Second Quadrant

Cairo-3998 aka Planet Challenger

Daring City - Outskirts

Point-Two didn’t feel like he had any other choice. Ubik was not going to do anything until he had to, so it was up to Point-Two to make him have to.

That was the underlying principle you had to adhere to if you wanted Ubik’s assistance. Point-Two was considering writing a book on the subject.

Fighting with Ubik: A Survival Guide.

When he had mentioned the idea to Fig, he had asked whether the ‘with’ meant fighting against Ubik or alongside him. Point-Two had answered, “Yes.”

Originally, the best course of action in any given situation had seemed to be to keep Ubik out of the equation altogether. The less participation, the better.

But after having spent time in the Ubik sphere, it had become apparent that Ubik was unavoidable. So then it came down to when to use him — on his schedule or yours.

Never take Ubik’s help when it was offered, that was another guiding principle.

But when you did need his help, always rush him into it so he didn’t have time to come up with one of his really brilliant ideas.

Always run when he had one of his really brilliant ideas.

Ubik in crisis management mode was the only time you could rely on him to do enough to get you out of a problematic situation, without giving him time to come up with a less effective but much more dangerous alternative.

This was the approach Point-Two had very carefully decided to take when pushing Ubik into a fight no one could win.

“Do you think he’s going to be alright?” asked Fig, sounding a little concerned.

Ubik was currently swinging the bone arm around, hitting it against the helmets of the mercenaries under Boss Glosso’s control. It was proving to be a surprisingly effective weapon, smashing its targets to the ground with a single hit.

He was actually managing to keep them at bay, although that had probably more to do with Boss Glosso’s difficulty in coordinating so many different bodies at the same time rather than Ubik’s defensive prowess with a skeletal forearm.

“He’ll probably be fine,” said Point-Two. “They’re moving too slowly to hurt him. We should get out of here while we can.”

“I guess we should just leave, then,” said Fig.

Neither of them made a move. It was awkward. The lights from the city buildings twinkled in the distance as night set in.

“I feel sort of bad,” said Fig. “Abandoning him.”

“He would leave us here,” said Point-Two.

“Without hesitation,” agreed Fig.

“There’s not really anything we can do,” said Point-Two.

“I can’t think of anything, either,” said Fig.

They both continued to not leave. They watched as Ubik ran and dodged and struck with the bone, making whooshing noises to add his own sound effects.

Point-Two looked over his shoulder at where Boss Glosso was standing, his eyes ablaze and steam rising off his bald head. His body was shaking with the intensity of his concentration. He looked at about his limit.

“Is there any way to get through this forcefield?” asked Point-Two.

“I don’t think so,” said Fig, checking the readings on his suit’s control panel. “Not with the equipment we have on us.”

Even if they did leave, there was still this problem. Boss Glosso knew who they were. He would tell others.

There was a roar as one of the mercenaries who had been pounded into the dirt rose, ripping off his helmet as he thrashed around. The man’s eyes were glowing bright green. He screamed and bellowed.

Others followed his example. Ubik was surrounded by active organics, all screaming with rage.

“If he’s this powerful, I’m not sure even Ubik will be able to win against him,” said Fig.

“Hm,” said Point-Two. He couldn’t help but doubt Ubik’s ability to win here, too. Even though Ubik had overcome the seemingly impossible so many times before. But to be able to control so many people, and to be able to activate their organics at the same time, made Boss Glosso a truly impressive adversary.

The man with the glowing green eyes charged forward, pushing others aside as he moved with incredible speed. Ubik was moving back but not nearly fast enough.

Fig’s eyes lit up and the charging merc stumbled, as all glowing eyes dimmed around Ubik.

This was Fig doing what he could to help. He couldn’t suppress Boss Glosso’s organic, but he could stop those out here.

The charging merc’s momentum kept him running even though his organic was no longer active. He ran past Ubik, who watched him go by with a confused look as the man ran straight into the forcefield.

He struck it at full speed and was sent bouncing back off his feet and almost horizontal, landing on the ground and skidding to a halt many metres away.

The other men stopped raging, their bodies once more stiff, and silently turned to look at Ubik, and then they rushed him.

They threw themselves at him. The sudden attack from all sides was unavoidable and Ubik disappeared from view.

“Oh wait,” said Point-Two. “I don’t think Boss Glosso is the one activating their organics.”

“Then who?” said Fig.

Ubik came squirming out on his stomach, the pile of men seeming to have not noticed he was no longer under them. Then he was dragged back in, clawing at the ground but failing to get a strong enough grip.

“They’re doing it themselves. They’re trying to activate their organics to break free of his control.”

“Oh,” said Fig. “So when I suppressed their organics just now…”

“You gave Boss Glosso back control.”

Had Fig not suppressed their organics, the man running at the forcefield may have been able to break through. As it was, he ended up throwing his unaugmented body at a solid wall, and was tossed back.

“Oops,” said Fig. “Yes, that would make more sense. He’s controlling them and they’re doing their best to fight him.”

“Right, so we should…” Point-Two was at a bit of a loss as to how to proceed. Should they stop Boss Glosso by helping the mercenaries? Or would that just exchange one problem for another?

Ubik burst out again, the bone arm still in one hand, but a stick in the other. He shook his stick hand and a beam of pink light emerged from the elf stick.

“Okay, okay,” said Ubik, weaving weapons in each hand. “Let’s see how you do against Dual-Wield Ubik.”

Always locate an exit when Ubik started giving himself nicknames. That would be mentioned in an early chapter.

The pink light in his left hand flickered and bent. It leaned across his body, and then was sucked into the bone arm.

“Hey!” said Ubik. The bone looked pinker than before. “Wait. This is good.” He threw away the stick. “More elf sticks.”

He ran at the men, ducking the mercs and aiming for the guards.

Point-Two and Fig saw what he was doing and joined in. They targeted Boss Glosso’s guards and stole their elf sticks, which was made easier by their clumsy movements.

As each stick was tossed to Ubik, he turned them on and let the bone arm absorb the elfidium.

The arm was glowing bright pink.

Ubik turned around and ran towards Boss Glosso. He jumped and thrust the arm forward, using the bone hand to punch the forcefield.

There was a loud crack and a flash of pink light. Point-Two was blinded as he was thrown through the air. When he sat up and blinked his eyes open, he could see everyone lying on the ground around him.

Only Boss Glosso was still standing on the mound, but he stumbled forward and then collapsed.

Fig was the first one to his feet. He was heading towards Boss Glosso, who was on all fours, puking. There was no forcefield now, so Fig would be able to suppress the mind control.

Point-Two got to his feet and made his way through the bodies, not knowing if they were alive or dead.

“Yes!” said Ubik, his arm raised triumphantly while holding the bone arm, also raised. The hand pointed down at Boss Glosso. “I knew that would work. Like, more than fifty percent certain.”

“Please, stop,” said Boss Glosso, his voice very weak. “I have information. I can help you. I am not a threat. I am dying.”

“He’s telling the truth,” said Fig, checking his readings. “He’s dying.”

“Yes, yes,” said Glosso, kneeling now. “Elfidium poisoning. I thought… I hoped that thing could save me. That was why. That was the only reason why. Please, no more. I won’t fight you.”

The small man was very pale, vomit dripping from his chin. He seemed pathetic and helpless as he pleaded with them. But then, Ubik looked like a harmless little twit, if you just went by appearances.

“Tell us how you got your men out of the Dungeon,” said Point-Two.

“My long exposure to elfidium also gave me some power over it… only a little bit.”

“If you can control it, why couldn’t you go in yourself?” said Fig.

“The elfidium, it was too concentrated…” Glosso shook his head. “I couldn’t access it myself. My body is unable to withstand such huge doses.”

“I don’t buy it,” said Point-Two.

“Come on, the man’s dying,” said Ubik. “He was just acting out of desperation. You can’t blame him for that. Desperate men are the only people you can truly trust. You should put that in the book you’re writing about me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Point-Two, and looked at Fig.

“I never said anything,” said Fig.

“Look, Boss G, I’ll make you a deal,” said Ubik. “I’ll cure you and in return you’ll keep having seen us here a secret, right?”

“You… you can cure me?”

“Of course. This thing absorbs elfidium. I can just… fwhup, suck it out of your body.”

Hope gleamed in Glosso’s eyes. “If you could do that, I would never reveal anything that happened here. You have my word. And there are many secrets I can share with you.”

“Okay, then. Looks like we’ve got a deal.”

“Ubik…” said Point-Two.

“Hey, it’s fine. I know it sounds risky, but this is actually a brilliant idea. A really brilliant idea.”

Point-Two nodded and began backing away.

Ubik raised the bony arm and placed the bony hand on top of Boss Glosso’s bald dome of a head. Glosso put his hands together as though in prayer.

The pink light around the arm began to throb.

Boss Glosso groaned. “Yes, I… I can feel it working.” His head was steaming.

The arm slowly grew pinker.

Boss Glosso sat up straighter.

“That’s good. I think that’s enough. You can stop now.”

“No, I don’t think that’s all of it,” said Ubik, pressing down.

“It’s fine, I’m better. Stop. Please. STOP!” Glosso looked up, his eyes burning with a ferocious light.

Point-Two could feel the pressure bearing down on him. He almost passed out. But then Fig stepped forward and the light in Glosso’s eyes went out.

Point-Two staggered as his vision came back into focus.

Ubik continued to press down on Glosso and seemed unaffected. He ignored the flailing arms, putting a boot on Glosso’s shoulder to push him to the ground.

Glosso resisted at first and then collapsed. Ubik kept going, Glosso’s head sizzled. The arm growing brighter and brighter.

The city lights in the distance went out, leaving only the stars gleaming above them.

Finally, Ubik stopped, pulling the arm off with a slick pop sound, leaving a hand-shaped indentation on Glosso’s head. He no longer moved.

“You killed him,” said Fig.

“Had to,” said Ubik. “Couldn’t be trusted.”

“I thought you said desperate men were the only ones you could trust,” said Point-Two.

“Yes,” said Ubik. “You can trust them to go all-in on their lies. Always get the full quote before writing it down for posterity. We should go. Now that we’ve got all the elfidium, we finally have our map and our key. This place is just a big dead rock. People are going to be mad once the drinks machines stop working.”

They left the bodies where they were and headed towards their ship.