The Siege of New Terra (Star Sojourner Book 7) (11 page)

“Galrin,” I said, “we're willing to risk our own lives to get the message through from the mercs' starship. Doesn't that say something to you?”

Galrin looked at each of us and wiped a hand across his eyes. “Do you swear by the gods of Terra that you are not lying to me?”

I wiped a hand across my eyes. “I swear, and I speak for all of us.”

“Even the furred one?” He swung a hand toward Huff, who was still unconscious.

I nodded. “He's our brother, too.”

“Then…” Galrin straightened and spread the fingers of his right hand across his groin. “Then I am honor-bound to accompany you and risk my life too. Do you all take the oath?”

“Uh oh,” I muttered. “Suppose we release you from that bond, Galrin? You see, we're soldiers, trained in taking orders and working as a unit.”

Joe slid me a look, and Chancey chuckled. Bat studied the sky.

“That is not possible,” Galrin said. “I swear the oath. Do you all swear it?”

I sighed and put my hand over my crotch. “I swear the oath.”

So did the others.

Huff stirred and opened his eyes. “Did you all catch a groin bug?”

“Yeah, fur ball,” Chancey said, “and now we're going to give it to you.”

Huff sat up and rubbed his eyes. “That is not in the right. I do not request it.” He stared into the distance. “I dreamed of strange whirlpools and tunnels of light, like rising up to sunshine from the cold depths of Kresthaven.” He saw me. “Jules! My Terran cub. You are right in the liver?” He got to his feet.

“I'm right in the liver, my friend.”

Joe shook his head. “Let's get this kid back to his people. I've had enough fun for one day!”

* * *

We buried the two women with the child between them in a common grave and Bat said some words over them.

When he was finished, we stood around, not knowing what to do next.

“C'mon,” Joe said, “we all need some sleep before morning.”

We followed him to the hovair.

I didn't realize how tired I was until I lay down and closed my eyes.

We slept until dawn and ate breakfast from the sous chef, while Galrin went out to gather blue tubers that dripped to his chin as he ate them.

“You finished in there, superstar?” Chancey rapped on the bathroom door.

I had shaved and showered, vibed my clothes, and brushed my teeth, not knowing when I'd get another chance.

I opened the door with my boots in my hands. “All yours, Chance.”

“Man, you jus' Mister Squeaky Clean.” He wagged his head. “No wonder you such white bread. You done scrubbed off all the color.”

“Don't go homeboy on me, Chance. I know about your degrees.”

But things turned serious when we started the hovair's engines.

“Chancey,” Joe said, “you pilot the lifeboat. Bat and I will accompany you. Jules, you and Galrin lead the way in the hovair. Stay on the ground if you can. Use whatever cover is available. We don't know if the mercs are scouting this area.” He walked to the main hatch.

“I would like to lead, also,” Huff said and crowded me, “with my cub.”

Joe snapped open the hatch. “I wouldn't think of separating you two short of death. C'mon, Bat, Chancey. Let's go.”

When the lifeboat's engines hummed to life, I turned east, according to Galrin's directions, and watched sun-singed clouds ride a violet sky.

Huff sat on the deck beside my pilot's seat. Galrin was in the co-pilot's seat.

We rolled through woods and meadows and climbed to mountainous terrain where branded clouds folded over ragged peaks like slow tidal waves below us, and rock cathedrals scraped the sky. It could have been my home state of Colorado. It could have been the mighty San Juan Mountains. I smiled at Galrin. “Fantastic country.”

He nodded, but his thoughts were turned inward, probably on his sister and mother. Respectfully, I remained silent.

The land became torturous as we climbed, with soaring cliffs and crevasses that plunged without warning. Deep shadows spread like black streams that followed ragged paths as the sun rose.

I tried to drive the hovair along a narrow ridge but the tires slipped on loose shale. We began to slide.

“Dammit!”

Galrin stiffened and gripped the armrests. I engaged the thrusters. The hovair slid into the air and steadied.

“Chancey!” I called into the ship's link, “get airborne. You'll slide on this loose stuff.”

“I'm already there,” Chancey said. “Joe wants us to stay low. How much further?”

“Galrin?” I asked.

“An hour by drak.”

“Not much further, Chance.”

The violet sky deepened to indigo as we continued to climb and I wondered about the oxygen at this altitude.

Galrin suddenly pointed to a sandstone cliff pockmarked with large eroded caves. “There!” he said.

“Chance,” I called through the link, “this is it.” I punched in desert colors for the hovair's camouflage skin, to match the tan and gray ledge beneath us and brought the hovair down. The lifeboat didn't have that feature. Its silver hull, designed to be seen in space, was starkly visible against the soil and vegetation of the ledge.

The caves seemed deserted, but I guessed that was the idea. To the west, a pond sparkled with diamonds of sunlight.

Huff, Galrin and I disembarked and met Joe, Chancey and Bat on the ledge. Bat picked up a wooden bowl. “I guess somebody dropped this.”

“Give it to me.” Galrin reached out and Bat handed it to him.

“Jules,” Joe said, “Chancey's going to fly the lifeboat under the cover of that ridge.” He pointed to a granite overhang. “Galrin, you'll take us to your people. We're too exposed out here.”

Galrin started toward a large cave at the top of a slope.

“We'll wait for you there,” Joe told me and Chancey.

Huff and I got into the hovair and followed the lifeboat to the shadowed ground beneath the ridge.

We waited while Chancey jumped down from the boat and trotted toward us.

Suddenly he skidded to a stop and jabbed a finger at the sky.

Out of the blazing sun, the
Sword of Terror
and the mercs' hovair swooped down at us.

“Get out, Huff!” I threw off the straps, ran to the hatch and sprang it. I dived out with Huff right behind me.

We ran to the rim of the ledge as the whine of ships grew to screams. I didn't think they would destroy the hovair. It was us they wanted. Had they seen the lifeboat land?

I was gasping for breath in the thin air when we reached a slope. I ran and slid down among loose rocks and slippery vegetation with Chancey and Huff right behind me.

We headed for the sandstone caves, our only sanctuary, when the agile hovair settled in a swirl of dust ahead of us.

“This way!” Chancey raced for a grove of stunted trees. We took out our stinglers as we ran.

Huff howled as the hovair's beam gun set the trees on fire. We skirted the line of flames, but the
Sword
hovered above and kept us in its shadow.

“The lifeboat!” I shouted. We ran toward the ridge. “I don't think they saw you land,” I told Chancey.

“Don't bet on it,” he said between hard breaths.

The hovair lifted and banked toward us. The
Sword
lowered, but was too bulky to land and cut off our escape route. Instead, she raised a curtain of dust that had Chancey and me choking. Huff was on all fours, way ahead of us.

“Keep running, Huff,” I shouted. “Don't stop at the boat.” I heard the hovair taxi behind us.

“We're not going to make it,” Chancey wheezed. “Let's make our stand here.” He slid to the ground behind a broken boulder that afforded little protection. I fell next to him and watched mercs jump down from the hovair and from
Swords
rope ladder.

“If they take us,” Chancey said, “they'll find a way to make us talk.” He checked his stingler for hot beam.

I nodded. My throat felt tight. My heart was slamming. My hand trembled as I checked my stingler.

“And the Orghes,” Chancey said between teeth, “are dead meat.” He stared at me.

My stomach felt queasy.

“Man,” he said, as though surprised at his own thought, “we can't be taken alive! Are you up for it, superstar?”

I couldn't swallow. I just nodded.

Sweat dripped down Chancey's cheeks as he scanned the land.

I gripped his wrist. “Chancey, death isn't the end.”

“I believe you, but I'm too damn young and good looking!”

I thought of Lisa. “Me too.”

“What about the fur ball? What if they catch him?”

“He's probably at the bottom of that pond. He can stay there for hours. They'll never find him.”

The mercs were approaching, using the cover of boulders and the fire line of trees. I tried to aim over the boulder, but the hovair's gun zapped it, splintering the other side.

“They're forcing us to keep our heads down,” I said. “It's no use, Chance.”

He took a deep breath and looked at the sky. “I'll see you in the next lifebind.”

“I hope so.”

“Throw out your weapons,” a merc called, “and come out. We won't harm you.”

“Eat shit,” Chancey yelled, “and die, mother fucker!”

If there weren't so many of them, I could've tried a tel probe. But I guess they knew that, and that's why there were so many of them.

Chancey pointed his stingler at me. “C'mon, man,” his voice shook, “on the count of three. I'll do you…and you do me.”

I raised my weapon. I was shaking so badly, I was afraid I'd drop it.

Chancey smiled his crooked smile. “Don't miss.”

I forced a smile. “OK.”

“One,” Chancey said.

I heard the high whine of the lifeboat as it rolled out from under the ridge and approached us.

“Huff!” I cried. “I didn't know he could drive it.”

The boat ran an erratic path, bouncing off rocks and skinning trees.

“C'mon, Chance.” I got up and ran for the boat, staying low.

The hatch swung open, the boat stayed between me and the hovair.

“Wait, Jules!” Chancey called.

I grabbed the hatch, swung inside and rolled onto the deck. “Huff!” I cried.

“Not exactly, Rammis.” Big Mack kicked the stingler from my hand. “You bastard!”

I tried to cover my head as he swung his stingler at me. But not in time. My head exploded with pain. I heard myself moan as I rolled and tried to get up.

“We got the crotefucker,” Mack said as I fell back, into a void that was a small death

“The way I see it,” Big Mack chewed a wet cigar, “you've got two choices, Rammis. Behind door one, join my band of merry men, tell us where those filthy orangutans are holed up and convince them that we got disgusted and left, and they can come out of hiding.” He inhaled and blew smoke. His black speckled beard was encrusted with tobacco juice. “We all walk away with our pockets jingling, so to speak.” He tapped ashes on the bunk I lay on in the
Sword
of Terror
starship.

I glanced around and was relieved. Six mercs lounged in the main deck with us, but Chancey and Huff weren't among them.

I touched my left temple. It was swollen and sticky with blood. A knife of pain kept slicing through my head. I didn't know if I could sit up without falling over.

“Or,” Big Mack said and wiped a hand through his mass of tangled black hair, “you could choose door two.” He shrugged. “Refuse to help your fellow Terrans and side with that pack of smelly animals.” He glanced at his scruffy men. “We've got a job to do, right, tags?”

They nodded and grunted.

Speaking of animals,
I thought.

Mack leaned over the bunk. “And we know how to deal with traitors.”

I held my breath as the full strength of tobacco assaulted my nostrils. He flicked hot ashes on my jacket. I quickly brushed them off.

“Quirrel,” he called to the tall, curly-haired tag I had met in the cafeteria, “a cup of earthbrew.”

“Yes, boss.” Quirrel hurried to the sous chef and pressed a heating button. Soon, the aroma of freshly-brewed coffee filled the room.

“You see, Rammis,” Mack said, “if you were with us, you'd join us in a cup of brew, or something stronger, if you preferred.”

Quirrel smiled at me and nodded encouragingly. His chin receded into his neck.

I looked around. There, on one wall, was the SPS unit. Its red light was on. It was functional and ready to receive and send.

I felt the ship lower and touch down. It taxied, stopped, and the engines died.

“Think about it, Rammis.” Mack extended the cup to me.

I pulled myself to a sitting position and took it. He grabbed my wrist and crushed out his cigar in the coffee.

“But not for too long,” he said. “Thing is, I'm just a little pissed at the creds I paid Tryst for your tel services.” He sat on the edge of the bunk, so close I had to move over. “I almost wish you'd choose door two so I could personally squeeze the information out of you. I told you once before, we could have you screaming for death.”

“I told you,” I said, “I could use the death probe on you, and then myself, before your scuds could take a step. We'd hold hands, big guy, on our way to Hell.”

He leaned away from me. “You figure you're holding a strong hand? I'll see your bet, and raise you. Tempest!” he called to one of his crew, “bring in those two blue chips.”

“You got it, boss.” A beefy bald tag with tattoos and a torn left earlobe went into the pilot's cabin.

“Oh no,” I whispered as he returned gripping Chancey's arm in one hand and a leash from a collar around Huff's neck in the other. Chancey's left eye was swollen shut and his lip was cut. His hands were tied behind him and he staggered as he walked. Huff's snout was muzzled, his legs shackled, forcing him to walk on all fours.

Mack leaned against the wall. “I'd call this a full house. Can you beat my hand, Rammis?”

A deep anger began in me as I stared at Chancey and Huff.

“About that death probe.” Mack lit another cigar and puffed it to life. “If
we
cash in our chips, I'm afraid they do too. Get up, Rammis,” Mack ordered as one of the crew sprang the main hatch. “We're back at the base.” He stood up. “I'll give you some time to consider your hand. Let me know which cards you decide to play.” He strolled to the hatch. “But don't take too long, or your house of cards might fall on your head.” He waved his cigar and chuckled. “I like that.”

His men glanced at each other and smiled tightly.

* * *

We were taken to a cell. Chancey and Huff were unshackled, and we were left alone.

I gingerly washed my face in the small bathroom and used a wet towel to wipe the blood off Chancey's forehead. “How you feeling, Chance?”

“Like shit. You?”

I nodded.

“Huff.” I sat on the lower bunk and extended my hand.

He shuffled over and sat beside me.

I stroked his shoulder. “They got you, too, buddy.”

“I swam to the surface,” he said, “to help you if I could. There they were, waiting for me.”

“I'm sorry,” I said.

He laid his head on my knee. “We stand on the brink of The Pit, my Terran cub. I have prayed to the Ten Gods of Land and Sea to take our paws in their love and hold us. But the souls in the Nether call to us, and even the gods have no power over the Death Call.” He whined, lifted his head and howled a long sad peal.

“Huff,” I said, “this cell is bugged. There might be cameras, too. Don't say anything about the Orghe people, OK?”

“My snout is muzzled.”

Chancey and I dared not talk about possible escape plans, and there was nothing to write with, short of opening a vein.

I heard footsteps approach from down the hall and glanced at Chancey and Huff. “Maybe they're bringing supper.”

Chancey nodded. “Maybe.”

We stood up as six mercs stopped at the barred door of our cell.

“Big Mack wants to see you,” Tempest said to me and unlocked the door. It creaked open.

Huff reared up to his full seven feet. “I am also coming too with my cub,” he told Tempest.

I patted his arm. “No, Huff. Stay here.”

“Take this.” Chancey handed me my jacket and I put it on. We stared at each other for a moment. Then I turned and walked out, surrounded by the mercs. I tried to put on a good act, but the butterflies in my stomach grew steel wings and battered at my heart.

Big Mack lounged behind a desk on a platform, with a halo of cigar smoke around his head. The bare window behind him streamed rays of light where dust particles danced, and kept his face in shadow. An odor of wet cement permeated the stark, cinder-block walls of a room so tomb-like, it felt as though all warmth had been sucked out. Boots echoed on the concrete floor as the mercs led me inside.

Tempest nodded to a chair set in the middle of the room. I zipped my jacket and went to it. The mercs lined up so close behind me I could smell their sweaty uniforms.

It was a scene calculated to scare the living hell out of me. And it was succeeding nicely.

“Have you thought about the hand you want to play?” Mack asked me.

“I need more time.”

“You haven't got it.” He blew smoke. “Now it's time to lay down your cards.”

“This is a big decision. I need time to think.” I lowered my head, closed my eyes and formed a red coil in my mind. Perhaps I could influence just his mind to comply and give me more time. Time to come up with an escape plan. Time for the Orghes to find another hideout.

Something jabbed my back and a bolt of electricity burned through me. I screamed and would have fallen but someone gripped my arms.

“Enough time to use your tel power, Rammis?” Mack said.

I was held in the chair, trembling and feeling weak. I closed my eyes and pictured the community of Orghes. If they were smart, and heeded Joe's advice, they would leave those sandstone cliffs and take refuge far from there. But could I be certain? It had only been a few hours since our capture. They might still be on the road, traveling to a distant sanctuary.

“Please don't do that again,” I whispered.

“Why not?” Mack said.

“I'll help you…but I, I feel sick. I need a day.”

He leaned forward on the desk. “Do you take me for a fool? What you want,” he jabbed his cigar toward me, “is to give your furry friends time to escape to somewhere else on the island.”

“The island isn't that big,” I said. “Where would they go?”

“Someplace where me and my tags would have to pry them loose.” He sat back. “I'm being paid a fixed amount by the colonists. Time is creds, Rammis. Goddammit! I already spent too much of it on you.” He kicked back his chair, came around the desk and stood close to me. He grabbed my hair and pulled my head back. “I'm getting tired of your fucking games.” He flicked ashes off his cigar till it glowed red hot. “Hold him.”

“No, wait!” I gasped as I was pinned to the chair.

“Wait for what?” Mack unzipped my jacket and tore buttons off the top of my shirt. “We
know
where they are, somewhere inside the caves. But the bastards have spears, and they're probably just waiting for us to go in after them.”

He held the cigar close to my chest. I pressed back against the chair and dragged in breaths. My stomach was in such knots I was afraid I'd throw up.

“Only you can persuade them that it's safe to come out into the open.” He held the cigar near my skin. I could feel the heat.

“Please don't,” I squeezed out.

“You
will
persuade them to come out, you bastard!” He ground the cigar into my chest and held it there.

I screamed as pain burst through my body, and fought to break free. “Oh, God,” I moaned and let my head hang.
Great mind. Help me.

We felt your pain,
Spirit sent,
Silva and I. We are sorry, Jules.

Big Mack took another cigar from a pack in his pocket, lit it, and puffed it to life.

I began to tremble again and couldn't stop. I formed a coil, spun it faster, threw my remaining strength into the power of a death probe, though it tore at my brain with heat, and clenched my teeth as I prepared to throw it at Big Mack, to slice his brainstem like cutting through butter. Then the chips could fall where they may.

Not yet, Jules!
Spirit sent.

I'm going to kill the bastard!

We can force him to give you the time you need.

I watched the cigar glow red.
OK … how? Quick!

I felt Spirit probe inside my head and opened myself to his link. He blocked the nerves to my brain and suddenly there was no pain. I sighed with relief. He went deeper and drained energy from my body. If they hadn't been holding me, I would have fallen.

Now they must give you time, Jules.
That was Silva.
By tomorrow, your strength will return. Use this gift of time wisely.

I will. Thank you. I will.

“Stand him up,” Mack said.

The mercs lifted me to my feet, but I couldn't stand by myself.

“Let him go,” Big Mack said disgustedly. “He's bullshitting us!”

They let me go and I fell. My arms, my legs, were lead. There was no use trying to get up.

Someone drew back my eyelid. I tried to brush his hand away.

“He's not fooling,” I heard. “Shock.”

“Son of a bitch!” Big Mack kicked my thigh.

I was lifted and slung over somebody's shoulder. There was pressure on my stomach as I was carried back to the cell. I heard the metal door creak open.

Huff howled.

“Stay there, Huff!” Chancey said.

I was dumped onto a bunk. The door clanged shut.

“Jesus and Vishnu,” Chancey murmured and pulled aside my shirt, “what the hell did they do to you?”

“Don't touch it,” I whispered. “I'm OK.”

“Oh, sure you are, man.”

Huff whimpered and laid his head across my legs.

“I need to sleep.” I closed my eyes and sighed. “I just need to sleep.”