Halcyon Nights (Star Sojourner Book 2)

by Kilczer, Jean

  “Don't hurt her!” I yelled.

  “Oh, just hold the little beast for now, Leo,” Bjorn told him.

  The 'bot tried to push past the red-haired tag and roll into the room. “Get out of my way,” the man ordered and kicked him in a joint strut. “metal-brain!”

  The 'bot rolled into a wall. “Desist and cease, crewman Sharkie,” he squeaked. “You will loosen my struts!”

  “I'm curious,” Master Bjorn said to me, still sitting. “Just what sort of a deal do you intend to make now?”

  I grabbed an edge of the linen tablecloth. “Tell him to let her go or I'll clear the table!”

  “Get him!” Bjorn cried and clutched the tablecloth. His eyes bugged as I yanked.

  Crystal crashed. Liquid sloshed out of the rolling Lafroygue bottle as it bounced to the carpet, and left a ruby trail.

  Sharkie approached me carefully, arms spread, and blocked my path to Lisa.

  I went around the table, grabbed Bjorn, pulled him to his feet and caught him in a neck lock that bent his back and forced him to stare at the ceiling. “You hurt my daughter,” I told Leo, “and I'll snap his neck like a chicken's!”

  Bjorn's blue eyes went paler with a sheen of tears, like water under ice. Terror surfaced as I hauled him to his clock and lifted him till only his toes scraped the carpet. “Tell him to let her go or I'll put your fucking head through the clock.”

  “Get him!” Bjorn croaked. His hands scratched at my neck.

  Sharkie came around the table. I threw Bjorn into him and heard Bjorn's jacket rip as they both went down. Leo shoved Lisa at the 'bot. “Take her.”

  Lisa screamed when the 'bot tucked her under a metal arm.

  I backed away as Sharkie jumped to his feet.

  There was no way out of this, and the alien did not seem inclined to help.

  “I'll make a deal,” I said, with my breath coming fast. “You promise not to hurt my daughter and I'll cooperate.”

  “Oh, you'll cooperate,” Leo said and approached me.

  “Daddy!” Lisa whimpered and struggled. “His arm is cold.”

  Robots are not programmed to harm living entities. “It's all right, Lisa. He won't hurt you.” I tried to shove Leo aside to get to her. He stood like a stone statue. I drew back a fist and hit him with everything I had. He swayed. His fist shot out and caught me on my cheek. The room jiggled. My knees buckled and I slumped to the floor. I gasped and squeezed my temples to ease the pain.

  Leo dragged me to my feet and toward the door.

  I kicked the glass clock on my way past it. It didn't break, but chimes clanged in a cacophony of tolling bells. The Cockatoo tried to fly away, but one leg was tied to his perch.

  “Lisa.” I watched the 'bot roll into the hall with my daughter tucked under his arm.

  “Daddy! Don't go away,” she cried. She clutched the doorframe. The 'bot gently pried her fingers off it.

  “I'm here, Lis'. I'm right here.” I lowered my head as tears slid down my face. With Sharkie and Leo clutching my arms , I couldn't wipe them. They pulled me toward the door, but I followed Lisa willingly. Damn you! I sent to the alien, you want my help. Why aren't you willing to help us?

  I can do no more than you can, for now.

  You impotent bastard! If they hurt Lisa, you'd better find yourself another telepath.

  I looked back as we went into the hall. Bjorn was on his knees, a napkin spread under them, trying to fit the pieces of a broken china lily back together. He looked up at me. “Philistine!” he spat.

  I felt weak and shaken as I stared at the cryogenic units. What would happen to Lisa? I wiped a hand across my eyes and pictured her ripped Cleocean doll. It's not Lisa's fault, I sent, hoping the alien was still tuned in. Get her out of this mess. Your mess.

  Nothing.

  Are you out to lunch?

  Tickbag lay within the smoky confines of a cold unit. Two more were open, ready to receive sleepers. Bjorn stood by in his ripped jacket.

  ”Lisa?” I said with weariness dragging at my muscles.

  She looked at me from where she sat crying on the rim of a unit's bed, rocking, the stuffed bear squeezed tight in her arms. “Daddy! I don't want to go in the cry chamber. I'm scared, Daddy.”

  “Baby, it's not a cry chamber.” Which perverted piece of slimeshit had come up with that one? “It's just a bed, Lis', just a bed. Let me comfort her,” I begged Sharkie.

  But he was not about to.

  “It's OK, Squiggles. You're just going to take a nap, baby, and when you wake up, they'll bring you home to Mommy.”

  She rubbed her eyes with her shirt and stretched out her small arms to me. “Daddy, pick me up.”

  I tried to reach her. Sharkie put out a stiff arm to hold me back.

  I glared at Bjorn. “If you want my cooperation with the dons, you'll take her home first. Unharmed!” I tried to push Sharkie's arm away. He threw it around my neck.

  “Damn you!” I grabbed his wrist with both hands but he just tightened the grip. “Is that a deal?” I rasped to Bjorn.

  Bjorn raised brows and fingered the rip in his jacket. “A deal, Mister Rammis, “is when both parties are equal.” His lips twisted as he stared at Lisa.

  I wondered, with a sudden stab of terror, just what he might do to her when I was asleep? I tried frantically to read his thoughts, his feelings, and got a strange sensation of lust and guilt coming from him as he watched her. Then the repression of guilt. Jesus ChristLotus! Don't touch the child! I screamed the message to his mind. Dirty. Contagious! Fatal disease! I closed my eyes and visualized bugs crawling across the face of the dead woman in the coffin. White hair. White shroud. She is ancient, sunken, as though the coffin is dragging her down. I pictured a skeleton in her shroud. The bouquet of lilies became brown and shriveled.

  “What?” Bjorn glanced around, the whites of his eyes showing. He brushed off his face and stared at Sharkie. “What did you say?”

  “Master?” Sharkie responded.

  “The kid's got a fever,” I told Bjorn. “I didn't want to tell you, but she's sick. She shouldn't be put into cold sleep.”

  Diseased! I bored toward his head. I imaged fat greasy bugs. Slime trails across skin. Halcyon! Drop them off at the Terran colony on Halcyon! Get rid of them!

  Bjorn backed away from Lisa and covered his mouth with his hand. “Who said that?” he mumbled through fingers and frowned at Sharkie.

  “Uh, master?” Leo answered. “Sharkie didn't say anything.”

  Halcyon, you stonefried android, I sent and imaged Bjorn snakes striking the eyes of a bloated corpse. My head throbbed from the tel effort. Drop them off on Halcyon! If you put them into cold sleep, the bacteria will jump to you.

  Bjorn moaned. He pulled out a handkerchief and slapped it over his mouth. “Get her into the unit and close it.” He turned away and waved an arm back. “Quickly!”

  “Damn you!” I tried to twist out of Sharkie's grip.

  Lisa screamed as the 'bot pressed her down into the chamber bed and pulled the bear from her hands.

  “Leave her alone!” I cried. “For God's sake…you crotefucker!” I struggled and saw spots before my eyes as Sharkie squeezed harder. I drew in a shaky breath. “I'll kill you!”

  Sharkie twisted and I was on the floor with his knee pressed into my back.

  “Who you going to kill?”

  Pain shot up my arm as he twisted my wrist. Oh God. Help my daughter, I thought miserably. Great Mind…

  Oh God, Daddy. Lisa's voice…In my head! She was sending! Pig Born. Die, pig Born! Her link was weak and I don't think it reached Bjorn, but she was sending!

  Yeah, Lis', I sent back. That's good, but stop now.

  The silver tag must've amplified her own latent talent somewhere along the way. Was it inherited? Had she known it before and been sneaking around in people's minds?

  My assault on Bjorn's senses was draining me. Sharkie lifted me to my feet and dragged me to an empty unit. He shoved me into the chamber.
“Stay there!” he ordered, slammed down the cover and locked it.

  I pressed my hands against the glass. My breath hissed in my ears. I was finished if the syndicate got their probes into me. They'd know I wasn't I-DEA and of no value to them. What would they do to my daughter? My Lisa. I slammed a fist against the cover, then rubbed my stinging knuckles.

  I saw Bjorn pull a white glove over his hand and yank Lisa's bear from the 'bot's metal hand. A loose screw rattled to the floor and the 'bot's thumb dangled. Bjorn stood by Lisa's unit and smiled down as he methodically plucked the marble eyes off the bear, then twisted the head until it hung, and let the bear drop to the floor.

  “You scramballed bastard,” I mumbled and pressed a hand against the cover, which was hazing over. I'm sorry, Lisa. How did I get her into this mess? I'm sorry, baby.

  He's so mean, Daddy, she sent.

  I'll buy you a new bear when we get home. I felt her trying to ease her anguish by sucking her thumb. How about a white, fluffy Vegan bear? The gentle hunters of planet Kresthaven in the Vegan system resembled bears. I let my hands drop, closed my eyes, inhaled deeply and breathed out, to relax my mind. My temples throbbed as I concentrated, as I willed that beating sensation in my brain to intensify.

  Quickening now! Like a burn. Faster than my heartbeat. Spasms of a force growing within my skull. Energy coalescing. My breath came fast. I pictured a hot coil turning inside my head. Heating up. Spinning!

  Daddy, I –

  Cancel, Lis' Not now! I moaned as the coil twisted behind my eyes.

  Gather your energy, the silver being suddenly sent. Gather it, until it must burst from your forehead.

  Help my daughter! I threw all the power of my anger and fear into a mental command, groaned as I imagined the ball spinning faster. Moving forward. Hot. A volcano boiling inside my head. Searing! Would I die if I increased this power and unleased it? I felt as though I might. Now? I sent to the alien, afraid to summon more force. Now?

  For now, yes, he replied.

  I pushed at the imaginary ball, squeezed till it exploded from my forehead. I screamed as I flung it at Bjorn, who was turning away. I burned it toward his brain. Let Lisa and her father go!

  I knew the power hit its goal as Bjorn stopped in mid-stride as though he'd walked into a wall.

  Let them go. I fell back, exhausted, and thought my skull had split above my eyes. Tentatively I touched my forehead. It was sound. The silver tag faded out.

  Strange.

  Sensation of a vast spiritual desert when he bowed out. Loneliness? Not exactly, but an end to – what?

  Lisa probed and withdrew.

  Bjorn turned back! His hands were pressed against his head. I prayed as he reached out stiffly, hesitated, then tapped Sharkie, who was plugging in my unit. I held my breath as gas hissed into the enclosure.

  Sharkie looked back.

  “Wait,” Bjorn said. I watched his lips miraculously form that word. Wait.

  Sharkie frowned at Bjorn with hairless brows, his jaw jutted, and glanced at Leo. Lisa's thoughts were a jumble of hate directed at Bjorn. Did it hurt her to project so vehemently?

  If so, it wasn't slowing her down.

  That's enough, Lisa, that's enough, I sent. We don't want him to know it's you.

  I exhaled a long sigh of relief as the hissing faded and the gas was sucked out through exhaust vents. My energy seemed to flow back, but fists of pain still pummeled my skull.

  Sharkie muttered as he unlocked the cover and snapped it open.

  I lifted myself and swung out. The room reeled. I held onto the unit's edge till the view steadied. Sharkie was frowning at me. I pushed the croteass aside, went to Lisa's chamber, opened it and scooped her up.

  “Daddy, my head hurts.”

  I hugged her against my chest. “Yeah, baby, mine too. It'll go away.”

  “I was talking with my head, Daddy. Did you hear me? I told Mister Born – “

  “Shhh. Not now,” I whispered in her ear. “It's a secret.” Fortunately no one ever listens to kids. Bjorn wore a glazed look. His head was tilted so far to one side it looked as though his neck was broken. “I…I just received word from the dons over my private link.” He delicately withdrew the flat gold mechanism from an inner pocket and watched it swing on its chain. “He wants – “

  These two on Halcyon, I sent.

  “He wants these two on Halcyon.”

  Delivery module! I imaged him the module gliding down through Halcyon's pristine clouds. That combination of key words and pictures still worked best.

  “Yes,” Bjorn agreed. “He wants me to send these two –”

  I stopped listening and winked at Lisa, though my eyes still ached.

  “Can we go home now?” She rested her head on my chest. “I'm tired, Daddy. I want to go home and tell Mommy how I talked without making any noise. Mommy always says 'Don't make noise when we have company, Lissie.' Will you buy me a Vegan bear? I want to go home.”

  “Sure, Lis', but first we have to go to Halcyon. Then I'll get you back home.”

  Somehow.

  I took a breath and projected the images of a few necessities to Bjorn: A backpack of food, a fully charged stingler, a knife, flashlight, blankets, and a two-person tent. I composed a camping list and mentally read it off to him while I projected images. With those supplies, we could live in the wilds of any Earth-type planet, from barren arctic tundra to steamy jungles. Oh. And defrost the dog!

  Bjorn repeated the list to Leo, who threw me suspicious looks as he fed it into a comp. “And defrost the dog,” Bjorn finished, his expression anesthetized as he went to Tickbag's unit, stared down at him and swayed.

  “You better get the captain,” Leo whispered to Sharkie.

  Bjorn overheard. “I am the master aboard this vessel!” He slammed the unit's cover with a palm. “And if I say… If I – “

  Defrost the dog! I sent.

  ”If I order you to defrost the dog,” Bjorn demanded, his hands clenched into fists, “then defrost the goddamned dog!”

  “Yes, sir.” Leo mumbled something to Sharkie, kicked the 'bot with a swift foot and strode to Tickbag's unit.

  “Tickbag's coming, too,” I whispered to Lisa.

  She sucked her thumb and nodded.

  Sharkie told Bjorn he was going to gather my supplies. He gave me a look to frost the flames of hell as he left the compartment. I could only hope he wasn't going to the captain instead.

  Prepare the module for launch! I sent to Bjorn. How long would his zombiehood last? I repeated the message with more force and sent more images. Was I getting better at tel control or was Bjorn just a weak-minded wimp? I hoped for the former.

  At the module's launch bay Sharkie scowled as he shoved a backpack and two bedrolls at me. “This constitutes all our have. You unplease? You voca with Captain!” His accent was Gangrian, a cold rocky planet with few amenities.

  “What's missing?” I called to his back as he strode out the passageway.

  He didn't answer.

  I shoved a hand into the backpack as I waited for the module's systems to be checked out. My hand closed on the cool slim metal of a flash stingler with a beam ring that could stun or kill. Well, perhaps Gangria isn't as cold a place as I'd imagined.

  Lisa shut her eyes and sucked her thumb as I carried her to the module. What was she trying to deal with, within her six-year-old mind?

  No matter his power, that silver slimeshit alien had a lot to answer for!

  Chapter Five

  It was night in our little corner of Halcyon, snowy winter night. The module, stuffed with crates that left us little room, and smelling of astringent cryogenic chemicals on wet dog fur, lowered toward the surface through scudding clouds. Far below and to the southeast, the huddled lights of Laurel shimmered in the boundless wilds of this alien world.

  The automated craft headed for a region unbroken by lights. Where the hell had Bjorn sent us?

  The trip down was cold. They keep the module's interi
or at freezing for the cargo and I couldn't reach the thermostat past all the crates. I'd helped Lisa into warm clothes and gloves from her travel bag. Now I tucked stray curls under her jacket hood and smiled.

  “I feel cushy, Daddy.”

  “Cushy?”

  “That's what Mommy says when she dresses me to play in the snow. 'Stay cushy, Lissie'. I made a snowman and Mommy gave me raisins for his eyes and I got two sticks and…” She wiped her eyes. “I got two sticks – Daddy, when can we go home? I don't like it here.”

  “Lisa.” I hugged her close. “If I could take you home right now, baby, I'd do it. But I promise I'll stay with you. No matter what happens – “I held her face between my hands. “I'll always be here for you. Promise.”

  She lowered her head and played with the strings of her hood. “Ok, Daddy.”

  I kissed her nose and smiled. “OK, Lisa.”

  I used my stingler to pry open crates within reach. I'd read the stamped labels on the outside in the small, overhead light: Parts to assemble air and ground vehicles, tools, appliances, vis holo sets, comp cubes. And a lot of other stuff we couldn't use. I'd skinned my hands trying to drag the crates aside to get at others.

  I found heavy blankets, though, and we kept two. The memory of Sharkie's leer came to haunt me as I sifted through my backpack of meager camping equipment, then lifted out a wrist locator that worked off a compass. When I turned it on it projected a small holomap that could be scrolled by a stem on the unit. There was even a Halcyon-time watch attached to the wristband. All that was lacking was a thermometer and my body gave me a pretty good estimate of the temperature.

  Not bad. I strapped on the band and sleeved my hands into the gloves. Through the porthole I saw a narrow circle of white snowfields that glimmered below us in the under fat snowflakes as a storm raged. I might be able to build an igloo that would blend nicely with the scenery. With our blankets for flooring and rocks warmed with the hot setting on my stingler, it wouldn't be half bad. But where to from there? How to contact Laurel?

  Perhaps when the storm abated, I could make a sled of sorts with the blankets and branches and pull Lisa as I walked to Laurel. Perhaps we'd come across a road that led to town and ground vehicles heading that way. It was a lot of perhapsing.