By Chustang Sundust
Chapter 5 – Part A
"A Gun, the Dream, and a Challenge to Seal the Deal"
June 15, on the planet of Angel, five years in the future.
It was dark by the time she saw Diamonic on the glowing, crimson
horizon, and, true to its name, glittering like a diamond with its lights.
Its light was greedily consumed by the dark, blood red sky, with a hint
of a silver moon staring through the haze. The empty, forbiddingly quiet
roads suddenly began to fill with an engine's roar, and the primitive tar
road flashed with headlights. A sleek, classic red car hovered nosily down
the abandoned road, its aging motor grumbling in bitter protest.
The driver, subdued by the silence and pressure on her mind,
had her cold gaze transfixed on the city. Its reflection shined in the
misty brown of her eyes, as she slammed down on the acceleration. The girl,
the youthful and thin age of sixteen, had traveled down this haunting road
for years on end, coming to visit the treasure she loved and had helped
imprison. Her eyes narrowed, with the lights of Diamonic flooding over
her.
As the grungy city blurred past her, still brilliant against
the star-freckled sky, the girl turned her stolen car down a dark alley.
No one bothered to notice. Of course, in a Kei Pirate city like this one,
everyone was under the same rule. If there was a crime, no one reported
it to a Pirate higher than them because it was just likely to get an annoyed
look and your head in your lap. With her long, purple hair whipping in
delicate strands, she jumped out of the car, landing her sneakers in the
usual grime of Diamonic. She only hesitated for a moment at the darkness,
and then found the dim light framing the door leading to the Kei cells.
She had a few questions for the Outlaw, and some flowers for
her favorite little prodigy.
And left Ehefrau waiting in the dark.
It's all I know
To bring me back into your arms
Your distant sun
Your shining light
You'll be my dark star shining
Tonight
I've been the lowest of the low on the planet
I've been a sinner all my days
And I was living with my hand on the trigger
I had no sense to change my ways
Exert from This Cowboy Song by Sting
The icy clank of the reinforced steel bars echoed in the darkness
of Shared-Cell 12, and instantly, her eyes detected someone bolting up
in surprise. A grin curled her lips, and she slid the door open and close
behind her as she silently walked in. Familiar eyes. Blue in the blackness
of the otherwise empty prison, yet totally different in perspective. The
owner of the blue eyes she had come to see held confusion, pain, and underlying
genius that had been labored to the point of insanity. Those eyes
blinked hopefully, and then he spoke up. "Hamyou? Is that you?" Two gloved
hands wrapped around the bars of the cell besides the one she'd entered.
"Jim!" the girl replied, rushing to grasp the cold hands. "I'm
sorry I'm late to see you today. There was a lot of ruckus going on about
you and Gene so I stayed at the barracks and listened for a while." She
gave a smile, seeing the sixteen-year-old Jim again. His blonde hair was
cut short, spiked and messy from living in his home cell and he no longer
had the childish look but that of a late nineties teenager, with his old
jacket still around his shoulders.
"Ruckus? About what?" he asked, suddenly curious. Hamyou felt
his hands tighten around hers in tension. "Gene and I have been here all
day."
Heaving a sigh, she shook her head softly. She tried to rub his
hands warm, as they were ice cold, and replied with a depressed tone. "They
must have brainwashed you again today, Jim. You poor thing."
Jim blinked his blue eyes in surprise, face lit by the moonlight
streaming in from the barred window casting a shadowed map of light over
his crude living quarters. There was a cot behind him, next to a sink and
toilet, and a table cluttered with computers and papers in the corner.
"Brainwashed? They did that again? I thought they said I had nothing else
important to forget," Jim said quietly, staring straight into Hamyou's
brown eyes.
"You didn't, Jim. They just brainwashed today. Until then, you
didn't know that Gene was going back, and they didn't want to freak when
you figured out he was free for a day," the Anten member explained, brushing
back a flap in her light lavender dress and pulling a daisy from her pocket.
"Here. Anyway, I know how hard it is for you, so I thought you might want
to look at something beautiful in this horrible city."
Through the layers of darkness, she saw him smile. "I already
am," he said simply, sliding his hands further through the bars. With flower
in hand, Jim gave Hamyou a kiss on the cheek in thanks. "And about Gene
going back somewhere?"
"Well, I can't really tell you," she whispered sympathetically,
averting her misty brown eyes to scan the open cell she was in. It was
much longer and narrower than Jim's but opened out into a small space about
six feet around at the wall. Gene's cell. "I was hoping your Aniki was
ready to explain to me just what happened. You can't blame me; Kei Pirate
gossip isn't the most accurate."
"Gene's asleep," Jim answered, but there was caution lingering
in his voice. "He's been acting weird lately, and hasn't said a word for
hours. I just assumed he got beat again for losing a bounty. Hazanko does
give him the hardest criminals he can find."
"Thanks," the girl breathed, giving Jim a returning kiss. Her
purple hair, which was cut and held in the same style as five years ago
glistened in the moonlight as she turned painfully away from her prodigy.
Hamyou glanced around, and then settled her gaze on the cot, which was
up against the far wall. It revealed the outlaw lying, sprawled, out on
the bed. On the corner of the cot, a black cowboy hat hung.
The shock of seeing that flame red hair, worn and flashed like
a rare prize, never quite faded, even after years of seeing him. But now,
that sharp red it had held before seemed to be nullified with stressful
years. Gene lay, still donning his black shirt and pants, with glazed eyes
staring out the window into the starless sky overhead Diamonic. He turned
his steel blue eyes to her, sighed, and then painfully sat up. "Hey, Hamyou.
It's just you." His voice was slurred with lack of peace, sleep, and freedom.
Dead, almost. The scars across his face were smeared with blood. "Jim's
been waiting for you."
"I know. I've already talked to him," she replied softly, brown
eyes bright from the moonlight as she walked up to him. Coldness wavered
in her voice, as she tried to regain her Pirate air. As much as she was
acquainted with him, the guild still kept a close eye on her interactions
with Gene and Jim. She couldn't let the cold pirate in her fade away. "I
mostly came to ask you a few questions, if you'd be smart enough to answer."
He blinked, then turned a fiercely questioning gaze toward his
younger bounty-hunting partner. When Jim just gave a mutely unknowing look
back, Gene gave a sigh, stretching his cramped legs over the edge of the
cot before looking up to Hamyou. His eyes were reverted back to the same
old badass attitude as he said, "Hmm. That's strange. What would a convicted
bounty hunter have that you would want to know?" With an arrogant smile,
he lifted his eyebrows at her. "Maybe you'd be interested to watch a duel?
It'll be Pg-13, I promise you that."
Hamyou gave a laughing smile, but only smugly. The girl folded
her arms and her voice dripped with friendly sarcasm. "Still quite the
lady's comedian. But I don't have time to be mocked just because I'm only
sixteen. I came so you would set the story set for me."
The outlaw had found it more comfortable to relax during Hamyou's
conversations, because she tended to be hotheaded just like him in an argument.
But now it was different. If he was too free-voiced against her, it might
cost him his life. In a Kei Pirate city, there was almost a prejudiced
sense to the streets. Captured and slave outlaws, aliens, and anyone outside
the Kei guild were looked on as trash, filth they allowed to live just
because they did their dirty work.
He slightly yawned, then asked innocently, "What story?"
"Don't give me any crap." Her teeth gritted down on her reply,
turning it into a hiss. Her dark brown eyes flamed at his insolence. The
prejudice at outlaws had been bred into her blood, being born a pirate,
so her temper often boiled at his replies. "I would like to know how you
pulled off going back in time and implanting the control venom and revive
while still allowing your younger self keep his own conscious mind."
The threat didn't even scratch Gene's ego or pride, as he studied
her for a moment's silence then gave a snort. He brushed his fingers through
the tossed red hair, and leaned back to sigh. "Seems you know more than
you should, little girl," he warned. "Digging into Emperor business could
get you demoted down to my level." His eyes flashed open in a straight
glare aimed at her. They were dangerously steely blue against his red hair.
"It wasn't me. Gossip can get into anything if you ask the right
questions. But it isn't always the best way. I just thought - "
"That you would ask the dirty criminal who did it?"
Hamyou slightly turned her gaze away truthfully. It wasn't a
secret she had an internal rivalry with Gene, but didn't see Jim as a criminal
or outlaw because his Aniki had been the real bounty hunter. And with Jim
watching, she just couldn't lie. "Well, I guess…"
With a sigh, the outlaw finally dropped the heat between them.
"Alright," he said reluctantly. "So you want to hear a bedtime story? Well
hell, this isn't one."
I'm not the best damn storyteller, just to tell you. I just know
what happened to me, why it happened, and what I remember might not be
the nicest. If I sound like a veteran to you, its just because I've had
practice telling my story to Jim a thousand times over, just so he won't
forget the days before… so he won't be those Pirate bastards' slave. A
boy has the right to know where he came from, and androids too. In fact,
it was that android and that ship that started this hellish and once heavenly
game.
To the plot, I was betrayed by my own reputation, my old girl,
and of course, my greatest enemies. But I'd better get started.
After we docked the Outlaw Star at Symkas Five, and Jim had made
me go out with Melfina, I found a little, but jam-packed with the usual
choke. You know, that motley little Tuesday crowd. There was a group of
gothic-looking girls in the corner, drinking down their darkness, a few
crazy, sugar-powered teenagers laughing their annoying little guts out,
the occasional dumped person, and even a glazed looking guy smashing open
hundreds of weird fortune cookies. I ordered a drink, and tended to Melfina's
hunger before I finished the perky little drink, and headed outside to
stand on the balcony. Away from everybody else.
I even wanted to be away from Melfina. And as I look back, I
knew it was too damn good to be right. To be real, or even possible. I
should of run straight back, swept her off her feet, and gave her my emotions
on a plate. She was beautiful, soothing, and never looked away when she
saw my weakness. But she was hunted. And that's how I lost her. That's
why I let go on purpose.
On that balcony, you could see the park in the fading light.
The whole place was gold and red, as the fake sunlight slowly began to
shift to night. And of course, I saw you, Hamyou, and Jim playing
with a pair of black and white cats. I smiled, 'cuz Jim had just asked
me for some girl advice a few hours ago. Apparently, he didn't need any.
Or still does. After a while, I got hungry again and went back inside to
get something to eat. It was still dark and the same crazy crowd was there,
but now, someone had pulled out an old-fashioned cd player and started
to play it loud. Aerosmith. My favorite classic band. And a song to fit
the night: Jaded.
Melfina was sitting at the bar, silently watching the open, dusty
dance floor slowly attract a few teenagers to come out. I couldn't help
but smile again, just because she looked so beautiful looking like that.
Suddenly, as I walked back up to her, she turned to me and said happily,
"Oh, welcome back!"
"Hey, Mel. Did you finish your food?" I asked, sitting down beside
her at the bar.
"Yeah," she replied, brushing some hair from her face. She smiled
at me for no real reason. And of course, I returned it. Damn. She really
did like me back then.
I leaned back, then paid the bill, which lay beside her empty
glass and plate. She was totally fascinated by the music, dim lighting,
and people dancing and having a good time. I said, catching her off guard,
"Do you like music? This song's from fifty years ago, you know."
"Oh, of course." Her reply was high-spirited, and I could see
her eyes smiling as well. "But… I don't know about dancing. I really don't
know how to…"
"Sure you do, Melfina," I reassured her, putting my hand on her
shoulder. Surprised, she blushed and her eyes darted from my hand to me,
uncertain. But she took my words into consideration and suddenly reached
her hand up to mine.
"Um, Gene?" she asked shyly, averting her brown eyes from me.
I could feel her hand tightening slightly around mine, strangely soft and
warm.
"Yeah, Mel?"
"I was wondering, if I said I - "
And I knew what her last words would have been to me, too. Melfina
would have said, 'I love you' I was damn sure of it. And I did her, too.
How could I not love the girl who had saved my life? They just… came a
day too late. If she had just said it the night before, I wouldn't have
gone out to the bar with her. Maybe I would have at least notice the piercing
purple eyes watching me sullenly from the corner, getting angrier with
every step I took towards Mel.
Suddenly, there was a blurring green, purple, and black flash
that roared up from the table nearby and smashed into the bar, knocking
over Melfina's chair and quickly grabbing her up. She shrieked in fear,
and as I was to see, pain. I jumped to my feet to knock the person away,
but an angry lash welted me across the neck and I could feel blood coursing
down my chest and foaming in my mouth.
Harry McDougall had Melfina snatched up tightly, with a knife
jabbed into her shoulder and a gun threateningly trained to her head. The
maniac gave a mean, insanely wicked smile and growled silkily, "Why, isn't
this quite the unexpected pleasure, Gene."
"You bastard!" I screamed at him, whipping out my blaster to
blow his guts to hell if I had too. There wasn't any time for the usual
bitter greetings. The salty and bitter sting of blood gushed in my neck
and mouth. I aimed at Harry as quick as I could without hitting Melfina,
but he noticed it and, with a sickening smile, raised her head and chest
over his. So I couldn't kill him without going through Melfina first.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I thought you'd be glad to see your hated enemy,"
he said, tightening his arm around the bio android's neck and waist. The
knife he had stabbed into her shoulder was pulsing with blood, and she
was shaking with fear, brown eyes locked on me. Harry's eyes glanced around
at the paralyzed, silent crowd around us, then smirked at me again. "I'd
recommend you step down, Starwind. I won and Melfina is mine, so just forget
her. Dead men don't see, remember?"
I locked the gun, leveled it, but didn't fire at him. It would
just cause pain, because I couldn't shoot at any weak points, and cut down
on my limited ammunition supply. "You're not getting the Outlaw Star if
that's what you after, jerk. Without your brother, you're nothing to me.
Back off now and I won't have to kill you," I warned, but it fell on deaf
ears.
"But I'm not alone, even though you killed Ron." His voice seemed
too innocent, nonchalant, and he shrugged, ripping the knife out of Melfina's
dislocated shoulder. She screamed in pain, as the blade had hit bone. Blood
glistened on its cruel edge, and he lifted to his temple in an insolent
gesture. "If you haven't noticed, I'm a pirate now."
And he did the unexpected, just like I knew him to.
The knife went to Melfina's throat.
"Move," he cautioned, "and I silt."
Author's Notes
******************
Well, since you guys were asking for a new chapter quick, I decided to cut this one short. Jim's anger and what Gene does will be explained in Chapter Six. But for part a and b, it'll be in the future. Another yummy little cliffhanger, isn't it? And since you guys got 15 reviews in the bucket, looks like I'll have to get a sequel going.
Chustang