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In his medical cot, the unconscious man looked human, with the exception of skin the color of bronze. He had a skintight uniform that was also bronze. The green lines on the medical screen showed he was in good shape. Temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, etc, were fine. Brain activity, even though he was unconscious, was surprisingly strong. He had suffered a minor concussion and lacerations appeared on his forehead and cheek, with blood leaking onto his face. The laceration cleared up quickly. I suspected he had medical nanos or something very much like that.
Dr. Conroy Manning was standing next to the bed looking up at the green numbers and lines.
“I have no medical experience, but I’m guessing the numbers indicate he will be fine,” I said.
“He should be. He suffered some type of trauma trying to get here. But he’s breathing normally and should awake soon. He got a minor bump on the head, but nothing that should cause long-term injury. I don’t know where he came from, but it looks like he had a rough journey.”
“That’s what I want to know; where he came from, and if there are any others like him.”
“Give him a little time and he can answer your questions.”
I nodded.
Gunfire rattled through the chambers. The burst-burst of laser fire.
“MacLean here so. Intruder dead. Level three. Reptilian creature, with a weapon.”
“Getting to be popular location,” I said to Rab as we ran out.
Soldier Scotty MacLean was a six-foot three blond who looked like an Olympic gymnast even with the Arctic jacket on. He stood alert over the fallen intruder but gave a snappy salute as we walked. My reply wasn’t quite as snappy, but it was a salute. MacLean looked down at the dead creature.
“About three minutes ago the lights flashed and the walls rippled. Loud humming from somewhere. A shadow first and then this thing popped up. He was holding a weapon and aimed it at me. But I shot before he did.”
The thing before me had a face like a mutated lizard. Large eyes, big nose, teeth like a shark. Dark green in coloration. He had hands, but the fingers looked like short tentacles. Clothed in a dark uniform. MacLean’s laser blasts had blown two large holes in him, front and back.
“An ugly thing,” Rab said.
“Sure is. Wonder if he came from the same place the other guy did. And he was carrying a weapon.”
“Doesn’t mean much. When we travel to a world we carry weapons, but we’re incredibly nice guys.” He looked down at the green intruder. “Although somehow I don’t think he’s a nice guy. See that mouth?”
“Don’t think I’ve seen anything like this before. How about you, Rab?”
Rab had a cigar in his mouth. He took it out and looked like he was going to reply. Then he frowned. He stuck the cigar back in and walked to the dead creature. He knelt down as he puffed on the cigar. Ashes dropped and fell onto the creature’s face.
“We’ve seen creatures like this before,” he said.
“Where?”
Rab spit out some tobacco. “Ten years ago. On Vanodor. We didn’t get a good look at them because they skedaddled when we arrived fully armed. Most of what we saw were their backsides, but their fronts looked like this. Remember?”
I did.
A decade ago, a mini-league dictator decided to take over Vanodor; a nice, scenic, out-of-the-way world. Name was Conbor, but he liked to attach ‘general’ to his name. A brilliant guy, scientifically speaking. He could have legitimately attached ‘genius’ to his name. But the man lusted for power. The people on Vanodor were peaceful and lived a rustic, pre-technological existence. They didn’t have the firepower he did. He had won the allegiance of a bunch of lizard types who, for some reason, did whatever he wanted them to. Conbor had also assembled a bunch of rogue scientists around him; men who liked power as much as he did.
Rab was right. General Conbor’s lizard friends looked very similar to the creature on the floor. I hadn’t thought of it before. We dispatched them rather quickly so I never got a close view of them. Conbor, somehow, escaped. He was very upset at having his plans disrupted. He promised to kill me at an undisclosed later date.
I looked at MacLean. “Good job, soldier.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“We’ll get two men to drag him to the medical room.” I frowned. “If there’s one of these out there, I’m guessing there may be a whole bunch of lizards somewhere out there too.” I thought for a minute. “I wonder if he was after our bronze guest. He came with a gun and the bronze guy was unarmed.”
“Could be. That’s logical,” Rab said.
I checked with the Panther and Cajun, but they still had no idea where the bronze guy had beamed in from. Which made me uneasy. There are still a great many mysteries in space but, with our technology, we generally get detailed background knowledge about what we’re facing. The fact that two brilliant scientists knew nothing was bothersome.
“I’m going to check all the caverns, on all three levels. Why don’t you come with me, Rab?”
“Always ready for a pleasant walk. But I’ll bring my weapon, just in case.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me.”