2355

This started as a short story I entered into a contest a year ago. I plan to edit it again but i was wondering whether i should leave it as a short story or continue it?

The year is 2355. Earth is still inhabited and flying cars have been invented. People now freely explore the universe in ships called battalions. These battalions contain a variety of different families promised with a new life. The universe became the new America and soon every person hoping for a new start was boarding them. 

These ships also contained a small army for the purpose of protection and colonisation of the new planets. In 2289 professor Gary Herbert created the “subterfuge”. This device contained the ability of making small areas of the planet hospitable. It was vital invention for space settlement. It is a Dome shaped construction capable of holding small cities. The indestructible glass protects the inhabitants from the deadly atmosphere. Many nearby planets such as mars have a vast amount of settlements on them.

Along with a new era came new threats. Sky pirates litter the sky raiding battalions in search of supplies. Along with this came bandits and bounty hunters wishing to join in on the action. The most feared of all these threats are the Novas. These are men and women who have been contaminated from a virus which is yet unknown. It is believed that they roam the universe searching for their next victims in boarding parties. Although they are mad and are devoid of all emotion, they are united by the thought of extinguishing life. Many do not survive these attacks and are horribly mutilated or defiled. They are the scum of the new world.

I on the other hand am not! Bounty hunter extraordinaire and captain of the ship maybe but not scum. 

I walked into the bar looking for my employer. He had told me to look for a man wearing a bright blue hat and sure enough when I entered there he was. I walked over to him wary if he was the one.

“Juice monkey?” He said warily. He had a thick rough voice and sounded as if he had been shouting all day.

“Yes” I said laughing as I took a seat

“About time, I’ve said that to every person who has looked at me for the last hour. Why did we need it?”

“Thought it would be funny” I said still laughing. He glared at me, annoyed at my quip.

He ordered another drink and turned to me. 

”I need you to get me a certain someone. This person is of high value and it is imperative that I have them. They contain information that could cause catastrophe. Price is not an issue but we need you to obtain this target alive. I only know 2 things for sure about this person, they’re location and the fact that they have tribal tattoo that goes up their forearm. If I find them dead it will be you I will be hiring a bounty hunter to obtain.”

I have become accustomed of threats in my line of work but this seemed serious. So instinctively I taunted him.

“You can try,” I japed, “but that didn’t work for any of the others. I’ll do your job and don’t worry about it, I’ll find this person.”

He did not seem to enjoy me mocking him but he considered it a fair deal. He casually slipped half of the money into my hand and promised me the other half when he sees the target. I walked out of the bar and stared at the flood light’s which gave the impression of sunlight. In the subterfuge life is extremely confined and it feels as though you are trapped. I needed to get back to my ship and my crew but above all I needed out of this hell of a life and escape into space.

I paraded through the centre of town aware of all the staring eyes and whispers stating me as a bounty hunter. The subterfuge was a great invention but it created a life far away from the one I lived every day. As a result I am the epitome of danger to them with my blaster hanging by my side and ragged clothes fraying at the ends.

If they only knew of the true dangers of this universe. I was met by my crew as I entered the ship. I yelled orders and insisted we leave now and head to the directions the Magister told me.

After three days we arrived at a Planet called Neferon. It only contained one subterfuge, a small settlement called Picca. We landed and began the search. We decided that the best place to start would be the local hotel and nearest bar. We split the crew up to cover more ground. This settlement was different than most. It has a violent edge to it.

As I waked through the town I saw many stalls selling blasters. This was an anomaly for a subterfuge as guns were normally outlawed here. I began to realise that something was not right when I heard it.

Two gunshot blasts rang throughout the street as many residents took out their blasters in alarm looking for the origin of the shot. I did not need to look for the origin as I could clearly see the bullet hole in a door. I ran with a new found intensity and purpose as I headed towards it. I crashed through the door falling onto the ground. My blaster slipped out of my grasp across the floor. I started to reach for it when I heard the familiar sound of a gun cocking. 

A female voice resonated in the small suprisingly acoustic room.

“Slowly turn around and don’t even think about reaching for that blaster, I’ll shoot before you can say Novas.”

Slowly I turned to face the girl who had caught me off guard. I was startled, she was beautiful. Dark brown strands of hairs fell in front of her bright blue eyes. Blood smeared her hands and was splattered across her face. She could have passed as a Nova right at this moment.

A body lay in the corner with blood still flowing from his chest. Even at the sight of this I could not help but notice how beautiful this girl in front of me is.

That was when I saw it, the tribal tattoo running along her forearm. I had traveled across the universe to find this girl and now I couldn’t help but find her attractive. The room shook with tension. She could be my end. A single woman propelled like a bullet across the galaxy racing towards this moment. A moment which would decide my life or death. It was at this moment that she chose to faint.