by Jean Kilczer
I took the steps instead, just to make it difficult for her in her heels. She was a trooper, though, and she reached the hallway before me.
“Which room?” she asked
“That one, lady!” I pointed to the elevator. “Just push the button to open the door, and go in.”
She stared at me from lowered lids. “You're a closet human, tag.”
I wondered for a moment if she were an android, possibly sent by Rowdinth. I studied her face. No, they had a pasty look, on purpose. A warning that they were not the real thing.
“I'm lonely, too.” She tilted her head to one side. “Suppose we just talk and comfort each other.”
She read my skeptical expression and chuckled. I was never good at hiding my feelings. Willa used to say that whatever I'm thinking is right there on my face.
“The mining tags,” she explained, “like to spend their days with the boys and their nights with the ladies. And “talk” is not done at night.”
“What's your name?” I asked her.
“Call me Carmen. You seem to think it fits.”
“Just talk? And…” I shrugged. “A cup of berrybru?”
She smiled demurely.
I opened the door and let her go in first.
She watched me from the sofa as I took off my jacket. I unstrapped my holster and slung it over a chair. “That's all I'm taking off, Carmen.”
“Are you always armed?” she asked with a touch of sarcasm.
“Only when I'm awake.” I poured two cups of berrybru, handed her one and slumped down beside her on the sofa.
“Thanks,” she said. “So what do they call you?”
“Jules.” I sipped the sweet bru, laid my head back and closed my eyes. Last night, spent shivering in my sleep in the barn, had left me tired.
“So what are you doing on Fartherland?” she asked.
That was a good question. I opened my eyes. “I'm out of work and I thought I'd try mining. How did you land here?”
“I'm a working girl and I thought I'd try miners.”
I rolled my head and smiled at her.
“You've got a great smile, tag.”
“I work on it,” I lied and fingered the sofa's remote. “You want to look at some vis?”
“I'd rather just talk.” Her lips were even redder with berrybru.
I closed my eyes and relaxed back into the sofa.
“But I think you'd rather just sleep,” she said. “I usually affect men that way after my work.” She yawned and moved closer to me. “Can we cuddle?”
I put my arm around her shoulders and she snuggled against my side. I had to admit it felt good to have her warm feminine body pressed against mine. I sighed as I pushed off my boots and put my feet up on the coffee table. l laid my head against her mop of sweet-smelling hair and dozed off.
When I woke up, it was dark. I was stretched out on the sofa with a pillow under my head and a blanket over me. The room was empty, but I saw a note on the coffee table. “On!” I said and had light. I fumbled for the note and read it.
You're a real conversationalist, tag. Thanks for the long talk. Gotta go to work now.
I crumpled the note and threw it toward a wastepaper basket. “You're welcome,” I mumbled.
A loud knock on the door made it rattle. I jumped and sat up. “Who is it?”
“It is Huff.”
Then huff and puff and knock my door down! I thought as I threw off the blanket and went to open the door.
He glanced down the hall, wide-eyed. “May I enter?”
“Yeah. Come on in.”
He shut the door and locked it. “I-I was walking the street to see stars above my head. I do not relish a roof over me.”
“I know.”
“And General Ki Rowdinth's police were out.”
“His men were walking the streets?”
“No.”
“Then where were they?”
“They are not men.”
“Dammit, Huff. What happened?”
“They were asking about you.”
“Shit!” I strapped on my holster, threw on my jacket and went to the front window. I pushed an edge of the curtain aside. Five Vermakts dressed in black and silver uniforms were entering the hotel lobby.
I thought of Carmen. “Who told them I was here?”
“They described you to people on the streets. You stand out with your yellow head fur and your black and blue coverings.”
I went to the side window and flung it open. It overlooked a narrow alley, lit by glow balls. A crumbling cement ledge ran beneath the window. Bricks jutted from the wall in decorative patterns.
“You do not appear to be a miner,” Huff said, “although of course you could be…”
I straddled the windowsill.
“Jules, my Terran friend, I hear footsteps on the stairs.” His hearing is more acute than a human's.
Voices outside the door!
“C'mon!” I told him.
The door was hit hard, but it held.
He shivered. “I am not evolved for heights.”
I climbed to the ledge and grabbed two bricks. “Are you evolved to be fed to Rowdinth's sharks, or maybe strung up in his horror show?” I inched toward the ladder.
“Possibly.” He stuck his head out the window and looked down at the alley. “I once had a grandmother. But she was eaten by a fish not unlike Rowdinth's sharks, only brown.” He took a breath and climbed out the window.
I reached the ladder and looked down. A Vermakt had run into the alley.
“Come down here, Jules Rammis,” he called. “We wish you no harm.”
I climbed up instead. I heard Huff panting behind me.
“Look at the sky,” I said encouragingly. “It's ablaze with stars, Huff. Like God's own arms. And, dammit, don't look down!”
A Vermakt peered over the wall of the roof. I tried to grab my stingler but Huff panicked and yanked on my foot. I held a rung with both hands.
“I am beating difficult within my heart!” he cried.
“Let go!” I tried to shake him off but he clung harder. “You'll beat more difficult when these cruds beam you. Now dammit, will you – “
“Jules!”
Chancey was parked in our hovair outside the alley. It was too narrow for him to drive the vehicle inside. “C'mon!” he called and waved.
Good old Chancey, I thought. He seemed to always be there when I needed him.
“Get down, Huff!”
But he was frozen to the ladder.
The Vermakt in the alley fired at Chancey. I held my breath, but the hot beam bounced harmlessly off Rowdinth's fortified hovair, the one we'd taken from Zorga and Huff.
A blast assaulted my ears as Chancey fired back with his projectile rifle. The Vermakt in the alley jerked and fell to the ground.
Another Vermakt stuck his head out the window of my room and aimed at Huff. Chancey fired again. He missed, but it was enough to drive the oversized rat back into the room.
I tried to shake off Huff's paw. “All you have to do is climb down this ladder. You can do it.”
“I can?” he cried. “All is right! I can! Except that my heart quivers within my chest.”
I think the Vermakts who peered over the roof again would have burned Huff, but they were probably afraid of hitting me, and they had their orders.
Our weight on the ladder sent crumbs of cement bouncing off the old wall to the alley below.
Chancey fired at the Vermakts on the roof and they drew back, but a ladder brace broke loose from our combined weight.
“Jesus and Vishnu!” I squeezed out.
Wait a minute. What am I thinking? I thought and closed my eyes. I'm a tel! I imaged the red coil within my mind. Huff was easy. He wasn't a sensitive, and he was mental putty. I threw the coil. Fear not, I sent. All is well. Your Loving God wants you to climb down this fu– This ladder to the solid earth below. You are held in the Hands of the Lord who loves you.
Huff sobbed and
let go of my foot. “I'm coming!” He climbed down and I followed.
The Vermakts on the roof fired at him. Their shots went wild as they tried to avoid hitting me.
When we reached the ground I stayed behind Huff to afford him some protection as he went to all four legs and we ran to the hovair.
Chancey threw open the back door and Huff and I piled into the seat. I slammed the door shut.
Beams hissed off the hovair as Chancey swung the vehicle and raced for a clearing where he could lift off.
I pressed my hands to my temples and glared at Huff. They throbbed from the send to him.
Huff threw me furtive looks and slid across the seat until he reached the closed door.
I slid after him. “I'm going to kill you, Huff!” I grabbed his thick neck and heavy fur in both my hands and squeezed as I shook him. He could've swatted me with his massive paws, but he just let them dangle.
Carmen suddenly popped her head above the passenger seat in front of me. “Calm down, Jules. He tried. He can't help it if he's afraid.”
I paused with my hands still around Huff's neck. “What're you doing here?”
“Trying to stop you from strangling your best friend.”
“I mean – “
“I know what you mean,” she said. “You really messed things up for me.”
“I messed – “
“The tags on the street and in the hotel lobby saw us together,” she said, “and they told the police. Now I'm out of a job.”
“Me too,” Chancey said and shrugged those broad shoulders. “Ah, I was tired of kicking ass anyway.”
“Me three,” Huff whimpered.
I realized my hands were still around his neck and I let them drop.
“Thank you, Jules.” Carmen widened her lips in that cherry-red smile. “Now don't you feel better for not strangling your good friend?” She said it as though she talked to a child.
I sat back and bit my lip, feeling guilty. “You're welcome, and I'm not sure.” I found something interesting to study on my fingernails so I wouldn't have to meet her steady gaze.
There's a certain allure to a woman, well, most women, that can defuse men's anger and make us realize how dumb it was in the first place. We guys need the tender touch of females, and I think they need our love, our physical strength, and our willingness to protect them.
Huff stared at me as I scratched the itch behind my right ear. I couldn't scrape off that damn crusty skin.
“What?” I said.
“No thing.” He shook his hairy snout and looked out the window.
Carmen, too, stared at me.
“What? I asked. “Christ-Buddha, what did I do now?”
“Nothing,” she said solemnly and turned to face the front windshield.
“Chancey?” I said, “You want to take a shot at me, too?”
“Later, tag. I'm a little busy right now.”
I turned to look out the rear window. Dammit! Two police hovairs were racing after us, leaving trails of dust.
Chancey drove into a clearing, threw the hovair into flight mode and we lifted. I was pressed to my seat as we tore into the sky. In the clear night air, the spiral arms of the galaxy seemed close enough to embrace us.
Chancey banked the craft and we fled the town of Gorestail. But the pursuing hovairs also took to the sky.
“Chancey!” I said. “This craft isn't flight worthy. I heard Zorga say the engine kept quitting.” I looked at Huff.
He nodded.
“Don't fly over water,” I told Chancey as we approached the beach. “Head for the spaceport.” In the distance across the harbor, the port was a pool of yellow lights. “I've got an appointment to keep on planet Alpha.”
It might be better to just go there and talk to Joe Hatch, instead of trying to contact him by SPS, which could be bugged by Rowdinth even if I did locate one.
“Rowdinth's rats are probably guarding the spaceport,” Chancey replied.
“It's worth a try,” I said and glanced out the rear window. The hovairs were gaining on us. “If we can lose these crotes.” I scanned the ground for places where we might land under cover of trees and wait for them to give up the chase. “There!” I told Chancey and pointed to a hilly, wooded area north of the beach. “We can hide there until they're gone, and then we can head for the port.”
Chancey glanced at Carmen.
“Oh. We don't have the credits for space flights,” she said.
“I do,” I told her.
She didn't answer.
“What the hell's going on here?” I asked. “You tags want to let me in on your little secret? I'm one of the good guys, remember?”
“Uh oh,” Chancey uttered as the whine of our engine diminished. “Uh oh.”
The hovair lost altitude fast.
I held my breath as the engine abruptly quit.
“We're all going to die!” Huff whined like a scared cub.
Carmen sank back beneath the passenger seat.
It was too late to head for trees as we glided toward the beach. We'd have crashed into them.
“Engage the velocity dampers!” I shouted to Chancey, who already had, and clung to the backrest.
I felt the invisible net hold me as the dark beach leaped up and the craft plunged toward sand.
“Oh,” Huff cried, his head lowered, “Great Lord of the Ten Oceans, and of The Bottomless Pit, too. Forgive us for being mere flawed Vegans…and mere flawed Terrans, and open Your loving arms, for we are your brood!”
“We're not going to die, Huff,” I told him as we plowed through sand and the world turned upside down and I caught a glimpse of the two police hovairs coming in for the kill.
The hovair flipped over, then bounced on its side. Sand scraped the hull like great sheets of sandpaper, scrubbing it raw.
I wanted to reassure Huff with a pat on his shoulder, but I was still held by the net. A wing snapped free and bounced off the window.
Finally, the hovair slid to a stop on its side. Sand poured down the hull and we could see outside again.
We sprang the doors and crawled out.
The police hovairs circled above.
“Head for the trees!” I yelled and ran toward them, digging my boots into soft sand. I paused to look back. Huff galloped toward the ocean on all fours as a hovair chased him from the ground. He zigzagged and stayed out of its scanning light.
Good idea, tag, I thought as I heard him splash into the water. The hovair lifted and scanned the surface with lights. Huff could stay under for quite a while in the dark sea.
Carmen and Chancey ran for the woods further down the beach as the whine of the second hovair died and it landed between us.
The only sound now was my heavy breathing and the caw of disturbed seabirds as they took flight.
The woods smelled sweet with raw sap. I had to slow down and walk with my hands extended in that black void of crowded trunks and the thick canopy of branches overhead. Twigs cracked under my boots and native insects chirped as they leaped aside.
My eyes adjusted to darkness and I saw the trees like giant shadows left over from the day. I peered between trunks and wondered if predators inhabited these woods, and how far the trees extended. Just a stand, or a whole forest? I slid my stingler out of the holster as a pair of eyes, close to the ground, moved toward me. “Go away!” I stamped my foot hard and the eyes disappeared with a scraping of dried leaves.
I'd heard the story that evil Leprechauns inhabited the boreal woods of Fartherland. Sure, and faeries and dryads flitted among the trees.
What was that?
A grotesque form with great black arms murmured something behind me. I swung and fired. The hot beam set a thick-boled tree ablaze. Fire reared up like a giant candle that lit the woods.
“Oh, dammit!” I stumbled back. Not only had I given away my location, I'd probably started a wildfire. I'd better run for it.
I turned and tripped over a little humanoid. “Oh, sorry,” I said automatic
ally. Fire flickered on his green jacket and top hat, his white beard. He was about three feet tall. “What the hell – “
“Ye blathering fool!” He hit my left ankle with a club.
I yelled and limped as I stood up. “You little shit. I'll hook you to a tree!”
“Owww!” I yelled as he hit my ankle again. I picked him up by his jacket and was about to hang him on a branch when I felt a jab in my right buttock.
I turned, still holding him aloft while he tried to kick me in the groin, and was confronted by a group of male and female dwarfs, perhaps seven or eight of them, all dressed in green jackets and hats, and pointing wooden spears with chiseled rock arrows at me.
“Now put him down,” the closest one said, a young male with a scraggly red beard.
I let go and he fell to the ground with a yell, then crawled to his club and grabbed it. He stood up and rubbed his backside, then raised his club threateningly.
I pointed at him and backed away. “Don't even think about it. I'll kick you like a football!”
He lowered the club and laughed.
I lowered my pointing finger.
“Ach, lad,” he said, “now did ye have a reason to burn down our main entranceway?”
I glanced at the flaming tree. “I heard a voice behind me and I fired. We need water!”
“Ye don't say now?” he answered. “An' how did ya figure that one out?”
There was a rustling of dried leaves in the dark woods. A line of dwarfs, all dressed in green and carrying buckets of water, strode to the tree and threw the water at the base of the trunk. The roots hissed and smoked.
The group glanced at me with open curiosity, then ran back into the woods with their empty buckets swinging.
The white-bearded dwarf brushed off his jacket and pants. “Now do ye always set trees afire when ye hear voices?”
I heard the sound of a hovair overhead. “Only when I'm being chased.”
“So it's you they're after?”
I didn't reply but the hovair's whine grew louder.
“Well,” the white-bearded one said, “that makes you a friend, Lad. Come along then!”
The group lowered their spears and followed as I limped beside the old one and grimaced with pain.
The woods were silent when the hovair landed, not far from us. The spear carriers trotted after the bucket brigade.