“Fifty Thousand Dollars.”
The words oozed from Rayfe Tassk’s mouth as a grin spread across his swarthy, mustachioed face. He pushed a translucent plastoid sheet through the holo-adverts swirling across the tabletop toward the being seated opposite.
Skeks Sudzdozyn grasped the sheet in long, blue fingers and scanned it with bulbous, unblinking red eyes.
“What’s a dollar?” he asked.
“Old Earth currency, still legal tender actually, I looked it up.”
Sudz’s lipless slash of a mouth curled in disgust as he continued to scan the document.
“Ancient paper banknotes backed by gold. Tassk, gold is relatively worthless, especially since the Voga…”
“Nevermind that, Sudz old buddy. I have a… collector, willing to pay us fifty credits for each of those dollars, and I happen to know where there are fifty thousand of them.”
“Where pray tell, is this hidden fortune in obsolete currency?”
“A Terran ghost city called Knox-Ville.”
“Entering ghost cities is prohibited by the Terran authorities.”
“Well, yeah, but the law is pretty much unenforceable, the Terrans don't have the bandwidth, and none of the big security contractors will take that kind of work.”
Sudz leaned forward and rested the bulbous head in his palms.
“This seems ill advised, like most of your schemes. We should stick to ferrying Heavy Oh-Two from Titan to the Yuggoth Ring.”
“Pal, if we deliver on this deal, you can buy your own Heavy Oh-Two plant.”
Rayfe leaned back in the vaccu-couch and lit a cigar. Sudz, realizing further discussion would only aggravate his inflamed gizzard, paged the robo-waiter for a fresh drink.
****
The Celestial Bounty, a sleek silvery lozenge of a light freighter, floated among defunct satellites, derelict stations, and techno-clutter that formed a dense debris cloud surrounding Terra. Sudz had balked at placing his beloved ship in the hazardous cloud. But Rayfe had convinced him that the debris would conceal them from any troublesome observers. Sudz was too weary from the long voyage to argue. The trip from Scorpio Depot to Terra should have been a near instantaneous jump with the Fold Engine, but Rayfe insisted on a week-long trip under the repulsor drive.
“How long do you want to float out here, Tassk? Debris is starting to accumulate on the hull.”
“Not long. I want it to get good and dark over the landing area.”
“You are being rather cautious while violating an unenforceable ordinance.”
“No sense being cocky. Consider all this an exercise to keep us sharp.”
Rayfe peered intently into the hooded viewer of the scanner. After several seconds, he grunted.
“Okay. Set us down at those coordinates I gave you. Oh, and you might want to cut the running lights.”
“Of course, all part of keeping sharp, yes?”
Under the expert control of Sudz, the Bounty wound gracefully through the debris and into Terra’s atmosphere They plunged into the night side of the planet and over the coordinates provided by Rayfe. Their scanners pierced the darkness and showed the tottering ruins of an ancient city.
“I don't see how anything of value could be in this rubbish heap.”
“Trust me, It’s there pal. Set her down there, point seven zero.”
The Bounty dropped lower, extended its landing gear, and settled to the ground between a crumbling pile of masonry and a skeletal hulk of rotting metal, repulsor beams kicking up dust and centuries-old litter. As soon as the safe debarkation indicator sounded, Rayfe sprang toward the hatch.
“Hold on, Tassk! The scope shows the ruins are crawling with life.”
Rayfe patted the chrome plated gauss pistol hanging at his hip in a gaudily tooled black leather gun belt.
“Nothing we can’t handle.”
Rayfe opened the main hatch and lowered the boarding ramp, impatiently walking down it before it fully descended. The air wafting into the Bounty carried a sickly carrion reek. Sudz crawled out from behind the controls and felt for the thorium blaster he kept in the thigh pocket of his flight suit. It felt small and ineffective against the horrors populating his imagination.
Walking to the hatch, he gave himself a moment to adjust to the heavier gravity before descending the ramp onto the spongy turf. Rayfe produced a handheld scanner from his vest and swept it over the landscape. After a few moments he whistled and grinned.
“Right over here.”
Rayfe headed toward a low structure, subdivided with transparent doors. A barely legible sign above one door read ‘Conrad's Collectibles’ in an archaic stylized script. Rayfe pulled it open with a painful creak, lit a flashlight, and swept the interior. It was filled with fallen timbers, moldy plastic shelving, and scrap metal.
“Yeah, this is the place.”
“This building has clearly stood open for decades, if not longer.”
“Relax, there's a vault underneath used to store the good stuff.”
“How do you know this?”
“Our client.”
“Who is?”
Rayfe did not respond and weaved through the clutter toward the back of the building. Pushing aside some empty crates, he uncovered a trapdoor.
“Here it is, still sealed. Pretty corroded though, did you bring the fusion cutter?”
Sudz irritably fished the compact cylinder out of a pocket in his coveralls. Kneeling, he activated it and melted away the latch and hinges of the trapdoor. After allowing the molten metal to cool, they lifted the door and set it aside. A steep metal staircase descended into darkness below.
“No.” Sudz stated. “Not going down there.”
“C'mon! You've watched too many old thrill-vids. There's nothing down there.”
“Really? Give it a scan.”
Rayfe pointed his scanner down the stairs. After reading its report, he shrugged.
“Probably just rats.”
“Giant, flesh eating rats no doubt.”
“It's just a cellar.”
“Then you go first!”
“Fine!”
Rayfe swept the stairs up and down with his flashlight, then placed his foot tentatively upon the first step. It creaked alarmingly under the sole of his highly polished boot.
“Well?” chided Sudz. “Off you go.”
“I'm working on it! Just making sure the stairs are solid.”
Rayfe descended, followed by a reluctant Sudz. The staircase terminated into a cubical chamber filled with intact shelves arranged in an orderly fashion. Much of what they held was decayed into unidentifiable masses, save for a few figurines cast of more durable metals or plastics. Rayfe ignored these and hastened to a specific shelf and pulled a large, featureless white cube out into the open.
“C’mere Sudz, check it out.”
“I'm more interested in this.”
Rayfe turned his flashlight beam toward Sudz. The pilot stood before a crude oblong opening in the wall that was roughly man high.
“Probably opened up by an earthquake.”
“Looks a little smooth for earthquake damage.”
“Nevermind, look here.”
Rayfe began exploring the surface of the box with his fingertips.
“What is that object, Tassk?”
“Stasis Pod. Keeps whatever's inside in pristine condition by slowing the passage of time. Technology grew out of the temporal dampening effect of the Fold Engine. Ah! Here we go.”
At Rayfe’s exclamation, the top portion of the cube raised up, revealing an interior filled with neat stacks of greenish paper rectangles.
“Jackpot.”
“I'm not impressed.”
“As long as our buyer is, that's what counts.”
“Well, let's get out of here. The sooner we lift off and get underway… What the...?”
Rayfe swung his light around to the source of Sudz’ outburst. A dark, chitinous shape ambulated from the hole in the wall on rows of multi jointed legs. Multifaceted eyes and heavy pincer-like jaws dominated its turret-like head. In its topmost set of limbs was gripped a spear of scavenged metal.
It charged at Sudz who lurched backwards fumbling for his blaster. The jagged spearpoint was microseconds from perching the pilot’s chest when a stream of magnetically propelled silicates from Rayfe’s gauss pistol decapitated the arthropod nightmare. A second creature appeared from the opening, chittering, and brandishing a scrap-metal ax. Sudz managed to pull his blaster and fired, disintegrating the insectoid. Rayfe fired into the tunnel and leapt to the stairs; Stasis Pod tucked under one arm.
“Get to the Bounty!”
Sudz scrambled to follow Rayfe up the stairs as one insectoid horror after another poured out of the hole in the cellar wall.
The pair struggled through the clutter in the room above and out into the open, sprinting for the assumed safety of the Celestial Bounty. As he reeled, Sudz stole a glance behind him. There was a horde of chitinous monsters alarmingly close behind, brandishing crude weapons while buzzing and chittering. Sudz fired blindly over his shoulder and quickened his pace.
Rayfe reached the boarding ramp and hurled the Stasis Pod into the Bounty's interior. Turning, he dropped two insectoids with two well-placed shots. Sudz staggered aboard and hit the switch to raise the ramp.
“Take off!” shouted Rayfe. “I'll use the turret to chase them off.”
Sudz sprinted to the cockpit and started the takeoff sequence. His skin crawled and he glanced furtively about the cockpit, wishing he had closed the ramp after they had disembarked.
Rayfe climbed into the plasmacaster turret mounted to a track that traversed the Bounty's hull laterally. He swung it around to bear on the gathering swarm of insectoids. A few blasts dispersed them, and then the Bounty rose swiftly upward.
“What were those things!” Sudz asked over the intercom. Rayfe’s voice crackled over the speakers in response.
“Dunno. They aren't on the list of native species, and they don't seem advanced enough to be from offworld. Doesn't matter now, I'm coming up.”
“Stay put, there's some fast-moving bogeys headed our way.”
Sudz threw a switch and a holographic tactical display appeared on the inner surface of the cockpit transparency. Three flashing red lights were shown moving through the debris cloud toward the Bounty.
“Three bogeys.” Sudz announced. “Mark three five.”
In the turret Rayfe squinted at his own holographic display. He hissed as the Bounty's computer identified the objects and generated a detailed holographic model. They were the sleek arrowhead shaped interceptors used by the Terran Planetary Authority.
“Sudz, the local yokels have taken an interest. Looks like N64 Broadheads. Better fold us out of their jurisdiction.”
“Can't. We have to clear the debris cloud first. Hold them off.”
The Terran fighters closed rapidly, nimbly weaving through the debris. Sudz set an evasive course. On paper, the Celestial Bounty was woefully outmatched by the Broadheads, but the Bounty was heavily modified. And Sudz was one of the finest pilots in the Twelve Systems. The communications board crackled to life and a stern voice blared over the speakers.
“Unidentified freighter. You are in violation of Terran orbital space. Heave to and prepare to be boarded.”
Sudz switched off the receiver and executed a series of maneuvers to place a large derelict station between the Bounty and the Broadheads, who unleashed a barrage of particle beams. They were deliberately wide of the mark, intended to impress upon the crew of the freighter how unwise it would be to attempt to evade pursuit.
Rayfe was loath to open fire on the pursuing Broadheads. Blasting rival smugglers, pirates or hired guns he had no problem with, but he felt these TPA pilots were just working stiffs. The Broadheads closed in, firing their second volley of particle beams closer this time. The Bounty shuddered and its shields rippled as they dissipated the blasts. Sudz’ voice thundered over the intercom.
“Do something to get those fighters off our tail. I need another seventy-two seconds to clear the debris field!”
Rayfe dialed down the yield of the plasmacaster where it might knock them off course without destroying them. He used foot pedals to swing the turret to bear on the lead fighter and pressed the trigger, the low yield plasma bolt dissipated harmlessly off the broadheads shields, with no discernible effect.
“What are you doing back there, Tassk!? Stop those fighters! Is it because they're Terran? If those were Sevaxxeran or Typlodese, you'd have blasted them to atoms!”
“No!” Protested Rayfe. “Some of my best friends are Typlodese!”
Rayfe dialed the plasmacaster back up to full. He aimed for the general area in front of the fighters. The plasma bolts burst in the debris cloud and sent objects hurtling in all directions. The trio of fighters scrambled off target to steer clear of the hazards, and by the time the hunters evaded the debris and resumed formation, their quarry had cleared the debris field. Sudz activated the Fold Engine and the Celestial Bounty winked out of existence.
****
At the lounge in Scorpio Depot, Sudz sat in his usual booth nursing a half liter of Zannegrb's Blue Ribbon Zero Gee Bourbon. He discreetly eyed a Sevaxxeran seated at the bar. The shape of her haunches was intriguing, but the sight of her prehensile tongue darting in and out of a bowl of Meat Grubs put him off.
Rayfe entered the lounge and made his way to the booth, signaling the robo-waiter for a beer. He plopped down in the vaccu-couch and sighed. Sudz shifted uncomfortably. He felt his inflamed gizzard was about to flare up, and not from the Zannegrb's.
“Well?”
Rayfe produced a credit stick and pushed it over. Sudz picked it up and read the counter. Sudz’ expressions were inscrutable to most humans, but Rayfe swore he saw his right eye twitch.
“Twenty-five HUNDRED credits?”
“Yes.”
“Fifty Thousand of these dollars, at fifty credits per. The mathematics…”
“Yeah. As it turns out, it was fifty credits per paper bill. The bills were of larger denominations, so there were… fewer than fifty thousand.”
Sudz’ blue flesh flushed to a deep violet. his voice raised steadily in volume as he spoke.
“This will barely cover the Heavy Oh-Two we burned, let alone repairing the hull damage and overloaded shield generators!”
Sudz slammed a fist down on the table with such force the holo-adverts flickered. The Sevaxxeran glanced up from her Meat Grubs to eye the pair of spacers quizzically. Rayfe leaned in and made a calming gesture.
“Look, maybe I didn't fully educate myself on the collectability of ancient currency, but it wasn't a total loss. Dellatrix was so impressed with our performance, she's offered us another job.”
“Our buyer was Dellatrix Bontu?”
“Well, yeah...”
“Idiot! Once again, you've allowed your libidinous obsession with that slattern to cost us… cost ME credits! What pray tell, is this new job Dellatrix wants us to take on?”
“Pretty much same as last time, it’ll be easy now we know what we're doing. Sudz old buddy, have you ever heard of something called a comic book?”
The Sevaxxeran spilled her remaining Meat Grubs and nearly tumbled off her stool as the robo-waiter careened into her, propelled by a violent kick from Skeks Sudzdozyn.
The End.
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