Everyone stood on the bridge staring at the void of space.
“There’s nothing here.” Jack said, rechecking the scanner.
“Even if there is, we can’t land without navigation systems.” Vinn said trying to find any sign of anything on his panel.
"That’s why I’m flying a shuttle with Nicole and Jack. I need someone guiding my positions."
“In reference to what? Jack asked, staring at the nothing.
“Nobody else may see it, but we’re staring at a giant blue and pink moon in a binary system. Check the gravity buffers.”
“Gravity buffers do show something pulling on us, but it could be anything, black holes, antimatter cluster, naked singularity. You’re telling me you see a planet in that viewscreen.”
“Taking up the entire viewscreen," Gizzy said, staring at it, taking off her glasses and seeing the nothing they all saw. Nicole dilated her eyes fully black and looked like she was in a trance.
“There is something there. I can…see where it’s not?” She said cryptically. "Look at the black void. You can’t see a circle that’s just slightly blacker?”
“See why I’m bringing her? And Jack is best tactical decision.”
...
The 3 of them sat in the shuttle, flying cautiously as Gizzy navigated using the glasses.
“We’re just drifting in space. Even the shuttle’s gravity buffers aren’t detecting anything.” Said Jack as they calmly and silently moved into the black space. It was like any other patch of space. With no warning, everything went bright blue. Sensors went wild and the shuttle took a dive. Jack braced and sat in shock as an entire moon appeared in front of him and approaching fast.
“Coming in too hot, pull up.”
“I can’t, gravity buffers went out of whack. They didn’t kick in till now, and I was flying by feel. Everyone grab a parachute, we may have to bail at the last minute if I can’t pull out of this dive.”
“I’ve never jumped out of anything before.” Nicole said, almost yelling.
“Chute opens automatically if you reach the low deck.” Jack said frantically helping her get bucked into one and then his own. “Gizzy, get a chute on.”
“If I let go we freespin and anyone jumping could get pulled into the thrusters or hacked by a wing.” She said holding out one hand. “Just hand me one and go.” She ordered. Jack grabbed Nicole and handed Gizzy a parachute, pushing her to the rear exit. Gizzy yanked the controls, stalling out level for a moment as Jack jumped and took Nicole with him, hanging onto her strap. Gizzy took a deep breath and let go of the controls, letting the craft free-spin as she pushed off and held the chute tight, balling up and narrowly missing the wing as the shuttle rocketed towards the ground.
Jack lost his grip as a crosswind pulled Nicole another direction.
“Jack to Vicki, we took a free dive, we’re separated, do you copy?” He hollered into the com to no answer.
…
Vinn and Vicki stared at the viewscreen at empty space.
“They’re just…gone. No radar readings, no visuals, no nothing. They just stopped existing.” Vinn said, questioning his eyes.
“They have to be there, they can’t just disappear. Follow them!” She yelled.
“Trying, triangulating their last location, moving the ship around backwards.” He said.
“WHY!?” She said “We’re losing time why are we backing into this?”
“Because if they got sucked into some weird gravity well, we need thrusters pointing us UP or we crash.” Suddenly, the ship shuttered and they both took a hard fall like they hit something solid.
“See?” Vinn yelled, grabbing the controls and hitting the thrusters full power, slowing their drop but, not ending it.
…
Nicole untangled her cords, taking off her helmet and squinting up at the bright blue sky, as her ship made a very overpowered reverse entry. It was surrounded in fire, like a meteorite entering atmosphere.
The roar of the engines slowing the ship down as she watched in horror.
“Jack, Gizzy, Vinn anyone?” she asked. There was a terrifying silence, followed by the sound of a distant rumble, like that of a hard landing or a soft crash.
…
Gizzy smelled brimstone. She removed her goggles while keeping her mask on. She stared at the dark red landscape, with the red sun rising, and the blue one setting. The light highlighted the hilly hellscape covered in pools and rivers of lava.
“This is Gizzy, anyone else land in fucking Mordor?” She asked, ash wafting her way.
“Gizzy? This is Jack. We landed in very different areas. I got a hazy marshland. Any word on Nicole?”
“I heard her yell for someone, she sounded alive and coherent, but she didn’t hear my reply. Her com must be down. Did you see the fireball?”
“Seen it, felt it, almost got hit by it. Tell me that wasn’t the Medusa.”
“I think it may have been. That didn’t hit like a direct crash, so someone slowed the impact, but they may have landed rough. It wasn’t a clean landing if that was the ship. I got zero coms on the ship. Jack…you there? Fuck. Now I got nothing.” She spotted what looked like city lights in the direction of the ship landing, and began her solo journey across the landscape.
…
Nicole trudged through the sand, swinging her arms and pouting. Suddenly her coms lit up.
“Hello?”
“Nicole, you’re alive, thank god.” Vinn said.
“Vinn, you’re okay? Is Vicki alive?”
”Were fine, we landed hard, but I think she can still take off. These ships are apparently indestructible. The crater it left is unreal, and thankfully the city we hit seems to have no life signs and was ruined BEFORE we rammed through the center of it. Boy it’s nasty here. Dark, cloudy, smog filled. It’s like a horror game.”
“Well wherever I landed is kinda nice, it’s just too damn hot. I’m in a desert. I got blue skies and giant mushroom cauliflowers I may be seeking shade under at some point. White sand dunes, some little puffball plants. It’s pretty dead here but brighter.”
…
Jack peered at a sunset and some jagged terrain, a river and an overall beige hue. He made his way to the top of the mountain peak he landed on and, using his binoculars, he surveyed the land.
“If anyone can hear me, this planet has some extreme environment shifts, depending on the 2 suns alignment and latitude.” He said as he spotted something moving. A rather huge, hulking purple beast, lumbering on 6 sturdy legs, Spikes of what looked like bone protruded from its skin and the same bonelike ridge running from the nape of the neck to its nose. A grin of yellow teeth where its mouth should’ve been. It’s head looked like a skull with all the skin and muscle ripped off. As Jack watched, he realized that it was probably looking around for food. A row of 3 black eyes scanned around and it stopped, sniffing the air and turning towards Jack.
“Please be an herbivore.” He prayed as the beast snarled and exhaled, like a silent yawn, exposing 4 rows of horrendous teeth. He dropped and readied his rifle, heavy sniper configuration. He racked a round in and steadied his shot.
The beast began slowly accelerating into a sprint. He fired a warning shot at it’s feet, and it didn’t give a single shit. His second round was a direct headshot, hitting with a solid clank and jarring the animal a little.
“Oh you’re a problem.” Jack said, realizing the round that should have split an engine block at 2000 yards just seemed to annoy it, and take a small chip from the exposed skull bone. He adjusted and aimed for the purple meat of the shoulder, sending another round and again, jarring the beast slightly. Jack noticed the pattern and decided to run for it. The gun was no match for its armor.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
”Maybe I’m faster than it on foot…”
…
Gizzy took a step, stumbling slightly, noticing her arm was bleeding. She heard the sound of a gunshot and immediately turned towards it, shouldering her rifle, spotting something a few hundred yards back and sending a burst of 5 rounds in its direction. It darted for cover.
“Little to the left, asshole.” She shouted.
“To the right.” Said a female voice.
“Yeah, well, I was hoping you’d believe my bluff and give me a chance to drop your ass. Who are you?” Gizzy asked.
“You know who I am, don’t act like you don’t.”
“Voice doesn’t ring any bells, but I have a lot of enemies. I also have a lot of ammo in this thing and judging by that little love tap, I got heavier firepower. Tell me who you are and drop the rifle, and I might not kill you.” Gizzy said.
“Lower that cannon and maybe we can talk.” She said. Gizzy lowered the barrel and prepped her muscled to raise it quickly.
From the rocky cover stepped a dark grey cloaked figure in a silver mask, heavy carved and ornate with a skull theme, silvery grey eyes peering out, and heat frizzled grey hair. She lifted her arms and presented with a cross-legged bow. “You don’t look as honored as you should be.” Said the figure.
“Lady I don’t even know who the hell you are, but you shot me, so you owe me an apology and I owe you an ass beating. Beyond that is yet to be determined. If you’re me from another time line this ends now, and if you’re Jenny…I fucking swear.”
“You don’t know who I am. You must just be one of his paid helpers.”
“I don’t work for anyone, so you got the wrong damn picture here. So you wanna just start making sense?” Gizzy said.“Before I just kill you and figure it out from the loot and context clues?”
“Either he doesn’t tell you much or you think I’m stupid enough to believe it. You work for Jack, don’t you?”
“Okay now we’re getting somewhere, but you’re still off your aim. Jack works for ME, and I’m not here for you.”
“Pure coincidence then, that you’re after a totally different bounty way out here in the nowhere, and you just happened to hire Jack for the mission?” she chuckled. “I’m not going back to Amenthis alive, and I doubt Jack wants me dead. So we have a problem.”
“No YOU have a problem. Because if you pulled that shit with Jack, he would have killed you before you took cover. He’s a hell of a lot better shot than I am. And a hell of a lot better shot than you, apparently.”
“You think I don’t know where he got it from? That shot wasn’t meant to kill you, it was meant to wound you. If I wanted you dead, from 2000 years, you would be. I hit my mark, Axillary nerve in the right arm. Threaded between the bone and artery. That was supposed to get your attention and deaden your shooting arm. So why exactly can you even lift that arm?”
“Oh I’m just one tough cookie. I assure you, I’m full of surprises, so unless you have a bulletproof eye socket, you have 3 seconds to tell me who you are to Jack.”
“I’m his dear old mother. Now you certainly wouldn’t wanna have to explain that to him, would you?” She said, slowly circling.
“Oh bullshit. Jack’s Mother and Father died in Amenthis. A Surgeon named Cachous took them out in their sleep and left Jack in his crib. Nobody expects a child on Amenthis, let alone looks to tie loose ends.”
“Cacious? That b-budget hack of a surgeon took down the two best in the industry and didn’t check the house for witnesses? Jack was only 2, in his room playing. I never wanted to be a mom, I never wanted to retire from surgery, but the old Roman insisted, and he had a charm to him, now didn’t he? Sterile my ass, nobody in Amenthis is supposed to be able to get pregnant, so imagine my surprise when I end up at the peak of my killing potential, retiring with the famous Roman, and just as the itch for me to be something more was too much to deny, I ended up with a baby. Lady you don’t abandon Roman Blue, especially leaving him with a child he never planned for. He would have hunted me down and buried me. I just couldn’t bare to kill Jack. He was just a boy. His father on the other hand…pulling the trigger was easier than I thought it would be. You know I don’t regret killing Roman, I just feel terrible for leaving Jack all alone.” She sighed.
“Bitch, I practically raised that kid. You left a 2 year old boy alone on a prison planet, you practically killed him yourself. The fact that he survived to 16 was a miracle.”
“Son of the Roman, He has his father’s resilience.”
“And you left him there in that hell without a parent, without a father who loved him, and without a snowballs chance in Amenthis he could survive. Don’t act like you knew he would get taken in by someone and miraculously make it. You left him to die, you just lacked the guts to shoot him yourself.”
“Well, I may be a terrible mother but he turned out just fine.”
“You don’t get to tell me if he’s fine. You weren’t there, I was. I passed him off to foster care until they threatened to send him back, and then I trained him to kill people for me. I’m not even human, I’ve eaten his kind before and somehow I’m still closer to a mother than you ever were to Jack. You think he’s here to find you? To bring you back, to finally meet mommy dearest? We’re here for a key, following a riddle that a dead robot told me before I sent it to robot hell. The only reason I can think of that you’d be here when we crash-landed, is that fate wanted me to realize as much of a piss poor mother as I was to Jack, compared to his own blood mother, I didn’t do half bad.”
“So…” She said. “What’s the next move?”
“The next move is yours. The only one of us with a shred of honor here is me and by my word, if you toss that gun, I won’t shoot you unless you try to pick one back up. So you can either pull the bolt, pitch it my way and toss the rifle aside, I can give you a light beating and move on with my life, or you can see which of us is faster on the draw, because honey you’re a better shot than me at range but this close with a narrow scope, I have the edge. You pick. Hole in the face or a broken nose. You know damn good and well which one is the better option. Nobody’s taking you to Amenthis, nobody knows you’re here but me, and if you lift that gun, I’ll gladly kill you and never tell Jack we met. How much do you enjoy breathing?” Gizzy asked, eye glowing blue.
…
Nicole huddled under a cauliflower tree, resting and feeling very alone. She felt a tremble in the ground and the sand shift. She drew her gun, fumbling to get the stock extended and shouldered.
“I thought this day couldn’t get worse. What now?” She asked, looking around for what was shaking it. She kept her back to the tree trunk, rotating around and seeing nothing but sand and small bushes. The roots of the tree looked rather robust, if anything big was under the sand, she should be safe near the trunk. And she was ready to fire. Suddenly the sand began to sink, revealing more roots as she made the choice to try and climb. Without warning, the entire cauliflower tree swung sideways, uprooting and throwing her and her gun rolling into the sand. She grabbed the gun and rolled over to shoot whatever was about to surface, but not expecting the tree itself to be surfacing.
From the sand rose a behemoth of a creature, purple and 6-eyed, crustacean-like in form, with treelike antler atop its head. It shook side to side as the fluffy cobwebs flew from the antler like cotton balls, littering the ground with the smaller bushes she noticed earlier.
She froze in shock, noticing the dozens of “trees” scattered across the desert wasteland, knowing each one of them was a sleeping giant.
“Fuck.” She huffed, readying her gun and standing her ground. It peered at her, hunkering down and stamping as if to assert dominance.
“Don’t do it. Please. I don’t want to shoot you. You’re just a critter, and I won’t have any choice. Let me go, and I won’t hurt you. We don’t mean your kind any harm. Nobody deserves to die here.” She said softly.
…
“DIE YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Yelled Jack, unleashing a volley of gunfire at the purple beast ramming it’s head into the crevice he was hiding in. The recoil pushed him backwards as he dumped an insane amount of rounds into it, suddenly thinking next time he would bring the grenade launcher. The beast backed away waiting for Jack, as he did a quick mag swap to his spare full one. He sighed with widened eyes, realizing the thing just ate about 40 armor piercing sniper rounds and didn’t seem impressed. He hit his com and Vinn responded.
“Vinn, I need air support if you can manage. I’m cornered in a cave and there’s a satanic armored buffalo knocking on the door wanting in. Can you get a shuttle craft to this location and just rain grenade rounds or something? I’ve emptied 40 rounds into this bull and he’s just annoyed.” he asked.
“Dude, switch to the 7mm AP sniper upper.” Vinn suggested.
“That WAS the 7mm AP upper.”
“Okay we’re all carrying the grenade launchers from now on, I’m sending the shuttle. Can you last 40 minutes?” he asked.
“That depends on if that rock opening can last 39 minutes. If you lose my signal it means I went spelunking, and the answer to that question was no.”
…
Vicki looked concerned as Vinn scrambled to the shuttle bay and began remote launching their second and now ONLY shuttle.
“Vinn, I heard Jack’s voice on the com. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, super, I’m just doing an Evac on his position.”
“I thought we had orders to get the ship running first unless someone gave an emergency call for Evac.
“Well, You know, shit happens, don’t worry about it or question it too much.” He said as the door opened and the shuttle flew out, opening its gun ports and taking altitude.
“Vinn, is Jack in trouble?” She barked.
“We don’t really know that until I get the shuttle there, so let’s assume everything is fine until it’s confirmed or not. Also, unrelated, go get about 6 of those OMG guns and put them in grenade configuration, no reason.
…
Nicole sprinted, staggering as her energy depleted and she reached a hazier part of the environment. There were no cauliflower trees, just some ant hills and one solitary plant she really hoped was actually a plant as she passed it. She climbed the little hill and flopped onto her back, gun in hand and panting heavily as she tried to swallow and had no saliva left. She rolled over to survey what was over the hill. Her heart sank as she stared at two options, neither that seemed inviting.
“You gotta be shitting me.” She whined.