The Forgotten Planet
Chapter 25 – Unfriendly Competition

“So, this is how the other half lives,” I said, as I stretched out on the circular couch. The five of us were in the passenger compartment of the high-end transport shuttle that picked us up from our wreck of a ship. Adan and Max were on the far end of the couch practically intertwined and whispering quietly, while Russell was stretched out with his hat over his face. The man could fall asleep anywhere.

“I love the smell of dead cow in the morning,” Vee said, rubbing her head and left shoulder up against me and the white leather in equal parts, “but the temptation to poke pinholes in it with my claws is almost overwhelming.”

“I’ll get you a leather scratching pad for your birthday if you’re good,” I replied. That earned me a giggle and a bite on my earlobe.

The only reason I knew we’d taken off was because I saw movement through the vertical bank of little square windows. So, this is what working inertial dampeners actually felt like. As we pulled away from the docks, I saw a small crew painting a red hawk in flight on the side of an ancient Kaldonian medical frigate.

Once clear of the docks, we zoomed past an unending stretch of cityscape – the likes of which I’d only seen on holos and still pics of alien home worlds in the Depository. The amount of alloy and transparent aluminum alone was staggering. The previous station had been an elegant if-antiquated piece of technology, but this was a technological marvel. If Philip’s organization employed enough people to fill the buildings and man all the ships in the dock, we were dealing with a real power broker.

“Are you kidding me right now?” Maxine said loudly.

I turned to see her looking at Adan with a mix of shock and anger. Adan, for his part, looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. His eyes flicked to me and Vee and then back to Max. “Baby, let’s talk about this later,” Adan said softly.

“Don’t baby me, Adan Castell,” Max said as she pushed away from my brother and slid down the couch. She crossed her arms across her chest and proceeded to stare out the window at the passing skyscrapers.

Vee and I looked at each other, and Vee made an “O” with her lips. I tried to make eye-contact with Adan, but he was busy looking out an entirely different window from Max.

Thankfully we didn’t have to sit in the uncomfortable silence for long. Within five minutes, the shuttle landed on the flat roof of what was easily the tallest structure we’d passed on the flight over. The building was well over one hundred stories, and its corkscrew architecture made it look like a giant hand had given it a slight clockwise twist. The second the hatch opened, Max was out of her seat and out the door. Adan followed slowly after her, and I caught him at the open hatch.

“What the hell was that all about, bro?” I asked.

“Just a misunderstanding,” Adan said nonchalantly. “She’ll be fine.”

It seemed to me like more than a misunderstanding, but there wasn’t any time to get into it. Two men in black uniforms with mandarin collars were there to meet us as we disembarked from the delta-shaped transport. The cuffs and lapels of their uniforms were trimmed in the same red as the hawk emblem that was also painted on the side of the shuttle and on the side of the nearest building. Obviously, the Cabal was into branding. The younger looking of the two stepped forward and greeted Russell with the manly handshake and hug combo.

“Philip, my man,” Russ said, after delivering a few sturdy back-pats, “let me introduce you to Commander Veesil Pax and Galen Castell.”

“Welcome,” the man said with a smile that was so wide it must have made his cheeks ache. “My name’s Philip Stone. Thank you so much for making the trip.”

Vee and I went through the whole hand shaking and nice-to-meet-ya rigmarole. Honestly, I prefer teleconferencing for just that reason. I don’t particularly like people I don’t know – I barely like most of the people I do know – and I certainly don’t want to pretend that I’m happy to meet them. I can count the people I like to spend time with on one hand and still have three fingers to spare. Regardless, I smiled and pressed flesh. Still, Vee giggled behind her hand at me, so I must not have been entirely convincing.

Philip was on the tall side, with wavy black hair and skin as pale as I’d ever seen on a Terran. At least in person. It took me a minute to remember Aedan’s old Batman videos and the pale complexion of all the actors.

Pale skin is a recessive gene expression that evolved on Earth in populations in cold and cloudy climates because the more melanin in the skin, the less vitamin D that the body can synthesize from the sun. Racial distinctions like skin color began to fade during the Terran colonization period due to interbreeding. That’s why everyone on Palance was various shades of brown.

The other strange thing was that Philip appeared to be in his late twenties, which was more than a little unusual for the leader of an operation like this. My first thought was that he inherited the family business. Then I put two and two together, and my heart rate jumped fifteen points.

“Philip,” Maxine purred. “It is so nice to see you again.”

“Maxine Vish,” he said, pronouncing every syllable in a way that made it seem almost sensual. It made me shudder involuntary, and not in the good way. “How is it possible that you’re even more beautiful than I remember.” Then he took her hand and kissed it, and I think I threw up a little in the back of my mouth.

Philip’s eyes stayed fixed on Maxine’s a little longer than was absolutely necessary, which was likely why Adan felt the need to throw a protective arm around her shoulders – a arm which she shrugged off instantly with a mix of grace and clinical detachment. Not that that cooled bro’s jets any.

“What’s up pal,” he said, inserting himself between Max and Philip. His body somehow was 90% pecs and shoulder blades. “I see you already know my girl. I’m Adan Castell.”

The two men’s mutual bone-crushing handshake that followed, while maintaining eye contact and matching smiles was a thing to behold. It was a civilized version of marking trees I suppose. I shared a wry smile with Vee. My first impression of Philip was a notch below stranger on my personal likability scale – alongside close talkers and people that want to show me pictures of their family pets. The fact that I didn’t think any less of Adan is proof that blood really is thicker than water.

After the handshake ended in a draw, Philip introduced his associate David Hernandez, and we went through the whole process over again – thankfully without the flirting and testosterone. I’m pretty sure name tags would have worked much better for all parties involved. Regardless, David was of average height, slightly gray and thinning on top and a tad heavy in the waist. He didn’t seem particularly happy to meet any of us and didn’t really try to hide it. I took an instant liking to him.

We took a set of stairs down one floor to Philip’s spacious corner office. I could have probably fit the contents of our old flat in one corner with room to spare. The wooden furniture was copious and substantial, and looked expensive. It was all either topped with natural stone or wrapped in leather. Framed photos of various ships – all sporting the now-familiar red hawk logo – dotted the steel grey walls, and little knick-knacks like ship models and trophies were perched here and there.

Two walls of floor-to-ceiling windows gave an unobstructed view of the surrounding cityscape. A black rectangular vid screen that was longer than Adan was tall took up the better portion of one wall cycled through various human-made endeavors – everything from the pyramids of Giza to the original international space station.

The screen had just flipped to four blue, combustion-era jets flying in a delta formation, when I heard a high-pitched, almost childlike voice ask, “Can I get anyone some coffee?”

I looked back to the entryway to Philip’s office and saw a tall woman with unnaturally yellow hair, a pale complexion similar to Philip’s and the shapely figure of a ring girl from Gladiator Challenge standing just inside the doorway.

“Why don’t you bring us a pot of Blue Mountain, Darla?” Philip asked.

The smile on Darla’s lips faltered and the twinkle in her eyes dimmed when she looked at her boss and Max, and I got the impression it had something to do with Maxine’s proximity to Philip.

I figured the current seating choices must have had something to do with Max and Adan’s recent disagreement. Between the leather couches and various upholstered chairs throughout the room there were plenty of places to sit – which made Maxine’s choice to park her ample backside on the edge of Philip’s desk with her knees almost touching our host’s shoulders seem like a measured choice.

Vee seemed to understand the implications as well, which I realized when she nudged me and gestured with her chin towards Adan.

The look on my brother’s face as he sat alone in an overstuffed red chair seemed to validate my assessment. Adan wasn’t wearing his holster, but I could see him fingering the space where the firearm usually sat. When the laughing and arm touching started, and I saw the color rising in Adan’s cheeks, I was afraid there was going to be trouble. I began to discretely test the quality of room’s security system just in case things got real.

Darla returned a few minutes later with a tray of mugs, coffee fixings and a large chrome carafe. She placed the tray down on the coffee table, and I sat down on the nearby couch and added sugar and cream until I got to just the right amount of tan and sweet. Vee sat on my left and crinkled her nose at the coffee when I offered to pour her a cup. Russell crashed down on my right, testing the structural integrity of the couch, and proceeded to pour himself a mug.

When I looked up, I saw Philip’s hand on Maxine’s knee, and both Adan and the secretary looked like they wanted to start throwing heavy items around the room. I noticed David sitting aloof in the corner, arms crossed and taking in the whole scene with cool detachment. This is why I hate new people.

I nudged Russell, and when he turned to look down at me, I said, “Um, we may have a problem.”

He took in the scene for about two beats, then stood so fast that half of his coffee ended up on the floor.

“Hey Max,” Russell said, “let’s let Philip get this meeting started.” They exchanged glares for a moment, and then Max sighed and stood, nudging past Philip on the way to a chair as far away from Adan as the room allowed.

“The strike force is ready m’ lord,” Lancelot said in my ear. “Shall I give the order?”

“Can you remain undetected?” I replied internally.

After a moment’s hesitation Lancelot answered, “Not likely sire. Their scouts are doing a piss-poor job, but the defenses themselves are quite stout.”

“Then hold for now,” I ordered.

In my digital world, I just-so-happen to be the king. Hail to the king, baby.