E.L.F: Chapter Fourteen

Author's Note: I'm baaaaaaaaack! 

Chapter 14: The Slayer

Pictures don't do some things justice. Like watching porn was nothing like actually laying on the ground as your girlfriend did a strip tease. Like how fighting zombies in a video game was nothing like firing a gun at something in real life. Like all that, looking at the Traverse Tourism Guidebook was nothing like actually gaping up through a jagged hole in a bus at the actual, faction Traverse.

It was almost enough to distract Jimmy from the way the bus' hover systems kept whining like a kitten being slowly twisted in half. Almost.

The bus flew out over a thin jetty that thrust out of the connecting tunnel and into the Traverse itself – the size of the jetty against the vastness of the Traverse only reinforced the gut-punch feeling of awe that filled Jimmy. Pix looked up as well, and said the only thing that really could be said.

“I think I'm going to be sick...”

The sky was the ceiling, and the ceiling was the sky: The Traverse curved and curved and curved until it met itself once-more: A trench the width of a continent, forming an inverse donut that connected the upper levels of Harbinger to the lower levels. Distant cities glittered overhead – several of them sprawling wide enough and large enough that their larger sykscrapers were visible even from this distance. The feeling of vertigo – of falling upwards and into infinity – was almost paralyzing. Jimmy tore his gaze from overhead and to the cracked and shattered pane of safety glass that was all that was left of the bus windscreen.

They were shooting towards another city – one similar to those that spread overhead.

It was built against the wall, with countless platforms, large and small, welded securely to the wall of the Traverse. And onto these platforms were buildings. They glittered like multicolored jewels – and between them wove vast amounts of sky traffic that made the cities of humanity look like...well, like slums in the sewage section of the ship. Jimmy shivered, trying to think of how many people lived there.

Millions?

Billions?

Pix shook her head. “I...never thought I'd see this stuff, you know?”

“Yeah,” Jimmy murmured. “Nothing will-”

Jimmy never got a chance to finish that sentence. The bus side motors at that moment decided to finish dying – they cut out with a loud 'chkkunnnnnnnngh.'

“Oh goodie! Life is getting more exciting,” Pix said, grinning at Jimmy – her eyes whirred and focused as she grabbed his hand and squeezed. Jimmy smiled at her and thought: I feel like I can fly. Also, wow, that was super cliché. And now, thinking that it is cliché is-

"HOLD ON!" the Urtish driver shouted – his translator spluttering and coughing and trying to speak in five languages at once. The bus started to tilt down to the right. The Urtish jerked on the stick, his face set with concentration. Jimmy grabbed Pix and held her close, trying to will the bus into staying in the air.

It...almost worked.

The bus skidded along with only some engines working, slewing and swerving in the air drunkenly as it half flew, half fell towards the city. Jimmy took a moment to thank the Architects that the city was on this side of the Traverse – not on the far side, as a continent sized space yawned between them and that.

The bus shuddered. The driver – his face slick with the thick oil that Urtish spurted out of their pores when stressed – jerked back on the stick.

The bus went up...and at the apex of its shuddering arc, the other side motors cut out with a sound like a gargling blender. The bus dropped. For a moment, Jimmy felt the weightless horror – looking at the city platforms they were rushing towards, and thinking: We're not going to make it.

The bus smashed into the ground with a CRRRUNCH! It started to drag along the broad, beautiful platform, scattering smashed tiling and metal in every direction as it slewed. The back of the bus clipped three trees, filling the air with splinters and a haze of leaves. People went screaming as the momentum of the bus jerked to the side and the front slammed into a store that had been built near the platform specifically to sell tourists new shoes. The windows shattered and the shoes went flying as more people ran screaming in every direction...but the bus stopped.

Jimmy picked himself up, groaning. "Everyone okay?" he asked, looking around. Pix stood.

"I'm gonna be sick." She stuck her head out the window and threw up.

Jimmy patted her on the back as the door to the side of the bus opened. The Urtish got out of the driving cab and wiped his forehead off with the back of his hands, flicking the goop onto the floor of the bus.

"Could someone please explain what just happened?" he growled at Jimmy. Jimmy coughed, waving his hand under his face to try and clear away some of the dust that their impactful landing had produced.

"Well, uh," Jimmy put his hand behind his back. "Okay, so, like, there was this Xorquin, and he's chasing us, and we were just planning to take the bus normally, but then he kinda tried to kill us again, and we're really, really sorry about damaging your bus."

"No, you didn't damage my bus." The Urtish slowly gestured around himself, looking away from Jimmy, then back to him. "You destroyed it!"

Jimmy looked up at the roof, peeled back like someone had taken a giant can opener to it. He looked at the windows, all riddled with bullet holes, turning the side of the bus into swiss cheese. He looked down at the dented and smashed up floor. He looked at the control console, bright red with failed systems and destroyed hover-engines.

"Um...sorry?"

Pix wiped her mouth as police cars started to arrive, their lights flashing.

"Sorry? Sorry!?" The Urtish was shaking Jimmy like a rag doll now. "This bus was just overhauled! I just had it fixed! My manager is going to kill me. No. Wait! He's going to kill YOU!”

"Well, uh-"

"Get down!" Pix tackled Jimmy as bullets started to zip through the air. The Urtish yelped and started to duck. A bullet burst through his arm, splashing Jimmy's face with green blood. The Urtish clutched at the wound, clenching his teeth in agony.

"Shit!" Jimmy looked around, then grabbed at his pockets, finding a bandage. He tossed it to the Urtish, who grabbed it gratefully and wrapped his wounded arm in a tearing hurry.

Pix looked at Jimmy. "Can we go anywhere without people shooting at us?"

Jimmy peeked up, through one of the swiss cheesed windows. His eyes widened.

"You gotta be kidding me,” he said, ducking down. He looked at Pix. "Xorquin!"

"What!?"

"Yeah." Jimmy nodded. But the police were firing on the Xorquin now. The gunshots were garnering attention from the people who had gathered around the crash. They screamed and ran like anyone sensible would.

The Urtish propped himself up against one of the chairs. Everyone in the bus was huddled down. Some had been hit, and their blood was getting all over the floor. Jimmy felt his stomach clench up. Every one of those bullets had been aimed at him...they should have hit him, not these...

"Run!"

Jimmy looked up. The Urtish waved at him. "Run!"

He blinked. Then he realized that the Urtish didn't want to be next to someone who was getting shot at. Then Jimmy realized he didn't want others to be around him while he was being shot at either.

Earlier, he had thought about doing something brave and heroic and how being in love had changed his opinions. But now, he found something, deep inside himself. Despite all of his logical thoughts, despite every bit of him that screamed no, he should stay down, he knew what he had to do. Jimmy squared his shoulders. "Pix, ready to crawl for your life?"

"Always, babe." Pix cracked her neck, face set and concentrated. "If we don't survive the next few feet, I really love you."

"I know."

Pix reached over and punched him in the shoulder as hard as she could.

The sounds of gunfire outside were even louder than Jimmy had expected. Bullets whined through the air. He crawled down the steps of the bus, which was far more awkward than he had expected. There was glass on the ground – glittering and dangerous. He put his hands down carefully, but with the adrenaline pounding through his body, he wasn't sure he'd even notice getting cut.

Pix had a harder time of it. She hissed, then kept crawling – leaving behind smears of blood on the ground. They squirmed behind the wrecked bus, bullets pinging and bouncing off the side of the hull. Jimmy coughed, shaking his head and looking at his hand, wincing – he had a thin cut along one thumb, while Pix gritted her teeth, clenching her hands into fists to try and keep her palms from bleeding too badly.

Jimmy looked around for the next place to scramble for. There was an alleyway, with a dumpster, it would give cover. Problem, there was a big open space between there and here. He gulped. "Pix," He pointed. "Run at three."

She nodded, clenching her bloody hand to her chest.

"One. Two. Three!"

They lurched to their feet and ran. It took forever and no time at all, with Jimmy's back itching every second of the way. Gonna get shot, gonna get shot, gonna get shot...

His shoulder slammed into the side of the alleyway and he staggered, hit the ground, rolled, and ended up behind the dumpster. Pix skidded like she was trying to make a base in bat-ball.

She rolled then, getting behind the dumpster too. This got her squished up against Jimmy. Normally pleasant. But right now, with an elbow in the belly and a hard spine in the groin, Jimmy was a little less than aroused.

"We made it," Pix said, leaning her head against Jimmy's chest. Her right hand was still clenched in a fist.

Jimmy gently grabbed her wrist. "Oooh..." He bit his lip, brow furrowing as Pix opened her fingers. It was not pretty.

She closed her eyes. "Ugh."

"Um..." Jimmy reached into his pocket. He found the multitool, but...

"Shit...no bandages. Hey, uh, hold your arms up."

He grabbed the bottom of her shirt. "Lean forward."

She did so. Jimmy then slipped the multitool against her belly. She shifted. "Cold!"

"Sorry, just stay still." He bit his lip and carefully cut with the multitool's knife. He cut his way around Pix's belly and, for his work, he got himself a a long strip. "Okay, arms down-"

"I know." Pix turned around, holding her hand out to him, still not looking at the wound.

Jimmy sighed. "We'll need to clean it as soon as we can."

"I know," she said around a hiss of pain as he jerked the bandage tight.

"How's it feel?"

"Better, but that might be cause I'm not looking at it anymore." Pix tested her hand. She looked at him. "Well, look at the bright side, I now get to show off my bellybutton."

He blinked, then looked down. Why, she was right.

"Hmm. I kinda like it. It's sorta punk."

She grinned, but it was weak. "What now?"

"Now-" Something exploded, flashing the alleyway with bright orange and a crack of sound. "Let's not go that way."

Pix and Jimmy had to creep along, ducked down low, till they got to the other end of the alleyway. People were off the streets, hiding inside their buildings. Jimmy looked from left to right. The coast was clear.

Jimmy chucked his gun into his pocket and then he and Pix ran. They passed shops and then ran into crowds who had not realized stuff was exploding near by. They vanished into the crowd. The police flew by over head. One shone its light at the bus and started to chitter something in Xorquin.

Jimmy paused, looking over his shoulder at the police cars. He grinned. "I think we made it Pix," he said. "They got him!"

Which was, of course, exactly the right time for the car to explode. Jimmy and Pix staggered backwards, despite being too far from the blast for it to actually effect them. Jimmy stood, eyes wide as he traced the line of smoke from the burning car to...to...the Xorquin, who had a sleek, deadly looking rocket launcher mounted on his shoulder, an aiming device unfolded around his eyes. The rocket launcher made a loud thumping noise and another rocket slid into the firing chamber. The Xorquin slipped the rocket launcher over his shoulder and pulled his shredder out. Another police car shot overhead, sirens blaring. The Xorquin dropped into the alleyway next to building.

"Won't that guy just DIE!?" Pix shouted. "Did he just...did he just pull a ROCKET LAUNCHER out of his ASS!"

"Edna," Jimmy put his finger to the comlink, which had been silent for a while now. "Any bits of advice?"

"Um..." Edna voice was a bit staticy. "Signals...breaking up...sewage...uh, Jimmy, there is a safe house...at this location"

"Okay, thanks!" Jimmy's neck was itching. The Xorquin was in the crowd, which was panicking and screaming and doing everything you are supposed to do when someone blows up a police car. His minimap started to blink out the trail. Jimmy shrugged. "Follow me." He grabbed Pix's hand and they ran forward.

The sounds of the panic spreading through the City followed them as they ran.

Jimmy got to an alleyway, the sounds of the commotion downtown fading. There were less people and the shops looked shabbier. They were still pretty posh, but they were less posh than before. The alleyway had a door at the end. "That's the dzzzr," Edna said. "Just head down...zzz...shld be umcked."

Jimmy nodded. "You're really breaking up."

"S-jam..."

Jimmy got the door open. He and Pix rushed inside and then slammed the door, plunging them into darkness. Jimmy felt around for the light switch.

"Edna?" Pix asked. "Edna!"

"She's being jammed."

"Who could be jamming her?" Jimmy snapped on the lights and they both gaped.

This safehouse was not big, not compared to the Armory or the Traverse. However, it WAS full of guns. And not just any kind of guns! Human guns. Guns that actually made sense and looked like they were something that he could use.

"Oooh, Flamethrower!" Pix grabbed the bulky collection of fuel tanks and tubes and bits of metal, then switched on the front end. A small blue flame burst up before the blackened nozzle. "Hehehe, sooo coool!"

"Uh, Pix, uh..." Jimmy held his hand up. The nozzle swung to aim at him. "Finger off trigger!" He shouted.

Pix blinked. "Oh! Shit!" She took her finger off the trigger, than aimed the flamethrower away from Jimmy. She then shut the flamethrower off, blushing as she did so. "Um, sorry."

Jimmy sighed. "Pix, maybe we should put the flamethrower down."

She bit her lip, looking at it.

Jimmy sighed. "Pix..."

"No." she whispered, eyes at the ground.

"Pix, we talked about thi-"

"Yeah, so, it's a big, phallic lighter!" She glared at him. "And you know what? No! I'm not going to throw my lighter away. You keep telling me to do that. You keep telling me to ball up my past and throw it away and forget about it. Well, screw that! I don't want to forget!" Her eyes started to brim with tears. "I c-can't forget, okay!"

Jimmy shifted from foot to foot. What could he say?

"Isn't it...really silly to be crying while holding a flamethrower?" Pix's voice cracked.

"A bit, yeah."

She shucked it off, the strap went around her shoulders catching on her antennas. She grunted, and sniffled, then bust into tears. Jimmy bit his lip. Should he help? Or would she punch him for invading her personal space?

Jimmy, you idiot, he thought, you've had sex with her, what, a zillion times?

He put his hand on her shoulder and she punched him in the face. Jimmy clapped his hand to his nose, eyes closed. "Augh! Pix! What the...what the hell!"

"Sorry!" She grunted and got the flamethrower off. She turned around, arms across her chest. "Just, I don't feel like touching right now, okay!"

Jimmy sighed, still holding his nose. It was bleeding.

Pix shifted from foot to foot, rubbing her arm, looking away.

Jimmy took his hand away from his nose, squinting at the blood, then he sniffed, trying to get the blood to stop.

"Um..." Pix bit her lip. "C-could I have that hug now?"

"No!" Jimmy snapped. "I mean...just a second. You punched me in the face!"

"I'm sorry." She looked at him, looking so completely miserable that his heart melted.

Jimmy melted. "I'm sorry too Pix."

He wiped his bloody hand on his hip, then hugged her tight, trying to not get blood on her shirt. She squeezed him tight and forced the issue, burying her face in his hair and sobbing.

"I-I miss my parents so much!" She sobbed. "A-an-and it's all...all my fault!"

Jimmy squeezed her again. He opened his mouth to say something and...

Then the door to the warehouse exploded. Fragments whizzed through the air and Jimmy cried out, hitting the ground, pain flaring in his back. Pix grabbed the flamethrower, flicked it on and pulled the trigger without a second thought.

The Xorquin, who stood in the now circular doorway, was engulfed in an instant. Didn't even have time to shoot his gun or rattle in fear. He just stood and burned.

As did the box of ammunition next to him. Flames flickered, then grew. The ammo did not cook off right away. Pix started dragging Jimmy toward the other door. The Xorquin was still walking forward, a dark shape in bright bright orange flames. He stepped out, then fell, face first on the ground. He lay there and burned and burned.

Pix got Jimmy out of the building.

BANG! The back of the building went up in a massive burst of flames, bullets cooking off like firecrackers, whizzing through the air, whining like angry insects.

The building started to collapsed, helped on by the occasional bang as the stuff inside exploded.

"Pix," Jimmy wheezed. "I...I can't move my legs."

'What!?" She pushed him up and looked at whatever had whanged his back. Blood was seeping around a hunk of metal jammed into his shoulder blade.

"Jimmy, your spinal column is not on your shoulder."

"Oh right." Jimmy wiggled his toes. "Okay, I can move my legs...I think I'm going to start screaming now. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGRRH THAT HURTS!"

The police were arriving, sirens following the bursts and the blasts. They settled down and the mixed race forces of the Traverse piled out. Xorquin, Slor, some Yetel, and a human. The human, a woman with bright red hair that she kept tied back under her blue cap, knelt down.

"Are you two all right?" she shouted, even as she looked Jimmy over.

"He's got a thingy in his back!"

"I can see that." The police officer tapped a com-bead in her ear. "We need an ambulance and some first aid here. We've got a broken shoulder blade, a major laceration on a hand, and a possible fatality inside of the building."

"I hope so," Pix whispered. The police officer shot her a look, then tugged out a small, one hand first aid kit. She pressed a hypo to Jimmy's neck.

"I'm going to be putting your arm in a brace," she said, even as everything got fuzzy and out of focus. Pix stayed in front of Jimmy. She grabbed his hand. The police officer was still talking. "This is going to hurt."

"AAAAAGH!" Jimmy screamed, eyes clenched tight shut as he felt the metal wrench out of his shoulder. Then the police officer just wrapped his shoulder up, which eased his pain, but it also made him feel all stiff. He could only bend his elbow, anything up above that was wrapped.

"Okay, that'll hold you." The officer moved on to Pix, opening up the bandage. She winced. "What did you do, crawl through glass?"

"Yeah." But Pix's eyes were locked on Jimmy's. Soft. Relived.

Part of the burning warehouse crashed in and smoke filled the air. Fortunately, Jimmy and Pix were walking away from the place. Pix looked back as the firefighters started to spray foam on the fire, but it wasn't doing much.

"Is he dead?"

"He's on fire, in an exploding warehouse." Jimmy sighed. "He's dead."

"So it's over?" Pix bit her lip. "Just like that?"

There was a shift in the burning husk. Some rubble was moving, prolly cause something under it was collapsing.

"I am going," Jimmy said as he turned to Pix and hugged her with his working arm. "To love our summer vacation..."

Pix made a sound halfway between a scream and a whimper, her fingernails digging into Jimmy's back. "No...no, no, no!"

Jimmy looked at the burning building. A blackened skeletal arm stuck out of the blazing wreckage, gleaming silver in the orange fire flight. Then a splash of fire-retardant foam splattered over it, covering the nightmarish vision. No, it must have been a trick of his vision. He must have mistaken.

Then the rubble shifted, like a disembodied lung rousing from the dimming fire. The rubble slid away, revealing a metallic muscle, all matte black surfaces mirrored to a shine. Semi-liquid black metal moved about hard steel bones. The arm cocked, then propped itself against the ground. Then up, up, the figure stood, revealing its matte black chest, its pyramid shaped head, its glowing red cyclopean eye. Its chest shone despite its blackness, ribcage branching over a glowing green power source. The legs were spindly, and one of the knees was busted up, twisting to the side of the quickmetal skeleton stood in the flames.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Jimmy whispered. The police and the firefighters looked just as surprised and shocked as anyone would feel, looking at that...thing.

The skeleton looked at its legs. The hip-joints exploded, then, letting the legs fall aside, crumbling to dust as they smashed to the ground. But the figure still stood, hovering in the air, spinal column trailing along the ground like a tail.

The figure held out its arms, then extended its fingers. Foot long claws snapped out to gleam in the firelight.

"Time to run?" Pix whispered.

"Y-" The nightmare skeleton flew forward, fast and deadly, like a bullet leaping from a gun. A bullet with claws.

###

Jimmy's eyes were closed, but he was awake. He didn't want to open his eyes, becase his head hurt and blackness was painful enough.

His hands were tied in front of him. It moved his shoulder slightly, but not enough to hurt. He just felt a stiffness. Okay, first, he slowly slid his tongue out and licked across his chapped lips, trying to think of what hurt so much. Okay...head. Hit on head? Um...chest...back...legs were tied together too.

He drew in a slow breath and opened his mouth. "Pix?"

"Don't whisper so loud," she whispered back. She was right: The sound sent throbs through his head.

"Wh...where are we?"

"I don't know, it's dark." There was shuffling sound. "The chair is fastened to the ground. No slipping out. I don't think."

"Shit."

"Well, you're both awake."

Jimmy's brow furrowed. That was not Pix, and that was not him...so who was it? He opened his eyes slowly. Darkness. He craned his head around as far as he could go.

"Who are you?" he asked, voice raspy.

"I am Howl." The voice sounded like one of those smarmy teachers. The kind who pretended to have 'American' accents cause they thought it sounded sooo intellectual.

Pix sighed. "Right, and who the hell is Howl!?"

"Howl is me."

Pix growled.

"Pix." Jimmy snapped. "Diplomacy. Sir, why have you tied us up?"

"I didn't tie you up. My servant, the Slayer, did."

"And your Slayer is?" Jimmy asked, though he had a sinking feeling he knew already.

A red light started to glow in the darkness. A familiar red eye. Watching Jimmy. Jimmy's throat went drier than space.

"Nevermind," he whispered. "Uh, so, are you behind this?"

"Of course!" Howl laughed, his drawl getting more obnoxious every sentence. "The plan, the data smuggling, the war between the Yetel and the Slor, Tortuga...everything."

Jimmy blinked. That crazy. "W-What are you talking about?"

"But enough of your questions. Where is the data crystal?"

"What data crystal?" Pix asked. Something blurred in the darkness and Jimmy cried out, feeling a sharp pain on his chest. A stinging cut raised across his skin and he tried to ignore it.

"If you ask stupid questions again, cyborg, my Slayer will do more than give your love a papercut. Now, where. Is. The. Data. Crystal."

"Not telling." Jimmy growled.

"I have it!" Pix shouted a moment after that. "I have it I have it, just...d-don't hurt him."

Jimmy gulped, eyes closing. The Slayer ghosted past, the sound of his passage like a woosh of a cape. Pix grunted. "It's in my data port...lower..."

There was a shink, crystal slipping against metal.

"Wait, Howl, aren't you going to explain...anything!?"

"No, I was actually planning to kill you."

"Oh no you won't." Pix sounded like she was smirking.

"And why is that?"

"I've got wireless," Pix said. "See, I've been decrypting the data crystal in some sub programs in my head." She sighed, slowly. "That's why I've been kinda unfocused lately, Jimmy."

Unfocused? Jimmy kept quiet, trusting Pix. Please do this right, he thought.

"Anywho, I've put those copies of data onto the ship net in a dozen different places. If I don't send a signal every five minutes, the files will be distributed in a fractal copying pattern, that will put them in everyone's inbox by next breakfast!" Pix's antennas sparked, illuminating a small circle of white light around her head.

Howl whistled, softly. "Clever girl. Slayer, bring them to me. I want to meet them face to face." 

###

Enjoying the story? Well, support me on Patreon, so I can continue to write. LINK HERE! 

E.L.F: Chapter Thirteen

Author's Note: Sickness! Sickness has slowed me down. But I've shaken it of and am back to work!

Chapter 13: Crossing

Putting one foot ahead of the other.

How much of my life has become just putting one foot ahead of the other? Jimmy thought, as he jerked his foot off the ground – the boot of the heat resistant suits that he and Pix wore used some kind of technology that made them stick to the ground, no matter how sheer and slippery it was. That did mean that every time he lifted his foot, he had to jerk and twist at it for a bit before the sole of his shoe let go of the ground and he could put his foot forward, then thump it down.

Jimmy kept his gaze down on the ground – the less he looked ahead, the less he could think about the vastness of the Foundry, the killing white heat that was outside of the suit, and the uncertain peril that lurked beyond it.

It felt as if the Foundry had become his whole world – the memories of everything before it fading into an indistinct dream – unreal against the heat and the light and the faint buzzing sound that was the only noise that came through his protective helmet.

Put one foot ahead of the other... He thumped his foot down, and then looked up.

Ahead, two Pix's intersected, hazy and indistinct.

Jimmy shook himself, slightly, blinking his eyes until Pix became one Pix once more.

"Let's take a quick break," Jimmy said, his breath fogging up the faceplate of his suit. He reached up and patted the side of his helmet, feeling it shift against his head. He found the button that turned on the comlink.

“Let's take a quick break, Pix?”

Pix took another few steps, stopped, then turned around.

“Zzzzzshhzzz againzzzzzzzz?”

Jimmy winced a bit as the buzzing static that came through his ear-piece added its unpleasant note to the droning noise that he had been hearing for the last few eternities.

"I said, let's take a quick break," he said, again.

“Zzzzzzzzz hat? Zzzzzzz”

Jimmy sighed, closing his eyes. "Can. We. Take. A. Break."

Pix turned and – by all the Architects, Jimmy wasn't sure he had ever seen a sight as brave and heroic as her walking backwards. Not because it was particularly hard. More that she had sacrificed five feet of ground covered in this place. That would be five feet that she'd have to get back!

She put her faceplate against his and spoke without the comlink – the noise sounding muffled, but audible.

“Sure,” she said.

Jimmy grinned and wished he could take this helmet off. Which lead to a round of horrible itching feelings, a desire to rub his hair, and the stinging of sweat dribbling into his eyes. He blinked it away, saying, “How far do we have to go, you think?”

“Halfway,” Pix said.

Jimmy closed his eyes, slowly breathed in, breathed out, breathed in, breathed out. Trying to calm himself, he said, “Pix, something's not right about this Korban guy. I mean, beyond the racism thing."

Pix snorted. “Duh. He's out here in the middle of nowhere, and he says he's here to research the Foundry? Yeah. Right. Still, not much we can do about him here.”

Jimmy nodded, bumping his forehead against the faceplate a few times.

“Do you think he might be a threat or something?” Pix asked.

“Not sure,” Jimmy said. “But let's be cautious once we get out of the Foundry.”

Pix snorted. “As if we didn't have a reason to before now!”

###

After another three eternities of walking and trudging and drinking from a thin tube that ran along the inside of the heat suit helmets, Jimmy and Pix came to the other side of the Foundry. The wall grew larger and larger for the last hour of the trek, and Jimmy felt his heart race and race as the door on the wall got larger and larger, and then...finally, it was done.

The two of them stood before the door.

And...tt was locked.

"Oh by the goddamn Architects!" Jimmy wrenched on the door handle, panting and sweating. To feel as though rescue from this horrible suit was a moment away, only to have it yanked away...well, let's just say it was not something that Jimmy wanted to feel.

“Zzzz this is a repeating message,” Edna said, her voice ringing through his comlink. “Respond once you hear it you tzzz zzzz wo...”

“Edna?” Jimmy asked. “Edna, we're reading you!”

“Oh good,” Edna's voice – her non-recorded, non-repeated voice – came through his com. “Checking your location. Uh. You've veered off on your course. This door you're at is locked.”

“No DUH!” Pix shouted.

“Just go along the wallzzzzzzzzz-” Edna said, her voice fuzzing into static and crackles. “Zzzzzz go zzzzz say agazzz Spinward.”

They did so, their hands trailing against the wall – the white light was dazzling, and Jimmy didn't want to veer away. Touching the wall might have been overkill. But it worked. They came to the next door. Jimmy braced himself, grabbing onto the handle and pushing. The door creaked open and he laughed, ecstatically. Joy and fireworks exploded in his mind, and together, he and Pix charged out of the Foundry.

The instant the door closed, Pix yanked her helmet off, gasping loudly. “Praise all those Gods I don't acutally believe in, WE MADE IT!”

Jimmy yanked off his helmet a mere moment later. "That's us one, Foundry zero,” he said, grinning as he shook his sweaty head, droplets flying off his hair. He started to undo the straps on the suit, his knees shaking with eagerness to get the damn thing off.

Pix used her teeth to jerk her gloves off. Then her fingers grabbed the zipper on her suit and she jerked it off. Jimmy bit his lip as he noticed how her sweat caused her shirt to cling to her body like a second skin.

"So...my suit was only loaded with half a water canteen, you got any extra?" Pix asked, rubbing her throat with one hand.

With the suit off, Jimmy kicked it away, then knelt and grabbed the duffel he had slung around his shoulder. He jerked the zipper open and pulled out the supplies that they had stored inside – including a canteen. He grabbed it and underhanded it to Pix.

She knocked her head back and drank the entire thing. Once she had finished gulping and gasping, she wiped her mouth clean. “Oh...uh...sorry,” she said, looking sheepish. “Do you need any?”

"Don't worry." Jimmy felt faint. "I'll be fine."

They staggered to the supply room that Edna claimed Korban had stocked nearby. Her intel was good: The room was stocked with a water re-processor, a bathroom, a crate of nutri-bars, a shotgun, everything a sentient would need.

Jimmy slotted his canteen into the reprocessor, humming as the water filled the metal bottle, while Pix picked up the shotgun, looking it over. She nodded, and set it down again, then made a second discovery: She pushed open the thin door that was labeled BATHROOM and peeked inside.

She cooed. "Shower!"

"Shower?” Jimmy asked. Pix's fingers tapped on a small console and the bathroom whirred – cluing Jimmy into the fact that it was reconfigurable bathroom.

"Showaaaaaaah!" Pix said in a sing song. She tugged at her shirt, revealing her belly. "Wait...can that processor handle the shower?”

Jimmy frowned. The water re-processor was rated to four people. He nodded, slowly, then asked a question of his own: "Can door lock?"

"Door lock can." Pix nodded.

The door locked. Sweaty clothes hit the ground, and Jimmy tripped into the shower cubical.

###

The shower took longer than expected, but what really surprised Jimmy was how much noise the bed made. Korban really needed to change his springs.

###

Jimmy and Pix waited until they were a good four or five corridor junctions away from the safe room before sliding on their comlinks. The mini-map screens folded out and Jimmy spoke into his comlink first.

“Edna, we're back online,” Jimmy said.

Silence.

“Edna?”

"Mmph, one sec." There was a fizzing pop sound, then a soft 'glug glug glug'.

"Are you eating?"

"Girls gotta eat!" There was another glug, then a sigh. “And drink, considering how you two go at it like rabbits...”

“Hey!” Pix said. “Wait...I choose to take that as a compliment.”

"Sure you do," Edna said. "Now, I've been working out a route for you two. And, well..." She paused for a long time. When she spoke again, it was with a soft, almost shy tone to her voice. "This is going to sound weird, but...I'm enjoying this a lot more than what Mom had me doing before."

"What did she have you do?" Pix asked, her voice gentle. Edna's mom was a touchy subject, what with the whole...dead issue.

"Nevermind,” Edna said.

"No, no, I want to know!" Pix sounded plaintive, and even clasped her hands together.

Edna sighed. "Fine. She had me doing the accounts."

"Like an accountant?"

"Yes." She paused. "Stop giggling!"

"Okay, fine, where do we go next?” Jimmy said – as Pix was too busy giggling.

Edna sounded like she was grinning. "You'll be glad to hear this. The next bit is easy...all you need to do is ask for directions.”

###

After three hours of trooping through connecting corridors, Jimmy peeked around the corner and nodded. "Yup! It's a Slor!"

The Slor sat on a hovering bath of ooze. It sort of looked like a silvery bowl, floating at about shin height (Which meant the Slor came up to about Jimmy's chest). The Slor had two very small sensory organs which let it see above ground. They were almost entirely vestigial in the bygone era when the Slor had first evolved, but they were slowly becoming larger as the race spent more and more time above ground and thus, better eyes were a better survival option. At least, according to Slor nature magazines. The much larger Slor sensory organ was, well, their entire skin. Through their skin, they could feel vibrations, gusts, drafts. They could taste chemicals on the air, and could 'hear' voices. Now, the question was, did this one understand Interlac?

"Uh, hello?" Jimmy asked. The Slor turned its hovering device, its manipulator arm barely visible against the folds of its skin. To Jimmy, the Slor looked like a disgusting grubby thing stewing in its own pine-scented juices. He had to force himself to remember that to another Slor, this Slor would be a young, handsome, healthy male. At least, Jimmy thought it was male. And really, it'd have to-

"Questioning Greeting: Hello humans. Worried question: Are you lost?"

"Uh, no." Jimmy looked around for the translator. He spotted it a moment later – built into the hover-seat itself. Nice touch. "Well, sort of."

The hoverpad ghosted forward. "Eager to please: Please. Welcome to Slor Corridors."

Jimmy grinned. "Uh, smiling pleasantly: My friend and I would like the best directions to the nearest bus station."

"Bus station?" The Slor and Pix asked at the same time.

"Aside to Friend: Do you really want to walk the rest of the way?" Jimmy asked Pix.

"Graceful Admission: Good point," Pix said, sounding as if she was enjoying the qualifiers that the Slor – and any people who would want to talk to a Slore – had to use.

The Slor's body rippled, and then a thick, viscous green ooze sprayed from every pore of the creature, splattering Jimmy and Pix with a layer half an inch thick.

"Mournful: I don't have legs,” the Slor said via translator.

"Restraining Irritation: I noticed." Jimmy said, trying to keep his lips closed as Slor mucus slid down his face. He slowly wiped his arm off on his sleeve, only to find that said sleeve was soaked as well.

###

"Ick, ick..." Pix wiped at her hair. "I hope this doesn't gunk up my hair..."

Jimmy looked at her, then shook his head. "It's okay."

"You sure?"

"Sure!"

"Uugh." She shuddered. "I feel all icky. When do we get a shower again?

"When we get to the Upper Levels," Jimmy said, throwing another towel away – there was a single towel dispenser in the survival gear. It was running low after their run in with the Slor. "Also, and this is just a theory so don't take it to court or anything, we're both icky, so does that cancel it out?"

She mulled that one over as she wiped off the bits of the comlink that had gotten gunk on them with a towel.

They continued walking towards the bus station for a few moments.

"You know," Pix said, closing her eyes, fingertips trailing along the wall. "I was thinking about what I want from life. See, I've figured it out. I want to find a small house in the middle of nowhere. Maybe a little hydropnics bay so we don't need to buy food. And then I just want to lay down in bed and never ever let you out."

“Remarkably similar to my idea,” Jimmy said, grinning. “After this is over, I'm going to get you that bed. But we're gonna have to set up near a Orx and Crakes. I can't grow food to save my life."

Pix grinned. "And we could steal your dad's set of a hundred and one classic action movies."

"Sounds like a date."

Pix's smile faded slightly. "We haven't actually gone on a date."

"I know. It's pathetic, isn't it? True loves really should go on at least one date."

"And what makes you think this is true love?" Pix grinned. "How do you know the euphoria of your first physical relationship isn't making you mentally repress all my minor flaws, flaws that will become readily apparent after a few months of our relationship?"

"Cause you're my best friend." Jimmy poked her nose. "You've been my best friend for ten years and you're going to keep on being my best friend no matter how many times I have sex with you."

Pix giggled, then grabbed his hand. "Okay! Well, now we've got that out of the way...on with the adventure?"

"On with the adventure!"

They walked in silence for a bit.

“This adventure kinda sucks, you know,” Pix said. “There's been no dragons, no princesses, no nothing...”

###

At the prow-ward part of Slor territory, where their civilization started to integrate with one of the oldest civilizations on Harbinger – the Tette<click><click>, the architecture started to take on the same look. That was why, as Jimmy and Pix walked along the main street of whatever Slor city this was, there were actual...well, streets to walk down, not just tunnels burrowed through imported biomass. That didn't mean the buildings surrounding them weren't amorphous, reddish brown masses of lumpy tissue – which made low, steady breathing noises as they expanded and contracted.

Jimmy just wished it did.

The bus station proper, though, was all Tette<click><click>: The structure was crafted out of multiple layers of organic extrusions, which created a flowing, smooth structure that managed to disguise the utilitarian harshness that would have dominated a human bus stop. The benches were configured for all the local races.

Meaning none of them were comfortable for Jimmy and Pix. One had fifteen slots at the bottom for the Tette<click><click>'s legs. The other was a curved trough, full of a viscous, bubbling ooze that smelled strongly of acid.

Jimmy and Pix decided to stand and look at the curved bus schedules. They did so for about five, six seconds, before Jimmy spoke up.

“Pix,” he said.

“Yeah?” Pix asked.

“I do believe we're looking at a decoration and not the bus schedules,” he said.

“Yeah,” Pix said. Slowly, they turned, until they saw a booth holding a Slor – who was currently partially deflated and snoring softly. Jimmy and Pix walked over, looking at the space above the booth.

"So." Jimmy tapped his foot. "Which bus should we take?"

"Uh, are you asking me?" Edna asked after a moment of silence.

"Well, seeing as how neither of us can read Slor or Tette<click><click>..." Pix trailed off.

Edna sighed. "And how exactly do you expect me to read languages that are transcribed non-visually? Tette<click><click> imprint information psionically, and psi doesn't go through a camera. And the Slor language, you need to lick to-"

"Ah!" Jimmy snapped his fingers. He stepped up, then focused on a single word: INTERLAC. As he thought that word, the wall shimmered, and words in the interstellar language slowly formed out of nothingness – words that spelled out the bus schedule!

"Okay, Pix, there's a bus that will hit the Traverse heading out in about twenty minutes."

Pix tapped her chin and opened her mouth, then closed it. She thought about it for a few more seconds, while Jimmy watched – wondering what the hell it was she was thinking about. Then, grinning, he said. "No, that's not enough time to have sex. More's the pity."

"Actually, Jimmy, you horrible, sexist person you, I was going to ask if you knew where the bathroom was?"

"Oh! Um..." He frowned. "I don't know if they have human bathrooms here."

They both looked at the Slor attendant, who remained deflated. Jimmy carefully knocked on the window pane. The Slor filled up with a loud squelching noise, and then spoke.

"Quivery: How can I help yea twice?" The Slor had a translator built right into the desk and it was one that had not been updated in a long time. A long long time.

"Uh..." Jimmy blinked. "Is there a human compatible bathroom here?"

"Afferimnation!" the Slor said. “Reconfigurmation begun!”

"Thanks! Where is it?" Pix leaned on the desk, her antennas sparking. Her knees knocked together slightly, the unique Pix 'need to pee' signal.

"Right around the corner. Take this key." The Slor extruded a single tendril, to handed her what looked like a chain of beads, that had been smeared with mucus.

"Uh...right." Pix held it as gingerly as possible, then walked around said corner, making small 'ew' and 'gross' noises under her voice.

Jimmy tapped his fingers on the desk. How does one make small talk with a Slor?

The door to the bus station opened. Jimmy glanced over his shoulder.

And froze.

The Xorquin.

That. Was. Impossible.

He wore the same jacket. It was a bit more stained now. His right arm was wrapped up in one of those inteli-casts, with the blue liquid in contained in a glass outer shell. The liquid seeped into wounds and healed them quicker than naturally. He walked slowly, with a limp, but he still had a definite presence. Like he could still rip Jimmy's spinal column out. The only thing going for Jimmy was the Xorquin had a big strip of cloth wrapped sideways over his head, covering two out of three eyes.

Jimmy shuffled slowly to the corner of the room, hands in his pockets, head away from the Xorquin. Don't turn. Don't turn.

The Xorquin stepped up to the desk and rattled at the clerk.

The clerk's translator rattled back.

The Xorquin held out his non wounded arm. The Slor dropped...a strong of mucus covered beads into that palm. Shit shit shit shit shit.

Jimmy shuffled towards the entrance, keeping himself behind the Xorquin (who was turning, slowly, to the corner that lead to the bathrooms).

Jimmy ducked out of the place. He drew his gun, gulping as he did so. Okay, okay, run run. He ran to the alleyway behind the bus stop, ducked around a dumpster that looked shockingly human, and then burst out in the back, where the bathrooms jutted out of the back of the bus-stop like a tumor.

Okay, maybe it wasn't so unlike a human bus stop.

The Xorquin was trying to thread the beads through the lock of the bathroom door, but he was having trouble getting them through the lock. Jimmy never thought he would thank the Slor for their fiddly, pointlessly complex keys. He reached for his gun, planning to-

Then the door opened. "Hey, Jimmy look what I found."

The Xorquin looked at Pix. Pix looked at the Xorquin. In her hand was...a lighter, a human style lighter, the silvery top popped off, Pix's thumb on the button to start the sparker.

The Xorquin reached into his jacket.

Pix blinked as his hand vanished into his jacket, then took advantage of having a computerized brain. Where Jimmy would have thought through every option and then gotten shot before making a decision, Pix came to the best decision, then...did it.

She clicked the lighter on and stuck her hand in the Xorquin's jacket, flames licking at the bandages the Xorquin had used to patch up his ribs, chest, arm and neck.

Jimmy did not know bandages were that flammable. The Xorquin jerked back, his shredder pistol hitting the ground with a clank, his hands beating at the flames on his chest. He backed into the wall of the bus station.

Pix blinked. The Xorquin tossed his jacket off, slapping himself with it.

"Run." Jimmy grabbed her arm. Pix was staring at the Xorquin, eyes widening. Widest. She didn't look away from the Xorquin, even as he was wreathed in smoke and a horribly familiar smell touched both Jimmy and Pix's nose.

BBQ.

Pix put her hand over her mouth. "Oh god, oh god," she whispered. "No, no, not again!"

"PIX!" Jimmy yanked on her. She blinked.

The Xorquin grabbed his jacket, his chest a big bunch of burnt scales. He ignored them, even as some popped off with the flexing of his muscles. They popped off and revealed burnt, raw flesh.

He yanked a second shredder from his jacket, cocked the safety back, aimed. Jimmy dragged Pix behind the bathroom. Shredder bolts peppered the wall, blowing hunks out of the material. A dark shadow passed overhead. Jimmy and Pix looked up and saw the bus!

It landed at the front. Jimmy fired his gun around the corner wildly. The Xorquin shot back, but then there was a pause. A rattle...a magazine hitting the ground?

Jimmy took the chance, dragging Pix towards the bus. The door opened. People – Slor and Tette<click><click> started getting out. The Xorquin slapped a new magazine into the shredder, aimed, and opened fire.

Jimmy and Pix were almost on the bus by then. People screamed and other people dropped and screamed louder, in ways that made Jimmy want to scream too. The bus doors closed and the bus driver slammed his foot down. He was an Urtish, so he had a LOT of foot to slam.

The bus lurched forward, those still on screaming and panicking and pointing at Jimmy. Jimmy realized he was still holding his gun. "Uh, I-" he started.

Pinkpinkpinktwinkclang!

Shredder bolts thudded into the bottom of the bus.

"Whaz going on!?" The Urtish shouted, his translator shouting as well a moment later.

"Drive!" Jimmy shouted, aiming his gun in the vague direction of the Urtish (but not before flicking on the safety on). "NOW!"

The bus lurched into a higher speed, listing slightly to the side as it did so. Pix leaned against the wall, eyes still unfocused.

"Pix!" Jimmy grabbed her, looking into her eyes.

He paused. "Pix, snap out of it!

Pix kept staring over his shoulder.

Then bus jerked to the side and she whacked her head against the glass. "Shit!"

Jimmy half wanted to tell her to watch her language. But this was no school bus...even if it was Monday again. One week, and everything had changed.

"Jimmy, what the heck is going on!?" Edna shouted, startling him as effectively as the bus jerking to the side.

Something was smashing against the bus. The Urtish yelped. Jimmy looked at the side and saw that a large hover-car, painted bright red, was slamming into the side of the bus, the driver seat occupied by a still smoking, still badly burned, Xorquin.

Jimmy ignored Edna and brought his gun up and fired a few times out the window. That didn't do much.

At his side, Pix sat on the floor, trying to get her gun out, but her hands were shaking.

Jimmy braced himself and aimed, firing. Bang bang bang.

The Xorquin's car started to spurt smoke from the hood. The Xorquin kicked the door open with one foot as the hover-car started to lose speed.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me." Jimmy whispered.

The Xorquin jumped out of the car, which rolled off to the side, losing altitude faster than it lost speed. It smashed into the road and exploded, bits of shrapnel flying in every direction, some pinking off the bottom of the bus, which lurched to a forty five degree angle as the Xorquin grabbed onto the rim of the bus roof with his uninjured hand. He hauled himself up, cocked his leg up, then he was ontop of the bus.

Jimmy and Pix – who had picked up her gun from the floor - aimed up and fired. They blew holes in the top of the bus, but neither could tell if they were doing anything more than scaring what was left of the heck out of the other passengers.

A siren cut through the screaming and shouting and gunshots. A Slor police craft, sleek and rounded – like one of the flying saucers of ancient legend – came alongside the bus. It started to use the Slor's audio language, which was rather similar to the Xorquin's clicking and rattling, if only much much less complicated.

The Xorquin's claws grabbed the roof and started to rip it up through sheer brute strength. Jimmy gaped up at him. Pix shouted and slapped Jimmy shoulder: “Look!”

Jimmy looked. The Urtish was driving straight for a tunnel. The tunnel was very wide, but the Urtish was aiming so that...

Jimmy did not know whether to cheer for the Urtish, or to scream like everyone else.

The bus' roof smashed into the lip of the tunnel.

The bus jerked and a scream of metal filled the air as the roof was peeled up and back like the bus was being attacked by a giant can opener.

Then they were in the tunnel and wind roared through the roof. Alarms blared from the Urtish's console. The passengers kept up their versions of screaming their heads off.

The bus burst from the tunnel and shot out into the Traverse

###

Enjoying the story? Support it with Patreon! LINK HERE!