Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (67 page)

“I want to
,” he said
honestly.

“That’s good enough for me
,” I told
him.

“I will see you soon my love, and I believe it completely
,” Tracy said
as she kissed me.

Paul grabbed my hand. “To another adventure
,
my friend.”

“I’ll be happy when I can retire
,” I told
him.
H
e laughed
.

“Time grows short
,” Urlack said
,
all business.

The door swung open, the fresh air helping to sweep away my
anxieties. “Lead on
,” I told
him.
In
hindsight
,
probably a poor choice of words. Urlack took off
at
a pace I think was challenging the current
land speed record
.

I was exhausted when we came to the outskirts of Dedham, my previous night’s adventure and subsequent lack of sleep taking its toll. Urlack on the other hand
,
even with his healing injuries
,
looked like
he was ready to take on the world.

He turned to face me. “You ready
?” he asked
.

For a long
,
lingering moment
,
a crevice of doubt formed in my gut, replaced by a fissure of fear. What the fuck was I doing? I was willingly delivering myself and my people’s location into the hands of the enemy. I cannot even convey how close I was to pulling my service revolver from its hidden location and putting a bullet in Urlack’s eye.

“As ready as I’ll ever be
,” I told
him instead. He looked at
me
, confused
, he did not understand what I had told him. “Yes
,” I said
answering the question less circumspectly.

“You will need to stay as close behind me as possible so as to shield your silhouette from any Progerians
,”
Urlack told me.

“Any chance of a piggy back ride?” I asked him, my feet where killing me.

Even though I’m about
ninety-eight percent
sure Urlack had no idea
what a ‘piggyback’ ride was, he scoffed at me. I really think that he did not appreciate my lackadaisical demeanor. Or at least what he supposed was lackadaisical, my guts felt like they were hopped up on espresso and I
had shotgunned a couple cans of Mountain Dew for good measure
a
nd marinated it in Jolt
.

I stayed as close as possible to Urlack without tripping him up, I generally kept my head down
,
figuring wrongly that if I didn’t look around
,
no one else would look at me.
That was an incorrect assumption, as I dared to gaze around my eyes met more and more stares from the Genogerians. To say I was unnerved would be as big an understatement as saying that World War
T
wo
was just a misunderstanding.

Urlack walked up and into a fighter as if he owned the thing, the
Genogerians guarding the
area made sure to look like they were busy doing anything but watching the machine. I looked up at Urlack as he got into his seat.

This is too easy
,
I was thinking to myself
.
T
here was no way we could just walk up to a ship and steal it. Alarms began to go off in my head, I felt like a rabbit as the snare snapped on my leg.

“Where am I going to sit?” I asked
, looking at the single-
seated cockpit
.
W
hat else could I do now?

“On my lap
,” he said
without a hint of merriment.

“Are you kidding me? I’m not six and you sure don’t look like Santa.”

“We have approximately sixty seconds to get off the ground before the Progerians know something is amiss.”

I looked around wildly trying to find the best avenue of escape. I was deep in the enemy encampment
.
I
f I sprinted for it now
,
someone would shoot me. My only chance now was to go up with Urlack. I felt hopelessly, helplessly trapped. I couldn’t have put myself in a bigger bind if I tried.

“We must leave now
,
hu-man
,”
Urlack hissed.

His reverting back to the derogatory did little to appease me, but up I went
. “Don’t go getting any ideas
,” I told
him.

“Sit back so I can see properly.”

“This is a lousy first date
,” I told
him as the fighter took off straight up
.
F
or a moment
,
I thought the gravitational forces were going to meld myself and Urlack into some new species of mammal and amphibian.
I could feel the fillings in my teeth shifting as we gained more speed and more velocity.

“I am sorry for the discomfort that your delicate frame must be experiencing but this is the only way I can keep the targeting system in the base from getting a fix on ou
r
location and destroying us.”

Right now that seemed like a reasonable alternative rather t
h
an having my internal organs compressed into wafer thin
versions
of themselves.

And then
,
blessedly
,
it was over
.
I went from feeling like a cartoon character being steamrolled to my face sticking against Urlack’s window. A big meaty paw
dragged me back down.

“Hold on to my seat belt
,” he said
.

“What about the ship? Won’t they be targeting us?” I asked, not fully taking into account all of the variables in this mission. But that’s usually my problem anyway, go charging in first
,
guns
a blazing
and try to figure a way out second.

“That will be taken care of
,” Urlack said
cryptically.

“Comforting
,” I told
him.

He didn’t say anything as we came closer to the massive ship, but I’d been around Dee long enough to know that Urlack was stressed out. His large maw was partially opened and his residual (vestial) second
eyelid was closed.

“You sure about the guns then?” I asked again.

“I told you it should be taken care of
,” he said
tersely.

“No,
you never said ‘
should
be
’ you said ‘
will be
’. Big difference.”

“What does Drababan see in you?” Urlack asked.

“It’s my winning personality.”

“Stop chattering like a
Fraterdsnip
!”

I didn’t know what a ‘fraterdsnip’ was
,
but I
figured
that was
a
flattering
term. I did shut up, but it did little to put me at ease.

“Fighter 3
12
, this is Home Base
.
I
dentify yourself and your intentions or we will be forced to destroy you
,”
c
ame over the monitor in Urlack’s ship.

We watched as a squadron of fighters were dispatched from the mothership.

“Look
,
an escort
,” I told
Urlack. “You going to answer
?
T
hey seem serious.”

The intercepting fighters were
getting
closer.

“I had not expected them to s
end fighters. They will see you
.”

“You come millions of light years to come and destroy our planet and you guys can’t tint your windows?”

“Tint? Color the windows? We do have sun shields.”

“I’m thinking now might be a good time to use those shields.”

“That should be
adequate
,”
Urlack answered.

“You can thank me later
,” I told
him. I was wondering if there was enough room down by his feet to hide. The fighters were approaching like a hive of angry hornets and we had just tweaked the Queen’s ass. “You might want to respond to the ship too
,” I said
,
prodding him
further
.

“I think you are right again
,”
Urlack
simply stated.
"Julipion
this is fighter 3
12
.
T
his is traitor Urlack Evertrek and I am surrendering so that I
may
restore my honor.”

“I’m not sure I would have gone with the whole honesty part
,” I told
him.

And then my blood froze solid.
Urlack flipped the switch so he could talk to the ship again. “I have captured the human Michael Talbot.”

“You motherfucker!” I spat.

I moved away so I
could
put
some leverage behind a punch. A powerful arm of Urkack’s pinned me against the windshield. I was stuck like a pinned butterfly. I swung uselessly against an arm that could have been hewed from oak.

“Calm down
,” Urlack said
. “I am doing what is right.”

“You piece of shit, you come promising peace and deliver disaster.”

I
was
subdued
as our escort
s
circled us and guided
us
through
the large bay doors. It appeared
as if half of the entire Genogerian guard force
wa
s there along with some high-
ranking Progerians.

All the fight drain
ed
out of me
.
Urlack might as well
have been
holding a wet sock. A life in the arena until I die
d
, maybe I’
d
make a mad dash for the Supreme Commander and just get cut to ribbons by rifle fire
.
I
t
would
be less painful and
much quicker.

We land
ed
without incident
.
I had hoped Urlack would skid into a structural support beam so we could burst into flames and I could push his traitorous eyes into the back of his head while we both burned.

“When we get out you will stand on the wing and I know it will be difficult for you but project as much strength as you can
,”
Urlack
told
me.

“Why
,
so you can say how difficult it was to capture me? You did nothing except lie
.
I walked into your trap, it couldn’t have been any easier.”

“Do as I say
,
” Urlack demanded. His maw was open even
farther
, which indicated his hyper level of stress.

Urlack pushed me up and over as his canopy pulled back. I walked onto the wing and nearly into the waiting arms of a Genogerian as my heart was
tripping over itself
.
M
y extremities
,
now leaden and dead.

Urlack stood on his pilot’s seat. “My fellow Genogerians
!” he yelled
. “I bring you the earth champion
,
Michael Talbot.”

A pin dropping would have been welcome to the
ensuing
silence. I watched as the confused heads of some of the Progerians swung back and forth
,
trying to figure out what was going on.

“The hu-man that has best
ed all of his kind in the games.
T
he hu-man that launched the first successful escape from any Progerian vessel.”

I didn’t know if that was the righ
t approach, a lot of Genogerian
guards had died during our escape and I had a hell of a lot of help from a nuclear bomb.

“The hu-man that has befriended our great Genogerian champion Drababan.”