Smoked
A detective story by Garrett Traylor
Chapter 1
From space any planet looks beautiful. Above Smoke the stars glittered all around. Across the planet a black dot was silhouetted. High above the planet's surface a ship was flying. Inside the ship, however, things were much less beautiful.
"What's for dinner?"
"Rice. It'll be ready in a minute."
Kai walked back to the kitchen, a little while later calling back to Gate.
"Dinner's ready!"
Gate slowly stood up and made his way to the kitchen. He sat down at the cold and dark metal table. His eyes slowly made their way to the plate. There was rice, and in it peas, carrots, and. chicken?
"Kai what is this?"
"Chicken fried rice."
"Since when have we had the money for chicken?"
"Let alone peas and carrots, I know. I picked them up on Earth II when we last stopped there."
"But how did you get the money?"
"When I went to collect the bounty on Ian Kavas the police said we couldn't collect because we couldn't bring him in. But they did give us some money for our troubles. It's a shame he fell off the bridge, or we would be sitting pretty right now. Just eat it."
Gate paused for another minute, then dug in. It and about 3 more helpings were gone in 5 minutes flat. He was going to go for another but Kai cut in.
"Hey, Gate, don't waste it all away. Between this stuff and fuel we're already out of money and this stuff won't last forever."
"But it tastes so good."
Kai lifted his fork to his mouth and slid the food into his mouth.
"It does, doesn't it? I made it, so step off."
Gate stared the rest of the meal at the food Kai had prepared. They hardly ate like this. He was hungry. Gate wanted it all now. Nothing was helping him get his mind off the food. Staring down at it, he was practically drooling on it. Kai's hand pushed his face back a little.
"Keep your tongue in your mouth and out of the rice."
"What about in the rest of the food?"
"That stuff, too."
Kai tossed a can of something at Gate. He looked at it. After downing it he kicked back on his stool. Leaning against nothing he fell straight down. Kai laughed a little.
"That hits the spot, thanks Kai."
Kai half saluted in return and took a drink of his own MD Soda. Gate's can rolled away from his hand on the floor to some unseen place in the nooks and crannies of the ship apparently disappearing.
After a few days the food supply had run down to a very short store of plain rice. It would last only about another day or two, knowing Gate. Kai had always suspected it but in the last few nights he had caught Gate getting into the chicken fried rice. And now. it was gone.
"We can't have any of this rice until we're absolutely starving. Agreed?"
"But."
"No. It's agreed. You can't have any of it, if we don't ration it out we will starve."
Gate sighed. He had to give in. As much as didn't want to be hungry, he also didn't want to die. As for Kai, he could deal with lack of food. He would outlast Gate and keep his sanity, too. if. if it was just food. He was running out of cigs. And the planet Smoke was a red and rocky desert planet. There was no way he was going to find any there. He was down to one pack. They weren't even the best kind. If he were going to run out wouldn't he want to run out on the best brand?
"Fine, agreed."
"Got any smokes?"
"Why would I have any?"
Gate flipped a cig through his fingers like a baton. After about a second it landed in his mouth. He leaned in to the hot stove where Kai was fixing a small amount of rice and lit it.
"It's my last one."
"Yeah, yeah."
Taking in a breath of the flavored smoke he blew it out in rings.
"Not a bad weed."
"Stop gloating I've only got the bad stuff, and it wont be lasting long."
Gate put the tip of his out and stuffed it in his pocket when it was cool. Sitting across the table from each other they raised cans of MD, and hit them together in cheers. They hit hard together slopping the drink everywhere and leaving Kai's can dented.
"Here's to last cigarettes."
"Aye."
There was a moment of silence. How relaxing. There wasn't that much of it in their lives. Yes, there was lots of silence on their dim ship. but never was it very relaxing. More often times it was anxious. But since remembering the taste of something other than rice and cigs. was a pleasant and calming change.
The silence, however, did not last long. It was interrupted by a beeping sound from another part of the ship. The both of them finished their drinks quickly and ran off to their ship's computer, a small one sitting on a desk in the middle of a room with wires running out of it to the ship. Not very fancy, but it works.
"What is it?" Gate asked.
"Bounty report. This is just what we need right now. If we can get this guy we can get all the food we want. Okay."
On the screen there was a picture of a man, maybe in his late twenties or early thirties. Medium length brown hair covered half of his face. They were mug shots. Under his list of accolades were listed: Grand Larceny, Arson, and suspected murder of 13 people. He was never caught for these but there was proof of it, and now there was a bounty on his life. Wanted to be taken in alive.
"Dane Fried. This guy's pretty bad, but doesn't look too tough. We can take him."
"Where's he at?"
"Last seen on. the planet Smoke. Still suspected to be found there."
"This is our lucky day. We've got this guy."
Kai went to the main controls and set the ship to land. They were heading to Smoke.
Chapter 2
"Not a single lead yet. There are going to be other bounty hunters here soon."
They had been on the planet for three days now. There weren't many places they could go in this desert world. Only a few towns on the whole planet, and they had covered most of them. No one had any reason to believe he had left, there was very little traffic going by this world, or on and off. And what traffic there was had been very closely monitored lately.
Even worse, Kai had run out of cigs. He was spending more time trying to beg them off people than he was spending looking for Dane. As for Gate, he spent all his time searching for food. There wasn't much to be had on this planet except for rice. With their little side searches going on, it wasn't helping their hunt for Dane.
Gate walked into another restaurant looking for something other than rice. He sat at a table and a waiter brought him a menu.
"Honey rice, steamed rice, fried rice, rice with rice, rice patty."
"Rice and water soup, cinnamon rice."
Gate decided it was pathetic. He got up to leave, but before he left he noticed the man behind the counter was dead. He had been shot five times in the chest. This wasn't the waiter. He hadn't gotten a good look at him but he was much younger than this dead man and he would have heard him being shot. Dane. It had to have been.
Dane would be long gone by now so instead he went to find Kai. Dane would be in the city still. He couldn't have left. Not yet. After only ten or so minutes Gate found Kai. He was currently begging someone for a cigarette.
"Kai, I've got a lead!"
Gate reached in his pocket and pulled out the half smoked cig he had been keeping. He looked at it for a minute and tossed it to Kai, who caught it.
"Thanks."
The two of them rushed back to the restaurant where Gate had found the body. Everything was left as it had been.
"What do you think of this?"
"I would look at the slugs if I could. but it doesn't look as if any went through."
"It was definitely Dane, though. What did he shoot this guy for?"
"Maybe he knew. If you had a large bounty on your head I don't think you'd want anyone alive who had seen you, they could report you."
"But he's just a restaurant owner, or clerk here."
"I'd still bet everyone on this planet has their eyes open. It's such a small planet. No wonder they've kept him here, they all want the bounty I'm sure, everyone here has probably been making sure he stays here."
"I don't doubt that, Kai."
"Is there anything around the body?"
Gate looked around a little bit, searching for anything. There was nothing, no gun, and no nothing. He looked back at the body.
"The angle on all of these shots. he was shot in a hurry."
Kai looked closer at the body. He nodded. Slowly he turned around and bent down. Shuffling around through the below counter items he found a knife. It was a kitchen knife, and it was caked in blood. Human blood definitely, there was only rice to be sold here. And there were no cuts on the dead man.
They sat for a minute, just thinking. Then Gate went back to his table; there were spots of blood on the floor. His menu was still lying open at the table where he sat. He picked it up and closed it. On the cover and back there was blood.
"Hey Kai?"
"Yeah?"
"This guy knew about Dane. He had to have been trying to get that bounty. It's obvious that he attacked Dane with that knife."
"We should let the police know of this update."
"No, they'll find out soon enough. Plus there will be other bounty hunters coming here in no time; I don't want them to get the lead we have. We need the money from this."
"But how good of a lead is it? He killed a man who attacked him."
"So he's injured. He won't be leaving the city. He also couldn't have left through the front door, or I would have heard him. There's got to be a way out back let's go."
Gate jumped over the counter and rushed into the back to find an exit. Kai sighed and stood up. He took the half smoked cig Gate had given him and lit it, puffing it away. He flicked the remnants of it into the middle of the restaurant where it smoked and went out. Then he followed after Gate.
Outside Gate was standing staring at a pool of blood and a small trail of it leading one way down an alley.
"He must have been hit badly. He sure seems to have bled a lot."
Gate had no response. Kai started after the trail.
"Wait."
"What is it?"
"Look at the other end of the alley, at the street."
Kai looked as directed. A car was parked and someone was sitting in the seat looking right back at Kai and Gate. Kai pulled a gun out and as soon as he did the car sped off.
"Get after it!"
Gate ran off straight down the alley. Kai ran the other way.
Chapter 3
Gate chased off after the moving car as fast as he could. He ran into the middle of busy traffic. Dust flew into his eyes and he lost sight of the car momentarily. Once he caught a glimpse of it again it was turning a corner away from him. Gate ran across the street and grabbed onto the side of a badly cemented brick building. He pulled himself up and climbed the rest of the way up.
Now standing on the roof he ran to the edge of the building. The car was getting further and further away now. Looking in the direction of the car Gate turned. He started sprinting. As he got closer to the edge he gained speed. Finally reaching the end of the building he jumped.
Gate barely landed on the roof of the next building, and quickly retaking his balance he continued running. The car had traffic to travel through, and he did not. Moving as quickly as he possibly could Gate jumped from building to building, desperately trying to catch up with the car.
It was heading for the city limits. Once Dane would get there he would have nowhere to go, but also Gate wouldn't know where he would find him. He would be gone. He had to get to him now. Reaching the end of another building he jumped. This was too far. There was no way Gate was going to make this jump. He hit the wall of the building and began to fall.
Almost instinctively and completely driven by adrenaline he grabbed upwards. He barely managed to catch hold of the roof's edge. He breathed for a second, realizing he had just saved his own life. Then he lifted himself up onto the roof and caught his breath again. Gate spared little time though and resumed his chase.
In a matter of minutes he was at the edge. There were no buildings to jump to anymore. He turned sharp to the street and jumped straight into traffic.
With a bit of luck and good timing he landed on the hood of a car. The driver swerved upon impact and Gate was forced to hop car tops. This was riskier than jumping buildings. Sure he was closer to the ground, but if he slipped he would be run down. The jumps were also harder to make now. From his current car he jumped onto a nicer car in the next lane. He sat down and leaned in the window of the car.
"HEY! Catch up to that car over there. It means big money."
The driver was so frightened he sped up as he was told. In no time the sporty car had run close to the escape car. Gate shouted his thanks to the driver and jumped over to the other car. At that point the car shifted into the other lane and Gate missed. He hit the dirt road hard. Dust collected around him and he was motionless. Around him cars changed lanes to avoid him.
"So close."
Gate sat up and rubbed his head. After a minute he stood up. The car he was chasing was completely out of sight. It had driven into the distance and probably out of the city limits. From behind him Gate could hear a loud humming. It wasn't a car. As he turned around he saw Kai's smaller fighter ship hovering above the road, all traffic stopped behind him. Kai sort of saluted him and Gate gave him a thankful smile. Gate grabbed on to the ship's guns as it lifted off.
Kai piloted the ship well. He was experienced at its controls and had put the ship to use many times before. It sped after the car. It was a short pursuit. Though for Gate, it was the ride of a lifetime. It wasn't that he hadn't been risking his life earlier as well with heights, but this was extremely hard to hang on to. Especially at high speeds. In no time, however, they had caught up to the car.
Gate looked down at it. It was creating dust clouds behind it as it sped along the ground. Kai flew the ship right above the car. Gate let go and landed on the car's tail. He shot out the back window and climbed inside. Holding a gun to the driver's head he told him to stop. Within moments the car had come to a halt. Kai landed his ship near the vehicle. He came to the door and opened it, pulling out their bounty.
He was caked in blood, obvious knife wounds about his chest. Gate climbed out of the car and held his gun in their captive's direction. He walked around to get a better look at him. He paused. Gate looked over at Kai's face, he was seeing it, too.
"You're not Dane!"
Chapter 4
Kai and Gate were leaving the planet Smoke. They had failed to collect another bounty. Kai was back at the ship's computer. He wrote a log of the hunt's result. It read:
Upon receiving bounty report for Dane Fried located on the planet Smoke we landed and began our search. After several days' work Gate came across a dead waiter. Suspecting the murderer to be Dane we chased him down. During our chase the real Dane was reportedly caught by some locals after being seen being begged for cigarettes by an offworlder. Our quarry turned out to be a waiter who was attacked by a manager who had recently gone insane and was fleeing after killing his manager in a fight in the alley behind the restaurant. We were awarded with nothing for our troubles except for the thanks of local police. Now we are leaving orbit in search of greener pastures. Result of mission: Failure.
Kai leaned back and sighed. Another failed attempt to get a bounty. It wasn't that they were bad at what they do. they just had no luck whatsoever. Kai stared at the paper around his desk. He checked his pockets. Yes, it was there. He pulled out his lighter and rolled up some paper. Lighting it he puffed on the cool end. Coughing from inhaling that kind of course smoke, he put out his makeshift cigarette.
"That hits the spot, right Gate?"
Across the room Gate was laying on the floor, wiped out from the monumental failure. Their ship was leaving the planet. It shook, breaking free from the planet's gravity. From somewhere in the depths of the ship and out of a shadow rolled an empty can of MD. It rolled straight into Gate's hand. Lifting it above his mouth he held his mouth wide open. After waiting a drop finally fell in.
"Yeah, hits the spot."
A detective story by Garrett Traylor
Chapter 1
From space any planet looks beautiful. Above Smoke the stars glittered all around. Across the planet a black dot was silhouetted. High above the planet's surface a ship was flying. Inside the ship, however, things were much less beautiful.
"What's for dinner?"
"Rice. It'll be ready in a minute."
Kai walked back to the kitchen, a little while later calling back to Gate.
"Dinner's ready!"
Gate slowly stood up and made his way to the kitchen. He sat down at the cold and dark metal table. His eyes slowly made their way to the plate. There was rice, and in it peas, carrots, and. chicken?
"Kai what is this?"
"Chicken fried rice."
"Since when have we had the money for chicken?"
"Let alone peas and carrots, I know. I picked them up on Earth II when we last stopped there."
"But how did you get the money?"
"When I went to collect the bounty on Ian Kavas the police said we couldn't collect because we couldn't bring him in. But they did give us some money for our troubles. It's a shame he fell off the bridge, or we would be sitting pretty right now. Just eat it."
Gate paused for another minute, then dug in. It and about 3 more helpings were gone in 5 minutes flat. He was going to go for another but Kai cut in.
"Hey, Gate, don't waste it all away. Between this stuff and fuel we're already out of money and this stuff won't last forever."
"But it tastes so good."
Kai lifted his fork to his mouth and slid the food into his mouth.
"It does, doesn't it? I made it, so step off."
Gate stared the rest of the meal at the food Kai had prepared. They hardly ate like this. He was hungry. Gate wanted it all now. Nothing was helping him get his mind off the food. Staring down at it, he was practically drooling on it. Kai's hand pushed his face back a little.
"Keep your tongue in your mouth and out of the rice."
"What about in the rest of the food?"
"That stuff, too."
Kai tossed a can of something at Gate. He looked at it. After downing it he kicked back on his stool. Leaning against nothing he fell straight down. Kai laughed a little.
"That hits the spot, thanks Kai."
Kai half saluted in return and took a drink of his own MD Soda. Gate's can rolled away from his hand on the floor to some unseen place in the nooks and crannies of the ship apparently disappearing.
After a few days the food supply had run down to a very short store of plain rice. It would last only about another day or two, knowing Gate. Kai had always suspected it but in the last few nights he had caught Gate getting into the chicken fried rice. And now. it was gone.
"We can't have any of this rice until we're absolutely starving. Agreed?"
"But."
"No. It's agreed. You can't have any of it, if we don't ration it out we will starve."
Gate sighed. He had to give in. As much as didn't want to be hungry, he also didn't want to die. As for Kai, he could deal with lack of food. He would outlast Gate and keep his sanity, too. if. if it was just food. He was running out of cigs. And the planet Smoke was a red and rocky desert planet. There was no way he was going to find any there. He was down to one pack. They weren't even the best kind. If he were going to run out wouldn't he want to run out on the best brand?
"Fine, agreed."
"Got any smokes?"
"Why would I have any?"
Gate flipped a cig through his fingers like a baton. After about a second it landed in his mouth. He leaned in to the hot stove where Kai was fixing a small amount of rice and lit it.
"It's my last one."
"Yeah, yeah."
Taking in a breath of the flavored smoke he blew it out in rings.
"Not a bad weed."
"Stop gloating I've only got the bad stuff, and it wont be lasting long."
Gate put the tip of his out and stuffed it in his pocket when it was cool. Sitting across the table from each other they raised cans of MD, and hit them together in cheers. They hit hard together slopping the drink everywhere and leaving Kai's can dented.
"Here's to last cigarettes."
"Aye."
There was a moment of silence. How relaxing. There wasn't that much of it in their lives. Yes, there was lots of silence on their dim ship. but never was it very relaxing. More often times it was anxious. But since remembering the taste of something other than rice and cigs. was a pleasant and calming change.
The silence, however, did not last long. It was interrupted by a beeping sound from another part of the ship. The both of them finished their drinks quickly and ran off to their ship's computer, a small one sitting on a desk in the middle of a room with wires running out of it to the ship. Not very fancy, but it works.
"What is it?" Gate asked.
"Bounty report. This is just what we need right now. If we can get this guy we can get all the food we want. Okay."
On the screen there was a picture of a man, maybe in his late twenties or early thirties. Medium length brown hair covered half of his face. They were mug shots. Under his list of accolades were listed: Grand Larceny, Arson, and suspected murder of 13 people. He was never caught for these but there was proof of it, and now there was a bounty on his life. Wanted to be taken in alive.
"Dane Fried. This guy's pretty bad, but doesn't look too tough. We can take him."
"Where's he at?"
"Last seen on. the planet Smoke. Still suspected to be found there."
"This is our lucky day. We've got this guy."
Kai went to the main controls and set the ship to land. They were heading to Smoke.
Chapter 2
"Not a single lead yet. There are going to be other bounty hunters here soon."
They had been on the planet for three days now. There weren't many places they could go in this desert world. Only a few towns on the whole planet, and they had covered most of them. No one had any reason to believe he had left, there was very little traffic going by this world, or on and off. And what traffic there was had been very closely monitored lately.
Even worse, Kai had run out of cigs. He was spending more time trying to beg them off people than he was spending looking for Dane. As for Gate, he spent all his time searching for food. There wasn't much to be had on this planet except for rice. With their little side searches going on, it wasn't helping their hunt for Dane.
Gate walked into another restaurant looking for something other than rice. He sat at a table and a waiter brought him a menu.
"Honey rice, steamed rice, fried rice, rice with rice, rice patty."
"Rice and water soup, cinnamon rice."
Gate decided it was pathetic. He got up to leave, but before he left he noticed the man behind the counter was dead. He had been shot five times in the chest. This wasn't the waiter. He hadn't gotten a good look at him but he was much younger than this dead man and he would have heard him being shot. Dane. It had to have been.
Dane would be long gone by now so instead he went to find Kai. Dane would be in the city still. He couldn't have left. Not yet. After only ten or so minutes Gate found Kai. He was currently begging someone for a cigarette.
"Kai, I've got a lead!"
Gate reached in his pocket and pulled out the half smoked cig he had been keeping. He looked at it for a minute and tossed it to Kai, who caught it.
"Thanks."
The two of them rushed back to the restaurant where Gate had found the body. Everything was left as it had been.
"What do you think of this?"
"I would look at the slugs if I could. but it doesn't look as if any went through."
"It was definitely Dane, though. What did he shoot this guy for?"
"Maybe he knew. If you had a large bounty on your head I don't think you'd want anyone alive who had seen you, they could report you."
"But he's just a restaurant owner, or clerk here."
"I'd still bet everyone on this planet has their eyes open. It's such a small planet. No wonder they've kept him here, they all want the bounty I'm sure, everyone here has probably been making sure he stays here."
"I don't doubt that, Kai."
"Is there anything around the body?"
Gate looked around a little bit, searching for anything. There was nothing, no gun, and no nothing. He looked back at the body.
"The angle on all of these shots. he was shot in a hurry."
Kai looked closer at the body. He nodded. Slowly he turned around and bent down. Shuffling around through the below counter items he found a knife. It was a kitchen knife, and it was caked in blood. Human blood definitely, there was only rice to be sold here. And there were no cuts on the dead man.
They sat for a minute, just thinking. Then Gate went back to his table; there were spots of blood on the floor. His menu was still lying open at the table where he sat. He picked it up and closed it. On the cover and back there was blood.
"Hey Kai?"
"Yeah?"
"This guy knew about Dane. He had to have been trying to get that bounty. It's obvious that he attacked Dane with that knife."
"We should let the police know of this update."
"No, they'll find out soon enough. Plus there will be other bounty hunters coming here in no time; I don't want them to get the lead we have. We need the money from this."
"But how good of a lead is it? He killed a man who attacked him."
"So he's injured. He won't be leaving the city. He also couldn't have left through the front door, or I would have heard him. There's got to be a way out back let's go."
Gate jumped over the counter and rushed into the back to find an exit. Kai sighed and stood up. He took the half smoked cig Gate had given him and lit it, puffing it away. He flicked the remnants of it into the middle of the restaurant where it smoked and went out. Then he followed after Gate.
Outside Gate was standing staring at a pool of blood and a small trail of it leading one way down an alley.
"He must have been hit badly. He sure seems to have bled a lot."
Gate had no response. Kai started after the trail.
"Wait."
"What is it?"
"Look at the other end of the alley, at the street."
Kai looked as directed. A car was parked and someone was sitting in the seat looking right back at Kai and Gate. Kai pulled a gun out and as soon as he did the car sped off.
"Get after it!"
Gate ran off straight down the alley. Kai ran the other way.
Chapter 3
Gate chased off after the moving car as fast as he could. He ran into the middle of busy traffic. Dust flew into his eyes and he lost sight of the car momentarily. Once he caught a glimpse of it again it was turning a corner away from him. Gate ran across the street and grabbed onto the side of a badly cemented brick building. He pulled himself up and climbed the rest of the way up.
Now standing on the roof he ran to the edge of the building. The car was getting further and further away now. Looking in the direction of the car Gate turned. He started sprinting. As he got closer to the edge he gained speed. Finally reaching the end of the building he jumped.
Gate barely landed on the roof of the next building, and quickly retaking his balance he continued running. The car had traffic to travel through, and he did not. Moving as quickly as he possibly could Gate jumped from building to building, desperately trying to catch up with the car.
It was heading for the city limits. Once Dane would get there he would have nowhere to go, but also Gate wouldn't know where he would find him. He would be gone. He had to get to him now. Reaching the end of another building he jumped. This was too far. There was no way Gate was going to make this jump. He hit the wall of the building and began to fall.
Almost instinctively and completely driven by adrenaline he grabbed upwards. He barely managed to catch hold of the roof's edge. He breathed for a second, realizing he had just saved his own life. Then he lifted himself up onto the roof and caught his breath again. Gate spared little time though and resumed his chase.
In a matter of minutes he was at the edge. There were no buildings to jump to anymore. He turned sharp to the street and jumped straight into traffic.
With a bit of luck and good timing he landed on the hood of a car. The driver swerved upon impact and Gate was forced to hop car tops. This was riskier than jumping buildings. Sure he was closer to the ground, but if he slipped he would be run down. The jumps were also harder to make now. From his current car he jumped onto a nicer car in the next lane. He sat down and leaned in the window of the car.
"HEY! Catch up to that car over there. It means big money."
The driver was so frightened he sped up as he was told. In no time the sporty car had run close to the escape car. Gate shouted his thanks to the driver and jumped over to the other car. At that point the car shifted into the other lane and Gate missed. He hit the dirt road hard. Dust collected around him and he was motionless. Around him cars changed lanes to avoid him.
"So close."
Gate sat up and rubbed his head. After a minute he stood up. The car he was chasing was completely out of sight. It had driven into the distance and probably out of the city limits. From behind him Gate could hear a loud humming. It wasn't a car. As he turned around he saw Kai's smaller fighter ship hovering above the road, all traffic stopped behind him. Kai sort of saluted him and Gate gave him a thankful smile. Gate grabbed on to the ship's guns as it lifted off.
Kai piloted the ship well. He was experienced at its controls and had put the ship to use many times before. It sped after the car. It was a short pursuit. Though for Gate, it was the ride of a lifetime. It wasn't that he hadn't been risking his life earlier as well with heights, but this was extremely hard to hang on to. Especially at high speeds. In no time, however, they had caught up to the car.
Gate looked down at it. It was creating dust clouds behind it as it sped along the ground. Kai flew the ship right above the car. Gate let go and landed on the car's tail. He shot out the back window and climbed inside. Holding a gun to the driver's head he told him to stop. Within moments the car had come to a halt. Kai landed his ship near the vehicle. He came to the door and opened it, pulling out their bounty.
He was caked in blood, obvious knife wounds about his chest. Gate climbed out of the car and held his gun in their captive's direction. He walked around to get a better look at him. He paused. Gate looked over at Kai's face, he was seeing it, too.
"You're not Dane!"
Chapter 4
Kai and Gate were leaving the planet Smoke. They had failed to collect another bounty. Kai was back at the ship's computer. He wrote a log of the hunt's result. It read:
Upon receiving bounty report for Dane Fried located on the planet Smoke we landed and began our search. After several days' work Gate came across a dead waiter. Suspecting the murderer to be Dane we chased him down. During our chase the real Dane was reportedly caught by some locals after being seen being begged for cigarettes by an offworlder. Our quarry turned out to be a waiter who was attacked by a manager who had recently gone insane and was fleeing after killing his manager in a fight in the alley behind the restaurant. We were awarded with nothing for our troubles except for the thanks of local police. Now we are leaving orbit in search of greener pastures. Result of mission: Failure.
Kai leaned back and sighed. Another failed attempt to get a bounty. It wasn't that they were bad at what they do. they just had no luck whatsoever. Kai stared at the paper around his desk. He checked his pockets. Yes, it was there. He pulled out his lighter and rolled up some paper. Lighting it he puffed on the cool end. Coughing from inhaling that kind of course smoke, he put out his makeshift cigarette.
"That hits the spot, right Gate?"
Across the room Gate was laying on the floor, wiped out from the monumental failure. Their ship was leaving the planet. It shook, breaking free from the planet's gravity. From somewhere in the depths of the ship and out of a shadow rolled an empty can of MD. It rolled straight into Gate's hand. Lifting it above his mouth he held his mouth wide open. After waiting a drop finally fell in.
"Yeah, hits the spot."