by T. R. Harris
The alien looked around the room and beyond. “We appear to be in cage aboard a freighter of some kind. I can sense the gravity drive at full power. And the guards are armed and attentive. I also see several canisters lining our cell which I can only guess contain liquid nitrogen designed to keep me from escaping.”
“Escaping? Why are we even here?”
“Because you and I are on a mission to save the galaxy, and obviously there are those who wish our mission to fail.”
Pain was sparking in Adam’s brain, causing him to lose his balance. He tumbled forward and was caught by the incredibly quick reactions of the alien. Panur set him on the cot next to him until the dizziness passed. Memories were returning, if they truly were memories. Most seemed too outrageous to be real, more like parts from a dozen science fiction or horror movies he’d seen. But in all of them, he was the star.
A moment later, the pieces had assembled enough that Adam had a pretty good idea what was going on.
“You got your cells back,” Adam stated with a trace of regret.
“That is so, even as I’m still in the process of regaining all my mental faculties. You should not have kept it a secret from me.”
“Hey, I didn’t ask you to leave them in my brain. I didn’t even know they were there until long after you were gone.” Adam set his jaw. “And now that you’re back to full—whatever—maybe now you can be of some use. What happened after the procedure?”
Panur looked around the chamber once more. A couple of other guards had come into the outer room and were sitting in chairs with one eye focused on them and the other—literally—on a pair control panels. They seemed to be waiting for something to happen.
“From what I can gather, we were taken from Siron while still under the effects of the operation. These are local Siron miners, yet they’ve been able to construct a cell that can hold me. They know the effects of freezing my outer body. That is not knowledge they acquired organically. They were instructed.”
“The Klin, the Expansion?”
“It could be one, or both.”
“How long were we unconscious?”
“I do not know. I have been awake for two days, surreptitiously studying my surroundings. Not so surreptitiously now.”
“Sorry, I thought you were dead.”
“Are you at full awareness now?”
“I don’t know. How do you know what you can’t remember?”
“Good point. It tells me I may be a little lacking myself to have asked such a question.” Panur smiled. Even his little lacking was better than anyone else in the galaxy. “They took us while were incapacitated, yet I’ve not seen nor heard any evidence that the others were taken as well. That is good.” He lowered his voice. “I am sure Lila is searching for us. I have confidence she will not let us meet whatever fate awaits us.”
Just then a ship’s officer of some indecipherable rank, wearing a tattered and dirty flight jacket entered the chamber and approached the transparent wall of the cell.
“Here is our opportunity to gather information,” Panur whispered as the pair made their way across the room to face the officer.
The alien was tall and overweight, with what appeared to be gills opening and closing rhythmically on his fat neck. “I am First-Captain Penisor. I hope you find your accommodations satisfactory.” The alien chuckled from his little joke.
“What are we doing here?” Adam asked pointedly. He was in no mood to play the alien’s games. Besides, his head still hurt.
“You are being transported to Formil. After that, I can only imagine.”
“Why Formil; I stole a Human starship.”
The alien looked confused. “I know nothing of that.”
“Then what gives you the right to take us prisoner?”
There was even more confusion evidenced in the alien’s fat face. “I do not understand your line of questioning,” he said. “You are being taken to Formil so the Klin may take possession.”
“Allow me, Adam,” Panur said, stepping into the conversation. “Are you saying we are to be given over to the Klin? For that to have occurred, we must be bargaining chips in a much larger game of war and politics.”
The alien burped, or snorted, or something, frustrated with Panur’s flowery way of speaking. It was above his paygrade.
“All I know is that with your capture there will be peace with the Klin. We also believe a sizeable reward will be presented to the people of Siron for our efforts.”
That’s it then, Adam thought. The Klin set all this up. Obviously they knew of the mutant’s arrival back in the galaxy and were afraid they would figure a way to defeat their machines. Adam looked around the cell and sighed. They were in some deep shit now. They’ll find no allies in the entire galaxy willing to put their welfare above the survival of the galaxy.
And damn, he thought. I was just beginning to enjoy being alive.
Panur was scanning the top of the cell and the canisters clamped to the roof with nozzles placed inside. “You have thought of everything,” he said to the alien ship’s captain.
“It is a simple arrangement, yet it will do to hold you until we reach Formil. It matters not how you are delivered, either conscious or frozen. As for your Human companion, he will surely die if doused in the freezing chemical. Life is not a condition of the Klin in his regard, just his body. So if for no other reason than to avoid his death, do not attempt to escape. The slightest provocation and my crew with activate the canisters. Are we understood?”
“Crystal,’ said Panur.
The alien frowned. “I do not understand?”
“I understand, to the point of crystal clarity,” Panur explained.
The captain gnashed his teeth and bunched his fists. “Then simply say so! Dispense with the verbal…verbal, I do not know what to call it.” The alien then turned and stalked away, mumbling to himself as he went.
“Touchy fuck, isn’t he?” Panur said in perfect Human-speak.
Adam smiled…just as he began to hear voices in his head. He didn’t know if this was a residual effect of having his brain invaded by various mutant aliens, or if he was really in contact with someone mentally. He was still not up to full speed.
“Lila?” Adam said aloud.
“What about her?” Panur asked.
“I think I heard her voice—a voice—in my head.”
Panur led him to the other side of the cell and sat him on a cot. He leaned over close and whispered, “Do not broadcast the fact. We are being monitored.”
“But it’s in my head.”
“You do not recall your brain-interface device?”
It took a moment for Adam to search his scattered memory for what the gray alien was talking about. But then it came to him…at full force. Now the voice in his mind was crystal clear.
Lila! he thought—loudly. Are you there?
Yes, father. So she is his daughter. That memory now flooded his mind. It was all coming together, a bit at a time.
Where are you—
“Are you in contact with her?” Panur interrupted.
Adam nodded…just as Panur took his arm and squeezed unbelievably hard.
Lila, I am here, the gray alien said, the voice appearing somehow in Adam’s mind. Adam’s mind felt like it was a balloon just filled to the point of bursting.
Are you recovered?
Partially. I can still sense the workings within my mind. The healing is taking place exponentially. I should be at full capability within nine hours.
And how is my father?
He is still recovering, but getting better in flashes of memory. Say hello, Adam.
Hello. Adam said, feeling awkward, a mere spectator to the conversation taking place in his head.
I am glad to hear you are recovering, father. Please rest now. Panur and I will carry on from here.
Panur lay Adam’s head on the cot and let his eyes flutter closed. He would rest while the two mutants used his mind as a conduit across light-years.
Where are you?
We are trailing the caravan and military escort. How much do you know of your situation?
Not much that can be verified. Are we part of a peace bargain with the Klin?
That is correct, as is the entire team.
Panur sensed the freighter drop out of the gravity-well at the same time Lila heard the report from Jym. The ship and its escorts were slowing down—then stopping—in the middle of interstellar space.
Do you know what is happening? Panur asked.
A contact has appeared running parallel to the freighter’s course. It is now crossing in front. The convoy is obliging. It is a Klin VN-91.
Are you able to maintain contact distance?
We will go dark and monitor the situation.
Good. I will monitor events from here.
There was panic and confusion on Formil. The Klin ship had intercepted the convoy bringing Adam Cain and the mutant to the planet, without any advanced notice from the Pleabaen. Were they there to provide additional protection during the transit? If so, then why force the convoy to stop? And if they intended to take possession of the prisoners, how would this affect the terms of the peace offer? The pair had been apprehended fully intending to turn them over the Klin. There had been no violation of the terms, as far the Advisory Council understood them.
Communications were opened with the Klin as previously instructed, using various CW relays to mask the location of the Klin base. Cosnin was in a shitty mood when the link was established and the Formilian U’lac began asking questions that seemed to catch the Pleabaen off guard. Once Cosnin got a grasp of the situation, he assured U’lac that the terms of the peace offer would still be honored, even as his forces took the prisoners from the ore freighter. The Klin leader then begrudgingly congratulated U’lac on the swift completion of one of the terms of the agreement. He still needed the others to satisfy it completely.
U’lac assured him that all efforts were underway, yet it was believed the remainder of Cain’s entourage had escaped the planet Siron in a fully-powered trans-dimensional starship.
“This is interesting information,” said Cosnin. “It would stand to reason they would be in pursuit of the convoy and anxious to affect a rescue.”
“I have been informed that both Adam Cain and the mutant are being held in the same cell, under the threat of a freezing agent if they attempt to escape or be assisted in such an action. This would surely kill Adam Cain. It is doubtful Panur would risk that. They are friends.”
Cosnin shrugged off the topic. “Instruct your forces to assist with the transfer, after which your responsibility for these two will be over. Concentrate on acquiring the others and the terms for peace will be met. And as you may already know, my ships have arrived at Crimera and Boschet-Lor. They will soon be arriving at all the Core worlds. The sooner you find the others, the sooner I can withdraw my forces.”
It was quite something to watch as the fourteen-foot-square plastic container holding Adam and Panur was lifted from the storage hold and moved to a huge landing bay aboard the freighter. The ship’s crew was used to moving large and heavy objects, and it showed. But what was even more impressive—to both the crew and the captives—was when the entire freighter was placed inside the huge black starship of the Klin and the cell moved out into a cavernous landing bay. Through their transparent box, Adam and Panur could see how the huge ore freighter was dwarfed by the size of the chamber, which Adam knew was only one of several within the six-mile long starship. The vessel was designed to carry upwards of four million killer robots. The freighter was an ant by comparison to such a load.
The cage was transported to another part of the chamber where a larger and more sophisticated prison awaited. The entrances were matched up and the pair willingly changed venues. There were actual beds in the new cell, along with a food processor and grooming station. All the comforts of home, if one’s home had a roof covered with canisters of liquefied nitrogen.
Adam knew the accommodations were primarily for him; Panur didn’t bother with such trivial things as food, sleep, or even toilets. Adam had an idea what—or more precisely, who—was behind it. When the ore freighter left the landing bay and the VN-91 sank into a deep gravity-well, it was only a matter of minutes before his intuition was confirmed.
“Adam Cain!” said Robert McCarthy as he stepped up to the wall of the cell. “Long time no see.”
“Why Bobby McCarthy, jolly good to see you, old chap,” Adam said in his best Cockney accent.
Robert looked past Adam to the gray mutant now seated on one of the beds, looking vacant and disinterested.
“What’s wrong with him? I heard you were both unconscious when you were captured and that something happened to him.”
“My friend is not himself. It seems the rumors of his immortality have been greatly exaggerated.”
McCarthy frowned. “Bullshit. This is the great Panur no-last-name. You expect me to believe he’s dying?”
“Yeah, it came as a surprise to me, too. I was really counting on him to figure out a way of kicking your bloody ass.”
McCarthy continued to stare at the mutant. “Nevertheless, I’ll keep the two of you locked up in there for the duration. If what you say is true—” Robert burst out laughing. “I can’t believe I just said that. But if it is, then this whole peace-for-mutants program was for nothing. My boss will be relieved to hear that. We have ships either on station or in transit to all the core planets in the galaxy. This thing may be over sooner than we thought.”
“Glad I could help. Anything else I can do?”
“You can just relax and not cause any trouble. Your comatose friend over there may survive a blast of liquid nitrogen, but it would turn you into a six-foot-tall popsicle. That would cheat me out of a perfectly good execution.”
“Damn, you sure do talk like one of us. Too bad you’re not really Human.”
The smile vanished from Robert’s face, if only momentarily. “Good try, Mr. Cain. But I’m just as Human as you are, even if I wasn’t born on Earth. But if things go according to plan, I will die there—of old age—after having ruled for decades. It’s just a matter of time now.”
“If I’ve heard one egotistical, megalomaniac, would-be god, I’ve heard a million of them. When you aspire to such heights, it’s a long fall back to reality. Enjoy the ride down, dickhead.”
McCarthy stared at Adam through the plastic wall, the humor in his voice having turned maniacal. “I shall enjoy devising a particularly creative and painful way for you to die. It can’t be just a simple execution. It will have to be one for the record books.”
He didn’t wait to hear another of Adam’s snide remarks before turning and walking away, almost with a small skip in his step.
Adam walked over to Panur and sat down next to him. He placed an arm around the narrow shoulders of the mutant and pulled him close, comforting him in his time of need.
“What the hell are you doing?” he whispered into the alien’s tiny ear hole.
“Playing dumb,” Panur answered. “And you played your role perfectly, my congratulations. Your friend may actually believe I’m dying.”
“For you information, you were, according to Lila.”
Panur wrapped his short arms around Adam’s waist and snuggled in. “Thanks for your concern, sweetheart,” Panur whispered.
“Don’t get carried away. I may be into aliens, but you’re really not my type.”
Panur ignored the remark and snuggled in closer. “Hold me.”
That’s when Adam broke the embrace and went to the other bed. One of Panur’s eyes sparkled mischievously, as the other gave him a wink.
19
There were only four living beings aboard the VN-91; Adam, Panur, Robert McCarthy and a Klin named Akin. When Robert returned to the bridge, the Klin informed him that Pleabaen Cosnin was on a link and waiting to speak with him. Robert moved to a cabin off the bridge to take the call.
The eyes of
the silver-skinned alien bore into Robert across nine thousand light-years. “Why have you intercepted the Expansion force taking the mutant and Cain to Formil?”
“It was an unnecessary delay. This has cut thirty-eight days off the delivery time.”
“And the mutant is aboard your ship at this time?”
“Yes.”
Robert could see the anger evident in the Klin’s thin, frail body. “You scolded me for sending a VN-91 to Pyrum-3, fearing the mutants may learn of a way to defeat our ships. And now you have taken one inside. How is that a wise decision in any regard?”
“How else were we to transport the prisoners to Vesper?”
“We have other vehicles for the task, other than our prime assault vessels!”
“I have the situation under control.”
“As you have said before. How is the mutant secure?”
Robert was annoyed by the sniveling alien. The Klin may be smart but they had no—he searched for the word—guts, that was it. They were cautious to a fault, and spent too much time planning that they seldom did anything proactive. That’s why they had made so much progress under Robert’s behind-the-scenes machinations.
“He is in a chamber with Cain. Even if he attempts to escape, Cain will die from the freezing chemical. There is a bond between the two. Panur will not risk his friend’s life.”
“So I have heard.”
Robert considered telling Cosnin about the supposed condition of the mutant, but he wasn’t sure if it was real or just another deception on Cain’s part. The monitor before him showed the interior of the cell. The mutant was still sitting on the side of the bed, staring into space and rocking slowly. After a moment comforting the alien, Cain had moved to his own bed and was now attempting to sleep.
Robert decided to tell the alien, if only to calm his concerns with Panur’s condition. “There is something wrong with the mutant,” he said.
“Wrong, in what way?”
