by S. L. Viehl
Black blood poured from their wounds and puddled on the ice, but it did not freeze. It spread out around them, growing and deepening until it became a lake of darkness.
I fought the invisible hands holding me back, and at last they released me. I fell into the black water, thrashing as it closed over my head.
A thousand voices began speaking to me, all Maggie’s voice, echoing in my head as I writhed and fought to make my way to the surface.
It’s traveling now.
Infiltrating planet after planet.
It’s indestructible.
Only dormant.
It will wake.
Hunger beyond hunger.
Worlds destroyed.
Stars devoured.
The end of this dream called time.
We need you to stay alive.
CHERIJO
Something reached in and yanked me out, tossing me away to fall into a deep snowdrift. I spit out ice and pushed myself backward until I could again stand on my feet.
Beyond me, the two dream warriors stood with their swords poised at each other’s throats.
My blood stains your hands, the vral told the drednoc.
As mine does yours, the drone replied.
I held my breath, expecting them to finish each other in the next moment. Instead they stood as statues, each staring down the steel, motionless and silent.
The lake of black water froze over and began to form crystals that grew into a forest of death all around the vral and the drednoc. It embraced them and crawled up their bodies, encasing them inch by inch, and still neither one moved or tried to resist.
Fight it, I screamed. You must fight it.
Just before the crystal covered her head, the vral turned to look at me, and orange eyes burned through the blank flesh of her face. Help us, child of my heart. Save us.
I woke up screaming.
Sixteen
“There are no gray-skinned, orange-eyed visitors listed in the colony’s database,” Reever said after several minutes at the console.
I sat, hunched and shivering, under a blanket, a server of lukewarm tea between my palms. I wanted to drink it, but my hands shook too badly for me to raise it to my lips. “What of the colonists?”
“I am checking now.”
Few men woken out of a sound sleep by a screaming wife would have abandoned their rest to make hot drinks and check records for life-forms that existed only in dreams. But Reever was no ordinary man, and I sensed that he felt as afraid for me as I did for the vral and drednoc in my nightmares.
Reever came over to sit with me, and helped me raise the server to my lips. “What is it about these dreams that frightens you?”
The tea tasted too sweet, but I drank some to ease my dry throat. “I don’t know. The vral . . .” My teeth began to chatter, and I shook my head.
His arm came around my shoulders. “You are in no state to deal with this now. Come back to bed.”
“It’s only reaction.” I drank down the last of the tea and forced myself to straighten. “What about the colonists?”
“I can find none whose appearance matches your description of the vral,” he admitted, adjusting the blanket around me. “I have discovered something else, however, that may explain why the surface is unstable and the crater collapsed.”
Black crystal, devouring the drednoc and the vral. “Show me.”
I went over to the console with him, and sat down while he stood behind me. The screen displayed a list of names, all of whom lived in one of the smaller domes, and their current residential status. Each lived alone, and had no notations of spouses, progeny, or other kin. None had species names listed, either—only numbers.
“Who are these people?” I asked him. “What are these numbers?”
“They are not completely people.” He pulled up one of the colonist’s identification images, which showed an artificial face on top of a machine body. “Each number was assigned to a cybernetic being. It had an organic brain and spinal tissue, recovered from a dead or dying Terran, encased in a drone body.”
“Reconstructs,” I said. “Like SrrokVar.”
Reever’s hand stroked my shoulder. “Originally the tissue was harvested from newly dead Terrans and placed in drone frames to create laborers for places like StarCore’s mines. No one realized that the harvested brains would retain memories, personality, and intelligence, but they began to resurface. The reconstructs organized, applied for, and were granted sentient status a few years ago.”
I studied the image of one such colonist. “They don’t resemble the drednoc in my dream.”
“I think they may be the ones tunneling under the craters,” Reever said. “They can go without food, water, oxygen, and warmth for long periods of time. They were designed to be as strong as drones, and are the only living beings on Trellus who could work without wearing special suits outside the domes and survive the freezing vacuum.”
I considered the possibility. “With those machine bodies, they might also be immune to the effects of the black crystal. It only affects living beings.”
“The reconstructs already know how to mine.” Reever brought up a topographical map of the surface. “We lost your scanner in the crater, but I recall seeing tunnels here, here, and here.” He traced lines around the crash site back to the colony. “They lead to these three domes. All are located near one of the ore processors.”
I saw that the reconstruct colonists occupied one of the three domes in question. “Why would they be mining the black crystal? It is a toxin, but it takes years to infect the inhabitants of a planet. Even then, reactions vary from species to species.”
“It kept the Oenrallians from dying,” Reever reminded me. “There are always the sort of fools who would believe it would do the same for them. If it were added to an enemy’s water or food source, the effects could manifest more rapidly.”
“We have to first prove that the crystal is being mined,” I said. “Can we gain access to the tunnels under the impact craters?”
“I will find out in the morning.” Reever switched off the console.
I checked the time display. “It is almost dawn now. I should go and check on Tya.”
“When you were working on her last night, you said something about an implant,” my husband said. “Was she fitted with a contraceptive?”
“No.” I related what Tya had told me about the implant in her neck. “She said that any attempt to remove it would trigger the release of the poison. It reminded me of that Jorenian patient with the grenade in her belly, but the Tos never used poison.”
“No.” Reever had been very still while I had told him about the implant, but now he reached up and touched the front of his tunic in a strange fashion. “Blade dancers are fitted with cardiac implants filled with poison before they are sold.”
“This one she has was placed in her neck, not her heart.” I went to make a new pot of tea and prepare a meal for us. “Why would Davidov do such a thing to her if he intended to sell her?”
“Control.” Reever rubbed a hand over his face. “As long as the implant stays in Tya’s neck, Alek can locate her, or kill her, whenever he likes. Unless he gave Drefan the tracking trigger.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Tya didn’t want Keel to know about the implant.”
“Davidov could be using it to force her to spy for him,” he suggested. “That would give her reason to conceal it from Drefan. Alek may have gone through the pretense of selling her simply to get her on the colony.”
I dialed up two bowls of unsweetened, unflavored oatmeal. The Terran grain, one of the few Terran foods Reever and I cared to eat, would warm my stomach and settle my nerves.
“If that is so, then Mercy was right, and Tya did signal the Renko,” I said. “But what reason would Davidov have for sending an enslaved Hsktskt spy to Trellus? What could she be reporting to him?”
“I cannot say. Alek is greatly changed from the man I once knew.” Reever helped me brin
g the servers to the table. “Have you been able to collect physical samples of DNA from Drefan, Mercy, and Tya yet?”
“No, but there is plenty of Tya’s blood all over the lab,” I told him. “I scanned her DNA thoroughly, Duncan. She’s Hsktskt on the cellular level.”
“But she does not behave like one,” he said. “She aided Keel in giving us medical treatment, but then she did not defend herself against Posbret. Hsktskt would consider caring for a warm-blood beneath them. They would never voluntarily take a beating like that from one.”
“Tya might have been too afraid to fight the raider.” I saw the look he gave me. “It’s not the same as facing a simulation that you can turn off at any time. It could also have been a suicide attempt. She’s very depressed.”
Reever shook his head. “That is another indication something is not right with her. Hsktskt do not become depressed.”
I thought otherwise, but my husband had very set ideas about the Hsktskt. “Do you want me to take a sample and begin working up a genetic profile on her?”
“We don’t need a profile,” he said, picking up his spoon and tasting the oatmeal. “We need to find out who she is. Can you freeze Tya’s blood, then thaw it and analyze the DNA?”
“Of course.” His instructions puzzled me. “But unless I cryo-prep the cells first, freezing the sample will only kill them.”
“When a shape-shifter dies, it’s said that its body reverts to its original form,” Reever told me. “If Tya is not Hsktskt, the DNA from her sample should do the same thing.”
“I’d better collect the sample from her instead of the floor of the lab.” I went to the console and signaled central control. “Keel, would you bring Tya to the exam room?”
Drefan’s face appeared on the screen. “Why do you want to see Tya?”
“Posbret attacked her last night,” I told him. “I need to check the status of her injuries. Where have you been?”
“I was unavoidably detained,” Drefan said. He sounded tired. “For now, your examination will have to wait.”
“Drefan—”
“Tya is missing, and I have other problems I must—”
The signal terminated as the console shut down without warning, and the light emitters all around the room went dark. As I stood and turned, Mercy entered with Cat. Both of them carried pulse rifles, which they pointed at me and Reever. Behind them in the corridor stood several drednocs.
“You two,” she said, “are coming with me.”
No one attempted to stop Mercy and Cat, who marched us through the empty corridors of Gamers and into the access way back to their dome. The rifles at our back kept me from resisting, although my husband had a few things to say to Mercy.
“My wife has done nothing but help you.” He glanced over his shoulder at her set features. “Why are you treating her like this?”
“Shut up,” Mercy replied, “or I’ll shoot you.”
I knew from his expression that Cat was not entirely happy with abducting me and Reever. One side of his face looked badly bruised, and several of the gildrells below the contusion hung limp and unmoving. I resolved to enlist his aid as soon as we were at Mercy House.
Once we reached the primary air lock, Mercy stepped in front of us. “That’s far enough.” She lowered her rifle and ordered her battle drones to stand down. “We need your help.”
I stared at her. “You couldn’t simply send a signal and ask?”
“No.” She shouldered her weapon and produced a handheld monitor. “This is why.”
An image appeared on the screen of several males lying in a bloodied heap on the floor of an access way leading to another dome. The men appeared unconscious, perhaps dead. A large humanoid female dressed in a skimpy garment was bent over one, whom she picked up effortlessly and held dangling above the floor. After she looked over his slack features, she tossed his body aside and reached for another.
“Who is she?” Reever asked.
“Lily, one of my girls,” Mercy said. “For whatever reason, she went crazy this morning and strangled her trick. Then she went on a rampage and killed every customer in the house. She broke out of the security grid and moved on to the next dome, and killed all the males she found there. She’s between Delta and Gamma Domes now.”
Reever studied the image. “You could not find a way to stop or restrain her?”
“We tried, but she’s too strong. She knocked me out with one punch.” Cat touched the large, dark red bruise mottling the side of his face. “We sent the dreds in after her, but she tore them apart with her bare hands. The other domes have not been able to stop her, either.”
“What about your pulse weapons?”
The Omorr uttered a humorless sound. “We shot her a dozen times, on full burn. The wounds they made had no effect on her. She didn’t even flinch.”
“Why is she killing them and then looking at them?” I asked as I watched Lily discard another body.
“Maybe she’s admiring her work,” Mercy said. “Who cares?” She tossed my medical case at me. “Have you got something in that bag that we can use to knock her out?”
“If she hasn’t already taken a counteragent, neuroparalyzer should render her unconscious.” I took out a syrinpress and dialed up the strongest dose I dared administer. “I will have to get close enough to infuse her in an artery.”
The access way darkened and then lightened as a ship flew over it. I looked up at the belly of the Renko, so close I felt as if I could reach up and touch it.
“Davidov, dropping his monthly care package,” Mercy said.
“Too early for that,” Cat argued. “He’s not due for another two weeks.”
“I’ll make a note to complain later.” Mercy frowned at the device in her hand.
I looked, and saw Lily drop the body she was inspecting and lift her blood-spattered face. She laughed silently and then hurried toward an access hatch.
“Where does that hatch lead?” Reever asked.
Cat swore. “To the drop point.”
The four of us donned envirosuits and, along with several battle drones, took an STV out onto the surface.
“So, what do we do first?” Cat asked, his tone heavy with irony. “Sedate Lily to keep her from attacking Davidov’s ship, or help her get on board?”
“She can’t get at anything but the supplies he drops,” Mercy said as she changed the power cell in her rifle. “You know Davidov won’t land.”
“I could fire a few rounds into his propulsion array,” the Omorr said.
“That will not disable Alek’s ship,” Reever informed him.
Cat gave him a haughty look. “No, but I’ll still enjoy doing it.”
“Which side of the platform does that hatch open to?” Mercy demanded as she drove up the side of a small incline and stopped, shutting down the engine to survey the landscape.
While she and Cat were debating how best to approach the drop point, I turned to my husband. “If you can distract Lily, I will administer the neuroparalyzer as a mist, through her air supply hose. It should take effect a few seconds after she inhales it.”
“You are staying in the STV,” he advised me. “I will give her the drug.”
“I don’t see any sign of her,” Mercy said, scanning the area under the ship with a long-range viewer. “Where is she?”
The Renko descended until it hovered a short distance from the transport pad, and opened its cargo panel.
“Oh, shit,” Mercy whispered, spotting something. She dropped the viewer and shouted, “Hold on.”
The transport pad exploded upward, enveloping Davidov’s ship in a bloom of dust, energy, and rock fragments. I saw the shock wave heading toward us a second before Reever grabbed me and covered my helmet with his arms.
The STV flew into the air, higher and higher, until I thought we would be catapulted into space. Mercy swore viciously and pounded on the panel until the engine restarted. Something flared, and the surface vehicle turned and fell with languid speed u
ntil we crashed into something that crumpled the roof frame and blew out every view panel.
When the dust settled, I used my glove to clear off my helmet shield, and saw that the STV had landed upside down between two rock formations. I saw that the Renko had also gone down, a few hundred yards away, its hull partially covered by rubble.
“That was a shaft charge,” I heard Mercy say over the suit com. “How the hell did she get hold of the explosives? Cat? Cat. You’d better not be dead, you stubborn, one-legged son of a toothless Omorr slut, or I’ll kill you myself. Wake up. Wake up.“
“Mercy,” the Omorr said, pressing his gloves to the sides of his helmet. “I survived. I’m conscious. And I’m not deaf. So will you for the love of Jovah please stop shrieking in my ear?”
“God, I love you,” Mercy said, hugging him.
Reever stirred and then came to with a sudden jerk, turning in his harness to reach for me.
“I’m not injured,” I told him. “Are your seals intact? Mercy, are you and Cat all right?”
“We’re fine,” she said.
“You’re fine,” the Omorr snapped. “I am in pain. A great deal of pain. I think my head has finally cracked in half.”
“So your head hurts. Christ, what did you expect? We just got blown up. You could have . . . “ Mercy reached over and slung her arm around his collar to hug him again.
Cat held her and closed his eyes. “What was that about my mother?”
“She was a paragon of virtue. Like you.” Mercy straightened and turned her helmet back to regard me and Reever. “Omorr are such crybabies.”
Seeing the tears of relief running down her cheeks made me smother a laugh.
Cat sniffed. “You’ll speak differently when you have to deliver my eulogy, Adorlee.”
“Stuff it, Adoren. Damn it. My harness clip is jammed.” Mercy took out a blade and began to saw at the straps holding her to the seat. “Reever, can you and Cherijo get out through the side view panels?”
My husband glanced past me. “Yes. Is the STV transceiver still functioning?”
Mercy stopped cutting and reached out to the panel. “Receiver’s trashed, but I think it’ll still transmit.”