Four in the Way

by Jeff Deischer

  Tully was so focused on his disappointment that he did not see the hands that reached out of an alley and pulled him into it until it was too late.

  Indri Mindsinger found Rastheln’iq in his quarters, undergoing solar treatment. His lamp produced wavelengths closer to true sunlight than the artificial beams of ship lighting. Once again, he was nude.

  “Wormwood,” said the Delph, “may I speak with you?”

  “Of course,” came the Viridian scientist’s thin, reedy voice. “You wish to speak of Cyat?”

  This question surprised Indri, and, for a moment, he was speechless. “How did you know?”

  “I did not. It was a deduction.”

  “I see.”

  “You wish to tell me that you are attracted to the girl, correct?”

  This time, the Delphite priest was shocked – for the idea was correct. “How did you know that, Wormwood?”

  “Deduce,” corrected Rastheln’iq. “You are attracted to her, and are worried about your feelings.”

  “I haven’t felt this way in a long time, Wormwood,” Indri confided to the plant man. “It doesn’t seem right. Cyat is not my type. But more and more, I find myself thinking about her … wanting her.”

  “That is only natural,” remarked the Vir.

  “No, it’s not,” protested Indri.

  “Yes, it is. She exudes a powerful pheromone that attracts males. It is too subtle for your sense of smell to detect, but it is real, nonetheless. I ran some tests soon after she came aboard and confirmed my hypothesis.”

  “You’ve known for days? But you didn’t say anything.”

  “It is not my affair,” Rastheln’iq said simply.

  Indri hesitated before speaking. He wanted to criticize Wormwood but decided against it. “What made you suspect?”

  “The same thing we all noticed – the abrupt change in Tully’s attitude. I also detected the girl’s pheromones, but since I am not an animal, they had no effect on me, and so I ignored them. All animal species give off pheromones. Normally, these only affect that one species. The Nefrati is an unusual race. I would venture an opinion that this is what makes them so highly prized as concubines – for the way they make their masters feel. It has been said in many animal cultures that love is the most powerful motivator, sometimes surpassing the will to live.”

  Indri said nothing as he digested the Vir’s words.

  “Being in such close proximity for long periods, Tully is much more affected than either of you,” explained Rastheln’iq.

  “You mean Noomi’s affected, too? But you said it attracted the opposite sex.”

  “It does. But the Tatar sense of smell is so keen that Noomi is doubtlessly also smelling it without knowing it. It tells her she has a rival.”

  “You think she is in love with Tully herself?” asked Indri.

  “No, but under the right circumstances, any woman can become the rival of another.

  “Noomi would doubtless deny it if you confronted her, by the way. It is purely instinctual and not conscious.”

  “I wasn’t thinking of doing that,” Indri replied. After a moment, he asked, “Is there anything I can do?”

  “Stay away from her and replenish your quarters with fresh air after every time you are in her vicinity. Also, stay away from areas where she has been. Her scent lingers.”

  “Thank you, Wormwood. What about Tully?”

  “You may try to reason with him if you wish,” answered Rastheln’iq. “I doubt you will have any effect on him. He ignored my counsel.”

  “You spoke to him?”

  “Yes. But as I said, he ignored me.”

  Indri Mindsinger left the Viridian scientist’s quarters in a pensive mood.

  The Earthman Tully struggled in the grip of his assailant but found himself held fast. Whoever – or whatever – it was, it was stronger than he. A purring voice said to him, “Cut it out – it’s me.”

  Relaxing, Tully turned to find the face of Noomi Bloodgood. With a frown, he pulled himself free from her grasp. “What was that all about? You scared me half to death.”

  Grinning at her crewmate’s indignation, the Tatar girl explained, “I couldn’t very well yell out, ‘Tully! Over here!’ That might have attracted the wrong kind of attention.”

  “Oh, yeah,” the human mumbled. “You’ve got Templars looking for you. But now they’re after me, because I was on that vid with you!”

  “They’re not after either of us,” Noomi growled. “They’re after her!”

  For a moment, Tully was stunned into silence. Then he burst out, “Her?! You mean Cyat?”

  Noomi nodded. “Yes. Their latest Q.E.D. alert is for her, not you and not us. I’ll explain once we get back to the spaceport. We have to get out of here.”

  “No argument there,” said Tully as he pulled Cyat along behind the Tatar.

  They had gone a few blocks when Noomi put out a hand that held Tully back. Cyat almost stumbled into the human, so abruptly did he come to a halt. “Templars,” she warned.

  Tully peeked out around Noomi’s lithe form. “I think we saw those two earlier.”

  “We have to lose them before we reach the spaceport,” Noomi insisted. “Or they might tie us to the Vishnu – then we’d be in real trouble.”

  “Right,” agreed Tully. Moving to shield Cyat’s body with his own as the Templars passed, he saw that she did not seem unusually perturbed by the circumstance. He wondered at the things she must have seen – and experienced, while in Blashko’s custody. It felt like his insides were being ground up to make sausage when he imagined it.

  Noomi’s clawed toes suddenly barked Tully’s shin. “Pay attention!”

  “Sorry,” the Earthman mumbled, not taking his eyes off Cyat.

  “Come on,” the Tatar growled, impatient to get back to the safety of the Vishnu. Although she liked fighting and would even have taken on the two Templars, there was more at stake than a simple brawl. Behind those two mercenaries were four more, and behind them, eight more, etc. Depending on the ship they served on, there could be hundreds of marines on board.

  Noomi led the way across the path of the Templar soldiers, taking the shortest path back to Freeport’s spaceport. They ran across two more patrols, the latter of which was very near their destination. The mercenaries expected Tully to try to flee with his prize, if he had not done so already.

  Once the three arrived at the spaceport and began making their way to the two ships, Noomi Bloodgood explained, “I’ve been watching the Templar alerts, looking for some clue as to what they knew about us. These came straight from Count Teip Stroble, who is legendary in the Templars. He’s in charge of security for Templars in the Xuan Wu Marches. Cyat was in their newest alert. From what I put together, she belongs to Viceroy Chenry Vriotlefey!” The Earthman vaguely recalled the name – he was the Imperium’s governor of the Xuan Wu (“Black Tortoise”) Marches.

  Tully’s eyes went to Cyat. “Is that true?”

  The spotted girl nodded. “I belonged to him before Count Blashko.”

  “And how did Blashko get you from Vriotlefey?” Noomi demanded.

  “Through another man, who had me stolen from Lord Chenry,” Cyat answered, seemingly without any guile.

  “Blashko hired men to kidnap you?” asked Tully. It was difficult for him to say “steal”, because that term referred to objects, not people.

  “I do not think so,” said Cyat. “I think the man who had me stolen realized that he had made a serious mistake and wanted to be rid of me as soon as possible. He struck a deal with Count Blashko.”

  Tully wondered if the Count had lost Cyat on purpose to get rid of her, but decided against it. He’d also lost a lot of money, as well. Unless he was so wealthy that it didn’t matter to him.

  Noomi’s voice interrupted the Earthman’s ponderings. “Okay, enough talk. Here’s the Vimana. Get in your shuttle and get back to the Vishnu.” She watched as the pair departed, then went inside the cargo transport that she’
d flown, and prepared it for takeoff. Listening for the nameless shuttle’s flight clearance on space traffic control – the Tatar understood their coded lingo – she waited until Tully and Cyat were safely on their way before she took up the Vimana.

  Indri Mindsinger met the trio in the lowest deck hangar bay of the Vishnu, once the air had replaced the vacuum of space, and the three had disembarked their ships. “The Templars have broadcast Tully’s image from the other day. They have not, as yet, tied him to us or the Vishnu.”

  The one bit of luck the Earthman possessed was that he was not known to the Imperium or the Templars – he had never been genetically scanned. A vid might be very good, but it was still just a vid. If Tully was not found in the company of Cyat, it might be hard to convict him in a court of law. However, the Templars had no interest in convictions, only results. If they got hold of Tully, they’d torture him until he talked, and then do whatever Chenry Vriotlefey told them to do with the offender who had stolen his concubine. The Viceroy might be interested in who took her – or he might just want her back. In the latter case, the Templars would find some charge to place Tully into local custody and forget about him. They were not big on revenge. Their business was money.

  Leading the way to the main elevators at the bow of the Vishnu, Indri set the lift in motion, stopping it at deck 3 so Cyat could get off, then it continued upward to the uppermost deck, where the bridge, the main computer and conference room were located.

  Noomi and Tully found Rastheln’iq waiting for them in the conference room. He now wore one of his coarse cloth robes, and looked up at the newcomers when they entered. “Indri must have told you the news.

  “What are we going to do, Rattlesnake?” the Tatar asked the plant man. She had trouble pronouncing his true name, and preferred calling him “Rattlesnake” to “Wormwood”.

  “I am not certain. This virtually traps us here, for the Templars would surely search any departing ship.” Their arrangements with planetary governments gave them a wide latitude in the power they exercised. In the Borderlands, they were the law, for even without their treaties, there was no force to oppose them, should they choose to exercise their might in an unlawful manner.

  “Fortunately,” put in the Delphite priest, “we were able to re-stock a fair amount of our supplies, and so we can avoid having to go planetside for the foreseeable future.”

  “The Templars won’t give up,” Noomi said in a grim tone.

  “We are aware,” said Rastheln’iq. “I see no option but to wait.”

  “We do have another option,” Noomi said slowly.

  “Oh, no,” interrupted Tully. “You better not be thinking of what I think you are. We’re not turning Cyat over to the Templars.”

  “As much as it pains me,” Indri said, “we may have no choice. We can only stay here for so long, even if that period is weeks.”

  “I consider it a last resort,” announced Rastheln’iq. “Doubtless, whoever took her to the Templars would fall under their suspicions. A simple genetic scan would tell them who any of us truly are, and that sentient would immediately be placed under arrest. Whether that being would lead them to the rest of us is secondary.

  “The only one of us who would have a chance of getting through the process would be Tully, for he is known only to have been in the girl’s company. He can easily claim ignorance, having come forward once he learned about the girl’s circumstance.”

  “He can only claim that for so long,” remarked Indri. “This proposition has a time factor.”

  “I’m not going to do it!” Tully broke in angrily. “The money I won will pay dock fees for a month. We can wait that long at least.”

  “You really do have it bad,” Noomi said in a surprised tone, knowing her crewmate’s attitude toward wealth. In response, the Earthman glared at her.

  Indri opened his mouth to speak, but saw Rastheln’iq wave him off with a curt gesture. The Delph reflected that telling Tully the truth would probably not serve any useful purpose, and remained quiet.

  “Without that option,” said the Viridian scientist, “we can only wait. Perhaps the Templars will finally assume that Cyat has left the planet and give up searching for her.”

  “Maybe we can lay down a false trail for the Templars to follow,” Noomi suggested. “If we can get their ship to leave Freeport for even a few hours, we can escape ourselves.”

  Suddenly, Pal’s voice boomed over the Vishnu’s intercom system. “The hangar bay door is opening!”

  “Shut it, Pal,” said Rastheln’iq emotionlessly.

  “Doing so will damage the door and the shuttle, and possibly the Vishnu, sir,” replied Pal.

  “Then do nothing,” said the plant man. “We will deal with the problem ourselves.”

  “Alfred,” said Indri, addressing the Vishnu’s A.I. A bit snobbish, he was named after a famous twentieth century butler, according to Tully. “Is Cyat still aboard the Vishnu?”

  A few moments later, Alfred said, “A lifeform scan does not detect her, sir. She is not here.”

  Tully jumped up from his seat. But before he had taken two steps, Noomi Bloodgood grabbed hold of his collar, stopping the human in his tracks. “You’re not going anywhere, skivver.”

  The Tatar restrained the Earthman while they discussed what to do.

  “I would not like losing the shuttle,” said Indri, “but we can if we must. The Vimana is the more important craft.”

  “I like the little ship,” Noomi put in. “It handles like a dream.”

  “Likely, she will abandon it at the spaceport and we can retrieve it later,” observed Rastheln’iq. “And if not, I agree with your assessment.”

  “Let me go,” Tully first demanded, then, when he saw this was having no effect on his crewmates, pleaded for his release. But this, too, fell on deaf ears.

  “Pal,” Rastheln’iq called out. “Command 2.” Turning to Noomi Bloodgood, he said, “You may release him now.”

  As Tully rushed from the conference room, the Tatar girl asked, “What did you do, Rattlesnake?”

  “Command 2 locks the Vishnu down,” the Vir explained. “No one can leave or enter the ship until the order is countermanded.”

  “You mean until you give the order,” Indri accused.

  Rastheln’iq nodded. “Yes.”

  “Tully’s not going to like that,” observed Noomi.

  “I expect not,” agreed the Viridian scientist.

  “I don’t want to move on from the point that you are capable of shutting down access to the Vishnu,” the Delphite priest said with some emotion. “Who are you to make such decisions for the rest of us?”

  “I am by far the most intelligent of us, the most rational, and my special commands to Pal have saved us more than once.”

  “Agreed, but you are not our leader,” countered Indri.

  “And neither are you. You are free to examine my commands to Pal, if you choose. You have but to ask him. They are not secret.”

  This took some of the wind out of Indri Mindsinger’s sails, and he calmed down. After some minutes, he asked Pal where he was, and went to question the robot.

  An hour later, the Templars broadcast a message canceling their earlier alert: The fugitive had been found and was in custody.

  When Tully heard the news, he was distraught. “We’ve got to go rescue her!”

  “Come with me to sickbay,” said Rastheln’iq. He signaled Indri Mindsinger to ensure the Earthman complied. Parts of the plant man were delicate and could be easily injured, and he was no fighter. He had no desire to try to force Tully to go with him.

  In sickbay, which was next to the Viridian scientist’s laboratories at the aft of deck 3, Rastheln’iq injected Tully with a solution, explaining, “This is a mild sedative. It will help you sleep. You will feel better when you awake.”

  After the besotted Earthman departed, the Delph asked the plant man, “Was that truly a sedative, Wormwood?”

  “Of course,” answered Rastheln�
�iq. “Along with something I have been working on to counteract the effect of Cyat’s pheromones. There is enough for you, Mindsinger.”

  “I’m fine,” Indri assured the Vir. After a moment, he remarked, “You actually did something compassionate for Tully. I’m … surprised.”

  “Do not mistake a kind action with compassion,” answered Rastheln’iq. “In his current state, Tully cannot be trusted. I merely returned him to a more efficient condition.”

  Indri allowed himself a small smile. “If you say so, Wormwood. If you say so.”

  Treasure Hunt

  Now that the Templars had left Freeport, the crewmembers/passengers of the Vishnu felt relatively safe leaving the ship once again, and spent considerable time on the planet, a well-deserved respite from recent voyages, tribulations and labor. They had recently relocated their quarters to another deck with the help of Pal, the Vishnu’s ship systems operator. He was indispensable in the running of the vessel, which had, when launched, held a crew of one hundred seventeen. The experimental Overdrive, enabling craft to travel faster than the speed of light by bending space, had malfunctioned, throwing the Vishnu hundreds of lightyears off course. It had also driven Pal mad and he’d killed the crew, with the exception of cook Joe Tull, who’d placed himself in cryonic suspension, where he was found fourteen centuries later by three escaped convicts on their way to Purgatory, the most secret prison planet in the Imperium, one of the two major powers in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way.

  Except it wasn’t in the Imperium at all. It was actually located just over the boundary in the Borderlands, a lawless region created by interstellar treaty five hundred years earlier, and officially neutral. The four outcasts had been struggling for months to survive, figuring the place safer than returning to the Imperium where they were wanted criminals. No one was looking for them in the Borderlands – except the Templars, a powerful mercenary organization with treaties with virtually every planet in the Imperium. They had come to Freeport on a matter unrelated to the four refugees – until the criminals accidentally involved themselves, and escaped by the skin of their teeth through the sacrifice of a third party.