Chains of Redemption

by Selina Rosen

  Suddenly she heard an electronic sound off in the distance. She took out her earpiece to be sure it wasn't just feedback. "Poley . . ."

  "I hear it."

  "I thought you said there were no active machines on this planet."

  "There weren't. I monitored the planet for twenty-seven months and found nothing."

  RJ put her earpiece back in, and started to com Levits to see if he had detected anything, but she didn't have to—he was yelling in her ear.

  "RJ do you read? Get the fuck out of there. Dammit are you listening?"

  "Yes, and you can stop screaming, any time now," RJ said. "What the hell is that? I can hear something coming this way though it's still distant."

  "I don't know what the hell it is, but there are three of them, they are huge, they are moving very fast, and they seemed to just walk up out of the ocean."

  "Well that would explain why we didn't detect them. The water must have blocked the mechanical activity." Poley said.

  "Shoddy-assed Reliance equipment, next time lets steal something better," RJ said with a smile.

  "The computer image I'm getting makes them look like . . . Well, like huge spiders. Now get your ass back to the ship this minute." Levits ordered.

  "Ah, alright," RJ said, not moving a muscle.

  "Oh dammit! You aren't coming back, are you?"

  "And you're surprised because I normally do everything you say? I want to see what it is," RJ replied.

  "I was afraid you were going to fucking say that," Levits said. Then he was gone, and she could hear the locals again. They were obviously shouting warnings and probably obscenities at each other. Then they were throwing their food aside, and running and arming themselves with the projectile weapons, so RJ assumed they did actually still work. She doubted their hearing was as good as hers, so they hadn't heard them coming, they had felt them. She had noticed a slight trembling of the ground, and these beings seemed to have a heightened sense of touch. No doubt another reason they were able to move with such stealth.

  "RJ," Poley said calmly at her side. "I think we should go. There are three of them, they are large, and they have some sort of plasma type weapon."

  "You aren't afraid are you, Tin Pants?"

  "Well I am less than thrilled at the prospect of you and me taking on three very large, armed robots."

  "Robots?"

  "Well, they move like robots," Poley explained.

  RJ looked at him, eyebrows raised.

  "I'm hardly a simple robot," he said, proving it by the fact that he had been able to read her body language.

  RJ smiled, then nodded silently. After a few moments of screaming and what looked a whole lot like drawing straws, most of the natives had fled. Only a few holding the projectile weapons stayed. They were staying so that the others could make their getaway. Theirs was obviously a suicide mission, and she could tell by their body language that there was a very good chance that they were all going to take off running when whatever was coming got there.

  "Come on," RJ said to Poley and she got up. He followed her right into the middle of the natives' camp. The ten natives left there turned and looked at them, startled and obviously wanting to run and hide from the strangers. Since they were here to die anyway, there was only a second when they thought about running from RJ and Poley. Then their duty to protect their people from the beasts that were rushing towards them won over fear of the strangers. However, they did aim their weapons at them.

  RJ held her hands up quickly and Poley followed suit. She carefully used the words she had already learned and sign language to tell them what she interpreted as, "We want to help you kill the enemy." She must have gotten it right because the one she assumed was the leader looked at her and spit out a word she took to mean "OK", and the weapons turned away from her and Poley.

  They were getting closer now. The noise rose in tempo, and the ground shook more. Then the trees parted, and there stood three twenty-foot tall six-legged metal "spiders." Each was topped with a glass dome and inside RJ could just make out three one-eyed alien creatures obviously controlling the machines.

  "Well, this ought to make Topaz's day. He's going to get his monster and get compatible females, too," RJ mumbled.

  The natives opened fire on the glass domes with the projectile weapons, and RJ knew instantly this must be their weak spot. Then the cowardly little bastards ran into the jungle, leaving her and Poley to fight the monsters themselves.

  So they had either just stayed there to slow the things down, or they had decided to leave RJ and Poley to fight their suicide mission.

  Blaster fire erupted from the machines, taking out one of the natives who hadn't been fast enough. RJ grabbed her blaster with one hand and whipped her chain off her waist with the other. She slung the end of her chain towards one of the legs of the closest metal-clad monster just as it lifted off the ground. She snagged it the first try and yanked with all her force. The monster faltered, almost falling. RJ leapt on top of the globe as blaster fire struck the ground where she had been standing only a moment before.

  She crashed down on the clear dome with her fist but nothing happened, except a resounding ringing sound that was louder than even the blaster fire. She kept tension on the chain, keeping the leg up and throwing the machine off its normal gait. She could feel the terror of the creature inside the machine. He wasn't used to being in danger, he was at the top of the food chain. Around her she could see that the natives had come back, and while they weren't getting in close they were firing their weapons at the beasts. The projectiles were doing little more than bouncing off the clear domes, and annoying the hell out of her. In fact, one of them ricocheted into her arm, and she almost lost her grip on the chain.

  She could see Poley running in a zigzag pattern at a high rate of speed, in and out of the legs of the metal-clad monsters, confounding their fire and movement. He stopped at a point under one, looked up and fired his laser. Sparks and red liquid rained down on Poley for his trouble, but the monster immediately started to lurch around spastically. He had targeted the machine's hydraulic system. Damn! She wished she'd thought of that. Still, she couldn't let her metal brother get the better of her. She shot the dome with her laser, holding a steady stream on it till it cracked. Then she smacked it again with her fist, full force. This time the dome busted and she found herself sitting on the slimy head of the alien inside—which she now knew had been covered by seawater. Exposed to air, the creature immediately started to die and his machine, which was apparently attached to him, started to lurch around wildly. RJ found herself flying through the air. She landed on her ass on the ground, her chain falling in a neat pile in her lap. She looked up to see the remaining fully mobile machine bearing down on her, its gun aimed right at her head. She rolled and it missed.

  She was in the process of jumping to her feet when the entire machine blew up, covering her in a sludge of monster guts, seawater and hydraulic fluid. She wasn't vain enough to believe that it had gotten so scared it simply blew itself up rather than face her. She turned around to see one of the ship's skiffs hovering in the air above them.

  "You're welcome," Levits said in her earpiece.

  "I would have killed it," RJ said insistently, as she rose to her feet, dusting herself off.

  "Would it absolutely kill you to say thank you, RJ?"

  "It might, why risk it?" RJ answered with a grin. She wiped the goo off her face with her hand. It had the same consistency as the cryo-chamber goo, and a nose hair-singeing stench.

  "You want me to blow that one?" Levits asked of the damaged one that was still lurching around.

  "No, I'd like to see if we can catch one of these slimy things alive and check it out." The machine fell over as if on cue, and the natives grabbed clubs, ran in, and beat on the globe till it burst and the creature inside died. "Or not."

  "Hah!" Topaz screamed into her ear through his mouthpiece. "See? I was right! Slimy tentacled ocean-dwelling aliens."

  "What
about the others?" RJ asked, wanting to slap him for the temporary ringing in her ear.

  "I was still right."

  "If you say so. Levits, return to the ship."

  "Are you sure? That could just be the first wave."

  "They were the test," RJ said. "Now they know we can kill them, they'll have to process the data before they send more troops."

  "You're thinking like a human, RJ, and those things aren't even humanoid, which of course proves that I was right, I'd like to remind you," Topaz said.

  "In my experience all beings which wage wars do it in a similar fashion. All creatures that hunt, hunt in a similar fashion. If I'm wrong you can always come back and save me again, all the while singing out choruses of how right you were. I don't plan to stay here anyway. We'll meet you back at the ship."

  "Okay," Levits said, and RJ watched as the ship flew away.

  One of the natives walked up to her and yelled a bunch of stuff she couldn't understand. However she could feel that he was thankful, excited, and again there was the overriding emotional swell of hope. They had easily defeated these people's enemies, and so they had hope that they might finally overcome their oppressors.

  The rest of the tribe rushed into the village and started hastily packing things. Here was the answer to why they hadn't chosen to rebuild in the city, why their village looked so temporary. They were nomadic. Not because they were following the feeding areas, but because they were always in hiding from their enemies.

  RJ smiled. This wasn't so different from home after all.

  She grabbed the one she assumed by his posture—and the fact that he seemed to be barking orders at the others—was their leader. He instinctively swung and struck her. She let him go and he jumped away, swinging his hand in the air.

  "Sorry," she said, and assumed from his emotions and his posture that he returned the apology. "You," she indicated with a sweep of her hand him and all his people. "Follow." She walked away, then stopped, pointed in the direction she wanted to go and then at herself. "Me."

  He nodded and hollered something to his people. They all stopped in their tracks and looked from him to her and back again. He spit something back, pointing at the creatures in the suits they had just killed. They all made a gesture with their right hand, placing it in front of them with palms up, which she assumed meant, all right if you say so.

  "Poley!" she yelled and he ran over. "Take samples from the creatures, and make notes and images of the interior and exterior of the machines."

  "RJ . . . You have photographic memory . . ."

  "They aren't for me, they're for Topaz and Levits; and get our packs and all our gear. The less the enemy knows about us the better."

  He nodded and went about the task. She would have liked to have taken one of the machines back to the ship, but was afraid that not even she and Poley would be able to drag one fast enough to avoid any aftershock guard the creatures might send. What she had told Levits and Topaz was true, but depending on what equipment the creatures might have, they might be able to assess damage and make plans much faster than, say, a Reliance crew.

  The leader walked up beside her and indicated that his people were ready to follow. RJ held her hand out, palm upward, and took off walking. The others followed. Poley collected his samples and their gear and followed the last native.

  There were a hundred and three of the natives in all. Since the ship had been a troop carrier there was plenty of room in the cargo bay for the natives' things, and plenty of room in the ship's quarters to house them.

  They seemed impressed but not particularly in awe of any of the technology on the ship, so RJ assumed that they did, in fact, know their heritage. No doubt they had been forced to live the way they were because of the creatures.

  Of course the million-dollar question was, where did the creatures come from? It was a sure bet this city hadn't been built by or for them.

  She was learning the native's language quickly, because of what she was, but not quickly enough to suit her. So she grabbed the leader and took him to a viewscreen. She turned it on and he was excited but not shocked, thus confirming what she already believed to be true. They didn't have technology, but they knew what it was.

  She programmed it for a picture of a man. "Man, human, him," she said pointing at the image.

  The man nodded that he understood, and then gave her ten words for the male of their species.

  One of the natives, a male, walked up to them and spit out some words. The leader nodded then looked at RJ. When he saw she was watching, he touched his mouth and then his belly.

  RJ held her hand palm up and turned to Poley. "Poley, take some of the natives out of the ship with you and allow them to get food. Then take them to the kitchen and show them how to use the cooking appliances."

  Poley nodded.

  "RJ . . . Are you sure it's such a good idea to have these natives running amok on our ship?" Levits asked. "We know nothing about them."

  "Like for instance RJ, how do we know who the bad guy really is?" Topaz asked in a harsh whisper.

  "Are you agreeing with me?" Levits asked in mock surprise.

  "Yes, go write it in your little calendar and put a gold star by it." Topaz turned away from him and glared at RJ. "How do you know that these people aren't the bad guys, and the guys in the suits aren't the good guys?"

  "I don't really give a shit," RJ said, annoyed that they were taking time away from her language lesson. Until she learned their language she wasn't going to be able to learn everything she needed to know about this planet, these people, and their slimy ocean dwelling enemy.

  "Are you serious?" Topaz asked in disbelief. "These people might have been the aggressors in this altercation. This attack might have been in retaliation."

  "True, but those things are slimy and icky," RJ said in a coldly logical way.

  "Speaking of which," Levits made a face, "were you planning on washing that shit off soon? You smell like six months of stale butt cheese."

  "What does six months of stale butt cheese smell like?" RJ laughed.

  "I'm guessing it smells the way you smell right now."

  Topaz was outraged. "I . . . I can't believe you, either of you. Would you listen to what you said? You're going to condemn an entire race because it's ugly, different. Don't you even care how they feel, why they attacked?"

  "No, I really don't. Now if you would both leave me alone so I could pick this man's language from his brain, then I could get a bath and find out whether or not we're aiding and abetting the bad guys a lot sooner."

  "If nothing else, leaving you alone will get me further from the stench. If you need me, I'll be locked on the bridge in case the natives turn hostile," Levits said with a smile and walked off. Topaz just stood there with his arms crossed giving RJ a stern look.

  "Isn't there something you've lost that you should go look for?" RJ asked with a crooked grin.

  Topaz left apparently in a huff, mumbling, "Is there any real distinction between stale butt cheese and fresh butt cheese?" When he was no doubt half way down the hall he yelled out, "Don't think you've heard the end of this, RJ!"

  She didn't really know whether he was talking about the whole alien thing or butt cheese, and she didn't really care; both were equally irrelevant to her at the moment.

  Chapter Eleven

  It hadn't been a decision she had come to easily. Jessica had gone to the Argy first, offering them continued support on their front if they would stop their forward push against the Reliance. Which she guessed showed the extent of her hate and distrust of the Reliance, because she'd known the Argy were going to laugh in her face—which they did. Jessica decided right then and there that she'd make them damn sorry that they had.

  As far as the Argy were concerned they had the forward momentum and they saw no reason to back off while they were winning. They told Jessica as much and even insinuated that when they'd beaten down the Reliance they'd be coming after the New Alliance. They might as well ha
ve just come right out and said it, because Jessica never had any doubt that they would.

  The Reliance had asked for a personal meeting with her and a New Alliance delegation, stating that it would be detrimental to have a meeting over monitors as any signal might be picked up by the Argy.

  This made sense to Jessica but smelled of a trap, so she picked the where—a space station in orbit around Seritompia—the when and the how. Her "delegation," much to the agitation of the Reliance delegation, consisted of Gerald, four other Fourers, and a fully loaded battle fleet, which came in slightly after her ship had docked at the space station.