The Fringe Worlds (8 page)

There was also a heavy haze in the room, and to Adam, the smoke smelled vaguely familiar. But combined with alien sweat and breath, its pleasant scent was easily lost in the mix.

They took seats at a table near the center of the room with one of those sampling boxes placed in the center, like the one Kaylor had on his ship. Kaylor poked his finger inside, pulled it out, then rotated the box over to Adam. He let the box take a sample. In a few moments, a waiter came over - another of the burly, hairy creatures - and Kaylor ordered them a couple of drinks.

Adam scanned the room. In a far corner, he noticed a group of the skinny gray creatures like the ones he’d seen in the big ship, about six of them, all huddled together, looking nervous. Not too far way, was another group of four huge lizard-looking beings, dressed all in black leather and sporting bandoliers crossing their chests. Even from across the room, Adam could hear them carrying on, with numerous empty glasses filling the table before them. There’s some in every crowd, Adam thought. The loud-mouths, the arrogant drunks.

Then Adam noticed that Kaylor wasn’t paying attention to any of this. His gaze was fixated on another creature seated at the bar, similar to him, yet smaller and with smoother features. Adam watched as Kaylor’s nostrils flared, sniffing the air.

“Stay here,” Kaylor said as he lifted out of his chair. “I’ll be back.” He then made a beeline for the bar.

Stunned and transfixed, Adam watched as the two creatures of the same species met and began to size each other up. It was kind of creepy, as they first smelled each other up and down then began to rub their necks together, making contact with the inch-long fingers of skin under their ears. Then the weirdest thing happened! Kaylor undid his pants, while the female turned her back to him — and he attempted to mount her, right there in the bar!

Almost immediately, the bartender came over and angrily said something to them. Frantically, the two of lovebirds exited through the front door, leaving Adam sitting there alone, confused and more than a little embarrassed.

Holy crap! What was he supposed to do now, just sit there or follow Trying to look as nonchalant as possible, Adam propped one arm up on the back of his chair and crossed his legs.

When the bartender brought their drinks, Adam quickly snatched up his and took a long gulp. Expecting the cola-tasting drink from the ship, he was caught off guard by the unexpected taste of very strong liquor. Tears came to his eyes, as the potent liquid burned all the way down. Adam tried his best not to start choking; that would have completely destroyed the air of masculinity he was trying to project. Instead, be blinked several times and then casually continued to scan the room.

The lizard creatures in the corner caught his attention again, this time as a frail, rodent-looking thing passed too close to their table. The big lizard in the middle reached out and grabbed the rodent’s tail and pulled, causing the big rat to fall into the group. They slapped at his head several times until the biggest lizard kicked the rodent back into the room, sending him crashing into an unoccupied table nearby. The other lizards laughed hysterically. Penitently, the abused rat rose to his feet, righted the table, then scurried off without comment or a glance back at his tormentors.

It was then that Adam noticed that the big lizard was staring right at him! Their eyes locked for a moment, before Adam looked away quickly. After a moment, he chanced a glance back, just to find the lizard was still staring at him, a slight grin on the creature’s elongated snout. This was getting uncomfortable, especially without Kaylor around to narrate the scene.

So it was with infinite relief that Adam saw Kaylor reenter the tavern a few minutes later. When he was seated, Adam leaned forward, “What was that all about”

The stunned look came over Kaylor’s face again. “You mean the mating Doesn’t your species mate”

“Of course we do, but just not so fast — and in public - at least not all the time. Who was she”

“I don’t know,” Kaylor said nonchalantly, lifting his drink and taking a gulp. “It doesn’t matter. We see so few of our species out here that we need to take advantage of all encounters.”

“So you just jumped each other, just like that”

“I don’t see why you are so shocked. I’m sure that if another of your kind showed up you’d do the same.”

Adam had to think about that for awhile, but then he noticed the lizard was still looking at him, so he changed subjects.

“Who are those lizard-things in the corner One of them keeps looking at me.”

Kaylor didn’t look over as his voiced tensed. “They’re Rigorians. I wouldn’t mess with them if I were you. They’re the meanest, strongest creatures in this part of the Fringe. Their gang is the largest.”

“Yeah, they seem like real assholes.”

“That’s graphic, but accurate. Just be careful around them. They know they’re the top of the food chain here, except, of course, for the Juireans.”

Adam looked over at the lizard and thought he’d try to disarm the situation.

Kaylor was still talking: “Whatever you do.”

Adam flashed a big, toothy grin at the lizard.

“.don’t ever bare your teeth at them. They treat that as a challenge.”

Almost instantly, the big lizard jumped to his feet and stalked over to Adam’s table. Towering a good seven feet tall, the yellow eyes and long snout were truly intimidating. Adam leaned back in his chair, looking up at the creature, as Kaylor nearly fell off his.

“You, creature,” the Rigorian called out. “You challenge me”

“Nah, it was just a misunderstanding,” Adam blurted out.

“Yes, you challenged me. I therefore challenge you!”

The whole tavern fell silent as Adam carefully rose out of his seat, slowly so as to not spook the lizard. “Listen, I don’t want to fight you. Like I said, it was just a misunderstanding.”

The Rigorian placed his hand on the butt of this weapon, then noticing that Adam was unarmed, he turned slightly toward Kaylor, never taking his eyes off of Adam. “Give him your weapon.”

Adam was shocked to see Kaylor immediately start to unbuckle his holster and offer it to Adam. “What are you doing I’m not going to fight this thing!”

“You’ve been challenged,” Kaylor stated. “You will either fight or he has a right to shoot you dead right here.”

So either I fight, or I die. Not much of a choice, Adam thought. Taking a deep breath, Adam reluctantly took the holster and strapped it around his waist. At least this was something he was familiar with. A weapon and an enemy. This was basic. And this he was good at.

The lizard turned and walked back to his group as a path was cleared between the Rigorian and himself. There was more chatter in the room now, as the reality of the situation began to spread among the patrons. There even appeared to be some betting going on!

Adam moved out from behind the table, giving himself a clear line of sight to the Rigorian. Kaylor moved up beside him and removed the weapon from the holster. “Have you ever fired an MK-17 before”

Adam shook his head.

“Of course you haven’t.” Kaylor showed him the weapon. “How this works, is you draw the weapon, bring it up to level, and when the targeting computer has locked on you will feel a slight vibration, then you can pull the trigger. This is set at level one. It’s the maximum setting. It will produce a concentrated bolt, but you will only have five shots. It was set a level two when I shot you. That was a larger, more diffused bolt, but it gives the shooter ten shots. You will need level one to kill the Rigorian, but you will also need to be very precise with your targeting.”

He returned the weapon to the holster and then stepped away. Then as an afterthought, he stepped forward again and raised his arm. “This is my weapon,” he announced to the room. “I will be reclaiming it after the challenge.”

Adam leaned toward him, “You don’t sound too confident with my chances.”

Kaylor just shrugged, and then put some distance between Adam and himself.

Turning his attention to the Rigorian, Adam was about to ask how this was supposed to go down when he saw the lizard’s hand move toward his gun. He grabbed the butt and began to pull the weapon from the holster.

Oh shit! It’s happening now!

Without thinking, Adam reached down and drew the MK-17. In a single move, he pointed the weapon at the lizard and depressed the trigger. A tiny, brilliant ball of blue light shot out of the business end of the weapon and impacted the left shoulder of the Rigorian, spinning him sideways. Adam fired again; this shot struck the neck, nearly severing the head.

Then he noticed another movement! The Rigorian to the right had pulled his weapon as well and was bringing it to bear on Adam. Shifting his aim slightly, Adam let off another shot that found its target center mass in the lizard’s chest.

Not taking any chances, Adam swung the weapon to the left, finding the other two Rigorians. Each had their hands on their weapons, but they quickly moved them away as they stared down the barrel of Adam’s gun.

It was only then that Adam felt a slight vibration coming from MK-17. For some reason, this made him chuckle. The entire fight had taken maybe a couple of seconds, and just now the computer was telling him it was okay to fire.

“Take off your weapons,” Adam demanded of the two remaining Rigorians.

“What” one of them said. “We’re not taking.”

Adam rushed forward, jamming the barrel of his gun up into the neck of the taller, defiant lizard. “Take off your fucking weapons — or I’ll take off your head!”

In unison, the Rigorians unbuckled their holsters and let them fall to the floor.

“That’s better. Now get out of here,” Adam ordered.

Without looking at the fallen and bloody heap that was their dead companions, the two surviving Rigorians dashed out of the tavern. Adam bent down and picked up the two sets of weapons. When he turned back to the room, he noticed how deathly quiet it was, with dozens of pairs of eyes staring widely back at him. Taking advantage of the stunned fear, Adam returned to his table, lifted his drink and threw it down in a single gulp. Then he turned to an equally stunned Kaylor and said, “Pay up; we’re leaving.”

Outside in the early evening afterglow, Adam and Kaylor walked silently back to the spaceport. Kaylor had not asked for his weapon back and actually stayed about a half-pace behind Adam all the way there.

Entering the ship, Kaylor retracted the ramp and secured the door, after which they made their way to the common room.

Upon entering, Jym turned from his computer console — and nearly fell off the chair when he saw Adam.

“What is he doing here” he blurted, but Kaylor silenced him up with a firm shake of his head.

Adam was still so jacked up that he didn’t sit down. He dropped the two sets of weapons on the table and then paced back and forth between the couch and the table. “I didn’t want to fight him. You know that,” he finally said.

Kaylor stood near the doorway. “You had no choice,” was all he said.

Regaining some nerve, Jym pressed the subject: “What happened You’ve only been gone for about two hours—”

“Adam just killed two Rigorians in a challenge over at Jklena’s Tavern.”

“He what That’s impossible!”

“No it’s not. It was the most remarkable thing I’ve ever seen. And then he disarmed two more and kicked them out of the bar.”

Stepping forward, Kaylor held out his hand toward Adam. “Let me have the gun.”

Adam stopped pacing and looked straight into Kaylor’s eyes. A tense moment passed, then he slowly began to unbuckle the holster. “No keep the holster on.”

Surprised, Adam obeyed and handed over just the weapon to Kaylor. Taking the MK-17, Kaylor popped the bolt cartridge out of the handle and then handed the weapon back to Adam.

“Let me see you draw the weapon again. It’s disarmed. Just draw and shoot, like you did before.”

Doing his best John Wayne imitation, Adam whipped the gun out of the holster, raised it and pulled the trigger. He heard an audible gasp from Jym.

“What’s the big deal” Adam asked. “I’ve always had fast reactions and I’m a pretty good shot.”

After a moment, Kaylor answered. “You should not be able to do this. I’ve never seen anyone even come close to how fast you can draw a weapon. Also, you didn’t use the targeting computer. How is it that you can hit a target without assistance”

“Well that part seemed pretty stupid. Why do you have to wait for a computer to tell you when to shoot”

Kaylor persisted. “You should not be able to hit a target without assistance. If you do, then it would be pure luck. But what I saw today was not luck.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but we don’t use targeting computers on our handguns. We do with missiles and rockets and things like that, but not handguns or rifles. Besides, he was only about 10 meters away. I’d have to be blind to miss at that range.”

Jym coughed. “I don’t mean to spoil this moment, but what about the salvage”

Kaylor seemed relieved to change the subject. “It’s registered. We are to go back tomorrow at Day4 for the final inventory and receipt.”

“And him” Jym nodded toward Adam, who was still practicing drawing the MK-17, seemingly getting faster every time.

“The Registrar said he couldn’t help him get back to Earth, so I said he could stay on with us until the owners showed up for the claim or the verdict on the salvage is rendered. He’s hoping that if the owners show up they could help him find his home.”

“That could be months! You mean he’s going to be here all that time”

“I told him two months-“

“Hey, I’m right here in the room with you,” Adam said.

“We’ll put him to work, doing something. But I wasn’t about to leave him on-planet without any resources.”

“It looks like he can take care of himself,” Jym countered.

“If killing is an occupation.”

Adam turned toward the two arguing aliens: “Listen, I’m not going to be any trouble for you. I’m a hard worker and a fast learner. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, but I just need a little time to figure out what I’m going to do.” He took a few steps towards Jym. “Remember, from my perspective, it was only about a day ago that I was back home, without ever having dreamed I’d be here going through all this shit. This is your reality, not mine. So Jym, why don’t you cut me a little slack!”