Her vision blurred, and the ship, which now stretched nearly as long as one of the platforms, transformed into an image buried in the dregs of her memory. Now that she’d seen it, she couldn’t unsee it. The color and texture of the metal, the design of the craft…there was not a shred of doubt in her mind. She’d seen the Rasu before. But how? And perhaps far more importantly, why? Also, by who’s doing?
Space in front of the alien ship’s bow began to contort. It churned in on itself, then took on defined shape. A bright vortex formed to swirl around an absence of space, falling into it like water circling a drain, yet never dissipating.
“We need to—”
“Yeah.” Dashiel engaged the impulse engine, but his eyes remained glued to the vortex. They began reversing course as the gargantuan ship began accelerating forward—
—a shock wave slammed into the hull, sending them flipping end over end over end…until finally the gyrations ceased.
“Ugh.” She lifted her head up from the floor, which was where she found herself. A variety of aches competed for attention, but the alerts coming from her OS were relatively minor in severity, so she ignored them to crawl back toward the cockpit.
Dashiel moaned from where he’d landed between the cockpit chairs, but he was sitting up by the time she reached him.
“Are you—?”
“Are you—?”
She started to laugh, then groaned instead. Both hurt. “I’ll be fine. You?”
He nodded weakly, and they both pulled themselves up onto the dash.
The vortex and the merged leviathan that had created it were gone.
“We’re headed for empty space eighty parsecs from here. It should be far enough away for us to take a breath and get our bearings.”
She mumbled an acknowledgement from the main cabin, where she’d gone to retrieve some disinfectant spray and bonding tape to tend their wounds. She gathered up the supplies in her arms and moved to the couch, where she dumped them on the table.
The floor quivered as the superluminal engine engaged, and a few seconds later Dashiel joined her in the cabin.
He knelt in front of her and picked up the disinfectant. She had a contact burn running up the inside of her forearm, and he held her arm still while he coated it with the cool, soothing spray. “Now, it’s time you told me what in the hells you were talking about back there.”
She exhaled carefully, as she might have a bruised rib or two. She was exhausted and in a moderate amount of pain. Also exhilarated, and a touch panicked. “I’ll tell you what I remember, then we can try to figure out what it means.
“One night around three years ago, Perrin and I were at a club in downtown Mirai One, and a man approached us.”
33
* * *
THREE YEARS AGO
MIRAI
PEREGRINE POINTE took up nearly the entire block, complete with glittering signage and a welcoming entry pavilion. Escape from your troubles lies through these doors, it whispered in dulcet tones.
As soon as they were inside, Perrin took her hand and headed toward the bar. “Drinks first. Then, adventure.”
Nika ordered a glass of shiraz and gazed around idly. A spacious dance floor dominated the central area of the club, with luminescent ribbons dangling from a soaring ceiling and a translucent floor that revealed a mirage of shifting vistas beneath it. Billboards above a series of wide archways along the right-side wall pointed the way to the club’s more immersive offerings.
“Excuse me, did I hear one of you lovely ladies say you sought adventure?”
The speaker was a plain-looking man wearing a teal vest that marked him as an employee. Perrin leaned against the bar and arched an eyebrow. “Maybe. What are you offering?”
The man flourished a hand. “Adventure, naturally.” He held up a plastic weave case. “Our newest simex, just out of design. We only received it this morning, so you can be the first to experience this amazing escapade. It will blow your psyche. Not literally, of course.”
“What’s the content?”
“You’re vacationing on an exotic alien world when an invasion begins. You have to sneak onboard the invading ship and stop the attack. You’ll be provided with the necessary weapons and gear, but whether you succeed or fail will depend on how clever and resourceful you can be.”
He clearly did not know who he was talking to. Nika checked with Perrin, who shrugged enthusiastically. Perrin was one of the few people Nika had met who could pull off an enthusiastic shrug. “We’re in.”
“Excellent.” The man gestured toward the first archway. “My name’s Darien. Follow me.”
Leaves tickled Nika’s cheek, and—ow!—rough bark scraped a layer of skin off her palm. The hells was she doing in a tree? “Perrin—”
The light arrived first, in an explosion of blinding violet. Unprepared for the assault on her visual receptors, Nika frantically blinked away blinding halos.
The shock wave arrived next, carrying a thunderous roar on its heels.
“Hang on!” She took her own advice and wound her arms around the limb above her as the tree bent almost horizontal from the force then ricocheted back to vertical.
“Ahhh!” Perrin squealed from off to her right. Same tree, around on the other side of the trunk.
The tree’s swaying eased with every pendulum-like pass, but Perrin continued to fight off tiny leafed limbs that were smacking her in the face, leaving behind a web of shallow cuts. “Stupid, evil tree!”
Nika looked back toward where the blinding light had originated. She expected to find a raging fire, but instead a precise, controlled beam of light scorched the jungle down to the soil in a perfect circle over a kilometer in diameter.
The source of the beam was an enormous ship. A hull of burnished aubergine took the form of an octagon with the edges smoothed out. It hovered vertically several hundred meters above the ground, sending the beam cascading out from a tapered cluster of milky white crystals.
As the ship descended toward what had once been jungle but was now a cleansed and barren landing area, the violet light faded away and the hull seemed to…flatten out? No, it must be an optical illusion.
A rustling noise grew in the depths of the jungle behind them. Something advanced on their location. She waved at Perrin to get her attention, then held a finger to her lips.
Two dozen creatures stalked through the jungle’s ubiquitous groundcover toward the clearing. Fur covered their bodies in hues ranging from pale honey to rich sienna. They were bipedal, with thick legs and arms and blocky heads dominated by oversized, wide-set eyes. They all carried large, two-handed weapons that resembled long guns.
Were they seriously planning to attack the alien vessel? Points for bravery, if not for smarts.
Perrin reached around the trunk to nudge her in the arm then pointed to the vessel in question.
It had ceased its descent twenty meters above the ground. The upper reaches of the hull disappeared into low cloud cover, obscuring its true size.
Along the outer rim, a platform detached fully from the hull and descended the rest of the way to the ground. It carried fifteen…from this distance she couldn’t be certain if they were organic beings or mobile machines. They stood a full four meters tall, and their exterior was a uniform, dull aubergine—the same color as their ship.
As soon as the platform settled onto the dirt, the aliens-or-alien-machines fanned out toward the jungle, slightly to the west from their tree. They didn’t wield any obvious weapons.
A series of pops echoed from the edge of the clearing beneath her and Perrin, where the native creatures had taken up defensive positions. Slugs bounced off several of the invaders, causing no damage.
Those hit pivoted in the direction the shots had come from. In a single long stride they accelerated to incredible speed, and in less than two seconds they had reached the jungle.
The natives continued firing. Again, points for bravery. The invaders split into two groups to flank the nati
ves and drive them into the clearing, then in a blur surrounded them.
In evident desperation, the natives fired once more. Their weapons used pneumatic propulsion to lob hardened slugs with impressive velocity, but to no effect.
The invading aliens stretched out their arm limbs, and what had earlier appeared to be metal or a hard mineral compound transformed into a pseudo-liquid. Now-fluid arms extended until they touched, then merged with one another. The invaders stepped forward in unison, tightening their circle, as the remainder of their bodies liquefied as well.
The individual units joined together to form a solid wall around the natives, then a ceiling. Both re-hardened, and the cage they’d created flipped over, scooping all the natives into the depression like a ladle dipping into soup. The top edges re-liquefied and seeped toward the center until a new ceiling formed to create an impervious container. The structure floated up into the air and returned to the platform, which ferried the whole assembly into the ship.
The invaders had their first prisoners.
Other units—no way could they be organic—that hadn’t partaken in the capture busily disassembled wide swaths of the jungle. They transformed themselves into huge saws to slice down trees or into massive trowels to excavate dirt. Taking specimens, harvesting resources, or both.
Nika dragged her horrified gaze away from the activity to check on Perrin. Her friend clung to the trunk of their tree, eyes wide as saucers and skin blanched. Blood had welled up in several of the cuts crisscrossing her face.
“So, according to Darien, we’re supposed to sneak onboard the ship and disable it somehow. But if you want to say ‘screw it,’ exit out of the simex and go get another drink, I would be perfectly fine with it.”
Perrin’s nose scrunched up as she scowled in the direction of the ship. “No. Let’s do it. It’ll be fun.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Neither do I, but let’s give it a shot anyway. First step: get out of this tree.” Perrin studied the branches beneath her, then loosened her grip on the trunk, knelt and eased a leg down, stretching for the next branch—
—her foot slipped across the narrow limb, and she lost her balance and fell forward. Her shoulder slammed into one of the branches, but she managed to grab onto it briefly, until her fingertips slid off. She plummeted the remaining twelve meters into the groundcover below, sideswiping two additional branches on the way down.
“Perrin!” Nika scrambled down the tree as swiftly as she dared while trying not to suffer the same fate. Her palms, fingers and forearms were bloody by the time she reached the ground, but she landed on her feet.
“Ugh.” Perrin moaned from where she lay face-first amid the leafy groundcover.
Nika knelt beside her. “Talk to me. Are you okay?”
“What kind of…question…is that?” She gingerly rolled onto her back. “Ow. I think my arm is broken. Or my neck.”
Nika laughed kindly. “Come on now, your neck’s not broken. You’re moving.”
“If you say so.” She put a hand on the ground and tried to sit up, but collapsed back on the ground. “Ohhh, but I was right about the arm.”
“That’s enough. End program.”
Nothing happened. “Exit program.” Nothing. “Exit simex.”
Nothing. What the hells?
“Don’t tell me we’re in a defective simex!”
Nika rubbed at her jaw, which only succeeded in getting blood all over her face. “I think we’re in a defective simex. You play in these more often than I do. What should we do?”
“Well….” Perrin used her left hand to reach a semblance of a sitting position. “In challenge simexes, if you achieve the objective, it exits on its own. Otherwise, since it’s a rental, it will time out eventually, but it could be a couple of hours. If that’s our best option, just whack me in the head with one of these branches and knock me out until then.”
“I’m not going to hit you in the head.” Nika inventoried what she had on her person. The simex had provided a Glaser, a fifteen-centimeter retractable blade and a small module. Curious, she activated it.
“What—where did you go?”
She switched it back off. “Some type of kamero filter. Okay. You’re in no condition to storm the giant spaceship. Let’s get you comfortable against the base of the tree. I can use the kamero filter to sneak onboard with the next load of material they take up. Once I’m there, I’ll figure something out.”
“No way. Make me a sling out of your shirt, and I’ll be set. I can shoot with one arm.”
“Are you sure?”
Perrin’s mouth set into a resolute line. “Yep. This is my fun, dammit.”
Stars, Perrin was stubborn! Nika pulled her shirt up over her head, leaving her in a black lace camisole. They had been at a club.
She ripped the shirt into a long strip. Perrin whimpered a little as they positioned her arm across her chest, and Nika tried to be more gentle as she wrapped the sling around Perrin’s neck and tied it.
“I know it hurts, but is it secure?”
Perrin nodded weakly. “I’m good. Totally…good.”
None of it was real, but the pain signals Perrin was experiencing were indistinguishable from genuine pain so long as they were in the simex. “Then let’s get this over with. Activate your kamero filter module, and we’ll move to the edge of the clearing. When the platform lowers again, we’ll creep across the clearing, hop on it and stand still as statues. I have no idea how good these kamero filters are.”
Perrin gestured forward with her working arm. “After you.”
They stood frozen on the platform. Nika held her breath, afraid the slight rise and fall of her chest would give her away. Barely a meter away, one of the conglomerated machines hauled a tonne of uprooted plant life up into the ship. Up close, the merged substance forming the hauler bore no distinguishing characteristics. Smooth but not lustrous, it looked as hard as stone in its current shape, though evidently that was subject to change.
The platform floated upward—no visible mechanisms connected it to the hull—until blackness consumed them.
Because it was dark inside the ship. With normal vision, it felt as if they had fallen upwards into a featureless, endless void. Whatever method the metal shapeshifters used for sight, it was not based on visible light.
Ηq (visual) | scan.infrared(360°) | highlight.thermal(>20°)
The lines of walls, a floor and ceiling took indistinct shape. Tall, wide hallways stretched in three directions.
The hauler floated off the platform and took its cargo down the right hallway.
She pinged Perrin, not daring to speak aloud.
Let’s check out the hallway ahead.
You don’t think we should follow the carrier thing?
Nope. To get out of this hellscape, we have to stop the attack. Important ship systems are always toward the center, where they are most protected.
She wasn’t sure how she knew that, but it had all the markers of fact rather than supposition.
But what about the native aliens they captured? Shouldn’t we try to free them?
Nika wanted to respond that they weren’t real, none of this was real, and the natives’ fate didn’t matter, because they didn’t have one.
But, again, it felt real.
All right. Let’s follow the hauler and search for the captives.
She started to admonish Perrin to keep some distance between them and the hauler, but it had sped ahead and disappeared from sight.
Sporadic openings cut into the left wall, with no visible doors to close them off. All the openings were quite large—twice as tall and six times as wide as an average Asterion—and the rooms they led to appeared cavernous, at least until darkness swallowed them. Many of the rooms held raw materials already scavenged from the surface: flowers, plants, wood, even piles of simple dirt. Alien units of various shapes sifted through the treasure, scanned it using small orbs, tore it apart or carried it off deeper into the ship
.
A series of thuds echoed from one of the rooms ahead. A second later, a hauler floated into the hallway. As it did, its solidness melted away, and it separated into four undulating blobs. Each of the blobs gained structure and took on the bipedal form they’d seen earlier—
—and began walking straight toward them.
Nika shoved Perrin inside the nearest room and flattened herself along the interior wall. In thermal profile, Perrin cradled her arm against her chest.
Did I hurt you? I’m sorry.
It’s okay. Better than getting captured by those…things. What should we call them? All I can think is ‘things.’
Hells if I know. Let’s call them…Segmenters.
She peeked out into the hallway. The Segmenters had disappeared for the moment, so she grasped Perrin’s good hand and returned to the hallway.
Twenty meters from a dead end, a new hallway opened up to the left. Lacking other options, they took it.
Now openings cut into both walls. On the right, small creatures were enclosed in force-field cages. Native wildlife? Orbs buzzed around the cages, scanning the wildlife with powerful beams.
Nika hesitated for half a step before forcing herself to continue on past the room. Saving the sentient natives was going to be difficult enough without adding wild animals into the mix.
Two more rooms filled with wildlife followed before they found the natives. Like the animals, they were held captive in individual force-field cages, lined up in two rows along the walls. Like the animals, orbs scanned each of them exhaustively. She cycled through the EM bands and registered signals emitting from the orbs on every one.
Some of the natives cried, while others shouted in an unknown tongue. Several made mewling noises and curled up in balls on the floor. Others banged on the force fields constraining them, only to yank back singed, paw-like hands in pain.
Asterion Noir: The Complete Collection (Amaranthe Collections Book 4) Page 49