by neetha Napew
“I trusted him, too,” Nyk replied. “He was my closest childhood friend -- my only childhood friend.”
“On top of everything, I cannot believe he'd take the risk to bring Andra here -- and parade her around in public.”
“Do you think he was talking about Andra?” Nyk asked.
Seymor regarded him through narrowed eyes. “It couldn't have been anyone else.”
“She never mentioned being on Earth.”
“I dare say there's much about that ax'amfin you don't know. Do you still cling to the belief she's an innocent bystander in Zander's activities?”
“I trust Andra,” Nyk replied. “I have no choice but to trust her. Zander was using drugs to control her. Someone in the control of another can't be held responsible for their actions.”
“Do you think he drugged her into becoming an expert marksman?”
“That guy must've been exaggerating.”
“Start adding things up, Nyk -- we know Zander was running guns to factions on one of the colonies. It stands to reason he'd want to know how to use them. If Andra was involved and he was training her...”
“I refuse to believe she was a willing participant. I spent time with her, Seymor. I know her better than anyone.”
“Ax'amfinen are witches, Nyk -- social chameleons. They can assume any personality the situation requires. You can't trust 'em any farther than you could hand maneuver an ExoScout. You have to be dispassionate, lad, in order to do this job. You can't let your emotions get the better of your judgment.”
Nyk pointed. “Look -- Coombs Road Extension.”
Seymor turned onto the road. After a mile the pavement turned to gravel. The car bounced along the rough surface and came to a halt outside a run-down house trailer.
“This is Zander's place?” Nyk asked.
“Yep...” Seymor approached the door, reached into a pocket and produced a key. He slipped the key into the lock and swung the door open.
Nyk stepped inside and was greeted by a foul odor. “What a mess!”
Seymor began looking through closets. “We'll scour the place for anything of homeworld origin,” he said.
Something under a table caught Nyk's eye. He stooped and retrieved a spent injector cartridge. “Look here -- Zander had homeworld recreational chemicals. It's a Class-A euphoriant.”
Seymor examined the cartridge. “Sloppy -- damned sloppy... That infraction alone would've kept him planetbound for the rest of his life.” He opened a cabinet and retrieved a polymer box. “This must be his stash.”
Nyk examined an assortment of injector cartridges. “Those green ones look like what he was using to control Andra -- his drug mixture. And, the red ones probably contain nerve toxin -- the same stuff Andra used to kill him.”
“Well, the boys at the pharma labs will be eager to get a look at this. Put all this into that carton and we'll keep looking... Ah, a vidisplay -- that has to go...” He dropped the gadget into the box.
Nyk picked up more spent euphoriant cartridges, dropped them into the carton and headed into the trailer's kitchen. He stopped short. “Seymor -- come here!” He pointed to the trailer's stove. On a burner was an open can of lentil soup sitting in a saucepan half-filled with water. Steam wafted from the pan. Nyk switched off the burner. “Someone's been here.”
“Or, someone IS here,” Seymor hissed.
Nyk could feel his pulse pounding in his neck. He headed toward the bedrooms in the rear of the trailer. One door was closed. With a tug he pulled it open.
Inside was a girl he estimated to be perhaps fourteen Earth years old. She was dressed in a mid-thigh-length cotton sleepshirt. Her hair was medium blond and her eyes brilliant blue. Nyk recognized her immediately as a Floran. His gaze fell on her hand, which held what looked like an injector.
Her eyes flashed around the room. Seymor took a step toward her. Nyk grabbed his arm and held him back. “That's a red cartridge,” he said, “deadly.”
The girl pointed the injector needle toward her thigh but couldn't find the courage to drive it into her flesh. Her eyes met Nyk's. He could see them filling with tears and her heart pounding through the fabric of her nightshirt.
She grasped the injector in her fist, lifted her arm and brought it down toward her thigh. Again she stopped short. She raised her hand again and clenched shut her eyes.
“Z'dev m'obe!” Nyk shouted. For an instant her eyes locked on his. “Hand me that.” He held his palm toward her.
Slowly she stretched her arm to him and dropped the gadget into his hand. He turned and gave it to Seymor; then, opened his arms to her. “Come, you poor, precious girl,” he said soothingly in his native tongue, employing diminutive endings to sweeten his words.
The girl fell against him, sobbing and trembling. He held her and stroked her hair until she began to calm herself.
“What did you say to her?” Seymor asked in English.
“Z'dev m'obe.”
“Obey me.”
“Andra told me it was Zander's trigger word to activate his will-controlling drug. I thought perhaps he was using this poor girl to perfect his mind control. He must've planted a subliminal command for her to use the toxin if she were discovered.” Seymor shook his head. “Looks like I was right... Now, do you still cling to the notion that Zander couldn't have exerted such control on Andra? You could see her conflict -- her will to survive fighting the power of Zander's command.” He continued to pet the girl's hair as she wept against him.
Seymor picked up the vidisplay he had found in the cabinet, switched it on and pressed it against her right wrist. The device's scanpad chirped as it read the ID chip in her metacarpal bone. “Her ID comes back as Dyppa Hawryt -- a native of the Altia colony.”
“Dyppa?” Nyk asked. “Is that your name?” She nodded. “It's a pretty name... Mine is Nykkyo...” He looked toward Seymor and addressed him in English, “Now we have a real dilemma. We can't pack HER into a box and ship her to Wisconsin.”
“We'll have to put her on the plane with you.”
“She'll need some sort of ID,” Nyk replied. “How do we manage that?”
“You'll have to improvise...” Seymor looked at the material in the carton. “Ah -- what have we here?” Seymor handed Nyk a small booklet. “This should do the trick. Looks like Zander anticipated that problem.”
“A phony passport...” He looked at the photo of Dyppa. “Meghan Coneeley, citizen of the Republic of Eire...”
“One of Zander's assignments was engineering Earth identities for Floran Agents,” Seymor replied. “That little document would be child's play.”
Dyppa trembled against Nyk. “Where is Zander?” she asked. “He'll be angry -- he'll punish me...” She wept more.
“Zander can't hurt you.” Nyk looked toward Seymor. “I'll tend to her while you sanitize the place. We don't have much time if I'm to make that evening flight to Milwaukee.”
Seymor nodded and began a methodical search of the trailer. Nyk coaxed Dyppa to a sofa. She leaned against him as he held her. “I'm finding a lot of spent euphoriant cartridges,” Seymor remarked.
“Do you use drugs?” Nyk asked. Dyppa nodded. “How old are you?”
“Eighteen standard Floran years,” she replied.
“The list keeps growing,” Nyk called to Seymor. “Zander supplied drugs to a minor.”
Seymor took an object from a closet. “This must be that guy's scope. We'll drop it off on our way to Tulsa.” He closed up the carton and carried it from the trailer.
“Come on, Dyppa,” Nyk said. “Put some clothes on -- we're going for a ride.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“Home.”
“Home?”
“Don't you want to go home?”
“I don't have a home.”
“We'll find somebody to care for you. You can't stay here. Wouldn't you rather be with your own people?”
* * *
Nyk stood in line to purchase a ticket for Dyppa. “Remembe
r,” he whispered. “Your name is Meghan Coneeley.”
Dyppa nodded.
“ID please,” the ticket agent said. He presented his state ID card and prompted Dyppa to turn over the passport.
“Republic of Eire,” the agent said. “Don't see too many of those...” She looked at Dyppa. “Are you checking any bags?”
Dyppa looked blankly at the agent.
“She doesn't speak English,” Nyk said. “She only speaks ... Gaelic. If you'd like, I'll translate.”
“Please.”
Nyk looked at Dyppa and spoke in his native tongue, “Shake your head and say no.”
Dyppa glanced at him with a faint smile. She shook her head. “No.”
“Has anyone unbeknownst to you asked you to carry anything on board?”
“Once again, say no,” Nyk prompted.
“No.” Dyppa shook her head.
“I have you in row twelve, seats A and B. Is that all right?”
“Nod and say yes.”
She nodded. “Ji -- yes.” The ticket agent handed her the tickets. “Thank you very much,” Dyppa said with a thick accent and curtsied.
He sat with her in the departure lounge. “So far, so good.”
The gate agent opened the flight for boarding. Nyk escorted Dyppa aboard and took the aisle seat. Outside dusk was fast turning to night. He assisted her in fastening her seat belt.
The plane pushed back and taxied toward the runway. Dyppa looked around the cabin as Nyk listened to the flight attendant's emergency instructions.
The plane paused; then, the pilots opened the throttles. The craft hurtled down the runway and lifted off. Dyppa grasped Nyk's forearm in a white-knuckled grip. He looked at the panic in her eyes. “Relax -- it's no worse than a shuttle flight.”
“I don't fly well.”
“Are you going to be sick?”
“I hope not.”
Dyppa began to relax as the plane reached cruising altitude. The flight attendant brought drinks and Nyk gave Dyppa a cup of ice water.
The plane began its initial descent. Dyppa grabbed Nyk's arm every time the motion changed and at the sounds of flaps being deployed. She looked out the window in fear and fascination as the city lights below grew closer and closer. Then she threw her arms around him and buried her face as the aircraft touched down. Nyk could feel her trembling.
She relaxed her grasp on him once the plane came to a halt and the door opened. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“I will be.”
“I have some bad news. This flight landed in Chicago. We must repeat that ordeal with the flight to Milwaukee.
* * *
Nyk paid the driver and helped Dyppa from the cab. He unlocked the door to the house in Wisconsin. “I've never been so happy to see the inside of this house.” He escorted her inside. “I have fond memories of this place. I spent my initial ExoAgency tour here -- what there was of it, at least. It's here I fell in love.”
“In love?” Dyppa asked.
“Yes -- with Earth and with Suki.” He showed her the spare bedroom. “You can sleep here tonight. Tomorrow, Seymor's package should arrive and we head for home. Are you hungry?”
“Very.”
“I still have my university staff card. Let's go over to the union and get something to eat.”
He escorted her down the street and into the university union where he purchased two bowls of vegetarian chili. He watched her wolf down the meal. “How long were you on Earth?”
“I don't really know -- Zander kept me inside the whole time. One day blends into another. This world is such a strange and fearsome place.”
“Earth is a beautiful planet,” Nyk replied. “Zander supplied you with euphoriants?”
“Yes. He had other drugs, too.”
“Some in green cartridges?”
She nodded. “I can barely remember being under its influence.”
“Did you ever meet Andra?”
She shook her head. “Who's Andra?”
“Zander's wife. His widow, now.”
“Zander ... dead?” Shock and relief spread across her face.
“I told you he couldn't hurt you.”
“No, I never met Andra.”
“Did you ever meet a tall, blond woman -- an ax'amfin?”
She shook her head again. “No.”
“You'd remember her if you had.”
Dyppa dropped her spoon into her empty bowl. She pressed her hand against her stomach. “That feels good.”
“Do you want more?”
“I'm fine.”
Nyk picked up the empty bowls. “Let's go back -- I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted.”
He opened the door to the house and heard the phone ringing. He picked it up. “Nykkyo,” he heard Seymor's voice, in English. “I have some information on young Dyppa.”
“Go ahead.”
“I knew the name Hawryt rang a bell. Zander stole the identity of one Frax Hawryt.”
“I remember. We surmise Zander killed Frax for his identity chip.”
“Dyppa is that man's daughter. It seems Frax left Dyppa's mother when she was a toddler and enlisted in the ExoService. Her mother's a registered psyco-addict -- probably didn't give the girl much of a home life. Dyppa herself has a rap sheet -- mainly drug infractions -- use by minor -- truancy -- that sort of thing.”
“Judging from the number of spent injectors we found, the addictive tendencies must run in her family.”
“There's more,” Seymor continued. “She ended up in a child prostitution ring on Altia.” Nyk groaned and held his forehead. “She was caught and agreed to help in a sting operation to nail the ringleader. Then, she was remanded to her mother and ordered to attend a re-education center.”
“You mean reform school.”
“She seemed to do well there. When her mother was diagnosed a psychological addictive and ordered into rehab, Dyppa went into a group home/halfway house. Then, sometime in the past year, her father paid a visit.”
“Her father would've been long dead.”
“Exactly -- who looks at faces? Zander scanned his way in to take her on a one-day leave. She never returned.”
“So, Dyppa's AWOL from the group home -- and Zander's been feeding her habit. It must be how he insinuated his control over her -- how he got her to try is hypnotic mixture.”
“I've been in contact with Internal Affairs. Her mom's been clean for the past year and wants her back.”
“How will they address her skipping out with Zander?”
“It won't be held against her so long as she cooperates and completes her re-education. Of course, she'll need treatment.”
“More than just rehab,” Nyk replied. “No telling what Zander planted in her subconscious.”
“Agreed. An Internal Affairs officer will meet her on the relay station and take her into custody.”
“-- Along with our carton of goodies. Then I ride home with Grynnya and this Zander affair is behind us once and for all. Thanks, Seymor. This helps.” Nyk hung up the phone.
He mounted the stairs to the spare room and rapped on the door. “Come,” Dyppa said. Nyk opened the door. She was lying in bed with the covers pulled up to her armpits.
Nyk sat on the bed. “Dyppa, I want you to try to trust people who want to help you.”
“I don't understand...”
“I think Zander might have planted ideas in your head -- ideas you don't know you have. Like today -- you didn't want to kill yourself, did you?”
“What are you talking about? I never tried to kill myself.”
“The injector -- the red cartridge...”
“I don't know anything about a red cartridge.”
Nyk looked into her eyes. “You really don't -- do you?” She shook her head. “If you find yourself in a situation where your instinct is telling you one thing -- and some ... some voice in your mind tells you something else -- go with your instinct. Will you try to do that?”
“I'll try. I
think I trust you, Nykkyo.”
“By the way, Dyppa -- I was proud of how you handled yourself at the airport today. It took courage and poise. You sized up what you had to do and executed flawlessly.”
She smiled. “Thanks.”
“I'm going to call Suki and then turn in. I'll see you in the morning.” He kissed her forehead and switched out the lights.
Nyk lay on his bed, his fingers laced behind his head. “Andra and I were much closer to the abyss than I imagined,” he said to himself. He closed his eyes and tried to relax.
His sleep was shattered by a shriek. He ran to the spare room and rapped on the door. “Dyppa -- are you all right? Dyppa?”
He heard another scream and opened the door. Dyppa was standing on the bed, pointing toward the floor. “No! It's coming! Don't let it... Don't let it... Don't let it get me!”
Nyk switched on the light. “Dyppa -- you're having a bad dream.” Panting, she looked at him. “Come, lie down.” He coaxed her into the bed and tucked the covers around her. “What was your dream?”
“I don't know -- I can't describe it. It was as if a pool of ... of evil seeped under the door and crept toward me. I knew I'd die if it touched me.” She took his hand and pressed it to her chest. “Feel my heart...”
“I have no doubt it scared you -- but it was just a dream. Have you had bad dreams before?”
“Now and then. Nykkyo, do you have any drugs?”
“No -- none in the house.”
“Oh... I'll be all right, I guess.”
Nyk kissed her forehead. “Try to get some rest.” He switched off the light and headed for his own room.
He was almost asleep when he heard a knock on his door. “Yes?” he said as he switched on the light.
The door opened and Dyppa entered. “May I sleep with you?”
Nyk averted his gaze. “Dyppa, go put on a shirt.”
“I want to sleep with you. I'm afraid of being alone.”
“Put on a shirt, and then if you need me to hold you, I will.”
She returned wearing the blouse she had worn earlier. Nyk turned back the covers and patted the mattress. She lay beside him and he held her.