Bubbles Burst
I
Vacki Seventeen – Medical Unit
Savannah woke to see a white ceiling. “Where am I?”
“You’re safe, Shava.”
Looking to the side, Savannah looked eye-to-eye with a small Asian woman. Her movements were hampered, however, by the restraints holding her arms in place from the gurney beneath her.
“Oh, I knew I was gonna fuck that up. You prefer Savannah, now, don’t you? Your Emmi name just isn’t good enough. And before I forget anything else, I’m Jasper.”
Savannah’s eyes widened, recognizing the name. “Jasper? Why are you human?”
“Like you, I had a mission on Earth. Like you, I failed miserably.” She glanced away and grinned. “Well, until now.”
“Why am I tied down.”
Jasper stepped over to the gurney beside Savannah and looked down. “He was part of that mission.”
Savannah turned to look and felt her panic rise further. “Gerald?”
His chest rose and fell with difficult wheezing in his breath. A gag of duct tape ran across his lips and his eyes darted about in fear. Ropes around the gurney held him at the neck, mid-chest, waistband, and thighs. His stumps rose and fell as he tested those bindings.
“He screwed me twice by not being there when I was supposed to take him out.”
Savannah’s eyes flared red. “Why?”
“No idea, actually. Cooper sent me to do it.” Jasper shrugged and leaned on Gerald’s chest.
A muffled cry beneath the duct tape was Gerald’s response.
“All I know is this guy should have been dead. Cooper gave me three specific windows. A road in Saskatoon, an apartment in Winnipeg…” Jasper glanced back over at Savannah and laughed. “This, right now, is the third. At least it’s warmer here.”
Savannah’s eyes flared.
Another cry came from Gerald.
Jasper pulled up from Gerald’s chest and put a hand either side of his head. “Odd, but for some reason, they were in reverse order in time. If I’d planned it, this would be my first attempt. Either way, I’m not fucking it up this time.” She twisted sharply with a snap of bones.”
He gave one final cry before his chest stopped moving.
“FUCK YOU, NO!” Savannah screamed and flashed off her bed and out of the restraints on the floor.
From the constant smile on Jasper’s face, this was not unexpected. “This way he got some good fear in the end. Not as much fun as watching his head obliterated by my bullet, but, at least, he’s dead now.”
“Why?” Savannah stood up and charged at her.
Jasper flashed just before Savannah’s shoulder would have made contact with her. Reappearing behind her, Jasper slammed her arm down on Savannah’s back.
Sprawling headfirst as if attempting a dive for home plate, Savannah skidded across the floor.
“Shava, do not get up.” The voice was Zed.
Her eyes found Zed floating in through the farthest door. “Zed? Help me, she killed Gerald.” Tears stung her eyes.
Zed floated to her. “I am quite aware. I believe, um, was it Davidson?”
“Yes,” Jasper confirmed, “Ensign Davidson was one of my staff.”
“She also killed Davidson over there, after giving the man the best orgasm of his life.”
“Epic, I’m sure.” Jasper laughed.
“I enjoyed watching it.” Zed stopped floating directly above Savannah.
“I bet you did. Annoying as these bodies are, I’m going to miss the fucking. I look good doing it.”
Savannah tried to stand back up, but Zed lowered on her holding her on the floor.
“We all have our orders,” Zed said.
II
In Orbit of Saturn – Darwin’s Sword
January 26, 2018
“Zed, we have a problem.”
A push of the blue button ignited the warming pattern of the thrusters. “A problem? Is eviction not possible?”
“They are space faring,” Savannah’s voice crackled over the bridge speakers.
Zed’s white blob form turned a tinge of red. “We cannot evict a space-faring race,” Zed said, repeating protocol as though reading it straight from the manual. “This is a directive.”
“Fuck it, Zed, I know! This is why we have to stop Graven!”
“Fuck it?”
“A human euphemism.”
“Ah, yes.” Zed glanced at the console. “My sensors are picking up the fleet en route.”
“How long?”
“Eighteen Earth days.”
“Okay, Zed, I’ll send you the coordinates. You meet us that day so we can either stop Graven or get as many of these innocents out of here as we can.”
Zed closed the connection and considered the word ‘innocents’. “Master Cooper says that none of them are innocent.” Zed floated from the console to the airlock. Two tentacles slipped out; one to open the airlock and the other to lift a small metal cube. Being Zed did not require air, the door opened to space with only a whisper. Holding along the side of the vessel with one tentacle, Zed floated up to the right nacelle and placed the cube on the wing holding it.
The cube melted and vanished into the metal of the wing, as though it were not there.
Floating back to the airlock, Zed closed it again and began to pressurize the cabin. Zed didn’t need air, but Shava would. Zed’s mission was dangerous but specific. Cooper’s instructions were, if Shava were to call for the ship and say anything about stopping eviction, Zed was to sabotage the vessel. Cooper claimed that such an announcement from Shava meant that she was under the control of one of the Earthlings.
III
Vacki Seventeen
“And you thought you knew everything while your own pilot was ordered to sabotage your mission. Pathetic!” Jasper laughed. She was sitting on top of Gerald and playing with his face. “Zed, we should kill her too. The galaxy doesn’t need such stupidity.”
“That is not part of the mission, Jasper,” Zed reminded.
“No, but I’d feel better about our escape chances. Why was I to kill all the other humans, but leave her?”
Zed lowered more weight upon Savannah’s chest until hearing the cracking of ribs.
Savannah screamed.
“Not my place to answer and she can no longer follow us.” Zed lifted off and floated towards Jasper.
“Fine, have it your way.”
“Killed all the others?” Savannah asked in a painful gasp.
Jasper spewed a huff of air. “Whatever. When Earth found out about the Kettelgian it was accidental. Earth secretly set up this base. Once your chest heals,” Jasper said lowering a knee down on top of it and causing another series of cracks.
Savannah screamed again.
“You have seven fighters, a personnel carrier, and only you to fly it. Oh, and your own crashed shuttle which was the only one I didn’t have to bother disabling. Considering the poor Earth-tech, it was the only one that stood a fighting chance in a battle, anyway. There are still thirty Rambos still combing your crash site for, I’m not even sure what the fuck they’re looking for, but they could help you. Though I made sure I killed off the pilots early.”
“Our ride home is arriving shortly. We must go. We need to be in orbit quickly so they can pick us up.”
“Zed, I’d just enjoy killing her. Are you sure? I’ve killed forty-nine today, one more would make a perfect fifty.”
Zed ignored the question and floated towards the door.
Jasper jumped off the gurney and followed Zed.
“Kill me now, Zed!” Savannah screamed from behind them. “I will be coming for you both.”
Jasper stopped and giggled. “How would the Earthlings respond to that.”
Zed turned dark blue. “Challenge accepted.” With a tentacle slap, Zed opened the door and floated through it.
Jasper followed.
IV
“Oh, time to run,” Jasper said stepping out of the med building. “That�
�s Graven’s shuttle.”
“Is your ship prepared?” Zed floated towards the landing area.
“Zed, my ship has been prepared to leave these leeches for a long time.” Jasper followed at a jog. “The black Sklump is mine.”
“Excellent choice,” Zed called back. “What have you named it?”
The black ship they approached was the shape of a sword with wings spreading out as a hilt.
“Named? I’ve been among these humans longer than you, why the fuck would you expect me to name it?”
The incoming silver box shuttle settled down beside Jasper’s ship. The ramp slid down, and the door opened with a hiss. A bloodied Graven stepped out followed by Nigel, Sheila, and Lincoln.
Graven’s eyes saw the pair running to them. “Zed! Where’s Savannah?”
Zed did not answer but floated faster.
Pulling a rifle from his side, Graven shook his head. “I should have known.” One shot took Zed, bursting skin and spraying white onto both ground and Jasper.
Leaping over the puddle that used to be Zed, Jasper went for her pistol. She got one shot away before diving through the door of her ship. A kick at the wall caused the door to slide closed behind her. “Fuckers!”
V
Nigel felt the burn of his left earlobe nicked by whatever had fired from Jasper’s gun. His hand rose to check for blood, but found none. His peripheral vision was the first realization that Sheila had been watching over his left shoulder. “SHEILA!”
Graven fired a second shot that ricocheted off the hull of Jasper’s ship before spinning to watch Sheila crumple to the ground behind them.
Jasper’s random shot had left a mark on Sheila’s forehead where it entered.
“Mandy,” Graven whimpered and turned his rifle to fire more on the black ship that was now igniting its engines.
The useless shots bounced off the hull.
“No, baby, you can’t,” Nigel crouched down with the body of Sheila.
The black vessel began to lift off slowly. With a roar of the engine, it shot upwards towards the stars.
VI
“Savannah,” Graven whispered as he crouched to her. “Quelver is coming.”
“She killed Gerald,” Savannah wept.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Graven? Why are you here? Why…the blood?”
Nigel stepped up behind Graven and handed him a wet towel. “He’s not the bad guy here,” he said in a low voice.
“Nigel?” Savannah looked up and could see the red in his eyes. “Where’s Sheila?”
Graven stood up and faced Nigel. “Sometimes it is hard to see the villains through their masks.”
Nigel punched Graven in the mouth. He then followed with shots to Graven’s belly and shoulders.
Graven took the blows without flinching. He knew Nigel could not hurt him, but he also knew Nigel needed to do this to get the first shots of grief out of his system.
The assault ended with Nigel weeping on his back with his bloodied fists dripping. “Sheila’s dead,” he hissed at Savannah.
Graven crouched to Nigel and gave him back the wet towel. “Wipe your hands.”
Nigel accepted it and took the advise.
“I have a plan.” Graven stood and turned back to Savannah.
Lincoln walked over with a second wet towel for Graven.
Wiping his face, Graven pulled the towel back and looked at the blood.
“Who the fuck cares about your plan!” Nigel absently swatted a bloody hand at Graven. “It can’t bring Sheila back.”
Graven cocked his head and raised his eyebrows. “Actually, if all goes as I hope, it might.”
VII
Graven winced as the cuffs closed around his wrists.
“Graven?” the Emmi floating before him asked. “Do you understand what you are charged with?”
“Yes, I do.” Graven turned to eye Nigel and Savannah as he was led away.
They had arrived on Kettelgian Prime after two hours travel on a shuttle.
Nigel and Savannah were offered a small room, with similar bunks to the ones he and Sheila had in the brig of The Garbage Scow. This one offered no bars.
Waiting until they were alone, Nigel finally asked, “Why did he turn himself in?”
Savannah sat on her bunk and sighed. “If we do it this way, he gets an audience in a courtroom. If we came in with guns blazing, we get killed, too.”
“But Jasper tried to kill us.”
“She never saw you. The shot on Sheila was unlucky. Jasper did want to kill me, but she will keep quiet if she thinks I’m still loyal.”
“Oh yeah,” Nigel nodded and lay back on his bunk. “Makes so much sense.” He closed his eyes and tried to calm his mind. With having held Sheila’s dead body only a few hours prior, he was surprised that he succeeded.
The sob woke him, however.
His eyes found Savannah still sitting on her bunk, holding her head, and tears dripping to the floor.
“How can I help?”
She looked up at him for a moment before following it with a shrug.
Climbing from his bunk, he sat beside her and slipped an arm around her waist. “I know what you’re going through.”
Her mouth opened with a sneer but quickly closed again. “Yeah, I think you do.” Her voice was weak.
“If Graven’s plan works…”
She leaned in and kissed him.
His first instinct pushed her back.
Her face showed the shock of the rebuttal.
After a moment, he wrapped both arms around her and rejoined in the kiss.
The kiss was full of fire and hunger. Both clawed at the clothing they wore, tearing fabric to get at flesh.
Pushing Nigel back on the bunk, Savannah mounted him. Her brunette hair swayed as she moved back and forth, feeling his cock penetrate deep between her legs. Her pussy clenched it, not wanting to let it go.
Nigel moaned beneath her, allowing his stresses to be milked from him as she rode. His hips rose from the bunk to meet hers in slow, rhythmic pushes.
This was not a fuck of affection or passion. This was a fuck of necessity.
Savannah screamed as the cock between her legs began to drive her to orgasm. She felt the first tide of warmth coming over her, then a second heavier wave, before finally giving in to the crest of it before collapsing on to him.
Nigel, still not close to his orgasm, stopped and embraced her.
Savannah kissed him deeply again before dismounting. Climbing down to her knees beside the bunk, she took his erection in her hand and stroked. Her lips parted and took him into her mouth.
Stroking and saliva brought a gusher of cum into her mouth while Nigel screamed his pleasure.
Climbing back on the bunk, she lay on top of him.
“We’ll get these bastards,” Nigel whispered stroking her hair.
“I know. It will kill us, but we will.” Savannah kissed his shoulder.
Chapter Three
Plan A
I
A Courtroom on Kettelgian Five
August 2018
“Human?” Tormatang stopped floating and turned dark brown. “You are suggesting…?”
Nigel nodded. “The Kettelgian and the Emmi are both attempted clones of humans by your beloved leader, Cooper. On Earth, he was best known as D.B. Cooper.”
Tormatang turned blue. “I find it hard to believe…”
The murmurs behind them in the courtroom agreed with Tormatang.
Savannah took her time to glance around the courtroom. She saw only officials of the court. There were no members of media nor civilians in attendance.
Graven interrupted. “He was a human scientist that perfected the transportation technology we call flashing. He has also added temporal abilities to some devices.”
“Why would he do such a thing?” Tormatang demanded.
“To improve humanity,” Savannah offered. “He felt the only way to improve humanity was to restart it. Wipe
out what he saw as the existing mess and start over. When he realized he needed the planet in addition to the cellular building blocks, he began the mission to evict humans.”
A flash was followed by an exaggerated laugh from the back row of the courtroom.
Savannah turned to see Cooper standing at the back entrance sarcastically applauding.
“Not bad. Not bad at all. Surprised it took this long.”
“Master Cooper?” Tormatang sounded flustered. “We had not anticipated your presence at these proceedings. Under the circumstances, I believe we must execute all three of these accusers.”
“Thank you, Tormatang,” Cooper said with a grin. “Thank you for keeping this courtroom sealed.”
“Sealed?” Nigel looked over at Savannah.
“Means that our message won’t get out of this room,” Graven answered. He glanced over at Savannah and raised his eyebrows.
She nodded. “Plan b.”
Savannah, Nigel, and Graven flashed away.
“Tormatang! Where did they go?” Cooper dropped his hands to either side as red filled his cheeks.
Tormatang turned green. “Uncertain. There was only one signature.”
“How could three people flash on one signature?”
“Uncertain, sir.”
Cooper’s eyes widened. “Unless…”
II
Savannah and Nigel’s Quarters on Kettelgian Prime
May 2018
“Quelver!”
Quelver, still in human form, smiled at Savannah for a moment. “Shava, it is wonderful to see you, but…” His green eyes found Nigel and caused his mouth to fall open.
“Hi, I’m Nigel.”
“You’re human?”
Nigel smirked and glanced at Savannah. “Last I checked, yeah.”
Quelver wrapped his arms around Nigel in a bear hug. “I’m so pleased to make your acquaintance.”
The smirk turned into a laugh. “Usually, a handshake is good enough.”
Darwin's Sword: Savannah - Book Two Page 14
