Condition Evolution 2: A LitRPG / Gamelit Adventure by Sinclair, Kevin (black female authors txt) 📗

about him. He began walking quickly towards us from further down the boards. If it wasn’t for his dirty clothes, or rather rags, he’d have cut a pretty imposing figure.

“What’s it to you?” Ember retorted, sharply.

“Woah! Just looking for work,” he replied, holding his hands out to show he wasn’t threatening. It looked quite funny as he towered over Ember. I suppose to an onlooker she was backed up by me with a big ass axe, somehow invisibly attached to my back.

“What do you do?” Ember enquired, cooling slightly.

“I’m a mechanic, but I can handle a gun in a jam too.”

“Sorry. Only we need a pilot for now.”

“I can fly any ship!” he said, enthusiastically. “What happened to your pilot?”

“Disappeared,” Ember said. “Haven’t seen him for weeks.” Which was the truth, kinda.

“Man, that sucks. Did he run, or do you suspect foul play?”

“Don’t know” Ember said, moving the conversation on. “So, you fly?”

There was a moment of uncertainty on his face, then I saw him visibly straighten up and compose himself. “Yeah, guys. You can’t fix it if you don’t know how it works. How big’s this ship anyway? How much crew?”

Ember answered, “Ship holds six. Currently a crew of two.”

I hadn’t even spoken yet. Nevertheless, she was doing a great job dealing with him.

“Small outfit. I can deal with that, and you’ll definitely want someone who has a diverse skill set, especially when you’re flying a small crew. What job are you taking?” he asked, while indicating the boards.

“Just started looking,” Ember said. “And, we can only pay a percentage of the job's value. How are you normally paid?”

“Yeah. That’s cool. I’ll take a third.”

“You can have a third of the profits,” Ember said with a smile.

“You got me there, lady. I can see I’ll struggle getting one over you. Tall, light, and silent over there, maybe not so much.”

“He’s cleverer than he looks,” she said.

“Well, that ain’t going to be hard. So, you’re the captain?”

“Nope. He is.” She gestured at me.

“Figures,” he said, deflating slightly, and probably realizing he should have been nicer about me. He continued, “If you ain’t picked a job yet, there’s one just come up. Perfect for a little ship. It’s well paid, but risky. I’m game if you are.”

“Which one?” she asked.

He sidled up to the board and whipped a piece of paper from it. “This one here. Transport a prisoner from here to Weka Four. Three-hundred senlar. It’s a fair trip that takes around three weeks.”

“Sounds good. Are you okay with this, Shaun?”

“Yeah. Let’s do it,” I replied.

“How do we claim the job?” Ember asked.

He looked at her quizzically. “You go to the prison. Can’t you read?”

“Not this shit,” she replied.

“This is the galactic standard.”

“Not where we’re from, it’s not.”

“Right. Are you guys Fystr? You look like what I’ve heard, only you don’t seem like pompous dick-bags.”

“No. We’re humans, not Fystr. You might say we’re their slaves.”

“Ooh. Tough ride. You should learn the lingo though. There are a lot of double dealers in these parts.”

“We lack a few bits of information, but we’re not stupid.”

“And if you double cross us, the whole fucking galaxy won’t save you,” I finally added in a menacing tone.

“Whoa! Steady, big guy. I’m not trying it on. We’re good, yeah?”

“We’re good, if you’re good.”

“Yeah, I’m above board. It’s been a while since my last job. I’m excited to be part of the team, you know. How about you show me this ship of yours? I’m Calegg, by the way.”

“I’m Ember, and this is Shaun. Nice to meet you.”

Moments later... “Fuck me! This hunk of shit is the ship?”

“Yes. This is the ship,” Ember said, tersely.

“I mean it could be worse, just not by much. I should’ve asked for more pay.”

“You’re getting a third, shit-for-brains. You can fuck off if it’s that bad!” Ember said.

He seemed to ignore her statement and carried on regardless, “I gotta ask; do you have any money for repairs? Because this baby here isn’t making it to Weka Four. Not in three weeks, not ever. Even with repairs it’s gonna take us about four weeks minimum.”

“That bad, huh?” I said.

Ember gave me a black look.

“Oh! It speaks!” Calegg said smirking at me.

This prompted strong words from Havok in my head, “Kill this motherfucker now, and be done with it.”

“Calegg, cool it with the lip. Havok wants to kill you and I don’t know if I want to stop him. Now, write a list of all the things you’ll need to get this ship space worthy.” I turned and spoke with Ember, “How much can we spare on repairs?”

“Fifteen senlar,” she replied.

I held back a smile. I knew we had at least double that.

“Get what you can with that, Calegg. We’ll go and get our prisoner.”

Calegg nodded in acceptance of what I’d said, then added, “Do you have a cell to keep them in?”

“I’m sure a man of your skillset can come up with something,” I replied.

“Yeah. Even so, not that quickly, and not without tools and materials.”

“We’ll see if we can buy a cage,” I said, while nodding to Ember for us to leave.

As we passed the supervisor I asked if we could get a prisoner transport cage. Apparently, this was as easy as ordering a sandwich. It was going to cost a senlar though. We paid him and told him to deliver it to Calegg, our new pilot. Then we left for the prison.

It looked like any other large building on this planet. The whole place must have used the same architect. Once inside, things got more uncomfortable. We entered into a long corridor and were greeted by a putrid smell permeating the place. Grunts and inhuman screams rang out. It was a pretty horrifying place, all told.

We made our way to the door at the other end of the corridor, as no other options presented themselves. Once through, we entered a sort of reception area. I say ‘sort of’ because it was just a medium sized, bare room with an opening