by M. R. Forbes
“Yes, Sergeant,” the two recruits said. They were both women. Girls, actually. Eighteen years old and terrified, but not so scared they hadn’t volunteered. She patted them on the shoulders.
“You’ll get it next time. Go back to the end of the line.”
“Yes, Sergeant,” they snapped sharply, standing and rushing back to the line.
Thirty-two colonists were in the building with Tsi and Deputy Hanes, who had been put in charge of the platoon. They were some of the better soldiers Tsi had discovered over the last two days, and they had to be. With ten-thousand trainees, it was impossible to give more than a few hundred this kind of personal attention. But they needed people ready to hold the line if or when the fight moved into the maze of corridors in the Deliverance. They needed at least a few platoons who had minimum training in close quarters combat.
It helped her feel like she was keeping her promise and upholding her honor. At the same time, she knew in her heart these people were all going to die, and she was going to die with them. She could accept that. She was ready to make her peace with one last stand against the misguided Inahri and their false god.
There just wasn’t enough time to turn the colonists into soldiers. Not by herself. Even the Law Officers who had been elevated to platoon and company leaders were poorly prepared for the trained military of the Might, and they were supposed to be teaching the others. And even if there were enough time, the projectile rifles would be ineffective against battle armor, and the plasma weapons would take too long to score a kill. It was setting up to be a slaughter. The only positive was that the more Earthers who died, the fewer the Relyeh could take.
It was small consolation.
“Next up. Prepare for your maneuver.” She started back toward the line, the next pair of recruits getting into position to repeat the move. The badge Governor Stone had given her was pinned to the Intellect Skin, which was projecting a copy of her in Earther military fatigues. She had quickly discovered the colonists spent less time staring and more time listening when they weren’t looking back at the blank, dark face of the Skin’s mantle. She wouldn’t have used it at all, but she couldn’t communicate with them any other way.
“Sergeant…” The Governor’s voice was stiff through her comm.”...can you please meet me in the armory immediately?”
“Governor, I’m training in Block Thirty-two. Is it an emergency?”
“It might be. Please come as quickly as you can.”
“Yes, Governor.”
Tsi tapped her badge. It was primitive communication technology, but it worked well enough within the city.
She glanced over to Deputy Hanes, who had heard the Governor’s request as well.
“I can put them through the paces,” the young officer said.
“Three rounds each,” Tsi said. “I should be back by then.”
“Yes, Sergeant.”
Tsi hurried from the building to the APC waiting at the front. She climbed into the cockpit, starting the vehicle and using it to cross the city quickly.
Faith had given her a quick crash course in all of the Earthers’ military technology, including the ATCS and the APCs. Tsi had tried the combat armor, fitting it over the Intellect Skin and finding it like most of the other Earth tech—crude but effective. So was the APC. It wouldn’t stand up to an Abomination—nothing the Free Inahri possessed had done very well against them either—but its armor was thick enough to absorb damage from ion rifles, which was a plus.
Still, Tsi believed the Earthers’ best chance would come from the air. The Daggers with their CUTS system were a step above anything the Relyeh or the Inahri had, mainly because they had never focused on fighters as much as they had on transports. The Inahri ships carried weaponry and had some combat ability, but it was admittedly weak compared to the Space Force starfighters.
If they could inflict heavy damage on the incoming transports before they could land their soldiers on the ground, the colony might have a slim chance. The problem was that they had to rely on young men and women with only simulator training and zero combat experience to do the bulk of the heavy lifting. Deputy Klahanie was a decent teacher, but his experience was equally limited.
Tsi brought the APC to a stop in front of Law, climbing out and hurrying into the open front doors. She made her way to the armory, drawing bowed heads of respect as she passed the colonists. Everyone on the Deliverance had heard of her and how she had gone against orders to help them.
She descended into the armory. Governor Stone was there with Sheriff Zane, Chief Engineer Nyong’o, and two other engineers in stained overalls.
“Sergeant Tsi,”Stone said.
“Governor. What’s going on?”
“I’m sorry to disturb your training, Sergeant, but we’ve spent the last three hours working on breaking the locks on Metro’s main data storage area. Doctor Valentine sealed the room during the fighting down here a few days ago.”
“Sealed it? Why?”
“That’s a good question,” Sheriff Zane said.
“We thought if we encountered anything dangerous, it might be good to have our best soldier nearby,” Stone said.
One of the nearby workers approached, handing a P-50 to Tsi. “This doesn’t seem like a high priority, Governor,” she said, taking the weapon. “If we can’t get in, then whatever is inside can’t get out.”
“We’re worried it might be Joe inside,” Faith said. “She might have locked him in there. He has access to water, but he’ll starve if we don’t get him out.”
“Understood.”
Jackson led the group out of the armory and through the corridor to the door. Deep lines already surrounded the frame where a laser cutter had burned through the metal and the locks beyond it. One of the engineers had the cutter and positioned himself beside the door. “I have one more cut to make,” he said, “and then we should be able to push the door in.”
“Go ahead, Carl,” Jackson said.
Tsi moved in front of the others, standing as close to the door as she could without getting in Carl’s way. She aimed the rifle at the door. She didn’t think she would need the weapon, but she understood the Governor’s caution. Riley Valentine had caused a lot of trouble for a lot of people. She was the reason her compound was destroyed. She was the reason Caleb was gone.
A tense minute passed in silence while Carl finished the cut. Then he backed away. “It’s ready.”
Tsi moved directly in front of it. She shifted her weight, drew her leg back, and kicked. Her foot slammed into the door with augmented strength, the force shoving the metal back. It collapsed inward, hitting the floor inside with an echoing thud.
She heard the hissing as soon as the noise from the door subsided. Faces appeared around the corner. Black, demonic faces. Uluth.
“She wasn’t trying to keep us out,” Tsi said. “She was trying to keep them in. Get back!”
She put her finger to the trigger of the P-50 as the engineers and Jackson tried to retreat. Sheriff Zane came forward, weapon ready.
Then she saw Joe, and everything changed.
“What the hell?” Sheriff Zane said beside her.
The uluth directly in front of them continued to hiss, but they didn’t attack. They stayed where they were, crowded near the sides of the door, waiting.
For what?
Joe was dead. There was no doubt about that. His body was pale, and the smell from it was horrible. What gave Tsi pause was what the uluth had done to it.
They had given him a chair fashioned of hardened ichor—a throne of sorts—and propped his body against it. They had set him in a proud position—head up, hands together in front of him, reaching out and down.
A dark, oily black shape rested between the hands. Tsi followed it from the smooth, rounded top back to the leathery flesh against a boney body, a body too big to be a standard uluth.
The body moved at the sound of Zane’s voice, the head turning and shifting, swinging around until it was facing them
. Tsi had never seen a Relyeh creature like it before.
It rose to its feet, forced to crouch beneath the two-meter ceilings of the server room, its massive head facing her, its small eyes staring at her. A look of recognition washed across its face. Not of who she was, but of who she wasn’t. It let out a deep, sad rumble of sound.
“Sergeant, what is it?” Governor Stone asked behind her. His voice was shaky and frightened.
“They are uluth. A Relyeh creation. But there’s something wrong with them.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Axon brought us to Titang to find ways to fight the uluth. The uluth are violent creatures. But this one sounds. Well. It sounds as if it’s in mourning.”
The Governor approached, positioning himself beside her. The uluth lowered her head, observing him.
He pointed to Joe’s body. “Joe,” he said. “Faith, he’s gone.”
“I see him, Governor,” Faith replied. “Did this thing do that to him?”
“No,” Tsi said. “Look at his chest. He’s been shot.”
“I’ll bet anything Valentine shot him,” Stone said.
“Look,” Tsi said, noticing the creature’s arm and missing hand. “Valentine did that too.”
“How do you know it was Valentine?”
“She had a blade.”
The queen continued to watch them, but it didn’t show any signs of aggression.
“I’m going in,” Governor Stone said.
“Governor,” Zane complained. “Wait.”
But he was already rolling into the room, right between the two groups of uluth. Their hisses increased in pitch, but they didn’t attack.
The queen lowered herself, spreading the claws on her remaining hand.
“My name is Jackson,” Stone said. He pointed past the uluth to Joe. “He was my friend.”
The queen shifted her focus to his hand. Then she lowered her head more, thrusting it forward.
Tsi raised the plasma rifle again, ready to fire.
The tip of the queen’s head touched the end of Stone’s finger. The Governor glanced back, clearly frightened. Then he spread out the rest of his hand and turned it over, cupping it against the queen’s head the way it had placed Joe’s hands.
The queen grumbled, remaining that way.
“Well, Governor,” Faith said, laughing. “It looks like you have a new pet.”
Chapter 34
Caleb wasn’t alone when he woke. He also wasn’t in his cell.
Or maybe he was.
He glanced around the room without moving his head, which felt like it had a vice pressing on it. He was in another bedroom. It was larger and more luxurious, with numerous holographic artworks projecting out from the walls, displaying scenes that Lieutenant Harai had likely found erotic. Inahri women mostly, in various number, scene, pose, and state of undress. An entire pool of women frolicking beneath a waterfall. A single Inahri female stretched out languidly on a bed. There were others, but Caleb lost interest.
The blankets beneath him were some kind of fur, softer than anything he had felt before. A canopy hung above him, intricately woven with thread that changed color with each minute shift of his eyes. There was a pool to his left—like the one in the harem—filled with steaming hot water. On his right was a second smaller bed, its purpose unclear to him. He found the bathroom beside it, clearly more substantial than his last one.
He glanced down. He was naked again, the wound from the Dabboth branch completely healed.
“Sergeant Caleb,” Lia said.
He didn’t see her right away. He forced his head off the pillow, wincing when it throbbed with the effort. She was standing in the doorway to the bedroom, dressed in a semi-translucent robe that turned opaque only when it reached the tips of her breasts and dropped between her legs. He hadn’t seen her like this before. Nobody would ever mistake her for a model or even a highly-regarded breeder. But she was natural. Normal. Real.
“This is Lieutenant Harai’s cell,” he guessed. It hurt his head more to speak.
“It’s yours now.”
“How long was I out?” He felt like he was spending more time unconscious than conscious since he had arrived at the Citadel.
“One-eighth cycle.” More than a day by Earth standards. “Harai ordered me here to wait for you to wake. It’s Inahri custom for the winner of a Kuu challenge to choose, but since you picked me the prior evening, he said you wouldn’t mind.”
“I don’t mind,” Caleb said. It meant Harai had no idea what they had spoken about that night. As far as the Lieutenant was concerned, he and Lia had slept together. “So I’m in charge of Dojo Shing?”
She smiled. “You are.”
“That seems pretty convenient, doesn’t it?”
“It does. You aren’t happy about it?”
“No. Why are you standing over there?”
“You haven’t asked me in.”
“Am I supposed to?”
“I thought it would be best. If you want to pick a different woman—a breeder maybe—the Shing is yours now. All of Harai’s breeders are yours, save for a few that he brought to his new cell with him.”
“Is Oni still out there?”
“She is. Do you prefer her?”
“I prefer both of you. Is that allowed?”
Lia looked slightly disappointed. “Of course. You could have all of us at once if that’s what you want.”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. We’ve got work to do. Go fetch Oni and bring her back here with you, please.”
Lia bowed. “Of course, Sergeant.”
Caleb had to climb across the large bed to get out of it. He hurried to the closet, grabbing underwear, tunic and pants, quickly getting dressed. The activity made his headache worse, but he powered through it. Now that he was awake, he had a feeling he wouldn’t have much free time left. Arluthu knew that he knew the truth. The Relyeh might not see him as much of a threat, but he also wasn’t going to let him manage Dojo Shing without assistance.
Lia returned as Caleb was coming out of the bathroom. Oni was beside her, wearing a similar robe.
“You didn’t need to put that on, Sergeant,” she said. “Now we have to take it back off.” She said it playfully, but she didn’t enter the bedroom.
“Come in,” Caleb said. “Both of you. Sit on the bed.”
They did as he ordered without question or hesitation. He moved to the end of the bed, standing in front of them.
“Should we take our robes off?” Oni asked.
“No. I don’t want you here for sex. When I was in the Kuu, I saw the truth. Arluthu let me see it. He isn’t afraid of me.”
“What do you mean?” Lia asked.
“The Kuu is used to test a soldier’s mental readiness. How well they handle their emotions under threat. How well they process information and use both logic and instinct to solve a problem. In this case, defeating their opponent. But it’s more than that. Harai told me the Dabboth is a power source, and that’s true. But it’s also more than that.”
“I don’t understand,” Oni said.
Caleb’s head was pounding. He had to slow down a little. “The Citadel is a prison.”
“Yes,” Lia said. “We aren’t truly free. That’s what you told me the last time we were together. I was afraid to help you because I didn’t know if you would survive the Kuu. Not only did you survive, Sergeant Caleb, but every Inahri soldier in the Citadel is also speaking of your challenge. You did things nobody else has ever done.”
“You can see into the Kuu from outside?”
“No. But the mist changes color to represent activity. You created colors they’ve never seen before. Colors that haven’t been named.”
“I thought it was easy,” Caleb admitted. “But that’s not what I mean. The Citadel is your prison in a metaphorical sense. It’s also a literal prison. Arluthu’s prison.”
The two women stared at him, clearly surprised.
“I don’t understand,” Lia
said.
“Arluthu is trapped here. I saw him. The real him. Or it. Or whatever he is. He’s deep at the base of the Citadel, bound by chains powered by the energy from the Kuu. The chains also provide him nutrients he needs to survive. But only in part. It’s complicated.”
“But you understand it from your time in the Kuu? Is that why the match was so long?”
“I understand it because he let me see it. At least, he didn’t prevent me from seeing. He was testing me. I’m sure of that. He isn’t going to let me stay free. I’m sure of that too. I know what happens to the Inahri he doesn’t have another use for. He isn’t taking them to paradise. He’s eating them.”
That statement caused both Oni and Lia to pause, their faces going pale.
“Eating them?” Oni asked.
“The Relyeh conquer worlds by breaking down their civilizations. They infest them with an invasion force and leave them on the cusp of destruction. Then they show up, clear out the infestation, and act like conquering heroes. They use the defeated race’s genetics to improve their own kind while convincing the remaining population to regard them as gods. Then that population becomes a food source.”
“You couldn’t have gotten all of that from the Kuu,” Oni said.
“No. That part is speculation, but it makes sense, doesn’t it? Arluthu did the same thing here, only the Axon were the invaders.”
“But you said he’s a prisoner.”
“Who seems to have turned his jailers into his servants. It could be the Relyeh banished him to this world, thinking they’d never see him again. Or it could be that he escaped their custody and made his way here. But he can’t escape his bonds. They feed him and hold him at the same time.”
Oni’s expression changed as she considered the problem. “If that’s true, what will happen when the Seeker is repaired and the Inahri soldiers leave the planet?”
Caleb hadn’t thought about that yet. He bit his lip, considering. When the answer came, it sent a chill running down his spine. “He’s going to replace the Inahri with the colonists on the Deliverance. He’s going to put them in the Kuu, at least until he conquers an Axon world.”