Written by Mirage
The Bounty-Hunter
“Is it true that you are from Terra?” the young fellow wearing old coveralls asked me.
“Yup.. Was sent here to maintain peace here, on this dust ball of a planet.” I responded, playing my hand.
“How long you have been here?” he kept asking me questions after questions, while playing poker with me in this old salon.
“Mmm... been three long years... the pay was not much, that’s why I became a bounty-hunter. Needed the cash.” I answered him while folding my cards.
“Hey, McCoy, you have someone here to see you!” The bartender yelled at me.
“I’m busy!” I yelled back, too lazy to look at his direction.
“I think you should see who it is.” the young boy told me while looking at the entrance of the salon.
I slowly turned around and saw what he meant.
Standing there, was a beautiful woman in a very elegant red dress, holding a sun-umbrella.
“Mmmmm... I guess I should go to her...” I mumbled while getting up from my dusty chair.
“Are you the Bounty-Hunter called McCoy?” She asked me nicely.
“Yup, little lady, and why would you want to ask me that question?” I smiled at her, sizing her up.
“Well, I need to employ you as my protector, I was told you were the best in this town.” She said, while looking around over my shoulders.
“As your protector? Are you in trouble?” I asked her quickly.
“Not me, but my husband, in a matter of speaking. I need you to take me to New Wellington, across the desert to him.” she said while dusting her red ruby boots.
“New Wellington? That is a dangerous trip you are asking me to take with you. We will need to go through the border line of the new state, Indioana. They don’t like strangers there.” I grinned at her at the idea.
“I know, that’s why I need you, to make sure I get to my husband safe and sound.” she grinned back at me.
“Well, I’ll tell you my answer tomorrow morning.” I replied to her.
“No, I need you right now, and I’ll pay you 100,000 credits, 50, 000 right now, the rest on arrival.” she snapped at me.
“100, 000 credits??? Shit, lady, that’s lot of money there... I guess you have a deal. Meet me here in two hours, I’ll get the supplies and horses for the trip.” I smiled back at her.
“Until then, Mr. McCoy, see you in two hours.” she told me with an icy tone to it. She slowly left the Salon and I sat at the bar, thinking maybe this was a bad idea.
After two hours, we started heading west, toward our goal. She was sitting on a horse, quiet and all.
“So... why did your husband go to New Wellington?” I asked her, curious.
“None of your bee’s wax.” she snarled.
“I noticed that when I mention your husband, you get all pissy. Don’t you love him?” I chuckled.
“Of course I love him, I belong to him.” she replied all snooty.
“That dress you are wearing, you’ll have to remove it soon. It’s too hot for the desert.” I told her, looking at the hot sun.
“My temperature is tolerable. Please concern yourself with bandits and animals.” she glared at me.
“Fine with me... why did you hire me, a bounty hunter and not a tracker or someone more suited for this?” I asked her nicely.
“Because I heard you were the best. Simple as that.” She answered, looking directly in front of her.
“Well, it’s going to take four days to reach New Wellington. Hope you can sleep well on sand.” I joked to her.
“Sleeping for me is never an issue.” she again replied coldly.
“Ok... fine by me.” I responded.
The first day of traveling went without a hitch. So, when it got dark, we set up camp. To my surprise, she didn’t care where she would sleep.
“You can have my tent, seriously!” I told her.
She gave me a strange look and entered silently the tent. I curled up in the sand and put my hat over my eyes. After a few hours, I woke up in a jump. I heard a fucking coyote howling in the dark. I grabbed my six shooter and looked around. When I felt safe, I look inside the tent to see how my guest was sleeping. As I looked inside, I felt a cold shiver down my spine.
She was lying on her back, straight as a board, eyes open, starring directly up.
“Miss.. Are you ok?” I asked her delicately.
She gave me no response.
“Miss?” I ask again.
“I am trying to sleep, go away.” She barked out at me.
I jumped out the tent and walked away quickly. “Man, she is creepy.” I told myself.
I manage to regain sleep until the sun started to come out. I opened my eyes and she was already on her horse, waiting for me.
“Hurry up and get ready.” she barked at me more.
“Hey, listen, lady, don’t you dare give me orders!” I snapped at her, reaching for my cup to make some coffee.
She remained quiet until I asked her name.
“My name is Antoinette Bourgeois.” She replied.
“What a fancy name you have there!” I laughed out, getting to my horse.
“I was given this name. I didn’t choose it.” she told me coldly.
“Let’s go, Miss.” I smiled at her.
After a few hours, a wind storm was coming our way. We had to build a small cover for us from the sand. We managed to squeeze together tightly under a makeshift shelter. She was not even nervous for one second.
“Are you ok, Miss?” I asked her, while hugging her tight as the storm passed through.
“Yes, I am fine” she smiled.
Suddenly, a big whisk of wind pick up us and pitched us around a bit. I managed to hold her tightly. We crashed in a sand dune and we stayed there until the storm went away. Slowly, I raised my head and spit out some sand.
“Are you ok?” I asked again.
But this time, she did not reply. I laid her on her back and looked at her. Her eyes were wide open and a shock expression was on her face. Suddenly, she sat up quickly in a quick jerk and look at me silently.
“Miss?” I questioned her.
“I am fine, I am fine, I am fine.” she quickly responded to me.
I shrugged my head and helped her up. She walked a bit dizzy, but she regain her composure after a few seconds.
“Where are our stuff, and horses?” she asked me.
“Good question... I think we’ll need to dig our stuff out and I’ll go look for the horses.” I yelled at her, trying to see anything out of the open.
Luckily, after a few minutes of searching, I manage to find the horses. Sadly, both were dead. I returned to my employer to find her digging our stuff out from the sand.
“Err.. Bad news, the horses are dead, we have no choice to head back to our town.” I explained to her.
“No, we must continue, we must!” She begged me.
“No way, we’ll die from thirst and heat stroke, you silly woman.” I yelled at her, gathering our belongings.
“Well, with or without you, I am proceeding to my husband!” she yelled back, starting to walk my opposite direction.
“You’ll die!” I screamed at her, leaving me behind.
She remained quiet and continued walking in the sand.
“Damn it! Wait for me!” I ran to her.
I knew this would be a long trip. After a few hours, I collapsed in a sand dune. “I can’t... no more... need to rest...” I begged her.
She simply turned around, walked up to me and lifted me up with her arms.
“Man, you are a strong woman... must good in bed.” I moaned.
“Good in bed? What do you mean?” She asked me confused.
“You know, for sex... you have had sex before, haven’t you?” I continued laughing at my condition.
“Sex? Of course not! What kind of woman do you think I am?” she hissed out.
“A very beautiful and strong woman.” I smiled at her before passing out from the heat.
Next thing I knew, it was night, and a gentle cool breeze woke me up. I looked around and I saw that Antoinette made camp.
“Are you hungry? I made some beans.” she asked me nicely, sitting beside a fire.
“Beans... sure... Thanks.” I said while sitting beside her.
“Aren’t you gonna eat some too?” I asked her.
“I had some before you woke up.” she smiled.
“Oh.... so, where are we?” I asked, while taking a big spoonful of beans.
“Close to the border of Indioana.” She said while looking at the stars.
“Mmmm... that’s good...” I reckoned.
I ate the beans and starred at the fire quietly. “Antoinette, can I call you by your first name?” I asked her.
She nodded.
“You know something, something is fishy about you and your husband. I called you “Miss” and not Madame or Misses something, and you didn’t get annoyed by it.” I told her looking at her with a serious regard.
“You said I was beautiful....My husband never told me that... not once.” she said with a low tone.
I took pity on her and sat beside her and gave her a hug. She flinched a bit, but remained calm. So, I pressed my luck and slowly moved my right hand to her face and made her face me, face to face.
“What are you doing?” she asked confused.
I slowly moved closer to her and kissed her on the lips. She resisted a bit but didn’t stop it from continuing. I then moved my left hand between her legs slowly. Suddenly, I received a big slap on the face.
“How dare you??? I belong to my husband! Only to him!” she screamed at me, angry.
I laid on the ground, dazed from her slap. “Ah shit, Miss, I’m sorry, I won’t do it again!” I pleaded with her.
She helped me up and when I was face to face with her standing up, I grabbed her in my arms and kissed her even deeper, my hands grabbing her tush tight. She was shocked and pushed me so hard, I almost went flying.
“NO! NO! No! No! No one can touch me! No one can touch me! No! No!” She yelled out like a maniac. She then suddenly fainted, falling flat on her face.
I ran to her and turn her on her back. “Are you ok?? I asked her nervously.
She slowly opened her eyes and spoke, “Sorry... but I wish you could touch me, but something is stopping me.... I really do like you...Please don’t hate me...” she begged me.
“How can I hate you? You are the prettiest woman I ever saw in my life.” I smiled at her.
She smiled back and thanked me for being so nice to her. Sadly, our little talk got interrupted by a loud noise. I looked up and saw standing there four Gringos with shotguns aiming for my head. I knew this trip was a bad idea, I told myself.
After being bound and gagged together, me and Antoinette felt pretty dumb.
“You know, it’s your job to keep something like this from happening!” She hissed at me in my back.
“Shut up! I’m planning something!” I hissed back at her.
The gringos were going through our stuff and stealing anything they saw that was worth some money.
“Do something!” she continued.
“Shut up! You stupid woman, if you are a woman?” I told her.
“What do you mean by that?” she nervously asked me.
“I know your little secret.... Antoinette.” I made the remark at her.
“What? You know....?” she whispered horrified.
“I know that... I know that you were a man before. No way a natural woman could repulse me like you did and that’s why you are shy talking about your husband, he doesn’t know you were a man!” I yelled at her.
“A man??? You moron! I always been a female since I was ac.... born… Shit, and I thought you liked me.” she growled.
“Sorry! The way you act, I swear you were a mutant or something!” I growled back.
“Hey, Chico’s, shut the fuck up, before we kill you both!” one of the bandits yelled at us.
They made signals to each other and pointed to Antoinette. They all laughed and circled us. They grabbed her and three of them took her in the dark of the desert night. I tried to get free, but got a boot to the head instead.
I heard her screaming in the dark and suddenly, total quietness. The bandit that was with me got confused and yelled something at them. Nothing.... He got nervous and grabbed his shotgun. He walked around in circle and aimed the gun at me.
“Hey, if nothing happens in three seconds, he gets killed!” he yelled out in the dark.
Suddenly, Antoinette came out of nowhere and grabbed the gun from him. They rolled on the floor and two shots were fired. I screamed at Antoinette to get up. The bandit got up, look at his gut open, blood coming out and collapsed dead. Slowly Antoinette got up too, look at her chest, sparks and wires were crackling from her big open wound.
“Malfunction.... Malfunction...” she moaned out before she also collapsed dead.
“Shoot, she’s a freaking machine!” I screamed at myself.
Antoinette was an android. I started to think and I wondered what to do next. I completely untied myself and went for my guns. I scouted around to see what happened to the other gringos. I found them, all lying face first in the sand, necks all broken.
“Ouch!” was my reaction. So, I searched their bodies and found money, cigarettes and a map. I studied the map and concluded it led to their place. I walked back to Antoinette and turned her over, facing me.
With her eyes closed, she looked she was in a deep sleep. I should do something, but I have no tools with me. I decided to rob the bodies or the robbers and find their place with the map. The gringos had some horses with them, so, I took two of them, one for me, the other, carrying Antoinette like a rag doll.
When I arrived at their place, it look like a simple small mountain with rocks. I walked slowly to the front of the mountain and heard some humming coming from it. I looked closely and saw a crack that formed a door. I slowly pushed it and heard someone coming from behind it.
“Hey, open up, we’ve been shot! QUICK!” I screamed while trying to imitate their accent. When the door completely opened up, I started to shoot anyone in sight.
After a few minutes of smoke clearing, seven bodies were lying on the floor of the secret hideout. Making sure no one was alive, I brought Antoinette in. The place was a mess, but full of electronics, money and weapons. I cleared a table and laid Antoinette on it. I looked around and found some tools and a camera. I took pictures of all my victims and hope they had bounties on their heads, on which I was sure they had. I slowly removed Antoinette’s clothes. She had a nice body, nice big lush breasts and nipples the size of a silver dollar. I slowly inserted one of the tool inside her wound and managed to reconnect one of the damage cable.
She gave me a start when she quickly opened her eyes wide, “System rebooting.... please wait...” she barked out in a robotic voice. “Please repair me, system damage....” she asked right after she booted up her system.
“Antoinette, can you hear me?” I asked her puzzled.
“...er.f.g..yes...pllleeass.. Reeepaiir myy ssyyssteem...I amm nooott ffunncctionning good...” she slurred her speech, trying to raise herself in a sitting position, but her motors didn’t respond to her commands.
“Hey, little lady, just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.” I told her.
She kinda tried to smile and lay back on the table. “Ok... I trust you, I saved your life, now repair mine.” she said while trying to nod.
After a few hours of following her directions, I managed to repair her almost completely. She lay there naked, her systems almost fully functional.
“I need you now to connect the red wire to the blue circuit to the left. This will give me back movement to my body.” she directed to me.
“Wait... before I finish my job, I want to do something to you.” I smiled.
“What do you mean?” she asked nervously.
I connected a cable inside her to her CPU and sat beside an old computer that was close to me. “Let’s see what I can do to make my life easier.” I told her while booting up her programs on the com.
“Please don’t reprogram me, if you do something to me, I will self-destruct. If you don’t believe me, see my main programming.” she said in a worried voice.
She was right. Who ever created her didn’t want her to be fiddled with.
“Damn... How can a guy have fun with you then?” I joked to her.
“Maybe you can bypass some of my less important functions.” she hinted to me.
“Like what?... Hello! Your sex drive, it’s not protected, no fire walls.” I smiled.
“Yes, I know.” she smiled back to me.
After a few rewritten lines of data, she was willing to explore sex with me. I reprogrammed her to be aroused only to my touch, and she was now my sex kitten. I connected her last cable and she suddenly sat up quickly, “Mr. McCoy, what have you done to me?” she smiled.
I smiled to myself, “Maybe this trip was not such a bad ideal after all.”
After a few hours of some love-making with Antoinette, we decided to stay the night at the hideout.
“Antoinette, who made you? And why?” I asked her while lying beside her.
“My maker is my husband. He constructed me six months ago, left me alone with instruction for me to join him one week later at New Wellington. That is all I know.” she frowned.
“You know, New Wellington don’t like robots and androids. We must try to cover and hide that hole in your stomach.” I told her while looking at her open wound, circuits and cables showing inside her.
She looked around and saw some clothes. She got up and tried them on. I preferred her old dress, but at least the clothes covered the damage part.
First thing in the morning, we headed for the border crossing of New Wellington and we arrived at the crossing in the early morning.
“Anything to declare?” the border police ask me while searching us.
“Nope, I am a bounty hunter, here is my license.” I told them.
“And her?” he pointed at Antoinette.
“That’s my little lady!” I hugged her hard.
They started to pass a metal detector around her and nothing happened. I smiled and nodded at her. She smiled back and crossed the tunnel we had to go through.
“Psst... how come it didn’t ringed out?” I whispered.
“I got new Stealth technology inside me, my husband created. He’s a genius.” She smiled back.
For some reason, that worried me a lot. After a few hours of riding, we arrived at her destination.
“Please come with me to get your payment, Mr. McCoy.” She smiled while stopping in front of an old house.
“Call me Jack.” I smiled back, feeling a bit sad out the end of our journey.
I slowly followed her inside the house and she opened a secret trap door. I got a cold shiver from this. Something seemed wrong. I followed her down some stairs and remained quiet.
“Husband!” she screamed out when she saw an old man in a lab coat.
He slowly turned around and gave me one of the scariest smile I ever witness in my life.
“Who are you, cowboy?” the old man smiled.
“He’s a bounty hunter, he helped me come here, without him, I don’t think I could have made it here safe.” Antoinette told him quickly.
“A Bounty Hunter? Why him?” he quizzed her.
Before she could answer, I stepped in “Sorry for the trouble, I’ll be on my way.” I said out loud.
He smiled and nodded.
“What about your payment?” Antoinette ask me.
“Being in your company was rewarding enough, Miss Antoinette.” I told her while kissing her hand goodbye.
The old man retched at my ways, but Antoinette blushed and hugged me. “I think I love you...” she whispered in my left ear.
I nodded and left for the door. Before I went out, I glanced at the room. It was like a mad scientist lab. I slowly waved goodbye at Antoinette, who shown unhappiness at my leaving.
Before I went outside the building, something in my gut, deep inside told me to stay. So, instead of being self-centered, I quietly snuck inside the house, down the stairs and listened to the old man screaming at Antoinette.
“You piece of shit! You hired a Bounty Hunter??? Are you trying to get me killed?? I created you! How could you endanger my plans this way! Stupid machine!” I heard him screaming at her more. “Get on the fucking table and I’ll dismantle you right now!” he continued.
I slowly got my guns out of their holsters and waited for the right moment.
“You got damage???? If you got any damage on one of the parts I need to finish my bomb, I’ll… I’ll kill you!” He yelled out more.
“...Bomb?” I whispered to myself.
“Please don’t deactivate me for good...” Antoinette begged.
“But I must, you have done your purpose, you were built to smuggle theses precious parts in this country, you piece of shit!” he laughed out.
“Nooooo..o...o....” I heard Antoinette being deactivated.
I could not bear it no more, I crashed the door opened.
“YOU!” the old man screamed at me.
“Reactivate her!” I commanded him.
“Ok, ok, just don’t kill me.” he begged. He turned around and yelled out “Brutus, kill him!”.
Before I could shoot him, I saw a giant robot about the size of a small car coming right at me. “Oh Shit!” I yelled out. I ran upstairs to find room to fight that robot. The robot look like a tank with arms and legs. I heard the old scientist laughing out loud.
When I ran out the building, the robot came out the floor right behind me and smashing me hard in my back. I went flying a few meters and I landed hard. I slowly got up, bruised up and saw Brutus come out at me. I shot my guns but had no effects on him “Cripes.... What to do?” I yelled at myself.
The robot lunged at me and got me in a bear hug, crushing me to death. Before I blacked out, I heard a loud noise. I opened my eyes and saw the head of the robot had been shot off clean. The robot’s body release me and I landed on my back hard. I slowly look up and standing there, was the young fellow wearing old coveralls from the salon, holding a nasty big shotgun.
“I followed you since day one. I thought you might need help.” he smiled.
I thanked him and got my guns. “Where were you when the gringos captured me and Antoinette then?” I asked gratefully to him.
“Err.. I was sleeping, sorry... was dog-gone tired that day.” he laughed out.
“Well, we are not finished here, we got a crank case to take care of.” I smiled at him.
Running down the stairs, I saw Antoinette standing there with a sad face. “What? Are you ok?” I asked her nervously. She just broke down in tears and ran to me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
“What is wrong, it that this robot will explode in two minutes, killing everyone on this side of the globe of this God-awful planet!” The old man was laughing, while shooting me in the legs.
“Aahh!” I screamed out in pain.
Before the young fellow helping me could react, he was shot in the face by the old crazy bastard. The young man felt dead, never knowing what hit him.
“DAMN YOU!!!” I screamed at him.
“Good bye, stupid planet!” he laughed out, while climbing inside what seemed to be an escape pod.
I got up and reached for my small hidden gun in my boot and shot him in the head at the last second. He slammed against the door of the pod and crashed on the floor, dead. “Antoinette, can we stop the bomb inside you?” I asked her quickly.
“No....” she cried out silently.
“Damn, we must do something...” I yelled out in anger.
“There is one thing...” she said while getting up. “Goodbye, Mr. McCoy... thank you for being so kind to me, even though I am just a machine.” she said while kissing me.
“What? What are you doing?” I asked her nervously when I saw her climb inside the pod.
“I love you...” she said while closing the door of the escape pod. She quickly turned on the engines and waved goodbye to me, while crying.
Suddenly, a big flash was in the room and she was gone. I got to my feet and stumble quickly to the street. I look up and saw the pod heading up for the stars in space. Then, it happened. A giant explosion that was seen across the globe. Luckily, she was so far away already, it didn’t do too much damage to the planet. I kneeled on my knees crying.
“She might have been a machine, but she had a human heart..” I thought to myself.
Months passed since this adventure happened to me. I have retired now, sitting and relaxing in a salon most of the time. Knowing I saved this dust ball of a planet, makes me appreciate more the small things in life. Sometimes, I look at the stars at night, and I could swear that I see Antoinette’s face in the stars, smiling at me.