The crystal. If Lisa and I were ever in danger of being caught, I'd have to get rid of the crystal I'd taken real fast.
With the bizarre woods behind us, the automated hauler traveled an icy road between towering snow-sheathed trees with ruby-laced trunks as we climbed to mountainous terrain.
The hauler suddenly lurched to a stop. I went to the forward window, my stingler drawn, peered out, and smiled. A low, fat animal, seeming headless and tailless, so covered with snow he looked like a moving carpet, waddled across the road. After he passed, the hauler jerked forward.
A pool of lights appeared in the distance as we topped a ridge. Laurel, sprawled in a valley between the flanks of dark mountains. The hauler turned southeast, probably toward the czar's territory. Lisa was still asleep, with her thumb in her mouth, as the hauler droned to a lower gear and descended a steep hill.
I closed my eyes and let my head drop forward to stretch my tight shoulder muscles. Would be nice to sleep. Nice to avoid the drumbeat of time dragging us closer to whatever lay ahead, with Lisa's fragile life in my unsteady hands. I'd been through some harrowing escapades on Syl' Tyrria, but my responsibility had always been only to myself. It was scary as hell to know Lisa could be killed if I made the wrong decision. Considering the vicissitudes of life as outcasts on this alien world, things could turn tragic no matter my decisions.
I sighed, checked the gratings again, then sat beside her. Small and light as she was, she was a heavy burden. My love for her, the imperative to keep her safe, existed before life itself, I think, as one of the universal laws of life. Keep the offspring safe! It kept me more a slave to the silver crote than ever Kor had with his tel-probes and neurochemicals.
I rested my head in my hands. Damn you, I sent to the silver being. Damn you for forcing us to come here! Damn you for leaving us out here on a hostile world. Damn you!
Tikkie felt my anger and slinked away. I think animals are natural telepaths. Either that or canny readers of body language.
I got up and checked the gratings again. Laurel was behind us as we continued southeast. I took out the weighty crystal with both hands. Sparks of light caged me in a soft white aura.
Tikkie came back on unsteady legs as the hauler bounced through ruts. He stretched his neck to sniff the globe, his muzzle silvered by light, sneezed, and went to lie beside Lisa.
Something moved within the crystal's heart. I waited for it to take form. It didn't. But when I closed my eyes the blackness behind my lids was shot with stars. The image became three- dimensional. A cocoon of space wrapped around me like a blanket while I drifted weightless toward a nebulous mass with stars burning through it.
On a hunch I sent: What do you want from us?
That which you cannot yet give. Continuance. A sense of despair. His. Like a requiem for time itself.
I tried to disentangle myself from it. Where the hell were you half an hour ago?
I watched.
I hope you found it entertaining. Did you keep Bjorn's mind locked with my tel suggestions?
To 'lock the mind' is a tel endowment you must develop yourself. My mindlock is too powerful for trifles.
Then he's called down? Are they after us? Are you purposely trying to get us killed? I lifted the crystal above my head but hesitated to smash it against a wall. “Damn you!”
You Terrans are all ravagers.
No. I lowered it to my lap. No, not all of us.
Lisa moaned in her sleep, tel-linked, I think, to our confrontation. What do you mean 'continuance'? I sent.
For now, observe.
Observe what, our deaths? Look, should we go to the Kubraen village? How do we get there? We're moving away from it but I can't take Lisa into the middle of this wilderness on foot! It's just too cold.
A swirl of anguish.
Lisa cried out.
I felt a deep rift, as though the source of life itself was exposed and sucked dry. Whose pain is that? Yours? Ours. How about just a hint on what this is all about? You want me to kill the czar, isn't that it? OK. Tell me how to do it if his keep is impenetrable. And give me your guarantee for our safety. You're never around when –
Develop your tel skills! Observe. Take initiative and survive.
About that last one.
My laws are rigid, tied to the laws of the universal! If I must locate another being for this mission, I will.
Another telepath? Great! But first get us back to Earth. I didn't ask –
But you do! You tax me with your questions. He was fading away.
What's inside this crystal?
The body of Halcyon.
The planet itself?
Gone.
I rubbed my throat through the turtleneck as that vast loneliness I'd come to associate with our links descended on me again.
Lisa settled into quiet sleep. I leaned back and sighed. Tikkie watched me with his head between paws. I pictured the canal locks, lowered them and locked onto his awareness…
…The rumbling of a hard floor against my chest and belly, my penis sheath. The smell of wood and wool. Pressure against my claws as I dig in to steady myself. The odor of close humans, not unpleasant. My belly empty. When will the human feed me?
I closed my eyes, but I had to smile, though it was a bit twisted, at the sense of security he felt to be with our pack. My “canine” hearing was acute and I discerned the far-off wail of an airship. Why hadn't I thought of locking onto Tikkie's heightened senses before? The sound of the ship faded toward Laurel. I broke the link when Tikkie whined and shook his head.
We were passing ranches. With the breaking of clouds I could distinguish the dark shapes of horses against the snow fields. Ahead, a few separate lights from outlying structures flecked the night. It all seemed so natural. Not much different than the small Colorado rural area where Ginny and I lived for a while as foster kids.
Sure. Except that here there be tigers, of a human sort.
Time to disembark. The next ranch house was about 200 meters in from the road. Five horses were gathered around bales of hay in a corral near a barn. The overhanging luminescent sign read
Four-Hour Trail Rides.
Four- Hour Hay Rides.
Do It The Natural Way.
There must be saddles in the barn, or a tack room. Better still, an aircar in the garage, though aircars are more easily tracked by satellite than horses with riders.
I studied the house as the hauler rolled slowly through the woods. It was late and the lights were out.
Did they hang people in these-here parts for stealing aircars? I threw the bay door switch and it rattled open. Cold air swirled in. How about for stealing crystals? Oh yeah.
I gently shook Lisa. “C'mon, baby,” I whispered, “we have to go now.”
“Don't want to!” She kicked.
“We've got to, Lis'.” I hit the switch to raise the bay door. The hauler ground to a stop as the door rattled open. I threw our gear into the snow and picked her up. “Hang on,” I said as I jumped. We hit soft snow and I fell. Lisa cried and kicked the ground. “I want Mommy!”
“Yeah, me too,” I mumbled under my breath. Tikkie bunched his legs and leaped into deep snow.
I picked up Lisa and brushed off her clothes. “Maybe we can go for a ride in an aircar.”
She pouted and wiped her eyes. “With a vis?”
“A vis? I don't know. We'll see.” I carried her toward the garage with Tikkie trotting behind.
“I don't want to run away anymore, Daddy,” she said sleepily. Let's go home.”
“That would be nice, Lis'. But right now we've got to be quiet.” I tried sending her soothing thoughts.
“I had a bad dream,” she whined.
“What happened in your dream?”
She just closed her eyes, leaned her head against me and chewed the glove over her thumb.
I pressed her close as I walked and held down the sense of despair that squeezed my throat, afraid she might read it.
The horses whinnied as we appr
oached, but the house was far back from the corral. I stayed in shadows as we moved toward the garage. Tikkie chased a big bay Thoroughbred around the corral. Dumbshit dog! The animal kicked out at him, but missed. Tikkie yelped anyway and darted out of the corral with his tail between his legs.
“Stay here, baby” I put her down. “Daddy'll be right back.”
“I want to come!”
“OK.” I sighed and picked her up again. “Daddy's going to try to get us an aircar. It'll be real cushy.”
She nodded and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Daddy?”
”Yeah, Lis'. What now?”
“I love you better than Uncle Charlie.”
Against all the odds, I felt a warm glow. “I love you too, baby.” I kissed her nose. “Better than anybody.”
We moved through shadows to the garage with Tikkie behind us. I avoided the doors. They might be rigged with an alarm system. Instead, I went to a window, carefully inspected it for laser beams, pressure plates, heat and motion sensors, and anything else that resembled an alarm trigger. Nothing. I opened it and lifted Lisa inside, then climbed in after her.
It was dark, but I saw the silhouette of a small vehicle, a ground-skimming GT hovar. Good enough. “C'mon, Lis'.” I opened the door and we climbed in. But when I tried to start it I realized it was retinal coded. Dammit! “It won't start, baby. We'll have to take a horse instead.”
The barn smelled warm and musky.
A large brown dog trotted up on stiff legs, head low. Tikkie saw him and disappeared somewhere inside an empty stall.
“Nice dog,” I said, my hand on the stingler. He jumped up and humped my leg.
I shoved him off and he growled. “You horny bastard!” I whispered. Then I saw the alarm tag on his collar. It was blinking red. He'd marked my pants with a glow patch on his chest and activated a signal.
“Son of a bitch!”
I should have known. In a small communal colony, there wasn't much thievery, and alarm systems were expensive, like everything else, to import.
It was useless to brush the pants where it glowed. Somewhere in Laurel a signal was alerting the police, who were probably alerting the czar! No matter the planet, there's always a spiker around when you don't need one. But even with air mantas, it would take them at least fifteen minutes to reach the ranch.
I cursed as I opened my pocket knife, dug into the glowing pants material and sliced around it. My underwear showed through, but didn't glow. I kicked the piece of material into a mound of horse manure.
“I guess it's a horsey back ride, Lis'.” I hefted a saddle, blanket and bridle over my shoulder and started for the door.
“Daddy, your pants are ripped. Are they your good pants?”
“Naw.”
“Can we go in the house? I'm cold.”
“We can't stay here anymore, Lis', and I need you to help me look for a better place. Be a brave girl for a little while longer. OK?” I scooped some grain from a bin into a metal bowl as we headed toward the corral.
The house was still dark.
A big horse, a chestnut, shied as I approached, his breath smoking in cold air. He was a young quarter horse and looked strong enough to plow through snow all night.
I offered him the grain, patted his neck and talked to him as I slipped on the bridle and tied him to a post where the barn blocked the view from the house. I saddled him quickly, threw on our supplies and tied it all down.
Tikkie sniffed a chicken coop and started the chickens squawking. Though it went against my principles, it would've been nice to take a few with us. Lisa needed a good meal of protein.
I drew my stingler and aimed at a fat hen. She looked at me and clucked. I holstered the weapon. I just couldn't do it.
“You want to name the horse?” I asked Lisa as I swung her into the saddle and untied the reins. I climbed up behind her, headed the big chestnut for the corral gate and checked my locator.
“Piggyback!” she said.
Why not?
I wrapped Lisa's blanket over my shoulders and around her till only her face showed from a fold.
“Come on, Tikkie!” she yelled. He was still sniffing around the chicken coop.
“Quiet, Lis'! He'll follow us.”
The house remained dark as I opened the corral gate from the saddle and headed the horse through it. I closed it, and turned him toward the road. He was a lot more tractable than Gretch, my native Syl' Tyrria mount. Probably not as smart, though.
“Daddy, what about Tikkie?” He was still back at the chicken coop.
“Don't worry, he'll – “
“What about my horse, mister?”
Oh, shit. “Don't shoot! There's a kid here!”
The woman stood by the road, aiming a rifle at my chest – Lisa's head!
I swung the horse so I was between Lisa and her, and raised my hands, reins and all. My back itched as I looked over my shoulder. “Just…don't shoot. OK?”
She stood with spread feet, the rifle braced. “On!” she shouted. I squinted as hovering glowballs flickered on and lit her short brown hair, her shadowed face and shoulders below the wide-brimmed hat. “You're the offworlder, ain't you?” she said. “I just heard about you on vis.” Her voice had a rasp like fine sandpaper.
“What offworlder?” I asked innocently.
“Don't lie, mister, you're not good at it. The one with the ten-thousand-cred reward on his head.”
“That much?”
A glowball drifted and cast light on her large hazel eyes. Was that the gleam of money I read in them?
“Did they, uh, say alive or dead?” I asked. Wind blew a flap of the blanket back from my right side, exposing the stingler. It was set for stun. I covered the weapon.
“Yeah, they said.”
“Oh? I guess you could make a lot of improvements on the ranch with ten thousand creds.” I scanned the sky toward Laurel. It was still empty.
Lisa opened the blanket around her head. “Hello,” she said.
The rifle wavered, then steadied again.
“Hello, Lisa,” she said softly.
“Daddy, she knows my name!”
“Yeah, she does. Look, I'll pay you for the horse. I've only got minutes. Your dog tagged me.”
“Don't you be scared, Lisa,” she said. “I wouldn't hurt you, sweetie.” She shifted position. “The police are looking all over hell's twisted spokes for you, mister.”
“And now you've found us for them.”
She glanced toward Laurel.
I lowered my shields and probed. She was scared but I detected concern for us. Maybe Lisa picked it up too.
“Can I come in your house?” she asked with a whine in her voice. “I'll be quiet. I promise.”
“Look,” I told the woman, “I'll double the reward for your silence. Lower the rifle and let us go! I sent.
She held it steady. “Are you I-DEA, mister, or Wolf Ridge come down to ferret out rebels?”
Where did her loyalties lie? I had no time for a deep mindprobe. I bit my lip. “We're, uh,” I scanned the sky and took a breath, and a chance that she wasn't with the czar, who probably paid high wages for loyalty. “We're running from the czar.”
Her eyes narrowed but she said nothing. I felt Lisa tremble against me.
“Daddy, is she a bad lady? Is she going to shoot us?”
“No, Lisa.” I kissed the hood of her jacket. “It's OK.” I turned to the woman. “You're scaring the hell out of her with that rifle!” Would she use it if I turned the horse and ran?
Don't use the rifle! I sent, but I couldn't take the chance with Lisa. “Look, I've got a packed credcard with me.” I reached for the stingler, under the blanket. “It's yours if you just – “
The woman stiffened as my fingers touched the weapon. “Keep your hand away from there! I don't own no credaccount an' your neighbors in the graveyard don't care much about finances.” She glanced at Lisa. Her features were soft. She looked young and vulnerable. “If you're I-DEA, Miste
r, you ought to know what happened to the last two agents who tried to expose the crystal traffic.”
“I'm not!” Why did everybody in the known fucking universe think I was I-DEA?
She motioned toward Laurel with the rifle. “An' if you're Wolf Ridge you ought to know I mind my horses an' my own business. Last thing I need is to take a bribe from I-DEA or a czar tag.”
In the sky, four sets of lights rose from the direction of Laurel. I pointed to them, my heart racing. “They think I'm I-DEA.”
She shook her hair back as she glanced at the lights. “Then who are you?”
“A tag caught up in something I don't understand either. I was summoned to Halcyon by some silver crote.” I shrugged helplessly. Helpless usually works with self-reliant women. In my case, it was true. “You ever hear of him?”
She shook her head.
“I'm all out of time, lady.” In the distance, a whine of air engines. “Will you help us?” I touched Lisa's shoulder.
The rifle wavered. “I could be culled for letting you go.”
Let us go! I felt Lisa send. Her body was tensed against me. Let us go. Let us go! The wail of air mantas shattered Lisa's link. The chestnut flattened his ears, tossed his head and pranced sideways at the high whine. I was ready to make a run for it, rifle or no.
“You must be crazy bringing a kid on this work!” She reached into her pocket. “They'll track you quicker than blackroot sucks a marshbug dry.” But she lowered the rifle. “Here, for Lisa!”
I caught the scrambler she tossed to me. “What about the satellite? Does the czar control that too?”
“Used to. Till some rebel group called RECOIL blinded it with the czar's own beam.” I thought she smiled, there in shadowed light, and I wondered if she were lying, or just smug. “That horse is a head thrower. Watch him.”
I swung the chestnut onto the road. “I owe you!”
“If you're Wolf Ridge,” she called, “tell them I'll take a few scuks to hell's twisted spokes if they come looking for me.”
“They won't hear it from me!” I pressed the horse's sides and he leaped forward. “Someday I'll repay you,” I threw back. I didn't click on the scrambler yet, afraid they'd know their signals were scrambled starting at the woman's ranch.
Halcyon Nights (Star Sojourner Book 2) Page 9