“Did the others get onto the truck?” White asked.
“Hope so,” Buchanan said. “That was our plan even before Missus Executive Chief asked me to appear. We considered taking the shuttle and following you in that, and they may have done so, but I have no idea now.”
“Have you heard anything from the others?” I asked.
“Not yet, no. Give everyone some time. What I do know is that Abby felt angry when the sheep and possums first turned around. But once we ran off and came back using Siler’s blend, she didn’t feel angry anymore. She doesn’t know why yet, but it’s something for us to keep in mind.”
We drove along, Roanach or Clorence giving directions as needed, Algar flipping me back to the Cosmic “Kitty’s Not Getting It” Thing playlist. There were no roads at all. Probably because you didn’t need them if your vehicles floated. Or else there were too many volcanic eruptions to bother. We passed two in the near distance in the time it took to travel along to what really appeared to be nowhere.
There were farms, though, or what looked like farming. “Is that Orange Scourge, do you think?” I asked as we passed groves of a bright orange substance that looked familiar.
“Possibly,” White said. “They have to eat something.”
“The rabbits and least weasels said it was delicious, too.”
“This system has been traveling,” Buchanan added. “Could mean that the spores got sent out somehow and just finally hit Cradus.”
“True enough.” We subsided back into silence. Saw a lot of sheep and opossums. Could tell that the females were doing most of the farming, based on the number of smaller sheep and opossums that were hanging about. All of them had wool or fur the same colors as the world.
“Why do they all have tusks, do you think?” White asked in English.
“Bulls have horns and possums come equipped with them,” I pointed out. “Sometimes the possum tusks are small, but I’ve seen some with big ones.”
“But while sheep can have horns, they do not have tusks. And if they’re growing crops, then they don’t need tusks to kill their food. While a mating ritual is possible, I would, based on what we’ve seen so far, find it unlikely.”
“No idea,” Buchanan said. “Though I’m sure we’re going to find out just like I’m sure it’s going to be a reason we all find horrific. This world is the definition of horrible.”
However, what we weren’t seeing were things that looked like towns, let alone a capital. Nor was there any industry that could produce rockets. Frankly, there was no industry at all, though did spot some crops that looked like cabbages or lettuces or similar that were all burnt yellow in color.
“You’re not just trying to take us to some prison, are you?” I asked Clorence. Twice. Once I did it in English, he looked blank, and I shifted my mind back to the native tongue.
“No. We told you—the Outer Guard stays far from the capital.”
“Why?” White asked, not having any language shifting issues.
“We need to guard the farmlands. We have many enemies.”
This again. “Do you? Because what we saw when we came into this system was a lot of planetary rubble floating in space and your planet shooting bombs at the only other planet left in this system.”
“We have been oppressed since time began,” Roanach said, sounding like he was quoting scripture, which, for this place, he might well be. “We are fighting against our oppressors.”
A thought occurred. “Did you have enemies when your people first arrived on this planet?”
“Yes,” Clorence said. “The dangers were many and our forebears had to fight to survive and create an existence on this world. The strong survived, as they always do.”
“How many enemies have you all, personally, had to tangle with, before we showed up?” Buchanan asked.
Roanach and Clorence were both quiet.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and bet that the answer is ‘none.’ Isn’t that right, Clorence?”
He sighed. “Yes, it is. The Outer Guard is not blessed with the same levels of opposition as the other Guards are.”
“You know what we’re going to find, right?” Buchanan asked in English. “There is no ‘opposition,’ not any more. There was once, and that’s probably why they all evolved tusks. But that opposition has died or been stamped out and they could be living peacefully, but they aren’t. Meaning, there’s only this Mad Lord and he’s got these people under his control and that’s how he keeps the control.”
“Just like Darkseid. Only Darkseid has powers, and I’m not getting the feeling that anyone on this planet does. The few things we’ve done have amazed and terrified them. That sort of screams backwater to me.”
“Never assume that the ones put on the worst duties are indicative of the others,” White said.
“Telzor’s supposedly the Captain of the Guard. He had no defense for hyperspeed and, let’s face it, he’s now our prisoner. He didn’t recognize that we were carrying laser guns, or guns of any kind. I’m not impressed yet.”
“Other than by his package,” Buchanan said dryly. “Yes, we were all staying close by and heard everything.”
“Cool! So everyone saw my awesome Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat moves?”
“Yes, we did. Anyway, everyone’s impressed. And happy you like us.”
There was a soft beep and I now had Billy Idol singing “Cradle of Love” in one ear, while in the other ear I had Jerry. “My Warrior Queen, your King would like a word with you.”
CHAPTER 100
“HEY JERRY. Um, were you eavesdropping?”
“Chuck called ages ago to tell me to monitor via Richard, so I did. I have the ability to share with the command crew. We all enjoyed the show earlier.”
“You can see us?” We rounded a gentle curve to see more crops—these looked like alfalfa or something similar, though it was, like everything else, fitting this color scheme and coming up a light red. These fields were being tended to by a lot of cows, accompanied by calves and some rather spindly-looking bulls. These bulls were not going to cause Telzor any self-esteem issues. The bulls and male calves all had black hides, the cows and female calves had reddish hides.
“Yeah, the hackers figured out how to properly enhance Mother’s ability to drill down visually. Great moves. We’re all impressed.”
“Yeah? Did you know where I learned those moves?”
“Watching Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat.”
“Got it in one!” As with the other farms, there were sheep and opossums on guard duty. Unlike the others, we were passing much closer by these farmlands. Wondered if we were going to have issues, but Roanach or Clorence waved to them, depending, and the guards waved back. Had the feeling that Roanach and Clorence were showing off that they were on one of these vehicles in positions of, if not authority, at least not disgrace.
“I never had a doubt. Oh, and those who bet against me have to pay up—I told them that’s where you got the idea.”