Manipulate (Alien Cadets)

by Corrie [kids] Garrett

  Another councilor raised a limb at that point. “You say ninety-eight percent, despite the fact that nearly a fifth of the population was killed or injured in the event known as the Hadron explosion?”

  Greg nodded. “Their genetic spread can be verified in the documents we’ve already submitted. The European genotypes were amply represented throughout the rest of the world, particularly the continent of North America. You can refer to the planetary map, in section 23 of our report.”

  Sam saw several of the councilors flip on their personal screens, checking Greg’s work as he spoke.

  “I would also point out,” Greg continued, “that the dispersion of peoples through Earth’s arable lands demonstrates that they have attained the sociological and technological level equal to a Level 3 culture. Artistic, culinary, and linguistic output would make them equal to the highest Level 7 culture. Indeed, there has been some talk that they could attain a Level 8 within a few generations.”

  The Merith stopped Greg.

  “Most of these things we know. The issue at stake in this trial is not culture, but sentiency status. The Hadron explosion is an event of such destruction that it alone could condemn humanity as a malignant animal life form. Intelligent, but not sentient according to the standards of this Council. If the Spo had not chosen to sponsor them, they would have been declared so already. How do you answer this charge?”

  Greg took a deep breath. Before he could speak, Tishing rose smoothly from his chair.

  “I have something to add to the charge.”

  Greg expelled his breath. “The trial has started. The Hadron explosion is the sole context of the malignancy charge. There can be no addition at this time.”

  Tishing smiled, but addressed only the council. “The charge of malignancy and non-sentience stands. I merely enlarge the context. In addition to the high level destruction of the Hadron explosion, humanity has exhibited specific malignancy in the killing of the human witness pool. Twelve of the human cadets have been murdered or seriously injured during their brief re-acclimation to Earth. One cadet family was held captive by terrorists. Several family members have disappeared. The cadets, the representatives of humanity and only possible salvation of the species, were reduced by nearly ten percent in only three weeks. I wish to add this to the context of the malignancy charge, extending both the scope and brutality of the original indictment.”

  Greg looked ready to spring on Tishing and rend him limb from limb.

  The Merith frowned, “Greg, is it true that twelve cadets were killed in the last three weeks?”

  “It… is. One is missing,” he glared at Tishing, “one has had his prefrontal cortex severely damaged. The other five were injured during a fire.”

  “A fire started by a mob of humans, intent on killing,” Tishing added.

  The council stirred slightly.

  “This is extremely serious,” the Merith said. “It adds great weight to the prosecution.” He paused and looked down. Sam could see that something was flicking on his personal screen and the white of the Merith’s large eye shone like a jewel in the light. Perhaps he was adding the new data into the record.

  “Would the Spo prefer to step down as sponsors of humanity at this time?"

  “No!” Greg exclaimed. “Absolutely not.”

  The Merith looked up. “I was not asking you. I am speaking to the Spo Emperor.”

  On the wall next to Sam another screen lit up, this one showing the Spo emperor, sitting before his priceless deathglass table.

  The emperor was unhappy. “The Spo must consider that sponsoring humanity is no longer worthwhile.”

  Greg bowed very low to his emperor.

  “We have invested many years in this species. We should not abandon them now.”

  “Should not?” asked the emperor in a quiet voice. “You do not tell me what the Spo should do.”

  ***

  Armen watched the trial from the waiting room with the other cadets. He bit his tongue painfully as he watched the Spo emperor, thinking hard. There was something… something on the edge of his mind. He had to figure out what it was. Something about Sam, or maybe something about Greg… something that would help Sam win the trial.

  They all knew it was up to Sam now. He was the best of those left. They were all smart, all capable. They’d survived the training, the loss of their families, and they’d thrived. They were strong, but Sam was something special. Not the smartest (that was probably Nat), not the best debater (probably Jonathan), or the quickest learner, or the most assured…but he was the one who got things done.

  On Spo, so many times, Sam was the one who distracted the homesick or warned off the bully. He started the games that reminded them of Earth. He talked to Greg, when somebody needed a break. He helped the little ones tough it out.

  And now, Armen knew there was something he needed to tell Sam, but he couldn’t quite pull it to mind. Armen tried to use the memory technique the Spo taught him, but it wouldn’t come together. He was rushing it.

  Armen centered himself in the chair and breathed deeply. He pictured a red wall, red brick. He tried to picture a gate in the wall, but it wouldn’t resolve.

  Fine. He solidified the brick wall in his mind. Behind the wall was the thing he needed to remember. Behind the wall was the memory. Deliberately, with each slow exhalation, he removed a single brick.

  Chapter 29

  Downy waited in agony. He had to get out of this room full of cadets. General Gustav had returned from locking Shara in a holding cell. She must not have told him anything, Downy thought, or he would have attacked Downy on sight.

  Shara had to be destroyed. Sam had figured out that she wasn’t the killer. He would offer her a deal, or Greg would threaten her, and somehow they would get the information out of her the next time she spoke to them.

  Downy had to kill her before that happened. He made himself wait eight minutes before rising and leaving the room. Gustav questioned him, but only in a cursory fashion. Downy claimed that the stress made him ill and that he needed a bathroom. Gustav gestured for him to go.

  Downy’s reputation for weakness: physically, mentally, even socially; made it easy for him to get away with this excuse. Someday Gustav would know just how completely Downy had fooled him. He would know just how strong Downy was.

  Free in the space station, Downy headed for the pilot room. The containment chambers were generally used for trouncers before their brains were harvested for the biocomputer. Hence, they were usually situated near the pilot room and the computers.

  Downy entered the containment area unchecked. The bioexperts saw no reason to keep people away from the trouncers. The trouncers did that plenty well by themselves.

  Twelve large cages opened onto this dark hallway, six on each side. No lights lit the cages, only the tiny lights along the walkway illuminated the space, and they didn’t reach far. He couldn’t see the back of the cages, but he heard breathing.

  The first two cages were empty. As he came to the next one, a trouncer lunged into sight. The trouncers made no sound before they attacked, the better to surprise their prey. This trouncer slammed into the crisscrossed bars of the door, and one long claw got through. It nearly sliced open Downy’s shoulder. He yelped and backed away.

  The creature retreated into the darkness at the back of the cage, where Downy could only make out its hunched profile.

  He breathed again.

  “Stupid trouncer,” he said. “Just wait till they put your brain in a bowl.”

  Laughter echoed from one of the last cages.

  Downy growled. She was here. She was laughing at him. He would kill her now.

  ***

  The Spo emperor took his time thinking. Sam’s stomach felt empty and full at the same time. Like he’d eaten cotton candy that began to spin and grow in his stomach.

  If the emperor decided not to sponsor humanity any longer, this trial was over. The Rik would move in, stealing and killing and making Earth their own. An
d no one would lift a finger to help a condemned non-sentient species.

  The emperor finally spoke.

  “I formerly believed that humanity could overcome the stigma of the Hadron event. However, this current violence against the human cadets fills me with doubt.” He looked at Greg, “You did not reflect this trend in your reports to me.”

  “We believe that the Rik are responsible for these deaths, not the humans,” Greg said. He pointed at Tishing. “We have good reason to think this. Jonathan’s mind was wiped; a use of sasoikeo that only the Rik have perfected. Locked on this space station is a person involved in the killings. I would like the chance to question her before this issue is decided.”

  The Merith deferred to the emperor, “Are you willing for this witness to be called now?”

  The emperor traced a design on the table.

  “Yes. If Greg can prove the killings were not human, we will not renounce our sponsorship.”

  Sam watched Greg breathe a sigh of relief. He’d really picked up a lot of idiosyncrasies from his students, Sam thought, as well as the willingness to fight for them.

  “I will have the witness Shara, possibly of Rik, brought at once,” Greg said.

  Sam looked hard at Tishing, but he didn’t seem disturbed. He smiled slightly. “Call your witness.”

  ***

  Armen started to remove the third row of bricks, his eyes closed. It was working. An image was emerging behind his mental wall. It was the tower at Pepperdine. The top of the cross was clear behind his wall. He centered on the middle of the wall, clearing bricks faster, downward, though still with deliberation. A sense of urgency, almost panic was taking hold of him. He forced himself to relax his muscles and breathe through his nose. If he rushed the process too much this message from his subconscious would dissolve into nothing.

  The tower emerged, with blood dripping from the walls. The edge of the yin yang painted in sheep’s blood became visible. Why this? Armen had pondered the vandalism over and over, talking it over with Sam and the others, what had he missed?

  He continued clearing bricks. Now he could see Oh Li. He was standing at the base of the tower, holding his arm up. On his wrist he wore a leather strap with a metallic yin yang on it. He saw Downy come around the edge of the tower. Nearly all the bricks were gone now. Downy leaned over, looking at the yin yang bracelet and laughing in his puppy dog way. Then he reached up and slammed Oh Li’s head into the wall.

  Armen gasped. In a blink, he saw it all. He remembered when they all first met Downy, when he was trying to choose a human name. He’d asked them all kinds of questions, and he’d been struck by Oh Li’s bracelet. He’d said the swirling black and white reminded him of a tiny deathglass.

  Now Armen could picture the rest. He saw Downy luring Nat and Jia off campus. He saw him slashing the sheep. How he’d pretended to be enamored of animals, but always with that assumed goofiness. Jia, Oh Li. Armen had even – he caught his breath - Armen had seen Downy cleaning his nails in their shared bathroom the morning after Oh Li’s death. And probably Downy killed Paolo too, before they’d even come back to Earth. When Downy first joined them on Spo, Paolo had nicknamed him Grover and Downy hadn’t liked it.

  Armen’s eyes snapped open and flew to the table where Gustav and Downy were sitting. Downy was gone. He would kill the girl. She knew about him.

  He jumped to his feet.

  “How long has Downy been gone?” Armen demanded, running to the door. Gustav looked blank.

  “He’s the killer!” Armen shouted. “We have to stop him.”

  Gustav looked at him, confused bordering on angry. “Stop him from what?”

  ***

  Downy found Shara in the last cage on the right. She wasn’t laughing anymore.

  “You’re going to kill me,” she said. “I feel calm now. That must be human. Besides, I think Claudia and Sam will figure it out… and these are good clothes to die in.”

  Downy palmed the lock. He wrenched the barred door open. “They’ll believe me. The filthy Rik girl tried to escape. I had no choice but to kill her.”

  “What, in the cage?” she asked.

  He jumped at her, putting his face only an inch from hers.

  “Shut up,” he said. He grabbed her arm, squeezing until he could feel the bone in her upper arm and she moaned. With a vicious twitch he snapped the bone and she cried out.

  He dragged her out of the cage into the dark hallway. She whimpered very satisfyingly now. The best part was that the rest of the Rik wouldn’t blame him for killing her. He was only keeping up his part of the bargain, which included keeping the plot secret.

  He held open the door to the containment area with his foot, and dragged her out into the main, brightly lit, curving hallway. She looked sick in the light, crying and clutching at her broken arm. Downy spun her around and threw her forward into the wall. He planted one hand on her back, pinning her to the wall. He pulled his other hand back, ready to slash her with his claws.

  Just before he struck, Downy saw a flicker of motion. He turned his head to see Armen sprinting around the corner, a look of absolute rage on his face. As Downy’s hand came forward, to slice Shara’s spine in four neat cuts, Armen launched himself at Downy. He grabbed Downy’s arm, using his whole weight to drag Downy’s arm down and away from Shara.

  “You fooled us,” Armen said, panting.

  Downy growled. He twisted his free hand to claw at Armen’s face, but Armen ducked his head, maintaining his hold on Downy’s arm.

  Downy let go of Shara and she slid to the ground. With both hands free he grabbed Armen’s hair and jerked his head back, forcing him to let go. Downy threw him towards the other wall. Armen’s head collided with a steel support and he crumpled to the floor.

  This was getting out of hand. Downy raised a foot to stomp Shara, but then Gustav and Greg came around the corner.

  “It’s Armen!” Downy yelled. “He let the Rik girl out!”

  “What’s going on?” Greg asked. He looked from Downy, standing over Shara, to Armen, sprawled on the floor.

  Armen moaned, and clutched his head. “Downy liked the yin yang, he had access to everyone… He hated Paolo."

  “I don’t know what he – ” Downy started, but he saw the horrified comprehension wash across Greg’s body. Then Greg jumped.

  Greg was one of the most respected fighters on Spo, and he took Downy without pause. Every blow of Downy’s was blocked. Greg used hands, feet, and both sets of knees with brutal perfection. Spo limbs could break. With a loud pop and a pain unlike Downy had ever imagined, a crack wound in a spiral pattern from his left-most ankle to his knee. Screaming, Downy collapsed on the floor, the pain burning all thought to a standstill.

  Greg got to his feet, and Gustav was beside him.

  “I should have guessed,” Greg said. “I didn’t know why he wanted to silence her.”

  “But the emperor…” Gustav said. “We cannot prove this.”

  Greg knew they had a problem. Downy was the emperor’s son. If they dragged a beaten Downy into the trial room, the emperor would be furious. He was not rash, but springing this on him unannounced could only humiliate him. He would not believe in Downy’s complicity unless it was proved. And Greg wasn’t sure they could prove anything.

  Seeing Downy about to kill Shara, Greg remembered a few things. He’d remembered Downy’s face in the riot, when he shot into the crowd. How he urged Greg to go ahead and speak on the 4th of July. Even how he’d leaked the information to Sam that had almost gotten Sam killed. Downy had played them all perfectly.

  “Put him in a cage,” Greg said. “We can’t deal with him now.”

  Gustav didn’t move. “Are we sure?” he said. “If he is innocent – ”

  Sam came around the corner.

  “They sent me to find out why you’re taking so long,” he said. Then he stopped, staring at Armen, who leaned, ashen, against the wall. Shara was crumpled on the floor crying. Downy writhed on the ground with a huge
crack in his leg.

  Greg watched as Sam’s eyes flickered from one to the other, putting things together.

  “Shara’s accomplice,” he said. “It was Downy?”

  “Armen figured it out.”

  Sam’s jaw clenched. “Jonathan. Oh Li. Jia. Nat.”

  “We don’t have time for that,” Greg said. “Do we lock him up, or bring him into the trial? If we’re wrong – it’s the end.”

  Sam took a deep breath, pushing his anger away. “We bring him in, but when we’re ready.”

  Gustav cautioned him, as he and Greg pulled Downy up. “This is your whole species you are speaking for Sam. Do you understand that? If you are wrong, it’s their lives.”

  Sam closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them Greg thought he had the look of a much older man.

  “It’s my responsibility,” he said. “I’m taking it.”

  Greg and Gustav were hoisting Downy’s arms over their shoulders, but they paused at Sam’s words. Greg looked at Gustav, and he nodded.

  “It is your choice,” Greg said.

  Chapter 30

  Akemi kept repeating her plea. She couldn’t stop.

  NAT

  NAT

  NAT

  It poured from her without pause while she rechecked the oxygen level in the cabins. She sealed off the unused rooms and pumped their thin air into the main chamber. Meanwhile she scanned the airlock for Nat’s body.

  NAT

  THE AIR IS BETTER

  PLEASE GET UP

  TOUCH THE SCREEN

  NAT

  NAT

  There were no video monitors of the interior of the ship, except in the airlock. Akemi wanted to kill whoever designed that flaw.

  At the same time, she calculated the next jump toward Earth. She must get the video of the Rik causing the Hadron explosion to the trial.