Zero Recall (40 page)

“I told you.  The Jreet.”

“The other ones.”

The Human lifted his head
high enough to look at him.  “You don’t miss a thing, do you?”

Flea laughed.  “Of course
I don’t.  Where’d you get them?”

The Human’s brow
furrowed, but he said, “I was a Dhasha slave for a while in Basic.”

That
was
interesting.  “Why was the Huouyt trying to kill you?”

The Human dropped his
head back to the pillow.  “I kept him from Jer’ait when Jer’ait was getting his
chip.  He wasn’t happy with me.”

“So what was he trying to
do with Jer’ait?”

“Beats me.  Had something
under his arm.  Maybe a locator beacon.  I don’t think he wanted to kill him.”

“Mind-control,” Flea
said.

Joe lifted his head
again.  “Excuse me?”

“Mind-control,” Flea
repeated.  “It’s a new program.  They’re using it on convicts,
problem-soldiers…anyone who might give Congress a hard time.  It’s why Jer’ait
stood in while Daviin got his operation.  I was going to do it, like I did for
you, but Jer’ait kicked me out.”

The Human pushed himself
up onto his bloody elbows.  “They’re implanting it in soldiers?  How do you
know?”

“Please.  Overseers
talk,” Flea scoffed.  “I just happen to be in places where I can listen.”

Joe stared at him for so
long that Flea thought he might be experiencing a resurgence of the paralysis drug. 
Finally, his Prime said, “That’s dangerous information, Flea.  I’ve been a
Prime for thirty turns and I never heard anything like it.”

“You just haven’t been in
the right places,” Flea said.  “So Commander, I’ve been meaning to ask you and
now seems like as good as a time as ever, where’s your brother keep his stash?”

“Huh?”  The Human had a
truly perplexed look on his face when he lifted his head.

“Your brother,” Flea
insisted.  “The one who squirreled away billions from big companies on Earth. 
Ghost.  He had a huge stash somewhere.  They can’t find it.”

“I don’t know anything
about a stash.”

Flea was hugely
disappointed.  “Wherever it is, it’s not getting any use.  He’s dead, you
know.”

The Human stiffened, but
he said, “Yeah.  I know.”

“Neat fellah,” Flea said. 
“Wise-ass in court.  It had a certain charm when he told the Dhasha judge to go
suck Ueshi genitalia.  I was hoping some of his cronies would rescue him. 
Never did, though.”

The Human was frowning at
him.  “How did you get access to the trial feed?  It was classified.”

“Your friend Phoenix was
watching it.”

Joe stiffened.  “She’s
not my friend.”

“Oh, I gathered that
much.”  Flea buzzed his wings in amusement.  “Have you ever been in her room,
Joe?  She’s got pictures of you on the wall.”

Joe blinked.  “She does?”

“Oh yeah.  And every one
of them is being used for darts.  She’s actually quite good.  Has narrowed her
groupings down to the eyes.”  Flea cocked his head.  “Why does she hate you so
much?”

“I don’t know.”

“The drugs wore off,
then?”

“No, you lump of Dhasha
shit, I really don’t know what the Trith said to her.”

Flea perked up.  “You
mean she also had one visit her today?”

The Human frowned.  “No. 
It was back in Basic.  What do you mean, ‘today’?”

“A Trith was sighted in
town today,” Flea said.  “Right before the Jreet got into their scuffle.  Other
than for the one that I saw, there were at least four other confirmed
sightings…all around where members of your groundteam were at the time.”

The Human sat up suddenly,
entire body alert.  “A Trith visited you?”

Flea grinned.  “It was a
nice chat.  He tried to convince me you were going to destroy the world.”

The Human stared at him
in mute shock.  “Ghosts.”

“What?” Flea asked,
cocking his head at him.

The Human jumped to his
feet, face dark with fury.  “Mothers’ burning ghosts!  It’s happening again. 
The
sons of bitches are doing it again!
”

Flea was a bit surprised
by his violent reaction.  “If it makes you feel any better, I told him to get
lost.  Used your brother’s words, with a few modifications.”

Joe glanced at him, “You
didn’t believe him?”

Flea twittered with
amusement.  “Of course I did.  It was a
Trith.
  But I just happen to
believe the world might be a bit more interesting if someone came along and destroyed
it.  That would be quite a joke on those fat old furgs who send young furgs
like us to our deaths, wouldn’t it?”

The Human looked stunned.

Flea laughed.  “Let’s get
rid of this body.  I’m not sure, but I have the nervous suspicion that it’s
someone high up in the Peacemakers’ chain of command.  The last thing we want
is this linked to us.”

Joe flung his arm at the
bloodstains around the room.  “A little hard to hide now, isn’t it?”

Flea twittered.  “What
are you talking about?  All they’ll ever find is that Human’s blood.  And she’s
still alive.  You can claim it was a mating ritual.  Jreet do it all the time.”

The Human’s dark brown
eyes widened when he realized Flea was right.

“The perfect crime,” Flea
said, grinning.  “Kind of like your brother’s.  Too bad he didn’t live long
enough to enjoy it.”

CHAPTER 21:  The Sentinel and the Assassin

“Where are you taking me,
Huouyt?”

Jer’ait gave Daviin
another irritated glance.  “Just be silent.  They hear you and we’ll have to
fight our way back out of here.”

“I think I’d enjoy that. 
Too much tension.”

Jer’ait stifled his
frustration.  It was the nature of Jreet to be bullheaded oafs.  “This requires
precision,
” Jer’ait said.  “Brute force will get us both killed.”  Then
he cocked his head, considering just who was pacing the hall with him.  He
remembered the dismantled restaurant, the Dhasha heir trapped in his coils. 
“Well, maybe not.  But still.  Be quiet.”

“So this assassin that
came for you today,” the oversized worm said.  “He was the one who came for you
in surgery?”

“No,” Jer’ait said. 
“Different employers.  Now
shut up.
”

“So if they’re not both
working for the Huouyt Ground Corps, who was the other one working for?”

“Peacemakers.  Shhh.”

“I’m confused.  You
work
for the Peacemakers.”

Jer’ait whirled on the
invisible alien.  “Shut your
melaa
-eating mouth, or I will do it for
you.”

“How much do you weigh,
Huouyt?”

Jer’ait narrowed his
eyes.  “It takes less than a drop of fluid to kill a Jreet.”

“Why don’t you threaten
me with something interesting?  Like my glands will fall off.  Or my tek will
dry up.”  The Sentinel snorted.  “Death doesn’t scare me, Huouyt.  Only a moron
jenfurgling wouldn’t have noticed that by now.  Now where in the ninety hells
is this Ueshi coward we’re looking for?  You’ve been taking us in circles.”

“No I haven’t,” Jer’ait
snapped.  “You’re just lost.”

“Who’s lost?” a Huouyt
voice asked as an eight-point Prime Commander stepped around the corner. 

“Talking to myself, sir,”
Jer’ait said, allowing his borrowed headcrest a flutter of embarrassment.

The Huouyt looked him up
and down.  “You lost, Ueshi?”

“No, sir.  Well, maybe,
sir.  I don’t know how I got here…I don’t remember
anything.
  I just
woke up in this strange room and have been trying to find my way out ever
since.  I…I think someone
attacked
me, sir.”

The Huouyt’s face
twitched and Jer’ait was amused with the Prime’s lack of discipline.  “A
prank,” the Prime sighed.  “We’ve been getting a lot of them lately.  The
multi-species groundteams created a lot of Huouyt resentment.  Here, allow me
to lead you back to the common area.  This section is Peacemaker only.”

Jer’ait nodded and
babbled his gratitude, waiting for the Huouyt to strike.

When he did, Jer’ait
immediately isolated and nullified the chemicals he used and, identifying the
compound, allowed himself to go limp. 
He tried to kill me,”
he thought,
surprised. 
They’re not fooling around.

The Huouyt slung Jer’ait
over his shoulder and began carrying him down the hall.  Though Jer’ait didn’t
hear him, he knew Daviin followed.

The Prime dropped Jer’ait
roughly to the floor outside a nondescript door and entered a passcode.  Taking
a cue from the Human, Jer’ait listened to the tones as each number was pushed. 
Then he heard the door drip open.

Upon seeing the other
Ueshi still inside his prison, the Huouyt demanded, “What the hell?”

“Which hell are you
referring to?” Daviin asked above them.  Then the Jreet slammed his fist into
the Huouyt’s midsection.  Even Jer’ait had to wince with the force the Jreet
put into the strike.  Had the wall not been reinforced, it probably would have
crumbled.

“You know,” Daviin said
as the other Huouyt’s brains and organs dribbled in an orangeish goo across the
wall, “I think you’re smarter than I am, Huouyt.”

“I know I am,” Jer’ait
said, picking himself up.  Still, his eyes paused a moment on the body of the
other Peacemaker.  His insides had literally exploded over the walls, and it
had taken but a twitch of the Jreet’s arm. 

Finding a grudging new
respect for the Sentinel, Jer’ait stepped inside the room and squatted in front
of the wide-eyed Ueshi lying still on the floor.  It shied away from Jer’ait,
whimpering and closing its eyes.  When Jer’ait administered the antidote, the
Ueshi gasped in terror.

“He’s not the one who
took your finger,” Daviin said, lowering his energy level.  “That one’s dead.”

Jer’ait had to turn at
the concern in the Jreet’s voice.  The giant was almost…gentle.

Seeing the Jreet, the
Ueshi’s binocular blue eyes widened to their fullest.  “I’m sorry,” he
babbled.  “Jemria told me to—”

At the name, Jer’ait
froze.  So
that’s
what was going on.

“Silence!” the Jreet
snapped, his tenderness gone in an instant.  “I’m here to rescue you, not to
listen to you whimper.”

Jer’ait wished the Jreet
a new world of agony.  Taking a deep, calming breath, he turned back to the
Ueshi.  “What were you saying?”

The Ueshi’s eyes went
wide.  “N-n-never m-m-m—”

“Finish your sentence!”
the Jreet roared.

Jer’ait got up, grabbed
Daviin by the audial ridges against the back of the skull, and dragged him down
so they were eye-to-eye.  Quietly, he said, “I think the Ueshi and I need to be
alone.  Go watch the hall.”

“You don’t order me
around, Huouyt,” Daviin boomed.

“I
do,
or should I
tell Joe you’re disobeying an order from his Second?”

Daviin’s face scrunched. 
“My hearing is better than a Dhasha’s.  There’s no one out there.”

Oh,
how Jer’ait
wanted to strangle the ignorant, blockheaded creature!  As evenly as he could,
Jer’ait said, “I don’t think you understood me.  I need time with the Ueshi to
figure out where he learned how to operate on a Jreet.”  He cocked his head at
Daviin.  “Or did you think I just came here to free him?”

Daviin straightened in a
display that made Jer’ait wince inwardly. 
This is where he gets stubborn.
 

“I will not let you
torture him.”

“Jreet, I’m warning you…”

Daviin shoved past him
and plucked the Ueshi off the floor.  The poor creature gave a terrified
whimper and pungent black liquid trickled from its glands.  “Please don’t hurt
me.  I—”

“Shut up,” Daviin
snapped.

“Excellent!” Jer’ait
cried, gesturing widely in frustration.  “You refuse to let me give a friendly
interrogation, but you make him void himself by screaming at him while he’s
dangling not two ninths from your tek
.
”

Daviin’s brow-ridges
tightened, then he shifted his gaze to the Ueshi.  “I won’t let him torture
you.  You saved my hearing.”

Jer’ait took a deep
breath, mentally deciding which poisons he would have to use.  Then he said, “I
suppose you’re right, Daviin.  He spent twice as long patching you up as the
Welu.  He took
special
care with you.  You were in good hands.”

The Jreet’s muscular body
constricted.  He tore his gaze from Jer’ait and glanced down at the creature in
his arms as if it had suddenly turned to a frozen Takki. 

“After all,” Jer’ait
continued, “It’s not every Jreet who has his own personal guardian angel.”

The Jreet dropped the
Ueshi suddenly.  The weak blue creature crumpled to the ground with a wail,
then scuttled backwards on its delicate front limbs.

“In fact,” Jer’ait said,
“I think he’s probably saved your life twice already.  The concussion from the
sound grenade left you with a lot of internal bleeding near the brain.  If he
hadn’t chosen to help you over the Welu, you’d be dead now.”

Tension was drawing the
Jreet’s lower body into semi-coils, his face tightening into a mask of rage. 
He raised himself until he was glaring down at the Ueshi.  “You helped me over
the Welu?”

The ignorant little Ueshi
nodded up and down.  Jer’ait had to stifle a snicker.

“How
dare
you?”
the Jreet roared, surging upward until he was pressed against the ceiling. 
“I’ll make you dance on my tek until your feet bleed, coward!”  Daviin reached
down for the trembling Ueshi, obviously intending to do just as he said.

“You know,” Jer’ait said,
“I know a thing or two about pain.”

Daviin hesitated, turning
toward him.  “What?”

“Pain.  You want him to
feel much of it, yes?”

“I want him to scream
until the hells open up and swallow him,” Daviin growled.  “Before the end,
he’ll know better than to coddle a Voran!”  He grasped the terrified Ueshi by
the thin blue arm and dragged him to his feet.  With no finesse whatsoever, he
thrust the tek from its sheath, making it hover ninths from the babbling
creature’s squirming body.