Jim Cartwright- Raknar Quest by Mark Wandrey

Author:Mark Wandrey [Wandrey, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Seventh Seal Press
Published: 2019-11-11T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

When he awoke, Jim barely had time to rush to the sanitary facility, then the dispensary for “food,” before racing back to his obligette to find Os’shu patiently waiting for him. “Thank you for coming, Os’shu,” Jim said. The tiny Flatar nodded, and Jim used his glowing chip to open the door and let them both in.

“Your obligette is immaculate,” Os’shu noted.

“I found a cleaning robot here and brought it back online.”

“Did you?” Os’shu asked, looking around and nodding her diminutive head. “I was unaware any of the service robots were still functional.”

“At least one is,” Jim said. “I saw it the other day, down the hall.”

Os’shu walked over and stood next to the room’s terminal while Jim adjusted it so they could both see the screen. Because the Flatar was short—barely half a meter from its furry feet to its bushy ears—Jim elected to sit on the floor while the alien stood. He normally eschewed sitting on floors because it made his back hurt, but with only a 20th of a G, it wouldn’t matter.

“What, exactly, are you looking for, Colonel Jim Cartwright?”

“You can call me Jim, Os’shu.”

“Very well, Jim.”

Jim smiled and took out his slate. He called up a recorded image of his Raknar marching across the field of battle. The Flatar’s eyes widened. “Raknar,” she said. “Is this contemporary?”

“The recording?” Jim asked. Os’shu nodded. “Yes, from around a year ago.”

Os’shu considered the recording. Jim let it play out as thousands of Tortantula appeared and tried swarming the 30-meter tall mecha, only to be burned, stomped, or slaughtered. He watched her for any signs of a reaction. There were none. Jim had thought the Tortantula and Flatar inseparable. This seemed to suggest there was more than he knew about the enigmatic pairing.

“What do you want to know about Raknar, Jim?”

“Everything?”

Os’shu turned her tiny head, her black eyes regarding him for a moment, before smiling and revealing her ivory, buck teeth. “I like you, Jim. Show me your search criteria.”

They worked for several hours. Jim showed her the various search routines he had used and how the hits came back from the Science Guild databases. Her eyes were sharp as he worked, always watching what he did with careful attention. She occasionally asked questions without offering advice, until they stopped for lunch.

They went to the dispensary, which was empty except for them. Os’shu watched Jim order his meal, then commented, “You are a normal Human?”

“More or less,” Jim said and shrugged.

“Then why eat this minimal food?”

Jim looked at the computer control, his eyebrows knitting together. “It was all I could program.”

Os’shu went to the dispensary computer and tapped the controls. A moment later, the autochef beeped, and she removed a package. She took it to Jim who gawked at the hamburger and fries inside.

“Holy shit!” he said, taking the package from her. He tore open the plastic wrapper so viscously several fries flew off in long parabolic arcs in the low gravity. As he bit into the burger, Os’shu caught the errant fries and ate them, a decided twinkle in her eyes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.