"No, Lyla, I don't. But she's a loose end, and I wound up taking her in. I owe it to her to try and see this through."
"Do you?"
"Yes. I do."
"Why?"
He sighed. "Lyla, it's been a long time since you had a normal body. But if you'll cast your memory back, you'll recall that sometimes there are things you do, not because they necessarily make logical sense, but just because you feel you have to do them. Helping Riella is one of those things."
She pondered that one. "I suppose you are right, Xyon."
"I'm glad you underst-"
"It makes no logical sense."
He sighed once more. "No. It doesn't, does it?"
"Riella reacted negatively when she learned that you were a thief. Why would she feel that way?"
"Because," Xyon told her, "she's lived in a nice, isolated little existence where everything she ever wanted has been handed to her. She's never had to fight for anything in her life. She doesn't know how difficult or harsh or cruel the universe can actually be. Because of that, it's easy for her to stake out the moral high ground and look down disdainfully at those of us who have been living in it for years just trying to survive."
"I see."
"It must be nice to live on the moral high ground."
"Perhaps, in my old age, I'll move there myself."
XL
RIER STRODE INTO THE HOLDING FACILITY in which Riella was being kept, Atik and
Krul flanking him. He stopped at the entrance, however, and stared uncomprehendingly.
The girl was lying on the floor, which was odd considering that there was actually a couch and chair available. Her eyes were closed, her body trembling.
Her hands were clenched into fists so tight that her fingernails were digging into her palms and small trickles of blood were flowing from the wounds. She was whispering things, but the words were incomprehensible. Every so often she would mutter something that Rier was barely able to make out, but then the rest of it was lost.
"I'll wake her," Krul said, and took a step forward.
But Rier put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him. "No. Let it run its course, whatever it is."
And so the Dogs stood there, watching the girl writhe about for some minutes, in the throes of something they could not even begin to guess at. Suddenly she sat up, her eyes not focusing on anything at first. It seemed as if she was looking inward somehow. And what she was seeing within was possibly the most frightening thing of all. Then she looked up at Rier and became fully aware of her whereabouts.
"Do you know where you are?" Rier actually sounded remarkably solicitous1.
She nodded.
"And do you know why you're here?"
"You brought me here." Her voice cracked slightly, as if her throat were constricted.
"Yes. And do you know why?"
"Does it matter?"
"We want to know of the Quiet Place."
She laughed softly at that. "Do you. Do you now. And what is the point of my telling you?"
"The point? The point is that we will not kill you if you are cooperative."
"I was cooperative with the Redeemers. They did not| believe me."
"The Redeemers are fools," Atik spoke up.
"They can actually be a guide to us in their actions,' sniffed Krul. "All we have to do is observe the way they go about their business, and then do the exact opposite." He then chuckled at his own joke.
"But I warn you," Rier said intently, and he approached Riella slowly, ominously, looming over her. "If you lie to us... I will know."
"Oh really." She seemed curious rather than intimidated. "And how will you?
Know, I mean."
; "Because when one lies, there is a certain scent of fear that is inevitable.
And I can smell fear."
"And you like the smell, don't you." "What?" He inclined his head slightly.
"What do you mean?"
Rier was accustomed to an assortment of behaviors among prisoners, but he'd never encountered anything quite like this before. From the girl's voice, from her attitude, it really seemed as if she did not give a damn what he thought or what happened to her. It was as if she was addressing him from some great, lofty place that he could not even begin to aspire to. He wasn't sure how to react to it.
"I mean," she said, "that the smell entices you. Excites you. That is why you so enjoy attacking people face to face. It's not simply the destruction, or the acquisition of other people's property. You like the smell of fear when they see you approaching. The fear when they panic, the smell they produce when they beg for their Jives or soil themselves in terror. That is something you simply cannot resist You love it. You live for it. Do you not?"
Rier, Atik, and Krul looked askance at each other, and then back to her.
"Yes," Rier said slowly.
She nodded. He might not even have been in the room for all the difference it seemed to make to her.
"I will lead you to the Quiet Place," she said after a short time. "You will go there without question. If it is not there, as I assure you now that it is, kill me. Don't kill me. I don't really care anymore. What you do to me is of absolutely no consequence anymore. I'm beginning to understand just how irrelevant this," and she plucked at the reddening skin on her arm, "is."
"The Quiet Place," Krul said eagerly, "will we find immortality there? Riches? There are so many things whispered about it."
"You will find all that and more," she said. "You will find a place of joy. You will find riches beyond the dreams of avarice. It will be as close to heaven as you will know on this side of the great and final curtain. All this and more will be yours."
The Dogs looked at one another, Rier's nostrils flaring. He detected no sign of deceit from her. Either she was telling the absolute truth or she certainly believed she was telling the truth, which worked out to the same thing.
"You," he said, "are rather intriguing for a non-Dog. I like you," he decided, his Ups drawing back to reveal his fangs.
"My," she intoned. "What big teeth you have."
"The better to rend the flesh from my quivering prey."
"I am terrified," she said flatly.
She wasn't, of course. That much he could tell. He had never encountered anyone so serenely confident. In truth, he found it a bit annoying, perhaps even ever-so-slightly intimidating. Except he had no reason to be. She was entirely within his power, and he was Rier, leader of the Dogs of War. She posed no threat to him. He, Rier, was the master.
"As well you should be," he told her. He tried to maintain the stridency in his voice, but he wasn't quite able to do so. He cleared his throat and said,
"Where, then, is the Quiet Place?"
"Set your heading for the star designated 7734."
"What? There's nothing there!" Krul snarled. "Rier, this is a trick. She's wasting our time!" He turned back to her. "I don't know what you're playing at, but-"
"Rier, get this thing out of my face," Riella said flat- ly. "At this point in your life, you need me far more than you need this mangy creature."
"You'll have to excuse his belligerence," Rier said. "His brother was killed recently, by your companion, actually. He cries out for blood. He cries out for revenge."
"He's not the only one," Riella told him.
Rier felt a distinct chill, and he had no idea why.
"The fact is," Riella continued, "I have no choice at this point. I have to get there. It's gone beyond my dreams. It's a compulsion that is threatening to consume me if I don't attend to it. If I resist it, or forestall it..." She sighed. "I will die. That is all there is to say, really. I will die. You think of yourself as my captors, but you're not. Not really. You are simply... a means to an end."
Her words hung there for a moment, and then Rier turned to his associates and said, "Have our course set for Star 7734."
"There's. Nothing. There," said Krul, very deliberately.
"If there isn't, then you may have the honor
of punishing her for her lack of forthrightness," Rier said.
Krul turned his malevolent gaze upon her. "I look forward to that," he snarled.
"As do I," Riella suddenly said. She met his gaze, unintimidated, even slightly amused. "I hope we all get what is coming to us."
Rier and the others departed the room then, and Rier knew that he should have felt some measure of triumph since that had gone more smoothly than he could possibly have anticipated. Unfortunately, that gave him no explanation at all as to why he felt the fur on the back of his neck standing on end. xII
THE WORLD WAS STARTING TO FLOAT around Xyon. He was losing his sense of where he was. For a time, he was convinced that Riella was sitting right next to him. She was looking at him in an annoyingly accusatory fashion, and he said angrily,
"What do you want from me? Hmm? I did my best. And I guess my best wasn't good enough for you, was it? Busting my ass to save you from all manner of insanity, and for what? Why should I? It's not as if you're that attractive. Your skin doesn't seem to know what color it is; hell, your whole body doesn't seem to know what race it is. And it's not as if you have a particularly pleasant personality, you know. You complain about things that aren't my fault. On the one hand, you whine that I should save you; on the other hand, you don't seem to appreciate it when I do. You're no prize, Riella! What do you think of that!"
: She didn't say anything. Just sat there.
He made an impatient grunt and waved her off. She didn't go away. That was always her problem. She never went away.
"Xyon."
"Shut up, Riella!"
"Xyon," came Lyla's voice, a bit more urgency in it this time. "Someone is responding to your distress signal."
It took a few moments for what she was saying to filter through his clouded mind. He forced himself back to full wakefulness and awareness. He wasn't sure how much of his semi-delusional state was due to the air becoming stale and how much was because of fatigue. "Someone is?"
"Yes."
Immediately he was on his feet. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to stand; he wasn't speaking to anyone yet, and even if he was, this was hardly what anyone would term a formal occasion. "Do you know who it is? Dogs or Redeemers or maybe someone who might not actually want to kill me."
"The third category, I think. They're identifying themselves as being from
Starfleet."
Xyon moaned when he heard that.
"Is there a problem with Starfleet, Xyon?"
"No," he said in annoyance, leaning against the starboard bulkhead.
"Why do you say things that way, Xyon?"
"What things, what way?"
"For instance, although your voice says that nothing is wrong, your tonality indicates that, in fact, the situation is bothersome to you. You do not say what you mean."
"People oftentimes don't say what they mean. That's how we manage not to kill each other," Xyon told her.
"Oh. So honesty leads to homicide?"
He gave that one some thought. "More often than you'd think, actually," he admitted. "This Starfleet vessel... where are they? Is it a Starship?"
"No, Xyon. They're identifying themselves as a runabout on their way to rendezvous with a Starship. They're offering their assistance."
"I don't see that we've got a great deal of choice," Xyon said. He rubbed the fatigue from his eyes. "Lyla... there's a likelihood we may have to leave you here."
"Why, Xyon?"
"Because..." He looked at the empty chair which, in his imaginings, had been occupied by Riella a short time earlier, "... we may have to go after Riella, and I doubt the runabout has the towing capabilities necessary to bring you along. And time might very well be the most important factor. Will you be all right out here?"
"I am a ship, Xyon. Space is my natural environment."
"You're more than a ship, Lyla." He affectionately patted the control console.
"We both know that. Sometimes I think you're the only thing that keeps me sane."
"Xyon... you are preparing to leave me behind in order to go aboard a runabout with strangers from an organization for which you apparently harbor some antipathy, all for the purpose of saving a young female whom you would seem not to particularly like."
"What's your point?"
"The point is, how do you know I managed to keep you sane?" i
Xyon considered that a moment... and then started to laugh.
"Is that funny, Xyon?"
"You know what, Lyla?" he said, endeavoring to calm himself. "Believe it or not,
I think it is funny, yes."
"Xyon?"
"Yes, Lyla."
"Don't leave me."
He had been sitting at the console, and something in Lyla's voice prompted him to sit up straight, tilting his head curiously as if he couldn't quite believe what he'd heard. "What?"
"Don't leave me." As an afterthought, she added, "Please."
"You mean in space?"
"Yes. If it is indeed a starfleet runabout, very likely they may have the parts on hand I need to effect repairs. Then I can follow you. It will take additional time. Perhaps you can take me in tow just during that time. It will slow you, I know, but-"
"Lyla-"
"Please." This time the word was more than an afterthought. She sounded...
Frightened? Was it possible for Lyla to feel that range of concern? She was organic at heart, he knew, but she had never...
"All right," he said slowly. "AU right, Lyla. I won't leave you."
"Promise me."
"I promise you."
He actually heard a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Xyon."
"You're welcome."
Zak Kebron had not known what to expect when he beamed over to the stranded ship. Part of him had wondered whether this might be some sort of elaborate ruse or trap. But he took one look at the disheveled young man and knew immediately that this was no more and no less than what was advertised: A space traveler in trouble. Kebron could also tell that the young man had never seen a Brikar before. He could always discern that because of the astounded looks people gave him upon first encountering him. Sometimes he wished he could take himself out of his body just to see himself the way others saw him... and be properly impressed.
"Lieutenant Zak Kebron, of the Starship Excalibur. You are?"
"Xyon. Captain... and crew, pretty much... of the good ship Lyla."
Kebron glanced around with a critical eye. "Our instruments indicate that your engines are not fully functional. Your impulse engines are on line, but you have no warp drive capacity."
"That's about right."
"Well, we can take you aboard our ship and bring you back to the Excalibur. At that point-"
"I'd rather not leave my ship, if that's okay."
"I appreciate your not wanting to jeopardize your property by leaving it as derelict, but towing your vessel will slow us down considerably."
"If you have some additional hands that could pitch in, some key elements, we could probably get her up and running," Xyon said with some urgency.
"You may be correct. But if we do not rendezvous with our Starship on schedule-"
"That's the other thing-"
Kebron looked at him warily. "Other thing?"
"There's a girl who's been kidnapped by the Dogs of War. Have you heard of them?" "I have some passing familiarity with them," Kebron said dryly.
"Well, she needs our help... my help... although you can help if you want.
Considering the circumstances, I could really use-"
"Hold on. I appreciate the concern you're showing for your girlfriend-"
"She's not my girlfriend. She's someone who needs help, that's all."
"Altruism in deep space. A rare attribute. Would that I had it."
"But they may kill her!"
"Xyon," Kebron said with rapidly waning patience, "we have a runabout. That is all. That is hardly sufficient firepower to travel to the home planet of the
Dogs of
War and-"
"They're not going there! They're heading for somewhere called the Quiet Place."
"That may be, but..."
That was when Kebron stopped dead, and stared incredulously at Xyon. His gaze was so intense that Xyon actually took a step back. "What is it?"
Star Trek - NF - 07 - The Quiet Place Page 19
