Aurora Saga 2 Immortality for Life (9 page)

‘Touch me again and I’ll break your arm. Is that clear?’

The man tried to nod slowly. His face turned a shade of red.

Zoren was suddenly aware that everyone in the transit was staring at her, so he said quietly,

‘Kalrea… Kalrea, I thought you said keep a low profile, don’t attract any attention.’ He coughed loudly, so Kalrea would hear him.

Kalrea glanced around, before letting the man go. He fell to the floor.

The transit now arrived at a terminal. ‘Are you still here?’ Kalrea said aggressively to the man. He quickly left the transit.

A Gullin woman sitting on the transit took a wide piece of rofhi bark from her mouth. ‘Good for you, dear,’ she commented, while smoke bellowed from her mouth and nose.

Zoren was now trying to hide himself even more by covering his eyes with the edge of his hood.

I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of Kalrea that’s for sure. I don’t know what she may be capable of.

Twenty-eight minutes and twelve stops later, Kalrea and Zoren reached their destination and left the transit.

Er… It gets worse. Now, what the hell’s that smell?
Zoren thought, covering his nose.
Smells like excrement. That’s disgusting! I definitely need one of those face masks.

He gazed around the deserted and dimly-lit transit station, which had six corridors leading away from it like spokes on a wheel, none of which looked very inviting. A haze of grey and white condensed water vapour was moving slowly beneath the ceiling, forming a micro-climate. The air was very humid and the walls were cold and damp, making him think that it could rain at any moment.

‘That way!’ Kalrea said. ‘The place we’re looking for is along that corridor.’

As Zoren started to walk along the corridor, he was caught by surprise when a dark-green slimy slug, over half a metre long, appeared from a drainage duct at the base of the wall in front of him. It quickly slivered across the floor and up the wall on the opposite side of the corridor, disappearing into the cloud of vapour. He felt a shiver run down his spine as another one appeared briefly from beneath the humid haze in front of him. He moved to the side of the corridor to avoid it.

I’m not even going to ask what they were or what else may be lurking up there. The less I know the better,
he thought and then said,

‘I don’t think I’d want to live in this area.’

‘Yes, it’s not so pleasant in this part of Xim’gu.’

‘And the other areas are?’ Zoren said with a sarcastic voice.

He was now constantly glancing up at the ceiling.

They exited the corridor and entered a large circular space over three hundred metres in diameter, which had a high vaulted ceiling. Around the entire perimeter were the entrances to many bars, all with flashing coloured lights and bright signage trying to attract people inside. This area was once a grand leisure centre with a space in the centre for theatrical performances and adorned by plants and flowers, but there were now just areas of blue grass overrun by weeds and the remains of a central stage.

There were a lot of people moving about between the bars.

Zoren heard a noise like someone was aggressively knocking on a door.

‘What was that?’ Zoren said.

‘That was a railgun being fired, somewhere over there in one of those bars,’ Kalrea said, peering into the distance.

‘I hope that’s not the bar we’re heading for?’ he replied.

‘No, this is the place we’re looking for,’ Kalrea said, moving towards a nearby bar.

Standing outside the door and holding a very large gun across its waist was a tall creature with a large head, which Zoren recognised was a Drulfian.

On each side of the doorway there was a three-dimensional glowing red and blue image of a Gullin woman standing in a bikini. The two women were pictured life-size, with their arms stretched out high above their heads, so their hands were above the level of the top of the door. They were both supporting a muscular Gullin man who was wearing shorts and lying on his side above the door with his arm supporting his head, in what was an impossible pose.

‘Are you sure this is the right place, Kalrea?’ Zoren asked, feeling embarrassed to enter such a seedy establishment.

‘It’s the right place. I know that a lot of the crew from the
Ringal
are in there.’

‘What are we going to do?’

‘Well hopefully the captain of the
Ringal
will be inside. He’ll definitely know where the Agonians are. If he isn’t, then I’ll have to ask one of the crew where I can find him.’

As Kalrea went to push open the door, the Drulfian put his arm out in front of her, preventing her from entering the bar.

‘Are you in the right place, lady?’ it asked her.

‘What do you mean?’ Kalrea replied.

‘This is not a tourist area of Xim’gu. I don’t think someone like you would want to go in a place like this.’

Kalrea pushed its arm to one side. ‘I’m not a tourist, all right! And this
is
where I want to go.’

Zoren shrugged his shoulders, when the Drulfian glanced at him and then quickly followed Kalrea inside.

I
n the large, noisy and smoke-filled bar were about thirty people. All the men were of a race he did not recognise, so he asked Kalrea quietly who they were.

‘Frinduls,’ Kalrea replied. ‘Some of them are the mercenaries who took your people.’

Zoren had already met a Frindul, the previous day, when the Polnozoo was attacked and he had been trapped under the large girder on the space station, but that time they were wearing space suits and he could not see them at all, so he had made the natural assumption that they had to look the same as him. Instead, they were completely different.

He gazed at a Frindul sitting at a nearby table who was smoking a stubby blood-red stick and was wearing a green feather covered coat. His light-green leathery face was long and thin, like someone had squeezed his cheeks together, pushing his swollen and cracked mouth outwards. The face appeared to be wet with two large snowy-white eyes, but there were no visible nose or ears. At the base of the back of his head was some long coarse hair.

The Frindul turned towards him, and Zoren unknowingly made eye contact with him. He felt very uneasy and a cold shiver ran up his spine, as the Frindul’s large eyes seemed to cut right through him. Zoren turned quickly away.

There were four Frinduls standing at the bar, laughing, drinking and playing a game with brightly-coloured circular discs. Next to them, a Gullin woman in a bikini, this time a real woman, had her arms around the necks of the two Frinduls standing either side of her, while further along the bar a couple were kissing very lovingly. At some of the tables Gullin women were entertaining the Frinduls, chatting and drinking with them.

As Zoren and Kalrea approached the bar, the noise in the room lessened and everyone seemed intent to stare at Kalrea, who turned towards then and said calmly,

‘You look like you’ve never seen a female before. You all need to get out more.’

‘Dress like that in here and you’re asking for trouble,’ the young Gullin barwoman said to Kalrea and then asked her, ‘What do you want to drink?’ and pointed to four huge display windows, which each contained a coloured liquid.

I hope she doesn’t ask me.

He tried to listen to the conversation of two Frinduls standing nearby, but they were both speaking in another language.

‘Two of the tyi, please,’ Kalrea said to the barwoman, who then went to a display window, which contained a blue liquid, and pressed a button beneath it twice. Two small transparent bags were filled with the liquid and she returned with them.

‘That’s 50 yek.’

She placed the blue bags on top of the bar, where they both naturally spread outwards forming what looked like very large water droplets lying on the bar surface. In their centres, protruding upwards, were long flexibly straw-like tubes to drink from.

At one of several small terminals located along the length of the bar, Kalrea typed a code. The barwoman acknowledged her payment.

Zoren picked up his bag of drink, which felt rubbery and slightly sticky. He wondered how he was meant to handle it, so he observed a Frindul standing at the bar who had a bag balanced on his shoulder and was drinking from it using the tube.

‘Are you sure you can drink, Kalrea?’ Zoren asked quietly, while trying to place the bag on his right shoulder.

She smiled back. ‘Yes, don’t worry. I’m not going to short circuit if that’s what you’re worried about.’

‘It’s just that I wouldn’t like to be alone here, that’s all. They look like-’

He was interrupted by a scuffle at one of the tables. When he glanced over to see what was going on, he noticed three Agonians sitting at a table behind them in the corner of the room.

‘Kalrea, I can see some of my people. Over there, to the right of the main door,’ he said quietly.

Kalrea casually looked around as to not attract attention.

‘Yes, I recognise them as Gulco, Diean and Vinuar. They look in good health, but seem very frightened.’

‘Hello, darlin’!’ a Frindul said, as he placed his hand on Kalrea’s shoulder. ‘Are you looking for me?’

‘Depends,’ Kalrea replied. ‘What ship are you from?’

‘The
Triput
, why?’

‘In that case, no and I’m not your darling.’ She pushed his hand off her shoulder. ‘Now piss off!’

Zoren was surprised by Kalrea’s language.

She smirked at him and said quietly, ‘Sorry, it seems to be the type of response they expect in here.’ Kalrea then turned and without hesitation called out. ‘I’m looking for the captain of the
Ringal
. Can any of you help me, please?’

A lot of the Frinduls stopped what they were doing and stared at Kalrea. Within a few second all conversation ended and there was deaf silence.

‘Looks like there are a few of you in here from the
Ringal
, and it would seem your captain may be here too. So, which one of you is the captain?’

An obese Frindul who was still seated at a table, looked over. ‘What do you want?’

‘I’m interested in the cargo you had onboard.’

‘Now why would you be interested in my cargo?’ the captain replied.

‘I want to buy one of the Agonians you have.’

Zoren noticed that they seemed to get jumpy when Kalrea mentioned the word Agonians.

‘Kalrea,’ he said quietly. ‘We don’t have any weapons. What are you doing?’

Kalrea dismissed his comment by moving her arm in front of him as if to stop his interference.

Suddenly a drunken Frindul bumped into Zoren. Upon slipping, he pulled the habit downwards, uncovering Zoren’s head.

A Frindul at the bar raised his hand. ‘That’s the Agonian boy! The boy that was trapped on the Polnozoo.’

‘That’s Zoren!’ Gulco called out from across the room. He stood up, but he was pushed back into his seat by a Frindul standing close to him.

Zoren glanced around to see that every gun in the room was now pointed at him and Kalrea. The people at the bar backed slowly away from them, while others quietly left the bar. The women in the room also quickly disappeared through a nearby door. The entrance door to the bar opened slightly, and then the Drulfian who was outside put its head in to check what was happening. It decided not to come in and closed the door.

The captain now stood up. ‘Well, well, an Agonian. Now, how did you manage to get here?’

Zoren felt frightened and wanted to run and hide. He glanced to Kalrea, who seemed unmoved. She seemed to sense he was scared because she turned to him and said reassuringly, ‘Don’t worry, they cannot harm you,’ and then raising her voice, whilst glancing around the room, added, ‘and even if they could, you’re too valuable. That’s right, isn’t it?’

‘I suggest you move to one side lady and let my men take him. He can sit with the others,’ the captain said calmly.

‘My name’s Kalrea, and how do you know I’m a lady? I’m not moving and neither is he. I warn you, I don’t want to kill any of you, but I will defend myself.’

The captain laughed. ‘If I clicked my fingers, you’d be dead in an instant,’ he replied. ‘You have no weapons and I can assure you these men are exceptional shots.’

‘All I want is those three Agonians you have there and the location of where the others are being held. I know they’re no longer on your ship. Tell me and we’ll leave. No one will get hurt.’

‘I’ve had enough of this crap,’ the captain said to Kalrea, and then addressing his men added, ‘If anyone wants her, take her, if not,
please,
will someone just shoot her.’

Kalrea glanced over to the barwoman and said, ‘I wouldn’t stay there if I was you.’

The Gullin barwoman quickly left the bar area and disappeared into an adjoining room.

While Kalrea’s head was turned, a Frindul tried to grab her arm. He glowed white and in an instant disappeared. Kalrea brushed her arm where he had touched her in the same way that she would have cleaning off a dead insect from her clothing.