Half an hour later, they were already aboard Z-P-N-E-S, flying away.
For a while, a heavy silence filled the cockpit.
The kind that presses against your chest.
Blindy stared at Zeros.
His hands were shaking.
Lip split.
The world had just collapsed
and stitched itself back together.
“B-b-buddy… I… I didn’t know…” he managed.
Zeros didn’t even turn.
“Didn’t know what?”
Blindy swallowed hard.
“That I had… a father.
Like—a real one.
Not just some street punk…A man. With a name…”
Zeros kept adjusting the course.
Completely indifferent.
Blindy nodded to himself, sniffling, spiraling a bit:
“Yeah… yeah… that makes sense…
That explains stuff…Like—why I ain’t totally useless, right?
Gotta be genetics… yeah…”
“Take me to him,” he blurted suddenly.
“To my father.I don’t need his money—nah, I don’t—
I just… I just wanna know why he left me.Why he never—”
Zeros cut him off clean:
“I can’t take you to your father.”
Blindy froze.
“…Why?”
Only then did Zeros turn his head.
His expression was empty.
Unreadable.
“Because I don’t fucking know who your fucking father is.
If your mother was a respectable woman who worked honestly
and met a few dozen men a day…
figuring out which one it was might be difficult.”
Blindy blinked once.
Twice.
Brain loading… failed.
“…WHAT—
WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY?!”
Zeros, calm:
“You’re not the illegitimate son of Johann Rockefeeller VIII™.
You’re the same bastard of some random asshole
from a garbage planet
who’s probably been dead for years.I. JUST. LIED.”
“You—you—you serious right now?!
You just—
You just—YOU JUST DID THAT?!”
Zeros leaned back.
Zero regret.
Blindy went through all five stages of grief
in about twenty seconds.
“You realize what you just did?!”
He pointed at himself violently:
“I’M A WALKIN’ TARGET NOW!
A—A FUCKIN’ FALSE PRINCE!”
Zeros nodded.
“Yeah.”
Blindy sucked in air like it owed him money:
“That corporate bastard already callin’ Rockefeeller—
WHO DON’T EVEN KNOW ME!
He’s gonna be like—
‘Hey, I just released your son—’AND THEN WHAT?!
HE DEAD.
I’M DEAD.
WE ALL DEAD—WHY AM I DEAD TWICE?!”
Zeros engaged the hyperdrive.
Sat back.
His eyes glowed faintly in the dim cockpit.
“Well yeah.
And that’s exactly why you’ll probably have to leave this galaxy forever.”
Blindy’s breathing went uneven.
“…You son of a bitch…”
He pointed weakly:
“You… metal… fuck-droid…
You should’ve just left me there to rot, man…”
Zeros, with fake sympathy:
“This is why I hate humans.
But you… more than anyone else.”
Blindy covered his face, groaned…
Then suddenly snapped his head up.
Something clicked.
His eyes lit up.
Slowly lifted his head.
Something clicked.
“…Wait…
wait—wait—WAIT…”
Zeros narrowed his gaze.
Blindy’s face broke into a wide, absolutely unhinged grin:
“…I’m a LEGEND now.”
Zeros, flat:
“No. You’re just a moron.”
Blindy shot up like he just unlocked a new life path:
“I’M A MYSTERY!
THE MISSING HEIR!
THE SECRET PRINCE—THEY GON’ WHISPER ‘BOUT ME!
I CAN USE THIS!”
Zeros instantly regretted everything.
But Blindy kept going, gaining speed:
“You—YOU A DAMN GENIUS, METAL DICK!
I’m finna run this story into the ground—
FREE DRINKS!
FREE GIRLS!
FREE MONEY!I AIN’T PAYIN’ FOR NOTHIN’ EVER AGAIN!”
Zeros shook his head slowly.
“Fuck… I hate you. I really, really do.”
Blindy leaned back, glowing like a man who misunderstood reality correctly:
“And I love you, buddy.
I ain’t livin’ long around you anyway…
So I might as well live GOOD.
REAL GOOD.
As the secret son
of the richest dumb motherfucker in the universe!”
He leaned back, hands behind his head, completely at peace.
Zeros stared at him for a long, empty moment.
Clearly considering self-destruction.
But, to his deep regret… that function had not been installed.
The ship slipped into hyperspace, setting course for Mülldeponie.