“Don’t suck on it, dear. I have something to stop the bleeding.” She pulled a cloth from her pocket and held her hand out for Karina’s. Karina obediently gave her the injured hand. Driana was silent for a moment as she watched Karina’s finger bleed, then she quickly wrapped it in the cloth, applying firm pressure. She contemplated Karina for a moment, then turned to her son while still holding on to Karina’s hand. “You have been far, Tresar. What is she?”
Karina looked puzzledly at Tresar. She spoke the language well enough to fool everyone they met. How did his mother know she wasn’t Yalsan?
Tresar sighed and sat down. “She’s from a galaxy in the Fourth Quadrant. The same one the government scientists went to explore. We beat them there and brought her back with us. As far as we know, she’s the only survivor of a disaster that destroyed all life on her planet.”
Karina was confused. “How did you know I wasn’t Yalsan, Driana?”
“Your blood is red. Yalsans have blue blood, along with all the other known species in this quadrant.”
All of a sudden what Flavoi had said about Tresar blushing made sense. Karina started to laugh. “I’ll have to be careful not to bleed in front of anyone. Or blush. That might give me away as alien.”
Driana looked at the veins in Karina’s arm. “At least your blood looks blue through the skin.” She released Karina’s hand and went to get a more permanent bandage.
Ryalto invited them to sit and relax. Karina sank into the luxurious couch along with everyone else. Ryalto spoke to no one in particular. “Holovision on.” The odd table in the center glowed and 3-D images were projected above it. “News,” Ryalto said. The picture changed to a woman announcing the scores of a game. It was as if she were right there in the room with them.
Karina was thrilled. “This is better than TV.”
The announcer’s tone changed. “We have just received word from our scientists exploring the Fourth Quadrant. Captain Nanot Niella has reported that the well-known inventor Tresar Convy and the decorated military pilot Flavoi Fierra, along with an unknown Yalsan woman, have been to the fourth planet in a solar system there. They have left traces of their presence and taken an object from one of the current exploration sites. This constitutes theft from the Yalsan government, and if anyone has seen these three people, they are encouraged to report them to the authorities.”
“Holovision off.” Ryalto’s voice was low as he spoke the command. He peered down the hall for Driana. “Not a word of this to your mother,” he said sternly. Tresar’s face was white, drained of blood. Flavoi was sitting with his mouth hanging open and Karina was speechless. Only Sharra seemed calm. Ryalto continued speaking softly. “You’ll stay for a meal and pretend nothing is wrong. Then you’ll make your excuses and leave. Your mother need never know.” He gripped his son’s shoulder. “And this time, call more often.” He smiled. Tresar nodded and offered a weak smile in return.
CHAPTER 13
It was afternoon before Agnar awoke from his drunken sleep. He stretched his tall frame and licked his lips. He grimaced at the taste and looked around the table. To his left lay an empty jug. He sniffed the opening. Stelairian brandy. No wonder he felt like a rag doll with a head full of wool. He stood up and stretched again just as the servant walked in with a frightened look on his face. He stuttered as he spoke.
“S . . . s . . . s . . . s . . . sir . . .” The servant paused, then tried again. “S . . . s . . . sir, the p . . . p . . . p . . . prisoners . . .” The servant choked and coughed, unable to get his sentence out.
Agnar was growing impatient. “The prisoners what? Are sleeping? Eating? Escaping?” He laughed at the last bit, knowing escape to be impossible.
The servant was practically shaking. “Escaped, sir!” He finally blurted out.
“What!” Agnar exclaimed. He raised his fist to strike the terrified servant, but discovered he couldn’t complete the swing to connect his hand to the man’s cheek. He lowered his arm and tried again with the same results. A thought crept into his head. He ran to the cupboard and grabbed a shiny serving tray, holding it up to his face to use as a mirror. Encircling his neck were two tattoos. He moved to crash the tray to the floor, but he couldn’t even do that. Frustrated, he set it gently down on the counter. He turned to the servant. “You’re dismissed,” he growled. The servant fled in relief.
Agnar pondered what to do about this unforeseen predicament. He brightened when he remembered the bottle of Stelairian youth elixir he kept in the study. It was powerful stuff, and an antidote for everything that ailed the body. The halabands were based on cell technology, and the elixir would help his immune system reject the intruding tendrils. He ran down the hall and threw open the door to the study. He rushed to the mantle where he had set the elixir after returning from his tryst with Megg on Bellos, but it was gone. He looked wildly around the room. The ornate bottle was on its side on a table, completely empty. Agnar felt like screaming. He calmed himself and walked to his bedchamber, where he triggered the viewscreen to call Megg.
A Stelairian answered the call, but it wasn’t Megg. “Can I help you?” the woman asked.
“I’m sorry, I must have misdirected. I’m looking for Megg.”
The woman on the screen smiled apologetically. “Your direction is correct, but Megg is out of the galaxy right now and can’t be reached. I don’t expect her back for awhile.” Agnar’s face drooped disappointedly. The woman reacted sympathetically. “Is there something I can help you with?”
Agnar shook his head. “I appreciate your offer, but no. Thank you for your time.”
The woman smiled and signed off. Agnar realized that the only way to get the halabands off now was to find Karina and Sharra and somehow force them to remove them.
Agnar turned off the viewscreen and hurried through the hidden door, past the cave, into the docking bay, and to his new ship. He paused before entering the gleaming Bitowan cruiser to admire its sleek lines. It still amazed him that such a draconian species could produce such a beauty. He palmed the entry plate and boarded the ship. It didn’t take long to start the drive and lift off.
Once he exited the docking bay, Agnar left the planet and achieved a high orbit over it. He began scanning for any signs of Earthling or Bitowan DNA. After several fruitless hours of searching, he determined that they had left the planet. He gazed thoughtfully at Yalsa on the viewscreen and wondered where they might have gone. He could only conclude that they had somehow managed to return to Bellos to find Karina’s companions. He set an auto course to the pleasure planet before retiring to the living quarters for a nap. His head was killing him.
Agnar awoke abruptly to blaring sirens and flashing lights. He rolled off the bed and onto the floor, shaking his head to clear it. Since he wasn’t fully recovered from the previous day’s drinking binge, the alert sirens were becoming increasingly annoying.
“Shut it off!” he yelled. To his surprise, the ship complied. Agnar hurried to the bridge to see what had set off the alarm. When he entered the bridge, he saw only stars on the forward viewscreen. He sat at the helm and tapped the viewscreen pad, turning on the other viewscreens. A Bitowan battle cruiser kept pace with his ship off the port side. He tried to swear, without success.
The forward view was replaced by an ugly visage that Agnar knew all too well. He straightened in his seat, then thought better of it and slouched instead, lounging comfortably in the chair. “Well, Haron, what brings you to this part of the galaxy?”
General Haron frowned disapprovingly at Agnar’s lack of respect. “Yalsan thief,” he spat, “I have come for Sharra.”
Agnar slipped lower in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “You can’t have her.”
Haron’s expression grew hard as he looked at Agnar. “Then it is war between us, and I will not rest until I have Sharra, her ship, and your head.”
Agnar contemplated Haron for a moment. Both he and Haron knew who had the better ship. He couldn’t help but admire the man for his courage, although he knew what fools men were when it came to the women they loved. He almost hated what he had to do. He reached down to the console to fire on Haron’s ship. His finger stopped before he could press the appropriate symbol on the screen. He looked up at Haron in horror. Haron was wearing a very uncharacteristic smirk. It looked strange on a Bitowan.
“I know you do not have Sharra. I have already scanned her ship and I know that you are the only one on it. I also know that you are unable to commit violence.” Haron looked pointedly at Agnar’s neck. “I see my princess was able to collar you with two halabands before making good her escape. She will make me a fine mate,” Haron said proudly. His face disappeared as he disconnected and Agnar could see the Bitowan ship firing on him. Agnar’s ship rocked with the blows, its shield weakening. Agnar was unable to fire back. He watched helplessly as the shield’s strength level dropped to almost zero percent. His hands itched to fire back, straining toward the console. The shields dropped.
All of a sudden he was free and the commands his brain had been feeding to his hands were executed rapidly. Haron didn’t even get in another shot before Agnar’s superior firepower overwhelmed the battle cruiser’s shields and destroyed the ship in a fiery explosion. Agnar sat back, shocked at escaping certain destruction. He put his hand up to his throat, tracing the raised skin and wondering how he had managed to override the halabands’ programming. He couldn’t understand why the halabands allowed him to destroy Haron and his ship. Curious, he pulled up the files on halabands.
The information scrolled onto the screen. He read all of it, intrigued. There was no information to indicate why he had been allowed to defend himself. He combed through the file, sure that the answer must be in there somewhere. In a file cleverly hidden within the file he finally found his answer. The halabands were designed not only to keep the wearer from committing violence, but to keep violence from being committed on the wearer. The protection of the wearer took precedence over the protection from the wearer, because the wearer didn’t have the free will to protect himself.
Agnar sat back and thought about what had just happened. He was allowed to fire on Haron’s ship because he had believed that his own death was imminent. He smiled, wondering if this information was known by anyone other than the halaband’s creator. Whoever included the information obviously wanted it to be available, but not easily found. He cleared the data screen and reactivated the control screen in its place. Then he continued on to Bellos.
Upon reaching orbit, Agnar began scanning Bellos for Earthling and Bitowan DNA. Several hours of unproductive searching later, he decided to land. He didn’t know where else to search for the women. He wondered if they might have gone to Bitowa, but that seemed unlikely given the circumstances of Sharra’s departure.
After wandering the streets outside the docks for almost an hour, Agnar ducked into a bar for a much-needed drink. He sat at a corner table across from the holovision. He watched the pretty announcer, but only listened with half an ear to her news. His thoughts circled. Where could the women have gone? How was he going to find them? Where had they gone? How in the universe was he going to find them? He was running low on cash, and as long as he wore the halabands, he wouldn’t be able to continue his illegal activities. He sat and drank and moped.
After about his seventh strong drink, Agnar noticed a Kahrazoid woman watching him from a table across the room. From the expression on her ugly face, it was difficult to tell if she was attracted to or repulsed by him. He limited his notice of her to a glance and went back to staring into his glass.
Equaria couldn’t believe her luck. She and her crew had recently lost their ship in an extremely illegal endeavor, and she had gone to a seedy bar to drink her troubles away. She was pleasantly surprised to see the universe’s most notorious pirate enter and sit at a table in the corner. Her mind instantly ran through various scenarios to use this opportunity to her advantage. Agnar glanced her way several times, as if feeling her eyes on him. After he had downed his eighth drink, she decided to make her move.
She stood and sauntered seductively in his direction. Since Agnar was already drunk, he would quite likely be susceptible to flattery. She wouldn’t mention that she was a captain; men were more pliable when they thought they had the upper hand. She had to find out what treasures were in his possession; she wanted to take him for as much as she could. Equaria didn’t feel guilty for these plans; after all, if he trusted her, then he was a fool. For what honor could there be among thieves? She smiled and threaded her way among the tables toward him.
Agnar watched as the Kahrazoid woman approached him. By this time he was well into his cups and had been celibate since before his forced stay on Bitowa. She was still amazingly ugly, but in his drunken stupor he didn’t care. He leaned toward her with a smile as she sat down across from him.
“Hey, baby, come here often?” he slurred. It was an old line, but she lit up and gestured for him to follow her. He did.
She led him out of the bar and to a swanky hotel in the better part of town. Leading Agnar up to the desk, she asked the clerk for a room. When the clerk pushed the lightpad forward for a handprint, Equaria took Agnar’s hand and gently pressed it to the pad, smiling at him. At least, he assumed it was a smile. It was hard to tell with Kahrazoids.
Equaria kept hold of Agnar’s hand and led him deeper into the hotel and to their room, where she set his hand against the plate next to the door. It opened and she pulled him into the room and down onto the bed, caressing him. The light had come on as they entered, and the woman’s ugliness was nauseating in the harsh light.
“Lights!” Agnar commanded, and the voice-activated illumination went out, leaving the room in total darkness. Once he could no longer see her with his eyes, Agnar’s roving hands found Equaria beautiful. As he continued exploring her body with his hands, his senses became overwhelmed and his drunken mind lost awareness.
Agnar awoke in a soft bed with numerous pillows. The two suns streaming in the window were bright and extremely annoying. He groaned and tried to cover his eyes with his hand, but couldn’t. There was something heavy on his arm. He slowly turned his throbbing head toward the form lying in bed next to him. At the sight of the sleeping Kahrazoid woman, he sat up quickly, rolling her off his arm. The pain caused by this rapid movement made his head spin and he was forced to lie back down. Unfortunately, the movement had awakened his bedmate. She rolled onto her side toward him, ran her fingertip along his jawline, and cooed a good morning. Agnar was almost sick at the sight of her, but since he couldn’t move, he just closed his eyes and groaned. She giggled.
“Had a bit much to drink last night, my lover?” Her voice was low and sensual, and with his eyes closed, she sounded beautiful. It was somehow wrong for a species that ugly to have such melodious voices. He cleared his throat and answered with a simple yes, careful not to open his eyes and see her face. She continued speaking, and her voice somehow soothed his hangover. “I knew when I saw you sitting alone that I had to have you. The great Captain Agnar is quite a conquest for an unsophisticated girl like me.” Agnar made an inquisitive noise, surprised that she knew who he was. She laughed. “Oh, yes, I know who you are. My shipmates and I have long been impressed by your, hmmm, shall we say, business ventures. As a matter of fact, we would love to serve under you.” She chuckled lewdly and added, “And I would love to continue serving under you the way I did last night.”