Mana Pool Snippets - The Job

Part 2

Dozel brushed water off his raincoat. "Hey," he said. Oh yeah, it was raining that day.

I smirked and pulled my gun out of his face. "If it's your uncle offering me a job, tell him I'll be ready by tomorrow."

"Jaruka, it is not about my uncle."

Did Denverbay tell you about my problem before the asteroid? No? Alright. I was jobless for two months, for real, not even Brill from Nova Company had anything. It was one useless job hunt after another and it's usually immediate. I had never had that bad of a dry spell. My savings was running dry, and I was desperate to catch any low-end jobs at the capitol, but almost all had turned me down.

A well-respected mercenary could not get work, explain that.

"Then why wake me? I'm having a bad day." I wiggled a dread in Dozel's face.

Dozel rolled his three eyes in irritation. "A small man has been trying to reach you for hours. He say he got your message for work."

I tucked some dreads from my face. "Who?" I asked in confusion.

Dozel called out the man's name and the guy peeked inside from the main hatch behind my ship.

I will never forget the Gnogal's face, take lots of notes and investigate him to a hair pin, Xi'Tra, I bet there's more than wind in his past.

"Wow, I see life's been rough, Halcunac. Captain Secambre said it'd be true," he said, like a calculative shmuck.

Gnogals aren't hard to find in a crowd, just look down and spot red-grey faces with white hair. He had a floating canopy of fine leather to keep the rain off of him and wore Gnogal business robes, embroidered with runes. I knew he practiced heavy magic by his two-foot staff in his hand, not his robes. He must have been magic-born or something. "Sorry for disturbing you, Mr. Teal, but I was certain you could hear my proposal since this nice young lad helped me."

I nodded. "It's alright."

"Permission to enter?"

"Sure," I sighed, "but I can't come down. I'm ah...bare ass right now." That was the truth. I have my ways of sleeping you know.

The canopy folded into his robe and he stepped inside. He was scanning my workspace, everything from my glassblowing furnace to weapons lockers. He looked at my lockers and my katana on the workbench the longest. He does not trust me, I thought. Ready for any wrong moves, and with my gun in the bedroom, I pulled the hammer.

"Nice ship, Mr. Teal."

"Thanks."

"Never seen this model for a while."

"It's vintage. You got a message? And you mentioned Brill?"

"Yes, indeed. I came across your message by your Nova Company superior officer. I undoubtedly accepted it based on your experience," he explained. "I was hoping to hear the job I have to offer."

I remembered that I had asked Brill to help with jobs. I guess word of mouth finally paid off.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Name's Benali Zanos. I represent a magical science community for scientific expeditions."

I've done magical science work in the past, it's a cakewalk for magical folk, which I'm not, but I can still function.

"How about you explain this somewhere else," I said, eyeing Dozel. "This is not a secure place. Plus I hope that whatever you offer has food."

Benali nodded. "Of course. Capitol platform perhaps?"

I thought about it. "Lots of food."

"Okay. So you are interested?"

"First food, then explanation, and I bet that whatever you want to offer, you want me bad."

"Ah, smart. Your reputation has never been ignored," he said. "Very well then. How about we travel together to get things started."

"I'll meet you there," I said.

"Ah, right. Sorry. I'll contact you later with the location. And sorry for disturbing you, Mr. Teal." He placed his contact card on the workbench, a plastic card with Gnogal glyphs.

"It's alright, I'm used to rude awakenings."

"As if," Dozel whispered. I flicked a dread at his face.

"Talk to you soon, Mr. Teal," Benali said and walked out with the canopy open. I was unaware he rode in a transport; we heard him fly off in the rain.

"I don't trust him," I said.

"You have trust issues," Dozel said.

"He looked shifty."

"But a good talk. You can finally work off that stench in my face."

I grumbled.

Good talk, yes, but I knew my limitations.

My senses told me to ignore this, but my senses don't know jack about the real world. I needed money, fuel, food. I needed companionship for goodness sake. I couldn't ignore what Benali was offering, it was tempting without knowing. You understand, right? If you were job hunting for two months with no leads, and then a job finally comes, you take it, right? Exactly.

Nobody offers unknown jobs with food. It takes a while to bribe someone to feed you, but Benali accepted my offer without problem.

How can you decipher that?

And so I told Dozel to skedaddle. I showered, dressed, shaved my dreads, ate whatever crumbs I found in the pantry for the trip, secured the Lunar Spear (public transportation sounded good) and traveled to the address Benali sent me.

Just to be safe, I brought my plasma pistol and katana with me. I can't be too careful in the galaxy, right? Especially Gnogals.