Borne On Wings of Steel (11 page)

The air reverberated with voices and movement.

"The Paum are stalking their use of the Mrad computer system. They have tracers on their Search queries. And, they've killed one of the queries.” The first alien scratched his short snout.

"One carries himself like a warrior, the one with the horns on his head. The other two, they are pups.” The third Iraxx grunted.

"Never underestimate your enemies. Nor an untested alien.” The largest of the three smiled knowingly.

"Very wise, Qirn. Very wise."

The three alien warriors drew closer, the red complexion of their faces glistening under the harsh lights. Their muscular tails whipped from right to left as they followed the two humans and the Kraaqi.

"Why would the Paum be interested in them, Qirn?"

"That is our mission, Rab, to discover that answer. But I've already gotten word on what first drew the interest of the Paum's agents.” Qirn peered into the faces of his two warriors. “The Zuuk that travels with them, it searched for ‘sentient technology.’ And
that
alone is enough to interest the Paum.” The three nodded silently, deep furrows of concern on their faces.

"Then they too may be our enemies, these humans and the horned warrior."

Qirn nodded. “We must find the answer—are they with the Paum and his ‘Holy Plan'? Or is there something else to this business? Kadir and our best hackers are back at the ship tracking down the other queries that these humans have entered into the mighty system. A clue may lie there."

Qirn quickened his pace as their quarry melted into a crowded corridor. He moved with the instincts of an accomplished hunter, side-stepping his way through the mass of bodies until he again made visual contact.

"What if they give us trouble, Qirn? I feel naked without my weapons."

"You are a weapon, my friend. You are trained to fight in any situation. We obey the laws of this city by not carrying weapons."

"I hope they respect the law as much as we do,” Rab grunted.

"That is a chance we take. We are honorable warriors, that is our way.” Qirn suddenly discerned the destination of their quarry.

"Hmmm. They are heading for the Refugee Section of Rxariar.” Qirn stopped short as he watched the three up ahead slow their pace, looking around as if not sure which direction to take.

"Why are they heading to this place of tragedy and despair?"

Qirn continued to watch until the trio suddenly came to a decision and moved forward again. But even as he began to follow, he held his hand up. His gaze focused across the crowds to a far corner where two, short aliens were also intently watching the two humans and their Kraaqi companion.

But although they were shorter than most aliens, their thick bull-necks and barrel chests gave the distinct impression that they were pound for pound a match for any warrior.

They grinned and began to move.

"Agents of the Paum."

"Yes,” Qirn said. “They are bold to follow them in the open like this. There must be more to these humans than we surmise.” The warrior's tail tensed as he considered this new circumstance. But in a moment, he decided. “Rab, return to our room and make contact with the ship. Tell them to send another team in quickly. We may need them."

Qirn nodded to his remaining warrior. “Jaan, you come with me. We will follow the followers now. But keep sharp—where there are two of the Paum's agents, there may be more."

"These Harg are a nasty bunch. The Paum chooses his enforcers well,” Jaan whispered. “They are paid mercenaries—hard-hitting and hard to take down.” Jaan stroked his snout in thought.

"It could be worse.” Qirn's eyes narrowed. “The Paum could've sent a Destructor."

"Only if he wanted them dead,” Jaan replied.

All grew silent in recognition of the dreaded name.

They nodded agreement.

A low growl emanated from Qirn's throat. “Still, we must show caution,” Qirn added as he gathered his thoughts. “Too many aliens have disappeared from this section of Rxariar lately. And we know the agents of the Paum are behind many of them."

"And so the evil spreads,” Jaan mused.

Qirn's eyes and his locked. Finally, Qirn nodded at Rab.

The two reptilian warriors moved stealthily forward as Rab disappeared in the opposite direction.

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MINSTREL ASSUMED HIS Zuuk form again. “I will return to review the results of my queries now."

Minstrel had returned briefly to upload data after returning from his first survey. Now, the towering Zuuk turned to leave.

"Good. Maybe you can keep an eye on the boys for me."

"That should be easy for a Zuuk with seven eye-stalks.” Minstrel-Zuuk laughed.

"I did not mean the request literally,” Mother chided.

"They're probably halfway across RahajMr by now. But I'll try to catch up with them,” Minstrel-Zuuk said in a more serious tone.

"I'm ready!” Elise ran into the room, her excitement evident in every motion. But all Mother and Minstrel needed to do was look at her eyes—eyes that gleamed with the freshness and exuberance of life.

Elise was ready to go out into the universe.

"I want Krinia and Jysar to stay right beside you.” Mother's optic focused on Elise's companions. “Keep her in sight at all times, Krinia."

Krinia put her arm around Elise's shoulders. “We'll take good care of your baby, Mother. Let's go, girl-friend."

"The city of RahajMr is a most civilized and technologically advanced society,” Jysar said with emphasis. “These cities are probably the safest places in the universe."

"Hmmm.” Minstrel-Zuuk turned its seven eye-stalks to Jysar. “I wish I could share your feelings. But with so many different species drawn here to use the most powerful computer system known and the riches it has collected, there is the potential for trouble. I am just glad personal weapons are not allowed inside each city."

"I hope I will be able to directly connect to this system,” Mother said. “It is the personal reason I wanted to come here."

"I will inquire again about this possibility when I reach the Search-terminals,” Minstrel-Zuuk said.

"Yes, a supreme accomplishment for any race.” Jysar sighed. “And security is very tight here,” Jysar agreed, changing the subject. “Their sophisticated technology is able to scan and prevent anyone from getting around it. It can detect hidden weapons with almost one hundred percent success."

"That is true. Jaric had his pocket scanner confiscated on our first visit yesterday. After it passed another more detailed security test, they returned it,” Minstrel-Zuuk said.

"That makes me feel better,” Mother said.

"At any rate, RahajMr and its sister-cities are as good a place as any for Elise to begin discovering the rest of the universe.” Krinia smiled at Elise, who beamed back at her.

"Please be aware of your surroundings at all times,” Mother advised. “I will wait for you here."

"We'll be careful,” Elise said with a wave of her hand as she bounded down the ramp and into the floating city of RahajMr.

Jysar and Krinia kept glancing at Elise as they walked with her through Security and out into the moving masses of races that filled the halls and corridors to overflowing. Elise's head turned from one side to the other as she tried to take in this mass of beings all at once, her eyes wide with wonder as she saw faces so varied, so different, that at times she stopped in her tracks to stare in amazement and appreciation.

And sometimes surprise.

"Did you see that alien that just passed us?” Elise burst out.

"Yes, what about him?” Jysar responded nonchalantly.

"It ... it didn't have a face. It just had a head with three eyes, and a
huge
bird-like bill that must have been nearly a meter long. The bill was its face!” Elise shook her head with wonder.

"I thought he was beautiful,” Krinia added. “Especially with all those deep blue feathers. It gave him character."

"I hope we get to meet one and talk with it,” Elise added. They were suddenly walking through a new throng of diverse beings. Elise's eyes seemed to open wider than physically possible.

"I am so glad you did not want to take the Bullet-Cars.” Minstrel-Zuuk glided smoothly beside the trio. “Life goes by too fast anyway. It is better to walk leisurely among the variety of races here and enjoy ourselves."

The air was filled with words and bits of exotic phrases from a thousand different languages. As they stepped between and around aliens in the never-ending crowds, different faces and astounding shapes seemed to appear as if from a dream—and sometimes a nightmare—as they made their way to the Search-terminals.

Several times Elise gasped out loud as unusual aliens passed right by her. Once an alien with a mountain of sparkling, glowing hair suddenly appeared right before her. Just as suddenly, a walking head with four mouths and four eyes mumbled quick apologies as it narrowly avoided knocking her down. Before she could respond, Jysar's grip on her arm carefully guided her around a family group of tiny aliens only one meter tall with transparent skin—Elise could not only see their internal organs and brain but at points even right through them!

"You need to keep your mouth closed, Elise,” Krinia said with a laugh. “Depending on the culture, some aliens will think you want to attack them, or that you're romantically interested."

Elise smiled sheepishly.

Their thirty-minute stroll seemed to fly by.

Minstrel-Zuuk glided to a Search-terminal to check on its results from yesterday after he flashed his pre-paid token.

Elise and her two companions purchased their own access. Krinia and Jysar helped Elise with her personal searches for remnants of the human race at a nearby terminal. Elise smiled cunningly as she and her friends misspelled words, hoping to find a match that might lead them to any other human survivors stored in the mountains of data. After they typed in their last queries, the trio got up and walked over to Minstrel-Zuuk, who was already waiting for them.

"Any good results?” Jysar asked.

"No.” Minstrel-Zuuk's eye-stalks gazed thoughtfully off in seven directions, but now two of them focused on his friends. “As a matter of fact, one of them seemed to end prematurely, as if cut off before it completed."

"Oh? Which queries?” Jysar's interested was piqued.

"My query about sentient computers. Most strange, I would've thought that somewhere in all this data different races would have made progress in this field. But, it seems to be almost ... non-existent. Or hidden.” Minstrel-Zuuk's eye-stalks all focused on the trio.

"What about Mother getting a direct connection so she can use the system?” Krinia asked.

"Turned down."

"That's a bit strange,” Jysar commented.

"Well, we're off. Time's wasting.” Elise grabbed both Jysar and Krinia by their arms. “I want to mingle and see more of this place. Our queries are off and running. We'll check them tomorrow."

"And don't forget shopping.” Krinia smiled.

Jysar rolled his eyes. “And
shopping
,” he repeated with an utter lack of enthusiasm.

"I am going to contact the boys in a bit to check on them, after I ask the Mrad about my search query that terminated prematurely,” Minstrel-Zuuk added. With a silent grace, the huge, shell-encased body glided away. “I hope their queries for human survivors were more fruitful. I hate to tell them mine came up null.” The seven eye-stalks looked off in seven different directions as the multi-colored Zuuk moved away.

Elise, Krinia and Jysar quickly made their way to the main shopping section of RahajMr.

They discovered the mass of aliens even more crowded here—the sole difference being everyone carried one or two shiny bags of merchandise under various appendages.

The shopping section of RahajMr resembled a vast and crowded indoor street bazaar combined with an elaborate mall with storefronts that rose level after crowded level far above—a fantastically huge atrium. Indeed, the threesome peered upward in awe at the stores and walkways that lined the massive atrium walls.

Aliens shouted the price and value of their goods to passersby from booths on the floor level while neon signs pointed the way to countless other stores selling everything from exotic clothing to imported curios and hand-crafted items that boggled the imagination.

And of course, innumerable electronic toys and gadgets manufactured from thousands of different worlds lined shelves everywhere.

Far above were more storefronts, extending over twenty levels above them and accessible by hundreds of high-speed elevators that seemed constantly full of happy alien shoppers. Bridges extended in various directions like a huge web, creating steel geometric patterns at every level. These provided a path for shoppers to crisscross to the other side or to travel up or down a single level without using elevators.

The air vibrated with laughter and countless alien languages.

Jysar suggested they disable the Galactic Translators wrapped around their left ear for a moment so they could absorb the full ambiance.

Elise reveled in all of it—the myriad of different beings all around her, the stores and tables full of exotic merchandise, and the constant chatter and laughter that filled her ears. In fact, her senses almost became overwhelmed because every face and everything she came into contact with was new to her. Her heart beat so loud she thought that Krinia and Jysar must surely hear it over the noise.

She felt so alive
.

Every moment brought a new experience. Elise quickly realized that the beings around her were wonderfully diverse—no two aliens exactly alike. And she came to appreciate the different forms of beauty that each possessed—each with its own unique look and its own peculiar kind of magnificence.

Elise realized she wanted to value diversity. She would always look for the beauty in those different from her. And hopefully, they would view her in the same way.

"Come here
lovely alien
, I have something
just for you
."

A sales-alien inside a booth smiled directly her.