by T. R. Harris
For my part, after throwing my shoe, I also took aim with my own little ray gun at the last surviving guard, but I wasn’t so subtle. My beam entered the green alien’s right eye socket and then continued out the back of his head.
Chapter 33
To our credit, all three of the Humans in the room were up and moving even before the last guard hit the floor. Quint and I took the limp Billork by the arms and began to drag him into the corridor. That’s when I noticed Vol’ox wasn’t with us.
I looked back into the room and saw him still sitting at the table, his eyes wide and his mouth limp.
“Vol’ox, get moving!” I yelled.
The alien’s head shuddered in my direction, yet his eyes seemed to have difficultly focusing on me. He was that scared.
“Come on. You can’t stay here. They’re going to kill you.”
“But … but I am not with you.”
“But you know everything about their plan. For that, you’re going to die. Is that what you want?”
That got the Mulicorean’s attention. He rose unsteadily to his feet. “Get a move-on,” I yelled. “And help us with Billork. The sucker’s really heavy.”
Vol’ox made it over to the rest of us, and it seemed that having the task of helping us drag Bill’s body down the corridor shook him out of his trance.
Miranda grabbed an MK off the body of one of the guards and took point, as the three men – males – were burdened with the unconscious, seven-foot-tall grasshopper.
“What now?” Quint asked. We were rushing down the corridor with Bill’s leather shoes squeaking at a deafening volume as they slid over the polished marble floor.
“First of all, I can’t stand that any longer.” I stopped, which caused Quint and Vol’ox to fall over Bill’s body. As they were righting themselves, I stepped back and pulled off Bill’s shoes.
Whew! What a potent odor! Who would have known?
“What the hell is that stink?” Miranda cried out from ten feet away.
“Never mind, do you remember how to get out of here?”
We resumed our headlong rush down the corridor.
“You mean you don’t?”
“Hey, I was still suffering from the effects of a Taser-on-steroids shock when we got here.”
“But you’re supposed to be this super Special Forces dude—”
“For Christ’s sake!” Quint said, shaking his head. “Just keep going straight until you reach a wide corridor to the left. That will take us to the exit point. What the hell’s happened to you, Jason? You used to be better at this.”
“I’m sorry, but I haven’t eaten anything all day. Besides I took quite a shock a few hours ago.”
Quint looked toward Miranda. “What’s he talking about?”
“Oh, nothing; he’s just being a big crybaby.”
“Well screw you, Miranda!”
“You’d like to – again.”
“What is it with you two? Quint asked. “I hope I’m invited to the wedding. I love wedding cake. But on second thought, don’t invite me. I have enough stress in my life already.”
We reached the other corridor Quint had mentioned. So far we hadn’t run into any other aliens and no alarms had sound—
An alarm began to reverberate throughout the complex, echoing off the stone walls with a strange harmonizing effect. It was kind of musical in a way.
“How many ships came in with you, Quint?”
“Three medium-size warcraft. They piloted the Noreen in themselves because none of their bays were large enough to hold it.”
“About how many crew, if you had to guess?”
“Ninety or so. We only spent a few minutes with one of the captains before he spilled the beans about who they really worked for. But just moving through the ship, I can’t see more than thirty per ship.”
“And they won’t all be combat troops, either,” I said, trying to sound encouraging.
“But against two semi-useless laser pointers and one MK without any additional power packs, they probably won’t need more than a basketball team worth of fighters to take us down, not if they come packing.” Quint was always the more pragmatic of the founding partnership of Galactic Realty and Relocation Service. Now he was being almost too pragmatic.
“You obviously got my info packet from Vol’ox. What about that?”
“I got us the guns. And I have to say poor Vol’ox here was not the most-willing participant.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Miranda asked.
We were nearing the central access mound for the complex and already could hear a parade of alien footsteps on the marble floor. Luckily, the corridors throughout the complex weren’t straight line affairs. Instead they meandered through the underworld, either for aesthetic effect or following some kind of rock structure. We could only see maybe fifty feet down any given hallway before it curved off gradually. That also meant the bad guys couldn’t see us, either.
But now the hallways leading to our exit point were filling up with armed troops. We had to find a place to hide.
Quint tried one of the side doors and it slid open. “In here, quick before they see us.”
The three Humans and two aliens – one still unconscious – tried to squeeze through the standard size doorway all at once, which didn’t really work very well. Slender Miranda ended up being the only one to make it inside on the initial try. Then Quint jumped over Bill’s inert body and pulled him through. Next went Vol’ox, and I brought up the rear, taking one last check of the corridor before entering and activating the door controls.
“I repeat, what’s this about a data pack?” Miranda asked.
I ran further into the room, which turned out to be one of the many guest rooms the complex seemed to offer. It was almost a clone of the one I had spent a few restless hours in earlier. Satisfied that we were alone, I returned to the door to the corridor and took up a flanking position on the opposite side from Quint.
Miranda was standing next to Bill’s inert body, glaring at me, while Vol’ox stood beside her, allowing his debilitating fear to take over again.
It seemed Miranda wasn’t going to stop staring at me until I answered her question. “While you were enjoying one of your little naps in weightlessland, I sent a message to Vol’ox saying that Quint wanted to test drive a Noreen II for himself. I also sent an encrypted file along for him to give to Quint.”
“Why not just call Quint directly?”
“Hell, if anyone was being watched, it would be him. But I was pretty sure no one would be watching my starship salesman, person, thing.”
“So what was in the data pack?”
Quint moved over to the door and pressed his ear against it. The rest of us didn’t have to do the same to hear the sound of running boots in the hallway outside. Quint held his finger up to his lips. The three Humans knew what that meant, but when Vol’ox opened his mouth to speak, Miranda slipped an arm around his neck and clamped her hand over his mouth, pulling him to the floor in a lightening quick move. She had trouble covering the entire kangaroo-like mouth with just one hand, but it was the expertise with which she’d subdued him that made me take notice.
Miranda saw that I had noticed, too, but since we had to remain quiet, all she did was frown and shake her head at me.
I regarded her for a moment longer before breaking eye contact.
Quint surveyed the door controls from his location and found something that looked like it might be locking switch. With the universal translators working only on a verbal level, none of us had learned to read Zorphin – it hadn’t been necessary, until now.
Quint flicked the switch … but instead of locking the door, it slid open with a swish. A squad of four Zorphins military had just passed by and didn’t notice the door opening. But the two bringing up the rear did.
Quint stood up quickly and jumped into the hallway. “Hurry, Billork has been injured!” he cried out to the two soldiers, while pointing at Bill on the floor.
/> The two green Zorphins had brought their weapons to the ready position when seeing Quint, but now they looked past him and into the room. Spotting Bill lying unconscious on the floor, they hesitated. Miranda and Vol’ox where still wrestling on the floor next to him, their limbs interlocked and looking as though they were engaged in some bazaar interspecies sex act. I was still hidden from view, pressed up against the wall next to the doorway.
I held my breath – we all did – not knowing it these mere foot soldiers would even recognize their leader if they saw him; in fact I often wondered how any of them could tell themselves apart from the next Zorphin, since all aliens looked alike.
To my overwhelming relief, the two soldiers ignored Quint and rushed past him into the room. Once they were through the doorway, Quint casually entered behind them and flicked the same switch on the control panel. The two Zorphin soldiers didn’t even notice when the door to the hotel suite closed, trapping them in a room with three very pissed off Humans.
Fourteen seconds later Quint and I were standing over the two unconscious foot soldiers, sorting through the Unos-KM power packs we found on them, along with a pair of Model Series-33 flash handguns.
“Now these are some real weapons,” I said, admiring the solid feel of the military-grade handguns. The for-civilian-consumption MK’s were made mostly of plastic and always had a cheap feel about them. But not the S-33’s, and if all else failed I could always heave one of these at an attacker like Thor’s Hammer. It certainly would make an impression.
“It’s still not a lot against a company-size force of alien military,” Miranda said, as she released a very frustrated Vol’ox.
“Company size? And I suppose you just picked up that little bit of trivia sitting around the student lounge in the Galactic Affairs department of B.S…U?”
“No, smartass. You still don’t believe I went to college, do you? But to answer your question, I was a gamer – mainly military strategy – before the games all came to life and the aliens started shooting back. Now how about answering the question about the data pack?”
“It just had instructions in it, such as to bolt right through the region of space this side of the accretion disk and then go find the nearest military vessel for protection. I also asked him to bring some extra firepower with him if he was caught, hidden within Vol’ox’s marsupial pouch.”
Miranda shot a glance at Vol’ox. “You’re a female?”
“Do I look like a female?” The Mulicorean was offended, either from her question, or from the fact that Miranda had so easily taken him down.
I could tell by Miranda’s bemused expression that Vol’ox probably didn’t want to hear her true answer: I can’t tell, since you all look alike to me.
Vol’ox continued. “Yet to further explain, Mulicorean males do possess a shelter pouch, but not for the nursing of our young, but simply for protection during the males’ time with our tiegs.”
“Tiegs?”
“Tiegs … offspring. You Humans truly are uninitiated.” Vol’ox looked at Quint. “And I must believe now that you have no intention of purchasing the Noreen II, since all this was simply a ruse, a means to an end. I wondered why you would pay me a hundred credits just to carry the small container in my pouch. Now I know.”
“And that was all that was in the data pack?” Miranda asked. “You’re not about to pull out some big surprise right here at the end?”
I grinned. “I never said that.”
“Yeah, about that….”
I jerked my head in Quint’s direction.
“They weren’t exactly enthusiastic about helping out,” Quint said, finishing his statement.
“Who?”
“The Marines at the Embassy; Jason and I play cards with most of them. Jason even dated their commander for a while.”
“And what is his name?”
“Very funny,” I said to Miranda. “So they’re not coming to help?”
“Wilma didn’t say they wouldn’t, but she sure did go into a long litany of all the reasons she shouldn’t.”
“Wilma? Her name is Wilma?” Miranda’s eyes sparkled as a thin grin stretched her lips.
I ignored her. After all, Colonel Wilma Baskin was a very impressive figure, whether in uniform or out. But now the real question was whether or not she would send her two-hundred-strength force to our rescue. Quint had placed an encoded transponder on the test Noreen, with a burst voice recording capability. She would know where we are, but whether she would have picked up any useful audio to help make the case for the Marine’s intervention, well, that remained to be seen.
“Aren’t they authorized to protect Humans who are in danger?” Miranda asked.
“Sure,” Quint said. “But not two accused jewel thieves – along with their unwitting accomplice.”
“So it looks like we’re on our own,” I said, as I checked the power readings on the S-33 for about the tenth time.
“Too bad we don’t have more shoes to throw, other than what we’re wearing,” said Miranda sarcastically.
That gave me an idea.
I stood up abruptly and moved to the food processing station in the room.
“What are you up to?” Miranda asked.
“Just watch.” I made a series of entries at the processor terminal, and almost immediately, several three-inch-diameter, hard brown balls began to spit out the delivery chute.
“What the hell are those?” Miranda stepped over and picked up one of the balls. She smelled it and then took a bite. She frowned.
“Damn, they’re hard, but they taste like caramel.”
“They are – crunchy caramel balls. I have them quite often at my house. About the size of a baseball, right?”
**********
“You say we should throw these at the soldiers?” Quint asked. There was no enthusiasm in his voice. “You’ve got to be crazy. We won’t even get close enough, and then what happens if they do jump? What do we do then?”
“This is just if our weapons run short, and if they jump then we’ll have a distraction, a diversion.” More of the hard balls were now rolling out of the chute, and Miranda scooped up a couple of handfuls and took them over to Quint. She returned and filled her pockets with them, too.
“Just aim for their heads. They hate anything coming toward their faces.”
I went back to the door. “Quint and I will take lead once in the corridor, so I need Miranda and Vol’ox to bring Billork. I know we’ll eventually need him as a hostage. Our objective will be to get out of the underground complex and back topside, so we’ll be heading to the right when we leave here. Miranda, watch our backs for any troops behind us. Now we shouldn’t be more than a hundred feet or so from the central lobby area, and I’m sure that’s where most of the troops will be assembling, so be careful. Hopefully, most of the Zorphins will have their S-33 handguns set at Level-2 to give them more shots per battery pack—”
“Why hopefully?” Miranda asked.
Quint and I exchanged a knowing glance. “Because a Level-2 bolt can’t kill a Human. I learned that back at Battlefield Vegas a long time ago, and by accident, I might add. But that’s another story.”
“Oh good, so I’ll know if the bolt won’t kill me, after I’ve been shot.”
“Actually you can tell by the color of the bolt,” Quint said. “Pale blue – almost white – is a Level-2. Pure blue means L-1, and to duck for cover if you see that coming from the enemy.”
“Got it, Mr. Valarie,” Miranda acknowledged with a wink. “So where should I set the MK I took from the guard?”
“Two will be fine, for the aliens. It not only burns their flesh, but the electrical charge also causes cardiac arrest in most species.”
“Yum,” said Miranda. “Can’t wait to start racking up some points. It’s been a while since I played Alien Shooter on my computer – and I used to be really good at it.”
“Wonderful,” I said. “Just remember, these aliens shoot back – for real.”
Chapter 34
The two of us moved out into the corridor, crouching and scanning both directions. No one was within eyesight, but we could hear voices coming from our right. We slipped down the hallway, Quint on one side, me on the other.
About twenty feet down, I was able to see around the curvature of the passageway and into the central foyer at the base of the wide stairway leading up to surface. I could make out a dozen Zorphin military troops, looking strange with their reverse knee joints pointing backwards, while displaying an impossible range of motion with their triple jointed arms. Half of the troops carried Xan-fi flash rifles, while the other half had S-33’s.
There were also four topless electric carts parked between us and the troops. Eventually the aliens would board the carts for a quicker trip through the labyrinth, but for now they would provide us with cover.
Quint and I sprinted forward in a low crouch and then slid on the polished marble floor up to the nearest cart. Peering through seats and steering sticks we watched to see if we’d been noticed. Once clear, I turned to Miranda and signaled for her and Vol’ox to drag Bill to the cart.
It was when the Mulicorean tripped halfway to the cart that our problems really began. He fell over one of Bill’s unnaturally long legs and fell with a grunt to the floor. The sound echoed off the stone walls of the corridor, attracting the attention of the two Zorphins closest to the cart.
I nodded to Quint, and together we took careful aim.
The two aliens began to walk toward the cart. There was some cover provided by the vehicles, but not much. So it wasn’t long before the approaching seven-foot-tall aliens spotted the tops of our heads from their high vantage point. And then one of them looked further down the corridor and saw the heap of bodies that was Miranda and Vol’ox hunched over Bill.
We opened fire – two shots, two kills. But then pandemonium broke out in the staging area. I cursed – aloud – when I saw the effectiveness of the alien troops as they turned, crouched and broke up into squads, taking cover within a second or two of our shots. This I hadn’t counted on and I wondered where the Zorphin had got their training. For a race of creatures who haven’t fought a war in centuries, these guys were well-trained.