“Just what I said,” Pythias taunted. “Where were you when we needed you a few days ago?”
“I was up the coast . . . working.”
“Is that a fact?”
Red-faced and ashamed now, Ebbeson looked around him. Everyone in the place was staring at him. He stood, uncertain of whether he should fight back or sit down. Once more he glanced at Pythias. Something in the older man’s expression helped him make his decision. He sat down.
“Is this what’s bothering you?” Pythias said, pulling the laser pistol out from beneath his coat. He laid it on the bar.
“Fancy little doodad,” Mike Sherman said, whistling. “Could we have a demonstration?”
“Set a glass down on the bar,” Pythias instructed. Mike did as he asked, gently placing a shot glass on the mahogany surface.
Pythias picked up the laser and without even aiming, fired an arc across the bar until the blue beam caught the glass. He held it there for a moment.
The glass heated, turning red, and then shattered into a thousand fragments. Smoke curled from it remains as the barflies gathered around to marvel at what they’d seen. “Where’d you get that thing?” Melvin Grant asked. “On my way out the door up at Brunk Labs,” Pythias said. “It helped clear my path.”
The men gathered around Pythias now, inclined to believe him and eager to get a better look at the laser. He passed it to the nearest of them and let them examine it.
“You didn’t come up here just for target practice, did you, Sheriff?” Mike Sherman asked.
“Not exactly, Mike.”
“So what can I do for you?”
“I’m trying to find out something about a real estate transaction.”
Mike leaned toward him, listening.
“Seems that Dr. Brunk bought some land—an island, actually—-off the coast here a little ways, but he didn’t buy it under his own name.”
“Mmm.”
“Mrs. Snodgrass, down at city hall, thinks somebody around town made the transaction for him.”
“She’s right,” said Mike.
“Oh, yeah? How do you know that?”
“Easy.” Mike smiled broadly. “I made that deal for Dr. Brunk.”
Chapter 23
Willie was dragged before Ronald, the light blinding him. He was almost grateful when a guard held his head down; the glare wasn’t so harsh on the floor.
“So, my little philosopher,” Ronald said. “The sun will soon rise, and we will begin our sport.”
“Then you have found the place?” Willie asked. The guard kicked him.
“No,” Ronald commanded. “Let him up.”
Willie was released. He stood, his eyes adjusting to the artificial light.
“Fortune is with us, Willie,” Ronald grated. “Not only have we found the perfect location for our little game, but we have also located Dr. Brunk.”
Willie’s heart sank.
“Then you have ...”
“We have not yet captured him,” Ronald replied. “He is under surveillance and cannot possibly escape.” Willie looked down at the floor, thinking of the ritual of Zon. It wouldn’t be much longer until the cold weather set in; if only they could hold out till then. But Ronald seemed so certain that the advantage was his . . . perhaps too certain. Willie sensed a weakness in Ronald’s scheming mind, a lack of appreciation about how things could go awry no matter how carefully one had planned. But there was little sense in saying this to Ronald, for he would discover it eventually, in spite of himself.
“We begin to hunt at dawn,” Ronald said. “You will be taken now to the site we have selected.”
Ronald led the way out of the laboratory building. Following, guards surrounding him, Willie was grateful to be out in the fresh air. Though there was a slightly lower methane count than on his home world and a slightly higher nitrogen count, he had learned to enjoy breathing the air of his adopted planet. After all, he could never go home again unless the power of the military was somehow broken in his lifetime, a proposition that did not seem likely at the moment.
The only hope was Amon, the exiled spiritual leader, the being who personified the preta-na-ma in a mortal body. Even so, Willie could not assume that all would work out well today—for him or for the victimized human race. The poor creatures of this world might have a long struggle ahead of them, but Willie believed that they would prevail in the end. Their cause was just, and they believed injustice, thus drawing on a moral strength that eluded his people.
They walked the short distance across the parking lot to the skyfighter. The stars were out and were very clear at this high altitude. Sirius, the star around which the home world orbited, was still visible as the first gray light of dawn crept over the sea. It was the brightest star in the heavens, a gleaming jewel in the darkness that would one day be freed from the tyranny that ruled her now.
Standing before the skyfighter, they watched the ramp descend from its side. A moment later they were aboard, Willie feeling nostalgia to be on a craft similar to ones he had spent so much time on in the past. In spite of its purpose as an engine of destruction, he admired its sleek functionalism and the sophistication of its design. His people were masters of such technology. If only they would use their knowledge for constructive purposes instead of for conquest.
Ronald pointed to a seat, and Willie complied, trying to make himself as comfortable and relaxed as possible. If he was frightened, tense, Ronald would have him at a disadvantage. But if he remained calm, then he would be a match for anyone, including the sadistic captain.
As the crew busied themselves with the details of liftoff procedure, Willie reflected that he had never been a strong individual. He had been conscripted into the military; as he had been told all through his youth, this was simply the way things were. His people had militarized their solar system and then moved out, searching always for water and food. The conventional wisdom on his world was that this armed expansion was necessary for the survival of the race. Willie had his doubts about that, but even if it were true it did not excuse the harm their way of life was doing to the humans—and to themselves, in a spiritual sense.
That, after all, was what mattered most . . . the spirit.
The skyfighter began to rise off the asphalt, the tug of gravity reversed. The strange buoyancy that he had felt so many times was welcome, even if it was to be the last time he ever felt it.
The view scan showed the buildings below and the white slashes of the breaking waves below the cliff. On the horizon, a roseate glow announced the imminent dawn.
Due to the antigravity engines, they felt nothing as the craft sped suddenly out over the water. Willie could see dark, rough shapes rising out of the surf: islands.
He expected the skyfighter to turn inland at some point, but it didn’t. It followed the coast a little away and then began to slow where the islands were most densely clustered.
At last they came to rest directly over the rocky beach of an island a few kilometers wide. This, then, was the place Ronald had so carefully selected for Willie to die.
Chapter 24
Pythias Day watched the skyfighter approach the island, feeling an emotion very much like despair. “We can’t go in now,” he said.
“Oh, Pyth.” Jane looked as if she was about to cry. Pythias turned the boat around before the Visitors’ attention was attracted. “We need to gather a fighting force together. It’s the only way we can stop them now that they’re on the island.”
“But who have we got left to fight them?” Jane cried. “John Ellis saw to it that all the young men were killed. There’s nobody left.”
“There are still people left,” Pythias said. “And people will fight if their homes are threatened.”
“The Visitors have taken all the fight out of them.” Pythias gunned the engine back toward the mainland. At least, he reflected, they knew where Brunk and Sarah were. Was it possible the Visitors didn’t know? Perhaps they were just reconnoitering around the island by ch
ance. There really was no outward sign that anyone was living there.
But he was kidding himself. Of course they knew—or they soon would, at any rate. They had to get some men together right away. And if there weren’t enough men . . .
“Wait a minute!”
“What is it, Pyth?”
A blue blaze of energy missed Pythias’ ear by a
fraction of an inch. For a moment, neither of them moved. Then Pythias pulled out his laser and turned.
Two Visitors were approaching, gliding two yards over the waves on silver disks. As they drew closer, the hum of the antigravity engines could be heard above the Evinrude. Another shot was fired, burning a neat round hole in the bow.
Pythias fired back, the bolt flying a little wide of the nearest Visitor. The two disks began to zigzag.
“They’re just trying to scare us away,” Pythias shouted. “But I’m gonna have to kill them. Once their leader hears about this laser, he’ll know it’s me, even if these two don’t.”
The two disk riders were slowing down, perhaps considering turning back.
“Hold this!” Pythias tossed the laser pistol to Jane and brought the prow around 180 degrees. Cold salt spray in his face, he gunned the motor, directing the boat toward the two Visitors. He saw their mouths open in astonishment under their dark glasses as he attacked.
Jane didn’t wait for Pythias to take the laser back. She squeezed off a shot that seared the air between the two disks. The next one barely missed one of the disk riders, who almost fell off in his efforts to get out of the way. His partner laid down a barrage of laser fire, boiling the seawater around the boat but leaving Pythias and Jane untouched.
Pythias struggled to the front of the boat, clapping his hand onto Jane’s shoulder.
“Go back and pilot the boat,” he shouted over the engine, the disks, and the buzzing laser fire. “I’m used to this thing.”
He took the laser as Jane clambered into the stem. Taking careful aim, he fired, narrowly missing the nearest Visitor. He kept his finger on the trigger instead of just squeezing off a burst, and swept his fire across the horizon, as he had done in the bar when he destroyed the shot glass.
His slice took down the Visitor, who screamed in pain and horror as he toppled from his mount. He disappeared in an explosion of white foam.
“Good shooting, Pyth!” Jane shouted encouragingly.
The second Visitor pivoted on his disk, trying to get away from them now. He was headed away from the island, desperate to escape his prey-tumed-hunter.
Firing wildly behind him, the Visitor soared higher, trying to get out of range. He lost ground performing this maneuver, however.
Pythias squinted into the sun and burned a blue arc across the sky, just missing the disk rider as he swerved, leaning perilously to one side thirty feet above the water.
Pythias lost sight of him for a moment and then realized that the crafty alien had swung around behind them. He jumped up, nearly capsizing the boat. The Visitor was coming right at them from behind, firing wildly, no more than three feet over the wave crests.
A burst of laser fire just missed Jane, and she recoiled in terror. The shot struck the gunwale and exploded in a shower of sparks. Even if he didn’t shoot them, the son of a bitch would sink the boat, thought Pythias.
I can’t afford to miss this time, Pythias told himself. He’s getting too close to miss us. The disk glided steadily above the waves, unlike the bouncing boat.
Pythias took aim, and so did the Visitor. For an instant they stared stright down the barrels of their lasers into each other’s eyes. The Visitor hesitated.
Pythias could see nothing but the reflection of Jane’s terrified face in the alien’s dark glasses.
He fired.
The alien shuddered. His clawed fingers went limp, and he dropped the gun into the ocean. An instant later, he followed.
Pythias and Jane watched the disk veer off and knife into the water. Climbing into the back of the boat,Pythias embraced Jane and grabbed the rudder.
“Pyth ...”
“Yes, Jane?”
He expected her to break down and cry, but what she said surprised him.
“We better get away from here before they send more soldiers after us.”
Chapter 25
“Come on, boys,” John Ellis called to the two flagging hunters. He waited a few moments for them to catch up, and then scolded them for their slackness.
“We never wanted to come out to this island,” Charlie said, breathing heavily from his exertions. “We wanted to hunt on the mainland.”
“Don’t worry,” John said, smiling wickedly. “There’s good hunting out on this island. Excellent hunting.” “Deer?” Charlie asked.
“No deer, but bear, rabbits . . . lots of things.” “There are bear out here?” Jake asked, incredulous. “Oh, no!”
“Take it easy, Jake,” Charlie admonished him. “We’ve got guns, haven’t we?”
“He’s right, you know,” Ellis said. “Bear meat’s good, and just imagine the rug you’ll have when you get back to New York.”
Jake and Charlie glanced at each other. Without saying so, they had both come to the same conclusion. They were not going back to New York, even if they did what the Visitors wanted. Why the Visitors hadn’t just killed them and let it go at that, they had no idea. The fact that they hadn’t was the only thing that gave them any hope at all.
“Come on,” Ellis said. He led them through the woods, speaking softly as he went. “The bears are usually either fishing or having lunch in a blueberry patch.”
“Just so they don’t decide to have us for lunch,” Jake replied.
John Ellis chuckled. “This way,” he said, leading them into an open space where bushes grew widly, festooned with blueberries.
“Go on in and take a look,” he said to Charlie.
Charlie looked at Jake, who shrugged.
“Okay,” Charlie said, and made his way steadily toward the bushes.
His eyes darting around, Charlie saw no movement except for a few dead leaves drifting down from the boughs. He heard nothing but the wind gently moving the branches. It looked safe enough.
Glancing back at his companions, he saw Ellis gesticulating at him to go deeper into the blueberry patch. He was inclined to ignore the traitorous bastard, but he didn’t really dare to. There was no way they were going to escape from the Visitors, and he didn’t want Ellis to prejudice them against him. There was always a chance the Visitors would let them go once they tired of playing with them.
Suddenly Charlie felt something grab the sleeve of his hunting jacket, right at the cuff. Terrified, he tried to pull himself free, but he couldn’t seem to. Sweat pouring form his forehead, he turned to face the thing that had him in its grasp.
There was nothing there.
Charlie looked down and saw what it was. It wasn’t a bear, but a branch that had caught his sleeve. He worked it free in disgust and determinedly made his way deeper into the blueberry thicket.
After a few minutes, he thought he heard something. It was a low, whuffing noise. He held perfectly still. No sound except the wind through the trees. That wasn’t what he’d heard, was it? After a few more seconds, he started moving again, his 30.06 at the ready.
It must have only been the wind, he decided. There was nothing in here. Growing more and more assured, he poked at the tangled undergrowth with his rifle barrel. Probing with the gun, he slowly advanced deeper and deeper into the thicket. He was actually beginning to enjoy himself, fearlessly rummaging about in a den of wild bears.
Something grabbed the rifle from inside the bushes.
“Whoa,” Charlie breathed. He had thought a bear had him once; the barrel was probably just stuck on a branch or something.
He attempted to pry it loose.
The whuffing noise came out of the bushes again, right from where the rifle was stuck. Charlie tried to fire, but the 30.06’s safety was on. He carefully reached down and releas
ed it.
Just as he was about to fire, the bushes heaved and an enormous black bear emerged, roaring ferociously. Charlie looked into those gaping jaws just as he tumbled backward into the bushes behind him. The rifle went off in a terrific explosion, deafening Charlie as he flailed in the bushes.
He managed to scramble to his feet, running for all he was worth toward Jake and Ellis. He saw them staring in disbelief as he tried to catch up with them.
Glancing over his shoulder, Charlie saw the bear charging at him, its massive limbs churning through the snapping branches. It roared angrily as he dug into the humus underneath the dead leaves and ran for cover.
He caught Jake and Charlie a few seconds later, moving past them so quickly they seemed to be standing still. If human hair could really stand on end, Charlie’s would have done so now. He didn’t stop running until he reached the rocky beach.
Chapter 26
“Did you hear a shot?” Dr. Brunk asked, going to the window.
“Yes, I think so. ” Sarah cocked her head, listening for another rifle report. She waited thirty second and heard nothing further.
“Maybe it was thunder,” she said.
“No, thunder never sounded like that,” Dr. Brunk observed. “Besides, look out that window. There isn’t a cloud in the sky.”
“Then they’ve found us.”
“Maybe, but I don’t think that was the Visitors.”
“Who, then?”
“I don’t know. Hunters wouldn’t come all the way out here ordinarily, not when there’s so much game on the mainland.”
“Unless they heard about the bears.” Sarah grinned and squeezed Dr. Brunk’s hand as he moved away from the window. “It must be hunters who’ve come out here looking for bears, Dr. Brunk. And that means the Visitors must have cleared out of the area.”
“Don’t be too sure,” Dr. Brunk advised. “It could be a trick.”
Sarah became subdued. “You’re right. I was ready to go running out there and welcome them with open arms. I have to learn to be more realistic.”
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