The Klaatu Terminus (24 page)

Emma nodded, her eyes wide.

“Do you remember me?” Tucker asked, taking his hand from her mouth.

She nodded again.

“The men outside, who are they?”

“Master Gheen. Koan. Tamm. The acolyte Jonas.”

“Do you know the man who lives here?”

“Kosh,” she said, almost too quietly to hear.

“Is he here?”

She bit her lip. Her eyes filled with tears. She looked away.

For a moment Tucker felt nothing, then the bottom seemed to drop out of his gut as he read her expression.

“No,” he said, backing away from her and holding up his hands as if he could stop her from saying more. His butt hit the bench he had been hiding behind. He grabbed it — something solid to hold on to.

“They killed him,” Emma said.

K
OSH CROUCHED BEHIND A FALLEN TREE AND LISTENED
to the men, calling to one another in a strange language, tramping clumsily through the woods, looking for him. He thought there were four of them, but he wasn’t sure. One of them was the young guy he had seen before. The others he couldn’t get a look at, but he suspected one of them was Koan, the man who had shot him, and maybe Tamm and Gheen as well. Kosh waited, shotgun safety off, half hoping Koan would find him. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to shoot the kid, but he figured Koan wouldn’t be a problem.

The men moved off. Kosh raised his head. He saw one of them from the back, moving toward the barn. Had they given up? He considered his options. From where he was hiding, he could see the top half of the barn. Something on the roof caught his eye. Two figures, moving along the roof ridge toward the ladder end of the barn. Tucker and Lia! What were
they
doing here? And if Kosh could see them on the roof, then the guys who were hunting for him might spot them too. Kosh stood up. The three men were walking away from him, back toward the barn.

Tucker and Lia were no longer visible — they were probably on the ladder. Kosh snatched up a piece of broken limestone and threw it. It hit a tree just downhill from the nearest man. He stopped moving and looked toward the sound, calling softly to the others.

Kosh ducked back behind the fallen tree and watched. He could see Koan clearly now, less than fifty yards away. The men spread out and moved toward the place where they’d heard the rock hit. Good. As long as they stayed in the woods, Tucker and Lia would have time to make it to the ground unseen, and — he hoped — get their butts out of there. Kosh waited until the men were out of sight, then moving silently downhill, away from the barn, he found another rock and threw it in their general direction. Kosh peered through the trees, trying to see how they would respond.

He heard the slug thud into the hickory tree next to him at the same moment he heard the flat crack of the rifle. Kosh ducked low and ran. A second shot ripped through the brush. Kosh leaped over a small ravine and kept running.

“Kosh is
dead
?” Tucker said. His voice sounded hollow and distant.

Emma nodded. “I saw Koan shoot him. I am sorry. He was your uncle, yes?”

Tucker nodded, drawing a shaky breath. Kosh was all the family he had. The air around him seemed to thicken; the sound of his breathing rasped at his eardrums. He felt his heart beating raggedly, as if it couldn’t decide whether to speed up or slow down.

A muffled bang came from the woods outside. Emma flinched at the sound. A second shot rang out.

“Those were rifle shots,” Tucker said. He felt things inside him hardening, crystalizing. “I need a weapon.”

“There is an
arma
upstairs,” Emma said. “Guns as well.”

“Is anybody up there?”

She shook her head.

“Show me. Quickly.”

They ran up the stairs. The second floor was much as Tucker remembered, although the furniture had been disarranged, and four mattresses were lined up in front of the stone fireplace. A small fire was burning.

Emma checked on the living room table, then in the kitchen, then between the mattresses. She found a shock baton, but no
arma
, no guns. She handed the baton to Tucker. “The other weapons are gone.”

“That must have been them in the woods shooting. But shooting at what?”

“I don’t know. A few minutes ago Jonas came running inside and said something to Master Gheen, and they all went outside, very excited. It was the first time I had been left alone since they came here. I thought to escape through the Gates.”

“Do you know where the Gates will take you?”

“It does not matter. I only know I cannot stay here, not after all the things they have done. Kosh was not the first man they killed, nor will he be the last.”

“We’ll see about that,” Tucker said. “Whatever else happens, they can’t have Kosh’s barn.” He went to the stove, blew out the pilot light, and turned the gas jets to all six burners on high. The skunky smell of propane filled the air. “Let’s go.”

Back in Kosh’s former workshop, the diskos were buzzing and flickering with unusual vigor, as if they sensed the upstairs filling with explosive gas.

“If you want to take a chance on the diskos, you’d better do it now,” Tucker said.

Emma looked from Tucker to the diskos, then back. “You are going to fight them?”

“I’m going to do
something
,” Tucker said. “I have a friend outside. She’s going to be wondering what happened to me. You can come with me if you want, or take your chances with the diskos. But I wouldn’t recommend hanging out in here.”

Emma hesitated, then said, “I will come with you.”

They started for the door, but were stopped by the sound of voices just outside. Tucker grabbed Emma’s arm to pull her back behind the bench where he had been hiding before. She said, “No. They will expect me to be here. I will not betray you.”

Tucker looked into the face that was the face of his mother, and he believed her. He jumped over the bench and hid himself behind it.

From the corner of the barn, Lia watched the open doorway through which Tucker had entered. What was he
doing
in there? She stepped out to follow him inside, then ducked back when she heard a gunshot from the woods. A second later, another shot came from the same direction. Again, she started for the open doorway.

“Yar.”

Lia spun around. A few yards away, a clean-shaven man wearing a camouflage jacket, matching trousers, and a blaze-orange hunting cap stood holding an
arma
pointed at her midsection. The man’s lips drew back from large white teeth. With a jolt, she recognized him.

“Master Gheen,” she said, the words catching in her throat.

“I did not think to see you again,” he said. He looked younger without the beard.

Lia looked at the
arma
, measuring the distance between them. Not close enough — it would be suicide to rush him.

“I like your hat,” she said.

Gheen smiled. Was he really her father? She saw nothing of herself in his leering face. “I like to blend in with the locals,” he said. “Where is your weapon?”

“I have no weapon,” Lia said.

“So you say. Turn around. Put your hands on the barn.”

Seeing no alternative, Lia did as she was told. She sensed him moving closer. Close enough for her to donkey kick him? Not quite.

“Are you alone?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she said.

Gheen chuckled. “I think not.”

The base of her skull exploded. Her face hit the barn. She fell to her hands and knees, and bright lights flashed behind her eyes.
He killed me!
she thought. But no, she was still alive.
He must have hit me with the butt of the
arma. She heard a grunt of effort and Gheen’s boot crashed into her gut, knocking her onto her side. Lia forced herself to ignore the pain and lie still, feigning unconsciousness. Gheen stood over her, breathing heavily.

“I owe you that and more, Yar,” he said. “Best pray to whatever bitch god you worship. You’ll meet her soon.”

Through slitted eyes, Lia watched him back away two steps, keeping the
arma
trained on her.

“I know you can hear me,” he said.

Lia did not move, hoping he would come closer. She imagined planting her boot in his groin. Just one step closer.

“Your Yarish tricks won’t work this time. On your feet.” Gheen put his thumb on the
arma
’s trigger button. “Or we can end it now.”

Sullenly, painfully, Lia climbed to her feet. Her neck was on fire and her belly felt as if something inside had broken.

“You are in pain,” Gheen observed. “Good. Tell me, who is the man in black?”

Man in black?
She shook her head. Tucker was not wearing black. That meant that Gheen didn’t know about him. But who was the man in black?

Gheen said, “Do you wish to die sooner than is necessary?”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about.” It hurt to talk. Breathing shallowly, she waited for whatever was to come. She would find an opportunity to act, or she would die.

Gheen turned his head slightly, glancing toward the woods behind the barn. He waved. Three men emerged from the trees, two carrying rifles, the other holding a baton. One was limping. He wore a brace on one leg. Lia remembered him from the park. As he drew closer, recognition widened his eyes.

Lia said, “How is your knee?”

The man raised his rifle. Gheen held up a hand. “Brother, restrain yourself.”

“This one crippled me,” the man said.

“She has information. Your time of reckoning will come.” Gheen turned to the other man. “Did you see anything, Tamm?”

Tamm shook his head. “We thought we heard him. Koan got a couple shots off, but woods are impossible — all fallen trees and brambles. It might’ve been a deer. He could be anywhere.” He looked nervously toward the trees.

“He is armed,” said the younger man, an acolyte named Jonas. Lia remembered him from her days as a Pure Girl. He had often carried messages from the temple to the palace.

“We had best get inside,” Koan said.

Gheen nodded. “Perhaps we can persuade this Yar to tell us some things.”

L
IA ENTERED THE BARN
, K
OAN SHOVING HER ALONG
with the barrel of his rifle. Inside, she stopped, astonished to see a row of five Gates. Five captive maggots! Standing beside the Gates was a young, red-haired woman. Lia remembered her from Romelas — the temple girl with amazing blue-green eyes. They had spoken once, in the east garden.

Koan gave Lia a vicious jab with the barrel of his rifle; she pitched forward onto her hands and knees. He hit her again, between the shoulder blades, and she fell flat.

“Restrain her, Jonas,” Gheen ordered, entering the barn behind Jonas and Tamm. Jonas found a length of nylon cord and wrapped it around her arms, pulling them behind her back. She could not restrain a cry — every part of her body hurt.

Pain exists only in the mind
, Yar Song had once told her. She tried to believe it.

“Legs too,” said Gheen. Jonas ran the cord down to her ankles and bound them together. “Sit her up,” Gheen said. Jonas and Koan dragged her roughly over to one of the barn posts and propped her against it.

“You keep watch,” Gheen said to Jonas, handing him the
arma
. The young man went to stand at the doorway, holding the
arma
nervously.

“Who is this?” the temple girl asked.

Tamm noticed her for the first time. “Emma? What are you doing down here, woman?”

“I wondered where everyone had gone.” She looked at Lia, her eyes wide and frightened. “What will you do with her?”

Tamm grunted. “It is not your concern.”

Gheen had returned his attention to Lia, his heavy-lidded eyes boring into her.

“And now,” he said, “let us talk.”

Lia glared defiantly back at him. The aching in her gut and the sharper pains from her neck and back made it easier to not be afraid.
Fear is pain, and pain is fear.
Yar Song again.
Two edges of the same blade. Use them against each other.
Interesting how so many of the things that had made no sense to her when Yar Song had first said them now seemed like the most important words she had ever heard.