Cee Tee interrupted his lusting, “Ok, I think I got what we’re looking for!”
“’Bout fuckin’ time!” Frost huffed.
“Pullin’ it up now!”
“Ummm, unless I’m needed urgently here,” Grant spoke up. “I’m in need of …” he cast another glance at the door, “relieving myself.”
“Go!” Frost waved absent-mindedly. “But please don’t use their lawn.”
“Ah, an attempt at wry canine humor.” Grant raised a pointed finger and shook it. “I have to admit. I never saw that coming from you, sir.”
“Are you still here?” Frost asked impatiently, as the images he so desperately wanted to see began to appear.
“Leaving now,” Grant noted Sherman’s disapproving look and gave him a grin and a wink.
Behind him, a young Tiger Thomas was introducing Jocko to a pretty young brunette in a NASA uniform.
***
“You know I could shoot you where you stand. I have every right.”
Ruff now stood in front of Tiger and Dee, rifle raised and at the ready. Much to their chagrin, he was well-trained and well-disciplined. At the distance he maintained, there was no way they could rush him. He’d gun both of them down with plenty of room to spare.
“You two are wearing Space Guard uniforms ... that’s a capital offense,” he explained.
“Says who?” Dee scoffed.
“The United Nations Directive on Military Protocol in Extra-Orbital Affairs.”
“The what?” Dee looked at him as if he had three heads.
Ruff rolled his eyes and sighed, “The mandate that created the Space Authority and allowed it to form autonomous law enforcement and security apparatuses.”
Dee looked at Tiger in disbelief, “I went to college four years, and this dog talks better than I do.”
“I am not a dog!” Ruff seemed to take great offense to Dee’s offhand remark. “I have human DNA in me just like you!”
“Ok! Ok!” Dee held up his hands, “Granny’s Jesus! Calm down! I didn’t realize it was such a sore point with you.”
“You humans made me. Then you resent me! And I’m supposed to live my life being happy doing all the shit jobs you don’t want to do. I don’t understand your kind!”
The creature’s voice was high pitched now, a desperate frustration in it. Tiger recognized it immediately. It was the kind of desperation that only comes from the isolation and rage a person keeps swallowing down and holding inside their gut when they’re alone and outnumbered by tormentors.
“Well, that makes two of us, bro,” Tiger responded sympathetically. He remembered seeing how the other troopers had treated the AnthroSplice … and that had been in public. He could only imagine what they did to him when no one could see. And now, the frustration from God-only-knew-what was bubbling to the surface. He sensed they were in a potentially volatile situation that needed to be defused, ASAP!
“Look, I saw the assholes you work with. I understand why you feel like you do. Believe me … we’re not the enemy here.”
“What are you doing here, Tanner Thomas?” Ruff raised his chin. “I need the truth. Now. Any second someone will happen upon us, and they’re going to want an explanation. Once that happens ... it’s too late. I can’t help you.”
Tiger and Dee swapped puzzled looks. Had they heard him right?
“You … wanna help us?” Tiger asked.
“Only if I know what it is that I’m helping you with,” Ruff replied. “You’re not attempting to infiltrate this place and set off another set of events … destroy the city, are you? I can’t allow that. I may hate the people I’m garrisoned with, but that doesn’t mean I want to see everyone in Huntsville die.”
“We’re not terrorists, I assure you,” Tiger chuckled. “If we were, don’t you think we’d probably put up a bigger fight.”
“Or that we would have blown ourselves up … you included … when you drew down on us?” Dee interjected.
“Then what are you doing in this madhouse?”
Tiger pursed his lips and then blew air out the corner of his mouth. He knew it was a risk, but something told him that leveling with Ruff would only enhance their chances. It definitely couldn’t hurt them any worse. The furry trooper was right. He had full authority to gun them down where they stood, and chances were, he’d probably end up with a commendation. If his kind were allowed to get commendations.
Looking down the barrel of the pulse rifle and risking a glance at Ruff’s agonizing face, he knew he didn’t have much of a choice.
“We’re looking for a rocket ship that was hidden in this building years ago,” Tiger confessed. “So I can get off this goddamned rock once and for all!”
“Really?” Ruff was incredulous. “And you seriously think it’s still here? That we … these people … haven’t already discovered it? Have you not looked around you? Hundreds of Space Authority personnel surround you. They’re crawling all over this complex like fire ants. You think they’d overlook a freakin’ spaceship?”
“They might if they weren’t looking for it,” Dee suggested. “And I have good reason to believe it’s still there.”
“And what reason might that be?”
“‘Cuz I was told on good authority that it would be,” Dee said matter-of-factly.
Ruff’s ears twitched slightly. Tiger realized it was the first time he’d seen hope in the creature’s eyes. He raised the barrel of the gun and clicked the safety ‘on.’
“Ok!” The splice acquiesced. “I’ll help you … on one condition. When you leave here, I leave with you.”
Tiger shrugged, “Do we have a choice?”
“No, not really.” Ruff tried his best to smirk, but it just came across as a cheesy grin.
“Alright then,” Tiger agreed. What could it hurt? At least they had one more gun on their side now. “By all means … get us the fuck outta here, Trooper Ruff.”
In the distance, it sounded like World War IV had broken loose as the battle klaxon sounded again.
***
Gideon and Junior were loading the rest of the weapons in their old “ground-pounder” antique pickup truck when another hovercar
