TRAVELER

Chapter 11

Hotchkiss hated hippies, they were filthy vermin that needed to be dealt with, something he was good at. Never mind most of them willfully chose their lifestyle; they were lazy, slothful drug addicts, and he aimed to educate them.

The Milpath Galaxy was an unbarred spiral with a prominent dust lane inundated with copious globular clusters, which meant there was a lot of ground to cover, but he knew a thing or two about the Traveler routes and that's where he patrolled. It was easy to hit pay dirt and invariably a relative would crawl out of the woodwork to pay the fine on trumped up charges. Court proceedings could take years and the plaintiff always paid the court fees, even when innocent. But it was his job to screw their life up as much as possible and discourage their existence as free loaders. After paying the fines they would have to go back to work as reformed citizens. They had him to thank for getting their lives back on track.

The fault line outside Arcadia's Subdivision was his place of choice. He never got them going in, better to screw up their high on the way out, but today he was working planetside because of the peace rally. The city council had brought him in and he was taking advantage of the invite.

He drug his two marks into an old shed he had rented and began court proceedings. A boyfriend and girlfriend would bring him double the reward.

Garentanda had taken control of the body while they were passed out. Odd, each time the men switched personalities, the women followed suit. Some tact was needed in this situation and Garentanda was the natural choice for diplomacy. Once they regained consciousness from the nerve gun, the trial began. a holographic image of a judge pronouncing sentence on him and his wife was very strange. They were sentenced to twenty years hard labor or pay the fine due in full.

Something snapped.

The injustice of it all caused his enlightened self to draw the line.

Enough was enough.

Gambit had had enough.

Garentanda screamed inside the combined awareness of four good men as I--Gambit--bludgeoned my way to the surface.

"Noooo, don't do it." Garentanda screamed.

"Sorry Garentanda, this is going to hurt." I--Gambit--literally grabbed my own nuts and squeezed so hard, Garentanda passed out. Then as we gained consciousness I mind punched him; it was a merciless blow that might leave a mental scar. Then I took control of Stephano's body by force. Oh my goodness that hurt. I--Gambit--rolled on the ground in pain, wrists tied behind my back with a magnetic zip tie. Hotchkiss laughed as I tried to crawl free of the agony. Twenty minutes. It took twenty minutes for me to regain my composure.

Finally I sat up and used my skills as an escape artist to shed the magnetic locks by breaking my wrists. Hotchkiss saw what I was up to, drawing his pistol on me, but I was quick. I landed him flat on his back by a roundhouse kick before he knew it. Then I knocked the gun from his hand. We were alone in the shed and I couldn't help how good it felt as I beat his head against the floor until he was dead. Mikala tried to get me to stop but I had to make sure all the injustice was paid for by my brutality.

It was done.

I felt better.

I relinquished control for the last time.

I--Stephano--got us on the outgoing shuttle, but I felt like all the world was watching, as if someone had been in the shed. Grey suits. Then the press of gravity as the genetically modified rocket engines pumped us into a low planetary orbit. We boarded the ship unhindered and Woodstock bolted from her moorings like she had held anchor just for us. We were free for now, but where could we hide? Master Diadic's face popped into my mind. Outpost Iridani 876 was our next stop. It was to be our last stop. The final waypoint on our journey.

We rushed on through the night, beating a hasty retreat as we ran for our lives. We had succumbed to the hidden underbelly of wealth, power, and politics; but who would be held accountable.

The four men were in open dialogue inside Stephano's mind.

"I knew you were a sullen introvert," Stephano said furiously. "It turns out your dangerous too. Now I will end up in jail."

"Get me back to my body, you'll never see me again."

Cokker chimed in. "I could have paid the fine in spades, you idiot; Airibell's parents are imperviously rich. They wouldn't raise an eyebrow." He could hear their thoughts. Why did you join personalities? Why didn't you buy each of us passage? "Sorry, Airibell and I were stuck in a rut, this was something totally new. No one has tried this journey together. We are pioneers."

"Pioneers on a journey to the prison planet Co-cab," Stephano said.

"Quit your whining, I will confess," decided Gambit. "Master Diadic will help us. Right Stephano? We are all aware of your liaison with the master." The girls watched the show from their sacred temple. Stephano's face twisted and contorted as he talked to himself .

"What are you talking about?" Incia demanded. It was bad enough her man was in jeopardy, but lying to her.

"I only wanted him to be our personal guru. I begged and pleaded but he said he could only decide when I arrived. He said my Chi was out of balance and there was massive de-programming we would have to undergo. I picked each of you because we have come as far as we can on our personal quests. It seemed the right time to transcend this reality and I knew Diadic had the answers."

"So we don't even know where we stand and now this blemish on our essence has buried us deeper than when we started." Incia seemed to glow as she poured out her power. The guys stared dumbstruck; it was apparent the girls were unaffected by their current circumstances.

"I'm sorry Mikala." Gambit confessed. "When I did the deed, it was as if something else was controlling me. Not evil; a cosmic destiny that said my path was linked in death. And here we are, an oasis of possibilities. This is the path chosen for us. There is no turning back."

"It's more than that, Gambit. You have left a scar on travelers in general." Garentanda continued. "This could set the movement back a thousand years. There is already pressure to close the spiritual paths, this just plays into their hands."

And indeed that was exactly what Hotchkiss intended. It had been a ploy; and his cloned replica had been the perfect bait. His real plan all along was to catch Diadic and bring him up on accessory to murder charges once Diadic helped Stephano escape justice. That meant twenty years hard time on Co-cab, then a mind wipe. In one move he would cripple the pilgrimage and put an end to Outpost Iridani 876 for good. Hotchkiss knew Gambit from the Mulberry riots where police bludgeoned thousands of new age travellers for having a concert at the sacred power place known as Braxtonhenge. It had simply been a matter of tracking his personality profile, like cosmic DNA, and intercepting a few transmissions. Now he would follow and wait.