by CW Hawes
“But you have dematerialized other things?”
“Yes. On occasion.”
“So it’s possible you could dematerialize both of us?”
“Yes.”
There was a tremor in the floor and a dull boom reached their ears.
Mostyn jumped up. “Bardon! He must be launching a major attack.”
“What is ‘Bardon’, Mostyn Pierce?”
“My boss. A round little Englishman who knows more about the arcane and forbidden knowledge than does half the solar system.”
“Is this good?”
There was another tremor and dull boom.
“Oh, it’s very good. It means the cavalry is on its way.”
“What is this ‘cavalry’?”
“I’ll explain later.” Mostyn went to the window. A perfect view of the street. There were people about. Most seemed unconcerned about the tremors and booms.
“What do we do, Mostyn Pierce?”
He went to the drawer and took out the map of the city he’d “borrowed” from the library. Suddenly, there was panic on the street. He went to the window. People were screaming, pointing upwards, and running. Mostyn dropped the map, ran to the door, threw it open, ran down the short length of the hallway, out the main door, and into the street. H’tha-dub was right behind him.
Mostyn looked up and said, “Well, I’ll be damned.”
There, flying through the air, were drones. Scores of them. Mostyn waved his arms and several drones stopped, apparently focused on him, and then continued on their way.
“Bardon now knows at least I’m here.”
“This is good?”
“Very. The drones will transmit where they saw me, and any of the others on my team, and that’s where the rescue attempt will be focused.”
“Your people are coming to get you?”
“You bet they are, honey!”
Mostyn and H’tha-dub watched the drones, while the street filled with slaves and y’m-bhi. One y’m-bhi with six arms and four legs had two crossbows. He’d shoot one, while reloading the other. In the span of a minute, he knocked down five drones. Another slave, using a kind of slingshot on a rifle stock, was equally deadly in knocking down drones.
The drones clustered together and began firing on the K’n-yanian defense force. Several slaves fell. The y’m-bhi were unaffected and kept firing away at the drones, with several more falling to the ground.
Another squad of slaves rushed to the battle and fired a couple dozen projectiles at the drones. To Mostyn’s amazement the projectiles joined together forming a single large projectile that ripped through the cluster of drones, taking out at least half.
H’tha-dub uttered, “Tulu-t’agn!”, and bowed.
Mostyn thought back to his reading of the Binger files. “The Tulu metal!” he said out loud. “How clever. The projectiles, made of the metal, are attracted to each other, and many small units become one deadly large one.”
He was surprised the K’n-yanians had resorted to using the metal, because, according to what Howard Langley had reported from Zamacona’s document, the K’n-yanians revered the metal. The stuff supposedly having come to earth from wherever the great Cthulhu himself had originated.
The drones had dispersed and were flying back in the direction of the tunnel opening.
“Looks like the party’s over,” Mostyn said, in Spanish. “I suppose we’d best get back inside.”
“Yes, Mostyn Pierce. We would not want one of the counsel, or the gn’agn, or one of their agents, to see you.”
They returned to the apartment and Mostyn, picking up a map, went to the dining room table, where he spread it out.
“Are you able to show me on this map, where my team members are located?”
H’tha-dub joined him and studied the layout of the city.
“Yes, I can show you.” She pointed, “Here is DC Jones.”
“Can you mark the map?”
Her eyes lit up. “Oh, yes, Mostyn Pierce!”
She fairly ran from the room and returned with a pen and a bottle of the K’n-yanian green ink.
She unstoppered the bottle and dipped the pen into the liquid. “This is so exciting, Mostyn Pierce! I haven’t used this pen for two hundred years! How do I mark the map?”
“Just make an ‘x’.”
“How do I make this ‘x’?”
“Like this.” He crossed two lines to show her. “Put one where each of my team members are.”
She did so, and there was a big smile on her face. “What is next, Mostyn Pierce?”
“We need to mark who is at each ‘x’.”
“I write the person’s name?”
“Yes.”
“I do not know how to do that.”
“How about this, I write the names in my language to show you?”
She pouted. “But I want to write.”
“Here, then. I’ll guide your hand.” He moved next to her and took her hand in his.
“Ooh, Mostyn Pierce, this is so very exciting!” She nuzzled his ear.
“Focus, my pet, or we’ll never get to my world.”
She nipped his earlobe. “Oh, alright.”
Mostyn guided H’tha-dub’s hand and wrote the name of each one of his team members name by an ‘x’. When finished, he looked over the map. The only one missing was Slezak.
“Where the hell does Slezak live?”
“She seems to always be with her affection group, moving from apartment to apartment, and going to temple.”
“Damn. We’re going to have to find her when we’re ready to leave. Probably, we’ll have to kidnap her.”
“What is this ‘kidnap’?”
“Take her against her will.”
“Is that wise, Mostyn Pierce?”
“Probably not.”
“Then we should not do this kidnap.”
“You’re probably right. Let me think about it. For now, our next stop is the library. I need a map of the sewer system.”
“Alright, Mostyn Pierce. Now? Do we leave now?”
“Now is as good a time as any.”
H’tha-dub wrapped her arms around Mostyn and after a moment, the two disappeared.
19
Mostyn and H’tha-dub spent most of the “afternoon” in the library. Because the place was rarely used, there was no staff on site and the two had to fend for themselves in trying to locate information regarding the building and maintenance of the great city of Tsath. In their previous visit, Mostyn had learned the K’n-yanian cataloging system. This time, the issue was how the information they were looking for was classified.
After numerous attempts, they finally found the section on the history of the city and another on civil planning. It was in the latter section they found the maps. They took them back to H’tha-dub’s apartment, after she dematerialized Mostyn, the paper, and herself.
Mostyn found being dematerialized quite disconcerting. The feeling reminded him of accounts he’d read of out-of-body experiences told by those who had survived clinical death and those persons who had unintentionally or intentionally left their bodies. Except he had no physical body to look at, because it was nothing more then a cloud of atoms.
Somehow he saw what was around him, not having eyes, and somehow he sped along the streets, went through the walls of buildings, not having any legs. The weightlessness and the feeling of not being in himself filled him with anxiety. In addition, the speed at which they traveled made him feel nauseous. For that, however, he had only himself to blame, as he had told H’tha-dub to hurry.
He could “see” her and she, him. They could talk to each other; that is, they could send their thoughts to each other. And he felt the texture and weight of the maps he held. For lack of a better way to describe the feeling, Mostyn thought he felt like a ghost.
Rematerialized in H’tha-dub’s apartment, Mostyn was very glad for his body to be back “together”. He walked over to the table and compared the map of the city with a map of
the sewer system. They weren’t identical. The sewer system map was apparently the older of the two, at least that was Mostyn’s guess. Because H’tha-dub confirmed the existence of areas of the city that didn’t appear on the sewer map.
With the two maps lined up, Mostyn studied the sewer layout in order to identify the most direct route that would take them from the city to the temple where their equipment was stored.
A slave entered with food and Mostyn reluctantly set the maps aside.
“The time has come to eat, Mostyn Pierce. I am famished, for you deprived me of my dinner.”
“You poor thing.”
“I am not poor.”
“Just an expression.”
“Oh.” She then smiled at him.
They sat and began eating.
“Have you worked everything out, Mostyn Pierce?”
“As much as I can. While you are collecting everyone, a slave will take the gyaa-yothn to the temple. Once everyone is at the start point, we’ll go through the sewers, there is an entrance a block away, and an exit near the road that goes passed the temple. We’ll get the equipment and make for the tunnel as fast as we can.
“Once we’ve reached the tunnel, we’ll fight our way through the guards if we have to and hopefully make our escape.”
“The plan sounds so simple.”
“It is. So probably a thousand things will pop up to derail it.”
“Maybe not, Mostyn Pierce.”
“Maybe not, but likely yes.”
“If we are caught…”
“I know. We don’t want to be caught.”
“No, we do not.”
In Mostyn’s mind flashed the images of his deformed team members.
***
Mostyn did his best. In the end, he couldn’t avoid her. He needed her. Not in the sexual sense. He needed her cooperation, and to secure that he had to give in to her insistence that they be husband and wife.
He lay in the bed on his back. Even though not in the mood, he had to admit the sex was exquisite. She lay next to him and drew circles on his chest with her finger.
“Do I please you, Mostyn Pierce?”
Dotty flashed through his mind and he pushed the image away.
“Yes, H’tha-dub, you please me. Any man would be lucky to have you for his wife.” That last sentence was absolutely truthful. Mostyn had no doubt she could make any man feel like a king.
She snuggled closer to him. He turned and kissed the tip of her nose.
“Let us copulate again.” Her voice was heavy with desire.
“Can’t. We need to leave during the rest period.”
She bolted upright. “Today?”
“The rest period is about to start any time now, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
“Good. We can’t wait. I don’t want your people to seal the tunnel to prevent my people from coming through, which would mean we can’t get out.”
“Oh, Mostyn Pierce, I am tired of this. Why can you not stay here?”
“For the same reason Zamacona couldn’t. It’s not in our nature. We top-worlders don’t like to be caged up.”
“Very well.” Her glum expression suddenly brightened. “Let us bathe together before we depart.”
“Okay. But we can’t linger. We have a lot to do.”
H’tha-dub drew the water while Mostyn took another look at the maps. He committed as much to memory as he could, and then joined H’tha-dub in the bathroom.
Bath completed, H’tha-dub sent two slaves to the temple with the gyaa-yothn. Mostyn made sure they took the torches, oil, and several coals from the fire.
The next stage of his plan was perhaps the most risky. To each teammate’s apartment, H’tha-dub had to travel in a dematerialized state. Once inside their apartment, she’d rematerialize, seize the person, dematerialize both of them, and bring the person back with her to her apartment where Mostyn was waiting.
Mostyn cautioned her that if she could not abduct the team member without being seen, she was to go on to the next one. The questionable ones she’d go back for after the others had been secured.
First on the list was Jones. Mostyn wanted his trained agent first in order to fill him in on the plan. But when H’tha-dub returned, Mostyn saw Zink and not Jones.
“He was copulating, Mostyn Pierce.”
Mostyn muttered, “Goddamn Jones”, and sent her off to bring back the next one on the list.
Beames arrived, and she was followed by Jones. H’tha-dub managed to take him while he was in the bathroom.
“Glad you could make the party, Jones. Now all we need is to get you some clothes.”
“We’re leaving?”
“No. This is a Christmas party.”
Beames and Zink didn’t succeed in stifling their laughter.
“B’ya-lub wants to come with us,” Jones protested.
“Can’t. Too much risk.”
“But she’s been very helpful. She found out where Slezak spends most of her time.”
“Where? Show me on this map.”
Jones studied the layout and then put his finger on the paper. “There. She’s probably there.”
H’tha-dub returned with Baker, and Mostyn motioned for her to come to him.
“Jones needs clothes and here is where we think Candy Slezak is. Bring her next. No matter what.”
“Is that wise, Mostyn Pierce?”
“No. But I want her here so we all have time to talk some sense into her.”
“Very well.” H’tha-dub gave an order to a slave and then was gone.
“We’re making a run for it tonight?” Willie Lee Baker asked.
“That’s the plan, Willie Lee. Things aren’t getting any better for us as the days go by.”
The slave returned with clothes and gave them to Jones. She left and he put them on.
Zink said, “This supposed utopia they have here, it’s the worst dystopian nightmare anyone can imagine. I was forced to watch my affection group torture a slave for their entertainment — while we were eating! God, the Romans at their worst were more civilized.”
Beames’s voice was soft, but the emotion was hard. “In my group, one day, they brought in a slave. The men raped her while the women mutilated her. I tried not to watch, but they made me. I don’t remember how many times I threw up.”
Mostyn put his arm around Beames and gave her a squeeze. “With a little luck, this will soon be over.”
A tremor gently shook the room and a dull boom reached their ears.
“Sounds like Bardon’s back at it,” Jones said.
“That it does,” Mostyn replied.
“Are we going after our equipment first?” Jones asked.
“Yes.”
“B’ya-lub told me where the equipment was being stored,” Jones continued.
“She did?”
“Yep. Been out there to the temple and saw it for myself.” Jones was beaming.
Mostyn sat. “This isn’t good.”
Jones had a puzzled expression on his face. “What do you mean ‘this isn’t good’?”
“H’tha-dub has a reason to believe B’ya-lub may be a spy.”
“No! I don’t believe it, Mostyn. She said she loves me and wants to leave with us.”
“I suppose every female spy has said something similar from the beginning of time. Why? Because we men almost always fall for such shit. Think with your big head, Jones.”
“No. I can’t…”
H’tha-dub reappeared with a screaming Candy Slezak.
“She was very difficult, Mostyn Pierce.”
“How’d you get her to come?” Mostyn asked.
“I told her I would leave her in a dematerialized state if she did not come with me.”
Mostyn chuckled. “Gag her. We can’t have all that racket.”
H’tha-dub summoned a slave and when she appeared, gave her orders. Moments later the slave was back with cloth and a rope.
Jones and Zink bound and gagged Slezak.
“Mostyn Pierce, something is happening by the tunnel. There are loud noises and there is an odd greenish glow coming from there.”
“None of this is sounding good,” Mostyn replied. “B’ya-lub knows where our equipment is stored.”
A noise outside drew their attention.
“Everyone down!” Mostyn ordered, while he motioned for H’tha-dub to come with him outside.
On the street, they saw drones in the sky. They were firing some sort of laser weapon. This time, however, Mostyn watched the K’n-yanians mount a different defense. In a matter of moments, the cluster of drones disappeared.
“What the hell?” Mostyn muttered.
“They dematerialized them,” H’tha-dub said.
Mostyn nodded. “Of course. Why didn’t they do that on the first attack?”
“Because the y’m-bhi and slaves do not have that ability.”
“So the K’n-yanians themselves are now conducting the defense.”
“Yes, Mostyn Pierce.”
“Things must be getting serious. Get Kemper. We have to leave as soon as possible.”
H’tha-dub touched Mostyn’s cheek and kissed him. “I do all of this to be with you, Mostyn Pierce.” And she vanished.
Mostyn returned to the apartment and told the group what he saw.
“This can’t be good,” Beames said.
Zink agreed, “No, Esther, it isn’t. None of this is good.”
Mostyn went to Slezak. “Candy, I’m going to pull down the gag. If you scream, it goes back. Understand?”
She nodded her head.
Mostyn pulled the gag down. “Candy, this place is not for us. You have family. Friends.”
“I want to stay, Pierce. I like it here.”
Beames said, “Do you like the torture?”
“Yeah, I kinda do.” A cocky little lilt was in Slezak’s voice.
“You’re sick,” Beames replied, and walked away.
“I like these people, Pierce. I’ll fight you if you try to take me with you.”
“Candy, you are an outworlder. These people are xenophobic. They will never trust you.”
“They trust me just fine, Pierce. They take me everywhere in the city and out to the countryside. They show me everything and I tell them all about our world. Yeah, they’re into mutilation and torture. But are they any different from us, Mostyn? We have BDSM, cock fights, and dogfights. We have boxing and roller derby and football. We have rape and murder and sexual abuse, for God’s sake. And look at how we treat the animals we eat. It’s horrible! Are these people truly any different then we are?”