“I fight them both. Her first! She dares to fight like men! I show her!” He approached the woman, brushing aside Keltar as if he wasn’t there. The crowd roared their approval. Jorja cowered back into a corner. There was no way she could defeat this man. He must weigh 325 pounds!
Klasdor stalked toward the woman. Everyone seemed to be at a loss as to what to do except the crowd, who continued to cheer lustily.
Suddenly, a huge explosion rent the air. Heads turned as one as a portion of the street leading to the square simply dissolved into smoke and dust. Some men near the blast site held their hands over their ears, mouths agape. The dust continued to swirl in the hot air. Everyone in the crowd stared, not comprehending what was happening.
Beth, Jorja and Greta stared as well, not quite believing it themselves.
Out of the dust and smoke, a lone figure came striding toward the crowd, skirting the bomb crater. As it approached, Jorja, from her better vantage point, was the first to recognize the strange apparition.
“Captain!”
Beth and Greta took up the shout. “Captain! Captain Dyson!” All of the crew women were stunned that Dyson would disobey orders to come down and try to rescue them.
Now the crowd could see that the figure was a woman, dressed like the Bakchari, the free women of the forest. On her head was a helmet of bark. She continued to approach and a man near her bent down to pick up a rock. Without pausing, Kate aimed and fired the phaser in her hand. There was a bright light and the man staggered and fell down. The crowd drew back. In the hush that followed, Kate held up her U.T., the volume turned up loud and announced.
“Don’t fuck with me. I have PMS and a gun.”
Chapter 31
The men, true to form, quickly overcame their initial shock. They began looking at each other and nodding. A few moved into position, ready to surround the approaching woman. Several picked up rocks, too many to shoot.
Kate, never breaking stride, held up her scanner and pressed a button. Another huge roar went up, heads swiveled toward the sound. The blast came from just outside the village. Prevailing winds carried some of the dust and smoke toward the crowd.
“Stay back or I’ll blow you to hell,” she said, waving the scanner, to make sure they knew who was responsible for the explosions, which she hoped were completely out of the range of their experience. Kate was bluffing, of course. She could never kill any of these people. She had two more hidden C4 charges, both outside the village. All she had to do was make them fear her for just a few more minutes and she just might be able to get her team away from here.
“Release the Earth women!” she shouted. She fired off another hidden charge, this time on the other side of the village. With each blast, however, the effect on the aggressive men seemed to diminish.
Niktus glanced uneasily at Beth, then looked across the crowd and caught Gorshun’s eye. Niktus could tell from his expression he wasn’t about to release his new slave. Gorshun yanked hard on Greta’s leash, to warn her she’d better not move.
The men continued to surround Kate. One tall man to her right slipped a rock into his hand and flung it before she could spot him. The rock bounced off her helmet. She turned and fired, stunning him to the ground. A humanoid directly in front of her sidearmed a rock while she was distracted and struck her forearm. She gasped and nearly dropped her phaser. She shot him as well.
Kate was becoming desperate. The men were not cowering at all. Now she understood how Ally had been taken so easily. Despite her modern weapons, she was outnumbered. She might be able to hold them off for a little while, but soon a rock would hit her face or her hand and she’d be helpless.
She whirled and fired at the first sign of movement, dropping men who approached or tried to stone her. By now, the first men she had stunned were slowly getting up, letting the others know that the blinding white blasts weren’t fatal. Kate glanced down and checked her phaser. It was half depleted already. If they didn’t back off and let the crew go soon—
Suddenly, another phaser blast split the crowd. Gorshun screamed and pitched forward. Greta stood there, phaser in hand, swinging around in an arc as the crowd fell back. She ran to the edge of the platform and tossed an object up to Jorja.
Jorja recognized it as a phaser immediately and caught it in mid-air. Klasdor, standing with his mouth open, snapped it closed and charged her. Jorja didn’t have time to reprogram the phaser, so she dropped down and spun, extending a leg out. Klasdor tripped over it and fell headlong into the ropes. Jorja jumped up, slapped her finger over the grip scanner and punched in the code while the angry fighter struggled to his feet. He turned and bellowed as he thundered at her again. The engineer dialed in a “3,” raised the gun and fired and near-point-blank range. There was a blinding flash of light as the fighters collided. Jorja bounced off as the huge body of Klasdor crumpled to the ground.
The crowd gasped. These women seemed to be sorcerers! Pitus, taking in the events with horror on his face, turned and ran toward his hotel.
Jorja signaled to Beth, who turned and grabbed Niktus’ arm. “Please, master. Don’t get hurt. Let me go.” He opened his hand as if the leash was a deadly serpent and Beth ran toward Kate.
The men surrounding the captain fell back when the second, then the third mysterious weapon appeared in the Earth women’s hands. The women formed a circle, their backs to each other, forcing the men back even more.
“Where’s Egerton?” Kate shouted.
“Come on!” Beth led the way toward the hotel. The crowd parted, uncertain now as to what to do. Many glanced over to see the unconscious form of Klasdor in the ring and decided the wisest course would be to let them go.
The astronauts rounded a corner in time to see Pitus run up the steps into the hotel. “Come on! We’ve got to hurry!” Beth shouted, not knowing what Pitus might do to Ally.
The burst through the door and stopped dead. Pitus held Allyson in front of him, a crude knife pressed against her throat.
“Drop your lightning sticks or I’ll kill her,” he said.
“Do as he says! You guys just go without me!” Ally implored.
Three phasers were raised higher to point at his head, which towered above the frightened woman. Beth held up her hand. “Wait. Let me talk to him.”
She approached slowly. “Look, Pitus. All we want to do is get out of here and go home. We don’t want to hurt you. It wasn’t supposed to end up like this.”
Pitus shook his head. “I need her,” he blurted out. “Niktus was right. She knows numbers. Without her, I can not make profit.”
“Sure you can. She’s told you what you need to do. Just follow her advice,” Beth said soothingly, aware of the hair-trigger tempers behind her. “Besides, you don’t want it getting around that you listen to a slave, do you?”
Uncertainty crossed his face. He shook his head imperceptibly. His pride would not allow that.
Kate heard noises and turned to see the crowd approaching. “We have to go, doc,” she said urgently. “Company’s coming.”
“Let her go, Pitus. You don’t want to kill her. Then you’d never make a profit.”
“I paid good money for her!”
Jorja spoke up. “Tell Keltar that with my profits from the fight, he should buy your slave first. He and I have agreement. You will make profit.”
He hesitated. “This is true?” She nodded.
“All right.” Jorja suspected that he just wanted a way out. Pitus dropped the knife and stepped back. Ally ran out from his arms and hugged Beth. “Thank god!” She turned to Pitus. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want it to end this way.”
“Come on! Let’s go!”
The women, together again for the first time since their ill-fated mission began, had no time to celebrate. They ran out the front door as the crowd neared, then turned and sprinted down the street toward the edge of the village. Greta, still limping, slowed them down. The men followed, keeping a respectful distance.