Keeper Hunter

Copper stood beside the ATV I had told her to stay inside. She was currently staring at the neon signs lighting up the darkness and the sounds of music emanating from the bar.

“I told you to wait in the car!” I said to her.

Copper looked at me and shivered. “I got frightened when you turned on the power.”

A quick glance around confirmed what I already knew this town was deserted. The why was something I could look into later. “This town is deserted,” I said stating the obvious.

“It was so full of life the last time I was through here,” Copper. “About a year ago. I just can’t believe it changed so fast?”

“I think they just upped and left. I can’t see any signs of damage.”

Copper shivered again. “I just don’t understand it?”

“Understand what?” I said and cursed myself for repeating words.

“A whole town can’t just up a go there must be a reason?” Copper speculated.

“It wasn’t because of the war?” I realised it was stupid as I said it I was thinking about the war with the Confeds when I said it. Copper had said there were people here last year. So what had happened between last year and now. “I wonder how long it has been abandoned?”

“The mayor’s office was behind the bar we could look there?” Copper sounded hopeful.

“Ok lead the way.”

I followed Copper as she entered the bar. It was larger on the inside than I’d given it credit. Even abandoned this place was better than the Tavern aboard the Ariadne. A layer of dust lay over everything. There were a number of round tables their chairs on top of them as if waiting for the floor to be cleaned. There were a number of slot machines on one wall, with roulette and blackjack tables in front of them. The bar counter was littered with empty bottles all dust covered while neon signs flickered above. Beside the bar counter was a set of steps that led up to a mezzanine floor. Copper headed towards the stairs her feet leaving prints in the dust. It was clear no one had been here for a while. At the top of the stairs there appeared to be three rooms or at least I could see three doors. Tables and chairs lined the railing as dust covered as the rest of this place. One of the doors led to a cashier’s office with a glass window over looking the bar, the type that had a slot in it to dispense casino tokens. More than likely the tokens only being valid in this casino. While Copper went into the office I decided to explore the other doors. I opened the door closest to the office. Inside was a heart shaped bed although I doubted it had been used for sleeping in. The images on the wall and a display of sex toys didn’t leave much to the imagination. I closed that door and opened the next. This time it had a wall to wall couch and in the centre of the room was a dais with a pole at the centre. It was clear what this room was used for and from the dust hadn’t been used for a while. I closed the door and returned to the office. Copper was busy with the terminal her eyes glued to the holo screen.

“I’m going to take a look outside?” I told her.

Copper just waved her hand and concentrated on the screen.

Outside I walked over to the ATV. Copper hadn’t locked it and had left it powered up. I considered my options the best place to put it was in the repair bay of the refuelling station. It had a roller door, which I had to hand crank open. It seemed the refuelling station didn’t use the same power source as the rest of the town. I drove the ATV in and powered it down. It would be less obvious there than sitting in the middle of the road. There was shop attached to the refuelling station the shelves empty of goods the floor just as dusty. I crossed the road to the nearest home a concrete colony home, the type that was modular and put up in a few hours. It had one door and two sets of windows. One set facing the road the other around the back. I tried the door it was locked. I did the same to a few others they were all locked. If Separatists had chased them out the townsfolk would not have locked their doors. I tried another finding it unlocked. I cautiously stepped inside. The room wasn’t that large. Just wide enough for a bed at one end. The rest of the space had been taken up by trash. I wasn’t sure if the former occupant had left it like that or the townsfolk had piled all their unwanted items here when they left. Unable to find any clues as to why this town was deserted I went back to the bar. Copper as finished what she had been doing and had cleared one of the tables off and was sitting in a chair a glum expression on her face.

“Hello,” I said to her.

“Oh hi, the terminal had a lot of interesting information on it.”

“How so?” I asked.

“The town’s water supply failed. It’s sad really the well they dug here ran dry.”

Copper grimaced. “I’ve seen the projections on how long the dry spell could last. A pipeline would have cost millions the town couldn’t afford that. So they left abandoning it.”

“No water at all?” I said. It was making a lot of sense now.

“There was a proposal to dam the winter rain run off.” Copper said. “It was expensive and it doesn’t rain here that often on these dry plains.”

I wished for the forests of Alfheimir even the plains there were greener. But being there would mean confronting whatever plans the Elders had for me.

“I think we should call it a night,” I said changing subjects. Tiredness was starting to get me I’d been on the move for too long. “I’m going to grab some gear from the ATV. We’ll use one of the room upstairs.” There was only one room I wasn’t about to tell Copper that. “It’s safer if we stick together.”

Copper looked at me a slight frown on her face. “If you say so.”

“I do,” I told her and left the bar.

I came back a few minutes later with two sleeping bags and rations and bottles of water. We ate the rations and drunk the water in silence. I think Copper was regretting stopping here. She had managed to turn off the neon signs and piped music in the bar. It was much quieter. We threw our trash into one of the waste bins littered around the bar. I went upstairs to the bedroom. The bed was heart shaped which was a clear indicator of what it had been used for even if the décor hadn’t said so. On the bed was a cover. I pulled that off dreading what I’d find underneath. It wasn’t as bad as I thought. Despite the dust the bed was clean although I wasn’t going to chance sleeping in it. I heard a noise and saw Copper staring at me.

“I’ll take this side.” I said waving my hand at the bed.

“I not sleeping on that!” Copper declared.

“Sleep on the floor we have to stick together, get it!” I said to her rather bluntly.

Copper stared at me. “Got it,” she said with a sulk and walked out.

I left her sleeping bag unrolled and set up mine. I’d spent time sleeping on the hard ground both on Alfheimir and Davenport. It was an experience I was unwilling to repeat if I could. I checked the mattress unsure what to expect. This was a former T’Arni gift world so most of the creatures here wouldn’t be of the venomous kind. A fact the so-called Separatists had neglected to take into account. The only vermin here would be imported from Earth whether they be two legged or with more than two. It was clear so I relaxed.

Copper appeared in the doorway her face pale her breath short. “I can’t go,” she said her eyes wide.

“What?” I replied.

“I’m not using the bathroom there’s a dead body in it!”

“Body?” I had long given up trying not to repeat other words.

“Didn’t you hear me the first time!” she said her voice rising.

“Ok,” I said to her. “Stay here I’ll deal with it and for the Mother’s sake calm down!”

I stopped myself did I just say ‘Mother’? As in the ‘Valkyrie Mother of All’ I wasn’t Valkyrie but I sure were picking up their idioms.

I checked my Seven Double ‘M’ and went to see.

The washrooms were on the ground floor just behind the bar. It was a unisex room with two stalls and two sinks. A strong stench emanated from the partly open door of one stall. I wondered why I hadn’t smelled it earlier. Then this room had close fitting doors and no windows. The corpse that of man was in the late stages of putrefaction. He was wearing some sort of business suit but with all the decay it was hard to get the original colour. I guessed it had been here for months. At the feet of the corpse was an empty shotgun. The blood splatter on the wall behind the corpse was a clear indicator that he had taken his own life. I heard Copper behind me.

“Suicide,” I told her. The second in a matter of days but I was still unsure about Maria Garcia. I had been told to leave that investigation alone.

“I can’t go in there!” Copper said holding her nose. “Not with him in there?”

“Go get a spade out of the ATV and dig a hole,” I said to her. I hated to admit it I was losing my patience with her. “I parked the ATV in the repair bay of the refuelling station,” I added as an after thought.

“Dig a hole?” Copper looked at me shocked.

“Never been wilderness camping,” I said to her.

“No never,” she replied affronted.

“Now would be a great time to learn.” That was the Valkyrie way. I had to learn that the hard way. Digging a hole for your wastes with a knife wasn’t a good experience.