STAR HOUNDS -- OMNIBUS (33 page)

T
he room had a dirt floor and was filled with shadows shifting with the flickers of three candle flames placed in corners of the room. It smelled of subterranean musk, and being dug into the ground, was much cooler than outside. A hint of aromatic incense laced the air. Laura recognized the smell of the ceremonial gloc tea in the air and immediately hoped Xersi would offer them some. That stuff packed a buzz!

The alien ushered them in politely, and Northern looked around with his usual suspicion and cynicism. “Looks like your kind of place, Laura. Where’s your pal?”

“Shush!” Laura commanded, finger to lips. “Have some couth, sir! This is a time of individual meditation for the M’towi and it deserves respect.”

“Couth?” Northern returned tartly. “You’re asking me for couth?” But he’d lowered his voice to a bare whisper.

The M’towi who had led them inside gestured them to halt. “I go wake up the gloc head now. He has been here too long anyway! Such a glutton with the tea!”

“What did he say?” asked Northern.

“He wants to know if we can use the handsome starship captain for a sacrifice. The gods are hungry this day. I’ll tell him I hope they like their food well lubricated.”

Northern let that pass.

The M’towi ambled over to a figure that sat far back in the room, huddling amidst the shadows.

“Northern, I want you to notice the solemnity and dignity of the ritual awakening,” said Laura.

As their eyes grew accustomed to the dimness, they could see that the figure was curled up into a kind of lumpy fetal ball with appendages, atop a large square blanket of complex designs. Before him was a large wooden bowl filled almost to the brim with a dark frothy liquid. The squatting figure’s long fingers still clutched what appeared to be a stone cup.

The approaching alien stopped just in front of Xersi, then suddenly kicked him over. “Wake up, you lazy Pok’fe brain!”

The squatting alien scrambled up to his feet, weaving in the dark dizzily. “I thank you, brother, for pulling me out of my ecstasy. Is it your turn now?”

“No. You have visitors. One of them claims to be your friend of last season. They wish to speak to you.”

“I am moved,” said Northern. “Truly moved.”

The M’towi motioned them over, then lit another set of candles. The alien called Xersi stared for a moment with his limpid eyes, then cried out, “But of course! It is the computer repair lady! Welcome back, Lady Googoo!”

“Lady Googoo?” Northern asked, for Xersi had spoken in broken Standard Galactic.

Laura was glad of the dimness; it hid her blush. “Uh … yeah, that was my alias for my Intelligence job here.” She was too embarrassed to ask if he knew who Lady Googoo had been on old Earth. “Let’s not confuse him though, okay?”

“Anything you say, my Lady,” returned Northern with a broad smile, glad of ammunition for future verbal ripostes. Laura turned back to Xersi and spoke to him in his own language. “Yes, my friend, I have returned from the stars. I have traveled far distances since last we met. Might we sit down? Our human legs are much inferior to the mighty thews of the M’towi, and we are tired.”

“Ah, such glib garbage all you Terraspawn speak on first greeting,” said Xersi. “I remember one of the first diplomats you sent to cheat us years back. Longtongue, we came to call him. But sit, sit, for I have thought of you much since your departure, female Terraspawn.”

They sat down on the rough-textured blanket. Xersi requested the other to bring back a glass of water. “You may take some of the gloc in water and it is not so powerful and it is very refreshing. Now what have you come about, friend Googoo?”

“You remember, do you not Xersi, when we drank gloc together undiluted and we shared secrets of our hearts?” Laura said as softly and urgently as she could in such a rough language.

“Aye, I remember very well. You touched me by sharing my hatred for those who control us all. And you told me of a sibling who you cared for very much.”

“Yes. My brother, Cal.”

The other native returned with glasses of cool water. Xersi dipped his stone cup into the bowl of gluc and offered to drip some into their glasses.

“Just what is that stuff?” Northern asked doubtfully.

“Take my word, you’ll like it, Captain.”

The dark stuff dyed the water a muddy brown. Laura took a sip. It was sweet and bitter and good. The heat of the day and the strain in her muscles was immediately forgotten.

“Ah, thank you, Xersi,” she said. “The deep roots of the yunga tree are yet true.” She put the glass down.

“Not bad, thank you,” said Northern.

“Yes,” said Laura.” Cal. My brother. In a very real way, that is why I have returned, Xersi. I do not know if you are aware of this, but my people now fight a very great war with creatures called the Jaxdron. My brother is a brilliant man and the Jaxdron feel that they can use him, so they have stolen him. I seek to get him back, and that is why I am here.”

“Ah yes! We have heard of the Jaxdron!” said Xersi. “But they are not here! You have come to the wrong place!”

“Let me explain. I no longer work for the Friends, Xersi. I am a renegade. They were using me, and I rebelled. They tried to use me to kill my brother when I found him. This man helped me find my brother, and he is my friend now. He is a Star Hound, Xersi.”

“Ah, excellent. Perhaps we can hire his fleet to liberate my people from the Federation!”

“I’m afraid he has only one starship, though he is definitely working against the Federation, and you can fight the Federation by aiding us!”

“Tell me what I must do!” said the M’towi eagerly.

“It’s really very simple, my friend. Since the Federation is now my enemy, I cannot enter the Block. And in order to fight the Federation and save my brother, Captain Northern and I must enter the Block for a short period of time and then exit without Governor Bartlick or his men knowing. Are you still making regular deliveries to the Block, Xersi?”

“I am indeed! And tomorrow morning at dawn I make my next.” Suddenly, his eyes brightened. “Ah ha! And you wish me help smuggle you in!”

“You’re a pretty smart guy for a gloc head, Xersi.”

“Hey,” said Northern. “This stuff is pretty good!” He held out his empty glass. “Can I have some more?”

It wasn’t customary to make such a request. Xersi glanced at Northern for a moment before a sharp grin crept over his face. He looked back at Laura quite bemused and said, “I like him!”

T
hey were shown to their room after the evening meal. It was a simple affair, with human-type beds, used to houseguests from the Block’s compound.

“I shall come for you to prepare you an hour before dawn. You will be ready then, yes?” Xersi said.

Captain Northern collapsed drunk onto one of the beds.

“Oh yes, yes,” said Laura. “Thank you, Xersi.”

The alien fluttered his fingers, indicating both Laura and Tars Northern. “You two …. You are a human sex-bound couple? Don’t make too much noise, please, you’ll scare the children!”

“We are no such thing!” Laura cried, outraged.

“Just be quiet when you mate, please,” said the native closing the door behind him.

Laura went over to the window, shaking her head wearily. Her brain still seemed a bit off kilter, what with the gloc she had taken, though she was clearly not as messed up as Northern. Strange, he seemed to almost live on alcohol and stayed coherent and sharp, if a touch wild. Laura never touched the stuff. It seemed to interfere with the operation of her cybernetic systems and made her sick besides. But gloc and its chemical sisters and brothers with psychoactive properties gave her a glow of good feeling and nothing more.

Apparently, it knocked Northern head over heels. He was sprawled out on the bed, arms akimbo, eyes closed. She went over to tuck him in. Wouldn’t do to have a starship captain with a cold.

At the touch of her hand, he reached out for her. She almost shoved him away, but his touch was so gentle, his attentions so weak, she knew she could separate herself at anytime with a minimum of fuss.

She might just be able to get something out of him in this state, she thought. Besides, it didn’t feel bad at all ….

“Mmmm,” he said languidly, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Laura, darling, you are such a hot little number.”

“You had too much gloc, Tars,” she said, settling against him tentatively, enjoying his warmth and the hard comfort of his powerful body but trying not to let herself relax. She sensed the danger of any kind of surrender to him; an emotional pitfall that must be avoided. “Don’t worry. It’s really marvelously free of aftereffects.”

It was for her, anyway. She hoped it had the same effect on Tars. Which reminded her ….

“Tars, why do you drink so much?”

“Thirsty!” he said drowsily, tracing imaginary pictures delicately across her back with his fingertips.

“No, its something more than that, Tars. You drink like an alcoholic and yet you can get cleaned of that very quickly. Mish monitors your consumption. What gives?”

“I like it!” he murmured drowsily. “Now give us a kiss!”

She took a different tack. “What do you want from me, starship Captain? Really.”

“Your delicious affections, my dear. Now why are we wasting time!” But he said it all without conviction, as though from rote. Perhaps he meant it, but the gloc rendered his words spineless.

“I’d just be using you, Tars,” she said condescendingly. “But I am interested in why you drink alcohol.”

Northern shrugged. “I’m … not real sure. I always … drank. Then, when I got the
Starbow
one evening, alone with a bottle of wine … I felt something deeper in me, something added. That’s the evening … I got to know Mish better. I became more Tars, than I really seemed to be. I dunno, like … the well of my … unconscious just got deeper and … richer in content. And from then on I could grasp what Mish was talking about.”

Laura blinked, surprised. An interesting notion.

“You mean the alcohol changes your brain chemistry so that some kind of subliminal telepathic link forms with your ship?”

“I dunno. Something like … that. Have to ask Mish for the exact details. But that was one of the reasons he was able to convince me of the nature of his being … and its essential rightness.” His words, despite their dullness, seemed heartfelt. “Not good stuff, alcohol. I hate it … sometimes. But it’s necessary and Mish makes sure minimum of toxin … damage … ”

He was fading fast.

“God’s own drunk,” murmured Laura. She tapped him lightly on the cheek to keep him barely conscious.

“Hmm?” said Northern. “What … ?”

“Why so many women, Tars Northern? I suppose you’re going to tell me that they open up a link between you and the cosmos.”

“I can’t keep ‘em away,” Northern said, a fat smile suddenly crossing his face. “I’m such a good lover!”

“Sure.”

“Try me sometime, Pilot!”

“It’s more than that, isn’t it?”

“Maybe. You kind of like me, don’t you?”

“Bullshit. I think you’re an arrogant, complicated buffoon who happens to play into my needs. I’m using you, baby, and don’t you forget it.”

“Use me anytime, sweetheart.”

“You should be so lucky!” she harrumphed, and quickly stood up and moved away from him.

“Sorry,” he said, eyes still closed. “Long as I’m telling the truth, might as well say I do find you … different, Laura Shemzak. Perhaps fate is playing with us. Perhaps we’re just too good for one another.”

“Bullshit,” she said.

He started snoring lightly.

She watched him awhile then put a blanket over him and sat down beside him, resting her hand gently on his leg.

He was handsome, even in sleep. A much more innocent handsomeness at that, without those deep knowing eyes mocking and flickering and teasing.

Suddenly, she was quite glad that he’d come along. Not only for the help on this mission—help she was too proud to admit she needed—but for their talk and for this time together.

She looked at him again, and noticed her feelings flowing. Instantly, she staunched them, removed her hand, stood up and walked away.

Suddenly, she felt sick to her stomach. The universe was suddenly so cold, so very cold and scary … and if she slipped up, if she made the slightest mistake in certain areas, it would rear up and smash her like an annoying fly.

Damn! What was wrong with her? This wasn’t the Laura Shemzak who stared the stars straight in the eye and spit. This wasn’t the Laura Shemzak who’d turned the Federation on its ear to save her brother.

No, this was a different Laura, she realized. A Laura who was just as frightened as any other human being. Frightened about tomorrow, when she would face the might of the Federation she had betrayed? No. She was frightened of … of something else.

Laura thought to check her dosage of blip drug, but she stopped herself. No, that wasn’t the problem at all.

She turned off the light without looking at Tars Northern, got into her bed, and pulled up the covers until she was warm and cozy.

She took a deep breath and shuddered. She knew she was in terrible danger, but for some reason that thought didn’t overwhelm her. A warmth spread throughout her insides. What was it? She looked over at Tars one last time through drowsy eyes, taking comfort in the obnoxious snores of a drunken pirate. Before long, she was sleeping like a baby. Without realizing it, a smile had spread over her beautiful lips.

“Tars … ,” she softly murmured.