Alien Victory

by Mark Zubro

  Nevertheless, when he stopped in front of Mike and Brux his words were vigorous and insistent, “Where is the proper greeting committee for his Excellency?”

  “We’re it,” Mike said.

  “Perhaps you don’t realize…”

  Brux cut him off, “Cut the crap Orl. We’ve been through this before. What is it you want?”

  Orl puffed and glowered, readying, no doubt, Mike surmised, some deadly governmental curse. Orl was stopped by the voice of Pav.

  “Ease up, Orl.” Pav stepped around the aged advisor.

  “But,” Orl began a protest.

  “Thank you, Orl. You may go.”

  Orl knew a dismissal when he heard one. He threw Brux a look of distaste over Pav’s shoulder and left.

  Pav held his hand out to Mike. “Good to see you.”

  “And you, Admiral.”

  Pav leaned close to Mike and whispered. “I need to talk to you.”

  Up close he smelled like Mike remembered he did after weeks of hygiene in the closed system of showers on a ship. Like wild flowers with a slight chemical kickback.

  “Indeed Admiral,” Mike replied. He thought fast. He wasn’t going to have to turn this guy down and risk an intergalactic incident? He hoped not.

  Pav glanced over his shoulder. “But not here. Someplace private.”

  “I suggest the quarters Joe and I share.”

  “Fine, fine. Lead the way.”

  When they arrived, Mike leaned against the shelf that served them as a desk. He eyed Pav, who paced the room. He’s got it all right, Mike thought. Only love or lust do this to a man, but he had no patience with what he expected was a severe closet case.

  “We’ve been mucking about in the backwaters of the galaxy looking for Sky Pirates beyond the last stars.”

  “You can’t get much more backwater than here,” Mike commented. Mike let the silence build to the point of uncomfortable then asked, “Why are you here?”

  Pav sprawled into the chair. The man’s eyes strayed to Mike’s crotch. Mike kept his sigh inside.

  Pav’s eyes roved around the room. He sat up in the uncomfortable chair, leaned forward, and whispered. “I have news for you.”

  “I’ve gotten rumors of extermination votes in the Senate.”

  Pav looked surprised. “Well, no.”

  Mike felt relieved.

  “It’s worse.”

  “What’s worse than extermination?”

  “See, they can’t get a vote to exterminate you all through the Senate at this time, but Bex and the Religionists are trying to work in enough loopholes so that they can attack this planet as a rebellious colony. See, if they get rebellious prison legislation passed, and you get designated as a rebellious prison, then poof, while you don’t get total extermination of millions or billions of people, you get this place wiped out.”

  “My aura…” Mike began.

  “If the entire atmosphere is turned to poison, and everything on the surface is completely destroyed, your aura can save you, maybe, from all that. But you’d be alone with nothing to breathe and nothing to eat. Your husband would be dead. Everyone you care about here would be dead. I heard there are a few who want to threaten harm to those you love on Earth.”

  Mike’s depression and anger encompassed him. He managed to think beyond both to ask, “How soon?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Mike asked, “Will you help us?”

  “It’s not possible. I can, however, have my battle cruiser at the other end of our Star System. Too far away to assist in any destruction.”

  “But too far away to help.” Mike felt his fury rise. He moved to the offensive. “Pardon me, Admiral, could I ask the reason for your visit? Why did you come here? You’ve given us a warning, and I appreciate it. I think there’s something else. Unless there is nothing else, in which case, I need to get back to work.”

  “You dismiss me?” Pav asked.

  “Yes, Admiral, with all due respect. What do you plan to do about that? Order me executed? We are already under an imminent death sentence. We want to be as ready as we can.”

  “I took a great risk coming here and telling you this much.”

  “And I thank you for that. I need hardly remind you that helping us is a crime punishable by death. Need I add it is a rule promulgated by your grandfather in the name of the Senate, one which even you might find hard to circumvent?”

  Pav was silent.

  Mike pushed. “Why do you wish to help us?”

  “It’s the right thing to do.”

  Mike gave him a wintry smile, got to his feet, walked over to where Pav sat.

  “The right thing was never to put us here in the first place. The right thing was to prevent hideous misery and countless deaths.”

  “I couldn’t stop it,” he whispered. Then his temper flared, “I am not answerable to you.” He tried to stand.

  Mike placed a gentle hand on his chest to prevent him from rising. Pav sat still. He shut his eyes and let the contact exist.

  Mike took his hand away as if it had been scorched. The guy was enjoying a simple touch way too much.

  When the contact stopped, Pav spoke between gasps. “I am Pav, grandson of Mulk, heir to the biggest fortune in the galaxy. You dare to touch me.”

  Mike sat down. He let his deep voice thrum as he asked again, “Why did you come here?”

  “The treatment gays have been given is wrong.”

  “A cheap and easy sentiment that costs you nothing.”

  Pav gazed at him pathetically. His blond hair was disheveled. His blue eyes looked haunted. He’d forborne attempting to rise.

  “I came to offer you help.”

  “With all due respect, unless you’re ready to fire on an attacking fleet, you can take your help and stick it up your ass.”

  Pav wrung his hands, hung his head, stared between his knees at the floor. “I’m scared,” he whispered at last.

  “We all are at times.”

  “Not as scared as I am.”

  “You forget to whom you speak. Every gay person in this star system has had to live through the most frightening hell in the universe, and now we are going to die.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  “Reality is reality.”

  “I’ll talk to my grandfather.”

  “To what purpose?”

  “To stop all this.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Twenty-four.”

  “Then your naiveté is the more frightening, since you should know better. One man’s heroics will not save us.” He paused. “I ask you again, why are you here?”

  In a monotone Pav said, “I’ve answered that already.”

  “And I’ve told you we don’t need the frantic twitchings of a starry-eyed child who thinks the universe can be made better by running off to granddaddy.”

  “I’m a star-fighter, a star pilot first class. I earned my commission as commander of a battle cruiser. Even my grandfather’s influence couldn’t have given me that. I’ve led men in battle. I’ve proven myself.” His voice was proud.

  “Then why do you remain here and listen to my insults?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You do know,” Mike thundered.

  “I don’t,” was the pathetic reply.

  “Then get out,” Mike snapped.

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’ve got to help.”

  “Why?”

  “Because of,” Pav stammered. “Because I admire your bravery and courage.”

  Mike was severe. “Not good enough.”

  Pav slammed his fist on the chair arm. “How can you say that?”

  Mike made no reply.

  Pav raised his eyes, looked at Mike, glanced around the room.

  In his softest voice, Mike asked, “Pav, why are you here?”

  Tears started from Pav’s eyes. He whispered, “Because I’m in love.”

  “Who do you love
?” Mike let moments of silence pass while Pav stared at the floor. He felt sorry for him. He waited.

  At last Pav said, “I’m gay.” He began to cry.

  Mike moved to the edge of his seat, placed a hand on Pav’s arm for a moment. He said, “It’s not easy, I know.”

  After his tears subsided, Pav said, “What am I going to do?”

  “Accept it.”

  “That’s easy for you to say. I have everything to lose.”

  Mike’s voice was gentle. “It’s easy for me to say because I’ve lost everything already, as will happen to you.”

  “I can’t. I have so much, my life, my happiness.”

  “Yet you’re here.”

  “Yes.” Pav gulped. “All the months I was out in space I dreamed about you. From the first time I saw you, I wanted to touch you, to know you.”

  Mike said, “I’m married.”

  “I know.”

  Mike asked, “What do you want to do?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know.” Pav’s response began as a wail, but ended as a whispered, “I don’t know.”

  “You’ll find someone to love.”

  “In a prison?”

  Mike said, “Joe and I love each other here.”

  “You’re from Earth. You don’t understand.”

  “Every gay person, no matter where they’re from understands.”

  Pav slumped back in the chair. “I guess.”

  Mike said, “Even if you could safely order your crew to fight for us, it wouldn’t help much. One battle cruiser against an approaching fleet couldn’t do enough. Maybe you could take yourself and your ship to the farthest star, and try to build a new life. You must know how impossible that task would be. Your crew is hardly likely to remain loyal after your purpose is clear. You will in all probability be forced to elude, if not fight, a significant portion of the government’s security forces, that’s if you succeed in even getting that far. Or you’ll be part of a fleet that begins murdering your own.”

  Pav leaned over and put his face in his hands. “What am I to do?”

  Mike said, “I don’t know.”

  “It’s hopeless,” Pav said.

  “Yes,” Mike agreed.

  “You’ll be slaughtered.”

  “Pretty much.”

  “But you’re going to stick it out?”

  “Is there a choice? A real choice?”

  Pav said, “I admire your courage.”

  Mike let a brief silence pass then asked, “What are you going to do?”

  “Leave with my ship and try to find my own courage. I hope I have as much as you.”

  Mike said, “It’s mostly just desperation mixed with doing whatever comes next.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

  Mike stood on the lip of the hangar mesa watching the Admiral’s battle cruiser lift off far across the plain.

  It was near the end of the day. The lightning in the mountains was still growing farther away.

  Joe came up to him. “A visit from Pav. Can’t be good.”

  “He’s in love with me.”

  “Who wouldn’t be? He has excellent taste.”

  “He came out to me.”

  “That couldn’t have been easy. What’s he going to do?”

  “Take his battle cruiser and go home.”

  “Is that helpful or not helpful to us?”

  “We’re going to be attacked.”

  “Again?”

  “By Bex with a mandate to stamp out rebellious prisoners.”

  “We’re not rebelling.”

  “Part of the universe finds us revolting in general.”

  “How’s Bex going to manage it?”

  Mike explained.

  Joe exhaled a long breath.

  “We’ve got you and that lake of zukoh. Let’s talk to Snek. See if he’s got any notions about a defense.”

  “We’ve got to do something.”

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  Snek said, “Sry and his diggers are almost half way.”

  Mike said, “Hok and Kench arrived at the cave on the ATV a few days ago.”

  Snek seemed to calculate in his head. “So a route that’s a road is available but circuitous. It wouldn’t save a lot of time, and you might still have a trek outdoors in the treacherous mountains to get to the lightning.”

  Joe asked, “To what purpose?”

  “Ah,” Snek said. “That’s the thing.” He swept his hand to his test tubes. “One of the new batches of colonists was, well is, a real scientist. Not in Vov’s class, but who is? Brux assigned him to me. He and I have been working together. We think we’ve got a way to use the zukoh to enhance your implant and your powers.”

  “You think?” Joe asked.

  “There’s no way to test it. The effect could backfire and kill Mike. Or dig a hole in the planet a mile wide all the way through to the other side. Or it could simply not work. Although that aura could protect you. But if the attack against us, for example, was a gas attack, that aura isn’t enough to encompass a whole planet, is it?”

  “No,” Mike said.

  Joe left to work on the irrigation system. Mike stayed for the day with Snek, learning all he could about what he and the new scientist, Irb, had discovered.

  When they were done, Mike thought he could do the experiment without killing himself. He wouldn’t know until he was back up the mountains in the middle of a storm with a small vial of zukoh with him.

  “I can carry it in this?” Mike pointed to the small container and the simple dipper he’d been given.

  “If you can’t, it’s useless.”

  “It won’t dissolve it?”

  “I worked out what the Religionists were using that they screwed up with. Irb managed to steal some plans before they collected him. He hoarded science things in hopes they’d be useful when he got here. For you, this will be like carrying hydrochloric acid on Earth in this narrow vial.” Snek held out what Mike thought of as a pipette except this looked all metallic and not like clear plastic. It was accompanied by a narrow spoon. Snek said, “It’s a mini-delivery system like Bex used on you, or as close as we could come to it. It’s safe as long as you don’t spill any on you.”

  He showed him how to activate it. When Mike had the hang of the tiny thing, Snek said, “You should also carry a medic kit with you.”

  “If the warnings we’ve gotten are accurate, I should start up there soon. I wouldn’t want to get up there and all of you be already dead.”

  Snek said, “I know I’d find that depressing. Probably everybody else down here too. Now don’t forget. You’re going to have to go high enough to be in the middle of a storm. Then you’ve got to provoke an attack on where you are.”

  “I do seem to be the focus of their anger, especially Bex’s.”

  Snek said, “That man is a menace.”

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  Mike and Joe talked long into the night in their cubicle.

  Joe said, “You could be killed. It might not work.”

  “I’ve got my implant. I used it to defend us against a ship here on the planet. Now we’ve got zukoh. With my implant might the effect go much higher than yours did against Vov on Earth?”

  “Theoretically, it could travel between planets.”

  “It just needs to reach the ships above us.”

  Joe said, “It could kill you. On Earth it almost did me, and we’re talking about far greater power here. And you’ve got to find a storm. And there will be thousands of ships. And we don’t know how accurate our weapon is.”

  “So, it’s hopeless. I know you’re not suggesting we just give up.”

  “I’m frightened for you.”

  “I’m frightened for both of us, all of us. Gay people on this planet. Gay people in this part of the galaxy. I’ve got a weapon. I want to use it. I want to hurt the sons of bitches. I want to beat them.”

  Mike finished in a whisper. “I want them to die. I want Bex to cease to exist in an explosion more painful t
han hell, than any hell ever imagined on Earth times ten million. I’ve never been this angry and frustrated. I think the zukoh actually makes it worse. It’s like we’ve got a weapon. It’s within our reach, but we could all just die. And it’s all useless and hopeless.”

  Joe held him tight. “It’s not useless. You’ve done, we’ve done everything we could.”

  “And maybe I can do this. If I go high enough there will a storm. There always are, every day. You know that.”

  “I’ll go with.”

  “You need to stay here and help make sure they attack me first before all you guys.”

  “That would be illogical on their part.”

  Mike said, “You’ve got to stay here. You’ve got to make sure Bex and his minions fire on me.”

  “We went together to get the Leavers.”

  “But that was just us. I need you, we need you here, to make decisions. Someone has got to be in charge down here making sure you time this as best we can to greatest effect.”

  “If the timing is off?”

  “I guess we die.”

  They both drew deep breaths. Joe said, “And we have to hope your device can call down lighting, use zukoh, and that it’s powerful enough to deflect an attack from the entire fleet or the most powerful ships in it.”

  “Pretty much.”

  “It’s suicide.”

  “Remember what happened to the pirate ship, and I didn’t have lightning for that.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And what you did with lightning on Earth. And what I did with lightning up in the mountains.”

  “Okay, but.”

  “And this just adds the zukoh. Remember the Religionists couldn’t control it, but Bex could. I think Snek has built something that will work.”

  Joe pulled Mike tighter into his arms. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “When you went up against Vov, you risked everything to save Earth, me, our relationship. I would do the same for you and all of us here. I can’t do less. Bex is pissed. We know that. His hatred of me is irrational. We’ll use that against him. My guess is he’d run over Mr. Spock with a bulldozer.” Mike and Joe had watched all the old Star Trek TV episodes and movies together while they were on Earth.