by Amy Spahn
“It is ours!” shouted Vinlin. “We took it.”
“How many of you are there, really? You have about a hundred ships, but how many people are on them?” He threw out an impossible number to gauge Vinlin’s reaction. “Fifty? Seventy?”
“Of course not.”
“Then how many? A hundred? One per ship? Two? There were twenty or so on the ship that captured some of my officers a few months ago, but that was your leader’s own flagship, so maybe ten? A thousand of you total?”
Vinlin shook his head. His armored fingers drummed in the air. “It doesn’t matter. You can’t defeat us.”
His reactions told Thomas that the thousand number was around the mark. “One thousand soldiers,” he said, “to run an interstellar empire. That can’t be an easy life.”
“We’re used to hard work.”
“Why do it? Why spend your time running from planet to planet, putting out fires and maintaining control when you could be settling somewhere, having lives, having leisure time?”
“The Sovereign knows what’s right.”
“Your boss?”
“Our leader. He has kept us safe. We will not disobey.”
The Sovereign. All the Haxozin and their thrall species had referenced this figure with near reverence in the past. The nebulous plan in Thomas’s mind began taking on distinct features. If they could discredit or eliminate the Sovereign, the rest of the fake-Haxozin army should crumble in the face of Earth’s far superior numbers. Better technology couldn’t save them when they had no leader to direct its usage. “Vinlin, I feel sorry for you.”
“We want no pity.”
“You have it whether or not you want it. But feeling sorry for you doesn’t change what I need to do to protect my people. To keep my species safe.” Thomas moved his finger from the barrel of the p-gun to the trigger. “Take off your helmet.”
“No.”
“I imagine you all kept them on so other species wouldn’t recognize that you’re not the real Haxozin, but that secret’s out. So unless you’re incapable of breathing our atmosphere, which I doubt since yours is similar enough for us to breathe, that helmet’s coming off. You can do it yourself, or I’ll have you restrained and remove it by force.”
Vinlin’s trembling hands formed fists. He growled an unintelligible word that the talky box didn’t bother to translate, and then reached back to release the clamps around his neck.
Thomas didn’t know what he expected to see when the alien drew the red metal helmet from his head. Vicious fangs, maybe, or multiple eyes with the dead irises of a sociopath. Instead, the head that emerged was the most similar to humans of all the aliens he’d so far encountered on his travels. Two eyes, a nose, a mouth, two ears. The skin was a rich plum color, and the jaw looked like it could be distended like a snake’s, but Vinlin even had hair atop his head. Granted, it was purple and only grew in a circle that capped his skull, but compared to third arms, spider legs, and claws, Vinlin looked almost benign.
Ivanokoff chose that moment to re-enter the bridge. Thomas saw a quick figure slip behind him and assumed Areva had come too. Ivanokoff surveyed the Haxozin standing unhelmeted for the first time. “I am not impressed.” He turned to Thomas. “Habassa and Fish will finish gathering data soon. Where are we going?”
Thomas continued watching his captive, who stared resolutely back at him. “Once the reactor produces enough power to charge the D Drive again, we’re returning to Thassis.”
He heard a quiet gasp, and then Areva appeared by his elbow. “Captain,” she said, “as your chief security officer, I need to recommend against that. They almost killed us all the last ti—”
Thomas waved a hand to cut her off. “I know. But we need the Thassians’ medical technology. I want to create a very specific, very targeted plan of attack.”
He made eye contact with Vinlin and inhaled slowly. “Sorry about this, but I’m going to need a sample of your DNA.”
* * *
Alien technology was so cool. Matthias scrolled through the code as he searched for an operation to initiate DNA analysis. The computer mainframe was small, just a little box with a screen on the front, sitting on a table in a chilly, sparse room at the top of one of the decrepit buildings of Thassis. The Endurance had blown up an identical room in a different building on their last visit.
Ivanokoff paced the wall of windows on one side of the office, hands toying with the grips of his two holstered projectile guns. “Hurry.”
Matthias paused on an executable file that looked promising, but dismissed it after the talky box hookup translated the file as a power control program. “Patience is a virtue,” he said with a smile.
“I do not do patience,” said Ivanokoff. His pacing took him toward the office’s entryway. He rapped twice on the closed door. “Areva, anything?”
“No,” came the security chief’s voice. “All quiet out here.”
“For now,” Ivanokoff muttered.
“Don’t be so grumpy,” said Matthias, pausing to analyze another potential file. “Just because you were almost eaten by zombies last time you were here—”
“They do not eat people.”
“That’s not what Chris said.”
“Chris Fish is an idiot.”
Matthias chuckled. “Tell that to his resume.”
Ah, there it was! Matthias confirmed that he’d found the hospital’s DNA analysis program, a segment of the DNA mapping technology contained in the basement. “Got it,” he said. “Initializing now. I think I’ve got everything working.” He glanced over the array of split wires, spliced connections, and jury-rigged adapters he’d needed to make the alien technology compatible with his own.
He slipped the Haxozin blood sample from its biohazard container. The liquid in the tiny cylinder was deep red, almost purple. Matthias donned protective gloves and dabbed a bit of the blood onto the portable scanner plug-in attached to the side of his pocket computer.
The lid of the scanner pad slid closed, and the device began to hum in operation. Matthias quickly transferred the analysis protocols from his pocket computer’s limited software to the more expansive programming in the Thassian hospital’s computer. He would now be able to read every nuance of the blood sample’s makeup, including genetic weaknesses.
While the computers worked, Matthias watched Ivanokoff continue his circuit of the room. “You okay, big guy?”
“I do not do nicknames.”
“You okay, Lieutenant Ivanokoff?”
“No.” Ivanokoff stared out the windows again. “The longer we stay, the more likely the aliens will come.”
“I’m almost done.”
“Hurry.”
“Take a deep breath, buddy. There’s nothing you can do to make things go faster. Remember, be a duck. Let the stress just roll off.”
“I do not do metaphors.”
Matthias laughed. “I guarantee some of the novels in your berth are full of metaphors. Come on, just take a deep breath.”
“No.”
A light flashed on Matthias’s pocket computer. He leaned over the desk and pecked a few controls on the flat device. “Analysis complete. We’ve got a full study of this guy’s DNA. It’ll take time to go through, but this should show us any predisposition to certain poisons, toxins, all sorts of—hang on, what’s this?”
Ivanokoff strode toward the door. “No time. We leave now.”
“Wait, wait, this is important,” said Matthias. He skimmed the data, eyes flicking back and forth across the screen. He scrolled to the bottom of the analysis, then back to the part that had caught his attention. A tremor ran through his hands, and he swallowed. Be a duck, he thought. Focus. Any problem can be fixed.
This one was a doozy, though.
“So,” he said, trying to maintain a light tone, “remember how the other hospital’s DNA scanner stored an analysis of your genes last time we were here?”
Ivanokoff froze by the door. “Da.”
“It’s stil
l here.”
In seconds the first officer had crossed to the table. “We destroyed the scanner and the mainframe storing the information.”
“I know, but apparently all the hospitals on this planet were networked. Your DNA analysis was transferred to every other DNA scanner on this planet.”
Ivanokoff swore. “Delete it.”
“I can’t. That requires administrator privileges. But that’s not the important part.”
“The Haxozin are invading Earth. If they visited this planet and looked into these computers, they have likely made a genetic virus to wipe out humanity,” said Ivanokoff. “Yes, it is the important part.”
“No,” said Matthias. “It’s really not. Part of the analysis program I ran compares the DNA sample to other stored information. When it analyzed the Haxozin DNA, a close match was found.”
Ivanokoff stared down at him. “No.”
“Yep.”
“But they appear nothing like—”
“I know, but genetics don’t lie. The Haxozin, whatever else they are, are part human.”
* * *
The Endurance had secluded itself in a park enclosed by overgrown hedges, about two blocks from the hospital. Broken windows, tattered flags, and stained walls lined the walk back. The Thassians hadn’t been dead long enough for their buildings to collapse, but darkened rooms and empty doorways loomed in every direction.
Matthias trotted behind Ivanokoff and Areva, toting a backpack full of his equipment. Ivanokoff spoke quietly into his intercom to inform Captain Withers of the situation. Matthias wondered which swear words the captain was using.
He tried to think positive. Now they had something in common with their enemy. Maybe they could use that to reach an understanding. Also, if the Haxozin deployed a bio toxin on Earth, it would wind up killing them, too. They had enough human DNA for that. Poetic.
Somehow that thought didn’t comfort Matthias.
They had just rounded the corner of a run-down grocery store and glimpsed the hedges protecting the Endurance down the street when he felt someone’s hand on his back. Areva’s voice whispered in his ear, “Don’t look.”
Matthias kept his attention forward. “Don’t worry, Areva, I know how you feel about being seen.”
“No. Not at me. Don’t look back.”
A prickling feeling crawled up Matthias’s neck. “Why not?”
“They’re here.”
“The Haxozin?”
“No. The Thassians.”
Oh.
Oh.
Not good.
“Keep walking slowly,” Areva said. “I’ll tell Viktor.”
Matthias forced himself to maintain a measured pace while Areva slipped in front of him and whispered to Ivanokoff. He tried not to watch her, considering it impolite given her eccentricities, but he found it comforting to remember that two deadly fighters were out here with him. It wasn’t just his brain against the teeth and claws of the undead Thassians.
Ivanokoff stiffened as Areva murmured to him. He reported something into his intercom. His hand slipped over Areva’s, and they shared a reassuring squeeze.
Then they let go. In slow movements, Ivanokoff drew his p-guns, Dickens and Dante, from their holsters. Areva slipped her bazooka rifle down her arm and hefted it with both hands.
Areva slowed her pace until she was even with Matthias again. “Run when I say,” she whispered.
“Kay.”
“Don’t be scared. We’ll make it.”
“I’m not.” Matthias made himself grin. “I’m a duck, remember?”
Areva rolled her eyes and disappeared out of sight at the back of the group.
The narrow passage through the hedges that led to Endurance lay at the end of a crumbling bit of sidewalk, across an abandoned thoroughfare. Matthias fought the urge to quicken his steps. Slow movements. Don’t be a target—one of the first things they told mechanically-minded recruits in UELE training. Leave the shooting to the fighters.
A scrabbling noise drew his gaze to the second floor of the grocery store on his right. Sunken pink eyes stared out of a sickly orange skull from one of the windows. Two hands clutched the sill alongside the head, bearing the curving talons that let the Thassians climb walls.
Matthias gulped. Be a duck. Be a duck. Let the fear just roll off.
More scrabbling. A lot this time, most of it from the second story.
Some from up ahead.
They were about to be cut off.
Something shoved Matthias in the back, and Areva shouted, “Run!”
Matthias broke into a sprint, clutching the straps of his backpack to keep his arms from flailing. Ahead of him, Ivanokoff raised Dante to target a second-story window and fired. A crack split the air, and an inhuman shriek followed. An undead Thassian tumbled from one of the windows.
Ivanokoff continued firing, clearing the way ahead, while Areva fended off those encroaching from behind. Matthias just ran. They left the grocery store behind and darted across the road, projectile and energy shots screaming through the air.
Matthias chanced a backward glance. Thassians were swarming over walls, sidewalks, even streetlamps. Hundreds of pink eyes fixed on the three fleeing humans. Hundreds of lethal talons stretched out to stop them. Thousands of fangs glinted in the sunlight as the aliens snapped their jaws.
The team reached the hedge. Ivanokoff turned sideways and slipped between the plants ahead of Matthias. Matthias, being smaller, ducked his head, raised his arms to deflect hanging twigs, and charged straight through.
Halfway to the other side, something scraped his shin, tearing straight through his blue uniform. Pain flashed through his leg, and he stumbled. Another impact against his ankles brought him to his hands and knees in the dirt.
He scrambled to get his footing and spied a pair of pink eyes gleaming at him beneath the hedge. An open maw gaped, full of red teeth.
“Areva!” Matthias screamed.
The security chief nearly tripped over Matthias’s fallen form. She pulled back just in time, aimed her energy rifle into the hedge, and fired. White lightning blasted through the leaves, vaporizing several of them instantly and setting many more ablaze. The pink eyes disappeared. Matthias couldn’t tell if the shot had hit the zombie, but he didn’t care. He pushed himself up and hobbled the rest of the way to the Endurance’s waiting airlock ramp. Ivanokoff stood at the top of it, firing first with one gun, then the other, fending off the attacking horde from both sides.
The second Matthias and Areva cleared the ramp, Ivanokoff punched the control to seal the airlock. Hydraulics whirred to life, and the ramp raised to enclose the Endurance interior. Matthias collapsed, leaning on his full backpack for support. He stared down at his torn pant leg and bleeding shin. Areva slunk into a dark corner.
Ivanokoff told the captain to take off and initiated the airlock decontamination procedure. Only then did anyone pay attention to Matthias. “You are hurt,” said Ivanokoff, holstering his guns.
Matthias nodded.
“He tripped on the hedge,” said Areva.
Ivanokoff grunted. “Your sister can take care of it.”
Matthias grimaced. “I’m not sure about that.”
“Why not?”
“It wasn’t the hedge.” Be a duck, Matthias reminded himself. “One of the Thassians was hiding under it. I saw his mouth. His teeth were bloody.”
Areva gasped. Ivanokoff’s grip tightened once more on his gun.
This time Matthias felt the strain in his own smile. “Yeah. He bit me. I’m infected.”
* * *
Thomas gaped at Ivanokoff across his desk. “He was bitten? Where?”
“The shin. He is in the infirmary now. Maureen is treating the wound.”
“Is he ... you know?”
Ivanokoff shrugged. “So far he has not shown signs of dying. But the virus was created for Thassian bodies. It may take longer to affect a human, or not affect him at all.”
“How will we know if
he starts turning?”
“The Thassians became zombies—”
“Please don’t use that word.”
“—almost instantly. I imagine if his body begins to die, but his brain remains active, we will know.”
Thomas sank onto his threadbare desk chair and dropped his head into his hands. “I’ve never lost a crew member.”
“You still have not.”
“Thanks, Ivanokoff.” Thomas indulged in only a few seconds of rest before rising. “Have Maureen start preparing any ideas for treating the infection if it does start to affect Matthias. In the meantime, is he up to studying the data we downloaded from the Haxozin station?”
Ivanokoff’s mouth twitched in a rare hint of a smile. “One cannot stop an engineer from studying things. He has already begun.”
* * *
Matthias sat on his bunk in his berth. The single-person bed was built right into the wall, with storage drawers beneath it and a two-step ladder to climb up. Maureen sat at the desk built into the opposite wall. The room’s hatch stood open, implying freedom of movement, but Matthias knew he wasn’t at liberty to leave. Areva stood guard outside, and should he get all bitey, she’d stun him before he cleared the doorway.
It was comforting, really. Matthias didn’t think he could look at himself the same way if he went around nipping his coworkers.
A series of unfolded pocket comps lay strewn across his bedspread, each displaying a different set of files downloaded from the Haxozin space station. The schematics for their star ships required multiple reference files to understand—glossaries, numerical codes, molecular structural formulas, and engineering manuals—hence he needed multiple screens to display it all. He’d also found the Haxozin linguistic database; he might as well teach himself some of their language while he studied their data. At the moment he was puzzling through what looked like a diagram of the gravity-on-a-stick drive, except all the labels were given in symbols, requiring him to cross-reference between multiple other files. He stuck his tongue out as he scrolled through the various data. He concentrated better that way.
At his desk, Maureen studied her own spread of pocket comps. The captain had asked her, along with Chris Fish in the science lab, to look through the Haxozin DNA analysis for any possible weaknesses. The report from the Thassian hospital was very thorough, so it would take hours to skim it all.