by T. R. Harris
The large black eyes of the native blinked several times. “I do not. He is not the kind you contact. He contacts you.”
“Shit!” Sherri breathed out.
“Pardon me?” Vo’lash said, having heard the transaction through his bug. It came out literally as shit.
“Never mind,” Sherri said. She placed her elbows on the desk, her forehead furrowed, deep in thought.
“How was the transfer accomplished?” Panur asked. “Was it in person, or did it require delivery?”
Vo’lash turned his startled attention to the tall alien.
“The transactions are handled remotely; I have to arrange for delivery.” He leaned forward and began searching his computer. “Delivery is under the guise of normal merchant transactions for non-Aris items.” He stopped and smirked. “I do not have delivery personnel of my own. I hide the shipments within legal cargo.”
A moment later, he had more information.
“It went to the planet Oberqwin and the commercial spaceport at the Sovenyen. The shipment was picked up by the Fosee Group. They are a manufacturing concern.”
“Where is Oberqwin?” Sherri asked.
“It is seventeen-and-a-half light-years from here,” Panur answered for the native. Adam shrugged. At one time, Panur memorized nearly all the Prime planets in the galaxy. He must have had an hour to kill, Adam thought sardonically.
Adam lifted out of his chair and turned toward the door. He stopped when Panur placed his fists on the desk, supporting his V-shaped upper body as he leaned in toward Vo’lash.
“You will not mention this to anyone, nor will you link with Oberqwin. If we learn you have, then we will come back here and rip your body to shreds before feasting on your bloody remains. My friends are Human; you know that is what they do to their enemies.”
“I do?” Vo’lash asked, the incongruity of the statement temporarily overcoming his fear. “That is not what I have heard.”
“Well, you have now,” Panur said awkwardly. “File the knowledge away and do as I say.”
“I will. I have much to lose by speaking.”
“Including your life.”
“I thought that was what I said?”
Chapter 9
“Do you notice that?” Sherri asked as the team stepped out of Vo’lash’s office.
“What?” Riyad asked.
“I don’t know. I was scanning for energy signals and noticed something odd.”
Adam and Riyad accessed their ATDs and did a scan of their own. The interface devices didn’t do it on their own; they had to be guided by the host.
It was there, a signal unlike those coming from weapons packs, electronic controllers and the like. Could it be?
“Dark matter?” Adam asked. He didn’t have much experience with its tell-tale signs. Sure, the supply used in dark-energy starships was evident, but this one was more subtle, but also slightly out of phase with the other signals.
“Panur, you said the signals from Gracilian-built service modules would be so weak they would have to be in the room with us to notice,” Adam said to the mutant.
“That’s right. The newer models carry only a fraction of the material than does a true Aris module.”
“Any idea of the range, because we’re definitely picking up something?”
“Fifty feet, maybe a little more, depending on the obstructions.”
“Then we have a module, and it’s really close.”
“Follow it!” Panur ordered. “It’s here for one reason only, to find the Code.”
The three Humans turned immediately to the right, heading farther along the corridor and away from the exit. If their conversation with Vo’lash was monitored, then they needed to find the service module before it could send a message to Kanan.
Adam activated the Lerpiniere field the mutants had installed in his ATD. Depending on the intensity he created, the sphere of influence could be eight feet in diameter or out to about a hundred. He compromised and gave it half power. The field was effective against the teleportation of the service modules.
The team burst into the room next to Vo’lash’s, surprising the single alien inside. The reaction from the creature was spontaneous, but his expression was blank. It was a slender being about six feet tall and with yellow-tinged skin. The eyes were a brighter yellow, and they twitched with a steady vibration. A second after the team entered the room, the alien tumbled to the floor and then slid across the surface by some ghostly mechanism that defied logic. Then it crashed headlong into the wall, spraying the drywall in blood and electric sparks. It was an android, controlled by the Gracilian service module. And then the most incredible thing happened. The now limp robot slid up the wall, before moving along the ceiling with the body dangling below.
“The module can’t teleport! It’s trapped inside the skull!” Adam yelled.
Realizing that it was not only trapped in the room, but also in the robotic body, the module fell to the floor, taking the android with it. The unit could still maneuver, and it used this feature to bash the head against the hard surface. More of the frame shattered. Another strong hit and the module broke free, bursting out of the fractured skull.
The Humans had their MK’s out, but with the speed of the orb and its haphazard zipping around the room, it was too dangerous to fire. Just then, a long, irregularly-shaped bolt of lightning flared out from the metal ball. It struck first Adam, and then Sherri, before moving along and contacting Panur. The two Humans were on the floor, writhing in pain from the intense electric shock. This was different from a plasma bolt, which caused most of its damage from the heat. This was simply a paralyzing dose of electricity. The effects were intense but temporary.
Panur, on the other hand, lived on pure energy. In most cases, the lightning would be welcome. But he was now encased in a living body not built for such intake of electricity. His internal systems absorbed the energy—as designed to do—and his temperature began to rise. As Adam recovered and picked himself up off the floor, he heard a strange sizzling sound along with a putrid smell. The TeraDon body was being fried from the inside out.
Adam leveled his MK at the service module and fired. It was a direct hit, which broke the flow of electricity into Panur’s body. The orb wasn’t fatally damaged since it could absorb a limited amount of external energy; however, the internal capacitors could overload. The force of the bolt drove the unit away, but it recovered quickly and refocused its attention on the immediate threat, that being Adam Cain.
Fortunately, Riyad let loose with a bolt of his own, sending the hovering orb slamming against another wall.
“Do something!” Sherri yelled from the floor to no one in particular. She was just recovering from her shock.
Adam considered their options, which weren’t many. It would take a lot of concentrated bolt-fire to overload the capacitors in the service module. In the meantime, if Panur pressed the fight, he could burn up the TeraDon body, and without a spare to replace it. Another option: Adam could use his ATD to create a wall of air to protect them, but that didn’t work well within an enclosed space. He would suck out all the air from the room and still not have enough to make a barrier more than one inch across.
Or he could use the static electricity to capture the orb.
He concentrated, drawing in as much of the negative ions in the air as he could to create a cloud of sparkling static electricity. He moved it to the hovering service module, encasing the globe in the flashing blue and yellow light. The orb reacted and tried to move, but Adam firmed his concentration, preventing the unit from slipping away. The lightning bolts stopped. This was working.
The anger took over. Adam began to compress the electric cloud, doing much the same as he did when creating one of his magic carpets of air. The force needed to compress enough air so that he could stand on it was incredible. He was about to see if it was incredible enough to crush a Gracilian service module.
Deformations began to form on the surface of the orb. It v
ibrated with increasing intensity as a loud hum filled the room. Adam steeled his resolve even more, stepping in closer, an insane look on his face as he visualized the orb buckling under his unrelenting force. The spherical shape crumbled, becoming more ragged. The hum grew louder until suddenly it stopped. The sudden silence was like a hole within the room. Adam felt the module lose power, no longer hovering but held in the air by Adam’s electric straitjacket. He continued to squeeze, wanting to compress the object down to—
“Stop!” Panur yelled.
“Why?” Adam questioned, his eyes still locked on the orb.
“The dark matter inside, if you compress it enough, the particles could come in contact, creating a fusion event.”
Adam blinked. The fusing of dark matter particles is what caused dark matter events. They were similar to black holes—like a reverse explosion—a giant vacuum on a galactic scale.
He broke his concentration, dissolving the static electricity ball instantly. The orb fell to the floor with a clang.
“Holy shit,” Sherri said. “That was close. Thanks, Panur.”
“You’re thanking Panur?” Adam said, turning to her. “I’m the one who killed the damn thing.”
“But was Panur who kept you from killing all of us.”
Adam shrugged.
“There must be other orbs,” Panur said. “Kanan would not have sent just one. And not all need be in robotic form. He knows.”
“About the Code?” Riyad asked.
“He’s always known about the Code,” Panur pointed out. “So, either he’s reasoned the Cadonic would know where it is, or he has been tracking our progress. I can virtually guarantee he knows we’re here. And it would be safe to assume he knows what Vo’lash told us. The orbs have wormhole-communications capabilities.”
“Then he knows about the Broker.”
“Let’s go,” the mutant ordered. “The race is on.”
“What about the service module?” Sherri asked.
“Bring it; I wish to dissect it on our way to Oberqwin, to learn more of their weaknesses. Now, hurry. We can’t let any more of these ancillary battles distract us from our ultimate goal.”
Adam snorted. “Tell that to the people—and things—trying to kill us. It’s not our fault.”
Chapter 10
“That’s Oberqwin?” Adam asked as he watched the globe grow in the forward viewport of the old freighter. “It’s beautiful.”
“Looks a lot like Earth,” Riyad said from the pilot seat.
He was right. The planet could be a twin sister of their homeworld, with vast blue oceans, green and brown-tinged landmasses and a generous serving of brilliant white clouds. Although most Prime worlds were similar, this one was different. It was almost too perfect.
“Why haven’t we heard of this place before?” Sherri asked as she stepped next to Adam.
“It’s location is off the traditional trade routes, at the far end of the Kidis,” Panur offered from behind them.
The mutant had been off slightly during the three-day journey to the planet, not being as cocky as usual. Adam attributed the change to what happened with the service module on Cadon. For the moment, Adam hadn’t built up the courage yet to ask the mutant for specifics, but it was apparent he wasn’t happy being dependent on the physical form of TeraDon. It was more susceptible to outside influences, and even those coming from within. Panur often reveled in the absorption of energy, growing stronger and glowing white-hot as more was fed into him. But what would happen if he burned off his outer shell? What would be left? Adam shuddered at the thought. It could be something truly hideous, a formless blob of immortal material. At that point, Panur could undoubtedly shapeshift into something functional, but certainly nothing Adam and the others would recognize. The mutant needed his grey master body. It was designed to carry the essence of his being, freeing Panur to be himself.
At the moment, the mutant was feeling frustration, even an ounce fear. Not fear for himself, but the team. They were in the middle of a critical mission, and Panur wasn’t performing at his best. Adam could see the TeraDon body being retired upon their return, at least for most applications. Lila would insist they keep it around for special occasions.
They were vectoring on the city of Sovenyen in the southern hemisphere. This was where Vo’lash sent his shipments to the Broker, Aboran Forr. There was tension within the team, knowing that Kanan was on the trail of the Code. He or his minions could be on Oberqwin already. If not, he wouldn’t be far behind. Kanan would move heaven and earth to get the Code. He would come with all his service modules, along with any remaining DE ships that survived from his fleet. He needed the Code, and he couldn’t risk Adam’s team destroying it.
Adam and Sherri grabbed hold of the bulkhead to keep from falling as the freighter entered the atmosphere. Riyad mirrored Adam’s concern. He was so anxious to reach the surface that he came in a little hot, pushing the structural integrity of the vessel to its limits. He was a skilled enough pilot to pull it off, and seven minutes later, they sat in a cloud of excessive landing exhaust in the spaceport for Sovenyen.
Armed with datapads and MK-47s, the team was out of the airlock even before the cloud dissipated. They didn’t have time to linger, but as soon as they stepped out from the exhaust smoke, they stopped in their tracks.
“Earth-gravity,” Sherri said.
“And smell the air,” Adam added.
“We need to keep this place in mind after all this is over,” Riyad said. “What a great place to vacation.”
“Vacation, hell,” Sherri said. “Move to. And I like that it’s away from all the crap taking place in the rest of the galaxy.”
Adam laughed. “Yeah, all except for the crap we’d bring with us.”
They rushed to catch up with Panur. He, more than most, appeared to be in a hurry. Adam worried it was from the mutant’s fear of what would happen if Kanan showed up. In the past, he beat the service module by absorbing the energy the orb could deliver and then sending it right back at him. He couldn’t do that now, and not keep TeraDon’s body from turning to ash. Adam felt sorry for him. After five thousand years of being the baddest, most-powerful creature around, he was feeling vulnerable. Not that he could die, just that he may not be as much help as he was used to being. Adam hoped it wouldn’t come down to that. The team needed the immortal mutant genius more than ever. Because of that, Adam sensed a savage determination in Panur—in all of them. There was no time to play Mr. Nice Guy.
They would start with the Fosee Group. It was to the company that the Vo’lash shipments were delivered. They may be innocent of any collusion in the Code affair, knowing nothing of the Broker, Aboran Forr. Or not. Adam hoped not. He was anxious to squeeze information out of an alien, any alien.
The city of Sovenyen was smaller than Adam would have imagined, with a population of only twenty thousand, according to the Library. That was another plus in the planet’s column. He wondered if they needed a new sheriff in town?
The team secured an oversized transport to take them to the Fosee facility. The company manufactured a variety of essential items for the community, including small power units, food processors and composite building materials, but not enough for export. They were strictly a local company, and their modest headquarters reflected such.
Panur led the way through the double-door entrance of the standard-looking box-like building. From what they’d seen of the natives, they were squat creatures seldom over five feet tall. That was standard on many Earth-gravity worlds. It turned out that Humans were the exception rather than the rule. They were taller, stronger and better adapted to the gravity than most others. It was an oddity that made Humans special, even among what should be compatible races.
They were greeted by an accommodating male clerk, one of many sitting at desks in the main lobby. There didn’t appear to be a reception counter. They must not get many visitors, at least those not already familiar with the company.
“Service, p
lease?” said the round-faced native pleasantly.
“We’re here to see Aboran Forr,” said Panur a little too forcefully.
The native was slightly taken aback by the intensity of the question.
“I regret that I know of no employee by that name.” He looked to a side desk and a female worker who also heard the statement. She shook her head, indicating she also didn’t know the name.
“Then I must speak with the main manager for the facility,” Panur demanded. Aboran may not be known to the underlings, but he was probably paying the management to cover up the illegal shipments from Vo’lash.
“I regret that is not possible without prior approval.”
“Is the manager on-site?”
“He is, but that is not the issue. Appointments must be made.”
“Where’s his office?” Panur’s voice grew louder with each question. By now, those in the room had stopped working and were staring at the tall alien with the belligerent attitude.
“Your tone is unnecessary,” said the nervous employee at the desk. “I can request an audience if you tell me what the subject of the meeting would be?”
Although the native was short, he was also thickly built, requiring the muscle mass to move within the planet’s gravity. It didn’t matter, not to Panur. With his extreme reach, he took the terrified male by the shirt and pulled him across the desk, much as he’d done with Kalicar only a few days ago. This was a side of Panur Adam had not seen. He liked it.
Panur lifted the alien with one arm until their faces were only inches apart. “Where is he?”
A trembling arm indicated a hallway to the right. Just then, a pair of uniformed native security personnel entered the room from behind the bank of desks. They were unarmed.
“Deal with them,” Panur said to the Humans as he dropped the alien and set off down the corridor.
The native security officers ran forward after Panur. Adam stepped in front of one of them, blocking his way, while Sherri and Riyad jostled to see who would face off against the other. Sherri won out.
