Earth Machines by Daniel Arenson

Author:Daniel Arenson [Arenson, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Space Opera
Published: 2019-02-11T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"I want to know the truth." Addy folded her arms, staring at her father and half-brother. "The whole truth. Why you came to Earth. Why those aliens were after you. And what the hell you've been doing for the past twenty-five years in space. I deserve that. I deserve the truth."

She had called a family meeting. The kids were upstairs with Giga, who was reading them a story. The adults met in the kitchen.

At one side of the table—Marco and Addy.

At the other side—Butch and Kai.

Three members of the Linden family—tattooed, pierced, scarred, and smoking cigarettes. Among them, Marco looked like an alien. And like he wanted to be anywhere else.

Too bad, Poet, Addy thought. You're part of my crazy family now. You have to suffer too.

"All right, all right!" Butch said, voice hoarse like gravel under rusty tires. The scraggly pirate cracked open a beer. "You deserve the whole story. See, twenty-odd years ago, I—"

"Faked your death," Addy said. "I remember."

Butch shook his head. "That wasn't faked, just a misunderstanding." He sucked on his cigarette and took a gulp of beer. "Took me a long while to learn to walk again. And once I was healed, I drifted. Rode my Harley across the country. Got into bar fights and tussles. Lost the little money I had gambling. Got a job on a cargo barge—I mean an ocean one, not space—but they kicked me off in Taiwan for drinking on the job. That's where I met this one's mom."

Kai snorted. "It was Thailand, not fucking Taiwan. You dumbass."

Butch ruffled Kai's hair. "Ah, you were always the smart one."

"Hey, lay off the fuckin' hair, man." Kai punched his arm. "Takes me a while to style."

Kai spent a moment fixing his hair. The sides of his head were shaved to stubble. The longer top flopped over.

Butch looked at his son and scoffed. "Your hair looks like a disease-ridden cat strutting on a potato."

"Whatever, old man. I know I look good. My hair and my clothes." Kai smoothed his sleeveless T-shirt, which featured a seductive pinup posing by a space-racer.

"You look like goddamn space scum, just like me, but with dumber hair," Butch said. "Now shut your yap, and let me tell the rest of the story." He looked back at Addy. "Anyway, where was I? Ah, Taiwan, that's it."

"Thailand, dude!" Kai said. "My mom came from fucking Thailand, you white retard, not Taiwan. Taiwan is that fancy Asian shit. We're not all the same, you know."

Butch growled and punched his fist into his palm. "You're half-white, remember. And if you don't shut up, the only colors you'll be are black and blue." Again he turned to Addy. "Anyway, I was in Thailand"—he rolled his eyes—"when I ran into the Basidio Boys."

"A pirate gang," Addy said.

"Piracy, land crime, smuggling … you name it, they do it. Don Basidio rules a huge organization across many worlds. Ironic, given that he's an alien mushroom the size of an oak, and he can't even move. But from his forest, he operates a cartel spanning half the galaxy.

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