Topasa

Taking the short end of the stick is never lucrative, since the existence of the short end of the stick means the job attached to it has to be a bad one. Still, Topasa doesn’t mind it much. Someone has to do it and from her group she guesses that she might be the best choice after all since two tend to be overly aggressive and the other two unwilling.

The transporter they’re on is huge, but only due to the holdings cells in the back. The common area is relatively small and the door to the cockpit not that far off. Still, Topasa approaches it slower than necessary.

At the door, she gives it a gentle knock. Instead of an answer, the door slides open. Although the others aren‘t too far away, she suddenly feels very alone. Uncertain, she looks back. No one looks at her. Quite deliberate as she notes. Still, it doesn’t change the fact someone needs to ask the strange alien, that saved them. Taking a deep breath, Topasa enters the cockpit.

The space inside is crammed with various devices and consoles. Lights blink everywhere and the hum of the engine reverberates with the metal frames of the machinery. In the middle of it sits the black clothed figure. She has the mask pulled up to the top of the head and watches intently all the different screens in front of it, while making sense of all the data.

„Is there a problem?“, Umbra asks suddenly.

Her voice sounds very different from what Topasa has grown familiar over the communication device.

„Oh no,“ she replies and closes the door behind herself by pushing on the button next to it. „Everything is fine. Really.“

„Then why are you here?“, the alien asks bored.

„The others as well as I… We, umm, we don’t know if we can trust you,“ she says, hoping not to have angered this being.

The atmosphere remains tense.

„Can we trust you?“, Topasa asks directly after a few moments of silence.

„Can you trust every Menkar?“, she asks, which takes Topasa aback.

„Not really“, she answers. „But if there is a common goal…“

„There you have it,“ Umbra replies annoyed. „That should be reason enough for us to get along for now.“

„And what when we have arrived at the camp of the Cult?“, Topasa probes after a few moments of silence. „Will we part ways?“

„Maybe. Don’t know,“ she says, which makes Topasa feel a chill run down her spine. „I was asked to get all of you there. Once I’ve done this. Don’t know what’s next.“

„Who has told you to do so.“

„I won’t answer that.“

„Really?“

„Don’t ask stupid questions.“

„Well, when do we arrive?”

„An hour. Perhaps. Maybe less. Now leave me alone.”

Topasa doesn’t desire to prolong this conversation and backs away slowly. The moment she’s out again and the door closes behind her, she breathes a sigh of relief and feels how the tension inside her body drops.

Without looking back, she walks to the others and takes her seat at the table with another deep breath. In the time she was gone, Laapis and Nethra have changed seats and are currently playing cards. Serfin, who has started to pace up and down again, stopped and leaned against the wall while Maurus fiddles at a small black device in his hands. Serfin is the only one looking at Topasa for longer than a mere moment.

„Got infos?”, he asks and makes everyone finally turn to her.

„Not many,” she replies and tells them what Umbra has told her.

„So we can’t trust her,“ Laapis concludes and crosses her arms once Topasa has finished. „And for the record: I don’t believe the common goal shit.“

„Neither do I,“ Nethra throws in and places her cards on the table. „Full House.”

„This is all a bit vague,“ muses Maurus without looking up.

At the same time, Laapis drops her cards with a board toothy grin on the table. „Straight Flush.”

„Damn you to the Void!”, Nethra hisses and pulls the cards together to mix them.

„I don’t know what to make of this“, Topasa says worried after watching those two play another round. „I really don’t know… All I can say is that I'm increasingly worried. It also drives me insane that I can't do anything to improve our situation.“

„Sometimes you just have to wait,” chimes Serfin in. „Patience can be rewarding, at least that's what Res told me once.”

For a few moments, the only sounds in the narrow room are the shuffle of cards from Nethra and Laapis.

„Also, we're going to arrive wherever she takes us in about an hour,” Topasa tells them. „So we should make some preparations.“

„I guess this means we have to stop our game,“ Laapis says and throws her cards on the pile in the middle of the table.

„Fuck. Right when I have a streak of luck,“ says Nethra frustrated and throws her cards on the table. „Anyway, you now owe me 100 bucks.“

„You get them as soon as I have them,“ Laapis replies matter-of-fact.

„Which will never happen,“ Maurus interrupts amused. „She still owes me 500.“

Topasa rolls her eyes and leans back for a moment, while the others start to scavenge the transporter for food, weapons, and other useful things. She feels tired. A nice long sleep in the fresh water of a clean tank would be really nice, she thinks longingly. But even if she could do, so she cannot afford it at the moment.

As she stands up again, Serfin grabs her by the wrist and pulls her aside. He doesn’t look as happy as he has been when they had taken over the transporter.

„Aren’t you happy to see Respin again?“, she asks him in a hushed voice.

„I am, honestly,“ he replies tense. „But there is something that bugs me. I haven’t told anyone about it but, uhm…“

„What is it?“, she asks interested. „Don’t worry, I’ll tell no one.“

„While I was sleeping…“

„Yes. Go on.“

„While I was sleeping I had a strange dream,“ he continues thoughtfully. „I dreamed I was in a field of gold surrounded by a giant lake. In the lake was an island and on it stood a Menkar with bleached white skin and long black hair. I think it was a female drone since she had the stature and the fins, which were as black as her hair with a red eye spot in her extremely long tail.“

„What did she do?“, Topasa asks, intrigued.

„Nothing at first, but what stuck with me was the otherness around her, if ya get what I mean.“

„Well, white skin is fairly uncommon in our species, if not out right nonexistant.“

„Yeah, it's kinda weird, but this isn't what bugged me. Toddy was with her.”

„Toddy…“ mumbles Topasa regretful.

„Yeah,“ Serfin continues with downward turned ears. „He was there helping her stand or something, and then there were her feet. They seemed like tar was sticking to them, or they were formed out of tar but not very well. It was almost like she was grown out of the puddle of the stuff under her.“

„Weird, certainly, but you seem kind of nervous.“

„Well, she turned around and… She seemed to want to wave at me, but the moment she raised her hand, her whole body fell apart. It turned into a giant black puddle, which turned within seconds into an ocean. As the wave of tar reached me, I woke up again.“

Topasa thinks for a few minutes about his dream. It certainly qualifies to be called weird. We've been through some terrible stuff, she muses, patting his arm. He got hit especially hard considering Respin's supposed death. I hope he doesn't get dangerously unstable like he did in the life-ship when it turns out that… I dare not even think about it.

„It was just a dream, Fin,“ she tells him finally and place her hand on his shoulder. „And considering our current circumstances, it's no wonder you dream about strange things.”

Serfin doesn’t look convinced, but then again, half of his face is hidden by his hair. Without another word, he walks over to the next cupboard and starts to rummage within it.

Topasa feels a pang of guild. After all, they weren’t able to save Toddy. The Executioners have most likely killed the poor thing… she concludes with a heavy heart and starts to help the others to keep herself from crying.

—

Flextruth

Her head feels like it will split apart any moment. The pain is so intense that even the relatively silent hum of the Neutronstar sounds like she rests right next to the engine instead of the provisional bed she’s on. Scargrin, grumpy and driven by his sense of duty, flies the massive ship of the Lurker-Class without any haste.

Displeased with everything, she looks around until her eye fixate in the small medicine cabinet directly across from her. Slow and biting down a groan, she pulls herself to her feet and limps towards it. Thankfully, the labels on the medicine bottles are big enough for her to read them without her glasses. Without bothering with water, she swallows two of the yellow pills dry and walks over to Scargrin.

The cockpit is rather narrow, forcing Flextruth to squeeze past Scargrin and his seat to get to the second one right next to him. By doing so, she takes a deep breath and immediately regrets it. There is a thick cloud of a herbal and very bitter smelling stench around the tall, haggard Inquisitor. The bitter smell originates from the fittingly called Bittertonic, a numbing liquid usually reserved to treat upset stomachs. On its own the Bittertonic doesn’t cause any side effects but in combination with Mollis, itself also a harmless herb usually used to help Morphlings developing their lungs, it becomes a mild narcotic.

„Back from your nap,” he mumbles after giving her a bored look and handing her a spare set of glasses.

„Spare my your sarcasm,“ she snaps and rubs her eyes before putting her seeing aid on. „Why are you again mixing Bittertonic with Mollis? I told you, I’m going to report you.“

„I saved your ass.“

„This doesn’t mean anything.“

„It does. Considering you lost your squat.“

Flextruth wants to refute him, but the headache and the smell of his questionable hobby makes it impossible for her to think clearly.

„What's the plan?”, she asks instead.

„The plan is to hunt our targets down as ordered,” he tells her and pulls the thin pipe out he uses for the Mollis. „Once that's out of the way, I'll decide if I add you to the pile of bodies or not.”

„The Chief Executioner will be thrilled to hear about my demise,” she replies spiteful. „He'll be so happy in fact that he'll have your head on a silver platter to accommodate my passing.”

„Don't fancy yourself higher than you are.”

„Higher than I am? Considering I’m not the one of us frying her brain with drugs, we see how long you stay Inquisitor.“

He lets out a huff and refrains from continuing this charade. Flextruth has to admit that she is somewhat glad he does it. Although the painkillers start working, she still feels her pulse resonate in her skull. Curiously, she touches the back of her head and flinches. A bump. Great, she thinks, grinding her teeth. At least I don't have to worry about an infection.

„Mind making yourself useful?”, Scargrin asks dryly without even glancing at her.

„Sure…”, she mumbles and looks at the board computer screen in front of her.

Routinely, she enters a few commands. Almost immediately it produces a result, which doesn’t improve her mood. According to the computer, they are lagging far behind their targets.

„Can’t you fly faster?“, she asks annoyed.

„I can’t fly faster,“ he replies sullen.

„If it’s because of your habit, then—“

„It isn’t because of that. I did a few scans of the area in a sixty-mile radius. I don’t know how, but the Cult of the Pale God seems to own a few old scanners, which ping everything faster than a common transporter.“

„But the Neutronstar should be able to disable them.“

„Lost your hearing?“

„No.“

„Seems to me like you did. The scanners are old. I can scan but not disable them, the operating systems aren‘t compatible. And using an EMP-blast will alert them to us.“

Flextruth sneers. The only reason we manage to conquer space are our numbers. Considering, this stupid tendency for obsolescence is going to break us sooner or later.

„I agree with you on that,“ Scargrin says and makes her flinch. „I would prefer for you to tell me your thoughts. Or did you forget I can read them?“

„I forgot,“ she mumbles and concentrates back on the console in front of her.

„Can’t blame you,“ he continues solemn. „My bad habit, as you call it, makes this ability more bearable than anything else. Honestly, without this stuff, I would‘ve ended it all Circles ago.“

„Being a mindreader isn’t a bad thing.“

„Only those who aren’t ones themselves talk like this.“

„Whatever,“ Flextruth replies dismissive and sighs.

While she can’t stop thinking, as it’s impossible, she also decides that it doesn’t matter that he can hear her thoughts. As long as she doesn’t say anything out loud, there won’t be any concrete evidence to charge her with anything. After all, she can still use Scargrins‘ addiction against him. Although it doesn't look like he's as ruthless as anyone whispers…

She still remembers the reaction of her two Bondmates as she told them she is to work with Scargrin. They have both looked like this was a death sentence. Scargrin is famous for getting every job done, which is something you won’t achieve with kindness. I'm most likely still of some use to him. But it doesn't matter if I'm just a meat-shield to him or a valuable asset. It's all up to me to show my worth!

Determined Flextruth runs further calculations about their speed and the speed of their target to detect any changes. At the same time, she lets the board computer run a few background-checks on their targets, as well as what to expect in the area. But right before the results of the area-check come back, the calculations of their targets speed show a decrease of it.

„Our target slows down,” she tells Scargrin while preparing the on-board weapon system. „It seems they've stopped about forty miles ahead.”

„Are there any useful structures in the area?”, Scargrin asks serious. „I've heard the Valonian Desert is littered with ancient underground tunnels and hideouts.”

„Ground scans show that there are, in fact, plenty of hollow structures made from metal in the underground,” she tells him in a professional tone. „But there are no known entrances in the general area of our targets. Still, according to the newest satellite scans, the camp of the Cult of the Pale God is nearby. I bet that’s why they stopped. They ought to seek refuge among the Cultists. Shall we attack?”

„We wait for now…”, he grumbles. „Let's see if this new optic-fibre camouflage is worth the price.”

The hum of the engine changes. For a moment, the whole electrical equipment flickers, then it stabilises. Flextruth sighs and switches to the exterior cameras. Outside, red dust and stones prevail, but she knows that sooner rather than later they will see something different.