by Michael Ryan
The lizard warrior tossed something that looked like small rabbits into the air. The snakelike heads of the pets shot out and grabbed the snacks. They swallowed them in one gulp, and then their heads bounced and stretched towards the source of the treats. After being given another two pieces of meat each, they extended their necks out entirely, and the Dreki stroked them.
After this ritual, the lizard pointed in our general direction.
The flying animals took off and headed toward us.
“Versus,” I said. “They’re like hunting hounds.”
“We’re in deep shit,” Callie said. “Unless we quickly become less pet friendly.”
I was already firing a kinetic round at the first creature.
My missile streaked across the field and hit its target. The pekasmok dropped and tumbled across the ground. The heli-jet lifted from the ground and launched an attack.
<
“Run,” I said.
We zigzagged through the trees, which was the best way to ensure the impossibility of a missile tracking us. I scanned behind us, but the heli-jet wasn’t in pursuit. It had apparently stayed in the meadow, perhaps attempting to save their pet.
After putting ten clicks behind us, I ordered Callie and Mallsin to start looking for an adequate place to hide for the night.
“Avery,” Callie said twenty minutes later, “there’s a burrow that looks large enough to crawl into.”
“I’m not sure I’m ready to discover more wildlife tonight,” I said. “But we’d better check it out.”
“I’ll send in a drone,” she said.
Sending a scanning drone down a hole was safe from detection, so I green-lighted her idea and linked into the video feed. The drone traveled twenty meters before entering the den of an animal that wasn’t present. The hollowed out area was not more than a meter high, but it was wide.
“There’s room for us,” Callie said.
“I’m not so excited about crawling into a pit,” Mallsin said.
“It’s dry and safe,” I said. “We’ll be safer in there than staying exposed. Callie can set her drone at the entrance as a watchdog.”
“Golvin, Avery,” she said. “Okay, but I don’t like it. I’m worried.”
“Abrel is going to be okay,” Callie said. “I can feel it.”
We crawled into the burrow. Callie’s drone fed us an image from the opening. She also programmed it to alarm us if it detected motion. I instructed my system to dose me with a stimulant if my alarm triggered.
“Sleep’s crucial,” I said. “I’m ordering you both to take a sedative and sleep for five hours. We need to be alert and ready tomorrow – we’re going to hunt the hunters. We’ll find Abrel and Veetea and whoever else the lizards have imprisoned.”
“I hope so, Avery,” Mallsin said.
“Good night, Mallsin. Get some sleep.”
Callie messaged me over our private comm. “I don’t like this.”
“Neither do I, but we have no choice but to go forward.”
“You think Command is coming?”
“I don’t know what to think, Callie. They know we’re here. Apparently they know about the slave camps.”
“I don’t trust them.”
“Roger that. Good night, Callie. I love you.”
“I don’t know what I’d do if you’re killed.”
“Don’t dwell on what you can’t control.”
“Sometimes I just need you to say something comforting, Avery. Not feed me some pithy bullshit.”
“It’s a defense mechanism,” I admitted.
“Is that an apology?” she asked.
“Sorry.”
The magic of scientific progress turned off my brain like a light switch being flipped; I soon fell asleep. The night passed without alarm.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Those who justify, first deny.
~ Master Malkz Teezled
Abrel awoke with a start.
He was lying on a hard, cold surface and felt like his skull was splitting. He turned his head at the sound of metal on glass and saw a short man who appeared to be human.
“You’re awake,” the man said. “You’re a purvast?”
“My head is killing me,” Abrel said. “Where am I?”
“You’re in paradise,” the man said with a sardonic chuckle. “Lizard hospital for the care of slaves and servants.”
“You’re one of them?” Abrel asked.
“I’m Dr. Edwards, formerly a medic in the Guritain army. I’m guessing you were taken from Purvas…maybe Earth? But I’m surprised it’s just you. The lizards aren’t usually so inefficient.”
“No, I was captured last night. Here. Drekiland.”
“Drekiland?”
“It’s what we call this planet,” Abrel said. He tried to sit up, but a sharp lance of pain shot through his skull. He lay back. “You have something for this?” He pointed to his head.
“Here,” the doctor said, and handed him an elixir. “From a local plant.”
“Can I trust you?” Abrel said.
“You’re naked and were unconscious,” he answered with a wink. “So let’s hope so.”
“Golvin.” Abrel took the painkiller. He felt better almost instantly. “Where are we? At the mining operation along the river?”
“You are at one of the mining operations along the river,” Edwards answered. “But how did you happen to be captured here? Your body is clean and wound free. You haven’t been wandering around the jungle or working the pits.”
“No. I was in a suit when I was last conscious. I don’t have any idea how long ago.”
“A suit?” the doctor asked incredulously. “You mean like you were dropped? You’re SDI?”
“I was. I am.”
“The Guritains made it here,” he said. “Finally.”
“Not only the Gurts. We’re in an alliance, Gurts, Teds–”
“What?”
“It’s true,” Abrel answered. He sat up without pain. “The Drekis forced us to form an alliance and cooperate.”
“Strange bedfellows,” he said. “There are humanlike people from two planets here besides Earth and Purvas.”
“You’ve missed a lot,” Abrel said. “One of these other planets, Talamz, isn’t new to us. But the fourth planet is. At least to me, I can’t say I completely trust Command. I wonder how many other secrets will be uncovered as the Drekis mix together slaves from all over the universe. How long have you been here?”
“Near as I can estimate, about eleven years. Maybe twelve. It’s hard to keep track.”
“Golvin,” Abrel said, shaking his head. “I’ve got a lot of news to tell you.”
They talked for nearly an hour, Abrel explaining everything from the end of the Tetra War to how they’d help a group escape from a mining camp upstream. He further told him that they’d been on the way to rescue a friend of his friend. A sergeant named Veetea.
“Jecob?”
“Yeah, years ago, Jecob Veetea was the squad leader to a soldier named Avery Ford. And now Avery’s on his way to this camp.”
“Well, Jecob’s here.”
“Do you know how many slaves there are?”
“Over a thousand. Last roll call was one thousand two hundred and seventeen. But they transfer people in and out, so it’s impossible to keep an exact count.”
“How did you…I mean…they don’t speak Common English, right?”
“No. But there’s a species of alien we call the muldvarp that knows Common English. They speak the same language as the…lizards. Gurts call them Drekis?”
“Dreki-Nakahi is the full name. Dreki for short. The Teds came up with it.”
“Bloody hell,” the doctor said. “I still can’t believe we’re allies with the Teds.”
“It was that or risk that we’d all end up as slaves.”
“I’ve got to complete my rounds. To finish answering your thought, the muldvarp are interpreters between the slaves and the liz
ards. They asked for people skilled with medicine, and I was a medic during the Tetra War. So here I am.”
“What’s going to happen to me?”
“I can’t say. I was only ordered to ensure you were in good health and that you stayed that way. I’m sure someone else will come for you. In the meantime, don’t try to escape. The compound is heavily guarded.”
“I’m naked and have no weapons…so I don’t think I’m going anywhere soon.”
I woke up in a burrow.
It took me a minute to get my bearings and remember why I was underground.
“You two ready to move?” I asked.
Callie and Mallsin responded in the affirmative, and two hours later we were marching downstream along the riverbank.
“Shouldn’t we stay under the trees more, Avery?” Callie asked.
“I think we can pick up any heli-jets,” I said. “I prefer having better sight lines. That said, if we see anything suspicious, we’ll move inside the tree line and turn on our camo.”
“Roger,” she said. “I think it’s pretty. The river.”
“Probably deceptive,” Mallsin said.
“No doubt,” I agreed.
It took another three days to reach the outskirts of the Dreki mining camp. We observed the activity from a ridgeline a click from the shore on the opposite side of the waterway from where the slaves worked in muddy pits. The operation seemed similar to the first, with the exception that there were several additional buildings and more movement in the encampment. We counted twenty or so distinct Drekis. It was difficult to be sure, as our facial recognition was designed for humanoids. They all wore similar uniforms, which complicated the attempt to get an accurate count.
The slaves worked much the same as in the other camp.
We observed for an entire day, in spite of Mallsin’s urge to attack immediately to find her husband.
“Can we go tonight, Avery?” she asked after dusk.
The slaves had been ushered back to their barracks. Four Dreki guards patrolled the grounds. The heli-jet wasn’t visible, but there was a building large enough to be a hangar. We saw no signs of the pekasmoks.
None of the reptiles wore heavy armor. My prior conclusion that the slave camps were run by Dreki civilians or some kind of police force instead of their military was reinforced by my observations at the second camp. Despite this possible advantage, we were still severely outnumbered, and they were aware of our presence.
“I don’t want to charge into a trap, Mallsin,” I said. “Let me think about this some more. We’ll go tonight or tomorrow night.”
“Don’t forget that Abrel is in there,” she said sullenly.
“I know.”
I dug through my old files and found a picture of my old platoon leader, Sergeant Veetea. I sent a copy to Callie and asked, “Do you think you can tweak this picture?”
“It’s old, Avery. But I’ll try.”
“That’s all I’m asking. I want to know.”
“I’m sure he’s there, but I’ll age this and run it against what we photographed today.”
We had taken close-ups of every slave that had been outside during the day. Because the prisoners were dirty and unshaven and we were a fair distance away, many of the pic files would be of limited use. But undoubtedly some would ultimately lead to resolving KIA and MIA questions from many years of warfare. Abrel wasn’t among those we’d snapped that day, which added to Mallsin’s anxiety.
I was afraid of what his absence might indicate, but I kept my concerns to myself.
On the second day of his captivity, Abrel was taken to a new cell by two purvasts he’d not seen previously. The doctor wasn’t present. The room was dark, wet, and had a metal chair bolted to the floor. The two purvasts guided him to sit.
“Why are you serving the Drekis?” Abrel asked.
“I don’t know what a Dreki is,” the taller one said.
“We only do as we’re told,” the shorter purvast said. “You’ll see. Soon, you’ll obey without question.”
“Or you’ll be fed to the jegulje.”
“Or to the petaízmaj.”
“Or used for target practice.”
The shorter one laughed. He walked to the wall and retrieved a coil of rope.
“You’re not tying me down,” Abrel said. “I’ll kill you both.”
The taller one punched him so hard that he slipped into unconsciousness.
When he came to, he was alone, and his arms and legs were securely tied.
The door to the room opened and Dr. Edwards entered.
“I’m sorry this is happening, Abrel,” he said.
“Why are you serving them?”
“I’m a doctor. I serve my patients. If I were to disobey the lizards, many people would suffer,” Edwards answered. He examined Abrel and then placed a bottle to his mouth. “Drink this. It’s water and a mild stimulant. Offer them no resistance. Everyone breaks.”
“I’m…” Abrel shook his head.
“If you don’t drink this,” Edwards said, “they’ll send those thugs back in here, and they’ll beat you senseless and shove a hose down your throat. It’s only water and an herb. It has about the same effect as drinking several cups of coffee.”
“Versus,” Abrel said. He drank. “What do they want? I’m infantry, not intelligence.”
“They’ll try to see if they can gain insight into what the Gurts and Teds know about them. I’m sure they’ll ask you questions about Command, your troop movements, normal stuff. You’ve never been interrogated before?”
“No,” Abrel said. “I’ve always been SDI. If I’d been captured by the Teds, I’d have self-destructed.”
“I can’t offer much advice other than to remind you that everyone breaks. Don’t let them kill you. Unless, of course, you have secrets worth preserving. In that case, I can give you a mild poison.”
“You brought a suicide pill?”
“Of course,” the doctor said. “I’m still faithful to my people. If I thought you had secrets that would prevent Command from rescuing us, I’d have killed you myself when you were still on my table.”
“Versus.”
“I’d lost hope, Abrel. I have hope again. Do you know anything?”
“No,” he said quietly. “If I did, I’d take the pill.”
“I believe you. The interrogator will be here soon. Don’t be shocked by the translator. The muldvarp are a bit off-putting at first, and they smell bad. But like me, they’re just slaves to the lizards.”
Fifteen minutes after Dr. Edwards left, the door opened again. The first to enter the room were two Dreki guards. Following behind them was a strange alien. The muldvarp was half the height of the Dreki guards and had a snout similar to a burrowing creature like a mole, with a rosy-pink nose that petaled in rows like a flower. His long whiskers, small black eyes, and rows of short pointy teeth reminded Abrel of a rodent, but the beast surprised him when it spoke in clear Common English. “I understand you’re Sergeant Abrel Velesment. You’re part of an invading force?”
“You have my name correct,” Abrel said.
“My name is Golonist,” he said, nodding to the guards.
One of the Drekis placed his hands on the sides of Abrel’s face. He pulled his head backward, exposing his throat. The second reptile opened his mouth and leaned over Abrel’s body. He clamped his teeth to Abrel’s skin without drawing blood.
“I could instruct him to crush your head!” Golonist shouted.
Abrel felt a warm tongue flicker across his neck.
The reptile stepped back after a moment and snapped its jaw shut, and the guard behind Abrel released his grip.
“I’d rather not destroy your body, Sergeant. You’ll be a good addition to the almasi mines. You appear to be in good health. Now answer my question. Are you part of an invading force?”
“I came to Drekiland to kill Drekis,” Abrel said. “Now I have another species on my list.”
The muldvarp nodded, and t
he two guards pummeled Abrel until he was unconscious.
When he awoke, Dr. Edward was present. He had a bottle of water.
“How long?” Abrel asked.
“You’ve been out for a night,” the doctor said. “I was instructed to give you a sedative. Drink this, and today will be much like yesterday.”
“I’ve heard stories about the Tedesconian torture chambers,” Abrel said. “I wonder what’s worse.”
A different muldvarp entered the room. “You’re going to find out soon enough,” it said. “Dr. Edwards, please leave us. Sergeant Velesment, my name is Kolrorermont.”
Kolrorermont walked toward Abrel and bit him on the shoulder.
“Our saliva has a particularly unpleasant nerve toxin,” he said. “It’s not lethal, but in a few minutes you’ll be wishing that it was.”
Unfathomable pain struck Abrel moments later.
CHAPTER TWELVE
That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
I had two competing issues to grapple with.
The first problem was the clock running on Abrel. It was possible he was already dead; if he was alive, he was being interrogated. We’d jumped across the galaxy and invaded Drekiland, and he had valuable information about the Joint Unified Forces Army. Intel such as overall troop strength, weapon capabilities, and command philosophies were things worth torturing prisoners to obtain. I had no illusions that this didn’t happen in the Tetra War, so I was confident once I discovered the lizards had acquired a slave capable of interpreting for them that they’d use whatever means necessary to draw out secrets.
If any of the reptilian soldiers had been captured alive on the tri-planets, I know without a trace of doubt our Command would have used the same tactics to get intel. Obviously, the Drekis recognized this as well, which explained why they always self-destructed before they could be taken prisoner.
The second obstacle challenging me was their superior numbers, combined with the fact we no longer had the advantage of surprise. Our TCI-Armor, which we’d considered our ace in the hole, had been defeated by the bolt from the heli-jet. If the Drekis could use that weapon on the ground, we hadn’t seen it yet. But it was likely that the heli-jet was in the building that looked like a hangar, and it could be airborne in a moment’s notice.