1.76 - Nowhere to Run
Ship repairs have taken almost three weeks. During that time Edan and I remained on the station; he had to stay with his ship and I didn’t have anywhere to go. The station is named Ario Hr Trews, and I still haven’t learned to pronounce it. While Tortuga was more akin to an entire country; Ario would be more like a city. A small city, but a city. There’s still public transportation to get you from side to side, bars and apartment complexes. While Tortuga’s population crossed 20 million, Ario hovers around five hundred thousand. It’s a coporate station, mostly. A lot of the jobs around here revolve around receiving and shipping out products for various companies that pooled resources to build the station. That leaves the bars open for us most of the day. Edan is still drinking and drugging, but to a lesser degree.
Edan has been rambling about how I need to get married and have some kids to carry on the family lineage because he’s a hardened criminal. I’m just scrolling through messages. Renan is planning to leave his mom’s place and take a shot at returning to the ZGBA, Zero Gravity Basketball Association. Taffy has got some new prosthetics and they’re working great for him. Beatrix is going to take an attempt at starting a fashion zine.
“You know I’ve never liked real bananas,” Edan slurs his speech. “The texture is all stringy, and the taste is bland. But, I think these banana martinis are the answer to all my problems.”
“Edan Gray,” A giant alien with a second set of arms extending from his torso approaches our table. His eyes look angry, a smile is locked on his face as his jaw extends forward. He doesn’t carry a gun but a long metallic staff. “Surrender now, or be taken dead.” He has to be at least eight feet tall and is as muscular as any human or Smilodonian that I’ve ever seen.
“Would you like a drink,” I ask.
“Quiet scum,” The giant shouts at me.
“What crime,” Edan slurs.
“Theft, receiving stolen property, burglary, fencing illegal goods,” The giant bounty hunter starts to list crimes as Edan finishes his drink.
“So the normal stuff,” Edan cuts him off. “How about you just go away and we call it even.”
A quick scan with my wrist comp and I learn that a Sudalit is standing before me. A strong war like race that was locked in a feud with The Draconians for centuries. Draconians destroyed their food sources and polluted the water, severely crippling their society, yet they remained unconquered despite losing all but the three planets in their home system. They’ve been recovering in population for the last two centuries but have been locked in a civil war and unable to once again expand to an empire that rivals the Draconians.
“Hey, you should shave that pony tail,” I pick up the tail end of their conversation as Edan turns to jokes. “Also, that armor is outdated. You look like a volunteer soldier not a bounty hunter. Business must be rough.”
The Sudalit shouts, “Enough,” drawing the attention of the bar. For some reason that causes me to laugh. I haven’t had nearly as much to drink as Edan but the warm sensation and sweaty palms I’m feeling aren’t signs of fear. I’m only a little drunk. The Sudalit cracks the knuckles on their smaller hands causing my jaw to drop. I was hoping those arms were vestigial.
“Efrem,” Edan says. “Shoot him up, bang, bang, pew, pew,” Edan laughs at his own joke.
“Look at him. He’s eight feet tall and built like a tank. You’re the martial artist. Why don’t some kind of death grip on him,” I ask.
“Because he’s got four arms and he look he throw those hard punches. What’s your excuse.”
“I don’t have a gun with me.”
“I hear you,” The Sudlit shouts.
“Chill, we’re having a strategy meeting,” Edan waves him off and leans into me. “I got a plan.”
“What’s the plan?”
“I can’t tell you, just follow my lead.”
Edan lifts the table ramming it into the Sudalit, I instantly join and we’re able to overpower him, knocking him to the ground. I don’t even let the words leave Edan’s mouth before I take off running behind him. Tawa calls, but I ignore it as we cut through several alleyways. After a few blocks we hide behind a dumpster and wait to be sure we’re not being tracked.
“Feels like when we stole Evan’s condoms and used them as water balloons. He chased us for hours,” Edan laughs.
“We could not get them to pop,” I catch my breath. It’s always harder running with liquor in your system or maybe I just feel alive.
Another call from Tawa, his sixth. I finally answer. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“There’s a bounty on Edan’s head from Yana. A sudalit hunter named Ajani has taken the bounty. He’s never failed a job based on his record,” Tawa shouts. “You need to get out of there.”
“Can you cancel the bounty,” Edan asks.
“Yeah but it’ll take time. She didn’t exactly put it out over clear channels,” Tawa sounds worried.
“Just keep us updated Tawa. We’re resilient. We’ll get to the ship and get out of here,” I assure him.
“You don’t understand, this is a kill or capture bounty,” Tawa’s voice goes up.
“Hey, I said I’d come see you before I left. I can’t die before that so relax. Just work on getting that bounty cleared okay.”
Tawa doesn’t respond immediately, “I’ll get it taken care of as soon as possible.”
“Thanks,” I end the call. “Edan make sure the ship is ready for us ASAP. I’m going to plot us a route to the garage.”
“We need to hit the hotel to grab our things too,” Edan adds before making his own call.
“Good thing the sun is going down.”
