by Elin Wyn
The cotton batting pressed tighter against me, muffling me from the world.
Perhaps I could even trust their loved ones, Dottie, Evie, and the rest, but not completely.
Never completely, not anymore.
No humans could be trusted. Not with the Ancient Enemies around.
The procession ascended a lightly graded hill and reached a place at the top. The Puppet Master had used his vegetation control to pull the earth asunder, forming a smooth fissure in which to lay my father’s body. His remains would be used to renew the planet, and help to keep our colony going. It had been my father’s wish, before his madness.
Thankfully, no one expected me to speak. I stood near his casket as one official after another made a speech about how wonderful a man Mayor Anatosian had been.
After the third such speaker, I began to long for the funeral to end. I felt terrible for wanting it, as if I were betraying the memory of my father by not giving him his due, but I couldn’t control myself.
But I held it together, all the way through the speeches and eulogies and nigh endless pandering to the electorate. Only when the Puppet Master’s vines gently lifted my father’s casket and lowered it into the fissure did the tears flow.
The fissure closed over, with no sign that it had ever been, but then a twisting vine the size of a man’s wrist thrust through the ground where my father had disappeared. The vine wound about in the air, forming a tight serpentine pattern, and my mouth fell open in shock as the image of my father’s face appeared.
Using his vines, the Puppet Master had formed a permanent tombstone, a tree which would grow over time but always retain my father’s likeness at ground level. The face etched on the tree seemed happy and at peace.
I leaned on Cazak all the way home. Then I draped across him on the sofa and cried some more.
Cazak
Street lamps cast weak illumination through the windows of Sybil's place. It was somewhere in the early hours of the morning, probably stretching toward dawn. Sybil slept in my arms, her head nestled against my chest. One arm and one leg were thrust out across me, preventing me from moving overly much for fear of waking her.
The funeral had been hard for her, perhaps harder than her father’s death. No, scratch that, there was nothing that could be worse than watching someone you loved bludgeon themselves to death, mere puppets on a string subject to the arcane and malevolent whims of unseen incorporeal beings.
I wondered if I, too, would be forced to watch someone I loved forced to kill themselves. Someone like Sybil. Or Dottie, or any of the human friends I’d made on this world.
I knew that I loved the woman I held in my arms, but she had changed irrevocably from her trauma. There was no way to go through an experience such as that, to be subjected to abject, unmitigated horror, and come out the other side unscathed.
Sybil was going to need my help, and Dottie’s help, and the help of many others to recover. She seemed warm and ready to accept help from me, and even my cousin Jalok.
But when it came to her interactions with her fellow members of humanity, Sybil had become cold and distant. She remained polite, and could stretch her lips in a smile just as her politician father had done, but I could see the emptiness in her gaze. Sybil’s smile no longer reached her eyes when she was around other humans.
I could see why she would feel that way. It had to be hard, knowing that your entire species was vulnerable to being subsumed, consumed, and disposed of like so much flotsam. Worse, I’m certain that Sybil, being a bright woman, had considered the possibility that she herself could succumb to the wiles of the Ancient Enemies.
The chill I’d felt when Fen described the Gorgoxians in the council meeting chamber had never really left, no matter how long I spent in front of a heating unit. My soul had been blasted with the frigid reality that even our greatest foes, the Xathi, might not be the worst thing dwelling in this galaxy.
Crystalline pincers weren’t a painless way to go—far from it. And the Xathi could take control of different species, as well, but there were outward signs. Now Sybil would have to get used to a world where any of her species could turn into an enemy at any time, with no outward manifestation.
I wanted to help her. I so desperately wanted to help her, but I had no idea how to go about doing so. My weapons, my training as a soldier, my experiences during fighting, would avail me nothing.
Eventually, in the gray hours of pre-dawn, she stirred and lifted her head to find me already awake.
“Did you sleep at all?” Her voice was thick with slumber still.
“Some. How are you feeling?”
“I don’t know.” She sighed, and rested her head on my chest once more. “Better, maybe. It’s hard to tell. I’m not sure how I feel about anything anymore.”
“So, I was thinking.”
“Yes?”
“I have to go where my duty takes me, but when I do get to go home, I would like it to be with you, here in Kaster.”
“You want to live with me?”
I smiled slightly at the cautious optimism in her voice.
“Of course I do. I love you.”
“I love you, too. But it’s not going to work, you moving to Kaster.”
My face scrunched up in confusion.
“And why is that?”
“Because I’m not staying in Kaster.”
I chewed over that particular bombshell. What did she mean, she wasn’t going to stay in Kaster?
“Why? Why leave your home?”
“Because, the life that I had here was with my father. Everywhere I look, everywhere I go, I’m reminded of him. And the house just seems, just seems cold and eerie without him living there. There’s been too much misery in that place for me to call it home anymore.”
“I see. What are you going to do with the house, and your father’s business holdings?”
“I’ve already sold the house and my controlling interest in his companies.”
“You have? That’s a sudden decision.”
“I didn’t need any of that weighing me down. Besides, my financial future is quite secure. I won’t even have to dip into my trust fund, now that I have resources of my own.”
“Where are you going to go?”
“I want to move to Nyheim.”
She lifted her head up and locked gazes with me once more.
“If you want to come with me, I would like that, very, very much.”
We kissed softly, and then she settled back against my shoulder. She was soft and warm and secure there, lying naked in bed with me. It may not have been paradise, but it was going to have to do.
The next day, we rode with a supply shuttle to Nyheim. Sybil had already arranged for her things to be shipped to Nyheim and held in storage until she found a suitable home for the both of us.
I wanted to be with Sybil. I knew that for a fact, it was engraved on my heart. But I had to ponder the fact that she might never recover from her trauma.
My dream had come true, I was with the beautiful woman of my dreams, but she’d been damaged. I had no qualms about helping her pick up the pieces. I just hoped that I would be up to the task.
As our shuttle began its slow descent toward the skyline of Nyheim, a pair of military craft shot past us, going somewhere in a hurry. For some reason, the sight chilled me to the bone. I had an awful feeling that they weren’t just going on a routine patrol.
Sybil and I exchanged glances. I could see in her somber gaze that we were both thinking the same thing. It was the Gorgoxians. It had to be.
I tried to convince myself that it was a coincidence, or happenstance. After all, there were many reasons why military craft would have to be hastily deployed. It could be more trouble with anti-alien protestors, or maybe some of the strange hybrids Tyehn had fought in the jungles.
But I knew, and so did Sybil. The world had changed, but we just didn’t know how much.
Our shuttle dropped toward the tarmac and settled gently on its lan
ding pylons. We headed down the ramp as the supply crew went to work on their cargo.
I was surprised to find Jalok waiting for me, wearing his full combat gear. He had a pack with him, which I recognized as my own, complete with weapons from the armory.
“What’s going on?” Sybil squeezed my hand so tightly I feared it would crack.
“You haven’t heard?” Jalok’s voice held a note of hostility, but I don’t think it was directed at me.
“Obviously not. What happened? Obviously, we’re being deployed, but why?”
Jalok sighed, and looked off toward the horizon.
“It’s Einhiv. We lost the city.”
“What?” My jaw hung slack as my heart started to pound in my chest. “We lost it? The whole city?’
“That’s what I said, isn’t it?”
“How? What happened? Why didn’t security forces take action?”
Jalok’s jaw worked silently before he replied.
“Because the security forces were the ones to take the city. It’s the Gorgoxians. They’ve taken over everyone with any power or authority in Einhiv, and probably most of the general populace, as well. We assume that any nonhuman denizens have been captured or killed.”
Einhiv.
Gone.
Just like that, and without a shot fired.
We were in dire straits. Sybil and I clung to each other, until Jalok pointed out our transport was awaiting us.
The new war had begun.
The war that Fen said would make the Xathi invasion look like a schoolyard brawl.
And I had more to lose than ever.
Sybil
It was early spring. The snow was starting to melt, but weather reports said that we were in line for one more massive snowstorm before winter was officially over. The city of Nyheim was not Kaster, and at the moment, that was a good thing.
Kaster held too many memories of my mother and father for me. I had been able to handle staying there after mom died because dad was there. But, now? No. I didn’t want anything to do with the place. Not for a long while.
Over the last month, I’d bought a place to live, Cazak had moved in, and Dottie was trying to help me find things to do. I appreciated her concern and her love, but I don’t want to do anything. If I did something that got me into contact with other people, then I’d get to know them, and that would mean that, if and when they were taken over by the Gorgoxians, or whatever the hell those things were that killed my father, I would have to deal with that again.
And that was something I wanted nothing to do with, if possible.
Keeping Dottie and some of the other human women as part of my life was already enough of a risk. Knowing that Cazak was a soldier and could potentially die any time he went out, that was enough of a worry. I didn’t need to add the nonstop wonder of whether or not someone around me was going to be taken over added to my life.
Despite the fact that it was already there. Any time I went out of the house, I had to wonder if one of the people walking down the street, or handing me my food at the deli, or stocking the shelves at the store, was about to turn and go apeshit crazy.
I liked that phrase. We didn’t have apes here on Ankau, but my father’s digital library had lots of information about Earth and its animals. I had grown up wanting to become a zoologist when I was little. Mom getting sick and dad going into politics changed all of that. I still liked animals, though.
And apes, when they were pushed to a point of going berserk, they looked as though they were crazy. Hence, when someone lost their minds and did things that looked ridiculously crazy, people said they went apeshit crazy. It was fun thinking back to those things.
Other than Cazak, his cousin Jalok, Dottie, and my memories and my study of animals, nothing really was fun anymore.
I walked out of the kitchen and into one of the rooms that Cazak had turned into his office. He had installed computers and systems so he could keep track of things that were happening. Despite his nonstop insistence on simply being a regular soldier, he really was an exemplary soldier that would be a fantastic officer.
“Hey there, shweethahrt,” he said as I walked into his office. He tried, desperately, to imitate the accent from one of my old-time movies from Earth, but he just couldn’t get the inflection right. I smiled at him, though. He could butcher it every single time and I wouldn’t care. He was mine and I knew that we loved one another, and that he wouldn’t be taken away from me by some mystical enemy that stole people’s minds.
“Hi, baby,” I said, a smile on my face. “I noticed you didn’t eat breakfast. Again.”
He shrugged at me, but at least he had the grace and dignity enough to look a little ashamed. “Yeah, sorry. I was going to eat, when some of the alarms went off in here.”
“Uh-huh. And what did your magical alarms tell you today?”
The look of disappointment on his face almost told me before he did. “Einhiv.”
“More people?” I asked.
He nodded and turned to one of the computers on his left, my right. He pointed at it. “See all of this right here?” he asked, showing me nearly four dozen streams of yellow heading into the city of Einhiv. “That’s every single person that’s traveled from various places around the continent and to Einhiv.”
“But how many people? Those are just lines.”
“Oh. Sorry.” He clicked a few buttons and the lines were suddenly dots. Hundreds of dots. I knew my eyes were wide in disbelief because, when he turned to look back at me, he nodded in the same disbelieving state that I felt. “Yeah. We’re talking hundreds of people, and we don’t even know who they all are.”
“Wow,” I breathed. Then I looked at him and gave him my you-need-to-listen-to-my-words look. “Breakfast. Now. Let’s go.” I turned away from him and made my way back towards the kitchen. “Now,” I repeated when I didn’t hear his chair move.
“Yes, dear,” he said in resignation, but I knew he was teasing. “You know this is bad news, right?”
“I do,” I said. They weren’t my friends. They weren’t my family. I didn’t have family anymore. Well, I had Cazak and Dottie, but they were the family I had chosen. But what had happened to my father could happen to the families of all those people on the pad. Thinking about that day in the detention center made me realize what I had to do.
“Seriously?”
I turned around and looked at him. “Look. My mother died years ago due to what we now know as NOX. My father died a month ago due to some ancient being that takes over bodies. Other people are losing themselves to those people. I get it. It sucks. It’s horrible. It’s terrible. And I never realized just how dangerous they were. I want you to let me help you. I have considerable resources and I’ve seen up close what they can do. But right now, my only care at this moment is whether or not you eat breakfast.” I turned around and walked around the island to the refrigeration unit. “And let me fill you in on a tiny little secret, my love. If you don’t eat breakfast, I’m going to be really angry with you. That’s what I care about.”
I stared at him, daring him to argue with me. He didn’t.
“You’re right. I need to eat. Okay. What do we attempt to cook this morning before we give up and head to the diner?”
“Ha, you’re hilarious. I’m happy to tell you that I’m actually pretty good at biscuits and gravy. I’ll teach you.”
“Yeah?” he smiled. “I’d like that.”
We spent the next hour making, and then eating, biscuits and gravy. I made my mother’s famous cheese biscuits while I walked him through making the gravy. He was pretty good at it.
After breakfast, he went back into his office and looked at things some more. He really was dedicated to his work, just like an officer. It was his day off, and instead of spending the time with me, he was looking over reports and things. Yeah, he was officer material, he just didn’t want to admit it.
“Why are you working?” I asked when I was done with the dishes.
�
��Sorry. Didn’t mean to be. I just wanted to check on some things and I guess I got caught up.”
“Come on, leave work alone. I want to do something, just the two of us. And, no, not that,” I added quickly before he could make a quip about sleeping together, again. You would figure he would have been worn out, but I guess Skotans have unbelievable drive and stamina.
“Ah, okay,” he said, dejected. But he smiled. “Are you sure you’re doing okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well,” he said as he leaned back in his chair. “You’re not exactly the same girl that I met. You’re not as open and outgoing anymore.”
“I have to reason to be,” I answered. I hated this conversation. I had already had this with him, in my mind, a few dozen times and it never went well. “But I realized something when you showed me your pad about everyone going to Einhiv.”
“What’s that?”
“There’s something that will make me feel a whole hell of a lot better,” I said.
“Oh, really?” Cazak asked. “What is it?”
I paused for a moment.
“Revenge,” I said simply.
He got up from his chair and came over, putting his hands on my shoulders and rubbing them. “I’m worried about you. I know that this last month has been rough, and different, but I just want to make sure that you’re okay. That’s all.”
“I know that,” I answered as I got up on my tiptoes and kissed him. I figured that if his lips were busy kissing mine, he wouldn’t ask me questions. “But I’m fine. I really am. I just need to realize that for the longest time, I had no direction in my life. I have that now. And I want to avenge my father. I want to make those ancient bastards pay for what they did.”
He kissed me again. “Okay. Okay.” We kissed a couple more times before he finally pulled back, smiled, and asked, “So, what do you want to do now that you know you want vengeance?”
“First, I’m going to read and learn everything I can. I’m going to talk to this Puppet Master. I’m going to prepare myself. I’m going to beg and plead you and your general to help you and get access to what you guys know.” I paused for the right words.