! I sure hope you're not sick of those yet.EPISODE 4: BALANCES
PART 2
They spoke for the better part of an hour, of the follies of ancestors and the many wars between the two Asiatic nations. The bartender had seen her share of strife, and had often been the worse for it. She came from a rare mixed family, from happier times when such things were possible. She taught him words and phrases he might find useful during his time planetside. He told her about his past travels, including his bold and daring escape from bloodthirsty rebels on the lawless hive of Retale. She told him that story was bullshit and he knew it.
“Well maybe it didn’t happen exactly that way…” Jay said, swinging down his third bottle of beer. “I might have taken some artistic license with the nature of the events.”
The bartender laughed and offered another bottle of beer. Jay shook his head, indicating that both he and his wallet had had too much.
“So you spend all this time travelling … what do you do, anyways?” The bartender asked.
“I find broken things, mostly, pick up their parts, and then sell them.” Jay answered., beaming.
“Oh yeah? You’re a scavenger then – like a vulture or a hyena.” She teased.
“I guess you could say that.” Jay leaned back on his stool, self-satisfied and a little bit drunk.
“Hah!” The bartender laughed once more. “You’re shameless. You sound like you’ve been a scavenger since you crawled out of your cradle.”
“No, I did some other stuff before that.”
The bartender briefly leaned over to serve another patron a drink. The afternoon rush was starting and soon a good part of Pibotto’s population would be looking for a liquid lunch.
“Like what?” She asked, returning to Jay. Jay’s smile faded. He leaned back forward on the stool, his uncut bangs falling over his eyes. The bartender was unperturbed.
“Those are roads I don’t walk anymore.”
“Sounds like you haven’t had enough to drink.”
“Sounds like I’ve had too much. I have to get back to the Wasp.”
The bartender raised an eyebrow.
“Wasp?”
“The one and only Space Wasp. My old bunker-class fighter. Also, my house.”
“You pilot a bunker class?” The bartender asked, surprised. “Not many more of those around. You sound like you’re down on your luck.”
Jay sighed.
“I guess you could say that.”
“Well, Mr. Scavenger.” The bartender smirked. She brushed her own hair out of her eyes and leaned over towards Jay. “Because you’ve been good for business, I’ll give you a little tip.”
Jay lifted his head and leaned in closer.
“There’s a big passenger jetliner just crashed outside of Tuánjié – that’s the capital of Fēnliè. Get a map and look for a town called Cūlüè. You should be able to find it from there. If you can get there before the mafias do then you should be able to make a pretty penny.”
Jay stood up off of the stool and stared suspiciously at the bartender.
“How do you know this?”
The bartender flipped her hair and shrugged.
“A good bartender has to know what goes on around them.”
“Yeah… but what goes on everywhere on the planet?”
“I gave you a tip.” The bartender pouted. “The least you could do is be thankful.”
Jay eyed her suspiciously, dropped a few coins onto the bar, turned around, and left.
----
A few hours and a flight across the sea later, Jay located both the town and the crash the bartender had told him about. Cūlüè was unremarkable in practically every way, a stretch of low rise brick buildings in alongside a highway surrounded by farmer’s fields. It wasn’t hard to locate the crash, either. Jay flew in circles of progressively larger radius from the center of town until he found what he was looking for. A jetliner, badly burned and broken into halves, lay at the top of a gentle hill. He set down the Wasp at the foot of the hill and hopped out, quickly making his way up. The crash was quite conspicuous and yet entirely deserted. How long ago had this plane crashed? Why hadn’t townspeople, the police, or the mafia noticed it yet? How did the bartender know it was here? Who was she?
He circled the crash site. Despite the burn marks he could see the jetliner was entirely painted white. There were four windows on each side, a small number for a jet this size. He couldn’t get a clear look inside because of the debris in the area between its two halves, but when checking the cockpit he noticed the bodies of the pilots were gone. More questions: where did they go? How did this plane crash? Was this really a passenger jet? Jay was becoming more and more suspicious the longer he remained around the site. The sun was just beginning to set, the grasslands around him captured in its orange rays. Jay’s goggles felt tight, clipped to his forehead as they were. He loosened the straps and let them hang around his neck. He put his hands on his hips and looked down over the hill at the Wasp. Wind from the west wound itself around him, bringing a chill. He shivered, his grey woollen sweater not providing much comfort. He stuck his hands into his pockets and stared into space. He thought of Weston and where he now found himself. It was the latest in a series of mysterious circumstances – circumstances which, in the past, had always resulted in spontaneous misfortune. The sun was almost down now – he could see the stars. Sighing, he turned to the crash, resolved to plunder as much as he could. He began to make his way back –
- but was interrupted by the lights of a shuttle cutting through the dimming atmosphere above him. Turning to face it, Jay watched as it descended, landing neatly beside the Wasp. Even in the lowering light, he could see four Asiatic faces exit its rear. One held a pistol and the other three were carrying rather sizable machine-guns.
Very quickly the four men noticed him and began speaking to each other in their unintelligible language. They then stomped up the hill towards Jay, guns pointed. The one in the lead carried the pistol and was dressed in a sharply trimmed black suit. He ran up within a few meters of Jay, rapidly motioning with his gun. Jay’s arms shot up.
“これは、性交は何ですか？性交は、あなたは誰ですか!？”He yelled1.
“I don't speak your language you goddamn animal!” Jay yelled back
“Fucking Gaijin!” The Mafioso yelled, heavily accented. “What are you doing here?”
“What the hell does it look like I’m doing here?” Jay let one of his arms down to motion at the wreck behind him. The Asiatic Mafioso quickly began to yell once more, so Jay put the arm back up. “I’m scavenging this wreck.”
“Do you know what this plane is carrying? Do you know what this plane is!?” Spittle flew from the man’s mouth as he screamed the words. His pencil-thin moustache was beginning to bloom beads of sweat.
“I don’t know and I don’t care. I’m unarmed and my hands are getting tired. Can you put the gun down?”
The Mafioso took several breaths through gritted teeth. Finally he barked something to his men.
The Mafioso took several breaths through gritted teeth. Finally he barked something to his men.
“Keep your arms up, Gaijin.” He said.
One of the three hulking men behind him came up to Jay and patted him up and down, then nodded at their boss. The leader and the two other men lowered their guns, the third moving back to his place. The leader spoke.
“You don’t know what you’re doing here, Gaijin, so get the fuck out.”
“Listen, pal,” Jay said, sighing, “I just want to gather up a few parts here to sell.”
Immediately the leader pulled his gun again, his three bodyguards with him.
“Get the fuck out of here.” The leader said.
"なぜ我々はまだこの男に言っているんですか？穴で彼を記入し、これで行われる。” One of the bodyguards spoke2.
“以下我々はこの男より良い対処する必要があります。我々は彼を殺すなら、私たちは彼の臭い外国人の死体を処分する必要があります。” The leader spoke back3.
“Wait a second.” Said Jay.
The lead Mafioso turned back to him.
“What the fuck is it.”
“I recognize that language – the one you’re speaking. You aren’t from Fēnliè… you’re speaking what they speak in Bunkatsu.”
Gun still trained, the leader was silent for a little while, weighing his options.
“What of it?” He finally said. Jay thought fast.
“What would the Fēnliè mafia think about you operating on their turf?”
“Hah!” The leader laughed. “Then you’re inviting us to kill you right here, idiot. We stick your stinking Gaijin body in the shuttle then dump you in the ocean. Fēnliè mafia pricks won’t know a thing.”
“Who do you think sent me here, you dumb shit?” Jay said, smirking. The smile on the leader’s face subsequently vanished. “If you kill me here right now, and they come here and find this plane gutted and me gone, they’ll start a war.” Jay motioned around him. “And a mafia war’s not something you want to have on a planet this volatile. It’ll upset the balance.”
Again the leader was silent. His bodyguards, not speaking the language, were confused as to why the foreigner seemed so calm, given the situation.
“What do you want?” The leader finally said.
Jay relaxed.
“Simple.” Again he pointed at the wreck. “I don’t want to spend any more time in your company than I have to… so I’ll sell you this wreck.”
“彼は何を言っている？” Asked one of the bodyguards4.
“彼は週末に動物とセックスを持っているかについて話してくれている。それについて心配する必要はありません。” The leader answered5. He turned back to Jay. “How much do you want?”
----
Jay relaxed in the steamy waters of the hot spring, contemplating the relatively obscene amount of cash he had just made. Bunkatsu mountain Onsen did not come cheap, especially to tourists, but thanks to some quick thinking and an excellent poker face he had come into some extra money. Of course, eventually the four Mafiosos he had ripped off would discover his bluff, undoubtedly by an inside man in the Fēnliè mafia… but that wouldn’t be for a while, and the planet was a big place. At first he had wanted to get off this Asiatic world as quickly as possible, but now with his newfound wealth, he thought he might change his mind. The chirping crickets nicely complimented the full moon and deserted hot spring. The chalet was a short walk away, and behind him he could see the top of the mountain that dominated central Bunkatsu. Jay thought this country would make an excellent tourist attraction if the word got out and the tensions between the DSC and the Wheel ran down.
He decided he had pruned for long enough and exited the spring, removing the towel from his head and wrapping it around his waist. He moved towards the chalet. He had gotten odd looks from the hostess when he, a long haired, bearded foreigner, had entered their empty resort in the late evening, but he paid good money and got good service. Gentle piped music emanated from hidden speakers as he slid the shoji and entered the chalet. Jay would spend the night here, then grab the Wasp and make it to Tanitsu in the morning. He was looking forward to a night on the town.
1: What the fuck is this? Who the fuck are you?
2: Why are you still talking to this guy, boss? Let’s fill him with holes and be done with it.
3: We need to deal with this better than that. If we kill him, we have to dispose of his pig-disgusting foreigner body.
4: What’s he talking about?
5: He’s talking about how he fucks animals on the weekend. Don’t worry about it.
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