Waypoint

Cell Buddies!

Twelve sols later, I'm still barely through the field in a quiet hunk of metal that I trust to keep me up and running. All I've been doing is lying down and playing back the signal audio over and over and over again. "Not helping..." I muttered to myself.

I was really mixed by opinion.

For my entire known existence in the field, I've been looking for a signal from a being like me. Now that I have it, I just don't know how to feel.

My thoughts are slowly dissipating and my craft has never been this quiet. Only every once and a while FTARI will tell me what resources we're low on.

Oh- except now..... I'm getting a notification for a contact message.

I started to examine it, but a craft just a little smaller than mine whipped around in front of me out of nowhere and connected to my communications. "Greetings, weird one! I have so much to offer! What would you like to see?" His voice was very friendly and enthusiastic.

Staring blankly at him, I responded, "What are you selling?" Then I glanced at FTARI. "You got carbon dioxide filters... The ones that usually aren't legalized around here, I can never remember their name"

"Ha! The ones that were banned through the Galaxial Constitution because they were found to have illegal ingredients in the-" He almost blasted my speakers out, then suddenly a robotic arm from behind his craft revealed itself and grabbed a head-sized package. "Open!"

"What?"

"OPEN" The creature aggressed.

I knew what he meant. I pressurized my craft, put on my helmet, and peeked my head out into the field as the gleaming metal robotic arm delivered the box to my grasp. It wasn't really a fast arm.

Once I got it into my craft, I noticed something in particular that a box shouldn't be doing.

It started shaking.

Only slightly, then it stopped. Afterward, it flew up into the air and sent out a huge electromagnetic pulse blast, so large, it almost hit the creature's craft!

"What in the name of-"Can I ever catch a break? I mean come on, first, the Vendetta almost caught me, and now this. As the box laid out on the floor, my craft started acting like it had a mind of Its own, but the truth was, I fell into another trap.

"Subject 0729, you are under the confinement of the LFO."

"Catch me a damn break, that's not fair at all, can you guys even do that?"

"Nothing in the United Galaxial Constitution says no, it's my job to clear the field of people like you."

"People like me? People like me are just trying to get by!

He looked down at his screen, and I could tell he was putting in coordinates. Possibly an outlaw station, so I acted fast.

Well, slowly at first. I swiped left on the "end communication" button on the secondary screen.

After that, still worried the LFO could hear me, I whispered to FTARI,

"What the heck do we do?" And then suddenly, the LFO looked back up. My eyes widened in terror.

I frantically waved at him like an idiot pretending I couldn't hear him. I've never been so embarrassed, although I've probably done more embarrassing things. Oh!—like the time I was showing off in the most popular station in the galaxy and ended up with a sharp rock halfway through my torso..... Those were the times. FTARI still won't let me forget that either, and if you hit me in the right place at the right moment it still hurts.

Anyways, FTARI responded after a moment, "There are many archived files that could get you a long sentence, should I delete them all?"

"What? What files are they?"

I reconnected comms with the LFO as FTARI secretly knows everything that could get me a life sentence.

"HELLO! Sorry about that pal. Minor technical difficulties over here. Where we goin' boss?" I leaned on the console towards the ginormous cockpit window.

"Boss? Destination DeCordova Outlaw Station'"

"Oh," I disappointingly looked at the floor. " I'm kind of offended that I need to be contained"

"Don't push yourself." The LFO grinned.

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I see what he meant. He pushed me. Five or six LFO's surrounded me as I was escorted out of my craft, and at least six hundred more occupied the surrounding area. Again, is this fair?

No.Did I technically do something illegal?

Yes.

But you can't just go up to someone and say "Hey, wanna buy something from me? I promise it's not illegal," and then sell me something illegal!

"Subject 0729, detained following illegal trading. This creature is to be held here for the rest of his time without the possibility of parole. Escort!"

"NOT EVEN PAROLE! What rules do you go by? It was a damn CO2 filter so I didn't die of air poisoning!" I argued with the guard. "This is beyond belief, I'd rather be in Vendetta containment!"

One of my escort officers responded with a baton straight to my abdomen. I screeched in pain and nearly stayed on my feet, but I was dragged in front of everybody until I was thrown into an elevator. Then I was pulled right back up, and soon after that, thrown right into a cell.

After the heavy metal door was closed, the holding cell drowned in complete darkness. I felt scared. Not long after I was bashing my shoulder into the cell door, hoping something would happen, or budge at the least.

"I would suggest to stop doing that before he catches you." A voice bellowed from behind me. My chest suddenly felt like it was going to explode. A tall, big, and brolic creature with green scales covering his whole body, one big eyeball on his hand, and threatening long arms. I froze in terror. Was I his next meal? Once it fully revealed itself from the shadows, it smirked. "Don't worry," His deep voice came into play. "Not hungry, nor would I eat anything like you. You don't really look familiar"

"That's funny," I chuckled. "I get that a lot..."

"Never seen anything like you, why is that?" It pursued my background as it summoned a round, red snack from the depths of his clothing. I let out a big sigh. You already know why, but as I was beginning to tell him, the appetizing snack fell out of his hand after the whole interior shook. Footsteps came closer in our direction. The large creature crept back into the shadows as I was left immune in the open light area of my holding cell. That's when the footsteps finally reached my cell.

"If you dare to bash on this door once more, my troopers will be bringing you down to the food court in a wheelchair." It must've been who my cellmate was talking about, the sheriff of this station.

"I'll never forget that one!" The specimen wouldn't shut up about the incident. Once it had finished the red snack, it asked me the forbidden question once more. "So where are you from, what's your name? What'd you get put in here for?"

I so very badly didn't wanna explain the last fifteen sols to him. "If I'm being totally honest, I'm in here because I'm trying to find who I am and where I'm from!" I threw back in anger.

"whoa, were you like brainwashed or something?"

"Brainwashed? What the heck is a brain?" I leaned in closer to him, eager to learn a new word. "Damn kid, we all have one. It's the reason you're alive! Does everything for you."

"Where is it stored?"

For hours I shot questions at him, he taught me everything I wanted to know, but not what I needed to know. Before I could ask it if it knew where home was, it went pitch black and I told me it was time to sleep. As I settled onto the rock-hard bedding, I asked, "Do you know where home is?" My cellmate huffed and rolled over, "I don't have a clue kid, but you'll find it. Trust me"