3- JEFF

---

Man, I knew Edgy was sick, but…I didn’t think he was that sick. After he collapsed like that, we dragged him to the hospital, got a lot of weird looks as he left a trail of slime behind him. I looked at a card with holographic directions and info about a specialist a few systems away. I hoped they knew what the hell was going on with Edgy because…I ain’t never seen him sick like that. The hospital staff checked him for at least an hour before they finally told us they couldn’t figure it out. Normally when we take Edgy to the hospital, it’s pretty clear what’s wrong. I mean, the bullet holes and stab wounds speak for themselves. I stood in front of the stupid amount of controls we have for the ship.

I don’t understand what even a quarter of this stuff does. Normally, I just leave it up to Todd. Speaking of Todd, I was wondering where the heck he was. I assumed he was checking on Edgy. I had to input a chain of characters to guide the ship. As I entered the final coordinate, the EdgeWorlds map highlighted a nearby system and zoomed in to reveal a minor planet with three moons. The name was right, based on the card. I then told the ship to jump into subspace. Everything outside the ship melted away and began spiraling and changing every color in the book. I then heard something behind me and spun around.

Todd was there in a thick yellow-orange suit. It completely covered him from head to toe, with an oxygen tank on his back. Dude looked like he was about to enter a quarantined lab during a zombie outbreak. In his flippers he carried two spray guns and judging from the rubbing alcohol-like smell coming from the hall behind him, I knew what they were for. Todd started spraying down the black and red half circle couch in the center of the room. He did the same thing to the glass table, which was cluttered with empty soda and beer cans. He was going overboard on the disinfecting, even by his standards. That spray irritated my throat, making me cough. Felt like I had just inhaled an entire tray of hot ash. Todd then sprayed me with a jet of that stuff.

Now that shit was getting in my eyes and making them sting. It felt like he had just poured fresh lemon juice in them while also chopping onions two inches from my face. I kept trying to get away, but Todd didn’t stop spraying me from head to toe. When he finally stopped, my lungs still stung, making me cough. Todd sprayed me again. He kept doing this every time I coughed.

“Todd! Knock it off bro!” I shouted in between coughs.

Todd stopped, and I thought he realized he was being annoying as shit with that. I let out a little cough. Nope. He doused me again. I grabbed the spray guns from him.

“Hey!” Todd snapped.

“Dude, you gonna make me pass out with all that damn spray.”

“D-disinfect to p-protect,” Todd whispered.

“Bruh, if this place ain’t clean by now, it’s never getting cleaned.”

“I-I’m not taking any chances!” Todd insisted, lunging for the spray guns.

“You a germaphil man,” I told him as I kept them out of his reach.

Todd stopped and tilted his head to the side and glared at me. “I’m a what?”

“You know…one of those people that are afraid of germs.”

“You mean a germaphobe?” Todd asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah that! You a germaphobe!”

“The actual term is mysophobe, and I’m not!”

“You always break out the hazmat suit if someone even sneezes in your direction, bro.”

“I just don’t want to get sick!” Todd snapped back. I could tell he was fuming in that bulky suit.

“Nah, you just a pussy. How much did that shit cost?”

“It…it doesn’t matter!” Todd started walking away.

“Hey where are you going?” I said.

“To see Edgy.”

“You gonna ask him how much he spent on it for you?”

“Jeff…fine, it was eight hundred fifty.”

My beak almost hit the floor when he said that.

“Dude, I could buy enough weed to satisfy a hippie festival with that kind of money! That’s ridiculous!”

“Mock me all you want, but when you’re shooting pressurized mucus from your mouth and nares, don’t blame me!” Todd replied as we headed to Edgy’s door.

Todd’s arm shook as he put his flipper against the door to open it. Yeah, totally not…whatever that word he said that ends in phobe. I don’t know what he expected when we opened the door. Edgy was lying on his side away from us.

“Yo, Edgy, you okay, bro?” I asked.

Edgy groaned and sat up.

“I feel like shit,” he said before turning to us.

Todd gasped. I took a step back. The white parts of his eyes were a nasty shade of green and so was the skin beneath his feathers. Speaking of them, it looked like he was losing feathers in places and I saw veins forced against the skin on his face. Dude looked like a zombie that had just crawled out of the ground.

“Yeah, you look like shit,” I said, not sure what else to say.

Edgy noticed how worried this made Todd.

“How bad is it?” Edgy asked.

“You were always an ugly bastard, it’s barely noticeable,” I told him.

Edgy threw his head back and laughed. I thought he was fine, but then he started coughing and the next thing I knew, he coughed up a glob of that mucus. It smelled like rotting roadkill on a hot summer day. I almost puked. Todd fired both disinfectant sprays at the mucus pile and then at Edgy, making him cough more.

“E-Edgy, you’re really sick. We’re going to planet Jartu to see a specialist. Hopefully, they know what’s going on with you,” Todd said.

“I’m fine guys, really. It’s just a flu,” Edgy said, wiping some snot off his beak.

He stood up, wobbling like he had gone a little too hard in the booze.

“Edgy, you’re not fine. You were unconscious for nearly two hours! You can barely stand even now. This is serious!” Todd insisted.

“Dude, it’s just a bad cold and me running around so much and taking a lot of jobs. I haven’t gotten much sleep,” Edgy said, trying to stand upright. I could tell by the scowl on his face this annoyed him.

“Look, I know you don’t want to go to the doctors because we can’t afford it, but you can’t pay off your debt if you’re dead!” Todd insisted, getting closer to him.

Edgy sighed, “fine. Fucking hate doctors. How long till we get there?”

“Six hours,” I told him.

“Anyone feel like a few rounds of Stardust Belt Beatdown?” Edgy said, smirking.

“No, you’re quarantined to this room until the specialist figures out what’s wrong with you!” Todd squealed.

Edgy raised an eyebrow, “you’re quarantining me? On my ship?”

“Y-yeah! We don’t know if t-t-that is contagious or not!”

Edgy rolled his eyes. “Todd, whatever this is, I’ve had it for weeks. If it was contagious, you both would show symptoms by now.”

“S-still, you’re not leaving here unless you wear a hazmat suit!”

Edgy looked at me and started laughing. I joined in.

“No way in hell you getting me to wear that shit,” he said, walking towards me and the door.

“Yeah, I ain’t doing that either,” I said, laughing with him.

“J-Jeff! He could be extremely contagious!” Todd insisted.

“Ah, we’ll worry about that later! I wanna kick his ass!” I said, waving him off.

I heard an angry groan from him. I’d imagine if this was a Saturday morning cartoon, he would’ve had steam coming out of his ear holes. Maybe the visor for his suit would’ve fogged up. I turned my back and followed Edgy out.

“You ready to get dropped?” I said.

Edgy laughed while in the hallway, “Todd, maybe we should get Jeff’s head examined because man’s is clearly delusional.”

“You both do, for being in denial.” Todd muttered as he shouldered his way past us.

“What’s got his panties in a twist?” Edgy asked.

I shrugged.

…

“Man, how many more tests do they need?” I muttered while scrolling through another pointless video on my phone.

Todd and I sat next to each other, trapped in the all white and red waiting room, waiting for some sort of update on Edgy’s situation. You best believe Todd had the damn hazmat suit on, and he was scowling as he read a manga next to me.

“They’ve got to be thorough, Jeff,” Todd said, still sounding irritated.

I wanted to know what his problem was.

“Man, you wanna ditch the hazmat suit? I think I saw a strip club a few blocks over.”

Todd shut his manga. “Are you serious right now!?”

“Yeah man, nothing takes the edge off like a big booty up in your face, hell the night’s young, beers’ still cold and the bitches ain’t sweaty yet,” I said with a smile. He looked even madder. “Hey, you chill out for a bit and maybe I’ll buy you a lap dance.”

“Jeff, our best friend is dealing with who knows what, and you want to go party right now?!” He screeched, shaking in his seat.

“We’re not helping at all by sitting here and waiting for this doctor to take forever with tests,” I stated.

Todd shook his head and opened his book. “We’ll wait here until he’s done.”

I crossed my arms and sat back in my seat. I needed something to pass the time here. Reaching into my hoodie, I fished out a joint.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Todd asked.

“Lighting up a joint, you want some?”

“You can’t smoke in here!” Todd growled.

I saw the staff giving me the harshest side eye. I sighed, observing the small tree in the center of the waiting room, surrounded by water. Stones encircled it while colorful fish swam in the pool. Looking at them made my stomach growl.

“I wonder how those fish would taste on a grill,” I said.

I checked my phone for delivery, but no cheap and decent-looking places would deliver here.

“Goddammit! Nowhere delivers!?” I muttered as I stood up and went to the vending machine for the fifth time and bought another thing of chips.

“Be patient Jeff,” Todd said.

“Shouldn’t we know something by now!?” I complained as I opened the chips.

“Doctor Melufu is very thorough with his testing,” the lady behind the counter said while stirring the microwaved soup she had.

“Lady, it’s been four hours. He should have told us something by now.”

Todd looked up. “I’d rather him be thorough instead of rushing and telling us something that might be incorrect.”

“And what if he don’t know shit either?”

The lady behind the counter huffed. “Doctor Melufu has four PHDs in different medical fields and they nominated him as the best doctor in this star system! How many doctorates and PHDs do you have?”

“I got a strain of weed named PHD growing on the ship. Does that count?” I asked.

“No, no, it doesn’t,” the baldheaded lady replied. “So do not criticize the doctor’s work. He will figure it out and he will tell you. There is no condition he doesn’t know about.”

The door opened, and the doctor came out. He was a small hunched over alien with skin as wrinkled and rough as tree bark. The doctor was squinting so hard I could barely see his beady little eyes. The mucus Edgy was spitting up covered him, and he attempted to get it out of the patches of cobwebs he called hair.

“Doc, please tell me you have something,” I said.

The doctor looked up at me, cleared his throat and continued to wipe off more slime.

“Well, after four hours of rigorous testing and consulting medical texts, reaching out to three other colleagues, and taking many tissue, blood, and other fluid samples, I’ve reached a conclusion,” the doctor said, sounding like a snob.

Todd was leaning in along with me as the doctor kept removing mucus.

“A-and? I-is he gonna be okay?” Todd asked.

“I’ve reached the conclusion that I have no idea what’s wrong with him,” the doctor answered.

I felt my shoulders droop as soon as those words left his mouth. If even half of the shit we saw on his website was true, the dude knew almost every condition in the known EdgeWorlds. Just what the hell did Edgy have?

“You mean to tell me after four freaking hours you got no idea what’s going on?” I muttered.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

I glanced at the reception lady and she got quiet, avoiding eye contact. I thought about asking for an apology, but I was too mad about wasting four hours.

“Were you able to figure out anything?” Todd asked.

The doctor shrugged, “I’m sorry, I’m stumped on this one.”

Todd gave me a nervous look. “D-do you know someone who might?”

The doctor shook his head.

“Where is he?” I asked.

“Oh, he’s probably still getting dressed,” the doctor answered.

Once again, the door opened and Edgy stumbled out. Somehow, he looked even worse than when we brought him in. I saw he had patches of missing feathers around the nares on his beak and he walked with a limp.

“Edgy, h-how are you f-f-feeling?” Todd asked.

“Can it Todd!” Edgy growled, stomping towards the doctor.

“I trust you all remember the NDA in the paperwork you signed. If you mention I could not figure out what is wrong with your friend here, anywhere, my legal team will be in touch with you,” the doctor said.

Edgy scowled and got in his face.

“You better be lucky I’m sick as fuck right now!” Edgy growled before walking away. “There ain’t enough painkillers in the EdgeWorlds for where you took samples! Come on! Let’s get the fuck out of here!”

“W-what do we do now?” Todd asked. “Is there a doctor who knows something?”

“Sonny, I was on a call with four of my colleagues in different systems. A few work for prestigious universities in this sector, but none knew anything. I’m one of the best doctors there is, and I doubt anyone else will know.” Dr. Melufu said, I swear he couldn’t go two seconds without bragging.

“How familiar are you with penguin related illnesses?” Todd asked.

Melufu took a step back like we had just insulted his momma.

“I’ve treated people for longer than you’ve been alive. Of course, I’m familiar with illnesses linked to your kind.”

Edgy crossed his arms, “and how many penguins have you ever treated?”

“Why I…I…” the doctor got real quiet. “To tell you the truth, you’re the first penguin I’ve treated in at least twenty years.”

“Thought so,” Todd muttered. “Do you know anyone who has treated penguins more recently?”

The doctor shrugged.

“Well, no,” he answered. “You all are so rare even before your homeworld blew up. I could probably count on one hand how many doctors I know of who have ever treated a penguin.”

“There’s Aurora,” the receptionist said.

“That girl!?” The doctor threw his head back and howled with laughter. “She’d be more likely to kill him than fix him.”

“Who’s Aurora?” Edgy asked.

“She’s a penguin like you, used to practice under me, but she started getting an ego, thought she was better than everyone else, and knew better than the rest of us. How absurd.”

“Yeah, total mystery where she got that from,” Edgy replied dryly. “Give me her info. Maybe she knows something.”

“Doubtful, it would be a waste of your time, but Jarla, send them Aurora’s information.” Dr. Melufu replied, something told me he wasn’t a fan of this Aurora person.

The idea of meeting another penguin besides Todd and Edgy, and that penguin being a girl, excited me. Edgy also seemed interested in that. I bet Todd had his boxers in too much of a twist to care. Outside of seeing old interviews, movies and actual clips of Ace Starborne that Edgy had, I had never seen another penguin.

Back on the ship, Edgy fumed while setting the coordinates, coughing and getting mucus on the controls. Nasty. Aurora’s clinic was on the other side of this galaxy. It was gonna take a while for us to get there. Judging from the feathers Edgy was losing; we didn’t have much time.

4- EDGY

---

By the time we got to planet Hurrikos, I felt like a dead bird walking. I struggled to walk in a straight line, and everything seemed to spin around me. Todd, still wearing that damn hazmat suit, let me lean on him while Jeff walked beside us. He insisted I wear this tight-ass mask that made it damn near impossible to breathe. Felt like I was wearing a muzzle.

I’m shocked I landed the ship in this giant tower without crashing. The planet’s entire population lives in colossal metal towers that reach above the clouds. That’s because of the never ending mega storms the size of continents that constantly batter the place. On our way in, we flew through the tail end of a minor storm and it depleted our shields. Huge, swirling, jet black clouds and gigantic bolts of purple lightning crashed into us.

While walking, I noticed that all the walkways consisted of a dark gray metal with scarce lighting, which created the impression of a space station operating on emergency power. All the doors were heavily reinforced, like they were meant to keep out a strike force. The whole place had this vibe like it was meant to last and not look pretty. Given the never ending super storms, that checked out. As we got to the end of the hall, we had to climb on a bare bones tram car that looked pretty battered and used before we were in the city proper.

They divided the city into ring-shaped districts. These rings were like several dozen city blocks wide and crammed with spiky towers of all sizes. The city planners designed the rings with an open center, allowing you to look up and down to see the other districts. Hovering cars and other vehicles glided between ring segments. In addition, floating platforms projected holograms and information on events in the city. Despite the big projectors, the place still felt dark. Everything about it felt brutal, unconcerned with aesthetics. The tram took us to a platform where we had to wait for a floating train that would get us to the right sector for Aurora’s clinic. We got odd looks. Well, Todd did. I didn’t get as many. I’m just glad it got us close to where we needed to go because that short walk felt like it was going to be the death of me.

We had to walk a couple of blocks and climb down several flights of stairs to reach the clinic. That was torture for me at this point and I almost busted my ass. I had the worst headache as Jeff and Todd helped me get down the steps and into the streets like I was some elderly person. When we reached the clinic, it looked like the entrance of a gothic castle out of a metal album cover complete with dark demonic looking statues. Somehow, this wasn’t the craziest doctor’s office I had ever been in.

“This is a clinic?” I asked, looking at Jeff and Todd.

“I guess so bro,” Jeff said.

The doors swung open and inside we saw an obsidian fountain with a wicked-looking dragon perched on it, with a glowing orange-red liquid streaming out to mimic fire. The place had posters for different metal and emo bands and I saw a pair of reaper statues built into the base of the archway leading further into the place.

“Damn, this place looks like a goth’s paradise,” I muttered before coughing.

“That’s the idea,” a female voice said from down the hall.

We all looked up as a tall, dark, slender figure stepped out of the shadows while lighting a cigarette. I don’t know what I expected, but a penguin with legs for days in a black leather jacket with shoulder spikes wasn’t it. Nor was I expecting the dark green crop top exposing a toned midriff. She looked like she was on her way to a black metal concert, not about to give me a diagnosis. Every once in a while, I’ve thought about what would happen if I ever met another penguin besides Jeff and Todd. I didn’t expect this of all scenarios would be how that would happen. She inhaled her cigarette and blew it out of the nares on her beak as she looked us up and down with her red eyes.

“So, how can I help you?” She asked while tucking her lighter into her jacket pocket and shaking her short black hair out of her face.

“O-our uh our my-my f-f-friend he’s uh…” Todd stammered, face turning beat red.

Aurora laughed, “breathe, okay. I take it red over here is sick?”

Todd nodded, “w-w-w-we’ve been through two other doctors at this point and none of them have answers. We were hoping you would know.”

Aurora stepped into the light. She was a sight for sore eyes. Legs like a model and a figure that would drive anyone mad. She had the cool, tough, bad-girl look going on. Also, damn, she was tall. I just made it to her shoulders.

“What symptoms do you have?”

“I keep vomiting up this thick dark green mucus, headaches, feathers are now falling out and—”

She interrupted me by shining a light that scorched my eyes.

“Discoloration of the sclera huh,” Aurora said before adjusting her demonic looking choker.

“Yeah. It all started as just a persistent cough for a month. Only lately did it get bad.” I told her.

“And by bad he means vomiting a stream of mucus everywhere and then passing out for several hours,” Todd said.

Aurora raised an eyebrow and looked me up and down.

“Alright, let’s get you into the actual office,” she said before turning around and heading down the hallway.

“Didn’t expect to find a penguin on a planet like this,” I said.

She smirked, “long way from Aves, isn’t it?”

“I’ll say,” I replied before coughing.

She led us into an all black lab with a medical bed in the center and blue-white lights above.

“Alright, I’m gonna need you to lose the jacket and mask and then hop up on the bed,” she told me as she put out her cigarette.

She then removed her jacket and set it on the hook, and took a deep breath. A few seconds later, an intricate blood red tattoo sleeve running across her left arm up the start of her shoulder appeared. Smart tattoos. You could hide them or show them just by thinking about it. Pretty neat stuff. As the tattoos continued to form, I spotted at least five different metal band logos, all of them bands I listened to. Girl’s got good taste. I looked at Jeff and Todd, and they were checking her out. It took me a minute to realize I hadn’t taken off my jacket yet. I did and used the hook. I also forgot I had my handgun clipped on a holster on my belt along with my body shield and a knife, so I took that off and got on the bed.

She then shoved something into one of my nares to take a sample. She then told me to open wide and did the same thing with another tool, but this time the inside of my mouth. It didn’t take her long to analyze them.

“So, do you treat penguins on the regular?” I asked.

“No, but I have archives of several medical databases from Aves,” Aurora answered as she grabbed her rolling chair and slid across the floor. “Do you mind if I listen to music? It helps me focus?”

I shrugged, “go for it.”

She played exactly what I thought she would. Very aggressive metal music with some electronic and industrial elements mixed in with growling, harsh vocals. Maybe lyrics of death and having your soul violently torn apart wasn’t the best thing for a patient to hear while they feel like shit and have no idea what’s wrong with them, but it’s the music I jam to.

“Velocicron, Blackened Halos?” I asked, recognizing the song.

“Yeah,” she smirked, and her eyes lit up.

I had heard this song over a thousand times, but this was a unique arrangement. The vocals sounded more raw, even less processed than they usually did.

“It’s a demo version that got leaked online five years ago. Their label did a good job scrubbing it, but I downloaded a copy,” Aurora boasted.

“I might like this better than the album version,” I admitted.

“Hell yeah, dude,” she said, nodding in approval. “I always prefer their demo tracks.”

She came back and checked my eyes again and then did a normal vitals check.

“I need a sample of your blood. Is that cool?” She asked, while turning down her music for a second.

“Do it,” I muttered.

She was super quick with getting the blood sample and she got the needle in so fast I barely felt it. When it was over, she was plugging it into a complex and bulky machine to do a scan.

“So, I take it you went to Dr. Melufu?” Aurora asked as the song ended.

“Yeah, guy took a fuck-ton of samples and couldn’t give me an answer, then threatened us by mentioning an NDA,” I answered.

Aurora chuckled dryly, “he still hasn’t changed, huh.”

“No,” I muttered, scratching at my crotch without realizing it.

“Did he…did he take a sample from d-”

“Yes,” I muttered, “I’d rather not talk about it.”

Aurora shrugged, “don’t blame you. I swear the guy has a fetish for taking samples from people.”

“How did you end up in a place like this?” I asked.

“Long story, but the short version is rent here is cheap and thanks to the technicians that have to go outside and do maintenance on the tower exterior, there’s never a shortage of people needing medical help,” she answered while looking at her screen.

The lights above flickered and then the entire place got dark for a second, but before any of us could freak out, the lights came back on. Aurora’s computer did not. Sighing, she kicked the tower so hard it made all three of us jump. Then it came back on and I saw what she was looking at.

My DNA.

She ran a search, and several genes highlighted.

“Ah, just as I thought,” Aurora said, pausing her music.

“What is it?” I asked.

Aurora looked at Todd and Jeff as they gathered around, and she threw her head back and laughed.

“Why are you wearing a hazmat suit!?” She demanded between laughs.

“W-what b-b-but he’s sick!”

“It’s a genetic problem, not contagious.”

“What!?” Todd asked.

“It’s genetic!?” I shouted.

Aurora turned back to me, “yeah your genetics are fucked, dude. You’re suffering from a condition so rare less than one percent of the penguin population had it, well, before our home planet vanished.”

“Thank you mom and dad that I can’t fucking remember for screwing me up before I even got out of the gate,” I growled.

Aurora laughed, “yeah, they kinda did. Both of them would have to have the genes to trigger the condition. Although I found from records that most of the population underwent screening for the problem genes. Surprised they weren’t before they were even old enough to have kids.”

“I can’t remember them, so I don’t know,” I muttered.

Aurora nodded. “I haven’t seen my father since I was four. Mom won’t talk about him. Only thing she told me was he never stayed in one place, or stayed with one woman for too long.”

As she said this, she went back to her screen. Her demeanor changed.

“So this genetic illness, you can fix it right?” I asked as her head lowered.

Aurora winced, “well…about that. You see, normally when they screen the parents for it, they administer gene therapy drugs to any child born to fix it before it ever becomes a problem.” She took a deep breath. “Y-You’re way past that stage now.”

“You can still fix it, right!?”

She didn’t answer me.

“Right!?” I asked again. I was practically growling at this point.

“You…you don’t have a lot of time at all.”

“How long?” I asked.

Aurora didn’t answer me and shut off her music. She then scratched the back of her head and adjusted the tie, holding back the end of her hair. The anticipation was killing me faster than this genetic condition.

“How long!?” I growled.

Aurora took a deep breath and drew a cigarette. “You sure you wanna know?” She looked me in the eye, and any humor she had before was gone.

I thought about it for a second. Maybe it was better to not know if I didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting it reversed? Then again, at least if I had an idea, I could make sure life for Jeff and Todd didn’t completely go to shit before I bit the bullet. Either that, or I’d spend my last night alive getting shit faced and maybe getting as many lap dances as I could at the nearest strip club. Figured I’d die in some kind of shootout, never would’ve thought a genetic illness would do me in. I thought I had a fucked up sense of humor, but I guess life had me beat on that one. I looked at Jeff and Todd. Although Jeff tried to hide it, I knew he was just as freaked out as Todd. I wasn’t the only one that needed to know.

“Aurora, tell me,” I said.

She shut her eyes, nodded, and then took a deep pull of her cigarette before looking at Jeff and Todd standing nearby.

“All of you might wanna sit down,” she said.

They did. Todd collapsed in his seat, trembling.

“You’ve got maybe a day or two tops before your organs shut down. I’m shocked you made it here without an issue, to be honest.”

Those words crashed into me like a brick wall at three hundred miles an hour. That hit me harder than any punch I’ve ever taken. Whatever strength I thought I had left felt like it had evaporated in that moment. I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest like a grenade as I tried to comprehend dying in less than a week. One to two days!? I was hoping for a month, or at least a week!

“Fuck!” I yelled, somehow rising off the medical bed.

Aurora nodded, but said nothing. I took a deep breath. There was something else I needed to ask.

“Is there any way to fix it?” I asked, looking at her.

“I don’t want to give you false hope, but there is a way. It’s just borderline impossible.”

“What is it!?” Jeff asked before I could.

“There’s a specific drug I can make that can target the proteins making you sick and reverse your condition. The problem is the key ingredient is an ultra rare flower.”

“You don’t have this plant, do you?” Todd asked.

Aurora shook her head, “no. There’s only one planet where you can find it, Jurakos, and it takes ten thousand years for one to mature.”

“Alright, give me the coordinates and I’ll go get it myself,” I muttered, climbing off the medical bed.

“Not that simple. You know what a Jurakian Devil Plant is?” She asked.

“Nope,” I said.

“It’s a three-hundred foot tall carnivorous plant that kills and eats whatever animals enter their territory. The Jurakian Devil Bloom is a flower they grow when they’re ready to breed,” Aurora explained.

“Shit,” Todd, Jeff, and I all said in unison.

“Yeah, shit,” Aurora said while nodding her head and inhaling from her cigarette. “I can give you some drugs to slow the process down but, without the Jurakian Devil Bloom, you’ll die. Also, those drugs have some dangerous side effects that could kill you faster.”

I sat back on the bed as her words sank in. I didn’t have a goddamn chance of making it. I’d have better luck winning the lottery three times in a row and something told me I’d die trying to get that Devil Bloom. Realizing it was hopeless, I looked at Aurora and then at Jeff and Todd. I guess dying amongst friends that are like family ain’t a bad way to go. But something about that just didn’t sit right with me. I shook my head. Sitting here and accepting death wasn’t in my playbook. I’d rather die alone and defiantly than sitting here waiting for it. I got off the bed and the moment I did; the world spun and my limbs felt weak.

“Give me the coordinates to Jurakos. I’ll get the plant myself!” I said, trying to ignore my pounding heart and the urge to pass out.

Aurora put out her cigarette.

“It’s a class X planet. It’s as dangerous as you get without having an atmosphere that would instantly freeze you to death or incinerate you,” she said, her concern genuine, despite only knowing me for an hour.

“Don’t care, I ain’t dying from this. I’ll go get it.”

“You’re in no condition to do that. You can barely stand and besides, anymore strain you put on yourself will hasten the process.”

“Doesn’t matter. I ain’t gonna sit here and die on a medical bed!” I hated she was probably right.

“I’ll go!” Todd said, removing the hazmat suit.

The room got so quiet you could hear a pen drop. I had to do a double take on that one. There was no way I just heard Todd volunteer to do something extremely dangerous. Todd was the person to have a mild panic attack while placing a delivery order over the phone. Trust me, I know, I’ve seen it several times. I don’t know how long we just stood there in silence.

“Huh?” Aurora said, turning to him.

“I’ll go.”

“Todd, you would get eaten alive. You’d shit yourself at the first sign of danger without me,” I told him.

Todd shook with anger, turned around and showed the giant scar on his back.

“Remember when we got attacked by that ice beast when we were orphaned on the streets and Jeff and I got cut? I was so close to bleeding out and so were you and Jeff, but you dragged both of us to a hospital with seconds to spare. You almost died yourself.”

Oh yeah, that happened. I had almost forgotten about it. Almost. Both of them had to spend hours in medi-gel tanks and had to get a ton of synthetic plasma just to survive.

“Yeah, so?” I said.

“You’re always risking your life protecting us! Isn’t it time we returned the favor!?” Todd argued.

Jeff lifted his hoodie and showed the three scars on his chest.

“Yeah man, anyone else would’ve left us for dead,” Jeff said.

They were right. If it were anyone else, they would have assumed they were dead. Hell, if they were anyone else, I would’ve left them to die out there and not give a damn. A questioned entered my head.

Why though?

Why did I go above and beyond to protect them, even when that usually got me into more trouble? It had always been that way, ever since we were kids and complete strangers to each other in that orphanage. What made them so special? Why did I always put myself in harm’s way for them when I never do that for someone else unless there’s something to gain? Maybe I keep them around because they’re the only two people who will put up with my shit and understand me? Damn, that sounds pathetic. Sure, I’ve had relationships before. They usually go to shit, mostly because of me. But even with them, I never had such a powerful urge to look out for them, and after the relationships ended, I barely felt anything at all. Well, except for one, but that’s a whole other can of worms. Even when things were good, I always felt there was a wall between me and others. Like they always needed something I just didn’t have, but I never felt like that around Jeff or Todd.

I looked them both in their eyes. They would go to hell and back to save my psychotic ass, despite the high probability of death. Somehow, the fear of them dying for someone like me scared me more than just withering away on that hospital bed. But maybe they could do it.

I sighed, “alright, alright, just don’t die because of me, okay?”

“Don’t worry Edgy, I’ll take care of Todd!” Jeff said, puffing his chest out.

“Now I’m actually worried,” I muttered.

“Hey!? It’ll be fine. We fly in, get the flower, fly back here. What could go wrong?” Jeff said.

Aurora and I exchanged looks.

“Is that a serious question? Because I can list at least a dozen ways this can end horribly,” Aurora said.

“She beat me to it by like half a second,” I said, chuckling.

“Better keep up, Red,” she replied, laughing too.

I laughed and, as I did, I started coughing again. However, now there was a mix of blood in.

“You two need to get going. I’ll get your friend some meds to help slow it down,” Aurora said, looking at me.

“Alright Todd, let’s bounce,” Jeff said.

Aurora smiled and looked back at me. “You have some good friends.”

I watched them go as I climbed back onto the medical bed. A morbid thought entered my head. I thought I was climbing into my coffin. Her words echoed in my head. Despite how many times they annoyed the hell out of me, or got me into trouble, they were the best friends someone could have. I felt awful. Why, of all people, did they have to end up tethered to someone as fucked up as me? As I heard the door shut, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was sending them to their deaths.

I looked at Aurora and nodded. “Way better friends than a guy like me deserves,” I replied before lying back down on the bed.