by Yunker, Todd
The band left the stage with the muted applause that consisted of snapping of digits. The holo-set changed; now, it gave the stage the appearance of a city park, and the music of a Gene Kelly musical number started as Dancer made his entrance. He started his tap-dancing performance slowly, blending the styles of Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, and Gregory Hines. The audience quieted and watched intently.
Dolk wiggled a bit so he could look at Alec. “I did not know it was a secret. You did not say, ‘Tell no one.’”
Alec punctuated his response with jabs of the fork hard enough to leave dimples in the vest Dolk wore. “Next time you’re asked where to find me, you don’t know anything.”
Dancer’s feet blurred as he approached his grand finale. There was great, digit-snapping applause; the four-legged hoofer had wowed the audience. A scantily clad feline humanoid waitress with a few extra curves on her abdomen came toward the table. Alec eyed her from across the café and smiled. “Little more than the fur she was born with...” he murmured.
She arrived as Dancer got back to the table.
“Hi. What can I bring you?” She smiled an inviting smile as she looked from Alec to Dancer and then to the hanging Dolk.
“A knife?” asked Dolk as he tried to wiggle free.
Dancer glared at him and responded, “Nothing for me.”
Alec leaned in. “I’ll have a Techno Mudslide.” A blank look was her only response.
“Milky Way Mocha?”
“I’m sorry. You must pick an item we have on the menu.”
“Ahamay then. Purple.” She left.
Dancer chastised Alec. “You know you cannot order off the menu, so why do you ask for what you know they do not have?"
“It’s because, one of these times, they will answer ‘Yes. Yes, we have a Techno Mudslide for you,’” replied Alec. “Persistence can take you a long way, my friend.”
Dancer spotted another female creature hawking goods and flagged her down.
She had a cigarette-girl tray strapped to her, only she sold lubricants, software upgrades, and fusion packs. Dancer looked over the tray. “Do you have Zyra Three lubricant?” Dancer picked through the items. He took one and read the label. “Put this on his tab.” Dancer indicated Alec. She nodded and left.
CHAPTER NINE
The amphibian creature in the middle was taking a beating. Bug eyes, long snout, and droopy ears that flowed down to his shoulders made for quite a sight as the Skiptracers continued to pummel him. Worrell used his upper and lower sets of arms to lift the amphibian from the floor and throw him against the wall.
Worrell loved this part of the job. His partner Gino was happy to let him be the aggressor. They were a couple of friendly guys just trying to make their way in the galaxy. Skiptracing was something they had just fallen into. They had been out drinking one night when Worrell had a disagreement with another patron at an establishment. Worrell was in the middle of beating the creature when a group of security agents arrived. They had assumed Worrell was apprehending the fugitive when they arrived. It was just chance that he didn’t have to fight them, too. In the end, they ended up with a reward and figured it was a cool racket. They would find people for credits, and, if they attempted escape, Worrell could beat them. It was their kind of fun.
Gino poured a bucket of sandy material over the amphibian. “You have credits — yes?”
“Yes, I have. P-p-please, no more.” He took a cloth from his boot. “Have this you?” He handed the pouch up to Worrell and crawled away, dragging his injured body behind him.
Worrell took a diamond from the cloth and held it up to the light. “Good. Boss will like shiny stone.”
Worrell and Gino arrived back at their ship. Gino used the communication console. “We have shiny stone for you.” Worrell looked at the screen, filled with the toad-like face of his boss. Kasdan smiled. “Excellent. I have another job for you. The human Shackleton is late with his payment, and I want you to make an example of him. Take his ship and deliver it to me. I will cut you in on 10% of the sale value of the ship as your pay. He’s here on planet. Understand?” Gino and Worrell panted excitedly.
CHAPTER TEN
Dolk pulled against his bindings. “I thought you humans worshiped fortune and glory,” he said. “I have found what millions have dreamt of for more than 9000 standard years, and you treat me like this. You have me swinging around like a child’s toy.”
The waitress came back with the coffee, setting it down in front of Alec, taking special care to show him all her assets. “Anything else… Can I do something for you?”
“Thanks. I think we’re fine.”
He waited for her to leave before smiling and said, “Oh, come on, Dolk. You know what kind of information I want.”
“Yes, but what I have obtained is a star chart to The Eleven Wonders of the Universe” — Dolk struggled even more against his bindings — “including the Chalice of Everything, The Lighthouse of Lanka, and the Emperor’s Hanging Gardens. You can have it for a small fee… Only to cover my expenses, of course.”
Alec looked to Dancer.
“The last time we were here, didn’t we buy a star chart to a world where a race, possibly humans, were looking for others of their kind?” Dancer asked. “The item in question turned out to be a grave marker from Signa Three.” Dancer slowly spun Dolk. “We ended up having to fight our way out of that graveyard planet, full of billions of memorials to the dead and an android army ready, willing, and quite capable of terminating intruders, as I recall.”
Alec smiled darkly. “Yes, very unhappy with us, as I remember. The Quest needed substantial repairs when we finally got back to the shipyard. She doesn’t like getting sent on a yoral chase.”
“The star chart will show you the way to a fortune and glory of the First Ones,” Dolk insisted.
Alec laughed. “What am I going to do with that? My race is almost extinct. I’m running down any lead I can find about a migration of my kind to the stars so long ago that it has become a myth.” He took a sip of coffee. “I need to be with my people, Dolk, and they’re dying off from sickness, age, or the hunts.” He stared into his cup. “I’m looking for a human colony, Dolk, one that can save us.”
Alec glanced at the act on stage. A large white screen rolled out on the stage, lit from behind and showing what looked like the silhouette of a human female. He assured himself that it just couldn’t be, as she bent erotically and became one with the music. The audience’s focus wrapped around the hand that grabbed the screen from the back and pushed it aside, revealing Electra, a beautiful human slave girl. She was tall for a human female, at 175 centimeters. Her slender, tanned, and well-muscled body of an athlete twisted as she performed a slow, rhythmic dance, captivating those in the crowd nearest her. Alec focused on the girl intently. She wore what could be best described as a Turkish belly dancer’s costume. The girl’s face was framed by a green chiffon head scarf or shawl and a face veil embroidered with silver sequins. His eyes flashed over the jeweled, plunging, dark-green silk bra embellished with fringe. She wore a v-shaped belt contoured to her hips, a fuller deep-green skirt designed to display her legs up to her hips and giving her free movement. The arm bracelets that adorned her biceps were silver in color, etched with a central circle surrounded by three rings. Alec saw something that disturbed him — slave anklets.
“Let’s see the star chart,” Dancer demanded.
“I can show you when I get down from here,” Dolk whined.
Dancer’s four appendages sliced through the air with a whoosh. He caught and righted Dolk on the floor next to their table while cutting away his bonds. Dolk patted his body; he took a quick inventory of his appendages and pockets. A piece of highly polished metallic material came out from his long coat. The long, rectangular artifact was covered with small lettering and glyphs — two distinct forms of writing. He handed it to Alec, who had to draw his attention away from the night’s entertainment to examine it closely.
“I saw
such a star chart when we were in the markets of Dios,” Dancer commented.
Dolk sneered, “Not so, not so — this came from a Frontier prospector ship.”
Dancer took the artifact from Alec and scanned it with his instruments.
*
Alec put on his best negotiation face and leaned back in his chair. “I’m afraid Dancer is right. There’s no proof this is anything more than what it appears to be: An out-of-date star chart or tourist brochure.” Alec’s attention was easily drawn away from the discussion. He nodded to the stunning woman heading their way. “Who is she?”
Dolk turned at what had Alec’s attention and then said indignantly, “She is a slave. Come, come — the star chart. Are you interested in the star chart?”
Dancer ignored Dolk and acknowledged Alec’s diversion. “I’m not sure, but from here she looks human.”
“She has been becoming a pain in my side for weeks now. It would teach her a thing or two if she got a new master,” snorted Dolk to himself. “I should be rid of her. That’s what I will do. Get rid of her.”
Alec turned his head quickly to Dancer. “What are you talking about? There aren’t any women within 30 light years of here.”
“And you would be wrong,” replied Dancer.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Koty Union battleships Illia and Saleen appeared from hyperspace outside the orbital traffic above Ferrar. The repairs to Saleen’s hull were temporary, only enough to get them to the shipyard in Union territory.
Captain K’Dhoplon shot a glance at Wolfgang Gray. “You do know him, human. He ran from us and came straight here.”
Gray stood looking out the front ports silently.
Captain K’Dhoplon turned to communications. “Inform the Saleen they are to remain here and continue repairs.” He proceeded to the bulkhead; the doors sensed his presence and opened. The rather large office he entered had a trophy wall displaying a collection of metal souvenirs from craft he’d conquered in battle. Two new pieces were prepared on his desk — one from the marauders and the other from the blockading fleet.
“Captain, sir,” a voice from the wall panel said.
“Yes.”
“We have a transmission from home world.”
“Put it through.”
The screen came to life with the face of Prime Minister Ental. “Captain.”
“Prime Minister. What do I owe the gods for this glorious conversation?”
“Nothing at all. The Exalted One wants a report of your progress. This venture will support the Koty Union’s expansion into other regions of the galaxy; it’s important that we obtain technology and other resources along the way.”
Captain K’Dhoplon knew the truth that so many other races failed to see. It was the Koty Union’s manifest destiny to expand as far as the galaxy’s edge. Then it would be only small jumps to the dwarf and cloud galaxies nearby. Who knows after that? The virtues of the Koty people were the pinnacle for intelligent life and had to be shared with the rest of the galaxy. They had to be shown the error of their ways. It was the Koty Union’s mission to remake the galaxy in their image to bring control and discipline subservient races. Therefore, the Koty Union felt an irresistible destiny to accomplish this essential duty.
“We are tracking a human with possible information of a First Ones’ world,” replied Captain K’Dhoplon.
“You have not captured the creature and extracted this?”
Captain K’Dhoplon reminded the Prime Minister, “The Exalted One sent her pet human to assist us. We will follow her wishes.”
“We live for the One. I understand, Captain. If the creature gets in your way, kill it.” The communication terminated.
Captain K’Dhoplon took his new prizes to the wall and found room to mount them. He took a metal plate off the wall and put it on the table while he organized the collection. The metal plate read “United Earth Survey Ship Mayflower.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact.
William Shakespeare
Dancer returned the artifact to Dolk; the rest of the patrons, still mesmerized by Electra, paid them no attention.
Dolk gestured at the artifact. “Then you explain this,” he said as he tossed it high into the air. The Bouncer spun around and filled the air with the crackle of an energy weapon. The star chart smacked with such force that it buried itself into the wall. The Bouncer grunted and returned to his duty. Dolk climbed up the furniture with a knife in hand and dug it out of the wall.
Dolk got down, using a towel from the waitresses’ station to clean up the star chart, and said, “See, not a mark and no sign of any damage. No heat residual.” He handed it back to Dancer, who ran his test again.
Alec shook his head. “Worthless to me except maybe as a material sample. It might be valuable enough to analyze.” Alec returned his attention to gaze upon the night’s entertainment. He was captivated at once by Electra, who twisted and turned through the tables using the headscarf as part of her dance. One moment it would be wrapped around her shoulders and the next in front of her as a barrier between her and the universe. She paused, head bowed with long, cascading hair, glistening with the perspiration cooling her supple body. She raised her head up, her hair framing her face from above, the face veil below revealing her intensely hazel eyes. Her eyes met Alec’s and held true. In that instant, Alec felt something he had not experienced. Alec’s body warmed quickly to the pounding of his heart. His eyes took her all in. “Beautiful” — the word left Alec’s mouth before he could close it.
*
Electra stopped strategically to get a sense of the room and its patrons; her tactical training had gotten her this far. Success! Electra had wandered through star systems for nearly three cycles, finding nothing. The indignities she had suffered remaining a slave to hide in plain sight had finally paid off. Now here was her quarry, a Rover. She was ready to infiltrate and, if possible, recover the property that the Rovers stole so long ago. Electra sized him up quickly. Handsome yes, but, if he was a Rover, his ancestors had sentenced her people to death. He was with Dolk. She had to find a way to have herself sold to the Rover and leave with him.
Electra continued her dance with a new vigor; there were only a few more tables until she reached an open space. She leapt high into the air to clear the last of the patrons and land on the open floor. A Mirr got up from its table and grabbed her by the waist. The tentacle stock within his mouth slid out and brushed back the hair flutes from his ear trumpets. Electra’s martial art response was so quick and furious the Mirr’s lumbering body crashed back onto the table; she continued her dance.
*
Dancer snickered as the hulking body of the Mirr flailed on the floor. Alec forced himself to look away from the scene and turned back to Dolk across the table.
“What do you want for it?”
“200,000 credits.”
A wave of applause swept through the room as Electra finished. She walked demurely to stand behind Dolk, seated at their table, in an obedience stance, not raising her eyes to them. Electra had to play this just right in giving Dolk a reason to sell her to this Rover.
Alec could not help but notice Electra’s perfume. Warm vanilla spice drifted from her heaving body as she cooled down an arm’s length from him. His breathing deepened as he tried to clear his thoughts. The Mirr picked itself up from the broken furniture and followed her path.
“Is she your slave?” Alec nodded toward Electra. He had made hundreds of deals before, and none seemed to be as important as this. It was impossible that he could be so mesmerized by… a very beautiful woman. I must make a deal with a clear head, he thought.
“Yes, she is. What about our deal?”
The Mirr stood close behind Electra and licked the salt from her hair with its stock. The lick caused her face veil to fall from her face, revealing her features, from her intense hazel eyes to her full lips. Alec’s gaze was met with extreme distres
s by hers. Alec got up from his chair and forced himself in between Electra and the Mirr. Electra moved to a secondary position on the other side of Dolk.
The Mirr looked past Alec, who stood between him and the slave girl, to Dolk. “I will have this slave for a mate.” He tried to push his way past, but Alec stood his ground, ducking the swinging limbs of the Mirr.
Alec kept a straight face and said over his shoulder to Dolk, “Thanks, but no thanks. It’s just a metal sample to me. Any word about inscription pieces?”
Dolk looked down at the star chart and turned to the Mirr. “I’ll sell the slave, so I’ll meet you outside. Cash only — so go get your credits. I need to recoup some credits tonight.” They got up from the table. The Mirr slogged back to its table to retrieve a duffle bag from the floor. The duffle bag was opened, the contents strewn across the floor. The Mirr tried to bend over to retrieve its property but found it difficult and time-consuming.
*
Electra was devastated. She was to be sold to the Mirr. She wavered for a moment. She put on the face veil again and used the shawl to cover her head and wrapped it around her shoulders. Escape was the only option. She would have to do some research, but this Mirr creature would be long dead before he got a hold of her. Electra focused on the man and how she was going to find him again.
*
Alec waited for the girl and indicated that she should go ahead of him. Electra, surprised, hesitated. Alec leaned over to her said softly, “It will be alright — trust me,” and winked at her. Electra felt a flush in her cheeks and then hurried to catch up to Dolk.
Alec, Dancer, Dolk, and Electra wove their way through tables and patrons across the room to the stairs and up. Alec hesitated, stopping for a moment, and looked down at the crowd being entertained by a sentient centipede’s juggling act. The door banged open at the top of the stairs and brought Alec back to the present. They left the crowd behind. Dancer used his night vision to look for trouble as they reached the street. There was no skimmer traffic, and the spaceport transport gate was closed.
