The Reaper Diaries: Fetch Job, Part 11
23 Dec 2015Michael Wolfe
The more I flew the Python, the more I realized that it would be perfect for combat.
If your opponent was directly in front of you.
And if they weren’t too fast.
And if they just stayed put like a good little frog.
In other words, it wasn’t a mystery as to why they didn’t last long against a wing of smaller, more nimble fighters.
Still, the Python had other things going for it. Despite Kyndi’s dismissal of large ships just being flashy compensation mechanisms, the room to get up and walk around really was nice. So was the cargo space, and the proper pilot’s cabin.
Yeah, I can see why commanders don’t go back to the smaller ships after getting a taste of the big time. I looked at Kyndi’s Diamondback. It was a fine ship, to be sure- but would I want to live in it? I shrugged. It didn’t seem to trouble Kyndi, and Lakon wouldn’t have bothered making such a small explorer-type vessel if lots of other people didn’t feel the same.
For all the convenience the Python offered, I would still be happy to get rid of her. Kyndi had been right; I was playing with fire; flying the stolen ship of a crime lord’s enforcer wasn’t a good way to live very long. Plus, there was the issue of having two corpses right behind the door to the bridge. I’m not a squeamish man by nature- but damn if having two stiffs right outside the door wasn’t a might unsettling.
Then, there was the unavoidable pain in the ass that was transferring the artifact itself- every five or six jumps, we would have to tether the ships together and manually transfer the artifact via spacewalking, since the Python’s cargo bay was busted. Even Kyndi’s initial enthusiasm waned after several handovers.
“You’re sure that this contact of yours can take that ship off your hands?”
I handed the artifact to her, floating next to her in orbit around a star. “Well, he’s never walked up and specifically blurted out that he can give a ship a new serial number, but his apartment has as much computer equipment as yours did.”
Kyndi rolled her eyes. “And based on that, you assume he can hack into a ship’s computer matrix?”
I called out after her as she started pulling her safety tether back to her Diamondback. “If it makes you feel better, his place was just as trashed as yours!”
Kyndi’s voice came over the comm again, dripping with sarcasm. “Yep. I am one with the ‘verse about this job now that I know your contact has dirty underwear on his floor.”
This woman.
Eventually- thank all the gods- we made it to Ackerman market. Kyndi and I set down on landing pads next to each other, and since it was my job, it fell to me to carry the artifact. I changed in the same outfit that Kyndi bought me, taking care to wear the new leather jacket, as well. Kyndi’s face showed up in my ship’s viewscreen.
“So where’s this friend of yours?”
I smiled. Rax, a friend?
Well, I had passed out drunk in his flat after he poured all that beer down my throat. Then, he ran the trace on Kyndi free of charge.
Friends do that, right?
“I contacted him as we were docking. He’s waiting for us at a bar.”
“Good. You got the merchandise?”
I help up a plain brown box, the same one that Kyndi had used to give me my jacket. “Ran out of gift wrap.”
An amused expression crossed Kyndi’s face. “Well, let’s not keep him waiting. I’ll meet you there.”
Rax’s meeting spot was his favorite bar- a little dive called The Barnacle. It was crowded like usual and the scent of alcohol, smoke, and pilots who had neglected their hygiene immediately hit my nostrils.
Yep, this is it, alright.
I heard Rax and his crew before I saw them. They were occupying an oversized corner booth, laughing loudly at whatever joke Rax had just told. I shook my head at the sight of the closest things to friends that I had in the ‘verse. “And there they are,” I said to myself.
Box in hand, I walked up to the table of howling roughnecks. Rax didn’t even see me at first, so hard was he laughing. One of his men had to tap him on the shoulder and point up at me, standing before them. Rax grinned from ear to ear.
“Well, if it isn’t our long-lost commander Lehman.” He looked me up and down. “It is still commander Lehman, right? You look like you work at a damn men’s store.”
That one brought fresh howls of laughter from the rest of his crew. I just smiled along and set the box down in front of him. “Merry Christmas.”
A look of amusement crossed his face as he opened the box. He gazed down into it, chuckled, and passed it down the table for his mates to see.
“And this is real? Looks like you stole some kid’s art project.”
I smiled and shook my head. “Fly around with it awhile and get back to me.”
An intelligent look crossed Rax’s still-smiling face as he nodded. “So the rumors about transporting the damn things are true?”
I nodded back. “As true as a ship going haywire for no good reason can be.”
“The target system was a long damn ways away. How’d you make the return trip?”
Just as I was opening my mouth to answer, I noticed that Rax and his men were no longer looking at me. In fact, they weren’t doing anything- just staring slightly to my right, jaws agape. I felt an arm curl around mine, and a head rest against my shoulder. A familiar voice answered Rax’s question.
“With his partner's help.”
I looked down, and there was Kyndi, black hair streaked with purple in the neon lights of the bar.
“Glad to see you made it.”
She looked up at me, smiled, and pulled me to her for a nice, juicy kiss- right there in front of the boys.
“And miss all this? Wouldn’t dream of it, Matty.”
Kyndi was obviously looking to make an impression- she was wearing the same black leather pants as the day we first met, a grey spaghetti strap top with the Pilot’s Federation logo on it, and a snug black leather jacket over it. It was sexy as hell, and she had clearly chosen it with care. She surveyed the booth of ruffians, cocked a hip to the side, and raised her eyebrows.
“So are you boys going to sit there and drool, or are you going to pay up for a job well-done?”
Rax was the first to regain his composure. He smiled and raised his bottle at us. “All in good time, milady. I've no idea how you’re used to doing business, but around here, there are protocols to be observed.”
He grinned, and motioned for us to join him at the booth. “And right now, protocol is to get the lady a drink while Matthew here tells us the whole story behind this little trinket.”
I smiled as I helped Kyndi out of her jacket. “It was nothing, Rax. Just another fetch job.”
Kyndi and I took our seats next to Rax. I gestured around the table. “Kyndi, this here is Rax, Scotty, TJ, and that gold-toothed monstrosity at the end is Bruiser.”
My partner raised her eyebrows. “Why do they call you ‘Bruiser’?”
The giant man on the end flashed a shiny smile and raised his drink. “Because mother ‘ad herself a right difficult time bringin’ me into the world. Father called me that right there in the delivery room. Name stuck.” He leaned forward, his grin widening. “And for other reasons.”
Rax laughed and rook a swig of beer. “Save it for the dock-knockers, mate!”
I put an arm around Kyndi, who nestled up to me. “And this woman a few leagues above me is Kyndi.”
Rax smiled and bowed slightly. “Kyndi who?”
“Just Kyndi,” she replied coolly. Rax smiled slightly, understanding.
“Well, ‘just Kyndi’, what are you drinking?”
She looked around. “This dump doesn't have any Achenar Blue, does it?”
Rax chuckled. “High class Imperial, eh?”
Kyndi rolled her eyes. “Wrong on both counts. Just a girl who knows what’s good.”
Rax motioned for a waitress to come over and whispered in her ear, handing her a credit chip. She returned a short time later with six crystal glasses and an unopened bottle of not only Achenar Blue, but a special blend created decades ago to celebrate Emperor Hengist’s coronation. Rax slid it over to Kyndi, who for once didn’t seem to know what to say. He smiled the most roguish smile I had ever seen.
“I don’t need to tell you how rare this vintage is anywhere, let alone outside Imperial space.”
Kyndi looked up, one eyebrow raised. “Raxy baby- you ain’t trying to impress me, are you?”
His smile only widened. “Just celebrating, love.” He opened the bottle and started pouring for each of us. “And however impressed you may be, it ain’t nothing compared to how monumental it is to see Matthew here with a woman who ain’t from the docks!”
That brought out a fresh wave of table pounding and laughter from him and his crew. Even Kyndi liked it, laughing along with the rest of the roughnecks at my expense.
Well, at least she thinks it’s funny.
Rax raised up his glass of what had to have been obscenely expensive liquor. “To Kyndi!”
We all downed our glasses, and Rax immediately got to work pouring us all another shot.
Damn, that‘s some good shit.
Kyndi wiped her mouth with her sleeve. She was also clearly impressed. “Well, that’s two things the Imps do right- pretty ships and good booze.”
She turned to Rax. “So, how do you and Matt know each other?”
He chuckled and nodded at me. “We go back a ways, when he was just some new-jack in his first Sidewinder. Stopped me in a hallway right here on Ackerman and offered to sell me some stolen data. Must have overheard me and my mates.”
Kyndi turned and shook her head at me. “Fucking new jacks,” she said teasingly.
Rax raised his glass at me. “Had half a mind to kill him right then and there. But he came through for me, and now we’re best of chums. Always happy to see commander Lehman walk through the door!”
Yeah, and you’re especially happy to see me when I walk in with a beautiful woman.
Kyndi raised her eyebrows and cocked her head at me. “Seems to be a pattern with you, huh Matty?”
Rax refilled her glass, and settled into his seat. “Now, I think Matthew here needs to tell the tale of how he ended up with the artifact, after all.”
He gestured towards Kyndi. “You can start at the part where the lovely lady gets the drop on you and makes off with the merchandise.”
Kyndi turned to me, a mocking gleam in her eyes. “That’s how you told it? I ‘got the drop on you’?”
I smiled back at her and shrugged. “Well, that’s the essence of it, as I recall.”
She turned back to the table of ruffians, all eagerly awaiting her side of the tale. “The only thing that had dropped were Matt’s skivvies.”
The expected round of laughter ensued. Bruiser leaned forward. “I knew there was more to it than that! So how’d you do it?”
Kyndi smiled slyly. “I convinced Matty here that a backrub was a good idea- and when he was naked, relaxed, and happy, I zapped him with a neural pulse neutralizer.” She smiled up at me and poked me in the ribs. “Right on the spine, too!”
Rax whistled and shook his head. “Aye, that’ll do it. But don’t those little zappers only last for a few seconds or so?”
She cocked her head to the side. “Not when you remove the safety dampeners. Matty here was drooling on his bunk for at least a few hours after I left.”
The men at the table collectively shook their heads, looking at me, and then Kyndi. Rax leaned forward. “So, what’s happened between then and now that transformed you into such a sickeningly sweet pair?”
Kyndi smiled and held up her glass. “I’m going to need a lot more of this if you want to hear all that!”
And so our evening went- alcohol steadily imbibed, and Kyndi and me taking turns telling the tale. We included everything- the derelict ship, the mummy, the encounter in her apartment, the return trip, and the burned bridges at Novitski. At the end of it all, Rax was shaking his head.
“Well, that’s a hell of a story. I almost feel bad for only paying out sixty.” He slid the credit chip across the table to me.
I help it up to him. “Well, there’s one last bit we ain’t told you yet. The Python I came in on- I need to get it sold pronto.”
“So see the ship dealer.”
Kyndi and I both giggled a bit in our tipsiness. “You don’t understand, buddy. It ain’t exactly mine, and it ain’t exactly clean. It belonged to that Hassan fellow.”
Rax nodded, understanding. “So, you’ll be needing a registry wipe, then?”
Kyndi giggled. “It needs all kinds of wiping!”
My friends all gave each other a look. Rax finished his drink and slammed the glass down on the table. “Well, I’m not one to delay if there’s a job that needs doing. Let’s have a look at this hunk of junk.”
An hour later, Rax walked into the hanger lounge next to where I had landed the stolen Python. He was shaking his head.
“Well, apart from the busted cargo hatch and the rotting corpses, she’s a fine-looking ship. I’ll give you thirty mil for her.”
I stood up, upset at being low-balled. “Are you kidding me right now? With the upgrades on her, she’d fetch seventy at any dock in the bubble! I thought we were friends, Rax!”
He raised his eyes. “Aye, that we are. I’m also in business lad, and the business of clearing a nicked ship ain’t cheap for the one doing it. I’m going to have to bring in all kinds of specialists to get her innocence back. The hacker fees alone are going to set me back at least five mil.”
Kyndi narrowed her eyes. “And the other thirty-five?”
Rax smiled like a smartass. “That’s my cleaning fee. I’ve got to get the ship scrubbed, and talk to some people I know in the agriculture ring to see about getting those stiffs some gardening jobs.”
I don’t even want to know what that means.
We three stared each other in the eyes for what seemed like a long time. Eventually, I felt Kyndi tug on my arm. “It’s still thirty mil from out of nowhere, Matty. I say take it.”
I turned to her. “Fifteen, after we split it.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s… awfully generous. And a lot more than what I asked for!”
I smiled and shrugged. “Fifty-fifty seems fair to me. Partners, remember?”
She smiled widely and gave me an amazing kiss. Turning to Rax, we both accepted his offer at the same time:
“Done!”
For his part, Rax just stared at us, shaking his head. “I think I’m going to vomit.”
Between the alcohol and the fact that we were both in more money than we had ever been, Kyndi and I decided that a stay on one of Ackerman’s five-star hotels was in order. We made our way to one of the habitation rings and checked into a penthouse, overlooking an artificial forest, stars permanently overhead through the reinforced ring glass overhead. We accepted our keycard with a smile.
I felt Kyndi’s hand wrap around mine. I turned to her, smiling. “Well, I suppose you’re ready to be compensated for helping me get out here?”
She giggled. “Matty, I’ve been ready.”
The darkness of the hotel room was briefly illuminated by the flash of Kyndi lighting up an Onionhead joint. She took a long drag, held it in, and slowly exhaled the pungent smoke. From behind, I could barely see her glance back at me.
“Don’t mind me. You go right ahead.”
I dripped the heated oil onto her back, spreading it over her skin in long, slow strokes. I covered her arms, her neck, and her perfect buttocks.
This better be a massage for the ages, Matt. She came all the way here with you for this.
For nearly an hour, I straddled myself over Kyndi, working all the knots out of her beautiful body, evoking lots of purrs and hums of contentment. Between my hands and the effects of her Onionhead joint, Kyndi had adopted a permanent look of blissful serenity on her face. Eventually, she rolled over onto her back below me. A dreamy smile spread over her face.
“I do believe you’ve got a backup career ready to go in case the whole piloting thing doesn’t work out. “
I smiled back, spreading oil over her belly, hips, and swells of her breasts. “As long as you’re my only client, that doesn’t sound half bad.”
I reached under the sides of her belly and scooped her torso off the bed slightly, running my oily fingers up and away from her spine. Her relaxed body weight naturally led her to settle back down to the sheet, my fingers running up along her sides. She sighed.
“So, keep you around as my own personal massage slave?” She giggled. “I just might be willing to compromise my stance on slavery to set that one up.”
My hands ran up over her belly, between her breasts, and pushed along under her collarbones, stopping at her shoulders. Kyndi reached over and took a drag of her Onionhead joint, momentarily highlighting her curves in the darkness. She exhaled as my hands gripped her neck from behind, squeezing the muscle cords and evoking another hum of contentment from her. Setting down her joint, she placed her hands on my thighs, running them up and down.
Her hands ran up to my sides, and she pulled me over her, so that my face was only inches from hers. I could barely see her eyes flashing up at me in the dark.
“I think this trip was officially worth it, Matty.”
I smiled. “Likewise, darlin’.”
She smiled back and pulled me in too give me a long, luscious kiss. While her tongue caressed mine, I felt her take my hand and press it between her thighs.
“But I’ve got some other needs that ain’t been seen to since this whole mess began.” She kissed me again, biting my lower lip. While she doing so, her other hand reached down, and-
“And it definitely feels like you’re up for helping out.”
Fuck the hell yes, I am. I looked down at her, staring seductively back up at me. It was all I could do form words.
“How do I know this ain’t a trap?”
She grinned up at me. “Both my hands are busy.”
So they are.
She kissed me again, her hand moving mine aside as she guided me towards her. She broke the kiss, and in dying glow of the Onionhead joint, I could see her smiling her Kyndi smile.
“Time to finish the job, Matty.”
My first sensation the next morning was the smell of coffee hitting my nostrils. I stretched and inhaled deeply, the earthy fumes clearing away the fog of sleepiness. Then, I felt a soft weight gently straddle me and a hand push against my chest for support.
I opened my eyes, and there was Kyndi, cup of coffee in hand, still wearing nothing but a smile. She looked down at me and took a sip.
“Good morning, sleepyhead.”
I smiled. Damn, she’s beautiful.
“’Morning, darlin’.”
She leaned over and gave me a kiss, black-purple hair falling over the sides of our heads like a curtain. Her tongue lingered on mine for just a moment.
I smiled up at her. “Now I want coffee.”
She handed me her cup, and I sat up to take a healthy gulp. I set the cup on the night stand next to the bed, and gave her another kiss.
“That’s fine.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “It’s more than fine. It’s organic, grown in Utopian space, and from an old-Earth species of bean that hasn’t been altered in over a thousand years.”
I whistled. “How much did that cup set us back?”
She giggled. “This time yesterday? Too damn much. But today?” She kissed me again. “We can afford to splurge.”
The door chimed softly, and Kyndi got up from my lap, putting on a silk robe. “That would be breakfast.”
She returned a minute later, pushing a cart with a giant silver platter and a couple silver pitchers. She gestured to it.
“Eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and waffles. About as Old-Earth as you can get.”
I shook my head. “You are going all out!”
She removed the cover, filling the air with a delicious aroma. “Well, it’s not everyday that people pull off what we did.” Giggling a bit, she added- “Not without a little backstabbing, anyway.”
We sat down by a giant picture window and ate in the nude, ships passing by outside the ring. I gestured outside with a sausage-impaled fork. “Think they can see us like this, butt-naked and eating breakfast?”
Kyndi giggled as she munched on some bacon. “Would you care if they did?”
I shrugged. “Reckon I wouldn’t.”
She looked outside, gazing at the forest and blackness of space above it. “We’ve both got bounties on our heads, you know. Big ones. That ain’t really a new thing for me, but you being a bounty hunter and all-“ She looked at me quizzically.
I smiled and shrugged. “It was only a matter of time, darlin’, running with the people I do. Don’t you worry about me.”
Kyndi smiled and reached for another strip of bacon. “You get used to it. Pretty soon, it’s just another number on your display.”
Breakfast was as amazing as we could have hoped for, and neither of us really felt like getting dressed. I stretched back out on the enormous bed, relaxing in the luxurious setting of the room. Kyndi followed and sat on top of me. I smiled up at her.
“Bounty or no, I’m going to have to make at least some effort to rescue The Professor.”
A look of confusion crossed her face. “What professor?”
I laughed. “My Viper is named The Professor, after my father. He teaches history at a college in Imperial space.”
Kyndi nodded. For a moment, we just looked into each other’s eyes. Finally, she spoke.
“That’s the first real thing you’ve told me about yourself.”
I looked down, and ran my hands up and down her thighs. “I ain’t much in the habit of blabbing.”
She smiled down at me, resting her hands against my chest. “It explains a lot, though.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. You try to hide it, but I can tell that you came up in a good family. Maybe not rich, but- educated. And loving. And decent.” Her eyes softened, and she hesitated a moment. “You’re a good man, Matthew Victor Lehman.”
I smiled, touched by the compliment. “I try, darlin’.”
“What’s your mother do?”
“Accounting work. She’s got a great head for numbers. Dad is a genius for analytical work with ancient texts. Both are smart as hell, but in totally different ways. They used to say that the strength of their marriage is that they couldn’t bitch to each other about their days at work.”
Kyndi laughed, but-
Is that a trace of sadness?
I looked up at her. “So, what’s your story, darlin’? I still don’t even know your last name.”
For a long time, she didn’t answer. She just looked down, purplish-black hair covering her naked breasts.
“It’s still ’just Kyndi’, Matt.”
I tried my best to adopt a gentle tone. “Even after all we’ve been through?”
She nodded, her face showing poorly-concealed insecurity for the first time since she admitted that she failed to return with the artifact after she stole it from me.
“It ain’t important.”
I sat up and ran my hand down the side of her face. She looked into my eyes, holding my hand against her cheek. “Maybe it’s important to me. Maybe I want to know.”
She let out a single, bitter laugh. “The only thing you need to know is that I’m Kyndi the Badass Smuggler Chick.”
I smiled. “And before all that?”
She pushed me onto my back, looking down at me. “I told you, it ain’t important.”
“Will I ever get to know?”
She smiled wryly. “Nope. That’s between me and the ‘verse.” Leaning over to kiss me, she playfully added: “And not meddlin’ bounty hunters!”
I smiled and returned the kiss, my hands tracing figure-eights over her back. “You know, we’re going to have to check out soon.”
Kyndi didn’t say anything, only kissed me with more intensity. She shifted position over me, and started to move her hips slowly back and forth. She learned over and whispered in my ear.
“Then let’s get our money’s worth, huh?”
For the second time that day, I woke up in the lux hotel room a happy man. I looked over, the platter with the remains of our breakfast still at the table by the giant window. Looking around, I couldn’t see or hear Kyndi anywhere. I was about to get out of bed when I noticed the folded note, written on hotel stationary. Still a little groggy, I unfolded it, and-
Good luck out there in the black, Matty.
xoxo
-K
For a moment, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I actually had to re-read the note.
Son of a bitch.
I checked around the hotel room. Nothing.
Well, I guess Kyndi hates goodbyes even more than I do.
I stumbled over and checked the inner pocket of my leather jacket. Sure enough, all fifteen million of my credits were still in there, along with everything I had walked in with. She hadn’t robbed me. She hadn’t lied to me. She hadn’t cheated me in any way.
In the back of my head, I had been expecting some kind of surprise from her. What exactly, I didn’t really know. I had been bracing myself for some kind of grand betrayal, some masterstroke of feminine cunning that would leave me permanently ruined.
Somehow, this was worse.
I silently showered, washing her scent off of my skin. My thoughts drifted back to that first awkward shower in the derelict Anaconda, when she simply walked in and unexpectedly joined me. Had that been a test of some kind?
In the time that we had spent together, she had allowed us to become more and more physically intimate, until we finally made love the night prior in the bed a short distance away.
Is that what it was, Matt? Making love? Or was she just using you in a way that she knew you’d go along with?
I shut off the shower and began to towel myself off. No, it wasn’t that. She had opened herself physically because that’s what she was good at- but emotionally?
I shook my head at the man staring back at myself in the mirror.
She wouldn’t even tell you her last name.
I began to get dressed, again in the same clothes that Kyndi had bought for me. Before I put it on, I held up the brown leather jacket she had bought for me. Trailing across the shoulder was a long, purple hair from where she had rested her head the day before, laughing and drinking at the bar with me and my roughneck friends.
I took a deep breath.Just let her go, Matt. You’re a goddamn loner of a bounty hunter. She’s a loner of a smuggler. This is the life you chose, same as her.
I slipped on the jacket, causing the purple hair to slowly wind and twist on its way down to the marble floor. There were jobs to be done, criminals to be wasted, and bounties to be cashed in.
This is what you do. This is who you are.
Standing at the hotel door, I turned around, taking one last look at the still- rumpled bed. What was it she had said?
"You’re a good man, Matthew Victor Lehman".
Snorting, I struggled to reconcile her words. Before the end of the day, I would talk to a station rep, buy a new ship, and kill a complete stranger for the sake of credits hitting my account.
I held up her note and crumpled it, making a tight fist. It fell from my hand onto the hotel floor.
“I ain’t that good, darlin’.”
