“It looks so much like home,” Leonard said. “Or Earth, at least,” he corrected himself. Earth was no longer this man’s home.
The bark on the tall thin trees was smooth and pale, the tops of them growing high in the sky, looking to reach the dark red sun beyond. They fought to rise above the canopy of their neighbors, to reach the heavens, and grow deep in the ground to reach maximum sustenance below.
As I gawked at my surroundings, I felt a connection to the world we’d entered uninvited. If you closed your eyes and felt around, you wouldn’t know you weren’t on Earth. I wondered what it smelled like outside. The HUD on my suit’s mask told me the air wasn’t toxic to us but would be thin and hard to breathe for long. That was better than instant death, should something unplanned occur.
The ground was covered in small plants: thin grass fighting for life down below a thick overhead covering of branches and red leaves. I felt like the grass. We had to fight to stay alive, but this grass had been doing it symbiotically for years among the trees. They hadn’t tried to snuff the life from the taller plants; instead, they accepted their role, and did that make them any less a part of their environment? I spotted a growth on a tree and wondered if it was invited or not. The whole ecosystem worked in harmony, a dance of life, and growth, and death.
Could we as intelligent lifeforms learn from their coexistence? Could humans be on the same side as the Deltra, the Shimmalians and the Bhlat? Would we ever find a way to cohabitate in the universe? Kareem’s dying words ran through my head, and I wondered what he saw in me. The big picture was one you needed a ten-thousand-foot view to see, and I was down in the trenches, seeing it all way too closely.
“Watch out, Dean!” Leonard’s voice carried into my earpiece, and he pulled tight on my abdomen. I narrowly avoided running into a large felled tree lying horizontally on the forest floor.
“Thanks. Sorry, I’m in my own head.”
The forest opened up the farther along we went, and before we knew it, we were nearing the edge of it. A narrow stream ran alongside it, steam lifting from the babbling waters. Something told me it was hostile, a dangerous liquid. There were few plants near it, and those that were close angled away from it, rather than toward it for nourishment.
“Hold on to your butt,” I said as I pushed the throttle forward. The scooter pushed faster, and we carried past the edge of the forest and over the small river. Once clear of the trees, the grass got thicker, still red in hue. It was like a field after a battle in the ancient days; the grass looked like it was covered in the blood of the slaughtered. I almost expected to see fallen soldiers, but it was quiet, not a tree or animal in sight.
Leonard reached over my shoulder and pointed forward. “Look.”
The city crept up on us, only a few miles away now. The buildings rose high into the midday sky, some above the rose-colored clouds. The skyscrapers reminded me of the abandoned city where Slate and I had met Suma those few months ago; only this city wouldn’t be abandoned. It was full of Bhlat, and at that moment, they were in possession of my loved ones, trying to take over Earth. The Kalentrek pressed against my chest as it sat tightly in my breast pocket. I wouldn’t risk taking it off my person. The power it possessed was immense. The life it could snuff out in a heartbeat scared me.
What would Leonard think of me if I activated it among them? What would I think of me? I clenched my jaw, resolved to do whatever I needed to do to save my friends, but at what cost?
“Now would be a good time to tell me the plan,” Leonard said when the city limits looked two miles away. I spotted roadways, and ships were flying through the sky: some were small, like floating cars, while others were large vessels, criss-crossing through a three-dimensional rush hour.
“First step, hide the scooter.” I pulled over in a field lined with young trees. Crops grew from what seemed like fertile ground; loamy soil stuck to our boots as we got off the vehicle.
“Then what?”
“We activate our cloaks and walk to the palace.”
“What palace?”
“The one where our target’s located.”
The communicator buzzed again. This time, Magnus’ voice came into my ear. “Dean, we’re on their ship. This’ll be our last communication. Are you almost there?”
“We’re at the city. Give me a couple hours.”
I heard the hiss of an airlock, a string of Bhlat words, and the call cut off.
TWENTY-FOUR
I activated the translator so I could make out what any passing Bhlat were saying. I showed Leonard how to use it, and the first time he heard a Bhlat’s voice, he stopped in his tracks, unable to move. It was even harder to get him to keep going once he laid eyes on one of them.
We were on the outskirts of the city, but luckily for us, most of their transportation happened in the sky. Massive pedways connected the buildings, like in the dead city I’d visited, leaving only a few to roam the streets below. This was to our advantage. Though we were wearing cloaking uniforms, they weren’t infallible, and eventually, someone would notice us.
The first Bhlat civilian we encountered was once again much smaller than the initial contact I’d made on the Deltra station. That one had been an eight-foot-tall warrior, and this was a six-foot male, wearing a robe on the warm day. He moved slowly, like time meant nothing to him, causing us to slow down behind him. I mentally urged him to move along, but he just stood there, face to the red sun, sniffing in the afternoon air.
He said a string of words that translated into my ear as, “Blessed are those who are still walking today.”
He said it a couple more times before opening his eyes and looking toward us. I froze, my heart pounding so hard I thought it was going to jump out and startle the Bhlat. It felt like his eyes made contact with mine; pinks and oranges swirled beside each other in his eyes, and I stared into them, petrified and mesmerized at the same time. Then he looked away, moving on to whatever chore he was set upon.
“Dean, was that a Bhlat?” Leonard asked quietly once no one was around.
“It was.”
“They don’t seem that scary,” he said, a trembling hand still set on my shoulder.
“They won’t all seem intimidating. Who are you more scared of: an old man back in your hometown or a jacked-up soldier with a gun?”
“I get it. This place just seems so normal.”
“We keep moving,” I said, ignoring his comment.
The surface of the sidewalk was paved with a dark asphalt-like substance. It was hard but had a slight give to it, one that wouldn’t crack with season changes. Each building had doors leading into it, a couple with armed security guards. I wondered if they were banks, and just what Bhlat commerce was like on the planet. We avoided anywhere we saw Bhlat outside, and every so often, I looked up to make sure we weren’t being spotted from above.
Terrance had passed some rumors on about there being a palace from which the Bhlat fleet was ruled. A king or emperor ruled them with an iron fist, killing any that opposed him. I took it all with a grain of salt, since they were just distant rumors, but now, they were all I had to go on. The farther we got into the city, the more people we passed. Our clothing made it next to impossible to see us, but we still made noise and had a physical presence. If someone bumped into us, it was over.
We came across all sorts of Bhlat as we kept close to the sides of buildings. Children kicked a ball in the alleys, dust covering their robes. Females chatted about the weather as they carried boxes from one building to another. It all seemed so normal.
Sweat poured down my body, and even the suit’s built-in air conditioning couldn’t stop me from overheating. It was getting warm out; with the layers on and the anxiety of where we were, I was flushed all over.
“How are you holding up, Leonard?”
“Terribly. Is this what being a hero is all about?”
“Pretty much.”
“Then you can have all the glory from now on.”
A loud
Bhlat voice carried over to us from around the edge of a high-rise building, and we stopped. I motioned for Leonard to go flat against the wall. I wanted to grab my rifle, but that would expose me, so I stayed still.
“The Tarna will not be seeing petitioners today. Go back home,” the voice called. The word Tarna didn’t translate, and I understood that to be the name or title of someone.
Taking a peek around the corner, I saw a line of people that went on for as far as I could see, toward a section of the city to the east.
“I’ve read enough medieval books to know that the peasants petition the king at the palace. Follow that line, and we find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” Leonard said, nervously laughing.
He was probably right. A group of petitioners turned and walked past us, their heads down low. “We need water. How are we going to grow the crops? Theos bless us,” a Bhlat woman said through long sharp teeth.
“Shhhh. Don’t say that name,” her friend hissed back. “Sometimes I wonder why I spend time with you. Shouting out blasphemy on the streets.”
They kept moving, and my heart rate returned to only slightly escalated instead of full-on panic. The woman had mentioned the Theos. The old gods’ name still escaped the lips of our enemy. That was interesting, yet they didn’t know about the portals, which made it even more of a mystery. Maybe there was a card I could add to this last hand I was playing.
Motioning for Leonard to follow, I turned around, heading toward the block parallel to the line of people. We’d follow the line, but from a distance. From here, I spotted what could only be the palace. It was a huge building, walls standing as tall as the skyscrapers near it. It looked a meld of glass, stone, and metal from our vantage point: as futuristic and imposing as I could have imagined.
The closer we got to our destination, the slower the travel. More and more bodies cluttered the alleys now, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to stay hidden. Leonard’s deep breathing was crossing through my earpiece, and I had to tell him to calm down a few times. He didn’t reply to my prodding.
A city block away from the immense towers ahead, I had to make a decision. If we kept creeping around cloaked, we were bound to be caught, and we were running out of time.
“Leonard,” I said when we were out of earshot of any Bhlat on the streets, “change of plans.” I told him to follow me, and we ducked and turned away from the wide entrance to the palace. Huge stone steps rose to a large open doorway, where armored guards kept a watchful eye on anyone coming or going. This wasn’t going to work.
Around the corner, we found what I assumed would be there: a servants’ entrance. A couple of Bhlat men were hanging outside, smoking a potent herb from something resembling a pipe. They were in the same white robes, but these were hooded. The men were taller than us by a good foot; smoke blew out one man’s three nostrils.
As they entered the door, I gripped it just before it closed and followed them into the room. Boots and uniforms lined the walls, and before the two of them knew it, I decloaked, holding my pulse rifle up toward them.
“Don’t shoot,” the first one said, his words translating through my earpiece.
“Listen to me.” I paused while the translator spat out the appropriate Bhlat words. “Do as I say, and you can go home to your families tonight.”
This got the two wide gray faces to nod along. I got a good look at a Bhlat for the first time. These two had the same swirling movement in their eyes as the others I’d encountered, and mucus flew from one of the left alien’s nostrils. As much as I was taught that something with teeth that sharp must be a monster, these two seemed like normal people, no different from anyone on the street back home.
“Good. Now tell me who’s in charge, and where I can find them.”
____________
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Leonard asked me from beneath his cowl. He looked like an overweight ghost in the get-up, and I doubted my plan.
“No. I’m liking the odds less and less.” I pushed the cart down the hall toward the Empress’ offices. The Bhlat had told us they were scheduled to do maintenance on her floor atop the towers that morning. After grilling them for an hour, we donned their clothing and made our move.
The cart held our supplies inside, and I had a pulse pistol tucked away under my too-large Bhlat uniform. I was swimming in it, worried each step would cause me to trip over it and make myself known.
The handheld Kalentrek was in my palm. The only solace of that was in knowing I could activate it and kill any Bhlat in the area. That might save my and Leonard’s skin, but it wasn’t going to help our case back at Earth.
We used a key fob on the elevator, the door opening. We entered and pressed the icon the Bhlat had advised, but instead of a lift, an energy surge raced through my body. The next thing I knew, we were on the top floor.
“Freaky,” Leonard said.
I checked my pocket for the Relocator and reminded Leonard to stay close. If we needed to bolt for the portal, I had to be touching him when I activated the device.
Before we left the room, I passed the Kalentrek to Leonard. “Don’t touch it,” I warned him. I climbed on the cart, hoping no one would enter the transporter elevator, and lifted a ceiling grate. “Pass it up,” I said, taking the small device and setting it there. With my tablet, I took an image of it there, turned on so the lights on it glowed softly.
“What’s that for?” Leonard asked as I took the device back and replaced the grate.
“Backup plan.”
TWENTY-FIVE
The doors opened, and we entered the beehive. Armed Bhlat strode down the halls, half as wide as they were tall in their armor. We kept our eyes down, our uniforms and servant cowls covering our far-too-obvious human faces.
I didn’t know much about their leader, but they said she ran all things under the ever-expanding Bhlat colonies. I’d asked what kind of woman she was, and their eyes had gotten wide. They clearly feared her.
The room was open, with three halls heading in different directions from the floor’s foyer. The guards seemed uninterested in us, and I doubted they’d ever been infiltrated before.
“Left,” I whispered, and pushed the cart down the left hall, with Leonard following close behind.
A tall, slim female walked past us, her clothing colorful and rich: a stark contrast to the clothing we’d seen the regular ground-dwellers wearing. I heard her footsteps slow as we walked the opposite direction, and I could feel her eyes on my back as we kept going. Sweat dripped down my torso as my fears escalated and threatened to take over. I thought of Mary on their ship above Earth, and all of my friends in danger there. It was enough to keep my feet moving. The female’s footsteps started up again, getting quieter the farther apart we got.
With a quick glance, I looked up and spotted two hefty guards at the end of the hall. They looked much like the warriors we’d faced on the Deltra space station, and I wasn’t looking forward to fighting them again. But I didn’t have a choice.
“Stay behind me,” I said to Leonard, who happily slowed his pace.
The guards said something to me, but without my translator on, I couldn’t make out the words. I nodded, my face still covered, and when I was ten feet in front of them, I reached under the cart I was pushing, my hand coming to rest on the butt of the pulse rifle.
They spoke again, this time louder, angrier. This was it. I had to get through the doors if my plan was going to work. My last resort was still in my pocket, and I nearly reached for it with my other hand. I could end them now, show the power at my fingertips. Show them we weren’t to be trifled with. Humans weren’t going to roll over for them. I had seconds to act, and I closed my eyes for a tiny moment, remembering the forest on the way down from the portal just hours ago. Kareem’s last words echoed in my mind as I gripped the Kalentrek with my left hand, and the rifle with my right. Make things different.
My left hand let go and I raised the rifle, pointing it at them before
they had time to react.
The guard on the left grunted, his sharp teeth bared at me. He spoke a string of hostile commands, but I didn’t waver. I held the rifle straight between them, waiting for an excuse to shoot. Their armor was thick, matte black, and dangerous-looking. I had to shoot for the head, like Mary had when we’d first encountered them.
I nodded to the door, and they seemed to understand. The one on the right moved to open the door, and the other reached for a gun on his hip. I shot him in the head so quickly, it even startled me.
“Dean!” Leonard shouted behind me, but I didn’t turn or reply. I just motioned for the door again, and the Bhlat guard laid his gun down to open it. Nudging the barrel of the rifle in the air, I waved for the guard to go in first. He did, hesitant to show his back to me.
“Drag him inside,” I said to Leonard, my voice grim.
“Drag… drag him?”
“Do it,” I said, and followed the guard inside. The room was wide, tall panoramic windows letting in red sunlight from a wide angle.
A red-robed female Bhlat sat on a couch with a small alien beside her. They talked quietly and didn’t seem to notice us at all.
Behind me, Leonard groaned as he fought to pull the gargantuan Bhlat in with us. I motioned for the guard to help him, and he obeyed. Soon the door was shut, the dead guard’s blood a smear across the entryway.
“Stay here,” I said to Leonard, and passed him my pistol. He took it with a trembling hand.
He pointed the gun at the remaining guard, who glared at me with hate and distaste. “Don’t let him get too close. If he does, shoot him in the head.”
“Dean, I don’t know if I can.”
“You have to. Do it and let yourself grieve later.”
He nodded, and I turned and walked toward the Empress and the child.
New World (The Survivors Book Three) Page 18