The Helavite War, Page 3

  Chapter 7

  The dar-dolf had on a metal harness. The harness was attached to a chain. The chain was attached to a gun mount on the planet pod and the pod was rocking with each of Kay-o's lunges. Jake thought he had better get them acquainted fast before the damn beast broke a landing prod off the ship.

  Jake knew he had one major advantage in the task. This particular dar-dolf would do anything for a treat. He was one of the biggest munch mouth's Jake had ever seen. It just so happened Kay-o didn't find the stash aboard the cruiser of his favorite treat, Red Raspberry Goo Chews. These were a sickening sweet, stick to your teeth confection, which Jake happened to find repulsive himself though they were made for human consumption.

  Jake gave Arr a handful of the candy. He placed the boy a few feet in front of the snarling dar-dolf.

  "Now, every time he growls at you just toss him a piece."

  A bag and a half of Goo Chews and an hour later the dar-dolf was eating out of Arr's hand. Good thing the enemy didn't know the secret to Kay-o's heart.

  "Now remember, Kay-o is a working dar-dolf. He's not a pet. You go makin' him a pet and he'll become a pansy. You can exercise him, I'll show you how, but don't play with him. If he rough houses with you make sure you come out on top or he'll take to pushing you around. He has to know you're boss. You lose control of a dar-dolf and you've got trouble with a capital 'T'".

  "Yes Jake." Arr patted Kay-o on the head and slipped him another treat. Kay-o slobbered all over his hand then nuzzled his palm for more.

  "That's all," Arr said, as he showed his empty palms to the dar-dolf.

  Jake released Kay-o and without any more Goo Chews to hold his attention he wandered off to wreak havoc on the countryside.

  Jake figured it was about time to teach Arr how to use a weapon a little more lethal than a foraging knife. He went to the cockpit of the pod and brought out the extra blaster he'd brought down from the cruiser. He was a firm believer that a person should know a gun and its potential thoroughly before ever firing it. This credo had been ingrained in him by his father.

  Jake proceeded to show Arr the peculiarities of a Class II Blaster. The Class II wasn't as powerful as a Class III, but it was a damn sight lighter and a lot easier to use. He demonstrated the three power settings on some innocent bushes, switched it back to low, and then handed it over to Arr.

  *****

  The weapon felt warm in his hand. Arr held it tightly so he would not drop it. The gun was very heavy. Arr hadn't really understood Jake's introduction to the blaster. Things like laser power and radiant levels made little sense to his less than technical mind, but he was impressed by Jake's demonstration. After Jake set up a target a few yards away he gave Arr the okay to open fire.

  *****

  The kid was a darn good shot. Sure, the first few blasts went wild. They had a tree limb almost fall on their heads. More than a few fish in the lake got boiled, but after he got the feel of it he was right on target at least three out of four tries. Must be those eyes helping him out, Jake thought. If he practiced every day for a month or so and if Jake taught him some evasive maneuvers, he'd be able to hold his own in a good skirmish. Course shooting at a tree stump was quite a bit different from shooting at another being. Why, when Arr first found out Jake was feeding him meat in those stews while he was healing, he almost choked. The kid was a vegetarian, never killed anything. It didn't take him long to come around though. The boy liked the taste of meat. He took to hunting like a Tuldavian Swamp Lizard took to mud trapping. Jake decided Arr would do fine. The mercenary would just have to bring him along slow. The kid had a lot of catching up to get to Jake's time line.

  Chapter 8

  Jake stepped out on the small platform in front of the tree house. The leaves crunched beneath his feet. The morning air had a smell of fall in it. Where had the time gone? How long had he been here? Four maybe five months, or was it more like six? The time passed so fast for him. Teaching the boy had become Jake's pet project.

  After Arr learned how to use the blaster to Jake's satisfaction the mercenary started teaching him hand-to-hand combat. The kid was a great one for fighting with what was at hand, picking up rocks and sticks to throw. Jake kept reminding Arr he had a blaster strapped to his leg, to use it, that was what it was for. If Jake ever succeeded in grabbing the Henu he would have been able to break him in two. The kid was built real slight. However, getting your hands on him was the trick. Arr was fast, agile beyond even making a comparison to humans. Jake would try to surprise the boy in mock attacks, but he only got the best of him once when they were in the tree house and Arr didn't have enough room to maneuver.

  When the hand-to-hand combat grew old Jake thought it was time to introduce Arr to space travel. Jake wanted another look at that communication panel without a companion starved dar-dolf looking over his shoulder. Landing at a Refitting Station would be difficult if they had no way to get clearance.

  Jake strapped Arr in the passenger seat of the pod. Strapping in wasn't really necessary, the pod had its own gravity, but he didn't know what the reaction would be of a person that had never been in space. It turned out for the best. If Arr hadn't been belted in Jake would have needed to scrape him off the ceiling. When the boy finally calmed down he rode the remainder of the trip white knuckled to the cruiser. Jake could hear his teeth grinding with each change in velocity or direction. Later, the kid tried to cover for his loss of control by saying he was surprised. That wasn't surprise Jake saw. It was pure panic.

  On board ship Jake introduced the computer to Arr. He gave it orders to accept Secondary Level Commands from the boy in an emergency. The kid wanted to know where the female was hiding. Even after Jake explained that the voice was a computer Arr kept looking suspiciously in all the bulk head doorways and under the furniture. Jake finally sat him down at a terminal. He told the computer to read him the English dictionary and left them to check on the communication panel. Now Arr spoke better English then Jake.

  Jake looked at the golden leaves just out of reach above his head. There was really no reason to stay any longer. He had done the best he could to prepare the kid for his world. It was going to be a shock no matter how long he kept talking; trying to get the boy to visualize what it was like. They might as well leave before winter set in.

  Chapter 9

  Arr gazed out the rear viewport of the cruiser. Jake announced they were leaving yesterday. Today, Arr was watching his home planet grow smaller by the moment as they pulled away headed to the Refitting Station.

  They would have left yesterday if Jake had his way, but Arr needed time to adjust to the idea. The planet was all he really knew for certain. However, his bond with Jake won. Here he was aboard the ship headed into space.

  The trip up in the planet pod was a little less traumatic this time. The last time when Jake started to strap him in his seat he had an almost uncontrollable urge to hit Jake and run for the trees. He had never been restrained before. He succeeded in talking himself back into a calmer frame of mind by reminding himself that he trusted Jake. He knew Jake would do nothing to hurt him. All the same, it was a horrible experience that Arr was not looked forward to repeating today. This time, he told Jake he didn't need to be belted in. When Jake started to argue with him, Arr growled. Arr had never growled at him before. To growl was considered juvenile in Henu society for an adult, but it was a last resort to make the point clear. He wasn't going to be bound, again. He still felt uncomfortable during the flight, as though the walls of the pod were closing in, but he survived. He was happy to find once again that being on the larger cruiser didn't seem to bother him at all. Arr was just coming to the realization that it was the size of the space he was in that made the difference, not space travel.

  He took one last look at the diminishing planet. Arr had the fleeting thought he would miss the snow. There was no snow on the east side of the mountains where Nor and Arr made their home, but Nor's stories of playing in it kept it fresh in their minds. The sno
w was one of the few things he was looking forward to when he made the move back to the forest after Nor's death. He would miss seeing the snow.

  "You all right?" Jake called to him from the pilot platform.

  "Fine." Arr answered, coming forward to take the seat next to Jake's looking out the front viewport.

  There were so many stars up here. Jake explained on their last trip to the cruiser that most of them were other little planets similar to Arr's. Some were not as hospitable, some were uninhabited, some were nothing more than rock, but they all were large land masses not just dots of light in the sky. Arr tried to remember Raa's stories. They had more meaning now that he was in space himself. He wished he had listened more attentively to Nor. At the time it didn't seem important. Nor repeated himself so much that Arr learned to listen with only half an ear. Now he wondered if he had certain facts straight or if the tales were all jumbled in his head. Well, he would just have to make stories of his own to tell.

  Chapter 10

  Jake had forgotten how comfortable his own bed was. He rolled over, snuggled down further in his pillow and thought back to the events of Arr's first day in space.

  The trip started out badly. He was used to Kay-o growling at him. The dar-dolf was a short tempered beast, but when Arr growled at him it caught him totally off guard.

  Jake took a look at the onboard time line to get reoriented. He had been on the planet three and a half months. In that time, Jake started to think of the boy as a friend, almost like a younger brother. He admired the differences in the lad, but since Arr had taken to speaking English so well the fact that he was Henu and not human mostly stayed in the back of Jake's mind. It was only when he did something as un-human as growling, that it came back to Jake full force this was an alien being. The remainder of the flight up to the cruiser was tense. Once onboard Arr seemed to relax and Jake thought maybe the kid was claustrophobic. One thing he knew for sure he wouldn't ever try to strap him in again.

  Arr was still fascinated by the computer. With the boy talking to it Jake had more free time to get the cruiser back into good running order. Sure, the Refitting Station could do everything he was doing and more, but he liked to keep his hand in so he had a feel for how she was running.

  They took their meals on the pilot platform, today. Arr wanted to know all about the stars they passed. If Jake didn't have a story for a particular one, he made one up. He loved to pull the kid's leg. It was only just lately that Arr started to catch on. Jake read somewhere that when you understood a culture's sense of humor it was an indication that you spoke the language well.

  They would be two weeks getting to the Refitting Station that should give Arr time to adjust. Jake thought tomorrow he would show the kid some movies in the lounge. It was going to be a long ride and video viewing would educate as well as entertain. Jake would have to clear the room out. He hardly ever used it for viewing. Mostly he kept his extra weapons stashed there.

  Jake decided he liked having a sidekick. He and his dad had worked together for several years until his death. Jake had been alone a long while unless you counted Kay-o. It was good to have someone to talk with again. He had been by himself too long.

  Chapter 11

  About half way through their two week journey Arr felt the cruiser slow. He emerged from the viewing room squinting in the bright light of the hall. Jake was headed toward him with a broad grin on his face.

  "Come on, we're going shopping." He struck Arr amiably on the shoulder and continued on down the corridor to the pod bay.

  Jake put the Calpernia in orbit around a small planet he stopped at a few times before for supplies. The kid needed a full outfitting. Kay-o had taken to chewing his gloves again recently and Arr appeared restless. This would give them all an opportunity to stretch their legs. Jake loaded everybody in the pod and they headed down.

  They landed on the outskirts of town and hiked in to give the dar-dolf a good run. Arr was quiet. He didn't ask any questions, but he wasn't missing a thing. He was soaking up the landscape and the passing people like a sponge. As for the inhabitants of the planet they were used to aliens in their space. After all, the place was a Trading Post.

  Jake checked Kay-o into a cage at the Registrar's Office. He handed over his blaster and Arr's. If a port town was run right, like this one was, you checked in and left all lethal weapons at the gate.

  "I don't feed dar-dolfs," the Registrar commented with a curl of his lip.

  "I just fed him," Jake assured the registrar. "We'll make a point to be back by his next feeding time." No one other than a fool would mess with a dar-dolf that they didn't know firsthand. The Registrar gave them a claim chit and they headed off into town.

  Jake loved the hustle and bustle of a settlement. All the different sights of a Trading Post were like a quenching drink of purified water after a rough day on the battleground. Most of these towns had a variety of settlers from many different backgrounds. There was always a mingling of smells from the different culinary cultures. He loved the aroma of the bread baking, the meat roasting, and the smell of hard liquor that wafted from the bars as they passed.

  A drink was what Jake wanted - a cool glass of good aged whiskey. He couldn't remember the last time he had something stronger then that herb stuff Arr made. It would be interesting to see the kid's reaction to liquor.

  Chapter 12

  Arr was so anxious to escape the confines of the pod when it landed that he hardly noticed the faint smell in the air. However, the closer they got to the town the more unbearable the odor became. Every so often Arr would get a whiff of something that smelled good, food cooking or a female's scent as one passed, but then a breeze from the direction of the settlement would overpower it.

  It didn't seem to bother Jake. He was walking along smiling and nodding to people they passed, even speaking occasionally.

  The town literally reeked. By the time they reached it Arr felt physically ill. He was having a hard time concentrating on what was going on around him. Things and people he might have found fascinating were missed because of how awful he felt.

  Now, Jake had dragged him into a dark room full of loud people. The place smelled stale and burnt, with an underlying odor of warm bodies. Arr was going to vomit if he didn't get out, Now! He turned to run and collided with a being at least a head taller than Jake. The thing grabbed him and lifted him off the floor. It wouldn't let him go. It was talking a language unknown to Arr. It's warm, odorous breath, punctuated with spit, spilled over his face. Arr pulled his gathering knife from his boot, held it to the being's throat and demanded, "Let me pass!!"

  Chapter 13

  If it had not been for Jake's fast action Arr might have been killed.

  Jake observed the two armed Guardians sitting by the door as they came in the bar. He nodded at them amiably. These were part of the police force of the town, no-nonsense peacekeepers.

  One minute Arr was by his side as he was expounding the virtues of liquor to the kid. The next minute he was bolting for the door. When Arr pulled his knife on the Walhmite the Guardians came instantly to their feet. Jake had the fleeting realization that he'd missed disarming Arr of his knife. His having the weapon broke major laws in this society. His use of the knife could get him executed.

  Jake moved swiftly to Arr's back. He delivered a glancing blow that knocked Arr unconscious. Jake disarmed him before the Guardians could even draw their weapons.

  The next hour was spent in the detention compound with Jake trying to smooth it over with the police while Arr was in the facilities puking his guts out. The Guardians were not unreasonable. In fact, they were quite lenient. They only banned Jake and Arr from ever stopping at this Trade Post again. They were escorted to the Registrar's Office to pick up their weapons, Kay-o, and then taken to their ship. The Guardians waited to make sure their pod lifted off safely.

  Jake took his hat off, smoothed his hair and put it back on in that mannerism that had become so familiar to Arr.

  "Well,
I guess shopping will have to wait." He said in a frustrated tone, as he pointed the pod back toward the cruiser.

  Chapter 14

  Arr was lying on his bunk aboard ship. The room had stopped spinning and his stomach had finally settled down.

  Jake came in and leaned against the bulkhead, arms folded across his chest.

  "Okay, what was that all about?"

  Arr swung his feet around and came to a sitting position on the edge of the bed. The action made his head swim again. "I felt sick."

  "That's no excuse. Pulling a knife on a Walhmite is like attacking a grizzly bear with a toothpick," Jake stated quite matter-of-factly. "I thought I taught you better."

  "He wouldn't let me go," the kid said, in a sulking manner. "His breath smelled terrible. In fact the whole place reeked," Arr said, as if it made the whole thing understandable and justified his actions.

  Jake shook his head wearily, turned and left the room to go back to work. He had been checking the contacts on one of the mobile gun turrets aboard the ship before he stopped for their adventure on the planet. He did his best thinking while his hands were occupied and he had a lot of thinking to do.

  Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all, Jake thought. If the kid couldn't stand the smell of a sweet little place like Trade Post #1313, what would he do with a place that really stunk?

  What if he'd been stuck on Gligula like Jake was two years ago? Even he had a hard time dealing with the smell of the ankle deep slime that covered three fourths of that little pigsty. He had to fight in it for almost a solid week. Or what if Arr had been on Tila III when Jake had to work with that squad of mercenaries from Dorrinia? They all smelled like they'd never taken a bath and probably hadn't. No, if Arr was so sensitive to smells he'd never make it in Jake's world. What to do now was the question. He'd grown used to having the boy around. He would honestly miss him.

  *****