STARSHIP FOR RENT 2

  STARSHIP FOR RENT

  BOOK 2

  M.R. FORBES

  CHAPTER 1

  “You…” I snarled, my hands clenched into fists as I glared at the man who had killed my parents. Levain had called him Jaffie, the drunk driver who had fled the scene of the crash without a glance back at the devastation he had caused. Rage and grief warred within me, leaving me trembling where I stood. On one hand, I wanted to throw myself at the bastard, needing to take out all of my anger and pain on his ugly face. On the other hand, I wasn’t a violent person. Never had been. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I just wanted justice. I wanted to see this man pay for what he had done, not that it would bring my parents back.

  And finally, maybe most importantly, I wanted to know what had happened. Why had he slammed into us without even slowing down? Why had he run away? Didn’t he even care? I needed answers. Closure. A way to put all of this behind me, even if I could never forgive or forget.

  “You killed my parents,” I hissed, barely able to raise my voice above a whisper. “You ruined my life.”

  Jaffie's eyes widened in recognition as he stared back at me.

  Levain glanced between us, frowning. “Hold on a second. You two know each other?"

  "He killed my parents!" I shouted, pouring more strength into the accusation the second time. I pointed a shaking finger at him. "He ran a red light and plowed his SUV into our car! My parents died, while he ran away! How could you just leave them like that?”

  Jaffie stared back at me in infuriating silence. He didn’t have any good answers, and from his expression, I didn’t think he had any remorse, either. Whatever he was doing on Earth, wherever he had been going, we had just gotten in his way.

  “Geez,” Tyler uttered softly behind me. Ben’s eyes shifted between me, Jaffie, and Levain. Both he and Tyler had to be processing the unimaginable impossibility of this happening, the chain reaction of it from the crash itself to both Tyler’s and Ben’s actions afterward. One event heaped upon another.

  The tension came to a head with Levain’s sudden and rumbling chuckle. "Well how about that?” he said, sneering. “The Warden does have a twisted sense of humor after all."

  His reaction to everything I had gone through only served to bring every ounce of agony I had managed to bury bubbling to the surface in a nearly volcanic eruption. My heart and head pounded, my face burned, my clenched hands shook. Ben, trying to steady me, put a cautioning hand on my shoulder, but I angrily shoved it aside.

  Maybe I did want violence after all.

  "Go ahead," Levain said to me. "Get your revenge. Bash his brains in. Won't change anything that happened, but it might make you feel better for a minute or two.” He folded his arms across his massive chest. “Jaffie, take whatever beating he wants to dish out on you. We’ll wait.”

  I took a step toward Jaffie, who still didn’t bother to explain himself, much less apologize or even offer an excuse. He didn’t say anything at all. He just stared at me in smug silence, without guilt or remorse. But what the hell should I have expected? He was Levain’s right-hand man, likely an experienced hitman or assassin long before he killed my parents. What were two more notches on his belt, intentional or otherwise?

  “Noah,” Ben said softly behind me. “Trust me, you don’t want to be that guy.”

  “Right now, I do,” I growled back.

  “I know. And like Levain said, you’ll feel better for a minute or two, until the adrenaline fades and you realize what you’ve done. Then you’ll get hit with a different kind of guilt.”

  “Your friend is wise beyond his years,” Levain added. “You look like a good kid. You’re better off not getting your hands dirty if you can avoid it. Besides, making Jaffie into a punching bag is exactly what the Warden wants, or he wouldn’t have sent you here in the first place.” He shook his head. “Arrogant bastard.”

  Despite my anger, their words managed to navigate through my emotions and into my logical brain. I hesitated. They were right. Violence now would only lead to regret later. I didn't want to let my rage control me. As much as I hated Jaffie and what he had done, nothing would bring my parents back or undo what had happened.

  “I want justice. He needs to go back to Earth. To face the music for what he did. The police are looking for him. He needs to turn himself in.”

  Levain snorted. "Hate to break it to you kid, but out here in Warexia, might makes right. And there’s no way I’m sending him back to Earth to deal with your justice system. You want justice? Smack him in the face here and now. Otherwise, suck it up and move on.”

  “It’s not that easy,” I replied. The initial shock and surge of adrenaline started to subside, the wave of anger pulling back with it and leaving me shaking with sadness and grief, chilled to the bone in the wake of Jaffie’s actions. “I just want to know why you didn’t try to stop,” I squeezed out, fighting with everything in me to keep from falling apart.

  Ben’s hand returned to my shoulder. This time, I didn’t bat it away. Tears sprang to my eyes, but I kept them glued on Jaffie, waiting for his answer.

  He responded by lowering his helmet back over his face, now that he knew I wouldn’t take advantage of Levain’s offer to let me beat him to a pulp.

  “What was he doing on Earth in the first place?” Ben asked, my attention finally shifting to Levain once the face I hated so much was out of sight.

  “What business of yours is that?” Levain replied. “Jaffie’s my right-hand man. He runs errands for me all the time.”

  “What kind of business could you possibly have on Earth?” Ben pressed. “And don’t tell me you send him on beer runs.”

  Levain chuckled again. “Did you know over half the species in Warexia originated from Earth? The root of the family tree, so to speak. I’ve spent most of my life tracing the ancestry and history, trying to understand how Warexia came to be what it is. Mapping out the origins of the Warden. Not that it’s really any business of yours. What I know is that somehow the seeds from Earth were scattered across the universe, and they evolved into beings like myself who are genetically different, yet compatible with beings like yourself because we all came from the same source. I believe that if I can isolate that source, I can pinpoint exactly who or what the Warden is.”

  “To what end?”

  “That should be self-evident, even to a smooth-brain like yourself. The only way any of us will ever be completely free of the Warden is to stop him. But how do you fight something you don’t understand?”

  “It shouldn’t be that hard,” Tyler said. “Dude has a spaceship. Blow up the spaceship and poof! No more Warden.”

  Levain huffed. “You don’t get it, do you? I suppose the Warden intercepted you when you entered Warexia. But that ship was just one of an unknown number. And the ships are likely extensions of him, not the real deal.”

  “Clones,” Ben said.

  “Clones,” Levain agreed. “Or something like that. Nobody knows where the real Warden is.”

  “What if we help you find him?” Tyler said. “We just want to get back to Earth. You obviously know how to get us there. We could team up.”

  “Are you kidding?” Levain said. “You know zip about Warexia and only slightly more than that about the Warden. You’d be about as useful as a third nipple.”

  “You should give us a chance,” I said, breaking out of my funk. “We might surprise you.”

  “Doubtful.”

  “Your man killed my parents,” I pointed out. “You owe us.”

  Levain laughed. “I don’t owe you jack, kid. I gave you a chance to get your revenge. The moment’s passed. You’re lucky I’m still chit-chatting, instead of having Jaffie finish what he started back on Earth.”

  The callous comment renewed my fury in an instant. “What did you just say?” I growled.

  “You’re way out of your league here,” Levain replied, unimpressed with my anger. “You delivered your message. I’m sure the Warden got a couple of laughs in, though I bet he’s disappointed in the final outcome. Take your indignation and get out of here before I change my mind.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but Ben squeezed my shoulder. “Come on, Noah. It’s time to go.”

  “Just like that?” I replied. “What about him?” I thrust my finger toward Jaffie. “He killed my parents. Are there are no consequences?” I looked at Levain. “You won’t even give us a chance to earn our way home?”

  “Sounds about right,” Levain answered. “Them’s the breaks, kid.”

  My anger ebbed away a second time, deflating me like an old balloon and leaving me totally and emotionally drained. I just wanted to get off this insane ride before I went absolutely nuts myself. “Fine,” I said. “You’re right. We should go.”

  I turned away from Jaffie and Levain, glancing at Tyler before taking a step toward the door. His expression remained fierce, filled with compassion and loyalty. I could tell he hated this outcome as much as I did, but there was nothing any of us could do.

  Or so I thought.

  Jaffie suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream unlike anything I’d ever heard. Confused, I whirled back around to see the Aleal, its long, barbed tendrils, burrowed through the faceplate of Jaffie’s helmet. I hadn’t even felt it crawl out of my pocket to attack him. Its body flattened across the helmet’s entire faceplate. Jaffie reached up, trying in vain to claw the colony away as it burrowed hungrily through the front of the helmet and finally disappeared inside. We heard a wet squelch and
then crunching noises when the Aleal plunged its appendages up Jaffie’s nose and into his brain.

  The man collapsed, his fingers still scrabbling at the front of his helmet, his hands shaking like leaves in the breeze. Ben, Tyler, and I all stood frozen in horror at what I had unknowingly unleashed when the Aleal sensed my distress.

  It was over faster than I expected. Jaffie convulsed a couple of times before going still, his arms flopping down on the floor. The Aleal reappeared right after, slipping out of the hole in the man’s helmet, its normally clear composition discolored by blood and brain matter. It shot across the floor toward me, apparently planning to return to its place in my pocket as if nothing had happened.

  “What the hell was that?” Levain bellowed, furious at me for Jaffie’s sudden death. "You little bastard! How dare you!" He leaped to his feet and pushed the already broken desk aside with a single, effortless swat that sent it crashing into the wall. Hands clenched in bowling ball-sized fists, he lumbered like a raging bull toward me, ready to kill, His face beet red, he reached for me.

  Levain’s office door suddenly flew open, crashing into the bookcase adjacent to it. “Uh, guys!” Tyler shouted, drawing everyone’s attention but Levain’s to the Crimson guards rushing through the open doorway, their rifles immediately zeroing in on us.

  “I’m going to crush you all!” Levain roared, bringing my eyes back to him. He shoved Ben aside, sending him tumbling across the floor, and then Levain grabbed the front of my shirt in one beefy hand. I cringed, bracing myself as he lifted me off my feet and drew his other massive fist back to pile-drive it into my face. “Good riddance you little pain in the ass! Tell your parents I said hi,” he shouted, his spittal showering my face as his fist started forward.

  It would have been the end of me if not for the Aleal. It charged him, unimpressed by the man’s hulking size.

  The robot guards opened up, all of their firepower suddenly redirected at the tiny creature. The Aleal skipped this way and that as plasma bolts chewed up the floor all around it.

  Before Levain could administer his fatal blow, a shiny metallic blur smashed him in the side of the face, the lethal impact audibly shattering his jaw and snapping his head back as if he’d been struck by a wrecking ball. I hit the floor, shocked and confused as I watched what was a shiny silver fist zip back to Tyler’s wrist—to where his hand should have been but wasn’t—as if it were connected by an invisible tether.

  It spun, clicked and whirred. Plates slid smoothly back into place at his wrist until it once more resembled an ordinary hand. Tyler’s eyes lifted to mine, and we stared at each other in disbelief.

  “Tee, what the hell?" I finally managed.

  CHAPTER 2

  My gaze bounced from Tyler's fist to the robots and from there to Levain, my astonished brain struggling to process it all as he released a bellow of pained outrage and staggered backward, clutching his mangled face. He crashed into the bookshelf behind him, rocking it and knocking down several volumes before sliding to the floor himself.

  Dark blood oozed between his pudgy fingers, dripping onto the once pristine carpet. The Aleal scuttled after him, its tendrils flailing. "Get that thing!" he garbled through shattered teeth and bone.

  The robots responded, driving the Aleal back in a barrage of plasma crossfire. A bolt sizzled past my foot, scorching the floor. As I scrambled away, heart in my throat, Ben grabbed my sleeve and hauled me toward Tyler. The Aleal shot across the room, racing under the remains of Levain’s desk. Ignoring us, the bots charged after it, their bolts chewing through the fractured wood.

  Ben pulled me down beside Tee where he hid behind an overturned armchair. "What...how...?" he gestured wordlessly at Tyler’s miraculously reattached fist.

  "Beats me! I just reacted without thinking and suddenly...bam! Rocket punch!” Tyler flexed his once-more-human fingers. “It’s like something out of a video game or anime!”

  “The Warden’s boon,” I said, remembering when he had announced how he had randomly granted one of us an unknown gift. Could this be it? Nothing else made sense.

  Before I could speculate further, the office windows exploded in shards of flying glass. “Down!” Ben shouted as yellow and red robots—copies of the ones that had ambushed us in the alley—swung in through the shattered windows on wire tethers.

  My pulse pounded. Fear and confusion knotted my insides. I could barely think as plasma bolts lit up the room in a hellish glow. Unarmed, like turtles pulling into the safety of their shells, all we could do was throw our arms over our heads and bury our faces in the carpet.

  From behind the wreckage of his desk, Levain roared curses as he pulled a hand cannon from beneath his suit jacket and opened fire on the attacking bots. His bots gave up on the Aleal and followed his lead, going after the yellow machines. Unfortunately, they were badly outnumbered, and the situation deteriorated in a hurry.

  One by one, Levain’s crimson robots fell until only Levain remained. Smoldering holes peppered his body, scorch marks marring his thick, leathery skin, but impossibly, none of the wounds bled profusely or seemed to slow him down.

  "Is he a freaking terminator?" Tyler gaped at our adversary’s resilience.

  "We need to get out of here, now!" Ben cried. With the crimson guards defeated and Levain taking a beating, it was only a matter of time before the attacking bots turned on us. Scrambling up, he hauled us toward the exit and whatever dubious safety the corridor beyond might offer. We covered only a few feet before the tattered carpet snagged my feet. Arms flailing, I sprawled face down, embarrassed by my clumsy tumble. Before I could push myself back up, gleaming metal fingers closed around my bicep and snatched me off the floor like I was nothing more than a rag doll.

  “Not just good for punching!” Tyler steered me toward the exit while Ben used a minimal burst of chaos energy to pull a rifle from one of the downed crimson guards. It flew through the air into his waiting hands, and he laid down covering fire for our escape back through the round portal. My last look at Levain was as a smoldering, white-suited mountain on the floor, still absorbing plasma fire, the yellow robots seeking to ensure he wouldn’t get back up.

  I could only guess. Had the Warden orchestrated this chaos?

  Thankfully, the corridor was significantly less chaotic, most of the action still concentrated inside the office. We knew it wouldn’t stay that way for long. Ben slammed the door's control panel to close the portal and blasted the panel. Hopefully, the puff of sparks and smoke would leave it sealed.

  "That won't hold them long; we need to get to the elevator,” Ben panted, checking the rifle’s charge level. “Only fourteen percent. It’s better than nothing. Are you two ready?” Tyler and I both nodded. “T-Bone, if anyone comes up behind us, smash them with that rocket fist of yours.”

  “Gladly,” Tyler replied.

  We raced toward the elevator. My heart pounded, straining for more oxygen. A tickle against my ribs drew my attention downward, and I watched in surprise as the Aleal vanished back into my pocket, its trailing tendrils noticeably larger than before. I wasn’t sure I still wanted it hanging around after what it had done to Jaffie, but better in my pocket than hugging my face.

  We skidded to a halt at the closed elevator doors. Desperately, I stabbed the call button over and over while Ben stood there at the ready in case the yellow bots broke through the office door and charged us.

  “Hurry!” Tyler cried, bouncing from one foot to another, casting nervous looks from the dark lift panel back over his shoulder to the locked door and back again. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know. Nothing’s happening.” The lift panel remained infuriatingly unresponsive.

  Ben glanced back at the panel. “Levain must have locked out the controls when we arrived!”

  I slammed my fist against the cold metal in frustration. “We need to find the stairs.”

  “I think I saw them back that way,” Tyler said, pointing back to the way we had come into the building. We reversed course, Tyler leading our furious sprint back up the hallway. We rounded the corner just as the yellow bots forced the office door open, one of them stepping into the open portal to hold it open so the others could duck beneath it. The first one out quickly swung its rifle toward us.