10/10/2020
[PICKPOCKET] A No Man's Sky Tale
The floor of the GRAYSLATE Trade Station was an unforgiving cold steel... very close to the system namesake. The terminal floor was well weathered with interstellar pathways, despite the carbon-reinforcement of the plates. Looking around the terminal presented a familiar scene: a haze hung near the lights in the ceiling - a musty mix of humidity and radiation from the nearby lake. The mix of life forms scattered about the room formed a cocktail not many would order up... but not overly uncommon for a place like this.
A steady bustle churned through the terminal as ships landed and took off - arriving from legend and blasting off into eternity. Pieces of stories from places that never existed entered my translator, propelled by the tongues of liars living on the fumes of their last heist.
It wasn’t safe here.
Thankfully I wouldn’t be here much longer. I was waiting for a repair on my ship. It had been about 3 hours since I commissioned a very hairy outlander to fix my hyperdrive.
The bustles came in waves, almost as if they were on a schedule, but if you ever traveled at warp speed you would know keeping schedules is impossible. I consider myself observant, and I was positive now that the slender Traveller hidden partially by shadows in the corner seat was not here to catch a flight.
I had seen them get up twice before. It wasn’t until now that I could notice the pattern... when a crowd filled the terminal, they would get up and slowly make a perimeter lap. Completely unnoticed they would pass within inches of others whom were focused more on telling their heroic tales and reaching their connecting shuttles to notice this Travellers insect like face.
So far the Traveller had done nothing but complete passes around the room. I actually almost missed the first one... if they hadn’t passed so close to my seat the stench of cactus whiskey would have never entered my environment processor vents.
When they sat back down I thought it odd, but not unusual. It was when they got back up that I started to really pay attention. Their movements were intentional, methodical, and filled with purpose. Despite the fruitlessness of the first few laps, they held a determined expression that told me one thing - he was hunting.
But for What? Or for Whom?
The terminal filled again with the same mix of intergalactic cretins, and again the mysterious Traveller began their lap. It was as if I could predict their steps; left turn at the end of the bar, follow the wall, pause by the south door, cut across by the band, pause, follow the far wall with the planters, zig zag through the high tops, back to their familiar corner chair.
But wait... This time they stayed at the south door.
I asked myself why over and over. Questions raced through my mind, centered around wondering if they finally found what they were after?
I had no choice but to wait. The next few moments unfolded like Jacobs Ladder - predictably surprising.
Just when I expected them to cut across by the band, they headed towards the ticket check lines. Stretching all the way back to the rad-barriers the lines moved at an unexpected fast pace. If you watched closely, you could tell their attention lay with rather unremarkable little Gek fellow carrying a steel capsule satchel on a sling hung comfortably over their shoulder.
Lights on the side of the capsule flashed regularly in a consistent series of colors, seeming to pulse to the cadence of the Geks wagging nubby tail.
The shifty Traveller was now within a meter or two of the capsule and it seemed the only people aware were them and myself. As they closed the gap it seemed like the haze near the lights stopped swirling for a moment - also stunned by the suspense.
Then, it happened.
Simultaneously a loud pop from a telescreen grabbed the attention of the entire terminal. When all eyes were focused up at the screen, the Traveller moved in - placing themselves almost directly against the capsule.
The next moment brought a blinding flash followed by the searing whizz of a bolt flying through the air. It was directly on target - landing squarely in the forehead of the Gek, the force toppling them towards the wall as they buckled under their own dead weight.
The Traveller grabbed the capsule strap, masterfully routing it off the Gek’s shoulder as he slumped forward. Turning their gaze to the North Terminal Corridor where the bolt originated, our eyes landed together on a figure I had somehow not noticed until now - an average height Korvax, previously an unnoticeable fixture in the terminal, now gracefully in a full speed wall sprint - bee lining for the capsule.
With an orchestrated mil-tech precision the Korvax slid a concussion disk across the floor as they parkoured across the terminal seating - wall running when necessary to avoid luggage or huddled bodies. The Traveller was already reacting, but the concussion gr***de was well placed and had stunned them just shy of the rad-barriers. The Korvax performed one final acrobatic move, placing themselves just behind the Traveller - whom was still stunned by the gr***de.
The crackle of the plasma blade was unmistakeable. The sound as it sliced through the Traveller seared to your memory like a bad smell from a long forgotten room. The Travellers eyes lost focus, and slowly they slumped to the ground - revealing the steel carapace of the Korvax who stood behind him.
For a moment I felt like we made as much eye contact as you could with a Korvax. The red and blue lights flashed on and off through the green shaded emeril face piece while trillions of processes completed within the being. In their clutches - the strap holding the capsule.
“Kzzzrttt...” emitted from the Korvax voice translator, apparently damaged from the chaotic moments still settling inside the terminal. Realizing the malfunction, they turned and walked toward the hangar bays.
Silence hung in the air just long enough to welcome the next wave of ships into the terminal, and with that ebb - the flow - amongst which was a sly and deadly Korvax with their newly acquired bounty.
I believe they spared me.
Copper Pixel Gaming