by Alex Kings
Rurthk was beyond caring. “Well?” he said, sending his chair rolling forward. “Are you going to take us to see her or not?”
“This way,” the Glaber said in an ill-concealed snarl, and led them up into a steeply spiralling passageway. The light was dim, the air humid and thick with scents. Chips of dry fungus softly crunched under his wheels. Insects floated amid tangled vines in the ceiling.
Rurthk dropped back to move alongside Laodicean. “I saw Zino caught you too,” he said.
“The damage was minor,” said Laodicean. “It will not stop me or slow me down.”
Rurthk found he appreciated Laodicean's stoicism; it was something he might say himself. “From what I hear, you helped save me,” he said.
“Yes,” said Laodicean.
“Huh,” said Rurthk. “Rescued by a former GEA investigator. That's not something I would ever have expected.”
“If I were still with the GEA, and you were my quarry, I would still have saved your life,” said Laodicean.
“Thanks. That makes me feel a lot better.”
“As things stand now,” Laodicean went on, “if you die, my hopes of bringing justice to Vihan Yvredi will be greatly diminished.”
*
The corkscrew passage led to a long corridor, another ramp, and finally to the queen.
She was at the back of a large room, with a dozen armed Glaber either side of her. Her swollen bulk lay stretched out on her platform. When she saw Rurthk enter, she smiled broadly and brought her hands together. Her giant razor claws clicked together.
“Rurthk the Hiveless,” she said in Glaber. “The survivor.”
Rurthk smiled at her. “I should say the same,” he said. “I thought they'd caught you.”
“They nearly did catch me,” she said, switched to Isk for the benefit of his crew. “But I had an escape plan, I had this ship ready, and I had many Glaber I knew I could trust.”
Rurthk settled happily back in his chair. “I should've known you would escape.”
“Yes, you should have,” she said. She looked over his crew and tilted her head. Looking at Laodicean, she said, “This one's new. A Tethyan? I don't think I've ever seen a Tethyan in the flesh before.”
“I am pleased to meet you,” said Laodicean.
“Likewise,” said the queen.
Eloise stepped forward. “How did you find us?”
“I have spent a lot of time watching lately,” said the queen. “We usually leave a few telescope probes connected to bulkwave transmitters where we can. We had just left Bloodspray. We were a couple of jumps away when my friend here … ” She pointed at the unpleasant Glaber “ … saw your ship on the feed. He told me. And I could just feel you were going to get yourself into a sticky situation, so I decided to go back.”
Eloise started to speak, but the queen held he hand up in a commanding gesture for silence. “Now tell me why you were there.”
“Those Petaurs who were using Bellicose,” Rurthk explained, “we're out the stop them. We heard they were keeping the scientists who worked on the Blanks here.”
“And?” said the queen.
“We … failed,” said Eloise, glancing at Rurthk.
Rurthk nodded. “They sent someone to kill us. Not entirely successfully, but he had a good go at it.” He gestured at his wheelchair.
“Was Yilva's information wrong?” said Olivia. “Did they lure us here?”
“I do not think so,” said Laodicean. He paused. “This may not be the time to discuss it.”
“No, go ahead,” said the queen, looking interested.
“If Vihan Yvredi wanted to lure us to Bloodspray, they wouldn't have needed Yilva,” said Laodicean. “They could have given us Singer's message in a way that I could decode alone. From their point of view, that would have been a simpler, and therefore more sensible, plan. Further, if they expected us on Bloodspray, they could simply have hidden on a smaller rock and detonated a nuclear explosion when the shuttle arrived. That would have killed us all immediately. Their actions suggest they were caught off-guard and had to make a last-minute plan to try and kill us with limited resources.”
“So the ship they sent out was a hurried decoy,” said Rurthk. “They moved the scientists some other way, then sent Zino and his gang in to kill us.”
“Most likely,” said Laodicean.
“Either way,” said Rurthk. “We lost the scientists. And now we have no idea where they are. Unless Singer learns something, we're back to square one.”
The queen looked at him. “Giving up doesn't suit you, my Hiveless. I'm sure you will find another way.”
Rurthk held her gaze. “Yes,” he said after a moment. A smile crept across his face. “We have accomplished one thing from this mission.”
“Oh?” said the queen.
“We've found you,” said Rurthk, stepping forward. “We need all the allies we can get. And you have a Hunter and a small army of Glaber. And … and by destroying Vihan Yvredi you will avenge yourself for the harm they've caused you. So, will you join us?”
The queen stared at him in silence for a few seconds, then laughed. “And just after your rescue! Oh, Rurthk, you are so shameless,” she said with delight. More calmly, she went on, “I would love to help you. But I have problems of my own. We are being tracked by another ship sent to kill me. And now this ship is heavily damaged. As you can see, I have my hands full.”
“Is that a counter-offer?” said Rurthk.
`The queen said nothing, but smiled faintly.
“If someone were to, say, stop the ship chasing you,” said Rurthk.
“Then I might be able to turn my attention elsewhere,” said the queen.
“Well, then,” said Rurthk. “Just because I like you so much, I might have a go at stopping this Glaber ship.”
Chapter 41: Not Quite
“Zino. I'm glad to see you're alive,” said Mr. Hand.
“Are you sure about that?” said Zino. “Or is it just a pleasantry?”
On the screen, Mr. Hand offered a disarming smile. “You caught me,” he said.
Zino was in the cabin a small escape vessel, currently in flight from the new battlefront, and heading out of Glaber space. “I lost most of my team,” he said.
“I'm sure you'll find more,” said Mr. Hand. “Tell me, did you manage to kill Rurthk or any of his allies?”
Zino frowned. “No,” he said. “Nearly, but … not quite.”
“I see. Then we can't assume any of them are dead. Look at this.” Mr. Hand sent him a clip of the Outsider escaping the system alongside a Glaber hunter.
“Rurthk's a survivor,” growled Zino. “It'll be so satisfying when I finally kill him.”
“That may be, but right now we have more important things to worry about. This war has made things more dangerous for us all. We need to work around it, or we risk being discovered.”
Zino nodded. He dearly wanted to find Rurthk and kill him, but he had the discipline to pretend otherwise. “Shall I come back to look after the scientists?”
“No,” said Mr. Hand. “We're moving them to a new location. I'll be there, and …” He smiled sweetly. “I can't allow you to be anywhere near me, can I?”
“I guess not.” Zino laughed.
“Stay near the border,” Mr. Hand said. “You're on call, so no running of on hunts. Aside from that, kill who you want. Or just relax. Build up a new team. Your choice. We'll keep paying you a retainer, and call on you when we need you.”
Zino nodded. It would be hard to find Rurthk like that, but he could wait.
*
The queen's Hive continued to jump regularly, crossing Glaber space is a slow, ambling pathway. Teams of technicians worked to repair the damage from the battle in the Bloodspray system, but apparent a lack of resources was biting hard. Several damaged parts of the Hunter had to be left open to vacuum, because there was not enough left to fix them. The loss included several laser turrets and a sublight engine. Instead, the queen had them stripp
ed over everything valuable to help repair more essential systems. The damaged, uninhabited sections, helped form a weak defence were the armour had been broken through.
On top of everything else, it seemed the hunter was undermanned. It had barely over half the normal crew complement.
Nevertheless, when the queen learned about Kaivon's death, and the fact that Rurthk had no engineer, she sent a repair team over to help the Outsider. It was a messy repair, using questionable solutions jury-rigging to fix the Outsider with whatever bits and pieces of Glaber technology could be spared. But how was that any different from what Kaivon had done? In fact, to Rurthk, it seemed like a fitting tribute.
In the midst of it all, Rurthk spent some time alone talking to the queen about their adventures since their last escape. They talked over some of the highest-quality fermented blood and the sort of high-quality roasted meat normally reserved only for queens and the highest-ranking members of the hive.
As the hours passed he grew stronger. He found himself able to stand, if only briefly, with support.
At last, the crew of the Outsider came together in the queen's meeting room to learn about their new mission.
A wall screen displayed the specs of a Glaber ship in the centre, with several captured telescope images of the vessel in question to the right, and supplementary information (translated to Isk for their benefit) on the left.
Rurthk looked at the specs. The ship was more twice as big as the queen's Hunter. Its hull was double-layered in armour and bristling with weapons.
No wonder the queen was in trouble.
“That ships holds a complete hive,” the queen explained.
That would be why it was so well-defended, then. The loss of that ship would mean the loss of the entire hive.
“Hive Knife,” said the queen. “Actually it's the 377th hive with that name.”
“I suppose its leaders aren't the most imaginative bunch,” said Rurthk.
The queen laughed, but only briefly. “They're a minor group. They haven't got enough power to set themselves up on a planet, so they stay in space. They mainly contract work out to other hives. Odd-jobs, you know.”
“Like hunting down ships,” said Rurthk.
The queen nodded.
“How are they tracking you?” Eloise asked.
“A projectile when we first encountered them. It didn't seem to do much damage, but … they've done something to our jump engines,” said the queen.
Rurthk turned to Laodicean. “Just like you did to us, huh?”
“I doubt it,” Laodicean said. He turned back to the queen. “Please continue.”
“Now, whenever we jump, we leave a signature in the bulk they can follow,” said the queen. “Wherever we go, they're always one jump behind us. We can't stay still in any place long enough to make contacts or resupply.” She exhaled slowly through her nose as she contemplated the situation, giving off a drawn-out rumbling sound. “They're wearing us down. When we're exhausted, when we linger too long, they'll make their kill.”
“And you can't fix your engine?” said Laodicean.
“That's the thing,” said the queen. “We've identified the problem. But we can't fix it without shutting down the jump engines. During that time, they'd find us, and then there'd be no escape.”
Rurthk sat back, looking at the ship. He turned to the queen and caught her gaze. This tiny hive of hers, a rebellious bit of Hive Bellicose, the one place among the Glaber in over two decades where he'd felt he could belong – he had almost lost it once. He wasn't going to let it fall again. Gaining an ally was an added bonus.
“Mero,” he said. “You think your other stealth shuttle could evade their sensors?”
“So long as you don't blow it up, sure,” said Mero.
Rurthk thought for a bit, then turned back to the queen. “And they're following this ship, so all you need to do is leave us here when you jump. They'll turn up soon after, and we'll sneak onboard.”
“And then what are we gonna do?” said Mero. “Last time we tried sneaking into a hive …” He pointed at the queen. “ … she found us right away, even with Wolff's fancy perfume.”
“Your angry little fluffball has a point,” said the queen. “Pheromones won't be enough.”
Mero turned to her an opened his mouth, caught between being offence and happiness at being backed up.”
“We'll just have to stay out of sight, then,” said Rurthk. He studied the ship specs. “It would help to have someone familiar with the architecture of a ship like this.”
“I think I can spare an engineer,” said the queen.
Rurthk nodded. “And the pheromones will come in useful if anyone does see us.”
“And then?” said Eloise.
“Blow it up,” suggest Mero.
“Slaughter the dominant Glaber,” said Rurthk. “The rest of them won't have any direction. They might even join us.”
“Hold on a moment,” said Eloise. “Slaughter?
“They're the enemy,” Rurthk said mildly.
Eloise came to face him. “We suddenly turned a tiny bit psychopath here, didn't we?”
Rurthk looked back at her. She had a point, he realised. Killing them all seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Why was that? Because he was among Glaber again, dealing in Glaber conflicts. His mind had slipped with ease back into the old ways of thinking.
Even so …
He told her this, finishing with, “But I think it's the only way. If we just disable the ship, they'll just fix it and come back again. If we disable the ship too badly, they won't be able to get anywhere any they'll just die out here in the dark, alone. If we blow up the ship like Mero says, they all die anyway. This way, we can stop them while keeping most of the crew alive.”
Eloise was silent for a few moments. At last, she nodded. “Alright,” she said. “I trust you.”
Rurthk looked over the specs again. In the centre, there was a region where the rooms were larger, lined with its own armour. He pointed. “I'm guessing the dominant Glaber are here,” he said. He turned to the queen. “Protected with their own systems?”
“Correct,” the queen said.
“If we can seal it off, perhaps we can put something in the air,” said Rurthk. “Take them all out together.”
“We have many poisons,” said the queen. “Airborne and otherwise.”
“And there are a couple in the shuttle,” said Mero.
“Well, then,” said Rurthk. “It looks like we have the beginnings of a plan.” He stepped back.
“One more thing,” he asked the queen.
“What is it?”
“I suppose this ship is its own little hive now. Do you know what you'd call it?”
The queen cocked her head. “Why?”
“So that,” Rurthk said, “when I take control of the other ship, I can say in whose name I've conquered them.”
Chapter 42: Life
Rurthk spent the next two days pushing himself. He spent hours in the medical bay, attended to by both Dr. Wolff and a Glaber physiologist who had been sent by the queen. The Glaber physiologist had his own set of technologies and techniques, and argued with Wolff regularly about their effectiveness.
Rurthk used both, only stopping to force himself to move. He slept in the medical bay while thin tubes in his leg and back helped strengthen the muscles, membranes and tendons. As soon as he could walk, he tried running, leaping, and every other motion he could think of that would be required in combat.
The queen summoned him. Alone together, they talked while he paced back and forth across the room.
On the second day, sitting in the medibay, he looked at Wolff and the Glaber physiologist. “I can run the length of the Outsider,” he said. “How much longer?”
Wolff frowned at the results of a combined ultrasound and magnetic resonance bioscan. “Well,” he said cautiously.
“You can fight,” growled the Glaber physiologist.
“The new structures
are delicate,” said Wolff. “I wouldn't recommend any … strenuous activity for another couple of days,” said Wolff.
The Glaber physiologist snorted disdainfully.
“But, as always, it's your body and you can put it at risk however you want.”
Rurthk smiled at him. “Thank you, Doctor,” he said, standing up. “In that case, I think it's time to take down that hive chasing us.”
*
The queen had told Rurthk her answer as her hunter prepared to jump away.
The shuttle floated in space behind the Outsider, still nestled against the hull of the hunter.. It was crowded inside: Mero sat beside him in the pilot's seat, and behind them were Eloise, Olivia, Laodicean, and two Glaber the queen had sent with them – an engineer and a soldier, “Just in case you need an expendable pair of hands.”
They all had some of Wolff's pheromone bottles. They all had gas masks in addition to their helmets. They all had guns, grenades, and knives. Rurthk wanted to be prepared.
The Outsider was left in the queen's care, with only Dr. Wolff remaining on board.
Rurthk felt a twinge leaving his ship like this. But it couldn't be helped.
“Hive Life,” the queen told him.
“That's certainly … a name I wasn't expecting.”
“I was never very good at following conventions,” the queen of Hive Life said.
Rurthk laughed. “So that's why I like you,” he said.
“Goodbye, my Hiveless,” said the queen.
Space in front of the hunter fluttered and gave way to an inflating wormhole, which swept backwards, swallowing it, then deflated to nothing.
Rurthk noticed Mero smirking at him. He ignored it.
Time passed. Ten minutes. Fifteen.
Then space fluttered again. A few thousand miles away another wormhole inflated, three times as big as the one they had just seen. It swept backwards suddenly, revealing the giant ship of Hive Knife.