Halfkinds Volume 1: Contact Page 13

  Dogs and humans have a natural bond with each other, even after we were no longer their pets. We never harbored the hatred that so many of our animal brothers had, especially the wolves. And, in turn, humans never really held a grudge for us from the Event. They saw we were held at the mercy of our animal allies. These reasons are why dogs and humans are capable of coexisting in the same land. We have no need for separate territories like the other animals have, we are perfectly fine living in an integrated society with our human friends.

  This has always been a subject of controversy, though. Our canine brothers, the wolves, see us as weaklings. We got our own territories like the others, but they’ve scoffed at our openness to live among people. They think that we are still their pets, second class citizens in a human dominated society. I’ve never seen it that way, I’ve always seen humans as compassionate neighbors. There used to be a saying, that dog was man’s best friend, but I think it’s a two way street.

  I remember the first time I met Commander Trevor.

  “You must be Apollo,” he said to me. “I’ve heard a lot about you. My intel from the Dog Alliance tells me that you are one of their most valued members. I’m glad to have you on this mission.”

  He was all business, but had this friendly way about him. On that mission in Seadog, Commander Trevor and I worked as a team, much like we are working now in Primm. We went looking for traces of wall smashers, but on our first few locations, we found nothing. When I sniffed the area, I smelled no clues.

  It was frustrating. A lot was hinging on my tracking ability, but every time we went to our targets I couldn’t find anything. Up to that point, I hadn’t been used to failure and my senses never faltered.

  I was young and I started to feel the pressure of the team on my shoulders. Like a rookie, my confidence started to crumble with each empty search. I could sense the disappointment coming from my teammates. But Commander Trevor had faith in me. When the other humans and dogs went grumbling about how I was doing nothing for them, Commander Trevor told them to shut up, that the mission shouldn’t fall on one dog or human, that it was a team effort. These admonishments helped lift the burden from my mind.

  On our fifth search, I once again fell short and things had reached a boiling point. One of the other dogs wanted to take the lead in tracking and said the only reason I got to be the head tracker was because I was sucking up to the Dog Alliance. He didn’t see any of the so-called potential I possessed.

  That’s when Simon took me aside. “Don’t listen to him. He’s trying to talk you down. He knows you’re young and that a promotion is in line for the lead tracker. He’s trying to snipe for that promotion and he’s not above belittling team members. Remember, I’m the commander on this mission and I’ll decide who does what. And until I see any other reason, you’re still going to lead the hunt.”

  That was the jolt I needed. I did one more search of the place and I smelled something funny. It smelled like human blood, yet scrubbed away with so many chemicals that even the greatest sniffer could barely smell it. But I did. I alerted Simon and he told me to hold on to that scent. I kept sniffing, and sniffing, until I smelled traces of what we were looking for - wall smashers.

  The scent trail had been discovered and with my new-found confidence, I did some of the best tracking of my life. Two days later, we found the source, the drugs were destroyed, and wall smashers would never be distributed again in Seadog. My work lead to a promotion that helped me get placement on some elite teams. I owe all this to Commander Trevor.

  Since then, Commander Trevor and I talk to each other on a regular basis. We hadn’t worked together again until today; nevertheless, we’re always willing to get a drink whenever we’re in each other’s town. I’ve made my residence in Seadog and Simon is always fond of the beaches there. He’s one of the few animals, man or dog, that I can call a good friend.

  I am done searching the area and found nothing suspicious. Even with the scent amplifier everything seems to be the way it should.

  “Looks like I have zilch,” I say to Commander Trevor.

  “Me either,” he says to me. “My scanner picks up nothing. I’ve been looking all over the place and there’s not a single hair or scale that would help me.”

  “Should we report to the others?”

  “I guess so.”

  I’m about to activate my headset to let our team members know our status when, suddenly, I hear a buzzing noise. It’s an incoming message from one of our squad mates in the other depots.

  “Identify yourself,” I say.

  “This is Fenrir Snow with a status report. We got one of them.”

  “This is Commander Trevor,” he chimes in. “You got the target? Are you still at your location, the Primm-Phillips depot?”

  “Affirmative,” Fenrir responds.

  “Is the halfkind dead? How many hostiles did you encounter?”

  “Only one. And yes, we have a fatality.”

  “Which halfkind is it?”

  “The eagle one, Lombardi Lawton.”

  “Borton, Erawan, do you read me?”

  “Borton here,” he says, “Read you loud and clear.”

  “How is your investigation going?”

  “We have nothing to report. Seems quiet here.”

  “Abort your location and head to the Primm-Phillips supply depot. We’ll rendezvous with you there. Do you confirm?”

  “Confirmed.”

  We turn off our headsets and look at each other.

  “Looks like they sent a scout,” I say.

  “Yeah, that’s pretty smart of them not to put all their eggs in one basket,” he says. “Let’s head over there to investigate, pronto.”

  “Got it.”

  We quickly get in our vehicle and make our way to the Primm-Phillips supply depot. It looks like a warzone when we arrive. There are demolished boxes, food, and supplies scattered about everywhere. The dust has just cleared, even though the battle had finished ten minutes ago.

  “Didn’t really go for stealth did you?” I say to Fenrir.

  “Stealth is hard when your target throws a homemade grenade at you,” he snaps back.

  “Where is the halfkind?” Commander Trevor asks.

  “Over there in that corner. I’ve covered him with a blanket. You’re more than welcome to investigate.”

  “You haven’t searched his body?”

  “I figured I should wait for you. You are the Commander,” he says with a hint of sarcasm. The wolf in our team is acting like an asshole. What a surprise.

  Commander Trevor and I walk over to the body while the others trade information in the center of the warehouse. He lifts the blanket from the ground and it is a mess.

  “Unbelievable,” I say to myself.

  Blown apart limbs, charred feathers, and a gaping, bloody hole in his temple are some of the few things that I notice. Fenrir and Colbo really did a number on this poor guy. If I hadn’t seen a hologram of him earlier, I would have barely recognized what I am looking at.

  As I get past the cuts and dismembered body parts, I’m able to get a better view of his feathers. He has the beak of a bird protruding from the center of his face, although it is now painted with dried blood. His eyes are small and black. His head is rather large in proportion to his body, but his general anatomy is human. He has the feet of a bird, talons and all, but he is bipedal. His arms are a mixture of limb and wings. He’s wearing clothes, pants and a shirt with a jacket, and most of it has been ripped to shreds at this point.

  He also has a pack wrapped around his arms.

  “Any of you guys look inside the back pack?” I yell at the others.

  “Like I said,” Fenrir says, “we were waiting for you.”

  I open it and stick my head in. It’s rather spacious and partly burnt, but for the most part empty. The only things I smell are scrap metal and some electronic devices. However, just as my head is about to exit, I smell the faint trace of something familiar. I grab it with my
teeth and spit it on the floor.

  It’s a partly charred data cube, and it looks like it’s still in working condition. I nudge the button on it and a holographic image floats in the air. Something looks familiar.

  “What did you find?” Commander Trevor says to me when I make my discovery.

  I turn to him and say, “I think I know where they’re going.”

  Chapter 13 – Tiago Lawton - Sacrifice

  November 16, 3040 11:08 PM

  “What do you mean they know?” I yell at Ace in frustration. We’re having a private conversation in a corner of the building, a status report on how his scouting mission went and what he observed while at the Primm-Phillips supply depot.

  “When I was hiding in the vents,” Ace says. “I saw one of their team members, the dog, pull out a cube from Lombardi’s bag, and an image popped up. I couldn’t make out what it was, but when the dog talked to the human, I heard them say our next move was to leave Primm. It appears the cube had information on the teleporter stations around here and that tipped them off.”

  “He must have gotten a data cube with a teleporter schedule or map or something. So they know for sure that we’re heading to either one of the two teleporter stations here?”

  “It think so.”

  Damnit Lombardi, how could you have been so stupid? How could you have left such vital evidence behind? We didn’t even need it, Candy could have easily looked it up for us. What were you thinking?

  Then again, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have let you go in the first place. Such a vital task and I gave it to such a liability. I should’ve listened to my instincts instead of appeasing my brothers and sisters. I’ll have to think of a way to cover Lombardi’s mess.

  “How did the rest of your mission go?” I ask Ace.

  “Just as you planned. I left here at 9:50, Lombardi had already disabled the security system. His confrontation with the law was the perfect distraction while I got supplies. The action was happening on the other side of the warehouse and the wolf and gorilla were too busy with Lombardi to even notice I was there. After I got the goods, I slipped into the vents and made my escape.”

  “Did you have a tough time getting there?”

  “Yes, but my speed was able to make up for my lack of direction. Besides, Lombardi left a bit of a trail, feathers were dropped here and there. I was able to follow that.”

  “I’m surprised. That’s rather clever. Good job, Ace.”

  “Too bad our family didn’t pick me in the first place.”

  “I agree. I didn’t have time to argue for you. I should have.”

  He looks at me curiously.

  “How did you know there was going to be someone there waiting for Lombardi, though?” Ace asks.

  “I didn’t. I figured if there was no one there, you could have helped Lombardi get the stuff. But in case there was, he would be the perfect decoy, especially with that bomb packed with him,” I say.

  “I’m sorry it had to be him.”

  I stay silent and think of my brother. He wanted to please me so badly and I never understood why. Maybe it was because he wanted to belong, but I wished he hadn’t tried so hard. I wished he would have come of age on his own. That was the real way to win my approval, not by sucking up, but by proving. But I knew he’d never do it, so I had no choice but to use him like a pawn. I had to ensure one of my knights made it out alive.

  “Yeah, I’m sorry, too,” I say to Ace.

  “The rest of the family, they just think that I went to look for Lombardi?” Ace asks. “They must never know of our plan.”

  “Don’t worry, they won’t. Even if they did, I doubt it would make a difference. Oscar and the others are gone. I will sacrifice all that I can to ensure the rest of us make it through this alive. This is my true family, you are all that matter.”

  “Thanks Tiago. Are you okay, though, with Oscar leaving and all?”

  I knew that along the way sacrifices would be needed, but I didn’t think we’d be fractured. Oscar thinks my leadership is too brutal, but it’s a necessary evil. I will question my decisions one day, but not tonight. Oscar’s soft heart doesn’t have the strength to make those calls, mine does. It’s the mentality you need if you want to live.

  My actions are justified. Leonard would have slowed us down. He could have led our pursuers to us. Lombardi would fail getting the stuff we needed, so I had to send Ace. He wouldn’t have had a chance without Lombardi’s sacrifice. My brothers didn’t die in vain, they died for the greater good, for the siblings that matter.

  I wish Oscar could see that, but we are a family divided. Maybe we were always this way. Ace and Alex have constantly been loyal to me and I’ve never been that close with the likes of Leonard, Lombardi, or Maddie. I can’t let down those who look up to me, not when the stakes are so high.

  “Hey, Tiago, you there?” I have blanked out and Ace still wants an answer to his question. “Are you okay with Oscar leaving?”

  I pause before I say anything. “Yeah, I’m fine. By the way, were you able to find the special items I requested?”

  “Yes, I’ll show you.”

  Ace reaches in his bag and rummages through it. I hear some clanking noises, like plastic banging into each other. He pulls out a small, stringy device.

  “This is the transmitter you asked for,” Ace says. “I only found wrist mounted ones. You can send a signal out and it’ll beep when it is sent and received, but nothing else. You can’t hear or talk through it.”

  I take it from him and observe. It’s larger than I expect, but I wrap it around my arm and it fits, barely.

  “It’s kind of loose,” I say to Ace. “How many did you get?”

  “Four.”

  “Good. Did you get the other items?”

  “Yes, I have a whole bunch of them, let me fish one out,” he says. His whole arm is now in the sack. “Here you go.”

  I look at it. “Thanks, Ace, you did well.”

  He is holding a small Tang 320A light energy pistol. I did some research on the Primm-Phillips supply depot and looked specifically for small guns that we could arm ourselves with. It’s a featherweight, handheld firearm, mainly used for household protection. It won’t blast through walls, but if we need to take on our followers, this will get the job done.

  Ace says it’s the United Species Alliance that is after us. These are the big leagues, professionally trained soldiers. In a head on fight, we might as well be dead. The guns will offer some small form of safety, but I pray that we won’t end up in a firefight for our lives.

  “I got at least ten of them, along with the insta-item, food, and credits,” Ace says.

  “And the other item?”

  “I have that too.”

  He pulls out a few disc-like objects and puts it in my hand.

  “I’m surprised they had them,” he says. “Seems too heavy duty to be in the inventory of such a shitty supply depot.”

  “Yeah, but I did my research. I saw it was there. Don’t worry about the discs, they are for Curtis.”

  “What are they exactly?”

  “Nothing important,” I say as I look at all the supplies. “Hopefully, this will last us our trip to the Moon. Once we get there, we can set up our insta-item and live in solitude for a while.”

  “That’s the plan?” Ace asks.

  “That’s the plan, at least for now.”

  “But how will we sustain ourselves in the long run?”

  I don’t have a good answer for him. Eventually our credits will run out and we’ll be forced to find some way to pay for the things we need. But there isn’t any time to think too far into the future, I have to focus on now.

  “One thing at a time, brother,” I tell Ace.

  “What do we do now?” he asks me. “We have our supplies, should we start heading to the teleporters? Which one should we use, the Gonzalez station or the Li station?”

  “I’ve asked Candy to do some research, let me consult her before I decide our n
ext move. Wait here.”

  I walk over to where Candy is sitting. She’s furiously working away on her compcube. After I told the others we were going to the Moon, I had asked her to start investigating how to get the teleporters working. With Candy at full focus, there’s no doubt in my mind that she’ll get it done.

  “Hi Candy,” I say to her. “How’s the search going? Did you figure out how we can use the teleporter?”

  “Hold on one second,” she says to me. I hear several beeping noises and after a few moments she looks up. “Okay, sorry about that. To answer your question, I think I got it. Not that hard, actually. Both stations around here, Li and Gonzalez, have routes to San Francisco. All we have to do is power up one of the teleporters and program its destination to the Bay Area. Then when we get to San Francisco, we’ll do the same thing for the Moon.”

  “And I assume you know how to do all of this,” I ask her. “Powering up the stations and programming our destination won’t be a problem?”

  “I’ve been at this for a while, what do you think?”

  I give a light laugh. “Sorry, I shouldn’t second guess you. What about the security there? How will we get in?”

  “Security systems are actually maintained through a central server,” she says. “I can hack into it and disable them via the infospace. I’ve already found weaknesses that I can exploit, so give me the go and I’ll be able to shut them down.”

  “Can you shut down one at a time or will you be able to shut them simultaneously with your commands?”

  “I can do both.”

  “Impressive.”

  “But why do you need both?” Candy asks suspiciously.

  “As a contingency plan, just in case. We’ll be heading to the Li station, but you never know what trouble we’ll run into. Better to have two ready than one.”

  “Good point.”

  “I don’t mean to rush you, but you might have to shut them down sooner than expected.”

  “Why? When are we leaving?”

  “Tonight.”

  “So soon?”

  “Is that a problem?”

  “The process of getting things powered up isn’t difficult, but it isn’t fast either. I’ll need some time to set up and get things started.”