by Jay Cannon
Aundria threw her head back on a pillow and stared up at the ceiling. Taking deep breaths, she tried to calm down. Her captivity hadn’t been that bad. Except for the attack by Mason, she mostly had been left alone. The bedroom where they held her was quite comfortable. It had its own bathroom, a large screen TV with cable access, and a microwave oven. Though it had no windows, it had plenty of light.
Being handcuffed to the bed most of the time was annoying, but other than a sore wrist, she wasn’t harmed.
Aundria’s thoughts veered toward the practical, before again turning gloomy. I can’t imagine what state my bills are in now. My rent, my cable, my utilities, my credit cards, and car note are all past due. And as long as I’m in here, I don’t get paid. I guess my dream of starting my own athletic training business to help people keep in shape is out the window now. Here I am, screwed again! As always, no good deed goes unpunished.
***
Aboard the bridge of the Andrea, a conversation between Captain Shisal and an agent of Central Control wasn’t going well for Shisal.
“Captain Shisal, I got word from the Bertrilli group that the two Cheoili you sold them did not perform as advertised,” said Burrtha, angrily. “They can’t morph, their fingers do not contain any intoxicating enzymes, and they aren’t the sexual vixens the customer expected. They just stand in a corner, holding each other and crying. Do you know how sexy crying is, Shisal?”
“Probably not very. But I had been assured that—” Shisal said, before Burrtha interrupted him.
“Before you start giving me your excuses, I need to add that they don’t even speak Euclidian, or any other intelligible language. Their DNA is clearly not Cheoili. Are you inept, or are you just trying to pull a fast one? I have them right here, if you want to challenge me on any of my statements.” Burrtha belched, a mean scowl distorting her face.
“I’m sure you are right on all accounts. However, Adar confirmed to me that the women are not only Cheoili, but are the ones that killed the people on Alpha,” the captain said confidently, looking to reassure Burrtha.
“If you saw them, you would agree that they have trouble killing time, and couldn’t possibly have killed a group of trained officers,” Burrtha scoffed.
“I apologize for the inconvenience—”
“I don’t want an apology!” Burrtha yelled, slapping a hand on her desk. “I want you to fix this. This is not about some horny alien who wants a refund. Those Cheoili have left a string of dead bodies across several planets. Your crack team of professionals has gotten nowhere in bringing them to justice.” Burrtha shook her fist at the screen as spittle formed around her lips.
“We have killed one of them,” Shisal offered.
“That’s not good enough! First, you are going to send someone to come pick up these pathetic aliens. Second, you are going to refund the Bertrilli all of their money plus 10 percent. I’m canceling your current mission and transferring it to another ship. With your newfound free time, you are going to bring me those damn Cheoili. And I want real evidence this time!” Burrtha shouted, leaning into the screen.
“Burrtha, you’re going too far. That is going to cost me tens of millions of credits,” the captain complained.
“I don’t think I’m going far enough. I think you should be jailed for fraud and aiding a fugitive. Until you hand over the real Cheoili, your ship is on lockdown.”
She pointed at the screen as she continued. “If anyone steps a foot off your vessel without my permission, they’ll be stepping into a jail cell right along with you.”
Burrtha was feeling pressure from the governor and didn’t mind passing that along to Shisal, with emphasis.
“I need to be able to send someone to Earth to find the Cheoili,” Shisal reasoned.
“Fine, but keep it to a minimum. Burrtha out.” The transmission ended abruptly with the screen in front of the captain going dark. Shisal looked around the bridge, but everyone trained their eyes on their workstations, afraid of drawing attention to themselves and incurring the captain’s wrath.
“Krystyy! No one leaves the ship until further notice,” Shisal snapped over the ship’s intercom. “Cancel all leave and have the entire crew report to the ship, immediately. Then coordinate with Central Control to retrieve our two returned aliens.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Krystyy replied tersely.
Captain Shisal paced back and forth across the bridge, wondering if he should send a contingent of troops to Earth to track down the Cheoili, or replace Adar with a real tracker.
“Security Officer Adar!” Captain Shisal yelled into the ship’s communicator.
“Yes, captain,” said Adar. “How can I help you?” The Ossie had a feeling this call wouldn’t bring good news.
“The two aliens you captured are not Cheoili!” shouted the captain.
“How is that possible?” Adar replied in disbelief.
“I don’t know and I don’t care. Krystyy will have them in a holding cell soon. Return to the ship and find out what you can from them, then get back to Earth and get me those Cheoili! Dead or alive, I need them returned whole!” Shisal ended the conversation and headed to the arena with Pheebee to watch a fight.
“Aye, aye Captain,” Adar replied, shaking his head in disbelief. Beside himself with anger, Adar pounded his fists against a wall in a Syrian alley where he had just chopped up two fighters and let out a scream. First the Cheoili get the jump on me on the prison planet. Now after several attempts on my life while on Earth, they escape yet again and fool me with a couple of mere Earthlings.
My reputation is at stake here. I’m known as a ruthless assassin. It’s rare that an opponent can outwit me, but these Cheoili have slipped my grasp repeatedly.
***
Adar stepped into the holding area where he saw Sharon and Sheila, the two women he mistook for the Cheoili. They cowered on a bench, hugging each other tightly. They looked unsightly with their hair in disarray, their clothes tattered, and they smelled horrible. They also looked emaciated, as if they hadn’t eaten well in weeks.
After spending some time on Earth, Adar felt empathy for them. “Hello, ladies.”
“Adar, what are you doing here?” asked Sharon, clearly startled, sitting up on the edge of the bench.
“This is the alien ship I’m assigned to. The captain of this ship sent me to Earth to retrieve Daloi and Dholi, who are escaped alien fugitives.”
“I knew there was something odd about them. So you’re responsible for us being here. I guess you’re an alien, too. Are you going kill us now?” asked Sharon, hoping for an end to the nightmare.
“No, I’m not here to kill you, and I didn’t mean to kidnap you. I mistook you for Daloi and Dholi who previously pretended to be you two. Someone told me that you had been killed. How is it you’re still alive?” Adar asked, attempting to sound sympathetic.
“It was our twin sisters that they killed,” said Sharon. “The two of us concocted a scam where we would feed kill orders to our sisters from Charlie and then dine in a restaurant while they perpetrated the crime. That way we always had an alibi. The police could not make use of the DNA they found on the scene because identical twins have the same DNA and the police couldn’t explain how it got there when we could be seen somewhere else. They had no way to know that we had twins because we left no paper trail,” Sharon explained, wiping tears from her eyes.
“Tell me about Daloi and Dholi,” Adar asked, continuing his calm tone.
“Those two are some crazy bitches. They have a way of hypnotizing you and you lose all self-control. I believe they killed our sisters,” stated Sharon, in an accusatory tone.
“Do you know where they might be?” asked Adar.
“No. They said they came from Chicago. But they didn’t really interact with us much.” Sharon looked at Sheila for verification, who silently nodded to her sister.
“So what happens to us now?” asked Sheila.
“You join the crew of this ship. I’ll ha
ve someone get you fixed up and help you with indoctrination. You won’t have to worry about being abused anymore,” Adar reassured them.
“Why can’t we go home?” pleaded Sheila.
“You’re safer here on the ship. Your planet is likely to be harvested soon and you would probably be sold again to another collector or sent to a work camp. That is, if you survived the harvesting process. If you prefer to be sold to another collector, I can arrange that,” Adar offered, giving them a chance to choose their destiny.
“No, we will accept your offer to be crewmembers. What about fresh clothes and a place to stay?” Sheila asked, pulling on her worn clothing.
“I need to leave now. I will have Dr. Valera come down and take care of you. Don’t be afraid of her. She speaks some English and won’t hurt you. A month from now, you will be excited about this adventure. Embrace this moment and relish the idea that you have the ability to create new lives for yourselves among the many planets across the galaxy in the Euclidian Alliance. I will come back and check on you later. For now, I need to go capture those escaped aliens.”
Adar got up and left the room, leaving Sharon and Sheila alone in the holding area to reflect on all that he said.
Before they had an opportunity to discuss their future, Valera entered the room. Here stood another alien, larger and more menacing-looking than Adar. They had seen a Euclidian before, but seeing one when they were sober was not the same as seeing one when they were drugged and in shock. They remembered Adar’s words and worked to be open to this new alien as a fellow crewmember.
“Hello, ladies. I’m Valera. I’m going to take good care of you,” she said smiling. “I know you’re afraid, but I want you to know that you are not the only Earthlings that have joined our crew. When we decided to investigate your planet, we looked for some humans to abduct who wouldn’t be missed, so we could learn more about your species. We got lucky and discovered an aircraft that had crashed into the ocean on its way from D.C. to the Bahamas during a storm. The craft held affiliated humans on their way to a junket. We saved them from certain death, and they joined our crew. I’m going to introduce you to some of them, so that you can see that being a crewmember here isn’t as bad as you might think.”
“Here they are,” Valera said, gesturing toward the doorway. “Aruna, Janice, Ji, Jen and Karen,” Valera said, pointing to each of the humans in turn.
“Hello.” “Hi.” And “whassup?” they said, in scattered greetings.
“I know this all seems scary,” said a dark-haired woman whom Valera had identified as Karen. “But if you can get over being away from Earth, you are going to have an awesome time here. The things you can do on this ship are literally otherworldly,” she confided in a friendly, gossipy manner.
Hearing these encouraging sentiments from a fellow human helped to assuage many of Sharon’s and Sheila’s fears.
“If you two ladies come with me, I will start your indoctrination. You will be happy to know that my assistant, Tanya, is from Seattle,” the doctor said, smiling.
***
“Ahmed, what’s new?” said Adar, walking into Toni’s club in Greenwich Village. Ahmed sat at the bar, enjoying a Hendricks and tonic, while he kept one eye on Toni, who sang on stage, and the other on the crowd to ensure that no one posed a threat to the club’s lively atmosphere.
“Adar, I thought I’d never see you again,” exclaimed Ahmed, giving the alien a big hug.
“Enough with the hugs. You know I’m not a touchy-feely kind of guy unless I’m beating someone up,” Adar protested, backing out of the embrace.
“I heard that. So what brings you back to New York? I thought you finished your business here,” Ahmed inquired.
“So did I. Those Cheoili escapees pulled a fast one on me. They set up Sharon and Sheila so I would think it was them, and now they have disappeared. They’re still somewhere on this planet. Have you heard anything about Daloi or Dholi since I left?”
“No, nothing. At this point, I’d say they are probably either dead or have left town. If they had stayed around here, I would know about it,” Ahmed said, throwing his hands up.
“Where would they go? They came here from Chicago. What would be the next best choice for them?”
“I don’t know. I would guess Philly, Boston, D.C., or maybe Baltimore.”
“Put the word out. I want to know where they are. I’ll give $10,000 for any information on their whereabouts. This needs to be discreet, and I don’t want them touched,” Adar said, pointing his finger at Ahmed.
“I’ll put some feelers out and let you know what I find,” Ahmed replied, eyebrows raised.
“I’m going to check every major train and bus station from Boston to D.C. for their DNA,” Adar said, with a sense of urgency.
“What about Aundria?” Ahmed asked, wondering why he hadn’t mentioned her.
“I don’t have time for her. Focus on finding the Cheoili. They may have taken any number of forms.”
Adar appeared callous, especially toward Aundria. He allowed his anger to surface partly because of his failure to capture the Cheoili and partly to mask his feelings for Aundria. She meant more to him than he let on. But he knew that being close to people meant risking their lives. Even his relationship with Ahmed worried him.
Adar forced a quick wave to Toni as she finished up her set, and headed outside into the cool Manhattan air. He first headed to Penn Station where he examined every inch of the space and found no traces of Cheoili DNA.
From New York, Adar traveled to Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and D.C. At each location, he found a trace of their DNA, but nothing conclusive. He checked Boston and found nothing. After returning to New York, he checked in with Ahmed.
***
“Hello, Adar,” said Ahmed, answering the door to the alien at his apartment. “You don’t look too happy. I hope you don’t mind that we took over your bedroom.”
“No, I expected you to do so. Any word from your sources?” asked Adar, taking a seat on the couch next to Ahmed.
“No, nothing. It’s still early, though. It hasn’t been 24 hours yet,” Ahmed replied, hoping for more time to get an answer.
“Mr. Adar,” said Ahmed’s wife, breaking into their conversation, “I never got a chance to thank you for saving me and my children from certain death. I don’t know how you did it, but I am so thankful.” Adar only grunted and looked away.
“Honey, you’re wasting your time,” Ahmed told his wife in Arabic. “He does what he does and doesn’t like being thanked.” She nodded and went back to the bedroom and closed the door.
“Adar, it wouldn’t hurt you to be pleasant on occasion,” Ahmed said, stretching the corners of his mouth tight in irritation.
“I’ll tell you what,” said Adar. “You find Daloi and Dholi for me, and I’ll give your wife a hug and a big ‘you’re welcome’. How about that?”
“I get the hint. I’ll make some more calls.” Ahmed sighed, reaching for his phone and pinging more people for clues.
“I’m going to eat a huge raw steak and then I’m going to take a nap in the coat closet. When I wake up I want to kill some people. Can you set that up for me?”
“Of course. I’ll take care of it.” Ahmed watched Adar walk into the kitchen and grab a steak from the refrigerator.
Ahmed studied his alien friend. How can he be so emotionless and at the same time be so protective? Time and time again he risks his life to save others. I need to make sure he has a good time tonight, and help him find those escapees.
Ahmed picked up his phone and dialed Toni. When she answered on the third ring, he spoke into the mouthpiece, “Ahmed here. Adar is back in town for a while and wants some action. Do you have anything for us?”
“About time. Let’s not do this on the phone. Bring him by the club around 9:30. I’ll have something for him,” Toni replied, ending the call.
Ahmed made a few more phone calls, then left the apartment to follow up on a tip.
***
At a hotel in Washington, D.C. a senator was looking to make a deal that would help with his re-election.
“Sen. Rivera, that is going to be nearly impossible to deliver on,” said Director Langston Lewis, attempting to steer the senator toward a more reasonable request. “They are very wealthy women and quite famous. They like their privacy. Getting them to be your private playthings is unlikely. You’d be better off trying to get the First Lady to do it.”
Lewis ran the JW Marriott Hotel across from the White House. He had experience dealing with powerful people and catering to their whims, and he surprised himself at times with the desires he had been able to fulfill. He’d also learned over the years when to say no.
Lewis had achieved too much to end up in jail or the morgue. In this particular case, he felt compelled to accept the challenge.
Rivera sat across the desk from Lewis, wearing his blue pinstripe suit with the congressional pin on his lapel. The hotel director wore an even nicer blue suit. His office was appointed with fine art and gifts from foreign dignitaries who were happy to show their appreciation for Langston’s assistance and discretion.
“Langston, my benefactor has promised to place his company’s new automotive plant in my state and support my re-election bid. I’ve got progressives crawling up my ass, and I need this favor to squash them, but good. The performers will get $5 million cash when they show up to spend two hours entertaining him in the nude. No singing, no bumping and grinding, just tasteful conversation. He promises that the idea of sex won’t even be brought up. It’s against his religion, you know.”
“Of course, but nudity is okay? And do I get my standard 10 percent finder’s fee?” Langston asked, raising his eyebrows at the senator.
“No, you’ll get 2 percent, and I’m sure you’ll be happy to get it,” the senator challenged, knowing it was still a good deal.
“I’ll see what I can do, but no promises,” Lewis replied, standing up and walking to the other side of his desk.