4/12/12

Ray Gun Love Song
By Daniel J. Pool


“I hope you have a plan,” remarked Celyn.

Rubbing the butt of his hip-iron, Tobias replied, “There’s always a plan ‘B’ bab—“

He would have said more but a security torrent cannon swirled to meet them. Pushing Celyn out of the path of its disruptor beam, Tobias jumped for cover behind a garbage can. Pulling out Johnny-Be-Good, he set the power to “Kill”. For a moment the cannon was quiet.

“Come on out Two-Time-Tobias. There’s nowhere to run now,” half choked a tall order of a mechanized man.

“Randall that you? I thought I killed you, for good…”

“That you did, and you done a fine job all considered,” he hissed through his breathing apparatus.

Tobias sneaked a quick look. Plasma singed the top of his hat. He said, “Boy howdy Randall, you just keep getting uglier every time I put you in the grave. You working for the Federals now?”

“You can say what you like about the boys in blue, but they pay, and they ain’t never shot me in the back for working for them.”

“That’s nice,” called back Tobias. He looked to Celyn, “You still got a grenade? I think this is plan ‘C’ now.”

She thought for a moment. She stared into the empty stone eyes of the man she once loved. She was home free. She could still walk out of this station and go home. Gripping the cargo between her hands she knew she could never let go of the goods. She looked back to him, hurt melted as he replaced it with charm.

“I love you,” he said through a smirk.

“Yeah… I love you too,” she said tossing him a fragmentation grenade.

With a flash of steel and smoke Tobias rose to his feet and opened fire on Randall. Celyn made a dash for the charred check point panel as the securi-drones launched a rain of plasma at the sprinting dark rogue. Shot after shot disabled the tracking of the drones. Celyn scrambled for the panel as Tobias locked arms with the cyborg.

“I got it!” cried Celyn, the hermetic doors unfastening. “They’re set for 6 secs, come on!” she said as she hustled through to the hanger.

“Sorry Randall, gotta split!” said Tobias, holding Randall still on the door tracks.

*Crunch*

The Erro was still waiting on its dry dock. Androids dotted the area between their to and its fro.

Reaching to his wrist he said, “Command Protocol, Doormat Blue.”

Lurching to active mode, Erro locked onto the androids and opened fire on them. Tobias pulled Celyn by her coat collar as he fired into the mass of mechanoids. Rushing straight through them they leapt up the gangway as more security broke the hanger doors down.

“Get situated,” snapped Tobias passing from the loading cabin to the front.

Calming her nerves, Celyn sat down and strapped herself in. Still panting, she opened the black case she had been clutching. Bottles of water glimmered in the yellow light of Erro’s hold, and in neat rows around them were packets of seeds.

‘Carrots, pumpkins, corn…’ she whispered.

From the cockpit Tobias called back, “Is the cargo safe?”

“Yeah, it’s all here,” she beamed, wiping a tear.


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Daniel J. Pool is an IT consultant, writer, and part-time funny man from the Southern Mid-West. His works has appeared in Weird Year, Indigo Rising, and the Fringe Magazines respectfully. In his spare time he edits Larks Fiction Magazine.