Earthbound by DM Arnold (read book .TXT) 📕

“Senta, I'm not returning to you. I came for some personal belongings.”

She gestured toward a stack of polymer packing crates. “Take them all.”

“Which one has the crest?” he asked.

“Top one.”

He opened the crate and removed the golden pendant. “Where are you going with that?”

“To the museum. I'm donating it, along with my translation of Koichi's journal.”

“You finished it?”

“Yes. My time in Sudal did me some good. Tonight I'm meeting Zander.”

“Then what?”

“It depends on what Zander has to say.”

Senta glanced at Andra and then looked into Nyk's eyes. “What are you doing with Zander?”

“I don't know. He may be doing me a favor.”

“Don't get involved with Zander. You and I might have our differences, but please, Nyk -- stay away from him. For your sake!”

“He's an old friend of mine,” Nyk replied.

“Senta's right.” Andra shook her head. “Don't get wrapped up with Zander.”

“I'm late for my meeting with the Kyhana section curator at the museum.”

“Where are you staying tonight?” Senta asked him.

“At the hostel.”

“Nyk, you can stay here if you'd like.”

“I'll be fine at the hostel.” He headed for the tubecar platform.

Nyk ordered a groundcar from the livery kiosk outside the hostel and directed it to Zander's apartment building. The car carried him to an older section of Floran City, one not serviced by the tubecars. He rode an outside lift to Zander's floor, found the door and pressed the doorchime.

The door slid partway open and he looked into Andra's eyes. “Please -- don't,” she whispered.

“Who's there?” he heard Zander ask.

“It's Nykkyo.”

“Have him come in.”

The door slid open and Andra gestured him inside. Nyk involuntarily scanned her from head to foot. She was wearing nothing but a lifxarpa. The right side was folded down to expose her breast. The sash was secured at her waist in front with a pin bearing the Baxa crest. The loose ends hung to offer her a minimum of frontal modesty. “I'm sorry to interrupt something,” Nyk said.

“No, not at all. Come in, Nyk.” Zander stood and presented his left wrist for their private greeting ritual. Nyk joined him at the table. Andra took a seat in the corner and sat with her hands folded in her lap. She smiled at Nyk.

Zander made a sign to Andra. She stood and brought over a basket containing euphoriant inhalers. Zander picked one up and took a hit on it.

Nyk tried without much success to avoid gawking at Andra. “She's a beautiful woman, isn't she?” Zander said in English.

“Oh, yes. She certainly is.”

“The ax'amfinen are reputed to be the most beautiful women in the galaxy. I'd say she's a fairly representative specimen.” Zander gestured to her. “Inspection,” he ordered.

Andra faced them, spine erect and shoulders back. Zander made another sign and she rotated on her heel and stood sidewise.

“What do you think, Nyk? What about that posture? Her arms, legs, hips ... torso -- every measurement is in perfect proportion to all the others. Feel her leg.”

Nyk brushed his fingers along her calf.

“No, here...” Zander grabbed Nyk's wrist and led his hand up the back of her thigh to her buttock. “See? There's muscle in those legs ... but not too much ... just right. Her skin is taught as a drumhead and smooth as polished polycrete -- not a dimple or a ripple. I defy you to find a blemish on her.” Then, addressing her, Zander said, “Ax'amfin, disrobe.”

Andra looked down at her meager costume. Nyk could discern a flash of panic in her eyes. She started to speak but checked herself; then slipped her thumbs behind the diamond-shaped Baxa crest pin securing the ends of her lifxarpa.

“That's right,” Zander said, “off with the sash.”

Andra began to unclasp the pin. “Stop,” Nyk said, “I get your point. She doesn't need to do that.”

Zander flicked his finger. Andra refastened the pin.

“As you were,” Zander ordered. Andra resumed her stance at attention. “I said as you WERE,” Zander barked. “Am I speaking in some alien tongue?”

Andra returned to her seat in the corner. Nyk glanced at her -- she was biting her lip and struggling to maintain her composure. Then, she caught glimpse of his sightline, sat up straight and smiled sweetly at him.

“Here, Nyk...” Zander offered him the inhalers. Nyk declined Zander's offer. Zander gave Andra another signal and she leaned over him. He whispered into her ear. She nodded, stepped into the apartment's kitchen and returned with two tumblers of a blue, fizzy beverage, handed them to Nyk and Zander, then returned to her seat. Zander lifted his. “Your favorite, if I recall.” Nyk sipped the drink. “I remember once in school, you drank too much of that,” Zander chuckled. “You didn't realize it's intoxicating. It made for an amusing class.”

“And, you supplied it, if I recall.” Nyk took another sip. “This is made with an herb extract from Gamma-5, I learned from my exobotany training.”

“Tell me about your travel to Earth.”

“I must get there no later than noon, Monday. Veska refuses to divert a packet for me without Seymor's approval.”

“And Seymor doesn't approve. I'm involved in a project there right now and I could use someone to do some legwork for me. How long are you planning on being there?”

“At least a few days -- I really don't know. What kind of a project? For the Agency?”

“No, this is something else. I need someone to deliver a parcel to a contact in New York.”

“That'll work fine, I'm headed to New York.”

“Then, deliver another parcel to another contact in Oklahoma City.”

“That's it?”

“That's it,” Zander said.

“How do I get to Earth?”

“What's today?”

“6636.199” Nyk replied.

“Dot-199... They're departing dot-202,” he mused. “On dot-202, take a shuttle to the transit platform. Go to maintenance bay four on the lower level. Tell them I sent you.”

“I've never seen a maintenance bay on the lower level.”

“Lower maintenance level, beneath the main lower level. They'll take care of you. Do you have communications on Earth?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Good. We can play your return trip by ear.”

“I'll need money to buy airline tickets and for cab fare. I'm sure my Agency draw account has been closed.”

“Oh, yes. Good you remembered.” Zander stood and retrieved a polymer case from a cabinet. He opened it and Nyk saw it was full of credit cards. “You still have your other identity documents -- passport and so on?”

“Yes.”

Zander flipped through the cards in the case and selected one. He started to close the case, then selected a second card. “What's your Earth name?”

“Nick Kane.”

Zander replaced the case in the cabinet and removed a gadget. He manipulated it and inserted the cards. He removed them and they were embossed with the name Nick Kane. “Here you go. Don't forget to sign the backs.” He jotted PIN numbers on a polycard and handed it to him. “Thanks, Nykkyo. This is a great help to me.”

Nyk stood and Andra escorted him to the door. He ordered a groundcar for the ride to the hostel.

Nyk disembarked the shuttle and stepped onto the transit platform. He found a lift with access to the maintenance decks. The liftcar door slid open. He rode it to the lower level and proceeded to bay four. “Zander sent me,” he said to a group of workers standing near a tender shuttle.

A worker beckoned Nyk to a corner and handed him a flat pasteboard box and a polycard. Nyk slipped the box into his travel case and examined the card. An address in Brooklyn was hand-lettered on one side, and one in Oklahoma City on the other. “We'll be boarding in half a segment. Don't stray too far -- we don't have the luxury of waiting around for passengers.”

Nyk had no intention of straying anywhere -- the maintenance level was dark and foreboding. Workers maneuvered tanks and containers on levitating pallets. Some were marked hazardous. He wandered around the tender shuttle, examining it.

The hatch dropped and a worker called him inside. He sat on a bench along the rear bulkhead. Another worker sat in the pilot's seat. The hatch raised and locked into position, the pressure door closed and the bay depressurized. The spacedoor opened and the tender slipped into the void.

The craft pulled away from the transit platform. Nyk craned his neck to see where it was heading. A large spacecraft, much larger than a passenger packet, loomed in the viewport. The vessel had two nacelles attached to the main hull. The shuttle approached one and a door opened to admit the tender into the forward bay.

The worker lowered the hatch. “This is ExoScout 327. You'll want to keep yourself confined to this shuttlebay. They'll divert to Earth as soon as they get underway.” He pointed to the aft bay. In it was a shuttlecar, similar to the one Nyk had used in Wisconsin, except this one resembled a minivan. “Feel free.”

The workers unloaded some canisters from the tender and placed them on levitating pallets. The pressure door closed and the tender departed. Nyk walked around the aft shuttlebay.

White indicators glowed above the viewports. He found a jump seat and belted himself in. The viewport shutters closed and the lamps glowed blue. He felt the subjump; then the main warp jump. The indicators darkened and the viewport opened.

Nyk climbed into the shuttlecar and began prelaunch diagnostics. The pressure door closed and the bay depressurized. He pulled back on the unistick and the shuttle backed into space. As he drew away he appreciated the immensity of the vessel and recalled the 300-series scouts were the smallest in the fleet. He watched the cruiser vanish into her warp jump.

He tuned the shutlecar's guidance to the comm relay station and pulled into its shuttlebay. In the wardroom he dressed in Earth clothing and picked up his wallet, keys and identity papers. Then he returned to the bay and backed the car into space.

The shuttlecar's subjump placed him in orbit around a familiar blue orb. He piloted the craft to his landing spot along the Wisconsin country road and guided it into the city, keeping a wary eye for police cruisers. He arrived at the house and pulled into the garage.

Nyk unlocked the front door. The place was empty. He picked up the phone, heard a dial tone and placed an order for a seat on the 7 AM flight to New York, then ordered a taxi to pick him up at 6.

He planned his day. It was 2 AM Monday. His flight would arrive at LaGuardia around 10, and he'd take a cab to Suki's house in Queens. He'd be there by 11, in plenty of time to talk her out of her 2 PM appointment. Then he'd run his errand in Brooklyn. He stretched out on the bed and laced his fingers behind his head.

The cab deposited Nyk at Milwaukee's Mitchell airport. His ticket was awaiting him at the counter, and he paid for it with one of the credit cards Zander had given him. He walked to the concourse and sat in the departure lounge. A glance at the placard announcing his flight sent a chill through him.

It read, “cancelled.”

He went to the gate podium and stood in line as passengers were rebooked. “We can put you on our 12:50. You'll be in New York by four.”

“Four! That's too late. I must be there by noon at the latest!”

“I'm sorry. This flight has been cancelled due to mechanical problems.”

Nyk picked up his new boarding pass and headed for a bank of payphones. He called Suki's number -- no answer. He called every fifteen minutes.

The gate agent announced the flight was ready for boarding. The clock in the departure lounge read 12:35. Nyk trod up the jetway and took his seat. He had one more chance. Once airborne, he'd use the air phone.

He fastened his belt and settled into his seat. The time display on the air phone caught his eye. It