STOWAWAY TO THE STARS

Karen woke with a start in the morning, still in Larry’s arms. For a moment she could not make out where she was. Then the memory of the night before came flooding back, the passion she had felt now mixed with awkwardness at the feeling of his bare body against hers. She shifted against Larry and he stirred, holding her tight for a moment before releasing her. She climbed out of the bunk, now acutely conscious of her nakedness, retrieved her underwear and hurried to freshen herself up and dress.

Over breakfast, it soon became clear that Larry did not intend to make any comment about the night before, but Karen could scarcely look at him for embarrassment. Eventually she had to speak.

“Look, I’m sorry about last night,” she ventured.

A slow smile spread across his face. “I’m not. In times of acute danger it’s natural to turn to sex for comfort. I have to tell you, I’m scared about what today will bring as well. We’ll probably not see this day out, but at least we have something special to remember in these final hours.”

He squared his shoulders. “But this is not a suicide mission, I’ll be trying hard to keep us alive. If we should come through, I’ll remember that sweet time last night. It will always remain our private moment, and I’ll not speak of it again unless you want me to.”

Oh, but I do. Larry had been a great lover. If only she had met him under different circumstances. The strength of her feelings surprised her and she wished this had not been just a one-night stand.

She thought of the other girls in the Sports Foundation. She knew they called her the ice maiden behind her back. Well, ice maiden or not she was probably the only Earth woman who had ever slept with an alien spaceman.

“I guess we should get going,” she said.

“You realize it’s still not too late to change your mind. You don’t have to come with me today. If I don’t return, you could turn yourself in to the Ziloni and claim I kidnapped you.”

“Oh, do not take any notice of what I said last night. I was lying there with nothing else to think about, but I’m all right now. I’m definitely coming with you if you will still let me.”

Larry took her hand. “Okay, then we’re in this together.”

****

After breakfast, Larry collected all the equipment he thought they might need. Two ship remotes, a laser pistol and a stun pistol, maps, needle stunner, communication bugs, climbing wire, as many mini-grenades of different sizes as he thought he would be able to carry and a remote detonator for the grenades. The needle stunner, bugs, mini-grenades and detonator were all tiny, and he tucked them down the front of his trousers.

Seeing Karen’s surprised expression, he explained. “For missions like this I have underpants with built-in pockets, and padding round the pockets. It makes me look a bit fat, but it’s well tailored and doesn’t show very much. It won’t pass a thorough inspection, but you’d be amazed how reluctant men are to search around another man’s private parts. I think it’s a macho thing.”

“Oh, I see. Would you like me to carry something too?”

Larry considered. “I don’t think so. Some guys take the advantage of a search to run their hands over a woman. If they find stuff on you they’ll search me more thoroughly as well.”

He fitted a communication earpiece inside his ear and handed one to Karen.

“These are two-way comm. devices. They pick up all the sound that one person is hearing, including their own voice, and transmit it to the other person. It can be a bit disconcerting, like an echo, but the audio level is quiet. However, if you cup your hand over your ear like this,” he showed her, “it boosts the amplification and you can hear much more clearly. If we get separated these can be invaluable. Talk naturally and your earpiece will pick up your voice and transmit it to mine.”

“Is there not a chance that the Ziloni will hear them, or be on the look-out for them?”

“No, they don’t make actual sound. You hear the transmission via direct bone conduction. They’re the latest technology, and I’m pretty sure the Ziloni don’t have them.”

“Oh, I’m surprised at that. I think that we even have similar types of communication devices back on Earth.”

Larry shook his head. “Karen, that’s a bit like saying you have spaceships back on Earth the same as we do. These earpieces are wafer thin, chameleon coated to look exactly like your own skin when they’re in place. The only way to detect them is with a knife. They’re paired with ultra-rapid frequency hopping algorithms that are unique to the pair. While they are in communication they broadcast on a focused beam that follows the twin so that only a detector practically in line with the two earpieces can pick them up at all. The only time they use broad beam is when they are out of contact, brief flashes until the other one responds.”

“Oh, I see. That does sound pretty high tech.” She felt in her ear. “Gosh yes, it is really small, I can scarcely feel it. Can we keep them on all the time? How long do the batteries last?”

“There aren’t any batteries. It puts tiny probes down under your skin and draws the power that it needs from you, so it will last indefinitely. You can turn it off if you want a bit of privacy, otherwise leave it on.” He showed her how to press the earpiece to switch it on and off.

Larry negotiated the ship up the estuary to what should be a secluded, wooded spot, if he was interpreting the map correctly. He crossed his fingers and brought the ship up to the surface, ready to dive again at the first sign of trouble. He rotated it slowly all the way round to check no one was about, eased it over to the firmest looking section of bank, and lifted it enough to move across and settle on the ground.

As they prepared to leave, Larry turned to Karen. “One last thing. If we’re discovered, I shall try to fight to the death, but I’m not actually prepared to commit suicide. It’s possible that we’ll get captured alive, in which case they’re likely to torture us to find out what we’re up to. Torture is forbidden by Union law, but I doubt that will stop the Ziloni.”

“I rather guessed that was likely. I will try to hold out, but I do not know how good I will be.”

“No, no, I don’t expect you to hold out at all. If you’re taken, whether or not they get me as well, don’t try to hide anything. Tell them exactly what you know, except that you should tell them I kidnapped you and made you come with me. Most importantly, tell them that you’re a primitive and try to persuade them to check out your ID.”

“But I do not have an ID. I do not even know what that means.”

“Exactly. All Union citizens have an ID embedded in their little finger, so you not having one may convince them that what you’re saying is true. Once they understand that, they’ll realize that this is nothing to do with you, and they may go easy on you. It’s even conceivable that they could hand you over to the Union instead of killing you, though I wouldn’t bank on it. Please don’t try to be a hero, this is my battle, not yours. If we’re captured it’s all over anyway. Before we set off, I need you to promise that you’ll not resist and you’ll put all the blame on me.”

Karen looked a little shaken during this warning. She hesitated for a few moments, then nodded.

“Are you still sure you want to carry on?”

She nodded her head again, firmly this time.

Larry took a final look at her, her lovely face somber but determined. Was her appearance okay? The clothes he had lent her were a bit big, but she had tucked them in so that the size was scarcely noticeable. The sneakers she was still wearing were the ones she’d had on the first evening that he met her. They looked a little odd for Union shoes, but fortunately they had Velcro straps, not laces that would have been a dead giveaway.

She also still wore her Earth watch. He was about to tell her to take it off, when it occurred to him that at a casual glance it looked like a simple bracelet. If they were discovered, it would help her story that she was a primitive, so he said nothing.

Did she really understand what she was getting herself into? He thought back to the previous night, when she had responded so passionately to his lovemaking, and before that, how she had calmly fired the missiles during the dramatic ride behind the spaceliner. Then further back still, to their first meeting when, after he had disarmed her, she had still launched herself at him to fight hand-to-hand. And when he had overpowered her, despite thinking that he might kill her she had shown no fear, just exhausted defiance.

He’d never met any other girl with so much fire and spirit. Hell, maybe she would be all right after all.

They disembarked and he closed up the door. He used one of the remotes to back the ship into the centre of the river, and submerged it to the riverbed. His final task was to find a suitable hiding place and carefully conceal the other remote control.

Karen said, “I see you are sticking with your policy of having a spare remote hidden away.”

Larry nodded. “Here it’s even more important. We could easily lose the other remote. If we subsequently escaped, it would be really stupid to be stranded without any way of recalling the ship.”

He consulted his map again and they set off through the trees surrounding the river, toward the nearest road. It was cool and quiet in the wooded area near the river. The light from the bright but overcast sky above filtered through the thick canopy of leaves to cast a subdued light down on the bare soil. Deeply shaded as it was, it had barely any plant life to impede their progress.

****

As they weaved their way between the trees, Karen noticed how similar they were to the ones she was familiar with at home. Smooth, brown trunks devoid of branches low down, topped by narrow heads of small, almost perfectly round, dark green leaves. Here she was, billions of kilometers from home and if she ignored the unusual shape of the leaves she could have been in the local forest. She felt vaguely sick with fear, thinking she would probably die later today, yet in the meantime she was seeing amazing new sights and having the most wonderful experience. To hell with later, she would make the most of the time she had left.

Larry interrupted her thoughts when he suddenly stopped and pointed out a road a short distance ahead. The trees grew almost to the edge of a broad track, with no hedge or fence but just a small grass verge. She had heard nothing, but when a car went past she realized that the track was a narrow, winding road that did not have any markings on it. Its surface was slightly soft, unlike the grass which was stiff, almost like bristles.

The traffic on the road was Karen’s first close contact with alien technology other than Larry and his spaceship. She stared in fascination. The cars had no obvious place for an engine at either front or back, just continuously sloping front and rear windscreens. The most dramatic difference from what she was used to was that they had only two, large centre wheels. Like Larry’s spaceship, they were silent except for the rush of wind and faint noise from the tires.

“Aren’t the cars funny? Like giant, covered motorcycles,” she said to Larry.

He shrugged. “Two wheels are more efficient than four. The braking and balance are done by electromagnetic cables buried in the road, so they can’t skid.”

“But what holds them up when they stop?” asked Karen. “And aren’t four wheels much more stable?”

“Well, while the motor is running, the balance system holds them up, and outrigger legs come down to support the car as soon as it stops. Anyway, here comes a suitable car, and there’s no other traffic around. It’s time to hitch a ride.”

Larry faced the oncoming car and gave a quick warning burst with his laser pistol into the road, leaving a smoking area of surface. Then he aimed the pistol straight at the oncoming driver while raising his other hand in a signal to stop.

The man fell for Larry’s bluff – if indeed it was a bluff. Karen didn’t yet know Larry’s methods well enough to be sure it was. The car came to an abrupt halt. It had two occupants, the male driver and a woman in the front passenger seat. Larry indicated the back seats to Karen and they climbed in. This was not exactly what she had envisaged when he said “hitch a ride”. But she had been warned – they were setting off to break into a military base. She might as well get used to becoming a criminal on this planet – but please God he wouldn’t hurt these innocent people.

Once settled, Larry held the pistol to the woman’s head. “I won’t hurt you if you co-operate, but we have to get to the military base. One way or the other, this car is taking us there.” So he didn’t want to harm them if possible – her prayer had been answered.

“I’ll do whatever you want, but don’t hurt my wife.” The tremble in the man’s voice gave the lie to his bravado.

“Good. And don’t think about sending an alarm signal. Remember you’d end up as hostages.” The man snatched his hand away from the dashboard where it had been hovering.

Larry pointed out where they wanted to go on the car’s nav. computer screen and the man drove until, after about three quarters of an hour, they were close to the base. Larry told the driver to go straight past, giving him a chance to see the entrance layout, and continue until they were out of sight.

When they stopped, he gave the startled man fifty credits. “Thank you for the ride. You’ve been sensible and I hope this is some compensation for your scare. I wouldn’t bother to tell anyone about us. They’ll find out we’re here soon enough, and they don’t need to know that you helped us.”

When the road was empty of other traffic, they got out and watched the car until it disappeared into the distance. It looked as if the woman was haranguing the unfortunate man as they went.

As Larry had predicted from his maps, the whole area was wooded. They disappeared into the trees and headed back toward the base. The trees here were smaller than those near the river, but growing even more thickly so that they gave excellent cover. Again there was little undergrowth to impede their progress.

Karen said, “This all seems too easy. Why have they built the base here with so much cover and with so little defense?”

“They won’t be expecting any trouble – the whole planet is unified under Ziloni command, and pretty effectively subjugated, so they’re not anticipating any need for heavy defense. It’s a small base, mainly manned by civilians, for planning and intelligence. So it shouldn’t be too difficult to break into, and we might be able to blend in among the other civilians. That’s why I picked it out when I researched Zilon. But there will be soldiers on guard. It won’t be a picnic.”

“If it’s only small, why do you think you will be able to get the evidence you need here?”

“There’s no guarantee I’ll find it, but the operation on Inferior was definitely a military one. Since this place is small and out of the way, my guess is that it’s intended for intelligence gathering and analysis, so they ought to have a complete database of military activities. That’s where I hope to find my evidence. Ah, here we are.”

The trees ended abruptly a little way from the base. It had a high, surrounding plascrete wall, topped by razor-edged anti-climb railings, and a twenty-meter strip next to the wall had been cleared. They kept to the cover of the trees as they crept around the base in search of a point of entry. When they had searched all the way round in both directions, they sat down among the trees while Larry thought.

“It’s as I expected, we shall have to blast our way in,” he said. “I want to set off a high power mini-grenade near the entrance to blow down a large chunk of the wall and create a major diversion. Simultaneously I’ll set off a medium power one right round the back, making a small hole we can slip in through.”

“If you set off a large explosion, will they not evacuate the base?”

“No, I doubt that we’ll be that lucky. Remember what I said, they won’t be used to terrorist attacks like you get on Earth, so they won’t have evacuations planned for every emergency. The only time they might evacuate would be if an explosion occurred inside a building. They will probably send a lot of the soldiers to investigate the explosion, though. That could help a bit.”

Larry led the way back toward the entrance, where he stopped in the shelter of the trees and stared intently at the wall.

“The problem now,” he said, “is how we get the grenades placed by the wall across twenty meters of open space without being seen?”

“Can you not just throw them across?” asked Karen.

Larry shook his head. “It’s quite a distance and I need them right up close.”

“I can do that for you if you like.”

Larry looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Really?”

“You laughed at my baseball,” she said. “I was not great with the bat, but in the field I could usually put the ball right in a base fielder’s hands.”

Larry looked at her in admiration. “I’m beginning to feel glad you came.”

He rummaged in the hidden pocket of his underpants. Karen looked away in embarrassment – it brought the memory of the previous night flooding back. Larry extracted two tiny spheres of different colors and the tiny remote detonator. He registered the grenades with the detonator.

“They’re a bit small,” he said, “and we don’t want them to bounce. I’ll coat them with mud.”

“How can they be powerful enough when they are so small?”

Larry laughed. “They’re anti-matter grenades. Nearly all isolation shield and energy converter. The actual explosive anti-matter is a speck in the middle. Weight for weight about two hundred times the energy of a hydrogen bomb. They’re all the same size, color coded for different power. Okay, this is the big one, coated with mud now. I need it straight over there, as close to the wall as you can.”

She found a firm footing with a clear gap through the tree cover and launched the grenade across, but it slipped as it left her fingers, and fell about half way across.

Oh shit, what a fool she was to think she could help Larry and justify her insistence on coming. She fought back her tears and turned to Larry.

“I’m so sorry, my hand was shaking. I have messed up. I should never have come. What are we going to do now?”

He patted her arm gently. “It’s all right, I’ve plenty more grenades. That one will just add to the confusion.”

He prepared another grenade, registered it with the detonator, and handed it to her. She looked at him in alarm and shook her head, but he gripped her shoulders and stared at her intently.

“You can do it. I’ve made sure it’s not slippery. Take your time, forget where you are and just throw as you would normally.”

She took two deep breaths and exhaled slowly. Then she faced the wall again and envisaged the base of the wall being a fielder’s glove. This time she managed a clean, smooth throw. The grenade landed about half a meter from the wall.

“Nicely done,” said Larry, and squeezed her trembling hand.

They retraced their route right to the rear of the base and he handed her the lower powered grenade.

“Somewhere there.” He pointed. “Try hitting the wall low down, it shouldn’t bounce back with the mud on it.”

Her throw was even better than the previous one, low down and dropping to the ground only a few centimeters away.

“Perfect!” he said. “We’ll leave the pistols and climbing wire. They won’t be of much use inside, and I can’t conceal them very well. There’ll be computer-monitored cameras that are bound to pick us up as we run across, but the diversion should distract the guards from paying attention to the computers for a bit. Right, are you ready? Here goes.”

A sudden cold wave swept over Karen. This was it. No turning back now. They would probably die inside that base.

Larry triggered the grenades. The one close by blasted a neat hole at the bottom of the wall, about a meter and a half across. The other grenades caused an explosion that they heard even over the sound of the near one, and they saw a plume of smoke rising in the distance. A siren started up at once. Larry grabbed Karen’s hand and they raced over to the hole in the wall and through to the other side.

Inside the wall, a few meters away, were several outbuildings. They saw only one or two people in the distance. They were running in the other direction and not looking back to notice Larry and Karen. They sprinted for the buildings, then Larry slowed to a walk.

He said, “Okay, now we make out that we’re civilians working here. Act naturally and we’ll work our way toward the main block.”

Karen fought to control her breathing and stop trembling as they made their way between the outbuildings, trying to remain inconspicuous. Once they saw soldiers running past the next outbuilding and she steeled herself for them to discover her, but the soldiers either ignored them or failed to spot them.

Larry gave her an encouraging smile. “Looks like they’re on their way to check our little entry blast.”

They saw no one else until they reached the main block. Larry stopped short and sheltered in a narrow alley between two outbuildings. He casually turned to Karen, pretending to be in conversation with her.

“We’ll need someone to get us into the building,” he whispered. “We must stay here until we find someone alone.”

A minute or two later a woman appeared by herself, clearly heading for the entrance door. She wore a khaki-colored coverall and her hair was tucked into a neat white bonnet. The siren still blared away in the distance, but she was oblivious to it.

“Look,” said Larry. “That woman. We need to intercept her close by the door. You go first, I don’t want her to get nervous before we reach her.”

They timed their approach so that they arrived at the door at the same time as the woman.

“After you.” Larry made a show of gallantry.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she replied. “You know I can’t let you in with me. You need to record your own entrance separately.”

Larry took a quick look around to make sure no one was watching them, and grabbed the woman from behind. One arm went round her neck and his other hand whipped the woman’s arm up behind her back.

“One scream and I’ll break your neck,” hissed Larry. “Believe me, I can do it. We need to get in. Help us and I promise you won’t get hurt. Will you do it?”

The woman gurgled a little and nodded her head frantically.

Once they were inside the building, Larry said, “I’ll let you go now, but remember, one scream or shout of warning and I will kill you. Be in no doubt of that. Will there be anyone else in your office, if so who?”

She nodded again. “I work in a lab, and there are two other men,” she whispered.

Larry paused and scratched his chin. “That’ll do. Take us there, and not a word to them or anyone else.”

When they arrived in the woman’s laboratory, Larry made her lead the way in, closing the door carefully behind them. Two men were working there, both wearing the khaki coveralls that seemed to be a civilian uniform. They looked up at the newcomers.

“Who the hell are these people?” snapped one of them. “Don’t you know there’s been a security breach. Why are you letting strangers into the lab?”

Larry looked over his shoulder at Karen. “Make sure the woman doesn’t try anything. Kill her if she does.”

He faced the two men. “You’re right about us, but I strongly advise you not to try anything unless you’re trained in unarmed combat.”

Karen was still coming to terms with the violent turn of events. How the hell did Larry think she could do what he asked? She knew nothing about restraining anyone, much less killing them. But the other woman didn’t know that, and she cowered away from Karen.

The larger man must have assumed Larry was bluffing, and lunged at him. Larry sidestepped neatly and kicked the man in the shin, right where there was least protection of muscle over the bone. As he stumbled, Larry chopped down hard on the critical point on the man’s neck. He slumped to the ground. Larry whirled to face the second man who, seeing what had befallen his larger companion, stopped short and raised his hands in surrender.

“That’s better,” said Larry. “Be sensible and you won’t get hurt. Believe me, that’s nothing compared to what I’ll do if I have to.”

Karen was awestruck by Larry’s latest display. It was one thing to listen to Larry describing fights he’d had, quite another to see him in action. She thought back to the time she had attacked him, when he had restrained her so gently. She shuddered. How stupid she had been, and what could he have done to her if he had felt inclined?

Larry retrieved his needle stunner from its hiding place and made sure that the big man on the floor was put out of action for the next hour or two. When he was satisfied, he faced the remaining man and woman.

“First I need you to explain to me how to get to the data processing area. Don’t lie, because if you do I’ll come back for you and make you sorry. Is that understood?”

He made them repeat the instructions twice, after which Karen thought that even she could remember them well enough. Then he moved to the next part of his plan.

“Right, I need the coveralls from both of you.”

The woman protested. “I don’t wear much underneath.”

“I don’t care,” snapped Larry. “I need the clothes from both of you now, plus your ID slips. Get them off.” Karen guessed that the tension must be getting to Larry as well as her.

Reluctantly they both peeled off their coveralls. Larry passed her the woman’s coveralls and ID slip, while he pulled those from the man over his own clothes. The fit was not very good, especially for Karen who was significantly taller than the other woman, but it was the best they could do.

When they were disguised in the coveralls, Larry spoke to the half-naked pair again. “I need to be sure you won’t raise the alarm after we’re gone, so please lay down while I stun you. You know it will only last a couple of hours, and if you resist I can beat you unconscious instead. I trust it won’t come to that?”

Two heads shook vigorously, so he made use of his stun needle again, before tucking it back in its hiding place. He carefully hid all three unconscious bodies out of sight behind a bench, and he and Karen slipped out of the room, closing the door carefully and locking it for good measure. At some point the siren must have stopped without them noticing, because it was quiet as they made their way toward the data processing area, following the instructions the man and woman gave them.

“Would you really have killed that woman?” whispered Karen as they walked.

“No, of course not,” replied Larry. “I was bluffing about that. But I would have twisted her neck hard enough that she’d have thought I was going to.”

Karen silently breathed a sigh of relief. She’d been inwardly alarmed that Larry had suddenly displayed a vicious and ruthless streak, and had momentary misgivings about the type of man she had committed herself to help.

The corridors buzzed with activity on the way to the data processing area, but no one paid them any attention in their civilian uniforms. They had almost reached their goal. Karen was thinking that they might actually make it through successfully, when a voice behind them shouted, “HALT, you in front there. Show me your ID slips.”