Edna was an intuitive prototype Lara had spent the better part of a year working on, had high hopes for, and would be ready to test real soon.
She leaned to grab a screwdriver and froze.
Christabella stood in front of her, hopping from one dainty foot to another.
Teeth grinding, Lara set down her work, again, and quirked an eyebrow. She waved the screwdriver in hand when the girl stared at her like the simpleton she was. Truth be told, Lara had a soft spot for the female. This is why she only curled her top lip in a snarl instead of baring fang and hissing until she scurried away.
“Do I have all day for you to loiter?” she asked. “Spit it out.”
Christabella twisted the end of a golden lock, attempting the impossible by trying to burrow her toes into the concrete floor. “I was wandering past and heard you give Kali advice. You’re smart like the rest of them, but you’re a girl too. I could use advice.” She nibbled her lip. “So let’s say that I had it bad for an alien.” Christabella fell silent and studied the floor as if it were of cosmic importance. “Do you think one of you could ever like someone like me back? Someone not smart. A Human. The whole Kali and Blue drama doesn’t count because Kali has always been clever.”
“Lara?” Blue’s waxen head appeared, and he jerked his head, gesturing her to follow.
Relieved to have been summoned, she shot to her feet. “I’m here. Right here.” Lara inched past Christabella, and narrowed her eyes. “Touch nothing,” she told the girl when she caught her hand straying to one of the rifles on the wall. Lara jogged the corridor after Blue. “What?”
“You know.”
“I do. It’s under control. He won’t find us, and he’ll be moving on soon.” She eyed him. The rigid set of his shoulders and tense jaw screamed his unease. “Took you a while to notice.”
“Mind’s busy.”
“Distracted you mean, because Kali is unstable.”
Blue’s hand hit the wall in front of her. His palm flattened and he blocked her way. “Been meaning to talk to you.”
Lara leaned her shoulder on the wall and prodded his arm. “If this is going to be some gushing diatribe on how you love her, want her safe, and–”
“I want them all safe. Don’t care if you get annoyed, stressed, or just feel like making something die, pull it back. The Humans here are safe and should feel so. That means no threats or hostility. No waving of knives or pointing of guns. We clear?”
“Do the others get this inspiring talk? Or am I special?”
“The others don’t have me in a cold sweat. Worrying the next time I open a cupboard I might catch a body with its throat slit ear to ear. Seen you eye Max’s jugular one time too many.”
Lara’s lip curled when she said her piece. “I won’t pretend I like them when I don’t. They are a weakness, and that is the truth.”
“Ken doesn’t mind gentling you, but I have no time for it.”
“I got it. Your time is better spent skulking. Mourning a relationship that was doomed from the start. Brooding over a girl who is no longer interested. If she ever was.”
Blue exhaled on a hiss. “You know nothing.”
“Spare me the tragedy. You risked our lives when you dragged us into the inner quadrants looking for her, and I know you’re considering the terminally stupid by going to the encampment to find her parents. Don’t be a fool. Fools die.”
“Giving my life to reunite a family would not be a wasted thing.”
“That is not logical. Your continued presence here gives us a strong chance of maintaining a successful resistance. If it didn’t, I wouldn’t be here.”
“Emotion isn’t logical. This is their world, Lara. Their home.” Blue was intense when he leaned in. “We’re the trespassers, not them.” He touched his temple. “They gave me memories I do not yet understand, but that much I do know.”
“Their origin–”
“Doesn’t matter, not when a species evolves as humanity has. We are a part of them, and they deserve our protection.”
“You think the Hive should have harvested a different crop?”
Blue laughed low without humour. “I want to protect these people, but I don’t wish ill on anyone else.”
Igor left his room and paused when he saw Lara and Blue right outside his door. He decided it would be lunacy to get between them, and he bowed out to return the way he came.
Blue waved him forward, sensing him there. “Glad you’re here. We’re discussing what to do with our visitor.”
“Stellar.” Igor paced forward his giant feet unexpectedly light. “It weighs on my mind. You have decided a course of action?”
Voices cast low with intensity drifted from the main living area. Distracted from responding, Blue inched forward quietly. He was intrigued when he saw his son and Kali seated at the table, a plate of nibbles between them.
“You feel lied to,” Caesar said, pouring juice, the heavy jug straining his slender arms. “Hurt, as if he didn’t care for your feelings.”
“Exactly,” Kali replied her chin in her palm.
Blue wondered how she would react if she knew the reason his son was so perceptive was not because he was sensitive to the emotions of others, but because he was frighteningly adept at infiltrating the conscious mind. Blue usually felt when anybody turned their attention to him, or entered his mind. With Caesar, he felt nothing. The boy mined thoughts deeply, exposing the raw parts of you. It was the reason Blue kept nothing from him. Not only had his ability made him a formidable mind-walker, Caesar was highly observant. He did not yet show signs of telekinetic prowess, but Blue hoped he would soon.
“I don’t have a problem with Blue having a son. The way he sprung it on me was what set me off.” Kali drummed the tabletop. “What else hasn’t he told me?”
“That is an answer you will never know. Cookie? Blue is aspiring as a male figure. I hope to be like him one day.” The child drank his juice as he turned to stare directly at his parent, eyes far too knowing. “Trouble,” he murmured. “There is someone above us.”
Accepting the crumbly treat, Kali twisted, and her eyes snapped to Blue then returned to Caesar appraisingly. “You’re telepathic too?” she asked devouring the cookie.
Caesar bobbed his head, feet swinging off the floor. “I hope I am psychokinetic like Blue. Time will tell. More juice?”
She pushed her glass forward, but her attention turned to the Hybrids.
Igor, Lara and Blue walked over to the surveillance ComUnis and studied them. Above a soldier, dressed in taupe fatigues, heavily armed, was systematically narrowing his search of the junkyard to the bunker entrance.
“He won’t leave until he finds us.” Blue sighed. “His mind is set.”
“He’ll run out of supplies and wander off,” Lara disagreed. “In a few days he’ll get bored and move on.”
“You’re wrong,” Blue asserted.
“Humans are primitive,” Igor mused. “His stomach might win.”
“What’s going on,” Kali asked from the table.
Sparing her a glance, Blue grimaced as his insides knotted. He couldn’t look at her without feeling grief over what they had lost. “There is a soldier above us. He tracked us here and is searching for the entrance to this bunker.”
To Kali’s credit fear was not her reaction, but curiosity. Maybe she did trust the Hybrids to keep her safe. “He’s not Host?”
“No. His mind is open and in turmoil. Fixated on finding help to save a friend.” Blue frowned. “I didn’t go deeper into his thoughts once I knew he was no threat to us.”
“He could become one,” Igor warned. “He will draw attention if he stays much longer.”
Blue considered this. He agreed and was not willing to take such a risk. “Arm yourselves.”
19.
The atmosphere changed, and Zeke was no longer alone. Finally, they’d come out of hiding. He’d followed promising tracks into the junkyard and had scouted the place out. It was clear there was a
hideaway here somewhere, he just couldn’t see where. He guessed it was underground, a bunker of some kind.
He took a step into the open.
“Stop.”
“Easy,” he replied. “I just want to talk.” Zeke lifted one hand and then the other, his gun held high. “My name is Starless Operative Zeke Hutchinson. I am looking for food, shelter, and anybody who is putting up any kind of resistance against these alien fuxs. That’s all.”
“Turn around,” Igor ordered. “Leave this place and do not come back.”
“I haven’t been infected. I’m well trained, and I can help you.”
There was a pause.
“I won’t ask again.”
Zeke cursed softly and nodded his head repeatedly as if to say ’this is what I get.’ Rubbing his prayer beads between his thumb and forefinger for luck, he turned slowly as commanded.
Looking for a new safe place wasn’t an option. The few he had come across were inhabited by survivors a Host attack shy of moon mad. He needed to find like-minded people who were organized and gutsy. Maybe they needed to see he was clean. He pulled the back of his fatigues down to expose the pale skin at the nape of his neck. “Look, happy now? No slug sucking on my cortex. Can I at least talk to you for a while? I’m tired.”
Igor felt the muscles in his shoulders relax. His Omicron had already verified the Human had not been compromised, but there was nothing more reassuring than confirming something with your own eyes.
Could he send this man away to die knowing he could have offered aid?
Unlike Kenshin, Igor did not find all of Humanity worth saving, but after spending some time in the company of Kali and Christabella, he knew that some Humans could surprise you and offer value to intellectual conversation.
The soldier was well armed, seemed to have all his faculties, and possessed something unique to have survived this long alone with so many Host crawling around. Special enough to find Blue’s hidden bunker when Hybrids – his genetic superiors – had walked right past it.
“Throw away your weapon,” Igor said. “Put your hands behind your head and get down on your knees face to the ground.”
Surprise rippled through his mind from Lara, and acceptance from his Omicron bathed him in warmth.
“Whoa … we have our first problem.” Zeke spun, his hands up high. “This rifle kept me alive. Giving it up isn’t on the table.”
“I do not compromise. Be on your way and we’ll be on ours.” Igor gave Blue and Lara a brief mental nudge.
They backed away.
“Wait.” Zeke swore and slowly lowered the pulse rifle to the ground. “I better not regret this.”
He kicked the rifle towards the sound of Igor’s voice. His hands went behind his head, and he kissed the ground.
Igor remained rooted, his weapon sighted.
Lara rushed forward to secure the Human. Shouldering her own rifle, she picked up the confiscated weapon, and took a moment to admire its design. Crouching, she slid the edge of a laser blade under Zeke’s throat and applied pressure. “Up you come,” she crowed, happy to have a military-grade firearm in her grasp. “Slowly. Make no sudden movements. I’d love to show you how good I am with my little knife, but I’d never hear the end of it from Kenshin.”
Zeke did as he was told.
His stomach plummeted. He’d been certain this was a Human stronghold, all the signs pointed to a group that didn’t want to be found. Disappointment tasted bitter and his heart was heavy. The Amazonian-like Hybrid holding the biggest laser blade he’d ever set eyes on jerked her pointed chin at him, directing him to walk.
Would they make him turn then attach one of those parasites on his neck?
The colourless eyes fixed on him were cold, pitiless. They said failure to cooperate meant death.
Unfortunately, Zeke wasn’t ready to become some evil-eyed alien’s plaything.
“Thank my stars Valiant isn’t here,” he muttered. “I’d never hear the end of this.”
He moved as he was trained, lightening fast, and grabbed her arm. He twisted so she dropped the knife and spun her into his body, disarming her of his weapon as he did so.
Zeke couldn’t say what alerted him to the fact the Hybrids weren’t responding to his attack. Was it the unnatural stillness making the hairs on the back of his neck lift? Maybe it was because the girl in his arms breathed steady instead of gasping with panic.
She sighed her boredom. “Omicron?” she asked. “Please?”
“He’s good. It’s logical to keep him alive.”
“Does he need all ten fingers?”
“To be an effective fighter, yes.” A pause. “I’m ambivalent about bruising.”
Zeke’s eyes narrowed at the strange byplay, even more so at the tall white-haired youth who stepped out of the shadows, strolling past as if the situation didn’t disturb him in the least.
Shouldering his rifle, Igor stepped from his hiding place. “Silly Human, giving Lara a reason to hurt you. She is not kind like me.”
Zeke stumbled on the spot. “How did you get over there? Your voice came from there.”
Igor shrugged. “The mind is easily fooled.” He looked pointedly at Lara. “Host migrate this way. Be done with this.”
Her hand flexed. “With pleasure.”
*
Zeke’s smile was bloody when he accepted the ice pack and SkinAids from the hand of the solemn child with hair like starlight and eyes Neptunian blue. The boy stared at him with candour and directness he’d not known one so young could possess.
“May I advise you avoid provoking Lara?” the boy said. “Her thoughts regarding you are not pleasant. Yours may hold grudging admiration for her, but she thinks of Human men as bugs to be squashed.”
Zeke backed away in alarm at the self-possession and authority in the child’s voice. No, not a child, an alien, he realised. The youngest he’d seen, but still an extra terrestrial related to the ones tearing his world apart.
Pissed, Lara stood, and Zeke was ashamed that he actually flinched.
She spared him a smile, closer to a baring of teeth, before focusing on the child giving him advice. “Trespass in my mind again and I will wrap you in so much cerebral miasma it will take you a day to unscramble.”
The boy smiled politely. “I am unconcerned.”
She snorted then looked at Blue. “Seriously.” She stabbed a finger at the child. “Deal with that.”
“Again?” Blue asked his son, tone a reprimand.
“Sorry, Blue,” The boy shrugged at Zeke. “My name is Caesar. I like your dog tags.”
Zeke looked down at his covered chest, wondering how the kid knew where he’d inked his tags.
Caesar toddled across the room and hopped onto a seat beside a coffee-skinned Delphi with a ponytail. She eyed him as if he was a bomb set to go off. Truth was pretty much everyone in the room eyed him as if he would detonate. He felt nothing against their hesitation. It was sensible to reserve trust in situations such as these.
His eyes wandered around the open space, and he was intrigued. This was a home he could tell from the cluttered table and the slouchy seating, but the far wall was covered in VidSees monitoring the junkyard and a row of state of the art ComUnis hovered in hibernation mode. Best of all, there were weapons, enough to start some serious shit.
“State your purpose for coming here.”
Zeke’s eyes flicked to the pale-skinned youth these young people followed. He cleared his throat. “Food, shelter–”
“We dislike liars,” interrupted Caesar. “It would go better for you if you spoke the truth. I know it can be difficult, but you are in a room with four mind readers. Lying is pointless.”
Zeke fought the urge to run hollering from the room. Obviously, these aliens were in hiding, maybe even traitors to their kind because they had Humans with them. Normal Humans, not hysterical, aliens have taken over my planet, Humans, but sane, I’m safe because these Hybrids protect me from the bad aliens, Humans.
He needed sleep.
Seventy-two hours of non-stop fighting then a further twenty-four of running for the hills when a full-scale retreat was ordered had a way of zapping the strength from a man.
“You sure know a lot for a small guy,” he managed. His lip was swollen, so it came out garbled.
“My body is small in stature, but my mind is boundless. Do you understand?” The child regarded him with guileless eyes, waiting patiently for an answer.
Nobody in the room told him to mind his own business, or cuffed him around the ear for talking in the company of adults.
“As best I can kid. As best I can.” Zeke pressed the ice to his jaw, wincing when the cold made his swelling flesh ache. “You want it straight? I need help. My friend Valiant and I were one third of a special task force deployed on a first strike attack against the hostile invaders commonly known as the Novae.”
“That went well,” Lara quipped, crossing her muscular legs at the ankle.
Zeke would have sneered if he weren’t afraid she’d beat on him some more. A soldier picked his battles. There would never come a time when he willingly chose to go another round with the bitch alien from hell.
“Yeah, anyway,” he continued stanchly, eyes drifting. “The chain of command completely broke down. Before wave silence, we got reports not all the males have been paired with parasites.”
“Symbionts,” the Delphi supplied. “They’re called Symbionts. My name is Kali, by the way.”
Zeke blinked. “Kali Loklear from Quadrant2?”
“Do I know you?”
“No. Your name alongside Rikard and Creighton Loklear were on a set of evacuation orders assigned to my unit. Rikard was the priority, but if able, we were to grab all of you alongside two other high profile HiCaste family units and take you to a secret rendezvous set up in the OutRim.”
Kali’s throat closed. She rubbed it. “You found them?” she croaked. “My parents.”
“No Ma’am. None of the families were retrieved. Things spiralled out of control as soon as the offensive on the hostiles began. The rendezvous camp was destroyed.”
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