by Dave Lemel
“Oh, my lord.” Todd yanked a large container of water out, ripped the cap off, and took a huge swig. He gulped two more down then took a small pull and swished it around his mouth.
Simon roared with laughter. “Is it just atrocious?” He pulled his sausage closer to his face and looked it over, wondering whether he should throw it in the lake or give it a try just to experience how awful it could be for himself.
Todd spat the remaining water out of his mouth. “No. Well, maybe. I couldn’t tell you what it tastes like really because I’m pretty sure it melted my tongue. That is the spiciest thing I’ve ever tasted.”
Now Simon’s eyebrows raised upward. “Really?” He smelled it again. There definitely was an unmistakable hot, peppery scent. He took a rather large bite and began chewing. “Mmmmmm.” The pace of his chewing increased. “Oh, man, that is good.” He pointed at Todd’s stick sitting on the rock. “Do not throw that away. I want it.”
Todd shook his head. “All yours, man. Just get some water in the little pot and get it boiling so I can eat those cup things. Oh, and remind me next time we see Benjo I owe him a punch in the stomach.”
A short time later, Todd lugged the biggest log he had found over to the circle. He took a stick and positioned two smaller logs on either side of the bright orange center. He picked the big log up and carefully placed it across the two smaller ones. “That should get us through the night.”
“Good,” Simon replied through a yawn, “because I am ready to turn in.”
The voice came from behind Todd’s tent. It was deep and forceful and so unexpected that Todd stumbled as he stepped back out of the rock circle, nearly falling onto Simon, who caught and steadied him.
“I’ve got a weapon on you, and there’s another trained on you from an elevated position on the hillside. We will not hesitate to shoot. Now both of you sit down nice and slow, lock your hands behind your heads, and tell me exactly what the hell two humans are doing up here and what you were looking for in those caves all afternoon.”
Todd remained standing as his blood began to boil and his throat clenched. With great effort, he swallowed what little saliva was left and opened his mouth, more exhaling than speaking. “A ghost.”
The deep voice, even more robust now, sounded like the source was creeping in closer. “A what? Speak up and enunciate. And I thought I told you to sit!”
Todd stepped slowly toward the tent. “A ghost.” This time it exited his mouth strong and clear. The sound of the approaching source froze.
The power behind the voice dialed down significantly. “I know that voice. Why do I know that voice?”
“Because you’re my fugitive, coward of a father, and I’m here to see you pay for your treason.” Todd’s wand released from its chamber and into his hand.
Chapter 22
Todd stepped around the tent as Simon ejected his wand and started his way around the opposite side. They both strained to spot anything in the field by firelight on an overcast night on a planet with a black moon.
“We know you’re alone, so you can drop the sniper-in-the-high-ground nonsense.” Todd was now standing tall at the back of the tent, Simon by his side. The initial shock had worn off, his adrenaline was coursing, his voice booming. “Stand up and face me, you traitor!”
Simon put his left hand on Todd’s outstretched right arm. He gently pushed it down and lowered his own wand in tandem. “Can you see us? We’re putting our wands down. Wherever you’re hiding, I’m guessing you do not want to spend the night there, and quite frankly, I’m terrified of the wildlife here, so I’d rather not spend all night searching a dark field. Come out now, and I promise we won’t shoot. Let’s just have a little chat.”
A patch of tall grass behind a boulder, twenty yards ahead, rustled. “I’m standing up now. My weapon is in my belt.” A shadowy silhouette rose from behind the jagged hump in the grass. Nobody moved, and it felt as if the mountain itself held its breath in anxious anticipation of the coming seconds.
Todd slowly began to raise his wand again, and Simon reached over to halt the rising arm. Todd angrily jerked away and walked forward in a steadily increasing pace that matched the steadily increasing volume of his voice. “What…the hell…IS WRONG WITH YOU?”
Doug stood his ground, and his baritone voice remained calm. “Put the wand down, son. Let me explain.”
“Explain? What could you possibly say to excuse your…” As Todd finished ‘your,’ he had gotten within two steps of Doug. Quick as a spooked rabbit, the shadowy silhouette had closed the gap, side stepped the wand, and in one smooth motion used his left hand to firmly grasp Todd’s elbow and the right to deliver a blow to Todd’s wrist. The wand dropped, and Doug slid to Todd’s back, tightly wrapping his left arm over his neck while pulling his own weapon back out and pressing it stiffly into Todd’s head just behind his ear.
“Now you calm down.” The truth was Todd was so shocked and embarrassed by the maneuver that he was essentially paralyzed from the neck up anyway. “And you,” Doug nodded at Simon over Todd’s shoulder, “put that wand away. The three of us need to sit down by that fire and have that chat you mentioned.”
Simon slid his wand back into its chamber. All the tension in Todd’s muscles began to melt away as he mumbled, “You would shoot your own son in the back of the head.”
Doug released Todd and gave him a shove toward the fire. “Get over there and sit down, ya baby.” He bent down to pick up Todd’s wand. “Sound just like your mother with that marble mouthed mumbling.”
The tension returned to Todd’s muscles in a flash, and all at once exploded out of him. He spun, crashed a shoulder into Doug’s solar plexus, wrapped his hands around Doug’s hamstrings, pulled up, and drove him into the ground. Todd bounced back up and snatched his wand out of his father’s hand as Doug flopped to his side, desperately trying to suck air back into his vacant lungs.
“You wanna chat?” Todd pointed his wand at his bug-eyed dad. “You don’t get to make the rules. You don’t get to push anyone around. And you certainly do not get to insult my mother, who has spent the last seven years thinking she’s a widow only to learn her husband ditched her and her son to turn his back on his planet for a quick buck.”
Todd turned and walked to the edge of the rock circle. He stared into the fire, and Simon worked his way to the back side of the circle where he could easily keep Todd and Doug in his field of vision. Doug groaned and pushed himself off the ground.
Todd looked over his shoulder while Doug approached. As the light of the fire revealed more detail, he realized the face that had frozen in his memory had aged horribly. The hair had thinned and greyed dramatically, and what was left was badly in need of a wash and trim. The face itself had also thinned, and the skin had taken on the appearance of a worn-down elbow of a leather bomber jacket, the bottom half covered by patchy salt and pepper stubble. “You look like hell,” Todd said as he turned back to the fire. “How long have you been stuck here anyway?”
Doug pressed a fist into the side of his chin and pushed until he felt and heard a small pop in his neck. “Crashed about a week before I sent the distress call to Lombargnor. Did not expect you to be the one to answer it.” Doug sat on the ground midway around the circle between Todd and Simon. He looked back up at Todd. “You do not look like hell. You’ve grown into a strapping young man. So, you’re a marshal now?” Doug smiled. “Followed in the old man’s footsteps.”
“I’m a marshal, all right, but in no way do I follow in your footsteps.”
“Boy, I am sensing a lot of animosity here. I mean, that tackle was impressive, but I wouldn’t exactly classify it as a hug.”
Todd stepped toward Doug aggressively and pointed as he shouted, “A hug! You think you’re due for a—”
“WHOA!” Simon shouted over Todd to get his attention. “Enough for a second, man. Let me ask a few questions while you coo
l down a minute. Okay?”
Todd’s glare shifted from Simon to Doug to the fire before he reversed back through all three and sat down. Nothing but dead air with the occasional crackle from the fire filled the next few seconds until Todd rolled his hand aggressively toward Simon. “Proceed.”
“You said crashed. Crashed what?” Simon asked as he joined the other two in a seated position around the fire.
“An old Vikard scout ship. I’m not exactly sure where in the galaxy we even were. I knew I had to get off the vessel I was on, though, and that recovering the key was no longer an option. I discovered that the course we were on took us relatively close to a Bopecan port. I snuck away, manually ejected in one of the scout ships, and made it to the port station. Once there, I bribed a shipping captain with a few souvenirs I had procured over my years with the Vikards. He let me piggyback through, and once we got to this solar system, I headed for Gleeb. That’s where things got hairy. Or hairier.” Doug’s stomach growled so loud Simon swore he heard it echo. Doug leaned back and rubbed his midsection through his tattered jacket.
Todd’s shoulders slumped and his expression softened. He reached back to the mouth of his tent and grabbed his pack. He pulled out a bag of the jellybean things and threw them at Doug without making eye contact, his gaze remaining locked on the fire.
Doug snatched up the bag, opened it, and poured half the contents into his mouth. “Thank you,” he said between chews. “Boy, are those weird. Look and feel like jellybeans but taste like corn chips.” He poured the rest in his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed. “Where was I?”
“Things getting hairy as you approached Gleeb,” replied Simon.
“Right. So, I headed for the big, beautiful planet with the bright green oceans. On entry through the atmosphere, I must not have had the shields up correctly, and then I’m pretty sure I ran out of fuel.”
Simon’s face scrunched. “Pretty sure?”
“Look, I was never the go-to pilot. Jay was top notch, so he always took captain’s chair, and over my years with the Vikards… Well, I guess I didn’t exactly improve with lack of practice. So I crashed up over that way. Found a nice cave up there, and after following the trail into Prisco, came up with hiding the map in Jandor and called Jay. When he abruptly stopped pinging me, I realized I didn’t want to run the rest of my days, and I sent the distress call to Lombargnor. What happened to Jay, by the way? You guys have any idea?”
Todd pointed at Simon. “He pulsed and podded your old turncoat pal on Callisto. He’s rotting away under Lake Michigan now where he belongs.”
“Figures.” Doug shook his head and looked up as the clouds began to break and a few stars shown through. “Lombargnor acting as judge, jury, and executioner, no doubt.”
Todd turned his focus from the fire to his father. “You’re not actually saying you think he deserved leniency, are you? Even he admitted you guys regretted your betrayal almost immediately. You two almost wiped out the human race!”
“I never said I regretted the act of betrayal, if you’re referring to stealing the key from the Bopecans. Trying to sell it to the Vikards, yes. That was an egregious error. The Bopecans, though, they deserved the theft and then some.”
Todd spun his body to face Doug, and he nearly choked on his tongue racing to pass the rage from his brain to his lips, spit flying from his mouth. “You have got to be kidding me! You still are able to sit here and somehow rationalize your despicable behavior in your own mind. Even after everything that followed. You just called Lombargnor for help! Oh, and in case it slipped your mind, you left a wife and son thinking you were dead.”
“Look, I truly and deeply regret many things that occurred after we decided to steal the key. Right at the top of that list will always be losing you and knowing that I had left you thinking I was murdered. I will forever be in Jay’s debt for taking the villainous side of the deal in our ruse. At the very least, it allowed me to leave my family thinking I was dead instead of a wanted fugitive.”
“Oh, yeah, this has been a real pleasure cruise for our psyches, Dad. Thanks so much for thinking of us at least a teeny bit as you committed treason to satisfy your greed. Oh, and by the way, Mister Cares So Much About His Family, Gramps and Grans died while you were off thinkin’ so much about our well-being.”
“What?” Doug turned a shade paler in the firelight. “How?”
“Traffic accident. Long story, and I really do not feel like drudging up that particular gut-wrenching memory at the moment.”
Doug shook his head as his eyes fell toward his lap. “I said I regret many things that occurred in the fallout. Not the original Bopecan betrayal though. I never intended to sell it. I had always wanted to commit the act solely as a political statement. That’s how I brought it up every time Jay and I discussed it. Once we had gone through with the initial act, we realized pretty quickly we should have had a more detailed follow-up plan, and well, one thing led to another, and…” He looked back up at the sky. “Like I said, I regret many things.”
Todd inhaled deeply and threw his open hands out to his sides. Simon cut him off before he could speak. “Hang on.” He stood and walked around the rock ring to his tent. “With the hike, setting up camp, the climbing around searching and on top of that the longer days here, I’ve just got nothing left. As enthralling as this is, and it really is, I am falling-on-my-face tired. If you’re good,” he pointed at Todd, “I am turning in.”
Todd nodded firmly. “I am. Totally fine and want, need, to keep discussing this.”
“No problem. Completely understand. Go till the sun comes up for all I care. Just do not lose him.” Simon nodded over his shoulder in Doug’s direction.
Doug snorted. “I ain’t goin’ anywhere. You kiddin’ me? Dreamt about a moment like this for seven years.”
Todd smiled as Simon ducked into his tent and crawled inside.
Chapter 23
Sasha chased a sprint-crawling Penny to the corner of the briefing room. She bent down to pick her up and caught a glimpse of Buddy zipping around the corner of the table, blatantly hiding something in his mouth. “Mom!”
Sasha’s mother Melissa turned from her conversation with Marie. “Yes, dear?”
“Could you corral Buddy and determine what he’s smuggling in his jowls?”
“Certainly, dear.” Melissa slid her chair out and worked her way towards the extremely conspicuous pooch attempting to blend into the far wall.
Sasha scooped up Penny and took in the bizarre scene. Her father Tommy and Simon’s parents, Derek and Regina, were inspecting the augmented reality device that occupied the interior of the U-shaped table. Truthfully, it appeared more like they were children playing with a new toy. Buddy had bolted the instant he determined Melissa was interested in the contents of his mouth. Marie had leapt up to join in the pursuit and giggled as Buddy whipped under the table. This was definitely not the briefing room she was used to.
Hunger gripped her suddenly and sharply, snapping her from her trance. She walked over to the inside of the U and handed Penny to her dad. “Take this for a minute. I’ll be right back.” Just as she got to the door, it opened, and Lombargnor rushed inside. His normally large, soft eyes were hardened in concentration and, possibly, thought Sasha, even anger. It was difficult to be sure since anger was not a common outwardly observed emotion from Lombargnor. Whatever it had been it faded from his face as he familiarized himself with what had become of his briefing room. “Why are they playing with the aug-real? What is on that end of the table? Is that a soccer game on one of the display monitors? And, most pressingly, why is a canine running wild in here?”
“I had to give them one of the screens for entertainment purposes. They’re just looking at the aug-real, they won’t break it. That’s Buddy, our golden retriever, playing keep away from my mom and Todd’s mom. I mean, what did you expect when you told me to bring them here? The
y’d all just sit in a corner quietly?”
“You’ll never walk alone!” erupted Sasha’s father, Tommy.
“What does that mean?” asked Lombargnor.
“His team scored.”
Lombargnor’s small mouth curled into a slight smile. “No, I suppose they should not be expected to sit quietly in a corner. What is that smell, though, and can we get rid of it?”
“Penny had a blowout. That’s what is at the end of the table over there. We set up a makeshift changing area. I can bring the garbage with me. I was just headed out to grab something to eat. I’m eating for two these days, remember? And we’re both starving.”
“There is no time.” Lombargnor placed a spidery purple hand on Sasha’s shoulder. “We must leave immediately.”
“Leave where?”
“This planet. I will explain after we depart. There is not enough time now, but first, the dog must go.”
Sasha shook Lombargnor’s hand off. “Absolutely not. I don’t know what’s going on or what you are talking about, but Buddy stays with us.”
“Mission Commander Cain, please, we do not have time for—”
Sasha aggressively cut him off. “Fine! Then don’t waste your breath. If he stays behind, I stay behind. Period. Non-negotiable.”
Lombargnor took a deep breath as Melissa and Marie finally cornered Buddy at the far end of the room. Melissa firmly but gently pried his jaws open and retracted a pair of Penny’s socks. Derek Cain approached from Lombargnor’s side and extended his right hand out to introduce himself. “Name’s Derek Cain.” Lombargnor took his hand and shook it as Derek, not a short man by any means, looked up at Lombargnor. “Good lord, you are a big one. You certainly are the tallest Bopecan I’ve ever met.”
“You must be Simon’s father. My name is Lombargnor.”