The Failing Frontier 15 - The Quest for El Dorado

Jubal was bored. He sat on a public bench, glancing around for his droid head unconsciously before remembering that he didn't have it anymore. He sighed and resumed scanning the crowd as they filtered through the slowly revolving doors. They came in groups or individually, most were in a hurry, some seemed lost. All of them had big plans. All except for Ari Sarkissian.

Ari walked into the airport without any luggage, wearing a casual outfit and trying to hide his identity with a baseball cap and sunglasses. He stopped as soon at he reached the departures board and stared at it, lifeless and frozen. He was sufficiently engrossed that he didn't notice Jubal walking up behind him, and only turned when Jubal grabbed his upper arm with considerable force.

“I knew you'd turn up here sooner or later,” Jubal whispered.

“What--” he sputtered in surprise. “You? You work for me, don't you?”

“I used to, yes,” Jubal answered quietly as he led Sarkissian to a corner. “But that was just a front, so that I could get close to you to claim the bounty on your head.”

Ari blanched and looked around frantically. “I--I can pay you,” he stammered desperately.

“Oh relax,” Jubal laughed. “I've received a better offer. Do you happen to know of a little junkyard operation called Moe's?”

“Are you joking?” Sarkissian stared at him in confusion and pulled his arm free of Jubal's grasp.

“I'll take that as a no. Well old Moe has certainly heard of you. He has a rather high opinion of you as well. He's putting together a crew for an operation--”

“Sorry, not interested,” Ari interrupted him. “I'm done, I'm just--”

“--to recover a lost horde of gold bars,” Jubal interrupted back.

Sarkissian's jaw dropped open. Jubal watched the confusion and avarice wrestling in Ari's eyes. The avarice won.

“I thought so,” Jubal said with a smile.

He started walking out of the airport without looking back. A few moments later, Sarkissian caught up with him.

“How much is a horde exactly?” he asked.

“Oh, just the entire contents of one of the most successful pre-war bank's vaults,” Jubal answered coyly.

“I see. And why--”

Jubal's phone rang, and he held an index finger to Sarkissian's lips as he answered it.

“The first package has been secured, Moe.”

“Well that's just dandy,” came Moe's friendly voice. “Your droid is coming along nicely, by the way. Oh and you'll never guess who just walked into my shop.”

“Edward Wierczyk, exactly as you predicted,” Jubal answered drily.

“Well, yes,” Moe began patiently, ”but he's brought a new, uh, friend with him. You may remember her from your first visit to my shop.”

“Jane fucking Kelley,” Jubal hissed.

Sarkissian's eyes widened at the name.

“But she was-- I just--” he stammered, his face reddening. Jubal pushed his index finger into Ari's lips again.

“That's a deal breaker, Moe,” Jubal growled into his phone.

Moe chuckled amiably in reply. “Oh son, we both know I'm the one holding all the cards here.”

Jubal ground his teeth together and gave Sarkissian a forced smile.

“I'm sure we'll all get along just fine,” he answered bitterly.

“You'd better,” Moe replied cheerfully, “or else you won't have much of a chance against those Infernals, will ya?”

The Failing Frontier 14 - Ari's Pound of Flesh

Ari had picked a random direction. He walked for what felt like an hour in his boxers through deserted streets. It seemed like a miracle that they found him, but they did. Around a corner, just like the last dozen he had walked past was a limousine. A well dressed driver made eye contact with Ari and nodded ever so slightly.

"Mr. Sarkissian, our patron requests a moment of your time."

His first instinct was to run, but that would be pointless. Ari had been contacted like this before for his real job.

"Please wear these.", the driver offered Ari some basic clothing, which he prompted put on and stepped into the vehicle.
The interior was dark and all light disappeared as the driver closed the door behind him. Ari sat and stared where he knew Kitano Takeshi, or his simulacrum would be sitting. A few tense moments later the limousine started the move and two small eye-shaped lights flickered to life, barely illuminating a Proxy-Mech.

The mech was an android, its AI designed to mimic perfectly a person's actions and decisions. It could also self destruct if it detected any attempt to capture it. It allowed those that could afford them to put themselves in potentially dangerous situation in total safely and if need be, total anonymity. In this case, the Proxy-Mech was a copy of Hei Long's CEO Kitano Takeshi.

"You've become a liability Mr. Sarkissian. We will no longer be requiring your services as a courier."

Ari knew the Kitano was right. The whole point of being a courier was being able to attract as little attention as possible. If he was being hunted for a bounty he could no longer guarantee he could deliver.

It continued,
"You will receive a generous compensation package..."

"Wait, I can..." Ari interjected, but he had nothing to add, no reason he wouldn't cut him out if he was in their position.

"Ari," the Android's tone softened, the business tone was gone. It reached over with a cold metal hand and placed it on his shoulder. "It's over. You've had a good run. You helped the company get where it is today, and the board hasn't forgotten that. You've got a golden parachute coming your way. Take the money, change your name and face, move to Tahiti." The android sat back in its chair. The business tone returned, "credits have been tranfered to your account. The driver will take you wherever you want to go. Thank you for your service."


The Android sat back and Ari heard the metallic grind that meant the Android was physically destroying its memory so that it was totally unrecoverable. The Android's joint locked up, it was nothing more than fancy shell now, and with it died Ari's career, the business he had poured his entire life into since he was a teenager.
Ari sat in the back for several minutes just processing. The last few days had seen the entire life he'd built for himself crumble around him. His career, his reputation, he could never show his face in the racing circuit again without the fear of getting straight up assassinated. The one thing he had left was the money. Kitano's advice was solid. He could be on a beach in Maui with a new identity by tomorrow.
Ari's finger pressed the intercom button but he remained silent, the driver's voice came over the intercom,

"Sir?"

Is that enough? Ari asked himself. Didn't it make sense to finally let himself stop fighting for more? Couldn't he just be?

"Take me to the airport.", saying the words felt like ripping off an arm.

"Of course sir."

The limousine started to move and Ari stared out the window. Looking at the city that had been his home his entire life, he just felt bitter.