"Hell, hezmona, brimstone and damnation, I am getting out of this furnace before Lucifer shows up" John announced.
"I am so there" D'Argo pitched in, walking right alongside of him. Their walks were manly swaggers with their capes swaying for emphasis.
"I am so outta here...." whispered from under supports to the walkway of the tubular metal bridge the group was passing over. Unheard by anyone, Chiana smiled deviously. Her fingers flexed around the narrow tube supports she leaned out between, overlooking the edge of the causeway between the city and landing areas. Her head whipped to listen to the group just a few more moments.
"Good thing we had Aeryn stay behind. Too bad about Scorpy staying up there though" John joked. Noranti laughed. Only Chiana knew the real joke in John's dark tones, that he was not really joking. He'd leave Scorpy to die in this intensely hot world, so long as he could see that the creep was truly dead.
"Well I'll just be glad to be out of this frelling place, it's unlivable. The atmosphere must catch fire during daytime."
"It does, partially" Noranti informed them.
"Yeah no wonder the natives look like insects."
"If they don't like the heat, why couldn't they loose the heavy leather capes?" Chiana whispered to herself while taking off her robe and reaching up over to the walkway in time to stuff it into one of Rygel's bags being carried by a servant.
"I'm not going to stay around here for daytime temperatures, that much I'll tell you for fee."
"Free, D'Argo, you'll tell me for free."
"That's what I said."
"No it's not what you said. You said 'for fee', for fee'."
"No I didn't."
"Yeah you did. Hey big guy, you don't lie very well so...."
Chiana shook her head as the boys finally went out of earshot.
"Frelling annoying aren't they?"
Chiana gawked at Rygel, hovering in front of her on his thronesled. "You good boiled, froggie?"
"Are you? Do you know how hot it gets here?"
"Think I'll find out....keep it to yourself froggie. They can come after me tonight when it gets cooler."
"That's at least 60 arns from now, but if you insist....And what's in it for me?"
"You? Ah....m-my Marjules. Saw that package I got? You can have it. Just get them back here to get me."
"And what would you eat after I get that?"
"I'll find some scraps or whatever until the next stop. Deal?"
"I suppose. Very well then, deal. And if you turn out well done, I'll have exclusive privileges to your carcass."
"Very funny. I'm Nebari. We don't burn easy."
"We'll see" Rygel said while he floated away.
"Toad" Chiana griped. "Food for a toad. Frell that. Now. For a drink....." Chiana leapt from the bridge to the causeway border far below and scrambled up the steep cliff to disappear into the crowd.
She blinked into a window. Snurching water from this stock room would be easy!
She blinked at the store across the street. Snurching rezlac from there would be harder.
Chiana stepped into the busy street with only the most careless glance. The alarm sounded from a vehicle that hovered too close. Chiana slid the back of her pants down with both hands without breaking her casual stride, baring the buttocks toward the vehicle swerving to pass them so close the mop of hair on her head is pulled by the suction. She inhaled a laugh and kept to her slow stroll across the street.
It was well worth it. She could just see within the store. The blaring of the alarms had caught a store worker's attention. It stayed on her, she felt it even though she avoided directly seeing him. All three lanes of traffic had blared to a halt by the time she sauntered up onto the pedestrian path. She looked both ways and sauntered into the store. Strolling to the display of a potent brand of rezlac, she let her hands linger over the tops of the canisters. She ran her fingers along the fluff of hair closer to her scalp. Sweat was sticking it to her forehead. Slowly she looked over to the worker.
The worker turned his spike ringed head and bent to stacking some boxes. Frell if he was going to avoid her. Or was it a he? That looked like a wicked horn in the right place under the yellow apron but what did that say? Watching other shopping Ernites, it looked like the female was smaller and bluish black, with the males a brownish red. The bluish black ones had a few teats under their clothing and exoskeleton, looked like. So they must be female. Well maybe it was close enough.
Chiana snatched a canister in one hand and sauntered toward the worker. "Hey ah could you tell me which one is best?" The worker dropped his box, stood and started making some really weird sounds translator microbes didn't begin to handle. "Wha-" her face neared his and tilted intently focused on trying to make sense of its noises "then- then can you understand me?"
"They can understand you" a rumbling voice informed her from behind. Chiana held stiffly in place. It was a Scarran. "But you cannot understand them."
Chiana kept her eyes down and smiled to the Scarran with the most casual attitude possible. "So they understand me, but I can't understand them, and do you know me but I don't know you?"
"Very good" he confirmed, running a long nail at the end of his long finger along one of her cheeks. "I do know of you."
Chiana snapped into action. Trying to elbow chop into him, it had no effect. But she still snuck around his reaching hands and ran for the door. The Scarran was surprisingly quick, moving over to a box on the wall and hitting it. A security device snapped rows of bars down in the doorway, locking her in. Without missing a step, she climbed up the bars, kicked out a window above the door and jumped down onto the walkway.
At least Ernites and Scarrans weren't the only ones on this planet. Chiana waved back to the Pelian with the bottle of rezlac. As if going over a dozen arns in the outrageous heat without liquid weren't enough, there was the narrow escape from that Scarran an arn ago and the frell with that purple but otherwise very compatible and very eager Pelian for a drink of rezlac. It sure tasted frelling great after all that.
Some rezlac ran down from her mouth while she gulped it down. It mixed with the sweat that was trickling down her head. Stopping for a breath, Chiana sucked in some of the baking hot air and shook her sweat soaked mop. Sweat flew from her hair in a spray. "Frell!" It was hotter than she can ever remember being. But it was somehow soothing too.
Now she thought about it, she'd seen a Scarran near their transport when they'd landed. Were there others with him? Were they looking for her? Were they sending their whereabouts to other Scarrans? Chiana decided to look around for some Scarrans in case any Scarrans were looking around for her.
It seemed to her that a furnace like this would be swarming with Scarrans, but after arns of looking, none had shown up. Somehow she hadn't noticed at first, but her footsteps kept feeling weirder. Finally she stopped. While her chest labored for breaths of the baking hot air, she looked down to her feet. Lifting one up, the black goo confirmed the soles of the boots were melting on the burning hot pavement.
Still the orange red cast everything was taking had her attention. It was like the time she'd wandered into the red dimension when Moya was stuck in Starburst. Just as then there were things that seemed to bother everyone else, but she was either immune to or didn't care about. This time it was the much-feared heat of this world to most species. So far she was still moving. She giggled breathlessly. "Doesn't affect me...." she remarked giddily, strolling forwards on the melting boots.
Chiana stopped on a street corner, blinking hard a few times. It wasn't the intense orange red sunlight it was the weird dizziness. Sweat sprayed from her head when she whipped it around. After an unsteady step back, she continued forward a few more steps. She stopped in her tracks. Pressing her back against the hot stone of a building front, she leaned around the corner. Sure enough, she caught a Scarran entering a doorway down the alley. It was the same Scarran with the same kinks in the long nails. "Ahhh...." she exhaled. "Caught ya."
Since he'd gone into a doorway down that alley, she went down the street. The wall steamed where her sweaty back had pressed against it.
On the other side of the block there was a mineral store. Chiana entered and looked around. Just one lone customer haunted a corner, a drad looking Pelian. No one was minding the store. She didn't have to act like a curious shopper. The stones captivated her. Finally a shopkeeper entered. It was a younger Scarran! Either he didn't know her or he acted good. "Have any more?" Chiana turned from a display and walked over to him.
"More?"
"Yeah, back there" Chiana nodded to the back of the store. She wiped some sweat entering her mouth with a swift casual flick. "Looking for Mosite. Pure Mosite crystals." Here's hoping the stories she heard about the coveted hoard of rare material called Mosite supposedly secreted to this planet cycles ago has some reality to it. But then it could've been more hot gas from Rygel.
The young Scarran took so long staring at her she figured his reply before he spoke it. And that he didn't know her because he didn't act good. "Mosite? Here?"
"Pil doesn't know anything about Mosite, now does he?" the Pelian guy swaggered up behind Chiana. Chiana cut her eyes over her shoulder back to him then back to Pil.
"No? Frell, I was hoping somebody knew about that Scarran I saw go in back there. He friend of yours?"
The Pelian guy looked surprised then eyed Chiana thoughtfully. Pil looked worried. "Scarran guy?" Pil asked, going behind a counter. Both Chiana and the Pelian saw Pil hit a button and glanced at each other, seeing that the other saw as well. Movement behind the curtain over the passage from the back of the shop made it blow aside enough to show a Scarran leaving in a hurry. The Pelian grabbed out a pistol and shot at the Scarran. A projectile shot out and lodged in the Scarrans back.
"Ulisies Lounge in twelve arns, someone will meet you" the Pelian told her while holding the pistol on Pil. "See where your Scarran goes if you can."
Chiana simply nodded and chased after the wounded Scarran.
Whatever the injury, it wasn't serious. The Scarran never stopped. He ran clear to the transport pads. Chiana ran faster, getting to the transport he was going to first. It was the only Scarran one she could see. Quickly breaking the lock seal with a typical shard of metal laying around on the transport pad ground, she then reached small fingers in and jimmied the lock ground connection off. The transport opened. "Scarrans....never learn not to underestimate aliens...." she remarked in a whisper while she hopped inside.
Despite a weird dizziness and loud, labored breathing, she quickly ransacked the transport, finding information chips and receptacles, a knife and a box of rocks in a weird case. Chiana snurched them and waited above the transport. The hot metal on the roof melted the gloves. But she stayed on it until the Scarran walked in. Chiana dropped down behind him. When he turned, she had a long thin knife up to his eye.
She showed him a chip. He looked worried. It was important! Holding her breath, she closed her mouth and looked at him unflinchingly calm. "Bye" she simply said and leapt back onto the roof. She was gone before he could return outside with a pulse pistol he must have had secreted away. Watching from cover a distance away, she watched him bring out his belongings and leave the transport. As she expected, the Scarran decided to stick around.
Searching around the Ernite city in the still climbing heat, the yellow and red cast had brightened and almost began to glow. The whole sight of their stony, spiky city and this incredible sun hooked her attention. Still the street waif in Chiana had automatically noticed the Ernites kept anything from cluttering their nice and barren sidewalks and alleys. So hunting for a place to stash the goods she'd stolen from the Scarran's transport meant some unused area or somewhere nobody would look. Also automatically, Chiana stayed as inconspicuous as a unique species toting an armload of dren could look.
There were lots of sparsely populated areas but none looked truly abandoned. Several arns of looking didn't discourage the profusely sweating Nebari, but it did distract her. Finally it turned to a look for a great vantage point of the amazingly radiant sight. Up on a gray pebble roof turned almost pink in the light, she found the perfect spot. It was the roof of a huge warehouse, high up on the end of a cliff overlooking the inferno of a city below.
Then she looked around. Over by the roofline where it reduced by a few feet she saw a whole bunch of dren. Looking over the roofing materials it seemed to be abandoned junk, which had been sitting for ages. Chiana propped up some of it to shelter the goods she carried. Smirking, she looked around and thought this would make an interesting hideout. This roof would burn up a body, but she'd never be found. No time to kick back, though, there was a lounge to find, hopefully with a cool rezlac.
"Twelve arns" the raw voice complained. "It'll take that to find someone who can tell me where it is." She felt the top of her head. She was thankful she was Nebari at the moment. The hair wasn't singing and burning, the heat was just plasticizing it. "My hair is frelled" she complained to nobody. It'll heal, she decided. All the heat did bring a strange kind of coziness.
Nobody but Ernites were out. They scurried around insect like and didn't seem to notice her. She did try asking one which was making weird noises into a communicator, but it grabbed her by the neck in its claw like hand, held her up, shook her, made weird noises and scurried off. They weren't much good for conversation.
Turning a corner, she saw a long tube up ahead, like a covered transport tube. In a view window on the side of it, she saw some Pelian guy pressed up against the window looking at her. She sauntered over to look back at him.
"Mic" the Pelian called to his friend. "Look, there's an alien still out there."
Mic hurried over "Can it make it to the nearest entrance?"
"I don't think it cares."
Both gazed out. The alien girl stepped over, leaving black residue from her melting clothes with every step. The areas of her top and pants that weren't cloth had turned to tar-like goop. Some clumps fell while the alien gestured a weird wave at them. Sweat dripped from her. "That's the alien we're supposed to meet at Ulisies!"
"That fits the description, can't be many like that around here" Ojo agreed "She's seriously hot!"
"Yes I can see that" Mik agreed wryly "That alien is insane" Mic decided while making a gesture for her to come in. She tilted her head. They gestured in the direction of the nearest entrance. "Come on!" he yelled as if she could hear him. "Iya what a girl!"
Both ran to the nearest entrance several blocks down, opened the environmental lock chamber and stood out in the furnace just enough to gesture her to them. Amazingly she saw them and sauntered towards them in no hurry. "Was Tangle ever right. Can we ever use her."
Ojo helped the alien girl in over the environmental lock steps. She smiled and cut her eyes up to him. He didn't notice anything but her presence until she directed her attention to Mik. Ojo then looked down at the hot melted goop from what must have been gloves that she'd just smeared all over his hand and forearm. He tried wiping it off onto a corner and kept his eyes on her. He missed the front, but part of her rear was bare. The material part still covering the lower middle was about to drop away from the goop that was still somehow holding it. That was enough to hold his eyes firmly on her posterior. Until she spoke.
"We were looking for you" Mik inserted himself in her wandering gaze. She looked behind herself and then cut her eyes back to him. "Tangle told us to look for a gray skinned alien female with white hair."
"So you guys all hide in here?" she asked in a raw but exciting voice with a trace of an accent that made both guys smile.
"Uh yeah everyone but Ernites use these tunnels except at full night, the walkway here or the transport lanes." Mik sniffed at the strong smell of the melting material from her. "Few non-Ernites have a transport."
She looked at the empty transport lanes. Then back to them. "Oh softies. Don't like heat?"
"Doesn't that unshielded light toast you?"
"Nope. I'm Nebari."
"Then that heat!"
"Are we going to talk about the weather? Where's that lounge?" Chiana cut glances to both purple Pelian males. They had boring tan cloth clothes but drad bodies. The one who introduced himself as Mic was muscular, the one he called Ojo was lean. Both seemed very intent. They could be manipulated and open for a frell, it was all but written on their pretty purple foreheads.
"Right around the corner." Mic gestured. She started walking. The guys fell in behind her. Mic had his eyes riveted on her. He was almost disappointed that the gooey material of her pants had hardened up in the cooler air just in time to hold the cloth inner areas of the pants on, more or less. She moved a little quirky but he couldn't tell if that was normal or heat damage.
They directed her into the most crowded lounge she'd ever seen. "Frell, doesn't anyone go anywhere else?" her raw voice somehow managed to yell over the noise. Something about the tough yet sexy way she moved through the crowds made her companions behind her look to each other impressed. By now she had an expanding audience. Everyone in eyeshot seemed to be staring. Every last one was male. "You want to talk out here or something?" she yelled back to them with a teasing face.
Mic ushered them to a table against a far wall. Chiana looked around the blue colored cavernous walls and ceiling while she got into the tiny booth. Mic nodded to Ojo to look at her feet while she put them up on the table. The soles of the boots were gone. The blood blue feet were raw by contact with the blistering hot pavement. She didn't seem to care, her eyes kept looking around the ceiling. She liked the color he supposed. "Nice but maybe they need to make it two stories in here."
"It gets even more crowded some seasons" Mic replied, trying to push Ojo in enough to fit in the tiny booth. "If you can imagine that."
"Guys live here long?"
"Years. Years."
"Guys go anywhere else?"
"Oh. This is the only recreation center served by the enclosed temperate areas. For off-worlders. There's just this, mines, factory, company boarding lodges a few of the non-native elite's estates."
"You guys go for those insect females?"
"Huh?"
"Where do you keep the females?"
"Not many of those around here. None in fact. They don't let any live here. We're not compatible with their females anyway, and they don't want us increasing our population so they have to give up more of their areas. How did you get a permit?"
"Look, this Tangle that you tell me I wanted to meet. He your boss?"
"Uh yeah, he calls the shots around here."
"And he does the talking" Chiana teased Ojo and pointed to Mik.
"Huh?" Ojo looked between them.
"He speaks!" Chiana smirked.
"He gets shy around the babes, huh Ojo?"
Chiana smiled intently to him. Ojo gestured indifference and smiled looking away from them. Chiana rested her forearms on the table and her chin on them despite having her feet up on the table. Mik blinked mildly at her flexibility. "So. What do you boys do for fun?" her eyes sparkled at Ojo.
"Uh nothing" Mik admitted. "Now and then there's some miner's games on a rare holiday."
"What do you want?" a waiter demanded to know.
"Rezlac?" Chiana asked.
"Rezlac" both guys echoed.
Chiana smirked. "You two miners then?"
"No. We work with Tangle. We help with Tangle. Uh at his place." Both nodded.
A waiter dropped some rezlac flasks on the table. Chiana opened one and took a very long gulp. Both guys gaped. "So" she picked up as if it had been water "you boys into Molite?"
"Hu! I wish! Oh. You mean, yeah we're with Tangle. He's got some leads you know. But that's why you want to see him."
"Oh?" she was amused. "I wanted to see him? Ah of course. Yeah. So where is he?"
"At the estate. If you are interested in joining, he'll meet you."
"Mm, very interested. Let's meet. Gotta go, you guys come with me? Unless you keep a ladies room around out of hope." She got up and both followed.
"The DRDs are still unable to locate Chiana aboard."
"Your DRDs are never able to locate anything when requested" Sikozu had everyone know, sounding as if it were the eightieth time she'd said that.
"Chiana!" D'Argo demanded in his comm. "I am tired of games. Where the frell are you and where are those Savor Crystals you were supposed to get?" After a few moments of silence, D'Argo sighed. "Oh why can't she ever try to talk to me?"
John looked away from the screen long enough to cast a slow redoubtful stare at D'Argo.
"Don't answer that" D'Argo commanded.
"Makes my point" John smiled back at the screen. D'Argo threw a hand at John and stormed out.
Aeryn walked in, passing D'Argo. Aeryn threw some junk on the table. "What's got D'Argo?"
"Aeryn, we gotta talk."
"Answer my question."
"Chiana's not answering him like a good little pup outta."
"Meaning?"
"He's been paging but she won't talk."
"One person's complaint....." Aeryn stormed out.
"Hey we are going to have that talk" John stormed out after her.
Rygel floated in, eating. "This routine again?" he looked back but John and Aeryn were down the corridor. "Are we going to the next planet or not?"
"We have since learned that Yulpa is no longer receiving trade, your imminence. Therefore we are leaving for the next sector. Prepare for starburst."
Rygel's handful of food hit the floor. "Starburst? No! Not starburst! Don't starburst Pilot. I command you!"
John and Aeryn ended up in a tangle on the floor as Moya shuddered. "Hey Pilot what gives?"
"Moya is attempting to abort, Rygel demands we do not enter starburst at this time."
"He always hates starburst!" John yelled.
"Ignore the frelling, ignore Rygel, Pilot, don't let Moya get hurt, starburst now" Aeryn ordered.
"Nobody ever listens to me! You frelling fools! Yotz!" Rygel yelled over the noise as Moya lurched into a very rough starburst.