Section 1

Mars City

The Bebop let out a howl as it slowed down in preparation for its landing on the riverbank. Waves rushed up to greet it and hissed as they ran along the sides of the dirty ship. Faye lay on the old yellow couch, her chin propped up with one arm, the other slung over the back of the couch. She stared blankly at nothing with a tired look on her face.

A familiar tinkling sound rose from the hall, followed by the appearance of a small, furry brown head. Ein looked at Faye a moment, barked twice, then turned around and waddled back the way he came. Faye listened to the tinkling sound again as it echoed down the hall and then disappeared.

Letting out an empty sigh, she pulled herself wearily up from the couch.

"I'm called on by a mutt. I live such a pampered life," Faye said as she headed up the stairs towards the exit.

It was a bright day in Mars City. The way that the sunlight hit the windows, scattering off the tall buildings and water's surface seemed to take your mind off of what a shithole the city really was.

She admired the scenery for only a moment before Jet called to her.

"Hey, Faye, get over here!" he shouted from behind a couple of unmarked boxes. "I need you to run some errands for me while I fill 'er up!"

Faye groaned and hopped off of the ship, her heels clicking as they met the pavement.

"What now, Jet? I really don't have time for petty errands. Shouldn't we be out looking for this 'Aeon' guy?"

"We will after you run out and get a few things for me."

Jet tossed her a roll of money and a small, folded piece of paper wrapped in a brown rubber band. Faye pulled the paper from under the rubber band and read it.

"What is all this junk!? I don't even know what an 'tandryn' is!"

"Frankly, neither do I," Jet replied. "I just know that we need it to find our bounty guy. Whatever it is, it'll get us some better ideas on where this kidder is hiding."

"Where the hell do I get it?"

"There's a place over on Roswell Avenue right underneath the old Brooks Café. Go around back and you'll find a door that leads to it. Knock five times and tell them Jim sent you, or else you can forget about getting in."

"Yeah, thanks a lot for sending me on this little mission, Jet. God forbid you or Spike go. Speaking of Spike, where the heck is he?"

"Damned if I know. After he helped me take these boxes down he took off mumbling something about fried foods."

"That jerk," Faye grumbled. "Really, what is he good for?"

Jet continued to rummage around in the boxes, seemingly oblivious to Faye.

"Jet?" Faye asked, annoyed. "Jet?! Are you even listening to-"

"Take this," he interrupted, shoving an odd gadget into her chest. Faye looked down dully and then squealed, quickly smacking the thing up into the air with one hand and juggling it back and forth in a panic, finally landing it back in Jet's hands.

"What in the hell is that?!!" she cried.

"Huh?" he replied with a clueless look on his face as he looked back down at it. "Oh, it's just a key."

"A key?!"

The object was a crimson color with a strange gloss to it. On one end was a normal skeleton key-type handle; but the rest of the key was anything but normal. A tangled mess of thin, metal arms and knots protruded from it, resembling the coiled legs of a large, dead spider.

"I'm not carrying that!" Faye shrieked. "Forget it!"

Faye stormed back up to the ship and climbed back in.

"Humph," he snuffed. Jet stared at the key for a second before hearing the tinkling sound of Ein's collar as he scratched behind his ears. Ein noticed that he was being watched and looked back up at Jet, letting his tongue hang out.

Jet flashed a big grin at him, and Ein cocked his head sideways in reply.

Faye was already lying down again with her arm draped over her eyes and her hand sitting limply on the floor when she felt something cold and wet touch it. She screamed and jumped several feet in the air, landing on the couch upright with both her knees pulled up against her chest, a look of terror on her face. She peered down slowly over the cushion to see Ein's black, beady little eyes staring up at her. Around his neck was a rope with a zip-lock bag tied to it. In the bag was the disturbing key.

Faye's left eye twitched as he cocked his head to the side and let out a small whine.