Connection (7 page)

Cassandra translated what he said and it made sense. Fifteen years for smuggling was pretty harsh but LeSlur said their prisons were harsh. “Tell him we have technology that he can make and sell that will be more profitable than any Twasolo sales. We have many drinks and substances that have Twasolo in them.”

It took me a long time to convey a list of technical ideas. I explained that you could pack a lot more ideas into a ship than you could coffee. Luxury items and contraband would always be worth money but why not develop a power base from new technology and ideas first.

LeSlur said his father was the equivalent of Earth old school and wanted him to take over the family business. LeSlur sat fidgeting with his glass. He set the glass down on the table and leaned forward. He seemed to have reached a decision. “I need to present you to my father. I didn’t believe some of what you said until I saw you casually defeat father’s men. We need to go see him.”

“When?” I asked.

“Now,” he said.

I tilted up my glass to get the last drips of the liquor, set the glass on the table, and got up.

We walked quite a way into a wing of the house I had never seen. We passed several people that could only have been servants and I realized how damn big this mansion really was. This family had big bucks – now or at some time in the near past. Last guy we came across was a personal bodyguard and he was a bruiser. He started to search me but LeSlur touched his arm, the man’s eyes widened and he stopped. He turned and just opened the door behind him.

We stepped into a large room, a library with books up to the ceiling and one wall letting in the daylight. It was a lovely room and an old man – a big man – was reading a book. He set it down as we came in and indicated two chairs across from him. We went over and sat down. My chair was reddish leather that was extremely comfortable. I ran my hand over the surface and appreciated the feel. The man just studied me and I, in turn, studied him.

He was obviously used to quality and being obeyed. He didn’t smile but simply – appraised. I saw his hair was still full but gray – like any Earth person but his skin was mottled and wrinkled. His hands looked a bit arthritic. He was a ‘craggy’ version of LeSlur but he looked a lot rougher. Couldn’t tell how tall he was but looked a bit shorter in the chair than LeSlur. He looked strong as a bull though – no flab anywhere. I knew he must work out.

LeSlur started talking and I couldn’t catch half of what he said but the man would tilt his head back every now and then. Cassandra would translate snatches for me.

The man leaned forward, pointed at LeSlur, and then back at himself. He did it a couple of times and then asked, “You understand. How? Five days?”

Wow. This guy was sharp. I didn’t want him to think I was superman – don’t believe in that but I didn’t want to spill all the beans. “I talk with my ship…my ship help me talk…my ship hear.” I said in my pidgin LesMan – I was getting better.

He looked incredulous so I pointed around at the thousands of books lining the walls. “Beautiful,” I said. I had learned that word while flirting with my tutor. I wanted to get to know her better. “Many writing.” I said.

He said, “Books?”

Cassandra repeated the word for me several times.

“Yes. Many books. Beautiful,” I said.

He wasn’t distracted. He asked, “You and your ship?”

I indicated the books again but before he could cut in I said, “Many books.” He started to grit his teeth. I could see he didn’t like someone else controlling the conversation. I quickly pointed to my Dex – about the size of the watches they wore here but they wore them on their opposite arm. I said. “
Dex
. More books in my
Dex
than here.” I said pointing around me. “Many more books in
Dex
.” I then swung my arm again to indicate his entire library.

LeSlur jumped in at this point because he saw his father was about to explode. He began a rapid-fire explanation that explained what I had told him about Earth, how long it took me to get here, and what I had done to his father’s men in the garden. That seemed to shake up the old man more than all the other topics. He really took an interest then…especially when his son told him how I defeated five of his men – four of them armed.

The old man asked, “Warrior. Enforcer?”

Cassandra translated for me and I laughed ‘til tears came. I said, “Me? No. Me …” I searched for the word and Cassandra supplied it for business man…engineer. I used those words in LesMan, “Young business man…engineer.”

The father pointed at me Dex and said, “How old? Show. How.”

“I am thirty-five and have a normal life expectancy of about one hundred.” That seemed to shake him up more than anything.  I had gotten ‘his royal edict’ so I just turned on an early 3D presentation of our transition engine from my Dex. I had given this presentation a couple of years ago to interested investors. It showed the basic components and then it showed a representation of a surface-to-deep space flight and return. It projected in the air in high definition color even in the daylight and played music lightly in the background. My marketing department had done a good job – it was snazzy. The effect was especially dramatic because it was in an incomprehensible language to these people and showed other people like me. The onlookers seemed enthralled especially with the images of the women – most the ones in the video were a little on the buxom side for me but there’s no accounting for taste between species.

“Can that do more?” asked the father pointing to my Dex.

“Project a view of Earth over my Texas spaceport at geostationary orbit, about 35,900 kilometers, and slowly zoom in to near ground level. Show views of my facility and my home,” I said and my Dex obligingly displayed a high-resolution 3D view and spent ten minutes touring my facility – then it displayed my ultramodern home, grounds, and infinity pool. The people were all tall and creamy skinned with nary a birthmark. All of them had four fingers.

“More,” said the father.

“Cassandra,” I said. “Answer generic questions for these people – generic only. No specifics.”

“My ship talks better... Cassandra.” I waited to see what Cassandra would do…evidently nothing as she did nothing.

“Your ship doesn’t talk?” said the father. “Is the
Dex
broken?”

“My name is Cassandra. What is your name? Do you think you are known on all the planets of the universe or are you just rude?” she said.

I didn’t catch all that but she sounded angry.

The father laughed. “She is like a mistress. My name is LeChak…LeChak LeSlur Three.”

“Nice to meet you LeChak. What questions do you have?” Cassandra asked.

“Where is Earth?” he asked. “How long did it take you to get here from Earth?”

“Earth is located in a solar system 24.4 lightyears from here. It took us about two of your hours subjectively to travel here.”

“What direction? What do you mean by ‘subjectively’?”

“I do not ask you intrusive questions like – How much cash do you hide from the government? Subjectively means that is how much time passed for us – we do not know how much time passed outside as we were traveling. Why should I answer sensitive questions?”

The father turned to Robert. “Your ship is very much like a mistress. She will not give up sensitive information. I like your
Dex
. I will now take it or you can give it to me.”

“No. It would not work for you,” I said with my hand on my compact forty-caliber pistol. I saw LeChak touch a button on the arm of his chair so I immediately got up and moved behind the elder father.

The huge bodyguard came through the door with a handgun. I shot him through the left bicep and he dropped his firearm. I then took my little automatic and casually aimed it at the nose of the father. I turned to the son who looked horrified. “You ready to inherit from this worthless Zhast. I am ready to leave now. Others will do business with me. Keep the Twasolo.”

LeSlur said, “Don’t…don’t. He’s usually not like this. He is bitter because the government took much of our land. Do not kill him,” his son said pleadingly.

“So…you are a man of action and not just a pretty face…like my son explained,” he said and the bodyguard picked up his firearm and trundled out the door like nothing happened. “How do you know warrior arts yet are a businessman? Do you think you can keep anything I want?”

Cassandra had to help me with some of the phrasing – it didn’t come out this smooth but this is what I was trying to convey to this crusty old man. “You also cannot stop me from killing you and pissing on your body. I enjoy light fighting. It is the same in business but not, usually, with fists and feet. Your men would only threaten old women on Earth. Kill me – maybe – then my ship will have reason to destroy your little – all of it. My ship does not like you. I think my ship is a good judge of character. Threaten me again in any way and I will destroy your land and then – if need be – your country. ”

“Your ship cannot destroy anything. My son told me earlier that he saw no weapons. I see you have devices we do not. I can profit from this knowledge.”

I explained, “My ship will drop a large rock on this area if I were killed.” I explained, with Cassandra’s help, what the ‘bottom of a gravity well’ meant and if I had no friends here – “I would not hesitate in killing your whole
Zhast
city. Should I start by killing you?” I asked.

The old man obviously was not intimidating this
Earth
man. LeChak decided maybe he should bribe him. “Do you like women and money?”

Cassandra would have to help me with this but I said, “I like women. Your money would be worthless to me. I can get women without you. I have medicines that would let you be like a young man with women again. How old are you…seventy…seventy-five?”

LeChak acted affronted. “You insult me. I am fifty-seven.”

“Our medicine could help you live better – longer if I choose – I do not.”

LeSlur knew his father wasn’t accustomed to being confronted in his own home. He rapidly explained how his wounds had been so rapidly healed by Robert. He urged Robert back out while trying to calm his father down from a killing rage. These two people – Robert and his father were like oil and water – they didn’t mix well. He had never seen his father so angry – his skin had turned dark red. 

LeSlur suggested Robert move to a local hotel. He wanted Robert out of his house before his father tried something stupid – he was already running low on uninjured muscle. LeSlur told Robert he’d pay for everything in advance.

Robert asked if the tutor could still visit and LeSlur acquiesced quickly – anything to get him out of the house. He’d have to get language lessons away from the house.

LeSlur asked Robert if his ship could really destroy a city.

Robert laughed and said, “Your whole
Zhast
planet – you better hope I stay alive.”

LeSlur was beginning to believe him.

LeSlur had hustled me off the old plantation after the fractious tête-à-tête with dad. I was out of the house before you could say, “Drop an asteroid on your ass.” Yep. I had my flight suit, one set of borrowed clothes, a bag of espresso, a chunk of local money, and my Dex. I did have the forty-caliber with nine more rounds – yeah. LeSlur – or daddy could call the local cops and I’d be toast but I just didn’t think they’d do that. It wasn’t honor among thieves – I think they’d turn in their own mothers but I think they were worried I’d implicate them.

The hotel they dropped me at that afternoon was clean and nondescript on the outside but it had a workout room with free weights and a heavy bag. I got a room on the fourth floor because the communication reception from Cassandra was great up there. An adjacent roof wasn’t too far away for me to jump and roll – I had been into Parkour in my youth and the jumps weren’t near as far  as when I was a kid. You could scale incredible heights, as well as jump and flip over obstacles using only bravery, timing, and physics. The room had no television or radio but it had a great toilet and a good ass-backward shower.

I had no sooner tried out the bed then there was a gentle knock on my door. I stepped flat against the wall and had my forty out. I heard a voice, “It is Twlise.”

I opened the door and Twlise stood there looking mighty fine with a clingy blue dress that clung in all the right places – no bra. Always had a thing for my teachers and she was really pretty by Earth standards even if she was mediocre here. “
Hi
Twlise.” I said forgetting to use LesMan.

“Is
Hi
how you say ‘hello’ where you come from?” she asked.

“Yes. You are so pretty you make me forget,” I said. “Come in. Come in.” I got a little flushed.

“You are really nice. I thought you were going to be a criminal when I got the call to go to the LeSlur estate. You are so #%@@^&,” she said. “I needed the money.”

“I think she means ‘charming’ Robert. I agree,” Cassandra said.

“Thank you Twlise,” I said. “Twlise. I need your help. I need more clothes. I have some money but I do not know how much it will buy.” I showed her the stack of money LeSlur had given me. “Is this enough for clothes and food?”

She had a cute little laugh. “Yes. We could not quite buy a car but we could get clothes and food for quite a while.”

“Would you help me do some shopping?” I asked. It was a question I hadn’t thought I’d be asking any woman a little more than a week ago…much less an alien woman.

“Oh yes. There are a lot of good little shops right around here. Let’s go because they close when it gets dark,” she said.

We had soon descended on the merchants of Bumweet. I tried on some weird combinations of clothing but only a few needed alterations due to height. I had clothes fit for a wealthy entrepreneur according to Twlise. I even had one suit for occasions that were more formal. I wore one new outfit out of the store and had all the other packages delivered to my hotel room. We stopped at a nice little restaurant Twlise suggested. The meat dish was crazy good. I asked her what it was and she said something I didn’t catch. She seemed really surprised that I had never tasted it before. There was a shop that sold Sema LeSlur. I bought some – expensive and headed back. All the packages were in my room when I got back. I plopped down in a comfortable chair.

Twlise came and stood right beside my chair. “You have an odd accent. I cannot place it and I speak over twenty-five languages and dialects. Where are you from?” she asked. “There are many little things different about you. You are not like any man I have ever met.”

I removed my Dex and put it on the table. She watched me as I went over and pulled the curtains. “Display the same presentations you showed LeChak earlier,” I said in English.

“I don’t understand…oh ##*#*,” Twlise said as my Dex started the presentation.

Twlise uttered little squeals of astonishment and delight at the 3D video – she was captivated by the music. She was literally panting when the display finished.

“Where is this place? What language was that? I have never seen anything like that – how does that little thing show so much? All those people looked different – they had four fingers and were taller than me. They looked more like you. Do you have…that is why your hands are always taped like they are! Where is this place? Is it like that on Xale? I have heard the moon there is very different.”

“I am from a place called Earth. It takes light twenty-four years to travel from my sun to your sun.”

Twlise turned her head aside like I was teasing her. “I thought you were doing something else when you closed the curtains…” she said.

I walked up to her and pulled her into my arms. “I have been wanting to do this since the first time I saw you,” I said.

“Why didn’t you?” she asked. “I liked you too.”

I kissed her and she kissed me back. French kissing was an Earth talent – guess our tongues are more versatile but Twlise seemed to really like it. She got an ‘A’ for effort. I helped her out of her dress as she helped me out of my shirt. I stripped the tape off my hands and started caressing her ears and hair while kissing down her neck and breasts. She got my belt off and said, “Oh my!” when she started undoing my pants. I got an ‘A’ on this one. She definitely had me going and was a quick study.

She endured her tongue lashing by clawing the back of my head and then I got her back with my gift. She arched and screamed. She came back for more. We spooned and drifted off to sleep. We woke early in the morning, relieved ourselves, and tried to go back to sleep curled against each other. I found I couldn’t stop thinking about her and enjoyed staying in the same position but drifted off afterward. I enjoyed waking with her silky head of hair on my shoulder. She gave me a lovely smile when she stretched and yawned – what a great looking stretch.

“What do you need to do today?” she asked. “I need to let my roommate know I’m okay and get a change of clothes. Shower?”

“Yes. I need a shower,” I said and went to wash off our lovemaking scents. She evidently had another meaning and joined me. I knew I liked these showers – they are so big. She got me really soapy too. Turnabout was fair play – it was huge fun.

I was starting to get really hungry so I suggested breakfast. She said the hotel would have decent food and picked out appropriate clothes for me. I said I was sorry she only had the same dress as the night before but she said it wasn’t a problem and called down to the desk. Ten minutes later, a server showed up with a simple outfit for her. I paid him a good tip, his eyes got big and thanked me profusely – write this down – people don’t tip on LesMa.

Twlise looked fine in the new dress. We went down to breakfast at a little restaurant within the hotel – it was nice and she showed me how to read the prices – I couldn’t read the menu but scanned it with my Dex and Cassandra gave me a general description. Twlise was amused at my discomfiture and kept teasing me by running her foot up and down my leg – whew. The food was good and the service excellent – as good as I’d get, anywhere in an upscale restaurant on Earth, and that’s high praise.  I looked around and noticed a guy holding up a newspaper, pretending to read. I figured he’d be from father LeChak – didn’t look government though I couldn’t know for sure. I didn’t see anyone else.

“Robert. There is a lot of communications about you from the LeSlur mansion. I recognize LeChak’s voice. I think he’s planning something for you. He did not mention Twlise. Think you better find a place for me to move near you. Something is happening here too. Commandant LeBeeb is ordering a lot of troops into the area. I recommend you contact a scientist, LeEck, at the university here. He seems well connected and doesn’t seem to be intimidated by the government.”

Twlise said, “Is something wrong? You look upset?”

“We have to get an aerial map and we need to contact a Professor LeEck,” he said.

Twlise said there was a sporting goods shop just down the street that might have something like that and there were public phones enroute. I saw a waiter approach the newspaper guy. We threw some money on the table and left quickly. Newspaper guy was taken by surprise and was held up a moment paying his tab but we were already out the door. The sporting goods shop was two blocks down. Sporting goods here was different than Earth but some similarities remained. I saw rifles and handguns for sale and asked Twlise about firearms laws. She seemed puzzled and said you buy whatever you wanted if you had the money. I went and pulled one after another off the wall racks and a salesman came over to me. Twilse said I was a foreign hunter and I was hunting large game in the mountains.

The rifles were left handed bolt actions – that sucked but I’d trained in wounded wing shooting after your dominant hand is disabled. Found a nice one with decent fixed sights – the scoped versions looked pathetic and the optics matched the mounts – pathetic. I scanned the ammunition, found a couple of different types, and bought one hundred twenty-eight rounds. I then moved to the handguns. All were steel framed – hated that but they had some semiautomatics. The salesman started to tell me how they worked but I looked one over carefully – then field-stripped it. Once an engineer…  The salesman was about to get upset ‘til I grabbed a can of gun oil off the counter and lubricated the gun. I reassembled it quickly and function checked it.

“I see your hands are hurt,” the clerk said. “May I recommend a light load for…”

“No,” I said and pointed out some brass-colored jacketed ammunition. I told Twlise and she had the clerk set out 512 rounds in boxes of 32. I found a nice little gun for Twlise and ammo. She said she didn’t want it but I said she’d need it later. I bought a backpack for me, and a waist pack for Twlise.  I bought her two sets of rugged clothes and two sets for me. A few days of travel food filled the pack. It must have weighed sixty pounds and that was déjà vu for me from my college days. The rifle had a nice sling. The clerk had some fancy maps but I was running low on funds by now and I just had my Dex take surreptitious photos of all of them. I figured he just made a boatload commission off me anyway.

Twlise directed me to a communication booth. She placed a call to Professor LeEck using his Dex to interface the system. He then handed the receiver to Twlise. “Hi Professor LeEck. My name is Twlise. I need you to come to…” she turned to Robert he displayed a map of the area west of the city. He pointed out the area for her – a deserted airfield – a restricted area on the map.” Come to these coordinates,” she said and read off the coordinates. “The visitor from…” she started to say Earth but said, “another planet wants to talk with you. How long will it take you to get here? Need I say – come alone? You will. Good. We’ll be looking for you.” She turned around and raised the index finger of her left hand – symbolizing it was all right.

We made it back to the hotel and entered through the back. We went up the service elevator and approached my room. I noticed the door ajar, set down my purchases, and drew my forty. I eased into the room and two guys were in there going through everything. My flight suit and coffee were laid out on the table. I slipped in but the biggest guy must have sensed something. He turned around and reached for a handgun in his waistband. I thrust kicked him in the bladder area, and hit him on the side of the neck just under the ear. He was out before he hit the ground.

The second man jerked his gun out and fired too high from across the room. I saw him leveling it at me, jumped down beside the bed, and fired into his ankle. I heard him yelp and hit the floor hard. I flipped over the bed and knocked the gun out of his hand. I called for Twlise. I decided I’d leave a message and kicked ‘shooter’ in the jaw. That knocked him out and dislocated his jaw. I held his left wrist and put my foot against his chest. Twlise came in just as I bent his arm and dislocated his shoulder. I then did the same thing to his other shoulder. I then grabbed his leg, bent his knee and dislocated his hip – and then did the same thing with his other hip. I wanted him alive but crippled.

Twlise said, “What are you doing?”

“I do NOT like people who shoot at me,” I said as I grabbed my flight suit and coffee. I stomped the shooters left hand to jello as I took his pistol. I did the same with the first unconscious man.

Twlise looked around the room. Then went through both men’s pockets taking all their cash. “We need money. The warders will be here any minute. We need to be elsewhere. Which way?”

I laughed. I thought it was funny.  Most guys think women are squeamish and fragile. It has been my experience that they are tough and practical – much more so then males – on any planet.