by Zara Zenia
“Cat, they are under no obligation to share. Our orders are clear. We are to apprehend Akrawn. Officially, we are not investigating whether he is or is not guilty.”
“Consider this, David.” I then went through in painstaking detail the information I’d collated. It all corroborated Akrawn’s statements in the coffee shop. As I did so, David ran his hands through his hair and his fingers across his upper lip, making his mustache twitch. I finished up by saying, “Don’t you agree that if Akrawn is innocent, then there is a prospect of irredeemable diplomatic disaster.”
“You have a point. But the ILE is handling this.”
I crossed my arms. “Let me put it this way. You agree that Prince Akrawn is a super genius, and we have a limited chance of apprehending him unless he wants to come to us. And he won’t come in unless we promise him that we will investigate who sabotaged the princes and who framed him.”
Hands in his trouser pockets, David turned from me and paced back and forth between the holos. He stared mostly at the floor, though occasionally up at my notes.
Eventually, David grabbed the other swivel chair and rolled it next to mine.
“We have to talk to Akrawn,” he said.
“You think?” I said sarcastically.
“Cat, can you set up a meet with Akrawn for tonight to negotiate a deal with him? There are a few things I must do. Text me the details.”
And then like that, without another word, he rose from his chair and left the room. The door closed after him with a click and once more, I was alone with my Akrawn holo.
“Cat, I think I should dissolve that alien’s holo image,” said Peri. “You spend more time gazing at it than working.”
Crap! Alone with Akrawn and Peri!
“I’m contemplating the best way to ask the prince to meet with me.”
“Unnecessary, Cat. He’ll jump at your offer no matter how you put it.”
“I don’t want him to think I’m setting him up.”
“Irrelevant. He’ll assume it’s a set-up, come anyway, but have a way to escape. Besides, I’ve sent the message already. And he has replied, tonight is good for him, and he’ll send you a location and time at the last moment.”
Then the screen in front of me stuttered to the blue screen of death. What the hell just happened?
“Peri?”
Silence. My laptop shut down.
I activated Peri by my wrist band.
“Cat, sorry. I had to close the computer without warning. I believe I have avoided a problem, but someone attempted to hack my system.”
Chapter 9
Akrawn
I landed with a body crushing thud in a stinking puddle in a dark foggy place, and I couldn’t help but think this was a metaphor for my life. The bag on my shoulder should have softened my fall, but it didn’t. All it did was wrench my right shoulder while the rest of my body met hard concrete. Pain shot through my limbs in different forms of screeching pain. My shoulder felt like a ball tossed in athletic games, and my legs wondered what knife sliced into them.
“Fuck!” I said. The Earth swear seemed relevant as it looked like I was getting screwed from all fronts. I shook my head. My kind nature was rapidly wearing thin, especially as the noxious wet of my landing spot seeped into my expensive clothes. The brief lift in my spirits from seeing my Cat in the flesh dissipated. On top of it all, I was exhausted, and my stomach rumbled with hunger.
What was it about this accursed planet that had turned my life into running dreck?
I stood on legs made wobbly by the force of the crash and surveyed my murky surroundings. Walls rose on either side too closely to be anything but an alley.
“AI, find me some light.”
Above me, a bright beam flashed on robbing me of my sight for a second and I cursed. The AI had found and switched on a security light confirming the STS landed me in a space between buildings. I picked up my duffle and winced.
“Where am I, AI?”
“In the mission district of the city of San Francisco, otherwise called the Badlands.”
Fabulous.
I didn’t expect to end up where I started, though I didn’t know where the STS, untethered to the mechanisms that provided geolocation directions, would land me. But I was there again.
“How did I get here?” I muttered.
“This AI provided geolocation to the untethered STS based on your previous co-ordinates.”
This was interesting and disconcerting. I must research this later. This new development signaled unfolding abilities that I did not intend. I’d rushed too much lately on the design of my programs, and that was not how a responsible scientist should act.
It’s not like you have many choices.
I was talking to myself again, which my brothers said wasn’t a good sign, but they failed to elaborate on what that sign was. Thinking over my next moves, I decided that I must procure temporary housing. Having ravaged the STS station, I couldn’t go back there. The Lobos de Sangre probably viewed me as an enemy after I destroyed their transport to other locations in the city. And the ILE could have surveillance at the location too.
How difficult could it be to find shelter in an abandoned section of the city?
As I found out with a vicious street gang and not just one, but two law enforcement agencies searching for you, impossible.
On every road I traveled, I found at least one of the three with eyes on the street. The Badlands was a big area, with plenty of cover, but the net narrows and one of the three would get a fix on my position.
I was fast running out of options.
That the AI could input geolocation in the STS was an intriguing one, but the energy module needed a recharge. That would take time I didn’t have. At that moment I was sitting in an alley where I’d covered myself with cardboard boxes next to an energy port, or did the humans call them outlets? Yes, electrical outlets. I took a moment to rest and found the thing on the wall. A thought niggled at my brain until I remembered the Earth STS’s by their demand used an electrical energy outlet. Sure enough, a three-pronged plug at one end of the thing fit into the outlet. It would take hours to charge at the rate of transfer possible, and the draw might alert authorities. It would on Trilyn, but I had no idea how thoroughly these humans monitored these things, and I couldn’t take a chance. I’d move on soon in a direction my attackers wouldn’t expect. Right now, I was figuring the energy expenditure I’d need to make it to one of my brothers. The mothership was an impossible goal. I worked out the equation for each of my brother’s locations, and I couldn’t reach any of them either. Tri’s hells, this wasn’t what this thing should do.
“AI, bring up the schematics of an Earth STS station module.”
Under the cardboard in the dead of night, I stared at the hologram of the Earth STS station module. There were changes here that I didn’t authorize. To make the STS system compatible with Earth’s electrical grid, an engineer designed an energy cache used to power the STS on successive transports. But to make it compatible, we installed an energy limiter, or what Earth electrical technicians call a circuit breaker into the body of the module. Tri’s tits. It was ingenious and annoying as hell. Developing bridges between the incompatibilities between Trilyn and Earth technology was my area of authority, so decreed by my father. Who stepped on my royal toes? I scanned the document until I found the incriminating evidence. In the smallest corner was a Trilyn royal seal belonging to one of my brothers. Rawklix?
What the fuck? Who gave him that authority?
Now, not only was I sore, hungry, and tired, I was pissed beyond belief. Not an older brother, but the youngest one rode herd over me? That was unacceptable.
And it made for uncomfortable speculations. Damn it. There are too many conspiracies swirling around me. Our settlement difficulties on Earth, Bella and her sabotage of the genetic scanner, the framing of me with theft, all told me we were in the midst of a conspiracy. An unknown person corrupted my AI and overarching all of it, the poi
soning and murder of Trilyn women. A galaxy-wide intrigue? The breadth of it was overwhelming. Thus I must concentrate on one problem at a time.
I could not trust Rawklix now even with a phone call. Whoever was framing me involved him, or someone was using him to destroy my credibility with my father, brother, and Earth authorities.
I am a man without a country. Turning this over in my head gave me a headache, or that could be from a lack of food because I didn’t eat at that damned coffee shop. Did my father intend this? Did he mean to exile me? I couldn’t fathom this, and too many possibilities gambled in my mind. I needed answers and clarity.
I need Cat.
Which gave me an idea. I’d agreed earlier to meet with her. I had only to call and give her the location.
“AI, call Cat.”
“Prince Akrawn, this AI reminds you that ILE Worldwide Information net can trace this call.”
“Switch off your geolocation identifier and add a no-follow tag to the transmission.”
“This AI reminds you that both actions are illegal under the United Word Government’s Privacy laws, particularly section 502 subsection—”
Mouthy AI’s.
“Make the call as ordered.”
Soon Cat’s shining face burned before me in neon light. She was breathtaking, and I almost reached out to stroke the holographic face.
“Prince Akrawn!”
“Cat, my darling. I think all this hide and seek between us is doing us no good.”
Her lips pursed.
“What are you saying, Prince Akrawn?”
“Call me, Akrawn. No formalities between us, darling. I want to meet with you and discuss the terms of my surrender as we agreed earlier.”
Cat’s face drew up in tension.
“Akrawn, there are no terms. Either you come in or not. Either way, you’ll be in custody.”
“You have a charming, optimistic side,” I said with a smile. “I like that in you. It should balance out what my brothers call my grumpy side nicely.”
Her eyes grew wide with surprise, which puzzled me.
“Prince Rawklix said you were heartsick? Akrawn, are you sick? Is there a problem with your heart? If that’s true, we can arrange for medical transport that will be less stressful on you.”
The only problem with my heart is that I’m not with her right now. Do humans understand these things? I’d heard human women went to work for wages and then left the tending of children to others, either family or hired help. This was something we didn’t understand. Trilyn women happily tended their children. So maybe humans didn’t understand the calling of one heart to another. No matter. I would make my Cat see the calling of my heart to hers.
But perhaps my Cat endeavored to communicate something else. I would trust her and play along with her apparent assumptions.
“You are right, Cat. I cannot sustain this chase. Meet me at McArthur Park in an hour.”
“How will I know where you are? That’s a big park.”
“You will know, my Cat, by listening to the calling of your heart. AI, end transmission.”
Cat’s face collapsed suddenly, and I leaned my head against the brick wall behind me. In my mind’s eye, I could see her, and my heart called for her. “Wait for me, Cat. I’ll be there soon.”
But she’d wait for me. Her mission was my capture. She was an SFPD officer and like any good soldier she would fulfill her orders. Why couldn’t it be enough that she captured my heart, but she must capture my body as well, though there were intriguing possibilities in that.
I sheltered in place for an hour and let the energy module charge.
I must have drifted to sleep because my AI chimed and caused me to jump.
“Prince Akrawn, the hour you are to meet Cat O’Shea is ten minutes from now.”
“Aqui!” I heard.
“Silencio, pendajo.”
Tri’s hells, my time was up in more than one way. I grabbed my bag and took out the STS. “McArthur Park, in the center of the park,” I called out.
A hand ripped the cardboard concealing me, and I saw a darker-skinned man with a badly trimmed goatee standing over me. “Come here,” he growled as he reached for my jacket.
“Cover your eyes,” I warned and pressed the button.
I held my breath in the split second the STS flashed. My attacker must have made physical contact because he stood over me in the same position, only now we were in a thinly wooded area. Hopefully, this is McArthur Park.
“My eyes,” he complained, rubbing them. “Fucker, what did you do? I can’t see anything.”
“That’s what you get for not following instructions,” I said. I got to my feet and looked around. The park was dark, but the STS’s flash would alert the SFPD and ILE. My only hope lay in Cat coming in first.
“Bastard,” he growled and took a swing at me.
I sighed and pulled my arm back and connected with his jaw. Maybe my time on Earth had lessened my muscle mass because he didn’t drop like a brick. He stumbled back and howled.
“Quiet, you idiot,” I said. “We’re surrounded by police. Sit down and shut up.”
“What ‘da fuck did you get me into, man?” the gang member said.
Hopefully, a nice penitentiary, which was too good for him. On Trilyn, we executed men who attempted to harm a royal prince without the benefit of trial.
We might be a little harsh there.
Still, he attempted to lay hands on me.
“I repeat,” I said less cordially, “sit down and shut the fuck up.” For emphasis, I grabbed his shoulder and pushed him to the ground. He stumbled to his knees cursing in Spanish.
“Hands up!” said a sweet voice. Cat advanced with her gun drawn. She looked so graceful walking with that cautious pace, and her shoulder dropped forward toward her gun. She almost looked like a dancer.
“My darling,” I said. “Already, my evening is brighter for you coming to me.”
“Cut the crap, Akrawn,” she gritted out. “Face down, on the ground and hands where I can see them.”
“Cat, no. I will not do that.”
She looked with alarm to the gang member on the ground.
“Who’s that?”
“An unintended passenger. He’s with the Lobos de Sangre gang.”
“Obviously,” she huffed. She walked closer in the same stance, and I did not understand that until she was close enough to speak in a whisper.
“You shouldn’t have done this. They have this place covered better than the previous one.”
“I understand, my Cat. I want to ask your government for asylum.”
“Are you freaking nuts? No way would they grant you asylum after the wesekh incident. It would cause an international incident.”
How I wanted to touch that achingly beautiful face, kiss her lips, and drown in the essence of Cat. Is this love? I’ve felt nothing like this.
“Do you think me guilty of the theft, my Cat?”
Her face colored. “Stop calling me that. I am not your Cat.”
I smiled. “But you are, however, I can see where I need to prove the earnestness of my heart.”
“You can prove it by putting your hands behind your back and letting me cuff you.”
Oh, this was too delicious. I could see where Cat and I would have hours of fun. “You wish to play binding games? That’s an intriguing notion, but do you think it is appropriate now?”
“Akrawn! I’m serious.”
“And I as well. I will seek to give you pleasure in whatever form you desire. And if that is with binding games, then your wish is my command.”
“Great,” she growled. “Let’s start now. Hands—” Her face displayed surprise. “Oh, hell. David, stand down. Stand down now. I have the prince.”
I took in the situation immediately. She spoke into a concealed headset. The ILE officer endeavored to interfere with my capture. A pop, then another rang out which caused Cat to tackle me, and we tangled on the ground.
“Why,
Cat,” I said. “This is a surprise but entirely enjoyable.”
“Shut up,” she said. “David is advancing. Fucker. I can’t believe he shot at us.”
“I like the notion of ‘us’.”
“He’s trying to kill you.”
“We all have our bad days,” I said.
“Can’t you take anything seriously. Fuck. I don’t know what to do now. I can’t take you in if the ILE authorized a hit on you.”
“Do you think they did? Or is this David Davon jealous? He strikes me as the jealous type.”
“What is wrong with you?”
“Nothing, now that you are in my arms.”
“We have to get out of here.” She pushed away from me and got to her feet in a squat and held out her weapon.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I have toys.”
I pulled open my duffle and pulled out one surprise packed in the go bag.
“What are you doing?”
The gang member. He looked at me and blinked. His eyesight was returning, lucky for him.
“Wait here until the nice policemen capture you.”
I turned and scooped up Cat by the waist. My strength must have surprised her because she dropped her gun. I slapped a no-follow tag on me, and then her. For a short time, electronics could not detect us and human eyes could not see us. But that last part, eyes not seeing us required a large amount of energy so the tag would not last long.
“We have twenty minutes tops to get to a safe place. Do you know of one?”
She huffed and swiped lovely tendrils of her brown hair for her eyes. “Yeah, I know of one.”
“Stop, hands in the air.”
Cat glance behind her with panic in her eyes.
“Don’t worry, darling. They see the gang member, not us. My AI tells them it is me. Please lead the way.”
She closed her eyes a second and swallowed hard.
“This is the end of my career,” she said.