She pulled a key from cord around her neck and unlocked the door leading out to the roof. Venus twisted the metal knob and grabbed her hat from a hook by the rooftop sign. Once more the intense heat caressed her body, like she’d walked into a sauna. She strode around the edges of the garden plot and across, to one of fourteen support poles with a crank. There, she grasped the handle and began turning it. The gears screeched as the pulleys they controlled stretched a huge awning out across the rooftop. The thing had been a bitch to set up and secure, and it had taken her two weeks doing it alone but it had been well worth it. The awning covered half the roof, shielding her crops and flowers from the blistering midday sun during the really hot days. The cover also provided relief when she needed to work in the garden or she simply wanted some fresh air.
Once the sturdy vinyl awning was stretched out, Venus fastened the crank, and then pushed the plastic containers across the rooftop to her garden. Over in the shade of the small topper building where the door stood, the two creatures and Tonto lay panting.
Venus knelt at the first row of radishes and started picking. “These vegetables aren’t going to hop into the baskets, so I better get busy.”
Halfway through the plot, Venus frowned as a noise became more prominent.
She glanced around her. “Where is that swooshing noise coming from?”
The sound grew louder, and something large blocked the sun. As it passed and allowed the sunshine to bathe the rooftop again, the object drew closer, then shot across the sky, leaving a stream of clouds or mist behind it. The long ribbon of white reminded Venus of the contrails airliners once left across the stratosphere when the world was normal.
The machine crossed the city skyline, growing larger as it approached and roared by, several hundred feet above Venus. It was entirely different from anything she’d ever seen or even read about, something not of Earth. And, Venus realized, it possessed the aura she’d been sensing for weeks.
She froze, slowly following its arc across the silver-hazed sky. “They’re here.”
The ship suddenly stopped in midair just like she’d seen in so many UFO videos. It spun around and lowered between some of the surrounding buildings.
Quiet followed.
Fear sliced through Venus. She snatched a basket up under each arm and hurried to the rooftop door. Running back to the plot, she picked up two more baskets and did the same until she had them all sitting on the landing just inside the doorway.
“Come on, Tonto!”
The dog trotted inside, followed by the other two animals.
She shut and locked the door, leaned against it, and stood panting for a moment. Her heart knocked against her breastbone, and she fought to calm her inner turmoil.
Venus navigated the stairs to the next lower floor, and upon entering the hall, she set the last basket down and jogged down the corridor and into what had been a large office with a huge window. She’d chosen this as her private quarters. Tonto and his comrades trotted into the chamber behind her. Opening a narrow closet, Venus stooped and pushed a series of buttons on a square metal box that looked a lot like a toaster oven. The machine started humming, the noise growing more shrill, until the sound disappeared altogether.
Tonto whined as if asking if she were all right.
“It’s okay, boy.” She patted his head. “I activated the force field just in case someone tries to surprise us by coming up the staircases. Now we wait.”
Chapter Two
The glowing information plates, lights, and halo-screens illuminated the ship’s interior in an array of rainbow colors. Jaxxon set several halo-screens to auto scan and then gathered their survival packs. He handed one to his brother. “Here.” He activated the Trans Shifter rod. “Let’s go, but don’t let your guard down. The computer scan detected hostile life forms in these ruins. The readings reveal human DNA, but there’s a predominance of strange minerals and other genetic makeup that has me convinced we’re dealing with a new strain of life on Earth— one that’s deadly.”
Nodding, Volund strapped the pack to his hips. “Our pets’ tags indicate they’re in the area. It shouldn’t take long to find their cargo box. However, on another note, one thing bothers me.”
“What?” asked Jaxxon.
“I’m picking up signs of only a few survivors.” Volund held a clear, rectangular plate in front of him. He kept his gaze on it, assessing the bright blue symbols that passed across it. “Over half are male.”
“Schizma!” cursed Jaxxon. “If the males outnumber the females, then they’re probably already sharing the women. We might have to report back that mates are unobtainable in this area and move elsewhere—that is, after we find Ino and Ka.” He took the Trans Shifter rod from his brother and placed it against the right side of his neck. “If we can’t find enough females on this wasted planet, we’ll have to start time-traveling sooner than expected.” He sighed in resignation. “I was really hoping for a woman with large breasts and a round ass.”
Laughter rumbled out of Volund. “One matter at a time, brother. We’ll recover our pets first, and then hunt for mates after we find a place to set up camp.”
“I hope Ino and Ka are all right.” Jaxxon pressed the small sensor on the rod.
Immediately, the burn of the Trans Shifter mist flowed into his neck and along his bloodstream. He winced.
“Their location tags indicate their vital signs are good, healthy.”
“That’s comforting.” Jaxxon handed his brother the Trans Shifter. “Is your Slicer activated?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Keep your hand on your weapon should you need it.” “Who’s the elder brother here?” Volund smirked.
Ignoring his taunt, Jaxxon motioned at the Trans Shifter. “Take the shot, so we can go and find our pets.”
Volund nodded and pressed the rod to his neck. He frowned, slipped the slim rod into a slot in his pack, and then closed his eyes. Within seconds, he vanished.
Also closing his eyes, Jaxxon allowed the mist to flow through his body and imagined being outside the ship. Immediately, a light, airy sensation passed through him. A couple seconds of free-floating assailed him, followed by a tingling in the bottom of his stomach. Suddenly, Jaxxon felt hardness under his boots and intense heat on his entire body. He opened his eyes and glanced around at a large open space of black, hard ground. On the far side of the rough, ebony square stood half a dozen scraggly trees, but these wore green leaves instead of the deep purple of Azutu trees. Beyond them, a building of red brick boasted a huge picture of a scantily clad woman hanging onto a golden pole. She smiled down on the parking lot, her eyes cloaked in a come-hither look.
Jaxxon studied the picture for a long moment. If all Earth women looked like that one, it would be difficult to choose a mate.
Movement drew his attention. Volund strode to the black expanse and stepped up on it, stomping his feet.
“What is that stuff?” asked Jaxxon.
Once again, Volund held the glowing plate in front of him. “The computer states it’s what humans called a parking lot. It’s where they left their wheeled ships, their cars, trucks, vans and soovs when they didn’t need them.”
“Soovs?”
Holding out the plate, Volund pointed. “It’s English and means sports utility vehicle.”
“This is one of the craziest worlds I’ve ever visited.” Perplexed by the bizarre language and scenery, Jaxxon shook his head and hoped he’d be able to assimilate.
Volund gestured in the direction behind Jaxxon. “The animals’ tags indicate they’re that direction.”
Jaxxon scowled at the heat assailing his body. He rummaged in his pack, withdrew a thin silver sheet with tiny seeds all over it, and pried one loose. Putting it in his mouth, he swallowed it and handed the sheet to his brother.
“Thanks,” said Volund. He wrinkled his nose and drew in a deep breath. “The humidity here is unbearable.”
Walking with his brother, Jaxxon surveyed the stone
-like structures, long paths of the same substance, and the parking lots. They began seeing more and more old, rusting conveyances, the ‘wheeled ships’ as Volund had called them. The sun beat down on Jaxxon, but soon the seed began to work, and he didn’t worry about sunburn or sun poisoning any longer. However, he wished the seed would do something about the unbearable heat and humidity.
“What sort of woman do you desire?” Jaxxon asked to keep his mind off his discomfort.
Volund glanced at him with annoyance. “Keep your mind on your surroundings, brother. I told you the scanner detected hostile life forms.”
“You can’t look and talk at the same time?” Jaxxon teased.
“Fine.” With the scanner held out in front of him and his other hand poised over his weapon should he need it, Volund shot Jaxxon a mischievous grin. “I want a woman with fair hair.”
“Agreed, and it should be very long so I can tie her up in it.” “Whose woman is this we speak of? Mine or yours?” Jaxxon laughed. “Sorry, go on.”
“I want a female who is tall, one that can look me in the eyes, her legs long, ass firm with padding. I like large breasts, too.”
“She should be very intelligent.”
“Yes,” Volund nodded, “and clever with words so that she makes me laugh.”
Jackson sighed as he studied their new environment. “It’s too bad we probably won’t find such a woman on this desolate planet. I highly doubt any such females exist here.”
“True, but it was nice fantasizing about her.” “How much farther to Ino and Ka?” asked Jaxxon.
Showing Jaxxon the scanner reading, Volund pointed. “I think we take that road to the left, but we’ll have to skirt the structure that has crumbled into it.”
“Let’s go,” said Jaxxon. “This sun is intolerable, even with the aid of the seeds.”
***
Volund sympathized with his brother. Despite what the ship computer readings stated, and regardless of the information given to him by the scanner in his hand, Earth seemed void of human life, especially females.
And he shuddered to think what ghastly women lived in such a desolate world, one that burned the skin, baked the ground, and shriveled the plant life.
Still, Jaxxon was younger and therefore he still harbored hope for the future until proven wrong. Volund only wished he could possess such a freethinking, open mind, too. However, his mate had passed on a long time ago. Finding another woman like her would be difficult, if possible at all. It was one thing to find an attractive female, but to discover one who also stimulated his mind— especially on such an almost-dead planet—would be a miracle.
But oh how he missed Zi-Ahda. Even after ten of Azutu’s star-cycles—he paused and did the math—or roughly sixty-five Earth years, he still thought about how she’d felt in his arms, their limbs intertwined, as they watched the comets zip through the edges of their atmosphere, the bright streaks throwing orange and yellow splashes on the skylight above their bed.
He walked along with his brother, his attention jumping from one thing to another, his body poised to react should danger present itself. The scanner flashed, indicating they’d reached their destination. He stopped and pointed at a large, square structure towering over them with several rows of dusty windows.
“That building?” Jaxxon asked.
He nodded. “Yes, that’s where Ino’s and Ka’s tags are sending the signal from.”
A hiss startled Volund. He simultaneously spun on his heel and drew his weapon, holding it out in front of him. The building the hiss had stemmed from had only one level, but a rectangular door gaped on the left side, and in an area bathed in daylight sat another one of the wheeled ships. Behind it lay a discarded wheel and what looked like metal tools of some sort.
“I heard it, too,” said Jaxxon, wariness in his voice. “I don’t see it, though.”
Beyond the sun’s reach, another hiss slipped from the gloom and drifted into the street. Volund slid his finger over a sensor on his Slicer, and a small scanner materialized over the weapon’s discharge point. The scanner-site flashed blue, cleared, and then revealed what lurked in the darkness.
“Schizma!” Jaxxon drew his weapon, too. “What in the Twelve Galaxies is that thing?”
“I studied some of the ancient life that once existed on this planet,” Volund replied. “It looks like nature crossed a spiked dinosaur with a human being.”
The creature moved forward and stepped into the sunshine. It lumbered out over the stone path and into the road.
“It acts like its sick,” Volund stated.
The thing walked hunched over, its spine tipped with long, deadly spikes, and each time it hissed, it revealed a pair of two-inch fangs. The creature stared at them with solid black eyes void of any whites, and as it drew closer, Volund realized the thing was female. She possessed small breasts with spikes as nipples. The only garment the creature wore was an item made of some sort of cloth that covered what Volund suspected were her genitals, belted at the waist and passing between her legs to her backside.
The creature issued a shriek that startled Volund and his brother. He fired the Slicer. Its tip flashed, and a ball of silver energy shot from its discharge port. The ball flattened into a thin line and sliced the creature in half, with a sizzle like the sound of water hitting a scorching-hot piece of metal. The female creature took two more steps toward them, and then her top half above her waist slid off the bottom half and hit the pavement with a wet, hollow plop that nauseated Volund. The rest of its body collapsed, and blood spurted from both halves of the corpse, pooling on the pavement.
Even as the liquid puddled, the intense heat of the road forced steam from it and the sticky ichor began to cook. The creature’s hands and feet twitched with nerves, and she lay staring up at the sky, her mouth agape.
Jaxxon held one hand over his nose. “What a stench!”
“Let’s go before more of those things show up,” said Volund. “I’m guessing that’s an example of the hostile life the scanner picked up. He motioned for his brother to follow him and strode to the glass double doors facing the street.
Joining him there, Jaxxon asked, “I wonder how Ino and Ka ended up in this structure? The transport box was calibrated correctly, so they landed on the correct road. Besides, the pets couldn’t come out of suspended animation unless the transport box detected intelligent life nearby.”
“Well, the scanner is reading their tags, not the box,” Volund replied, “so that means someone had to have activated the sensor and let them out.”
“I hope our pets are not being held as someone’s food source.”
The worry in Jaxxon’s voice sent a pang of panic through Volund. “Then let’s go inside and find them.” Volund checked his scanner. “First we must deactivate the electrical force on the door.” He studied the box and smiled. “Whoever designed this system was smart, but my scanner will access the code.” The instrument flashed blue, and Volund punched a set of numbers into the box. The electrical field shut off. Carefully, he opened the door and stepped into the dim, cool interior.
“I think the easiest thing would be to trans-shift up the levels,” Jaxxon suggested.
Nodding, Volund kept his Slicer in one hand and the scanner in his other. He closed his eyes and imagined going through the ceiling. The tingles and nausea sifted through his body, and then he found himself standing in a long corridor.
Jaxxon appeared next to him. “Do we go up again?” Volund glanced at the scanner. “Yes.”
They ascended the next four floors via trans-shifting. Standing in a huge room with dozens of odd cubicles without roofs, Volund read the scanner again.
Jaxxon’s body solidified next to him. “Well?” “Ino and Ka are somewhere above us.”
“Then let’s go.”
Closing his eyes one more time, Volund envisioned himself on the level directly above where he now stood. The sensations of teleporting assailed him, but just as quickly as they occurred, he instead
found himself materializing against the ceiling and then crashing to the floor.
A thud, followed by a loud “Oomph!” landed on the floor next to Volund.
“By the Twelve Galaxies!” Jaxxon scrambled to his feet and then offered a hand to pull Volund up. “Why can’t we trans-shift to the final level?”
Once Volund was on his feet, he straightened his pack, meeting his brother’s shocked gaze. “It appears someone is using a force field,” he answered, intrigued. “But the question is who?”
Chapter Three
With her weapon aimed at the floor below her, Venus lay down on the cold tile behind the metal table she’d flipped over for protection. She’d heard a thump under her, followed by grunting, as someone tried to push through the ceiling on their side and into her private quarters.
Her first warning someone had gotten into her home was the deactivation of her security system at the front entrance. Whoever they were had to be smart, so that ruled out the Bone Eaters.
“What if it’s Randle, Tonto?” She trembled as she petted her dog. Lone Ranger and Bella paced back and forth, whining.
“What’s wrong, guys?” Venus frowned.
The male animal glanced at her then started digging at the floor in the exact spot she’d heard the thumps. In moments, both animals dug at the carpet.
“I have a bad feeling about this.” Venus stood with her weapon, crossed over to the odd beasts, and then crouched down in front of them. “You belong to whoever is down there, don’t you?” She looked at the floor and then back at the animals.
Both stopped whimpering and bumped her with their cold, wet noses. “I was hoping you’d stay with us,” she added. “Me and Tonto can always use the added protection and company, but I have no right to keep you separated from your owners.” She turned and walked back to her position behind the table. “I hope your masters are friendly.” Venus pointed her M-16 at the floor and sighed.
Invasion of Her Heart Page 2
