Halfkinds Volume 1: Contact (18 page)

“Thanks Tiago.  Are you okay,
though, with Oscar leaving and all?”

I knew that along the way
sacrifices would be needed, but I didn’t think we’d be fractured.  Oscar thinks
my leadership is too brutal, but it’s a necessary evil.  I will question my
decisions one day, but not tonight.  Oscar’s soft heart doesn’t have the
strength to make those calls, mine does.  It’s the mentality you need if you
want to live.

My actions are justified.  Leonard
would have slowed us down.  He could have led our pursuers to us.  Lombardi
would fail getting the stuff we needed, so I had to send Ace.  He wouldn’t have
had a chance without Lombardi’s sacrifice.  My brothers didn’t die in vain,
they died for the greater good, for the siblings that matter.

I wish Oscar could see that, but
we are a family divided.  Maybe we were always this way.  Ace and Alex have
constantly been loyal to me and I’ve never been that close with the likes of
Leonard, Lombardi, or Maddie.  I can’t let down those who look up to me, not
when the stakes are so high.

“Hey, Tiago, you there?”  I have
blanked out and Ace still wants an answer to his question.  “Are you okay with
Oscar leaving?”

I pause before I say anything. 
“Yeah, I’m fine.  By the way, were you able to find the special items I
requested?”

“Yes, I’ll show you.”

Ace reaches in his bag and
rummages through it.  I hear some clanking noises, like plastic banging into
each other.  He pulls out a small, stringy device.

“This is the transmitter you asked
for,” Ace says.  “I only found wrist mounted ones.  You can send a signal out
and it’ll beep when it is sent and received, but nothing else.  You can’t hear
or talk through it.”

I take it from him and observe. 
It’s larger than I expect, but I wrap it around my arm and it fits, barely.

“It’s kind of loose,” I say to
Ace.  “How many did you get?”

“Four.”

“Good.  Did you get the other
items?”

“Yes, I have a whole bunch of
them, let me fish one out,” he says.  His whole arm is now in the sack.  “Here
you go.”

I look at it.  “Thanks, Ace, you
did well.”

He is holding a small Tang 320A
light energy pistol.  I did some research on the Primm-Phillips supply depot
and looked specifically for small guns that we could arm ourselves with.  It’s
a featherweight, handheld firearm, mainly used for household protection.  It
won’t blast through walls, but if we need to take on our followers, this will
get the job done.

Ace says it’s the United Species
Alliance that is after us.  These are the big leagues, professionally trained
soldiers.  In a head on fight, we might as well be dead.  The guns will offer
some small form of safety, but I pray that we won’t end up in a firefight for
our lives.

“I got at least ten of them, along
with the insta-item, food, and credits,” Ace says.

“And the other item?”

“I have that too.”

He pulls out a few disc-like
objects and puts it in my hand.

“I’m surprised they had them,” he
says.  “Seems too heavy duty to be in the inventory of such a shitty supply
depot.”

“Yeah, but I did my research.  I
saw it was there.  Don’t worry about the discs, they are for Curtis.”

“What are they exactly?”

“Nothing important,” I say as I
look at all the supplies.  “Hopefully, this will last us our trip to the Moon. 
Once we get there, we can set up our insta-item and live in solitude for a
while.”

“That’s the plan?” Ace asks.

“That’s the plan, at least for
now.”

“But how will we sustain ourselves
in the long run?”

I don’t have a good answer for
him.  Eventually our credits will run out and we’ll be forced to find some way
to pay for the things we need.  But there isn’t any time to think too far into
the future, I have to focus on now.

“One thing at a time, brother,” I
tell Ace.

“What do we do now?” he asks me. 
“We have our supplies, should we start heading to the teleporters?  Which one
should we use, the Gonzalez station or the Li station?”

“I’ve asked Candy to do some
research, let me consult her before I decide our next move.  Wait here.”

I walk over to where Candy is
sitting.  She’s furiously working away on her compcube.  After I told the
others we were going to the Moon, I had asked her to start investigating how to
get the teleporters working.  With Candy at full focus, there’s no doubt in my
mind that she’ll get it done.

“Hi Candy,” I say to her.  “How’s
the search going?  Did you figure out how we can use the teleporter?”

“Hold on one second,” she says to
me.  I hear several beeping noises and after a few moments she looks up. 
“Okay, sorry about that.  To answer your question, I think I got it.  Not that
hard, actually.  Both stations around here, Li and Gonzalez, have routes to San Francisco.  All we have to do is power up one of the teleporters and program its
destination to the Bay Area.  Then when we get to San Francisco, we’ll do the
same thing for the Moon.”

“And I assume you know how to do
all of this,” I ask her.  “Powering up the stations and programming our
destination won’t be a problem?”

“I’ve been at this for a while,
what do you think?”

I give a light laugh.  “Sorry, I
shouldn’t second guess you.  What about the security there?  How will we get
in?”

“Security systems are actually
maintained through a central server,” she says.  “I can hack into it and
disable them via the infospace.  I’ve already found weaknesses that I can
exploit, so give me the go and I’ll be able to shut them down.”

“Can you shut down one at a time
or will you be able to shut them simultaneously with your commands?”

“I can do both.”

“Impressive.”

“But why do you need both?” Candy
asks suspiciously.

“As a contingency plan, just in
case.  We’ll be heading to the Li station, but you never know what trouble
we’ll run into.  Better to have two ready than one.”

“Good point.”

“I don’t mean to rush you, but you
might have to shut them down sooner than expected.”

“Why?  When are we leaving?”

“Tonight.”

“So soon?”

“Is that a problem?”

“The process of getting things
powered up isn’t difficult, but it isn’t fast either.  I’ll need some time to
set up and get things started.”

“How much time?”

“At least three hours.”

I start to think about the
scheduling of my plans.  I’m unsure how much time we have, but then an idea
pops in my head.

“I don’t think that should be an
issue, I just need to make some last minute decisions with Ace.  Good work so
far, Candy,” I say.

“Thanks,” she responds.

I walk back to Ace.

“Candy says she’s ready, but once
we get to the teleporter, she’ll need time to get things ready, at least three
hours,” I say.  “The United Species Alliance knows we’re going to a
teleporter.  I need you to throw them off in order to buy that window for her.”

“How do I do that?” Ace asks with
concern.

Before I tell him what I’m
thinking, I hesitate.  Do I really want to do this?  Will I be so ruthless in
order achieve my goals, in order to save the siblings who are with me?  Leonard
was one thing, Lombardi was one thing, but what I’m thinking is a sin on an
entirely different plane.

But if Candy can’t work
uninterrupted, then there won’t be a life left to live.  This is vital.  I need
to create a diversion that will throw off our chasers.  I have to do whatever
it takes.

We’re the alphas, they’re the
betas.  They branded themselves the moment they left.  Oscar and Maddie were
never strong and it showed in their actions.  Yet something perplexes me.  I
don’t understand why the twins went with them.  They’re like us, on the top.  They
should be hanging with the best instead of the worst.  Why did they keep such
low quality company?

“What’s the plan?” Ace asks me,
breaking my thoughts.

As much as I revere the twins, I
must do what I must do to save my true family.

“In a few minutes, I’m going to
write a message and I want you to sneak back to the Primm-Phillips supply
depot.  Is the United Species Alliance still there?”

“When I left, it didn’t seem like
they were going anywhere,” Ace says.

“Good.  Take that message and
leave it where they can see it.  On their vehicles, near the front door,
wherever, as long as they get it.”

“And what’s in the message?”

“The location where Oscar and the
others are hiding.”

Ace looks at me stunned.  “What?”

“Candy told me that she needed
time to prepare the teleporters.  If the United Species Alliance agents are
busy checking out Oscar’s hideout while Candy is working, it’ll guarantee
she’ll have a long window to get it done.”

“But… but…our own brothers and
sisters.  This isn’t right.”

Ace is hesitant, and rightfully
so.  I already have enough difficulty with giving the order, I can only imagine
what it must be like to carry it.  But this must be done if we are to survive. 
I must be strong for the others, I must make the choices they won’t.

“It wasn’t right that they left,”
I say coldly and sternly.  I must be callous.  If I show any sign of weakness,
Ace won’t do it.  “This team knows we’re heading to the teleporters thanks to
Lombardi’s tip.  They’ll be hot on our trail.  We need to do this to divert their
attention and stall them while Candy works.”

“But…”

“No buts, Ace.  If we don’t leave
today, we’ll be dead.  Do you want that?”

He shakes his head no.

“Then, can you go through with
it?” I ask.

He nods his head quietly.  “Yes,
but don’t tell the others.  I don’t think they’ll forgive us.”

“It’s our secret.  When you get
back, we’ll be ready to head to the Li station.”

“The Li station?  Why not the
Gonzalez one?  It’s much closer to us and the Primm-Phillips supply depot.”

“Exactly.  The agents of the United
Species Alliance are probably thinking the same thing.  They know we plan to
use a teleporter to get out of Primm.  Now that they took down one of our own,
they know we’re nearby.  If I were them, I’d be banking that we’d be heading
there.  We can’t be that predictable.”

“What if they split their team?”
Ace asks in an anxious tone.  “There are two teleport stations and six of them,
they can send two teams to the two stations.”

“That’s true,” I answer, “but if
you fulfill your task, they’ll have to split their team in three.  With your
tip, they’ll want to check out the casino.  They can’t spread their squad too
thin and I doubt they’ll take that risk.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry so much, just trust
me.”

“So, you sure you want me to do
this?”

We need to act fast and can’t
afford to encounter any hazards at the Li station.  Oscar knew the risks.  When
I and the rest of my siblings are on the Moon living in peace, away from this
mess of a home, I’ll be looking back at these moments and I will understand why
I did it.

“Yes, that’s all we need to talk
about for now.  Get ready to leave soon.  Also, see that bag about five feet
away from us?  Retrieve it for me.  And bring Curtis over here,” I tell Ace.

Ace runs to the bag and slides it
next to me.  He then walks over to the other side of the building where Curtis
is laying down.

“Hey, Curt, Tiago wants to talk to
you,” Ace says.

Curtis gets up, without saying a
single word and walks in my direction listlessly.  His scaly, prehensile tail
sways like dead weight.  His yellow eyes look sullen.  There isn’t a smile or a
frown on his face, just a blank slate.  When he gets to me, he doesn’t say a
word.  No hello or greeting or anything, only a simple nod to acknowledge his
arrival.  He frightens my other brothers and sisters and even I admit he scares
me sometimes.

“Do you still remember the plan we
talked about?” I ask.

He nods.

“Okay, it looks like we’re going
to go forward with it.  You’ll be headed to the Gonzalez station,” I say. 
“I’ll tell Candy to disable the security systems, so all you have to do is
enter, no sneaking around.  But before you leave, are you sure you want to do
this?”

He nods.

“You don’t have to,” I say.  “I’ve
done a lot today, but this is your call.  No pressure from me, no schemes, nothing. 
Even if it gets down to the last second and you feel like you want to abort,
you’re free to do so and I’ll totally understand.  One more time, are you sure
about this?”

He nods again.

“Okay,” I say.  I grab the bag
that Ace had delivered and the disc objects he had swiped, and hand them to
Curtis.  He opens the bag and checks its contents.  Everything looks
satisfactory to him and he slings the bag around his right arm.  He looks me
dead in the eyes.  He doesn’t nod this time, but they tell me that he’s ready
to start.

“You better go now,” I say.  “I’ll
tell the others you left.  As you requested, I won’t tell Candy what you plan
to do, just Alex and Ace.”

He looks at me skeptically.

“Don’t worry,” I say.  “She didn’t
ask why she needed to make it.  It won’t raise any suspicion.”

Curtis nods and walks toward the
door.

Before he goes, there is one more
thing I want to say.  “Remember, if you feel like coming back, we’ll be here
with open arms.  You’re not bound by your mission, you can stop any time you want.”

He looks back at me and says,
“Don’t worry, that won’t be the case.”

The large door opens and he is
gone.  I look at Ace as he prepares to deliver the message that I will write. 
I think about the twins and a sudden sadness overcomes me.  I don’t understand
their betrayal.  It’s a mixed feeling of frustration and gloom.

And then I think of Oscar and the
others.  Questions fill my head.  Will they forgive me?  Do they understand?