The Star Plume (3 page)

She opened the burlap bag and rummaged around
inside. “Here’s a bright blue.” The blue cloud billowed around her
and Wrangler Zav before she got hold of both corners. Wrangler Zav
shook his head ‘No’ and Cressida stuffed it back inside the
bag.

She rummaged deeper. “Or a dark red. He might
like that.” Color billowed out around them as she pulled out a few
more options. Wrangler Zav shook his head no each time. A heard
trader had little need for colors.

Then she remembered how she had gotten lost
in the first place. She reached toward the bottom of the deep bag,
pulling forth the silver color cloud she had wandered so far to
collect.

Now, freed from the burlap bag, the silvery
cloud billowed like a sail in the dim bar, catching all the
available light. It seemed to grow in size and shape, the cloud
taking the shape of a castle, then a mountain, then a sun. It
shimmered just as Princess Cressida remembered.

Seeing the silvery cloud, Wrangler Zav
gasped. He glanced at the bar and saw several heads turn in his
direction, people jabbing elbows at each other as they caught sight
of the metallic sheen. A few patrons stood up. The bar owner pushed
his seat back from his table to head their way.

“Put that away. Now,” Wrangler Zav hissed.
His lips were set in a straight line, pressed against his teeth as
if he might bite.

“My goodness.” Princess Cressida eyes grew
wide at Wrangler’s tone. She quickly gathered the filmy color
together and pushed it back into the burlap bag. “I just thought,
it was pretty, maybe he’d like it for trade…”

“Oh, he’d like it alright…”

Several patrons had jumped off their stools
and were ambling toward them, blocking the way to the door. A few
of them were pointing at Princess Cressida.

A tall column of white light appeared in
front of Wrangler Zav. Princess Cressida stepped back in surprise,
shielding her eyes.

“Looks like you've attracted some unwanted
attention.” The light spoke to them. Princess looked more closely
and saw the light had within it the semblance of a human form that
blinked in and out of view, depending on the angle.

Wrangler Zav sighed with evident relief. "You
could say that. Your timing, Hyko, as usual, is darn near
perfect.”

Princess Cressida cleared her throat, with a
pointed look at Wrangler.

“Princess Cressida, this is Hyko. An old
friend.”

She looked sideways at the light and saw in
the light a wide smile and kind eyes. She couldn’t hide her
surprise when the light spoke to her.

“Pleased to meet you Princess. Any friend of
Wranglers…”

“Pleasure.” Princess Cressida curtsied,
unsure exactly where to look.

“Sorry to interrupt these pleasantries but we
could use some assistance right about now.” The approaching crowd
was growing closer and louder, as the traders pushed towards
Princess Cressida.

Hyko smiled...or at least seemed to, from
where the Princess stood. “Always happy to help you out, Wrangler.
I’m getting pretty good at it, had a lot of practice. But hey,
who’s complaining, ‘specially since you’ve got such pretty
friends.” Princess Cressida blushed.

“You know the drill,” Hyko explained. “Hang
on to me. I’ll give them an exit they won’t soon forget.”

“Just get us outta here.”

Princess Cressida grabbed hold to the column
of light, which had a strange feel, crinkly like paper but heavy
like velvet. Wrangler Zav did the same, as Hyko lifted off the
stone floor, through the open ceiling into the night sky, a lone
shooting star in the darkest sky.

As they both clung to Hyko as he sped through
the night, leaving a sparkling trail in his wake, Wrangler Zav
whispered to Princess Cressida, “Where did you get that silver
cloud?”

“It was caught in a net on the edge of my
star field. It’s how I ended up so far from home. Why?”

“Because that there cloud is the Night Prism.
And now a bar full of traders has seen it. People know the rumors
are true. It’s only a matter of time before the Dark Spectrum
learns of this.”

“This puff of color is the Night Prism? What
was it doing in my world?”

"I’ve no idea. But we’re going to find out.
Most important, we’ve got to hide it - and ourselves - from the
Dark Spectrum.”

Chapter 4

Per sat at the table watching the Igneous
patrons gossip. That freak Hyko had created a massive scene; Flo
had thrown a few of the rowdier patrons outside, along with ‘the
rest of the animals’, she’d told them. Per reminded himself to give
Flo a raise.

Watching the lingering excitement ripple
through the rough traders, Per sipped his whiskey and considered
what he’d seen.

The Night Prism. In his bar.

There’d been rumors. He’d heard them, as had
every one on the trading routes. There were always rumors about the
Night Prism.

However, this time, the rumors had been
different. A message from the Dark Spectrum itself, that it would
pay infinite Celestial Coin to the trader who brought him the Night
Prism.

Rumors or not, messages from the Dark
Spectrum were far and few between. It was difficult to get
information across the Breach, in either direction. Per had tried
once himself, when he was younger and braver. The attempt had cost
him a chunk of his left hand and taught him not to mess with Time
Fiends, which guarded the far side of the Breach.

With his good hand, Per rubbed his stubbly
chin. His watery blue eyes looked beyond the bar to the open
doorway. An unfamiliar silhouette had stepped into the doorway. Per
admired her curves as he wondered what else the night would
bring.

The woman in the doorway stepped inside. She
was dressed in a tight jumpsuit the color of rust. It was flecked
with dust from the Star Plume, as was her hair, as rusty red as her
suit.

Outside a loud whinny of complaint caught the
woman’s attention and she called back, “Flyer, I’ll be right
back.”

She consulted a wide metal band on her
forearm and looked around the bar, peering deep into the shadows.
There, she spotted Per, seated at the farthest table from the
entrance. She walked his way, throwing her long legs forward in a
runway strut, for effect. The patrons watched her walk, one of them
hissing low at her in approval.

Per watched the woman approach. He stayed
seated but he felt his heartbeat quicken, out of fear or desire, he
was not sure. He knew one thing. This was his place. He didn’t know
who this harpy was, marching toward him like a victor to the
spoils. He downed his whiskey and shoved his chair back, tilting it
upward on two back legs.

When the woman reached Per’s table, they
stared at each other for a single slow breath. She spoke.

“Per Nickel? I’m Aglaje from Colum III. I’m
seeking my sister Cressida. I understand she was here a short time
ago.”

Per shook his head slowly, eyeing the
stranger. “No one tonight except the regulars. Had a little ruckus
from a star freak, but nothing out of the ordinary this far
out.”

“You didn't see a beautiful young woman
dressed in a low-cut brocaded gown and her silvery cowboy friend?
Were you asleep?”

Per regarded Aglaje, then removed his glasses
and proceeded to clean each lens with a silk pocket square he
always kept in his breast pocket. Among ruffians day in and day
out, a man needed to maintain dignity or he might end up like the
dregs. He inspected the glasses. Satisfied, he placed them again on
the bridge of his shiny nose. He never hurried. And he never gave
out information for free.

“Ma'am, I've not any idea to whom you refer,”
he said, lifting both hands, palms up, in his ignorance. He frowned
to convey his disappointment in himself. “But please have a
beverage on your way out. Compliments.”

The woman’s eyes were bloodshot and angry.
Per noticed she was attractive but well worn from hard living.
Probably easy company on the Star Plume. Dark circles under her
eyes suggested she hadn’t slept in days.

Aglaje seethed, “There's a belted cow out
there that says otherwise. She brought my sister and her cowboy all
this way. I want to know where my sister is. And I think you
know.”

“Sorry, afraid I am unable to assist you.
Please excuse me…”

Per stood to leave but his waitress Flo
interrupted him, blocking his exit. She shook her yellow waitress
pencil at her boss.

“Per, don't be a jerk. She's looking for her
sister. You know that Princess lady was with Wrangler Zav. You SAW
the commotion they caused. And holy crap, what an exit!”

Aglaje turned to Flo. “You saw them. Did you
speak with them?”

Per scowled at Flo, but Flo nodded, smiled,
and snapped her gum, always pleased to piss off Per.

“I don’t usually have much time for chitchat
you know, it gets busy in here and it’s only me on shift, since Per
is too cheap to hire more help. You see, Wrangler Zav and me, we go
way back, to our younger years, so I’m always happy when he stops
in, he’s polite-like. So, yes, I did speak with them, but only
briefly, to take their order. Afterward, I overheard them talking.
Seems that Wrangler was looking for a particular trader. Then the
next thing I knew they pulled out that Night Prism and the place
just about near erupted into chaos. Some fool broke nearly every
glass at my station in a rush to get over there and I got to
cleaning up that mess. Next I looked, they were gone.”

“Where?”

“Honey, I don’t where they went, and I don’t
care, as long as they paid their tab. But I sure know how they
went. A star freak, one of those bright hybrids, took ‘em outta
here in a flash.” Flo pointed up at the open roof, through which
shone only darkness.

Aglaje stared up into the night. It had been
a long journey and it looked like it was not yet over. She asked,
“This ‘Star freak’. What’s its name?”

“Hyko. He goes by Hyko,” Flo said, sticking
her pencil in her streaky blond hair.

Slumped down in his seat, Per glared at
Flo.

“Thank you.” Aglaje pressed something cold
and hard into Flo’s weathered hand, then hurried to the door.

Flo stared down at the odd rusty coin. She
stuck it in her pocket and went back to work.

Chapter 5

Slowing from light speed, Hyko landed on a
high rocky plateau that sat alone in space. The plateau was
circular and about the size of roundabout. The sky was a brilliant
blue overhead but all along the horizon, the blue faded to black.
Black tendrils led the advance of night.

Hyko surveyed the plateau, which was empty,
save for loose stones and space debris. A satellite from a distant
planet had crashed there many years before and it lay in a mangled
metal mess nearby.

Certain it was safe, Hyko unfurled the fronds
of gaseous light in which he’d wrapped Wrangler and the Princess
during the long journey. His passengers, slightly dazed by the
journey, stepped forward.

Wrangler took off his hat, swatted it a
couple times against his silver trousers and placed it back on his
head, adjusting the hat’s angle. He let out a yelp, which made
Princess Cressida jump in surprise and put her hand over her
heart.

“Yowwee! Hyko, you never disappoint! What a
ride! I haven’t had a thrill like that since I hitchhiked on
Haley’s comet before it all burnt out.”

Hyko had dimmed his light to a faint blue
glow and he brightened at the acknowledgement and praise. His black
eyes reflected the sky above.

Freed from the confines of Hyko, Princess
Cressida blinked up at the blue sky. It reminded her of home and in
a wave of homesickness, she stepped back toward the plateau’s edge,
kicking a few pebbles over the edge.

“Princess!” Wrangler yelled. Princess
Cressida threw herself forward as the stones along the edge gave
way to her weight of her feet. She lay still for a moment on the
ground, her feet dangling over thin air, then crawled toward
Wrangler, where she stood and brushed comet dust from her gown.
Wrangler placed a hand lightly on Cressida’s shoulder then a moment
later removed it. He stepped to the plateau’s edge and looked over
into a black nothingness.

Turning to Hyko, he said, “The sky, I’ve
never seen anything like it. What is this place?”

“This is The Kempt. It’s at the end of
Breach, the divide between our world and the realm of the Dark
Spectrum,” Hyko said.

“None of those sissy traders will follow us
here. So we should be OK.”

“Yes. But you are on your own. This is as far
as I can go. It's dangerous for me even to be here,” Hyko
added.

Wrangler gave Hyko a half salute, half wave.
“Understood. Well, again, we sure ‘preciate the save. You stay
safe. Say ‘hi’ to your Momma for me.” Wrangler Zav winked at Hyko,
a twinkle in his eye.

Hyko nodded, his light brightening to a
blinding brilliance as he prepared to leave.

Princess Cressida watched in awe as Hyko, now
a column of white fire, lifted up from the ground. Among the sparks
and flames that twisted off in abandon, Cressida could see Hyko’s
eyes smiling at her. In the next heartbeat, he was gone, arcing
across the blue sky toward the black horizon, leaving a trail of
light.

Wrangler and Princess Cressida stared after
him.

“Wrangler, I’ve never met anyone like Hyko
before. Who, or What, is he?”

Wrangler watched the sky. The black horizon
was still creeping upward, swallowing the blue. Troubling. Wrangler
turned at Princess Cressida’s question.

“That Hyko he’s a hoot, ain’t he? He’s what
some people call a Hybrid. But the proper name for his kind is
Astra Hominid. He’s half star, half human.”

“How on earth does THAT happen?” Princess
crossed her arms and stared back at him, skeptical.

Wrangler tipped his hat. “Very careful-like.
His mother was a real trail burner, a wild one. I had to rassle her
back into place more than once. Seems one warm summer night, she
took a liking to some handsome gent who made a wish upon her and
well…Hyko was the result.”