KAHARI

by Dean Kutzler

  The inside of the house despite its outside appearance was modern and high-tech, even for current-day standards back on Aurailia. Maddie had switched on the automaid on the way in, and it was finished cleaning before Saren made her way to the living room.

  Ensign Brody and Daxton were already seated around a hovering coffee table when Saren sat down.

  “Ye be right, Maddie,” Ensign Brody shouted towards the kitchen. “That thing makes a helluva racket, but it was quick! Never seen such a thing!”

  Maddie strolled out of the kitchen carrying a large silver tray before her. She set the tray down on the table, placing dainty teacups on saucers and little plates in front of each of them, then she laid fresh linen napkins alongside. On the tray, a pile of delicious smelling cookies was wafting under their noses.

  “Be careful. The cookies are still hot,” she said, placing the teapot back on the tray and sitting down beside Ensign Brody.

  “Did ye bake ‘em fresh?” he asked. “So quickly?”

  She nodded her head, rolling her eyes around the house. “It’s got anything you could want. I know this be a bad place and all, but I never had me something so nice when I was, well you know,” she said, trailing off.

  “Maddie,” Saren said, picking up the cup and saucer. “When Mr. Brody walked under the door, it flashed green. But when Daxton and I walked through, the color was gold. Why?”

  Maddie’s eyes widen slightly, and a big smile stretched across her face. “That just means you both be extra good!”

  She wasn’t buying that for a dollar!

  Saren wondered if there was something different about them, or if Maddie was making it up.

  “Tell us more about the Incubatati.”

  She glanced up at an odd looking clock on the wall, and said, “Oh, that lot. They’re a terrible bunch. Forget about ‘em. You’re all safe now. Want some more tea?”

  “No, I’m fine, thank you. If you don’t mind me asking, Maddie, what did you do to end up here, in Kahari?” Saren asked, purposely switching up the conversation.

  Maddie’s porcelain complexion blushed. “I was afraid ye would ask that. But I have to be honest. I’m always honest. My Mamma always said liars go to hell. More tea?”

  Saren shook her head. “It’s okay, Maddie. Tell us.”

  “Oooo, okay. I just dinnae want ye to think badly of me. But, ‘member when I said me Pappy died o’ the brew? Isn’t true. I was ashamed to tell ye. I poisoned him.”

  Daxton was reaching for a cookie and stopped mid-air.

  Maddie saw the expression on his face. “Oh, no no no. Don’t worry Mr. Stone. I would never do that to ye. My father, he wasn’t such a good man like yourself. Used to beat Mamma, especially when she tried stoppin’ what he was doin’ to me. No man should ever do those things to a little girl.

  “But I’m okay, now. I know people be sick in ways we can’t help them. More tea?” She glanced at the clock again.

  She’s stalling.

  “Maddie—are you waiting for something? You keep watching the clock,” Saren asked, nodding to the wall

  “Clock?” Her face scrunched up. “Oh! On the wall, ah—no, I mean yes. I’m waiting—I put a load of laundry in earlier. I’m just waiting for it to get done. You know what happens when you leave it all wet like that in the washer. Can’t never get those wrinkles out—gotta run it again.”

  Saren glanced at both Daxton and Ensign Brody who were staring right back at her. Something wasn’t right. Saren needed to press her about the Incubatati and get out of there.

  “What do they look like, Maddie? The Incubatati?”

  “Ugh! They’re a nasty bunch! They look like the big naked demons they are.”

  Daxton accidentally dropped his plate, and the hover table shifted to catch it.

  “Sorry—ummm, did you say big and naked?”

  Maddie nodded, making a face like she just ate a rotten tomato.

  Saren began to say something when Ensign Brody turned towards Maddie on the couch, and said, “I thought ye said earlier ye never saw them before.”

  At first, her face was pleasant, then it twisted up in anger, making her look more like an ugly hag. “I knew ye were smart—same blood ’n all. Irelandian’s always be smart unless they drink too much brew.”

  Maddie hopped from the couch and took a step back into the dining room, smacking something on the wall. A force field snapped around the perimeter of the room blocking both the front door and the divide between rooms.

  “The Incubatati’ll pass me over for a good long time, and I’ll be protected. Specially thanks to you two, ye half-naked one and ye sex-pot in that curvy black iron like a dominatrix.” She looked at Daxton. “Whatta ye doin’ walking around with just a vest ‘o Razorback skin on ye. Disgusting!”

  Daxton looked down at his chest, then back up at the crazy bitch. “What? I had to—oh forget it.” He stood, whipping his pistol from the holster and shooting across the room at Maddie.

  The plasma bolt struck the field and harmlessly disappeared, absorbed into the energy.

  Maddie cackled like a witch.

  Saren searched the room, looking for anything she could blast to cut the power to the field, but it encircled the entire room.

  They were trapped.

  Saren lowered the wristcom and decided to try and learn all she could.

  “Maddie, what’s the clock?”

  “It ain’t a clock, iron-pants! It’s a timer. It’s how much time ye have until the Incubatati get here. All I had to do was get ye past me door! Oh, glory-be! My time was a comin’, too. I ain’t tricked a soul in under a year and a year’s the limit before they come for ye. Then I heard that assed-out mog a screamin’ out there! Bloody near shite me panties thinkin’ they were a comin’ for me.

  “Then I saw ye suckers fresh outta the Inner Ring. What luck? I ain’t never seen a one come out in all me years here. Then I said to meself, Maddie, better be careful they must be toughens, fighin’ their way outta that lot of Faelar’s.

  “And all I had to do was put on the lonely little ole lass act. This one here,” she said, nodding at Ensign Brody on the couch, “nearly popped his little wiener! Whatta ye think ye were gonna do? Lute me blind, ye feckers? Take turns rammin’ me gowl while iron-pant’s watches, playin’ the finger-tango?”

  Ensign Brody stood and moved in front of Maddie behind the force field.

  “Maddie. Ye was right, what ye said earlier. We’re innocent souls, people. We wouldn’t do such terrible things. It be a mistake. We are here by accident, Faelar even told us.”

  “Ha! Faelar! Faelar told ye—ye were innocent did he? Now that is a joke! Ye are innocent! Innocent fools and fodder fer that goddamned machine. Now sit back down, laddie and dry the wet from a back ye ears! Ye think because we from the same land, you’re gonna sweet-talk me into a droppin’ this field and losing me chance at peace for the next eleven years? Eleven years, oh lordy!

  “Yeah, that’s right! Pretty boy and iron-pants there’ll fetch me five years each, and ye’ll get me one. Ye think this feckin’ beautiful house is paradise here in Kahari? Ye think we got it good? I gotta find at leasts one schlep a year to keep those soul-suckin’ bastards at bay. And they won’t take them homeless beggars. Ye know how hard it is to find someone? So sit the feck down and cork it—ye arse!”

  The timer on the wall dinged.

  “Times up! Me wash is done,” Maddie said cackling, and slapping her knee. “Ooooh, me wash is done! Done fer eleven years!”

  ***

  The doorway between the Inner and Middle Ring began rippling and vibrating. Dozens of dimples puckered the black surface, disappearing and reappearing in an undulating wave of madness until a lone, black tentacle emerged from the door.

  It sniffed twice and dropped down to the ground, slowly snaking its way over to Ensign Brody’s dried bloody rag. Snatching it up and yanking it back into the darkness.

  A moment later black tentacles burst from the dark viscous liquid
, clutching the edge and pulling the mass of the beast out from the darkness until the bulk dropped, hitting the ground and writhing towards Maddie’s house, sniffing.

  ***

  “Maddie,” Saren pleaded. “Don’t do this. We can offer you a way off Kahari. You can be free. It’s why we’re traveling through the Rings—to get back to the surface.”

  “Oh yeah? Then what? Ye gonna grow wings outta that tin can, Lassie, and fly us off? There ain’t no escapin’ Kahari. That beady-eyed, veiny-faced feck, Faelar, shoulda told ye that at leasts! No’un leaves here whether ye think ye belong or not.”

  “She be tellin’ the truth, Maddie! We’re—“

  The windows in the living room abruptly went dark as something struck the house, causing the plasma bars to overload and shut down.

  “What the Great Dolos was that? What did ye bring with ye? Goddamned feckers what the fuck is on my house?”

  Daxton shoved the curtain aside, and dozens of slimy tentacles squirmed across the glass. He jumped back from the unnerving sight and landed next to Ensign Brody on the couch.

  “Daxton?!” Saren shouted.

  “I—I don’t know! It ain’t the thing sportin’ the stiffy, I never seen something so—so terrifying!”

  In the short time she’d known Daxton, she’d never seen him so rattled or heard him use the word terrifying seriously.

  The darkness lifted from the window and Saren ran over, shoving the curtain aside. She backflipped away from the glass as the window pane shattered against the force field from a mass of thrashing tentacles.

  “Maddie! Take down the field! Don’t let the Incubatati take us! You’re only prolonging your hell by helping them,” she yelled, turning to face the wretched woman.

  Maddie’s face was drawn up in fright. She violently shook her head. “That ain’t them demons. I—I dunno what that fecking thing is.”

  “How strong are the defenses of this house, Maddie?” Saren snapped.

  “I don’t—they’re strong—I ain’t never seen nothin’ so—big. I-I guess it should hold.”

  Loud cracking sounds came down from the roof, and a second later the porch and front wall of the house split off like an egg cracking into a pan.

  The force field shimmered twice, then failed just as the beast was rearing back to strike.

  “Now!” Saren screamed, taking off and running for the back door. “Come on!”

  Daxton and Ensign Brody were a clip behind her, as Maddie fumbled with the security panel, trying to activate the security breach protocol.

  Tentacles writhed into the living room, clutching and overturning furniture, smashing the hover table, and sending the tea set flying into the living room.

  Ensign Brody stopped, and yelled, “Maddie! Leave it! The house ain’t worth it—it’s done!”

  “Feck ye it’s all I got! I ain’t endin’ up like them homeless mogs!”

  The beast pulled its slithering form into the living room, razor teeth snapping away at anything in its path, seeking the source of blood it craved.

  Ensign Brody started to run for Maddie and was yanked off his feet, and thrown toward Daxton.

  “NOW!” Saren roared, flashing him a violent look saying leave the bitch or face something worse than that creature.

  Maddie turned from the panel, giving up on the house, and ran for the back door. She stepped on a broken teacup, slicing the skin between her toes and screaming out in pain. She scrambled over a dining room chair and fell to the floor sliding beneath the table.

  Tentacles raced across the floor, wrapping around her bloody foot and twisting up her legs, pulling her towards its mouth as she desperately grabbed at the legs of the table.

  Saren, Daxton, and Ensign Brody found the back door and ran outside onto the path.

  Echoes of Maddie’s screams chased them down the path as they ran into the city.

  THE SPIRITUAL MAFIOSO

  “I—can’t-run—any—more,” Daxton wheezed, bending over, planting his hands on his knees and stopping on the street. “I don’t—care! It can—eat me.”

  “Aye—I agree—” Ensign Brody said, bumping into Daxton, mimicking his posture.

  Saren stopped twenty-feet ahead of them and turned around on the desolate streets, not even a bum in sight. She searched the distance for any sign of the beast before jogging back to the exhausted men.

  “I can understand Daxton being tired—but Mr. Brody, you’ve recently been through academy. Has training grown so lax since the Scarab’s reign?”

  “I’m afraid—so ma'am. Morale isn’t what it used to be—so I’m told.” He straightened the best he could, and said, “Me—apologies, Commander.”

  Saren made a mental note to talk with Admiral Tog. The cadets, along with the fleet needed to be in tip-top shape. The instructors needed to beacons of hope, not surrendering to the impossibility of the situation. Things had changed since her time there.

  As Saren let Daxton and Ensign Brody take a breather, they had time to think about what just happened. While none of them, save for possibly Ensign Brody gave a rat’s ass about the lying little bitch, Kahari was still hell for the criminals. Saren couldn’t help feeling the inhabitants deserved what they got—but still.

  “You heard her—screams?” Daxton asked, finally breathing normally.

  “If that isn’t the Incubatati Maddie was talking about, I have no clue what it is. Nor do I ever want to see it again,” Saren said. “It ripped the front of that fortified unit off like it was nothing. And plasma has no affect on it. I wonder what the hell it is.”

  Ensign Brody remained silent.

  He knew the commander had made the right decision—the woman was a fecking bitch—but he would never stand by and do nothing while a woman was in trouble—ever.

  “Yeah, I’m especially happy we got outta there before the Incu-dinky came,” Daxton said, rolling his eyes.

  “While we seem to need an extended break, here—,” Saren said, voiced laced with guilt. “Let’s talk about a plan. Now that we’re in the thick of the city, I’m not sure we’re running in the right direction.

  “It was pretty easy in the Inner Ring. All we had to do was follow the path through the rubble because there was nowhere else to go. But here?” she said, looking around at the houses, waving her hands. “I’m not sure these streets are following the same direction. Daxton? Ensign? Any clues?”

  “You’re correct,” Daxton answered. “The path in the Inner ring zigzagged all over the place. Here, we’ve been traveling in a straight line,” he said, holding his hand between his eyes like a fin, then extending it straight down the street.

  “Can you get us to where the door should be?”

  “Can a space pirate find booty?” he countered with a cheesy grin.

  Saren exhaled in relief and said, “Thank the powers that be. Lead the way, Dax. We’re halfway there, guys. The sooner we—What’s wrong?“

  Daxton stood in shock, eyes wide staring past Saren, and mouth agape.

  “Commander—duck!” Ensign Brody shouted, running at her.

  Saren dove towards the ground, hands flat in an attempt to flip out of the way but it was too late. An energy-zapping net dropped down over the three of them, and she fell flat. Ensign Brody stopped dead in his tracks, and he and Daxton fell to the ground.

  The snare temporarily disabled all energy-reliant weapons as well as the neural net of synapses powering any living thing. The victim of the net could still see, hear, breathe and feel—just powerless to respond.

  “It is good to be king.” A deep, commanding voice boomed over their limp bodies as they helplessly stared into the fake sky of the hollow world.

  Massive, hairy balls dangling beneath a slowly rising phallus shadowed Daxton’s emotionless face.

  The hairy, phallic view disappeared from Daxton’s vision as the towering Incubatati boss leaned over and stared into his face. The view was no better as Daxton helplessly stared up into the demonic incubus’s red-eyed face, surr
ounded by the curly horns of a ram.

  The incubus demon crouched down, leathery wings curling over Daxton’s body, offering privacy as he leaned in near his ear.

  “Dax, is it?” he whispered, sex oozing from his deep voice, eyes pulsating red. “I am Kranlax, King of the Incubatati and all you see. I shall call you Daxy and ooooh—what fruitless fun we’re going to have, Daxy. I’m going to save you for my personal pet—even though I know what you are, and just how much you’re worth. Make it all the more exciting, don’t you think?”

  The demon stood up with incredible speed, leaves and debris gathering around the motionless trio.

  Two smaller demons stepped into view.

  “Touch not a hair on this one’s head.” The Incubatati boss said to the henchmen, pointing to Daxton. “Put him in my lair. I don’t care what you do of the others, as long as they eventually get fed to the door when you’re finished.”

  “But Sir Kranlax—” The smaller of the two incubi demons addressed the boss. “We’ve already started feeding citizens to the door who have met our quota, and the meter is still reading low.

  “Maybe his Highness can have fun with the new pet, then feed him to the door? Pretty soon, all the houses will be empty, and once the meter is too low my lord, and Faelar will be upon us. My only concerned is he may destroy our glorious home you worked so hard to build over the eons.”

  Kranlax stabbed two fingers under the smaller demon’s face, lifting him in the air by the chin.

  “You mean my home? Let me worry about Faelar, lest I rip the tongue from your mouth,” he sneered. “I do not give orders looking for questions or concerns in return! I expect absolute obedience!”

  He flicked his fingers to the ground, and the demon fell towards the net.

  It landed on its tail and bounced off Ensign Brody’s leg, producing a loud crack.

  The demon who had smartly remained silent moved in to help his fellow incubi. “Toggazok, you should know better.” He smiled up at Kranlax as he bent and helped his friend to his hooves.