Thorin worked at a small hole in the wall bar on Koje that sometimes attracted the wrong types of people. The type of people that had their fingers into everything that was dangerous to have your fingers in, but it was a job and Thorin couldn't complain too much. Besides, those type of people were also damn good tippers.
He stood behind the bar doing the mundane things that needed to be done; washing glasses, stocking shelves and other equally tedious tasks, everything except actually waiting on costumers. That was Jossen's job. After all it was Jossen's bar and Thorin didn't argue with him. Mainly because he was the biggest Klisk that Thorin had ever seen. He was at least sixteen feet tall and about as wide. Thorin was short for a Gargonan and, at a little under six feet tall, was about a third Jossen's height, but he was fast and could take a beating which were two good attributes to have when working behind a cramped bar with a gigantic Klisk. Fortunately Jossen was out on his morning errands which made the bar area vastly more spacious.
Elias, a dark human with cropped curly white hair sat at the bar sipping on a human drink called vodka that Jossen kept in exclusively for Elias and his mercenary unit.
"Hey Thomin." Elias bellowed.
"My name is Thorin." Thorin corrected.
"Yeah... whatever." Elias paused for a moment. "Get me some more vodka."
"Why? You have a nearly full bottle sitting in front of you."
"Oh!" Elias grabbed the bottle that Jossen had left for him and had in fact been sitting in front of him the whole time. "You're a good person, Toehead.... In fact, you're the best person I know.... Still don't know what you are though."
"I'm still a Gargonan, Elias. I'm just shorter than most of my kind. I've told you this before."
Thorin stared blankly off the other direction. Something was wrong today. Even for an early morning it was too quiet. Thorin could feel that something big was coming. He had this feeling before and the last time it was right before a meeting of the two biggest crime syndicates had taken place in the corner of this bar. It didn't end too well.
"Elias, you should go." Thorin said. "I think-- somethings not right."
"What could be wrong? I have a full week off until my next job starts, I have a bottle of the finest Klisk made Russian vodka and I'm wasted before 10 o'clock in the morning. What could possibly go wrong?"
Then something did go wrong. Thorin heard the shuffle of feet and when he looked up the two Macaneons that had come in for breakfast were scurrying out the door. A Conar in ornate armor had taken a seat at a table in the far corner. Thorin had seen him in here before on several occasions and he was accompanied by the four Nareskins that had always accompanied him. Then another Conar, this one alone, walked in, looked around for a moment and walked over to the same table and took a seat on the opposite side.
Thorin, paying too much attention to the Conars, lost the grip he had on the towel he was using to wipe off the glasses and it fell to the ground. He bent down to pick it up and something caught his eye. It was a small silver disk approximately ten centimeters in diameter. Thorin had seen it before, in fact he had seen it when the computer guy had been installing it. He and Jossen had been standing over the Cylonquin watching with anxious curiosity as the guy finished up.
The guy had told them that it was an experimental technology and that the K.M.F. Government had chosen several locations on Koje to test it out. Jossen's Place had been one of the lucky ones chosen.
When Thorin pressed about the technology, the guy only replied that it was something to do with nanites and that he didn't know much about it because he was only trained to install it. He did, however, know that when all the lights had gone out that all of the nanites would be released and that they should notice improved performance on their local network.
Thorin now stared at the silver disk and if his ability to count in binary was close, the time was almost up.
"Is everything ready?" Thorin heard the armored Conar say.
"Yes, the shipment will be complete in exactly two minutes." The other Conar said.
Thorin stood up nonchalantly. He had the uncanny ability to hear things that no other Gargonan should be able to hear and he had learn to not show this to anyone or bad things happened to him.
The Conars continued.
"How can I be sure that everything is going as planned?"
"You may just have to trust me on this one."
"I don't trust anyone, except my four friends here."
"They look trustworthy, as long as you keep them in check."
"Don't underestimate them. The last fool that doubted their abilities didn’t see the end of the day."
Thorin went back to cleaning the glasses, but was soon interrupted.
"Thorin, over here." A Cylonquin called from the other side of the bar. "You feeling alright?"
"Sorry, Choreth." Thorin said. "I guess my mind is someplace else."
"Is Jossen in?"
"He went out to grab some stuff."
"Oh, well, when he gets back can you tell him that I am over here in this dark corner being mischievous? That should get his attention rather quickly." Choreth smiled and laughed.
Thorin chuckled. "I'll do that." Then he went back to listening to the Conar.
"I have to go get your payment. I'll be right back."
"How do I know you're not going to cheat me out of my money?"
The armored Conar stood up, opened a pouch on his belt, removed a stack of credits and placed them in front of the other Conar. "Here, buy yourself a drink."
"Sounds fair."
The armored Conar and the four Nareskins moved out the door. As the other Conar stood up.
Thorin smiled his fake "can I help you" smile to the other Conar as he made eye contact. Then the armored Conar began to speak again.
"It should be taken care of momentarily. The device will be going off--" Then all Thorin could hear was a loud shrill whistle. He automatically grasped his hands to his ears.
He panicked and looked around the bar. The other Conar was now sitting at the bar and speaking to him, but Thorin couldn't hear anything. Choreth was running towards him with a look of concern. Elias had slumped over on the bar and was twitching.
Thorin's eye met the Conars gaze again, but this time the corners of the Conars eyes were bleeding and looked like red tears. Choreth, who had just reached the bar had collapsed onto it and a pink liquid oozed out of his nose and onto the counter.
The shrill sound dissipated, but now Thorin felt as if he were surrounded by water. The only sound he could hear was coming from inside him, shallow breaths and his heart beating rapidly.
Elias still lay on the bar twitching. Choreth had slumped to the floor on the opposite side leaving a trail of pink ooze on the bar as he had fallen. The other Conar grasped at his own ears, but the blood was now coming out of his ears through his hands and out his nose as well. Then his eyes disintegrated in his sockets and the blood gushed out as he fell to the floor.
Still stuck in the silence of his surroundings, Thorin's Gargonan adrenaline kicked in. He planned every movement as he forced himself to focus.
"I can't jump over the bar, not right now." He thought.
He moved slowly and steadily around the bar to survey the three other people that were with him; Choreth, Elias and the other Conar. The other Conar lay in a pool of his dark red blood. Choreth eyes were now disintegrating.
Elias still lay on the bar twitching.
"The others are dead, Elias is somehow still alive. I have to get him and myself out of here."
Thorin grabbed the collar of Elias' shirt, pulled him to the ground and dragged him as he made his way to the doors of the bar.
Each step became a burden, yet Thorin trudged along as the pain became more and more intense. Suddenly the water sensation pulsated through his body and he dropped to his knees, his grasp still firm on Elias' collar.
Thorin peered back around. The bar now looked blurry. The bar itself warped and bent with every pulse that he felt through his body. The source of the pulsating seemed to be coming from the area where the silver disk had been installed.
Thorin climbed to his feet and pushed towards the door again, knowing that every step brought him closer to escape. Then the pulsating water hit him harder than ever and he collapsed to the floor, still aware of his surroundings and gripping Elias in his hand, but unable to move. The blur slowly took him over and a black void welcomed him into unconsciousness.
Thorin's eye opened. The sound of silence enveloped him again, but this time his breathing was steadier and his heart beat slower.
The familiar face of Jossen leaned over him and spoke, but Thorin heard nothing.
"I can't hear you, Jos." Thorin said. "I can't hear anything."
Jossen grabbed a tablet from someone that walked by and scribbled on it. "What happened?"
"I don't know, I've never seen anything like that before."
"You saved Elias. He would've died had you left him in there."
"I didn't make it out. I couldn't go any further. We should've been dead."
"Luckily I was just coming back from my morning errands when I found you right inside the door. People were collapsing as they walked by, so I thought it was some chemical weapon, but as I got closer my hearing went out, I saw you by the door and I grabbed you." Jossen lifted his hand up that he had been writing on the tablet with. It was covered in blisters and bright red. He then continued writing. "You had a death grip on Elias' shirt. I don't think I could've gone in after him."
“What about Coreth and the Conar?”
“Who?”
“Choreth had come in to talk to you and a Conar I had never seen before was at the bar.”
“The only people they found were you and Elias.”
Thorin wanted to sit up, but Jossen kept him back with a subtle push on the shoulder.
"You're going to need your rest. You've been through a lot today."
