Path of Ranger: Volume 1 (40 page)

“Are there any land roads left? All I’ve seen until now is those red-green lanes.”

“Such a multi-layered transportations system is much more efficient. The traffic is controlled by the central mainframe. It guides each transport unit in the city so there is no collision hazard.”

“One computer?”

“As far as I know, yes,” Nea said. “I’m not that good with cybernetics, so there it is…”

“And you can’t drive?” JB wondered.

“I can, actually.”

“That’s a relief,” the mutant said. “It would be a waste having that sweet ride of yours otherwise.” Nea smiled in return.

The woman continued supplying lots of information for a long time. The men kept listening. She was not only beautiful but also very smart. Each statement of hers was constructed logically and simple to understand. JB admitted inside that he started falling for her.

After another phase of the course was over, Nea took a short pause to check her correspondence. When she looked back at the audience, her expression changed. She tried to choose the next words carefully. JB and Doc read in her eyes that the lecture was over.

“Excuse me, gentlemen, I have to go now,” she said.

Just as the woman got up, JB stood up himself. He wanted to hold her hand while she was still there but stopped at the last moment. He remembered what happened to others when he touched them. It was the first time Bridgers felt regret about his mutation abilities.

“Yo, where are you heading?” he asked.

“The ,mayor wants me to check on your group.”

“Is there something wrong?”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s just a precaution.”

Nea gathered her things and left the suite. The mutant was following her with his look till the very last moment. Gibson, on the other hand, barely noticed that the girl was gone. He took the tablet to read more on his own.

“That Van Deen is kinda an asshole,” JB started kvetching. “Damn guy can’t deal with his shit on his own.”

Seeing that his comrade was unlikely to respond, JB punched him on the shoulder. Doc realized that if he didn’t hide somewhere, he would have to spend the rest of the day in the company of that irritated mutant.

“We-e-e-ll…” Mark yawned as a sham. “I’m exhausted. It’s time to take a nap.”

Still keeping on his sleepy grimace, Doc squeezed by the mutant to go to one of the bedrooms. JB stood there watching as his sly comrade struggled not to smirk when passing him.

“Yeah, Doc! You do that! Go get some sleep! Enjoy ya’self, yo!” JB was shouting after the door had closed. “It just that I can’t sleep! For two months already! A small gift from you, by the way!”

JB found himself there alone. He wandered around the suite for a while. Everything that surrounded him felt strange and alien. There wasn’t much to do except keep on studying. So he picked up the tablet and took a seat.

In a while, after reading tons of materials about the universe and its millennium history, JB couldn’t believe what he had learned. The most noticeable thing for him was an impression that basically nothing had changed. The human greed was there as before; it just grew in scale. The resources chase and control over the power remained the key goals for people. Humans were the same inside just like a thousand years before.

A two hundred fifty years’ piece of history appeared to be blank. The mutant was sure that it had been erased on purpose. The heliomoncer race disappeared in that time period, no one could explain why. In JB’s opinion, it could be the human’s doing. And if so, it wouldn’t surprise him. He sensed that humans remained just the same killers. What gave him the most certainty about that was the fact that he wouldn’t be so concerned about his people’s safety otherwise.

It was evening. JB spent all day studying. The history learning appeared to be much more fun that he had expected. After a while, he wrapped his mind around the idea of living along with aliens, and the future world didn’t frighten him that much anymore.

When it was already dark, the mutant went out for a walk. There was not nearly as much life on the ground level, which was constant on the upper ones. JB noticed some of the service vehicles down there, but not too many of them. The lower level was meant to be comfortable for people, not for transport. The ground was made of a similar material as most of the buildings. Dark coating with yellow liquid inside.

JB had found a bit more information about the purpose of that material. It was a product of humans’ collaboration with fitoxes. A bioengineering contribution to architecture. The hard solid material outside was the structural one, which did all of the weight lifting, and inside was a fluid full of microorganisms that produced oxygen. Those microscopic plants were a kind of fitoxes. Besides filtering the air and synthesizing oxygen, the substance was collecting sunlight to give it back during the night. That way the streets of Atlantis were never deepened into the darkness.

The sun was hidden and thousands of stars took over the sky. The city looked like a pile of treasure from aside, glowing with that soft, warm light. JB was walking through the streets full of different people and creatures. There were so many other kinds around him, he couldn’t believe it at first. It was one thing was to read about them, and entirely different – seeing them with his own eyes. He tried to take a closer look once in a while to recall what he had learned about them before.

There were a couple rahtiongs not far from him. Humanoids of red color, massive in weight, height, width, and they had those big double lumps on their backs. The heads were huge, as well as the necks. They had quite small eyes, though, pushed deep into the skull, due to the dry stormy climate of their home planet. The main natural weapon of that race were poisonous stingers inside of the forearms, which could immobilize any enemy in a few seconds. Judging by the description, that was the most aggressive of the friendly races.

Somewhat later JB noticed a few octopus-like beings hovering by. The big guy took his old smartphone on which he had taken a few shots with useful information to read about those ones.

Namiamificans – the eldest of the known intelligent creatures in the galaxy. Non-humanoid kind. They were not large, less than one point three meters high. No arms, no legs, but two pairs of tentacles on the top and on the bottom. Each upper limb ended with a set of long antennas, and the lower ones had suction cups under them. Those creatures didn’t have a brain in a classic sense, yet their central nervous system was so advanced that it occupied almost the whole body, even in the limbs. Each part of their bodies had its own cerebellum that used independent data processing. Each namiamifican contained enough electricity to power up a force field for manipulating matter in a short range. Thus, they were able to hover over any solid surface.

The most exciting race, in JB’s opinion, were acleemans. He had a hard time wandering around to see a few. Finally, he found some. They were most alike to humans. Humanoids that had come from the planet named Tuson-Maknui, Vega system. Those were jungle creatures, which lived in grace with nature. Their planet had a stronger gravity than Earth, which was why they were much more physically advanced than humans. The height of an average acleeman was about two point five meters, and the weight – about two hundred kilos, very tough ones. Their skin had a gray coloration, and their eyes shined with silver. Their pinnas were barely protruding out of the skull but had long arcs around it. Among all allies, acleemans were the most loyal to humankind.

There were no fitoxes represented as ‘classic’ intelligent beings. When Nea had referred to them as ‘plants’ JB thought of it as some kind of joke, but she meant it literally. The mutant didn’t understand much about their origin or anatomy, or, frankly, anything coherent about them at all. But he grasped that they were sort of plants, and in some way intelligent, and somehow they could absorb other creatures’ DNA to adjust their own. Also, it was very picky race, which dominated only on their home planet, Fitox, Tejat Posterior system.

Watching all those creatures, JB, at some point, caught himself on a thought that he might be crazy. And there was no future world, but a ward, the place for his possibly delusional mind. One thing that didn’t match that theory was the overwhelming detail; it couldn’t be generated just by his imagination, there was too much depth. Hence, it wasn’t just in his head, and it was 2965 indeed, and the former gangster walked around the hovering city full of aliens. The mystery that remained was at what point of that journey had they skipped 948 years to the future?

A yellow gravimobile closed in on Bridgers when he expected it the least. Nea and Mark looked relieved to find their comrade. The mutant had completely forgotten about the planned meeting with Mayor, which was just about to start in a matter of minutes. Doc had had his fair share of sleep and he looked better than ever. The life in Atlantis was grand to his liking.

When coming close to JB, Nea took a look at him through the spectrum glasses. It was much darker than during the day, so she noticed that blue glow in his eyes. The girl lowered the glasses to take another look with her own eyes. She was amazed by what she saw.

“Everything is ready. The mayor is waiting for you,” she spoke to him.

“So let’s not keep the man waiting,” the big guy said and instantly jumped in the back seat.

Driving through the city, Nea was answering a bunch of Doc’s questions. He was interested about literally everything, starting with aliens and continuing with smallest cultural customs of Nea’s home planet.

JB, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care for that talk at all. Suddenly, he realized that his previous life had gone and wasn’t coming back. He remembered his white Escalade, and the dungeon in the Lower Compton, and many other things that he would never see again. The big guy had lost the course of his existence. He just sat back, relaxed, and froze in an empty stare with not a single thought inside his head. Just waiting for what was coming to him. Then a familiar backpack drew his attentions, it lay on the floor next to him. Apparently Nea had brought it along after checking the rest of the group.

The mutant opened it up to see what he had left there from the old world. Half of the stuff appeared to be Gibson’s; a brand new modern communicator, some clothes, and a few sealed white boxes. Not getting into deep thinking, Bridgers just trashed out the unfamiliar things on the floor to leave inside just his own belongings. A happy smirk widened on his face when he felt that satisfaction of at least some things being set right. After digging a bit deeper, the mutant found the headphones, which he had stolen from the plane. He took them out to connect to the music player, all JB wished to do that moment was to listen to some familiar tunes. That music was actually a thousand years old, thinking about it like that amused JB. His fingers went through the playlist of songs whose creators had been forgotten for a long time. A thought of a possibility that there might be no hip-hop in the future got him even more frustrated. There was some whisky left in the flask. JB dried it out and closed his eyes to let the beats take him away.

The joy didn’t last for long. The mutant felt shakes on the leg, and when he opened the eyes, Doc was there, pulling on his trousers. JB removed the earphones to pay attention to his companions.

“How do you like Atlantis, JB?” Nea asked.

“I'm not sure yet,” the man shrugged.

Nea noticed that broad red cable of his.

“That is an audio device of your time, right?” she imposed another question. “Where did you get it?”

“Took from a dead guy,” JB replied carelessly.

“Did you kill a man for a pair of earphones?”

“No,” the mutant resigned. “Who kills a dude for their earphones? That one was dead already.”

“So you knew him?”

“Why do you think so?”

“You’ve just called him by his name,” she tried to explain her thinking. “You said it yourself: ‘Dude.’”

“A dude isn’t a name. At least I don’t know anyone by such name.”

“What is it then?” Nea kept pushing.

Having a bit of a struggle with that conversation, JB looked at Mark.

“You go ahead. Don’t be rude, answer the lady,” Doc smiled, satisfied.

“Well, a dude is,” JB started thoughtfully. “It’s like… I don’t know how to break it. Hold on. I need a sec,” JB took a few moments to think it through. Then his hands went on gesticulating along with the lips. “For example, I’m a dude, and you’re not. Gibson can be a dude if he tries, but is unlikely to succeed. So I can call Doc a ‘dude,' or talking about him as a ‘dude,' but he ain’t no ‘dude’ inside.”

“That is absurd,” Nea make a conclusion.

“Exactly,” JB confirmed. “Street smarts can be proven by time, not logic.”

Being even more confused, the girl looked at Doc in hopes to gain some sensible explanations.

“‘Street smarts’?” Nea asked.

“You don’t want to know,’ Gibson said. “I had to listen to that stuff for two months straight.”

Nea turned to JB again.

“Are you a dude?” she asked. And then rushed to supplement right away. “Inside?”

“That’s right!” JB affirmed. “And after death too.”

“Like that dude, which you have taken the earphones from?”

“No, not like him. I’m different. And I didn’t take the headphones from him, I took it from his pocket.”

“Is there a difference?”

“I don’t know… Just thought it was worthy of mentioning.”

The next thing Nea watched was as JB tried to drink from the empty flask and then threw it on the seat disappointedly. Even though the mutant was big and threatening, somehow that small action seemed cute to her. She smiled. JB’s behavior felt quite unusual, sometimes brute, and often meaningless, but Nea started to like it.

“Yo, dude!” she called for him, purposely using his language.

“Yeah?” JB asked suspiciously.

“We’re here.”

Soon all three of them came to the familiar hall where they had met earlier in the morning. The door to the mayor’s office was open, so they went right in. JB and Doc were counting on a private conversation with the mayor, but, to their surprise, there were about fifteen people waiting for them. The council sat around the oval table. With the first look at the visitors, the mayor got up to welcome them.

The mayor came closer and looked up to the mutant’s eyes. He smiled widely, then offered his open hand. JB gave Aghastos a strong handshake to show that he was up to a serious conversation. Van Deen shook Gibson’s hand then. The scientist, on the contrary, acted friendly and relaxed, he felt safe there. That brief seconds were enough for the mayor to see which one of those two might be harder to bargain with.

“Hello, my friends! Have you rested well?” the mayor spoke cheerfully.

“It was quite wonderful, we’re grateful for your hospitality,” Doc replied just as gladly.

“You probably have a lot of questions, isn’t that right?” the mayor walked them to two empty seats at that table.

Nea went across the room to stay a bit aside, but still in JB’s and Doc’s sight. They felt much more confident when she was around, as a silent prompter who was always ready to assist. JB had his share of worries about that since he couldn’t know for sure to whom her loyalty belonged.

Aghastos occupied his own seat at the head of the table. The discussion went on then.

“Look, man,” JB took the initiative. He glanced at Nea, she was watching him carefully. “We’re grateful to you for this warm reception and all… But, let’s cut to the chase. Why are we here?”

“A true man of business! No chit-chat. I like this guy!” the mayor went on with a broad smile.

Then he nodded at one of the councils to pass the word.

“Let me introduce myself, gentlemen,” a young man in blue uniform rose. “My name is Beck Siir, I’m Head of the Internal Affairs Service. First of all, I have to say that it was our people who apprehended the rest of your group.” Doc fidgeted on the seat, he went worrying. At the same time, the mutant didn’t look very concerned. A bit of dislike appeared in his expression, though. The officer rushed to continue. “And I assure you, they are alright.”

“Where are they?” JB asked.

“To eliminate any possible consequences of their contact with the city, we had to temporarily isolate them. They tend to believe that it’s two thousand sixteen now,” Beck continued.

“That’s correct, sir,” Doc said. He decided to take a word from the partner, seeing how his mood had changed.

“You believe that too?”

“We did when we arrived, yes.”

“The first thing we do when strangers come to our city is an ID check. If you were citizens of the Galaxy Union, there would be the records of you in our database. After thoroughly studying the DNA samples of each of you, no match was found in any database. So we supposed that you were telling the truth,” the counselor finished his part and then nodded to one of his colleagues for him to take over.