part0010

Traveling to the Jixes’ homeworld, Jix, on one of their ships navigated by a Jix crew had been nerve-racking. Talos hated having to put his trust in a Fo’wo mind-control weapon. Under its influence, Gattar and her trigger-happy squad drooled and stared, hanging on his every word, which rattled him. Worse, they showed signs of free-will and their usual saucy personalities after only seven days. Normally quite unpredictable, Gatt always worried him and doubly so now that he used an enemy weapon on her. What would she do when she found out?

Actually arriving on the Jixes’ world evoked a more palpable feeling of danger. As if a beast, it waited, suspended in mid-strike, coiled to spring, tucked into every blade of grass, every drop of rain, and it rode on the constant wind.

Almost five months had passed since leaving Pardeep Station, and Talos had yet to find any sense of ease among the Jixes. They gawked and sneered at him, gnashing their teeth. On the verge of breaking free from his weapon-induced control, the Jixes jostled in shadows, lurking, skulking, slowly reverting back to their natural proclivity to buck at any authority other than their leader’s—Ingarsse. She was a Jix times one thousand, toying with Talos, dangling him, making him sweat and toil for every modicum of advantage he acquired. The last trader who had crossed her graced her parlor as a throw rug. Every day she reminded Talos of it.

His only leverage over this shaky situation was his companion, Prezsha, the Backworlder found under the ash sea five months ago with the mind-controlling nanites. Of the Cytran race like Rainly, Prezsha had been built to be the nanites’ master and to obey hers. She’d been ordered to follow Talos’s instructions. Only she preferred the company of Ingarsse over him. The Jix leader doted on her, wooed her, treated her like a prized pet.

Partly cybernetic, Prezsha shouldn’t have had any thoughts or sentiments of her own, at least not this early in her sentience, but something slinked in her red eyes, something ready to break loose. Whether it was inborn or some dastardly subroutine programmed into her by the enemy Fo’wo’s, Talos couldn’t determine. This much he knew, when she did assert her independence, she’d sell him out to the Jixes and help them turn him into a floor mat.

When he and Prezsha had first arrived, she’d left the ship before him, doling out tainted chocolate bars—the candies were how the nanites were delivered into the Jixes. Those who ate the treats had fallen at her feet, uttering adorations, swearing allegiance. The tiny machines lacing the chocolate embedded commands into the mind of the person who ingested them. Prezsha was the key to controlling the nanites. Talos’s job was to come up with the directives for the nanites, thereby containing the Jixes and keeping them away from Pardeep and its future.

Day by day that goal slipped farther away. Prezsha showed no inclination to assist him in the endeavor. So, despite her resemblance to his friend, Rainly, Talos didn’t trust her. He eyed her warily when she saluted him, and he ran a slender hand through his shock of blue hair.

“What does the forecast say?” He believed the reiteration of simple facts kept her loyalty cemented to him.

“Rain mixed with snow throughout the day. Dew point, minus six degrees Celsius. Winds, three to five miles an hour out of the southeast. Precipitation in the last hour, zero. In the last twelve hours, half an inch. A full inch expected before nightfall. Current temperature is eleven degrees Celsius and falling like a meteor, sir.”

He checked what she said against InfoCy’s report on his tab. She made no deviation other than the flourish when commenting on the cooling air—a more flagrant sign that her protocols deteriorated, that she’d soon shed her yokes.

Tugging at the collar of his tan, threadbare shirt, Talos pivoted away from her and toward the window, nodding, staring out from the guest quarters he’d been assigned to share with her. She usually slept standing in the corner, but he wouldn’t call it sleeping, not in the human sense. Her silent vigil made him uneasy, making him wish for home.

He missed Pardeep Station. Not for the arid air or dusty vistas but for the company he could rely on when he needed it. Since Lepsi had disappeared, he sought out Craze more often to share a drink and a story. It never made him feel better though, it just reminded him his best friend remained missing and probably dead.

Stretching to his full seven foot height, Talos clasped his hands behind his back and appreciated the view outside. Billows of gray gathered over Jix’s skies, and he wished for them to break open and pour down their bounty. He thrilled at watching the rain, thrilled at smelling it, and thrilled at the feel of it on his skin. The frequent showers made the landscape so lush.

The Jixes’ main city nestled in a valley ringed by snow-capped behemoths. Creeks tumbled down into the valley, branching into a hundred brooks which meandered in gentle curves through neighborhoods of crisp, white dwellings. Squared and domed, the buildings were carved from native stone that turned stark white the moment it touched the air.

Most afternoons Talos went and submerged himself in the frigid runoff, a treat that would never be known on Pardeep, that and rainfall. Whether a sprinkle or downpour, he’d skip outside and soak himself to the skin, letting the moisture seep into his thirsty bones. The scenery and those two things made Jix a pleasant world. The Jixes and the wind ruined it.

The incessant, whistling breeze wore on his nerves, and he figured it explained the Jixes’ partial madness. The grating warble never stopped, a constant irritating whine that couldn’t be shut out. It trickled into his music, his conversations, and his dreams. In the shower he could hear it murmuring under the rush of the water. When subjected to the flirtings of a Jix, it trilled with their seductive words, turning his stomach and thoughts sour.

He puckered his thin lips and his eyelids pinched against it, but it was no good. “Have you heard from the Jix leader, Ingarsse, today?” he asked Prezsha.

Almost a foot shorter than him and slightly stockier, she craned her head back to meet his gaze. She insisted on eye contact always, boring those flaming irises into his soul. “She is not satisfied plundering and conquering in this solar system alone. She covets her neighbors and dreams of controlling the Lepper.”

Some things never changed. The Jixes had always desired total dominion over the Edge, spreading themselves over the worlds like a plague. Tyranny wasn’t their aim, merely absconding every planet’s wealth. However, on most worlds, the Jixes drained the people of their hope, and without hope the Edge would never flourish, and Pardeep would never become what Talos and his friends intended it to be. Here was his chance to get rid of his greatest obstacle, and he was getting nowhere.

One at a time, he shook out his long limbs and cracked his slender neck one way then the other. Before the Jixes completely broke their nanite bonds, he had to figure out how to contain them and keep them out of the way. “Understood. Did she mention the proposed partnership?”

The Jixes had styled Prezsha’s hair into gentle waves to match their own and when she nodded, her tresses billowed in an artful manner. It was all so very Jix with the silver romper clothing her, and Talos took it as a not so subtle warning.

“She did voice what she would like in exchange,” Prezsha replied.

His eyes snapped wide. There had been no word from Ingarsse for three days, and now the Jix leader finally put something on the table. For the thousandth time he wished Prezsha would tell important bits of news like this without being wheedled into it, and he ended up barking. “What does Ingarsse want?”

She didn’t flinch, not even a blink. Her chrome cheeks and lips remained spiritless and twitch free. “Ingarsse demands the rest of the chocolates and me.”

And why not the rest of the galaxy while she was at it? Talos frowned. “That’s not an option. Did she make any counter proposal?”

“I need to collect more data, sir.”

Of course she did. His pinched eyes narrowed further. What else hadn’t she shared? “Tell me every place you went, everyone you spoke to, ‘n everything said since leaving our quarters this morning.”

She rattled on about which Jixes knelt before her and which ones scowled at her from the shadows. The ones lurking at the murky edges were Talos’s biggest problem. He wished Lepsi were here to talk it over with. “Where is he?” he whispered under his breath.

“I can not hear you, sir. Will you repeat your question?” Prezsha said.

Talos glanced outside, watching Jixes strut around. Willowy with a purplish tint to their skin, they batted their huge, neon green eyes at one another and twitched their hips. Able to change gender at will, breasts grew and shrank at an alarming rate, like some vulgar back alley show played out in broad daylight. Tawdry was one thing, but the Jixes were also incredibly vain. Each one stood at the optimum angle for the annoying wind to catch their hair, fanning out their waves like sails. It all made for quite the spectacle and one at odds with the pristine beauty of their world.

When the sun shifted, reminding Talos of how time ran thin, he asked, “Does Ingarsse invite me to court this evening?”

“She did not say.”

“Then go back and tell her my presence at dinner will make you happy. And see what you can learn about those hanging around in the shadows.”

Prezsha bowed. “As you order, sir.”

She left their quarters, marching out among the Jixes, and he watched her pass a group huddled in Ingarsse’s doorway. They hoped for a crumb of their leader’s attention and hoped to warn her against the two visitors, whispering words that could rupture the tenuous hold Talos and Prezsha had on their leader’s mind. The conspiring Jixes couldn’t be let anywhere near Ingarsse.

The need to talk to a friend persisted. Talos decided to call Craze. He tapped the appropriate icon on his tab and waited for the ping to be picked up.

Craze’s wide, olive-toned face appeared on the screen. His thick lips spread into a grin. “I was just thinkin’ about you, Captain.”

The grand, genuine smile made Talos homesick. His fingers brushed over a pin on his coat; round with orange letters on a blue background, it read Carry On . “Greetings, mate. How’s things?’

“There’s some excitement today with the arrival of a Sprinkler. Seems we have a new resident.”

“Really? Only one?” A Sprinkler meant a fresh water supply. Fresh water on Pardeep could help Talos create trade routes on worse off worlds. It’d not help his problem with the Jixes, however.

“Maybe she’ll attract more. She has blue hair like you.”

“You setting me up or telling me you love me like a gal?”

Craze’s head fell back, and he roared out a laugh, his coveralls expanding and contracting, working extra hard to compensate. “Nah. It’s not like that. She’s workin’ for me, ‘n I agreed to buy her ship. An Olvis Deluxe with a brand new, state-of-the-art agro bay.”

Shit! That Verkinn had all the luck. “If you can grow them cocoa seeds, the Jixes will become has-beens, ‘n our influence over them won’t matter.”

Craze’s dark brows rose over his dark eyes. “You sound a little desperate about that.”

“None of this is easy. If I don’t come up with a way to keep a thumb over them soon, we’ll lose the whole lot of them. Any ideas?”

“Some sort of partnership?”

How Talos wished Craze had more specifics. “Ingarsse wants the chocolate ‘n Prezsha to start negotiations.”

“Them Jixes is greedy bastards. No way. ‘N such a lopsided, one-time deal won’t keep us in their good graces. If you can make the Jixes excited over stupid new trade routes, maybe get them to really value somethin’ no one else cares about, that could work.”

Now that was a twist Talos hadn’t thought of, and if he found the right thing, it could succeed. “Interesting idea, mate. Thanks. I’ll give that a try.”

“I know you’ll pull it off. In the meantime, influence travelers goin’ through the Lepper, especially if they is from worlds that matter or have a lot of Lepper traffic. Just give them some chocolate ‘n rave about how wonderful Pardeep is.”

Talos sat down upon a dark gray lounger and leaned back. “I’ll take that as a sign that you ready to open your new bar?”

“Almost. Still waiting on the new furniture.”

“You in your tavern now? Show me how it’s coming.”

Craze moved his tab around, revealing the smooth, ice blue surfaces, and the perfectly ordered shelves of alcohol. “The old yellow ‘n orange lighted sign is goin’ to go right here.” He pointed at a soffit running above the bar.

“Craze’s Tavern? You still calling it that? What you’ve created doesn’t look so much like a Backworld watering hole anymore.”

The big guy rubbed his meaty hands together and his shoulders shook with a silent laugh. “Yeah?” It was his dream to create a destination.

Talos wanted to see dreams realized on Pardeep, but not being there to share in it bothered him. He hitched his shoulders and tugged on his cuffs. “Yeah. A real sweet high-class harbor is what it is. Wish I could talk longer, but I have a tab conference in a few with some top traders on Pote and Kenzer. Ingarsse introduced me to them a few weeks back, ‘n we became quick friends. I’ll get them working on that buzz you want, ‘n I’ll see if they know of some unwanted resource to occupy our Jix friends.”

Eyes and lips smiling, Craze leaned in closer to the screen. “Hope you come back soon. You is missed around here. All’s I got is loons to talk to.”

“Where’d Dactyl go?”

“Turns out he’s as bad as the rest, jabberin’ on about some dude named Quasser. Almost blew the Sprinkler’s head off for whisperin’ the name.”

That was news. Dactyl had always been wound a little tight, but Talos hadn’t pegged him for unspooling into a full-blown coot. Pardeep didn’t need anymore of those. “You sure? He’s always been kind of... irritable.”

“Not like this. He’s off the star charts in wack-a-doodle land, raving ‘n waving weapons around. Someone’s goin’ to end up with a bullet in them if he doesn’t stop. So please hurry back. You leave me with only Rainly to talk to, ‘n with her I rarely get to speak.”

Talos laughed. That gal could yap. “Tell her Prezsha sends her love.”

“Does she really?”

“Nah, she still needs orders to act most times. Although, she did add some flare to the weather report earlier. I think she’s about to bust beyond her programming and join up with the Jixes. Ingarsse treats her like a best friend, almost a lover sometimes.”

“That’s more than a little bothersome. Be careful, brother.”

The door chimed, and Talos glanced at the monitor to see who it was. Ingarsse stood out there with a huge blue flower. Its petals flopped down over her hand in a velvety drape. Either she came to continue her seduction of Prezsha, or she’d come to size up how good his skin would look in her entryway.

Talos gulped, knowing he’d have to set her on a path of his choosing. If he was going to survive this, he had to. Flirty as Jixes were, maybe he ought to be the one doing the seducing. “Some important business is at my door, mate. I have to go. Take my warnings about the Jixes seriously. Be prepared for retaliation if I can’t find a solution.”