Free Return - Book III of the Five Worlds Trilogy by Al Sarrantonio

to get none.
    In the pilot’s chair sat a tall, thick figure. Taking his eyes from the front view, he turned a single dour eye on Trel Clan. He appeared Martian, but his face was crinkled and discolored, white and pink, as if it had been burned. His hair was thin and then thicker in back, pulled into a knot.
    “Shut your mouth and do as we say,” the pilot said.
    Jamal hooted. “Be civil to your guest, Jerzy! After all, he’s first in line to my throne!”
    Again Jamal hooted, as the pilot snorted and turned back to the view before him.
    Seeing nothing to be gained in conversation, and feeling the beginnings of a terrible headache, Trel Clan lay down and soon was asleep.
     
    H e was awakened by the grip of a strong hand on his throat.
    “Wake up!” Jamal Clan hissed, and Trel Clan, ever self-protective, came out of sleep immediately and put his hands on the king’s grip at his throat.
    To his great surprise, he could not loosen the tight grip. He began to choke, and witnessed Jamal Clan’s face inches from his own. The king’s arm had little leverage from the rest of his body and yet his grasp was incredibly powerful.
    The grip loosened, letting Trel Clan breathe; but there was the threat of tightening in the iron hold.
    “Listen to me, and say nothing,” Jamal Clan said. His eyes stared into Trel Clan’s own with either madness or purpose. “You must do precisely what I say or everything is lost for us.” The grip loosened ever so slightly. Nearly spitting the words, the king whispered, “Jerzy is in the airlock, checking for a pinhole leak I manufactured near the bottom of the outer door. He will only be in there a short while. You must seal the inner door and expel him into space.”
    Jamal’s eyes studied Trel Clan fiercely. “If you do not agree, I will choke you to death now. Do you agree?”
    Trel pulled in breath but said nothing.
    The hold tightened again and Jamal began to tremble with anger. “You will not get a second chance. I spoke of greed to you regarding this venture. Jerzy was promised great wealth, which exists but will never be his. It belongs to Titan. It belongs to you and I. If he lives, he will reveal our secret after getting paid. Do you agree?”
    Again the grip loosened, and this time Trel Clan nodded slightly.
    “I will let you go now,” the king hissed. “Do it!”
    Trel Clan gulped in a long breath of air as the king’s fingers released his throat.
    “Stand up and do it!” Jamal Clan whispered hysterically.
    Trel Clan pushed himself to his feet, still fighting for air, and stumbled to the inner airlock door. Through the port he could see Jerzy bent over a task at the outer door, near its bottom corner. The inner door seal was a meter above the floor, just to Trel Clan’s left.
    “Pull the lever, damn you!”
    Still studying the man in the airlock, Trel Clan pulled the red lever, which sealed the inner door with a tight thud.
    “Now activate the lock!” Jamal Clan screeched loudly.
    The big man in the lock had heard the sound behind him and turned to throw himself, bellowing, at the inner door. His creped face flushed bright red and pale white as he pounded on the door, screaming for release.
    “Activate the lock or he can override it!” Jamal screamed.
    Trel Clan looked at the raving king on the floor; Jamal was pulling himself frantically toward Trel, his fingers clawing against the deck of the shuttle transport; giving up on this tactic, he howled and drew his arm to his side, trying to roll forward into Trel.
    Trel turned back to see Jerzy desperately working at something just out of sight.
    Trel slid the safety shield from the activation button aside and pushed it.
    In the airlock Jerzy looked out at Trel Clan for a moment, the word No forming, before turning with the beginnings of true horror on his face to confront the outer door, which suddenly flew open. The man’s scream was lost in a hiss of expelled air, and Jerzy was pulled out of the door with his