1
Lyssa
“Scans indicate the planet's surface is one hundred kelvin.”
"What's that in people terms?”
“Either negative a hundred seventy-three point one five degrees Celsius or negative two hundred seventy-nine point six seven degrees Fahrenheit.”
“So it’s fucking cold.”
“Yes,”Computer agrees. “It is fucking cold.”
The machine learns from speaking to me. I’ve taught this computer more curse words in the last three weeks of space flight than I think it’s heard in the entire time it served the space marines who used to use it for special ops. I guess they had more discipline than I do. Or at least someone else on board to notice when their language deteriorated. I have neither.
I’m here because this bounty has the most zeroes I’ve seen in the entire time I've been a bounty hunter. Zeroes equal a reduction in the number of years I have to do this. You would not believe the payments on an ex-marine craft. A lot of zeroes, again.
I chase zeroes, not bounties. It’s never about the man, or the alien. It is always about the money.
“Alright, so. What makes this guy so dangerous.”
“He has killed over a hundred members of his species and countless others.”
“Oh, a murderer. Alright. Good to know. What's his profile?”
“Undetermined.”
“Does he kill other adult males, or is he more the punching down kind of psycho?”
“Undetermined.”
You can have the most advanced computer system in the known universe, and it will still drive you to the limits of your sanity from time to time.
“Subject is highly dangerous, absent of reality. Inclined to act erratically and without warning. Minimum team size recommended for takedown: 10.”
Remove a zero and I’m right on the money there.
“Alright, so a dead or alive?”
“Alive. If you kill him, there’s no money.”
“So they really want him breathing. He must know something. Or matter to someone. You wouldn’t think so, with all the murdering. That he would matter, I mean.”
“Would appear so.”
“I’m going to need a lot of sedatives and something to launch them with.”
“Sed-darts already loaded into your sniper rifle. Enough sedative to take down a herd of alien elephants.”
“You know me so well. Am I going to land or beam down?”
"Landing not recommended. There is a risk of spooking the target, and atmospheric conditions make it likely the ship will sustain water and freezing damage to core systems.”
Aw. She doesn’t want to be wet and cold. Fair enough.
“Environmental suit ready?”
“Ready and stocked. Small campsite with thermal barricading also on deck for transport. I will, of course, monitor you the entire time and transport if necessary.”