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dante the desert job my sunglasses glinted in the bright afternoon sun a long coat covered my black clothes and my pale skin my hat covered my face and part of my deep blue-black hair standing in the shadows of an alley across from a train station that dated back from the 22nd century i watched the clock-tower waiting for the big hand to reach the large digital two on the face after the first two original clocks broke the mayor decided that it would be cheaper to install a digital clock that was identical to the first two the glass high ceiling was reflecting onto the streets making me squint behind my sunglasses i opened my suitcase flipping the switch that made any metal contents inside invisible to the scanners and simple metal detectors i emerged from the alley and made my way to the station after i crossed the street a car passed horn screaming at another crosser who yelled back i entered the high entryway walking under the gold leaf and glass ceiling everyone s footsteps echoed around the room covering up the sounds of the trains i walked to where my train was-the blue smoke from it swirled around the room caressing the sleek black hydra-train people were boarding in groups of twos and fours going through the silver sliding doors the light from the glass ceiling bounced off the steel and bronze floors tearing my eyes from the floor i hand the conductor robot my ticket and board the train the compartment i walked into was about the size of a small classroom the seats were made of soft dark leather the floor was black stained wood the walls were soft grey which matched the 1

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dark curtains draped around the large window i took my seat and started to patiently wait as the train hissed the train pulled out of the station luckily i didn t have to wait long he wore a scarf around his head leaving a space showing his eyes which were slits and snake-like his trench coat went all the way to his boots making him look lean he had to duck under the doorway to come in he sat down his hands on his lap the leather gloves didn t hide the fact that they weren t human his kind wasn t seen much after the war in his hand was the object of which i had been woken up so early in the morning or late at night it s hard to tell when you live on a cargo-ship in space the object was wrapped in a battered cloth it had holes from wear and some of the inside contents were visible i resisted the urge to yawn the late night/early morning call did not put me in a favorable mood through the window the desert stretches for miles the ruins of long forgotten cities overtaken by wind sand and erosion cast long shadows giving the desert a warped look the tall cacti cast the train in momentary darkness as the sun set my reputation has been spreading through the galactic alliance planets we do odd jobs on the side for anyone who has the money for it it has taken my crew everywhere and has taught us many things from thieving to bargaining he spoke so suddenly so quietly i barely heard it are you safe from the galapol his voice was a raspy hiss yes your delivery will be secure my pride was slightly wounded as being mistaken for one of those vultures they had downgraded the reputation of policemen of the old world i turned back to the window spacing out again my excitement was rising it took all my willpower to remain still to take my mind off of the current events i took out my book i recovered my 2

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page and begin to read it was an old book smelling of rotting pages and written in a forgotten language that few people are literate in it is filled with diagrams of non-humans and their machinery i notice that he is staring at my suitcase that rests beside me my job contract my weapon and my computer weren t visible but it felt like he could see them he didn t ask about any of it luckily though the curiosity was plain on what was visible of his face what language is that in he hissed it is in russian ah he didn t try to start a conversation after that the man suddenly gets up and leaves leaving the object behind i wait for a few minutes and retrieve the package from the other side of the compartment my face breaks into a wide grin the job was almost over yes i remove the cloth to reveal a sleek black box i open the box and inside it was an ancient looking capsule with whirring noises coming from the inside i close the box and look out the window the sun had set and night has fallen it was almost time to deliver the package the train slowed to a stop the blue smoke billowed around the train covering my compartment s window i gathered my things and left the train in the distance the stars were coming out i started to make my way to the rendezvous point thinking about my paycheck that will be transferred to my account the moment of the delivery the darkness swallows me up as i walk to the end of the job as i walk deeper into the desert the sounds of the native animals and the sand underneath my feet are like jackhammers on my head this job is much more dull than it s worth i think as i pull my coat tighter around my body against the desert cold and wind i checked my watch i was early according to 3

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my isc i was pretty close to the designated point b i allowed myself a small smile i was almost there almost to the easiest paycheck i had ever made this job was much easier than the last one it had left scars on my body and mind everything that could ve gone terribly wrong did the isc beeped i was at my destination i noticed that i was at the edge of a circle of light around a small lantern no one was here besides me i strained my ears for any sounds of life there were none hello shadow a voice said mockingly i spun around weapon drawn at the location of the voice my weapon of choice a modified revolver with a longer barrel it held twelve shots of pain and death rarely used but in pristine condition what are you doing here he gave a disapproving look no greeting no `hello gabe how you ve been since i left so early in the morning for some mystery job just straight to the questions and-what so it was the morning i am angry because one you startled me and i could ve shot you two because i wanted you to stay on the ship and get something useful done for once anyway i came here to give you back-up since it s stupid to come out to a desert planet alone i don t need any back-up then you needed company i even brought your dog you did what as if on cue scarr bounded into the clearing from behind a bush he was a black wolfhound with eyes that didn t match each other s color with a little scar above the bright green eye he barked happily and wagged his tail as if agreeing with gabe without taking my eyes off of scarr i fired my gun at gabe gah 4

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he leapt aside sprawling out on the sand don t you ever do this again i ordered the smell of his burnt hair filled the air he nodded wide-eyed the sound of an aircraft filled the air as a floodlight shone down on us a little platform descended and stopped about three feet above the ground i placed the case on it and it rose into the air a voice magnified said that the money would be paid in full as soon as the package was deemed authentic the floodlight was turned off and the aircraft flew away well time to go gabe said standing up and dusting off his pants the shuttle pod is a hundred meters east of here we better get going if we re going to catch the last of dinner i nodded and motioned for him to lead the way he started in a direction that was roughly east scarr followed him tail waving in the air i took one last look around the area well time to go home i said and started to follow leaving behind the cold dark desert desert job mission successful my reflection gives me a skeptical look in the mirror of the dark window i looked absolutely ridiculous i pulled at the uncomfortable jacket that restricted my movement i sighed and stepped back from the window i looked around the small circular room the walls were white making the room overly bright my eyes adjusted quickly there were two chairs on opposite sides of the room facing each other there was a large plant next to the only painting in the room the painting was a portrait of 5

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an elderly man holding a galaxy in each hand this may have been the founder of the company or a man who s just really full of it my eyes moved back to the plant it wasn t here the last time i was in this room it must ve been someone s ill attempt at giving this room some personality aside from the oil painting having nothing else to look at i went back to the window what an awful way to end the night i guess it s my own fault that i ended up here they probably didn t like it when i blew up the research facility on claussica the whole thing had really been an accident i mean it was either the facility or the target i was assigned to capture and i chose the latter it hadn t even been a day since the incident and i was already called to a hearing with the heads of the company the suit i was wearing was dark grey pinstriped and damned uncomfortable i pulled down the jacket a little farther it bounced back up like rubber this suit just moved its way up onto my top ten things i will eventually destroy list the first thing on that list is those awful neon pink wigs my caretaker ellie wears the happy image of the wig and this suit burning was interrupted by a thirty-something man entering the room from the door nearest to my right they are ready to see you now he said i nodded and followed him through the door the room was large with the only lights that were turned on were directly above me the six heads sat on heighted throne like chairs with a convex table in front of them to a normal human the bright lights above me would ve made all of this impossible to see but i could see everyone s faces as if the room was normally lit to make them aware of this i looked each one directly in the face in turn some sense of victory bubbled up in me as some of them squirmed uncomfortably i noticed that one who didn t shift in his seat was younger a newbie i think i looked closer and noticed that he 6

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was a dishante his blue skin and bioluminescent antenna made him stick out from the rest he looked nervous good dante nyghtstalker you have irresponsibly destroyed the research facility in the twentysecond sector on claussica the elderly man in the center of the table spoke do you have anything to say in your defense only that i had no choice in the matter i wasn t going to fail my mission because the building was of some importance to the company what insolence this time it was the man at the end of the table on my left he somewhat reminded me of an orangutan that facility was the main base for the study of the evolution of the common cold i was really tempted to say `i see no importance in that study and it seems that the building was far too easy to destroy if it was important then it would ve been harder to blow up but luckily my conscience intervened and i kept my mouth shut calm down gladimus the wispy voice belonged to the old man on the right hand of the head in the center he smiled at me which was extremely strange dante was not called here for that matter this unexpected statement surprised me to the point where my emotionless mask was nearly cracked y-you re not supposed to use our names the orangutan man named gladimus was now so angry he was spluttering which would ve been comical in other circumstances there s no point dante can see us there s nothing we can do about it now the man s voice was triumphant and he seemed to be enjoying gladimus anger i was starting to like him some of the heads stiffened at his words obviously they were not briefed on this this was becoming amusing 7

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merlock is right we should get to the point of this meeting the man on the left of the main head said this there was a murmur of consent from the rest of the heads the center man spoke again dante you are our most prized jewel in our collection your physical and mental state along with your endurance far exceeds our expectations there s a plot behind this i just know it the suspense is killing me he was certainly buttering me up for something and by the way he was carrying on i m not going to like it but even you could use some help oh no not this this is going downhill fast we have hand-picked an agent that is close to your level and won t get in the way on missions said the man next to merlock mr johnson bring him in the man that led me in once again opened the door and my new partner stepped in no i howled thrashing wildly in my bed and falling out landing face-first on the hard cold metal floor in my room breaking my nose i groaned and set it back in its original position the blood flowing wildly for a second and then stopping completely it throbbed as the cartilage knitted itself back together the collar of my shirt was soaked with blood i took that as an excuse to get dressed as i pulled a new shirt over my head i noticed the faint smell of coffee in the air after i cleaned myself up i walked towards the origin of the aroma walking out of my room going down hallways down stairs and finally at the end of a corridor i found the kitchen/dining area they were sitting around the circular wooden table in the center of the room one of the two men was hidden behind a newspaper the bold head line reading `technology stolen from government archives location still unknown gabriel immediately stood upon my entrance 8

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greeting me with a good afternoon sir i ignored him and went to the coffee pot on the kitchen counter damn empty i looked back at the table just as gabriel lifted a mug to his lips the man behind the newspaper pointed at him did you take the last of it i accused him do you mean the coffee um he looked back at his mug i strode over to him and confiscated the mug from him taking a long swig of the bitter drink draining it i handed it back to him staring him down so you haven t forgiven me for last night as an answer i ignored his question and turned to the man behind the newspaper he was peering over the top the ghost of a smile in his aged eyes he folded up the newspaper and set it down he looked at me his steel grey eyes drilling into my face i knew this look we had another job and how are you on this fine day smith i asked him we have another job dante on dzhungli his low voice was gravelly and cold do you mean in the ruins what do we have to do gabriel leaned forward interested without answering smith stood up and walked out of the room he was surely heading to the situation room i followed him out trying to figure out who the target was and what objective would we have to accomplish down another hallway was the situation room the projection glass covering the wall across from the entry door and had long table with chairs in front of it smith had already placed a large rotating picture of the planet on the glass with the details and landscape description of the planet arranged around it i sat on the table and gabriel walked in after me the empty mug still in his hand smith stood next to the planet and seeing that we were paying attention began his presentation as you are well aware dzhungli is a planet completely covered in forest and jungle as well as the five orbiting farfor moons it contains the widà de zhànshì empire ruins and is a supplier of raw 9

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materials for many corporations the company being one of them recently there has been some hostile activity coming from the natives of the land the workers and miners stationed there have gone missing and are presumed dead this has disrupted operations and your objective is to stop this uprising so the planet can be used again you will make your way from this point on the planet a small red dot illustrated where we would be dropped off to the main widà de zhànshì temple where it is documented that the resistance is based a red line showed us the path we would be taking through the jungle to get to the temple which was about twenty miles east from the drop-off point get to the temple exterminate the resistance and get out that is your mission smith tapped the glass and the image changed it was now showing a creature that was covered in green and brown scales its eyes black and beady the hands and feet each had seven toes and fingers each ending with long brown talons this is the xyì rén they are what you will be going up against their bodies will match perfectly with their forest and jungle surroundings lasers and hollow point bullets won t penetrate their scales so dante take your reaper and also take stinger mortale blades gabriel smith stared at him for a couple seconds and said take whatever you deem necessary remember these creatures are expert hunters and are in the habit of setting great traps so watch where you step we should arrive at the planet at 0400 tomorrow and gabriel take care of that mug gabriel looked at his hand now realizing that he had carried the mug with him lost in thought he wandered out of the room in the direction of the kitchen waiting until he was out of hearing range i turned back to smith who was looking at me as if he knew what i was going to ask smith there are i started how s your nose he asked his deep gravelly voice was monotone two potential crew members that i would like to recruit on the farfor moons it won t be out of our way and they will be valuable as a medic and an engineer so can we make a quick stop after the 10

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mission and how did you know about my nose i asked even though i was the captain of the ship i still had to ask smith before taking on any crew members he was the company agent he stared at me evenly not blinking there s some dried blood still left on your tags as for the possible crew members i guess that depends on whom you have in mind who are they daphne and jessamine nimhe daphne works at the experimental medicine facility on the third moon jessamine tends to the house on the second moon i rubbed off the miniscule spot of blood off my dog tags smith pondered this he stared off into space while thinking you know that this is your decision this is your ship after all we could try them out as crew and see how it goes i sighed in relief glad that i passed the first stage that takes out two of the needed crew members we still needed a pilot so someone could watch the ship during long missions i walked out of the room leaving smith to his thoughts staring blankly at the glass i walked back to my room sat on my bed and stared at the opposing wall where my weapon rack was mounted scarr lazily opened one eye and stared at me he sighed and went back to sleep i stood and walking over to the wall i took down the reaper from the center it was a long heavy black pistol i checked the magazine satisfied that it was fully loaded and slid it back into the stock i placed it on the table under the weapon rack and took down the sairento-shi blade sheath i slid out the blades a quarter of the way checking that the rings in the guard latched the swords together making a single thick blade i lightly tapped my thumb on the combined blades as soon as i made contact a drop of blood pooled on the blade i wiped it to clean it off and set it back on the wall i looked back up at the weapon rack my eyes scanning over all of the guns and blades my eyes came to rest on a bundle of blades and straps which are appropriately named stinger mortales or deadly stingers these hidden blades will be useful in the imminent fight 11

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i finished preparing for tomorrow dismantling and remantling my reapers untangling the stinger mortales and sharpening the sairento-shi blades knowing that i would be up all night i made my way back into the kitchen to get something to eat gabriel was still in there sitting at the table and reading smith s discarded newspaper i plucked a single red apple from the basket in the middle of the table and took a bite as i ate i looked up at the window in the ceiling the blackness of space only broken by the stars lazily moving around us as we floated on as soon as we were out of this high traffic area we would blast out of this quadrent and into the yoso sector where dzhungli lies i blinked and looked at the core of the apple in my hand gabriel had finished the paper and was carefully watching me i lifted an eyebrow staring back is that all you re eating the night before a mission he asked shouldn t you be stacking up on carbs you should i don t need to i m not built that way i said simply what do you mean he stared at me confused so he doesn t know i might as well tell him now lest he find out at a distasteful time i scratched at the wood grains in the table thinking of how to simplify my reply i was genetically engineered in a lab i might as well just get to the point he stared at me blankly i pushed on the scientists were trying to make a better soldier and ended up making the perfect assassin i heal quicker run faster and lighter i never miss my mark and most important of all i don t have finger prints i showed him my hands smooth and without the telltale ridges on my fingertips i bypassed the downside though saving that terror for when he actually experiences it i will never explain it right so he said slowly you are basically superhuman 12

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i guess you could say that it s not as if i can shoot lasers from my eyes or that i m super strong at the moment anyways if you had my diet you would be severely starved there are even days i don t eat even before rigorous training or missions basically you re a robot or an android a small smile appeared on his lips but quickly vanished as my eyebrows lifted in surprise i hadn t thought of it that way before i couldn t help it i laughed he flinched startled i stood up shaking my head and chuckling i walked out leaving him with a puzzled expression on his face i walked down the hallway turning right and heading up the stairs to the cockpit smith was sitting in the pilot s chair overlooking the control panel and schematics punching in the coordinates for the yoso sector his head turned around as i entered in a good mood he asked gabriel said something strange are we going to jump soon go get prepared and try to get some rest in four hours we ll be low enough for the shuttle pods i nodded turned and headed back down the stairs i headed back into the kitchen to tell gabriel that we were about to jump but the room was empty i rocked back on my heels closed my eyes and listened to the sound of the ship looking for him i heard the whirr of the engine smith in the cockpit the life-support system and the lifting of weights in the training room found him i gave a little smile in triumph i headed back down the hallway took a left walked down the hallway which held the crew s living quarters headed down the stairs into the cargo bay down the hallway that led off there and took the first set of stairs the cold metal room smelled of sweat and blood he was bench pressing at least two-hundred pounds against the right wall his face flushed with effort the fluorescent light made his skin seem as 13

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pale as mine he hadn t heard my entrance i patiently waited till he was done he set the bar back into the holder looked at me and jumped you re as pale as a ghost dante it s just the lighting and besides no such thing exists metaphorically then we re about to jump strap yourself in don t handle sharp objects etcetera etcetera i drawled i turned to leave but the sound of him getting up and the feel of his eyes on my back made me stop i turned back around to see an arrogant expression on his face hey dante how `bout a quick match before the jump i think i can beat you even though you are more than human he gloated with a smirk i faced him and smirked back now i can t have mutiny on my ship so i accept your challenge we stepped into the center of the room which was cleared for purposes such as these when we were five feet away from each other we slid into our starting positions he looked like a sumo wrestler about to push me out of the ring his chest open his feet wide apart i put my weight on the balls of my feet one knee almost touching the ground hands open upward and cupped his smirk turned into a roar and he lunged at me my smile grew even bigger as i dodged his hands and hooked my arm around his open neck swinging myself around his back my feet touched the floor again and using his weight against him i flung him into the ground my hand firmly on his neck and my face a few inches above his surprised face i grinned at him better luck next time gabriel get back to your bunk my smile vanished with the stern order i stood dragging him up with me when i released his neck from my grasp he turned and left embarrassed i looked back to where he was lifting the weight i walked over to it and picked it up i 14

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could lift it easily with one arm i tossed it into the air a few times marveling my strength satisfied i set it back on its stand and left i made my way back to the crew s quarters just as gabriel shut the latch on his door i opened the door to my room and dropped down i pulled the door down and latched it locking myself in i had just walked around where scarr still lay fast asleep i had just made it to my bed when the ship leaped forward the sudden increase in speed threw me on my back with a grunt i pulled myself to the head of the bed and sat up scarr got up from his new spot on the floor which was three feet from where he started he whined and jumped onto the bed next to me he curled up next to my stomach and licked my face smith needs to work on his acceleration i thought irritated as i gave the dog a pat the ship s speed smoothed out and i sat back it shouldn t be long now i should try to rest till we arrive i slid down until my head hit the pillow i closed my eyes and relaxed my body my mind was still hyperactive i slowly cleared my mind of all thought and drifted off into sleep the warm body of my furry companion rising and falling beside me planet of the diamond skins he s late i thought as i tapped my foot impatiently on the door of the shuttle pod i was leaning against i looked at my pocket watch and placed it back in the inside of the long sleeveless brown coat if he takes one more minute i m going to kill him i relished this thought as hurried footsteps came from the hallway below me gabriel came rushing out of the hallway and shot up the stairs toward me he slid to a stop in front of me gasping for breath and clutching a big bag to his chest i m sorry i m so late sir i had to get this he brandished the bag together that s a really big pistol he was staring at the reaper on my hip 15

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