Alex wondered at the reason for the handkerchief until he’d joined his rescuer in staring down at the body. Then his own nostrils wrinkled up and his eyes began to water.
“Yuck!” He hurriedly retreated from the odor.
“Illiterate comment, but evocative,” said Centauri. “Foul stench, isn’t it? Dirty creatures. Primitive predators who have wrapped themselves in the flimsiest trappings of civilization. Their real nature is much more difficult to camouflage.”
“Do they make good Starfighters?”
“Not hardly. Their moral sensibilities are far too undeveloped, and their ability to distinguish between what is good for the individual and what is good for the group is atrophied.”
Alex hurried to change the line of questioning. Centauri’s description of the morals of the monster lying dead before them sounded too much like the evening news.
“What’s it doing here?”
“I thought that would be obvious by now. Get a good look at ’em, Alex. You can bet your sense of peace and well-being you’ll be seeing others.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“You asked what it was doing here. I thought you’d have figured it out by now. Apparently I was wrong. I tend to forget that while you are fast on the uptake with mechanical devices, your other mental processes have not developed quite as rapidly.
“This is a Double-Z Designate, judging by his method of operation.”
“Does that tell me anything?”
“It tells you that this is a recruited murderer. Usually a very efficient one. Compliments of Xur.”
“Xur! Why is he trying to kill me? How does he even know about me? If he knew anything about me he’d know I don’t want anything to do with him or his war.”
“Nevertheless, this creature was sent to find and kill you. By Xur’s order. No doubt the traitor keeps tabs on such useful throwbacks. This one must have been operating conveniently close to your system; hence his ability to locate you so quickly.” Centauri coughed into one hand.
“Evidently our flight from Rylos was picked up and plotted by Xur’s Ko-Dan allies. There aren’t that many inhabited worlds in this sector. Any supralight ship leaves a telltale track. It would appear that this thing detected ours.”
Behind them, smoke still rose from the alien torso. It twitched imperceptibly. One eye opened part way. Armless and immobilized from the waist up, the alien searched the ground on which it had fallen. Nearby lay the deadly pistol that had almost slain Alex.
Slowly the alien slipped one of the peculiar terran shoes off a foot, exposing prehensile toes. The foot moved slowly, quietly, toward the weapon. Toes gripped it firmly as the alien fought to raise the muzzle.
Ignorant of the activity behind them, Alex and Centauri continued their conversation.
“But why is Xur after me?”
Centauri emitted a heartfelt sigh. “Because whether you believe it or not, Xur knows that you’re a threat to him.”
“I can’t be! I turned in my uniform. I don’t want to be a Starfighter!”
“Ah, but Xur doesn’t know that. He only knows and is evidently convinced that at least one potential Starfighter exists on this backward world. You. Merely by living you constitute a potential threat to him. Xur is not the kind to leave potential threats undealt with.”
“But I don’t want to fight him. I’ll sign a treaty with him.”
“Why should Xur bother with a treaty? Treaties take time and effort to put together, and one like Xur can never feel safe with them. Much simpler just to have you killed. I’m afraid you have no choice anymore, my boy. Xur will consider you a Starfighter whether you choose to pilot a gunstar or an old Ford.”
A new voice joined in. “You gotta go back, Alex, if only to protect yourself,” said the Beta Unit. “If you stay here, you’re dog food.”
“Trust Centauri, my boy. I assure you I had nothing to do with this. It’s not my style. Just bad luck that the Ko-Dan detected us leaving Rylos.”
“How could they know there was a maybe-Starfighter on board your ship, though?” Alex wanted to know.
Centauri shrugged. “There are many ways. It is well-known that the Rylan defense command has been infiltrated by Xur’s people. The command itself was organized in haste. Furthermore, it’s clear that we were detected not just leaving Rylos, but leaving from the vicinity of the secret Starfighter base. Xur may be quite mad, but he is also madly clever. He is known to leave nothing to chance.
“If he knew your true feelings, it is true he would realize he has nothing to fear from you. Alas, he doesn’t know that. So he assumes the worst. A small caution on his part. What is the liquidation of a single primitive in the context of his plans to make himself Emperor of the worlds of the League? Even if he could now be convinced of your determination to stay out of the coming conflict, it’s unlikely he’d go to the trouble of rescinding the order to have you killed. Xur would rather have you eliminated than admit he might have made a mistake.” Centauri sighed.
“No, no, my boy, it’s too late for talk. I do feel sorry for you.”
“But what can I do?”
“Trust me. You have no choice anymore except to trust me, because within hours this place will be crawling with ZZ-Designates with one thought foremost in their microscopic, predatory little minds Kill Alex Rogan.”
“Kill Alex Rogan,” Alex mumbled. Something moved out of the corner of his eye and he jumped, only relaxed slightly seeing that it was a gopher.
“He’s right,” the Beta Unit told his original. “At least you’ll have a fighting chance up there in a gunstar.”
“Exactly.” Visions of full payment danced again in Centauri’s head. “And meanwhile down here they’ll all be running around like mad trying to get Beta.”
“Beta?” The double frowned.
“Beta.” Alex eyed his duplicate.
“Of course,” said Centauri, wondering at the confusion. “What do you think he’s here for?”
“Now wait a second, Centauri,” the Beta started to protest.
Centauri stared at the simulacrum. “You are programmed to follow directives. Personal survival is not programmed into your system. What is this, some kind of electronic mutiny?”
“No mutiny,” the Beta Unit replied. “I know what my job is. It’s just that you could be a little more diplomatic about it. Remember, I have Alex’s feelings as well as his body.”
Centauri muttered something about Ormex & Co. not making simulacrums the way they used to, raised his voice and smiled as he spoke to Alex.
“Well, my boy, the choice is yours. Either join the fight against Xur and the Ko-Dan or,” and he gestured absently toward the smoking corpse nearby, “get used to this smell.”
“You see,” the Beta said insistently, “you gotta go back, Alex. At least you have a fighting chance up there. I’ll cover for you down here.” It tried to smile reassuringly. Alex’s skin crawled as he watched his own lips curve upward. “It’s my job, and I’m good at it. Xur’s jerks will go nuts trying to catch me.”
“Maybe the next ones won’t know how to find me,” Alex suggested hopefully.
Centauri shook his head slowly, looked genuinely apologetic if not entirely displeased by the turn events had taken.
“Afraid not, my boy. Now that you have been located it’s a virtual certainty that your position and description has been relayed to a central distribution point. This thing’s companions will know where to look, all right, as well as who to look for.”
The pistol clutched in flexible toes on the ground nearby finally steadied on its target. As it did so Centauri noticed the movement of the alien leg where there shouldn’t have been any movement. He yelled a warning as he jumped at Alex, shoving him aside with one hand while drawing his own weapon with the other to return the fire.
The impact of the blast from the alien’s pistol sent him staggering backward as Alex went crashing to the ground. Centauri fired repeatedly. This time he didn’t sto
p after amputating the offending limb. He continued to fire until the alien body had been chopped into small, smoking chunks and didn’t stop until the shrunken remains finally burst into sputtering, blue-tinged flame.
Alex was on his feet as the old man stumbled. The Beta Unit caught him from the other side. It took both of them to keep him upright.
“Centauri! Beta, get a doctor!”
Blood seeped through the side of the old man’s jacket, but with the help of the two Alexes he managed to make it to his vehicle. They let him slump against it and moved back while he stood by himself, breathing hard and deep.
“No doctors!” Centauri gasped while feeling gingerly of his side. “No native cures or witch doctors. They wouldn’t know what to make of my insides anyway.” He put one hand over his lips, coughed twice, then forced a smile.
“Excellent duplicate, actually. I can’t tell you apart. I take back what I said about Ormex’s designers.” He glanced toward his ribs. “I’m okay, boys. It’s just a scratch. Looks worse than it is.”
Carefully he walked around to stand next to the driver’s side, turned to confront Alex.
“Face it, Alex. You’re a born Starfighter. Whether you like it or not, you’re a part of this war now. You can stay here and battle Xur’s minions one at a time or come back with me and fight on behalf of all the civilized worlds. Your special talents are needed. You are needed. It’s time to grow up, Alex.”
The subject of Centauri’s discourse turned his face to the night sky, thinking hard. It was a painful decision to have to make, but wasn’t that what growing up was all about? Making painful decisions?
“What if I’m killed out there, Centauri? What about my mom, and Louis?”
“Two people. A trillion lives are on the line out there, Alex.”
“Yeah, but they’re not my people. Not my family.”
Suddenly Centauri sounded very wise. For a moment he put aside his snideness and spoke in dead earnest.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Alex. Intelligence and civility unite all creatures. Those are the ties that bind, that mean something. As for yourself, if you should be killed, well, everything dies eventually. Stars die, whole galaxies perish. Existence is brief, time is relative. Only truth goes on.”
“I like existence as it is, even if it is brief.”
“The Ko-Dan feel differently, Alex. They’re not civil. They’re not part of your family, as the citizens of the League are whether you think so or not. You’re worried about Louis? What happens when he grows up and has to face the Ko-Dan here, on your own world? Because they’ll come here, Alex. The Ko-Dan and the mentality they represent are never satisfied. All that stands between backward worlds like your Earth and eternal subjugation are the united peoples of the League. Help them now, Alex, and in doing so, help your own world’s future.”
Alex nodded at nothing in particular, then wrenched his gaze from the stars to gaze across the gleaming hood of the ship. As Centauri said, he no longer had much choice in the matter. Might as well do the right thing for the right reasons.
“All right, Centauri. Let’s go.”
The oldster nodded, and Alex was pleased to see he wasn’t smiling in triumph. Maybe he took pleasure in Alex’s change of mind, but he was tactful enough not to show it. Gullwing doors opened on the vehicle and he slipped inside.
Alex started to get in on the other side, found himself stopped by an irresistible hand. The hand fell away, turned sideways. He gripped it with his own.
“Good luck, Alex,” the Beta murmured.
Alex smiled as they shook hands. “You too . . . Alex.”
He turned away and lowered himself into the car.
“Let’s do it. I’m ready.”
The old man spoke without taking his eyes off his instrumentation. “I hope you are, my boy. I hope that you are.”
Once clear of Earth’s atmosphere Alex found he was already impatient to reach Rylos. How quickly we become jaded, he mused. Been on one interstellar jaunt, you’ve been on ’em all.
His complacency vanished when they reached Rylos and descended to the portion of the northern continent where the supposedly secret Starfighter base was located, Centauri coming in from behind the sun to avoid detection by any lurking Ko-Dan ships.
At least, the secret base had been located there, Alex corrected himself. The mountain in which it had been buried looked like a volcano that had blown itself apart. Whole forests lay flattened like toothpicks on the surviving slopes, and the topography had been rendered unrecognizable.
Centauri dropped lower, scanning the approaches.
“Looks bad. Xur’s hand in this. Somehow the Ko-Dan broke through the energy shield that’s supposed to protect Rylos. Bet it was an inside job. The Ko-Dan couldn’t have done this without help. It’s tough to fight both ends from the middle.”
“I don’t follow you.”
“Sabotage, my boy. It’s not just the League against the Ko-Dan. It’s the League against the Ko-Dan and Xur’s followers. Ah, there.”
The entrance Centauri located was partially blocked by debris, but still passable. He slipped inside, narrowly missing several immense chunks of granite that had fallen from above. He coughed hard and squinted at the controls.
Alex leaned forward, concerned. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m fine, just fine, my boy.” He coughed again, quickly wiped the drop of blood from his lip so his passenger wouldn’t spot it. “An unfortunate memento of my younger days. A little matter of money owed and a misplaced knife.”
They were moving slowly down the twisted tunnel, deeper into the mountain. The lights were dimmer than Alex remembered. Whole sections of wall had caved in and in places the ceiling had collapsed, forcing them to rise higher in order to clear the blockage.
“Centauri, the base . . .”
“Yes, it’s very bad, my boy. Very bad. You could tell that from what we saw on the way down. Still, destruction doesn’t appear to have been total. We Rylans know how to build well. The entire internal structure of the mountain was reinforced and buttressed. Xur’s spies may not have known how extensive the reinforcing was. We build well. If anything of the planned defense is left at all, then there is still hope.”
They finally reached the remnants of the main hangar. Centauri tried to turn the ship and set it down gently, but his reflexes had grown lethargic. The little vessel bounced twice, barely avoiding more debris, as startled Rylan workers tried to wave it to a halt.
“Centauri!” Alex leaned over the seat and tried to help. The ship’s controls were simple enough and he’d had three chances to watch Centauri operate them. Pull here, push there . . .
They finally stopped less than a yard from a cracked metal wall. Alex let out a deep sigh of relief and slumped back in his own seat.
“That was close. Wouldn’t it be funny if we’d come all this way only to finish by running into a dumb wall. Right, Centauri?” There was no reply. He leaned forward again, gently shook the motionless driver. “Centauri?”
Still the elderly alien did not respond. Alex pulled his hands away. They were covered with blood.
He stared at them, then at Centauri, then jabbed the door release. As soon as the door had opened far enough he stumbled outside.
“Hey, somebody, help! Somebody get a doctor, we need a doctor here!” He felt of his ear to make certain the translator button was still in place, was gratified as well as a little astonished to discover that the tiny instrument hadn’t come loose during his flight from the alien assassin.
Was there another word for doctor he should use, or was he too excited for his words to translate properly? He ran around to Centauri’s side of the ship and was about to start pulling him clear when a familiar figure appeared, running toward him.
“Grig!”
The alien slowed, his near rigid lips straining to convey his surprise. “Alex? You came back. I’d hoped you might. I did not think you would.”
“I had to.?
?? Alex was too embarrassed to relate the whole story. Besides, there was still a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of those he respected. “Centauri’s hurt pretty bad.”
Grig helped him pull the limp body clear of the car. Then the alien rose and shouted something Alex’s translator didn’t transcribe. Whatever Grig said must have been effective, because Rylan medics appeared immediately and bent to tend to the injured Centauri.
Alex stood watching, feeling frustrated and angry and helpless. Grig assisted the medics.
“My fault,” Alex muttered disconsolately. “He took a shot that was meant for me. It’s my fault.”
Grig spoke sternly. “Look around you, Alex. Hundreds lie dead in this base alone. This is war. It is not your fault Centauri was hurt. I am certain he was only doing his job.” He nodded toward the supine figure. “He was protecting something valuable to the war effort. An important resource.”
“But I’m not,” Alex started to protest. Polite as ever, Grig interrupted him.
“He believes that you are important. Believes it strongly enough to sacrifice himself to save you. I hope he will not be proven wrong.”
A faint wheeze issued from the figure on the floor. “You see, you see? Centauri brought him back . . .”
“Yes, we see.” Grig exchanged a glance with one of the medics. “You did well, Centauri. You always do well. Now rest for a while. Conserve your strength.”
Centauri’s false human face broke into a wide, satisfied smile. He looked to Alex. “Does he have my payment? Does he?”
“I’ve a fortune held in wait for you, Centauri,” Grig assured the oldster. “Your initial payment and a big bonus for performing recruiting work beyond reasonable expectations. Now please lie still.”
“He’s not fibbing, is he, Alex?” Centauri murmured anxiously. “I’ve dealt with his kind before and you’re never sure where you stand with ’em. They’re so damn courteous you can’t tell when they’re trying to cheat you.”