Super Spaced Out

The Reward Is Freedom

Lily shuffled under Vlex. The Utori man's weight smothered her. The front of her face swelled. A shove of her arms and legs shifted Vlex but he settled right back on top of her. Thuds sounded on the floor and paused when they neared her. The million pounds of unconscious Utori lifted off her. Gasping, she gulped in all the fresh air her puffy face allowed.

Vortrand dumped the commander's body aside. He stood over Lily. "You look like shit."

Lily glared up at him. Milky blood oozed from the many cuts and scrapes marring his face. Sticky damp blotched his torso where the cortin darts struck him. Growing cysts enclosing the toxic quills mushroomed the thin shirt he wore. Wincing, he touched one of them. His left eye swelled, the lid almost all the way closed.

"You wouldn't win any contests right now either," Lily said and started getting up when Vortrand helped her. He scowled at her.

"I thought you accepted me as your captain."

"I did."

"You ignored my order to leave."

"You needed my help. Two against one are better odds against Vlex."

"You are supposed to trust my judgment. How can I trust you when you never listen?"

"If I never listen, can't you trust in that?"

From the tight set of his mouth and jaw, Vortrand didn't find this amusing, so she sighed.

"Don't you think we worked well together? Fighting, I mean. Just like partnered combat."

"We were passable, but well trained partners we are not."

"But we won."

A little smile curved Vortrand's mouth then vanished as quickly as it came. "We did."

A little red light loop-de-looped between them and hovered at Vortrand's chest which was Lily's face level. Darting back, the captain drew the tam sword still buckled to his side.

"What is that thing?" He asked. "It was with me when we appeared in this place. I was in a dungeon in the lower levels and that thing led me up here."

"Then don't you think you should stow that tam? It helped you find me."

"Its nature is uncertain and therefore a threat."

"That's the Atarsen's light I told you about. The one I summoned in Hersch's lab." A smug smile spread her mouth. "See, I was right. It's here to help us."

The tam sword didn't lower. "The Atarsen's nature is uncertain and therefore a threat."