Tech Scavengers [Humorous, Action-Packed Space Opera]

Negasi racked the bolt on the primitive rifle and picked off another barbarian who dared showed himself. His microflechette pistol was out of ammo and he didn't know how many bullets remained in the crude magazine clipped onto this museum piece.

The barbarians had scattered after the explosions, a few hiding out behind piles of equipment or the strange furniture in this place. Off to his right, at least three of them had overturned a massive wooden banquet table and gotten behind it to make a last stand. The Elder Farrier traded shots with them from behind an old hydraulic press, while Nova had cut to the left to hunt down the raiders who had fled into the tangle of machinery and curtained-off stalls behind the throne.

Those explosions had come just in time, taking out many of the men to their front and panicking most of those to the rear into a retreat. Now they might actually have a one in a thousand chance of getting out of here.

That would be nice. He had a hot date with the medical computer on the ship, and he did not want to be late.

Negasi advanced, ducking shots and trying to get to Jeridan, who was fumbling at the controls of the hovercar and looking like he'd keel over at any moment.

A raider leapt out from behind a crude wooden statue, machete raised high. Negasi drove the butt of his rifle into his stomach and kept going. A bullet struck the floor barely a centimeter from his foot, making him skip. The next moment he got to Jeridan, who said something unintelligible and motioned behind him.

Negasi looked, and his breath caught. Aurora was climbing into a battered hovercar, her back to a gigantic man who was about to cut her in two with a double-bladed axe.

Everything seemed to slow down. Negasi started to raise his rifle. The axe began to descend. Aurora stepped into the hovercar. Negasi knew he wouldn't have time to aim. He'd have to shoot from the hip. He'd risk hitting the girl, but he had no choice.

The axe continued to come down. Negasi's finger began to squeeze the trigger as he sent up a quick prayer to Earth that his aim would be true.

Just then, Aurora whipped around and drove that homemade Taser of hers into the barbarian.

Right in the worst possible place.

The barbarian howled, the axe clanging on the back of the girl's seat. Aurora ground the Taser in, keeping the electricity flowing. The barbarian clutched at his vitals, let out a little whimper, and toppled like a felled tree.

Negasi swore he saw smoke rising from his pants.

"It's about time you showed up," Aurora shouted. "Let's get the hell out of here!"

"Good idea."

Negasi scanned the immediate area for enemies, didn't see any, and dragged Jeridan out from behind the controls.

"Damn, buddy. You got blood everywhere," Negasi said, sitting in a puddle of his friend's vital fluids. "The controls are all slippery."

"My bad," Jeridan mumbled, slumping in his seat. Negasi gave him a worried glance.

"Just hold on one more minute. I'll get you out."

He swung the hovercar around, saw Aurora already leading the way out and her mother jumping into the other hovercar, and hit the accelerator.

The vehicle rocked as a weight hit it. Negasi looked over his shoulder and discovered the Elder Farrier clinging to the back.

"Don't leave me!" he cried.

"You tried to leave us."

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"Look out!"

Negasi looked forward, saw he was about to ram into the wall, and swerved to the left to make it out the doorway. He hit the thrusters and shot up at a steep angle. The Elder Farrier wailed but held on.

"You're a tenacious old coot, I'll give you that!" Negasi said and laughed.

"Who you calling old?" Jeridan slurred, slipping lower in his seat.

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"Hang on there, buddy." He gave Jeridan's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

Spiraling upwards to get out of range as the Elder Farrier clung to the rear fender whimpering in terror, he looked back to see Nova shoot out of the doorway in the last of the hovercars. She did not gain altitude. Instead, she moved about a hundred meters out, did a 180, and stopped. Gunfire crackled below.

Nova leveled her uranium slug thrower.

"Cack!" Negasi hit the bottom thrusters to gain altitude.

Nova fired, and a hollow boom echoed through the old dome. A jet of material blasted out of the hole Jeridan had made in the roof. The dashboard Geiger counter, already in the red, gave the terse message, "LEAVE IMMEDIATELY."

Sounds like a plan. Negasi kept the hovercar at max speed, aiming straight for the Antikythera, which descended to meet him.

He drove straight into the open hangar bay and came to a stop. The Elder Farrier tumbled over the back of the hovercar and landed in the back seat.

Negasi hopped out, leveled his rifle at the old man and ordered him out of the hovercar.

"Why?" he asked, looking in wonder at all the technology around him.

"Because I'm going to lock you up. You're still a threat."

"I'm not a—"

"MOVE!"

The Elder Farrier moved.

Negasi hustled him over to a storage locker, shoved him inside, and locked it.

Just then, the sound of running feet made Negasi spin around.

Mason ran into the hangar bay. "Mom? Aurora?"

He stopped and stared openmouthed at Negasi.

"Are you OK?" the boy asked.

Negasi looked down at himself. He was covered in blood, some of it Jeridan's, some of it his own.

"I'm fine, little buddy. And so is your family. Tell the S'ouzz to descend enough for them to board. Those crappy old hovercars can't reach this altitude."

"He's already doing that. Oh, and his name is G'rahzz'kk'l."

"I can't say that without coughing up a lung."

"I'll teach you later."

Mason ran off. Negasi watched him go. That was the longest conversation he had had with him this entire trip.

Negasi ran back to the hovercar just as the S'ouzz lowered the ship enough for Nova and Aurora to fly in, clanking into each other because there was barely enough room inside the cargo bay. Negasi rushed over to the nearest one and started rummaging through the back. Ammo, electric wire, his body armor, all flew every which way as he hunted for the medipack.

It wasn't there. He rushed to the next hovercar, nearly bowling over Aurora, and furiously started throwing stuff out.

"Here it is!" he shouted, grabbing the medipack.

He ran back to Jeridan, who had slumped down in his seat. His eyes were closed.

"Cack!"

He felt for a pulse and barely detected one.

"Hold on, buddy," he whispered, opening the pack.

Aurora came up to him. "Is he … "

"Almost."

Sweat beading on his brow, Negasi gave Jeridan a shot of nanodocs, followed by nanohealing bandages on both gunshot wounds, and then a shot of stims.

Then he grabbed a medscanner from the pack and turned it on. He hadn't dared to do that before.

"Condition critical," the medscanner said.

"Don't you think I know that? He's got two gunshot wounds, massive blood loss, and radiation poisoning!"

"I was referring to Negasi Gao, gunner and copilot of—"

"I'm familiar with my job title. Diagnosis?"

"One gunshot wound, moderate blood loss, severe radiation poisoning. Apply a nanohealing bandage to the wound, inject one dose of enriched blood surrogate, take two of the red pills, and call me in the morning."

"Never mind me. What else does Jeridan need that I haven't already given him?"

"Two of the red pills and two doses of enriched blood surrogate. Chances of survival are—"

"Shut up."

Negasi gave him the injections, grabbed a canteen from the hovercar and managed to get the pills down his throat.

Then he stood back.

"Chances of survival are—"

"I told you to shut up."

He felt a hand on his shoulder. Aurora.

"You OK?" the girl asked. He realized he was shaking.

"I'm fine," he said, trying to keep his voice level and failing. He scanned her.

"Mild radiation poisoning. Take one of the red pills and call me in the morning," the scanner said.

Negasi dropped a pill in her hand.

"You still haven't treated yourself," the girl said.

"Oh. Right." Negasi got to work.

Once he was done, he turned to Nova, but she was already leaving the cargo bay.

"Where are you going?" he asked to her quickly receding back.

"To the bridge."

The way she said that made it sound like she was up to something. Negasi hesitated, torn between staying with his friend and following.

"Medscanner. Is there anything else I need to do for Jeridan Cook at the moment?"

"Negative. Chances of survival are—"

"Shut up."

He ran after Nova, catching up with her just as she settled into the pilot's seat. They had ascended to two thousand meters, well out of range of anything the Wasteland Raiders could deploy.

Nova powered up the guns.

"Wait a minute. I thought we agreed not to kill them all," Negasi said. "There are women and children down there."

"Those women are combatants. You shot a couple yourself."

"And the children?"

"I'm giving them a warning."

Nova lowered the Antikythera to five hundred meters and turned on an external loudspeaker.

"You have five minutes to evacuate the old base. Anyone still there after five minutes will be eliminated."

Negasi shrugged. "Fair enough. What does this accomplish, though?"

"They kidnapped my daughter."

"True. And now we have her back. So what does this accomplish?"

Nova gave him a hard look, but did not reply.

Negasi shook his head. "I'll go check on your captain. He's in bad shape, by the way. Thank you for asking."

Negasi stomped off the bridge. This whole mission had been a mistake. They were working for some psycho who toted radioactive rifles and was itching to destroy an entire primitive village. He'd been in plenty of firefights before, but this crazy woman actually seemed to enjoy it.

Probably made her day to have her daughter kidnapped. Gave her an excuse to mow down dozens of natives.

A muffled cry and a pounding of a fist on metal as he passed into the hangar bay reminded him the Elder Farrier was still locked up. Too bad. Negasi had more important things to worry about.

Like the fact that as he rounded a corner of stacked crates, he saw Aurora, eyes wide with panic, shaking Jeridan and shouting,

"Can you hear me? Oh no! Breathe!"