The big Explorer Ship

The big Explorer Ship descended slowly on its light green glowing ArtiGrav field bubble and settled on its landing struts.

Kalin Accter, looked around the cabin that was his home for the last 2 years and sighed. All his belongings were packed and he was ready to debark. The cabin looked as sterile and impersonal as on the day he boarded this ship, a little over 24 month ago.

Originally he wanted to stay at the new research outpost on Planet Peppermint, but suddenly he had changed his mind and decided to come home.

All his luggage was taken away a few moments ago by a robot, and all he had to carry was a small carry on with his most personal items.

Out in the Corridor he met the six other scientists that like him decided to come home much earlier than originally planned and like before when he tried to remember what reason made im to decide to go home,he felt a little dizzy and the question faded into nothingness.

Ten minutes later he and the other six entered the Inter Ship transport that was now connected to the Inter Base transport system of Venus,

Sergenant Hunur placed his massive arms on the little desk floating before him and squinted his already small eyes to tiny slits as the scanned over the 500 police officers before him. Hunur was a Belanorm and came from the Large Magellan Cloud. And like all Bealnorms he looked as if someone tried to cross breed terran Hippos with mountain gorillas. However Sergenant Hunur wore the usual long and reddish hair that was so distinctive to his race, very short. This had the effect that the rock hard muscles underneath the dark red fur and the black skin was high lighted to the very last ripple. This and his harsh personality earned him the nickname Sergenant Wirebrush. He didn't mind being called that way and relished in his reputation.

He stopped his gaze on a delicate looking woman in the very first row. Her uniform was put on exactly as regulations required and that alone brand marked her as rookie, well this and that there was not single private item on her, she carried the standard issue side arm in a flapped holster no less.

He leanded forward folded his big arms before him on the small lectern, the tiny Arti Grav lifter that kept the lectern afloat protested with a high pitched hum increasing lift and compensating for the Sergenants bulk. Hunur ignored it of course and then put his hand to his cheek. “Paint me an Ult, we got us a new Rookie. Female human from the looks of it. Weren't we supposed to get new Rookies on Monday and more than just one?”

The woman said. “I am not a Rookie, Sergenant Hunur. I am a transfer from Spuish Squash.”

Hunur scratched his enormous chin. “Never heard of Splish Splash, but then it does not really matter from where you come from. Out there you are still a Rookie until I tell otherwise. Oh and welcome to the 44th Precinct of the Pluribus Police Department.”

She simply nodded.

He kept scratching his chin. “Now who do I put you with?”

Hunur resumed his normal position and the small ArtiGrav almost sounded thankful as it returned to noiseless operation with a purr.”Slate you need a partner, don't you?”

Slate was a big Pertharian and he responded. “No Sarge, Passie is back on duty.”

Only now did he notice a small Holdian sitting on the giants shoulder. Hunur sighed. “If I ever find the joker who put a Pertharian and a Holdian together as partners...”

“All you have to do is look in the mirror, Sarge.” The Holdian squeaked. “That was you.” Slate put one of his big hands like a shield over his tiny partner. “He's the best partner I ever had.”

Someone in the back said. “Yeah Passie gets all the confessions once his partner shows up!”

Hunur jeld up his big arms. “Alright enough fun for the night. Rookie you partner up with Maximus next to you until his partner is back and I find you a permanent one.”

Hunur did not wait for any answers or acknowledgements. “Listen up boys, gals and the rest we got solid intel that the Children of the Universe plan something big before Union Week. So talk your informants, squeeze whatever you got to squeeze but I want them in lock up before Crystal Ball.

The Sergenant pointed at a Garbini. “Gaspi, I want you to keep an eye on those Ring park entrances. There are Gal Drifts Pan handling again. Don't harass them unless you see something illegal and then bust them good.” He threw his arms up. “Well that's it for the most part. Go out there and make me proud.”

Maximus seemed to be Pan Saran but he had distinctive non human features like his pale skin was scaled like the skin of a snake and his eyes had no visible iris and appeared milky white. He smiled at her and said. “I am Maximus and you are?”

“I am Teela Jones.”

“Nice to meet you Teela. Let's get you some real gear and then we do a nice event less patrol if at all possible,hit the hole at 23oo and have some nice late diner or early breakfast at Swanko's before we turn in.”

The woman followed her new partner to the Gear Room.

On their way he asked. “So where are you from?”

“Planet Squish Squash – Spinward Sector”

He laughed. “I thought I heard it all but no I never heard of Squish Squash. So what kind of place is it?”

She sighed. “You might never heard of it but I heard every possible joke at the Academy.” She followed him into the Lift car and answered his question: “Our world is very wet and very humid.”

He still appeared amused. “Waterworld?”

“No not really, lots of swamps, bogs and lakes and then it does rain a lot.”

Indicating to her to get out as the lift car reached its destination he said. “Here on Pluribus it rains exactly on schedule. He blinked his retina read out on. “Weather Control has rain scheduled for our area for 19:00 hrs until 22:00 hrs. Water temperature is going to be 24 degrees at ground level and the color of the water today is Neon Blue.”

Teela gasped. “They color the rain water?”

“Oh yes, but don't worry it is non staining and non toxic to any known Union Life forom, except for those who find Water toxic in the first place of course.” He pulled her by the shoulder and out of the way of a heavy armored Patrol man stomping past, looking quite contemnt in his menacing looking protection gear. The suit was the finest Union Tech with woven carbon fiber syntho muscles agumenting his strength to truly superhuman levels. The suit was fully flight capable, and linked with Utchat and Metro. It provided him with a wide range of non lethal weapon systems to control anything from bacteria to crowds. The precision Shield breaker and termination canon mounted on his back could swivel into action in fractions of a second.

Right now all his systems, except basic suit movement assist were powered down, the helmet retracted into the collar. He moved as if there were no obstacles in this world, but he did stop turned fluidly and said. “Ah Maximus got yourself a new partner?”

“Yes Bowser, and do be careful with that, this isn't Base Level you know.” The armored cop shrugged. “My Charlie and I haven't broken anything we didn't want to break. Besides I do patrol Base Level!”

He waved at the woman and stomped on.

Maximus said. “That was Bowser, he is one of the 100 HAPE we got in this precinct. They deal with the absolute bottom of society on a daily basis. So they all are a little on the strange side.”

She watched as a similar menacing robot appeared from an elevator and floated fast after the armored police man.”We don't have HAPE units where I come from.” “Heavy Armored Patrol Enforcer and since they all have a robot partner we call them Flesh and Steel teams.”

“But this is Pluribus, not Sin 4.” She protested, “What does he enforce that way?”

He stopped just before the door with a sign reading 'Equipment & Supplies' and said. “It is Pluribus and it is an orderly and lawful place. We have a very low crime rate, less than 3 percent of our permanent residents ever break the law and that is a tremendous testament to our society. Less than 1 percent are considered criminals but on a world with 120 Billion permanent residents and almost as many visitors, commuters and tourists that's still an enormous number. Now Pluribus is number two of the sixteen most populated places in the Union and it is the center of it all. It's like a magnet for the good, the bad and the filthy. In the Base Levels where he and his buddies patrol there aren't all that many citizens. It's the closest thing we have to slums. Believe me he needs his armor!”

While she was still processing what he had said, he opened the door and pushed her in in a friendly way and said over her head to the Klack behind a counter that split the room in two. “K'tTkkli I got myself a Rookie who carries a Walther Laser in a Flap topholster. Get her some memory cuffs, Shield vest and a loaded belt with a decent side arm.”

The Klack moved his mandibles and made clicking sounds and since she had Klack friends she knew this one was laughing.

A few moments later she wore Terran All Terrains, dark blue Armor tights, a bulky belt loaded with gadgets and tools as well as an Auto Draw – COLT LE-System 4. this special Law enforcement weapon had four non lethal and one very deadly weapon options. It would jump automatically into her hand and the targeting systems in her helmet would give the necessary neural and muscle impulses faster than her brain could. Even thought the Police at home didn't have those. She had trained on them at the Academy.

An Ultronit mesh and shield jacket as well as a Mark 7 Patrol helmet completed her outfit. She felt nerdier and more like a rookie than before, but her new partner said. “This is what we all get, some of us chose to wear less or implement private stuff, but this isn't Squish Squash and chances are you meet someone who doesn't like the Police is not so unlikely.”

“I don't even know what half of the things are in this belt.”

“You learn and eventually your belt will contain exaxtly that what you like to have out there, just like mine. I carry extra Sticky net and cuffs. I have a SII Miners Torch instead of the supplied flash light but other than that is pretty much the same as your kit.”

She relaxed more and more as Maximus was as nice as they came.

So she followed him to the flight deck on the roof of the precinct building where they received a brutish powerful looking patrol cruiser. The eight meter long and 3 meter wide vehicle had a dark gray color scheme and completely black windows. The doors swung open like the wings of a bird and had the Logo of Pluribus Metro on the doors. The Symbol was called Utchat and represented the right eye of a Saran god called Ra. Utchat was also the name of the Planets Super Computronic that could be accessed by any citizen from anywhere by simply talking.

The Cruiser had two Vari seats, able to accomdate a fully suited Pertharian if neccesary. It was space flight capable but had no faster than light engines of course. It was well armored could be shielded and had a array of defensive and offensive weapons.

Teela liked the red and blue light projectors best that could be switched to rotating pulses and linked to a siren. It was those lights in her opinion that made the flyer a real police vehicle.

Maximus gave the controls a push and slid them over. “You might as well get to know our patrol area and you learn best by flying it yourself.”

She activated the engines and ArtiGrav and kept the cruiser hovering a few feet above the parking spot. “Where do we need to go?”

Maximus leaned a little over and tapped a high definition TwoDee display. “Andromeda Circle. We going to take a nice slow tour around the Assembly, beyond the Ring Park. The Assembly itself is Federal Juristiction.”

She tapped the Instructions into the Nav Assist and the Cruiser took off. The Spindle like tower of the Precinct, a building over 1000 meters height, looked small and insignificant among the many super buildings.

She looked down and said. “I wonder why they did that?”

“Did what Rookie?” “I mean Pluribus has no own life. It was terraformed from scratch. Much of the features like the Assembly and Presidents Island were carefully planned, yet the rest seems somewhat chaotic.”

Maximus leaned back and looked quite comfortable, but keeping an eye on the scanner said. “I think it started with the idea that every member species was to built something in their own particular architecture, then the Union grew much bigger and much faster than anyone anticipated and with the Union, Pluribus grew and any sense and any planing simply went out the window. Land and Real Estate are of prime consideration here. The closer you get to the Assembly the higher the Estate Prices go. It is truly astronomical here.”

She said. “I thought all land here was free?”

“Yeah all land on Pluribus was free for whoever took it first. Now after three thouand plus years, every piece of land belongs to someone and if you want to build something new you need to buy the ground from someone. This is done in two ways on Pluribus by the way. There is the official, expensive and legal way with deeds,lawyers sellers and buyers and there is the illegal way through squatting, removing or intimidating the original owner. That is where we come in.”

“They steal land? How can you steal land?”

“You kidnap or force the owner in some other way to sign it over to you and if the former owner is too scared to complain or can't proof he was forced, its a done deal. The square meter of land within 500 klicks of the assembly starts at 10,000 credits. That's a lot of money and plenty of incentive for the criminal element.”

She sighed and said. “So this is what we do just fly around?”

“That and eating donuts of course. I wonder what made you decide to come here, but serious you heard the Sergeant. We need to keep an eye out for the Children of the Universe.”

She nodded. “I heard of those, but I thought they all have been arrested,”

“It's a nasty bunch of fanatics and ideas are hard to kill. There always will be those who can't stand living by law and order and prefer chaos and anarchism. It is a laughable small group but the thrill to belong to something illegal is enough draw to some.”

“We shoot them on sight on Squish Squash”

“Well we can't do that here, we must make sure they aren't citizens and all that, but the Precinct will stand behind you if you happen to cap a CotU that is also a Citizen of the Union.”

The Communicator came on. “We have a 45-12 in progress at Madu Diva's Zorgo Cave.”

Maximus said. “Hit it Rookie, that's a call for us.”

She asked Utchat for directions and with childish delight turned on the rotating lights and siren. Even though there was no need for them.

“A 45-12 is a civil disturbance with escalated violence. Most likely the Neo Vamps of the Red Coffin started to harass the Zorgo Cave Mummies and someone pulled a weapon and used it.”

She was glad she wore a shield vest now. Not that she had any idea what he was talking about but it sounded nasty.” They weren't the first patrol cruiser on the scene. She recognized Bowser and he was there with four similar armored officers. They stood before an artificial cave entrance. There was a weird soupy substance and a something looking like a wheelbarrow load of guts between them, Bowser held a pale looking young man in one fist and a similar pale looking female, from the looks of it Pan Saran in the other.

Maximus said to her. “Looks like our colleagues have it all under control. So all we do is see what happened and ask if they need us for something.”

Bowser smiled at her and said.”To late Rookie, all under control.”

A man in a completely sealed suit and golden faceplate got up from a kneeling position and said, while pointing at the disgusting mess and said with a modulated artificial voice. “Salt Bomb”

Maximus said. “This is Doc Eighty-nine and as you can see it is a Non Corp and one of our departments Medical Examiners.”

The Non Corp turned his suited head and looked at here through the face plate he was wearing and all she could see was her own reflection. It said. “Looks like Maximus got himself a new partner. Is this your first night on the beat?”

She nodded and placed her hand before nose and mouth as she got a whif of the gory mess, it smelled real bad.

The Non Corp said. “That is one of the benefits having no sense of smell.” She asked. “What happened?”

“Shaill Molusk coming out of the Zorgo Cave and gets hit by a Salt Bomb. Just a big bag of salt really, very deadly to Shaills and very painful as it pulls all moisture out of their slug bodies.”

She nodded knowing well what salt did to Worms and Snails coming from a world with many molusk life forms. “Would that not indicate a planned assasination. Bringing a weapon that would kill a Shaill an no one else?”

Maximus smiled at her. “We would have never thought of that, but thanks to my new partner we got a clue!”

Bowser still held the pale humanoids said. “The Shaill's name was Yourpa and he was known to deal in many things and he was here every night. Deal went sour and we got the culprits. Two Neo Vamps, male suspect still has salt all over his hands, case closed.”

She looked at the crime scene again and then at the Humanoids and she asked. “Did you kill the Shaill?”

The human was no older than maybe 25, but he had his teeth shaped like fangs. His canines were much longer than at a normal human being. He hissed at her. “Of course not, we are law abiding citizens just happen to walk by this pool of filth Yourpa came out and got hit by three white powder things that exploded and covered him with the this white stuff.”

Bowser shook the man. “Oh shut up Pienot, we know you hate Shaills and your a crazy Neo Vamp.”

Maximus said to her using the ear piece. “That is Charles Pienot, rich kid of a very rich father, fell into the Whacko crowd of the Neo Vampires and now belives himself to be a creature of the night. It's all baloney of course, but we know he hunted before just could not proof a thing. Not our case anyway.”