<Episode 29>
Their was some laughter in the air as Jack, Arron, Sparky and a couple of the others walked down the hallways of the underground habitat. Arron kept looking back at Sparky nervously but the others kept him too busy to notice. Jack raised his hand slightly to tell the young Drakan to calm down. This was going to work, they just had to keep Sparky preoccupied for a few more moments. Of course Sparky choose then to look at around. “I don’t think I ever been down this way before.”
“Well it’s a big place,” Jack said casually, “It’d be hard to know everything about it.”
“Yeah,” Arron agreed quickly, “I’m still finding out new things about this place.”
“But I went over this place with a fine tooth comb,” Sparky told them.
Jack chuckled and joked, “What, are you head of security around here or something?”
“Then we’re doomed,” one of the others said. Even Sparky got a good laugh out of that one.
“Nah, I was just picking out the prime make out spots down here.” He shot this wry look over to Jack, “Let me know if you ever want to see that list. I’m sure the two of you are doing ok in your room and all, but sometimes you gotta sneak away in the middle of the day.”
“Get your mind out of the gutter Sparky,” Jack told him flatly. “Me and Rachel are just friends.”
“Hopefully friends with privileges,” he grinned wickedly. Jack just ignored him. “Come on man, you got needs, she got needs. Something gonna blow if something doesn’t get done. Hell, I may decide I got needs.”
“Careful Sparky,” Arron warned him when he saw the look that momentarily crossed Jack’s face.
Sparky quickly backtracked, “Just joking man. I would never do that to a good friend of mine, especially one who could blow me up. I’m just saying you guys are the only humans down here. Something is gonna happen. Unless she’s into older guys and waiting for Freidman to show up.
The other shook their heads. He, on the other hand, was no longer regretting tricking Sparky like this. Jack put an arm around his shoulder and said, “It’s cool, I always appreciate a good joke. Especially when I’m looking at one.”
“Oh ha-ha.” Things were fine until something that sounded like sounded like a waterfall could be heard. Sparky started to back up when realized where they were. “I just remembered something I gotta do.”
Jack moved his arm so it was around his neck and squeezed to keep him in place, “Can’t be that important if you forgot about it.”
“I… I got to see what my mom wanted.”
“All the way down I Florida?”
Realizing he was caught Sparky started to get desperate, “Dude don’t make me shock you.”
“Did you or did you not say,” Jack countered, “anything I wanted no questions asked?”
Sparky quickly said, “That doesn’t sound like anything I’d say.”
“I got witnesses that say you did,” Jack grinned at Arron and the others. Sparky remembered that these were the same guys on that job where Jack saved him.
Sparky shoulders slumped as he was dragged foreword, “I hate you.”
“Oh you love me.” They entered the garden center and saw that it was already busy. A couple of people there saw Sparky as he entered. Then they got attention of the person next to them and pointed. The blue haired Drakan started to slink back but Jack kept him in place. He looked around and called out, “Hey Frank, look who I brought with me.”
“How did you get that goldbrick down here?”, the old Drakan asked as he inspected Sparky. Without warning he grabbed his arm and checked out his hand. He let go in disgust as Sparky pulled away. “Just like I thought, not even a hint of an honest days work.”
He tried to defend himself, “I like to think my talents lay elsewhere.”
“Your ‘talents’ don’t mean anything down here,” Frank told him plainly. “You’re going to work hard, just like everybody else. And every time I hear you whine I’m going to cut off one of those things call hair.”
“You can’t do that!”, Sparky objected.
“Was that a whine?”, Frank asked as he started playing with his pocket knife.
“I’m working, I’m working,” Sparky grabbed a shovel and ran off.
“And I better not catch you slacking off or screwing up what we got done down here either.”
Jack looked over to Arron, “Gonna be an interesting day.”
***
“Mr. Anderson,” his secretary said through the intercom, “you have a call on line four.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “It’s Dr. Parker sir.”
Anderson sighed, “Thank you Terry.” Now what was the problem? He was starting to think Allen had more of his Fathers’ patience then he let on. Taking a cleansing breath he hit the flashing button on the phone. “Dr. Parker,” he said formally, “what can I do for you today?”
An angry voice came over the speaker, “You can fix whatever the hell is wrong in Armstrong bloody head for one.”
He knew this was the reason for the call but still he hoped otherwise. “What did Armstrong apparently do now?”
“He’s keeping parts from me again that’s what,” Parker nearly shouted. “I’m at a very critical junction. With the help of this staff you assigned to me I’m close to activating the system in this one. And I can’t do that if things are missing from inventory every time there’s a delivery.”
“How do you know Dr. Armstrong was behind these missing items?”
“Your delivery boy said Armstrong took a couple of things, saying they were needed.”
“I’ll look into it Dr. Parker,” Anderson said trying to sound calm
“You better do more than look into it. If you want this git done you had better do something about it.”
“I said I look into it Dr. Parker,” he said, “good day.” Anderson ended the call before Parker could say anything else. The rebels could not have this much infighting in their ranks. He picked up the phone and dialed Taylor’s office.
“Yes Mr. Anderson,” he answered.
“I just got off the phone with Dr. Parker. He says Armstrong is taking things he needs from the supply trucks again. I want you to verify this before I talk to Armstrong.”
“I’ll get right on it. Is there anything else you need me to do?”
“Actually there is something I’ve been meaning to inquire about. Does Rhodes know anything about the second mark one?”
Taylor thought it over for a moment, “To my knowledge he doesn’t know about it, and neither does Senator Henning. Are you thinking about bringing them in on it sir?”
“No,” he said while leaning back in his chair, “I feel it would be for the best if we kept them in the dark for now. Particularly the good Senator. I had enough of his saber rattling when Davidson went rouge.” He smiled despite nobody could see it, “And I don’t think anybody wants to hear the noise he would undoubtedly make when he finds out about this.”
There was a slight chuckle on the other end, “I heard about his little outburst with Davidson. It probably would be for the best to keep him dark for as long as possible.” In moments he was back to business, “I’ll head to shipping and let you know what I find out as soon as possible.”
“Excellent, I expect word one way or the other within the hour.” Anderson had a feeling Parker accusations was right. Armstrong was less than pleased about the existence of the second mark one, and the notion that Parker was kept as head of that particular project. And he knew Armstrong well enough to not put it past him. However the big question was what was he going to do after this one was activated. He had to do something with Parker after all. And Armstrong was not going to want him coming in on his territory, so to speak. And he did not want to worry about it when they got there.
***
Jack finally gave in and let Sparky tell him about one of those money making ideas he had about his bike. He kinda had to, he didn’t think Frank would actually cut off one of Sparky’s dreads. Jack almost wished he hadn’t when he heard what the Drakan had in mind. Underground street racing of all things. Jack almost immediately shot it down saying all the things that was wrong with the idea, mainly the fact he was still wanted by the police.
Sparky, surprisingly enough, had a counter to that argument. One of the rebels down here, a nineteen year old with dyed red and purple hair named Angie, was a apparently a very good make up artist. Sparky had her make this heavily scarred prosthetic that would fit over his right eye, seeing how his helmet covered most of his face. Jack was amazed at how real it looked and felt. She even came up with a blond wig that had foil lined on the inside to block the bug’s signal. Sparky even found a pair of contacts that would turn his eyes blue. Still Jack was saying no to the idea. Then Sparky told him, “The money you win could help us out a lot man.”
Angie and a couple of others he asked confirmed what Sparky said. Finally he agreed adding, “That’s hitting below the belt.” Rachel was going to kill him when she found out.
Later that night Sparky lead him and two other others out of the city. Eventually they ended up at an old run down racing strip. Sparky spoke to a dirty, muscular guy at the gate who let them in. Jack kept his helmet on after they parked. The make up Angie came up with may have been good, but he wasn’t taking any chances. Sparky got a big grin on his face as he looked around, “Now this is the life.”
Jack tried to not let the nervousness he was feeling take over as he looked around on his own, “You sure you know these guys Sparky?”
“Never said I did,” he told him. “Nobody knows anybody name. You either address them by their handle or a nickname. It’s to make sure you can’t point out anybody else if you’re dumb enough to get caught.”
“That’s not helping Sparky.” He looked around again, “Especially with the way some of these guys are eyeballing me.”
“Don’t worry about that, they’re always a little wary of a new face. Never know when he going to turn out to be a cop.” He scanned the crowd until he found the guy he was looking for. “Stay here, I got to get you set up for a race.”
“Oh joy,” he deadpanned. Jack hung back with the others and studied the other rider motorcycles. He could only imagine what some of these guys did to their rides. He was actually sitting there hoping World Inc. tech could keep up.
“Yo!”, Sparky said as he ran back. “You’re set up but you have to run the first race, which is like now.”
“Thanks for the warning Sparky.”
“Don’t blame me, it was the only slot they had open.”
After Sparky pointed the way Jack pulled up to what he assumed was the starting line, a faded painted strip in the road. Another guy pulled up beside him. A girl in a micro mini skirt and a very tight black shirt stood in front of them. A guy with a megaphone stood on the hood of a car and shouted, “Alright guys and girls here’s our first race of the night. In lane number one, we have Turbo Lightning!” The guy revved the engines a few times to the crowd approval. “And in lane number two, we have a newbie on the field, the Masked Rider!”
Jack looked back and shot Sparky a look. He just shrugged and tried to look innocent. Jack turned his attention back to the race. Lowering the visor he muttered, “You’re a dead man Sparky.”
***
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