Alien Incognito, page 15
He’d vetoed me accompanying him with the usual excuse. “It’s too dangerous.”
“But the zoo will be closed!”
“Epp will be there. He was far too interested in you.”
“Well, that’s good! You can use me as bait, offer to sell me. Of course, he won’t meet your price—”
“No,” he asserted so vehemently, I knew there wasn’t a snowball’s chance of changing his mind.
I intended to see the zoo for myself. If humans were there, some could be ill. I was a doctor. The treatment of alien diseases was beyond my training, but I could certainly help if they suffered from dehydration or had broken bones.
Besides, I wanted to see the place because of my sister. Joule hadn’t said Nicole had been there, but how would he know? What if she was? At the least, any information gleaned would help me profile the traffickers, get in their heads, figure out how they thought and operated to predict their next moves.
I trusted Joule to hunt for Nicole, but official league business would claim most of his time and energy.
He would be unhappy I’d ignored his instructions, but, once I showed up, he’d be forced to let me stay.
I exited the suite and boarded a grav lift. Even the numbers on the computer panel were incomprehensible, but picture icons designated restaurants, rooms, shopping, and various amusements. I finger-scrolled the screen to the icon of a slug with wings, denoting the zoo.
Joule had pointed out the icons the night before. If he’d had an inkling of my intention, he wouldn’t have.
With a stomach-churning whoosh, I dropped twenty-two floors to the third level. Off the lift, I made a beeline for the promenade. The wide shop-lined avenue was vacant, except for cleaning bots quietly rolling along. Looking both ways, I saw no sign of Joule. He must have been trucking it to disappear so fast—or he’d gone a different way. So much for my plan to follow him. Fortunately, I spotted a computerized resort map.
On the screen was a big red star, which I took to mean, You Are Here. In the directory, I touched the zoo icon. The star began to blink and then a dotted line traveled from the star halfway across the map to a blinking winged slug.
I studied the route, trying to memorize it. Joule already had a head start, and I had to beat him to the zoo. If he broke in without me, I wouldn’t be able to get in.
I took off at a jog.
Huffing and puffing, my side in stitches, I reached the zoo. The screeches, chitters, and calls made it pretty obvious. I’d no sooner passed under the icon-labeled sign when holographic alien animals leaped out at me. I stifled a scream and pressed a hand to my chest.
I’d been expecting live animals. But I was still outside the zoo proper. Surely, inside, the animals would be live. I recalled the realistic-appearing planets outside our hotel suite, and the comet whooshing around. Was everything fake? Or was there a mix?
Was this how they got away with trafficking? Mixing artificial with real? The zoo could have live sentients but claim they were holograms.
I surveyed the area for Joule, but I was alone—except for the holographic animals. Hopefully, he hadn’t gotten here yet. I’d sprinted the whole way.
Admission lanes led into the interior. They appeared to be wide open, until I got closer and could hear the hum of a force field. I’d get shocked for my effort if I tried to enter. Darn it! I anchored my hands on my hips. I’d gotten so close!
“What are you doing here?” Joule’s angry voice came from behind me. I turned. His ridged brow scrunched in a deep scowl, and flecks of red swirled in his amber eyes. “You were supposed to stay in the suite!”
“I wanted to see for myself,” I said.
“This is a serious operation—LOP business. Your presence could jeopardize the mission.”
“I promise I’ll stay out of the way.”
“Like you promised to stay in the room?”
“Not voicing an objection isn’t a promise.”
He exhaled in frustration. “It’s too late now to take you back. Whatever happens, don’t get involved! Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Can I count on that?”
“Yes, I promise.”
He stomped away from the entry lanes to a door in a high wall. I couldn’t read the signage, but I guessed it might be a staff entrance. He aimed his handheld at the entry pad, the door unlocked, and we slipped inside.
There were real animals!
Behind a barred enclosure, a creature resembling a cross between a horse and an armadillo grazed on grasses. It had long equine legs and a sturdy neck, but a torso protected by a hard shell. Large, friendly eyes were on the sides of its scaly, elongated face.
In another cage, I recognized a couple of live tycabees—the animal I thought of as a panthelope from the palace murals. I had no time to see any more because Joule hustled me through the zoo. I hoped he wasn’t so furious that he wouldn’t bring me back later.
“Did you and Epp set up a specific rendezvous location?” I risked his wrath to ask.
“No,” he snapped.
Wouldn’t that have been a good idea? How would they connect in the sprawling complex? Not wishing to provoke him any more than I already had, I withheld my comment.
“It’s a test,” he volunteered after a terse silence. “Administered by both of us.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Epp stays at Star Planet often. If the zoo and Epp are involved in trafficking, he’ll know where the sentients are held. If I’m a trafficker like I’m reported to be, that’s something I would know, too.”
“Do you know where it is?”
“No. I came early to look for it.” Eyes narrowed, he swiveled his head. “It will be in a private, locked area, a place closed to tourists and regular staff.”
Wingless pseudo birds squawked up a racket I could hear through the glass.
“Why are the birds behind glass?” Other animals were contained in barred enclosures.
He glanced at the placard and shrugged. “It says they spit venom.”
“That’s a good reason.”
He opened a door with his handheld and peered inside then shut it.
“What was in there?”
“Animal morgue like the sign says.” He strode on ahead.
“What about the door next to it?” I pointed to a recessed entry just a few steps away.
“It’s still the morgue. The sign says use the other door to access the morgue.”
“And you believe it because it says so?”
“There isn’t time to check every single portal. I have to make my best guess,” he said, but marched to the door and opened it. He stuck his head inside. “Zigqat!”
“You found it?”
He glanced at me. “I don’t know. There’s something here.” He beckoned, and I followed him into a narrow passage.
The corridor led to a room, and I could hear noises. Live animal noises. Why would they keep live animals in the same building as dead ones? Were they sick? Under quarantine?
Joule hurried toward the rear, and I ran after him. As I got closer, I realized the chirps and growls sounded like languages.
Chapter Twenty-One
Joule
At least twenty cages lined two sides of a rectangular room tucked behind the morgue. Six of the barred metal enclosures were occupied by creatures I’d never seen before. Some were furred, some scaled. Half were bipeds; the other half were quadrupeds. They all had to crouch; the enclosures weren’t big enough for them to stand.
“Oh my god!” Giselle gasped. “Are these…are these…”
“Sentients,” I said in a hushed voice, warning, “Don’t say another word.”
I could see the intelligence in their eyes, the despair. I could tell they understood the bleakness of their fate.
My translator picked up a couple of the languages. They were begging to be released.
I wished I could reassure them that they would be freed, but Epp would arrive soon. His translator might understand the languages, and I couldn’t risk the captives letting something slip. As soon as the meeting concluded, I’d contact Xidex and arrange to liberate these people.
Almost as if I’d cued him, Epp emerged from behind an empty cage at the far end of the room. I rubbed the base of my right horn, finding the nodule and activating the vid-cam.
On tentacled arms, Epp scooted along the floor. “I’m pleased you brought the human.”
“She is not involved in this. She belongs to Gruut.” I motioned Giselle away. For once, she listened to me and scurried to the farthest occupied cage.
“And yet, you brought her. I will pay you more than what he is paying you,” Epp said.
“She is not for sale.”
“Everything is for sale for the right price.”
“She is not.” This was why I’d tried to get her to stay in the hotel. If she hadn’t been here, I could have used her as bait, but not when she stood right here and Epp would expect me to hand her over. And after delivering her to the slavers once, I couldn’t risk that she might fear I would do it again.
“Perhaps you are keeping her for yourself?”
“Enough,” I said. “We can conduct business together, but some things are off the table. Tell me what you’re looking for.” Epp’s offer for Giselle provided enough evidence to indict him on trafficking, but I wanted the proof to be overwhelming.
Giselle knelt by a cage, looking at the sentient. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. I wished she’d stayed behind. One wrong word would ruin everything.
The pleas grew louder, more insistent.
I retreated from the cages, drawing Epp away from Giselle.
I scrutinized his devious humanoid face. How anyone could mistake him for a philanthropist amazed me. But perhaps it was like he said. You could buy anything—including a reputation. Throw money at the right causes, utter the words people expected to hear, and they’d attribute virtues to you that you didn’t possess.
Epp talked in circles, occasionally jabbing me with a pointed question. Giselle moved from cage to cage, making eye contact with the sentients in silent sympathy. At the end of the row, she gasped, opened the unlocked door of an empty cage, and reached inside.
What could she have found?
“She’s not Gruut’s. She’s yours.” Epp narrowed his eyes. “I’ve seen the way you watch her. You have a soft spot for her.”
Giselle had proven to be too much of a distraction to him and me. I’d revealed too much. I moved into the side hall. Dragging his body along the floor, Epp followed me out of the room.
He regarded me with an assessing gaze. “Can I give you some advice?”
“Is it free, or will it cost me?”
The corner of his mouth quirked with humor, then he sobered. “Watch your back.”
I hooted. “Well, I’m sure glad I didn’t pay for that.”
“I think we may be able to do business together,” Epp said. “But not today. I’ll be in touch.” He dragged himself to the front entrance. He looked back at me. “The sentients here have been claimed. The buyers arrive today to retrieve them.” He exited, leaving me with more questions than I’d started with.
How would he reach me? How did he know the sentients had been sold and buyers would be arriving?
I returned to the holding room. Giselle was speaking to a female sentient. “We’ll get you out of here,” she said.
Indeed.
If what Epp had said was true, we had no time to waste. I unclipped my handheld and pinged Xidex to arrange for an extraction. What if there wasn’t an LOP ship close enough to get here in time?
Come on, Xidex, hurry!
“What did you find?” I asked Giselle, recalling her reaching into an empty cage.
“We’ll get you out of here,” she repeated to the jabbering female sentient.
My handheld pinged. “Tomorrow at the latest,” Xidex messaged.
“Not good,” I fired back, explaining the direness of the situation.
I got an answer right away. “Understood. I’ll take care of it,” he said.
Once, not so long ago, I would have walked away, satisfied to hand off the mission to the next in line. But now I saw the situation through Giselle’s eyes, through the eyes of the victims themselves. And zigqat, but I’d started to care. I couldn’t walk away and leave these people wondering about their fate—risk them being sold before the rescue ship got here.
The LOP would prefer the sentients remain in one location for an easier extraction, but I had a hunch the buyers would arrive very soon. Sneaking out the cargo while the zoo was closed would be far less troublesome than doing it when the grounds swarmed with eyewitness visitors.
I opened the cage of a long-tailed quadruped. His language I could speak. “What is your name?”
“Devir,” he said.
“I’m Joule. The League of Planets will be arriving to repatriate you, but you’re not safe here. You need to hide until they come.” I wracked my brain for a place to send them where the complicit zookeepers wouldn’t search. My suite would be the first place Epp would send them.
The Fashionable Biped! I was going to gamble that Zhunise and Zavio could be trusted. I explained to Devir how to get there. “Lead the others; leave the zoo as fast as you can. Go to the shop. Tell the Hermot Joule sent you.”
Giselle was still staring into the same cage. “Let her out,” I instructed. “We can’t wait. We need to release these people now.”
“Do you know of anyone else being held here? Maybe in another part of the zoo?” I asked Devir as I unlocked another cage.
A second alien scurried out. Devir spoke to him in an unfamiliar language, hopefully explaining the plan. The second alien set about releasing the other four. Giselle still hadn’t released the female. I frowned.
“Perhaps your friend.” Devir pointed his paw at Giselle. “We have been here a week,” Devir continued. “Various beings have come and gone. Another, like your friend, was taken away last night.”
“A human?”
“Yes.”
What if? What if? Grabbing my handheld, I swiped to the picto of Nicole.
“Yes, that’s her.”
“Fuck! Zigqat…” I swore in a half dozen languages. We’d been so close! How would I break the news to Giselle? And why hadn’t she reacted to my outburst? She stood by the cage, seemingly oblivious to everything.
“Who took her?” I asked. “Did you hear a name? An organization? Were there any other humans, other species taken?”
“Just the one—and I did not hear a name, but he looked a lot like you. He was one of your species.”
“A Copan?”
“Yes.”
Not a big surprise, given how many Copans were involved in trafficking. All six sentients had been released, but their freedom was still not assured. “Go now. Hurry!” I urged.
They rushed down the side hall and out the door.
I approached Giselle, feeling sick. If only I’d come straight here when we first arrived! I’d let her down. “I have some news about your sister—”
“We’ll get you out of here,” she said to an empty cage.
The fur on my neck tingled ominously. “Are you all right? What’s wrong—” I reached for her shoulder, but my arm passed through her body.
She had vanished. In her place was a hologram.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Giselle
The abduction had happened lightning fast.
Joule had no sooner disappeared into the hallway with Vorgan Epp when a hidden panel on the wall behind the empty cage opened, and a Copan leaped out. With a jab of a stun stick, he paralyzed me. I couldn’t move or speak. A talking holographic replica of me appeared. “We’ll get you out of here,” it said in my voice.
The kidnapper deposited me into a waiting hovercart and covered me with straw. The cart bounced as he climbed onto the back, and we whooshed away.
In my frozen fist, I clutched my sister’s charm. I’d spotted the tiny gold caduceus, a winged staff representing healing, in an empty cage. It had come from a bracelet my sister always wore. The charm had been a gift from me.
Before I could tell Joule, he had moved into the hall with Vorgan Epp, and I’d gotten abducted.
How long would it take before he noticed the hologram wasn’t me? How would he find me in the expanse of Star Planet? I could tell from the change in smell we’d left the zoo.
Was the promenade still deserted, or were there people around? My arms and legs tingled as sensation started to return, but all I could do was wiggle my toes. I tried again to scream, to catch someone’s attention, but only a squeak came out.
My abductor heard it. In a low, raspy voice, he said, “For your own safety, you must remain quiet. I promise I’ll explain everything soon.”
His promise did not reassure me. If I wasn’t still paralyzed, I would have been shaking with terror. The odds of Joule rescuing me again were near impossible. I would vanish like Nicole. I clutched the charm. Nicole was there! She was there!
I felt the drop of the grav lift. There were only two levels below the zoo, the lowest reserved for the spacecraft docking stations. Panic beat inside me. “Zouule…zouule…” I tried to call out Joule’s name, but my throat was paralyzed.
I smelled molten metal and burnt almond cookie, the peculiar odor of outer space, carried in by ships and expelled through exhaust and realized we’d entered the spaceship port.
We stopped moving.
My captor brushed the straw off me, and I stared up into surprisingly sympathetic eyes. This Copan’s perfect horns and tusks were polished to a high shine. There wasn’t a ding on them. “Let’s get you out of here, and I’ll explain.”
As he lifted me out, the charm fell from my relaxing fingers and disappeared into the bowels of the spaceport. “Nnn…ooo. S-S-stop…” Hot tears burned my eyes. The charm had been my sole link to my sister.
