The Blue-Haired Bombshell (21 page)

‘‘You wanted me out of my armor,’’ I said.

‘‘I wanted to make sure you were separated from your armor and fancy weapon,’’ she said. ‘‘You hurt me on the shuttle and then at the port. I needed to make sure you didn’t get a chance to hurt me again.’’ She looked at the apes she clobbered.

‘‘Sorry about the apes; didn’t know they’d be after you, too,’’ she said.

‘‘Yeah, I’m in constant demand,’’ I said. ‘‘It’s a gift.’’

She stroked me on the head. ‘‘Now if you don’t want the pain to start up again, Zachary, I suggest you tell me the truth.’’

‘‘I am telling the truth, just read my mind!’’ I shouted.

‘‘I tried,’’ she said. ‘‘But your mind is so scrambled I’m not sure you yourself know the truth. So I am going to act as the facilitator to help you reach the truth.’’

‘‘Facilitator or judge, jury, and executioner?’’ I asked.

She smiled. It was a warm, friendly smile. At least that’s how I perceived it. ‘‘I don’t need to kill you. If I did, you’d be a pile of ashes now. I’ll just revert you to a baby, or make you think you’re a potted plant forever.’’

‘‘Thanks, you’re all . . .’’

She swiped her finger slowly across my throat. I stopped talking. ‘‘You will only speak when I tell you to,’’ she said.

‘‘Why did you save Sputnik?’’ she asked. ‘‘I can feel that you despise him.’’

I tried to talk, nothing happened.

‘‘Oops, sorry,’’ Elena said. She waved her hand over me. ‘‘You may talk now.’’

‘‘I’m not sure he’s guilty yet. You said you would give me more time!’’

‘‘I changed my mind. I saw Sputnik standing there hogging all the attention. I snapped. Anyhow, why delay the inevitable? Like I said, I’m sure he’s a guilty, rotten, spamball,’’ she said indignantly.

‘‘Yeah, but I need proof,’’ I caught a quick breath. ‘‘Besides, if you do start acting on your own they are going to hunt you down. Doesn’t matter how powerful you are, they will eventually get you.’’

Elena turned her head away from me. I had hit a nerve. ‘‘I can fight them all. I can . . .’’

‘‘You can what, enslave them all?’’ I said.

‘‘It’s rude to interrupt,’’ she said. ‘‘I do not wish to be the ruler of the Moon or the Earth,’’ she said. She thought for a moment. ‘‘Though I can see worse possible rulers . . .’’

‘‘Besides,’’ I said drawing her back into the conversation. ‘‘I’m sure Sputnik is guilty of some crimes. DOS, what politician isn’t? I still don’t know the big picture here. Was he responsible for the council killings? Did he act alone?’’

‘‘He couldn’t have acted alone,’’ Elena said. ‘‘He never does anything himself.’’

‘‘That’s why if you kill him now we might not ever learn who really killed the World Council members and what their goals were.’’

‘‘Good point,’’ she said.

‘‘Thanks,’’ I said. ‘‘I try. There’s something else big going on here. I need to find out what and stop it.’’

‘‘Of course, you gave me another idea. Perhaps I should work on increasing my own power. Make everybody love everybody . . .’’

‘‘I don’t think that’s such a hot idea either,’’ I said.

‘‘Why not?’’ she asked.

‘‘Because then I’d have to stop you, too,’’ I said. ‘‘You don’t want that.’’

‘‘Zach, you caught me off guard twice. It won’t happen again,’’ Elena assured me.

‘‘I wouldn’t count on that, bitch,’’ Carol said from behind us.

Carol hit Elena with an uppercut to the chin. The punch sent her head cocking up before her body went flying over.

‘‘That’s for making me rub your feet!’’ Carol shouted, rippling with energy.

Carol glared at Elena, sending her crashing into the ceiling at breakneck (and break pretty much everything else) speed. ‘‘That’s for making me sniff my uncle’s armpits!’’ Carol shouted.

Carol moved her head to the left, sending Elena smashing into the left wall. The force of the blow left a dent in the wall. Carol moved her head to the right, Elena went flying headfirst into the right wall. This drew blood.

Carol glared at Elena, keeping her pinned to the wall.

‘‘Let’s see how good you do when you don’t have me off guard, bitch.’’

I pushed myself up to my knees. ‘‘Carol, don’t kill her,’’ I said.

‘‘Why not?’’ Carol said, without taking her eyes off Elena.

‘‘She could have killed us and she didn’t,’’ I said.

Carol released her mental grip on Elena. Elena slid down the wall, leaving a blood trail, rolling down the wall to the floor. She pushed herself up. She turned toward Carol and me. ‘‘You are so lucky I’m still weak from stopping time,’’ Elena said, finger pointed at us.

Carol rolled her eyes. ‘‘You can’t begin to imagine the number of times I’ve heard that.’’

‘‘You’ve heard that before?’’ I asked.

‘‘What did I miss?’’ HARV said, coming back online. He looked around the room. ‘‘DOS, I missed a lot. Oh, by the way Zach, you’re naked,’’ he added.

‘‘Good point,’’ Carol said. ‘‘And grab your weapon. We need to hold Elena until Bo and the others arrive.’’

I grabbed the cover that I had been using and wrapped it around myself. I looked for GUS. ‘‘GUS, report,’’ I ordered.

‘‘I’m over here!’’ a voice beamed from the bed.

I walked over and grabbed GUS. I pointed him at Elena. ‘‘If she tries to do anything, blast her,’’ I ordered GUS.

‘‘With pleasure,’’ GUS chirped.

‘‘Do you have her now?’’ Carol asked.

‘‘She’s locked in,’’ GUS said.

‘‘Great,’’ Carol said. She fell back into my arms.

Elena smiled and wiped some blood off from her nose. ‘‘Even when I’m weak and not doing anything I’m doing something,’’ she said. ‘‘You both passed the test,’’ she said.

‘‘What test? I hate tests, except trivia tests. I find those kind of fun.’’

I wasn’t paying any attention to HARV but I was sure he was rolling his eyes behind my back.

‘‘I was just seeing if you might possibly have a chance of stopping Sputnik,’’ Elena said.

She took a step forward. She stopped. She heard something. I listened, I heard it, too. There were a number of people in the main room. ‘‘SPAM!’’ Elena shouted.

Elena disappeared. A split nano later Sputnik, Lea, Melda, two other blue-haired women, and ten heavily armored apes poured into the room.

Chapter 22

‘‘Is everybody okay?’’ Sputnik asked as the gorillas secured the room.

‘‘Fine now,’’ I said.

Melda and Lea surveyed the damage. Melda walked up to me. ‘‘Sorry, about our gorillas there, Mr. Johnson,’’ she said. ‘‘They were younger ones and they tend to get carried away in trying to impress their superiors.’’

‘‘You’ve lost me,’’ I said.

Sputnik smirked. ‘‘The gorillas on the Moon have a hierarchal system. You have to do something impressive to move up it. When security learned that you would be here, the less senior members thought this could be how they make their name, beating up Zach Johnson. Apparently, security personnel all over the known worlds know of you.’’

‘‘Nice to know my reputation preceds me,’’ I said.

‘‘Yeah, I bet there are security people on Mars already taking odds on who takes you out,’’ HARV said.

Two ape security men dragged the unconscious ape out of the bathroom while four others cleaned up the two in the bedroom. Lea looked on with a sense of awe.

‘‘Amazing, it is true,’’ she said. ‘‘You do have an incredible knack for survival.’’

‘‘I do, but Elena helped . . .’’

‘‘Elena!’’ Lea and Melda both said.

‘‘Yeah, she was here too. She actually took out two of the apes.’’

‘‘What did she want with you?’’ Melda questioned.

‘‘Near as I can tell, to kill me,’’ I said. It wasn’t the complete truth, but it would have to do for now. ‘‘She blames me for saving you,’’ I said to Sputnik.

Lea sniffed the air. ‘‘Yes, I do pick up my cousin’s scent here. I should have noticed sooner.’’

Melda touched her daughter on the shoulder. ‘‘Elena is a tricky one. Don’t blame yourself, my daughter.’’

Lea wasn’t paying attention. She was locked in on me. ‘‘You battled my cousin and lived to tell about it,’’ Lea said, now even more amazed.

‘‘Carol and HARV helped,’’ I said.

‘‘He’d have been dead years ago without us,’’ HARV said.

‘‘Ditto,’’ Carol, now conscious again, added.

Despite HARV’s and Carol’s comments, Lea was impressed. She looked at me as if I was some sort of rock star or still a media darling. I looked at Sputnik looking at his daughter looking at me. His face was still smiling but his eyes weren’t. He was trying not to show his displeasure but his pupils constricted to pin size, disappearing into the gray of his iris, giving away his true feelings. He was used to being the only human alpha male around.

Lea took my hand. ‘‘You have to tell me how you stood up to my cousin,’’ she nearly begged. ‘‘I’m one of the most powerful psis on the Moon and therefore one of the most powerful in existence, yet when Elena is angry she scares the moon dust out of me.’’ She squeezed my hand. ‘‘She’s dangerous, Zach.’’

I looked past Lea to Sputnik, ‘‘So I repeat my question from earlier: why did you let her roam free?’’

Sputnik shrugged, his pupils returning to normal size, ‘‘Until today she had committed no crimes. You may imprison innocent people on Earth, but we don’t work that way on the Moon.’’

‘‘We did know she had,
issues
,’’ Melda admitted. ‘‘We offered her special therapy. That’s why she went to Earth. She trusted Desma.’’

‘‘I know she has some strange thoughts racing through her amazingly powerful mind, but until today I never really thought she’d hurt me,’’ Sputnik said.

I didn’t doubt him. Sputnik was the type of man who was so in love with himself he couldn’t begin to fathom that perhaps not everybody else in the universe shared his feelings. I was actually glad I’d be touring with him and Lea today; it would give me a chance to feel them out.

Lea released my hand and turned to Sputnik. ‘‘Father, I wouldn’t be at all surprised now if Elena was behind those awful killings on Earth.’’

Sputnik’s eyes lowered and his eyes turned inward. He wasn’t happy with his daughter but he was trying hard not to show it. ‘‘Now, now, dear daughter, let’s not raise pointless accusations. The authorities on Earth have a suspect in prison,’’ he said coolly. ‘‘Mooners, even the ultra, mega, omega crazo ones, do not kill innocent people.’’

This gave me an opening. ‘‘What if some Mooner didn’t think the council members were innocent?’’ I asked. ‘‘Then they might be quite willing to kill.’’

Silence.

Lea took a step back from me physically but reached into my mind mentally.
‘‘Please, Zach, don’t go there,’’
she pleaded.

Carol also popped into my head.
‘‘Whoa, Tió, slow it down. We’re on their turf, way outnumbered . . .’’

HARV also chimed in,
‘‘Are you completely wacko? No wonder everybody wants to kill you.’’

I thought about what they had all thought. They were right. This wasn’t the right place or time.

I shrugged. ‘‘Just tossing out a hypothetical idea,’’ I said casually. ‘‘It’s my job to cover all the angles.’’

Lea looked at me with those pretty green eyes. She subtly fired her beguiling smile at me and touched me gently on the shoulder. ‘‘Yes, that is your job, when you are working,’’ she said smile expanding with each word. ‘‘Only you’re not on a job now. You are here to visit your girlfriend, Electra, tomorrow, when she has some free time. Now, you’re going on a nifty tour of the Moon.’’

Lea was right. I wasn’t on a job. I just wanted to see Electra tomorrow, when she has some free time. DOS, that Lea was smart. Now I was going on a nifty tour of the Moon. Hold on a nano, I don’t say
nifty
. I don’t even usually think about thinking about considering saying
nifty
. DOS! That girl was in my brain.

Lea smiled and rubbed me on the shoulder, ‘‘Trust me, Zachary, you will really enjoy the tour and seeing what a wonderful place the Moon is.’’

I returned her smile. I trusted her. I was going to really enjoy this tour. Though I’m not sure why I needed the tour as I already knew what a wonderful place the Moon was. Maybe I’d see if I could summer here?

‘‘What the DOS are you thinking,’’
Carol said in my brain.

‘‘Surely you can do some thinking on your own?’’
HARV said in my head.
‘‘Carol, without us he’d be
cleaning Lea’s toes with his tongue right now,’’
HARV continued.

‘‘Gross! But true,’’
Carol answered HARV, relayed via my brain.

‘‘Poor Zach,’’
GUS toned in from inside my gray matter.

‘‘GUS?’’
Carol, HARV and I all thought.

‘‘Yep,’’
GUS said proudly.
‘‘I’m using HARV’s interface.’’

‘‘Everybody stay out of my brain!’’
I thought as loudly as I could.
‘‘There’s barely enough room in there for HARV and me,’’
I said, not believing that I included HARV as part of my brain.

‘‘How very true,’’
HARV said.
‘‘Why couldn’t Dr. Pool have inserted me into Steven Hawking’s clone’s brain?’’

Lea stroked me on the shoulder. ‘‘Zach, are you okay?’’

I popped back to the matters at hand. Sure, there are times when having a computer hooked to your brain, a powerful psi assistant, and an intelligent weapon can be good . . . This wasn’t one of them.

‘‘Perhaps Mr. Johnson would like the tour on another day?’’ Sputnik offered.

‘‘The Moon does have slightly less gravity and less nitrogen than Earth. Some people react oddly,’’ Melda added.

‘‘And he has fought with three ambitious security apes and with Elena,’’ Lea said. She looked at me with sad eyes. ‘‘If you want to delay we understand.’’

I smiled at her and touched her lightly on the shoulder. ‘‘Believe me, angry apes and crazy psis are just an average day for me. It’s going to take a lot more than that to keep me off the tour.’’