Page 5 of The Omega's Unexpected Bounty
I grinned. “Flying’s simple. It’s landing that’s complicated.”
“Correction. Crashing is easy, walking away is hard.”
“Well, you might have a point there.”
He stayed quiet for several spins. “There’s still time.”
I adjusted the rockets until it was a lazy rotation. Enough to make it look serious but not so much I’d have to fight vertigo.
Again, Tiny spoke. “Is this necessary?”
“Remember the ‘gun to the head’ story?”
“You know I do. I have all your memories, but you like hearing yourself talk, so go for it.”
There wasn’t much else to do beyond submit needed corrections as the pock-marked dirt planet grew in my view screen.
“Psychiatrist algorithm?” I asked.
“Does it matter?”
“I suppose not.” I took in a deep breath. “My father on New Texas wasn’t the best. Guess that’s expected. Most Humans wouldn’t think they’d have a kid from another guy. Still, he raised me and kept me away from the Volardi breeding program. That’ssomethingsince he could have made a fortune selling me off to the empire. Also taught me everything he knew about law enforcement and folks in general. Told me a story once. If you want to understand someone, I mean really know them, let twenty years pass and see them every day. You might know what he’s about.”
“Or...” added Tiny.
“You could hold a gun to his head and threaten his life. That’s faster and more honest.”
“So, what’s the gun?”
“I am. I didn’t get to see Nate every day for the last two decades.”Or any day.
His programming told him to stay quiet, or he heard all he wanted; at least until the countdown started.
“Ten, nine...” His voice trailed off, and I resumed in my head. There’s a moment when time slows down like in a shootout or in bar fights, but also now. Couldn’t say if it meant anything. I had time to hit the escape rockets or ask Tiny to pull me in with the other vessel. If I pressed the red button on my chair, the ship would straighten out. We’d go to the next big thing, and nobody would ever know – except us. I breathed in deep and frowned at my sweet sugary scent. It wasn’t unpleasant, and that was the point. I had Tiny lower the suppressants so the folks down there would know I was an Omega. My heart pounded at the implications. This was something to hide back in New Texas, but now I had to advertise my existence.
If this doesn’t work, at least I can say I tried.
“One,” said Tiny as he jumped on my leg and slapped his fingernail-sized hands together.
“What the hell?” The red protection bubble enveloped us both, and I stared down at my tiny brown-haired duplicate in a sea of red. My words muffled within the dry liquid. “What are you doing here? I told you to stay.”
His little eyebrow arched up. “I’m based on you and your behavior. Did you think I would stay?Youwouldn’t. Besides you need someone down there.”
“What about convincing me to give it up?”
“You needed to talk. I already knew you wouldn’t listen. Therefore, I’m doing what you programmed me to do; provide protection.”
“If things go bad, I won’t have you up there.”
“I never said the plan was perfect.”
For someone so tiny, you’re a gigantic pain in the–I heard a loud bang, and the ship jolted forward. I couldn’t see well outside, but I hoped the smoke from the engines started. If things went to plan, I lost a useless fin near the back of the ship. The monitor flickered on, and I watched it spin in the air and land in the rocky desert with enough metal to trigger their radar. I swallowed hard while the colony streaked by and took in more of my sweet scent while the ground raced toward us. The red bubbles were Volardi technology and nigh-impenetrable. In theory, you could vaporize the ship, and as long as you were in a cocoon, you were okay.
In theory.One second, I was looking at a streak of brown and then nothing except for snapshots of shaky vision while we rattled inside. Just because we were protected, didn’t mean we could lay back and enjoy the ride; more like endure the crash. Metal scraped against itself with a long groaning sound as we dug into the ground. Around our bubble, were several fires – looking worse due to the red hue around us. The bubble flickered off, and I spoke. “Nanites off Tiny.”
My skin tingled, and I punched my cheek and forehead to leave bruises. “Ugh,” I said. “Now I know how the other guy feels.” I looked down and held out my loose jeans for Tiny to crawl into. “How do I look?”
“Like someone who hit himself.”
