Worlds Collide

by Tracy St. John

  She explained the situation back on Risnar as they finished cuffing the guards and set them in the empty office. Velia produced a silver roll of adhesive material, using it to bind the guards’ ankles and cover their mouths. “Gotta love duk tayp,” she said. “It fixes everything.”

  She took the guns Jape had confiscated and handed him a shooter. He was relieved to have a familiar weapon, as well as the containment belt that would keep him from being shot again for a few rounds.

  “Oh, I forgot,” Velia said. She took a charging bank out of the pack she wore. “Salno and Arga said you’d know what to do with this?”

  Jape almost laughed. The irony wasn’t lost on him that he’d come full circle. Only, he’d be doing it for the correct reasons now.

  “It means accessing the portal chamber,” he said.

  “Yeah, I guess that’s how we have to finish this party. It’ll make our escape a lot more interesting. Maybe impossible.”

  “You can go without me. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  She gave him a little shove, scowling with such ferocity that he had to chuckle. How had he ever believed her weak? She was Velia, and she was as strong as any warrior he’d ever known.

  “Forget it, Stripes. We do this together or not at all.”

  “Then tell me how we get to the portal and knock General Thomas out of the equation.”

  Velia went to the doorway and peered out. “The section is cleared out, until someone finds the guards I removed at the entrance to yellow. It has no access to the underground, though. I say we go out the window at the end of the hall. There is a building near the hangar that has an elevator that will take us below ground where the portal is. From there, we intimidate, capture, or fight through to the portal.” She grimaced.

  “You should stay out of it. I’ll go alone.” His hearts raced at the idea of her in danger. If anything happened to her...

  “I told you, we do it together, or not at all.” She stared at him. “You need me to make this happen. And it does have to happen, Jape. You were right about that all along.”

  “You were too. About a lot of things.” Jape drew a breath and stretched, testing his flexibility. It hurt but he’d get though. As long as he didn’t fail Velia, he’d be fine. “I’m ready. Is your containment belt activated?”

  “Hold on a second.” She stood on her tiptoes, clutching him. “Give me a kiss for luck.”

  He didn’t understand how a kiss could be lucky, but he wasn’t about to refuse her. Jape held her close and returned the kiss that took his breath. When Velia released him, she was suitably glassy-eyed too.

  “Whew. If that’s incentive to do a great job, count me inspired,” she said. She gave the trussed guards watching them a last glance and jerked her thumb toward the corridor. “Let’s go, warrior.”

  They locked the door and hurried to the window at the end of the hall. Moments later, they were running free in the cooling night.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  They ran from shadow to shadow, pausing in each pool of blackness to make sure they’d not been spotted. The worst part came when they realized they had to cross a large, well-lit area. It was near the biggest building Jape had ever seen, larger than even the main temple at Yitrow. It was what Velia referred to as a hayn-grr. Jape saw no entrance into the immense structure, but Earthling warriors patrolled the perimeter.

  “Ugh, I didn’t realize how far it was between here and the shack.” From their shadowed corner, Velia pointed to a distant rectangular building, dwarfed by its neighbor. “We’ll never sneak past without someone noticing us. And you really stand out, my friend.”

  She considered the situation. As she did, voices drifted to them, both from in front where the patrols kept watch, and from a nearby open window through which Jape watched men and women walking back and forth. Interesting smells, which he was sure were food, drifted on the chilly breeze. His nose twitched. The Earthlings had tried to feed him, but he’d had no appetite earlier.

  Velia peered in the direction that held his interest. “Hey, that could work. Let’s check if a window in a less populated area is unlocked. Hopefully, they’re still cooling off after a day without air conditioning.”

  Most were secured shut, and Jape could tell Velia was losing heart. However, they finally found one that offered access into a dark room.

  “Can you tell what’s in there, tall man?” Velia couldn’t peer inside despite standing on her tiptoes.

  Jape stuck his head in and peered at unfamiliar objects. “Many shelves. They are filled with cylinders, jugs with liquids...a large metallic basin against the wall. It is not where the food smells come from, but we are close. The scent is strong in here.”

  “Storage, maybe. The mess hall’s pantry would be my guess. Can you boost me up?”

  Jape lifted her to the window. He ground his teeth against torment as he did so, barely able to keep from yelling out. Lifting himself in after her was as bad.

  Velia eyed him worriedly. “Maybe we should forget this.”

  “I can handle it.” He panted as he tried to cope with the agony. “It is only pain.”

  “It’ll be a hell of a lot more if you pass out on me.”

  “I do not faint. I am a warrior from Cas.” Besides, it hurt too damned much for him to lose consciousness.

  Velia patted his hand. “Okay, big man. Catch your breath while I check what’s going on.”

  She slunk off in the semidarkness, aiming for the light spilling around a doorway on the opposite wall. Distant voices floated to Jape.

  He crept forward as she eased the door ajar and peered out. He hurried faster when she waved him forward. As soon as he reached her, she whispered, “There are people in there, but they’re hanging out near the chow line and the dishwasher. If we stay low behind the counter, we can sneak across to the other room, where the trash bins are.”

  “Chaw-line?” Jape felt himself a stranger in a strange land.

  “Watch me and follow. If we’re seen, I’ll try to use the capture field. We’ll leave shooting for the last resort.”

  That, he could manage, even with his back throbbing. Jape nodded.

  “Here we go.”

  Velia crouched low. She slipped out into a well-lit space, from which the smell of cooking eddied to his nose. Finding the scent unappealing in his anxiety, Jape followed on her heels, trying to look everywhere at once for danger.

  There seemed to be more than enough of that. They rushed past a bank of steel counters and cabinets on Jape’s left. The cover Velia went for on the right...a metal line of low cabinets in the middle of a long stretch of hard, white floor...seemed to be a million miles in the distance with a gap that left them visible to half a dozen humans lined up at the opposite wall. Jape’s hearts thundered to be exposed with a cluster of enemies all wearing identical white outfits and funny head coverings of the same color. Male and female, they stood near a huge window, ladling out what Jape took to be food onto trays, talking to warriors wearing splotchy brown uniforms who filed past. Clattering sounds and loud talk flattened Jape’s ears.

  He moved fast, staying close to Velia despite the hurt. They gained the area behind the island counter without anyone raising an alarm.

  They crept quickly along its length. As they neared the end of the partition, Jape saw the opening to another area. Huge receptacles of gray lined up within. Earthlings approached, dumped in leftover food and bits of crumpled paper, and stacked the trays on shelves before leaving. Most were deep in conversation.

  Understanding came to Jape. He was in the midst of the Earthling version of the erawots, except done inside without the fire. It was a communal gathering for talk, food, and drink.

  Velia paused at the end of the counter, peering around its corner. She drew back quickly, her eyes wide with warning. Jape shrank down, crowding against the cool metal.
>
  A white-top female human walked into view, heading for a tall metal case against the wall next to the refuse receptacle area. She was chattering in a nasal but friendly voice as she opened the case.

  “Yeah, we got green salsa, Mistur Pik-ee. No regular red for you, ’cause you’re such a special guy.”

  She withdrew a jar from the humming cabinet, shut it, and turned. Jape was sure the woman could not possibly miss seeing him and Velia crouched there, staring up at her from only a few feet away. His grip tightened on the shooter for an instant before reminding himself this was a woman. An unarmed woman, since he was sure the jar of green sludge in her hand was no real threat. He tensed to run, his hand creeping toward Velia’s arm to grab her and get her out.

  But the woman continued to talk to Mistur Pik-ee, returning the way she’d come without noticing him and Velia. “No, it aynt made fresh! You gotta live with store-bought. You aynt in the state of Arid Zone Ah anymore, my friend! This is Camp Noname in the Middle of Nowhere!”

  Cawing laughter at some joke, she was out of sight the next instant, having not noticed the interlopers.

  Velia stole another glance around the corner of the counter. Without a word, she shot through into the next area. Jape didn’t look, trusting her to not lead him astray. He ran after her, hunched low enough to scuttle on all fours.

  They made it to the refuse containers and paused behind their questionable shelter as voices approached. Crouched low, huddling against the smooth surface, Jape watched as a pair of splotchy pants appeared in the gap between the bins.

  “Yeah, but the Marines have been jumpy as hell all day. All I did was look at them, and they pointed their guns at me. Why is the yellow section suddenly out of bounds?”

  “Kid, something you better learn fast at Noname. Do what you’re told and don’t ask questions. Ever.”

  The pants moved off and the voices receded. Velia rose, ignoring Jape’s warning whisper. She reached to the shelves where dirty trays and cups were discarded and grabbed a couple. With the objects in her hands, she jerked her head at him. The next moment, they were scrambling to yet another room, blessedly far less lit than the rest.

  “Hey. Hey, this is good,” Velia whispered as soon as they were in the small space with more shelves filled with bottles, jars, and implements Jape couldn’t guess at. She hurried to the far wall.

  At first, Jape thought she was going to the window there, which gave him hope. He didn’t like being in the Earthling buildings with the loud noises and too many humans to avoid. He’d rather take his chances outside, where he could maneuver and run.

  But instead of hurrying to the window, Velia poked through hanging body coverings identical to those worn by the people in the food allocation area. She held out a torso swath to Jape. “Try this on for size.”

  He took it but admonished her, “No one will mistake me for Earthling no matter what you put on me.”

  “At a distance in the dark, they might. Put this stuff on. Try to hide your ears under the cap. Darn things poke up too far.”

  Velia picked through the clothing as Jape struggled to figure out the closures on his top. By the time he learned about buttons and stepped gingerly into his first pair of pants—the bottoms of which reached only a couple inches below his knees—Velia had assembled her own disguise. She chuckled grimly at his appearance and fussed over the head covering, trying to trap the twitching tips of his ears beneath the circular cap.

  “For Heaven’s sake, Stripes. Keep those still, would you?”

  “It won’t work, Velia. We should run for the portal and hope we can make it. Or forget it entirely.” That idea was starting to appeal to him more and more.

  “And leave it to chance that my fellow engineers will figure that portal out? Maybe build a pod of their own? Which I think they could do in a couple years. And what about the invasion plans the Monsuda have for us? Once the DIE is operational, there will be no stopping them.”

  Unable to argue with that, he finished dressing in a hurry. Seconds later, he boosted her out of the window, hissing against the pain. When he crawled out, he fell to the ground rather than landing on his feet.

  “Jape!” Velia grabbed his arm.

  “I’ll make it, as long as I don’t have to crawl through any more damned windows.”

  He had a look around. They’d gotten through the vast kitchen, making it to the other side of the building. The small building by the hayn-grr was closer...but still a large distance in the well-lit open.

  He joined Velia in watching the guards walk back and forth in front of the hayn-grr. Four men, walking in twos in opposite directions, able to view the stretch of hard, smooth, rock ground between him and Velia and the small building.

  Velia’s expression was grim, but purposeful. “Here’s what we do. When they meet up in the middle, that’s when we go. I’ll stay between you and them, making it harder for them to see you. Crouch down as low as you can to hide behind me.”

  “I don’t like this,” he growled between clenched teeth. “They’ll have a clear shot at you.”

  “And I have my containment field. At this distance, they can’t hurt me.”

  “There is still a chance something could go wrong.” Hiding behind a female and leaving her vulnerable—he’d never live it down.

  “Jape, someone will figure out you’ve been freed sooner or later. I’m betting on sooner, since your capture is a big deal. We have to do this, and we have to do it the way I’m telling you. It’s our only chance.”

  Jape struggled to find an argument, but he came up empty. Either they cut Camp Noname off from Risnar, or they would escape, leaving the portal available to the Earthlings and Monsuda.

  He scowled, but he bent his knees, feeling the strain. She grinned and offered him a tray. “Okay. We’ll wait for the sentries to meet in the middle. Horribly social creatures, we Earthlings. There’s always something to stop and talk about. Distracting as hell.”

  She was right. When the four men met before the hayn-grr, they paused to exchange conversation.

  “Let’s go.” Velia stepped out of the shadows. Jape was at her side, matching her purposeful strides as best he could from his hunched posture.

  He was startled when she laughed loudly. Four faces turned in their direction.

  “We’re having our own conversation,” Velia said in a normal tone, not bothering to glance at the guards. “We’re talking, as coworkers do during their normal activities. At this distance, they can’t make out my words, but they can probably hear my casual tone. No big deal, nothing to raise suspicions.”

  Jape could barely breathe as the warriors glanced at them. Then they resumed whatever brief interaction they were sharing.

  “I cannot believe this is working,” Jape muttered.

  “It’s all in the ’tude,” Velia said. She smirked a little, but her eyes were anxious.

  They had a long distance to go yet. Even when they reached the building, Jape knew they’d only surmounted one more hurdle in a vast number of them.

  “Two guards are usually in there. I’ll use the capture field on them,” Velia muttered. Without a moment’s hesitation, she opened the door and stepped in. “Dinner and entertainment, fellas!”

  “We already—hey!”

  Jape registered the startled glances, first at Velia, then at him. One warrior froze, his mouth hanging soundlessly after he’d begun speaking. Velia dropped her tray and froze the second man as he jumped to his feet, stopping him in the act of reaching for the weapon on his belt.

  Jape closed the door, admiring how Velia didn’t pause for a second. Instead, she swung the pack off and pulled out the silver duk tayp to bind the men and seal their mouths shut. Jape hurried to help her.

  “Sorry about this, Stevens, Jones. I’m just here to save the world,” she told the motionless men as they bound them helpless in their chai
rs. “Believe it or not, I’m on your team.”

  Once they had the men tied to their satisfaction, Velia nodded toward a flat, silver panel set in the wall. “That’s the elevator to below. This is where it gets complicated. But I have a few ideas on that front.”

  She explained what they could expect as soon as they exited the elivayter and what they would have to do. Once more, Jape’s hackles rose at the danger she would be in...the danger he couldn’t keep her from. He grabbed her.

  “You will be careful. That belt and vest only do so much. You don’t wish to hurt anyone, but if you must—”

  She stopped him with a kiss. “Trust me, Jape, I know.” She gave him a shaky smile. “Are you ready to do this? Remember everything I told you?”

  “I’m ready.” No, not really, but Jape knew the situation was as good as he could hope for.

  Velia’s putting her trust in me. I must not fail.

  “Let’s go.”

  She handed him the capture field transmitter. They stepped into the elivayter. It had a single button, and she pushed it.

  Jape crouched in the corner near the door as the tiny chamber descended. He held the transmitter and the shooter. He grew a couple of tails, in case extra appendages were required. Velia stood against the wall opposite the door.

  It opened five seconds later. Velia grinned as somebody outside commanded, “Don’t move!”

  “Okay, you got me.”

  The two guards she’d told him to expect eased in, their gazes riveted on her. Jape pressed the transmitter button twice, and they were arrested in place.

  “Storage room is across the hall,” Velia said, already shoving one of the men.

  “Don’t work so hard,” Jape teased, activating the anti-gravity on the capture field. The immobilized men lifted a couple of inches off the floor. Floating them to a storage closet and strapping them tight in Velia’s rapidly depleting supply of tayp was an easy matter. They locked them in.

  “So much storage,” Jape said. “Earthlings require many supplies.”