Shalia's Diary Omnibus

by Tracy St. John

  “Yes, she has. Would you care to come sit down?” I was too relieved for words when he didn’t tell me the unthinkable.

  “I will not set foot in your den,” he intoned.

  I thought, well fine, then fuck you. I didn’t say it. Yet.

  “What do you want?” I asked. I was being rude as hell, but if Father Lucas was going to be an unhelpful dick, then I didn’t need to hear it. If the lockdown was over, I had to talk to Nang. In the meantime, I wasn’t about to chase Father Lucas away on the off-chance he had information that would help me find Mom.

  “Your poor mother is reaping the seeds of sin you sowed.” He hissed like a snake with all those sibilants. “An innocent is forced to bear the burden of her daughter’s lust. Lust for aliens.”

  “What has happened to her? Where is she?” I fairly screamed. I advanced on him and he backed off, but not like he was scared of me. It was more as if I was so diseased, he was afraid my mere presence would contaminate him.

  “I do not know. Others have obviously taken it upon themselves to punish you through the proxy of your mother. While you deserve judgment, I do not believe Eve should suffer for it. You should be ashamed of what you’ve done.”

  “I think you should be more worried about what I’m about to do, rather than my past actions,” I snarled, so pissed off I couldn’t see straight. My hands clenched into fists. Maybe the priest didn’t have anything to do with Mom’s disappearance, but I was ready to punch someone. As far as proxies were concerned, Father Lucas with his self-righteous sneer was as good as anyone.

  He took another step back, and his eyes lit with concern. “You do not dare strike a man of God.”

  “Why not? They crucified Jesus didn’t they, and he was the son of God! If you have a clue where my mother is, I suggest you start talking because I’m done being nice.”

  Father Lucas put his skeletal hands up as if to ward me off. “I swear, I do not know where she is. If I did, I’d tell someone to make sure she’s safe. She doesn’t deserve to be frightened or harmed.”

  I was pretty sure he was telling the truth, so I stopped stalking him. “Fine. If you can’t help, then go away and don’t come near me again.”

  He had the balls to shake a finger at me. “Shalia Monroe, you will pay the dues of your harlotry. God does not suffer whores—”

  “Get the fuck away from me!” I screamed. “You sanctimonious bag of shit, you wouldn’t recognize God if he put his almighty foot up your ass! Fuck off!”

  Someday, Mom will be sitting next to me safe and sound and knitting caps for oversized Kalquorian heads. At that point I’ll look back on this, remember the expression on that priest’s face, and laugh my ass off. Some day. We’ll be on Kalquor by then, because I’m not living on any Earther colonies. I am done with my own kind. The farther from these fools I get, the happier I’ll be.

  I keep trying to reach Nang, but he’s not answering his com. The son of a bitch hasn’t returned the half dozen messages I’ve left since my encounter with that asshole priest. Screw this. The lockdown is done, so I’m heading to his office and see if he’s found anything new out. If I can’t find him, I’m searching for Mom myself.

  September 29

  Good God, what a crazy couple of days. It could take forever to write it all down.

  Nang was just charging out of his office when I got there. He immediately grabbed me and shook me until my teeth nearly rattled in my head. “What are you doing here? I commed your room and got no answer! I was afraid something had happened!”

  I kicked at him to make him stop shaking me. “And how many messages have I left you? What the hell is going on with my mother?”

  Nang scowled, but he stopped treating me as if I were a rag doll. “That’s what I wanted to tell you. There are about twenty Earthers missing from the Academy. We think they’ve joined up with an outside group planning to make trouble for us. We also believe they have Matara Eve. After analyzing the vids closely, it appears your mother was lured by those three women who befriended her when she first came here. Mataras Patty, Deirdra and...oh, I don’t remember the other one’s name.”

  “Fran,” I supplied, my head swimming with disbelief. The Pageant Trio. Boy, we’re in big trouble when the beauty queens go on a kidnapping spree.

  “Anyway, we tracked them and your mother to a building about four miles away that used to house many shops. The Colonial Mall complex?”

  Had I not been so worried about Mom’s welfare, I might have laughed. Trust the P.T. to take Mom to a shopping center. Torment old women while you have your nails done. Stop by the shoemaker and have your feet custom measured while you’re at it. Commission your next piece of jewelry. Except the mall, like Earth, was dead now.

  “I’m on my way out there.” Nang smiled at me as a small Kalquorian shuttle sailed up to us and settled quietly to the ground. “In a few minutes, Matara Eve will be safe.”

  “Great,” I said. “I’m going with you.”

  “Absolutely not.” He looked affronted by my statement. “Those people are armed and there are at least two hundred of them. It would be very dangerous for you to go there.”

  “You said only twenty left the Academy.”

  “Apparently, they’ve been spying for a larger number, a group we’ve been trying to track down for the last few weeks. We think they’ve been preparing to attack us here once they find enough people to join them.”

  Great, an attack force. They had my mother. They could have been planning to use her as a hostage perhaps, because Eve Monroe wasn’t going to be able to knit them workable guns. Bastards.

  “Let me go, Nang.” I was willing to beg. “I need to be there to be sure Mom’s okay.”

  “I’m not worrying about your welfare at the same time I’m trying to save your mother and eliminate a threat.” He gave me a severe look, like a dad telling his teenage daughter she wasn’t dating that delinquent boy who zoomed around on a speed cycle. “I’ve already sent a security detail to your quarters. You can meet them there and stay where you’ll be safe.”

  “Nang—”

  “No, Shalia.” He strode off to board the waiting shuttle. “I will see you in less than an hour.”

  I stood there, feeling more helpless than ever as the shuttle lifted and flew off. Then I did a really stupid thing. Yep. I went out after Mom.

  With the lockdown over and the last of the gangs rounded back up, I had no problem leaving the Academy grounds. Nobeks on watch at the main entrance warned me of the dangers, and I smiled and thanked them for their concern. One shook his shaggy head at me and insisted I take his knife to protect myself with...the damned thing was as long as my forearm. He wouldn’t let me leave without it though, going as far as to strap its sheath on my waist himself with a cord he had on his utility belt. He told me how much he’d gotten out of my presentation.

  As the Nobek put the knife on me he said, “I realize this kind of personal contact is exactly what you warned us against, but you’re not heading out there without a weapon. I offer my apologies for the familiarity, Matara.”

  I almost hugged the big lug for being such a sweetheart of a macho pig, but I kept my gratitude at a thank-you. I’ve been up close and personal with too many of these men as it is. Then off I jogged, leaving the site behind.

  It took about 40 minutes for me to get close enough to spy the mall. During my run (and I am still sore two days later from it; I am so out of shape), I was shocked anew at how demolished everything outside the Academy is. The looted stores, graffiti-covered houses, burnt hulks of cars and hover shuttles – after being in the ordered environs of the Academy for so long, I’d forgotten the carnage outside. Even out here in the middle of Small Town, North American Bloc, the lawless frenzy that followed Armageddon was blatant. I was suddenly grateful to that Nobek for giving me a knife. I had every intention on not only hugging him when I returned the weapon, but giving him a big smooch as well. Propriety could kiss my ass.

  Once the shopping c
enter was in view, I slowed down. I approached carefully, using abandoned vehicles and foliage and buildings for cover. I remembered all too well nearly being eaten by a Tragoom, and I knew for a fact there were hostile Earthers out here. And where were the Kalquorians? Perhaps they’d already invaded the building and had everyone in custody. Nang had been pretty sure they’d wrap stuff up in minutes, yet there had been no traffic returning to the Academy yet.

  I skulked closer and closer to the single-level sprawling building of what had been a sad remnant of free-market economy. Malls had been playgrounds for people with money, lots of money. My admittedly substantial pay had not been enough to allow me to shop in such places with their designer shops, hair salons, jewelry makers, and gourmet foods. People like me bought stuff via online distributors. Those who were poorer haunted the government-run markets where the shelves were more often empty than not. Deadly riots over a transport full of bread or milk were fairly common. Mike used to say it was a good way to weed out the undesirables. Mike was an asshole. I’m glad Armageddon weeded his sorry self out.

  I neared the complex. I was crouched behind a bush only a few feet from the wide-open expanse of parking lot when someone threw me to the ground. I opened my mouth to yell and a big, dark hand slapped over it, muffling my cry.

  “Shalia! What the fuck are you doing here?”

  Holy crap, it was Esak with his knee in my back. I stopped fighting, and he let me sit up. He looked pissed off to see me there.

  “You stupid Earther girl! Are you trying to get killed?” His voice managed to be fierce despite whispering.

  “No, I’m trying to make sure Mom doesn’t get killed,” I whispered back. “Have you got her out yet?”

  “No. The situation is complicated.” He glanced away, as if hiding something from me.

  “What do you mean, complicated? What the hell is happening? Nang said it wouldn’t take but a few minutes.”

  Esak scowled in the direction of the shopping center. He seemed to struggle with his thoughts. Finally, he grabbed my hand. “Come with me, and don’t make a sound.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “I’m taking you to Commander Nang. He’ll know what to do with you.”

  That didn’t sound exactly promising, but I had no choice but to hurry along in Esak’s wake, cutting and dodging behind any object that could keep us hidden from the mall.

  We went almost to the other side of it when I saw what appeared to be a command post. Dozens of Kalquorian shuttles were parked next to what had once been an upscale restaurant. The eatery was in a separate building from the shopping center, with a small bit of parking lot and a strip of landscaping between them.

  A bunch of Kalquorians crowded in an area beyond the shuttles. As Esak brought me closer, I could see Nang at the center of the group. They were gazing at several free-floating vids and talking fast and loud in their staccato language.

  One big, mean-looking Nobek caught sight of Esak hauling me in that direction. “Nobek Esak! What is she doing here?”

  That got Nang’s attention. If Esak had seemed pissed at my arrival, Nang was absolutely livid. He waded through his men to get to me. Next came more of his patented shake-Shalia-until-her-eyes-roll move.

  “Are you insane? I told you to stay at the Academy!”

  “Stop shaking me or I’ll puke all over you,” I said between clicking teeth. I swear, that man doesn’t know his own strength.

  Fortunately, he quit. Before he could light into me anymore in front of all his very grumpy looking men, I said, “What the hell, Nang? You said you’d have Mom out with no problem!”

  “That was before those people learned we were out here. Now they are using her as a hostage. She’s still alive and unhurt, but that could change if we don’t handle this carefully, Shalia.” Nang said this all between gritted teeth. I could tell he was dying to shake me some more.

  “Are you sure she’s okay? They haven’t done anything to her?”

  “She was crying and obviously frightened when they brought her out to show us they meant business, but there was no sign of physical trauma.” Nang took a deep breath. “We’re working on a way to rescue her, but we can’t just charge in there. They might kill her if we attempt such a thing.”

  Oh God. I can’t write anymore. If I do, I’ll start crying, and that will upset Mom. She’s so fragile right now.

  Okay, I’m ready to pick this back up. Tears averted.

  As I stood there talking to Nang, I had yet another terrible idea, so of course I was ready to act on it. I told him, “Let me be a distraction. While I hold their attention, you go in there after Mom.”

  Someone behind me growled. I had the suspicion it might have been Esak, but I didn’t turn around to be sure.

  Nang considered me. After several seconds, during which I could see him weighing the pros and cons of my inspiration, he said, “We want to use a shockwave on them, but we need to get inside for it to be effective. You might be the best chance we have of slipping past their guards.”

  He turned to his men who had crowded around us. He snarled in his own language for a few moments. I waited while a discussion raged, shifting impatiently from foot to foot. Finally, Nang nodded, and several men started yelling at the younger Nobeks who were waiting for their orders. After a few moments of that, the younger guys began to peel off, running in that crazy blurred way they do. Before he joined the exodus, Esak moved close to me.

  “Be careful, Shalia. Please.”

  Then he was gone, leaving me to wonder what the hell was going on. Nang cleared that up in a hurry.

  “All right, Shalia, we have a plan. Its success will depend greatly on you.”

  My heart thumped fast to hear that, but I gave him a firm nod. “Tell me what I need to do.”

  He did, and only five minutes later we were ready to put the plot into action. At least I didn’t have time to stew in my nervousness, though I shook like a leaf as I walked with Nang and two of his officers towards the mall parking lot.

  Where the Kalquorians had set up their command post was the closest you could get to the building without crossing the broad asphalt wasteland. The restaurant had been built to be easily accessible to the shopping center, so at this point, we were only about 50 yards from the main entrance.

  Nang and his men stopped while we were still several feet beyond the ornamental Japanese maples that shielded us from the mall entrance’s view. “Go on ahead,” he told me. “If they point a blaster or anything at you, drop down fast.” His hand gripped my shoulder. “Shalia, be alert. If you are hurt—”

  He didn’t finish the sentence. There was an instant of anguish on his expression, then he pushed me towards the landscape border.

  I walked away from him, feeling the sun heating the top of my head as I went. I unsheathed the knife the Nobek at the Academy had given me and held it tightly in my sweating palm. A moment later, I broke through the young trees.

  “Hey!” I screamed at the glass panes of the shopping center’s doors. “Hey! Somebody get your ass out here and talk to me!”

  One of the two sets of doors opened, and a man in camouflage stepped out to glare at me. He pointed a long-range percussion blaster rifle in my direction. “What do you want?”

  “My mother, asshole!” I put all the mad I could in my voice, which wasn’t that difficult. “You cowardly shits kidnapped an old woman with dementia. Let her go and you can have me!”

  Something prim and blonde slipped out of the mall to converse with the man. It was that fucking bitch Patty of the P.T. I could have torn all her perfectly coiffed hair out of her scalp at that moment.

  After their consultation, the man shouted, “You want us to let her go?”

  “No, stupid, I want you to put on a tutu and dance the watusi. Swap us out!”

  I saw a lot of motion beyond the other doors, though the sun glare kept me from seeing inside too well. I had the feeling plenty of people were jostling for a view though. Good. That was e
xactly what we’d hoped for.

  The man, a greasy, broad-shouldered dude with a lot of scraggly beard, grinned at me. “Come on then. Give yourself up and we’ll let your mother go. We’d much rather talk to you about what you’ve been doing in the Academy anyway.”

  I swallowed and discovered my mouth and throat were absolutely dry. All my fears about being judged and executed as a whore had been well-founded. Here was hoping he didn’t decide to shoot me right then and there.

  I started walking across the pavement, heading straight for the man with the big, scary rifle. There was a shout behind me. “No!”

  I turned to see Nang barreling at me, his face dark with intent, fangs exposed. Damn, he looked scary, every bit as monstrous as my films had portrayed Kalquorians to be. His two officers ran behind him. I wasn’t acting when I brought that giant knife that was more like a fucking sword up in defense. I swung it wildly as they neared. I could hear exclamations and shouts from the crowd in the building.