So Close to Home

by Galen Surlak-Ramsey

  Tolby worked the controls, but instead of relief washing over him, all I saw was frustration. Others might have called it him being grave, but I refused to go with that. Grave was us having sixty seconds to get off a planet before taking a lava bath. Grave was being trapped on a museum moments before the reactor went critical while a ravenous cyber squid barreled toward us. This was not grave. I refused to let it be any such thing.

  “I hate this thing,” Tolby said with a grunt of frustration. “Its optimization is terrible and has no presets for Nodari work.”

  “It’s also four hundred years old compared to what you’ve used,” Jainon said. “Cut it some slack.”

  “I should’ve paid more attention in my historics classes.”

  “Can we get back to my hand?” I asked.

  “I’m on it, don’t fret.” Tolby pressed a few more buttons and sighed. “Okay, maybe you should fret.”

  “What?”

  “You’re infected, and its already spread to your torso,” Tolby said.

  Jainon muttered as she released her grip on my arm. “I’m assuming then we can’t even take the arm?”

  “Whoa! I like my arm, thank you,” I said, backing away.

  “You’ll like not being eaten from the inside even more when those Nodari eggs in your bloodstream hatch.”

  “Say again?”

  “That venom contains microscopic eggs that will hatch soon, and when they do, the microbes that come out will feed on your organs.”

  My legs buckled, and Jainon bolted to my side to keep me upright. “We’ve got some time to see you treated,” she said. “You’ll pull through.”

  The strength in her words gave me some encouragement, but the headache that continually built inside my skull did its best to snatch that hope away. “Where can I get treated?” I asked. “Surely you’ve dealt with this before.”

  “In our time, yes,” Tolby said. “But Kibnali medicine hasn’t adapted yet, and honestly, I don’t know if the treatments would be safe on you.”

  “They’re better than no treatment at all,” I countered. “How long do I have?”

  Tolby shook his head as his ears turned downward. “A few hours, maybe,” he said. “Hard to predict since your biology is not ours.”

  “A few hours?” I said, eyes wide, pulse racing. “We’ve got a few hours to what, sneak back in the city, find the others, get to the ship, hop through spacetime, get me to a future Kibnali medical facility and convince the staff there to treat an infected alien?”

  “One step at a time, Dakota,” Tolby said. “Do anything else, and you’ll go mad.”

  “I’m almost there already,” I said with a laugh. “A treatment of baby steps isn’t going to help.”

  Jainon squeezed my shoulder. “No, I suspect not. But the Progenitors might have something we can use. With such a large facility at our disposal, how could they not?”

  I turned her suggestion a few times over in my head. “True. Maybe I can get plopped in a stasis tube.”

  “Precisely,” Tolby said. “Now let’s move. We’ve no time to waste.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Rendezvous

  If there was a tenth circle of Hell, that’s precisely where the fires came from that burned in my joints. I shut my eyes and ended up curling in a fetal position on the ground as this newest wave of pain washed over me. It only lasted a few seconds, but that wasn’t much solace, especially since it was the sixth attack I’d suffered, and they continued to grow in frequency.

  “It’s the Nodari venom working in your system,” Jainon said.

  “I know,” I said once I was able. “We really need to get to that facility.”

  “We will,” she said. “Come on. Let’s work our way up to the others.”

  I steadied myself, which wasn’t terribly hard now that the pain had subsided completely, and resumed my belly crawl up a gentle hill to where the others were already prone at the top. The landscape offered plenty of thick scrub and colorful, knee-high grass to remain concealed in, and the howling wind that had picked up maybe twenty minutes ago was a godsend in masking any noise we might have made.

  Of course, that wind did the same for the Nodari. For all I knew, they were creeping up on us as much as we were creeping up on the hill. I could only hope that the heightened sense of smell that Tolby and Jainon possessed were more than enough to detect any approaching Nodari.

  At the top of the hill, I could see the city a short way off in the distance. Smoke rose from numerous buildings, and occasionally I would see bright flashes of light or mushroom clouds as something big exploded. I wondered what it was going to be like there, what sort of husks for buildings we would find, how many Kibnali we would see slaughtered in the streets.

  I shut my eyes and shook my head. I couldn’t think about that, so instead I turned my attention to the outpost below. The rendezvous point was a solid, squat round building with a single antenna coming out the roof. On one side there were slanted windows on the second story, while the other had a few machines and a parked vehicle on the ground floor. Nearby was a small landing pad that was currently unoccupied save for a single creature that no doubt was Nodari in origin.

  Coppery bronze skin formed overlapping plates of armor across its body. It moved on a serpentine tail, but instead of scraping across the ground on its belly, it remained mostly upright as if it were a king cobra standing tall and proud. Its bulbous head lacked any obvious eyes and was held about two meters off the ground. The creature sported wide, powerful jaws that spread out on either side of its head, looking like a giant trap ready to be sprung on whatever victim it came across.

  For a few minutes, we all watched it in silence, waiting for it to move on. Instead, it kept circling the launchpad, at times going over to the outpost and searching the area for something.

  “What is that?” I whispered.

  “Nodari tunneler,” Tolby replied softly. “They burrow through the ground to reach bunkers and foxholes, striking in coordination with a ground assault. Expendable creatures, more or less, but vicious ones at that. Those jaws can shear through most armor.”

  “What’s it doing here?” asked Jack.

  “I don’t know, but since it’s not moving on, we’ve got to take it out.” Tolby slid his rifle up and brought it to bear on the creature.

  “Why do I get the feeling that’s harder than it sounds?” I asked.

  “Because if I don’t kill instantly, the Nodari will know we’re here, or at least, that someone’s here,” he said. “Each one is linked back to the hive overseer, and it’ll scream like a banshee as it dies.”

  “And that’s not to mention the little fact the only part of its brain that offers an instant kill shot is the size of a mutefruit,” Jainon said, using her paws to approximate the size of a lemon.

  “You sure you don’t want to wait for it to move?” I asked.

  Tolby shook his head. “Your time is limited enough as it is.”

  “Good point,” I said.

  “Jainon, standby for backup.”

  The handmaiden brought her rifle to bear on the tunneler. Her ears pressed back, and her tail flattened behind her. “On it.”

  “Good, taking the first good shot I get,” he said.

  For what felt like an eternity, all I could do was watch Tolby settle into his sniper position and track the Nodari’s movement. Every time the monster looked like it was going to hold still for more than a half second, it suddenly jerked to the side and made another erratic trip around the outpost. Twice it even dug into the ground only to pop up near the outpost walls. I guess it was trying to get in but was having difficulty.

  Was it simply exploring? Or were Yseri and Empress inside and it was trying to find them? I didn’t know, obviously, but I felt if it were the latter that creature would have called for reinforcements by now.

  A bolt of plasma flew out of Tolby’s weapon with a loud hiss. The bright orange shot struck the tunneler center skull. The thing flopped ove
r, but it didn’t die quietly. It thrashed around, tail flipping and mouth screeching, for a half second before Jainon put a second shot through its head, and that shot was followed up by four more from both of them.

  “Move! Now!” Tolby barked, bounding to his feet and sprinting down the hill. “They’ll be here soon!”

  Jainon followed, right on his feels, and Jack and I did our best to keep up. “I can’t believe you missed!”

  “Neither can I,” Tolby said, sounding disappointed.

  “Jack, stay with me outside,” the handmaiden said. “We’ll provide cover for Tolby and Dakota as they sweep the bunker for Empress and Yseri.”

  We reached the landing pad in seconds. Tolby hit the controls for the bunker door, and it slid open with a popping sound. The first floor held a lot of supplies and, not surprisingly, guns and power packs. Tolby and I grabbed as many as we could to replace the ones we’d spent on the bridge and to give to Jack and Jainon. The upper floor had a dozen gun ports that allowed for defense of the area, as well as a central room with a handful of computers that were currently displaying the status of battle inside the city. I couldn’t make sense of most of it, but the blobby red parts, which were Nodari, seemed to be slowly overtaking the blobby blue parts, which were the defending Kibnali forces.

  “Where are they?” I asked, noting how we were the only ones here.

  “Good question,” Tolby asked. He keyed up his comms and tried to raise them. “Empress? Yseri? Do you copy? We’re at the rendezvous.”

  Static.

  Lots of static.

  The Empress’s voice crackled through a few seconds later. “Unable…reach…”

  Tolby’s brow dropped. “Can you get to the Progenitor hangar? We could meet you at the ship.”

  “…un—”

  “Empress? Empress!” Tolby shook his head and swore. “This is not good.”

  A new, unexpected voice chimed in. “Dakota? Can you hear me?”

  I blinked, unable to do anything else. “Daphne?”

  “Hi there!” she said. “I hope you’re nowhere near all this fighting. It’s ugly. Very non-conducive to long life-spans, which I believe you are a fan of.”

  “Yeah, I am, which is why I need your help,” I said before giving her a rundown of recent events, putting emphasis on the Nodari venom ravaging my system.

  “That does sound painful,” she said. “But as luck would have it. I can help.”

  “Oh, thank god,” I replied.

  “Going by the data I had downloaded before, there’s a medical facility inside the art exhibit. Predictably, the Progenitors had well-equipped themselves for dealing with the Nodari on all levels. The medbay there should be able to neutralize the toxins.”

  “There is? Holy snort, that’s outstanding.”

  “I thought you’d like that.”

  “Like that? I love it!”

  “I suggest you get moving,” she said. “I’m not sure how long that area will be devoid of Nodari infestation.”

  I nodded, not that I needed any encouragement to make a beeline for the facility. “We’re on our way. Where are you? Can you meet us there?”

  “I’m hiding near Okabe’s lab. I should be able to make a rendezvous at the facility.”

  “Wonderful. Tell Empress and Yseri to get there, too, if possible. We lost contact with them.”

  “Will do.”

  At that point, we left the outpost in a hurry, but instead of making a direct run for the city as I had expected, Tolby took us in a parallel direction a few hundred meters and through a small orchard before resuming our approach.

  “If they send any Nodari to investigate, hopefully, this will help dodge them,” Tolby explained.

  I nodded. We were about to clear the orchard, and I had to slow considerably. I didn’t have a full-on joint attack as I had before, but my energy levels were dropping like I’d been up studying three days straight, and the last bits of caffeine from my eighth cup of coffee had finally worn off. I ended up leaning against a tree with one hand, panting, unable to catch my breath.

  “Come on,” Jack said. “Less than a klick to go.”

  “I know,” I said, still trying to find enough air to keep my body feeling like it wasn’t starving for oxygen.

  He went to grab my weapon, and I jerked it away. “You can barely keep yourself up,” he said. “Let me carry it.”

  “No,” I said, straightening and wiping the sweat off my brow. “I can do this. That’s not going to make a difference, but me not being able to shoot might.”

  Tolby, who was at the very edge of the orchard, glanced at me over his shoulder with a concerned look in his eye. “Are you sure you’re ready?” he asked. “We’ve got a park to go through with a lot of open space.”

  “I’m ready,” I said, hoping my sheer determination would be enough to see me through.

  Tolby nodded, and we all burst from the tree line at his command. We didn’t move at a full sprint as we had been before on account of me, but we still moved at a fair clip. The park he was in reference to was one I would have loved to enjoy had I the opportunity. It had gentle, rolling hills with incredible landscaping that combined large rocks, towering crystals, and exceptionally pruned trees and bushes that formed a work of art like no other. Even with the gray skies above and the thoughts of battle looming in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but feel lost in the beauty of the place. The serene, sprawling pond with quaint, wooden bridges and a gazebo in the center only topped off the idea that becoming lost in this park would have been easy and welcome.

  We were about thirty meters away from the pond when Tolby ducked behind a boulder, and Jainon tackled me to the ground. A spray of tiny darts flew by and struck a rock to my left. When they hit, they splattered the area with a thick yellow goo that began dissolving everything it came into contact with.

  “It’s eating through rock?” I shouted in disbelief.

  “Better than your face,” Jainon said. “Now get to cover and stay low.”

  I did as I was told and dragged myself across the ground. I wasn’t sure where to go, so I followed the natural decline I was on and ended up closer to the pond and behind a small granite outcropping. I guess that was good enough, because when Tolby threw me a glance, he didn’t say anything and simply went back to firing.

  “Six scouts, moving on our right flank,” Tolby barked.

  “I’m counting at least seven more keeping us pinned,” Jack said. He fired a few times with his carbine before dashing across the ground and making a slide behind a rock and ending up a few paces away from me. Acidic darts zipped by his head and chiseled deep gouges in everything they struck.

  Since the Nodari were directing most of their fire at Jack and Tolby, I took advantage of the moment and peeked out from the side of my cover. I spied a Nodari scout charging down our left flank, alone and out in the open. I put several shots toward it, but they all missed. I thought he was about to make it to a good place near the gazebo to dig in, but I fired a few more times and nailed him in the hip and chest. The scout’s body crumbled to the side, and I’m not ashamed to say it, but I shouted in triumph.

  “I got one!”

  “Get us twelve more and we’re golden,” Jack shouted back with a half grin. He took a few potshots at the Nodari afterward and was forced back behind his rock. Once the suppressive fire on him ended, he tried to pop up again but had to dive once more as Nodari shots zeroed in on his position. Most went wide, but one struck him high on the arm. The armor he wore sizzled away in wisps of gray smoke. “What the everlasting hell,” he said, furiously popping two of his buckles to get the piece to fall away before the corrosive substance ate through his body. “That goo nearly got my arm!”

  The firefight continued, and although we kept the Nodari at bay, we weren’t making progress getting anywhere either.

  “Tolby,” Jainon shouted after she dropped a Nodari scout with a perfectly placed plasma bolt to its forehead. “They’re going to get rei
nforcements soon. We can’t stay here much longer.”

  “I know,” he shouted back. “What I wouldn’t give for some artillery.”

  “Maybe we can call for help,” Jainon said. She opened up a comm to the Kibnali defenses and spoke. “Rogue Team requesting fire support at the southern gardens. Can anyone hear this?”

  Predictably, no one answered. Jainon tried again two more times before Tolby grunted. “We’ll have to do it the hard way then. Leapfrog backward with covering fire.”

  Now I’m no Sun Tzu, but I was proud of myself that I knew what he was talking about and didn’t have to ask. The general plan was one group would put so many plasma shots downrange that the Nodari didn’t dare even a peek at us while the other group ran for cover. Rinse and repeat till presumably we were all out of there. And while on the surface that looked like all that we had, I was even more proud of myself when I also realized there was a much better option.

  “Hey, Tolby, did you forget about something?” I said, raising my right arm. I jerked it back when Nodari fire nearly took it off, and I grinned sheepishly. “Well, assuming I don’t do that again, we have all the artillery we need.”

  “Think you can hit them?” Tolby said, pulling one of his grenades off his belt.

  “Absolutely,” I replied. “Send it up in a nice arc. I’ll do the rest.”

  “On three. Ready?”

  I nodded. Tolby gave the count, and as he did, he primed the grenade. With a powerful throw, he sent it sailing high into the air. At the apex of its climb, I telekinetically punched it and sent it rocketing toward the Nodari line. I put a little too much oomph in the hit, so it almost went flying by them. Thankfully, I realized I was going to miss in time, so I hit it again from above and sent it into the ground. The grenade hit the ground and bounced up about a half meter before exploding.

  If I hadn’t known firsthand it was a grenade that had been tossed, I would’ve sworn a battlecruiser was providing orbital fire support the explosion was so big. Chitinous armor flew in all directions along with fragments of Nodari limbs and entrails. As the pieces rained down, I did have a brief twinge in my gut as I realized the sheer power of the explosives that were strapped to my waist.