part0051

No traces of the life Wef had created remained. The large chunk of surviving planet had a landscape more desolate than the voids of space. In every direction were sights to induce sorrow. The worst being the mangled corpse of Wef.

Kaesare knelt before a pile of disintegrating Lepsis. Their lanky frames had no clothes and the skin had turned a sickly blue-black, gurgling and oozing into the ruined soil. Craze found it hard to breathe and joined Kaesare on the ground.

He opened a comm. channel direct to her. “This is a nightmare.”

Her shoulders quaked and chest heaved. She deflated, head bowed to the blood-soaked dirt.

The faceplate of Craze’s helmet fogged. He found it hard to speak and remained silent for minutes which dragged on into a lifetime. “Wef, well,” he said, “I can’t say enough wonderful things about the Huon. He helped us time ‘n again ‘n because you asked him to. I never thanked you for recommendin’ us to him.”

Her mouth twisted savagely. “What? Is you apologizing to me? After all these years, galoot? I don’t effer-luvin believe it.”

“Wef held you in such high esteem. I must’ve got the wrong impression about you.” Yeah, he didn’t understand the words dropping off his tongue either. He hated this woman. “He helped us travel faster, kept us safe, ‘n what I’ll never forget is the gentle beauty he could create by wishin’ it. He made me remember what Verkinns was originally made for. Did you know we wasn’t to be snivelin’, chip-grubbin’ bwat shits?” She was part Verkinn, but she didn’t have much love for nature. She spent most of her time in space, like Talos and Lepsi.

Craze glanced at the pile of Lepsis disintegrating into goo. “I’m sure Lepsi tried to stop this. He thinks the galaxy of you, Kaesare.”

Her sniffle came over the comm. link. “I lost him as well as Wef, because I can never forgive him for killing Wef ‘n so terribly. One gunshot would’ve been sufficient.” Her voice broke and her shoulders shook.

Craze put an arm around her. “Give it some time.”

She snorted a laugh. “Don’t make me spray snot when wearing a helmet. That’s, well, that’s shit.”

“Shit on a bwat, Kaesare.” He squeezed her arm. “A distress call came in from Lletaboor. The Quassers is there. We need to find the beacon we brought back from beyond the Edge. We need to set it ‘n get the friggin’ Quassers away from our worlds.”

She grabbed the sides of his helmet. “We have to go to Lletaboor. Lepsi is to leave me a message there.”

The hope glinting in her gaze speared Craze through the heart. He didn’t want to dash it, but logic had to rule emotion at this critical moment. The Quassers had to become entwined on Photwit without delay. “My mission will save lives. It takes priority.”

Temerity trudged out from the freighter with a bag of equipment. Strain aged her face more than was proper. “How do we find this beacon?” she asked Craze. “The trap has to be set at Photwit. Now. It’s the right thing to do.”

“We is going to Lletaboor,” Kaesare insisted. “I’m getting that message.”

Of course, what she wanted mattered most. Craze gritted his teeth. “We find the beacon then go. My sister is right.”

“It’s my ship.” She pulled away from Craze and crossed her arms.

“Backworlders, especially Verkinns, have spent more years than right bickering ‘n fighting over scraps. We became the thing we hate,” Temerity said. “We became the Fo’wo’s. Only dastards let a planet full of folks die in agonizing horror instead of saving them.”

Craze’s hair waved in his helmet, obscuring his gaze. He had to curse at it to get it to move out of his way. “You changed awful quick.”

“I was stupid, ‘n I will atone for the wrongs I did. I will help you lure the Quassers to Photwit ‘n preserve what remains of the Backworlds. If everyone is dead, there’s nothing left to fight over. Who cares about scraps when there’s no one ‘n nothing to care about? The Quassers won’t remember us ‘n they certainly don’t care. They is Fo’wo’s on steroids. I think there has to be another way ‘n we need to find it.”

Craze smiled at her. “You ‘n I will remake the galaxy.”

Kaesare slumped back into the dirt, drooping more heavily than earlier. “I can’t leave him. Not like this. Wef was my brother, my friend, the only one I could put faith in.”

Craze grabbed her wrist. “He wants you to find the beacon ‘n use it to save the galaxy. Everythin’ he did was to help worlds live. If he became the reason a whole planet of folks died, he’d be mortified.”

Kaesare could barely whisper. “He would.”

“Temerity ‘n I will find the beacon. When we return, we’ll say some words over Wef. Then we go, Kaesare. You’ve got to think beyond yourself.”

She glared at Craze. “You is a heartless dastard.”

“He’s not,” Temerity said and headed to what remained of Wef. “But this isn’t the time for sentimentality. Just isn’t. There’ll be plenty of time to weep later.”

Craze followed his sister. “I hope Kaesare will leave.”

“If not, I’ll fly her ship to Photwit. I’ll shoot her if I have to.”

“What do you care? You hate her.”

“She’s hurtin’. She just lost the two people in the galaxy who meant anythin’ to her. You know how bwatshit that can twist somebody. It twisted you into a war pirate. You killed people I cared about.”

“Let’s not get into it. Not now.” She pivoted in a full circle. “Where do we look for this beacon?”

“He usually kept his gadgets in lockers. Search his transport first.”

“The Quassers probably found it ‘n destroyed it.”

“Nah. The beacon would have rooted them here. They can’t resist it. I’d say they didn’t find it, since they flew off.”

The transport had been cleaved into pieces. What gravity hadn’t destroyed, the Lepsis had. Except for the locker carved into the rock wall of the asteroid. It wasn’t really rock, but metal. It contained tools. Another locker poked out from under Wef.