From: Jason Self Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2022 16:15:10 +0000 (-0700) Subject: Publish new installment X-Git-Url: https://jxself.org/git/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=5d6eddcb684ed3b1acb544a0b7882495e882b6b9;p=universe.git Publish new installment --- diff --git a/agalder.txt b/agalder.txt index 4df21b8..e01764e 100644 --- a/agalder.txt +++ b/agalder.txt @@ -2468,4 +2468,165 @@ He woke the next morning to find her sitting beside him, looking at him with a smile on her face and love in her eyes. She said "Good morning, darling. Welcome to the rest of our lives." -She stood, leaning over him, and very gently kissed him. \ No newline at end of file +She stood, leaning over him, and very gently kissed him. + +==== Mellie: Detective, Resistance Operative ==== + +Mellie had called in sick for a couple of days, getting Behan to cover +for her. When she showed up, she looked like she'd been sick. Her eyes +were deeply shadowed, black circles under them. She was obviously +exhausted. She was told to go back home and come back the next day +rested. She was perfectly willing to do that. She slept all day. + +She came in fresh and cheerful the next day. Behan and she caught a +triple homicide in the North End. There were two suspects. Both had +run off through the run-down neighborhood immediately after the +killings. The cordon had been called down quickly though. They might +still be trapped in the area. + +The house was made of gray stone like most of the others in the poorer +sections of town. Dirty and covered with the red dust of the desert +nearby, the houses looked like dark coffins dripping with blood. +Mellie shuddered at the thought. + +They were out of the modified AirLorry before it touched down and +running toward the house. Two uniformed officers stood guard, back to +back, in the front space, eyes darting back and forth. Their shoulders +eased back a little when the reinforcements landed. + +Mellie and Behan ran quietly past the two officers, using matter +penetrating equipment to scan the house. Nothing seemed to be moving. +Behan placed his hand on the door opener and overrode the lock. The +door opened and they slipped inside. Mellie went right, Behar left. +Still nothing moved. + +They found the bodies in a back room. The men had been lined up +against a wall and shot. Like a firing squad. Millie thought. + +Two of the faces looked vaguely familiar. Behar drew in a sharp +breath. + +She looked at him. + +"They're undercover Resistance operatives." he said. "Mason" he +indicated the middle body "was a friend of mine. His wife is dead, but +he has two sons and four grandchildren." He sighed. "I'm godfather to +his sons." + +He looked at his friend a moment longer. When he turned back to her, +his face was blank. "Let's check the basement." + +A hallway led outside with a door leading to the basement next to +that. No light came from below. + +They pulled lights from their belts and started down the stairs. There +were windows high on the walls, but the glass had been sprayed black. +No light came through. And their lights seemed to be swallowed by the +stygian darkness. + +They had almost reached the bottom of the stair when brilliant light +exploded from a corner of the room, blinding them. Mellie dived to her +right, followed by Behan, who landed on top of her. + +She said something like "Ummmpphh!" + +Behan rolled off and fired at the lights. Mellie was able to drag +herself up beside her partner but was still having trouble breathing. +Having a ninety kilo man land on top of you takes your breath away, +she thought. + +The lights went out, although there was a dim glow where they had +been. + +Mellie could hear whispers coming from that direction. She could see +Behan's face and waved at the corner. + +He nodded. She went right. He went left. No lights. Nudging their feet +along, trying to find objects silently. She thought she could see him +as a darker shadow in the blackness. When he turned his face toward +her, she knew she was right. They were less than twenty feet from the +corner. The glow emanating from the area was a putrid yellow. The +odors in the area were just as foul. + +Behan held up his fist, pumping it twice. Then he slashed it forward +and they moved together. Leaping over boxes and cans. They landed in a +pool of slime, which was glowing yellow. Movement to their right +brought them scrambling to reach two figures moving toward the stairs. + +Moving faster than Behan, Mellie tackled the closest one. An inhuman +screech shattered the silence and Mellie grabbed onto what felt like a +crab leg. + +"Shit! Brol." she grunted. Wrenching the leg encased in chitin +backwards, she felt it pull loose. The creature shrieked again. +Multiple appendages grasped her , lifting her up and throwing her at +the wall. She hit the duracrete wall and all the air rushed out of her +- again. Sliding to the floor, she watched as Behan attacked the other +Brol with a pipe he had picked up. He broke a couple of legs before +the thing stuffed him under the stairs. + +They heard the two Brol skitter up the steps, then the yells and a +couple of screams as they made their get-away. + +Mellie groaned and picked herself up from the floor, hobbling over to +the stairs. Behan was just backing out from the small space +underneath. + +He stood up, groaning even louder than Mellie. "You all right?" he +asked. + +She smiled. "Probably about the same as you are." + +"In that case, call emergency." But he laughed. + +Officers came pounding down the stairs, looking concerned. + +Lt Marks appeared. "Well, you're both alive at least." + +One of the patrol officers joined them with a Brol leg in hand. It was +about five feet long, made of hard chitin, an exoskeleton. Inside lay +muscles and tendons and ligaments that attached to chitin instead of +bone. + +A crime scene tech came by, looked at the leg, and said "We should be +able to identify that guy by the morning." + +Mellie was surprised. "How can you identify one Brol out of the +thousands on this planet?" + +The tech grinned. "They are all required to register when they arrive. +We have their DNA. Each and every one of them." He got back to work. + +Behan nodded. "There's a law on almost every human planet. Alien +sentients are required to register on arrival and record their DNA." +He rubbed his back. "Brol are the most plentiful aliens on Agalder, +but they are by no means the only ones." + +Lt. Marks walked over to them. "Get back to HQ. Get the computer work +done." He hesitated a moment, looking at Mellie, then shrugged. "And, +for God's sake, take a fresher. You both stink." + +The emergency personnel checked Mellie and Behan over and released +them and they made their way back to Headquarters. There was a +mountain of computer work to be done. Not only have they been fired +upon and responded by firing their own weapons, but there was an alien +species involved. But they washed up and put on clean clothes before +getting to work. All personnel kept a spare set or two of clean +clothes at HQ. Just in case. + +Something was bothering Mellie. Finally she recognized the concern her +brain was niggling at. She turned to Behan. "Why didn't they kill us? +That had to be deliberate." + +Behan looked up and nodded. "Good point." he said. "They never meant +to kill us." + +Mellie frowned. "But they were shooting at us when we came down the +stairs." + +Behan asked her "Did either one of us get hit?" + +"No, but..." + +"Brol never miss. They are close to the best shots in the universe. +They want us alive. And they probably want to talk to us." \ No newline at end of file