Chains of Destruction (18 page)

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.