Jackie was attending Tow. He hadn’t gotten up from where he’d faced off with the two Howsh robots. He looked up as Cuddy approached.
“Please… help me to return to the Evermore. You and I have much to accomplish in a short amount of time.”
“Accomplish?”
“I had wondered about it… hoped for it… with the introduction of Pashier genetics into your physiology. That you’d posses kinetic abilities.”
Cuddy still didn’t know what Tow was talking about.
“I am aware of what you did to the Howsh… to the one who was attacking your mother. Cuddy… your mind… it can be trained.”
“Is it important… now?”
“How do you think I made it this far… on a spacecraft without weapons? The power of the mind is formidable… but it must be properly trained.”
Cuddy shook his head. “Only if there is time.”
Tow continued to stare blank-faced up at him. Cuddy saw that his body had nearly lost all of its glow.
The others moved in around them—Jackie and Kyle—and Tony Bone, who was doing his best to support the weight of his father, the sheriff—and Officer Plumkin, with his stained trousers.
Cuddy felt the weight of what he said next. “That will have to wait, Tow. I’m sorry.” Cuddy gestured to the surrounding space with his hands. “We have this ship. A ship with weapons. It can be used to fend of the other two Howsh vessels… the ones currently attacking Earth… yes?”
Tow, obviously not used to thinking in terms of inflicting violence onto others, slowly nodded. He said, “But I cannot be the one to…”
“You can show me… show us all?”
Tow said, “I do not have much time… I’m sorry, Cuddy… but yes, I will do what I can.”
Cuddy turned to the others. “I don’t know if we are the best ones to do this… especially me. But we’re here, now.”
“What are you talking about?” Tony said. “And why are you suddenly talking like you have a brain?”
Jackie said, “He’s talking about us taking this ship to fight the other two… the ones destroying cities all around the globe. And maybe it’s just you’re getting stupider.”
“Us? Are you crazy? That’s a job for the fricken military… or NASA or anyone else that knows a hell of a lot more about that sort of stuff.”
Jackie said, “In the time that it would take to get them here… the agencies you just spoke of… how many more thousands of people will die? And what about Tow here? What do you think they’ll do to him? And remember… he’s the one who just saved all of our lives.”
The sheriff cleared his throat and tried to say something. He tried again, his voice barely audible. “She’s right. We’re here…” he looked over to Tow still crouched on the deck. “If he and the flying robot can show us… we can fight.” The sheriff looked at his son. “Stop being such a pansy… stop complaining so much and help.” He coughed and dropped his head. His eyes shut and fluttered.
Tony staggered on the dead weight of his unconscious father. Cuddy saw that the sheriff’s chest continued to expand and contract with slow, shallow, breaths.
“I still think it’s crazy,” Tony said. “But I guess so is me standing here looking at a naked alien.”
With the help of Officer Plumkin and Tony, the sheriff was escorted to the lower deck and then outside. Tow was fairly certain the older human would perish soon if not given the proper medical attention. The plan was for them to borrow Momma’s automobile and drive to the hospital after Kyle first checked on his mother.
En route to the alien bridge, Tow, who’d often wondered before what the interior of the Howsh vessels looked like, was appalled. The foul space was an appropriate match for these barbaric aliens. He gazed at his surroundings, at the greasy bulkheads around them. Tuffs of errant strands of fur clung to them, as if somehow they were alive. Beneath his feet, the widely spaced grate decking had been used for bodily waste, even though more conventional waste facilities were provided on each deck. The humans had eagerly made use of those.
At present, Cuddy walked beside Tow, his arm around him adding support. “You’re going to have to tell me where to head next, Tow. So many passageways… I’m already getting lost.”
Tow knew the Howsh ship’s layout almost as well as he did the Evermore’s, since her sensors provided him with a schematic layout on the bridge viewscape display. He knew they were approaching another stairway and wondered if he had the strength to climb them. He said, “Keep going the way we’re going, Cuddy. We need to climb those stairs up ahead.”
Jackie, closely following them, was never more than several paces behind. She asked, “Are you up to piloting this ship… well enough for that, Tow?”
Tow, musing on that same issue himself, knew the answer was no. He belonged on the Evermore, along with the heritage pod. “I will show you and Cuddy the basics. Just know… even on board the Evermore… the AI orb does most of the piloting. You will have the orb with you… to assist you.”
On the landing below the stairway, Cuddy gathered Tow into his arms. Tow felt grateful to the young human that he didn’t have to ask him for help. Halfway up the stairway, Tow heard the sound of running footsteps coming from below. Kyle and Tony had returned. Cuddy, pleasantly surprised, found Rufus again at his side. He probably came back with Kyle. A moment later, the AI orb hovered near the group, then continued moving past.
Cuddy asked over his shoulder, “Kyle… how’s Momma?”
“She was struggling with one of the dead Howsh… trying to drag it outside. Tony and I helped her. Then we threw both Howsh bodies into the barn. To answer your question, she’s fine. Carries one of those alien rifles around with her… never lets go of it.”
Tow, listening to the conversation, was amazed that violence came so easily to their species. He then pointed to the right. “Turn here, Cuddy. We’re almost there.”
Jackie said, “Tony, you didn’t want to go with your father… to the hospital.”
“I thought about it. Then thought maybe I’d be of more use here… with you guys. Plus, he’s got Plumkin with him.”
Tow, only half-listening to them, strove to make a mental connection with the AI orb, something that once had been second nature. He was disheartened. His battle with the two robots had so thoroughly drained him he now, apparently, had lost that ability.
Cuddy gazed down at the frail alien in his arms, a shell of the being he’d encountered only days before. How quickly his health was declining. They climbed two more sets of stairs.
“We have reached the top level,” Tow said.
Cuddy had already come to that same conclusion.
The AI orb, hovering by the wide entrance into the compartment, said, “Cuddy Perkins, you have arrived at the bridge.”
Cuddy entered the bridge and took it all in. Somewhat larger than the bridge on the Evermore, it too seemed, like the rest of the ship, to smell awful—beyond disgusting. The overall seating was metal and the technology appeared archaic.
Tony Bone said, “So Tow, those alien assholes defeated you, huh? No offense, but nothing here looks, um, all that sophisticated.”
Tow said, “Whatever technology there is on board was pilfered from other races… other worlds. What the Howsh are most proficient at is the destruction of other civilizations. Killing off divergent life forms. For the Howsh, the mere existence of other species within the universe is an insult to their God…”