Bluff: 1st Deal

A young man, probably somewhere in his twenties, walked down the stretch of metal walkway in the hangar. His eyes watched the smooth surface of the spacecraft to his right, running along through the letters that spelled out “Paragon”. In his hands, he absent-mindedly played with a plastic card. The card read, “Orion Maddox; Race: Martian humanoid; Age: 15 (Martian years); Martian Region Bounty Hunter; Rank Delta; Home: K-79φ, Iani Chaos, Ares Vallis, Mars.”

He was very tall, for a human. His hair was blue, like the Earth sky, and his eyes were yellow like a cat’s. His skin was rather pale, and his ears were pointed. On top of his head were some blue-tinted goggles. His outfit was somewhat eccentric, consisting of only black and white. Still gazing at the ship, he finally slid the card into his pocket, and began to play with his fingers instead. He stuck his hands into his pockets, changed his mind, began to play with his coat tails, and again changed his mind. He wasn’t the sort of person who could remain still.

Soon he reached the door, but he stopped before he entered. He turned around, looking behind him to see if anyone had followed. His eyes searched, and finally he entered the ship’s door. Following entrance routine, he logged onto his financial computer and examined his balance. Good, he thought. They deposited my payment. He was off for the cockpit. Upon entering, he powered up the computers and examined the controls. He was greeted by the chatter of his pet magpies, Phobos and Deimos. Taking their calls as the usual welcomes, he began to prepare to exit the dock.

“Hello Martian!” piped a cheerful voice on his right. Confused, Maddox quickly snapped his head around.

“Who are you and how did you get in here?!” he nearly screamed at the intruder.

“Ah, sorry. I am Raza. I am from the planet Kismet. I followed you in.”

“That’s impossible, I looked behind me!”

“That doesn’t matter, anyways! I am here only for educational purposes. I will be of no interference. You do not need to concern yourself with me.”

“Like hell I won’t! You’re getting out of this ship; now!” he shouted.

“Please! I am not here to cause you any trouble. As I have said-”

“I don’t care what you said or why you’re here! You will be nothing but trouble, so, you’ll be getting out. How do you know my language anyways?”

“We Kismetics have highly-advanced brains and are capable of learning through, what your civilization might call, ‘telekinesis’. It is far more complicated than your language is capable of explaining.”

“…okay. Well. I guess you could be useful. You’re lucky. Because I’m lucky today,” he said to Raza. He was a little shocked, but he trusted his luck. It had gotten him through a lot of things, so far.