The Re-Education of Pulsar

Part IV - The Finale!

Previously in The Re-Education of Pulsar…

After surviving O.S.’s attacks and contacting Captain Brice, Pulsar learns what the Farzin ship was really carrying…refugee kids. He also learns that Brice knew about that cargo the whole time and has big plans for them. When trying to reason with the captain doesn’t work Pulsar devises a new plan, one that might just change his life forever.

And now…

The Re-education of Pulsar

By Tyler Tarlton

PART IV

            A few seconds later the door from the fighter section opened and Captain Brice stepped through. Behind him entered the crew of the cargo ship, the same ones Pulsar had seen back when the pirates had boarded, which somehow seemed like an eternity ago. A lot had changed in less than an hour. The rest of the pirate crew followed at the end. Brice stepped to Pulsar.

            “Good work Pulsar,” he said with a smile. “Now where’s this special cargo located?”

            “There’s a secret hold beneath the medical bay,” Pulsar answered. “I’ve sent the exact location to our boys’ implants. I suggest you put the kids in the central section along with the ship’s crew. It’s modular and I’ve converted it into a brig.”

            A long laugh emanated from Brice. He leaned over and patted Pulsar on the head.

            “Now that’s the bird I know!” he exclaimed. He turned to one of the other pirates and pointed toward the central section. “You heard Pulsar, get it done!”

            The pirates scrambled to comply. A few pushed the cargo ship’s crew toward the nearest central door while the rest ran toward the port side to access the secret hold. Brice drifted over to one of the crates previously used as a defense shield and sat. He waved Pulsar over.

            “Come Pulsar and tell me about this legendary ship. And how much it’s worth.”

            Pulsar stifled a groan and flew to the crate. He proceeded to regale Brice with the history of the Farzin exploration vessels, leaving out a few choice details about the extent of its design and capabilities. As he spoke he watched the pirates march the kids past and shove them through the command module door. It was all Pulsar could do not to fly over and peck their eyes out. The Fargalian doctor was the last to be ushered through the door. One of the pirates then stepped to Brice.

            “The prisoners are all inside,” he said, interrupting Pulsar.

            “Fantastic!” Brice said as he stood. “Alright, let’s get this heap moving.”

            “I will check to make sure the controls in the central section are locked out,” Pulsar said as he hopped off the crate. “To ensure the prisoners cannot regain control. I’ll meet you in the bow bridge.”

            “Just make it quick,” Brice said as he waved to the pirates and walked for the front. He moved through the door and into the short corridor that connected to the bridge. He had reached the end when he felt the ship shudder. He exchanged a glance with one of the pirates then ran onto the bridge. He slid to a stop in front of the pirate seated at the ship’s navigational console. “Report!”

            “A circular section of the ship has dropped from its underside,” the pirate reported. “Look!”

            He pointed to the viewscreen as a circular vessel dove away from the ship at a steep angle. Brice stepped close and stared at it.

            “Pulsar!” he cursed under his breath. He turned to the pirate seated at the console. “Get me a comm link!”

            “I can’t sir,” the pirate said as he tapped at a variety of keys. “Comms are locked out. In fact, the entire system is locked aside from this feed.”

            Smoke seemed to pour from Brice’s ears as his faced reddened. Rage filled his entire being. He spun for the door and signaled for the other pirates to follow.

            “To the Singularity!”

            Inside the command module Pulsar watched on his viewscreen as the pirate ship detached from the rest of the Farzin ship and began its pursuit.

            “What have you done pirate?”

            Pulsar spun as a human stepped to the console and loomed over him. He was tall with classic good looks marred only by a slight scar above the left side of his mouth. This was Rake Edwards, captain of the Farzin ship.

            “He saved us Captain,” O.S. stated.

            “Saved us just so we can be captured again,” exclaimed the Phonican Pulsar had seen earlier. His name was Kanis.

            “He didn’t have to save us at all,” O.S. countered. “Right now we should focus on evading those pirates.”

            “I agree with O.S.”

            “I agree with O.S. too.”

            A rather large pair of Tau Cetians, siblings it appeared, stepped to the console and crossed their massive set of four arms. Pulsar wondered why those two didn’t just attack the pirates barehanded.

            “What do you say Captain?” Kanis asked.

            “They’ll open fire in the next few seconds,” Pulsar said.

            Rake looked from his crew to Pulsar and back. He then glanced at the viewscreen. The pirate ship was rapidly gaining on them. He frowned.

            “You have a plan bird?” he asked.

            “O.S. and I do,” Pulsar answered. “But we have to act now.”

            Another few seconds passed as Rake considered the situation. He finally nodded.

            “What do you want us to do?”

            “How much time you need O.S.?” Pulsar asked.

            “Five minutes.”

            Pulsar nodded and inserted his talons into the console ports. He gestured toward the viewscreen with his beak.

            “They’re about to fire so right now I need you to deploy every shieldbot you have left,” he said.

            “We used up all of them in your unprovoked attack,” Kanis snorted.

            “It’s okay, O.S. fired up your bot printer after she separated the ships. You should have a surplus now,” Pulsar replied.

            “That is correct,” O.S. agreed.

            “Sanford! Get on it!” Rake barked. The kid Pulsar saw earlier in the cargo hold bounded up to the console and sat. His fingers danced over the keys. “Kanis, help him steer. Evasive maneiuvers! The rest of you keep the kids calm and in one piece.”

            The crew spun away to follow the orders. Pulsar was rather impressed with their efficiency. He glanced back to the screen to see the first laser blast shoot from the Singularity. As if on cue, a shieldbot appeared from nowhere and blocked the shot.

            “Shieldbots deployed,” the kid named Sanford reported. “I’ve started production again and we’re at 5 per minute. It’ll still only last us about 3 however.”

            Pulsar nodded. He too was impressed with this kid’s skills. He had watched the commands Sanford had inputted; many were not what he would’ve chosen but appeared to work even better. Pulsar turned his own attention to the work O.S. was doing. She was running out of time.

            “I need that program O.S.,” he said, adding a bit of ‘hurry up’ to his voice.

            “Please do not disturb me,” she said in return. “It will be done.”

            The next few minutes seem to pass by at a crawl as the circular command module spun and looped through space as guided by a combination of Kanis and Sanford. At the same time the kid continued to deploy the ship’s shieldbots along with a variety of other countermeasures Pulsar didn’t recognize. Some seemed rather old and he assumed were original to the Farzin era. After a tight spin around a rogue piece of space junk, they entered Mul Zibanu’s gravity well. Pulsar knew Brice would not want this battle to rage much longer. He watched as Sanford deployed what appeared to be the last of the shieldbots.

            “We’re out of bots!” he declared.

            Silence fell in the command module. The Farzin crew looked at each other with varying levels of fear and resignation. Pulsar scowled; he had one last card to play.

            “Bring us to a full stop,” he said to Sanford as he opened a comm link to the Singularity. The kid looked to Rake who nodded in return.

            “What are you doing bird?” he asked.

            “Listen,” Pulsar said as he turned to face the others. “I know you have no reason to trust me but please do so now. The pirates won’t destroy us, they want those kids as captives. Just hang tight and I think I can get us out of this.”

            All eyes turned to Captain Edwards. He rubbed his eyes as he let out a long sigh. He saw no other options in the moment.

            “Do you trust this bird O.S.?” he asked.

            “Yes, I do now Captain.”

            “Very well then,” Rake said. “Do what you must.”

            With a nod Pulsar turned back to the screen. Brice appeared a second later.

            “I must say I’m ashamed of you Pulsar,” he said with a shake of his head. “After all we’ve been through, you go and betray us for a bunch of kids.”

            “Well I’m ashamed of you too Brice,” Pulsar replied, the first time he had ever called the captain by his given name. “I didn’t think we stooped to child trafficking.”

            “Hey buddy, we gotta make a living,” Brice said. “I tell you what, for old time’s sake, I’ll give you one last chance to surrender. Make things right between us so we can move on.”

            Pulsar switched off the audio and looked up.

            “I need that program O.S…” he said.

            “Thirty seconds.”

            With a sigh Pulsar turned the audio back on.

            “I don’t think so Brice.”

            “I’m so sorry to hear you say that,” Brice said as he pulled the chain from around his neck. “Last chance…”

            Every event in Pulsar’s life from the day he was plucked from Earth flashed through his eyes. Without Brice he would still be on that planet, most likely dead as his implants had greatly extended his lifespan. He owed the captain so much and yet…

            “Do what you must Captain.”

            A small part of Pulsar thought that maybe Brice would feel bad for blowing up the parrot. But the look on the captain’s face, a sort of malevolent smirk, washed that all away. Brice shrugged and pushed the button on the chain.

            Pulsar closed his eyes and prepared himself. But nothing happened. The bird re-opened them to see a very confused Brice on the screen. The captain hit the button several more times.

            “The water…” O.S. remarked.

            Realization hit Pulsar. The water had shorted out his wireless systems which meant Brice could not activate the charge. He was free. And now knew exactly how the captain felt about him.

            “I can sure see what you mean to me Captain Brice,” he said as he drew himself to full height. “O.S.?”

            “It’s ready.”

            “I should destroy you Captain but some of the boys over there are not that bad,” Pulsar stated. “So goodbye forever.”

            “What are you-“

            The screen switched to an exterior shot of the Singularity. The ship shook slightly then vanished. Pulsar removed his talons and dropped down to the deck. He let out a long breath.

            “What happened?” Rake asked.

            “I planted a program in that pirate ship that activated their QED,” O.S. answered. “We just sent them into the vacuum, destination unknown.”

            It took a few seconds before an immense round of laughter filled the space. The Farzin crew fell on Pulsar with a series of back slaps and head pats. The kids followed suit but with hugs instead.

            Once the celebrations died down Rake directed Sanford to reconnect the ship sections. Pulsar watched with curiosity and peppered the young kid with questions. Sanford turned out to actually be rather old due to his service as a human computer for the Trappist Empire at the height of their power. Given drugs to remain youthful, he was actually older than almost everyone on board.

            With the sections reconnected the crew set to getting the ship back in proper order. The command module was reconfigured to accommodate the kids and Dr. Wanus, the Fargalian, started giving them all checkups. After everything had been more or less restored to normal the crew met with Pulsar in the ship’s conference room, situated on the starboard side of the fighter section.

            “Well Mr. Pulsar, you have my gratitude, both for the rescue of my crew and for that of the kids,” Rake stated. “We are in your debt.”

            The other members of the crew responded with similar sentiments. The Tau Cetian twins decided to show their appreciation with a pair of crushing hugs.

            “I’m sorry you were threatened at all,” Pulsar responded. “If you could drop me off at one of the Mul Zibanu ports, I’ll be out of your hair.”

            The room fell silent as Rake and the others exchanged a glance. The captain stepped closer and knelt by Pulsar.

            “Actually, we’d like to offer you a job,” he said. “You’re quite resourceful and we could use a crewman like you. I would imagine your career as a pirate is over, especially once the Guild hears of this.”

            The thought had occurred to Pulsar but he knew he never wanted to be a pirate anyway. He looked around the room at the motely group of beings before him. Each one an outcasts, much like himself. He had done a lot of pretty terrible things during his time in space, the extent of which he really didn’t realize until he saw Brice’s reaction to the idea of trafficking kids. In reality, Pulsar knew he should really be in a prison somewhere. But perhaps working with this crew, so dedicated to helping others, was just what he needed. His second chance.

            “I think maybe I could fly with you guys,” he finally said. “At least for a little while.”

            A cheer went up from the crew though Pulsar noticed it mainly came from the twins. Everyone then drifted from the room, leaving Rake and Pulsar to work out the details of his new role.

            About an hour later Pulsar stood in the loading bay and looked through one of the view ports. He watched as they flew toward to one of the Mul Zibanu farming worlds.

            “Well what do you think Pulsar?”

            The bird let out a long breath and turned from the port. He dropped down to the deck and stretched his wings.

            “I was wondering where you’d gone O.S.,” he said with a yawn. He was very tired.

            “I’ve been busy getting all my systems back online. Your macros really did a number on things.”

            Before he could stop it a chuckle escaped from Pulsar’s beak.

            “I told you I was good.”

            “You are that. As Rake said, you will be a very valuable addition to the team.”

            “Thanks O.S.,” Pulsar stated. “And thank you for sticking up for me back there. I appreciate it.”

            “My pleasure,” the computer replied. “And one more thing…”

            “What’s that?”

            “Welcome aboard…the Second Chance.

~~

There you have it! Pulsar is now officially an ex-pirate parrot! I hope you enjoyed his first adventure. We’ll have a regular Story Genie next week before starting RUNNER RAMIREZ & THE GREAT GHOST WAR on May 17^th! Then we’ll meet Pulsar again this August for DIMENSIONS: AN EX-PIRATE PARROT STORY! Hope to see everyone then!