by T. R. Harris
After checking out three hangars with no hidden DM ship inside, Adam moved up to the fourth. The main access door was closed, although three fierce-looking Gracilians stood outside a smaller side door.
Adam didn’t fear Gracilians; for the most part, they were pacifists. Even so, he always thought they would make great warriors, with their thick muscles and imposing presence. Although generally harmless, these three didn’t look like your typical cerebral natives. It was something about their eyes.
“I’m Adam Cain—”
“We know who you are,” one of the Gracilians snarled.
Adam grimaced. He got that a lot, and not the doting ‘we know who you are’ kind of greeting as with hero worship. This was spoken more with a disgusted ‘yeah, we know who you are’ tone of voice. The bulk of intelligent life in the galaxy had never seen a Human, but if they could recognize any individual from the race, it would be Adam Cain. Sometimes that came in handy; most times, it didn’t.
“Good,” Adam replied with a grin, careful not to fully expose his teeth; the natives hated him enough already that they may take a death challenge seriously. “Then you know I have the authority to check this hangar.”
“The hangar is closed,” said the self-appointed leader of the group. “What is it you seek?”
“I just want to look inside.”
“The hangar is closed.”
“You mean like locked? If so, do you have a key?”
“It is not locked, just closed.”
The hair was up on the back of Adam’s neck. These were more than just spaceport workers; they were guards. He glanced down at their waists; and armed guards to boot.
“I don’t want any trouble,” Adam said. “I just want to take a look inside. You know you can’t do anything to stop me. I will get inside, so it’s best for everyone if you cooperate.”
The three natives looked at each other. The other two nodded to their leader.
“It is agreed, you may look inside. The lights are off. There is a control panel on the wall toward the right.
Adam was already scanning the interior with his ATD. As he’d been told, he could tell the lights were out as no energy signals were coming from inside the hangar. If a spaceship was there, then it was shut down and the engine cold.
The natives stepped aside and let Adam pass. He opened the door and looked to the right, using the light through the door to locate the power switch. He could have used his ATD to turn on the lights, but at the moment, he was busy using the implant to sever the firing circuits on the guard’s MK-17 flash weapons.
Unfortunately, one of the Gracilians had brought a bat to a gunfight, and he used it to bash Adam over the head from behind.
It doesn’t matter how super of a Human you are, but getting clubbed over the head with a wooden bat hurts like hell. Adam fell to his knees, seeing stars. In that brief moment, he forgot about his ATD and that he could call Riyad and Sherri for back up. Instead, he was dragged by his arms farther into the hangar and tossed into a corner.
But the Gracilians weren’t done with him. Two of them took to kicking and punching him, while the one with the alien Louisville Slugger would step in occasionally to whack him again in the head.
In the past, Adam had survived such attacks based on the thinner density of alien wood. Having evolved on worlds with half to three-quarters Earth’s gravity meant most organic material—such as wood—didn’t have to be as strong as the terrestrial variety. The bat the native was using on Adam must have been an exception, or else it was imported from a heavy-gravity planet.
But it was the initial blow that did the most damage, and once Adam’s head began to clear, he went on the offensive.
He was on the ground, which meant his legs were free to join in the fight. He kicked out, hitting one of the natives in the stomach, buckling him over. Unfortunately, the Gracilian just had lunch, and now he showered foul brown and green liquid onto Adam. He slumped to the ground, out of the fight, still heaving his guts out.
Adam blocked another blow from the bat with a forearm, which he immediately regretted. It didn’t break the bone, but it did break the skin. Adam then reached out and took the bat in his hand, easily ripping it from the native’s grip.
Fearing now for their lives, the Gracilians pulled their weapons and began fingering the triggers over and over. Ignoring them, Adam leisurely climbed to his feet. That’s when the aliens threw their useless MKs at Adam, with one hitting him in the forehead and the other in the mouth.
“Jeez, knock it off, will you?” Adam yelled at the pair.
But they didn’t. Instead, they rushed him, confirming Adam’s belief that Gracilians would be marvelous warriors—if they set their minds to it. The muscular creatures with thick, triangular-shaped shoulders and necks slammed into Adam’s still groggy body, knocking him to the floor again. They were coordinated, too. And rather than like in old action movies, where a group of fighters would attack the hero one at a time, these two ganged up on him in unison, landing blow after blow on his face. One even aimed for his groin, barely missing. Or perhaps he wasn’t familiar with Human anatomy.
Adam rolled away, breaking their grips. He continued to roll as fast as he could until he had room to spring to his feet. Adam was still shaky from the hit to the head, but that was clearing. He placed himself in a fighter’s stance and prepared for the next bum rush.
The Gracilian’s charged, with neither of these two injured in any substantial way. Adam knew it would only take one clean hit from a Human to put them down; he just hadn’t had the opportunity. Now he did. One of the Gracilians led a little sooner than the other, allowing Adam to concentrate on him. Adam easily blocked an incoming fist and then countered with one of his own to the alien's solar plexus—or whatever the solar plexus was called on a Gracilian.
Eyes bulged out, and he gasped for breath. Stunned by the punch, the alien was a sitting duck for Adam’s next hit against the jaw. He didn’t mean to kill the Gracilian, but that was the result. The neck snapped, and the creature twirled away before falling to the smooth concrete floor, performing a half-spin before coming to a final rest.
The last Gracilian—the spokes-alien for the group—had seen enough. He ran for the door.
Adam didn’t let him get too far. He tackled him by the legs, spinning as they fell, before coming up on top of the Gracilian, pinning his arms under Adam’s knees.
“Are you done? Can we have a little talk now?”
“You are not going to kill me?”
“I don’t know; I may. That depends on what you can tell me about that…”
Adam pointed to the black-hulled dark-matter starship taking up about a third of the hangar. He’d seen it clearly during the battle, thrilled that he’d found Garus’s ship; but he’d been otherwise occupied at the time.
Sherri, Riyad, I found it, he announced through his ATD. I’m in Hanger 13. Oh, and bring a med-kit if you have one.
Adam pulled the native up by his shirt and pushed him toward the DM ship.
“You were left to guard it, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“By the Luz?”
“By the Master.”
“Where are they?”
“They? I do not know.”
Adam pulled the native closer. “Tell me what you do know.”
The Gracilian wrinkled his nose and glanced down at Adam’s shirt. It was covered in alien vomit, which stuck to him like Velcro.
“I know that you stink.”
“Tell me something I don’t already know. Where is Garus—the Master?”
“Truly, I do not know. Others were tasked with finding a location to hide him. Others were sent to recruit more to his cause.”
“What cause? Why would the Gracilians want to work for puny creatures like the Luz.”
The Gracilian begged to be separated from Adam before he could talk more, explaining that the smell was debilitating. Adam released him. They both knew the native couldn’t get a
way from the Human.
“You will find that many Gracilians will join his cause because his mission is our mission. He explained how Gracilia was his ancient home at the time of the Aris. We have always believed ourselves to be the children of the Aris. In truth, we are the children of the Luz. Now the Master has come to lead us to our destiny.”
“Let me guess: galactic domination, one race to rule them all.”
The Gracilian batted his eyes. “Eh, yes, that is precisely what we seek and that the Master has promised.”
“And how does he expect to fulfill this promise?”
The native smirked. “I do not know. I only saw him for a moment, as he and another Gracilian named Crin explained our combined heritage. They are working on a project together; that is all I know.”
“Where?”
“I said, I do not know.”
“You keep mentioning him. Did you see the other Masters?”
The Gracilian was shocked. “More Masters? There are more? I only saw one.”
This could be problematic, Adam thought. Perhaps the other two were still in the freighter, also up to no good.
“How long have they—the one Master—been gone?”
“Ten days. I was left to guard the Gracilian-designed starship.” The native spoke with undisguised pride, letting Adam know he was aware who built the dark-matter warships. “Others have come back periodically to retrieve equipment from the ship.”
“When did they last come?”
“Not for six days.”
Adam grimaced. If Garus was removing equipment from the ship, he had to have someplace to take it. And as of six days ago, he had all he needed. Adam knew how long it took for Stimmel’s Gracilians to build the Formation framework at the ancient Aris Technician base. That had only taken a few days to complete, and they weren’t Luz Masters making it. There was no doubt Garus had already completed his work by now. But where was his base of operations?
Sherri and Riyad came running through the door, stopping for a moment to look first at the DM starship and then at the two bodies on the floor. Then they gawked at Adam.
“Losing your touch there, aren’t you, ace?” Sherri asked. She reached up and touched the lump on the side of his head, the one that was still bleeding. And there were the bruised cheeks, black eye, bleeding arm and split lip.
“Hey, one of them had a bat.”
“And a severe case of indigestion, from the smell of it.” Sherri wrinkled her nose and stepped away.
“Ah, reminds me of home,” Riyad said, moving closer to the alien. “Even so, let us speak over here.” He pulled the Gracilian even farther away from Adam than he already was.
Riyad put a hand on the muscular shoulder of the surviving Gracilian. “You are lucky, my friend,” he said, flashing his trademark white smile at the native, who recoiled in fear at the death challenge. “Adam Cain usually kills a trio of aliens before breakfast. He must like you.” Then turning to Adam, “What have you learned.”
“I learned that six days ago, Garus had everything he needed from the DM ship and took the equipment somewhere. He also said he only saw Garus. The other two could still be on the freighter. My very truthful friend here doesn’t know where any of them are. At least that’s what he says.”
Riyad squeezed the alien’s shoulder tighter, using his latent Human strength to dig into the flesh. The Gracilian grimaced and bent over toward Riyad. “Perhaps he can call some of his friends, see if they know anything.”
“Good idea.” Adam stepped closer to the Gracilian, who tried to pull away, not from fear, but from the smell. “You’ll help us, won’t you?”
“Do I have a choice?”
Sherri snickered. “He’s smarter than he looks,” she said. “No, you don’t. Now, get to work. We need a location. Oh, and by the way, your life depends on it.”
CHAPTER 9
ADAM TRAILED SHERRI AND RIYAD—ALONG with their Gracilian prisoner—back to the DM ship parked outside the customs office. Even in the foul air of the planet, Adam’s stink was more than they could handle. Once aboard, Adam took a shower, changed his clothes and burnt his old uniform. Twenty minutes later, they had the native parked in front of a comm station, ready to begin calling his fellow conspirators.
The Gracilian was named Sorark, and he was more than willing to help. He kept watching Sherri, terrified of the blonde more than either Adam or Riyad. Adam couldn’t blame him. He and Riyad were terrified of her, too.
The Humans set the commlink aimed at a non-descript wall and sat off to one side, monitoring the conversation.
After speaking with a few underlings, Sorark was connected with a Gracilian named Crin, Garus’s native partner-in-crime. Frowning into the screen, it was apparent Crin didn’t recognize the guard.
“You are Sorark? You were guarding the dark-matter ship?” Crin asked.
“Yes, I was. Enforcers raided the hangar. My two companions were killed. I barely escaped with my life.”
“Where are you now?”
“I have sought refuge in another part of the spaceport. I seek instructions. What are we to do about the vessel?”
Crin waved a hand before the screen. “It matters not. The Master will no longer need the starship. There was no harm in its discovery. You did well, Sorark, although I regret the loss of your companions.”
“What should I do now?” Sorark asked. “I still want to fight for the Master to help our vision come true. Can you bring me in? I wish to join the rest of the army.”
“Of course. Are you familiar with the Poranic University grounds?”
Sorark grimaced. “I regret that I am not. I was with the Gracilian Military before, and not within the science class.”
“That was why you were recruited. The Master needs fighters; your skills are much needed. That is why you must now join us. You can find the university?”
“Of course, I do know of its location, but not the layout of the facility.”
“Find the Central Lecture Hall. We are below the main forum. It is a large room reserved for only the most special presentations. That is where the Master has constructed his apparatus. Come to the south entrance of the Lecture Hall. More loyalists will guide you below. There is still work to be done. How soon can you get here?”
Sorark had been prepped for this by the Humans. Already, Major Kilous was assembling a strike force of Enforcers, ready to reach any part of Lanacon in less than an hour.
“I must be careful as I proceed, but I can be there in an hour.”
“Very good. Take precautions. We shall see you in an hour.”
The link was cut, and the Humans surrounded the alien.
“You did well, Sorark,” Sherri said, placing a reassuring hand on the Gracilian’s back. “Now, you’re to come with us, help get us past the guards. And to assure you won’t set off any alarms, I have just placed a microscopically-thin explosive on your back. Do not touch it or attempt to have it removed; it will detonate. Let’s get going.”
The alien trembled from fear. He was led out of the ship and placed in the back of a transport van carrying twenty Enforcers. Forty were assembled and ready to make the raid. The Humans and Juron Kilous took a separate vehicle to the University.
“I sure hope that explosive doesn’t go off in the truck,” Riyad said with a grin.
“What explosive?” Juron asked, concerned.
“Nothing to worry about, major,” Adam said. “Just a little game Vice-President Valentine is playing on our prisoner.”
“He did fall for it pretty easily,” Sherri said. “I just hope he doesn’t stroke out before we get through security at the University.”
The drive only took twenty minutes, during which time the trio of Humans pulled up the schematics for the Lecture Hall and located the lower assembly room.
“Three entrance points,” Riyad pointed out. “Fortunately, we have these sloped walkways in the building, easier to move large crowds other than elevators. We can get the troops in here,
here and here.”
“Sorark mentioned an army of recruits,” Adam said. “By now, it’s a pretty good bet Garus has more than the original thirty who walked off their jobs to join him. And these could be more of the Sorark type, fighters, not thinkers.”
“My troops can handle up to a hundred armed Gracilians,” Kilous said with confidence. “And we, too, are fighters. I am anxious for such activity. It has been far too long.”
Maybe I won’t fire him after all, Riyad said through his ATD. The alien has balls. He snickered in Sherri and Adam’s minds. Big, hairy, alien balls.
Sherri shook her head. I can’t believe I was once married to you.
They were the best seven months of your life, my love.
You’re right, Riyad, Sherri thought, to both Adam and Riyad’s surprise. They showed me just how bad things could get. It’s good to put things in perspective now and then. But once was enough in your case.
If I didn’t know better, Adam thought, I would swear the two of you are still in love. Now, let’s get back on mission. Then aloud: “Sorark will be sent in ahead to draw out any of the guards, then the Enforcers will move in. Don’t be too concerned with Garus. He’s immortal; we couldn’t kill him, even if we wanted to. Just clear out the Gracilians.”
“The target is immortal?” Kilous asked. “Another immortal?”
“Yeah, but the bad kind of immortal,” Adam said reassuringly.
“Like Kracion?”
“No, not like Kracion. This one is just a leftover. Nothing to worry about.”
Adam hadn’t thought about that before. Garus was immortal, but did he have any special powers Adam wasn’t aware of? Until now, all he’d done is use conventional methods to get Adam and the others to do what he wanted. That was when Adam realized he didn’t know anything about the Luz Master except that he was immortal … and an asshole.
“Just get in and secure the device, major,” Adam continued. “We’ll deal with the immortal.”
