The Trimedian

by Dangerous Walker

  "And when will I be back on Earth?"

  "That, I'm afraid, is out of our hands."

  "I see," said the President and took to looking out of the window, unsure when he would see his world again.

  ***

  "That was too easy," said Julianna in the spacious cockpit, sitting behind Chase and Milk who were now flying.

  "That was too easy?" asked Dr. Hendricks, sitting next to Julianna, around his pipe. "Seemed jolly tricky to me."

  "Laikans were all around the ship, they would have fitted a homing device."

  "Well, sorry I didn't have time to check," launched back Chase, "I was too busy saving you all."

  "Saving us?" Julianna shot back, "I seem to remembering saving your arse."

  "Oh really? I don't remember you getting shot at by Laikans in the Intergalactical, or drawing fire to let you get to the ship."

  "Yeah, well I don't remember you getting the ship out of there, and I'll have you know that we went through some heavy shabbus getting to the space port," she shouted and then choked on a tear.

  "Look," interjected Milk, "let's just say we all helped each other here. We're a team now, remember."

  "Jolly good! Never been in a team before," delighted Dr. Hendricks.

  Chase looked round at Julianna and saw the pain, anger, fear and sadness on her face.

  "Are you OK? What happened to you?" Jason asked.

  "Nothing. Nothing, I'm fine," she replied. "I'm going to the toilet."

  She got up and left the cockpit.

  Jason got up and followed her, much to Milk's consternation as he had to suddenly take over flying. Jason found her in the corridor.

  "Wait."

  "Go away," she stopped, but didn't turn around. He walked up behind her.

  "What happened back in Ictopia?" he asked softly.

  She whirled around on him.

  "You wanna know? You wanna know, huh?" she demanded.

  "Yes, yes I do," he practically whispered.

  "We got caught by some youths, some youths! They tried, they, they," tears streamed down her face, "they tried to rape me," she broke up completely and Jason took her into his arms as she heaved up tears.

  "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Juli," he said and found deep in his soul that he meant it.

  ***

  The make shift space port had been set up in the county of Lincolnshire, not far from Boston, as it was one of the few places that had a lot of open flat land. Lots of it. Completely flat. There'd been rolling hills there once, but they got bored and moved to the Lake District to be with friends.

  It was at this space port that the President, Andrew Forster, son of a dentist from Castle Rock in Maine, wished briefly that he was leaving from the States; that his last visions of Earth were of his own country.

  He thought of Maine, thought of his childhood growing up in the great outdoors, of hunting with his Pa who had died just days after he saw his son take office. Happy that he had finally made his Dad proud, even though his Dad had always been proud, just never knew how to show it; just knew how to push his son to excellence.

  But then he knew that it was right to leave from England, just as his, and many other's, ancestors had left to find a new life in the Americas. That he was setting off from close to the same place as the original settlers, the Separatists, set off from. Not to discover a new country, but new worlds. Like the pioneers he would discover new sights and sounds, and he had been fated to lead his world into a new generation. Not to separate, but to join.

  Yes, it was right, that like his ancestors before him, he set off from England, from Lincolnshire.

  ***

  The ship was nearing the star-gate and Milk was plotting in the coordinates to Peskini.

  "So what of this homing device?" Dr. Hendricks asked.

  Jason turned in his seat. "If there is one, and Julianna is right, there almost definitely will be one, then we have to be ready for a fight on Peskini."

  "More fighting? It really is a habit," remarked Hendricks.

  "Got to die of something, Doc," Milk pointed out, still fiddling with the computer.

  "So we get the Vulcan and then what?" asked Julianna coming back into the cockpit and sitting down.

  'I bet his answer's 'dunno'' thought Milk.

  "Dunno," said Jason, 'yes!' thought Milk, "I reckon I would have plotted the next move into the computer."

  "If we're on a secret mission?" Julianna started.

  "We're on a secret mission? How exiting," piped in Dr. Hendricks.

  "?Hiding from Laikans etc, is it a good idea to fly the ship of a Universally known hitman?" she finished.

  "Ahh, but you're mistaken," said Milk having finished with the computer, "the number of people who know that Chase was a hitman is surprisingly small. He wouldn't be a very good hitman if everyone knew it. No, most of the people who want to kill him do so because he was a complete git."

  "I'm touched you used the past tense," grinned Jason having once again taken manual control of the ship.

  "You're still a git, just in different ways," retorted Milk not looking at his grinning friend. "Very few people know that the Wild Rover is his ship, even fewer have actually seen it."

  "Plus it's a big comfortable ship with some seriously heavy fire power, and I have a bad feeling that we're going to need it."

  "Maybe now is time to fill me in on what's going on," suggested Dr. Hendricks as they came to the line waiting to go through the star-gate.

  Even in space there are queues.

  ***

  Trillo was not dead. He was seriously annoyed, but not dead. Having escaped the hotel he wandered through the streets of Ictopia until he found a public phone, the remains of his mobile phone were left in a gutter.

  He rang a number.

  "Tell me they are dead," he growled.

  "Sorry, sir," came the timid reply down the phone line.

  "Then tell me a homing beacon is aboard their ship."

  "It is, sir, we are tracking them right now," came a voice relieved to be giving some good news, Trillo apparently had never heard the one about not shooting the messenger.

  "Where are you now?"

  "At the space port, we were getting ready to leave."

  "Wait for me. And for shabbus sake keep tracking them," he slammed the phone down and grabbed a taxi.

  "Well you look a little worse for wear," the Petruthsian driver said, "But then who doesn't in this city, huh?"

  "To the space port," Trillo barked, though not literally.

  "Oh, yeah, of course," he pulled into traffic, "so bad day at the office then?" he laughed at that one.

  Trillo looked out of the window and quietly fumed.

  "Not much of a talker, huh? Well, no I suppose it's best not to around these parts is it? Best not to ask questions, that's my motto, but I tell you I do get all sorts in this cab, but, no you're right, it's best to keep things close to your chest around here. Never know what's going to happen. The space port, huh? Heard there was some kind of shooting down there, some of Laikans got shot up."

  "I'd heard," growled the Laikan assassin to the window.

  "Yeah, all sorts of trouble going on, another shoot up at the Intergalactical as well, but I haven't heard much about that. Ahh, these days there's trouble everywhere and, well you know me, I don't want no trouble. Ha! Then I wouldn't be a taxi driver in Ictopia would I?" he laughed heartily to himself.

  ***

  Leaving Earth had both elated and saddened Andrew Forster; he was excited about his new adventure, but felt a great weight of home sickness at the same time. Until he left, he had never really understood quite how much he loved his planet and with that he felt a deep guilt that he, and just about everyone else, had not done more to make it a better place to live. He had worked to keep his citizens happy and wealthy, but not all of them. He'd never worked too hard to help the poor blacks in the ghettos or the so called 'trailer trash'. It saddened him that Americans could refer to
their own kinsfolk as 'trash'.

  And then there was Africa with it's starving millions and there were wars, usually for money, a number of which he or his predecessors had started. And the environment was going down the toilet; people put luxury and ease before their own planet.

  In the vast blackness of space, things that had seemed important no longer did and vice versa. If they had only put their planet and their race before greed, then maybe they would already be in space, already be trading amongst the stars. But Humans were so short sighted, only interested in what they could get and how soon they could get it.

  And it saddened him, because now he realised just how much he loved his planet and all that it had to offer.

  ***

  "Valkswagon," Milk muttered as they came out of the star-gate, "we're nearly out of fuel, gotta make a stop."

  "Oh, well, there's a fuel stop coming up with a diner attached and, I must say, I am mightily peckish," said the good Doctor.

  "Good idea, Doc, we could all do with a bit of food," said Jason taking back the controls from the computer.

  "You know, I hadn't thought how hungry I am until now, too much adrenaline," added Julianna as the fuel station came into view.

  Not too long after they sat at a table with Ventrwistian coffees all round, having eaten heartily.

  A loud chuckle broke through their satisfied silence.

  "Well, well," a deep voice rumbled, "I feel remorse so I do," a large figure pulled up a chair to the table. The chair creaked dangerously as the figure sat down.

  Said figure must have been around seven feet tall and had shoulders that seemed nearly as broad. Under those shoulders were arms so muscled you would think he could lift a car. Which he could. The huge body was dapperly dressed in a three piece grey suit and above it sat an enormous round, shaved head.

  "Oh dear," said Milk simply.

  "Not at all, my dear boy, not at all. You see I feel remorse that I shot the man who forgot to fill up with enough fuel and made us stop at this little hole of a diner, but look at my good fortune! Chase Darkstaar, back from the dead."

  "Erm," said Jason.

  "Five years. Five long years, but here you are at last. What a turn up for the books, hey, Chase?"

  "Yes, lovely," stumbled Jason.

  That made the man laugh.

  "Lovely! Lovely indeed." his large face turned serious and it seemed like the diner lights had dimmed. "Now it is time for you to pay your debt to me."

  "My debt, right, yes," said Jason unaware of what this giant was talking about.

  "In fact, I was on a little job here, but now you can do it for me and save me the bother. You know me, I didn't get where I am today by getting my hands dirty."

  "Yeah, I know you?"

  "And you were always such a vicious little Chanlukine weasel, put me to shame you did, my dear boy."

  "Well, long time ago, you know," tried Jason.

  "But people never change, I know I know, it was a catchphrase of yours."

  "Right."

  "So here's what I want you to do to clear the debt, go to the planet of Vodar, to the city of Qamps and find a mechanic by the name of Robert Johnson and make him disappear. Simple."

  "And may I ask why I should do this? I don't seem to remember ever doing anything without a good reason."

  "Ha. One can never tell what constitutes a good reason for you," he laid his giant hands on the table.

  "Try me," replied Chase.

  "Call me soft, but I love my daughter greatly and would never see anything bad happen to her, but now she has fallen in love, ha, so she says, with this mechanic. A mechanic? Not for my daughter, Darkstaar, not for my daughter. Who knows what trouble will befall her? When he disappears, I will be there to comfort her and point out what a good for nothing he really was."

  "Well, fascinating as it is, I'm really busy at the moment, so maybe I could settle that debt another time, or, y'know, after five years why not just forget about it, huh? There's got to be a limit on these things, right?"

  "Have you forgotten what you did to me?" the man seethed. "The debt you owe me is your life and I am giving you an easy way to pay that back."

  He slammed the table and everything in a five mile radius rattled.

  "Ahh, yes, that debt," said Chase as it started coming back to him.

  "And you don't want me hunting you down."

  "No," inserted Milk, "we wouldn't want Freddy No Fingers hunting us," he jabbed Jason under the table and his eyes widened as the memories of this man came flooding back.

  "Freddy, Freddy, after all this time, you still can't take a little jesting? Of course we can settle this as amicably as you say," Chase bluffed.

  "So people don't change, still a vicious weasel," Freddy No Fingers stood up and his men stepped back and then circled him.

  "I look forward to hearing from you," he said and the entourage swiftly departed.

  Our four heroes deflated.

  "Shabbus, Freddy No Fingers, I'd forgotten about him," said Jason.

  "Shame he hadn't forgotten about you," Milk pointed out.

  "Fate is just not on our side, is it?" asked Julianna.

  "No, Chase probably pissed her off too, probably the same way he pissed off Freddy," Milk said.

  "And how was that?" asked Hendricks.

  "Er, I think he caught me loving one of his daughters."

  "Wonderful," stated Julianna.

  ***

  They were back in the ship flying to the planet of Vodor.

  "You can't do this," said Milk.

  "I have to do this, we can't have the Laikans and Freddy's gang after us," pointed out Jason.

  "No, you can't do this because he was your best friend."

  "What?"

  "Robert Johnson, known as Jimmy Jazz? As far as someone like you could have friends, he was the best of them, you two used to pull scams together, just go out and let off steam. He's the closest thing you ever had to a brother," Milk said sternly.

  "Oh," said Jason. "So Freddy wasn't letting me off that lightly."

  "Nope."

  "And anyway," added Julianna, "you're not Chase anymore, you don't do this anymore; you can't just go out and kill someone in cold blood."

  "Best friend or not, Julianna's right, I'm not that person anymore. But fear not, my compadres," Chase grinned at them, "I have a plan?"

  "Valkswagon," Milk muttered.

  ***

  Many years ago people had tried flying cars and found them to be a complete nightmare. Not only did you have to work out where people actually flew, but also how and where to go up and down without crashing. And it was the crashing that kyboshed flying cars. Road crashes could be horrific and deadly, crashing in the sky would be a lot worse. The answer was not flying cars, but flying roads.

  These skyways had uncountable jets that kept them hovering high above the buildings, the jets were powered by the friction of the cars travelling over them and when said friction lessened, such as at night, other power sources, usually solar powered, took over. It would take highly numerous numbers of these jets to fail for the road to fall and there was always a large, highly skilled group of engineers ready to fix any jet at any time. These engineers were known as the most dedicated, hardest working people in the Universe, and justly so. In their training it was beaten into them the millions of deaths that would be caused if they didn't do their job, not only to the highest calibre, but straight away.

  If a road was to fall, or even part of it, the engineers would suffer a lifetime of imprisonment with their guilt. Most would go mad with it, but some would cope by becoming emotionless. These were executed immediately. Thankfully this had only happened once in history and most of the engineers went mad within a month, unfortunately of the one hundred of those who became emotionless, evil people, fifty escaped and are still the fifty most wanted people in the Universe.

  ***

  Jason, in their hired car, felt that he should be wowed by these roads,
but wasn't and knew that somewhere in his past he had travelled such roads thousands of times. They followed the directions that one of Freddy No Fingers' men had left them.

  "Why, may I ask, is his name Freddy No Fingers?" asked Dr. Hendricks from the back.

  As Milk was driving Jason turned around and explained. "Everyone knows he has fingers in lots of pies, but it can never be proved. As far as InterG can prove, he has no fingers in any pies."

  "But no doubt a nasty piece of work if he's a friend of yours," the Doctor said conspiratorially. He was enjoying all of this.

  "No, Doc, not a friend, an insane leader of one of the largest gangs in the Universe," said Jason.

  "Shut up," said Milk, "he's not insane and you know it."

  "True, but I've always wished that that was the reason."

  "He's no more insane than you were."

  "Thank you, Milk, do you think we can forget my past life?" Jason said bitterly.

  Milk looked at his friend. "Sorry."

  "Forget it."

  "Yes, forget it, what's your plan?" asked Julianna from next to the Doctor.

  "Well, he said to make this guy disappear, not to kill him," Jason winked at her and she thought how the line between Jason and Chase was continuing to blur.

  ***

  "Do you think he will go through with it?" asked Freddy No Fingers.

  "Who's to say, boss," answered one henchman.

  "Well, I'm asking the damnable question so I'm the one hoping that someone could say," blew back Freddy.

  "I would say he needs to be followed," said his number one, a Cantorvial.

  The Cantorvial could be described as a cross between a Human and a tiger. They stood upright a lot like a Human, but their body and face was a lot like a tigers, except completely bare of fur. Their bodies were rippling with muscles and whiter than an Englishman who's spent all his time indoors. Let's just say Albinos felt rosy next to a Cantorvial. Freddy No Finger's number one wore a grey cloak with a hood that kept his face in shadow at all times.

  "Yes, Cantor, I think you are right. He didn't seem," Freddy thought, "he didn't seem quite himself and, shabbus, you couldn't quite trust Darkstaar when he was feeling himself."

  ***

  They had wound off the skyway and were on good old terra firma and heading toward the address of Robert Johnson.

  "Ok, so I've been holding out, but what is your plan?" asked Julianna.

  "Excited?" asked Jason.

  "Excited is not the word," she replied.

  "Terrified is a word," said Milk.

  "Wondering where I can write a will," added in Julianna.