“Dean, get your head down!” Mary’s voice yelled, and the smell of burned fur and blood hit me like a brick. I ducked and got a hand out, rolling to the side as the huge thing fell beside me, surprise crossing its face before it smacked into the swamp, water splashing a yard high.
The whole attack had only been a few seconds, but I was out of breath. My hand shook so hard, I had a hard time taking Mary’s when she offered it to me. She pumped a couple more blasts from her pulse rifle into the hide of the dead monster for good measure.
“We need to go. If there’s one, there are probably more. I don’t want to be around when they show up.”
“Why do I get all the terrible attacks on this planet? Good thing I have people to help me, or I’d be dead twice already.” I made the joke to cover my dread. I’d thought I was going to die, and it wasn’t a feeling that shook off in a minute.
Howls came at us from every direction as we got onto our hover scooters. “Which way?” I asked.
“No idea.” Mary put her helmet on, and I did likewise, turning the night vision back on. “I’d suggest keeping your rifle at ready.” She started to move north, and I joined her getting around the hills. More creatures cried out in the night as we raced away, hoping to not come across any of them.
FIFTEEN
The two-hour trip took its toll on my body. The wind was still blowing, and we passed through a couple more areas with inclement weather, reluctant to stop either time. We plowed through, ending up near the spot where we’d first landed on the planet all those months ago. We rode by the swamp where I’d been pulled under, and I recalled Mae saving my life. I shook it off as we rode, until coming to the town. It had expanded since we’d been there. More log cabins were erected, but few beings lingered on the streets as the sun started to rise, pushing through the thin clouds. Mist rose from the damp ground as we shut the scooters off.
“I hope they ask questions before shooting,” Mary said, holding her rifle.
“They did last time.”
We were in a large clearing, just past the tree line separating the village from the forest and swamps. A few ships were nearby, quietly sitting on the ground. I recognized one of them as the insectoid ship we’d seen last time. Another wasn’t familiar.
A Deltra sentry could be seen a hundred yards away, walking the other direction. Worried they might think we were sneaking in, I stuck my pinky and thumb into my mouth and whistled sharply. That got his attention. He spun around, gun raised, and I was impressed at his reaction time. I suspected the sentries didn’t have much action here, unless those smooth-faced bears were a problem in town.
He said something in Deltran and I threw my hands in the air. Mary lowered her rifle and did the same.
“This better work,” she whispered.
“Who goes there?” my translator said in my ear.
“Dean Parker and Mary Lafontaine,” I said loudly. He was only thirty yards away now, and I saw his expression change.
“Keep them up,” he said, gun still raised as he approached us. “How did you get here?”
Mary nodded toward the trees. “Hover scooter,” she said, and he looked confused, the translation likely not clear.
“What do you want?” he asked.
“We’re here to see Kareem. It’s urgent.” I was getting tired of holding my arms up, and I started to lower them. When he didn’t object, I let them drop to my sides.
“Come with me,” he said, letting us walk in front of him. He didn’t ask to take our weapons, but when I glanced back at him, his grip on his gun looked tight, and he eyed me with suspicion.
We neared the same building Kareem had been in before. When we got to the door, the sentry knocked and was let in. Another guard came out, watching us as the first sentry disappeared into the big structure.
“Nice morning,” I said to the newcomer, getting a grunt in return. “Not a big talker? Sorry for waking you guys up. We didn’t have a choice.” I swear the guy cut me a smile, and if I wasn’t mistaken, that was the first smile I’d seen from their race. It was nice to see the commonality.
“You’re Dean, right?” he asked, his voice quiet.
“My reputation precedes me.”
“Terrance and Leslie have been waiting for their friends.”
Guilt washed over me. Just a second ago, I’d been making jokes; meanwhile, the hybrids were probably dying in the Russian prison on Earth.
“I’m sorry. I failed them,” I said somberly. Mary set her hand on my forearm.
“They won’t be happy. I hope you have better news for them and Kareem,” the pale hairless guard said, his smile wiped away.
The door swung open, the first sentry waving us inside. “He’ll see you now.”
We followed them into the large space we’d first been in when Mae had escaped in Leslie’s ship. They took us farther, through a doorway at the far end of the room. It smelled sterile in there, reminding me of a hospital. I’d spent enough time in one of those with Janine to recall it vividly.
The door opened into a hallway. Wooden floors led us to a series of rooms; some doors were ajar, with Deltra and other races milling around, getting an early start to their days. No one stopped us, but all of them stared curiously as we passed their bedrooms. I wanted to stop and look at the different aliens, to talk to them and learn about their people. There would be time for that eventually. Other things were more pressing now.
“In here,” the first guard said, ushering us through the doors. The room was dimly lit but was a good size, with a bed on the side. Machines beeped softly, and I wondered why they’d brought us there. Then I saw the bed wasn’t empty. Kareem was in it. His skin was even paler, if that was possible, and as I walked to the edge of the bed, I knew something was wrong.
“Kareem?” I asked.
His eyes opened, and he looked from Mary to me. “We meet again. I wasn’t expecting this. Have a seat.”
The guards slid a couple chairs over, and the lights in the room brightened by a few watts.
“Are you okay?” Mary asked the sickly-looking Deltra leader. I could just make out his tattoos peeking out from under the thick blankets.
“No. I’m dying.”
“I’m sorry.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say to his calm statement.
“Tell me why you’re here,” he said.
Where did I start? “We need your help. We think the Bhlat have invaded our planet.”
“You think they have? What does that mean?”
“Many of us have moved on to a new planet, at Proxima. But our communications with Earth take two months to relay, and our leader went back when the messages ceased to come.” I explained to him what had happened after we’d last met. How we thought Mae had died crashing into an asteroid, and how we found the device he’d described to us. He seemed pleased it still existed but was surprised the Bhlat knew of it and were waiting there.
Mary took over and talked about us chasing Mae to the Bhlat outpost. She skipped over the intimate details of who Mae was to me and cut the murderous part I had in killing all of their innocents on the base.
Kareem listened, asking few questions. When the tale was over, he asked one simple but important question. “How did you get here? We had no signs of a ship arriving, or they would have told me.”
“The Shandra.” I used the Shimmalian word for the portal to see if this had any meaning to him. His otherwise calm demeanor changed drastically. One of the electronic monitors beeped loudly, causing a small Deltra to enter the room, pushing us out of the way. Kareem shooed him away with a flick of his wrist. “I’m fine,” he said in Deltran before switching back to English. “Where did you hear that word?”