Spacebound Chronicles

Chapter 7: Jude

Logan Spacebound made his way through the marketplace of Winner City, much less crowded on a Wednesday than back during his first visit on Saturday. He could now see all the little stores for healing, weapons, armor, cosmetic changes, and some other miscellaneous items he could not quite figure out. It was still a challenge telling fellow players apart from NPC vendors, but all were equally annoying in their persistent haggling for a items Logan did not even understand.

He was waving away an alien as tall as his knee who relentlessly offered him flaming munitions when vivid green robes and a familiar voice waltzed into his path.

“My friend, you’re finally back!” said Lord Potathunder. “I thought it was you, but I had to check!”

Logan stopped on his heels. Today he had rented the equipment for a longer time, making use of midweek discounts offered by that particular cybercafé, so last time’s interruption would not be repeated. On the other hand, he had an appointment with Joey at Winner City’s Spaceport, and he was already running late.

“Sorry if last time I overreacted!” Potathunder continued, following Logan’s pace across the marketplace. “You asked something I had not expected!”

“It’s fine,” Logan said. “I’m still curious about that, but right now I’m running late to meet a friend.”

“I can answer your questions, I don’t care. Now tell me where’s your meeting, I can get you there!”

“The Spaceport,” Spacebound muttered, stopping to study a holographic map of the area being projected by a tourist help kiosk. “I feel like I’ve been going in circles following the damn signs and maps.”

“If you’re walking in circles, I cannot say. What I do know is that this isn’t the right way! Now follow me, there’s no time to waste! I know a shortcut and can get you there with haste!”

And with that the golden hatted bard broke off on a sprint, cutting through food stands and parked flying cars, taking frequent stops to make sure the slower player was still following. Given how Logan assumed that gentlemen to be a casual gamer who focused all and any skill points into his voice and musical aptitude, his speed came as quite the shock. Whether that was only used to move around, or to run from danger or to actually complement an unexpected combat proficiency, only time would tell.

Taking a turn behind a dumpster, Potathunder proceeded along a narrow alley where Logan expected nothing short of mutant rats to dwell. The walls were covered in street art signed by what he assumed to be player names, with some of the works resembling clan sigils.

“Low level guilds that act as gangs,” the bard said from not too far ahead, almost as if hearing Logan’s private pondering about those paintings. “Just stay close to me, and you’re free of their fangs!”

“You’re a fighter?”

“The best of fighters I’m certainly not. It is instead my singing that touches the spot,” he was now skillfully using both of the alley’s walls to propel himself up a fence, then sat on top of it, hanging a hand low to pull the less dexterous player up. “Even big bad monster I can pacify and befriend. Also boost allies’ strengths, and their weaknesses mend.”

Logan accepted the outstretched hand and rolled over the fence, falling like a sack of potatoes to the other side. The bard landed smoothly afterwards, already resuming his run, that now led off a ledge overlooking a drop most certainly fatal. Seeing how gravity just made Potathunder disappear down the cliff, Logan Spacebound approached taking his time, each step filled with weariness.

But now he could see. Looking down, he saw it all. The city spread for miles further, and he had no idea they were in a higher part of it all along. Immediately below, a field of round landing pads reached far into the cityscape, filled with containers and space freighters, most of which dormant on their designated hangars. The Spaceport bustled with activity, just as busy, if not more, than the marketplace. The crazy bard had come through!

Or almost. There was still the matter of a deadly fall separating Logan from his destination.

“Come down, be a little brave!” Potathunder was standing precariously on a latticed crane that stretched out of the wall a few meters below. “Just watch your footing and you’ll be safe!”

Logan felt a pit opening in his stomach. Be it any other game, he would not have given it a second thought, but looking down into a deadly fall of this realism and depth, knowing he would feel every second of it if he missed the mark, was another deal.

But what was the worst that could happen?

With his eyes closed, he jumped, silently cursing.

The thin metal pattern met the sole of his leather boots, allowing himself a smile that did not last. Touching down was only the beginning of the landing. He still had to regain balance, and while closed eyes helped with courage they hardly helped with balance.

“Logan, no!” the bard yelled, running for him, but not fast enough.

With a twist of his legs and a scream too high pitched for his liking, Logan was falling though the skies to become a bug in a parked starship’s windshield. He screamed, members flaying as Potathunder and the crane faded away to the point of becoming just blights over the blue sky. He could not see the ground but knew it would be coming fast.

Only it did not.

With a violent jerk, Logan’s fall suddenly turned into a rise. Trying to figure out what exactly happened, he turned on the metallic arms supporting his body to encounter a woman with fair skin and a sharp jawline highlighted by the angle from which he stared at it. Her fair brown hair waved behind her as she floated through the air and he rested on her arms. Her eyes, dark as chocolate almonds, were strangely familiar…

No, not only the eyes. She was familiar. He had seen her once before… on a tablet screen… And those eyes, he had seen those eyes many times before: in that woman, in Jake Nebula, in Snorri Gian and in his good old friend, Joseph Butcher.

Logan was still awestruck when she opened her arms and dropped him on the ground. He grunted.

“Logan Spacebound?” she asked, her athletic body framed by a red Phoenix suit. “Pretty silly name.”

“Not as silly as Jake Nebula,” he smirked, dusting himself off as he stood up.

She smiled. “Looks like you’re learning,” her smile, while displaying marble white teeth behind seductively red lips, was still Joey’s smartass smirk.

Logan took a second to look around, they were on a landing platform beside an old cargo freighter being unloaded by a dozen dutiful robots.

“Wow, you survived!” Potathunder mused sliding down the crane’s cable, stopping at the massive rusty hook at the end.

“Yes, I saved his ass,” Joey’s female avatar answered. “And who’d you be?”

“I’m Lord Potathunder, Logan Spacebound’s bard companion…”

“Don’t bother ending that rhyme. I’m Jude,” she introduced herself, then turned to Logan. “Is he coming with us?”

“Coming where? Are you going on an adventure?” the bard bounced in excitement over the crane hook overhead.

“We’re practicing for a race. The prize is a gaming rig, so if I win, I can stop playing in cybercafés,” Logan explained.

“And every second talking about it is a second lost. Come on,” Jude took off running down the loading ramp, dodging a loading bot with a metal box. She led them past a pile of containers and a heavily guarded hangar, then ran under a ship undergoing maintenance and stopped by a simple workshop.

They entered through a door topped by a hand painted sign that read Reep’s Wares. The space behind the counter was lit up by a storm of sparks as a short alien with four arms, two of which robotic, welded a robot’s head back into its body. The walls were almost entirely concealed behind a silver curtain of tools, spare parts and technological artefacts for sale.

“Reep, get us another Phoenix unit!” Jude screamed, forcing the alien to interrupt his work and look up, his protective mask automatically retracting.

“Color?” the alien asked

“Whatever, pink!” Jude answered.

The short shopkeeper unhooked a white set from the walls and tossed it over the counter. Jude handed him a golden chip, and picked up the gear, almost identical to the one she wore. Curiously it was not pink. By the time Jude handed Logan the gear, Reep was already back at work on the beheaded robot.

“You want one too?” she asked Potathunder.

“Oh no, I’m about to log out,” he answered while Logan struggled to fit into the straps. “But add me as your friend, if you need me just shout!”

“I said no rhymes!” Jude was frowning.

“Okay. Sorry. Where are you going from here? I might track you down latter.”

“We’ll practice in Fiery Man’s Canyon,” Jude answered.

“Oh, I see! That’s a tough area. You sure you’re both ready for that?” the bard studied the two characters. One had just gotten started. The other was at level 7. Definitely not enough for Fiery Man’s.

“We won’t pick fights, we are trying to be fast,” Jude said. “If anything, the Ruckorrs will be an extra incentive.”

“I bet they will!”

“Done!” Logan Spacebound grunted, already dressed in his Phoenix suit.

“Come on, then” Jude led them back outside, then turned to Potathunder. “If you wanna go for a quick flight, you know where to find us.”

With that, green fire beams lit up all over her body in a soft whistle.

“Wait, aren’t we taking a ship there?” Logan asked.

“Why would we? Your training starts now, young mantis!” she said gaining altitude and graciously spinning away.

Logan Spacebound followed suit, his pink jets kicking in and his limbs flapping in the air like a clumsy bird as he tried to understand the flight mechanics, slowly but steadily getting further from the ground and the onlooking bard.

As Potathunder watched the pair depart past the docked ships, one doing flips and tricks while the other struggled to keep a straight path, Lord Potathunder allowed himself a malignant grin.

A grin that felt incredibly out of character for Lord Potathunder, but that would perfectly fit Zero Guy.