Wanted

Forty-five minutes later, a robot pushed a grav-sled with an opaque shield out of the lower airlock of Belle. It headed to the gate leading out of the spaceport. A few minutes later, a vehicle drove out and passed the robot. Once through the gate, the vehicle turned left and disappeared from sight.

  Just out of sight of the gate, the vehicle slowed and a man stepped out. The vehicle continued on down the road. The man, wearing an overcoat, sunglasses and a hat pulled low over his eyes, walked back to the robot pushing the grav-sled. He turned it around and walked back toward the spaceport with the robot walking in front of him.

  They calmly strode through the spaceport gate and headed toward Belle. Fifty feet from her airlock, the man directed the robot to change course. They walked directly to the other spaceship. Ten feet from its airlock, the man softly said something. The opaque shield expanded until it covered the entire spaceship.

  Lemmy leaped off the sled and stood with her back against the spaceship. In her hand she held a small blaster. The man, the Captain, shouted, "I hear you've been looking for me. Come on out and let's talk about it."

  He waited impatiently, tapping his foot. Three minutes later, the airlock opened a crack. The muzzle of a blaster rifle poked out. The Captain pulled his left hand out of his coat pocket. Holding it in the air, he said, "I wouldn't if I were you. See this? It's called a dead man switch."

  The muzzle slowly slid back inside. The Captain continued, "This switch isn't the real threat though. It's that big box on the grav-sled. I assume you know what a cobalt bomb is. This switch is the trigger device."

  The airlock slammed shut. The Captain laughed. He roared, "I know I'm a dead man. Do you realize yet that you are as well?"

  A voice came over the intercom, "You don't have the resources to have a cobalt bomb. The planetary authorities would have confiscated it long ago. Besides, we've activated our shield."

  The Captain gave a loud mirthless laugh. He stared at a sensor by the door, "How far will your shield expand? Have you noticed that I'm still able to have a conversation with you? I'm inside your shield. That means that the spaceport is doubly protected – but you and your ship will be vaporized into atoms in thirty seconds if that airlock isn't opened."

  He turned his wrist and stared at his comm. Twenty-five seconds later, the airlock swung wide open. Two large armed guards stood there with blaster rifles pointed at him. The Captain said, "Put them on the deck and back away. If my thumb slips off this, you end up as a flash of light."

  The one to the left looked nervously at his partner. His eyes shifted back to the object in the Captain's hand. The barrel of the weapon wavered. Slowly it sank down toward the deck. The Captain nodded slightly.

  When nothing happened, he nodded again with more movement. Lemmy whirled around the edge of the door and blasted the man with the rifle still pointed at the Captain. When the other one started to lift his weapon, she blasted him as well.

  The Captain looked at the senor, "Your men don't listen. I repeat myself. I know I'm a dead man, do you know you are also?"

  He walked into the airlock with Lemmy close behind. She sealed up the outer doors as the Captain strode through the inner door. As he moved across the empty bay, a head peeked out of a passageway. It yelled, "What if the ship's hull cuts off the signal to that thing? It could set off the bomb."

  The Captain chuckled, "You're right, but I don't care. I'm headed to your conference room. I expect everyone on this ship to be there by the time I arrive. Now get going."

  Lemmy had to trot to keep up with him. When they arrived at the conference room, seven aliens waited for them. Rifle muzzles bristled from behind their bodies. The Captain stepped in through the door, but Lemmy continued on down the passageway.

  The Captain asked, "Who is the captain of this ship?"

  Silence greeted his question. He pulled a blaster out of his pocket and shot a female in the right leg. The limb flew off and she collapsed with a scream. Weapons came to bear on him but he held up the device in his hand. His weapon targeted another of the seven.

  An older woman shouted, "Stop. I'm the captain. Please, let us attend to her."

  "No, right now you need to give me all the passwords and codes to this ship. Speak loudly and clearly so my comm will pick it up."

  "You've got to be kidding me. You're crazier than your folder suggests if you think I'll give you spit."

  "Oh, but you will. Every one of you will before this is over."

  The wounded alien moaned. The eyes of the others looked at her. The Captain aimed his blaster at the youngest one he could find. The ship captain followed the muzzle of the blaster. She said, "You can kill us all and it won't do you any good."

  "I don't intend to kill any of you. I'll just maim a few until all of you decide to cooperate."

  "You wouldn't dare —"

  Her statement was cut short by the blast from his weapon. The young man shrieked as his left foot disappeared in a flash of light. Terror shone from all the eyes looking at him. Several reached for a weapon then stopped.

  The Captain said, "Now, let's start this cooperation. Everyone stack your weapons and comm units there on the end of the table."

  One of the larger crew snarled, "I'll die first —"

  His words stopped as the Captain shot his right arm. The blast tore through it and hit the wall behind with a loud clang. The man's arm hung by a small piece of flesh. He screamed and dropped to the floor writhing in pain.

  The ship captain said, "Please, no more. We'll do as you say. When we finish, may we take care of our wounded?"

  "No, they wanted to capture me. They're learning of the risks now. Besides, a blaster seals off the blood so you don't have to worry about them bleeding to death. You, take the weapons and comm units from the wounded and put them on the table." The Captain pointed at one of the crewmen.

  "You're crazy. No one in their right mind shoots helpless individuals."

  "Your crew shot at me last night with no warning. Captain, you should realize that I'm Hanami. Have you told your crew what I did to warrant the welcome you had planned?"

  "No."

  "Tell them."

  "He shoved an asteroid at a planet. It wiped out over a quarter of the population."

  The Captain stared at each one. He said, "Do you think I'll hesitate to mutilate the lot of you if you don't follow my orders?"

  The crew moved faster to comply. When he told them to move to the other end of the table, they quickly obeyed. When he asked for codes and passwords, they still hesitated.

  Lemmy walked in with a 3D projector. Closing the door behind her, she set it up near the weapons without a word. At the Captain's nod, she touched a button. Images danced across the tabletop.

  The Captain said, "Nice family, captain. Fine looking grandchildren. Your entire crew has lots of mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. They seem to have children as well."

  The crew looked at the images with horror written in their eyes. They gasped when he said, "Too bad all of them are on their way to a pleasure palace like the one in orbit. I gave orders for them to be used in the worst ways possible. When they are beyond use, their brains will be used in our spaceships' computers."

  Rage mixed with disgust crossed the crew's faces. The ship captain said, "You can't —"

  "You forget that I'm a Hanami who bombed my own people. You don't think I won't? Give me those codes – now."

  The ship captain went first. She took several seconds to give them. The others gave theirs but they talked much faster. When he had all of them recorded, he said, "Now we'll find out if you're telling the truth. Lemmy, try the captain's passwords. Seal this room and drain the air out of the rest of the ship. I think there is at least one assassin waiting in the dark somewhere."

  Lemmy said, "Captain, they've cooperated with you. Don't you think you could spare their families? No one should be stuck in those pleasure palaces.
"

  "Lemmy, you are much too soft on assassins, but maybe if these codes are good. If any of them aren't…"

  Lemmy started to enter the ship captain's codes. The captain shouted, "Wait. Those aren't right. This is the right one."

  She rattled off a new sequence. When she finished, the ship's computer responded. Lemmy took control and sealed the conference room. People's ears popped as the air pressure outside dropped. The ship captain's face, along with two others, sagged in sorrow.

  The Captain said, "As I thought, you had someone hidden. I don't think they were in a spacesuit though."

  Twenty minutes later, Lemmy brought air back into the spaceship. She and the Captain escorted their prisoners to the ship captain's quarters. After locking them in, Lemmy found the medical bay and took medical supplies back for the wounded crew.

  The two searched the spaceship for the hidden assassin. They found two of them. The Captain found a grav-sled and shield generator. Loading the bodies on it, he pushed it to the airlock to load the other two.

  After he set the shield, he pushed the sled outside next to the other one. When he stepped back into the airlock, Lemmy stood silently looking at him with large round brown eyes. The Captain glanced at her, then looked again.

  He said, "What's bothering you, Lemmy?"

  "Aren't you going to call? They cooperated."

  "Call? Oh, you mean the families. I must have bluffed better than I thought if you believed me. I haven't made any arrangements to have their families captured. I don't have a clue where those families are."

  Lemmy's ears perked up a little and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Your aura said you were really going to do it."

  "I would have if I had to – to get this ship. I'm not a superman though."

  "What now?"

  The Captain pushed his hat back a little. He rubbed his face with his hand, "Now we wait for Josh and Cherry."

  Josh turned right after a half mile. It took twenty minutes to make a loop and come back to the spaceport. As they drove to the rear of Belle, they could see the opaque shield over the other spaceship.

  Parking the vehicle outside, they hurried inside to put the finishing touches on their trap. Cherry said, "I've got a bad feeling about this, Josh. We have no idea how many people they'll bring."

  "I thought androids didn't have feelings."

  "You know what I mean."

  Josh shrugged, "We don't have a choice. If the Exec officer is coming and we can nab him or her, that opens a lot more info about that ship in orbit. I want it."

  "How are you going to take it over? Those thugs we interrogated said there could be between five and eight hundred of their ilk in there. How can two people fight those odds?"

  "I don't know. Like I told Lemmy, one thing at a time. First we need to capture that shuttle and the people on it. Then there won't be nearly as many thugs on the sewer up there."

  Cherry rolled his eyes in disgust. The sound of the shuttle landing stopped their conversation. Both pulled blasters and checked them. Putting them away, they checked the stingerrays lying beside them.

  The driver's comm crackled, "Quim, where are you at? We need to get these shills unloaded and on the street."

  Cherry answered, mimicking the thug's voice, "We're in this old tub. You won't believe what it's carrying. Leave the shills for a minute and come look."

  "The captain wants those shills out on the street looking for marks. If we don't get a shuttle load tonight, we're outta here."

  "OK, we'll be right there. Send two guys over to guard these suckers. They're out for now, but I don't want to leave them unattended."

  "I'll send them right over. Get those wheels over here."

  Cherry looked at Josh. "Now what do we do?"

  "We move that vehicle over there and play it by ear. See if you can park it so the lights shine on the airlock. Maybe that will blind them long enough for us to get inside."

  When they pulled up behind the shuttle, the shills came out first. Josh snarled, "Some of them can't be more then thirteen or fourteen. Everyone on that shuttle is dead. Get me to that one in orbit —"

  "Josh, stop. Take a breath. They'll kill every one of them in front of you if you don't get yourself under control."

  Josh trembled and his face turned ashen. He took several deep breaths as the shills walked out. They could see that they were all young males and females. A dozen walked toward the vehicle. Cherry said, "Get the rear door open. They'll have to pack in here like kipple in a can."

  Reaching behind, Josh opened the door. He didn't get out, but sat ready to leap out if he had a chance to get into the shuttle. His hand held his blaster. The shills didn't even look to see who sat in the front seat. They dutifully piled into the back of the vehicle.

  The voice of the Exec came over the comm, "That's it. Get them dispersed on the street. Then get ready to ferry the marks back here."

  "What about the ones we have on the other spaceship?"

  "I'll take care of them."

  Cherry mimicked the driver, "Right. You'll get into that gold and silver and somehow our name will be forgotten for finding it. I don't think so."

  Josh turned a worried eye to his friend. He tried to signal him to stop but Cherry didn't pay any attention. The Exec asked, "Have I ever shorted you?"

  "As a matter of fact, yes. I'm not leaving here until you guarantee my name is on a share of that loot."

  "I'm going to come out there and —"

  "Come ahead."

  "I'll fly this shuttle out of here and tell the captain that you've mutinied. You'll be stranded here."

  "I've got a spaceship now."

  The Exec gave an evil laugh, "None of you deadbeats are a pilot. You'll sit here until the Zlata arrive. Then we'll see about mutineers."

  The last shill squeezed in the back seat. Josh said, "Shut the door."

  One reached out to pull the door shut. Just then, the shuttle's engines came to life. Cherry slammed the vehicle in reverse and shot behind Belle. The shuttle rose into the air and disappeared.

  A blaster cannon bolt struck the tarmac near the front of the vehicle. Cherry scooted closer to Belle and called her to set the shields. As they flickered to life, two more cannon bolts hit her. Cherry yelled, "Belle, damage report."

  The shills started to whimper and move. Josh yelled, "Sit still and shut up."

  Soft snuffling became the only sound he could hear. His jaw clenched at the thought of how these shills had been conditioned and he started to shove his blaster out the window. Taking a deep breath again, he calmed down. Anger burned in his eyes when he turned to Cherry.

  "What in the world did you think you were doing? We need to get that Exec and the shuttle. Now look, they're gone."

  "We'll get them when they come back."

  A small voice from the back said, "You don't want to be here when the Zlata come back. They'll capture this entire town and wipe out what they don't want. I know – they did it on my home planet."

  Cherry said, "Maybe this planet has a little more defense than yours. Besides, they most likely have more people."

  "The Zlata don't care. If you resist, they'll bomb you from orbit until you surrender or all are dead."

  Josh said, "We need to make sure that ship in orbit doesn't try that. Come on, let's get this vehicle inside. Hopefully, the Captain will call to let us know how they're doing over there."

  Josh's comm beeped. When he answered, the Captain said, "What's going on out there? I'm sure I heard the shuttle take off and I thought I heard cannon blasts hitting the tarmac."

  "Your ears didn't deceive you. The shuttle shot at us but missed. Oh, oh, I've got to go. We have company coming."

  Cherry saw the military vehicles coming down the road at the same time. He used his comm to start the airlock opening. Before it completely opened, he drove it in and started the door closing. Josh said, "They look a little
upset. Naca – I mean Belle, make sure our shield is full strength."

  "It has been since the first blaster cannon bolt."

  "Thank you. Now, what to do with these guys? Everybody out."

  The shills unfolded out of the back seat and stared in wonder at the inside of the cargo bay. Josh moved them a few feet away from the vehicle. He and Cherry soon had it secured down.

  Cherry looked at him, "Do we go after them?"

  "We can't. We have to think about this group. What if they get a lucky hit like before? We have to get these shills off first."

  The Captain called again, "You have some angry troops out there. What do we do?"

  Josh walked away from the youngsters before he said, "Cherry will talk to them for now. The Exec said something about a group called the Zlata coming to take care of the thugs we liberated the vehicle from. One of the kids said they were a bad group to cross. Said they would bomb the planet if we were still here. Sounds like they'd take anyone left alive. Would the Bugs take that many prisoners?"

  "Yep and more. They never turn anyone loose once they're on a mother ship, yet they always seem to need more people. I suspect they work them to death."

  Josh said, "For now, we need to make sure that ship in orbit doesn't start shooting down here to the planet. We don't want to put the people here in any more jeopardy than they already are."

  The Captain chuckled, "I can make them run. They won't be expecting me to get off the ground so quickly. If I get a chance, I'm going to burn that shuttle."

  Josh yelled as he heard the ship next to them firing up engines, "See if you can take the shuttle. I'd still like to talk to that Exec. He could give us a lot more answers."

  "I'll make sure it doesn't reach the main ship. You might have to help me gather it up later. For now, I'll get the big one moving out of this system."

  Josh saw two of the shills edging away. He said, "Hold it right there."

  The group froze. He looked at Cherry and saw him still talking. Josh pointed at one of the smaller ones. "You, start walking that way. The rest of you follow."

  Josh walked them down the passageway until he came to the elevator. Squeezing them in, he went to the next level. When the doors opened, he pointed down the passageway. At the first door, he told the youngster to open it.

  With his finger, Josh pointed at four of the shills. He said, "You four in there. Next four over there and the rest, across the passageway. I'm sorry about locking you in like this, but we have to deal with the other crisis first."

  He started to say more, but instead shut the doors and had Belle lock them. Hurrying back to the cargo bay, he found Cherry. Cherry said, "Those idiots want us off the planet right now. They're scared to death. Seems like the specter of a Zlata invasion has already spread."

  Josh asked, "Are you still in touch with them?"

  "Yeah, why?"

  "Put me on." Josh's eyes snapped with anger.

  Cherry said, "Josh, you aren't going to do something stupid, are you?"

  "Put me on." Cherry did. Josh's voice quavered with rage, "Mister, I have no idea who you are, but I want you to know that we were the ones wronged. They fired at us."

  "Doesn't make any difference. We want you out of here."

  "Or else what?"

  "We'll make sure you don't leave that spaceship. You'll run out of food and water sometime. If you're still here when the Zlata arrive, we'll turn you over to them."

  Josh yelled, "I'll turn this planet over to them if you don't bring me the officials that give permission for that monstrosity to park in orbit. They have to be getting kickbacks. They know that ship is manned with kids. Kids being used for sexual pleasures and worse. I want those officials who permitted this."

  "Who are you to pass judgment on us? We're a sovereign planet and can do as we wish."

  Josh screamed in fury, "Then you'd better wish for a way to recover from about a dozen asteroids hitting this planet."

  Chapter 22