Dimension Shift (Hammer's War Book 2)

by James McEwan

  Thad took the napkin and headed off to check on Quincy. It took Thad some time to find his way to the infirmary because of a few wrong turns, and once, he thought he was looking for a round lift, but it turned out to be a grease stain on the napkin that looked like it was part of the map. Thad found Quincy lying in a bed, a tube in his arm and Doctor Hammer seated next to him reading a tablet.

  “Oh, I see how it is, get a little love bite on the bum from a local native and you think you can just lie around all day in bed.” Thad spoke, in a mocking tone.

  Quincy raised his middle finger on his right hand. “Hey man, I was shot in the arm too, remember.”

  Thad pulled up a chair and sat down next to Doctor Hammer and the bed. “What, that little scratch? tTat is nothing but bee sting, you big baby.”

  “Bee sting, my ass!”

  Doctor Hammer interjected. “I do believe that it was a snake that bit your ass not a bee.”

  Everyone paused to think about what Doctor Hammer had just said, and after a few seconds laughter erupted.

  “Seriously, how are you feeling?” Thad asked when the laughter died down.

  Quincy folded his arms and wrinkled his brow. “Well let’s see, since meeting your sorry ass, I have been shot at, my cab shot to hell, I have been forced to go on the run, nearly blown up, shot in the arm, and let’s not forget bitten in the ass by a snake. So I would have to say strangely well, all things considered.”

  Thad smiled at his answer. “Good glad to hear that it means you are having fun.”

  “I’m not sure I would call it fun, but I do have to admit there is something to be said about the adrenalin rush that comes with the narrow escape from death.”

  Thad laughed and placed his hand on Quincy’s knee. “Turning you into an adrenaline junky am I?”

  “No comment” was all that he could think.

  “I think Quincy is right about the adrenaline rush. I to have to admit that I have never felt as alive as now. There is something about someone trying to kill you that makes you appreciate every breath, every moment, because the next could be your last.” Doctor Hammer commented.

  “Well, I’m glad you guys are in good spirits, because I have some, well let’s call it, interesting developments to our current situation.” Thad said softly.

  Doctor Hammer chuckled. “I’m not sure I like the sound of that ... interesting is never what it seems with you.”

  Thad smiled, then went on to explain everything in detail about the Commander, the price of their help, and his plan. When he was done with the long explanation he waited for questions, replies, anger, or some kind of reaction, but it never came. The two men just sat there looking at Thad. “What? No questions, no smart ass comments, nothing?”

  It was Quincy who spoke. “Look, brother, I had no idea that picking up one rather normal looking white guy would cause me so much trouble…”

  “But...” Thad interjected.

  “But every time you have been there to save me, well us. Except for the spider-crab thing, that was Rawhide,that saved us from that thing, but I’m sure you would have thought of something. Man, you even were going to suck on my ass to save me…”

  “Don’t remind me, please.” Thad rolled his eyes.

  “What Quincy is trying to say in the longest, most roundabout way is that we trust you. You have not let us down yet and we believe in you. We believe that you will not let us down now.” Doctor Hammer said.

  “Yeah, what the doc said.” Quincy echoed Doctor Hammer’s comments.

  Thad took all this in and for the first time in his life, it hit him that he was responsible for these men’s lives. As the man who had only ever been responsible for ending men’s lives, now he was tasked with saving them. This was a heavy burden to carry, nevertheless one he was determined not fail to hold up with all his strength.

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence guys, I will do my best to not let you down.” Thad said, as a tear formed in the corner of his eye.

  Doctor Hammer stood up, stepped next to Thad, and placed his arm around his broad shoulders. “I know you will. I see why the other me, in your dimension chose you as a son. I would have done the same thing. You can stop beating yourself up about a promise that you can’t keep…”

  “How did you know, I never told you about that.” Thad interrupted him with a look of shock on his face.

  “Because I’m me, remember? It was not hard to work out from what you told me about your Doctor Hammer and from your demeanor.” Doctor Hammer said.

  “Ah…”

  “Ah nothing, you made a promise to do no harm, however, the fact is that it is impossible for you to do no harm. You were made to do harm; it is your nature. The thing is that I think I, I mean me, the other me, should have had you promise you to use your skills and gifts to do harm to the right people.” Doctor Hammer smiled.

  Stunned Thad stumbled over his words. “but, I mean, ah…”

  “Look. It is simple. You were given a second chance at life, and I think that maybe the universe is trying to balance itself out. You were made a weapon and used for evil and now you are still a weapon, but now you can be used for good. After all, you saved me and Quincy, which maybe you had to save me to get home, but Quincy? You had no reason to save him and after he was bitten you could have left him to die out there, but you didn’t. You chose to save him; you were even willing to suck the poison out of him.”

  “Please, let’s never speak of that again.” Thad blushed.

  “My point is that you are a good man, and I think you should never feel bad about using your talents for the betterment of all.”

  Thad took a minute to think about what Doctor Hammer was saying. He took in a big breath and let it out slowly. “You know Doc, I have never looked at it that way. I have been racked with guilt about breaking my promise.”

  “I know I’m not him, but I hope that this helps. I release you from that promise; only if you promise that you will always only ever use your skills for good.”.”

  Thad wrapped his arms around Doctor Hammer, who returned the hug. “Thank you ... and I promise.”

  As their hug broke they heard what sounded like crying. Thad looked over at Quincy; large tears were streaming down his checks. “Are you crying?”

  “It’s just so beautiful.” Quincy said, as he wiped his eyes.

  “You need to get out more.” Thad said in jest.

  Chapter 16

  The café on 45th turned out to be a strip club, one that catered to non-human tastes. Standing out front was the bouncer. The mountain of flesh that stood as the doorman was large even for an Orillia. The giant Orillia sniffed the air and looked around trying to find the source of the smell.

  Balls, that guy can smell me from across the street and down the block, St. Claire thought. “Why is nothing ever easy?” He asked out loud. I have to get cleaned up and find some new clothes. He reached into his pants and felt around for the credit card he used before, but then he remembered that it was gone.

  St. Claire was going to have to do something he didn’t want to do. He was going to have to become a criminal. He left the club area, confident that when he returned he would find Ten-Toes here. It didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for, a good old fashion fighters’ gym. This kind of town would have both legal and illegal fights to bet on. That meant fighters, and fighters needed a place to train. No one knows if it was out of respect for tradition or if it was just the best way to do things, but few things had changed over the centuries when it came to training fighters. The gym had everything you would have expected it to have ... like free weights, all manner of machines to work out every kind of muscle human or not, as well as a couple of fighting rings where the fighters work on their skills by pounding each other.

  This particular gym trained humanoid fighters only and that was why St. Claire chose this place. The more chance of finding clothing that would fit him. It was bad enough he was going to have to steal clothing, and yet he didn
’t want to have to steal something that was too tight in the wrong places, or too loose.

  Slipping into the gym through the back was no problem. It was not as if they were really worried about people trying to sneak into the place. The only people that would want to be in the sweat-infested, testosterone-filled walls were the fighters and their trainers. St. Claire tried the back door and was surprised to find the door unlocked. He quietly opened the door and stepped inside. He made his way into the locker room, which was thankfully empty at the moment.

  The locker room was clean but smelled of sweat, which smelled better than he did. St. Claire poked around looking through lockers until he found some clothing that looked close to his size. He stripped off his own reeking garments and tossed them in the disposal bin. “Good riddance.” St. Claire pushed the red incinerate button.

  The shower room was attached to the locker room and it was a no-frills, tiled room with a row of showerheads and matching controls lining the walls. The water was hot and felt good, St. Claire couldn’t remember the last time a shower felt so good. He used the soap and washed hard to get the smell off of him.

  Clean and smell free, St. Claire left the shower room with a towel wrapped around his waist and one around his neck. He had left the strange coin and the stolen clothing on a bench in the locker room. He was on his way back to that bench when he came face to face with another man. He was shorter than St. Claire by a few inches. However, what he lacked in height he more than made up in muscle. The nearly naked man had to be a fighter, the muscles, the nose that looked like it had been broken a number of times, and the scars on his face, they all screamed fighter.

  “Who are you?” The fighter asked, in a Russian accent.

  Great, a Fabian, St. Claire thought. The problem with Fabians is that they tended to be exceptionally close-minded and easily provoked to anger. The great and bountiful Fabian union was born just after the last great land war on Earth, sometimes referred to as the Days of Empire war. Then the nations moved out into space. The new government was formed from the waste of the Russian Republic, and The Fabian Union was born. The people of Russia and the other eastern bloc countries abandoned communism because it didn’t work. In the midst of a power vacuum, a totalitarian government rose up and filled the void. The point being that Fabians were born ruthless; it was the only way to get a leg up in their society.

  “Me, I’m nobody.” St. Claire answered to the shorter man.

  “Cute, but I know everyone that comes to my gym and I don’t know you, why is that?”

  Thinking fast, St. Claire concocted a story. “That is because I’m not sure that we want to use your gym to train. I represent an up and coming Terrain fighter who is looking to make a name for himself here on Nueva Texas, and I wanted to check out the place first.”

  “I see, but taking a shower? A bit strange don’t you think?”

  “I wanted to experience every part of the gym first-hand ... that is how I roll.”

  The Fabian was not buying his story. “Really, I don’t think so.”

  St. Claire knew the gig was up. It was act now while he had the initiative or get pummeled by a half-naked angry Fabian gym owner. “Hey, look.” he pointed behind him.

  He fell for it and looked over his shoulder. “What?”

  St. Claire wasted no time and grabbed the man’s towel and tore it free. “Chto za huy.” the shocked gym belted out in Fabian. His hands out of reflex went straight to cover his genitals. St. Claire quickly twisted the towel into a whip and using an age-old boyhood prank snapped the man in the eyes. The man screamed and lifted his hands to comfort his eyes then he remembered he was naked so his hands went back down for fear that St. Claire would attack his genitals next. St. Claire snapped the towel at his eyes again. This time, when the man’s hands went back up to cover his eyes. St. Claire untwisted the towel and using it like a net he threw it over the man's head. His hands were still covering his eyes at the time so the Fabian was powerless to do anything.

  Now in control of his opponent, he ran the man straight at the wall. A booming sound reverberated off the walls of the locker room as the man’s head connected with the wall. The man went out like a light. He flopped to the ground and St. Claire rolled him over so he was lying on his back. He could see a nasty lump forming on his head, but other than that, he was unhurt. St. Claire tried to make him as comfortable as he could.

  He looked down, and noticing that the man was still naked, placed one of his towels over him. After all, he didn’t want the man’s friends to find him this way, especially seeing the rather small size of his genitals. “So, what they say about steroids is true.” St. Claire said softly. Not sure how long the man would be out; St. Claire got dressed in a hurry and ran out the back door.

  The clothing that St. Claire was able to acquire consisted of a lime green tracksuit with neon yellow strips and it was a size too small, but he didn’t care. At least it was clean and didn’t smell like the hind end of a nautiloid.

  St. Claire stood and watched the club door for hours until he saw his target, Tommy Ten-Toes. Tommy looked like any average human with the exception of being completely devoid of body hair. On Tommy’s bald head sat a wide brimmed hat. It was purple with a ribbon of black and white spotted fur. Built into the rim of the hat was a fiber optic light that glowed purple, bathing his eyes in a soft purple light. He wore a sparkly suit of varying shades of purple, with white-heeled boots that emitted a similar purple light around the soles. St. Claire laughed when he saw him because he looked more like a twentieth-century pimp than a twenty-third century bookie.

  Tommy patted the mountain of a doorman on his massive back. The Orillia smiled wide and held the club door open for him. St. Claire watched Tommy disappear into the club. It was time to make his move. He moved across the street and approached the colossal doorman.

  “Welcome little human, you have a propensity for other species than your own?” The Orillia asked.

  “Oh yeah, the cat chicks just do it for me.” St. Claire said, and then tried his best to imitate a cat purring.

  “You mean the Lyrains females. Yes, they can be extremely exotic. Be sure not to miss Misty Falls’ show. She will get your blood pumping, if you are into that kind of stuff.”

  “Thanks for the info.” St. Claire said, and tried to walk past the doorman.

  The Orillia shifted left to block his way. “Not so fast, two hundred credit cover charge.” he held out his meaty hand.

  “Ah.” St. Claire fished around in his suit looking for any kind of currency, but he came up empty, the only thing in his pockets was the strange coin that he had been given.

  “Look no pay, no play, got it?” The doorman growled.

  “Okay I’m a little short right now, but I’m a friend of Tommy’s. He will cover it for me, I’m sure.”

  “Yeah I bet, either pay up or get the hell out of here!”

  St. Claire understood there was no way he was going to talk his way past the doorman. He also knew that he would not be able to fight his way in either. He was left with only one option. He would have to disable the doorman. His time in the RepCom Police Core had taught him a lot about how to disable all of the known species. It was not a widely known fact that the Orillia, have a nerve that was extremely sensitive and when struck hard, pretty much knocked the Orillia on its butt. It was very much like striking a human male in his manhood, you get the same effect.

  There was one major drawback to his plan. The nerve was located just inside the Orillia’s nose. To hit it you have to stick your finger up their nose. If he missed, he was pretty sure that he wouldn’t live to worry about it. St. Claire knew he needed to get the doorman angry so he would flare his large nostril so he could get his finger on target.

  “Look you overgrown monkey, go march your hairy ass in there and tell Tommy that Dom is here to see him.” he barked at the Orillia.

  That worked. The Orillia bent down to get face-to-face with St. Claire. He was breathing hard trying
to control his anger. His nostrils were flaring like a steam valve opening and closing. St. Claire thought for a second that he saw a hint of steam coming out of them. It was now or never. He made his move, grabbing the Orillia by the back of his furry head, and with his other hand, shoved his finger up the doorman’s left nostril as far and as hard as he could.

  Taken completely by surprise the doorman had no idea what to do, no one had ever dared lay a hand on him and now this human had him by the head and was shoving his finger up his nose. After he got over the shock of having a human up his nose, he rose up to his full height, St. Claire held on for dear life because if he let go he was a dead man.

  The Orillia wrapped his massive arms around St. Claire and gave him the bear hug of his life. As the pressure increased around his chest, St. Claire couldn’t breathe, as the air was being forced out of his lungs. He could feel his ribs starting to crack. He pushed up one last time with everything he had left. Just as he was about to black out he hit the nerve.

  St. Claire knew he hit the nerve because instantly the pressure on his chest stopped and he could breathe again. St. Claire dropped to his feet. The Orillia’s hands went to his face and he dropped to his knees, a strange moaning sound erupted from some were deep inside him. St. Claire wiped off his finger on the doorman’s shirt. “God, I hope I never have to do that again.” St. Claire said.

  Knowing that he was now on the clock, St. Claire moved quickly. He had to find Tommy fast and get out of there. The Orillia would recover and his finger up the nose trick would not work a second time. The club was like any strip club you would find on any planet anywhere. There were tables and two stages with poles. There were a plethora of females from every humanoid species in the known 'verse. Some were giving clients lap dances; others were working as cocktail waitresses. On one stage was a Lyrain hanging from the golden pole. She had her legs wrapped around the pole while her tail was dancing back and forth. She purred at St. Claire as he stopped to stare at her six breasts. They were small, but they were all there naked and staring right back at him.