Neutron Tube

“Stay close, Zeno. No one’s very friendly to your kind ‘round these parts,” Nikki says.  He knows a lot more about the Marketa than I ever will, especially since he’s a few hundred years older than I’ll ever have the chance to be.

“As you’ve said,” I commented, adjusting the breathing mask on my face and making sure it was sealed. Three seconds and the atmosphere in this place will kill me. It’s not unusual to have one, glancing around I can catch a dozen others with masks, none of them human. I doubt there’s another human on the planet. Truthfully, I should have stayed on the ship, this planet is deadly to me in a variety of unpleasant ways. But I convinced them that I would need to go sooner or later, it’s better if I know how the place works. This is the intergalactic hub for dozens of galaxies and where we get most of our work. Besides, the mask covers my entire face and the glass faceplate warps my sharp features. That, tied with the brown hood that I had pulled up over my stark blond hair, makes me unrecognizable as a human. 

“He’s right,” Captain Arza says, turning her focus to me. I could barely hear her over the noise, shouting and clanging and rushing footsteps all around us. A child is screaming for her mother to buy her something, an old man shouting his wares, a lady is dishing out slop to the masses. The Marketa is more chaotic than an angry Royala. I kind of like it, it reminds me of home, back on Dullas, my home planet. There were always booming noises and distracted people. In my line of work, it was easy enough to make a living in that kind of place.

I look at Captain Azra, just to make sure that she’s looking at me, too. It’s taken me a while to be able to tell when he’s looking at me because she doesn’t have any eyes. Her species, Nelkro, have hidden eyes under their dark green skin. The Captain says that she has too many eyes to count, and that’s why nothing gets past her and how she’s such an excellent pilot. Her face was blank without any features but her tentacles had plenty of deadly sharp suckers. She towers over me while Nikki’s head only reaches my knees. He’s short with pale purple skin and large, yellow eyes. He has a long, aquatic tail but he keeps it tucked away when we’re in public. It tends to get stepped on.

“Humans are the scum of the Luxkid slime to some of these folks and nothing but no good pests to others,” she continues. “Stick close and keep your hands in your pockets.” As I said, nothing gets past her. I’m kind of glad for that, if she hadn't caught me stealing from them, I wouldn’t be a part of her crew right now.

I had actually been trying to steal this cloak from her, just to prove that I could to some little kentos that had dared me to do it for ten credits. I had to go through all the trouble of a shoot out with her to keep myself alive. There are still a few holes in this cloak from her blaster. She let me keep it on the condition that I join her crew. What can I say, she saw my talent. For thieving and for blasters.

“Don’t worry, Captain. We’re here for a neutron tube and fuel, not my sticky fingers,” I say. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a Binenal, all blobby and brown like a pile of mud, wearing something sparkly around its bloated neck. Casmoitiun? Valuable.

“Yeah, I can see that ya little thief,” Captain says, seeing that my eyes had drifted from her. I snapped my eyes back to her face.

“I prefer to call it, the liberation of precious materials,” I say with a sly grin. Her tentacles, all twelve of them, quivered, warning me of her anger. I know better than to get her angry. I made a big show of putting my hands into my pockets, slipping on my most earnest expression. “Don’t worry, Azra, I won’t cause trouble.” I pulled my left hand out of my pocket and thumped my fist against my chest, a universal sign of trust, before shoving it back into my pocket. She was unmoved. She knows me too well.

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Nikki assured her. That seemed to satisfy her but I can’t decide if she’s still looking at me or Nikki. Or everything.

“I’m going to fuel up the ship, you two take care of the part.” With that, she scurried off on her long tentacles. I look down at Nikki.

“So… what are we looking for again?” He narrowed his eyes at me and I had no doubt that he was contemplating whether he should slap me with his thick, oil-stained gloves or explain it to me for what would be at least the seventh time. I had been distracted by something expensive.

Finally, he says, “A neutron tube is what supplies power to the navigation system. Without it, we’ll be lost in space.” He said it like he was talking to someone half my age. He talks to me like that a lot and, though it’s annoying, I understand it. He’s spry for an older guy but his species can be thousands of years old, I’m only seventeen.

“Give me a lift,” he says. I held out my hand and Nikki swung up with the grace of a Monkee, landing perfectly balanced on my shoulders. I had gotten used to him doing that over the past few months. He often needs to get a higher vantage point to see anything at all but he’s the best engineer in several galaxies. At least, that’s what he says. I think he’s the only one that will go on Captain’s wild expeditions. We’re freelancers, taking any job that comes our way. Well, not any job, not one that will get us thrown in intergalactic jail or something or that we’ll have to kill anyone. Though Captain does have an obvious dislike of the governments on a few planetoids. She’d be fine with knocking any one of them to their knees.

“Our guy is over there,” Nikki says, nodding to a non-existent point across the large expanse of the Marketa. I can’t see what he’s pointing to but Nikki knows his way around here, even if he doesn’t look like it. Nikki stayed on my shoulders, never once losing his balance when I duck and weave around the others. He gave directions and slapped me in the head with his leather glove when I took a wrong turn. He grumbled about how back in his day, the kids knew how to listen to their elders and blah, blah, blah. He’s always talking about how everything was so much better so many years ago. I ignore it.

I weaved around a Tamrn, a cyclops with iridescent scales and a long, dark purple tail that whips around with a mind of its own. I was careful not to step on it, knowing from experience with Nikki that you do not step on someone else’s tail without a death wish. I spotted the holster hidden under the guy’s cloak and quickly moved along.

I tugged the hood a little lower on my face, on the lookout for watchers. Specifically, anyone that was watching us. I played it off as looking at all the booths lined up on either side of the narrow walkways that they had created, everyone bustling for room. I slipped by easily, an old trick that I had learned back in Dualls. The building was stained with the most delicious smells that made my mouth water. I swallowed the saliva, wanting to avoid it getting clogged in my air filter and killing me. I pulled my brown cloak tighter around myself, hiding the sleek black suit that I have to wear everywhere under my clothing to survive the atmospheres. For an unknown reason, humans are one of the few creatures that lack the ability to transfer from planet to planet because of the differentiating atmospheres. Humans are more sensitive than most.

I walked down path after path until we reached the supply store. Shelves line every wall, cluttered with everything from Quantum Capacitors to Adaptive Pods. I can’t find any organization on the counter between me and a Royala-gex, a subspecies of the Royala. They’re a proud canine species with three eyes centered on its forehead. The only real difference between the two is that the Royala-gex has a bright blue streak down their furry, yellow and purple face and disappears into the collar of his clothing. Nikki had taught me a lot about a lot of species since I’d joined on with them and I appreciate it every time I meet a new species. Not that I would ever tell him that.

I walked up to the counter, my eyes flicking over the items. I had seen the neutron tube when Nikki took it out of the system, a long, thin burned-black tube curled up like a Pigguts tail. I didn’t see one.

“Canns me helps you-s'a?” he asks, seeing me looking. His accent was so thick that I had trouble understanding him. I look up at him, catching his nametag on the way up to his eyes. Vinod Padon.

“We’re looking for a neutron tube. Do you have any in stock?” Nikki asks. Vinod tilts his head back, his eyes squinted at the ceiling for a moment.

“Yeess-s’a.Waitss heress.” It took a few seconds for me to realize that he had said yes. He stepped out from behind the counter and it was only then that I realized he was sitting. He made Captain Azra look short. I swallowed and watched as he walked back to a shelf with a few random bits and bobs on the shelves. Out of the chaos, he picked up a neutron tube but it was clear. It occurred to me that ours should have been clear, too. Maybe that’s why we’ve been having a hard time finding planets recently. He walked back behind the counter and cleared a spot for it. Vinod began typing on the other side of the register.

“One-fifty-seven credits.”

Out of everything that he had said, that I understood.

“One-fifty-seven? No, too much,” Nikki says, shaking his head. Knowing that this negotiation would take a while, I grabbed a nearby chair and set it down in front of me. Nikki slid down onto it and continued the argument.

I wandered the store, my eyes skimming over the bits and bobs, most of them I don’t recognize but if I asked Nikki he would either slap me with his glove or explain it to me. But I did recognize a few things, a magnetic reactor, oscillating solvent, and a phased crystal. I was surprised that he just left all these things out on the shelves, some of them are very valuable and the rest can be melted down into something valuable. Yet another skill I learned back on Dullas.

That’s when I saw it.

Another neutron tube.

I glanced back at them but they were deep into an argument, both had forgotten that I was here. I pick up the part, turning it over in my hands. It was small and delicate, feeling fragile in my hands but I know the material is stronger than most metals.

One-fifty-seven.

It’s way too much, even for this pricey material. We can’t afford that but without this piece, we can’t navigate. If we can’t navigate then we can’t make money and we’re doomed. I casually look back at them.

“Nikki, how long is this going to take?” I call back, feigning boredom and hiding the part with my body. Vinod glanced up at me but Nikki waved me off and kept arguing, trying to bring it down to a more reasonable level. Vinod brought it down to one-thirty-five but refused to drop it anymore. Still way too much.

I know that I had promised Captain Azra to keep out of trouble and I have been trying. I’ve seen so many valuable items today, blasters, metals, and gems. So much that I could buy my own ship then hire Captain Azra and Nikki as my crew. But I held back because I do like where I am now. They’ve become my family, something that I’ve never had before. I would never tell them this but I feel like they kind of know. I look back at Nikki one last time. He wasn’t looking and neither was Vinod.

I started to browse more of the shelves poking at random things and carefully concealing the nuclear tube within my cloak. I pulled the hood up a bit to make me look less suspicious. I walked around the shop, inspecting things without actually knowing what they were. I circled back to Nikki and listened for a minute but Vinod still refused to drop it below one-thirty-five.

“Nikki,” I say, “We’re not getting anywhere. We can find the part at another store.” I tried to catch his eye, trying to communicate that we had to leave, but he kept his eyes on Vinod.

“I’ll handle this, Zeon,” he says distractedly. The one time that I need him to stop being a stubborn old man and look at me.

“Nikki,” I say, stepping closer.

“Enough Zeon,” he says, not bothering to look at me.

Vinod was clearly getting annoyed at this point. “Mes toold you-s’a, one-thirty-five or noothings.”

I decided to press a little harder. “See? This isn’t the only store that sells-” He snapped his large yellow gaze to me, eyes narrowed to slits.

“Zeon, I can handle this. If you're so bored, go find Azra.” He turned back to Vinod, muttering, “Knew I should have left him with the ship.” I stand there, staring at the back of his head as he continues. “Seventy and that’s my final offer.” Vinod shakes his head and repeats himself. I can see Nikki thinking it over, running over how much we could afford this guy to swindle us. I forced myself to brush off what he had said.

“Nikki,” I say, keeping my voice casual. “There are other stores. Trust me, we’ll find another one.” I mentally willed him to understand my wording but he just looked at me like I was a child. I hate it when he does that. I’m done with this. Impulsively, which will always be my downfall, I shifted my cloak aside so he could see the part tucked against my chest, careful to keep it out of Vinod’s sight. Nikki saw it and his eyes narrowed on me even more. He’s going to kill me for this, yeah, but that’s better than paying sixty more credits than the thing’s worth. I quickly hid it again.

“Fine, we’ll go somewhere else,” he says, steel in his voice.

“You-s’a won’ts finds anoother store thats’s sellss this,” Vinod warns. At least, I think it was a warning.

“I’m sure we’ll find something a bit cheaper,” I say, forcing my voice to sound pleasant. “Another part can’t be too far away.” Nikki shot me a look but I ignored him. I can do more than just stand in the background and watch, that’s why Captain Azra hired me. If Nikki won’t realize it on his own, then I’ll just have to give him a shove. 

Nikki climbed back onto my shoulders and I was careful to keep the part tight to my chest with my hand, hidden under the cloak. I waved to Vinod with my free hand as he stepped out from behind the counter to put the part back. A Lurnu walked past me, shoving me out of the way and laughing, a sound that made me think he was drowning. I stumbled but kept my balance. Nikki’s hand was tight around the neutron tube, keeping it from falling out as I had been focused on keeping my balance. I shifted it into a more secure position inside of my cloak and left before Vinod could notice the action.

When we were outside the store, Nikki smacked me on the head with his glove.

“Ow! What was that for?” I demand.

“You said that you wouldn’t steal anything.” Normally, I would debate that I did not say those words exactly but I know that will only get me another whack on the head.

I sigh. “I know. But can you honestly tell me that we could have afforded this?” Nikki was silent. I walked away from the store, heading nowhere in particular until Nikki started giving directions.

When the Dreadnought was in sight, I asked, “Alright, what kind of punishment should I be expecting?” Captain Azra turned from where she was fueling the ship and waved to us. Nikki and I waved back, the neutron tube held in my hand.

“That would be up to the Captain.”

I froze, my hand still in the air.

Never before has my survival depended on returning an object I had stolen.