Tongue Tied Episode 6

Tongue Tied Episode 6

J.E. Thompson

Grant

“If you’re feeling froggy,” Aria said, “jump.”

Aria wouldn’t shoot me. Would she? I mean she could be mad at me for leaving her here. But turn me into a crispy critter? She wouldn’t. I took a step toward her.

“Give me my blaster.”

“Stay where you are, Grant. You tell me where the reward money is, and you might walk out of here.”

She was bluffing. I think. I slid my foot forward and braced myself. If I can catch her off guard… ”You put down the blaster, and I’ll tell you.”

“You tell me, then I’ll give you the blaster…” She gave me one of her irresistible crooked smiles. The kind that convinced me five years ago to drop her here rather than turn her over to the Territorial Magistrate.

“…after I have the opportunity to collect my money.”

Not gonna happen. But… dang that smile. “Two miles west of town. The old thurium dig site.”

“You best be telling the truth. If you’re having me send Tugal out on a wild boar hunt, he won’t be happy.” She dropped one hand from the blaster. “And when Tugal gets unhappy, he tends to break things — arms, legs, necks…”

She reached for the communicator on the table, and I lunged for the blaster.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Aria didn’t hesitate a nanosecond before she pulled the trigger. I saw the projection port glow, felt the blast’s searing heat and the tachyon’s sledge-hammer impact, then everything went black…

###

My head felt like somebody had it in a vise. The rest of me felt like I’d spent roast cycle in a microwave. It was dark, and Aria’s face hovered over me like a full moon in the night sky. “Am I in heaven?” I asked. The words slurred out of my parched throat and over my numb tongue.

Truth be told, I fell in love with Aria five years ago. Now to have my head cradled in her lap, I… “You shot me.”

“Where’s my money?”

My mind began to clear. “What did you do to me?”

Aria held up a hypo-spray. “Just a little gentle persuasion.”

“I can’t feel my legs… Or my arms… Or my tongue…” I struggled to sit up. “I can’t feel anything.”

“That will most likely be the horse tranquilizer.” She pressed the hypo-spray against my bare chest where I could see it. “Tell me again - where is my reward money.”

“Don’t,” I said as she reached for the trigger.

“Where?”

“I told you. Thurium dig. West of town.” The world rocked and shifted, rolling me sideways.

“We’ll know soon enough,” she said.

A dam break of light flooded the darkness, boring shafts of pain through my head.

“Miss Aria,” a masculine voice reverberated through my mental fog. “We here. But I don’t see no dragon.”

“You lied to me?” Aria said. The hypo hissed hard into my chest, and the world dissolved into night.

(Are you confused about what’s happening to Grant, and how he ended up here? Did you miss episode 5? Click here.)

(Ready to find out what's next? Here is Episode 7)