Chapter 13: Chapter 13: Constellasion
"Well, that’s bloody new. I’m sure as hell it wasn’t programmed to do that." Eric frowned, his brow furrowed as he stared at the vast holographic images that now filled the entire bar. The room, once a dingy den of chaos, was now a breathtaking starscape. Tiny, shimmering dots of light, believed to be stars, lit up the space, casting a soft glow on everything. Jimmy, the remaining people and the bartender, Pitt, were completely mesmerized.
"Hey! Is that some kind of gizmo?" Jimmy said, squinting as something in the projection caught his attention. "It looks... um, kind of... alive?"
"Alive? Pfft, it’s not alive, kid. Just another malfunction," Eric scoffed, tapping a few buttons on the hovering sphere. "Maybe they wired the damn thing wrong. Should’ve added more safeguards. Whatever." The constellation kept spinning in midair, its pattern feeling eerily purposeful. He crossed his arms, frustrated that he couldn’t just turn it off.
"Well, technically, yes," Jimmy replied, leaning closer to the projected light. "But this is interesting, isn’t it? The Cell Charger wasn’t originally designed to do this. The display, it’s different."
"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. It was designed to measure power output, not turn the damn place into a planetarium. It’s been tampered with, obviously. Someone mucked with it."
Pitt wandered around the room, his eyes wide as he gazed at the beautiful, otherworldly environment. "So this is what space looks like. Not bad, not bad at all."
"It looks alive, moving... wait, it’s a star system!" Jimmy said, a flash of insight hitting him.
"Yeah, it’s a bloody star system, alright. Probably one I couldn’t care less about," Eric retorted, tired of trying to deactivate the device. "Wasn’t after the view, I wanted to see if it could still cough up something useful. Maybe point me toward the Nebulux... its lovely little parent"
"No, seriously. I’ve seen this exact configuration before. This isn’t just some random projection. This is a real constellation. I mean, real as in... very specific," Jimmy insisted, his excitement growing.
"Huh. You don’t say." Eric’s sarcastic facade slowly began to crack as he drew closer to Jimmy, finally seeing the bigger picture.
"There’s a pattern here... Here, right here." Jimmy pointed to different sections of the star map. "It’s not just a random cluster of stars. That alignment, it’s off by a few degrees, which means it’s purposeful. You’d have to really know the coordinates of this location to set this up."
"Ahh, now I get it. Someone’s been clever, tweaked the Cell Charger so it throws up this fancy star map whenever it’s switched on. Cute trick." Eric asked, finally reasoning with him.
"Yes. Which means it’s not a power source monitor anymore. It’s a communication tool, encrypted. Showing us a place, maybe. A hidden location."
"Which means, if that checks out... they didn’t just leave the Charger behind for fun. Nah. They were leaving Pitt a breadcrumb trail just in case he grew a conscience and decided to come crawling back." Eric concluded. He then turned and walked away from the levitating sphere.
"Guess you’re not so useless after all. You’re coming with me."
"To where, exactly?" Jimmy called out, his voice filled with surprise.
"To the fucking hideout, where else?" Eric replied, already heading for the exit with his hands in his pockets.
Jimmy calmly followed but stopped abruptly when he saw the unconscious Yelena lying on the floor. He felt a pang of pity for her. "Uh, Eric, what are we going to do about her?"
"Just leave her the hell alone," Eric yelled from the doorway. "I’m sure NEXUS will find her anyway. Now come on!"
A cool desert breeze hit Eric as he stepped outside. He heard a loud thud behind him and turned to see Jimmy, struggling to drag Yelena’s unconscious body through the doorway.
"Oh, for God’s sake, leave her in the bloody bar!" Eric yelled, exasperated.
"We can’t just leave her here! She was here looking for you anyway!" Jimmy said, straining under her weight.
"Yeah, sure. Let’s bring along the princess who pointed a fucking plasma gun at my head!" Eric said, walking away,
his frustration boiling over. "Dealing with you is already enough work. I can’t have another."
Jimmy let go of Yelena’s arm and stood tall, his gaze fixed on Eric. "If she’s not coming, then I’m not coming either," he said, summoning all his courage.
Eric stopped in his tracks, his shoulders slumping. He turned back and walked toward Jimmy. "Look, kid. If she wakes up while she’s with us, she’s gonna off me and then have you carted off to jail. You know why? Cause we’ve both got the bloody tag of partners in crime stamped on us"
"She needs help," Jimmy said, standing his ground. "If she’s not coming, I’m not coming."
"Fine," Eric said, defeated. "I’ll probably ditch you both anyway." He turned and walked away, scanning the landscape for something useful.
Jimmy let out a sigh of relief and began to pull Yelena again.
"There’s our ride," Eric said, spotting a large spacecraft in the distance. A group of people were gathered around a campfire nearby.
Five minutes later, they reached the spacecraft, which was much larger than Eric’s last one. The group around the fire looked familiar. To Jimmy’s surprise, it was the same group of aliens who had harassed Yelena at the bar. The brutish alien with the broken jaw was lying on the ground, being tended to.
"Sorry about your comrade, but I’ll be needing this bad boy," Eric said, knocking on the spacecraft’s hull.
An alien with an eye patch stepped forward. "I’ve seen you somewhere before... Yeah, the bar." The others stood up, their postures aggressive.
"Yeah, yeah, lovely intro and all that," Eric replied, pointing his thumb at the ship. "But I’m gonna be borrowing your ship. Urgent business."
The aliens looked at each other, confused, before bursting into laughter. "Haha, who the fuck is this brat? You’ve got guts talking to us like that, yahaha!" the eye-patched alien said.
Eric remained unimpressed.
Just then, Jimmy arrived, exhausted, and dropped Yelena’s body to the ground with a loud thud. The sound instantly silenced the aliens’ laughter. Their eyes dropped from Jimmy to the unconscious woman at his feet.
"Aiiii! Hell no!" the eye-patched alien yelled, backing away. "That’s the one who did Mali dirty! You’re all humans, which means you’re with her too!" he said, his body trembling in fear.
A cold, calculated smile crept onto Eric’s face. He saw the perfect opportunity.
"Count your blessings it wasn’t me you lot pissed off," Eric said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "If it was, none of you sorry bastards would have crawled out of that bar alive." He gave off the impression that he was even more dangerous than Yelena.
The aliens’ trembling intensified. They believed his lie, terrified that he was capable of the same brutality they had witnessed.
Jimmy was confused. Did they not see her point a gun at Eric?
"Alright, fine! Take the ship but spare our lives!" the eye-patched alien said, throwing an activation module at Eric.
"Cheers. Now do us all a favor and piss off."
The aliens scattered, running in every direction.
"Bloody hell, what a pack of idiots," Eric muttered, the cold mask falling from his face. He exhaled in relief and turned to Jimmy. "Nice work, kid. Just like you, she’ll be useful after all." He opened the hatch to the spacecraft, his new plan already in motion.