by Foxx Ballard
Rusty reached back to draw Buck, but the Chakran jammed the pistol under the side of Keena's jaw.
“What are you doing?!” the girl asked, surprised. “I thought we were on the same side?”
“You have value to them,” the Chakran stated, then turned towards Rusty, keeping its head behind hers. “Lay down your weapon. You will join the colony.”
He hesitated, so the Chakran drove the muzzle of the gun under Keena's jaw and squeezed her tighter around the throat with the other arm.
“Call off your attack or we kill the girl.”
Rusty believed it was possible, as the Chakran was obviously willing to hurt her, but he still wasn't willing to give up Buck. He’d had enough of giving in to others that were willing to take advantage of him.
“Shoot h—” Keena started to say, but her throat was constricted as soon as she started speaking.
Another Chakran arrived, this one with a spear. With a momentary assessment of the situation, it pointed the spear at Keena as well, rather than Rusty.
The girl couldn't breathe either, and she was starting to struggle, her eyes open in desperation. Rusty was going to have to act one way or the other. The indecision was nerve-wracking. If he didn't act, he was giving up, just like he had with his family. He had made a choice to not rescue them for fear of them being killed, which resulted in him never seeing them in person again. His memories of their loss brought grief and regret to his mind. But if he acted, and they killed the girl, would he be able to forgive himself? He shuddered, thinking of the torture the navigator of the worm had suffered. Could he risk negotiating with a race that didn't value the lives of their allies? A line of blood formed on the girl's neck from the claw of the Chakran that held her. That decided it for him.
“Don’t hurt girl, I give up.” Rusty sighed with hopelessness and fell to his knees while holding his hands up in the air. “Let girl live.”
The Chakran released Keena and instead trained the laser pistol on Rusty, as did the one with the spear.
Keena took a step away from the ant-men, her face locked in disbelief, as she held her own injured throat protectively with one hand. “You would have killed me,” she finally managed to croak out.
“We must be willing to sacrifice ourselves for the betterment of the hive.”
“Shouldn't that be my choice?”
The Chakran looked at each other before they looked back at her and answered in unison.
“No.”
“You joined the colony…” said one of them, as if that was all the explanation that was necessary.
“Take your weapon off,” the Chakran with the pistol said to Rusty.
The other one turned to Keena. “It is a great honor for one to give their life for the Queen. None of us would hesitate.”
“But… the worm drivers… tortured…” Rusty pleaded, looking for empathy, but the Chakran faces were incapable of expression. Of course they didn’t need expression. It seemed like they all felt the same way. Serve the Queen. Unable to think of a way out of the situation, Rusty slipped Buck from his shoulder and placed the weapon on the ground. He felt hopeless.
“We are not compatible to merge with the worms, so we take others as necessary. The mind-speakers are the best, but most humanoids work effectively. It has always been done this way, since we discovered the worms can merge with others. The benefit of the many outweighs the needs of the one as we all do what we can for the Queen.”
“Torture okay?” Rusty shook his head and kept his hands up in the air for fear of being shot.
“No, it’s not!” Keena shouted as she kicked the Chakran that had choked her on the side of his leg. The Chakran collapsed as his knee snapped. Even as it happened, Rusty saw his moment and snatched up Buck, shooting both of them in the chest before they had a chance to react, and then once each in the head when he’d gotten to his feet. As Buck hissed steam in his hands, Keena pried her pistol from the dead Chakran’s hands and then holstered it.
Keena gave him a satisfied smile. “Consider me rescued.”
#
Rusty deftly avoided the bladed leaves as he ran, marveling at how well the girl kept up with him. She was almost as fast as he was and was just as quiet.
“We need to see if we can get to Chais. I lost sight of her during the battle,” Keena managed to get out between breaths while they ran.
Rusty stopped running and turned to face the young woman. “Chais picked up by military, fighter.” He made hand motions of something getting picked up and then waved the hand to the sky.
Keena cocked her head at him. “Is that what the roaring-bird is called? Milltarryfytor? My people never told stories about metal birds. I didn’t know they existed. I saw it fly down and pick up something, but I didn't realize it was Chais.”
Rusty nodded. “It Chais.” Her limited knowledge of technology made sense. She had been born here. Like many of the villagers, he had met with Zondra and Karnij. Now he was wondering how Karnij was doing. She wouldn’t know they were on a different continent now.
“Well, let's get Drak and Hirk then, if we can. Then we can get away from Chakran. I doubt there are many left on the ground.” She looked up at the sky covered in worm-carriers. Rusty followed her gaze. Several hives were still surrounding the one driverless hive, but others were starting to lower in altitude. “And we should get out of here soon, before any of the other hives get low enough to shoot at us.”
The clearing had become eerily silent. Carefully they approached the open edge, the two moon slivers lighting the clearing. Bodies littered the field, most of them Chakran, their yellow blood almost glowing in the dim light.
Synth-E-Uh, Mogul and Jack had all convened to one location. There didn't appear to be any enemies left.
“Hirk!” Keena called out, running to a body in the field, one with chrome armor and wings. He was not moving, and his armor had horrible dents in it, which meant he was never going to again. Beside him lay his chrome shield, with a large split down its center, and nearby were pieces of his sword. “He never even had the chance to help us. He was one of the good ones. He was going to try to convince his people that slavery was wrong.” Keena gently placed one hand on the still arm of the big man, while her other hand unconsciously fingered an amethyst medallion with copper lettering that hung around her neck. “Thank you for wanting to help,” she said as a tear slipped down her cheek. “First Chais, and now Hirk…”
“Me not know he friend…” Mogul quietly rumbled.
Angel landed beside Rusty, stimulating his pleasure center for a moment before stopping herself and giving him an apologetic look. Sorry.
No, I’m sorry. We’ll have to talk at some point. I never expected to see Zondra again.
I know. She smiled and affectionately patted him on the head. He could smell that she was excited, though she was probably holding a lot of it in. And if he wasn’t her outlet, who would be?
“No time for this!” shouted Lais as she arrived carrying Zondra, gently putting the Vesuvian woman down beside her. Zondra’s ankle had been fixed, but she was still being carried.
I healed her ankle, silly, and she doesn’t have shoes. Not everyone has leather feet like you. Angel winked at him. He couldn’t help smiling in return.
Lais took command. “They’re almost within musket range. We need to get out of here fast, back to the airship!”
“You all go back, I have to find The Boss,” Rusty said, as he helped Zondra step up onto Synth-E-Uh so she could sit safely behind the droid’s grill. “I follow shortly.”
Keena paused a moment, looking unsure of what to think of the large shining combat droid, until Synth-E-Uh held out an arm to her as well, so she took it and stepped up to sit beside Zondra.
“Me go Rusty too,” offered Mogul.
“Is anyone else going with them?” Lais looked at each of them in turn. When Jack put up his hand, Lais just shook her head. “We’ll need you to operate the ship, Jack.” She then turned to Rusty and M
ogul. “We’ll wait at The Maiden for you as long as we can. And try to lose them if they are following you.” Without waiting for an answer, she took off running in the direction of where they had anchored the airship. Angel flapped into the air, and the rest followed Lais shortly after, leaving Mogul and Rusty standing in the clearing alone amongst all the bodies.
Rusty looked up at Mogul, and the giant nodded down at him. So they were ready. He had seen roughly where Mogul had batted The Boss into the forest. If he was still alive… he didn’t even know what to ask him anymore. He would think of something when he got there. It hadn’t occurred to him what he would do when he confronted him.
Together, they ran through the clearing. Rusty was agile and could easily vault over stumps and duck under tall bushes. Mogul, on the other hand, was like a speeding bulldozer driving in one direction, and there wasn’t much that was going to stop him. Occasionally, he would step over a stump, but sometimes he just kicked them to the side, throwing up rocks and dirt as the roots tore free.
When they got to the area where he had seen the dragon fall into the forest, Rusty relied less on his eyes and more on his smell. As usual, it paid off. The dragon was close.
Rusty spotted him on the ground, his tiny body leaning up against a tree. He was licking a broken wing, a bright orange line of melted crystal briefly glowing along the wing each time he did so.
“Me sorry, Drak,” Mogul apologized. “But you breathe fire.”
Drak stopped licking his wing. “That I did, you big lug, but I tell you what, you protect me and get me away from the Chakran, which will be on us soon judging by how fast they are descending, and I will get you off the planet. I can’t fly right now, but with you I wouldn’t need to.”
Rusty’s ire was growing. The Boss, or Drak, as Mogul had just called him, didn’t even seem to recognize who Rusty was, so he decided to interrupt.
“The B—Drak.” Well, now that he was getting his attention, what was he going to say? “You know me?” Rusty felt dumb for not coming up with something better to say.
“Should I?”
“You take my family away… you threaten to kill them…” Rusty growled.
Drak was silent for a moment, and he looked up as if in thought. “Oh, yes! The Goblin computer technician. You allowed me to kill two birds with one stone. Discredited my political rivals, and got us a free trip here, no questions asked. And that’s exactly what I needed to get my hands on that Technoid. No questions asked. Extortion was necessary because you wouldn’t keep in line. But that’s all in the past now.”
Rusty leveled Buck at Drak, but Drak seemed unconcerned.
“That a laser weapon? I can see the lenses from here. That won’t work on me.” Drak’s scales became translucent with a purple tinge to them, and this revealed his glowing core. “What’s done is done. Tell you what, I’ll give you the same deal I just gave Mogul. Get me safely away from here and I can make sure you have a free ride back home. Maybe throw in enough money to give you a comfortable life. What do you say?”
Images of Zondra and Angel ran through Rusty’s head. And his family. And Drak didn’t even care about the pain he had caused.
“My home here now.” All the pent up anger built up until he was gritting his teeth, and then finally he pulled the trigger. VRAMP! The beam of the laser was bright and nearly the same size as the dragon. Except the beam split and refracted when it struck Drak’s scales. Drak’s core glowed brighter for a moment, but aside from a colorful flash, there was no other discernible effect.
“Target hit, core temperature increased,” Buck relayed to them all. “No physical damage, would not suggest firing again.”
Drak’s look became stern. “I gave you your chance.”
Rusty dodged to the side as the dragon spit fire, but even though he missed Rusty by inches, it burned his skin like he had fallen into a campfire. Fear took him. He couldn’t stay close or he was going to get fried. A second blast followed almost immediately, and Rusty was forced to backpedal so fast he tripped backwards over a root. The fall would be his end. He caught a glimpse of a smirk on the dragon’s face before he breathed for a third time. Rusty closed his eyes, expecting to be burned alive. The moment never came. He heard the blast of fire, but he was unfazed by it. Rusty risked opening one eye and saw that Mogul had fallen to the ground sideways to put his body between Drak and Rusty. With two hands, Mogul cupped Drak’s body so completely that not even Drak’s tail was visible. And then he squeezed.
“No! What are you doing? I’m your ticket out of here! I’ll make you rich when you get back to Earth! I’ll give you—” There was a loud crack and then bright orange light escaped from every crack in Mogul’s tightly closed hands. The giant roared in pain, even as his own fingers started to glow from the intense heat, heat that Rusty could feel. To Mogul’s credit, he didn’t open his hands until all that poured out was chunks of crystal and magma which smoked and hissed when it dripped between the giant’s fingers and hit the forest floor.
Mogul roared in pain, and shook his hands to free them of the Drakkenfang blood, causing a few small fires to burst up where the super-heated droplets hit. Thankfully, he also had the presence of mind to stomp them out, but he held his hands out in front of him with his fingers spread, obviously in pain, as he huffed and groaned.
“Thank you,” Rusty said meekly, feeling guilty that he had instigated that fight. Well, not really. It had been a long time in coming. But he still felt guilty.
“Sorry about hands.”
“Drak hurt family.” Mogul shrugged, still holding his hands out in front of him. Rusty didn’t really know how damaged they were. They looked normal, but he couldn’t see past the rocky skin. “Hop on.” Mogul turned his back and knelt to the ground in front of Rusty.
Rusty did as he was told, wrapping his arms around the brute’s throat and wedging his toes between a few of the rocky scales on the giant’s back, and Mogul took off at a run, swatting at branches with the backs of his hands to keep them from slashing Rusty’s exposed skin as they crashed through the trees Ramogran style.
#
At the rock-ogre’s ground-eating pace, the trip riding Mogul took far less time than it would have for Rusty on foot. Occasionally Mogul would bite into a leafy branch that he would let swipe across his face, but it wouldn’t slow the thunderous footsteps that pounded their way through the forest.
They caught up to the others after about an hour. They had actually passed them, but Rusty caught their scent and steered Mogul in the right direction.
“We heard you coming,” shouted Lais as Mogul and Rusty approached. She continued to run, since it didn’t appear Mogul was going to stop. “How did it go?”
“Drak bad. Dead. Hurt hands.” Mogul held his hands out to show them, though no damage could be seen.
“Hold up!” Angel called out, and then she landed in the middle of them as they all stopped.
“If I heal your hands, can you carry me, Mogul? I will be tired afterward.”
Mogul nodded in response, and Rusty dropped down off the giant’s neck. There was space for him to squeeze in between Zondra and Keena on Synth-E-Uh.
When Angel held Mogul’s hands in hers, she let out an exclamation of pain, and then she closed her eyes and concentrated, her jaw tight with the strain. Soon after, Mogul was wiggling his fingers again, just in time to catch Angel as she slumped in his arms. Gently, he wrapped her up in her wings and cradled her like a baby,
“We go, Rusty good?”
Rusty gave Mogul a thumbs up, and then grabbed Zondra’s hand, turning to smile at her. She returned the smile and squeezed his hand.
“Master Rusty!” Jack shouted and rode up beside Synth-E-Uh. “I’m so pleased you returned! My uranium rods tingle at the thought of being in your presence again!”
“Umm, thanks?” Rusty replied with a raised brow, not knowing what to make of that. “We all talk later. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Rusty: A
ftermath in the Forest, Farrun
The flat deck of the airship was just as they had left it. The massive balloon above was still inflated despite the laser holes, which they would have to repair when they had time to relax.
Rusty thought it was going to be a problem to get everyone back up to the airship deck, but Mogul had no difficulty climbing the tree, and then the ship’s anchor rope, to get himself onto the deck. When onboard, he grabbed the second anchor and threw it down to them. He pulled each of them up one at a time without any sign of straining, including Synth-E-Uh, and she must have weighed a couple of tons. When the last of them was up, Mogul jerked twice hard on the anchor rope, tearing it free from the tree.
Angel simply flew up to the deck on her own, but she still looked exhausted. By the time Rusty got on board, she was sitting wrapped up in her wings near Jack. Her head was tucked in, so she must have been sleeping. No answer in his head told him it was likely so.
Though he was tired too, he was hungry and thirsty, but he ignored that for now, as with the ship rising, he wanted to watch the ground shrink beneath them. That was always exciting for some reason. The horizon to the east was growing brighter from the sun that would eventually rise from there. Zondra joined him with a happy, although nervous, smile, and put one arm around his shoulders as she clung to the railing with the other. She didn’t like the looks of the ground sinking away beneath them, and she finally sat with her back against the railing when she couldn’t look anymore, so he sat beside her. He missed her smell, and it was comforting to have her close.
Lais stepped up near them, but just gave a nod. She obviously didn’t want to interrupt them as she paid them little mind and she too watched the ground receding.
Keena was running from rail to rail in excitement. “How is it that we can do this?! And why is there a big hole in the floor that anyone could fall through? And where did you get it? It looks like it’s falling apart…”
