by Selina Rosen
"Our fuel cells are low. We're losing power and altitude. Apparently the ship was never meant to actually fire the weapons. Suck-oid obsolete Reliance equipment! We were at full power when we left the ship, and now we're completely out of fuel. We're going to have to put down right here." Then they basically fell out of the sky.
Topaz looked at Levits, who was shaken but not hurt. "Well that sucked," Topaz announced.
"More than you think. Barring a miracle, we're now stuck on this freaking planet."
* * *
RJ listened to the discouraging report Levits gave her and frowned. She took a deep breath and talked through his yelling. "Are you all right?"
"I'm . . . Yes, I'm fine." He sounded a bit taken aback by her question. "RJ, how are we going to get off this planet?"
"We'll hijack a Reliance vehicle if we have to. We'll find a way. It's a pain in the ass, but there's no reason to panic as long as you're all right." RJ paused. "We've been in tighter spots . . . I'm sorry I screamed at you. It's as much my fault as any one's that David got away."
"Are you OK, RJ?" The tone of Levit's voice was both puzzled and concerned.
RJ laughed. "Yeah, I'm fine. Over."
"Over."
RJ looked at Janad. "You and Poley go on. You should catch sight of the deranged butt hole any minute. I'm going back up the trail to check on something."
"Be careful," Poley warned.
RJ smiled over her shoulder at him as she walked away. "Aren't I always?"
Janad smiled and started back on David's trail. Now she really felt like she was at home. Out here in the forest stalking prey – it was what she had been doing since she was a child. She caught sight of their quarry and took off running. The stiff one followed her, matching her step for step, and she had the impression he could out run her if he wished to. For someone whose every movement seemed labored he certainly was fast. None of the men of her village could keep up with her for more than a few feet. When David saw them he ran faster, but he was slow, and they would over take him shortly.
* * *
"If we don't hurry, Haldeed, we will lose them," Taleed said excitedly as he started to trot along. "Already the trail grows stale."
Haldeed moved quicker to keep up with his friend, although his heart was definitely not in it. He didn't think it was wise to chase after gods. In fact he thought it was a bad idea all the way around. He'd tell Taleed so, too, if Taleed would just turn around so that he could see him.
Suddenly Taleed came to an abrupt stop, and Haldeed ran into him. When he looked up, he saw the white headed god's blue eyes boring into him. He dropped to his knees and prostrated himself.
The white headed woman looked at Taleed and spoke plainly. "Your friend thinks I'm a god, why don't you?"
For a moment Taleed thought about pretending that he couldn't understand her, but something told him that she'd know he was lying, and that if he lied to her she wouldn't be pleasant to them. "Because I know your language and I heard what you were saying. You're no god," Taleed said in the Reliance tongue sticking his chest out forcefully.
Haldeed knew Taleed, and knew that he was probably as scared as he had ever been, but he was standing tall looking strong and confident even if he felt neither.
"I could show you things to make you believe otherwise. Show you things that would prove to you that I am a god. At the very least I could prove to you that you should treat me with respect and with fear." She took one finger and punched it into Taleed's chest, and he moved backwards under the force. When he looked at her again, he wasn't looking quite as confident, and she demanded, "Why do you follow us?"
Taleed swallowed hard. "We saw your power and how you fought against the Reliance to save my people."
The woman smiled. "Your people?"
"I meant our people. I know your language, but I'm not accustomed to speaking it. Me being a poor migrate farm worker," Taleed said changing his earlier decision not to lie to her.
She laughed and shook her head, and then her eyes seemed to fall on his fake hands. Taleed quickly put them behind his back. "Does he not speak Reliance?" she asked nodding her head towards Haldeed.
"He understands your tongue, but only a very little, and he does not speak at all. He is a mute," Taleed explained.
"Quit bowing and scraping and get out of the dirt," she ordered Haldeed. "Your friend is right. I am no god."
Haldeed got slowly to his feet but still would not look into the face of the woman. She might not be a god, but she had power. He didn't want her to catch his gaze and hold it; he feared something awful would happen to him if he made eye contact with her.
"What is it that you want from me?" she asked Taleed.
"Only to help you. I know people, people in very high places," Taleed said. "People who might not listen to you, but will most definitely listen to me."
"The priests?" she asked.
"Among others," Taleed said.
"Isn't that a little odd for 'poor migrant farm workers'?" She asked with a sly smile.
Taleed thought quickly. "You will need someone to translate for you."
"I have two people who can do that already, and I'll be able to do it myself by tomorrow afternoon."
"Someone who knows this planet then," Taleed insisted.
"I have one of those, and I'd bet a whole fist full of little black rocks that she knows a hell of a lot more about your planet than you two do," she said.
"My friend and I could be of great assistance to you. I lied about being farm workers. It is true that we are wearing peasant's clothes only to avoid being captured by the Reliance. I promise you that we truly do know people in high places."
She smiled more broadly. "Ah, but what is it that you think that I can do for you?"
"My friend and I are in reality adventurers. We believe that you will show us an adventure, and that you can keep us from being captured and sent to another world to fight a war. That is all."
She laughed then and said. "That is utter crap. What greater adventure could you ask for than to go across space to another world and fight a war? Perhaps you had better come with us, though. At least till I figure out what the hell you really are." She turned then and ran. They followed.
They ran as fast as they could and still could not catch up to her. Haldeed realized she could get away from them any time she liked. She was a god; Haldeed didn't care what she or Taleed or anyone else said.
* * *
Janad ran and pounced, flying through the air to land on David. Unfortunately she didn't fully understand the extent of the problem he was having with his center of balance, so instead of just falling he stumbled first, and in trying to make sure he didn't get away from her Janad managed to pull them both into the rain-swollen river.
Poley wouldn't go into the water. He stood on the bank and watched as the girl struggled with David in the water, fighting both the current and the deranged frightened man who seemed intent only on drowning them both.
"Poley, help me!" Janad screamed as she struggled to break the surface.
"Think rationally now, David. You've been sick. Janad is only trying to help you," Poley said following along on the bank as the current washed Janad and David further downstream.
"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind!" Janad screamed as David dunked her under the water and held her there.
"Now David, Janad is human in origin. As such she must have oxygen. If you do not let her up, she will drown," Poley said.
David laughed wildly. "That's sort of the plan, Tin Pants!"
RJ ran past Poley and dove into the water. She easily pulled David off Janad. Janad came up coughing and started to float down the river. RJ caught her in her free hand and threw her to Poley who caught her. RJ grabbed David around the shoulders, successfully holding his arms to his side and hauled him out of the water kicking and screaming.
"Let me go! You're all trying to kill me!"
RJ flung him away from her. "No one's trying to kill you, Dav
id. You're not our favorite person right now, but we aren't trying to kill you. You know me; you know that if I wanted you to be dead, you'd be dead," RJ said.
David stumbled forward and collapsed sitting on a rock, he put his face in his hands and started to cry. RJ walked over to him and patted him on the back. "You're all right, David. You just need to calm down. You've had the space sickness, and we had to sedate you. We're on a planet now, so you should start to feel better soon."
David nodded and seemed to have calmed down.
As soon as Janad caught her breath, she jumped out of Poley's arms and popped him in the forehead with the palm of her hand – which hurt her arm and seemingly did nothing to him.
"You! Why did you not help me?" she demanded angrily. "I was almost drowned."
"I couldn't," Poley explained with a shrug.
"He doesn't function at full capacity if he is submerged, so our father programmed him with hydrophobia," RJ said matter-of-factly.
Janad gave her a confused look, proving that she still didn't really understand what Poley was.
"He's afraid of the water," RJ explained simply.
Janad looked at Poley, pointed and laughed.
Poley gave the girl a confused look. "It isn't right to laugh at someone's fear. Is it right, RJ?"
"No, it's not, Poley," RJ said. She looked down, momentarily forgetting everything except the fact that her clothes and her chain were wet and how much she hated it when her clothes were wet. "I'm freaking soaking dripping wet. My blaster's wet; I'll have to take it apart and dry it out. Why can't anything be simple? Why can't anything be easy?"
"Many things are simple. Many things are easy." Poley supplied.
"Poley, I wasn't talking to you," RJ said shortly. "I wasn't asking you a question."
"Then who were you talking to?" he asked.
RJ gritted her teeth. "No one, Poley. I wasn't talking to anyone."
"Oh," Poley said simply.
RJ ignored the judgmental quality in Poley's voice. "Put your little tin ego away and go medicate David."
"Am I to assume that you are talking to me now?" Poley asked.
RJ laughed. "Sarcasm, Poley?" She smiled at him and moved to slap his back. "That's very good! You just became a smart ass. Now, could you just please medicate David?"
Poley moved towards David, and David jumped to his feet. Or at least he got to his feet as quickly as he could on this planet.
"No!" David screamed, backing away from Poley. "Quit doping me up. Quit drugging me. I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to brainwash me. But I'll never tell you where the rebel base is on Alsterace Island on planet Earth. Never!"
David tried to run, but Poley caught him easily. He took the pocket medic from his pocket and set it with one hand while holding David with the other. He placed the device against David's arm.
"No please . . ." David felt a slight stinging sensation. His vision started to clear; he could almost feel the confusion draining from his mind. He didn't feel like he was going to vomit any more. "I . . . I feel fine!" David said in surprise.
"Yeah, now all you have to go through are the chills and you should be right as rain," RJ said.
"What the hell happened to me?" David asked, then added almost as an afterthought, "Where are we and how did we get here?"
"You had space sickness. We didn't notice your symptoms till it was too late for the medication to do you any good as long as we were in space, so we sedated you and brought you with us to the planet's surface."
"I still feel very heavy – like it's harder to move," David said experimentally lifting his foot.
"That's because it is," RJ explained. "This planet is denser than Earth and therefore has a stronger gravitational pull. For all practical purposes you are a good twenty-five pounds heavier here than you would be on Earth."
"You threw shit on us," Janad said glaring accusingly at David.
"I did what?" David shrieked.
"He tried to drown her, and yet she's more upset about the dung," Poley said in an interested tone.
"I did what?" David asked again.
"Never mind. Suffice it to say you haven't been yourself lately." RJ started walking, and the others followed. "Oh, and it would probably be a good idea to steer clear of Levits for a few days," RJ added over her shoulder.
Taleed and Haldeed caught up to them then, huffing and puffing.
Janad met them with a big butcher knife she had obviously taken from the ship's galley in her hand, and they skidded to an abrupt halt.
Janad screamed something in their language.
"They're all right," RJ said. "Some local adventurers who want to help us with our quest. Come on, let's go find the others."
Chapter Eight
"So, the way I see it, we're basically screwed," Levits said.
"I'm freezing my ass off over here," David said his teeth chattering in spite of the dry space suit and three solar blankets he had wrapped around him and his close vicinity to the fire.
"It should pass in a couple of days," Poley informed.
"That's very comforting, thank you," David said sarcastically.
"Shut up, shit boy," Levits hissed from where he sat across the fire.
"All right. What happened with the shit?" David asked.
Levits started to tell him in what would, no doubt, have been very colorful language, but Topaz stopped him.
"Let's not go back there," Topaz said putting a gentle hand on Levits' chest.
"Ever," RJ added. She sat down behind Levits, and he laid his head against her chest. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed the top of his head.
"What the hell is going on?" David asked, wondering if he was still hallucinating or had indeed ever stopped.
"They have sex," Janad informed him.
"Really?" David asked looking at RJ.
"Yes, really!" Levits hissed, apparently taking immediate offense at the note of disbelief in David's voice. "You got some problem with that, shit boy?"
David was stunned silent for a moment, but finally found his voice. "Ah, no . . . Not at all." It was a lie, and probably not a very convincing one.
He was shaking all over, and now suddenly his stomach hurt and he felt heartsick. Neither of these latter symptoms had anything to do with his disease. RJ hadn't been ready for a relationship. He admitted now, if only to himself, that he had harbored some hope that RJ still loved him. That when she was ready to have another relationship it would be with him. He tried very hard to hide what he was feeling because it just wasn't appropriate. He didn't get along with Levits, but he didn't dislike him, and if he was sure of nothing else he was sure that Levits loved RJ. David didn't really love RJ, not at least with the sort of passion he knew to be romantic love. The truth was he thought he would never feel that way about anyone ever again, and RJ would have been the next best thing. At the very least he knew he could trust RJ. He wasn't sure he could ever really trust anyone else. So, now the way he saw it he was doomed to go through his life alone.
"David, are you all right?" Topaz asked, making David realize just how long he had been silently staring into the center of the fire.
"No, I'm not all right. I feel like crap, I'm freezing to death, and everyone keeps reminding me of the hideous things I did when I was delusional. I think I'm going to go in the ship and lie down." David started to get up.
"I'll help you," Poley offered.
David was about to snap at him that he hardly needed help lying down, when Poley reached down and helped him to his feet. He realized he actually did need the help, or at the very least he was glad to have it. Poley helped him into the ship and helped him to lie down on the cot, and then he covered him up with the three blankets.
"Thank you, Poley," David said surprised at how tired he suddenly felt.
"You're welcome," Poley said and turned to leave.
"Poley?" David called after him.
Poley turned to face David. "Yes."
"Poley . . .
Do you think RJ is happy with him?"
"Who?" Poley asked.
"Levits?" David said trying not to scream. Sometimes the obvious seemed to go right over the robot's head.
"She seems to be. Yes," Poley answered. He turned and left the ship.
While a human might have sensed that David needed to talk, Poley had answered David's question and since David said he wanted to sleep, Poley was leaving so that he could.