The Kenval Incident

by Philippe Mercurio

  With a mastery that the latter couldn’t help but admire, Lafora put the steel bracelets on Laorcq and read him his rights, all while holding her service revolver under his chin.

  A Spican agent, easily recognizable thanks to his four arms and his height of more than eight feet, approached Mallory. Wanting to cuff her in turn, he put a hand on the jufinol she was holding against her body. The large alien jumped as if he had just received an electric charge. He pulled himself together and announced, “You’re under arrest! Drop your… weapon?”

  After a reproving look toward her awkward colleague, Lafora grabbed Laorcq by the collar. She whispered in his ear, “Fortunately, the Vohrns transmitted a complete list of passengers when they entered our airspace. If not, I wouldn’t have been able to get here to welcome you in person! You did well to come back. This time, I’m going to put you away for good! And even your pretty little lawyer won’t be able to do anything for you.”

  “Pretty little lawyer?” Mallory repeated.

  Laorcq shrugged his shoulders. “Lucie Carenko. She works for Wulgis.”

  Annoyed by the extraterrestrials’ naiveté, he then murmured, “The Vohrns are too honest! It makes me wonder how they managed to get control of Procyon.”

  With a shove, Lafora compelled them to move.

  Unnoticed, Mallory nodded her head at Torg: Lebrane was taking advantage of the unforeseen circumstances to give them the slip. Gripping the crook’s arm hard enough to bruise it, the cybrid grumbled, “Be a good boy! If not, I’ll use your head to knock out the police officers.”

  Lebrane disregarded the threat and addressed Lafora. “These people are crazy! They took me hostage and dragged me here forcibly. You’ve got to help me!”

  She looked him up and down scornfully. “Oh yeah? We’ll see about that at the station. I’m taking you, too.”

  Recovering from his surprise, Hanosk reacted. He slid between Lafora and her prisoners. She drew her weapon but didn’t dare aim at the Vohrn. Mallory realized that the police officer had belatedly recognized the purple toga he was wearing.

  Seeing Lafora’s lips move, she guessed more than heard her words. “A Vohrn dignitary! Crap!”

  The alien delicately coiled his strange tentacular hands around the officer’s wrists. Her colleagues froze: mistreating a high-placed Vohrn was professional suicide.

  In an uncharacteristically loud voice, over which the translator box had trouble being heard, Hanosk declared, “These people are victims of circumstance. You can’t arrest them. I officially take responsibility for them as administrator of Kenval.”

  Frustration and disappointment fought on Lafora’s face. Taken aback at first, Mallory finally understood. The terminal was under video monitoring. Hanosk had deliberately spoken loudly. With the surveillance cameras recording everything, the police officer found herself checkmated by a single sentence.

  Evidently, this protection of the Sirgan’s crew irritated her. She resisted. “This is complete madness! Why are you interested in these troublemakers?”

  The extraterrestrial released her with a shudder, a sign of exasperation. He detached his interpreter box. Certain that he wouldn’t be understood by the non-Vohrns, he spoke a series of brief sentences, probably orders.

  As soon as he stopped talking, his subordinates tightened their hold on the trunk containing the cocigs and left.

  He’s probably sending them on ahead to treat the sick Vohrns, Mallory guessed.

  Hanosk refit his translation device on his rostrum and addressed Lafora. “You want to know? By all means. Send your men away and come with us,” he proposed. “Otherwise, leave us alone!”

  This time, even the translator managed to transmit an inflection reflecting his anger. Lafora hesitated, then ended up giving in to curiosity.

  “Why not? I’m sure this story is worth the effort.”

  “You have no idea how right you are!” Mallory remarked. “Shall we go, before another catastrophe befalls us?”

  Accompanied by the policewoman, they left the astroport. The pilot noticed that the violent storm was rendering Gloria City even more impressive than usual.

  It seemed as if new skyscrapers had been erected since they had been there last. The city gave her the impression that it took up more space vertically than on the ground.

  They stopped on the side of the road. As if it had been waiting for them, a long antigrav sedan detached from the flow of traffic and stopped in front of them.

  Rain dripping the length of his curly hair, Lebrane remarked, “We’re short one seat!”

  Mallory looked at Laorcq with a conspiratorial smile. He walked around the large car and opened the trunk. With a laugh he said, “Torg, put our guest in here. He’ll be perfectly comfortable.”

  Deaf to the crook’s protests, the cybrid seized him by the collar and threw him inside.

  At the heart of the Vohrn complex on Stranda, the mutant U-Barg finished his meal. Once the three cadavers had been devoured, he left the cold room. He detected minimal activity in the area. Occupied with repairing the damage due to the recent clashes, most of the Vohrns were spread out in the tunnels.

  The hybrid monster leveraged the abilities provided by the Artificial Intelligence to evaluate the possibilities for carrying out his mission. “Primary targets outside the perimeter. Departure for the planet Kenval: probability ninety percent. Action: appropriate a ship and pursue.”

  Inexorably, he moved through the extraterrestrial complex. Each living being who had the misfortune of finding himself on his path was devoured. The U-Barg was experiencing a hunger that was impossible to satisfy.

  In constant transformation, his body burned calories as fast as he could ingest them, with the need growing exponentially as his size increased. Leaving Stranda became a question of survival for the mutant. “Density of protein sources too low. Risk of physical degradation. An environment richer in organic life is required.”

  The monster progressed now on four legs. The swelling of his distended flesh covered the metal parts of his former shape.

  He came out into one of the hangars on the edge of the cliff, where the shuttles were parked. These low-tonnage vessels were used exclusively to travel between the Procyon worlds.

  One of the shuttles was open. The U-Barg boarded the ship, smearing the edges of the airlock with blood.

  He had become so large that he had to rip out the cockpit seats to reach the flight controls. Another difficulty presented itself: manipulating the delicate controls with his disproportionate limbs. He couldn’t initiate the launch sequence correctly.

  He brought a clawed finger to his mouth filled with excessive and oversized fangs and began to chew it. When the appendage was half as thick, he used it to press the tiny ignition buttons. The AI’s data banks allowed him to identify each symbol in the blink of an eye.

  Still thanks to the Artificial Intelligence’s memory, he fooled the surveillance systems by sending the standard codes for takeoff. The ruse would allow him to reach Kenval without interference.

  When the Vohrns discovered the remains of their eaten comrades, they would waste time searching for the perpetrator in the underground complex.

  Having received flight confirmation, the mutant gripped the gas lever with his mutilated finger and launched the shuttle into the sky.

  On the way to Kenval, he analyzed different scenarios. He put aside the least probable and concluded, “Location of targets: main Vohrn administrative building in Gloria City. Probability: ninety-eight percent.”

  Pushed to the limit, the small ship rushed toward the purplish-blue planet. He penetrated the atmosphere on the way to Gloria City, which threw the surveillance network into a panic,

  Since he didn’t respond to contacts from the security forces, a defense satellite targeted the monster. At a few miles from the capital, a first salvo damaged the vessel’s propulsion system. The small ship was easy prey. Indifferent, the U-Barg reoriented to fly over his destination and locked the steering
.

  He activated the emergency evacuation procedure and triggered the airlock seal. Air flowed out with a high-pitched whine, swallowed by the pressure difference. He left the cockpit and went to the hatch. When the shuttle arrived above his goal, he let himself be sucked out of the cabin.

  The satellite fired a second time. Hit head on, the vessel exploded with a brief white flash in Kenval’s mauve sky. Like a shell heading for its target, the mutant monster waited calmly to hit the ground.

  Weaving in and out on a suspended road, the automobile quickly approached the Vohrn tower. The shower became a real deluge that pounded obstinately on the vehicle’s body.

  In the passenger compartment, two benches faced each other. Torg and Hanosk took up one of them all by themselves. Facing forward, Mallory, Laorcq, and Lafora shared the other one. The baby jufinol had rolled into a ball on the pilot’s lap.

  She noted Laorcq’s sullen mood. He must have been wondering what gave the alien the idea of inviting the police officer to tag along.

  When Hanosk explained to her what had been happening under her nose, Lafora looked like she was going to have a heart attack. Although he outranked her, and she was at least ten years younger than him, she didn’t hold back from lecturing Laorcq. “Taking advantage of your rank to carry out vengeance, even if it’s justified! You’re irresponsible. If every officer allowed themselves to behave that way, the human world would dissolve into chaos!”

  She crucified Mallory with her gaze and added, “And you? All it took was a retired solider playing on your sentimentality to sway you from speeding tickets to major crime?”

  “Lebrane trapped me by arranging to have me charged with theft. I didn’t really have a choice. I wasn’t going to trust a system that sent my father to his death with dishonor! By helping Laorcq, I’m helping myself.”

  Lafora didn’t insist: she must have realized she had hit on a sensitive subject. Pragmatically, she preferred to clarify certain details with the Vohrn. “If things go south, I want to be ready.”

  While the extraterrestrial and the police officer talked, Mallory caressed the multicolored worm and looked out the car’s thick windows.

  One building followed another, each more original and colorful than the previous one. Square, rectangular, or round. Wide or narrow. Monoliths wearing harlequin costumes on which the torrential rain fell. Most of the windows were lit, in contrast to the dark, violet-blue sky. Encircled by their internal glow, the buildings presented an unreal panorama.

  Tearing Mallory away from the sight of the city, Lafora received a call on her navcom. In response, the latter shouted, “Take it down! Don’t let it escape!”

  The pilot watched the uniformed blonde. The police officer didn’t go in for half-measures. With a bad feeling, Mallory concluded that something serious was happening.

  To clarify, she asked, “Good news to share, perhaps?”

  “A shuttle just violated Gloria City’s airspace.” Lafora’s forehead wrinkled. “It doesn’t make sense: we’ll destroy it in flight without any risk or difficulty.”

  Hanosk spoke next, announcing flatly, “Just after landing, I was informed that Morsak’s genotech cyborg wasn’t dead. Apparently, he managed to get ahold of a ship to follow us.”

  Mallory and Laorcq were shocked. The latter exclaimed, “That thing is still alive?! Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

  “It was too late to do anything. As Lieutenant Lafora said, the police will intercept it.”

  They rode on in tense silence. The sedan took a side road and they descended on a slight incline. It led up to the entrance to a parking lot located at the foot of an immense tower. It was the very same one where Mallory and Laorcq had escaped the first assassin who worked for Morsak. She realized that she was seeing it from the outside for the first time: a monumental cylinder of glass and steel that dwarfed its neighbors.

  Although she tried to recall the succession of vertical landscapes she had passed through at Laorcq’s side, she still had difficulty imagining that it contained a whole universe of flora and fauna.

  At the moment when a large doorway opened to let them through, a shock jolted the suspended walkway. The impact twisted the path, and the car hit a safety barrier before coming to a stop.

  In Mallory’s hands, the jufinol reacted suddenly. It transmitted waves of concern to her. She looked through the rear window. Behind them, part of the road had disappeared. At ground level, a gaping hole disfigured the square around the base of the tower.

  Lafora had just unlocked the door to go take a look when a mass of steel and viscous flesh began to climb out of the disemboweled earth.

  “You know what that is, I suppose?” she asked, with a calm that commanded Mallory’s admiration.

  Thanks to the link between her and the telepathic animal, the pilot recognized the swollen creature emerging from the crater with a shiver of terror. “Morsak’s cyborg! How did it become such a horror?”

  While the sedan rushed to safety in the tower, Mallory leaned toward Hanosk. “It withstood a missile strike and, given the hole, a fall from several thousand feet. In the end, it’s going to have our hides!”

  For the first time since she had known him, the alien seemed caught off guard. He spoke to Lafora. “Lieutenant, the neighborhood must be evacuated, and a security perimeter established around the creature.”

  Fortunately, the police officer knew when to ask questions and when to act. She made a call and gave orders as instructed. She then left the group to go meet the troops when they arrived.

  For their part, Mallory and her companions took refuge on the twentieth floor of the tower. They had gotten Lebrane out of the trunk of the car. Wedged between Torg and a Vohrn solider, he muttered about the way he was being treated.

  Cradling the little jufinol in her arms to reassure it, she approached a window.

  At the base of the skyscraper, the monstrosity stood immobile. Mallory was surprised: it hadn’t set off after them. The fall might have injured it, after all.

  What was much more worrying was a fact that had escaped her at first glance. “Shit! It’s still growing, I’m sure of it.”

  When she told Hanosk, he agreed and added, “We have another problem. The press has been informed about the Omsyn epidemic. Gloria City is now under embargo. No flights are allowed, and no one can enter or leave the city. It’s the same for the entire planet. Officially, the blockade will make it possible to contain the virus. However, this was put in place by our political adversaries for outward appearances. Under the guise of security and assistance, they’ll try to take the Procyon system from us.”

  While the Vohrn spoke, the crook tried to get away from Torg again. Unable to free himself from the cybrid’s steel grip, he had to be satisfied with saying, “My boss has half of the government in his pocket —he’s unreachable. You’ve moved heaven and Earth, and yet he still achieved his goal! Be good losers: since you’re done for, let me go.”

  Ignoring Lebrane, Mallory thought out loud. “For the moment, it’s just a rumor. If the cure is distributed in time, Morsak’s plan will collapse, no?”

  In a voice pierced with regret, Laorcq shattered this weak hope. “False. Other than us two and Lafora, everyone will be convinced that the monster on our heels is of Vohrn origin. Besides, the truth doesn’t matter: Procyon and its planets are bursting with riches. It’s a prize that’s too tempting. Earthlings, Nageks, and others must be rushing to Kenval like vultures picking up the scent of a dying animal.”

  XXXI

  ZOMBIES

  FROM this sequence of events, Mallory derived only one positive detail. The information came from Hanosk. “The cocigs carrying the Omsyn vaccine have been added to the drinking water circuits. Most of my people are already out of danger. In a few days, these symbiotes will have completed their life cycle and will spread aggressively.”

  “One less thing to worry about, although there are still a hundred others,” she said sarcastically.

  C
oncentrating on their immediate problem, she leaned toward the window and went back to watching what was happening on the ground. Despite the height, she could see enormous pinkish pimples breaking out on the monster’s surface. It was now several stories tall.

  With the help of hastily positioned vehicles and barricades, the police had established a security perimeter. The length of this flimsy barrier was crawling with people: journalists, fans of the sensational alerted by the networks, and curious passersby. Humans didn’t have a monopoly on this vice: the different species were all well-represented.

  Their nonchalant attitude worried Mallory. “A real bunch of morons. They’re standing in front of this monster as if they were waiting for it to attack them!”

  Indifferent to the gusts of wind and the rain, many people were taking pictures or videos. The police were kept busy preventing them from crossing the security cordon.

  Coiled around her left arm, the little jufinol began to tremble. Immediately, she felt a wave of confusion invade her through the telepathic link.

  She tried to calm the animal with a caress, but the disagreeable sensation persisted. Staring into the jufinol’s dachshund-like eyes, she asked it, “Well? What’s wrong?”

  In response, it mentally encouraged her to look out the window again. Below, she saw a stampede begin among the spectators and the scoop chasers.

  On the mastodon-like creature’s skin, the pimples were breaking. In a gurgling of thick yellowish liquid, big packets of trembling meat were emerging.

  Mallory understood where the colorful worm’s panic was coming from. “Am I dreaming, or is it laying eggs?”

  Alarmed, she saw a silhouette cross the security barrier. “I have a bad feeling…”

  While the police officer’s attention was distracted by the unrest, an Orcant took the opportunity to approach one of the reddish gelatinous blocks.

  He was one step from his goal when the trembling mass launched itself at him. It covered him completely in the blink of an eye, which left the impression that the insect-like alien was fighting to get out of a large plastic bag. The more he struggled, the more the membrane restrained him. With a last spasm, he died, asphyxiated.