by SD Tanner
“Okay, so they have a single plan.”
“Then there’s their ability to adapt. When the weapons team tested the sound gear on one of them it defended itself, so it was smart enough to know it was about to die. Not only do they have a plan, they have more weapons than we know about.”
“So, they’re smart, adaptive, well-armed, and they have a plan,” Ark replied.
Mulling over her next thought, she said, “They’ve built themselves a city, so they’re settling in. And after they failed to kill the squad during the first recon of the nest, they shored up their defenses, so they’re aggressive as well.”
“Isn’t that just an extension of being adaptive?” Leon asked.
“Yes and no. Many species can adapt, but only a human learns based on one event or no experience at all. We forward protect ourselves by predicting risks, and then we aggressively defend against them.”
“So, what are they fighting for?”
“One step at a time, Leon. Before we ask that question, we have to understand what they’re taking from us. Whatever they’re taking is probably the basis of what they want.”
“Food,” Leon said definitively. “We’re a source of food.”
Ark said vehemently, “No, no, Leon. They took our planet. The fact we can be eaten as well is probably just a lucky coincidence.”
“That’s true,” she replied thoughtfully. “They’re so adaptive they can probably make a meal out of anything.”
“So, they’re an alien species that repurposed our cells to create themselves. Now they’re adapting to our defenses and are taking control of the planet.”
Ark’s use of the word alien caught her by surprise. “Why do you say they’re aliens? I mean, they came from us so how are they aliens?” Neither Leon nor Ark replied, and she asked, “What if they’re not aliens? What if they simply modified us the same way the one that exploded into thirty little critters did?”
With a sharp, cynical snort, Ark said, “Then they’d be the perfect weapon. They take whatever they find and use it to serve their ends. So, they’re intelligent, capable of learning, adaptive, resourceful, and aggressive with a killer instinct. They sounds like the perfect soldier to me.”
“Where does all this lead us?” Leon asked.
She didn’t have a chance to answer before Ark replied, “It means we have to match them. Just being resourceful with a killer instinct won’t save us. We need to be equally as learning and adaptive.” Now becoming excited, he added, “Jo’s right. We can’t afford to leave a single stone unturned.”
“Which means?” Leon asked.
“We need to learn every single way of killing them. Gas, fire, bombs, bullets…”
Smiling to herself, she interrupted Ark, “And we need to think more broadly. Viruses, bacteria, and any other way we can damage them at a cellular level.”
“Then we need those other weapons,” Leon added. “Like that sound weapon they were testing.”
“Exactly. The only way we can be ready to adapt is if we’ve done our homework, and that means we need every team in CaliTech working on every possible way to destroy them,” she replied confidently.
“And we need to keep gathering intel,” Ark added. “That’s where you and the squad come in. Now you’re using the nav gear, you’ve got the best chance of survival outside the wire.”
“What about Bill?” Leon asked.
She might not think Bill had all the answers, but she also didn’t believe he’d start issuing orders. “Why do you think Bill will have a problem with what we’re saying?”
There was a significant pause, and then Ark said quietly, “Bill’s building himself an army in the preppers. Whoever has the army has control.”
Finally understanding their unspoken concerns, she asked, “Don’t you trust him?” Without waiting for them to answer, she said, “Yeah, okay, why should you? I guess I trust him a little because he rescued me from the city, but none of us know one another well enough for there to be any real trust.”
“Trust takes time, Jo,” Leon replied sincerely.
“I know, but there’s a lot between where were are and the risk you’re seeing.”
“Why do you say that?”
Shaking her head, she replied, “Because you’re assuming the preppers will follow him. In my experience, they’re an independent lot who have little faith in establishment. He might have a ready-made army, but I wouldn’t be so sure they’ll take their orders from him.” When neither spoke again, she added, “Let’s focus on the problems we have now. When we get back, I’ll speak with Dayton and Dunk. We need to make sure we’re investigating every option equally. Let Bill worry about the short term fight, and I’ll make sure we’re doing the research we need to do so we’re ready for whatever happens next.”
Their conversation was cut short when Jenna grabbed her by the arm. “Look up.”
Suddenly her earpiece filled with the voices of the entire squad, and she assumed Ark had taken them out of their private chat room on the grid.
“What the fuck…?”
“You’ve gotta be shittin’ me.”
Climbing to the front of the vehicle, she peered through the windshield at the sky. Flying low, and only a hundred feet in front of them, were a swarm of hundreds of critters. Each of them had their skinny arms and legs wrapped around a body.
“Are they alive?” She asked in horror.
Lexie’s grim voice came through her earpiece. “Yeah.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Unmellow jello (Dayton)
One-of-One prodded the shattered pieces of the critter with a scalpel. Nothing in the medical lab had broken through its tough shell, and the weapons department had taken great delight in blasting it open. He’d handed them a deflated, but still intact creature, and they’d returned it as chunks of blackened parts in a bucket. Luckily, they’d scanned the critter before giving it to them, and the only part he really wanted to study was the liver like substance inside of it.
The medical team were still running tests on both the black rubbery pieces and the reddish-colored liver-like material. Even without their results, he was reasonably confident that the hardened black shell was made of a similar plastic to the goo, but the red jelly substance was carbon-based.
They’d laid a row of black chunks along the metal table and six samples of the red material below it. Once released from its protective shell, the red parts had the consistency of a firm jelly. Picking up a small sample, he rubbed it between the fingers of his gloved hand, and it squelched slightly without breaking up. When he put it back on the table, it resumed its original damaged shape.
More to himself than One-of-One, he remarked, “It’s like a stress ball. It bounces back into shape.”
“Cartilage retains its shape under pressure.”
“Cartilage isn’t like a central nervous system. How can this stuff transport messages from the brain?”
In her usual bland tone, she replied, “Nerves are incredibly fine. It’s possible the nervous system is inside the jelly, it’s just not visible to the human eye. We’ll need to study it using high-powered microscopes.”
“But you think the central nervous system is in there somewhere?”
“It has to be. If the red jelly is carbon based then there’s no other way for the body to know what the brain wants.”
Picking up one of chunks of black rubber, he threw it on the floor. Much like a badly shaped baseball, it landed with a dead thud, barely bouncing. Scooping it from the floor, he used his hand to assess the weight of it, and concluded it was heavy for it size. It meant the material was incredibly dense, and that explained why only high caliber bullets could penetrate it.
“Is this your approach to scientific testing?” One-of-One asked flatly.
As an Oncologist, he’d learned not to solely rely on scientific tests. Much could be learned by studying a patient using his five senses and, more often than not, the tests merely confirmed what he’d already seen in a patient. “You
can only learn so much through testing.”
If he viewed the critter as a patient, he would assess it was made of a dense rubber or plastic, with a carbon-based substance running through it much like a main artery. If the outer shell were composed of rubber or plastic then, without a peripheral nervous system, it wouldn’t feel heat, cold or pain. Although the weapons engineers had blasted the creature open, they’d thoughtfully separated the head parts from the body, and he looked at the red jelly he’d extracted from its skull.
Prodding it with the scalpel, he said, “This bit came from the middle of its head.”
His blade left an indent in the jelly, and using a fine metal hand tool, he held it down while he cut into it. The scalpel sliced through the piece and it fell into two parts.
“It’s fragile,” he observed. “That explains why it’s so well protected.”
“No, it doesn’t. The human brain is just as fragile, but it’s only protected by a relatively thin skull.”
“Okay, fair point, but if I wanted to create something that’s hard to kill, I’d protect vulnerable areas better than that.” Continuing to poke at the jelly, he said, “This stuff looks the same as the part from the main body, but if it’s the brain then it serves a very different function.”
Adjusting the lamp over the table, he used long tweezers to pick up a piece and held it up to the light. The jelly was almost transparent, reminding him of the goo. “Do you think this is made of the same stuff as the goo?”
One-of-One joined him to examine the piece under the light. “No.”
Having worked with One-of-One for nearly a month, he was used to her less than forthcoming answers, but she was smart and often saw more than she offered. Sighing inwardly, he drawled, “Buuuut….”
“Without further tests, anything I suggest is merely speculation.”
“Indulge me.”
“I would surmise the shell is a form of exoskeleton designed to protect the central nervous system. The goo is both a weapon and a supply line. It kills, it absorbs its victim, and then it becomes a supply of nutrients to the critters.”
Her answer surprised him. “How do you figure that?”
“The goo comes from inside of the critters and therefore they make it. It must be something that can be derived from within them. Given the similarity of the goo and this jelly, I suspect the two things share common properties.” Prodding at a black rubbery part on the table, she added disdainfully, “This is merely armor. It doesn’t need to be fed any nutrients.”
“So, you don’t think the rubbery exterior is alive?”
“Like I said, without scientific evidence I’m only speculating.”
“Acknowledged. But where’s the brain.”
Picking up a piece of the jelly, she squeezed it between her fingers and thumb. “I don’t see any difference in the consistency between this and what came from the main body. A human brain needs neural pathways and electrical impulses to transmit instructions, so it’s made of very different cells to the rest of the body. The cell structure of this substance appears to be the same throughout.”
“What does that mean?”
Holding her hand out so the jelly rolled into her palm, she said flatly, “This is not brain matter.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s part of the central nervous system.”
“So, where does it get its instructions from?”
“I don’t know.”
Once again, One-of-One didn’t believe the critters had a brain, and given she was a neurologist she should know what one looked like.
Running with her theory, he said thoughtfully, “If it doesn’t have a brain then there has to be something somewhere else that’s controlling it. Like a queen ant.”
“A queen ant doesn’t control an ant.”
“No, but the ants do everything to protect the queen. They’re her army. Are the critters an army for something else we haven’t seen yet?”
One-of-One had never smiled at him before, but now her line-free face creased with a small smirk. “Maybe they’re just a weapon.”
“What do you mean?”
With an enthusiasm he’d never seen in her before, she leaned across the table and stared at him intently. “What if they’re neither alive nor dead? What if the humans they were actually died, and their cells were repurposed into a mindless creature under the control of a master? If that were true then the critters wouldn’t need a brain. All they’d need is an energy source, and the goo is converting the bodies of humans into the little they need to sustain the carbon based matter inside their armor.”
“Are you suggesting they’re like a remotely controlled gun?”
“Like I said, this is speculation.” Frowning slightly, she added, “This is not a theory our scientific testing can prove or disprove. Knowing its cellular structure won’t tell us how it’s being used.” Giving him another slight smile, she said approvingly, “Your method of analysis is very interesting. It results in different possibilities.”
One-of-One might have the social skills of a tarantula, but she was growing on him. Returning her slight smile with a wide one of his own, he replied, “I know. I’m used to handling people with cancer, and I’ve learned there’s more to medicine than what we see at the end of a microscope. Your theory is an interesting one. If the critters are only people where their cells have been repurposed to become a weapon, then there’s a brain somewhere, and I’m guessing it’s in that nest.”
Now becoming more animated, she touched his arm. “Oh, it’s more than that. If the brain is remotely controlling the critters then it’s using electrical signals.”
“So?”
“Any electrical impulse travelling through the air can be disrupted. If you break the connection to the brain then weapon can’t receive its orders.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Knight rider (Jonesy)
He had a terrible itch behind his right knee, but covered as it was by the three layers of Navigator gear plus the strap-on armor, there was no way he could scratch it. Standing at one end of the training hangar, he had to walk three hundred feet to reach the other side. Behind him were the simulators where he would learn to interpret the visor screens. The technicians had helped him into the complex gear, and having paid close attention, he should be able to do it alone next time.
Through his headset, a tinny voice said, “You’re good to go.”
“Full power,” he said to his onboard computer.
A vibration started at his shoulders and travelled to the base of his three-inch thick rubber soled boots. The hydraulics were humming at him and he took a tentative step forward. The metal joints covering his knees over compensated for his movement, and he lurched forward with the weight of his raised leg. Immediately losing his balance, he tipped face first into the floor, and his nose mashed uncomfortably into the facemask, bending it so sharply he felt the cartilage resist.
Using his hands to push himself upright, he moved gently and slowly. Once he could get his foot underneath him, he gradually stood upright again. Standing with his legs apart, and both feet squarely on the ground, he took a deep breath to calm himself. His plan relied on learning how to use the gear and he was determined not to fail. Instead of lifting his knee, he slowly slid his boot forward.
“That won’t work,” Donna said through his headset.
The reality viewing on his visor was surrounded by a screen and he’d lost his normal peripheral vision. Clearly knowing his sight was compromised, she appeared directly in front of him. Donna was only wearing the hydraulics layer of the Navigator gear and she grabbed his armored hands.
“Lean into me for balance and take a small step forward.”
Concentrating on slowing his natural movement, he tentatively took a single step. His body lurched forward again, only now Donna absorbed his momentum and he managed to stay upright.
“That’s good. Do it again.”
With Donna holding onto his hands and stepping backwards in tim
e with him, he began to pace forward, gradually picking up his speed. Once he could walk and talk at the same time, he said, “Thanks.”
“Dayton tells me you plan to get the orbs.”
After leaving the preppers with Bill and Ark, he’d spoken to the doctors about becoming a fully functioning Navigator. Dayton had questioned his decision, but One-of-One had been so enthusiastic about tearing his eyeballs out he’d almost changed his mind.
“One-of-One says she’ll do it whenever I’m ready to go.”
“Good, then we just need to get you on your feet.”
Donna’s complete lack of interest in his decision surprised him. “So, you don’t think it’s a bad idea?”
“In case you haven’t noticed our backs are against the wall. We need as many fully functioning navs as we can get.”
“I thought you already had two.”
“We do, but only Lexie is able to use the nav gear as well. The other person is much older and she couldn’t get her head around it. We use her to monitor CaliTech for anyone who turns.”
“Dayton said they have another woman they’re planning to convert. He said she was in a coma.”
“That’s Ally. Bill found her on the side of the road with a head injury. I’ve started testing her.”
“What are you testing her for?”
“Serious brain injury can affect a person’s cognitive and physical functions. Don’t get me wrong, even if she’s limited we still need more navs with orbs, but it would be better if we can get her on her feet.”
Donna was always working with the Navigators and he’d never really spoken to her before. “What’s your role in CaliTech?”
“I train and take care of the navs. I’m actually a qualified physiotherapist.”
While they’d been talking she’d let go of his hands and he was walking on his own. The hydraulics made him feel as if he was bouncing rather than stepping. Adjusting his gait, he began planting each foot solidly onto the ground as if he were stomping out each step.