Desert Guardian (20 page)

Waves
of dizziness crashed through her head as she sorted through jumbled thoughts
caused by the drug still in her system. Though her mind wasn't completely
clear, the ants were finally gone, and she felt more like herself. The effects
of Valya's drug were finally wearing off.

"Sam?"
she called, addressing the radio. "Is that you?"

Her
answer came as a stream of static.

She
bit her lip to stop herself from crying. Tears wouldn't get her out of this.
And Sam wasn't coming. As always, it was up to her to take care of herself.

She
wiggled her toes, feeling the metal nail file scrape against the arch of her
left foot. She could use it as a weapon. She felt around for the safety pin,
knowing it could pick the lock on her handcuffs. Placing the toe of her right
tennis shoe against the heel of her left, she pushed until the shoe slipped
partially free of her foot. Gripping the shoe with her toes, she brought her
knees up and angled her foot to reach her cuffed hands. She grabbed on to the
loosened shoe and tugged it free.

The
nail file fell out and clattered to the floor.

"Dang
it!" She felt around with her stockinged foot, her toes seeking the
slender piece of metal.

She
again lifted her feet to her hands, this time to pull off the other shoe and
both socks. Something sharp pricked her hand. The safety pin had opened to
embed itself in her sock. Relieved to have at least one of her tools, she used
her bare toes to feel around for the missing file. Nothing.

"Jake,"
Kelly called out. "Jake! Wake up!"

In
a voice still groggy from sleep, Jake said, "Huh?"

"I
need your help. I dropped something, and I think it's on your side of the
trailer. Can you find it for me?"

"What
is it?"

She
was hesitant to tell him. Assuming the radio received transmission as well as
sent it, there was no doubt in her mind the trailer was bugged. She didn't want
to risk a sentry or anyone else knowing what she was up to.

"What
did you drop?"

She
had to think fast. "One of my socks. My feet got hot, so I took off my
shoes and socks. Now my feet are cold, and it's too dark for me to find my
other sock."

"You
woke me up just to find a stupid sock?" he asked, sounding petulant but
still groggy. And weak. He wasn't well.

An
idea came to her. Their secret code, the one they’d used as children when they
didn't want their father to know what they were talking about. The code would
let Jake know what she really wanted him to look for without alerting any
eavesdroppers. The first letter of the third word in each three-word sentence
would spell out what he had to find. It was the same code Jake had used in his
letter to her about Star Mother.

"Jake,
are you listening?"

He
hesitated, and she hoped that meant he knew what she had in mind. "Yeah.
Go ahead."

"All
or
none
. None or
all
. That's what's
in
. If
you like. Have some
fun
. You and
I
. What you
love
..." It took her a few seconds to think of a word that
started with e. "I like
eagles
."

A
long pause, and then, "Seriously?"

She
prayed he wouldn't ask what the nail file was for. "Yes, Jake. Just do it
for me, okay?"

Kelly
heard him shuffling around on his side of the trailer, as if he swept the floor
with something. A minute of silence, and then, "Found your sock. I'll kick
it over to you."

She
heard something metallic slide across the floor and reached out a bare foot to
sweep the floor with her toes. There, the touch of cool, rough metal—the
nail file. Jake used to tease her about her prehensile toes, calling her "monkey
feet," and lucky for them he'd been right. She pinched the file between
her toes and brought it to her cuffed hands.

The
radio sputtered, then a deep, modulated voice spoke through the white noise. "Hail,
acolyte."

Kelly
froze. It was them, the ETs. They'd come back.

Wait
a minute. ETs? Ridiculous. How could she have believed something so stupid,
even when heavily dosed with hallucinogens? But Jake believed it because she
heard him whimper. Given enough time with the cult's conditioning, she'd be
affected the same way. Thank God her wits had returned.

"Have
you thought any more about your new life in the utopian world that awaits you?"
asked the voice from the radio, its deep tones mechanically altered to disguise
the speaker.

She
considered the question and decided to play along. "Yes," she said,
probing the handcuffs' lock with the opened safety pin.

"That
pleases us. We need strong, healthy women like you. The trip will take several
light years, and we're hoping your Essence will bear us many Star Mother
children along the way."

Oh, puh-leese!
The synthesized voice was like something from a bad fifties scifi movie. "I
can hardly wait," she said, her teeth clenched in concentration.

"You
sound distracted."

"I'm
listening." The cuffs released with a satisfying
snick
.

"Do
not fear the transmigration. We promise all will go well. Are you afraid?"

No,
because whoever this was had completely lost his mind. "Yes, I'm afraid,"
she lied. "There's no pain?" She worked the safety pin into her other
handcuff.

"You
and your brother will be well cared for. We have nothing but love for our human
friends. You will come to no harm."

Yeah, right.
Killing the ones you love made about as much sense as poisoning an old woman
because she was no longer useful. Sam's poor mother. How had either of them
survived with these maniacs all those years? Kelly was surprised Sam hadn't lost
his mind after being raised by these people.

The
second handcuff clicked open. She rubbed her wrists and flexed her fingers,
which had gone stiff.

"What
was that sound?" asked the radio voice.

A twinge
of panic made her stomach clench. "Sound? Oh, the handcuffs. They're tight
so I was trying to massage the circulation back into my wrists."

"We
could send in a sentry—"

"No!"
She took a calming breath and added, "No, I'm okay."

"Your
bonds are for your own protection. It's not our intention to harm you."

Just to kill me
.
She crawled over to Jake, who continued to whimper. She saw him better now, and
he huddled in the corner, rocking back and forth with his knees drawn to his
chest. When she ran her hand along the pronounced pearls of his spine, she was
amazed at how much weight he'd lost since their father had kicked him out. His
body shook as if with fever. When she touched his forehead, she found he was
burning up. She had to get him out, and fast.

Kelly
slid the opened safety pin into the lock on Jake's cuffs and popped them open.
Once free, he began a low, keening sound.

"Your
brother sounds ill."

She
scurried back to her spot at the other end of the trailer and put on her shoes
without socks. She stuffed one sock in her jeans pocket.

"You
must understand your brother had to be punished for betraying his Star Mother
family. He failed to convince you to join us of your own free will. Atria is
your true home. We're pleased to have you with us now."

Kelly
ignored the voice and returned to Jake. His keening grew louder, and she was
afraid he might say something that would alert those at other end of the radio.
So she stuffed her sock in his mouth to keep him quiet. He was too weak to
protest and simply sagged against her, the heat of his fevered skin making her
sweat more than she already was.

She
breathed through her mouth to keep from smelling the horrendous odor of his
soiled robe. Holding him close, she remembered having to change Jake's diaper
when he was a baby. Taking care of him now wasn't all that different.

Kelly
dragged Jake with her to the trailer door. She felt for the door handle,
searching for the lock. There was a latch but no lock that she could identify
without light to see by. They were trapped until someone opened the door from
the outside.

"Acolyte
Kelly? Why are you silent?"

"I'm
worried about my brother," she said truthfully. "He's very sick. I
know we'll both be dead soon, but for the short time he has left, can't you at
least make him feel better?"

There
was a pause before the voice answered, "We will do what we can."

Kelly
gripped the nail file, hoping a sentry would come through the door. When he
did, she would be ready.

****

Sam
twisted his wrists within the tight loops of rope. If he tugged hard enough,
maybe his hands would slip through. So far, he'd only succeeded in giving
himself one hell of a rope burn.

He
cringed, knowing Valya would be back any second with a drink to make him "feel
better." And where the hell was Von? Thinking about the white giant made
him remember how their relationship hadn't always been adversarial.

When
Sam and his mother had first joined Star Mother, Von had been kind to him. He
had tried to fill the gap Sam's father had left when he'd passed away two years
before. Thinking back, Von had been key in convincing Sam that Star Mother was
a real omniscient being, that their religion was both valid and vital, and that
someday soon they would all travel together on the tail of a comet to a magical
new home light years away. But as Sam matured and reached his teen years, he'd
quickly sprouted to the height of a grown man. His body had filled out with
muscle, and the features of his face had taken on a sharper, more masculine
appearance. He was told he'd become quite handsome for a boy his age, though it
had meant nothing to him but annoyance when the girls in camp wouldn't leave
him alone. That's when Valya had noticed him and when the trouble between he
and Von had first begun.

Valya
had started paying more attention to him, assigning him special projects that
required him to be with her for long periods of time, mostly at night. When she
started touching him in ways that made him uncomfortable, he rebelled. He
stopped showing up for his assignments, stole food from the kitchen tent, and
played tricks on the sentries to get them in trouble.

None
of this had gotten past Von, who had stopped playing the father figure as soon
as Sam reached his fourteenth birthday. Their relationship had deteriorated
from then on, mainly because the old man was jealous of Valya's affection for a
teenage boy.

"Need
some help?" came a baritone voice from the tent's doorway.

His
thoughts abruptly yanked from past to present, Sam was unsurprised by the big
man's visit. "What do you want, Von?" he asked dryly. "Or are
you just getting off on watching me struggle?"

A
lazy grin spread across the giant's face. "It does give me a certain
satisfaction, but how do you know I haven't come to set you free?"

Sam
snorted. "Yeah. And the moon really is made of cheese. Or perhaps I should
say Atria is."

Von's
lips straightened to a serious line, and he stepped closer, kneeling beside
Sam. In a quiet voice, he said, "Look. The last thing I want is for you to
join us on our trip. As much as I'd like to kill you right now, I'd rather
leave you behind to suffer with the rest of the humans on this pathetic planet."

Of
course Von would believe Star Mother's nonsense about a starship riding the
comet's tail. After all, he'd been the one to teach Sam all about it. This
struck him as absurdly funny, and he laughed out loud.

Von
slipped a hunting knife from a sheath at his waist. He leaned forward and
touched the slender point to the soft flesh beneath Sam's chin. "You dare
mock me when I offer to save your pitiful life?"

Sam
narrowed his eyes, refusing to show fear. Sarcasm, however, was fine. "Of
course not. How very noble of you, Von."

Von
scowled and withdrew the knife. "Noble, hell. I'm a jealous fool who
refuses to share Valya with you."

Von
had no need to worry. Even if all the lunacy about a starship were true, Valya
was the last woman in the universe Sam wanted to spend light years with.

He felt
a jolt of hope. "What about Kelly?"

The
big man sighed. "I'd hate for Star Mother to lose her. She's a strong woman,
and she somehow eluded the effects of Valya's elixir. I know. I just finished
talking to her."

Sam
nodded. He knew it had always been Von's voice that reverberated through the
prison trailer's phony radio. He himself had been subjected to Von's attempt at
mind-bending hypnosis countless times in the past. "I need her, Von. I
need her as badly as you need Valya."

Von
stood and paced the floor. "Tell you what. If I release you, you'll have
to rescue Kelly and Jake without my help." He stopped pacing to tower over
Sam, his expression grim. In a bass voice that would chill the blood of anyone
who heard it, he added, "Then I want you the hell away from us, and don't
come back."