“Nope, it makes perfect sense to me.”
We stared at one another for a moment. Finally, Armel became agitated.
“Well then… do it!”
I blinked at him stupidly, and I wasn’t even faking. “What? Do you want me to push you? I thought you were going to jump?”
“No, idiot. They would never accept that approach. I want them to think this wasn’t my idea. I want it to appear I was forced into it.”
“So… I’m supposed to kill you? Right here, right now? Look, there are two lizard guards just over there. They’ll get pissed.”
He rolled his eyes. “Why do you think I brought you here to do this? Teleport away before they can kill you. If anyone can manage that, you can.”
“Yeah, but… won’t they just revive you anyway?”
“No, they won’t. I’ve erased my local data. Also, nothing that touches the surface of that vast containment vessel below us is reachable. They’d have to shut down the entire machine, and they won’t do that. It powers half their cities.”
I glanced around again. The two lizards were standing guard. Like most reptiles, they could look like statues when they wanted to—but I sensed they were watching us anyway.
“You sure you want me to do this?” I asked again.
“Get on with it, damn you!”
It was weird, having a guy so cocksure that he wanted me to pretty much perm him. But since it was Armel, I was game.
I put a hand on his chest, but he stopped me for a moment, grasping my hand with his.
“We shook hands just once before, McGill, back on Storm World. Do you remember that day?”
“Uh… yeah.”
“Leeza told me you kept your word to her, even through her death. You brought her back. Do you promise me now to do the same for me?”
“What do I get out of it?”
His eyes darkened. “I just revived you! I just saved you from a well-deserved perming, man!”
“Oh yeah, so you did… Okay, I swear to do my best to get you breathing again, Maurice.”
He nodded, and he shook my hand. “Very well, James. In this odd instance, I trust you.”
Then, I pushed him off the ledge—but I didn’t let go of his hand.
Instead of releasing Armel and letting him spin down into the abyss, I hung on. I dropped to my knees, then my chest.
Dangling below, Armel was howling bloody murder.
“Let go of me, you retarded mule of a man! You’re supposed to let go!”
I hung on. “Hey!” I shouted over my shoulder to the two lizard guards. “I need help over here, he slipped!”
They came running, and I took a glance down at Armel. He was looking up at me with big round eyes.
“Treachery! Betrayal! Base deceit!”
“Keep your shirt on,” I told him. “I’m just doing this my own way.”
The drug that had affected my mind had faded by now. I’d kept talking to Armel, playing the fool, and testing it all the while. By this time, I was pretty sure I could do as I wanted and was free of any chemical influence. The current situation was proof: Armel was anything but happy.
“Let me go, damn you, McGill. So help me, I’ll—”
“Ah-ah, no threats now. Don’t go and give me a good reason to change-up our deal any further.”
He began hissing and twisting down there, using both his hands to pry back my fingers—but he couldn’t do it. He just wasn’t strong enough.
Right about then, the first of the lizards arrived. “Quick!” I told him. “Grab on and pull him back up. Help me!”
The lizard had his gun unslung. He didn’t trust me, that much was clear, but it was also clear that his commander was twisting in the breeze below.
Putting his rifle down, he crouched and reached one thick arm down over the side. He grabbed Armel and began to haul him upward.
Armel, for his part, wasn’t cooperating. He bit my hand, bringing up blood.
“That’s plain unsportsmanlike,” I complained.
I waited until the lizard was leaning way out, hanging onto Armel—then I let go of Armel’s hand. Now holding the full weight of his commander, the lizard teetered. His tail whipped around, trying to regain his balance.
It was as easy as pie. All I had to do was stand up and kick him one in the rump. The lizard plunged over the side, and Armel went with him. They both put up a horrible racket on the way down.
The second lizard was standing nearby at this point. He looked over the side in shock.
“Damned shame, isn’t it?” I asked him.
He turned back to me, revealing about a hundred pointed teeth. I didn’t think he was smiling. “You killed them. You are a bad thing.”
“The worst,” I admitted.
The lizard moved to lift his rifle up between us, but we were too close together. There just wasn’t room for him to line me up for a shot.
He tried anyway, not being a smarty-pants lizard. I grabbed the barrel of his weapon and tugged. Naturally, he responded by bunching up his shoulders and giving a mighty yank to pull the weapon back into his control.
It was a perfectly normal thing to do—unless you were standing on the edge of a cliff. All I had to do was let him have the weapon. I didn’t just let go, however, I gave him a hard shove to go with it, forcing the rifle into his chest.
The second lizard went over even faster than the first one had. Then I was left standing on the precipice, watching him fall. What with his tail spinning around and croaking sounds only his brood mother would cry about, I could only guess at the curse words that were coming out of his toothy mouth.
