by Jean Kilczer
You…you are more powerful than the brothers imagined, Terran, the scarred one sent. He turned from the blank screen and stared at me. But we are many, and we have sworn our allegiance to Zythgzjititz.
Zyth…, I thought. No wonder we just called them BEMs.
He went to the panel and twisted a dial. The yellow lights glowed white.
It seemed a hawk swooped down and dug talons into the cells of my brain. There was no pain, but my temples grew hot. I closed my eyes and conjured ice-clogged waters. I mentally plunged into them.
“You are on Alpha,” the scarred one said, “being briefed by W-CIA on your mission and the date of the Worlds Alliance invasion of our forces on Denebria. They tell you where and when the operation is to be launched. Come, Jules. It's all there in your memory! All you need do is tap into it, and it will project onto the screen!”
I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt the magnetic probe dig deeper into the frontal areas of my brain and spread out. I tried to rub my forehead and remembered that my wrists were clamped. I moaned as an alien insect stalked through my mind. I wanted to scratch inside my head. I pushed at the intruder and tried to force it out. But the insect morphed into Ca Prez, the Altairian commander of an Alliance fleet. Her image, seated behind her office desk on the flagship, materialized on the screen. Dammit. The scarred BEM was pulling that memory from my mind. Your mission, Jules, the commander said inside my head, like a movie I couldn't turn off, is to tel link with the BEM officers in charge on Denebria and find out what their plans—
No! He couldn't have that memory.
I concentrated on the screen and willed the projection to dissolve. Think of beautiful women, I thought. An image of my dead soul mate Willa Carson appeared on the screen, laughing, running to throw her arms around my neck. I shook my head. No! Not Willa! The devastating emotional tie would weaken my resistance. I forced away the image, though I yearned for it to continue across the fields of my mind. To see her living form there on the screen. Tears slipped down my cheeks. I tried to wipe them on my collar.
“This isn't working, brothers,” the scarred one said.
You're goddamned right, I thought. I imaged the red coil spinning, forced it to grow and threw it at the BEM. Then I probed for the location of his homeworld.
He hit me so fast I never saw it coming. His tentacle was a whip that mangled my thoughts and raked through the tel coil. I felt blood seep down my cheek. The room was turning. The screen went blank as he turned off the machine.
“We'll try again tomorrow,” he told the other two. Perhaps by then you'll lose some of your arrogance, he sent.
Don't count on it!
I let my head hang and blinked, trying to clear my vision as they unclamped me from the chair and dragged me to my feet. I could finally rub my forehead and wipe tears and blood on my sleeve.
They brought me back to the cell and pushed me inside. I tripped and would have fallen but Huff, waiting behind the door, grabbed me. I leaned against him and he helped me lie down. The blanket was cold from the stone floor beneath it. Joe and Chancey came to sit beside me.
“Joe,” I said, “we've got to get out of here. It's just a matter of time before they get the information they want.”
Huff whined and stroked my head.
Joe looked up at the barred window. “We're already working on it, kid.”
The BEMs were versatile with their eight tentacles. They could probably run, leap, climb and swim faster than humans. But they couldn't put much weight behind metal utensils and dig at the crumbling cement around the window bars. They didn't have the strong arm muscles of a human and the weight to grind at the cement. And it never occurred to their solid brains that Terrans and Vegans did.
The work was slow. Huff and Chancey, the two strongest members of our team, spent all night digging around and under two bars on the window. We weren't even certain that bulky Huff would fit through the openings. Even Joe, thickset, with a bit of a paunch, might not make it with only two bars missing.
Dawn came.
Chancey replaced a dislodged bar. The other one was loose but still stuck in place.
Breakfast was pancakes from our lifeboat stores, smothered in pools of butter, and a stack of solid cooking fat with protruding eyeballs for Huff.
I was hungry, but only under a tight knot in my stomach. I would've given a lot for a cup of coffee. But coffee doesn't fatten the cattle.
“They're going to come for me again, Joe,” I said.
“I know. You've got to hold out for one more session.”
“By tomorrow morning, tag,” Chancey said and put a hand on my shoulder, “we'll be out of here.”
I nodded.
Huff picked up a dripping pancake. “My Jules Terran friend,” he said, “this looks good enough to eat.” He studied it and curled a lip. “If you are a Terran.”
I shook my head.
“How do Terran mothers make their cubs eat?” Huff smiled, showing a predator's set of teeth. He waved the pancake through the air, spattering Chancey with butter. “This is a spaceship and you are the dock.”
I looked up at him.
“Open the dock, Terran Jules,” Huff said, “so the spaceship can land.”
Chancey got up, tore the pancake from Huff's hand and threw it against a wall. It stuck to the porous cement. “There! It's docked! OK, you dumb son of a fur ball!”
“Chancey!” Joe stopped chewing. “Leave him alone. You're not helping the situation.”
Chancey sat back down with a heavy sigh and ripped a pancake in half. “You want a piece?” he asked me.
“I can't eat,” I said.
Huff put his snout on a paw. “I would go in your stead, Jules friend, if they would take me.”
“I know, Huff,” I said wearily and closed my eyes. “They've got a magnetic brain scanner.”
“So what does it do?” Chancey asked.
“It, uh, it takes your memories,” I said, “and projects them on a screen like a movie.”
Chancey put down his pancake and ran his hands through his tight, kinky hair. “How the hell can it do that?”
“It was developed from MRIs,” Joe told him. “We didn't know the BEMs had the technology. They probably stole it from a research lab.” He threw his half-eaten pancake back on the plate. “It was developed to help stroke victims and people who couldn't communicate.” He stared at me. “Is that what they're using on you?”
I nodded.
Joe went to the barred window. “We can't let them find out the date, or the target area of the Alliance invasion, Jules.”
I studied my folded hands. “How do you intend to stop them?”
He came back and sat next to me. “Can you give them a different date and location?”
“I can try.”
“How about a probe for their homeworld?”
I touched the welt on my left cheek. “That's how I got this. But I'll give it another try.”
He sighed. “Keep your mind set on tomorrow. By then we'll be out of here or…”
“Or dead,” I finished. “I'm afraid they'll find the memory of the date and location in my physical brain, Joe, on a cellular level.”
I heard the scrape of claws outside the iron door and closed my eyes. I could almost hear my heart pounding.
Joe patted my shoulder. “One last session,” he whispered and stood up.
You can do this, Jules, I told myself and got to my feet as two BEMs entered. You've been in worse situations. But my frightened heart said otherwise.
“Leave him without harm!” Huff tried to reach for a BEM but Chancey shoved him aside. “You'll just get yourself killed!”
“Huff,” I said and shook my head.
He went down on all fours, shuffled to a corner, curled up there and whined. “Oh, Ten Gods…” I heard him murmur.
My hands trembled and sweat trickled down my cheeks as they led me to the interrogation room. I should have drank some water back in the cell. Maybe my throat wouldn'
t have felt so tight and dry.
I realized that my back was wet with sweat as they clamped me into the metal chair.
He's trembling, a BEM sent to the scarred one, who waited by the screen.
Good, he sent back. Maybe fear will be his motivation to talk.
The scarred BEM turned on the machine and the blank screen lit up.
“You smell bad,” one of the two said to me.
“So do you,” I told him.
“Did you sleep well?” the scarred one asked me.
I lowered my head and didn't answer.
He continued as though I had. “And breakfast? Was it to your liking?”
I remained silent.
“Good. Then we can pick up where we left off yesterday.” He said something to the others in BEMese and I saw their narrow shoulders shake as one of them fitted the headgear over my head.
Fear suddenly turned to seething anger at their enjoyment of my terror. I stared at the floor so they wouldn't notice my clenched jaw, my fists gripping the armrests. I took a deep breath to relax and tried for a light tel link with the scarred one. If I could come away with the location of their homeworld, it just might prevent an all-out invasion of the Denebrians. Bring the battle to the BEMs own shores, so to speak. Cut off their supply lines. And this time, kick them back to the Stone Age!
I exhaled a long breath and gently probed the scarred one's mind. I opened myself to his thoughts and felt the hive buzzing around him. How did he block out all that chatter? I rode his thoughts as lightly as the brush of a feathered wing and directed them to the hidden hive. The hive that was homeworld. We made no jumps, but rode his memory back to a G-Type star. I imaged a holo map of the sector in my mind and sent him a yearning desire to go home. Home is the sojourner…
And there it was. Tau Ceti, in the Cetus Constellation. An Earth type G-star practically in the sun's own backyard. If memory served, it had five planets, but never made the short list for exploration. The star is metal-deficient and the tags who target the systems for exploration are searching for rich mining planets.
The scarred one swayed and rubbed his broad forehead with a tentacle.
“Older Brother,” one of the others said, “are you feeling well?”
“Yes, well,” he responded. “A slight dizzy spell. I will be pleased when my tour of duty is over and I can return home.”
“Yes. Home,” one of the others said and I wondered if I had tapped into all three without knowing it.
The scarred one curled his tentacles beneath his mantle and sat down close beside me. “Now, to this one,” he said to the others and sighed. “Jules. You are on planet Alpha, being briefed by your commander. He is giving you instructions on your mission.”
I closed my eyes and raised the tel shields.
“Don't do that,” he said. “That won't help you.” He lifted a tentacle. I winced, but he just stroked the crusty edge of his right eye. You task me, Terran, he sent. I too have my orders.
I concentrated on strengthening my shields.
“Now,” he said softly and shifted his weight, “your commander is pointing out the Denebrian target area for the invasion and— Drop your shields!
I imaged myself as a furry bee that would be accepted by the hive and flew down between the bulwarks of my shields, beneath a blossom's silken petals, below the stamens, and into the pistil at the flower's core. I huddled there, as Star Speaker, my Kubraen spiritual teacher, had taught me to do for tel protection.
The scarred one clucked and I felt his weariness. Well, he wasn't the only one who was weary. I was so thirsty. And I couldn't remember when I'd last been able to sleep or eat, or when there had been some semblance of peace in my mind. Still, I had to get back to my companions and tell Joe the location of the BEMs' homeworld.
I'm very tired, I sent, but expected no mercy from this hive mind. And very thirsty.
Then drop your shields, by Szigfirz's Tempest of Stones, he responded, and project the information we require onto the screen there before you. This is not difficult, Terran!
If I do that, will you let me return to my…my brothers?
We will be pleased to end this session.
All right. I imagined Ca Prez pointing out a thick forest on a holo of Denebria. This is the landing zone for operation BEM, I made her say in my mind and concentrated on the image of her pointing to Denebria on the screen. Launch date is set for—“
I didn't expect the blow across my face. My thoughts were shattered as a firebrand of pain slammed through my head. The clamps dug into flesh as I sagged against them.
“He's lying!” the scarred one shouted. “Ficz's Tempest! I've had enough. We will depend on our agents on Alpha for the information we require. Brothers, are the freezers running at full capacity?”
Beneath the pain, a slow terror blossomed in my chest.
“Not yet, Older Brother,” one answered. “Here in the outpost, we must rely on generators.”
“When?” the scarred one asked.
“By tomorrow's first light.”
“Then execute the lot of them by that first light. Bountiful prefers fresh meat.”
“Yes, Older Brother.”
The two BEMs unclamped my wrists and ankles and chest and dragged me to my feet. One pulled off the headgear.
I don't remember the walk back to the cell, but when they opened the door and threw me inside, Huff caught me and lowered me to the blanket.
“Oh, for Christ's sake!” I heard Chancey say. “What did you mother fuckers do to him?”
“Nothing compared to what we will soon do to all of you,” one answered.
The door slammed and was locked.
Joe and Chancey kneeled beside me.
“Huff,” I mumbled, “would you get me—“
“Yes, my Jules Terran friend? What is it?”
“I need a—“
“What did they do to you?” Huff sobbed softly.
“I'll be all right, Huff. Will you just get me a—“
“Oh!” Huff exclaimed. “I could send them all to Lord Vorlof's Fiery Pit for how they treated your body!”
Chancey smacked Huff's shoulder. “Will you let the tag say what he's trying to fucking say?”
“Chancey,” I said, “a drink of water. Lots of water.” I laid back on Huff's forearms as he cradled my head.
Chancey went to the bathroom sink.
“Joe!” I said.
“Yeah, kid?”
“It's Tau Ceti.”
“Their homeworld?”
I nodded. “Tau Ceti. Probably one of the outer rocky planets.” I gripped his wrist. “We've got to break out of here before tomorrow morning.”
Chancey came back and handed me a cup of water. I drank and felt the cold liquid cool the fire inside me.
They waited for me to finish.
“They've turned on the food freezers,” I said and coughed.
“Jesus and Mary.” Joe looked up at Chancey.
“Their Queen BEM,” I said between gulps of water, “wants fresh meat.”
There was silence as we retreated to our own thoughts. I closed my eyes and felt my body relax. Someone took the cup from my hand. Sleep was a welcome relief.
Joe roused me once. I could tell by the light streaming through the barred window that it was late afternoon. “Are you feeling all right?” he asked.
The pain in my head had diminished to just an ache. “Yeah. Better. How's the work going?”
He nodded toward Chancey and Huff who both scraped cement from the bars with utensils. “They're close to getting the third bar extracted. We're throwing the mounds of cement under the bathroom sink.” He stood up. “I've got to get back to the door and listen for footsteps…tentacle steps, whatever the hell, approaching. Go back to sleep if you want to, Jules, but I'm going to wake you up again in a few hours.”
“OK.” I knew what he meant. He wanted to be sure I didn't slip into a coma. “Joe, some more water?”
He got it for me,
then went back to the door.
I managed a wan smile. “Any birthday cake left over?”
“Only the icing. Huff ate the rest of it, and the flowers. I think it gave him a stomach ache.”
“Joe. I didn't tell them the location and the date of the invasion.”
He grinned. “Is that what earned you the new welt?”
I was going to nod and thought better of it. “Yeah.”
“I couldn't tell you before you went under the gun, kid.” He shrugged. “None of us knows the real date and location of the invasion.”
I lifted my head. “What?”
He gestured around the room. “In case of capture.”
“Why couldn't you tell me that?”
“If you gave them the information too easily, they might've figured you were lying.”
“Son of a crotefucking…” I muttered. “You were hoping I'd hold out long enough to make it look good.”
“You did.”
“He knew anyway, Joe! I gave him a different day and location from what I thought were the real ones. But he knew I was lying.” I lifted myself to an elbow. “They've got hired operatives on Alpha. They're going to depend on them for the real date and the location of the landing.”
Chancey and Huff stopped scraping and turned to listen.
“You used me, Joe,” I said. “It's not the first time.”
“I'd use any one of us, including myself,” he said. “Whatever it takes to stop these barbarians.” He stood up. “That's our mission. Chancey!”
“Yo, boss.”
“Priority one when we get out of here is to locate an SPS unit and get this information to Alpha. If we can sneak into our lifeboat, better yet. We'll contact Alpha and have a ride out of BEM territory.”
Chancey nodded and went back to the window. “C'mon, fur ball,” he told Huff. “Keep scraping. Morning ain't waiting on us.”
Huff followed and they worked on the bars again.
“If it's any consolation,” Joe told me, “you just might have averted a war of worlds with the location of the BEM's homeworld. We can hit them on their home base and cut off their supply lines to Denebria.”
I laid back and rubbed my eyes. “It's a consolation,” I said.