Chapter 4: Night

Readers' Choice: [Torbus conjectures that playing along with Captain Judd's lewdness will facilitate his time and interactions at the outpost, so he can leave Valpon as soon as possible.]

The gangly captain sat stunned for a moment after hearing Torbus' trite joke, still leaning on the back two legs of one of the dozens of black and azure plastic chairs, the colors of the Delian military. After running his eyes around the room to determine Torbus was not part of a larger act, he let out a quick snort of disbelief that disturbed the trail of smoke dancing up from his cigarette and rocked the chair forward and leaned on his knees with his elbows. Judd wiped his thin black hair off his forehead and stared at Torbus with a scrunched-up face as if he were trying to find something under a sink.  

The man was comical, Torbus thought. But as the din of conversation died in a ripple across the room, coughs and throats being cleared punctuated the new awkward silence. The woman who moments ago had been the target of Judd's hazing furtively raised her eyes and used the opportunity to scurry off to the side of the room, her socks sloshing as she went. Torbus fidgeted and wiped his nose on the hard fabric of his jacket sleeve. The air felt hot now. Without turning around, he imagined all the eyes in the room on him like fusion lasers heating a fuel pellet. Sweat dripped down Torbus' back.

Lost within himself, Torbus blinked at the warm mist before he registered the sound. One of the spitters from the captain's game had, up until this point, been holding in a mouthful of water which he just sprayed out in an explosion of laughter. Captain Judd looked back and forth between the spitter and Torbus wide-eyed before erupting in a high-pitched guffaw that sent the room into cheers and laughter. After a minute or more, Captain Judd rubbed the tears from his eyes, stamped out his cigarette, and looked up at Torbus again. 

"I honestly thought you were serious there..." then pausing and mumbling to the older man next to him wearing an odd, long black suit, "What's this villager's name, Brother Suin?"

The man grew flustered as he studied Torbus trying to place him when Torbus spoke again. "I'm not from Valpon. Colonel Jivo sent me. Said you'd fill me in."

"So you really aren't the pelming electrician." Judd sighed, reached for a scrap of exo-cartilage on his plate and threw it at a soldier standing facing the wall. 

"Captain, you invite ruin when you revile our sacred stone with such language." Brother Suin spoke deliberately but kept his green eyes meaningfully on Torbus. "This must be the accountant Colonel Jivo's assigned us for inventorying the outpost and Valpon's harvest this season."

Captain Judd recoiled at the mention of accounting like he had just taken a shot of kaldis liqueur. He took a healthy mouthful of his wine to wash it down. "Fine. You, whatever your name is, talk to Brother Suin. You two, on the other hand... Wait. Where did Oira go? I have a new game!" 

◊◊◊

Torbus and the Brother Suin walked together under the dim blue glow of twice-reflected sunlight, off the thin planetary rings and then off the surface of Sekora, brightening the long Chellokan night. Voices from the messhall grew faint as they approached the outpost's reservoir. A chilly wind rippled the water, distorting Sekora's image on the surface. Brother Suin spoke while looking down at reservoir.

"Colonel Jivo wants you in Gurrat already, but he owes me a favor for cleaning up after the captain here. I need you to locate someone, someone the village beepers are protecting. In fact, many of us in Valpon are indebted to her, but she's outlived her usefulness. Her name is Eliza Nader. She's a sort of new-age matriarch, pro species integration. The type of thing the colonel has zero tolerance for."

Torbus shifted his weight and pulled out a cigarette. "I find her and then what?"

"I think she and her crew are hiding across the border in Gurrat. Smarfo me their location. Then, make contact with your Gurratan handler and use Ms. Nader and friends to curry favor. We've listed her as a wanted agitator." 

Torbus' tried to see all the angles, but it was late and he was tired. He didn't trust this Brother Suin, let alone the captain. Staring at the water, he took a long draw from his cigarette and exhaled.

CHOOSE (Leave a comment below or message me somewhere to vote for which scene comes next.) 

G) "Alright. Smarfo me the details. I'll leave tomorrow at single-dawn." [Torbus ignores any misgivings he has about the mission, figuring he's stuck as long as Colonel Jivo knows about his family in Bothos.]

H) [Torbus takes another draw. For a few moments the only sound is the barely audible crackle of tobacco embers. He looks at the reservoir and back at Brother Suin. "Not a drunk soldier in sight," he thinks to himself. "No one would see. Suin doesn't look that strong. I could be out of the outpost and down the hill and there'd be another 14 hours or so until sekora-light." Then, Torbus lunges violently at Brother Suin.]