his jacket off and tied up his hands behind his back with it, saying, “Don’t worry, it’s not fatal.  But you’ll be hurting for a while.”

Once he was seated on the floor, she pulled out her cell phone and called the Intergalactic Bounty Head Collection Agency.  “Hello, IBHCA Milky Way department, this is Don speaking, how may I direct your call?”

“Adrastea office, please.”

“Right away,” the operator replied before the phone line went dead for a second.

When it came back to life, another operator said, “IBHCA Adrastean Division, Jill speaking, how may I help you?”

“Yes, this is Anaya Dahn of the Disigma Group. I’ve got a bounty with the first name of Aiden here who’s worth about two hundred thousand Nu.”

“Hang on, I’ll check the active database.”

“Thank you.”

On the other end of the line, Anaya heard keys tapping and a short pause before the operator replied, “Alright, here we are: Aiden Daniels, worth 225,000N; reward only if alive.  He alive?”

“Yup,” Anaya said.

“Alright, well, just sit tight.  We’ve got your location and are sending our nearest representative to your location to pick him up.  He’ll be there in about thirty seconds.  After he verifies the target’s health, the funds, minus the company fee of 12.5%, will be sent to your bank account.”

“Thank you.”

She ended the call before scrolling through the application and starting the “call ship” function.  Activating it, she watched as her craft, the Epsilon, which the travel company had brought along for her, rose from the parking lot and flew towards the balcony.  Upon arrival, it idled there.

A man knocked on the ajar door and opened it, saying “IBHCA, I’m here to collect a bounty head called in by Anaya Snow of the Disigma Group.”

Anaya pointed at Aiden and said, “This is the bounty head.”

“Alright, he looks like he’s in good enough shape to get to the IBHCA office.  Thanks for your help in catching him.”  The man pressed a button on the pager at his waist and said, “The money’s in your account now.”

Anaya nodded snatched the envelope the man had been holding and walked out of the room, on to the balcony before climbing into the open cockpit and piloting away.





 

STAGE V ||| SECTION I

Devain sat in front of the monitor showing posted bounties, his custom-made electric guitar in his hands.  He played an old song from the days when humankind only lived on Earth.  He sang along under his breath, watching the bounty list change slowly.

He’d been sitting here playing his guitar for nearly two hours now—he started right after she called.  And on top of that, he was really beginning to worry about her; she’d taken off from the Sigma in her personal craft, the Epsilon, about four hours ago.  She hadn’t told anyone, either—that’s what really got under his skin.

He and Anaya had been working together for nearly four years now.  They, along with two of their friends, Seigfried and Loreley escaped on the Sigma from a raid on their home town of Osborith by Space Pirates.

The Sigma became their home.  It had been stocked up prior to the attack.  The records showed that it belonged to a band of bounty hunters who had most likely met their demise in the attack.

The survivors drifted in space for a couple of days, during which Seigfried read up on how to pilot the craft.  Devain learned about how to be a bounty hunter and any rules applying to the job.  Anaya and Loreley checked the inventory of the ship.

After a few days, they were found drifting through space by the Intergalactic Police Force.  The four survivors told the story of the raid and their escape from Osborith.  The IGPF members checked a couple of the facts with their headquarters.  Everything came out clear, so the IGPF informed them that a few other survivors had been found, but none of them were the owners of the craft.  And, according to the will of the last Captain, the Bounty Hunter’s Code would apply to the ship.

Devain remembered the section he had read about the Code—if the owners were to die, the first group to know the Code that came to the ship would get it for free, along with all of the possessions of the owners.  And that’s how they started out.  They were given five custom starcraft—including the cruiser—along with four fat bank accounts, a fully stocked carrier, and an extensive armory.

Seigfried was the pilot of the carrier, named Sigma, and also one of the smaller craft carried in the hangar, the Gamma.  He also controlled audio, video, and hologram transmissions in and out of the ship.  Devain piloted the starcraft Alpha, and watched the bounty board.  This meant that he chose what bounties the group hunted for.  He also modified and fixed weapons with Anaya’s help.  Loreley was in control of the Omega starcraft.  When on ship, she worked the onboard computer network and kept it connected to the Intergalactic Network Service Provider NerthCorps.  She also made sure that there was enough food onboard to last at least a month.  Anaya piloted the Epsilon and fixed the starcraft with Devain’s help and also worked with Loreley to keep the Sigma’s inventory up to date.

Together, they were the Disigma Hunters.

“Reminiscing?” Seigfried asked as he stuck his head through the doorway.

Devain nodded and asked, “How could you tell?”

“You always get nostalgic when you play those old Earth-tunes.  Or maybe you play them because you’re feeling nostalgic.  Either way, I’ve never heard this one before.”

“First time I’ve played it.”  He pointed at the laptop on the desk and said, “I’ve listened to it a lot though.”

Devain plucked at the strings for a few more moments before Seigfried said, “We’ll have to perform it at our next concert when we need to have a front.”

Nodding, Devain switched the wireless adaptor for the guitar off, disconnecting it from the room’s sound system.  He set the guitar down and asked, “Is there something you came her for, Sig, or did you just want to laugh at me?”

“Well, I wanted to say that we’re gonna have to visit a Loweon station soon.  The tank’s at about ten percent and it has been a year since we’ve refueled the Sigma.  Other than that?  No.”

A light flashed above one of the bounty board screens and it changed to a live camera of the hangar door opening and letting the Epsilon in.  As the craft slowed to a stop at its designated dock, the electromagnets in the floor pulled the craft gently down to the ground.

Devain propped his guitar up against the wall and said, “Let’s go to the bridge.”



Seigfried and Devain watched as the floor number above the elevator rose.  As it reached ten, the door opened and a bag of money flew towards Devain, who caught it in his left hand.  “What’s this?” he asked the brunette who walked through the doors.

“A hundred fifty thousand Nu,” Anaya replied, her green eyes reflecting the lights in the bridge as she walked towards Seigfried and Devain.

“Where’d you get that from?” Seigfried asked, astonished.

“A bounty; where else?  Of course, the bounty was actually for two twenty-five, but IBH kept their twelve point five, and I decided that it’d be fair to keep a quarter of the bounty for myself.”

“Why?” Devain asked.

“Yesterday, you said that you wanted to upgrade the weapons a bit.  That costs a decent bit of money, and it had been a while since I had been on a solo mission for a while, so I decided to get you the money you needed while doing a solo mission.”

Devain stared at her quizzically for a couple moments before glancing at the money.  “So let me get this straight,” he started, walking towards her, “Taking a bounty head took you four hours?”

“Well, I couldn’t just roar into J. Sev. With the Epsilon—they don’t allow bounty hunter craft under normal circumstances, but almost every city will allow a ship in distress in, regardless of other statutes.  So I disabled the starter on the Epsilon and called the NerthCorp transport company and was told that one of their travel busses would tow me in to J. Sev.  I reactivated the starter just before getting brought over to the ship.”

Seigfried nodded and said, “Well, we’ll forgive you for the length of time you were gone.  But why did you run off without telling us?”

Anaya looked first at Seigfried and then at Devain before smiling mischievously.  “You would have said no,” she replied.

Devain smirked and said, “Maybe.”

Just then a warning siren went off.  Seigfried looked over to the pilot controls, where Loreley sat.  Seigfried walked over and asked, “What’s up?”

“We’re receiving a transmission,” Loreley replied, “but the monitor isn’t showing anything.”

Devain and Anaya walked over as Seigfried flipped a couple switches.  Audio came on over the speakers. “This is the EFC Orion,” a voice said before pausing and taking a couple shaking breaths.  Static crackled in the background, and a rhythmic beep could be heard in the background sounding out SOS in Morse as the message continued.  “I am Captain Flint and we are in serious trouble here.  Most of our power’s out and we’ve got unverified reports of some weird shit going down on decks one and two.  We’ve lost communication with both decks and the engine’s losing power.”

The screens flashed to life as Flint paused again.  Seigfried said, “Must have forgotten to turn on his camera.”

Flint pulled his arm back from the camera and rested his head in his hand for a few moments.  The bridge was fairly empty.  There were only two other people with him.  Devain assumed that the twenty-some empty chairs represented people who had gone off to find out what happened to decks one and two.

“Please help,” Flint said after looking at the camera for a second.  “I don’t know what—”

Something slammed into the door directly opposite the camera and he spun, standing and drawing his pistol, as did the other two people in the bridge.  The video feed started losing quality as the door was hit again and again.  The lights in the room flickered.  The door broke open and the speakers and video feed crackled with static.  The lights flickered more violently as the gunshots and screaming could be heard.  As the gunshots slowed, there were blood curdling screams, followed by the sound of flesh ripping and bones crunching.

After a few seconds, the static on the screen faded away, and the lights steadied.  Blood was splattered on the walls and what remained of Captain Flint and one of the aides lay on the ground.  The third body was being dragged into the darkness beyond the door.

Devain’s eyes widened as the camera feed flickered a few more times before shutting off.  The message started over and Seigfried tentatively switched it off.

“Well,” Devain said, turning and scratching behind his right ear, “I wonder what could have done that?”

“Sure isn’t human,” Seigfried replied.

“Doesn’t look like something a normal animal would do,” Devain stated, pausing before adding, “Or could do.”

“So…should we check the ship for survivors?” Loreley asked.

“We shouldn’t,” Seigfried replied.

“I will, though,” Devain added.

Seigfried looked at Devain and said, “We don’t know what’s going on and you’re just gonna go check it out?”

Devain nodded.  “It’s an SOS call.  I would want someone responding to my SOS regardless of circumstances.  On top of that, what if someone’s still alive on the ship?  We should, at very least, open up a commlink with them before leaving them for dead.”

“Alright,” Seigfried said, “We’ll open up a commlink, but if we don’t hear anyone after a minute, we’re leaving them.”

“Deal,” Devain said before flipping the switch to open all outgoing and incoming channels.

“—one out there?  This is Private Louis Aemill.”

Devain snatched a radio and pressed the talk button, “Private Aemill, this is Devain Snow of the Disigma Hunters.”

“Oh, thank God,” Louis said, “I’m on the EFC Orion and things have gone to hell, here.  I’ve got about…uh, one, two…fifteen survivors here with me.  We’re holed up in the armory on Deck Three.  Something’s going on out there.”

“Alright, sit tight.  I’ll be in there soon to get you guys out of there.”

“Thank you,” Aemill said.

“Thank me after I get you all aboard the Sigma.  I’ll be taking a two-way with me.  It’ll be on channel five.  If there’s interference on five, it’ll be on nine.”

“Okay, we’ll be waiting.”

Devain looked at Seigfried and said, “I’m gonna grab my sword, my dad’s old SGT500M and Loweon Revolver and head over there.  I’ll try to contact you every fifteen minutes.  If I miss three contacts in a row, you’re in control.”

He walked towards the bridge’s window and looked out at the EFC Orion, which was totally blacked out and said, “It’s eerie to see a ship as large as that totally blacked out.”