13
Benson
Benson’s ship Shifted to the location he’d mined from the Watcher’s ship. Jish Karn had been so sure of herself, she’d never considered that anyone could have gained access to those files. All Benson had to do was grease a few palms, and he was a pro in that field.
The Grand Admiral had been focused on the technology, not the origin of the vessel. It had been all Benson cared about, along with the Watchers’ language. He’d intercepted the files twelve years ago, confident he’d be able to decipher their home world amid the complex vessel’s database, but he’d only found the location tucked away within them two years prior.
His team of ten were dutiful: located in a small business on Europa, near enough to visit when necessary for “motivation.” Sadly, he’d been forced to kill every last one of them when they’d handed over the last bit of information he needed.
Benson was thorough and not a fool. No one could know what he’d found. The accident took out half a block, and it was weeks before authorities dug through all the rubble. The construction crew should have been more careful when burying gas lines below the surface of Europa.
Being here now, in a modified fighter designed after the Watchers’ very own Shift drive, was icing on the cake. Benson scanned the region, his radar picking up nothing of value. Their world would be close, and he wondered if they already knew someone had Shifted near them.
Did their proximity sensors extend this far? Would they come and greet him? Benson felt an overwhelming confidence, even after speaking with the Watcher. He’d been surprised a human could talk with it, but the whole bit about Ober’s bidding and everyone dying was a little much.
No. They would accept him. Every good hostile takeover needed a representative. With the Earth Fleet decimated, the leadership structure would be devoid of confidence. He’d be able to step in and possibly even save the human race in the process.
The same star visible from Domum was discernible from his position. Interesting. The Watchers were in the same system as the colony. It seemed they too knew the planet was troublesome and worthless.
Benson kicked the thrusters to full capacity and raced toward the world, sending a communication out to any listening. Greetings, Faithful. I come to bargain under the graces of Ober.
The message repeated, and Benson knew it was only a matter of time before he glimpsed signs of the Watchers.
A half hour passed before he spotted the planet on the outer edges of this radar. It was larger than he expected: not quite twice the diameter of Earth. Three moons were apparent, one much closer than the others.
As he raced toward their planet, a series of stations appeared in his viewscreen. “Where are their ships?” Benson asked himself, finding no intermittent red icons on his HUD.
A blink of his eyes, and ten appeared close by. Two of the alien vessels flew directly above his ship, and for a second, he thought they were going to blast him into a million pieces. When they didn’t, he shook his head slowly from side to side and let out a long breath.
A message came through, and he played it. Benson translated the growls and strange sounds to mean “follow.” He was always adept with languages, and the ship’s database had enough of their written word – which was mostly mathematical, with commands and conversations recorded into the database – that he’d learned their language in only a year. No one alive knew he could speak to the Watchers. Even the dead hadn’t known what he’d spent his free time obsessively learning.
It was all going to pay off. Benson did follow the guides, though he was in the center of the group of ten vessels. The ships were much larger than the average fighter, and flatter too. An orange glimmer shone in circles around them, and Benson understood those to be their shields.
Ten minutes passed in this formation, and the lead ships made it clear they were heading for the space station above the world. The station was long and thin, two spinning disks at each end. At first, Benson thought it was minuscule, but the closer they got, the larger he knew it to be. By the time they set to dock near the far disk, they were nothing but a tiny speck against the gray hull of the station.
Before docking, Benson took a good look at the planet. From here, he could see the ice caps on each pronounced pole and the expansive water between. What he’d consider two continents sat kitty-corner to one another, each with a peninsula stretching toward the other, like lovers’ arms trying to touch fingers.
The ship settled in, and Benson opened the fighter’s cockpit hatch, ready for whatever was to come.
Flint
“Bree!” Flint called out, and heard a faint noise behind a grouping of boulders.
“Behind you!” Bull shouted as Flint approached a large stone, so he spun, only to see a screeching Wendigo standing on two legs as it towered above. Flint didn’t have time to aim; he just fired as the creature dropped to the ground, crashing into him.
“Shoot it!” Flint told Bull. The command had been subdued, as the air was blown out of his lungs by the impact. Claws tore at his clothing, and the staccato of two rifles firing one after the other rang through the air. One moment, he was sure he was going to be ripped to shreds; the next, the weight of the Wendigo threatened to crush him.
The pressure eased, and there was Bull, muscles straining as he rolled the deathly stink monster off of Flint. Flint’s head fell back onto the hard ground, and his hands ran to his stomach and chest, assessing the damage. They came back sticky with his own blood, but when he tore the shirt open, he found it looked much worse than it was. Surface wounds only. Thank God.
“Good to see you, Lancaster,” a voice said, and for the first time, he noticed Bree slouched on top of a stone. Her face was scratched, and her left arm hung uselessly from the socket.
“Bull, let’s help her down. Are there more?” Flint asked, scanning the ground for his gun.
“I don’t think so. Am I ever glad you two showed up. I wasn’t going to be able to keep that thing from the fissure I was hiding in for long.” Bree was holding on to Bull’s strong shoulders, and she kicked the dead animal right in the face.
Flint rose and saw stars as his head swam. “Let’s get out of here.”
Eventually, they wound their way back to the path where the cart was beginning to head back to the colony.
“Wait!” Bull shouted, and Karl’s head spun to see the three survivors arrive.
The cart came to a halt. “You made it. I was beginning to wonder,” Karl said with no inflection to his voice. “Your friends are coming and might be here already. Flint, are you well enough to help pedal?”
Flint slid his shirt off his shoulders, tearing it in half. He wrapped the cloth around his wounds and pulled tight. “You go with them. I’ll go with Bull to the drop site.”
“Are you sure?” Karl asked, eyeing him up and down suspiciously.
“He’s fine, Karl. Come on, Flint. Let’s see if their plan worked or not.” Bull led the way, and Flint found a new source of energy from deep within himself. They were about to learn if there was a way to get ships up and down from this damned place.
Wren
“What’s the delay?” Wren asked, arriving to the bridge ten minutes later than she’d intended. Charles was adamant she listen to the recordings from the Watcher, and if the android was accurate in deciphering their language, the alien had some ominous things to say. She needed to speak with Captain Barkley and Fairbanks as soon as possible.
“The Distractor, as we’re calling it, had some fussy thrusters. We’ve sorted it now and are sending it off,” Tsang answered for the captain. Their viewscreen was zoomed in on the location where Kat’s lander would be heading. A smaller corner showed the location where the Distractor would be carrying out its mission.
Captain Barkley tapped her earpiece. “Junior Lieutenant Bron, are you in position?”
Wren hated that a human had to go below for this test. But the other four had made it down alive, even without knowing about the Sucker
s’ presence. Kat was a capable woman. Wren wondered if Flint was the reason she was so quick to volunteer for this crazy mission. She saw the way the younger woman looked at the pilot.
Wren didn’t blame her either. He’d taken her in when she needed someone; given her a job, a purpose, a home, and friendship. It would be easy to be drawn into those dark eyes and that grinning face.
“I’m ready. On your mark,” Kat’s voice said through the bridge’s speakers.
The Distractor entered the atmosphere and began to work its wonders. Wren wasn’t fully aware of the complexities it brought, but it was using an awful lot of what they called controlled thermonuclear fusion. It pulsed hotly before dimming to cold; five seconds later, it pulsed again. They could see the cloud of Suckers heading for it with a purpose. The mist began as a small section, but as the Suckers emerged from all over the entire region, the haze grew until they could see it blanketing the sky without zooming.
“Kat, now!” Captain Barkley ordered.
Wren watched the readouts as it pulsed. They couldn’t see it through the thick layer of Suckers but knew it was drawing billions of the tiny insects to it.
Kat’s position was visible as she hurried into the atmosphere. “No visible signs of the Suckers,” she said through the bridge speakers.
Wren let out a sigh of relief and sat down, noticing her trembling hands for the first time.
“Wait. We have incoming.” Kat still sounded calm, collected. The cloud was small, much smaller than the previous lander test, and a thousand times less dense than the horde assaulting the Distractor at that moment, but it could possibly disable her ship.
“Come on,” Barkley whispered from beside Wren. She tapped her console. “Fire it!”
They watched the small lander from their heavily zoomed camera as a tiny object shot from its basic modified pulse cannon. The object glowed brightly, taking the attention off Kat’s lander as she headed for the ground.
She’d made it! “Shut it down, Kat!”
“Engines are down. Hit the kill switch. We’re landed,” Kat said, unable to hide her excitement. Wren couldn’t blame her. Their plan had worked. Now they needed to find a way to get the Pilgrim up and out, but it was much larger and would draw far more attention than the small lander had.
The crew cheered, Wren joining them, but she sneaked away while they were still pumping fists into the air. She wanted to stay and celebrate with them, but there was still a lot of work to do. Her virus was now being tested on samples, and she needed to see the outcome.
If they worked as intended, she knew there was really only one choice left. She had to administer the virus to the Watcher in her possession. She’d been starting to feel sorry for it, but after his recent discussions with Charles, where he only spoke about the death and destruction of all humans, releasing the airborne virus was going to be easier to do.
Still, it weighed heavily on her mind. Could she unleash the virus on their home planet? Could she wipe out an entire civilization, one more advanced than her own? Given the options, she knew what they had to do, but… Wren entered the lab, all the joy of watching Kat land on the surface diminished, and suddenly, her footsteps were dull and substantial at the same time.
Without looking at the Watcher, behind his blue containment field at the edge of the lab, she made for the office, where her results would be waiting.
14
Flint
Flint stepped back, avoiding the incoming lander. It came in hot and heavy, but appeared to have avoided the Suckers. Amazing. They’d actually found a way to do it. He was impressed.
The lights on the lander shut off instantly, and he rushed to the small vessel as the door opened to reveal Kat. She ran at Flint, wrapping her arms around him. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said as they embraced.
Flint was shocked, but it quickly turned to anger. He held her at arm’s length. “What are you doing here? You shouldn’t have been the guinea pig used to test this thing out!”
“I’m a big girl, Flint. I volunteered. I thought you’d be happy to see me.” Kat was clearly upset with him, and Flint grimaced when she looked down to see blood seeping through the makeshift bandages around his torso. “What happened to you?”
“That’s a long story,” he started. “Actually, it’s not. I was attacked by a Wendigo.”
“What’s a Wendigo? Those monster cannibal things from stories?” Kat was still gawking at his stomach, and she tried to peek under the bandages to assess the damage, but Flint stopped her. They stung as sweat dripped down into the cuts. Damn, it was hot outside.
“That would explain their smell,” he muttered.
“Flint, you don’t look so good,” Kat said, setting her hand on his forehead. “You’re burning up.”
He tried to sit down, but it ended up being more of a flop to the ground. He heard voices around him as he closed his eyes. White stars danced there for his amusement.
“I’m Bull. We were just attacked by some baddies, and Flint was hurt. Guess it’s worse than we thought. Anything we need to bring from the ship?” Bull asked.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Kat. Just a pack with some new-tech radios or something.” Flint heard Kat’s voice, and before he knew it, he drifted into darkness.
He woke some time later and found it was much cooler. His aching guts and burning head were only distant pains as he lay on his back. His eyes fluttered open to reveal he was in one of the log cabins back at the colony. Flint tilted his head to see the damage and found nicely-wrapped bandages over the Wendigo claw marks.
A woman spoke. “Good, you’re awake.” Her gray hair glimmered in the lantern light. “This will help the pain.” She didn’t wait for Flint to accept the injection. It pricked him in the arm, hitting a vein, and he instantly felt some of the discomfort subside.
“Am I going to be okay? They were just scratches,” Flint asked.
“It’s the worst we’ve seen, but most of the people who’ve had real run-ins with the creatures haven’t survived. Their claws appear to have something coating them that causes infection. We’ve cleared it out of your system, but it’ll take a few more injections to get you back to one hundred percent.” The doctor tapped the end of the bed and looked at a chart. It was on paper. How did they do anything without power? Shouldn’t they have brought him down to the ship underwater?
“Where’s Kat?” Flint asked, not sure if she knew the name.
“You mean the young woman who’s been pacing outside for the last three hours?” The doctor smiled at him. “I’ll let her know you’re ready. Shout if you need anything.”
“Thank you, Doc.”
She left and was quickly replaced by Kat’s shadow in the doorway. The room had a white, sterile feeling and smell to it. Flint’s section was quartered off with taupe curtains, but the bed across from his remained empty. “I come down and you get so sick you pass out?” Kat asked. “That’s not a nice way to be greeted.”
Flint struggled to sit up, and Kat came over, helping prop him up onto two thick pillows. His stomach stretched, pulling his stitches. Tears formed at his eyes, and he blinked them away. Thank goodness for the painkillers.
“Sorry I was so hard on you. I do think they were remiss to send you down here. You were the second pilot. What if they need to make a quick escape?” Flint asked.
Kat rested at the foot of the bed. “That ship doesn’t need two pilots, Flint. And remember, I was only there because I came with the one and only Flint Lancaster. I wanted to see the colony, and to see you.”
“What’s happening up there? How did they take everything?” Flint imagined the looks on the crew’s faces when they learned about the time situation.
“It’s a little bit of a mixed bag, to be honest. Half of them want to get out of here, head back toward the Rift, and wait for it to open. The other half want to stay, find a way to get down here, and have a new life,” Kat said.
“And which half do you fit in with?” Flint asked.<
br />
“I don’t know yet. We have fighters, and apparently, the Eureka can hold its own in warfare, but it’s a large ship. Not ideal for skirmishes. What do you think? Do we return?”
Flint squeezed his eyes shut, adjusting his position slightly. “I can’t stay here. I understand the draw to it, though. Once you accept the situation, it could be fun.” He glanced down at his stomach. “As much fun as you can have while there are things stalking around at night that can gut you.”
Kat leaned on an arm and looked toward the wooden roof. “Maybe this is what I need. Back to the basics. I can chop wood and farm. Who knows… maybe even meet a man and have a baby someday.” She looked at Flint in this moment, and he forced himself to smile at her.
“Any of these men would be the luckiest on the planet. But… I mean, that’s not saying much. There are only like a thousand of them here,” Flint kidded, and Kat looked like she was going to find something to throw at him.
Kat quickly changed the subject. “Wren’s close. She thinks she’ll be able to test the virus in a week.”
“Something terrifies me about a virus being created on a ship.”
“She’ll keep it contained.”
“Still, I’m glad I’m down here for this part,” Flint said. “What’s next if the virus works?”
“Benson’s gone,” Kat said, and the timing made him think it was relevant to their current discussion.
“What do you mean, gone? ”he asked.
“He left in the modified fighter Ace came in. We don’t know where he went yet, but apparently, Charles determined that he’d visited the Watcher in private and went to extreme measures to cover his tracks. We think Benson knows where their world is, though what he’s going to do when he gets there is another story,” Kat said.
Flint’s head reeled, and he didn’t think it was just from the drugs in his system. “Can they trace where he went?”
She shook her head, and Flint felt the familiar feeling of anxiety creeping into this mind. “No. They’re searching through his personal files. Charles is working to extract anything of value. He can talk to the Watcher now.”
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