A Secure Line

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say…

Everything was still, fixed rocks floating along the wide belt of Jupiter, slowly becoming powder with every rock colliding in that silent stream. The neighboring star shown brightly, painting the dust between the miscellaneous rocks.

Of the floating debris, emerged a man climbing though, his masked head fixed on a particular rock. He slithered his way to the rock and grabbed a hold of it, examining it all over with his hands, digging his armored gloves through the cracks. The rock broke open after a small amount of effort, releasing a cloud of rubble and dust. He swiped the dust away, revealing a smooth black metal box imbedded into the stone. Upon further inspection, it was a rectangular box with grid like carvings on it in a sleek sort of manner, symmetrical patterns of lines and a bulky button on the side of it. The rock didn’t interest him anymore, he retrieved the box and rubbed it clean, pressing the button on the side.

The device slid open, revealing a dark screen filled with green incomprehensible text. He grabbed what looked to be a key card from his coat pocket, pressed it to the device, accessing it further. The device began to move in his hands, out of its corner emerged a silver pin “DEAD” the green text read. He took the pin, shutting down the device and shoving it into his coat along with the pin. “Just dead this time. that makes it easy”

he was taken back by the simple orders. Now sufficed with what he came for, he made his way out of the rocky mess. The corner of his eye caught an irregular movement of rocks in the distance.

A set of rocks in the distance gaped unnaturally, as if something was clearing some space for itself. he moved cautiously now, guiding himself into the cover of a few larger rocks. It happened again, this time catching an angle visible to his location. He was being watched. He kept still now, slowly gesturing towards the device strapped to his hip. An object glinted in the center of the clearing of rocks, it shot quickly at him, striking his shoulder with a heavy blow. The impact was blunt, his fluttering coat resisted being pierced by the show arrow, but it didn’t prevent his shoulder from being knocked out of place.

“Zod, get out of there!” a radio transmitted from his head piece. Zod was still staggering from the blow, he looked back up from where he was shot from, expecting another volley. He slapped his right hand to his chest, his coat tightened sleekly to his ribs body while still loose past the lower back. Vents along his back began blowing out a transparent gas, propelling him as he quickly made his way through the rocks.

Zod didn’t look back as he kept fleeing, just ahead was his engine. He made it out of the rocks, mounting his engine, kicking it to start. Zod hugged his legs around his ride as it kicked into gear, ready to take off. He grabbed his duster by its long cape and threw it around him, a geometric layer of mirror formed onto his coat, veiling himself in the darkness of space. His engine did the same, breaking away into the darkness as he took off.

The rocks at the surface of the belt were moved again by an invisible entity, revealing itself subtly as the light painted dust did not pass though the outline of darkness. The veiled individual was merely a silhouette in an odd braking of light, it looked to be the same technology Zod had used to escape. Its shape seemed to look on in the direction of where Zod escaped, as if he’d gotten away. The silhouette turned his head to the side, noting the light behind acting odd. “You can hear me, I take it” the invisible man spoke out.

Two shots were fired, a beam of light coming from both directions right at one another. Both shots penetrated, straight through the drapes of their coats, breaking the mirror layer of camouflage. They were both revealed now, Zod’s attempt for a surprise attack was wasted, and the invisible man spoke. “That silver pen was mine I’m guessing, a hit out for me huh?” he kept his weapon pointed

“Quite the advantage huh, Perfect for bounty hunting! A direct line to me. Being able to hear my bodies every sound and sense my location, just through that little pin”

This one-sided conversation didn’t faze Zod, he kept his weapon pointed, readily pressing onto the trigger. “Seeing that you’ve already shot to kill, looks like the job is to have me brought in dead.”

Zod felt this was heading somewhere, but time was out. A large unpiloted ship appeared out of the darkness, violently crashing into the belt, swallowing up Zod and the man. Aboard Zod’s ship now, Zod turned on the lights, looking for where the man had run off to. He calmed down and stayed still for a moment, focusing on sensing his location, listening for his breathing. The man vanished aboard the ship, Zod’s heart began to race, this wasn’t normal. “Sure, I’m a dead man.”

The voice rang in Zod’s ear, he looked around the large empty room, he was onboard at the very least. Zod wandered profusely around the ship, always checking his back. He made a quick stop for the medical aid room to operate on his bad arm. The voice called him out again “tell me. This isn’t so ‘easy’. is it?” he mocked Zod from earlier.

Zod’s heart dropped, he felt sick. The man was in the piloting room, driving the ship. Not only did his target also have Zod’s radio pin, But the ship was now barreling down towards the planets surface, leading to both of their demise.