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  “So I take it you’re pleased?”

  A maniacal giggle was the response to Rob’s question as Zane stared lovingly at the latest version of the Star-Helix Medi-Organi-Scanner. Even though the insanely advanced piece of technology was in a plastic case, yet to be opened, the human couldn’t help but feel excitement at the fact that he was holding the real-world equivalent of the Star Trek tricorder.

  From a surface analysis of a target’s overall health and biological composition, to in-depth study of a being’s genetic markers, to instantly prescribing medical diagnostics on countless native and alien ailments, the device was a doctor and tech-geek’s Christmas and Birthday present rolled into one.

  “Come on, let’s get you home before you start drooling and gnawing at the box,” the droid said with a sigh, nudging its friend to get him walking.

  The pair had decided that doing business deeper in the countryside, where it was much harder to be spotted, was a good idea for keeping the whole situation secret. But Zane was quickly rethinking that stance after his third time nearly losing his footing in the uneven turf. Midnight on the northern prairie was not the best time or place to walk around with only a penlight and a hovering droid for guidance.

  “Zane, stop.”

  The human did so, hearing the warning note in the mechanical voice of his friend.

  “What is it?”

  “There’s something approaching us. Two humans, I think, based on my scans. About fifty feet away, behind the hill to the east.”

  Zane paled and quickly grabbed Rob’s chassis and dragged him into the tall grass while turning off his mini-flashlight. That the droid did not protest this treatment was a mark of how dangerous this could end up becoming.

  It didn’t take long for a bright light to appear, the beam slicing through the darkness. The crunching of grass could be heard as the unknown travelers tramped through the weeds and plant stalks, and Zane could just barely hear two men talking to each other.

  “So why are we out here, again?”

  “Because I saw something!”

  “‘Something,’ huh? I assume that it was a ‘something’ worth traveling off road for. Oh, and potentially trespassing. Can’t forget that part.”

  “Stop worrying so much, Jim! We’re with the government!”

  Zane felt his heart stop as he heard that. It only began to beat again when ‘Jim’ spoke up.

  “We are off duty, Frank. On vacation, in fact. And I don’t think my wife is going to forgive me for spending part of that time running around the sticks, instead of spending it with her.”

  “Well, yes, but this is the real deal! Remember late August when a meteorite smacked down around here?”

  “I do, Frank. And the space-rock was found, sold to some university for study, and thus ends the story.”

  “But what if it wasn’t? Or only a part of it?” The two of them were closer now, and Zane began to silently pray they’d not notice them.

  “Did you know, that back in 1948 a ‘meteorite’ also slammed down out here in Colorado? Almost in the exact same spot? And that odd lights were seen a few weeks later? Lights that seemed to float in the air? Sound familiar, Jim?”

  “Alright, it sounds strange, but not impossible. You also can’t forget that World War Two had ended recently and the Red Scare was starting to boil up. Don’t you think some farmers may have gotten a bit over excited and claimed they saw things after a bit too much moonshine?”

  Zane couldn’t help but get annoyed at the condescending attitude this Jim person was using in regards to people he’d come to know and like, but also couldn’t deny he was helping steer ‘Frank’ away from investigating. He just hoped they would leave, and soon.

  “I’m just saying that it’s possible there is something going on out here. Doesn’t have to be aliens, but it could be Russian spy drones or something that needs to be looked into regardless,” Frank argued.

  “We know the Russians are spying on us! Everyone knows that! And why would they want to take a peek at anything out here? If there was something going on out here, they’d tell us or take care of it. Besides, we’re FBI, not CIA, Frank. We do our thing, we let them do theirs.”

  Mutters and grumbles were the response, but the duo stayed in the area for another ten minutes, thankfully wandering further away from Zane and Rob’s hiding place in the process.

  After a while though the off-duty agents disappeared back in the direction they’d come from, and the rumble of a car engine filtered through the still autumn night.

  “Coast is clear,” Rob declared after waiting for a few more minutes and a quick scan of their surroundings.

  “That was close,” Zane gasped as he pulled himself off the ground. His mechanical friend floated back up on a whirring of anti-gravity and they quickly hurried back to the ranch house.

  “We’ll need to be even more careful in the future,” Rob agreed. “I’ll keep an ‘eye’ out for them being in the area. But we should be safe for when the other goods are delivered later in the month.”

  “Just be sure and extra careful, alright? I think I lost ten years of my life from worry just now,” Zane stated as they staggered into their home. Rob beeped in the affirmative, making the coder let out a nervous laugh.

  Chapter 11

  “Come on, just five more minutes?” Zane whined, making a convincing eight year old act. The highly advanced hardware system just sighed and levitated a tad higher, keeping the medical scanner out of the human’s reach.

  “It has been twenty local days since you obtained this device and you have done very little aside from play around with it, scanning everything and finding out what cures what and what would poison it. If you were not an innocent geek I would be worried about sociopathic behavior,” Rob retorted from the ceiling.

  “But it’s amazing! It doesn’t just perform medical analysis, the scanner can cross reference genetic data between subjects! In the past weeks I have discovered that if I could transplant ant DNA into a human it would make us immune to dementia! This machine even explains how and why!”

  “You’re now acting more like a demented surgeon instead of a tech-person, here,” Rob deadpanned.

  “I can be interested in more than just software coding!” Zane argued, head craned back to peer at the hovering droid.

  “Don’t you have a trip to be preparing for?”

  “Stop ruining my fun with logic,” Zane grumbled before he stomped off to finish packing his suitcase.

  It was nearly Thanksgiving and Zane had plans to visit family down in LA. It would be the first time he would get to see his brand new niece and family since the funeral.

  “At least my social life has improved,” the human pointed out to his mechanical companion, trying to get his toy back.

  “Only because you wanted to walk around Plainsburg and discreetly scan everyone, thus generating a larger baseline for humanity the scanner could work with,” Rob stated. “Hardly the most altruistic of reasons.”

  Zane grunted noncommittally as Rob continued to list off how Zane had acted with the scanner.

  “You called up Charma just to brag about it, though she was admittedly impressed since that particular model is exclusive for beta-testers. You terrorized the pet store in Plainsburg and to this day none of the workers there understand why the animals are so terrified of you. And need I speak of the Farmer Jeff incident?”

  “Fine, you’ve made your point! I’ll cool it down,” Zane pouted, throwing the last of his clothes into his suitcase.

  “Speaking of Charma, do you think she got my message about my trip?”

  “I would assume so, Zane. As busy as she may be with her job she probably just hasn’t had time to reply,” Rob assured the human. “Still, I’m surprised you took her reveal of her status so well.”

  “So what if she’s a renowned singer? Or an idol beloved by tens of trillions? She’s just Chacha to me. It was a shock, but her job doesn’t change who she is.”

  Rob
bobbed up and down, proud at the maturity its friend had displayed. Not that it had expected anything different. Zane was fairly open minded, all things considered.

  As the human grabbed his laptop, he shivered. He wasn’t sure why, but it felt like a piercing glare had settled onto him. And his portable computer. Zane turned to give Rob a searching look but the droid was hovering nonchalantly near the roof looking everywhere but him.

  When nothing else happened Zane slowly put away his laptop into his pack. This was getting weird. Had there been other incidents? To get his mind off the strange thoughts crossing his synapses he brought his attention fully over to the machine.

  “Hey, since I’ll be gone for a bit, why don’t you show me some commercials before I have to leave?”

  After thinking it over the droid beeped in the affirmative, descending and projecting the holographic screen. Zane hummed without tune as he glanced over the choices before selecting one that looked medical in nature. Now that he had the medi-organi-scanner, his curiosity towards medicine and biology had greatly increased.

  What appeared on screen was a rather beautiful solar system of six planets, though interestingly enough each world seemed to be one of the major habitable planetary types: arctic, jungle, desert, mountain, ocean, and field. Then narration began to play as the view zoomed in on the jungle covered planet.

  “When visiting the Quindall System, beware of Quindling Bone Suckers! Nothing is worse than being on a picnic and then having your skeletal system liquefied and then sucked out through a barbed proboscis!”

  Within the dense foliage a terrible creature crawled out. It was as if a demented scientist had taken a mosquito and crossed it with a centipede, and then given it spikes and grew it to the size of a basketball! Then it lunged, attacking a velociraptor the size of a greyhound bus and drinking the liquefied bones! Before the human’s horrified eyes the larger monster soon was nothing more than a pile of saggy flesh.

  “But have no fear! Tolgob’s Bone Syrup is the quick and moderately painless method of regrowing or repairing bones! Made of special nano-replicator gel, the Bone Syrup latches onto DNA and reconstructs missing or damaged sections of the skeletal system with 95% accuracy! 24 fluid ounces for only 33 credits!”

  “What the hell was that?!” Zane demanded, pressed against the couch in terror.

  “The Quindling Bone Sucker is a common pest in the Quindall System, not unlike rats or mosquitos on Earth. They are somehow present on every planet in the Quindall System, a unique place where every living thing on each planet has evolved to be carnivorous and hostile to all other creatures.” Even Rob sounded stunned by the viciousness it had just seen.

  “Why the hell would anyone go there? And those bone suckers are a common species?” the human asked, still filled with mind numbing horror.

  “The Quindling, while dangerous, actually produces a vital ingredient in several gene-therapy and cancer treatment drugs. After dissolving the calcium within bones, the leftover material, rendered down from marrow and the like, has several unique properties.”

  “Furthermore, Quindlings cannot survive long in captivity and are rather difficult to transport safely due to acidic saliva and toxic spines. To that end, harvesting them requires an individual to venture onto the surface. Because of the system’s assorted dangers and the value of the creatures, it is a restricted zone, and few organizations have access to it. Star-Helix is one of them. In fact, I believe this commercial was sponsored by them.”

  “Can we find something else to watch?” Zane begged. He reached over and fiddled around with the screen, accidentally clicking on ‘browser history.’ Human and droid froze. One because he was trying to comprehend what he was looking at, the other because its secret had been found out.

  Upon clicking the ad -- despite Rob’s protests – a quadrupedal robot appeared on screen, though in place of feet it had wheels.

  “My metallic friends, how many of you have organic acquaintances? How many of you have been curious about why those soft-bodied fluid sacs find procreation so fun and fascinating? Well, if you are so inclined, why not try Mechani-Cuss’ Robo Peripherals and Accessories Recreational Procreator! It is adjustable for Male, Female, and Monale, and comes in versions for Avian, Botanical, Gelatin, Insectile, Mammalian, Piscine, and Reptilian species! Upgrade your software into hardware! 1 unit for 225 credits!”

  “Why were you looking at this sort of product, Rob?” Zane inquired, unconsciously shifting so his posterior was firmly pressed into the couch cushions.

  “It was spam! I didn’t know what it was when I opened it! I was curious!” the droid spluttered. Zane slowly stood up, grasping for his suitcase as he sidled to the door.

  “Well, this was fun and all, but I’ve got to hit the road soon…”

  “It wasn’t me! I’m not interested in this, I swear!” Rob all but wept.

  “While I’d like to believe you, Rob, I just don’t know if I ca-- wait, I understand now!” Zane jabbed an accusing finger at the droid. “You’re attracted to my laptop!”

  Rob almost dropped out of the air in shock before it spluttered indignantly.

  “It’s not what you think! I hate that primitive device, really! Get back here!” Rob shouted.

  “Damn, that’s bizarre, but to each their own,” Zane groused as he turned and fled out of the house into the garage and the safety of his Ford Focus.

  “I’ll see you in about a week, Rob! Don’t forget to send the package to Charma and to test out the other products! And clean up after yourself if you do decide to ‘experiment’ with any of the other household appliances!”

  Zane carefully ignored the droid’s ranting about perverted humans and ditching all the work on the poor, overworked TI.

  Preparing to leave Colorado, Zane smiled and waved at the house, his grin growing when a reluctant mechanical tendril waved back.

  “Zane! So good to see you!”

  “Hello mom. And hello to you, dad.”

  A grunt was the only response Zane received from his father, but given that it came from the kitchen the young man was content to leave the person making food alone. Never bother a chef when they’re working, after all.

  Zane eased off his shoes and sighed as his feet were freed. He’d been driving for two days and had only stopped once at a tiny motel for the night before jumping right back onto the road. He’d made good time but now his body was paying the price for it.

  “So is Vera here yet?” the oldest child inquired, looking around the entrance for any telltale signs of his sister or her family.

  “No, not yet. You’re a whole day early, after all. I’m sure they’ll be over to see you this evening though. And, of course, you get to see Jack and little Donna tomorrow before the feast,” Mrs. Pendon said as she ushered her son into the living room.

  Ralph and Sally Pendon lived in a nice three story house in the suburbs just outside LA. It was a good lookingw property with a well-maintained yard and exterior, and Zane reminisced fondly of the many times in his youth he had played in the neighborhood.

  He smiled thankfully as a glass of water was passed to him and he leaned back in a recliner.

  “So how goes life out in Colorado? Is William’s house still standing?”

  “Well, there was this one rave a few weeks back, but the repairs were done quick,” Zane joked. “Honestly though, Gramps built that place to last. Barely had to do any work or repairs except setting up the Wi-Fi.”

  “Yeah, that old house was amazing. Hard to believe it survived me and my brothers with barely a scratch,” Ralph Pendon said, his voice booming out from the kitchen.

  “It was hard enough raising one boy and one tomboy in this house and keeping it intact,” Mrs. Pendon said. “William must have been a carpenter as well as a hoarder to build something to withstand four boys.”

  “How’s Plainsburg doing? Is my old friend Mike still running the repair shop?” Mr. Pendon asked.

  “He’s doing well. Met him during Halloween
. Nice fellow, very helpful,” Zane said with a fond smile.

  “That’s good. Well, the chutney just needs to sit for now, and the turkey is ready for the smoker tomorrow. Not much else to do except relax,” Mr. Pendon declared. He walked out of the kitchen and removed his lightly stained apron.

  Ralph Pendon was a big man. Thick brown hair on both his head and chin gave him a wild appearance despite how neat they were kept, and he carried himself with confidence which made his six foot three inches of height seem even taller.

  Zane was privately glad he had inherited his father’s height. It was fun being one of the tallest people in a group of people at any given time. He was also silently glad he had his mother’s easily manageable hair instead of the untamed jungle of his dad’s.

  Mr. Pendon approached the living room with a pair of whiskey glasses and offered one to Zane. The coder eagerly took it. He hadn’t had much alcohol since he’s stumbled across Rob. Zane didn’t want to have his mind clouded, or to accidentally spill any incriminating information. He was a talkative drunk, and apparently rather eloquent while under the influence.

  To protect his friend and his secret, he’d abstained for months. But now was a time to unwind and let loose just a little. A smidge, really. One or two sips wouldn’t hurt, would they?

  “…And he had pink dealie boppers on his head!” Papa Pendon laughed at that, slapping the armrest of his chair after Zane spoke of how he first met ‘Old Man’ Mike at the Halloween party.

  “Hilarious! I remember when I was younger he was such a formal, straight-laced fellow! I guess it’s true when they say that becoming a parent makes a person more open!” Mr. Pendon chuckled, traces of his Midwestern accent leaking through thanks to the fine liquor in his glass.

  “Is that so? I don’t recall you acting any different when Jack came around,” Mrs. Pendon pointed out, grinning over the lip of her wine glass.

  ‘I don’t need to become fun, I already am! Or was!” the Pendon family patriarch asserted.

  “Phew! Been awhile since I could unwind like this,” Zane grinned, draining the last drops from his third serving of whiskey. He was more of a beer and wine person but this was good stuff too. If nothing else Ralph Pendon knew his alcohol.