J McKenna: Slave Planet

Suddenly, another phaser blast split the crowd. Gorshun screamed and pitched forward. Greta stood there, phaser in hand, swinging around in an arc as the crowd fell back. She ran to the edge of the platform and tossed an object up to Jorja.

Jorja recognized it as a phaser immediately and caught it in mid-air. Klasdor, standing with his mouth open, snapped it closed and charged her. Jorja didn’t have time to reprogram the phaser, so she dropped down and spun, extending a leg out. Klasdor tripped over it and fell headlong into the ropes. Jorja jumped up, slapped her finger over the grip scanner and punched in the code while the angry fighter struggled to his feet. He turned and bellowed as he thundered at her again. The engineer dialed in a “3,” raised the gun and fired and near-point-blank range. There was a blinding flash of light as the fighters collided. Jorja bounced off as the huge body of Klasdor crumpled to the ground.

The crowd gasped. These women seemed to be sorcerers! Pitus, taking in the events with horror on his face, turned and ran toward his hotel.

Jorja signaled to Beth, who turned and grabbed Niktus’ arm. “Please, master. Don’t get hurt. Let me go.” He opened his hand as if the leash was a deadly serpent and Beth ran toward Kate.

The men surrounding the captain fell back when the second, then the third mysterious weapon appeared in the Earth women’s hands. The women formed a circle, their backs to each other, forcing the men back even more.

“Where’s Egerton?” Kate shouted.

“Come on!” Beth led the way toward the hotel. The crowd parted, uncertain now as to what to do. Many glanced over to see the unconscious form of Klasdor in the ring and decided the wisest course would be to let them go.

The astronauts rounded a corner in time to see Pitus run up the steps into the hotel. “Come on! We’ve got to hurry!” Beth shouted, not knowing what Pitus might do to Ally.

The burst through the door and stopped dead. Pitus held Allyson in front of him, a crude knife pressed against her throat.

“Drop your lightning sticks or I’ll kill her,” he said.

“Do as he says! You guys just go without me!” Ally implored.

Three phasers were raised higher to point at his head, which towered above the frightened woman. Beth held up her hand. “Wait. Let me talk to him.”

She approached slowly. “Look, Pitus. All we want to do is get out of here and go home. We don’t want to hurt you. It wasn’t supposed to end up like this.”

Pitus shook his head. “I need her,” he blurted out. “Niktus was right. She knows numbers. Without her, I can not make profit.”

“Sure you can. She’s told you what you need to do. Just follow her advice,” Beth said soothingly, aware of the hair-trigger tempers behind her. “Besides, you don’t want it getting around that you listen to a slave, do you?”

Uncertainty crossed his face. He shook his head imperceptibly. His pride would not allow that.

Kate heard noises and turned to see the crowd approaching. “We have to go, doc,” she said urgently. “Company’s coming.”

“Let her go, Pitus. You don’t want to kill her. Then you’d never make a profit.”

“I paid good money for her!”

Jorja spoke up. “Tell Keltar that with my profits from the fight, he should buy your slave first. He and I have agreement. You will make profit.”

He hesitated. “This is true?” She nodded.

“All right.” Jorja suspected that he just wanted a way out. Pitus dropped the knife and stepped back. Ally ran out from his arms and hugged Beth. “Thank god!” She turned to Pitus. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want it to end this way.”

“Come on! Let’s go!”

The women, together again for the first time since their ill-fated mission began, had no time to celebrate. They ran out the front door as the crowd neared, then turned and sprinted down the street toward the edge of the village. Greta, still limping, slowed them down. The men followed, keeping a respectful distance.

“Dammit! They were supposed to be too scared to follow us,” Kate gasped as they ran. She didn’t say any more, but everyone knew what she meant. The bobsled would hold just three of them. With the men close on their heels, it would be nearly impossible for the last two women to hold them off long enough to make it to the first pod in order to blow it up.

“Hang on, I’ve got one charge left,” she shouted. Kate spotted the marker as they ran past the edge of the village. She looked back, gauging how close the crowd was, then thumbed the button. The blast, directly in front of them, was smaller this time, but it had the desired effect on the humanoids—for a few seconds, anyway. They paused, confused, and appeared to talk it over for a moment. Then they regrouped and came on.

“Don’t they ever get scared?” Greta gasped. She had doubts that she’d be able to run all the way to the pod.

They could see the pod in the distance now, across the flat plain. Only about two clicks away, Kate thought, her mind racing to figure out how they were going to pull this off.

“Listen!” She shouted over the sounds of their feet thumping the ground, their breaths rasping in their throats. “I’m going to stay behind with Ally! We’ll take all the phasers. You guys jump in and take off. We’ll met you at the site of the other pod.”

Beth had expected the captain to say something like this. “No, captain. You can’t stay. You have no rapport with these people. You wouldn’t last five minutes.”

“She’s right,” Jorja put in. “Beth and I have the best chance.” She looked over at the doctor and as if on a silent signal, they stopped running.

The others slowed and turned. “Come on! They’re gaining on us!” Greta shouted, even as the gap between them widened.

“No, we’ll stay and give you time to get away,” Jorja said. “Here. Take my phaser. I wouldn’t want to violate the Prime Directive.” She tossed it to Ally.

Kate wanted to order them to keep running, but she knew they were right.

“All right. We’ll come back for you. Run in another direction, try to make the trees.”

“No,” Beth said. “I’m a doctor and an anthropologist. I’m going to stay until the next ship arrives, in about a year.”

“Me too,” Jorja said. “They respect me as a fighter. Together Beth and I can learn a lot from these people.”

There was no time to argue. “All right,” Kate said, knowing this was a very brave and selfless act. Tears came to her eyes. “But I’m putting you both on report.” Jorja and Beth grinned. Then the captain and the others turned and ran off.

Beth and Jorja stood facing the approaching crowd. The doctor was glad to see Niktus among the pursuers. Jorja recognized Keltar. In seconds, they were surrounded.

“Don’t chase them, they will kill you with their lightning sticks!” Beth shouted. “We will stay with you.”

“I will fight any man here,” Jorja declared, shouting out the first thing that came to her mind. “Unless you are afraid of a slave woman?”

A man lunged at her, she side-stepped and used his momentum to throw him to the ground. Keltar ran up and kicked the fallen man. “How dare you attack my fighter? This woman belongs to me! She has no right to fight without my permission!”

The distraction worked. The men stood, breathing hard and looking confused. Some stared at the three retreating woman with great interest.

“You can’t let them get away!” A man at the edge of the crowd shouted. A handful of humanoids took off after the trio.

Another man, facing Niktus, waved a finger in his face. “These slaves need to be punished!”

“I will take care of my slave, as I am sure Keltar will deal with his fighter,” he said coldly. “I would not tell you how to treat your slaves.”