by T. R. Harris
“Like I said, at the very top are the Elites, followed by the Overlords and then the Counselors. Below them are the various administrators and technicians. The Overlords run the military side of Expansion, along with the Guards, who are like the magistrates on other worlds. But the Juireans are the sole arbiters of their actions. No other race, except for other Juireans, can even question the decisions of an Overlord. The Counselors are more of the regional administrators, answerable only to the local Overlord. Being at the edge of the Expansion, the Fringe has very few Juireans of any classification. We just aren’t that important to them.”
“And that’s why you’re so concerned about this Counselor coming today” Adam said. “To get the attention of a Juirean, let alone a Counselor, must mean there’s something very strange about that spaceship you brought in for salvage.”
Kaylor just bobbed his head, yet it didn’t take an alien body language expert to read the worry on his face.
Finally Kaylor asked Adam, “And you know nothing more about the ship or where it came from”
“How could I You know I’m from some backwater world that doesn’t even have space travel - not real space travel like you have. Hell, we’ve only been to our own moon a few times. I honestly have no idea where the ship came from or why I was aboard.”
“There were a total of 80 of your race aboard. That must mean something” Jym said from the faraway cot.
“Hell if I know. Remember, to me I’ve only been awake in your universe for about two days, and already I’ve had a fight with you,” he pointed at Kaylor, “been in a gunfight with two crazed lizards and been arrested for murder. To top that off, back home they think I’m dead and all the people I know and love are grieving for me. Damn, this adventure is getting off to a great start! I wonder what tomorrow will bring”
Kaylor grunted. “At least you don’t have to face a Counselor.”
“Yeah, well do you realize now that my chances of meeting the owners of that ship are virtually nonexistent And if that’s the case, then I’m truly fucked!” With that Adam slammed his hand against a bar of the cell - and was shocked to see that it had bent outward about an inch!
Looking over quickly to see if Kaylor or Jym had noticed, he was relieved to see that they hadn’t. Shifting on the cot until he was seated like Kaylor, with his back against the front bars, Adam stretched out his legs on the cot. Then he placed his left foot against another bar of the cell, and using the bars at his back as a backstop, pushed with his leg. With some effort, he felt the bar begin to give!
He stopped and once more looked over at the two aliens. Jym had laid down on his cot, while Kaylor was staring straight ahead toward the rear of the cell, lost in thought. Adam didn’t know why he wanted to keep his latest discovery a secret from them, but he felt he had to. He had no doubt that if he wanted to, he could separate the bars enough to slip through. Of course the bars on this side of the cell simply lead to another cell, but he knew he could bend the front ones just as easily.
Now that he knew he could escape from the cell, he was at a loss as to what to do with this knowledge! This whole planet — hell the entire alien universe — was a prison for him. Without a plan, he was still screwed. And he didn’t have enough knowledge or experience to formulate a workable one.
What to do What to do
Chapter Fifteen: The Counselor
The next few hours passed without much interaction between the three of them, but they all sat up when they heard a commotion coming from the processing room. The door to the cell block opened suddenly and a flood of creatures began to enter.
Kaylor and Jym jumped to their feet, while Adam remained seated on his cot.
About a dozen of the natives entered the cell block, followed by five of the mean-looking lizard creatures like the ones Adam had killed the night before.
After the lizards, the Juirean entered. Adam reasoned it had to be the Juirean because of the deference that was granted him, as well as the fact that he was about a foot taller than anyone else in the room, including the seven-foot tall lizards. But Adam quickly noticed that a lot of the height came from the magnificent main of hair this creature had. It flowed from his wide forehead and puffed out on top for a good foot before cascading halfway down his back. And it was a pale green color, which was a stark contrast to the creature’s swarthy complexion. Even though the forehead was wide, the face tapered down past a simple, normal looking nose and smallish mouth to a pencil thin chin that thrust out from the jaw line.
Adam couldn’t tell much about the creature’s build since he was draped in several layers of flowing capes of greens, blues and reds. It was all quite the spectacle. Still, Adam wasn’t that impressed.
The Juirean Counselor — Deslor Lin Jul was his name — stepped closer to the bars of Kaylor and Jym’s cell. He then took a screen pad from one of the Nimorians and scanned it. Looking at Kaylor, he finally spoke. “You are the salvager” His voice was extremely strong and projecting; Adam reasoned that came from centuries of being at the top of the food chain throughout much of the galaxy. Having that much power must be a real head-rush! Adam thought.
“Yes, yes I am,” Kaylor stammered. In the brief time he’d had with Kaylor, Adam had never seen him this nervous.
The Juirean cocked his head slightly to the right. “Bring the two of them. I will require a room with no listening devices or images.”
The Juirean then moved to Adam’s cell. Adam did not stand up, which seemed to irritate most of the Nimorians, and especially the Rigorians, who demanded that he stand before the Counselor. Adam just flashed a big, toothy grin at the lizards, which threw them into some kind of crazed frenzy.
“SILENCE!” the Juirean commanded, and the Rigorians immediately ceased their chatter. Adam remained seated.
After scanning the pad, the Juirean turned to his right and began to leave the room. “Bring him, too,” he said just before disappearing though the doorway.
The three of them were escorted to a large room in the same building with a wide desk near the middle. Chairs were brought in for the prisoners. The Juirean sat behind the desk then signaled for everyone except the four of them to leave the room. Adam didn’t question the Juirean’s confidence in being left alone with the prisoners. After all, who would dare accost a Juirean Adam continued to size up the Counselor as he took a seat.
Kaylor and Jym looked as though they’d pissed their pants. They sat hunched over slightly, occasionally daring a glance up at the Juirean. Then without ceremony, the Counselor began speaking:
“There will be no salvage of this craft,” the Juirean stated bluntly. This got Kaylor and Jym’s attention. “The ship is being confiscated by the Juirean Authority and all records of its discovery have been purged from the Library.”
“Forgive me, Counselor,” Kaylor said feebly, “but that is a legitimate claim. Why can we not receive a salvage, or at least a recovery fee”
“That ship is of unknown origin and therefore is to be taken to Melfora Lum at the demand of Overlord Oplim Ra Unis. You will provide all data regarding the location of the find, the direction from which the ship appeared, the circumstances of the recovery and any observances once you entered.”
Kaylor appeared crestfallen. Adam knew the alien had placed so much promise on the salvage and now it was being ripped away from him. But Kaylor did not offer any resistance to the request - order - and began reciting exactly what had occurred over the past two days.
Damn! Was it only two days ago that all this had started for Adam The thought suddenly made him very tired.
While Kaylor droned on, Adam noticed that the Juirean kept looking over at him. Their eyes would lock, and then the Counselor would casually return his attention to Kaylor. When Kaylor had finished, the Juirean turned his full attention upon Adam.
“What were you doing about the ship”
“I don’t have any idea. Like I’ve been telling everyone, I was kidnapped - abducted. I woke up in one of those pods n
ot knowing how I got there or why.”
The Juirean just stared at him, then finally: “You have not met any of the ship’s crew or owners or had any conversation with them”
“All I saw was one of those gray things, but I couldn’t understand anything it was saying.”
“And where are you from”
“I’m from the planet Earth.” Adam waited for the customary comment about dirt and such, but it never came.
The Counselor spoke: “Why would the Kl—, the owner’s be interested in your race Does your race have contact with them”
“No, I don’t think so. We haven’t had any confirmed contact with aliens - with other races - even though there have been a lot of stories.”
“I guess the stories are true, aren’t they” The Juirean said.
“I suppose so.” Adam was getting tired of all this. “Listen, I just want to get home. I’m not interested in any of this bullshit or any of your politics. I didn’t ask to be here and I could care less about whose ship that is and where it came from. We are not a star traveling species-“
“Then why were 80 of your kind on that ship What value are you to its builders”
“You aren’t listening to me, bud I-Don’t-Know!”
Adam saw the veins in the Juirean’s neck begin to twitch. He was sure the Juirean had never been spoken to like this before, but he didn’t give a fuck. This thing was just another obnoxious bureaucrat on some kind of power trip.
“It is decided,” the creature announced suddenly. “You will be transported to Melfora Lum to be interrogated by the Overlord himself.” He turned to Kaylor and Jym. “And the two of you will be subjected to a brain cleansing to erase all memory of your encounter with the derelict ship.”
Adam was almost too pissed off to notice the shock that came over the faces of his companions, but the expression of sheer terror in their eyes eventually got his attention.
“But we’ve done nothing wrong! We promise we will not say anything about this,” Kaylor pleaded.
“I will guarantee that you will not.” The Counselor pressed a button on the desk and about a dozen creatures entered the room. “Take them back to their cells and arrange a link with the Overlord.” The Juirean stood, glaring at Adam as he was removed from the room. Adam just gave him a wink.
In another room in the Ministry, Fredic Dess listened in on the conversation the Counselor was having with his Overlord.
KLIN! Can it be true Whether it was or not, this information would make him rich! Angar had promised to pay him handsomely for any information he could provide regarding the prisoners. He had already given him their location within the Compound, as well as instructions about the best way to approach the building to affect a rescue. Now this!
He fingered the communication device and Angar answered immediately.
Chapter Sixteen: Escape
The moment the cell door was closed and locked, Adam was already planning his escape. But he would need Kaylor and Jym’s help; he just didn’t have any idea how much help they would be.
Kaylor had fallen back on one of the cots in his cell and was just lying there, staring at the ceiling. Jym was on a cot, too, but balled up in the fetal position, giving off soft whimpering sounds. They looked like two lost causes.
Adam moved to the bars separating the two cells. “Listen up,” he hissed at them. “We’ve gotta get out of here. There’s no way I’m leaving with that green-haired Juirean.”
Kaylor just stared at the ceiling.
“Snap out of it! I need the two of you to pay attention.”
“It’s no use, Adam. There’s nothing we can do at this point.”
“Bullshit! What was he talking about in there, about a cleansing”
Kaylor looked over at him. “A brain cleansing. They’re going to erase our memories. They’re supposed to be able to be selective, but I’ve never heard of a perfect cleansing. We are probably going to lose a couple years of memories, if not more. And then people who have had it done are never the same.”
“Then we have to get out of here before they can do it.”
Kaylor just looked at him as if he was crazy. “Do you not see where we are”
“I can get us out of here. But then we’re going to have to get off this planet, and I mean fast.”
Kaylor sat up and Jym stopped his whimpering. “How”
Rather than tell them, Adam moved to the front of his cell, braced his back against the left side bars and pushed against a front bar with his right leg. After a few grunts, the bar began to move. He then shifted sides and pushed on another bar until he had a separation wide enough to squeeze through.
Jym and Kaylor were standing at the bars of their cell, staring in shocked disbelief. “What are you” Jym asked.
“Never mind,” Adam said as he moved over to the bars between their two cells. Bracing himself as he had done earlier, he bent the bars wide enough for the two aliens to slip through and into his cell.
Soon they were outside in the corridor. To their left was the processing room, so the three of them hurried to the right. None of them had any idea what lay beyond the door at the end of the cell block, but Adam was willing to take his chances. The only operational plan he had at this time was to get back to Kaylor’s ship and get the hell off of this god-forsaken planet. With so few options to choose from, action seemed like his best operation.
They stopped at the door and Adam tested the handle. It was unlocked. He opened it a crack, just enough to see two Nimorians sitting at a desk, one gnawing on some food, the other typing on a keyboard.
Taking a deep breath, Adam burst through the door, and before the two creatures could react, Adam was upon them. He caught the typist with a right cross and felt his fist sink deep into the alien’s skull with a splatter of blood and the cracking of bone. Jesus Christ! I just ripped off half the alien’s face with the blow!
Adam then brought his left elbow across his body, striking the other Nimorian on the back of the head. Again the cracking of bone, and soon both creatures were lying on the floor, dead. With his right hand covered in alien blood and brain matter, Adam quickly removed the sidearms from the guards and strapped one around his waist. He tossed the other holster to Kaylor, who promptly had it fall through his hands and onto the floor.
“Pick it up and put it on!”
Kaylor bent over and obeyed. Both he and Jym looked aghast at the damage Adam had done. Adam just shrugged off the carnage.
Quickly surveying their surroundings, Adam found that they were in a foyer, with a flight of stairs going up and another long, deserted hallway leading away from the desk. At the far end of the hallway was a double set of doors with what looked like a large room beyond and natural light streaming in. MK-17 in hand, Adam hurried down the hall toward the double doors.
Almost immediately, three Nimorians appeared out of a side room and nearly collided with them. As the aliens panicked and went for their weapons, Adam calmly placed three quick bolts of blue fire into them as he sped past, with Kaylor and Jym following closely behind. In this case, the targeting computer never did vibrate, as it found nothing to lock onto. What a worthless piece of shit, Adam thought.
All of a sudden, an explosion rocked the entire building, as smoke poured from the end of the hallway and the double doors shattered inward. Screams and yelling could be heard, interlaced with electric popping sounds.
Cut off from his original exit point, Adam chose to duck into a side room, trailing Kaylor and Jym behind him.
Inside was another Nimorian, who alerted by the explosion, was running toward the door. Adam lowered his shoulder and crashed into the alien, sending him flying backwards, impacting a stack of crates before falling limp to the floor.
They were in a large storage room, lined with shelves easily ten meters high and stacked with boxes and other equipment. Filling the interior of the room were several multi-level rows of staked crates. Adam spotted a second door at the far end of the room and the three of
them set off for it.
There were more explosions and the sound of electric popping. The whole building seemed to be under siege!
Just then, three Nimorians along with three lizard-things came through the far door. Seeing the escapees, the aliens brought up their weapons and began to let loose with erratic bolts of energy.
Adam and his companions dove behind a stack of crates just as the first bolts began to wiz past. The shots were high and wide, but they continued to come in rapid succession. The aliens were spreading out, moving toward them. Adam did a quick glance around the crate and spotted a lizard about thirty feet away, in plain sight. He let loose with a bolt, striking the lizard in the gut. Then another came right behind him, and Adam fired again. This time he missed to the right, and when he corrected and depressed the trigger again, nothing happened!
“Your charge is dry!” Kaylor yelled. Adam twisted a lever on the handle of his weapon, dropping out the spent charge pack. Then pulling another from the holster belt, he snapped it in. There no more packs on his belt, so he reached over and pulled two from Kaylor’s holster belt.
Performing a quick recon of the situation, Adam saw that a stacked row of crates to his right provided a path on its second level shielded from the view of the aliens.
“Stay here,” he said to Kaylor and Jym, then he slid off to his right, and in a single bound in the light gravity, jumped to the top of the first layer of crates, about two meters high. Moving along this level behind the upper layer of crates, Adam managed to get behind the two remaining lizards. Thinking that Master Chief Turner back at Coronado would have had his hide for this reckless maneuver, Adam leaped into the air and landed on the floor behind the two aliens.
As they turned, Adam let off two precise shots, killing them both instantly. The lizards had been carrying rifles, so Adam snatched one up — and dove for cover just as the three Nimorians opened up on his position.