How did you find out?
Yesterday, using the pretext that she was still a loyal Darwin member, Bonnie Mullen was able to get David Troutman to let her in. Little did Troutman know that Rei Bierak was in the room now, too. Rei was wearing a Deucadon invisibility cloak so Troutman had no idea. It was time to spring the trap:The tall man walked over to the window and pulled the threadbare curtains aside to look out. “Did anybody see you come here?” he asked.Uh-oh. Bonnie's story is starting to fall apart. How long until Troutman figures it out?
“No,” Bonnie said. “I’ve been real careful.”
She looked around the house. It was tiny, just two rooms. In the corner was a workbench with wires and electronics and a pile of something that Bonnie assumed was an explosive. It was a typical bomber’s lair.
“How the hell did you escape?” he asked. He pointed to a table covered with litter. He shoved a clean space and pulled out a chair. “Sit down,” he said. “Do you want anything to drink?”
“No,” Bonnie said, “but thanks.” The room smelled strongly of body odor. Troutman clearly didn’t take much care of himself.
He sat down next to her. “So what gives?” he asked. “Where did you come from?”
“Well, when they rounded us up, they shipped us off to Alpha Centauri.”
“Jesus H. Christ,” the tall man said. “Alpha Centauri?”
“Yeah,” Bonnie replied. “The Vooks call their world there Helome. I gotta tell you. It’s actually quite beautiful there, not like this dump. You’d be surprised.”
“OK, I believe you,” he said. “Then what?”
“You know the Vooks. They asked us if we were going to be good. We said yes so they pretty much let us do what we wanted. I got the job of running a farm which was pretty peaceful. But Keller started plotting how to get back.”
“Keller, sure,” Troutman said, nodding. Then he tilted his head. “How did you get back here?”
“I know it’s going to sound stupid but I just asked. The Vooks there, they didn’t care. Keller put up a stink for me so they let me hitch a ride on a ship back to this dopey planet.”
“So how’d you find me?” he asked. “How did you even know where to look?”
“Well, I started with the fact that you and Steele were never caught…”
Troutman bristled when she mentioned Steele’s name. “So I figured you’d be easier to track down. You do kind of stand out.”
“Yeah…but still,” Troutman said. “Really, how did you figure it out?”
Published on September 08, 2017 06:16
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Tags:
action, adventure, ftl, science-fiction, space-travel, vuduri
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Tales of the Vuduri
Tidbits and insights into the 35th century world of the Vuduri.
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