Location: MountKiluo…Sacred House Reservation.
Ailanian Standard Time: 2300 Hours.
Makana sighed as he sat on the side of the jagged mountain and played with the traditional Kupano beads on his necklace. He tried to concentrate on the long hike that he and his fellow tribesmen had to complete, but his mind kept dwelling on painful memories. He remembered being a young boy, and seeing his father smiling at him as he said, “Son…it’s a great day and age to be alive. We Ailanians now have the chance to unite…and someday, you’ll be able to live the Ailanian dream, just like I’m living it now. What’s the Ailanian dream? It’s all about working hard and making yourself a place in this great universe with the sweat from your brow as your down payment. I worked hard, son. I bought us some land…and we’re gonna work it as a family. We’re gonna sell fruits and vegetables to the hungry soldiers who are fighting for our freedom, and after we make the leaders of The Alliance happy with our work, our reward will be the Ailanian dream. Freedom. Self-reliance. A place to call your own and a chance to be your own person without handouts or charity from anyone…that’s the Ailanian dream.”
Makana felt his heart ache as he remembered the loving years with his family. He remembered the beauty of the vegetable fields and flowers and how his mother and father would smile at each other and hug him every morning before school.
He suddenly felt nauseous as he remembered the day it all seemed to come to an end. He remembered how his mother had tears in her eyes. He remembered his father looking beaten and broken as he said, “the bank repossessed the land, son…we’ve got nothing left. But I’ve still got the Ailanian dream in my heart. I’m going to the city…I’m gonna work hard and earn back what I lost. You and your mother are gonna go live with our family on the reservation in the jungle. I’ll come back for you…we’ll be happy again someday, we’re gonna get that Ailanian dream together….”
He remembered the years of misery that followed. He closed his eyes and sighed as he then remembered what the young human, who people had called ‘the poet’, had told him.
“Are you kidding me? Do you actually believe that lie, which your father bought into? Do you know what happened? The Ailanian government sold your family out. They repossessed your father’s farm because they thought that The Hydroplantations were a better investment. They never wanted you to have the Ailanian dream. They wanted you to become slaves. The Hydroplantations needed your family land, your sacred land, so that rich people from Earth could cheat the Ailanian people and keep all the profits to themselves. The Ailanian government is simply here to lie to you folks, to convince you that what is happening here is for a righteous cause. Believe me, it isn’t! Help us, we are breaking away from The Evil and forming a true resistance group.”
Makana recalled how he had been perplexed as he asked, “The Evil? They aren’t rebels like us?”
“No, The Evil does not believe in the use of force…most of its members believe that The Evil is all about using digital media and computerized social networks to inform people of how corrupt the government is. The Evil is hoping to simply get the Ailanian people to vote new politicians into the government so they can bring about progressive change and eventually create some kind of organic farm based utopia. However, the members of The Evil, who I am working with, are all about destroying this current government and its plans to bring about dystopia…some call us insane…some call us anarchists…but I like to think of us as realists. If people are being oppressed they have the right to do whatever it takes to stop that oppression, even if it means that some people have to die because of it!”
“Why are we here?” The young Kupano man said with a sleepy voice.
“Kahuku …my young friend,” Makana said as he place his large, muscular hand on the young man’s shoulder. “I suspect that you don’t trust me.”
“No…not at all,” Kahuku was obviously shaken as he said, “it’s just…this was a big decision for me, to leave my mother’s farm undefended.”
“What you did was brave…and we thank you for your courage.”
“I have a crop of Halamula plants that needs tending to…I took a big chance here, Makana. I could be screwing up this year’s harvest because I went on this adventure with you guys. My only concern is that this is taking longer that you said it would. I keep thinking about that crop I should be tending to. I know your goals are important, but my mother and I need to eat.”
Makana looked sympathetic as he said, “This new guy, Bobby the Blade…he’s slowing us down, he’s affecting your confidence. You told your mother that you would be back to the farm in three days’ time…and you’re afraid he’s going to make you a liar.”
“Yes…”
“Well, rest assured…the man is a liar. He came up to us talking some big smack about how he knew these men in Polynea…he said he knew where to get the weapons and ammunition that we have been using to kill our invading enemies with. The truth is…I know these men. I know some of them as members of The Evil. I gave them shelter once when the law was looking for them. They promised me that our cause was also their cause. They want to rid the planet of all those who might come here and end our way of life in these mountains. I also know of another great man, who was born in that monstrous, cancer of a city over there. He tells me about how every year the city and The Hydroplantations engulf more and more of our sacred lands. He has told me how our people become slaves when they go begging on the doorsteps of this invading civilization that came here claiming a great galactic war was about to swallow our planet. These invaders claim to be protecting peace…but they are destroying our people as they rape and desecrate our sacred lands. These invaders turned my father from a proud Kupano man into a whimpering worm. The humans I gave shelter to, they told me of what The Evil are doing…they are trying to steal something precious from a man named Marco who must die for the evil deeds he committed on Ailana. And if we sit here long enough…we might see a great fire burning in that city tonight. However, if we don’t see fire in the city tonight…then we know that our friends have succeeded and will soon deliver a powerful weapon to us. We will use this against the invaders…and they shall be forced to leave our world.”
“And if I do not see fire in the city tonight…”
Makana wrapped his arm around his young friend to comfort him as he said, “then you will know that what you are doing out here is worth any sacrifice that you must make.”
Location: Anodia Storage Complex…Polynea.
Ailanian Standard Time: 2348 Hours.
It was almost midnight. Jhett and Bloke sat in the darkness of their large hovervan, which was hidden among the trees on the hill. They were parked about three kilometers up a steep street that overlooked a warehouse complex, which was surrounded by a large, well-fortified fence. Inside the complex, over a dozen well-armed gang members from the Pilikoa family stood their ground.
A few more minutes of silence passed by before the com on Jhett’s utility belt began to whistle. He picked up the com quickly, and put it to his face. “What’s up?” Jhett said without any hesitation.
The voice on the other end belonged to Bronson Petrilock. He seemed frantic as he said, “Heads up guys, I think someone just sent in the troops!”
“Where are they?” Jhett said nervously. This was not supposed to be happening.
“They’re almost on top of you!” Bronson exclaimed, “And they are pissed!”
Jhett clicked the com to another channel. “Skelter, Strife, Lynch…come in…are you there?”
“We hear you, Jhett,” a tough voice said over the com. “We’re in position.”
“We have company,” Jhett said. “But don’t make any sort of move until I say so.”
“No problem,” The com squealed for a few seconds before it went silent.
Jhett gasped as he realized that over a dozen hovercars, of various models and colors, had suddenly flown out of nowhere and were screeching to a halt in front of the fence that surrounded the warehousing units. With their engines roaring, an angry bunch of gang members, from the Pilikoa family, made their grand entrance.
“Holy shit, Bloke…would ya look at that…” Jhett said as his eyes became fixated on the traffic outside. The gang members drove up to the fence and aimed their small laser rifles into the compound. A few seconds later, a large, dazzling display of sparks flew everywhere and small explosions could be heard. As the gate fell to the ground, the hovercars raced inside, and the night erupted as two rival street gangs engaged in a bitter fire fight.
Jhett’s com began to squawk with Bronson’s panicking voice, “oh my gods, Jhett! Our business dealings here created some bad blood. They brought in reinforcements. They don’t want your merchandise! They just wanna kill anybody who’s in the Kukane family!”
“That means the deal is off and we’re gonna be the last men standing!” Jhett grinned and changed the channel on the com again, “O.K. guys, take out those cars and make those punks get out and fight fair!”
A series of large, blue laser blasts flew in from somewhere outside the compound and blew up the hovercars back ends, causing the occupants to instantly flee their crippled vehicles. The screaming young men were met by a barrage of laser fire from their downtown foes.
The Pilikoa gang members, who survived the initial assault, simply dug in their heels as they took refuge behind their totaled vehicles and began firing back. Gang members, on both sides, were soon falling to the pavement as their bodies were ripped open by laser blasts. Within moments, the only sounds that could be heard were of screams, shouts, and gunfire.
“Cover us! We’re going in!” Jhett yelled into the com as he started up the large hovervan, drove it down the hill and into the compound. They flew past the carnage of what was now becoming a massacre and stopped in front of a large warehouse.
“Blast that door down! Let’s grab Marco’s stuff and get the hell out of here!” Jhett yelled.
Bloke pressed a button on a shock grenade, and threw it out of hover-van’s window. It landed next to the large delivery door and exploded in a flash of blue light. The shock caused the door to fall like a curtain onto a stage.
As they looked into the newly made opening, Jhett and Blokes eyes grew wide with horror.
“SHIT!” They screamed as they realized that the barrel of a large ion blaster was pointed straight at them.
“Get out!” Jhett screamed. They both jumped out of the vehicle just as the gun fired and caused the hovervan’s cockpit to explode in a flash of orange light and sparks.
“Skelter get down here!” Jhett screamed into his com as he whipped out his sidearm. He dropped and rolled behind the hovercar, Bloke was already there.
“What the hell is going on?!” Bloke demanded.
Jhett shouted, “We’ve been set up! We’re being double crossed here! Someone sold us out!”
Laser blasts caused more cars to explode and more gang members to scream in pain.
Jhett shouted into his com as laser bolts flew all around him, “Skelter get down here!”
The com squealed, “We’re here! We’re here!”
Jhett looked up and saw another hovervan making its way into the compound. Jhett’s eyes got huge as he screamed, “NO! Skelter! Look out!”
From the darkness, a black truck was racing towards them at over one hundred kilometers per hour. Jhett’s ears hurt from a deafening crash as he saw how the black truck slammed into the side of the hovervan that Skelter, Strife and Lynch were in.
“NO!” Jhett screamed as he realized that there would only be one outcome from this.
The unprotected hover-van wrapped around the armored truck’s front bumper. Sparks flew from its twisted chassis as it was pushed along the pavement. Jhett and Bloke sat in amazement as laser bolts ripped through the air. Their amazement turned to fear as they heard the sounds of sirens which soon drowned out the sounds of gunfire.
“RUN!” Jhett said frantically, “GO!”
The two cyborgs began running as fast as they could. They made it about one hundred meters from their hiding place before laser bolts cut into them and forced them to the ground.
Jhett gasped, the pain in his legs was searing. “We have to complete this mission! We can’t let those goddamned things fall into the wrong hands!” With a bloody hand, Jhett pulled out his com, dialed in a few commands onto the keypad and pressed a red button. Jhett looked over and saw Bloke lying on the ground clutching his abdomen and bleeding severely from the head.
Jhett realized the enormity of the situation, the button he had pushed hadn’t put Marco’s back-up plan into action. Nothing had happened.
“Explode goddamn it! Something’s wrong!” Jhett shouted as he suddenly realized how bad things had gotten. He pressed the button on his com over and over again.
The com’s screen flashed the words. ERROR…ERROR…ERROR.
“Goddamn it!” Jhett’s mind screamed with panic. “Those geeks tricked us! They found our merchandise! They must have gotten here first!”
Jhett shook his head with frustration but soon became distracted with more urgent matters as laser bolts flew overhead. He heard the gang members screaming as they got shot by their enemies. Bitter rivalries raged as the gang members shot, stabbed and beat each other to death. Many lives would be lost tonight.
Jhett looked up at the smoldering wreck of twisted metal wrapped around the front bumper of the mysterious, black truck. A large, dark figure stood there shooting blast after blast, from a large handgun, into the cockpit. In the flashes of light that accompanied the shots, Jhett could see his comrades convulsing in death as their bodies were blown to bloody bits.
“You…you lucky son-of-a-bitch…” Jhett said to himself as he laid there, trying not to breath, trying not to twitch in pain from his multiple gunshot wounds.
The man in black stopped shooting and turned towards Jhett.
Jhett could not see the man’s face since it was covered in darkness. As he lay there bleeding, Jhett swallowed fearfully as he found himself looking into the man’s glowing red eyes. He felt a pain in the computerized part of his cyborg brain.
“Holy shit! He’s sending me an infrared transmission.” Jhett thought as the pain singed through his skull. “Cyborg telekinesis! Only the most powerful of us can do it! Oh gods I can feel it! I can see things! I can hear things!”
Jhett closed his eyes and grit his teeth in pain as he mentally saw images and heard someone speaking.
“Something big is about to happen on Ailana…something terrible is about to go down…this world, as we know it…is about to end…”
He saw images of the Halawalachek Mountains. His mind flashed to a cavern that was deep inside the mountain where he saw dozens of large, red statues lying around in a pile of red rocks. The cavern seemed to be made up of the red rock, which seemed to stretch for kilometers is a large vein along the side of the cavern.
Deep within his panicking mind, Jhett heard a voice shouting, “Of course there are people who know about the plan! Of course there are people who are trying to stop us, some of them happen to be our former friends! We’re involved in a deadly game of cloak and dagger to determine the future of this planet! Did you think this would be easy? Did you think there would not be players in this game who would do anything to stop us? What do they know about us? Well, let’s see here, they probably figured out how Marco stole our money that we gave him to acquire those weapons…and I’ll bet that they will find out how we stole em’ back! They know about the cave. And they probably know all about the secret experiments taking place at the lab they used to work at before the white haired man had them arrested and imprisoned. Yes, the cat is out of the bag! It’s hard as hell to keep a lid on something like this! Now all we can do is wait and see how the game plays out and plan our next move accordingly! Now are you going to grow a backbone and get in the game or are you going to just sit on the sidelines and watch? Because those that only watch the game will not get the same reward as those that participate…now do as I say, or get the hell out of our way! We have a plan and we cannot wait any longer! We must wake the Prisoners of Paradise!”
Jhett felt as if his brain was about to be squeezed from his skull as he found himself being forced to mentally view images of men and women in lab coats walking around some kind of scientific facility. His mind’s eye saw soldiers being killed in battles, along with policemen in riot gear beating protesters. He gasped as he saw the infinite blue of the Ailanian sky above the deep blue of the Ailanian Ocean. He saw the streets of Polynea ablaze with fires and explosions as he saw the past, the present and the future all melt together into a quickly moving stream of consciousness that made his brain feel as if it were about to tear itself in half.
“Holy shit!” Jhett shouted at the man in black, “We got here too late! The idea was to blast these warehouses to pieces so those punks couldn’t get their hands on the stuff Marco brought here! But those sons-of-bitches stole the merchandise! Oh my gods, we tried to screw them over, and that decision caused us to screw this whole plan up! What is going to happen now? What are you going to do next? Don’t just walk away from me! We’ve put this planet in danger and I gotta know what you are going to do next!”
Sirens began wailing as police cars flooded into the mess of burning vehicles and bloody bodies.
What are you going to do next?!” Jhett gasped and looked at the ground as he heard a soft voice in the back of his head saying, “What am I gonna do next? I’m gonna get paid. I am an individual…I am a Capitalist living only for myself and the money I can make from this world…I’m so sorry that you just happened to be in my way.”
Jhett looked up just in time to see the inside of a gun barrel and a flash of light.
The sirens wailed louder as red lights flashed everywhere.
Taking that as his cue to leave, the man in black turned his back on Jhett, and walked away.
Location: A storage room in the Malakua Tavern…the Go-Go District…Polynea.
Ailanian Standard Time: 2404 Hours.
Agent Charlie slowly walked down the dimly lit hallway with Kenny cowering behind him. Charlie’s thoughts were a torrid, jumbled mess as he tried to sort out the last conversation he had with Jack. The fact that his boss, at the CIA, was not in a pleasant state of mind certainly did not help. Charlie sighed as he remembered how Jack had said, “I guess you heard about how Kalapana let a really big fish just get away.”
“Yeah…what the hell happened there?” Charlie’s mind wrestled with what he had seen in the alley a few nights ago. He swallowed nervously as he thought about how he witnessed that mysterious man in black manhandling the suspect he had been trailing. He thought about how he had not been able to relocate the man and how he would explain it all to Jack without any sense of closure or accomplishment.
He remembered Jack saying frantically, “That’s the problem, Charlie, we have no clue what the hell is going on…anywhere…at all! All I know is Marco Giraudoux is probably light years away and we blew it again. And now the High Senate is breathing down my neck and our jobs are at stake unless we find some bad guys producing a whole hell of a lot of narcotics and bring their heads to them on a silver platter!”
“Sounds like things are getting desperate for ya, Jack…you should try living my double life sometime…”
“Speaking of your double life…what exactly are you doing with it?”
“I’m trying to convince Makula Pilikoa’s oldest son, Awa, to start producing Cutz again so that you can arrest him and become the famous lawman you always dreamed about, Jack…”
“And what the hell is taking you so long?”
“Relax, boss…Awa just has his own methodical way of doing things…first, he needs to do a few things to ensure that he keeps the power he just inherited.”
“What is he planning on doing?”
“I’ll be honest with you, Jack…it’s gonna involve some murder and some mayhem…but when the dust settles and he feels like he is officially the biggest fish in the pond…I’ll find a way for you to hook him and reel him in for all the world to see…”
“That is if my cover doesn’t get blown first…” Charlie thought to himself as he entered the dark room and noticed how the expression on Awa’s face did not look promising. As he took a seat in front of the desk that Makula once ruled his empire from, Charlie held his breath as he watched Awa poured himself a glass of whiskey from a tall bottle. He remained stoic as he poured Charlie a glass and slid it over to him.
Charlie took a sip and mentally prepared himself to remain calm and collected as he said, “Well, Awa…congratulations, all those guys, who you couldn’t trust, thought that Chibu was killed by the Kukane family in retaliation for those three kids he gunned down on the street corner. And since violence begets violence…they went and decided to go and avenge Chibu’s death…and got themselves killed in the process.”
“No one survived tonight’s gun battle at the warehouses?”
“The one’s that did are on life support waiting to become organ donors,” Charlie said and took another sip.
“Good,” Awa said, “I guess we can officially say that the playing field has been leveled a bit. You were right, Charlie it was time to thin the herd, or downsize, as those so called ‘legitimate’ Ailanian businesses call it.”
“Yup,” Charlie said and bit his lip.
Awa said, “Hatred is a good motivator to get untrustworthy gang members to get themselves killed while they try to shoot up their rivals…and now, thanks to all that violence and doubletalk…we got ourselves a slimmed down organization full of very loyal people…and a few less enemies and competitors.”
Charlie took a long sip and set the glass back down on the desk as he said, “Pseudo-capitalists give their incompetent workers pink slips and then proceed to lay off the ones who know how to do their jobs after the legislation has been passed and bailout money has been arranged. We, on the other hand, need another way to deal with those in our ranks who can’t seem to do their job and get arrested over and over again.”
“You are one smart son-of-a-bitch, Charlie,” Awa chuckled as he took a drink.
Charlie appeared not to look nervous, even though his guts were tumbling as he said, “Those whom we sent into battle tonight to face down the Kukane family…they might have served your father well in the past, but they were getting sloppy…and their hatred for their rivals was getting in the way of them doing their jobs. And even though a lot of blood was shed tonight…things will be better this way.”
“You are proving to be a very effective man to have around, Charlie,” Awa said as he slugged his drink back. “And by the way…that guy named Bronson Petrilock? How did things go with him?”
“Let’s just put it this way,” Charlie said as he tried to keep his lies and deceptions straight. He held his breath as he remembered how he had come across Bronson being held against the alley wall by the strange man in the black hat and trench coat. Charlie exhaled as he said, “If he was the one who was ratting out your father…he’s been taken care of.”
“Good,” Awa said. “We’ll proceed with our new Cutz making strategy.”
Charlie felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he thought, “Oh thank the gods! Soon all this bullshit I’ve had to go through will be worth it.”
Awa leaned back in his chair and said, “We’ll start by operating the secret labs, like my father used to do. For starters, only I will know where they are…all Makani shipments get sent to locations known only to one processor.”
“I see,” Charlie said as he pressed his lips together and thought of the fine line he had crossed by helping Awa to kill all those young men. “What kind of monster have I become…what piece of my soul will I have to sell next in order to get my superiors the justice they demand?”
Awa said, “For now, your job will be to keep your eye on Kenny. Make sure he isn’t visiting that whore he used to call his wife. And be sure to keep his nose to the computer keyboard so he can make us some money while we wait for our processors to get their act together. The fact is…this gang war, we just started, will be keeping the local cops busy for quite some time. This violence, that the city will be experiencing, will be the perfect cover for you two to pull off your heists.”
“Will do boss,” Charlie said as he finished his drink. “You heard the man, Kenny…let’s get moving. It’s time to be a bad guy again…and we got a whole lot of work to do.”
Kenny felt his heart racing as he remembered the white haired man saying, “Remember the deal we made, Kenny. I still need you to steal something for me…if you want to see your wife and daughter again… I suggest you figure out a way to keep your end of the bargain.”
Awa’s angry voice broke Kenny’s concentration, “What’s the deal, Kenny? You seem a bit distracted. What’s the matter? Don’t tell me ya ain’t got the stomach for all this gangster shit ya gotta do now?”
Kenny shot Awa a worried glance as he said, “No, boss…I’m ready to keep my end of the bargain. Believe me, I plan on being a man of my word.”
Kenny bit his lip as he remembered a certain man’s voice saying, “we still have a lot of work to do…so just remember…keep it on the low…don’t tell anyone what is happening…until we know who is behind all of this. Remember Kenny, part of becoming a rich man, is knowing when to keep your mouth shut!”
Location: Somewhere in outer space.
Standard Ship Time: 0100 Hours.
The party started once the Envoy had left Ailana’s solar system, and had continued non-stop ever since. A quick stop at the Balkner Space Station assured that the ship would have more than enough booze, drugs, and women, who were willing to satisfy, as long as they had access to booze and drugs.
Music with a heavy laden beat thumped loudly as people packed into a fancy lounge that was paneled in expensive Ailanian hardwoods and furnished with large, comfortable chairs and couches. People danced, and threw confetti in the air while they drank expensive liquors from long, glass bottles.
People sat around wooden tables doing lines of cocaine and sucking down the smoke from large bong loads of Cutz. Girls with short skirts and lots of make-up snuggled up close to large, muscle bound men who had rugged faces and razor stubble. At the center of attention, was Marco, dressed in a fancy, black tuxedo. His smile was from ear to ear.
“Drink up everybody!” Marco yelled above the noise of the music and the rowdy crowd. “And before you pass out in your bunks tonight, be sure to thank the gods for Capitalism!”
The crowd cheered with wild enthusiasm. Marco waved the bottle he was holding in the air, and let its contents spill all over everybody that was crowded around him. Marco felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked behind him and saw a short, ugly man, who appeared frantic.
“Enjoy yourselves everyone!” Marco yelled, “I’ll be back in a few!” He turned and began to force his way out of the crowded room into the passageway.
Digs, his maintenance man, was looking very concerned.
“What’s up?” Marco said as he brushed the confetti out of his hair.
“Just come here for a second,” Digs said frantically and began to quickly walk down the passageway. The lounge they entered was a bit smaller than the one they had just left. Marco’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when he looked at the monitor and thought, “what the hell is this all about?”
Marco looked over at Digs, who had pried off one of the electronic panels off the monitor, and appeared to be frantically looking for something.
Digs looked at Marco with frightened eyes and cried out, “I can’t make it stop!”
“Holy shit…” Marco whispered to himself as he looked into the control box that housed a mass of wires, circuits and a small, black object that he had remembered stealing from the crashed Military aircraft back on Earth a few months ago. He remembered how a crate of those things had been sitting next to the three items his clients on Ailana wanted him to steal for them. It had just been too tempting not to take everything and run back to Ailana.
Marco sighed as he remembered how it all went down. He remembered the conversation he and Jhett had before they blasted off. “Marco…are you sure you want to take these things? These things are the real deal. I mean, the guns and ammo for the gang members to blast holes in each other is one thing…but if these things get into the wrong hands…there could be some serious consequences. These small black ones…they can cause some damage…but these three silver ones here…those are some serious shit. Marco, are you sure you wanna take the chance?”
“They already gave me a big down payment, Jhett…I want them to be able to see and touch these things for a little while so we can collect the rest of our money from them. Trust me…we’re not gonna actually let those fools keep them. We’re gonna steal them back at some point and use them as the ultimate bargaining chips so we can obtain complete control over those boys in the jungle…besides, how can those geeks cause us any harm anyway?”
“Son of a bitch…” Marco said as he looked at the monitor again as brief memories of doing business with Jacob Colombe filled his mind. He remembered how he had sat across the table from a bald man as he whispered, “That geeky bastard must have spoken to that guy named Tim Gallagher…I guess double-crossing computer hackers isn’t a good idea after all. But who the hell is this guy on the monitor?”
He stared intently at the monitor screen again. The image was fuzzy, but Marco could tell that he was looking at the face of a man, who had gleaming white hair.
“Marco,” The fuzzy image said. “I just had to make sure you got this recording. I’m so happy we had a chance to meet, if it wasn’t for your efforts, I wouldn’t have what I need to ensure my plan succeeds. And I must say, you pulled off a real good heist back there on Ailana…congratulations…but Marco…did you honestly think…that I was going to let you live? The idea is to have Ailana, and its most profitable commodity, all to myself…that’s just good business sense.”
Marco’s mind flashed back to a time, not so long ago, when he met a man, with white hair, and shook his hand in what was supposed to be the business deal of a life time.
“That fucking guy…he did this to me? I should have known…”
Digs jumped up and became ecstatic as he said, “Marco! I disarmed it! I disarmed it!”
“Ah…shit,” Marco said softly. “It doesn’t matter…I stole five of those little, black bombs.”
At that instant of dire realization, the entire ship began to rock violently. The sounds of two, distinct explosions could be heard as everybody on board was thrown from their feet, tossed through the air, and slammed into an opposing wall with a violent force as the yacht began to tumble and spin wildly out of control.
Within a matter of minutes, the hull cracked open and the ship’s life support systems failed. Flames engulfed the inside of the ship, and the lower three decks appeared to glitter with white sparks and flashing lights. The vacuum of space swallowed up the sound of screams and buckling metal. Three minutes later, all the available oxygen dissipated into the void of space, and Marco’s conscious brain, uttered its final thought.
“Capitalism, a really good idea gone bad…Capitalism is something that demands the best from every man…Capitalism, is freedom…but it makes a man believe ‘I’m free to do whatever I need to do…so I can get rich or die trying…even if it’s at the expense of others’…Capitalism, the ultimate game where the winner takes all…and now I’m feeling what it’s like…to be on the losing end. It’s almost funny…now I know how much it sucks to lose everything, just so that someone else can gain what they so desire. Laissez-faire means hands off…no government shall interfere with business in a Capitalist worlds…and I guess that idea makes sense, because there is no way to regulate a system, that consistently brings out the worst in men…funny how it all works out in the end. I guess this is how the invisible hand makes everything right…ain’t life a bitch?”
Marco felt the skin on his face crystallizing for less than a second. His death was quick and painless.
Location: The HalawalachekMountains…..4500 meters.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1800 Hours.
Bobby “The Blade” Maku collapsed under the weight of his pack again, and after a few moments of heavy breathing, he managed to get on his hands and knees. He shook his head back and forth a few times and breathed in and out as hard as he could. He had been gasping for air for the last hour. The air was thin at this altitude, and the lush jungle had given away to the small bushes and yellowed grass of the highlands. The rocks were gray and covered with lichens. The group had been climbing up the treacherous mountain slope all day, and it was getting colder as they got higher and higher.
“I can’t…do it…I can’t go on…we gotta stop…” he wheezed.
One of the young men in the group, suddenly decided that he had seen enough, and walked over to Bobby and began to strip him of his back pack. Feeling a bit of relief, Bobby shrugged it off and then sat down on the thin grass that covered the wide ledge. One of the other Kupano men opened the backpack and took out the small, green metal cases that it contained. He passed them out among the others in the group, who then proceeded to put them into their own packs.
“Kahuku?” Bobby said, his head spinning, “What are you doing?”
“There was no fire in the city the other night, Bobby…Makana says this needs to be done,” The young man said as he gave the others the small green metal cases that had been in Bobby’s pack.
“Soon…this evil will come to an end,” Makana smirked as he thought about how his friends in the city must have completed their mission because they did not see an explosion in the city that night. This was a good indication that his friends, who he had once sheltered, had been successful in not blowing themselves up as they stole the merchandise they had bragged to him about.
Bobby gasped as he said, “Naw, man…don’t be doing that…just let me rest overnight…let’s camp here…it’s a good spot.” He looked at the group’s leader and pleaded, “Right Makana? This is a good spot. We can just camp here, and leave early in the morning.”
Everyone else was silent for a few minutes before Makana spoke in a somber tone, “We gotta keep moving Bobby, we’re behind schedule as it is…if we don’t make it to the rendezvous point on time…we could jeopardize this whole thing. We’ve got people who need this stuff we’re carrying.”
“They can wait! They will wait!” Bobby said, his eyes looked desperate and his words seemed to be begging. “They can wait…we’re not that far behind!”
The young man who had taken away Bobby’s back-pack looked at Makana and said, “I told you we should not have brought him along…he’s not like us…he’s not good for the cause.”
“Shut the hell up man!” Bobby said defensively, as he began to feel his eyes tearing up. “I took a knife in the leg for the cause! It was me who got you guys this stuff in the first place!”
“You should have stayed back at the warehouse in the city…you’re not like us…you’re not one of us.” Someone said calmly.
“Shut the hell up man! I’m a Kupano just like you! I may have been raised in the city, but I’m just like you!” Bobby cried out, “I’m just like you!”
Makana looked at him somberly and said, “Bobby…I’ve known ya since we were boys. But I guess I never once told ya about how I really feel about ya…I guess my mother taught me to be polite.”
Bobby looked nervous as he wheezed, “What are you talking about?”
“When we did chores, you always figured out ways to get out of doing something, or just did something half-ass, and without any pride…ya just didn’t ever really give a shit about anything, and ya just wanted life to be easy, ya wanted everything just handed to ya. Quite frankly, Bobby, you whined a lot as a kid, and it bothered me…I just never told ya. And you whine a hell of a lot more now than ya used to.”
“Shut up! Can’t you see I’m just tired, that’s all,” Bobby said as he tried to catch his breath.
Makana sneered, “and look at ya now, complaining the whole time…whining about how ya girlfriend left ya, and how life just handed ya a raw deal, and nothing ever goes your way.”
I wonder why sometimes. Ya just like ya dad Bobby, ya never had much ambition to begin with, and ya did even less to achieve the few goals ya set for yerself…ya just spent all that time whining about how hard it is to get something done, always feeling sorry for yerself, and always trying to convince everyone else to feel sorry for ya as well. Well guess what cousin? That shit ain’t workin’ with us…we, have a goal.”
Muffled snickers and chuckles echoed throughout the group. Bobby felt angry eyes on him.
He decided to act as he always did when confronted, tough and arrogant. “What the hell is this shit?” Bobby snickered back, “What? Do you bunch of backwoods, illiterate fools actually believe that you are achieving some kind of goal here?”
“Yeah, Bobby, that’s exactly what this is,” Makana said sternly. “We might not be as smart as you, but we know how long it takes to pack all this stuff up these mountains and get it to our teammates, who are near a village full of our people, who are in dire need of our help. If we don’t get the things that you are carrying to them…they might not be able to help the people in this village before it’s too late.”
“We can still make it there tomorrow.”
“That’s not the point, we need to get there tonight.”
“Are you insane?”
“No, we just have what takes to be Kupano warriors…you don’t cousin. Individualism is not an option in this group, unlike your bullshit world in the city, this is not a democracy…there is a need for conformity here. All of us, think alike, and those who hold the beliefs of your world, cannot claim our heritage.”
Bobby hissed, “Shut up man…I have every right to claim my heritage…”
Makana became enraged but kept his composure as he said, “you left our people for the modern world. When your father divorced my mother’s cousin, you decided to follow his stupid ass to the city because he said you could have a monitor to watch all your favorite shows on. I hear he did pretty well at the box factory before those gangsters killed him over his gambling debts…speaking of which, how were you doing as a professional gambler Bobby? What was it you told me yesterday? Is it true that the drug dealer, who you used to work for in the city, got himself all beat the hell up and needed to leave the planet or something? So that means the people you owe money to, don’t have to worry about pissing your boss off now, eh?”
“Hey! You just remember how I got you this stuff that we’re lugging up this mountain!”
“Yeah, it was you that got it, but it ain’t you that needs it.” There was a bit of deathly silence as the group sensed Makana’s emotion. He then took a deep breath and said, “And WE are all going to make sure that the people in the village over this mountain will not have to suffer, because you decided to leave the city once shit got too hard for you there…”
Bobby was furious. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m saying I know why you’re with us,” Makana sneered, “You figured, that we would help you escape your problems in the city. Give up the bullshit act, man…you don’t care about our cause, you’re just slowing us down. But thanks to you, we know the real people to deal with when we need more stuff from the city…stuff that’s obviously too heavy for an outsider like yourself to carry up this mountain.”
“Man, I am your cousin!” Bobby pleaded in a ferocious tone.
Makana said sternly, “and guess what cousin? You just became a liability, and I really don’t like you all that much. What did you plan on doing when you got my Auntie Palina’s village? They don’t want to put up with your whining, complaining ass while they work their fingers to the bone. And what was that you said about trying to strike a deal with my Auntie Palina, you wanna start buying her Makani plants now? Why?”
“The market in the city is huge, man!”
“It is?” Makana said as the others began laughing. “You don’t get it. We don’t want them coming here. We are doing this to keep the modern world, out of our world, and you just wanna lay low for a while, mooch off her hospitality and then buy up all her plants she needs to make her annual supply of rheumatism medicine, what is the going rate for Makani? Be honest now, I wanna make sure my family is getting reimbursed properly.”
“Man, I would never cheat your family…you and me are family, man.”
“Yes, and I am ashamed to admit it, our way of life is a joke to you…you were not at our grandfather’s side, when those ships from Earth just landed on our planet. You were not around when our fathers decided to join the Earth’s army and get themselves killed while trying to look good and heroic for the people of Earth. You were not around when our brothers and cousins decided to just up and leave one day because living on our ancestral lands was becoming too difficult. The humans ruined our way of life when they offered assholes like your father, an easy life, that they took, and left all of us holding the bag. Look at us Bobby, WE were the ones that stayed back and took care of our mothers and our little sisters and brothers. We hunted the game, caught the fish, farmed the land, we raised the children and we did it without our fathers at our sides…they abandoned us, and because of that, we had to become men a lot sooner than you did cousin…”
Bobby exploded with rage, “And so what?! Now you hate them for it? Do you hate the outsiders for what they did, for the progress they brought? Is YOUR miserable failure of a life, THEIR fault?”
Makana said, “The point is, the rest of us can run up that hill, with all the extra weight, and be at that village before morning. We have to, it is vital to our mission, we cannot risk being late…not because of you.”
“Then I’ll camp here and meet you at the village in the morning.”
Kahuku said, “No, you are too far away…the trail is hard to follow, you would get lost…and you might even risk getting caught by those whom we wish to stop, ain’t it true you owe some of em’ money?”
“Listen man…I got five hundred dollars…”
Makana said angrily, “you don’t understand our culture! Your money means nothing to us, we value our sacred Kupano culture much more than you could possibly understand, this is a warrior initiation rite of passage, and you failed it cousin. Don’t you get it? The only way to become a Kupano warrior, is to survive the initiation rite of passage…we have all done that, because we don’t act like you…in the end, you don’t understand what we are protecting…what we are making this sacrifice for.”
“This is bullshit!” Bobby said with passion. “You hypocrites! You all went to school and learned to read and write and do math just like me. But you were lazy in school and flunked out. I got to go to the city because I was smart enough to go to school there and work there!”
“You became a drug dealer, Bobby! You are a liar, and a cheating gambler! How smart did you have to be to become those things?”
“So what? Don’t analyze my life you hypocritical asshole! Your dad left and you have used it as an excuse ever since to not fulfill yourself and live your life the way you wanted to. You’re just a momma’s boy Makana! You never did anything with your life because you was always takin’ care of your momma! And now you actually think that this, crusade, of yours is going to keep the modern world out of the Sacred House Reservation? Just look at you, look at what you are doing…you are bringing the modern world into our world…the shit in those green boxes don’t belong here! You wanna be a warrior? You dipshit! My grandfather was a warrior when he was a young man, he told me all about it…he never told me about no million mile hikes up the damned mountain range! He told me that he never once went to war! Do you know why? Because he never had to! What gives you the right to start one? My grandfather told me how hard life in the jungle was and if an easier way to do something could be found, then do it that way! He told me to embrace my culture, but also told me I should learn how to run a computer as well as learn how to dance the traditional Amakua.”
One of the men in the back snickered and said, “Too bad he never told you how to walk faster.”
“Screw you man! Who are you to judge me? This is my spiritual quest! I came on this trip to learn about my culture!” Bobby cried out. He gasped for air and then looked up, and his eyes became wide open with horror as he noticed that Makana had a pistol in his hand, and he was pointing it at him.
Makana simply looked at him with a stone cold face. “This…is…our culture.” He said slowly, and pulled the trigger.
Location: The Alu Ku Kia Apartments…Polynea.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1800 Hours.
“First of all, I have to let you know that our friend Rex Broadstein died because he helped us obtain this information,” Wallace said softly. He gasped as he looked at his friend, who was sitting behind a table with a small stack of monitors all around him.
“Yes, I know,” His new found friend said in a scared voice. “And I’m afraid that more of us might die as well, but we have to push on. I’ve discovered something about these plans, which certain members of The Evil stole from the government…have you ever noticed that one security company has control over all the locks on the doors and windows of these huge apartment buildings in Polynea?”
Wallace took a deep breath and said, “Those apartments could be sealed off by the security company within five minutes…everyone could be trapped inside.”
“Why?” His friend’s voice grew in pitch, “Why would they need to lock everyone inside their apartments?”
“I think I have the answer,” Wallace said nervously. “My work at the lab helped The Hydroplantations grow a certain kind of food…food that could be turned into emergency rations with a very long shelf life. My team became very interesting in finding out why the government was crafting ‘food safety legislation’ that made organic farming so very difficult…and I am afraid that they will kill me because I know too much.”
“Then you have to keep moving,” His friend said as he began typing frantically. “I’ve encrypted several messages to our other members…they can hide you…they will tell you what they know and aide you in your quest. They will know you are coming but you cannot stay very long in one place…you must not let anyone in Jacob’s inner circle get ahold of you. Oh my gods, things are so messed up now! I don’t know who we can trust anymore.”
“I also have to avoid arrest by the government…but here is my dilemma…I have to get this information to someone in the government…someone we can trust.”
“We have someone inside the government that we can trust…someone who will make themselves known when the time has come. And we still have the plan…our plan. The one that we came up with just in case we found ourselves in this sticky situation…”
“Shhhh!” Wallace made an angry face as he said, “We cannot discuss it! We don’t know if someone is listening in on our conversations…we just have to hope that our people were able to get ahold of what they needed to pull off that plan.”
His friend’s face became flush as he said, “Wallace…if something with their plan goes wrong…something terrible will happen…something that I do not dare even think about.”
“That’s why you have to help me find who I am looking for!”
His friend swallowed his fear and said, “are you sure that’s a wise course of action Wallace? They might kill you…”
Wallace tried to be quiet as he spoke sternly, “We have no other choice…I have to find them, we have to take the chance that this could be our only hope!”
His friend tried to reason with him as he said, “Wallace, you have to find her…the gal you once knew from that research institute…the one that knew so much about rocks. You can’t trust the others, they are all blind followers of Jacob’s twisted plan.”
Wallace sighed as he closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down, “This is not just about rocks…it’s about what she knows…in this case, knowledge truly is a devastating source of power that we all need to be aware of…I need her knowledge, and I’m also hoping, that she will help me to understand this…”
Wallace felt his hands shaking as he stared at the mysterious piece of paper again. The note was like a key with no lock, it was another mysterious clue to an ever deepening mystery.
To my esteemed colleague…
Beware the “Engineers” of this dark plot…