Chapter Twelve: Full Circle
"We have to blow all of their theories about your people to hell," Courtney said, "They know that you hunt in the summer, we will arrive in the winter. They believe that only one hunter is on the prowl at a time, we will hunt as a group, two at the very least. This will give us our only advantage. They will be too proud, and foolish to think that we have changed the rules, this is how we will defeat them. But it will only be an advantage for so long." she concluded bitterly, "The temperature is only slightly lower during the winter in Los Angeles, but we will need a special set of equipment, in case of bad weather or occasional cold spells."
"I will work on it." Yaha said, uncomfortable that someone with less tenure was in charge of this operation. But she swallowed her pride, knowing that she had volunteered to come on this mission. "The Yimhis equipment has been finished. We tested it yesterday it works as expected. The atomizers have been implanted and are healing well."
It was one of Courtney's ideas, they had made it possible to just release the higher methane content directly into the birds lungs, and mixing it with the atmosphere of the planet. There was a reader, on the device so that the methane was regulated to only supplement the methane in the atmosphere. Therefore they were not required to carry heavy cylinders of premixed gases. It also served to filter the native atmosphere of any gases that would be poisonous to the creatures.
The breast collar mounted methane tanks were hooked up to quick disconnects surgically implanted in the creatures neck. The Yimhi had been trained to hold their breathe while the tanks were changed, so as not to poison them. Their saddles were not much different from the ones used on Soona, except that the high back and front were made hollow for storage. Courtney had great faith in Yaha's inventions and modifications, none of them had ever failed to work. After all she had been trained as a Noora.
She was tall, at Eight foot three, and her name reflected that, Yaha meant tree in Sou. She had been teased a lot during her career. She was also avoided because of her tendency to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, giving her a reputation as a rebel. She was refused acceptance to the Noora clan, though she had been trained by the best Noora that Soona had known, and she showed at least his talent. All because she had taken offense to the headmaster and called him a few choice words including accusing him of being a sasiyi, a very disgusting living slime. That did not lessen how much she knew about the secrets of weapon making, however. She was proving invaluable to this mission.
"How are the yimhi fairing?" she asked Sora as he walked up.
"They are beginning to settle, they are not accustomed to being in such a confined space."
"They will get their chance to move, your training is going well?"
"Yes they are responding well."
Sora was in charge of the training of their yimhi mounts. Teaching them signals for fighting. Their beaks were lethal being serrated and sharp, and he had modified an attack from the jumping that was inherent in the species. He had developed a special headgear for each bird which in coordination with the computer he carried relayed signals specifically attuned to each mount. He had wanted each of them to learn the technique, but there was not enough time, therefore he was charged with giving any orders to the birds while they were separated from them. All other orders were given verbally by the rider. His attacks were unorthodox, and the yimhi had never been thought of except as transportation, until now. Courtney was reminded of the training war-horses on ancient Earth received, becoming weapons in themselves. Only Courtney had seen their potential for use on this mission, then no one else thought it could be done. The Yimhi were considered too fragile to travel in a star-ship. Their physical requirements were considered too costly, and they were considered ill equipped to adapt to a different environment.
Sora was a strange one, he was an excellent tracker, an unmatched hand to hand combatant, and was precisely lethal with the raspa. The raspa was the extent of his weaponry though, and he wore nothing more than his loin cloth and the habade gauntlets that Courtney had given him, though she had managed to talk him into wearing a computer. He carried his breathing apparatus on a light backpack and there was a hook on his belt for when he removed his mask.
The Raspa was not a weapon to be discounted however. The device was capable of shooting multiple spearheads accurately up to five hundred yards. It extended to over ten feet for use at infighting and throwing. When thrown, the electromagnetic field created no friction, and it would continue to accelerate until it contacted a target, which would disperse the electromagnetic energy. The speed was directly proportional to the distance to the target. The Raspas top speed was unknown, although she was sure that she did not want to get hit by it.
He was the best, but his Psychological problems separated him from his contemporaries, who were afraid of his fits of violent depression. The Sesaya hunt had scarred him deeper emotionally, than it did physically. Courtney had been trying to help him since that first meeting, she did not like seeing someone in so much turmoil. He had made some progress and he had been grateful for the help no one else would give him. Though as of late she had been seeing signs of regression, and hoped that it would not flare to unacceptable violence on this mission.
Yalsa and Nobaya had also volunteered to come on this mission. Nobaya just because he enjoyed Rahas unusual company. And Yalsa out of obligation to her for the salvage of his leg. He still had a slight limp but it did not greatly limit his acrobatic ability.
Then there was Gui'Yata, her bonded companion. They were Taura together, and would be for the rest of their days. The high council had ensured that. But they had showed the high council, by deserting the city, they had made themselves targets of the High Eesans wrath, but they did not care. They were able to ignore the part of bonding that said they were only to know each other. Gui'Yata was young and she could not see holding him to a restriction like that. They were incompatible, if any one asked then yes they were officially bonded, and no one could prove otherwise, for they lived together and hunted together, and probably would for the rest of at least her days.
Taysa Taru-the outcasts, the name definitely fit. She looked over the motley crew one more time before dismissing them.
"That's the one." Courtney said in Sou watching the man move down the street. The helm showing in close detail the mans face. Her mask had the modification for visual light so she could see the way she was accustomed, as well as the infrared and ultraviolet.
Gui'Yata nodded, "I remember the man. He would make an excellent trophy."
"We need the information first, then we can divvy up the prize. Don't forget this is more than an ordinary hunt." she scolded.
He threw her a hurt look, "I have not forgotten that. You have stressed more than enough how dangerous this kind of hunting is. Aside from that my people have hunted here for centuries, we know a little about how your kind are." He pushed a finger against her mask where her nose would be.
"Sorry. High five..." she said, Raising her palm, he slapped it, and they clasped hands around the thumb.
"And good hunting." He replied in their modification of the welcoming of the hunt. She turned the yimhi toward the edge. The creature chose its usual path going down, a diagonal walk down the side of the wall. In the trees of Soona, the trip down would be a spiral around the circumference of the tree. Gui'Yata's yimhi fell in close behind and they quickly reached ground level.
Gerard walked down the deserted street, not really mindful of his surroundings, his thoughts turned inward. He bounced off something and fell heavily to the ground. He looked around confused, there was nothing there...Then there was he stared shocked at the person before him. It was a woman if the build was any indication. Her feet were bare but for strange leather, that peeked from under the leg guards she wore. She was clad in almost nothing, bare, well-muscled thighs winked out from under the weapons holsters. Around her waist was a sling strung with skulls of various sizes. It looked primitive, as did the leather bottoms, complete with the roughly cut skirt that hung down the back. Her midriff was also bare, and a breastplate protected her chest. Only one shoulder was protected, over that protruded a lethal looking gun. Then there was the mask, it hid her features completely. Blank eyes stared coldly down at him, it was roughly human in shape. Now and again he would see a strand of reddish brown hair, the color you see when dark hair gets bleached by the sun, whip across the face of the mask.
She stood over him with easy alertness, like a seasoned combatant, ready for any inevitability. She reached up and disconnected the hoses in a hiss of pressurized gas. Gently lifting it off her face, she shook her hair free.
Gerard took the opportunity to run, he had an uneasy feeling about what was happening.
"Sayanta coysan!" she yelled loudly. He turned back to look at her and ran into another invisible wall. He was getting tired of this.
"Nayan susaya." She said with venom, and he was roughly lifted to his feet, and forcibly turned to face her. His jaw dropped, he knew that face. It was gaunter than he remembered, scarred in places, but it was too familiar to forget. He could never forget that night on the ship, the events haunted him, especially the face of the crazy woman who refused to leave the company of butchers. Her hair was shortly cropped in front, and a leather thong secured the length in back. Her eyes were clear and alert, taking in everything in a moment.
"Running won't do you any good, you couldn't move fast enough to get away." she stated evenly in heavily accented English. She had been speaking Sou for a long time and it had changed her speech pattern, "You can let him go now, I don't think he'll run again. If he does I'll let you have him." she said with a venomous smile.
Gerard felt the grip on his arm loosen and fall away. Gui'Yata uncloaked and stepped around to stand beside Courtney.
"Jesus!" Gerard exclaimed, he remembered that thing too, "You're crazier than I thought."
"Oh so you do remember me, good." she finished flatly, "Now, I need information about the organization you were involved with, the night of the attack."
"I...I quit working for them a long time ago."
"Don't bullshit me," she said pulling him in close to her face, he amazed momentarily at her strength, "You guys don't quit, you just go on reserve status until the next predator shows. Now tell me!" she growled triggering her sraha. Gerard swallowed hard, she was a fucking loon.
"Why do you want to know this?" he said trying to distract her.
"This is a vendetta, you people seem to have no concern about the results of your actions, no care for the lives you ruin. Your people hounded me, invading my privacy. You forced me to make a trip that at the time I didn't want and wasn't ready to make.
"But its more than that now, the Soua are my people, better to me than the human race ever was. I have no desire to see any more of them killed on a hunt, by odds that even ten of them could not overcome. And in this case, that means ridding LA of organizations like yours. If you're not careful, I'll start with you." She said noticing his hand inching toward the weapon in his belt.
In a blur she kicked out, knocking the gun away and breaking the wrist in one motion. A weapon flashed into her hand and was at his throat before he could even think of reacting. It was a specialized weapon that had been fashioned after the disa. It expanded from five inches to seven foot long. Two disks were mounted at each end, and could be used easily in close quarters. One of the discs was detachable and acted just like a disa when thrown. But it was better in that it had more force being released at a greater speed. It would also separate into two equal lengths for independent attacks, and could be looped around the wrist for swinging.
"My, feisty aren't we." her face darkened, "Try that again please!"
"A...Alright I'll talk." He said downheartedly. He had seen lethal tactics before, and he could tell she was good at it.
"It's about fucking time." the creature grumbled, in gravelly English.
"I told you they were a stubborn lot. Look at how long it took to teach the other five." she looked at Gerard in his bewildered state, "Speaks pretty well doesn't he." she said nodding toward Gui'Yata.
"He...He understood?"
"Every word." Gui'Yata snorted derisively, "Raha teaches well."
"After all, it has been ten years. That makes for some pretty good practice time." Courtney chuckled, as Gui'Yata grabbed the stunned man, spraying his eyes.
"Augh" Gerard screamed tearing at his burning eyes, "I'm blind!"
"That's the general idea." Courtney said.
Gui'Yata slung the man over his shoulder and headed for the alley where the Yimhi were waiting.
Gerards eyes cleared slowly, and he tried again to figure out where he was. The room was decorated with a mixture of Earthen furniture and odd items that he could not put a name to. The door opposite him was firmly locked, though he was unsure how it would work. There were no knobs or any sign of a locking mechanism.
He wiped his forehead again, not being used to the temperature, he was sweating profusely. Why was he still here? He had given that bitch the information she wanted, yet they kept him locked away.
The place was small even he could tell that, blind as he was. He had spent his first few hours here feeling about, desperately wanting out.
"Oh, they have a new fetish on Soona, live humans. They think that they make good pets, once they are trained properly."
Gerards eyes went wide, "What did you do to my men?"
"Oh they are being taken care of, just as we would take care of a favorite dog."
"So, where's your leash bitch?", he said sneering.
"I told you!" She flared wickedly, "The Soua are my people, I am no longer considered Clusu, I have passed their tests, I am a hunter!"
Courtney pressed tighter against the door to the stairs, trying to tell herself that fifty degrees was not cold. The wind blew fiercely thirty-eight stories up, the rain falling on her suit rose as steam, the foul weather armor was doing its job, but she still felt cold. Or was it her apprehension?
"Where the hell is Gui'!?" she whispered to the howling wind, both mad at him and fearful for him. She kept trying to tell herself that it was irrational, he could take care of himself, but she was worried none the less. He had rarely been late for anything, not at all on this hunt, and it scared her to think that something may have gone dreadfully wrong.
They had become separated in their search for Connors, the head of a particularly wicked faction of the ATP (Alien Technology Procurement), as the Taysa Taru chose to call them. She had to cut her search short as the storm had set in. She had been on Soona so long that this weather was making her extremely miserable.
Her mask clanked against her thigh as the wind played with it. She was glad that she had secured her hair, otherwise it would be plastered to her face. She was impatient for the rest of the party to arrive so they could discuss what to do.
Though Courtney had been designated leader of this mission, she had decided it best to leave decisions up to the group, letting majority rule. The rest of the Taysa Taru had agreed that no matter the outcome, all would stick by the decisions.
Despite the vast differences in personality of the team members, they had become a close knit group, complimenting and strengthening each others abilities. She felt good about that, it gave them an edge that their prey did not have.
One by one the Taysa Taru appeared hailing her, a few of them even had luck tracking down their leads. That only made her feel slightly better. When Gui'Yata had not shown by the time the last of the party was accounted for, she was sure something was wrong.
Sora noticed her agitation, "Is there something wrong, Raha?"
She nodded, trying to get her teeth to stop chattering, "Sai has not showed yet, he has not even checked in. I fear that something has happened to him."
The pelting rain felt like something walking on his back, waking Gui'Yata from his stupor. How long had he lay there, he thought, shaking off the dizziness, pushing himself out of the pile of refuse he had landed in. He moved slowly checking for damage. His left wrist was slightly swollen, and there was at least one rib cracked near his spine. Nothing major, luckily. He glanced over his shoulder painfully confirming what he thought, the Yimhi was dead. The impact with the truck had ruptured its methane tanks, and it had suffocated.
"Quona, how I hate this place," he grumbled, pushing himself slowly to his feet, not really meaning what he said. His luck just seemed to run bad here. He had found Connors, but the man had holed up where Gui'Yata was unable to get in. He had been on his way to the rendezvous, but Orange County was a long way away from Downtown Los Angeles, but without the Yimhi, his progress was going to be slow. He was going to be extremely late now, and he knew that Courtney would worry.
He had not seen the truck coming, he tried again to convince himself. The Yimhi had spooked at Quona knows what, and had stepped right into the trucks path. The truck having no forewarning plowed them doing about sixty. The impact had not hurt the bird directly, but Gui'Yata had been thrown into the wall, landing in the alley. The Yimhi had picked itself up, stared at the wrecked truck momentarily and followed its downed rider like it had been trained. It had collapsed there and died shortly thereafter.
Slowly Gui'Yata began to cull his equipment from the packs on the beast, he stashed what he would not be able to carry on his own, and set the self-destruct on the animal. This was a caustic liquid that quickly ate the carcass, including the non-organic saddle and packs. They were attempting to be stealthy this trip, no need to decimate a whole city block, it drew too much attention.
That done, Gui'Yata set off in the direction of Los Angeles. After several hours of fast travel he had reached the outskirts of the city, he decided it best to travel the rooftops. He began to scale the building using finger and toe claws to good advantage on the rough brick. The pain in his wrist slowed his progress however, even with the painkiller and brace he had taken time to administer. The more active he was the harder it was to breathe. He had gained several yards when he felt a sharp pain in his leg. He reflexively gripped the building tighter. He looked down finding several men below, their eyes fixed intently on his position, they saw him? How? His refractor was in working order, he wondered about this a moment more, as his consciousness faded. He felt his grip relax, and panic rang through him, but there was nothing he could do, the tranquilizer was fast acting, powerful and rated for his metabolism. He was unaware of the impact when he blacked out and fell to Earth.
The men on the ground looked extremely pleased with themselves. A small man, who stood apart as the technicians disabled the refractor, pulled out a cellular phone and made a call.
"Santos here, we've managed to capture him...yes sir, they are doing that now. We should be able to get there in an hour. Yes sir, thank you sir." he finished, pushing the peppered black hair out of his eyes.
He looked on the creature for the first time, he had been told that they were large, but seeing it really sent the point home. His eyes reflected his pride in this capture.
This creature had done an excellent job of picking off their specialists, he thought as he circled the inert form on the ground. If he had gotten to Connors, their operation would have been dealt the most serious blow. His experience as a special team's trainer would be extremely hard to replace.
Their equipment had worked better than promised the new pheromone scanners were 88% accurate at a distance up to five miles. Good thing Connors had enough sense to call them early, it had been extremely easy to track it once the point of origin was known. It was unfortunate that they had not captured this creature sooner.
"Load him in the truck, and for heavens sake keep him sedated! The last thing we want is that thing getting loose."
"Yes sir," the subordinate said, as he finished disarming the self-destruct.
They had gained a lot of knowledge over the past thirteen years. That was due to the capture of the alien computer, from the last hunter who had hunted here, retrieved from the apartment of some woman who was said to be dead now. That one had been a puzzle, because no one had found the body, everyone had assumed that she was dead by the amount of blood found in the subway tunnel where she was last seen. They had also learned a lot from the recordings taken on the ship before it blasted out of Earth's atmosphere, the same ship they should have been able to capture intact, he thought bitterly. Little did Santos know that he had captured the very same creature that had been on that hunt. Gui'Yata had only been here a couple of hours since regaining consciousness. He was pacing angrily back and forth along the length of his cell, trying to determine a possible weakness. Across from him, was one of the two guards charged with preventing his escape. Gui'Yata had been playing a game with the guard, pacing only until the guard stopped. It had started out the other way around, but when the guard found Gui'Yata's annoyance with it funny, he had come up with a tentative plan. Now when the guard stopped Gui'Yata stopped. And it was lulling the young human into a false sense of ease. Gui'Yata took a deep breath, smelling the stench of the ozone, the bars were creating. His guards had looked puzzle when he had not tried to throw himself against what were obviously electrified bars.
Gui'Yata's glance moved to the other guard who was watching, looking slightly bored. He had a wary look in his eye, that told Gui'Yata that the guard would not be so easily comfortable around him.
"Tully, knock it off. That's just going to make it mad." The nearest guard continued oblivious to the warning, "Man, quit fucking with that killer!"
"Killer? Yeah and I'm the queen of England. I haven't seen anything out of this overgrown lizard to warrant that rep." He turned away to look at the guard he was talking to, "I mean after all look how easily it let itself be captured."
Gui'Yata looked to the second guard again, whose attention was now fully on Tully. Slowly he reached for the lapel on Tully's shirt, just inches on the other side of the bars. He hoped that his movement would not be noticed.
"Easy! You know how many people that thing went through? Twenty people in three days! Don't try to tell me he's not dangerous!" Gui'Yata concentrated on the guard across the room, as he felt the cloth firmly between his fingers. He began to gather the cloth tighter, to lessen the chance of his prey escaping him. As he drew it tight the wary guard noticed what was occurring, "Tully!" he screamed frantically, and Tully tried to pull quickly away.
Gui'Yata yanked back hard bringing the guard up against the bars, and jumped with a yelp, as the guard grounded. He shook his hand, now tender from the shock he had just received. He was growling with satisfaction watching the guard smolder the burn, as his partner tried frantically to break the circuit between Tully and the bars. Thick smoke began to rise, and the smell of burnt flesh permeated the air. The remaining guard gave up on trying to get Tully away from the bars and was now screaming into the phone for assistance.
The Taysa Taru refrained from hunting over the next two days as they searched for their missing companion. They had been able to backtrack to Orange County finding the remains of his dead yimhi. From there they traced him to a point, that was within a block of their rendezvous. What had happened there was all too evident. The stench of humans was strong, and the many footprints attested that it was not just a social gathering. They were military boots, and there was a larger depression that indicated there had been an impact of someone's body. Much too large to be human's, it had to be Gui'Yata. And it looked as if after all of these years the ATP got their specimen. The emotions at that discovery ranged from anger to fear. And the decision to double the efforts to find Gui'Yata was a unanimous decision.
Gui'Yata felt lethargic, he had been deprived of his mixture, forced to breathe the atmosphere, too long.
He moved slightly, listening to the chains clink softly. They had shackled him at the wrists, waist and ankles, the waist shackle was attached to the wall. He clicked laughingly, remembering how he had come to being shackled.
When he was originally captured they had only hindered his escape with electrically charged bars, a good deterrent even for him. One day when they were performing work up tests on him, the scientist did not take the proper precautions in securing him. When he took the blood sample, Gui'Yata lashed out, in pain and anger, catching the idiot squarely in the chest. A Soua's natural nails were razor sharp, and it nearly flayed his skin clean off, and almost gutted him in the process. The scientist lived, much to Gui'Yatas dislike. He was in surgery for three hours, taking two hundred stitches before they were finished. The man still had not returned to work, and he growled satisfaction.
Gui'Yata winced as he moved his wrist without thinking, it throbbed dully and the pulling pain in his ribs was no better. He huddled in the corner, his temperature was off, it seemed colder in here. He listened to the scientists doting over his equipment, hoping for the chance to escape, before he was too weak to attempt it. He was getting sick and he knew it.
The Taysa Taru had been searching desperately for their lost member, having gone through ten of the ATP members trying to get information. Courtney felt odd standing among her own kind again. The close quarters of the subway making her claustrophobic. She felt confined, her skin tingled and itched with the contact of the bustling bodies around her.
She felt a sudden pang of guilt, and loss, things she thought she had buried enough to make this mission. It still nagged at her, what had her family done without her there to support them? She supposed they got along, she still wanted to see them now and again, but she knew that was impossible. They were forever out of her reach, they would understand her even less now than when she had decided to go into demolition for a living. Getting close to them again would only make her doubt what she was here for, that would jeopardize their mission. No they were separated by two totally alien societies now. She felt tears well in her eyes, at the anguish that suddenly threatened to tear her calm facade apart. She shook her head, clearing her mind of everything but the business at hand.
She was trailing a possible member, one who was supposed to know something about her bondsman's whereabouts. She wore a long Australian overcoat that hid most of her armor, though some did peek through, drawing some unwanted questions.
"Hey baby Halloween was two weeks ago." one man leered.
"Stuff your head in a toilet, sasiyi." She growled in her accented English, placing her knives on his cheek to drive the point home.
"Hey, baby, no offense, Shit!" he said quickly retreating into the crowd. She sheathed her blades.
She had no time for these assholes, she thought returning her attention to the man standing at the other end of the car. He stood out, a large, well muscled black man, those around him giving him wide berth, not wanting to come to close to him. He was rumored to have switched to government work in exchange for a pardon for his former dealings with gangs, and drug running. He looked the part.
She was sure that this guy would not take her seriously, and hoped again that Yaha had been able to follow her. She knew that she could take this guy on her own, but she wanted him as undamaged as possible. An eight foot three inch tall alien had potential for loosening tongues.
She watched as he got off on the next landing, and followed suit, casually, trying not to draw attention to herself. The act belied her anxiousness. She wanted to find out if he had the information she required, and quickly.
She felt somehow empty without Gui'Yata there by her, they had been together on all of the hunts, so much had happened to the both of them, it felt like losing a hand. The last thing she wanted was it to be permanent.
There was another, more serious reason however. The information they had gleaned from some of the members they had "interviewed", suggested that Gui'Yata was ill, they had even told her why, though they hadn't known it. When they had captured him, they stripped him of all his equipment, so that the scientists could do further studies on the technology. That included his rebreather, and tanks. That meant he was slowly being poisoned by Earths atmosphere. It was too low in methane content, Soua could breath it for short periods of time without harm, but prolonged exposure could kill. They would have to find Gui'Yata before it was too late to reverse the effects.
She followed him out of the subway and turned down an alley behind him, tying her overcoat shut. She heard the beep in her ear, good Yaha was still with her, and the subway had blocked the signal. Courtney quickly caught up with the man, and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.
He whirled on her, and she jumped back, fighting the urge to lash out at him, feigning fright. He relaxed when he saw it was only a girl.
She smiled tentatively at him, "Uh...you got a cigarette, mister?"
"Sure," he said smiling warmly, "Didn't mean to scare you, never know who it could be this time of night." he turned curious, "you're taking a real chance wandering around the alley this time of night."
"Yeah, well I'm a real night owl, y'know?" she shrugged, lighting up the smelly weed. That was Yaha's signal to move into position, "What's your name?" she said seductively.
"Dennis..." he said smiling, picking up on the suggested invitation, "Dennis Grover...You know, you are one hot number." he stepped closer to her, looking hungrily in her eyes.
She smiled back at him, "Dennis" she said in a whisper, watching him melt toward her, "Look behind you."
His brows furrowed, that was not what he was expecting her to say, tentatively he turned around, right into the face of some thing. He stumbled and fell, his eyes wide with disbelief, "Holy shit!"
Courtney stepped around beside Yaha, "You see my friend here?" he nodded dumbly, "Your organization has a creature like her in captivity," she said calmly, "Where is he?!" she said through her teeth feeling herself lose her grip on her temper.
"I...I don't know what your talking about," he said, but his eyes betrayed him.
"You're lying!" she growled, kicking him in the face.
He wiped the blood from his face slowly, "Bitch you're beginning to make me mad..." he said pushing himself up.
"Ooh, I'm scared, look at me tremble." she said tonelessly, which shook his bravado momentarily, "We can do this easy or hard, Dennis, I prefer hard. You however would definitely prefer easy. I have been dying to take one of you ATP pukes out all day. You will tell me where he is or you'll join your friends." she dumped a bag out on the ground, three skulls rolled to a stop, she pointed to each with a foot, rolling them upright, "Smith...Sandoval...Gomez...associates yes?"
"You bitch!!" he screamed lunging for her, she flung off her overcoat before he could cross the space between them.
She lithely sidestepped his advance, elbowing him hard in the back of the head, hearing him grunt as he hit the ground, "Oh I love it when they fight back." she said lusciously, enraging him more. She wore a similar outfit to the alien who stood quietly by, calmly watching the fight. Yaha was only to prevent his escape, hers would be the pleasure of the kill this time.
Courtney soon had Dennis incapacitated, but he still would not cooperate, figuring they needed him alive. Courtney gave Yaha an almost invisible signal, and she left for a moment. She brought back a creature that Dennis would not have conjured in his worst nightmare. The big alien approached, stepping on his throat, as she looped a rope of sorts around one ankle. She then mounted the creature, and tied the other end of the rope to its saddle, his eyes went wide.
"Bye," Courtney said "see you in a few."
The bird creature took off, at a dead run toward the nearby wall, then it leapt catching the side of the building twenty feet from the ground, and Dennis slammed hard into the wall below the creature, feeling blood well into his mouth. Before the creature stopped, Dennis was thoroughly bloody. The stop was no better, he now dangled fifteen stories from the alley below. His head pounded, his newly broken arm ached, but he was conscious enough to know how precarious his predicament was. The bird and its rider were perfectly comfortable clinging to the side of the building. He groaned, feeling his consciousness ebb.
Gui'Yata stood with his back to the bars of his cell, thinking of the watch scheduled for tonight. It had been easy to memorize, they had not changed it in the several days since his capture. They had provided him with vital information, without knowing it. For they figured that the creature did not understand what they were talking about, and therefore spoke about everything freely. Gui'Yata was not about to dissuade them.
Taylor would be showing up shortly for duty. He was a short, fat man, rather piggish, his head would not even make an attractive trophy. Gui'Yata hated him, the man was lower than any Clusu he had ever hunted, and he would seethe every time Taylor walked into the room. The man took particular sadistic pleasure in beating him, and Gui'Yata had been unable to get at him. His struggling was met by laughter, frustrating Gui'Yata all the more. He ran a hand absently down his arms, feeling the ugly discolored welts left by their last session. There were more over his back. The beatings had irritated his already sore, cracked rib.
This time would be different though, he had been worrying at the mounted ring on the wall, and it was now loose. It had been easier than he thought, because his captors paid little attention to his actions. They did not notice when he leaned against the wall seeming to hang from the ring, though he was actually working it back and forth, breaking the brick around the mount. This was his chance to escape...take out this freak, and there would be no one to stop him from breaking free. If he did not succeed, he doubted that he would have either the opportunity, or the strength to attempt it again. He was fighting the Sickness now, having a hard time thinking rationally.
He heard voices in the next room, laughing, talking about their nights. The doorknob turned and he heard, and smelled Taylor come in, Quona he stank. He deliberately ignored the man, as Taylor waited for the off-going watch to leave. Gui'Yata felt the mans eyes on his back, but was not going to give him the satisfaction of turning around. He heard the receding sound of a car above.
Taylor flipped off the charge on the bars. The lock of the door rang as the key was inserted, and slow footsteps came into the cell. Taylor stopped just out of reach of Gui'Yata's chains, as he had done several times before.
"Here puppy..." he snickered, prodding Gui'Yata in the leg with the pole he always carried. It was about seven-foot tall, and heavy, about one and one half inches in diameter. Gui was uncertain how the overweigt man could even manage to swing the thing. Gui'Yata ignored his taunts, and he prodded harder, this time in the soft area of his stomach, just under the ribs in his back, "C'mon" he cajoled, "don't you want to play?" He still got no reaction, and becoming frustrated he swung, hitting Gui'Yata in the small of the back. The creature staggered a few steps from the blow, and Taylor smiled wickedly. He enjoyed hitting Gui'Yata until he dropped, which usually took all of Taylors eight hour shift. His co-workers had often wondered why he went home more frustrated than when he had arrived. Those were the nights that Taylor had not been able to make Gui'Yata fall. Lately, it had been more satisfying, Gui'Yata was a lot weaker than he had been when he had first arrived. For some reason, putting Gui'Yata on the ground in pain made Taylor feel somehow superior. He was probably the kind who took his frustrations out by beating the wife, kids and dog.
After several more hits, Gui'Yata made his move, catching the stick at one end. He wrenched it out of Taylors hands, and took a swing of his own, one that would put any home-run hitter to shame. The stick caught Taylor across the bridge of the nose, breaking it with a loud pop, though not in the place where it would drive the cartilage into his brain. Gui'Yata knew that was a way to kill a human, but he wanted to draw out this bastards pain. The man was thrown back several feet, sprawling messily on the floor.
Gui'Yata dropped the stick and strained on the end of his chain trying to finish the clusu. The ring was better anchored than Gui'Yata had anticipated, he was growling openly.
Taylor rolled over his eyes wide with terror, trying to breath through the pulp that had been his nose. His face was hot with the blood flowing freely from his shattered bridge. He scrambled to his feet and made quickly for the door as he realized the ring was coming out of the wall.
Gui'Yata sank to his knees, as a wave of weakness washed over him. He began to curse the man named Taylor, himself and life in general. He had failed, he would die, he knew, for there were no more tries.
Taylor had moved to the furthest point away from the cage, staring wide-eyed at the creature, as it bubbled angrily at him, and almost sounding like curses of damned men. Shortly the creature lost consciousness, hanging like a marionette from the chains. Damn the pay, he was not even going to retrieve the stick, Taylor thought holding a piece of cloth to his face.
"Damn!" Courtney swore, as Yaha finished cleaning her newest trophy, "we are not getting anywhere, these people have mouths like pit bulls, locked tight."
"There is still Gerard," Yaha suggested, putting her prize in a bag, "his tongue is quite loose, and he is still alive. He may know where the...lab...is." she said fumbling with the English word she had no equivalent for.
Far away from the searching party, the ATP was busy. Everyone was excited about the new discoveries being made daily about the alien technology "Procured" from their captive.
Tarry and Ben were two of the scientists heavily involved with trying to figure out the mysteries of the alien devices. They were working mid-shift tonight, on the plasma cannon, trying to yield information on how it worked.
Ben moved away from the table rubbing his aching eyes, he had been looking over the schematics of what was believed to be the controlling device, for over an hour. He stood and stretched, moving restlessly about the cramped basement of an ordinary looking two story ranch house in the middle of the desert.
He noticed the creature lying lifelessly on the floor of its cell, and walked over. It was on its stomach, and the one eye he could see stared unfocused out from under the cascade of what was their hair. Its breaths came short and shallow, completely irregular.
Ben picked up a nearby hammer and hit one of the bars hard with it, the clang echoed off the walls. Its' head jerked, lifted a few inches off the floor and regarded him, then slowly lowered back, its' eyes losing focus again.
"Our friend looks sick." he stated to Tarry, who looked up from his work.
"Huh?"
"It looks sick." he repeated, motioning over his shoulder, Tarry glanced at the cage.
"It's probably just sleeping," he said with irritation, "Don't let it fool you, I heard Jim Taylor was attacked yesterday, Damn fool went in there on his own."
"We all know how he likes to torture animals, Tarry." at that a low growl could be heard from the cage, Ben looked wide-eyed that direction, "Besides, they retrieved his stick from the cell, we all know what he does on watch. They were not able to prove it until now. If you ask me he got what he deserved." He finished slowly, not really paying attention to what he was saying, "You know I sometimes get the feeling crab face here understands us." he said suddenly.
"Don't be stupid," Tarry retorted, "C'mon lets get back to work."
Ben looked one more time at the large creature in the cage, it was staring his direction, and with none of the lack of focus he had seen earlier. He shivered, feeling small, seeing intelligence behind those bright orange eyes, and returned to the table. The two of them continued to chatter, but it was now all science.
Gui'Yata heard their conversation, but the words, unless he really concentrated on them, had no form or meaning, sounding like a gurgling brook. It was soothing, tempting him to let go, to fall gently into the blackness that beckoned. He was trying to fight it, knowing it was his sickness, he was slowly losing the ability to do so. A pang of helplessness overwhelmed him, but was quickly gone as he slipped back into the murmur that demanded all of his attention.