Alien Betrayed

by Marie Dry

  “Of the unclaimed galaxies,” Larz agreed.

  “They’d probably make us fight females so everyone there could see that we are weak Zyrgins who battle women,” Zanr said and shuddered dramatically. “And I bet there’d be no good games going.”

  “If you are banished to the unclaimed galaxies, you wouldn’t have anything to bet anyway.”

  They flew in silence for a while.

  “Is it true?” Zanr asked.

  “Is what true?”

  “If a warrior gets wounded, Natalie puts her arms around him.”

  Larz checked the instrument panel to hide his expression. Apparently, it was true that a stupid Zyrgin was born every few centuries. “Why do you think Zacar beat so many warriors?” If he could convince Zanr...well, he might win a few bets.

  “It would be worth it to find out if it’s true. Rumor on the ship is that even Zurian got wounded and allowed her to hold him. It’s said she even kissed his forehead.”

  “Why don’t you try it and find out?” Larz smiled, the one Margaret would call his evil smile. “I could help injure you.”

  Zanr showed him a palm without claws. “I’m not going near Zacar’s breeder. Last Tuesday Zegor stabbed himself in the leg and went down to Viglar in the cave.”

  “Zacar caught him? I didn’t hear about this.”

  “He’s doing guard duty until the empire collapses. I don’t mind going up against Zacar’s claws, but I hate guard duty.”

  They landed on the roof of the building opposite their target. Like every other building on earth, it was undefended. “They really are useless at tactics.”

  A few humans stood looking up at the building but no one came to try and detain them. They set a force field at the bottom of the building.

  “These humans are pathetic. They don’t even have the means to get to the top of the building,” Zanr said.

  Larz sneered at the building they stood in front of. “This is supposed to be his headquarters and it’s barely guarded.”

  Zanr pointed to the men who adjusted their belts and headed for the building they were standing on. “There’s a few fat humans who are supposed to be guards.”

  “Not even worth ten minutes of our time.”

  Zanr stopped and held up a hand. “The warriors have started fighting the humans near No Name Town.”

  Larz nodded. He wouldn’t receive the warrior feed through his new communicator. As a warrior he’d been updated on every eventuality. Now that he was a citizen he received only orders. He shrugged away the humiliation. Marcie--no, Margaret--was safe. “It won’t last long. They have barely ten thousand humans gathered.”

  Zanr stood at the edge of the roof and looked down. “I will take the fast way down.” Holding onto the wall, he scaled down the building and Larz followed him. They crossed the road and several cars hooted at them.

  They dispatched the guards who tried to stop them from entering the building, and no one got in their way after that. They found the basement and blew open the safe door. Inside pieces of equipment sat on large steel tables, some of it sat on the floor and some of it was mounted on the wall. Next to one of the tables, a tall--for a human--thin man with a long white coat stood holding instruments. He looked at them through thick pieces of glass in front of his eyes.

  “Are you Abel?”

  The man swallowed and then nodded.

  “You betrayed my woman.” The betrayal of this little man had caused Margaret much grief because she had trusted him to remain her friend.

  The man’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound emerged. Larz and Zanr exchanged a look. Larz sliced Abel’s throat with his claws and then turned his attention to the equipment. They sorted through it and put displacement patches on everything. They couldn’t use the patches to send equipment between ships far apart in space but, over relatively short distances, it worked well. It saved them the trouble of carting everything over to the shuttle. Larz gave the command and the equipment distorted and disappeared from their view. A warrior was ready at headquarters to deal with it.

  “Are you sure your breeder didn’t follow us? That sounds like her and it hurts my ear almost as much,” Zanr said. He dispatched a batch of equipment as well.

  “It’s an alarm.”

  “How is it supposed to stop us?”

  The Zyrgin ship alarm normally went off with soft clicks in the receivers implanted in their ears. Why the humans would want the enemy to know they had detected their presence he couldn’t fathom.

  “It’s supposed to let them know there are intruders in the building so they can take action.”

  “Well, I don’t see any action. This is a boring assignment.” Zanr’s eyes narrowed suddenly. “Maybe the females will have a pretty one among them.”

  “You want a breeder?” Larz asked and killed the three guards storming into the basement, guns firing. He didn’t even need his shield. “If the humans fighting Zacar are as bad at shooting as these, it will be a very short battle. You said you wanted a breeder?”

  “I’ve been looking. I haven’t found one yet. How did you know you found the right one?”

  “I didn’t feel anything. I just knew I wanted Margaret.”

  With a swipe of his claws, Zanr killed a guard running at them, shouting and firing wildly. “You could’ve chosen better. I’ve seen some nice ones in the camps.”

  Larz just showed him a palm without claws. Even he didn’t understand why he wanted Marcie--Margaret--that much.

  They dispatched a few more men trying to shoot them and then went looking for the young females Parnell trained to be his agents. They only found two, who took one look at them and ran out of the building.

  “They don’t look like they need help,” Zanr said.

  “No. I’ll deal with Parnell. Let me know when you’ve set the charges.”

  He left Zanr to go to work, setting the charges, and went upstairs.

  Larz went to the door hiding the stairs and ran to the top floor. He didn’t trust the barely functioning elevator to hold his weight, and they’d disabled it to ensure Parnell didn’t try to use it to escape. The man also had a hidden elevator in his office, and they’d blocked that too. Larz doubted that badly constructed piece of antiquated technology ever worked, but Parnell would not be escaping that way.

  Larz found the office doors blocked by heavy steel doors sealed shut. He bared his teeth and, adjusting the power on his boots, he stepped back and kicked the door in. It fell with a loud clanking sound. Normally, he’d simply blow it, but he wanted to terrorise Parnell the way the man liked to terrorise young human girls. Kicking in his door would show him how weak he was against a Zyrgin.

  “Almost done,” Zanr said in his ear.

  “There is a hidden hole with a kind of steel sliding door somewhere in the floor of the basement. Find it when you’re done with the explosives.”

  “Why do they have a hole in the basement?”

  “Parnell likes to capture very young females and force them to become agents. If they defy him, he puts them in there and allows insects to walk on them. That is how he breaks their will. He did it to my breeder.”

  Most nights, she woke screaming, frantic to get some unseen animal off her. Sometimes, she didn’t wake and the only way he could calm her was to tell her he would get them off her. Stroking his hands over her, pretending to remove the insects, was the only thing that calmed her.

  “I’m on it,” Zanr said. “Make sure that drittsekk suffers.”

  “Report in every fifteen minutes if all goes well.”

  Larz stepped into Parnell’s office. It was a big room with torn blinds and old carpets on the floor. It was as good an analogy of the humans’ dying civilization as anything he could have found.

  The agent sat behind his desk, trying to appear relaxed, but his body was tense, his hands balled into fists. He tried to stare Larz in the eyes. “Who are you? Leave at once or suffer the consequences.”

  Larz had to restrain himself no
t to laugh at the man’s pathetic bluff. Documents were spread out over the big desk and Larz curled his lip. Paper documents. Humans had stripped the Earth of trees until it was only the Zyrgin cloning technology that saved them and, still, they made paper.

  Not breaking eye contact, Larz walked up to the human, drew him out of his chair, and threw him against the wall before he could go for the weapon he had under the desk. He fell with a satisfying thud, but Larz was disappointed when there was no cracking noises. “You have wronged my breeder. She will be avenged today.”

  Parnell groaned and pushed himself upright. “What the hell are you talking about and who are you?”

  “I am the direct blood of The Zyrgin and Zacar the conqueror of the seven cluster planets and Earth. I am also the Zyrgin who will mete out your punishment.”

  Parnell sneered at him, but Larz could smell his fear. “I don’t know what the hell that means and I don’t care. Get out.”

  “I am not a little human girl, frightened into obeying your commands.”

  “What?”

  “Zyrgins do not need to hurt little girls to make themselves feel powerful.”

  Parnell sidled away from Larz. “What the fuck are you talking about, you freak?”

  Larz held up his hand, the way he’d seen Natalie do to Zacar. “You will wait a moment, while I activate my recording device. My woman will find your torture entertaining.”

  “T--torture,” Parnell sputtered. He shifted his weight to hide his going for the weapon under his jacket. “Get out of my office. I’ve called the guards.” He pulled a pistol and emptied the clip with increasing anxiety. “Die freak, why don’t you die?” he screamed.

  Larz activated the recording. Margaret would enjoy Parnell’s panic. “There is a force field around the building. We killed anyone who aimed a weapon at us and made the rest leave the building. You are alone, Parnell.”

  Parnell struggled to his feet and inched his way along the wall, back to the desk. “How do you know my name?”

  Larz tracked his movements. He was going for the pistol taped to the bottom of the desk. “I know everything about you, Parnell.”

  “I doubt that.” Parnell reached for something behind the tattered blinds in a move he obviously thought smooth and unobserved. With a smug look on his ugly face he pointed a laser pistol at Larz and fired.

  Larz shook his head at him. “Your pathetic little pistols don’t work on us.” He grabbed the laser pistol out of Parnell’s hand and crushed it. He enjoyed the horror on the human’s face. “Twenty-five years ago you carried mail around. With the TC network in better shape in those days, you didn’t have a lot of actual carrying to do. But you fancied yourself an agent.”

  “I am an agent, the director of this bureau, and you won’t get away with this.”

  “No, Parnell. I will get away with it. You were never promoted into this position. You took advantage of circumstances and staged a coup. For what you have done to my breeder, you will be punished to the full extent of Zyrgin law which is the only law humans will be judged with now.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about and I don’t care. You alien freaks can’t walk in here and think you can just take over.”

  “You like to operate in the shadows. Recruit little human girls because, by the time they realize you are a fraud, you have broken them with your terror tactics.”

  Parnell crawled toward his desk, and Larz allowed him to do it. He wanted him to go for the other laser pistol hidden under the desk. He wanted Parnell terrified out of his mind by the time he finished with him. Letting him find out how useless his weapons were against Zyrgins was a good start. Lasers bounced off his uniform.

  “You think a laser pistol can stop me?” Larz picked Parnell up and threw him against the glass. Unfortunately, the glass held. He pointedly allowed the human to keep his pistol. More laser shots bounced off his uniform. He enjoyed the fear coming off the man when he realized how useless his weapons were against a Zyrgin.

  “Not so tough when you are not going against little girls. Or giving the orders to have your president tied up and beaten to death.”

  The agent turned white, the blood and bruises on his face contrasting with his sickly pale color. He spat out blood. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “When you face a Zyrgin citizen, you don’t fare so well.” For the first time since his punishment began, Larz was glad to be stripped of his warrior status. This lowest life form didn’t deserve to battle a warrior.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but we can make a deal.”

  “I will deal with you.”

  “I’ve got money, lots of money.”

  “I don’t want your money, human. I want vengeance.”

  Blood ran down Parnell’s face and mouth. “Why aren’t you purple?”

  In the act of picking the human up to throw him again, Larz stopped and had to think about it. The travelers had purple skin. A very old and civilized race who went around the galaxy and generally remained peaceful. Until you crossed them. Last year, the traveler who called himself Arn had revealed himself to Parnell.

  The Zyrgins couldn’t figure out why he’d do that, and the general consensus was that his grief over losing his mate had turned him crazy. Larz smiled at the terrified and bleeding human. Parnell tried to hide it, but Larz could smell his increasing fear “I’m a different kind of alien.”

  Parnell tried to spit on Larz. “How many of you freaks are there?”

  Larz moved back and curled his lip at the disgusting human. “All you need to know is we rule Earth now.”

  “Never, this country is mine. I will not have some green freaks steal what I’ve worked so hard for.”

  “You never worked for it, Parnell. You terrorized a few little girls into believing that you were actually an agent and belonged in this office. We both know you poisoned the man who used to occupy this office. During the flu epidemic fifteen years ago, you saw your chance.”

  “I won’t listen to this. Get out of my office.”

  “You still do not understand, Parnell. Your sole purpose today is to entertain my woman.” Larz picked him up and threw him again. “You are tougher than I thought. I’ll have to find something better than a wall. I want to hear your bones snap.”

  “You’re crazy, and what woman?”

  “You know her as Marcie. I have taken her as my breeder and that gives me the privilege of avenging her honor.” Larz saw the comprehension swiftly followed by barely hidden satisfaction. Parnell thought the Marcie personality was still in place. “She’s a rogue agent. I tried to recall her, but she disappeared.”

  “Your lies will not save you. I told you, your sole purpose is to entertain my woman by suffering and begging for mercy.”

  Parnell spat at him again. “Never.”

  “You are a disgusting human. Instead of spitting like an animal, why do you not fight me?”

  “Why would you want to avenge her? She’s a snivelling little bitch, who couldn’t go on an assignment without getting emotionally attached.”

  Larz reached out and broke two of his fingers. “You are not fit to talk about my woman.”

  Parnell screamed and cradled his hand. “You bastard, you broke my fingers. Who do you think you are?”

  “I am the Zyrgin who is going to make you scream your secrets and beg to tell me everything. This will be my present to my breeder.”

  Parnell sneered. “I should’ve known the bitch would latch onto the first strong male she found. And you fell for her sob story.”

  Larz threw him again and heard something snap. He picked up a groaning Parnell, threw him down on the table, and put a dampening field over him.

  “You harmed my breeder and, for that, you will know pain for a very long time. You like to torture little girls in your box in the basement. Today you will learn about real torture.”

  Larz made sure to hurt Parnell enough to satisfy his breeder. To replace her fear of this
coward with disgust. He shut off the recording.

  He smiled at Parnell and enjoyed the way he cringed. “I have stopped the recording. Now we will start.”

  Parnell lost control of his bladder and Larz sneered at him. “You are a disgusting worm.”

  Larz would not record the more vicious things he planned to do to the pathetic human. Margaret should enjoy the recording without feeling guilty. His breeder might not realize it, but she had a soft heart. It would distress her to see him use some of their more inventive tools he’d carried with him. By the time he finished with him, Parnell would promise him anything he wanted if he stopped hurting him. He didn’t know the meaning of pain yet.

  “You need to see this,” Zanr said in his ears.

  “On my way.” He turned to the human worm. “I have come across a quant human saying. It is called leaving someone on ice. I will leave you on ice until I return.”

  “Fuck you,” Parnell screamed.

  Larz left Parnell on the table, secured by the force field. In the basement, he found Zanr crouched next to a small hole in the cement floor. “I almost missed it. There was a car on top of the door,” Zanr told him.

  Larz stopped and stared at that small hole. Margaret would barely fit in there. She wouldn’t even be able to turn over when the door was closed over it. And to have a car parked on top of her as well would make it worse. “I need another hour to torture Parnell.”

  Zanr nodded in grim agreement. Next to him a small dark woman lay shivering violently. She’d obviously been held in the hole in the ground for a long time. Even with Zanr’s jacket wrapped around her, Larz could see how thin she was.

  “She’s in shock and not talking. Viglar told me what to give her,” Zanr said.

  She opened her eyes and moaned when she saw Zanr. Her shivering got worse and her eyes looked wild.

  “You will be fine, human. I have rescued you,” Zanr told her in English.

  “Make yourself look human,” Larz told Zanr in English. “If you can’t get her to tell you anything, take her to the guesthouse. I’m going to need another hour with Parnell.”

  Zanr nodded. “I found more equipment and sent it to the cave, I will take her to safety and return for you.”