Haldeed woke up first. In the distance he heard machines, big machines. Sounds he had only heard a few times in his life but recognized all too well. He ran to the window and looked out. In the distance he could see a huge flying machine carrying something even bigger below it. He watched in horror as it got closer and closer, and he realized what it meant.
Haldeed ran back to the bed and shook Taleed till he started to stir.
Taleed woke up smiling. He'd slept well enough and long enough that even being awakened with a shake couldn't dampen his spirits. He was warm and dry and well rested, he stretched and thought of the wonderful breakfast he would eat. "See, Haldeed? We have made it. We have escaped, and no horrible fate has befallen us. We haven't angered the gods, and no punishment will come to us," he said smugly
He heard a strange noise, and then Haldeed was frantically pulling him towards the window. Taleed followed reluctantly; he didn't want anything to rain on his parade. He looked out the window and sighed. "Damn! I should have kept my mouth shut."
They dressed and packed quickly and started for the back door. They could hear the village priest in the middle of the town telling the people that the gods had ordered that some of them go to shed blood on a distant world for the glory of the gods. Haldeed started to go towards the town square, but Taleed elbowed him in the other direction.
"We cannot give up now, Haldeed," Taleed whispered in Haldeed's ear. "Not when we have gotten this close. We certainly can't allow ourselves to fall into Reliance hands."
But Taleed, how far will we get when the very gods seem to be pitted against us? Haldeed signed in despair. How can we escape the Reliance and their machines? If we go to them and tell them who you are, they will surely take us back to your father. The worst that will happen to us is we will be scolded.
"No! No, I will not go back. Do you hear me, Haldeed? I would rather be a slave to the Reliance than a slave of the priests. If you are right and the gods are true, then no harm can come to me because I am then a god. I am the chosen, and I shall make sure that no harm comes to you. Now come on, Haldeed, let us not give up without at least the hint of a fight."
"What the hell are we loading all this shit for?" Levits asked putting yet another pile of pans into the skiff.
"The girl told us they trade goods from their planet for metal. We may need items of value to trade. Theirs is a metal poor planet, therefore anything of metal is going to be of value." She threw the second broken security droid into the skiff. "The cloth, while of some trade value, is mostly there as a cover for the gold, and we sure as hell aren't taking that gold to the planet."
Levits nodded his head in agreement then smiled.
"What?" RJ asked. Then feeling why he was smiling, smiled herself. She felt better than she had felt in a very long time and much more relaxed.
"I was just thinking about how surprised David's going to be when he wakes up and finds out everything has changed." He looked at her his face getting suddenly red. "RJ, I just wanted to say that I . . . Well that you really are . . ."
"What?" RJ asked with a crooked grin.
"Infuriating," he said with a laugh. He leaned over and kissed her check. "Did you . . . could you . . ." Levits damned his tongue. He didn't usually have any trouble talking; he sure as hell hadn't ever had any trouble talking to a woman. Except that this wasn't just any woman. This was RJ. It was unnerving to know that she knew exactly how he felt and that he had not a clue how she felt. "Damn it, RJ, do you feel anything at all for me?"
"Of course I do," RJ turned her head and kissed his lips, "and yes I could." They were in each other's arms and on the floor of the ship in a matter of minutes.
Topaz coughed loudly. "All right I hate to be the one to rain on young love, but it really is important that we get David to the surface as quickly as possible."
Levits rose up on his arms and looked down at RJ. "See? He's nothing but trouble." Levits got up and put down his hand to help RJ her up although it wasn't necessary. She took his hand, and allowed him to pull her against him as she reached her feet. He kissed her, and then they parted.
Topaz set down the load of pans he held. "Janad and Poley have another load, and then I think that's about got it. I've loaded all the medical supplies I could find. Who knows what we might be exposed to?"
"Lovely," Levits said taking a seat at the controls and giving them a quick once over.
"All right all that's left is to get our space suits on, make sure the helmets are safe and it's time to bug out of here," RJ said. "I'll go get David. See if you can get a fix on where the Reliance set down their transport station on the surface."
"We were in luck," Levits said from his seat at the console. "We seem to be in a pulse free window, and I've already got the coordinates locked in."
"Let's just hope this pulse free window doesn't allow the Reliance to track us," Topaz said.
"We know their position in space, they don't know ours, it's damn hard to track something if you don't know it exists, much less where it's coming from," RJ said.
Topaz nodded. That made sense. "It won't take them long to set up the transmat unit, and then they will be transmatting the Beta 4 humanoids to the station. That's one more reason to get this show on the road."
RJ nodded in agreement and went to get David. Topaz and Levits started to put on their space suits. Levits got in his long before Topaz did, then he turned and without a word started redoing the seals on Topaz's. Yesterday this would have precipitated a continuous stream of load noxious insults out of Levits' mouth, but today he just unsnapped and resnapped the seals. Topaz was glad to see Levits smile, and even happier to see that the spring was back in RJ's step.
Janad and Poley brought the last load of pans. Poley helped Janad into her space suit.
"Aren't you going to put a suit on?" she asked.
"I don't need one," Poley said.
"But don't you want one?" Janad asked. "They're pretty. It will make you look like a god."
Topaz laughed. "Honey, with the shlong Stewart stuck on that boy, he already looks like a god. However put the suit on anyway Poley it may help you with the natives."
RJ arrived carrying David, and Levits helped her slip his sleeping form into a suit but not without mumbling. "Bastard, sling shit all over me, I ought to leave your seals open." They slipped his helmet on him and secured it, then lashed him into a stretcher type affair at the back of the flight deck, which was there to haul wounded back from the front.
They sat down and strapped in. Levits started the countdown, the bay doors opened, and as he got to one the skiff was shot from the mother ship like a spore out of mold.
"Ye ha!" Topaz screamed. "Now this is how it ought ah be. This is like Star Wars shit, man!"
Levits just smiled and shook his head. He actually felt more comfortable flying the skiff than he had the troop carrier. That had just reminded him too much of his own personal terrors.
"Don't rejoice yet, Topaz, you haven't experienced re-entry. In a ship the size of this skiff and a planet with that kind of gravitational pull, it will feel like you are being shook apart," Levits informed him.
"Bring it on, baby! Bring it on!" Topaz said excitedly.
"Just pray the Reliance doesn't get a bead on us, Old Man," Levits said. "I'm sure even their temporary satellite has fighter ships, and this skiff has one forward plasma cannon and one aft laser."
"They aren't likely to see us, much less get a bead on us," RJ reassured them. "They're on the other side of the planet, and as I said they don't know to look for us. I think you can relax and enjoy the ride."
Topaz laughed heartily. "You know I've just got to say it. You two are so much easier to get along with when you're getting laid."
Janad started laughing loudly. "Oh! That's what they were doing."
They had run into a line of Reliance men just when they were sure they had gotten away, which made it that much harder to take when they were herded back towards the village square where the priest and the Reliance box were located.
"You now go to heaven to fight the gods' battles there. Do not be afraid to serve the gods. Do not be afraid to leave behind your old ones and your children; they will be well cared for."
They pulled the warriors from the group, easily recognizing them by their clothing and trappings. They started herding them towards the transport station.
The gods are punishing us because we ran away, Haldeed signed in fear.
"They are only taking the warriors. We wear the clothes of peasants, of workers; we will not be chosen. "If our gods serve up our people to these aliens, then I say damn them. I will not serve such gods and I most certainly will not become one." Taleed looked down to make sure his fake hands were still in place and looked real enough. He hoped the beards he and Haldeed had grown on their trip would hide their identity. However it was obvious that Haldeed wanted badly to tell them who they were, give up and go back to the palace rather than risk being sent to heaven.
Better the demons you know, Haldeed signed at the end of a long string of frantic signing.
The priest walked right up to them and Taleed swallowed hard.
"You there," the priest said pointing.
"Us?" Taleed asked trying to keep fear from entering his voice.
"Yes, you . . . You are new in our village. You are young and healthy; are you not warriors?"
"No, holy one, we are but poor farm workers moving on to follow the crops."
"I do not believe you," the priest waded through the crowd towards them, and Taleed inwardly cringed.
All the priests throughout the land knew what the Chosen One looked like. Once a year they all came on a pilgrimage to the holy city and gazed upon his father and himself. If the priest got too close he would recognize him, and their adventure would end.
Suddenly there was a loud roaring sound and a bright light streaked across the sky. All stopped as everyone turned to look at the sight in awe and in wonder. The Reliance men looked up also and became immediately defensive, which told Taleed that whatever this was it had nothing to do with them. There was a loud noise and sparks flew from the box in front of them. The Reliance men scattered looking for cover and the villagers just ran. The priest who had questioned them dropped to the ground prostrating himself and started praying loudly. He was throwing his gold chains in the air as if offering them to the gods.
Haldeed pulled on the stunned prince's arm dragging him to safety behind one of the carved rock dwellings.
A white ship just like the one the Reliance people had arrived in set down gently on the ground in front of them. The Reliance's flying ship took off firing rays of light down at the other ship. There was another loud noise and the Reliance ship exploded and fell out of the sky. Two gods with solid silver bodies stepped out of the newly arrived ship. The Reliance people still on the ground fired upon the new arrivals, but the gods were also armed with weapons of light and did smite any of the aliens who dared to show their faces. The people, realizing that their gods had come to save them from the claws of the Reliance, turned on the Reliance men and fought as they had never fought before. In minutes all the Reliance men were dead. The priest quickly moved and prostrated himself on the ground again. This time he fell before the gods and made an offering of his last gold chain.
RJ looked down at the prostrate man with tell tale burns all over his head and hair falling out. She looked at Poley who nodded.
"Janad!" RJ screamed back towards the ship.
Janad ran out to stand beside her as the others walked out of the ship.
"Yes," Janad said.
"Tell this man that all this gold is tainted and must be destroyed at once," RJ said.
In her native tongue Janad told the man what RJ said. He spat back a stream of utterances at her; she frowned.
"What did he say?" RJ asked.
"He said that these gold chains were gifts from our god and therefore could not be poisoned," Janad said.
"Tell him that the chains he is wearing are causing his hair to fall out and is making the boils that he has been afflicted with. Tell the idiot that he has radiation sickness," RJ ordered.
Janad told the priest what RJ had said, but he shook his head frantically and spat out another sentence.
"He says you are demons sent to tempt his faith in the gods, and that he therefore revokes his gift of the gold."
"Tell him I said . . . ah fuck it." RJ aimed her laser and shot him in the head. The old priest fell over dead. RJ removed her helmet.
The villagers looked at her in shock and horror.
"Damn it, RJ," Topaz cursed running up to her. "I might have learned much from him. Now all you have done is turn the villagers against us."
"By killing their spiritual leader I have proved the impotence of their gods, and they will not dare to anger me. Besides I doubt very seriously you would have gotten anything of value from that imbecile," RJ said. "Janad, tell the people that we mean them no harm, but that we will not tolerate such disrespect. We have come to save them, but only if they prove themselves worthy."
Janad screamed the statement to the general population.
Topaz stared at her, mouth open.
"Tell them that the Reliance is evil and is trying to kill their gods," RJ ordered Janad.
Janad made the announcement.
"What are we going to do with this radioactive waste?" Levits asked at RJ's shoulder.
"One thing at a time," RJ said. She handed him her helmet. He looked at his hands now filled with helmet, his own and hers, then turned and unceremoniously threw them into the open door of the space ship. RJ smiled at him before continuing. "First we have to make sure that these primitives don't turn on us the way they did the Reliance . . .. Janad, tell them that we will protect them from the Reliance and from the anger of their gods, but that they must do as we tell them."
Janad shouted the message, noticing that the people drew ever closer.
RJ noticed the stunned look on Topaz's face and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
"RJ, that isn't an alien tongue Janad is speaking," Topaz informed.
"Sounds alien to me," RJ said thinking he was probably flaking out again.
"It would to you. RJ, the language that girl is speaking is French, an Earth language that hasn't been spoken in well over six hundred years."
Topaz was following RJ and Janad to the 'temple'. Levits and Poley had stayed to guard the skiff and keep an eye on David.
A group of village children were closely following them. RJ tried to ignore them, but they were bugging the piss out of her.
"It's a good thing I can't have kids," RJ said pulling a face as one of the smaller ones reached out and touched her. "I don't think I have the maternal instincts necessary to stop myself from killing them if they annoyed me." Since the one child had touched her without disintegrating, the others had moved still closer. RJ turned quickly threw her arms around wildly and growled at them. They screamed and scattered in all directions. RJ laughed triumphantly and kept walking.
"Have you heard anything that I've been saying to you?" Topaz asked.
"The natives speak French, blah blah blah. They must be decedents of Earth-born humans, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah," RJ said continuing to follow Janad.
"Aren't you interested in the least? How did they got here? From where does their belief in a handless god come? What about their god that makes clouds?" Topaz rattled out.
"I'm not interested in anything right now except getting any tainted gold out of this village and getting out of here before Reliance troops show up to find out what happened to their transporter. I don't care how they got here, and I don't know where they came up with their armless god, but I'd say that's where they got their belief in a god that makes clouds."
As she spoke, RJ nodded towards the middle of the village where there stood a huge rock. Carved into the rock was the 'temple,' and spewing from the top of the temple was a steady stream of steam.
"Well, I'll be damned!" Topaz said in awe.
Two guards stood at the door to the temple. When they saw RJ and her party they moved aside, indicating by their actions that they were welcome to enter.
Janad stopped at the door. RJ turned and looked back at her. "Come on."
"It is forbidden for any mortal save the priests to enter the temple, and . . ."
RJ grabbed her by the arm and pulled her inside. "It's bullshit, all right, Janad?" RJ said. "You're a bright girl; you've been in a space ship. If a machine can power through space and move you across galaxies in a matter of days, how much simpler is a machine that makes low amp electricity? You hear that noise?" Janad nodded. "That's the sound of a machine. You know what a machine is, so you know that whatever is in the heart of this temple is more of machine than god."
Men, obviously priests because of the rule, were running around wearing simple workman's coveralls, carrying tools and wearing tool belts. When they saw the three who entered, they dropped to the ground and prostrated themselves. Most of them clearly bore the signs of radiation sickness.
"Damn," RJ laughed. "I could get used to this."
"Didn't you get enough of it back on Earth?" Topaz asked sarcastically.
"I have never seen the priests in their holy garments or carrying their holy instruments before," Janad said in a low and reverent voice.
"Those are work clothes, and they are carrying simple tools." RJ sighed. "Don't you get it, girl? Your priests are nothing but mechanics."
"How do you suppose these people came to worship what is obviously a steam engine?" Topaz asked.
"Obviously because they have been kept ignorant of the fact that it is an engine. It's simple, Topaz. The people no doubt make sacrifices of food, clothing, and items of wealth to the priests. The 'priests' figured out early what a good gig this was, and have become wealthy making sure the people didn't find out that their 'temple' is nothing but a power plant," RJ said.
"Yes, but who gave them this technology? The tools they have are obviously old, some even show visible signs of damage. As you have pointed out often, they have little metal on this world. So who brought them the materials and the technology?" Topaz asked.
"Well, obviously it was some armless, deranged, black, French man," RJ said. "I really could care less." One of the priests was wearing one of the radioactive gold chains, and RJ reached down as she passed his bowing form and took it off in her gloved hand. "Again . . . all I want is to gather up the tainted gold and leave this village before the Reliance gets here in force."
"Ah! Here we go." They entered what must have been the very center of the Temple, and there sat a thermo electric generator belching the steam that went out the vents in the roof. The wires running from it were nearly covered with the draped gold chains, and it was surrounded by several gold bars and thousands of little black stones.
"I have never seen so many bercer roc," Janad said pointing at the stones.
"Janad, go back to the ship at once," RJ ordered.
Janad didn't have to ask why; she knew. They had said there was something wrong with the gold metal and that it was making the priests sick. She didn't have to be told twice. She practically ran from the building.
"So, the priests also believe that the generator is a god," Topaz said.
"Yep," RJ agreed. "No doubt they think that their work keeps the god happy, and keeps him making energy for their villages. No doubt the maintenance work they do has become complex ritual."
"So what now, Kemosabe?" Topaz asked. "Radiation isn't exactly healthy for us, either."
"We aren't going to be around it long enough for it to matter, and we aren't going to touch the shit," RJ said. "So, Topaz, can you speak French?"
"Oui, je parle Francais," Topaz said.
"I'm going to take that as a yes," RJ said with a smile. "Call the priests in here, and tell them we have come to cure their affliction."
Poley worked at the controls on the Reliance transport station as the priests loaded first the gold and then the gold-draped body of their high priest into the box. Then they started loading the bodies of the dead Reliance men as RJ had ordered. Levits had already very carefully gathered the weapons, not trusting them in the hands of the primitives, and carried them to the ship.
"Hurry, Poley," RJ ordered.
"I always hurry, RJ," Poley said. "I do things without delay; you know this."
"You know what that generator was, don't you, RJ?" Topaz asked excitedly.
"It looked like one of the thermo generating plants they used to send out with early colony ships," RJ said without enthusiasm.
"It was one of the old thermo generating stations they used to send out with early colony ships. They had all the equipment for drilling and setting up a power station. All of the equipment to civilize a planet. The only problem is that by the time they started working on earnestly colonizing the planets there were very few pure black people left," Topaz said thoughtfully.
"Uh huh," RJ said watching only the completion of the operation at hand.
"RJ, are you listening to me?" Topaz asked excitedly.
"As well as you are listening to me," she said with a smile.
"There it's done," Poley said closing the panel up and moving away from it while giving his sister what could have easily been interpreted as a pouting look.
The last priest set down his load and stepped out of the transport station.
"Tell them to stand clear," RJ said.
Janad did, and the people moved way back.
RJ took a timed charge from her pocket. She set it then threw it in. She punched a button, and the whole lot disappeared.
RJ grinned impishly as she turned to face her friends. "That ought to slow down their operations for awhile. Poley, dismantle the unit and bring the transmat components with us."
Poley nodded and started the task of disassembling that which he had just assembled.
Topaz started to administer treatments for radiation sickness to the priests with the pocket medic, telling each one to "Go now and sin no more." He obviously thought this got funnier the more often he did it.
However for RJ it had ceased to be funny at least twenty minutes ago.
"Topaz, find out which one of them is now in charge," RJ said.
Topaz nodded and asked the question of the next man in line. He made wide hand gestures as he spoke, then pointed to a big man towards the back of the line. RJ nodded grabbed Janad by the arm and headed for the man. He glared at RJ with cold eyes that let her know instantly that he considered her neither god nor friend.
"Tell him that the gold with which the Reliance has been trading is poisoned . . ."
"I understand that," the priest said in the Reliance tongue.
"Well, this certainly makes things easier. Listen to me. The Reliance is taking your people to the Earth to be killed . . ."
"It is the gods' will," he said.
"That," she said pointing towards the Temple, "is a machine in there. It takes super heated steam from your planet's core and makes electricity. If you didn't repair the equipment your god would die," RJ said.
The priest held his hands over his ears, and RJ sighed thinking about putting a plasma bolt in his head, too. She grabbed his hands and pulled them off his ears. He frowned when his struggling got him nothing but sore wrists.
"OK, here's the scoop, Shit-for-brains. You either listen to me or I pull your arms out of your body and beat you to death with the bloody stumps. I don't have time to tear through your stupid-assed religious dogma. I realize that you don't care about your people, but I do care about mine, and right now the Reliance is taking your people from your planet and sending them to mine to kill my people. I'm not going to let that happen. The Reliance will come back here. They will try to take your people away. You will not tell the people to go. You will tell them to fight the Reliance and drive them away. You will accept no gold from your gods or anyone else, because if you do a great plague will fall upon you, and you will all die even as you were dying when we arrived. If you help the Reliance I shall personally come back here, lay your temple to ruins, and crush your skull with your god." That said she picked him up and threw him several feet through the air so that he landed on his back in a pile of some sort of animal waste.
"Let it never be said that you can't be diplomatic when the need arises," Topaz said sarcastically.
"A kind word turneth away wrath," RJ said with a smile. Then she turned and headed back towards the ship. She emerged a few moments later with a stack of pans that she handed out – not to the priests, but to the people. The people took the pots and pans holding them reverently. "Janad, tell them that they are to use these gifts in good health."
Janad told them, and they looked pleased.
"Tell them that they must always fight the Reliance. Tell them that the Reliance tried to poison their god."
Janad told them, and they looked upset and started chanting angrily.
"They must pick a reliable person to go to the next village and tell them what they saw here today and all that they heard. They must tell them that the priests must take the gold off their bodies and away from their god. They must take it far away and bury it in a hole marking it with a sign that warns others of the danger," RJ said. "It must be taboo forever."
Janad nodded and translated RJ's instructions. The people as a whole nodded their heads in agreement that became more enthusiastic as understanding dawned.
"That village must in return send a runner to the next village, and so on and so forth," RJ said, waving a hand dismissively. She hated to be bothered with trivial details. Life would be so much easier if people could learn to just follow a plan out to its logical conclusion on their own.
Janad relayed the message.
"OK, then. Let's get the hell out of here," RJ ordered.
Janad started to tell the people.
RJ grabbed Janad, putting a hand over her mouth and dragging her against her. "Don't tell them that, Dummy." RJ laughed. Janad nodded and RJ released her.
Topaz was finishing the last of the injections, so RJ moved towards the ship and Janad was following.
"Maybe Janad would rather stay here, RJ," Topaz said.
"I wouldn't," Janad said.
"What we are doing is going to be dangerous," Topaz said.
"Yes, much more dangerous than staying here to fight the Reliance when they rush in here any minute now all pissed off," RJ said sarcastically. "Now get your shit together and let's go."
We were saved by the new gods, Haldeed signed.
"They are no more gods than I am, Haldeed. There ship was no different than that of the Reliance. As for their appearance, you forget that my father has such a suit. They are just clothes – nothing more, nothing less. Something worn I suppose in space travel. There is no magic in them," Taleed whispered. "We must go with them when they leave."
What! Haldeed exclaimed with flamboyant hand gestures.
"You do not know the Reliance tongue as well as I do. I heard her say that the Reliance is coming back here, and we must not be here when they arrive. I do not believe they are gods, however I believe from their actions that they know what is truly going on," Taleed said.
If we approach them they will kill us, Haldeed said excitedly.
"If we stay here, the Reliance may kill us or worse. What's the worst that could happen? If it looks like they mean to do us ill, I will tell them who I am, and then they dare not harm us," Taleed said. "Come, Haldeed. Quickly! They are getting ready to go."
Taleed started moving through the crowd, and Haldeed followed reluctantly.
The white headed woman went into the ship, and came back out shortly and whispered something angrily to the tall, thin dark-haired man. He just shrugged and looked like he was just as angry with her. Then she stripped her suit off. The stiff-moving man took his suit off, and so did the girl who was the right color. These three walked away fast as the others climbed into the ship. In seconds the ship had lifted up and was gone.
Taleed switched directions and started after the white headed woman and the two that had gone with her. They were walking so fast that the young prince and his companion had to practically run to keep from losing them. The strangers seemed to plow a trail through the tall brush as if it were nothing.
Sergeant Bradley and his crew of three men were in a level-three maintenance tube repairing a broken conductor cable. It was hot and the air damn near non-existent.
"Well, gee! Couldn't you just do this forever?" Harker said, stopping his torch just long enough to raise his visor and wipe the sweat from his face.
Sergeant Bradley smiled. "Yeah, they say the place to be in the military is in the combat forces, but they don't know what they're missing out on. We in maintenance know what real joy is."
"This guy Briggs . . . We've worked on some shit details before, but this guy has no respect for maintenance at all," Harker said.
"Let the station start falling apart, and he'd grow some in a hurry," Sergeant Bradley said as he moved to hold the cable steady. Hotter than hell, and he was forced to wear three thicknesses leather gloves.
"Why the hell can't we use laser tools?" Harker asked.
"Has something to do with some idiot not using the right kind of reflecting shield and cutting a hole right through the hull of a battle cruiser causing an instant depressurization which caused the death of twenty people," Sergeant Bradley explained. "Of course 5 or 600 maintenance personnel have died of heat exposure in these freaking maintenance tubes since, but, hey! we're expendable."
Bradley and the other two men hefted the cable into place as Harker continued his weld.
"You know what's wrong with the Reliance don't ya?" Harker started screaming over the spitting of the torch. "They let little jerk-offs like Briggs be in control."
"Between you and me, there are too many people who have never gotten their hands dirty making the decisions that make the rest of us work harder," Bradley agreed.
"Guys!" one of the other men interrupted, then added in a whisper, "The walls have eyes and ears, you know."
"Not down in the service tubes," Harker said. "The idiots up topside don't consider us bright enough to be a threat. When we were given our tests at nine they concluded that we weren't bright or ambitious enough for combat or officer ranks, so they condemned us to spend our lives fixing the shit that they break. They aren't afraid of any rebellion coming from us; they aren't afraid of us at all"
"He's right, though, Harker, better watch what you say. With someone like Briggs at the helm damn near anything can be seen as treasonous. He just looks for reasons to execute people. Given free rein I really think he'd take out everyone just to make a point," Bradley warned.
"Don't you ever get tired of it?" Harker said. "Tired of all the shit . . ."
"Better stop right there, Harker," Bradley said. He looked at Harker, then cut his eyes towards the other two men. Harker nodded his understanding and fell silent.
Just then the whole station lurched. Since three of them had hold of the cable at the time, it ripped out all the work they had just done. The ship rocked for several seconds, warning lights started flashing, and sirens started wailing.
"What the hell!" Harker screamed. "Are we under attack?"
"Here?" one of the other men screamed. "Why would anyone fire on us here?"
"Maybe the New Alliance found out what we're doing," Sergeant Bradley said.
"What the hell do we do now?" Harker yelled.
It was a good question. If they were under attack, their adversary was bound to start firing at the belly of the station knowing that was where the main drives were. On the other hand from their position there was no way of knowing which direction might lead them to safety and which might lead them into tunnels full of fire or deadly gas.
The station seemed to stabilize.
"Whatever it is seems to have stopped," Harker said.
Bradley pulled his computer from his pocket and powered it up. "The damage appears to be localized in the transport area. A huge explosion and a hull breach right after a materialization. The emergency hull repair activated and seems to be holding, but the damage looks extensive."
"Could it have been caused by that damned magnetic pulse?" Harker asked.
One of their early transportations from the planet had gone very badly when a magnetic pulse from the surface had happened in the middle of transporting humanoids from the surface. Instead of viable humanoids they had ended up with a sort of humanoid mush that had taken them the better part of a day to clean up.
"No, we have learned that the pulses are never closer than fifteen minutes. Since then we only send or receive right after a pulse. Besides you saw what happens when a pulse interrupts the signal, and it doesn't cause any kind of explosion. I'd say someone sent a bomb on the transporter. You guys finish this job. I'd better get topside."
Just then his communicator buzzed and Captain Briggs' voice screamed, "Sergeant Bradley! Where the hell are you? We've had a problem in the transport bay."
"On my way, Sir," Bradley said. He looked at Harker, pulled a face, and Harker smiled.
"Good luck," Harker said. Bradley nodded and left.
They got back to work finishing the project that had been interrupted. None of them harbored any notions of getting much sleep for the next few days. This time in the tunnels was probably going to seem like a vacation by the end of the week.
When they finished, Harker climbed out of the tube last. "You guys go on up. Tell Bradley I'll be there in a minute; I've got to take a crap."
He watched as they left and then quickly walked in the other direction. A hand reached out, grabbed him and pulled him into a service closet. The door closed and he found himself in total darkness. He felt hands undoing his belt and lips on his. He kissed her and then said, "I sure hope that's you."
"It is. What about Bradley?"
"I think he'd come over with us," Harker said. "I've known him most of my life. He hates the Reliance as much as we do even if he is afraid to say so. Were you able to reach the New Alliance?"
"No. Damn it, their computer is hard to break into, and I have limited time. I have to be damn careful I'm not caught. I thought about just fixing the manifests to show what we are really shipping, but we've all been briefed over and over about the secrecy of our mission here. If they traced it back to me . . ."
"What happened to the transport bay? Bradley said it might be a bomb. Do you think it could be the New Alliance? That maybe you did get through somehow?" Harker asked.
"I wish I could say yes, but I just don't see how."
"I don't have much time," he said huskily.
"Then let's not waste any more time talking. I like you when you're all sweaty."
David had woken up groggy and disoriented. When he saw where he was a terror entered him – a fear like no fear he had ever known before. He had to get out of the ship and out of space. He had taken the belts off and stumbled from the ship. The 'aliens' in the silver suits were busy trying to get new victims to torture in space, and so he snuck past them and just started walking, happy to be walking on good honest dirt. Glad to have something real and solid beneath his feet.
They had drugged him. He didn't know who or why, but he knew he'd been drugged. Nothing seemed to make any sense in his head, and he couldn't trust his mind to know the difference between what was real and what was illusion. He wasn't even completely sure of whether he was awake or asleep, alive or dead. He just knew he had to get away, far away from those Reliance thugs who were trying to make him believe they were his friends. He stumbled through the brush; his legs felt like they weighed a hundred pounds each. He fell at one point, and it was all he could do to pry himself off the ground. Behind him he could hear them calling his name, and he doubled his pace, but they were still closing in on him.
"What a giant pain in the ass!" Levits screamed at Topaz, mostly because he was the only one left to scream at. He lifted off and moved in the direction of the coordinates RJ had given him.
"She screams at me like it's my fault. That freaking pain in the ass!"
"Who?" Topaz asked with a smile, "David or RJ?"
"There both pains in the ass, but right now I was talking about that giant sphincter wart, David Grant," Levits hissed. "I wish to God that we had left him on Earth."
"She wanted to leave him on Earth; he wouldn't stay any more than you would. If it's any consolation, I'm sure he's wishing he'd stayed home about now," Topaz said.
"It's not," Levits snarled. Suddenly a warning siren went off, and the ship started lurching from side to side. "Damn it all!" He looked down at the controls. Red lights were flashing indicating that their fuel cells were low.
Topaz quickly put on the seat belt he had earlier shunned. "I don't suppose that's the celebration light or the happy hour buzzer. And I'm willing to bet that Damn it all isn't just some funky little Reliance astronaut toast."
"Our fuel cells are low. We're losing power and altitude. Apparently the ship was never meant to actually fire the weapons. Suck-oid obsolete Reliance equipment! We were at full power when we left the ship, and now we're completely out of fuel. We're going to have to put down right here." Then they basically fell out of the sky.
Topaz looked at Levits, who was shaken but not hurt. "Well that sucked," Topaz announced.
"More than you think. Barring a miracle, we're now stuck on this freaking planet."
RJ listened to the discouraging report Levits gave her and frowned. She took a deep breath and talked through his yelling. "Are you all right?"
"I'm . . . Yes, I'm fine." He sounded a bit taken aback by her question. "RJ, how are we going to get off this planet?"
"We'll hijack a Reliance vehicle if we have to. We'll find a way. It's a pain in the ass, but there's no reason to panic as long as you're all right." RJ paused. "We've been in tighter spots . . . I'm sorry I screamed at you. It's as much my fault as any one's that David got away."
"Are you OK, RJ?" The tone of Levit's voice was both puzzled and concerned.
RJ laughed. "Yeah, I'm fine. Over."
"Over."
RJ looked at Janad. "You and Poley go on. You should catch sight of the deranged butt hole any minute. I'm going back up the trail to check on something."
"Be careful," Poley warned.
RJ smiled over her shoulder at him as she walked away. "Aren't I always?"
Janad smiled and started back on David's trail. Now she really felt like she was at home. Out here in the forest stalking prey – it was what she had been doing since she was a child. She caught sight of their quarry and took off running. The stiff one followed her, matching her step for step, and she had the impression he could out run her if he wished to. For someone whose every movement seemed labored he certainly was fast. None of the men of her village could keep up with her for more than a few feet. When David saw them he ran faster, but he was slow, and they would over take him shortly.
"If we don't hurry, Haldeed, we will lose them," Taleed said excitedly as he started to trot along. "Already the trail grows stale."
Haldeed moved quicker to keep up with his friend, although his heart was definitely not in it. He didn't think it was wise to chase after gods. In fact he thought it was a bad idea all the way around. He'd tell Taleed so, too, if Taleed would just turn around so that he could see him.
Suddenly Taleed came to an abrupt stop, and Haldeed ran into him. When he looked up, he saw the white headed god's blue eyes boring into him. He dropped to his knees and prostrated himself.
The white headed woman looked at Taleed and spoke plainly. "Your friend thinks I'm a god, why don't you?"
For a moment Taleed thought about pretending that he couldn't understand her, but something told him that she'd know he was lying, and that if he lied to her she wouldn't be pleasant to them. "Because I know your language and I heard what you were saying. You're no god," Taleed said in the Reliance tongue sticking his chest out forcefully.
Haldeed knew Taleed, and knew that he was probably as scared as he had ever been, but he was standing tall looking strong and confident even if he felt neither.
"I could show you things to make you believe otherwise. Show you things that would prove to you that I am a god. At the very least I could prove to you that you should treat me with respect and with fear." She took one finger and punched it into Taleed's chest, and he moved backwards under the force. When he looked at her again, he wasn't looking quite as confident, and she demanded, "Why do you follow us?"
Taleed swallowed hard. "We saw your power and how you fought against the Reliance to save my people."
The woman smiled. "Your people?"
"I meant our people. I know your language, but I'm not accustomed to speaking it. Me being a poor migrate farm worker," Taleed said changing his earlier decision not to lie to her.
She laughed and shook her head, and then her eyes seemed to fall on his fake hands. Taleed quickly put them behind his back. "Does he not speak Reliance?" she asked nodding her head towards Haldeed.
"He understands your tongue, but only a very little, and he does not speak at all. He is a mute," Taleed explained.
"Quit bowing and scraping and get out of the dirt," she ordered Haldeed. "Your friend is right. I am no god."
Haldeed got slowly to his feet but still would not look into the face of the woman. She might not be a god, but she had power. He didn't want her to catch his gaze and hold it; he feared something awful would happen to him if he made eye contact with her.
"What is it that you want from me?" she asked Taleed.
"Only to help you. I know people, people in very high places," Taleed said. "People who might not listen to you, but will most definitely listen to me."
"The priests?" she asked.
"Among others," Taleed said.
"Isn't that a little odd for 'poor migrant farm workers'?" She asked with a sly smile.
Taleed thought quickly. "You will need someone to translate for you."
"I have two people who can do that already, and I'll be able to do it myself by tomorrow afternoon."
"Someone who knows this planet then," Taleed insisted.
"I have one of those, and I'd bet a whole fist full of little black rocks that she knows a hell of a lot more about your planet than you two do," she said.
"My friend and I could be of great assistance to you. I lied about being farm workers. It is true that we are wearing peasant's clothes only to avoid being captured by the Reliance. I promise you that we truly do know people in high places."
She smiled more broadly. "Ah, but what is it that you think that I can do for you?"
"My friend and I are in reality adventurers. We believe that you will show us an adventure, and that you can keep us from being captured and sent to another world to fight a war. That is all."
She laughed then and said. "That is utter crap. What greater adventure could you ask for than to go across space to another world and fight a war? Perhaps you had better come with us, though. At least till I figure out what the hell you really are." She turned then and ran. They followed.
They ran as fast as they could and still could not catch up to her. Haldeed realized she could get away from them any time she liked. She was a god; Haldeed didn't care what she or Taleed or anyone else said.
Janad ran and pounced, flying through the air to land on David. Unfortunately she didn't fully understand the extent of the problem he was having with his center of balance, so instead of just falling he stumbled first, and in trying to make sure he didn't get away from her Janad managed to pull them both into the rain-swollen river.
Poley wouldn't go into the water. He stood on the bank and watched as the girl struggled with David in the water, fighting both the current and the deranged frightened man who seemed intent only on drowning them both.
"Poley, help me!" Janad screamed as she struggled to break the surface.
"Think rationally now, David. You've been sick. Janad is only trying to help you," Poley said following along on the bank as the current washed Janad and David further downstream.
"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind!" Janad screamed as David dunked her under the water and held her there.
"Now David, Janad is human in origin. As such she must have oxygen. If you do not let her up, she will drown," Poley said.
David laughed wildly. "That's sort of the plan, Tin Pants!"
RJ ran past Poley and dove into the water. She easily pulled David off Janad. Janad came up coughing and started to float down the river. RJ caught her in her free hand and threw her to Poley who caught her. RJ grabbed David around the shoulders, successfully holding his arms to his side and hauled him out of the water kicking and screaming.
"Let me go! You're all trying to kill me!"
RJ flung him away from her. "No one's trying to kill you, David. You're not our favorite person right now, but we aren't trying to kill you. You know me; you know that if I wanted you to be dead, you'd be dead," RJ said.
David stumbled forward and collapsed sitting on a rock, he put his face in his hands and started to cry. RJ walked over to him and patted him on the back. "You're all right, David. You just need to calm down. You've had the space sickness, and we had to sedate you. We're on a planet now, so you should start to feel better soon."
David nodded and seemed to have calmed down.
As soon as Janad caught her breath, she jumped out of Poley's arms and popped him in the forehead with the palm of her hand – which hurt her arm and seemingly did nothing to him.
"You! Why did you not help me?" she demanded angrily. "I was almost drowned."
"I couldn't," Poley explained with a shrug.
"He doesn't function at full capacity if he is submerged, so our father programmed him with hydrophobia," RJ said matter-of-factly.
Janad gave her a confused look, proving that she still didn't really understand what Poley was.
"He's afraid of the water," RJ explained simply.
Janad looked at Poley, pointed and laughed.
Poley gave the girl a confused look. "It isn't right to laugh at someone's fear. Is it right, RJ?"
"No, it's not, Poley," RJ said. She looked down, momentarily forgetting everything except the fact that her clothes and her chain were wet and how much she hated it when her clothes were wet. "I'm freaking soaking dripping wet. My blaster's wet; I'll have to take it apart and dry it out. Why can't anything be simple? Why can't anything be easy?"
"Many things are simple. Many things are easy." Poley supplied.
"Poley, I wasn't talking to you," RJ said shortly. "I wasn't asking you a question."
"Then who were you talking to?" he asked.
RJ gritted her teeth. "No one, Poley. I wasn't talking to anyone."
"Oh," Poley said simply.
RJ ignored the judgmental quality in Poley's voice. "Put your little tin ego away and go medicate David."
"Am I to assume that you are talking to me now?" Poley asked.
RJ laughed. "Sarcasm, Poley?" She smiled at him and moved to slap his back. "That's very good! You just became a smart ass. Now, could you just please medicate David?"
Poley moved towards David, and David jumped to his feet. Or at least he got to his feet as quickly as he could on this planet.
"No!" David screamed, backing away from Poley. "Quit doping me up. Quit drugging me. I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to brainwash me. But I'll never tell you where the rebel base is on Alsterace Island on planet Earth. Never!"
David tried to run, but Poley caught him easily. He took the pocket medic from his pocket and set it with one hand while holding David with the other. He placed the device against David's arm.
"No please . . ." David felt a slight stinging sensation. His vision started to clear; he could almost feel the confusion draining from his mind. He didn't feel like he was going to vomit any more. "I . . . I feel fine!" David said in surprise.
"Yeah, now all you have to go through are the chills and you should be right as rain," RJ said.
"What the hell happened to me?" David asked, then added almost as an afterthought, "Where are we and how did we get here?"
"You had space sickness. We didn't notice your symptoms till it was too late for the medication to do you any good as long as we were in space, so we sedated you and brought you with us to the planet's surface."
"I still feel very heavy – like it's harder to move," David said experimentally lifting his foot.
"That's because it is," RJ explained. "This planet is denser than Earth and therefore has a stronger gravitational pull. For all practical purposes you are a good twenty-five pounds heavier here than you would be on Earth."
"You threw shit on us," Janad said glaring accusingly at David.
"I did what?" David shrieked.
"He tried to drown her, and yet she's more upset about the dung," Poley said in an interested tone.
"I did what?" David asked again.
"Never mind. Suffice it to say you haven't been yourself lately." RJ started walking, and the others followed. "Oh, and it would probably be a good idea to steer clear of Levits for a few days," RJ added over her shoulder.
Taleed and Haldeed caught up to them then, huffing and puffing.
Janad met them with a big butcher knife she had obviously taken from the ship's galley in her hand, and they skidded to an abrupt halt.
Janad screamed something in their language.
"They're all right," RJ said. "Some local adventurers who want to help us with our quest. Come on, let's go find the others."