Titan and the Reaper

A Story by PrairiePenguin

The sound of the Solar Trains cry above as he hunts for his bounty, today a half-cyborg pirate, tomorrow a nano-bot infused scoundrel. He is one of the few of his kind, he chases the Solar System's w

The year is 2484

Corlex sat at a table in a dusty saloon in the remote city of Tripper Ridge, that sat near the equator of Saturn’s moon of Titan. He has been dropped there 3 days ago by the cargo tanker he had managed to catch a ride on. The saloon was mostly empty, with the faint smell of dust and the low murmur of a few conversation floating in the air.

The headline of his paper read "after 500 years without success is it time to shut The Search for Extraterrestrial Life down?" He flipped the fold of his paper and another headline read "Mars redshirts win the Galactic World Series 4 games to three"

"I've got an order for Corlex!" An overly round woman with a shrill voice shouted from behind the bar

Corlex put down his paper, and walked across the dingy, mostly empty saloon and up to the counter. He paid the woman the few Credits he owed and returned to his table that was back by the windows on the right side of the bar. From his seat he could easily see the surface of Saturn spinning with angry storms through the windows he sat beside. He never enjoyed coming this far into the frontier, but when there is a 75,000 Credit bounty on someone's head you do what you must.

If someone could afford it, they could catch one of the hyper ports from Mars and make the trip in a little less than a week by jumping from port to port but Corlex never had that kind of scratch. For Corlex to get this far out he'd have to catch a sub light tanker that sold excess space in their cargo holds to broke travelers, it took him 24 days to reach Titan from Mars. The food on the tankers was always terrible, always stale and barely edible and the accommodations were no better, Corlex often found himself sleeping on top of crates or other cargo, but if he was really lucky a hammock that looked like it had actually seen the dawn of the universe.

These tanker trips were long and boring, Corlex would spend much of his time alone, doing his best not to get on the wrong side of the tanker sailors, who were often not any nicer than the people he was chasing. Besides doing everything he could to keep his body in near perfect shape, he would spend many hours, reading and watching the classics. He had affinity for anything that had stood on its own for over 500+ years and wondered what it would be like to be remembered like that.

Corlex took a bite of his sandwich, which made a crunching sound that he was pretty certain it should not make.

“Ugh, not another bad meal.” He thought to himself “should I really finish this?”

After debating this question, he came to the conclusion that he wasn’t that hungry and he could manage by snacking on some beef jerky he had in his pack.

“To have a real meal….” He sighed

While snacking on his provisions, he reached into his shirt pocket, pulled out a his notebook and flipped to a page titled vacation spots

It read:

-Caves of Mars

-The solar pools of Pluto

-The Asteroid Belt Spas

-Home

He leaned his chair back against the wall, pulled the wide brim of his hat low across his eyes and started to daydream about real food, a comfy bed, a cold beer in his hand, and all the places he would go if he could just afford to get there. It had been a long time since he had a meal that he didn’t worry about biting into, or a beer that tasted more a cheaply brewed courier of water.

From the poker game across the room, curses started to fly in some local mix of english and maybe chinese, started to look like it might just get a bit too rowdy for his taste. His chaired never moved off the wall, nor did he lift his head, he simply moved his right hand to the holster that sat low across his hip. His hand came to rest on Annie, the ancient revolver that had passed through his family lines for almost 650 years. Corlex trusted implicitly in her and his ability to make her come to life, if the poker game decided to get too out of hand.

Despite her age she was still the most reliable weapon he had. Anniw was still as beautiful as ever with her silver body and white ivory handle still gleamed like new. He loved her simplicity just pull the trigger and the bullets flew. No jams, no charging, no bullshit. The bullets and propellent themselves were so simple that he could have them printed incredibly cheap. He often has severl hundred rounds in his pack at any given moment.

The insults at the poker game started to die down and the game restarted, Corlex wondered if someone was cheating or if someone had just said something stupid about someone’s mother. Everyone in the System, spoke a variant of English, but it was often mixed with other ancient languages and were often thick with the accent of the planet. Corlex pulled out a cigar from a small case in his bag and tapped the side of it 3 times. On the third tap, the end of the cigar suddenly burst into a bright red circle. He took a few puffs, and put his feet up on table and tried to relax a little while he could.

While the cigar tasted ok, he wondered what real tobacco must take like. Due to increased government regulations in the 2100s, the crop had nearly been eradicated from the galaxy, now finding it was very difficult and very expensive.

"Maybe one day I'll be able to afford the real stuff" Corlex said to himself

As Corlex’s mind started to wonder a bit, an alert started beeping loudly in his earpiece

"Here we go!" He said panicked to the empty seats around him

First, Corlex pulled a pair of thin glass with dark red lenses out of his pocket and slid them on so that they covered his eyes completely, then he pulled his holo-comp, a 1 inch cube, from out of his pocket, tapped a black button on the side of it and the language of the system inside the holocube started to scroll on the screen in front of him. Almost every has a similar device built in optical implants but Corlex didn't like the slight lag that came with the tracking systems that was present in all optical implants. Since Most hunters and their bounties used the tracking system and were very accurate because of it, Corlex’s only defense was to be faster than they were

Corlex's hands started to fly across the interface, which hung in midair, inputting commands as fast as he could think. The bartender looked at him from across the bar and was confused by what looked like a man pressing non-existent buttons.

Corlex was used to this kind of attention since he used an older holocube that actually displayed a screen but used glasses to make it visible to only the person wearing the matched pair, unless he wanted to make the screen visible to everyone. As he worked, he chuckled to himself and thought that he must be a sight.

Along with not having implants, Corlex ,unlike most of his bounty hunter brethren, was neither ex-military nor an ex-con who had decided it was easier to turn in their friends than run with them. Corlex had gone to The University of Nevada to be a Multi-Dimensional Programmer that specialized in communication systems but his penchant for hacking the servers and changing his grades eventually got him expelled. Corlex was always one of the smartest people in his classes, but put more effort into having fun then he did his grades.

Even though he wasn’t the biggest fan of actually doing his school work, he loved his time at the University and wish he could go back and relive some of those years, and some of those summers when he had almost no responsibility.

Corlex’ parents believed in being able to live without all the technology that the world had to offer, even though they were very accepting of them. His Mom and Dad encouraged him to be a part of the "Survival Squad" youth program, that had spawned out of the ancient Boy Scouts, there he learned how to hunt, trap, shoot and survive in the wilderness.

Corlex took to this more than his sister and before he was kicked out of school he liked to spend a month or 2 of his summer vacation, with his old friend Daven, in the nature preserves known as survival zones. The Survivial zones, where setup by naturlists looking to preserve some form of civilation that was minimally touched by the preliferation of technology. Corlex didn’t subcrobe to all of their ideloogy he enjoyed the nature they helped protect. While on their trips it would not be uncommon for him to practice with Annie for 5-6 hours a day, often shooting several hundred practices bullets a day.

He flipped his right wrist and a video window slide into the center of his screen, with a flip of the left wrist a facial recognition program slid across his screen with the words "74% match found" across the top of the window.

When Corlex first arrived on Titan he spent the first 2 days digging and working through the moon's police system. It was not the most advanced system, and it didn’t take him long to be able to exploit the moon’s surveillance network. He managed to drop 10 bugs inside the system that used facial recognition program that watched the feed and reviewed old footage for his target. He dropped 2 in Angel City, 4 in the capital city of Roshenton, 1 in the 3 major spaceports, and 1 he let randomly find a feed.

He knew it was a long shot to find her, especially with the way her appearance tended to change, but he had faith in his heavily modified software, that if she walked in front of one of the cameras, he would find her.

He was right

He opened his mouth to say something to dusty, empty seats that were around his table but it just hung slightly open, he finally said to the empty table, “I think that’s her, please be her”

He checked the time code on the video, it was only 30 minutes old. "What a break! but where is the location data?” he asked himself.

“No, no, no” he said to no one.

The modifications in the facial recognition software, had stripped out the piece of code that return the location of the camera

“Where are you?”

The video was of a busy street, outside some building he could recognize from this angle. She had blonde hair, was wearing a long teal overcoat, with a matching pair of pumps and a pair of glasses.

“1,200 years since they showed up in Europe, and women are still wearing heels.” Corlex thought to himself.

He zoomed the feed onto her face, he wasn’t sure it was her until she removed her glasses to clean the rain off of them. He instantly recognized the her blue eyes, he was sure of it, he had found The Reaper

He started to think, “Ok, it’s her, but how do I find her?”

“It’s raining” he answered himself

He quickly pulled up a search for every place on the moon it had been raining in the last hour. The search returned 8 results, but only 2 were where he had placed his code crawlers. He continued to scan the feed, and then it hit him, it was night in the video he was watching.

“Oh no, it’s not daylight, that means she’s in Angel City, on the other side of this rock.”

"But why is she here though?" he asked himself quietly. "Is Titan an extradition planet? No I don't think it is, she could just be here on a lark."

He started to search the news feeds for anything that might be happening in Angel City in the next few days. One result jumped out at jumped up and hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Vice president Reynolds to visit Titan to discuss their entry into the community."

Read one of the headlines

"She isn't hiding, she's hunting." Corlex thought very excitedly to himself. He read further in the release that the press conference was supposed to take place at Overlook Park in a little less than 12 hours.

Corlex, checked the hypertrain schedule, The Lunar Express was the only train that would get him there in time, but it left in 10 minutes. he checked the map, it was a little over a mile from the saloon.

“Looks like I’ll have to run for it.” he said then he quickly bought the train ticket.

He checked his account balance, it read 700 credits.

"If I don't get this bounty, I'm stuck here." He said to himself reiterating the obvious.

While hastily packing up his gear with his left hand, he used his right and repurposed his other code crawlers to search the feeds in Angel City. He left his half eaten lunch and partially smoked cigar laying on the table with no remorse and by the time he cleared the door of the saloon he was almost to a full sprint. As he raced across the dusty town, dodging patrons of the other rundown shops and brothels, trying to make his hype train, his mind started to list everything that lay in front him.

1. He was broke and then some

2. This bounty was a big pay day

3. He was trying to track down a trained killer

4. Biiiig payday

5. He couldn't tell the authorities because it would be risking previously listed payday

6. If he didn't get there first, the Vice President would most likely be a dead man

7. Not most likely dead, he would be very, very dead

This last thought gave him pause, if he was right and he couldn't stop The Reaper, the VP would die and his blood would be on Corlex’s hands.

“Not just the VP’s” he thought to himself

The Community was famous for taking planters they wanted for any excuse they could think up. Thousands would probably die if he didn't stop her

"Maybe I. should just call" as his mind pondered this an absolute part of his resolve chimed in.

"No" his resolve said to him "she has killed many people even while man hunts were happening, it didn't matter"

He agreed with his resolve and decided that he would wait till the last possible minute to bring in the authorities.

He was sprinting now worried he'd miss the train he could I'll afford too. His strides seemed longer then his 6'1" frame would suggest. He thanked his track coach and his own determination to stay in shape and not rely on those little bug bots to keep his body together. He reached the station a mile and about 6 minutes later.

Corlex was slightly winded but relieved to find almost no one in line at the train station. He walked up to the turn style, swiped his holo comp over the register and it confirmed his ticket and allowed his passage.

A screens in the above the train read

Destination: Angel City

Travel time 11h47m (approx.)

He'd have just about 15 minutes to find The Reaper and possibly stop The Community from taking Titan by force.

He found his seat, a single chair on the left side of the train.

1.2 The Train to Angel City

It wasn't much of a bed, but it'd have to do, he thought while looking at an oversized chair. He settled into this chair for the 5,000 mile journey across Titan. After about an hour or so of much needed mindlessness, watching the scenery go by, he decided that he better review everything he on The Reaper. He pulled out his holocube, brought it to life, and it broadcast in a half circle around him.

He tapped on an icon, on his display, that simply said "Reaper." With his tap multiple screen and feeds spread across his vision. The center most screen read like a spec sheet.

-the reaper aka Amanda Akton

-height: 5'7"

-weight: 135lbs (approx.)

-confirmed kills: 175

-suspected assignations: 23

-Known Hair Colors: Blonde, Green, Black, Red, Mixed, Octrane, Opal, Shaved

-Eyes: Blue

-Halo Shot Specialist

-Prefered Weapon: High Velocity Hydro-Polymers

Bio: Amanda Akton was formerly a sniper and infiltration asset for the Communal Special Guard. She joined at 17, was the commander of her own Special Forces unit by 22 and was the most highly decorated soldier of the Asteroid Wars. Noted Halo-Shot Specialist. At 25 she resigned her post when the current Community President took power. It is alleged that her first assignation was the head of the pro Community growth group "One to Save Us"

The 2 details about being a Halo Shot Specialist and the Hydro-Polymers (or HPs), caught Corlex’s attention. Halos are energy fields that can be small enough to protect the wearer from self guided ammunition and even some particle weapons, and they could be large enough to protect an entire city. Essentially locking down the use of many weapons within the halo.

Corlex was impressed with the idea of The Reaper using the HPs, since they were not nearly as accurate, as other forms of ammunition and had to contended with other issues that current energy weapons didn’t have to contend with, such as gravity. The HPs used a super hard polymer that was coated in a thin film of fluid hydrogen that allowed for the projectile to cut through the air, while also masking the projectile from planetary sensors because they perceived it as a naturally occurring element in the atmosphere. HP use was also not common among assassins because of how hard it was to actually shoot, which led most people to not defend against it.

“The VP is sure to have a Halo or multiple Halo’s protecting him, her being here is starting to make a lot more sense. Those HP’s of hers should be able to get past anything they will be using” Corlex mused.

He then started to review all her confirmed and alleged assignations. All were done from a the longest distance possible, and some were shots of over 2 miles making her almost impossible to trace. It was rumored that she had killed the head of the High Priestess of the, extremely secretive, Religious Order of Venus, from over a mile away, while the priestess was on board a gondola on a ski vacation on the Ski Resort Asteroid that laid somewhere in the asteroid belt that was between Mars and Saturn known as the New Himalayas. (reword)

“If that’s true, she really is something else” Corlex thought to himself.

Corlex started to run through everything that would be involved in that shooting

The Reaper would of had to of known the Priestess was there, not an easy task
Have enough time to scout a position
Know what type of halo the resort and the Priestess used
Since the resort is a very well known resort, she wouldn’t of had any practice shots
Judge wind, curvature of the planet, no small feat with how small Pluto is
And make the shot on her only attempt
Get away from the rushing security

“Wow, just wow” Corlex was as much impressed with her as he was afraid of her.

Corlex pulled up a map of the park where the speech was to take place.

“Hmm, there’s minimal vision with all those tall buildings surrounding it, so she’ll have to do it from one of the office buildings”

Using the 3d 3D map of the park, he was able to figure out where the feeds had picked her up

“Maybe she’s using the Tengra Building as a nest?” he wondered to himself. “It’s risky but she’s never shied away from that before”

He took in a few more details that might be useful

His screen read “Robot Arm, judo black belt”

“If you can find her, you’re going to die tomorrow” he said to himself quietly “but what can you do?”

3 or 4 hours into his journey, realizing that all he could do now was wait and hope his crawlers found more footage of her, he closed his files on the reaper and pulled up a vid window of some of his favorite ancient entertainment. He heard a voice say “captain’s log, Stardate 43989.1.”

He wondered if the actors ever thought that someone would be still watching them almost 500 years later. He slid the vid window over to the side of his holo-cube dispaly and pulled up a photo album and she started to swipe through them. He smiled as visions of his family and long lost friends passed before his eyes.

He chuckled when he came across a picture of him, when he was about 15 pushing Kim, his 12 year old sister, into a lake that while his family was on vacation in the Northwest Corner of the state that use to be known as Arkansas. Corles grew a little sad when he came across a picture of his old friend Daven, they were wearing there Nevada University shirts that had “Fear The Pack” emblazoned across the middle of their chest. They were obviously way to drunk for their own good.

“That was some party, wasn’t it?” he asked the picture of his old friend

He paused for a moment before swiping picture and debated just closing the window, but he didn’t and flipped to the next picture.

His heart skipped and sank all at the same time. He saw a picture of himself smiling with a beautiful woman on his back. Her name was Molly, she had beautiful dark red hair, freckles and an honest smile across her face. He just looked at her smile longingly for a long moment, He could almost still hear her laugh, and that distant memory almost made him smile.

Molly was Corlex’s girlfriend and the woman who won was his everything. She met Corlex during their intro to college class when they were both Freshman at University. She was a beautiful 5’1” red head that made up for her small size with a razor sharp wit and a wickedly keen intellect. She was smart, strong willed, compassionate, fun and completely turned Corlex head over feet in love.

Molly was one of the last casualties of the Asteroid Wars. During a cease fire her cruise ship was attacked by a Community Extremist Group were working on bad information. They thought the son of the Leader of the Red Circle, the insurgent group that fought against the Community in the Asteroid Wars.

All told 17 civilians were killed in that day, including Molly and her Mom. Corlex reached out his hand towards his screen in a vain attempt to feel the only person who ever made him feel safe. He could still almost feel her soft skin, and smell the perfume she always wore. The 5 years that had passed had not done much to help quell the miss he felt for her. He swiped the window closed and pulled his episode back to the center of his vision but it did little to distract him. The bomb used in the Red Circle’s attack vaporized everything in the blast radius. Many wondered how the Red Circle got the information or the weapon, but it was chalked up by the Community led investigators to a terrorist group being terrorist and the investigation quickly ran into nothing but a dead end.

He put his face in his hands, and sighed heavily. The memories were still heavy and had taken their full toll on his soul.

“Just don’t cry, please” he said to himself as the worst memory began to rise out of the that deep place that he had pushed it into

“I should of been there……..to protect her” he repeated once more.

Corlex had been invited to go with Molly and her mom but decided against it so he could spend that week preparing a surprise for molly on her return.

Corlex was invited to join in Molly’s family’s funeral service, by her dad, but he couldn’t bring himself to make the trip out to her home on the moon, and be around the family of the woman he loved. He instead asked his parents for a very small piece of land on their property, in Colorado, to make his own memorial. They quickly and happily obliged Corlex’s request, they loved Molly almost as much as he did. Molly was a good friend to both of Corlex’s parents and a defacto big sister to Kim. She would often spend large portions of her summers with them when Corlex was out in the Survival Zones.

Corlex’s parents had a grave marker made up, for the memorial, that read “Molly, our angel, forever in the stars.”

On that warm rainy Colorado day, as he went out to lay his beloved to rest, he asked for privacy and had to reject his sister’s pleas to join him. Corlex took with him a shovel, spade, the marker, and a little box that one else knew he had. The rain lightly bounced off his wide brimmed hat while finding more inviting fabric on the shoulder of his shirt. Corlex felt it somehow fitting that it would rain on that day.

He remembered back to the day they met, and the vicious thunderstorm that had rolled onto the campus. He let Molly wear his hat, as they ran back to her dorm, just so she could possibly stay a little but dryer. It was the only time that anyone besides Corlex ever wore his hat. When they reached her dorm, she thanked him for his generosity with a hug, and as her arms wrapped around him, he knew that those were the last arms he ever wanted to be wrapped around him.

Molly invited him up to her room, but being the shy person he was at the time, he declined. Instead he plucked his hat off her head, slide it back on just above his eyes, looked deep and honestly into her eyes and said

“Thank you kindly Ma’am, but I must be going, The cattle rustlers are at it again, and someone must bring the law to them.”

She giggled at the randomness and stupidity of what he said, but she respected him for his decision.

“Come see me tomorrow? she asked with a little bit of her giggle still left in her voice.

He bowed his head slightly and said “As you wish.”

“Corlex, before you go, I just wanted to say thank you for keeping me safe from the storms.”

He smiled and replied “Whenever you’re with me, you’re safe.”

The Colorado clouds thundered as he neared the small grove of oak trees that had sprung up around a small pond about a mile from his parent’s house. The grave marker had started to become heavy in his backpack and the wood of the shovel he was carrying was becoming slick with rain.

The grove of trees provided him some protection from the storm, with only intermittent drops making it through the leaves of the trees. As he dug the hole for the marker, his hands slid on the worn wood of the handle, making it hard to be precise with depth and shape. When he was done with the hole for the marker he removed a small spade from his pack and dug a tiny hole just big enough for that black satin box.

After finishing the hole he got down on 1 knee and pulled out the box to see the contents one last time. Even with the storm, the three stones raised off a silver band sparkled as he always hoped they would. He was about to close the lid on the box when he looked at the stone marker “will you marry me?” he heard himself say and with those 4 little words he broke completely.

“You will?” he exclaimed “of course we will get married on the moon in your home town.” He reassured the marker. He had waited so long to say those words. “I love you so much” he said envisioning Molly jumping into his arms “I will always keep you safe” his words gave way to sobs that few people will ever cry. he stayed on one knee and cried until was nothing left in him.

A blinking light on his display snapped him back to the present. He quickly stuffed the past down back into its hole and clicked the alert.

It was the crawler that he had placed inside the police’s mainframe. It had found 2 more video feeds of The Reaper, her face was partially disguised but Corlex was sure it was her. He was a little surprised the authorities hadn’t found her yet but then again he wasn’t. Corlex had only made the trip out here because he had heard through a reliable source that The Reaper has on her way to Titan.

He got lucky that she had managed to walk in front of one of the tagged cameras. If now one knew to even be looking for her even in a general sense, she wouldn’t have been found. He watched a couple of the feeds and noticed she went into the Tenagra Building every day at 9:15am and didn’t leave until 4:25pm. On the way in the she always stopped and bought something from the vendor selling breakfast like foods.

“Very, very tricky” he thought. “She is establishing legitimacy to one of the only people who sees almost everyone who enters. She probably has some bogus job in the building for a cover.” Corlex then pulled up a map of the building

“Perfect view of the park.” Quickly Corlex pulled up a real estate search for the building which revealed 2 whole floors of office space where empty and 3 private penthouses that offered “a great view of the park.” He looked through the listing and noticed that 1 was devoid of furniture, the second was still obviously someone’s home, and the third however, just looked off to Corlex.

“The condo has been staged by the person who’s trying to sell it. That’s got to be it. She wouldn’t use the empty office space, this is too obvious and likely to be searched. He checked the train’s arrival time 12:30pm and the speech was scheduled to start at 2 pm.

Corlex exhaled sharply “Here’s to no delays” he said out loud causing a passenger in the row in front of him to the turn head slightly to look.

With a plan mostly in place, Corlex decided he should try and sleep. He set the alarm on his ear piece to wake him 2 hours before the scheduled arrival time, he shifted to get comfortable and hoped for the nightmares that often greeted his sleep, would stay away tonight. Corlex’s alarm started beeping in his ear, it was 10am, and the train was scheduled to arrive in 90 minutes. He reached into his bag and grabbed 6 bullets and swapped them out for the ones currently in Annie. There was nothing wrong with the current bullets but it never hurt to be a little superstitious. He then pulled out his stunner, a small energy weapon, which was a little bigger than annie, that held up to 50 stun charges, depending on how long you want the target to stay down. He wasn’t a fan of it but it never hurts to have a backup.

He got up, walked back and forth in the aisle twisting his torso left and right trying to get loose.

Something in the middle of his back popped “Guess i’m not as young as I use to be.” He muttered

He went back to his bag and found his “lock cracker” checked the power supply and hoped that whatever lock the condo door used was in the tool’s memory.

“What if she’s put traps on the door?” he asked himself. “Not a lot we can do, let’s just hope we get lucky and she’s arrogant enough to think no one has found her.”

He quickly checked the security feeds, there were no alerts or special annoucenemnts, Corlex reasoned that since there was no chatter from the police system, which was uncommon when they feared someone the The Reaper was around. Corlex, bet that The Reaper knew this and figured that she hadn’t been sniffed out by anyone yet. He at least hoped that was the case, he was really hoping to get the drop on her.

He checked current traffic conditions, with the area near the park shut down he’d have a 20 minute cab ride then have to walk another half mile to reach the Tanagra building. He looked over The Reapers file once more and saw that she had medi-bots swimming in veins.

“Ok Annie, don’t hit her in the head or heart and we’ll get the full bounty.” For a half second he thought he heard his gun answer him back.

He heard a computerized voice say over the intercom “The Train will be arriving in 10 minutes”

Corlex took a deep breath to settle his nerves “Alright, let’s go”

Corlex raced across town and hit square where the Tanagra Building was. He looked at the giant clock tower that stood over the park like a guardian.

“45 minutes….If you’re wrong about this” ….his inner voice trailer off and he he felt the doubt and fear rise in him. He quickly pushed those feelings away.

“If you second guess yourself, you’re dead.”

“If you hesitate, you’re dead”

“If you anything gets in the way…. You’re dead”

“This woman is a trained killer, she will put you down without regret or remorse” Corlex told himself.

He steeled his resolve, took a deep breath and walked through the doors of the Tanagra Building.

1.3 The Reaper

The lobby, of the Tengra Building, was made out of Titan Marble which was famous for its yellow white swirl pattern that could not be duplicated. As he made his way over to the evaluator, through the lobby he hoped to not get too much attention. he was obviously out of his element in this upscale live/work/play building. When he reach the elevator he clicked the button that read “27.”

The elevator was rather full, with people coming and going from their daily routines, little did they know there was a struggle about to take place where 1 or several people might die. Corlex made this connection and chuckled to himself slightly.

Some of the people were obviously carrying the ingredients for a special meal, a mother and daughter carrying supplies for what looked like a new pet of some kind. In all their lives, they would never be this close to an assassin, and they would never know it. The elevator made a few stops with the last person exiting on the 22nd floor. Corlex was relieved he didn’t have anyone with but all the stops had made him impatient and uneasy. The elevator dinged to indicate he had reached his floor, the doors parted and Corlex moved out on to the residential 27th floor.

The hall he stepped into was spacious, easily wide enough for 4 people to walk side by side down. The walls were inlaid with more Titan Marble, with crown molding running along the top of the walls. Corlex shuttered to think about how terribly expensive they must be.

“Wow these are nice” Corlex thought to himself as he navigated through the halls. He checked the time, there was 10 minutes left before the speech was set to begin.

He arrived at Unit 2754 and started to inspect the door. “Well, it doesn’t look trapped.”

Fearing there was a camera he couldn’t see, he quickly placed his lock cracker on the door, it did a quick scan and the display turned red.

“No, not an incompatible lock, no time to be subtle.” Corlex said to himself.

Corlex started to form a plan, as fast as he could think, still fearing prying eyes. He knew from studying the layout and pictures that just inside the door to his right there was a kitchen with an island. He knew that if she was setting up for her shot that she would be on the other side of the room and that he would be able to get to the island and take cover.

“Here goes nothing”

He raised his boot and kicked the door in.

The Reaper was, as he hoped, sitting by the windows on the far side of the condo.

Her Rifle was already set up and facing towards the window, the crash of the door startled her just long enough for Corlex to hurriedly take 4 steps and hide behind the island.

“Who the hell are you?!?!” He heard The Reaper yell at him. He stuttered for a moment, the adrenaline was making it hard to speak.

“Umm, I’m Corlex, I’ll be your bounty hunter today.

“Your type never learns, I have dispatched 9 hunters, looks like I will make it an even 10 today.” As she said that, the color of the room grew with a purple hue that Corlex recognized as the Ocular tracking counter measures.

The lower end implants against these countermeasures made their user all but blind and the high end implants had a much longer delay in them then they normally would. Corlex, did a small mental fist pump at the site of this. She was expecting him to be basically be blind, because very few hunters outside of ex-special forces had the high end optics.

“You are smarter than the rest of your lot” The Reaper said with an obvious relaxing of her voice. “No one has even sniffed my trail on this trip.”

Corlex realized that she was moving but couldn’t hear footsteps. “I guess those repulse boots don’t play well with your arm” Corlex shouted from behind the island.

Amusement rang in her voice “The Hunter is Smart”

Corlex’s eyes darted around for anything that could help him then he spotted the mirror in a small cubby hole to his right. He was able to get his first good look at her, she was wearing a tight black suit that changed the dimensions of her to body to a wholly unnatural size.

“Damn it!” he thought realizing she was wearing a military grade compression suit that reduced her body mass by 15%.

His target was slender from years of military training but with the suit, she couldn’t be much bigger than a 12 year old. He also knew those suits were made to diffuse energy weapons and his stunner would be completely useless against her.

He noticed in the mirror that she had not pulled her side arm off out it’s holster that was on her right hip. Corlex started to form a plan

“She’s wearing a Series Two Smith & Barretta Quantuam Particle Thrower, and with her robotic hand, she will have a trigger pull of at least ¼ that of a normal human’s, not to mention all that military training to fall back on for a quick draw, lets just hope i’m faster.” he thought to himself

He formed a planned, not a good plan, or a smart plan, but one he thought he could pull off.

The Reaper was about 4 feet from the island when she saw Corlex’s hands shoot up above the counter and she heard him say.

“You win, I give up!” with those words he tossed the stunner across the room and stood up to face her.

A myriad of thoughts went through Corlex’s head ranging from “don’t piss yourself” to “Huh, this condo looks nicer than the pictures.”

The island was roughly waist high to Corlex and as he hoped it hid Annie from the Reaper’s view.

“You know Amanda, mind if I call you Amanda?” he asked

“Only if you tell me yours” she replied amused.

Corlex pondered this for a second if he told her and both of them survived she would probably hunt him down, but he needed her to relax just a bit.

“Corlex, Cody Corlex.”

“Ok, Cody, talk fast, I have some work to do soon. She said looking annoyed and not overly worried with Corlex.

Corlex stuttered slightly, “Wellll…. Well miss Amanda, you’re a busy woman and I’d certainly like to not die, so how about you pay me 1500 credits so I can get off this rock and I won’t tell anyone I ever saw you.”

Amanda smirked, “Ha, why should I let you live?”

“For starters” Corlex, interjected quickly, “do you really want to have to deal with another body?”

Amanda pivoted her weight on to her left leg leg away from her side arm, and started to consider this, with her concentration wavering ever so slightly Corlex made his move.

His right hand moved towards Annie with a lightning like quickness, Amanda shifted her weight back to her right side and went for her side arm, Corlex stepped to his right, raised his hand and felt Annie come to life with 2 loud roars. He heard the sound of impact, a screamed curse and a body hit the floor. He didn’t realize that Amanda had even got a shot off until he looked behind him and saw a hole in the wall where his head use to be.

The reaper laid on the floor unconscious from the pain. Corlex moved over to her, she had a bullet in each shoulder but he could see the work of the medi-bots. The wounds were already started to be repaired by the bots and the bullets were already starting to be pushed out of her skin. She would be back to 100% soon, so he needed to work quickly.

Corlex went into his bag and pulled out his set of binders, slippers and his utility knife. He took the knife, slid the blade out of its protective covering and carefully made X patterns in the Reaper’s suit. First both thighs, then the back and ab area then 2 on the biceps. With the last X cut, on her bicep, the suit relaxed and started to give its wearer her natural size back.

Just in case he hadn’t completely disabled the suit, Corlex cut the suit off at the knees and elbows.

“I hope that’s enough, wouldn’t want you getting away after all that” Corlex said to the sleeping Amanda. He slipped the binders on her hands where were designed to keep the wearers hands in fists and no more than 12 inches apart, using a magnetic field. They also kept the wearer from moving their arms at no more than a quarter of the normal speed. Next, Corlex, put the slippers on Amanda, which worked like the binders. The slippers used an additional energy field so the wearer felt as though they were walking on ice.

After getting Amanda fitted with her new accessories, he picked her up and moved her to a large, nearby, couch. Corlex laid her down and put a small pillow under her head so she could recoup in semi-comfort. Amanda started to wake up but was still very groggy, like someone waking up from a surgery or very heavy night of drinking. Corlex looked over his shoulder and realized the door was still open.

“How much time has passed?” he asked himself.

Turning his head to Amanda he said, “I’ll be right back.”

He got up and cleared the bits of door debris, shut the door and used a small that was in the entryway, to keep it shut. He heard a groggy voice coming from the living area

“You know, I’m going to kill you for this right?”

“Oh I know.” Corlex replied returning to the chair next to Amanda.

After Corlex sat down, there was a long silence “Just do you me a favor?” Corlex said breaking the silence.

“When you do kill me, promise you won’t do it from behind that.” he said motioning with his head towards the rifle.

“At least give me a chance.”

Amanda smiled amused “That is a fair request, one I might even honor.” She smiled at him. “So whose bounty is this?

“Sergeant Pete” he replied

“Because of the Jupiter Job?” she asked.

“I think so.” Corlex replied.

“How much?” she countered

“10,000 Credits”

She mused “that’s not bad I’m only slightly insulted with the price.”

Corlex got a call on his ear piece “Hello, Sergeant Pete, I have her” Corlex said before the person on the other end could answer.

The Sargent answered with more than a little surprise in his voice. “Well done, kiddo, my people can be there in 4 hours.”

“Good” Corlex replied shortly “If I don’t have my money in my account in 3 hours I’m giving her to the locals.”

The sergeant made a rebuffing noise. “Kid, how do I know you won’t cut her loose when you get the money?”

“I put 2 pieces of steel in her, if I cut her loose she will kill me.”

Amanda nodded her head in agreement.

“3 hours or nothing” Corlex said matter of factly then he killed the communication.

Corlex moved back into the living room and sat down on the couch across from Amanda. He looked at her coming out of the final stages of the medi-bot fog, then, almost involuntarily, he let his head slump into his hands. All the stress, all the fear was rushing out of his body as his mind relaxed. He began to tremble ever so slightly, the weight of the whole situation was not lost on him, and it was starting to lift.

Amanda sat up and did something that Corlex didn’t expect, she curled up into a ball, in the corner of the big sofa and actually got comfortable. For the first time he saw her for what she really was…. a person.

“I’m sorry I hurt you.” Corlex said quietly

Amanda felt the soldier and all her training rise in her but then she realized she just didn’t care, and there was no need to protect herself. She knew Corlex wasn’t going to hurt her or try to extract anything from her. His motivation was pure and simple

Cash, Money

And she couldn’t begrudge that.

“It is ok, part of the job.” She said with a smirk “how did you even see me to make the shot.”

Corlex tapped his temple with his right hand “No optics.”

Amanda had a look on her face that would have been appropriate if Corlex had told her he had an attack unicorn.

“And No” Corlex quickly interjected “it’s not some religious thing, it’s a survival thing.”

Amanda looked intrigued “Cody” she said with mist in deep in her voice.

“Yes?” he replied with a nervous rattle.

“Would you please get me a blanket? It is rather chilly in here and someone murdered my outfit.”

“Sure” Corlex got up and found a closet with some blankets. “Ok, hands up.”

“What? Do you not trust me?” Amanda said giving him her best version of puppy dog eyes, which if she was honest with herself, she had long forgot how to do them.

She didn’t wait for him to respond and she slowly lifted her arms.

Corlex softly tucked the blanket around her, bring being extra careful to not give the impression he was trying to feel her up.

Amanda noticed this “A Gentleman”

Corlex replied flatly “I try”

“I had heard that people like you existed, but i never put much stock in the stories.” Amanda said

“A Genetleman?”

“No, you do not use optics, and judging by your build, you actually keep yourself in shape and have forgone bots, my guess is you are a Nat. And just how old is that gun?”

“About 650 years old” he replied, tapping Annie in her holster

“You got really, really lucky, I had thought for a second, that someone like you, was coming after me I would of made the appropriate arrangements and you never would have made it through the door.”

She laughed and started to play with her blanket.

Corlex took a moment to study the woman who was doing her best to fidget with the blanket. Her face had softened considerably looking like someone who was trying to be content. Her pale, ice blue eyes made her look younger than her age. If Corlex didn’t know she was an instrument of death and destruction he would have thought she looked like a school teacher or someone else that was in a caring profession.

Amanda’s eyes swung up to meet Corlex’s, he felt the urge to move his eyes but he let them stay there looking into what were her devastatingly beautiful blue eyes.

“Not what you expected is it?” Corlex thought about what to say but Amanda continued. “I didn’t join the military to be a killer, I just joined so I could have my university paid for, i was just a silly kid.”

Corlex responded calmly “What did you want to study?”

Amanda tucked her head slightly while a sheepish smile started to spread across her face “Oh, something respectable like, history or engineering……maybe boys, but I was 17 earth years old, what did i know about what was best for me, or what I wanted to do or be.”

Corlex nodded in affirmation and echoed her smile with one of his own. Amanda’s eyes grew a bit vacant and distant.

“But then I signed up for the military, thought I would get off Mars and see the System. I had no idea I would be a truly exceptional killer.” She let out a sigh “Did you know I can calculate planet curvature, gravitational pull for different projectiles, wind speed all while tracking a target? I’m sure you did, you found me.”

Corlex just smiled, shrugged his shoulders, reluctant to say anything, so he just met her eyes again.

Amanda kept going “It felt good to excel at something, so I just threw myself into it all. The culture, training, the Community’s ideology. I was their weapon and I was happy to serve to fight for justice and peace, but then something happened.” her eyes grew vacant for a moment

“What?” he asked

She snapped back to the present, “Oh, I am not sure to be honest, but I found out that maybe the justice I was serving, was not a real justice.”

Corlex felt her hesitation and wondered what it could be, but thought what she was saying was genuine. Part of him, however, said it was just her training, which she was using her femininity and a story to make herself seem like a sympathetic person to her captive.

“Then the war ended?” Corlex asked.

“Yes” she said somberly “I didn’t know what to do, they wanted to stick me behind a desk ‘as a reward’ but I was a soldier, a tool for justice, and I just could not shake the that feeling…. When I missions to run I could ignore it but after….” her voice trailed off.

“So you went freelance?” Corlex interjected

Amanda shook her head in the affirmative. “I figured someone would pay for my brand of justice and I was right.”

Her face never changed and Corlex thought he could see a small tear in her eye. That thought quickly went away.

“You know what I miss most about being normal?” she asked

“What’s that?”

Amanda’s eyes looked up and to the left then she shook her head. “I miss being held by someone, I think back to my first boyfriend when I was 16 and just lying in his arms and feeling so safe. I can kill almost anyone and defend myself against small armies but I have not felt safe in a long time.”

The words drifted into the silence, then Corlex gave Amanda a shy smile “whenever you’re with me, you’re safe”

Amanda gave Corlex a genuine smile and moved her eyes to the window. The sky had grown dark with black clouds and large heavy rain drops began to strike the window.

“I haven’t seen rain like this since…..” Corlex said softly with his voice trailing off

Amanda noted this change, but let it be

The next several hours passed with Corlex and Amanda chatting mostly meaningless things. When Corlex heard a notification in his ear he pulled out his holocube. After looking up a few things he said “I’m sorry but I don’t get to cut you loose today”

Amanda frowned but then said with a cheery voice “oh it is ok, Sargent Pete’s accommodations are a joke, I will be free in a week or two.”

Corlex let out a small laugh “he isn’t the brightest.”

Amanda’s smile returned “Tell me Mr. Bounty Hunter what are you going to do with all those those credits?”

“Refuel and save mostly, jobs can be few and far between” Corlex continued ”And I think I’ve decided to go home. It’s been too many years since I’ve felt the Earth beneath my feet.

“Earth?” Amanda asked “what part?”

“Promise you won’t kill my family?” Corlex asked

“Yes absolutely” she confirmed.

“I’m from the plains of Colorado” He answered

Amanda probed, “why has it been so long?”

“The last time I felt the Earth’s rain was a very bad day” Corlex’s tone made it clear he did not want any more questions about that.

The sergeant sent Corlex a 5 minute warning.

“They’ll be here soon.”

Amanda nodded her head in acknowledgement. Corlex finishing packing everything he needed then helped Amanda out of her chair. “I’m really sorry about this, it’s just business.”

“I know” Amanda said “Corlex?”

“Yes?” he replied.

“I promise when I kill you, it will be face to face”

“Thank you” he replied “I was a pleasure being your bounty hunter today.”

Corlex could visibly see the shift in her demeanor, Amanda was gone, the soldier, the killer, The Reaper was back. They waited in silence until sergeant arrived and took her away. She and Corlex shared a quick glance and she was gone.

Corlex left the condo and did his best to make it look like the door hadn’t been kicked in. He through his pack over his shoulder and decided that the stairs where probably the best way to exit the Tangra building. As he descended the steps, he took stock of everything that just happened, and genuially hope that Amanda would be ok, and felt sad that he couldn’t keep her safe.

He pushed open the stair exit that opened onto a side street that was mostly empty. He could feel the rain bouncing off his hat and his shoulders and he actually felt himself enjoying it.

He clicked on his ear piece and a friendly female voice came through.

“Hello?” she asked

“Mom, I’m coming home”