Chapter Nineteen

Lanimer

Although the injury was minor, my shoulder hurt like hell, but with any luck, we would be home in half an hour.Only that didn’t happen.Once we launched, I called Nasir and told him everything that I had learned from reading the senator’s mind.I also noted that when I read the governor’s mind, there was no indication that he was involved with the senator’s plan.

“Thank you, Lanimer.You’ve given us what we needed to know.We’ll take it from here, and I’ll get back to you with the result,” said Nasir.

Fifteen minutes into the flight, the proximity sensor beeped, warning us that a craft was approaching us from behind.We were going fast, but it was gaining on us.

“Identify,” I commanded the flier AI.An armed drone was following us.

“Goddess!” Evalee murmured. I knew she was as scared as I was, but she held it in, allowing me to concentrate on flying.

I forgot all about the burning pain in my shoulder as taking evasive action occupied all my attention.

I flew high and low, dodging and weaving through canyons and over plateaus.I could shake it for a few seconds, only to have it set off my sensor again.I pressed the throttle up to full power and still couldn’t lose it. I assumed the drone was getting closer, trying to lock in on us.Then we heard a loud crack, and the engine compartment exploded, fortunately away from us.The flier was going down, and I tried my best to keep it from crashing and flipping end over end.

We hit the ground and bounced a couple of times before skidding around sideways to a stop against a big rock.The back of our flier was on fire, and we had to get out fast, but I managed to grab our emergency bag before we got out of the flier.

The night air was cool as usual in the desert, and we left the gala without our coats.Though it was dark with no ground lights in sight, the two moons were shining brightly in the sky full of stars.

We had fled about 100 yards from the burning craft when it exploded, sending shrapnel in all directions.As burning embers hit the ground a dozen feet from us, I turned to Evalee and demanded, “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Nothing hit me,” she assured me.

“Thank Goddess!” I hugged her fervently.

Although I regretted the loss of my flyer, I was glad Evalee and I were not injured in the crash.If I had nothing else in the world but Evalee, she would be all I would need.

I estimated our location and discovered we were about 20 miles northwest of our farm complex. Unfortunately, my communicator broke in the crash.I did manage to contact Nasir to leave him a message, but there was no time to give them our location.I was too busy trying to avoid getting us killed.

“Lanimer, we should stop so I can treat your injury.I can feel you are in pain.”

I hesitated then and said, “You’re right.I can move faster if every step doesn’t cause me pain.”

We stopped, and Evalee used a small light attached to find the vial of nanite spray in our pack.I shrugged out of my shirt and jacket to give her access to the burning wound.The pain stopped almost instantly as she sprayed the nanites-laced topical anesthetic over my wound.

When Evalee had closed the pouch back up, I slung it over my uninjured shoulder and took her hand.As we started walking, I said, “We need to get as far away from here as possible.”

“I agree.” She said, and she gave my hand an affectionate squeeze.“It was the Senator, wasn’t it?”

“Oh, yes. No doubt in my mind. It only took him a second to realize I was there to read him. His next was to send people to kill us.”

“I could feel his hate, but not until after he found out you are telepathic.”

“Because Trakellisans are of no consequence to him. He just wants the assets your people own. He works for the mining corporations, not the people.”

“He has no honor,” Evalee concluded.

“None,” I agreed.

We walked for an hour and stopped to rest and drink some of the bottled water in our pack.We were in the middle of a desert plain with no real cover anywhere.In the daylight, we would be easy to spot.That could be a good thing, or we could get into trouble.We hoped the fact that our flier burned and exploded would make the people who were trying to kill us believe they succeeded.

Evalee and I were in fairly good physical condition, and walking at a brisk pace helped keep us warm.By sunrise, I guessed that we were almost halfway home.But the sun was hardly above the horizon before the temperature started rising.Within the first hour, it had already become uncomfortably hot.In the heat, we walked at a much slower pace and stopped frequently to drink from the 2 liters of water that we carried in our pack.

With her arm and one shoulder bared by her lovely evening gown, Evalee was quickly getting sunburned.Before she burned too badly, we stopped and took out the single tube of sunscreen in our pack.

Because we live so far out in the desert, we always carried an emergency pack with a variety of things we might need.I helped Evalee slather the sunscreen over her back and shoulders, and she slathered it on her arms and face.Then I put some on my face since my suit jacket and pants almost completely covered me.

After walking all night, we were soon exhausted walking in the heat of the day, and there wasn’t a stick of shade as far as we could see in any direction.

Because of the long stretches of the desert we traveled, we always brought our supplies with us. We kept it stored in our flier at home so we couldn’t forget.With no shelter available, our only other option was the ground cloth and heat-resistant blanket in our pack.

We quickly found a smooth spot to put down the ground cloth.Then we laid down on it and covered ourselves.We slept for several hours on the hard ground, so when we got up, we were stiff and aching.We shook off the blankets, re-folding them and returning them to the pack.

The heat was unrelenting, and our water was almost gone. Our only choice was to continue because if we stayed, we would not survive. I didn’t have to tell Evalee the situation.She knew as well as I did that we were still six or seven miles from our farm complex.Although we still had a few meal bars left, our need for water was more dire.

With each passing minute, it became harder to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving ahead.We held on to each other for support, but as we got weaker and even more dehydrated, we stumbled frequently.Just as I started to feel that we were not going to make it, I heard the whine of a flier in the distance.

We couldn’t run, and there was nowhere to hide if it was another drone sent to finish us off.Then, I reached out with my mind to determine who was coming, and I recognized Nasir.He had been tracking us and was on his way to pick us up.Within ten minutes, we were at home enjoying all the water we could drink.

We gave Nasir all the information we obtained from the gala.

“We certainly appreciate your assistance.We had our suspicions, but there was not enough corroborating evidence to arrest him.We have Senator Dorn in custody, and we’ve determined that the Zevian army was not complicit in the plan,” Nasir explained.“We’re still trying to determine if Toran Nethos was involved.”

“I don’t believe he was,” I told them.“His motivation was personal.I believe Senator Dorn simply used his movement as a cover for his plans.I know he has created some bad feelings in the Trakellisans for us humans.”

“We’ve discovered that Toran’s vendetta is based on a false premise.The Trakellisans did not kill his brother.One of his men killed him accidentally and then blamed the Trakellisans, and we have proof.There never would have been any violence had Toran’s brother not died in the fight he started.”

“Is somebody going to tell him?” I asked.

“I told him, but he refused to believe it even though we showed him proof.He’s going to spend some time in jail, where they will rehabilitate him.He’s lucky he’s not going to Penta Prison.”

“He certainly wouldn’t get any help there.That’s just a dumping ground for criminals who no one wants to deal with,” I said.“I’m glad you’re not sending him there.As much as he harassed us, I could sense great pain behind his enmity.I could have helped him if he had let me, but I knew he wouldn’t.”

“You don’t have to worry about him anymore.We’ll take care of him,” said Nasir.“Again, thank you for your help.Without it, we might’ve been too late to stop the senator from hurting a lot of people.If you don’t need anything else, we will be on our way.”

“Thanks, Nasir.You saved us.We couldn’t have made it much farther.We’ll be just fine, thank you.” I assured him.

“We’ll talk soon.I’ll show myself out.” And then he left us.

After we drank our fill, we went to the bathroom and shed our ruined clothing.After a quick shower, we fell into bed and slept for ten hours.”