by Steve Perry
As they neared the transmitting tower, Miriam sat up straighter and pointed. Noguchi shot a sideways glance at what the doctor motioned at-it was one of the warriors. It had climbed the ladder and was almost to the top-and there were three or four of the huge black bugs clambering up after him.
Miriam saw the broken-tusked warrior nearing the top of the transmitter and pointed. He still wore the cast she had strapped him in for his damaged ribs.
"Machiko, look!"
"What?!" The stampede was deafening.
Miriam shouted louder. "It's my patient! We have to save him!"
Noguchi whipped her head around. "No fucking way! Those things are the reason we're in this mess!" She looked back at the controls.
Miriam chewed at her lip in frustration. How could she make Noguchi understand? It was important, the most important thing in the world right now. She could not have said why.
"He saved my life, Machiko!"
Noguchi opened her mouth and then closed it. "Look, I don't"
"Please! Machiko, he risked his life to save mine!"
The doctor looked at her patient, getting closer to the top now. The dark, segmented creatures were also getting closer.
"Please!"
Noguchi didn't say anything. She veered toward the tower.
I must be out of my mind, that's it, I finally went insane
Noguchi steered the copter toward the tower in disbelief. What the hell was she thinking? Dr. Revna was a nice lady, ordinarily she wouldn't mind doing her a favor, but this-?
She watched as Broken Tusk kicked at one of his pursuers and then stabbed the closest one; the bug screamed and fell. He refused to give up fighting, she'd credit him that much.
But she could barely fly! Even a trained pilot would have doubts about trying to hover next to a tower. And to save an alien that they knew almost nothing about.
Except it had saved Miriam's Life.
Right.
It would break every rule in her book, to risk their lives on this. And she had about a second to decide.
Below them, the rhynth ran on.
Dachande kicked at one of the drones and then used the spear to take out the gut of another. It fell, still kicking-but there were two others.
He heard a ship over the sound of the running hosts but he ignored it. He had enough to worry about. On the ground, the bugs were no match. But fighting while hanging one-handed and almost upside down.
The metal he gripped let out a high groan; he could feel the structure shift under the combined weight of himself and the drones.
Again the weak substance creaked-and started to separate from the building.
If he didn't think of something, he would be on the ground in a few breaths.
Fighting the Hard Meat and in the path of the stampeding hosts.
The Black Warrior must wish for Dachande's immediate company.
And the Black Warrior eventually won all battles.
Noguchi lowered the copter toward the tower. Which had started to quake dangerously. It was collapsing under all the weight.
"Shit--",
Miriam fumbled around the console for a second and then hit a button. Her next words blared incredibly loud.
"Grab the strut! We'll take you to safety!"
Noguchi winced. The doctor had found the PA.
She lowered the ship a little more. It was hard, but not as hard as she had expected. On the other hand, a series of red lights had lit up on the control panel. She was too intent on the task at hand to figure out what they meant, but she also didn't want to find out the hard way.
"Grab on!"
Noguchi screamed to be heard. "I can't do this forever, Miriam! He doesn't understand"
The copter dipped, and then pulled up again. He had grabbed on to the strut.
Noguchi let out a cry of disbelief. It had worked! Broken Tusk had jumped to the copter!
Now what the fuck are we going to do with him?
And then everything happened at once. A dark shape lunged at them. Noguchi just had time to register that it was one of the bugs before it landed on top of one of the compressors, on the same side as Broken Tusk. It scrabbled to hold on, screamed.
The copter tilted alarmingly and Noguchi jerked the controls instinctively upward-
-there was a rending screech of metal as the tower collapsed-
-and everything turned the wrong way as-
-the copter went down.
* * *
Chapter 24
They were both sleeping when the stampede hit.
Scott hadn't thought it was possible for him to nod out, but he was exhausted, hung over, and probably coming down with whatever Tom had. There was still fighting outside, but the pen they had holed up in seemed safe. The sounds of battle had almost become a background drone, and had moved away after a while.
Scott had been dreaming that he and Tom were explaining what had happened to them to a doubtful audience of company people back on Earth. They were all sitting around a huge wooden table in a dim conference room. At first, the suits had seemed interested as Tom spoke. Except Tom kept saying all of the wrong things, and every time Scott opened his mouth, nothing would come out.
And all at once, the people started slamming their fists down on the table. One of them, a very tall man in a black shirt, kept yelling, "Liar! Liar!" And the sounds of their knuckles hitting wood get louder, more insistent, deafening.
Scott snapped awake as the table broke.
"Oh, shit-" Tom jumped up and lurched to the door. Even in the dark pen, Scott could see that Tom didn't look too good, pale and strained.
Scott pulled his aching body off the floor and joined him. By now, the noise had drowned out all else. He looked out the crack in the door and felt his mouth gape.
The rhynth weren't running past the pen, at least not the front. But they could see the dust kicked up by the animals to their right, maybe six or seven meters away. The whole building shook as the thick stream of animals tore past, headed north. Tom said something that Scott couldn't catch.
"What?!" Scott couldn't hear his own scream.
Tom shook his head and pointed.
At first, Scott wasn't sure what he was looking for. Tom was motioning at a transmitting tower, two structures away.
Tom finally pointed straight up, and then back at the tower.
Scott looked at the top and felt his heart jump. A copter hovered there shakily. It was involved in some kind of rescue mission; there was a person trapped on the tower, being pursued by-
Scott peered closer. The alien creatures from The Lector.
They watched as the person on the tower-who seemed to be some kind of giant-reached for the strut of the copter and made it. Scott grinned widely as the stranded person made it to the copter in a breathtaking leap and looked at Tom. Tom laughed without sound and clapped Scott on the back.
The excitement on Tom's face melted suddenly into horror.
Scott looked back at the copter just in time to see it spin down toward the ground, toward them. Something had gone very wrong; one of the creatures had jumped on the roof of the copter and the pilot had panicked. They watched as the flyer spun out of control to crash, a few dozen meters past them to the left.
The explosion was loud enough to be audible above the stampede; it was getting quieter, the majority of the animals already gone.
By silent assent, he and Tom opened the door and ran toward the crash, the stench of burning fuel and cooked dirt heavy in the air.
The hot night had just gotten hotter.
Noguchi opened her eyes as the thunder fell to the sound and heat of a bonfire. Above her, the Ryushi night sparkled with stars. She had a sunburn and there was something wrong, she couldn't move
"Miriam?" Her voice was barely audible.
A face appeared over hers, familiar, bearded.
"Conover."
"I should've guessed it'd be you!" The pilot had to shout to be heard over the final remnants of the st
ampede. "You're lucky to be alive, lady!"
Noguchi remembered all of it at once as Conover unbelted her and half lifted her out of the wreckage.
Broken Tusk, the rhynth are stampeding and the people went to the desert and Miriam--
"Who the hell taught you to fly?" Behind Conover stood the other one, Strandberg. He looked sick.
"Nobody, yet," Noguchi said. She sounded weak, hated that she did. All around them were bits of burning wreckage; the main part of the copter was behind them, still on fire. The flames crackled and danced.
She leaned heavily on the pilot as they stumbled away from the smashed cockpit.
"Where's Miriam?" she said. The doctor hadn't been next to her when she had come to. It was an effort to look around; her neck didn't seem to want to hold her head up.
Strandberg stepped forward and grabbed her other arm.
"Listen, we gotta get out of here! The bugs will be back soon!"
On closer inspection, she could see that Strandberg was sick. He looked like she felt; shaky, pale, nauseous.
The last of the rhynth had gone. Besides a fading rumble, the only noise was the hiss of fire-and somewhere close by, the piercing trill of a nightmare creature.
"Miriam," she said again. "Broken Tusk, Miriam had to save him-"
The pilots ignored her and started pulling her toward one of the holding pens.
Noguchi pushed them away and turned back to the remains of the copter.
"Dr. Revna, the woman who was in the copter with me! I'm not leaving without her!"
Conover's voice was both apologetic and irritated at once. "I didn't see anyone else," he began. And then stopped.
"Oh, Jesus-"
Noguchi glanced at both of the pilots, who stood with looks of awe and terror on their faces.
She spun back around and felt her heart sink.
It was Broken Tusk, surrounded by flames.
He carried Miriam Revna in his arms.
Dachande hit the ground, hard, but shouldered the impact well. It helped that he had the time to jump before the ooman flyer had crashed.
He stood and winced at the tight feeling in his chest; he had probably rebroken what had started mending.
But the host stampede had passed, and the drones were nowhere around, at least for the moment.
Dachande looked around at the burning pieces of material and walked around them slowly. The oomans had been trying to save him; there was no question. And they had probably died for their efforts.
He saw a fallen form on the ground, thrown clear of the wreck. Dachande approached it carefully. It did not move.
The small figure was turned on its stomach, but he knew what it was before he turned it over. It was the ooman who had tended him, then released him. It was the ooman who had tried to save him from the drones and had lost its life trying. There was no question that it was thei-de; thick thwei dripped sluggishly from deep gashes in its face and neck, and its position suggested a snapped spine.
Dachande scooped the tiny body up and paused for a moment, uncertain of what to do with it. Now that the animals were gone, he heard sounds of ooman language from somewhere near; past the largest part of the burning flyer, just a few paces away.
The other oomans would want it. For such a brave being, they would want to properly care for it before it's u'sl-kwe, final rest. It was no warrior, but it had a sensitivity that Dachande had never seen before, except in the smallest of children.
He carried the ooman to the others. There were three. One he recognized as the armed ooman from before. The other two were bigger, but unarmed. They held very still as he approached.
The small warrior held no weapon against him now; it ran toward him, the hold of its body frantic.
Dachande could see that it was not an attack. The warrior reached him and then gently stroked the face of the dead one that he carried, its composure one of sorrow.
It repeated something over and over as it touched the dead face. Dachande suddenly remembered the animal loop on his forearm, and tapped it quickly.
The ooman's language babbled back at it. The warrior looked up at him and then motioned for him to set the corpse down.
Dachande did it gently; the ooman had shown him respect. He would do no less for it in its death.
Noguchi stared in shock as she heard her own voice spill out from behind the creature's mask.
"I'm sorry, Miriam."
She pointed to the ground and then back to Miriam's body. Broken Tusk carefully set the doctor's body down and then stepped back.
Noguchi knelt over Miriam, could already see that it was too late.
That's okay, Machiko. Someone-else you cared about, someone who depended on you, dead. No big deal.
Just because it's your fault.
She allowed herself one second of pure grief. Her head dropped into her hands, and she let out a soft moan of despair and sorrow. The pain was sharp and cruel, the guilt tremendous and stabbing. And she didn't have time for it.
Noguchi stood slowly and took a deep breath. The pilots kept their silence, in respect or embarrassment she didn't know. She turned to look at the warrior, who also gazed at Revna's broken body; his odd mask flickered with strange shadows.
"It's time to put an end to this," she said quietly.
Broken Tusk stepped toward her and put one clawed hand on her shoulder. Noguchi did her best to return the gesture, although she couldn't quite reach.
It looked like she had an ally, at least for a while.
* * *
Chapter 25
Scott and Tom followed the Noguchi woman through a deserted alley in the dark town. Scott wasn't sure where they were headed, but Noguchi moved with certainty.
He glanced over his shoulder from time to time, wary of the huge alien that brought up the rear. They had left the dead woman behind, soaked her corpse with fuel, and set it ablaze.
After listening to Noguchi's summary of what had happened in the last twenty-eight hours, Scott hurried to talk to her.
"Are you saying that they"-he tilted his head back at the giant "let those bugs loose on a populated planet so they could hunt them?" He kept his voice low.
Noguchi nodded. "Just a theory, but it fits. Except
I don't think his kind knew there were humans on Ryushi. And from his actions, they weren't supposed to be shooting at us. We haven't been here that long, and it looks pretty certain that they were here before."
Her voice was edged with dry sarcasm when next she spoke: "I imagine we would have remembered if they'd visited recently."
Tom stumbled behind them. Scott stopped and started to turn back, but the giant stepped forward and set the pilot back on his feet as if he weighed nothing.
Tom nodded at the creature, waved a hand, and moved to join Scott and Nogushi.
She continued talking. ". . . and I imagine our presence probably screwed up their plans."
Scott raised his eyebrows. "Screwed up their plans. Oh, that's great. I feel so much better knowing that this whole fucking mess was an accident."
Noguchi shrugged. "Hey, at least he's on our side."
"Until he gets hungry," Scott mumbled under his breath.
Noguchi stopped at the end of the alley and waited for the giant to catch up to them. She kept her revolver barrel pointed up.
"Okay. The stampede started just around the corner here; we're going to walk through its path and see if there's anything left alive that shouldn't be."
Swell.
Scott looked around for some kind of weapon. Besides a few small rocks, they were out of luck. They'd have to stick close to the woman.
The giant hefted a large spear and seemed to wait for Noguchi's signal.
"Go."
The alien and Noguchi crouched out into the open compound, weapons ready.
Scott's heart raced; he looked over at Tom, who shrugged. They stepped out together to join the other two. It wasn't as if they had a whole lot of choice here, now was it?
"Holy shit," Tom said.
Scott forgot his fear for a second or two.
The stretch of open ground was littered with dozens of bodies, rhynth, bug, and giant alien. Large patches of soil were eaten away to reveal charred black splatter-like stains, as if the blood from the corpses was toxic. The rhynth were cut or blown open, chests shattered, throats slit. The black bugs were mostly crushed, so also the giants.
The only light was from a sole street lamp that hadn't been broken or shot out. The resulting mix of dark and death and shadows was forbidding, ominous. Ugly.
"When you kill something, you don't fool around," said Scott.
Noguchi wasn't listening. Her gaze darted from side to side, her revolver still up.
The giant's head was cocked to one side, his stance ready. The two of them moved forward slowly.
The pilots stayed close.
The four of them made their way cautiously down the ravaged street, stepped over torn bodies and corpses smashed down deep into the cracked earth. Apparently this was where the fight had ended.
After a moment of tense silence, Tom whispered loudly to Scott as they followed their armed escorts.
"Do you think the stampede got them all?"
Scott started to reply, but stopped short. He had heard something behind them-the cry of a bird, perhaps, a chittering sound
Behind one of the storage buildings, sudden movement. Scott felt his mouth go dry. He had heard it before
"Run," he said, hardly able to get the word out. "Run. "
Dachande heard the Hard Meat and spun around. He sprinted past the two ooman strangers toward the threat, staff forward. He was dimly aware that the small warrior was right behind. It shouted something at the other two.
They came in a single-file stream, flowed from around a structure, ten, maybe twelve. Dachande leapt to greet them.
Two arrived first, angled in from the sides. Dachande spun, swung completely around, cut them both through their midsections in one strike. He didn't watch them hit the ground; there was no need-they were dead and all he need do was avoid the throes.