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Friday, October 10, 2014

Science Fantasy Short Story {Reaper: Chapter Two Part Two}

In the future, where man has traveled to the stars and beyond. There exists guilds with special abilities. Two such guilds are the guild of assassins and the guild of mages. Their laws prevent them from working together. Reaper is the story of two members of the guild, who ignored their laws and who fight for the greater good.
Genre: Science Fantasy Romance



The familiar smell of almonds filled her nostrils. She sniffed and shook her head. A blurry image of shades of grey appeared in front of her. She blinked until the image became clear. Zion was standing over her secondary controls, piloting the ship. Anger welled in her heart and she rose up with fire on her hands.

“Don’t be foolish,” he said. His eyes still glued to the small screen in front of him. “Attack me here and you will die too.”

“Move away from the controls.”

“Fine.” He rolled away. “Tired of looking at that small screen. Don’t see how you fly this thing.”

She moved to the control and glanced at the screen. “We are in space.”

“Yeah, on our way out of the system. I put in a course for the Lucasian system, but I had to navigate through an electric storm.”

“Lucasian? That is near the Kainian system.”

“Yeah. We can stop there and get the supplies we need before we enter into the system. I know you are wondering what’s going on? What is he up to? Well to make a long story short. I am always prepared to leave any situation. So once I decided to help you. I had already made plans to leave. And Kiyah taught me to never leave when people expect me to leave. So, here we are. I am willing to bet a hundred credits that you weren’t expecting this.”

“But what about your payment? The Tesseract you wanted? I can’t contact the council with you on my ship. They will know.”

“You can take care of that when we land.”

She closed her fist and the fire disappeared. She sat down in the seat and stared at him for a moment. She grabbed her head. “You shot me! How am I unharmed?”

“I shot you with a special bullet, of my own personal design. A psychokinetic bullet. Physically the bullet didn’t even break your skin, but it hit you with a low powered psychic wave. But you were knocked out for an hour longer than I expected. I guess I am a little rusty.”

“A psychic bullet? Are you a telepath?”

“No. It was something my dad worked on, but never got around to finishing.” He slid down in the corner and drew up his knees. He placed his hat next to him and his guns on either side of the hat.

“That’s not possible. That is a rail gun. How can it fire psychic bullets?”

“That’s my secret. I will sleep over here. If you can make this thing go faster, please do so. But as it stands right now, we have a three day flight.”

She sighed. “This ship isn’t designed for a two man flight. We need to go back and get another ship.”

“It is only three days. Once we get to Han City, we can get a ship that will suit our needs.”

She clenched. “You shot me, with a psychic whatever. How can you expect me to trust you after that?”

“I don’t.  Trust is earned. I know that I haven’t done a good job earning yours, but for the time being. I need you to understand that I prefer my opponents be predictable, while I be unpredictable.”

“But there was no need for this! I am not your opponent. I am your teammate and we need to have trust now, if we are going to work together.”

“Right.” He buried his head in his knees.

She stood up and stared down at his curled form. She shook her head and walked to a wall a little over a meter away. She reached into one of the square openings in the walls and pulled a latch. The wall disappeared and a semi-glass covered tank appeared in its place. “Well, even if you don’t trust me. I will trust you, because Kiya trust you. He said that you could be frustrating, but it was part of your brilliance. At any rate, this is the primary cockpit of the ship. Once I am inside, I will be able to plot a more efficient path to the Lucasian planet. It will provide me with a virtual reality living area that will provide a lot more comfort than your corner that you picked out. I have another one built into the ship just in case I have to transport a prisoner or something. I can modify it for you, but unfortunately I cannot do so until we land.”

He looked up. “Don’t worry about me. I don’t need more than what I have.”

“As you wish.” The tank door opened and Bomba stepped in. “Please, try not to shoot me.”

“The safety’s on,” he said as he buried his head into his knees, once again.  

She folded her arms over her chest and the door closed. A blast of cool air alerted her, but only for a moment. She closed her eyes until the discomfort and passed. When she opened them she was inside a destroyer class ship, with a full command deck. Capable of supporting a crew of twenty, but with only one soul as its occupant.  “Martha!”

An image of metallic woman materialized in front of her. “Yes mistress?” The image flickered.

“Don’t yes mistress me! How did Zion take command of your secondary controls?”

Martha turned around and drew a large square in the air. The squared flashed bright and shown an image of Zion picking up Bomba’s unconscious body. “I have no way to defend you while you were outside of the ship,” Martha said. He picked her up, cradling her in his arms. “I was going to kill him as soon as he stepped foot into the cockpit, but did not want to harm you. I was also wary that if he was powerful enough to harm you, he would need further study to find a weakness.” Zion aimed his pistol, shot and the screen went blank. “He severed my central processing unit’s cortex with a dissolving bullet. Once the bullet had dissolved, I immediately began self-repair. But he had already bypassed my systems.”

“He has been in a mage’s ship before,” Bomba said. She rubbed her head. “Well, did you find any weaknesses?”

“Yes. Many. He is mostly human. The chloroman traits are surprisingly strong in him. I imagine that he shares there need for water and sunlight as well. He would prove resistant to what would kill most humans. His DNA markers suggest that he is more durable, heals faster and has an extended life span, but any of your basic offensive skills should kill him.”

“Yeah, if he doesn’t dodge them.”

“I will have access to the inner defense soon. Would you like me to microwave him?”

“No.” Bomba walked to the Captain’s chair. “Technically, he is my ally.”

“That seems illogical.”

“Yes. Kiyah said that he was strange. He grew up with his father—traveling the universe, possibly learning how to kill at his father’s feet. He was only eleven when he witnessed his father’s death. I imagine that would affect the psyche of anyone.”

There was a long awkward silence. “Did he go live with his mother?”

“She died the day he was born. Transport accident, that killed everyone on the shuttle. He is the sole survivor.”

“That is so sad,” Martha said. “I regret planning to kill him.”

“Yes. But that doesn’t change the fact that he is unpredictable. What about his weaponry?”

“Two rail gun with adjustable voltage. Each one is fully loaded. He has spare ammunition, two knives at the small of his back and a plasma pistol in an ankle holster. He has various supplies as well. Would you like me to list them?”

“No, examine his bullets. Anything special about them?”

“He uses RGB3, RGB4, and RGB5. They have varying tips, to include, metal and silicone. There are some bullets that appear to be techno-organic.”

“Techno-organic? Is it comparable with Tek Nok technology?”

“No, it is unlike any metal in my database.”

 “And the bullet dissolves soon after it hits its target. Amazing…. Martha, I want you to patch me through to the cockpit.”

“You want me to route a communication path back to its beginning?”

“No, the actual cockpit. I want to be able to communicate with Zion if need be. Double check my sleep pod’s defensive measures. He is an ally, but until we can fully trust him, we will keep him at arm’s length.”

“Yes.”

“And plot a course to Hans City in the Lucasian system.”

 



End of Part Two of Chapter Two.
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