The Treasure Hunters

The Treasure Hunters

EPISODE 11

My lungs feel like lead. I feel them heavy within my rib cage. Years of smoking, who'd of thought it was possible for cancer to spread so quickly. The doctor's say I have a few days. I wanted to slip away quietly but the damn shareholders want to try to keep me alive. That's why I'm trussed up to various machines in this damnable hospital. I told them money couldn't buy a cure, and I of all people should know.

I close my eyes briefly; living is getting to be such a struggle at the moment. When you reach one hundred and fifty six everything goes down hill from there. When my eyes reopen I can feel the heat from the window. I turn to see my usual view of congested sky car lanes, but all I get is a haze. My eye sight is going now. I'd of hoped my left one would of kept working for a bit, I still have ten months warranty on it.

Then a warm voice appeared from no where. "How are you feeling?"

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice sounding very shaky at the loss of my sight.

"Yes," replied the male voice. "You seem to be in a bad way."

"It could be worse," I chuckle.

"Could it?" the male voice asked quietly.

"No," I replied. "After everything I wish…"

"Yes?"

"I wish I could change what I did," I sighed.

"Really?"

"This disease that's killing me," I start. "Brought on from my constant smoking. I wouldn't have been smoking so much if not for my wealth."

"I was reading about that the other day," replied the man. "A rather interesting article; on a woman who came out of nowhere with a considerable fortune."

"Heh," I laugh, croakily. "Tabloid holos have been trying to get me to reveal my source of wealth of years. It was fun watching all the speculation."

I listen out to the corridor. The ward is silent. Clearly this is early morning and the nurses are attending to all their regular patients. Us VIPS usually get left to last on the rounds.

"Is there just you here?" I ask.

"Yes," replied the man. "Yes only me."

"Then sit yourself down," I replied. "I will tell you, and only you, the story of my wealth."

*****

My story begins with a girl called Mina. She was an average woman, average looks, and average intelligence. At this point in her life she was travelling. Her two companions were a man called the Doctor and a girl, much younger than her, called Amanda. Mina had found herself wandering with them. She had lost someone pretty dear to her and so lost herself in the adventures that lay ahead. However after one particular adventure Mina realised that she was just running away from her problem. As a business woman she needed to get to the real world. But she would need a substantial amount of money in order to invest into the haulage business, as she had previous. Then a thought struck her. The incident where she lost her close friend she had dealt with some sort of pirate. They had been hunting the horde of a well known thief who had disappeared. The co-ordinates of the horde were contained within her navigation robot. The robot was decimated by the pirate but Amanda retrieved the head. Now Mina was aware that the Doctor had tried to uncover the secrets of the co-ordinates and failed, he just gave up. But Mina now wanted to try her hand.

She made her way to the console room, a brilliantly white place which hummed with power. There on the central console sat the robots head. Mina picked it up and her fingers tried to poke at any access points. But there was nothing. The head was not giving its secrets up easily. Mina thrust the head back on the console. As she did so two wires jumped up from the console and attached themselves to the robot's head. A nearby monitor screen began to flash numbers across it and then suddenly everything stopped. The central column had ceased rising. Mina looked at the screen and saw flashing on it: DESTINATION REACHED - G'RALLS HORDE. She jumped with joy and hit the door switch. The doors hummed open and she ran outside.

*****

Outside was cold, dank and windy with very little light. Mina then tripped and landed face first into the dirt. She looked back and realised she had tripped over a rope. The rope itself was attached to a large green canvas tent. As she returned her view forward a large figure was stood over her.

"Now who are you?" the figure asked.

"Mina Fellows," Mina replied, dusting herself down while getting up.

"I'm Seti," replied the woman. "Is G'ralls with you?"

Mina was dumbfounded for a second. She had heard the Doctor and Amanda talk about G'ralls. They had said he was dead. Had this woman being been waiting a long time for a dead man?