The sweet air, the laughter, the upbeat jazz, while all of it remained artificial, Ruri wished it back for a second. She observed. Leido was just outside the room close to the door, Zul was getting ready to process Frey, Leera examined the Vyon thoroughly and Cathy did that psycho stuff.
Tap, tap, tap.
A slight muffled echo.
Cathy softly repeated the same motion, still clinging to the bars.
Tap, tap, tap.
The door is no option. She glanced over Leera, wasn’t impressed by her uniform or fancy beret. Still, you could read the experience from her posture alone. Plus, the equipment in itself was a problem.
That wasn’t your standard enforcer gear, not even some typical military one. She spotted a big clean rifle, with an oversized plasma barrel. At this size the sound of it alone would tear a hole in your ears. She carried a blaster not extremely unlike hers, fancier, cleaner and with a modified accelerator housing – custom work. The worst of it were the multiple grenades, covered in shiny metal and marked by color. Red would most likely be thermite, yellow has to be shrapnel. Purple – Unknown. She landed on her conclusion and thought.
We can’t do it here. We have to move.
Leera realized Ruri’s curiosity.
“What are you looking at?”
She had to be slick.
“At your configuration. Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare. I also love to modify my equipment.”
Leera became more cautious.
“Custom housing, right?”
“I don’t see why this is any of your business Bounty Hunter.”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I just wondered how you handled the recoil problem.”
Leera didn’t trust it.
“Move along.”
Damn, she doesn’t give me anything.
Cathy stepped back from the bars.
“Hey Leera, don’t be rude. She brought in the target and saved us some time.”
Ruri took the chance.
“I’m sorry. I know you have to be busy.”
Cathy almost interrupted her.
“No, no. You did good.”
She gave a thumbs up.
“My partner here is always a little bit too serious.”
“It’s fine.”
Cathy turned to Leera again.
“See what you did. She is just a nice girl.”
Ruri was slowly moving towards the door with whimsical steps. Confronted by her partner, Leera lost some of her caution.
“I didn’t mean to. Yes, it’s an accelerator housing.”
“I knew it.”
Her smile widened, it let excitement slip through, just enough.
Leera was unable to enjoy casual conversation. Ruri could use that.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
“I’ve never seen a grenade like that.”
She waited a second.
“But I see. I’m bothersome.”
She was about to leave, but Cathy threw a stern look at her companion.
“Uh. It’s just a grenade. They only look complicated.”
That was a lie.
“Ok, well, then have a nice one.”
She waved at the room; Cathy eagerly responded.
“Bye.”
She shoved her elbow into Leera.
“Good job on the bounty.”
“Sure, sure. Thanks.”
The grenade must be special, then.
Outside she was greeted by Leido, who was rubbing his hands.
“So, we have Credlons. What about dinner? I was thinking buffet.”
“Well, no. Slight change of plans.”
He knew her slight change of plans.
“No.”
He was sad.
“Just a tiny one.”
“No.”
“Turns out, I took a job.”
“No.”
“You know Frey Glanning, right?”
“Unless your whole proposition ends with: lets go to a buffet. I’m not really interested.”
She had a cramped smile.
“Ok, tell me.”
“V.I.P contract. A big one. We protect Frey and get 5000 Credlons.”
He wanted to hate it, but 5000 reasons swayed him.
“Damn.”
“Damn, is about right. Where’s Riga?”
Meanwhile on Deck 78.
After she had finished her ice-cream, she stole a caramelized waffle. For a kid that grows up among Bounty Hunters, stealing seemed more like an earned opportunity than a crime. Her moral compass was clear about that. She was looking for the pool, but looked at the map and stopped at the robotics lab. She couldn’t resist.
The elevator doors opened, the console was ID-based, but she had rigged it. It seemed like a whole different place, very much detached from the tumult upstairs. It was dimly lit and quiet. She moved along the corridor passing various empty rooms with all sorts of machinery, not much further ahead, the corridor led to a hangar. The hall was huge. Its walls were covered with the same android model hanging on cranes and stacked on top of each other. In the middle hung the same android, but only partly assembled. It was missing a limb and various plates of the hull lay scattered in front of it.
Riga felt oddly comfortable. It seemed like a mechanist’s dream almost holy. Every tool you could wish for at your disposal and a huge workstation for everything you need. She could hear every step of her echoing upon moving closer, only reinforcing her feeling. She inspected closer. The parts were mostly scratched, one hand looked scorched and the body frame dented. Multiple wire strands connected the head to the machinery around, some pulsating with light. The face was different. Different from the models around and different like anything she had seen. It was a dark black mask with a devilish grin, not covering the loose wiring entirely.
“It looks terrifying, doesn’t it?”
Riga startled. Maybe she was too focused but she should have heard the man approaching. She was greeted with a smile. Before her stood a tall man in a classic white dress shirt paired with suspenders and high-waisted trousers. The sleeves were rolled up and his hands loosely in his pocket. His smile was beautiful. His short hair was neatly pushed up with one lock softly hanging just a smidge in front.
“I thought it looked badass.”
He chuckled.
“I guess it does. Sadly, it’s not finished yet.”
“What is it?”
“It’s my summum opus, my ?uvre majeure.”
“So, in other words, your work.”
“My best. I’m glad you understood.”
“I’m not stupid.”
“I got that feeling from you. It’s not exactly easy to rig the elevator control and turns out you understand dead languages.”
He still smiled. Riga felt caught and checked the distance to the door.
“Well, I’m just curious.”
“I have no doubt about it.”
He chuckled again and looked at his creation. Riga wasn’t sure how to proceed. The door was close, but she didn’t feel like leaving.
“Aren’t you going to ask me if I’m lost?”
“You don’t seem lost to me, but I guess it would be very human to do. I let you in on a little secret I’m not human.”
She wasn’t shocked or surprised. The guy seemed odd.
“What are you then?”
“Regali.”
Her hands became sweaty. She looked to the door again, slowly moving one foot in the direction as well.
“Just like you.”
She was stunned. No one could know. No one knew. But he – he was certain.
“You can leave if you want.”
He walked closer to his creation brushing over its mask.
“Or you could help me. I’m in dire need for an assistant. It’s a job for an equal.”
She had kept it a secret, only Ruri was in on it. They didn’t even trust Leido with it. She never met one of her folks only heard stories about them that induced the fear of what she might become.
“I believe I shouldn’t.”
She said it but didn’t leave. He was an adult Regali, but unlike one of them in the stories, at least she wasn’t sure about it. A second went by.
“I respect that.”
He started booting up the console beneath the android. Riga tiptoed a little, still intrigued by the mask, still honed by the holy atmosphere, but ultimately dragged towards the door. She started walking – slowly. Halfway she stopped.
“I can’t you know.”
He turned away from the console.
“Your friends, right?”
“Family, really.”
He nodded calmly.
“Do they exploit you?”
“No”
“Do they fear you?”
She hesitated thinking that Leido doesn’t even know what she is.
“No”
“Well, then maybe a thought for the road.”
He crossed his arms while leaning on the console and looked up to the black mask.
“For the longest time, I believed I chose misery because it was impossible to get ahead of myself. It haunted me – That idea. But I realized something. I wasn’t too slow – I wasn’t even running, because there’s nowhere to go.”
He looked back at Riga; his eyes filled with slight melancholy, his smile faint and painful.
“Just something to think about.”
He proceeded his work. Riga stood there a moment longer than necessary and walked out the door.
