Super SciFi Smackdown

4.3 Upgraded

The pulse grenade had terrified Nutmeg when she had first seen it bounce into the ship, now it had become an unlikely savior for her and she was grateful for it. The only thing keeping her on board was the fact that the ship was so crap that the doors wouldn't even close now that their electrics were fried. The angry bug had not been easy to convinced to follow her lead, but she had managed. He wasn't her main concern, even with his angry and violent outburst, Amaradiocus were far scarier and they weren't the worst corporation that she knew of, tenacious but not the worst. Nutmeg had no doubt that other operations would be watching from afar with an air of caution. Indeed the group that attacked them in the lot had been far too amateur to be a fully fledged unit. It was more likely that they were a group of hopefuls attempting to prove themselves. Createnark had no shortage of individuals looking for a break into the corporate world and it would be a safe bet that this wouldn't be their last encounter.

"You do know we are being followed?" Nutmeg settled in to the copilot seat uncomfortably. It was too wide and flat for her shape.

The Thoracian gave her a glance, as he flicked on the intercom and spoke two languages, neither of which she understood. With a flick of his hand a heavy weight suddenly assailed her and it took her a moment to realize it was her own body under what was double gravity.

"What... Are you... Doing?" She managed to hiss between breaths.

"Losing your buddies back there." Xacks sneered at her. "Unless you would rather go back there and let them in?"

Too busy trying to breathe beneath the crushing weight, she ignored his swipe at her, to instead concentrate on where he was taking her. The large complexes came and went in the monitors at an alarming rate as he deftly slid between them, narrowly avoiding trashing the ship against the towering structures. With an ease that surprised her he flipped the gravity buffers narrowly keeping the ship's hull from scraping a large housing block. Without a rear view, it was impossible to tell if they were still being followed but Nutmeg assumed it would take more that a few sharp turns to deter their pursuers. The struggle to breath was causing her vision to shake and with the lack of oxygen came the primal fear of survival. The ship stopped dead in the sky and for a precious few seconds she gulped as much air as she could down, ignoring the bugs grin. Nutmeg was so preoccupied with breathing that she hadn't noticed the free fall. Built for long space travel, the ship dropped like a stone when the engine was cut. The free fall was a welcome relief from double gravity but it was short lived as the engines kicked it and the gravity ramped up. She had just enough time to see them slip into a corridor before the darkness took her.

They had stopped moving when she came to and the Thoracian was still shutting down the systems. The dark cockpit was aglow with the last of the lamps before they too blinked out of existence leaving her alone in the dark with someone she wasn't entirely sure was not going to kill her. The sound of his movement stopped her breathing as he moved past her and away into the living quarters. Exhaling her held breath, she flicked the monitors on to get a look at the surroundings. After an initial flash they resumed their inky blackness, whatever was out there wasn't much to look at. Cautiously she got to her feet, stretching her sore muscles as much as the cramped space would allow. Pushing aside the thought that Xacks might have tried to kill her, instead she focused on the fact that he surely had an opportunity and didn't take it. Taking it as a promising sign Nutmeg left the cockpit to join the crew in the family room.

"So where are we? She spoke in common, very aware that besides herself, Xacks was probably the only other being who understood.

"In a storage unit." Xacks spoke softly as he checked his pet for damage while cooing to it in low tones.

"How long do you plan to stay hidden here?" Nutmeg tried her best to radiate confidence but the quiet tone of the bug was unnerving her.

"At least until we get some answers." This time his reply came with a grin that was both authoritative and a little scary.

"You want to know where I have sent Zero?" Nutmeg was loosing her nerve faster than she liked.

"Not particularly." Xacks answer surprised her. "I do want to know how you know him and why you think he is so fucking important though?"

"He contacted me." She started to say in a tone that she found far to whiny, making it sound like an excuse. "Well I mean... We didn't actually talk, but..."

"Why us then?" The Thoracian cut her short. "Why play this game with me?"

"I just wanted to get to see Zero." It felt like everything was falling apart and she struggled to hold her façade of confidence. "I want to know why he gave it all to me."

It was Xacks turn to betray his surprise now, he tilted his head as though he hadn't heard her and for a brief couple of seconds she could read confusion on his features.

"You don't know!" She launched verbally at him. "All this time I thought you were a team and you're not, you don't even know what is going on around you."

"So fill me in, before I skin your skinny carcass and wear it like a cape." He spat venomously, without a hint of mirth.

"Zero has hacked every system with remote access within range." Nutmeg spilled, still feeling like she had the upper hand despite his threat. "For some reason he dumped it all at my feet and I want to know why."

"Fucking piece of shit." Xacks cursed the absent A.I. "He's fucked us all."

Nutmeg wanted to say something to calm the raging alien but he had already switched language and was talking animatedly to his pet. The language barrier was really starting to annoy her, the fried chip in her head only making it worse. It was time for an upgrade anyway, the newest available tech was organic based and was self applying.

"So what now?" Xack spoke in common again. "I suppose you will be leaving, now that you have Zero."

"Well I thought you were together." Nutmeg confessed. "It makes sense now why you were driving such a clapped out ship."

"Fuck you!" Xacks was obviously unimpressed with her view but his retort lacked its former venom.

"Honestly, I could use your skills." Nutmeg played up to him with a smile. "But if you insist on keeping this ship it is going to need an upgrade."

"It will be awhile before we can leave here safely." Xacks informed her.

"I can have the stuff delivered here and it looks like I have nothing better to do for some time." She smiled happily, it was finally working in her favor and she let her mind wander to Zero.

He would have to wait longer than expected, it was unfortunate but there was no other way. She hoped his self preservation would keep him safe in the bowels of the manufacturing district. If anything the extra time would work to her advantage and she looked forward to seeing how the reunion was going to play out.