The Fringe Worlds

by T. R. Harris

  Adam found a thick piece of packing wood on the floor near him, and feeling the weight in his hand, tossed it high and to his right. As it landed, the three Nimorians shifted their fire toward the sound. Standing with rifle in hand, Adam found he was looking down a line of aliens all in a row. Taking aim at the first one in line, he fingered the trigger.

  A bright bolt of electric blue light shot from the barrel, striking the first alien along the front of his chest; the bolt then continued to the second alien, impacting his neck. Both went down. Two with one shot, not bad, Adam thought. Then as the third alien turned to see his two companions fall, the last thing he ever saw was a bolt of blue energy growing ever larger, heading straight for his face.

  Darting between crates, Adam ran back to where he’d left Kaylor and Jym. As he rounded the crate and slid in beside them, Jym let out a cry and Kaylor’s eyes rolled back in his head as he nearly fainted.

  “Don’t surprise us like that!” he scolded.

  “Let’s go!” Adam said, ignoring him. But just as they stood, five more Nimorians entered the room through the very door they were headed for.

  A barrage of blue bolts came zipping their way as they ducked for cover again behind the crate. Looking around for an alternative exit, Adam noticed a break in the ten meter high shelving units with an opening exposing the wall of the room. He had an idea.

  “Follow me, and stay low.”

  Adam took off, with the other two close behind. They reached the break in the shelving and crowded in for cover. With his back against the wall, Adam struck the wall with his left elbow and was relieved to feel the wallboard break. He had been hoping this was an interior wall; the outer walls were made of brick and he wasn’t sure if he could break through those. But these thin, inner walls were a breeze. He smashed his elbow into the wall several more times until he had a two foot wide gap. Then pressing his full weight against it, Adam crashed through the wall and into another room, landing on his back with his legs still in the hole, rifle across his chest.

  To his shock, two Nimorians had just run past his position, heading for the battle at the other end of the building, weapons at the ready. Seeing Adam, they both turned and took aim. Rolling to his right, Adam fired the rifle, striking one of the aliens in the chest. Then he let loose another shot at the other alien just as bolt of energy erupted from its weapon. Rolling on his back again, the bolt ripped across the front of Adam’s tunic, burning through it, exposing his chest and the scab from where Kaylor had shot him.

  He quickly regained his feet, breathing a sigh of relief that he was still alive. Then reaching through the opening in the wall, he yanked both Kaylor and Jym through, and they all ended up covered with white dust and bits of wallboard.

  They were in a hallway, with several windows set in the opposite wall, dim yellow light shining through. Adam crossed to the nearest window and smashed out the glass with the butt of the rifle. The window was big enough to crawl through, so Adam shoved Jym and Kaylor through the opening before following himself.

  Once outside, Adam pressed against the warm brick wall, forcing Jym and Kaylor to do the same with this left arm. They were in the space between two of the Ministry buildings, separated by about twenty meters. To their left a battle was raging, as they saw two groups squared off against each other, firing from inside doorways and from behind vehicles.

  The three of them were fully exposed where they were, with dozens of windows from both buildings facing the grassy area. Luckily, the sun was beginning to set, casting deep shadows in the space between the buildings. The blue tunics both he and Kaylor wore, along with Jym’s dark green one, would help provide some camouflage. To his right and about thirty meters away, was the wall surrounding the Compound.

  “Stay low and close to the building,” Adam whispered, as he set off for the wall, hugging the side of the building as they went. Knowing he had a couple of untrained civilians with him slowed his progress, but if anyone did notice their movement, they chose to ignore them in light of the fighting going on at the other end of the building. They made it to the wall without incident.

  Pressing his back against the wall, Adam surveyed each direction for any guard towers along the wall. Seeing none, he stood and grabbed Jym by his tunic. “Trust me,” he said, and promptly tossed the much smaller creature up to the top of the wall. Jym clung there, with an arm and a leg dangling precariously over each side. Kaylor was more cooperative, allowing him to be hurled onto the wall as well. Adam then tossed the bolt rifle over to the other side.

  The wall itself was easily four meters high, but with an easy leap, Adam was able to reach the top with both hands and propel himself over in one fluid motion. He landed softly on the ground beyond then called for Jym and Kaylor, one at a time, to drop into his arms.

  There was a greenbelt area about thirty meters wide between the wall and a road that ran parallel to the Ministry Compound. Beyond the road were several streets heading away from the Compound lined with buildings of various heights. A short distance to their left was the nearest intersection where several people had gathered, looking in the direction of the Ministry, curious at all the explosions and gunfire taking place. In the gray light of dusk, none had noticed the three of them scale the wall, so Adam picked up the rifle and led them in a sprint for the cover of the nearest building.

  Crouching against the building, Adam noticed both Jym and Kaylor panting heavily, trying to catch their breath. Out of shape aliens, Adam observed. Go figure!

  Inside the Compound, the sounds of the battle could still be heard, but they were less intense. Adam pulled Kaylor near. “Which way to the spaceport”

  Kaylor pointed to their right. “This way,” he panted. “It’s about twenty minutes away by foot. Maybe we should find a transport to hire”

  “You want us to call a cab” Adam shot back. “I’ve got a better idea.”

  On the street nearby were several of the native wheeled transports, looking like small SUV’s from back home. Creatures of various styles were milling around, chattering and pointing toward the Compound and the rising column of black smoke, easily visible in the late afternoon sky.

  At one of the cars, its occupant had climbed out and was standing at the open door, looking toward the Compound. Adam moved up behind him, dropped the rifle, and then used both his hands to grab the alien by the back of his shirt and the seat of his pants. He tossed him into the air, and the creature landed hard about five meters away in a patch of bushes on the other side of the street.

  “Get in!” Adam yelled, as he slipped into the driver’s seat.

  Of course he had never driven an alien car before, but he had observed how it was done during the drive to the Compound earlier that morning. In the center console was a joystick with a flat handle on top, and once Jym had climbed in the back and Kaylor into the front passenger seat, Adam pushed the stick all the way forward with purpose.

  But nothing happened! He pushed again, still nothing. Then Kaylor calmly reached over and flicked a switch on the dashboard.

  The vehicle lunged forward, sideswiping another car before Adam could throttle back and steer the car back into the center of the road. He quickly got the feel of the controls and soon they were racing down the road toward the spaceport.

  Most of the traffic on the roads was heading in the opposite direction, toward the Ministry Compound, so they made it back to the spaceport in less than five minutes.

  Barreling through the main gate, Adam was half expecting to see a contingent of Ministry police waiting for them; they couldn’t outrun radios or telephones, or whatever they used on this planet. But there was no one there, not even the incredibly bloated alien at the guard hut. There were people in the spaceport, but most of them were scurrying about, apparently readying their craft for liftoff and paid no special attention to Adam’s speeding vehicle.

  News of the raid on the Ministry Compound had spread fast, and even though no one knew exactly what was going on, very few creature
s in the spaceport were waiting around to find out. Like true mariners, whether at sea or in space, they preferred their chances off-land, rather than as sitting ducks stuck in port.

  Adam pulled back on the joystick and the car skidded to a halt at the base of the ramp leading up to the cargo hold of the FS-475. Kaylor jumped out and ran to a panel cover set on the skin of the ship. Flipping it open, he punched in a code and the door to the cargo bay opened. The three of them ran up the ramp and into the ship.

  As Jym secured the door and retracted the ramp, Kaylor and Adam hurried to the pilothouse. Jym was only steps behind them.

  “How long until we can take off” Adam yelled as he fastened his safety harness.

  Both Kaylor and Jym were frantically pushing buttons and pulling levers. “When on-planet, I always keep one of the main generators humming just in case we have to bolt out fast,” Kaylor cried out. “Still it’s going to take about five minutes before we’ve built up enough compression to pull us up.”

  Adam didn’t have any idea what Kaylor was talking about, but he sounded convincing. So for the next few minutes, as the two aliens went about their pre-flight chores, Adam nervously peered through the open viewport and across the ever-darkening spaceport, expecting at any moment to see streaks from electric balls of energy or the deafening blast of an explosion.

  Instead came the sickening feeling of vertigo as the ship’s gravity well engaged and overrode that of the planet’s own attraction. Then, without any sense of movement on their part, it was as if the whole spaceport moved away from them at incredible speed. And then the city, followed quickly by the surrounding land, and finally the planet itself.

  They were back in space, and to his surprise, Adam began to relax. Not so Kaylor and Jym. Adam could see the look of worry on their faces. As the spherical shape of the planet became more pronounced, and the bright layer of atmosphere grew thinner, the two of them were staring intently at their view screens.

  “Is everything okay’ Adam finally asked.

  “It looks like two other craft have slipped in behind us,” Jym answered.

  “They followed us from the surface-“

  “No,” Jym interrupted. “They were already in orbit.”

  “What are you going to do”

  Kaylor leaned back in his seat. “Nothing right now,” he said. “They’re not closing on us, just lying back, following.”

  “So where do we go now” Adam asked.

  “Maybe you should have thought of that before you broke us out of the Ministry!” Jym barked out. “I don’t have any idea where we can go-“

  “I have a suggestion.”

  The voice came from behind them, from the door to the pilothouse.

  In unison, the three of them jerked their heads around to find a tall, dark creature standing in the doorway, bolt weapon aimed at them. Three other creatures stood behind him in the hallway, each with their own weapon pointed into the room.

  Leaning into the pilothouse, the speaker handed Jym a piece of paper.

  “What is that” Kaylor asked Jym.

  Jym looked up from the paper at Kaylor. “It’s the coordinates of the Kyllian Asteroids.”

  Adam did not hear any of the exchange, nor did he notice the look of shock on their faces at the mention of the Kyllian Asteroids. Instead he sat in stunned silence as he stared at the creature in the doorway.

  It was another human — and he was staring directly into Adam’s eyes!

  Chapter Seventeen: The Meeting

  “You must be Adam Cain,” the human said. He stepped further into the room until he was about ten feet from Adam. “And I am Riyad Tarazi.”

  Adam was speechless. Mouth agape, he did and said nothing as Riyad’s men swept into the room and disarmed them. Then Riyad turned to Jym. “Put in those coordinates, then let’s all go up to the common room for a chat.”

  The human was slightly over six feet tall, heavily muscled, with tight, jet black hair on his head and beard. His eyes were dark, as was his complexion and the accent was unmistakable. As Riyad’s men escorted the trio to the common room, Adam had no doubt: Riyad was either Arab or Iranian. He also found it strange, that at a time when he should have felt overwhelming excitement at finding another one of his kind, all Adam could see before him was a threat. And it was a greater threat than anything else he’d encountered to date in this strange, new universe.

  Jym and Kaylor sat on the couch as Riyad took a seat at the table. Adam chose to stand. “Come, sit my brother,” Riyad said, offering a seat at the table, as the three other creatures of a species Adam did not recognize fanned out around the room, maintaining their guard with weapons ready.

  Reluctantly, Adam sat down.

  Leaning forward, Riyad reached out and grabbed Adam’s arm. “I am so pleased to see you, Mr. Cain,” he said sincerely, with a large, bright smile. “I was wondering if I would ever see another human again. We will talk again at length, later.”

  Then releasing Adam, Riyad turned his attention to Kaylor. “But first things first. You,” he said directly to Kaylor, “You have something of mine, and I want it back.”

  Kaylor tried to look more pissed than scared. He sat on the edge of the couch and said, “Who are you to come aboard my ship with weapons upon us I do not know you and I’m sure I have nothing that belongs to you!”

  Riyad just smiled. “Oh yes you do. You took it from me a few days ago after my men had spent considerable time and effort to secure it.” Kaylor had suspected, but now he knew for sure. “And then to make it worst, you managed to take the one thing aboard that had more value to me than all the riches within that alien ship - the computer core.”

  What did he just say Adam turned to Kaylor. “You had the computer core all along You fucker! That thing can help me get home.”

  “That’s exactly right, my human brother. That one item is more important to the two of us then they can possibly imagine. So he didn’t tell you he hid the core somewhere in the asteroids”

  “No, he didn’t,” Adam said between gritted teeth. “Why the hell not”

  “I couldn’t tell you because we were not supposed to have it. We are not allowed to take anything from a derelict until the salvage is awarded,” Kaylor pleaded in his defense.

  “So why did you take it”

  “Because, like I told you, it can take months for the salvage process to go through, and then there can be counter-claims and disputes. I wanted to make sure we’d get something for risking our lives—”

  “And so you scared off my captains and took my prize,” Riyad said as he got up from his chair and walked the short distance over to Kaylor.

  Then in a move that was almost too swift to see, Riyad grabbed Kaylor by his tunic, lifted him, and pinned him against the bulkhead, his feet dangling easily half a meter off the floor. “And now with your lie, the fucking Juireans think we took the core! And they will not rest until they get it.”

  Riyad released him, letting Kaylor fall unceremoniously to the floor. Then he walked casually over to the food counter, pressed a few buttons, and returned to the table with two drinks in hand. He sat down, placing one of the drinks in front of Adam, while Kaylor sheepishly returned to the couch.

  After taking a long gulp of his drink, Riyad leaned back in the chair and propped his booted feet up on the table. “Neither one of you have any idea as to the significance of that ship, do you” he said to Kaylor and Jym. “Let me tell you.” He took a long swig off his drink. “What you so brazenly took from my men was a Klin starship.”

  The two aliens - and even Adam — were shocked by the revelation.

  “Klin! Are you sure” Jym had found his voice.

  “Positive. Now do you understand why the Juireans have interceded, and why you have put me and my men in such a dangerous predicament with your lies”

  He waited for a moment to let the full impact of his disclosure sink in, then he gave a brief nod to his guards. Two of them descended on Kaylor and Jym, holding each o
f them down on the couch as they locked ankle bracelets on each of them. It only took a few seconds, then the guards resumed their posts.

  “What are you doing” Kaylor yelled, grabbing at the foreign object on his leg.

  “Each of those bracelets contain a small explosive charge,” Riyad said. “The charge should be small enough not to cause any widespread damage to your ship, but definitely strong enough to blow off both your legs — and undoubtedly bring about your deaths. I have taken this action to guarantee that you will cooperate with my demands.” He took another gulp of his drink. “You will recover the stolen computer core and hand it over to me. If you do this without any resistance I will release you and send you on your way. If not.” He pulled a small black box out of his pocket, “all I have to do is press in a code here, and you will not live to see another day.”

  Riyad seemed to revel in watching the look of horror on the faces of the two aliens. Then after finishing off his drink, he asked, “Do I make myself clear” They both nodded emphatically.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Kaylor said. “The core has caused me enough problems; I just want to get it out of my life!”

  “Good,” said Riyad. “Then we have an understanding. I just have to make sure that I have your full cooperation.”

  Adam was equally shocked at the drastic move Riyad had taken. He wanted to information from the core, too, but this was kind of harsh. Kaylor looked at him “Adam isn’t there anything you can do to help us. I did save your life on that ship”

  Adam felt numb inside as he heard Kaylor beg. Then he turned around in his chair until he was facing Kaylor. “You lied to me,” he said. “I didn’t want to take the core from you. I just wanted to learn the location of Earth from it. After that, it was all yours. And as far as saving my life, I believe I just saved the two of you from having your memories erased. I think we’ll call it even.”

  He couldn’t believe the words were coming out of his mouth. He never considered himself a particularly cruel person, but right now he was seething with anger. He had been on a roller coaster ride of emotions these past few days, one moment feeling like he had a chance to get home back to Maria and Cassie, and then the next having his hopes crushed underfoot. And Kaylor had the core all along.