by Mark Zubro
Bex snarled, “You and all your kind will be dead. If I have to I’ll finish you and go back to Earth and kill all of you there as well.”
The storm roared forth, great dark clouds roiling up to the sky. He saw lighting strike a few hundred feet below him. A ridge of mountain cascaded thousands of feet to the ground. Dust boiled up for a moment until the rain seized it and forced it to the ground.
Mike turned his face to the storm. He continued to hold up his hands. He concentrated as he’d trained and taught himself. He felt himself begin to tremble. He heard the crashing storm. He felt the hair on his body stand.
Mike screamed and roared, “I’m right here you son of a bitch. Kill me if you can.” To him his voice sounded as loud as the thunder around him.
Bex obliged.
Mike’s blue aura burst forth.
Mike sighed. He knew that this meant that he was under attack. The implant in his head had never failed to sense danger. And never failed to protect him.
The aura grew larger than the storm.
Mike concentrated on the electricity he was calling down and the destruction he was sending up to the heavens.
The air crackled. He stretched out on tiptoes and held out his hands. A vast bolt of lightning twisted and flew from the storm. It joined with his aura, his communicator, and the little open vial of liquid zukoh in his other hand.
The blue aura deepened and sent a blast of energy far into the heavens.
There was a titanic crash.
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
There was no one at hand to see the great gust of power that rose from Mike’s outstretched hands. The storm of lightning he called upon shot back up into the sky, rising higher and higher into the atmosphere.
Mike fell to his knees. Rocks tore from the mountain’s sides.
Miles away and far below, Joe stood a few feet outside the entrance to the colony. He saw the great blinding light that lit up the sky. That the aura existed showed him that Mike was alive. At least up to the moment when that aura showed up. A few moments later a great blast of sound knocked him down followed by an explosion of wind. After a few seconds, he staggered to his feet, put his hand against the nearest wall to steady himself, then rushed inside to the communication center.
Brux and Rix sat mouths agape.
Joe hurried over. “What?”
Brux said, “A huge energy charge just shot up from the surface. Ah…” He moved his head closer to the main screen. His hands flew over the controls. “This can’t be right.”
“What?”
“I’m still checking.”
“Just tell me.”
“The command star ship, the largest and strongest, and most powerful ship in the fleet is gone.”
“They left?”
“No. It’s gone. It was there one second. It was gone the second after the energy surge.”
Cem leaned forward. “I’ve double-checked all the monitors. It’s gone. Along with the five ships closest to the one Bex was on.” He checked his monitor again. He waited a few moments.
“The fleet is moving away.” He paused again. “Fast.”
The surface-to-space speaker came to life. They heard shouts and screams. The men in the communication center looked at each other in consternation. They realized they were listening to the chaos in the home fleet.
Someone was saying, “Bex is dead. The largest ship. The most modern ship. The most powerful ship is just gone.”
Another voice said, “It can’t be.”
The first voice said, “You think it’s there. Fine, you find it.”
The chatter between ships overwhelmed the technology. The only thing that got through were the words, “Retreat. Run.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
High up in the mountains, Hok and Kench picked themselves up from the ground. They’d been behind a ridge of tors and escaped the brunt of the blast. When they found Mike had left without them, they’d followed him up on foot. Now, they looked where Mike had gone and the explosion had come from. They saw snow and lightning.
They called down to the communication room.
“Is he alive?” Joe asked.
Hok said, “We’re on our way up.” Hok knew with all the debris from the explosion the way would most likely be treacherous. They set out.
In the communication room, Brux said, “There’s another battle cruiser just arrived. It’s Pav.”
“Get me communications with representatives of all the factions who are up there,” Joe ordered. “But first get me Pav.”
Brux flew into action. Moments later he said, “All set.”
Joe sat in a chair and leaned forward. He heard Pav’s voice. “I see the fleet is retreating. What’s happened?”
Joe said, “We won. We need you to do us a favor.” Joe explained. Pav agreed.
Joe said to Brux. “Now the others.”
In seconds Brux nodded to him.
Joe said, “To the Senate representatives of the different factions who are here. I want one delegate from each faction to go aboard Admiral Pav’s ship. He will guarantee safe passage to the planet’s surface.”
“Can you guarantee our safety?” It was a voice Joe didn’t recognize.
Joe said, “No. Those are our terms. Take them or leave them.”
In fifteen minutes it was agreed to. It took nearly half a day, while Joe was frantic with worry. He got intermittent contact with Hok on an interplanetary frequency that Brux assured him the ships above couldn’t monitor.
Mike did not respond to any calls. When they managed to get a clear channel to Hok and Kench, Joe order them to, “Get Mike and then pick up some zukoh. We may need it.”
Joe drove an ATV across the fields to where Pav’s ship plunked down onto the surface. Pav disembarked first. Orl was with him. Joe said, “You have scout ships on this thing?”
“Yes.”
“Get me one, please.”
Pav turned to Orl. “Make it happen.”
In minutes Joe was up in a scout ship heading into the mountains toward the storms above. It wasn’t like flying a plane on Earth in a storm, these vehicles were built stronger and had more compensating devices for variations in air pressure and air pockets than any Earth air-borne vehicle.
In less than an hour he was high in the mountains.
Hok called from the surface. “His aura is weak, but it’s still around him. He’s in a small grotto that his explosion created. I put up a tent of spacesuits around him. He doesn’t look good.”
Joe landed the ship about half a mile away. The terrain was too difficult to land any closer. He slogged through drifting snow to his husband. Mike’s glow surrounded his body keeping him warm.
Joe rushed to him.
Mike was breathing.
Joe hugged him, embraced him, murmured, “I’m here. You’re safe. You’re going to be okay.”
Mike moaned, then mumbled, “I love you.” Then he passed out.
Joe picked him up. With Kench and Hok’s helped he carried Mike to the ship. They flew down and stopped at the cave entrance and Joe used Mike’s container to refill the vial with liquid zukoh.
CHAPTER SEVENTY
Joe was at his side.
“I’m alive,” Mike said.
“Pretty much.”
“What happened?”
“You won.”
“What exactly have I won?”
Joe sat on the side of the bed. They were in their cubicle. He made sure his hip touched Mike’s torso. He took his husband’s hand. Joe said, “Bex is dead. You vaporized him and his flagship and a couple other cruisers and several leaders of the Religionist faction. Everybody wants to make a deal with you.”
“Huh?”
“True.”
“I’m confused. Last I remember, I was in a storm on a mountain. When is this?”
“It’s been a week since the battle. If you want to call it a battle. You did one titanic shot and they surrendered.”
“Good, but how are we
better off?”
“I’m not sure about us, but you sure are.”
Mike gave him a quizzical look.
“Snek talked about this when we got down from the mountain. Turns out he was right. Remember how in your trial, how because of quirks in the law they could do things to me that they couldn’t do to you?”
“Sure.”
“Well, those rules apply to you as a prisoner as well. We, born citizens of Hrrrm, are out of luck. If it was us who discovered the zukoh, we’d have to give it to the government, or they could just take it. For you, it’s yours.”
“Why don’t they just take it from me?”
“Because besides the odd laws, you are all-powerful. And remember the accountants’ rulings are sacred. They cannot be appealed. At the current rate of exchange of liquid zukoh in this part of the galaxy, you are the richest man.”
“I want to diversify.”
Joe smiled. He leaned over and gave him a kiss on the lips. Mike placed his hand on the back of Joe’s head. Lifting it seemed to cause every muscle to strain.
Joe noted the difficulty of the movement. “Uh, we had to use one of our medical deals on you. We didn’t know what was going to happen. Gek couldn’t use it. I had to. Your implant thinks I’m benign. You should make a full recovery.”
Mike said, “I don’t want to be rich and powerful. I just want to go home. I want to live in peace with my husband. I don’t want to govern or rule or take part in intrigues or trade. I don’t give a shit about business. There are enough here who can and will take care of this.”
“It’s going to be complicated.”
“Can I give it away?”
“Mostly no, mixed with a tiny bit of sort of. We’ll get a gay accountant team in here to go over all of the details with you. The deal with all the factions is to share the distribution and transportation. We’ll trade zukoh with anybody. It will keep any one faction from being able to hoard zukoh, at least initially. There will be battles about it for profit eventually, I presume.”
He told Mike about the ongoing negotiations that had begun in the hours after the battle.
When he finished, Mike said, “Let them fight. I don’t care.”
“You still have a weapon.”
“They’ve seen it work. Vov was a genius. There will be other geniuses. If I could give them the technology in my brain, I would.”
“You realize the explosion you set off revealed another seam of zukoh running through those mountains deep underground.”
“I don’t care.”
Joe said, “You could organize collective ownership of the zukoh here.”
“Communism,” Mike muttered.
Joe said, “Huh?”
Mike said, “Skip it.”
As he drifted off to sleep, Mike had two thoughts. One, that he had gotten revenge on Bex. He’d won and the pig of pigs, asshole of the universe had lost.
In secret recesses of his mind, he wondered about having destroyed Bex. He felt absolute triumph and joy at that thought. And he realized he’d also killed all the men and women who made up the crews on all those ships. When he’d first used his aura to kill on the ship to Hrrrm, he’d had great gusts of conscience and guilt. His feelings were still mixed. For the moment, victory triumphed. He’d beat that bastard Bex.
He’d gotten complete and total revenge on the man who he believed was the most evil in the universe. He’d never thought of himself as a revenge kind of person, but the feeling of getting even against Bex had grown since their first encounter. Was this who he was now?
He’d done the best he could in horrendous circumstances. He didn’t know what he could have done better.
No doubt he was a different person from the peaceful gay waiter who had left Earth not that long ago.
The other thought was that he was with the man he loved, and that feeling was more important. This is what gave him great comfort as he wrapped his arm around his sleeping husband, nestled close, and finally fell asleep.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
When next Mike awoke, he was once again alone with Joe in their cubicle. He felt better. Joe was slumped over in the chair asleep. On their desk, Mike saw a scrawny perfillian wood branch which had sprouted a tiny bud. He reached out and ran the tip of his finger along the small branch. He said, “Maybe sometimes there is hope.”
Joe awoke, lay down on the bed, embraced him and held him. This is what Mike wanted most of all. He wanted the smell of Joe to envelope him as his arms were doing. He wanted to be lost in every sense of having him.
They held each other. Mike felt the wonderful tingle he’d felt the very first time they’d touched. Now, it was as familiar as a caress. They adjusted their hips as their arousal matched each other’s.
They made mad, passionate, child-bearing love.
Two hours later they lay back. Mike had orgasmed three times. He never thought he’d be more exhausted, but this exhaustion felt great.
Joe propped himself up on his left elbow and looked at Mike. He ran his hand along Mike’s flank and pecs and abs and up to his neck. He touched the cheek and eyebrows. Mike shut his eyes. He felt the fingertips feather over his eyelids and to his ears.
Joe kissed him then nuzzled his head against Mike’s chest. Mike let his hands rearrange the locks of hair on Joe’s head.
At one point Mike sighed, “So I’m the most powerful person in the universe.” Mike reached over to the desk and picked up a nearby bar of smelted steel and tried to bend it. It didn’t budge.
Joe lifted up his head and watched Mike’s exertion. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to bend steel in my bare hands. I wonder if I can leap tall buildings in a single bound.”
“Did you want to try?”
“Not really, although being more powerful than a speeding locomotive might be kind of a kick.”
Sometimes Joe got Earth references. Sometimes he didn’t. This was a didn’t.
Joe said, “You could be like a god, an emperor, a super hero. You could rule from on high and be the greatest gay guy in history.”
“I’m just tired. I want to sleep. I want to be left alone.” Although he didn’t know if Joe would get the reference, he felt better saying it. They snuggled together. Mike drifted to sleep in his husband’s arms, safe, warm, home.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
Snek and Brux were sitting with Joe and Mike under the stars of planet 6407-0A. Mike thought it was about time to change the name of the place. Nearly a month had passed since the battle. The colonists had spent the time celebrating and planning. The details of deconstruction of the camps and the colony and reparations were in the hands of LGBT accountants.
Snek was speaking, “We haven’t dealt with all the riches from the perfillian wood.”
Mike said, “Have the accountants set it up so the Lesbians can use it any way they wish.”
“They’ll be rich,” Snek said.
Mike said, “Good for them.”
They talked about the recently completed negotiations with all the factions.
This night Def had joined them on the planet’s surface. He said, “You know, the whole thing did not collapse because truth, justice, and right triumphed.”
Mike said, “I noticed.”
Def chuckled. “Yes, I imagine you would have.” Def paused a moment then said, “No. Your biggest enemies, the Religionists, were going broke. They’ve lost over half their seats in the Senate already.”
“Bankrupt?”
“On a scale not seen in ten thousand years. Their hatred got ahead of their cash. Fortunately, there are enough other rich people both for and against you who are very against going broke. Sure, Bex could milk the system for all the money he could make, but he was part of why it then collapsed.”
“Maybe he planned it that way and was really on our side.”
Def smiled. “Ha! He wouldn’t have sacrificed himself in a full-on battle. Bex wouldn’t sacrifice anything unless it would make him tons of cold h
ard cash. And see, the thing is, besides being the most powerful man in this part of the galaxy, you are now the richest.”
Mike knew this, but he said, “I still don’t get how those colony/prison laws work.”
Brux said, “My dear, you don’t have to get anything. The accountants have spoken. They are like money-lawyers with powers just short of God.”
Def chuckled. “They’re talking about executing accountants.”
Mike said, “I thought they were like saints.”
Def explained. “They won’t get far with annihilation. Cash is the heart blood of our existence. If you tried to change the reality of money, total chaos would ensue. The laws of greed are pretty strict. Now all you have to be able to do is defend your planet.”
Snek had assured them they should manage. They had the zukoh in weapons-grade form and could fire from the surface of the planet at any ship.
Def said, “We’re all still working on the implant technology and the further weapons uses of zukoh and even the peaceful uses of it. Depends on the timing. No one has as yet developed the technology. You’ve defeated the fleet. A direct violent frontal attack hasn’t worked. Bex was getting richer and richer and might have been in a position to challenge Mulk. If he’d kept his wits about him, he might have, but he was blinded by emotion. He wanted you dead,” he pointed at Mike, “and he wanted to be the one who did it.”
Mike said, “He lost.”
Later as they began to trek down to their room, Mike and Joe paused at the Story Wall. Five men were working on a lengthy new section. Eph stepped back when he saw them. He said, “We’re almost done.”
“What is it?” Mike asked.
Joe said, “It’s a section about you.”
Eph added, “Both of you. Your actions will be enshrined here forever.”
Mike felt his eyes get misty. The only thing he could think to say was, “Thank you.”