Unbelievable. I got tripped up by a damn robot. Android. Whatever the hell it claimed to be. Riley had hung up on us spluttering and denying any attraction to each other and Vega eventually calmed down enough to call Andre up to the bridge. I watched as Vega and Andre ran through the pre-flight procedures as they checked over the new parts that Cat had installed. Vega and Andre both were teaching me how to fly, or the basics to start. They both refused to even consider letting me fly in the double city of Hong Kong and I couldn't really blame them. The ship lifted off and I marveled at how it was so much smoother now. Cat had pulled an all nighter getting everything fixed and was now sleeping it off in her room.
I never stopped staring at the city as we flew through the lower level. Hundreds of ships and cars flew next to above and below us. The only reason I could tell that it was the middle of the day was because I could see the sun at the very edge of the city. This close into the center it was still lit up like Times Square on New Years Eve. Holographic adds changed constantly as we flew by. Most were in Chinese, though here and there were some signs in english. I looked up and stared at the ceiling I guess? The platform that the upper city was built on. How many people did there have to be in a city before they decide to just build another level on top of it? Signs pointed to the gaps in the ceiling where ships rose and descended, going to the different levels.
Vega banked the ship around a building and then glanced back at me and said "We're almost there. I'll handle the cargo if you can plan our flight path and find out anything about Miami. Try our now fixed sensor-platform."
I shrugged and decided to give it a go. Seated directly behind Vega, I turned and faced the computer. Luckily its set-up was user friendly, so it only took a couple minutes for me to figure out what to do. A keyboard lit up and I typed out Miami and started pulling up any kind of information that I could find. What I found depressed me. Miami was destroyed by the South American Confederacy invading the fledgling UEA during the end of the 21st century. What the SAC didn't destroy, global warming and the SAC and others deliberately destroying the ice shelves did the rest. What wasn't a blasted out ruin was under water and abandoned. Only scavengers, pirates and the desperate lived there. Rated as a Class-B3 danger zone. A quick search answered the question of what the hell a danger zone class was.
The UEA classifies certain areas by danger levels. It starts at C, the lowest and least dangerous area. Carrying a weapon is recommended depending on the area. Then comes class B, where a weapon is required. Class A is the most dangerous, where the military or those types with armies tend to deal with. Added to the letters is a number system. It starts at five and goes to zero. The closer you are to zero, the more dangerous it is. A Class-B3 area is pretty dangerous, and the computer recommended that we don't land and keep our weapons loaded at all times.
Easy enough to do I guess. I may have only had the beginning of an idea of what to do in the twenty-sixth century, but let it never be said that Jade friggin West doesn't do her job well. I got into Hollywood Arts on pure talent and hard work and I have never skimped on working where ever I ended up. I continued pulling up every bit of information that I could. It didn't look any better. The latest news reports showed some pirates had made Miami their home. They have to be better than the Sense-Freaks. Right?
Andre knocked on the wall getting my attention. "Are we ready to go?" I asked.
"Yeah we are. Just waiting to hear from Tori. What's Miami like?"
"Class-B3." I answered and Andre frowned and then shrugged. "We'll just have to be careful."
"Does anything ever actually bother you?" I asked, genuinely curious. "Oh sure, there's a lot that bothers me! I ever tell you about the time my grandma thought a ceiling fan was some kind of helicopter demon thing?"
"Is your grandma related to Cat by chance?"
Andre scratched his chin for a second. "Nope. Don't think so. Maybe they both drank the wrong water?"
"Has to be it."
Andre laughed, his already cheerful demeanor lighting up even more. It was easy to see why he had a date every other night. Cute and smart, he had a lot going for him. A little too high-strung and cheerful for my tastes but I wasn't above keeping him as an option for a little fun. I knew he found me attractive, but for now I didn't want to do anything with anyone. Still trying to get over this whole being in the twenty-sixth century.
Andre regaled me with stories about his lunatic grandmother that occasionally had me laughing. His voice would crack during a particular crazy story and his arms would windmill in the air as he tried to explain what happened.
The intercom beeped and Vega's voice bounced around the bridge. "Andre take us up! We're good to go."
"Gotcha. Lifting off now." He turned to me and said, "Watch what I do. You'll get to fly soon. I promise."
I nodded and sat in the copilots seat and watched as he slowly went through the motions of starting the engines and activating the lower thrusters. We slowly took off and moved away from the tower. Andre easily drited into one of the skylanes and we flew towards the edge of the city.
"Where did you learn how to fly if your were ground locked for so long?"
"Tori's dad taught us. When he wasn't doing cop things he was teaching us in sims or flying Nostromo. We actually only got locked down a month or so before we found you."
We talked a bit more and I passed along the information to Andre, who created a flight path and filed it with transport authority. We rose to the upper levels of the atmosphere and cruised along. I watched various ships enter and leave the atmosphere.
"Hey hey. How's everyone?" Vega asked, entering the bridge. "All good here. Cat's still asleep?" Andre responded.
Vega nodded. "Yup. I'll wake her up before we get there. Details please and thank you." Andre and I quickly filled her in and she didn't look happy with the danger rating for Miami. "Explains why they're paying so much for a in planet delivery. Should've thought about that." She muttered. I wasn't going to rag her about that. Unless she gave me a reason to. I mean, we all should have noticed.
Andre filled her in with the flight details, which amounted to a little over a twelve hour flight. I wasn't sure exactly how fast we were going, but it had to be pretty goddamn fast to cross from one hemisphere to another in twelve hours. The downside of traveling in atmosphere for such a crowded planet meant that at least one person had to be on the bridge at any and all times. Since I don't know how to fly the damn thing, that meant either Vega or Andre had to stay up here.
Sucks to be them I guess. Andre volunteered to take the first six hour shift and we left him to hum a song and play with the controls. Or himself. I didn't ask.
I followed Vega to the upper levels and back of the ship and up a ladder. "One of our turret bubbles. This is the tail one. We only have enough ammo for a few seconds of firing, so you're gonna practice with the sims for a bit." She explained once we finally got to where we were going. The turret bubble lived up to its name, being a bubble with a couple tri barrel guns on each side.
"You..You really think that I'm just gonna kill someone?!" I asked incredulously. Vega looked at me with the saddest eyes that I have ever seen on her or anyone. "I hope that you won't have to." She said quietly. That was the end of the conversation as she started showing me what to do and how to run the sim. I was then given strict instructions to spend a few hours practicing. As I slid the viser-glasses onto my face, I asked "Vega, how many people have you killed?" I will never know why I asked that. Maybe I just wanted to know, maybe I wanted to see if she really could do it. Vega didn't answer for the longest while and I thought that she wasn't going to answer. Probably for the best really. I gave up on waiting for an answer and started to put on the viser-shade things.
"Twelve." The quietest and saddest voice that I have ever heard said. I looked at Vega in shock and she looked at me with tear filled eyes. "Twelve. I've killed twelve people. All of it was self-defense. LA isn't a safe place. Especially when your dad is one of the few cops who refuse to take any bribes."
She quickly descended down the ladder, which was for the best because I didn't know what to say to that. Of course I've threatened people with death before, but it was all talk. I've never killed anyone. Humiliated them? Easily? Hurt them? Oh yea. Kill? Never. I wasn't going to have to. Wasn't going to happen. Ever.
I activated the sims and spent a few hours practicing and got pretty good with it. I wasn't really one for video games, but if the games of the twenty-sixth century were like this virtual-reality thing that Beck and my step-shit talked about alot then I just might give them a try. I wish that I could have told Beck about them. He would have loved it. My thoughts started to drift away from Beck and to Vega. Even as I did well on the stupid sim at first, the look of Vega's sad face never left my mind. After I had missed several shots in a row, I snarled a curse and took off the viser-glasses thing. "Get out of my head Vega." I muttered. No point in staying up here if I can't concentrate. I climbed down the ladder to the cargo bay and looked around. Very large nondescript blue-grey pallets filled the bay from front to back.
I was curious about what was inside but I didn't know how or if I could open one and get away with it. Before I could ponder how I could get away with snooping, my stomach decided to announce that it wanted something.
Another time.
I wandered into the galley and started putting together a small lunch. A burger and fries. Simple enough for me to do. I hate to admit it, but there are some flaws that I carry with me. Such as having trouble cooking anything complicated. Even the burger and fries required a fair bit of concentration to make sure that I didn't burn anything.
I had just sat down to eat when Cat walked in, rubbing her eyes and wearing an extremely large shirt that hung off one shoulder. "Morning Jadeykins." she mumbled.
"Jadey-?" I started and then stopped. You know what? Nevermind. Not going to get dragged into a discussion with a sleepy Cat. She'd make even less sense then she normally does, which is really saying something.
"What's the matter kiddo? Still tired? Need a nap?" I asked teasingly instead. I leaned my head slightly to the left to dodge the plastic cup that she had thrown at me. "You're just as old as I am!" She shouted. "Sure. In the twenty-first century. This is now the twenty-sixth. There go I have five hundred years on you. Kid."
Cat fumed and launched into a rant about old people as she grabbed some food and put it into a blender and well...blended it. I stared at her open mouthed and asked her what the hell she was doing.
"Juicing my breakfast. Why eat when you can drink it?" She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Here, I'll show you!"She reached for my food and I stabbed her hand with a fork. Cat screeched and held her hand while giving me puppy eyes. "Don't touch my food." I growled. Cat whimpered and went back to her ...food.
Honestly it reminded of when my step-bitch started this juice diet thing and practically drank the fucking lawn every day. Somethings are still just straight fucking nasty. Still holding her hand, Cat suddenly announced "Oh Tori wants to see you in her room."
"Okay when?" I asked.
"Oh ummm, she told me maybe twenty-minutes ago? Said it was important."
"Cat! Why didn't you say something?!" I snapped. "I did!" She whined. I rolled my eyes and groaned. Fine. At least I got to finish my meal first. I dumped the plates in the sink and reminded Cat that she had to do the dishes. She stuck her tongue out at me and I grabbed it and enjoyed the squealing sound that she made as she tried to get her tongue back. A minute or so of that and I let her go.
I think she learned her lesson about being annoying to me.
I left a pouting Cat behind and made my way to Vega's room. Yes I know. Jade West of all people doing what someone else said to do. As much as I enjoy directing and writing, I also acted and that involves being able to take direction. Vega, as annoying as she is is the head honcho. So what she says goes. For now at least.
I didn't bother to knock and kicked open the door and dropped down the ladder. My boots thumped on the ground and Vega shrieked and grabbed a towel and dived under her blankets. I managed to keep my mouth closed because Vega was naked and the steam from the bathroom area meant that she had just gotten out of the shower. One bronze leg was sticking out of the sheets and her wet hair framed her face that was strangely attractive. "Jade! What the hell?!" Vega demanded. I coughed and turned around to give her some measure of privacy. "Cat said that you wanted to see me."
"What? No I don't. I just woke up." Vega snapped.
I turned back around and Vega again dived under the sheets. This time she wasn't that fast because I saw her shapely behind. I frowned and wondered where that thought was coming from. As far as I knew I was straight...right? "Then what the hell was Cat talking about?" I demanded.
"Who knows what Cat's thinking? I've known her for all of my life and still can't figure out what she's talking about half the time." Vega snapped.
"Well she fucked up, so I guess I'll leave your shy hot self to get dressed."
Vega's mouth dropped and she snarled "I'm not shy! I don't like showing off to people who barge into my room! No matter how cute they are! Now get out and let me get dressed!"
I rolled my eyes and grabbed the ladder and started to leave miss priss's room. I stopped about half way and didn't look back at her. "Vega." I called out. "I'm ...sorry about asking you that. I shouldn't have. That's your business. Not mine." It came out as a rush and I didn't know why I was apologizing. Did I do something wrong by asking her that? Maybe I did. But the look on her face when I had asked had sat with me and for some reason I hadn't liked it.
"It's fine. I..I don't like killing people or talking about it."
I nodded and climbed out of the room. I could count on one hand the number of times that I have ever apologized for something. Almost all of those times were to Beck and Beck alone for one of our many fights. I especially never apologized to someone I had just met. Even if she had given me a home when she didn't have to. Brought me into her little group when everyone else would have just tossed me out. Left me to fend for myself in this new century.
I made my way to my room and took off my boots and fell on my bed. I fell asleep wondering why these people were so nice and thoughts of that annoying Latina bouncing around my mind. Before my eyes closed completely, one thought hammered into my mind. Did Vega say that I was cute?
A loud shrill tone echoed throughout my room and I cursed and hit the intercom next to my bed. "What?" I snarled. What? I'm not a morning person. "We're almost there. Get to the cargo bay." Vega said.
"Fine." I grabbed my boots and hurriedly put them on. I called up to Vega when I made it up the cargo bay and Vega announced "We aren't landing. Use the counter-grav and just push them out of the cargo bay. Cat'll help you."
Right. This should be easy. It took me a minute to find the panel on the pallets and then another minute to figure out which button activated the counter-grav thing. Cat thundered down the stairs and hit the button to open the cargo-bay door. I gaped at the sight of Miami. Broken sky-scrapers for as far as the eye could see. Water filled where the streets had been. Miami was mostly underwater. I had vacationed there a few times during high school. I had hated it. Well, I hated the people and the tourists.
Looking at it now, I fought the tears that threatened to fall down. Miami wasn't my home. Never would be home. But it was just another sign that I was way out of my time. This isn't my century. It might never be. I swayed a bit as Nostromo suddenly descended in between the broken buildings. Every single building was grey and lifeless. Most windows broken, even the frames gone. I never thought that I would ever see a dead city. I didn't even know that a city could die. It hadn't died quickly or silently. Time couldn't hide all of the damage that came from whatever war that was fought here. Huge holes that could only come from missiles or bombs dotted several buildings. Some had collapsed and the rubble filled where the streets had been.
"I heard that this place used to beautiful." Cat said quietly. A huge change for her and I appreciated it. "It was. In my time. I didn't like vacationing there that often. But the clubs were fun and so where the concerts. I went with my boyfriend a few times."
We didn't say anything but continued to watch as the wind ruffled our hair and we stared out to the dead and broken city. "First drop point! Thirty seconds!" Vega announced over the intercom. Cat and I ran to the first pallet and began pushing it towards the door. Vega started counting down and the moment that she hit zero, Cat and I pushed the pallet off of the ship. About a minute later the pallet hit the water and we watched it disappear with a splash.
"Next drop! Two pallets!" Vega called.
We did it again, this time with two pallets. And so it went on, in groups of one or two until the cargo bay was empty. Cat and I had just pushed the last one out when Andre yelled "We got company! All around us!"
"Cat! Bay doors! Jade tail gun and watch our backs!" Tori shouted. No time to argue. I doubt who ever is showing up was friendly and wanted a quick chat. I scrambled up the ladder and ran through the motions of starting the turret. The ball thing rotated and I muttered. This was the real deal. A few hours of practice and suddenly I was ready? Christ I've had rehearsals that were more in depth in middle school!
Right. Okay. I can do this. Fuck. The headset. I grabbed that and put it on. Just in time because Andre's voice came over. "Here they come. At least a dozen vics. Fast movers for sure."
"Think they call follow us to upper atmo?" Vega asked.
"Probably not, but I'm getting some strange readings near the roofs. Maybe some kind of anti-air. I think we should stay down until I figure out what it is."
"Top turret ready!" Cat called.
"Tail ready." I said, far more calmly then I actually felt. "Remember we don't have that much ammo so only shoot when you're certain." Vega said. We banked around a building and I watched as the blast from the engines knocked parts of a building loose and the rubble fell into the ocean with a thunderous roar.
"Here they come!" I called out. "Right on our asses!" Whoever these guys were they were flying some kind of ramshackle jets. Swept back wings with needle noses and a few different colors with rust-red being the biggest and most common color. I toggled the camera and zoomed in and out trying to catch as much details as I could get. Difficult with Vega twisting and turning the ship around corners like some kind of racer. I quickly described what I was looking at to the others.
"Oh great. Scavengers." Vega said. "Nothing to worry about."
"Nothing to worry about?!" Andre said, his voice starting to crack. "They'll kill us!"
"Only if they catch us!" Cat said cheerfully.
"Exactly. Hold onto your butts people!" Vega shouted. I swore violently when we suddenly dived and then leveled out what looked like to be just above the ocean. The scavenger jets followed us, and I swore again when bullets hit the back of the ship.
This isn't a game! They're actually trying to kill me! Us!
I spun the turret around and waited until one scav-jet lined up perfectly with the targeting thing. Before I could pull the trigger, Nostromo suddenly lurched up and we were flying completely vertically up the side of a building.
"What the fucking shit Vega?" I yelled.
"Can't talk! Have to focus!" Vega called back. We banked to the left and roared away. Might have been impressive flying if I didn't just see a bunch of scavenger jets start taking off from wherever they were hiding. Once my idiot step-shit had deliberately hit a bees nest and they had swarmed him. It was like that. Except for bees it was scav-jets. A bit more dangerous.
"Umm, are you guys seeing this?" I asked.
"The swarm of scavengers? I wish I wasn't." Andre responded. His voice was starting to crack again. Is it going to do that every time he gets emotional? Bullets started slamming into Nostromo. Most of them were badly aimed, but if you fire enough of them, some of them will hit. I spun the turret around until the sights lined up on one scav-jet and I pulled the trigger. A quick short burst and the scav-jet exploded in mid-air.
"Got one!" I called. The cheers from the others made me feel a little bit better. I lined up another shot and took off the wing of another fighter. I didn't think about what I just did, I only celebrated the succesful shot that I just took. Tracers above my head meant that Cat was firing. She got two of them quickly and cheered loudly when one tried to dodge and crashed into another jet.
"Found the path! Lets go!" Andre said. Vega must have taken that as her cue because she suddenly punched it and I was glad that I was strapped in. I didn't know Nostromo could take off that fast. I opened fire and the scav-jets scattered. I cheered until the guns ran out. "Fuck! Out of ammo!" I yelled.
"Get to the bottom turret! Keep them off of us. We just have to dodge their anti-air and we're home free!" I undid the buckles and scrambled out of the turret, which powered down with a low warble.
My boots clanged as the hit the catwalk and I sprinted to the bottom turret. A minute later I was strapped in and the turret was revealing itself to the world. I spun around to face the the scav-jets still following us and shooting at us. Vega was twisting Nostromo this way and that, stopping them from getting the majority of their hits in. They still got alot in and I flinched every time a shot bounced off of the turret or came close.
A different scav-jet was angling up underneath us. It was slower but bulkier, and looked like some kind of transport thing. I watched as one man leaned forward and out of the bay area and aimed a rocket launcher up at us. "Oh no you don't." I muttered. I spun around and faced almost straight down and fired. The scav-jet came apart in a fiery explosion and rocket launcher guy tumbled away. He quickly disappeared from sight.
I stared at the spot where there had been some kind of junk-heap jet. I had just killed people. Several of them. A bullet slammed into the turret, breaking my thoughts. I spun back up and opened fire on them. I didn't shout when another jet exploded and spun away in multiple pieces. I cheered more for myself when I saw a parachute open up from the jet that I just shot down.
We suddenly rolled and then shot straight down. I groaned loudly as we made an immediate roll to the left and then suddenly jerked to the right and up. The scav-jets couldn't keep up and broke off the chase. Probably to go look for an easier target or something. Probably someone who doesn't fly like an idiot.
"And we're clear. Good job people. Setting a course for Hong Kong. Cat, check for damages. Jade, replace Andre up here." Tori said quietly.
I didn't say anything and climbed out of the turret and slowly made my way to the bridge. Once there, I took Andre's place as the co-pilot. Andre gave me a brief hug that I didn't return and left. Vega looked at me with sad eyes. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine." I snapped. She opened her mouth and I cut her off. "I said I'm fine. I don't need your psuedo-therapy bullshit! I'm fine goddamn it! So what that I just killed" I stopped and clapped my hand over my mouth. Vega yanked the trash can out from the wall drawer and I doubled over and vomited into it. I threw up until I didn't have anything else to throw up. Then to my humiliation, I started to cry. I sobbed and dry heaved as Vega held my hair up. After the last hacking dry heave, she produced some breath mints and gently pulled my head into her lap. I sobbed and let her hold me.
I had killed people. Yea it was self-defense. Who cares though? I had killed people. I was probably going to end up doing it again. I sobbed harder at the thought. I didn't want to kill anyone. Hurt them? Sure? Make fun of them? Oh yea. Humiliate them? Not a problem. Killing? That's something else. Something I never thought that I would experience or want to experience.
A voice broke through my sobbing and it took me a second to realise that it was me. "Does...Does it ever get any easier?"
Vega didn't say anything at first.
"No. It never does. The day it does, something's wrong. That day ever comes for you, tell me. I'll be there to bring you back."
Leaving the ruins of Miami behind, kneeling in front of Vega, I cried into her lap as she held me closely.
Hope you all enjoyed.
-C.H.
