TheShepard touched down on Taris the next day. Scipio had flown them to a large city by the name of Grandite. The four-crew members disembarked with Adam leading the way down the squat ramp, with Scipio and Vida side by side, and Jones taking the rear. Adam took a few steps from the ramp and stopped. He drew in a deep breath.
“Mmmmm…. Smell the air of Taris. The largest farm planet in the entire Collective, nothing but green grass and fresh -”
“Shit” Scipio coughed to muffle the word. Jones cackled behind them, and Adam cast them both an angry glare.
“Ok Scip, lead the way to this guy you know.”
Scipio took the lead, and began walking. The others walked behind him, and were awed at the wondrous smells and buildings. Taris was a bustling planet. Being the largest farm planet, it was constantly exporting and importing all sorts of creatures. Unlike earth 70% of the planet was fertile grass, and the other thirty, fresh pure water. As the trio followed Scipio they marveled at the interesting structures. Grandite was the most industrial city they had seen. The buildings were hundreds, if not thousands of stories tall, and they reached farther into the sky than they should of. The buildings all seemed to be the same color, and only separated by the large signs on the front signifying the section and building number. The crew wasn’t nearly as interested in the architecture though, as they were in the events going on at ground level. It seemed every inch of the ground was moving. People were hurrying to and fro, and along the sides vendors were trying to sell their seductively tasty treats. Adam was amazed at the colors. Banners stretched from one side of the street to the other, green and blue, and orange with gold streaks on the intersections. It looked as though there was an ongoing fiesta in Gandite. After another half hour of walking Scipio finally stopped. He stood in front of a dark ally; occasionally a person would stop in front, and glance around quickly before hurrying in.
“What, you gotta take a leak or something?” Adam questioned Scipio
“No, this is the place, he’s in there, just go inside and ask for Rodriquez.”
Adam looked frightened. “Me? Why me?”
Scipio gave him a hearty look. “Because you’re the Captain, you make the decisions.” Scipio glanced at the ally again, an as an after thought added, “and because I’m not keen on getting killed.” With that, Scipio turned his well-muscled arms onto Adam, and pushed him inside the dark ally.
As he entered everything went black. Adam tried to turn around, but found that the entrance had gone. Instead, in its place was the cold silence of the dark. Adam stood, trying not to scream, his mind was trying to figure out which way was up.
“Hello there.” Came a raspy voice.
He was caught in mid thought; he jumped and let out a yelp.
“There, there. It’s ok I wont hurt you. Tell me who you are looking for.”
“I… I…. Maybe…. I just… if you could….”
“Out with it!” the voice said in as close as you could get to a yell while whispering.
“Rodriguez!” Adam spat the name out.
“Mmmmm…. Ok, one moment.” Adam could hear as the voice disappeared into the dark.
Again Adam stood in the dark, a feeling of being watched slowly crept over him. He could have sworn he had seen two red eyes peering at him to his left. Well, he thought it was his left, it could have been up.
This time, when the voice came he was ready.
“ahhhh…. Mr. Higgins, what is it I can do for you?” the voice was smooth. Adam felt like he was talking to a cup of well-blended coffee.
“We need a job. Uh, hopefully one that pays about 500,000.”
Adam waited; he heard some shuffling of papers. Then Rodriguez spoke again.
“It seems like your lucky day Mr. Higgins I have two jobs needing doing. What kind of ship do you own?”
“I… uh…. we have a simple trade ship.”
“Mmmm…. Ok, I have a delivery I need made. It has to be done by a third party.
“Sure, sure. We can do deliveries, just show us where.”
“I shall have a few of my men deliver the goods to your ship, they will leave instructions as well. You will be paid upon delivery.” With that Adam was thrown back into the cold silence. Adam, now unsure what to do decided to try and end the conversation in a friendly tone.
“OK, well, I’ll just be seeing you then.” With that, he gave his best smile, but, realizing he was in total darkness, stopped. He then turned around as best he could, and stumbled back outside.
“Adam!” Vida’s voice was the first to reach him. He turned to see his friends standing out front. Adam waked carefully over to them, waiting to get his bearings back.
“So?” Scipio inquired
“Yeah, we got the job, we’ve got to deliver some stuff.”
“Sweet!” Jones and Scipio turned to each other and gave each other a high five.
Vida looked at Adam curiously.
“What stuff?”
“Uhhhh…. Hmmm…. You know, now that I come to think of it, he never did tell me.”
Vida scoffed, “Sounds pretty suspicious to me.”
“Don’t worry V, it’s probably a crap load of sugar, or tea leaves.”
Vida shook her head. She hated working with men.
YOU ARE READING
Space is Vast
Fiksi IlmiahFour friends pilot their mediocre ship across the galaxy in the hopes of finding fortune, adventure, and family. (This was written in high school)
