NASTRAGULL: Pirates (18 page)

Once Alec had listened intently to the large pirate spill his guts, he thrust a rag into Zuzack's mouth. Then he grabbed him by his long hair and dragged him from the bedroom into the living room, a task that took a while, given Zuzack's size. Alec was stronger than the average Oman, but by the time he'd gotten the pirate where he wanted him, his hands were throbbing again and the pain in the right side of his chest was well-nigh unbearable.

He prodded Zuzack with one foot, and the pirate spoke. "In my quarters are the tritonium bars...and, and the map. There is more treasure...all you have to do is follow the instructions, and go to one place after the other..."

Alec listened to the cowardly alien as he opened up like a book, and then asked laconically, "And how would I be able to get from here to your quarters, and later off this ship? What about my friends? Moments after your crew learn that you're my hostage, you cease being their leader."

Zuzack frowned. "So, ah, you do know something about our ways."

Alec glared at the pirate, and said, "I have the benefit of a very good military education, pig. And a man learns fast when he's in your hands. If that's your answer to my question, then what use are you?" Alec leaned forward with the sharp blade, placing the point on Zuzack's neck.

"Listen, you cold-blooded little bastard!" Zuzack screamed. "We can get to my quarters through a secret passage between here and there. Then you can take my private shuttle—it's made for galactic travel for two. Your friends...even if you could save one or two of them, which I highly doubt since they are no longer under my control, they're spread all over the ship by now. Think! Not even with me as a hostage running around with you...you can never save them. Besides, the
Tramp
is only equipped for two people. Please listen to me."             

Alec stood up and drummed his fingers on his lips, looking down at the trembling creature Zuzack had become... wondering if he was faking his fear, as Alec himself had.

Zuzack interrupted his reverie. "Hell, I'll even throw in the two sluts over there." He nodded his head towards the bedroom area, and had gall enough to smile.

Alec was pretty sure, by then, that Zuzack was faking at least some of his terror. He leaned close to the pirate, and whispered, "This is what we will do." He outlined his plan, and after a few protests—and a few painful cuts—Zuzack nodded his head in consent, having apparently decided that Alec would, in fact, take him with him to his own quarters. Alec nodded, and foraged around Alexa's quarters until he found the remote that controlled his slave collar. After using the remote to remove it, he walked back to Zuzack and, to the pirate Captain's horror, he placed the collar around his neck and locked it down.

"Now, my hairy fat friend," Alec pronounced, "I'll know where you are at all times. And it'll keep you in line, I'm sure. Hell, you know how it works, right?"

Zuzack nodded, looking a bit gloomy.

"Good, because if it looks like I won't make it back, or if you do anything I tell you not to, I'll turn it up to maximum and reduce your head to a little greasy spot. Now, after I return, we'll take care of that shuttle of yours. Got it?"

Zuzack looked at Alec with a dark and miserable expression. Alec continued, "I've given you my word of honor that I will not kill you while I'm on your ship. I realize your word may not mean a lot to you, but mine is everything to me; believe that or not as you choose. But if anything goes wrong, then that commitment means nothing. Are we clear?"

Zuzack blinked and nodded, so Alec turned away to check and double-check the girls' bounds. After giving Zuzack the same treatment, he dosed them all with the happy gas from a nearly-full canister and gagged them hard. Before he left Alexa's suite, he opened a panel in the bulkhead and proceeded to reprogram the locking/lighting protocol to his liking. Then he took a deep breath, slipped out into the dim corridor, and shut the hatch behind him.

Chapter 10

He wore one of Alexa's embroidered tapestries around his body to hide the array of weapons he'd attached to his belt and thrust into various pockets and folds of his uniform. He also wore a wide bandanna around his head in a poor attempt to conceal his identity; but it was basically all that he could do, given what he had to work with, and it only needed to work for a few moments. He hurried down the hallway towards the hidden hatch that Zuzack had told him about, and was somewhat surprised when he found it. He checked it over carefully before he opened it and did the same after he had it opened. Then he looked down at the remote control in his hand and smiled, thinking,
No, he wouldn't be that stupid.

He entered and closed the hatch behind him, then moved swiftly through a long, narrow passage until he reached an old lift shaft, exactly as Zuzack had promised. The platform took him up several floors and then jinked sidewise, then went up several more floors and went sideways again. It stopped in front of a small, unadorned hatch. Alec stepped down from the platform and entered the code Zuzack had given him into the lockpad. The hatch slid aside and Alec stepped inside the small office on the other side, ducking his head; Zuzack must have had to double over just to get in there. The lights flickered on, and he stood quietly in the hatchway as he looked around and got himself oriented. The little office was plain and boring, hardly the place he would have expected Zuzack to keep his secret things hidden in; but then, maybe that was the idea. Nodding sharply, he entered the office and, just as Zuzack has said, quickly found the tiny secret compartment hidden in the left rear leg of the plain wooden desk. When he thumbed it open, several different types of computer chips fell out onto the deck. He carefully wrapped them in his bandana and thrust it in a pocket.

There was a hatch in the far wall that opened in what appeared to be Zuzack's quarters. Alec was surprised by how clean and small the place was. Shrugging, he fiddled with the light controls on the terminal set into the wall of the chamber, causing the lights to flicker and change color from dim red to dim green; this elicited an electrical blue-white flicker from one of the deck plates. Removing a hatchet from the armory attached to his belt, he walked over to the deck plate and smashed it hard with the hatchet. The false plate shattered, exposing a hollow space beyond. He removed a flashlight from his belt and shone it down into the hole, revealing a large hold that he suspected wasn't located on any blueprints anywhere.

He let out a whistle when he saw what was in the hold: it was stacked with treasures of all kinds, from holocarvings and rare animal hides to stacks of gold, platinum, and other precious metals. He shone the light around the room's corners, and soon found the tritonium bars. They were neatly packed in two small boxes, ten in each. Alec looked around for something to put the boxes in, and saw a stack of folded cargo sacks in one corner.  

Luckily, Alexa had had plenty of rope in her quarters. Grinning, he attached a length to Zuzack's bedpost—which was bolted to the deck—and let himself down into the treasure trove. He grabbed a sack from the stack in the corner and, working fast, stuffed all the tritonium bars and a few other light, valuable items into the bag. He didn't dare get too greedy; he could carry only so much. Then he shinnied back up the rope into Zuzack's office, where he untied the rope, coiled it, and put it away. He was bloody well ready to get the hell out of there.

But he realized that there might be more to find, so he calmed himself and took the time to go over the Captain's quarters inch by inch. It's wasn't long before he found a cylinder-shaped container hidden in the bedstead; he opened it and found even more map chips inside. Nodding to himself, he slid the cylinder into his loot bag—and heard a faint sound behind him. He turned slowly, gun at the ready, letting the bag slide down to the floor.

In front of him was large curtain. He'd mistaken it for a wall tapestry covering the bulkhead, but from the way it was rippling, there had to be an opening behind it. He lifted one edge slowly; and when he saw what was inside the adjacent room, he choked—and lost everything from his last meal.

He fell to his knees, skidding in his own mess, gasping for air. The world seemed to recede, and he felt numb. When he finally managed to raise his head and get back to his feet, he looked his friend and squad leader Jack straight in his only eye. Jack's mutilated body was strapped to an odd-looking table. His head was forced up in an unnatural position, so that he could look over what was left of his body.

The top of his head had been removed; it was a raw mess of red and gray tissue, and Alec could see that part of his brain has been removed. Elsewhere, Jack was in even worse shape; how he was still alive, Alec couldn't fathom. In many places, his flesh had been torn away so that his skeleton was plainly visible. Part of his rib cage was missing, as were his genitals, ears, nose, and all his fingers and toes. Several tubes ran into his body, feeding him various types of liquids, and a respirator kept him breathing.

So the rumors were true: this pirate clan cannibalized some of their captives, and kept them alive while eating them. A wave of pure revulsion passed through him. How could any reasoning being eat another sentient?

Heart in his throat, Alec walked over to Jack, staring—and Jack stared back, his eyes filled with pain and horror. Clearly, he knew what was happening. He made a guttural, gobbling sound, and Alec carefully removed the gag that tightly bound his mouth, as a bit binds a bridled horse's. Alec swallowed hard as he saw that half of Jack's tongue was missing, and what remained appeared to be badly burned. But Jack still he managed to choke out a few coherent words: "...kill me..."

Without hesitation, Alec crouched and yanked the power cords of the life support machines out of the wall. Jack's face turned pale, and the life in his eye quickly faded out.

Alec leaned forward and gently kissed Jack's forehead. "Brother in arms, I shall remember you. May your soul find the everlasting peace and honor that it deserves." Alec stood and gave his dead friend one last salute.

Then he stood there, staring long at the horrible display, and started to tremble.

Meanwhile, Zuzack had regained consciousness, and was rolling around on the floor of Alexa's quarters trying to free himself, upsetting furniture and smashing Alexa's belongings as he did. He cursed through his gag, trying to get the attention of the two lovelies in the adjoining room; but all he could hear in response were a few faint snores. He didn't notice when the door opened up behind him—at least not until he was faced with a pair of black boots in front of his face. Zuzack rolled over to look into the Silver Guard's dark blue eyes—but he barely noticed the color. All he could see was pure hate. That was the last thing he remembered before everything turned black.

Alexa stood alone on a high rocky shelf, wearing a white gown. One of her ankles was shackled to a chain attached to the mountainside. On a ledge below her crouched a huge beast-like thing; it was black and hairy, with an ugly short snout. Smoke trickled out of that snout.

Ignoring the dragon, she gazed out across the sunlit countryside. In the middle distance, the clear, sparkling light reflected from a suit of shining tritonium silver armor, which was worn by the most beautiful and perfect man in existence.

The knight charged the big, hairy beast. But the beast-thing only laughed as it tossed its huge head back and vomited a stream of fire at her. She was engulfed in flames, and it hurt like hell...

Alexa screamed as the exquisite pain in her left buttock jerked her back to consciousness—or she tried to, anyway. Even though she shrieked at top of her lungs, very little sound got past the gag in her mouth, beyond a thin, muffled keening. Her eyes tearing, she choked against the gag and tried to reach up and untie it—only to discover that she was trussed up like a prize pig, her hands tied together and tied to her ankles.

As she struggled, trying to free herself, she was able to pull her legs back enough to notice that a thin cord looped around her neck and attached to her big toes was strangling her. She stopped struggling immediately and curled her legs forward towards her head, easing the pressure around her neck. Her back was strained to the maximum, though, and the pain from her torso made her vision blur. She turned her head as much as she could—a few centimeters at most—and saw Nina's wide eyes staring horrified into hers; her friend was in an identical predicament.

Something hairy and dripping was hanging above them; and when she raised her head, she could see that it had Zuzack's face. But something was missing; it was a sunken parody of itself, the eyes blank pits. That's when she realized that Zuzack had been scalped—but, well, more than that. Not just his hair, but his entire face had been peeled off, skin, hair and all.

She heard a harsh whining sound, and after a herculean effort, managed to roll over toward it...and almost became ill at what she saw. Sitting on the floor against the bulkhead, bound in a cocoon of ropes from shoulders to feet, was Zuzack. His entire head was a blank red mass of muscle tissue, blood vessels, and exposed nerves; around his neck was a precise surgical cut, showing where his assailant had started with the overall face-peel, leaving the rest of his body intact. It looked almost as if he were wearing a red knitted hood of some kind. She turned her head away, not sick exactly, but not as triumphant as she had thought she'd be once Zuzack finally got his comeuppance.