Too Unlucky To Be Lucky (1)

By Wolfie Steel.

I’m flying home from my dead end job, in my personal speeder that is just about dead, the rain is lashing down, the rush hour traffic is the worst that I have seen it in ten years and to cap it all, my mate of five years, a Husky by the name of Jackson, decides to pick today to leave me.

I mean seriously, all I wanted to do with my life was get a pretty decent job, a speeder car that I wouldn’t have to spend all of my hard earned credits on repairing, a decent home and maybe, just maybe a loving mate to share it with, is that too much to ask?

I sigh a little as I remove the power pack from the speeders ignition system, I then step out of the vehicle into the pouring rain, it is then that I realise that I have left my jacket back at work and that I still have a ten mile hike to get home, so I know for a fact that I am going to be one soggy Husky when I eventually get home.

I resign myself to that fact as I begin my ten mile walk, as I walk I pass speeders that are all newer than mine and I have no doubts that their owners are sitting within the warm confines knowing that their vehicle will not break down on them. I look at my watch and notice that it is now 17:30 hours on Friday 13^th of May 2025, great Friday the thirteenth, it just had to be.

The walk home takes me two solid hours; I look at my watch again and see 19:31 on the display. I stand at my front door and press my soggy right hand paw against the scanner that will allow my entrance to my home, just typical my day goes from bad to worse as the scanner refuses to operate.

“For the love of god, give me a fucking break!”

I open the console that sits just under the paw print scanner and find the manual crank handle that will open the door. Shivering with cold and soaked to the bone I begin to pump the handle and the door slowly opens enough for me to crawl inside.

Once inside I dump my soaking wet shoes and socks, it’s then that I realise why the scanner didn’t work, the mains power is out, I walk into the living room slowly trying to feel my way around in the darkness, I know that I am heading in the rough direction of my salvation, a torch which I keep at paw because these power outages are quite common in this area of town.

I curse loudly as I stub one of my claws on the leg of the coffee table; finally I reach my paw out and grip onto the torch. I push the button on the torch and merciful heavens I find that it is working, I now make my way towards the utility cupboard where the fuse box is located, and sure enough all of the fuses have tripped, well nothing new there.

I flick each one of the fuses back into the ‘on’ position, I turn away from the cupboard and face the wall of the hallway, I point my torch in the general direction and find the light switch. I switch on the light and find that my luck begins to change, the light works, if nothing else I have at least some light that I can see by.

I switch off my torch and head back into the living room, trying the light switches as I go. Soon enough the house is bathed in light, all I need to do now is fire up my heating system and then get some dry towels.

I turn the thermostat up and then I hear the satisfying rumble as the heating system kicks into life. With the heating now running I head to my small bathroom and collect a pawful of dry towels from the cupboard, I remove my soaking wet clothes and dump them by the hamper, no need putting them INTO the hamper as I will be washing them once I am dry and warm and wrapped in some dry clothes.

I put the towels onto the radiator in my bathroom so that they will warm up, I then switch on the shower and climb in. The warm water starts to filter through the shower head and then falls upon my fur, it feels so good to finally feel warmth again.

If there is one thing that can bring me around after a shitty day it is a nice warm shower, of course usually it would be a shared shower. Once my shower is complete I step out of the cubicle and I begin to dry myself using the now warm towels.

I’m alerted to the sound of my com system.

“Computer, please identify my caller”

In a jerky computer voice I get my answer.

“Friend and colleague Axle Grant is calling sir”

Finally I get a friendly voice to talk to.

“Computer, active the com system and accept the call”

With a beep the call is put through to me, next I hear the voice of the Rottweiler.

“Hi Tanner, just calling to make sure that you got home okay because I just passed your speeder on the Express Way”

I pull up my pants and trousers and then I activate a button on the wall that gives me video calling and I am now facing the holographic image of the smartly dressed Rottweiler.

“Hey Axle, yeah the damn thing threw a power converter again, just wish I could get a decent speeder but on my salary that ain’t gonna happen”

To call Axle a close friend and colleague is probably stretching the truth a little, we work for the same company but where as I am in the mail room he parks his sexy ass in one of the offices on the top floor. My mail route takes me to his office most days and so I get to see him for maybe five minutes if I’m lucky.

“Look Tanner, you can’t walk to work and back every day because you live too far away, so I will pick you up and then take you back to your speeder and we’ll see if we can’t get at least some life out of it”

I love Axle’s optimism I really do, but I know for a fact that all my speeder is good for now is scrap, the power converters that give it its movement are now obsolete, even pre-owned ones are more difficult to come by than Rocking Horse shit, but I suppose I have to try and get something done with it and so I agree, I tap the button on the wall again and end the call.

I put on a dry shirt and collect a dry jacket and put that on as I know that it won’t take Axle long to get here. As I wait I look out of the window in my bedroom and notice that the rain has now stopped and that the sky now has a bright red sunset which truly does warm the heart to see.

With my sky gazing now done I slip my footpaws into a dry pair of training shoes and then I hear the chime on the front door to announce Axle’s arrival. I pick up the ignition power pack and then head to the front door, I open the door and there he is 6’6” of toned Rottweiler, he has everything that he could ever want, a top of the range speeder which looks to be this year’s model, he probably has a long line of bitches that he services every night and no doubt has a bank balance that would put most other rich guys to shame, and yet he chooses to call me, a lowly mail room guy, his friend.

“Okay Tanner, let’s go get a new converter and then get that pain in your ass going again shall we?”

I shake my head a little.

“That might be a bit difficult Axle, even pre-owned converters are practically nonexistent, and those that you can get your paws on are that expensive that it makes the speeder just so uneconomical to repair”

I follow Axle to his speeder and climb into the passenger seat, he then sits next to me and inserts his power pack, the satisfying rumble of working thrusters can be heard.

“Well in that case we will have to get creative won’t we?”

After an eight minute flight we arrive back at my stricken vehicle, I clamber from Axle’s car and then raise the bonnet on mine, Axle removes his jacket and shirt and then heads towards me, he then dips his head inside the engine compartment and begins to fiddle around with things. While he is at work he is bent over the front of my speeder which affords me one of the best views that I have had in a long time.

Suddenly he comes out from beneath the bonnet with the offending power converter in his paws; he then drops it on the sidewalk and then heads back under the bonnet again. Two minutes later he re-emerges and closes the bonnet.

“Well it’s not brilliant, but it will get us to the nearest scrap yard”

Great, here comes the bad luck again. I sit in the pilot’s seat of my speeder and insert the power pack, a whole host of warning lights flash up on the dash causing me to frown a little, Axle sees my frown.

“Ah those warning lights, ignore ‘em, it’s just telling you that it is in overload territory, so we had better get our asses moving to the nearest junk yard”

I tentatively press the thrusters start button and I’m greeted with the sound of thrusters again. We make the journey to the local junk yard in less than five minutes, I then clear all of my stuff out and load it into the trunk of Axle’s speeder, I gain just 20 credits for the speeder from the junk yard owner, and that really blows because even when I bought it pre-owned it cost me 3500 credits.

With my credit chip charged with the amount I climb dejectedly back into the passenger seat of Axle’s speeder and then I let out a huge sigh.

Again, Axle fires up his speeder and we begin another journey, to where I have no idea, but I guess that this will be the way it works from now on, me having to scrounge a lift from someone or having to use the public transport system which will mean that most of the time I will arrive at work late, which will then mean that eventually I will lose my job, jeeze talk about ever decreasing circles.

I’m suddenly bought out of my funk as Axle’s speeder comes to a stop, I look out from the speeder and I notice that we have stopped outside a new speeder dealership, I look at Axle with confusion plastered all over my muzzle.

“Axle what are we doing here?”

He climbs from his seat and begins to head towards the front of the dealership.

“Well Tanner, as I said before you can’t walk to work and the public transport system is pretty well useless, so the only other way for you to keep your job is to get another speeder”

I let out another huge sigh as I climb from the passenger seat to join Axle.

“Axle I told you before, I can only just afford to buy my groceries and pay my bills, and so buying a new or pre-owned speeder is not an option”

Axle now stands behind me and thrusts his hand paws into the small of my back and begins pushing me into the dealership entrance. Once inside we are met by a smart suited young Fox.

“Good evening sirs, welcome to GM Speeders how may I help you?”

I stand there and wonder the exact same thing that is until Axle speaks up.

“My friend here is in need of a new speeder as his old one just up and died on him”

The Foxes brow raises a little.

“Forgive me sir but the modern speeders of today rarely just up and die as you so eloquently put it, and even if it has broken down I’m sure we can get it repaired”

At this I speak up.

“That would be great if mine was a modern speeder, but mine is a mark one”

The Fox begins to cough and sputter.

“A mark one you say, hells teeth how the hell have you managed to keep it going this long?”

Axel now answers for me.

“In his defence sir he didn’t really have a choice as he can’t afford to buy new or even pre-owned, which is why I am going to be financing his purchase”

My head instantly spins to look at Axle.

“No Axle, I can’t allow you to do that, I won’t allow you to do that”

The Rottweiler growls gently at me.

“They are my credits, so if I choose to use them to buy you a new speeder, then there is nothing that you can do about it”

Of course his logic is sound in that area, they are indeed his credits, but I would feel obliged to pay him back and with what I earn every month that will take me until retiring age if not longer, I’m brought out of my thoughts by Axle again.

“Now Tanner, pick a new speeder and make sure that it is a decent one”

The Fox now intervenes.

“If I may be so bold sir, but we have a new speeder that has just come in, now it is not top of the range by any standards, but it will last for many years without trouble, and will be a darn sight better equipped than the mark one was and it is ready to go now”

Before I can utter another word the Rottweiler beats me to it.

“Show us this new speeder please”

The Fox leads us towards the rear of the showroom; he then comes to a stop next to a gleaming sporty looking speeder.

“This  my friends is the mark fifteen FQ, it has four Addison Turbo Jet thrusters as opposed to the mark one’s twin Spiral thrusters, there are no power converters to worry about as it is direct power, it has a state of the art audio system and can be yours to take away today for just 10,000 credits”

I begin to walk away from the speeder and towards the entrance doors; I’m about half way between the speeder and the doors when I hear Axle’s reply.

“He’ll take it”

The Fox rubs his paws together but all I can do is slump against one of the other new speeders, I slowly look back at Axle.

“Thanks Axle, now I am going to be broke for life not to mention homeless”

Axle hands his credit chip over to the Fox who then inserts it into a machine to complete the sale. With the sale complete the Fox shows me how to power up the new speeder.

“You don’t even need anything as bulky as a power pack any more, just a scan of your paw is all that is needed, so scan your paw for the first time, and then once you hear a beep scan it again to start the thrusters, after that you will only need to scan your paw once to start her up”

I place my paw on the scanner, it scans my paw and I hear the beep, the Fox opens the showroom doors ready for me to pilot the speeder out, I scan my paw again and the thrusters rumble into life. I slowly pilot the speeder out of the showroom and then towards the parking area where Axle is waiting for me.

I am still so mad with him that I totally ignore him and make my journey home, once I arrive home I shut the speeder down and then climb out of it, I then head to my front door and place my paw against the scanner.

As the door opens I notice that Axle is just bringing his speeder to a stop behind mine, I stomp into my hallway and slam the door behind me. I head into the living room and switch on the holo viewer to try to take my mind off the fact that Axle is outside my front door.

I sit there watching the images but none of what is playing is actually filtering into my mind, the only thing that is on my mind at this moment in time is the question why did Axle purchase a new speeder for me? Sure it could just be a friendly gesture, in which case I have just bitten the paw that feeds me, but I can't help but think that there is another reason behind the purchase of my new speeder.