“He said he’d try and locate my family. If they were still alive, he’d bring them to me. I did it for my family. I’d do it a thousand times over if I could.”
“No, you did it for yourself. Your family would be ashamed to know what you’ve done.”
“They’re not ashamed of me.” Her voice quavered. “They’re all long dead. We were a working family of no value other than food to these monsters.”
“If you knew they were dead, why did you do it? That makes no sense.”
“Please kill me now.”
“Gladly.” Kendra nearly removed Symetra’s head slitting her throat.
When Kendra came back to me, I thanked her. “I don’t know if I could have done it.”
“What? You couldn’t kill someone who had to die to preserve the mission? You couldn’t kill someone who sold you out? You couldn’t kill a person as low as that?”
“I know why she did it.”
Kendra tensed her jaw. “Jon, the last thing she told me was that she knew they were dead. Still, she betrayed us.”
“I know. That’s why I don’t know if I could punish her for what she did. Thanks again.” I dropped my head.
“General Ryan. You’re making as little sense as the old bitch did.”
“Kendra,” I said sadly, “Echo, when you’ve seen enough death, when you’ve suffered more than you can bear, you do things you wouldn’t believe yourself capable of before it all that happened.” I cupped my hand on her face. “I pray you never know what she and I do. I pray you stay as pure and as full of wonder and that it’s never taken from you.”
A tear welled up in one eye. Just one. “Thank you, sir. I hope so too.”
“One last thing, Commander. I never thought I’d find myself saying this to a beautiful woman, but could you put some clothes on please? I’m a married man. My wife can’t see me from where she is. Even if you trust me, I’m not sure I do.”
She placed her knife against my chin. “That’ll cost you three punches, you little lying sack of shit.”
“Huh?”
She looked straight down. “The little general’s standing at easy. Yes, I’m calling you a liar.” She kissed the tip of my nose and slapped her blade away. She turned and walked away like a fashion model on a Paris runway, heading for the building our clothes were in.
NINETEEN
“Not today, Callophrys. I don’t feel so well,” Dolirca said with a pronounced fingernails-on-chalkboard whine.
“It will begin today, child. I insist,” replied the butterfly.
“Wait. I am empress. I will do as I wish. I will not take orders from anyone.”
“I am not anyone. I am a bug.”
“All the more reason,” she replied with a huff.
“My patience is gone. I came to you to make you great, to make you powerful. What good is power if one does not use it?”
“I’m happy knowing I am. Why use power unless it is necessary?”
“Because it is there,” she responded much too loudly.
Dolirca sat up and stared at her friend. “I beg your pardon?”
“I give you unlimited power. You have unlimited enemies. You must crush them. There can be no other option.”
She smiled and giggled like a child. “Of course, you’re right. I was being silly, wasn’t I?”
“Yes, but you will be serious now. I insist.”
“Very well, grumpy. But I must tell you, I am tired today, so we can only crush and destroy a little before I must rest.”
“Any action is a start. I have come to regret my choice of operatives.”
“Was it not I who warned you that your plan was a fool’s wish?” spoke Des-al for both to hear.
“Yes. Thanks for the reminder. When I’m having a bad day, it’s good to know I may rely on you to make it worse.”
“I didn’t say that, Callophrys. Who did? Who are you speaking with?”
“Another of your loyal servants, Empress. Pay him no mind. He is old and he cannot remember how to wait.”
“Oh. Well, I’m ready to walk my kingdom. Shall we?”
“Yes.”
She strolled through the village, the butterfly on her shoulder, her Toe following closely. When anyone saw her approach, they ran, making no pretense of civility or deference. They came upon a creek that ran near a road.
“I’ve never liked that stream,” she said pointing at it with disgust. “Make it vanish.”
“When I spoke of destruction, I was referring to your enemies, not a harmless trickle of water.”
“Who is empress?”
“For the immediate future, you are.”
The stream disappeared. All that remained was the dry bed.
She pouted. “But I’ll still know the ugly creek was there. And should it rain, the creek will surely return.”
“Argh!”
From where the creek bed had been there appeared a mighty mountain, tall and thin.
Dolirca studied it, massaging her chin. “Could it be lower? Maybe with trees near the top. I love apple trees. I know they’re from that wretched Earth, but apples are so sweet.”
The mountain halved in size and a scattering of apple trees popped into being.
“We are done with the landscaping. We must find and punish a person now.”
“Oh. All right. But I’m still not certain the trees are…”
“No more trees. A person.”
“Yes. I will see punished he who betrayed me most.”
“Now we’re talking. Lead on, Empress, yada-yada-yay.”
Shortly, they arrived at the village graveyard. Dolirca picked her way cautiously though the plots. Finally, she arrived at one and pointed to it.
“My brood-mate lies here. He was so cruel to me. He drank, he gambled, and he never loved me. When I joked about harming him, he jumped to his death to spite me. His last words were this will teach her. I wish to see him punished.”
There was a brief silence. “Child, Burlinhar is dead. One cannot punish the dead.”
She crossed her arms and came to bear on the butterfly. “Why not? I make the rules. I say punish him so he will not do it again.”
“It? Do what? Betray you or kill himself?”
“Yes. Proceed. Your empress awaits.”
“No, that’s not how it works. I could reanimate his corpse and destroy it, but that wouldn’t be Burlinhar, just his bones. I could retrieve him from the afterlife and kill him. But that wouldn’t be punishment because he’s already dead. He wouldn’t be worse off. Punishment means the person is worse off after he suffers it.”
“Can you hear yourself, Eas-el? You babble like a fool. Destroy this world or I will,” chided Des-al.
“Destroy my world? How presumptuous of you, Callophrys. I forbid it. Another remark along those lines and it is…”
“What? Continue to speak. I command it.”
“I’ve decided who must be punished.”
“Thank of forces of creation and the winds of light. Yes, whom shall I destroy, what is his name?”
“Callophrys.”
“Yes, I’m waiting. His name, so that I might smite him?”
“Her name is Callophrys.”
“No, pathetic child, I am Callophrys.”
“Yes. I wish you to punish yourself. You were insolent and harsh, and you frightened me just now. You asked for a name. I gave you a name. You must crush and destroy Callophrys.”
“It never pays to work with the insane, Eas-el. Did I not warn you?” said Des-al with an echoing chuckle.
“No, know it all, you didn’t. You warned me of this, that, and every other thing, but playing with lunatics was probably the only thing you didn’t advise against.”
“Young Eas-el, I would speak as tiere, the leader of the Last Nightmare. You know the rules. You knew them before this universe existed. You bound us to come here, and come we did. You bound us to await the completion of your first conquest, and await you we did. You bound yourself to this idiot
child’s whim, and bound to it you are. She has named her first victim, and it is you. The rules clearly state what your actions must be.”
“But that’s…that’s preposterous. I am not bound to destroy myself. I pledged to aid her, mislead her, and betray her. There was no specific mention of self-annihilation as a possible outcome. None.”
“Eas-el, you named the game. The game is afoot. You are bound to it. You know this. Do you know what else, foolish Eas-el?”
“What?”
“I told you I’d cry for any of our kind lost because of your folly.”
“Yes, I recall your sanctimonious words.”
“It turns out even I can be wrong. I shall not miss you.”
Dolirca turned to speak with the butterfly on her shoulder. There was no butterfly on her shoulder. She wondered if there ever had been.
“Burlinhar,” she said to his plot, “are you ready to come home yet? I will forgive you if you come along now. If you dawdle, I shall be cross with you. When I’m cross, things cease to exist.”
Hearing no response and growing bored with the conversation, Dolirca waved to her Toe to follow her and left to find her children.
TWENTY
Before we left the Berrillian outpost, we had some cleanup to do. The bodies of Roaquar and Symetra might contain too many suspicious clues as to what happened. I came up with a simple solution, albeit a tad gruesome. On the spot where Roaquar’s head should have been, I placed Symetra’s nearly transected neck. I then placed a grenade in her laceration. It blew up and erased a lot of anatomic details if those who came later cared to look for them.
Since the guards wouldn’t even have a bad explanation as to why they were unconscious and unharmed, we did some harming. We hit them multiple times, each in the head and in other locations, reflecting hand-to-hand combat. We the scattered them at intervals, suggesting each was knocked out in a different fight. It wasn’t brilliant, but it’d probably pass muster. I knew these cats pretty well. Whoever oversaw the investigation would kill the guards first and ask questions later.
That left our escape. It was several days’ march to the vortex. Once our attack was discovered, and especially the possible existence of a doomsday weapon, the entire section would be swarming with Berrillians. Assets at our disposal were a few broken-down internal combustion vehicles and a scout ship. The spaceship was probably the outpost’s transport. Since the cars were not too promising, we checked out the ship.
It stunk to high heaven. Typical Berrillian. No one was aboard. I studied the control panel.
“Al,” I said out loud so Kendra could follow, “do you think you and I can fly this flea bag?”
“Likely, Captain. The controls are designed for paws, not fingers, but that’s not too much of a barrier. See if you can interface me to the ship’s computer.”
“There,” I said after a minute, “you should be connected.”
“All right, I think we can do this. Shall I fly you here remotely?”
“Yes. Make sure you disable remote communication. I don’t want the Berrillians to know who we are. And keep a close lookout for enemy craft. Once they see an unauthorized launch, they’ll be after us fast.”
“Understood. Preflight complete.”
“Let do this. Kendra, strap yourself in the best you can.”
I deployed my fibers to steady myself.
“Okay, three, two, one. Let’s boogie, Al.”
Our liftoff was rocky, but not too bad. The trip took just ten minutes. Sure beat the hell out of walking. I was right. By the time we sat down, a flight of ships was closing in on us fast.
“Al, is there a self-destruct?”
“Not really, Captain. I can set the fuel cells to rupture, but it’ll be hard to know how long they will hold together.”
“Rig it the best you can.” I turned to Kendra. “Let’s set the remainder of our charges for a ten-minute delay. I’ll place some on the bridge and amidships, you pack yours aft. Meet at the vortex as soon as your charges are armed.”
“Check.”
She sprinted away.
How long until they land? I asked Al in my head.
Six or seven minutes, maximum.
We’re cutting it close, but hopefully they won’t disarm all the explosives in three minutes.
Unlikely. Plus, if one fuel cell ruptures, there’s nothing they can do but incinerate.
Well let’s just hope that’s exactly how it goes down.
Kendra was waiting by the sealed cube by the time I arrived. Hopefully there be no record it was here. If they figured that out, the mission would be a failure.
“Al, time to explosion?”
“Three minutes.”
“ETA on incoming ships?”
“One minute.”
“Any signs they detect us or have scanned us?”
“Negative. They have located their ship, but we’re still too low for them to pick up.”
“Wrath, do you know the exact location of the cave Kendra and I hid in?”
“Affirmative, Form.”
“Set the vortex as deep in the cave as is safely possible.”
I felt that slight nausea.
“It is done, Form.”
“How far are we from the cave mouth?”
“Two thousand meters.”
Woah, we were way far back.
“Any chance we have or can be scanned this deep?”
“No chance. Their technology is far from capable of such penetration.”
“Can you see the four humans farther up in the cave?”
I crossed my fingers.
“Yes. They are seated around a small fire.”
Set us down as close to them as is safe.”
Brief nausea.
“Which direction are they?”
A line appeared in the floor. “One hundred seventy-eight point sixteen degrees clockwise from your perspective, ten meters in a straight line.”
“Kendra, let’s rock. Don’t forget your rifle.”
“Wouldn’t leave home without it.”
She followed me as we scrambled out the opening.
Boy, were they surprised to see us, especially coming up from the rear. Luckily Vorss didn’t have time to retrieve his shotgun before he recognized us.”
“Thank Chankak you’re all right,” he yelled as he hugged me. He quickly scanned behind Kendra. “Where’s Symetra?”
I looked to the floor. “She didn’t make it.”
“How, what?”
“She died bravely, worried about her family. Do the details really matter?” I replied.
“No, I guess they don’t,” he said sadly.
“And your mission? Are we about to drown?”
“No. That’s actually a long story. I’d love to tell you from a safer place.”
“So far, this cave has been safe,” he said furrowing his brow. Man, he liked to argue.
“I have a ship just over there,” I thumbed over my shoulder. “Let’s talk there.”
“You have a vessel right over there? Jon, that’s preposterous. I heard no sound.”
“Then come with me and prove me wrong. By the way,” I said addressing Havilpo, “there’s a lot of food inside my ship. More than you can possibly eat.”
His saucer eyes convinced his dad to relent. When they saw the shiny vortex, the adults gasped.
“Come on in,” I said waving at them. “It’s perfectly safe.”
Tentatively, Vorss stuck his head in and looked around. Then he slowly stepped in. Relledma entered without hesitation, carrying both of her children.
“Wrath, take us to Exeter immediately,” I said evenly.
After my nausea, I knew we were safely home. Now I just needed to figure out what the hell to tell Vorss.
“Wrath, open a portal.” It opened. “Vorss, come with us. I have a tale to tell, but I’d prefer you were sitting when I tell it.”
Havilpo tugged at Kendra’s shirt. “Where’s the food, Echo? Your man menti
oned lots of food.”
We all started laughing. It felt good to laugh again.
Fortunately for the mental integrity of Vorss and his family, Exeter was jam-packed with counselors, psychologists, and social workers. The family was going to need most of them. Not just to explain where the hell they were but that they were the last four survivors of an entire civilization. Their care team would need a lot of overtime. But you know what? It was worth it. It was a tiny gesture against the Berrillian onslaught, but one Kendra and I would cherish forever. A few good, innocent people survived a horrible death.
A few days after our return, Toño confirmed to me there was a burst of coded traffic concerning a possible planetary threat on the conquered world of Mosparo. Mission complete. That was great. Of course, just because we had their code securely broken didn’t mean we were certain of victory the next time we battled them. But having a big leg up was comforting. He informed me a few days later that a routine status report from Mosparo to their central command noted the loss of one shuttle craft due to resistance sabotage. That was nice icing on the cake. Knowing they’d focus an enormous effort in a vain attempt to locate us put a little smile on my face. Best of luck, suckers.
After our last debriefing, Kendra caught up with me in the hallway. “Yo, general dude,” she said. “Forget something?”
I played dumb. Yeah, not too much playing needed, right? “What? A goodbye kiss?”
“No, but you’re close. I promised you eight, which are now nine, punches in the arm on account of you being a pig.”
I shook my head. “I don’t remember anything along those lines. Are you sure you’re not referring to another devilishly handsome general you served under in combat?”
She buried her index finger in my chest. “Nope. You’re the only pathetic loser who almost fits that bill. You want to try and weasel your way out of it, or are you gonna take it like a man?”
I put on a dramatic and unconvincing display of a man wrestling with ideas in his head.
“Aw, what the hell. You want I should roll my sleeve up so you stand a chance of hurting me, sunshine?”
“No. If these ten whacks don’t do it, I’ll tip my cap to you.”
Forever Series 5: The Forever Alliance Page 11