Page 26 of Fresh Flesh

Lurg

My zoomer has a bad gyroscope.It keeps trying to lilt to the right, and if I don’t maintain a steady hand on the controls it will pitch me right over. At the speeds I’m traveling, that might be lethal.

Yes, I could easily power down the zoomer platform, set it down in one of the many meadows which dot the landscape of what used to be Ohio. Then I could effect repairs. If that failed, I could fly off to one of the Grengoran bases and either get a replacement or a repair from one of our engineering staff.

Either of those options, however, would result in a delay. And I will brook no delays in finding Maisie.

I have come to a startling conclusion about the human female. One that I never would have thought possible.

I have fallen in love with her.

I will do whatever it takes to get her back, no matter who I have to hurt or kill, no matter how far I have to travel.

And yes, I will even risk my life flying this broken vehicle over an equally broken world in order to be by her side once again.

I see a dark line in the distance. The train tracks, elevated on a bed of limestone and granite. To my surprise, I don’t see Mlarx here yet. I frown and check my coordinates. This is indeed the switchyard where I am to rendezvous with Mlarx. He should have been here by now, as he had far less distance to cover.

I fly over to the switchyard and set down the zoomer. Seeing no sign of Mlarx, I power down the vehicle and open the side panel. It looks like just a blown fuse. I rummage around in the service bay until I find a replacement and snap it into place.

Just as I’m shutting the control panel, I hear the sounds of Mlarx’s engine. I look up to see him cruising toward me at top speed, kicking up a plume of dust behind him. He stops the zoomer ten feet from me and leaps off it while it’s still moving, relying on the Deadman switch to keep it from running both of us over.

“Did you hear any news?” he asks.

“No,” I say with a sigh. “I assume you did not either?”

He shakes his head, and then shouts and kicks over a rusted barrel filled with old coal. It flies through the air and crashes back down, startling a flock of crows. I watch them take flight toward the horizon, until one by one they disappear.

Just like Maisie.

I can’t give in to despair. I’m the leader. I need to act like it.

“Calm yourself, Mlarx,” I say. “I will contact Joras and see if he has had better luck than we.”

“He has not,” Mlarx mutters bitterly.

“What makes you so sure of that?”

“If he had found her, he would have contacted us already.”

I can’t fault him for that logic. I take out my communicator and dial in on Joras’ frequency. A moment later I hear his voice.

“I’m here, Lurg.”

“Have you found her?” I ask.

“No,” he says, dashing my hopes. Mlarx looks vindicated and gives me an I told you so kind of look. “But I do have a lead.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Maisie was sold at an auction house to a human farmer. An Overseer named Kvet purchased her and is taking her to his farm.”

“Where is his farm?”

“Up near the border of what the humans called Canada.”

“That is thousands of miles from here,” Mlarx gasps.

“Then we’d better get moving. Joras, you have a considerable head start as you didn’t diverge down the track split as we did. You will arrive long before the two of us.”

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