Eclipsing Vengeance

by Jeremy Michelson

  I’d rather had done it as a tourist, though. Maybe a tour group or something. I bet there was already some guy on Earth trying to figure out how to build cruise ships that would go to Jupiter.

  “Part of me would agree with you on wiping out the Dons,” Liz said, “But there’s another part that agrees with Chris. For a lot of people it’s very easy to make a cold calculation on it. How many lives would be saved if the Don were wiped out? Enough? More than enough? But then, murder is still murder, isn’t it?”

  “Shit lady,” I said, “If someone is coming after me, looking for my blood, I’m not going to feel bad about taking them out.”

  She nodded, her head still bent over the colorful console. “I agree. But that’s an individual thing. When two individuals decide to battle, let them. But what about those who don’t choose to join the fight? What about the babes in arms who don’t even know war exists? Do they deserve death as much as the generals who order troops to their doom?”

  “Well, course, not,” I said.

  “So we have a planet of beings whom all seem to grow up evil. At least our definition of evil,” Liz said, “Are we justified in taking a proactive action to exterminate them? Are they vermin that will make our house collapse around us if we don’t eradicate them?”

  I didn’t answer. It wasn’t a question that had an easy answer. But Liz wasn’t done. She nodded her head towards the back of the ship.

  “That Don tried to kill you,” she said, “Tried to kill you with extreme prejudice. Right now she’s helpless. You can suit up and rip her head right off her body in less than a second. If you want to, I won’t stop you.”

  I shifted in the seat. My fingers drummed the armrest and my face got warm.

  “Wouldn’t do that,” I said, “Wouldn’t be right with her tied up like that.”

  “But you killed that other Don,” she said.

  “Wasn’t my intent,” I said, “I would have rather not have, but the son of a bitch didn’t give me much choice.”

  “And that is the sort of death that Chris and I agree is, if not righteous, is at least understandable,” Liz said, “To kill in defense of yourself or your family is ingrained within the human psyche. The question is: how far can you go to defend yourself and your family?”

  Far enough to kill an entire planet? I scrunched down in my seat, letting the ideas run through me.

  How far was okay?

  “The Dons have already tried to wipe out all life on Earth,” Liz said, “Chris and I barely stopped a Don from unleashing a weapon that would have killed everyone on the planet within hours.”

  “Holy crap,” I said. Chills ran over me. I hadn’t heard none of this. How did the governments keep it a secret?

  “But that was just one Don,” Liz said, “A single individual bent on acquiring power and covering his tracks.”

  “Killing all the witnesses.”

  “More or less,” Liz said, “Now, should we sentence an entire race to death for the actions of one individual?”

  “Course not,” I said, “Look, I see where you’re coming from, and I’m not disagreeing with you. I’m not Buck. I don’t have no vendetta against no one. Despite how I been treated. I’m kind of a live and let live sort of guy. But I also don’t see this problem going away. I don’t see Earth just bending down and kissing these guy’s ass forever. We just don’t take kindly to a boot on our neck. If them Dons are gonna come looking for trouble, they’re gonna get it from some quarter. Their best bet is to let us alone and go about their own business.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Liz said, “As a race, they’re used to power. They’re the alpha predators of the known galaxy.”

  I sat up straighter and gave her a hard look. “Well, they was, right up until they met up with us.”

  Liz gave me a small grin. Damn, a man could fall in love with that too easy.

  “That’s what we’re going to show them,” she said, “Assuming your brother doesn’t kill them all first.”

  I turned back to the big screen. The pitted disk of Titan filled it from edge to edge. How much time did we have left?

  Thirty-Six

  The Stickman base smelled like fresh baked cinnamon rolls. It made my stomach rumble something fierce. There didn’t look to be anything there I wanted to eat, though.

  A Stickman came up to us as we got out of the ship. The creepy thing sort of tried to look like person, but it wasn’t very good at it. Half the time the squeaking, creaking sticks formed a second head from the middle of its gut and extra arms sprouted and disappeared randomly.

  It took us to a cavern that looked like something out of a space horror movie I’d seen once. I just about crapped my borrowed coveralls to look at it.

  I don’t know if the Stickmen made the cavern or if they just occupied it as is. Either way, it proved to me down deep in my bones that these creatures were truly alien.

  As we walked through the ragged entrance, the squeaking and chirping of Stickmen assaulted my ears. Not just a couple, but dozens of of them. A dome sat in the middle of the room, glowing with red light. Covering the walls were zillions of sticks. Crawling, writhing, looping in and over and around each other like a lunatic’s loom in hell.

  The curving walls and ceiling seemed alive, covered with completely with the dark colored sticks. Sticks dripped from the ceiling in spots as shapes formed, then fell apart and reformed into something else. The red glow from the dome only made it seem more hellish.

  “Holy crap,” I said, coming to a stop. If Liz hadn’t be right behind me, I woulda turned tail and run outa there.

  Liz put her hands on my shoulders and pushed me forward. “It’s okay, they’re harmless. Sort of.”

  “Sort of don’t provide me no comfort,” I said.

  “Don’t be a baby,” she said.

  Easy for her to say. She had a suit of armor she could activate at any–oh, wait, so did I. Hers was much nicer and more easily activated than mine, though. Did the Stickmen have any way of beating Don armor?

  We went up to the red dome. From the ceiling a line of sticks dripped down to the floor. The sticks flowed and flowed, squeaking and chirping like a violin orchestra played by kindergartners on a sugar jag.

  The sticks writhed and twisted until they became a human form. This one was the best defined one I’d seen yet. It was obvious this Stickman had some practice at it. He stood somewhere between six and seven feet–it kind of varied as he moved–and seemed to take on a slim male form. It formed a rudimentary face with a nose and black depressions for eyes, but no mouth. I noticed that it didn’t completely separate itself from the cavern walls and ceiling. Thin streamers of fibers ran from his body to them.

  “Human Liz, it is good to taste your pheromones again,” the Stickman said.

  “Good to see you, to Azor,” Liz said, “How’s the hive hanging these days?”

  “We are well and continuing our duty to the Terran system,” the Stickman named Azor said.

  Hive? With all the buzzing and squeaking, and writhing and twisting it sure reminded me of a bee hive. Not that I ever stuck my head into one, but I’d seen them on TV. My knocking knees reminded me I’d much rather see this one on TV, too.

  Azor turned his fake head to me. His body movements weren’t all that realistic. Instead of his head actually rotating, the fibers and sticks that made up his head just seemed to flow toward me, the shape and features of his head reforming as he moved. It was so creepy, I almost wished he’d quit pretending and go back to his natural form, whatever that was.

  “I do not recognize this Terran,” Azor said, “Though his pheromone signature is similar to another individual.”

  I sighed. Buck and his reputation preceded me wherever I went. Not that I was interested in competing with him. Once I caught up with him and gave him a thorough ass kicking, I was gonna retire from space adventuring. Momma could go watch him her own dang self.

  “This is the sibling of Buck DeHaas,” Liz said.
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br />   Azor lost a bit of his control. His human form fuzzed for a moment and he flowed back a pace.

  “Buck DeHaas,” Azor said. It was a bit hard to tell because his voice was a buzzy kind of thing, but he sounded a little alarmed.

  “Roy DeHaas,” I said. I started to extend my hand, then thought better of it. “Pleasure to meet you, sir.”

  “Buck DeHaas,” Azor said again, “Is this one the same?”

  “Not really,” Liz said, “He’s sane, mostly. Actually a decent fellow. I believe he is honorable.”

  “Honorable,” Azor said, “That is a relief.”

  Shit, Buck, what the hell did you do to these folk? I was starting to wonder what side Buck was really on. Which was a stupid question. Buck was on Buck’s side. He had an agenda. Had one since them aliens yanked him from the outhouse all them years ago.

  “We need some help, Azor,” Liz said.

  “I will be joyful to render what assistance I can give,” Azor said.

  Liz shifted from foot to foot. Her eyes roved over the buzzing, writhing walls of the cavern. She had’t put on her armor, but she looked ready. All she had on was the white robe. She didn’t even have on any shoes, just a pair of slippers. The cavern was warm, though.

  “Is there some place we can talk as individuals?” she asked.

  “We are but components of one,” Azor said, “We are not true individuals.”

  “Yes you are,” Liz said, “So don’t give me that crap. This needs privacy, Azor. Seriously.”

  Azor moved his shoulders in an approximation of a shrug. The fibers and sticks connecting him to the walls and ceiling withdrew. He moved around the glowing red dome and walked past us and out the door. Liz and I turned and followed. His legs didn’t really take steps. The fibers and rods flowed forward, forming and reforming in the shape of legs and body. His feet didn’t actually leave the ground. I imagined all his pieces marching along like a million legged centipede.

  The idea made me shudder with revulsion.

  We followed Azor down a rough hewn rock tunnel. Red lights were stuck haphazardly on the ceiling and walls to illuminate the way. The Stickmen didn’t appear to be much interested in architecture. It made me wonder how they made such nice, smooth ships.

  He finally turned into a room. Or maybe it was just a cave. It was just as rough as the tunnel. Another red dome glowed in the center of the room. This one was perched on a rock and sat at an unsteady angle, like it was ready to slip off at any moment.

  Azor went behind the dome and perched himself on another rock. His kept his human form on the upper half of his body, but the lower half became a shapeless, writhing, squeaking blob that covered the rock.

  I looked for a door, but all I saw was some wire that snaked around the edge of the opening. Azor reached out and flicked the red dome with one of his sticks. Something crackled behind me. I spun around and saw a faint blue shimmer in the air. I stuck a finger out to touch it. Blue sparks zapped my finger and a shock ran up my arm.

  “Don’t touch that,” Liz said–a little too late. I sucked my finger and gave her a glare.

  “We are secure now,” Azor said, “What do you wish to discuss?”

  “Death. Great big heaping piles of it,” Liz said, “And Civil War within the Union.”

  “You have my attention,” Azor said.

  Thirty-Seven

  Liz gave the Stickman a quick rundown of what happened, starting with my prison break and how she and Chris had picked me up because Buck had asked for the favor. She told him how poor T’Vel had become infected with Don makers and blown up and nearly taken the ship with her. I got interested in her story from there because I didn’t know how I ended up back on Earth on a secret Air Force base in New Mexico. Unfortunately she skipped over it, saying she tracked the wreckage of the ship, put two and two together and came screeching in to the base to try and stop Buck. Except he’d already left with one of Mattany’s faster than light space ships.

  “So it is your belief that Buck DeHaas is on his way to HeJovna with Chris’ body?” Azar asked.

  Liz winced at the word body. Her hands clenched into fists and I took half a step away from her. I didn’t want to be anywhere near her if she got mad.

  “That’s my best guess,” Liz said. She waved a hand at me. “I brought his brother Roy along just in case he might be able to talk Buck down.”

  I snorted. “Good luck with that,” I said.

  Liz turned a sharp eye on me. My face went warm. The cinnamon smell of the Stickman must have been clogging my brain.

  “I mean, yeah, I’ll do my best,” I said.

  Liz gave me a look that promised severe pain if I didn’t keep my mouth shut. Then she turned back to Azor.

  “I was going to head straight to the Don home world,” Liz said, “But we had a little complication. We found an armored Don hiding in our ship. We subdued her, but our ship was damaged.”

  Azor’s form fuzzed for a moment before he pulled himself together. He started to say something, then his form almost completely dissolved before he reformed his fake human shape.

  “Let me review the facts you have presented,” he said, “You are currently in possession of one of Earth’s faster than light craft, in which you are holding a Don warrior against her will, and you will soon be in route to the Don home world to possibly stop the Terran Buck DeHass from wiping out all life on their planet?”

  “Yeah, pretty much,” Liz said.

  Azor’s human shape fuzzed and reformed several times before he could settle his shape down.

  “You Terrans are a complicated and troublesome species,” Azor said.

  “We get that a lot,” Liz said.

  “There are several galactic covenants that have been broken,” Azor said.

  Liz crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her slippered foot on the rocky floor. “Last time I checked, the Terran system is still under quarantine,” she said, “Which means we aren’t members of SixUnion. Technically, Earth is a prisoner of the SixUnion.”

  “A more correct term would be ward of the SixUnion,” Azor said, “The quarantine is for your and our protection. Cross pollination of pre starfaring species has led to strife in the past.”

  Liz leaned forward, fire in her eyes. “The correct term would be fuck you,” she said, “If it wasn’t for Chris and me, the good creatures of SixUnion would be pillaging my planet by now.”

  “Untrue,” Azor said. I had to give him some credit for having the, uh, sticks to argue with her. “By SixUnion Covenant, the Perseus Clan is charged with protecting the Terran system from harmful intervention of other species. Which we have done. At great cost, I might add.”

  “Does that include the Dons?” Liz asked. There was an edge in her voice that made me shiver. From the way Azor’s sticks trembled, it gave him the shivers, too.

  “The Dons are members of SixUnion,” Azor said, “Their leadership has agreed to abide by all covenants.”

  “And do they?” Liz asked.

  Azor’s body fuzzed in a riot of chirps and squeaks. The cinnamon smell of him got stronger. Was it the smell of Stickman sweat? They could probably bottle it and sell it on Earth.

  “There are individual Dons who chose not to obey the covenants,” Azor said.

  “And do you really believe those individuals operate without the blessing of the Don leadership?” Liz asked, “Every Don that has come into this system, and there have been more than a couple, have been well equipped. Good ships, weapons. The Don we captured had alpha class armor. That’s top of the line Don military. Go ahead, Azor. Tell me that’s just an aberration.”

  Azor didn’t make a reply right away. He just kind of fuzzed and squeaked, like he was trying to get control of hisself.

  “What are you planning to do with the Don warrior?” Azar asked at last.

  “We’re going to make her into an ally,” Liz said, “She’s going to help us stop Buck. If it’s not already too late.”

  Azor’s stick
s nearly fell into a squeaking puddle on the stone floor. It took him a full minute to pull himself together. The cinnamon scent was so strong that it made me sneeze and my eyes water. Course, I still preferred that to the rancid cat food stench of the Dons.

  “You are certain Buck has a faster than light ship?” Azor asked.

  “Certain enough,” Liz said.

  “If the Don home world is stripped of life, and the Don’s power is broken, there would be grave consequences for SixUnion,” Azor said, “As you have implied civil war might be eminent as the remaining species sought dominance.”

  “Oh, why worry about that,” Liz said, “They’ll just obey the covenants, right?”

  “Covenants are best applied by a strong power,” Azor said, “When the Dendon race existed, they were a natural offset to the Don power. However, no such power exists today.”

  I held up a hand. “Now just a second,” I said, “Aren’t you guys the cops around here? Don’t you have the weapons and authority to keep the peace?”

  Azor made his head go back and forth in a sort of approximation of a human head shake.

  “Our authority comes from the unity of the species,” Azor said, “We cannot allow ourselves to take sides in a battle for supremacy.”

  “Why the hell not?” I asked.

  “Because they aren’t overlord material,” Liz said. Her eyes were locked on Azor, like she was trying to set his sticks on fire with her laser eyeballs. “They’re a funky mix of honor and cowardice.”

  “We serve,” Azor said, “We uphold the covenants that the species have agreed upon. We do not wish to rule.”

  I rubbed my face. Lord I was tired. And hungry. There was only so long a guy could go living on stinky air and adrenaline.

  “So you’re saying you guys won’t step in to stop a civil war?” I asked.

  “We will intercede between combatants to the extent we are able,” Azor said.

  Liz put a hand on my shoulder. Her fingers were surprisingly warm. A little thrill ran down my arm.

  “It’s an age old problem, Roy,” she said, “There are only so many cops at one time in any place. When an entire place decides to riot, there’s not much that can be done. Aside from dealing death wholesale.”