The second man's eyes followed the pointing finger and froze. The first said something she couldn't hear and started running. The second man lowered his end of the body gently to the ground. At least one of them had respect for the dead.
The man bent down to the woman's head and whispered something. Maybe he was her mate? He looked around one last time and ran off in the direction of his partner, towards the main tunnel leading to the Barakaak's home.
Marsil waited a few moments to make sure they wouldn't return. Graaf returned to her side. She turned to admonish him for not waiting but he let out a strangled gasp. She turned and let out her own gasp. The dead woman rose to her feet.
The woman put her hands in her pockets and pulled out a piece of paper. Marsil couldn't make anything out, but it seemed to give the other woman a sense of purpose. She ran towards a dune near the horizon.
Something was wrong with this woman, aside from being so recently dead. Maybe she didn't have a lot of experience with the surface, but she wasn't paying any attention to the treacherous path before her. The woman stumbled and fell.
They watched, scarcely able to breathe, as the young woman struggled to her feet. She hobbled a few more feet.
Marsil could see it. Graaf could see it. This mystery woman, however, didn't seem to notice the crevice she was about to step in to.
Thoughts ran through Marsil's head. This woman obviously wasn't dead, but had been carried up to the surface as if she were. She had no surface gear. She would either asphyxiate or freeze to death in the next few minutes. Whoever she was, the Barakaaks wanted her dead. That was good enough for Marsil.
"Watch out," Marsil shouted. The woman turned towards the tunnel but didn't stop her limping run. Her foot caught the crevice and she fell again.
"Grab the respirator out of my pack," Marsil yelled to Graaf as she shot towards the fallen woman. As she ran, she struggled out of her heavy surface coat. Reaching the woman, she tossed the coat over top of the rapidly cooling body. She yanked her own respirator off of her face and slid it over the other woman's face.
She counted the seconds. The woman's chest heaved in spasming breaths as it replenished its depleted oxygen stores and then settled into regular, deep breaths. Color seemed to be returning to her face. Marsil, however, was getting cold. She hoped that Graaf was bringing more than just the respirator she had requested.
He crested the hill. He gripped their spare respirator in one hand and dragged Marsil's pack with the other. When he reached her, he leaned down to give her a kiss and then slipped the respirator over her head.
Cool, fresh oxygen filled her burning lungs. She kept one eye trained on the unconscious woman and another on her lover as he rummaged through the pack for another coat.
He pulled the garment out and helped her shivering body into it. He put his arms around her and drew her close to share his body heat with her.
"We should get her somewhere warmer. How deep does that tunnel go before it gets blocked?" Graaf asked, looking over Marsil's shoulder at their guest.
"Not deep enough." Marsil shook her head. "But we can put her in the tent and crank up the heat until she thaws out." She fastened her pack to her shoulder and reached down and grabbed the ankles. "Wait," she said. She let go of the body and leaned over to the woman's pockets. She pulled out the map the woman had consulted before. "Wherever this leads is probably important to her and important to Vaamick."
She picked up her side of the body again and Graaf raised his half. Back in the cave, they set up the tent. It took some doing to get the unconscious woman into the tent. The designers hadn't anticipated the need for carrying a limp body inside and the opening was only waist high. The smaller Marsil climbed in and hoisted the upper half from a squat and crouch-walked backwards while Graaf stood holding the legs. Once the body was mostly inside, Marsil carefully dragged the body the rest of the way in.
"Keep an eye on her in case she wakes up. I'm going to check out this map," Marsil said.
"Do you think that's a good idea? What if it's a trap?"
Marsil rolled her eyes. "I doubt the Barakaaks set up guards and a map leading to an ambush in case a Saarkaak happened upon the body of a woman pretending to be dead."
"You know what I mean. Maybe she was going to meet somebody."
"You saw them. They were doing a funeral detail. The one looked like he may have known she was alive, but if the other did, why go through the show? They weren't expecting anyone out here."
"Well, be careful. And hurry back. I don't want to make the trip to the human camp on my own."
"I will." She kissed him and climbed back into the tunnel.
Marsil didn't take his warning seriously. The laser riffle in one hand and stunner in the other was an ordinary precaution. She reached for the map in her pocket and realized that it would be impossible with her hands full. She frowned as she realized that the incident had spooked her more than she'd thought. It had been too long since she had been on a surface mission.
She slipped the stunner back into its pouch on her jacket. The laser riffle was a more useful weapon in these situations. She reached for the map again. Whatever the strange, undead woman's destination was, it was just over that next ridge.
Marsil hesitated. She hated how nervous the thought of real action was making her. Figuring there was nothing more that she could do to prepare herself, she pushed forward.
Her head poked over the ridge to find…nothing. Maybe it was a rendezvous point and the other person hadn't arrived yet or had already left. That didn't make sense. Without surface gear on, the woman who'd faked her death would have needed a tight window for a meeting. The person meeting her would have needed to bring her surface gear.
Wait, there it was. One of the rocks in the formation to her left wasn't real. Closer inspection revealed a pack under a Bara-colored tarp. The pack carried surface gear for the petite woman sleeping in her tent.
She made her way back to the tunnel. She opened the tent and stuck her head in. "It was just provisions for her," she said to Graaf.
The sleeping woman roused. "Donoon," she whimpered. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and noticed the other two residents of the tent. Her eyes went wide when she saw their insignia.
"Saarkaaks! Don't eat me," she screamed.
Marsil
Marsil's jaw dropped. They stared at the cowering woman for a moment. Then Graaf started laughing. Marsil chuckled, but he continued laughing.
The woman's face changed from fear to anger. "Why are you laughing at me?"
Marsil elbowed him in the ribs. He snorted and struggled to regain his composure.
"Don't mind him," Marsil told her. "It's been a stressful few days. It's good for him to let out some steam. I'm Marsil and this is Graaf." She pointed at him as he took a couple deep breaths. "And we're definitely not going to eat you."
"I'm Salaris," she said. "Yeah, I guess that was a little ridiculous. I woke up in here and the first thing that came to my head was all those children's stories I heard as a girl."
"If they are half as bad as what parents are telling their children about Barakaaks, I'm sure they were dreadful," Marsil said. "And ridiculous."
"Yes." Salaris smiled. "I'd say equal parts both. Although I didn't have parents telling me the stories. I'm an orphan.
"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm a Lun, myself."
Salaris looked at the older woman and the man with his arm draped over her shoulder. "So you aren't together then?"
"We are," Graaf said, squeezing Marsil tighter.
Salaris looked even more alarmed then when she discovered herself surrounded by her mortal enemies. "I know who my parents were," Marsil explained. "But my father refuses to acknowledge me."
"He forced you to be a Lun?" Salaris cried. "That's horrible."
"We couldn't take it any longer, so we left," Marsil explained. "We were heading to, err... Um, we were on a mission when we discovered you. What is your story? I'd love to hear why you were up
on the surface without any gear."
"Uncle Vaamick is out of control. He imprisoned and tortured me for speaking out against his plan."
"Uncle Vaamick?" Graaf asked.
"Well, he is my fiancé's uncle. More like a friend of the family," Salaris rambled. "But I guess that's all over now." She dropped her head.
Marsil took her hand. "You've got us now."
Salaris's features hardened. "I've got to find out if he was telling the truth about Donoon. I just can't believe that he would agree with Vaamick's sick plan."
"What is Vaamick planning? If we know what it is, maybe we can stop it. That's probably the best way to find out what side your fiancé is on," Marsil said.
"He never said all of the details," Salaris explained. "But he‘s doing something to trick the humans into bringing a larger ship and then attack them. He wants to take us to Earth and kill off the humans with the plague."
"The plague," Marsil and Graaf shouted in unison.
"Yes. I can't let that happen. That's not what Bara teaches," Salaris said. "I spoke out and Vaamick captured me. He had me tortured until the doctor had mercy on me and gave me something to fake my death. One of the guards carrying me was in on it. The other was my torturer."
Marsil nodded. "That makes sense. When they spotted my bag, the first one dropped you and ran. The other was gentle. I thought he was paying proper respect to the dead."
"So what do we do now?" Salaris asked.
"We go back to Saar," Marsil said. "If you tell the king what you know about Vaamick's plans, we can use our resources to stop him."
Graaf shook his head. "Are you sure this is a good idea, Marsil? We didn't exactly leave on the best terms."
"This will redeem us. He'll have to see things our way."
"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that idea. You two seem nice and all, but the Saarkaaks have been my enemy, and I have been theirs, for my entire life."
"We're going. You can be our guest or our prisoner," Marsil said. She crossed her arms and glared at them, daring them to disagree with her again. "And that's final."
Nobody said anything for a minute. Graaf was the first to speak. "Well, I guess we should be getting to bed. We've got a long walk back."
Marsil opened the door to Jeef's antechamber and stopped. Instead of Rillin's smiling face, she saw Kis at the desk picking her nails.
Her nook-mate looked up at the sound of the intrusion. "Well, well. I'm surprised you would show your face again after breaking the ancient laws and then deserting your people. But I guess with all that Bara worship, we were never really your people anyway."
"Shut it, Kis." Marsil gritted her teeth. "I'm too busy to deal with your insults."
"Oh, you will have all the time in the world once you've been arrested." She reached for her communicator.
Marsil leaned over and snatched her wrist. "You wouldn't want Jeef to miss out on my news."
The smaller woman struggled against her grip. "What could you possibly say that he would want to hear after what you did?"
"Just the Barakaaks plan, straight from a defector close to Vaamick." Marsil smirked, letting go of her.
"You'll need a better lie than that," Kis said, rubbing her wrist.
"Come on in, you two," Marsil called over her shoulder at the still open door.
Graaf entered the room with Salaris close behind. Salaris closed the door behind her. When she turned, the Saturn and moon emblem of the Barakaaks became visible.
Kis opened her mouth but no sound came out. Marsil reached over the desk and pressed a button on the edge. Jeef's door clicked open.
"Thanks for the chat. It's been fun," Marsil said. She pulled open the door. "Hi, daddy."
"Daddy?" Kis and Salaris said in unison.
Jeef looked up and frowned. "I will not say this again. I am not your father. You have a lot of nerve coming back here after what you did."
Marsil and her party entered the office. She waited until they were inside and seated before shutting the door in front of the still speechless Kis. "You didn't leave me with much choice, did you? Well, in spite of your unwillingness to do anything, I've got real information on the Barakaaks and the humans." Marsil pointed to Salaris. "This is Salaris. She was to be married to Vaamick's nephew."
Salaris gave a little bow from her chair.
"His nephew. Did Lig have a son later?" Jeef asked.
Marsil blinked. How did Jeef know so much about Vaamick's family? She wanted to ask him what other information he knew about their enemy that he hadn't shared. Salaris had other ideas.
"No, Lig was actually Donoon's grandmother," Salaris said. "She couldn't have any more children after the war started. She was the first casualty of the war that you started. You killed her." Salaris's hands clenched. "This whole war was your fault. You couldn't stand how religion made Vaamick more powerful than you so you tried to destroy him and the faith." Her voice got louder with each word.
"I don't know what lies Vaamick fed you but he really made the first move and my wife was the first to die. Lig was just a pawn he used for his own agenda," Jeef shouted back. "You don't sound like a defector or an informant. You sound more like a spy to me."
Marsil stood up and slid in between the two of them. She held her hands out to stop them. "Now hold on. This isn't about who is right or wrong, or what side started it," she said. "This is about information that could end the war. With us victorious if we stop his plan or him victorious if we do nothing."
"I'll reserve judgment for now," Jeef said. "Okay, what's the old devil up to now?"
Salaris told him what she knew of Vaamick's plan, including his invasion of Earth. Throughout it, Jeef made nods and grunts at some of the more fantastical parts.
When she finished, Jeef leaned back in his seat. "I don't understand what the problem is. Vaamick is going to take his followers and himself to another world? What is wrong with that? Sounds like it solves our problem for itself."
"Because he's going to kill and enslave millions of innocent humans," Salaris explained.
"Who cares about humans? He's been killing and trying to enslave Saarkaaks for forty years."
"Earth has resources," Marsil interjected. "We all know that we've just about mined Bara dry over the millennia. Earth is still rich in metals and everything Vaamick needs to build more ships and more weapons. Then he'll come back and finish the war once and for all. We can't let him do that."
"I'm not buying it. That's a lot of people that he has to deal with. Sure, they are only humans, but the number boggles the mind. Vaamick won't succeed in his plan," Jeef said.
"So we do nothing?" Marsil balled her fists.
"No, I'm certainly going to do something. I can't have the three of you spreading panic," Jeef said. "So I need to deal with you."
"You can't kill us," Graaf exclaimed.
"I do need your skills, Graaf. So, you'll be placed under house arrest. The only ones you'll get to speak to for the rest of your life are my guards. Salaris will be executed as a spy. It will be public. Good for morale." Jeef turned and looked Marsil in the eye. "I do have a dungeon near the surface. It hasn't gotten much use in the past few centuries, but that will be where you spend the rest of your days. After breaking the old laws about the Lun, this is a great mercy I do to you."
"I'm not a Lun, dammit." Marsil stood. "We both know who my father was, and how much of a coward he continues to be."
"It wouldn't be possible for you to be less aware of your family. Your constant insinuations are one reason you must be quieted," Jeef said.
"You've denied me for the last time." She pulled out her stunner baton and thrust it into Jeef's chest. He convulsed and fell. She looked at her shocked companions. "Come on, we don't have any time to lose if we want to get out of this with our skins."
Marsil took the few short steps to the door and opened it. Her nook-mate stood crouched at the door with her hand cupped over her ear.
The look on her face told Marsil everyt
hing she needed to know about what she had heard. Kis pulled out her communicator but Marsil swung the stunner over her head and brought it down on the other woman's head. The weapon wasn't designed to be a bludgeon and cracked under the impact.
Kis went down but Marsil wasn't content to run away just yet. She stepped closer to the prostrate body and kicked her in the ribs. "That's for breaking my stuff." Marsil spat. She kicked the limp form again. Salaris winced at the sound of breaking ribs. "And that's for sleeping with my father." She wound up for a third time but Graaf grabbed her from behind and lifted her off the ground.
She struggled against his grip. He was stronger than she had realized. That training regimen she had put him through must have been paying off. "Let me go."
"You should be ashamed of yourself, Marsil." Graaf carried her over to the chairs on the other side of the room. "Attacking an unarmed woman? Attacking an unconscious person? That's not you. That's not the woman I love." He pushed her into the chair. She tried to rise but he held her down by her shoulders. "You need to calm down."
"Don't try to tell me what to do. She's been a thorn in my side from the day that I met her. Everything she's done has been to spite me. Even being with Jeef. She only did that because she knew he was the one person that had more power over her than I did."
"That doesn't matter. You are better than her. At least I thought you were. Now I'm not so sure." Graaf shook his head.
"So what are you waiting for?" Marsil said. "Go ahead and leave. Abandon me like my father did."
"No, I'm going to be the bigger person. I'm just going to wait until you apologize."
"You're going to wait a long time, because I did nothing wrong."
"Uh, guys?" Salaris spoke up. "I don't know if your weapons are different from ours, but I don't think Jeef is going to be out for very long." She cast a sidelong glance at Kis and pursed her lips. "She probably will, though."
Marsil struggled against his grip again. "She's right. I attacked the king. With the two of you as witnesses. I doubt that mercy he was talking about is going to apply any more. We need to get out of here."
Once Upon a Saturn Moon Page 8