Vanguard Word Update

2k words

***

“I think you’ll appreciate the surprise,” he said. “Come on, it’s this way.”

The two of them proceeded downspin for a ways, coming upon an arch that curved over the main street, held aloft by two pillars that were capped at the tops with scantily-clad women, moving their slim bodies in a smooth, distracting motion, their faded blue images not unlike the holograms in the simulation.

Beyond the arch was a world of colour. Neon signage jutted from every inch of space from either side of the street, Cadell reading off some of the closer ones. There were arcades, indoor courts, and an arrow that proclaimed there was a casino only a short walk ahead. His alien companion stepped into the moderate foot traffic, squinting her eyes as she read off what was written across the arch and yellow letters.

“Welcome to… Solargate… Strip,” she murmured, blinking her eyes as the sign flashed on and off. “By the sands, you humans build such elaborate structures for a species so small.”

“You’re tellin’ me, this place is massive,” Cadell replied, peering down the length of the strip. It travelled so far that he had to look above the horizon to spot the far side, the amenities ending at an exact copy of the arch they were standing beneath.

Cadell led her through, remembering the directions the kiosk had given him. He only got a couple steps in when he felt Samiha’s plate-sized hand fall on his shoulder.

“Wait a moment,” she said, and pointed with her other hand. “What is that?”

“Huh?” He looked that way, but the crowds of people were very compact, and he couldn’t see over the tops of their heads like she could. Before he could ask what she’d seen, she took off in that direction with an eerie amount of speed, Cadell following after through the shocked people she left in her wake.

There was some sort of structure in the middle of the street, and as Samiha emerged from the crowd with Cadell not far behind, he got a look at what it was. A circular basin roughly five meters across formed the base, with knee-high walls that were perfect for sitting on. In the middle of the basin sprouted a tall, thin column of metal that had its own tiers of basins, each getting gradually smaller as they rose to the top, where a bubbling spout trickled water down the feature in two uninterrupted streams.

The fountain’s lower bowl was filled to the brim, dappled currents of light swimming along the bottom as the nearby streetlamps shined on it like spotlights, the slow gurgle of water just audible over the tens of nearby conversations.

Samiha inched closer to the reservoir, as though afraid the thing might come alive at any moment, leaning her feathery head over the side to peer into the depths. Before he could warn her, she plunged a hand into the reservoir, her expression a mix of confusing and wonder.

“Not holographic,” she noted, retreating her hand and watching the droplets fall from her long fingers. “What is this strange contraption?”

“I’m guessing you don’t have fountains where you come from,” he replied, sitting on the basin to her side. “Dur’shala being an arid planet and all. Water fountains used to be how people got fresh drinking water back before plumbing existed, now they’re mostly to make the scenery look nice.”

“You’re telling me this is a decorative piece?” Samiha asked, regarding him in awe. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over how frivolous your people are when it comes to water.”

She made to bring her hand to her beak, but this time Cadell was quick enough, seizing her wrist just in time. He was surprised by how fluffy she felt. “I wouldn’t drink that,” he said. “You see how many people are walkin’ around? Sides’, it’s probably not purified.”

“Fine,” she said, as if she’d known that all along. She pulled away from him, the feathers where he’d touched her bristling.

He watched her lap around the feature, ignoring all the people staring at her as she examined the spout and tracked the currents it created as it sloshed from bowl to bowl. There was nothing fancy about the fountain, it wasn’t built into any particular style, with no carvings or reliefs like the one’s on Earth he’d seen photos of, it was pretty mundane compared to all the lights and amenities that made up the rest of the strip, but to Samiha, it may as well have been a work of the finest art. Cadell had not seen her regard something with such marvel before, and it was a refreshing visual on the usually stoic alien.

When she completed her loop, she turned that wondrous expression to Cadell. “Where does all the water come from?” she asked.

“There’s a pump in there that shoots water out the top,” Cadell explained. “and once this pool here fills up, it drains back into the tubes and it all loops back round. Might not look it, but there’s only one fixed amount of water in there.”

“Interesting. I would like to see the blueprints on how to make one. Perhaps the reservoir can be shrunken down, made more portable…”

“Did you want to hang around some more? I’m not sure how long the Strip will stay open, but we should get movin’ soon-ish.”

“I thought this was what you wanted to show me?” Samiha replied, one side of her beak curling into a rare grin. “In that case, let us continue,” she added, sparing one more glance at the feature before Cadell stood and led her away.

There were many side avenues splitting off from the Strip proper, but the bright lights never seemed to diminish no matter how many twists and turns they made, Cadell keeping his eyes on the signs to find his way. At last, he found the place he’d searched for on the kiosk, the many sounds of the torus dulling as they ducked through a set of twin doors.

The foyer was mostly empty save for a booth on one side, the receptionist turning to look when he heard the door snap shut. The man did a comical double-take when he noticed the Balokarid, Samiha having to duck to make sure she didn’t hit her head on the ceiling. There was graffiti art all along the walls, Samiha squinting at them as they approached the counter.

“Does that say… ‘rage’?” Samiha asked. “Where exactly have you brought me?”

“You’ll see,” he said, then to the man: “Room for two, thanks. One hour.”

“This mystery thing you’re doing is starting to irk me,” Samiha grumbled, the receptionist adjusting his collar as he glanced at her, as if her speaking had taken him by surprise.

“That’ll be one-twenty,” the man explained, and Cadell foot the bill. He then took out a pair of datapads, sliding them across the bench. “Signatures at the bottom, please.”

“Signature?” Samiha repeated. She glanced at the tiny screen, looking to Cadell for guidance.

“It’s a waver,” he said. “Basically if you get injured during this, you can’t sue the owners for damages. It’s only a formality,” he added when she quirked one half of her brow. “Nobody actually gets injured during these things. Trust me.”

“I have little choice otherwise,” she noted, watching him sign his own form. After figuring out it was activated by touch, she drew a small symbol down in the little signature box, probably her name in Balokarid alphabet. The receptionist didn’t even check it when he took the datapad back from her, storing them away and then producing two pairs of large safety goggles.

“Please keep these on at all times while you’re in the room,” the man said. “And when the lights go red, please stay off the yellow circle. I’ll put you in room three, which is that door right there. I’ll call you once your timer’s up.”

The door he’d pointed out led into an open room. There was little pieces of rock and metal on the ground, and a couple of what looked like skid marks on the walls, and a security camera in one of the corners. Centering the room was a bright yellow circle, and Cadell could see there was a square groove inside it, about the size of an industrial crate.

“Has someone fought in here?” Samiha said, noting the damage as she struggled to fix the strap of her goggles over her head, eventually fixing them over her amber eyes.

“You’re not far off,” Cadell replied, putting on his own goggles.

The fluorescents in the ceiling suddenly turned red, Samiha backing out of the circle as the man had instructed. They watched as the groove on the ground started to move, sliding away as a panel rose up from below the ground. On it was a small office cabinet, and lying beside it were a selection of tools.

Once the lights turned back to white, he moved over and picked up a two-handed axe, smirking when he noted Samiha’s expression.

“These are our weapons,” he explained, pointing the metal blade at the cabinet. “And that is our target. Hope I don’t have to explain what we’re supposed to do.”

She stepped back as he heaved the axe, then brought it down in a hard, sideways arc. One off the drawers broke at the hinges as he cleaved it aside, bis muscles burning as he followed through with another hard swing, this time splitting the cabinet down from above, the sound of cracking wood filling the room.

He tugged his jammed axe a few times, setting it down once it was free, gesturing at Samiha expectantly.

“Mindless destruction,” she mused. “Destroying property, like a hatchling throwing a tantrum. That’s your surprise?”

“It’s not mindless,” he chided. “The idea is to get out some stress where we can’t be bothered, and from what you’ve been tellin’ me, you’ve got a lot of pent-up anger in you, Samiha. Time to let it all out.”

“There are far less… childish ways of letting it out,” Samiha replied, crossing her arms adamantly. “Meditation, exercise, smoking herb, even.”

“Don’t hate it till you try it,” he said. “Come on, don’t make me break this thing all by myself.”

For a moment he thought she wouldn’t budge, but then with a dramatic sigh, she relented, scooping down to grab the sledgehammer provided. She made it look easy, picking it with just one arm.

He gestured that the floor was hers, giving her plenty of room. They must have a similar tool on Dur’shala, Samiha bringing it over her head in one smooth motion. He heard the whoosh of air right before the crash of impact, Samiha’s biceps flexing as she put her strength into the swing.

A wedge shaped like the letter V formed down nearly two thirds of the cabinet before the sledgehammer came to a sudden halt. Wiggling the hammer free did as much destruction on its way out, one of the drawers flying away as Samiha dislodged her weapon.

She looked at her tool thoughtfully, then prepared to go again, this time holding the head below her waist. She hit the poor appliance in a cruel uppercut, sending more splintered slabs of wood flying, the hammer coming to rest on her shoulder. She flipped it to her dominant side, then brought the lump of steel over and then down. The cabinet flattened like a pancake, its top half falling apart at the hinges, but Samiha wasn’t done. She readied another overhead, drove it home, then repeated it. Again and again, she pummelled the cabinet from above, like she was a construction worker hammering a peg into the ground, Cadell watching the destruction with a mix of fascination and horror.

By the time she was done, nothing remained but splinters, Samiha rubbing the feathers on her brow as she leaned back to catch her breath.

“Remind me never to piss you off again,” Cadell said, and at that Samiha chuckled, putting a hand to her beak that gave her a dainty kind of look.

“Is that it?” she asked, Cadell moving in to pick up the rest of their weapons from the rubble and piling them into one corner.

“Didn’t you say you thought this is childish?” he teased. “And now you’re asking for more?”

“As you said, I have a lot of venting to do,” Samiha replied. She was trying to maintain her composure, but he could see the cracks starting to form, most notably in the way her feathers twitched and moved in ways he knew to be excitement. He was getting better at reading Balokarid body language.

The lights switched once more, then panel moving the husk of the cabinet below ground. Maybe there was a recycler of some sort down there that removed the waste. When the panel returned, it came back with two television screens that were downright archaic, each about waist-high if Cadell were to stand next to them.

“Let’s make this interestin’,” Cadell said, bearing his axe. “First to reduce their TV to dust wins.”

“You’re on,” Samiha said, grinning at him as she readied her sledge.

-xXx-

They were so absorbed in their little pocket of destruction that their assigned hour flew by, there rage cage so full of debris that it reached his ankles in places. He had Samiha try out the bat and the sword provided, but in the end she preferred to break everything apart with her trusty sledge. Even though it was the heaviest weapon, she never seemed to tire with it, and it was only around fifty-minute mark that she started to even pant.

Cadell, meanwhile, was sweating up a storm, his muscles burning with exertion, and whenever he took time to rest Samiha took up his slack, smashing anything that the panel brought up to them. He would have been worried about how destructive Samiha could get, but she was starting to smile more and more as the session went on, and seeing her so animated and excited was a nice change of pace to their prior interactions.

They moved on from competitions to bits of teamwork, Cadell suggesting they try and destroy everything in as few hits as possible. On top of making a game out of it, it served to help him and Samiha figure out a way to work together, all without the stress of having officers watching their every move.

“I take back what I said,” Samiha said, heaving her hammer from one shoulder to the other. “This is a lot of fun. I needed this.”