On the bed was the body of a girl; a pale and wasted version of the Suzanne Tom had last seen at the lake.
Final memories dropped into place for him, as the drug Kara had administered burned off. He gave a sob, and sat down heavily on the bed. They had dressed Suzanne in a plain grey shroud, which lay over her emaciated remains, failing to hide the state of her body. Tom gently took her in his arms and held her to his chest, running his hands through her glorious hair – still soft and fragrant after all this time. He could feel a weak heartbeat, but otherwise she was unresponsive. The shroud slipped from her shoulders and he covered her nakedness with his own jacket, glaring round at the others, who suddenly pretended to be studying the cooker.
There was the sound of flushing water and the Magus appeared from the shadows in a corner of the room. “I needed that,” he said. “Have you noticed how you always get bunged up on holiday? Those ‘umyousee’ beans are great. Oh, we have visitors. Two-Dan. I knew you’d come, despite the bitch.”
Kara stuck her tongue out at him.
“Well met, drinking buddy.”
“You found Suzanne,” said Tom.
The Magus shook him apologetically by the hand. “Yes, I found her for you eventually,” he said glumly. “There’s not much left.”
“You said she was dead.” Tom’s voice was almost a whisper.
“I thought she was. The bio-trace stopped working, because the Skagan ships were travelling in Ultra-space–a different dimension,” he added, although Tom’s blank expression was for entirely different reasons. “When they landed here, it was a simple matter to track her down.” He again misinterpreted Tom’s expression. “I’m sorry, but if she had been killed in the battle with the Consortium...”
Kara stamped her foot, before the Magus lost an argument with only one participant. “Will you tell me what you have on the Consortium, to drag us all the way here? It had better be worth it.”
“Nothing.” The Magus shrugged. “Nothing at all. I have no information. I only wanted to get you here, and rescue me. From what Tom said about you, me simply finding the girl would not have persuaded you to come.”
Kara’s face went red, and she opened her mouth angrily.
“Anyway, he’s a mate,” continued the Magus. “We shared an ale or two together. That’s what mates do. You always help your mates out.” He deliberately turned his back, and continued talking to Tom. “I’ve tried everything to bring her out of the trance, old man. Nothing seems to neutralise the Smorg poison.
“Then she’s going to die?” Tom held the limp girl tighter, and rocked from side to side.
“Yes she is.” Vac spun on his chair, a strange light in his eyes. “Leave her alone. What is left of her is mine.”
“No.” Tanda cut in sharply. “Leave her for Two-Dan. She’s dead meat. Not worthy of a Skagan chieftain. It’s a wonder she’s still breathing.”
“I keep her. I will kill anyone who tries to take her from me.”
“So that’s game over for you,” said Kara, heartlessly. Let’s go. We ought to get back to sorting out the Consortium.”
“You can leave, if you want. I’m staying here.” Tom turned desperately to the Magus. “You must be able to use your powers? You must save her life. Please do something.”
“I’ve tried almost everything.”
“Almost? You mean there’s still something you can do?”
“Possibly a life-force transfer. I could try to push my energy into her, but depending on how far gone she is, I might die too.”
“So, a choice between my mate, and my girl?”
“I’m not really a mate. We only shared a few drinks.”
“I will stay, despite that. You can go with Kara if you like.”
“Oh for goodness sake, what about using an intermediate?” Kara stamped her foot. “Get the slapper on her feet for Phoist’s sake, and then we can get away, and on with our work.”
The Magus looked thoughtful. “What, use someone else’s life-force?” He kicked idly at the rotting wall. A small ten-legged creature skittered out of the skirting. “I suppose it’s an idea. It’s risky. Anybody here want to risk death?” He stared pointedly at the Skagan warrior, who was now standing, blankly staring at them. “You Vac, seeing as you’re so keen on the lady?”
Vac scowled and backed away, to rattle the fire in the stove, muttering something about lunch.
“I’ll do it of course,” said Tom. “Show me how.”
Vac grunted. “Then if you can save her, you can have her.”
Kara thumped the table. “No way! We have too much to do. You aren’t killing my, er, friend… Leave the cow to rot.”
Tom lost his temper. “Shut your mouth, bitch,” he snarled. “It’s my life. I’ll do it.”
Kara’s eyes glinted. If looks could kill, Tom would have been carried out in a small paper bag. Fortunately, Kara’s lethal death stare was at the optometrist’s for its two million photon service, so he survived.
Tom walked over to the Magus who was standing with his hand on his chin, and shook him by the shoulders. “Let’s get on with it.”
“If you’re sure?”
Tom nodded. “Tell me what to do.”
The Magus shrugged. “It’s only a theory, of course.”
“Aren’t they always?”
“Nobody is usually daft enough to try.”
Tom nodded. “I am. Let’s get it over.”
“Right,” said the Magus, “bring that box up next to the girl.”
“Look, this is stupid.” Kara was getting more red. “What do you hope to gain? I can’t use the girl, and Two-Dan is the key… oh, perhaps I shouldn’t have said that.”
Tom scowled at her. “Tough, I’m going to do this. I mean, you never ever intended to take me home did you?”
“We will go anywhere you want…” Kara’s sounded desperate.
“Yeah, right.”
“Lie her down, then.” Tom gently laid the girl back on the bed. The Magus gripped his arm and placed his other hand across Suzanne’s face. An eerie blue glow built up around the three of them, as the room seemed to darken. The Magus murmured under his breath. Tom felt his body becoming lighter. His mind drifted. Strange images flashed across his vision. His insides seemed to be dragged outwards into the aura as it enveloped him. He took the strain as long as he could, and then slumped heavily over the bed, gasping for breath.
The emanation pulsed and swirled around him, glowing red now. Tom’s images intensified–visions of Skagos, of his own face, of the passion with Suzanne inside their tent, of disappointment, and vast tracts of emptiness, and of Suzanne and the pain inside her. He felt himself sinking into the helpless girl. He felt her sit up, as the aura tugged at her. She laid her hand on his back. The energy flowed from around him. It drifted upwards to hover over them, like a crimson raincloud, and then fell, hammering into Suzanne’s body. The fire pulsed around her, and dissolved. She bucked as if electrocuted. Tom slipped to the floor and lay still.
Holiday Flight
Tom has a shot.
Kara goes to pieces.
T
here was a stunned silence in the room. The Magus scratched his head. “I wasn’t expecting that. Still, a job properly done, I think.” He rubbed his hands together.
Tanda felt Tom’s pulse. She turned round slowly. “He’s still alive.”
“Bloody am.” Tom grunted, and she helped him back on to the box. “What happened? Christ, I feel knackered.”
“You are alive,” the Magus said, thoughtfully.
“Bits of me are,” wheezed Tom. “Where am I?”
“And reasonably able-bodied,” continued the Magus. “I’m puzzled, though. You should at least have needed rest.” Then he broke into a smile. “Of course, I understand now. The poison must have worn off ages ago. What was left in the girl was psychological, not drug-induced. Your bloody fault.” He scowled at Vac, who shrugged and looked away.
“That’s why all the medical cures didn’t work.” He clapped his hands. “Stupid me, we could have solved the problem with smelling salts.”
“Or Vac’s feet?” suggested Tanda.
“Thanks for telling me.” Tom had a splitting headache. “Is Suzanne going to be all right?”
“I hope so,” said the Magus, “when she puts a bit of weight on she’ll be quite tasty, I mean fit, er, I mean strong again.”
Tom climbed shakily back on the bed and cradled the girl in his arms. Her lips moved, as colour began to return to her cheeks.
“Where the hell am I. I’m famished.” She spoke in a hoarse whisper.
Tom turned her face gently towards him. “Suzy, are you okay?”
Suzanne’s eyes focused on him. “Wow,” she said, “that was some kiss. Hey, where’s the pool?” She looked round at the barren room. “Where’s Skagos? Where am I? Who are you all? Why are you looking at me like that? Why am I so hungry? Phoist, I do feel a mess. Where’s the Ladies’ room… and my clothes?”
“Here, eat,” said Vac. He proffered an unappetising hunk of bread from near the oven. Suzanne grabbed it and started bolting it down.
“Water,” she said, showering Tom with crumbs.
Vac put his hand on her shoulder. “By the way, you belong to me.”
“I do not know you.” Suzanne fixed the Skagan with a curious stare. Her eyes were wide, dark pools in her pale features. “Where’s that drink?” She accepted a jug of water from the Magus, and took a long draught. “Anyway, I’m already spoken for.”
“What, him?” Vac advanced on Tom, a hand on his sword hilt.
Tom shrugged. “Get lost, or you’re a dead man.” He brandished Kara’s hair dryer.
Vac backed away. “You don’t fight fair,” he said. “Put that down and fight like a man.”
“I would, if you behaved like one,” retorted Tom. “I’m guessing they haven’t invented soap and shaving on this Ford-forsaken rock.” He stood shakily, and clenched his fists.
“Enough of the macho thing, you two,” said Kara. “What’s this flashing light over here mean?”
“The Consortium!” Tanda said, worriedly. She regarded an image on a small hand-held device. “I tapped into the security cameras, those still working. I can see them. Seem to be heading directly here. How on Skagos did they find us?” She took the men by the arms. “Vac, you and Two-Dan run for it, and draw them off. The outlander’s not strong enough, yet, so we girls will hide in the ladies’ toilet. They’ll never dare to look for us in there. Magus, what about you?”
“No problem. I’ll MUPPET myself to the safety of the bar. Meet me there, later. I think I might have a couple of drinks waiting. I was drinking with some Consortium soldiers, there.”
“Drinking with the enemy?” Tanda scowled at him.
“Fact-finding. They have no idea who I am. Their orders are to track the Skagans down, namely, Vac. We sank a load of drinks. I’m surprised they can still stand.”
“And you led them here?”
“Of course not.”
“Then what’s this?” Tanda poked a Consortium logo badge pinned on his cloak.
“It was a present from the guys. They said I was an honorary member of their squad, after all we had consumed together.”
“Utter moron. It’s a homing device. That’s how they found us. Take it away, and destroy it.”
“Sorry. I’ll try and draw them off.”
He closed his eyes and vanished.
“You two, move,” said Tanda. “Put your argument aside, or you’ll both die. We will be safe now the tracker has gone.”
Tom and Vac slipped out through the door together. “Look, Vac, we’re in trouble here,” muttered Tom. “Truce, until we can get some space?”
“Truce, then, but don’t ever turn your back on me. It will be too much of a temptation.”
“I’ll remember that,” Tom said, “but where I come from, stabbing someone in the back is only practised by business leaders and politicians, not decent people.”
“So, we keep each other alive, until the danger is over, and then we will see who the outlander belongs to.”
“Suzanne,” said Tom, “that’s her name. You don’t even know that, so why should she be yours?”
“Forget it, look there.” The Skagan pointed, as they reached the doors of the hanger. “We have no time for fighting each other... yet.”
A squad of troopers was advancing slowly along the units, entering and searching each one as they passed. Sporadic sounds of gunfire echoed around the deserted airstrip.
“Where’s the back way out?” said Tom.
“There is no back way out. The hangers are built back against the cliff.”
“What about a side way out?”
“No.”
“We can’t run for it—they’ll cut us down...”
“I’m open to suggestions.”
“What was your wonderful plan, Vac? You must have had an escape route in mind, when you chose the hanger to hide in.”
“Escape plan? Hmmm. Yes, now you mention it, that would have been a good idea. “What about ‘attack’ as a plan? That’s what we normally do. Glory, sex and death!”
“Against that many soldiers, probably death. We wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“You have your formidable weapon. Surely that would sear them to charcoal, with a single blast?”
Tom regarded the hairdryer, now hooked on his belt. “We could try it, but suppose we surrender, and say you’re sorry about destroying their spaceships?”
“No, we attack. Are you ready?”
“Wait, a better idea... perhaps we should run, and draw them away? I expect these troopers are all highly trained, and I’d never be able to take them all down with this weapon. We can give the girls a chance, the noble thing to do.”
“Noble? Run? Which way?” Vac scratched his head.
“Does it really matter? They are not giving us any chances.”
As the guards searched the hangers, at least half the squad remained outside, covering the airfield. A baggage-handler broke cover from inside a large, discarded suitcase. The guards callously cut him down, in a hail of laser bolts.
“An opening,” said Vac, pointing at a thick cloud of purple mist drifting along the airfield. “It might give us some shelter. Run with it when it passes.”
The cloud drifted steadily towards them, and then halted a few paces away. The guards finished their current search and started to smash at the door of the next warehouse. The airfield rocked with an explosion, as the baggage-handlers inside made a stand. The guards regrouped to deal with this new threat, and Tom and Vac took their chances. In his weakened condition, the sprint to the cloud took everything Tom could muster, but they made it, unseen. Vac picked the way carefully through the mist, away from the hangers, but then as quickly as it had appeared, the fog cleared, leaving them exposed in the centre of the field.
“It does that, sometimes,” said Vac.
Tom snorted. “Thanks for warning me.”
A shout went up from the troopers, as they saw the two men darting for the shelter of the main group of parked ships. Laser bolts fizzed on the airfield beside the fleeing men, melting the surface, but the firing seemed sporadic and wild. Tom realised later that the troopers were hampered by the weight of the looted artefacts they carried. He also found out that they couldn’t see straight, owing to the quantity of local spirit they had downed. It was something to do with a strange little man in a cloak, who kept disappearing and leaving them with the bills.
Another mist cloud swallowed up the fugitives as they ran. When it cleared, they were in the middle of a landing pad. One of the ships was warming up its engines.
“This one,” said Vac. “It looks like it’s about to leave. Up here.” They scampered up the ramp into the battered transport. He nodded to the statuesque flight attendant, as though they were regular customers. She let them in.
“Here will do,” he said. He ushered Tom into a seat near the rear of the passenger compartment. “I’ll take the aisle. This should hide us until the troops have gone. Now, relax, and don’t look suspicious.”
He fished a copy of the in-flight magazine, ‘Splatt’, from the seat in front of him, and became absorbed in an article about local holiday destinations.
Tom peeped anxiously from the grimy window. “They’re searching all the ships,” he muttered.
The sound of steel-clad boots rang on the ramp. The hatch darkened as two Consortium guards blocked the light.
“Hell, how are we going to get out of this one?” Tom fidgeted nervously in his seat.
“Sit still, I said. Don’t worry.” Vac did not move his head. “I have a friend aboard. If all else fails, you can fry them with your weapon.”
The guards advanced slowly up the centre aisle, poking their guns into peoples’ ears and mouths, inspecting tickets and identity cards, and removing money from wallets.
Tom started to sweat. “Aren’t you going to do something,” he whispered from the corner of his mouth.
“I suppose we could shoot our way out.” Vac shrugged.
“Could we get away?”
“Nah, they would blow up the ship.”
“What, with all these people aboard?”
“Life is cheap out here.”
“That’s it then, I’m going to give myself up. We can’t risk all these lives.” Tom began to stand. Vac held him down.
The stewardess rushed up to the guards. “Gentlemen, gentlemen, we are ready to take off. Please get to your seats.”
“We can’t leave the squad,” said one of the soldiers.
“Would be shot for desertion,” said the other.
“I can’t see any rebels,” said the first, his eyes shut.
“Me neither,” agreed the other. They made their way back to the entrance. “All clear,” he shouted to the troopers waiting outside. They disembarked and the hatch closed.
The Legend of Dan Page 21
