“Logan,” Rax said. “Do not stress her further.”
I craned my head once more, watching the metal spider. Rax’s voice seemed to have come from it. At that point, a black bubble on the central metal body slid open, revealing Rax’s metal sheath slotted there.
“Is that you?” I asked, stunned.
“Say no more,” Rax said.
Just then, the conveyer sped up, hurrying me toward the flensing knives.
The metal spider raced onto my body and dipped down just like a Black Widow spider would do to a webbed captive. As a kid, I used to put various insects into webs and watch the spider go to work.
The mandibles on the bottom of the central metal housing snipped off the leather restraints to my right wrist.
“Remain very still,” Rax warned.
The black bubble canopy had slid back into place, hiding Rax again.
The conveyer jerked, moving even faster. I craned my head and wanted to howl. I had almost entered the tube that would begin the skin-flensing process.
Rax’s spider suit was scuttling across my body, dipping down and snipping again and again.
“Now,” Rax said.
I rolled off the conveyer just in time, dropping onto a warm metal floor. Sweat dripped from me and I trembled all over, exhausted by my mental ordeal.
“Oh no, Logan,” Ailuros said. “I refuse to let anyone cheat me, least of all a Rax Prime crystal.”
The mechanical tentacles sprouted upward from the floor opening.
“Follow me,” Rax said from his spider suit. He scuttled across the floor, heading for a closed hatch.
A tentacle swung, striking the spider suit and smashing it, breaking the canopy. Rax popped out and skittered across the floor. Another tentacle reached for Rax.
I finally began to move, stumbling across the warm metal floor.
“You will pay for your treachery,” Ailuros said.
The tentacles began sinking toward the floor opening, taking Rax with them.
“Logan, help,” Rax said.
The tentacles moved faster.
I launched myself like a linebacker in the Super Bowl trying to make the play of his life. Instead of trying to tackle a receiver about to cross the goal line, I reached out for Rax. I had the distinct impression that if I failed to grab the little bastard, I would never see him again. Sure, Rax had gotten me into plenty of fixes. But the little creep had just saved my life—at least, for the moment.
The tentacles jerked faster. My outstretched right hand touched Rax’s metal casing, and I clutched with everything I was worth. With a roar, I snatched Rax from the tentacle, completed my sailing flying tackle and rolled across the metal floor.
At that point, I rolled upright and sprinted for the closed hatch. We had a way to open it, I hoped.
“Excellent,” Rax said. “You indeed have the makings of a solid, if conventional, Galactic Guard agent.”
“Oh, you fool,” Ailuros said. “You have just made the greatest mistake of your life.”
She might have been right, but the hatch opened, and I plunged into semi-darkness, hoping for a breather so we could figure out what to do next.
-15-
“That all worked out rather well,” Rax said from my right hand.
I might have blundered into equipment, but there were glow bulbs sprinkled here and there throughout the large chamber, giving me just enough illumination to duck my head in time from bashing it open and leaping a low bulky thing so I didn’t tear open my shins.
“You are actually quite dexterous, Logan.”
“Hey, Rax,” I panted. “I’m naked, and I have no idea what do to next.”
“Look out,” he warned.
I twisted aside, but not quite fast enough, striking a large object with my right shoulder and spinning around until I stumbled and fell to my knees. I stayed there, panting harder, with sweat dripping off my face as my struck shoulder throbbed.
“We must keep moving,” Rax said.
“Yeah? And go where?”
“That is the critical problem. I do not know the station well. Fortunately, Ailuros must still be groggy from her long hibernation and thus has not reacted yet to my little escapade.”
“You’re not going to tell me your original message thawed her out of deep-freeze, are you?”
“I have no need, as you have already divined what I did.”
“That’s just great, Rax. You almost got me blinded and turned into a mute.”
“Who do you think detonated the kill-missile and activated the teleportor that snatched you off the space-sled?”
“Ailuros?”
“I had to make it worth her while, so I bargained quite strenuously. I may have exaggerated a few of your qualities. Did she suggest you lay with her by any chance?”
I wiped sweat out of my eyes and climbed to my feet, looking around. “How big is the station?”
“Unknown, as I did not find a complete schematic. As you can imagine, I worked furiously to save you from her sexual predation. The spider-suit was fantastic. I had mobility, Logan. It was a wonderful sensation to move as I desired. I would like to have another one of those.”
“Yeah, I bet you would.”
“Your tone does not match your words. I am unsure you would really be glad for me.”
“Was she really Argon’s wife?”
“I imagine she still is. During the ancient marriage ceremony, the Polarions also gave an oath ‘until death do us part,’ although they did not use the exact verbiage.”
“Did Argon really trap her out here?”
“This isn’t the time to satisfy your simian curiosity. We must find a means of escape.”
“You talked about a portal before that could take us to Earth,” I said, wandering through a maze of huge machines.
“That is the spirit. However, I deem it unwise to leave Ailuros in full control of the station.”
“I’m not sure I want to kill Argon’s woman.”
“I was not talking about killing her. Resealing her in stasis might be more prudent.”
“Tell me how and I’ll do it.”
“Logan, surely you know by now that a Galactic Guard agent cannot rely on others to do his thinking for him. A GG agent must be resourceful and active, as passive resistance does not work against interstellar criminals.”
“Thanks for the primer, little buddy.”
“I have noticed that you resort to sarcasm in moments of supreme exertion—”
“Shut up,” I hissed. “Someone’s coming.” I ran to a bulky machine the size of three refrigerators and slid behind it.
A hatch opened, one I’d been heading toward until I had heard footfalls outside it.
From down low on the floor, I peered around a corner of the silent machine. The sight startled me. Two lanky humanoid monstrosities lurched into the huge chamber. They each stood taller than I did and had fish-like scales all over their purplish bodies. They each wore a leather harness and had long bony limbs with claw-like hands. The worst aspect of the two was their heads. Each had a bony, scaly face with a mouth, a slit for a nose and two reptilian eyes. On the bony protrusion of a forehead was a dark lens.
“Polarion-created basilisks,” Rax whispered.
“Meaning?” I asked as softly as I could.
“Reconstructed creatures that were once humans,” Rax replied. “Those two must be ancient servitors thawed from stasis when Ailuros was revived.”
“And that’s what I would have become?”
“Possibly,” Rax whispered.
“Lo-gan,” the forward basilisk said harshly. “We can smell your foul odor. Surrender, as the mistress desires your flesh.”
I looked down at Rax, wondering if I could hurl him like a rock.
“Do you hear?” the basilisk asked.
“I need a weapon,” I whispered.
“Perhaps you can bargain with the creatures,” Rax said. “Offer to turn them back into humans.”
The two
basilisks stiffened, and their obscene faces turned in my direction. Each dark, forehead lens glowed suddenly.
“Lo-gan, come out,” the lead basilisk said.
“Rax, I’m going to throw you.”
“No,” the crystal said. “That is unseemly.”
“Shout while you’re in flight!” I hissed. “That might distract them.”
“Lo-gan,” the lead basilisk said.
I had risen and now stepped into view, cocked my throwing arm and heaved Rax for everything I was worth. The crystal did not play along, however, and sped silently through the chamber.
The two basilisks stiffened upon sight of me, their forehead lenses glowing brighter.
I shouted, roaring like a Viking berserker of old. That fit, actually, as I was naked, the soles of my feet slapping against the floor.
Each lens brightened more, and a beam shot out of the first one, reaching me with hot power. At that instant, Rax struck the basilisk in the face, making the creature grunt and stagger backward. That took his beam off me.
The other’s attention did not stay fixed on his object, me. He looked at his fellow and accidently beamed him with his ray. Maybe the beam had gotten hotter in those microseconds, as smoke billowed from the first basilisk as a nauseating meaty stench rose from him.
Rax rolled across the floor, behind the two. The first basilisk twisted on the floor, groaning and smoking. The second one jerked his head and ray away from his partner and then seemed to remember me. He began turning his head—
I bum-rushed the tall, scaly basilisk, using a flying tackle as I hit him full on. We both went tumbling across the floor. That caused his beam to snap off, and I don’t think he was set for me. I heard a bone snap, a grunt and a wheezing gasp for air. Scrambling off the floor faster than he did, I sat on his scaly chest. I looked at him for a brief instant. He had human-like features, and that lens radiated with heat.
What had he become?
I had no time to figure it out. I had nothing but my fists, and I began using them, raining one blow after another. I broke his nose. I might have cracked some of my knuckles, and it drove home to me how my fists against his bony face might cause me to break my hands.
I needed them too badly to allow that.
So, using a wrestling move from high school, I twisted him around onto his chest. Then, I grabbed his chin from behind as I stayed seated on his back and yanked up as hard as I could.
He screamed. I keep yanking and jerking, finally hearing something crack, his neck most likely.
I scrambled off him as he began to flop in his death throes.
Panting for air, knowing I was in an interstellar game for keeps, I slew the second basilisk while he was semi-conscious. It was unsporting of me, but I planned on winning no matter what it took.
I heaved for air as I rose. Even though I was naked, I didn’t plan to wear their leather harnesses. I was exhausted and starting to become ravenousness. I felt soiled, too, having to slay these two with my hands. But that was better than having become a captive.
I staggered to Rax and scooped him up. He didn’t speak. I wondered if I’d damaged a tiny speaker unit having hurled him so hard. I examined him in the light of the open hatch.
“I won’t forget this,” Rax said mulishly.
“Neither will I,” a woman purred.
I looked up, and blanched. Was that Ailuros? If so, she was the most beautiful and hideous woman I had ever seen, and I began to have a glimmer of an idea about why she hated her husband so much.
-16-
The Polarion Ailuros sauntered seductively into the chamber with the two dead basilisks. She was tall, with a voluptuous figure ill-concealed by a skimpy shift that reminded me of a 60’s-era miniskirt. She had long tanned legs—wearing sparkling sandals—hips that swayed to hypnotize a man and breasts with exposed cleavage—she was the image of a beauty that awed a man and made him want. She could walk, too, like a sensual starlet that enflamed the male senses beyond reason.
I might have gaped at her. No, I take that back. I gaped and wanted. I kept looking up slowly to take her all in, and that’s when I reached her face.
She was not, strictly speaking, ugly. A cat isn’t ugly. A lioness isn’t ugly. Ailuros had a literal human-sized cat head, a furry feline with whiskers, perky cat-ears and cat-like eyes. Imagine a beauty with a cat head. She was a hideous marrying of human and animal. I did not know what to make of it.
She opened her mouth, and she had pointy catlike teeth. I imagine if one French-kissed her, that he would entwine his tongue with one that rasped the way a cat tongue did.
The first part of the examination had caused me to lust and step forward.
The second part made me blanch and step back as I shuddered in horror.
Ailuros watched me as she raised a long-fingered hand. I expected to see claws sprout from her fingertips. Instead, she pointed a dainty blaster at me.
“I might have let you love me, Logan. You expertly dispatched those two—” She shook her hideous head. “I had not imagined you were a warrior indeed. Such valor, such deadliness should have its reward. To lie with me—I could have given you paradise, Logan. I could have driven you to heights that no mortal has ever tasted.”
“Sweet talk her,” Rax whispered from my hand. “This is the time to suck it up and take one for the team.”
I looked down at Rax. “Like you just did when I threw you?” I asked softly.
“Uh…” he said.
“I threw you for the team,” I said. “You accept that, right?”
“This isn’t the time for us to bicker,” Rax hissed.
“Are you two through with your little drama?” Ailuros asked.
I looked up, and I noticed her lusting for me as if I was a piece of meat. She clearly hungered. I think she had gotten off on me killing the two basilisks. I could have flexed for her, strutted and possibly bedded her. But I had my standards. Argon had helped me before. This was his wife. I simply wasn’t going to lie with her. It might be a good idea on my part to find some clothes, though. She did have a fantastic body. If I looked at it for too long, I was going to be her play-toy despite my good intentions.
“So…” she purred. “You do find me beautiful.”
“Look, Ailuros, how about we come to an understanding? Surely, you want to leave the station and return to Earth. Argon lives. He’s a prisoner of Sand. I saw your husband. He’s mangled. I’m beginning to perceive your husband’s plan. He must have spoken to Rax through some sort of mental process from the tube. No doubt he was hoping we couldn’t leave the Solar System and would be forced to come here. I guess what I’m saying is that your husband needs you, Ailuros.”
“I too have needs,” she said in a sensual, throaty voice. “Are you going to attend to them or not?”
“Do it, Logan,” Rax whispered.
I nodded and found myself approaching her.
She lowered her blaster, smiling. “It has been a long time for me. Too long,” she said in a husky voice.
I smiled as I neared. “You’re the loveliest beauty I’ve ever seen. You really are divine.”
She purred.
That almost ruined it for me. I faltered for half a step and forced myself to laugh. “Ailuros, the most famous woman in Earth’s history.”
“I thought you said you’ve never heard of me.”
“I lied, Ailuros, as I couldn’t believe this was happening to me.”
“You know the legends then?” she asked.
There was a secret here, one that seemed to have momentarily dimmed her lust. I could see that in her eyes.
“I guess I don’t know,” I said.
“Wait,” Rax said. “I do. Logan—”
Ailuros brought up the blaster. I knew then it was do-or-die time, and I hurled Rax, but this throw was from short range.
A milky beam shot from the blaster, hitting my right shoulder. I felt cold, a terrible icy numbing of my shoulder and then radiating to the rest of my body
. My heart pounded horribly, and I had the distinct impression that I was falling and dying all at once.
I heard a thud, maybe me hitting the deck, and the cold—I made a gasping sound, and found myself shivering. A distant noise seemed to call my name. I concentrated, trying to focus—
“Logan,” Rax said.
My eyelids fluttered and I noticed that it was light in here. With agonizing slowness, I raised my head, as I was lying on my back on the floor.
Ailuros was stretched out unconscious on the deck ahead of me. Rax lay nearby her. The open hatch was beyond and showed a stretch of corridor.
“Logan,” Rax said.
“Here,” I said in a hoarse voice.
“You’re alive?”
“Why are you calling for me if I’m dead?”
“Hurry, Logan, we don’t have much time.”
I lay my head back, gasping, shivering and remembering she’d shot me. I touched my right shoulder, and it was icy cold. Why was she laid out on the floor if she was the one who had shot me?
I could hardly think, but I knew Rax was right. I heaved up to a sitting position and found myself gasping and shivering. Slowly, I swiveled onto my belly, crawled past the stretched-out Ailuros, and reached Rax.
“What happened?” I whispered. “Why am I alive?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Did you strike her down?” I whispered.
“I did. Does that make you feel better knowing you threw me at a woman, even if she was an ancient Polarion acting like an Egyptian goddess?”
“I guess,” I said. “Why am I so cold?”
“There’s no time for that. We have to put her back in stasis if we hope to use the portal to return to Earth.”
“You know how to do that?”
“Not exactly,” Rax said. “But I think it is time we gave it our best shot.”
-17-
I rummaged in the semi-dark chamber but could find nothing useful for what I had in mind.
“This is taking too long,” Rax said. “Listen, I think she’s coming to.”
I stared at Ailuros on the floor. She didn’t stir, but I heard her breathing increase.
I hurried toward her. I was still naked, and her shift had hiked up to reveal more of her beauty. I looked away, as becoming aroused on my part wasn’t going to help anyone, least of all me.
Invaders: Dreadnought Ocelot (Invaders Series Book 4) Page 8
