Sky is Over

OOOOOOOOUUUCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHH!!!

The searing pain behind my eyes tells me I'm not dead... Yet. Might as well be, this last fight was rather harsh. Vague memories at this stage but soon enough my entire consciousness will be downloaded into this new clone. There's a reason training new skills takes so long, the mind can't handle all that information in one go. Of course they didn't think about this during cloning, the sheer volume of information being downloaded right now is enough to make my head explode violently.

I slowly open my eyes, I'm in a cloning vat, that much is clear from the liquid around me and the breathing tube in my mouth. Through the liquid and with new eyes I make out a single figure sitting at a desk. With a new hand, attached to a new arm I knock on the glass tank which contains my new body. The figure at the desk jumps out of the chair as if shocked and moves towards my cloning vat.

With a sound that can only be described as a vacuum cleaner unclogging a drain, the clone vat opens and I fall to the floor of the Gusandall cloning facility.

"Welcome to the Republic Justice Department cloning facilities Mr..." says a female voice.
She looks at her datapad
"Mr Rizzel"

MOTHERFUCKER THAT HURTS!

"Uhm, no need to curse"

Look, miss?

"Betincourt"

Look Miss Betincourt

"Alise Betincourt"

Look, my mind is capable of a great many things... Being civil and rational after being violently sent to the cloning vats isn't on the list. Where's Krieger?

"Dr Krieger has been called away to an emergency, I'm his assistant, how can I assist?"

Vodka! Krieger normally gives me vodka to take the edge off, there should be some in his desk.

"I'm not sure alcohol is the best thing right now"

EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH VODKA!

"OK, calm down"

I AM CALM, I'M THE CALMEST PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE, WHEN PEOPLE AREN'T SHOOTING AT ME OR DROPPING BLOODY BIG FLEETS ON MY ASS.

"You sound like the universe is out to get you" she says handing me the bottle of vodka

You have no idea

"A little paranoid?"

It's not paranoia if it's true

Wow, her eyes are really blue. The vodka has helped take the edge off, good old Krieger and his bottle of vodka. I can focus a bit better and notice that Alise is rather good looking with the bluest eyes I have ever seen, I file this information away for later use, right now I need to get back to business.

You have a comms unit?

"Yeah, it's on my desk"

I walk over to her desk, bottle of vodka in hand, taking more of the edge off as I punch in the number for my hangar.

Jarek? You there?

"Yes boss"

Good, get the new Dram set up and go over to my office, there's a box of implants on my desk labelled 'Snakes in my Brain', bring it to the cloning facilities ASAP.

"No can do boss"

What?!

"Sorry boss, but the station is on lockdown, there's been an explosion"

Really?

"Yes boss, near the M34N Corp hangar"

Fuck, anybody hurt?

"Don't know, station got locked down rather sharpish, haven't been able to get any information"

Shit, I hope it's not that stuff we ordered for the party, ordering something to drink 'that' volatile might not have been the best idea.

Jarek, as soon as the lockdown lifts, get those implants to me, I feel naked without implants.

I terminate the conversation and take another swig of vodka.

"Speaking of which" said Alise

I look down and I was indeed standing at her desk in all my naked glory.

Don't suppose you have any clothes handy?

She just pointed to a locker next to my cloning vat. I casually made my way over and grabbed a jumpsuit, got dressed and walked back to her desk. I take the comms unit and punch in the M34N corp hangar number, Nomi answers.

Nomi, what the fuck is going on?

"Delivery guy dropped a box of that stuff we ordered for Kurtz' welcome home party"

Anybody get hurt?

"Delivery guy got a little burnt"

He alright?

"Well... They found one of his shoes"

Alise barely contained a giggle, which made me laugh more. I like this girl, good sense of humour.

"What about you? Heard you got exploded"

Yeah, took on a Drake in 1-1, bait of course, had a whole fleet dropped on my head, fuckers got the Dramiel and my bounty.

"Sorry dude, shit happens. Listen, when this lockdown drops, come on by the hangar, one of the boxes survived, we'll have a drink"

Sounds like a plan.

I terminate the convo and look at the now empty bottle of vodka, the edge well and truly gone. Alise is writing something on her datapad.

"Bounty? You some kind of Pirate?

I'm not just 'some kind of Pirate', I'm Kane Rizzel.

"Well, pleased to meet you Kane Rizzel, Would you like to authorise a new clone?"

Probably a good idea, could we make this one hurt less?

"Don't know about that, cloning is a rather delicate science and being in uncivilised parts, makes getting the right materials a touch difficult, I'm amazed Dr Krieger is able to operate this facility at all"

He is a bit of a genius.

"True, but his skills could be put to much better use in the trade hubs or at least in more secure areas of the universe"

Hah, Gusandall is safe.

"Says the man who just got podded"

Well, that wasn't entirely my fault, it was a trap, unfortunately I have the innate ability to find traps and then explode.

"Happen often?"

The exploding yes, not so much with the cloning, it's been a long time since I got violently cloned. Forgot how much it hurts. What's the damage on that new clone?

She hands me the datapad.

Thirteen Fucking Million! Are you mental?

"No, not mental and yes, the figure is correct, it is a rather advanced clone"

Advanced? well it better fucking be for that price. Don't suppose you have any cigarettes?

"This is a medical facility, no smoking"

Anything else to drink?

"There's some coffee, that's about it"

Coffee is good, I like coffee.

Alise gets up to make some coffee, blue eyes, very blue eyes. She hands me a mug of black coffee, I take a sip.

Coffee goooooood.

Station comms come to life and a rather flustered voice announces the lockdown is over. The seals on all doors are released. Right, time to get back to work.

Alise.. It's been a pleasure to meet you but I really must get going.

"What about your implants?"

How about dinner? Least I can do to thank you for your help.

"Uhm... Sure, but your implants?"

I'll get Jarek to plug them in, he's a rocket scientist you know.

"And your clone?"

Oh right, almost forgot, thirteen million, sure. Tell Krieger I owe him a bottle of vodka too.

I race out of the cloning facility, a grin on my face. It's good to be the King.