TangleRoot (Star Sojourner Book 6)

by Jean Kilczer

“Man,” Chancey said, “you conquered death!”

  “Barring accidents. In that rare event, we have cloned bodies ready to accept our…what you call kwaiis.”

  “Your spirits,” I said. Chancey and I were breathing hard. Huff loped along easily on all fours.

  “Rest.” Our guide suddenly sat down in a clump of long yellow grass.

  We sat around him.

  “Have you been in touch with Spirit,” I asked, “the creator of bristra?”

  “We have touched minds.” He twirled a blade of grass. “He is a powerful telepath, but had he attempted to destroy the bristra, we could have easily blocked and remained safe during the annihilation.” He chewed the blade. “Now, we must work to grow and spread our communities. This world is unfamiliar to us. We have much to learn.”

  “I don't think,” I ventured, “that Alpha will take Equus off the colonization program. There are thousands of Terrans and peoples from alien races that are anxious to claim free land on Equus and start their own communities.”

  “Do you think,” he said and chewed the blade, “that Alpha's science and technology are the only methods of defense?”

  “I thought so,” I said. “I've encountered a lot of races across the known worlds, but never one that has transcended science, except for Spirit, and he's a rare bird.”

  Huff shifted position. “I didn't know that Spirit was a bird.”

  Chancey shook his head and ripped up a blade of grass.

  “Yet you couldn't destroy the bristra ravagers with your laser weapons,” our guide said, “and we achieved it without them. Someday, your own race may go beyond science. It serves you well now, Terran, but it is not the final objective.” He twirled the blade of grass thoughtfully. Nothing is," he said softly, “except the cold when the universe burns out.”

  “You heard of the Worlds Alliance?” Chancey asked him. “Greatest military force that ever was.” He leaned forward. “What's gonna happen, man, if Alpha decides to send colonists here against your wishes?”

  “You count your power in military might,” our guide said, “and the things you make with metals and other elements.” He stood up and pointed northeast. “There is where your friends await your arrival.”

  Chancey and I stood up.

  “We have protected you twice now,” our guide said, “first from the greedy bristra, and then from murderers among your own people. When the transports arrive, we will direct them to your hovair.” He turned and stared at his village. “We can do nothing more for you. We have our own struggles.”

  “I saw an image of your homeworld being hit by an asteroid,” I said. “I'm sorry.”

  He lowered his head. “Yes. We lost.”

  “Excuse me?” Chancey said.

  Our guide pushed dirt with his bare foot. “In the dim past of our prehistory, our people split. Most remained on our homeworld, but a large group took ships and colonized the fourth planet of our system. In years that came, we had disagreements over trade, and went to war.”

  Uh, oh, I thought.

  “Yes, Jules, you are thinking that the New World directed an asteroid at our homeworld and we could not divert it in time. Is that right?”

  I nodded. “Is it?”

  He glanced back at the distant village. “It was a pre-emptive strike, unexpected and deceitful. We had a treaty. We were not at war. Now we are the remnants of their war.” His shoulders hunched and suddenly he looked weary. “I have been away too long. I wish you luck.”

  “Thank you for your help.” I automatically extended my hand to shake his.

  He studied my hand. “What should I do with that?”

  I lowered it and smiled. “A Terran ritual to show friendship.”

  “We had a stake in destroying the bristra and in saving you to return to Alpha with our message.”

  His body began to fade.

  “Are you a projection?” I asked.

  “Does it matter?”

  “I guess not,” I said, but how did you pull up the grass, and…"

  “Damn!” Chancey exclaimed as his image shimmered and disappeared.

  Huff sniffed the ground where our guide had stood, then dug at the dirt. “He is gone,” he announced and sat down. “Would you like lunch food?”

  Chancey and I glanced at each other as Huff dug into his belly pouch and rolled out three Wholly fruits. I kept these," he said “for a foggy day.”

  Chancey looked at me.

  “A rainy day, Chance.” I shrugged. “What's so hard?”

  Huff handed us two of the fruit. We thanked him and ate.

  After our foggy-day lunch, I stared northwest, where clouds scraped their bellies on mountain peaks. If there were live bristra crouched in the shadowed passes beneath those dark clouds, we had one day left after today to board the transports and get out of Spirit's way. “Guess we're on our own again,” I said, got up and started walking.

  Jules.

  I paused. Spirit?

  Your guide. I have touched the mind of the human called Alfredo. He intends to contact his family and have them steal the tank of bristra from your bio Lab.

  Why? They have samples onboard Searcher.

  Those samples died when we killed the ground roots.

  “You coming?” Chancey called and kept walking.

  “In a minute, Chance.”.

  I can't contact Earth without an SPS unit. I have to wait for the transports to land tomorrow. They'll have them onboard.

  Then I would advise that you do that. I have broken one of our codes by interfering in alien affairs. Please keep this knowledge within your own mind until you are off my world.

  I only hope I can contact Earth Central in time.

  Until then, let it be in your mind.

  You have my word.

  That is sufficient. He broke the link.

  I caught up to Chancey and Huff.

  “What's happening, man?” Chancey asked.

  “Nothing. Let's go.”

  “Wish I could believe that,” he said.

  “Are you all right in the well?” Huff asked, came closer and brushed a paw through my hair.

  “Oh yeah.” I sighed. “Just fine.”

  As we walked, the wrist and ankle manacles suddenly sprang open and slid off.

  “A present from a friend?” Chancey asked.

  “I guess so.” I looked back and rubbed my wrist. Thanks, I sent.

  “When one of the Ten Gods,” Huff began and pushed at a manacle with his paw, “gifts you with a gift, don't look it in the mouth, as Terrans say.”

  “OK, Huff,” I told him. “I won't.”

  As we continued walking, I could only pray that the family hadn't already stolen the Lab tank.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Can't eat, Sophia?” Bat asked.

  I sat at the table with Joe, Bat, and Gabby, and picked at my meal of rice and beans. Finally, I put down the fork. “No. Do you think they're waiting for us near the village?”

  “I think they know better.” Joe seemed drawn and tired.

  “We have just one day left.” Gabby looked around.

  “We know, Gab,” Bat said.

  She lowered her head. “Sorry.”

  I smiled and patted her back.

  The Alpha transports were due to land tomorrow. I knew we were all thinking the same thing. Would we have to leave without Jules and Chancey and Huff?

  I covered my quivering lips with a loose fist. Jules. I pictured his smiling face, a smile to die for. His blue eyes shadowed by sunlight like a hawk's. His lanky body and easy gait. The breeze lifting his mop of blond hair. It had grown long again after we'd laughingly held him down and cut it. He could have stopped us with a tel link, but he didn't. He was all I wanted. Was it possible that I couldn't have him? I closed my eyes and spread my empty hands, as though I held his head and kissed him.

  “Sophia,” Bat said. “You should eat something.”

  “I can't!” I stood up. “I need to get some fresh air.” I
went for my jacket and scarf and hat, and slipped on my gloves. Jules had forgotten his gloves back at the lab, and his hands were always cold. I began to sob. Gabby came up behind me and patted my shoulder. “I need some fresh air too.” She put on her jacket and scarf and hat.

  “Don't forget your gloves,” I told her.

  “Oh.” She put them on.

  “Sophia,” Joe said, “don't wander too far from our hiding place. We don't know where Searcher is hunting for us.”

  “And for Jules,” I said. “Can I take the graphoculars and a hand light?”

  He nodded.

  I strung the graphoculars around my neck and clipped the light to my belt.

  “Stay within sight,” Joe ordered as I opened the hatch.

  I nodded and went out, followed by Gabby.

  The site Joe had chosen for a landing and hiding place was an open plain strewn with large boulders and groves of trees as far as I could see.

  The cold bit my face. A banshee wind howled. Snow fluttered between my teeth as I took a breath. Jules always said that the only word for the smell of snow was “cold.”

  To the west, a storm was climbing the distant mountain peaks. Were Jules and Chancey and Huff out in this, with no place to take cover and stay warm? They had two stinglers, but I didn't think they'd use them to start a fire and give away their location.

  Huff would be all right, I knew. “Oh Jules,” I murmured, “be safe, my love.” Tears began to freeze on my cheeks. I quickly wiped them away.

  Gabby walked by my side as I climbed a hill for a better view of the surrounding land. The village was west of us. I focused there with the graphoculars. It was too far for a clear view and I studied the desolate land east of the village. Something told me to search there. Was I receiving a tel send from Jules? I was not a sensitive, but I felt his presence like a warm pressure against my mind.

  “I…I feel as though they're close,” Gabby said and rubbed her arms. “It's so cold.”

  “Are you a sensitive?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “It's just a feeling.”

  “I feel it too.”

  She looked at me.

  “No.” I smiled. “I'm not a sensitive.” I scanned the western plain again. A small herd of the six-legged goat-like animals dashed through a wallow, raising clouds of snow. I smiled at the sheer vitality of wild creatures, no different on any planet I'd ever visited.

  “Wait!” I focused east of the herd. Three figures, one almost lost in the white snow. “Oh my God!” I shouted. “It's them!” I unhooked my light and shined it skyward in long arcs. “It's them, Gabby!”

  She jumped up and down in the snow. “Let's go meet them.”

  “All right.” I clipped the light to my belt and we ran and slid downhill on snow, shouting. I heard the whine of the hovair's engines. They must have seen my light flashing in the sky as a signal. It taxied from behind boulders and kept to the ground where it would be less noticeable as it followed us. We stayed ahead, running between boulders and trees, while the hovair made its way around them.

  “Jules!” I shouted when we were close. “Jules.”

  They heard us and began to run in our direction.

  “Oh my God!” I laughed as I ran.

  Suddenly a dark shadow swooped overhead.

  Searcher!

  “Oh, no,” I gasped and crouched down. “No.”

  The hovair lifted and banked as it fled to a hiding place between boulders. Searchers laser cannons blasted rocks behind it.

  “Gabby, here!” I threw myself under a ledge. She scrambled in beside me. But Jules and Chancey and Huff were out in the open. Then I remembered what Jules had said. They wanted him alive to pilot Searcher to the trade lanes. They didn't know how to run the complex Alcubierre drive for interstellar flight. After he got them there, he'd said, they'd kick his ass out the airlock in space.

  “We have to get back to the hovair,” Gabby said. “They'll meet us there.”

  “You go. I'll wait here for them.”

  She crawled out into the snow. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded. “Go!”

  She started to run and fell over a snow-covered tree stump. “My leg!” she cried. It was twisted under her. “I can't get up.”

  “Oh my God.”

  Searcher had not discovered Jules' group in the snow veils raised by wind. I crawled out from under the ledge and shined the light at his group, flicking it on and off. I saw Jules and Chancey point toward me and start to run. Our hovair's engines were silent as it hid between boulders about two hundred feet away.

  “Jules!” I screamed as they approached. “Chancey. Huff.” I ran to them and threw my arms around Jules. “Oh, Jules!” This was a dream I'd prayed for but never dared hoped for.

  “Sophia!” He hugged me tight, lifting me off the ground, and kissed my cheek. “It's really you!” He looked around. “Where's the hovair, Soph? Searcher's breathing down our necks.”

  “Between those boulders.” I pointed. “Gabby needs help. She hurt her leg. It could be broken.”

  “Huff,” Jules said, let her ride on your back to the hovair, OK? Chancey, go with them and steady her for the ride. You too, Sophia. I'll play decoy and lead Searcher away. Chancey!"

  “Yo?”

  “Pick me up later.”

  “You sure about this, Superstar?” Chancey asked.

  “Go!”

  “I'm coming too,” I told Jules as he began to run away from the hiding hovair.

  “No!” he said. “Go with them, Sophia.”

  “I won't!” I followed as he ran.

  But it wasn't long before we were both gasping for breath and had to slow down.

  Searcher came in low, like a bird of prey, its star engines deafening in a deep-throated roar. Snow swirled around us and blinded me. Suddenly a high whine, more like a hovair, vibrated snow off trees.

  “They're launching the lifeboat,” Jules shouted.

  The lifeboat! A small fast craft. Snow settled and I saw it skid down and plow to a stop in front of us.

  Jules grabbed my hand and we ran in the opposite direction. Two men jumped out of the craft and spread out. It lifted and banked in front of us. The engines whined down and it landed again. Two more men jumped out, stinglers aimed at us.

  Jules got in front of me and held my hand tightly as the four approached. I leaned my head against his back and shivered from cold and fear.

  “It's the fucking kraut,” I heard Al say as they approached. “He'll do. And there's the icing on the cake.” He pulled Jules away from me and hit him across the face. “You mother fucker!”

  Jules staggered but he kept his feet.

  “Leave him alone,” I shouted.

  Al pushed me hard and I fell. “You tell me what to do, bitch, an' I'll give you to Zach to be his pussy.”

  Zach approached me, leering. “Can I have her anyway, boss?”

  I stood up and faced Zach, though my knees trembled. He was a mountain of a man.

  “Al,” Jules said, “you've got me. Let her go and I'll cooperate with you.”

  “Are you fer real?” Al laughed. I think he scared me more when he laughed than when he yelled. His black eyes squinted in the windblown air. “She's my insurance that you'll cooperate.”

  Paulie and Vito came up.

  “Paulie,” Jules said, “tell your brother that I'll cooperate. You have my word. You know I'll keep it. Just let Sophia go.”

  Al laughed. “We have your comare, so who needs your word?”

  Paulie shrugged helplessly and lowered his gaze. I had the feeling that if he could, he would've helped us.

  I began to shake all over and couldn't stop. “Paulie? Can't you help us?” I pleaded.

  He shook his lowered head.

  Jules walked toward me, but Zach shoved him back.

  “Get in the boat,” Al told Jules and gestured toward the lifeboat. He moved close to Jules and I tensed.

  “Don't hurt him,” I blurted.
r />   “I'm sorry I got you into this,” Jules told me. “You treat her right, Al, and I'll do whatever you say.”

  “You will?” Al said too softly. “Then get in the friggin' boat.” He pointed his stingler at Jules. “Before Zach has to carry you there.” He pushed Jules in that direction and turned to me. “You too, bitch.”

  I walked toward the craft with Zach close beside me. “You wanna be my lil' pussy?” he whispered in my ear. “I treat you good!” His teeth were rotten, and his breath was worse. “I show you what a real man do with a bitch.” He grabbed his crotch.

  I remained silent and stared straight ahead as I walked. If I protested, Jules might interfere, and that would not end well for him.

  “Zach,” Paulie said, “leave her alone, will ya?”

  “You mind your own fuckin' business, frocio,” Zach said.

  “They're going to kill us, aren't they, Paulie?” I asked.

  “I don't know what Al's got planned!” Paulie strode ahead to the boat.

  I was sick to my stomach with fear. Why had I insisted on staying with Jules? He might have gotten away without me to hinder him. “Zach,” I said, “is Al going to kill us?”

  “Naw.” He squeezed my backside. “Not until I have my fun.”

  Chapter Twelve

  I was in the pilot's seat when Al came into the cabin and sat in the co-pilot's seat. “Paulie said you wanted to talk, kraut.” He reached over and put a finger on the green power button.

  “Don't touch that,” I said. “I have a deal I want to make.”

  He laughed. A harsh sound. “I gotta admire your hutspa. You're in this situation, and you're still looking to deal. OK, this I gotta hear!”

  “I know I won't make it back to Earth, but Sophia –”

  “I shoulda known this was about the broad. Don't you know they're a dime a dozen? Ya kick one outa bed, there's another one, just dying to be fucked.”

  “Sophia doesn't know anything about the properties of Blackroot. I made sure of that, to protect her. She doesn't know why I'm on Equus, or why you're here, either.”

  “So what're you saying?”

  “Let her live, and go free, and in exchange I'll program the ship for a landing on the Earth spaceport of your choice. I'll notify the tower that it will be an auto-piloted landing. You'll just disembark and walk away. That simple.”