Sophia crossed her arms as she traversed the grungy street of the Ring, keeping her head low but her eyes peeled for any sign of Jenny McClain. She felt like she was repeating history, it was like she was on an endless loop of tracking down her ex-kidnapper and begging for help. The girl worried that perhaps she had exceeded her limit, but her friend was in danger, she had to keep moving.
Her legs felt tired under the weight of herself, it had been a long day. Sophia hadn’t seen her own sun in months, but it was like her body remembered that now would be the time when it would sink below the horizon- beckoning her to rest. Her fingers tightened around her arms; she had forgotten how much she missed the sun. It’s funny the things you forget when stranded in space, it’s like life suddenly becomes an afterthought in the backdrop of adventure. Homesick or not, Sophia kept going.
Jenny McClain was walking down a particularly vacant stretch of the Ring, her three crew members in tow. There was a tension between them that hadn’t been there when they had arrived, the group walked more separately now than usual. “Boss.” Bleg began. “Look, you know how it is… we didn’t…”
The pirate captain raised a metal arm to stop him, her face not meeting his under her giant-brimmed hat. “Don’t explain yourself, I’d be a fool to think that any of ya would have any loyalty.”
The three men exchanged glances, some of shame and some of indignation. “You saw how much money the scraper had!” Qleg spoke up. “You would have done the same in our shoes!”
“You wouldn’t catch me with the likes of Corpus Rex even if he owned all the cred in the world!” Jenny spat bluntly. “But there’s always a price for integrity, I see. Ain’t like we gotta worry about that now anymore, aye?”
Gleg snickered. “Ain’t ever seen a scraper get offed so quickly!”
Bleg agreed with a chuckle. “Talked a pretty big game, didn’t he? Oy, what’s that old expression? The bigger they are the harder they splatter?”
Qleg clicked his tung and shook his head. “Shame that Vander got outta the jam though, would’ve loved to see ol’ oily shit himself when that ticket cleared!”
Suddenly Jenny stopped in her tracks, and the three men quickly followed her lead. “What’s up boss?” Asked Gleg, hand reaching for his weapon.
A moment passed as the pirate captain took a minute to concentrate. Her shoulders sank and her body relaxed, “it’s nothin.’”
“What? Are ya sure?”
“I said it’s nothin’.” She repeated. “Now, go on ahead of me, you know what we need to do.”
Qleg was curious. “What are you doing?”
Jenny turned and gave him an annoyed look, “just talkin’ to a stray.”
Sophia finally caught a glimpse of the people she was trying to find, although it seemed that they saw her first. She watched as the three little green men walked away, leaving Jenny behind with her hands resting on her hips watching her as she approached. Sophia figured that if this had been a western, now would have been the part where the two had a standoff and a tension-filled shootout. Instead, the girl simply walked up to the woman, looking up into her cold metallic eyes. “I need you to answer some questions.”
“What, no bribe this time?” Jenny cracked a smile. “Lose your touch already, little dog?”
“Cut the shit, Jenny.” Sophia blurted. “I’m not here to play games, I’m here to get answers, I don’t have time for bargains anymore!”
The pirate raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think I’m gonna cooperate?”
“You’re still standing here, aren’t you?” The girl was firm in her stance.
“Could mean that I’m about to kill you, did ya think of that?”
“Well then, if you are then stop wasting my time.” Sophia raised her arms, opening herself up for a clear line of attack. “Well?”
The pirate captain held her place for a moment, then smiled. “You’ve got nerve kid; I’ll give you that.”
Sophia lowered her arms, “so, I guess that means your gonna answer my questions then.”
“Fine, but I’m gonna ask some of my own.” The pirate spoke. “One for one, deal?”
Despite her not being here to bargain, Sophia nodded her head. “Fine.”
The captain went first. “Where are ya from?”
Sophia heard Alex’s voice inside her head telling her to keep a low profile, but she was done playing pretend. “Earth.”
“Really? How did you…”
“My turn!” Sophia interjected. “You work for Vander, why?”
“Everyone works for Vander.” Jenny crossed her arms, clearly, this fact was a begrudging one. “His father owns the Ring, he’s the one who pays the Galactic Patrol to look the other way, making a bad impression with him gets ya blacklisted from gigs around here.” The captain tilted her metal head. “How’d you get all the way out here from that scrap of rock?”
“Same way we got here, we got abducted by aliens.” Sophia marveled at the fact that she was able to say that sentence honestly. “What was that shipment you got for Extemorst? Looked important.”
Jenny eyed the girl as she walked over to a building. An old crate had been sat out and she took the opportunity to have a seat. She leaned her head back against the dirty wall with a soft clink noise, her hat tilting upward. “Like I said before, snooping in on people’s private business is a good way to find yourself in a ditch, little dog.”
The little dog walked over and leaned her back against the wall. “Seems like everything gets you killed in these parts.”
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“All the more reason to watch yourself!” Jenny commented. “The shipment was a supply of Splindine that had been stolen from Vander’s father, he told his kid to get someone to steal it back for him, and he got me.”
“Splindine? What’s…”
“No!” Jenny raised a half-hearted finger. “My turn. Those other kids that you tag along with, they your crew?”
Sophia scoffed at the suggestion. “Um no, we aren’t a crew.”
“You seem like a crew to me.” The pirate captain leaned forward, eyeing the girl with the glare of years of experience. “A band of low-level misfits stuck together in a worthless ship and way out of their depth? Darling if that ain’t a crew then I don’t know what is!”
The girl shook her head as if to shake away the notion. “It’s not like that… we’re… we’re just a group of friends, that’s all.”
Jenny raised her hands, “you’d know better than me… captain.”
“Captain?” Sophia’s eyes went wide. “What are you even saying?”
The metal eyes of Jenny McClain glistened in the dim light. “Takes one to know one, I can smell it on you! I saw the way you handled yourself in my ship and back at the cantina, those boys would be dust without you around.”
The girl in green scoffed, “you really think you have me pegged, huh?” She gritted her teeth, she hated when people analyzed her, it was like someone had crawled beneath her skin and was wiggling around in her secrets. “What makes you so sure?”
The pirate raised a finger and shook it slyly, “still my turn.” Jenny reached into her pocket and retrieved a long brown cylinder. Her other hand flipped around into its gun form and then, with the grace of a drunk ballerina, she fired her weapon upward and through the end of the strange object. Sophia watched as her conversation partner put her newly lit cigar to her mouth, breathed deeply, and then let out a large puff of purple smoke. “That crew of yours, do ya care about them?”
Sophia narrowed her eyes, what sort of question was that? “Yeah, yeah, I do. Why are you…” The girl remembered herself, she was supposed to be getting to the bottom of a murder and not whatever this was. “Splindine, what is it, and why would Vander’s father want it?”
“It’s a… rare material, I should say.” Jenny took another hit of her cigar, breathing out another cloud of purple that floated softly into the nebula above them. “Splindine is found in the deep core of ice planets, so far deep that you’d never get to it unless something major happened. Vander said the supply was found floating in space before it was stolen, whether you choose to believe that is up to you.” Sophia shot her a look, beckoning her to elaborate. “It’s a drug, best in the whole universe from what I’ve heard. It’s also the only drug that doubles as rocket fuel, figures, the two most expensive things combined into one- a rich man’s dream!” Now it was her turn again. “Do you think your friends care about you?”
The girl was taken aback a bit, she was expecting a different line of questioning coming from Jenny, not all this personal shit. She thought about her friends and how they treated her, and the answer was clear. “Even though they make me want to kick their teeth in sometimes, yeah, I’d say they do.”
Suddenly the pirate captain went solemn, her mechanical eyes dimming as she flicked off some ash from her cigar. “Then you’re setting yourself up for failure, little dog. Care is a powerful thing around here; it makes you who you are and breaks you. That crew of yours, it ain’t gonna last and you know it! You ain’t gonna be able to jump in front of guns forever, one day you will lose them, and it will break you to your very core. You should ditch ‘em and save yourself the trouble.” Her head tilted back to look at the direction her crew had gone, then sighed. “But you wouldn’t know anything about loss, now would ya.”
Something twitched inside of Sophia, something deep down in her heart. Her lip quivered, and memories started to rush back, the ones she had tried so hard to put behind her. She needed to change the subject, “Your crew, what happened to them?”
“Sent them to do a task, they’ll be back sooner than later.” Jenny looked down at her feet, how far had she walked in those combat boots?
“Not that crew.” Sophia corrected. “Your first one, the one that Corpus was yelling about in the cantina, where are they now? Did they get killed or…”
Jenny’s metal eyes flicked back to the girl with the speed of a gunshot, “why you askin’ that?” The pirate stood up, her somber mood had instantly been depleted and replaced with cold, hard defensiveness.
Sophia took a step back. “Damn, I was just asking!”
“Why!” Jenny grabbed the girl by the collar of her green sweater and hoisted her in the air. The pirate pressed her gun hand against the side of Sophia’s head, making it very easy for her to hear the sound of it charging up.
The dangling girl looked into the face of the pirate captain, the woman who she had just been talking to was gone- someone else was here now. Someone scarred, someone dangerous, someone who would pull the trigger without a second thought. “Look I’m sorry!” She shouted as if trying to break through to the person who had been there only seconds ago. “I wanted to know why you would kill Corpus, alright! I saw how you reacted when he brought it up… I needed to know!”
The gun pressed deeper into her head; the answer hadn’t soothed over anything. “You mention them one more fuckin’ time and I will blow your head clean off your shoulders and I don’t give a damn about the rules!”
“I’m sorry, alright!” The girl closed her eyes, bracing herself for whatever would happen next. “I won’t mention them again, I swear!”
Sophia looked deep into Jenny’s face, she had never noticed the number of scars and dents plastered along it. It was like seeing the most serene landscape of your life, only to notice the storm clouds rolling in. There was a bitter piece of silence as she continued to dangle above the street, what happened now was all in Jenny’s hands- quite literally.
“We’re done.” The pirate finally spoke, tossing the girl away like a rag doll. Sophia landed on her back, the cool hard ground hitting her like a ton of bricks. It sent ripples down her body like someone had thrown a stone in a lake. Jenny turned on her heel and started to march away, her footsteps filled with purpose and stride. “If you’re smart you won’t try and talk with me again, that’s your final warning, little dog.”
The Ring felt crusty and grimy against Sophia’s skin as she struggled to pick herself up. With a grunt she managed to pull herself to her feet, Jenny was already far ahead of her down the street. “You’re wrong!” She called out.
The pirate stopped but did not turn around. “About what?”
“I do know what loss is, believe me, I do!” The girl began. “So don’t act like I can’t understand you, because you’re as plain as day to me.”
Jenny reached a metal hand up to her face, her fingers tenderly grazing across an old scar underneath her cheek. “What are you trying to do?”
“I’m trying to make sure that I don’t have to feel that loss ever again!” She looked down at her feet and gritted her teeth. “Just let me ask you one final question, one more and I’m gone forever.”
A humble quiet filled the air as the pirate processed her words. Finally, like a jury returning from deliberations, the captain turned back. The angry, vengeful person had faded away, and the Jenny that Sophia had known returned. “You can ask all ya want, don’t mean I’m gonna answer.”
Sophia took a deep breath, here goes nothing. “Did you kill Corpus Rex?”
The pair locked eyes, Sophia’s heartbeat in her chest. She didn’t know what she would do if the pirate said yes, but then again, she really didn’t know what she would do if she said no either. Jenny looked at the girl, she couldn’t help but admit how much the little dog reminded her of herself. She missed being that young, she missed not living the life she had lived.
In the drab dreary light of the Ring, the metal woman turned around and started walking away. “Good luck, little dog.” Was her only response as her boots clicked across the ground as she disappeared from view.
The girl in green was alone again once more, the silence had never been so deafening. Sophia knew that she wouldn’t get an answer, nothing in her life was ever that easy. All she knew now was that somewhere, on this godforsaken street, one of her friends was hours away from getting killed and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She also knew that somewhere else the real killer was walking around free, and it was very possible that she had just spoken with them. Her face went red as she shoved her hands over of her mouth and screamed as hard as she could.