by KJ Nelson
“That will nearly wipe us out,” Brody said in shock. Cameron nodded acknowledging the truth of his statement.
“Don’t take any of the energy bars, or the granola. Also, leave the peanut butter.” Cameron said listing off the things she wanted to try with the replicator. “And a case of water.”
Based on what Drac told her the night before, the replicator could duplicate all organic matter. She wasn’t sure if that was true when it came to processed foods or not. She had so many questions that needed to be answered.
“Okay,” Brody said, confusion showing in his tone. “You’re sure?”
“100 percent,” Cameron said, with conviction. Even if the replicator didn’t save them, they were going to go out with full bellies.
Brody left her, heading in the direction of their secret supply cache. Cameron kept moving toward the back of the shipping yard. She knew it would seem like they’d successfully found the supplies on the raid, and she hoped the goodwill she earned from the food would buy her their allegiance until they could start feeding people with the replicator.
As she got closer, Cameron’s eyes welled up with tears at the smell coming from Drac’s container. She pulled the key off the ring on her pack and opened the lock. She worried for a moment that the fumes might have suffocated him and felt a slight bit of regret for putting him in with the fertilizer.
She opened the door slowly letting the light filter in through the cloudy air. She unlatched one of her pistols not knowing if Drac would try to surprise attack her. She opened the door a little further, not seeing him directly in front of the opening.
For a brief moment, she worried he’d somehow escaped or that someone let him out, but her fears were assuaged when she saw his small form seated on the floor of the container on her left.
He was sitting with his legs crossed and his eyes closed. His cuffed wrists were placed lightly in his lap, his fingers intertwined. A low humming noise came from his mouth, uninterrupted by breath. Cameron was unsure how he kept the noise up for so long without breathing.
She cleared her throat loudly and the humming noise faded out slowly. Drac came to as if he were coming out of a trance.
“Sape.” He said flatly when he finally opened his eyes, putting emphasis on the last letter almost making the word two syllables. The hatred burning there was scorching. Cameron loved to see it. She felt the same way.
They stared at each other unblinking for a few moments. Cameron itched to put a .45 caliber bullet through his left eye but thought better of it. She didn’t want someone coming to investigate the noise.
Drac’s small stature still took her off guard. As he uncurled his short legs and stood, Cameron once again marveled that such a small race could destroy the entire planet so easily. Superior technology and a lack of morals made for a very potent enemy.
“Are you going to stand there contemplating my form for the duration of this interaction?” Drac said in his unusual way of speaking.
“I was considering where to put the bullets when I kill you,” Cameron responded evenly. “I think one for each eye will do,” she said, with a wicked grin. Flashes of the agony she’d endured in the last two years filled her vision. The complete destruction of not only her world but also her entire personality caused her anger to flare to an almost unbearable level.
She thought of the phone that would never ring again. Everything she’d lost, in an instant.
Drac smiled tightly showing a complete lack of concern at her threats.
“I seriously doubt you are that stupid. To waste my life so needlessly would be below even a simple Sape like yourself.” Drac continued to stare at her as he mocked her intelligence.
“Taking your life would be a waste?” Cameron said, thinking through his words carefully. “So that means you have something to offer?
Drac’s expression changed just enough for Cameron to see the surprise behind her deduction. Apparently, he wasn’t prepared for her to read his intentions so easily.
“I think you need to admit to yourself that we aren’t as stupid as you’ve always thought.” Cameron’s mouth spread in a large grin at Drac’s apparent discomfort.
“Oh, the human can interpret inference, how amazing,” Drac said, trying to cover for his lapse. Cameron knew she’d won the engagement even though Drac would never admit it openly.
“That’s right, I can. So the question is, what value do you have?” As Cameron spoke she backed out of the container. She was starting to get light-headed from the fumes coming from the huge mound of fertilizer.
Drac hastily followed her. He didn’t want to show weakness in front of her, but Cameron could see the longing in his eyes for fresh air.
“What were you doing when I first opened the door?” Cameron asked, the first of many questions she had for Drac. She wanted to get him talking. It seemed to be one of his weaknesses, he liked the sound of his own voice.
“I was performing the Gratte Maghu,” Drac said simply.
“And that is…?” Cameron asked, shaking her head at the strange-sounding words.
“It is a meditation and breathing technique learned by all Neandratons at a young age,” Drac said, opening up just as Cameron intended. “We use it to slow our breathing and detach from our emotions.”
“Does that make it easier to kill entire civilizations?” Cameron asked sarcastically. She knew the question didn’t help with her goal of getting Drac to open up, but she couldn’t help herself.
“The term civilization infers that a group of people has some sort of civility,” Drac spoke quietly. “From my understanding of your race, you wouldn’t qualify as a civilization.”
Cameron shook her head at Drac’s words. The Neandratons didn’t even view them as people. It shouldn’t surprise her, after what she’d learned the night before, but the way they viewed humans was as if they were insects to destroy without a second thought.
“I’m sure you spent ample time making sure of that before you showed up and atomized everything within 5 miles of every major city.” The bitterness in her voice was evident.
Drac said nothing in response. Just stood there looking off into the distance.
Cameron knew she was getting emotional, which didn’t help her at all. She shook her head and tried to force down the hatred she felt. She had a goal, and she would not let her feelings get in the way of the information she sought.
Cameron walked with Drac toward the Ashley river at the back of the compound. It was another beautiful afternoon, the sun glittered off the water. Drac walked in front of Cameron and took in the scene quietly.
“This planet is beautiful, I will admit.” He said in a near whisper. “It reminds me of Eden.”
Cameron had no clue what to say to that. She assumed that was his home planet. It was strange for her to think about Drac being homesick for a planet she assumed was light years away from them.
“Eden is similar to Earth?” Cameron asked, hoping to get back on track. She sat down on the cool grass, pulling her legs up to her chest as she spoke.
“Yes, we brought many of the plants and animals from Eden when we first colonized the planet,” Drac spoke lovingly of his home-world. It was the first time Cameron had heard the softness in his voice. Drac sat down softly several feet away from her.
“How did your people find earth?” Cameron asked, wanting to learn more about the history Drac knew. It was so mind-bending to learn the true history of Earth from his point of view.
“We have owned the planet for millennia since the Treaty of Galcina was put into place. Earth had changed hands many times prior to the treaty being signed. I’m not sure when it was discovered, it has been part of our galactic data since the founding of the Angstrom Armada.” Drac spoke easily of things Cameron could barely contemplate. She caught herself staring at him as he spoke.
“How…” She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. “How many planets do the Neandratons own?” Cameron was trying to keep a running list of questions
in her head. The more she could learn the better prepared she would be for whatever came next.
Drac stared at her, noticing her slip in concentration, but not commenting on it. He knew his information was the only thing keeping him alive. Cameron could tell he was measuring every word he spoke, making sure to not give away too many details.
“We own 57 planets in total. 18 of those we inhabit ourselves, the others are resource planets like Earth.” Drac said, turning to look back at the water. A slight grin played over his features as Cameron took in his words.
39 planets that were just like Earth, doomed to be destroyed every few thousand years.
“Why does one race need that many resources?” Cameron asked, struggling to keep the anger out of her voice.
“The universe is larger than you can imagine. It takes decades to get from one place to the next, our Armada doesn’t survive without those resources. Other planets need them to survive.” Drac showed no compassion as he talked about the business of harvesting planets.
“So now that your people are leaving Earth, are they going to a different planet to do the same thing?” Cameron asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
Drac considered Cameron carefully before answering her question.
“Yes.” He finally said after several moments. “There are three other resource planets in this quadrant that are ready for harvesting. Our mission was to gather as much organic material as possible, then return to Eden for dispersal.” Drac’s eyes darkened as he spoke, anger clearly burning in his mind at the mention of his mission.
Cameron’s heart fell in her chest as she listened to Drac. Three other planets were in for the same fate as Earth. She could feel the heat rising in her face at the thought of the Neandratons doing what they did on Earth three more times.
Cameron focused on her breathing, trying not to let the information cloud her mind with anger.
“You said yesterday the last time you were here was thousands of years ago? Why did you wait so long?” Cameron asked.
“It takes a long time for the planets to recover after a harvest. You also have to consider the time it takes for us to make the trip this far out from Eden.” Drac said plainly.
“How long did it take you to get here?” Cameron asked, wondering how long the Neandratons traveled to destroy planets.
“For me, traveling at 112 Vinegral Constant it took 14 Earth years to travel from Eden. In terms of earth years, it took over…” He paused as he calculated in his mind. “It would have been over 476 years for us to reach the planet.”
“476 years?” Cameron said in astonishment. How is that possible?
“I don’t have the time or patience to explain time dilation when traveling faster than the speed of light,” Drac said, rolling his eyes. Cameron could tell he enjoyed finding a reason to rub in her face her lack of knowledge.
It was still hard to accept that the only way Drac was able to rationalize what his people did, what he was in charge of, was to downplay the intelligence of Humanity. If he had to admit to himself that he’d destroyed a race just as intelligent as his own, it would ruin him.
“You were on your ship for 14 years straight?” Cameron asked, getting back to her line of questioning. She wasn’t sure how long he would keep answering her questions, but she planned to ask them until he dried up.
“It’s no bother,” Drac said, smiling faintly. “Our ships are a magnificent place to be. The planned trip was 50 years dock to dock, and I would have gladly never left the Armada during that entire time.” The fury rose again in Drac’s eyes.
Cameron had him right where she wanted him. She needed to stoke the anger that he felt at being left behind by his people.
“You said last night that you made a misjudgment in character?” Cameron asked, getting to the crucial point in her questions.
“Yes, I did,” Drac said, turning his gaze on her with her with ferocity.
“What happened?” The simple question rolled off Cameron’s tongue effortlessly. For the first time, she asked a question because she wanted to know the answer, not just because she was trying to get information to use later.
“I was betrayed by someone I trusted,” Drac said simply. Cameron could tell he wasn’t going to give her any more information on the subject.
“So they abandoned you to die?” Cameron asked pushing forward with great care. She didn’t want him to clam up at such a crucial moment.
“Yes, that was their goal.” Cameron could barely hear Drac as he said the words.
“What do you owe them then?” This was the crux of her questioning. He’d been abandoned on the planet, left to die. She wasn’t sure exactly what had happened or why, but she knew the pain that he felt was raw.
“I owe them one thing.” Drac grinned wickedly showing all of his teeth. It was a predatory look, one that spoke of pain and the pleasure he would feel at inflicting it.
As Cameron took in his expression she had another moment of realization. Drac hadn’t given up on his quest for revenge. He still had a way, in his mind, to pay back those that were responsible for his exile.
Drac had a plan that didn’t involve staying on Earth and accepting his fate. She had him.
19
“You know a way of getting off the planet, don’t you.” It was a risk to tell him what she’d only just realized, but her intuition told her to run with it.
Drac stared at her in open shock. Since their first meeting, Cameron knew she was far from what he’d expected humanity to be. That one look told her he was reconsidering everything he thought he knew about her race.
“It seems I’ve underestimated you, Cameron,” Drac said quietly. Her name coming out of his mouth left her with a strange feeling. His accent formed the vowels in odd ways, but the way he spoke her name made her breath catch in her throat.
Cameron blinked her eyes, refocusing her attention.
“I believe you have.”
“It seems as if I’ve said too much.” Drac narrowed his eyes as he spoke measuring his words again carefully. “I’d like to go back to my stinky cage now.” Drac stood and turned his back walking toward the fertilizer container.
“Nope,” Cameron said plainly. “We need to come to an agreement.”
Drac stopped walking and turned to face her slowly.
“What agreement?”
“I want information on how to save my people. I want to know everything you know about the replicator.” Cameron smiled as she laid out her terms. She was careful not to say what she would give in return. The knowledge that Drac had something he was desperate for, gave her all the power she needed to negotiate.
“In exchange, I get what exactly?” Cameron could tell Drac knew she had him. She didn’t have to give up anything.
“I’ll let you tell me your plan to get revenge. If I’m positive you won’t be able to hurt my people, I’ll let you go.” Cameron was selling harder than she’d ever sold anything in her life.
“That sounds like a great deal for you.” Drac rolled his eyes as he spoke. “But what choice do I have? It’s either that or die, correct?”
Cameron smiled wide and nodded her head slowly, in agreement. Drac looked down at his cuffed hands frowning. She knew it pained him to have been bested by someone he considered so inferior to himself.
“I’ll do what I can. But understand, I know very little in terms of how the technology works. My area of focus is strategy and command, not organicology.”
Cameron nodded, she understood what he meant. She had used computers and cellphones for years without understanding how they turned ones and zeros into a tool that revolutionized society.
“Start by giving me something useful,” Cameron said as they approached the fertilizer container. “I need a show of good faith.”
Drac stopped in front of the door, his face pinching at the strong odor. He considered her for a brief moment.
“Your overly large friend, what did you call him, Stafford?
&nbs
p; “Yes, what about him.” Cameron wasn’t sure where he was going. She didn’t see how Stafford had anything to do with the replicator.
“It looked like he had a pretty nasty break in his arm. Is that correct?”
“Yes, the bone has been set and he’s resting. What does this have to do with the replicator?”
“It’s simple, the replicator is a far more useful tool than you realize. It replicates organic matter.” As Drac spoke Cameron realized what he was saying, and the implications behind it.
“Bone?” She asked, her voice raising an octave in excitement.
“Yes,” Drac said, seeming to enjoy the effect his revelation had on her. “It’s tricky though. You could as easily kill him as save his arm.”
“You want to be involved in the process?” Cameron knew his angle immediately. Drac wanted to use his knowledge to keep himself out of confinement. More chances for him to escape and enact his plan for revenge.
“You may be smart for a Sape, but you still need my help.” Drac chuckled slightly as he spoke.
“Or I could just let the bone heal naturally, which means you gave me nothing.” It was probably the best option anyway. She doubted Stafford would want the device used on him.
“I’ll give you some time to think about sharing some better information. I’ve got somewhere I need to be.” Cameron looked at the sky as she spoke. The sun was moving below the horizon. She needed to meet up with Brody to make sure everything was set up before the meeting.
“I’ll come to talk to you in the morning to see what you’ve come up with to help me out. Make sure it’s something worth my time.” She felt glee at the look on Drac’s face at having to spend an entire night in the container.
He said nothing as he moved into the dark mouth of his new home.
“Sleep tight,” Cameron said, as she slammed the door closed behind him. She wanted to keep him on his toes, uncertain of her plans for him. She wanted his complete cooperation. Then she would gladly allow him to tell her his plan for escaping the planet right before she killed him.
She pictured the bullets slamming into him and patted both of her pistols, reassuring them that they would have their chance very soon.