by Scott Moon
“Do you wish for me to answer?” Mast asked.
Thad stared at him and felt like a jerk.
“I must say no, but I also must find justice for Trankot—unpleasant as he was,” Mast said. “I only hope that knowing the truth does not hurt more people.”
Thad listened even as he realized the four mercs were edging toward the doorway. Their behavior wasn’t a clue or evidence that would hold much weight in a court of law. His attention, however, spiked through the subterranean Unglok roof.
“I can sweeten the pot, Mast Jotham. There are many families who are beholden to me. They have daughters who need their marriages arranged. I have money. Land. Even a rare bottle of Tigi from before the arrival of humans,” Askoak said.
Mast shook his head and spoke to the Unglok crime lord for several minutes in Ungwilook while Thad tried to figure out why the man was so interested in Mast’s spirit quest. Must not be the kind of mumbo jumbo vacation he’d thought it was. He knew better even as he imagined the ritual to be like going to a spa and meditating over local artifacts. Maybe climbing a mountain or something.
“I cannot speak of what I experienced,” Mast finally said.
“Then you must leave before I become angry,” Askoak said.
Thad, who had already been thinking the same thing, tipped his hat. “See you later, Ass Hat.”
“My name is Askoak! Show respect!”
Thad gave him the thumbs up as he guided Mast back into the tunnel they had used to find the place. “I hope giving him the thumbs up isn’t the final insult that gets us killed.”
“Unlikely. Children use the gesture to communicate the need to breastfeed,” Mast said.
“Good to know,” Thad said.
“Why would it be good to know? I truly do not understand humans.” Mast took the lead after grunting several words Thad did not understand at Andronik.
CHAPTER TWELVE: Evade and Elude
Andronik bolted up the stairs like a jack rabbit, pausing to look back with light streaming in from the street.
“We are muchly almost there,” Mast said. “Then I will stop and sit down. Just...for...a little...bit.”
Thaddeus guarded their rear, looking down the stairs with one hand on his blaster. He worried about the four human mercenaries more than the Ungloks. Many of the locals had weapons. He guessed they would use humans to commit violence against humans. It was a smart way to go. Nothing was quite like a race war. He knew it didn’t take much to start one. Generations of movies, books, and other tall tales suggested that aliens would wipe out humanity for almost no reason. Mistrust of strange races on stranger planets was easy to fan into a flame.
“Askoak will send the Four Horsemen after me. They’ll take you two out as part of the deal, I imagine. Or they will send Unglok assassins to do that job,” Thaddeus said.
“Are you giving us a pep talk? In your people’s literature, there is always speech to rally the troops against impossible odds,” Mast said. Andronik nodded in vigorous agreement.
“Not this time. We call this straight talk. Ungloks will be after us, but the humans will be the triggermen. Andronik, we need to get back in familiar territory,” Thaddeus said.
“Follow me,” Andronik said. He led them through several alleyways, then through a market full of merchants. Some of them closed in behind them to effectively block pursuit. “Thank you, thank you!” he shouted in Ungwilook.
“Through here,” Andronik said, leading them into an apartment building that had more rooms underground than above.
Thad felt as though they were heading the wrong direction until he started seeing temporary structures provided by SagCon. “We’re getting close.”
Ungloks and humans swarmed after them. Thad didn’t see the four mercs and suspected they were using the others to drive their quarry into a trap. He pulled his Unglok partners into a dark alley. “Andronik, how confident are you that you can outrun this hunting party if you didn’t have to wait for us?”
The boy laughed. “It would be easy, easy, easy.”
Thad pulled off his coat. “This will be a little big on you.” He jammed his hat onto Andronik’s head.
“I’ve never been so happy!” The boy bounced on his toes and jumped side to side like a boxer.
“The men following you, the four soldiers, are dangerous and will shoot to kill. Don’t play games with them, just evade and elude like your life depends on it,” Thad said.
“Why are you putting him muchly in danger?” Mast asked.
“Because we are setting an ambush for our ambushers. We need to catch one of them and make him talk.”
"You will know when I've made it to safety," Andronik said.
The young Unglok made his break like somebody who had run from the law before. He was subtle enough that most of the general pursuers missed him until it was too late. A few of the human enforcers and some of the faster Ungloks went after him. Thaddeus and Mast gave him a slight head start and then followed.
The gamble made Thaddeus sick to his stomach. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. This was the point in any mission where self-doubt set in. He knew there was only one way to get through it, and that was to make it work. If he got the kid killed, he would never forgive himself, so he had to move fast and keep the kid safe.
"My legs are on fire," Mast said.
"I feel your pain," Thad said.
"You can't possibly," Mast grumbled. "Do you not have your own misery from this muchly longish adventure?"
"We're almost done. I see one of the Four Horsemen now."
"I do not know what a horse is. You must explain why you call them this when we are not running so muchly," Mast said.
Thaddeus didn't want to tangle with the entire group, so he waited until one was taking a shortcut to try and cut off Andronik's escape. To the man's credit, it would've worked if the Sheriff of Darklanding hadn't stepped out of a shadowy doorway and clotheslined him, sending up head over heels onto his back.
"You can make this hard or you can make it easy," Thaddeus said.
The man struggled to his feet. Thaddeus hit him with a right cross that sent him back onto the cheap pavement. He stood over the man, ready to continue the fight. "You have the right to remain silent and talk to a lawyer before you answer questions. You are under arrest for suspicion of murder and robbery. I will hold everything against you unless you give up the rest of your crew. Then maybe we can make a deal and none of your charges have to see a courtroom."
Mast stood in a fighting stance that was only slightly ridiculous. "I am pretty sure that is not the way we are supposed to do it."
"He knows his rights and he’s not going to talk. I can tell from when I hit him that his head is too hard to use common sense."
The mercenary pushed hands out and made eye contact with Thaddeus. "Can I move or are you going to punch me again for no reason?" He was the stocky man who had fired the net.
"You’re fine right where you are," Thaddeus said. "Who's your boss? He's the one I really want to talk to. You're just a soldier who didn’t really want to be part of a murder."
The subtle ruse neither impressed nor convinced the former soldier. He stared at Thaddeus with the expression that he’d seen dozens of times on malcontents in Ground Forces.
The man gave his name as Trent Human and his identification number. "Victor will find you. If you're not dead, you can ask him your questions."
"What are we going to do with this one?" Mast asked.
"I don't have a choice. He gets locked up until we round up his companions for interrogation."
"You don't have a jail, Sheriff," Trent Human said.
"You may not call it a jail, but once I put you there, you won't be leaving. My girls can handle you." Thaddeus took a moment to enjoy Trent's confusion. "I'm going to put you in the Mother Lode."
"I do not think this will muchly work," Mast said nervously.
"Can't be any less effective than the last jail."
&nb
sp; Trent looked back and forth from Thaddeus to Mast and finally spoke. "You two are crazy and I'm not saying a thing until I get a lawyer."
As soon as he was done speaking, half the loudspeakers that normally announced shift change and safety warnings started to broadcast a popular Unglok song that Thaddeus had always ignored except to curse the incomprehensible words and melody.
"I think Andronik made it to safety. See there, Trent? Your friends can’t even catch one kid wearing my hat," Thaddeus said. “You’re going to give me names.”
“He is human, with human fingerprints and a genetic profile. From this, with the help of your online courses, we can have all their names, I think.”
Thad leaned close to Mast. “I still haven’t started the courses.”
“Well, I guessed that your password was CompanyManShaunte. You should study the material. Greatly good lessons, even for a lowly deputy.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The First Confession
"You can’t leave him here!” Shaunte said.
The saloon went silent just as the patrons had been starting to act like the rowdy crowd of good ole boys Thaddeus knew and mostly resented. Pierre shuffled slowly around the bar to intervene, his skin pale and his eyes hollow from whatever sickness had laid him low. The young Pierre, no relation, cleaned the same glass over and over with trancelike precision. Dixie watched the confrontation between Shaunte and Thaddeus as well. She was dressed for one of her mysterious walks into the Unglok neighborhood—a peculiar habit that had increased in frequency since Ummak started working at the Mother Lode. Her girls entertained several tables of men spending overtime checks and drinking more than normal.
“I am not leaving him here. Not right here. I’m going to lock him in a room and put guards on him.” Heat rushed to Thaddeus’s face. Smoke irritated his eyes. He wanted more than anything for the auto-piano to start up and everyone to go back to their own business.
“Place guards? What guards?” Shaunte asked, hands on her hips as she swept her eyes around the room.
Thaddeus looked at his boots, then met her gaze. “Dixie and her girls weren’t that busy when I came up with this idea. I didn’t have a lot of time once they started chasing Andronik.”
Shaunte laughed maniacally and without a trace of humor. “You…oh my God…you…”
“I’ll stay with the girls. I promise not to run away immediately,” Trent said, flexing his stocky shoulders against his restraints and puffing out his chest.
Leslie, the curly-haired blonde, and her two friends stood from the laps of their new best friends and marched across the room in a cacophony of clattering high heels and swishing can-can dresses. She grabbed Trent by the ear and yanked his head down at an awkward angle. “What did you do to Andro?”
“Leslie!” Dixie shouted. “That is enough.” Once she had halted the advance of the mutinous prostitutes, she stepped between Shaunte and Thaddeus. “Does this guy work for ShadEcon?”
Thad didn’t answer.
Ummak raised his hand shyly. Everyone looked at him.
“What is it, Ummak?” Dixie asked.
Ummak looked this way and that, clearly nervous to be the center of attention. “He is leg breaker. Muchly ShadEcon. Ummak will help watch him.”
“And you owe me two sick days. I can do what I want with my time until that runs out,” Leslie said. Several of the girls parroted her. The men in the saloon groaned in dismay. “We can watch him. The old Glok can help if he wants.”
Shaunte stomped her foot on the imitation wood floor. She held up one finger like she might stab Thad if he spoke, then took several deep, calming breaths. “This is the last prisoner you’re going to keep at the Mother Lode,” Shaunte said.
“Sure. I agree completely. Maybe this will expedite a new jail. How can I do my job without a detention facility…”
“I am under a lot of pressure, Thaddeus Fry,” Shaunte said through clenched teeth, hands on her hips now.
“…or a coroner, proper staffing, equipment, an office…”
“Stop. Just stop. Keep your prisoner wherever you want, just don’t lose this one and have another gun battle in my town.”
“I’m about to make arrests.”
“Good. Do your job.”
“And one more thing.”
Shaunte crossed her arms.
“Do you recognize this man?”
She pulled her gaze from Thad and turned slowly toward Trent, looking the man up and down with growing intensity. Murder burned in her eyes. “I recognize him. He’s one of the ones who attacked me.”
“I thought you might.”
Trent winked at Shaunte.
She took a step back as though struck. Thad pulled the man around and leaned close to whisper in his ear. “Don’t piss me off. You just crossed a line. I’m about to ruin your whole day, more than it was before. Understand me?”
Trent went pale.
Leslie faced the crowd of miners and put one hand on a hip. “Can one of you boys help me tie this asshole up?”
***
Mast led the way to Kandor’s double-wide home. The prefabricated neighborhood looked no different than it had during their first visit. Unglok kids ran all over the place, waving brightly-colored sticks and feathers the length of Thad’s forearm.
“What is that game they’re playing?” he asked.
“It is an old adventure story called Birds of Power.”
“Looks like cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers.”
Mast shrugged. “The children have too much time on their hands. They no longer work in the mines. We are muchly worried they will forget our traditions.”
“Your traditions involve child labor?”
“No, Thaddeus. You do not know our traditions. Children worked with their parents before SagCon came with strange rules. How else will they learn a trade?”
“They look happy.”
“Yes, they must be muchly happy. Someday, their generations will take care of my generation. I hope they do not make us play with feathers and sticks.”
Thaddeus laughed. “I’d like to see that.”
Mast frowned. “I thought you were my friend.”
“Relax, Deputy. I meant it in a good way.”
Mast stopped in the shabby dirt yard of Kandor’s home. “We are here.”
Kandor met them on the porch, stepping through the front door as they were climbing the stairs. Thaddeus saw her callused and scarred hands as she wiped them dry on an embroidered towel. The hooded robe she had worn for mourning was gone. Now she was dressed in the Unglok version of a jumpsuit. The fabric was faded but tough, and it conformed to her extremely lanky form far better than the SagCon versions. The gray-haired woman was beyond middle years for an Unglok, but as fit as any of the young women visible through the open front door.
Sunset colored the edges of the slate blue sky above the squat structure. Darklanding felt like the last world on the frontier of human expansion. There were mountains in the distance that touched Thad’s awareness when he wasn’t ready for their massive presence. It was a brief thing, a subconscious realization of where he was and how far away he and all the humans on Darklanding were from home.
"Do you have additional questions for me, Sheriff Fry?" she asked.
"I do. Is there someplace we can talk in private?" Thaddeus asked.
"I'm a busy woman. We can talk here or we can talk nowhere."
Mast leaned down to whisper in Thaddeus's ear. "She is earnest. How do you say, serious? Yes, she is muchly serious.”
Thad had already come to the same conclusion. He nodded and stepped forward. His deputy was a valuable resource when talking to Ungloks, but he felt like he was making a connection with the widow. He could feel her assessing him. She didn't like him or humans in general, but respected him for reasons he did not know.
He took off his hat. "I'm listening," he said in a slightly lower voice.
She wasn't as tall as a male Unglok, although many of their women were. Wit
h her steel-colored hair and hard eyes, she was a matriarch of obvious strength and influence. She made a small motion with her left hand and someone from inside shut the door. The act was a quiet compromise that he appreciated.
“Ask your questions,” she said.
"Do you know who killed Trankot?”
"I have my suspicions."
Thaddeus waited for more, knowing this was all he was going to get without a better question. Something told him not to go straight for a confession. And that was when he realized he had absolutely no experience in maintaining a conversation with an Unglok widow. "I don't know much about your family or your culture.”
"That is very obvious."
Not for the first time, Thaddeus noticed how much better her Galactic Common was than that of his deputy, who was an earnest student of the language. He made a mental note to remember that in the future when he needed a translator. He also wondered if it was because she was a woman or something else.
"My job is to keep people safe and maintain some type of order that allows SagCon to function with a profit margin that satisfies their board of directors," Thaddeus said. "It is what it is."
"You're not as stupid as I thought you were.”
"Thanks, I think." Thaddeus glanced over his shoulder at his partner, who was waiting anxiously. He waited for Mast to nod and took that as a sign he wasn't doing terribly. "Is your family in danger with Trankot gone?”
"No, and yes, and no," she said.
Thaddeus shook his head and made a face as he tried to decide what that meant. "Can you unpack that for me? I'm not sure what to do with that.”
"Unpack? What a strange human thing to say." She thought about for a while, seeming to spend most of her time deciding whether she trusted him. “Trankot did many things he thought would keep us safe. In his own way, he wanted to make us warriors like those in the ancient stories. Childish of him, it was. And painful. Trankot was strong and quick to anger, as am I. He played favorites, as do I. He borrowed money, which I do not. There were times when his investments yielded ten times what he put into them. There were other times when his life was in danger for his failures.”