“Before you start,” Layla said, “I want to know if you found anyone else, a young man, tall—”
“Don’t worry,” Augustus said, cutting her off. “Your precious Denver—and Charlie—are quite safe, though perhaps not for much longer.”
“Enough,” Aimee said. The huge familiar alien stepped closer to Augustus, cutting him off and making him shrink away with a leery eye on his guard.
Then it came to Gregor. He remembered where he had seen the alien before. “You’re the freak that attacked us in the town hall,” he said, pointing to the alien. “We thought you were dead. Charlie said he’d killed you.”
“His name is Baliska,” Augustus said. “And no, clearly, your little hero Charlie failed, just as he failed killing me.”
“Yeah, shame that,” Gregor said.
“Okay,” Aimee said, raising her voice. “Enough. Here’s the deal. You’re welcome to stay, but if so, you need to work. If you leave and we find you snooping around again, the penalty will be death.”
“You can’t trust him,” Augustus said, indicating Gregor. “He and this group were the ones who helped Charlie Jackson to do what he did. You can’t just let them go. I won’t allow it.”
“Oh, won’t you?” Aimee said with a laugh. “You’re under arrest, or did you forget that already?”
Augustus ignored her and said, “Execution. Snuff out the threat now.”
Aimee seemed to think on this idea for a moment. “Get on your knees and swear allegiance to Unity and you’ll be able to make the choice of working with us or leaving and never coming back,” she said to the group.
Layla and Maria looked at each other and shrugged. Khan fell to his knees almost instantly, sickening Gregor with his lack of backbone.
“Well?” Layla said, catching Gregor’s eye.
Ignoring her, Gregor spoke directly to Aimee. “I will never kneel to the likes of you. Screw you and your town of inbreds and crossbreeds. I’ll see to it that this place burns to the ground like the damned alien ships.”
Layla and Maria sighed.
Without showing her irritation, Aimee simply said, “Fine. Augustus, you can have some company under your house arrest. Consider this one your pet. Now get out of my sight, both of you.”
Baliska seized Augustus by the shoulders and pushed him away from the steps and toward the maze of streets. A human and two croatoans pulled Gregor away from the others and dragged him kicking and screaming in the same direction.
Gregor yelled a string of obscenities at Aimee and struggled to escape, but the aliens and humans were too strong for him.
His heart pounded with a furious, impotent rage. But after a moment of realization, he just let them drag him away as he watched Layla and Maria drop to one knee.
“Cowards!” he yelled. “Treacherous cowards!”
The guards hauled him through the streets until he could no longer see the others.
Five minutes more struggle and he found himself taken through a dark basement-like room and thrown into what looked like an office. Two of the guards shackled him with manacles before Augustus was thrown into the room also.
“What?” Gregor asked. “He doesn’t get manacles?”
Augustus and one of the human guards smiled before the guard closed and locked the door.
“He’s one of mine,” Augustus said, nodding to the door. “You don’t think I wouldn’t have a contingency, do you?”
Maria looked up from her kneeled position at this woman who seemed to hold all the power in this town. Aimee approached her and Layla.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “for the way things had to happen just then. We’ve worked hard to build this sanctuary and coexist. I’m sure you can understand my desire for it to remain a safe and secure place for its residents.”
“I can,” Maria said.
“Please, both of you stand; we can work something out,” Aimee said, indicating for the two of them to stand.
Khan behind them also stood and remained quiet, observing the scene around him. Maria wondered what he was thinking.
Since they were captured, he’d barely said a word, making Maria think that he was having second thoughts about allying himself with Maria, Layla and the others. He never really seemed to gel with the group.
“So what now?” Layla prompted.
“For newcomers, I always give them two choices,” Aimee said. “You’re welcome to stay with us and take up a job. We’ll discuss your skills and what you can offer, and we’ll find you a place within our home. If that doesn’t appeal, then I’m afraid we don’t tolerate tourists. You’ll be escorted away and will not be welcomed back in the future. We value our safety here highly.”
Maria didn’t need to be reminded of that after seeing the video of the battle with the other croatoans.
The Unity fighters defended themselves with a rabid fervor.
Maria turned to Layla. “I don’t know about you, but I have no desire to stay.”
“Me neither,” Layla said, adding, “but a part of me is fascinated by this place. The dynamics between the humans and croatoans is something I’d love to study, but I understand the situation.”
“But what about Charlie and Denver?” Maria said to Aimee. “The men who—”
“I know who they are,” Aimee replied. “They’ve… decided to stay for a while. They’re helping me, well, all of us, with an engineering problem. They’re perfectly safe, I can assure you.”
“I want to see them before we leave,” Layla added with a steely tone to her voice. “I’m sure you can understand my concern for my friends.”
Aimee inclined her head in agreement.
She turned to a pair of croatoan guards behind the group and requested that they escort Maria and Layla to Charlie and Denver’s new accommodation.
Before they were taken away, Aimee added, “Perhaps once you’ve spoken to your friends, you will change your mind about your decision and decide to stay after all.”
Maria just nodded, sure she didn’t want to stay, but now intrigued as to what she had promised Charlie and Denver. She couldn’t imagine those two being happy to stay behind in a town full of aliens. They’d shown no liking of them in the past, nor was tolerance high on their agenda.
Layla looked equally confused as they were led away. She shot Maria a quizzical look. Maria just shrugged her shoulders.
As the aliens led them across the settlement, Maria looked back to see Khan step close to Aimee. “I wonder what he’s decided?”
“I’m sure we’ll find out,” Layla replied. “He’s difficult to read.”
“Perhaps he’s just spent too much time surviving on his own. This might be strange for him.”
“Perhaps,” Layla said.
They fell quiet and continued their march through the narrow streets, heading for a series of shanty huts perched on the steps of the settlement’s high sides.
Khan waited until Maria and Layla were out of earshot.
He stepped forward to Aimee. Two human guards and a remaining alien gathered around him, protecting their leader, but she waved them off and encouraged him closer.
“You heard the offer,” she said.
“I did.”
“And what’s your answer? Do you want to stay with us or leave us?”
“It depends,” Khan said, leaning a little closer. “It depends on what jobs you have. I have a unique set of skills that I’ve trained over the years as I’ve survived in the woods, watching all this fighting going on, avoiding the attentions of both human and alien alike. If I stay, I don’t want to be a farmer or a blacksmith or some other dull job.”
Aimee raised an eyebrow. “Oh? So what is it you would like to do for us here?”