I left Justin alone for a moment to check on Sally. "Well, Ms. Woods, I think both our patients will make it to the hospital, no thanks to me. How much farther?"
"Well, Mr. Crew, even with the lights on it's going to be a while. I can hear you talking back there. Did the big one wake up?"
"No, the bloody one did." She raised an eyebrow at that. I was always envious that she could do that and I couldn't. "He's very...strange."
The silence quickly became awkward after that, so I went back to make sure Justin wasn't falling asleep. He probably didn't have a concussion, but an alert patient is always better than an unresponsive one.
"Umm...so." He looked at me curiously and I started again. "What did you do, as a..." I still had a hard time coming right out and saying it.
"I was a programmer."
I looked confused. It definitely wasn't the answer I was expecting. "Isn't that what you did before?"
"Yes, I was quite good at it."
"So, they, um, hired you because you were a good programmer?"
He grinned at me. His teeth were still stained red from the blood that was in his mouth when we found him. It made for a very malevolent grin. "No. I went to them because I had run out of choices. They accepted me because they always need more people. And they let me be a programmer because when their recruiter told me I was going to board ships for a living, I hit him with a crowbar until he changed his mind."
"Oh." It was all I could think of. It began to dawn on me that the person I was having a conversation with was not a nice person. In fact, he'd already admitted to murder at the very least.
"I just watched the first two times the recruiter came down and picked up whatever thugs were willing to go into space. There aren't many, you see, 'cause there are a lot of easier things to do for a living than try to hijack ships from very smart people flying very strange spaceships. Worse, most of the ones that are willing to go are complete idiots who couldn't 'wave a car and get a spaceship out of it. So, just about anyone that shows up and has more than two braincells to rub together for warmth gets into space. The recruiter shows up the first time wearing this stupid-looking brown spacesuit. Looks almost like it's made out of paper bags, cardboard, and a fishbowl. And he lets punks waving around uzis just waltz into a cargo container with him, cool as anything, and they take off. I figure that's the last time I'll see him, right? well, I show up the next time, and the same guy, wearing the same stupid suit shows up, grinning the same stupid-looking sly grin."
"This time, one of the thugs gets jumpy and tries to knife him while he's still walking carefree towards the cargo container. The knife hits, bounces, and cuts the next thug in line on the ricochet. The would-be ship stealer is then summarily pummeled by the guy he managed to cut, and dumped on the sidewalk. Everyone else piles into the ship, and it takes off. I stop to check on the guy. His knife is broken, and he keeps complaining that his hand is numb."
"The third time the recruiter shows up, I go along with the gang. I've got a set of earplugs, some hockey gloves in a backpack, and a crowbar. I'm not nearly the weirdest one in the group. There's also a couple of morons carrying shotguns, two more that appear to be unarmed, and another loner who's got a suspicious bulge under his jacket. We follow the guy into his cargo container, we're sealed in with him, and we lift off. The actual ship is attached to one end of the container, and it's not connected to us at all."
I was following the story all right thus far, but curiosity won out at that point. "Why not?"
Justin smiled. "Because they didn't want any idiots with no idea of how things work in space to try to hijack the transport. They let the recruiter wear a heavily armored spacesuit, and if things get really bad, they vent the atmosphere. Nothing the thugs bring with them can hurt the recruiter, and anyone stupid enough to try can be identified before they become a real hazard to the gang. Cold, but smart."
I nod, sickened slightly by the idea that they would just 'vent the atmosphere' if the group they picked up was causing trouble.
"So, the two with shotguns are the first to complain. The recruiter tells them that if they're claustrophobic, they shouldn't have come into space. Sounded like a well-used line to me. One of them starts to raise the shotgun at the recruiter, and my crowbar hits him in the nose. There's a rather tense moment as I calmly explain to him what would happen if he fired - with either shot or slugs loaded into the gun - in very minute detail. Most of the people in the room - except the recruiter - go green. They're all armed with guns. In a metal box. In space. With no spacesuits. I'm pretty sure that the recruiter usually explains them to them. Of course, I was also pretty sure that, even if the idiot were using slugs in that shotgun and fired it point blank at the wall, it wouldn't break through, but no point in mentioning that."
"The ride went rather smoothly after that. The recruiter gave a short speech on 'live in space', covered the chain of command, little as there is, and told us that we were all expected to start at the bottom, as grunts. This is what I took offense to. He laughed, and asked me what I was going to do about it. In response, I took out my earplugs and put them in. Then I took out my gloves and put them on. Then I proceeded to thrash at his joints and fishbowl helmet until we arrived. By the time I was finished, everyone else in the container with me had lost a bit of permanent hearing - including the recruiter. And I got my choice of assignments, by threatening a repeat performance."
Justin finished his story with a little shrug. I shivered.
--------------------------------------------------------
The name and the refference come from Babylon 5. They're not terribly significant, although that second post has a lot of undertones that you would miss if you've never seen the B5 series.
"Not this again!" Minerva said. "Albus, it was You-Know-Who, not you, who marked Harry as his equal. There is no possible way that the prophecy could be talking about you!" - Harry Potter and the Method of Rationality, Chapter 84
"Well, Mr. Crew, even with the lights on it's going to be a while. I can hear you talking back there. Did the big one wake up?"
"No, the bloody one did." She raised an eyebrow at that. I was always envious that she could do that and I couldn't. "He's very...strange."
The silence quickly became awkward after that, so I went back to make sure Justin wasn't falling asleep. He probably didn't have a concussion, but an alert patient is always better than an unresponsive one.
"Umm...so." He looked at me curiously and I started again. "What did you do, as a..." I still had a hard time coming right out and saying it.
"I was a programmer."
I looked confused. It definitely wasn't the answer I was expecting. "Isn't that what you did before?"
"Yes, I was quite good at it."
"So, they, um, hired you because you were a good programmer?"
He grinned at me. His teeth were still stained red from the blood that was in his mouth when we found him. It made for a very malevolent grin. "No. I went to them because I had run out of choices. They accepted me because they always need more people. And they let me be a programmer because when their recruiter told me I was going to board ships for a living, I hit him with a crowbar until he changed his mind."
"Oh." It was all I could think of. It began to dawn on me that the person I was having a conversation with was not a nice person. In fact, he'd already admitted to murder at the very least.
"I just watched the first two times the recruiter came down and picked up whatever thugs were willing to go into space. There aren't many, you see, 'cause there are a lot of easier things to do for a living than try to hijack ships from very smart people flying very strange spaceships. Worse, most of the ones that are willing to go are complete idiots who couldn't 'wave a car and get a spaceship out of it. So, just about anyone that shows up and has more than two braincells to rub together for warmth gets into space. The recruiter shows up the first time wearing this stupid-looking brown spacesuit. Looks almost like it's made out of paper bags, cardboard, and a fishbowl. And he lets punks waving around uzis just waltz into a cargo container with him, cool as anything, and they take off. I figure that's the last time I'll see him, right? well, I show up the next time, and the same guy, wearing the same stupid suit shows up, grinning the same stupid-looking sly grin."
"This time, one of the thugs gets jumpy and tries to knife him while he's still walking carefree towards the cargo container. The knife hits, bounces, and cuts the next thug in line on the ricochet. The would-be ship stealer is then summarily pummeled by the guy he managed to cut, and dumped on the sidewalk. Everyone else piles into the ship, and it takes off. I stop to check on the guy. His knife is broken, and he keeps complaining that his hand is numb."
"The third time the recruiter shows up, I go along with the gang. I've got a set of earplugs, some hockey gloves in a backpack, and a crowbar. I'm not nearly the weirdest one in the group. There's also a couple of morons carrying shotguns, two more that appear to be unarmed, and another loner who's got a suspicious bulge under his jacket. We follow the guy into his cargo container, we're sealed in with him, and we lift off. The actual ship is attached to one end of the container, and it's not connected to us at all."
I was following the story all right thus far, but curiosity won out at that point. "Why not?"
Justin smiled. "Because they didn't want any idiots with no idea of how things work in space to try to hijack the transport. They let the recruiter wear a heavily armored spacesuit, and if things get really bad, they vent the atmosphere. Nothing the thugs bring with them can hurt the recruiter, and anyone stupid enough to try can be identified before they become a real hazard to the gang. Cold, but smart."
I nod, sickened slightly by the idea that they would just 'vent the atmosphere' if the group they picked up was causing trouble.
"So, the two with shotguns are the first to complain. The recruiter tells them that if they're claustrophobic, they shouldn't have come into space. Sounded like a well-used line to me. One of them starts to raise the shotgun at the recruiter, and my crowbar hits him in the nose. There's a rather tense moment as I calmly explain to him what would happen if he fired - with either shot or slugs loaded into the gun - in very minute detail. Most of the people in the room - except the recruiter - go green. They're all armed with guns. In a metal box. In space. With no spacesuits. I'm pretty sure that the recruiter usually explains them to them. Of course, I was also pretty sure that, even if the idiot were using slugs in that shotgun and fired it point blank at the wall, it wouldn't break through, but no point in mentioning that."
"The ride went rather smoothly after that. The recruiter gave a short speech on 'live in space', covered the chain of command, little as there is, and told us that we were all expected to start at the bottom, as grunts. This is what I took offense to. He laughed, and asked me what I was going to do about it. In response, I took out my earplugs and put them in. Then I took out my gloves and put them on. Then I proceeded to thrash at his joints and fishbowl helmet until we arrived. By the time I was finished, everyone else in the container with me had lost a bit of permanent hearing - including the recruiter. And I got my choice of assignments, by threatening a repeat performance."
Justin finished his story with a little shrug. I shivered.
--------------------------------------------------------
The name and the refference come from Babylon 5. They're not terribly significant, although that second post has a lot of undertones that you would miss if you've never seen the B5 series.
"Not this again!" Minerva said. "Albus, it was You-Know-Who, not you, who marked Harry as his equal. There is no possible way that the prophecy could be talking about you!" - Harry Potter and the Method of Rationality, Chapter 84