STARLANDER 2277 [WORK IN PROGRESS]

chapter II

The back of the bar was much the same as the front. It was dark, dingy and smelled. There were two doors on the left hand side that led to the men's and women's toilets. On the right hand side there were more booths and at the far wall, the stairs to the second and third floor rooms.
There was only one person sitting in the back, Deus didn't need to guess who. The man by the name of Smith sat at the last booth in the right hand corner of the room, enclosed in the shadows, his face illuminated by a faint orange glow that came from an E-Cigar. With each deep inhale his face glowed, the orange light reflected in his one good eye. As Deus approached he took in the man's appearance; scraggily silvery-grey hair hung down almost to his shoulders. He had rough facial features. A nose that looked as if it had been broken numerous times, gaunt cheek bones, lines of age and tight lips surrounded by patches of silver stubble. He had only one very serious looking right eye. The other, or what remained, was covered by a piece of bronze metal that had been moulded to fit perfectly inside his socket. Concealing whatever had been left of his eye. As he got closer he noticed a patch of small protruding red veins that ran around his left eye and stopped under his cheek. It was some kind of burn. The skin looked like plastic and was almost transparent. Whatever had happened was obviously the cause of his losing an eye, or so he assumed.
"You want something Boy? Or did you just come over here to stare at me?" The man's voice took him by surprise and he realised he was staring at him.
"No I 'em.. I'm a Boxer, No I mean a Box-Boy". The words came falling out over themselves.
"And I'm drunk, Cheers!" He raised his left hand which was clasped around a half empty glass of whiskey. He swallowed back the remains of the thick brown liquid and continued. "So Delivery boy, did you want something in particular or do ye just like staring at people? Now how's about you use your delivery skills and deliver me another drink 'aye?" he said, holding up his glass.

"Do I look like a waiter to you?! I got a package for you is why I'm here!    "WOW! Relax their kiddo I was just jokin' is all. Didn't mean to make ye cry."
"Do I look like I'm cryin' you old drunk! Do you even know where the hell you are?"
"I thought I was in a bar but looks like I'm in a creche!" He laughed at his own joke than continued "Look kid I just wanna' enjoy myself, alone, so whatever ye got there for me just hand it over already so you can run on home to your momma."
Deus glared at him; his fists were clenched and his heart was pounding. He could feel the blood pumping all around his body, supplying his muscles with oxygen.
The smile faded from the man’s face and he was suddenly very serious. His one eye fixed on Deus. They both just stared at one another for a couple of seconds. Then the man's face relaxed again and he added. "Ok look, I apologise son. I've had a few too many, I think. So how's about me and you start over and forget all this tension? I was only havin' fun."
"Whatever, I don't give a shit. Here" Deus produced the small box from his trouser pocket and placed it on the table in front of the man. The man held out his right hand, palm facing up. Deus took out a small device with no buttons just a screen. It was an *I.D.C scanner.
"I thought you guy's used print scanners?" The man said eyeing the small device suspiciously.
"We did until people start using print forgers. Now we just use I.D.C's. There a lot harder to forge and you can tell if someone has replaced their own with a fake by checking their hand for signs of tampering"
"Well you boys certainly thought of everything" he smiled mockingly. Deus ignored him. He turned on the small scanner and placed it over the man's outstretched palm. The screen lit up almost immediately, showing an index of information and a photo I.D. Deus eyed the face in the picture closely. It seemed to match the one opposite him, but he had to be sure. Any lost, stolen or falsely obtained packages came out of his pay and it was already low enough to begin with. The name on the screen matched the one that was imprinted onto the box, Edward Smith.

* Identity chip: A small device that is inserted into a person’s hand after birth which contains all their personal information.

"Says here you're from mars? But you don't look like noredlander to me." Deus said without taking his eyes off the screen.
"I moved away many years ago, I dare say I lost my complexion." replied Smith.
Deus thought for a moment. All of the man's information seemed solid enough, and the picture was definitely him. So why was he still unsure? He couldn't quite explain it, there was just something not right about this Mr Smith but he couldn't put a finger on what it was.
Then he made his decision. Putting the scanner back in his pocket he picked up the small parcel and handed it to the man. There was no reason not to. His I.D.C checked out and his hand showed no tampering scars. And anyway, it was his last delivery and he had already spent too long in this man's company.
"Thanks son" Said Smith as he stuffed the small package into the pocket of his brown leather jacket. He then asked "Was there something else?"
"You never heard of a tip?" Deus replied irritably.
"Ye I got a tip for ye" He said, turning his body stiffly to the right, he stood up.
They were now standing face to face, Smith stood about six inches taller. Deus spotted a gun holster strapped to the man's left thigh, a large stainless steel revolver was sheathed inside. He took a nervous step back as he eyed the weapon. Who was this man? He was beginning to regret the way he had spoken earlier.
"Never trust a woman! Especially not a beautiful one! Or a spectre for that matter!Seriously kid I know what I'm talking about."
"That's your TIP? You cheap bastard, and my name is Deus! Not Kid! Not Son! Not Boy! It's D-E-U-S!"
"Duce? What kind of name is that?"
"It's pronounced DAYUS! Not DUCE!" He snapped. He'd had enough of this stupid drunk. He turned on his heel and walked back to the bar.
As Deus was walking towards the bar counter he noticed two men entering the pub. That was nothing strange; all kinds of people came here. But the two men that had just walked in stuck out. They both had a distinct air of confident authority about them, but they weren't U.F.E officers. Both men wore identical stark white combat armour, complete with Shock vests, shoulder, elbows, knees and neck pads. Beneath they wore expensive black tight fitting ‘all weather’ suits. Both men had wireless earpieces along with a *combat-eyepiece. They were both armed with dangerous looking 10mm Automatic pistols; that sat in holsters strapped to their hips. Each man looked healthy and in good physical condition. The way they carried themselves screamed of military training. The taller and by the looks of it, the older of the two was light skinned and completely balled with a thick beard covering half of his face. The other man, who was at least a foot shorter than his partner, was also light skinned with short, neatly cut black hair. Everything about the man was neat, his hair, his clothes, the way he held himself, even his facial expression.He had small, cold grey eye's that seemed to analyse everything in sight. He was younger than his partner but he had the look of someone who was well educated and intelligent. He would have been handsome if it weren't for the hideously thick, purple scar that ran down the side of his face and below his chin.
The man with the scar walked over to the bar and began talking to Bill the barman. As Deus got closer he overheard some of their conversation.
"....you’re sure you haven't seen him? It is very important that me and my partner here" He gestured at the bearded man. "Find this boy before he gets into any further trouble."
"You still haven't told me what he's supposedly done? And neither of you are U.F.E officers, what authority do you have to be looking for DEUS?!" Bill raised his voice on the last word;As if warning him.
He was just about to turn around when the bald man spotted him.
"You there! Don't move!" He commanded loudly, drawing his weapon and pointing it directly at Deus; he froze. Not daring to move. The last thing he wanted to do was give this man a reason to use his gun. The other man had stopped talking to Bill and was now moving towards Deus, one hand holding a pair of hand cuffs, the other reaching for his own weapon. What the hell was going on? Who were these men and why on mars were they interested in him? Maybe it had something to do with him stealing that U.F.E squad cruiser? But that had been years ago, and anyway these were no police officers.