Time Before Time

          I liked to think I was ready for anything. But what happened in the next 10 seconds took me completely by surprise.
          As I stepped out of the cinema onto the Martian walkway, a heavy blow landed on the back of my head.
          It actually wasn't the blow I felt, it was the searing pain that radiated to my eyeballs, and the intense dizziness that sent me to the ground.
          I knew two things instantly.
          I knew someone was trying their hardest to take my head off, and I knew I didn't want to feel that again.
          As soon I felt the hard ground beneath me I started to roll away from where I assumed my attacker was. I needed to get some distance between us quickly if I wanted a chance to fight back.
         Jumping to me feet, ignoring the new wave of dizziness that came over me, I faced my would-be be-header.
         Actually I tried facing him, but apparently I hadn't put as much distance between us as I had thought. Before I could completely turn around a large fist smashed into my face. The force of the punch unbalanced me; the force of the second punch sent me staggering backwards into the alley. A third one landed me on top of the trashcans.
I had to do something quickly. My level of consciousness, not to mention my dashing good looks, would not hold up well to many more punches.
          Reaching behind me I took hold of a trashcan. I spent a only a fraction of a second contemplating what would happen if it was tethered to the ground, and hurled it at the approaching figure. It didn't do any damage, but it distracted him for just a second.
         That was all the time I needed.
         I lunged forward and threw all my strength into my punch. It was followed up immediately with another. While he was slightly off balance from my punches, I drove my left heel into the side of his knee. His leg buckled and he went down. I jumped on top of him, keeping him on his back with my knees on his chest. He tried to wiggle out from under me, but physics were on my side.
         My adrenaline made me land a couple more punches to his face before I actually took the time to see who my attacker was. If it had I would have known those punches were doing more damage to my knuckles than to his face.
          My attacker was a Quinexx. They were known for being strong and angry. But their most recognizable feature were their large nasal bones that curved around their cheeks. Bones that could easily withstand a measly human fist.
         A hairy fist swung up from the right that I was barely able to dodge. The left one caught me in the shoulder and almost knocked me sideways. Sheer panic kept me upright, still pinning him to the ground.
         I aimed for his eyes and landed punches as quickly as I could. They wouldn't do any damage, I just needed him to not pay attention to what my other hand was doing.
         I reached around to the base of his skull. His dreadlocks were tied back, as custom for a Quinexx warrior, so it was pretty easy to find the protuberance I was looking for. I bunched my fingers together and jammed them into it as hard as I could.
         The behemoth beneath me made a surprisingly feminine squeak, lurched violently, and collapsed.
         I had learned that handy trick about sending their nervous system into momentary shock years ago during my brief stint as a Patrol Officer. I learned about the weaknesses of a lot of different races, I also learned I'm not very good with following orders.
         For ten heartbeats I scanned his face and watched his breathing. I was not in the mood for any surprises right now. After reassuring myself he was really unconscious, I got to my feet quickly. Imagining him waking up even angrier motivated me to move fast.
Despite my inner voice screaming at me to get as far away as possible, I knelt down beside the prone figure. His clothes were typical for a Quinexx; high collared tunic and pants. Running my hands over his shirt revealed no hidden pockets. I moved to his pants pockets, retrieving some money and a small brown folder. I pocketed both, feeling only a small twinge of guilt for stealing his money. But as I thought of all the pain killers I would have to buy because of him, the feeling disappeared.
          I stood up and quickly left the scene, lest sometime alert the Patrol to report a human mugging a Quinexx.
         As I hurried down the street toward my apartment I contemplated reporting the attack myself. But I knew it wouldn't do any good. An understaffed, overstretched Patrol Office couldn't spend their time investigating something as minor as an attack that didn't even result in a death.
         It didn't used to be this bad. Thirty years ago, travel to other solar systems was long and expensive so people mostly stayed in system.
          Then Pi'Tar of the Scichian system invented The Net. He discovered that a thorian laced solar sail could be calibrated to manipulate gravity waves. When placed on the front of a ship in the shape of a net, it made space travel very convenient. Instead of taking months or years to travel to another system, now it took a few days or weeks. Literally overnight, the galaxy was at your doorstep.
         So was every form of illegal activity you could imagine.
          When the number of criminals grew exponentially, the number of Patrol Officers did not.They lost the war on crime before they even had a chance to fight.
         So if an average person like me tried reporting an insignificant crime like being attacked in an alley, they would get a lot of blank stares and some vague promise about investigating it. Which usually meant writing a report that would never see the light of the day.
          Walking home, I was more nervous than my manliness would admit; glancing sideways into each alley. I started to relax as I saw the outline of my apartment building growing larger. The building was part of the Historic District. It was made of brick, with glass windows and halogen light bulbs. It was designed to resemble the buildings that would have been around Pre-Quadrant War, Earth.
         Frankly I think the term Historic District was just an excuse to let everything fall apart.
         I swiped my DNA card across the scanner and waited until I heard the lock disengage. I pulled the heavy wooden door and walked inside. The hallway was simply lit with more of those ridiculous halogen light bulbs. I hated this hallway. I hated this building.
          Scanning my card one more time unlocked my door and I breathed a sigh of relief as I stepped inside. At least the interior was a little more up to date. The motion detectors turned on the lights to my predesignated settings, and the far wall began scrolling the day's headlines.
          "Door lock." I said absentmindedly as I dug out the two new items in my pockets. I counted the galaxy credits and set them aside. It wasn't enough to get excited about.
What interested me more was the small brown folder.
          I held it up and examined every inch of it. It felt like leather but I seriously doubted it was. Probably some high end faux leather. It was held together with tight white stitching. No markings or engraving of any kind. I opened it. It held two small info cards. The one on the left was written in Basic Galactic. I scanned the words quickly; it was a short message.
          "This man, Kurron Raja, is to be eliminated immediately. He can be located in the Tao Quadrant, in the city of Levanthia. Further payment will be credited to your account when the target has been eliminated."
         How eloquent.
         On the right side was a photo of a dark haired, dark eyed man. There wasn't really anything unique about him, save the crescent shaped scar by his right eye.
         It was an odd feeling staring at a picture of myself I don't remember taking. Oh well, at least it was a decent picture.
         I glanced through the note one more time before closing the folder. I had a growing knot in my stomach as I laid the folder on the table.
         Right next to four identical folders.