Nicholas Out-Of-Time
Chapter 32
XXXII
You didn't think those two Neanderthal-brains that you threw overboard were the only two crewmen on this boat, did you, Tess," Nicholas asked sarcastically. "Really! Somebody has to run this dingy. I doubt those two morons could figure out how a rowboat works."
Tess frowned, unamused by Nicholas' attempt at wittiness.
"I didn't know you knew anything about boats, Nicholas."
"Ah, my dear, dear girl! Shows how little you know! Okay, it's true, I'm not the one running the boat. I have more important things to occupy my time with. That's what captains are for. The pea-brains you already met are just useless crew… muscle to back up my will."
"Does Kivar know you tried to drown me, Nicholas? He went to a lot of trouble to make me. I can't believe he'd just toss out his ace."
"Defective merchandise, Tess… No reason to keep you."
"Is that what Kivar thinks?"
Nicholas smiled very slightly, making an obviously forced effort to produce his trademark sarcastic grin, but he seemed inhibited…
"It doesn't really matter what Kivar thinks, Tess. You're not going to tell him, are you?" His trademark grin returned. "What Kivar doesn't know won't hurt me… will it? Kivar could start over and do it right if he would just give up on you. But no! He still thinks he'll find you and complete his plans. But we both know that even if he does find you, you'll never be what he's looking for, don't we, Tess?"
Tess was silent.
"No… that's what I thought. You've been corrupted by the humans who've been helping you. You don't have that ruthless instinct that Kivar wanted to breed into you. You'd be a liability now, not a help, to our cause. Kivar is reluctant to give up on you, but we know you're defective, don't we, Tess?"
"I think you're defective, Nicholas, if you really want to know," Tess said.
Nicholas grinned. "Now that's the Tess I like… sarcastic!"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to turn you on."
"Don't flatter yourself, Tess. You're not my type."
"Oh, that's right… seventy years of popping pre-adolescent zits and having women pat you on the head and walk away has turned your attentions in other directions, hasn't it?"
Nicholas frowned. "My private life is none of your concern, Tess. Besides, there are some shape-shifters that are more than willing to please me."
Liz grimaced and wrinkled her nose.
"Ew! I really didn't need to know that."
"Welcome to the twisted world of NicholasPerv," Tess said to Liz. "You get off with shadows, Nicholas?"
"That's just their natural appearance. They can be anything I want."
"Ew," Liz said again, her mind running wild with unwanted images of what might turn Nicholas on. "Let's change the subject."
"I'd love to stay and chat with you ladies, but my duty calls," Nicholas said with a dramatic flare. "There is no rest for some of us."
"We wouldn't want to keep you from your duty, Nicholas," Tess said sarcastically. "I'm sure we'll pull ourselves together and manage without you somehow."
Nicholas grinned and knocked on the door. One of his steroid-enhanced crewmen opened the door for him then closed it back and locked it, leaving Tess and Liz alone in the room.
"Do you think they got Kyle and your friend, Liz," Tess asked.
Liz was silent for a moment. Then she frowned… "I don't know. I'm afraid of that… but Nicholas didn't mention them. He impresses me as the type who wouldn't have been able to keep from bragging about it if he had them."
Tess nodded. "Yeah! Yeah, that's a good point. I think you're right, Liz. He would have said something. I wonder where they went."
"If they saw those other goons, they may be scouting the ship to find out who else is onboard… or planning our rescue. But we can't count on that."
"But what can we do," Tess asked.
"I don't know. It doesn't look like there's any way out of here."
"Well, I don't want to just wait for Nicholas' gorillas to put my feet in concrete and toss me overboard again," Tess said, her eyes showing genuine fear. "How did you get that cement block off of my feet, Liz?"
"I didn't. I guess the portal transported you back onto the ship and left the block down there."
"Portal? Is that what that thing was? What kind of portal?"
"It's a bit complicated, Tess. It's something an alien king from another planet gave to a… an ancestor of mine… a sphere that creates a portal that can take you wherever you want to go."
"Cool! Don't let Nicholas find out about it!"
"I won't… but it wouldn't help him if he did. It won't work for him."
"Now that's really cool… something that Nicholas can't use and you can! I like that! I never had anything like that."
"I could use the portal to get us out… but if we left the boat, we'd be abandoning Michael and Kyle… and if we don't leave the boat, those guys will just grab us again. You know, Tess… you might just have something that can help us at that. Michael told me you used to do mindwarps… in another time."
"Mindwarps? What's that?"
"Mindwarps! You know."
Tess shook her head.
"You could make people think they were seeing things that weren't there."
"Like hypnosis?"
"Well, kind of, but more… I don't know, invasive… more proactive. You didn't have to talk to them or dangle a spinning wheel in front of them. It's just something you did with your mind."
"That would be… cool… but I can't do it. I've never done that."
"Maybe you could if you tried. If you could, you could make Nicholas and those steroid monkeys of his think they were seeing an empty room when they came back, and we could walk out the door right past them."
"I wish I could do that, Liz, but I don't know how."
"Didn't Nasedo teach you?"
"No. He insisted that we act as human as possible. He wanted us to blend in and be inconspicuous."
"That's not the Nasedo I heard about. Our timeline and the other one that Michael came from obviously have some differences."
"Nasedo taught me all about my planet, Antar, and he told me all about Nicholas and Kivar… the things that I didn't know, so that I could protect myself. But he insisted that we never mention any of them around other humans."
"That was smart, probably. Look, Tess, why don't you try it… you know… a mindwarp."
"I don't know how."
"Just think about it. Close your eyes and concentrate. Try to make me think you're not here."
"Tess closed her eyes and concentrated. Then she opened her eyes. "Do you still see me?"
Liz nodded. "Maybe you have to internalize it somehow…"
"How do I do that?"
"I don't know."
"I can't do it' Liz. I wish I could, but I just can't."
Liz looked frustrated but not yet defeated. "You need to concentrate on the other person's mind… block it somehow from seeing you. Let me think…" Liz closed her eyes tight and concentrated, thinking about how a mind warp might work. After a moment, she opened her eyes.
"I think I've got an idea, Tess, but I'm not sure I can explain it…"
Tess was walking around the room with a frightened look in her eyes…
"Liz? Where are you? Don't leave me here by myself! Where'd you go?"
"I'm right here, Tess!" Liz waved her hand in Tess' face.
"Liz, please! Come back! You're scaring me!"
"I'm right in front of you, Tess! Look at me!" Suddenly, Tess saw Liz.
"How'd you do that? You just disappeared! You were gone! Don't do that, Liz! I was scared you wouldn't come back."
"I don't know how I did it, Tess. I didn't mean to. I was just thinking about how to do it and it happened."
"But you're not Antarian… you're human."
"Yeah… I know. Maybe when I was on Antar I picked up some kind of ability from Max… I don't know."
"You can mindwarp them for us, Liz."
"I… I'm not sure I can. I'm not sure how I did it. I might not be able to do it when I need to."
"Sure you can, Liz. You just closed your eyes and concentrated on my mind… like this."
Suddenly, Tess began to fade from view… then she was gone. A moment later, she was back.
Liz's eyes were wide. "That was amazing!"
"What? What did I do?"
"You disappeared! You started to fade out, and then you just weren't there! It was incredible!"
"I did? I could still see me."
"But I couldn't. How'd you do it?"
"Like you told me… I just thought about blocking my image from your mind. It really wasn't very hard… once you know what to do it's not. You try it again."
Liz closed her eyes and concentrated.
"Think about my mind, Liz. Block it from seeing you."
Liz nodded. Then she began to fade from sight.
"Okay… okay, Liz, that's enough! Come back!"
Liz dissolved the block in Tess' mind, and Tess saw her again.
"Cool! Liz, you're the greatest! You could teach me so much!"
"I don't know how to do these things myself, Tess. I'm just learning… like you."
At that moment, the door began to unlock. Tess turned toward the door, her eyes wide with fear. The door opened, and one of the large thugs came in carrying two cement blocks, one for Tess and one for Liz. The other thug was right behind him with a bag of concrete. Both men stopped and looked around the room then started to yell for Nicholas. Within moments, Nicholas was there.
"They're gone? How? Weren't you idiots watching them?"
"They were locked in! They couldn't have got out!"
"Well they did, didn't they! Idiot! Moron! Find them!"
The big men turned to go one way, and Nicholas turned to go the other way. Suddenly, a foot kicked one of the large men in the behind, and another foot kicked Nicholas in the behind. Both turned back quickly to face each other.
"How dare you," Nicholas said, his child-like face turning red with rage. "Nobody…!"
"Nobody does that to me," the big man said, picking Nicholas up by the pants waist. "Youse just pushed your luck and ran out of time, runt!"
With that, the oversized thug spun around twice like a discus thrower and sent Nicholas flying into the sea about a hundred feet from the yacht. Nicholas hit the water with a splash and came up sputtering.
"You'll regret this," he yelled, as the yacht suddenly came to life and began to head towards the Bahamas.
"I'll find you… every one of you," Nicholas yelled. "There won't be any place you can hide from me!"
Suddenly, Nicholas felt something nudge him from behind. It was a dolphin. Nicholas swatted at it.
"Go away! Go away, whatever you are!"
The dolphin picked Nicholas up by pushing its snout under him and playfully tossed him to another dolphin.
"I'm not a frikkin' beach ball, dammit! Cut it out! I said cut it out! Aw geez…"
Still invisible to the thugs, Liz and Tess watched and giggled from the side of the yacht as the dolphins tossed Nicholas back and forth from one dolphin to the other.
"You kicked that big guy good, Liz. I was laughing so hard. It's a good thing those guys couldn't hear us or see us."
"You kicked Nicholas pretty good yourself, Tess! I thought he was gonna sail over the side. Did Kyle teach you to kick field goals like that?"
Tess giggled.
"I won't forget this," Nicholas yelled at the disappearing yacht. "I promise you… I won't forget…"
tbc