//------------------------------// // Chapter 64 - "Memory Lane" // Story: My Little Caboose II: Friendship is Fragmented! // by DarkWing //------------------------------// "[Where have you been?]" Junior asked ecstatically after finding a room for Tucker and him to talk in private. "[It's...]" Tucker began. "[A long story?]" Junior suggested. "[No, just really fucking complicated and stupid. Trust me when I say you wouldn't believe half the shit I told you,]" he sighed. "[What about you?]" "[Since you left, I was the only one who was seen as an equal by both species, so I was put in charge of negotiations after you left. They needed a translator when you left, and the first one we got wasn't very good. He got killed for insulting one of our generals' mother. We've been in need of a new translator ever since,]" Junior coughed, then looked at his father. "[But now that you're back, we should be able to get the negotiations back on track and maybe finally get peace.]" "[Wish I could, but I sorta got other stuff I need to do,]" Tucker sighed. "[Got a relationship going now.]" "[You're in a relationship? What about everything you taught me about women?]" "[It was good advice, but I decided I needed a change of pace, y'know? Can't always be the lady killer. Eventually you gotta find one lady that you want to kill over and over for the rest of your life.]" "[I'm not calling her mom,]" Junior grumbled sourly. There was an awkward pause for several seconds. "[If you aren't here to help, then why are you here?]" "[What? A human father can't visit his alien son just to say hello?]" Tucker inquired sincerely, then coughed. "[But I guess there is something I wanted to ask you...]" "[And what is that?]" "[Have you seen anything suspicious lately?]" "[Aside from you arriving out of nowhere, no. Why?]" "[We're looking for a man. Well, the man isn't what we're looking for. We're looking for the guy who is... do you guys have possession in your culture?]" "[Possession?]" Junior contemplated. "[No, I do not believe we do. But I'm not exactly the best one to go to for my species' heritage. I was with you for the majority of my life, and I spent most of that learning about your culture.]" "[Basically there's this... evil spirit... I guess, and it's sort of sitting in the guy we're looking for's head. And this evil spirit isn't just evil, but it's bat-shit insane. We only found you by luck, actually. We didn't know you guys were here, Church just had a feeling that we needed to come here, because that evil spirit likes riddles, twisting fate and other stupid shit, so we're trying to find him by going to 'where it all began'.]" "[Sorry, but I haven't seen anything.]" "[Whatever, it's fine. I think we're all kind of expecting to not find him for a bit anyways. This guy likes to watch people struggle. Normally I'm into that too, but only on the Internet, and only under very different circumstances.]" "Bow-chicka-honk-honk," Junior added. Another silence fell between them, and Junior looked at the door, then back to Tucker. "[I should probably be going soon if there isn't anything else you need.]" "[How about you come with us?]" he asked. "[I wish I could help you, dad,]" Junior murmured. "[But I'm kinda wrapped up in the situation here. What with trying to find out who killed the others, the alien-human negotiations we've made could collapse and backfire if we don't find the one responsible and act accordingly. And as the spawn of both alien and human, I need to stay.]" "[Alright,]" Tucker sighed, getting up from his chair. "[Guess I should be getting back to the others.]" "[Will you visit again?]" "[As much as I love being here with you and the other aliens, I don't think it'd be possible. Like, literally impossible.]" "[I guessed as much,]" Junior said reluctantly. Standing up, he extended his hand. "[This is goodbye then,]". "[Guess so,]" Tucker said, shaking Junior's large, alien hand. He then turned around and began walking towards the door. "[Wait!]" Junior called out when he had nearly disappeared through the doorway. "[You say this... evil spirit speaks in riddles and twists fate, right?]" "[Yeah,]" Tucker murmured, coming to a stop. "[Maybe our answers lie with each other.]" "[What do you mean?]" Tucker asked. "[Maybe he was the one who killed our friends,]" Junior said, walking next to Tucker. "[And as of now, it's the only lead that we have, and I don't think my people would be too appreciative if I let this lead die.]" "[What do you mean?]" "[We'll help look for where you need to go. We have starmaps that we can scour, maybe find places you've been to. We can scan worlds nearby to see if anything has changed. We'd spare no expense in tracking down this man if we even slightly believed him to be the killer.]" "[Sounds good to me,]" Tucker said. "[But how will you tell us where to go?]" "[I'll have one of my people hook up a two-way communications system in your ship,]" Junior said simply. "[Tell your friends to wait a few hours. I'll tell my people of the news.]" "[Right,]" Tucker nodded, then began jogging down the hallway. When Tucker came outside, he found the others sitting in and around the pelican. "About time you got back. I started to think that they killed you in there," Carolina grunted. "So, since the Director isn't here, where should we go?" "Uh, if you don't mind waiting, I think we'll get some pretty good tips soon enough." "And where are we going to get those? I don't suppose you found a sheet of paper that said where we;re supposed to run off to." "Nah, but pretty close to it. The aliens are going to help us out," Tucker explained as a pair of them ran past him carrying the communications device. "They'll look at some planets with a planet scanner thing and tell us if anything is fucked up using a two-way radio. It'll probably take them six or seven hours to hook it up, though." "How did you manage to convince these things to do that?" Carolina asked cautiously. "A bunch of their friends were killed, and Junior thinks that maybe the Director came through and somehow lead to them being murdered." "Junior?" she echoed. When Tucker began to move his head to explain, she held up her hand and sighed. "Long story, got it." "Actually, not really. Junior is one of the aliens, and he's kind of their leader, in a way. And he's kind of my son." "Uh-huh, enough sarcasm. Who is Junior?" she repeated. "He's telling the truth," Doc coughed. "I helped deliver him." Carolina stared at Doc, then to Tucker. "Church!" she yelled in frustration. "You don't need to yell, I'm right here," Church grunted, appearing in front of her. "Are they telling the truth, or are they just trying to piss me off?" "They're telling the truth. We've kind of been through a lot of shit. I'll be sure to tell you some time." "We have the time, and we don't really have anything else to talk about," Carolina murmured reluctantly. "Plus, you guys know pretty much the whole story about me and Project Freelancer. It's only fair I'm caught up to speed on yours." The group stared at her curiously. "Are you just trying to find out our weaknesses so you know how to take us down quickly and efficiently?" Sarge murmured, tightening his hand on the pump of the shotgun. The others began to slowly follow suit. "No," Carolina said, noticing how quick they were to jump to the worst case scenario. Now that she was aware of it, and thinking back on what Church said about York, she let out a sigh. "I know the way you all look at me. You don't trust me, and I don't trust you. But that clearly isn't working, so it's time for a change of strategy. I may be a little quick to the gun, and there'll need to be patience on both sides, but it'd be good to learn more about you all and how you got here. Plus, I think it'd just be... I don't know, nice to talk about something other than the Director.." All of them looked to Church questioningly. Church continued looking at Carolina for a few moments. Even though he knew that it might not change anything, he still felt that they should try. Almost everyone deserves a second chance. Exhaling deeply, even though he needn't, he nodded at the others. "I guess we should start at the beginning," Church began. "It all started when the Alpha was shipped out to a little canyon called Blood Gulch..."