Chapter 3
"WHAT!" Beka cried. A livid expression swept across her face. Harper held out his hands in front of him as he backed against the marus wall, he knew it was a good idea to keep his distance while beka exploded.
"How harper?" she said with gritted teeth "How the hell did you let somebody get away with my lense?" Beka asked. She was strolling around the Marus cockpit, letting out random growls of anger.
"I dunno... She..." Harper replied, but was quickly interupted by Beka.
"SHE!" beka cried "Let me guess, Was she pretty? Did she have a great body? Darn it seamus, its the oldest trick in the god dam book. Use your pretty face to win somebody over and then mug them. Heck, Even ive done it before!"
"Yeah but this girl... She seemed so sweet, so inocent" Harper replied.
"Hello? Beka to Harper, Come in Harper" beka replied "This is a backwater rock in the outer cluster, there is no such thing as sweet or inocence here! Everybody makes a living by cheating, double crossing each other and playing each other for fools!"
"Im sorry boss" Harper said looking at the floor. Beka took a deep breath and took a seat. She calmly continued.
"So then, how do you surpose we get out of here? We have less than 200 thrones and no slip-stream drive" she said softly. Harper thought about it for a second.
"We could just fly outa here using standard engines, and fly without slipstream to the nearest spaceport" harper replied. Beka gave him a sarcastic look.
"Harper, Thats a fantastic idea! Well done!" she replied. Her face turned from a smile to an irritated expression "Only one god dam set back... It would take months, No, years to get outa this system on normal engines. Face it harper, you messed up big time". Harper was fiddiling around with his nanowelder, spinning it in between his fingers. Beka turned to him with an evil smile. He could feel her eyes burning him, and he knew he was not going to like what she about to say.
"So then seamus, since us being stuck here is all your fault, i think its only fair that your the one who tries to find that girl. I dont care if it takes a lifetime, your going to find her and get us back our goddam slipstream drive. But you better find her quickly, because your not having any of what little money we have left untill you do. No money, No food. Comprendai?" Beka said. Harper felt his stomach rumbling, then quickly jumped from the seat and ran towards the maru door. Beka laughed at him as he ran off to find the purple theif. She turned to see the door to the sleeping area hiss open, as rev entered the marus cockpit. He went and took a seat next to beka.
"I think, Beka" Rev started "that now would be a great time to pray to the devine. I find that a little faith usually helps me through a situation such as this". The hairy reverand patted her on the shoulder.
"Rev, there's no point in me sitting around here on my ass all day, I might as well use up some of the time we have. So im goanna go try and recruit a new ES officer, im sure there's plenty of people looking for work on this pathetic excuse for a planet." Beka sighed deeply,
"Good luck Beka, may the divine lead you on the path you wish to take." Rev answer,
"Im just going to find a new ES officer, or trying to, no need for any umm…paths, but. err…thanks." Beka stepped of the ship onto the sandy ground, Rev went back into his room and continued to pray. Beka was just shutting the Marus bay door when a tall neizchien came walking towards her. His shirt was ripped in places, he wore trousers which looked 3 sizes to small and he was very scruffy and unshaven. He was as ugly as can be, and looked as If he had not had a wash in years.
"Can i…err…help you?" Beka asked, inspecting the tatted cloths worn by the large neizchien.
"Don't act all. Cute with me lady. This land belongs to Plarcan ." The neizchien grunted out,
"P'larcan?" she said
"He's Owner of this here land, and thats all you need to know"
"Erm… Ok?"
"You can either pay the parking fee or move this rust bucket" the neizchien said pointing at the Maru "Or im sure we could come to some sort of agreement, if you were to do something for me if you know what I mean" he said with a toothy smile, showing of his mouldy black teeth. Beka almost puked.
"No thanks, Ill just err… move my ship"
"Well babe, if you ever want some action you know where to find me" he said, turning and walking away.
"No thanks" Beka said under her breath. She climbed back into the Maru,
"You were quick. Any luck?" Rev questioned, Beka shook her head as she made her way to the piloting seat.
"We gotta move the ship, some neizchien fella wanted me to."
"Never argue with a neizchien, especially in a place like this." Rev advised the pilot.
"Thanks Rev, but I figured that out on my self, no help from the divine though."
"Well, I hope your luck increases as time goes by."
"So do I." Beka took the Maru up and flew to a spot which was nearer to the Market place. She landed lazily, not even checking if any people were next to where she was landing, all she cared about now was getting a new Environmental Systems officer, and getting out of this hell hole of a system.
Harper was randomly babbeling on to himself about Trance and how she had got him into the mess he was now in. He was walking through the crowded marketplace, keeping a sharp eye out for anything purple or with a tail. He looked at every person passing to see if he could spot the purple minx, but with little luck. People from all races passed by in every direction, hurrying around and pushing through each other. After a few minutes the many races of people passing by merged into one big blury mess in harpers mind, untill he could no longer tell the difference between a human and a faan. Then, at the corner of his eye, he noticed a girl. She had purple skin. Harper dashed up behind the girl, and patted her on the back.
"So there you are you purple whore!" he said angrily. The girl turned around, and to harpers surprise it wasent trance but an ugly looking alien with slimy skin. "Ah, i thought you... were somebody err else... i gotta go" harper finished. He quickly turned and walked away, feeling more than a little embarresed. He continued to stroll around the marketplace in search of, but with no luck. He walked up to a few people asking them if they had seen a girl, purple skin, about yay heigh, but due to the nature of the planet he was on, nobody seemed to care and most just ignored him or said they would only give him information for money. After a few hours, he decided it was time to take a rest from purple-girl searching, and slumped back onto one of the public benches located at the marketplaces center. He looked up into the sky, and noticed that the sun was just started to set. A golden haze filled the air, and the planet was begining to darken. Harper looked around at the market owners as they began to shut-up-shop, and watched as the hoards of people began leave the marketplace. Pretty soon, harper was left on his own with only the stars and the echoing sounds of nightclubs to keep him company, as the once thriving buisness place emptied for the night.
By this time, Beka had been sitting in the crowded bar for about 3 hours. She was on her 4th gyn and tonic, and was still on the lookout for potentiol E.S officers. The bar was busy, with races of every kind amidst the punters. Beka looked around at the various goings-on, from the flash deals to the illegal gambling. She thought about the fact that they could not have stumbled upon a more loser-filled planet if they had tried, which brought a smile to her face. She took a sip of her G and T, and then requested a re-fill from the persciad barman.
"Hey" a voice from beside her started. She turned around to see a young human, about her age, with blonde spiky hair and blue eyes. He was smiling at beka, who smiled back.
"You look pretty down" the man continued.
"Yeah, well, Ive had a long day" beka replied. The man ordered himself a drink and then turned his attention back to Beka.
"So... Is there anything i can do to cheer you up a little?" he said. Beka laughed.
"No, Not unless you know anything about being an E.S officer" she replied. A thoutfull expression fell across the mans face.
"So, Your in search of a new E.S officer, eh?" he said looking at his now empty glass.
"Yea i am... Why? Do you know somebody who might be interested in the position?" Beka said, her face begging to light up. The guy laughed.
"Well it just so happens, that i have a bit of experience in that area of work myself" he replied. Beka's recent bad luck seemed to have finally changed.
"Names Hale" the man said holding out his hand for a shake. Beka proceeded to tell him her name, and they went on to chat about the Maru, the rest of bekas crew and other job related things. After about 20 minutes, Hale turned to Beka.
"Well, Miss valentine" he said "It just so happens, that i currently dont have a job and am looking for work"
"Are you offering to work for me?" Beka said with a smile.
"Are you offering to give me a job?" Hale contiuned, taking a big mouthfull of his beer.
"Yeah, Yes i am" Beka said smiling.
"Then i guess im your new E.S officer... Boss" The man replied.
"Then i guess you are" Beka replied "What experience have you had working with enviromental systems in the past?" She said. That second, a blank, confused expression swept across Hales face.
"Ummm" Beka asked "Was it somthing i said?" Hale thought for a few seconds.
"No, No..." he said "its just... theres been a cock-up on my behalf"
"Err, Ok" A confused Beka replied.
"By E.S officer, i thought you meant Electronic Systems, not Enviromental Systems" he said. Beka sighed in anoyment. Hale looked kind of guilty. "Look beks, Im sorry" hale continued "I would love to work for you and all but i know nothing about oxygen, plants or artificial gravity... In other words i would make a crap Enviromental Systems operator. Sorry" Hale stood up and left beka sitting there, thinking about how unlucky she had been in recent times.
"What i need is a good luck charm" She sighed to herself. That second, she was tapped on the back. Upon turning around she saw a young, purple skinned girl standing there with her hands behind her back, looking up at Beka smiling. The first thing that Beka noticed is that the girl had a tail.
"Excuse me miss" the young purple girl started "I could'nt help but over-hear that you need somebody who knows about plants. I know a lot about plants, they are a big interest of mine" Beka raised an eyebrow.
"Really? Take a seat" She replied.