The Fringe Worlds (13 page)

As Jym secured the door and retracted the ramp, Kaylor and Adam hurried to the pilothouse. Jym was only steps behind them.

“How long until we can take off” Adam yelled as he fastened his safety harness.

Both Kaylor and Jym were frantically pushing buttons and pulling levers. “When on-planet, I always keep one of the main generators humming just in case we have to bolt out fast,” Kaylor cried out. “Still it’s going to take about five minutes before we’ve built up enough compression to pull us up.”

Adam didn’t have any idea what Kaylor was talking about, but he sounded convincing. So for the next few minutes, as the two aliens went about their pre-flight chores, Adam nervously peered through the open viewport and across the ever-darkening spaceport, expecting at any moment to see streaks from electric balls of energy or the deafening blast of an explosion.

Instead came the sickening feeling of vertigo as the ship’s gravity well engaged and overrode that of the planet’s own attraction. Then, without any sense of movement on their part, it was as if the whole spaceport moved away from them at incredible speed. And then the city, followed quickly by the surrounding land, and finally the planet itself.

They were back in space, and to his surprise, Adam began to relax. Not so Kaylor and Jym. Adam could see the look of worry on their faces. As the spherical shape of the planet became more pronounced, and the bright layer of atmosphere grew thinner, the two of them were staring intently at their view screens.

“Is everything okay’ Adam finally asked.

“It looks like two other craft have slipped in behind us,” Jym answered.

“They followed us from the surface-“

“No,” Jym interrupted. “They were already in orbit.”

“What are you going to do”

Kaylor leaned back in his seat. “Nothing right now,” he said. “They’re not closing on us, just lying back, following.”

“So where do we go now” Adam asked.

“Maybe you should have thought of that before you broke us out of the Ministry!” Jym barked out. “I don’t have any idea where we can go-“

“I have a suggestion.”

The voice came from behind them, from the door to the pilothouse.

In unison, the three of them jerked their heads around to find a tall, dark creature standing in the doorway, bolt weapon aimed at them. Three other creatures stood behind him in the hallway, each with their own weapon pointed into the room.

Leaning into the pilothouse, the speaker handed Jym a piece of paper.

“What is that” Kaylor asked Jym.

Jym looked up from the paper at Kaylor. “It’s the coordinates of the Kyllian Asteroids.”

Adam did not hear any of the exchange, nor did he notice the look of shock on their faces at the mention of the Kyllian Asteroids. Instead he sat in stunned silence as he stared at the creature in the doorway.

It was another human — and he was staring directly into Adam’s eyes!

“You must be Adam Cain,” the human said. He stepped further into the room until he was about ten feet from Adam. “And I am Riyad Tarazi.”

Adam was speechless. Mouth agape, he did and said nothing as Riyad’s men swept into the room and disarmed them. Then Riyad turned to Jym. “Put in those coordinates, then let’s all go up to the common room for a chat.”

The human was slightly over six feet tall, heavily muscled, with tight, jet black hair on his head and beard. His eyes were dark, as was his complexion and the accent was unmistakable. As Riyad’s men escorted the trio to the common room, Adam had no doubt: Riyad was either Arab or Iranian. He also found it strange, that at a time when he should have felt overwhelming excitement at finding another one of his kind, all Adam could see before him was a threat. And it was a greater threat than anything else he’d encountered to date in this strange, new universe.

Jym and Kaylor sat on the couch as Riyad took a seat at the table. Adam chose to stand. “Come, sit my brother,” Riyad said, offering a seat at the table, as the three other creatures of a species Adam did not recognize fanned out around the room, maintaining their guard with weapons ready.

Reluctantly, Adam sat down.

Leaning forward, Riyad reached out and grabbed Adam’s arm. “I am so pleased to see you, Mr. Cain,” he said sincerely, with a large, bright smile. “I was wondering if I would ever see another human again. We will talk again at length, later.”

Then releasing Adam, Riyad turned his attention to Kaylor. “But first things first. You,” he said directly to Kaylor, “You have something of mine, and I want it back.”

Kaylor tried to look more pissed than scared. He sat on the edge of the couch and said, “Who are you to come aboard my ship with weapons upon us I do not know you and I’m sure I have nothing that belongs to you!”

Riyad just smiled. “Oh yes you do. You took it from me a few days ago after my men had spent considerable time and effort to secure it.” Kaylor had suspected, but now he knew for sure. “And then to make it worst, you managed to take the one thing aboard that had more value to me than all the riches within that alien ship - the computer core.”

What did he just say Adam turned to Kaylor. “You had the computer core all along You fucker! That thing can help me get home.”

“That’s exactly right, my human brother. That one item is more important to the two of us then they can possibly imagine. So he didn’t tell you he hid the core somewhere in the asteroids”

“No, he didn’t,” Adam said between gritted teeth. “Why the hell not”

“I couldn’t tell you because we were not supposed to have it. We are not allowed to take anything from a derelict until the salvage is awarded,” Kaylor pleaded in his defense.

“So why did you take it”

“Because, like I told you, it can take months for the salvage process to go through, and then there can be counter-claims and disputes. I wanted to make sure we’d get something for risking our lives—”

“And so you scared off my captains and took my prize,” Riyad said as he got up from his chair and walked the short distance over to Kaylor.

Then in a move that was almost too swift to see, Riyad grabbed Kaylor by his tunic, lifted him, and pinned him against the bulkhead, his feet dangling easily half a meter off the floor. “And now with your lie, the fucking Juireans think we took the core! And they will not rest until they get it.”

Riyad released him, letting Kaylor fall unceremoniously to the floor. Then he walked casually over to the food counter, pressed a few buttons, and returned to the table with two drinks in hand. He sat down, placing one of the drinks in front of Adam, while Kaylor sheepishly returned to the couch.

After taking a long gulp of his drink, Riyad leaned back in the chair and propped his booted feet up on the table. “Neither one of you have any idea as to the significance of that ship, do you” he said to Kaylor and Jym. “Let me tell you.” He took a long swig off his drink. “What you so brazenly took from my men was a Klin starship.”

The two aliens - and even Adam — were shocked by the revelation.

“Klin! Are you sure” Jym had found his voice.

“Positive. Now do you understand why the Juireans have interceded, and why you have put me and my men in such a dangerous predicament with your lies”

He waited for a moment to let the full impact of his disclosure sink in, then he gave a brief nod to his guards. Two of them descended on Kaylor and Jym, holding each of them down on the couch as they locked ankle bracelets on each of them. It only took a few seconds, then the guards resumed their posts.

“What are you doing” Kaylor yelled, grabbing at the foreign object on his leg.

“Each of those bracelets contain a small explosive charge,” Riyad said. “The charge should be small enough not to cause any widespread damage to your ship, but definitely strong enough to blow off both your legs — and undoubtedly bring about your deaths. I have taken this action to guarantee that you will cooperate with my demands.” He took another gulp of his drink. “You will recover the stolen computer core and hand it over to me. If you do this without any resistance I will release you and send you on your way. If not.” He pulled a small black box out of his pocket, “all I have to do is press in a code here, and you will not live to see another day.”

Riyad seemed to revel in watching the look of horror on the faces of the two aliens. Then after finishing off his drink, he asked, “Do I make myself clear” They both nodded emphatically.

“You don’t have to do this,” Kaylor said. “The core has caused me enough problems; I just want to get it out of my life!”

“Good,” said Riyad. “Then we have an understanding. I just have to make sure that I have your full cooperation.”

Adam was equally shocked at the drastic move Riyad had taken. He wanted to information from the core, too, but this was kind of harsh. Kaylor looked at him “Adam isn’t there anything you can do to help us. I did save your life on that ship”

Adam felt numb inside as he heard Kaylor beg. Then he turned around in his chair until he was facing Kaylor. “You lied to me,” he said. “I didn’t want to take the core from you. I just wanted to learn the location of Earth from it. After that, it was all yours. And as far as saving my life, I believe I just saved the two of you from having your memories erased. I think we’ll call it even.”

He couldn’t believe the words were coming out of his mouth. He never considered himself a particularly cruel person, but right now he was seething with anger. He had been on a roller coaster ride of emotions these past few days, one moment feeling like he had a chance to get home back to Maria and Cassie, and then the next having his hopes crushed underfoot. And Kaylor had the core all along.

“Just get the core and everything should be okay-“

Just then, Adam felt something grab his ankle, and when he sprung out of the chair and looked around, he saw Riyad bent over under the table. Adam backed away and looked down at his ankle. He had a bracelet fastened on his ankle, too! “What the fuck!” he yelled at Riyad. The guards moved in, weapons pointed at Adam.

Riyad just leaned back in the chair, looking incredibly satisfied with himself. “Sorry, my brother, but you are extremely dangerous. I cannot take the chance that you will not attack me or my men. This is for your own good.”

“My own good! How do you figure” He placed his foot on the chair and began to examine the device. It was a simple black metal band with a small box about the size of a cigarette pack welded on it. There didn’t seem to be any access to the box from what he could see.

“Mr. Cain, we both want the core, and we both want to get home. I may have to do some pretty nasty things to get the cooperation I need and I don’t want you to start growing a conscience. Besides, you are a human. I can certainly use you in a fight. I just want to make sure you’re going to be on my side, if and when the time comes.”

Adam was a trained underwater demolition expert. He knew explosive devices and had a fair knowledge of how to disarm them. He decided it was best to keep this knowledge a secret for the time being. After all, he certainly would not be allowed to disarm the device, even if it was possible, in a room full of armed guards. There should come a time when he was alone, when he could take a closer look at the device.

What he had to do now was put Riyad at ease. The pirate definitely thought he had the upper hand at the moment, and considering that the ankle bomb was made from some alien technology, there was a pretty good chance he was right.

Calmly, Adam sat back down. “Riyad, I don’t want to be any trouble,” Adam said calmly. “I just want to get home, just like you. Just promise me that once you get the core, that you’ll keep your word about taking these things off.”

“As one human to another, you have my word.” But that didn’t make Adam feel any better.

Feeling like he no longer had to keep all the players under guard, Riyad allowed everyone to clean up, go to the restroom if they needed and to get something to eat. They would be at the asteroid belt in about five hours, so he had Adam show him to Adam’s room where they could have a more private conversation.

As they entered, the first thing Riyad did was crank up the gravity up to a more respectable level. He said to Adam, “I rarely leave my ship because of the gravity issue. K’ly, the planet where my pirate base is located, is about three-quarters Earth’s gravity. If I spent too much time there, I’d grow weak and lose my edge.”

Adam sat backwards in the chair, resting his arms on the back and facing the bed, which Riyad had claimed. The pirate leader propped some pillows against the bulkhead and leaned back, spreading his legs out in front of him and locking his hands behind his head.

“There, now we are both comfortable. Let’s catch up. So where are you from You’re American, aren’t you”

“That’s right. And you’re Middle Eastern.”

“Lebanese originally, but I’ve spent most of my adult life in Pakistan. So please tell me, Adam, what year and day is it on Earth”

Adam was surprised at the question. “I’m not quite sure. I don’t have any idea how long I was asleep on the Klin ship. But the last day I remember was October 23rd, 2011.”

“Ah ha!” Riyad exclaimed. “I was so close! I had no way of knowing time, so at one point I counted one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two and so forth until I estimated a minute and then set a device to count off the intervals. I figured it was 2011, but I’m off by about four months on my calculations. Not bad for an estimate, wouldn’t you say”

“So how long have you be out.here And how did you end up being the leader of the pirates”

“I have been here about six years now, and I’m sure my story is very similar to yours. I was in the mountains near the Afghan-Pakistan border one night when I remember seeing a light, and then nothing. I woke up to find I was aboard a spaceship of some kind, but certainly without the fancy accommodations you had on the Klin ship. I was in a cell with three other humans and several other creatures. The conditions were terrible. We slept on straw pads and drank filthy water. The food we were given was alien and without the computer testing that we have here. We were all sick with food poisoning for several days. Two of the other humans died during the trip.