Area 22
Docs Detective Agency
291087 Crown Royal Street
Sector 9, Area 18, ArcTech
27.10.2951
File # 100011101
For Office Use Only
Area 22
The Arkuza were coming in through the windows. They had a dozen or so of them. They were dressed like pirates from a bad movie, complete with scimitars, pistols, and gold chains. They were all armed with some kind of weapon.
They were all big men, like Lorvile bull-hounds on steroids. They had their weapons out and pointed at the door.
“You’re under arrest,” said the man in the lead. He was tall and broad, with a thick black beard and a wide, cruel smile.
“What did I do?” asked Doc Orion, stalling for time.
“You broke into my home!” said the man, “and now we’re going to take you in.”
“You don’t seem very surprised,” said Orion, trying to keep his cool.
“Oh, but I am not,” said the Arkuza, “we have been expecting you. Now, let’s go!” Detective Orion held his Coda pistol firmly in his hands while peering down the sights of the reflex scope in front of him, his fingers stuttering, they caressed the trigger. He took another long, deep breath. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest.
The blast of his gun blasted open the head of the Arkuza in front of him, Like a planet of endangered post simians going supernova while listening to dubopera. A beam of white plasma came cutting thru the window on the opposite side of Orion.
The Arkuza screamed in agony as the beam cut through his body. It was like a giant laser cutter. He dropped his weapon and fell to his knees.
Orion turned to the Arkuza behind him. “I’m sorry, buddy. I didn’t mean to kill you.” The Arkuza looked up at him. His face was twisted in pain.
With two quick counter reflex shots it was done, leaving the body of another Arkuza on the floor next to a pile of rubble. His face mangled beyond recognition, blood all over the scene.
He heard a low chuckle. He turned to see a big guy wearing a pink suit and a black bow tie. “You’re a real funny guy,” said the Corpo Rep. He was standing in the doorway, a wide grin on his face. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the dumb little space detective. How does it feel to be a hero?”
“forever increasing your standing and value to us”
“I was beginning to think I was going to have to make a formal report of this, Orion…But you know the rules”.
“Yeah, I know the rules, and I know how to play them. I will pay the fines from my account on Orison”
“You know, you could have just asked me what you needed to know. You don’t have to shoot people for information.”
“I have to do it. I’m a cop.”
“Yeah, I guess you do.”
He smiled and walked away, not even bothering to look at the body on the floor.
Detective Orion slowly lowered his Coda pistol and nodded slowly to himself. He looked around at the Arkuza bodies littering the room. He felt a strange sense of satisfaction. He had been playing this game for a long time, and he knew how to play it. He also had been in this game long enough to know when he was being set up. He knew that his opponent was playing him. But it was all right. He wasn’t really doing anything wrong. He was just playing. He had played it before. He had played it before in the same way that he was playing it now. He was just playing. Probably by some other cowboy gun trying to make a life in a cat eat cat world.
He had been playing a game for a long time. Surviving in this desperate city after the terrible war had drained him. He was tired. Like an old salty piece of liquorish on a hot Daymar day, He wiped the sweat off his face. He felt his eyes getting heavy. His eyes were cold, indifferent eyes. He let his gun drop. He struck a match with his thumb and waited to see what would burn. He lit his rolled smoke, it was the finest strain of spkush from New Babage. Even as it smoked, the faded wrappers floated in the air above him. He watched.
He thought about the past.
They smelled good, and tasted better, they were meant to warm him in icy climates. He remembered the first time he had tried them, back in his war days, on the cold plains of microtech. They kept him from freezing to death once on plains. but that was another time, another place….. And, to make a long story short, There’s a lot of space between the stars. And there are mysteries galore, just waiting to be solved. So, if you want to live to solve another one of them, I’d advise you to stay away from here.
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