“I’ve been stuck up here all week and you want me to calm down?” She squirmed in her purple shell. “How did nobody find me?”
“Our code was rejecting,” said Septivus. “Probably nobody was comings in?”
She shrieked in frustration and doubled her efforts.
“You, uh, may not want to struggle too much,” I said.
“Why not?” she snapped.
“You’re four meters off the ground. Are you sure you want to break out before we’re ready?”
That shut her up quickly, which was good, because I needed a minute to collect my thoughts. My adrenaline high from my fight with the invader had worn off, and my bruised rib was reminding me it existed. I didn’t want to catch her if I could avoid it.
“You is having plans?” asked Septivus.
“Doesn’t seem friendly to leave her like that while we get help. Might not have a choice, though.”
“Please,” she said, all the fight gone from her voice. “You can’t leave me alone with that thing.”
I glanced back at its body. “It can’t hurt you now. Hey Septivus, how are your suckers feeling?”
“I see where you is goings with this,” said the Tralingan. “You want for me to climb up the wall, yes? I is not thinking I is able to support both our weightings.”
I grit my teeth. “Alright, Chief Scientist Polgar…”
“You never use my full title,” she said. “I know I’m not going to like whatever you say next.”
“I’m going to use the impact pistol to break the shell, and then we’ll catch you.”
“I knew it! How do you know that you’ll be able to break through it?”
“Hope it can, or else we’re going to be going for a ladder and some industrial tools,” I said. “I’m obeying your orders to not leave you alone.”
She glanced nervously at the invader and let out a sigh. “Fine, just make it quick.” She closed her eyes and bit her lip nervously.
I decided we were better off that way, since she’d fall limp. I lined up my shot, being careful to aim away from her face. The ozone scent of the impact pistol barely registered in the stench of the reclamation room. The cocoon shattered with a sound like a breaking plate, dumping a shrieking Polgar straight down at me.
My rib wasn’t any fonder of the idea than she was. I kept ahold of her, but I fell ass-first into the metal floor. My tailbone joined the chorus of complaints with my rib, though not as loudly.
Septivus rushed to my side and shook me with his tentacles. “Gene! You is oaky?”
“Okay,” I corrected weakly, tears of pain leaking from my eyes.
“Is good to hear,” he replied.
Polgar opened one brown eye, and then the other. “I’m alive!”
“So it seems. You ready to stand up?” Please? Pretty please?
Just barely, it turned out. Septivus had to support her, which was not easy for the short alien. I had thought she seemed a bit light, and her jumpsuit did not cling to her as tightly as it had the week before.
I winced out of sympathy. “You really were up there a week, weren’t you?”
She nodded, lowering the collar of her jumpsuit to reveal a neck wound the width of a drinking straw. “It kept me under most of the time. It woke me up sometimes to force feed me. It kept slapping this metal disk on my head. I have no idea what it was doing.”
Probably backing up her memories again. I didn’t say anything, since I didn’t see any need to freak her out when she was in a fragile state. “Didn’t force feed you enough, it looks like,” I said. “Do you know what it is? Where it’s from?”
She shook her head, sending her chestnut hair in all directions. “It never said anything to me at all.”
“Was talkings with us,” said Septivus.
“Yeah, aren’t we just lucky?” I could see that neither of them were going to help me get up, so I grit my teeth and steadied myself on one of the waste vats.
My chest burned in protest, but I told it to shut up. I had to close my eyes for a moment. When I opened them again, I saw something. Or rather, I didn’t see something.
“Where the hell’s that alien?” I drew my pistol and scanned the room, but my search came up with nothing.
I’ll give Polgar this, she was quick on the uptake. She got Septivus’ pistol out of his grip in a swift motion, which made me wonder if he was right about leaving me with both guns. “It couldn’t have just vanished!”
“It could have,” said Septivus, his third lens slipping into place again, turning his eyes into soulless expanses of white, with only the hint of his iris. “It could looking like the Chief Scientist for a week, yes? Goodly enough for to fool us while we worked with her. Smaller trick to turn invisible.”
Polgar winced as hard as I did at the sight. Finally, something we could agree on.
“Is gone now. The floor is heated where it lay,” he said. “Is ectotherm, I is seeing. Good. Much easier to spotting.”
I nodded along with Polgar. I didn’t know the term, but I didn’t want to be the odd man out.
“The door’s closed,” said Polgar. “You’re wasting your time; if your infra-red vision could see it, you already would have.”
I followed my advice from earlier and looked up. If it could stick Polgar up there, it was the only place it could be. I wasn’t a second too soon. With a guttural retch, the pale creature shot a stream of purple liquid right at me. If I hadn’t been ready for it, the steaming acid would have dissolved me instead of tarnishing the floor. It was a different color than before, probably from the compost it had just drunk.
I didn’t have long ponder the color change. It sprang at me, multi-jointed fingers flashing through the air just shy of my nose. Its mouth opened further than seemed natural, and the proboscis-like tongue shifted out of the way of its throat. Uttering a sound like a cat coughing up a hairball, it launched another gob of purple at me. I only had time to raise my left arm. It didn’t burn like I had expected. Instead, the solid chunk hit my arm like a thrown baseball, slamming me against one of the tanks. I kept hold of my gun, but just barely.
The crack of Polgar’s impact pistol echoed through the room, and the creature staggered back. Ichor seeped from cracks in its chest, but it kept its feet.
“Think faster next time, Murphy! It almost got you twice there!”
“Why yes, Cindy, I am okay,” I grunted, rubbing feeling back into my arm.
“No wonder your crew hates you,” the invader said. “I am kinder to them than you-”
If it thought it could play mind games with Cindy Polgar, it hadn’t downloaded the right memories. She pulled the trigger three more times. The derringer only had one charge left, but she was vindictive like that. She wasn’t accurate, though, and the container behind the alien rang like a gong.
“Thanks for the opening!” My shot struck it in square in the chest and it collapsed to the ground again.
“Damn barbarians,” it grunted as it rolled on all fours. It didn’t stand upright like I had expected, but instead bent its arms and legs at odd angles.
“We aren’t the ones eating garbage,” I spat.
It lunged forward with an enraged screech. I stepped forward and lashed out with my foot, the only weapon left to me.
My old soccer coach would have been proud of my form, but the damn thing was too fast! It skittered around before spitting another gob of hardened gunk that caught me between the shoulders. My vision went dark again as my rib stabbed at me. When I could see clearly, Septivus was wrestling with the invader on the floor.
“Don’t let it get you with those spikes again,” I wheezed.
“Is remembering,” the Tralingan grunted as it rode on the struggling alien, straining to keep his tentacles wrapped around its flailing arm. “Is slippery! Suckers is not to be sticking right!” The holes on either side of Septivus’ head opened and closed rapidly, which I took interpreted as labored breathing. I was not entirely sure; it had seemed rude to just ask somebo
dy where they breathed from.
Septivus wasn’t the only mystery before me. Our uninvited guest surprised us all by twisting its wrist at an unnatural angle and shooting a glob of liquid right into Septivus’ eye.
I had never heard a Tralingan scream before. They were usually a polite species who saw raising their voice as an affront. I don’t recommend the experience. The earsplitting, agonized shriek echoed through the small space. Cindy and I winced at the sound involuntarily, like when you hear a nail on a chalkboard or Styrofoam creaking.
The invader used the chance to shove Septivus off and leap onto its hind legs. It gave the Tralingan a kick to the head for good measure.
“Get away from him!” Chief Scientist Polgar threw herself at the alien. It shrugged off her weakened punch, and she withdrew her hand with a pained shriek.
“Gladly.” It tapped a button on its side, and a second Cindy Polgar appeared. “I do not want to deal with you filthy aliens a moment longer than I have to.”
I stepped forward, brandishing my pocketknife. The blade wasn’t much longer than a finger, but it was all I had. From the way Cindy clutched her hand, fist fighting it wasn’t going to be effective. “Nobody invited you here, buddy.”
It bristled at that. “I would not spend an instant on your little station if I had a choice.”
“Mind telling me your name?” I took a step forward, projecting all the strength I didn’t feel right then. Lousy rib. “I like to know who I’m fighting.”
The fake Polgar’s cutting laugh sounded way too authentic. “Such bravado! You can barely stand.”
“You aren’t doing much better.” I pointed at a growing pool of ichor at its feet. “You’re leaking.”
“So I am.” It placed a finger on its chest, and I knew it was applying that natural salve to itself. Damn useful trick, I had to admit. “You asked for my name. I am Treskan io Renjan. I have been stuck in this backwater solar system for the last Terran year, which is one too many. I mean to return home, and you’re all that stands in my way.”
“Y’know, all you had to do was ask and we’d have probably helped. We humans get along well with aliens. Right, Septivus?”
“Please, my eye,” whimpered the Tralingan.
Treskan’s natural salve had caused Septivus’ tissues to grow right over it. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have sworn he never had a right eye.
I cursed, realizing I had forgotten my friend’s condition. That hesitation was all Treskan needed. The seeming Polgar bent at an impossible angle and threw a circular device onto the floor between us.
“This is a waste of time,” Treskan declared. With that, it bolted out the door and slammed it shut.
“Is not friendly,” wheezed Septivus.
“Neither are the beeps that thing’s making,” I replied.
Chapter 6
“Gene, get away from there!” shouted Cindy as I bent down to pick up the mysterious disc. “That thing’s about to explode!”
I jabbed my finger towards the far wall. “Get Septivus behind that tank!”
“What are you doing?”
“Move!” I didn’t check to see if she followed my orders. There wasn’t time; I was going to shave it close enough as it was. The persistent stink of rotting waste gave me the idea. I rushed down and grabbed the beeping device. My rib didn’t fight me much as I went, my adrenaline dulling the pain.
I darted as fast as I could over to the tank that Treskan had drunk from. The lid was still loose, so I didn’t need a tool to pry it open. The ball fell into the hole and I cursed as the thick, black liquid splashed back on me. I slammed the lid back in place and made for where Cindy and Septivus hid. The Chief Scientist had listened to me, which was one the only pleasant surprises of the night.
I was halfway back when a loud thump reverberated behind me. The loose lid had been an advantage, since the force of the explosion found a vent. The geyser of foul waste that covered my back wasn’t great, but I’d take it over a shower of metal shrapnel.
“That was a good idea,” Cindy said. She was unsteady on her feet, and I knew she would be no help. “That might be the nicest thing you ever said to me,” I said.
“Um, please to be remembering that I is losing my eye? Please?” Septivus sounded absolutely pathetic as he forced himself onto his tentacles, and his skin had shifted from its normal black to a sickly grey.
“We’ll get you help as soon as we can. First thing’s first, though. Cindy, do you still have my med kit?” I snatched it from her when I offered it. I held up three syringes with warnings about overdosages and dependency printed on them. Another spell by the politicians, the transfer of responsibility from the guy who made the gunk to the person who used it. “How much of this painkiller is safe? I need to be able to move without pain for a while.”
“One,” she said.
With a nod, I rolled up my sleeve and injected myself.
“Huh,” she said.
“What?”
“You never want to listen to me. I thought you would do something stupidly macho, like take all three.”
“This isn’t some action movie. I want to keep breathing, thank you!” Speaking of which, breathing was much easier without my rib sending a stabbing pain through me with every lungful.
“What is to be plan?” Septivus was a trooper, but I could tell he was still miserable. “Chief Scientist is to be too weakly to go with you, and I is half blind.”
“I can’t ask you to fight in the shape you’re in. You either, Cindy.”
Cindy frowned deeply. “I want to disagree, but I can’t. But you’re unarmed except that pathetic little knife.”
“It’s not how big it is…” The half-formed joke died on my lips. I hated it when she was right. “I should be able to get a quick charge for the pistols, but they don’t seem to bother it much.”
“They cracked its shell,” said Polgar, in a tone that reminded me of an enthusiastic middle school teacher. “Exoskeletons are tough, but they have their downsides. They’re extremely durable, but they’re worthless once they’re busted. If you can make an opening and exploit it, it’ll be done for; Treskan will be too busy keeping its organs on the inside to fight back.”
“That explains why it evolved its own healing balm.”
Septivus pulled at my sleeve. “We is talking about eye, please? Is feeling like something is pokings it at all times. I closed third lens, but is stuck and very hurting.”
“Sorry, buddy.” I frowned down at Septivus. “What do you think, Cindy? Is his eye okay?”
She bit her lip nervously. “We’ll have to see. I’m not an expert in xenosurgery, but we should be able to talk with the consulate on Earth and get some data.” She gave me a pathetically weak shove. “Once we deal with Treskan. Now get going! You have an alien to stop!”
“What are you two going to do?”
She sniffed the air and grimaced. “Borrow some of your spare clothes and throw these in the incinerator. Your room’s unlocked, right?”
“You’re better off staying in here,” I said.
Her nose wrinkled. “I’ve been stuck in here all week. I’ll take my chances with Treskan!”
I wanted to tell her she was being an idiot, but time was a factor. “Yes, ma’am. Wait first! It could be anywhere.” Without another word, I ran out of the room.
Some smart engineer had decided to standardize the rechargeable batteries we used on Checkpoint Alpha. The impact pistols used the same models as our power tools, so I was able to retrieve a few spares in a supply closet on the far end of the hall. I grabbed a tool belt with some hefty wrenches while I was at it, since Polgar had proven that fist-fighting a critter with an exoskeleton was good way to break a hand.
Once I was as armed as I was going to be, I had to figure out where Treskan was headed. My comm was still full of static, so hopefully that meant my lockdown order was still in effect. I had to stop the alien before it found a way out. It was still in disguise, and if a distraught-
looking Chief Scientist showed up before I did, the damn impersonator was going to try and turn the crew against me.
I scanned the ceiling as I went, and I realized that Treskan had left a set of black, putrid smelling footprints above me.
I ran down the corridor after the tracks, only to nearly run into a wall. Treskan had been walking straight ahead, only for the tracks to end suddenly. There were a few sets of prints laid on top of each other, and then nothing.
I drew my pistol and pointed it upwards. I tensed, ready to leap out of the way of a stream of acid. None came. There was no sign of the alien at all. If I didn’t know better, it looked for all the world like Treskan had passed through a solid steel wall.
My nose led me to a janitor’s closet, where the shoes had been abandoned.
“Sneaky bugger,” I muttered. Treskan had missed the traces of gunk on its hands. The faint traces doubled back the way I had come before vanishing down another hallway.
“The hell does it want with the impound room?”
Tralingans didn’t often try to bring contraband into the Sol system, since it was seen as impolite. Human smugglers took care of that for them; they make a pretty mean moonshine out of Tralinga Prime’s native fruits. The Tralingans did like to try and sneak “Terran Drugs” back home, and we had treaties that required that we report delinquents to their government for sentencing. I didn’t see the harm in letting them get high on skittles and jolly ranchers, but apparently they found the artificial colors addictive.
Even if Treskan’s biology worked the same way, I doubted he was out to get buzzed. I couldn’t think of anything it would want in there, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like the answer. I drew one of my pistols, let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, and went in.
Chapter 7
I didn’t see Treskan in the impound room, but that was no surprise. It had a bad habit of vanishing on me. There were plenty of places to hide because, frankly, the room was way too big for its purpose. I think whoever designed the station had assumed that Tralingans would be constantly trying to poison Earth’s youth with their insidious, alien influence. (I’m not making up that last part; there were a few senators in the early days of first contact who had made whole careers off of paranoia). Anybody who had ever met a Tralingan before would know that was ridiculous, but the border controls had not been designed by anybody with practical experience.
Confessions of the Magpie Wizard Book 1: Infiltration Page 3