by T. R. Harris
“But these are intelligent beings…and your people used to feed on them.”
“Don’t get indignant, Adam Cain. We don’t do it any longer. But at the onset of space travel, the Vicoreans happened upon Karlis and found the meat of the natives to be of particular appeal to us. It was never a staple, but rather a delicacy for the most-prosperous of Vicor. This was also before the Josls had electricity or modern technology of any kind. They were nomadic tribes, and we did our best to harvest them in judicious ways to insure their continued survival. I would say we did an admirable job, considering how far they’ve come since then.”
“And these natives are aware that you’re a Vicorean—and that your ancestors used to feed on their ancestors?”
“If this was your planet, would that be something you would forget?”
“That’s my point!” Adam said. He was looking around frantically for another path to take off the main drag. There were more Karliseans—or Josls, as Nurick called them—on the street now, and even the occupants in the native cars were beginning to slow and stare as they cruised by.
“You never stopped to think that these creatures might be a little upset with your kind, and would want a little payback?” Adam took Nurick by the arm and pulled him off the street and into an alley.
“I don’t see why. We don’t feed on them any longer, and there was nothing malicious about the practice. It was simply filling a biological need.”
“Well, by the looks on the faces of the Josls, they may be thinking about filling a need of their own—the need for revenge.”
“That I doubt,” Nurick said. “From my understanding, the Josls have an instinctive fear of Vicoreans. They would not dare strike against me.”
“I have an instinctive fear of spiders, and that’s why I have no qualms about stomping my foot on any I see. Now follow me; there’s another road at the end of the alley.”
Even as they rushed away from the main road, Adam saw a small crowd of Josls forming at the entrance to the alley. They were murmuring among themselves and pointing. Several had communication devices pressed against their fan-like ears.
We’re screwed, Adam thought as they turned the corner at the end of the alley and lost sight of the crowd. There were other natives on this street, too, yet so far none had noticed them.
Adam placed Nurick in a recessed doorway of the building next to them. “Do the Josls have translation bugs?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Good—stay here,” Adam ordered.
Adam crossed the street and neared a couple of elderly-looking natives. He grinned at them warmly.
“Greetings,” he said. “May I ask you a question?”
The couple smiled back at him, and full-tooth smiles at that. Adam mirrored their expression.
“Of course, what do you require, guest?”
Adam sighed. He could tell right away that he liked the Josls. And the Vicoreans used to eat them. Unbelievable.
“I am new here, and was wondering if there is a spaceport nearby?”
He saw the two natives frown. “But you are a guest. Surely you must have come here by way of the spaceport.”
“I came over land, on a hiking trek.”
“That explains it,” the older male exclaimed. The cute, older couple exchanged knowing nods with one another. The female then turned to Adam.
“Yes, there is one. It is on this side of Anofor, down this street for about half an hour, and then on your left. It is a spaceport, so it will be easy to see.”
“Thank you both very much. You have been most kind.” Adam reached out his hand to place it on the shoulder of the female. She drew away rapidly.
“Oh, please do not touch me!” she cried out. “You may carry alien germs and diseases.”
Adam recoiled. “I’m so sorry. But I don’t carry anything. I’m quite safe.”
“That is what all guests say, yet they are seldom correct.”
The countenance of the Josl couple returned to that of warmth and friendship. “Now, please move along. Your smell is quite offensive to us.”
And then they turned and scurried away down the road.
“But I don’t smell,” Adam said after them. He lifted his left arm and sniffed at his armpit. He pulled his head away quickly and wrinkled his face. “Damn, all this running sure has done a job on me,” he said softly.
But now back to more pressing matters. He hurried across the street and to where he’d left Nurick.
He wasn’t there.
Adam gritted his teeth and began to scan the street. He should have known better. He needed the Vicorean, not only to help him negotiate the purchase of new power-mods, but now to lead him to the planet Ralic-Sim. Adam was sure he couldn’t have gone too far; in fact, just look for the nearest crowd of angry and bloodthirsty Josls.
The nearest escape route for the Vicorean would be back down the alley from which they had just emerged, and when Adam ran for the street, he found what he was expecting—only worse.
There was indeed a crowd there, and so was Nurick. Yet now the crowd had the hapless rat-creature on the ground and was in the advance stages of beating the crap out of him.
“Hey!” Adam yelled out. “Let him go!”
The reaction from the Josls startled even Adam. To the person, they all stopped yelling and beating on Nurick in unison—every last one of them—and all looked in his direction. From a cacophony of angry noise, to nothing in a split second, was shocking. They reminded Adam of a pack of meerkats, all turned in the same direction and staring at him with big dark eyes.
And then as if on cue, half of the natives focused their anger on him and rushed forward with their teeth bared and eyes afire with emotion.
What the fuc—
Adam had no time to think before ten or so Josls barreled into him, knocking him to the ground. From somewhere, the natives had found sticks and hand-size rocks, which they now proceeded to pummel him with repeatedly. As he fought back, Adam noticed that these smallish creatures were quite strong, and they attacked as would a pack of wild animals.
Adam covered his head from the blows, and even though they hurt, they weren’t debilitating. Who he was truly worried about was Nurick.
A stick came arching in towards his head and Adam grabbed it; he pulled, sending the stick’s owner tumbling over him. Now with a weapon, Adam poked at his attackers until a clearing formed around him. However, one particularly obnoxious Josl still had himself wrapped around Adam’s right leg. A poke with the stick to the native’s head sent him tumbling as well.
Adam jumped to his feet. ‘What the hell are you doing? I’m not your enemy!”
“Yet you are with him!” someone in the crowd yelled.
“Yeah, but I don’t like him,” Adam countered. “He’s my prisoner. You have to let me take him away.”
“We will administer our own justice on the feeder!”
Having realized that Adam was a much more potent opponent than the Vicorean, several of his attackers now returned to the mob huddled over Nurick, anxious to get their licks in. Adam rushed to Nurick’s aid, lowering a shoulder and plowing into the crowd of Josls like a linebacker, sending half a dozen of them rolling away down the alley.
And he was just beginning to like these little Hobbit-like creatures.
The crowd backed away. “Let us finish him,” one of the natives pleaded with real emotion. “At least we won’t eat him once he’s dead.”
Adam stood over the injured Vicorean, holding the stick out in front of him menacingly. “I can’t let you do that, even though I understand how you feel.”
“Did they eat your species, as well? If not, then you cannot know how we feel.”
Adam didn’t have time to get into a debate with the angry crowd. Instead, he took Nurick by the arm and lifted him to his feet. The mod dealer was bleeding from a gash in his forehead and his eyes were vacant.
“Nurick, are you all right?” The Vicorean just wobbled where he stood. Oh great
, Adam thought. He’s no good to me if he’s a vegetable.
“Nurick!”
Finally, the alien blinked and became aware of his surroundings. He looked at the crowd with panic in his eyes before they focused on Adam.
“They are going to kill me!” he cried out. “Why?”
“Dude, you’re beyond hope,” Adam said out of frustration. “C’mon, we have to get out of here. The spaceport is about half-an-hour up the road.”
Adam turned to the crowd. “All I want to do is get to the spaceport and off your planet. Let us go in peace.” He failed to mention that he didn’t have a spaceship waiting there. That was a revelation left for later.
“Just let them go,” someone in the crowd yelled with disgust.
“Yes, the sooner they leave, the sooner we can have peace again,” said another.
A path cleared in the alleyway, allowing them to pass. Adam had to maintain his grip on Nurick’s arm to lead him in the right direction, but soon they were on the street with the elderly couple and slowly making their way toward the spaceport.
Thirty minutes on Karlis was like an eternity, especially when having to tow Nurick along with him and with remnants of the vicious mob still trailing behind. Yet finally the buildings on his left gave way to a vast field surrounded by a wire fence. As was typical of most spaceports, there wasn’t much to see, just a few hangars set off along the perimeter and an administration building and guard shack near the gated entrance.
Glancing back at the crowd of twenty or so Josls who still followed, Adam wondered how he was going to steal a starship with an audience in attendance. That was something he hadn’t counted on—
But then he heard a distant hum becoming more prominent by the second. It was a spaceship approaching on a shallow gravity-well. The timing couldn’t have better; he would be waiting at the entrance hatch when it opened, a surprise for the ship’s crew.
At the gate, a guard approached, flash weapon drawn and a frown on his yellow forehead.
“What are you doing with this feeder?” he asked as his eyes scanned the bloodied Vicorean up and down.
“I’m taking him back to Vulcan to stand trial for his crimes,” Adam improvised. “You can be assured he will die a horrible death.”
“What ship is yours? I do not recall seeing you arrive.”
“There, the one that’s landing. That’s my ship. We coordinated our arrival at the port.”
The guard looked down the street and at the approaching crowd. ‘Did they do this to him—and to you?”
“Yes they did, but I’m not going to file a complaint.”
The guard snickered. “Complaint, against them? I just wish I could have been part of it. But move along now. Leave as soon as you can. We do not like his kind around here.”
“Right away, officer. Thank you.”
Adam lead Nurick onto the vast field and toward the place where the arriving ship had now switched to chemical landing propellant and was settling to the ground. A thick cloud of hot, white smoke billowed toward Adam and Nurick, causing them to both cough and choke. It would also obscure their approach to the vessel.
From what Adam had seen of the ship, it was fairly small and with a shiny silver hull. The design looked familiar, since it resembled eighty percent of all spacecraft design, in any galaxy.
Surprisingly, the hull near the entrance hatch wasn’t radiating the heat most ships would after arriving from space through the atmosphere of a planet. This one had come from on-planet somewhere, and not very far away. The lack of a hot hull made it possible for him to scoot right up against it and wait for the hatch to open. Adam placed a still groggy Nurick against the hull and then watched as he slid down until he was seated on the charred soil of the spaceport. With Nurick taken care of, Adam would be free for action…when the hatch opened. Of course, he could be waiting here for hours for that to happen.
However, luck was with him that day, as he heard the echoing clank of a release latch being tripped, and then hatch slid sideways into the hull.
A tall figure stepped out of the ship and into the last vestiges of landing exhaust still lingering in the area.
Without hesitation, Adam stepped up to the creature and planted a stiff palm to his chin. The creature fell back through the entrance, with Adam already stepping over the limp body, ready to take on anyone else he found inside. What he found made his jaw drop open.
He was face-to-face with a Vicorean Enforcer, stunned into inaction by the unexpected collapse of his comrade in front of him. Adam recovered quicker from the shock and slammed an elbow into the chest of the standing Enforcer. As the Vicorean stumbled backwards, Adam snatched a MK-style flash weapon from the alien’s holster and pressed it against the throat of the officer.
“How many more are onboard?” Adam queried through angry, clenched teeth.
‘Only the two of us—you’re the Human!”
Adam pulled the alien’s jacket halfway down his torso, pinning his arms to his sides. “That’s right. And you’re the two who have been chasing me.”
“It is our duty.”
“I understand duty, officer, so I’m really sorry I have to do this, but I need your ship.”
Without waiting for comment, he tossed the Enforcer out the open hatch and onto the dusty field as Adam followed close behind. “Nurick, get in the ship—now!” he yelled.
The mod-dealer had regained some of his senses, and he now slowly rose to his feet before crawling through the entrance hatch and over the inert body of the first Enforcer without comment.
Adam placed a boot on the chest of the Enforcer on the ground and began to pat down the pockets of his uniform. “Where’s my gold?”
The Vicorean hesitated. “It is aboard your ship—”
“I mean the ingots the Polimor officer gave you!”
The Vicorean frowned. “How do you know about that?”
“Never mind; where is it?”
The Enforcer hesitated again—until Adam lit off a flash bolt into the dirt to the left of the alien’s head.
“Mine is in my cabin!” he blurted. “The drawer on the workstation!”
“And your partner’s?”
“I know not where he placed it, I just know we do not carry such weight on own bodies.”
Adam stepped over to the open hatch and grabbed the unconscious Vicorean by his belt buckle. He lifted the body with one arm and tossed it over toward the other Enforcer. He entered the spaceship and then turned to address officer.
“I’ll be leaving now, so you’re on your own…against them.” He pointed in the direction of the spaceport’s main gate. “Bon appetite!”
Those left of the initial Josl crowd had witnessed Adam’s attack on the two Vicoreans and were now rushing toward the ship, along with the armed security guard. Adam shut the hatch, effectively cutting off any concern he had for the two Enforcers outside, feeders who were soon to be left behind on a planet of vengeful Hobbits.
Even though the Vicoreans outside were experiencing different emotions, for his part, Adam was ecstatic. He now had a ship, and one capable of traveling vast interstellar distances. It was also armed, both with external weaponry, as well as an armory somewhere aboard. He would also find a small fraction of his gold.
It was a start. Now all he had to do was get the Pegasus back from a squadron of alien security ships.
If he could do that, then his real mission could finally get back on track.
Adam found the pilothouse for the small Enforcer spacecraft and slid into the seat that looked to be where the pilot would sit. And then he stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the console. There was no control stick or wheel, just buttons and a couple of levers. There were also three dark computer screens staring back at him—a large one directly in front of him, and two smaller flanking screens placed at an angle. Everything was dark, and Adam couldn’t find the on/off switch.
“Nurick!” he called back through the open door to the pilothouse. “Get up here, I
need you.” He turned back to the console; the last thing he wanted to do was start pushing buttons and flicking switches whose function he couldn’t fathom. Not on a starship. These things had a bad habit of going boom when not treated properly.
“I’m here,” Nurick announced behind him.
Adam turned. “Do you know how—” He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Nurick standing in the doorway and holding a flash weapon aimed in his direction.
“Fortunately, this is as Enforcer vessel, and as such, there are ample weapons onboard.”
“Don’t be a fool. Put that down and help me get this ship started.”
“I will not. Instead, I will allow the Enforcers back in the ship and return to Vicor with them.”
“They think we’re partners in crime.”
“Yet we are not, and once I explain myself, I will be vindicated.”
Adam nodded and leaned back in the chair. “Fine then, open the hatch and let the Enforcers back in.” He motioned with his head in the direction of the forward viewport.
Nurick moved along the side wall of the pilothouse, maintaining a safe distance from Adam, until he was at the large window and looked out.
Adam saw Nurick go pale.
The crowd of Josls had reached the two Enforcers by now and feeling like they had been robbed of the chance to seek vengeance against Nurick, were delighting in the literal dismemberment of the two Vicorean officers. The scene was like something out of a horror movie, with several of the natives drenched in the blood of the Enforcers, while others waved severed body parts above their heads in a primal display of savage dominance.
“They don’t very much care for your kind around here,” Adam said. “And with the Enforcers now dead, you’ll have a lot more explaining to do back on Vicor other than simply how you came to be aboard the Pegasus. And I should warn you, I’ll be very convincing in my claim that you and I planned this from the beginning.”
Nurick was frozen in shock at the horrific scene outside the ship, so much so that he didn’t notice as Adam left the pilot seat and moved over next to him. Adam didn’t bother taking the weapon from Nurick’s hand; the Vicorean was now standing with the gun held limply in his right hand, no longer a threat.