Lucky

“Today, Trannigan,” Gizaldo griped. “Yer takin’ too fucking long, eh? You know I don’t like that. Call or raise. Let’s get this done. I’m ‘sposed to be here on fuckin’ business, and you rope me into a goddam curmudgeon game.”

“How do you know this isn’t business goin’ down right here, ya ignorant reptilian?” Rex retorted, and blew that stupid cunt a kiss. Komodos were inherently grumpy and impatient, and much like their earthen, un-evolved kin, were very prone to violence, and considered human flesh a luxurious delicacy.

“What’re you talkin’ ‘bout? What business you got that I’d be interested in? Last I heard, you was an outlaw, circlin’ the drain, with a lot of angry and resourceful people trackin’ you down.”

“Why do you think I’m runnin’, ya dumbshit? I got sumthin’ worth runnin’ for. And I got some whispers in my ear, ya see, tellin’ me that you got some real freaky shit, sumthin’ that could give a guy with a story like mine a real good advantage. And I figured, fuck it, I’ll play the ugly S.O.B and win it from ‘im. Cos knowing you, you’d go up against the K’rann Mytza themselves for a chance at it. So, do my whispers speak true, or are you just playin’ big, bad space gangster?”

“You little shit. Don’t fuckin’ make me angry. ‘Course I got it; what, ya think I’m a CHUMP? You ain’t got nothin’ worth what my ‘freaky shit’ can do.”

Rex Trannigan, man at the end of his rope, making a desperate play to continue being alive, pulled out the cause of his troubles.

It was wrapped in a dirty cloth. Once removed, Gizaldo gasped. “By the beginnings of the stars! A Gondilorian crystal!”

Gizaldo was in awe. A Gondilorian crystal! Usually no bigger than a walnut, but capable of powering an entire planet. Or destroying one.

“Close your mouth Gizaldo, before a Mranplatt puts its’ dick in there.”

Gizaldo didn’t hear him, still hypnotized by the crystal. This was the biggest one he had ever seen; it was the size of Rex’s head, and glowed and shimmered a brilliant shade of green. It seemed almost electric.

“Now who’s takin’ too long?” Rex teased. “So, you gonna play? I’m all in, baby.”

Gizaldo was thoroughly seduced by the crystal’s soft, green glow. “I’m in”, he finally answered. “Show me your cards”, he said, smiling wryly as he laid down a royal supreme.

“Oh, golly!” Rex said sarcastically, laying down his own cards in triumph. “Like, I would need to have a hand like this to beat yours, right?”

An incredible range of emotions traveled across Gizaldo’s face in a matter of seconds: shock, rage, confusion, defiance, sadness, and… acceptance? He chuckled. “Damn. Ya got me. Maybe you ain’t circlin’ the drain after all”, he shrugged, and reached into his coat, revealing his own stolen treasure.

“They don’t even have a real name for it. They just called it ‘old magic’. ‘Least that’s what the priest was mumblin’ ‘bout before I slit his gut open.”

It was Trannigan’s turn to be awed. Held gingerly between Gizaldo’s thumb and forefinger was a vial of liquid, the same shade of green as Rex’s crystal, but deeper… fuller. It also seemed to glow and shimmer, but it almost seemed to… move, as well. If Rex’s crystal was electric, Gizaldo’s vial of mystery was alive.

“You drink it, apparently,” Gizaldo said, snapping Trannigan out of his daze. “Priest didn’t say what it did, though. Just kept sayin’ how it was powerful, how it can’t fall into the wrong hands, blah, blah. Figured I could catch a mint for it.” He looked at it regretfully, and handed it to Rex. “You won it fair and square, though.”

“What can I say, my cold-blooded friend? I’m a lucky guy”, Rex replied as he took the vial, and as he did so, he felt the all too familiar sensation of a gun being pressed to the back of his head.

“Funny how quickly your luck can change, though,” the voice belonging to the gun said as Rex stealthily pocketed the vial. Gizaldo giggled. “When I heard what the bounty was for you, I had one of my scouts track you, and lead you to me. Then it was simply a matter of letting you find me, and lulling you into a false sense of security. Now I’m gonna have more money than I know what to do with, and the favor I’m gonna get for returning the crystal, and the dumbass that stole it? Mmm, baby! The Corps is gonna be my little bitch for a long time.”

“You’re giving the Andromeda Corps the crystal?! Are you fucking CRAZY!?!” Rex exclaimed, and heard the gun against his head cock. “Shut your fucking mouth,” the gunman said.

The loud dance music was accentuated by the sizzle of a plasma rifle.

“Time to go.”

The Intergalactic Gentleman’s Oasis was a seedy establishment, frequented by low-level criminals and henchmen. It fronted itself as an adult escape from your daily worries, but if you knew the right person, it was an entryway into the Crimson Market, allowing one access to illegal means of pleasure and violence. The trio of criminals emerged from a secret room in a secret hallway of this establishment, to an eerie silence. The music in the club had stopped.

Sounds of running. A scream. Sizzle. Scream. Sizzle.

“Rex Trannigan, Gizaldo Rumford, this is the Galactic Enforcement Squad. We know you are here. You are surrounded. Come out from wherever it is you’re hiding with your hands up. The orders for you are dead or alive, so we will kill you if you want to be foolish.”

A collective “Fuck.”

“It’s probably not right to boast about this right now, but I think I actually am a pretty lucky guy,” Rex said as they were walking the secret hallways, trying to find a way out.

“Why is that, Trannigan?” Gizaldo asked. “Way I see it, you’re just as fucked as us. What you got that we don’t?”

“That vial of this strange green stuff,” Rex answered. “You never took it back. Time to see what it does,” he said, and brought the vial to his lips.

He was only able to drink half of the vial before he was taken down by Gizaldo’s hired hand. What he took, though, had an immediate effect. Everything moved in slow motion. Rex felt a piece of himself leave his body, and he watched everything that happened. He saw his smug little smile as he brought the vial to his lips; Gizaldo’s look of shock, and reaching for his gun; the hired hand shoving him to the ground, and reaching for his own gun.

Rex crashed to the ground, tossing the vial into the air. He was unable to close it before he was brought down. He watched as it fell to the ground. No! his mind screamed as the vial fell on its side. And watched, shocked, as the vial righted itself up.

Everything stopped. The scene was frozen in place: Rex was on the ground, arms splayed. The anonymous hireling had flung open his coat, grabbing a gun in the left inner pocket. Gizaldo already had his gun aimed at Rex’s head.

The only thing that was moving, it seemed, was the vial. It seemed to hover just above the floor; the liquid, glowing and shimmering brilliantly, like the deepest emerald, lightly sloshing inside.

Ooh! A… human? Is that what you are? How very interesting. I’ve never met one of you before!

“What the hell?” said the part of Rex that was separate from the frozen scene, powerless and witnessing. “Um… who are you?”

Oh! My name is R’hylena, last harbinger of – wait a minute. AM I the last? Let me check. …… Yes. Sorry. My name is R’hylena, last harbinger of the spirit of Gondilor.

“Wait – what? What are you talking about? Gondilor, the first planet? That’s just a legend, something you tell your kids at night to make them believe in the power of good over evil. It’s not real.”

Oh, didn’t you know? All legends have at least a smidgeon of truth in them.

The lights in the hallway had turned off. The red, intermittent emergency lights began blinking on and off. The voice resumed on the loudspeaker:

“You can make this a lot easier, and less messy, if you come out now with your hands up. This is your best option, scumbags. With your records, there’s a lot of men and women on my team that want to rid you from the universe.”

“Records?” What do they mean by “records?” R’hylena asked.

“Criminal records,” Rex answered. “Gizaldo and I have done some rather unsavory things to survive.”

Oh? Like what?

The tone of the voice changed. It seemed darker. The emergency lights stopped switching on and off, and the color had changed from red to the same shade of emerald as the liquid in the vial.

“Theft, mostly. The breaking and entering that generally precedes the theft charge. Some assault, but I never killed anybody. I just got dealt a shit hand at birth, and I did what I could to eat and live another day.”

R’hylena was silent, seeming to consider the truth and validity of what he said.

The light seemed to become a little brighter, and the voice seemed to, as well.

Oh! Okay, then! That checks out. Soooo… this other being, saying these things. What will they do if they get you?

“Arrest me, take me to trial, have me executed, most likely,” he said.

Why?

“For the apparently real, not legendary, crystal of Gondilor I have in the satchel the other guy has, the one that pushed me to the ground.”

I see. Well, we can’t have that. If I’ve been summoned, the state of things must be pretty dire. What would you need to do to leave this place?

“Um, well… uh… I need to get out of here without dying or being arrested, I need a ship that isn’t mine that can go fast, and I need to go somewhere that will give me enough time to figure out what to do next.”

That’s it?

“Uh, yeah?”

Okay. Let’s go.

Rex was able to move. He got up, noticing that Gizaldo and the mystery gunman were still frozen in place. He quickly picked up the floating vial, and resealed it, placing it in his pocket. He then carefully removed the satchel from the gunman’s belt, incredulous that he was still frozen in time, while he was moving at normal speed.

He found the quickest route to the parking garage, going through the secret hallways, until he made his way to main dance hall, where he was greeted by the Galactic Enforcement Squad.

Who, by Rex’s great fortune, were still frozen in place. He silently thanked whatever was doing this, and made his escape, weaving through the guards.

When he was opening the door to the parking garage, he saw, from the corner of his eye, one of the guards turning at half-speed, and yelling (at the same speed), “There he is! Fire!”, and started aiming his rifle.

Knowing that his fortune was fading, he ran through the garage, praying he could find an unassuming vehicle that would fulfill his needs. He found it near the entrance. It was perfect: small, fast, not flashy.

This it?

“Yeah. This one’s great.”

The top of the small cruiser suddenly opened, powering on. Rather than questioning how this was all happening, he got in, buckled up, and flew away.

He flew for hours in silence. When he finally felt a modicum of safety, he spoke to the strange voice. “Who… who are you?”

A long story, R’hylena replied, but we’ll have time. There is much to learn.

“Fair enough,” Rex replied, and drank the rest of the vial.

To be continued