by T. R. Harris
Dess slapped his hand down on his desk, getting both of their attention. “Take this outside of my office. This subject has nothing to do with the Ministry.”
Kaylor didn’t say another word to the official, but instead quickly ushered Adam out of the room. Once in the hallway, Kaylor turned to him.
“You better come to terms with your situation, Adam Cain. No one is going to take you back to a planet with an unknown location, especially not in the Far Arm.”
“But I was abducted, kidnapped. It’s not fair!”
“No, it’s not, but this is not my problem.”
“Then you should have left me on that ship—” He stopped suddenly and his eyes grew wide. “The other ship!”
“What about it?”
“It’s been to Earth.”
“Yes, but the computer core is missing. There is no way to find where it has been.”
“But the people who own the ship would know; the people who may come to claim it!”
Kaylor was taken aback. He was right, if the ship is claimed, then Adam could talk with them about its travels..
“Then you must stay here and wait to see if the ship is claimed,” Kaylor declared.
“You mean you’re not going to wait here yourself?”
“No, we’ll come back later, if and when the claim is made.”
The scenarios began to run through Adam’s mind, and none of them looked good. What would he do here if he stayed on Nimor? How would he survive? “You can’t just leave me here,” he finally said. “You also said it could take a couple of months for the claim to come through. What if no one ever comes to claim it?”
And that was exactly what Kaylor was hoping; then the ship would be his. He made a quick decision. “This is against my better judgment, but I’ll let you stay with us – at least until the salvage is claimed or the salvage is awarded – if you cause us no more problems. Two months at the most. After that, you are on your own.”
Adam didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. It was obvious he wasn’t getting home anytime soon, and he had no money and no profession in this alien universe, so now he was grasping for anything even remotely familiar. Staying with Kaylor and Jym would give him time to think, as well as acclimate himself to this strange, new universe. He nodded. “Thanks, Kaylor. I’m sorry I keep flying off the handle at you, but I’m pretty messed up right about now.”
“I don’t quite understand the phrasing,” Kaylor said, “but I believe I understand what you mean to say. I can only imagine how strange all of this must seem to you. But if you attempt to remain calm, and stop flying off the handle, things will get better. Jym and I will help you get through.”
Jym! How was Kaylor going to explain to him that Adam was going to be his new shipmate for the next two months? He’s not going to like this … not one little bit.
Chapter 10
Adam and Kaylor left the Ministry Complex and headed back into the rustic, Old West town just as the sun was setting. Kaylor explained that they would take one of the wheeled transports back to the spaceport, but first he wanted to stop off at a tavern he knew of – a bar – and have a drink. Never one to pass up the opportunity to throw one back – especially after the day he was having – Adam didn’t resist.
Kaylor stopped at a doorway with a placard hung on a post, written in a scribble Adam couldn’t even begin to decipher. The alien pulled open the door and quickly disappeared inside. Like a baby duckling, Adam followed.
The interior of the bar carried such a foul odor that Adam almost gagged as he stepped inside – which was something he was coming to expect every time he came in contact with a new set of aliens. It’s as if none of them have a sense of smell! The bar was dark inside, as was to be expected, and populated with a circus of creatures far more exotic and gritty-looking than the cantina scene from Star Wars. Also, there were no dancing girls or music playing, just the deafening cacophony of discordant alien voices and the clinking of glasses on wooden tables. There was also a heavy haze in the room, and to Adam the smoke smelled vaguely familiar, yet combined with alien sweat and breath the pleasant scent was easily lost in the mix.
They took seats near the center of the room at a table with one of the small blood-sampling boxes affixed to its center. Kaylor poked his finger inside, pulled it out and then rotated the box over to Adam. Without protest, Adam let the box take a sample. In a few moments, a waiter came over – another of the burly, hairy creatures – and Kaylor ordered drinks for the two of them. Adam was also starving, having not eaten in – well he had no idea – but he decided to wait until their drinks came before mentioning anything to Kaylor. Drinking alien liquor was one thing. Eating alien food was a whole other subject.
Adam scanned the room, fascinated in the reality he now found himself. Over in a far corner, he noticed a group of the skinny gray creatures like those he’d seen aboard the big ship – like the one who had yelled at him and then ended up getting fried during the battle for the ship. There were six of them, all huddled together and looking nervous.
Not too far from the tiny gray creatures sat another group of patrons; four huge lizard-like beings, all dressed in black leather and wearing bandoliers across their chests. Even from where he sat, Adam could hear them carrying on, obviously drunk, and with the numerous empty glasses covering their table as testimony to their state of inebriation. There’s some in every crowd, Adam thought, the loud-mouths and the arrogant drunks.
Adam then noticed that Kaylor wasn’t paying attention to any of this. Instead his gaze was fixated on another creature seated at the bar, a being of the same race as he, yet smaller and with smoother features. Adam watched as Kaylor’s nostrils flared, sniffing the air.
“Stay here,” the alien commanded abruptly, as he lifted out of his chair. “I’ll be back.” Kaylor then made a beeline toward the other alien at the bar.
Stunned, Adam watched transfixed as two members of the same species met and began to size each other up. It was all kind of creepy, as they first smelled each other up and down, and then began to rub their necks together, making contact with the inch-long fingers of skin dangling from under their ears. Then the weirdest thing happened – Kaylor undid his pants! Next, the female turned her back to him, while Kaylor grasped her waist and attempted to mount her – right there in the bar!
Almost immediately, the bartender came over and angrily yelled something to them. Frantically, the two of alien lovebirds hurried out the front door, leaving Adam sitting at the table alone, confused and more than a little embarrassed.
Holy crap! What was he supposed to do now, just sit there or follow?
With no experience to guide him, Adam attempted to look as nonchalant as possible, propping one arm up on the back of his chair and crossing his legs. When the bartender brought the drinks, Adam quickly snatched up his and took a long, healthy gulp. Expecting a cola-tasting drink like he’d had aboard Kaylor’s ship, Adam was caught completely off guard by the unexpected burning sensation from the taste of nearly pure alcohol. Tears erupted from his eyes, as the potent liquid blazed a trail of fire all the way down to his stomach.
Adam tried his best not to choke; that would have completely destroyed the air of masculinity he was trying to project. Instead, he blinked several times and swallowed hard to dispel any linger traces of alcohol in his throat. Once somewhat recovered, he continued to scan the room with a silly grin on his face, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
The lizard-like creatures in the corner caught his attention again, this time as a frail, rodent-looking thing passed too close to their table. The big lizard in the middle reached out and grabbed the rodent’s tail and pulled, causing the big rat to fall back into the group. The lizards feigned anger and slapped at the rat’s head several times before the biggest of the bullies kicked the rodent back into the room, sending him crashing into an empty table nearby. The other lizards laughed loudly and hysterically, cancelling out all other sounds in the room. Penitently, the abuse
d rat rose to his feet, righted the table, and then scurried off without comment or a glance back at his tormentors.
It was then Adam noticed that the big, dominate lizard was staring at him. Their eyes locked for a moment, before Adam looked away quickly. After a moment, he chanced a glance back, just to find that the lizard was still staring at him, a slight grin now curling the edges of the creature’s elongated snout. This was getting uncomfortable, especially without Kaylor around to narrate the scene.
So it was with infinite relief that Adam saw Kaylor reenter the tavern a few minutes later. When he was seated, Adam leaned forward, “What was that all about?”
The confused look returned to Kaylor’s face. “You mean the mating? Does your species not mate?”
“Of course we do, but just not so fast, and in public – at least not all the time. Who was she?”
“I do not know,” Kaylor said dismissively, lifting his drink and taking a gulp. “It doesn’t matter; we see so few of our species out here that we need to take advantage of all encounters.”
“So you just jump each other whenever you meet, just like that?”
“I don’t see why you are so shocked. I’m sure that if another of your kind showed up you’d do the same.”
Adam had to think about that for moment, but he was distracted from his thoughts when he noticed that the large lizard was still staring at him.
“Who are those lizard-looking things in the corner? One of them keeps staring at me.”
Kaylor didn’t look over as his voiced tensed. “They’re Rigorians. I would not mess with them if I were you. They’re the meanest, strongest creatures in this part of the Fringe. Their clan is also the largest, and they know it.”
“Yeah, they seem like real assholes.”
“That’s graphic, but accurate. Just be careful around them. They know they are at the top of the food chain here, except, of course, for the Juireans.”
Adam looked over at the lizard. Concerned that his furtive glances may be sending the wrong signal, Adam decided to try and defuse the situation, before it got out of hand.
Kaylor was still talking: “Whatever you do ….”
Adam flashed a big, toothy grin at the lizard—
“… never bare your teeth at them. They will consider that as a life-challenge.”
Almost instantly, the big lizard jumped to his feet and stalked over to Adam’s table. Towering a good seven feet tall, the yellow eyes and long snout were truly intimidating. Adam leaned back in his chair, looking up at the creature – as Kaylor nearly fell off his.
“You, creature,” the Rigorian called out, “so you challenge me?”
“Nah, it was just a misunderstanding,” Adam blurted out, his voice cracking as he spoke.
“Yes, you challenge me. I therefore challenge you!”
The whole tavern fell silent as Adam carefully rose out of his seat, slowly so as to not spook the lizard any more than he already was. “Listen, I don’t want to fight you. Like I said, it was just a misunderstanding.”
The Rigorian placed his hand on the butt of this weapon, but then noticing that Adam was unarmed, he cocked his head slightly toward Kaylor, while never taking his eyes off Adam. “Give him your weapon.”
Adam was shocked to see Kaylor immediately begin to unbuckle his holster without so much as a word of protest. He handed the holster to Adam. “What are you doing? I’m not going to fight this thing!”
“But you have been challenged,” Kaylor stated flatly. “You will either fight, or he has a right to shoot you dead where you stand.”
So either I fight … or I die. That’s not much of a choice, Adam thought.
Taking a deep breath, Adam reluctantly took the holster and strapped it around his waist. At least this was something he was familiar with; a weapon at the ready and an enemy before him. This was basic … and this he was good at.
The lizard turned and walked back to his group as a path was cleared of patrons and tables between the Rigorian and himself. There was more chatter in the room now, as the reality of the situation spread rapidly throughout the bar. There even appeared to be some betting going on. Adam didn’t want to know what odds he was getting, but he was sure they weren’t good.
Adam moved out from behind the table, giving himself a clear line of sight to the Rigorian just as Kaylor moved up beside him and removed the weapon from the holster. “Have you ever fired an MK-17 before?”
Adam shook his head.
“Of course you have not.” Kaylor displayed the weapon to him. “You must follow this procedure to fire the MK: Withdraw the weapon from the holster, bring it up to level, and when the targeting computer has locked on you will feel a slight vibration in the grip. You can then pull the trigger and your target will be struck. I have set the weapon for a level-one bolt. That is the maximum setting. It will produce a concentrated bolt but you will only have five shots per charge. It was set a level-two when I shot you. That produced a larger, more diffused bolt, but it gives the shooter ten shots instead of five. You will need a level-one bolt to kill the Rigorian, but you will also need to be very precise with your targeting.”
He returned the weapon to the holster and then stepped away. But then as an afterthought, he stepped forward again and raised his arm. “This is my weapon,” he announced to the room. “I will be reclaiming my property after the challenge is satisfied.”
Adam leaned in towards him, “You don’t sound too confident about my chances.”
Kaylor just shrugged, and then moved away to put more distance between Adam and himself.
Adam turned his attention to the Rigorian, and was just about to ask how this was supposed to go down when he saw the lizard’s hand move quickly towards his gun. The Rigorian grasped the butt of the weapon and began to draw it from the holster….
Oh shit … it’s happening now!
Without thinking, Adam reached down and withdrew the MK-17 from the holster. The weapon was light in his hand, and in a single move he aimed the weapon at the lizard and instinctively depressed the trigger. A tiny, brilliant ball of blue light shot out of the business end of the MK and impacted the left shoulder of the Rigorian, spinning him sideways. Adam fired again; this time the shot struck the thick neck of the lizard, nearly severing the head from the torso.
Adam then noticed another movement; the Rigorian to his right had also pulled his weapon and was bringing it to bear on Adam. Shifting his aim slightly, Adam let loose with another shot; this one found its target center mass in the lizard’s chest.
Not taking any chances, Adam swung the weapon to the left, lining up the other two Rigorians in his sights. Each had their hands on their weapons, but they quickly pulled them away as they stared down the barrel of Adam’s gun.
It was only then that Adam felt a slight vibration coming from the grip of the alien weapon.
For some strange reason, this made Adam chuckle, an expression that made the two surviving Rigorians shiver with fright. The entire fight had taken less than two seconds … and just now the computer was telling him it was okay to fire.
“Take off your holsters,” Adam demanded of the two remaining Rigorians.
“What?” one of them said. “We’re not taking—”
Adam rushed forward, until he jammed the barrel of his gun up into the neck of the taller, defiant lizard. “Take off your god damn weapons – or I’ll take off your heads!”
In unison, the Rigorians unbuckled their holsters and let them fall to the floor.
“That’s better. Now get the hell out of here,” Adam ordered.
Without looking back at the fallen and bloody heap of flesh that was their dead companions, the two surviving Rigorians dashed out of the tavern. Adam bent down and picked up the two sets of weapons. When he turned back to the room, he noticed how deathly quiet it was, with dozens of pairs of wide eyes staring back at him. Taking advantage of the stunned fear, Adam returned to his table, lifted his drink and threw it down in a single gulp. He then
turned to an equally-stunned Kaylor and simply said, “Pay up; we’re leaving.”
********
Outside in the early evening afterglow, Adam and Kaylor walked silently back to the spaceport. Kaylor didn’t ask for his weapon back, and chose to stay about half a pace behind Adam all the way to the landing field.
Entering the ship, Kaylor retracted the loading ramp and secured the door, after which they made their way to the common room.
As they entered, Jym turned from his computer console – and nearly fell off the chair at the sight of Adam.
“What is he doing here?” he blurted out; Kaylor silenced him up with a firm shake of his head.
Adam was still so jacked up that he didn’t sit down. Instead he dropped the two sets of weapons on the table and then began to pace back and forth between the couch and the table. “I didn’t want to fight him – you know that,” he finally said.
Kaylor stood near the doorway. “You had no choice,” was all he said.
Regaining some of his nerve, Jym pressed the subject: “What happened? You’ve only been gone for about two hours—”
“Adam just killed two Rigorians in a life-challenge at Jklena’s Tavern.”
“He did what? That’s impossible.”
“No it is not,” Kaylor countered. “It was the most remarkable thing I’ve ever seen. Then he disarmed two more and had them leave the tavern in exchange for their lives.”
Stepping forward, Kaylor held out his hand to Adam. “Let me have the weapon.”
Adam stopped pacing and looked into Kaylor’s eyes. A tense moment passed, but then Adam slowly began to unbuckle the holster. “No, keep the holster on,” Kaylor said.
Surprised, Adam obeyed and handed just the weapon over to the alien. Taking the MK-17, Kaylor popped the bolt cartridge out of the handle and then handed the weapon back to Adam.
“Let me see you draw the weapon again. It is disarmed, so just draw and shoot, like you did before.”
Doing his best John Wayne imitation, Adam whipped the gun out of the holster, raised it and pulled the trigger. He heard an audible gasp from Jym.