Eclipsing Vengeance

by Jeremy Michelson

  “How’d I get here?” I asked.

  The nurse shot a quick look at the MPs by the door. “You don’t know?”

  I rubbed my face and almost cried out in surprise. Someone had given me a shave while I was out. Except as I ran my fingers to my chin, I encountered some fuzz. I traced it around my mouth. Some wit had given me a goatee. I remembered Buck’s comment back on the ship. Had that son of a bitch told them to do that to me?

  That suggested to me that he was alive. Which meant I could kill him when I found him.

  “I’m pretty sure I know how I got back from…where I was,” I said, “I’m just wondering how I got to be on an Air Force base in New Mexico.”

  The nurse went back to clacking the keys on her computer. “I’ll let the general know you’re awake,” she said.

  General? That sounded like more attention than I wanted. I looked down. Someone had gotten me out of my worn out jeans and shirt. I was wearing a pair of gray pajamas that really didn’t do me justice. I wiggled my bare feet. If I was in New Mexico, there wasn’t much chance of me running out of there without some shoes.

  When she got back, I was going to ask the nurse where I could get some clothes, and maybe something to eat. But then the double doors opened. A big, broad shouldered man in a blue uniform stepped through. His jaw was square enough that a person could use it to measure corners with. He had short cropped gray hair and icy blue eyes that froze me in place. There was enough bling on his chest to put to rest any questions I might have about his military authority. He stepped up to me, his polished shoes clicking on the tile. He had a piece of paper in his hand. His hands were strangely small and delicate compared to the rest of him.

  “You’re Roy DeHaas, brother of Buck DeHaas?” he asked. His voice was low and menacing, as if he was ready to start barking out orders at any second.

  “That would be me,” I said. I probably should have stood up and saluted or something. Instead I crossed my leg over my knee and clasped my fingers around it. The guy reeked of authority. An odor I wasn’t all that fond of. Especially when I woke up in strange places.

  “I’m General Mattany, in charge of Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico,” he said, “Do you know how you got here?”

  The general’s eyes were filled with pure menace. Every word out of his mouth seemed coated in razor blades. For some reason unknown to me, the general hated my guts. I could only imagine it had something to do with Buck. People who hated him often applied the same feeling to me, even though I’d never met them. It was one of the joys of brotherhood.

  “You don’t know?” I asked.

  “I was asking you,” Mattany said. It was amazing his teeth didn’t shatter with the pressure he seemed to be clenching them with. Maybe he had them replaced with titanium ones.

  “So you’re saying you don’t know how I got on your base?” I asked.

  Mattany slapped the paper against his leg. The crease in his pants was so sharp it looked like it could slice cheese.

  “I’m not a patient man, Mr. DeHaas,” Mattany said, “And I also have a problem. A very big, very expensive problem. And if that problem doesn’t get solved, I’m perfectly willing to throw you in prison for the rest of your life.”

  I sighed. Great, another prison. I expected a prison back on earth wouldn’t be as cushy as the alien one on Pluto. But at least I’d get human food and human TV. And there wouldn’t be any aliens trying to kill me.

  Free room and board and no more worrying about keeping an eye on Buck?

  I held my arms out, wrists together. “Sounds good to me, how soon can I go there?”

  I thought the shock would make Mattany’s stone face shatter like cheap crockery. His eyebrows and mouth moved into positions so blatantly unusual for him that it must have caused him physical pain.

  “What?” he asked, once he got control of his face again.

  “Prison sounds good compared to where I’ve been,” I said, “Honestly, I could use the rest.”

  “But,” Mattany said.

  I wagged a finger at him. “No, you promised. I can’t solve your problem, whatever it is, so you have to put me in prison. Take me to the nearest one, I don’t care. And I’d like solitary confinement, please.”

  Mattany rubbed his chin with one of his long fingered, delicate hands. “Mr. DeHaas, this is no time for jokes.”

  “Who’s joking?” I asked, “Come one, what do I have to do to get sent to prison around here? Punch you in the nuts?”

  Mattany took a couple steps back. He was giving me a look now that said he believed I was crazy, and possibly dangerous, too. He slapped the paper against his leg again, then he got a hold of himself and his stern general look slipped back over his face.

  “I don’t have time for this,” he said, “You’re going to tell me where my ship. Now.”

  “What ship?” I said.

  “You know damned well what ship!” Mattany shouted, “Now where is it!”

  Things were becoming clearer to me now. And it looked like Buck had stuck me with the crappy end of the stick. Again. Next time I saw that bastard I was going to punch his nose all the way to the back of his head.

  Mattany’s face was as red as a freshly painted fire engine. His delicate hands twitched like they wanted to wrap themselves the nearest neck. Which would be mine. Any second now he was going to grab one of them rifles from the MPs and fill me full of lead.

  I rubbed my face, then stood up. The general was a couple inches taller than me, but we were built about the same–except he had less padding around the middle than I did. I was pretty sure I’d be able to put him down in a fair fight. But there wasn’t going to be any fair in this situation. Not with three big, armed MPs right close by.

  So it was time to put on the charm offensive. I gave the general a sheepish smile and held my arms out wide.

  “General, if I knew anything about anything, would I be lying on a bed in your fine little hospital here?” I asked, “It’s looking like we’ve both been wronged in this situation.”

  The general snapped his fingers and the two MPs by the door shouldered their rifles and came over beside me. They grabbed my arms. Tight. The third MP put down his tattered copy of People Magazine and stood. He cracked his knuckles and moved over in front of me.

  “Wait, fellas, let’s not–”

  People Magazine MP punched me in the gut. Hard. All the air I ever breathed in my entire life exploded from my lungs. Meanwhile, my stomach decided it needed to heave up all my internal organs.

  The MP’s holding me kindly waited until I was done coughing and gagging before yanking my head up to face Mattany. His square face came up to mine.

  “Where,” he said, his voice low and full of menace, “Is my ship? And don’t give me any more run around.”

  “General,” I said, “I would love to tell you exactly where your ship us. But I don’t know–”

  That’s right about when the wall by the window exploded. With a sound like a freight train hitting a cinderblock wall.

  Which wasn’t far off from what did come through the wall.

  Bits of cinderblock pelted us. The MP’s dropped me and grabbed their rifles. I fell to the floor. I turned my head just in time to see a golden, woman-shaped figure stalk into the room.

  Liz.

  For a second hope soared in my heart. Rescue! They hadn’t left me behind.

  She stalked closer. The MP’s let loose with a blast of machine gun fire. Bullets bounced off the golden armor, zinging off in all directions. The cute brunette screamed and ducked behind her desk. The general staggered back toward the door.

  Liz was suddenly a blur of motion. She snatched the rifles from the MP’s hands and bent them like they was pipe cleaners. She flicked a finger at each MP’s chest. The big, beefy men sailed across the room and smashed into the walls with crunches and grunts.

  Mattany turned to run, but she was already there. She grabbed him by the back of his coat.

  “You’re not
going anywhere, shithead,” she said.

  Mattany tried to pull away, but her golden fists weren’t going to let him go anywhere.

  “Man, am I glad to see you,” I said.

  Her featureless gold head turned toward me. “You. I am not happy with you,” she said.

  My aching belly went icy. Maybe I wasn’t so glad to see her after all. I had a feeling she could cheerfully do a lot more damage to me than Mattany could ever dream of.

  “Where is he?” she asked.

  I wasn’t sure if she was asked me or Mattany. The general didn’t seem interested in answering.

  “Who?” I asked.

  She dragged Mattany over to me. He protested, saying things about national security and government property that seemed irrelevant at the moment.

  “Chris,” she said, “He wasn’t in the wreckage. I know he survived, otherwise you wouldn’t be alive.”

  Uh oh. I chose my next words carefully.

  “Liz, the last thing I remember, before waking up here, was Chris dropping the ship down into normal space, whatever that is. Me and Buck was in the little room off the kitchen with the couches. I got knocked out in the process. I truly don’t know what else happened or where he is right now.”

  The blank face of her armor stayed pointed my way for a few more moments.

  “I believe you,” she said. She yanked at Mattany. He stumbled to his knees. “You better start talking before I rip your head off and shit down your neck.” she told him.

  “You! Don’t move! Get your hands off the General!”

  A squad of Marines stood at the jagged, Liz shaped hole where the window had been. They wore silver space armor and held plasma cannons in the hands. No wimpy machine guns for them.

  Standing between armored marines and an armored Liz, I felt my death was imminent. The only thing I had to regret was that I had not thoroughly kicked my asshole brother’s ass.

  Thirty

  Dust from the shattered cinderblock wall hung in the air. It clogged my nose and made me want to sneeze.

  Which I really didn’t want to do in the silence that also hung in the air of the little hospital room. The horde of armored Space Marines held their plasma cannons ready to blast us into crispy bits. Except I doubted their blasters would do any damage to Liz. Unfortunately for me, I was standing between her and the Space Marines. I was armored only with gray pajamas. It was an unfair balance of power.

  Liz held Mattany by the scruff of his neck. His face was fire engine red. Man was going to have a stroke if he didn’t calm hisself down.

  “Better call off your dogs, Mattany,” Liz said, “You know their little popguns aren’t going to do anything to me.”

  “Let me go,” Mattany said, “Or I’ll order them to shoot DeHaas.”

  “Whoa, wait!” I said. I held my hands up. “Let’s order everyone not to shoot. Can’t we work something out here?”

  “Let go of the General!” the lead Marine shouted. He stepped through hole in the shattered wall. The servos in his armor whined and hissed as he moved. The armor looked pretty menacing. So did the cannon the guy was holding. The hot electrical smell of it filled the room.

  Liz snapped her arm up and lightning shot out from a bulge on her forearm that hadn’t been there a moment ago.

  The blast hit the Marine and and he fell over, his suit smoking and twitching. The other Marines shouted and moved in, firing their plasma blasters. I flattened myself to the floor. Someone was screaming. I’m not sure if it was me or the pretty brunette. May have been me.

  Lighting crackled over me. The plasma fire stopped, followed by more thuds on the concrete floor.

  I took a peek and saw a pile of smoking armored suits by the hole in the wall. So much for that.

  “Get up,” Liz said.

  I realized she was talking to me. I scrambled to my feet and coughed at the acrid smoke that filled the room. The wall behind Liz was on fire. There was an unburned Liz shaped spot on the wall. Mattany was on the floor, whimpering. Liz’s golden foot was on his back.

  The brunette’s desk was on fire. She peeked around the corner.

  “Better run while you can,” I said.

  I didn’t have to tell her twice. She scrambled across the floor and out the smoking doors. Liz’s head swiveled to follow her.

  “You don’t screw around with stuff, do you?” I asked.

  She bent down and jerked Mattany to his feet. “I’m not a patient person,” she said. Her head moved like she was looking me up and down. “Come on, we need to get you something to wear.”

  We were going shopping? It seemed like an odd thing, but I wasn’t going to argue with an armored woman with death rays and a distinct lack of patience.

  She dragged Mattany to the double doors.

  “You have no right to do this,” Mattany said. He coughed and his delicate fingers scrabbled at Liz’s arm.

  “I have the right to beat you to death with your left leg if I so chose,” Liz said, “Now, is Kincaid’s lab still in Hanger 12?

  “The lab! What are–”

  Liz didn’t wait for him to finish. She kicked the doors open and dragged him through.

  “Come on, Roy,” she said.

  I glanced back at the hole in the wall. I could see another platoon of Space Marines running toward it. Sticking close to Liz seemed like a marginally better chance of survival. I scampered through the smoking doors and followed her down the depressingly dull military corridor.

  The concrete floor was cool on my bare feet and the air had the tinge of military grade industrial cleaner. Much nicer than the shattered cinderblock and smoke smell of the hospital room.

  More Marines ran toward us. These ones were unarmored, though they did carry assault rifles. Which they pointed at us. They shouted at Liz to let the General go and surrender.

  I would have laughed if my heart wasn’t so busy pounding in sheer terror.

  Liz raised her arm. From her open palm poured out an invisible pulse of something. It distorted the air as it raced down the corridor. When it hit the Marines, they dropped their guns and grabbed their ears. Then their eyes rolled up in their heads and they fell in a heap on the floor.

  Liz kept walking.

  “Shit, are they dead?” I asked, “Did you kill them?”

  “They’re young and healthy,” she said, “They should be okay in a few days.”

  She stepped over the bodies, dragging the still protesting Mattany. I stopped for a moment and thought of picking up one of the assault rifles. Compared to what I was up against, the assault rifle seemed little better than a pop gun. But then, again, having a weapon gave the soldiers even more reason to shoot me. I left the rifles behind and ran after Liz, my bare feet slapping the floor.

  “You have a plan?” I asked.

  “Yeah, we’re going to get you something better to wear,” she said, “Then we’re going to find Chris.”

  She came up to a set of double doors. Daylight poured through small, square windows in the upper third of each door. She raised her arm again. The bulge was back on the forearm. Lighting crackled out of it and the wooden doors exploded, shattering into a billion toothpicks.

  I ducked and covered my face. When I looked up she was already out the door, walking across a wide expanse of concrete. Hulking military vehicles screeched up to her. Dozens of armored Space Marines poured from the back of them.

  I heard shouting, men yelling at her to let the General down and surrender. Liz responded by kicking one of the massive vehicles over on its side and walking on. Through the shimmering heat coming off the acres of concrete I saw a building with a prominent number 12 painted on its huge doors.

  “Come on Roy!” Liz shouted.

  Easy for her to say. She had apparently invincible armor and I had gray pajamas. And no shoes.

  Waves of heat blasted me through the shattered doorway. Did the woman really expect me to cross all that hot concrete in my bare feet?

  I ran back to the pile of uncons
cious Marines and found one that had big boots. I undid the laces and yanked them off as fast as I could. I have size twelve feet and shoes that fit are almost impossible to find. The young Marine’s boots were a bit tight, but they’d have to do.

  I didn’t bother to lace them up all the way. I ran back to the door, my pinched toes protesting every step. I told them to shut up. Would they prefer to get roasted or pinched? If they could have replied, I’m sure they would had said they preferred to be up next to the fireplace in my cabin, shoe free and wiggling to their little piggy content.

  I told them the best I could do was a vague promise of escaping death if we followed Liz. Not that following her was going to be much better than staying here. I doubted Mattany would keep his promise of throwing me in prison. I suspected there would be a lot of physical pain involved in staying in his custody.

  Besides, Liz was the best chance I had of finding Buck.

  You look after your brother, hear?

  Oh, yeah, momma, I’m gonna look after that son of a bitch. I’m gonna look after him so hard he’s gonna need a plastic surgeon to put his face back together.

  By the time I got to the door, Liz was halfway across the wide expanse of concrete. Soldiers, armored and unarmored were following her with all kinds of lethal weapons pointed at her. In her wake were a couple more overturned vehicles. One of them was on fire. Several armored Space Marines were lying on the concrete, twitching.

  At the moment no one was shooting at her. She still had Mattany by the scruff of his neck, dragging him. His furious shouts bounced off the concrete and the nearby buildings.

  Nobody seemed to be paying attention to me, so I scampered across the concrete. I went from hulking military transport to transport, crouching and hiding. Being without armor of any kind made me more cautious than Liz.

  She was almost to Hanger 12, and I had almost caught up to her when someone grabbed me from behind. I was rounding the end of yet another overturned truck. A rough hand grabbed the back of my neck and the hot barrel of a gun slammed the back of my head.

  “Who the hell are you?” a rough male voice asked.

  I put my hands up, slow. I couldn’t see the guy, but I smelled his musky sweat the sharp scent of cordite from his gun. It gave me the impression it had been recently fired. Which suggested he didn’t mind pointing it at people and pulling the trigger.