Junkstar
Science fiction
Epsilon interrogatory room, Leviathan tower, Mars.
Vertigo Saint Khaff, cargo pilot for over 30 years, faces Chagal from Insurance Company Commercy & Son and his executive assistant, Bot L6. Vertigo is a maverick who has seen it all from the first pirates swooping over his freight like a swarm of bees to the six weeks rainbow over Mars following a supernova blast.
But his time has passed. And his employer, Jersey Minerals, wants him out for good. A level 6 bot will do the job and save the company a few coins.
—
You encountered a problem at the junk barrier, right ?
—
A problem ? Un fuckin’ major jumble… My head hurts… you got any copium ?
—
We have strict orders… No medicine until further notice…
—
What ? Are you nuts ? I can’t raise my head… My neck sends me some weird shit…
—
What kind ?
—
I don’t know ! Electrical pulses…
—
I would like to summarize the incident in order to let you get some rest… Your cargo, the Neptune, took off from Penelope base at 6:02 on the 21th of June… Your transport was 45% full and headed to Earth West Pacific… You shot twice your plasma canons as defined by the Spatial Conduct code in order to muscle your way in… As you were ready to move forward in the new opening you noticed that the corridor was closing down again…
—
Right… Never came across such a phenomenon… And I have seen some shit around…
Again, why this quarantine bullshit ? I ran into pieces of washing machines and defective neuronal uterus up there… Not some type of third kind encounter if you ask me…
—
In time, please… Do you remember your exit from the cockpit ?
—
Kind of… It’s as messy in my head as it was there… Meow, my second in command, managed to scrape some pieces off my back with the articulate arms… But that trash kept coming back at me like some kind of conflirting relationship…
—
Meow, your mutant cat right ?
—
Yeah, he’s the best at it… Why ? Is he ok ?
—
He’s fine… And then ?
—
… It worked at first… I was able to wipe all the junk off the cockpit view until…
—
Yes ?
—
… Until I got entangled with a sexdoll… I mean… I know it sounds borderline crazy but that was genuinely freakin’scary…
—
Mmmm… We will beep this moment if you don’t mind… Spatial correctness code impose…
—
I know all this mumbo jumbo… Beep !
This is when you opened fire ?
—
Yes… Meow advised me to initiate self defense procedure… I was so nervous about being morphed into trash myself that I was totally oblivious of my own protective armor…
—
Ion personal armor canons ?
—
Yeah… You read your index cards well… At first, I got the upper hand… I blew a nice little runway wide enough to let us in… but it didn’t last… You see… This mass seemed to live on its own… I almost… Naa… This is insane…
—
Please let us know… We need all the details…
—
… Well… You asked for it… When I shot my rounds I heard a deep groan… Like a painful muffled scream… This thing was feeling my punches ! I’m not crazy…
—
We are listening… Go on please…
—
Well… That’s when it all went black… Just some really pesky nightmare’s afterwards… I woke up in a nice recovery capsule… I won’t mind going back there…
—
Do you feel any presence… Around or above you ?
—
Yes ! I feel yours ! Why do you keep me at bay like this ?
We will end your quarantine very soon… However, we must ensure that we come to terms… The last thing we want is to upset you…
—
What’s this corporate lingo ?
—
Well… When the emergency capsule brought you back, we found out some major changes… But l want to make this clear, those changes saved many lives here… You saved thousands of us…
—
What ?!
—
… The People Worker Syndicate of Mars has already erected a titanium statue in your honor… As for Copperson’s, our headquarters is ready to make you an offer you can’t refuse…
—
… You better stop fuckin around and get to the point…
—
… Right… While you were under great stress in the capsule, the junk barrier started to hurl large pieces of trash on our main factories… Let me put you into that moment… small meteorites crashing into our factories, our dormitories, our nurseries… Pure havoc… But when you woke up and the sedative wore off, the pouring of junk ceased… We believe that you control in some way the barrier up there…
—
This is pure madness… Get me out of here… You are the one who should sit here !
—
… Please remain calm… We can’t ill afford another junk carpet bombing… Coppersons is willing to reconsider your status and I have the pleasure to report that we have put off your retirement indefinitely… You will benefit from a 5 years first class contract… Unlimited medical coverage… Two prepaid shuttles to earth per year… In exchange we would like you to agree to stay away from any type of drugs and particularly sedative injection… What do you think ?