Galaxy's End: Book One by LeRoy Clary (popular ebook readers txt) 📗

I had no idea what might be important and what was not, or why she had accepted the request.

She said with a faint lilt of her voice that hadn’t been there earlier when we were speaking confidentially and seriously, “My name is Stone, and this is my friend, Kat.”

“I do not like cats,” it said in a sonorous voice.  “There is a story I could tell you about one trying to eat me on a backward planet called Canelo, however, I turned the table and ate it. That didn’t work out well for either of us because it tasted bad and I had to pay restitution. You may call me, Fang.”

“Do you even have teeth?” Stone asked pleasantly, to not be insulting.

Fang laughed merrily and said, “On my home planet there is a large, flying insect that tastes sweet as Manchu floras after heavy rains, and they are called fang. The name given to me means I’m sweet, I guess. You be the judge.”

All three of us politely laughed for different reasons, I’m sure. Stone did it to please him. Fang to put us at ease. And me to join in and pretend I hadn’t felt the tension notch up with the last few exchanges. The thing was, I didn’t know why. However, it was almost tangible, like a high-pitched sound just above the range of hearing.

Stone accepted a glass of white wine that Fang offered. She warned me off with a hard look, and asked him as she subtly switched her wine glass to mine, which was filled mostly with water, “What do you do for a living, Fang?”

“A little of this and some of that.”

“I see. Someone provides you with a regular paycheck?”

“Not a regular one, unfortunately. I’m more the sort that goes out on my own and tries to earn his fortune. Much like the captains of ships that trade between planets.”

“How has that done for you?” Stone persisted as she ignored the comment that inferred he knew who she was. “I mean no disrespect, but you are a paying customer on a starship and tickets do not come cheap.”

“I also gather and sell information. Others might say I do all right financially.”

“Information, such as?”

Another chuckle, one not quite as humorous as before. Fang said, “Such as the whereabouts of people the police are seeking, as an example. I sometimes collect rewards.”

I was shocked, both at his revelation and that he’d so readily admitted his goal and reason for joining us. I managed to hold my tongue. Stone was leading the conversation and anything I said might ruin her plans.

Stone said calmly, “You wouldn’t turn in a friend, or new friends like us to the police, would you?”

“We are not friends and I should inform you that you have imbibed a strong sedative in your wine with the two sips you have taken. Within a truly brief time, you will succumb to it. I will keep you alive in my room until we arrive at the planet Franklin and there, I can collect the substantial reward that has been posted for you.”

Stone shook her head slowly from side to side as she leaned closer to Fang and said, “You are sadly mistaken, my new friend. This is the way things will work. Kat has not touched her wine if you’ve paid attention. While innocent looking, she has concealed on her body both a needler and vibro-knife. Have you seen one of them, yet? Not the needler, the new vibro-knives. The blades vibrate or something at a high speed like a tuning fork, and when you cut with them, there is no resistance at all. Amazing devices. She is very adept at its use.”

Fang pulled away from me in apparent shock and barely managed to remain on the seat of the chair. “Are you threatening me?”

Stone smiled and said as if sharing a secret, ignoring the fact she had switched her wine for water, “Sedatives in the wine will not work on me. I am Aterian, not human. This seemingly innocent young woman beside me is not human either, but she is not young. Despite her appearance, she is decades old and was trained to kill with bare hands before she was ten. Her race is Balaclavas, or something pronounced like that if you have heard of it. A religious sect. Twice since you joined us, I’ve given instructions restraining her from taking your head from your fat neck and spitting down the hole where it was connected.”

A deadly silence ensued.

Captain Stone continued as calmly as discussing the recent weather, “The three of us are going to your cabin where we will talk in privacy. Resistance, any at all, will result in your untimely death this fine day.”

My eyes traveled from one to the other. It seemed a civilized game of threatening each other and sharing the details of the encounter with Bert and Bill would be interesting. I’d never seen a bluff like the captain used so well. Her threats were so outlandish they had to be true—or so I’d believe if I sat in the frog’s chair.

She turned to me. “If he hesitates, take his head from his body and dump the contents on the floor. The Dreamer has people to clean up messes made by passengers. I’ll pay for any additional maintenance charges to our account.”

Not knowing what to say or do, I simply nodded and turned my attention to the frog, wondering what would happen if it pulled a knife or other weapon on us, since I had neither. Three eyes the size of small balls of tang-fruit on eyestalks looked back at me.

Fang said evenly, “Perhaps I should apologize for the unfortunate encounter and go my own way.”

“Perhaps you will die before your flippers touch the floor,” Stone said pleasantly. “I spotted you the moment you entered