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  “It’s fairly rare. My guess is someone’s been trying to kill you.”

  “That doesn’t feel rare right now,” Mike said.

  “Ah, but the way they were doing it is. Very criminal. We don’t countenance murder.”

  “What did they do?”

  The stranger’s face appeared next to Vem’s. Luf said, “You’re only going to raise your head slightly. You need to take this pill. I tried to give you a shot, but I got a jolt from your blue aura. That is one hell of a protection device. I’d give a great deal for one.”

  “You and several planetary armies. How come sometimes it doesn’t go off?”

  “My best guess is that if someone is helping and not attacking, they’re not perceived as threats. We’ve got implants that get into people’s heads. Vov must have set his sensors to detect threats.”

  When Mike lifted his head, it felt like several hundred blacksmiths were performing the Anvil Chorus from eardrum to eardrum and from the front to the back of his skull. He sipped water, swallowed the pill, and lay back down.

  Luf said, “By all rights you shouldn’t be sick. The problem is your immune system has been compromised. Since we’ve had space travel so long, it is automatic that in the food we give to travelers going or coming to our systems from unfamiliar planets, we put special supplements in it, what you would call antibiotics. You should be immunized. It is very effective for our travelers. Of course, there have been problems over the millennia. There are some universal antidotes that work in ninety-nine percent of all cases. Rare exceptions do occur. We are well trained in taking care of those exceptions.”

  “Great,” Mike said. “They didn’t work for me.”

  “I have no idea if they work for you. The problem, the key here is, you were never given any, not on your journey here or while you’ve been imprisoned on the surface. Another week or so, and you would have become very ill. After that a coma for a while, and then you’d be dead.”

  “Who did it?” Mike asked. “Or in this case, didn’t do it?”

  “Excellent question,” Luf said.

  “I’d like to have a long talk with Lerg.”

  “Who’s he?” Vem asked.

  “He was in charge of me on the ship.”

  “Excellent place to start,” the doctor said.

  Vem said, “It is a crime to withhold the antibiotics from someone’s food. It is an even more serious crime when that person is from a world that is less developed than ours. Someone has to deliberately take it out of your food or prevent it from being put in.”

  “How long has this been going on?” Mike asked.

  Luf pointed to a machine that resembled hospital room electronics on Earth. “That machine analyzes what you expel when you breathe. It tells me there are no antibiotics in your system, therefore, it has to have been going on from the very first thing you ate on the ship coming here.”

  “All those months? Someone had to do a hell of a lot of planning.”

  Vem added, “In the prison they would have assumed you already had all the necessary supplements so nothing would have been added there. Someone perceived you as a great danger even before you were taken from Earth.”

  “Someone would have had to have known about me,” Mike said. “I didn’t think I was known about until they actually took me.”

  Vem said, “I’m not sure. You managed to elude capture for a little while. Messages can travel back and forth through space faster than any battle cruiser. Someone knew and someone was very afraid.”

  Mike said, “Being a corpse would have depressed me.” He heard a door slide open. Joe’s head appeared next to the others. Mike sat up a few inches. Already he felt much less woozy. He and Joe hugged.

  “Are you okay?” Joe asked. “I just got here. The plans have changed so much since you were almost caught.”

  Vem said, “We’re very lucky we got this far. Without Mike’s abilities, we would have been lost.”

  “Doing my best,” Mike said, “although I think it’s all pretty hopeless, but I’ll go along with whatever you guys plan to do.”

  Luf said, “Why don’t you try to sit up the rest of the way?”

  Mike did. The room had cabinets, a sink, several chairs, and a mirror. Mike felt he could use a shave and a shower, a real one with water cascading down.

  “Now what?” Mike asked.

  A voice boomed from hidden speakers. “This station is in emergency lockdown. All inhabitants are to immediately congregate in the star two staging area.” The message repeated.

  Luf and Vem exchanged worried glances.

  “Trapped, aren’t we?” Mike asked.

  “Yep,” Joe said.

  The doctor donned a starburst. “What’s that mean?” Mike asked.

  “I’m the head of my profession.”

  “How did you wind up treating me?”

  “Ove is my benefactor. I don’t think my status is going to help you much.”

  “Can we run and hide?” Mike asked.

  “Running would involve a spaceship. If the central government security troops are here in force, there is no way we could leave. Hiding? This is a very large space station, but the amount of space is, of course, finite. You would be discovered eventually. Can you stand?”

  Mike swung his legs over the slab he rested on. He swayed a moment then checked himself. Joe helped him up. Mike let himself get used to being on his feet. He took several tentative steps. “Whatever you gave me works pretty fast.”

  “We have excellent medicine on my planet, and we were lucky what you had was a lack of something rather than a disease. If you had caught something in this unfamiliar atmosphere, you probably would have died.”

  “Will you be in trouble for assisting me?” Mike asked.

  “I have an impeccable and ironclad contract with Ove and all his people. In addition to that, medical ethics are very strict. I must help those who are ill. They cannot deny me that. What they can prove beyond that is not clear to me. I was not part of your original escape attempt. In fact, you might have made it to safety, but Vem was very concerned about your health. This was the safest space station he could have brought you to. Obviously it wasn’t safe enough.”

  “Thank you for helping me,” Mike said.

  “You’re welcome,” Luf said.

  Mike took several tentative steps. “I’m sort of okay.”

  Joe held onto him.

  “How did you escape?” Mike asked.

  “I had only the one guard. Turns out he was gay. He’d listened to what was going on. You know all the outrage especially from the tangerine faction?”

  Mike nodded.

  “Pretty much fake in that they don’t care about what I did, but they care very much that it gives them an excuse to kill me. He didn’t want me to die.”

  “So what did the guard do?”

  “Killed a lot of his buddies in a possibly suicidal mission, got me a ground transport, a map, and I was good to go.”

  “He just happened to be gay?”

  “He happened to be gay and found a way to become my guard. He’d planned it for a few days.”

  Mike said, “So there is an intergalactic gay conspiracy. I’m glad.”

  Joe said, “More like he was lucky enough to connect with Ove and Vem and get me here, or not so lucky as it looks like we’re caught again.”

  They walked toward the designated area. The space station had curved walls along which portals about one hundred feet apart gave a view of the surrounding stars. They met guards soon enough. The red robed minions did not molest them, but they surrounded them.

  They arrived at the star two staging area. To Mike it looked like a gigantic airplane hangar with a vast glass dome for a roof. Every vehicle in the hangar was ringed with guards. Clumps of them stood at attention in front of every entrance to every vehicle. Mike saw immense ships docked at vast bays outside in space. Some were at least as big as the tallest skyscraper on Earth turned on their sides and bulked up around the
middle. Hundreds, maybe thousands of ships floated around them.

  Mike pointed. “Is that a normal number of ships to be around here?”

  “No,” Luf said. He gazed at the assembled armada for a few moments then said, “That could be the entire home fleet and then some. You should feel honored.”

  What Mike felt was depressed. He reached for Joe’s hand. Their fingers entwined.

  Three people detached themselves from a knot near the largest transport vehicle inside the hanger. Mike recognized Bex, Kenton, and Mulk. They stopped three feet in front of Vem, Luf, Joe, and Mike.

  Bex looked self-satisfied. Kenton wrung his hands and shook his head. Mulk gazed at them for several moments then said, “Trying to escape was a mistake.”

  Bex said to Vem, “You will be executed.”

  Mike’s stomach lurched.

  The doctor stepped forward. “I have a serious breach of law and ethics to report.”

  Bex said, “Find the proper channels and use them.”

  “It concerns the Earthling and must be heard and must be brought before the Senate.”

  “You have no standing,” Bex said.

  Luf said, “I have a great deal of standing. Someone attempted to murder the Earthling.”

  Mulk raised an eyebrow an eighth of an inch. Kenton gasped. Bex snorted.

  Luf said, “I have sent the medical records to every information dissemination point.”

  Bex sneered. “That news will never see the light of day.”

  “And I have sent it to every senator. You cannot ignore the laws and customs of our world.”

  “You have proof?” Mulk asked.

  “I will open relevant portions of my medical implant to the entire Senate. The tests I’ve run and results from them cannot be doctored. The fact that antibiotics were not administered to him on the ship is incontrovertible. He was not given antibiotics in his food as is the custom and his right. He would have died in a few weeks from the lack. He could easily have caught a fatal disease.”

  Mulk said, “A very serious charge. You are correct. It has to be known before the end of our deliberations.” He pointed to the nearest man in a red tunic who had the build of a linebacker for an NFL team.

  Mulk pointed at Mike and said, “Guard this man well. If he escapes, everyone connected with the operation will be executed. You have six devices for depriving him of oxygen and four for gravity disruption. Make sure your men are prepared to use them instantly.”

  Mike let his blue glow envelop him and Joe. He knew he wasn’t about to escape, but doing it made him feel like he had at least a little power in the midst of this situation. Bex glared at the glow, but he forbore any action. He had learned his lesson about a frontal attack, or so Mike hoped. They marched through the middle of the assembled guards. Everyone was silent. A couple of the ships’ motors hummed quietly. Mike and Joe were taken aboard the largest one in the hangar. A few minutes later it deposited them in a huge ship in the vast space above.

  On the new ship they led Mike to a security room smaller than the bathroom he’d used in his cell on the mountain top. “In here,” the guard ordered.

  “No,” Mike said.

  He saw the guard tap at his communicator. Mike felt the oxygen deprivation within a few seconds. He drew a deep breath. He manipulated his communicator. The security room disappeared in a puff of smoke and a bang loud enough to hurt eardrums. The guards backed away. The one with the oxygen deprivation device tried working on it again. Mike worked as fast as he could. The oxygen was almost gone. When the guard’s communicator turned bright red and began to smoke, he dropped it. Fresh oxygen rushed in.

  “We have more of these.” The guard’s voice sounded more like a whine than a warning.

  “Just leave us in a room. We won’t give you any trouble, but I am not going in one of those.”

  The guards conferred out of earshot. Bex was summoned.

  “What’s the problem?” the security official demanded.

  The guard explained.

  “Look,” Mike began.

  Bex said, “Shut up, you inadequate, backward fool. You have no status in this discussion.”

  Mike kept his calm. “This inadequate Earthling is sick and tired of you and your attitude. Right now, I’ve got the power, but I’m willing to go quietly, just not in one of those things. You want to fight all the way back to your planet?”

  “I’ll bring more oxygen deprivation weapons.”

  “Do so,” Mike said. “I’m ready. If you manage to put me in one of those when I come to, I’ll wreck it from the inside. I’ve got enough control on this thing to do that without hurting myself. We could stand here and have useless conversations, or we could just be let into a room and left alone. You’ve lost to me every time you’ve faced me down. Want to lose again in front of your guards? I’d be happy to oblige.”

  “You’re going to lose when it counts. Be content with what little freedom you have at this moment.” Bex stomped away.

  Together Joe and Mike were let into a small room.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  After the wall sealed itself, Mike and Joe embraced. Mike had missed the tingly feeling he always got from physical touch with his husband. Mike rested his head on his husband’s shoulder. He assumed they were being monitored. He didn’t care. He held Joe as if he would never let him go. The chest, legs, arms, and torso warm against his own, felt wonderful. Whatever happened to him, he wanted it to be with Joe. Being separated from the one he loved would be the worst punishment. He figured their enemies knew that.

  There was no seat. Their backs propped against a wall, they sat together on the floor.

  “How are you feeling?” Joe asked.

  “Physically, much better. I’m ready to blow up their god damn ship and as much of their fleet as I can.”

  Joe said, “I’d rather live with the chance that someday this will be behind us, and we’ll be able to live in peace and quiet.”

  “There’s a place for us,” Mike intoned.

  “What’s that?” Joe asked.

  “A snippet from a Broadway show tune.”

  “Show tunes are appropriate at a time like this?”

  “As a character played by Harvey Fierstein once said, or I think he said, ‘there is no time that a Broadway show tune is inappropriate.’”

  “Is there someone in your popular culture who made witty comments on their way to be executed?” Joe asked.

  “I sure as hell hope so although at the moment I don’t recall any particular names.”

  Since it took place at less than interstellar speed, the ride down to the planet took several hours. Mike and Joe spent most of the time in each other’s arms kissing, holding, and touching each other. They made love as if it were their last time. Passion and love, urgency and desperation fueled every twitch of muscle, sinew, and brain synapse. They climaxed simultaneously in a passionate sixty-nine. Mike swallowed Joe’s cum, then and as always, the best he ever tasted.

  The pulled their clothes back on and spent the remainder of the journey holding each other close and talking quietly about people they knew on Earth, about things they’d done together. They talked little about the coming decision and what would happen to them. Worrying about it would do no good. Agonizing about the consequences would not lessen the pain of a possible separation. They wanted to enjoy the moments they had, so they did.

  They were led to the Senate chamber. Although Mike had been unconscious for those few hours, he didn’t feel refreshed. He was exhausted as much from the emotion of the events since he’d arrived on this planet as from the physical activity which had lasted more than half the night. As they landed he saw the twin suns rising.

  The Senate was in full session. This time when they walked in there was an uproar. Fists pounded on chairs. Sparks of electronics seemed to flow from each of the computer displays at the tables. People shouted. Fingers were pointed.

  Xam rose from his seat. His faction fell silent at once. Mulk
rose. The others began to subside. When quiet reigned, Mulk sat down. Xam nodded to Mulk then turned to the gathering. “Are the reports true? Did someone try to murder the Earthling?”

  Mulk said, “The doctor is here.”

  Luf was led in. He stood next to Mulk’s chair. He said, “You all have my full report. I will now open my medical implant to you. As you know, its memory is unalterable.”

  Cark, the leader of the religious faction, said, “How do we know how much power the Earthling has to alter our world?”