There was no response.
“Computer,” I repeated. “Locate Alice.”
Computer didn’t respond.
He couldn’t respond. He was off-line.
I pressed a hand to a broken console. “Farewell, my old friend.”
I moved up onto my feet for a second attempt. This time, it worked. I wiped the blood from my forehead where I suffered a gash.
It didn’t matter. The only thing I could think about was Alice.
I shuffled across the deck. It was hard to match it with how it had once appeared. I reached the diagnostics terminal. The weapons systems station should be right next to it.
But it wasn’t there. The terminal had snapped off.
When we crashed, she’d been holding on tight to it.
Then where was she?
It must have come off when we smashed into the building.
No…
I waved at the smoke as I moved forward. The screen was black and shards of glass lay strewn across the floor.
And there she lay, still clutching the terminal close.
I picked the terminal up and tossed it aside as if it weighed nothing.
She lay in a heap. I lifted her into my lap and rocked her gently.
“Computer. Check for vital signs—” I said, before remembering he was already offline.
I pressed my fingers to her neck and was relieved to feel a pulse. It was strong.
“Did we do it?” Alice said.
Her eyes fluttered open.
“Yes, we did it,” I said, though in truth, I had no idea if we had or not.
Then, rising like seagulls over a sharp cliff, we heard the most glorious sound we could imagine.
Screams.
Screams of a huge mob finally seeing the truth.
Only then did we truly know we had done it.
The holographic generator was down and the partiers could see the town for what it was. A sham.
I ran my hands over her body, looking for signs of blood or injury. “How do you feel?”
“I’ve felt better,” she said. “Nothing that a little bonding can’t fix.”
She reached up and pulled me closer. We kissed deeply, passionately. I gave myself to her, and she buried herself in me.
“By the way,” Alice said. “How come I understood what you were saying earlier when I wasn’t wearing the translator strip? You were speaking in your native tongue, right?”
“Yes. And you were speaking in yours.”
“Then how could you understand me?”
“We’re bonded now. Body and soul. You understand me on a level far deeper than language.”
“Can I understand anyone who speaks your language?” she said.
“Only if you bond with them. And don’t be getting any ideas.”
She chuckled and kissed me again. “Never. You’re all I want.”
There we sat, surrounded by my destroyed starship, and what remained of the fake town we’d helped expose.
No human female would have to suffer the same experience Alice had.
At least, not at this colony.
I supported Alice as we limped from the cracked hull of my former ship. A dozen smuggling vessels took off and ascended into the thick clouds of an approaching storm.
Bright lights broke through the cloud cover and made me cover my eyes with my hands. The ships froze in midair as multiple beams of light held them in place.
“Are those tractor beams?” Alice said.
“Yes,” I said. “Dozens of them.”
A broad smile spread across Alice’s face. “It’s nice to see them getting some of their own medicine.”
The ship didn’t descend out of the clouds. It was the clouds. It was one of the largest ships I had ever seen. The identifcation mark on its side turned my throat dry. I imagined every smuggler’s throat dried at the sight of it.
It was an Enforcer frigate. A ship designed to end wars and settle disputes on an intergalactic scale.
“What is that?” Alice said.
“The Enforcers,” I said.
“How did they know to come? You don’t think—?”
“They’re part of the smuggling ring? No. They’re here because I sent them a message.”
Alice peered up at me, agape. “You sent them a message? When?”
“When I knew we weren’t going to manage this on our own.”
Alice slapped me affectionately on the arm. “I thought you would be ostracized by the other smugglers if you ever betrayed them?”
“I would be,” I said. “But I didn’t expect to live through today, never mind get to smuggle another human female. You made me see things differently. What if it were you in those pods, only I hadn’t met you yet? They’re all you, remember? And that means I had to protect them all. Or, at least try to.”
“Thank you,” Alice said, going up on her tiptoes to kiss me on the cheek. “That’s for all us human females.” She wagged a finger at me. “But don’t be thinking they can all kiss you like that.”
I raised my hands in surrender as we limped across the depot.
A series of smaller ships—but still large enough to take on a well-fortified planet alone—broke off from the frigate and descended to the ground. Multiple hatch doors dropped open and soldiers disembarked and rounded up the Changelings. With us limping toward them, they didn’t appear to consider us much of a threat.
The soldiers wore thick metal plating for armor and rifles that could dissolve a bank vault in ten seconds. Two soldiers aimed their rifles at us. Just beyond them, their commanding officer gave orders. Once he was done, he approached us. His name was etched into his breastplate. CARVER.
He looked me over. “You’re the one that called us?”
“I am,” I said.
“There’s a big reward out for these smugglers,” Carver said. “I can’t give you an exact figure but it must run into the thousands. And then there’s the colony to consider. By the time it’s all told, you’re going to be a wealthy man.”
Alice grinned up at me. When I didn’t grin back, she frowned with thought.
Carver’s second in command leaned over and whispered in his superior officer’s ear. He checked the device the officer was holding and glanced at me, comparing me to the sketch they had on record.
I knew this would happen but I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen next.
“Well, this is a pickle,” Carver said with a heavy sigh. “My lieutenant informed me
