The Betwixt Book One

  Chapter 18

  The Tarian’s blast came searing past my ear as it slammed into the wall beside me. The white-hot plasma bullet sunk into the center of the painting depicting the water planet of Isis. The canvas bubbled on impact, burning away as the blast radius spread, the engaging blue ocean disappearing to reveal a singed, pockmarked wall behind.

  He hadn’t missed on purpose, even I knew that.

  Four more Tarians entered in through the open airlock, three arms apiece toting twelve guns my way.

  As the lead guy drew closer, I could make out the sneer on his squashed-nose face. It was remarkable how much Tarians looked like Earth pigs, except with the glassy, white eyes of one roasting on a spit. Oh, and the fact their huge noses looked like they had been smashed in with a brick.

  He kept walking toward me, shoulders hunched forward, three arms held high, guns trained on me.

  The skin of a Tarian is the color of a bloodstain you can’t get out of the carpet – it’s a pale red with strikes of far darker crimson flashing through it. The nostrils are ringed with a ghostly white, the two tusks protruding from their mouths fat enough that they press their lips in, stopping them from closing their mouths so a constant stream of saliva trickles past.

  Then there was the third arm. They had two terminating from shoulder blades, like humans, but there was a third lower down their chest – protruding right from the center of their torso. It was like an arm that belonged solely to their stomachs, one for grabbing whatever food walked past and holding it still while the other arms did their work.

  I was motionless. Not still but motionless. My heart didn’t appear to be beating; my breath had caught somewhere low down in my chest; and my limbs felt like the heavy, waterlogged wood you pull out of a storm drain during a deluge.

  I had fought Twixts before, but something far more mundane by comparison had me quaking like a three-year-old. I was built to fight Twixts; it was in my blood in more ways than one. Plus, she would always take over when my inter-dimensional cousins would rear their insubstantial heads. Neither my human nor my People side had any experience fighting Tarian Mercs. I couldn’t hope for a sudden flash of determination or deep instinct from within to push me into a fighting frenzy. It wasn’t going to come because these weren’t Twix—

  “Get down, Mini!” Jason’s voice boomed from behind. It was louder, stronger than I’d ever heard, and had the electronic quality of his helmet relay.

  My legs followed his orders, in a way, and collapsed under me, taking me down faster than a samurai sword to the back of the ankles.

  The Commander charged, helmet up, black GAM armor catching the light as his legs and arms pumped, plasma assault rifle at the ready. I could hear the sound of his mechanized armor as it assisted his running, the joints giving off an electric buzz as they pushed the Commander to speeds no ordinary human could achieve.

  The lead Tarian got off the first shot, but Jason tank rolled to the side and kept running.

  He was charging them like some wild animal willing to sacrifice their life to save the heard. It was foolhardy, idiotic – it was just never going to work. One man against five Tarian Mercs with one pathetic damsel in the way?

  The Commander swung his assault rifle forward as he passed me and started firing. He’d obviously waited until I was behind him before he started blasting away, nervous I’d be caught in the crossfire.

  “Get out of here, Mini! Get back to the Main Room,” he boomed again, his helmet carrying his voice above the clamor of plasma blasts.

  The lead Tarian had dropped to his knees, allowing the other four to stand abreast behind him and ready their guns like a firing squad.

  Jason was going to… Jason was going to—

  I stumbled up, tilting into a run toward him.

  “Mini, get down!”

  I wasn’t going to lose him to some Tarian Merc, not in an attempt to save my pathetic life.

  I ran after him, determined to get myself between him and the next shot the Tarians sent flying his way.

  At this moment, I would have far preferred to be fighting the Twixts.

  “Mini.” Jason made a lunge for me, trying to push me out of the way.

  I ducked under his grab, getting in front of him. The Tarians were only ten meters away now; I could see the dead whites of their pupil-less eyes as clear as the lines on my own palm. I closed another meter, then another.

  They weren’t going to fire on me. I knew that deep down. Even if they would, I was willing to take the consequences.

  I drew to a halt and flung my hands up until my arms were wide, fingers spread like I was trying to palm a ball. “Stop! Stop!” I screamed, voice arcing up and down like a crack of electricity spitting through a live wire. “If you want me, you can have me. Don’t shoot!”

  It was a gamble, but one I was at least fifty percent sure of. The Tarians had been at the dig site and now here – and they hadn’t killed me when they’d had the chance. Even I knew Tarian Mercs didn’t leave you alive unless they wanted something from you. I didn’t know what they wanted, but all I could hope for was that they wouldn’t shoot at Jason while I was standing in his way.

  The lead Merc, the one who’d dropped to his knees, snorted out a laugh, his nostrils contracting and puffing out the air like a blowhole in some ocean cave. He didn’t say anything but didn’t shoot, either.

  “Get out of the way, Mini!” Jason was still running, was right behind me, was going to leap to the side, was going to get past me, was going to get shot.

  Oh god, there was no way out of this, was there? Even if I did manage to stop them from killing Jason right now, the second they had me, they would finish off the job.

  Sure enough, Jason didn’t stop when he reached me. He pulled to the side, ran right past my outstretched arms.

  I turned and leaped for him, just as the lead Merc raised his gun to fire. I slammed into Jason from the side, knocking into him with the blade of my shoulder. It wasn’t enough to do any damage or even register much of a knock through his thick GAM armor. It was enough to push him off balance. That’s when I dived forward and grabbed the pistol from his hip holster.

  Before another word could be said, another shot could be fired, another breath could be swallowed – I took the gun up to my own head and pressed it against my temple.

  This was the only way, right? This was the only way.

  “What are you—” Jason began.

  “Put your guns down,” I whirled on the Tarian Mercs, “Or I shoot myself, right now. You don’t get your target, and you leave empty handed – understand?”

  The Tarians watched me, especially the lead. He spread his lips wide until the saliva collected over the bottom of his tusks and dribbled slowly down his chin. He made a noise, which was either a grunt or a sharp, sharp laugh.

  “I will do it.” I pressed the gun closer to my temple until its muzzle was covered by my knotted and sweaty hair. “I will.”

  The Tarian laughed harder now, and I could tell it was a laugh, because it shook his torso, his third arm wavering. “GAM gunsh are lockeshd,” he said, words slurred around his massive tusks.

  He leveled his gun right at the Commander.

  “STOP! STOP! STOP!” someone screamed.

  I almost dropped the gun, almost collapsed to the ground, hands clamped over my ears to block out the sound. It was like the sound of a million mosquitoes all whining at once. It felt like my mind was going to explode just from the high-pitched intensity.

  It sunk me to my knees, my eyes rolling back in my head, but I didn’t lose grip on my gun.

  The Commander wasn’t affected by it, his fancy armor obviously blocking out the clamor. The Tarians receded, clutched at their ears, and yowled.

  I could see the Rain Man marching toward us from the other end of the hall, his body moving quickly but in a far less coordinated fashion. It was seething, waves and ripples cascading across his blue, humanoid form. It was as if each and every part of him – ev
ery ant – was angry and was only just holding itself back. “We had an agreement,” the ants said, voice thankfully back to ordinary pitch.

  Jason took the opportunity to take hold of the situation. With his free hand, he reached out toward me blindingly quickly and pulled the gun straight from my grip.

  “There won’t be any need for that.” The Rain Man continued to march our way.

  The Commander whirled around, his assault rifle still trained on the Tarians but his pistol now pointed straight at the Rain Man. “What’s going on here? You tell me now. How did these Tarians make it past your security? You’re supposed to have one of the most sophisticated—”

  “I invited them.” The Rain Man kept walking toward us; now he was barely twenty meters away in this long, long corridor.

  He invited them?

  I couldn’t see the Commander’s face, but I could guess his expression. “You invited Tarian Mercenaries aboard your vessel, armed Tar—”

  “You would not stay and share your information.” The Rain Man was closing the distance between us with every word. “I had no choice.”

  “They arrived barely two minutes after we decided to leave; I’m betting they were already coming.” The Commander had his head trained on the Rain Man, though I could tell he was ready to fire on the Tarians should they move even an eyelid too quickly.

  “It is true; we had made an agreement with the Tarians, one that was in both of our interests. I didn’t intend to exploit this advantage unless you chose not to cooperate.”

  “Sending in mercenaries when your guests don’t cooperate is one hell of a way of showing your annoyance. What is going on here? What do you want?”

  “We want to know what will happen next.” The Rain Man was letting his head cock to the side again as he walked.

  I sucked in a breath and looked away. It was a horrible, deeply disquieting sight.

  “To know what will happen next, we must cooperate with these Tarians.”

  “What are you talking about? I’m losing my patience. Clarify your point now and stop where you are. One more move toward me, and that will qualify as a threat.”

  The Rain Man ground to a halt, bits of him shifting forward before everything came to a stop. “It is unfortunate that we are not in possession of all the facts. There are other parties within this galaxy who have information regarding Mini’s story that is critical. We cannot choose who obtains what data; we can only align ourselves with those who hold that which is most important.”

  “You sold us out to a bunch of Tarian Mercs, because they have information you want? We have our own term for that, Rain Man – treason.”

  “We didn’t sell you out. Our cause always has and will always be the same. We are invested in Mini successfully completing her story; we are invested in finding out how she will do this. But the fact remains that we do not have all that can help her. There are other—”

  “Alright, that’s it. I’ve heard enough. I’m going to tell you what you’re going to do – you are going to lift the com-blackout on this ship, allowing me to make a call to my cruiser. Then you’re going to accompany me for questioning, while your Tarian friends get comfortable in my brig.”

  “We cannot do this.” The Rain Man’s mouth didn’t move this time. It was eerie, almost as if the ants that made him up were now too passionate, too involved to remember how to mimic a human. “We will not do this. You will stay here; she will stay here; the Tarians will stay here. The GAM will not come; they will not rescue you. You will either speak to me, or you will leave with the Tarians.”

  “Like hell—” the Commander began.

  One of the Tarians, the leader, began to laugh again. It sounded choked, so unnatural. “Washn’t the deal. You callshed us – she’sh oursh now.”

  “Lift – the – coms-blackout.” The Commander’s words were slow, sharp, biting. He re-gripped his pistol, his armored hands grating around the butt of the gun, the only other noise in the room. “Now.”

  “We will not do this; we have no choice. The Tarians came to us, their leader. He had information we didn’t have, information critical to Mini’s mission, critical to the survival of the galaxy, critical to the end of her story. We were forced to make a deal – so we did. You do not understand yet, but in time our choice will reflect our wisdom.”

  “Making a deal with Tarian Mercenaries isn’t wise, Rain Man – it’s a crime.”

  “If we could have found another way, if we’d had the opportunity to obtain their information in another manner – we would have done this. Such an opportunity didn’t exist, so we made a deal. Now you must go with the Tarians to complete the second half of her mission.”

  “We aren’t going anywhere—”

  “They will take you,” the Rain Man moved its lips again, but in a disjointed, slow fashion, “To meet her mother.”

  I put a hand up to my mouth.

  To meet my mother?

  They… She was dead. She was dead, wasn’t she? She died a long time ago….

  Frozen dread filled me.

  My mother? They were going to take me to meet my mother?

  “The only place they are going is to the brig. If you don’t stop playing games with her, I will shoot you. Enough baiting, enough manipulation – you can’t toy with humans to see how they will react.”

  “I watch her reaction, but I play no game. She will meet her mother – she will go with the Tarians. It is the next logical step in her story.”

  “GAM stucksh – can’t shootsh us all at oncesh. Give up – won’t eatsh you.” The Tarian leader was laughing again.

  He was right – Jason couldn’t shoot all five Tarians and the Rain Man all at once. Plus, who knew what the Rain Man would do?

  “That’s it. Mini, I need you to find the Control Room, to turn off the communications-dampening field. If you can’t do that, find another exit – get out of here and alert my ship.”

  I nodded, heart pumping away in my ears. I didn’t want to leave the Commander, but I didn’t want this to continue, for him to get tired and make a mistake.

  “Okay,” I said through a croaky rasp. I started to move toward the Rain Man, as slowly as I could, hands balls of white-knuckled sweat.

  “The Control Room should be off the Main Room—”

  “I cannot allow her to escape,” the Rain Man said, hollow eyes on me as I approached it. “You are resourceful, Commander, but you alone cannot get her to the next stage of her story—”

  “Shut up. She’s going—”

  “Nowhere.” A voice came over the ship’s com unit, filtering in from the ceiling above.

  “Who are you?” The Commander’s voice couldn’t hide the stress and crackled with anger and frustration. He didn’t want to lose hold of the situation, but things were slipping from his control.

  “I’m the leader of the Tarian Mercenary band.” The voice was clearly not Tarian; it sounded human. And though I couldn’t be sure, it had a strangely familiar ring to it.

  The Commander remained quiet for a moment. “It won’t take long for my ship to detect you – if you’ve come in on a cruiser, you can guarantee they will get to you before you leave orbit.”

  “A bit late in the game to be pulling out the cavalry card, isn’t it, Commander Jason Cole?” The voice was odd; it seemed to be straining itself to put on an overly formal tone, like it was trying to sound professional.

  “I don’t need the cavalry; I’m the one with all the guns.” The Commander’s head dipped a bit, but his arms were still held out, guns at the ready.

  “For now. If you want to live – if you want to come along for the ride – I’d drop them if I were you.”

  “That isn’t going to happen—”

  “The Rain Man wants you alive; it was part of his deal. He believes it will cause too much emotional stress to Mini if we dispose of you in the usual style. He thinks she’ll be less cooperative, less likely to help us out with one of her usual friendly smiles,” the voice added in
a short, sharp chuckle.

  My lips parted, eyes crinkling with confusion. How did the speaker know of my usual smile? Was it a lucky guess or…?

  “You see, I want to keep Mini on-side. She’s going to be mighty helpful if only I can find a way to make her play ball. That’s where you’re going to come in, Commander Jason Cole. You’re going to be the sweet puppy I kick if Mini starts to get less than cooperative.”

  I felt like someone had struck me with their full might right in the center of my stomach. I felt like coughing and wheezing, spluttering and gasping.

  “You honestly think you’re going to make it off this planet with a citizen and a GAM officer? They’ll hunt you to the ends of the galaxy.” If the voice’s threat had affected the Commander, he didn’t show it. His tone was full of the same determination, the same pitch of barely contained rage.

  “Let them try. We may not be a match for the GAM head on; you do spend an awful lot of money on your fancy armor. But we know how to run, how to keep quiet, how to stay undetected. You know that, Commander. Just as you know you have already lost this situation—”

  “I have not lost this situation—”

  “Yes you have, and the sooner you put down your guns, the sooner I don’t have to break your arms to get to them. Now play nice, or you’ll get it.” The voice changed pitches, becoming far deeper, far brusquer.

  I knew that voice – I just couldn’t remember from where.

  “Who are you?” I spoke up, croaking. “What do you want with us?”

  “Mini, I’m glad you haven’t guessed yet – I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise. What do I want with you? I’m the leader of a mercenary band; I want you to help me make money. Or, more specifically, find weapons.”

  “What? What weapons? I don’t know where there are any weapons,” I said through a desperate laugh. I mean, it was ludicrous. If this man, whoever he was, wanted someone to collect firearms for him, he would’ve had more luck with Crag’tal – or any piece of scum he could scrape off a passing transport or backwater planet.

  “No, you don’t. I know where they are – I need you to help me get there.” The voice had its fake, professional tone again.

  “None of this is going to happen. You’re all talk, all threats,” the Commander still held his guns steady, “But no action. If things are in your favor – why haven’t you acted yet? You’re just some guy with a com-link – weapon-less and playing some idiotic, see-through game – trying to get me to drop my guns.”

  “You have a point, Commander. I’m far more menacing in the flesh.” The voice cut out with an ominous buzz.

  The airlock behind the Tarians began to open. The Commander twisted his head toward it but then back to the Rain Man – he was obviously having trouble deciding who was the greater threat.

  I stared at the airlock as it disappeared into some slot in the ship’s hull. I wanted to know who that voice was, desperately, with every itching tingle running up and down my spine. I knew it – but I just couldn’t remember….

  A figure appeared, but I couldn’t see it properly – there was too much light streaming in behind it. I could make out several other shapes behind it, though, make out their long, large guns.

  They started to walk toward us. My breath slowed as I redirected every ounce of attention on the figure, trying to make out his features through the light.

  “The GAM will be here any minute,” the Commander snapped. “When you opened that airlock, you gave me an opportunity to send a message. This is all going to be over soon. Surrender while you still can.”

  “I used to be a GAM, Commander. An engineer, but I still know GAM reaction time. So you can’t lie to me. I’d estimate we have about five minutes to take your guns and bundle you both into our cruiser. As for the GAM attacking our ship before we have a chance to leave the planet – I know the protocols, and they’re clear about not getting into ship-to-ship fire-fights in planet-dock. Too much collateral damage.” The man stopped in from the airlock, his face still infuriatingly hidden by the light.

  He was a GAM, an ex-GAM – but how did he know me? The Commander was the first galactic soldier I’d ever properly met. Who was this guy?

  “Come on, Mini, aren’t you going to come over here and give me a hug?”

  “Who are you?” I asked, voice wavering.

  “You don’t remember me? Well, I did pay a lot to have this new fancy voice synth installed. Still, we’ve known each other for years, kid – I would have expected more from you. Especially since you have those fancy eyes of yours.”

  I peered at him again, this time concentrating with all my might. There was an immense amount of light coming in from behind the man, far too much for it to have occurred naturally. Perhaps the Tarians had set off Dazzlers to give them the advantage on entry. Though these had no chance of working against the Commander’s light-filtering helmet, they were strong enough to play havoc with my vision.

  But the man, whoever he was, was right. Dazzlers or not, I did have fancy eyes. I took a breath and tried to concentrate on blocking out the excess illumination.

  It took a moment, but things began to dull as my eyes took in less and less of the light being blasted out by the Dazzlers behind the Tarians.

  That’s when I could make out his round bald head, that half-beard he always had, and those stormy gray eyes. I could even see the nick of a scar above his left ear – the one he’d gotten into a bar fight with two Hantari.

  “What? You?” I gasped.

  “There you go, kid – that’s better, right? But I would have thought you’d have more to say to me – what with you leaving and not even handing in your resignation. I wasn’t too happy when you left, not telling me where you’d gone. So how’s about it, Mini?”

  “Marty.”