Could this be right, though? He closed his eyes and saw the canyons of New York City roll as if he and Ashley had just flown between them. But all that had happened back there. He looked east, over the hills to the cloud-filled sky, as if just over those mountains was where Ashley lived and just beyond that was the grand city of New York.
Now he turned back toward the water, and to the vision on the horizon. And then he started laughing. The statue of the woman with the torch was in the harbor of New York City, and he knew New York City was on the east coast of the planet's only landmass. Yet, here he was, looking at it across this expanse of water.
How could that be? There was really only one explanation; it seemed crazy, but at the same time, he knew it made sense. This hadn't been as much a recon mission as it had been a circumnavigation. Because if that was New York City he was looking at just across the sea, then he'd not only crossed over a major part of this country, he'd nearly driven right around the planet.
Hunter spent the day parked up on the cliff, nursing his last bottle, looking down on all those girls, the expanse of blue water before him, and of course at the distant light reflecting from New York City. The sea became very busy with boats and other seagoing craft. During the warmest part of the day, Hunter took off his shirt and remained stretched out on the hood of the car, simply watching the never-ending parade of people and things go by.
He fell asleep a few times, woke to turn more toward the sun, swig from his bottle, adjust his shirt as a headrest. Night came again, and the lights of New York shone even brighter. All those strange stars appeared overhead again with the necklace of heavenly bodies lighting up the sky here just as it had over Mayfield.
Though he tried many times to resist it, Ashley was never very far from his mind. Again, strange in that he didn't know her very well. His night with her was just a blur to him, as he was sure it was to her. The way they met, their joyride, the night spent on the hill. It was the nature of these things that they all seemed hazy to him now, just a splinter of time, lasting a single heartbeat or just one deep breath, but not much longer than that. But it had left him with an aura of sorts. A buzz, of good feeling, unrelated to the Seagram's. Or so he hoped.
Yes, he missed her. How much? Well, almost as much as… as…?
Hunter suddenly sat up.
That girl back there. Way back there. On Earth. The daughter of O'Nay. The Princess of the Galaxy? What was her name again?
Xara.
Of course, Xara…
He laughed nervously, then took another swig from the Seagram's bottle.
That was a funny moment. He'd almost forgotten Xara's name.
It was just a second later when he detected the distinct feeling of cold steel resting on the back of his neck.
He turned slowly to see an enormous gun barrel pointing right at his nose. Another was aimed at his temple. Two cops were staring at him from behind the triggers. They were wearing blue uniforms, funny hats, and dark glasses.
"Don't make any sudden moves, partner," one of them said.
"No problem, partner," Hunter quickly replied.
They told him to climb off the car, then pushed him facedown on the hood where he was frisked up and down his body.
"We've been looking for you for quite a while," one cop said.
"Really?" Hunter asked drunkenly. "What for?"
Both cops laughed.
"What for?" One mocked him. "What the hell do you think?"
The two policemen took out a pair of shackles and began to put them on Hunter's hands when suddenly, another vehicle roared up the steep beach road. It was larger than the car the two policemen had arrived in. It was all black with many windows, which were also tinted black.
Six men jumped out of this vehicle. They were all dressed the same: in blue suits, white shirts, and blue ties. Each man was also wearing sunglasses. They rushed over to where Hunter and the two cops stood, immediately removed the cuffs from Hunter's wrists, placed him in a pair of their own, then started to lead him away to their vehicle.
That's when one of the two cops said, "Wait a minute. Who the hell are you guys? This is our collar. We've been looking for this mook for a long time."
One of the suits just pushed the policeman out of the way and helped shove Hunter into the back of his vehicle.
"So have we," he growled at the cop. "He's crossed state lines, so that makes it a federal crime."
But the policemen continued to protest.
"State lines?" one said. "We're busting him for loitering. For carrying an open container in the car. And for public drunkenness. What do you guys want him for?"
The guys in the suits all laughed.
"Well, we got him for auto theft," one said. "And suspicion of murder."
Part Three
Moon 39 vs The Love Rockets
12
A welcome calm had settled over the tiny jungle moon in the past few weeks.
The people who had previously fought the now-vanquished battle star from the depths of their underground space fighter base now walked about their world's surface without worry. No more concern about being discovered by the enemy. No more need to contemplate last-ditch battles.
They were free, thanks to two strangers.
Just what had happened in their underground base that day not so long ago, when the strangers came through looking for directions and wound up saving their skins — well, no one had quite explained it yet. Maybe it was something that would never be explained adequately. Angels from heaven was the current prevailing theory.
But whoever the heroes were, the people — taking the lead from their grateful Princess — had erected a shrine of sorts on the spot inside the underground cavern where the strangers had so suddenly appeared in that hour of dire need, to save the day.
This shrine now featured a plaque of pure diamond-cast elevated slightly above the taxiway. Flowers, incense burners, and private notes of thanks were clustered around it now. The underground base wasn't used very much anymore. But just to lend a solemnity to the place and preserve the memory of the two mysterious men, the Princess had assigned two guards to watch over the site, day and night.
It was just after sunset-midnight, that being the complete setting of both the tiny moon's mother planet and its sun, when the vision appeared.
There was at first a bright flash that lit up the huge underground chamber. Then, as the two astonished guards watched, mouths agape, three men suddenly appeared in their midst.
They came from nowhere — literally. They were holding hand-sized devices that seemed to be taking readings from the floor and the space around the plaque. They were oblivious of anyone watching them.
The three interlopers were dressed very oddly. Two wore heavy black spacesuits and no helmets. They had shaved heads but very long, pointed mustaches. The third man was quite elderly and was dressed in a bubble-top spacesuit that was ancient a thousand years ago.
The three men were in the middle of a hushed conversation.
"My readings indicate that they were here before they went on to the moon in the Sigma-TKE system," the man in the bubble top said, shouting through a tiny door near his mouth.
"As do mine," one of the other men said. "The gamma decay here is tremendous, but the readings were stronger on Sigma-TKE."
"This then was their eighteenth touchdown after Zazu Zazu," the third man said. "We can just double back from Sigma and pick up the stronger gamma decay trail from there."
Finally, one of the guards stepped forward and rattled his ceremonial weapon. Only then did the three men look up and realize they were not alone.