by SD Tanner
“You don’t know that,” Cardiff replied archly. “For all you know they eat them.”
“Yeah, everybody loves them some chicken pot pie,” Lace quipped.
Surveying the barren land, he knew they were only joking, but he wasn’t finding them funny. They’d landed uninvited onto the planet only to slaughter their hosts on the off chance they might attack them. When the enemy aliens had invaded Earth, mankind couldn’t have been more offended, and yet here they were behaving in exactly the same way. Dunk’s rules might have been intended to keep them safe, but at what cost? If they had to become the enemy to defeat them then what exactly would they win, or more importantly, what would they lose?
“Cut it out,” he said sharply. “I want to do a flyover.”
“That’s a good idea,” Tank replied. “CaliTech will want the footage.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to tell Tank he didn’t give a critter’s ass what CaliTech wanted, but he bit back the words and walked towards their attack ship. Once they were cruising over the planet, no more than one thousand feet above the ground, all he saw was more of the same sandy surface. So many of the planets they’d managed to find looked identical. With little or no water, they were dirty dust bowls, spinning like round rocks hurtling through the universe. He always wondered if they were growing into something or dying. In all of the footage that had ever been captured, not one of the planets remotely resembled Earth. With its expanse of blue sea and complex terrain, it appeared that his home planet was unique. His tutors had taught him history, explaining that before man could freely travel through space he’d assumed it was full of life. If his ancestors had known just how vast and dull space really was then they wouldn’t have wasted so much time dreaming about it.
Flying in a formation of three ships with his in the lead, a tall mountain ridge appeared, breaking up the monotony of the endless dusty land below them. Shards of rock ran in vertical lines from the top to the bottom, making the mountain look as if it were made of corrugated iron. The top was uneven and with no vegetation, it looked dead. In such a barren world, he couldn’t understand how the birds could survive.
Through his headset, he asked, “Tank, what do you make of that mountain?”
“It suggests that there’s a water table under the land.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Usually one tectonic plate hits another and the impact results in a ridge like the one you’re looking at.”
“Maybe it was created by volcanic activity.”
In a patient tone that implied he was being dumb, Tank replied, “Then it would look like a volcano. If there’s water then it changes what might be here.”
“Why?”
“Because outside of viruses and bacteria, lifeforms need a lot of water. If the birds are humanoid and have access to water then we might be looking at intelligent life.”
“Is water mandatory for intelligent life?”
“It is if we share any DNA with them. Otherwise they’d have to be made of something other than carbon.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’ve lived with CaliTech for nearly two hundred years, and some of their BS sticks even when you’re trying not to listen.”
The three attack ships were flying over the broad ridge at the top of the mountain. Once they’d cleared the empty surface, an entirely different world opened before them. Behind the wall of mountains was an enormous green colored lake. Almost circular, with clusters of green trees shading brown huts it was clearly the focus of the small dwellings dotted around it. The birds might be primitive, but they were smart enough to live in houses. When not in flight, and with their webbed wings tucked against their spines, their four thin limbs and facial features made them look human. Compared to their bodies their heads were large, implying they probably were intelligent. Scattered amongst the tall graceful creatures were smaller ones, which he assumed were their young. Slender and bald, naked and walking on two legs, if they hadn’t seen them fly then no one would ever have compared them to chickens.
His orders were to take any life and send it to CaliTech for analysis, but knowing what he had to do made his upper lip curl in disgust. Dunk Two didn’t tolerate disobedience and even he wasn’t safe. If he didn’t follow his orders then he might not be killed, but he would be taught to behave himself. The country had once been democratic, voting in its leaders, but when he’d first learned about elections, he hadn’t believed it. Only Tank remembered what the world had been like before the aliens attacked, but all he’d ever known was military rule. Through the Guild, Dunk Two controlled a person’s life from the moment they were conceived, deciding whether they would be born, what job they would have, and how well they would live. The only way anyone could improve his or her lot was to become a Navigator or a Bombardier.
The sight of their three ships appearing over the ridge of the mountain sent the creatures into a frenzy. Some ran with the smaller ones for the caves buried behind the walls of the mountain and others took to the air, flying directly towards them.
“Do not fire!” He bellowed, almost daring Tank to overrule him this time.
“Roger that,” Tank replied equally as firmly.
“We only need one,” he said, now calmer. The three ships drew closer to one another, flying in a tighter formation. “Fly into the largest group and we’ll snag one in the air.”
Travelling only twenty feet apart, they flew into a cluster of thirty or so birds. Pushing the clear window above his head, he wedged his legs against his seat, levering his body until he was upright. The buffeting of the wind would have flicked him out of the cockpit, but he used the strength of his hydraulic joints to stay in position while he reached his hands above his head. The birds were gliding and flapping all around him, but he only needed one. Snatching at the arms and legs that dangled as they flew, he managed to grasp a limb.
“Got one.”
His armored gloves also contained hydraulics, allowing him to grip the slender appendage. Maintaining his handhold, trying not to break the leathery limb, the creature fell and dangled along the side of the ship. While it banged unsteadily against the pitted surface, it stared back at him with human eyes. Its mouth was open as if it was howling and its eyes were wide with fear. Part of him recoiled at the suffering he was causing, but his training overwhelmed his empathy.
“Take us up.”
The battleship was dropping through the atmosphere with its docking bay open. Behind him, the other attack ships were zipping through the groups of birds, jabbing at them in case they tried to rescue the one they were kidnapping. Once the attack ship docked, he immediately jumped to the floor still holding onto the terrified bird.
Maintaining his firm grip, he opened a channel on his helmet. “It’s alright. Don’t panic. We’ll bring you back home when we’re done. I promise.”
Struggling to free itself, the bird was making pitiful mewling sounds. Based on what he’d seen on the planet, it wasn’t a chicken or bird of any kind. They’d taken their dead, lived in houses and cared for their young. Now the creature was terrified, desperately trying to pull away from him. Its suffering was his fault and he felt his cheeks burning with what he knew was shame. His tutors had taught him to care for the human race, but compassion wasn’t an emotion he could parcel out based on what was best for the Guild. He cared for all life or none.
Turning towards Tank who was standing on the edge of the docking bay, he said angrily, “What the hell are we doing, Tank? What right do we have to take this creature? You saw what was down there. That’s the start of civilization. What if CaliTech decide they have too much enemy DNA?”
Spinning on his heel and looking at the terrified creature, Tank replied tonelessly, “They’ll kill them.”
“And you’re alright with that?”
“Stop asking questions that can’t be answered here and now. We’re only one battle team.” Flicking his head towards the sealed slit that would lead them into the bat
tleship, he added, “Put it into stasis and then go there yourself.”
It was only once he was in the Navigator living quarters removing his gear that he realized he still had the critter in his pouch, only now it was nothing more than black dust. Tentatively sniffing at it, it smelled like burned rubber. This was the face of their enemy, not the creature that had cried when it was forced into a glass tube that filled its lungs with goo they hoped would keep it alive.
Putting his pouch in the wall with his gear, he knew there was something very wrong about what they were doing. As the goo bubbled up his body, embalming him for another long sleep, he welcomed the coma for the short peace of mind it offered.
CHAPTER FIVE:
Puppet Master
(Tank)
“Where the hell have you been and where is Ark Three? If you lose him, Tank, it’ll cost us both our lives.”
With his severe narcissistic personality disorder, at one hundred and forty years of age, Dunk hadn’t been able to extend his life any longer. Being a man who left nothing to chance, Dunk had cloned himself and raised Dunk Two as his son, fostering in him exactly the same personality disorders he prided in himself. Every Dunk clone was raised with a descendant of Ark, which meant Dunk Two was raising Dunk Three who was the same age as Ark Three. If Ark Three died before becoming a Bombardier, it would disrupt a pattern Dunk Two was determined to replicate, and he just might accuse them both of treason.
Commander Casey was fuming, and although she was thousands of light-years away at Ark Command, he knew how to settle her down. “We found another planet with life…advanced life.”
Just as he expected, the news of another planet with more than just a few fleas caught her attention. “Anything more advanced than you is still a chimp to everyone else. What do you call advanced?”
Letting her insult slide, he replied steadily, “The planet has water. Not as much as Earth, but enough to have a quarter mile wide lake.”
She gave a low whistle of appreciation, making the speaker echo across the private break out room on the battleship. “What else did you find?”
“A new alien species.”
Although what it could say was limited, the bird they’d forced into stasis had looked human, and its species had shown signs of primitive civilization. Despite Ark Three’s empathy for it, eager for new types of cells, CaliTech would make them it hand over. It didn’t pay to ignore the power behind the United Guild and he’d long since learned his place within it.
The United Guild was supposedly composed from each of the heads of state in every country, making decisions on behalf of Earth in a cooperative and balanced way. In reality, it was a thin veil that barely concealed the real power base. Under Dunk’s rule, CaliTech, the company that had designed the Navigator gear, had taken control of what little was left after the alien invasion. Rebadging itself as the United Guild was misleading. It was really a military dictatorship sharing its control with no one. Under the name of the United Guild, CaliTech held a tyrannical control over Earth, and was now extending its ruthless regime to conquer the universe. Still headed by a clone of its creator, it dictated to the world who lived and died, not bothering to waste much time justifying its decisions. This was the way the world had evolved since the failed alien invasion, and he was only one man trying to survive in a political minefield. He was well aware that by being a Bombardier many would accuse him of being as alien as their enemies were.
Sounding sharp, she replied, “Send me images.”
“I already did. They’ll be with you shortly.”
“Tell me you caught one and you’re bringing it back.”
“Yup.”
“Most people call me Commander or Ma’am. They do not answer me by saying yup.”
If his eyes weren’t a solid green he would have rolled them, but instead he replied, “I think we’ve moved past that level of formality.”
Reminding her of their private relationship was enough to divert her anger. In a softer tone of voice, she asked, “What’s the alien like?”
“It looks like a large featherless bird, but it has a human head and pretty standard looking genitals.”
His curt description was met with silence until she finally asked, “How’s that possible? Why would they look like us?”
Although he had an answer, he didn’t say a word. He’d seen enough to know that the enemy aliens had seeded themselves into many planets, leaving a legacy of DNA that gave them a common ancestry. The sleeping Dunk might have given orders for them to kill anyone who carried too much of the enemy DNA, but in a universe stuffed with the stuff they were fighting a losing battle. They needed to find a way to live with what they were and stop killing anything they considered to be different.
Realizing he wasn’t going to answer her questions, her voice became stern again. “Put it in an automated transport pod and send it to Ark Command.”
“I’d rather not.”
“Why not?”
“Ark Three has a soft spot for it. He won’t be too happy when he wakes up and finds it’s gone.”
“Why does he care? It’s a bug. What have you been teaching that boy?”
Ark Three was still young and conscientious enough not to accept the status quo. Showing independence combined with intelligence, he just might be what was needed to unstitch the stranglehold CaliTech held over Earth and the universe, but he needed to protect him.
Sniffing dismissively, he said, “New blood has its own way of seeing the world.”
Her tone softened again. “I know that, but the world we live in isn’t overly tolerant. Even with his ancestry, he still needs to be careful. Treason comes with a death sentence.”
Since saving the world from the alien invasion, the Ark name had become a legend trusted by everyone. Knowing that there was a descendant of Ark at the head of the Guild gave it credibility it didn’t deserve. Ark Three’s role inside of CaliTech was to legitimize the Guild, and few understood that was his only purpose. Although he would become a Bombardier, theoretically leading them to search for the enemy aliens, that wasn’t how it would play out. Like his grandfather and his mother before him, Ark Three would be lost within a few years presumed dead, so Dunk Two didn’t need to kill him.
His hardened mouth twisted into a cynical sneer. “His death is already guaranteed.”
Casey hadn’t become the Commander of the Navigators by being anything other than ambitious so he knew to tread carefully with her. They might share a bed whenever he was at Ark Command, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t turn on him to further herself. Such was the political nature of their world that openly opposing the regime meant that you could disappear without a trace. He was gone so much of the time that without her he would quickly lose track of who was who in the latest power shuffle. Without knowing it, Casey was his eyes and ears inside of military command.
As if reading his mind, she asked, “You do know you can trust me, don’t you?”
When it came to surviving the Guild, he hadn’t lived for over two hundred years by believing in anyone other than himself. Everyone he’d ever known were gone so he was deep inside of enemy territory, a lone soldier in a universe gone to hell. Their recent encounter with the black ship filled with tiny critters was the first he’d seen of the aliens since they’d ousted them from Earth hundreds of years earlier. He was surprised to find them poking their noses into his part of the universe, making him wonder what had given them the confidence to show their ugly faces.
Not wanting to confront her plaintive question, he replied gruffly, “You know how I am.”
Sighing loud enough to be heard through the speaker, she asked, “Did you get a sample of the critter?”
“No, they turned to dust, but Ark Three had one in his pouch. I’ll send you a dust bunny.”
“I suppose that’s better than nothing.”
Ark Three’s outburst over the creature was worrying him and, in his current state of mind, he thought it would be risky to take the yo
ung man back to CaliTech. He wanted to spend more time talking to the boy, hopefully teaching him to zip his lip. If he shipped the samples by an automated transport pod, they could avoid Earth and continue their mission to explore space, searching for the enemy aliens he now knew were back.
“I’ll send the samples and then we’ll head out again.”
Sounding seductive, she asked, “You don’t want a little shore leave?”
Casey was fiery, matching his hardnosed temperament with one of her own. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy her company, but his first loyalty was to Ark Three. He’d made a promise to his grandmother that he would watch over every one of her descendants. It wasn’t only his commitment to Ark Three that was making him hesitate. After four wives, his patience for romantic entanglements was wearing thin. If Casey had been his first then he might have shared her intensity for what was essentially an impossible relationship. He was a Bombardier destined to roam the stars, never to return home. She was the head of the Navigators, deeply entrenched in the politics of the United Guild and therefore CaliTech. Although he was using her to gain intelligence about a regime he was supposedly sworn to protect, it didn’t mean he wasn’t fond of her. He was a quiet man, not a cold one, and Casey was pushing for more than just a secret affair.
“Now is not the time for shore leave. Ark Three needs the experience in space. The better he’s prepared then the longer he’ll survive.”
He could almost hear the smile in her tone when she replied, “You’re a good man, Tank, one of the best…” She trailed off as if there was something else she’d wanted to say, but then decided not to. “Let me know when the transport pod is inflight.”
After he flicked off the speaker, he lay down on the solid lump protruding from the wall that was used as a bed. Bombardiers didn’t need to rest much and he feigned sleep more out of habit than need. After they’d defeated the enemy aliens on Earth, it should have heralded a new dawn for mankind. Together they had fought, died and won against their enemy. It was the original Ark who’d predicted that Dunk would destroy the soul of mankind by turning them into the enemy they’d defeated. He wasn’t surprised that Ark Three could see what his grandfather had always known. Mankind was dominating space. If they continued on their path, then nothing would stand in the way of fulfilling Dunk’s vision to control everything he could get his greedy hands on.