Wanted

Gunning the cycle, he zipped down the empty boulevard. At first, he went too fast overdriving his headlights. Slowing down to a more reasonable speed, he came to the translator store in a few minutes.

  As he drove, hairs on the back of his neck prickled. Josh turned his head from side to side, but his vision couldn't penetrate the inky darkness around him. As he reached the business, he stopped the cycle but continued to sit on it. His right hand reached for the blaster to make sure it sat loosely in the holster. He muttered, "I'm getting senile. I feel like I'm being watched. How can that be? This place is dead. Look at the dust. No one's been here in years, maybe even centuries. Get a handle on it, Josh."

  Josh turned the cycle away from the shop and left it ready to sprint away if he needed to. Being careful not to jar his legs, he dismounted. Looking down, he saw his own footprints in the thick dust on the sidewalk. The feeling of being watched made him use the windows in front of him as mirrors to check behind, but the black beyond his feeble light held its secrets. He tried the door. It was locked.

  Moving back a little, he looked for another way in. The painting on the window drew his attention. Shining his light on it, he studied it closer. A shadow on the window moved. Josh whirled, pointing his light and drawing his blaster in one fluid motion. Nothing but black greeted his beam of light.

  Josh waved the muzzle of the blaster around as he looked. Nothing moved, not above nor as far across the street as he could see. Shining the light down on the ground, only unbroken dust came into view. He muttered, "I'm getting way too jumpy. I need a vacation on some tropical get away."

  Backing up to the door, he kept looking around. When he bumped it, he stopped, but his eyes kept searching. At last he holstered the blaster and turned to the door. It looked like many of the stores on a dozen planets he'd been on. A metal frame holding glass allowed a good view of the interior of the shop. This door didn't have a panic bar inside so Josh guessed it had some automatic opening feature.

  Habit made him look over his shoulder for any observers before he punched the glass. His weakened legs didn't give much power to the punch. His fist just bounced off. Stepping back, he lifted his leg to smash it into the door.

  Dropping his leg down, he muttered, "Josh, my boy, better think. That would have hurt. Cherry would really have had something to yell about. Can't use muscles, need to use brain power."

  That sixth sense of being watched made Josh turn around again. His light flickered from side to side. The muzzle of his blaster he'd drawn followed. Empty blackness greeted him – again. Josh stood still then contacted Naca. Connecting with the computer, he activated the sensor and set it to follow him. He had it stand guard outside the translator shop using only infrared and ultraviolet passive coverage.

  He smirked, "Now, if there's something out there, I'll see you. Don't mess with Josh Gunn. I'll get you."

  Josh half turned to the door. He kept looking out of his peripheral vision for something to move. Reluctantly, he holstered his blaster and drew his vibroblade. Flicking it on, he stabbed it into the window. He swiftly cut the glass out of the frame.

  Letting it fall toward him, he caught it and leaned it against the wall. With a last look around, he stepped through the new opening. A small space about twelve feet by twenty greeted his eyes. Moving the light from side to side, he saw shelves lining both sides of the room with a glass counter across most of the rear. Behind the counter he saw another door.

  Stepping to his right, Josh studied the small instruments lying on the shelves. Indecision gripped him. He whispered, "Which one? Do they only translate a few languages? Which ones will let you read as well as speak? Let's see, if it were me, I'd put the cheaper ones here by the door, the better ones over there and the best in the counter."

  Josh moved to his left to the shelves on the other wall. Selecting three different ones from the middle of the shelves, he picked them up to look at. The words on the packaging were so much gibberish. Moving closer to the back, he found some power cords. Not sure which ones would work, he moved to the counter to lay his prize down. Going back to the cords, he selected one of each and piled them with the translators.

  Moving behind the counter, he pulled all of the translators off of the shelf. Three of them looked used and ancient. He muttered, "Why would you keep these old used translators in the most secure place? I hope one of these cords will work with them, otherwise, they're nothing but a paperweight."

  He cleaned out the counter. The pile, more than he could carry in his spacesuit, needed a bag or a box. Seeing nothing behind the counter, Josh cautiously opened the door. Behind the door, he saw a small workspace with tools and spare parts arranged on a workbench and in bins along the wall. At the rear, he saw another door.

  Under the edge of the workbench, he spotted a bag. Picking it up, he tested its strength. It appeared strong enough to hold his loot. Returning to the front, he closed the door behind him. He picked up the three used translators and stuck them in a pocket on his spacesuit. The others he stuffed in the bag along with the power cords.

  Returning to the door, he stood just inside and turned the light off. Total blackness. Josh stood for several seconds listening. Satisfied that nothing moved outside, he switched his light back on and moved to the grav-cycle. Stuffing his sack in the carrier, he climbed aboard.

  Giving it a little throttle, he moved across the street. Straining all of his senses, he tried to find the reason for his nervousness. Nothing but blackness showed beyond his lights. As he crossed the median, he glanced down.

  There in the middle was a trough about fifty feet long and twenty wide. It looked like something had laid there and rolled over and over. Slowing the cycle to a crawl, he studied the anomaly but couldn't tell if it happened yesterday or five hundred years ago. He shivered at the size of that trench.

  Picking up speed, he moved to the robot store. Using the cycle's lights, he peered into the interior. Five different models sat on the floor inside. Josh saw some dark view screens inside. He wished he had some power to see what they had advertised.

  Josh backed the cycle up to the door. Climbing off, he searched the darkness. When he found nothing, he turned his attention to the door. Using the vibro-blade, he cut the latch off and pushed the door open.

  Inside, three desks sat around the room. The robots were interspersed between them. At the rear of the room he spotted a door. He ambled around each of the robots looking them over. They looked functional but crude in their manufacture. He muttered, "They sure aren't up to the standards I'm used to. This place must really be backwards. If they added some metal here and here, this thing would look much better. Oh well, that wasn't why I came in here. I need to see if they might have some tools to fix Cherry's arm."

  Striding to the back door, Josh pushed through it. A row of ten more robots stood there. On the opposite wall a bench contained an array of tools and test equipment. A row of bins started just past the bench. He could see arms, legs and other robot parts in some of them. The huge room had crates stacked in the rear.

  Spotting a large cargo door and smaller walk door in the back wall, Josh walked toward it. Halfway to the rear, he hesitated and checked the time he'd been gone. Taking another look at the doors, he turned back to the front. He needed to get back to Naca before Cherry found he had gone for a joy ride. Besides, he had one more stop to make.

  Retracing his steps back to the front, he cautiously glanced outside. When he turned on the grav-cycle light, he saw marks in the street. Josh muttered, "Those weren't there when I came in. What's going on? That almost looks like some big snake crawled along there – a very big, big snake. How can a snake exist in vacuum? I'm going nuts. I have to get off this rock."

  Josh started to blast back to the spaceship, but the thought of the store showing the food just down the block slowed his progress. Quietly he said to himself, "If we can get this to work, it will r
elieve a lot of tension and worry. Cherry could take as long as he needs to get that ship ready to fly. I could figure out how to get some gravity to exercise. I need to forget about spooky stuff and check it out."

  Keeping an eye on the ground, he didn't see any more marks in the dust. When he got to the shop, he stopped and looked around. With his thumb, he set the cycle to rise. Taking a deep breath, he shot toward the distant ceiling. Halfway there, he stopped and spun the cycle in a circle to see if he could spot anything up there.

  Empty space gleamed in his light with velvety darkness beyond. Settling back to the sidewalk, he backed up to the door. He used his vibro-blade to enter the store. Eyeing the interior, he saw that this store was bigger than the robot one. Ten stations with machines were scattered around the room. View screens sat at each station. Josh found plastic sheets with images of different types of fruits and vegetables. Some included what looked like slabs of red meat.

  As he took another look, he whispered, "This looks like machines for different species. How in the world can I figure out which one will work for a human? Cherry can eat anything that doesn't bite him first, but I'm a lot more selective. I'm sure these are some sort of food replicators, but how do they work?"

  The printing on the sheets made no sense whatsoever. Wandering around, he found an ad showing the usual fruits and veggies but it also had the red meat on it. The machine was smaller than the others. He picked it up to see how much it weighed. The machine came off the station relatively easily.

  Josh set it back down then changed his mind. He mumbled, "Take it with you. It'll save a trip later. I'll take this plastic sheet, too. If I can get a translator to work, maybe I can find out what it says. It's time to get back to Naca anyway."

  When he picked up the machine and tried to walk, stabs of pain shot up his legs. Sweat broke out on his forehead. He almost dropped the machine, but then stopped at a different station. Holding the machine with his left arm, he shoved himself off with his right. The push sent him for the door.

  He groaned, "Stupid, stupid. Now you have to land. What if your legs break right off? Stupid, stupid."

  As it turned out, his thrust sent him all the way to the door. Making sure he had the machine secure in his left arm, he grabbed the doorsill with his right. His forward momentum stretched his arm but slowed him down. He gently settled to the sidewalk outside.

  He pulled the door shut then sat the machine on the back of the cycle. Digging in his tool compartment, he found two straps. Working quickly, he soon had it tied on the back. He sighed as he settled down on the cycle. He bent over to rub his legs.

  Straightening up, he turned on the cycle's lights. Flakes of dust floated gently downward in the glare. Josh's hand went to his blaster. Pulling it out, he maneuvered the cycle to shine the light around. More dust flakes drifted down like a heavy snow fall.

  Sitting there for a few seconds, he finally called Cherry. When he answered, Josh said, "Cherry, we may have company."

  "What are you talking about? Do the detectors show something? What is it?"

  "No, it's not the detectors. There's dust floating down in here. I saw some trenches, but I couldn't tell how long ago they were made —"

  "JOSH, where are you at?"

  "In the city. I found something that could help us —"

  "What are you doing there? You know you shouldn't be up walking around. Get out of there. I'll —"

  Josh yelled, "Cherry, shut up. I'm on my grav-cycle clear back at the end of this place. I've had the feeling all along that something was watching me but I never could see anything. Now I'm seeing fresh dust falling."

  "Get out of there. Wait, I'll come help."

  "What good are you going to do with only one good arm? You can't steer and shoot if this thing or person is hostile. Maybe they're just observing me."

  "You don't believe that or you wouldn't have called me. Give me five minutes to get back to Naca and get a blaster rifle. I'll come into the entrance to wait for you. Which entrance are you in?"

  "The one to the left. The one in the middle is the repair hangar."

  Cherry's concern carried over the comm, "Wait until I give you the go ahead, then get out here. Don't get yourself killed in there."

  "OK, if you don't take too long. I hate being a target in here. I can't see anything."

  Josh sat on the grav-cycle squeezing the handle bars in a death grip. His hand moved to turn off the light, but he couldn't force himself to do it. Time seemed to have stopped. When Cherry called, he goosed the cycle and jumped forward ten feet.

  Cherry said, "I'm ready, come on. How far are you? I don't see any light."

  "About twelve miles. Just look down that main boulevard. You'll see something in just a few seconds. I wouldn't recommend you standing in the middle of the doorway either."

  Cherry's answer went unheard as Josh shot straight ahead. Just before he reached the center, he leaned to his left in a hard turn and pulled the cycle up in a steep climb. Leveling off, he jammed the throttle forward.

  A glance over his shoulder showed only darkness. As he streaked through the city, his sixth sense screamed danger. Lightly hitting the brake as he kept the accelerator down, he looked back in the red glow of stop lights.

  His heart almost stopped at the sight behind him. The worst nightmare he'd ever had didn't do this justice. He screamed at Cherry, "It's coming. A monster…"

  Josh's hand twitched, sending the cycle skittering to the right. Jamming the throttle forward more, he zigged upward, then down and to the left. A glance over his shoulder showed a twelve foot diameter mouth wide open. The gaping maw, full of jagged teeth, drew closer. Turning back to the front, he gave the cycle more power.

  He could dimly hear Cherry's voice screaming over the comm but he didn't register what he said. Another look back almost made him sick. The mouth was only a few yards behind. Diving to the left, Josh shot up and to the right. A quick look showed a monster with a body as big as the mouth that stretched back out of sight. It looked like a giant snake except this one had eyes as big as a barrel, set on stalks as thick as trees, peering over that gaping mouth.

  Josh spotted a light ahead as he gave the cycle all the power it had. As he took a breath thinking he might make it, a red glow showed in his peripheral vision. Suddenly, yellow teeth appeared. They surged in front of him and snapped shut. The cycle almost slammed into them until he jammed on the brakes.

  A tongue flipped up, forcing him back away from the teeth. The cycle tumbled end over end, but he clung to it for dear life. Vile yellow-green muscles started working him back toward the tail of the monster.

  Chapter 7