Hud: Pardos
Hud sat in melancholy silence in the spacious cockpit of his Rapiki carrier. Next to him leaning against the wall was the victim of his current job—the Circuit encased in a Rhaa suit.
The Human girl was gone. Hud was likely never to see her again. It was strange; he and the girl had barely talked, interacted, or even seen each other during her short period of captivity aboard his ship. He knew hardly anything about her, or who she even was. Yet she reminded him so much of Natilliea that now she was gone, he felt like he was missing something. It was like Natilliea was taken from him for a second time.
Fortunately, this time was a lot less painful than the first.
He shook his head, promising himself not to think of it further. It only brought him bitter pain. Besides, Natilliea was here, humming happily against his chest.
He looked at the motionless Circuit as it hung with its painted on grin and single glowing eye. It was definitely eerie looking, but Hud could help but think it was quite pitiful at the same time.
"Ready to die, buddy?"
The Circuit buzzed slowly in response, a low resigned rumble.
"Sorry little guy," Hud said with a sigh, "My job is to kill, and your job is... well... to get killed I guess."
The encased robot made no reply.
Hud shrugged his shoulders. "From what I hear, all I have to do is pull you away from that blue swirly stuff and you'll be gone. Is it a painless way to go?"
"Howzzzzzzzz am I SSSSSSzzzzz*CRACK*ssuposed to know, dumbaZZss?"
Hud blinked for a moment and then grinned. "Well, well! Not only can it talk, but it's got a little sass too!"
The Circuit went back to being silent.
"Now why is it that you don't say much, huh?" Hud muttered, almost more to himself than to the robot. He scanned the metal suit, evaluating how much effort it would take for him to pull the Circuit out. He had to make this quick, he had to start making his way to the Seroah Universe soon.
The Circuit zapped a couple of times followed by a hiss of static.
"Uh huh, uh huh. Tell me about it buddy. This life's not easy..." Hud finally found a latch leading to the inside and opened it, exposing the Circuit. He reached in and grabbed the Circuit's round body, gently pulling to see how easily it would come out of the blue lifeline. It gave slightly, but needed more muscle.
Hud braced himself for the pull. "You ready?" He asked, looking down into the Circuit's one right eye.
He couldn't actually tell where the robot's one big eye was looking, but it seemed to him that the Circuit was looking right back at Hud.
"You BIZZZinZZZzzzshhhhha girl?" said the Circuit suddenly.
Hud froze. "What?"
The Circuit sputtered a few times and then fell back to silence.
Hud let go of the Circuit and pulled his hands back out of the suit. "Did you say something about a girl?"
The Circuit's static voice cracked quickly.
Hud thought for a moment. The Circuit didn't necessarily have to die right now. Although he would have to leave soon to warp to the Rhaa meeting coordinates. "I sure wish I could understand what you're saying little guy." He mumbled.
"ZZZsssss too."
He looked around. Maybe there was some other way that the guy could communicate. He examined the interior of the suit. Nothing noteworthy. But he expected nothing less; it was tight Rhaa tech. Impenetrable and unhackable.
Maybe he could rewire something from the Circuit so that it fed into his ship's computer. Then maybe he could read the translated voice input from the screen?
"Can you give me access to your wiring? Can you open something up for me?"
The robot stared blankly for a moment, then began to twitch and shake slightly.
"Woah... don't work yourself too hard there..." Frowned Hud.
Suddenly the Circuit's eye popped out, exposing a jungle of wires that kept it dangling below the body. The unexpected movement startled Hud.
"Oh." Hud glanced apprehensively at the gaping hole where the robot's eye had been. The black emptiness combined with the Circuit's creepily painted on grin gave Hud a sense of unease. "Alrighty then. Let's see if I can find a Circuit schematics."
Hud found a schematics from a screen and was soon rewiring Short to his ship's computer. It was light work, and Hud enjoyed the little project.
"Okay, that should be it." He got up and sat excitedly back into his chair. "Speak to me my friend. What have you been trying to say to me ?"
He stared at the blank screen of the cockpit expectantly.
Words quickly began to form on the screen. "Yes—we have a success, little buddy!" Shouted Hud before reading anything.
He looked down at the screen, reading the words. "You are...ugly" Hud read out loud.
He frowned and looked at the encased Circuit with his eerie grin and eye hanging out. This robot was programmed with way too much sass.
"Don't push it pal. Do you want me to pull you out of there?" Hud threatened with a growl. "I was going to, I didn't have to stop!"
Words quickly formed on the screen.
I would rather not die.
"Yeah we'll keep that in mind when you're thinking about what to say." Said Hud with a grunt.
Words continued to form rapidly.
Can you do something for me? There is only one way that I can speak freely again, and I can only do it if you take me back to Gnumus.
Hud scrunched his face. "You're not in a position to be asking favors, buddy. Anyway, you're speaking fine though the computer and that's good enough for me."
The Circuit sputtered with what Hud could only imagine was frustration.
"You said something about a girl?" Hud reminded him, ignoring the Circuit's statical complaints.
The Circuit took a moment before responding.
You're pretty caught up on that aren't you? Just mentioning that word saved my life a few moments ago haha.
Hud gritted his teeth. "Do I have to keep my hands on your life plug?? Don't make me regret my decision to postpone your death!"
Okay okay relax big guy, just messing with you. Holy Ruolt...
The Circuit paused a moment before continuing, as if gathering it's thoughts.
You have any special girl in your life?
Hud laughed boisterously. "That's not what you said before!"
Eh it's more or less the same thing. The point is I said the word 'girl'. Oooooo.
...So who is she?
Hud shook his head with a chuckle. "You ARE just postponing your death."
It's working though right?
"Not for much longer, kid. I've got things to do."
I don't want to manipulate your decisions here... actually, scratch that, that's exactly what I'm trying to do. But maybe we could, I don't know, get a little deal going on? You don't kill me and I... well I've never tried but I could quite possibly be a perfect wingman for you and whoever this hot mama is. Or another favor, whatever. I'm pretty flexible when it comes to preserving my life.
Hud sighed. This poor guy was going to die anyway. What did it matter?
"I had a girl." He said remorsefully.
Words scrambled onto the screen excitedly.
Now we're talking. Tell me. Who is this babe? She's got to be hot stuff to be hanging around a handsome being such as yourself.
Hud hesitated, glaring slightly at the Circuit. "...She was absolutely beautiful. And incredibly smart." He could feel Natilliea pulsate gleefully against his skin.
Oh triple threat. Wait that's only two. You need one more my friend.
Hud ignored him. "I miss her. A lot." He felt a twinge if emotion encased pain course through him, pushing tears to the surface of his eyes. This was the first time he had confronted this topic in a long time. He pushed the tears back. Now was not the time to cry.
We're using a lot of past tense here. What happened?
"The Rhaa took her." Hud said solemnly.
Woah. Typed up the words on the screen. Don't you work for that mafia?
"Yes."
So you're doing work for the goons that stole your girl huh. Is this a Pardos thing or am I not getting something?
Hud growled at the Circuit. "You need to learn to keep your mouth shut."
Words continued to flash across the screen. Hey bud I'm just trying to keep the conversation rolling here. But don't let me hurt your feelings, wouldn't want you to kill me or anything.
Hud frowned and looked away. He felt dead to his emotions.
So uh... why? Why did all that, all this happen?
Hud stared out the front window of his ship. The void was littered with billions of little star lights. But the beauty of the stars didn't bring him peace. It was nothing more than cold, empty space out there.
"She was a Human." He muttered after the long pause.
Ohhhhhh shiiiiiiiiiiit my Pardons friend! Ahh so let me guess, the Rhaa found out about your little illegal relationship and blackmailed you. Now you work for them and in exchange they keep you and her from being imprisoned or... sterilized if I'm not mistaken? Yikes. That's a tough one.
Hud nodded solemnly. Hesitantly raised his hand to Natilliea, grabbing her softly.
"They..." He choked, swallowing hard. His emotions were finally starting to hit him. His hands were trembling now, but his voice was still strong. "They turned her into this."
The Circuit was silent.
...And they have you wear her around your shoulder?? Holy Roulten...
Hud shuddered as he dropped his hands back to the armrests. "Hey uh... listen." His words were quiet and there was exasperation in his voice. "I need to go. Killing you right now wouldn't feel right, so I'm just going to drop you back on Gnumus and come for you later."
The Circuit was speechless.
Hud looked at it's dangling eye and ever grinning smile.
"....No thank you or sign of gratitude?" Frowned Hud.
You're.... not going to kill me? Read the words on the screen.
"Not yet." Hud said with a frown. "You're not completely off the hook."
Well... gee thanks I guess. Can I tell you where to drop me off?
Hud shrugged his shoulders. "If it doesn't take long to get to, why the hell not."
Thank you my mean-green Pardos friend. If you let me live long enough, I will try to find a way to repay you for this enormous kindness.
"Ah. Don't worry about it. I do still need to kill you eventually." Hud rubbed the back of his neck with his hand tiredly. "Where do you want to be."
A set of coordinates appeared on the screen in front of him.
You can call me Short, my friend.
"Yeah... let's not get too familiar, bud." Muttered Hud as he input the coordinates into the ship's computer.
*************************************
The location wasn't very far away.
Hud drove his bulky freighter to the spot, disconnected the Circuit from his computer, and shoved the guy out of the door and onto the dusty dunes.
His thoughts were on Natilliea as he exited the planet's atmosphere.
But he couldn't keep thinking about it. It hurt.
Besides. It was time to figure out what this message about Rhaa business was all about.