Meanwhile, back around
the bend, Dutch automatically peeled off her suit right in front of Angelo
without even thinking and then noticed the look on his face. Her problem was that
she fell in between two pools, so to speak. She felt more comfortable bathing
with the men because it was what she was used to. To bathe with the women felt
too…naked, unnatural. She had seldom even seen Sweet Mary naked…or vice versa.
They used to close their eyes when the other was getting dressed in the prison.
“Er, mind if I bathe
with you?” she asked lamely and a little bit too late. “Sorry, I’m so used to
living with men I didn’t even think….”
Angelo wasn’t in the
habit of bathing with women, but he understood her problem immediately and was
equal to the situation.
“Sure. No problem.”
“Thanks.”
Angelo began to wash
himself with gusto, trying very hard not to look embarrassed.
When they had finished
there was an awkward silence while they waited for their suits to dry. The
suits looked a sorry sight, scuffed and torn and generally not too much use as
clothing anymore. Righteous’ suit had suffered the most. His was literally
hanging in strips since his plunge into the swamp.
“Gonna need some new
clothes soon,” said Dutch.
“Maybe some of those
skins they use for bags and stuff,” said Angelo.
Dutch laughed. “We’ll
all look like a bunch of cave men.”
Angelo’s eyes
inadvertently fell on Dutch’s broad frame and well-muscled body. He couldn’t
help but sneak some admiring glances at her. He even found her sexy in a robust
kind of way. She had a much better looking body than he did. But that was a
cop’s life; hanging round in bars, drinking and smoking, mostly too tired or
too lazy to go to the gym, whereas she was an ore-miner. Not an ounce of limp
fat on her toned torso. He had to admit that she was quite beautiful. Then,
simply to drag his eyes away from her, he looked at Righteous who was twice her
size and muscled proportionately. Between the three of them he felt like a real
ninety pound weakling. Oh well. Rose loved him for who he was. And that was all
that mattered.
They sat in silence and
listened to the gentle lapping of the water.
“What do you think has
happened to him?” asked Dutch, running her hand through her thick hair.
“I think it’s this
planet. I think he picked up a bug or something.”
“More likely a bug up
the proverbial. He’s definitely got something. Maybe swamp fever. He hardly
even knows we’re here.”
“And what about Sweet Mary?
I think we should rename her ‘Kick-ass Mary’. This planet is doing strange
things to both of them.”
“And all those things
under the tree?”
“Don’t know. Rose hasn’t
said anything and I don’t want to ask. It’s just………this place gives me the
heebie jeebies sometimes. Never quite sure what’s happening. But they did look
like a child’s toys – human toys. What were they doing there?”
Dutch just stared at the
surface of the water, deep in thought.
“I wonder what that big
building is about?” she said.
“Maybe it’s their
capital city. Sure looks fancy. And big.”
“And these bones…looks
like a giant dinosaur carcass. Wish we could get Righteous to talk.” Dutch
shrugged her shoulders and continued to sit and stare.
The scream, when it
came, was somehow not wholly unexpected. Things had been going right for so
long that sooner or later something was bound to go wrong. Dutch and Angelo ran
downstream in the direction of the scream and were confronting a surprised Rose
before they realized they were all naked.
“Hello,” she said, as if
nothing was wrong. Sweet Mary was nowhere in sight.
“Where is she?” asked
Dutch.
Rose, clutching her
flute tightly to her chest, turned mutely and pointed over her shoulder. Dutch
and Angelo took off in that direction and after crashing through some bushes they
came upon an extraordinary sight.
There, in a little
clearing was the most bizarre and terrible sight they’d ever seen. A strange looking
Ahram was perched on an even stranger looking craft. He had a white robe over
his shoulders that was so uncharacteristic of an Ahram that the humans were
almost inclined to laugh at the absurdity was it not for the deadly seriousness
of the situation. The craft he rode upon was even more perplexing to the humans;
a plain, white, round disc, some five metres in diameter, that hovered silently
a foot or so above the ground with no obvious means of support or propulsion.
If this sight was not singular enough to silence and strike awe into the
spectator, then the crozier he carried in his hand was.
It was difficult to describe
because it was hard to look at. It seemed to shimmer and vibrate with such
intensity as would render it non-material, or as close to pure, formless energy
as matter could come. The shaft steamed and writhed like a live creature in his
hand. But the piece de resistance was the loupe at the top of the crozier. It
was an awesome sight – best and easiest described as a circle of bone with a
miniature wormhole trapped within it, sucking at the air like a hungry animal.
It changed colour as one looked, perhaps alternating with the mood of the
creature, because at the moment was turning from bright red to a deep ugly
purple. It was a riveting sight. They dared not even breathe too deeply for
fear of drawing its power down on them.
But all this was as
nothing, for the truly horrific part of the scene was Sweet Mary, suspended in
mid-air and held aloft seemingly by the power of the crozier. Her sightless
eyes stared into nothingness and her arms and legs jerked up and down like a wooden
puppet, limbs flying this way and that in a horrible parody of a mad woman
dancing in the fires of hell.
Rose, who had followed
on behind them all, felt something warm run down her leg and realized she had
wet herself.
“Bad girl. Bad Rose,”
she said.
Dutch thought she was
going to be sick. She knew she was useless against that sort of power.
“If you harm her I will
kill you.”
“How nice,” said the
strange looking Ahram on the flying platform. “You can always rely on a human
for a violent response. And of course, you have done it before, haven’t you?”
Suddenly Righteous was
in the picture - blazing black malice and thundering along the ground straight
at the newcomer, intent on ripping his heart out.
“DON’T!” said the
stranger. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. One little flick of my wrist and I
will break her spine.”
Righteous made a
gargantuan effort to reign himself in and skidded to a stop. He looked first at
Sweet Mary then at the rider on the disc and knew he was beaten. He stood
fuming in frustration. The Rider merely laughed at him and turned to other
matters. None of the humans even questioned the fact that they could understand
what the Rider was saying. No one ever questioned that sort of power. It just
seemed natural that he was superhuman…or superahram. Even his demeanour was
superior in an all-powerful kind of way. A laconic twist of the lip made his
snout look lopsided and gave him a dangerously sinister air, as if he wouldn’t
give two hoots to strike you down dead. His skin was smoother than the other
Ahram and almost white, as if constant use of the power had bleached the colour
out of him.
“Greetings Earthlings.
Welcome to Urghan. I hope you had a pleasant journey?” he said and he hooted
with laughter. “And doesn’t she dance gracefully?” he said indicating Sweet Mary,
his crozier swaying to and fro like a conductors baton, choreographing her Dans
Macabre as she swooped this way and that in the empty air.
Tongue-tied and
goggle-eyed they gawped in amazement and disbelief. They didn’t know whether it
was all just a dream or really happening. It was hard for their pragmatic minds
to watch and accept the rules of reality being bent and broken like this.
“And no, I don’t speak
English. The crozier is translating for me. Think of it as an interstellar wi-fi…among
other things. It can access any database in the universe – and you humans just love
data don’t you? Every little fart and fumble recorded for posterity. Ha, ha. You
have vast knowledge and intelligence but no real
power – no personal power,” he said,
jigging his crozier and making Sweet Mary jump up and down, flailing her limbs
about, fit to break.
“Without your machines
you’re worse than useless. Up in those mountains you wouldn’t last a day. The
only reason I am not letting you go up there to die is that you will make an
interesting distraction for the Seesh.” He spat the word out as if it soiled
his lips. “He has been a bit depressed lately,” his voice soured sarcastically,
“had no-one new to play with – and we haven’t had a sacrifice in months. So
it’s very convenient of you to have come along. Especially now as he has had
his eye on a few of my favourite concubines and I would be loathe to lose them…not
that these scrawny chicks of yours would be a satisfying mouthful for the
worm.”
At first they thought he
meant worm as a synonym for death, but then it began to dawn on them that he
might be meaning it literally.
“Worm?” enquired Angelo.
“Well, worm is a bit of
a misnomer. Giant snake is a more accurate description. But really, it’s
nothing to worry about. Now, it’s time to get going. You know how irritable I
get when I miss lunch. Come on, hop to it. Ha, ha,” he said, jangling Sweet
Mary into another frenetic dance and set off down the road on his flying saucer
with her suspended in front of him.
THINGS AREN'T LOOKING TOO GOOD FOR THE HUMANS. FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WEEK.
