"Our next paid job is two hundred light years from here to discuss business. At-"
Stanley: "Sorry?"
Magnus stopped.
Stanley was the only person at the table looking at him strangely.
"Two hundred light-years?"
"Yes."
"And we're going there to talk?"
"Yes."
Stanley looked around the table for someone to share his concern. Daryl was already stabbing at a piece of egg with his fork; Sheng-Ri looked as though she had barely heard the distant sound and didn't care; and Jordan had finally managed to steal something from the big pan of seasoned scrambled eggs that was on top of the cork. Oswald, who was on the left of Jordan and was a new guy, was busy staring at the screen behind Magnus, looking like he was dreaming about something else. Tono, another newbie, scratched the hairline of his fringe while he focused on the TV. He was opposite Oblivion. Aurora was too busy munching on her food in her baggy clothes that looked like makeshift pyjamas.
{Why did everyone get eggs and bacon? And these guys and girls who came around the same time as me qualified for this? I'd understand myself because Magnus said I was special, but these fools? I know I'm the latest to come, but this is tragic.}
Magnus: "Jordan."
Jordan froze.
Jordan: "Yeah?"
"Put it back. That's mine."
"I already bit it. It's also a fucking huge scrambled egg, so-"
Magnus stared at him with hate for a few seconds while he was pointing backwards.
Jordan put it back.
Sheng-Ri: "That's disgusting." She looked amused and smug.
"You weren't going to eat it."
Jordan: "I was thinking about it." He said in a monotone voice.
"Too late."
Stanley looked back at Magnus, seeming confused.
"Sorry, continue. I don't understand why we're travelling two hundred light-years for a conversation."
Magnus: "Because they're paying us."
Daryl: "Good answer." He clapped sarcastically.
Magnus pointed at him.
"Thank you, engineer."
Daryl nodded proudly and went back to eating.
Magnus rested both arms against the table.
"The job came through three days ago. It's from a wealthy Trillionaire based in the Leeash System. He wants to negotiate a search and rescue contract."
One of the newcomers, Tono, across the table, spoke loudly while food was being stuffed in his mouth.
"To where?" The question was barely understandable through the incredible amounts of bacon and egg stuffed into Tono's mouth. His mouth was puffed up.
Magnus looked towards him with disappointment.
"They didn't say."
Magnus dramatically slumped forward.
His head stopped barely centimetres from the table out of reflex.
A few people stopped eating just to watch the embarrassing performance.
Jordan: "That's comforting." He said while eating four different pieces of bacon on his fork.
Magnus: "They're paying for the meeting separately. We hear what they want, decide whether it's not worth our time, and then decide whether we want anything to do with that." He smiled brightly while his eyes squinted happily. His middle-aged coffee shop owner look made him look over-the-top friendly.
Stanley looked down at the pan in the middle of the table. He saw the tens of eggs and bacon in another section, all cooked well enough to eat. To his surprise, they actually looked nice, as the eggs looked really crispy, scrambled into a semi-yellow burnt thing. The bacon, however, was cooked well enough and seems like it went first in the pan.
What a career.
Stanley then raised his left hand with his index finger pointing the most upwards, "Magnus, how much would the average job be? There's gotta be d-"
"Over a hundred thousand, each member. Per average job. It varies with job performance and the contract's favourable person. It was higher before these five came." Magnus pointed broadly across Stanley, Aurora, Tono, Chidieberre and Oswald.
Tono, Chidieberre and Oswald nodded like they had heard this before; only Stanley and Aurora were shocked. Maybe they were the only ones left out of the "payment" understanding loop.
Aurora pushed her chair backwards, looking at Sheng-Ri, "OKAY? UNPRECEDENTED NEWS? HELLO?" She was obviously excited, as her pink homemade ponytail shook left to right as she turned to Magnus, then Sheng-Ri repeatedly, then sat back down after Magnus's answer.
He looked at the excited, vibrant girl and said: "Aurora, you just arrived. Today is, in fact, the day of more details. I planned that one myself." He put his right arm to his chest confidently.
Stanley "Now why did nobody tell me this??"
Magnus: "Stanley, maybe it's your Surane blood, but you really don't look shocked." He nodded. Everyone else agreed in their own way. Daryl shouted "YEP!", Sheng-Ri calmly said "True.", Oblivion nodded deeply and slowly once, and Jordan pointed his egg fork at Stanley and said "Be more fucking expressive. It's uncanny."
{I'd swear I've shown as much emotion as possible, as I already know how much of a problem I am. What the fuck do they want me to do? Stand on the table and dance like a monkey? I'll show these people an expression.}
Stanley's face gets disgruntled and shows "Highly expressive" emotions in his words. It was expected, so no one cares.
Chidieberre, sitting quietly on Stanley's left, finally spoke to Magnus.
"How long is the journey?"
"Under three hours."
Stanley slowly turned his head towards her, even though he felt uncomfortable.
"What?" He muttered quietly.
Chidieberre looked at him and repeated Magnus's words while being annoyed at having to repeat.
"Under three hours." She said every syllable slowly, to get it through Stanley's brain, which she thought was stupid and quiet-minded.
Stanley blinked fast at Magnus, who seemed like he welcomed such a reaction.
"How?"
Silence.
Jordan: "He's got a point," he said while pointing his fork at Stanley.
Magnus nodded at the people who talked.
"He does, Jordan."
Stanley looked between the people around the table.
"I know I've only been here for a day, but two hundred light-years in under three hours sounds impossible." He raised his arms like he was being pressed by the words, which he felt due to not understanding.
Sheng-Ri quietly swallowed another mouthful and spoke calmly while egg mush was in the left side of the mouth.
"It is."
Stanley: "What?"
Sheng-Ri "It should be." She used the tone of sarcasm as her voice went up.
She shrugged while staring down at her food, using her left hand to hold up her head from her chin.
"But it isn't." Her vocal tone went downward again, sarcastically.
Stanley stared at her.
"I feel like that's not an answer."
Sheng-Ri "It really isn't." Stanley got her message of "I commented, let me eat now."
This led to the conversation being held silent for a few seconds, as Magnus looked around for anyone to answer so Stanley could bond with the team.
Daryl finally looked up from his plate that was half done.
"Dark matter as fuel."
Stanley waited.
Daryl continued eating. He didn't get his response.
Stanley: "…That's it?"
"Yep." He said.
Stanley sighed.
"Y'all people have a habit of saying things that explain absolutely nothing."
Jordan laughed under his breath, with a little smile forming for one second.
"Welcome to the universe fuckwit."
Magnus folded his arms back again.
"Most civilian and public transport shuttles use standard routes that were carefully planned. They're heavily checked and regulated, extremely safe and connect most major systems throughout the Empire."
Stanley nodded slowly while eating a piece of bacon. A small quantity compared to the hungry demons in this table.
"So." He put his hands in a praying manner and put them on his lips like he was getting a good answer, not sending a message to any religious things.
Stanley: "It's exactly what I already knew… Y'all just made it complicated." He looked strained and annoyed.
Magnus smiled faintly.
"That's actually not a bad way of looking at it."
Stanley's eyebrows lifted slightly and slowly.
"Obviously I got that right."
Magnus: "You'll have fewer of those as time goes on."
"Comforting."
A small chuckle escaped Chidieberre, and Tono gave a semi-frown.
Stanley glanced sideways.
It was the first time he'd seen those two provide a personal reaction that he could detect,
"Can anyone own one? A metro shuttle?" Stanley asked.
Magnus shook his head.
"Nah."
Stanley: "Why not?"
"Price."
The darker-toned man with dreads gently put his right arm down slowly, his fork in a fist, turning to Stanley.
Jordan: "A proper long-range shuttle costs more than most people earn in their family bloodline."
Aurora nearly choked. It seemed she was still learning as well.
"How much?" She asked, turning to Magnus.
Daryl answered before Magnus could.
"A few hundred million if you want something good, I guess, man."
The table went quiet.
Stanley slowly turned towards him.
"…Million?"
Daryl: minimum." He kept eating and poking. His food now and then.
Aurora looked as though she was highly confused with that information given, in disbelief.
"We're sitting next to a millionaire?"
Jordan burst into a small giggle. A bit more positive emotion is shown on the stoic man.
"A millionaire?"
He pointed towards Magnus with his right thumb and fork with bacon in hand.
"This cunt cooks charred eggs almost every day."
Magnus looked down at the pan with some sadness that seemed hilarious from the outside perspective of Magnus.
"They're not burnt." He said that his feelings were hurt.
"They're brown." Oblivion, who was silent most of the time, eating his meal, joined in.
"They're seasoned." Magnus turned quickly and looked
"They're victims, which they shouldn't be, Boss." Oblivion said.
Oblivion's shoulders seemed to move slightly out of his formal seating.
Stanley couldn't tell whether the giant had just felt jolly or adjusted himself.
Magnus looked at Oblivion in disbelief, then shook his head so he could focus back.
"The shuttle isn't mine."
Stanley: "Broken Halo owns one?"
"No," Magnus said confidently. The veterans and some new people, minus Aurora, Stanley and Oswald, nodded in reply.
"Then whose is it?" He genuinely was interested.
Magnus nodded his head left, towards Daryl.
The engineer didn't even look up from his meal, but only smiled jollily.
"Mine." That revelation to Stanley left him excited, but his meal was his main focus.
Silence.
Stanley looked at him, like he had told an unfunny joke. A straight, hard face, with eyebrows raised from the middle downwards.
Then at Magnus, who nodded again. The table kept eating their meal.
Then Stanley went back to Daryl.
"You own. A shuttle." His face was changing a bit, going from an unfunny story to connecting the dots.
"Mhm." As he made an agreeing noise while he had plenty of food in his mouth.
"One worth hundreds of millions?"
"Mhm. More." Stanley, this time, had his eye bags show when he expanded his eyes wide.
"You built it?" He pointed at him
Daryl finally looked up and turned his head to Stanley, while chewing with a smile that wasn't silly, but profound and selfish.
"Well, I wasn't paying that much." He shrugged.
Daryl: "Dude, did you really think I paid for that?" Daryl bumped Stanley's shoulder.
Stanley: "Yeah? Of course."
"Uh, I'm a creator and engineer. I build and repair shit, stupid." He genuinely looked annoyed, like he was at Tallurre on Stanley's first day,
Jordan snorted.
Aurora slowly lowered her fork.
Oswald looked at Daryl with a smirk.
Tono seemed mildly interested.
Stanley opened his mouth.
Magnus smiled to himself.
"Which is exactly why, after breakfast."
He pointed towards Daryl with his thumb.
"Daryl's showing you his workplace. I might "Know" that you'll work well together." Magnus smiled to himself.
The veterans looked at Magnus seriously for one second, then back to normal straight after.
Daryl hip-thrust his chair out of the way, carrying his plate towards the sink behind the counter.
"Come on, Stanley."
Stanley looked at the half-finished eggs in front of him.
"I haven't finished, Daryl." He called out only loud enough for him to hear.
Daryl glanced back at him sideways.
"You can eat later. We've got business, and you need to learn right now. Heh."
"Can't I?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I want to show you something cooler than fucking food." He lost his cool for a second.
That was enough to make Stanley stand up, feeling humiliated and embarrassed in front of his colleagues, who weren't judging him at all. They seemed more focused on mini conversations after they left and food.
"…Fair point."
Stanley then soon got up and scraped his food into the sensor bin on the side of the marble counter with the spinning stools. Daryl was standing at the doorway, holding the glass door for him.
Magnus: "Right. Finish eating, then. We've got a shuttle to prepare."
The room slowly came alive and began moving. Chairs scraped across the floor as plates disappeared into the sink. Jordan arrogantly carried the frying pan away after being threatened by Magnus to wash it "properly this time". Aurora wandered around with a slice of toast with eggs on it hanging from her mouth while looking through every cupboard she could find, claiming she was "exploring". Nobody questioned it. Sheng-Ri quickly moved out of the cooking and dining room and pushed Daryl out of the way of the glass door frame.
Stanley stood, stretching his back before going to follow Daryl, who was already moving on the dusty ground of the planet.
"So…" he looked towards Daryl with suspicion. "You were making the equipment?"
Daryl shrugged.
"Most of it, Man. I'm proud."
"Most?" Stanley squinted while eyeing Daryl down, who was looking down in thought.
"Pretty much everything." He transitioned back into being jolly.
Stanley laughed.
"I'll believe that when I see it."
"Good."
Daryl turned immediately, already walking away.
"Come on."
Stanley: "HEY! DON'T JUST FUCKING TURN LIKE I WASN'T FOLLOWING YOU!"
The workshop was apparently bigger than most module buildings, except the dorms.
It sat roughly thirty metres from most things, connected by a worn dirt path that cut through the red dust. The morning air was cool, carrying the smell of damp soil, burnt metal and silicon engineering way before Stanley even saw the building.
It wasn't even huge.
Compared to the dorm, it looked almost disappointing.
A medium-sized warehouse with white container walls, three large roller doors and solid tempered reinforced windows that had clearly been replaced more than ten times. Nothing about the outside suggested amazingness.
If anything, it looked like a shipping container with extra bits poking out.
The only noticeable workshop difference was a rusty buggy frame with red metal wheelie shelves with tools and dusty blueprints outside on the right side of the front. They were on the left side.
Daryl casually pressed his key card, which had his face against a scanner beside the entrance.
A heavy metallic click echoed from inside.
The roller door slowly climbed upwards.
Stanley expected darkness.
Instead.
{Holy shit}
A well-lit room it was, with lights of white being shown down everywhere in the blackened room.
The whiff of burnt aluminium stuffed his nostrils, made him take one millisecond to register the interesting scents of ghetto scrappiness and airy dust.
{Whew. Shit man, The hell is this p- WHAT IS THAT?}
The first thing he registered in the black room was the big industrial weapons in the back left, such as plasma guns, machine guns, and mini guns, all hanging up on pinboards ready to be used and grabbed. At least thirty different guns that all seemed too dangerous to be hanging up were all there, on display.
Many metal benches with stuff all looking different were everywhere, neatly lined up in the middle. A bunch of different projects, all set up, some not finished. Every table looked like an upcoming disaster project. Yet nothing actually looked missing.
Every screw, every blueprint and every unfinished machine seemed to exist exactly where Daryl expected it to be. His own brain needed it there, which others wouldn't follow through with such perfectionist stuff.
Half-built gun-like weapons rested on some of these tables with ammunition, random parts, blueprints, a scattered mess and welding residue bits basically on all the tables.
Mechanical arms hung from the roof, moving about and organising stuff like it had been programmed to do with its claw.
Open engines sat beside handwritten notebooks filled with calculations.
Entire shelves disappeared beneath labelled containers of components Stanley had never seen before.
Three different drones floated quietly near the ceiling, each moving just enough to avoid colliding with the others.
On the left side was a staircase that led to a small table, looking like his own break area and a round wooden table with metal cylinder legs and a base that was circular, touching the ground. Underneath the stairs seemed to be another important room.
Against the far right wall sat something much larger, next to vehicles like buggies and four-wheeled cars.
A shuttle. Not an engine. Not an incomplete frame.
A complete shuttle. It looked better than normal billion-dollar shuttles in its white and neon blue lit glory. Stanley simply stood there, flabbergasted.
He hadn't expected…
…this.
Daryl walked past him without slowing down to the room underneath the stairs.
"Told you, Stanley."
Stanley followed behind, looking back a few times at the shuttle.
Stanley: "HOLY SHIT! Daryl, um. How mechanically smart are you?" He said curiously and shyly.
Daryl looked back at Stanley, who was in awe at the mechanical bullshit on the tables.
"Man, are you really saying that I'm not smart normally?"
He looked back, teasing Stanley, who wasn't even looking at him.
He was holding a rail gun that was mostly disassembled and needed some parts and ammunition to fire. The grey, long, blue, glowing gun only needed a few things left, which the stuff on the table seemed to match in Stanley's head.
Daryl, who walked back to the curious Stanley, said: "Rail gun, an electromagnetic weapon that uses electricity instead of gunpowder to launch projectiles at SUPER distances with modern tech, man!"
He gave Stanley one tap on the shoulder, gave a faint smile and continued walking to the room around the many tables that ranged in size.
"Daryl!" Stanley shouted back at him with curiosity.
"How many weapons have you made?"
Daryl shrugs casually with a stupid face.
"No clue."
"You counted?" A Stanley tries to ignore it
"No."
"Why not?"
"I don't keep the failures."
Stanley looks around.
"…Failures?"
Daryl points towards the weapons on the pin boards that are behind the room, to the stairs.
"That's where they are." He said in a monotone voice, less emotional than he normally is. Stanley picked up on this.
{Oh my god. Those weapons on display are fucking failures? But can I count them? How can he not?}
Stanley turned to Daryl, then said: "Dude, I can count them."
Daryl then did a double take after a comedic realisation.
"Stan, yeah, um, there's a bit more behind that board." He pointed with his thumb.
It was silent for a few seconds, and Stanley was looking at Daryl, annoyed, like he wanted a gun himself.
"You're incredible." It seems like it took a lot for him to say that.
Daryl: "Nah." Even more monotone of an answer from Daryl.
Stanley: "You built a shuttle." He pointed both of his hands at the majestic shuttle behind the garage doors.
Daryl: "So?" He raised his right eyebrow
Stanley: "These weapons are insane. Just look at that one!"
He then moved around that table and went to the one in front, which was a purple crystal-like handgun that looked like it could only be made by the skilled hand of a Prismori blacksmith, A race specifically that focuses on crystal and refraction, which the gun would make many shiny light beams from the hanging light above, nearly blinding Stanley. He then proceeded to pick up the gun with one hand.
{Light. Hard. Flat on most edges. Prism-like. Is this a fucking naturally made Prismori weapon? HOLY SHIT!}
Daryl: "They're unfinished." He said when he picked up that gun.
Stanley: "DID YOU MAKE THIS!" he said excitedly.
"Yeah, man?" He didn't have his normal happy face on, and a straighter, blanker face like Stanley's on a good day was being shown in Stanley's eyes.
Stanley then proceeded to put the gun down, put his hands behind his head, mouth and move around fast-paced in one area near Daryl like he had heard the craziest news today.
"MAN! YOU CAN REPLICATE THE TECHNOLOGY OF PRISMIA!"
He was excited for the engineer. The engineer looked at the gun miserably and softly. Not much emotion was shown, but a lot could be noticed.
"That one's for Sheng-Ri. She is a full-blooded Pale Synid, you know?"
The expression Stanley was making seemed like a realisation that had been building over time. It made sense why she had the eye patch all of a sudden.
"Oh. She's got "that" anomaly in her eye, right?"
Daryl replied calmly.
"Yeah, Man. She normally hides it since people get uncomfortable seeing a crystal eye move like it's normal."
"Yeesh. Rough, I guess." Stanley did care and wanted to see under her eye patch. But he felt like Sheng-Ri wouldn't want to show it to a random guy she met through her job in the twenty-four hours they've met."
Silence.
"Well, I understand why their is the initials of "SP" on this gun." He admired the gun on the table of clutter.
Daryl: "That's my job actually right now. To get to know everyone and make specific weapons that are comfortable with the user."
Stanley then looked at Daryl.
"So, you've been talking to me all day just to get to know me?"
"Yep, Man."
"Did you do it with the other new people?"
"That too, yeah."
Silence. Stanley looked back down at the table to avoid Daryl's face.
"Ah."
silence.
"Well, do you want to see the rest of the others' unfinished shit?"
"Yeah, why not?"
A small smile glowed for a second from Daryl to Stanley, who seemed to be more blank than usual.
They then walked to the table on the left. It was two pairs of spiked gloves, made of some sort of special leather, as it looks stylish and sturdy. There were rolls of string of some type everywhere, scissors, and different chunks of metal that seemed to be testing the spikes on the gloves and bits of leather scattered around. This was another messy table.
Stanley: "So, who's gonna punch the shit out of their enemy here?"
Daryl: "Jordan. That's Robon for the spikes. It basically heats up fast depending on how much nitrogen and oxygen it is exposed to. You see that leather right?"
"Yeah."
"Made from Korveth green rhino beetle skin. It's really temperature-resistant."
"Oh wow. I mean, it'll do crazy damage later on."
"Yeah, Stan. Plenty."
Silence.
"More you wanna see?"
Stanley then looked back at Daryl with his quiet state again.
"Daryl, is there any for me?"
He seemed a bit quieter, yet still gave off the vibe of an awkward, curious young man.
Daryl put his index finger to scratch the bottom of his chin.
"Nah, not yet at least. Haven't even started, Man."
"Why?"
Daryl took an extra second to think here.
"I don't know shit bout you yet. You haven't bothered to have a sit-down talk with me. You're just like, "one of those friends" right now."
Stanley's eyes opened wide. A calm face, with screaming eyes.
"Ah-"
Daryl released a bit more personal emotions. He put his hands together like a prayer and put them to his mouth for around three seconds.
"See Stan, I'm guessing you're like confidence is low, and you don't want to say much, while making good bonds. Am I right?"
"…"
"So, like a little shit basically. I kinda realised when I entered this shed."
"…"
"Stan, stop staring and tell me you want to grow more. Stop being trapped in your head. You got a lotta shit there, but this group, Me needs you to grow the fuck up and stop being piggybacked off others,"
Silence.
"Y-yeah."
He turned his body for a split second. He genuinely was mad.
"Come on, man! What the fuck was that response?"
He put his hands on his hips, staring down at Stanley, who gave him another dead look like he normally does, but this time at a random table. He was just staring into space.
"It was something."
"DUDE! LET IT OUT! IS IT YOUR GENETICS OR SOMETHING? I'VE NEVER EVEN MET A FUCKING SURAN PERSON! SURELY IT CAN'T BE THAT HARD? AND DON'T LET IT BE AN EXCUSE TO NOT EITHER, BECAUSE EVERYONE FUCKING CAN, EVEN THE SYNTHERI! AND THEIR ROBOTS!"
He screamed at Stanley, who was deep in thought.
"Daryl."
He said quietly.
"Yeah?"
"I don't want to be me."
Silence.
"Most people go through a stage like th-"
"I HATE MYSELF! MY EX BROKE UP WITH ME BECAUSE OF THIS FACE!"
He poked his face with his index finger, aggressively shouting at him.
Silence.
"THIS FACE! THIS GENETIC CODE OF MINE!"
He looked dead and down at his hands.
"I REALLY GOT A LOT OF GUILT IN ME RIGHT HERE!"
He grabbed his own shirt.
"IN THIS BODY OF MINE! I'D WISH I COULD'VE BEEN BEAUTIFUL! SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES ARE GONE, MAN! BECAUSE OF THIS FUCKING BODY! MY PARENTS SO HAPPENED TO MAKE ME SURAN. AND I REALLY, REALLY DON'T WANT TO BE SURAN."
Silence.
"DARYL, I GOT BOTTLED-UP PROBLEMS, MAN SO MUCH. YOU WILL NEVER KNOW!"
He waved his hand with body language. Daryl could tell what he meant.
"So why not let me know now?"
Silence.
"Man! I-"
He started grunting and making hard thinking noises while agitated.
"EVERYDAY I WAKE UP WONDERING IF I SHOULD COMMIT SUICIDE, AND I TRY TO FIND ONE REASON A DAY NOT TO! ONE!"
Daryl didn't look surprised. He looked understanding. He wasn't smiling or acting like a father like Magnus; it was more like a friend trying to get through to a troubled young man.
"Today, I helped become that reason. I woke you up before you could attempt, Stanley. Think about that. Someone did indeed care enough to check on you. Now, I don't know how your brain works, but I've had my fair share of mental problems in this advanced society."
"Let's sit down in my break room and talk bout it, Man. I do get to know others, yes, but every person deserves special tr-"
"Daryl, I DON'T WANNA BE SPECIAL LIKE THE OTHERS! IT SOUNDS SELFISH BUT I WANNA STAND OUT LIKE A MODEL OR A LEADER!"
Daryl turned his head to the bench up the stairs and forcefully moved Stanley's head to look up there with him by pinching his face.
"Please, standing here won't be a good talking space. They can hear us."
Stanley looked with his eyes at Daryl with a bit of shock.
"Hmm."
"Let's go up there. Then we can talk weapons and shit."
Stanley received a pat on the back, and Daryl started moving forwards to the stairs.
"Hmm."
{Does he really care about me? Why would someone put effort into seeing me smile? I don't even have good teeth.}
{Maybe he does.}
A small water drop fell down Stanley's cheek as he stood exactly where he was, watching Daryl usher him along.
"Coming."