Galileo (Battle of the Species)

by Meaghan Sinclair

  The silver on Hollen’s uniform shattered, fanning out into a dozen six-blade shurikens. The shurikens flew this way and that, slicing the Aranea to pieces while it screeched in pain.

  The commander jumped off the dead beast, continuing to fight Hollen, showing skill with his sword and shield.

  Schepp took aim at the commander, releasing a Baylorblood-soaked arrow into the commander’s chest. He watched the arrow penetrate the Eminite and stared in horror when the commander continued to fight.

  Hollen switched tactics, sending her shurikens in the air while the commander focused on keeping the Mindeerian swords at bay. The shurikens sliced off the commander’s hands, causing the wrists to reveal severed wires that sparked.

  Hollen rushed him, reaching behind its neck, and turned the bot off. She put her hands out, summoning her swords as the shurikens returned to her uniform as armor. She scanned the battlefield with chaos everywhere. The real commander would be there, if not in battle, then where?

  Schepp looked around anxiously. Some Eminites and Aranea were dropping by the arrows and spilling blood by the swords, while others had arrows sticking out of their chests, continuing to fight.

  “We need electromagnetic pulses out here right now, Control,” Schepp beckoned through his vicom.

  “Copy that, sending EMPs,” a Janiun replied.

  More soldiers exited the portals, carrying portable EMTs, and ran around, circling the battlefield.

  Schepp watched from above, waiting till everyone was in position. He let out a deep squawk and the soldiers hit the EMT switches. Half the Eminites and Aranea dropped to the ground, making the living that much closer to death.

  With half the numbers diminished, the soldiers gained ground, getting a second wind as they overtook the enemy.

  ***

  Desh and Kia ran through the cave until the path split into two. They hesitated, not knowing which way to go. “Check that one!” Desh said, pointing to the right.

  Kia ran a few feet down the right tunnel, while Desh ran down the left.

  I see sconces! Kia thought.

  Yeah, but there’s light down this one too!

  They ran back to where the paths parted when they heard a buzzing sound racing towards them. An ident-seeker zoomed around the corner, stopping before the boys.

  “Hurry up!” Desh hissed at the apparatus.

  The seeker scanned his face and a small light on the screen blinked, then scanned Kia and blinked again. It turned towards the two paths, pausing for only a moment, and then zipped down the right tunnel.

  “Should we follow it?” Kia asked.

  Desh closed his eyes and listened for thoughts, but heard nothing come from inside the cave.

  “Desh!” Kia said, becoming impatient.

  “No, let’s go down the other one. If we’re wrong, the seeker will find him,” Desh replied, racing down the left tunnel.

  ***

  “There!” Adam said, as the ident-seeker’s data downloaded onto the screen. Desh and Kia’s pictures appeared next to a map with two red dots gliding together. “Send the reconnaissance-bots after them,” he said.

  The Omite’s fingers clicked away, ordering moths to fly and spiders to crawl into the cave.

  ***

  “Very touching,” the Eminite commander sneered when Renn woke up. “That worked out even better than I had hoped.”

  Renn looked around, finding himself sitting underneath the suspended stone and inside the poles. He felt dizzy and sick while his eyes tried to gain focus. He saw two-dozen Eminites standing before him, but when he tried to move, he found that his hands were stuck together, as if in constant prayer. Renn watched a pair of scuffed boots walk up to him and he looked up into the eyes of the commander.

  The commander smiled. “I wouldn’t spark if I were you. Your palms are covered in E.S.T-39. It won’t cause a blast large enough to kill you, but just enough to take off your hands.”

  Renn could see his palms illuminate and he closed his eyes, shutting everything out. He tried to control his thoughts, for fear of a spark, and willed himself to calm down. The blue light dimmed until disappearing between his hands.

  “Very good,” the commander said. “But you see — I want your hands to explode. Here, let me help.” The commander then walked to the wall and released the chain from the wall.

  Renn looked up and emitted as much energy as he could, stopping the stone in mid-air, hovering above his head.

  The commander laughed. “Oh come now, that has to be worth a spark!”

  Renn tried to suppress every emotion filling his body: fear, anger, agonizing torment at losing the one he loved, defeat.

  He took deep, slow breaths and glanced at the Eminites behind the commander, noticing they were all brandishing laser guns, while their swords remained idly sheathed. He targeted the Eminite furthest in the back, and slowly unsheathed its sword. He raised it into the air, hesitating when his own palms once again illuminated. He tried to control his own thoughts, but all he could think was: She’s dead...she’s dead.

  “I wonder,” the commander said, glancing up at the stone. “How long do you think a young Mindeerian can emit this much energy before draining his body to the point of death?”

  Renn quietly brought down the Eminite’s sword, taking its ear with it. He quickly entered the Eminite’s mind. The Eminite opened its mouth to yell and jerked its body to move, until Renn gained full control of its body. The Eminite closed its mouth and stood up straight, unmoving.

  Seeing through the Eminite’s eyes created a double-image in Renn’s head, and it took him a moment to focus on how to move the Eminite’s body without moving his own. Renn could feel the presence of the Eminite’s consciousness, fighting him to regain control, but Renn pushed back, unwilling to yield.

  “Why are you doing this?” Renn asked, trying to keep his own eyes focused on the commander.

  “So your mother and I can be introduced,” the commander replied with a self-satisfied grin. “Is that asking so much?”

  Renn could feel his own body growing weaker by the second. He brought down the sword again, slicing the ear off the next Eminite and struggled for a moment in an attempt to keep both Eminites from moving. He used the two Eminites to fire into their comrades and the room quickly became chaotic with baffled Eminites looking at each other in a state of confusion. He kept the sword flying, and took over more Eminites, one by one.

  The Eminites fired at their comrades, but the commander turned to Renn.

  Renn found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

  “Release them!” the commander roared.

  But Renn knew he wouldn’t fire. Renn would be killed by Desh in that room, on that day, and all he could think of while he watched the Eminites was: I’m going to take you all with me.

  Renn closed his own eyes, and the eyes of all but one Eminite, so the multiple-sights in his head changed to a clear single vision, seen through the eyes of the lone Eminite in the back. He watched half a dozen Eminites fighting his battle and the scared boy between the bars, sitting under a large stone. In the mind of the furthest Eminite, he heard the scuffling of feet running up behind him. He turned the Eminite’s body and looked into the eyes of his brother’s furious face.

  Desh took one look at the Eminite and sent the Mindeerian sword through the air, decapitating it.

  Renn almost dropped his energy stream and the stone hovering above him when he realized the dream had come to fruition and yet he was still alive. The stone stopped inches from his head and then rose, depleting more of Renn’s energy.

  “Kia!” Desh yelled.

  “I got it!” Kia replied, releasing an arrow into an Eminite and running behind the poles. He chained the stone against the wall and turned just in time to dodge a laser blast.

  ***

  Adam watched the screens as robotic insects entered the battle room. He gave a set of coordinates and unholstered his gun.

  An Omite at the controls hesitated
. “I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”

  “What do you mean you can’t do that?” Adam asked in bewilderment.

  “What’s this?” the Zeanup asked.

  “Those coordinates would drop a portal onto the bridge and open in the cave, sir,” the Omite replied.

  “That would give the commander access to the Quintessence!” the Zeanup replied.

  Adam grabbed the Zeanup’s uniform and yelled, “Get me into that room!”

  “Hollen would never compromise the Quintessence. Not even for an heir, Lieutenant,” the Zeanup replied, unmoving.

  Adam gasped for breath as he watched three teenage boys fight for their lives, with nothing he could do to help. He stared at his son and squinted while he watched Renn sit there while Desh fired blasts. “Why isn’t he firing? Send one of the bots over to Renn to see what’s wrong with his hands.”

  One of the screens inched closer and closer to Renn, while a centipede made its way towards his hands. Another screen flashed with information as the centipede fed the data to the Quintessence.

  “Is he hurt?” Adam asked.

  “No, sir. His palms are covered in E.S.T.-39,” the Janiun replied.

  “My gawd. Do we have something to dissolve it?” Adam asked.

  “Yes, sir,” the Janiun replied.

  “Send in a medic-bot with the solution,” Adam replied, pacing.

  “Any medic-bot will draw attention,” the Janiun replied.

  “Well, what else do we have?” Adam asked.

  “Ined,” the Zeanup called out. “Run to the garden room and get one of the feeder-bots. Have Hanick fill it with the solution.”

  “Yes, sir,” a human male said, racing out the door. A few minutes passed, when the human returned with a dark brown moth.

  Adam gave the coordinates, creating a small square behind Renn, small enough to allow the moth to go through unnoticed. The moth flew into the cave before the portal disappeared. It fluttered around Renn, landing on his hands and began dissolving the explosive.

  ***

  As Hollen impaled the last Aranea near her, she looked around at the fallen bodies. She raised her vicom to her mouth. “Control, tell me that you have them,” she said.

  “They’re in one of the caves with the commander,” the female voice replied. “Soldiers are on their way.”

  “Get the medic-bots out here.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  Hollen took off running towards the caves, finding the ident-seekers at the entrance, leading her down the passageway.

  ***

  Renn felt lethargic and slumped over, straining to breathe, while Desh and Kia continued fighting. He could see Meta’s android sitting next to him as if it were there only to taunt him for losing her.

  The moth on his hands took flight when his palms separated and Renn allowed his grief to return. The image of Lux seeing Meta lying in the drawer of her bed with her face covered in plastic filled his mind.

  He looked across the room to the commander, damning him for taking the one girl who had meant more to him during the past year than all the girls he had ever met. He let out a tormented sob and released his last bit of energy, sending another sword flying through the air. The last sight he saw was the commander’s head rolling to his feet.

  ***

  Renn groaned and forced his eyes open to see that he was lying in a large medical bay he had never seen before. The Galileo’s medical bay walls were white, as if they had been painted in hope. This medical bay, however, was framed with a no-nonsense metal and painted in a dark shade of get-over-it gray. An IV line draped over his arm as beeping could be heard behind him, announcing a steadying heartbeat.

  He felt a hand give a light squeeze to his arm and he looked over into the distraught eyes of his father.

  “Hey, Buddy,” Adam said.

  “Where are we?” Renn asked, rubbing his eyes.

  “We’re onboard the Quintessence.”

  “Dad!” Renn said, trying to pull himself up from his bed when he remembered the cave. “Where’s Desh? Is Mom…”

  “Shhh. They’re okay, just calm down,” Adam said, glancing behind Renn to the heart monitor that pulsed faster and faster. “It’s over, all right? Just lay back.”

  Renn took a deep breath and settled back into the bed.

  “You know, you scared the hell out of us today,” Adam said.

  “I’m sorry, but Meta…” Renn felt a sickness in his stomach when he said her name and took a moment to pull himself together. “Is she really dead?”

  “Yeah, I’m sorry.”

  “Who did it?” Renn asked.

  “Micah.”

  “Why didn’t Ava stop him?” Renn asked.

  “Renn, the Galileo isn’t a regular ship. It’s controlled by the Quintessence. Micah had full access to Ava. He was the one who put burlia in the food to kill the Mindeerians aboard the ship,” Adam explained.

  Renn shook his head, thinking about his great uncle, Tabit, Pyxis, and Vela. “Where’s Desh?” he asked.

  “He’s down the hall, talking with your mom. Just get some rest.”

  Renn nodded, laying his head back on the pillow, and focused on the sound of thoughts colliding in a heated exchanged down the hall. He listened as tension began to rise and tempers started to flare.

  I’m sorry I let you down, Desh projected.

  Desh, do you have any idea how much I’ve sacrificed to keep you boys safe? You two have to stay on board the ship! I need to be able to trust that you won’t go running off — I don’t care what type of bait they set before you two…

  Mom, just because you didn’t go after Dad when he was caught…

  Desh! Hollen stopped him. Let’s get one thing clear. I didn’t go after your father because I was eight months pregnant with you. I lost a lot of men that day and I almost lost Schepp and Adam trying to get your father back…

  So you would have gone after him if you hadn’t been pregnant?

  Yes!

  Then how can you be so mad at Renn?

  Wha…that’s not fair. You can’t compare the two, Hollen replied.

  Love is love, Mom. Please don’t tell me that our love for someone means less than yours. Renn had a choice and he chose to put someone else before himself. Isn’t that the kind of son you want us to be? Selfless?

  There was a long pause before Hollen finally answered with a sigh. Desh, he’s just still so young.

  Mom, I know you’re angry right now, but he really is a good guy. And he’s learning really fast, Desh projected. I want you to know that if Renn takes over the Quintessence, I’m okay with it.

  I’m sorry, what? Hollen asked.

  If Renn takes over the Quintessence when you die, Desh replied. It’s okay, Mom. I already know and I’ve made my peace with it. I mean, I still think you should have told me yourself…

  Wait a second. Why would Renn take over the Quintessence after me? Hollen asked, baffled. Are you dying or something?

  No…it’s just that Schepp said… Desh stammered until he got fed up and projected Kia’s memory of Schepp.

  Yeah, if you die, Hollen projected when the memory was over. You’re the first-born and once I’m gone, you’re next in line. If you should die before providing an heir, then Renn would by succession inherit the ship and the position of captain. That’s all Schepp meant.

  “Renn, what are you doing?” Adam asked Renn.

  “What?” Renn sparked, having forgotten that someone else was in the room. He closed his mouth, realizing it had been open during the dialogue he shouldn’t have been listening to. “Nothing, nothing.”

  Adam clenched his jaw with his patience wearing thin. “Please tell me you’re not eavesdropping.”

  “No, I was just…yeah, okay, I’ll stop,” he replied, wanting so badly to keep listening. Sometimes telepathy was like having answers handed to him without having to ask, but the answers weren’t gifts, he reminded himself. They were stolen moments and invasions of privacy.


  He lay there for a while, wondering how much he had misjudged Desh, but the sickening feeling in his stomach rose and the image of Meta came back to eat at him. She’s dead resounded in his head over and over until his body ached from the inside out.

  CHAPTER 21

  And Then There Was Light

  The boys returned to the Galileo carrying Meta’s android to Principal Lockrin. Lockrin’s long blue fingers brushed a lock of hair out of the girl’s face when he looked down at the lifeless body. “I’ll take care of her,” he said in a somber voice and took Meta into his arms.

  Desh, Kia, and Renn continued staring at Lockrin, waiting for the scolding they were sure was waiting for them.

  “Was there something else?” the principal asked.

  “Uh…can we go?” Desh asked.

  Lockrin nodded. “The Quintessence has already been in contact with me, stating that you three had clearance to leave. In the future though, I do expect to be notified of your departure, clearance or not.”

  “Yes, sir,” they said.

  “I’m glad you boys are all right,” Lockrin said. He turned, then hesitated, glancing at Renn, but Renn walked out the door, refusing to acknowledge Meta’s metal doppelganger or the pain that it caused.

  They walked into the hall and stood there for a moment, looking at each other as if lost.

  “Um…are you hungry…or…?” Desh asked Renn.

  “No, I just want to go back to the dorm. I’m still kind of tired,” Renn said.

  They walked Renn back to his dorm room, through the whispers and stares of their peers, finding the room empty. Renn took off his shoes and crawled into bed.

  “Do you want us to stay with you for a while?” Kia asked.

  “No, I just want to be alone,” he said.

  Desh and Kia headed for the door.