Connection by Ken Pence

then did the same thing to his other shoulder. I then grabbed his leg, bent his knee and dislocated his hip – and then did the same thing with his other hip. I wanted him alive but crippled.
     
    Twlise said, “What are you doing?”
     
    “I do NOT like people who shoot at me,” I said as I grabbed my flight suit and coffee. I stomped the shooters left hand to jello as I took his pistol. I did the same with the first unconscious man.
     
    Twlise looked around the room. Then went through both men’s pockets taking all their cash. “We need money. The warders will be here any minute. We need to be elsewhere. Which way?”
     
    I laughed. I thought it was funny.  Most guys think women are squeamish and fragile. It has been my experience that they are tough and practical – much more so then males – on any planet.
     
    “What’s the best way to get to those coordinates?” I asked.
     
    “We steal a car or rent a car or motorcycle. We’re going to be pretty conspicuous carrying a rifle and a backpack. Let’s go out the back. I know where we can borrow a motorcycle from a friend who won’t ask many questions,” she said. Cassandra translated pretty well for me now.
     
    The place we were headed was a good ways west of the city. I was afraid I’d lose contact with Cassandra soon. I asked he if she would be coming soon – she said she’d be here before dusk when the sun would be in everyone’s eyes. They stepped out of the hotel and were halfway down the alley when two guys stepped out the direction they had been going. A car came roaring up behind them and the back door swung open.
     
    A man with a gun yelled from the back seat. “Get in or I’ll shoot her.”
     
    I decided I did not want to get into shootouts with everyone I met because the odds were I’d be shot soon or Twlise would be. We jumped in with all our gear. There was another guy in the front holding a gun on us – harder for me to reach. I figured I couldn’t disarm them both before he’d get a round off. Figured I’d just not say anything and see what was going on. One of them spoke into a portable transceiver – it was huge by my standards. “We have ‘em – headed your way,” was all he said.
     
    Cassandra came on. “This is the same frequency that I monitored in orbit a few hours ago and then arranged for a car near where that abandoned airfield is located. They may be from Xale – that Jovian moon colony. Will let you know more when I get close. They also had contact with someone from the Prath.”
     
    The car backed rapidly out of the alley, turned, and sped out of town.
     
    “What took you so long? We thought we were going to find our own transportation to the airfield. This is Twlise, my girlfriend, and tutor. Friends call me Robert.”
     
    Twlise looked over at me, smiled, and patted my leg. I held her hand.
     
    The guy in the front looked shocked and tilted his head. “Shut up,” he ordered.
     
    We drove for a few minutes and Cassandra signal was beginning to break up. “You’re headed for that deserted airfield. You take the right fork about two kilometers up ahead.” She said and I lost her signal.
     
    We drove a few more minutes and came to the fork in the road that Cassandra had told me about. The driver stopped and asked the front passenger which way to go. He said he didn’t remember.
     
    “Take the right,” I said. “The airfield is not far.”
     
    The guys in the front looked at each other and turned the car onto the right fork. We arrived at the airfield just as Cassandra had predicted. A freighter, twice the size of Cassandra sat on the field and had already been refueled because a fuel tanker was just leaving.
     
    One of the buildings looked like it was used regularly so I headed that way with my backpack and rifle hung over one shoulder. Twlise and the three guys had to scramble to catch up.
     
    “Wait. You can’t walk off like that?” said the guy who had been in the passenger