King of the Castle [1-a]

Lamar King was the only human inhabitant of a small moon surrounded by an asteroid belt. In a tall obsidian tower, a robot assists him out of bed to change the glowing neon light to signal help, stranded in a makeshift lighthouse with the universally accepted blinking code of Orange-Blue-Orange.

A frail man saving his rations, Lamar depended on his skeletal-looking robot to go out and find alien parasites to kill and blend into a tolerable shake, leaving himself to look little more than skin and bones. To kill boredom and add to the signal, Lamar played all sorts of music from a loudspeaker, hoping to entice travelers with smooth jazz or raucous heavy metal. But he hasn’t seen another human for years.

He feels his body getting harder to move around, his hair thinning, his optimism dying. His bedroom He turned to the cylindrical robot hovering around in coded paths.

“Mark,” he said listlessly. “Any sign of life?”

“Processing.” A series of radars and satellites pop out of the robot with monotonous blips and whirring. “Negative. No advanced organisms for 5 marks.”

“Shit,” he sighed, drinking parasite puree with a heavy stare and an expression of disgust. “If we ever get out of here, I’ll…”

“Yes?”

“Forgot what I was going to say. Getting hard to concentrate. Probably wasn’t that important. I just need to get out of here and pig out on real food.”

“Very well, sir.”

A louder blip came from Mark as the robot began shaking.

“What’s up, Mark?”

“A sudden spike in velocity has been detected and it appears to be heading our way.”

“You’re kidding! Keep spinning the colors. Oh, and change the music around every 10 seconds. Don’t want them thinking we’re some abandoned diner or something.”

“Understood, sir.”

Within minutes, a red dot approached closer to them, appearing larger until Lamar could see out the window that there was indeed a ship coming. He did not care who was in there or their intentions. If it was bad enough, he could at least escape to more civilized places.

He saw the rather small ship land, with its features resembling a large motorcycle. Riding atop was a heavyset figure with a pink and white jumpsuit with gold jewelry surrounding the limbs. The person looked around, presumably for goodies while on a pit stop.

Lamar was too incapacitated to get up and wave so he ordered Mark to wave into the window. The stranger saw the sign and headed on in with a hobbling stride. They opened the door and the oxygen generator’s sound meant it was safe to take off their helmet.

The newcomer was a woman with long black, curly hair. She came upstairs to meet the two and was surprised by the sight.

“Are you alright? I was just looking if you had fuel or food.”

“Oh, I’m dandy. Much better now that you’re here.” He didn’t have much to offer, but he had to think of a bargaining chip in case she’d just run off. “I can’t do much from here, but I can show a good route to the nearest station.”

“Hell, that sounds fine! But I’m low myself, and the seating is snug. I’m not privy to taking along any hitchhiker.”

“Ma'am, you could be a wanted fugitive, I can take my chances.”

“Hmm, can’t say it looks much fun here. Alright you can tag along for a while.”

“Great, thanks a lot! And uh, if you don’t mind, I need room for my robot here. He’s something of a mobility aid for me.”

“Now you’re pushing it. My clunker isn’t a cruiser. This really needs to be worth my while.”

“As you can tell by the lights and music, I know a thing or too about machinery. I can’t do much physically but I can help out with any problems you have.”

Her expression was tensing up, looking around with quickness. She didn’t want to stay long, but Lamar didn’t know why, and he figured he’d do what he could to ease in.

“Damn. Alright. But you better be telling the truth. And I’m only dropping you off after we hit the station. Now come on. The uh, the engine needs to get going.”

With the proper adjustments, Lamar hopped onto the woman’s ride and held onto her back, with Mark supporting the two of them.

“By the way, what’s your name? I’m Lamar and this is Mark.”

She smiled and said, “Lola, honey. Now hold on tight!”

The bike-ship revved up and they were launched into hyperspeed, dodging asteroids like mere potholes, and they were into the pitch black galaxy. Still, he was unaware of her watching behind, looking for something trailing them. He could soon hear a new noise, but he was unsure of what it was, only that it sounded big. But no going back now.