Borderlands: The Fallen Read Online Free Page B
they can look at Pandora from a safe distance. Even without the banditsfrom the prison camps and the … good Lord, look at that picture! Is that a human being? Must be some kind of mutation. Some of the bandits are cannibals, it says. Even without that, the animals that roam around down there are as savage as anywhere in the galaxy. Oh—here’s a picture of a
rakk.
They’re flying creatures—not like a bird, more like a pterodactyl. But they don’t have beaks. Barbed mouth slits, barbed tails. ‘They swoop down and strike without warning.’ Some of them get huge … Oh! Apparently they’re born in a rakk
hive
… which is a quadruped, bigger than a bus, that sort of spews the rakks out of its mouth. Oh and look at that creature—they call it a spiderant. But it’s a good two meters long, that one… .” Her voice trailed off. “Really quite interesting …”
Cal looked at his mom. She seemed a bit wistful. “You wanted to be an exobiologist. Sounds like you kind of wish you could go down there and study these creatures.”
She sighed. “I was a year away from getting my degree when I quit to help your dad. These creatures are best studied from a distance—like from orbit. They’re just too dangerous.” She smiled wanly. “Believe me—I’m
glad
we’re not going down there.”
It took Zac a long moment to recognize Rans Veritas. His old patrol partner was standing in front of the wedge-shaped transport in the shuttle hangar of the
Homeworld Bound
. Rans had changed—gotten chunky, red-nosed, and balding. The layered, rugged, dirt-streaked outfit he wore, goggles pushed up on his head, seemed more suited for the dusty plain of the wasteland below than a spacecraft. Didn’t they have a laundry on Pandora? “Rans!”
Hearing his name called, Rans seemed to cringe, then he looked nervously around the echoing, metal-walled hangar—and spotted Zac.
“Zac!” Rans came limping toward him, wide face split in a grin, and they shook hands warmly. “You haven’t changed much.”
“Oh, I’m an old married man now. I’ve slowed down a lot.”
“Not too much I hope.” Rans lowered his voice, eyes shifting around nervously. They were alone except for a self-operating forklift carrying supplies into the shuttle cargo bay and a single shuttle crewman hurrying toward the station’s bar. “You’ll need some guts, Zac—it’s a great opportunity but it’s going to take nerve.” Rans’s face twitched, and he gnawed a knuckle, as his eyes darted around again.
“There’s a commissary for the crew—no one in it right now. Let’s talk there.”
“Good, good, lead the way …”
Zac noticed Rans limping again. “You okay there?”
“Yeah—yeah that’s a big parta the reason I can’t go after this myself. Don’t get around as well as I used to. Skags jumped me, tore up my leg. Almost didn’t get outta there alive. We got some good medical rebuilds planetside, from ol’ Dr. Zed, but they ain’t free. Can’t afford it right now. Wouldn’t’ve been able to get to orbit here, except I had a trip ticket left over.” That facial tic twitched again.
They went through the glass doors and into the commissary. It was a low-ceilinged, overlit room filled with plain white plasteel tables and orange chairs, the farther wall inset with snack and drink dispensers.
“Have a seat,” Rans said. “I’ll—oh, uh, say, you got any cred? I’m busted.”
“Oh—here, take this. We talked about the advance so you can have it now …” Zac passed him the smart voucher for a thousand dollars. It hadn’t been easy to raise the money. He’d had to sell his late father’s collection of computerized insects.
“Great, great!” Rans took the card, used a fraction of it to buy a chocolate bourbon at the dispenser, brought it back to the table. “I need a drink, bad … got the shakes again …”
Zac had heard about Pandora Syndrome. Lots of settlers on the planet suffered from a specialized PTSD.
rakk.
They’re flying creatures—not like a bird, more like a pterodactyl. But they don’t have beaks. Barbed mouth slits, barbed tails. ‘They swoop down and strike without warning.’ Some of them get huge … Oh! Apparently they’re born in a rakk
hive
… which is a quadruped, bigger than a bus, that sort of spews the rakks out of its mouth. Oh and look at that creature—they call it a spiderant. But it’s a good two meters long, that one… .” Her voice trailed off. “Really quite interesting …”
Cal looked at his mom. She seemed a bit wistful. “You wanted to be an exobiologist. Sounds like you kind of wish you could go down there and study these creatures.”
She sighed. “I was a year away from getting my degree when I quit to help your dad. These creatures are best studied from a distance—like from orbit. They’re just too dangerous.” She smiled wanly. “Believe me—I’m
glad
we’re not going down there.”
It took Zac a long moment to recognize Rans Veritas. His old patrol partner was standing in front of the wedge-shaped transport in the shuttle hangar of the
Homeworld Bound
. Rans had changed—gotten chunky, red-nosed, and balding. The layered, rugged, dirt-streaked outfit he wore, goggles pushed up on his head, seemed more suited for the dusty plain of the wasteland below than a spacecraft. Didn’t they have a laundry on Pandora? “Rans!”
Hearing his name called, Rans seemed to cringe, then he looked nervously around the echoing, metal-walled hangar—and spotted Zac.
“Zac!” Rans came limping toward him, wide face split in a grin, and they shook hands warmly. “You haven’t changed much.”
“Oh, I’m an old married man now. I’ve slowed down a lot.”
“Not too much I hope.” Rans lowered his voice, eyes shifting around nervously. They were alone except for a self-operating forklift carrying supplies into the shuttle cargo bay and a single shuttle crewman hurrying toward the station’s bar. “You’ll need some guts, Zac—it’s a great opportunity but it’s going to take nerve.” Rans’s face twitched, and he gnawed a knuckle, as his eyes darted around again.
“There’s a commissary for the crew—no one in it right now. Let’s talk there.”
“Good, good, lead the way …”
Zac noticed Rans limping again. “You okay there?”
“Yeah—yeah that’s a big parta the reason I can’t go after this myself. Don’t get around as well as I used to. Skags jumped me, tore up my leg. Almost didn’t get outta there alive. We got some good medical rebuilds planetside, from ol’ Dr. Zed, but they ain’t free. Can’t afford it right now. Wouldn’t’ve been able to get to orbit here, except I had a trip ticket left over.” That facial tic twitched again.
They went through the glass doors and into the commissary. It was a low-ceilinged, overlit room filled with plain white plasteel tables and orange chairs, the farther wall inset with snack and drink dispensers.
“Have a seat,” Rans said. “I’ll—oh, uh, say, you got any cred? I’m busted.”
“Oh—here, take this. We talked about the advance so you can have it now …” Zac passed him the smart voucher for a thousand dollars. It hadn’t been easy to raise the money. He’d had to sell his late father’s collection of computerized insects.
“Great, great!” Rans took the card, used a fraction of it to buy a chocolate bourbon at the dispenser, brought it back to the table. “I need a drink, bad … got the shakes again …”
Zac had heard about Pandora Syndrome. Lots of settlers on the planet suffered from a specialized PTSD.