Chapter 3: Garbage Star
The bionic light source illuminated corridors of the starship brightly and the metal structure of the walls reflected cold light.
Several men in uniform stood at the door of the rest cabin and peered inward. The half-opened cabin door was dark, one after another breathing sounds could be faintly heard inside. They turned and walked further in the corridor, talking unscrupulously while walking:
”How many people are needed on the slave farm this time?”
One of them turned on the electronic light screen on his wrist and replied:
”A total of three thousand people are needed. Our ship’s number is one hundred and five.”
The other nodded: ” Okay, by the way, choose another fifty good-looking people to send to the War Comfort Department. They just placed an order.”
The crew member who looked down at the electronic screen suddenly stopped and frowned in confusion. He reached out and tapped the screen twice.
”What’s the matter?”
The other person noticed something was wrong and stopped to ask.
He pointed to the light spot on the screen hesitantly: “Here, there is a bracelet showing an absence of vital signs.”
The other person shrugged and said nonchalantly: “It’s possible that there’s something wrong with it again. These bracelets have long been out of use and passed at least a few hands. Normally, you just need to reset it with the administrator’s password.”
The man entered the password, but it was of no use.
He cursed in a low voice, scratching his hair a little irritably.
It seems that it can only be restarted from the hardware now.
Gleeful laughter broke out among his companions: “Let’s walk around, drink, let him go to the cargo hold and stay with the cargo alone, hahahahahaha!”
The crew member made a rude gesture at them and cursed in his heart, this rubbish bracelet extended his working hours. He turned and got into the dark cargo hold while still resentful.
The cargo hold was crowded and stuffy. Although the residents of Garbage Star had quickly washed their bodies the stench that had been soaked in them for decades wasn’t so easy to dissipate and it was suffocating in the packed cabin.
The crew member held his breath in disgust and struggled through the narrow beds.
He finally reached the position of the wristband display and looked down at the bed with blue light emitted by the electronic screen.
The next second, the crew member was stunned.
Narrow bed was empty, white sheets were flat without a trace of wrinkles and there was no trace of someone lying down. On the pillow, the uniformly distributed metal bracelet was placed upright, quietly lying in the dark and flashing dim light.
A hoarse and low voice came from behind his head softly sounding in his ears, like whispers of a lover by the pillow and like a ghost in the dark cabin:
”Are you looking for me?”
The crew was shocked, but before he had the time to turn his head, he felt a pair of cold hands cling to his neck, pinching his carotid artery precisely and ruthlessly.
A second before he passed out he saw the face of his attacker.
The half-mature boy was skinny and bony, with protruding cheekbones and malnourished face that was not much different from the others on the trash star, but his pair of eyes was shining a sly cold light in the dark.
It was as if a beast sleeping in the abyss slowly cracked open its bloody mouth, and showed an evil and crazy smile to its prey.
Then, the cabin returned to silence.
Ge Xiu watched as the crew member twice as strong as himself fell helplessly on the empty bed, suppressed excitement in his eyes still gleaming in the darkness.
He moved his somewhat stiff wrist, then bent down and skilfully began to search for useful things on the man.
ID card, smart brain, three or four doses of anaesthetic, two doses of adrenaline, half a pack of tobacco substitute and a piece of candy.
Ge Xiu carefully looked at the small candy cube lying on his palm. It was wrapped in aluminium foil candy paper and printed on it were a few small characters: “Uniform distribution of materials.”
He fumbled in the dark and peeled off the candy paper, then tentatively sniffed the sugar ball.
Sweet.
Ge Xiu licked the surface of the sugar ball cautiously, his eyes lit up slightly and then he couldn’t wait to stuff the whole candy into his mouth.
The taste of industrialized saccharin was monotonous and strong. It swept across the taste buds like a sharp sword and quickly captured his senses.
The boy squinted his eyes lazily like a cat.
He smiled and tucked the crew’s feet onto the bunk, then jumped onto the bed gently. His thin legs couldn’t touch the ground temporarily, so he could only hang them in the air, swaying his legs leisurely and happily.
Ge Xiu lowered his head, intensely studying the smart brain he took from the crew member, while licking candy that slowly melted in his mouth.
The light blue electronic screen lit up in the dark cabin, reflecting a shining blue light on his face.
After a few minutes, Ge Xiu finally scanned all the documents in the smart brain and raised his head.
He tilted his head thoughtfully, pondered for a while, then jumped off the bed lightly. He then slipped to the Xiao Yi’s bed like a fish, took the adrenaline from his pocket and injected it on the back of his hand.
Xiao Yi’s small body jerked up like a bow, he dazedly opened his eyes and hastily took a big breath, but he had no time to make the slightest sound, because Ge Xiu quickly covered his mouth:
”Hush” his eyes glowed in the dark.
After a brief period of confusion Xiao Yi finally recognized who was lying on his body. He was surprised and delighted and nodded slightly indicating that he would not make a sound.
After Ge Xiu let go of him, Xiao Yi lowered his voice and asked:
”Xiao Qi? How are you…”
Before he finished speaking, Ge Xiu threw the light brain at him and the screen flashing with blue light directly faced Xiao Yi’s eyes.
Xiao Yi was stunned and got instantly attracted by content on the screen.
He didn’t know many characters and he could at most distinguish characters posted on different trash to determine what could be picked up to take home and what should not be approached at all.
But this was enough.
In fact, Ge Xiu deliberately selected relatively simple text and showed him one with more icons.
Xiao Yi’s heart became more and more frightened as he read and in the end he shivered slightly uncontrollably.
It turned out that the so-called Alliance Humanitarian Decree was a scam from the beginning. Those marginal galaxies were densely covered with destroyed planets abandoned by the Alliance. After their mineral resources were drained they became the garbage dump in the interstellar, but Alliance was not willing to give up labour resources and in this way, every once in a while, they’d use the easiest way to get more cheap labour. It also saved the cost of suppressing riots and free labour that had been abducted would become hard working slaves or get sold at low prices to different power families.
But, to a certain extent, the alliance has not lied and Alliance will be responsible for post-retirement support after completion of the basic service period.
…If they can live that long.
It was a very profitable business.
Although Xiao Yi’s thoughts were in disorder he still vaguely understood his situation. A sense of panic as if falling into the abyss instantly caught his throat.
His eyes were trembling with tears and he looked at Ge Xiu in extreme panic*:
”I…I…”
He wanted to apologize, say that he shouldn’t have wronged Xiao Qi before and at the same time he was full of doubts and wanted to know, where did Xiao Qi get the information? The panic and fear about their future and despair of broken dreams filled his heart, making his simple brain chaotic and messy. He couldn’t say anything for a while.
The thin young man standing by the bed bent down and wiped tears from the corners of his eyes with his fingertips.
Ge Xiu’s voice was very low, almost as quiet as his breath:
”Don’t worry, you will be fine, I have an idea to let us all leave safely.”
Ge Xiu’s fingers were cold but his movements were calm and steady and it gave an unexplainable reassurance to the other.
Xiao Yi gathered his courage, and asked tremblingly:
”Xiao, Xiao Qi, what are you…what are you going to do?”
Although their faces could not be seen clearly in the darkness, hoarse voice of the other party came into his ears clearly. His boyish voice was steady, even with a clearly discernible smile, but under the terrifyingly calm voice there seemed to be something uncontrollable threatening to break free, screaming with excitement.
It took a few seconds for Xiao Yi to realize that the other party had said something shocking—
”Steal the starship.”
In the cockpit, crew members were talking and laughing unscrupulously.
This was a cargo-transporting ship and its driving operations could be handled by the smart brain with full authority. In addition, they were also performing this kind of low-risk mission. Therefore, there were only eight members in the ship, seven ordinary crew members and a low-ranking non-commissioned officer.
The control panel of the starship showed autopilot mode, manipulating the ship to move through the vast and dark universe at a constant speed, with large and small celestial bodies passing by the side of the ship, giving them sense of tranquillity.
The harvest this time was quite fruitful. There was a lot of oil and water in the list placed above which made everyone in the ship look up to it with unrestrained excitement and joy.
Even alcohol, which was a high-grade substance, was taken out of the warehouse as a reward for this journey.
While drinking cups and toasting they talked and laughed loudly in a vulgar language.
In the hustle and bustle, man dressed as a non-commissioned officer frequently looked at the closed hatch and frowned irritably:
”Why isn’t this kid Leach coming back? How long does it take to fix a control bracelet?”
Another person poured himself a small glass of wine, teasingly and obscenely said: “Maybe he saw some good-looking goods and cannot let go.”
For them, the inhabitants of the edge galaxies were no longer humans, but exchangeable goods that they could make a fortune of or some kind of minerals with extremely low development costs. Bodies and appearances of these goods were properties that could be exchanged and sold. They were objects, not humans of the same kind.
The sergeant’s brows tightened, and he spit out:
“How many times have I told him that some customers only want the clean ones and price of the goods he squandered will be deducted from his share!”
The conversation had not continued. After a few words, the cockpit was suddenly illuminated by flashing red warning lights and mechanical warning sound resounded through the entire control cabin:
”Warning, fuel tank leakage! Warning, fuel tank leakage!”
The sergeant stood up and proficiently turned on the electronic screen. After two taps, the information on the damaged area appeared. First, he was taken aback and then he angrily cursed:
”Damn it, it’s the loophole that Leach patched the day before yesterday. Even the damaged data is the same. This kid is too lazy to work and now he runs out of sight…”
He cursed for a while, and then ordered:
”You guys take the tools to fix it, you, you go to the cargo hold to find this lazy guy and bring him to me.”
Three people went to fix the leak in the fuel tank, one went to the cargo hold and there were only four people left in the cockpit.
The leak in the fuel tank indeed wasn’t very serious and it only took a few minutes to repair it.
The three of them cursed Leach, who was adding them trouble at work. They packed their toolboxes and turned around to walk away, but when they reached the door they found that the hatch behind them was locked tightly, nobody knew when it happened. They hurriedly looked out of door.
Through the isolation glass they noticed that the card swiping place outside was destroyed. A thin boy in cargo clothes disappeared into the far end of the corridor in panic.
They were shocked and hurriedly turned on their communicators to report their findings to the non-commissioned officer in the cockpit.
At the same time, face of the crew member who was sent to the cargo hold appeared on the electronic screen. He yelled with a flustered expression: “Leach was knocked out and two goods escaped!”
The non-commissioned officer’s face darkened. He commanded: “Prepare to start the emergency program.”
The emergency program was designed to prevent slaves from escaping, that is, to release high concentrations of anaesthetic gas in the entire ship except the cockpit to ensure that all living creatures outside the cockpit fall into a coma. It didn’t matter if the crew was in a coma. There was a lot of adrenaline in the cockpit, which could wake up the crew members who were trapped outside the cabin after ensuring that the runaways were unconscious.
He lifted a small glass cover on the control board and pressed the bright red button on it.
In the next second, the non-commissioned officer felt his head dizzy and his vision began to blur. He realized something and looked terrified: “Why, how could it be…!”
Before he finished speaking, the high-concentration anaesthetic gas took effect instantly. Four people in the cockpit fell to the ground one after another.
The crew member who just walked out of the cargo hold was dumbfounded.
He was ready to pass out, but after so long why was he still awake?
Before he could understand it he felt a merciless blow on the back of his head and world before his eyes instantly went black.
Tall crew member swayed and the whole person fell to the ground, revealing a thin young boy who was completely covered by his figure just now.
Ge Xiu squinted his eyes. He stared at the crew member’s unconscious body, his dark eyes gleaming with pure excitement and joy.
He casually tossed up and caught the screwdriver in his hand and whistled softy:
”Have a good dream.”
Xiao Yi poked his head out of the corridor not far away, trembling, upon confirming that they were out of danger he walked out cautiously:
”Um… he, has he fainted?”
Ge Xiu jumped gently over the unconscious crew member, raised his eyebrows childishly and lightly laughed:
”Sleeping like a dead pig.”
The author has something to say:
Ge Xiu: My greatest strength is to hold grudges :- D
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*六神无主，liù shén wú zhǔ，idiom meaning extreme panic. My genius Bamboo self made some more research and
‘all six vital organs fail (idiom); besides oneself with panic.’
‘Taoists believe that the human heart, lung, liver, kidney, spleen, gall bladder have their own gods, known as the six gods.’
Ain’t Chinese very fascinating!
(haha remember when I said I’d post once a day)
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