Tag: Pegasus

Pegasus (Part 117)

We exited the room and were about to go to our left when Sharon spoke.

“Guys don’t go that way!” She pointed in the opposite direction.

Leanne made to go that way.

“Are we sure we can trust her?”

The others scowled at me and went the way she suggested. We turned right and right again. A service lift was there, She looked at me with a wry grin. I smiled back.

It was a small lift but we all managed to find space inside. Then Sharon inputted the setting for the very top level.

“Be prepared to open fire! There are usually a few guards up here.”

The lift swept us upwards. There were no stabilizers so you could feel the acceleration. With each second, my legs became heavier.

“Woohoo, we’re really traveling!” I exclaimed just before it came to a halt momentarily lifting our feet off the ground.

The door began to creak open.

One of the guards had their back to us. She was wearing a distinctive blue uniform with a handgun around her waist. No quarter was given.

Bullets ripped through his torso. Her body slipped to the ground revealing two. They put their hands up, and Chrissie and Pam ran towards them to tie them up.

Pegasus Part 116

She blubbed that her name was Sharon. Instantly, I remembered the name. I let go of my embrace with Tabitha and turned to face her. Her right eye was swollen and blood was still dripping from her mouth.

“You’re a smuggler,” I said.

She nodded her bowed head.

“Do you have a ship?

There was no response. I stepped in her direction, but Leanne blocked my way, her facial muscles tense.

“Leanne, she is the key to getting us to the Emperor’s habitat. You know what you signed up for joining the movement,”

Chrissie put her hand on my shoulder.

“We need her help Leanne.”

Leanne pouted her lips and glanced back at Sharon.

“Yes, I know. Let me talk to her first. The woman is petrified.”

Chrissie looked at me.

“Give them a few minutes. Let Leanne talk to her.

I went back and tended to Tabitha.

Minutes passed, and the two women murmured to each other. Whatever Leanne said was worth it because she agreed to take us to the Emperor’s habitat. Her ship was at the top of the building. I helped Tabiitha to her feet, as Leanne did likewise with Sharon. There was a silent groan after each step taken.

Pegasus (Part 115)

We ran out the door to a narrow carpeted hallway with multiple wooden doors just like the one we were after exiting.

“Follow me.” Her tone was confident. “We need to take the stairs to catch them by surprise.

We went down the hallway, turning left and then right. It was a labyrinth. Then much to my relief, the stairs appeared in front of us.

She looked back at me over her shoulder. “Quiet.” I nodded.

Each step was taken slowly. Chrissie had her gun at the ready. Then her steps grew faster. I looked up and saw that Leanne and her sister waiting for us. They waved with their gun to follow till we reached our destination.

Leanne took one side of the door and Chrissie the other. Leanne shot at the door lock, and then they barged in shooting at everything that moved. There was Innumerable shots and blood flowed out of the room.

I entered the room to see three riddled bodies. Tabitha’s face was bloodied and bruised. Still, she managed a small smile when she looked at me. I ran and embraced her.

She wasn’t the only battered woman in the room. Leanne was untying her. She was slender with long, blonde hair.

Pegasus (Part 114)

Once more with a smile, he pulled back preparing for another whack.

“Oh, this time it will be your pretty face.”

The bastard was enjoying it.

Then there was a banging sound off to the right, where my view was obscured by the wall. A sound of shot. The bullet hit Jarlath in between the eyes, and he fell to the floor.

A second later, a smiling Chrissie was in front of me. Damn, I never thought I would be so happy to see her.

“Hello buster, I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Now let’s get you out of here and find Tabitha.”

She quickly untied my hands and legs. We hugged. The pain was pulsating me, but I just managed to walk.

“We realized that something had happened to the two of you. And we decided that we couldn’t just leave you. We went into the bar, and well the girls used some of their tried and tested techniques,”

“What are they?” I asked in a hushed voice through gritted teeth.

“A bit of cleavage here, a bit of leg there. And tablets containing some very strong drugs.”

“Well, I am very thankful. Where now?

“Follow me. She’s up a floor.”

Pegasus (Part 113)

The door swung open.

“Jarlath’s my name. You never asked on the way up.”

He was holding a baseball bat in his right hand.

“You really did come at a bad time. Right when a major operation against smugglers and infiltrators was under way. Bad, bad man. So are you just a smuggler or something worse?”

He lifted the bat over his shoulder and brought it down on my lower legs. A searing, immense pain engulfed my body.

“That’s a nice woman you brought with you. The boys are going to love her.”

Removing the cloth wrapped around my mouth I shouted, “Leave her the fuck alone!”

Jarlath laughed.

“Now, why were you trying to get to the Emperor’s habitat? And don’t fucking lie.”

“It was to trade…”

Another blow came crashing down.

“That’s not what Tabitha said, well after she got a few slaps. Oh yes, you were out cold so we started the process with her some time ago. A feisty woman. I sensed a real dislike of the Emperor. So, stop fucking around. I have places to be. Meeting a nice girl called Sharon in an hour so don’t delay. Funny enough, she’s the kind of person you were looking for. Ah well, too bad.”

Pegasus (Part 111)

It didn’t take long for that first drink to turn into two, then three. I knew one of the myriad of men would eventually bite and they did.

A burly, bald man dressed in fading clothes came over to us. He addressed us in English.

“What has brought you two here? I caught a word or two of English being spoken between you. I haven’t heard it being spoken in years.”

Tabitha looked at me wide eyed. I took the initiative.

“You don’t get away with too much around here. And where did you learn it? You seem quite fluent.”

“My mother is from Aruna V. She insisted we use it to communicate. And you never answered my question.”

“No, I didn’t. We’re here on business.”

“What kind of business?”

“We need to get a package onto the Emperor’s habitat, and we’re prepared to pay big.”

I let him glance at our bitcoin balance.

He murmured something to himself and then left to go to a backroom.

I could feel the sweat on my brow and took another gulp.

Then the man returned and said to follow him. We got up, leaving what remained of our drinks. It was action time.

Pegasus (Part 109)

It was difficult to make headway but I persisted. Every now and then, I would glance behind me to make sure I didn’t lose the others. They followed closely behind in a line to take advantage of every step forward I made.

The wall of people was made up of people from throughout the system. There was every hue of skin color – white, black, purple and orange, you name it. Humans were evolving to their various habitats, and some were starting to not look like humans at all.

There were large shopping malls on each side, followers by floor after floor of apartments and offices.

The streets that had been chocked by people, gradually became easier to navigate, and I soon broke out into a brisk walk.

I heard Chrissie comment about the thinning crowd from behind, but I was just anxious to reach our destination. I would look up the majestic, tall buildings, that seemed to rise up forever and ensure that the next was getting closer and closer till the light started to dim.

We had arrived.

There was little point in us staying as a group. It would complicate the matter of building trust.

I turned around to the rest.

“Tabitha, myself and you will head into that place called Toibins.”

Then Casey interjected.

“And, what are we supposed to do?”

Pegasus (Part 108)

As we left the ship, we stepped onto a platform that led to elevators on the wall. Chrissie walked ahead of us and pressed the button. Nothing seemed to happen at first. Then we heard a whizzing sound coming from below; it grew gradually larger. Then someone saw the elevator just before it arrived,

An artificial voiceover speaking in Irish told us to take a ticket, to remember where our ship was parked and that it would bring us to ground level. Hearing that the ancient language once more made me feel warm inside. I took the piece of pink paper and put it in my wallet.

Much to my surprise, I felt nothing on the way down. The opaque doors stopped you from seeing any movement also. The doors opened and we walked out to a packed street and a cacophony of sounds. People brushed up against our shoulders as they tried to get past. Large buildings looked almost magical as they stretched upwards. I realised I was feeling queasy, and took a moment to get my bearings. We needed to go towards the centre of the city, and see if we could do some sort of deal to get to the Emperor’s habitat.

In one direction, there was definitely an increased density of buildings.

“This way,”

Pegasus (Part 106)

The bridge went silent as our ship descended into the back of the convoy, the habitat growing ever larger in our translucent screen. For the first few moments, Tabitha looked warily into my eyes.

Then the sound of chatter started coming in and out over the comms –

  • Come in Delta V, come in Delta V. State the nature of your business
  • Delta V here. Delta V here over. We are transporting Lithium 95 over Code 415356 over
  • You are cleared Delta V. Your convoy is to proceed

“That’s all yall have to do to get in?”

The intricacies of my calculations were lost on her. They had flown into one of the most corrupt parts of the Empire, and had taken advantage of it. The code provided was too short to be anything other than criminal. It avoided the financial pain of them having to pay their own.

They were now approaching the thin red atmosphere of the habitat.

“Buckle up,” Tabitha commanded.

Everyone complied without hesitation.

The ship began to vibrate.

Leanne and Casey held each other’s hand.

Then it stopped, and our target city of ten million souls appeared in the distance—a sea of skyscrapers jutting up to heights almost out of the atmosphere.

Pegasus (Part 103)

“It would be very dangerous,” Casey said with a smile.

“Indeed,” replied Leanne, “But it was the Emperor soldiers who killed our father and robbed us of a home. I say fuck ’em. Let’s do this.”

With a simple nodding of heads, it was agreed that they too were rebels.

“So what now?” Leanne asked with wide eyes.

I felt now was a good time for me to speak.

“The plan is to get to the Emperor’s habitat and to launch an explosive device to kill him. I am one of his distant progeny so I will be more trusted. Still, I can’t just fly there or I’ll be shot down. I need an official invitation of some sort. We will need to get incrementally closer. Our next stop is the Taurus V Military Complex.

Once there we need to bribe our way to a habitat closer to the Emperor’s. It will not be easy but it’s the only way.”

Tabitha then took control.

“The two of us have been through so much already. At times, things have looked really grim, but we persevered. With your help, I now truly believe that we can make this happen.”

Chrissie went to walk to the controls.

“I’ll input the details of our next destination.”