Marauder Kronos: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Mating Wars) (4 page)

“They’re programmed to fight for parking?” I ask.

“It’s New Rotterdam,” Delphie says, as if that explains everything.

“Yeah,” Kronos says. “I told you, it’s got character. No boring and polite cars here.”

I’m suddenly quite glad that Kronos is too cheap to take a car. I don’t want to ride in a car with “personality.”

I watch the crowds as we walk, and as we get closer to the taller buildings, the crowd thickens. It starts to take real effort to stay together with Kronos and Delphie, but I notice Kronos shoving other people back quite aggressively to keep
me
from getting jostled. Either he sincerely wants to protect me, or he’s worried that Jerky will take over and attack someone – taking away his chance to profit.

“There are so many Seraphim and Marauders here,” I say.

For every human shade of tan or black or brown, there are ten shades of pink or purple.

“Human pirates can dock on all the other habs to trade,” Kronos says. “The habs don’t like to advertise that they do business with pirates, but every pirate knows it. A human only comes to New Rotterdam if he’s got specific needs.”

“Like the summer sun being injected into their veins?”

“Yeah,” Kronos says. “Or maybe they need the blackest of the black markets. They need to sell – or buy – something that would be totally illegal and off limits….”

Kronos trails off and pretends to be distracted by something happening on the street.

“Like my suit?” I ask. “That’s why we’re really here, right? You’re trying to sell off my suit.”

He pricks his ears up at me, but I stop walking.

The crowd starts to wash over me like a rampaging current, and Kronos shoves people out of the way, then grabs hold of my wrist.

He shoves his way down the street, and I see Delphie trailing behind us, her eyes rolling the whole time.

We reach the side of a building, and Kronos angles himself to keep the swell of the crowd off of me.

“Minna,” he says. “Tell me why you want to keep the suit. You’re hiding something from me.”

I look down at my feet, stalling for time.

“As much as I want to make bank off of selling that thing,” he says, “if you losing the suit puts you in danger, or if there’s some other reason you absolutely cannot sell it,
tell me
, and we can change our plans.”

For a moment I consider telling him the truth. But I worry that Kronos would not be swayed by the idea that this biosuit is a living thing.

“It’s…,” I say, the excuse solidifying in my mind. “It’s years of my life, Kronos. This suit started as sketches on a napkin when I was still in college. And dozens and dozens of prototypes later, this one suit is all I have. How would
you
feel about losing your ship?”

He narrows his eyes at me, then he looks at Delphie. She shakes her head slightly.

“You’re still lying to me,” he says.

“How the hell can you be so dense at reading Delphie,” I snap, “but suddenly you can read me like a book?”

He smiles. “Delphie read you, not me.”

“Sorry,” Delphie says. “I’m not going to help you lie. And I need that thing to sell so that I can get paid.”

“I’m telling the truth,” I say.

“You are,” Delphie says. “But you’re hiding something, too. You’re giving up the easy truth to hide the difficult one.”

They’re both looking at me with those stupid pink ears angled in toward me, trying to pick my voice out over the constant buzz of the crowd. I feel like I’m being interrogated.

“It’s my fucking suit!’ I shout. “You assholes attacked the security company I hired to escort me and
my suit
to Venus. You basically kidnapped me, and now you’re trying to act like I’m the bad guy because I’m not telling you everything?”

“Hmmm,” Kronos says. “Let’s call a truce on this for now, at least until we’ve eaten.”

“What if I am done?” I ask. “Give me my pay for cooking and let me go.”

Kronos pulls out a few dirty sheets of smart paper and hands them to me.

“What the hell is this?”

“New Rotterdam Gilders,” he says. “You worked for me for about twelve hours. I’ll ignore the fact that you ate ten times this amount in rations, and you get this.”

I count the bills. “Eighty gilders? Is that a lot?”

“No,” Kronos says. “It’s enough to stay the night somewhere. If you really want to go, I can give you more. I can give you enough to make it to Mars...just know it’s more than I really have to give. But I’ll give it gladly.”

“You told me just last night that you can’t afford to pay me!” Delphie snaps. “Now you have enough for her to get to Mars?”

“I just said it’s more than I really have!” he hisses at Delphie. “We didn’t
want
to kidnap her! We just wanted the fucking suit. I’m not going to abandon her here
or
hold her against her will.”

She sighs. “Give us the suit, Minna, if you’re going to leave. It’s only fair.”

“I want to leave,” I say. “I’m sorry to both of you, but all that happened is not my fault. I didn’t ask for you to attack my ship.”

I see disappointment overtake Kronos’s face, and his jade green eyes pierce into me for a brief moment, but then he looks down and pulls out his tablet.

I watch as he pulls up ship manifests.

“I can get you on a flight tomorrow morning,” he says. “I’ll book the flight now, then I’ll get you a hotel that isn’t infested with fleas. I’ll give you more cash in case you need it on the way. And I’ll give you the comm key for the
Time’s End
...if something happens to you on the way, or if you need help, just call me.”

“Are you serious?” Delphie asks. “If she gets scared again, we’re going to drop everything to go rescue her? I didn’t realize we were a charity service.”

Kronos starts tapping rapidly, but I pull the tablet out of his hands.

“Oh,” Delphie says. “She wants the tablet, too? Hey, why don’t we just give her the whole ship while we’re at it?”

“No,” I say. “I...I wasn’t actually going to leave. Not now, at least. I just wanted to see if you were really going to let me leave.”

I expect Kronos to explode on me, to flare with anger, but his ears perk right up. He grins widely at me, “Ah, so you had to make sure we really had heart? You wanted to see our true colors, put us to the test? And did you see when we were tested? You saw that I was honorable, a Seraph of my word, and that Delphie – the one who is seemingly nicer than me – is actually cold and greedy?”

Delphie shoves him into the wall, and he laughs.

“So you’re not mad at me?” I ask.

“I’m just glad you’re staying,” he says, and those eyes give me that look again. It’s a look I want to see again. A look that will keep me with him, convince me to stay.

“
O
h
,” Delphie says as we approach
The
Barbershop.
“There’s that place you always go to.”

I lick my lips just thinking about it. We’re almost there.

“Kronos always makes me eat here with him,” Delphie says to Minna. “It’s good, but it’s the only place we ever go. Luckily he said he’s going to take us somewhere nice this time.”

I stop walking. Shit,
The Barbershop
isn’t really a nice restaurant, is it? Women have a different idea of nice than men. I was thinking only of that delicious beef and lamb cut from the skewer and seasoned with freshly ground cumin. The real potatoes fried to order, and the delicious cheese imported from New Copenhagen, made from real cow’s milk. The most delicious meal in the solar system...but the place – the physical space – is a dump. Why do women care about aesthetics more than pure flavor?

Delphie looks at me, then at the restaurant. “Oh, you were taking us here, weren’t you?”

“The food is spectacular,” I say.

“But the tables don’t even have chairs. You have to stand up to eat.”

“How good is the food?” Minna asks.

I give her a very serious look. “It’s a lost treasure of old Earth. A dish invented in Old Amsterdam, before it was swallowed up into the North Sea. It predates even the old empire, and it has been preserved for centuries
here
and here only, on New Rotterdam. The least likely of places for such a refined dish! Some say that this dish alone is the only reason New Rotterdam – ”

“Okay! We get it!” Delphie sighs. “It does taste really good...I just was imagining sitting down somewhere with a waiter, maybe drinking some wine.”

“Sorry, Dephie,” Minna says. “I want to eat the lost treasure.”

The restaurant is small and cramped, and the line extends out the door.

We wait, and when we finally get through the door everyone is huddled around the rotting wood tables, devouring food out of deep aluminum foil trays. New Rotterdam really does have some great personality, so why am I the only one who can see it?

The smell hits me and my hunger grows. I see Minna craning her neck to see what everyone is eating, but the tall Marauders and Seraphim are blocking her view.

We get to the counter, and I smack a thick wad of Guilders onto the counter. “Hey, Wouter, three large orders.”

The restaurant looks like a shit hole, but it helps keep the cost of the food down. It’s
still
one of the more expensive meals in the solar system, but it’s nearly impossible to dock on New Rotterdam and resist its lure.

“Kronos,” Wouter says, nodding. “Three large?” He points to Minna. “You can eat a large?” Wouter is a big, barrel-chested human male. “Not even
I
can finish a large...large is for the aliens.”

“I can eat it,” Minna says, voice confident.

“Whatever you say,” Wouter says. He turns back toward the kitchen. “THREE LARGE!”

“I’ll get us a table,” I say.

I spot two jackass humans laughing loudly in front of empty plates.

“Hey,” I grunt to them. “Get the fuck out of here.”

One of the humans locks eyes with me. His eyes are vibrating rapidly from side to side. He must be on Jolt or Jerk or whatever the hell they are calling it now.

“We’re still enjoying our meal,” he says. “Ain’t we, Marv?”

Minna taps my arm. “Kronos, it’s okay, we – ”

I step in front of her. “Keep her back, Delphie.”

Delphie takes Minna and pulls her back to safety.

“One last warning,” I say. “Our food is almost ready, and you’re at my table.”

Marv jumps at me, and I swing my elbow up into his face. It connects clean with his nose, and blood spews all over the floor even before Marv lands.

The other guy pulls a big knife and plunges it toward my chest. I turn to the side, and the knife misses me by a hair’s breadth. I snatch it out of his hand and slam the blade into the table,

“I just claimed the table with your knife,” I say. “Now do you want to fuck off, or – ”

He head butts me.

I fall back in a daze, and I raise my hands to defend myself from the next attack.

I hear a roar of laughter erupting around me, and when my vision stops spinning, I look over to see the guy collapsed on the ground on top of Marv.

“The fuck?” I ask.

Everyone is still laughing and pointing.

I look at Minna, fear filling my chest, did she use the suit, or – ”

Wouter walks over with three giant bucket-sized trays. He slams a hand on my shoulder as he sets the food down onto the table beside the knife.

“He got himself good! Fucking dumbass,” he points down at the guy.

The laughter dies down, and Wouter drags the two out of the restaurant by their feet.

I whisper to Delphie, “I still don’t know what happened.”

“He got you clean with the head butt, but your head is so big and thick that he knocked himself out.”

“So you literally have to fight just to get a table here?” Minna asks.

I nod. “You see? Lots of personality here.”

We grab our forks, and I explain the dish to Minna.

“It’s layered. The very bottom layer is French fries – the best ones you’ve ever had – above that you’ve got perfectly seasoned kebab, and then a nice layer of
real
cheese melted beautifully onto the kebab – ”

Minna grabs her fork and tears in. She takes a huge bite, getting a full cross-section of the dish.

Her eyes widen as she swallows. “And the top layer is...real tomatoes...real lettuce...it’s beautiful.”

We all tear into our food. I’m hungrier than I thought, and Delphie – for all her complaining – looks all too happy to chow down.

When Minna is halfway done, she leans back and puts a hand on her stomach. “Can I get the rest of this to-go?”

I whisper to her, “Is the suit fully charged then?”

“I think,” she says. “I just know I can’t eat another bite.”

“Yeah, we’ll pack it to go. Let me know how hungry you get...we need to know how much food to buy. If the suit is anything like a Marauder’s biosuit, you shouldn’t feel too much more hungry than normal unless you actually use the suit...which you don’t want to do.”

She nods. “Should we get going? I don’t want someone to fight us for our table.”

I finish up the last bite of my food, but I see Delphie is still eating. “We can take our time. No one is going to challenge me for the table after I took out those two. Marv’s blood is still fresh on the floor.”

I stretch while I wait for Delphie to finish eating. My head is still a bit sore from the big dumb head butt. I keep looking over at Minna, and I catch her looking at me from time to time. I feel a huge relief every time I see her – still here with me. I was prepared to let her go if she truly wanted to go, but now every time I see her I’m reminded of how good it is to have her with me. Even though she’s not really
with me
.

Not yet at least.

I catch myself smiling as I think about it.

“Why are you so happy?” Delphie asks.

“I’m just a happy guy,” I say. “Why are you so nosy?”

Delphie shakes her head at me. “I know why you’re so happy,” she says in a low whisper.

The restaurant is loud, but a sudden quiet takes over.

I poke my ears up and look around, noticing that everyone is whispering to each other. The whispers get louder, and as the volume of the place ramps back up, I hear the same word repeated all around the room: Peacekeeper.

I leave our table and push myself into someone else’s conversation. “What’s going on?”

“People are saying they just saw a small squad of peacekeepers arrive in the hangar bay.”

“Are you sure? Peacekeepers on New Rotterdam?”

“I’m not sure of anything!” the man says, shoving more food into his mouth. “We just heard it.”

Everyone is suddenly talking about it, though. Rumors like this are rarely wrong.

I listen in to more conversations, and I hear the word “biosuit” being dropped a few times.

I grab Minna by the arm. “Come on, we’ve got to go.”

“What about Ramu?” Delphie asks.

“Call him! If he wants to keep going with us, he better get his ass to the ship.”

The three of us walk out of the restaurant together.

“What’s going on?” Minna asks. Humans have much weaker hearing than Seraphim.

“Peacekeepers,” I say. “I think they know about the biosuit.”

“Oh,” Minna says. “Shit, that makes sense.”

We keep moving, not too fast as to draw suspicion. “What makes sense?” I ask.

“Are you finally going to tell us the full story?” Delphie says.

“I was taking the biosuit to Venus to deliver it to the peacekeepers,” she says. “I guess it makes sense that they realize it didn’t arrive as scheduled and that they would investigate what happened.”

“So now we have the peacekeepers on our ass?” Delphie asks. “Kronos,
Captain
, you have to admit that this isn’t worth it.”

I grit my teeth.

“Minna,” Delphie says. “If you can remove the suit...you can just go give it to them. I’m not happy about losing the money, but you’re drawing so much heat onto us.”

“We’re still going to protect her,” I say. “I
promised
.”

“But if she can take the suit off,” Delphie says, keeping her voice low, “then why not? She can protect herself, and she can deliver the suit to the peacekeepers just like she intended to all along. What the hell is the problem? And if you
really
can’t get it off, they probably can help you.”

Minna looks down, shuffling her feet. “Okay, look. I’ll tell you everything.”

“Tell us fast,” Kronos says. “We need to make a decision and act fast. They might lock down the hab.”

Minna lets out a long breath, then says, “The suit is alive.”

“All biosuits are kind-of-sort-of alive,” Delphie says. “That’s why they are called
bio
suits.”

“No,” Minna says. “This one is really alive. Before it bonded to me, it moved around on its own...it could eat on its own and it reacted when I spoke to it. Even now, while it’s bonded to me, I can
feel
its consciousness. When Ramu attacked me, Jerky was the one protecting me. I didn’t know how I was doing what I was doing, but Jerky did.”

“
Jerky?
” Delphie asks. “You named it?”

“Kronos,” Minna says. “It really is alive. Before you attacked...I was already having second thoughts about handing it over to the peacekeepers. They just want to use Jerky as a weapon. Or worse, they will experiment on him – dissect him – to see how he works. You really think that they can give up the opportunity to arm all of the human peacekeepers with biosuits?”

“Who cares?” Delphie says. “Sorry, Minna, I understand you are attached – literally – but the peacekeepers are more or less the good guys.”

“And we’re the bad guys,” Kronos says.

“But it’s not like you’d be handing it over to Darkstar or something,” Delphie says. “They’ll use it to keep Harmony in check, to stop existential threats to humanity and the peaceful co-existence of humans and Marauders and Seraphim.”

“Keep me on as crew,” Minna says. “Me
and
Jerky. We’ll fight for you if it comes to it, but you keep me protected as you promised you would. And you pay me, the same split you pay Delphie.”

“So far that is a big fat zero,” Delphie says.

“You’ll get paid,” Kronos says. “Both of you. Did you call Ramu, Delphie?”

“I sent him a brief and professional message letting him know we are leaving with or without him,” Delphie says, anger seeping into her voice.

“Can a Marauder wear that suit?” I ask.

“No,” Minna says. “It was specifically designed for human biology. It can’t bind to Marauders or Seraphim.”

I nod. “Ramu wants the suit for himself. I don’t know if he’ll even want to stay on as crew if I tell him that.”

Delphie balls up her fists.

“Give him a chance,” Minna says. “Maybe there are other things he’ll stay for.”

“Stop treating me like a baby,” Delphie snaps. “Let’s go!”

She storms off in front of us.

I laugh. “Maybe
she
should stop acting like a baby then.”