“You’re sure we’re in the right place?” Tars Northern said, looking doubtfully around at the cornucopia of foliage as Laura secured the hatch on the XT. “Looks like a three-dee set for one of those old Tarzan pictures.”
“Oh, yes, this is the place all right. I know you couldn’t see it with your limited view, but we passed over the M’towi village I mentioned. I’ve got a pretty good memory of that village, believe you me!”
“Right then,” said Northern. “If you say so, I believe you.”
He wasn’t kidding. A trust had grown in Northern for Laura’s word, and it touched her deeply. She felt a sudden impulse to kiss him, but uncharacteristically, she held back.
No, she thought. You can’t let this guy have a centimeter that way. His roguishness was charming, his trust ingratiating, but a gal could definitely get in trouble falling prey to the physical expression of any kind of affection with this cad. Still ….
“Glad to hear that, Northern. Got your equipment and your gun? Good, ‘cause you’re going to need it.”
Under the hot sun Laura saw a trace of perspiration growing on Northern’s brow, and smiled. “Oh. Did you bring your deodorant? You’re going to need that too.”
“Umm … well, actually … might I borrow yours?”
“Automatic, Captain. Cybernetic control. You spend weeks cooped up in that little ship, you’ve gotta have some arrangement.”
“How peculiar,” said Tars Northern. “Well then, you’ll have to excuse me.”
“I’ll just stay upwind, okay?” She winked at him. “C’mon, let’s get going. If we’re lucky, we’ll catch a couple of my pals on siesta.”
“Seems like a good thing to be doing about this time.” Northern said. “I wonder if they’re sipping nice cool drinks. Compatible metabolisms, Laura?”
“Oh yes. They’re the most humanoid of the three sorts of intelligent life on this planet. So compatible, in fact, that at first they developed a taste for human flesh. The Federation cured them of that soon enough.”
“What a pleasant bit of news, Laura,” Northern said.
“I thought you should be fully informed.”
They struck off through the jungle, following a trail Laura vaguely remembered from her last circumspect visit. True, she had not smuggled herself in quite in this manner: she had presented herself as a skilled technician from the planet Romulos who had been hired for basic peripheral computer work in the field. From this base she had to learn about the Block and what techniques she needed to infiltrate its core, testing its security systems. But in her work with the myriad extensions of the controlling computer, she had done some fieldwork, encountering this particular M’towi tribe only kilometers away from the Block when their communications array went down. She spent a whole day there, trouble shooting the system quickly but stalling long enough to get to know the people of the tribe.
“They really are quite interesting. I visited them once again before I got into the core, just to say hello,” Laura said as they bashed their way through a troublesome collection of frondlike vegetation overhanging the trail.
“And so that’s why we’re here now?” said Northern in a griping tone. “To pay a hello call to a bunch of your alien pals?” Already, perspiration was streaming down his face.
“No, Captain,” said Laura. “I told you, this will be the fastest and easiest way to sneak into the compound.”
“I took your word for it then, but I didn’t know we’d be traveling through a steam bath!”
“It will sweat some of that junk you drink out of your system, Captain. Get you in shape!”
“I’ll have you know I work out, I stay in shape—it’s just damned hot and sticky here,” Northern replied, trudging gamely after her. “So tell me this plan again. Mish gave it his okay but I was too busy to go over it.”
“Blind trust, eh?” Laura remarked, but inside she was touched that Captain Northern had developed this much faith in her.
“Hardly blind, Laura. You’re one of the best operatives I’ve ever seen. A simple, empirically proven fact.”
Her eyes shone as she stopped a moment and looked back at him. “Thank you, Captain. Now this is very simple. This M’towi tribe regularly visits the Block compound to deliver various fruits and vegetables and other supplies they sell to the people there, in addition to the normal work they’re assigned. It happens that I dealt with the M’towi in charge of this daily delivery, and I’m sure I’ll be able to revive our friendship. Believe me, he has no love for the Federation. He was one of the rebels who was put down years ago.”
“Ah yes—very good. But exactly what are the details of this infiltration?”
She halted in a muddy patch, reached back, and tweaked his nose. “Just you wait and see!”
Tars Northern spoke as though he expected the native village to be a primitive collection of grass huts complete with boiling pots and tribal dancers. When the trail opened up into a clearing containing something entirely different, he could not hide his surprise.
Amidst the greenish sun’s pounding heat stood a cluster of multilevel structures of subtle architectural design. Beyond, stretched a few fields of indeterminate nature. A group of dark-skinned humanoid aliens wearing white pantaloons and wide-brimmed hats stood on the steps to a building, talking to each other in a strange language containing numerous clicks and hums.
“Do they speak Standard Galactic?” Northern asked doubtfully.
“A few words.”
“But how are you going to speak to them?”
“You forget that I am a highly resourceful ex-secret agent of the Federated Empire, Tars Northern.” She pulled up the left sleeve of her shirt and completed a series of coded pressure points. “You also forget my cyborg components.” A length of synthetic skin rolled back and she dialed in a number on a control face. “There. I can now approximate the M’towi speech. How do you think I communicated with them in the first place?”
“My amazement is unbounded, O mistress of the starways.” Northern beckoned her politely to proceed with her intentions.
“Stay here a moment, out of sight,” she said, then struck off toward the talking natives. None of them was her friend Xersi, so she hoped they might tell her where he could be found.
The aliens stiffened at the sight of the human in their midst. “Who are you?” asked one, his double proboscis twitching—a sign of nervousness amongst the M’towi. “We are not scheduled for a Federation meeting this day!”
Laura opened her mouth and her mechanical implementation immediately cut in to her speech center, allowing her to speak their tongue. “Hello. Perhaps you remember me. I was here last season. I seek Xersi, whom I dealt with before.”
The aliens murmured amongst themselves, their long, delicate fingers moving languidly, like seaweed in a slow current, their eyes darting back to Laura suspiciously.
“Do not be concerned,” said Laura holding her hand up in a M’towi sign of loyalty to tribe and conspiracy. They blinked with surprise that she knew this gesture. “Xersi and I have shared gloc tea and have sung to the sun in harmony. We both are not friends to the Block.”
The aliens nodded their heads—not a native gesture, but an affectation they’d learned from human beings. “In that case, there is no harm,” one of them said. “Come with us and we will bring you to his gloc time. He’s due to emerge from trance soon.”
“One moment. I have brought a companion with me. We both must speak to Xersi.”
The aliens shrugged and one spoke in Standard Galactic. “What the hell. The more the merrier!”
The room had a dirt floor and was filled with shadows shifting with the flickers of three candle flames placed in corners of the room. It smelled of subterranean musk, and being dug into the ground, was much cooler than outside. A hint of aromatic incense laced the air. Laura recognized the smell of the ceremoni
al gloc tea in the air and immediately hoped Xersi would offer them some. That stuff packed a buzz!
The alien ushered them in politely, and Northern looked around with his usual suspicion and cynicism. “Looks like your kind of place, Laura. Where’s your pal?”
“Shush!” Laura commanded, finger to lips. “Have some couth, sir! This is a time of individual meditation for the M’towi and it deserves respect.”
“Couth?” Northern returned tartly. “You’re asking me for couth?” But he’d lowered his voice to a bare whisper.
The M’towi who had led them inside gestured them to halt. “I go wake up the gloc head now. He has been here too long anyway! Such a glutton with the tea!”
“What did he say?” asked Northern.
“He wants to know if we can use the handsome starship captain for a sacrifice. The gods are hungry this day. I’ll tell him I hope they like their food well lubricated.”
Northern let that pass.
The M’towi ambled over to a figure that sat far back in the room, huddling amidst the shadows.
“Northern, I want you to notice the solemnity and dignity of the ritual awakening,” said Laura.
As their eyes grew accustomed to the dimness, they could see that the figure was curled up into a kind of lumpy fetal ball with appendages, atop a large square blanket of complex designs. Before him was a large wooden bowl filled almost to the brim with a dark frothy liquid. The squatting figure’s long fingers still clutched what appeared to be a stone cup.
The approaching alien stopped just in front of Xersi, then suddenly kicked him over. “Wake up, you lazy Pok’fe brain!”
The squatting alien scrambled up to his feet, weaving in the dark dizzily. “I thank you, brother, for pulling me out of my ecstasy. Is it your turn now?”
“No. You have visitors. One of them claims to be your friend of last season. They wish to speak to you.”
“I am moved,” said Northern. “Truly moved.”
The M’towi motioned them over, then lit another set of candles. The alien called Xersi stared for a moment with his limpid eyes, then cried out, “But of course! It is the computer repair lady! Welcome back, Lady Googoo!”
“Lady Googoo?” Northern asked, for Xersi had spoken in broken Standard Galactic.
Laura was glad of the dimness; it hid her blush. “Uh … yeah, that was my alias for my Intelligence job here.” She was too embarrassed to ask if he knew who Lady Googoo had been on old Earth. “Let’s not confuse him though, okay?”
“Anything you say, my Lady,” returned Northern with a broad smile, glad of ammunition for future verbal ripostes. Laura turned back to Xersi and spoke to him in his own language. “Yes, my friend, I have returned from the stars. I have traveled far distances since last we met. Might we sit down? Our human legs are much inferior to the mighty thews of the M’towi, and we are tired.”
“Ah, such glib garbage all you Terraspawn speak on first greeting,” said Xersi. “I remember one of the first diplomats you sent to cheat us years back. Longtongue, we came to call him. But sit, sit, for I have thought of you much since your departure, female Terraspawn.”
They sat down on the rough-textured blanket. Xersi requested the other to bring back a glass of water. “You may take some of the gloc in water and it is not so powerful and it is very refreshing. Now what have you come about, friend Googoo?”
“You remember, do you not Xersi, when we drank gloc together undiluted and we shared secrets of our hearts?” Laura said as softly and urgently as she could in such a rough language.
“Aye, I remember very well. You touched me by sharing my hatred for those who control us all. And you told me of a sibling who you cared for very much.”
“Yes. My brother, Cal.”
The other native returned with glasses of cool water. Xersi dipped his stone cup into the bowl of gluc and offered to drip some into their glasses.
“Just what is that stuff?” Northern asked doubtfully.
“Take my word, you’ll like it, Captain.”
The dark stuff dyed the water a muddy brown. Laura took a sip. It was sweet and bitter and good. The heat of the day and the strain in her muscles was immediately forgotten.
“Ah, thank you, Xersi,” she said. “The deep roots of the yunga tree are yet true.” She put the glass down.
“Not bad, thank you,” said Northern.
“Yes,” said Laura.” Cal. My brother. In a very real way, that is why I have returned, Xersi. I do not know if you are aware of this, but my people now fight a very great war with creatures called the Jaxdron. My brother is a brilliant man and the Jaxdron feel that they can use him, so they have stolen him. I seek to get him back, and that is why I am here.”
“Ah yes! We have heard of the Jaxdron!” said Xersi. “But they are not here! You have come to the wrong place!”
“Let me explain. I no longer work for the Friends, Xersi. I am a renegade. They were using me, and I rebelled. They tried to use me to kill my brother when I found him. This man helped me find my brother, and he is my friend now. He is a Star Hound, Xersi.”
“Ah, excellent. Perhaps we can hire his fleet to liberate my people from the Federation!”
“I’m afraid he has only one starship, though he is definitely working against the Federation, and you can fight the Federation by aiding us!”
“Tell me what I must do!” said the M’towi eagerly.
“It’s really very simple, my friend. Since the Federation is now my enemy, I cannot enter the Block. And in order to fight the Federation and save my brother, Captain Northern and I must enter the Block for a short period of time and then exit without Governor Bartlick or his men knowing. Are you still making regular deliveries to the Block, Xersi?”
“I am indeed! And tomorrow morning at dawn I make my next.” Suddenly, his eyes brightened. “Ah ha! And you wish me help smuggle you in!”
“You’re a pretty smart guy for a gloc head, Xersi.”
“Hey,” said Northern. “This stuff is pretty good!” He held out his empty glass. “Can I have some more?”
It wasn’t customary to make such a request. Xersi glanced at Northern for a moment before a sharp grin crept over his face. He looked back at Laura quite bemused and said, “I like him!”
Chapter Twenty-four
They were shown to their room after the evening meal. It was a simple affair, with human-type beds, used to houseguests from the Block’s compound.
“I shall come for you to prepare you an hour before dawn. You will be ready then, yes?” Xersi said.
Captain Northern collapsed drunk onto one of the beds.
“Oh yes, yes,” said Laura. “Thank you, Xersi.”
The alien fluttered his fingers, indicating both Laura and Tars Northern. “You two …. You are a human sex-bound couple? Don’t make too much noise, please, you’ll scare the children!”
“We are no such thing!” Laura cried, outraged.
“Just be quiet when you mate, please,” said the native closing the door behind him.
Laura went over to the window, shaking her head wearily. Her brain still seemed a bit off kilter, what with the gloc she had taken, though she was clearly not as messed up as Northern. Strange, he seemed to almost live on alcohol and stayed coherent and sharp, if a touch wild. Laura never touched the stuff. It seemed to interfere with the operation of her cybernetic systems and made her sick besides. But gloc and its chemical sisters and brothers with psychoactive properties gave her a glow of good feeling and nothing more.
Apparently, it knocked Northern head over heels. He was sprawled out on the bed, arms akimbo, eyes closed. She went over to tuck him in. Wouldn’t do to have a starship captain with a cold.
At the touch of her hand, he reached out for her. She almost shoved him away, but his touch was so gentle, his attentions so weak, she knew she could separ
ate herself at anytime with a minimum of fuss.
She might just be able to get something out of him in this state, she thought. Besides, it didn’t feel bad at all ….
“Mmmm,” he said languidly, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Laura, darling, you are such a hot little number.”
“You had too much gloc, Tars,” she said, settling against him tentatively, enjoying his warmth and the hard comfort of his powerful body but trying not to let herself relax. She sensed the danger of any kind of surrender to him; an emotional pitfall that must be avoided. “Don’t worry. It’s really marvelously free of aftereffects.”
It was for her, anyway. She hoped it had the same effect on Tars. Which reminded her ….
“Tars, why do you drink so much?”
“Thirsty!” he said drowsily, tracing imaginary pictures delicately across her back with his fingertips.
“No, its something more than that, Tars. You drink like an alcoholic and yet you can get cleaned of that very quickly. Mish monitors your consumption. What gives?”
“I like it!” he murmured drowsily. “Now give us a kiss!”
She took a different tack. “What do you want from me, starship Captain? Really.”
“Your delicious affections, my dear. Now why are we wasting time!” But he said it all without conviction, as though from rote. Perhaps he meant it, but the gloc rendered his words spineless.
“I’d just be using you, Tars,” she said condescendingly. “But I am interested in why you drink alcohol.”
Northern shrugged. “I’m … not real sure. I always … drank. Then, when I got the Starbow one evening, alone with a bottle of wine … I felt something deeper in me, something added. That’s the evening … I got to know Mish better. I became more Tars, than I really seemed to be. I dunno, like … the well of my … unconscious just got deeper and … richer in content. And from then on I could grasp what Mish was talking about.”
Laura blinked, surprised. An interesting notion.
STAR HOUNDS -- OMNIBUS Page 31