Gods Among Us - Part 1

Matteo took a long pull from the cigarette he held between his shaking fingers and ran his free hand back and forth over his closely cropped hair – a nervous habit that Emilie constantly admonished him for.

The other crew members stood around taking turns on an unmarked bottle, swapping tall tales and laughing too loud to mask their anxiety.

A young Brutor came to stand beside him at the railing, looking across the station dock at their new board – a gleaming frigate with sweeping curves and gleaming horns, looking like a mythical beast or demon encased in dirty bronze.


A demon; Matteo decided. Definitely a demon.

'So,' said the Brutor in a voice like stone. 'You ever seen one before?'

Matteo looked up at his companion, who was short for his race yet still stood head and shoulders above his own lean Gallentean frame.

'A Dramiel?' He shook his head. 'Only in holovids.'

The Brutor smiled like a knife. 'Not a Dram. A capsuleer.'

Matteo turned away to look back at the warship, suddenly feeling oddly exposed.

'No.' He drew more smoke into his lungs and blew it out over the docking bay, hoping it projected an air of nonchalance.

The Brutor nodded, the smile fading. 'I have. Once. They ain't like us. I mean, they look the same, move the same, speak our language, but, I dunno.'

He shook his shaved head, the hangar lights gleaming on his dark skin.

'There's something different, you know? Something...missing.'

Matteo shivered involuntarily, struggling to imagine something that could unnerve a Brutor.

A huge hand clapped him on his back, knocking the cigarette from his hand to vanish into the seemingly bottomless darkness beneath the gangway.

The Gallentean turned to him with a scowl, only to be met with an outstretched hand and a grin. He took the proffered hand and managed to avoid wincing at the strength of the grip.

'You can call me Gunny.'

'Gunny? Original. I'm Matteo.'

The Brutor nodded, opened his mouth to speak and then his jaw hung slack. An eerie hush descended over the hangar.

Matteo, alarmed, turned to the direction in which everyone else was facing. A figure was approaching with a small entourage of technicians.
The crew immediately stood erect, their backs to the railings and their eyes facing very deliberately front. Matteo did the same, his heart hammering as the footfalls grew louder. He risked a glance as the capsuleer approached and wished he hadn't, for he was looking at him. The Gallentean's blood ran cold and Gunny's words suddenly made sense.

The face was similar to his own, clearly of Gallente descent, but that was where all resemblance ended. The capsuleer's skin was unblemished, with the uniform smoothness of marble; but the eyes...

Matteo had spent most of his adulthood running with thieves and murderers and all manner of deviants, but never had he seen eyes so devoid of expression, so impassive and cold, so...inhuman.
In the next instant the capsuleer had passed him, his techs following closely behind as he stepped onto the boarding ramp.

Gunny, beside him, met Matteo's gaze sheepishly. 'I thought it'd be easier the second time 'round'.

The Gallentean wondered what the hell he had gotten himself into.


-Nogusha.