Year One

Chapter 3

TALIN

Jarek and I stood outside our old HQ. We were now officially jobless. "So, what's the plan?" I asked Jarek as we started walking through the plaza. "We're going to see an acquaintance of the PPU. He'll be able to tell us a little bit more about those men, hopefully. He should be in an alley a little way from here."

*

The alley was wretched. The path was littered with broken machines from toasters to laser guns. Robot parts lined the walls, staring at you like demons as you walked past. "Eh.. Jarek, are you sure he's here? I mean, there are other places he could be y'know... w-why don't we start there first?" I said trying to hide how scared I really was. Jarek rolled his eyes."Oh, don't be such a wimp. It's only a bunch of nuts and bolts." Even with Jarek for reassurance I still couldn't stop thinking of the machines as humans. Oil lined the path like blood, oozing out of the metal teeth and eye sockets. I cringed at the thought. We continued walking for a half hour or so, the condition of the alley not getting any better.

The alley was begining to really creep me out. "So... How much further exa- " I slipped in a pool of oil lining the path, landing straight into the arms of an old, rusted surgeon robot with a disjointed head, setting it off. "IN YOUR CURRENT CONDITION I'M AFRAID WE SHALL HAVE TO OPERATE. KEEP CALM, YOU WILL BE UNCONSCIOUS MOMENTARILY."

"AAAH!" I screamed. "JAREK HELP!" Jarek turned around and rushed to me as the robot began to produce an array of scalpels and drills from a hatch in it's front. Jarek tried to restrain the robots arms as I frantically tried to escape the robots tight grip, panic rising through me. "Get it off!" I screamed. "I'm trying!" Jarek replied, his voice strained. "RESISTING IS NOT NECESSARY. THE RHS CARES FOR YOUR HEALTH."

"Jaaareek!" I whimpered.

"Got it!" Jarek said with one last heave, as he broke the arms of the robot, allowing me to escape. We both stood back and watched as the robot tore itself apart, still operating on it's imaginary patient. "Thanks for that," I told Jarek, who stood out of breath with rips in his sleeves. "Don't mention it," He replied with a sideways glance. "Let's go."

"Yeah."

We turned around, continuing down the alley, leaving the cranky speech of the robot in our wake. Soon enough we reached a nook in the alley. A sheet was hung on rusty metal rods, forming a canopy. "KEEP OUT" was written on the wall, the rest of the sentence in a yellow smudge. "Here we go," Jarek said as he entered the hut with me following suit.

The first thing that hit me when I entered the hut was the stench. Oil and alcohol mixed into one. Bottles of wine and liqueur were splayed across the floor, along with rusty robot repair parts (probably scavenged from the alley). Other junk lied in piles a meter high, creating a claustrophobic environment. Along with the smell; it wasn't pleasant. Above it all, though, lied the most atrocious thing in the whole hut. Sitting on one of the many piles of junk; an old, dilapidated, rusted robot. It dripped in oil which ran in a river down to my feet. A croaky snore escaped his rectangle voice box every now and again, whilst he still held a half empty whiskey bottle in his hand which missed three fingers.

"There he is." Jarek announced. "D19, the sloppiest smuggler ever to be found by the PPU." D19's snoring suddenly stopped. "Huh..." His eyes opened and seemed to spin a little before focusing on us. "WHAT'RE YOU DOIN' ERE?!" D19 stumbled to his feet and staggered towards us before falling over onto his face. Jarek stood over him and cringed slightly as D19 let out low moans. "D19. Would like to say it was a pleasure meeting you again..." Jarek said, stepping away as D19 crawled up to a sitting position. "What d'ya want... I'm kinda busy 'ere... an' you ain't allowed to arrest me before you try anythin'. I 'eard about yer little company closin'." He took a swig from his whiskey bottle. "You do know that stuff isn't good for you right..." I said as D19 picked up another bottle from behind him. "And it's illegal. Off the black market, if I'm right." Jarek said as he kneeled in front of D19. It amazed me that he could take the smell. "Right. D19, we're here for information."

"Stop callin' me that! Me name's DAN. Not that buncha numbers you call me!"

"I recently had an encounter with two men speaking an unfamiliar language, who we'rent authorized to be on this planet. I know you deal with every illegal immigrant ever to enter our atmosphere, now you're going to tell me who they could be. They had a blue star on their wrist, that ring any bells?"

"Don' see why I should tell yews nothin'." As quick as a flash, Jarek had D19 in a wrist lock, ripping a panel off his back. "Ey! Dat hurts ya know!" D19 shouted. "I'm looking at an array of buttons and switches here... lets see...compaction, maybe? Or how about I hit the power off button?"

"Ah! Er...They don't work...Never 'ave!"

"Oh really? Should we test it out?" Jarek looked deadly sincere now. It was surprising how far he would go to find those men. Although I suppose they did have life changing information...

"G-go ahead!" D19 stammered, oily sweat dripping from his forehead. Jarek looked around for a moment before calling me over. "Talin, break the bottles."

"NO! NO! NO! NOT MY DRINKS!" D19 called out desperately. "I'll tell yew what I know, but if dey ask, it wasn't me!" Jarek released D19, coming back over to me by the entrance. D19 replaced the springs in his wrist, picked back up his bottle, took a swig, then turned to face us. "Alright. A couple a days ago, dese weird guys came to my stall in da market. Dey was asking me for components y'see, which is o'course my speciality, in case yew ever need any now yer've been liberated an' all..."

"Get on with it." Jarek said.

"OK, so dey asked me for dese things not even available on dis wretched planet... Crazy chemicals I'd neva 'eard of. But when I told 'em I didn't have 'em they started threatnin' me with guns an' all! So I told em' I'd have 'em delivered tomorrow, and them being the stupid aliens dey are, gave me 5 million credits for it! Suckers!"

"Where did they want it delivered to?" I asked. D19 took a swig from his bottle again. "In dat clearin' couple miles from 'ere in Old Camden. In da old WW3 crater d'eres an invisible ship. Undetectable to anythin'."

"So that's why I couldn't trace them. How do you get inside?" Jarek asked.

"Aah, see, dey didn' tell me dat."

"How could they not have told you! You're lying!" I exclaimed, but before I can even finish the sentence Jarek was already holding up D19's entire alcohol collection in a blue field from his wrist band.

"Okay, okay! Yew'll need dis-" He threw at me what seemed like a key - in fact it was! They were using old fashioned keys to enter their high-tech space craft! I looked to Jarek. "Isn't this a bit old fashioned?" I said. "Yeah, just like their black suits." Jarek replied. "Looked old enough to be cotton. Strange."

"How do you find the key hole if the ship's invisible?" I asked.

D19 shrugged."Ey, I don' know everythin'!" Jarek was already reaching towards his wrist band again. "Don't bother, I'm sure we'll figure it out." I said. I was about to thank D19 for his help, but he was already fast asleep on the floor, in a pool of his own oil. I followed Jarek out of the hut, glad to be out into the fresh air. "Where to now?" I asked Jarek. "We'll wait till tomorrow. We're both shattered, we may as well get some sleep."

I followed Jarek back out of the alley. Although, as we left the hut, I'm sure I could almost hear the sound of a phone call being made.