“Yes, but the Zentadon on Galaxia also pay the prolies to grow it for us.”
“Do you miss it?” she asked softly. “Ganesh, I mean?”
“There are times,” I admitted. “Have you been there?”
“No.”
“If it were not for the cloud cover, if we could see the stars, I would point it out to you.”
“Could we also see Earth from here?”
“If we knew where to look. Do you miss Earth?”
“I have never been there either, but I have seen movies and visited through VR.”
“It is a magnificent planet, seen from space.”
She gave a start. “You have visited? How is it? Is it as ruined as they say? Is there still the aftermath of the war contamination?”
“No one lands there anymore, Pia. Parts of it are still uninhabitable, populated by dreadful and savage mutants. Still, there are isolated points where Humans have struggled to make a comeback. After all, they sent colonists into space. Galaxia is proof of that.”
“If the Blobs reach Galaxia,” she said in a quiet voice, “they will destroy it too. Maybe it is Human destiny to keep moving from planet to planet like interstellar gypsies.”
“They will not reach Galaxia,” I reassured her. “In two more days we will be off Aldenia and able to warn the Republic.”
She shivered against me.
“You are cold?” I said.
“The chameleons are losing all their properties, beginning to leak and let in the weather. It’s almost like they’re rotting while we’re wearing them. Gorilla fears that we might not reach the pod before we become visible to everything.”
She shuddered. She recalled her close call with the scorpion-thing when her cammies malfunctioned and it saw her. I knew what she was thinking.
“Here,” I offered. “Let me touch you.”
She said nothing. I took that as permission. I placed my hands carefully on either side of her neck. She was cold. I felt her heart racing again. I made myself concentrate. She gasped.
“How do you do that? It’s like sitting before a campfire.”
I gave the Zentadon purr. “Yes. I am Sergeant Kadar San, campfire.”
“You’re not having sex with me or something?”
I snatched my hands away, causing her to giggle.
“Please, Kadar. I was only teasing. Put them back on my neck. They’re warm.”
I did. She sighed with pleasure.
“When you awakened from cocooning in the dreadnought …?” I began.
I felt her smile. “You were there dressed in green,” she said. “You looked like a wonderful Irish elf with gold hair and big green eyes.”
“I was wondering, “I said, teasing. “The VR you were experiencing must have been X-rated. That is how you describe it — X-rated?”
“You read my mind.”
“No. Your lovely nipples were hard.”
“Kadar San!”
She grew very quiet. I took away my hands. We sat, comfortable with each other. Lightning played on the storm’s surface and thunder coughed and growled.
“You have a mating contract with Atlas?” I finally asked. “You didn’t answer when I asked you before.”
“He would like it to be. But, no, we do not have a relationship.”
“Is a relationship the same as a romance?”
“Perhaps not. A relationship is about sex. Romance is when a man and a woman fall in love and … surely you have romance on Ganesh?”
“We mate,” I said, defensively.
“How do you mate?”
“It … it is arranged during the breeding season.”
“How is it arranged, Kadar San?”
“Our respective representatives meet and they decide the terms …”
“I see. Your seconds? Like a duel? How long does the mating season last?”
“Nine days, sometimes shorter. It depends upon the female’s ovulation and …”
“That’s a true relationship,” she said, appalled. “How do you do it?”
“It is our custom …”
“No. I mean it.”
“It?”
“You know.” She seemed embarrassed. I received a mental picture of a male and female naked together.
“Oh.” It was my turn to be embarrassed. “Well … do you really want to know?”
“I’m interested,” she said bravely.
“Well … The female assumes the position on her hands and knees. Then the male places her tail over either his left or right shoulder. Over the left if he would like the ‘relationship’ to continue. Over the right if not. Then he …”
“Doggie style. Wham bam, thank you, ma’am. If he places her tail over his left shoulder, does that mean they are married?”
“It means they are exclusive. But exclusive does not happen often.”
“What does she do with her tail if she rejects his offer of exclusivity?”
“That is her choice. She will move it to his right shoulder.”
“What does the male do with his tail?” She giggled. “Providing he has one.”
I felt my face burning. “Nothing.”
“Are you exclusive?”
“I have never mated.”
“Why not?”
“I have been away from Ganesh for awhile. I … I …”
“And this … arrangement occurs only once a year?”
“That is so.”
“What do you do for the rest of the year?”
“We work. We study. We … things.”
“But you don’t make love again.”
“When the season comes again.”
“How awful! Do you think I am too forward, Kadar San?”
“Yes.”
She giggled. “So do I. You don’t have the urge except during the breeding season? You, personally, I mean?”
“I am half-Human,” I pointed out, defensively.
“You have the urge?”
My ears went into spasms. I was glad she couldn’t see them. She moved close.
“Kadar San, I haven’t properly thanked you for saving my life.”
She placed her lips over mine. My eyes widened in surprise just as a magnificent bolt of lightning spidered from horizon to horizon. In the sky’s afterglow, Pia said, “You’re supposed to close your eyes. Haven’t you ever been kissed?”
“Well …” I stammered.
“You haven’t, have you? Did you like it?”
“I do not know,” I lied. “Shall we try it again?”
C·H·A·P·T·E·R
TWENTY FIVE
DAY SIX
At daybreak, during a hurried breakfast away from the rain in our individual bivvies, I looked out and saw Blade walk over to Captain Amalfi’s tent and bend down to go inside after announcing himself. All the other bivvies were sealed against the rain.
A moment later, Gun Maid stuck her helmeted head out from the opening of her shelter and looked quickly around, as though to make sure no one was watching. I closed my opening to a mere peep hole. Maid emerged, hunched against the rain, and made her way covertly to the commander’s bivvie. She crouched behind it out of sight, obviously eavesdropping on the conversation inside.
Although my powers as a sensitive had grown during my time on Aldenia with the Humans, there were certain occasions on which I drew a blank. Such as when Humans were talking to each other. Perhaps it was because they didn’t think when they were talking.
I was as curious about the content of the conversation between Blade and the Captain as Pia. I donned my helmet as protection against the storm and slipped outside. Gorilla and Ferret had drawn last watch, but withdrew at first light to eat and prepare for departure. No one was out and about to see me as I crept from camp and returned against the cliff wall behind Captain Amalfi’s overnight domicile. Gun Maid was so engrossed that her first awareness of me came when I threw one arm around her waist and snatched her off the ground. My free hand clamped over her mouth to prevent
an outcry.
I carried her into the hidden protection of an outcropping of rock.
“It is me,” I whispered into her ear.
She stopped struggling.
“I will let you go,” I said. “Keep your voice down, little spy.”
She whirled angrily to face me as soon as I released her. “I am not a spy!”
My eyebrows lifted and my ears gave double flickers. She blushed, then took a breath.
“Okay. I’m a spy. You caught me. Are you going to report me?”
“Would I do that after last night?”
“Would you?”
“Pia, we have to trust somebody. Let us start by trusting each other.”
She studied me.
“Are you a Homelander?” she asked bluntly.
“Why would you think that?”
“I saw you at the hangar with the Homelanders trying to sabotage the Admiral Tsutsumi,” she accused.
“Wait a minute,” I recoiled. “I saw you with the Homelanders.”
“You couldn’t have seen me with them, Kadar San.”
“Same here, Pia Gunduli.”
We looked at each other.
“We have apparently had misconceptions,” I said finally. “Okay. Who goes first?”
Can I really trust him?
“You first,” she said.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. An old, old Earth expression. Rainwater pouring off the cliff and beating past the sheltering overhang covered the sound of our voices. I hurried through my explanation. We didn’t have much time before the camp was up and ready to move out.
I told her about Mina Li, how I had gone to the safe house to reason with Mishal, only to have been taken prisoner. I escaped and intercepted the terrorists on post while they were attempting to bypass the security robots.
“You were the one throwing rocks!” Pia exclaimed, giggling. “I saw you back in the shadows. I assumed you were the lookout. But it was you who triggered the alarm by throwing rocks!”
She sounded relieved.
“A skill I learned from a misspent childhood. I saw a female with the terrorists at the hangar. That was not you?”
“I’m not saying I don’t have a certain sympathy for the Homelanders’ aims for a planet of their own on Ganesh,” she began seriously. “I’m acquainted with some of the Homelanders. I got to know them through volunteer social projects working with both Human and Zentadon prolies. I’m afraid I’m a bleeding heart.”
“Bleeding heart?”
“It’s an …”
“… old, old Earth expression.”
“It means I want to see misery alleviated wherever I see it. To abbreviate a long story, a Zentadon prolie friend contacted me the night before we set sail from Galaxia. A Human man and woman were inquiring as to whether or not the Homeland Movement was interested in buying a secret Aldenia device that would give the Homelanders the power to overthrow the Republic government of Ganesh and return the planet to the Zentadon. My friend didn’t know what the device was, but she described Blade and this woman he associates with. Blade hinted to the Homelanders that he had the device hidden on Aldenia and was returning there to pick it up. He said the device should be worth millions of credits.”
“All the more reason why Blade would not want the Tsutsumi blown up,” I reasoned.
“Exactly. Sometimes there isn’t much coordination between the Homeland bands. I learned that Blade and his lady friend, who’s a medic specialist in another DRT, were supposed to make contact with Homelanders to receive a down payment on the device. So I followed them. Instead, it seems Blade had been warned that another Homelander group was going to sabotage the dreadnought that would take us to Aldenia.”
“How bizarre! So … Blade and the female were at the hangar to try to stop the sabotage? The female was who I saw with them?”
“Yes. She and Blade argued with them, but Mishal was going ahead with it. Some of the terrorists, maybe even most of them, are very naïve when it comes to the Blob threat. They think it’s a ploy manufactured by our government. Blade was about to play the big hero and cut loose on the saboteurs when … Well, you know the rest. Stones began flying.”
“I do not know all the rest,” I said. “Why did you not go to CD with this?”
“Why didn’t you? I could be implicated because of my contacts. I simply ran away. No harm was done to the Tsutsumi. Besides, it would be my word against Blade’s. I’ve been trying to find out what Blade has hidden here and where it is. It’s the only way I can get the proof of what he’s doing and stop him. While I might be a bleeding heart, I’m a patriot who wants to see justice done without destroying the Republic.”
“You are a Zentadon lover,” I said.
She looked at me. “Maybe. So where do we go from here?”
“First, tell me what you learned from your little pre-breakfast sortie.” I indicated Captain Amalfi’s tent.
She frowned. “Blade seems in a hurry to get back to the pod. He persuaded Captain Amalfi that an easier, faster route exists if we move over toward the steppes. His mapping team used it before.”
“What did Captain Amalfi say?”
“We’re going to change routes.”
I watched it rain. I heard movement down in the camp.
“Do you suppose Blade has already found the item?” Maid wondered.
“I doubt he has it yet,” I decided after a moment of consideration. “But it does sound to me like he knows where it is. That is why he went to Captain Amalfi with the new route. Whether he has it now or whether he picks it up on the way out, I think we are relatively safe as long as the team doesn’t know about his little secret.”
I gave her a briefing on Stanto and my suspicions that Blade had murdered the members of his previous expedition in order to obtain the mysterious artifact. Maid listened while the blood drained from her cheeks.
“This has to remain between you and me,” I cautioned. I started to say “between you and me and the Presence,” but I didn’t have time right now to explain it. “That means we don’t do anything to make him suspicious of us. Let him get the item and keep it until we’re back aboard the Tsutsumi where we can go to CD and have him arrested. Good enough? No more snooping around and spying?”
“Good enough,” she agreed with a tremulous smile.
“Now, let us return to camp before Atlas misses you.”
“Kadar San?”
I paused.
“Kadar San, I’m happy that you’re not a traitor.”
“I am happy that you are not a traitor, Pia Gunduli.”
C·H·A·P·T·E·R
TWENTY SIX
No one questioned Captain Amalfi’s change of route to take us into the more open steppes to the east. Blade glowered me a menacing look as though daring me to protest. I ignored him and treated the change with enthusiasm to throw him off, even going so far as to comment that I was all for anything that would bring us to the pod faster. Maid did likewise.
We climbed until nearly midday. The forest thinned out into large savannahs and meadows where herds of herbivores, mostly Goliath Beetles, browsed and dug for grass roots. Once or twice we spotted predators: a lizard, a couple of the scorpions with their blistered orange tails, a spider, and a hive of giant wasps. The hive was at least four stories tall and constructed of a waterproof paper-like material secured between two trees. The wasps were bright red and resembled fighter aircraft swarming around an air-and-space port, their wings beating the rain into a smoky mist. The predators kept their distance, eyeing us with curiosity as we passed. We circled wide of the wasp hive and the spider.
The Captain called for a break. Shortly after we resumed travel, the robot on point picked up a power energy source from the east. Blade rushed forward with the commander to check it out.
“After last night,” I privately joked to Maid through the intercom, “the energy source it is picking up might be us.”
I loved the way that brown female human giggled
. She didn’t have to have a tail.
“Sen?” Captain Amalfi sent back the request.
I moved up to the Captain and Blade. The three of us continued forward to where Ferret had conducted an alert squat. His malfunctioning cammies flashed in and out of sight. One moment he was a duplicate of the rain, virtually disappearing except for the IR signal he made through our helmets. The next, he knelt hunched against the weather with rain streaming off his helmet, through the faceplate of which I discovered his axe blade face sharper than ever.
“It might be more Blobs, Cap,” Ferret said. “The bots don’t pick up energy sources from the critters. It simply shows them on the monitors.”
I sensed it now. The Presence. Stronger than ever, strong enough for the bot to pick up, as though beckoning us. Blade’s IR signature blazed with tension. He knew what it was.
“What is it, Kadar San?” Captain Amalfi asked.
“It is not Tslek, sir.”
“What is it then?”
I hesitated. I also knew. I felt it through the Presence and through Blade’s excitement.
“I sense only that it is there,” I said. “I suggest we avoid it.”
“No!” Blade thundered.
“That’s my decision to make, Sergeant,” Captain Amalfi said.
He gazed reflectively in the direction of the pod waiting for us in the river. We had five days remaining before it automatically activated, surfaced, and blasted off without us. The commander frowned and his eyes shifted toward the source of the unknown vibrations. I gently probed and found his thought patterns not entirely rational. It occurred to me that the signals were being transmitted by the Presence. Apparently unable to communicate directly, limited to using only its “influence,” the Presence was utilizing this method to attract not only Blade, but indeed the entire team to the treasure. At least that was my initial assessment, my fear.
But why this way? I had only a minute to mull it over while the commander made up his mind. I tried to reason it out. Did the Presence understand somehow that Pia and I were on to Blade and that we intended to stop him once he carried the item aboard a Republic starship? If everyone on the team knew of the treasure, then Blade would have to act overtly now in order to preserve it to himself. Apparently, greed, jealousy, and strife — created by the Presence? — had infected Blade’s old expedition, as it was infecting this one, and led to wholesale carnage.
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