I bought a spaceship 4, p.1
I Bought a Spaceship 4, page 1
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Chapter 1
“Welcome back to The Grind,” the familiar gravelly voice said over the comms.
“Thanks,” I said and let Carina take over the flight controls.
The female A.I. was more than capable of keeping us steady while the usual armored ship scanned our frequency. It was good to know that things on the bounty hunter planet hadn’t changed in the last week, even if the rest of the quadrant was on high alert. Carina flashed a red warning light in the cabin to let me know when we were being scanned, and I held my breath as I waited for the results.
My ship knew how to change her signature so that no one would recognize us, but there were still wanted posters everywhere with a description of Carina, though the cyborgs had helped to upgrade her exterior so even I wouldn’t have recognized her right away. It was one of the reasons that we stayed longer on the cyborg planet. That, and a beautiful cyborg princess that made it hard to leave.
“You’re all clear,” the woman said as the red lights disappeared. “I understand that you took a job while you were away. The Council will take their share from your reward along with docking fees.”
“Naturally,” I said and rolled my eyes.
It was a good thing that the woman never asked for a video feed, though I’d already donned my new tactical suit so she wouldn’t have been able to see my face, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. Of course, that meant that I didn’t know what the woman looked like either, or if she was a woman at all. The gravelly voice on the other end of the line could be a sentient blob like an Ixwe for all I cared. All that mattered was that she let me through.
The armored guard ship slowly floated out of the way so that we could pass, and a hole just big enough for Carina to fit through opened in the planetary shield. My attention still stayed on the huge plasma cannons mounted to the ship’s hull until we were in the bounty hunter planet’s atmosphere, but if they’d wanted us dead, then they would’ve attacked us before we’d made it through the protective barrier.
“That went really well,” Carina said as she steered us toward Crescent Moon Bay. “I’m a little shocked that they recognized me. But I did use the same energy signal that I’ve used the last few times. It’s important to remain consistent or else they’ll realize that it’s fake.”
“Like your facelift,” Ara said from the co-pilot’s chair.
The baseball-sized robot crossed his cable arms and played an audio of someone blowing a raspberry.
“Excuse me,” the female A.I. huffed. “But it’s more than a facelift. The cyborgs completely redid my wiring. Something that you’ve been neglecting for the last hundred years.”
“Alright, alright,” I said and put my hands up before they could really get into it.
The two A.I.s had come with the ship when I’d found it in my friend’s junkyard back on Earth, and the hundreds of years that they’d spent together meant that they fought like an old married couple. It didn’t help that they were the most advanced A.I.s in the entire galaxy since they didn’t reboot every time they had a new captain, but that also meant that they had very, very long memories, and they both held grudges.
“She started it,” Ara said in a pouty tone and turned his glowing blue eyes toward me.
“I did not!” The ship shouted so loud that it bounced around the cabin. “Why do you always have to blame everything on me?”
I shook my head and took back over the controls to finish the docking process. The metal and wood pier bounced in the turbulent ocean water, and it took a few seconds to line up the docking arms properly, but years of being a tow truck driver had helped me learn to navigate well enough. I had us secure within a couple of minutes, while the two robots were still in an epic argument over who was the one that actually started the argument.
Their bickering had become like background music in my life as we took odd jobs and bounties, but at least I was never lonely. That had been my biggest concern when I’d decided to leave Earth behind and travel the Milky Way, but there was no way to feel alone when Ara and Carina battled it out, or when they played Earthling “documentaries” for us to watch in our downtime.
Clint Eastwood had always been a good actor, and I’d watched his westerns with dad so many times over the years that I’d lost track, but the movies had taken on a whole new meaning in space. I’d laughed so hard when I found out that every movie that came out of Earth was considered a documentary, and even more so when I realized that they thought all humans were like cowboys, though I hadn’t done much to prove that theory wrong given the last few weeks.
I’d only been in space for about a month and had already helped a rebellion against an evil corporation that freed their cyborg slaves and gave them back their planet, joined an underground railroad for needed supplies in the out-planets, and had become one of the most wanted men in the entire galaxy. Of course, that was only because the three major corporations were all as corrupt as the ones back home, and the Star Republic only cared about the core planets and what they could get out of the out-planets without any benefit for the people who lived there.
Silence brought me back from my reverie, and I looked around to see that Carina had summoned her hologram and was in the middle of an intense glaring contest with Ara. The female A.I. had changed her appearance again so that she had teal hair and purple eyes, though she’d kept the hourglass figure, short-shorts, and ripped Metallica t-shirt. I was surprised to see how solid her form had become and knew that it was only a matter of time before she could actually slap Ara like she so clearly wanted to.
“If you do hit him, just make sure he doesn’t damage anything when he falls,” I said and turned as a video call came through.
“Captain!” Ara gasped and turned just as Carina flashed a satisfied smirk.
“You brought it on yourself,” I laughed and plopped back down in the Captain’s chair, took off my helmet, and disengaged the hologram mask.
Chloe’s face flashed across the screen as the video call rang again, and I quickly accepted the call.
“Hey, Chloe,” I said as the cyborg princess’ face filled the windshield.
Bright pink cybernetic eyes stared back at me from an oval face, and I smiled at the messy space buns that kept her long, wavy black hair in some form of order. A charcoal smudge ran the length of one high cheekbone as if she’d brushed something away, and I could see one of the cyborg’s mechanical projects in the background of her room. Chloe grinned from ear to ear as the video showed that everything was fine, and I could see the warrior’s shoulders relax.
“You made it,” she said. “Good. No problems from Montelabras?”
“None,” I said. “I had to go the long way to make sure that they didn’t pick up our signal.”
“They’ve been stopping anything near Alnora that could possibly be Carina in disguise,” the princess said with a frustrated pout. “You’d think that they’d be at home licking their wounds, but no. They’ve redoubled their efforts to find you.”
“They haven’t come back to the planet, though, right?” I asked. “And the shields are holding?”
“We’re fine,” she nodded firmly as the warrior general mask fell into place. “We actually just got word from the Star Republic that they received the latest shipment of titanium. They’re very happy to cut out the middleman and deal directly with the cyborgs from here on out.”
“Good,” I said. “I’m going to be working with Galaxiel to finish off Montelabras once and for all, but the company is slippery. Pretty sure that they’ve already evacuated Uril 667. Or at the very least they’ve moved Oz off-world.”
“They’ll be destroyed eventually,” Chloe said. “And they don’t have their favorite assassin anymore. Triwal’s body is long gone.”
“Well, he was dead when I left the planet,” I chuckled. “I don’t see how he’d be able to help them even if they did get his body.”
“I wouldn’t put it past Montelabras to put his brain in a cyborg body,” the cyborg princess said with a hard glare. “They’ve done plenty of other terrible things over the years. That would just be the next step in their evolution into completely evil creatures.”
“Fair enough,” I nodded as a new worry was unlocked. “You’re sure that his body was destroyed?”
“Burned everything myself over a nice bonfire,” she smirked. “It’s the least that I could do after what he and Montelabras put Alnora through over the years.”
“Of course,” I grinned and winked. “Now, go enjoy your newfound freedom. I’ll let you know when I’m on the move again, but I’ll be here for a little while.”
“Be careful,” she warned. “Montelabras isn’t in the ground yet.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said with a wave goodbye. “You should be careful, too.”
The call ended, and I thought about the ships that we’d seen on our way to the bounty hunter planet. There hadn’t been nearly as many Star Republic soldiers out and about, so Montelabras didn’t have the same power as they had before, but they still had enough weapons and soldiers to do some terrible things.
The Montelabras corporation had enslaved Chloe’s people for hundreds of years and forced them to mine the cyborgs’ own planet for titanium. At least the princess had finally gotten some revenge for her parents’ deaths, even if it had ta
It felt good to know that I’d been able to help Chloe free her people, and even better to rid the universe of Triwal. The Montelabras assassin had been the most feared bounty hunter in the quadrant, and for good reason, but thankfully I’d managed to defeat him. I’d almost died in the process, but it was worth it to kill the genetically-enhanced alien.
Still, no one outside of Alnora knew that Triwal was actually dead, but Montelabras had known where he was going. It was only a matter of time before rumors spread throughout the quadrant, and I wondered what kind of tales they’d tell about the assassin’s death. He’d been the most terrifying person in the Milky Way when he was alive, so anyone who managed to take him out would be considered more lethal.
Not that anyone would know it was me.
I officially had a new hologram mask that hid my real identity and made me look like every generic white guy back on Earth. Even my own brain hadn’t been able to remember any distinctive features when Oz had shown me what it looked like when it was activated. I’d forgotten everything the second that I looked away, but at least Steven the bounty hunter wouldn’t be outed as the feared and loathed Earthling Jack Robinson.
“Okay,” I said and clapped my hands together, put my helmet back on, and turned to see that Ara and Carina hadn’t even blinked. “You guys do realize that a staring contest between you could last centuries.”
“I’m not going to lose to some old lady,” Ara said.
The baseball-sized robot extended his cable legs so he could stare at the hologram face to face, so I shrugged and readied myself to depart the ship for the day. My Murphy bed was easy enough to store, though I did have to walk through Carina to get to it, and the electrical shocks that ran through my body reminded me just how long I’d been sitting. A quick meal seemed in order before I headed out, so I warmed up the last monexl sticks and sliced some strawberries before Ara finally broke eye contact when one leg buckled beneath him.
“Who’s old now?” Carina said with a smug expression. “How are your cables? Maybe you should’ve asked Holo to help give you some upgrades, too.”
“I just let you win so that I could go with the Captain while you stay stuck in your shell like always,” he huffed like a sulky toddler.
“How dare you!” the female A.I. shrieked, and every light in the cabin blinked as if she was throwing a temper tantrum.
“Okay, okay,” I said and put my hands in the air. “Ara, you can come with me to collect the bounty. And Carina, I’ll need you to scan the surface for any enemies that might be lurking around. Montelabras has a lot of friends, and I’m sure that the bounty for Jack Robinson has only gotten bigger.”
“Of course, Captain,” she said and then stuck out her tongue at Ara. “And I’ll make sure that any deliveries are stowed away properly.”
“Thank you,” I nodded.
“And don’t let anyone realize who you are,” Ara huffed as he climbed onto my shoulder. “You may be a pile of rust and old bolts, but that doesn’t mean the Captain is ready to say goodbye to you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she rolled her eyes and flipped the hologram’s teal hair. “Try not to get thrown into the water. You’ll sink like a rock.”
It was the closest the two ever came to apologies, or affection, but at least they’d be on good terms until the next argument. Hopefully that wouldn’t be until we were ready to go on to our next job, especially since we needed to blend in and that was hard to do with two smarter-than-average AIs.
The pair understood the risk, at least, since the bounty wasn’t just on my head. The A.I.s were wanted by everyone from the Star Republic to anyone that had an interest in advanced tech, though the latter would tear them apart just to study them like scientists in alien movies.
The stairs slowly lowered to the dock as Carina opened the door for us, and I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. My new tactical suit was made from titanium with cybernetic threads throughout that glowed blue when they were active, and the whole thing was streamlined to fit my body perfectly. It was laser proof, plasma cannon proof, and it enhanced my reflexes more than my old gear, so theoretically I could handle anything that came at me, but a world full of bounty hunters could throw a lot at me.
“Market, bounty, new job,” I said and then gave Ara and Carina a thumbs up. “Ara, keep an ear out for anyone that mentions Montelabras, Alnora, or Jack Robinson.”
“On it, Captain,” the baseball-sized robot saluted me.
I glanced over my shoulder one last time to check on Carina, and the ship’s hologram smiled brightly back at me. It was a long-term dream of the female A.I. to have her own body, and the hologram program that Holo designed would slowly make her more substantial until she could move objects around. Still, Carina was bound to the ship, and I made a mental note to look into robots more.
“Wow,” Ara whispered as I trudged down the steps to the shifting docks. “This place is very different in the daylight.”
“It is,” I laughed and turned toward a splash behind me.
One of the sea dragons had gotten a little too close for comfort, but it was quickly pulled under by another of its kind. It was as if they were playing, though they rough-housed so much that it made standing steady a little harder. They were much smaller than the giant one in Crescent Moon Bay’s actual bay, but they were big enough to do damage if they hit Carina, and I worried until lasers shot into the water near where they emerged.
It didn’t hit either of them, but it was enough to scare them away like an old man with a cane does with choldren. I’d been whacked with one as a kid and had learned very quickly to do whatever I was told before it came to that, and the seadragons seemed to have the same mentality, because they disappeared within seconds. They reappeared further away and started to play again, and this time they were joined by two more.
“Maybe it’s mating season,” I said and pulled my attention away from them. “It looks like they’re playing, but they could just as easily be trying to kill each other.”
“I bet that one near the bar would eat them,” Ara snorted as I started toward the city.
Bright morning light pierced through the planetary shield to chase away the shadows that usually hung around The Grind during the night. A salty breeze wound through the island and tugged at the rusted panels on some of the taller buildings, but flying robots quickly hurried over to solder them back on. Some of the market stalls along the main street still had lanterns lit as if they’d been open all night, though I wasn’t sure if anything ever actually closed on the bounty hunter world.
“Good morning, Sir!” an Irown woman called and waved all four of her purple arms at me. “You must be new to The Grind. Come! I have the best wares in the entire city.”
“Thanks,” I said and shook my head. “But I don’t need any gear right now.”
The woman huffed and rolled her teal eyes at me before she turned to the next customer.
“You’re as popular as ever,” a familiar voice purred.
I turned to see Persia stroll toward me with a smirk that showed a little bit of fang. The black cat-woman’s hips swayed seductively as if she wanted to remind everyone that they could spend time in her bed for the right price, but those bright green slitted eyes were trained on me. I shook my head as her long tail curved around my arm and held it affectionately as if we were old lovers.
“I’m surprised that you recognize me,” I said and started toward the healer’s booth.
“I told you that I can recognize handsome wherever it is,” she winked and then nodded tersely to the snake-like woman.
“G-good… good morning,” the green scaly healer said and scooted further away from Persia. “What c-can I help you with this morning?”
“I’d like some more of that poultice that you made me last time,” I said and watched recognition wash over the nervous vendor.
“Steven,” she said and took a step back. “I’m s-s-s-sorry for my dis-s-res-spect.
The snake-like woman hissed more as her eyes widened in fear, and I forced my body language to relax. My tactical suit was great at intimidation, but the poor healer looked ready to shed her skin and run away any second. I would’ve thought she’d need to have tougher scales to live on the bounty hunter world, but then again, the healer had managed to survive despite Persia’s clear disdain, so she was probably tougher than I realized. I also knew from experience that her wares could even help broken bones recover faster than they would on their own, so I doubt any of the pirates, bounty hunters, and other low-class clientele would actually hurt her.
