Smuggling Amber

Smugglin' ain't easy.

It’s been too long. I tap my foot on the rudder and tap my fingers on the control wheel. Jackman should have been back by now with the bounty. I look down at the chronometer implanted in my wrist again to check the time. It’s been almost an hour. For the 11^th time I check the perimeter cameras on the aircraft.

            No one is around. But not for long.

            Open the cargo hold. The voice comes in through my Neuro-connect.

            I open the door and leave the cockpit of the aircraft to see two figures running up the cargo hold. The lights go on as the door closes again. Jackman is there looking at me with his usual half angry, half annoyed expression. Except right now it’s more anger than anything else.

            He holds a young girl by the forearm. She’s got long, blonde hair that settles around her waist. She wears loose fitting pants and a shirt that is two sizes too big for her. She doesn’t look scared.

            “Who’s this?”

            “This is Amber,” Jackman snarls the name.

            “Is she the �" are you the bounty?” I ask, looking from him to her.

            She nods and pulls her arm out of his grasp. “Yes, I’m the damn bounty. Now let’s get out of here.”

            Jackman yells out something that I don’t understand and brushes past me towards the cockpit.

            “Ignore him, he was born ill-tempered and old and mean,” I say extending my hand towards her. “Hi, I’m Ara.”

            “It’s so nice you’re a girl. I couldn’t have survived the whole trip with two of him,” she says, jutting her chin forward towards the cockpit.

            “Alright, well you just hang tight and we’ll get you to Kepler65 as soon as we can,” I say, not knowing what else to say to her. I haven’t spent much time in the company of women in the past five years.

            “Do you have any food or water?” she asks as I turn away from her.

            “Dig around,” I say and leave her there.

            Back in the cockpit, Jackman is in conversation with someone on his Retinal Display. His eyes are a hazy white color and his ears are practically steaming.

The haze leaves his eyes and he refocuses on the present. He clicks a few buttons on his wrist control and the call disconnects.

“What did Seren say?” I ask him.

“Nothing useful. She has to be in Kepler65 in three days,” he tells me. “We should get going.”

We begin the take off sequence. I program the radar and primary flight display. He adjusts the altitude indicator and inputs the navigation controls.

“Plot course for Moon Colony,” Jackman says.

I turn to look at him, “What? We can’t dock at the Moon Colony. We’ll be searched. And killed.”

“No,” he says impatiently. “The Moon Colony is the safest way to get to Kepler65. We’ll be on record as searched and verified and they won’t bother us later.”

“The Mars Wormhole Station is a better option. We get to Kepler as fast as we can, drop her off, and then get out of there,” I say. It should be the most obvious thing in the world.

The aircraft freighter gains altitude and I adjust the retinal reflection panels on the display for non-visibility.

“The Wormhole will definitely search us before they warp us out to the middle of the quadrant,” he snarls at me.

“We can hide her. They don’t search as much as the Moon colony,” I retort.

“Max, I am really not in the mood to get sent five years to a Dungeon cell for smuggling!”
            Before I speak, Amber bursts through the cockpit door. She gives the navigation panel a cursory glance and looks from myself to Jackman and back again.

“Why aren’t we in space yet?” she asks.

“We’re having trajectory issues,” I tell her.

“We need to be off-planet as soon as possible,” she says urgently. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Yeah, I know that, sweetheart,” Jackman says.

“Please be nice,” I say.

“We have to go,” Amber says. The urgency is clear in her voice.

“We’re going through the closest wormhole station,” I tell her.

“Good…”

“No, we have to go through the Colony,” Jackman says. “I’m not going to be out maneuvered by two crazies.”

I punch his arm, “You just said you didn’t want to spend the next five years in a Dungeon cell. The Enhanced are going to board us, check us, find her, and we’ll be tried for smuggling and that is just what is going to happen.”

He groans angrily, “For universe’s sake! Max, if we bypass the colony �" they will have us on record. They will track us to the wormhole station �" and this is an aircraft freighter! How more obvious can a smuggling vessel be?!”

“Stop it!” yells Amber before I respond. “By now, they will know that I’ve gone missing. My face is going to be on every data terminal in the quadrant. So whatever you’re going to do �" please do it now.”

I sigh and shrug, “Fine Jackman, let’s do it your way and go through the Port. We can disguise her as the ship mechanic. Grease her up and pass her off as that.”

The plan wasn’t a bad one, but it wasn’t a perfect one either. Both our neural transmitters are connected to the Mainframe Net �" and I haven’t heard any chatter about a missing girl.

Who was she anyways? All Ceri had told us was that the bounty was “unusual” this time around, and that it was very important to someone very important. I had a strong feeling we were kidnapping this girl. I wasn’t sure, however, if we were taking her from or towards danger.

The navigation control warns us that we are leaving the atmosphere behind and entering proper space. From here it is only half an hour to the moon on an engine thrust of two points but I set the engines to .01 to give us more time to think. Jackman switches off the external inertial dampeners.

 “Are you sure about this? It will take longer to get out of the Port. I have to be in Kepler65 in three days,” Amber says.

“Yeah, why is that again?” Jackman asks sarcastically.

She hesitates for a moment, “I have something important to do.”

He scoffs, “Sounds like trouble.”

“It is.”

We both look up at her and then at each other. “Let’s just get to the colony and get this over with.”

Jackman adjusts course and sets engine thrusters to 2.0 towards the Moon Colony Port.

I am already regretting this. His voice comes through my ear as if he’s whispering them to me. But Jackman is not speaking.

We have no choice now. But she’s not the innocent girl she looks to be, I respond.

Is she Special?

I would have picked up her signal. She’s fully human, no parts cyborg. How important can she be if she’s not a Special? What could anybody possibly want with a human girl?

I can practically hear his annoyed snarl, and out of the corner of my eye I see him shake his head.

Whoever she is �" and whoever wants her �" its going to be one smokin’ f**k of a headache for you and me, kid.

“Are you two talking through your Neuro-connects?” Amber asks behind us.

“No,” I say.

“Yes,” says Jackman.

I roll  my eyes.

“Do you know your way around a freighter?” I ask her, turning back towards her in my seat.

She shakes her head, “No.”

I get up from my seat and lead her out towards the cargo hold. I lift the hatch that goes down to the small engine room. “After you,” I say, motioning for her to go down first.

She awkwardly steps in and grabs the rungs of the ladder as she makes her way down. I watch her blonde head get smaller and smaller in the dim light until she steps onto the floor.

I drop myself in the hatch and land right besides her. She looks at me with wide eyes. “This way,” I say.

I lead her to the computer terminal that shows the freighters levels of efficiency. “Be here when they come in through the hatch. As soon as you see them start complaining about this old tank, how you’re glad to finally be moored in a respectable dock. They’ll want to leave you alone as soon as possible.”

I walk towards a corner and smear my hands with engine grease and turn back to her. Slowly, I cover her face, hair and hands with the stuff until she’s properly filthy.

“This smells disgusting,” she says. “Are you sure it’s safe to have so much grease dripping on the floor like that?”

I shrug, “She’s old.”

She’s studying me hard.

“What?” I ask.

“You’re an Enhanced solider,” she says simply.

“Ex-solider. And how did you know that?” I ask. All our modifications are internal.

“Your eyes. The Retinal Interface gives off a silver sheen over them. It’s more noticeable in the darkness,” she says, pointing around to the semi-dark space. “I’ve never seen an Enhanced as pretty as you. Usually their faces are very robotic. Yours is so human.”

“I am human, Amber.”

“I know. That’s why it’s so pretty.”

“If you say so.” I move back towards the stairs and then turn back to her. “Remember �" annoyed, pissed off and relieved. Think you can manage?”

She nods, “I have no choice.”

I shake my head and climb back up the stairs, dropping into my seat at the helm.

“Is she ready to go?” Jackman asks.

“Yeah. That kid is weird,” I tell him.

“No s**t,” he scoffs.

“No, she figured out I was an Enhanced,” I tell him.

“How?” he asks, confused.

“She said it was my eyes and the Retinal Interface,” I answer.

He chuckles mirthlessly, “Pile of smokin’ s**t. She’s got to be something. She wouldn’t be as important otherwise.”

“It’s not her fault. She’s just a kid. Anyways, we both agreed to pick her up,” I say.

“And I’m already regretting it. There. I regret it,” he says. “Currently regretting!”

He doesn’t speak again. We line up the freighter in the designated entry course and speak to Port Control about docking and on-board inspection. The closer the dock gets, the more shuttle and aircraft traffic there is.

The closer we get the more I also worry about our current situation.

And it’s impending outcome.

Having a certified aircraft could save us headaches down the line �" yes �" but if the missing reports have been channeling through less-than-friendly avenues that we don’t have access to and she’s recognized �" it would definitely not be a good day for Jackman. Or myself for that matter.

The outside Spacedock doors open and we maneuver the aircraft to its designated space, turning off all thrusters and engaging the external mooring locks.

            “Here we go,” Jackman says quietly besides me. He looks over to me and gives me a small smile. I smile back, then turn to the Enhanced officers boarding the shuttle.