by Ruby Ryan
I waited for a ramp to descend from the back, but that's not how these Karak decided to reveal themselves. The air ten feet in front of me suddenly shimmered like heat coming off a desert road. I held my breath as particles of light appeared from all around, pulled together like magnets, forming two bars of pure light. They pulsed gently, individual of one another, and my mind decided it was like two heartbeats. Heartbeats which were a lot calmer than my own.
HELLO, one of them said into my mind.
I recoiled from it, and took a deep breath, trying to make myself relax. This was just like Arix.
Before I could respond, they began to change again. The individual photons of light fell apart again, twisting and changing into every color imaginable. The light formed back into human bodies, bones and muscles and then skin, tan skin that bulged with muscle underneath. They were completely nude, their penises exposed, and then clothes formed from nothing and covered them as if they had always been there.
The alien on the left looked like a Norse god missing his hammer, with shoulder-length blond hair and eyes as green as emeralds. His jaw was hard, his face emotionless.
The other alien had short black hair and almond eyes, and some scruff on his cheeks like he'd skipped shaving for two days. He blinked rapidly behind his hooked nose.
I couldn't not appreciate how they looked: they were gorgeous. Their faces had sharp features like cologne models, and the brief second I'd seen of their bodies made them look like athletes, all lean muscle and popping veins. But as sexy as the two men were, they were dressed ridiculously: they both wore black slacks and white dress shirts, with a tie and jacket. They looked like fucking Mormons!
The memory of what their nude bodies looked like remained in my eyes, like the flickering afterimage from staring at a bright light. I cleared my throat and tried to appear more formal.
They took a moment to look down at their bodies, to touch themselves with foreign hands. Getting a feel for what human bodies were like, I guess.
"Hello," the dark-haired alien repeated, this time in a deep human voice.
"Hi," I said. "Do you, uhh, come in peace?"
"Of course," the blond said, not getting the joke. "You are the one Arix brought."
It was a statement, not a question, but I nodded all the same.
"I am Tyrix," the blond said, "and my partner is Kerix."
Kerix the Karak. That sounded like a cartoon character, like Marvin the Martian. I tried to take a step forward to shake their hands, but my feet refused to move. "Nice to meet you," I said instead, wishing I had thought of something more profound to say.
"Arix told us of you," Kerix said in a voice like smooth caramel. "Do you know where he went after bringing you here?"
"I haven't a clue. Don't you guys know?"
Neither of them answered, but they shared a look that reminded me of what Arix said: that his standing with them was complicated. I wondered what he'd done.
"You are a military representation of earth?" Kerix asked. Already their words were less slow, more natural than at first. Becoming more natural resemblances of humans.
"I guess I am." I stood up a little straighter. "I am Lieutenant Colonel Brandi Forbes, Support Group Commander of Mountain Home Air Force Base."
Once the words were out of my mouth, the title that filled me with pride felt woefully inadequate. These were aliens! Someone higher up should have been here representing earth. A General, not a fucking Lieutenant Colonel.
But the two Karak nodded with satisfaction. "Lieutenant Colonel Brandi Forbes. We have much to tell you."
4
TYRIX
The human woman was beautiful.
It was the first thought I had when I had shifted into my human form. The woman before us was beautiful, and a member of the opposite human sex, and my skin tingled when I looked at her curves.
Not unaccustomed to such intrusive thoughts upon shifting into a new form, I shook it off--with difficulty--and took stock of my human body. Bipedal, with two appendages with sub-appendages for more precise physical work. Arms and fingers, the human words shifted into place from the immensity of information given to us. And clothing to cover ourselves and keep us warm on this planet.
Brandi wore less clothing than we did, I realized. Her revealed legs were long and muscular, and underneath her shirt I could see the swell of her breasts and thickness to her shoulders that spoke of strength.
This was a military human indeed.
My eyes will not leave her, Kerix said to me and me alone. I sent a flash of agreement back to him and touched my own body with my fingers. Feeling the shape underneath these human clothes. The muscles which would give us strength, and power.
We must remain vigilant in our duties, I said to Kerix. It is time to warn her of what is coming.
My partner nodded, a human gesture for this human woman.
But as Brandi smiled, I felt my body tingling once again.
5
BRANDI
Did I mention that the human brain is stupid? Because it's really stupid.
Aliens shapeshifting into humans was crazy by itself. But what really broke my brain was when Tyrix stepped forward, and then three wooden chairs and a coffee table suddenly materialized from thin air, creating a little meeting space in the middle of the clearing. I felt dizzy, and put a hand to my head, and tried to calm my breathing.
Kerix was at my side immediately, putting one large hand on my arm. "Are you okay?"
"Arix was wrong," Tyrix said. "Perhaps this was a mistake..."
"No, she just needs a moment." Kerix guided me to the chair, and once I was sitting down I started feeling better. I shook my head and began to apologize.
"Most creatures require centuries of earth time to acclimate to the knowledge you have received in a day. You humans are a hardy species indeed."
"Thanks, I guess." I considered asking them to create some hard liquor out of the air but decided this was the sort of thing I needed to be sober to handle.
Kerix sat in one of the chairs across from me, and then Tyrix joined him and smiled. "Are these forms comforting to you?" He gestured at the table and chairs.
"Yeah, they're fine."
"Good. Then we will begin our explanation for this meeting. If you are ready."
"That'd be great." I took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm as ready as I'm ever gunna be."
Kerix leaned back in his chair, testing how it felt against his back. His eyes found mine, and his brown eyes held the weight of a million years.
"We are from the Karak Dominion of Planets. Each planet in the Dominion contains at least one intelligent species, carefully scouted ahead of time and nurtured. Over time, we have brought many such species under the fold of the Dominion. Slowly, we give them technology and knowledge. Slowly, they become integrated and assimilated. Always peacefully, at a pace which is cautious and conservative. Such a process has been completed nearly a thousand times, with a thousand species.
"One such species, from a planet here in your own galaxy, is the Wolvae. They are extremely similar to the canis lupus species here on earth, although several orders of magnitude more advanced."
"Wolves," I said, recognizing the name.
"They walk on four legs and have fur as black as a starless sky," Kerix continued, while Tyrix nodded along beside him. "Their jaws are powerful, and their hearing and sight senses are extremely strong. They are apex predators on their own planet, and would be on most of the planets in the Dominion."
"However," Tyrix picked up, "they are also extremely violent by nature. They revel in carnage, tearing other carbon lifeforms to shreds, breaking their bones between their massive jaws. It is almost akin to sexual ecstasy for them."
"Normally we would have avoided such a species. However, they shared a star system with another species we intended to bring into the Dominion, and once we were there the Wolvae could not be ignored. And we Karak are reticent to euthanize entire species in great swaths. It took a signific
ant amount of time to calm and nurture the Wolvae, taming them as you humans might say, until most of the violent tendencies were eliminated. Now the Wolvae are proper members of the Dominion, and have contributed much to our expansion in the years that followed."
I had no idea what all of this had to do with me, but I didn't dare interrupt them.
"Most Wolvae," Tyrix said, a grim look on his face. "There are... others."
"The Rabid Wolvae are a breed which was not tamed," Kerix agreed. "The genetic predilection for violence instead thrived in the Rabid Wolvae. But such genes came at the cost of greater intelligence, and they had no capabilities for spaceflight, so they were left in exile in the far reaches of their star system. But then, thanks to forces outside our Karak understanding, they were given the technology to leave their own planet. Spacecraft factories that should have been beyond their understanding. And soon an entire fleet of these Rabid Wolvae was wandering the stars."
He paused to let that sink in.
"It has only been a short period of time since the Rabid Wolvae insurrection. A mere 22,000 of your human years."
22,000 years? He must have misspoken, or converted things wrong, but I didn't have time to interrupt.
"Their adoption of our technology makes it difficult for the Dominion to track their movements," Tyrix said. His emerald gaze pierced me, made me feel nude. "Often we arrive too late to the site of one of their invasions, only to find carnage and destruction in their wake. No fewer than ten intelligent species planned for admittance to the Dominion have been lost to such attacks."
"But this time," Kerix said eagerly, "we were able to track their route ahead of time."
I waited for more, but silence stretched.
"Wait a second. So are you telling me they're here? On earth?"
Tyrix shook his head, which made his curtain of yellow hair shimmer. "Four earth days ago, a Wolvae Corsair was detected approaching this star system." He didn't elaborate.
"So what does that mean? Has it landed on earth?"
Kerix shrugged. "We do not know for sure. But based on standard Wolvae attack procedure, they would have stopped at other planets in the system that harbor potential life."
"Specifically the moons Titan, Europa, and Enceladus," Tyrix added.
Any other time, that sentence by itself would have floored me. Titan was covered in methane lakes, whereas Enceladus and Europa were ice moons. All were suspected to have the potential for human life, and as a sci-fi nerd I knew NASA missions were planned to try to break through the ice crust of the latter. Hearing confirmation that they did...
I made a conscious decision to wave it off. What was the point of getting excited about potential life in our solar system when I was literally speaking to two aliens right now? Their Mormons-at-the-door appearance made it easy to forget that part.
"So how many of them are there? Once they're done with the other moons, is earth going to be invaded?"
"No," Tyrix said, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "A Corsair is only a scouting ship. A typical crew would be three to five Wolvae."
"Three to five? Is that it?" I barked a laugh. "Then what's the big deal? Unless these things have bullet-proof fur, Mountain Home base alone could take them out." Hell, the two guards outside my door last night could do the job with their assault rifles.
"Corsair sweeps always predicate an invasion," Kerix said grimly. "Advanced reconnaissance. If the Wolvae come in numbers, with a true invasion, there would be millions of them."
"And they have their own abilities," Tyrix added. "Not weapons exactly, but..."
"Your human race would likely defeat such an invasion, but it would be bloody, and unfortunate."
I thought about millions of rabid wolves running through crowded cities like Los Angeles or New York City. By the time the National Guard could be deployed, thousands would have died. It would be a bloodbath, outcome aside.
"Which brings us to the reason we are here," Kerix said.
"Our duty is to inform you, the human race, of all of this," Tyrix added. "And if the Corsair sweep can be eliminated before reporting back to the primary Wolvae Fleet, then perhaps they will choose to avoid an invasion altogether. As soon as they land, we can--"
They both flinched, then whipped their heads to face the north.
"What is it?" I asked.
In the distance drifted a blood-curling howl, first from one wolf, then answered by three more simultaneously.
"They are here," Kerix said, voice dripping with dread.
6
KERIX
We had a plan.
For once, the Karak Dominion had detected the Wolvae movements long before the invasion itself. Tyrix and I had been dispatched in a Fighter Aircraft, sleek and fast, and had arrived on this planet early. We'd arrived before the Wolvae, and finally had a chance to end their bloodshed before it began.
We were wrong.
The howling continued to the north, taunting us.
They must have skipped the outer planets, Tyrix told me telepathically, more of a cluster of emotions than actual human words.
Certainly so, I replied, quickly shifting back into my Karak form. Tyrix did the same. I took stock of my form's energy: we had not fully charged in preparation for battle, since we expected it to still be days away. We had a plan!
Brandi stared at both of us, in awe of our shapeshifting abilities. If seeing us in this form was difficult for her to accept, then so be it.
We have to protect the liaison, Tyrix said, mirroring my own thoughts. Our primary goal was to give advanced warning to the humans; it was acceptable for us to be killed, so long as she survived.
Yes, I agreed. Do you have enough energy for a shield?
Indeed I do.
I will attempt to pick them off at distance, I said, focusing my energy into a pulsing beam I could shoot at the Wolvae. Keep the human behind you.
As I listened to the howling near, I doubted it would be enough.
7
BRANDI
Get behind me, Tyrix commanded, and even though the two Karak were nothing more than beams of light I knew which one he was. I hastily obeyed, crouching next to their spacecraft while they faced the woods ahead.
"I thought you said they weren't even on our planet yet!"
Our assumptions were incorrect, Kerix replied.
I wished I had my sidearm. I should have brought it with me, part of my mind insisted, even though that would have raised concerns when I left the base. I was helpless.
And so were the Karak, it appeared. They hovered above the ground before me, pulsing gently in the early morning light. I didn't know what Karak weapons looked like, but it sure as hell looked like they didn't have any.
Motion in the distance.
The Wolvae loped through the trees, moving diagonal to our position rather than head-on. They were indeed identical to wolves: graceful bodies of black and grey fur, sleekly gliding through the forest. I saw two, three, four of them moving closer, in a formation like a diamond.
But the perspective was all wrong. The Wolvae made the trees look cartoonishly small, even from a few hundred yards away. And only as they neared the clearing did I understand why.
"Holy fuck! You didn't say the Wolvae were the size of Volkswagens!"
They reached the edge of the clearing and slowed, then stopped. They stood in a line, enormous tanks of fur and flesh with eyes that glowed like yellow embers.
And then they charged.
They came straight at us, moving so fast that the ground actually trembled, a stampede sensation from only four beasts. Their jaws opened to reveal vicious teeth, fangs that must have been as long as my forearm, glistening with saliva in the morning light.
My every instinct told me to run, to flee from this place of wolves and aliens and get back to the safety of my base, with fences and alarms and guards with rifles. But I knew I couldn't outrun those things, and so I was forced to watch.
Ready... Kerix said.
The other Wolvae growled in anger.
Kerix fired another beam, and although the Wolvae tried launching out of the way all that accomplished was that the beam struck him in the flank instead of the head. The motion of leaping and being struck in mid-air made him swing around like a helicopter before sliding across the ground, a smoldering mark left on his side where the fur had been burned away.
By then the remaining two Wolvae were on us, leaping through the air with wicked arcs.
The one on the right came straight at Tyrix in front of me. In slow motion I saw its glistening fangs and massive jaws, jaws the Karak told me wanted carnage, and I could think of nothing but them clenching down on my skull as it soared through the air. But as he fell toward Tyrix with claws extended, he smashed against an invisible wall of air, yelping and falling backwards
Kerix had no shield, but he flew sideways away from the Wolvae's leap, and the beast whirled to follow the moment its paws hit the ground. Kerix fired another beam, smaller this time, and it missed by mere inches and split a nearby tree in half, the wood cascading down to the forest in a rain of timber.
Tyrix bulled forward with his shield, which I could see now as a faint shimmer in the air disturbing the scenery beyond. I could feel him letting out a battle cry in my mind as he struck the Wolvae with the shield, sending it tumbling backwards before it could recover.