Cleon Moon

  That was your bullet that killed it, Abelardus spoke into Alisa’s mind, looking away from the dinosaur and lowering his staff. Thank you.

  Does that mean I have to carry the head back on my bike?

  If you want the prize. There’s not any room left on mine.

  Alisa moved toward the front of the other dinosaur to check on the others.

  “Yumi?” Mica asked, doing the same thing. She stepped over the remains of the head to where Yumi sat, one hand clutching her chest. “Are you all right?”

  “Are you all right, Mica?” Alisa asked. “I saw you stick your arm in that thing’s mouth. I thought you were going to lose it.”

  “Me too. I yanked it out in time. Just nicked a tooth.” Mica held up her arm, the sleeve shredded, revealing a bloody gouge in the skin underneath.

  “That’s a nick?”

  “Considering I thought I might lose the whole limb, it’s an impressively small wound.”

  “You always imagine the worst, don’t you?”

  “As I’m sticking my arm in a Tyrannosaurus rex’s mouth? Yes, I do.”

  Mica lowered her uninjured arm to Yumi, her hand extended. Yumi stared at it for a moment, as if she did not understand what it was for. Maybe she was in shock. Yumi wasn’t their most experienced combatant.

  Finally, Yumi clasped it and let Mica haul her to her feet. She wobbled, and Mica offered her shoulder for support.

  “Thank you, Mica,” Yumi said, still appearing stunned as she looked at her. “I didn’t think… I mean, I wasn’t expecting you to…”

  “Be stupid enough to stick my hand down a dinosaur’s throat?” Mica asked. “I wasn’t expecting that either. I had to run risk-benefit analyses at the university, you know. That one didn’t look to come out in my favor.”

  “You risked your life to save mine,” Yumi said. “I thought I was dead.”

  “Did you? That’s called being a pessimist. It means being able to be delighted when things turn out better than you expected. Are you delighted?”

  “I—yes.”

  “Good.” Mica squeezed her arm and released her, heading toward her bike.

  Yumi wore a bemused expression as she watched her go.

  “Who’s going to help me cut off that dinosaur head?” Alisa asked, looking toward Abelardus, wondering if he had a tool that might be up to the task. She had a laser knife on her multitool, but imagined it would take forever to slice through that thick neck—and she imagined herself throwing up as she tried to do it. Growing up on a spaceship hadn’t involved a lot of hunting—or beheading of giant monsters.

  Abelardus held up his staff. “The cyborg did the other ones. He doesn’t mind getting blood on his armor. My robe is somewhat less impervious.”

  “I’ll help you,” Yumi said, surprising Alisa. She picked her way past the mutilated dinosaur, her hand shaking only slightly as she pulled out her own laser knife.

  That tool wasn’t much more powerful than the one Alisa had, but at least the task should go more quickly with two of them working on it.

  “Abelardus, will you stand guard and let us know if more trouble comes?” Alisa asked, glancing toward the dark tunnel.

  She doubted it was wise to stay here, especially since she could still hear that rumbling, though faint now. But she remembered Leonidas’s words, that another head might be enough to buy her that combat armor. She could hack into some dino guts for a chance to be safer, especially given how dangerous her life had become. She grimaced and flicked some of the bloody spatters off her jacket.

  “I will gladly accede to your wishes, my captain,” Abelardus said.

  “Thanks.” Alisa kept from rolling her eyes. After all, he had leaped back to help her and the others.

  Alisa and Yumi knelt on either side of the dinosaur’s neck, laser blades extended, each debating how to go about the task. Yumi was the first one to dig in. Maybe she imagined it like a giant mushroom stalk.

  “Thanks for the help,” Alisa said as she cut from the other side.

  “You’re welcome.” Yumi glanced at Mica a few times as she worked.

  Mica had righted the rest of the bikes and was fiddling with one of them that had a fresh dent in the engine casing. Alisa hoped the insurance that Abelardus had been forced to take out covered dinosaurs.

  “I owe her my life,” Yumi whispered.

  “Just give her a kiss,” Alisa said, concentrating on her task. “She’ll be tickled.”

  “What?”

  “Never mind.”

  If Mica hadn’t explained her interests, Alisa wasn’t going to do it for her. Maybe Mica had figured out Yumi was more interested in men and had shied away from mentioning anything. Though Alisa hadn’t seen Yumi show any blatant leanings one way or another, at least not with anyone onboard the Nomad. An admittedly small sample size.

  “I wouldn’t have expected her to,” Yumi said. “She seems very…”

  “Grumpy?”

  “Self-centered. She’s always talking about leaving and finding a better job. She doesn’t seem to realize what an amazing life experience this is.”

  Alisa raised an eyebrow, more at the idea that riding along on her ship was an amazing life experience than at the notion that Mica was self-centered. She wasn’t sure if she had room to talk in regard to the latter. She kept resenting all of the diversions that kept her from catching up with Jelena. That damned staff—and all that could be done with it—was surely more important on the grand scale than she and her daughter were, but she couldn’t bring herself to care about it as much.

  “She’s also grumpy,” Yumi added with a smile.

  “It’s hard being an engineer. You’re stuck down in your box, not knowing what interesting and exciting things your pilot is doing.”

  Yumi smiled as she sawed through her half of the neck, the laser blade making short work of the vertebrae. Alisa hurried to catch up—that rumbling noise was increasing again, and the floor vibrated beneath her knees.

  “Also, she’s like me,” Alisa added. “Not always good at expressing her feelings. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have them, or that she doesn’t care.”

  “Is there a bounty on half-exploded dinosaur heads?” Mica asked, nudging the other creature with her boot.

  “I don’t think so,” Abelardus said.

  “Damn.”

  Yumi raised her eyebrows.

  “It’s deep down that she cares,” Alisa whispered. “You might have to take a crowbar and pry it out from under the bitter, jaded surface.”

  “I see,” Yumi said, smiling.

  They finished with the head and loaded it onto Abelardus's bike. Despite his earlier protest, it did, indeed, fit with the others.

  “I get to haul your cargo?” he asked.

  “You’re the only one with flex-cords,” Alisa said. “Besides, I believe you’re delighted to accede to your captain’s wishes, right?”

  “I said I was glad to accede, not that I was delighted.”

  “Details, details.”

  The rumbling grew loud enough that the ceiling shook again, dropping debris on them.

  “Let’s get going,” Abelardus said. “We’re already too far behind.”

  Too far? Alisa did not want to ask for clarification, but she could guess. She slung her leg over her bike, and their group trundled off again.

  They had not gone far before misty gray light filtered into the tunnel ahead. Soon, the passage ended in a gradual slope upward, the cloudy sky visible above. The roaring sound increased, and Alisa hesitated to charge out, but Abelardus rode straight up the slope toward the opening without slowing down.

  As Alisa drew even with him, something zipped past in front of the exit.

  “Was that—”

  “One of those cameras,” Abelardus finished for her. “It should have been following the race, but I’m not sure. It was hovering here in the tunnel. I hope it wasn’t recording our dinosaur battle.”

  “The race?” Alisa nudged her bike out
of the opening.

  Bare lumpy ground spread out on all sides, none of the mushrooms or marshes visible, but with mist gathering in valleys between the raised bumps. A figure in sleek blue snagor-hide trousers and jacket came into view, riding a thrust bike. The dull roar increased as the helmeted man zoomed down a hill at a reckless speed. He skidded around a turn, taking it so fast that all the rules of gravity proclaimed he should have toppled over, but somehow he straightened the bike and charged up the next hill. A couple of seconds later, six more figures on thrust bikes charged into view, chasing the leader at breakneck speed. Hover cameras zipped all over the course, following the race.

  “That’s what we’ve been hearing?” Alisa asked. She could barely hear her own voice as the noise of the thrusters and wheels tearing up dirt increased. The leader and the pack were heading their way.

  Abelardus waved to Alisa and reversed his hover bike, backing them under the protection of the overhang.

  She did not try to hide the disappointed slump to her shoulders. She’d thought they might come upon some underground hiding spot that held Jelena and the others. This… The children could have been taken anywhere from here.

  The lead rider disappeared as he took a turn that would bring him closer to the tunnel. The walls shook, and dirt tumbled free again as he roared overhead. The downfall increased when the rest of the pack zoomed over the hill. Alisa covered her head with her arm. It was a miracle that the tunnel had not collapsed long ago.

  “No wonder those dinosaurs were hiding,” Mica yelled as the pack raced down the back side of the hill and toward a series of ramps and jumps in the center of the course. Their tunnel appeared to be on the outside edge of it.

  “Were they hiding?” Alisa wondered. “Or did someone lure them here, hoping they would jump out and munch on some of the riders?” Had they been here when Jelena and the others left the tunnel? Had they been forced to fight too?

  “That’s a grisly thought,” Mica said. “You’re getting to be as pessimistic as I am.”

  “That’s not being pessimistic. It’s called having little faith in the morality of the woman who runs that dome.”

  Abelardus hovered out of the tunnel again, not responding to the conversation and instead watching the lead rider zip through the course. The man stayed a couple of seconds ahead of the rest of the pack, and though the others were taking great risks to catch up with him, none of them quite managed the feat.

  “That man is a Starseer,” Abelardus said.

  “Oh? Is he using his powers to stay ahead?” Alisa asked.

  She nudged her bike back out into the open. Not because she cared about the race contestants, Starseer or not, but because she wanted to figure out which way Jelena and the others had gone. Unfortunately, there weren’t any footprints in front of the tunnel. A building and spectator stands rose at the far side of the racecourse. It hardly looked like the kind of place a group of robed Starseers trying to avoid notice would have gone. All she could imagine was that they had headed back to Terra Jhero. Which meant this diversion had been for nothing. But even if that was true, might she not still catch up with Jelena and the other children? They could be back in the very city where the Nomad was parked.

  With that hopeful thought, Alisa tried to see a way back to Terra Jhero, one that would not take them through the middle of the course. The sooner they returned, the sooner they could check on the ship—and hunt for clues as to where Jelena had been taken.

  “Yes,” Abelardus said after watching for another minute. “He’s being subtle. Using Starseer talents is probably illegal here. It usually is.” Abelardus sniffed derisively. “As if it’s a crime to use the skills the suns delivered unto a man.”

  “I thought it was a mad scientist tinkering with your genes a few centuries ago that delivered those skills.”

  “Our genes,” Abelardus said, giving her a significant look.

  Alisa managed to keep from curling her lip, but only because her focus was on finding a way out. She could make out the opaque curving wall of the dome in the distance, rising up behind a forest of fungal stalks.

  “Let’s head that way,” she said, nodding toward a route that would take them in that direction. The riders were on the other side of the course, as were the pack of cameras chasing them. “Before they come around again.”

  Mica and Yumi followed her without argument. Abelardus did, also, but not before pausing to watch the Starseer rider cross the finish line ahead of the pack. That had to be a half-mile away, but Alisa thought she saw the figure’s helmet turn to face in their direction.

  She hoped it was her imagination. They had enough trouble with Starseers already.

  Chapter 11

  Alisa’s group was allowed through the city gate without trouble—nobody ran out to deliver a bill of charges for the cameras Leonidas had destroyed—but they drew more attention than she would have liked when people spotted the severed dinosaur heads.

  “Hunters,” someone yelled and several others turned it into a chant. A few cameras zoomed out of nowhere to follow their procession.

  Alisa ground her teeth and refused to slow down or answer questions when people asked how they had slain so many dinosaurs. Had Leonidas had to deal with this? She assumed he had made it back before her group.

  An older lady ran out and pretended to fall in the street in front of Abelardus while two boys tried to take advantage of the distraction to tug the heads off the back of his bike. He glared at them while pointing his staff at the woman. She floated back to the side of the street, where he set her down amid the startled watchers, most of whom skittered back. Several made superstitious gestures as they gaped at Abelardus. He ignored them and continued down the street with his chin up.

  “I hope we’re not trying to blend in and avoid notice,” Mica said.

  She and Yumi rode side by side next to Alisa. Alisa only shook her head. She had given up on that since Solstice had marched Leonidas to her compound. Maybe if the crowd was intimidated by Abelardus, they would be less likely to follow after her group. She was tempted to tell him to take a circuitous route back to the docks in the hope of losing the cameras, but she did not want to delay any longer than necessary. It had already been two hours since Alejandro had commed her. She had tried contacting him again on the way back to the city, but he had not responded, and Beck still wasn’t answering either.

  She breathed a sigh of relief when the blocky form of the Star Nomad came into view, visible over an elegant yacht docked in the slot next to them. At least the ship hadn’t been impounded or blown up or any of the myriad images that had popped into her head after hearing Alejandro’s alarmed words. Maybe she was developing a pessimistic streak.

  “Everyone’s going to be fine,” she said. “The doctor is probably in there with the hatch locked, hiding in the cubby. And there’s no reception in that cubby, so he can’t answer my comms.”

  “Are you talking to one of us or to yourself?” Mica asked as they navigated the crowd thronging the main walkway.

  “I’m using positive thinking to reassure myself.”

  “Sounds like delusional thinking to me. Do you do that while you’re flying too?” Mica looked at Yumi. “I’m not there to witness her antics when I’m down in engineering.”

  “No,” Alisa said, frowning as the Nomad’s cargo hatch came into view. It was open, with the ramp down, as if Alejandro had invited his visitors up. “I’m confident when I’m flying that things will turn out all right.”

  “In other words, you’re more delusional in NavCom than you are elsewhere.”

  “I’m not delusional. I’m optimistic.”

  “There’s a difference?”

  Optimism or not, Alisa couldn’t keep snakes from slithering around in her belly as they drew closer. Heedless of the passersby now, she gunned the hover bike. People cursed her as she veered between them, nearly knocking over a few. She banked hard, almost falling off as she drove the craft up the ramp and into the cargo h
old.

  She braked abruptly as Leonidas’s armored form came into view. He was flat on his back near the stairs, legs and arms sprawled out. The hidden cubby lay open behind him, the door missing. Alejandro crouched next to Leonidas, fiddling with his helmet. Trying to unfasten it? Leonidas wasn’t helping him. He wasn’t moving at all.

  A man in a black robe lay crumpled a few feet away from them. He wasn’t moving either.

  “What happened?” Alisa asked as Alejandro looked toward her. She leaped off the bike, barely remembering to park it as she charged toward Leonidas. The chickens huddled in the corner of their coop, not making a peep.

  “Help me get him up to sickbay,” Alejandro barked at them as Yumi, Mica, and Abelardus also rode into the hold.

  His worried tone did nothing to alleviate Alisa’s fears.

  “Close the hatch,” she told Yumi, falling to her knees beside Leonidas. “Mica, get the hand tractor.”

  As a group, they could carry Leonidas, but getting him up the stairs and through the tight passageways would be difficult.

  Alisa touched his shoulder, peering through his faceplate. His eyes were closed, as if he were simply napping.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “Get him to sickbay,” Alejandro said again, rising to his feet. “I’ve got to find his armor case and get the remote out. He and the Starseers were locked in combat, but I won’t know anything until we can get him out of his gear.”

  “Starseers?” Alisa asked. “More than one?”

  Alejandro charged up the stairs without answering. His terseness worried her far more than Leonidas’s closed eyes. She realized Alejandro couldn’t read Leonidas’s vital signs while he was encased in that armor. Three suns, what if he was already dead? No, no. He couldn’t be. He was too tough to die. But she couldn’t help but think of the ways the Starseers had attacked him in the past, hurting him internally without leaving a mark on his flesh. Then she remembered the people in the outpost, dead with no sign of wounds, and sheer terror rampaged through her. Could the same assailants have been responsible for this?