KAHARI

by Dean Kutzler

  ***

  Grôk stormed through the crowd of little aliens, smashing them from his path on both sides like clearing cobwebs until they smartened up and moved out of the way. He thought of his homeworld, Kractoria, and how he’d never see it again, or Rhangâr.

  Nothing could change his mind.

  Commander Saren Thorn was the kindest human he had ever known, treating him the same as she treated both Daxton and the little guy.

  He liked them, too.

  While he and the guys hadn’t started off on the right foot—even trying to kill one another—and continuously poked fun at him, he sensed they sincerely liked him too.

  The bunch of humans respected and trusted him more than his own people. They had exiled him, forever dishonoring his name for the sake of politics.

  Well known among his people, Grôk had been running for candidacy to become the next High Echelon Elder of Kractoria. The polls were so far in his favor he was sure to win and become the next Elder to rule over the entire race.

  Until his opponent, Valderôk decided not to play fair.

  Grôk had always been good at keeping his personal life a secret, separate from his political career out of necessity. Selecting a mate of the same gender was considered against the Hôndara which dictated the laws governing Kractoria. It was the reason he began his political career.

  No one should be punished for loving another being, especially over differences in clan or gender.

  Grôk had been so close to his dream of freeing the underground community and stopping the need to hide in shadows for breaking the law. Just for choosing to love someone, male or female. Then his opponent had underhandedly uncovered his relationship, announcing it to his entire world.

  The Razzers came, and as strong as he was, Grôk was powerless against them. The Razzers took his beloved Rhangâr away so he would have the shame of not knowing what had become of him. Then they hooded Grôk, and the last thing he remembered was waking in the unholy place called Kahari.

  A sharp blow to the jaw jarred Grôk from the sad memory, bringing him back to his current nightmare.

  He rolled with the punch landing on the hard, bloodied floor, and spun his body like a pinwheel, taking down both Cyborgs at once with the force of his legs. They toppled over, and Grôk hopped to his feet.

  Thankfully, the cannons mounted on the Cyborg’s arms had been ripped off in some other fight, bits of twisted mounting was all that remained. Unfortunately, the tanks containing the black liquid had been enhanced with more metal, even concealing the vulnerable rubber hoses. They had only the strength of their cybernetic-enhanced bodies to fight with, and it was enough.

  Until now.

  Grôk picked the closest Cyborg and pounced on it, pinning it to the floor by its left arm.

  Struggling beneath the full weight of the Kractorian, the Cyborg lifted its other arm to strike Grôk in the midriff and Grôk took hold of it with both hands just above the glowing orb it had for an elbow.

  He was going to tear it limb from limb.

  The other Cyborg recovered from the spill and stood, getting ready to charge when one of the Cyborgs guarding the door stepped into the ring. It quickly placed a hand on its companions chest and shook its head, grinning.

  Grôk heaved with all his might, and the Cyborg beneath him grimaced in pain, struggling to yank his arm back before a blend of sparks and black liquid started shooting out from where the orb was attached. Another pull, and it ripped from the Cyborg spraying both of them in black.

  Grôk raised the body piece over his head with both arms ready to smash in its skull when the guard who had stepped into the ring ran by, snatching it out of his hands and spinning around, aiming for Grôk’s face.

  The orb on the end of the Cyborg arm connected with Grôk’s face, shattering, and gouging out his right eye.

  Cheering erupted from the crowd in waves.

  Grôk released a wicked howl, clutching at the shards sticking out from his eye socket as the force of the blow knocked him off the Cyborg, and to the other side of the ring on his face.

  The guard tossed the arm on his companion’s chest, laughing and covered his eye with his hand, mimicking Grôk and everybody started laughing.

  Daxton had finally finished looting the crowd, and the robe could hold nothing more without being obvious. He and Saren watched helplessly from the bowels of the cruel alien crowd when Grôk had been struck in the face, losing his eye. Saren did all she could do to keep herself from crying out and running to help.

  She was heartbroken over the big white furry beast she’d come to admire, and all she could think of was how he’d sacrificed himself for them. The last thought was the only thing keeping her going.

  Daxton’s head hung lower in the robe when Grôk cried out. Seeing the big guy who had saved them so many times get mangled, made him sick to his stomach. He gently put a hand under Saren’s arm and pulled her listless-body toward where Ensign Brody was waiting. There was only one guard at the door. If the other returned before they had a chance to do something, it would all be for naught.

  The three Cyborgs were hovering over Grôk’s prone body as he writhed in pain on his stomach, pulling pieces of bloody glass from his eye socket. The guard and other Cyborg opponent were laughing, both now mimicking Grôk plucking the pieces out and pretending to show it to the audience. The Cyborg with one less arm wasn’t as jovial and advanced on Grôk with his own, detached arm.

  Lying on the floor of the ring, Grôk saw from the corner of his remaining eye, two hooded figures walk up and stand next to Ensign Brody. Aside from all the pain, he felt a wave of relief his three friends were going to make it out of the Inner Ring.

  The approaching Cyborg’s boot replaced the happy-vision of Grôk’s friends as it drew near. He waited for the last possible second hoping the Cyborg still had real feet and drove the sharp piece of glass from his eye into the Cyborg’s boot.

  Nope.

  The other Cyborgs started roaring in laughter along with the crowd when Lefty Cyborg now cracked a smile and pointed to Grôk’s pathetic form. It was impossible to discern whose laughter was louder, the crowd of onlookers or the Cyborgs.

  The smile on Lefty’s face left quickly, replaced by a vicious sneer, as he swung his broken arm into Grôk’s face, connecting with his gouged eye—again.

  The poor beast let out a high-pitched howl and rolled to the corner of the ring. The shards he was unable to pull from his eye socket now sat flush on his face.

  That caught the guard’s attention watching from the door. Why should they have all the fun? He looked around at everyone’s focus on the fight and decided no one was foolish enough to try entering the Middle Ring with them so close by. Grôk was the first opponent in thousands of years to even get close to damaging one of them; the last being a strange beast no one had ever seen with an advantage of hundreds of tentacles.

  He left his post and crawled into the ring.

  “Commander! Look!”

  Saren had let Daxton lead her to Ensign Brody who had made it without a problem. She stopped watching the fight after Grôk had spotted them. She couldn’t bear to see the cruelty. He’d taken an incredible beating, but she knew he was capable of more fighting. But after seeing how close they were to the door, he opted to give up, knowing the Cyborgs would be too focused on finishing him off than paying attention to the door.

  Death and destruction fueled the beings in this ring. The entire place was evidence of that. Unlike Saren’s band of innocents, they belonged here to rot and spend eternity swirling around the nothingness from which they came.

  She took one last glance at Grôk, but the Cyborgs had surrounded him. Punching and kicking him, feeding on the crowds lust for it and dragging out every last second they could before he died.

  “I should’ve stopped him,” she mumbled.

  “Hey, Saren—“

  “Shut up!”

  Saren steeled the nerves that were threatening to fray once again and
took a deep breath. Pulling from her academy training lessons from so very long ago, she compartmentalized the feelings tearing her heart apart. She had a duty left to the two men standing by her, and she had a daughter, a ship, and a universe to save.

  And that’s exactly, what I’m going to do.

  “Come on,” she flatly. She didn't wait for a response and casually walked over to the door, stepping in unnoticed.

  Daxton favored Ensign Brody with a worried look and got one in return. He understood the feeling of failure Saren was having. A feeling she probably hadn’t felt too often, and there wasn’t a joke or speech…nothing he could say or do to change anything.

  He put a hand on Ensign Brody’s back, offering him to go first as they both followed, entering the door and leaving both Grôk and the Inner Ring behind.

  MIDDLE RING

  SAREN, Daxton, and Ensign Brody traveled through the darkness of the door, experiencing half the sense of vertigo and strange sensations like it was filled with fewer souls trying to escape and more—nothingness.

  Even though the trio entered the door through the Inner Ring at separate times, they walked into the world of the Middle Ring virtually together. The lack of souls swirling around the darkness made the trip much smoother.

  “Ugh! I hate cobwebs!” Daxton frantically waved his hands around his head. He exited first and got the brunt of webs strewn across the door in his face. “I guess they don’t get many winners coming through.”

  Saren stepped out from the door and shook her head, face stern.

  The comment about winners flew past his lips before he had a chance to think about what he was saying. “I'm sorry—I didn't mean to, ah, you know—“

  She held up a hand, face softening a little. “It’s okay.”

  “Are you all right?”

  “I have to be,” she said, turning back towards the door. “Apparently, this one allows you access both ways.”

  “Yeah, who’d want to go back?”

  “I just wonder what keeps those Cyborgs from coming through?”

  Ensign Brody slipped through the door, blinking once. “Wow, a wee-bit easier this time. Seemed almost—empty in there. Less scare-me-bejesus, even.”

  The Middle Ring was a carbon copy of the Inner Ring, except for the everything smashed to bits part. Dilapidated, high-tech housing lined littered streets with plasma bars covering doors and windows with filthy vagrants walking about, searching the trash.

  Ensign Brody checked the wound on his head, and it had stopped bleeding. He removed the dried bloody strip and tossed it to the ground, catching a woman’s attention. She looked up from scrounging around the street, screaming when she saw him by the door and ran. The rest of the vagrants milling through the trash didn’t waste time looking to see what she was screaming about and just took off running in all directions, scattering like cockroaches.

  “Was it something I said?” Daxton said.

  “No,” Saren said, pulling a cobweb off his shoulder and holding it up for him to see. “They haven’t seen anyone come through in a very long time, I’m guessing.”

  “Aye, I’d hate to see what left such a lasting impression. I reckon we ought’n stay here long. Which way, Commander?”

  “I think the layout here is the same as the Inner Ring. I think we can track our way through the city to the other door. Daxton?”

  “Yup, judging from the crumbled foundations in the other Ring, it looks like the same layout.”

  “Don’t get too comfortable here,” Saren warned. “It may look more civilized, but I have a feeling the criminals here are just as dangerous, and smarter.”

  “Aye, but look at them houses. Clean away all the grime, and they’d be somethin’. Built mighty solid. Bet the insides are noice. I think I saw a curtain moving inside that one.”

  “Probably heard the woman screaming. I think that’s where the path is,” Saren said, walking across the street, with Daxton and Ensign Brody following behind. “Stay close, guys. I don’t like the looks of any of this. Those people on the streets looked human. It’s the first I’ve seen besides us.”

  As they approached the path between the houses, the plasma bars protecting the door on the one where the curtained had moved turned off. The door cracked open, and the face of a pretty little woman with long red hair and an innocent smile popped out.

  “Hey!” she said in a hush, looking around. “What’re nice people like you doin’ out there? Ain’t ye be afraid of the Incubatati?”

  Saren, Daxton and Ensign Brody looked at each other and shrugged, not knowing what to think of the situation.

  “You don’t wanna get caught,” she said, lips forming a straight line. Her rosy cheeks bunched over her creamy white complexion, eyes searching the floor like she was mulling something over, before snapping up. “Don’t cha know who they are?”

  When they still hadn’t answered, the woman said, “Oooo, I dunno. Everyone knows the Incubatati. I been lucky to’ve never seen ‘em, but they rule this Ring, and I stay inside. They’re much less vicious than the Sucubano family was, leasts as I know. The Sucubano were females from what I heard, much kinder as women be. No one’s ever a seen ‘em, though. At leasts no one I know. The Incubatati took ‘em out a long time ago, and now they be the rulers of this Ring.

  “Oooo, I don’t know. I shouldn’t do this. I’m all alone, but, you just—just can’t stay out there. You look too clean. Like good people. I can tell good people when I see ‘em. My daddy always said trusts gotten to be earned. But he was a drinker. Loved his Irelandian brew. Leasts until it did ‘em in. Mamma said if ye don’t give people a chance, ye grow up to be a spinster.

  “Anyway, that be a long time and life ago. You cannae stay on the street. The Incubatati leave most of the bums alone because they’re souls are worthless. They only round ‘em up when they’re unfortunate enough to be caught with the good souls. And the way you’re dressed, oooo—okay.

  “You can come in, but you can’t stay forever,” the woman said, opening the door and glancing at Ensign Brody. “I’ve been so lonely. But you can’t stay real long, okay? Just until it’s safe. You’re human, right? It would be nice havin’ someone to talk to for a bit. Especially another woman, too. But first, your black outfit isn’t some kind of sex thing, is it? It looks kinda hard.”

  Saren shook her head. “Can we—ah, take a moment to discuss this?”

  “Oh, oh—of course. I just be prattlin’ on. You dunno me at all. I understand. My name’s Maddie O’Reilly. You look new around here, and I just thought someone should warn you. I saw yous when I heard that woman screamin’ her head off.

  “Go ahead. Just don’t take too long. It’s not safe,” she said, pulling the door closed until just her face was peeking out. “I’ll be right here when you’re done.”

  Saren turned her back on the woman and spoke in a low tone. “What do you make of her, guys? She seems innocent enough. You think she’s telling the truth?”

  “The way those bums ran, I’d say there’s a somethin’ out here, Commander.”

  “We could find out more about what’s going on in this Ring. See what we’re up against with this Incubatati,” Daxton said. “Clearly they’re the ones guarding the door to the Outer Ring.”

  “That’s what I was thinking, too.” Saren agreed.

  “She seems downright respectable, Commander.”

  “Ensign Brody, don’t forget why people end up on Kahari.”

  He nodded in agreement.

  “Okay, let’s go in and see what we can find out,” she said, turning back around.

  Maddie was peeking out the door with one eye.

  “Okay, Maddie. We’d like to take you up on your offer and come in for a little chat. I’m Commander Saren Thorn. This is my ensign, James Brody, and Daxton Stone—”

  “You won’t stay too long, right?” she asked, cracking the door wider.

  Saren shook her head. “No, not at all, just for a little chat.”

  Maddi
e’s eyes roamed the streets before she opened the door and stepped outside barefooted.

  “Don’t go and mind the mess. I rarely have company, and I hate listening to the automaid zipping through the house,” she said, smiling at Ensign Brody who was the first to hop up on the porch.

  He passed under the door, and the frame surrounding it flashed green. Ensign Brody spun around, startled by the light.

  Saren ran halfway up the porch, planting her hands on the top step and doing a handstand past Maddie. She landed in a squatted stance between the two and aimed the wristcom in the woman’s face.

  “Oooo, no no no!” Maddie exclaimed, throwing up her hands. “It’s just the house! Don’t go and shoot me with ye bracelet! You arrrrrre new here! That light’s just the security system. Everybody’s got ‘em. It detects clean souls passing through. A lady all alone cannot be too careful. I always have it on. I guess I shoulda warned ye.”

  “Then why didn’t it go off when you came out? Or are you unclean?”

  Maddie hesitated before answering, then said, “Why, it’s me house, silly. I know I’m clean.”

  Saren looked to Daxton, and he shrugged.

  She lowered the weapon, and said, “Sorry, Maddie. A lady—“

  “Can’t be too careful,” she said finishing the sentence and lowering her arms. “You are one tough cookie, Miss Thorn! Maybe you should stay a while. Makes me feel safe. Well, now, let me see what I can come up with in the cupboard. Do you like tea?”

  She walked into the house, hollering over her shoulder. “I’ll be right back. Lemme get the pot a burlin’. Make sure’n shut the door behind ye. It’ll self-arm!”

  “Well, I am hungry,” Daxton said jogging up the stairs next, past Saren, and into the house and the frame flashed gold.

  Saren looked up as she walked under the door.

  Gold.

  Saren took a moment to look around outside before pulling the door shut. Through the small window in the door, she saw the plasma bars reset then she turned to join the rest in the living room.