Free Camp Alien by Pamela F. Service Page A

dark, I heard scuffling behind me. Vraj must have been doing the same.
    The nearly full moon had just cleared the eastern rim of the gravel pit. By its white light, we saw the Gnairt slam on a pair of earphones anddrop into the gun’s swivel seat. Unfortunately, he swiveled my way.
    For a moment we just stared at each other. Then, with an evil grin on his bloated face, he drew a smaller gun and aimed at me.
    I threw one rock and dove aside. An energy bolt sizzled through the air, grazing my hand with incredible pain. Gasping, I stuck that hand into my pocket and threw my last rock with the other hand. Then I sank, groaning, to the cold bare ground. There was nowhere to run and nothing to fight with. All I could do was play dead.
    With the pain I was in, it didn’t seem much like play. I just lay there in the moonlight, but the Gnairt seemed to have lost interest in me. My throbbing hand, cocooned in my pocket, felt something sharp and hot. The alien can opener. Great. But it hadn’t been hot before. I glanced down. My whole pocket glowed.
    Wincing, I pulled the thing out. One knob glowed pink. Had the blast from the Gnairt’s gun triggered the change? What was this thing, really? Could it be a weapon?
    I looked around. Hopefully Vraj was safe somewhere, but she wasn’t near enough to give advice. The Gnairt had gone back to his cannon.
    Overhead hovered the clustered blue lights of a Galactic Patrol ship. It had probably already received the Gnairt’s demands: either let them and the rich slug go free, or they’d blow up a camp of native young—my friends, my people, even if they weren’t my species.
    Gingerly, I clutched the thing I’d pulled from my pocket. If this was really some sort of weapon, now was the time to use it. Shifting as little as possible, I slipped the gizmo to my good hand and aimed it toward the cannon. The pink knob was glowing brighter now. Ready to fire—or open a can.
    Pulling myself up to a crouch, I pressed the knob. Nothing happened. Then I spun the thing around and pressed a silver knob. Still nothing. No, wait. The pink was getting brighter and shifting to purple. This gadget had to be a weapon. It had to work!

    As I jabbed the knob again and again, the purple glow deepened and spread up my hand, my arm. Was this thing going to self-destruct? No! I had to destroy that cannon. I couldn’t let them blast the camp. I couldn’t let my and Vraj’s mission fail so completely!
    I seemed to be entirely purple now, glowing like a neon sign. The Gnairt at the gun turned and stared. Frightened and furious, I screamed like a karate guy. Purple energy shot out of my hand and through the air like a laser. It slammed into the mounted cannon.
    The explosion was deafening. Its force blew me to the ground. I lay there, watching the most incredible fireworks. Then they and everything else faded to black.

Major motion sickness. Worse than a roller coaster. Worse than a fast car on curvy roads.
    My head hurt, my stomach sloshed, and I was bouncing up and down. Slowly I opened my eyes. Everything was bouncing. Shadow, moonlight, trees. My arms were stretched over my head and hurting, like someone was gripping them. Someone with claws.
    I snapped another notch awake. That “someone” was carrying me like a sack on her back. “Vraj!”
    â€œAbout time you woke up. Support your weight! Grip my sides with your knees and grab my shoulders.”
    I tried. It was harder than horseback riding.
    â€œWhere are we going?”
    â€œTo your camp, out of harm’s way.”
    â€œBut the camp’s going to be blown up!”
    â€œNot now. You blew up their weapon, remember? Quite a show.”
    â€œOh. Yeah.” Things were falling into place. “So what’s the danger now?”
    â€œThe Gnairt and Patrol ships are firing at each other, and we’re in the middle. Now shut up. I need my breath for running with a heavy