FICTION| SCIENCE FICTION | FLASH FICTION

The Cybermancer’s Potion: Part 1

This story is a response to The Kraken Lore’s Monday Mashup Prompt #30! I challenge Bradan Writes Stories for the next TKL mashup! Thanks for the fun prompt and constraints Jonathon Sawyer!

Clueless Elliat Falls Prey to Temptation

Elliat

The door to the cybermancer’s quarters whooshes open, and a woman with short, spiky blue hair explodes into the room. She holds a blaster in both hands. A silver insignia on her arm snags the light. A Peacekeeper from Genesis.

My eyes widen, and I hide the vial behind my back. I attempt to discreetly place the vial in my coat pocket. She doesn’t seem to notice. It is illegal for any residents of Genesis to consume a cybermancer’s potions. Yet they still make them. And people like me still buy them.

“Please don’t arrest me! I only wanted to — ”

“Shut it,” the woman orders and grabs me by the arm, pushing me outside.

In the neon lights of the back alley, I recognize her. “You live on Genesis Station, right? You’re a Peacekeeper.”

She nods, holstering her blaster. “Name’s Ryan. I don’t have jurisdiction off the Station, so I can’t arrest that damned mancer for making the potion. Or you for buying it. But I can keep you from making a huge mistake by drinking that potion. I promise you it doesn’t work.”

I eye her tall and wiry physique. Though thin, she looks strong and scrappy. I doubt she would ever need liquid courage bought from shady cybermancer in a back alley. “I only wanted the courage to face those alpha male assholes on the Station. They’re always breaking my balls for being a scientist and not a Peacekeeper or a Guardian.”

“What’s your name?”

“Elliat.”

“Well, Elliat, let me buy you a drink and I’ll tell you a cautionary tale of the cybermancer’s so-called ‘potions’.”

A bartender slams two cups of neon blue liquid in front us, and Ryan holds up her wrist. The bartender scans her implant with a scanner secured by quivering brown tentacles.

“Drinks are on me, nerd.”

I sigh, taking a long swill of the alcohol. It’s cool yet hot, like menthol.

“Alright, Elliat.” Ryan gulps her drink down in one swallow, slamming the cup on the bar twice to demand a refill. “Keep ’em comin’,” she demands, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. She could definitely take me in a fight, but she is undeniably sexy with her confidence and badass attitude. Two things I lack. “After you hear this story, you’ll never go to a cybermancer’s shop again.”

Ryan’s Cautionary Tale

Ryan

“According to my nav, there are quite a few pubs down this street.” Blaze points left as we exit the starport and get caught up in the current of people in the bustling streets.

Just then, Jaxson, a fellow Peacekeeper, throws his arm around my shoulder. “Look what I’ve got!” He holds up a vial in his hand, glowing with a lurid green liquid.

“Is that some sort of shooter, Jax?” Blaze asks as Jax pops the lid and downs the liquid.

Jax shakes his head. “I bought a potion from a mancer back there. I’m going to hustle some locals in pool. Hell, maybe an old-fashioned game of poker. This potion will make me be able to read my opponent’s mind for up to two hours. And he said I’ll be insanely focused! I can’t lose! I’ll make my credits back within an hour. And then some.”

“Jax, you are not serious! The locals here will eat you alive if they know you’re a hustler. Can’t say that I blame them.” I throw his arm off my shoulder, disgusted.

Jax shakes his head slightly. “Whoo! This potion is already giving me a buzz! Maybe it’s the buzz before the power kicks in!” Jax’s eyes are wide, pupils dilated. He wedges himself between Blaze and me and grabs our hands, pulling us into the first pub he sees. “I’ll buy you ladies something really nice after I rack up thousands of credits tonight,” Jax slurs, falling into me slightly.

“Jax, what is wrong with you? Have you been drinking already?” I push Jax off as we signal for the bartender and order three drinks.

“No, the potion is the only drink I’ve had.” He takes his drink and pounds it in one gulp, slamming the cup on the bar. I take the lime from his empty cup and put into mine.

Blaze and I watch as he staggers to the back of the pub. He begins gesturing wildly, talking loudly, his translator transforming his slurred English into the Thetunian language. One rather large Thetunian takes the bait, grabbing up a pool cue and shoving one into Jax’s waiting hands.

Blaze and I make our way to a table to get a better view of Jax.

“Come on, you fucker!” Jax mumbles, stumbling into the pool table, knocking it askew.

“Oh shit, Ry, he’s gonna get his ass kicked!” Blaze exclaims, rapping her fingers on my arm. “We need to do something!”

I shake my head and chuckle. “He got himself into this mess. I can’t believe he trusted a cybermancer’s potion. Fucking idiot.”

Jax leans over to take his first shot. As the cue shoots forward, his body tilts forward also, and of all things, knocks the 8-ball into the corner pocket.

Jax throws both arms into the air in celebration, tossing his pool cue aside. “Pay up, you Thetune thug!”

The Thetunian slams his fist into Jax’s jaw, knocking him down. He spits out a tooth in a shower of blood. A row of pool cues hanging on the wall come crashing down upon him.

Jax grabs a cue, lurching as he attempts to stand. Pushing himself off the wall, he lunges for his opponent with the cue and smashes it over his head.

The Thetune staggers back, hand on his head, blood gushing from an angry wound.

I need to help, but I can’t simply use my blaster. Thetune doesn’t allow weapons. Improvising, I fish the lime out of my drink and join the fray, squeezing the lime juice on the Thetunian’s head wound. He roars and lashes out, but I easily dodge his attacks.

I begin to smell smoke. A panic erupts as someone yells, “Fire!”

I can’t help but smirk. True to her name, Blaze had started a fire without anyone noticing.

Amidst the chaos Jax is still taking blows from his pool opponent, now too drunk from the potion to fight back. I grit my teeth and dive into the mass of bodies, giving his assailant a swift kick to the stomach, pushing him back into the corner with my foot. I grab Jax’s hand, yank him up, and slap his face.

“Wake up, asshole! We’ve got to get out of here!”

Jax tumbles forward. I catch him by the nape of the neck. “What about the bill?” he inquires as we crash onto the side walk and make our way toward the starport, trying to evade notice. “I started a tab for us.”

“You’re worried about the bill? You’ll never make enough credits to fix the damage in that place,” I say, looking back to see smoke billowing out of the pub, Blaze running to catch up with us.

“You almost got yourself killed you dumbass! I can’t believe you wasted your hard-earned credits on a cybermancer’s potion!” I admonish him, nudging him with my elbow.

“I couldn’t even read their minds! I just got wasted drunk off a 2000 credit potion! That fucker! I’ll kill — ”

Blaze rolls her eyes, grabbing Jax’s upper arm and steering him toward the starport. “We’re not killing anyone tonight. In the future we’re sticking to my space station toilet wine.”

The Moral of the Story

Elliat

“So, your friend nearly killed a man and burned down a pub, all because of a mancer’s potion?”

She nods, eyeing the eerie green liquid. “Does it seem worth it? These never work the way they’re supposed to. They do this shit on purpose just to fuck with people.”

“Why?” I inquire, fingering the potion still tucked in my jacket pocket.

“Because they can.” Ryan holds up her hand to signal the bartender for another round, but I shake my head no.

“I have to go, but thanks for the drink. And thanks for the story, Ryan. I will certainly not be darkening the door of a cybermancer’s shop anytime soon.” I shake her hand and meander out into the night, rolling the vial around in my hand, still hidden in my pocket.

I look behind me and round the corner. The Peacekeeper is still in the bar. No one else is around.. I’m alone.

I take the vial out of my pocket and hold it up to the flickering neon light of a chop suey shop, closed for the night. “They’re not all bound to be bad,” I whisper to myself, downing the potion. “It’s not her business anyway.”

To be continued…

Read the rest of The Cybermancer’s Potion here!

Prompt: Someone must be drunk and they had to take a potion that didn't have the desired effect :D

Jax starts a bar fight! 1 pt.
Jax and his crew don't pay the bill! 1 pt.
Jax uses a pool cue 1 pt. 
Blaze makes wine in an unsanitary beverage container (toilet) 1 pt.
Blaze starts a fire 🔥 1 pt.
Ryan uses a fantastic ingredient selected from the image (lime) 1 pt.

Hardcore Constraint: 
Ryan sobers up Jax with a slap to the face! 2 pts

Bonus for tally box: 1 pt
 
Literary Device: 
A story inside a story 5 pts.

Total points: 14/14 points

H.R. Parker © 2023 All rights reserved.

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