“What’s his problem?” Mencari said as they walked.
Toriko checked her necklace, and turned worried eyes to him. “He’s sensing the ground temperature around Seigie’s impact site. It’s still hot from re-entry.”
The smoke had cleared by the time they neared the module. Its exterior was intact, as far as Mencari could see, but blackened. Toriko slid down the slope of a small crater, with Spark following behind. Mencari walked around the rim, his eyes searching for any sign of Seigie.
“SEIGIE!” Toriko yelled. Then, “The emergency hatch is open.”
“Is that good or bad?” Mencari called down.
“Don’t know.”
She activated a light on her armguard and went inside the small pod. A moment later, she called, “She’s not here!”
“Where the heck would she have gone?”
His eyes spotted a shallow trench that ran from the module up the side of the crater. “What’s that?”
Toriko popped out of the module and followed his gaze. “Something dragged? Maybe she’s hurt and limped away? There were dents inside the module, with shards of crystal hair wedged into the metal…”
Mencari cringed, picturing Seigie’s razor-sharp hair running him through. “Maybe she’s dazed, too?”
Toriko winced. “Or looking for someone to put a contract out on me.”
They followed the trench-like trail through a forest. The track soon led them to an open field.
Mencari pointed to a crude gate off in the distance. “There?”
Hearing jeering and drunken bellows, they ducked behind some bushes in the clearing. Mencari gave a hush sign to Toriko, and whispered, his voice low, “We need to get closer to that gate.”
Slowly, using the bushes for cover, they worked their way forward. Toriko sniffed the air. “Smells good. I wonder—”
Then she gasped. “You don’t think . . .”
Mencari shook his head, wishing he didn’t know what she was thinking. “No. Not unless they’re into rock stew. Just take it easy.”
“O-kay.” Then, forcing calm, she repeated, “How do we get in?”
“Maybe they’re friendly.”
“I was never good at introducing myself.”
Mencari flexed his hand to begin charging his hand-phaser. “Well, let’s try. But be ready.”
She gave him a shaky grin and reached for her necklace. “Be ready. That’s like your catchphrase, isn’t it?”
He grimaced. Spark looked at Toriko as her necklace flashed instructions. His visor blinked a pale yellow in return, then he lay down quietly, obscured in the shrubs, while she and Mencari pushed their way out of the bushes and approached the gate.
Immediately, the guard they’d seen yelled something. Drunken cheers were replaced with the rustling of feet and clanking of weapons. A second guard appeared atop the gate.
The first guard growled, “Don’t come any closer. What do you want?”
“We’re looking for our friend who crashed near here just a little while ago.”
“Crashed?”
Mencari looked across the gate for the source of the voice that had asked that question. As it opened, three armed guards accompanied an older man, who was dressed in a similar, though more decorated, uniform.
“Yes, crashed,” Mencari said, pointing back the way they had come. “We found a trail leading from the crash site to here.”
The guard said, “That was yours, eh? We thought it was just some space junk.”
The older man glared at the guard, who shifted uncomfortably. Looking back, his tone became welcoming. “We found some parts of use to us. Here, come. We were just eating. Join us.”
They followed the group back inside the encampment. The gates thudded closed behind them.
Inside, a pit of fire sticks glowed brightly. Atop the depression hung a spit with a pig-sized carcass impaled and cooking. The old man motioned them to sit. Mencari and Toriko remained standing.
“Did you find anyone inside the craft that crashed?” Mencari said.
The man looked at them in disbelief. “There was someone inside?”
“Yes!” Toriko blurted.
“No. The hatch was open. And the craft was empty. Maybe your friend walked away. Though that would be amazing, considering.”
Toriko looked down, making an odd nasal sound and averting her face. Mencari moved to console her, but noticed her rigid posture. That wasn’t sadness, it was tension—fear. She was looking at something. Trying to draw the attention of their hosts, he said, “That’s okay. We’ll find her, I’m sure.”
“Ah, so this is a lass you’d be looking for?”
“Yes,” he said nonchalantly, looking in the direction Toriko had. A quick glance was all he needed. A familiar logo marked stacks of crates.
Trying to convey a friendly expression as best he could, Mencari asked the old man, “So . . . the parts you took from the craft. Could we have them back? We’ll need them again later.”
“Certainly. We didn’t think they belonged to anyone, so naturally we felt at liberty . . .”
He paused, noticing Toriko’s icy disposition. Looking past her, he noticed the exposed crates. He looked back at her. “Something wrong?”
She looked down, avoiding his eyes. “I . . . I’m just worried about our friend.”
“She’s right, if you can just give the items back,” Mencari said, “we’ll return to our search.”
With effort, the man pulled himself to his feet. Now, his face held suspicion. “Maybe we can help you.”
“No, that’s okay. Thanks.”
The old man stood, his body tense, ready for action. Mencari heard the clamor of the others preparing themselves, taking the unspoken cue from their leader.
“How concerned could you be about your friend to deny our help?”
“Please, just give us our parts and we’ll go.”
“I don’t think you’re appreciating our gracious hospitality.”
Mencari made his voice as firm as he dared and said, “Thanks, but we can handle the search. But we do really need to go. . . We’ll come back later for the parts. We shouldn’t waste time, we’ll go now.”
The gruff man squinted and motioned to his men who quickly closed ranks. Toriko’s necklace glowed, and the brush beyond the gates came alive. Before the guards could shout a warning, a mighty growl ripped through the air, and the front gate exploded into a shower of splinters as Spark smashed through and sprang to Toriko’s side.
Mencari and Toriko powered up. A golden aura formed around the pair as the men charged. The gruff man pulled a laser pistol and began to fire. Colliding with the glowing shields, the beams harmlessly dissipated.
* * * * *
The ill prepared marauders fell quickly. Mencari knelt next to the gruff man, whose eyes fluttered open. “See, you should’ve played nice. Now, tell me. What do you do for the Nukari?”
“Boo-yah,” Toriko proclaimed proudly. “That’s how we do it XoXo style!”
Toriko and Spark went to check the crates, and Mencari grabbed the man’s hair and yanked it forward. Enraged, he shouted, “I’ll ask one more time. What are you doing with the Nukari, scum!”
The man’s eyes rolled backward. Mencari lowered his head, then his eyes scanned the camp for movement, as Toriko yanked a tarp from a mound of crates.
“Don’t know what they needed the module’s parts for,” Toriko said. “There’s plenty of stuff here.”
He was about to join her when he noticed a leather case poking out from under the man’s arm. It must have slid out of his jacket when he fell. Paranoia compelled him to look around again.
“I can’t get any of these open,” Toriko said. “But almost all of them have that Nukari symbol.”
He liberated the case as he called over his shoulder, “Like on Tericn. And other places I’ve been to.”
Flipping a thumbnail-sized latch on the side of the case, he opened it to find a ledger with dates and columns of unintellig
ible scrawling. He reviewed the entries as he headed toward the crates. “Code of some sort. But with these crates, and this book, this looks like a smuggling operation.”
As he scanned the crates, he noticed that one of them seemed different from the others. “Did you try opening that one?”
Toriko glanced over, and he pointed to the camouflaged crate tucked off to the side. She shook her head, and Mencari strode over to the surrounding crates. He soon had the lid pried open.
A raspy voice came from behind them, “Stay away . . . from . . . that!”
They looked back and saw the man on the ground, his eyes gleaming, one arm trying to steady a phaser rifle. He pulled the trigger. Lucky for them, the poorly supported rifle blasted the ground just in front of the man, throwing him backward in a shower of dirt and rocks. He landed hard, and lay still.
Toriko gave a low whistle. “Wow, that could’ve been ugly.”
Mencari shook his head. “I’m thinking Darwin Award. He basically shot himself.”
He returned his attention to the crate. At the bottom was a cocoon of packaging material. Retrieving a Swiss army knife from his suit pocket, Mencari gingerly cut through the layers. Inside were three tiny vials of liquid.
“All this for three little bottles?” he muttered, pulled them out and pocketed them.
Toriko said, “Is that safe?”
“I won’t break them. Besides, if they were explosive or dangerous, no way would they have been shipped like this. No. They just wanted these intact.”
She looked at him as if he were crazy. “O-kaaaay.”
“We should get out of here. Seigie’s somewhere, and these goons might have backup coming.”
“Yeah, but if she’s not here, where do we go?”
“The only place we can. Back to the crash site.”
Luck was still with them; climbing back over the crates, they spotted the parts taken off the module and were able to retrieve them. As they headed back out through the gate, Mencari looked back.
“In case we don’t come back . . .”
With a tight smile, he charged his hand-phaser and fired. The pile of crates burst into flames.
CHAPTER 9:
The Little Thief
“Rhysus, over here.”
They had returned to the crash site, stored the retrieved items in the module for the time being, locked the main hatch securely, then renewed their search. Toriko’s necklace had lit up, drawing her over to Spark, and prompting her call a moment later. Another moment, and he knew why.
Footsteps showed halfway up the crater on the far side. As they went higher, the prints became deeper.
“Too small for Seigie’s,” he said. “No drag marks. Maybe someone carried her?”
Eyes wide, Toriko said, “But who? Or what? She told me she weighs over 500 pounds because of the crystals!”
He pointed. “Look at how deep the prints are. Whoever it was had a lot of weight on them.”
They followed the tracks deep into the woods, where thick foliage blocked the sun. Paradoxically, the dim light helped them observe a faint glow in the darkness ahead. As they drew closer, they saw it came from a small, tattered-looking hovel.
“We tried ‘friendly’ before, and it didn’t work so well,” Toriko whispered. “What approach do we try this time, boss?”
Before he could answer, a voice thundered, “Who are you?”
The voice’s owner stood partly concealed in the doorway, holding an ancient but wicked-looking rifle.
Mencari whispered back to Toriko, “I think we try the truth,” and eased his hands into the air. “We’re looking for our friend that crashed not far from here,” he said slowly. “We followed footprints to this place.”
The woman in the doorway of the shack looked them over. “Describe this ‘friend’!”
Mencari began to carefully gesture, “About so tall, stony appearance. And very heavy. Her hair didn’t cut you, did it? It’s very sharp.”
Toriko cried out, “Please, do you have her? Is she all right?”
The woman glanced back into the hovel, then returned her eyes to them, and nodded. “Come inside, but don’t try anything!”
Toriko ran into the hovel, Spark obediently in tow. Mencari moved slower, not wanting to unnerve someone with a rifle. They found Seigie on a bed in the corner.
“She was rather cranky when I found her,” the woman said. “But then she went to sleep.”
Toriko knelt by her side and began to cry. “I’m so sorry, Seigie. I’m so, so sorry!”
Mencari walked over and placed a comforting hand on Toriko’s shoulder, yet marveled at how well Seigie had come through the crash. Outwardly, she didn’t seem hurt at all. “She’s gonna be all right, Toriko. She might kill you, but she’s going to be fine.”
Toriko laughed through her tears.
The woman standing behind them spoke up. “My name is Egra.”
Mencari turned toward her. “I’m Rhysus, and this is Toriko. And our mechanical friend there, Spark.”
Egra said, “So her name is Sea-G? I heard something coming through the atmosphere. Then I felt the impact. I thought it was a meteorite.”
She walked over to the sleeping Seigie. “Then a panel opened, and she appeared, stumbling and holding her head, cursing. It looked like her whole body was glowing. Maybe it was an effect from the heat bleeding away. Then she fell to her knees. I went to help her up, but I couldn’t. Of course, thinking I was going to move a chunk of meteorite, I already had my motivator.”
Toriko looked up at her. “Motivator?”
She pointed to a device sitting on a table. “Anti-gravity device. Creates a field around an object so it can be moved easier. It worked well at first. But the field started eroding.”
“Leaving the trail in the ground,” Mencari said.
Toriko peered at the device. “Did you make this?”
“Oh no! It was one of the few things that survived our crash here.” She motioned to the rifle. “This too.”
“You crashed?”
Egra nodded, her eyes sad. “We were a small research team. The others didn’t survive.”
“We could take you back,” Toriko offered. “Where are you from?”
Egra gave her a cautious smile. “Had I had that offer when I first arrived so many years ago, I would’ve accepted in an instant. But I like it here. Peaceful. But thank you.”
Mencari remembered his promise to Osuto, and said to Egra, “I should let our boss know we found Seigie. Put the old guy at ease. I’ll be back.”
* * * * *
Mencari looked around the crash site, knowing the mercenaries would recover, and possibly come straight here. He closed the hatch once he was inside and locked it before sitting down at the communication station.
“She’s tough, Osuto,” he said to his mentor’s image, moments later. “Not a scratch on her. Maybe a mild concussion.”
As they talked, a soft rapping echoed against the hull.
“What’s that?” Osuto inquired.
“Sounds like a bird pecking on the hull. I should get back anyway. I’ll send an update soon.”
Osuto nodded. “We’re tracking down the replacement parts from the first list, so that works well.”
Mencari closed the connection and with a sudden push, opened the airlock, his phaser at the ready. He heard a startled cry. Dashing outside, he saw a dark blur skittering away. His eyes were drawn to deep gouges and scratch marks across the hull, where several module components had once been. He looked into the distance, saw a tiny man no more than half his size racing toward the woods.
Shouting “Hey!” Mencari chased after the thief. As he gained on the creature, he focused his energy. The glow radiating around his body, he burst forward with renewed speed and closed the gap. The little man looked over his shoulder and cried out. Trying to lose his pursuer, he weaved through the brush, dashing into a grotto filled with bright flowers. The small man disappeared behind a large boulder.
&
nbsp; Something beyond the rock flashed, but Mencari jumped right over it, undeterred in pursuit of the tiny figure. In the next instant, as he landed on the other side, a man-sized beast roared from the nearby bushes and lunged toward Mencari. The two sprawled and tumbled across the ground, the creature ending on top. Mencari gasped at the ferocious eyes staring into his. A mantle of ragged bone protruded from the top of its feline-like face. The white fur and black stripes reminded him of a Siberian tiger. It growled threatening and low. Then, Mencari heard a young girl’s voice shouting, “Leave us alone!”
The creature snapped at Mencari’s throat. He raised his defensive shield in a flash, and felt the beast’s weight lighten as his aura strengthened, like a thin but impenetrable second skin. The beast snarled, then whimpered while it tried to maintain its balance on the swelling glow of the field.
“Ichini!” the girl’s voice called out. “Come!”
The creature bounded off Mencari’s chest. With difficulty, he propped himself up on his elbows and saw two small people running away, the beast following close behind. One of them, the tiny man, still carried the modules from his ship clutched in his arms. But now, at this range, Mencari could see that the thief was actually a young boy.
Mencari forced himself to stand. Still washed with the golden glow, he ran a few steps and jumped into the air. While strained, using his remarkable abilities to fly while planet-bound felt easier than his last attempt back on Aeun. He sailed through the air, catching up quickly with the three running shapes. As he drew near, his shadow fell over them. The boy with the parts looked up and cried out.
The tiger-like creature ran up behind the girl and nipped her cloak. With a toss of its head, she was flung into the air and landed on the beast’s back. It moved behind the boy and repeated the maneuver, then sprinted forward with amazing speed. The girl swiveled her head around long enough to shout, “Go away! Leave us alone!”
A mountain appeared ahead, and Mencari realized the children were fleeing toward a cave. He wondered if a hand-phaser blast in front of them would hinder their escape.
D'mok Revival: The Nukari Invasion Anthology Page 16
