by Scott Moon
Shaunte moved out of the street and onto the sidewalk. She took a breath and tried to appear patient. “Say what you have to say, Jimmy.”
The man nodded awkwardly and took another step forward, seeming a bit more confident. “We all know that you do your best for us with overtime and such. We still have to ask for more pay but we can wait for the regular negotiations. I mean we have to, right? Thing is, that’s not all that matters. The Gloks stay up late at night, don’t think they ever really sleep. Their food smells and they’re just weird.”
Unsure of how to respond, Shaunte clasped her hands in front of her and waited.
Jimmy did the same.
“What are you asking for, Jimmy? Separate living quarters? I wasn’t aware that humans and Ungloks shared the same apartment buildings,” she said.
Jimmy nodded emphatically. “Different buildings, but same neighborhood. We can’t even walk to work without running into a big cluster of them. They dig basements under temporary housing trailers. Why the hell do they do that? Why can’t they just go live in their caves?”
“So what do you want?” she asked, quickly growing frustrated. “I need them where they can do the most work.”
Jimmy looked back at his companions, nervously twisting his helmet. “We’d like a different section for our trailers. Maybe a wall between us and the Glok domicile.”
Shaunte’s stomach tightened into a knot. This quarter was turning into a disaster. First there’d been the collapse at the mine, lost production during reconstruction, medical expenses, three funerals, and a bunch of drunken disturbances during the last week that resulted in several employees not coming to work.
A couple of late nights after payday was to be expected. People had alcohol flu once in a while. The trend now was becoming more problematic than it should have been.
Now they wanted her to build an entire new settlement or wall off the existing settlements from each other. She couldn’t begin to imagine the expense. “Well, Jimmy, I will take that under advisement.”
“That’s probably not gonna be enough.” Jimmy looked her in the eye, almost apologetically. “I like you and so does my crew. I’m just saying that you should be careful. This is real serious.”
“I know it is, Jimmy. For now, I need you and your friends to get to work. I can’t provide anything for you if the company goes bankrupt.”
Jimmy nodded and backed away. Some of the group grumbled, but they shuffled toward the transport buses and headed for the mines.
Shaunte made her way to the market, hoping to find something to improve her mood. Shopping at Darklanding was not the same experience as it was back home. At this point, she was ready to buy anything that looked like women’s clothing regardless of style or size. She just couldn’t understand how this housing crisis had come out of left field. Neither humans nor Ungloks had ever complained before. They avoided each other and that was that.
She walked to her office, thinking of simpler times. Nothing had been easy since the new sheriff arrived. The day was unseasonably warm. She pulled at the collar of her blouse to get some air. The breeze caught her in the face and smelled like a pig farm. She hated the livestock transport days. Next time, she would mark her calendar and stay inside.
A crowd of the new workers that had been causing so much trouble gathered near the bar and bought drink after drink. She wanted to call Sheriff Fry, but was annoyed with him for reasons that didn’t make sense even to her. Ike, mercifully, hadn’t arrived yet. She knew he would be here sooner or later because he was another problem on her long list of problems.
The new girl sat at the bar, now properly dressed in a short skirt and tight top that revealed her shoulders and midsection. Shaunte wasn’t a fan of the establishment. Even if she could bring herself to get along with Dixie, she found the whole idea of the brothel to be repulsive. Pierre convinced her that getting rid of the place would be a mistake, and that previous managers had tried that and nearly shut down the entire operation, mines and spaceport included.
The delicate, innocent face of the new girl grated on her sense of morality, such as it was. To Shaunte’s educated eye, the youth was not as innocent as she pretended to be. Shaunte expected the young woman was from a life of privilege.
She was probably a spy from a rival family. Shaunte ignored her and went to her office.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Big Trouble
Thaddeus leaned as far back as he could in his chair, feet propped up on his desk. Scorched around the edges, the chair was sturdy.
Kind of like Sheriff Thaddeus Fry.
He flipped the pages of a novel he had found among a stack of others in one of the nightstands—something about vampires in space. Whoever lived here before him wasn’t very selective. The pages were worn and dog-eared, and the cover was half ripped off. The events of the last few days seemed less urgent. For the first time in a long time, he felt his perspective had improved, and he was ready for anything.
His data pad chimed in the pocket of his duster where it hung with his hat on a hook near the door. He crossed his tiny hotel room office and answered it. His features froze for an instant, and then he was galvanized into action.
“Calm down, Mast,” he said, reaching for his gun-belt. A moment later, he rushed down the stairs, out the door, and headed for the loading docks without buttoning his shirt or grabbing his coat.
Miners and dock workers arrayed themselves across the street leading to the first landing and takeoff area of the spaceport. A hundred meters beyond the scene, sitting in the background like a harbinger of doom, was the ship that never took on cargo or passengers.
Thaddeus’s first thought was of Roman soldiers in a shield wall. The image faded as the mass of men, mostly, ebbed and flowed like an angry wave. A few of them had crude signs. Most simply pumped their fists in the air.
“Better pay! Separate and safe!”
Thaddeus found Mast, who had been smart enough to stay in the shadows of the ugly scene.
“I understand the first part. What are they talking about, separate and safe?” Thaddeus asked.
The emerald green eyes of his Ungwilook deputy glimmered sadly. “They do not wish to live near my people. This is a thing that should make me happy but does not.”
“How the hell are they going to do that? Build a new town?” Thad exclaimed.
Mast shook his head and looked at his feet. “I went among my people and told them to go underground, stay inside, be quiet.”
“Good call, Mast.” Thad hung his head for an instant before looking up, determined to finish this.
He counted the crowd and looked for Ike and his cronies, then put his hand on Mast’s arm. “Labor problems always happen. The job is too hard and the pay never seems like enough. Humans want social hierarchy even when they say they don’t. Hard times seem easier to some people when they know someone has it worse off. We’re hypocrites, Mast Jotham.”
“As we are very muchly sometimes,” Mast said.
Thaddeus reached for the pocket of his duster and realized he’d left it behind. Wind from beyond the edge of Darklanding, musty and warm for the season, but still cold and cut through the streets, sending a chill to his bones while kicking up dust. He found his data pad in his pocket. The old thing had a perfect signal. He dialed Shaunte’s number but didn’t send it.
“Have you seen Ike or anyone familiar?” Thaddeus asked.
“All of the people of Darklanding are familiar to me. Memory of faces is muchly like the mathematics of my people. Easy and simple. Many of these workers are known to me,” Mast said.
“He’ll be here.” Thaddeus watched the crowd, listened to the chants, and looked for trouble.
He didn’t have to wait long. A small cadre of older miners and dockworkers marched in a double column toward the work buses. They looked like hard men, unhappy with the circumstance but determined to get paid.
The crowd parted before them to reveal Ike. Grim as his scarred face and bare-chested, he stood with his
feet shoulder width apart and brass knuckles covering each fist. Scars crisscrossed the muscles of his chest and upper arms. He smiled wickedly to reveal his missing front tooth.
“You don’t want to work today,” he said. A line of men meandered from the mystery cargo ship, their eyes never leaving the group attempting to cross the picket line. They gathered behind Ike. Some were bare to the waist to show scars and prison tattoos. Others wore their jumpsuits with the precision of former soldiers. They were men who appeared bored yet ready for anything.
Thad put a hand on Mast’s shoulder. The Unglok looked at him questioningly.
“Ike’s brought a company of professional tough-guys. And there’s way too many people in that crowd looking for an excuse to spin out of control.” Thaddeus stepped out of the shadows but did not draw attention to himself on his section of the loading dock. Most of the action was happening on the platform across the sea of humanity. He searched for Shaunte or any of her direct employees and prayed that she had stayed home.
“Don’t you people realize how bad they need us?” Ike asked.
The leader of the men crossing the picket line lifted one hand and the column behind him stopped. He spoke to Ike. “Everyone knows that. It’s all we talk about in our cups. I also know I need to send money home to my family. One way or another, this is going to end with us working and getting paid. Your problem with SagCon is not my problem.”
Ike held his hands to his chest in surprise. “It’s not my problem. I have an intergalactic work visa. I’m not stuck on this back-system planet. Can’t say that about everybody here, though.” Ike looked around to drive a wedge between the people, create the conditions favorable to his brand of negotiation.
Shaunte arrived from the transportation hub and stood with several other workers from SagCon.
Ike looked up at her, a cocky smile covering his face. “I’m doing you a favor, Shaunte Plastes. You can’t afford to keep paying extra when a company doesn’t care about us. Your daddy might be rich, but that money well is going to dry up, and then where will we be?”
Thaddeus moved quickly to reach Shaunte’s side. At the end of the loading and unloading platform he had been occupying with Mast, he had to jump a ten-foot gap to reach the Company Man. He reached back to Mast to give him a hand. The tall alien stretched out easily and pulled himself over.
“You shouldn’t be here. This is a mistake,” he said.
“Would you have me cower in my office?” she asked, cocking her head slightly. She gripped his forearm. “If this gets out of control, I doubt that will be any safer than where I am now.”
Somebody shouted. Thad turned and saw Ike punching one of the strike-breakers. He rained down a flurry of fists that sent blood spraying across the front row of the crowd.
“Do something!” Shaunte said.
Thaddeus didn’t like the high pitch to her voice. He shook his head slowly. “That’s a trap, and even if it wasn’t a trap, it’s strategically and tactically impossible. One man can’t break up an entire riot after it starts.”
“One man will have help from his deputy,” Mast said. “My people can come out of their houses. That might distract these men.”
“I don’t like that, Mast. The Ungloks are not very popular right now,” Thaddeus said.
“I will not ask them to fight, but merely to stand by and then retreat if something happens,” Mast said.
Thad scanned the area. The loading docks were part of a paved surface where trucks and other vehicles could be parked to load or unload materials. Some of it went straight into the shipping area on rails. He had some room to work, but not much.
“Can you move the crowd a little bit to that side, maybe get them away from Ike so I can deal with him one-on-one?” Thaddeus asked.
“My people will try.” He slipped into the shadows between pre-fabricated buildings.
Shaunte shifted her weight foot to foot and lifted one of her manicured fingernails to her face. At the last moment, she pulled her hand down and set her jaw. “This is getting serious.”
Thaddeus lifted one eyebrow at her. “Wouldn’t want you to resort to nail-biting.”
She put her fists on her hips. “I want you to do something.”
“No one wins if I rush to failure. I don’t like this any more than you do.” Thad furled his brow, anxious to do something, but having to wait until the right time.
Shaunte studied him. Her eyes widened in alarm. “You’re enjoying this!”
“No, Shaunte. I’m not.”
She held out her slim hand. “Look at me. I’m shaking. About to pee myself. You merely look interested, like this is a challenging puzzle.”
He stepped past her so that she couldn’t read his face. “It is a puzzle. We may see the pieces scattered across Darklanding soon.”
Mast and his people arrayed themselves on one of the flanking docks near a heavy equipment zone. The crowd shifted but didn’t move much. Ike, on the other hand, made a mistake.
Mast motioned for his people to spread out on the raised platform as Ike marched toward them. Ike’s mercenaries held their position blocking the strike-busters’ forward progress.
“Interesting,” Thaddeus said. “They’re disciplined and probably well-paid, but probably not loyal to Ike.”
“How can you tell?” Shaunte asked.
“They’re doing a job and nothing extra. Wait here, Shaunte, I’m about to do as you asked. Something.” He ran along the platform, dropped to the ground, and sprinted to block Ike. Miners and dockworkers surrounded him on two sides. A bit farther away was the confrontation between the strike-busters and the mercenaries from the ship. The space around Thad and Ike grew larger until the showdown was clearly a one-on-one event.
He glanced at the mercenaries and saw no sign they would interfere. I don’t think that many of you want to be here.
“That alien freak is trying to stir up a riot! You’ve got to lock him up, lawman,” Ike yelled.
“Alien? We are still on Ungwilook, right?”
Ike cursed him. “You know what I mean, lawman. They ain’t even human.”
Thad grabbed him while he was talking, yanking one arm behind his back.
Ike spun out of the hold and swung a roundhouse punch at Thad’s face.
Thad ducked under the punch, then thrust his right hand up and grabbed Ike by the throat. Driving his hip sideways, he swept his right foot back, tripping Ike and slamming him to the ground.
“Stay down, Ike,” Thad said.
Ike strained against the grip, face turning red and spit flying from his clenched teeth. “I warned you. I warned you again and again. Can’t push these people forever. Go ahead and learn the hard way.”
“These people?” Thad asked. “That’s right, you’re just hired muscle. What I find interesting is that you predicted this.”
“Can’t. Breathe.” Ike gasped and struggled against Thad’s iron grip.
Thaddeus dragged Ike up and pushed him against the wall, where he cuffed his hands behind his back. People milled around uncertainly. Someone yelled and cursed. A few voices agreed with the new rabble-rouser.
Ike laughed even though his face was pressed against the wall. “I hope you’re a good soldier, because you suck at this.”
Thaddeus leaned on him. “That won’t do you much good if you push me.”
“You can’t just call down reinforcements this time, lawman.”
The crowd began to chant. “Let him go! Let him go! Let him go!”
Thaddeus looked over his shoulder while still holding his prisoner pinned to the wall. He faced forward, thinking furiously. Ike laughed even louder.
“They are all cheering for him now,” Mast said. He shifted his weight foot to foot and wrung his hands as he studied the growing mass of humans. “I cannot tell the difference between those who are refusing to work and those who were accepting double pay. Everything is getting mixed up.”
The mercenaries shifted back without a word, a planned movemen
t or some merc version of an immediate action drill. Thaddeus didn’t have the time or resources to go after them now.
He clicked on his recording device, disguising the movement by leaning on Ike one last time. His own plan now in place, he walked Ike roughly to jail. “Let’s go through the building so we don’t have to face the crowd.”
“A very good idea,” Mast said. “I will be watching your back.”
“It doesn’t matter now, lawman. I’ve just become the hometown hero and made you the invader.” Ike laughed, turning it into a sneer. “You know what the really great part is? Compared to the Ungloks, humans have it good here. When I showed up, they were all talking about the money they were making with overtime.”
“Shut your mouth and keep walking,” Thaddeus said.
“Shaunte is a fine piece of work, a real looker. But you should tell her to get out of the corporate world. Her replacement is already on the way and this could be a dangerous place for the next few months,” Ike said.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Thaddeus asked.
Ike snorted derisively. “You really are a shell-shocked grunt. Her family has enemies. Her rich daddy has enemies. Do you think you’ve beaten me? I played you like a cheap guitar.”
“You are very wrongly wrong,” Mast said.
Ike spat at the Unglok’s badge. “You disgust me, you tunnel-digging savage. Learn to talk.”
“Perhaps my people should take this prisoner down to a deep, dark cell,” Mast said.
Fear exploded in Ike’s face for the first time. “Don’t you dare, you stupid Glok. That would start a war, a real war, and then you’ll see what happens!”
Thaddeus pushed Ike forward. “You’re my prisoner for now. I still don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“You’re dumber than you look, lawman. I was sent to start this strike so I could break it later. I’m not getting better wages for these back-system losers, I’m driving their wages down. By the time I’m done, Shaunte will be begging her daddy for help and the miners will be glad they even have jobs at all.”
