Kael-ven shrugged, “Done.” He leaned back. This was going to be an honorable way to reduce the sentence for him and his people. He wasn’t sure if she realized that when his time was up, so was theirs.
The Yollins finally quieted down as Peter spoke.
--
“In my life, there have been many times I have been called upon to fight. Sometimes, it had the potential to kill me, as well. In one instance, one time, I saw someone I loved killed. Or,” he turned to spot Ecaterina and Nathan in the audience, “she would have been if someone hadn’t intervened.”
Peter turned back to Kiel, “Since that time, in rare cases, I am called to pull from my people's abilities, my kind. It takes something to trigger this and I always,” Kiel noticed Peter’s eyes start to change color, “always,” his voice went deeper, grittier, “think about what I felt when she was hurt.”
Kiel took an involuntary step back when the human in front of him changed. No longer was he smaller and soft. Now, he was easily as tall as Kiel, full of fur and
had knives for nails on the end of his hands. Then, he howled, and the human's side roared their support.
The fight was on!
Kiel leaped towards the human who ducked under him. But, his foot was caught, and Kiel had to push his arms under him to stop his face from slamming onto the metal floor.
Then, he was yanked backward, and he twisted twice in the air before landing halfway back to the far wall with a painful crunch.
The screaming was loud, reverberating off the walls from both sides of the room.
Kiel grimaced, this wasn’t going to be easy, after all.
The human walked towards him.
Oh, and teeth, Kiel thought. Stay away from the teeth, too.
Kiel jerked forward, feinting to his left before launching and this time, using his legs to scissor kick, scoring a hit across the human's body. When he landed, he could see the blood on his toes.
Good!
He turned back to see the human, not looking like he was much bothered by the cut.
The cut that was healing in front of Kiel’s eyes.
This was bad.
--
“Question,” Kael-ven asked as he saw Kiel’s successful slash across the changed human's body start to heal. “Can all of you do that?”
“You might call it a caste thing,” Bethany Anne answered.
Kael-ven didn’t fail to recognize she didn’t answer fully, but he suspected that if this man followed his Queen…
What could the Queen do?
--
“You know,” Tabitha said, eating the popcorn as the two guys fought in the middle, “That was some serious eye-candy. But you’re fucked.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll just make sure I screw him blind the night before her fight with the King,” Gabrielle replied.
Tabitha nodded her approval, “Good plan.”
--
Kiel was loping to his left, in a counter-circle. He had suffered two hard cuts through his soft sections, and he had found out that the human’s bite could break his arm.
He was in a world of hurt, and the worst damage that the human showed was some blood on the floor and some panting breaths.
So glad he was giving him a workout.
“Doooo yoouuuu exxxppeeeeccctt too wwiinnn?” the human asked him.
“I expect to try until I can do no more, human,” he voiced to a roar of approval from his people.
The human shrugged, “So be it.” He looked up at the roof and back to Kiel’s group for a second before returning his glance to Kiel, “I doonnn’t sssuppose yooou cannn fllyyyy?”
--
“Oh, God this is going to hurt,” Bethany Anne said.
“What?” Kael-ven asked. John was trying to lean a little back due to the two talking so much.
“I think Kiel is about to go for a longer, higher flight,” she told him.
“He has already gone,” Kael-ven pointed to two places, “from there to there! How much further can he be thrown?”
“Try, up there,” John answered as Peter roared and charged Kiel, grabbing the alien and twisting around, flinging him from under his shoulders up towards the ceiling. Kiel’s body only stopped when he slammed into the top, then crashed back down to land amongst his supporters, some who had tried to dodge and a few more who had tried to help catch him.
“Ohhhh, I think we need someone to go help a few of them.” Bethany Anne said as aliens scattered amongst the chairs, Kiel’s comatose body pinning three of them to the floor.
Peter roared his challenge as Nathan walked out to the middle of the floor. Bethany Anne watched as Nathan snapped his fingers to gets Peter’s attention and then calm him down, helping him focus enough to change back.
--
“I’ll give that ass an ‘11’ though,” Tabitha said, and then turned, hiding her blushing face saying, ‘Oh my God!’ when Peter turned and winked at her.
Gabrielle busted out laughing, then started coughing on popcorn kernels that were still in her mouth.
--
It took an hour to help clean up from the first challenge, and some medical attention was needed for both Kiel and one of those he had squashed, there at the end. Fortunately, the medical team had been studying Kiel since he had been hurt so frequently and knew he would be good again in a couple of days, not including his broken arm.
The friend that had tried to help soften Kiel’s fall was still out cold.
For the second challenge, Royleen and Marcus had a table brought to the middle of the room, and both laid down electronic devices. Marcus was pulling his from a brown backpack.
Royleen had another stand behind him as Marcus pulled another large device and sat it on the table.
--
“I don’t suppose you want to go for double or nothing, Kael-ven?” Bethany Anne asked as everyone resumed their seats.
“What is the double-part? How can I listen to your information twice?”
“No, sorry. Here’s the deal. I’ll still give you guys only two solar years, but on my side, if I ask you something that is not against your ethics you promise to do it for me. Or, you explain why you wouldn’t or couldn’t do it if you say no.” She nodded to the two out in the middle, “If Royleen wins, you don’t have to listen to anything, and only have two years.”
Kael-ven looked back out to the middle of the room. He resisted the urge to see if there was any skin he could chew on. He had been informed it made the humans sick to watch and didn’t want to offend those around him.
“Have you talked with Marcus about what he plans?” Kael-ven finally asked.
“No, I haven’t asked him.” Bethany Anne said.
“You haven’t talked with Bobcat or William, either?” Kael-ven asked.
“No, in fact, I have not spoken to any human to ask what Marcus might be planning,” Bethany Anne assured him.
“They are about to start,” John said to Kael-ven, “So your answer before they start is…” he prompted.
Kael-ven stared at the two on the floor, wondering where Marcus’s backup was. Finally, rushing before the two hit their flags in the middle of the table, “DEAL!”
--
“Good luck,” Marcus told Royleen.
“Where is your second?” Royleen asked him as he sat on his seat. “Not having a second will not require me to release T’llek here.”
“Oh, sorry,” Marcus said and grabbed the second box as he sat, “My second is right here, he can’t be here physically, so he is speaking through this.”
Royleen looked at the box, “What is that?”
“That,” said a voice coming out of the speaker, “is my sound amplification box to allow me to speak to everyone so that they can all hear me.”
Royleen grimaced, “And who are you?”
“TOM,” the voice replied.
“Who is Tom?” Royleen asked looking from the speaker to Marcus, “There are so many human names, and some of you carry the same name.”
“I’m also known as Thales of Miletus,” the voice told him, humor coloring his voice.
--
“This name, this Thales of Miletus is familiar to me,” Kael-ven said aloud. He turned to Bethany Anne, “Why do I know this name?”
“Oh, just wait,” Bethany Anne said, “It will get better.”
Kael-ven turned back, dreading the next surprise the aliens were going to bring to the testing.
--
Royleen pointed to the speaker, “I thought you were going to have either of your two research friends back you up?”
“Bobcat and William?” Marcus asked, surprised. “They are two of my best friends, and I would bust down the doors of hell with them. But I would just as soon have one of them back me up on science as I would trust Bobcat with beer,” he finished.
--
“Ouch,” Bobcat said from his seat next to William and Barnabas, as those on the human side of the room chuckled.
“He was wrong to say this?” Barnabas asked him.
“Oh, hell no. I wouldn’t trust me with beer, but damn, he could have said it a little nicer,” Bobcat replied.
“Word,” William agreed, “and no I wouldn’t trust Bobcat with beer, either,” William told Barnabas.
“I hate you, too,” Bobcat shot back.
“I’ve got a fresh twelve-pack of Shiner Bock,” William said conversationally.
“I love you, again,” Bobcat replied automatically.
Barnabas smiled beside the two.
--
“Then, who is this?” Royleen pointed to the speaker, “How do I know he exists and is not a computer program of yours?”
TOM's voice answered, “Ok, Scientist Royleen of the Chloret Caste of the Fourth planet revolving around the D-122.221star system found by the Kurtherians in Solar Year…”
“No!” Royleen shouted, jumping up from his seat, surprising those listening, “This is not possible!”
Marcus smiled opening his arms, “Why not?” he asked. “You said I could have anyone be my backup.”
Royleen looked down at the speaker, to Marcus, to his Captain who was confused and then back to the speaker and asked the speaker, “What is your real name?”
--
“Why is Royleen so agitated?” Kael-ven asked.
“Because he didn’t do his research,” John answered, “He never found out what kind of friends Marcus has to call upon as his backup.”
“What friend could bother him so much?” Kael-ven said.
“The unbelievable kind,” Bethany Anne answered.
--
A string of numbers started spewing from the speaker and Royleen put up a hand after the first fifty, “I cannot keep them all in my head!”
TOM stopped.
Royleen’s shoulders slumped, “How many languages?”
“Dead or still in existence?” TOM asked.
“Never mind,” Royleen said and looked up to Marcus while pointing at the speaker, “How is it you have a Kurtherian as a friend?”
--
“TOM is a Kurtherian!” Kael-ven said, astonished.
“Well, yes. Didn’t Royleen just say so?” Bethany Anne asked.
“But you said…you said,” Kael-ven went silent then turned to fully look at Bethany Anne who turned and returned his attention, “You told me you had not spoken to any human on his plans. It was a Kurtherian who said what was intended.”
“Perhaps I was informed that the Kurtherian was asked to participate. But you know Kurtherians, they decide for themselves what they want to do,” she told him enigmatically.
Nice. Are you going to admit this Kurtherian is dependent on you for his life?
Hey, I didn’t start that situation. I woke up, and your alien ass was already along for the ride. You might remember that I never told you what to do with Marcus. That was you two cooking this up totally, so don’t tag me with this.
Would you look back over at Royleen? I want to enjoy his shocked expression again.
Bethany Anne turned to make sure she looked at the scientist, who was still looked bumfuzzled.
Don’t worry. I have ArchAngel keeping video records of all of this. We will watch it again.
In slow motion, TOM agreed.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Chapter 20
Boston, MA - USA
Charles walked into the reading room, noticing the chess board. He stopped, realizing that Fred was going to win his match with David in three moves and then turned towards his chair to sit down. He pulled out his laptop and worked for a couple of minutes before he heard Fred and David coming down the hallway.
“I’m telling you,” David said, “that it was a TQB operation that attacked TarHunt in Kentucky.” David looked at the chess board and moved a pawn and then continued toward his chair. He could hear Fred stop at the chess board.
“TarHunt got hit?” Charles asked, looking up from his laptop, “When did this happen?”
“We got word yesterday morning after they did a complete review,” David answered, pulling out some folders from his briefcase. “They lost a couple of hours of video that wasn’t backed up on the premises, some people got knocked around, and one went to the hospital, but no one got into the data.”
“Your move,” Fred called out as he continued into the room, “I’ve got you in two moves,” he added as he took a seat and flipped on the lamp next to his chair.
David looked over, “You always tell me you have me in this many moves, you rarely do.”
“You move your bishop to Queen’s four?” Charles asked Fred who nodded he had. Charles turned to David, “Yes, you are done in two.”
“Well…shit,” David said, “I’ll double check, but I’ll move the thousand into your column.”
“What does that make me up to?” Fred asked.
“Not up to anything, you’re still down fifty-three thousand due to the bet on the presidential race,” Charles interrupted.
“Well, who the hell thought that would happen?” Fred grouched. “It was a sure thing.”
David shrugged as he opened the tiny betting book, “Sure or not, you still owe the pot,” he said as he wrote in the win.
“If you think TQB is behind the TarHunt attack,” Charles asked before turning back to Fred, “And you said the attack in South America was a bust?”
Fred answered as he grabbed a blue folder and set it on his lap, “Not only was it a bust, it was a complete and utter failure that defies imagination. That is,” he amended as he looked up to Charles, “if you believe a bunch of South American yahoos that are probably coked up gutter slime.”
Charles thought about it for a minute, “I believe that we are going to need to double up on our efforts in the United Nations.” He turned to David, “Don’t we have Timothy James working on that?”
“Yes,” he said, “he has asked if we wanted to hop on with any of the countries that are making waves. At the moment, most of them are smaller and can’t get into the efforts to upgrade the technology. He feels the small ones are looking to leapfrog and catch up if everyone gets the technology at the same time due to the United Nations.”
“Why they think TQB is going to listen to them,” Fred muttered, “I’ll never know.”
“TQB’s stocks are down ten percent across the board,” David told him.
“Lots of selling in damn near every one of their companies,” Charles added, looking at his laptop.
“Who's buying?” Fred asked.
Charles spent a few minutes looking, long enough for Fred and David to go back to reading their own stuff before he answered, “Research says everyone from governments to large corporations.”
“Something is weird,” David said. “It doesn’t make sense. Those companies have been tightly held for years, decades even.”
“Well, is the U.N. stuff causing a loss of faith by some of the holders?” Fred asked.
“If they are, then there are some big players sweeping in on the change in ownership,” Charles a
dded. “My vote is to tell Timothy James to find alliances and tell us if a few need funding. We want to be in as many of these groups as possible.”
“For the least amount of money,” David added.
My Ride is a Bitch (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 13) Page 21