by Elin Wyn
“Shut. Up.” Sk’lar clamped his hand down on my forearm with a vice like grip. “Please continue, General. There will be no further interruptions.”
Sk’lar glared at me for emphasis, and released my arm.
“Thank you, Commander. Jalok, you are a skilled and powerful warrior. We value your contributions highly, but you must learn to exercise restraint. The humans, even the ones who are uncomfortable with our presence, are not our enemies.”
The general’s words hung in the air, and sparked a memory.
“Ah, General, I need a moment of your time.”
“This hearing is not over yet, soldier.”
“I know, but this is important. I’m not trying to distract you from the matter at hand, I promise.”
General Rouhr leaned back in his seat, sighed and steepled his hands before his breast. “What’s on your mind, Jalok?”
“You remember that hysterical human I had to escort back to her lab?”
“Dr. Dottie Bellin is her name, not Hysterical Human.”
“Sorry, Vrehx. Dr. Bellin, as you may know, has been communicating with the Puppet Master. Apparently, they’re really friendly. He told her about something he called ‘ancient enemies.’”
“Ancient enemies?” Sk’lar frowned, and shook his bald head. “That doesn’t sound appealing in the least.”
“Who in the world would want a gigantic hyper intelligent plant as an enemy?”
“I’m not certain, Karzin.,” the general said slowly. “But I know someone who might provide us with a clue. Wait a moment while I contact Fen.”
As the leader of the Urai and controller of the rift technology, Fen was brought in whenever issues arose that required a deep knowledge of the cosmos.
But once Fen was patched into our conference call, she doesn’t provide much help.
“I have heard legends about an ancient, predatory race,” she answered, after I relayed the brief words Dottie had said, beginning to think I shouldn’t have brought it up. “They were already infamous before the most ambitious of our species had yet discovered interstellar travel.”
“Do you have any idea of what they are, Fen? Or what possible threat they might pose to the Puppet Master?” General Rouhr’s tone was worried, but not terribly so.
“Not to mention us, General.”
“I’m afraid not. The legends are just that—vague on details but full of grisly mentions of doom and despair. I’ll keep working on it.”
She disappeared from the call.
“So glad we called in the expert,” I muttered under my breath.
“What was that, soldier?”
I smiled at Sk’lar and gave him a salute. “Nothing, sir. Am I dismissed?”
“Not so fast.” I could hear the disapproval in Vrehx’s tone. “There is still the little matter the consequences of your inexcusable violence during the riot.”
“Oh, so now you’re calling it a riot…” Sk’lar shook his head, eyes narrowed to slits, and I cut myself off.
“Not to mention your inhospitable treatment of Dr. Bellin.”
“But I saved her life!”
“And created a terrible impression upon her of both the military and the Skotan species as a whole. Your tone indicates you have learned nothing today. I am afraid you might not be fit for duty, Jalok.”
That statement sent a stab of panic through me.
Not fit for duty? What was I supposed to do? Get a job as a farmer?
“Sir, let’s not be too hasty.” Sk’lar glanced over at me, and though there was derision in his gaze a slight smile played at his lips. “Jalok needs to learn self-discipline, but there’s no other soldier I’d rather have guarding my flank than him.”
I did a double take. Sk’lar was not often a font of flowing praise.
“General Rouhr.” I did not like the crafty tone in Sk’lar’s voice. “I think there may be a way to provide an object lesson to Jalok, and give him an opportunity to learn self-control.”
“Go on.”
I tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my chest.
“Dr. Bellin is still in need of a full time bodyguard, is she not?”
“What?” I stood up and stared down at him with disbelief. “No.”
“Yes.” Sk’lar glared up at me firmly, but then a satisfied grin spread over his features. “I would like to recommend that Jalok be assigned to said duty. It would be a great opportunity for him.”
“I concur.” General Rouhr sounded as if he were enjoying my misery just a little too much. “This is an excellent solution for both problems.”
Fuming, I glanced from the console to my commanding officer, but found no respite in either the cold metal or his colder demeanor.
“Don’t I get a say in this?”
“No. You are dismissed, Jalok. Report to Dr. Bellin immediately for duty first thing in the morning. Stay with her. That is all.”
I managed to get all the way down the hall from his office before I started cursing.
But I headed for Bellin’s lab anyway.
Bodyguard duty was not what a soldier wanted to do.
But being around a beautiful human woman?
I could get used to that easily.
Dottie
I was woken up by a sharp knock at my door.
I knew without opening my eyes that it was Jalok.
“You’re running late!” He shouted through the door.
Who even let him up to my floor? He was going to wake up my neighbors.
I laid still and silent in my bed. Perhaps if I didn’t answer, he’d think I already went to the lab and leave me alone. Of course, I had no such luck. He just kept on banging away like he was getting paid per knock.
I put my pillow over my face and let out a frustrated scream.
Since the riot broke out, General Rouhr and the associates that oversaw the running of my lab agreed that I was not to venture into an area that couldn’t be secured.
That included the crater at the old Vengeance crash site I’d been working out of for the last week.
I’d analyzed the last of my data yesterday, aside from what I sent over to the Nyhiem lab to be elaborated on.
Today, I had nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs and wait around.
I hated waiting on someone else so I could continue my work.
It made no sense to keep me from returning to the Puppet Master. If anything, the Puppet Master should be my bodyguard.
Not Jalok the Skotan with a hot temper and no manners.
Even if he did make something, deep in my belly, flutter.
Just a bit.
I could ignore it.
“Dottie, I swear on my life I will break this door down!” Jalok hollered.
Probably.
“I swear on my life that I’ll break your neck if you don’t knock that off right now, young man!” The crackly old voice of Mrs. Robin made me chuckle.
She had to be over one hundred by now and I fully believed her when she said she’d break Jalok’s neck. She might only be five feet tall but she could aim that cane of hers with deadly accuracy.
I climbed out of bed to knock on the wall I shared with her apartment.
“No need, Mrs. Robin. He’s government property. I wouldn’t want you getting in trouble.”
“If you say so, dearie. Let me know if you change your mind! That riot sure did put a fire in my belly!”
I laughed into the palm of my hand and went to the front door. I opened it to find a very impatient Jalok taking up my entire doorway.
“You’re running late,” he growled.
“No, I’m not. I’m going at the pace I want to go. And what are you doing here anyway?”
“I’m your bodyguard,” he snapped. “Again.”
“What? Why?”
Jalok opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it.
“What?”
“Are you planning to get dressed this morning?”
I looked down in horror to see th
at I was still wearing the tank top and panties I’d worn to bed.
“Excuse me.” I walked back to my bedroom with as much dignity as I could measure. I was dressed and back in the main room in less than a minute.
“You’re still blushing,” Jalok teased.
“Is there any way I could convince you not to accompany me to work?”
“Is it because I saw you in your undergarments?” Jalok gave me a knowing look.
“No. What are we? Twelve?” I rolled my eyes and scoffed. “It’s because your presence is detrimental to my work.”
“Look, I’m not happy about this arrangement either. I have more important things to do than babysit someone who doesn’t want my help.”
“So, why don’t we make a case to General Rouhr or my bosses?” I suggested.
“If you want to give that a go, by all means.” Jalok lifted his hands up and stepped out of my doorframe.
“Have you already asked?” I stepped by him into the narrow hallway.
“A soldier doesn’t simply ask his General to be reassigned if he doesn’t like the job,” Jalok replied.
“What’s all the noise at this ungodly hour?” Mr. Falcone, the neighbor across from me, threw his door open. Wearing nothing but a white undershirt, blue boxers, and thick white tube socks, he fixed Jalok with a glare.
“Is this gentleman bothering you, little lady?” Mr. Falcone snarled.
“On the contrary, I’ve been assigned to protect her,” Jalok replied.
Oh god. Could this get any worse?
“Everything’s fine, Mr. Falcone. Go back to your morning shows,” I urged my neighbor. Mr. Falcone closed his door with a grunt.
“You live in a very active building,” Jalok muttered.
“We’re kind of like a family. A mismatched, dysfunctional one but a family nonetheless.”
Jalok caught the attention of three other neighbors on our way down. He dismissed the night guard at the front of my apartment complex before we set on our way to the lab.
When we reached the lab, Eluna was waiting in the entry room. She tried to hide it, but her whole face lit up when she saw me and Jalok approach.
“If you talk to her, please don’t lead her on,” I warned Jalok. “If she develops feelings for you, it’s going to suck for her when you get reassigned.”
“I’ll try not to be irresistible and charming.”
Jerk.
“You’re already doing a sensational job. I’m going to talk to the bosses.”
“Good luck.”
Since my immediate superior was lost to us during the Xathi invasion, the three partners who owned the lab had been spending more time here.
It had its ups and downs. They were all scientists who were at the top of their respective fields when they were active.
However, they hadn’t been active in ten years.
All three partners funded this lab so the next generation could take over. They still loved to offer their input despite the advancements they didn’t understand.
“Good morning.” I tried to sound chipper, but troubled, when I entered their spacious office.
“Good morning Dr. Bellin. How are you faring?” Dr. Ketta Braithwaite, once the planet’s most accomplished thermonuclear physicist, smiled warmly.
“It’s difficult to say.” I looked at my feet.
“The riot gave us all a fright,” Dr. Urlough Hodgins gave me a look of genuine sympathy. He once dominated the interplanetary chemistry field.
“Yes, but that’s not where I’m experiencing difficulties.”
“Out with it, Doctor. We aren’t getting any younger.” Dr. Nebula Kroner tutted. She was a trailblazer in my field until she retired. Retirement didn’t suit her. I got the sense she didn’t like me very much.
“My bodyguard is detrimental to my work,” I said in a rush. “I’d appreciate someone less disruptive or to not have a bodyguard at all.”
“Out of the question,” Dr. Hodgins frowned. “The knowledge you’re gathering is invaluable. You must be protected.”
“I understand but surely the Puppet Master is more than capable of guarding me,” I pointed out.
“Watch it,” Dr. Kroner warned. “You’re still green, Dr. Bellin. I could recommend someone with more experience for this job if I had the mind to.
Like herself, no doubt.
“Of course.” I bowed my head. “My apologies. I’ll make it work.”
“Do that. You’re dismissed.” Dr. Kroner returned her attention to her console. I left the office silently.
Jalok was still talking with Eluna. I could see his discomfort from where I stood, and smothered a giggle.
He had been happy to flirt when he thought it made me upset. Now that someone was taking him up on it, he didn’t seem to know what to do.
Goof.
Jalok hadn’t seen me come out of the office. Without thinking twice, I hurried out of the lab.
I reached the market in less than five minutes.
“Hudd? Can I borrow your WindJet?”
“What for?” Hudd didn’t look up from the eight-foot fish he was deboning.
“Work. I have really important data to collect and the riot hit the lab transportation units hard.”
“You scratch it, you pay for it.”
“Thanks, Hudd! You’re the best.” I hurried around back but not before I saw a smile from beneath Hudd’s beard.
The WindJet was a single person hovercraft, like my bike only better in every way. I turned it on and kicked it into high gear. I was out of Kaster in moments.
The WindJet wasn’t the speediest of transport units. It took some time for me to reach the Vengeance crater. I parked the WindJet besides the opening of the tunnel and hurried inside.
I touched the first vine I found.
“I wasn’t expecting you today.” The Puppet Master’s voice in my mind was so comforting. I didn’t realize until now how much I’d missed my friend.
“It wasn’t easy getting here,” I admitted. “But I’m anxious to continue the work we started last time we spoke.”
“No more experiments in the jungle,” the Puppet Master warned me.
“I promise!” I lifted my free hand in defense. “Did the neuro-monitors I left hooked up continue to record?”
“They did.”
“Excellent! They’ve been collecting data this whole time!”
I hurried down the tunnel to the mini lab I’d left behind. Everything was just as I left it. I sent the new data back to my lab.
“I’m getting close to something, I know it. If I can just break this down into something we can understand and replicate, we can do amazing things.”
I hunkered down in my usual spot with my back against one of the Puppet Master’s vines. He told me about riots that had been happening in other smaller cities but not even he predicted the one in Kaster.
“Kaster is my favorite city out of all the ones you humans have constructed.”
“Really?” I grinned.
“It keeps itself balanced with the resources available to it.”
A memory from a previous conversation suddenly resurfaced in my mind.
“Did the Ancient Enemies ever try to leech your lifeforce from this planet?”
“If they tried, you wouldn’t be here now to ask me,” the Puppet Master answered.
“What are the Ancient Enemies?” A voice from behind me startled me to my feet. Jalok stood in the tunnel, weapons drawn.
He looked furious.
Uh oh.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I snapped.
“I should ask you the same thing.”
“I informed the proper authorities that you were here alone,” the Puppet Master admitted.
“What?” I shouted.
“What, what?” Jalok snapped back. He wasn’t touching the Puppet Master. He couldn’t hear the voice.
“Be quiet,” I told him. “This is the first chance I’ve gotten to continue our work. Why would
you try to take that away?” I asked the Puppet Master.
“Your safety is important to me. You are my friend.”
I couldn’t help but feel touched by the Puppet Master’s concerns, even as I was annoyed by the results. I ran a hand along one of the vines.
“Are you talking to it?”
“Yes, I talk to him frequently. It’s part of my job and my favorite part of the day.”
“Have fun.” Jalok plopped down on the ground and made himself comfortable.
“Get up.” I kicked at his boot. “If we’re stuck together, you’re going to make yourself useful.”
“This will be most amusing,” the Puppet Master chuckled.
Jalok
“I think we can call it a day.” Wiping the sweat off her brow, Dottie looked at one of her screens and nodded to herself. Her hair was slightly disheveled, and slight lines of exhaustion were starting to show around her eyes.
Still, she seemed to be brimming with energy all the same.
“You think?” I asked her. We had spent the entire day holed up in the cavern, and my datapad told me that the sun had already set outside. “We should’ve been back in Kaster by now. This is a breach of security protocol. To travel by night is—”
“You’re my bodyguard, right?” She cut me short, both hands on her hips.
Blowing a stray lock of hair away from her face, she waited for me to say something. I just frowned, so she pressed on.
“It’s your job to protect me so that I can do my job.”
“That’s right.”
“Well, I’m doing my job,” she smiled, her perfect white teeth peeking from between her lips. “As long as you do yours, we’ll be fine.” I shook my head. She was making it harder for me to do my job, but it was useless to tell her that.
She already knew, and she didn’t care.
“Let’s just get going,” I told her, watching as she packed her instruments. A few of them she left on the worktable she had set up in the cavern, but others she packed inside a metallic briefcase.
The cavern was really nothing more than a wide space where a number of tunnels intersected. Nothing like the main chamber where the Puppet Master’s heart? Body? Whatever lived.
Before she turned to leave, she went down on one knee and caressed one of the vines, her fingertips softly running down its length.
