Technokill

by David Sherman

  "Whichever wins will still need a Chief of Staff and a Chief Councilor," Tschaah said. And if both die, he added to himself, no one will challenge Oouhoouh's right to be High Chief. And I can control Oouhoouh.

  Oouhoouh signaled his warriors to keep their positions and not let any of the combatants break out of their circle.

  Graakaak craned his neck to look at the red blisters on his shoulder. He saw the injury was superficial and snapped his head toward his antagonist. A group of guards loyal to Graakaak had charged Cheerpt as soon as he fired the handblaster, but a knot of guards loyal to their captain bounded to form a shield in his defense. The two groups were unable to take the time to reload the rifles after their first flurry of fire. Some swung their Clumsy Ones' weapons like clubs, others dropped the rifles and fought using the short spears. All cawed or screeched battle cries. They collided with thuds and clashes of weapons. Dust bellowed in clouds around them.

  Looking for Graakaak, Cheerpt hopped up and down behind the milling guards. Just as Graakaak screeched his war cry and began running around the melee that protected him, Cheerpt saw him. He pointed the hand-blaster and pressed the firing stud. The plasma bolt went high and struck the top of Chief Councilor Tschaah's tree, bursting the roof into flame.

  An attacking guard leaped to intercept Cheerpt, but the attacker's side was momentarily exposed and one of Cheerpt's guards sliced deeply into the muscles of his side. The attacker was spun about by the force of the hit and lost his balance. Spewing blood, he sprawled into Cheerpt's path.

  Cheerpt tripped and fell heavily just as a bullet from Graakaak's rifle shot through the space his chest had occupied. Cheerpt wasn't aware of the near miss, he only knew he'd been tripped. He savagely kicked the head of the near-dead guard whose fall inadvertently saved his life.

  Graakaak had seen Cheerpt fall when he fired the Clumsy Ones' weapon, and he lifted his head to crow victory to the sky just as two guards, grappling bare-handed, slammed into him. All three tumbled to the ground, with the High Chief on the bottom.

  Cheerpt's follower, seeing who was under him, let go of his antagonist and thrust his hands at Graakaak's throat to strangle him, but the loyal guard plunged his short spear into the traitor's back. Two loyal guards pulled the corpse off the High Chief and helped their leader to his feet.

  Graakaak brushed them off without thanks and looked again for Cheerpt to make sure the usurper was dead. When he held Cheerpt's disembodied head high in his hand, that would stop the fighting.

  Cheerpt saw Graakaak first. He whipped his blaster around, but the plasma bolt bored through the chest of the guard standing next to Graakaak and went on to hit another in his pectoral of brass cartridges, which absorbed enough of the bolt's energy to melt, charbroiling the guard's breast well-done. He died shrieking in horrible agony.

  Graakaak screamed and leaped at Cheerpt. The two collided and went down in a frenzy of flailing arms and stabbing, poking, hammering weapons. Graakaak tried for a quick victory, spearing his head at Cheerpt's throat, but Cheerpt jerked his neck into a loop and Graakaak's mouth bit the hard-packed dirt. Sensing his opportunity for a quick victory of his own, Cheerpt twisted his arm around and pressed the hand-blaster's stud. The plasma bolt flashed through the High Chief's arm frill and burned half of it away. Screaming more from shock and surprise than from pain, Graakaak rolled away.

  The weapons held at the ends of their outspread arms momentarily forgotten, the two scrambled to their feet and spun to face each other, instinctively dropping into the threat posture and darting their heads in and out, trying for bites on one another's head and neck, poking at eyes.

  The melee around them dissolved into paired combats. The weaker—or less lucky—fighters among the guards were down, dead or dying, and the survivors were more evenly matched; none of them could spare any attention to the central fight between Graakaak and Cheerpt. Their caws and battle cries combined into a cacophony that absorbed and obliterated individual cries.

  Graakaak was the first to remember his weapons. In a movement almost too fast to see, he jerked his neck into an S curve to pull his head and neck out of danger, stepped forward and swung his arms together so the weapons would meet in the middle of Cheerpt's neck. As fast as Graakaak moved, Cheerpt saw what he was doing and jerked himself erect. Graakaak's rifle and spear clanged together harmlessly. Cheerpt cackled as he brought his hand-blaster around and fired.

  Again the bolt missed its intended target. It flashed into the rookery and set another tree aflame. By then the flames from Tschaah's tree had spread to others. Hens and fledglings raced about the rookery shrieking and squawking in panic. The few warriors and other males who were still in the rookery tried to contain the growing conflagration, but they were too few and there wasn't enough water, so the blaze grew.

  Graakaak saw that Cheerpt had fired the Clumsy Ones' terrible fire weapon at him several times and the only injuries he suffered were a scorched shoulder and a singed arm frill. The gods meant for him to win—Cheerpt could only lose this fight! He shrieked and threw his rifle at Cheerpt. Cheerpt had to duck out of the way just as he fired the hand-blaster again, flying a pair of fighting guards, killing one and leaving the other to writhe on the ground in terminal agony. Before Cheerpt could regain his balance, Graakaak sprang and skewered him with his short spear.

  Shocked by the sudden strike, Cheerpt looked at the spear protruding from his belly just below his ribs and knew it was a fatal wound. His face twisted with hate, he looked the victorious Graakaak in the eye and raised the hand-blaster. He wasn't going to die alone.

  Graakaak contemptuously slapped the weapon from his hand. Then he jerked the spear from Cheerpt's belly and plunged it into the top of his chest, just above the pectoral.

  Cheerpt staggered back, then slowly toppled.

  Graakaak straddled the corpse and used his spearpoint to sever Cheerpt's head from his neck. He rammed the spearpoint into the head from the neck hole, thrust it high into the air, and cawed his mightiest victory cry. It was loud enough to cut through the cacophony of battle.

  All the guards looked to see who had won. Graakaak's loyal guards joined in his victory cry, then turned furiously on the disheartened traitors. It was over in moments.

  Chapter 24

  "I told you I saw the demons' mounts," Captain of Scouts Kkaacgh said to Lead Warrior Ctweeleer. "There are their tracks." He pointed at lines in the dirt.

  Lead Warrior Ctweeleer didn't look at the marks. His neck was craned around and he was looking back toward the rookery. He was sure Guard Captain Cheerpt was up to something. There had to be a reason Cheerpt took the Clumsy Ones captive, and that reason couldn't be good. He didn't want to be out with two hundred warriors looking for the "demons" the Scout captain thought were there, he wanted to be back at the rookery where Chief of Staff Oouhoouh could tell him what was important, what to do.

  "Lead Warrior," Kkaacgh snapped. "Look at the marks."

  Ctweeleer slowly turned his head. "Scouts don't give orders to warriors," he sneered.

  "Captains give orders to leads." Kkaacgh half lowered himself into threat posture.

  Ctweeleer curved his mouth parts with disdain. Later, he would talk to Oouhoouh, ask if the Scout captain did indeed outrank a lead warrior. For now, he looked at the marks. Yes, they were much the same as the marks left by the mount of the Clumsy Ones. They were wider, that was the only difference he saw. But that didn't mean they were made by the demons' mounts.

  "The Clumsy Ones' demons went away."

  "They went away when the Clumsy Ones went away. The Clumsy Ones came back. So did their demons."

  "You don't know that."

  Kkaacgh stared hard at Ctweeleer. "We will follow their tracks."

  Ctweeleer bobbed his head at the sky in reluctant acquiescence. Oouhoouh had told him to go with Kkaacgh. Still, he thought he should be back at the rookery.

  Kkaacgh had thought long about the Clumsy Ones' demons. When Cheerpt attacked them at the Bower Curt
ain, he might have killed one. That would explain why it disappeared as it did, and the blood. The demons had fought back, but only managed to stun the Cheereek. If it was true that Cheereek armed with Clumsy Ones' weapons could kill Clumsy Ones' demons, and the demons did not have weapons that killed Cheereek, it should be possible for a Cheereek war party to attack and kill the demons. This was his own idea. As soon as one of his scouts reported seeing the demons' mounts, Kkaacgh had gone to Chief of Staff Oouhoouh and told him a scout reported the approach of a Koocaah-lice war party. Oouhoouh told him to take a party of warriors under Lead Warrior Ctweeleer to find and stop the Koocaah-lice. They left just as Cheerpt and a group of guards neared the rookery with naked Clumsy Ones. He would have liked to stay and see what the Captain of Guards was doing, but he had to find the Clumsy Ones' demons. If he returned to the rookery with the heads of Clumsy Ones' demons, no one would object that he had lied about the Koocaah-lice.

  Kkaacgh sent scouts ahead on fast eeookks to find the demons. It didn't take long. The demons had dismounted and gone on foot to where they could watch the rookery without being seen—from the front. They were fully visible from the rear. Including the few who were off to the sides, there were a little more than thirty. It was easy for the Cheereek war party to move into position behind them.

  "They've got blasters!" Hayes exclaimed when he saw a plasma bolt flash through the mass of Avionian nomads.

  There seemed to be a momentary pause, then the Cheereek in the flat rushed together. Seven seconds later an irregular rattle of gunfire faintly reached the Marines across the two-kilometer distance to the camp.

  Schultz lifted his magnifier shield to spit. "Only one has a hand-blaster," he said after watching the battle for a moment. He glared futilely at the zapper in his hands. The way those aliens were bunched up, third platoon could quickly slip into position eight hundred meters from them and cook most of them before they even figured out what direction they were being attacked from. Then head back to orbit and have the Khe Sanh nuke the whole damn planet! Slag the aliens, all of them. And if those damn scientists on Avionia Station didn't like it, slag them with the aliens.

  In all their positions, the Marines were watching the battle in the Cheereek encampment. None of them paid any attention to the sensors they'd deployed, sensors that were trying to alert them to the arrival of a large group of man-sized bodies a hundred meters to their rear. The first any of them knew about the war party behind them was when an irregular volley of rifle fire stuttered past them and into the ground around them. Except for PFC Hruska in second squad; before he knew anything, a bullet thudded into the back of his neck, entered his skull, and turned his brain into mush.

  The Marines spun about, ready to fight back. The Cheereek were out of range of the zappers. But not for long.

  Lead Warrior Ctweeleer cawed a loud command and the Cheereek kneed their eeookks into full galumph. Most of them fumbled fresh magazines into their rifles as they charged and got off another shot before they reached the Marines. Their aim, poor to begin with, was worse from the backs of their galumphing mounts, and all their shots missed.

  "Hold your fire," Gunny Bass ordered on the all hands circuit, calm despite his surprise. "On my order." He watched the approaching Cheereek, judging their distance, while he drew his hand-blaster. Only three of the humans had hand-blasters—he, Staff Sergeant Hyakowa, and the corpsman. Everyone else had zappers. He waited until the ragged line closed to within fifty meters, then shouted, "Fire!"

  Thirty-one zappers and three hand-blasters fired instantly in a hum of simultaneous sizzle-pops from zappers, punctuated by the louder cracks of plasma bolts. Three Cheereek were thrown from their eeookks, black-rimmed plasma holes charred through their torsos. A dozen and a half others wobbled or fell from zapper hits, or were tossed when their eeookks were hit and tumbled to the ground.

  The Marines shifted aim, fired again, shifted aim once more, fired a third time. Eight Cheereek warriors and one eeookk lay dead with the aroma of overcooked meat wafting from the plasma holes bored through them. Two lay twitching, cawing softly, their necks broken in their falls. Many others staggered to their feet and stumbled about, disoriented from the zapper hits. But the great majority of them reached the Marines and raced through, jabbing and slashing with their short spears.

  The Marines fought back.

  Three Cheereek were surprised by a maneuver a few of the Marines used. Lance Corporal Claypoole had an instant of deja vu when he saw a Cheereek coming straight at him, leaning over his eeookk's neck, spear jutting straight forward to skewer him. He'd seen something very like this once before, and his body remembered what happened then. He dropped his zapper and drew his combat knife, then stood his ground until the charging Cheereek was too close to change his spear's aim. Claypoole simultaneously twisted and dropped onto his back on the ground, slashing upward with the razor-sharp blade. It sliced through the eeookk's thigh. The animal shrilled out in pain, staggered a couple of steps and collapsed, sending its rider tumbling. Claypoole was already back on his feet and moving. He leaped and landed full-length on the fallen Cheereek. His knife darted out and the warrior bucked violently once, then settled into spasms as blood gushed out of his neck onto the thirsty ground, which eagerly drank it. Claypoole rolled off the dead Cheereek and spun away, looking for another. They were all past the Marines.

  In other places Dean and Chan used the same maneuver to dispatch Cheereek.

  Schultz was more direct. He spun aside, grabbed the spear thrust at him and used its leverage to yank the rider off his eeookk. He dropped his knees heavily onto the Cheereek's chest to knock the wind out of him and pin him, and heard and felt bones shattering from the force of his landing. He was surprised, but only for an instant. Then he was on his feet shouting into his helmet-radio, "Hit them hard, their bones are weak!"

  Corporal Goudanis saw a knot of riders charging his fire team's position, saw the length of the eeookks' stride, and realized the Marines could roll under them without getting stomped on. He shouted at his men to dive under the galumphing beasts. He made it and came up to zap a warrior in the back. PFC Quick lived up to his name and also came up shooting and staggered an eeookk, which almost threw its rider. Lance Corporal Van Impe wasn't as lucky—he dove right into the forward swinging foot of an eeookk. He fell heavily and rolled, but the agony of broken ribs and clawed flesh tore through him. The eeookk also felt the collision—the bones of its foot shattered and it flipped, landing on its rider and knocking him senseless. Goudanis bounded to the insensate warrior and killed him with his knife. Quick dashed after the staggering eeookk and managed to grab its rider before he recovered his seating. He flung the Cheereek to the ground and smashed a fist into his throat. The warrior clutched his throat and struggled for breath that wouldn't come through his crushed windpipe. His face turned purple and his feet thudded helplessly against the ground until Quick drew his knife and plunged it into his heart.

  A short distance away, the rest of the Cheereek reined their eeookks around and prepared to charge again. Most of the Marines took advantage of the momentary pause to fire at them. Three fell from blaster hits, more staggered from zaps, then they charged, cawing their war cries. Eight more were staggered by zapper hits or thrown from stunned eeookks before they reached the Marines.

  But the Marines now knew the physical weakness of the warriors. They swung their zappers like clubs and had the satisfaction of hearing bones shatter and the screams of injured Cheereek. All about the Marines, bodies thudded to the ground, and they fell upon the Cheereek with their slashing, jabbing knives.

  The second charge wasn't a totally one-sided victory, though.

  Corporal Pasquin was stabbed in the back as he crushed the head of a warrior he'd knocked to the ground.

  Corporal Linsman killed a Cheereek who'd thrust a spear into Lance Corporal Watson and then been pulled from his mount when the spearpoint jammed between two ribs.

  Lance Corporal Neru from the gun squad
suddenly found himself surrounded by a trio of Cheereek He grasped his zapper like a bat and twirled, flailing, to keep the Cheereek at bay. But one warrior managed to fumble a fresh magazine into his rifle and made the shot of his life. The bullet struck Neru in the sternum and holed his heart. The three warriors raced on to join the next charge.

  Still, only half of the Cheereek were still mounted when they turned to charge a third time. But those who had been zapped at the greatest range had already recovered enough to begin looking for riderless eeookks so they could rejoin the fight.

  Before leading his warriors at the Clumsy Ones' demons again, Lead Warrior Ctweeleer trilled out orders. Since many of the demons were down, the Cheereek would not charge through; they would melee. He signaled and they galumphed into a thin rain of hand-blaster bolts and zapper shots.

  A clump of twenty Cheereek sped toward the OP where Sergeant Ratliff waited with Schultz and Hayes. Ratliff and Hayes methodically fired their zappers. Ratliff picked targets for both of them to shoot at; if one hit wasn't enough, maybe two simultaneous hits would be. They were. Schultz couldn't fire, he'd battered his zapper so badly on the Cheereek he broke its firing mechanism.

  Seventeen Cheereek reached the trio.

  Schultz bellowed, stepped inside a thrusting spear, and rammed his zapper into the eeookk's chest so hard he shattered its ribs and sent a spew of guts from its cloaca. He grabbed the rider by the throat and threw him to the ground then stomped his chest, crushing his rib cage and sending splinters of bone into his heart. Almost casually, he swept his zapper in a roundhouse at another Cheereek and broke his back. He felt a sudden burning in his shoulder and turned to see what had stung him. The Cheereek who'd just stabbed him was darting his head forward to bite the Marine. Schultz slipped to the side and shot out a hand to grab the warrior's neck just behind his head. Grunting as he yanked the Cheereek from its seat, he spun it around his head, its body like a weight in the middle of a rope, knocking down two eeookks and their riders and sweeping a third off his eeookk before the abused Cheereek's head separated from its neck and its body flew away.