- Scurvy
Discovery.
The first thing Auger was aware of was that there wasn’t any sound. The second was the point of view, disturbingly like staring out through someone else’s eyes.
Soldiers in uniform rushed and bustled around him, seemingly hurrying into formation. He counted five Xenos amongst them, Three Andonians, A Thresh and a Rakwulf. He knew it shouldn’t matter; it didn’t, not really.
The uniform was familiar now; they were all wearing shining white, with the same eye pattern emblazoned on the arm. The flash and showy uniform that only ever got used on parade or inspection…
The woman beside him smiled and started to talk, her lips moving soundlessly.
He felt his lips move back.
Everyone faced foreword. A man walked into view, he was old, bearing a distinguished grey mustache. His green jacket was adorned with markings of rank, when he spoke, everyone stood at attention. He eyed the Xenos a bit longer then he probably should have.
The scene changed, it was hot and dark...There was sound now, odd noises seeming to slither from one place to another. Something smelled rancid.
Auger jerked awake, it was still dark outside, the lunar day and night being weeks long.
The small light bulb in the ceiling glowed dimly. The room being bathed in the insufficient dim light, He pulled the small nub that was once a joint from his lips and flicked it away.
Looking over to the broken timepiece on the wall, Auger decided he’d been asleep for no more then an hour or so. Yet again. But this time the dreams weren’t the reason for his premature awakening.
The light was on, it struck him. He didn’t remember turning the light on, and something moved in one of the poorly lit extremities of the room, one of the piles of newspaper toppled and slid across the floor.
Auger slid out of bed in a surprisingly fluid motion, grabbing the intruding object before he fully realized what he was doing, the thing made an urgent muffled sound...
A tuft of fuzz poked between Auger’s fingers. Still not quite awake, he recognized it, the color was unmistakable.
Removing his hands, a small coffee-colored Chuian righted itself, coming up to Auger’s Waist. It gave him a sheepish grin.
"Liez? Fuck! What’re you doing here!?" Auger raved, this wasn’t high on his ‘ways to be awoken’ list.
"What, I need a reason to hook up with my ol' buddy Auger? I just happened to be passing through..." The Chuian named Liez said, maintaining its small smile.
"Drop the act, Why did you come here? Better yet, how did you find me!?" Auger said, panicked enough to crack the joints in his fingers nervously, fixing the rodent-like creature in his sights.
"Still grumpy in the mornin' I see...not a good sign. Maybe you should have some coffee..." Liez said, making a show of looking around the absurdly bare room.
"No coffee? Well that's a change...but then you seem to be making allot of changes lately. I don't suppose your bosses know about why you came here do they? Or anyone else here for that matter? I wonder what they would say if they knew..." Liez said, his threat made.
Auger stopped pacing, allowing time to think.
"Is that all you're here for? To make veiled threats!? I don't believe it...are you stalling for someone?" Auger's thoughts raced through the possibilities, each one seemed worse then the last.
Liez made a nonchalant gesture, though some nervousness showed through.
He must be alone, Auger suspected. But then that wouldn't fit. Auger took a step foreword towards the shorter Chuian.
"I just came to talk, I swear." The rodent said, making a crossing gesture over his chest.
"Fine, talk.. But I reserve the right to kick you across the room if I don’t like what you have to say." Auger said, allowing as much menace as he could muster drip into every word.
"It's about what happened in Contura, you'd have done the same thing, probably more if our roles were reversed!" Liez said, almost pleadingly.
"It doesn't mater, you fucked me over. That's all. But you didn't come all this way just to mull over the good old days, spill it! What're you up to?" Auger felt himself getting angry again, noticing that he'd advanced on the Chuian further.
"I told you, I just came to talk...." After a pause, He took the lack of an answer as a sign to continue.
"They know where you are ... and their on the way. One of the Old man’s people checked on me before they left, your face cropped up in some intelligence report and they followed it here." Liez hesitated between sentences, trying to judge Auger's reaction.
Things blurred for a moment, the room spun. Auger felt sick, it was all over.
"How long?" Auger said quietly, resigning himself to his fate, knowing it was only a matter of time.
"Two days, at most I’d say..." The Chuian looked saddened for a moment. "I think they wanted me to help bring you in, they didn't say, but I could tell."
It was then that Auger realized the Chuan was in the same position as him, the pursuers would surely guess at Liez’s intentions. All thoughts of an ulterior motive on Liez’s part drained away.
"Why’d risk it? You could have let them come and get me and you'd never hear about it again." Auger questioned.
"Because, assignment or not, it was fun...ya don't let yer roomie get bumped off do ya?" Liez said, attempting false cheer.
"riiiiiight, they'll be after you too now, y'know." Auger sat on the edge of the bed, holding his head in his hands...So much for this day turning out well.
"Look, they were gonna ‘take care’ of me once they got you anyway, to keep the number of people who know down to a minimum." Liez said, sitting back on the old newspapers, allowing time for things to sink in.
Auger allowed himself a brief reverie; realizing things would be much easier with Liez’s help.
"So what now?” Auger began, eyeing his 'old friend'.
"Neither of us can stay here, they know where you live." The Liez said gesturing around the dank room.
“An escape plan, then.” Auger suggested, knowing it to be the only way foreword.
“It’d be tricky; I checked this place out on the way in…not much in the way of hidin’ places.” Commented Liez.
“ ‘On the way in?’ How did you get here?” The still-tired Human thought to ask.
“Remember the plane-repair place I worked at? When I found out what was goin’ on, I swiped a Bubble and piggy-backed here with a Thresh crew who needed my amazing skills with tune-ups.” Liez said, holding his hands up triumphantly. “Then we parted ways and I spent four boring days coasting here.”
“You have a transport!? That’s great! I mean, it opens up a lot more options don’t you think?” Auger exclaimed,
“Ya forgetting, what can we actually DO with it? It’s short-range.” Liez reminded.
“Well, I think it’s obvious we have to put some distance between us and the I.M, probably leave the system altogether…” Auger said, turning the idea over in his head.
“True, we gotta leave the I.M. But they’ll be watching all outgoing system traffic, and the Jumpgate’s a definite no-no, It’ll be watched. I think we ought ta’ wait it out somewhere in-system.” Liez said, staring intently at the floor hoping for a plan to emerge.
“There’s nowhere to wait it out here! They’ll be smart enough to sweep the moon, check into our movements before we left…probably even look around the blind spots in planetary orbits in case we hide there.” Auger said, beginning to lose hope.
Liez looked up, a thought occurring to him-
“We can’t stay here, and we can’t leave either…Then we need to disappear.”
