The Vampires of Antyllus

by Michael E. Gonzales

  "Dave, these people have been at war with creatures that they had never seen before, remember that. We arrived on a post-apocalyptic world, Dave. Billions of their kind had died in that first invasion. These people were hammered out of their cities and forced to live in caves like animals. Then we came and we looked just like the first alien invaders, and look what we've done to them. I can't blame them. Not at all."

  Dave stood there like he was in a trance for several minutes.

  "Baby," Kathy pleaded, "talk to me."

  "I was on patrol in Oceania one night; of course, I was still a bio back then. At dawn, we were on our way back to our Forward Operating Base when we were jumped by a bunch of Hamba Ular. Both sides took heavy losses. When it was obvious the battle was turning in our favor, they shot their wounded and fled. When we went to check the bodies for intel, all we found was that each was wearing a necklace of human fingers and ears.

  "This reminded me of…I lost three good friends that morning and twelve men from my platoon. This reminded me."

  "I'm sorry Dave, really. But please, baby, these are not the same people."

  "I know. I'm sorry. War makes savages of us all."

  "It's difficult, I know," Kathy caressed his cheek. "But we have to remain above the savages we're fighting."

  As they turned to leave, their eyes fell on another, more recent painting on the wall behind them. Small Ukse, and tall E'meset, were together, rushing toward a wall of angry-looking machines, and at the fore was an Ukse whose right forearm was sliced open, and from the wound fell drops of white blood.

  ○O○

  In the back of the cave, behind the walls, fires were built and food prepared. While some were cooking, others set up thirty-five PEAS, or Portable Emergency Atmosphere Shelters. These were clear plastic domes into which twenty people could enter, remove their respirators, drink and eat their meager meals, and then lay down to sleep.

  They were nomads now in a land that wished them dead. They were running low on food, but their vehicles contained the ability to purify limited amounts of air and water.

  The CDF officers checked all the respirators to insure serviceability. They checked the vehicles, weapons, ammo, and the physical condition of each bio, particularly the wounded, as medical supplies were running short. Additionally, not all the SUBs were running on equal charges.

  All the SUBs had recharged recently. Dave possessed a new G-buc, but Kathy and Zolna had not recharged. Zolna was at sixty-four percent, Kathy at fifty-two. Twenty percent was the magic number. Lower than twenty and a fast recharge was not possible. Should the power drop below twenty, then a total recharge was required, and that meant being in stasis for up to twenty-four hours.

  Kathy and Dave sat on stools in a small anteroom off the main room of an individual dwelling. Kathy's left hand was in Dave's left, their sensor pads touching as he examined her various readouts to determine the status of her Cybernetic body and the charge remaining in her G-buc. Dave's face became quite serious.

  "Well, Doctor, what's your prognosis?" Kathy asked, being silly.

  "You only have a thirty-two percent charge to play with."

  "Well, hey…at least I'm not pregnant," she laughed.

  "It's not funny, where am I going to get you a charge? The only charging stations are back in New Roanoke, other than that, they are on that ship in orbit."

  "Dave, I have a good three plus months. Plenty can happen in that time."

  "Sure." Dave was plainly worried.

  "Dave, did you ever take the tutorial that comes on our hard drives?"

  "No, that's a new feature. In my day, we sat through classes."

  Kathy looked into his eyes a moment. "In the hours we've roamed about in the forest over these last several days I've been downloading those tutorials. Baby, do you trust me?"

  She had him focused now like a laser beam. "With my life, as I have since we meet. Why?"

  "Okay then." Her left hand squeezed his, their sensor pads pressed together, and she began to browse through his hard drive. Deeper and deeper she went and, as she did, she revealed herself to him in a reciprocal data transfer.

  At last, she had arrived at the files she was looking for. She rerouted a vast number of epidural sensors, tactile receivers, and sending units then linked directly to a specific portion of his brain.

  Dave's head jerked up and he looked at her. His eyes were enormous, his mouth ajar. He made a sound something akin to a gasp. Kathy was in the same state. Her eyes wide and searching his, her mouth open and her lower lip quivering. She reached up and touched his face with the gentleness of a butterfly's wing.

  Dave leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and sighed deeply.

  Kathy watched him a moment before her eyes too closed and she bit her lower lip. From deep within her voice generator, she produced a long, low moan.

  It was not only pleasure they shared, it was a love not measurable within the context of the file. The code was written by human minds…their minds, and that code grew exponentially as their love crossed between their sensors.

  Their mental climax was like the explosion of a transformer in a hurricane. Their hands jerked apart and both fell from their stools and onto the ground.

  "Wow," Dave gasped, his voice weak. "You learned that in the tutorial?"

  "No, silly," Kathy rolled on to her back and looked up at the ceiling, her fists clenched tight at her sides. "I figured that out for myself," she whispered.

  "You've been thinking about this for some time then?"

  She just looked at him and smiled.

  They gazed into each other's eyes for several minutes before Dave asked, "Ya think anyone saw that?"

  "No, but I'll bet they heard it," Kathy remarked, smiling broadly. "We'd better stand up."

  "I don't think I can."

  "Oh, get up!" Kathy grinned at him playfully.

  They got to their feet and had begun to dust themselves off when Dave reached out and pulled Kathy close to him and whispered, "To think…only our hands were touching."

  "It'll be better yet when we can hold each other," and she kissed him.

  From out in the main gallery, an anxious but controlled voice called out, "Colonel Selina, there's someone here asking for you."

  Kathy and Dave exchanged looks, both confused. They quickly looked each other over to ensure they were presentable. Kathy used her hand to brush some dust off Dave's abdomen then turned to leave. "Let's go." She had not taken two steps when she felt Dave's hand slap her butt. She glanced over her shoulder, smiling at him.

  "Dust!" He shrugged.

  Kathy's smile broadened and they entered the main gallery. Light from several camp fires cast a dim and flickering light in the massive chamber. They both adjusted their vision. In front of them stood a sergeant of the CDF—a SUB—who was looking down into what they were all calling the dragon's throat, a dark serpentine tunnel that vanished into the depths of the planet.

  As they cleared the corner of a wall that blocked their view toward the throat, they clearly saw the silhouettes of several E'meset standing perfectly still three hundred meters away well inside the tunnel. They had obviously come up from the depths of the cavern. Each was carrying a net inside of which was the glowing stone they called Volessa Eya'Etee Ki Kee.

  As Kathy and Dave approached the sergeant, he indicated with a gesture of his head where the E'meset were, and added, "They came up from down there. That one in the center asked for you by name, ma'am. By the sound of the voice, it's female and she did not shout your name. She spoke in a normal voice as if she knew I'd be able to hear her."

  "She does know," Kathy replied, and then looked up at Dave. "It's Le'ha."

  "Outstanding!" Dave was about to run down to her when Kathy stopped him.

  "Dave, I don't want to hurt her," she said.

  "What?"

  "I could be wrong, but she really is in love with you. I don't want to hurt her. Okay?"

  Dave glanced down the tunnel at Le'ha t
hen back at Kathy, "I would not hurt her for all the world. But she will have to know about us eventually."

  Together they walked toward the tall woman. As they grew nearer, they could see that she and her thirty warriors were armed. Some had war clubs, some axes, and some spears. But every one of them had a rifle. As they drew closer, Le'ha brought her Volessa stone out from behind her back and illuminated all their faces.

  She instantly broke into a broad smile. "Dave…Dave you yet live!" She knelt down and gathered both Dave and Kathy into her embrace with her long arms. In Kathy's ear, she whispered, "I said to you that he is not yet beyond the gate."

  Le'ha stood back up and studied their faces. She rubbed her hands over their foreheads then pulled herself up to her full height. Her large green catlike eyes flicked back and forth between Kathy and Dave several times. Her eyes stopped on Kathy. "You are no longer—Ill Mets-sa kay Kariecardy u yakau sudamine?"

  "Wait a minute, I can get this." Kathy replied. She thought a moment, then looked up. "No, Le'ha, I'm not."

  "What was all that?" Dave asked.

  "She asked me if I was no longer the lone huntress of a man with whom to share love."

  Le'ha lowered herself to her knees. "You have joined, I feel it, but different somehow."

  "Le'ha, I'm sorry," Kathy tried to explain, "but we love each other, we—"

  Le'ha pressed her little finger to Kathy's lips and silenced her saying, "You both have come to sudamine. I am happy for you, Dave, and you, Kathee. Dave has overcome fear, and Kathee has found the nine'ana inside her and overcome stubbornness."

  Kathy was going to defend herself against the charge when again those long arms wrapped around them both, and she was embraced in a genuine expression of deeply held friendship.

  Le'ha stood and looked out into the gallery over their heads. "You have many hurt?"

  "Sixty-two," Kathy replied.

  "Six hands and two," Dave translated quickly.

  Le'ha pointed behind her. "This path leads under the great water we call Kosta tea elle, the dew of life. The water comes to the Koor adusa Eya'Etee Ki Kee where your hurts will be fixed. We should leave now. Many Ukse approach from the metal city. Their leader is a very angry Kariecardy Hopeerlun."

  "A what?" Dave asked.

  "A man of metal bones."

  "Wilmington," Dave said through clenched teeth.

  Chapter 24

  Cassie and Mitch’s story

  Mitch and Cassie had stood helpless and shocked as they watched bullets rip Brenda Webster apart. Burned into both their memories was the vision of her identifier slowly fading away. "CDF – CYB – 223 – Webster, Brenda. Sergeant First Class."

  About one hundred fifty or more CDF soldiers had appeared out of nowhere as the mercs were closing in on them. Four of the CDF soldiers, all Bios wearing respirators, had grabbed Mitch and Cassie, and hustled them out of harm's way, taking them to an airlock door in the side of the city. Mitch, Cassie, and one of the CDF soldiers stepped into the airlock, the other three returned to the fray. As the atmospheres were exchanged, the CDF soldier removed her respirator. She was a lovely young bio about twenty-four years of age. "Ma'am, sir, I am Specialist Lucy Johnson. I will be conducting you to the general's Headquarters. I will take the lead; you follow close behind me."

  "Are we not safe inside?" Cassie asked. "Isn't this section five, part of the CDF area?"

  "Ma'am this is section six; the CDF have a redoubt in the west end of five, that's where we're headed. This section is heavily patrolled by merc forces," she took her weapon off safe, opened the door, and peaked out. "Okay, follow me."

  Three meters from the airlock, they approached an intersection. Specialist Johnson squatted and slowly peeked around the corner. She never saw the rifle that fired the shot. She was dead before she hit the floor.

  Mitch quickly reached for her rifle when a voice close to them shouted, "Don't! Or the lovely little lady will be the next one to die." Looking up, Dave saw three mercs walking toward them. The largest had an enormous handgun trained on Cassie's head.

  One particularly loathsome looking merc walked up and grabbed Cassie. Mitch looked at the fellow with the pistol who just smiled and shook his head. The guy that grabbed Cassie began to frisk her for weapons. The instant his hand touched her, like lightning, she grabbed it and broke it between her thumb and forefinger. He fell to the floor screaming and cussing.

  "They're SUBs!" the merc with the pistol shouted, and they all backed off a meter. He then looked at Mitch. "You listen close. You two are going to walk where we tell you, as we tell you, or I'll start blowin' chunks off your girlfriend. Now, move that way."

  After a walk of over an hour, they were placed in a room with four armed guards.

  One of those guards was a young man whose face bore the scars of a dozen fights. "Yew stand wit yor backs ta da wall dare," he demanded, "and do not speak. Yew might kill one ah us, but we'll get ya both fer shor."

  So, they stood silently, waiting.

  Eventually, Lieutenant Colonel Fisher entered the room.

  "Colonel Fisher!" Cassie was shocked. "What are you doing here?"

  Fisher dismissed the guards with a gesture of his hand.

  "Aye, mate. We been ordered to watch dese two," the guard barked.

  "And I'm ordering you out of the room, you ignorant ape. Get out, now!"

  Reluctantly, the four guards departed, and Fisher slowly advanced on Mitch and Cassie.

  "Sir, what the deuce?" Mitch was incredulous.

  Fisher held up a hand. "I don't think I have much time, so please listen. Long before I knew what the IIEA and Wilmington were doing here, I was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Wilmington came to me and offered me a cure for a few favors…nothing big at first, just copies of training schedules, patrol routes—simple stuff. I wanted to live, and I didn't see any harm. But Wilmington's demands increased. I refused. He explained that without the injections, my cancer would return and I would again be facing an agonizing death, but he had lied to me. I just learned, reading captured clinic files, that the first injection of the stuff Wilmington is shipping back to Earth cured me. But I didn’t know, and I wanted to live."

  Fisher went on to explain what the IIEA's game was, and how Wilmington had turned the lives of the indigenous population into a nightmare worthy of the Nazis.

  "Additionally," Fisher continued, "he could prove I'd been stealing classified information. He had a leash on me even before all this shit started. It was obvious something was wrong here; nevertheless, I was floored to hear Mitchel's report on what's happening at the clinic. Still…I wanted my fix of life. I reported to Wilmington, and I told him about the tunnels which were known to the CDF, but not to Wilmington. It was only after I had done that, that Indra provided me a copy of clinic files Major Mitchel had copied, and I discovered Wilmington’s lie."

  "Did Dave, Kathy, and Zolna make it back?" Cassie asked.

  "Major Mitchel was captured; I take it the others are still out there." Fisher went on. "Indra had discovered an open circuit transmitting from Mitchel which allowed Indra to locate him. Indra didn't tell Wilmington…so I did. Indra is not with Wilmington any longer.

  "I have betrayed all that I believe in. I have betrayed my comrades, and my oath. I have turned the meaning of my life into excrement.

  "I'm done with Wilmington. Helping you two to escape is just the first step on my path to redemption." He handed them a piece of paper and an SD chip. "Here's a map that will guide you to sector ten, and a copy of Major Mitchel's report. Being SUBs, I think you can negotiate this path. It'll take you to the vehicle garage," Fisher said in a low pitiful voice.

  "What are you going to do?" Mitch asked.

  "I'm going to kill Wilmington. It may not end this madness, but then again…who knows?"

  "How you gonna do it?"

  "I don't know. I'm playing this game one move at a time. Now, I need you to bloody my lip to give me plausible deniability so I can get past the guard
s at the door after you're gone."

  Without hesitation, Mitch punched him in the face, hard, busting his lip, loosening teeth, and generating swelling and discoloration. Fisher sprawled on the floor. Mitch reached down and offered Fisher a hand up. "Did that hurt?" he asked.

  "Yes, very much." Fisher mumbled rubbing his jaw and wiping blood from his chin.

  "That was for all the good people you allowed to die, for all the indigenous families who lost members so you could live. Right now, Colonel…I'd like nothing better than to beat you to a pulp."

  "And you'd of course be right to do it. Have no fear, Doctor; I have no plan to survive. Now, you two get going."

  Mitch looked over the instructions Fisher had given him, nodded, then moved to the southwest corner of the room. With a small hop, Mitch knocked several ceiling tiles down. He then jumped up and grabbed the edge of the wall with his right hand, and with his left, ripped open the metal sheeting above like it was aluminum foil. Then, with a leg broken off a metal chair, he pounded away at the concrete structure beyond. In five minutes, he was aiding Cassie up and through the aperture. He looked back down at Fisher. "Good luck."

  "Good luck means my death."

  "And that of Wilmington, right?"

  "Right."

  "So, good luck."

  Fisher nodded.

  "And Colonel," Mitch paused, "thanks."

  Mitch and Cassie made their way to the third level of the city, then up a set of stairs and into a maintenance area where they entered an immense duct that moved CO2 to scrubbers on the roof of the city.

  From here, they exited the duct between the roof and the photovoltaic cell array, then made their way to the far northwest extent of the city above sector eleven. They climbed down a long series of access ways and crawl spaces between the walls and into the vehicle maintenance bay in the basement of sector ten. They jumped into a PC and watched as Indra opened the airlock door. When the outer door opened, they drove out of New Roanoke without any clear idea where they were going, just as long as it was away from there.