Sunbucks Cafe

[Garrett Jax]

Fort Bush is hopping today, Garrett Jax observed. Sergeants barked orders with an unheard-of intensity. Recruits in freshly pressed, blue Liberty uniforms jumped and immediately fast walked to their stations. Officers were huddled together in little mini meetings, whispering anxiously. Something is up, Garrett thought. These foolish mortals were hyped up more than usual.

He found some respite sitting by himself at a corner table, in Sunbucks Café, isolated from the chaos. The steam from his cup filled his senses with joy. The coffee was just as he remembered. There was no better in all of Sirius.

The doors to the café opened to let in an assorted collection of LPI’s finest. Garrett sighed as his hopes for a quiet rendezvous with his precious brew vanished with the steam. A couple officers, armed with tazers at their sides, sat at the table nearest him. It wasn’t long before he discovered the reason for all the commotion on the base. The Supermax prison, Attica, had vanished.

He could clearly hear the two officers discuss the matter. There was no sign of the prison. No debris, no wreckage, no distress signals. It was there one moment, and it was gone the second. No trace of the prison existed. No evidence could be found as to its whereabouts.

Garrett listened intently. There was only one group of entities capable of such a feat. A set of evil beings that could rearrange or erase entire planets and systems without notice or regard for life. A group of individuals that are so inherently evil, that even the Greens walk warily around them. They are the Devs.

He fondly recalled the days when he lived in the hallowed halls of the Temple of the Damned. Those were wonderful times. His fellow Greens would gather to plan their own set of misfortunes on the mortals of Sirius. They would laugh with delight at the screams of Mods when one ventured near enough for them to kick. They would toast their successes with cups filled with the tears of Zoners. Those were the days. And then it was all gone. The Temple of the Damned disappeared without a trace. Just like the Supermax prison, Attica. Those evil Devs decided it wasn’t of use to them anymore, so they waved their magic wands and made it disappear.

He remembered the anger he felt at the time. The rage. Dev heads were going to roll for that injustice. But then he discovered this little oasis. The rich aroma and smooth taste of Sunbuck’s coffee softened his rage and made him forget the pleasures he experienced at the Temple.

Garrett glanced over at the two officers. He felt a necessity to tell them what happened to their prison. But how? These mortals would never understand the complexity of their universe. Their puny minds couldn’t comprehend how fragile and temporary their existence really was. He observed the confused and lost looks on their faces. He had to tell them what happened to Attica, somehow.

After a few minutes of intense thought, he finally came up with an idea. There was no way to possibly tell them of realities beyond their understanding. He would have to show them. Let them experience those realities for themselves. Then they would know of the Devs and their evil magic. He reached deep into his jacket pocket, pulled out a small box and set it on the table.

Garrett gestured toward the officers to get their attention. He said, “I know what happened to your Supermax prison, Attica.”

The eyes of the officers grew large, and they immediately walked closer to his table. They each grabbed a chair and sat down next to him. Their eyes flashed a look of suspicion. The older of the two spoke up, “Tell us what you know.”

Garrett frowned. He was beginning to question the morality of disclosing information so disturbing that it would forever alter these men and what they believed as truth. His eyes fell upon the small box at the center of the table. He sighed. There was nothing to be done now. He was committed to this course.

He met the gaze of the officers. “There are a group of beings that are more powerful than you can possibly imagine. Beings that can alter the ships you fly, the planets you live on, even the systems that connect them.”

The two officers leaned closer. “What is in that drink you have?”, they scoffed. “Public drunkenness is a crime on this station, Mister.”

“I’m not drunk,” Garrett replied. These officers were just as skeptical as he suspected. It came as no surprise. Mortal beings were always slow to accept changes to their reality. “I have proof of what I say. If you are brave enough to venture down the rabbit hole.”

He reached for the small ornate box and opened it up. Inside were two small pills, one red and one blue. He set the pills on the table in front of the officers. “I have two pills,” he said. You will have to swallow the red one to discover the answer for yourself.”

“What does the blue pill do?” the younger officer asked.

“If you take the blue pill, you will forget this conversation ever happened. You will wake up in your beds, go on with your normal lives and always wonder what happened to your Supermax prison.”

Both officers immediately stood up, their tazers out, and grabbed Garrett’s arms.

“What are you doing?” Garrett shouted.

The older officer was reaching for a pair of handcuffs, “Selling narcotics is illegal, sir. You are under arrest.”

Garrett resisted, pulling an arm free. “How dare you, you foolish mortals!” Rage flared up in his eyes. “Don’t you know who I am? I will end you.”

The officers fired up their tazers. “If you continue to resist, we will have no choice but to fry your ass.”

Garrett laughed. “You think you can hurt me with those toys? You cannot comprehend the pain…Ow, ow, ow. That hurts. Stop! You’re hurting me.” The officers took turns hitting him with bursts of electricity. Garrett lunged for the red pill. It was his only chance to escape. He lost sight of the pills but felt one of them in his hand and he quickly tossed it in his mouth. He bit down hard. Dear Igiss, he hoped he got the red pill.

The last thing Garrett remembered as he was being dragged out of Sunbucks, handcuffed, was the sight of a little red pill falling off the table and rolling across the floor. Welp, he thought. At least I’ll get a good night’s sleep out of this.

---