Sitting in the basement of the ‘Rat, Justice listened to the noise around him. The bizarre lizard alien Derglabin hurriedly arranged his belongings on a wood dolly. He had little use for clothing or much else beyond technology, it seemed, wearing the same thing every day. He realized that, as a science officer back in Spacefleet, he was not required to wear a uniform. Now that his labcoat was long since discarded Justice recognized the bodysuit he wore had virtually no function other than protecting his skin when he was freshly molted; the molting process being the only time the little monster smelled like anything. He would’ve been an ideal pet if he weren’t also smarter than Justice and arrogant about it. “What are you doing? Pack!” demanded the alien, scales shifting in color.
“No need.” said Justice. “Been living out of a suitcase this whole time. Just washed myself off, all the … smoke, blood and whatnot, cycled the dirty clothes into the case and clean ones onto my body.” The big man stared at the wall as he spoke.
“Meh. Fine. We wait together then.” Derglabin settled in next to Justice. “You know, that Chad drug man almost saw me earlier. I wanted to bite him but was afraid to blow cover, yes? You saw that I called to tell you what he did?”
“Yeah, I saw it, little guy. You did okay.” Justice cleared his throat, uncomfortable.
“Your heartrate is low but your blood pressure is high. Perhaps Renna should scan you?” asked the lizard midget.
Justice finally looked down at him. “Nah. I’ll be fine. Just … thinkin’.”
Walking out, taking a break from packing, Renna looked down at Justice. “Thinking about what?” He looked up at her. She really was beautiful and, also, familiar in a way that made no sense. When he was brought forward through time, unprotected, dropped into space, he saw the life he lived with her. Rather, he saw a life lived through the end of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. In his mind he’d been with her for half a century and, somehow, she was okay with that. “Really wanna know?”
Renna let her curly hair down, still wet from her shower, but bound up to stay out of her face as she packed. “Justice, of course I do. I’d rather not guess what it is though.” Renna smiled. She’d spent so long bathing, feeling filthy after being rescued from the slavers’ base. Washing the caked-on, dried blood from her hands and scrubbing at something she couldn’t touch but wanted gone. She’d butchered Bogdan, the Bratva chief, for abusing her during her captivity. It wasn’t but half a day but between her black eye and her actual captor already being dead, she’d taken vengeance on the only guilty party she could find. “So out with it.”
“Yes! I also demand to know what emotions clog the brain of the large humanoid!” Derglabin dug his claws into Justice’s arm. It was almost cute.
“Ow.” Justice muttered. “Jesus Christ, fine! Just unhook those damned things. I’m tough, not invulnerable.”
Derglabin pulled back six inches or so, demonstrating his ability to retract and pop his claws back out. “My people developed these for climbing.” he sad, smiling a bit. He was like a child, proud of his trick.
“Yeah, well, uh … hope you don’t think it ain’t manly of me but … it’s all the violence, sweetheart. When I joined the Union army it was to hold together the union. Then, everybody, friend or foe, became my enemy. I watched so many die but … it wasn’t me. I wasn’t the one doing the killing, then I was, but it was justified. I watched myself die … killed myself. But that was just practice compared to tonight…”
Renna crawled into Justice’s lap and hung her weight from his neck. “I know, baby. I know.” She was oddly supportive considering her own ideal.
“I thought that, maybe, I was too late. Then all those women. I … would’ve gone through as many of those shit-heels as I had to to get to you but I didn’t even think about the other women.” Justice looked at his hands. “How many did they get before I stopped them?”
“Justice … you can’t think about that. You stopped them. They won’t hurt anybody ever again.”
“I know! Just…” Justice grit his teeth, eyes welling up, fury burning in him. “I worked for that motherfucker Chad. He asked me for more, baby. I didn’t tell you. Wanted me to rough people up. We were just so fucking vulnerable. I should’ve shut him down the second–!”
Seeing no other way to do it, the chemistry of fear, jealousy and regained freedom coursing through her veins, Renna shut Justice up with a kiss. She pushed in deep, questing for the back of the rock-hard titan’s throat.
Justice shuddered, feeling a jolt of electricity, pulling her in, grunting bestially, squeezing ever tighter in his excitement. Breathing ragged, he transferred to her neck, kissing at the base and working up towards her left ear.
“Honey!?” Renna managed to squeeze out. “Gently, please?”
Justice’s eyes got big as he released his paramour. “Oh, God, I was crushing you. I’m sorry–”
“Don’t be. Your strength is exciting but, I also know, pretty dangerous.” She laughed but kept a grip on Justice, her savior. After nearly losing her humanity to slavers she wanted nothing more than to be close to him.
“Yeah … I guess that’s true.”
“Do not stop! I have long wanted to observe the mating act as it occurs with Terran life forms. I was afraid to look at humans in the simulation chamber. Is it much the same as with bonobos?” Justice and Renna looked over, horrified, to see the outline of Derglabin but his black scales completely recolored to make him look like clear glass against the walls and furniture.
“Oh fuck me. Seriously?”
“No. You are ‘fuck’ with her, yes? This is what the word means, no?”
“C’mon, lizard! Drop the camouflage, get out and let us have some privacy!”
“No! The living room is my only room! You have another room! That room has a bed. I have no bed! You get out!”
Renna and Justice looked at one another, Renna shrugging her shoulders. “Little guy’s got a point.” and Justice stood up, cradling her in his arms.
“You’re sure about this then? After we had to run you were so … down.” he said as he carried her through the kitchen. “I have these memories, a whole other life, a whole other time in which I loved you. I wasn’t sure … where we were.”
“I’ve never been so sure, Justice. Once the battle’s won, maybe we’ll find a way to return to that time, but for now it’s just you and me. Let’s make the best of it…” She kissed him again, more gently this time, so as to not trigger another crushing. Justice slid through the open door, nudging it shut, but not taking the time to make sure it latched, thus exposing them to a transparent voyeur.
Clothing peeled away, she remained the aggressor in their encounter. Justice was far from clean, but Renna scarcely noticed. The coppery taste, the animal smell, it all added to the experience. She worked carefully, taming his strength, directing his hands and working to keep him still. Pulling the blankets about them both, she worked her hips across him, locking knuckles with him before transferring his hands to her breasts.
This was fine for a moment until Justice started to squeeze. With a small gasp she pulled his hands away. “I’m sorry baby.” he groaned, as she hadn’t stopped moving. “I … I only been with whores before. Never … never had no love for no lady before. Just you.” His eyes rolled back.
“It’s fine, Justice. Your power is why I’m still around. I want to feel it … a little…” She thrilled at the control, continuing her hard press on the hard man’s hard manhood. He seemed incapable of opening his eyes and, she imagined, was not destined to last long.
—
So it was that nobody noticed Scarlett coming in the front door. Still in her club wear, still dirty, she was done emptying the Rat’s till, safe and dead Chad’s desk. Hearing the action in the next room wasn’t hard and she felt drawn to it. If anyone had bothered to ask Scarlett would have told them that she’d had horrible luck with men. Small town America, an abusive father, a boyfriend, almost husband, who hit her. Fleeing to Hollywood at eighteen, running out of money without getting a single role that paid anything, she’d fallen in with Chad. Chad, who didn’t care if she lived or died, who considered her just another tool in his toolbox of mostly guns. Justice, selfless, seemingly superhuman Justice Haymaker. She knew better but knew that she couldn’t do much better. He was genuinely good, something she’d never seen in a man.
“They want privacy. You should go.” said a weird, high-pitched voice, sounding like a little boy who was also doing some character from his imagination.
Whispering, horrified, Scarlett cast about, seeing no one. “I … I’m not doing anything. Just waiting. We need to … to go. Who…?”
“You’re the lady, huh? The one Justice said the Chad was bad to, yes?” A child or, like, a robot? Scarlett was thrown. It could be anything, after all, weren’t they from the future?
“Yes? I mean, yes I am. Your … daddy? Uh, he helped me get out of that situation and now I’m trying to help you guys. Okay? So no reason to say anything about … anything…”
Silence. Scarlett backed away, leaning her palms heavily on the kitchen counter, looking in every direction with her eyes. Knowing that Justice was a drinker she opened the refrigerator, silently thanking God when a bottle of cheap whiskey was inside. She started drinking straight from the bottle.
“So you know about us, huh?” asked the voice.
Scarlett let out a shuddering sigh, trying to play it off as burn from the liquor. “Yes. Yes, you guys are from the future. I’ve seen what Justice can do, that, uh, thing, the ray gun. Obviously that’s from the future. I didn’t see it dissolve people but there were shadows and puddles and explosions. Pretty … pretty wild by twentieth century standards.”
“Oh, good, so I don’t have to hide.” flashing into existence, a mere three feet from Scarlett’s hip, the black-scaled lizard midget appeared. “Yes, I am the one known as Derglabin. I am sure that Justice has told you much about me?” He smiled, exposing something like fifty sharp teeth.
Up to this moment both had been whispering but, now, Scarlett screamed then stammered. “What? What are? Where’d you go!?” she staggered out, away from the counter, forgetting the bottle she’d been drinking from on the counter. “Oh shit! Was that…? What was that?”
“You!” shouted Renna from the bedroom door, wearing nothing but an “Anatoli, the Russian Bear” tee-shirt. She charged Scarlett, pinning her to the wall. “What the fuck are you doing!? Were you watching us?”
“No! I swear!” shouted Scarlett.
“She was. Yes she was.” said the disembodied voice of Derglabin.
“Please! I just came in, I heard you guys, it sounded like you were … about done. I backed away and started talking to your little friend!”
“You want him, don’t you!? Justice! You need to get out here!” she called back to the bedroom.
“Baby, I just … give me one minute here…” said the newly relaxed hero.
“This redheaded bitch was fucking watching us, Justice! You need to do something!”
“I wasn’t. I swear I wasn’t!” Scarlett was starting to cry. “Please, he saved my life, okay? I … I was horrible. Chad made me try to seduce him, made me drug him, but he still saved me and I just want to pay that back. Please…” A single tear flowing down her cheek Scarlett quested in Renna’s eyes, looking for some kind of solidarity, some pity. “Please…”
And there was something there. Renna felt a twinge in the pit of her stomach; she’d been captured for a day but this girl, so young, had been under Chad’s thumb for years. Renna stopped pushing her into the wall, grabbing her by the shoulders, she gave a little squeeze, and nodded. “Okay. Fine.” Noticing the bottle on the counter Renna grabbed it, took a swig, and passed it to Scarlett.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Holy shit! You girls aren’t fighting over me are you!?” shouted Justice as he came crashing out of the bedroom, off-balance, boxers on backwards. “Scarlett, I done told you I’m with Renna! Whoa, little dizzy. Got up too fast.”
Both girls laughed, tension melting away, as Justice stood confused by it all. A faceless voice rang out “It is humorous because he is stupid!” and Derglabin joined in the laughing, appearing between the two women. Scarlett screamed again as he appeared, splashing whiskey over everyone but Justice. Silence. Beat. Everyone laughed including Justice, though he might have still been a little confused, a moment without tension deserved to be lived.
—
“And what’s this?” asked Justice, holding up a little plastic card with his face on it.
“That is a California Driver’s license. If anyone checks the address on it we have a guy who’ll confirm that you lived there until the end of this month. So try to make sure you don’t need to reference that address after then. Scarlett was driving the pickup, glad to be on a dirt road after the traffic of downtown Los Angeles. Her hacker friends had hooked Justice and Renna up with express service. “Money talks” she’d told them and, at least when it comes to illicit documents, that was very true.
“This scribbly paper? ‘Certificate of live birth?’ What’s that?” Justice ran a thumbnail over the forged signatures of his parents. They weren’t accurate but, then, the version on that page never existed so it didn’t really matter.
“It’s … it’s a birth certificate. They didn’t have birth certificates in the eighteen-hundreds?” Scarlett asked, surprised.
“Really?” Renna asked from the back, chuckling. “You’re surprised that a man born a hundred and fifty years ago hasn’t seen a birth certificate?”
“Well, I don’t know. How’d they keep track of people back then?”
“Honestly?” Justice asked. “I don’t think we did a very good job. Mostly a church thing. I was born in my Papaw Pete’s horse barn in West Virginia but I tell people I’m from New York because that’s where my dad’s from. Spent a lot of time down there…”
“No kidding.” said Scarlett. “I mean, you sure don’t sound like the New Yorkers of this time. Definitely sound like a Hilljack from Appalachia though.” She chuckled a little.
“That sounds like an insult.” scowled Justice.
“No.” she drew the O out far too long. Both she and Renna laughed.
“Yeah yeah, okay. That’s enough. Wait, I got another card. What’s this?”
“Social Security Card, Justice. That was the expensive one. That makes you official in the eyes of the state. I guess Chad’s old contact, who we’ll probably never be able to use again when he finds out Chad’s dead, has someone in the government. If he can be trusted that will get you everything up to and including retirement benefits. You’ll definitely need more of a work history though.”
“Think so? I mean, two million dollars is a lot of money, right?” Justice asked. “That’s our cut, right?”
“That is the amount you so generously accepted of the four left after paying off the police, yes. But I wouldn’t call that retirement money in Los Angeles. Maybe West Virginia…” Renna giggled again.
“Don’t make me come back there, woman!” Justice grumbled.
“You don’t fit, remember? You were going to be a gentleman but then you got stuck between the passenger seat and the back bench. You almost broke the truck.” She giggled again.
“I didn’t almost break it. Just got a little … worked up when I couldn’t move my foot. Hold up, turn right there.” Justice indicated a trail, barely visible, that bounced the truck as it rolled into it.
“Jesus. Is this even a road?” asked Scarlett.
“We couldn’t take the chance that it’d be found. If the Chrono Car fell into the wrong hands who knows what might happen?” Renna said.
“Oh, I think I see it.” said Scarlett. “It just looks like a station wagon. Coming to a stop she parked the truck. “That thing goes through time and space, huh?”
“That’s the funny thing; the space part was a side effect. The man who designed it, Doctor Phineas Black, said in his notes that the multiversal travel was unintentional and uncontrolled. There were, apparently, some jumps that we didn’t even know about. He thought that he’d found his Earth when he came here but there’s no Phineas Black in the phone registry at the address in his notes.”
“So … all these crazy things you guys lived through? Do you think he caused them? Like Frankenstein and his monster?”
“Nah.” grunted Justice. “I did, my future self said he did, but I don’t see how from what the Doc wrote. There’s a politician, ain’t big yet, but he becomes Governor. He starts it somehow which, I’m guessin’, means he’s an Outsider, same as Brigham Young was.”
“Wait, so you know about Frankenstein?” Renna asked as Justice pulled the seat forward to let her out.
“Yes I know goddamn Frankenstein! I ain’t older than the book Frankenstein!” barked Justice, getting annoyed.
“He is Frankenstein.” giggled Scarlett.
“Frankenstein was the doctor! I know you’re sayin’ I’m a monster but he’s the … fuck!”
Both girls giggled at Justice’s aggravation as he stalked towards the Chrono Car. “Oh, Justice, we’re just teasing!” called Renna.
“Oh no! I should be happy. Most men would be overjoyed at two beautiful women for company. I mean, two of somethin’ good is double good, right? Not like they play off each other to pick on a man. What the fuck is up with these goddamned vines!?” Justice tore at an overgrowth of plant matter that had wrapped the tires. “It’s on the inside too!?” he shouted, looking under the car. The girls laughed. Cursing, Justice picked up the back end of the car, hauling the whole thing backwards, then straining against the vines. Finally, they snapped, and Justice fell, pulling the car on top of himself, the right rear tire landing on his groin. “Fuck! My fucking balls! Son of a bitch!” The girls cackled.
Still giggling and chatting among themselves Renna and Scarlett approached the Chrono Car, making sure their conversation was too low for Justice to hear.
“Oh yeah, keep screwin’ around. Don’t help me or nothin’. He carefully pressed the car off his junk and squirmed to one side to preserve his family jewels from further abuse.
“Whatever. How are we going to help you? I’m the brains, you’re the muscle. And Scarlett is … uh…”
“Another girl. We aren’t going to move a two-ton car, man. Be real. Oh, and if I need a role in your little cabal I’ll be the wildcard. Remember, when the crooked cops were coming only I knew how to handle them.”
“True.” Renna said. “We’re kind of lost in the nineteen-eighties.”
“And you’re going to be a little more lost, I’m afraid. You guys were sort of under the radar. Chad didn’t keep records of his fight promoting or his gambling, so, if they can even get someone who’s seen you to talk, Justice, and the cops connect you to Chad, you should be fine. Me, I am definitely going to have to talk to police, a lot, in the very near future. Best that we never knew each other.” Scarlett sighed.
“Aw…” Renna pulled Scarlett in and gave her a big hug. “Oh, you need a shower.”
“I know it! I stink like an underground fighting arena, an exploded car, burning bodies and everything else we’ve been around the last twenty-four hours. If I’d had clothes to change into I would’ve used the shower in Chad’s basement.
“I could’ve loaned you something!” Renna laughed. “You should’ve asked.”
Justice hunched to his feet, cupping his groin. “Honey, you wasn’t too friendly to Scarlett at the time, remember?”
“Uff. Okay, sure, I … didn’t really understand the situation.”
“No, you did. But there was no reason to be jealous, Renna. You two … destiny brought you together. I never had a chance.” she smiled, weakly, a tear in the corner of her eye.
Renna found this admission endearing and squeezed Scarlett a little tighter. “You take care of yourself.”
“Take care of each other. You got … a special guy there.”
“Is that a compliment I hear? About goddamn time. Not every day a man murders a criminal organization for his woman.” Justice struggled to stand up straight after his groin trauma.
“Oh, shut up you big galloot.” Scarlett detached herself from Renna and flung her arms around Justice’s neck. “I know you did it all for her but, Justice, thank you. You set me free!”
“Uh … yeah, girl. I…” Justice hugged her back, picking her up and looking over at Renna, who just stared, smiling a little smile. “I’d do it all over again. I just wish I’d dealt with Chad sooner so you didn’t have to put up with that shit.” Justice set her back down.
Backing away, sighing, smoothing down her half destroyed, soiled club dress, Scarlett perked up as if remembering. “Oh, one other thing. Uh … Derglabin? Are you there?”
“Oh no, no scary black alien lizard person here. Only locally grown and sourced various songbirds. Chirp chirp. Chirp and the like.” Yup, disembodied voice, that’s Derglabin.
“You don’t have to hide from me. I won’t scream again I pr–” Instantly, he appeared, two feet in front of Scarlett. “--omisse… Okay, it’s not fair to burst out of thin air right in my face. If I’d screamed that would’ve been on you.”
“But you didn’t. You’re growing as a person! Congratulations.” Derglabin tented his fingers.
“Okay… Well, uhm…” awkwardly, Scarlett hunched down, hugging the little lizard person, who didn’t respond at all. “There.”
“What was that?” asked Derglabin.
“A hug. Hasn’t anyone ever hugged you before?” Scarlett asked.
“Hm. Hugs feel a lot like the predators of my world as they make first contact before attempting to swallow one of my people whole. Humans like this?”
“Uh…” Scarlett looked at Justice, then Renna, getting shrugs from both.
“Are you a predator?” asked Derglabin, pupils narrowing to slits as he peered into Scarlett’s eyes.
“Uh! Don’t say that. Don’t ask a person that, Jesus.”
“So you do not eat meat?”
“I … I can tell that nothing good comes from talking about that. So I just want to ask; Derglabin, what the hell are you?”
“An alien.”
“Right, but, y’know … you were a secret to me until a couple hours ago and I’ve never met an alien before. Nobody has, well, except some people who really act a little too crazy to … believe.”
“Oh! You want to know about my people!?” Derglabin seemed excited for once.
“I … I guess.” Scarlett smiled nervously.
“Of course! We are the Serbivler, natives of what humans currently would call Kepler-1649c, but we call Verblar, our years are shorter than your months. Kind of a desert, but it’s a spring or fall kind of all the time. Oh, and we evolved from what my classmates at Academy called ‘kitty lizards’. We were prey animals until our brains developed and we used our ability to organize to dominate the other life forms. Blah blah, etcetera, space travel. Shall I continue?
“That’s … that’s enough. Wow. So that’s Kepler?”
“Yes, Kepler-1649c. You’re familiar?”
“No, Derglabin, she wouldn’t be.” Renna stepped between Scarlett and the little lizard. “Humans won’t even see your planet in an orbiting telescope for thirty-eight years.” Renna showed Derglabin data on her Datapad. “The telescope’s not even built yet. Let her go, please, this goodbye is officially taking too long.”
“Fine. Everybody else got to say stuff. Someone finally shows an interest in Deglabin. Better put a stop to that!” Derglabin moved for the Chrono Car, fading into background as his camouflage kicked in.
Looking at Renna and Justice as they formed up together, back to their vehicle, it was clear that it was time to go. “Well, now that it’s awkward, I guess this is goodbye.” Scarlett smiled a little bit, but it didn’t last. “Renna … the future. Can you tell me? Does it get better?”
“What do you…?” Looking at the sad face of the long-suffering girl Renna couldn’t tell what she meant at first until she realized that Scarlett was glancing at the Datapad time and again. “Oh! Well, uh. What’s your last name? I don’t know…”
“Don’t worry about that. Scarlett’s not even my real name. I’m JoAnn from Poughkipsee! Heh. But does Scarlett Sullivan have, you know … a bright future?”
Renna didn’t quite get it, her brow knitted in confusion, but she searched through the database backup in her transparent future computer and found an older version of Scarlett pictured. What she read was a shock. “Uh, here. You shoudln’t see too much so maybe just read this summary paragraph?”
“Is there something bad?” she asked.
“I didn’t see but, Scarlett, this is a historical entry. It has everything, from birth to death, and trust me, you don’t want everything. Besides, this is, I’m sure, what you actually want to know.”
Renna put an arm around Scarlett as they both read. A smile crept across the girl’s face, toothy grin forming, uncontrolled, and she giggled. “Thank you! Oh, thank you!” and she hugged Renna again, nearly crushing the Datapad.
Disengaging, she fairly danced, twirling, hugging Justice, barely able to touch hands around his massive trunk. “Uh, yeah, see you. Take care.” He said but she wasn’t hearing. Clearly, her dreams were coming true.
“Goodbye!” she called out as she got into the truck, a vehicle she’d clearly need to abandon somewhere, but one that was tied to a police case that was already a huge coverup. As she tore off back towards the backroad and out of this rough patch of trail they heard her shout out “Whoo-hoo!”
Justice looked at that display, looked at Renna, blinked a lot and motioned as if to grab for the Datapad. Instead he just asked “That was a real weird ‘goodbye forever’, all things considered, wasn’t it? What the hell did you show her?”
“Oh, Justice, it definitely isn’t goodbye forever. Not for us.” said Renna, shaking her head. “We’ll see her again and pretty soon.” She turned her head towards the sound of the truck as it sped off into the distance and sighed. “Her life’s been tough, she’s had bad luck with men, but now she knows it’s all worth it in the end. She’s immortal, Justice. She’s a star…”