Gregor's Run: The Universe is too Small to Hide

by Saxon Andrew

  “Depressurizing the bay and opening the port,” her computer responded.

  Kaylee lifted the shuttle slowly off the deck and turned it toward the port, “Keep the port open, I might have to get back quickly.”

  “I’m moving over the horizon so I can stay in contact with your link.”

  “I’ll send you the location of Sam’s ship.”

  “That would be good.”

  Kaylee exited the port and received permission to enter Jester’s traffic pattern. She entered the atmosphere above the terminator line between the sun and dark side of the planet as the link detector started vibrating. She turned the tiny shuttle and headed toward the signal. She knew Sam didn’t have her link frequency; the Movement Leadership prohibited anyone other than themselves from possessing that piece of information. But one night Sam was really drunk and he gave his to her. The next morning, he didn’t remember doing it and she never told him she had it.

  The vibrations grew closer together and she knew he had to be at M’s tavern where they had followed Gregor. She flew above Mgowck Street and saw a vessel lifting from in front of M’s. She received approval to take the parking spot and settled the small shuttle down to the pavement. She raised the cockpit and climbed out of the shuttle leaving it open. She put on a pair of dark glasses and entered the tavern. Inside, the lights were so bright that many of the patrons wore dark glasses. She turned to the left and the vibrations had a longer time between them. She turned right and they picked up speed. She started moving through the crowd and after a few minutes, she saw him. He was sitting at a table with a woman and they were wrapped up in a tight embrace. She moved to a bar close by and watched them.

  The number of bottles on the table made it clear they had been drinking…a lot. Kaylee waited patiently. Unless this woman had a bladder the size of an Arterian Red Fruit, she would be leaving soon. It actually took longer than Kaylee anticipated but the woman at the table finally stood up and excused herself; Sam patted her on her backside as she walked away.

  Kaylee walked over behind him and said, “My, my, I’m gone for a short time and look at you.” Sam whipped around and Kaylee quickly said, “If you activate your link, it will be the last thing you do!”

  “Just how will you know if I do?”

  “I have a link detector and if it goes to solid vibrations, you’re a dead man.” Sam stared at her and Kaylee recited his link frequency to him.

  “Do you honestly think you could take me?”

  “Want to find out? After all, who’s been going through all the training?”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Let’s step outside and I’ll tell you.” Sam glanced over his shoulder toward the ladies room and then stood up. Kaylee said, “After you.”

  Sam started walking through the crowd and any hope of escape evaporated. Kaylee stayed directly behind him as she held on to his jacket with her left hand. They exited the tavern and Kaylee said, “This is far enough.”

  “Maybe we should move down the street a little ways.”

  “Which would allow your ship’s scanner to see us. No, here is fine. You should be more careful about where you park your ship. Weren’t you trained better than that?”

  Sam’s said in a snide remark, “Like you said, you got all the training. Why are you here?”

  “What, no thank god you’re safe or I’ve missed you so much?”

  Sam sighed heavily, “I suspect after what you’ve been watching in the tavern those remarks wouldn’t carry any weight.”

  “I’ve always liked your practicality, Sam. How long have you known about controlling the filaments?” Kaylee saw the shock on Sam’s face and knew that he was an insider in Movement; he knew about it.

  He tried to recover but couldn’t pull it off, “What are you talking about?”

  “Sam, your expression gave you away. You know how I’ve been trained to read facial responses and it is very clear to me that you know about it. I just want to know how you can support something like that.”

  Sam stared at her in silence and then said, “Who told you?”

  “That’s not relevant. Do you have any idea how many beings will die if this plan is put into action?”

  “I really don’t care, Kaylee. Did anyone care how many died on Earth when it was bombarded? We are going to assume our rightful place in the universe.”

  “As rulers.”

  “As conquerors. It’s our destiny.”

  “And how long were you going to maintain the farce of us having a caring relationship?” This time he didn’t answer and remained silent. “You were ordered to do it. I can see it in your expression.”

  Sam closed his eyes slightly and then opened them, “It wasn’t such a bad duty. You are beautiful, even though you’re pretty stiff.”

  “Do you mean I never did everything you wanted?”

  “You didn’t do anything I wanted.”

  Kaylee nodded toward the tavern door, “And I suppose she does everything you want?”

  Sam smiled, “Yes, she does.”

  Kaylee forced herself to remain calm and asked, “Just what do you get out of this?”

  “I’ll have my own kingdom to rule and the worlds under me will stay in line or starve to death.”

  Kaylee stared at Sam and he saw something in her eyes. Kaylee’s arm moved faster than Sam could react. The sword came over her shoulder and his head fell off and rolled into the gutter. The sword instantly disappeared back into the scabbard over her shoulder and she screamed at the top of her voice. Six security guards came running up and Kaylee pointed up the street, “He went that way!! He was wearing a black shirt!!”

  The security guards rushed away as Kaylee turned and ran to the shuttle with her dress pulled up to her thighs. She leapt into the shuttle’s cockpit and lifted before two of the security guards stopped and turned around. The shuttle’s cockpit lowered as it turned down the street away from Sam’s dead body. The guards didn’t see her enter the shuttle and they couldn’t see it moving away below the level of the surrounding parked vehicles. They started questioning beings that were walking past the body but they just shook their heads and continued walking, none of them had seen the murder or the human woman in the long dress. By the time they considered looking in parked vehicles, Kaylee was moving high into Jester’s atmosphere. She entered the ship’s port and heard her computer say, “Sam’s link has reported a termination signal. His ship is powering up.”

  “Get us out of here.”

  She entered the bridge and saw Gregor’s ship was beside her vessel as she heard, “Fall in close behind me and stay close on the filament!”

  “You’ve already been to the filament and back?”

  “We used full boost to make sure we were back here in the event something went wrong.”

  “Gregor, I’m not sure staying close to each other is going to work,” Gregor’s computer announced.

  “Why not?”

  “There isn’t much traffic on the filament and once that ship clears traffic control, it will go to full boost and will overrun us quickly.”

  “How much of a lead do we have, Computer?”

  “Not very…wait a minute.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Gregor, Traffic Control has grounded all ships near or around M’s Tavern until they can be inspected for someone who committed a crime. The ship is powering down. We’re going to full boosters and we’ll change filaments at the first intersection before any Movement ships can arrive.”

  “What crime?” Gregor asked his computer.

  “Apparently, someone went and got themselves killed outside of M’s. I wonder if Miss Kaylee knows anything about that particular event.”

  Kaylee heard Gregor’s Computer and said, “Well, Sam is notorious for losing his head in stressful situations.”

  “What happened, Kaylee?”

  “I lied to him.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I told him I was trai
ned to read facial expressions. When I asked him about controlling the filaments, he denied it. I told him I could read his expressions and knew he was lying.”

  Gregor was silent for a moment and then asked with raised eyebrows, “You aren’t trained in reading facial expressions?”

  “Gregor, do you honestly thing the Movement would allow anyone near their inner circle that could read facial expressions?”

  “But you told me what I was thinking when I first saw you in the tavern.”

  “Gregor, a three year old could see you were planning to confront Tick. Your expression was pure anger.”

  “She makes an excellent point about the Movement not allowing her to have the ability to read expressions, Gregor!”

  “I can see that, Computer!”

  “Just wanted to make sure you did.”

  Gregor rolled his eyes and asked, “What else were you able to find out, Kaylee?”

  “He confirmed that the Movement is going to go out with every intention of ruling the universe. Sam was promised his own kingdom to rule and he boasted he would keep them in line or starve them to death.”

  “Anything else?”

  “You were right that he was assigned to pretend to care for me.”

  “I’m sorry, Kaylee. I know you cared for him.”

  “And just how do you know that?”

  “You went after him on Jester to try and turn him away from the movement! That makes it pretty obvious!”

  “I went down to Jester to see if I could gather information from him.” Gregor was silent and Kaylee finally said, “I guess there is some truth in that I wanted to know if you were right about his being assigned to me.”

  “See!”

  “Gregor, your computer is right about their planning to mate us and use our children. Once I heard that, I knew that was the truth. What I wanted to know was if Sam knew about it.”

  “You wanted to see if his feelings were real?” Kaylee’s computer said.

  Kaylee shrugged, “Yeah, I think that’s part of it.”

  “What did you find out?” Gregor’s computer asked.

  “He knew about it and didn’t like being with me.”

  “Why not?” Gregor’s computer asked.

  “Aren’t you the nosey one?”

  “Hey, if I don’t ask, we’re all going to wonder about it, so you might as well fess up.”

  “Gregor, how do you put up with your computer?”

  The computer replied, “I’m an acquired taste. Why did he hate it?”

  “I didn’t say he hated it, he just didn’t like it.” Kaylee was silent and so were Gregor and the two computers. Finally she said, “ALL RIGHT! I wasn’t the type of woman he liked.” There was more silence and Kaylee sighed, “He told me I refused to do the things he wanted me to do.”

  After a short moment of silence, Gregor said, “You didn’t do what he wanted because you didn’t love him.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “No, you didn’t. If you did, you could have never brought yourself to kill him.”

  “Love can very quickly turn to hate and he gave me a good reason to kill him.”

  “You had a good reason to kill him before you ever left your ship for the surface; he didn’t need to provide one. You killed him because he needed killing and you saw it. You wouldn’t have been able to see it if you really loved him.”

  “You’re being ridiculous!” Kaylee snapped back.

  “Love is blind, Kaylee. Even when a loved one’s faults are staring you in the face and screaming in your ears, you will refuse to see them.”

  “Hey, Gregor!”

  Gregor rolled his eyes, “What is it, Computer?”

  “What reason did she have before she left her ship?”

  “If Sam didn’t choose to join us against the Movement, he would have to be removed before he could alert them to our presence. By Kaylee going down to meet him, she was going to have to force him to go with her, which I’m certain he wouldn’t have willingly done if he didn’t love her, or kill him.”

  Kaylee sighed, “I didn’t think it through, did I Gregor?”

  “No, you didn’t and that told me that you really didn’t love him. If you did, you would not have placed him in that dangerous situation. However, he could have been in love with you and that would have saved him. He would have joined us and still be alive. That’s why I didn’t push you into not going.”

  “What about the filament you went looking for?”

  “It’s no longer there.”

  Kaylee fell back in her chair and wondered where this was headed.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The two ships flew at high speed toward the first intersection and Gregor sat in his chair pondering all the information about the current situation. He rested his head on his hand as he slouched in his chair and would occasionally exhale a deep breath. The computer screen on his console flickered and Kaylee’s image appeared on it, “Where are we going from here?”

  “I’m struggling with that decision now.”

  “Bellingham is the next place where the Movement will go to find our replacements.”

  “I KNOW THAT, KAYLEE!!”

  “Hey, don’t get so testy, we’re on the same side!”

  Gregor sighed, “I know, it’s just that we’ll not be much more than observers there. All I know how to do is use a sword and they’ll be useless in the battle that’s coming.”

  “I can fire a bow.”

  Gregor rolled his eyes, “Is there anything you can’t do?”

  “I’m not very good at finding someone to really like me.”

  “I like you, Kaylee; you’ve just not been around the sort of people you should want to like you. I noticed a large number of the single warriors on Bellingham staring at you when you weren’t watching them.”

  “I saw them.”

  “Well…then you know they are very much attracted to you!!”

  “But they don’t know me. They’re attracted to what they see and, I mean no disrespect but once you’ve been to the big city, the farm just doesn’t hold much allure anymore.”

  Gregor shook his head to get his thoughts around what she said, “What!?”

  “I’ve traveled the universe. Do you think I would find happiness living in the forests on Bellingham? I grew weary of having to frame my words so they wouldn’t, perish the thought, be asking a question.”

  “I can identify with that. However, their society is pure and they have found peace in their day-to-day existence.”

  “So, do we go back to assist them against the Movement?”

  “You would be able to help them, if you can fire a bow, but I would be as useless as a screen door on a canoe. I just think there ought to be something we can do to delay the Movement from going there. That’s what I’m struggling with at the moment.”

  “What assets do we have?”

  “What?”

  “What do we have to use to make that happen?”

  Gregor stared at the wall as he thought about the question. Then he started talking it through, “Well, we have you and me.”

  “That’s one.”

  “We have two armed warships.”

  “That’s another.” Gregor was silent and Kaylee said, “Can you think of anymore?”

  “Not at the moment, I guess we could start working on making filaments but that would really get us under scrutiny and probably lead to more than just the Dragons chasing us.”

  Kaylee nodded and shrugged, “What are our liabilities?

  Gregor sat up straight in his chair and Kaylee saw his expression, “You’ve thought of something.”

  “One of our liabilities can possibly be an asset.” Kaylee tilted her head to the left and narrowed her eyes as Gregor said, “The Dragons are chasing me to find out what Earth is up to. What if we told them?”

  “Then they’d really go after us and call in others to assist them.”

  “We don’t tell them about controlling filaments.”
<
br />   “Now you’re confusing me.”

  “How do you think they’d receive the information that Earth has developed a force field?”

  “Oh my mother’s bow! They’d freak out big time.”

  Gregor nodded, “Computer, does the next intersection have a filament that would take us into Dragon Territory?”

  “Not one that goes directly there but there is one that will take us to another intersection that will. Please don’t tell me you’re considering going there.”

  “Well, we can do this one of two ways. We can go to them or they can come to us,” Gregor replied. “Going to them is quicker.”

  “Given those two options, I’d much rather they come to us.”

  “Why is that, Computer?” Kaylee asked.

  “Because if we enter their territory we’ll be facing the majority of their fleet up close and personal. If we can manage to get them to come to us, we’ll only have to face five or ten warships.”

  “What are you intending to do, Gregor?” Kaylee asked.