by Craig Allen
“And that’s not including the coil rifles and coil pistols on our hoppers,” Sinclair said.
“Oh, and we got a suit of power armor.” Francis pointed back at their hopper. “Full can, too.”
Cody was impressed, but the defenses wouldn’t stop a battle cruiser from grasing them into oblivion.
Sonja, however, nodded approvingly. “Not bad, gentlemen. I guess all we need is a deck of cards.”
“And an ambassador.” Sinclair pointed toward a cave entrance. “Doc, I think they’re looking for you.”
Six fliers shuffled out of the cave, looking in every possible direction but mostly focusing on the pylons that made up the camo screen. A few of them stretched their wings as if to fly, but they didn’t take off. A few children stuck their heads out of the cave, only to be ushered back inside by one of the adult fliers. Two of other fliers hobbled over to Cody, one of which was Stripe, who carried a portable viewer.
“They cling to that thing like their lives depended on it,” Sinclair said.
“In a way, they do, Lieutenant,” Cody said. “Without us, they’d be dead.”
Stripe stood in front of Cody, his beak extending then retracting as he bounced up and down.
Cody managed a smile. “It’s good to see you, too.”
Another flier joined Stripe and held up the viewer in his central claw while Stripe tapped a message.
Trees are loud but strange ones say they keep us hidden.
“Strange ones?” When Stripe extended his beak toward Sinclair and Francis, Cody understood. “I see. Well, they’re right. As long as we stay within the circle of pylons… the trees… no one can spot us.”
Stripe gave a head bob, but Cody had the sense he didn’t fully accept what Cody said, and Cody wasn’t sure he believed it himself. If the toads discovered their position, nothing could stop them from killing everything on the island. Likely, they hadn’t done it because they didn’t see the fliers as important, but if the toads figured out the humans were on the island, they wouldn’t hesitate to destroy it.
“Are there other fliers on the planet besides all of you?”
They are everywhere but mostly in cold where many creatures don’t go.
The fliers were pretty resilient in regard to temperature differences, which probably had something to do with the fact they could naturally fly at elevations much higher than any other creature on the planet.
“Do the toads know about this island?” Cody asked.
They not know of all our places and are sure they not know of this one.
That was a good thing. With luck, it would stay that way. But betting lives on luck was a bad idea.
Children are frightened of the loud creatures and we wish they were not here.
Cody watched the cave mouth as two more adults ushered children inside. One of the children flapped a wing in Cody’s direction.
He waved back. “They don’t look frightened.”
Do not encourage our young.
“Sorry.” Cody felt like a bad uncle. “We’ll be safe until help arrives.”
We can go to predators and ask them to spare us maybe they listen.
“No, they won’t.” Cody held up his hands. “Don’t do that. You know the toads better than we do. They have no respect for you or your people. They would kill you if you gave them the chance.”
They make no attempt to kill us now though it is easier for them than before.
Cody couldn’t deny that was an excellent point. There was nothing to stop the toads from wiping out the fliers and any other species they didn’t like, but that hadn’t happened yet.
“We want to help.” Cody pointed at the flier children, who were still trying to sneak glances at Cody. “Just because they haven’t killed you now doesn’t mean they won’t try, given the opportunity. When our rescue arrives, they’ll help all of us.”
More of your kind will come and remove the predators?
“Our people are definitely going to destroy every ship in the sky right now. We’ll make sure your people are safe.”
Cody had no clue if the UET could defeat the fleet the toads had. They had single-handedly destroyed a warship, the largest and most heavily armed ship in the fleet. Cody hoped the fliers believed him. If they didn’t, they just might run off to the toads and either die or give away their position.
Stripe’s large eyes blinked at Cody.
We will consider.
He hopped back to the cave and formed a circle with the other fliers. Cody’s suit read the electromagnetics increasing as they communed with one another. He stepped aside and left them alone, hoping they wouldn’t run out on them. Cody wouldn’t blame them if they did.
Sonja strode up to Cody, gesturing at the portable shelters. “We get our own house.”
“So we get to play house?”
She turned her lips inward.
Cody made sure Sinclair and Francis weren’t looking before he took her hand. “I was trying to cheer you up, but that was probably a bad idea.”
“No, it’s okay.” She squeezed Cody’s hand. “It’s just a lot to take in.”
“Yeah, with Bodin and Hayes. And the Washington.” Cody’s shoulders sank. “All those people.”
“And when we get rescued, I’m leaving for OCS.”
Cody cocked his head. “Yeah. We should talk about that.”
“What’s there to talk about? I’m leaving. And either you’ll be here, or you won’t.”
“Sonja—”
She pointed behind Cody, where Sinclair and Francis were approaching. “Guys, we need to talk about what we know so far.”
“Yeah, like when a rescue is coming,” Francis said.
“Soon, I’m sure, sir,” Sonja said. “Washington’s missed her check-in date by now, so they’ll send a ship. That or the Spicans will show up first. When were they supposed to be here?”
“When they feel like it,” Cody said. “They don’t operate on a timetable like we do.”
“They’d better send a fleet,” Sinclair said. “And what was that crater about? You guys flew out of there, didn’t you?”
“It’s a long story, Lieutenant,” Cody said.
Sinclair gestured toward the portable shelters, where chairs had been set up. “Well, we’ve got the time, don’t we?”
~~~
The sun was setting while Cody explained what happened after they had returned to the Kali system. Their chairs were arranged in a circle just outside the portable shelters. It felt normal, for a change, as if they had just gone camping as opposed to hiding from awful creatures ready to kill.
Cody half wondered if they should make a fire though they wouldn’t be able to feel the heat very well through their suit. Also, even though he was sure the camo field would block out the fire and the heat, he didn’t want to take the risk. Besides, he didn’t know what to use for firewood. He certainly wasn’t going to burn the rotten-meat trees. He couldn’t imagine the smell, assuming he could smell through his suit.
As Cody told the story, fliers gathered around and listened, with Stripe next to Cody. They shivered when Cody spoke of the Kali creatures that had been altered. When he explained the reeds on the surface after the detonations, his suit detected magnetic waves nearly off the scale. From what he could tell, every one of the three dozen or so fliers around them was speaking at once as their wings quivered.
One of the fliers produced a viewer, and Stripe tapped a message.
The Reed takes others and change their bodies and minds and makes them to build and use machines.
Reed? Only one? Cody wanted to ask more, but Sinclair spoke.
“The red reeds do that?” Sinclair furrowed his brow. “Why do they do that?”
No one knows why the Reed does this but no one resist them.
“You mean all the reeds do it, right?” Francis shifted in his chair. “I mean, there’s lots of reeds, right? Not just one.”
The fliers, all three dozen of them, shook their bodies back a
nd forth, imitating a human head shaking. Stripe held up the viewer.
The Reed changes all and does not listen.
“Only one of them is responsible?” Cody drummed his fingers on his leg. “If the reeds can physically alter other species, as we’ve seen, why couldn’t they create a copy of one? Like Ann, for instance.”
“You’re saying the reeds found Ann’s corpse,” Sonja said, “and they duplicated her?”
“That’s possible.” Cody stared into the group’s midst, where a campfire would’ve been if they had actually been around one. “The Ann we knew was inexperienced, fresh out of boot camp, but she would never have sabotaged the Washington. She was loyal to the corps.”
“But if the reeds made a copy of her, how’d they get her to do what they want?” Francis asked.
“The fliers say that the reeds alter minds as well,” Cody said. “Maybe they inserted memories into her to make her do what they wanted. The reeds probably don’t understand us very well, so the Ann-copy couldn’t relate to us.”
The Reed makes its own creatures like others that exist so as to spy.
“Have they made copies of you guys?” Sinclair asked.
Yes and we find them then end them.
“How do you find them?” Cody asked.
They make mistakes as if they know nothing of being part of the people and will hurt others given the chance.
After a moment, when no one spoke, Sinclair stood. “Let’s get some rest. Our shelters are airtight, but keep your suit on just in case there’s an emergency. Get something to eat, too, and we’ll talk again in the morning.”
After a round of “yes, sirs,” and “good nights,” they all went to their tents. Stripe ran up to Cody with the viewer in his hand.
Bad people not find us here and we sleep outside?
Sleeping under cover would have been better, but the fliers hated enclosed spaces. They’d sleep in the caves if they had to, mainly because it was safe, but given the precautions, they’d be fine.
“You’ll be fine out here.” Cody pointed toward the gravimetric and electromagnetic sensor station near the portable shelters. “If anyone bad approaches, we’ll know.”
Stripe bobbed his head.
We cannot decide what to do so we let you stay on island for now and hope it is not a mistake.
He hobbled back to the others to commune with them.
Cody headed for the portable shelter where Sonja waited for him. He hoped they could at least be amicable for the night.
Chapter Eighteen
The next morning, Cody sat on the edge of the open door of the hopper, his back to the morning sun. He rarely missed a sunrise on Earth, or on any world, but they just seemed ugly on Kali. Everything there seemed ugly.
He adjusted the coil pistol at his side. Nearby, three fliers watched a gaggle of children playing near the hillside. The young fliers would spread their wings and try to get airborne, but they were still too young for actual flight. Cody guessed two dozen children were there on the island, with an equal number of adults. That meant many more were scattered all over the planet. At least, Cody hoped more fliers than the ones there still lived.
He checked the sensor logs from the skeeters patrolling the island—nothing, at least nothing technological. However, every fish in the ocean was a potential spy, and they were on a small island. No matter their camouflage or defenses, their time there was finite.
Earlier, Cody had been going through supplies, which they had decided in retrospect to leave in the hopper in case they had to “un-ass the area,” as Sinclair put it.
Francis had pulled out the power armor and set it up outside inside a portable docking bay, ready for action in case things went bad in the worst way possible. A full-can suit was the dream of every marine. It made one man into a veritable tank.
Sonja sat next to him. “How you doing?”
“Just looking at sensor images from the inside of the cave where…” Cody was about to say, where Bodin died, but he couldn’t bring himself to. “There are a lot of ships, plus a lot of creatures that have been altered just like the fliers suggested, just like we saw.”
Cody’s fingers brushed across a recording sitting in the midst of the data, the only one he had seen thus far. It sat in a pile of files full of data, calculations, and diagrams. He touched it, and the holographic recording started up.
He nearly dropped the viewer, and Sonja caught her breath.
Dr. Roheim’s haggard face filled the holographic viewing globe before Cody. Behind him was a rock face, similar in color to the inside of the cave they had destroyed. His beard was caked with blood, presumably his, and his bloodshot eyes were wide with a primal fear that all living beings share. He sweated profusely.
“They’re all gone.” Roheim bowed his head. “They’re gone, and it’s my fault.”
Roheim’s shoulders quivered violently, either from crying or out of fear.
“My God.” Sonja’s arm snaked around Cody’s waist.
“I thought if we gave them what they wished, they would leave us alone.” The doctor glanced over his shoulder. “I showed them how to align the fields in an ex-mat chamber so the ex-mat doesn’t escape. What did it matter? They don’t have ex-mat at all. I thought they would let us go.” He cupped his hand to one ear. “And now they’re dead.”
Cody couldn’t take his eyes off the viewer even as Sonja squeezed him harder. It’s just like ten years ago.
The image trembled as Roheim grasped the edges of his viewer. “There is something on this planet, something sinister. I can’t explain it to you, but it is here. And it—”
Roheim’s head jerked up suddenly, and his mouth fell open. His scream chilled Cody down to the bottom of his spine. A red tentacle wrapped around Roheim, enveloping him completely, then lifted him off the ground. His scream continued, dropping in volume as he was dragged away.
Sonja ran her hand through the image, and the recording halted.
“Oh my God.” Sonja covered her face with one hand. “That poor man. Those poor people.”
Cody set the viewer down on the edge of the hopper. “I think I’ve had enough.”
Sonja narrowed her eyes at him. “What do you mean?”
“When you get back from OCS, maybe you should get stationed elsewhere. And I’d like to be there, too.”
“What about them?” Sonja nodded toward the fliers.
The fliers milled about, periodically spreading their wings as if to fly, then folding them once more. They were victims in the catastrophe that had unfolded. Cody wanted them to be okay, and he wanted to stay to make sure they’d be okay. He had agreed to be their ambassador. If he left with Sonja, he’d have to go back on that agreement.
He didn’t want Sonja to be in any more danger, though. Sure, she was a marine, but Kali’s world was more than anyone could handle, even a marine.
“Exactly,” Sonja said. “You gave your word. I don’t see you going back on that.”
That was their dilemma. She might not return, and he couldn’t leave, not until the job was done, and Cody had no idea when that would be.
“But I can’t stay here. You almost died in that cave.”
“We almost died.” Sonja chewed her lip. “And Bodin did.”
“Yeah.” Cody remembered what Bodin had said, about breaking her heart. He’d made a promise then, too. “You know, I didn’t like him when I first met him. Now I wish I could see him again.”
She sat next to him and put an arm around him. “I don’t care what he downloaded. I’d rather have him here.”
“Speaking of which.” He flipped through the other files Bodin had downloaded. “I hope someone back home can make sense of the rest of these files. Most of them look pretty technical to me, but I think they’re schematics.”
Sonja took the viewer. She sifted through the files for several minutes before shaking her head. “Yeah, I’m just a jarhead. I just shoot the guns. I don’t build them.”
On a perch, a
flier spread its wings and dropped to the ground about twenty meters away from Cody, where it proceeded to dance in place while flapping its wings. Cody’s suit registered the electromagnetic signals the flier gave off, which spread to every other flier in the camp.
“What’s going on?” Sonja asked.
Cody started toward the flier when movement caught his eye. Out over the ocean, the dark-blue water had become bright red.
Sonja joined him. “Cody?”
“I see it.”
“Doc!” Sinclair shouted even though they were all on the same comm channel. “These guys are about to jump out of their skins here.”
Cody pulled up a direct feed to the skeeters out over the water. The red reeds had risen from the waves, like a million octopi waving their tentacles a dozen meters offshore, but they didn’t approach the island.
Francis joined Sinclair by the shelters. “What the hell is going on?”
Cody ran to the edge of the plateau. Everywhere in the water, reeds were protruding.
“No one can see us from above, but what about below?” he asked.
“Oh, shit.” Sinclair pointed at the ocean. “You think those reeds are signaling someone?”