Fire descended to the ground with Riley on his back, then led her into the clearing. She nodded to Sundara and Metcor when they joined them.
“How are you doing?” Sundara asked as the hairy men escorted them.
“I think I’d like to walk back.”
Sundara laughed.
Riley was relieved the Toufik had removed the dead reptiles. Based on the bloodstain in the grass, their death had been rather unpleasant. Riley approached the weapon console that reminded her of a laptop. The split screens showed the orbs darting around the jungle.
I was right. Somehow those things followed us. It’s time to remember that damn phrase.
Riley closed her eyes, and tried to remember what she found so amusing about the phrase that stopped the orbs. The foreign words hadn’t translated, but they almost sounded like something in English.
It was something juvenile. Come on, what was it? Riley mentally repeated the cadence she could remember, hoping the associated words would roll off the tip of her tongue.
Riley opened her eyes in frustration. She stared at the controller, wondering if she could somehow reprogram it instead. The console was a touch screen with an unrecognizable language scrolling in a column on the left. There weren’t any buttons she could press.
“Maybe we should’ve brought June along,” she muttered.
Something flashed on the screen capturing Riley’s attention. A swath of red, darted through the trees onscreen, barely avoiding a blast. She heard the same blast in the forest not far away. Riley’s breath caught in her throat when she recognized the Cadi evading the pursuing spheres.
“Oh, Jesus. Cyprian, run!”
Riley almost vomited when one of the blasts nearly took off his head. Her head spun right, as Cyprian broke into the clearing at a dead run. Cyprian came to an abrupt halt, his eyes widening when he saw Riley.
“Little Manx?”
An iridescent flicker over his shoulder caught Riley’s eye.
“Duck.”
The frantic word barely spilled from her lips before a flash burst from the center of the orb. Cyprian hit the ground and rolled, missing a direct strike. Metcor grabbed Sundara and took off for safety, while the other Toufik backed away from the swarming spheres.
“What are you doing here, Little Manx?” the general yelled as he dodged another blast.
“Bird watching. What the hell do you think I’m doing here? Can you remember the kill phrase?”
Cyprian dipped under the reptile’s cruiser to avoid the orbs.
“There’s a kill phrase?”
“Yes. Don’t you remember? You can’t just blast the controller,” Riley hollered in agitation, as Cyprian emerged from beneath the belly of the craft.
“I was a bit busy listening to Mave and Jyk plan an assassination, while your little tail squirmed on my lap. Not to mention the explosion and abduction that followed,” he snapped in agitation.
Good point. The Verrater rambling on about the weapon wasn’t the most memorable thing that happened that afternoon. The blast that followed the demonstration had scrambled her brains too.
“It was something funny. What was it? I’ve got the humor of a fourteen-year-old boy. What could it have possibly been. And why does Tony the Tiger from the Frosted Flakes’ box keep coming to mind?” Riley rambled as she frantically looked from Cyprian to the controller.
“What are you talking about?”
“Hush. Let me think. Just keep from getting shot.”
“Well hurry it up,” he yelled while avoiding a blast that ricocheted off the hull of the ship.
“Not helping. They’re grrrreat,” Riley repeated the familiar slogan hoping to shake something loose in her head. “What’s great? Ca, co, they’re grrreat.” It was at the tip of her tongue. Riley’s eyes widened. “Oh, son of a bitch. I’ve got a major mental problem,” she mumbled as she suddenly recalled what the kill phrase sounded like. “Cocks are sure great!” Riley hollered at the console.
“Seriously Riley?” Cyprian yelled, while attempting to open the cruiser door, only to be forced back under the ship again.
“Don’t give me any shit. That’s what it sounded like.”
“Well they’re still after me.”
“I know!” Riley threw her hands into the air. “Cocks are sure great. Not the great part. Cocks... No not quite cocks.”
Riley closed her eyes and summoned up the image of the Verrater speaking. She attempted to strip away everything but what he said.
“Riley!”
Riley’s eyes popped open and she stared at Cyprian as he played a game of cat and mouse, using the cruiser as cover. His arm was bleeding, and so was his thigh. He was drenched and not just from sweat. The general was avoiding the orbs, but just barely.