In the Name of Earth

Chapter 20: Humans Look All the Same

Marvin and Jade had abandoned their drinks on the air, leaving the two orbs of intense purple to orbit the dancing couple like two tiny planets around twin stars. Jade had been resistant at first, engaging in little more than simple twirls while Marvin attempted some more daring uses to buoyancy. It was harder than it seemed, to both of them, to maintain a gracious flow of movements without any nearby walls or floors to push from. The body alone was simply not enough to get the desired fluidity of movement.

And that’s when they realized. The key wasn’t in their bodies, or the leverage of solid ground. They could achieve that from each other.

As soon as they laced their fingers together, everything changed. They could do backflips over themselves and each other, pushing and pulling in chaotic harmony, swirling graciously, using each other to move freely without ever moving at all. It was inebriating, a trip to the moon and back, but ultimately, they never really left the spot in the air between the two steady orbs of Split Singularity.

“Guys!” Lud’s voice interrupted a gracious front flip by Jade, who tightly gripped Marvin’s hands. “Guys, come in! I’m in big trouble!”

“What’s going on, Lud?” Marvin asked, suddenly stopping his dance. Jade, however, forced him to continue. She was right. A sudden stop would be a dead giveaway.

“They’re turning on the engines! I think we’re taking off!”

“s**t!” it was hard to keep dancing with that news. Now Marvin was really just flaying his arms. A quick look around would show the various groups of Causer pirates getting ready to go. Finishing their drinks, pushing away from the pubs, speaking on wrist communicators. “You won’t be able to make it out the front door. You’ll run right into them. Can you go back the way you came?”

“I don’t know. I’ll try!” Lud grunted and the communication line was cut.

Jade pulled Marvin close to her. “I have an idea, but I’ll need you to stall the pirates.”

“Stall them?” Marvin gawked. “How am I supposed to do that?”

“Figure it out!” Jade pulled the two orbs of strong drinks floating nearby and pressed them into Marvin’s hands. “I’ll be right back.”

With a peck on his lips, Jade pushed and kicked him away. He flew across the room until he collided with his back to the glassy club walls, lively neon coloring it with every possible RGB combination. Jade, too, had been propelled on the opposite direction, her smaller mass making her flight much faster, aimed at the airlock leading to the Exile.

Whatever she had planned, she was counting on Marvin to buy her time!

All over the cylindrical extension of the club, red skinned pirates in black armor dropped what they were doing and pushed the walls, floors, ceiling and other patrons in order to slide back to their ship. Marvin had to think, find a way of keeping at least one of them behind until Jade was back.

Looking around for inspiration, he could not help but feel amazed at how nightclubs seemed to be a galactic constancy. Several meters below, two aliens fought over a drink, only to be separated by security robots. A crowd of floating spectators booed the robot that had ruined their photographs and recordings of the brawl, then proceeded to take pictures of other impressive elements of the night.

That was it!

Still holding his orbs of Split Singularity, Marvin pushed the wall with his feet and floated gently to intercept one of the pirates returning to the ship. One handpicked for not being in armor, what automatically made him a more desirable target.

“Hey, man!” Marvin called out the Causer, gently tugging at the alien’s wrist.

“What do you want. Human?”

“Dope party, huh!”

“Yeah, I guess. It was pretty good.”

“Can you take a pick of me, like… there?” Marvin asked, already pressing his infopad into the stranger’s hands. “Just press this button.”

“I’m in a hurry, human, find someone else!”

“Wait!” Marvin shouted. “I’ll give you my drinks if you take this pic for me! Both of them!”

The Causer pondered for a while, inspecting the untouched spheres of purple beverages. No matter your species, nobody says no to free drinks.

“Okay, but make it quick!” the Causer took the infopad and Marvin struck a pose in the air. The alien framed him and clicked a flash. “Here! Now the drinks!”

“Oh, no! I blinked!” Marvin said starring at the infopad. “Go again.”

“Your eyes are wide open, human!”

“That’s what I meant. I didn’t blink! My people are very sensitive about our eyes. Wish we could have strong red eyes like yours!”

Flattered, the Causer took the infopad back. “Okay, one more time.”

That time, Marvin didn’t even need to check the picture. He simply handed the man the drinks, seeing as Jade was already floating their way.

“Sir! Sir!” Jade screamed grabbing Marvin and the Causer to stop. “Are you with those gentlemen who just left?” she asked on her most innocent voice.

“Great, another human! Yes, I was with them!”

“One of them dropped this by the dancing pit! I don’t know what it is. It looks like jewelry, so I figured it should be valuable,” Jade produced a tracking collar from behind her back and handed it to the Causer. “The man was in black armor, but I don’t remember much more.”

“Yes, it’s jewelry,” the Causer hurried to conceal the slaver item. “Thank you, human. I’ll deliver it.”

“Here, let us help you!” Marvin volunteered and helped Jade push the pirate to his ship’s airlock. When the man was gone, Marvin turned to his floating partner. “I’m guessing we have a way to track that?”

“Thanks to Lud. Let’s just hope he makes it out in time…” Jade’s eyes were locked on the departing pirate spaceship when her bare arm rolled around Marvin’s, ensuring they didn’t drift apart. “When I said stalling, talking to them wasn’t what I had in mind. He could’ve recognized you.”

“Nah,” Marvin smirked. “To those guys, humans look all the same.”

***

Ludwig was almost at the secondary airlock when the engine roar grew stronger, the whole ship shaking and rattling. They really were leaving. He cursed under his breath, reaching for his communicator to let Marvin know he needed help, but approaching footsteps immediately silenced the distraught engineer.

He immediately spun on his heels and dashed the opposite way. He was stuck now. Hopefully, whenever they landed, Ludwig would manage to sneak out unseen, preferably no during another bloody colony raid. For now, though, his best hope would be to hide.

Or explore.

He had, after all, entered the pirate ship in a mission. He had not expected to accomplish it alone, but it needed to be accomplished, nevertheless.

Wandering through the corridors of the alien ship had been confusing at first, but it was not long until they started to feel like home. At the end of the day, a ship was nothing more than a machine, an intricate engineering system that could be broken down to the same fundamental puzzle pieces that formed Gaia Station on a much larger scale. Once he found an adequate maintenance access to the ship’s infrastructure, navigating it had become as easy as stealing snacks from the cafeteria.

The power cables told a story. The more concentrated they got, the more power was being channeled to that specific area of the ship. Following those clues, it was only a matter of time until Lud came to a communications hub.

He watched the dark room from behind a ventilation grid. A single pirate typed away at a holographic console, unaware of the human’s presence. Lud had no means of contacting the Exile, and even if he did, sending out a clandestine long-range transmission could very well give him away. Still, if he was looking for Qui’Mal, Alexa and the Chief-Ambassador, the ship’s communication logs could be the jackpot he was looking for.

Pressing the magna-crowbar against the ventilation grate, Ludwig corked the knob at the back of the device until it was set for matching polarities that sent the grate flying off its hinged to crush the pirate against the far wall of the small room. The stunned alien had just pushed the grate off of himself when Lud charged out of his hiding spot and bashed the bastard’s skull in with the magna-crowbar.

Once he had dragged the knocked-out criminal to the maintenance pass, Lud got to work on the communication logs. Two entries caught his eyes.

  The first was a lengthy negotiation, followed by a massive monetary transaction, in exchange of Chief-Ambassador Grant. The deal had been struck less than a day prior. Lud cursed. So damn close, but yet too late.

But all was not lost. Another message was even more interesting.

[Qui’Puk, Master-Pact Sealer of the Nikal people, hereby accepts the terms of this ransom. The full amount of the payment shall be transferred to the Astral Wraith Pirates in exchange for The Prisoner. This Pact is hereby and forevermore Sealed.]

That deal had not been finalized yet. That was probably their destination, which meant the prisoners were still onboard, soon to be handed to Qui’Mal’s people.

Well, not if Lud had anything to say about it!

***

The tips of Alexa Hilburn’s fingers were tingling from being suspended over her head. Her legs were burning for being unable to sit or lie down. Just was generally nauseated from the poor diet, shitty hygiene and inhuman sleeping patterns that came with being a space pirate prisoner.

Qui’Mal’s stench coming from across the dark cell did not help, either.

It came as a hopeless relief, then, to hear the clashing of metal on metal just outside her prison, followed by the pained grunts of two Causer guards. Immediately after, the door slid open to reveal a being in pitch-black armor, a thin blue visor studying the room. The stranger was not Causer, that much she could tell from the skeletal frame and the dead Causers he dragged into the cell. But was he human?

The armored man gazed at her for a second, then turned to the pink alien handcuffed to the opposite wall. He raised what looked like a really big pepper grinder and started hammering Qui’Mal with it.

“Stop!” Alexa pleaded. “Stop! Don’t hurt him!”

The armored man spun on his heels, the faceplate of his helmet sliding open to reveal Ludwig’s face.

“Sei ruhig!” he hissed

“I can’t understand you!” Alexa said, looking past the black armor at Qui’Mal, apparently passed out. “They removed our translators! What’s going on?!”

Lud pulled her head gently to verify the absence of the universal translator.

“Scheisse! Sorry, let me help,” switching to English, he used the magna-crowbar to blast the chains off Alexa’s handcuffs, then helped her stand once she was free. “Where’s the Chief-Ambassador?”

“Thye took him away… Don’t know where.” Alexa looked at the injured alien. “What about Qui’Mal?”

“He betrayed us,” Ludwig said. “Killed everyone in Gaia Station.”

Alexa’s eyes trembled at the thought, but she was quick to shake it off. It was all coming together. What she heard with Marvin in the maintenance tunnels under the main command room. Things were in motion.

“I saw escape pods when they brought us in,” Alexa said. “But we can’t leave Qui’Mal.”

“I don’t plan on it!” Lud was not about to let the bastard go back home. Releasing him from the wall, Lud made no point of uncuffing the alien. “I’ll handle collars when we’re out of here.”

“These things are dangerous! They’ll electrocute us if try removing them.”

“I can shut down without removing!” thankfully, he had had time to tinker with the device back in the Exile. “Now, help me drag this pink mutterficker to the pods!”