Chapter 52
The meeting
Zara sat miserably and watched the rain fall. The glare of the neon lights in the distance was only made worse by the puddles that pooled up on the ground.
She had the window open a bit to get some air into the cramped quarters. Through the crack, she could hear the sounds of merriment, only she knew that it was just a mask covering up the sounds of misery.
Rocket snorted in his sleep and twitched his paws. Zara turned from the window and watched him a few moments.
Thor stood up from his side of the bed and wandered over slowly. "Once he sleeps it off, he'll be his normal self again."
"That's what I'm afraid of." Zara replied. "I know he's mad because I snuck on board, but I don't know why he hates me so much. I didn't do anything to hurt him."
"Ah, the rabbit has had a lot of…" Thor trailed off. "Let's just say he hasn't had a nice life."
"Neither did I. It's not good being a slave girl. I don't like getting hurt."
"I won't let anyone hurt you."
"Why, Thor? Why do they make other people, other beings, be their slaves? Why are they so cruel?"
Thor sighed as he pondered how to answer her question. He changed direction. "Do you know how old I am?"
Zara shook her head. "I don't even know how old I am. Nobody can tell me for sure, so they guessed."
Thor's eyebrows went up at this revelation. "You are a young woman."
"I don't feel like it; everything hurts."
He gently patted her shoulder. "I am 1500 years old, and by the grace of the universe, I'll live thousands more. You are but a youngster to me."
"Commander Adama was 165. He told me his people can live up to about 200. I don't know how long I can live. I don't even know where I'm from."
"It matters not, where you are from. You are where you live. Asgard was not just a place; Asgard was made by her people. If you live on Earth, you are part of Earth. What there is left of my people are now living on Earth."
"Commander Adama's people too, all scattered across the planet, but… but he went away, like Bucky, I think. I'm not sure. I don't know how many of them are left any more. Thanos made everyone…made some people go away. I don't understand why he did that to people. Shouldn't they have a say in their own futures?"
"Yes, they should. You are correct, young one."
"When I was on Atlantis, and later as we traveled to Earth, we watched these movies that showed the history of Earth, and about some dinosaurs. They think a big rock crashed into the ground and made a big explosion and it killed all the animals, or at least most of them. And then we watched this other movie about how some people brought dinosaurs back from the dead, but the dinosaurs just tried to eat everybody and it made a big mess. So, they left the dinosaurs alone, well, most of the people did anyway. The bad people who kept trying to control the dinosaurs just got eaten up. Crunch, crunch, crunch, just like that."
Thor smiled. "I see. So, what was the point?"
"Those things have a way…sometimes, of working themselves out."
"Quite true."
"So why doesn't Thanos understand that?"
"I don't know."
"I bet I could teach him a lot."
Thor smiled again. "I bet you could." He patted her on the shoulder once more. "But now it is time to get some sleep." He stood up.
As Zara stood, a flash of lightning lit up the sky. She startled and hugged Thor.
As the thunder rumbled, she hid her face into his torso. She mumbled something.
Thor pushed her back a bit. "What did you say?"
"I said I'm scared of thunder and lightning."
"On Earth I am known as the god of thunder and lightning."
She looked up at him, her pupils dilating. "Does that mean you can make the thunder and lightning go away?"
"I can make it happen, but I cannot stop the weather once it has begun."
"Oh." Her face fell.
"It is time to rest, come now."
The next morning, they trudged their way to the bar to see if anyone had heard anything. It seems their luck was about to change, the pilot they were looking for was due to land soon.
As they left to go meet up at the landing zone, Zara took one last look around. She hoped she'd never see this place again. It was still a surprise to her that the place never closed; debauchery and drinking happened around the clock here, along with the misery of those unfortunate enough to be forced to work there.
As they walked along, Zara tugged on Thor's shirt. "What are those?" She asked, pointing to some gleaming white robots hanging around the entrance.
Thor glanced over his shoulder at them. He knew what they were, but decided not to tell her the truth.
"They are dolls, robotic dolls."
Zara nodded her head and sucked in her lower lip to chew on it as she thought it over. She mumbled a syllable and looked away. Maybe she didn't want to know all that much.
Rocket first checked their own ship to make sure it was still in good condition and being taken care of, and then he led the way to the port where they were expecting their quarry to be landing.
They were told it could be up to an hour.
So they hang around. Rocket passed the time by pacing. Thor chatted away with anyone who wandered by, and Zara chewed on her nails.
About an hour later, a ship landed in the designated area. They waited until those onboard disembarked. Rocket walked up casually, and remarked on the ship.
"Yeah, I got a sweet deal on her." He thumbed at it over his shoulder.
"I like it. I'll buy it."
"Oh, it's not for sale."
"You haven't heard my offer yet."
Thor was standing just beyond Rocket and shrugged when a glance was shifted his way.
The man's eyes flickered and stopped at Zara. "If she's part of the payment, I might consider it."
Zara glanced away, and put her head down.
The man smiled. He recognized the fear in her eyes, her reaction to being leered at. He knew what she was.
"The woman belongs to me." Thor drew himself up taller.
"Too bad, I haven't had any fun for a while."
Thor stepped forward and grabbed the man by his shirt and lifted him off the ground. "You will keep your eyes off of her. She is mine. Do you understand?"
"Okay, okay, I get it! Let me down."
Thor eased him down. "We want to know what you know about Thanos' location."
"WHAT?! Are you crazy? You need to stay away from him! I'm not getting involved in this." He started to side step Thor, but he was grabbed by the arm.
"We will pay you for information."
"No money is worth ticking off Thanos; can't spend money when you're dead. Uh uh."
Thor grabbed him harder. "You will tell us what you know, or I will kill you where you stand."
"If Thanos finds out, I'm a dead man anyway."
Rocket pretended to pick a stray hair from his person. "Of course, if we let out you've been talking to us, he just might."
"But I haven't!" The guy started to become hysterical.
"But Thanos doesn't know that."
"Please! I don't want to die!"
"Just tell us where we can find him."
"I don't know, man! I swear!"
"Then give us a name of someone who can."
The guy just starts shaking his head.
"Please, please help me." Zara's small voice cut through the melee.
The guy looked down at her. She had tears threatening to fall. "I need answers, and only Thanos can answer them. I want to talk to him. I want to know why."
"Lady, Thanos does whatever he wants because he can. I can't help you."
"Just any little thing you can think of, anything…please."
"His planet is dead, but I hear sometimes he returns there. It's only a rumor."
Thor gave him a shake. "Anything else?"
"You can try the void."
"The void?" Thor asked.
"A patch of space out beyond Vormir. That's all I got. Now, let me go."
Thor let him go and he wasted no time getting out of there.
"What do you think rabbit?"
"We get supplies and head to Vormir first."
