Testing: A Little Sci-Fi Adventure (Chapter 11)

CHAPTER ELEVEN,
The Real Beginnings

VERN ZENN, Capitulio de la Romancia,

The bees were buzzing and ringed in his ears. He watched as the children played an unusual game with a ball and kicked it into nets. The laughter and the shouts were lively and humorous. Today, the dust was thick and the air was heavily scented with the fragrance of new roses. He took a deep breath of the fine air and lay down on the rough steps. The sun was high and shone brightly, scorching the roof panels and peeling the stained paint of the old shop-house.
He saw two feet in front of him. They were heavily tanned and were clad in poor, tattered slippers. He looked up and saw the face of a young girl in her teens looking back at him. She had long braided hair and was wearing a thin dress; the designs were faded and dull. She had beautiful amber eyes which were hidden behind years of living in the dusty desert.
“Mom says dinner is at six.” She said cheerily.
“Tell her I might be late for me will you. I have a rather pressing appointment.”
“You know what happened when you were late last time.” She was teasing him.
“I’ll risk it.” He smiled, she giggled.
“Okay! See you later!” She hurried down the street, avoiding the barrels, buckets, and sacks. He saw the citizens leaning out of the window to look at her. Even the two old men in poor-folks clothes, playing chess, on an old creaky wooden table, abandoned their game for a while to glance at her. He smiled to himself and closed his eyes for a siesta.
Two hours later he suddenly jumped up. He dusted himself and walked away from the site. The papers and the shards of cloth blew along the unpaved track and many of the locals were sleeping or enjoying life. Though they were unrich and lacked many basic necessities, they never complained or worried. He stopped observing everybody and entered the local public house. The atmosphere was calm and quiet, There was a group of young men sleeping on one of the outer tables and another group of slightly older people in the darkest corner.
These men were very much different from the rest. They wore thick boots and jackets, and weren’t covered in dust. They had stubbles and were seemingly fit and strong. He hailed to them and sat down on the empty chair. It swayed, years of use had their effect. The bartender came over with a large mug of golden liquid, frothy and bubbling. He threw the man a shining coin which the bartender happily accepted.
“Hey! Why’da call us here man?” One of the space cowboys asked finally.
“I need to get out of here. Tonight.”
“Hey, hey, no prob! What’s the catch?” He asked sarcastically.
“I need to go to Chekosklovaitch”
“Chekosklovaitch? Why, I say, would you in the right mind ever want to go there?”
“Personal reasons.”
“Well, I guess I could smuggle you in past the countless military warships, through the incredibly thick security net, pass the impossible inspection, and around the never-ending maze of questioning but the problem lies in the funding you know. How you gonna pay us?”
He brought out a small linen bag, tied with a fraying rope and dropped it on the table. A faint tinkle was heard.
“Is this alright?” The man opened the bag and peered inside. He smiled and retied it.
“Well boys! We’re going to Cheko!”
The other men roared happily and clanged their mugs together.
“Tonight! We meet at the east end. Bring only what you need. We’re taking off at midnight sharp!”
He nodded and got up to leave. He had no need to pack; all he had was on him already. He made his way to his temporary residence. When he got out, the night had already set in. The slumbery air was very much different from the morning sun. The gas lamps were lighting themselves and the three moons managed to break through the smog from the mines. As he walked, he caught the eye of many a critter, who made no move to stop him.
The door he arrived at was warm and inviting. He knocked on the faded brass knocker. There were some footsteps and a clank of bolts opening. The latch opened suddenly and before him was a plump lady. She was wearing an apron and had tied her hair back into a bun. She was around fifty and smelt like food.
“Finally! Do you know how long we waited for you! Angie is already asleep! Where have you been?”
“Let me in and I’ll explain everything but pray, we must not mention a word to the girl. Let her sleep.”
A look of concern crept across her face and she moved out of the way. He entered like he always did and closed the door gently behind him.

***
“I see. Are you sure you aren’t imagining things?”
“No. This is for real. I have to go tonight or I’ll miss him.”
“I see.” There was a pause of silence. “Will you come back?”
“That is not for me to say. Hope fully but the chances are slim.”
“What about Angie? You don’t want to break her poor little heart. She has already lost so much.”
“She has to learn to overcome it. I was never meant to stay here anyway.”
“Then at least let me make you some supper.”
“You really-”
“Nope! I am making you supper.” She got up and entered the kitchen. The sound of her knife chopping was the only sound left save the singing of mole crickets. A few minutes later she returned with a plate of sandwiches, filled with all sorts of delicacies. He ate them slowly as he had plenty of time to spare. The food was nice and the drink was warm. When he had finished he thanked her gratefully and hugged her. The woman kissed him on the cheek and bade him farewell.
He exited the house with the memories tailing him. The weeks he had spent there. He rearranged his clothes, put on his speckled bandana, and loaded his pistols; the empty casings falling softly on the dirt. An insect scuttled away to avoid the falling trash. He slipped those guns into his waist-band and walked into the building mist.
He had not gone very far when the pitter patter of footfalls came behind him. He looked behind and saw a girl, dressed in a nightgown in the middle of the street.
“How could you?”
“You know I had to go someday.”
“But still! You could have told me!”
“But I couldn’t. You of all people should know.”
“I don’t! I don’t want you to go! I won’t let you go!” The sparkle of water was falling from her eyes. She raised her hand and pointed a revolver at him. Her finger was hovering over the trigger.
“What will that do? Even if you do that I will still go after I am healed.”
“I don’t care!”
“Calm down Angelina. The sooner you accept the facts, the sooner you will learn to forget about your problems.”
“I don’t want to! I don’t care about them!”
“You do. You know deep within yourself you do.”
“Shut up!”
“Goodbye Angelina.”
“Don’t move!” She was screaming and the residents of the houses by the road were watching intently. He had turned back and started walking again, she shouted again. He kept walking.
***
The bullet roared out of the barrel. A look of shock came to the girls eyes. In an instant the bullet hit a nearby wall, the target missing. She sank to the ground. The witnesses looked around for the man but he had vanished like a dream. A few women ran out and carried the weeping girl into one of the houses. They wrapped her in warm blankets and gave her some drink.
He saw all this from on top of a nearby flagpole. He smiled and jumped onto the roof of a nearby building and onto another and another until he reached the borders of the town. Then had landed on the dirt once more and walked out into the desert. Not far away he saw some activity and some glimmering lights. The leader signaled to him and called his men into the craft which looked not unlike that which he had seen a long time ago, in his hometown, not unlike this one. He reached the landing pad and with a final glance at the town which he called his home, ascended the stairs. The door hissed shut and soon the craft took to the air.
“Hey Zack! How long you gonna stare at the door?”
“Heh heh, not too long.” Zack turned back in and joined the rest of the crew.

***
N.U.S.S.R., Kremlin-Jour Mission Subspace,

“Captain! We’ve got a ship tailing us!” The navigator shouted suddenly. The captain who was watching the I.N.N. jumped up and dashed over to the receiving reticule.
“Strange. Why would we have a warship following us? Track it and scan.” His orders were followed by the usual ‘yes sir’.
Zack finished polishing his guns and looked out the rear window. He brushed back his silver hair to get a better view. Sure enough, there was an old battered warship closing in on them. There were no identification numbers.
“I can’t get anything on the ship except that its pretty dated.” Zack overheard the navigator informing the captain.
“How long before contact?”
“Estimated…three minutes and seventy-three seconds.”
The captain pressed a button nearby and spoke into the speaker-phone. “Yellow alert! Prepare for a battle! Three minutes!”
There was some unorganized scrambling and soon enough, some odd seventeen men had piled into the command deck. They were armed in the basic weapons, rifles, pistols, Vibe-swords, the like. The captain was brandishing a menacing submachine gun, decorated with skulls and bones. Zack slipped his pistols into his waist. With a command from the captain, the men hurried down to the estimated contact point, Zack just tailed along.
They got in position by the engine room. They had to make sure that the battle was a short one or risk blowing up the engines. Another command from the captain and the crew disappeared behind the pipes and containers. Zack was perched on top of the fuel tank and only through the insistence of the hot-headed captain did he hide himself. It was just in time, because at that moment, the steel wall tore apart and two men had walked in. The chute which brought them over was being retracted.
“Come out Captain Goldstein. We know you’re here.” Came a calm, smooth voice.
“No use hiding.” Came another voice not to different but more masculine.
“What do you want? Blood? Money? Weapons?” The captains voice echoed through the room. Zack knew that the man was purposely throwing his voice about.
“What? Don’t tell me you don’t know about the 10,000 credits which have been placed on your head?”
“Bounty hunters. I should have known.”
“We prefer to be called opportunists. After all, we were only passing by.”
“Too bad. This will be your last… how did you put it… ‘opportunity’.” A shrill whistle and soon , semi-automatic fire blasted away at the two hunters. The two of them leaped and jumped around like frogs, making the bullets puncture the canisters. Explosions soon came and the room was on fire. Zack noticed the gleam of cold blades, wrought from old metals, and saw, if for a moment, the blood splatter.
Squeals were the last words of most of the crew members. By the time half of them had disappeared, Zack had to interfere. After all, if there was no one manning the ship, how would he get to Cheko? He pulled out his guns and taking considerable aim, fired a single shot. His aim came true and he heard someone cry out in pain. Zack hid behind the numerous boxes and pipes until he made his way to the other side.
He saw another of the hunters stalking the bowels of the ship. Making sure that he was undetected, he fired a precision bullet at the figure. He had made these bullets and guns himself so that they were undetectable. True to its purpose, the man had barely seconds to react to the attack. Blood spilled but only on steel grates. The man managed to duck but the ricocheting bullet, went into his arm. Zack smiled and took off for a new sniping point.
He had barely walked three steps when he felt the tip of a sword poking his neck, thirsting for blood. He turned around and saw a man in a serious cowboys outfit; donned purely in leather and with a cowboy’s hat upon his head. The sword was long and wide. Zack knocked away the blade with one of his pistols. Behind him came another man, whom he had just hit. He was bleeding in the right arm but only just. He was wearing a thick military garb, thick gloves, thick boots, thick cloak, etc. In his hand was a finer, sharper sword.
“So you’re the lucky *** who managed to hit me? Well I congratulate you for that.” The man who was bleeding leaned closer and revealed that he had dirty brown hair.
“If only you had found a better job.” The other man said. He repositioned his sword at Zack’s face.
“I’m quite happy with no occupation, thank you.” Zack flipped in the air and with amazing grace, aimed one pistol for each man and fired whist still in the air. The two men were shocked but managed to jump out of the way. Zack couldn’t see where those tow men had gone too, the lighting was dim and poor. His only consolidation was that he managed to distract these two from the captain and his mates.
Zack ran along the thin metal catwalk and tried to make it to the door. A line of concentrated fire mysteriously sprung out from the shadows and bore into the wall where Zack was a few microseconds ago. Zack ducked and hid himself, concealing his presence. He looked out but there was no one there. He let off a few stray shots. Like water to fire, his hiding place was torn apart by strange wind. Zack had just only moved away. He used this as his advantage and fired into the darkness. He ran along the sides, blowing apart all the machinery and obstructions. He heard a groan and smiled.
A clang was heard when Zack’s pistol came in contact with the cowboy’s sword. The man struck again and again, from the bottom, the sides, like a true professional. Zack used his pistols to their full extent by blocking the blows but releasing a bullet when possible. This was not to continue when behind him came the other man’s weapon. Now Zack had to contend with both the attackers at once. He fought valiantly for a while but grew bored.
Zack slid under the men’s feet, narrowly missing the fall of cold iron, and stood up behind the cowboy’s back. He stuck his pistol into the man’s ribs and affectionately called out, “Bang.” The other man applauded and laughed. Zack bowed slightly but didn’t remove his weapon. He felt something prodding his back. The looked back and saw a girl aiming the sharp end of a spear like staff at him. Arcs of electricity jolted out from where the metal met the wooden handle. Zack put up his hands and sighed.
“Too bad. We’ve got the captain and the rest of the band. Your efforts were for naught.” She said to him.
“You know that we could have handled this.” The cowboy argued.
“By the look of things I could have said that you were being beaten up.” She boasted like a peacock.
“Us? Beaten up? You go to far girl!”
“Hello? Can I go now or do you want me to bear witness to your argument?” Zack questioned, out of the blue.
“Nope. Every other member of the Goldstein clan gets us fifty grand.”
“But I’m not a member of this ‘clan’.”
“No excuses. Now get outside.”
“Fine. Fine.” Zack sighed and walked out of the boiling hot engine room. Like the girl said, the crew were bound and tied on the floor. A strange flying creature was standing guard. It was clad in pink armor and had the appearance of a human, only that it was barely the size of Zack’s head. Zack had to shield his eyes from the light after being stuck in the darkness for so long. He turned around to receive more instructions.
“Well? What do you want me to do now?”
The girl’s staff fell onto the floor. Zack saw that she had green hair and wore it in a curt ponytail. She was dressed very casually, jeans, waist-length t-shirt, and gloves. Now she had an expression of absolute shock upon her face. Zack looked at the other two, they too were equally surprised. The creature which was supposed to be standing guard had floated over to Zack’s side and was looking at him closely.
“Isaac? Is..that..you?” The girl finally mustered enough strength to ask.
“No. My name is Zack. Not I-saac.” He responded with some agitation.
“Impossible. No one else has a head of hair like that.” The cowboy mumbled.
“Of course it’s Isaac! I of all people should recognize my own brother!” The soldier shouted out.
“Okay. Now you guys are freaking me out. Are you sure you aren’t mistaking me for someone else?”
“You mean… you don’t remember us?” The creature next to him asked him quietly. It looked female and was scanning his expressions.
“Frankly, I have no idea who all of you are.”
There was a long silence. Zack glanced at the captain who was amused with the whole thing. His hands nervously twitched closer to his guns.