by Jean Kilczer
“Good idea, Dave,” I said. “You never know what you'll run into.”
“Wait a minute.” Gabby moved closer, away from Zack, who was approaching her. “Wait a minute. Jules Rammis!”
“Yes,” I said and moved away from Al and Zack.
Gabby and Dave followed me. Gabby drew in a breath and pointed at me. “You're the tag who killed the deviant Loranth on Syl' Tyrria!”
“No, I didn't exactly –”
“And you got rid of the dream czar on Halcyon!”
“I helped, but I wasn't the one who –”
“Oh my God!” She clasped her hands. “And you stopped that lunatic Rowdinth from dragging a black hole into our solar system!”
“Well, I had something to do with that, but –”
“Dad! He stopped the BEMS from invading planet Denebria and eating the people!”
“Well, my team did most of –”
“You're famous,” she squeaked. “Can I have your autograph?”
Zack was approaching her from behind. “I don't have a pen and a –”
“Here!” She whipped out a field stylus from her jacket pocket. “Write it on my jacket.” She smiled through thin lips and patted her chest. “Right over my heart.”
Good old hero worship. “OK.” I reached for the stylus and grabbed her stingler instead. “Run, Gabby!” I pushed her aside and spun the ring to stun. “Get back to the ship! You too, Dave.”
I swung the weapon toward Zack. Something crashed into me. It was Paulie. We both went down. He grabbed my wrist and slammed it to the ground. The stingler flew out of my hand. “You crotefucking slimetroll,” I said. “You just got three people killed.”
Paulie had a pained expression as he got off me. “I take orders from Al.”
I stood up. “Then you're nothing but a murderer.”
Gabby and Dave clung to each other and tried to back toward the hovair. Al had Dave's gun in his hand. “Stay right there!” he ordered them. “Sit down. Now!”
They sat, still clinging to each other. Gabby was shivering. Dave kissed her forehead gently and stroked her hair. He murmured something to her but he looked desolate.
Al turned to me, fury in his black eyes. “You gave me your word you wouldn't try to escape!” He strode toward me, his shoulders raised, and poked me in the chest.
I brushed away his hand and tried to back up, but I stumbled into Paulie, who had stationed himself behind me. “You were stupid enough to believe me,” I told Al. “I didn't believe you'd let me live all the way back to Earth.”
Al balled his hands into fists. I was ready to block his blows but his hands remained down. “Zack!” he called. “You're going to learn respect, kraut.”
“You need me,” I said, “to get you back to the trade lanes.”
“Are you so sure of that?” Al asked. “We've got these two cloudweavers to get us back.”
I heard Gabby cry. I felt like crying too. But I took deep shuddering breaths instead. “I'm sorry,” I told Gabby and Dave. “I tried.”
“Oh, no,” Gabby said, “we don't know how to fly a starship.” She half rose and pointed to the hovair. “It's not like an airship.”
“Sit down!” Al ordered. “How did you get here?”
“We –” Gabby started, then couldn't catch her breath.
“We were dropped off by Arcadia V,” Dave said, “one of Alpha's scientific explorer ships. They're due to pick us up in one Equus week.”
“Zack,” Al called.
“Wait a minute, Al,” Paulie whispered, “I mean no disrespect, but Jesus Christ, Zack'll kill him.”
Spirit! I sent.
I know, Jules.
What am I going to do?
What can you do?
I'm scared!
I am here.
Paulie got between me and Zack, who was approaching like a grizzly bear on hind legs. “I'll do it,” he told Al.
I started to tremble and couldn't stop. I wanted to turn and run. They'd probably hit me with a stun setting. That wouldn't hurt half as bad as what they had in mind. I turned and slammed into Vito. Too late. Too slimeshitting late! Zack wrapped me in a python grip.
“I'm sorry, Julio,” Paulie said. “Al don't tolerate no disrespect. You gotta learn that.” He pulled off my ski hat, unzipped the top of my jacket, and shoved it inside. “Take it like a man.” He made a fist.
Spirit!
How does a man take it? Spirit sent.
I don't know!
Paulie hit me hard enough to joggle my brain, but not enough to flatten me. The bastard was going to make this last.
I kicked back hard and caught Zack in his shin. He just chuckled.
I squeezed my eyes shut at the repeated jabs to my face, but the shock of being hit was worse than the pain. The onslaught lasted for hours. Well, maybe not. It just felt that way. After a while, the blows to my cheeks didn't hurt so much, but my mind retreated to a place of its own dark creation. Blackroot swarmed around me and reached out tendrils to drink the blood from my veins.
Spirit.
I can shut off your brain.
No. I can take this.
Like a man?
I don't fucking know!
“Take him down, Paulie,” I heard Al say.
“I'm sorry, Julio,” Paulie said.
A hard shot to my left temple snapped my head sideways. Zack let go of me and the snowy ground rushed up and slammed me. I blinked, trying to remain conscious. It became too hard and I gave myself up to a black predator of my imagination that seemed to suck my brain.
* * *
Subdued. It was my first thought when my brain returned from La La Land. If they thought I was subdued, they were mistaken. But I'd let them think so. What was that humming sound? I'd also let them think they had knocked the tel abilities out of me, along with the stuffing, and I'd have to recuperate before guiding them out to the trade lanes. My head hurt. I tried to remember what they had done to me. I remembered fists.
I opened my eyes, but it was a blur. Gabby and Dave. Where were they, and my team, trapped in the cave?
“Jules, you want a drink of water?” someone asked in a squeaky voice.
“You got coffee?” I mumbled.
“No. Caffeine-free lime tea?”
“Never mind.”
My vision cleared and I saw Gabby and Dave sitting next to me. I lifted my head and looked around. I was lying on a bunk. “Are we in the hovair?”
Gabby nodded. Her hair was disheveled. Her eyes were puffy and red. She leaned against Dave, who looked distracted as he stared straight ahead.
“I think we're going to their starship,” Gabby said.
“Searcher,” I told her.
Paulie came into the room from the cabin. “You two,” he said to Gabby and Dave, and nodded toward the cabin. “Get lost.”
Gabby helped her father up and guided him into the cabin.
Paulie sat down. “How you feeling?”
“Never better,” I said.
“You know, I probably saved your life. Zack's a fucking animal.”
“Send me your bill.”
“You want coffee?”
“You've got coffee?”
“Zack has the ingredients for Demitasse in his backpack. Vito made it in the ship's sous chef.”
“You have a sous chef onboard?”
“That's what I just said.”
The chef was an indispensable appliance that turned ingredients into a variety of meals and drinks.
“You like Demitasse?” Paulie asked.
“OK. You got a cannoli?”
“No.” He got up and grinned. “A little anisette in the coffee?”
“Whatever.” I rubbed my eyes. “I gotta pee.”
“C'mon, I'll help you to the bathroom.”
I had to make this look good. I got up as though I were much weaker than I really was. I staggered and Paulie took my arm and guided me to the bathroom. When I was done he helped me back to the bunk. I sat down
heavily, leaned against the wall and sighed. “There's something you should know.”
He walked toward the cabin. “After I get the coffee. I want a cup too.”
“Take your time.” Crotefucker, I thought, because you're going to love this!
He came back, handed me one of two small cups, sat down and sipped the other one.
“Can't you tags afford bigger cups?” I asked.
“That's how you drink it, kraut.”
I sipped the hot, strong brew. It had a hint of liquor. “I can't do it anymore,” I said.
“Can't do what?”
I brushed a hand over my swollen left temple. “I tried to read the girl's thoughts, but it didn't happen.”
He looked worried. He'd look more worried before I was finished. “Maybe she wasn't thinking nothing,” he suggested.
“There are always subliminal thoughts.” I stared at the cup. “It's more than that. This happened before, after a couple of so-called friends put out my lights.”
He leaned forward. “So what's wrong?”
“I can't probe.” I stared him in the eyes. “I don't know which way is home, Paulie.”
He sat back. I thought he was going to drop his Demitasse. “Earth?”
I nodded. “It's like…” I touched my left temple. “It's like the road signs are down, you know?”
Damn, I was good!
He looked around, as though searching for an answer to this dilemma. “How fucking long does this last?”
I shook my head, carefully. “Last time it happened, it lasted about an Earth week. But…but I don't know. All of a sudden it's like the fog lifts and my tel is back. I just don't know.” I ran my hands through my hair to get it off my face. Eat shit and die, mother fucker! I heard a chuckle in my mind. Spirit? Is that you? Taking a break from world building?
Ah, Jules, my Terran paisan, we all need some entertainment.
You think this is funny?
Sorry. No. Back to work. I'm manipulating the DNA of a small lizard to give his offspring wings. Just a matter of turning on the right triggers.
Sounds fun! Good luck.
Gracie. There was that chuckle again as he broke the link.
I bit my lip. Prego, you crote.
Paulie looked distraught as he got up and headed toward the cabin. “I better tell Al about this. He's gonna want to know.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “You'd better tell him.”
I sent out a probe toward my team and held my breath that the root hadn't gotten them. If I could steal this hovair, with Gabby and Dave still onboard, I could get to the cave, rescue my team and fly us to Sojourner. As Joe would say, it was a thin plan with lots of holes. But it was all I had. After that, let Spirit do his work and wipe the planet's slate clean.
I projected my tel into the cave for a visual on my friends, and gasped. Bristra filled the entrance like a closed door. The cave was lit only by their comlink lights. Oh, Great Mind.
We can't burn it, Chancey! I heard Joe say. The cave will fill with smoke. Bat, how are your batteries holding out?
About forty-eight percent left, Joe. It's my last one.
Chancey?
I've got one more after this baby. Then that's all she wrote.
I felt Joe's fear, not only for himself. The crusty leader of our team doesn't shake easily, but this was enough to do it. I wished he were a sensitive and I could tell him that I was doing my best to rescue them. I pressed a hand to my mouth and felt tears burn my eyes. What was that? Someone…something was responding to my send. It wasn't the bristra. Then what? The mind pattern was familiar. I wiped my eyes. Probably some indigenous animal with rudimentary tel powers and a mind similar in ontology to ours.
Al strode into the room, followed by Paulie and Zack. I guess Vito was steering the boat.
“What the hell is this?” Al said. “You can't find your way back to Earth?”
“I've lost my tel abilities,” I told him. “It's the way I found this star system, and the only way I'll find my way back to the trade lanes. It's unchartered, you know?” I ran a hand over my left temple. “I don't feel so good. I think I'm hungry.”
Al strode to me and grabbed the front of my shirt. “If you're lying to me…,” he came close, “you'll think you're feeling like a million creds compared to how you're gonna feel.”
I let my jaw drop and tried to look listless. “What…what good would lying do, Al? Sooner or later, I'll have to take you home. When my tel is back, you know?” I pressed my fingers to my forehead. “It should come back,” I mumbled, “the way it did last time. As long as I'm not traumatized.” I looked at Gabby and Dave standing in the doorway and smiled crookedly. “Hi, guys. Al, are Gabby and Dave coming home with us? I worry about them.”
Al pulled me closer. I smelled liquor on his breath. “Worry about getting us back to Earth.”
“Al, he's the only one who can fly a starship,” Paulie said, “and the only tag who can program the ship for the lanes and home.” He glanced at Gabby and Dave and lowered his voice. “We gotta keep him happy, you know what I'm saying?”
Al never took his gaze off me. “If I find out you're lying,” he growled, “I won't give you to Zack.” He pushed me hard against the wall and spread his hands. “I'll burn your balls off with a hot beam.”
I was truly afraid of this man. Looking into his eyes was like peering into a mirror of Hell. I threw up my tel shields, unwilling to encounter the tidal force of his evil mind.
“You'll beg to die,” he said, “but I won't let you!”
“You'll be the first to know,” I croaked, “when my tel is back. Promise.” I crossed my heart with a shaky finger.
Chapter Eight
We landed near Gabby and Dave's small prefab on a knoll, surrounded by winter woods of curled branches and red pods. I still played stupid and weak. Paulie guided me into the small hut, which was packed with scientific instruments, equipment, and plants growing in tanks. Here, the men would wait for me to announce that my tel abilities had returned and I was ready to fly them to the trade lanes.
Fat chance.
But there was no chance, I knew, of influencing four minds at once with an intrusive probe that would force them all to do my bidding, especially Al, who was a sensitive. I had trained myself to influence one person, sometimes two, but never four. I had stretched my powers to the point of achieving distant probes, seeing visuals of surroundings through the minds of others, and the death blow that burned through the brainstem.
I sat on one of the two cots, closed my eyes, and leaned back against the hypalon-inflated wall. How much time did my team have before their stingler batteries gave out?
The room was stuffy and crowded with six of us. Vito was onboard the hovair, preparing supper in the sous chef. Al said something to Zack and nodded toward me.
Zack dug into his coat as he approached me. I heard a chain rattle. Oh no! If he handcuffed me to the cot, we'd never get away.
I stood up quickly. “It's too hot in here,” I mumbled, and moved lethargically toward the door, acting as though I couldn't zippered my jacket. “I need some fresh air.”
Zack moved faster than I thought he could, and gripped my arm. “You gotta go to the bathroom?”
“What? No, I'm too hot. That's all.” I tried to pull away. He clamped down harder. “Al,” I said, as Zack pulled me to the cot and forced me to sit, “he's scaring me!”
“Just do what he says,” Paulie said from the small table where he was playing solitaire on his comlink. Gabby and Dave sat close together on the other cot.
Son of a crotefucking bottom slimesucking piece of shit! I thought and bit my lip as Zack pulled out his handcuffs. “Right-handed, right?” He clamped the handcuff around my left wrist, brought the chain through the cot's bottom stand, and clamped on the footcuff without waiting for an answer. “See?” He pointed to his head. “I remember.”
“Why are you doing this?” I asked him. “Where would I go?”
He shrugged
and flipped Al the key. “Talk to the capo.”
Al just stared at me with those black eyes and slipped the key inside his vest pocket.
Vito came in with a large bag slung over his shoulder and brushed snow from his hair. “Man, it's getting cold out there. Snowing again. Brrrr.” He stamped his feet and dumped food packets onto the table. “Brown is yer meat.” He pointed to a packet. “Green is yer vegies. Tan is yer carbs, and red is yer dessert.” He placed four packets in front of Al, who sat down. “Here ya go, boss.”
The men gathered at the table, but Gabby and Dave remained on the cot. I knew how they felt. My stomach was too upset to eat. I was afraid to project a visual to the cave with Al so close to me. He might pick up the send, realize my tel powers were intact, and I'd be talking with some very high notes.
After they ate, Al motioned for Gabby and Dave to get off the cot. They got up quickly and sat on the floor in a corner. Al stretched out on the cot. Zack approached me, yawned and scratched his crotch. He grinned when I got off the cot and sat on the floor. “Have a nice dreams,” he said and shook the chain. He laid down with part of his bulk hanging off the sagging edge.
The room was lit only by dim glowballs along the ceiling. I leaned back against the wall and slept for a while. I jumped and suddenly awoke from a nightmare. The window was black. Snowflakes slithered down the glass and piled up in miniature hills at the bottom. Gabby, who was no sensitive, was projecting a thought. Jules. I think I can get the key. Do you hear me?
Al couldn't catch just a normal thought.
I turned my head in her direction and nodded.
If we can sneak out, she continued, and get to the hovair…
I nodded again.
Al and Vito wore the two stinglers they'd taken from Gabby and Dave tucked inside shoulder holsters. I stayed very still, not wanting to rattle the chain as Gabby silently lifted herself and padded softly toward Al, who was snoring.
An alarm suddenly beeped. Gabby jumped back and ran to sit by her father, who put his arm protectively around her shoulders.
What the hell? I thought. Then I saw the tiny light blinking on Al's belt as he got up. Vito and Paulie were on their feet. Zack mumbled something, scratched his cheek, and snored.
