THE ADVENTUROUS LIFE OF A LOUSY COWBOY, ISSUE #4
03 Jun 2016Mike Syron
[ ongoing story, go back: ISSUE #3 ]Something exploded in Mikes head and all of the sudden a cold, loud screaming voice overturned his furious thoughts, pushing back every disturbing feeling as well. His mind dropped down to animal mode and immediately began figuring out his options in this utterly confusing situation.
You can’t leave them alone now, it's to late. So you can’t just flee. You have to pick up the fight or you will die. Though you may die anyway because you’re a lousy bragger and a bloody coward with no balls.
His tongue became very dry. „Okay. Let’s get it on. You never know the day of your death until it arrives.“
Myung-Dae sighed audibly. „Good man. We’ll set course to LTT AB one first, a gas giant about three-thousand elsecs away, that’s hopefully enough that only very stubborn assholes will follow us,. We can’t risk being wake scanned and followed, those hysteric Natural-Defence-Party idiots are after everybody who’s trying to escape, always assuming the worst. I don’t really know what made them so paranoid and fanatic, it doesn’t make sense at all. - Everybody in position?“
„Tango speaking, ready to engage.“ So calm, so smooth. Mike had became jealous of his professional attitude the very moment he had listened to his voice. It belonged to a man who you could downright count on till the hell froze over.
„Bulls speaking, ready to kick ass.“ This callsign didn’t match with the young, somewhat naive female voice. After Tangos response it sounded like coming from some frisky kid that was about to have a cool birthday party. Mike checked the view and the scanner, the ‚kid’ was sitting in the Cobra. Which had a remarkable energy signature.
He himself didn't felt anywhere near of being ready, but it wasn’t important anymore. „Hey, Bulls. Nice voice you’ve got, do you take singing lessons? - How old are you exactly?“
„Nope and twenty-three, old fuck.“
„Nice. How're you, right now?“
„I’m shitting my pants, that’s for sure.“
„Jackass, leave it! - Are you ready?“ Myung-Dae asked him.
„Yeah … go on. - Computer, sync with Rocinante’s nav system.“
„Alright, full thrust!“ The powerful engines of the Rocinante lit up, pushing its heavy mass forward.
While they were picking up the pace and leaving the mass locked area, Mike focussed the blank space in front of him. The shock was still making his heart go nuts but somehow he felt a tiny glimpse of hope growing in his guts. This wasn’t his first fight and this might not end as bad as he worried. The evolution always knew a trick or two to push somebody beyond his limits, neurotransmitters could do funny things, things you never knew yourself before. Four billion years of it should be good for something, even the harsh space didn’t stop its creatures from conquering it. Mike lived today because all the countless ancestors before him had managed to survive. This was his chance to make them proud.
„No shit, that Lambert didn’t know?“ he asked Myung-Dae.
„Yep. Lambert’s a good one, most of the time at least. You Spacers look pretty transparent to me, it’s pretty easy to figure out your kind.“
Mike was somewhat irritated suddenly, he hadn’t been called a Spacer for a long time given that this term, for people who had been born and grown up in completely artificial environments, was more than outdated already. „My kind? - Where do you come from if I may ask?“
„What do you think? Myung-Dae isn’t a name that’s very popular outside the Sol system.“
„You are from Sol…?“
„Yes. I’m a Soler, Solarian, Earther, Terranian ... Pick your favorite. I was born and have been grown up on Earth. The planet who’s responsible for all this mess after all.“
„Wow … - I’ve been never on earth in my life, they still don’t let me into the sol system. How’s life there? I mean, I’ve heart lots of things about Sol but … I could never ask a real Soler till today, let alone a real Earther.“
„Nice, if you’re rich enough to get some room and a pretty view. Otherwise it's crowded like hell, the planet would be lost instantly if you would impose a total embargo on it. Terraformed Mars has been always more popular. Lower gravity, more relaxing infrastructure. Believe me, earth is hell, I would rather like to have been born on Mars. - Tell me, where do you come from?“
„Orishpucho, Beregevoi Colony.“
„Funny name, I like it, especially how you pronounce it - Oh-rish-poodjoe. “
„Thanks, but I hate the system. Nothing to do there other than lousy jobs, nothing to live there other than a lousy life. My father worked his ass off till he simply died leaving nothing left.“
„That’s a hard view. He gave you a life, a guy whose doing the right thing just now. That's not a bad outcome. - Nobody should hate his origins. It’s unhealthy. Always remember were you came from because it keeps being a part of you the rest of your life. Denying it makes it only worse.“
„Nah, don’t tell me I should become some proud Orishpuchian or something. They tried it several times, it lead to scuffles and crazy things like the wish for independence from the federation. It had cost my father his job more than one time.“
„Sorry, I wasn't talking about that patriotic bullshit. I was talking about people. Those you got to really know there. What they think, what they live for. And how. They were a part of your life like you were it for them. If you loose that connection, you’re lost yourself.“
„Mh, never saw it this way - rather the other way around.“ Mike had to chuckle for moment. „You remember me of an old friend of mine.“
„Sounds like he’s got some brain. How’s he?“
„I don’t know, I haven’t seen him for a long time now. I left Orishpucho, he stayed.“
„You should visit him soon. It’s good, you’ll be surprised.“
„Well …“
Tangos voice came through the radio. „Sorry to interrupt your conversation, lads. But we’ve got some bogies behind us. Three as far as I can see, check your scanners.“
„I see them too.“ Bulls replied. „Should I take care of them before they do?“
„Woohoo, kiddo. Not so fast.“ Mike said acting on impulse. He took a closer look at them, it were two Adders and a Sidey. He remembered what Lambert had told him, he had been honest it seemed. But from this far nobody could tell how they were outfitted.
„Are they really following us? They just might have left the battle.“ asked Myung-Dae.
„They are.“ Tango answered quite convinced. „They were orbiting the planet till we began to move. I had my eyes on them all the time, they must have got a mission to intercept everybody who leaves Fox Orbital.“
Mike suggested: „So we wait until they catch us? We should stick together, more fire power is always a good thing.“
„No, not necessary“ negated Tango. „I will take them out in no time. You better keep moving, being pulled from FSD cruise would only expose us all to more bogies. We're not far away enough yet. Just throttle down a bit so I can catch up later.“
Myung-Dae made the decision. „Go for it, Tango. And stay alive, okay?“
„I’ll do my best, commander.“
The Eagle was suddenly loosing speed thus falling back rapidly. Mike watched its dot on the scanner, it was scary how fast and precise Tango reached a position behind these other dots. Almost in a matter of seconds he intercepted all three, but then nobody could see what really happened there.
„Tango’s some navy guy, isn’t he? It’s quite obvious.“ Mike stated, trying to break the uncanny silence that was about to take place. Rocinante's FSD seemed to have a hard time accelerating its mass and the gas giant was still about more than two thousand elsecs away. It would be a long ride.
Myung-Dea affirmed it. „Yep, he’s got a long military history. I’m really happy that he’s not working against me anymore.“
„Against you anymore?“
„Don’t ask. Our relationship is ... kinda troubled.“
Relationship, alright. Good to know.
„What about you, Bulls? What history did you got?“
She replied with a strangely disconnected voice. „I kill people fo'money. - Be it in space or where ever. First victim was fourteen, uhm ... two years older than me at that time. But he's trying to kill me first. I 'member his dumb face well ... You wanna hear that story? Yeah, no? - I tricked him, I knew already that he's planning it. So I tempted him, hung around a nearby air lock for few days. Then that prick showed up with some friend, tried t’grab me and t’push me into that lock. But I gotta knife, with nice engraving. Stuck it into his throat and oh, all this blood, surprise, surprise, you piece of shit. He lived long 'nough t'watch me forcing his friend into the lock. Whatta fucking coward, tried hide’n’seek in there. I waved him bye-bye and hit the button. Gone he was.“
„…“ That funny picture in Mikes head about a frisky kid having a cool party just made boom!, leaving a cloud of speedy splinters with razor sharp edges.
„Bulls, don’t let yourself look worse than your are." Myung-Dae said. "Mike, she grew up in an abandoned space station. Tough place, you know? Between pirates, murderers, scumbags and such. You don’t have many chances to survive there, but she's just shitting you right now. Believe me.“
„W-well … okay. I have trouble getting it at the moment. We’ve got a Soler, an hard boiled ex-navy guy and a killer girl from an abandoned station ... - How do I fit in this?“
„Oh, you could be the old fuck who's cursing all the time." Bulls suggested. "I would like that. My targets often curse and insult me a lot, like it would help them. It's funny at times, mh-mh."
What? Mike gasped. "Listen, kiddo. I feel sad for your shitty past, really. But that's not an excuse for being such a bitch right now!"
She burst out laughing and his blood pressure went up rapidly. But then he noticed that it sounded very troubled and desperate like she was haplessly confusing joy with agony. A sudden pain pierced his breast, that sound of her broken laughter told him way more about her past than any words could do, it just triggered his amygdala.
"Fuck ..." he exhaled, confused about his feelings. How could someone be so fragile and so hostile at the same time? It really psyched him out.
„Looks like you’ve got some soul in your breast, Mike. Give her a chance, get used to her humor. - Uh, Tango is back in town. - Did you got in any trouble, Tango?“
The channel was distorted when he answered. „No, poor fellows didn’t stand a chance, I tried to convince them to give up but they begged to differ. I can’t understand such people.“
„Would you ever give up, Tango?“ Myung-Dae asked right away.
„You know, I did it once. That’s why I can’t understand them.“
„Yeah, but don’t tell me it has been easy for you. You needed doubts, even pretty solid ones.“
„You’re right. - I’m closing up, keep that pace.“
Mike kept his mouth shut for a while, the mixture of feelings was giving him a hard time enough already. Myung-Dae might be right, he should probably visit his old friend on Beregevoi Colony, it didn’t sound like a bad idea any more. Really not a bad idea.
His thoughts drifted away, he almost forgot the civil war for a moment. But this little moment of relief should be gone pretty fast when they reached LTT AB 1.