by Jean Kilczer
A Guard hit me across the face. “Shut up!”
He grinned as he ambled toward the people. “Don't listen to him, my friends. He's just trying to scare you.” He waved toward me. “He's a criminal. Of the worst sort. He stole gold from the mines. Your mines! We are awaiting a security taxi from the spaceport to pick him up and take him to a starship and an Earth jail.” He shrugged broadly. “We have no jurisdiction over Terrans past the borders of our town district.”
I wiped a trickle of blood from my stinging lip. It would do no good to try to convince the people, Terrans or aliens. The Guards would just shut me up. Were they on a suicide mission? Or had Rowdinth convinced his elite force that Alpha would recall the Shaka teams if he threatened to blow up Gorestail? If the Guards believed that, they did not understand Alpha, and we were all doomed.
The Guard who stood beside me took out a pair of old handcuffs and clamped my wrist to the bench's armrest, then slipped the key into his shirt pocket.
I stared at the night sky and had a bit of an epiphany. You don't want to die, Jules, the fear at my throat told me. You don't want to find your lost love in some alien form on some alien planet. No more than I wanted these people surrounding us, Terrans, aliens, and even the misguided Vermakt Guards, to be blown away. Play the hand you've been dealt.
I lowered my head. Great Mind, by way of Spirit, was right. Life was a gift, given by the universe, to be treasured. I realized I was trembling with fear and took deep breaths to relax. It was no use attempting to influence the minds of the Guards. They would have been warned to beware of my mental intrusions.
What was happening at the lab? Could I throw my tel powers, as I had in the dream, to influence Rowdinth from here? Even a sensitive could be taken by surprise.
I attempted to open my mind to the events at the lab. An image of the two hillocks began to form and –
“Hey, criminal!” a teenaged Altairian boy called from the crowd and shattered my concentration. “Where's the gold you stole?” He thumped his tail to draw attention to himself. “Did you use it to import some dreamy dream crystals from Halcyon?” He turned to the crowd. “Now those crystals, tags. Now there's some real gold!” He did a dance, clapping his hands and thumping his tail. Other Altairians, and Terrans too, laughed and cheered him on.
I lowered my head again and closed my eyes. That inner eye we call imagination began to expand. An image of the two hillocks formed behind my eyes. Flashes of hot beams crisscrossed the dark knolls, defined by stars and moons. Spotted flames marked the trees they had hit and set ablaze. A firefight raged between Shaka teams and Rowdinth's forces.
“We're not winning!” the Guard inside the hovair called from the door and jumped down.
I was pulled once again from the projected image.
He shook his head as he approached his companions. “Our leader has the weapon onboard his private starship!” he whispered to them.
Uh oh, I thought.
“Does he intend to leave us here?” another Guard asked.
“Don't you get it?” I said. “You tags are expendable! Your leader's probably got his handpicked officers onboard with him. The rest of you will be fried in the nuclear blast.”
The Guards glanced at each other and I saw the eyes of one go white. He said something in Vermaktese and slammed his fist into his open palm.
The others nodded.
“What?” I asked.
One of the Guards approached the crowd and shrugged broadly. “We just got word that the spaceport's security taxi has engine trouble.” He studied a limestone tower with clocks set to all the inhabited star systems. “We have to return to our posts, friends. We're already late! We'll leave the Terran criminal here for them to pick up when they can.”
Nice going, crotefucker! I thought. He'd see all these people killed as they stood around and waited for a security car that would never show up.
“Now listen to me, my friends,” the Guard called loudly, “it is against the law to converse with a criminal awaiting extradition. Please, do not approach him or attempt to interact in any way.” He waved toward me. “This human is dangerous.”
He got that right. But only the Guards knew just how dangerous. I licked my dry lips to work some moisture into my mouth and touched the raw spot behind my right ear. Spirit? I sent and held my breath.
No answer.
The four Guards walked nonchalantly to their hovair, boarded, and slammed the door shut.
It leaped into the sky and raced, full bore, away from Gorestail.
When the ship was gone, I stood up, feeling numb, someplace beyond fear. “Listen to me, please!” I called. “You have to leave Gorestail. Take your children and go! Get them as far away from town as you can, and warn anyone you meet to get out too.”
“Why?” a Terran woman called. “So you can make your escape when we're gone?”
“General Rowdinth's your enemy. Not me. They've planted a nuclear device and they intend to detonate it. Get your kids out of here!”
A Terran miner, rough-hewn and dark-bearded, stepped forward, still wearing his miner's helmet. Behind him a slim woman carried a toddler.
“We're not fond of the general around here, tag,” he called to me, “but why would he blow up his own town?” He glanced around. “Why would he want to do that?”
The crowd became silent as they awaited my answer.
“Because he's nuts!” I said, though it sounded lame. “He lives for war and power.” I looked around for people who might support that conclusion, but saw none who seemed to agree. “Right now he's developing a weapon to make war on Earth.”
“I think you're nuts,” a Terran woman shouted. “I think you're a criminal who wants to escape before the security police come for you.” She glanced around with a smug expression. “That's what you get for stealing our gold.”
“Think a little further, lady!” I held up my manacled wrist. “Where's the key?”
A murmur went through the crowd.
“He's right!” a Terran woman said and picked up her crying infant from a carriage. “They didn't leave the key.” She patted the baby's back.
“It ain't worth the chance.” The burly miner turned to the crowd. “If Rowdinth's police can't hang around long enough for port security to show up, what the hell are we doing here?” He took the toddler from the woman behind him. “C'mon, Laura. Let's get the hell outa here.” He paused and looked back at me. “What about you, tag?”
I shook my head. “You can't help me. Save your family.”
He gave me a strange look, nodded and left, followed by Laura.
A few people walked away. More followed, until the crowd broke up and people trotted to their vehicles.
The square was empty. The only motion and sound were the hiss and spray of fountains lifting and falling back. I sat down and stared at the tower clocks, each one ticking away its own minute, hour, day and year. There was Earth's clock, resembling London's Big Ben, ticking away the seconds. Home is the hunter, I thought.
From behind the tower, tangled among stars, the lights of a hovair swooped down and circled the square. The large vehicle bounced to the ground, spraying dirt, and skidded toward me sideways, too close for comfort. I stood up and tried to back away, then remembered that my wrist was clamped.
Stupid bastard, I thought. Whomever was flying that craft could've used some time in a rehab flight school.
The hovair finally plowed to a stop. I coughed on sprayed dirt and brushed off my jacket. It was Joe's rented camper, I realized. The door swung open and Huff leaped down to all fours and loped up to me.
“Huff!” I clenched my fists. “Christ and Buddha, you almost ran me over. Wait a minute. You can't stay here.”
“Why a minute?” He stood on his hind legs and looked around, for all the world like a Polar bear searching for seals.
“Never mind,” I said. “The bomb, Huff.” I caught my breath. “They're going to explode it!”
He cocked his head.
“Never mind the bomb? Jules, my Terran friend.” He lumbered closer and smiled. Sharp canine teeth protruded from beneath his lips. “It is fine snow cones to see you alive and well.”
“Get out of here, Huff. Rowdinth intends to blow up Gorestail.”
“Yes, that is his intend.” He sat on his haunches and fished around in his belly pouch. “I have something for you.”
“What happened at the lab? The Vermakt Guards said Rowdinth took off in his starship with the weapon. Where's Shannon? Is she all right? And what about the community of dwarfs?”
He shook his head and continued to fish. “I know I put it in here somewhere.” He pulled out a candy bar wrapper and tossed it away.
“Huff!”
“Oh, yes. I will start at the bottom of your questions. For the last thing, the dwarfs like to be called little people.”
“Goddammit!”
Shannon is mostly all right but she mourns the death of six of her family at the little graves.”
“Oh.” I sat down heavily. “That many?”
“Six,” he repeated on a sad note and dug arm-deep into his pouch.
“She's with her people,” I said and bit my lip. “They'll comfort each other.”
“She isn't seen among the dwarfs, and she stands up.”
“You mean stands out.”
“The probable is that she went off to console herself with natural scenery, as a Vegan would do. Perhaps she went for a swim in the ocean.”
“Yeah. Perhaps.”
He fished out a gold coin and grinned. “Always useful to have.”
“What the hell are you searching for? You can't stay here!”
“Yes, my Jules friend, but first I must find it.” He pulled out a wrapped sandwich with the store's name stamped on it. Alien Foods: We Serve the Stars, and extended it.
“I'm not hungry.”
He sniffed the sandwich, then tossed it away. “Neither am I. But the something I have for you is in here somewhere. If only I could find the where.”
“Are you going to tell me what happened at the lab?”
“Why wouldn't I? Rowdinth escaped with ten of his elite Vermakts officers and the two Terran scientists on his own private starship.”
“With the weapon?”
“Yes, with the weapon.” His eyes widened and he stopped fishing in his pouch.
“Christ and Buddha, how did the Shaka teams let them get away?”
“It happened without their let. Also without Christ or Buddha. Here it is!” He yanked and pulled out the detonator. “This is for you, my Jules Terran friend.”
I sat there, shocked. “It's…it's – “ I pointed to it.
“Have you forgotten the name? This is called a detonator.”
“It's… Is it disarmed?”
His shaggy brows drew close together as he studied the unit. “Never do I think it had arms. Why are you Terrans so difficult to convert with?” He handed me the detonator. The red light was out.
“Convert?” I said numbly and stared at the unit.
“Yes. From my thought to yours and back again. Convert. Like an ice-clogged tidal flow!” He smiled. “But I love you, my Jules Terran friend, like a sister, and since I helped to place the device inside your furry yellow head, I thought it was my concern and friendship to give you this gift.” He smiled and pointed a claw at the detonator. “This dead unit can no longer activate anything.”
I sat back. “The bomb…it can no longer explode?” I felt dizzy with relief.
“Is that a question?”
I shook my head. “How did you get the detonator?”
“Ah. That is the question. I hid in a blooming Yami tree.”
“A blooming – “
“You know, the blossoms are white, like my fur.”
“At the laboratory?”
“Oh, no. The citadel. Rowdinth's Guards protected the laboratory as though the weapon were still there.”
“It wasn't?”
“There is a labyrinth of tunnels surrounding the citadel.”
“And?”
“And I waited in the Yami tree while Rowdinth and the ten of his Elite Guards, I counted them on my paws, and two white-coated Terran scientists boarded his private starship.”
“While the rest of his Guards kept the Shaka teams busy at the lab?”
“Busy? It was a battle, my Jules friend. Each body was busy.”
“They took the weapon onboard, didn't they?”
He nodded. I prayed to the Ten Gods to stop them, but they must have been busy with other prayers.” He shrugged, showing the rough pads under his paws. “General Rowdinth gave a stationary Guard this detonator.”
“A stationary Guard? Oh, one who would remain behind.”
He gave me a strange look. “Behind?”
“On the ground!”
“Standing,” he said. “I heard Rowdinth tell the Guard that when the Shaka warships rose to pursue him, the Guard must detonate the bomb, uh…” He pointed to my head.
“Yeah. So the Shaka teams would break off the chase and return to help the survivors. So what happened?”
“So what happened is that I prowled after the Guard who held this detonator. I am not proud of what I did next.
“What did you do next?”
“What next I did…I leaped on the Guard's back, dug my claws into him and snapped his neck between my teeth before he could push the red button. You know how I hate red.”
I looked at the detonator and shivered. “It must've been close.”
“Yes. You must reach very close to snap the neck of the prey.” He lowered his head and stared at the ground.
“Huff.” I laid my free hand on his shoulder. “You saved a whole town. And my ass!”
He gave me a quizzical Vegan look and cocked his head.
“And the rest of me,” I added quickly.
He nodded, but I saw tears slide down his furry cheeks. I touched the sore spot behind my ear and glanced toward the medical center. “It's safe now to remove this thing.”
He looked up and smiled, showing razor canines.
“Let's go!” I stood up, began to walk and came up short. I was still attached to the bench.
“It will be difficult to do with the bench.” He gestured toward the hovair. “There is a jaws full of life in the camper.”
The jaws of life, I thought. “OK.”
“OK to use them to unclamp your paw?”
“Get the jaws, Huff. I'm tired of being latched to this thing.”
“Oh, then perhaps rest for a while should be initiated.”
I took a breath and shook off irritation. “Go get the jaws,” I hissed.
He shook his head as he walked to the hovair's door. “Never, I say, never Great Gods of the Ten Lands of Ice, will I understand my Jules Terran friend.”
As I waited for Huff to return, I felt a fierce desire for revenge grow in the pit of my stomach. The Shaka teams had let that bloated bag of slime get away with the weapon. But I wouldn't. Not as long as I had breath in me, I wouldn't.
Huff returned with a hydraulic tool with large pincers, used for cutting open vehicle doors when people are trapped inside.
“You, uh, you know how to use that?” I asked.
“Yes, Jules.” He shook his head. “To cut you free of the bench that tires you.”
I jumped when he turned it on. The pincers snapped like a soldier ant from hell. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned away. “Just be careful!”
“Don't look.”
“I'm not!”
There was a vibrating grind of metal and I felt the chain break. I was free!
I started breathing again. “Thanks, Huff.” I studied my gentle, alien friend and scratched under the handcuff. “You said you loved me like a sister.”
“Yes. I said that.”
“And you have a pouch.”
“Yes.” He looked down at his belly. “I have a pouch.” His expression seemed puzzled.
“If it's OK to ask. A
re you female?”
“It's OK to ask.”
“OK. Then are you female?”
He chuckled. “No. Male. Why do you OK ask?”
“Oh. I think I would've been a little kinder and more tolerant if you were just a girl.” I laughed.
He chuckled through predatory teeth. “You Terrans draw a great distinction between those who carry sperm and those who carry eggs.”
Viva la différence, I thought but didn't say, unwilling to try to explain that one to Huff. I stared at the rows of lights from the medical center. “After the docs take this thing out of my head, and the handcuff off my wrist, I intend to go after Rowdinth myself.”
“Why not before, and wait for him to approach?”
“Either way.”
“May I join in the endeavor myself, too?”
“I suppose, Huff.” I walked to the hovair. “But we should probably take along a dictionary. And a thesaurus, too,” I muttered.
“And some candy bars. I do like Terran candy bars. But why did they see us?”
I paused. “What? Oh, forget it. No!” I raised a hand, as though I could stop his thought processes. “No. Don't forget it. Oh, Jesus, because they'll help us to convert…I mean – “ I climbed into the hovair. “Get in, Huff!”
“What the hell happened to you?” Dr. Elliot, a surgeon at the medical center, asked me as I walked into his examination room, followed by Huff. He was a young, lanky Terran with quick, sure movements and a casual manner that put me at ease.
“Can I stay to comfort my Jules friend?” Huff asked him.
“Sure, but go sit in a corner and don't distract me.”
Huff prowled to a corner and sat with a grunt.
“What happened to your head?” Doc Elliot gestured to the lump on my temple.
I thought of Rowdinth's walking stick and winced. It was easier just to lie. “I fell.”
“Off what? A building?” He glanced at the handcuff. “What do you do for a living besides leaping off tall buildings?”
I smiled. “Only when the elevator's not working.”
He sat down in front of me and shined a small light into my eyes. “Alpha contacted the medical center. They said you might show up, and to take good care of you if you did.”
A stocky, young nurse sauntered in. “Good evening, Mr. Rammis. How are you?”