The Helavite War (5 page)

It didn't seem to bother Jake. He was
walking along smiling and nodding to people they passed, even
speaking occasionally.

The town literally reeked. By the time they
reached it Arr felt physically ill. He was having a hard time
concentrating on what was going on around him. Things and people he
might have found fascinating were missed because of how awful he
felt.

Now, Jake had dragged him into a dark room
full of loud people. The place smelled stale and burnt, with an
underlying odor of warm bodies. Arr was going to vomit if he didn't
get out,
Now
! He turned to run and
collided with a being at least a head taller than Jake. The thing
grabbed him and lifted him off the floor. It wouldn't let him go.
It was talking a language unknown to Arr. It's warm, odorous
breath, punctuated with spit, spilled over his face. Arr pulled his
gathering knife from his boot, held it to the being's throat and
demanded, "Let me pass!!"

If it had not been for Jake's fast action Arr might
have been killed.

Jake observed the two armed Guardians
sitting by the door as they came in the bar. He nodded at them
amiably. These were part of the police force of the town,
no-nonsense peacekeepers.

One minute Arr was by his side as he was
expounding the virtues of liquor to the kid. The next minute he was
bolting for the door. When Arr pulled his knife on the Walhmite the
Guardians came instantly to their feet. Jake had the fleeting
realization that he'd missed disarming Arr of his knife. His having
the weapon broke major laws in this society. His use of the knife
could get him executed.

Jake moved swiftly to Arr's back. He
delivered a glancing blow that knocked Arr unconscious. Jake
disarmed him before the Guardians could even draw their
weapons.

The next hour was spent in the detention
compound with Jake trying to smooth it over with the police while
Arr was in the facilities puking his guts out. The Guardians were
not unreasonable. In fact, they were quite lenient. They only
banned Jake and Arr from ever stopping at this Trade Post again.
They were escorted to the Registrar's Office to pick up their
weapons, Kay-o, and then taken to their ship. The Guardians waited
to make sure their pod lifted off safely.

Jake took his hat off, smoothed his hair and
put it back on in that mannerism that had become so familiar to
Arr.

"Well, I guess shopping will have to wait."
He said in a frustrated tone, as he pointed the pod back toward the
cruiser.

Arr was lying on his bunk aboard ship. The room had
stopped spinning and his stomach had finally settled down.

Jake came in and leaned against the
bulkhead, arms folded across his chest.

"Okay, what was that all about?"

Arr swung his feet around and came to a
sitting position on the edge of the bed. The action made his head
swim again. "I felt sick."

"That's no excuse. Pulling a knife on a
Walhmite is like attacking a grizzly bear with a toothpick," Jake
stated quite matter-of-factly. "I thought I taught you better."

"He wouldn't let me go," the kid said, in a
sulking manner. "His breath smelled terrible. In fact the whole
place reeked," Arr said, as if it made the whole thing
understandable and justified his actions.

Jake shook his head wearily, turned and left
the room to go back to work. He had been checking the contacts on
one of the mobile gun turrets aboard the ship before he stopped for
their adventure on the planet. He did his best thinking while his
hands were occupied and he had a lot of thinking to do.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after
all, Jake thought. If the kid couldn't stand the smell of a sweet
little place like Trade Post #1313, what would he do with a place
that really stunk?

What if he'd been stuck on Gligula like Jake
was two years ago? Even he had a hard time dealing with the smell
of the ankle deep slime that covered three fourths of that little
pigsty. He had to fight in it for almost a solid week. Or what if
Arr had been on Tila III when Jake had to work with that squad of
mercenaries from Dorrinia? They all smelled like they'd never taken
a bath and probably hadn't. No, if Arr was so sensitive to smells
he'd never make it in Jake's world. What to do now was the
question. He'd grown used to having the boy around. He would
honestly miss him.

*****

Arr came around the corner silently. He
stood looking down on Jake's back as he sat in the turret. Jake
rotated the turret to grab a tool and came face to face with a
kneeling Arr.

"I was talking to the computer," Arr said,
displaying an impish grin.

Jake waited for the kid to continue.

"NOSE PLUGS: A pair of objects used to stop
up the nose. Prevents the being using them from smelling
objectionable or harmful odors," Arr quoted.

Jake smiled back. "We'll just have to find
you a pair, won't we?"

Jake pulled into one of the many bays at the
Refitting Station. He stopped just long enough at Outpost #45 to
pick up a spacer suit and a pair of nose plugs for Arr. He wasn't
going to take any chances. This time he was going to get his
drink.

Arr didn't want to wear the plugs. He tried
using them the last couple of days aboard ship. He said they were
uncomfortable, looked funny and made his food tasteless.

Jake stuffed the plugs in the pocket of the
kid's new suit. "If there is another episode like the one at Trade
Post #1313 I will personally take my blaster to you," he
threatened, half teasingly. "There is no checking of weapons at a
Refitting Station."

Jake closed Kay-o in the bathroom of the
cruiser with a sink full of water and a tub of food. He hung a sign
on the door:

ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! DAR-DOLF!!!!

He and Arr stopped just long enough with the
technicians for Jake to tell them what he wanted done and also to
pick out a new color for the ship's upholstery. They decided on a
forest green.

The technicians had a close look at Arr,
discreetly of course. They learned quickly not to stare at an
alien, many took offense to it. Jake smiled to himself. Arr was
something new. An alien they'd never seen before. He was a true
rarity for these guys who thought they had seen it all. Arr was
really impressive in the red spacer suit Jake bought him. Any other
guy wouldn't be caught dead in it, just too flashy, but Arr looked
like he was made for it with that red/gold hair of his.

When they got into the main part of the
space station Arr took a tentative sniff, then a deep breath. "It
doesn't stink!" He informed Jake with a pleasant smile.

"I'm certainly glad of that." Jake said in a
relieved tone. "It's probably due to the air purification and
recycling system of the station. It operates like ours on the
cruiser except on a much larger scale." Jake explained.

Jake strolled along nodding and speaking to
those he knew from previous layovers here. He was headed to a bar
he remembered down Corridor 6, when he saw Timothy O'Malley coming
toward them. As soon as Tim caught sight of Jake it was a non-stop
conversation, interspersed with resounding slaps on the back and
loud guffaws of laughter. Anyone would have had a hard time keeping
track much less an alien that only five months ago had spoken not a
word of English.

"This is my new Partner, Arr," Jake
introduced, as they ducked into the Corridor 6 Bar.

He told a bit of Arr's background to Tim.
After that it was as if Arr was part of the bulkhead except for
ordering him a very foul tasting and bad smelling drink. Arr really
didn't mind. It gave him time to observe his surroundings without
Jake's constant narrative. Timothy was telling Jake about the
latest on the Helavites. They were a gang of planet pirates who
came on a planet, stripped it of all it was worth and then moved on
to the next. They sold their goods illegally in black markets that
constantly changed their location so the authorities couldn't catch
up with their activity and shut them down. The traders usually knew
where these markets were located but didn't let on for fear of
retaliation on their own planet.

"The pirates just dusted Pita last month.
They vanished into space as usual without a trace." Tim tossed back
another shot of scotch. The Helavites were always big news. He
moved on to the topic of the day. "As soon as my ship is refitted
I'm on my way to a sweet little battle. Pays handsomely to the
victor. It's goin' to be one of those,
go in
show'em your stuff
and get out.
Piece of cake
, easy money." Tim assured Jake with
one of his winning smiles, his eyes bright with excitement. "You
and your new partner are more'n welcome. The winnin' side could
always use another good mercenary." Tim knew Jake was one of the
best. He'd helped train him along with his father.

Jake got more information on location and
special equipment needed. "I'll check with the technicians and see
if they can have my cruiser ready in time." Jake shook Tim's hand
as the big man rose to go.

"I hope it works out. We haven't worked
together for a while. It'd be like old times. Mercenary work with
you isn't like working with some of these young kids comin' into
the business lately. You can't count on 'em under fire." Tim took
his leave and went to recruit some more men at the end of the
bar.

Jake huffed into his drink and glanced over
at Arr. "Do I look old to you?"

"No, you look experienced," Arr replied. Arr
was playing with words again.

"You should have someone to train you as a
politician. I really think it's your true calling," Jake said, with
a smile. "Finish your drink. I want to show you something."

They strolled along from corridor to
corridor. The station was much bigger than it looked from the
outside floating along beside it in the cruiser. They just started
down Corridor M when Jake stopped at a door labeled
"ARBORETUM".

"This is it!" Jake broke the light ray on
the threshold. The large double doors came open with a swoosh.

Arr couldn't remember ever having seen
anything so beautiful. It was breathtaking.

"It's a duplicate of a tropical rain
forest," Jake said, with pleasure brimming over each word. He
obviously was impressed with the place as much as he knew Arr would
be. "We used to have some very large ones on my planet. They were
decimated down to only a few thousand acres. Before that happened
some smart people with pull got some of the plants and wild life
shipped into space. Now through the plants and animals natural
regeneration almost all Refitting Stations have one of these
arboretums. We all use them to relax in an environment that is more
conducive to man and not so prefab."

Jake led the way into the forest, Arr close
at his heels, with the sound of waterfalls, bird and small animal
calls, and Jake's continuous running narrative falling on his
ears.

Jake and Arr were at Refitting Station Terrell four
days. Jake and Tim spent most of the time in the bar planning for
the little skirmish as they took to calling it. Occasionally they
would break long enough to check the status of their ships'
repairs. There was no need to push the refitting crews. They worked
round the clock shifts so they could get the cruisers through and
the bays empty for others coming in all the time. They were paid by
the job, not by the hour.

The second day when Jake and Arr were
checking on the progress of the communications system repair aboard
ship one of the technicians invited Arr to join her for dinner. She
was a human like Jake with chestnut colored hair. She wore it in
one long plait that hung half way down her back. She had a melodic
voice, large round brown eyes and she smelled good. Arr looked to
Jake for guidance in this new development, but Jake just smiled and
told him to go along. He'd take care of the ship.

The rest of Arr's stay aboard the station
was a delightful blur. He found to his joy that the female named
Carrie wanted to spend all her free time with him. After dinner the
first night Carrie asked Arr if he had seen the rain forest. When
he replied in the affirmative she asked him if he liked it. He did
his best to express his wonder of its beauty. That led her to
asking if he would like to see her favorite spot in it.

She led him to a remote corner of the
forest. In fact it was so far back in the trees and undergrowth
that you could see patches of the outside bulkhead through the
tangled vines running up the wall. There was a cool, clear pool fed
by a trickling spill of water over a jumble of moss covered
rocks.

"How about a swim?" Carrie suggested
invitingly.

Arr hadn't been swimming since they left the
planet. The pool looked cool and appealing. He started to shed his
clothes.

Carrie smiled sweetly at this innocent,
uninhibited action and dropped her own suit.

The water was refreshing. He had not felt
this good since leaving his home. This female was as wonderful as
this place. When they finished their swim and lay naked on the
grass at the pool's edge, she reached over and ran her hand across
the fine red/gold hair of Arr's chest.

"You're beautiful," she uttered softly, with
a tone of awe in her voice. He really was a magnificent creature,
not only in looks, but in actions as well. He seemed totally free
from civilization's moral inhibitions, yet he possessed his own
inner rules, these included gentleness and truth.

He took her hand in his and nuzzled his lips
against the palm where her tattoo would have been had she been
Henu. "You should have been a Henu. You would have been admired by
all the finest of my people".