Scarecrows from Jupiter Part 10- by: Zane Hunter-Green
Copyright Notice: the author copyrights this story and the author retains all rights. Expressly prohibited is placing this story at a for pay site. It is a futuristic fantasy, and is not about any real being. It has sexual scenes between adults and minor characters, so please do not read if that is offensive to you. This is intended only for a mature audience. Comments are very welcome and appreciated at ZaneG7@excite.com
Andy knew how easy it would be for him to get caught. The oversized uniform sagged around his ankles. He felt like he was behind enemy lines in Capture the Flag although he was playing capture the airsuits before the enemy captured him. As he passed others going about their business he walked by without speaking a greeting, knowing that his boyish voice would give him away. He wanted Nikki to think he was capable of helping with their escape, but now that he was on his own he started to shaking. He made a fist, and hit himself in the thigh to stop his telltale nervousness. He had to pass himself off as an adult.
"Hey, come here! I want you to see this!" From one of the battle-control rooms a guard who was loading ammunition called out to him. "Look, this will just take a second. I need to show this to someone."
Andy's first thought was to run down the hallway as fast as humanly possible, away from the commanding voice, but he knew that if he did something that would make others suspicious he could be caught, and they would be after Nikki next. Reluctantly he entered the control-room. He figured he would grunt, if he had to say anything.
The man wasn't wearing a full uniform, so Andy stood memorized by his dark brown eyes and the charcoal shadow on his face. Andy had never seen a man before that had not lasered off his facial hair. It made the man even more frightening, and somehow exciting like a buccaneer.
"Look at this, do you think this is what I think? The man pressed a button, and on a vid screen the weapon in his firearm came up for scrutiny. It looked like an empty shell laser, except when it's statistics came on screen it's weight calculated as heavy. "I think we have a live explosive here."
Andy nodded, he wondered what he could do, and the man should get rid of it.
The man thought out loud, "If I tell the boss, he may think I know too much. At first I was sure that it was an accident, but I just got the order to let all ammo loose in 45 minutes, we are doing an all out attack. When I signaled back, that I had to check the arms, I was ordered not to. Listen, Ferd, you're the only one around here that I trust. I know your secret, how you've been eyeing those star boys, and you would like to help yourself to them."
Andy pressed his hand self-consciously against his uniform, and realized that it had a raised florescent name. He was being identified as the man who he stole the jumpsuit from, yet with his lean body it was hard to believe the man couldn't guess that he was an imposture.
"What do you think I should do?" the man kept on, "What the fuck would you do?"
Andy wished that Nikki was here, in fact he wished that anyone else were here, he knew if he tried to talk he would stammer, so what would Nikki do? Nikki would do something, he wouldn't just stare like an idiot while a blast could be sent out that could level a square mile around. Within that mile was Edmund he just knew it! He grabbed hold of the board and pressed the hold button. The man looked at him in disbelief.
"What the fuck!" You're not Ferd, who are you?
"...An..dy"
"You're a starboy, the tall one. Humm I'm not into boys, but the little one was an exception. Where is he?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?" The man grabbed Andy by the wrist. "You know!.
"No, Sir...I do not"
"Kid, I can see your face flushed through my friends uniform. Where did you leave Ferd, anyway?"
Andy tried to keep a poker face, a word that Edmund had taught Nikki. He thought about the meaning of this card game as the man rained down on him.
"You are going to show me where Ferd, and the other boy is or I'm turning you over to Ked."
"The arms?"
"...I'll leave them on hold. I can lock the hold button, come on..."
Andy looked up at him, it was now or never, he took a deep breath and then pleaded with him to dislodge the unstable weapon first. It might not be a projectile, but they would never know until it was blasted off. Andy knew that he couldn't let that happen.
The man wasn't going to use the questionable weapon anyway, but no reason to tell this handsome boy that. The more the man looked at him in the obviously too big suit, the more attractive this boy was. He didn't glow sweetly like the little one, but he had a certain charm. The man reached over to Andy's pouch and started to squeeze his package.
Andy felt the hand press with interest so he decided to barter. "I need something, if you get it for me I will do anything you want."
"What do you think I want from you boy?" The man was starting to play with his fly, ready to ease his way in.
What would Nikki say? Nikki knew how to flirt, "I'll let you touch my ahh thing."
"What's to stop me?" The man now had the stiff knob in his hand, and was starting to rub it.
No he couldn't flirt like Nikki, he had to think of something else, some clever idea to get the airsuits. "Nikki is in trouble! He tried to escape from Ferd, and he climbed up a vent. Now he's trapped above the ceiling in a supply closet, I don't knowww howww much air...is in there." It was hard enough to speak, but he was starting to feel the excitement created by the man who was trying to jerk him off.
The man stopped and removed his hand from Andy. "I heard that boys and trouble go together. Show me where he is, I'll get him down."
"You won't be able to get up to him without an airsuit, that was what I was trying to find."
"Come on I'll get one. How did the boy get up into a vent anyway?"
"Ferd threw him up there, You'll need an airsuit for Nikki too."
"I can carry him in my arms, well come on then."
Andy figured that one airsuit was better than none. Edmund had carried him the only other time he wore an airsuit. He had been a baby about it. This time because he was larger, he would be the one to fly. Two suits would have been better, but he could carry Nikki who was lighter. They walked down the hallways to an outdoor cloakroom. The robot attendant handed both of them airsuits, Andy hugged his to himself as he distracted the guard.
"There is an announcement on the hallway Vids about the upcoming attack, and they're saying something about a battle room that is unattended." Andy said softly.
"Well hurry up then. We better forget about rescuing your friend."
Andy reached up to hug him, "I rather it were just you and me." As he leaned against the guards' stomach he tugged the airsuit away, and started to flee. The man lunged after him. He tried to trip Andy, but Andy was able to catch himself with his right hand, the left clutching the precious airsuits. He was weighted down, but his adrenal was pumping. He had to get back to Nikki with the suits.
Luck was with him. The man didn't report him. Andy didn't stop long enough to think about why. As soon as he was up the stairs he walked, first in the wrong direction, and then when he knew he wasn't being followed he made his way down the narrow hallway where the supply rooms lay.
Nikki was waiting by the door. "Did you get them Andy?"
"Yes, look."
"Wow, you did it! You're great! You even got two airsuits, was it hard to find them?"
"No-"
"Good! Let's get out of here." In the darkness of the closet, the boys pulled the suits tight, helping each other. Andy stumbled with the cords, but Nikki was quick and deft and dressed both of them. This time it was easier for Andy than when he tried to use an airsuit with Edmund the day before. He just watched and followed Nikki who took to flying naturally.
Nikki had to stop the urge to do gymnastics against the ceiling. He took the screwdriver, and went up against the upper vent, so he could loosen it. Fortunately it wasn't on that tight. The supply closet was the perfect room to gain asses to the cooling and filtering system above. The room was under a simple surveillance eye, but the guard that monitored the upper areas was the same that they had knocked out to get his guard uniform.
Andy helped Nikki by holding on to the sides of the grid that were already unscrewed by the butterfly hovering below with his metal tool. Nikki was like a rare yellow tanager as he kept himself gracefully aloft, and do his work at the same time. Only his heart beating nervously gave any indication that he was afraid. Finally together the boys pried the vent casing open. They were able to squeeze through the open space, landing above in the upper crawl space. Nikki had held onto the plate which he tried to push back in place, but it didn't fit with the exactness of before as he had to let it overlap with the upper floor, least it fall through. He didn't have time to fret over that. If he tried to make the plate even it would tumble down on the floor, and he could risk that happening.
Nikki was barefoot, he directed Andy to take off and carry his boots so they didn't make noise as the walked over the top of the second floor rooms. Andy was afraid that Nikki would cut his feet on the metal, but he didn't worry about himself. It was not as dark as the supply room but the shadows of the air system snake made it eerier. Nikki reached over and took Andy's hand leading him through the maze silently. Light came through the vents from the other rooms in the enormous warehouse. They followed the roar of the fans, which would lead them out of the building.
At one juncture the passage seemed to come to a dead end. Nikki squeezed Andy's hand and whispered, "We need to go back a bit."
They had missed the other passage. The fans roared louder. As they rounded closer a man's voice said, "You can stop now, I'm taking you back. It was the guard that Andy had encountered. He must have climbed up into the attic from below"
"RUN TO THE FANS, AND DUCK." Nikki yelled in Andy's ear. Andy could hardly hear him. The cacophony from monstrous fans were deafening. Andy froze, Nikki yelled, DON'T WORRY, GO, THE SCARECROWS ARE ALMOST HERE!
Andy didn't even know what a scarecrow looked like but he ran like hell, and ducked his head just in time. They heard a scream behind them, and the fans shut down for a few seconds, then started it's way back to speed, the blades as sharp as a butcher knives.
Nikki leaped up and shoved himself against the blades being careful to use the metal as a slide, and steer clear of the moving guillotine. When he was inside the heart of the blades. Andy started to yell. He was ready to throw himself into the moving death arms if anything happened to Nikki. Suddenly he could tell that it was not as noisy. Nikki had attacked the motor, which was deep inside the blades. He had worked like lightning to take the motor apart and stop the thunder.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A guard informed Ked about the boys' escape. Ked laughed. "They're not going to get far. If they exit the building by the fan duck we'll have them in seconds. Just keep your eye on the exit, and have a few guards on the balcony to stop them. Take some guns but use stun bullets."
"What if they fall?"
"Then make sure that you catch them. I can't be two places at once. It's time to end this silly war."
"But with the war going on...Is it safe to be outside with our friendly fire and Royal Tec attacking us?"
"Of course. All the Royal Tec's lasers are merely holographs. We own the company that manufactured their weapons. they never discovered that, or that we substituted mostly duds. When the information is shared, after we win the take over it will be too late for them to know how foolish they were not to use a smaller distributor of weaponry, or to do their research. They deserve to lose this war" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Nikki had halted the fan. Now it was time to escape, it was the moment to fly through the space They would have to force themselves to crawl between the fans and the out side of the warehouse. Their airsuits were still on, and in good shape. The boys looked at each other before they leaped away from the building into the war zone.
"Tonight we'll sleep in Edmund's bed." Said Nikki with confidence.
"What if they..."
"What if they shoot us down? Then we'll meet there as ghosts, but we'll make it Andy. I know we will."
Andy wanted to take a moment and tell Nikki how much he loved him just in case. This was all worth it because this one-day with Nikki had meant more to him than his droneful life before it. Nikki was his brother, and for a boy without family that meant everything... but all he said was "Okay, I'm not a scared crow because of you."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Edmund turned to Com; "I finally have an idea I think. I need the car's computer to work on an image. You just keep driving."
Com uttered his code to unlock the car's computer system. It was the special device that was hidden in the car, the fact that it had an industrial computer, far more powerful than cars legally could run. This was why Com had kept his car on petro, so he could have a computer that was fifty times more powerful than one allocated for a spaceship, and no one would be wiser . Edmund was both impressed and relieved. Com had many surprises. This one would help him considerably with his idea.
Edmund knew that this design would be the most hellish creation he ever worked on. As he built the smaller image that he would enlarge as it projected he shuddered.
"What is it Edmund, are you designing some type of monster?" Asked Com.
"Keep your eyes in the air!" Edmund yelled as they barely missed a laser beam coming from the warehouses. "No, I heard about years ago. I got the idea from the ancient Roman Caesar, he wrote about seeing it during his own invasions."
"What you're setting loose Jupiter to help Thane and his Scarecrows?"
"Not quite. No but I got the idea from them, this thing was called the Wicker Man."
"The Wicker man? What kind of scarecrow is that?"
"You'll see, it's the Frankenstein of Scarecrows."
The sky lit up. As Edmund unleashed the nightmare vision from the past the scarecrows from Jupiter descended. Their images flew around confusing everyone. That alone did not stop the guards who were ready to reel in the boys. The guards had seen the vids in action before. Cartoon images were used for training for every type of army. They almost laughed as they were entertained by the mock invasion beamed from Io. The boys were not going to make it past the ledge where they activated their airsuits. Capturing them would be child's play. Then the first guard started to scream and pointed.
Coming towards them was the most horrifying vision they had ever seen. It made them freeze and watch. It was like the Trojan Horse, but the shape was that of a 100-foot man, and he was built like a cage of straw. His face looked like a terracotta mask, horrid in its structure. Inside were human forms and they were tied up and screaming, there were hundreds of them, all shadow shapes but they looked so real, they were like the faces of people condemned to hell, but their hell was on Earth. It was a re-creation of road kill, on the turnpike of history. The feet of the Wicker Man were being set on fire with it's human stuffing pleading inside.
As the guards froze, Nikki nudged Andy who had tears running down his eyes to move. They had to escape. "Hurry, it's not real, Edmund is only projecting it so we can escape. It's just like a movie. He tugged Andy and they flew away, now camouflaged by the scarecrows from Jupiter. The boys though didn't know where to go, there was too much chaos flying around. Then like a vision Thane himself appeared out of the smoke and motioned the boys to follow him until they reached Com's car, where Thane disappeared as quickly as he appeared Edmund cried out and pulled them in, and hugging both boys close to him as Com steered away from the Warehouse and it's doomed war.
Andy couldn't stop shivering, as Edmund warmed him up he said gently. "I am sorry boys that I had to use that image but we have the technology now to re-create true scenes from the past. I hope with that in mind we can make sure that what we do in our real life are things we would want mankind in the future to watch. Look, I am going to create this for you."
Edmund shifted slightly so he could work on the computer. When he finished another image took shape. It was a picture in a frame, and as he enlarged it they saw it was Andy, and he looked like he was looking out of a window made of hearts. The room behind him was full of the kind of things any boy would want. As both boys looked in surprise, and Edmund looked proudly at his work he appeared beside Andy in the computer image. He went over and hugged Andy close to him, just like he was doing in the aircar.
"It's almost perfect!" Andy said in awe, "But it needs something very badly. It needs Nikki."
"It does, doesn't it," said Edmund. "I'm glad that you think so Andy.
"At that the vid of Nikki entered the room in the frame." Both Andy and Edmund opened the circle of their arms to greet him."
"It's still missing something important," said Nikki.
"What?" Both Edmund and Andy said at once.
"Our dog!"
"Okay you boys decide on his name and I'll create the dog." Said Edmund as the aircar left the warehouse district.
"Scarecrow"
A shaggy head appeared in the picture frame.
"I hope he's housebroken," said Com.
They all started to laugh as Com mocked cleaning out his aircar.
"Just watch the sky Com!" directed Edmund as he knew how blessed he was as both boys snuggled against him, their airsuits getting tangled with his computer controls. Life was going to be very sweet, and never dull with these two to mentor. He looked at the two exhausted boys falling asleep against him and knew that he was the luckiest man in the galaxy. He mumbled to himself..."You hear that Thane, where ever you are. Thank you for helping us."
"So where do you want me to take you Edmund?"
"Home, if your old car will make it you can take us home."
"This old car, it only looks like an old car."Com spoke the directions into the computer system. Edmund was busy stroking the silky hair of both his sleeping angels so he never saw Com, who had invented something to fly without an air devise, leap out the door. Com planned to make his own way down to the streets so he could look for the boy with the thousand names, and make sure he wouldn't go hungry.
Edmund started to panic and grasp the controls to soar down after Com. He then realized that this car was capable of getting them home on autopilot. Com too, could look after himself. Com must have placed a new kind of traffic sensor in the aircar.
Edmund's sudden movement startled Nikki who opened his beautiful eyes, rubbed them with his hand that wasn't holding on to Andy, smiled at Edmund briefly, and went back to sleep. Edmund settled happily again to watch over the boys. He had seen Andy in real life, and grown attached to him, but Nikki in reality made the Nikki on the computer screen a pale shadow of this real live warm brave little boy. Nikki made his heart so big, that it had more than enough room for another boy as well. One of Nikki's hand still reached over protectively to Andy, and Edmund thought to himself once again that he was the luckiest man in the galaxy.
The End of Part One...If a few people want a Part two please let me know and I will continue the adventure. ZaneG7@ excite.com.