Stellarnet Rebel

by J. L. Hilton

  Belloc collapsed in a chair and drank water like he was dying of thirst, and then drank some more. “I wish I was home, in the fish pond.” He poured water on his wounds and was soon surrounded by a growing puddle of water dripping from wet cloths draped over his injuries.

  “You had a fish pond on Glin?”

  “At home in our garden, J’ni.”

  “Oh, right.” Whenever Duin talked of home, he meant Glin. It reminded her how bad Belloc’s life must have been, for him to prefer Asteria. She examined his shoulder. “This one isn’t like the other burns.”

  “A bullet I couldn’t avoid.”

  “I hope it doesn’t scar your beautiful skin.”

  “Beautiful?” He sounded surprised.

  “Of course. I’ve always thought so. You’re like a jewel.” She saw the look of confusion on his face. “A jewel is a kind of treasure.”

  “Yes, I’ve seen them in Mysteria, but…” His voice trailed off, and then he began again in Glinnish. “But I did not choose the color of my skin. It doesn’t seem right to be either hated, or admired, for something in which I had no choice.”

  “I admire your choices, too. You didn’t have to risk your life to save me, but you did.” J’ni had never been so close to death before. When she’d been in the stairwell with Duin, when she was trying to escape from Asteria, even when she had gone to the Tikati compound on Glin, she had never been so terrified as when those monstrous creatures began pouring into the market and burning everything. Duin had told her that the Tikati were not as they appeared. She didn’t realize he meant it literally.

  “Duin would have saved you, if I didn’t.”

  “And Duin wouldn’t be here, either, without you. I owe you so much. I owe you everything.”

  “Now you know how I felt when you saved me from Ga’Duhn.”

  “Do my hands belong to you, now?”

  She smiled. But she should have known better than to joke about that. Belloc took his oath to her very seriously.

  He grasped her wrist. His handsome, angular features were a dark storm of intensity. It looked like he was going to say something, but Hax’s voice spoke again, through the Mysteria app in her bracer and Belloc’s glove.

  “Status update. They’re spawning in Sector W and moving through Sectors Q, R and S. Most of the thoroughfares have been sealed off, but they’ve got some kind of plasma torch they’re using to cut through.”

  “What do we do now?” She was looking at Belloc, but Hax was the one who replied.

  “At the moment, I’ve got Duin taking aggro and pulling them through my lasers.”

  She peered at her bracer. “He’s doing what?”

  A window opened on her forearm. It showed Duin running down one of the thoroughfares, pursued by several Tikati. He was wearing the borrowed military uniform, but it looked like the digital United States insignia had been replaced with glowing Mysteria logos. As he passed the netcam, a red grid flashed across the corridor, shredding the Tikati to pieces when their own momentum propelled them through the beams.

  J’ni began trembling and Belloc put his hand over her forearm, covering the vid.

  “Hax, don’t show her any more,” Belloc told the tech. Then he spoke soothingly to J’ni. “Don’t worry. Duin is very good at killing Tikati.”

  “I know.” But she couldn’t hold back the tears. Gruesome images replayed in her mind, and there was no way to close the windows of her thoughts. The smells of the market attack still lingered in her nostrils. Her mouth tasted like ash and other things she did not want to taste.

  J’ni wasn’t trying to be a hero when she stopped Ga’Duhn. Duin didn’t want to be the Envoy of the Freedom Council—he would rather be on Glin with his family than racing flamethrowers and laser beams. Belloc risked his life to remove her from the heart of a war zone. Blaze risked his career to get her off of Asteria.

  They were all just individuals who found themselves in a position to make a choice: to act or to allow evil to happen. But J’ni wasn’t sure how much more she could do, or how much more she could handle.

  It didn’t matter that she knelt in water, or that his wet bandages were soaking her. It didn’t seem to matter to him that she couldn’t avoid touching his injuries. He held her, his head bent over hers, his face in her hair, as she cried into his chest. She recalled the day she’d met Belloc, and remembered his terror and his helplessness. Now she felt terrified and helpless.

  “Get your webbed hands off of her,” snarled a voice she hardly recognized through its venomous hatred.

  J’ni lifted her eyes and saw Seth aiming a rifle at the back of Belloc’s head. Belloc turned his head to see over his shoulder.

  “Don’t look at me.” Seth thrust the barrel of the gun at the base of Belloc’s skull. “Don’t you move. And don’t try any of your goddamn frog-jitsu on me.”

  Voices fell silent throughout the pub. Even the musicians stopped playing.

  Belloc spoke softly in Glinnish. “Get away from me, J’ni.”

  “Meh,” she answered, rising to her feet. “Meh! Nizi glaw pud. Seth, put the gun down.”

  She reached for the gun and Belloc repeated more sharply in Glinnish, “Get away from me.” He didn’t move, but she felt him pushing her away all the same.

  “Shut up!” Seth yelled at him. “You’re the reason we’re under attack.” He jabbed hard at Belloc’s head with the barrel of the gun. Belloc didn’t flinch, but J’ni did.

  “Stop it,” she demanded.

  “Move, Genny, I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Owen stood about five feet away, off to her left. “What’s your plan, MacGowan? You want to blow his blue brains all over your woman there, or do you have something else in mind?”

  Her chest constricted and a lump formed in her throat, choking her words. “Owen, no.”

  “We take this one and give it to the Tikati,” said Seth. “Then we lead them to the other one. Genny knows where it is.”

  Her face was solid disgust and defiance. “I won’t help you do a damn thing.”

  Belloc’s eyes swept the pub, taking in Owen, Brendan, Aileen and the others, and all of their guns and weapons. J’ni knew how many Glin it took to drag Belloc to Sala’s hut. How many humans would it take to drag him to the Tikati? And she wouldn’t be able to render a judgment to save him this time. If they didn’t shoot him first.

  “We do that, then all of the aliens are gone,” said Seth. “Problem solved.”

  Owen shook his head. “No, boyo. We still have a problem. I have a problem with any bastard who thinks he knows better than everyone else, demanding we agree with him at the end of a gun.”

  Aileen spoke up. “Especially in my pub. Belloc, like anyone here, is my guest and under my protection.”

  “Slane?” Seth called to the fiddler. “Back me up here.”

  “Fuck off, MacGowan. That lad’s one of the best musicians I ever met. I’ll not help you.”

  The look on Belloc’s face turned from grim resignation to amazement as he realized that he might not have to fight for his life after all.

  “Can I jump in here?” This was Hax. “I’d like to ask Judas why he went to see the Tikati liaison, before it left Asteria.”

  A vid appeared on her bracer showing Seth in the hangar with Kitik’s ship. It was archived at about the same time Duin went to meet with the arms dealers.

  J’ni held out her forearm. “How do you explain that?”

  Seth watched it for a few moments, his face a sneer. “It’s a fake vid. There’s no netcam in that location.”

  “That you know of.” Hax chortled, “Muah-ha-ha.”

  “I know every netcam in the colony.”

  Seth was one of the people responsible for installing and maintaining them. The thought chilled her. “Do you also know the netcams in the Colony Square that never recorded Duin? Or the ones around my block that went on the glitch before my compartment blew up?”

  “He was lurking near your block a lot after
your epic break up,” Hax said.

  Seth shifted in agitation, but he didn’t lower the gun. “I was keeping an eye on you, Genny. I’m trying to help you. I’m trying to help all of us.”

  “By betraying us to the Tikati? By giving them the information they needed to destroy the colony’s satellites and the Asternet?” J’ni wanted very much to kick Seth in the face again.

  “No, I had nothing to do with this attack. I found out about the arms deal and that’s what I told them. That’s all I told them. The Tikati got what they wanted, they arrested the frog, and they would have left us alone. But then you had to go and piss them off.”

  Belloc drew a deep breath and squared his shoulders. When she looked into his eyes, what she saw there made her step away.

  With inhuman speed, Belloc stood up, grasped the barrel of the gun, and sent a zap coursing down the metal, even as he slammed the butt of the rifle into Seth’s face. Seth dropped like a sack of rocks.

  Aileen bent over a moaning Seth. “Oh, hush. You’re lucky he didn’t kill you dead.”

  Belloc handed the rifle to Owen.

  “Brendan. Get that one,” Owen thrust his chin at Seth. “Give him the céad míle fuck-off and toss him outside the perimeter. Maybe his Tikati friends will help him to the military zone, or Sector Z.”

  “What if he’s the one who sabotaged my block?” said J’ni. “Or knows who did? We can’t let him go.”

  A volley of distant explosions vibrated the walls.

  Owen shrugged. “We can worry about that later, if there’s a later for any of us.”

  Brendan dragged Seth out.

  “Sector O is down.” Hax reported. “Bel, do you ’member the super secret entrance you used when you stole that SX ship?”

  “Yes. In military zone block I-59.” Belloc peeled a wet towel from his wounded shoulder.

  “It’s not far from your location. But you need to fast forward if you want to join us in Level Zero, before the Tikati make that impossible.”

  “What’s Level Zero?” J’ni asked.

  “My no-longer-secret Secret Lair,” said Hax with sentimental melancholy.

  “Rooms and tunnels, below Level One,” Belloc explained. Then he asked Hax, “Won’t the Airmen try to stop us?”

  “They’re kinda busy. Unless you look like big crunchy bogeymen, I don’t think they’re going to notice you.”

  Belloc looked at Aileen, Owen and the others. “Hax, can I bring our friends?”

  “Only if you do it like your ass is burning. Which shouldn’t be much of a stretch for you.”

  “My ass is one of the few things that wasn’t burned,” said Belloc.

  “Hooray for your blue butt. I’ll open the stairwell as soon as you’re in I-59.”

  “Will you come with us?” J’ni asked Aileen.

  “We’re well stocked and well armed. And we control the sector. I think we have a fighting chance here. But we’ll keep in touch.” Aileen tapped the Mysteria icon on her device.

  “Sector C is down,” said Hax.

  “Here.” Owen offered Belloc and J’ni each a crossbow. “Battery-charged bolts. When they hit, they give an electric shock. One will only knock a human unconscious, but it kills those Tikati bastards.”

  Belloc hefted the weapon as if it were a pistol. J’ni had to hold hers with both hands.

  Before they went out the door, Aileen grabbed them in a quick hug. “Take care of yourselves.”

  Belloc and J’ni ran to I-59. The sealed panels that should have prevented entry into the military zone began to slide open. Belloc led the way down the stairs, through the hallway and into a storage room. They encountered no one. He went to the wall, pried off the metal panel and climbed through.

  J’ni followed him. “You never told me this part of the story. I thought you put on a uniform and walked in with a forged ID.”

  “Hax didn’t want anyone to know about Level Zero.”

  “No problem. I understand.”

  It wasn’t easy to maneuver with their weapons, but they inched toward another opening. Belloc pushed his crossbow ahead of him, then dropped through and landed on his feet. J’ni climbed down the ladder. They were in a long plastic hallway.

  Hax was waiting for them. “Glad you could make it. J’ni, I believe you already know Nik.”

  He gestured to a young woman at his side. She had heavily ornamented white hair, and wore something that looked like layers of syn-silk bound to her body by several faux-leather straps and brass buckles.

  “Nik?” J’ni had a hundred questions she wanted to ask, but they could wait. “Where’s Duin?”

  Hax glanced at his arm. “Saving nuns, kissing babies, stopping to pet a dog…”

  “What?”

  Nik translated the Hax-speak for her. “He went to help Mose.”

  “Alone? What if he runs into more Tikati?”

  “I pity the Tikati who run into Duin,” said Hax. “No, nevermind, I really don’t. They deserve what they get, and Duin is hot vengeance on a stick. But the Tikati haven’t reached Sector U, yet.”

  “Mose is on Level Three,” said J’ni, “and it’s almost a mile from here.”

  “He took Level Zero most of the way. One of the Haxes in the Tech Center is keeping an eye out and opening doors for him.”

  “How do I find him?”

  Hax smiled as if he expected J’ni to say that. “Follow the yellow brick road.” He snapped his fingers and a map appeared on her bracer, showing a golden glowing path between her and Duin.

  “Thanks.”

  She headed for Sector U. Without a word, Belloc followed. They turned right, and passed through a long, wide chamber full of clothing and weapons. Then they entered another narrow, plastic tube hallway. The lights flickered on and off as the corridor rumbled.

  “Wait.” Belloc stopped her.

  Emotion poured from him. It was something like the terror she’d felt from him on Wandalin. Was he afraid that they wouldn’t survive the Tikati attack? No, this was something deeper and stronger than fear.

  “What is it?” She rested her crossbow on one shoulder so she could put her hand on his arm. J’ni worried how he was holding up, but it looked as if he was healing well. Through the holes in his suit, she could see blue and white skin, not black and red wounds.

  “You’re amazing. You know that?”

  “And you…” Belloc started to speak, but didn’t finish the sentence.

  More rumbling. He waited for it to stop, and then he tried again.

  “I must tell you something, Genevieve Elena O’Riordan.” He drew out her full name with a lilt that made a little shiver of gooseflesh spread down her arms. He stood very close to her, and took her hand in his.

  The music of children’s voices echoed down the hall. She turned toward the sound and saw Duin coming toward them. He held little Estrella and even smaller Indra in his left arm, carried Sadiq on his back, and held his zap-sword in his right hand. He was followed by Mose, Sister Greta and the rest of the children.

  J’ni ran to him and kissed him so hard, she cut her lip on his teeth. Some of the children giggled.

  Duin beamed at her. “Does this mean you forgive me?”

  “Forgive you for what?”

  “For sending you to get breakfast. I am awash with remorse.”

  Belloc bent down and picked up two of the younger children, and a third climbed onto his back. Like Duin, he carried them all effortlessly. The group rushed back the way J’ni and Belloc had just come.

  “No, nagloim, don’t blame yourself,” she said.

  “Put the blame where it belongs, on those Tikati,” said Mose, carrying a baby who’d recently been abandoned in a thoroughfare. She had named the baby Hope.

  “The malevolence of Tikat never ceases, does it?” Duin waved his sword at Belloc. “Looks like you and I both need new suits. We should go wallump hunting soon.”

  A blast of noise came from Duin’s bracer, and Blaze’s voice yelling over it. “I don
’t know if anybody can hear me, but wherever the hell you are, pray real hard that somebody on Earth gives a shit in a shoebox whether we live or die. These assholes are relentless!” He was interrupted by an explosion, and then went on. “They won’t respond to any messages we send, not even offers to surrender. Goddamn it, I should have let Duin strangle Kitik at our first meeting.”

  “Colonel, they’re cutting through the other wall,” said a frantic voice.

  There was more gunfire, human cries and the clicking language of the Tikati.

  J’ni’s eyes met Duin’s. In a glance, they made a silent decision. Duin kissed Estrella and Indra on their cheeks and set them down. Sadiq dropped from his back, and Duin touched a finger to the boy’s forehead. It was a Glin gesture of endearment.

  Duin spoke into his bracer. “Hax? Do you know the colonel’s location?”

  A Hax-sim with spiky orange hair replied, “He just entered L-03.”

  “Is there a way to get to him from Level Zero?” Duin asked.

  “Take the hallway up ahead on the left. It leads to Sector L.”

  Belloc set down the children he was carrying.

  J’ni turned to Mose. “Keep going, there’s a room full of clothes, then turn left. You’ll find a well-stocked supply room where you can wait.”

  Mose nodded, her eyes red and shiny. “Thank you. All of you. God bless you.”

  J’ni ran with Duin and Belloc down the hall to Sector L. They passed through a couple of blocks that were being used as living spaces, then a science lab and a garden lit with grow lights.

  In a section of metal hallway, Hax-Prime burst through a door on the right. He was followed by Nik and several people J’ni didn’t recognize, including a woman with pink hair and a flamethrower, and others with Mysteria T-shirts.

  “Bonus level,” Hax announced. “Don’t try to defeat the Tikati, just hold them off long enough to save the humans.”

  “And then what?” J’ni asked.

  “I dunno. I’m totally making this up as I go. But I’m kinda hoping the cavalry arrives.”

  At a set of spiral stairs, they ascended into a block of military barracks and followed Hax to the dead-end of a sealed thoroughfare. Beyond it, J’ni could hear the ping of gunshots and the shudder of explosions.