Satan's Forge (Star Sojourner Book 5) (25 page)

Sarge strode up, his hand on his holstered weapon, and glared at Azut.

“He's a friend!” I said quickly. “He saved both our lives.”

Sarge let his hand drop. “Where's Slade?”

“In Satan's forge by now. His bones are roasting in a fire pit of lithium.”How's Chancey?"

“He's on his feet,” Sarge said, "and bitching that he missed all the action.

“I can't keep the man quiet,” Bat said.

I cupped Sophia's tear-stained face in my hands. “Missed it? He doesn't know how lucky he is.”

She pulled me closer and kissed me gently, like a brush of love. “But I do,” she said.

The team remained at Sophia's cabin, all except Huff. He was anxious to visit his friends and relatives on Kresthaven, then he would meet me back on Earth. He said he liked traveling the star systems better than playing blue checkers, and hunting the ice floes of his homeworld's northern seas.

Joe and delegates from Alpha's Central Government negotiated with New Lithnia's three state senators and six representatives on passing a bill to outlaw slavery. It was not put up for a vote to the human residents, for fear it might be knocked down. But the Executive Branch that ran the three states ratified the bill, and it became law. Lithium Love Mines was dissolved and a bid was put out for ethical mining companies to take over the three lithium sites.

Mack and his remaining men were allowed off-planet, with the stipulation that if they ever showed their faces again, they'd spend their lives in Wydemont Creek's small county jail.

With the last of my credcount, I paid Azut's fare to return to his homeworld, along with the former slaves to go back to their star systems. I checked the roster for the coming space flights, and there under Flight 309- Alpha, I saw her name. Danielle Foster. I thought back to my young friend's words and smiled:
Mom and Dad like to call me Dannie.

Sarge and his men, also on the flight list, left to seek work elsewhere in the star systems.

It was morning when Sophia and I rode to the mine on Stormy and a borrowed Palomino to help unharness the ponies and the guards' horses. We drove them to an enclosed field where they would live out their lives without ever feeling the heavy weight of a cart, or the sting of a whip.

For awhile, the shaggy ponies stood and looked around, then they lowered their bushy heads and began to eat the good, rich, transplanted Earth grass.

I leaned over and took Sophia's hand. “What are your plans now, Soph?”

She smiled that broad smile that always lit up her face. “What do you think?”

“Well, there's a lab in a small town called Los Alamos, back on Earth. They hired me to study Blackroot.” I smiled. “It's about time I showed up for work. And I'm anxious to see my daughter again, in Denver.”

“I always wanted to see Earth, our real homeworld. Do they have crusties?”

“No, but there's a cousin called lobsters, and you don't need a digestall pill to eat them. They've got big claws and they'll give you a fight.”

She leaned over and kissed me. “No worse than the struggle of living with a maverick. Can I bring Stormy aboard the star ship?”

“I'm probably bankrupt by now, but I'll ask for a stipend from the lab and we'll bring her home, too. What say, my love?”

She clasped my hand and we watched the ponies group into a herd and trot, free, across the green fields. A brawny stallion took the lead and the others followed him.

“I say I love you, Jules Rammis.”

“I say back to you, Sophia, I…wait a minute. I don't know your last name!”

She threw back her head and laughed. “Sophia Rella. My parents were Greek. But I like Sophia Rammis better.”

“Oh.” That old feeling of being afraid to commit tightened my stomach and I bit my lip. “Give me a few months, Soph. I think I still have some growing up to do.”

“I love you just the way you are, Babe.” She leaned over to touch my cheek. “Don't ever change.”

“I'm afraid I can't.”

Chancey rode up. The kid from Harlem had really taken to horseback riding back on planet Denebria.

“Hey, Chance,” I said, “ready to go home?”

“Any time is soon enough, man.” He scratched under the bandage around his head. “But you got a problem.”

“Who, me?” I asked.

“You know that Blackroot you sent to the lab so you could study it?”

“What about it?” I asked suspiciously.

“It got loose.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Some fool maintenance man unlocked the lid of the tank to feed it and forgot to lock it again.”

“Oh my God,” Sophia said. “What does that mean, Jules?”

“I don't know. What happened?”

They're finding it as far south as Santa Fe," Chancey informed us, “and as far north as Pagosa Springs. Been pushing out the…what do you call those regular plants?”

“The indigenous plants?” I asked.

“Yeah. That's what they called them. The indigenous ones. Been having domestic animals for lunch, too. Seems to be spreading like wildfire. The director of the lab said this could be worse than the release of killer bees way back when.”

I let out a breath and looked at Sophia, my jaw hanging. “Uh oh.”

END

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