Part 15

In the middle of the night something woke Terry up. At first he couldn't figure out what it was.

He sat upright. He couldn't hear anything. He was still in the wood, and somehow, after all the stresses of the day, he had managed to sleep. He looked around and saw the cinders from the fire, saw their supplies scattered about, saw all the other people in the camp fast asleep - although some were lying in positions which suggested they had fallen there whilst drunk.

Terry was not normally a light sleeper, and so it was highly unlikely for him to be the only one who had woken up. He decided to try to get back to sleep.

puft

He heard a noise, but decided to ignore it.

puft... puft

He heard it again. By now he was getting uncomfortable about the notion of something making a puft... puft noise nearby while he was trying to sleep, and so he got up and decided to investigate.

... Norman had everything set up. He had finally managed to convince the Blieg to invade the Callack base. It wasn't easy to convince them to do it. It hadn't even been easy to communicate with them. A collective intelligence, like that of the Blieg, was great and all if you were actually part of the hive-mind, but if you were outside and without the right technology it could be a little like talking to a brick wall. Thankfully Norman had managed to acquire the right technology.

Actually Gospot had acquired the technology off the Iphraks. Norman was really beginning to wonder how William Gospot knew so much. Why was he working for the Scavengers, as their hooded employers were known? Norman was there because he had little choice, but what could have brought Gospot to his present circumstances?

Anyway, he thought to himself, it didn't really matter that much. He had told the Blieg to try and force Terry Horowitz and the Callack organisation out into the open, and that's what they did. He made a special point about keep Terry Horowitz alive. In return he had given them as many native Phragrian 'pop' creatures to eat as they could possibly desire. This was quite vital if the Blieg were to exist outside the Shift.

Afterwards, Norman had managed to contact all the groups who had a vested interest in acquiring members of the Callack organisation. Unfortunately this part of the plan had gone slightly awry, as there weren't quite as many left as Norman would have hoped. A number had either been killed or had escaped.

No matter, he thought. There were still enough, with a large enough bounty (particularly the leaders), to get him a tidy profit, and his employers - the Scavengers - would still get Terry Horowitz.

He stood in the forest, along side Gospot and the leaders of two of those interested groups. One was a particularly fat humanoid businessman called Tallance Calem, who had a grudge against a number of the Callack organisation for stealing his supplies. He wouldn't say what those supplies were, though rumour had it that he was involved in particularly seedy business opportunities.

The other man, was disturbingly thin and alien looking. He just about looked human, but had a definitely green cast to his skin. He was Craa Fik, and very little was known about his businesses, though again as the rumours went few people who made his acquaintance were ever seen again.

'Are you sure they're here?' said Tallance Calem, in a booming, almost-but-certainly-not-quite-American accent.

'Don't worry Mr Calem. Just make sure you have the reward,' replied Gospot.

'The reward is no problem. I'm just out to get my revenge on those thieving scum.'

Mr Craa Fik maintained an unsettling silence, his slit eyes taking everything in. He was quite obviously not used to working with anyone else, and so seemed more on guard than the others.

Norman was unsure where to put himself. If he stood next to Tallance Calem he would probably go deaf in one ear (it was just as well that they were far away from the camp where the Callack members were). But standing next to Mr Fik, as he was, made him constantly uneasy, like Fik was going to slit his throat any minute, even though one of the fringe benefits of working for the Scavengers was that they made sure that no one else harmed their employees. The Scavengers would quite happily do that themselves, but they hated any other organisation taking anything from them - especially staff - and so Norman was safe for now.

Behind Norman were a clutch of varying space craft, most of which belonged to Tallance Calem. There were a few other groups though that had stayed in their craft for now, discussing what they were going to do. The plan was coming together. And Norman loved it...

Terry followed the noise, which led him further into the dense forest. He had been following the puft sound for about ten minutes, and was beginning to get tired of it again.

Suddenly he heard it again, much louder than before. Only this time, just as the noise sounded, a pale-skinned, bald man in a black robe seemed to step out of the solid trunk of one of the trees surrounding him. He stumbled backwards in surprise.

The man stood still and looked at the floor in front of where Terry Horowitz was. When he opened his mouth to speak, he spoke almost in a whisper, but very quickly. 'You are very important, Terry Horowitz'.

Before Terry could recover, the bald man continued. 'I have heard word that the Scavengers are looking for you.'

'Right... Erm, who are the Scavengers?' said Terry, still on his behind.

'People who do not have your best interests at heart. Should they find you it would be very bad.'

As Terry slowly got back up again, the bald man still stared at the space in front of him. 'Well, erm, isn't that a bit obvious?'

'No, I don't mean it would be bad just for you, I mean it would be bad for the whole universe. Your continued existence, for the time being, is paramount to the stability of this Universe.'

Terry was unsure how to answer, and so the man continued. 'I have come to give you a warning. Get out of here. Take your comrades and get out of here.'

'Who?' Terry enquired, 'You mean the people in the camp back there. Can't you help us out?'

'No, I can't. I have no bodily matter here. Now hurry, time is of the essence.'

With that the bald man walked through the tree and disappeared. Terry had a quick look around the other side to make sure. No, he was definitely gone.

'Great', he sighed, and started jogging back to the camp.

The 168th Greatest Story in the
Universe - A Tribute (Archive)

Vercingetorix

26.06.03 Front Page

Back Issue Page