Only Human

by Chris Reher

  "There are two places with planes here," Greah said. "One just has a lot of little planes that are kind of round in the back and make a lot of noise when they fly by. Those are on the other side of the town. There are bigger planes on the main airfield. The ones that go straight up. One of those could be yours. But most of them look pretty beat up."

  "The Eagle's likely one of those," Nova said. "Sounds like they're keeping the shrills over on the other side. Not likely to take Kira up in one of those."

  "No, they wouldn't have gear for him," Tychon agreed. "They'll need a cruiser, so that leaves the airfield." He came to his feet, not without a few groans and winces, and twitched a curtain aside to look into the teeming street. "It's just about dark. In this crowd we'll be able to snoop around without being noticed. Nova will take a look at Tharron's keep and work with some of the locals to determine the most likely route they'll take to the airfield and see if there is some sort of ambush point. Greah and I will go to the airfield, find the Eagle and make sure it's available for escape. I'm really hoping we can find a way to contact Adachi and Xi on the other Eagles without anyone noticing. And then we'll see about sabotaging some of the other planes."

  "Why?" Greah asked. "I thought the Eagle was fast."

  "So is Pe Khoja," Nova said. "We can't risk a chase. We'll be outnumbered. If they get to the battleship all is lost. They must not leave Shaddallam."

  Tychon regarded her thoughtfully. "No, they must not." He took her face into his hands and kissed her softly. "Be careful. Please."

  "Don't worry so, Major," she smiled. "I'll meet you at the airfield in three hours. We should know a lot more by then." She motioned to two of the Shaddallama women to accompany her and slipped through the door into the street. Tychon watched through the window as she disappeared into the crowd.

  "And what are we gonna do in the meantime?" Greah asked.

  Tychon stared at him absently, then shook himself. "Sabotage," he said.

  * * *

  Nova followed her two guides through the crowded city, dodging rebels along the way, until they reached a compound of structures near the river. The Shaddlamas' gestures made clear that this was Tharron's hideout and then pointed into another direction, likely the location of the airfield. Nova nodded, understanding, but she could not tear her eyes away from the buildings.

  A wall, younger than the town, had been erected around an apparently random selection of appropriated houses to serve as rebel headquarters. Nova could barely see the rooftops beyond the fortification. She circled it, noting two gates, locked from within and closely guarded. Her eyes scanned each house outside the walls, judged distances and counted guards. There were cameras mounted at uneven intervals but none of them pivoted as they were designed to do and two were totally overgrown with some clinging plant life.

  Her eyes came to rest on a low building a little further along the street. It was decayed and clung to the fortress wall for support. Its crooked roof was high enough to afford a view into the plaza beyond.

  Nova motioned to the two women, bidding them to wait, and ignored what were presumably objections to her plan. She crossed the street and ambled toward the shack, stopping often to clear the way for passersby and to examine proffered merchandise. Even here, close to Tharron's hiding place, people converged and vied for living space.

  The wooden building stood near the end of the alley where, finally, the traffic seemed to thin out. Two guards patrolled near the wall, looking bored. She waited for them to begin their stroll back to the main gate, then darted out from the edge of a warehouse and into the shack.

  The climb onto the roof was a matter of seconds. Nova crept over the sloping surface, mindful of the places where the rotted wood had given way to age and weather. She could see the anxious faces of her guides on the street below. She peered over the wall. A lone Rhuwac loitered near a powered-down skimmer in the cobbled courtyard below. The restless noise of the crowded city outside the walls drowned out any sound coming from within but there was an air of peaceful quiet about the place. It certainly did not look as though Tharron was about to start a trek to the launch.

  She considered her options. Down below were windows to be peeked into and conversations to be overheard. Directly to the left of her a stone staircase led to the top of the wall and onto the roof of the main villa. Escape would be simple. She dropped silently to the ground inside the compound, thankful for the soft Shaddallama leather boots that she still wore. The guard by the car did not seem interested in guarding anything as she stole past him.

  The silence was unnerving. Nova tried a door and found it unlocked. Had everyone left already? Had Tharron, somehow, anticipated their plans and evaded their spies to move Kira to yet another location? Or was he simply so sure of his safety within Shad Areen that he could afford to be careless?

  The interior of the building was cluttered with randomly installed hallways and chambers. Strangely angled corners and purposeless niches provided her cover as she made her way in the murky light falling through unwashed windows.

  She felt a single person's approach before she heard the soft footfalls. A woman hurried past her and turned into another narrow hall. Nova realized that this was the K'lar she had seen on the tape taken from the rebel traitor on Tor Ag. She sidled to the corner, hearing voices. A quick look confirmed the presence of a K'lar guard by the last door in the hall. The woman spoke to him, laughed, and entered the room. Nova waited a few moments, then inched her gun forward, sighting on the guard. He fell with a dull thud.

  She hurried forward and pressed her ear to the door.

  "Ghi, Ema," a small voice was heard. "Ghi soma Kira, oweah!"

  Nova closed her eyes. Kiran! He sounded unhappy. She listened for others but there was only Kiran's plaintive whine and the woman's soothing tones.

  Nova adjusted her gun. The woman's voice sounded kind and she had no wish to kill her. She stepped into the room and reached for the K'lar, clamping her hand over her mouth.

  Kiran stood close by, his eyes round in surprise. In the dim light and in contrast to the deep blue hair, his face was a ghostly smudge.

  "Ema!" he wailed, frightened by the red-skinned woman that was holding his nursemaid.

  "Shh, Kira," Nova called. Seeing that he was unguarded, she squeezed the trigger. Her captive convulsed briefly and slumped in her arms.

  "Ema! Ema!"

  Nova lowered the woman to the floor and caught the squirming child. "Kira, hush," she hugged him fiercely. "It's all right. We're going home!"

  Kiran stared at her, open-mouthed. Nova realized that the boy had absolutely no concept of what or where 'home' might be. "I know you. You're..." he hesitated. "Nova. You were with Dadda on Feyd."

  Nova smiled and stroked the long curls. "You are very smart, you know that?"

  "Yes, I do," he said and something in his weak smile seemed to make him a dozen years older than his age. "Shan Jelani was here but he said he couldn't take me home. Then he showed me things and told me things..."

  "What, Kira?"

  "We're gonna go away. He..." again, his voice trailed off. "...he scared me. Where's Dadda?"

  "He's waiting for us." She went to the window to look into the overgrown gardens surrounding the house. Parts of the wall rose beyond the trees and she recognized one of the gates. The stairs she had seen would be to the left. "Let's play Skyranch Patrol. We'll climb out the window and then we run across the yard and up the stairs on the wall. Sound like fun?"

  He nodded. "I can run fast!"

  She unlatched the window and tipped the pane outward, grimacing when some metal part squealed in protest. Kira was silent when she lifted him onto the sill and then lowered him to the ground outside. It would take her a little longer to squeeze through the narrow opening.

  He looked up at her. "Someone's coming!"

  "Quick, back inside!"

  "No, in there. Behind you. Four of the mean beasties."

  "How do you know?"

  "I just kno
w," he said, sounding resigned. "I don't want to know."

  "You can stop them," Nova hissed. "If you try."

  He shook his head. "No, I can't." He sighed, a strangely adult and chilling sound. "Not yet."

  The door behind her slammed back against the wall.

  "Run!" she yelled at the boy even as she spun around. At her touch, a blade shot from the handgrip of her gun, ready for close combat. She backhanded her weapon at the first of the Rhuwac guards to enter the room. He reeled backward, his neck slashed ear to ear. She shot a guard at close range and spun around to stab another. Then a Rhuwac grasped her wrist. Enraged, Nova lashed out at his face. He shoved her away, slamming her head against the open door. Stars exploded in front of her eyes and she dropped, feeling blood pour from her nose.

  Rough hands pulled her to her feet and shoved her along the corridor. She fought them but her mind was on Kiran's serious little face. Behind that face she had glimpsed, somehow, so much more than they had feared. Her feet barely touched the ground when two guards manhandled her through Tharron's keep. The fact that she was actually being touched by Rhuwacs did not even register. Kiran's face hung like a vision in front of her eyes, obliterating any thought of escape, robbing her of the will to do so.

  They had lost Tychon's son, lost him for good, but she knew it was not to Tharron.

  * * *

  "Let's get to work," Tychon whispered to Greah whom he knew to be somewhere near. Practically invisible, the diminutive Shaddallama had circled the airfield and then reported back. There were guards, twenty at most, but the individual crafts parked here were not manned. They patrolled haphazardly, content to remain at their posts. Only a few overhead lamps illuminated the tarmac in orange pools of light.

  Even here, the crowds brought to Shad Areen infringed on the perimeter of the airfield where they made their camps and confused the sensors. Greah had recruited more of his people to distract the guards enough to keep them from noticing the red-skinned Delphian in the shadows.

  They scurried forward, out of the ditch surrounding the parking area. The Eagle stood to the side, away from the small fleet assembled here. Tychon touched its keyplate, wincing when the door slid aside with an audible hiss. Greah darted past him into the ship.

  "So this is what your ships look like on the inside!" he said excitedly when Tychon had closed the door again.

  Tychon began to search through several crammed storage containers. "Huh? No, this is the cargo space." He nodded toward a door to the main cabin, annoyed that someone had left the normally tightly sealed hatch open. He found a few small transmitters. A rather obsolete jamming device still worked when he tested it.

  "Greah, there should be a tool box in that–" He turned. "Greah?"

  The elf was no longer at his side. Tychon found him in the cockpit, taking in the maze of screens, gauges, switches and indicators needed when flying manually.

  "Come on, we haven't much time. Your nights here are damn short." Tychon fished a shirt out of Eagle Five's camo bin, glad to be back in clean clothes.

  Greah turned, a dazed smile on his round face. "It is so amazing!" He climbed back up to the main floor. "It's like a house! You sleep over there? How long before you have to stop for food and water? How does it fly?"

  "I'll tell you later. Let's cause some damage first."

  Reluctantly, Greah followed him out of the ship. He moved in a wide circle around Tychon, a shadow again, watching for Tharron's brutish guards while his friend worked.

  Each of the five planes was sabotaged in a different way. Tychon used his electronic lock pick to gain entry into the first and removed the systems starter module. The second plane would not yield to his pick and was instead rigged with a crude explosive, triggered by the slightest taxiing motion. He fused the locks on a passenger shuttle and stole the coolant valves from another. The last of the cruisers was simply no longer connected to its own tripod of feet. The very action of boarding it would cause it to topple. He did what he could to foul up the long-range weaponry on all planes.

  Tychon ignored the collection of smaller planes. They were not designed to leave Shaddallam's atmosphere and Tharron would not use these to escape.

  He did not assume that these were the sum of Tharron's available cruisers but waiting for another would cause as much delay as repair would. Any of it meant a very small delay but enough of a head start. These hours of quiet destruction had been well spent. He planned to use thrusters upon take off, perhaps causing even more damage.

  He wasted no time wondering what would happen if they failed in taking Kiran back. Their getaway was secured.

  Satisfied, he and Greah stole back aboard the Eagle to rest for a while. It occurred to them that Nova's return was long overdue.

  * * *

  Nova was unceremoniously tossed into a room where she landed hard on her hands and knees. She rose slowly. Her hair obscured her face while she looked around. Rhuwacs between her and the hall. A single window with metal shutters. No other doors.

  "Whiteside," she was greeted, her name spoken in a near whisper.

  She turned to see Tharron, dressed in a long, casual robe, his head and feet bare, his expression unreadable. A meal was laid out before him; the table set for one. Jelani stood nearby, eyeing her nervously.

  Tharron snapped something at his men, furious that she had been able to find her way into his quarters. Someone's head would leave his shoulders, of that she was certain. No doubt he would post more guards and seal the building against further intrusions. She was locked in, Tychon and Greah were locked out and chances were slim that there would be any more sneaking into anyone's camp tonight.

  But Nova had no thought for that, nor did she pay attention to the thundering curses and commands with which Tharron assaulted his people. He stopped shouting only when someone confirmed that the child had been found in the gardens.

  She barely glanced at the K'lar, noting only how much larger he was than what she had understood from any video material she had studied. He towered a full meter over her, his upper arms nearly the size of her waist. She saw this with passing interest. No one restrained her when she walked toward Jelani, her claws bared. "You're dead Jelani," she hissed. "You're dead for what you did to Kira. Pray that it isn't me when your time comes. Someone else might kill you quickly!"

  Jelani stepped back. "I did not know..." His hands shook when he raised them, appealing to her as if for mercy. Nervous twitches shot across his face. His skin had a blue cast; the irises of his eyes were nearly white.

  Tharron stepped between his Shantir and Nova. "He is a little disturbed by his recent conversation with the boy. Recovering nicely now."

  Nova's eyes went to the rebel leader. Had she ever been afraid of him? Why? "You don't know what you're doing."

  "Oh, but I do." He extended a massive hand toward her. "How pleasant to meet you at last. You have come back from the dead so many times that I think I shall keep you for a while. I am surprised, I admit, that you were able to dispatch of the Delphi we left for you."

  "It wasn't difficult. Your people beat him so badly that your drugs had him practically finished. I only had to put him out of his misery."

  His derisive laughter chilled her.

  Nova's attention returned to Jelani. The Shantir still stood motionless, staring at some point beyond her. "He looks just about tapped out."

  Tharron scowled at Jelani. "He will need time to recover. Is that not so, wizard?"

  "Huh?" Jelani stammered. "Oh, yes, by tomorrow. No later."

  Tharron seemed disgusted by the Delphian's weakness. "He will recover enough to deal with the boy. We shall rush into the waiting arms of your miserable fleet." His eyes shone dangerously. "But I will crush those arms and then their skulls and I may yet do the same with you!"

  Nova blinked. "What fleet?"

  "What fleet?" Tharron repeated. "Your fleet. There are two Union ships coming this way. I suppose that you've been vacationing here for so long that you haven't kept
up with the latest news. Not to worry, the young Delphian will deal with your friends in no time at all."

  Nova cursed inwardly. Why was Carras coming here now? On a battleship! What could he accomplish against a city filled to capacity with civilians? She and Tychon were missing in action but that hardly warranted the launching of battleships. Had the rebel taken Eagle One as well? "How can you be so sure of what Kiran can do? Look at Jelani! He's falling apart. Looks to me like he doesn't know what he's doing, either."

  "Oh, but I do," Jelani whispered. "It takes time. More time than we have, I dare say. But it can be done. Tomorrow, when the boy has rested. I must rest..." He blinked at Tharron. "Must rest..."

  "Go!" Tharron roared. "Go! Sleep! Whatever!"

  Jelani stumbled from the room and Nova was startled by the brief sensation of pity she felt for him.

  Tharron took his seat at the table. "What a fighter you are, Captain. My people tell me you've cost me some of my men today. I don't suggest you try it again while a guest in my house." He appraised her critically. "It is too bad that Tychon is not here to be my guest also. I should have enjoyed taking my enemy's woman in front of him."

  Bile rose nauseatingly in Nova's throat. "You will not touch me!"

  His arm shot out and an iron fist clamped over her shoulder. She found herself on her knees. "I was not asking for permission, Captain." He let her go by tossing her some distance away from himself. "Stay on the floor where you belong, Human. Fortunately for you, I still need you. I foresee trouble with the boy. He is hardly manageable. Perhaps you can be of help. He won't argue with Jelani so much if he knows you'll pay for his trouble."

  "You bastard!"

  "Hm, probably." He eyed her. "You know, I have thought about what would give me the greatest pleasure. I think I will give you to my Rhuwac pets. I have watched their games before and it has been entertaining."

  Nova felt her temper rise, a much preferable sensation than fear but, she realized, a much more dangerous one. "Your pitiful army of lizards," she said scornfully. "Do you not know that everyone laughs when they think of your foot soldiers? They cannot be trained to even speak properly. For spies and pilots you have to rely on the most despised traitors of our species to join you against us. Your own people on K'lar spit on your name!"