by A B Lucian
He closed the ramp and sealed the hatch. The craft was different from Captain Dupont’s cargo runner and it took Yosh a good few minutes to get a handle on what buttons and switches did what. Soon, shouts came from outside, rough and high pitched. There was banging on the hatch and shots rang against the hull as Yosh fired up the engines.
“Vertical thrusters, vertical thrusters, where are you?” Yosh smashed a fist against the console. “Dammit!” Pain shot up his forearm. The arkanian commander had squeezed him harder than he thought. He massaged his bruised forearms as shots echoed off the hull. The fumbling at the entrance hatch turned into controlled movements and sharp ticks. Someone knowledgeable had arrived and was working on getting it open. Yosh had to take off soon. Then he saw it: a small panel with four small levers. “Hello vertical thrusters,” Yosh said.
He was about to push one when an arkanian with a bloody face and a green collar strolled in front of the cockpit window. Another arkanian followed, dragging two slaves behind him: a lorran—its blue skin shining in the lights from the ship, female by her slim body, and a quarlan. The quarlan’s shoulders sagged, his big eyes were swollen, and the fur on his face was red with blood. Ghett.
“Human!” the commander yelled so hard, Yosh heard him over the ship’s engines. “Human!”
Yosh’s sweaty hand hesitated an inch away from the vertical thruster. The arkanians working on the entrance hatch would open it soon.
Commander Kagos raised Ghett in the air by the scruff of the neck. He produced a pulse gun in the other hand, poking the black muzzle into Ghett’s temple. Yosh’s stomach clenched as he gazed at Ghett and the lorran girl. The death of Ghett’s daughter flashed before his eyes again. The commander had brought two prisoners Yosh realized. He shook his head. “No,” he muttered. “No, damn you, no.” He wanted to look away. He wanted not to care. He wanted to push that damned lever and fly away.
The commander pulled the trigger and Ghett’s sad eyes splashed on the landing pad. I should have killed him, Yosh thought. I should have driven that rusty pipe through his neck when I had the chance. “You bastard,” Yosh yelled and bashed his fists against the panels. He ignored the pain shooting through his forearms and blinked away the hot, wet sensation in his eyes.
Ghett’s lifeless body smacked against the cockpit window, a foot from Yosh’s face. His heart caught in his throat.
“Human!” the commander repeated as Ghett slid down the window, leaving a smear of red fur and white bone behind. He brought forth the trembling lorran girl, with her pale blue skin and wide, wet eyes. He pushed her to her knees, his large hand clasping her head. “Shut down the engines, human.” The black muzzle pressed against the girl’s temple. She flinched, blinked, and looked up into Yosh’s eyes.
Chapter Eight
Yosh sucked at the bloody gap where his tooth used to be and explored it with his tongue. He had shut the engines without hesitation after Kagos threatened the lorran girl. No more deaths on my account, Yosh resolved. He surrendered, the lorran girl lived, and Yosh’s conscience was clear, or almost clear, but commander Kagos knocked out his tooth as retaliation for the trouble he caused.
Outside the transport ship there were only six arkanians, which meant the other eighteen were searching the area for his grandfather. They marched Yosh and the lorran girl through the crooked alleys back toward the mess hall. Yosh still limped on the side the commander hit him, but he exaggerated the movement as much as possible. He needed to keep his right leg stiff, so the progress of their small procession was slow. Yosh glanced at his rigid leg, trying not to act suspicious. He hoped the arkanians wouldn’t realize what he’d done. No one had thought to check Mazak’s body for the missing shock stick. Why would they? Yosh stuck one end in his boot and tied the other end to his calf with a piece of torn sleeve. Walking wasn’t a problem as long as he didn’t make any sudden movements. The oversized fabric of his trouser leg came in handy for once.
The arkanians would have found the shock stick if they searched him, but he was just a human, and Commander Kagos seemed satisfied with just knocking out a tooth. Still, Yosh was wary of being discovered. Sweat poured down his face and his heart pounded hard inside his chest. The guard on his right turned and sniffed the air around Yosh as they walked. He growled and fixed his terrible red eyes on him. All Yosh could do was flash him a smile and turn his head back to the road. He felt the arkanian guard’s gaze on his face, but he soon got bored and looked away.
Relieved, Yosh turned to the shivering lorran girl. “Are you all right?”
She ignored him.
Yosh tried to remember her name, but he never socialized much with the other slaves. “Everything will be okay, I promise.” Did he say that to soothe the blue-skinned girl or himself?
“Everything will not be okay,” she said, turning her big blue eyes, filled with reproach and hate, to him. “You humans bring death wherever you go. You brought death to my homeworld years ago, you made my people submit, and you forced us to fight against the arkanians. We lost everything because of you.”
Yosh’s voice caught in his throat. He wanted to remind her he wasn’t responsible for any of that, but she turned her head. He had been tried and found guilty, apparently. Yosh had exchanged his freedom for her life. Perhaps a little gratitude was in order.
Commander Kagos dismissed four of the guards as they neared the mess hall and sent them to join the search. Only Kagos walking in front and a guard walking behind remained.
“Commander Kagos,” a silky voice buzzed through the guard’s communicator. “Give me the commander, now.”
The scales on the arkanian guard’s face bristled, and he fumbled at his belt for the communicator. Kagos snatched it from the guard’s unsteady hands.
“Yes, Lord Munov,” Kagos said. His voice was unsteady. “What are your orders?”
Whoever this Lord Munov was, both arkanians seemed affected by the mere sound of his voice. This was Yosh’s chance, while they were distracted. In another minute they would reach the mess hall where more guards would join them.
Yosh turned to the lorran girl. “I’ll get us out of here,” he whispered. “Run when I tell you.”
She turned to him, her eyes growing impossibly wide.
“Commander Kagos, how goes your mission?” Lord Munov said.
“We’ve swept the surroundings. The colony is secure for landing, Lord Munov.”
Yosh bent, grunting as if his leg hurt, and reached inside his boot. Kagos kept walking, oblivious to anything not Lord Munov’s voice, but the guard watched Yosh like a hawk.
“Walk,” he said in thick arkanian.
“Do you have my humans, Kagos?” Lord Munov asked.
Yosh’s hand tightened around the steel shaft of the shock stick and, suddenly, a surge strength and vitality flowed through him. He felt alive—flooded with life. “Run,” he said toward the lorran girl.
The guard grabbed Yosh’s shoulder, but he had a good grip on the shock stick now. Yosh spun on his heel and the shock stick spun with him, hitting the guard square in the face. The arkanian stumbled back, fumbling for the weapon at his hip. Yosh lunged and shoved the charged tip hard into his neck. It buzzed and the guard’s body convulsed. The stick was still set to max charge from when Mazak used it on Skrill. The electric load hadn’t affected Skrill much, but he was sylosian. Arkanians were almost as big, but not as tough. The guard crumpled to the ground and Yosh glimpsed the girl cower back and hide her face in her palms.
The soft clinking guns make when unholstered came from behind. Kagos. Yosh felt him aiming at the back of his head. He ducked and spun around. Kagos had his pulse gun out and was trying to fix his sights on Yosh. The tip of the shock stick flew out, smacking the gun to the side. The pulse gun whistled and let out a blinding blue bolt that blasted the ground at the girl’s feet. Yosh had aimed for Kagos’s hand, hoping to knock the weapon away. His aim had been off and the force of his blow too weak. Kagos kept his gun from flying away and threw t
he sharp-edged communicator in Yosh’s face. The triangular bit of metal hit him in the forehead, giving Kagos enough time to swing the gun around and smack its butt hard into Yosh’s cheek.
The world spun and Yosh found himself on the ground, with Kagos grinning above him and the shaft of the pulse gun aimed at his chest. Yosh’s tightened his grip on the shock stick and waited for Kagos’s image to stop spinning.
Lord Munov’s voice buzzed again. “Kagos, you fool, what happened? Answer me!”
The communicator lay on the ground, well out of reach. Kagos glanced at it and Yosh reacted. The shock stick shot out like a snake—a snake with an electrically charged tip. This time Yosh didn’t miss. The shock stick buzzed against Kagos’s hand and the pulse gun flew away. Kagos roared in pain and outrage, then hurled himself at Yosh. There was no way to avoid the large lizard. He gripped his shock stick tighter. The full charge of the stick took the furious Kagos in the chest. He roared, shook, and collapsed on top of Yosh, his eyes rolling up in his head.
“Kagos! I’m coming down now,” Lord Munov said.
Yosh pushed the heavy lizard off and looked around. There was no one else in sight, but he had to leave fast. Yosh grabbed the pulse gun, thinking hard about shooting Kagos in the face. He aimed. Nothing less than he deserves, he thought. Yosh pushed the muzzle against Kagos’s temple, as he had done to so many prisoners. He remembered Ghett’s body, pressed against the cockpit window, small, fury, and with a bloody ruin for a head. Ghett witnessed three daughters and a wife die at Kagos’s hands. Where was the justice?
Yosh clenched his teeth. Just do it, Yosh thought. For Ghett. For what the bastard did to Ghett. His finger tightened on the trigger.
Sobs came from behind. Yosh turned. The girl rocked back and forth, hugging her knees just five feet away. They’ll be here any minute.
Yosh lowered the gun. “It’ll be okay,” he told her as he approached. “We need to get out of here.” The girl flinched and backed away when he touched her shoulder. Why was she afraid of him? He only wanted to help.
“Please don’t hurt me,” she said in a broken voice.
“What? I won’t hurt you,” Yosh said. Her big eyes stared at the gun. He put it away and showed her his hands. “It’s okay, see? We need to go. There will be more arkanians soon. You don’t want the arkanians to find us, do you?”
She shook her head vigorously.
“Neither do I. I’ll take you somewhere safe, okay?”
She nodded again, and they both ran back to the transport ship. Night had come. There was no moon out, only heavy dark clouds clinging to the sky. They were two silent shadows moving from shack to shack. The landing pad and the ships were still unguarded. Arkanians never learned. Yosh smiled and rushed for the ramp, dragging the girl behind him. He entered the ship, pulse gun in hand, ready to fire, but besides the two bodies, it was empty. The girl shivered and shied away from him again. She pulled away, tugging his hand, her eyes fixed on the pulse gun.
He put the gun away. “It’s okay,” he said, as he retracted the ramp and sealed the ship. “What’s your name?”
The girl hesitated. “Ara,” she whispered.
Yosh smiled his kindest smile. “Ara. Good. Okay. Ara, come with me and sit. There we go, good. I’ll protect you, I promise.” He strapped her in the copilot’s seat, which seemed to confuse her. She struggled against the seat belt.
“Ara, look at me,” he said, pressing a hand against her cold, sweaty shoulder. “It’s okay, it’s for your protection.”
He could tell Ara was close to crying, but she settled down regardless. Yosh exhaled and strapped himself in the pilot’s seat. He powered the ship’s systems and took off with no interruptions this time. The controls were strange, but he could handle them. He forgot his plan to retrieve the Protector suit. No time for that anymore. This Lord Munov, whoever he was, said he was coming down, so Yosh had to get to the smugglers, fast. They’d be safe there, Captain Dupont always knew what to do.
The ship was awkward to fly and heavy to steer. The controls felt heavy and seemed to work against Yosh, making every maneuver difficult. Even turning was time consuming. But they were in the air now, safe from the arkanian soldiers and their pulse rifles.
Though there was no storm outside, thunder came from behind them, and the entire ship shook.
◆◆◆
The controls and lights on the panel in front of Yosh flashed red and an annoying electronic shrill blared in their ears. Ara struggled against her seat belt, grasping Yosh’s arm with her tiny, three-fingered hand.
“It’s okay,” Yosh said, yelling above the clamor, as he screened the panel trying to understand what happened. Something flashed in the sky. Yosh glimpsed it in the upper left corner of the cockpit window. Thunder struck the ship again. Metal snapped and shuddered. The hull groaned. Ara’s eyes widened, and she blinked wildly.
The other ship, Yosh thought. They caught up faster than I expected. He cursed himself for not activating the shields after takeoff. It was too late now: half the ship’s systems, including the shields, were offline. Yosh had to steer the ship manually, with only one engine out of three. The ship’s communicator buzzed. Someone spoke in gruff, heavy words—Arkanian, but the comm system was messed up and everything came through jumbled. “Surrender or be destroyed” is probably what they’re saying, Yosh thought.
“Hang on tight,” he said to Ara. He was losing control of the small transport ship. They still flew high above Shacktown, but it was more of an out-of-control descent than a real flight. As they spun, they passed through dark plumes of smoke, coming from the rear of the ship. Had the arkanians decided they didn’t care to capture him alive anymore? The entire cockpit shuddered, and the ship turned like a big metal can rolling across the pavement. One moment they were in the air, the next the ground reached up toward them. Metal groaned against earth. Yosh’s head slammed against the panel and all its red flashing lights, and there he stood for a long time—until small hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back against the seat. His head pounded and there was a sharp sting in his right cheek.
Ara’s skin seemed black in the darkness. A trickle of dark blood flowed from a gash in her temple. “Yosh human stand still… please…”
Yosh frowned but obeyed. Her deft little hands reached for his face. One removed the wreck of his glasses—the frame had twisted and the lenses had turned to shards, and her other hand plucked at his cheek. He grunted, grabbing her small wrist. She turned her palm upward and showed him a triangular shard of glass, slick with his blood. My glasses, he thought. What will I do without them? He had worn them every day for most his life and now they were gone. All that remained was the sharp pain in his cheek. He shook his head. This wasn’t the time to feel sorry for himself.
“We need to leave,” he told Ara. “They’ll come for us soon.”
Ara nodded and untied his seat belt. She learned fast. Yosh’s head still spun, and he had to put an arm around Ara to keep from falling on his face. He thanked her, and they both staggered toward the exit ramp. Smoke had almost filled the small space inside the ship, and a small fire crackled away somewhere in the back. The ramp slid open and fresh air hit them in the face. Familiar trees and hills surrounded them. They had to be very near Shacktown. Yosh checked the sky. He didn’t spot their assailants, but he heard the distant roar of a ship’s engine. The arkanian ship had been close behind them. The smoke would lead them to the crash site in minutes.
“Wait here,” he told Ara. “Look to the sky. If you see another ship, tell me immediately.”
“Where are you going?”
“Inside. I saw something in there. Trust me, I’ll be right back.” He limped inside. The smoke choked him and stung his eyes, but he found his way back to the cockpit. Where was it? He was sure he saw it before his face smacked into the controls. The control panel was smoking and half the lights had stopped flashing. It took a few eye-squinting moments, but Yosh found the controls he was looking for and
smiled. He activated the countdown and fled the ship.
“It’s getting louder,” Ara told him.
Yosh raised the ramp with his hands and pushed it closed. He pulled out Kagos’s pulse gun and blasted the ramp controls to keep anyone from opening it. Now to get to safety. They had traveled about three miles before crashing. He had hoped they to be closer to his home or Captain Dupont’s ship, but after losing control they seemed to have spun around in the opposite direction. In the distance, over the tree tops, the fires of Shacktown lit up the sky. That was bad. It meant Shacktown sat between them and Captain Dupont’s ship. Which meant a lot of walking. Their chances weren’t good.
Ara tugged on Yosh’s sleeve. “What did you do?”
Yosh smiled. “I activated the self-destruct sequence. We should leave.”
Ara said nothing. Yosh saw on her face she didn’t understand what a “self-destruct sequence” was, but she tried to seem like she did. “The ship will explode,” he said, gesturing with his hands. “If we’re lucky, the arkanians will think we were inside and they won’t look for us anymore.” He grabbed her hand and pointed to a small hill behind her. “Let’s go. I recognize that building. That’s where I tend the dog herd.”
Ara seemed more startled by Yosh taking her hand than anything else. She was quiet the entire time they trudged uphill toward the gray depot. The roar of the arkanian ship got louder. It came into sight as they reached the depot. They dashed inside as the transport ship landed close to where theirs had crashed. The dogs barked and whined and clawed at their pens when they saw Yosh. He hushed at them, but they were too happy to see him or too hungry, or both, to heed his commands. They hadn’t eaten in days. Yosh hushed them again and jarred the front door open to spy on the arkanians.
The other transport, he thought. They shot at us though. If only I’d known how to access the weapons on that pile of scrap! Five arkanians emerged from the transport ship. Two fanned out, securing the perimeter, while the others prowled around the smoking ship. They all carried large Arkanian pulse rifles. Fearsome things, each half as long as Yosh was tall.