FOUR

Jack calmly inhaled the steam from his freshly filled mug of hype. He normally didn't drink caffeinated or stimulant drinks after dark, but he had a feeling he shouldn't close his eyes just yet. The sleeping girl on his couch was looking a lot more innocent, especially since Jack had taken a damp rag to her face, removing blood and a few layers of dirt. It had seemed like something he should do.

Tired of waiting, he took a sip of the hype, burning his lips but not caring all that much. The chemicals hit his mind, clearing away the riffraff. Now, he could only repeat a handful of questions to himself. Had he just kidnapped this girl? Was he aiding and abetting a fugitive? Was simply being in close proximity to this girl going to bring some kind of holy hell down on his head?

Hopefully, no, no, and no.

Why wouldn't she just wake up?

"Hey," he said. "Hey, kid."

What was he supposed to do in situations like this? Surely there was some kindhearted, gentle way to usher a young lady back to the waking world. If there was, he didn't know it. Instead, he held his mug under the girl's nose, letting her breath in the hype's stimulating steam. Her eyes opened, and she immediately sat up.

Jack preempted her next move.

"Please don't scream."

She looked at him with lost eyes. Jack raised a calming hand.

"Seriously. It's fine. You're lucky you survived."

"Survived…what?"

Jack rested his face in his palm. "Oh jeez. Ok. You were in a shuttle wreck. Remember?"

The girl shook her head. "I…"

"You… what? Want to say thank you?"

"For what? What happened?"

Jack decided to forgo the explanation of his lifesaving heroism. "I think you might be in trouble. You weren't just in a crash. Some humorless bastar—" Jack caught the swear in his throat. "…humorless bad man—"

"I'm eighteen, you can say bastard."

"Yeah, well. He shot you out of the sky. Do you know why someone would do that to you?"

The girl shook her head. Jack took a gulp of hot hype.

"Do you remember where you were driving? To or from. I would take either."

Another shake of the head from the girl. It seemed like Jack's questions were upsetting her. What right did she have to get upset? She just took a nap. Jack got shot at, nearly crushed, and or burned up by this girl's car.

Easy, Jack.

"Why don't we just talk about what you do remember?"

The girl shook her head again. Jack's blood turned as hot as his drink.

"I swear to—"

"I don't remember anything," the girl blurted.

"Nothing? You just…what… your life started today? You just appeared?"

"Don't be a jerk. Of course not. I just don't remember anything."

"Alright." Jack let out a sigh. "How about a name. What do you want me to call you?"

The girl's eyes went wide, and her sudden smile briefly melted Jack, just a little.

"I know that one! I'm Eden."

"How great for you," Jack said.

"You're pretty rude for a droid."

"What? I'm not a droid." He was confused, all over again.

"Then why are you glowing?" The girl pointed, and Jack looked down to his chest.

He wasn't glowing. He was being nailed by a targeting laser.

"Shit. Get down!" Jack leapt for the girl, bringing them both to the ground. Just before bullets started flying, he kicked himself for swearing in front of the young girl.

There were no gunshots. There was no shattering glass. Just the subtle pop of his window's force field overloading. Two trails of orange embers drifted downward, left behind by two lightning-fast projectiles. They were super-heated proton bolts, choice weapon of—

Arissa?

Jack's mind immediately ran into a two-pronged assault of confusion. His relationship with Arissa was a dicey one, but why would she ever try killing him? That was question number one. Number two: if she was trying to kill him, how did she manage to miss him? It was a clean shot and her sighting eye was reliable to say the least.

Both mysteries were solved when both bolts started to sizzle, boiling the blood of the two men in whose chests they had been lodged. The previously invisible invaders dropped to the floor, scorching Jack's already filthy carpet. He recognized them immediately. Both were Special Forces mercenaries. One had a knife in his hand, likely intended for Jack's throat.

On your feet, idiot.

As Jack darted up from his prone position, he drew his pistol and held out a stilling hand to Eden.

"Stay down. There could be more."

He wanted to kick his own ass for having such a dark and gloomy apartment. The place was a field day for any concealment technology. He searched the darker corners of the room for hints of movement.

"Plenty more where that came from!" Jack yelled, lying like a lawyer. "You think a guy like me doesn't have on-duty guards?"

The darkness gave no response, save a subtle creek. There was definitely someone else in here, waiting to strike, but Jack had no idea where they would be coming from.

"Leave now, and I won't rip your guts out!" He always found that the more vivid the threat, the more effective it was. Without warning, a grappling hook came flying through the window and embedded itself in the adjacent wall. The zipping sound of a passenger on the line grew louder and louder, ascending in tone.

Before even reaching the window's threshold, Arissa released her grip on the cable, tucked, rolled onto the floor, and had two pistols drawn and ready before she even returned to her feet. Staying low, she fired three shots with mechanical precision from a crouched position. Three more special ops mercenaries decloaked and dropped out of the shadows, dead.

The killer lady removed a digital monocle from her left eye. Jack motioned to the device.

"Nice. Those things are expensive."

"That a compliment, Jack?"

"If it is, does that make us even?"

"Oh," Arissa seemed taken aback. "Is that an admission that I just saved your life?"

"Just a theory. I probably would have been fine."

Eden was slowly rising to her feet, getting over the sudden violence that had started and concluded in the span of twenty seconds.

"Who were they?" She asked.

Arissa and Jack shushed the girl, finally agreeing on something. Arissa spoke next.

"Time to cut a deal, Jack. I need your help. Please don't make a snippy comment about that because I really don't have the time for it." She paused briefly, waiting for Jack to make a comment anyway. When he only shrugged, she continued. "Here's the deal. You're in trouble. I present to you exhibits A through E." She pointed to the five special forces bodies that were strewn across the floor. "If you help me track down the black rabbit and my sister, I'll get you out of this mess."

"As in hide the bodies?"

"As in take the bulls-eye off your back. Now think fast, Jack. I know you shared a precious moment with the guy that shot down the weird girl."

"I'm right here, you know," Eden said. She received two shushes, again.

"My point is, Jack, I have a feeling that guy isn't that far away. In fact, he might be watching us right now. As much as it pains me to say it, I doubt I can mop the floor with him like I did with these suckers."

"That reminds me," Jack said, and started going from body to body, looking for valuable gear, pocketing a few trinkets of war.

"Jack. Say yes, and let's go."

"Yes, and let's go." Acquiring one final item, he rose to his feet. "Go where?"

"The central docking hub. We'll take your ship."

They got moving immediately. On the way out the door, Jack perked up. "Wait. How did you know where my ship is?"

Arissa halted and looked gravely into Jack's eyes. "Because I'm a telepathic. It's my blessing and curse, and I've never told anyone, but someone found out. That's why they took my sister."

Jack was blown away, momentarily. Then Arissa cracked into laughter and started walking again. "I have the docking manifest, idiot."

"Manifest. Right." Jack followed her out of the room.

Eden stayed in the room for a few moments, shying away from the dead soldiers as if they were hungry lions. She crept towards Jack's mug of Hype and gulped the remainder of its contents.

"Wait!" She bolted out the door. "Can I have a gun, please?"