He couldn’t help wondering if he’d made a fatal mistake.
Five
“About time he buggered off,” Clarabelle muttered, watching the cloak as it swirled around Thyos’s frame as he marched away.
“What is that expression you like to use?” Ishtara mused aloud. “Another one bites the dust?”
That earned her friend a scowl. “He wasn’t even close to being a contender.”
“On account of his eyes. I heard,” Ishtara muttered icily before turning on her hind claw.
In that moment, the insensitivity of her earlier remark hit her. “Oh shit. I’m sorry, Ish. I didn’t mean I didn’t like you. You know I adore you.”
“I have yellow eyes.”
She did, big glowing ones; whereas his were beady and mean and… Okay, he had gorgeous eyes and a metallic bronze cast to his skin. And an ego the size of a solar system.
“I’m an insensitive jerk who doesn’t deserve to call herself your friend.” She hugged Ishtara and leaned her head on the chest of the larger woman, baring her neck in a sign of trust.
Ish sighed. “You are irritating.”
“But cute, right?” She grinned up at her friend.
“We should leave before someone takes offense at the bodies you’ve left littering the station,” Ishtara grumbled.
“I’m sure some chef will be happy to recycle them.” In the galaxies, where meat could oft times be limited, nothing was wasted. With the right spices, it tasted delicious.
It didn’t take long to receive a window for departure. Only as they exited the space port did Ishtara ask, “Where to?”
Clarabelle bit her lip. She’d gotten no intelligence on the station, not even a rumor of a place to go. Just one annoying dude in a cloak. Who said he could help.
Yet left.
Obviously, he didn’t mean it when he claimed they were soul mates. The very idea. It was—
“Where to?” Ishtara repeated.
For a moment, Clarabelle almost told her to follow his ship, but sanity affirmed itself, and instead, she said, “The next waystation. Let’s talk to some more folks.”
“Not giving up yet?”
“Never,” she huffed.
Out there existed a home, a place to belong, and she was going to find it.
To Clarabelle’s surprise and delight, they finally got a clue at their next stop. The news came from a purple dude with a dark, brooding appearance. He called himself Makl, the Galactic Avenger.
She’d never heard of him, but he had some interesting stories to tell about his supposed exploits. The one she enjoyed most was the rumor of a human outpost on a planet in an unclaimed star system. Makl even had vague coordinates for it that he sold to her for an astronomical sum.
“If this rumor is a trap, I will hunt you down, strip out your entrails, and feed them to you as you breathe your last,” Clarabelle threatened.
Makl put a hand to his chest. “I can only look forward to the day we match wits and strength.” Then he winked.
What did that mean? While his voice didn’t make her shiver like Thyos’s, she could admit maybe purple wasn’t so bad. But bronze was nicer.
She shook her head and returned to the ship with the news.
“I’ve got a location!” She waved a jagged piece of parchment, expensive and yet still widely used. On Earth, paper was cheap and wasted on a horrendous level. In space, because electronics could be wiped, along with their data, many still chose to put to paper—or leather, or whatever they could write on—important things. Like coordinates. But actual paper could be difficult to find. And she currently held a fragile piece that was the equivalent of a space treasure map.
Ishtara eyed the squiggles and waggled the bony protuberance jutting past her eyes. “You bought this from a pirate?”
“He never claimed to be a pirate but some kind of galactic avenger.”
“Of what?”
She shrugged. “He never said; I didn’t ask.”
“And on the basis of a rumor you spent how much?”
Never show uncertainty. She lifted her chin. “As much as needed to accomplish my task.”
“Good girl.” Ish nodded. “Let’s see what these coordinates lead to.”
Putting data into the computer wasn’t a strong suit of hers. Clarabelle proved handy in other ways. She could weld and run electrical. Fix plumbing and mechanical stuff, but when it came to the actual instructions and numbers, she let the experts handle it.
“Hmm.” Ish clicked her beak a few times.
“What is it?” she asked, leaning in to glance at a screen filled with symbols and lines that meant nothing to her.
“You’re sure of those coordinates?”
“As sure as I can be of third-hand info. Why? What does the computer say?” Because Clarabelle couldn’t understand any of it.
Ish inclined her beak toward the screen. “Nothing because the system it leads to is closed.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning that information about its existence is restricted to inhabitants.”
“People can do that?”
“Some races are more private than others and don’t wish to advertise any weakness.”
“Do you think they’re human?”
“I know nothing.” Ishtara shrugged.
“Meaning they might be.” She smiled. “It would make sense. Why else keep it a secret?”
“There are many reasons to hide. You mustn’t assume.”
“Fine, I won’t assume shit until we see it for ourselves.” But Clarabelle couldn’t help the excitement as they travelled, and she wondered, had they finally found a home?
Her optimism fizzled when faced with reality. The moment they entered the protected star system, they encountered many planets, all of them appearing barren of intelligent life. Not a single projecting satellite or guard ship. Their communication system remained silent. Proof that only the most rustic of outposts existed in this galaxy or the silence before the spring of a trap?
What if it were simply because there wasn’t anything to find?
“I think you were sold some bad information,” Ishtara claimed.
Hard to disagree. Clarabelle watched the screen that provided a live video feed of the world they orbited. The planet indicated on her map.
It appeared barren of civilization. Definitely no visible buildings or even a basic spaceport. The coordinates led to a cleared section on the surface, really nothing more than a thin scar of short, scrubby grass amidst a blanketing green forest. From above, the giant blue lakes—massive enough to be called seas—were bordered by green and brown, trees and dirt, with a single sun in the sky. She couldn’t help but swallow.
“What’s wrong?” Ishtara immediately asked.
“This planet. It reminds me of Earth.”
Her friend cocked her head and squinted. “Not really, unless you mean before the humans razed the forests and paved it over to build their cities. Given the pristine state of this planet, I predict there are no humans in the vicinity.”
“That’s mean.”
“But true. Civilization tends to leave its mark.”
“Unless they’ve learned to live in harmony with their environment.” Not many species ever evolved to that extent. Even the Zonians had a tendency of razing areas to the ground for their villages.