by Paul Dayton
She jumped out and ran towards the now writhing human, pulling off its helmet once she reached it. It lay there watching her, and a wave of psionic animosity poured out so strongly it shook her to her core.
She looked down with revulsion at the traitor who had somehow decided to team up with ants. The unnaturally white complexion and the head devoid of all hair spooked Jack as she looked into soulless and colorless eyes.
“Do you like what you have become? Is this somehow better than being a real human?” She bent down and grabbed it by the flight suit. Staring into the horrible eyes, she added, “How do you feel, being a traitor to your own people?”
It didn’t answer, but instead sent out a telepathic yell for help. She kicked herself for forgetting about that and calmly shot it through the head.
Turning to the alien craft, she looked the prize catch over as it idled. “I might not need you after all, Scratch.”
She ran back to her fighter, set the defective self destruct grenade and dumped it onto the seat, ran back to the alien fighter and jumped inside. This ship was completely new to her, which was a surprise. All ant technology was copied in some way, and they hadn’t seen anything new since they found that alien craft being built on Beta-9 and the stealth craft she crash-landed in. Yet here was a new ship, sophisticated, with atmospheric control surfaces and jump capabilities.
Once inside, the simple appearance of the controls were at odds with the exterior complexity. Four thrusters, six cannons including two aft, plus a body large enough to hold ship to ship missiles, yet inside were basic controls - a simple display screen and damage lights, plus the eject lever and canopy release. No yoke, no foot pedals, no Targeting, nothing.
The display screen lit up as she entered. A detailed electronic horizon appeared and three green circles. It took only a second for Jack to realize that what the craft considered ‘Friendlies’ were coming in. She couldn’t see anything, but knew she had only a few seconds to figure this out. Snapping the canopy shut, she mentally pictured the ship powering up, and she could feel the turbo spoolers start to spin as they charged the thrusters, but something was wrong. The ship kept querying her for a clearer command. She concentrated as hard as she could, but her thoughts weren’t transmitting. The three enemy fighters were only a few hundred meters away now as they circled to see what was going on. She powered down, knowing they would soon see the body of one of theirs on the ground outside.
Jack shrunk into her seat and watched as the three fighters eventually landed to inspect the circumstances. Once again, humans came out of each of the three ships, but instead of going directly to where Jack was, they went to inspect the dead body. She could hear their mental thoughts, but only in bits and pieces. They probed the now dead human’s memory, and Jack could see brief glimpses of its vision of her as she shot it, walked up to it and killed it. Sensing no more thoughts, they then walked over to her destroyed fighter, and she sensed confusion coming from them. Next they looked around, apparently trying to find her, and when they had no success she felt an overpowering mental scan. She was shocked into clearing her mind but it was too late. They had found her presence, but they didn’t know where she was. Jack tried furiously to concentrate on her breathing, struggling to avoid giving any clues as to her whereabouts.
The scan persisted for a good ten minutes, with no end in sight as they continued to physically and mentally search for her. Jack was growing weary, and started thinking about Scratch and where he was. She hadn’t noticed that they had spread out, each one taking up a position on the corner of an imaginary triangle. She gave herself a mental shakeup and went back to concentrating on her breathing. This action was all the three needed, and they immediately started walking over to the craft she was in.
“This is it,” she said as she watched the three coming from three different angles, all with their weapons loaded. “Might as well go out with a bang!” and she yanked on the canopy release.
At that moment, Jack couldn’t believe her eyes as she saw the one human closest to her explode in mid walk, heard another bang behind her, and after that a loud thump and a tremor as the earth shook. Looking around, she found the second human writhing on the ground, and a Maxon 5 suit walking over to the third human, grabbing it midriff, and throwing it a good 50 meters. It then walked to each of the three alien spacecraft and after grabbing one of the thruster nacelles, tore it off and tossed it aside like trash.
Walking over to Jack, the blastplate opened up to reveal a smiling Scratch. “Your ship or mine?”
“Late again to the party, I see.”
“You kidding? I knew you wanted some down time with them, and I’m not the jealous type.”
“Uh-huh. You kill Albino?”
“No, he’s still breathing. Wanted to though. What’s up with them being all humans?”
“Dunno. Surprised me too,” Jack replied.
“Is everything all set? Dummy grenade…damaged computer?”
“Yup. Where’d you park?”
“Well, Mike parked itself just over the ridge, about 2 K’s away. I happily dropped.”
Jack laughed and got out, but before she could drop down, Scratch picked her up and cradled her as he ran towards the Klinger sitting idle. With the Maxon 5, it only took a few seconds. Jack had never been carried by a suit, and watching the land go by as she sat cradled but exposed in the Maxon’s arms excited her to no end.
“How come you didn’t do this when we got married?” she said.
Scratch knew this was a loaded question, and thought fast. He said as sweetly as he could, “Because everyone does that, but I was waiting for a very special moment.”
Jack, impressed with his reply, nonetheless smacked him on his crystanium arm.
“Liar,” was all she said, smiling.
***
The alien looked around in confusion as it tried to get up. Where there had been three consciousnesses a moment ago, now there was only his. Its memory of the event was foggy as it quickly listed the damage it could account for on its body. Concussion, broken or cracked ribs, and a broken left arm. It knew pain would be intense if it moved, but the circumstances dictated immediate action and contact with Prime on what had happened here.
Grunting with the pain, it slowly got up to its hands and knees, and with a final effort raised itself up. It sent out a mental call for help, and then looked around to see three damaged ships, the remains of two dead companions, the fourth original companion that called for help also dead near the idling but damaged ship, and a damaged stealth attack fighter, obviously one of their own but possibly brought in by the enemy.
It walked over to the stealth drone and inspected the external damage, working the clues in reverse order.
Obviously crashed, damaged in flight, and possibly attacked by them. That means the ship had been re-designated for human use, and thus valuable. It wondered why the pilot hadn’t destroyed it, as per usual custom whenever a ship crashes or becomes inoperable. Looking inside, it immediately flinched. On the pilot seat sat a grenade, the illuminated counter stuck at 2 seconds. In a panic it grabbed the grenade and threw it as far as it could, which wasn’t very far considering the broken ribs. It reeled in pain and its vision went black but it didn’t faint, and felt satisfied when the mild concussion from the exploding grenade reached him.
Once the blackness receded, it once again looked at the instruments. All equipment was shut down, but he could clearly see the housing where the ship computer was installed in one piece. Its hopes elevated as it thought about the valuable information inside and it calmly waited until members of the hive arrived to remove it.
***
Prime sat in her usual spot, waiting as the techs poured over the computer information.
A human drone had relayed the coordinates of the crashed human ship, and once they arrived, they destroyed the severely damaged drone.
As usual, her mind wandered until processing information was needed. Her subconscious kept tabs on all loc
al members of the hive and the regular information was processed without her intervention being needed.
Something unusual was happening among the techs, and this elevated her mental status. While she waited, she thought of her responsibility here. The few ants left on this semi deserted planet also reported to her, but they were of little concern. The real work was being done by the techs, and progress was going well on the human computer.
She thought of requesting more drones. The techs, standing at a higher consciousness, were kept busy with the important work, but drones were expendable. She found them boring. Mentally castrated, the drones had no desire except that given them, to defeat their enemy and protect the base. ‘So simple, and so…expendable,’ she thought to herself as she waited for the techs to come to a conclusion.
The report finally came in from a nameless and uninteresting tech drone. “Extracting the encrypted information has been hampered by the usual. We have accessed most of the data base, with nothing unusual to report. The human came here to assess the value of this planet, primarily because they have Intel on our occupation here. The human was to use the ship to locate our base, reconnoiter, and then dock with the carrier ship and return.”
Prime put out a mental query to alert planetary defenses as a precaution, but she knew they would be long gone by now.
“Is that all?” Prime asked.
“There is one packet that is particularly encrypted, the algorithm of which we have never seen before. It is very powerful. We have so far analyzed the amount of information that is held sequestered, and it seems trivial. However, because of the unusual degree of protection surrounding this packet, we need to know if it is worth the resources needed to extract it.”
“How much time do you estimate?” Prime asked, already having decided to spend any resource necessary to make this information available.
“Uncertain. Much work is needed.”
Prime knew that was all she would get as an answer. The humans were good at coming up with imaginary figures to impossible situations, but the much more advanced, liberated and organized human hive would only comment on facts, not guesses.
“Put all resources on this immediately,” Prime said.
CHAPTER 34
Disaster
One hundred and sixty-eight hours had passed since Prime was last informed of the tech’s dilemma. Since then, no headway had been made until a recent addition, a human once called Finley who had been a digital librarian and tech in his recent, past life. Within hours, he had broken the encryption.
Since then, data was quickly compiled and the new Finley was now before her, considerably changed from his past incarnation.
“We’ve just finished deciphering the packet.”
Prime didn’t like this new addition at first. Somehow, there were elements of his personality that had persisted, even after the cleansing. She had been indecisive as to whether he should have access to the Hive Central Computer, but he insisted that was the only way he would have the computing power necessary to break this level of encryption. She knew he was brilliant, so Prime permitted the use. She was curious as to the report.
“Data indicates that all WF ships are to meet together at Earth for a number of reasons. New technology has been developed and they are to have it installed, and because the techs needed to install it will all be there, installation will be expedient. They are to have a conference with a group called the Council at the same time, and they are to receive new orders.”
Prime was curious as to this council, but more important matters were at hand. “Tell me more of this technology.”
“It is classified Top Secret. There is no information on it. However, a large number of World Federation ships will be powered down to Level One for the extensive but rapid installation.”
Prime couldn’t believe this opportunity. She no longer believed in good luck or fortune, but this coincided extremely well with their own development of the World Federation ship killer. Level One meant it would take at least 3 hours to heat up the ignition chambers so they could restart the generators. They would be useless, running on standby power alone. And new technology too, technology so important every major ship was to have it installed.
“When?” she asked.
“In 32 solar days,” the old Finley replied.
“Very well.” This Finley had an unusual mind, she thought. Probing deeply, she could see incredible order and intelligence. His thought processes were… unusual, and she searched for the mental picture that conveyed her feeling. Segments of ancient memories buried deep sat below the surface, waiting to come up, but she couldn’t quite put a finger on any of them. An image of a thick, dark brown substance lingered for a second and vanished, leaving her with the word ‘Exquisite.’ That was it.
Impressed, she said, “I am now ovulating. Mate with me.” Once done, she would send out the Hive call to join together for a major transmission.
Finley immediately complied, already aroused by the powerful pheromones she had released as soon as the thought entered her mind. Once he started, she enjoyed the mating to a degree she hadn’t felt in a long time. However, she didn’t wait for him to finish, but instead sent out a mental signal to all for union as Finley continued impregnating her.
CHAPTER 35
Judging by the Cover
Emerfield watched in horror as Timothy and Ruth walked out of the portal and into the clearing made by the ants. Once there, they quickly came up and surrounded the two, their antennae touching all their surfaces. Emerfield had grabbed his sidearm and was pointing it at the group, but with the multitude of ants there, he knew they could easily kill the three of them before he could do anything. He watched helplessly as the ants continued their probing, but eventually they dropped back and stood still.
“What are they waiting for?” Emerfield asked.
“We’re not sure, but I think you could put your sidearm away,” Ruth said. Emerfield harrumphed and continued to hold it.
Ruth counted the time at a good ten minutes while they stood there waiting. It was finally broken by a minor skirmish that developed at the rear of the ant group. The source made its way forward, until the last line of ants parted to allow a creature they had never expected to see crawl up to them - one of the crabs Jack and Scratch had seen on Beta-9.
Timothy and Ruth looked at each other in shock, and then watched as a single crab stood very still directly in front of the two. The ants also stood unmoving and Emerfield, who had not read the report about these crabs, stood confused and unsure of his next step.
“What is that?” he asked, but Ruth quickly quieted him as she and Timothy concentrated their thought patterns, unsure of how to proceed.
Within a few minutes, a black cloud appeared in Timothy and Ruth’s mind, clearing out all other thoughts and questions. After this, a query showed up, an image of Beta-9 and a sense of curiosity concerning the general health of the crabs on the planet. Ruth opened her eyes and looked at Timothy, worried about the answer they would have to give this crab, but it was too late as the crab had already sensed the event.
Expecting to feel anger or sadness, they were surprised when the crab transmitted happiness instead. It didn’t dwell on it, but immediately showed them a vision of the two laying down close to each other. Timothy and Ruth understood and immediately lay on the ground, while the crab quickly moved up to be nearer their heads.
Once again the black cloud returned, and they both saw a vision start to form of a black ship, small and spherical, traveling great distances from star to star, stopping momentarily at different planets and dropping a round white orb. This vision faded to black and then they saw another black ship, huge, disc shaped and surrounded by a black cloud of death. It also let go an orb, but one that was black and consumed everything in its path. The feeling of horrible dread hung in their minds like a precipice.
Next came a vision of a planet filled with humans. A crowd of tens of thousands of them were formed in a large circle,
so far off that the miles deep line of humans had blended together, details indistinct. Timothy and Ruth stood in the center, turning slowly to encompass the whole crowd. At first they were happy to see so many humans, but somehow, as if on cue, they all began to run towards the two, and as they got closer the same intense feeling of dread returned. As the group advanced, it became clear that these humans were different, alien and sinister. They were relieved to see the vision end quickly just before the black cloud swallowed them up.
The visions stopped, leaving the two confused. Ruth turned to Timothy and said, “We’ll work on the visions later. Tell the crab you need help from these ants here. That’s why the council sent us.”
Timothy concentrated again, thinking of their enemies and the threat. He waited for a reply, but got nothing in return. Not sure if he was coming through, he focused on this planet and asked if it was possible this group here could help.
A few moments passed, and the crab displayed an image of them meeting the hive queen, followed by a feeling of urgency. It ended there and the crab nestled in on Ruth’s shoulder. Timothy and Ruth immediately got up and followed as the horde of ants left, and they worked their way down the path through the lush forest towards the hive an indeterminate distance away. Emerfield had stood uncertainly on the ship portal, not knowing if he should follow or not. Eventually though, he put his gun back in its holster, closed the portal, and reluctantly followed the group, holding up the rear. Out of nowhere, an ant came up behind Emerfield and nudged at his feet to hurry him up.
“I can’t believe this!” he said out loud. “I’m being hurried by an ant!” and shook his head.