by Paul Brandis
"The only problem," groused Jed, squatting on the front steps of Phil's cabin, "everybody's going to bitch when we go to sell her to Slen." He turned to Phil sitting in his wicker chair. "When you going to do it? Kim hasn't slept at home in weeks."
Phil squinted at the horizon. "Getting a little itchy, Jed?"
The big man threw him a mean glance. "What do you mean?"
Before he could receive a reply, an older man rode up on horseback. He was deathly thin, and the sallow, grey skin drawn tight across his cheeks told of many years in strotium mines. Slowly he stepped down from the horse.
Still seething, Jed hooked his chin at the man. "My Uncle Ray."
Phil nodded, and Dante wandered out onto the porch to listen.
The thin man shoved the horse out of the way. "Mind if I sit down?" Without waiting for an answer, he wearily climbed the steps and bent into the other porch chair.
"You home to stay now, Uncle Ray?" asked Jed.
"Right. Finally made my pension."
To make conversation, Phil asked the obvious. "You mine strotium?"
The man nodded.
"So did my dad," Phil said, "until he went to work in a Cult mine. Then we never heard from him again."
"Yeah, they're pretty bad. I was lucky. I got on with one of the corporations. You Phil Dyak?"
"Why?"
"Word's out that the Cult has raised the reward on you. And now Garve Slen has one on you too." Admiration crept into the tired eyes. "You got a real knack at making people mad at you."
"That's for sure," muttered Jed.
"Yeah, I'm Dyak. You going to turn me in for all that money?"
"Are you kidding?" His face wrinkled into an evil grin, and he jutted out his hand. "Let me shake the hand of the man that shakes them up. Any more dastardly deeds you want to do to the creeps, count me in."
Phil shook the hand and looked over to Jed. "Looks like we got the makings of another crew."
Ray nodded. "That's right. There's not a one in the clan that hasn't had bad dealings with the Cult or some corporation, but mostly the Cult. What's your beef against them?"
Jed barely hid his sneer. "He was one of their pretty boys."
Ray turned to Phil aghast. "That so. And you got away? You were mighty lucky. How'd they get you in the first place?"
"My dad got addicted to the Cult ritual, and sold me to them for a lifetime free of contributions."
Ray shook his head. "Man, signing a non-contribution agreement with the Cult is suicidal."
"Yeah. If a man doesn't contribute, he doesn't last long."
"So that's why you raid only Cult holdings?"
"That among other things. I figure it's better to have just one enemy, than a bunch of them after you."
Grinning, Ray nodded to Jed. "I like the way this guy talks. Reminds me of me before life kicked the crap out of me." He turned back to Phil. "So what are you doing here?"
Phil shrugged. "Vacationing, I guess."
"Uh huh. More like hiding out, I'd say."
Phil grinned. "How can you say that, Ray? I really like your home here; the planet and the country."
Ray snorted. "You mean, what's left of it. There must have been millions of people here, even billions. Then came the wars, the radiation, disease, and starvation. Most of the cities are still hot. Corporations mined out the easy to get to resources long ago. Now the planet's off the trade routes, and the few farmers living outside the radiation belts just trade with each other. There are some retirees, but mostly just groups who want to stay away from Cult and corp interference." He threw him an evil leer. "So, how about it; when you going to start paying visits on the Cult again?"
The dinner bell clanged through the forest, and Phil stood and stretched. "Well, I've been thinking it's just about time we did take off. I got a few plans that, if we're lucky..." He winked at Ray.
CHAPTER 13
"Anybody home?"
Silhouetted in the doorway, Kim peered into the darkened room. The sun had set, and only wispy, maroon clouds marked its passing. Lying on his cot, Phil had been watching the changing evening sky through the open door, allowing the room to grow in shadow. He reached for the battery lamp.
Kim stepped in. "Don't," she said softly, and closed the door behind her. Moving to his bedside, she sat down and ran her hand slowly up his leg.
After a moment, Phil turn up the lamp. "Dante may come in."
"No, he's down on the beach trying to teach Thea how to talk."
Phil sat up. "Oh, is that what he says he's doing? And you believed him?"
She frowned. "Well, what if he's not? She's a grown woman. She can take care of herself." She smiled. "How about you taking care of me, for a change?"
Phil set his jaw. "Look, she's a Temple Goddess. She's suppose to be a virgin. What value will she have if she's not?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Is that the only reason why you're interested in her welfare?"
Phil's voice turned steely. "My reasons for doing something is nobody's--"
The door splintered open. Jed, his face distorted with rage, stormed across the room and wrenched Kim to her feet. "I figured I'd find you here."
He shoved her aside, dove for Phil, and caught a boot heel in face. He staggered back, and fell heavily at the foot of the bed. Before he could stand, Phil leaped to his feet and punched a fast fist to his chin, and Jed's head slumped onto the bed's rough wool blanket.
Phil poised to chop his exposed neck, then paused. After a moment he relaxed and reached down and helped the big man to his feet.
Jed rubbed his eyes to clear his mind, then jerked his arm away.
Phil raised his hands in resignation. "Take it easy. Nothing was happening here." He glanced over at Kim. "And nothing was going to happen."
A sneer twisted Jed's mouth. "Don't give me that. You been trying to get her back since you been here. Now, I'm telling you--stay away from her." He turned to Kim. "Are you coming?"
She looked at him with disgust. "You idiot, nothing was happening, and even if it was, it's none of your business. I'll go where I like, and with whom I like."
Jed's chin jutted out. "Oh, yeah?"
She nodded decisively. "That's right. Don't you?"
He paused, confused. "What?"
"Don't you go where you like, and with whom you like?"
He frowned, thinking. "I guess so."
"Well, then beat it."
"What?"
"I said leave."
He started to anger again. "And what if I don't want to?"
"Fine." She pushed past him. "Then I'm leaving," and she strode across the porch, and down the steps.
Embarrassed silence enveloped the room. Then Phil tapped Jed on the arm.
Jed whirled around, his fists clenched.
But Phil had turned and slumped onto the bed. "Before you go, old man, any chance of you fixing the door? No telling who might come barging in."
With a growl of frustration, the big man stomped out, slamming the door behind him. It bounced back open.
The night's song murmured around them as Phil and Dante strolled through the woods to the lodge. The path was wide, and Dante left his flashlight off. "You've got more than enough people willing to fly with us," he was saying. "They're a good group, better than the usual lot. But what about Jed?"
Phil pursed his lips. "I'd like him to come. He's a good fighter, especially in an assault. And because of his Marine training, he's good at organizing small combat squads. We could use him."
"Well then, why don't we leave?"
Phil was silent for a few moments. Finally, he said, "I don't know. It just doesn't seem enough anymore. After all, what do we do? We raid one of their mines, grab a payroll and anything we can carry, then get out fast before their Pursuits get there. It's just a matter of time before we get caught. And anyway, they just send out another payroll to replace the one we stole. We're not really hurting them."
As they neared the lodge, haunting music drifted through
the trees. Phil paused. "You know what that sounds like?"
"It seems that someone has retained some of the Cult's hymnology."
The path came out next to the lodge. Built into the hill as it sloped to the sound, the lodge consisted of a long dining hall, with an adjoining lounge. The music rose from outside and below the lodge.
The boys entered a side door and strolled across the dining room's smooth, wooden floors to the lounge. There heavy, black beams crossed the ceiling, and a massive stone fireplace filled one end of the room.
The room stood empty, but against the light flickering on the trees outside, silhouettes could be seen standing on the lounge balcony.
Phil and Dante walked through the opened door to the balcony, and found a spot among the spectators on the railing.
Below, a large bonfire blazed, and sparks streaked up into the night. Logs circled the fire, and people sat entranced as Thea, dancing naked, spun and twisted around the flames. Under the cover of the balcony, two young men swayed at synthesizers, straining to match her complex moves with improvisations on the convoluted music.
As he focused on the scene, Phil jerked back before his mind was captured by the dance. Turning, he recognized with distaste the spectator's slack expressions. He had seen the same expressions in Cults' temples.
He pushed away from the balcony, and went inside. Dropping down into a worn leather chair in front of the fireplace, he struggled not to listen to the music, or think about the tall, beautiful girl who so wantonly displayed her body to everyone.
But the music pounded on, and against his will, the vision of the girl and her dance, perfected over generations, stole into his consciousness. His heart still raced, the blood throbbing in his loins. God, he wanted her. So did all the others watching her, men and women alike.
How could one not want her? She moved with such sexual magnetism; hypnotic, yet vulnerable, so that one felt he had to hold her, to protect her--while he ravaged her.
She controlled with such ease, but he doubted that she knew her complete power.
Power. Control. Phil's eyes narrowed with thought. He no longer heard the music.
Suddenly he sat up. Striding out onto the balcony, he gripped Dante's arm. "Come on, I need to talk to you."
Startled out of his sexual reverie, Dante glared at him, then blinked in confusion at the scene around him. Numbly, he followed Phil inside.
Phil did not stop in the lodge. "We've got to get away from this damn music," he said, and continued onto the path back to the house.
Ensconced once again in the little cabin, sitting cross-legged on his bed, Phil challenged his friend. "Did she have you?" The lantern's wane light highlighted his intense expression.
Dante grimaced wryly. "I'm afraid she did, and without the Glad Hand or the incense."
"And with just a couple of kids on synthesizers. It's remarkable. But don't feel bad. She almost got me too. Now you know why the Cult trains them, and why they want her back so badly."
Dante shrugged. "Of course."
Phil nodded. "Of course." He leaned forward. "Did the Cult ever get a Goddess for Alpene?"
"Not that I know of. Why?"
"Well, we've got the Goddess. Why couldn't we control the miners there?"
Dante frowned. "Why? Because there is a temple full of armed priests there, plus an army of addicted miners who, after all this time of having only had scuzzy Holy Angels for their sex fixes, must be getting pretty crotchety. I mean, climbing onto a Cult whore must be pretty sickening without the mesmerism of the Goddess to make them believe it's a cosmic experience."
Phil grinned with enthusiasm. "Right. Now we arrive with the girl, take over the temple, and we control the miners instead of the Cult."
Dante raised his hands. "Hold on momentarily. First, how you going to get enough men to storm the temple?"
"That's easy. We've got a good start right here in camp. Then there must be lots of farmer's sons, maybe even some fathers, on the planet here, that are just itching to get off and find a little adventure."
"Well, so you find enough men; how are you going to transport them? All we have is a couple of escape pods."
"You're right." He eyed his friend. "Too bad we don't have the Frisco Flyer."
"Of course we don't. It's still back at the Hole In The Wall." He paused, his round eyes widening even rounder. "Now, wait minute one. When we left, we blew those bacteria mines. That place must be crawling with deadly germs."
"No it isn't. You, yourself said that if they run out of food, they became self-annihilating. I'll bet they're all dead by now."
"I know what I said, but I've been known to be wrong. I didn't have much time to test those bugs before we used them. You want to chance a horribly painful death on the word of a mad scientist?"
"Stop worrying. I've complete confidence in you, even if you don't. Besides, you're going to be right there with me."
Dante groaned. "I knew that was coming." Then he sat up. "You know, if any of those Gabriels got back to their attack ship, they might have contaminated it, and it might still be there, too."
Phil grinned and his eyebrows wiggled in anticipation. "I know. I can't wait to go and see."
Dante leaned back against the wall. "The Frisco Flyer, plus a Cult attack ship. That could make the difference."
"Right. And once we've taken over the temple on Alpene, between the two of us, there's nothing we don't know about running one."
"Yes, but, the Cult isn't going to let anyone just steal one of their mining outposts. What happens when they send out ships to take it back?"
"That's where the control of the miners come in. There must be hundreds on Alpene. By the time the Cult gets a fleet big enough to fight against a force of that size, we'll have moved on to bigger and better things."
"Like what?"
"Like the next in the chain of mines."
Dante stared at him thoughtfully. "You're trying to start some sort of revolution, aren't you?."
Phil flashed him an evil smile. "You got it, kid."
"Well, I don't like it." Jed perched on the armrest of one of the old couches in the lodge. Around the lounge sat other clan leaders. Young men leaned against the walls.
Phil sat facing them, his ladder-back chair turned around, his arms folded on top. He shrugged. "True, it's a gamble, a big gamble, but you don't win big unless you gamble big. Now, I'm not saying we're going to attack Alpene. All I ask is for enough men to go with me to bring back the ships at the Hole-in-the-Wall. Then we'll decide. Either way we can use the ships."
Ray sat deep in an easy chair, his thin legs crossed out in front of him. He looked at no one, and spoke without emotion. "That seems fair. If we know where there's a good ship, it don't make sense not to go see about it."
Jed spoke up peevishly. "Well, why can't we go on like we did before? We were doing all right."
Anger flashed across Phil's face. "Were we? Tell that to our friends and mates who are floating dead in the Hole." There was silence for a moment; then Ray's dry voice rambled on. "All right, everybody relax. Nobody's making any big decisions yet. We're just going to go and see about the ships."
CHAPTER 14
"There it is!" called Phil. He slowed his little ship as they came around the asteroid.
A shout of elation burst forth from the dozen men as they spied the Cult's black attack ship floating near the entrance to the Hole.
"Question is," murmured Dante, "can anyone live on board it?"
Maneuvering the ship next to the attack ship, Phil ignored him. Once close enough, he sent out little bos'ns, little drones trailing tether lines that attached themselves to the attack ship, then drew Phil's ship in.
Examining the attack ship's outer hatch, they found it ajar--a healthful sign. Any killer bacteria left in the ship after the mines went off would have been ultimately killed by the frigidity of space. But just to be sure, Phil directed a probe drone into the dead ship's interior.
Interior lights bl
azed and a soft whirring noise told him that all the vents were open and the ship's air was being blown out.
Dante read the figures scroll across his monitor. "The air seems clean so far." He tapped the monitor. "That is, if this thing is working right."
Phil gave him a pained look, and headed for the disembarkation dock to don his suit. Dante followed, and moments later they were drifting together into the attack ships hatch.
They met their first corpses piled up around the closed door of an escape pod. The light over the door showed the pod gone.
They examined the dead faces inside the masks. Dry, brown, skin wrinkled the corpses' skulls.
Phil pulled back. "They look like mummies."
Dante nodded thoughtfully. "The bacteria devours blood cells, but I wonder." He began unfastening a Gideon's helmet.
Phil grabbed his arm. "What're you doing?"
Dante looked disgusted. "We're not going to know if the bacteria is dead until we open up the bodies. Now, do you want to know, or don't you?" Phil grimaced. "And I suppose you'll want to stick your nose right in there."
"Do you know a better way?"
He sighed. "Come on, I'll help you. We might as well both go down together."
They pulled the Gabriel from his suit and cut him open. After a moment, Dante shook his head. "The only bacteria readings I'm getting is what we brought in. With the vents open and the vacuum system on, everything was flushed out, and nothing else has grown in the freezing temperature."
They flew on, testing several corpses. In the control room, Phil pushed aside a couple of bodies and ran a systems check. Disgustedly he turned to Dante. "Well, they flushed out all their oxygen."
Dante nodded. "When they first started getting sick, they might have thought that the problem lay in the oxygen supply."
"Let's just hope they didn't destroy the tanks in the Hole. Call the ship and have them send over some men to jettison the bodies. I'm not turning on the heat until the place is cleaned up. Then let's go see about the Frisco Flyer."