Super World Two

by Lawrence Ambrose

  "They're about eight kilometers southeast," said Tildie.

  "Yes?" Kushner answered Jamie's hail.

  "We just left the main control area," said Jamie. "When we materialized, they responded immediately by trying to kill us. Dennis was wounded, but he's doing okay. We have an alien with us." She hesitated, unsure about how much information to drop on them. "Oh. This is a Luminate ship, not Elemental."

  "Say again?" Major Harrington's voice.

  "We've attacked a Luminate ship." The channel grew so quiet that only the green connection light kept Jamie from thinking the link was severed. "We'll be there in a minute."

  Jamie turned to the alien. "We're going to fly to our people. I can transport you."

  "I can fly on my own."

  "Okay. Follow us, then. It's a few miles south of here."

  Jamie drew Dennis into the air beside her. Tildie and the alien lifted off – Tildie keeping a wary eye on it. Jamie knew that she shouldn't be surprised by the alien's flight-capability – or its suit's flight-capability – but she was. She wondered what else the suit might be capable of.

  They soared over terrain and wildlife that Jamie knew would've been beyond fascinating under other circumstances: lakes, plains, and hills verging on small mountains, teeming with eagles, elk, crows, wolves, and mammoths which seemed torn from a page out of the Pleistocene period, Jamie thought. They flew directly over a human village...or at least they looked human. One red-haired man waved what appeared to be a spear at them.

  "They have Stone Age people here?" Tildie asked wonderingly. "Why? Why not some other era?"

  "We wish to preserve something of you in a more primitive state," said the alien. "For when your world is no more."

  "Everyone seems to be burying us while we're still alive," Tildie grumbled.

  They landed to startled stares and DAK rifles angling in the alien's general direction.

  "Where did it get the suit?" Kushner asked, his face a picture of professional fascination.

  "From a compartment in the chamber between here and the main ship," said Jamie. "It started out as a square and kind of folded over it."

  Kushner approached the alien, holding out his hand. "I'm Jacob Kushner, in command of this unit." He glanced at Jamie. "One of the unit's leaders."

  The alien, standing close to eight feet tall in its suit, made no motion to acknowledge Kushner's outstretched hand. It was not even clear what part of the alien's suit, if any, was regarding him.

  "We seem to have made an error in coming here," said Kushner, lowering his hand. "Do you have a name or title? Something I can call you?"

  "We do not share our individual names or personal or social information with others."

  "But you are Luminate."

  "Yes."

  "Then this is a case of mistaken identity. We were intending to attack the Elementals, who have been threatening our world. Do you know of them?"

  "Yes."

  "You know they've threatened our world?"

  "We know your extinction is a high probability. We will not share our knowledge of and dealings with other civilizations with you."

  "Why not?" asked Jake.

  "We have nothing to gain and everything to lose."

  "If you had told us who you are," said Jamie, "you wouldn't have lost lives."

  "It should not be necessary to reveal ourselves to you to avoid aggression."

  "You were aggressive first, asshole," growled Jake.

  Kushner held up a hand. "There's no point in this. We're on the wrong ship. We should return to the Cheyenne and regroup."

  "Ahh..." Everyone turned to Dennis, who was also raising a hand. "One problem. The carrier is back in there."

  They followed his gesture to the wall that ran along the nearest edge of the preserve.

  "We can return to the ship one at a time, can't we?"

  Dennis shrugged. "I don't see why not. Or I could go back in and find the carrier. It shouldn't take long."

  "Then I suggest you do that." Kushner raised an eyebrow to Jamie. "Unless you have an objection."

  Jamie was having uneasy feelings again when she faced the immobile and silent Luminate. "Are you okay with us leaving?"

  "You may leave."

  "What about your 'adjudication'?"

  "We have decided to accept your explanation and forgive your trespass."

  "Um...thank you."

  Jamie couldn't think of any reason to not take their position at face value. It was the reasonable thing to do. But not having any clue about their psychology was disturbing.

  "Okay," said Dennis. "Then I guess I'll go."

  Jamie touched his shoulder. "Are you sure you're recovered enough?"

  "I think so."

  "If you're not back in five minutes, I'm going in after you."

  "I'll be back before that. I know where I dropped it. Of course, it's possible they did something with it. If I don't see it, I'll just come back and we'll do Plan B."

  Dennis stepped away and concentrated on relaxing, on flowing outward, joining with a larger force he couldn't name but sensed. Seconds passed, and the buzzing energy that heralded his entry into N-Space refused to come. He closed his eyes and made his body go limp, opening himself up to the transformative energy. More seconds passed, and someone cleared their throat.

  Dennis opened his eyes. "I don't know. Can't seem to find my 'chi' or whatever the hell it is."

  "You're still recovering," said Jamie. "Maybe you can't do it unless you're at full strength."

  "Maybe."

  No one spoke, but all eyes turned to the alien, standing like a silent sentinel. Dennis closed his eyes and tried again. Sweat broke out on his forehead. Still nothing.

  "We can't leave your ship – not at this moment," Jamie said to the Luminate. "My husband...mate...is the one who can transport us, but he apparently hasn't recovered enough from a wound he received while inside your living area. I think we'll just need a little time." She waited for a moment. "Do you understand?"

  "We understand. We will transport you back to your ship. We have a cargo ship with an area designed for air-breathing organisms."

  "Okay. Thank you. Thank you for giving us a break."

  "Follow me. I will lead you there."

  When the Luminate rose soundlessly into the air, Jamie felt a tap on her shoulder.

  "Ah, Jamie." It was Karen Clarkson. "This creature is filled with hostility toward us. You harmed something of great value to it...or him. I sense it is planning a trap...very possibly our death."

  Jake, who was standing nearby, snapped his DAK rifle to his shoulder and took aim.

  "Hold on," said Jamie. "I'll bring him back – "

  A small glowing sphere popped out of the alien's suit with a hiss and flashed toward them. Jamie started to will it to stop – but the sphere had already jerked to one side as if slapped by an invisible hand.

  The ground nearby erupted in a fiery ball. Jamie anticipated the explosion and was already pushing back hard telekinetically. The blast shook the ground and blew a thatch of trees backward but barely budged the nine people standing on it.

  Jake opened fire on the retreating alien figure, rounds sparking off its protective suit. Major Harrington raised his rife. A hard thump like a fist impacting soft flesh signaled the launch of an Super Explosive round. Three seconds later the fleeing alien figure vanished in a fiery detonation. Major Harrington lowered his DAK and gave Jake a grim smile.

  "They were truly planning to kill us?" Kushner asked Karen Clarkson.

  The NDU professor stood blinking, pale and glassy-eyed. "I think...it was planning something bad. It wasn't clear..."

  Kushner turned to Jamie and Major Harrington.

  "So now what?"

  "So now the shit officially hits the fan," said the Major. He broke out his com radio. After tapping the ship-link icon he shook his head. "No connection."

  Jacob Kushner was confirming that with his own com. "Not surprising. Our telemetry couldn't p
enetrate their hull, so it makes sense we can't penetrate it from here. Suggestions, Major?"

  "My first suggestion is that we take out this ship's space-based weapons. They're almost certainly capable of destroying our Starfleet, which I'm guessing will be its first move. That and trying to kill us. From what I've seen so far, I'm optimistic about our chances in here. But out there, they can bring the full power of their weapons systems to bear."

  Jamie fought back a sharp jolt of dread as she imagined the ship holding her daughter vaporized by some powerful alien weapon. She forced herself to the present, touching Karen's shoulder lightly and mouthed a quick thanks before turning to the others.

  "If we start randomly destroying things in here," said Kushner, "we could trigger a catastrophe along the lines of breaching an antimatter containment chamber. Not to mention stranding ourselves here with no way home if Dennis doesn't recover his teleporting abilities."

  "We knew that from the start, Dr. Kushner," said Major Harrington. "But what are our options here? If we don't take down their weapons systems they may be capable of destroying our fleet. I would say our lives are secondary to that."

  "Hey!"

  They all jumped a little as Kevin Clarkson appeared, smiling, in their midst.

  "It took a while for Newton's First Law to do its thing," he said. "When I leaped up to knock aside the projectile, I had to follow my parabola to its conclusion."

  "That was quick-thinking, son," said Major Harrington.

  "Quick-thinking is kind of what I do." Kevin grinned. "Along with quick-moving."

  Then, in movements too fast to follow, Kevin was aiming a kinetic rifle and firing into the sky. A cluster of shiny, star-shaped objects that made Jamie think of origami kites approached high in the sky. Behind the "kites" flew twenty or thirty aliens wearing the original Luminate's suits.

  Kevin's SE rounds got only twenty or thirty meters into the air before they met the Luminate's "stars" and detonated over their heads. Several of the team went down. Tildie popped into the air, launching lightning strikes at the flying aliens. Major Harrington had his chest particle beam burning after them, but they flew into whirling patterns that easily evaded his beam. Green rays hissed downward, and people cried out. Jamie was struck, without any effect but a slight burning in her shoulder. Tildie dropped from the sky, clutching a leg. A mass of small glowing spheres descended on them. Jamie swept them back into the star-shaped objects. Metallic confetti rained down. A few of the star-shaped objects simply vanished. As Jamie lashed out telekinetically she snuck a glance at Jacob Kushner. His face was knit in fierce concentration, no doubt focusing his dematerialization powers.

  The sky was suddenly clear. Half the team was sprawled on the ground, groaning, nursing burn wounds in their arms, legs, and bodies. Dennis was sitting up with a new wound on his left shoulder. Kevin was untouched. Terry Mayes healed a wound in his abdomen with a prolonged touch. Jamie, Horner, Thomas, and Kushner bore burn marks in their clothing but showed no ill-effect. No one appeared gravely injured.

  Several suited Luminate lay in the grassy fields – most in portions, two or three seemingly intact and unmoving but possibly alive. Jamie decided on mercy, for the moment. She raised her husband to his feet with her mind and wrapped an arm around him.

  "I'm okay," he said. "The first hit was a lot worse."

  "With any luck," said Major Harrington, rising, holding a wound in his side, "that was all they had in terms of internal security. Now I realize most of you want to take some time to recover, to perform inventory on yourselves, but as I was saying there's no time to waste. We need to get back into their living area ASAP."

  "They must have entrance and exit devices on the walls," said Terry Mayes. "If I could gain access to their control systems from there I might learn if I can use their devices."

  "Good idea, kid. If we can locate one, that might be the ticket."

  "I've seen at least one doorway between the inner and outer chambers," said Jamie. "I'm guessing there are more than one."

  "Then I suggest you have a look. Quickly."

  "I'll come with you," said Kushner.

  Jamie flew Terry and Kushner with her to the wall, where they soon spotted what appeared to be the markings of a control panel. Terry placed his hands on the markings and closed his eyes, going for his technology mind-meld. After several moments he shook his head.

  "I can see the circuitry, or whatever you'd call it," he said. "But I can't establish a connection. I think there's a biometric component wired into the system. You'd have to be Luminate to make this stuff work."

  "Not terribly surprising," grumbled Kushner. He stroked his chin, frowning. "Jake Culler has metamorphosing capabilities. My understanding is he can take the form of something he's been in close contact with."

  "If that someone's a person," said Jamie. "That doesn't mean he can assume the shape of an alien."

  "But it doesn't mean he can't, either, does it?" He smiled at her expression. "Strange idea, I know. But then I'm in the business of strange ideas."

  They flew back to the group. Jamie let Kushner broach his idea to Jake. Jake twisted his head and grunted a caustic, disbelieving laugh.

  "You want me to turn into a fucking slug?"

  "It's an idea," said Kushner, with a dark smile. "Not that I hold high hopes of it working. But we're rather short on options here."

  "Could that work, Terry?" Jamie asked.

  Terry shrugged. "I don't see how, unless he absorbed some of the knowledge of the alien."

  "I didn't absorb any knowledge from the one person I shapeshifted into."

  "I'd say we're out of time for discussion," said Major Harrington. "If we don't act now, it will all be a moot point. If it isn't already."

  A loud series of popping sounds echoed near and far along the wall. The ground lurched, causing some of them to stumble. Birds in nearby trees screeched and fluttered into flight.

  "What the fuck was that?" Jake asked.

  A herd of mammoths a mile or so away trumpeted. More like tromboned, Jamie thought – a low, blatting sound. The group looked around. Except Terry and Jacob Kushner: they stared at the wall.

  "I hope I'm wrong," said Kushner, "but I think what might've just happened is they decoupled the main ship from this preserve."

  "That would make us into a non-threat more or less instantly," said Major Harrington.

  "I'll find out," said Jamie.

  Before anyone could agree or object, she flew to the wall. She thought she had a pretty good idea what was at stake – and what she might find. She pushed out a small section of wall. Her worst expectation was met. A roar of air rushed past her, clamping her against the wall. Beyond the wall was space and stars – and a swiftly departing space craft lit up by streamers of light bending off its body. God only knew what kind of star-drive it had. She fought an urge to go after it, to rip through its insides before it had a chance to escape.

  And then it was gone.

  Jamie squeezed the opening together and flew back to the others.

  "We've separated from the main ship," she said. "Just as you thought, Dr. Kushner."

  "I didn't want to be right about that." He met her gaze. "Did you see the ship?"

  "For a few seconds. Then it was gone."

  Kushner nodded as though expecting that. He exchanged a dour look with Major Harrington.

  "The question is," said Kushner, "does this preserve have any independent flight capability."

  "Not to mention where the hell we are," Jake grumbled. "Not near the sun, I take it."

  Jamie shook her head. "I didn’t see any sun."

  "It's critical that we gain control over the devices in this place." An impatient strain had entered Harrington's voice. "Even if we can't fly it, we might at least be able to send a transmission or create a beacon."

  "We should see if there are any survivors," said Kushner.

  "One," Kevin announced. "I just checked. One of them was moving. Barely."

 
"Maybe we can get it to help us," said Tildie. "I mean, since it's stuck here, too."

  "I could check out its thoughts," said Karen. "But from what I picked up from the other one, these creatures are highly xenophobic. Xenohostile might be more accurate. They see dealing with other civilizations as a tragic necessity."

  "Let's hope he's the exception," said Major Harrington. "Otherwise..." He glanced at Jake, who bristled. "We might need to put some of our more exotic superpowers to use."

  Kevin led them a short distance to an alien who appeared to be feebly attempting to rise. When they surrounded it, the alien slumped back in the grass with a sussurant sound.

  "It's sadly, stoically accepting its death," Karen announced in a quiet voice, with some sadness of her own. "It expects us to kill it."

  "Is it dying?" Jamie asked.

  "It's unsure. The suit is working hard to heal it."

  "Why don't we put these questions to it directly?" Kushner bent closer to the alien. "Can you hear us? Can you understand what we're saying?"

  "I can hear and understand you."

  "Do you understand what's happened?" Jamie asked.

  "You claim to have attacked us in error. We were offering to return to your ship when you attacked us again."

  "Because you were planning to kill us."

  "I don't understand this statement."

  "You were leading us into a trap, weren't you?"

  The alien didn't reply.

  "It's true," said Karen. "I can see into your mind. Once aboard one of your smaller ships you planned to destroy us. I see that clearly now."

  "You come from human ships...you appear human...but you are not human. Humans cannot do these things."

  "We're superhuman," said Jamie. "There's no point in lying to us. We have no desire to harm you. We're just defending ourselves."

  "Do you know we're no longer attached to the ship?" Kushner broke in.

  "I heard the sound of jettisoning, yes."

  "What's your plan?"

  The Luminate was silent.

  "Their ship will return after they've destroyed our ships," said Karen.

  "As I thought," Harrington growled. "Where are we now?"

  When the alien didn't reply, Karen said, "I can't understand his measurements, but it thinks of the distance from where we were as not great."