For the Love of Gelo! (16 page)

“W
e're close now,” said Taius. The chime of the beacon came through his tracker, loud and clear. “Just ten kilometers to go!”

On the other side of the mountains, the landscape changed again. It was forested, but a lower, thicker, wetter forest than before. In the distance, more ruined skyscrapers poked out of the mist.

As we descended, Nicki tried to tell us all something about the windward and leeward sides of mountains having different levels of precipitation. When Hollins said this was interesting, she thought he was mocking her, and the two of them started arguing. I couldn't listen to any of it.

My mind was racing. We were about to reach the
Phryxus II
! We were about to find Kalac! I pressed onward. Several times I accidentally outpaced Taius and then had to wait for him to catch up when I realized that I didn't know where we were supposed to go.

Once, I turned and saw the humans whispering to one another.

“What?” I asked.

“Chorkle,” said Nicki gently, “we haven't discussed the possibility, but there's a chance we could find the
Phryxus II
and Kalac might be . . .” She trailed off.

I knew what she was getting at, but I couldn't allow myself to think about it. I only knew that I had to keep going. I wouldn't stop for any reason.

“Look at that!” said Hollins. He pointed to a nearby tree. It had been sheared off at a height of about forty meters, like something huge had collided with it. The top of the trunk was charred black.

We saw another, and another. There were dozens, stretching away into the distance. They were snapped lower and lower as we went. The beacon rang from the tracker, but we didn't need it anymore. We could follow the swathe that had been cut through the forest. Something had definitely landed nearby, smashing through the trees as it went.

I realized that I was running now. I'd left the others behind, but I didn't care. Over the next rise it looked as though we would find the Xotonian starship.

“Wait!” hissed Eyf, landing in front of me and nearly causing me to crash into her. “I think I see someone ahead.” Her Aeaki eyes were far sharper than any of ours.

“Maybe it's Kalac!” I whispered.

Taius and the others caught up to me, and we all crept forward through the brush toward the low hill. There, in a clearing ahead of us, was the
Phryxus II
. The sun glinted off its windshield. It had clearly crash-landed here. The starfighter was damaged but intact, unlike the poor
T'utzuxe
. This gave me hope. It meant that the passengers might have survived.

I heard a clanging sound. Eyf was right. Someone was here. I wanted to call out to Kalac and the others. But I held my gul'orp.

From behind the
Phryxus II
stepped three Aeaki hunters. Their plumage was a brilliant combination of cyan and pink. They somehow seemed even more warlike than the Oru. They were clad in hide and bone armor, and each of them wore a colorful yet grotesque mask over her face. I looked to Eyf. She shrugged nervously. She didn't know the clans on this side of the mountains.

We watched as two of the Aeaki set about trying to pry off a big piece of the
Phryxus II
's hull while the third kept a lazy watch. Though it was damaged, that starfighter was our best chance of getting off Kyral. We couldn't let these scavengers dismantle it. We had to stop them. Hollins poked me. He held up Eromu's blaster with a questioning look in his eyes.

I shook my head. The three of them had their own energy blasters slung at their sides. We would be outgunned in a fight. But Kalac, Ornim, and Chayl might still be inside the ship or somewhere nearby. Or maybe this new clan had taken them prisoner. The Oru had given us a reasonably friendly welcome, all things considered. Perhaps these three Aeaki would do the same. Something about their frightening masks made me doubt it though. I had no idea what to do.

Taius tapped me on the i'arda and nodded. Then he stepped forward into the clearing. The three Aeaki froze and turned their blasters on him. What in the name of Morool was he doing, I wondered? Eyf and the humans looked frantic.

“Halt,” he said to them.

“What are you supposed to be, outlander?” squawked one of them.

“My name is Taius Sovyrius Ridian,” he said. “I am a legate of the Vorem Dominion.” He flashed his golden insignia.

The hunters looked at one another. It was hard to read an Aeaki to begin with, but under the masks it was impossible.

“Well, you happen to be standing in Eka territory,” said the leader.

“Last I checked,” said Taius as he waved expansively, “all of this was
Vorem
territory. Kyral is a Dominion world. That means all of you are Dominion subjects. And I demand you stop dismantling that starship right now.”

I held my breath. He was coming on awfully strong. Revealing his rank had saved him once before with Hisuda. But didn't he understand that even the Aeaki who professed loyalty to the Dominion on Kyral still hated his kind?

At last, the Eka leader looked to her companions and then bowed low. His gambit had worked!

Then she laughed. “How about we dismantle you instead?” she said, standing. “The Eka never surrendered to the Dominion, and we're not about to start now. We're not your subjects.”

Taius blinked. He hadn't expected this. “But,” he said, “this is—Kyral is a—”

“In fact, being a Vorem in Eka territory is a very serious condition.” She cocked her blaster rifle and leveled it at his head. “Probably fatal.”

“Wait,” cried Becky, leaping forward. “Don't shoot him!”

This startled the three hunters. They looked about uncertainly, considering the possibility that the whole jungle might be full of strange outlanders.

“What are you?” asked the Eka leader, now aiming at Becky. “Another alien?”

“I'm his . . . ” she sighed. “We're his prisoners.” She waved toward us. We looked at one another and stepped out of the brush.

“He conquered our worlds,” said Becky. “Isn't that right, guys?”

We nodded. I got the sense that this was probably the strangest day of these three Eka's lives.

“Well,” said the Eka leader, “after we vaporize him, I guess you'll be
our
prisoners.” All three laughed again.

“Don't shoot him,” said Becky. “Or . . . or . . .”

The Eka looked less than impressed. “Or what?” asked the leader. Becky had no answer. Her eyes darted around frantically.

“Or he'll rain fire from the skies,” said Nicki.

“Yeah. That's it!” said Becky, nudging Taius hard with her elbow. “Isn't that right, Taius—uh, Legate Ridian?”

“What?” he said. “Oh. Yup. Rain fire.”

“His ship is standing by in high orbit,” said Nicki. “Nuclear missiles armed and ready to launch.”

“See it?” said Little Gus, pointing at the sky. “It's just behind that cloud.” The Eka squinted upward. They no longer looked so confident.

“They're watching from space,” said Becky, “waiting for his signal. Or for something to happen to him. Because if it does—”

“Ka-boom!” yelled Hollins. All three Eka jumped into the air, reflexively flapping up a meter or two before landing again.

The Eka leader chastened the other two hunters (though she had jumped just as high). Then she turned to Eyf. “What about you?” said the leader to Eyf. “You're no alien. Why are your feathers white? What are you?”

“I was an Oru from across the mountains,” said Eyf sadly, “but this Vorem one drained the color from my feathers. All he had to do was wave that little black box toward me.” She pointed to Taius's zowul and whimpered in faux despair.

Taius looked around, then held the device up ominously. The distress beacon chimed, and the three Eka hunters moaned in terror. The thought of white feathers—of losing their own clan identity—was even more frightening than a nuclear strike.

“Now I repeat,” said Taius, “don't touch that starship.”

“Okay, okay, Vorem!” said the Eka leader, now bowing in earnest. “No need to be hasty! Praise the Dominion.”

Taius looked to the rest of us.

“Praise the Dominion,” we repeated in unison. He nodded.

“Let us just be going back to Eka,” said the leader. “No need for you to bother with us anymore, mighty Vorem lord.” She screeched up toward the sky as though they could hear her in Taius's imaginary ship. “Praise the Dominion!”

The three Eka hunters spread their wings as though to fly away. I was close enough now to see that the
Phryxus II
was empty. Did that mean that Kalac, Ornim, and Chayl had survived the crash?

“Wait!” I cried. “If you want to stay in the legate's good graces, you need to help him with his secret mission.” Taius stared at me, confused.

“He is searching for three fugitives,” I continued. “They look like me, only taller. They're, uh, escaped prisoners!”

The three Eka glanced at one another. The leader spoke. “Yes, some of the Eka saw them. More strange little outlanders running through the forest weeks ago. We shot at them a few times, but we missed.”

“Where were they going?” I cried.

The Eka leader squinted at me. Perhaps I was overstepping my bounds as a humble prisoner. Taius could sense that I was on the verge of blowing our ruse.

“Quiet . . . knave,” said Taius to me. Oddly, when he actually tried to sound like a villain, he was totally unconvincing. “I'll, uh, ask the questions around here,” he said, clearing his throat. “So, yeah, where were they going?”

“Toward Hykaro Roost,” said the Eka leader, pointing out into the jungle. “That way. Fifty kilometers.”

“Very good,” said Taius, nodding. “Now leave here at once. And I trust we shall encounter no further hassles while we are in ‘Eka territory.'” He slathered the last two words with contempt. The Eka assured us that we would not. They bowed and nodded, nodded and bowed, and then took flight.

We watched them as they dwindled to nothing more than black specks in the sky. When they were finally gone, we breathed a collective sigh of relief. Immediately, we all started talking in an excited mix of human-ese and Xotonian.

“Good show, Becky!” cried Hollins, cuffing her on the back. “You just jumped right in there and saved his purple butt.” He threw a thumb toward Taius, who still looked completely dazed.

“Yeah, Becky, bold move!” said Little Gus. “Side note: Your hair looks really nice today.”

“No it doesn't,” she said. “And when I saw Taius flopping around like a fish out of water, I just knew I had to jump in there”

“Yeah, real smooth, Taius,” said Little Gus to Taius in Xotonian. “That Aeaki called your bluff, and suddenly you got quieter than a library full of rocks.”

“What?” said Taius, snapping back to reality. “Oh yeah. After they weren't impressed by my badge, I had absolutely nothing. Without Becky, I was done for,” he admitted with a laugh. His laughter startled the others (as it had startled me before). Taius frowned. “Eyf!” he said sharply, spooking the little Aeaki.

“Yes?” she said, cowering behind her wing.

“The whole draining-the-color-from-your-feathers thing?” said Taius, holding up the tracker. “That was pretty smart!”

“And they actually believed it!” squeaked Eyf. “They are very, very, very simple on this side of the mountains!”

“They saw Kalac, Ornim, and Chayl! They're alive!” said Becky. “I mean, not that they wouldn't be. But they definitely are!”

The others cheered. Hollins clapped me on the back. Even Taius smiled, though I thought there was a touch of melancholy in it.

“It sounds like they're headed for Hykaro Roost,” I said. “What do you know about it, Eyf? Lately, I've found my cyclopaedia to be a bit out of date.”

“Hykaro was once a great city,” said Eyf. “The gods themselves lived there, but they left it empty. But all the clans come to trade. No fighting among Aeaki is allowed. When you visit the Hykaro Roost, it is customary to bring an offering—something from the time before the Vorem—and toss it into the Midden. It is a little ritual to help us remember what was lost.”

We were silent. Eyf took two of my thol'grazes in her wings. “I am very, very, very happy that the Xotonian ones you're looking for are still alive,” she said.

“Me too,” I said. “It's no one's birthday, but I feel like celebrating.” I rummaged around in my pack and found what I was looking for. “Hollins, can you use your knife to cut this into seven pieces?” And I tossed him the only Feeney's Original Astronaut Ice Cream bar on the whole planet.

“Sure. Seven pieces,” he said, unfolding his pocketknife. “But loath as I am to admit it, I think Becky deserves a little extra.”

Hollins cut it up and distributed the tiny slivers. Taius didn't like the taste; he claimed it was so sweet it made his fangs hurt. Meanwhile, Eyf started talking twice as fast as normal. We'd each already had a piece when we noticed that there was one left. Nicki was gone.