The Unreachable Stars: Book #11 of The Human Chronicles Saga by T.R. Harris Page A

know where he is.”
    Both the alien’s eyes swiveled to peer down at the shorter Human. “Do not take us for uninformed. We know you are in the company of the mutant and that you have enlisted the assistance of others from your past. We will get paid for turning you over to the authorities, even without the mutant. Yet if we can acquire both aliens, we will be paid even more. Either way, we will be satisfied.”
    “What if I take you to the mutant and then pay you to let me go? After all, it’s the other alien who has the most value.”
    The Castorian looked to his partner. They shared a silent acknowledgement. “You have the credits to pay us now?”
    “Not on me, they’re back at my ship. I always carry a contingency supply of Juirean credits aboard. It comes in handy at times.”
    The alien stretched out a thin, closed-mouth grin. “You are experienced in the ways of the Fringe. Pay us a million credits and we will let you go…when the mutant has been secured.”
    “You will need me for that. I know him better than anyone, including his strengths and weaknesses. Honestly, all I want is to be rid of him.”
    The buldging, swiveling eyes studied the Human for a long moment. Adam knew this thug was seeing through his ruse of indifference towards Panur. But he was also already counting his bounty—the full bounty for the capture of both Panur and Adam—and with an extra million credits as a bonus.
    “Lead us back to your ship. Do not attempt to escape. We have been advised to use Level-One bolts on Humans…and there are three of us, not two.”
    The third Castorian stepped out of the shadows and joined the entourage that followed Adam back to the Pegasus II . Once inside the starship, they all ended up in the common room. Years ago, Adam had installed a false front on one of the food processors, where he kept his quantity of credits. He also had Formilian, Hyben, and a half dozen other currencies besides the Juirean credits, but since the mane-heads had returned to the leadership of the Expansion, their credits were the most coveted.
    Adam began to pull out stacks of the light blue chips; a million credits was a lot. It would take a bag to carry them off the ship. The Castorians had dropped their guard somewhat, focusing on the growing stacks of credits on the food prep counter. Adam hadn’t offered any kind of resistance, and all the aliens could see right now were dollar signs. It was the moment Adam had been waiting for.
    He took two huge stacks, one in each hand, and offered them to the three aliens, yet as he reached forward, one of the stacks began to wobble. Adam panicked, attempting to regain the balance with his other hand. All this did was make both stacks unstable.
    Two of the aliens lowered their weapons and reached out to catch the falling credits, but it was too late. The plastic chips clattered to the deck. The two Castorians knelt down to gather them up, while the third—the leader—glanced down, following the movements of the others.
    To his credit, he quickly recovered, realizing his mistake, and when he looked back at Adam, there was panic on his face. He knew what was coming.
    Adam met the alien’s weird eyes with a wicked smile—and then planted a powerful right jab into his thin-boned face. The Castorian’s skull deformed as cartilage crumbled and fragments penetrated his brain. The force of the blow threw the creature backwards, where he collapsed on the solitary sofa in the common room, dead before he hit the cushions.
    The other two Castorians were on their knees, scooping up fallen credits, when they heard the loud clap of the punch. They lifted their heads to look at Adam just as the Human stomped a booted foot down on the wrist of one of them, crushing the bones and dislodging the MK-17 he held in that hand. The thug let out an ear-piercing scream and tumbled backwards, cradling his shattered arm.
    The remaining Castorian found himself being lifted off the deck as Adam grabbed