Spears of the Sun (Star Sojourner Book 3) (3 page)

And so it begins,
I thought. Check out your room for bugs, your vehicle for explosives, your food for poison. And don't talk to strangers. In fact, don't go near strangers, especially if they're carrying umbrellas on a sunny day.

Joe read me like an open book. “They don't want you dead. They want to use your telepathic powers to find out how W-CIA intends to address Rowdinth's demands.”

I thought of the Dream Czar and his plans to use me and Lisa as a defense against RECOIL, the revolutionaries who fought the Czar when Laurel's police force was in his pocket. Willa had belonged to the rebel group.

“They're not the first ones, Joe.”

“C'mon.” He put away his call unit and holstered his stingler. “Let's go.”

“I'll pay for it,” I said.

He nodded. “Next one's on me.”

I punched my cred code into the unit and followed him toward the front door.

The waitress came out from the kitchen and hurried toward us. “Was everything OK?” She smiled shyly at me.

“Uh, yeah,” I said, “but the asparagus were only half – “

The front door slammed open and the skinny hawk-nosed tag tossed in a small black cylinder that rattled and hissed as it rolled toward my feet, spewing smoke in circles. The tag closed the glass door and leaned against it to hold it shut.

Joe took out his stingler and aimed at him, but I coughed and fell against Joe as I moved away from the smoke.

“Tony!” the waitress screamed.

“Go!” Joe said and pushed me toward the back room.

I grabbed the waitress' arm and pulled her along as I ran. Joe followed, but he kept his eyes on the front door, though the tag was gone.

Tony, a short, dark man with a mustache and beard, still held a dishtowel as he ran out from the kitchen. “What's wrong, Gloria?” He stared at the cylinder. “What the hell is that?”

Smoke filled the room.

Gloria swayed and crumbled to her knees.

My vision blurred from whatever was in the acrid haze as I dragged her to her feet and we stumbled into the kitchen. Tony followed. Joe watched our backs as he made his way into the kitchen.

Another cylinder spewed smoke as it rolled through the open pantry door.

Someone outside slammed the door shut.

“Stay away from the door!” Joe warned, “And the window. They're waiting for us to come out.”

Tony kicked aside a chair and yanked open a trap door. “Here!”

The room was doing a slow spin and my knees were shaky as I helped Gloria through the opening. She fell onto the dirt floor below. “Get in, Joe.” I helped him down and followed, then I fell too as my knees gave out.

Tony jumped down, closed the trap door and latched it. “Come on, Gloria!” He pulled her to her feet. “This way,” he whispered to me as they headed down a narrow, dirt tunnel lit only by small glow balls hung from the ceiling.

Footsteps overhead.

“Where the hell did they go?” a muffled voice called.

I drew in deep breaths that held the smell of damp earth and rotted tree roots as I got to my feet, and kept an open palm braced against the crumbly dirt wall as I stepped over strewn fibrin boards. My head began to clear.

Joe kept watch behind our path with his weapon in hand.

“Where does this tunnel lead?” I whispered.

“It branches,” Tony said quietly. “We're going left, to a safe house.”

“Is this a RECOIL tunnel?” I asked.

“They dug it out during the days of the czar,” Gloria said, still out of breath as we moved along uneven ground.

“What does the right branch lead to?” I asked.

“A cavern,” Tony answered.

“Will you tags stop talking!” Joe whispered. “Your voices carry.”

Something small and green and fat skittered across our path on long legs.

Gloria screamed.

“Dammit!” Joe whispered as the sound of footsteps overhead stopped.

“Did you hear that?” a muffled voice above us called.

Gloria put her hand over her mouth.

“Hurry up!” Tony waved us on.

We sloshed through puddles where silver liquid dripped from the walls.

Silver. Spirit's blood!

I paused.
Spirit, we need your help
.

I know.

It's not my fault this time!

Have you forgotten that if I loose my power, it will destroy all Terrans on my world?

Can't you –

“Jules!” Joe whispered as the trap door was laser-burned “Why in God's name are you stopping?”

“It's Spirit!” I told him.
Spirit?
I sent.
Can't you narrow your power to affect just the three tags?

The three what?

Sentient beings. The cruds chasing us!

Only you can achieve that with your ability. Your time is running out, Terran. The cruds, as you call them, have alerted two more humans who are now approaching from the tunnel's far entrance. Either use your power or surrender. They don't mean to kill you.

“Jules!” Joe said. “Come on.”

“Quiet, Joe.”
What about Joe and the others?
I sent.

Just you. The others will be sacrificed.

Not an option!

Then use your power. You have done this before.

Not against a sensitive, Spirit.

Increase your tel abilities or surrender. Those are your options.

“Joe,” I said, “there's two more tags coming from the other end of the tunnel. I'm trying for a probe to turn them all back.”

In the dim light, I saw Joe's surprised look. He backed a step, nodded, and remained silent.

“What's he
doing?
” Gloria said. “We've got to – “

“Be quiet!” Joe told her. “He's a telepath.”

“Good for him,” Tony said. “But that's not going to stop a hot beam. Give me your stingler.” He looked at the dishtowel in his hands and flung it away.

“There's two more coming from the tunnel's other end,” Joe said. “We're outnumbered five stinglers to one. You like those odds? Now flatten against the wall and let Jules do his work.”

I leaned against the clammy wall, closed my eyes and pressed my hands to my temples as the voices of the three tags grew sharp. They were in the tunnel.

“Watch your asses,” one called. “They could be armed. Especially the old coot. He's W-CIA.”

I gathered a coil of tel power.
Go back,
I sent.
Danger ahead. They are armed and ready to kill you if you approach. Go back or die
.

My head throbbed with the effort. I squeezed my eyes tighter, gathered all my energy and threw the red coil at the three.
Go back or die! They are entrenched and waiting for you. Your heart will be burned out of your chest. You will lie in the mud, twitching in agony and
clutching the bloody hole in your chest while your life pours into the mud. Go back. Now!

The footsteps stopped.

My head beat as though a hot drum were being pounded inside my brain, but I still felt the sensitive's resistance. I increased the spin of another coil and threw it.
Back to safety
.
General Rowdinth will understand. The tide has turned against you. It's not your fault.

“I, uh, I think we should go back,” one of the tags said. “I don't think our plan's going to work.”

“Yeah. I agree,” another responded. “The tide's turned against us. These things happen, you know? Uh, what do you think, Tom? I think we should go back.”

I held my breath. Was the third one the sensitive?

“General Rowdinth will understand,” Tom said. “He knows the tide can turn.”

I let out a breath.

But too soon.

I sensed the approach of the two tags from the tunnel's far end.
Spirit?

Neither are sensitives, Terran. But both are armed.

Here we go again. My forehead was hot, my cheeks felt flushed, as though with a fever. I took a deep breath and focused on spinning a stronger coil within me. It refused to grow. My brain was rejecting the damaging increase in temperature. I lowered my head and forced my mind to intensify the red coil.
Spirit. Can this kill me?

I cannot say how an alien brain responds to the use of the power.

We'll both find out.

I bit my fist against the burn in my head and forced the red coil to grow and spin faster. I tried not to cry out as I pushed it past what I had ever attempted before as I sensed the approach of the two killers. I moaned as I flung it against them.

Go back or die!
I sent. I couldn't read what they said to each other, but I felt their sudden fear.
The tide is against you. Go back or have your heart burned out of your chest. General Rowdinth will understand. It's not your fault!

A thought from one came dimly as my brain resisted the heat.
I'm going home. You can keep my creds from this job, Bailey.

No, wait. Me too. I think the spirits of the RECOIL soldiers we killed here are haunting this graveyard.

Then they were gone.

I felt Joe's strong hand on my arm, bracing me as I slid to my knees. I opened my eyes, but I couldn't see! I looked up to where the ceiling glow balls should have thrown their dim lights, but saw only darkness. “They're gone, all of them,” I muttered. “Oh, God, Joe. I'm blind!” I grabbed his arm with both hands. “My head is burning.”

“Give me your apron!” I heard Joe say. He pulled my hands off his arm.

“Joe!” I cried. Fear ate at my thoughts.

“I'm here, kid.”

I laid down and pressed my head against the damp ground for relief.

“What're you doing?” I heard Tony say.

“Making a cold compress,” Joe told him.

I rolled my head against the muddy ground and felt consciousness slipping away.

“Is he dying?” Gloria's voice was choked.

“Be quiet!” Joe ordered. “He doesn't need to hear that.”

Am I dying, Spirit?
I sent.

It depends.

Tell Great Mind to let me reincarnate with Willa.

I only ask Great Mind. I never tell The Unity what is the best course to take.

I felt a blessed cold weight being pressed against my head. “Joe?”

“It's a compress, kid. I made it with mud. Now try to relax. You're shaking like a leaf. This should cool down your brain.” I heard the tightness in his voice. “Sleep if you want to.”

“OK.” I groaned and let sleep come…and dreamed I dwelt in crystal seas. I was a male dolphin courting a she-dolphin who I knew was Willa. We swam side by side, and water like silk caressed my body. We dived to coral mansions and swam through arches built of sea fans and crimson fire coral. We swooped to the surface for a breath and watched the sun on the horizon throw orange chips across the velvet table of the sea. It dropped below the surface and stars rushed in to fill the void, as though Great Mind had shattered a lucent dome into a profusion of glimmering diamonds. I dived beneath Willa and turned on my back. She met me and we mated…

I opened my eyes and hoped my dream didn't show as a physical manifestation. I glanced at my groin. No. It hadn't.

And I could see again!

In the light of glow balls overhead I saw Joe. He sat with Tony and Gloria on a stack of rotted boards beside me.

“I can see,” I said.

Joe ran a hand across his forehead. “OK.” He let out a long breath. “How's your head?”

“Better.” I got to my knees.

Joe stood up and helped me to my feet.

“Are they gone?” I glanced down the far tunnel.

“All five of them,” Joe said. “I'd say that's quite a power you've got there.”

Gloria smiled and approached me. “How do you feel, Jules?”

“Not bad.” I rubbed my temples. The burn was gone. “But I could use a shower.”

“We could all use a shower!” Tony slapped my shoulder. “I think you saved our lives.”

“He did,” Joe said.

Gloria went up on her toes and kissed my muddy cheek.

I smiled at her.

She winked and lowered her head shyly.

Tony squinted down the tunnel and stroked his beard. “What did those tags want, anyway?”

“They – “I started.

“It's government business,” Joe said. “Classified.”

Spirit? Did I grow my tel power?

You did that, my alien friend. And your stretched mind will never regress to its former state. You are more prepared now for your future encounters.

What future encounters?

I can sense the turning of time, but only
Great Mind knows the possible fantail of
possibilities.

Thanks, buddy. That narrows things down.

You're welcome…tag.

I shook my head, gently. My sarcasm was lost on his alien mind.
Do me a favor?

What is it now?

If Great Mind deigns to send predictions
about my future, will you let me know?

As usual, Jules Terran, you ask too much.

And as usual, Spirit Kubraen, your answers tell me nothing that can help me.

You continue to ask the wrong questions. Will you live? Will you die? When will you ask what to learn in your life-cycle?

When I'm not concerned with what's waiting around the next corner!
I cut the link. I hate to argue with know-it-alls!

The briefing by the W-CIA on planet Alpha was brief. I think they just wanted to check me out. I guess I passed inspection, though one bald tag asked me why I didn't get a haircut. I gave him my stock answer: It keeps my neck warm.

Joe had recommended that they take me onboard for this mission, and being a respected member of the agency, even though retired, they agreed.

Now Joe was my contact person, and I was Jules Rammis, Special W-CIA Agent. I thought at least I'd get a pair of dark, company-issued sunglasses. But no.

Joe and I could no longer be seen together, for the same reason that agents didn't know each other's names. I was dubbed code name Enigma and turned over to Joe for the details of my mission.

We sat in the back of a stuffy windowless government van and ate cold sandwiches and drank cold coffee while Joe gave me instructions on my mission.

I was to infiltrate General Rowdinth's hideout and pretend to be as greedy and disgruntled as the general and his sorry team of slimes. My story was that the government didn't give me enough creds for my humanitarian work on Syl' Terria and then again on Halcyon.

“I dunno, Joe,” I said. “The general just has to check my credcount. I gave a buddy, Jack Cole, a good piece of it for his help in the Loranth affair, and for his family, but there's a pretty good-sized chunk still left.”

“Your credcount's not available to eyes. And your story is that you're pissed because after all that you did, you're still just an anonymous tag looking for a good government job to get by on.”

“You know, you've almost convinced me.”

“Good! You'll have to be to bring this off.

“But what about my work for the Los Alamos National Lab. It's another source of income.”

He nodded. “We've got that covered. Now, while you were on planet Alpha, you read the minds of some senators and high government officials and guess what?”

“I discovered General Rowdinth's plot to rob the depository. And I learned that two disgruntled NASA scientists had stolen the Dark Energy Project's documents and were now the general's colleagues.”

“I'm listening, kid.”

“And I wanted in on it too! I'll tell Rowdinth that I could return to planet Alpha under the guise of applying to some more government departments for a cushy job. And while I'm there, I'll relay information to him on W-CIA's plans to negotiate on his demands, and on…” I shook my head. “God, and on his threat to destroy all of Earth, the fucking crote!”

Joe sat back and smirked. “There's a good chance you'll bring this off.”

“Am I what you call a double agent?”

He folded his arms and stared at me. “I'll tell you what you call it, kid. It's goddamn dangerous work, is what it is. The Vermakts are an aggressive race.” He made a face and put aside his salami sandwich. “Too aggressive for the Worlds Government to accept their bid to enter the Interstel community of planets and have access to the members' technology.”

“Is that the race General Rowdinth belongs to?”

He nodded. “The Vermakts. They're the only civilized race on their planet, Fartherland. If you can call them civilized. If this general decides that you're a double agent, I hate to think how you'll die, but it won't be a pleasant death.”

“I'm counting on the cyanide capsule for a quick departure from this mortal coil.”

“That's what worries me.” He furrowed his brow. “You've acted a bit suicidal, besides your usual reckless nature, since Willa passed away. No cyanide capsule, Jules. The only thing you'll bite is the bullet.” He sipped coffee.

Joe was right. A part of me wanted to chuck it all and join Willa. Problem was, Great Mind might not be inclined to let me join her, whichever planet she had reincarnated to, and whatever form her body had taken. My throat tightened and I did my best to hold back tears, but a few slipped past my eyes. I wiped a hand across my face.

Joe looked away. “We'll drop you off on planet Fartherland, near Gorestail. It's the only town on the planet, and we'll provide you with a hovair and supplies. They'll be waiting for you in an underground parking lot at the Gorestail spaceport. Mostly Terran and alien gold miners go into town for recreation. But a few of the native Vermakts show up.” He took a bite of his salami sandwich, then threw it back into the bag. “Our field agents haven't been able to locate the general's underground hideout, but according to intelligence reports, he's still somewhere on Fartherland. We'd like you to wander around town, probe the natives and pick up a clue or two. For some reason that I can't decipher, the Vermakts are loyal to this crotefucker, Rowdinth.”

I nodded. The crotefucker who had caused Willa's death. I wanted to live long enough to send General Rowdinth to the flames of hell by my own hands. I wanted to see him squirm and watch his eyes bulge and his tongue swell. I wanted to see his face turn bright red when I cut off his air and crushed his windpipe and looked him in the eyes as his lights went out. Some Mafia tag had long ago said that revenge is a dish best served cold.

I didn't agree.

“What're you thinking, Jules?”

“Oh.” I studied my sandwich. The soggy white bread had folded over my fingers. The cold cuts and cheese were plastered to the bread. The mayonnaise had seeped through and wet my hand. “Oh, about the satisfaction of a hot meal.”

Joe shook his head.