Ray slipped out the back door of the Vid-House as quietly as she had slipped in. She allowed the door to drift most of the way closed but not quite latch and made her way through the narrow alleyway, sticking to the shadows. Hopefully the door would stay that way until the following night. Ray was glad to pay whenever she could but the cost of her training courses had drained the already insignificant “allowance” that Flynn was giving her. Of course, she always bought the vid house’s strange grease slathered popped grain. The salty fatty concoction was a cheap yet filling meal and the auto-dispensers never asked to see her ticket.

Money was the commodity Ray lacked most at present. And still, her meager earnings enabled her to be mostly self sufficient even enjoying the occasional luxury. She had incurred some debts however. If it hadn’t been for Jimmy (well Jimmy’s mom in actuality) she wouldn’t have been able to afford her schooling at all. This little rock was turning into a busy buzzing place and evidently the commissary was doing quite well for itself.

“It’s not a gift,” Jimmy had insisted. “I’m investing in you! I expect to be paid back one day.” Ray appreciated the help and vowed to pay it back with interest as soon as she was able. There was no way she would allow herself to stay indebted to anyone for long, let alone this kid or his mother no matter how genuine their intentions seemed.

Ray’s peripheral vision picked up movement as something scurried into a dark corner. Probably a clump of smart-grass she guessed. Or a space-rat, or an unusually large cockroach, or any one of the various lifeforms that had decided to call this moon home. It’s limited “natural” biosphere consisted mostly of oxygen producing bacteria, allowing any other surviving species that made it to the surface to flourish. Ray wondered why there wasn’t smart-grass everywhere in fact- it could be such a pest on a closed ecosystem such as a ship or station, often needing to be torched out of whatever nooks and crannies it had nested into. She pondered what other species might be feeding on it. Space-rats hated the stuff and mostly steered clear of it, lest they become a meal themselves.

An alien form was hunkered in a trash heap at the end of the alley. Ray had seen it’s plant-like form before: Maltavian and male, Ray posited- based on it’s elongated center stalk. Aliens could be so weird and there were so, so many of them, especially out in “the reaches” where she had come from. All kinds- predators & prey, humanoid, insectoid, plantoid and everything in between. Some truly bizarre and far too many to keep track of. Humanoids were a minority species out in the reaches, for sure.

It felt strange that there were so few respectively on this moon. It seemed like the closer she got to galactic-center the more humanoid races prevailed. Evidently like-beings tended to collect around each other. A few alien beings passed through every now and then, but they usually didn’t hang around for long, other than the space trash: other run-aways, junkies & hobo’s mostly. These places always collected more than their fair share of them- anywhere with a surplus would have beings living off the thrown out remains of it’s primary life-forms. Ray knew her own kind well.

As she walked by, Ray heard the Maltavian cluckle to consciousness. The sound of rustling papers and fiberboard followed her and she quickened her pace to a gentle jog. Maltavian’s were seldom dangerous, even the trashed out ones, but they did tend to be somewhat… intense- like most telepaths Ray supposed. Last thing she wanted was to get stuck in a conversation with this guy, she had a transport to catch. Plus the jogging felt good, there was something quite enjoyable about defying gravity one small leap at a time.

As she jogged her thoughts circled back to Jimmy, and his mom, and the seemingly impossible-to-pay-back money that she now owed them. Ray wished she had a fraction of the confidence in herself that Jimmy had in her. Of course she could probably just marry him someday, he’d have to consider the debt neutralized in that case. A shiver of revulsion ran down Ray’s spine.

Not that Jimmy was a bad guy or anything. He was just a kid, and his mom was definitely the nicest women Ray had ever met. And she was pretty sure he liked her. Not how Cosmo had liked her in that purely physical greedy way. Poor Cosmo, if only he wasn’t such a fused bolt. Jimmy more like, “admired” her. But there was something more to it than that as well. He had kept asking her on all those mini-dates. It was always to do something silly like “go watch the new bubble going up” or “check out the meteor shower.” All he wanted to do was talk about the future, always coming up with some naive plan. Ray didn’t understand what the point of that was. The future was an unknown entity in her mind and one she didn’t really trust. It was far better to just focus on the task at hand, work through one day at a time. Why waste time on something you had little (if any) control over?

At least Jimmy had introduced her to vids*. Vids were nova! She had heard of them out in the fringes but hadn’t gotten to see many- just chopped up bits and pieces. Of course, there had been all the weird preachy ones they made them watch back at the orphanage but she had never paid much attention to those. If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that preachy stern adults seldom if ever knew what they were talking about.

Of all the different kinds of vids, movies were the best. If vids were nova then movies were supernova! It was as if the lives of people across the universe could be recorded and shared with everyone else. She preferred the realistic stuff to all that fake action and shoot-shoot-miss kinda crap. The ones where the heroes would run though volleys of beam-blasts unscathed. Makers forbid someone actually get hit! Beings would simply drop dead or evaporate at the slightest touch of an energy beam. Ray had seen enough actual shootouts to know better. In real life there tended to be a lot more screaming… By comparison the fake stuff was pretty silly. She had learned it best to laugh quietly to herself as others tended to look at her funny when she did it out loud.

Ray walked down main street and crossed to the inner loop where the auto-trans would take her out to Crazy Flynn’s, her current home. Ray liked movies because they had the power to take her out of her own life and away from her concerns, for a little while at least. And they only took a couple hours. She could usually get one in somewhere between last-chow and lights out. They helped her sleep too. Often she would fall asleep dreaming of far away peoples living on the other side of the universe.

But of all the different kinds of movies she found herself most drawn to the romances. Sure, they were ridiculous and usually made very little sense but at the same time she couldn’t get enough of them, in spite of herself. They were the one guilty pleasure she continued to indulge.

She wouldn’t see them with Jimmy any more, it was just too… strange? awkward? She now preferred to sneak back to the cinema on her own, for the late shows. That’s when they played the best ones anyway. The ones that made her melt from the inside out. The hero’s were always so, so, she didn’t know exactly what, but she liked it.

Her favorite hero by far was Magnus Starczek. He was so stellar with his ridiculous bulging arm muscles and wavy hair. She hadn’t liked the big muscles… at first… muscles aside… “like ‘a side of berf’”, she muttered under her breath. Ahem, there was something else that really drew her to him- he had a sort of calm wit and could be so charming with that signature half smile, half smirk.

Oh, how she wished she could get trapped with him in an airlock for a couple days. The stuff they could do. “Oh shut up,” she said to herself. She knew he lived in another galaxy, far far away and she had no chance of ever meeting him. Now that she thought about it, Dreagar looked a little like Magnus sometimes, from the right angle. He even had the wavy hair, but unfortunately little of the charm or wit.

Ray caught herself again. She didn’t have time for boys, well she hadn’t had time for boys, at least not until recently. Honestly she felt her life was pretty good right now and didn’t need any boys mucking it up. Between work and her studies there was plenty to keep her mind busy. Every day there was something new to learn about or some new hulk of metal to boost down to the surface. There was always something to do out at Flynn’s, if only the rest of the guys wouldn’t insist on quitting for the day right when Ray was getting her 3rd wind.

Ray looked up and down the road. This was strange, the transport would normally be here by now, they were hardly ever late. It would come, she reminded herself as she took a deep breath allowing her mind to return to it’s musings.

The Gal-Fed classes weren’t as bad as she had thought, in fact she would probably be done with them already if it wasn’t for the long wait between submitting and getting the test results back before the system would allow her to take the next one. It was especially frustrating when she already knew all the answers were right- having gotten into the habit of rigorously double checking them all herself.

Due to the school-work, much of her time had been spent at the comm station near town center which had the only public-use subspace terminals in town. Sure, sometimes there was a line, but she found that showing up at night (often while waiting for a movie to start) she had the place mostly to herself.

The curriculum had mega-tons of reading which Ray loved, always being eager to jump into new material. Learning was so much fun even if the math and physics could be daunting at times. It was nice to know the proper names of things and the theories behind various technologies, even if the boys sometimes teased her about it. Ray didn’t care. She had no plans to stay on this moon forever and had no problem telling them so. Getting her tech certification was her ticket off this rock and on to bigger and better things.

The only thing that did bother her somewhat was the notion that her recent academic interests had changed the way Dreagar had been acting around her. Stupid moody boys! He really wasn’t such a bad guy, just a bit of a protein head. She supposed he could be pretty cute too… From the right angles… In a rough hewn, more muscle than brains kinda way. He certainly hadn’t tried anything again like he had that one time, Ray chuckled inwardly. In actuality she felt a little bad, especially if he had been trying to kiss her. But you couldn’t just grab someone like that and not expect to be sent spinning. Maybe, just maybe, she’d find a way to make it up to him sometime.

The sound of a transport in the distance interrupted her thoughts- unfortunately it was coming from the wrong direction. As it got closer she heard the telltale hoots and hollers of teenage boys out having fun. She recognized the lopey sound of the poorly running engine. Sure enough, Dreagar’s beat up old cargo sled cantered into view. The single working headlight almost lighting some of the road directly in front of it. He was so proud of that hunk of space junk.

Ray remained very still as the vehicle passed by, hoping she wouldn’t be noticed. It didn’t work.

“Hey lookie there,” yelled one of the boys pointing in her direction. “Hey isn’t that the ice comet you work with Drea?” said another.

“Oh yeah.” Dreagar acknowledged stalling his sled in front of the trans-stop. “Heya Ray, need a lift?”

“You can sit on my lap, I bet I can melt that icy exterior,” drawled one of the others, obviously more than a little drunk. There was no chance in the verse Ray was gonna let that happen.

“No I’m good, transport should be here any millisec now.” She said, wishing they would just drive away and leave her alone.

“Hah, don’t you know?” said the drunk one. “All transports are offline for power rations, you gonna be there all night. Of course if you’re nice to us, we’ll take you wherever you need to go.”

“Or you can come stay at my place.” chided another.

“Alright knock it off,” chuckled Dregar. “None of you could handle her, Ray can take care of herself.”

“Like you would know, hah!” said one of the others. “You got a thing for miss ice queen there Dreags?”

Dreagar fired the engine and blipped the throttle, the treads gripped and the standing loudmouths fell back into their seats. The sled pulled away amidst cat calls and rude gestures.

“Boys,” Ray grunted to herself. “Why do they all have to be such idiots?” She waited for the vehicle to go out of sight and then set off jogging again. Oh well, it was a beautiful night for a run.

As she quickly cut through the outskirts of town, Ray wasn’t too worried. Mostly everyone out here minded their own business, mostly. She put one hand in her pocket gripping her little Needle for assurance. She made her way to the single long road that lead out to Flynn’s and upped her pace, lengthening out her leaps. “Bet I can do it in 45 minutes.” She challenged herself ignoring her complaining legs. They’d fall in line soon enough.
_________

A little while later Ray turned her head as a distinct noise approached from town, the single headlight heading her way. Why wouldn’t these guys leave her alone? She slipped away from the groomed road to where the terrain was rougher, instinctively looking for some sort of cover. There wasn’t much here other than the small stones and gently rolling low hills of the starlit moonscape. She gripped the awl a little tighter, while hunkering down and doing her best to look like a rock. Damn right, she could take care of herself! Just try me, she dared the universe.

The badly modified sled drove past her, only one occupant behind the controls. It had to be Dreagar, he never let anyone else drive that jalopy. Still, he was by himself and most likely drunk. Ray understood how intoxicated beings could be much more aggressive but they also lost a lot of their coordination. One quick jab to a sensitive spot such as genitals, antennae, or whatever breathing holes were accessible usually took the fight right out of them. If not, a quick succession of jabs would usually do the trick.*

*Now if you were fighting a Vandiluvian, do not under any circumstances grab their antennae as it will send them into a rage and then they will systematically (and with utmost precision and efficiency) proceed to take you apart. Ray knew that it was nearly impossible to get ahold of a Vandiluvian’s antennae… Nearly… She also knew that even if you are aware of this and yet still somehow find yourself holding on to a Vandiluvian antenna- in that case the wisest course of action was to NOT for any reason whatsoever, let go. Ray wasn’t too afraid of a single drunk humanoid.

Plus there was a chance Dreagar wasn’t a complete wastebag. It was pretty far out of his way to come back here, perhaps she would see what he wanted.

She went back to the road and started walking out toward Flynn’s again. She watched the headlight fade out of sight, then a short while later reappear heading back toward her. She continued walking along the smoothly grated roadway as the vehicle pulled up alongside her.

“Ray? Is that you?” said Dreagar, firing the first shot. Hmm, so he had been looking for her after-all.

“Yes Dreagar, what do you want?” She noted that he was definitely by himself. Clearance to proceed to engagement distance.

“Um, uh” he stammered and turned off the engine. “Look, I’m sorry for the guys back there, they can be jerks.”

Oh so he was trying a direct frontal attack. “You were laughing too if I remember correctly.” She fired a warning shot.

“Oh I wasn’t laughing at you, I promise. Just… you know how it is?” he said withdrawing. Time to see if it was a feign or not.

“No, I don’t, how is it Dreagar?” she kept her shields at full power while pinning him with her beams.

“Uh, um,” he stammered as his expression suddenly changed and he let loose with a horrendous belch he somehow twisted into a sound. “Grrribbbit,” he followed up with a chuckle. His cloud of disgust attack had worked, she was repelled. It had been slightly disarming however and she felt her shields drop, damn.

“Look Ray, I’m sorry. I know I’m an idiot sometimes. I don’t mean to be.”

He launched the next salvo before she could recover. “It’s just that I like you, and not just cause you’re pretty but you’re so smart and you’re the most amazing plasma slinger I’ve ever seen, I ain’t never seen NOBODY can cut a bead like you.”

Shatted shite, now she was reeling. Shields down and hull damage! Ray hadn’t thought him capable of such an assault. Perhaps she had misjudged Dreagar somewhat. Of course this wasn’t her first time in combat either, she had spent most of her life fending off one kind of attack or another- she was quick to recover.

“Then why did you grab me like that, that one time?” Booth barrels at point blank range. Let’s do this!

“Don’t you see, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all this time,” he hiccuped. “I wasn’t trying anything, I promise. Well I mean yes, I was trying to kiss you, but nothing more. I just saw my only chance and jumped on it, I guess I jumped a little too hard. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Oh no, this was bad. She had misjudged him afterall, that is if he still wasn’t lying. One more shot couldn’t hurt at this point.

“And you honestly expect me to believe you?” she sniped.

He breathed out a sigh, exasperated. “You know Ray, you’re just impassible. I’m telling you the truth, I’m not like that.”

She didn’t know how to respond. Good time to retreat and regroup. She glared right at him then turned and continued walking down the road. If he wasn’t a lying arse then she had over-reacted and probably owed him an apology. Crap, shite, floating-space-turds, she did NOT like apologizing to anyone, especially an idiot like this. But he’s so adorable when he’s trying to be all sincere. Yes, but he’s also a man and you know what they are capable of, her mind raced.

She heard the crude engine come back to life behind her, the glow of the light casting her shadow out ahead. What was he up to now? Ray willed herself to disappear- it didn’t work.

“Ray, stop please,” she heard over the clunky rumble as the heavily worn vehicle idled toward her. She didn’t like the feeling of having a spotlight on her.

“Just go home Dreagar, you’re drunk, go sleep it off!” she yelled loudly but without malice.

“I’m not drunk, I promise. Yea I was drunk earlier tonight but not now.” The lopey idle started to speed up, accented lightly by the ring of metal on metal. Ray winced, he probably didn’t even have any oil in that thing?

“Well I’m tired and I’m going home.”

“Look Ray, what can I do to make it up to you?”

Didn’t this guy ever get a clue? Time for deathblossom. “Leave me alone Dreagar and get that damn light off me, and turn that noisy rattletrap contraption you’re so proud of around and go HOME!” Deathblossom was unreliable, it often did as much damage within as without.

The light went out and the engine cut out behind her.

“Hey, I’m sorry Ray but there’s not much more I can do. I stuck up for you tonight too and I told those guys that if anyone gives you any trouble at all, they’ll answer to me. And I mean it, if anyones does, you just let me know and I’ll make sure it never happens again.”

Ray stopped in her tracks. Ugh, a damn white knight, why hadn’t she seen it sooner? “And what makes you think I need or want your help?”

“We all need help Ray, sometimes. Hells, I need more help than most. I been thinking about what you’re always saying about not hangin’ around this rock forever. I don’t wanna do that neither. I been followin’ my uncle around from one bad situation to another my whole life. Sure this place’s been the best we run into yet, but I don’t wanna sit around drinkin’ my arse off everyday like he does. Hells, he’s piss drunk more often than not.”

She started to say something but the words evaporated in the thin air. Dregar continued on.

“I sure as shat don’t know what all we need in life, but I do know this one thing. We all need friends. I just wanna be your friend, ok Ray? I promise I will never ever try anything again, unless I’m sure you’re givin’ me the go-ahead. An’ I mean what I said about those other guys, if anyone, ANYONE gives you any trouble, you just let me know.”

Shields down, hull breached, core unstable… “Ok Dreagar,” she conceded trying to keep the sprinklers from going off too. “I’m sorry. Yes, I will be your friend, but just your friend, ok?”

Dreagar smiled a big goofy grin. “Yeah Ray, I’ll take it.”

“And I’m really sorry about the shot to the asteroids, but you can’t just grab people like that!” she said, sternly.

Dreagar’s grin turned into an even goofier smile. “Yes, I know. You taught me that lesson very well,” he snorted. “Here, let me give you a ride back to Flynn’s at least.”

Ray climbed up into the sled, taking Dreagar’s outstretched hand against her better judgment. It was large and rough and enveloped hers completely. Ray felt her cheeks flush and was glad for the low light of evening. “Ok, but only under one condition. I’m driving!”

“Uh what? Nobody can drive this thing but me.”

“Hah! How can you even stand it with that knock? When was the last time you checked the engine-fluid?” Ray pushed around him and pulled the bonnet lever, exposing the engine.

“Um, engine-fluid? I didn’t know it had engine-fluid.”

“Yeah look here, it’s about half way down.” She wiped the dipstick on his already stained sleeve. “At least there’s still something in there, so I don’t think that’s the problem. Gotta have a bent valve or something. Here, is this the starter?” Ray asked, pointing to one of the dozen buttons scattered around the console.

“Yeah, that’s it,” said Dregar astounded.

“All right tough guy, show me how to drive this thing.” Ray dialed her beams up to full intensity.

“Ok, ok, first you have to depress that lever there and hold it. Then you can put it into the first gear. Now, slowly release the lever while giving it a little throttle at the same time.”

The old tractor lurched forward then stalled out and died.

“See, it’s a little tricky, why don’t you just let me do it.”

“I think I got the feel of it,” Ray said unfazed while re-firing the engine. She released the lever again but this time gave it far too much throttle and the vehicle surged ahead, treads spitting gravel.

“Ok, ok, lady leadfoot, I believe you! Now go easy, I never take it over 4000 rpm…” Ray pretended to be listening as Dreagar gave her obvious instructions the rest of the way back. As they neared Flynn’s scrap yard she brought the skid to a stop still some distance away to avoid waking the old man. Dreagar offered to walk her in the rest of the way.

“Nonsense! I come and go as I please all the time. Now go home Dreagar, it’s late and we both have work tomorrow.”

“Alright goodnight Ray.” He smiled, turned, and prepared to climb back in the skid.

“Hey Dreagar,” she said surprising even herself. She approached at full impulse power as he turned to face her. “Thanks!” she said sincerely, and standing on her tip-toes gave him a light peck on the cheek. Proton Bomb away! He turned and looked at her but seemed unable to speak.

“I, uh,” he sputtered before she interrupted him. “Oh and bring that hunk of junk by after work tomorrow. I’m sure we can get it running better than that.” She tossed him a quick wave and took off before he could recover.

“Ok, will do…” he trailed off. She listened to the sound of the tortured engine as it receded into the distance.

“Raybeam?” she asked herself furiously. “What ARE you doing?!”
*Vid-Shows (aka: Video Shows, Vids or most commonly known universe wide as simply “V”- i.e. “I’ve had a rough day, I’m going to relax on the settee and watch some V.”) had become such a common and talked about method of communication that they shortened it’s name to a single letter so that the very saying of it conserved breath. It’s estimated that this has saved the atmosphere production industry Tredecillions of credits annually, especially when the popular show: Simulation of Daises is in season. There are as many different formats, resolutions, and dimensions that video may be played in as there are stars in the Connected Systems so it serves to simplify the matter and refer to them all with a common abbreviation.

*Vandiluvians- The Vandiluvians were descended from an ant-like species that eveloped on a planetoid with much lower than normal life-sustaining gravity. Hence they grew to unusually large size for an insectoid. This prevented them from being able to survive on any planet approaching the UTI (Universal Typical Ideal), but in combination with their exoskeletons, made them especially adept at life in space. They often built their intricately webbed hives at the center of asteroid fields. The Super Cluster Hive near Regargulas Five in the Cordovian Galaxy is regarded as the largest and most elaborate of it’s kind. The Vandiluvians have developed a type of ultra sonic communication, transmitted and received by a fine vibration of highly developed antennae. They generally preferred the company of their own kind and had horrible table manners (it just wasn’t a good meal unless it got everywhere), but could also be quite intelligent individually. They were also exceptionally difficult to kill. A life threatening injury would suppress the creature’s individual self and put it into an instinctual insectoid attack mode. Once in this mode, even beheading would not stop it. Many early successful Vandiluvian exterminations were turned to stalemates by the bodies of dead warriors. This was one of the reasons why nobody in the Universe messed with them very much. Another was that they were actually a quite nice and pleasant people and for the most part got along with everyone. They were exceptionally strong and commonly found employment in space mining, transport, construction or any other hard labor industry. A team of Vandiluvians (usually 14 or more) could work around the clock.