The Adventures of Cento

9F2 moved around to their flank. Silently. Softly. Oh look. Another weapon with a full charge. That was nice. Now he had two guns.

They came really close to 9F2 as they passed where he was. They had guns but didn't have them at the ready. They were prepared in case any of these soldiers were alive enough to take a shot but they truly didn't expect it to happen. That was good for 9F2.

He stalked them as they moved. 9F2 waited for just the right moment when he had line of sight on them all and they were distracted by something.

"Ha. Look at these two. They looked like they were kissing when they bought it. Look! Look at them." said mustache guy.

"Ha. That's funny." said the young one.

Those were his last words. The shot from the gun in 9F2's hand burned a hole right through his head. 9F2 didn't even wait to see if he'd gotten him. He aimed and fired at his next target. The first two were dead before the others even thought to put their hands to their guns. Then the third fell and the last man was mustache guy.

The guy with the mustache had his gun raised and he jumped behind that big machine.

"I'll kill you." he yelled.

9F2 didn't reply. Why give away his position?

"Hey. Let's make a deal. Huh? How about it?"

Yeah, 9F2 had a deal for him. He could come out of hiding so 9F2 could shoot him. The clone answered by shooting one of the baffled robots.

"Hey. I'm trying to work with you. Ok. Look. You don't want to die. I don't want to die. Let's talk about this."

There was nothing to talk about. 9F2 knew this guy was not going to let him live. He had only one more shot in this gun. Instead of using that shot he threw the gun sideways so that it would land and make a sound.

Mustache guy heard it and jumped out of his hiding place with his gun up looking for something to shoot at. 9F2 had him in his sights. 9F2 fired but sort of missed. He didn't hit mustache guy directly in the torso. Instead he melted both of the guy's arms off from the elbow.

He screamed in pain and fell to the ground. Fuck, now he was going to call attention to them. 9F2 had to finish this guy off.

"No. No." he said as 9F2 came close to him. "I have a wife. I have kids. Please, no."

9F2 took the guy's own knife and showed it to him.

"Please, just leave me. The robots can care for me. Just leave me. You can have the ship. Take my gun. Go ahead. Just don't kill me."

9F2 didn't say anything. Instead he just stabbed the guy in the neck to make him shut up.

The three robots that weren't dead just looked at him with stupid expressions on their faces. No witnesses. He shot all three of them.

He figured he was on a time limit now. Those other scavenge crews definitely heard all that. They were probably racing back to their ships. 9F2 took what he could from the four assholes and used one of their jackets as a makeshift bag. Now he had four pistols, a rifle, and some money. He didn't know what kind of money it was or where he could spend it but it was money.

9F2 collected all that and then ran at full speed to their ship. Were there more guys on the ship? If so, 9F2 was prepared to kill them and then throw them out to rot with the rest of the bodies.

When he got to the ship he just ran up the ramp and put the jacket down. He got one of the pistols ready and he went room by room looking for anyone who might be in there. No one. Ok. Good. He checked the gun locker. Wow. They were sure stocked up, whoever these people were. He closed the ramp and made his way to the cockpit.

So, he sort of knew how to fly this thing. It seemed sort of familiar to him but of course this was also the first time for him to ever see any of this. Weapons. This ship had cannons and missiles.

"Hey, what's going on?" said a voice over the radio. "We heard screaming. Is everyone alright over there?"

9F2 didn't answer. He targeted the ship at ten o'clock with the cannons and fired a missile at the ship at four o'clock. Before waiting to see if he'd hit them, he set the ship to target the last hostile at one o'clock. Then he got in the pilot seat and took the controls.

The ship started to rise and he saw three huge explosions on sensors. Up, up, up. He got the ship into space and out of the gravity of that moon or it's gas giant parent. Now what? He had a lot of fuel. That made sense. The ship was empty instead of hauling a bunch of useless metal. He flew way out to the edge of the system and had to take a moment to think.

Ok. One, he wasn't dead. Two, he had weapons. Three, he had a ship. He was free. He could go do whatever he wanted. Nice.

He paused to think of his friend. If only Buck were here. We'd wanted to go start a farm somewhere. Quaint and peaceful. But 9F2 didn't see a farm in his future. He'd be hunted now. Whoever those guys were, they'd have allies who'd go looking for the one who'd ambushed them. And then there was Danbolhako. If they ever found out that one of their cannon fodder had lived, they'd want him dead.

He suddenly wanted to count all the guns in the locker. Unfortunately, it was locked and 9F2 could not see how to open it. He looked around the ship and found a drill. He didn't know if it would work but he decided to try. He put the drill to the lock and it cut right through it like butter.

He was a one man army. Now that he had guns, did he have food? No. This ship had some water but no food. Ok, time to go find a place to buy food. He went back tot he cockpit and tried to see where he was in the galaxy. Before deciding on a definite course of action, he read up on who controlled what.

There was a Gypt controlled world not that far away. Maybe that was where these guys were from. A better option would be the space station near one of the Sokai worlds. He pulled out the money and looked it over. Was it only good on a Gypt world or would the Sokai accept it?

Wait. There was a trading hub a bit farther away than that space station. Surely someone there would accept this cash for something. The computer said it was 26 hours away. That was ok. He wasn't starving yet. The computer made the calculation for the course and he hit the ftl.

...

The robot greeted a very hungry 9F2 who was wearing some spare clothes as he landed his ship at the space port.

"I'm sorry. I'll have to ask you to leave your weapons in the security locker on your ship." Said the humanoid robot with black hair and a stupid looking green light coming from where eyes should have been.

"It's busted."

"In that case I'll have to ask you to pay a fee to leave them in our security lockers here."

"So if you're asking me, that means I can refuse."

"No one may bring weapons into the city. I'll have to ask you to leave them behind."

"I refuse. What are you going to do about it?"

"I ... I don't know."

"No programming for that?"

"I am not sure."

"You sit there and think it over. I have to sell the weapons on this ship so don't go letting anyone take them."

"Weapon sales are restricted to licensed personnel only."

"How do you know I don't have a license?"

"You must register your license with local authorities before any sale."

"I'll go do that."

"And I must repeat that it is illegal to carry a weapon in the city."

"It's a sample to show customers. Don't worry. It isn't loaded."

"I can not open the doors until I know that you are unarmed."

9F2 took the pistol out of his holster and handed it to the robot.

"Thank you for your cooperation. Have a pleasant visit to Lion City."

9F2 just nodded. No need to tell the machine about the gun stuffed in the back of his pants concealed by his jacket.

He didn't really know how much money he had so he started shopping around and trying to get an idea of how far this little bit would last him. Maybe selling those guns was something he should do. Now that he was free, there was no reason to kill anyone else. He could find some nice boring work and just lay low. He was alive and that's what mattered.

Now that he thought about it, he could also just sell that ship. It was a nice ship and maybe he could buy a cheaper ship to fly around in.

Then he started to notice people staring at him. It wasn't everyone but it was enough people for him to wonder what they were looking at. 9F2 got his answer sooner than he expected.

Near the spaceport there was a place that advertised a woman's face with a black line over her eyes. It said 8000 for 30 minutes. 9F2 was confused as to what exactly was being advertised and why the woman looked vaguely familiar. He as staring at the poster when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"How much?" a man asked.

"What?"

"You can come on my ship. How much you want?"

"You want to hire me? For what?"

"What do you think? You're not an idiot are you? Where's your pimp?"

"Pimp? Get the fuck away from me."

"What's the problem? You on break or something? I'll pay a little extra but I'm in a hurry."

"I'm a vet not a sex worker."

"Oh. Ok. I'm sorry. I just thought ..."

9F2 was about to punch the guy or maybe even shoot him but the man retreated and the clone figured it would be best to just let it go. Food was the priority just now and he didn't feel like fighting until he'd at least gotten some food.

He went into the cheapest little restaurant he could find. It was pretty small with only a few seats and a counter. There were no customers in the place so 9F2 just sat at the counter and picked up a menu.

He didn't know anything about food. What was good? What was bad? It hadn't been programmed into him. What was the cheapest, most basic thing? Scrambled eggs, toast, and grits. The grits sort of reminded him of that stuff from the cafeteria. Ok, for 50 creds more he could have sunny side up eggs with some bacon and toast.

"I'm sorry." said the robot server with hair the color of wet shit on the other side of the counter. "This establishment does not serve clones."

"How do you know I'm a clone?"

"I'm sorry. I am not authorized to answer your question."

"I have money. Give me food. That's how this works, right?"

"I'm sorry. I have to ask you to leave."

9F2 stood up and with his left hand he grabbed some of the robot's hair and then forcefully slammed the robot's head to the counter.

"I said food. Now. I'm hungry."

"I am not authorized to ..."

"Put the order in or I'll snap your head clean off."

"Threats of violence will not ..."

"Shut up." said 9F2 as he started to pull in an effort to separate the robot's head from it's body.

"What's going on out here?" asked someone as they came through the swinging door to the area behind the counter.

9F2 saw that man and pulled his gun on him.

"Don't move."

"What the hell?"

"Don't move or I'll kill you."

"Hold up there. Ok. Just hold up."

"Your stupid fucking robot here says you don't serve my kind. What the fuck is that about?"

"Um ... Well ..."

"Talk!"

"It isn't very well programmed."

"My programming is not the ..."

"Make this thing shut up or I'll blast parts of your body all over this place."

"Andy, don't speak."

"Now. I have money. I will give you that money in exchange for some food. If that deal doesn't sound like something you'll accept then I can just kill you."

"It's on the house."

"What?"

"We ... support veterans. Yeah. Totally. Vets eat free here. You're obviously a soldier so ... um ... I'll just go make whatever you want."

"Eggs and bacon. Hurry up. If cops show up before my food does I will hunt you down and kill everyone you've ever loved."

"No worry of that. I'm sorry that stupid robot gave you so much trouble."

"I accept your apology."

The man backed away back through the doors.

9F2 let the robot go. "One word and I shoot you." 9F2 moved from the counter to the table by the wall. He watched the door.

After a couple of minutes the man came to 9F2 with some food. His hands were shaking as he presented 9F2 with the deluxe meal. 9F2 wasn't sure he could eat all of that. There were pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, and grits.

"Please enjoy."

"Thank you. Now just let me eat and then you'll never have to see me again."

While 9F2 was eating a man entered the place. He looked around but didn't go to the counter to order food. He looked over at 9F2 and raised his hands in the air.

"How are you?"

"Fine. Yourself?"

"I'm ok but a little worried. I got word there was a man with a gun in here."

"Really. Who told you that?"

"That man wouldn't be you would it?"

"Does everyone who comes here have to go through all this just to get a meal?"

"Can I sit down?"

"Sure. If you draw on me, I'll kill you."

"You've never been in town before have you?"

"No. This is my first time."

"Alright. Well see, we've got these rules. Just about everywhere you go is going to have the same sort of rules. Out there in space people get used to just doing whatever but here planet side that foolishness won't fly."

"So what should I do if some piece of shit robot tells me I can't order food?"

"You lodge a complaint like a civilized human being. I take it, they didn't put manners or anything like that in your head."

"No. Just fighting and killing."

"And now you know why some people don't want runaway clones coming into their place."

"Runaway clones? Is that what you all call me?"

"Is it not true?"

"No. I went to war. Twice. I won once and then I lost. Then I was discharged."

"They let you go?"

"They let me go."

"Alright. And you have documents that say as much?"

"Why would I need that?"

"I guess technically you don't but people are going to assume you're a runaway. Be careful. There might be a bounty hunter or two who will try to capture you and hold you until they can find someone to return you to."

"Then I really don't want to give up my gun."

"Well see, I can't just let you walk around with it."

"Then I'll leave."

"You can do that if you want. Whenever you're ready to disarm you're welcome back in Lion City."

"If I do go, it won't be until I've finished this."

"I understand. No rush. But if you'd like I could just hold onto that weapon for you and then you'd be free to shop or go sightseeing or ..."

"No. If I give you my gun you'll shoot me with it."

The man sighed. "Your choice. I'll just sit here and keep you company if you don't mind."

"I mean it if you draw on me."

"I have no doubt that you do. That's why I'm not going to draw. We're all friends here."

9F2 went back to his food but he was keeping one eye on the man's hands. He wasn't in a uniform but he was obviously some sort of law enforcement. That meant he had backup outside on the street.

"Is that your first real meal?" asked the man.

"Real food taste good."

"That it does. You know, I also got word that there was a man who was going to sell some weapons in town."

"What of it?"

"What kind of condition are they in?"

"Why do you care?"

"We usually don't allow gun sales in town but maybe this is a special case. If you'd let me take a look a them maybe city hall would like to buy them from you."

"Sure, so long as I get paid."

"Oh, if we buy them, we will pay you and maybe you can use some of that money to fit a new lock to your locker."

9F2 looked up at the man's face. "You've got guys on my ship?"

"I do. But like I said, we're all friends here. A broken security locker causes an automatic inspection of the vessel."

"You're not taking my ship."

"We would never do that. It was just an inspection. You're not eating your grits. Don't miss that. They're good."

9F2 got some of the white substance onto his fork and tasted it. It was better than he imagined it would be.

"There you go. See. I'm looking out for you. By the way, my name's Maxwell. Do you have a name?"

9F2 hesitated for a moment. "Buck."

"Buck? Not A1B or anything like that?"

"My name is Buck."

"Just Buck?"

"It's short for Cento Septuaginto Septo."

"Wow. That's a mouthful. How about I make you a deal?"

"I haven't been very good at deals recently."

"You can't judge everyone by the crazies in space. All the decent people live down here. So how about this? I will not take your gun. It is your gun. The second you are back at spaceport you get it back. I will just hold it for you. We can take a walk to my office. My secretary will take your picture and I'll issue you an id card with your name on it. Then we can talk about how much we'll pay you for those guns you don't want."

"How do I know you won't just shoot me?"

"If I wanted to shoot you I could have a guy drill you right through that wall behind you."

"So you're going to arrest me?"

"No. I'm going to do just like I said. You know what. I'm going to reach to my back pocket. I am not going to pull out my gun. Ok. You understand me. No gun. I have something in my wallet."

"Slow."

The man moved his hands off the table and reached to his back pocket. He pulled out his wallet and extracted his own id card.

"Here. You can hold onto that. Go ahead. Take it."

Buck didn't touch it. He finished up the rest of his food but he did glance down to it.

"How do I know I can trust you?" Buck asked.

"I trusted you enough to come in here. I trusted you enough to sit down across from you. I don't think you want to hurt me and I don't want to hurt you. You just want to live in peace and I get that. So let me do my job. You can have one of these little things with your face on it and the next time you go somewhere that doesn't want to serve you it will change their minds. Come on. You give me the gun and you can hold onto my id until I give it back to you."

"Let me hold onto your gun."

The man smiled. "Ok. But I can't let you walk around with it. I'll get it for you now if you like."

"Yeah. Slow."

"Here you are. It's never been fired."

"Never?"

"Never and I'm glad for it. Things are a lot calmer down here. That poor guy in the kitchen, you made him cry."

"Cry?"

"But I have no doubt that you and Paul will become great friends after this."

"Just so you know, I don't need a gun to kill anyone."

"Oh, I know. Just the other day we were watching the news feed from a battle and it came down to fisticuffs. Blue vs Green, I think. Did you see it?"

"I did." Buck said though his vantage point was obviously different from theirs. The memory of looking down at his opponent with his hands round the other guy's neck came back to him.

"So, are you ready to go or do you want coffee?"

"What's coffee?"

"Only proof that the Lord loves us and want us to be happy."

"Sign me up."

"Paul, get us some coffee." yelled the man.

"Here's your gun back." said Buck. "It's nice."

"Thanks. Oh, if you find the coffee too bitter you might want to add some sugar or milk to it."

"I'll follow your lead." Buck said. Then he put his gun on the table in front of Maxwell.

"Does that mean I can hold it for you? I won't touch it unless you say it's ok."

"Go ahead. But I better get it back or I'll ... lodge a complaint."

The man laughed. "That's the way. Good. That's how we do things." Then he brought his watch to his mouth and said, "All clear."

Paul brought them their coffee and he avoided Buck's gaze.

"Thank you." said Maxwell.

"Yeah, thanks." said Buck.

"You ... Your welcome."

"Paul, I understand this young man I'm sitting with here pulled a gun on you."

"It was just a misunderstanding, sir."

"You don't want to press charges? That's assault."

"No, sir."

"You can speak freely. He isn't armed anymore."

"No. That's ok."

"Well, that's good enough for me. Is that good enough for you Buck?"

"Sure. Hey, Paul. Sorry about all that."

"It's ok."

"Just so there are no hard feelings," began Maxwell, "I'm buying this man a gift card. Have ol' Andy ring me up. He's going to come back in here at some point and he's going to expect to be treated like everybody else."