by James Somers
“Hold me, Mister,” begged the girl as she trembled in his arms.
“Well,” said Mirah with complete surprise and a little hurt motherly pride. “I guess she prefers you.”
“What should I do?”
“Hold her.”
Kale sensed something unusual about the girl, but he could not place the feeling.
“What’s your name?” asked Mirah.
“Monsters, chasing me. They took my father…. I ran away from the monsters.”
“But, what’s your name?” asked Kale.
“Don’t let the monsters get me, Mister,” said the girl trembling as she clung to his clothing.
“I won’t let them get you.”
“Kale, we need to keep moving,” advised Emil.
“You’re right.”
“I’ll take point again,” said Emil as he extended his kemstick and marched ahead of them into the undergrowth.
They followed with Kale still holding the little girl. Her arms were wrapped tight around his neck and her legs around his waist as they made their way behind Emil.
☼
“Sir, our scans show they have taken the girl. The four of them are moving south of our position.”
“Very good. Bring us ahead of them one mile…at this clearing here,” said Lucin as he punched the info into his display. “We’ll lay out our troops here and wait for them. I’ll awaken the girl just before they reach the ambush.”
“Yes, sir. I’m bringing us to the new coordinates.”
☼
Grod sat down next to Tiet as he piloted the stolen transport. Wynn stood behind him.
“Tiet, I have to speak to you,” said Grod.
“What is it?”
“I think we have to consider what we’re going to do if we can recover the boys.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, considering what we saw trying to get through the city, and if this has been happening in all the other cities…” said Wynn.
“We can’t stay on this planet,” finished Grod.
“What? But there might be a way to—”
“Tiet, its over,” said Wynn.
They were sobering words to his ears. Tiet had no reply. He had no words to confront the facts being forced on him now. He had ruled this society, this planet, for fifteen years, and it was all shattering to pieces around him. He had often thought of how far this brotherhood between the Vorn and Horva could go; of what could be achieved and how his rule would only be the beginning of the greatness that would be realized in the future for them.
And yet the undermining of it all had been building like a disease that grows silently unnoticed in the body until it is discovered too late to save the person’s life. He had been living a fantasy all this time and it was time to wake up.
“Tiet, we thought we had beaten the Baruk, but all this time that creature has been continuing the war and we are beaten,” said Wynn.
“We have to escape this planet,” continued Grod.
“How? Where could we go?”
“I have an idea about that,” said Grod. “When the Horva acquired the compound at Nagon-Toth from the Vorn military, we also stumbled upon a secret underground compound linked to it by a hidden tunnel from inside the compound. This is where we acquired the transgate portal, but that’s not all that was there.”
They all listened more intently now.
“There was a prototype transgate, only it was implanted in a ship. We never got around to testing the ship’s ability to create and enter a portal, but according to the data we found in the chamber it had been done successfully. There were even a number of test planets and their coordinates left in the ship’s computer. I think they might have been trying to prepare for conquering them. But we could escape to one of them and the symbytes would have no way of finding or following us.”
Tiet thought about all that had happened in the last few hours and his own wife and child still on the run. They were right and he knew it. He had no other ideas to offer in the situation.
“Let’s do it. Once we have Mirah and the boys, we’ll make a run for your ship.”
Wynn and Grod looked relieved, as though they thought he might not be willing to leave, as though he might not be willing to give up on all he had tried to build. The irony for Tiet was that Wynn had been the one who had nearly twisted his arm into accepting the council’s proposal to ascend to his father’s throne.
“Looks like we’re entering the wilds,” said Grod.
“I’ll begin scanning for their life signatures,” said Wynn. “It shouldn’t take us long to pick them up and any ships that are in the area.”
“Once we have their position,” said Tiet. “We’ll evacuate them and dust off as quickly as possible.”
Wynn looked at Grod. His composure changed quickly at that suggestion, but Tiet was already aware of what it meant for his old Horva friend.
“Grod, I know you want revenge. Believe me I would like almost nothing more than to join you in that fight; nothing more that is except to save my wife and our children and hopefully get off of this rock with our lives. You and Wynn talked to me about a hopeless fight and you’re right. Now our priority has to be saving them and getting away safely.”
Grod looked at him and his anger softened when he thought of saving his son. Emil was all he had left. Tiet was right and he nodded his agreement.
“I’ve got the wreckage of the Whiplash on sensors.”
“They crashed?”
“It looks like a controlled landing but the ship’s just sitting there smoldering. Something must have happened and they’ve left it to burn.”
“Any other ships in the area?”
“I’ve got three military transports on the ground and…wait a minute…yes, I’ve got them. Four people are traveling toward the transports. They’re heading into a trap.”
☼
“We’re coming into a clearing, Kale!” shouted Emil from the brush ahead of them.
The girl had not let go of Kale since they found her, but her trembling had stopped. He turned to look at her face as she raised it from his shoulder. Suddenly he felt something; another presence was with them now. The girl’s expression was strangely cold and blank, then she moved her hand almost faster than Kale could see and much too fast for him to react with her hanging around his neck. Her hand was over his mouth in a flash as she pulled herself up, putting her knees into his chest and her other hand around the back of his neck to leverage her arm into his mouth.
Her strength was unbelievable for a girl her size. Kale was off balance before he knew it and her weight and effort forced him back to the ground. He could feel something more driving down his throat from her hand, like a slimy tentacle of some sort. He was strangling on the appendage and trying unsuccessfully to beat her off with his fists.
Despite his inability to scream for help, his mother was quick to respond. Mirah was beating and clawing at her, but the girl relentlessly remained fastened to her victim.
“Emil, help him! She’s one of them!!”
Kale could see only cold blackness in her doll’s eyes. She’s was killing me, he thought. He noticed Emil coming upon her with his kemstick, but the little monster was faster than expected. Emil swiped at her, but she suddenly disengaged from Kale and rolled off of his body under the weapon’s strike and sprang in one move over Emil’s head to land on his shoulders.
He was caught off guard and the girl used his surprise to her advantage. She plowed her gnarled hand into his mouth as she pulled his jaw down with her other hand from behind him.
Now Emil was flailing with the girl on his back. Her small legs were dug into his hips to brace against. Emil dropped his weapon and Mirah grabbed it and swung at the girl. She disengaged her second attack under the threat and bounded away from Emil, landing on the trunk of a large tree nearby. She looked like an animal clinging to the tree.
Kale was on his feet as fast as he could recover with his own kemstick com
ing alive in his hand. The girl hissed and then she boldly launched herself at him. His vision was blurred a little as he tried to focus on her and clear his throat from the choking. She bounced off of the ground under his first strike then tumbled in the air over his head. His second strike guided by his senses struck the girl in mid air as she came down behind him. It was a clean strike—she didn’t move again.
“Are you boys all right?” asked Mirah. “Let me get a bioscan.”
“We don’t have time,” said Kale, “The soldiers are near—I can feel it. We’ve got to keep moving.”
The group tried to compose themselves quickly and ran along their previous path, leaving the girl behind. It’s better for her, thought Kale. She’s out of her misery now. They came into the clearing that Emil had spoken of. Almost immediately, Kale could sense the soldiers waiting for them on the other side of the open area.
“Wait.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I think we’re walking into a trap here. They’re waiting for us on the other side of the clearing. Let’s move back into cover.”
They turned to recover their position back in the brush. Immediately, blaster fire erupted on their position. Emil noticed that the blasts were meant only to stun, as they bounced around the trees without charring the timber.
Soldiers began to move out of their cover into the clearing and close the space between them. There were at least fifty or sixty heading for them while laying down a steady rain of stunning laser fire. Emil and Kale blocked many of the stun blasts that were coming at them as they retreated further into the cover of the vegetation. More laser fire came from the rear. The soldiers had flanked them and were coming in from the trees behind them.
“I’ll take the rear!” said Kale. “Guard my mother!”
They were back to back around Mirah deflecting the stun blasts of the symbyte soldiers. Kale decided more action was needed. Soon the soldiers would be upon them. He gave his mother a blaster pistol from his holster and took to the trees.
He leaped from branch to branch, tree to tree and quickly found his way above the soldiers. Kale swooped down into the enemy forces and began to bring his kemsticks into play against them. He charged into the soldiers like a whirlwind, taking down as many as he could. Their attack from the rear quickly began to disorganize as he slipped in and out of their ranks. Many of their own men were being taken down by crossfire in the confusion.
Emil was not having as much success in his efforts. The soldiers were almost completely across the clearing now and the fire was too concentrated for him to elude it all. Several blasts got by his defense and brought him down hard. And Mirah was quickly stunned as Emil went down. With Kale the only one left fighting, capture seemed imminent.
RESCUE
“We’re coming up on their position!”
Tiet brought the transport into a descent on the clearing just beyond the raging battle his family was involved in below.
“I’ve got two transports rising out of the trees ahead!” said Tiet.
“I’m on it, locking on targets.”
Wynn brought the transport’s missiles online as the ships began to clear the tops of the trees. He fired nearly every rocket the ship was carrying at the enemy transports.
As soon as they had cleared the treetops, the ships turned toward them to fire and were greeted by almost twenty high-powered rockets. The transports shattered to pieces before they could fire a shot and fell back to the ground.
Tiet continued his descent and landed the craft very roughly as he bolted for the door. Wynn and Grod quickly followed, with Jael and Merab close behind. They all ran into the battle.
The symbyte soldiers now turned to fight them as they ran into the fray. Tiet and Wynn began to maneuver through the symbytes, cutting them down at every turn of their swords. Tiet could see Kale afar off among a second group of soldiers, battling with them furiously, his dual sticks whirling about him like circles of light dealing death.
Tiet hoisted Mirah from the ground and headed for the transport with her. Kale and Tiet spoke in mental sensations through the space between them and Kale disengaged the fight and took to the trees after his parents as they headed for the ship.
Grod already had Emil’s unconscious body in his powerful arms and was heading back to the transport after them, as Wynn and the two Horva soldiers laid down cover fire and defense for them. The main group made it to the transport safely. Kale bounded through the treetops over the symbytes and came down into the clearing en route for the transport. Tiet was already lifting off with Kale in his mind, knowing that he could make the jump to safety without any problem.
But something happened as he ran for the ship. Tiet could sense a complete loss of control in Kale’s mind and waves of pain taking over his body. He looked back through the open troop deployment door to the field below in time to see his son fall.
No shot had hit him, but he was losing consciousness quickly. Kale could see the transport just ahead and above him, but he could not make his body respond to his desire to lift himself up to it. As his eyes closed he caught a faint glimpse of Wynn touching down next to him on the ground.
Tiet aimed the blaster cannons at the soldiers emerging from the trees as Wynn lifted Kale’s body to his shoulder and made the leap to the transport.
“I’ve got him, Tiet! Let’s go!”
Tiet punched the engine throttle controls and the ship surged away from the battle. The computer onboard signaled a warning. One of the Horva soldiers slipped into the chair and read the display’s information.
“I’m showing an enemy ship following us from ten miles back, sir.”
“Grod, are the coordinates plotted in the navigation system?”
“Yes, but that ship will know where the bunker is and lead the others there if we go now.”
“It won’t matter as long as that ship can do what you say it can,” said Tiet. “We’re leaving this rock.”
☼
Lucin slammed his fist on the control panel, shutting off the negative report from the ground forces. The boy had gotten away, but he had still been infected by the girl. He had to have the boy. His host body would be perfect for the conquests he had in mind.
“Can we catch the ship?” asked Lucin.
“We’re keeping up, sir, but they’re flying the same thing we are. We can’t overtake them until they stop somewhere.”
“Can you pinpoint where they might be headed?”
“They’re heading on a course that will bring them near the area of Nagon-Toth.”
“That’s it. They’re heading to Grod’s compound. They don’t realize it’s gone. Send all available ships and troops to Nagon-Toth.”
“Yes, sir.”
The boy was fighting the takeover of his mind and body; Lucin could feel it. He hadn’t thought of the possibility that the boy might be able to resist him. It hadn’t been a problem before, but the boy was much more powerful—all the better for his purposes.
☼
Wynn piloted the ship while Tiet stayed at Kale’s side as Mirah examined him. He was still unconscious. Mirah passed a hand-held medical scanner slowly over his body. The information fed to a portable display she had setting on the floor of the ship next to his head.
“What is it Mirah, what’s wrong with him?” asked Tiet anxiously.
Tears welled in her eyes as she continued to pass the scanner. Any professionalism as a doctor was gone now as she saw the information pouring onto the display. This was happening to her baby, her only child.
“Mirah?”
“It’s one of those things, like we found inside the bodies of the Baruk. It’s taking over his neural pathways, winding its way around his brainstem and infiltrating his spine.
“Can you stop it?”
“I don’t know anything I could do to remove it without killing him,” she said through sobs.
“What about Emil?”
“That’s just it. His scans aren’t showing the same le
vel of infiltration. Somehow his body is keeping it at bay; fighting the takeover and keeping it confined near the entry site. It might be something about being a Horva. I just can’t pinpoint it right now with this limited equipment.”
Grod was listening intently as Mirah spoke of his son. Emil was still unconscious, but it appeared to be completely related to the stun blasts he had received in the battle. Tiet knelt near his son and focused on him mentally, shutting out everything else. He could sense his pain. And more than the physical pain he could sense his mental anguish. The symbyte organism was fighting for control of his body, trying to overcome Kale’s mind. Tiet could hear his son’s thoughts, as he cried out in the darkness of his unconscious mind.
Kale, I’m here.
Father?!
Kale, you must fight the symbyte’s control.
It speaks to me, Father. I don’t know how to stop it.
Concentrate, Son. You’re more powerful than it is. Use your power to fight its takeover of your body. You’ve got to focus and take control back before it can gain anymore ground.
I’ll try…it’s hurting me!