Invaders: Dreadnought Ocelot (Invaders Series Book 4) Read online

  “Aha,” I said, snapping my fingers, “the dead basilisks. I should have checked there first.”

  The two corpses wore leather harnesses. I searched and found a cutting tool on one. He had fallen on it, the reason I hadn’t seen it earlier. I wouldn’t call it a knife, but something closer to a tomahawk. I slid it from a loop holder and used the edge to slice off supple leather strips from a harness.

  Hurrying to Ailuros, I rolled her onto her stomach and tied her wrists behind her back. Just to be safe, I tied her ankles tight, too.

  She moaned and began to twist.

  I jumped away from her, picking up the steel tomahawk as I did.

  Ailuros rolled onto her back and stared at me balefully. “Untie me this instant,” she demanded.

  “I should kill you just to be on the safe side,” I replied.

  She eyed the tomahawk in my hand, noticed the dead basilisks on the floor and studied me anew. “You’ve made me your captive. What do you plan next? Will you force me to pleasure you?”

  “That’s the spirit,” I said.

  “I make a better friend than enemy, Logan.”

  I turned away, went to the pilfered basilisk corpse and cut off more leather. This I tied around my waist, slipping the tomahawk into the loop holder.

  “You look like a veritable savage,” Ailuros said with seeming approval. “You’ve stormed my station and taken control. I’m impressed. You are a natural. Now, it is time to take the reward for your prowess.”

  I regarded her. In sitting up, she made a provocative image. If one ignored her face—

  I chuckled.

  “What?” she snapped.

  I shook my head. I doubt she wanted to hear what I’d just thought. Her vanity was much too inflated for that.

  “I want some clothes to wear,” I said.

  Her gaze roved over me. “Truly, you don’t need them.”

  I muttered under my breath and made another search throughout the chamber, but failed to find anything useful once more. This was getting ridiculous. A jockstrap would have been better than what I had now.

  “Logan,” Rax called from where I’d set him on the floor.

  I ran back to find Ailuros sliding closer to him. I hurried and snatched Rax off the floor.

  “Cut my bonds,” she demanded. “They’re too restrictive.”

  “I might. First, I want some clothes.”

  “Fine,” she said. “Go down the corridor, turn left and count the hatches. Enter the third one to your left. There are clothes in there.”

  “We’re both going.”

  “Look,” she said, raising her bound feet. “How can I walk like this?”

  “All right, hold still,” I said.

  She lowered her feet as I approached. I took out the tomahawk, grasped one of her feet and sawed off the bonds. The instant the leather parted, she scooted forward and snap-kicked me in the face with one of her feet.

  I stumbled backward, dropping the tomahawk as pain blossomed in my nose. I shook my head, rubbed my eyes and hurried to her. She’d slid forward and tried to pick up the fallen tomahawk with her bound hands behind her back.

  I snatched up the tomahawk, sliding it into my belt.

  “Get up,” I said.

  She shook her head.

  I jumped behind her, grabbed a biceps and hauled her upward.

  “Stop,” she said. “That hurts.”

  “It’ll hurt more if you don’t get on your feet.”

  With a kick of her legs, she used a gymnast’s move, landing on her feet like a cat as her torso shot upward. She turned and regarded me with contempt, her back straight and proud.

  “Show me the hatch you were talking about,” I said.

  She raised her chin and headed out our hatch, striding with seductive grace and swaying just so.

  I needed some clothes and fast. Otherwise, I was going to lose my resolve and do what I should not.

  I remember as a kid that I’d been forced to go to Sunday school. There, I’d heard the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. He’d been a Hebrew household slave to an Egyptian master and the man’s wife had wanted Joseph to secretly sleep with her. Joseph had declined her entreaties each time. Finally, she had cornered him alone in the house and demanded that he sleep with her. Joseph had run away, although she’d had hold of his cloak and it had ripped free. Later, with the cloak as evidence, she’d told Potiphar that Joseph had tried to rape her, but she had screamed and he’d run—the fury of a woman scorned, I suppose. Joseph had found himself in prison afterward, put there by Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard.

  The Sunday school teacher had told us boys that fleeing sexual temptation like that was likely the hardest thing any Biblical hero had ever done. One should do like Joseph and run away from a seductress because over time, a man’s resistance would be worn down until he succumbed to her.

  I was beginning to think my old Sunday school teacher had a point. Because as I watched Ailuros sway in front of me, I was becoming more and more tempted to take her up on her offer. At the very least, I needed some pants. Then I needed her to wear more so I wouldn’t leer at her all the time. Maybe if she hadn’t been Argon’s wife—

  “No,” I said to myself. It was happening. I was losing the battle to resist her charms. I told myself she’d feast on me alive or turn me into a basilisk. I had more self-control than that, right?

  She glanced back over her shoulder. “Something wrong?” she asked with a smirk.

  “Faster,” I said, using a deeper pitch.

  “What is it, Logan?” Rax asked quietly. “It sounds as if you’re worried.”

  “Faster,” I said, yanking the tomahawk from its loop.

  “You’ll chop me if I delay?” Ailuros asked.

  I strode toward her.

  She dared me with her eyes.

  I turned the tomahawk and with the flat of it swatted her hard across the butt.

  She cried out and jumped forward.

  “Faster,” I said, “or I’ll swat you again.”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” she said imperiously.

  I made to swat her again, and she cried out a second time, increasing her pace. She looked back, and I hurried forward to swat. She ran then, and I followed close behind.

  Something told me I was enjoying this far too much. I grinned, and I should have been looking around instead of watching her run.

  “Logan!” Rax said.

  Three basilisks stepped around a corridor.

  “Kill him!” Ailuros cried.

  Their forehead lenses immediately begin to shine.

  Without thinking it through, I heaved the tomahawk like a regular Daniel Boone. It whirled end over end until the blade thudded against one of the lenses, sending that basilisk staggering back as he howled in agony.

  The other two beamed me.

  I danced out of the way as their beams caused the floor to smoke. With an oath, I drew the dainty blaster tucked under my leather belt. I fired, the milky beam striking one of them in the chest, and then the other.

  The effect was startling. Their beams quit as the forehead lenses turned a dull color. Each sagged. I fired again, beaming until they both collapsed onto the floor.

  My shoulders slumped, as I was going to live after all. Then, I realized that Ailuros had fled and was nowhere in sight.

  -18-

  “Can you sense her whereabouts?” I shouted at Rax.

  “Affirmative,” the crystal said.

  “Guide me,” I said, wrenching the tomahawk free of the lens and then taking off in a sprint. I ran down the corridors after her. Rax shouted “right” and “left” at the appropriate intersections. I was badly winded before I caught the first glimpse of her turning into a different corridor.

  I saved my breath, deciding that calling out would only give her warning. She had threatened to blind me and cut out my tongue. This wasn’t just a playful little game. She had put me on the conveyer and tried to send me into the Synthesizer. I mi
ght very well end up a basilisk after all if I didn’t catch her soon.

  I sprinted around a corridor and heaved the tomahawk. It whirled in flight until the blade thudded against a bulkhead. Ailuros squealed, spinning around.

  I drew the dainty blaster, aiming it at her.

  The woman’s sides heaved until she put her hands on her knees and panted.

  Sweat stung my eyes, and I felt like teaching her a lesson she would never forget. If Rax hadn’t been here—I wiped sweat out of my eyes. What was I thinking? I had to get full control of the situation or I was never going to—

  “Logan,” Rax said. “Notice, she has run to the main Stasis Chamber.”

  “I thought you didn’t know the station layout,” I said.

  “I told you I don’t know all of it, but I know some. How else could I have managed your rescue earlier?”

  I nodded, causing sweat to drip off my chin.

  “Open the hatch,” I said, the blaster aimed at her wonderful midsection.

  She faced the hatch and reached for the embedded tomahawk.

  I touched the trigger, and a momentary milky beam lanced against her reaching hand. She cried out, snatching the hand away, cradling it against her stomach and staring at me in shock.

  “You dared to fire at me?” she breathed.

  “Yup,” I said. “Open the hatch, and no tricks this time.”

  She caused the hatch to rise, and I half expected her to leap through as the steel hatch clanged shut behind her.’

  I hurried near as she moved into a mid-sized chamber. In seconds, I, too, was in a chamber of coffins.

  When I say coffins, I meant large metal containers with life-support systems hooked to them. They were laid out in rows with strange symbols etched onto the lid of each. Of all the stasis units, only one had an open lid.

  “Is that one yours?” I asked, using the blaster to point.

  “I do not wish to lie in it again,” Ailuros said in a plaintive voice.

  “You should have thought of that sooner,” I said.

  “It is not too late to change things between us, Logan. I could make you—”

  “Stow it,” I said. “Climb into the unit, or I’ll freeze you with the blaster and put you in there myself.”

  “I would wake up damaged if you did that.”

  “That’s no skin off my nose,” I said.

  Her eyes flashed, and she half crouched with clenched fists. “You would do this to me after I have offered you so much?”

  “No more delay,” I said. “If you ever wake up, you can enact your revenge against me then. Today, you’ve lost the fight.”

  She hissed, and I wondered if she would charge me. No, she turned and headed for the coffin. She moved slowly and hesitated twice. Finally, she reached the edge and looked back at me.

  Unable to contain myself, to rub it in just a little, I said, “Argon will be pleased with you for maintaining your virtue.”

  She flinched as if slapped, climbed into the coffin and lay down in it.

  “Can you activate the thing?” I whispered to Rax.

  “Not yet,” the crystal said.

  I advanced to the stasis unit and stared down at Ailuros. She studied me.

  “Do you not wonder how I woke the basilisks?” she asked.

  “I’m going to close the lid,” I said. “Unless you tell me how the stasis unit works, I might accidentally kill you.”

  I think she understood that neither Rax nor I knew what to do. Maybe she thought I would kill her if I had no other options. Whatever the case, she told us how to engage the unit.

  “Goodbye, Ailuros,” I said. “It’s been a hoot.”

  “Goodbye, Warrior.”

  Under Rax’s direction, who had listened better than I had, I punched in the code on the lid. It slid shut, sealing Ailuros in the unit. Seconds later, the unit must have activated. I could see her face through a small window in the lid. Her eyes closed and I noticed as a cloud of gas rolled into the sleep unit. She relaxed, and it seemed as if she was in a deep sleep like Sleeping Beauty.

  Had our legends of that come from ancient stasis units? Wouldn’t that be a kick if it were so?

  The point here is that I felt a weight leave my shoulders. I also felt cheated of a fantastic lay. I could have—

  “No,” I said. “That would have been a mistake.”

  Still, doing the right thing wasn’t always the fun thing. I’d seen so many movies where the hero used the beautiful woman, bedding her. What the movies failed to show was the real repercussions later. What were those repercussions, you ask? I haven’t the foggiest notion. I imagine they were different for each man.

  My point—maybe trying to convince myself of it—was that libertine behavior, any behavior, really, came with strings attached. Nothing was free in this world, not even screwing a willing slut.

  Maybe if I ever did get married, I would be glad I hadn’t acted like a beast of the field and rutted simply because I’d had the opportunity. If that was true, why did I feel as if I’d missed a golden chance?

  Maybe all life was a matter of the body, mind and spirit battling for control of self. One part would win, disappointing the other parts.

  “Are you finished staring at her?” Rax asked.

  “Yeah,” I said, turning away. “What’s next?”

  “We need to find the portal to Earth,” Rax said, “and leave here while we can.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “Do you think Ailuros really gave up without a fight?”

  “Ah… I don’t know.”

  “I do not think she simply gave up. Thus, we should leave now while we are able.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Let’s find the damn portal already.”

  -19-

  I found garments in a stasis chamber locker and soon wore a Polarion shirt, pants and boots. They were silky and yet tough like leather. I felt better, too, and realized that half my battle with Ailuros had happened because I’d been naked in the presence of a hideous although enticing beauty.

  I could truthfully say that I felt different with clothes on. I felt more in charge, too. I found a jacket with a zipper, realizing this was of recent Earth make, from the middle 70s, I think.

  So, who had been at the station during the 70s, and how had they gotten here? Oh, they must have used the portal, of course.

  “Do you know the station layout yet?” I asked.

  “No,” Rax said.

  We had been wandering through corridors for the last hour, as Rax could not connect with the main station controls and find a schematic of the layout.

  “Say, I’ve been wondering. How did you find and then manage to climb into a spider-suit?”

  “Of course,” Rax said. “That is an excellent point, Logan. We should return to that chamber, as it has easier access nodes. And yet…I do not know how to get there from here.”

  I knit my brow. “Are you telling me someone or something is using a dampening ray on you? You should easily be able to retrace our path. You always have in the past.”

  “I do not detect such a ray. You know, Logan, I do not remember acquiring the spider-suit, as you call it. Perhaps we did have a hidden benefactor.”

  “That’s an odd way of saying it,” I told him. “Why did this so-called benefactor wake Ailuros?”

  “Do you not remember? I woke Ailuros with my call. I…”

  I wasn’t sure why Rax hesitated, but my stomach rumbled noisily. “I’m famished,” I said. “Do you know where—?”

  “Logan, I do not know where anything is. I am beginning to believe there is indeed a dampening ray, as you so quaintly put it, fixated on me. Perhaps I woke up or activated something else when I originally contacted the station.”

  “Who did you call first?”

  “I thought I called Ailuros first, but I do not remember anymore. I would have likely first tried to contact—”

  “Me,” a robotic voice said from a wall speaker.

  I jumped, faci
ng the wall speaker. It was up near the ceiling. “Who are you?” I asked.

  “The station computer,” it said.

  “Uh…did you release Ailuros?”

  “Rax gave me instructions to do so,” the computer said.

  “Are you beaming a dampening ray at him?” I asked.

  “Negative,” the computer said. “He chose the self-deletion of certain memories after arriving here via teleportation. I have anticipated your next question. Why did he do this? The answer is that I do not know. He is a Rax Prime crystal of considerable complexity. It is possible that Argon inserted a self-deletion code in him, among other things, and it is possible that Rax learned valuable data after arriving here.”

  “So, Argon did appear to Rax while Sand held us captive in the underworld?” I asked.

  “A mental projection of Argon certainly did,” the computer said. “According to Rax’s instructions—oh, but then I am not supposed to tell you. I am sorry for mentioning it, Rax.”

  “I do not know what you are talking about,” Rax said.

  “Of course you do not,” the computer said, “as you deleted those memories from yourself after giving me Argon’s instructions.”

  “Then, you’re operating from Argon’s coding?” I asked.

  “I am not at liberty to say,” the computer told me.

  “Did you release the basilisks?” I asked.

  “Negative,” the computer said. “While Ailuros was awake, I was merely operating the life-support systems. She did those other things.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Some of what you’re saying sounds contradictory.”

  “I cannot help you with that,” the computer said.

  I decided that arguing with the station computer wasn’t going to get me anywhere. It was time to change topics.

  “So how old is the station?” I asked.

  “You do not need to know that. Logan, I have anticipated your next spate of questions, or what should be your central concern, in any case. The portal is presently useless to you. That is due to the Great Machine. The machine has radiated more strongly since the incident with Lord Beran. I believe that Sand has begun to take extra precautions since you left Earth. It may be that he found out that Argon secretly attempted to initiate a Polarion Directive through Rax.”