Why are they so pissed? I wondered. If I need to come back for it, I know where it will be. I have no doubt Bijorn will do what he says. I also have no doubt he’ll allow me to have it back when he’s finished with it.
I reached into my pocket and handed Bijorn one of the orbs. The screaming, hissing sensation in my mind vanished.
“You had one?” he whispered. “Where did you find it?”
“Soldiers,” I explained. “They were able to melt or burn anything that got too close to them. If any show up, you’re going to have to find a way to trick them. Or drop something really big and heavy on top of them before their plasma shield has time to burn through it.”
“With this,” he said as he held the fex close to his face, “that won’t be a problem.”
His grin turned his weathered face into a twisted sea of deep wrinkles. I almost felt sorry for the force that would arrive.
An alien child tugged at my shirt and held out a small bag. “Take.”
I took the offered item and untied the strap holding it closed. Inside was a small, sparkling mountain of tiny gold rings.
“Those are nearly all the pings we could scrounge together,” a tall, elderly female human standing next to the child explained. “We have enough to get us by, but if we are successful, our defenses will make Madomar a powerful center for trade.”
I opened my mouth to protest when Yaltu quieted me with a gentle touch. Her expression implored me not to refuse. In some human cultures, gifts were considered permanent. To return them was an insult, so I thanked the woman and child.
Another child came forward with a larger, kidney-shaped bag. Inside, I found foodstuffs, some of which looked edible. A funky smell wafted from a few bundles wrapped in brown paper. I’d offer Skrew those when we were out of sight. He bounced from one foot to the other and back again as he clapped his hands together and accepted bags, baubles, and boxes on my behalf.
Yaltu leaned close and whispered in my ear. “You may refuse if it is too much for you to carry. Simply tell them that you're burdened with their generosity. It will make them happy.”
I did, and several giggled, beaming with pride at having weighed me down with gifts. I could have carried 10 times as much if my arms were longer, but it was a good way to escape and avoid carrying so too much.
Skrew looked at the shiny gold bracelets lining three of his four arms and waved the empty one at me. I shut him up with a look that promised a slow and painful death if he countered my statement. He received the message loud and clear.
“Skrew thanks people, yes,” he said with a bow. “We thank people.”
With that done, I turned to leave but stopped when a thin tentacle hooked my wrist. It belonged to a short, stick-like creature with a hard-looking exoskeleton and four blinking eyes. The tentacle, which might have been a trunk, extended from the front of its face. It spoke through the appendage like a soft trumpet.
“I have one more item,” it said. “One thing that came to me from traders recently. From Brazud. I believe it may belong to you or your kind. The trader said he bought it from another in town. I only received it two days ago. He invited me to his store. His name is Bada-dabu. You can find him in the center of the city near the long spire that speaks the time to our eyes.”
What the creature held out to me was nothing more than a small pouch of white leather. When my eyes focused on what was sewn to the center of the pouch, my breath was taken away. I recognized it just as easily as I could have recognized my own reflection. It was the cloth rank insignia of a Federation Sergeant of Marines.
My people are in Brazud. I know they are. This is evidence. We need to leave right now. I’ll kill every single person, alien or not, who’s harmed any of them.
It took me a moment, but I was able to let go of my astonishment. The rank insignia was real, but I didn’t see any blood on it. It might have come from a discarded uniform. It also might have been cut from a dead body found in the woods. Either way, it was evidence that the Lakunae had been at least a little honest.
Crew members from the Revenge had landed on this planet.
“We need to leave,” I said to Yaltu. “Find a place to stay, somewhere secure. How far of a trek is it to Brazud?”
“I have no intention of walking,” she said. “Follow me. I need to introduce you to someone.”
We waved goodbye to the townsfolk as we walked into the woods. I wanted to ask her how far away this person was and to remind her that we were both in a hurry, but I held my tongue. If she had a faster way to get to Brazud, I wanted to see it.
She stopped when we reached a hill covered in green plants bursting with sweet-smelling purple wildflowers. Yaltu raised her chin, and a complicated set of notes whistled free of her throat and mouth. A moment later, the melody was repeated from somewhere deeper in the woods.
Yaltu whistled a new melody twice as complicated as the first. Another musical sound echoed from deeper within the forest. I recognized the exchange for what it was, a challenge-response test. It was the only way she and her mysterious friend would be able to recognize each other without being able to see each other.
From the darkness
