The Unreachable Stars: Book #11 of The Human Chronicles Saga (12 page)

“Take me to the nearest one.”

Chapter 11

Kaylor remained at the hotel, working on navigation charts for the journey to Sylox, while Jym went with Adam to the bar.

The intoxicant station was what one would expect of a late-night bar anywhere in the galaxy. It was dimly lit, sparely populated, and smelled of the perspiration from a variety of alien species. There were testing boxes on each of the tables and lining the bar, where patrons would have a blood sample taken to find their tolerance to certain alcohols and other stimulants. The bar ownership was usually responsible for any deaths resulting from adverse reactions to their concoctions, so before a creature could be served, a test was mandatory.

Panur was there, propped up on a high stool, talking with the bartender. Since the chairs were built primarily for tall Castorians, the mutant was standing on the seat cushion; even then he could barely see over the top of the counter.

There were three empty glasses in front of him.

Adam slipped into the seat next to him, while Jym quickly left the bar and returned to the hotel. He knew he wasn’t needed in a place like this, especially if there was going to be trouble. A four-foot tall talking teddy bear wasn’t much good in a fistfight.

“My friend!” Panur exclaimed when he noticed Adam next to him. “I’ve been expecting you. Did the meeting go well this evening?”

The bartender was staring at Adam, one of his offset eyes watching him and the other focused on Panur. Reluctantly, Adam placed his finger in the sampling box. A moment later, a menu of appropriate drinks began to scroll across a screen on the box. All the beverages were written in Castorian, so he simply pointed at one before it disappeared from the screen. The bartender snorted and then turned away to prepare the drink.

Adam leaned in close to the alien. “The meeting went well. You not only have your ten starships, you’ll have a total eighteen, including mine, Kaylor’s, and Riyad’s.”

“Excellent! Do they depart soon?”

“Within a few hours. What the hell are you doing here? If you get caught, none of what I’m doing will mean anything. Word is out that we’re here. Tonight I was attacked by three bounty hunters.”

Panur seemed unaffected by the news. “That was inevitable, and I see you are unscathed. I fear the same cannot be said for those who attacked you.”

Adam shrugged. “Are you drunk?”

“I cannot get drunk.”

“Then why are you acting so weird?”

Panur frowned and then looked at the empty glasses on the bar. “Perhaps I am! I had not noticed.” He laughed. “I shall have to analyze this, to determine how it was that I became inebriated without my knowledge.”

“It seems to be going around,” Adam said. “Now let’s get out of here. I still have to contact Arieel.”

The bartender deposited a large bowl in front of Adam with a cloud of steam rising from it. He shook his head. “Ninety credits.”

“Isn’t that rather high?”

“For you and your friend. He said you would be in to pay.”

Adam took out a Juirean hundred credit chip. “Keep it.”

The bartender didn’t seem very appreciative.

“Let’s go.”

“Are you not going to finish your drink?”

Adam looked at the steaming bowl. “I’m not even going to start it.”

“Then let me!”

Before Adam could react, Panur had scooped up the bowl and was pouring the contents down his throat. Both Adam and the bartender reacted.

“You cannot do that!” the bartender yelled, pulling the bowl away from Panur, spilling the scalding contents down the front of his white tunic.

“I will be quite all right,” Panur said. “Yet my clothing is probably ruined. Why did you do that?”

“That was made for his body chemistry, not yours.”

“And what is my body chemistry?”

The bartender looked at Panur with a concerned frown. “I wish I knew. Every time the sample was tested it came up with a different answer.”

“That is because I can change my body chemistry to suit the environment.”

“How is that possible?”

Adam hoisted the small alien off the chair and placed him on the floor. “We’re leaving now. Thanks for your hospitality.”

“But that was rather good,” Panur said, looking back longingly at the bartender. “I may want another!”

“No you don’t. Let’s go.”

With a very Human-like pout, Panur allowed Adam to steer him out of the bar; however, a last glance back at the bartender showed the Castorian reaching for a comm-link. Using his ATD, Adam located the device and disabled it, much to the consternation of the bartender.

“Hurry up, the bartender is going to report us.”

“No he’s not. He’s my friend. We had a very enlightened conversation. Did you know there are nineteen thousand underground communities on Castor? Of course Krune is the largest.”

Adam knew it would only be a matter of time before the bartender found a working comm-link. Whether he was calling the local enforcers, or just a group of his buddies hoping to score the reward, was anyone’s guess. Either way it meant their time on Castor was coming to an abrupt end.

Adam rushed past the dozing hotel clerk and entered Kaylor’s room without knocking. “The jig’s up, we gotta boogie.”

“Adam Cain, please!” Jym scolded.

“The bartender is going to report us. We have to get off the planet. You and Kaylor may have a little longer, but Panur and I have to leave now.”

“You cannot tell me what to do!” Panur said as he jumped and landed in the middle of Kaylor’s bed. “This is my domain. I am claiming this for my own.”

“Intoxicants?” Kaylor asked.

“Yep, and he not used to it. C’mon, Panur, change your chemistry or something. I need you sober.”

“Needing me sober would imply that I am drunk.”

“You are drunk.”

The mutant’s eyes grew wide. “That’s right…I forgot.”

Suddenly Panur’s expression changed from that of giddy inebriation to seriously sober. “I do not like the fact that I had a mental lapse in memory. The ingredients of those drinks are extremely dangerous.”

“You’re not the first to come to that conclusion,” Adam said. “Are you sober now?”

“Perfectly. But now I’m filled with anger.”

“Save it. We have to get off-planet, now!”

“Lead on. We have very little in our rooms.”

It was almost a universal practice that police cars had sirens—or some kind of wailing alarm—to warn of their approach. Now a distant blaring could be heard, growing closer by the second. This answered Adam’s question as to who the bartender was calling. He would have preferred to deal with bounty hunters again. They tended to work solo or in smaller groups, and could normally be killed with impunity. The police came in bunches, and in numbers that only grew the more of them one killed.

The pair of fugitives rushed out of the hotel and onto the street just before the authorities arrived. Now that the word was out, Adam knew that whatever prior arrangements he’d made for transportation and anonymity were forfeit. They would have to make their way up eight levels to the surface by their own means.

The public train system in Krune was very extensive and sophisticated, and it ran at all hours. Adam led Panur into the nearest access point and shoved him into an open door before it slid shut and the subway pod took off.  The car was empty and automated, so Adam relaxed some as the pod gained speed.

Then both he and Panur suddenly fell forward as the car began to slow. Three seconds later it had come to a complete halt in a darkened tunnel between stations.

“Follow me.”

Adam pulled open the doors of the pod and he and Panur jumped out. “Watch out for the middle rail. That’s usually the one that’s—”

A brilliant flash of light lit up the tunnel, popping sparks of electricity shooting into the air like a Roman candle.

Adam looked back and saw Panur behind the subway pod standing squarely on the middle rail. As a result of the short circuit, power had been cut to the track, yet not before Panur had absorbed the entire current. Now he stood naked—his clothing having been burned off—his body fully aglow with a pink radiance. His eyes also glowed, projecting beams of pure white light.

“Are you all right?” Adam cried out. He kept his distance, feeling the heat coming off the mutant’s body.

“I feel great!” Panur replied. “What a surge of energy! This is incredible.”

“I’m glad you’re okay. Now, can you move?”

“Move? I can fly!” And then the mutant alien lifted off the ground, hovering like a glowing version of da Vinci’s
Vitruvian Man
.

“What the hell are you doing? We don’t have time for this.”

“I’m superconducting. It’s creating a repelling force with the planet.”

Adam could hear a commotion down the tunnel toward the station they’d just left. “The police are here. Come down from there and let’s get moving.”

“I prefer this mode of travel.”

And with that, Panur began to float down the rail line, three feet above the floor and picking up speed as he went. Adam sprinted after him, finding it hard to keep up, but after a couple of hundred yards, the effects of the shock began to wear off and Panur settled gently to the ground.

“I have never taken in such an abundance of energy at one time. Can you tolerate the heat now?”

“Yeah, it’s better, but you still have a ways to go to get back to normal.”

“I shall shed the excess energy as we go and cool in the process. Where are we going?”

Adam pointed down the dark tunnel. “That way.”

“Why?”

“Because the bad guys are that way.” He pointed the other way down the tunnel.

Panur laughed. “That was very good. Do you know what’s down that way?”

“I haven’t a clue? Do you?”

Panur nodded. “I noticed the rail line layout when we first arrived. This tunnel continues to the 8-L station and then climbs to the surface through a series of switchbacks. Surely they will be guarded.”

“Since you know the layout, any suggestions?”

“Exhaust vents.”