Shane’s Hunt

Shane pushed himself forward through the bright green brush, his weapon’s barrel the first to go through its leaves.

Guide Hark’s voice came through Shane’s Communications Platform to ask, “How is everything?”

Shane replied, “This suit’s horrible,” making Hark’s voice laugh through the platform.

“No, it’s just new. Once you get used to it, it’ll be the same as the last.” Shane couldn’t argue with that. He remembered saying the same thing about the Scales V.1 on another system’s desolate desert. The Flesh Z5, though, was advertised to be a much better utility suit. Shane didn’t trust the adverts, but Hark did, especially if Glin was wearing it. Hark hadn’t let go of that fatherly instinct, never mind the fact his son was a grown man with a greying beard. Shane knew it wouldn’t go away for him either. He had to bring his mind back to his eyes. Another mile had been walked and no signs of the thing were anywhere.

Shane asked quietly through the CP, “You got anything, Glin?”

An almost whisper came back through the CP, “Negative.” More and more miles would be marched, probably leaving the Preservation Crew with nothing for the day. Shane scanned to his left of the exotic jungle. Through a sea of vibrant pastel plants with their ripe fruits, Shane saw a dozen trunks of massive youthful trees. As he started turning back, he suddenly froze himself in place. Just at the corner of his eye, he saw the glint of a strange green. It was lighter than the rest of the leaves, and its pattern didn’t match the landscape. What the pattern was, Shane did not know. All his peripheral could tell was it wasn’t part of the flora.

He remained motionless as he whispered, “It’s on me. Just on my right.”

Glin’s full voice asked, “Can you move?”

Shane replied, “No, it’s only forty feet from me. It’ll reach me.” A fast pace was running through Shane’s heart, but it wasn’t abnormally so. This wasn’t the first time in his career Shane had been pressed into this situation. He knew how it would go; he just wasn’t a fan of it. Glin was no doubt sprinting towards Shane’s position. Perhaps he could get the shot from behind, avoiding the pain.

That hope suddenly faded when Hark ordered, “Get your Comatic ready when you get there.” Shane remembered their orders were to take the thing alive for examination, since this was a Commissions contract. He could see in his display that Glin was closing into Shane’s location. A few deep breaths got Shane ready as he felt the eyes of the creature holding a strong gaze, one that put a physical weight against Shane’s chest. The creature was waiting for the opening to pounce.

It soon got it as Glin said, “In position.” Shane had to be thrashed by the Lizard for two minutes before Glin could get an angle for the Comatic. It would leave a massive bruise wherever the Lizard put its saber teeth, but nothing would be broken. A bottle of any stiff drink would make it tolerable. Didn’t mean Shane had to like it.

He took another deep breath before he counted down, “Three… two… one.” At the one, Shane threw his hand into his display, activating the Z5. Soon sacs of a strange gelatinous liquid filled the suit's pores, so when the Saber’s teeth clamped down on Shane’s torso, the nine thousand psi would be redistributed through the suit. Shane still screamed when he felt the pressure, though. His breath shortened as ribs suddenly became snug with one another. Then suddenly, he was thrown off his feet as the Lizard thrashed him around. The momentum whipped his skull in every direction it could, but his hands still had a firm hold on his weapon. As the trees all became one massive wave of green, he felt all of that momentum crash him into the ground as the pressure against his chest lessened. The trees had suddenly become separated again, and Shane’s ribs grew apart to their original state. His eyes had gone up to the bright blue sky surrounded by thick treetops. Glin’s mask rushed over to Shane as he laid in the Saber Lizard’s mouth.

“You alright?” he asked.

Enough air came up from Shane’s chest to say, “Fantastic,” but it wasn’t enough to remove Glin’s concern. He grabbed Shane’s arm and back to help him up. As Shane stood, a sharp pain shot all the way up and down his side. He slowly hobbled over to a nearby tree and pressed his back against it to slide down to the ground.

He said as he sat in the thick moss of one of the tree’s roots, “That’s a broken rib. This is all you.”

Glin said, “Shit,” aloud as he examined the Lizard. Shane watched its chest rise and fall while its tongue was sprawled across the grass. Based on the moist gel coating the tips of its teeth, if Shane had been a moment slower, one of those blades would’ve punctured something. Shane looked down at the Z5 suit of armor and knocked his gauntlet against the hardened gel. It was wavy with that small amount of pressure, but once Shane tried to punch it, he felt the gauntlet hit a stone. No wonder the Lizard thrashed. A stone had formed around its teeth, probably felt like they were being ripped out of its skull. Shane almost felt sorry for the thing. Powerful engines suddenly filled the air. Glin was too busy reorienting the creature to look. The tree, though, gave Shane a wonderfully shaded view of the small cargo ship hovering over the treetops. Glin finally looked up to see a cable bring down the set of mag-restraints. The four small ones were shackled just above the Lizard’s claws while the large one went around its neck. The Steelen family was the first group of people to put the collar around the creature’s neck. Shane didn’t know if it was for the thing’s comfort or if it was simply easier to haul it up to the ship, but he quickly found he preferred it for the creature’s benefit. Most Preservation Crews were brutes about procedure, but they didn’t get paid as much as the Steelen’s. Shane watched how quickly the magnetic hauler brought the lizard up to the open deck of the ship. Once the comatose beast was locked in, Glin came over and grabbed Shane.

As Shane laid on the small medical table the Steelen’s had, his one fellow none Steelen, Fio, approached. He had a grin on his face.

“Shut up,” Shane said, trying to hide his own grin as a wince. Fio saw right through it, though.

“Last crew and this crew, there’s a pattern there, Shane, you can’t deny it.” Shane did, in fact, see a pattern. He had been told a while ago that he had a heavy footstep.

Unable to argue, Shane just simply shrugged and said, “Next crew, I’ll tell them my special skills are being bait. Everyone needs bait.” Fio chuckled.

“I suppose so,” Fio let some silence linger before he asked, “Seriously, you alright?” Shane took a moment to examine himself. He’d heal, yes, but without some suppressant or liquor, he’d be cranky for a bit.

Shane gave the answer, “I will be,” to calm Fio’s mind. They quickly grew together when they realized they’d been employed by a family. Neither Fio nor Shane had deciphered the family’s second language, but it was one that wasn’t too foreign to them. All crews had inside jokes, hand signals, and lingo that was unique to them. With them being a family, the lingo was deeper, more entrenched. The hand signals had just become instinct, and the inside jokes were extremely guarded. Fio and Shane had worked together on a previous crew, but it was such a large organization that they never interacted. Shane found himself very early on trusting Fio, who hadn’t failed him yet. As Shane stood from the table, Fio was ready to catch him, but Stella’s resetting of the rib removed a lot of pain. Instead, Shane just patted his friend on the back as he left the med bay.

He came immediately into the common area, which had no one inside. Shane took it as an opportunity to sit down on the nice orange couch in the center of the room. The dark wood bar, with orange neon lining it, made a deep regret fall into Shane’s chest.

Luckily, when he began to stand, Fio gently pushed him back down and asked, “Your usual?” Shane let a wide smile go across his face as he let out a sigh.

“Yes, thank you, my friend.” He then settled down and grabbed a nearby glass display and swiped so a hundred-inch piece of glass slowly descended from the ceiling. “Perhaps there’s a race today.” He pressed the display so the entertainment complex would start. Shane immediately changed the stream to the Sports and saw two teams of three playing Tetra-Ball, a game he couldn’t care less about. “Damnit,” he sighed out.

Fio looked at the complex and raised an eyebrow as he said, “It’s Tetra-Ball. A female… game of… Tetra-Ball.” Shane looked over to Fio’s eyes, which were becoming entranced by the powerful bodies on the screen.

“It’s not even in season. Seeding games are too reserved. Nothing gets done, male or female.” He glanced back again and still saw Fio’s eyes locked on the screen. A smile crawled across Shane’s face as he brought the glass display up. He swiped and watched as Fio's eyes went wide.

“Hey! What are you-” Shane laughed as he looked back at the complex and finally saw something worth a watch. It was “Across Provinces” a series dedicated to examining ships and stations in the galaxy. The one episode in particular was on Wave Station.

“Fio, come on, look at that view.” His friend came over and looked at the complex.

“I preferred the last one.” Shane grinned at the humor, but then felt himself entranced in a more awesome sense.

Wave Station was also known as Raiken Station. It was created by the powerful Raiken family, one of the many families in vehicle manufacturing. Their CR-11s were almost masterpieces, but way outside of Shane’s price range-hopefully not for long. To Shane, though, their greatest creation was Wave Station. It sat in the orbit of a gaseous system called Vexsis. The atmosphere of elements created a gorgeous mix of wintery blue, a simple grey, and an almost fluorescent green. As a child, Shane had been so obsessed with the system, he memorized every element that made those colors. His work had forced that knowledge out, leaving only his admiration.

The host of the series said with a calm luxurious tone, “The cost range of a penthouse on Raiken station starts as low fifty million in Veerian Currency all the way to three hundred million. That three hundred million going to the crown jewel of Raiken Station: Embrace Penthouse.” Immediately, a set of doors slid opposite one another into their respective walls and showed the penthouse. Passed the dark polished wood floors and furred couches, Shane saw the thousands of kilometers wide storm that blended the blue, grey, and green into a beautiful chaos. The windows of the penthouse were tall and wide, so there was little to no obstruction of the view.

“Fio, come on! Look at that.” Fio nodded.

“Yeah, I can’t deny that.”

“Exactly,” Shane said. He loved Vexsis, especially being so far into his career. Habitat Preservation turned lush green systems into a sight of work. A gas system meant nothing at all. There was no life for a gas system to hold so there was nothing to preserve. Just a masterpiece of the Light for Shane to stare at. It was a wonderful thing, but it was quickly over as Hark entered the room.

“Oh, that’s gorgeous,” he said, then he quickly transitioned, “We already got another contract. It’s an Assembly one.”

Shane stood up slowly as he said, “Means someone let their ego get too big, I bet.” Hark nodded as he started stepping back into the corridor.

“I suspect the same. Wants to meet in person. Don’t do that unless you don’t want a record.”

Fio was quick to say, “Puts the leverage on our side for negotiations.” Hark smiled at the statement.

He then looked over at Shane and said, “He’s getting it.” Shane nodded.

“Yes, he is.” Shane followed after Hark with Fio into the guide room. A massive table sat in the middle of the room that had a glass pane sitting inside its frame. There, sitting at a desk twenty feet away, snugged inside an observation cubby, was Stella with Lora, her ten-year-old daughter. Her skin glowed as she sat and watched Lora listen for her baby brother’s little dances. Usually, Lora sat quietly and played with some benign tool when she was done listening.

This time, she came running up to Shane and asked, “Are you okay??”

Shane replied, “I’ll survive. Takes more than a lizard to take me down.” Lara grew a big smile on her face before she hugged him. It put a smile on his face, one that filled him with a joy and warmth he hadn’t felt in a while.

Lara then stepped away and asked, “Could I come with you on one?” Shane looked up and saw Stella’s face. He knew from their conversations that both Stella and Glin wanted their girl to be a girl, a safe girl. Any indulgence of adventure near a Preservation Crew meant she’d want to join one in the future. Shane didn’t understand the desire. He only ever used his intelligence, will, and reflexes on contracts. Too much currency had been put into Preservation for there to still be a need for pure raw strength. He even looked down at his rib and realized Z5s were quite an investment.

Shane replied, “I think that’s a question for your father,” to avoid the whole thing.

Glin suddenly appeared from behind and said, “Oh, glad to see the Light guided you out of that one.” Shane let a grin grow over his face as Stella stood from her desk.

“I don’t think anything went dark at any point, but yes,” Shane said.

Stella came over with her pregnant belly and said, “You were at risk all the same.” Shane thought he saw her eyes suddenly look down at Lora, but he wasn’t sure. If Stella was trying to signal Shane to say something for Lora’s benefit, the Steelens should’ve learned a long time ago that Shane didn’t do such things.

Lora instead asked, “Can I go with you on another one?” Stella this time shot a glance at Glin.

After a few seconds of staring, Glin told his daughter, “How about the next time I set up the ground camp, you come with me. A distant observation of what we do.” Shane let another massive smile grow over his face as he watched Lara do a quiet little celebratory dance before kissing her father on the cheek and scurrying off into the ship.

Shane saw Stella send a glare at Glin. Something that was none of his business was about to unfold, but everything had been avoided when Hark said, “Well,” bringing everyone’s attention back to the center table of the room. “The Assembly wants us to meet their representative in Misan.”

Fio was quick to say, “Little luxurious for a back-alley deal.” Hark simply shrugged as his son and daughter-in-law prepared the ship.

“I won’t lie and say I found it strange, but so is meeting in person for a contract. Yet here we are.” Hark suddenly threw his hand out. Both he and Fio had forgotten about the Lightway’s light jolt. Shane was already holding onto to something, of course. His chest demanded it.

Misan was only half a day’s journey across the Lightway. Shane spent most of that time on the orange couch, taking the time to study his body. The ostepropellants were doing well. Shane’s rib wouldn’t be fully healed by the end of the jump, but most likely, before they started the contract. He did want to get used to the pain quickly, though. That’s why when Hark asked for someone to come with, Shane was quick to volunteer, which automatically added Fio to the group.

“Doesn’t hurt to have extra muscle,” were Hark’s exact words. Shane threw on a thin black dress shirt and closed the magnetic seam. He quickly checked the mirror and saw the medical wrappings were done properly. No blood had come out onto his shirt. With that, he followed Fio into the Steelan’s Carter-Dixon.

With a quick reverse out of the cargo bay that once held a Saber Lizard, Hark drove the vehicle out of Misan’s council seat. The rays of the province above gave a wonderful warmth to them. When Shane looked to his right, he could see Hark was driving them along a coastline. One Shane could tell was manufactured. The sand was too fine, the water too blue. Misan, as a system, was not made by any Habitat Engineering team. All of it reeked of leisure companies and appraisal firms. Families and young couples were in the water, playing around as people do, while the other vehicles on the street were filled with families intent on doing a shopping spree. The buildings caught Shane’s eye, though. Massive towers of glass had entire gardens and boutique villages some forty stories above. Glass walkways continued to shift and cascade the province’s light over the Carter Dixon as Hark drove underneath them. Shane had gone to a similar system many years ago. Some species of fluffy creature had bred so quickly that the genetically manipulated luscious jungle the corporation had made was being devoured at a rate of an acre a day. Shane didn’t like how they finished that job and pushed it out of his mind. Luckily, the vehicle’s gentle stop made it easier.

“The representative says he’s on the fiftieth floor. A restaurant named Provincial Kiss,” Hark said. Shane and Fio both nodded as they quickly stepped out of the Dixon. All three of them watched as the floor of the building began lowering it into the ground. Once Hark got the notification on his wrist display and saw he was charged, the three of them went inside the compound. As they walked across the polished granite floors, Fio pointed up at something above Shane.

“They’d let you land anywhere in that thing.” Shane followed Fio’s finger to a K.A.X. Omen-3. It was the bachelor’s ship. Any young man with enough money could find themselves flying to anywhere. And Fio was right, an Omen rarely got rejected by towers. It was floating in mid-air, all eighty feet of its wingspan, suspended by a magnetic scaffolding hidden somewhere in the building’s architecture. It was thin, almost like a blade, with a long tail behind its back. The cockpit was integrated into the body of it, so it was a completely streamlined craft. 

“Sexy is a universal language, isn’t it?” Shane said, putting both a grin on his and Fio’s face as they followed Hark into the chamber.

“How about you Hark? Planning on retiring?” Fio asked as the floors of metal and glass flashed in front of them.

Hark replied, “Yes,” then turned around and pointed at the coastline view behind them all, “Right there.”

Shane's eyes went wide for a moment before he said, “Thought you would have been doing this until your heart stopped.” A small, but obvious, frown went over Hark’s face.

“It hasn’t been that much fun without Pelia around.” Shane felt his own heart get heavy at the name, enough that it made him forget his rib. Last time Shane heard it, Lora had tears in her eyes. Hark’s wife had died two years before he joined the Steelans. He knew nothing of her, just that her death wasn’t horrid or anything along those lines. The kingdoms and A.R.M.S. all made laws that obligated Preservation Crews to give a list of all deaths during contract. The Steelans had no names appear on their data, so she must have died naturally somehow. Shane would never tell them that from his experience, that was a good thing to celebrate. She clearly left a hole in them all, one that Shane knew drove Fio mad. Many times, he tried to change how something was done during a contract but heard Pelia’s name in the counter. Shane wondered if that’s why Fio’s eye was so quick to find the Omen. He suspected Fio wouldn’t be on the crew much longer.

Suddenly, the chamber doors opened and Hark stepped forward onto the fiftieth floor. It was another massive space. This time, luxurious vehicles were sitting on slowly spinning podiums, catching the province’s rays just right across their driver doors. A sudden flick of movement in Shane’s peripherals helped him find the Provincial Kiss over on his left. The sign above the door was a water display. An amber sphere of water floated in a glass frame before it suddenly flicked into a sharp cursive that spelled the name of the restaurant. When Shane followed Hark inside, he immediately noticed how most of the place was glass. Usually, Shane saw a habitat take up a whole wall with creatures swimming around to match the place’s aesthetic, that, or some projections on a metal wall. Here everything was some kind of prism. It reminded him of Brodil’s engineering. The man Hark was suddenly sitting across from had the province at his left side, so Shane could only see half of his face.

He was good looking in the average sense. The man had no chance of being a model for something, but the ring on his hand wasn’t strange for him to have at such a young age. Shane’s eyes quickly went to his attire after that. The man was so scrawny that even in his custom dress attire, everything looked too large. Still, he gave Hark what looked like a strong handshake. For a man who wanted to meet on a system like Misan, he was rather pale. Shane shook his hand and found it to be an average strength. Once he sat down, close enough that his eyes could adjust to the province’s light, Shane took another look at him. His eyes were brown, with the same color head of hair to match, that was stick straight, and he had a hooked nose with the dark shadow of a beard running across his cleft chin. The man’s cheeks were quite defined, but Shane knew that was from his weight. 

“Mister Steelan, who are these gentlemen?” His eyes darted between Shane and Fio.

Hark replied, “That one’s Shane, the other is Fio. Whatever the contract is, they’ll be on it.”

The man nodded and said, “Very good,” as a server placed a plate of food on his gel placemat. He looked up and said, “Thank you, sir,” before he began eating. Shane took the opportunity to look at the staff. All of them had on dress attire vests with a tight high collar. They also kept a stick straight regal posture. When Shane watched the man’s server turn around, he saw the back of the collar go all the way to the middle of the man’s skull. The place was owned by someone from the Cendorian Kingdom, Shane had no doubts about that. Only the Cendorian culture forced manners into the attire and, based on the almost fluid motion of the servers, they were Cendorian as well. It was strange to have a place like Provincial Kiss on an Edge Kingdom’s system, but so was meeting a man for a contract.

Hark waited as the man finished a few bites of his food, then asked, “Could I ask why all the espionage, mister…”

The man quickly replied, “It’s not espionage, Mister Steelan. The Assembly simply wants to keep this in their hands before they have to make a public report. I can’t imagine many spymasters meet in restaurants with the province setting.” The man then turned to his left, into the light of the province, and looked out his nearby window. “Oh, look at that sight.” Shane didn’t disagree. Even though the province was nowhere near the horizon, it already was spitting out florescent pinks and fiery amber oranges. Shane quickly followed the rays pouring inside the restaurant. Somehow, the glass architecture was storing the amber glow in each table and the four prisms in the corners lit the whole room evenly in an amber blanket. Shane could have sat there all day, but when he turned back, he saw another detail about the man that made him forget it all.

He had a prosthetic, one he didn’t try to hide or show off. Shane knew little about them other than the Designist debate. For such a dangerous job, Shane had managed to keep himself intact. This man’s right arm, the one that shook Shane’s, was a dark steel, but it was very anatomical. The sheet of metal that acted as his skin was thin enough that Shane could see whatever cables that acted as tendons move in his hand as he held his knife.

“Anyway,” the man said, “Would you gentlemen like to eat or get to it?” Hark’s finger suddenly tapped the table, then hopped over an inch.

Before Hark could answer with words, the man had already translated that reflexive gesture as, “The latter. I understand.” He then said, “They made it clear you’re one who wants to know particulars. Context is a Habitat Engineer by the name of High Fellow Jaren Brosh was caught conducting experiments outside of his duties.”

Fio was quick to say, “Duties. So not contracted.”

The man pointed at Fio and said, “Correct,” then clarified, “Duties for the crown of a certain kingdom we are sitting in now,” before he continued, “He sent his complete customary report and sought out permission to create the Seeding Pod with the data. It was granted, but he did not give the regular update to the catalogue. Now, since the Assembly is simply a sentinel of reputation, not a recognized authority, they advised His Majesty, and expected nothing else from it. Within thirty hours, they were granted full authority from the Crown to investigate. What they found was what you are to investigate.” Hark chuckled.

“Investigate, since when did I become Crown Guard?” The man waved his hand down, hoping to settle Hark.

“You’re right. That was a poor word choice. What they found is what you will be hunting.”

Shane finally spoke to say, “Shoot to kill. Not even an attempt to capture.” The man nodded.

“I’ve been told that is not possible. That’s why,” the man reached into his attire jacket pocket, which both Shane and Fio’s hands on their weapons. He waved them down and pulled out a small silver square that fit in his palm. A quiet slide across the table placed it in Hark’s hands. “You’ll be given half now and half later.” Shane knew it was a currency marker. How much it represented, he didn’t know, he did know only men he found suspect, to say the least, used them.

“I’ll need more than a marker and a vague story.” The man nodded and pulled out another piece of silver. It was an inch thick disk, a data drive most likely.

“That will have all the information the Assembly’s acquired for the hunt. I was told you’d understand the word Abnormal.” Shane knew it well. Abnormal was a status given to creatures, environments, or processes that had either gone awry or were not approved for creation by the Assembly. Not approved made up about forty percent of Abnormal statuses. Shane looked over and saw Fio’s jaw clench.

Once he made eye contact with Shane, who gave him a nod, he asked, “Did they give you a classification?” The man had stopped chewing the moment he heard the question.

He swallowed whatever was inside his mouth, then replied, “Yes… D3.” Shane immediately chuckled.

“That’s some deep lizard shit mystery man.” The man shrugged.

“I can’t say I disagree. I’ve worked with enough fellows to know what that means. But I’ve been told you’ve faced a fair share of D3s before.” There was some silence over the table as the province continued to set. The man broke it to state, “If you won’t take the job, then I’ll need the marker back.” Hark sighed and then glanced at both Fio and Shane. Neither man gave a reaction, putting it all down to Hark. They sat in the amber glow, letting Hark think in silence. Shane saw him twirling the marker. He had been with the Steelans long enough to know if that much thought had been given, Hark was taking the contract. The thinking was how he was going to sell it to Glin and Stella, maybe Stella more than Glin. He finally looked up at the man and gave him a nod. Suddenly, the man’s hands were back in his jacket as he pulled out a palm sized glass cube. He gently placed it on the table and Shane watched the whole table glow blood red. The man swiped at the table and brought out two sets of blank digital documents to be displayed on the glass of the table. “Displayed here are two data drafts. I’m here to serve as the transmitter of the contract between your crew and the Assembly. The background data you see in the small frame over here is a transcript of our discussion. My S.I., as you can see, is creating a contract between you and the Assembly, and the Assembly to you.”

Fio stated, “Double voucher seems overkill.” The man grinned.

“The double voucher is my group’s standard policy.” A word popped into Shane’s mind.

“Solicitor,” he said, “You work for the Solicitor General.” The man nodded. Again, Shane knew little about the Solicitor General or any of his Solicitors. He just knew that on one contract, the presence of one made his Head Guide uneasy. And that one from many years ago had the same well done black attire and clandestine behavior. Fio’s sudden lack of color in his face told Shane he knew more about them. If he remembered to care, Shane would ask, but he knew himself well enough to know he wouldn’t.

The man spoke again and asked, “So, is everything good enough for your signature, or would you like to read over them?”

Hark replied, “I’d like to send these to a friend of mine if that’s alright. He was a former contract advocate.” The man nodded.

“Yes, the Assembly told me you would ask. He’s expecting the documents. Once both parties agree to terms, I’ll begin a signing.” That was enough for Hark to stand and shake the man’s hand again.

“We’ll be waiting. Enjoy your meal.” The man gave a nod and then shook Shane's and Fio’s hands before sitting back down to his meal. As they left the restaurant, Shane made sure to take another look at the man as he sat in the dying light of the setting province.

Shane sat on the orange couch again, watching the glass display. His rib had fully connected, but the bone wouldn’t solidify for a while. A discussion was underway somewhere on the ship about the contract details. Since it had been over an hour of silence on the ship, Shane figured someone would come out soon. He’d stay still until they arrived and let the bone harden a little more. Eventually, Glin stepped out of the nearby corridor, trying to hide some anger. Shane didn’t really care; the dynamics would be stable again within the hour. Hark stepped into the common room, bringing Shane’s eyes back to the corridor entrance.

“It’s all set. We’re officially on contract to hunt a D3.” Shane nodded as stood up from the couch.

“How much was the marker?” Hark held it up and showed it to Shane before tossing it to him.

As Shane caught it and held it in his palm, Hark replied, “Five million Cendorian.” Shane felt all the blood rush out of his face. ‘Half now, half later’ had reappeared in Shane’s mind. A total of ten million in Cendorian currency was in their future. It wouldn’t get Shane on Wave Station, but it was a good start. Shane looked down at the marker again and felt his stomach drop. He knew Fio would quit the moment he got his cut of the prize. Shane wondered what he would do. Hark said, “We’ll have the briefing soon. I haven’t looked at the thing myself, so we’ll see if it’s worth all the chatter.” Shane gave a nod and watched as Hark followed Glin.

Ten minutes passed before everyone was inside the guide room. Hark got a nod from everyone before placing down the disk the man had given. Once it was down, all the data was displayed by the hologram. Quickly, in the center of the projections, was the Abnormality. It was a white-skinned beast with four legs. When Shane looked closer, he saw that the skin was composed of small smooth scales. His eyes traced the creature up its long, slender neck to the head. Its eyes were a solid blood red, while its mouth held the same teeth of a Saber Lizard. Two saber teeth guarded each side of the open mouth. Along the jaw line was a single dense row of sharp, smaller teeth. It also had an eel like frill running down both sides of its neck. A tail sat at its end and each of its legs carried a set of three short but thick talons. Of course, short being relative to its size. Shane looked at the data scrolling around the creature and saw an image. A claw print was made in the soil. The engineers had measured it at three foot three inches. Its length was estimated between fourteen to twenty feet. Even standing on all four of its legs, the creature was nine feet tall.

Hark explained all of its genetics. All Shane remembered was that it was a hybrid of thirty different sets of genetic fabric. No more context of Fellow Brosh’s motives was given. All that remained was where the creature was. A moon orbiting a massive gaseous system named Solon. If the system was named, then many other moons in its orbit were settled. The one selected was clearly underway to becoming such a place once the abnormality was removed. Lush vegetation, fertile soil, good healthy rains, it would be an agricultural system. Most likely, an agricultural system that would do most of its exporting to the orbiting Solon systems. Shane had heard more Barons and Dukes were interested in ‘Isolated Provinces’. If the Crown had commissioned the construction of one, it must have been his own claim. That was irrelevant to the contract though. Shane just finally understood why the secrecy and ‘espionage’ as Hark put it.

The Steelan crew sent the ship towards Solon and spent three days on the Lightway before finally arriving in the province. Once the ship’s Veil was pulled back, Shane found himself in another state of awe.

Solon was massive, most likely double the size of Vexsis. Whatever gases made it created a series of warm tans and browns along with massive streaks of grey. Its entire equator was just a band of thousands of storms raging in and out of one another. Already, with only having just entered the province, Shane could see a few dozen small specks he knew were Solon’s moons. The province of Solon, Pilix, was a large orange beast that kept a steady anchor to the area. Within a minute, the Steelans were entering Solon’s orbit, putting that beast’s light in an orange ring around the system’s atmosphere. Shane felt a joy flood over him as he watched the storms move, but it was short-lived. Soon, the ship was engulfed in flame as Hark sent it through the atmosphere of the moon. Once they got through, Shane saw Solon towering through the haze of the blue sky, and then he was ordered to get his gear.

He got on the Flesh Z5, his knife, and, since it was a hunt, he grabbed the Steelan’s HLR-M3. It was a rifle made by Meldor Manufacturing, specially designed for Preservation Crews. It was an energy weapon that launched the laser bolt straight at a target. One of its energy cartridges had thirty ‘expulsions’ to fire. Shane hated the term. It was a weapon like any other, so in his mind, the thing had thirty rounds. The one issue Shane had was the Abnormality had four inch thick skin. The M3 had been made for fauna with less bulk than that. Shane looked over at Fio and saw him grab the harpoon gun.

“Why are you going with that?” Shane asked.

Fio planted his helmet onto his Z5 suit and said through the communications platform, “Figured I’d poison the bastard if that doesn’t work.” He pointed directly at Shane’s M3. It was a proper strategy. The abnormality was powerful, but it was still flesh. No matter what fabric was inside the creature, it wasn’t resistant to Scythe Spit. It was an extremely valuable thing that preservation crews often found themselves getting for free. Scythes were the most common nuisance crews had to deal with. Most Scythes were usually killed by entire industrial hunting expeditions, but some either got big, or were ‘rogue’ as the Observers put it. Shane had killed at least a dozen ‘rogue’ Scythes throughout his career. And every time, the Guide was willing to lose a cut of currency if they were willing to give the spit for free. If done properly, a crew would walk away from a Scythe with a gallon of its spit. Whether dry or wet, Scythe Spit was toxic. Even if the gland in a Scythe itself burst, the creature was dead within a minute. And since the Steelans had no plans to eat the creature, there was no problem delivering the poison. Shane was glad Fio took it upon himself to use the Spit. Even if the thing was an Abnormality, it was still alive. It would feel a burn, but it would be dead before it could cry. It was the best they could with such a beast.

Fio was already walking down the entry ramp of the cargo bay. The ship’s engines were muted by the suit, but still hurt Shane’s ears. He did a light jog, then hopped down the three feet and watched as the ship took off.

Finally, Hark’s voice came through the platform, “Glin’s getting himself ready right now. You two get the data from the Seeding Pod while he sets up a camp at the thing’s last known.”

Shane chuckled as he said, “Ah, give your boy the cushy jobs.”

Hark replied, “Oh no, Lara gave him the easy job. Wouldn’t let him forget his promise. I just wasn’t willing to fight on her on it.”

“Surprising,” Fio said, which made Hark laugh. Shane, though, noticed a hint of bitterness in his saying of it. Luckily, once the ship left, there could be no communication between them and the ship since the camp wasn’t built yet.

Shane took the opportunity and said, “Fio, be honest with me. Are you staying with this crew long?” as they walked through the thick forest.

Fio kept his eyes forward, looking for anything dangerous, as he replied, “I don’t know. I don’t like this kind of dynamic, Shane. We’re down here because the thing’s a D3 and yet Glin isn’t part of this team because Tara wants to go on an adventure. And yes, I know that’s not really why. Stella doesn’t want to watch her husband get eaten. My main problem is you can’t argue because you’d do the same if it was your family.”

Shane countered, “Industrial crews were much different in terms of expendability.” Fio still kept looking ahead.

“But that one you could argue, and something would actually change. If two people were friends or more than friends and started making different calls because of it, then they were separated or one was taken off the crew. It’s an easy fix. Glin took my spot last time because he knew I was getting sick of it, but still nothing’s going to change.”

Shane let a silence linger before he asked, “Wouldn’t you feel bad leaving them? They’re decent people and the brothers aren’t coming back it seems.” Fio simply shrugged as they continued forward. It was all completely reasonable, and things Shane had thought himself. Still, they were the best crew he’s been with, that made leaving for anything other than retirement a mistake. Retirement though, was a possibility in Shane’s mind with this currency. With such a high end and exotic crew like the Steelans, Shane’s allowance had grown quite well. Ten million currency for the whole crew meant Shane was getting at least a few hundred thousand. Most of the bulk share went into the Steelans operation, which made sense of course. Shane didn’t like that their personal fees were excluded in that cut, but he never argued. The rest was given to Shane and Fio. After the Abnormality, both men would have more than a million waiting for them. Shane realized his mind had wandered too much. He still had to finish the hunt before he could see the currency.

He brought his eyes back forward and kept a diligent watch for half an hour, bending, slicing, and climbing through the forest, until both him and Fio had reached the seeding pod. It had been a while since he had to retrieve data from one, but it was exactly the same as the last. Since it was the source of the once desolate moon’s life, the metal pod was covered in a foot thick shell of vines, roots, flowers. Hundreds of little creatures were scurrying around it, mostly pollinators. The surrounding flowers were the oldest and the healthiest so it was an easy choice. Shane had read a whole informant article about how entire hives had grown to become bulky just to compete for the pod. The Z5 wouldn’t let the creatures through, so Shane drew his knife and began cutting away at the green hill in front of him. After only a few minutes and some unconventional uses of his M3, Shane got through to the pod.

The metal had fully begun to rust, which wasn’t an issue. In fact, when Shane could just simply punch through a patch of rust and reach the data bay, he appreciated the flaw. With a light rip, Shane had the data bay in his hand. It was a black metal cylinder that had been completely untouched by the elements, except for the one slithering creature coiled at its center. After it tried and failed to bite Shane, the creature slithered into the long thick grass and disappeared among the trees. Shane handed it to Fio and scanned around the forest to see if he saw anything. Amongst the hundred-foot-tall trees were creatures flying, jumping, and buzzing about. Whole carpets of flower went along the forest floor while moss saturated every trunk of every tree, but there was no threat. The Abnormal must have left a long time ago. Fio tapped Shane’s shoulder, and they were walking back to the creature’s last known location.

As they walked, Glin’s voice had come through their communications, “How are we gentleman?”

Shane quickly replied, “We have the data bay,” as they continued forward.

“Very good, very good. I’m only a hundred feet from you guys. Bring it up and I’ll go through it.”

“Seems rather pointless, doesn’t it? Assembly gave us all the data we needed on the thing.”

After some silence Glin came back through and said, “One of the small details in the contract was that the Assembly wanted Fellow Brosh’s work. Nice bonus for that.” Shane felt his stomach twist at that. For all the work to kill the creature like it was an abomination, the Assembly wanted its data like it was some masterpiece. Shane didn’t care to think along that path any further. Once his foot stepped out into a large clearing, Shane just put his mind back to the hunt. He approached and handed Glin the bay as he continued scanning the forest. That’s when he suddenly noticed Lora playing with a flower only five feet from Glin’s camp.

Shane walked over and asked, “How you doing kid?” She replied by holding up a massive pink flower.

“Look at how pretty this is!” Shane agreed. The pink of the flower was the same kind found in the deep setting of a province, and it was spread across ten thick petals.

“Beautiful.” Shane took it from her and then popped it in her hair, just behind her ear. “But now it’s prettier.” Immediately after that, Lora gave Shane a big hug.

“You’re a good friend, Shane.” The man felt a sudden stab in his heart at the statement. All those thoughts of leaving put a heavy guilt on him. Somehow, in one moment, the man decided to stay with the Steelans for as long as he could.

“You make it easy Lora.” That put a tighter squeeze on Shane, one that he couldn’t feel at all because of the Z5. Yet it still gave him great joy. Glin came over and stood beside Lora as she let go of Shane.

“That’s beautiful, my love.” Lora immediately turned around with a big smile.

“Can we take some with us?” Glin shrugged and let a grin slip onto his face.

“I don’t see why not.” The girl did her quick little dance before she started picking more. It put a smile on Shane’s face. Then Glin poked the glass of his helmet and said, “I’ll stay with her you and Fio can check the bay, see if there’s anything else about the thing you can know.” Shane gave a nod and met Fio on the small metal platform with a complex on it. Fio was staring into the display, almost completely still as he examined the data.

“Find anything?” Shane asked. Fio shrugged.

“No not really. Big dangerous thing. I watched it get out of its egg, which means the Fellow had it for quite some time before he added it to the pod. Little thing scurried straight away into a storm and that’s all that exists in the visual archive. A few unidentified roars occurred throughout the year. Other than that, nothing. It’s definitely here though.” Shane nodded and then turned back to the forest surrounding them. Lora and Glin were still playing in the flowers as the rest of the clearing was empty. Shane’s heart suddenly froze for a moment when he began scanning the actual trees.

He didn’t know why until he scanned back to his left for a few feet and then he saw something. Two ovals of red were sixty yards from him, sitting unbelievably still in the thick brush beneath the massive trees. After some time, the green that surrounded them turned out to be out of place. Bushes were suddenly cutoff, and a tree trunk had completely disappeared behind a wall of green.

“Glin grab Lara and hold still,” Shane said as he slowly raised his M3 up. Fio was about to move, but Shane stuck his hand out and grabbed him, “Don’t move.” The man listened and stayed staring at the display as Shane kept his eyes on the red dots. A chill suddenly shot down his spine as he looked directly at the red. There was no doubt in his mind that he was staring down the Abnormal. He checked his peripherals and saw Lora and Glin holding still. The sound of sniffles were being made. Shane whispered into the communications, “Glin, she can’t start crying.” Glin slowly got low and crouched so he could hug Lara tighter. “Hark, you need to bring the ship and get this thing.”

The man replied, “I’m ten minutes out,” as Shane started slowly stepping forward, off the metal platform. In his peripheral, Shane could see Fio’s harpoon lying in the grass. Slowly, Shane switched out his M3 for it and brought it up to his eye. The sight of it was a Hive Vision.

Shane whispered, “Fio slowly reach for your wrist and switch this to conduction.” Shane knew from the data that the creature was cold-blooded so any thermal would be useless. The thing would still create an electric field. After a few seconds, Shane watched the scope go from a glass to a deep blue, with a massive white creature outlined, still looking directly into his eyes.

Shane’s adrenaline had flooded into his blood. His heart was practically sprinting out of his chest and sweat started covering every inch of his body. This was nothing like he felt before. He knew the harpoon well. Being sixty yards from the creature was too far. It only had a reliable range of forty. Every ounce of him wanted him to just stay still and wait for Hark, but that all changed when he watched one of the legs outlined on the conduction display take one step forward. The Abnormal was about to charge. Shane had to get it before it tried hurting anyone. With a deep breath in and another deep breath out, Shane mimicked the creature and took a step forward. As he did, he watched the thing lower its head down low, still keeping its eyes on him. Shane slowly reached over to his display and swiped so the Z5 was ready for the thing’s pounce. Whether it would survive was unknown to Shane. Such a creature didn’t even exist on any database when the suit was invented, but there was nothing he could change about it.

He took another step and watched a set of muscles in the creature change position. It was only a few seconds from charging. Shane stopped, took one massive breath as he prepared himself for whatever came next, and rushed at the creature. His sprint of ten yards, sent the thing into a thumping twenty-yard sprint straight at him. Each step sent a shockwave into the ground that forced Shane to hold still as he lined up the harpoon. He watched it open its mouth as he pulled the harpoon’s trigger, then a massive pain slapped him on his right side as a roar filled the forest. The suit had deployed and became almost a hundred pounds heavier as Shane fell to the ground. Before he could even try to recover, another pain went across his back which had removed a chunk of weight from his suit at the same time. After that, his whole chest became engulfed in pain as the creature clamped its jaw down on him. That loss of weight must have been a layer of the suit’s rock chipped off because the pressure from the bite was breaking Shane. He roared out in pain as the creature bit down harder, each second adding more and more pressure, until eventually, he heard and felt four of his ribs snap in half. The howl grew even louder until his throat started filling with blood and drowned him out.

Suddenly, a big thump brought Shane and the beast down to the ground. The Spit had finally stopped the creature’s heart, but Shane was still trapped, and his breath was shortening. Fio had sprinted over and pulled him out, sending flourishes of pain throughout his chest. More and more blood was filling his throat as Fio ripped off the man’s helmet. Glin ran over to help, shouting for his father to land the ship as he did.

The last thing Shane saw was Lora’s face full of tears. Then, his eyes shut with Shane’s mind wondering if they’d ever open again.

Saber

A nice chilling breeze came across the rooftop as the twinkling provinces decorated the night. Saber felt strange not finding them to be the most beautiful thing in her sight, but the massive glass towers of Coensus were genuine works of art. They were so tall that the little grey puffs moving across the black sky split in half as they flowed across the city. Another pop caught Saber’s attention. When she followed the sound, all that remained was a bright red flash of color. Celebration was still underway for the first day of the Coensus Plunder, the largest technological showcase in the galaxy. The system would be dense with tourists from all three Edge Kingdoms, the Cendorian Kingdom, and A.R.M.S. as hundreds of companies and governments showed off their new toys. All hangars were occupied with a ship from some other province within the galaxy, while vehicles took foreigners across the system’s Council Seat for a celebration. It was a perfect environment for Saber and her Ego. Since the target hadn’t arrived yet, she quickly examined herself in the reflection of the tower’s glass. Saber traced her long, toned legs as they sat in the black bodysuit. Running along the inside of her thigh, she knew a net of thousands of small projectors were waiting to be powered for her transformation. The slightly bulky wrist display had a hard connection to her… well, her. The battery would pulse the needed energy into the suit, but there was no complex putting any data into the projectors. It baffled Saber how powerful she was sometimes. Her beauty, though, there was never a doubt in her mind why she looked so good in the black skintight bodysuit. Many times, in the mirror, she found herself entranced by the body she had crafted over her years. A plump, toned backside let her jump higher while making her every man’s desire. The legs that carried it weren’t too thick and weren’t too thin, showing a life of genuine activity, not just stimulation to a muscle group. Her chest maybe was a little large for her frame, but she never received a complaint. Perhaps she should’ve listened to her mother and become a model for those aesthetic companies. Unfortunately, Saber inherited her father’s addiction. Her heart started beneath her chest as her wrist display notified her.

She sat up from the glass balcony rail and brought up her Hive Visionaries to see her target arrive in his HT-Soaring by Hierarchy Vehicles. It was a grey four-doored blocky beast that stayed nearly two feet off the ground. Four silver metal spheres carried the vehicle across the Coensus’ streets and when her target arrived at his location, the four spheres would shut off their magnetic tether to the vehicle and lower him that near two feet so he could step out. When he stepped out this time, a petite, blonde woman was holding his hand as she stepped out of the Soaring. With her target preparing his entry into Lovelies Club, Saber switched the sight of her Hive Visionaries to conduction so she could see the electrical current of the man’s security. If the rumors were true, every single man beside him would have a specific flow to them. Disgust filled her heart when she confirmed the rumors. Her target was a Mechanical Supremacist. Every single one of his men had an electrical current that fit the more primitive flow of a Bloodline Prosthetic. Saber realized, though, that she didn’t really care. She could hide, fight, become one of them if she needed to. For the moment, she had to scan only one more thing. The HT-Soaring had its electrical flow in the usual places, but it had so much more in the motor spheres than the company’s standard model. Of course, for a man of her target’s stature, more luxuries were certainly inside. Another load pop went off to her right. It left a bright green color this time. Out of curiosity, Saber quickly flicked her Visionaries over to see what the source was. A few miles out, there was a massive vessel holding all the usual partyers. Women showing off their sculpted bodies, men trying to acquire said bodies, and the more focused people who simply wanted someone specific. That was enough information for the moment; it was time.

Saber put the Visionaries in their utility holster and drew from the same belt, her Exact, with a twelve round magazine and tactical slide. It was a beautiful weapon; she would even swear it was more accurate than any energy weapon that existed. Perhaps it was a biased view since it was a gift from her mother, but it also never failed her. Once she was satisfied with the weapon’s readiness, Saber went to her wrist display. She swiped through and first activated her magnet grapple before powering the thousands of projectors in her suit. Saber looked down and saw only the small twinkles of light coming from her body. To the outside observer, there was nothing. Usually, some part of the Ego technology recorded the surrounding area, so it knew what part of the environment it had to project. Saber’s power removed it, along with half the suit’s technology. Her peripherals were all that she needed to complete the image for any observer. All that remained was for Saber to get down onto the street.

She stepped over the glass rail and lowered her right hand onto the metal beam that ran up and down the entire height of the three-thousand-foot building. Saber only had to descend sixty floors since she needed a vantage point of the club entrance. After one deep breath, she threw her feet out into the air and felt her right hand grip the building. As she hung from the sixty-first floor, Saber went into her wrist display and brought the magnet’s power down to thirty percent, so it could only pace her acceleration towards the streets. A few minutes of the wind rushing through her short black hair got Saber to the street. Those small pops were bursting color all over the Council Seat. The official first day of the Coensus Plunder was about to end, but everyone on the streets and in the clubs knew the officials didn’t decide when the day was over. Of course, Coensus never really ended a day. Someone would always be awake, celebrating the Coensus Plunder in their own way. Saber, though, had to get on her ship and leave this province once she finished her errand. Once Divitiae rose over the maze of glass towers, her opportunity would be lost. She passed the oblivious pedestrians and entered the Lovelies Club. A quick song was being played on the custom laser cylindric index. Lights were being flashed along with the fast beat, so Saber had to change her appearance. She couldn’t predict what the lights would do. Instead, she had to make a constant appearance for herself. What did she want to look like? The mood of the filled club was obvious. People wanted their desires fulfilled for the night, so creating a sexy attire would blend her in. That would only get her so far, though. Eventually, a guard would want to stop her. She quickly made her decision after that thought. In her mind, she had the perfect image of one of the target’s henchmen formed and took it on. She was as tall as most men, so it wasn’t shocking when a shorter man looked up at her and gave a quick wide-eyed glance in that single moment the lights flashed. Clearly, her image of a broad chested man with a deep scar down the side of his temple was successfully projected. Saber grinned as she buttoned her illusionary black attire jacket and scanned the flashing room for her target. Red, blue, green, bright white, and purple all flashed in quick succession as the magnets at the end of the room made colored bubbles of water flow in a slow, sensuous flow above the dancing patrons. In all that visual chaos and seductive dance moves, she saw a man doing the exact opposite. Up on a second floor, looking down on the dance floor, a man tapped behind his ear while he stood in a rigid guard. Saber didn’t hesitate moving towards him. He was most likely guarding some sort of luxury platform where her target was playing with that girl of his. A disguised Saber pushed through the crowd to a large ramp on the left side that led to the upper platforms. The black glass floor slowly brought Saber to her rigid guard.

In the flashing lights, Saber could see the reflection of the man’s prosthetic arm. This is when it occurred to her. She needed to add some prosthetic to her disguise. She already had the scar at the temple, so she simply added a prosthetic eye to match the injury. The flashing lights covered the shuttering of the projectors as they switched the eye. Saber learned long ago simply being confident got her anywhere. As she passed by the guard, he gave her a strange glance, but all she did was nod as she entered the luxury platform. The man didn’t want to get in trouble, make a fool of himself, or worse, be wrong, so he had no choice. Saber’s disguise was a real person in his detail. Of course, anyone in a higher position on the target’s security team wouldn’t accept that, so she put herself in the club’s appropriate attire. After three rapid flashes of green, purple, and white, the broad chested security guard became that desire Saber admired so much. Her toned legs would tease through the slit of her blue dress as she passed the other patrons. She couldn’t see any of what she wore, but she could see the reactions of those around her. Men gave a drooling stare while other women gave that quick jealous glance. The security guards on the luxury platform simply noted her as she passed. Saber brought her sharp brown eyes, surrounded by a blue glittery shadow, over to the right side of the club. She noticed she could journey deeper into the Lovelies on her side, while there was only a door on the right side. Saber suspected her target was behind that door, but she had to verify. She pushed by the bridge hidden behind the water display and saw the dance floor below. Her target wasn’t in any of the luxury platforms and when she looked over at the Lovelies’ second, more exclusive dance floor, all she saw were the usual celebrities. Mainstream artists, whether singers or theatrical entertainers, fashion artisans, and of course, one of the winners of the Coensus Plunder. Levis Velo had on his best attire, as two women kept their bodies pressed against him. All the usual people, and no sign of her target. He was across that hidden bridge. Saber started her walk back and noticed a guard keeping a close eye on her. Her turning around was suspicious, but no one could act on it yet. She simply passed by the man as his Bloodline Prosthetic eye dilated its old metal shutter to focus on her. There would be a fight. They blocked off the right ramp, and no one was on the luxury platforms by the door. Her target had a very secure detail. It kept a wide perimeter, had an angle of every section of the club, and each individual had training in melee combat. Not only were the men physically superior, but they were Mechanically Superior as well. She would have to use their own momentum against them if she wanted to get to her target. Her slow walk ended at the start of the bridge, hidden behind the water display. Already two large men were waiting for her at the other end while the rest of their friends, hiding in Lovelies, started converging towards her. Saber couldn’t draw her Exact yet or she would reveal her Ego technology. With one deep breath, she started crossing and immediately stopped as the two guards took off their attire jackets. The magnetic seam on their dress shirts was pulled back so they could show their Mechanical Supremacy. Since they were Bloodline Prosthetics, Saber could see the cogs, wires, and cables move as the men readied themselves for a fight. She focused in on them and knew they were underestimating her. They knew their prosthetics put them above most men. Unfortunately for them, Saber was above everyone.

She could hear them thinking about their next moves. The one on her left wanted to throw a right hook, while the other wanted to jab her straight in the stomach. All she had to do was throw herself against the left side rail of the bridge. Once that was done, she’d throw up two projections of herself and watch the two men fall. Saber heard their minds planning another set of moves, but it was completely pointless. She charged them, sank into that left glass rail, dodging both mechanical punches, then threw up her two projections. When the two men went to dodge her projections’ punches, their skulls found one another. Their stunned state made Saber’s very real jabs to their throats easy incapacitations. A sudden set of clanks behind her caused Saber to sprint for a nearby metal pillar. The moment she disappeared behind it, she heard four rounds ricochet against the pillar. Weapons previously holstered were drawn and opening fire on her. Saber knew she needed time to unlock the door, so these men had to be removed. She drew her Exact and sent out a projection to go out into the open. Immediately, rounds were being fired at it, so Saber peered around the corner and saw two men shooting at the decoy. Before she heard their minds become confused, she took the time she needed to shoot out both of their kneecaps. With that done, she went to her wrist display, during the screams of panic in the club, and began hijacking the keypad of the door.

That hard click of the magnet coming undone signaled for Saber to plan. There would be at least six men behind this door. She could trick them and become one of their own, but it was too risky. She couldn’t engage in melee with Mechanical Supremacists fairly, and they already knew about her Ego Technology. Saber had to borrow from the C.S.F.’s strategy set. After she refocused with a single deep breath, Saber forced open the door and stepped back. No one fired, so the men were definitely highly trained.

One voice came from the hall, “You two go. They could already be in the room.” Saber’s Exact remained in the Ego’s shroud, so she shouldn’t be seen, but when she shot, the weapon’s own flash would reveal her. That was her utility reason for not shooting the two men that came into the club. Her main one was she didn’t want to kill anyone unnecessarily. The career she chose only removed thieves, syndicate enforcers, cheats, and all other scavengers of society. Even if these men were Mechanical Supremacists, there were too many stories of men like them changing their ways for her to want them dead. Also, she knew nothing about her target, except the fact that he had something she wanted. As the two guards entered the club’s dance floor, Saber slipped past them and closed the door behind them, causing their friends in the hall to open fire at the doorway’s general area. Saber felt a round shift the air around her black hair as she examined her surroundings. She was in some sort of high-end kitchen. Nitrogen coolers left a chilling mist across the floor as the marble counters were covered in sharp knives and unused ingredients for dishes. There were three men pointing their weapons at the door just as the white hallway opened up into the kitchen. One was moving towards the door to unlock it for his two friends. Saber waited for the moment the door opened. As the flashing-colored lights of the club started pouring in, Saber sprinted over and pushed her Exact into one of the back men’s kneecap before she pulled the trigger. He collapsed in a scream of agony as Saber pressed the barrel into the other kneecap. Another man fell down in tears while the three men by the door spun around. Saber went back to the left side of the kitchen and let the men pass before executing their kneecaps. She slid across the white marble floor and fired her weapon point blank in each right leg. All five men were down on the ground, screaming in pain, while one man in her target’s detail remained. The man was standing by a shining black metal door at the end of the back hall, with nothing in his biological hands. His natural eyes stared down the hallway in panic. Saber slowly started moving towards him, hoping not to step too loudly, but she noticed the part of him that was his Bloodline Prosthetic, his throat. At that moment, she could see his pupils dilate beyond natural limits. A Bloodline Prosthetic throat was old enough to have an Overdrive outlawed everywhere in the galaxy. Saber sprinted and started closing the distance as gills in the man’s throat started sucking in copious amounts of air. Shrieking Cords would rip through Saber’s heart and cause it to stop beating. Luckily, as the man went to exhale, Saber slid beneath his legs and shot one round into his groin so his mouth would send the sonic blast straight into the floor. The sonic boom blasted into the floor and threw the man into the ceiling, while Saber felt herself get thrown back into the black metal door.

When her eyes opened again, Saber saw her kneecapped guards still writhing on the floor. She wasn’t unconscious for very long, so her target was still behind that black metal door. Once she slowly got up from the floor, Saber checked her wrist display. There was no damage done to her Ego Technology. She looked around the white floor and saw two blurry Exacts ten feet away on her left side. When his hand reached out and only felt one, her eyes focused in again, turning it back to the one. It didn’t seem ruined, but Saber wanted to examine it before depending on it again. With the Exact placed in her holster on her belt, Saber carefully walked to the holographic display of the black metal door. She went to her wrist display and watched as the decoding complex began discovering the passcode. Three numbers were selected, and a loud puff of air pushed itself out of the door. Saber took control of herself a moment and let adrenaline flood her body before quickly jumping to the right side of the door as it retracted into the white wall. She checked her wrist display one last time, saw she was still invisible, and decided to quietly to step into the room. It was a private office that looked down at the luxury platform of Lovelies. The room was made of some black marble that had inside it veins of blood red rock. Her target was sitting down at a desk while his girl, with Luxurious Skin, sparkled on a nearby red chaise. The man wasn’t nervous, scared, or anything. In fact, he seemed amused. Saber remembered all the information she had gathered on him. Jabez was a man who controlled a crucial part of the odalisque trade on the system Idyll in the province of DO2. He and his Mechanical Supremacists rarely left the system unless it was for something like the Coensus Plunder. He also was one of the few private owners of a Mechanical Ego. Part of why Jabez was so difficult to kill was because no machine could see him. The Mechanical Ego shrouded him from every sensor, eye, and Tracer complex. Saber needed that Ego before Divitiae rose over the Coensus horizon. She listened to his mind and found out how clever he was made to be. The man knew if he was supposed to be dead, he would’ve been shot by a rifle as he entered Lovelies. Saber had to speak with him. She hesitantly drew her Exact and then thought the shroud of invisibility away. As the scales of the projectors shuttered Saber back into reality, Jabez grinned.

“Saber, the best of the best is after me. How flattering. Why are you after me is the only question I have?” She didn’t waste any time.

“The Ego, I want it.” Jabez chuckled.

“Afraid of fighting machines?” Saber shrugged.

“A certain set of machines, yes.” By the risen brow, Saber knew she had revealed too much.

Jabez asked, “Whose set of machines? There aren’t many people with unique… oh, you either have a shit brain or a steel pair.”

Saber replied boldly, “Trust me, it’s the latter. Give me the Ego.” Jabez shook his head.

“No. First off, my ass is outside of Idyll. I’m in his territory and I’m not messing with him. Second, his machines don’t work that way. Trust me, the Ego will be useless.”

Saber got closer with her Exact as she asked, “What do you mean?”

Jabez started playing with his ring as he explained, “These machines… their A.S.I. isn’t normal. Detection, security, pursuit algorithms, travel, aggression predictions, facial decoding, body decoding, Visual and Auditory Tracing, the fact I’ve only said a fifth of what that A.S.I. can do, that’s not a normal thing. No, no, you, my dear, have to be shit brained. But that doesn’t matter.” Saber could hear the truth, both in his voice and in his mind. The Solicitor General was a strange man with powerful tools. Another thought suddenly lurched into the man’s mind. He felt relief, as something was on its way to save him. Saber pressed her weapon into his skull.

“What did you call?” The question forced a single image into his mind. A schematic flashed into her mind. In a long purple, yellow print, she saw a Cendorian Security Machine with a large caliber weapon. That was why those four spheres on the HT-Soaring had so much power. Saber didn’t have any more time to discuss. She had to run.

She sprinted out of the office towards the first elevation chamber she saw. Saber threw herself in and sent the chamber to the floor she had planned for her escape. That immense anxiety she felt in her chest was fueling her calculations of where those four machines would be. They could carry a Soaring at up to ninety miles per hour while being magnetically tethered. She had to separate herself from their range somehow. The few moments she had in her ascension allowed for a hijacking of the building’s security complex. When she brought up the holographic display of her wrist complex, she saw shadows quickly speeding through the white halls of the tower as they tried closing the distance to their target. Suddenly, her holographic went black. The S.I. of the Cendorian Machines was using the same complex to track Saber. It knew exactly what floor the chamber was speeding to and already calculated her likely escape route. She had to calm her mind these few seconds so she could plan. Saber took a deep breath and remembered something about security or hunting S.I. They favored visual targets before auditory. She could give herself a few seconds before the Cendorian Machines fired on her. Saber had never pushed the range of the Ego projectors past three feet from her, but she wouldn’t be comfortable without five feet. The S.I. wasn’t too smart. If she shrouded herself and made the projectors create a vague outline of her, the machines would shoot it. The chamber lurched to a halt and opened to a set of unoccupied offices. She had a straight line to a wall of glass windows a hundred and eighty feet away. The moment the doors opened wide enough, Saber sprinted straight at them and imagined herself running five feet behind herself. Hopefully, it would work. She could hear the metal spheres rolling across the stone floor as they closed in. She was a hundred and thirty feet away when she heard the machines on her floor. For a moment, it was only four of the same sound, the grinding of metal on stone, but she knew the S.I. decided to create a kill box when a loud shattering of glass filled the hallway. All four machines were speeding to get ahead of the projection, smashing every glass wall on either side of Saber. She had only seventy more feet before the window. Her Exact would have to shoot out the glass at the very last moment to keep her illusion going. She could see the sheen of the chrome armor in both of her peripherals as the machines sped after her projection. The loud percussion of their weapons began as they started shooting at the projection. Flashes filled the room and reflected off their chrome armor, while Saber kept sprinting for the window. Only forty feet remained, so she drew her Exact and had a bitter realization. Her original plan was to slide down the slope of the glass tower’s massive atrium for the residential spaces below. If she followed through, the security machines would roll after and kill her before she ever reached the street. Quickly, she used the last twenty feet and sprinted for the right corner of the building in front of her. Cutting such a hard diagonal forced her to shoot through the same glass walls her pursuers were crashing through. The first round broke the S.I.’s pursuit of the projection, and Saber saw one machine spilt open its section of chrome armor to open fire. She heard it fire a few rounds as she shot out the window. Saber leapt, went to her wrist display, so she could increase the power of her magnet grapple, and latched onto the massive metal column running up the corner of the glass structure. Once attached, she quickly flung herself around, giving her cover as the S.I. of the Cendorian Security Machines predicted her next move. It knew Saber would get herself to the street. Security inside the building was on high alert, and the white and neon yellow flash of Coensus Steward Pursuit Vehicles was flooding towards the Lovelies club. All the S.I. had to do was calculate her route and the machines’ intercept course. Saber peeked around the corner as she descended and saw the four chrome spheres launch themselves out of the window. They cracked the atrium windows as they landed, but the chrome spheres were unphased and barreled towards the street. Saber took away some of her magnet grapple’s power, so her descent increased. The machines would get to the street first, but they would have to round a whole street corner before getting sight of her. She looked down and felt blessed when she saw a dense river of people walking on the side path. Saber created some random citizen in her mind and finally reached the street. A few people noticed her sudden appearance, but no one cared. They were too busy, too annoyed, and too arrogant to care about anything else other than their own tasks. Saber turned and went towards where the machines would round the corner and saw the four chrome spheres appear on the side path. Their S.I. instructed the machines to search for Saber farther ahead since that was natural prey behavior. She casually walked past the machines as a well-dressed appraiser and escaped unharmed with plenty of time for her personal task.

An empty, dark glass building was in Saber’s sight. She had been undisturbed as she walked through the grounds surrounding the tower. It was tall-nearly the tallest in the Council Seat-and had a strange coil to it, making it seem like a blend of natural and synthetic architecture. Saber had been staring at it for nearly ten minutes. The moment she stepped onto the grounds, there was that Psychic Dread her Mystics mentor taught her many years ago. Something about this tower was only sensible with her mind-not her brain, not her body-her mind. It left chills on her spine as she followed the structure up to where its tip pointed towards the provinces above. Ships were flying in and out of the atmosphere above it, but they all sped away faster than most ships would. Or perhaps that was Saber’s own fearful perception. Many knew the Solicitor General’s reputation, and few had a kind view of him. His Solicitors all lived in properties he owned and drove vehicles that were completely exclusive to his company. Carter-Dixon, Malcolm Baluster, Hierarchy, all of them had a specific design that belonged to him and him alone, a galvanized armored obsidian steel hybrid. Every single vehicle had pitch black windows so no one could see business being done, and it was rumored no one could ever detect any of his assets. Saber confirmed that rumor not too long ago when she examined the building with her Hive Visionaries. There was an electrical current, but it was small, too small for the rumored A.S.I. he had present across the galaxy. Everyone under him had the same A.S.I. serving them, whether they were in the Divitiae province or the Gallance province that was at the other end of the Cendorian Kingdom. Saber wouldn’t be able to know where any security measures were, but she needed this. She took a deep breath and focused her mind on what she desired. A single number appeared in her mind: one hundred ninety-four. It was most likely a floor number. There was only one step left, entering the building. Saber knew it wouldn’t be likely, but she first wanted to try opening the front glass doors. She grabbed the handle, expecting that strong tug, only to feel the glass panel fly open. That Dread was growing in her chest, nearly crushing her heart. Every instinct told her to walk away. She couldn’t listen, though; she needed her desire. Defying every voice inside her head, Saber stepped through the door.

A nearly paralyzing chill wrapped around her. That feeling of something watching her was magnified beyond any bearable level. Those instincts screamed for her to leave, but she only had to focus on that desire. She walked further into the open lobby and felt her heart drop when a dark red line of light appeared off in the corners of the room. They shot around the perimeter of the lobby until they outlined a glass elevation chamber at the opposite end of Saber. The glass rotated behind the wall so Saber could enter. So much space between her and that chamber. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to leave the light of Coensus’ four moons. The moment she stepped forward, Saber would plunge into a deep shadow. Something kept focusing on her, staring, but there was no sign of any Visual or Auditory Tracers. Her desire kept pushing her forward. With a sudden quick pace, Saber plunged into the darkness, feeling that Dread rush towards her from the shadows. It gained and gained until she finally got into the elevation chamber. All the Dread felt like it was sitting outside the chamber. Before Saber pushed the display, she wanted to know if she was imagining it. She slowly reached her left hand back into the lobby. Nothing. There was no violent reaction of any kind. It just seemed like a place that didn’t trust her. She brought her hand back in and looked down at the chamber’s display, only to find a panel of marble and obsidian buttons. One hundred ninety-four was pressed, and the chamber started its quick ascension.

Since the chamber didn’t shift from its straight path, there was a normal central column that would take her to one of those twisted floors. Saber drew her Exact and felt that Dread again. She was being watched, a focused, cautious watch. After focusing her mind, she felt nothing predatory. The Dread just stayed in her heart as the chamber slowed. Finally, she brought her Exact up to her eye, and the chamber opened. A flood of pale moonslight came through the twisted windows. She could tell the floor was made of a white marble, but there were these black veins that ran through it all. Her soul just felt so uneasy. Saber stepped onto the floor, expecting something to activate. Quiet, a heavy quiet. Step after step added more weight as she pushed into the center. It wasn’t enough to pull her off her desire, though. In the open circle of marble offices, one desk in the center of four small glass walls piqued her interest. She took one step toward it and felt a sudden chill freeze her. Something quickly gave Saber the impression the moment she moved for it; whatever was lurking in a different plane would manifest. She needed that desire; it had been too much time spent for her not to take it. Saber's only decisions were taking her first step and waiting to fight whatever it was, or sprint for the desire. She had already braved the lobby. There was no reason not to brave the thing itself. Saber kept her Exact ready as she stepped forward towards the office. Something shifted in the walls.

When she spun around, two pieces of the white marble wall came down in the pale light of the four moons. Next to the chamber door came two glowing blood red lights.

Before she could react, the machines produced a menacing voice so powerful, deep, and terrifying that when it said that dreadful word, “Saber,” her blood chilled. That voice shouldn’t have known that unless it had access to the Stewards’ database. How far did the Solicitor General’s power reach? She couldn’t see what was carrying those two lights. Their speed could’ve been equal or greater than hers, Saber wouldn’t be sure. Shooting at them was pointless. A single round wouldn’t do anything based on the General’s known power. Saber made a quick decision. She spun back around and sprinted for the desk. Metallic footsteps followed her. She ripped open the glass door of the office and quickly rummaged through the desk. The glowing red lights eventually brought the machines into the pale light as they reached the office door. Saber, in a quick glance, saw they were old machines. Cogs were moving, pistons acted as tendons for the arms of the machine, such primitive technology, yet they moved so naturally. She felt her brain shutter at the sight. They moved too naturally. They opened the door as Saber found the cylindric index she needed. All that remained was her escape. She turned and shot out a window. Saber went to leap, but a giant metal shutter clamped down onto the floor before she could move. That was a standard security measure. Maybe these machines were only auditory and visual. Saber slid underneath one of their legs, noticing that neither of them went to strike as she did so, then shuttered into a projection of her surrounding environment. When she looked over, the elevation chamber was sealed shut and suddenly all the metal shutters were clamping shut. That Dread nearly split her heart in half. Saber was in pure darkness as the two red eyes were charging towards her. Suddenly, a white light in a stairwell turned on. Saber sprinted for it, hearing the metal feet just behind her. As the white light flooded over her, Saber ran down the marble-obsidian steps towards the lobby, but she heard another set of steps clomping up the stone. All she had for an escape was another floor lit only by the four moons. She sprinted in and took in her surrounds. The room was a little more intricate. There were obsidian walls she could blend into. With a pure black projection, Saber pressed herself up against the farthest wall and watched as the two glowing red eyes reached the doorway access to the stairs. The primitive cogs held still as the two eyes stared right in her direction. Saber watched them slowly walk towards her.

She just kept saying in her mind, “They can’t see me, they can’t see me, they can’t-”

Her heart nearly stopped when that deep menacing voice countered with, “False, Saber.” She drew her Exact, shuttered her projection, and pointed the weapon straight at the machines.

“Get away from me!” The two machines stopped and stared at her with their single glowing red eyes. Behind them, a silhouette of a man appeared from the bright white light of the stairwell. A man in three-piece attire walked across the obsidian floor towards Saber. He had on a white jacket, a black vest, and a grey dress shirt that seemed tied together by a thin black ribbon collar. She pointed her weapon straight at the man as he approached. The machines were unphased. They knew she wouldn’t shoot because she had said to herself that she wouldn’t. She finally screamed, “HOW CAN YOU HEAR MY THOUGHTS?”

The man held up his hands and replied, “I’m sure you know well it can be done.”

She protested, “But these are…” Saber couldn’t finish the statement. They were something else. They weren’t the manifestation of an Advanced Synthetic Intelligence; they were the manifestation of an Intelligence. These machines walked naturally, but nothing natural gives such a Psychic Dread. Saber only had one option, which was tell a truth they already knew, “This index has my father’s last mission on it. I just wanted to know what happened.” The suspicious man with amber eyes nodded.

“That’s understandable. Quite a dramatic way to get that information, though.”

Saber could tell by the man’s general confidence and prowess that he was the man everyone feared, “Your reputation didn’t make it seem like asking was a possibility.” He chuckled.

“Or did you just want to take on the challenge?” Saber swallowed her anxiety from that question. The man knew her nearly perfectly, somehow. She nodded and waited to hear the man say, “You don’t need the index. Your suspicions are right.” Saber felt a tear run down her face. Her father died nobly, like a hero. The Solicitor General was quick to say after that, “So, will you leave now?” Saber watched as the man’s hand went out graciously back towards the lit stairwell. She nodded and started walking forward. As she passed the General, he said, “May the Light Guide your Path, Saber.” The Path, the man was a worshipper of the Light, unless, of course, he knew those Boxers everyone feared, sometimes more than him.

Saber took a deep breath of relief and said, “I will. Thank you.” The machine on his left held out its hand so Saber would give back the index. She obliged and watched as the three figures started walking away. Suddenly, Saber grew bold again. She wanted to know the Intelligence these machines had. She took her focusing breath and tried finding that mind. In one quick painful snap, she felt her mind flood with a single thought: sleep.

When her eyes opened again, Saber was on her heavy fighter on a Lightway back to the Cendorian Kingdom. Her green bed sheets covered her, but she still had on her Ego Technology. She wasn’t sure how she got there. Saber got up from her bed and went over to the ship’s controls to see something suddenly flicker in her right peripheral. One of her holographic control displays had just switched from blood red to gold in a quick second. Jabez was right, that was no A.S.I. and the Solicitor General was certainly a man not to be messed with. For the first time in a long time, Saber closed her eyes and thanked the Light for this blessing of life. She felt another a flood of joy as she remembered her father. Saber felt tears fall down her cheeks as she was blessed with telling her mother the good news about her father.

The Coensus Plunder

It was time, all the other drivers were heading out. Aloi knew that ball of anxiety had to be buried away. He was on the system of Coensus orbiting Divitiae province; hesitation was death in every field. Aloi stood up and looked down at his helmet. His visor was down, so there was nothing more than a collar in his hand. Still, it carried a heavy weight, one Aloi had carried before. Every qualifying race, every semi-finale, all of them carried that same weight. Aloi needed to win, not by the race’s standards, not even by his own. No, today’s satisfaction would be decided by one man: Malcolm Baluster XV, the almost most successful Headchair of Malcolm Baluster Vehicles. Aloi would enter a machine named and designed after the man’s late brother to race against Malcolm Baluster’s biggest Appraisal Market competitor. On Coensus, the physical location of the Appraisal Market, this would be key. Every single crucial Appraiser would set the price for investors on units in Baluster Vehicles’ holdings. Somehow, Aloi had to both not get embarrassed by the Imperial Designer’s new pet project and finish ahead of the Carter-Dixon’s HR-3. Aloi had done it all in the qualifiers and semi-finales; there was nothing different today. There may have been a larger trophy, but Baluster XV’s approval was all that mattered. No one would be killed or anything dramatic along those lines. It was just that Aloi had come too far to see the man’s disappointed gaze. The only thing he knew was that small smirk used to hide a sore winner. If he hesitated on the track, it wouldn’t be his death-it would be the death of his pride.

An announcer’s voice came over the starting line, “Spectators, the three hundredth Coensus Plunder is nearly underway!” Plunder, such an appropriate word. Aloi needed to take this victory for Malcolm Baluster and no one else. Aloi put that hefty collar around his neck and went out of the garage into the rays of Divitiae. Beneath the clear blue sky were thousands of live spectators staring at the drivers. Just above Aloi was the elite gallery. There was no doubt Malcolm Baluster XV was sitting up there, waiting to see Aloi’s face.

Before that knot could tie around Aloi’s throat, his chief technician appeared beside him, “We’re good to go. It’s a full tank of hydrogen and we have the most efficient fuel cells with high-capacity exchange membranes. You have the best we’ve got. It’s your day.”

Aloi asked, “Are the rumors true?” The racer looked over at the chief technician and saw nostrils flare for a sigh. Lotte the Crucible, Aloi’s childhood hero, was sitting in the Carter-Dixon vehicle. He was every driver’s biggest challenge. To be a great, he had to be in your race. He wasn’t in any of Aloi’s qualifiers, or semi finales. He had to appear in his finale. That knot was crawling up his throat again. Only when Aloi saw his own vehicle did he feel comfort. The Galvin Ninety was a tribute to Galvin Baluster, who passed away only three years ago. It was sleek, powerful, streamlined, and handled perfectly. Aloi knew nothing like it. When he looked at the vehicle, Aloi saw three long, slender chrome teardrops streamlining to the back of the vehicle. The two horizontal ones had the wheels of the Galvin hidden from the air of the track. Aloi would get in the third one to take the Plunder. All three of them formed a sharp point at the front while converging into one slick compact droplet that would roll the salt filled air right off it. There would be one large set of fuel cells sitting right underneath Aloi knew that powered each of the four motors. He watched as the technicians rolled the Galvin out of the shadows of the elite gallery. Divitiae’s rays glistened across it, bringing nearly every eye to it. There was no doubt; the Galvin Ninety was a beautiful work of art, but Aloi had the responsibility of making it a masterpiece. One of the obstacles against him met his eye.

As he followed the Galvin onto the track, Aloi saw his Crucible. Lotte’s grey eyes were staring down at a holographic display when he glanced at Aloi for a single moment. That was enough to tell Aloi he was in for a tough competition. Lotte only raced for his own victory, which meant he had to humiliate his opponents. If the technicians were right, this race would be between Aloi and Lotte. Drafting, cut-offs, maybe a collision, all of it was in play. A close second would be difficult for Aloi to acquire, especially when he turned back and saw the Imperial Designer’s toy.

Vitalis Ingeni had an entire empire’s taxes to create that machine, and it showed. One single streamlined blood red arrowhead was pointing towards the sea of Coensus. Its wheel couldn’t even be seen, most likely hidden in the body of the machine as the sharp head rolled all the wind off it. The A.R.M.S.’ driver, Levis Velo, didn’t have a cabin to enter. It was just a single pod that connected the two axles of the arrow. Levis Velo wasn’t someone to underestimate, either. The man had a gift. Corners, turns, straightaways, he knew the best strategy for them all. He had studied that machine a thousand times before the race. Any weakness was noted, every strength became a strategy. Aloi didn’t have such a connection with the Galvin until the fourth qualifier. Yes, these two men, these two machines, were Aloi’s only obstacles to meeting Baluster’s standards.

A lower technician ran over, “We got the cabin ready for you!”

The man’s voice conquered the crowd’s enthusiasm enough for Aloi to prepare. He sent a prayer up to the Light before he walked over and climbed into the cabin of the Galvin Ninety. A thin sheet of glass came down over Aloi as he examined his surroundings. His Valencian Leather seat hugged his body while he brought up the holographic displays necessary for Plunder. One showed the diagnostics: temperature of the cathode, exchange rate of the proton membrane, electron flow, all of it. The second showed real time aerodynamics of the Galvin. Any shift in the wind, the Galvin’s gills and funnels would correct. His third was the audio display that watched the communication between Aloi and the chief technician. He had learned in the qualifier’s that his adrenaline would block out the technician’s voice. The visual display told him if he missed anything. Finally, Aloi had the Appraisal Market on full display. He still had time before he needed to prepare the actual vehicle, so he picked the two appraisals he needed. Carter-Dixon Hydrogen Motors and Malcolm Baluster Vehicles. As the race was underway, Aloi would get a real time view of where Lotte was in the race. If he fell behind, Carter-Dixon appraisal would trend down, if he gained, the appraisal would trend up, while Malcolm Baluster would stagger. Also, the appraisals were a check on Aloi’s behavior. Any lack of confidence in Aloi’s speech or body language would cause hesitation in the Appraisers, since a dozen small metal eyes were magnetically attached to the Galvin. The one-inch-wide eyes kept dilating their shutters as they adjusted to the clouds passing over Divitiae. Aloi looked over and saw Velo’s metal eyes focusing in on him. There may have been a few extra for Levis Velo, Aloi wasn’t sure.

His family has Third District blood. Aloi knew people from there were gorgeous. That’s why most served as concubines of some sort. Velo was a free man though. He had marketing contracts with dozens of aesthetic companies. Clothes, fragrances, jewelry, accessories, the man was even used in an older Luxurious Skin advert to show the power the ‘jeweled’ skin had over men. The man’s wavy black hair, dark olive skin, impressive shadow of hair across his jaw, it all made him a desire. Aloi realized he must have been staring at him too long, because the man turned and used his own jade-gold eyes to place that knot right back into Aloi’s throat with a primal stare. Before the rookie driver could even reply, Velo clicked something on his collar and wrapped his head in a red glass-plastic polymer.

Aloi listened as the announcer’s voice suddenly returned to his ears, “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for PLUNDER!” A roar from the crowd ripped the air apart. Divitiae’s golden rays were heating the cabin as Aloi prepared. He glanced down at his holographic displays. A timer was underway, ten seconds until the Plunder began. Aloi tapped the holographic display and started the fuel cells, only to hear the faint whisper of a purr. There was only a small exchange going between the membranes. The countdown reached six. At five, Aloi glanced at Velo again. Only a blood red mask gave a slight nod in response. Aloi wasn’t sure if respect was in it, or just a courtesy, but the knot in his throat was coming undone. When Aloi looked forward, two seconds remained. At the last second, the knot disappeared, and the race began.

Aloi was perfect off the start, but as usual, the Imperial Designer’s machine was quick to separate from the pack. The Galvin Ninety, though, had its own distance from the pack. Only problem was, once Aloi rounded the first left corner, the Carter-Dixon kept close by. Lotte and Aloi were racing on a road parallel to the Council Seat, so they had a fifteen mile stretch before re-entering the city. Aloi could see, in his right peripheral, all the luxury vessels holding scantly clothed men and women that cheered with childish excitement. The ocean behind seemed filled with diamonds, but all that had to be ignored. Aloi checked his Appraisal display, Carter-Dixon was climbing. Lotte the Crucible would appear anytime. The next turn was a left back into the city. Aloi learned in the qualifiers that the Carter-Dixon team wanted to control the inside, so their vehicles were obviously built for corners. He needed to control the inside as they sped across the ocean. Aloi’s right peripheral had the Carter-Dixon vehicle coming into view slowly. It was streamlined, but Aloi couldn’t help noticing the design was close to the Galvin’s. The three drops were more cohesively put together, and that was all. It would all be about the two drivers’ skill. Aloi just needed to keep controlling the inside. That was the only reason Lotte was where he was. He wanted Aloi to try to push him from the center of the road so he could slip into the inside. Since their speeds were too close, there was no need for Aloi to push Lotte out of the center because the Carter-Dixon couldn’t pass him. Eventually, the rival vehicle disappeared behind the Galvin as Velo rounded the far corner ahead.

Aloi asked, “Did Lotte top out?”

The chief technician replied, “No, that was just before his fuel cell would’ve started overheating.” That was a frustrating fact, but Aloi had to keep his composure. Too many eyes were on him, and he still had plenty of time. He could focus on the fact he controlled the inside. With that control, Aloi turned back into the massive city of glass. Winding turns and hard curves removed Velo from any equations. Lotte had plenty of opportunities to retake the lead, Aloi couldn’t afford putting his mind anywhere else.

The chief technician’s voice came into Aloi’s ear, “Lotte just changed his aero, he’s increasing his ground effect.” Aloi mirrored the move and let the scales at the bottom of the Galvin control the air going beneath. He had tighter control of the corners, but he realized too late it was a trap. That ground effect control took power from the fuel cell, enough that it limited Aloi’s exchange rate before overheating. In order to keep composure, Aloi let his blood boil as Lotte took advantage of that differential. The Carter-Dixon flew past the Galvin and took control of the inside during a hard right corner. Lotte held the lead. Aloi had to plan immediately.

“What’s his performance on straightaways?”

The technician was silent for a moment, then came back, “Split stream him as you increase your pressure differential and that should be enough for the wide turn after the straight.” Aloi held a straight line on the Carter-Dixon as they rounded another corner onto a new straightaway. No ocean this time, only walls of glass towers piercing far past the clouds. Still, thousands of people left their usual routine to watch the two men speed down the street. If they were on a floor low enough, they’d watch it all in person. The rest watched the projection on a glass panel. More of the small eyes were following a magnet rail along the track as Aloi started putting his plan into effect. He had to wait for the perfect timing to take the lead, or otherwise there’d be a rough transition into the next corner. Like a perfect slingshot, Aloi pushed his fuel cells to the very edge of his overheating range and slipped out of Lotte’s draft. When he took the front, he immediately started his turn on the inside.

A voice came through, “He’s changed his dynamics. He’s looking to pass you in this turn series!” Another flush of adrenaline came as Aloi moved for his transitions. There were enough slight curves in this winding road that Aloi had to shuffle control of each inside that came. Aloi saw the Flora Garden coming in fast with its first curve. The Galvin needed to start covering the right inside and shuffle back and forth until they reached the next portion. It would be impossible to check the appraisals at this time, so Aloi only had his instinct. Lotte would only wait for that perfect window. Aloi had to be flawless here. He couldn’t take a bait from the Carter-Dixon or otherwise the Galvin would struggle on the second and final lap. Aloi controlled the first shuffle, and the second. At the third, the technician returned, “He’s going for it!” That was impossible. Aloi controlled each inside and his opponent’s fuel cell couldn’t handle an outside pass safely. Immediately after that thought, Aloi pushed his petal down to the floor. Lotte’s Carter-Dixon could handle a hit, the Galvin was questionable on that. Aloi watched the cathode temperature climb towards the red zone as he zig-zagged through the Flora Garden.

He yelled, “Is he overheating?”

The technician returned, “Yep, but he’s pushing it!”

Aloi replied, “Shit!” The technicians at Carter-Dixon believed the Galvin’s fuel cells would lose to theirs. Aloi had no choice. “How many lithium charges do I have?”

The technician quickly replied, “Two safe ones, repeating, two safe ones!” Aloi used his left peripheral as his left hand flicked through the diagnostics display and found the necessary switch. Since there were no rules against it, the Malcolm Baluster technicians added in a small lithium pack with enough power for two guaranteed electrolysis processes. The water created by the fuel cells would be funneled back in to cool them so Aloi could push the Galvin into the red zone. The electrolysis would make it, so no fuel was lost in that portion of the race. Aloi almost went to push it, but an opportunity appeared in his mind. He took a massive risk and strained his right peripheral to see the appraisal display. In one glance, Aloi saw that after a small rise in appraisal, there was a sudden plateau. Everyone watching just heard Aloi say ‘lithium charges’ and no appraisers wanted to revoke or add more speculation to their appraisals. Most likely, no one had ever heard of the technology and wanted to see what it did, except Lotte. The other racers couldn’t hear each other’s connections. There was a trap here.

Aloi yelled, “How close is he to overheating?”

The technician replied, “He has been, unless he has something, it’ll go into failure, but you need to get out of there!” Aloi started slowing down slightly so Lotte would keep wanting to push him away.

Aloi asked, “How about now?”

“He is about to reach his heat capacity. You need to get out of there in case of a crash!” Aloi ignored him and waited for the moment he felt it in his blood. Hopefully, that prayer to the Light would come in. One moment after another, he didn’t feel it, but suddenly his blood was diluting more adrenaline. He pushed down the petal and flicked the lithium charge as he pushed the fuel cells to the red zone. Aloi wouldn’t know if his trap worked until he was free of the Flora Garden. Until then, Aloi would remain flawless in this race portion. He shuffled and shuffled, controlling the inside of every corner, and finally broke out of the Garden. Aloi had a straightaway in the city streets, so he quickly checked the appraisals. Carter-Dixon appraisal had a sudden crash. Lotte was still somewhere in those Flora Garden cussing a storm as Aloi forced him to compete with the common pack of racers.

The chief technician asked hesitantly, “Did the charge work?”

Aloi chuckled out, “Perfectly,” so he could hear the small cheers of his technician crew come through the speaker. As their minor celebration was underway, Aloi noticed something. Malcolm Baluster Vehicles' appraisal was climbing.

He ordered the chief technician, “Check the Market!”

The chief technician came back. “What?”

Aloi repeated, “Check the Appraisal Market!” The chief technician mumbled as he got to his wrist display.

There was a brief pause, suddenly a command was yelled to the lower technicians, “Get the Imperial vehicle’s diagnostics!” More silence was over the speaker. Something big was underway. Aloi kept driving toward another bend when suddenly the chief technician yelled through the speaker, “Something happened with Velo, he’s in recovery! Get your ass on him now!” Aloi stomped on the petal until he reached the edge of the red zone and barreled around the corner. There, halfway down the new straightaway, was the red arrowhead of A.R.M.S., designed by Imperial Designer Vitalis Ingeni. Aloi was quick to close the gap as Velo regained his speed. He glanced left and saw the red helmet stare back at him. A finger came up to wag at Aloi like he was a child. In response, Aloi brought up his middle and watched Velo throw his head back in laughter as the two equals raced for the end of the first lap. After dipping down into a tunnel, the two racers appeared back on the surface, rounded a corner, and flew past the finish line of the first lap.

With the second lap underway, Aloi spoke to the chief technician, “He seems to be at my speed.”

He told Aloi, “Our theories are one of his fuel cells failed or all his membranes are running at half capacity. All that matters is he’s on your level now. He can’t repair whatever it is, so it’s just you and him.” That knot was tying itself again. Everything was on him again. The standard he knew from Malcolm Baluster XV was most certainly gone. Aloi had to win this race; there was nothing else that mattered. They rounded that first left corner and Aloi was, for the last time, on that fifteen-mile straightaway with Velo. The scantily dressed people on their luxury vessels jumped with excitement as the two racers passed. Velo’s arrow kept control of the inside as they sped for the left turn back into Coensus’ Council Seat. Aloi needed to know how damaged the vehicle was, so he attempted the same move Lotte made and tried passing on the outside, hoping Velo would push him off. Velo gave the same response Aloi did and kept control of the corner. The Imperial Designer must have liked the corners as well. Aloi didn’t waste any more time and brought himself back behind the arrow for the slipstream. He rounded the second left with Velo, and they went around the various hard corners of the city as the spectators stared in awe. Aloi didn’t need to trick Velo, he was a good racer. The only plan remaining was standard; try to pass on the final stretch. They finished the hard corners and reached the city’s straightaway.

Aloi asked his chief technician, “What’s his aero?”

The man came back, “He’s keeping a lot on a pressure differential, he’s waiting for your pass.” Trying a perfect slingshot was pointless so Aloi kept himself aligned with Velo as they sped through the straightaway and rounded that corner. They entered the Flora Garden, and the two racers kept a perfect dance as they shuffled with one another for the ever-changing inside. Both passed where Aloi lost Lotte and shot back into the city onto the straightaway.

Aloi asked promptly, “What’s he looking like?”

The chief technician replied, “Everything’s still the same, you nearly overheat, he nearly overheats.” Aloi only had that straightaway after the tunnel. There, the inside didn’t matter, there was only speed. This final lithium charge would allow Aloi to win that last rush. They rounded the corner where Aloi first saw Velo and rapidly approached the tunnel. Aloi felt his stomach drop as they plunged into the tunnel. In there were these bright, gorgeous white lights lining the tunnel wall that strobed the inside of Aloi’s cabin as he stayed behind the arrow. Once the strobing ended and they were in the provincial rays of Divitiae, Aloi would move for that win.

The chief technician’s voice suddenly threw that away, “Aloi, something’s going in his diagnostics. We have an exponential shift in numbers. His complex is predicting the fuel cells will return.”

Aloi asked quickly, “Before the race ends?”

The chief technician replied, “Unsure,” and left Aloi alone on the road. More strobes filled his cabin before, finally, he felt the rays kiss his skin. After a hundred feet, they’d be on the straightaway for the ribbon. Quickly, the two vehicles burned that distance away and they could see the single laser running across the track. First to break the connection wins. Aloi turned his wheel slightly and pressed his pedal to the floor. As he did this, Aloi saw bursts of speed suddenly inch Velo slightly forward. Aloi couldn’t even use his lithium charge. He flicked the diagnostic quickly to the cooling system and started cooling as his fuel cells started getting into the red zone. The Galvin automatically pulled back its gills towards the front and unleashed giant plumes of steam as he pushed the machine to its breaking point. There were only two hundred feet left before the ribbon. He could see he was starting to pass, and just as he saw Velo’s helmet, they crossed the ribbon.

Aloi yelled into his helmet, “Did I win?”

The chief technician’s voice was strange, “Uh… I don’t know.” Aloi followed race protocol and spun around on a privately sectored road and shot down to his garage. He got out of the cabin as technicians started preparing the Galvin for storage. Aloi ran up to the garage’s personal tower and got behind the chief technician.

“Who won?”

The man simply pointed to a point over the track as he said, “They told us to wait for ten minutes.” Aloi looked and in the first-place category, it said “Levis Aloi.” That wasn’t even a name that could exist. The racer sat stunned before he went back to his crate in the garage and waited.

That knot was tight in his throat. Whatever happened was enough for all the officials to be present in one room. Aloi never heard of anything like this before. He glanced around his garage. Technicians whispered to one another, some even pointing to him as they spoke. Aloi wondered if using the lithium charge had disqualified the Galvin Ninety. That made little sense, though. They sent the rules of the race to the Solicitor General’s office before designing the vehicle. Perhaps Aloi’s middle finger was crass enough for disqualification.

Before he could go any farther, the chief technician returned, “Well… um… you tied.”

Aloi chuckled, “You’re hilarious,” and heard a strange response.

“Most jokes are the funniest when they’re true.”

Aloi started arguing, “That’s not possible, there had to be a millisecond differential or something.”

The technician shook his head, “They checked to the last decimal. You both broke the ribbon at the same time.”

Aloi stood stunned, then asked, “Is that possible?” The technician nodded.

“At some point of time during a pass, the vehicles are in the same spot at the same moment. You both crossed at that moment.”

 After processing what was said, and realizing what was said, Aloi started laughing with pure joy before he said in awe, “I won the Coensus Plunder.” The technician repeated, “You won the Coensus Plunder!” and Aloi felt the crushing strength of the man’s hug. Suddenly, all the other technicians in the garage roared, one making sure to pop a cork of bubbly to celebrate. It was a glorious day for the young racer. He had won it all; the prize, the glory, the fame, the respect of Malcolm Baluster XV.

A man appeared behind the celebrating pack of men.. “They need you at the podium.”

Aloi was still laughing as he said, “Of course I’m needed at the podium. Haha! I’m needed at the podium!” Making all the other men with him applaud.

The crowds roared for Aloi as he walked up to the first-place pedestal. There waiting was Levis Velo. Aloi was unsure of what to do with him. His face didn’t seem bitter like the one on Lotte, but the man had been famous for quiet sometime. There was no doubt he could act for the audience. Aloi would just have to endure the awkward pain as he stood beside him. He stepped up to the podium and, as Levis turned, a bright smiled stretched across his face. The man’s powerful hand quickly snatched Aloi’s and pulled him in.

“You, my friend, are a fast bastard!”

Aloi figured out the man’s personality and replied accordingly, “Kind of the point, isn’t it?”

Levis gave three mighty chuckles before he said back, “It is, it is, and you certainly achieved that.”

An announcer’s voice came over the podium, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the winners of the three hundredth Coensus Plunder! In third place, Karlos Lach with the Beggar!” The crowd gave a light roar in applause before the announcer went to Lotte, “In second place, the one and only Lotte the Crucible with the Carter-Dixon HR-3!” Aloi looked passed Levis and saw a clenched jaw as he waved to the roaring crowd. His ‘Crucible’ title was another loss away from being forgotten, but Aloi couldn’t care less about that. As Divitiae’s beautiful rays kissed his skin and metal eyes floated around the stage, Aloi heard the announcer say, “For the first time, in its history, there is a tie for the Plunder. In first place, ladies and gentlemen, let me present our winners, Levis Velo and Aloi of the Cendorian kingdom. Ladies and gentlemen, let me present our winners, the Deposed and the Malcolm Baluster Galvin Ninety!” A powerful enough roar came from the audience that Aloi could feel it pressing against his ears while confetti fluttered down. Velo’s strong grip grabbed onto Aloi’s shoulder as they smiled for the recording eyes, dilating to absorb the light pouring in. Suddenly, Velo lightly shoved Aloi away as four women strutted onto the stage. In Velo’s fashion, the racer grabbed two of them by their hips and pulled them in. Here Aloi noticed they were wearing scantly made oceanwear, which caused his cheeks to glow bright red when they started pressing themselves against him. And, of course, the recording eyes started dilating their shutters even more to capture that bright red as Aloi awkwardly chuckled. The life of a champion was starting to make Aloi uncomfortable, but the announcer’s voice came over the stage, “Now it’s time to find your champions in the rest of the Coensus Plunder as more inventions, complexes, and vehicles are put on display. May the Light be with you all, and let’s give a thank you to our racers!” Crewmen quickly appeared, ushering the men into the service tunnels that connected the Council Seat as the people roared for the winners.

Aloi realized the two women at his side were part of his prize and wasn’t sure how to say he wasn’t that kind of winner.

Luckily, Velo was Velo and asked. “Are you taking those fine women?”

Aloi, keeping his relief to himself, replied, “No, they are fine, but I have enough prizes for the day.”

Velo stated, “More for me!” before bellowing out a laugh. Quickly, Velo’s long lean arms were filled with fine women as he said, “Let me tell you the story of how the Coensus Plunder,” and left Aloi alone, until he heard an army of feet clomping up behind him. That army was something Aloi feared and respected. A small team of business experts were escorting Malcolm Baluster XV. He was dressed for the warm weather. A luxurious white dress shirt had its magnetic seam down so his defined chest could be shown off a little while his short blonde hair was slicked back. His brown skin glowed while his brown eyes locked in on Aloi. When his right hand reached over, Aloi learned the man was tall, nearly a full foot taller than him, but racers usually had a shorter stature, so Baluster XV was average.

Aloi grasped it and felt that powerful shake as the man said, “I have to say thank you, Aloi. You gave the world a good final memory for my brother. It means everything.”

Aloi had back a few tears as he said, “Thank you for the opportunity, sir.”

Baluster smiled and said, “Good answer,” and proceeded with the new duties of a champion, “So you have five hundred thousand Cendorian currency, if you want to make that more come to my office. Technicians will want a debrief either tomorrow morning or afternoon. You’ll have images to take, people to meet, contracts to make. I take thirteen percent of all your marketing deals, so I’ll leave you with my Advert Chief. Thanks again, Aloi.” Just as quickly as he arrived, Malcolm Baluster XV left. Aloi watched his power walk down the concrete halls. The man’s legs commanded the respect of everyone in the hall. It was strange; the man himself wasn’t impressive, yet he looked like power itself. Aloi would have to forget that since the man gave him a task. The racer turned back around to Baluster’s Advert Chief, only to find another Baluster. Maria Baluster, Malcolm’s sister, his beautiful sister. She had her blonde hair cut to a medium length, so its long waves just touched her shoulders while her brown eyes stared at Aloi. Her pronounced cheeks blushed as she giggled awkwardly with Aloi. Deep dimples marked the end points of Maria’s smile while her full, but modest, lips framed her white teeth perfectly. Aloi knew she was like her brother and kept healthy, defined. When he gave a quick glance, though, she wasn’t defined, she was sculpted. Her long, gorgeous nose brought everything together and let Aloi know he was absolutely plummeting into love.

They kept awkwardly giggling for a few more seconds before Aloi made his first move.

“So, what’s your advert campaign for the Plunder champion?”

Maria replied coyly, “Your face will definitely sell anything it's next to. Your body can make any attire look perfect and your skills make you a trusted expert. I’d show you off to anyone.”

Aloi let her know his intentions quickly with the simple question of, “How about you start now?” Maria smiled and blushed again. Aloi’s message was received well. She nodded and saw Aloi stand ready for her arm to be linked with his. Maria linked his left arm with hers and they walked towards the glistening sea, crashing against the blocky marble-salt coast.

After a few steps, she asked, hoping to comfort him, “So, are you going to tell me the story of how you won the Coensus Plunder?”

Aloi smiled, then replied, “I think your story will be more interesting.” Again, she blushed. Aloi, a great champion, had the prize of this woman’s smile forever. There wasn’t any doubt about that.