Chapter 49
Pauder slapped an arsenal into Meelo’s arms. “Get inside ‘n shoot anything that threatens the underground city.”
Her scalp prickled with a chill that didn’t come from Pardeep’s frigid weather. “Wha—”
“I’ve seen ya kill when necessary before. Don’t go gettin’ Craze-like on me. We’ve folks ta save from a war.”
Clouds covered the sky and spheres rained down. Unceasing screams and weapons fire replaced the usual buzz of the city.
She met his hardened gaze. “Don’t leave me.”
“My blood ‘n sweat is in this soil, darling. Ya’ll never be rid of me.” He ran a hand over his bald head, taking a step toward the chaos. “Pardeep is in the best of hands. Dauffer ‘n I will see as many folks safely inta the tunnel as possible. Ya’ll see ta their future?”
Pauder was nothing like her father, nothing like anyone she had ever known. The day he had lain with his legs blown off and she took the grenades from him to make sure Pardeep Station survived had changed everything between them. Whackadoode coot he was, but he was the best of mentors.
Meelo clutched the medal he had given her, one he had earned during the fight with the Fo’wo’s generations ago. “Teerant will not happen here.”
“I expect ya’ll do what needs ta be done. A planetlord owes it citizens nothing less. When the battle gets ta where it’s saving a few versus saving everybody else—”
“I’ll shut the door.”
His lips pressed into a thin line, and he studied her for longer than
was socially polite. “It’ll be a hard thing ta do.”
Knowing she may have to shut it against him and folks she loved cracked her resolve, until a constant chorus of shrieks started up. This could not be how the galaxy ended. “I’ll do it.”
His smile had a sharp tint of sadness. “I see ya will. Pardeep is in the best of hands.” He saluted then spun on his heels before she could say a word.
“Don’t you die on me!” She strapped on the revolvers and rifles, unsure what all he had handed to her. It didn’t matter. She didn’t know how anybody could shoot a cloud ship to where it made any difference. Still, she unholstered a lazenderbuss—a short shotgun with a belled muzzle that shot flaming laserballs.
Inder sprinted toward her. His scrawny frame heaved, and he fell into her arms.
She clutched him to her bosom. “Thank the universe,” she whispered into his sweaty neck.
He hung on her, sobbing. “Don’t go out there, dearheart. There is flames. There is piles of bodies. It’s so awful.”
Another love on another world had once said something similar. Pardeep’s story would have a different ending. Gently, she steered her sweet man toward the gates. “Get inside.”
“I want to help.” His gray eyes gleamed like beacons.
“Stay there ‘n you can assist folks into our new city.”
His thin hair had already dried from his mad dash across the dust. It billowed in the gritty breeze ushered in by the landing Quasser spheres.
Doc and Eina came jogging down the tunnel. Meelo dashed to them, pulling them to safety, giving them quick hugs. Blood mixed with the sweat staining their faces.
“Will others be coming?” Meelo asked.
“Of course.” Doc wheezed.
The screams outside grew louder. Weapons fire blasted with more frequency. Meelo took a step toward the tunnel entrance. The others had to hurry.
Nellese came racing through the dusty entrance, covered in dirt and bits of flesh. She gasped and grabbed onto Meelo’s shoulders. “Get inside. Time is up.”
Gunfire ricocheted from inside the tunnel and Nellese’s words had the effect of a slap. Meelo lingered, tapping a boot, taking one more step toward the surface. “C’mon, old man.”
A heaviness whirled her thoughts so violently, she fell to her knees. Her ears buzzed and her head filled with the most awful thoughts.
Kill them
, it said. Kill them all
The lazenderbuss site was at her eye, and she aimed square between Nellese’s shoulder blades. Meelo’s finger trembled on the trigger. Behind Nellese, Inder’s eyes grew wide. He lunged for Meelo and stopped as if he ran into a wall.
His expression slackened and he grabbed for a revolver at Meelo’s hip. He ripped the pocket made from her mother’s favorite skirt. Quasser’s overpowering thoughts were replaced by memories of the LurDEE’s on Teerant, swinging carefree through the thick forest canopy.
Meelo shuddered with a moment of clarity. “You can’t die.” She shoved Inder inside the thick doors that would seal off Subpeedra.
The buzzing in her mind increased, stuffing her with pain and nightmares. Her gaze fell on Doc. “Why isn’t the crusties working?”
“They work fine in here.” Doc grabbed onto Inder’s leg and dragged him past the gates.
Eina tossed a Wonder Ricklit halter, snagging Meelo. Meelo dropped the lazenderbuss, clutching at the rope strangling her and kicked at the weapon to drag it with her. It skittered in the opposite direction then Meelo was inside the entryway. As suddenly as the noise in her brain had started, it stopped. She sank to the cool floor and stared up the tunnel. “C’mon, guys.”
Pauder ‘n Dauffer rounded the bend.
“Thank the universes.” Meelo waved them on. “Come inside!”
Darkness followed Pauder, a moving shadow. The shadow became a marching army. The army was made up of the same person, hundreds of him, a him Meelo knew. “Lepsi.” Surprise reduced her voice to a croak.
The Lepsis didn’t have weapons. They carried limbs and wore a thick coat of blood. Meelo backed up a step, her hand on the button to seal the doors.
Twenty strides away, Pauder ‘n Dauffer skidded to a halt. Their faces distorted grotesquely. Each raised a grenade launcher and aimed at Meelo.
The Lepsis swarmed at Pauder and Dauffer’s backs, yanking at their arms and clothes. The crustie suits the old heroes wore protected them from physical harm, but not the Quassers’ thought control. Meelo could faintly feel the mental tug, but could resist it inside the gates. Easily. She merely had to get Pauder and Dauffer inside.
“You can kill more folks once you get through the doors.” Tears splashed on her cheeks.
Dauffer spun in place. Pauder plunked down on his knees.
“Come. I’ll help you kill everyone,” she said louder.
Pauder struggled with the weapon. For a second the fog left his gaze. “Ya promised,” he gasped before raising the grenade launcher once more.
The barrel blinked green, ready to fire. Dauffer’s too. Blood trickled out of their noses and ears, and stained their cheeks.
The Lepsis shuffled past the old men, brandishing gore and rocks. They launched the stones. One struck Meelo in the temple
She tottered and her vision blurred. For a moment, she saw the final moments of her kin on Teerant. Meelo choked on a sob. “Forgive me.”
Deftly she unholstered the automatic rifle strapped to her back. The site put Pauder’s head in the crosshairs. “You die a hero.” Her finger pulled the trigger. She shifted the site to Dauffer and fired again.
Her palm slapped against the control to seal the gates. The signals started to fake the brainwaves of Pardeep’s citizens. The signals decreased and died off to nothing to fool the Quassers into believing everyone on the planet had died. If they weren’t fooled, she had complete faith in the defenses Pauder had set up. “Thank you,” she whispered to his unmoving form in the dust. When the hatch clanged shut, she slumped against it.
A terrible numbness crept in, squeezing her heart. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. She didn’t know what to think or feel. “The galaxy curses me.” She wept, throwing an arm over her face.
Hands grasped and lifted her. She didn’t know whose. Her eyes saw only the grisly ends of Pauder and Dauffer. A few heartbeats later, there was a drink in her hand. Someone helped her drink it. Malt. Craze’s malt. It tasted of kinder times at the ranch house and in his tavern. A blink later, she stared into Inder’s pinched face.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said. “The Backworlds won’t die because of you.” His scoop-shaped hand petted her hair. “When you is ready, we’ll talk about what happened. You is going to need to, to go on. For now, the citizens of Subpeedra need to hear from you. We is all as shattered as you.”
“Where am I?” She peered past him at quarters doubling as an office. She recognized none of it, except the little plant sitting on a desk. It used to grace the desk of her office in the docking facility. The withered stalk had a fresh leaf sprouting. Reaching out, she stroked the tender foliage. Her throat clenched, and she drew in a shaky breath. “What can I possibly say? I just ended two of the bravest souls.”
“To save the rest of us ‘n to save them. Pauder ‘n Dauffer wouldn’t want to be the means of our ends. They was heroes. You gave them a hero’s death.”
“Did I?” No sense of nobility entered her mind. She felt hollow and empty, as empty as when she had watched everyone on Teerant die. Her hands patted each pocket on her coat and she rocked on the edge of the bench on which she sat. The rhythmic motion didn’t stop the aches strangling her, and her old madness came back.
Her dead mate, Tasser, perched beside her and his arms held her tightly. “Shh, my love. You is not alone.” His weak, blue eyes, the same shade as hers, faded into those of shiny gray. Their sheen cast light and she caressed his cheek. Inder replaced Tasser’s ghost. Inder was as solid as the rock walls around her.
She still had Inder and his love. She had stood against the certain end and sent it away. Tasser would be happy she had lived to accomplish something so grand. She sniffed.
Inder handed her a tissue.
She dabbed at her nose. “Why didn’t the crustie suits work?”
“The crusties protected us from harm but not the mind control.” Inder hugged her against him, not letting go.
“They protect us now. I don’t hear Quasser anymore.”
A shadow dimmed the doorway. Doc and her shocking red curls filled it. “The crusties kept the mind control at bay for a short time. When the crusties lost their battle with the Quassers, so did Pauder ‘n Dauffer.”
Meelo winced. “Okay, so how long until we feel the effects of the Quassers?”
“We won’t. There’s an interaction between the soil of Pardeep ‘n the crusties that shields us completely. Folks is getting restless.” Doc swiped at her glistening eyes. “You don’t have to say much.”
There were no worlds to shield anyone from the horror of the war outside. Meelo glanced at the budding plant on her desk. The only way through this was to stare boldly ahead at an inconceivable future.
“Give me a minute.” Her fingers twisted the tissue before she caught Inder’s gaze. “The final details need tending then I’ll talk to the city.” She sat up. “How many is here? How many made it?”
“Two thousand. Enough for a lot of hope.” Inder’s smile gave more the impression of a frown. He ushered Doc out and their footsteps faded into Pardeep’s new city.
Meelo opened the cache beneath her desk, the one with Craze’s cocoa pod, some tabs, and a tiny control panel. The red icon on the panel flashed. Her heartbeat matched its rhythm. Once she pressed it, the underground city would be cut off from InfoCy and the rest of the Backworlds, and a network in the walls would mask their bio signs. She picked up the only tab linked to InfoCy. It had one icon on it. Craze’s. She recorded her message, sent it off, then hit the red icon.
The sacrifices of heroes would not be in vain. This one small pocket of the Backworlds would survive. Maybe before she died, she’d see her people thrive and repopulate the galaxy. If the Quassers couldn’t be defeated with weapons, she would beat them this way.
