by T. R. Harris
“Van Ransin, how can I be of assistance to the Juirean Authority?” the official slobbered, using the formal Castorian greeting “Van” before Ransin’s name. “What interest do the Juireans have in this affair?”
“It’s more a curiosity rather than an official inquiry,” Ransin answered. “What action is taking place here?”
The official turned toward the nearby alleyway and pointed. “Witnesses say the assassins went through here before they entered a rest facility on the other street. We are preparing for entry.”
“Assassins?”
“Yes. Apparently there are two of them.”
“Do you have an identification as to their race?”
“None at this time. Everything happened so fast that the witnesses did not observe properly.” The official motioned him forward. “We are about to act. You may observe if you wish.”
They moved through the alley and out onto the adjoining street. The rest facility building was flanked by a line of heavily-shielded police, who as Ransin watched, began to move quickly into the building. There had to be fifteen to twenty of them, easily enough to contain two killers – including one shuttle thief. It seemed as though Ransin’s current assignment would be over nearly before it began…
Chapter Fifteen
The two Humans spent more time than normal in the grooming station, showering and attempting to clean themselves up for the other. However, both were at a loss for the proper tools, such razors, makeup and shampoo. But after awhile, they met up again in the main room, Adam sitting in the room’s only chair and Sherri propped up on pillows on the bed.
While in the grooming station, Adam had been trying to come to grips with his situation. His main benefactor had been killed – by the only Human female he’d met out here – and now he was essentially on his own. But fortune had smiled on him. Besides the twenty-thousand credits he’d been paid for the Bundnet hit, he had also acquired almost 140,000 additional credits from the safe. That was a lot of money; he should be set for awhile as he sought other contracts. On the other hand, with what he already had saved, he had around a quarter of a million credits total, still far short of the five million or so he would need to purchase a class-five starship if, and when, he ever learned the location of Earth.
And now here was another Human. She had a compelling story, and as he’d listened, a plan – and a question – was growing in his mind.
“So why didn’t you ever try to find out where you were taken by the Klin?” he asked from the chair. “There are other Humans there, a lot of them, apparently.”
Sherri just shrugged. “I guess I never got around to it. After spending time in the prison, and then in the Games, I really had to figure out a way of making a living first.”
“But you may have been able to find the way back home.”
She shook her head. “The Humans running that place didn’t seem very anxious to help. Even if I’d shown back up there, I think I would have just been thrown into their breeding program, or worse.”
Adam could understand her trepidation. But here was a place with more Humans – and more Klin. She had been to the central processing center for Humans in The Fringe, and he knew at the depth of his being that the answers were there. It may be difficult to get into the facility, and then back out again with the information he needed, but at least he had to try.
“Listen, Sherri,” he began, desperation in his voice, “you have to help me find that place. You won’t even have to go back in, I promise. Just help me find it, and I’ll do all the fighting—”
She sat up straighter on the bed. “If I ever do find the location, I’m not going to chicken out. I can carry my own load.”
Adam smiled. “I love your spirit, and I didn’t mean to suggest that you wouldn’t go back because you’re scared. It’s just that I have more training in this area than you do.”
“So one macho ex-SEAL is going to lead an assault on the main base for the Klin in The Fringe? And while you’re there, you expect to find that one-in-a-million alien who just happens to know the location of Earth? And of course, just because you ask nicely, he’ll just hand over it over to you. Let me ask you this: What if the Juireans caught you tomorrow and said they’d kill you if you didn’t give up the location of Earth? You know what would happen? You’d die, that’s what.”
“I have to try, Sherri. I know you’re probably going to be shocked to hear this, but I have a wife and kid back home—”
“Hey, what does that have to do with anything?” Sherri interrupted. “What we just did here has nothing to do with love, or affection or anything else like that. This was all about pure animal instinct. I have – had – a fiancé myself back on Earth.”
“I agree,” Adam said. “But this is not my home – or yours either! We can’t stay here, not if we have even the slightest possibility of getting back home.”
“Adam, sweetheart, you’re cute and everything, but I really think I’ll do better if I go it alone.”
Adam was shocked by what he heard. He had not imagined that the two of them would not pair up somehow, as Human-to-Human, either professionally or personally. There just weren’t enough Humans out here to go around. But here he was, light years from Earth, and the only woman he’d met was saying she just wasn’t ready for a commitment. Was he losing his touch?
“I’m not giving up,” he said finally. “You may have, but I haven’t. And now you tell me there’s a place here in The Fringe where there are hundreds, if not thousands of other Humans, and you won’t even help me try to find it!”
Sherri was silent for what felt like minutes, just staring off at the opposite wall. Finally she nodded. “All right, I’ll help,” she said—
There was a noise in the hallway outside the room. Both Humans got up quickly and began to collect their weapons. “And I’ll go in with you. What the fuck? What do I have to lose?”
Adam moved to the room’s environmental control panel as Sherri opened the inner airlock door. “I know the answer is there,” Adam said as he increased the air pressure in the room to four times its present setting. “So what’s our next move?”
Sherri pulled out her MK-17 and checked the charge pack, then pressed herself against the wall next to the open airlock door. “We have to track down the surviving crewmember on the ship that I stowed away on, and then get her to tell us what planet she picked me up at.”
Adam moved to the other wall next to the airlock and checked his own weapon. “Where do we start?”
“Silea. That’s where her ship landed. I know someone there who might help.”
Then she and Adam placed the respirators over their noses, lowered their full-face masks and pressed their hands hard against their ears.
Then they waited…
Moments later, the lock on the outer airlock door clicked, and the door began to open. Instantly, the increased air pressure inside the room blew out the door with the force of an explosion, sending the thick metal panel into the hallway, crushing half a dozen Castorian police as it did so. The concussion blew out every window in the lobby, as well as the door to the emergency exit at the end of the hallway to the right.
Adam and Sherri moved into the corridor, weapons drawn. The police near the door were all dead; ones further away on both sides of the room were lying on the floor, writhing in pain. The two assassins stepped over and around the Castorians and moved down the hall to the right, and to the open emergency exit.
After checking the alley for any police, they sprinted left between the buildings, away from the main street, and then turned right in another alley behind the buildings. In the lighter gravity, the two Humans ran with lightning speed for about a kilometer, before entering a pedestrian elevator and going up nine floors. They exited and boarded a train for the rest of the journey to Adam’s entry point into the city, just below the Krune spaceport.
Twenty minutes after leaving the rest facility, Adam was punching in the code to open the hatch to the Cassie 1.
“Nice ship,” Sherri complimented. “Where’d you get it?”
“Off a dead Juirean.” He smiled back at her as the door slid open.
Ransin and the police commander watched as the police squad moved into the building. The Juirean agent was just about to pull out his communicator and relay the message that the shuttle thief was dead and that the shuttle had been recovered, when suddenly every window on the first floor of the building exploded outward. Even from where they stood across the street, glass rained down upon them. Covering their heads with their arms, officials and bystanders alike were stunned by the explosion.
Ransin regained his awareness before the Castorian did, and he sprinted toward the building. Entering, he found a scene of utter devastation, as broken glass and broken bodies lay strewn in the hallway to the right of the lobby. There were moans from the injured and blood everywhere.
Ransin moved to the gaping opening where the airlock door had once stood and looked inside the room. It was empty and fairly intact, with most of the force from the explosion having been channeled into the hallway. A quick survey of the dead and injured found only Castorians. His assassins were not here.
Then he noticed a light coming from the other end of the hallway. This assignment just got a lot more interesting, the agent thought, as a sly smile grew from his lips…
Chapter Sixteen
Something smelled like shit – literally!
Riyad tried to move, but found there was something heavy lying on top of him, something soft and bulky – and smelling like shit.
He attempted to open his eyes, and only after considerable effort was able to break the crust that had accumulated around them. He remembered instantly the beating he’d taken, and figured the crust must be dried blood. Then suddenly every bone in body screamed out with pain.
The strange men had seemed to revel in the beating they were inflicting upon him, as more of them joined in the fray. It was a miracle he was still alive.
He could make out faint shapes in the dim light now, and as his eyes cleared, the shapes began to take form. On top of him was something v-shaped, made up of appendages, thick and – they were legs! There was a body lying on him, with its crotch buried in his face. And the body had soiled itself.
Ignoring his pain, Riyad pushed with all his might and shoved the body off of him. Then he sat up. He was in a dimly-lit room, at the edge of a pile of corpses, smelling of feces, vomit and decay. He pulled himself from under the bodies covering his legs and stood up as best he could.
His ribs burned, his head throbbed and his legs were shaky. He fell against a metal wall and tried to take several deep breaths, but the stench in the room was too much for him to bear. He vomited.
He had to get out of the room…and quickly.
There was doorway not too far to his left, and as he crawled along the wall toward it, he swore that if the door was locked, he’d beat it down with his bare hands. But it was unlocked, and once through, he slammed it shut and slipped to the floor, his back pressing against the door. The air in the corridor was stale and warm, but at least it didn’t smell of death.
He knew the room he’d just left was filled with the corpses of his fellow Humans. He’d seen a lot of dead people in his day, and he knew the smell of death. They were all dead, and appeared to have been so for several hours, if not days.
Once his head had cleared, Riyad struggled to his feet and cautiously began to move up the corridor to his left. He had no idea what part of the Juirean flagship he was on, but reasoned it had to be some aft cargo bay just so the stink wouldn’t permeate the rest of the ship. Refrigerating the bodies would have helped, but if they had, then he would never have awakened from his unconsciousness.
All was quiet, and it wasn’t long before he came to end of the corridor, and a closed door. In his beaten condition, he knew he wasn’t the force he was accustomed to being, but he would just have to do his best. What he needed was a weapon, so he pressed the release button on the wall to the right and surged into the room.
It was a small command bridge, and it was unoccupied.
A wave of relief spread through him. So he wasn’t on the flagship anymore. In fact, this was a small shuttle, and from the ring of stars he could see through the viewport, it was in a well.
He sat down in the pilot seat – much to the relief of this aching body – and scanned the controls; just standard issue. He punched up the flight information and set the data to be relayed audibly.
After a minute he reclined further back in the chair and smiled. So this was an unmanned shuttle, taking the Human bodies back to Melfora Lum for autopsy. The crazy bastards had committed suicide – all except for one. And his body had been thrown in with the rest.
Riyad’s grin grew wider, as he began to believe that maybe there was a God after all, even way out here, and that Allah must be looking after him. He was alive – barely – and now he had a ship.
A plan gelled instantly in his mind: His pirate organization was in shambles, so he couldn’t go back to that. But he could take the ship he was on to Silea, recover the five million credits that he had stashed there over the years, and then lie low for awhile. The credits could buy him another ship on the black-market, as well as a new identity.
Then he would continue to follow his leads, and without the responsibilities of running a pirate organization.
During the past few days, Riyad had managed to collect a fair amount of intelligence, not the least of which was the fact that there was a thriving Human community in The Fringe. In addition, he didn’t believe half of what that lunatic Kyle Ross had told the Juirean. He knew his race and his planet, and there was no way that Earth was preparing for an imminent battle with the Juireans. It had to be ruse, a deflection from the truth, and from the real Klin base. It’s what he would have done.
It was a simple task to reprogram the nav computer for Silea instead of Melfora Lum, and once that was done, Riyad searched the ship for weapons, food and accommodations. The trip to Silea would take seven days, just enough time for him heal and get some of his strength back. He cranked the ship’s internal gravity up to a reasonable level and wolfed down some mush for energy. Then he jettisoned the rotting bodies in the cargo bay. The trip would be long, and he certainly didn’t want them stinking up the place.
Aboard the UN-444, Interim-Overlord Giodol stepped into stride next to Lord Yan’wal as the Senior Overlord made his way to one of the myriad of meetings that made up the majority of his day. “The Human has set a course for Silea. Your plan appears to be working.”
“Good. That creature is our best link to whatever conspiracy is underway. Be sure that our agents do not lose him on Silea.”
“Yes, My Lord. And there is more.”
Yan’wal did not stop, but cocked his head toward the junior Overlord.
“Our agent on Castor placed a tracker on Counselor Deslor’s shuttle. It left the planet about nine hours ago, and appears to be heading for Silea as well.”
Yan’wal nodded. “So both of the Humans who were aboard the mystery ship are heading for Silea? This must be more than a coincidence. I have ordered another forty ships to the Sector to replace the ones lost off Dimloe. Send ten of our current ships to the area near Silea and have them wait there in the event they are needed. I do not believe we have seen the last of these Humans. And I will need more confirmation before I believe the Klin have had very little to do with this situation.”
“Yes, My Lord. And by the way, I have tracked down the two beings who originally brought the Klin ship in for salvage. There is evidence that they had the ship’s computer core for a period of time before Lord Oplim obtained it.”
“Were they able to access any of the data?”
“We cannot be sure. We do know that our technicians on Melfora Lum could not. Our techs transported the core to the Klin ship, just before it exploded.”
“What are your plans for these beings?”
“I have sent a ship to in
tercept them with instructions to bring them to Silea. Possibly having them meet with the original Humans again might reveal more information.”
“That sounds reasonable. I approve.”
Then the Senior Overlord stopped and looked directly at Giodol. “And once our new forces arrive, Lord Giodol, I want this Sector locked down. We have underestimated the threat from these Humans for the last time. Once the two Humans meet up on Silea, along with the salvagers, I want them covered. They will lead us to their cohorts. These creatures are fanatical, Lord Giodol. They will not hesitate to take drastic measures to protect their secrets. We must be very careful not to reveal our agents, or the fact that they are being tracked.”
“Understood, My Lord. I have my best agent leading the operation.”
Yan’wal’s stare turned into a glare. “It will take generations for the Juirean culture to get over the debacle at Dimloe, and this happened under my leadership. I will not let a group of savage aliens, or the lack of competency on the part of my own forces, damage my record any further. Is that understood, Lord Giodol?” Then he turned and walked away from his stunned subordinate.
Chapter Seventeen
During the five-day journey to Silea, Adam and Sherri had come to an understanding. Yes, they would sleep together, simply to enjoy the touch of another Human being, but that would be as far as it went, at least for the time being. Yet, if the trail to Sherri’s lost Human colony proved to be a bust, then they would revisit the whole relationship thing. If return to Earth was impossible, then they would stay together and try to forge whatever modicum of a life they could manage in this strange, alien universe.