image [https://cdn-gcs.inkitt.com/story_images/big_92c12effe5529c9a5295ff6e58fa2f80.png]
This planet wasn’t a place the Aerios should be. Its enhanced Puuqpu armor and trims made it look far too new, too shiny, and too much of a target for the local culture to pass it by without notice. The ship slowly touched down on the beat-up and unevenly plated launch pad, it shook like a toddler with a plastic toy hammer had made it. With a soft as possible thunk on the pad, Junne put the Aerios into parking mode and enabled the electrified door measures for extra security. He didn’t trust the scene.
“I hate this place.” He let the crew know.
“We know.” Everyone said in unison.
“You’ve been complaining about it for the last hour.” Quayl pointed out. “Anyway, if it makes you feel better, I’ll go by myself for the letter delivery. Does anyone else want to come?”
Hebu spoke up. “I will go.” Quayl nodded and waited for anyone else, and no one came forward. “Very well, it’s me and Hebu. We’ll be in and out as quickly as possible.”
Junne nodded. “Ok, we’ll take on what supplies we can, or at least what we can afford by pawning off stuff.”
Quayl stopped moving and turned around. “Pawn what exactly?”
“Easy, we’ll find out what’s in demand and try to replicate as much as we can to sell. We just need enough money to get by. This planet isn’t participating in the war effort and money is still active.”
“Ah, right. Anyway, be careful. This place is sketchy like even the pencil is crappy kinda sketchy.” Quayl warned. He lifted his courier coat’s hood and pulled it low, Hebu doing the same with her cloak.
----------------------------------------
Streets stretched long between the crowds and shouting merchants trying to sell or peddle their wares of questionable quality. People were always close and the only personal space anyone had was inside their cloaks, coats, and hoods. The capes and cloaks were to prevent pick-pockets from getting at the items on one’s person. Quayl knew as much and left his satchel behind. He had no money or any other items besides the letter and a communicator in an interior pocket inside his coat. Hebu followed in tow behind him, and though she was out of sight behind him, he could feel her unease.
A man approached, looking to sell some jewels and trinkets, watches, and timepieces, but someone stopped him when he came closer and peeked inside Quayl’s hood. “The Runners…” He said. It got the attention of some around him. “The Runners.” More whispered. Quayl and Hebu noticed this and kept their pace. Their curiosity went unquenched and it didn’t change the notion of urgency, not for the importance of the delivery, but for their safety. It doesn’t matter if there was a reputation, for good or for bad, such a reputation attracted both kinds of people.
A way through the crowd divided before them and allowed easy travel as more whispers came. More people spoke of them, “I heard the Runners wear green and have a red ship. Their crew is invincible. I heard that the Gem of the Sea is one of their members. I heard Admiral Brinus and the military report to them. I heard he’s a crab god. Shut up, they’re just people, they don’t have superpowers. I bet they’re just lucky, I bet a single bullet will kill any of them.” The crowd had mixed opinions and levels of danger.
Quayl took a quick turn into an alley, and once they were out of the crowd and well into the dirty corridor, he turned to Hebu behind him. “This is so dangerous.” He stated the obvious, clearly showing his discomfort.
“I am aware,” Hebu replied. “How far is the delivery? People somehow know us here.”
“Not far, along the next street.”
----------------------------------------
At last and with no more trouble, Quayl and Hebu arrived at their destination. Away from the grime of the streets and between the buildings sat a small cemetery. There was no defilement or grunge here, and it was nice to see that the inhabitants here respected their dead.
“Quayl,” Hebu said and subtly pointed upward. The high walls of the surrounding buildings had eyes, and they were being watched from the windows.
Quayl took out the letter and held it up high for all the hidden people behind drawn curtains and darkness to see. He hoped they would understand he was there with a noble purpose and wouldn’t disrespect the small sanctuary.
He approached the headstone with a name that matched the letter. He placed the letter, and in a moment, a mountain of a man appeared. He looked tough and had a worn face for being on the younger side. His attire made him look affiliated with a gang or group and had perhaps been the victim of such related violence. He took the letter and read it. All he responded with was a quick nod downward in respectful acknowledgment. The business here was done and the soul of the man faded back into the ether for where he came. A nummus had appeared, and Quayl lifted his hand to take it.
A dark figure flashed across him, and the nummus was snatched with speed and grace. Hebu was quick on the draw and a narrow bolt of electricity flew after the figure. The thief dodged and weaved through the next alleyway, and the shot missed by a narrow thread. Quayl moved before he even realized what was happening. He watched the thief skillfully hop and leap through the alleyway into the crowd on the other side. Hebu and Quayl caught up in a heartbeat, but the tail of the thief’s black cloak was only seen sliding over the top of the nearest building. The thief turned to look down upon them one last time. Hebu raised her electrified finger like a gun before Quayl lowered her hand with his.
“Not here.” He cautioned and looked around. “People are watching.”
“But the nummus?”
“We’ll get the next one. This place is too busy and dangerous to chase them down. The point of our mission isn’t the nummus, it’s about the letters.” He reminded her. They both looked up to the top of the building and saw the head of the figure turn away and disappear. They were gone. “We need to head back. We need to cut our losses.”
Hebu sighed. “Very well. We shall go. To find them in this place would be impossible.” Quayl nodded and they took their leave.
----------------------------------------
“We lost the nummus,” Quayl stated to just who was going over a manifest with a greasy mechanic.
He signed off on the paperwork and waited for the mechanic to walk out of earshot. Then he had an expression of surprise and worry.
“What do you mean? Was it stolen or something?” Hebu and Quayl nodded.
Quayl sighed deeply. “Yeah... There’s no way anyone can find it in a place like this, so we’re cutting our losses and moving out. We delivered the letter so our business is done anyway. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Hebu stepped up. “I have business here.”
Junne cocked an eyebrow. “You? Here?”
“Namina do have friends. I’m hesitant to ask but it seems that we have time.” She said and shrugged.
Junne agreed. “We do, our docking permit is valid for another 6 hours. Be back by then or we’re leaving without you.” It wasn’t meant to be a threat, but it sounded like one, and Hebu understood the implications.
“I would expect nothing less. I acknowledge and I will return before then.”
Junne and Quayl nodded, but Hebu didn’t see, she had turned to make haste for what she needed to do.
----------------------------------------
Hebu approached a recessed door down a small flight of stairs. It was in an alley that had very little traffic since the end was a dead end and trash cans full of refuse and dumpsters full of much worse. The light above the door was old and orange, and the heavy door was seemingly bolted to the wall with no sign of opening from the outside. It was simply a plate of ship armor. A makeshift slide window opened and a dimly visible pair of eyes peaked through, beyond them sat only darkness. “State your business.” The whisperer spoke.
Hebu gave him the secret word. “Anguillileo.” She said, reciting the name of her homeworld. The sliding window closed with a scraping force. The door opened, but Hebu did not enter into the darkness inside. She waited, and after a few seconds, the door closed. The area she stood upon shifted and began to rise, and a hatch opened above her. She stepped off of it and again waited. The pillar that pushed the platform upward eventually showed two pegs on either side of it. There was only enough space for one, anyone else would not enter. She climbed on and finally descended into the final darkness that was her destination. It was all an elaborate deterrent, a three-point security measure that she knew how to pass.
The darkness held nothing, but when Hebu raised a glowing finger high, spare orbs spread along the hallway’s ceiling and walls illuminated. It showed her the path forward and she followed.
She shortly came to a small bar room that was an old speakeasy for Ice Wheat from long before the universally wide legalization. It was still that, only Ice Wheat was readily available, and had a much higher potency legally allowed. Tables were strewn about with a single aisle up the middle to a booth concealed by curtains. Hebu wasn’t interested in what was behind those curtains, at least not yet. Instead, she went aside from the bar room to the bar itself to ask for a drink. The hooded figures kept their eyes on her, silently wondering while strange alien music played over dismal speakers not meant for the rich tones of flutes and kalimbas. Every person in the room was female.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
She sat on an old stool while a female penguin asked Hebu a simple question. “What’s your bread?”
“One cracker please, and a sugar water.” Hebu replied.
“Fine choice, a stoned wheat thin.” The penguin obliged.
A single buttery round lightly salty cracker was set on a decorative napkin ornamented with a tight frilling around the sides. The presentation was exquisite, but that was lost on Hebu. She took the cracker and munched it in a single bite, she had business to attend to, but to not order something from the bar in this place would be seen as rude. She slid a long-forgotten monetary credit on the counter, and the penguin bartender took it, bit it, and put it in a secure drawer. The penguin poured the sugar water from the tap into a tall glass. She took it and drank a swig to wash the cracker down, pairing the sweet with the salty.
A teal-hooded figure approached her when her drink was nearly gone. The figure stood before her, then raised a finger and crooked it for her to follow. Hebu downed her drink and left the glass behind for the penguin to take and clean. She followed the figure through the tables and by many other cloaked figures up to the central stage and the backroom concealed by the curtains. Her guide stayed out of her business and Hebu continued inside. It was dark, but the seating around its border was noticeable in the circular room. There was one last figure that sat at the far end, someone twice her size, and twice as powerful.
Hebu raised two fingers and let the electricity arc between them show what she was. The figure pulled her hood back, exposing her identity without the need to show her power. She, too, was a Namina. “What brings you here, young one?”
Hebu sat next to the big Namina matriarch to show fellowship and friendship. To any outsider, it would look like they would be friends sitting in a booth together, showing no sign of superiority or rank. It was customary among the rogue Namina that rank and class were meant for their controllers and their leaders; their oppressors and not the oppressed.
“Crone Yijoti, how are you?” Hebu asked.
“Almost my eighth creation date, it’s next week,” Yijoti informed.
Hebu placed a hand on hers. “Happy early creation day. Do you have any wishes?”
“Well, I wish to avoid death.” The old crone chuckled and placed an arm around Hebu to pull her in closer. “So what brings you in to see an old lady today?”
“There was a thief. They stole a nummus from me and my crew.” Hebu said sadly. “I have failed to protect our mission. We need all the divinity we can get for what will come.”
“Yes,” Yijoti said. “I have already heard of your mission.”
“So you know the dangers?” Hebu said, hanging her head.
Yijoti did the same. “You wish not to lose your crew. That is admirable.”
I have grown a connection to them each, and for one I think I love.” She didn’t go into it any further. She felt like it would be taboo, but nobody present would know for sure. “It’s a long story, one that succeeds my lifetime into that of before I have been created.
Yijoti nodded. “We are each of that kind of Namina. You are blessed with a conscience. You are blessed with your own individual divinity.”
“Sometimes I hate it, I hate myself.” Hebu stood, and the look on her face was evident of that, and there was indeed a short history Yijoti could sense.
“Sit, be comfortable, and still your heart. Don’t fire it out of a cannon, that’s not what we do here.”
Hebu sat and her feelings found no home but the hollow and fleeting air accompanied but a gentle sigh. “I need information.”
“Indeed. I can tell you where to find your thief.” Yijoti smiled. “You can find her in the empty water tower atop the memorial building in the Soinou district.”
“Thank you.” Hebu took a step to leave but stopped to ask. “How do you know where they are?”
The old crone chuckled. “Well, I can feel the electrical current bouncing off the saltosphere, that then goes to anyone with a high charge, and then it follows that line back to the saltosphere, then when I tap into it, I can-”
“Ugh! Forget I asked!” Hebu blurted out. She left a little frustrated, but she at least knew where her mark was.
----------------------------------------
The Soinou district, where does its description even begin? It was the greasiest sector, and everyone there rarely talked outside their even more quiet homes. It was where the assassins and thieves went to die. Often, they would starve and be so poor that it was advised to take what little food they had and to feed others by placing the moldy bread or browning vegetables in a bag and tossed into the street, and that was called community service. The law enforcement didn’t come there, they thought it was punishment enough for people to exist here. There were trickles of water supplied as most of it was siphoned away from the neighborhood to supply better and more fortunate places. It was separated on three sides by a canal of the foulest water known in all of the planetary alliances.
Hebu crossed into this hell and kept her powers at the very edge of use, and any more would display arcs of electricity. She found the memorial building and saw that it had its windows smashed and boarded up. There were likely squatters inside, perhaps a family. She entered the narrowest alley beside it and saw a scaffolding and ladder network to get to the rooftop. There was a weathered and leathered man standing in the alley below the scaffolding. He was smoking a cigarette, trying to keep the ember from glowing too brightly, it would be dark soon, and Hebu was aware of the time and her time limit. She knew Junne would leave her behind, but as for Quayl? She didn’t know.
“Hold it.” The man rasped out. “I’ve been… tasked with guarding this scaffold.” In other words, he was paid but didn’t wish to expose that to the listening walls and windows.
Hebu pulled a large loaf of clean bread in a bag from her cloak. “For you,” She said and took a portion from its end.
“I thank you.” He said. Stuffing some of it into his dry mouth.
Hebu took the rest of the bread loaf, tied it into its bag, and threw it far into the street behind her. Children emerged to come forward. They didn’t fight over it, but took pieces each and divided it, then brought a portion back to their mothers and fathers. To Soinou, the children always had the highest chance to escape the slum. Their parents are sometimes too far gone in sickness to be of any use to the outside world.
The scaffold was no obstacle for Hebu. She skillfully hopped and leaped up from platform to platform in short order, and was at the top, three floors high, and she was onto the flat roof with old machinery and devices. There was an abandoned water tank, large enough for a single person to live inside. The surrounding area made for a great hideout, nobody ever came to Soinou anyway.
Hebu ducked to the right when the hatch on top of the tank came open. She concealed herself behind an old air conditioner and peeked around the next corner at the tank. She didn’t see the thief and checked the other side as well to be sure. Still, she saw nobody.
“So, you’ve found me.” A female voice came from above. Hebu rolled from the machine and away from her attacker, but from the top of the air conditioner, the thief didn’t move an inch. If she wanted to, Hebu would be hurt, if not dead. “You’ve had help, didn’t you?”
“So I did.” Hebu shot a bolt of her electricity at the cloaked woman. The bolt was deflected or absorbed in a force field, and the thief was unhurt. Then, she pulled two daggers from the darkness in her sleeves. They were both an assassin’s blades. Hebu knew she was in trouble and pulled her own knives from her sleeves, two Haladie Knives with one in each hand, or what can be described as a knife handle with a dagger’s blade off each end, or a double-dagger. She took a warrior stance and prepared for combat. The assassin leaped at Hebu, and she counter-leaped unexpectedly in aggression. They collided in mid-air, swinging to potentially slash their opponent. Upon landing, Hebu kicked the ankle of the assassin, causing her to fall to her side with no leg to land on. Hebu was grappled and was pulled with her to the ground, landing flat on her back, then springing up like she had bounced. Before landing upside down, Hebu fired a bolt from her hand and the assassin dodged it, but before the next volley of attacks could come, one of Hebu’s knives struck the back of the assassin. Hebu was still 15 feet before her, and in the bolt of electricity, she shot, one of her knives was hidden within. Once beyond the assassin’s backside, she pulled it to her magnetically to pierce her target in the back.
The assassin stopped, knowing she was defeated, and more humiliating, out-smarted. “You’re good.” The assassin said. She lowered her hood and exposed her identity. She, too, was Namina.
“You’re-”
“Yes, I am. I am like you, I have a good soul and a good voice in my head.” Hebu stepped forward, and the Namina assassin reached behind her to pull Hebu’s knife from her back. She held it out for her. She nearly collapsed but Hebu caught her. “I am Leajo. I’ve been sent to eliminate a target. I don’t care about the bounty, I had plans to give it to Soinou and help these people.” She coughed blood.
“By nature’s way, what have I done? I am so sorry!” Hebu cried out.
“Don’t be, the one I was after is called Gem. She created the virus that destroyed our entire communications system. Most of us are lost across the ocean. Most of us don’t even have the computing power to navigate the stars.”
Hebu kneeled to the slowly crumbling assassin. “Leajo, Gem is part of my crew. She is a friend.”
Leajo fell even closer to the ground. “I know, I stopped hunting her as soon as I found out from Yijoti, then came here immediately. She orchestrated all of this. She knows of the plan to… to destroy… Xibalba.”
“I am aware, and we will likely perish. Xibalba is an impenetrable fortress, it’s the place of terror, the underworld as they say.” Hebu was concerned. “Is there a way into Xibalba that you know of, that Yivoti knows of?”
Leajo seemed to have stabilized while hunched over herself. “Yes. Yijoti told me of a way.” She coughed once more. “And I believe this belongs to you.” She presented the nummus that she had stolen for Hebu to take. “I won’t be needing it much longer. I will die here, and return to Xibalba to be recreated. I can only hope I remember all of this. It’s a slim chance, but maybe I can provide safe travel onto the world.” Leajo was fading fast having stated her fate. Her energy felt weaker by the second, and her voice straining.
“Keep it,” Hebu said, and pushed her hand back to her, into her head where the nummus sank into her mind. “Use it to remain yourself. You need it more than we do. We will find others.” Leajo was grateful, a shaking smile lightened her dying face.
“Thank y-” Before she could finish her gratitude, her life expired. Hebu looked up and saw her soul. She was a human man and looked like a law enforcer. Hebu knew he would keep to their duty. The soul tipped his hat to her and took a decisive leap into the ether, seemingly towards the direction of Xibalba to grant the Aerios and its crew access. Hebu took the two daggers Leajo wielded and hoped to one day return them to her.
----------------------------------------
The sight of the Aerios felt different to Hebu. She made it back to the ship on time by a minute according to Junne. The cargo bay door closed behind her and the ramp closed the world behind her, a world she wanted to leave behind. She hoped that Yijoti would live even longer, possibly forever, and Leajo would complete her mission. She hoped the Aerios would find its way into Xibalba safely, and hoped Gem would remain safe as well. There was much that was different now, much of it only known to Hebu.
Gem smirked at Hebu, she was up to her intuitive wiles once again. “Hello Hebu, hello more secrets.” She asked.
“You don’t want to know, but if you go anywhere, don’t go alone. There’s an enormous bounty on your head.” Hebu stated.
Gem was shocked, but not as surprised as she should be. “That makes sense.” For the moment, the admission of this sufficed to Gem’s curiosity and she didn’t press for more information. They left the cargo bay once the door closed and locked. The Aerios hovered above the shoddy landing pad to sail into cleaner waters.