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Lomax
Once off the ship, I set the female on her feet. “Don’t try to run,” I threatened, channeling the pang of discomfort into a warning scowl.
The female jumped when a loud shriek pierced the blanket of heavy, humid air. We’d landed in a denuded field surrounded by thick jungle. I could not imagine there could be any civilization here.
“Where are we?” Inexplicably, I slipped into Terran Universal.
“Mnemonia,” Seeher replied in the same language.
“The planet inhabited by telepathic beings?” I asked.
“Telepathy is one of their many psi-powers. The speech coach I told you about lives here. He will prepare you for your presentation.”
“Don’t believe her. She’s lying! She brought you here to brainwash you some more,” the human said.
“Silence!” Seeher jabbed her with the stunner. The human cried out and fell to the ground, convulsing in pain from the paralyzing shock.
“There was no need to do that.” Inappropriate sympathy burst out of me before I realized what I was saying. Of course, disobedience had to be punished. “My apologies,” I corrected myself. “I misspoke.”
“Yes, you did. I trust that won’t happen again…not after today,” she said with a cryptic smile. “Carry her. When she is able, make her walk.” She holstered the stun stick, unclipped and checked her handheld, and then headed for the mountain covered by overgrown, dense vegetation.
The female’s slight weight was no burden at all; she posed no physical danger. But her resistance, her refusal to submit and accept the truth threatened us all.
Her body quivered with involuntary muscular contractions, and drool dribbled from the corner of her mouth. Her eyes looked scared. She had good reason to be afraid. One did not need to be a seer to predict it wasn’t going to end well for her. But there was nothing I could do to alter the inevitable outcome. If she wasn’t for us, then she was against us. Threats had to be eliminated.
Still, vestiges of sympathy remained. “If you know what’s good for you, you won’t speak out of turn again,” I murmured as I strode after Seeher. Silence wouldn’t save her, but it would buy her a little more time.
The human knew not of what she spoke anyway; her accusations had no basis in truth. Her wild assertion of brainwashing was a desperate attempt to confuse me, sway me to her side. I hadn’t been coerced in any way. I made my own decisions. I’d voluntarily joined the Galactic Justice Warriors because they were right. Through chaos, the planets of the galaxy would come together as one, and all deserving aliens would know justice and equity.
Seeher stopped to study her handheld. I surveyed the mountain. Rising straight up out of the jungle, it was covered by an impenetrable tangle of vines, roots, and foliage so thick nobody could walk through it, let alone live in it. Not people anyway. The screeches, howls, and buzzing indicated the jungle teemed with animal and insect life.
Seeher motioned to the right. “According to the map my contact provided, there is a path to the temple this way.”
There was indeed a trail hacked out of the jungle, just wide enough to hike single file.
With unusual alacrity, Seeher dove up the jungle path. Still carrying my burden, I followed. Trees, bushes, vines, grasses in every shade of green covered every exdat of mountainside, except for the steep path snaking through the middle of it. Branches and vines cast out tendrils threatening to hook my horns. Seeher had flattened her antennas to avoid getting caught.
Overhead, the leafy canopy allowed only trickles of sunlight to filter down, turning day to dusk.
Woody roots popping out of the rough trail menaced the unwary.
“Can you walk now?” I asked. I had no worries the human could escape. Seeher was in front. I blocked the rear. Dense thicket protected our flanks. She was boxed in.
“I think so.”
“Watch your footing.” Setting her on her feet, I nudged her forward a little harder than necessary, discomfited by the realization I missed holding her. “Follow Seeher.”
This was no gentle stroll, but a steep thigh-burning climb despite the many switchbacks attempting to level it out. Insects buzzed, and unseen animals howled and screeched in a cacophony of noise. The humidity gave weight to the misty air. Water dewed on oversized fronds, dripped from trees, and slid down vines, adding to the wetness. My fur quickly became unpleasantly damp. Arasetans did not like water, and I was no exception. But, for the cause, I would tolerate the dampness—and the smell. Wet earth and decaying leaves combined into a pungent, primal odor.
A ropy vine caught my horns, nearly yanking me off my feet. I flailed, trying to get free, but only further entangled myself.
“Stay still. Let me help you.” The human rushed to my aid, freeing me of the vine but hampering me with guilt. This doesn’t change anything.
“Go,” I ordered. She could have run. Why didn’t she?
I stomped behind her, swatting branches and vines.
I had expected the planet to be more civilized. There had to be cities—or at least hamlets. Every world had its undeveloped areas, but why would an advanced, intelligent race build a temple in a location so difficult to get to?
