“Well, isn’t that convenient,” Remo muttered.
Councilor Markov snorted. “The bot gets to stay safe behind the lines while we go out and die.”
“I’m not a bot. I’m a synthetic,” Ben replied. “And so are you.”
“What are you talking about?” Markov demanded.
“How do you think we cured you?”
Markov gaped at him, looking horrified.
“We can discuss all of this later,” Jessica said. “By now the Entity must know we’re missing, and it will come here looking for us.”
“Someone should stay behind to guard the kids,” Doctor Laskin put in, walking awkwardly in his exosuit to join the discussion.
Ben appeared to consider that, but then he shook his head “We’ll need everyone who can shoot aboard the harvester. Don’t worry. We can take care of ourselves. Now go, before it’s too late.”
Catalina watched the friendly Gray leave the armory. They all followed. As they left, Ben called after them, “Don’t let them kill Ch-va-la! He’s the only one who knows how to control the harvester.”
“Great,” Remo muttered. “Well, Cha-va La-la, just make sure you keep your scrawny ass behind us.”
The Gray elicited a musical trilling sound that might have been a laugh, and Catalina watched as it held out its palm. A glossy black ball materialized out of thin air and hovered out ahead of him; then a bright flash of light suffused the room and dazzled Catalina’s eyes.
As soon as it faded, the shimmering, spherical portal they’d traveled through earlier was back, revealing a glossy black corridor somewhere aboard the alien ship.
“I need to get me one of those,” Remo said.
“Move out,” Commander Johnson ordered, already headed for the portal. Remo was the first to follow her. Catalina saw how he and the commander held their arms to their sides, elbows bent at ninety degrees. She mimicked that posture.
Alexander nodded to her. “Ready?”
“No. I’m not a soldier, Alex.”
“You are now,” he replied. “Let’s go. Stay close and stay behind me.”
She nodded, following behind him as closely as she could without stepping on his heels. Her heart pounded out a steady rhythm to their clanking footsteps.
A flash of light burst from the portal as Commander Johnson stepped through. Another flash—Remo. Subsequent flashes of light suffused the corridor as the others went. Soon she was seeing spots. Alexander turned to her and nodded once before stepping through.
Her turn. Catalina hesitated on the comparatively safe side of the portal. She watched miniature versions of the others taking up cover positions in the alien corridor.
The green-shaded Gray stepped up to the portal and gestured to it frantically, saying something that she couldn’t understand. It was waiting for her to go through first.
“I know, I know,” she said, and let out a shuddering sigh that reverberated inside of her helmet.
Here I go—Catalina the space marine, she thought, smirking grimly to herself as she stepped through the portal.
Chapter 24
Catalina stepped out of the portal and onto the alien harvester. Pling. A wave of green light swept down the corridor. Her heart beat thunderously in her ears, and her body trembled.
Nothing there.
Someone grabbed her arm and yanked her over to the side of the corridor. It was Alexander. Everyone else was already pressed to the glossy black walls. She waited with them.
Another flash of light drew her attention to the bubble-shaped portal, and their alien friend joined them, no longer bothering to cloak himself. Maybe there was no point in cloaking from other Grays.
Remo and Commander Johnson peeled away from the walls, their ranks and names bobbing above their heads as they went. Remo swept his right arm from back to front, his hand dangling down by his side. It looked like some kind of military signal. Catalina intuited it to mean move up.
Remo started forward, and they crept down the corridor behind him. Catalina’s footsteps clanked noisily on the alien deck, despite her best efforts to step lightly.
“Activate silent running,” Remo whispered.
“How?” Catalina asked.
“Think it!” he hissed.
She tried that, and her footsteps suddenly quieted to a whisper. Not only that, but the servos and mechanical parts in her exosuit went from whining and whirring to swishing like the wind. But the price she paid was that now her movements weren’t so natural. With every step she took, she felt the suit pushing back, making sure she didn’t move too quickly or put her feet down too suddenly. Catalina found she had to concentrate just to keep from falling over.
Pling. Another wave of green light raced out, illuminating the corridor. Catalina held her breath as it disappeared into the distance.
No hidden aliens yet.
Ch-va-la walked by her, reaching down to its waist to grab something that Catalina couldn’t see. Then a small black weapon with a broad dish at the end of the barrel appeared in its hand, and Catalina realized the alien wasn’t really naked. At the very least it wore an invisible gun belt.
The corridor came to a T and Remo held a hand out to them, palm open. Another clear signal. Stop.
He and Commander Johnson pressed themselves to opposite sides of the corridor and each peered around the corner. The Gray walked straight by them, seemingly unconcerned that it could be walking into a crossfire.
Remo glanced at it and shook his head. He swept his arm from back to front again. Move up.
They followed the Gray down the next corridor, footsteps whispering, servos swishing. They went on like that for what must have been ten minutes, not encountering anything. Each time they reached a turn or a bend in the corridors, Remo and Commander Johnson stopped and checked both ways carefully, but the Gray went on ahead as if it already knew the way was clear.
They came to another T, and this time the alien didn’t proceed ahead of them. It stopped before reaching the adjoining corridor and turned to face them. It extended a single bony finger to the left, and then held up six of its eight fingers. It turned to the right and pointed that way, holding up four more fingers.
Six to the left. Four to the right. The Grays were waiting for them here.
Catalina felt drops of cold sweat trickling down her spine. Her hands trembled, and her stomach ached. How long had it been since she’d eaten something?
Remo pressed himself to the left side of the corridor. He turned and pointed to Alexander, Desiree, and then to her, and he waved them over. Desiree went first.
Councilor Markov and Doctor Laskin went to stand on the right, beside Commander Johnson.
With everyone in position, Remo nodded to Commander Johnson and they both poked their heads around the corners. Commander Johnson jumped back, her helmet smoking.
“Shit!” she hissed. “Feels like I just stuck my head in an oven!”
“Ten seconds my ass,” Remo muttered, his helmet smoking, too. Catalina remembered what Ben had concluded about how long they’d have before the Grays incinerated them.
“Did you see anything?” Alexander whispered.
Remo nodded. “It’s a dead end. Six of them standing there, pointing at us with those dish guns of theirs.”
“Four on my side, also a dead end,” Commander Johnson said.
“If this is a dead end, we should turn around and go another way,” Catalina suggested.
Ch-va-la replied, “Nek,” and pointed insistently to the left.
“Their doors are invisible, remember?” Remo said. “I don’t think those are dead ends. They wouldn’t be guarding them if they were.”
Catalina felt a wave of heat wash through her body, and her mouth went abruptly dry.
“Grays!” Remo yelled.
Ch-va-la aimed and fired his gun behind them. The air shimmered between the dish-shaped barrel and his target. As Catalina watched, his gray skin blistered and blackened. A dozen green-shaded aliens appeared behind the
m, all aiming dish-shaped weapons. To either side of her she saw the others’ armor smoking and sizzling. The air in the corridor shivered and danced with the heat.
Doctor Laskin stepped out from the wall. “We’re surrounded! he said, his eyes wild with fear. “Run!” Not waiting for anyone to follow, he ran back the way they’d come, charging the line of Grays like a linebacker.
“Get back here!” Remo roared as he stepped away from the wall, his arms out and guns aimed, but holding fire. “I can’t shoot with you in the way! Hit the deck!”
Doctor Laskin rushed on, screaming as he went, his armor smoking and glowing bright orange as the Grays focused their fire on him. His exosuit flowed off him in rivers, and he grew silent, collapsing to the deck in a glowing orange puddle of molten alloy.
Remo cursed under his breath and opened fire with a thunderous roar. Alexander and Desiree joined him. Catalina aimed blindly at the rushing wave of green. She thought fire, and her arms shuddered as roaring steams of bullets stuttered out. In a matter of seconds, the Grays lay scattered across the deck, their limbs severed and their bodies leaking rivulets of black blood. 0Apparently they de-cloaked when they died.
Catalina stood frozen and blinking in shock at the carnage.
Commander Johnson cried out for help, and they turned to see her surrounded by ten green-shaded aliens on the other end of the corridor. They were all pointing their guns at her at the same time. Her armor smoked and glowed turning molten and dripping to the floor with hissing splats. She screamed, and Councilor Markov roared, charging through the diminutive line of aliens, physically knocking them down to disrupt their aim. Remo, Alexander, and Desiree tried shooting around him, aiming for the ones he knocked over before they could get back up.
But they were too late. Commander Johnson crumpled to the deck, disappearing in a thick column of smoke. They finished mowing down all of the Grays, and then hurried to check on the commander. Catalina approached cautiously, her stomach churning, afraid of what she might see.
Councilor Markov reached the commander’s side first. He let out a chilling scream, his voice laced with a mixture of horror and grief. Then he sunk to his haunches and sobbed.
Catalina’s steps faltered. She didn’t want to see what had made the seemingly callous old Russian lose it like that.
A black shadow walked by her. Catalina flinched, startled, but then she saw that it was Ch-va-la, burned beyond recognition, but somehow still walking.
“Ad-ma,” it said in a husky voice, stumbling by all of them with its arms and hands held out to feel its way along the corridor.
It’s blind, Catalina realized. Ch-va-la proceeded down the left side of the T, almost tripping over one of the dead Grays.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Alexander said, peering down at what was left of Commander Johnson.
Remo placed a hand on councilor Markov’s shoulder. “We can mourn for the dead later.” Markov looked up and glared at him, but Remo had already turned away.
Catalina sent Alexander a worried look. The only one who knew how to operate the harvester was now blind. And we’re no better, she realized.
They didn’t speak its language, and even if they did, they wouldn’t know how to follow its instructions.
It’s the blind leading the blind.
Chapter 25
A door materialized in front of Ch-va-la, and he walked through. Everyone hurried after him. Remo and Desiree took up positions by the door, guarding the entrance.
Catalina watched, frowning with dismay as the alien stumbled around some type of control center—a circular room filled with small, Gray-sized chairs. She rushed forward to lend it a hand.
“He’s blind?!” Remo asked.
“Let me help you,” Catalina said, placing her hand lightly on Ch-va-la’s shoulder.
The alien turned to her, and inclined its blackened head. “Que-ra e-sa cas-ra?” it whispered in a gasping voice.
She shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand....”
“If it’s anything like one of our ships,” Alexander began as he walked up beside them, “then he’s looking for the command control station. There’s six chairs....”
Catalina looked around, each of those six chairs had six floor lamps arranged in a circle around them. The lamps were colored differently for each chair.
“Over there,” Alexander suggested, pointing to the chair with white lamps.
Catalina led Ch-va-la over to that chair and helped it to sit down. No sooner had it sat down, than holographic displays popped up around the chair, six displays, one for each of the floor lamps. The glossy black circumference of the room turned transparent, becoming one giant holoscreen, showing black space, dazzling stars, and the sun peeking over the dark side of a planet. Catalina watched as the planet swept by beneath them, trying to pick out details beyond the night-side. She saw a glimmer of blue and white; and then she noticed the tiny gray speck hovering to one side of the planet—the Moon.
“It’s Earth,” Alexander whispered.
Loud noises came echoing through the room, reaching their ears from unseen speakers. Clunk, clunk, clunk... boom!
Ch-va-la did something from his control station, and jagged pink objects appeared sailing all around them, highlighted by the harvester’s sensors.
Debris, Catalina realized.
“They took out Earth’s fleet,” Remo said from his position guarding the entrance. “So much for Benevolence’s surrender.”
Another group of objects appeared in the distance—a cluster of previously-invisible black specks, highlighted bright, sky blue. Even smaller blue specks streamed from them to—or from?—the planet’s surface. Shuttles for all the human slaves.
As Catalina watched, one of the larger specks swelled to fill the screen in front of Ch-va-la’s chair.
The ship was cylindrically-shaped, just like the Liberty, but there were long spikes protruding from its hull in all directions, like the bristles of a hair brush. In front, the ship opened up into six triangular segments, like some kind of bizarre flower, and the shuttles were all streaming in and out of that opening. Catalina glanced along the length of the ship, noting that the aft end had the same triangular segments, but they were shut, forming a cone. Six long pylons with cylinders at the end were arrayed around the cone. Thrusters, she decided.
“Six of everything,” Alexander noted. “Must be their lucky number.”
Ch-va-la glanced up and said something in a husky voice. Catalina frowned and shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”
It gestured frantically to the holoscreens around its chair, each of them crowded with alien symbols and text. They were visual displays, and Ch-va-la couldn’t see. It had probably been a stretch for him just to turn everything on and highlight the detectable objects around them. Charting a course for a distant rendezvous would be impossible.
“What’s wrong?” Remo asked.
“I don’t think he can do this,” Alexander said.
“Do what?”
“Anything,” Catalina added.
“Great,” Remo muttered and cursed under his breath.
Ch-va-la rose from his chair and walked to the center of the room. He held out his palm and a glossy black ball appeared. It floated out from his palm and there came a bright flash of light as it opened another portal. Catalina blinked rapidly to clear the spots from her eyes and she saw two tiny people standing on the other side of the portal, somewhere aboard the Liberty. Those two had to be Ben and Jessica.
Catalina wondered why they hadn’t used that portal sphere to get into the harvester’s control center. Two flashes of light suffused the room in quick succession, and as the light faded, Catalina saw both Ben and Jessica now standing with them on the bridge of the alien ship.
“What’s wrong?” Ben asked.
“He’s blind,” Catalina explained.
Ch-va-la said something, and Ben’s gaze settled on the Gray. He sucked in a quick breath.
“He’s not just blind. He’s dying. What did I tell you about letting them kill him?” Ben demanded.
Ch-va-la said something else, and Ben replied, “Of course it’s their fault!”
“Audrey is dead,” Councilor Markov said in a hoarse whisper as he walked up beside Ben. “She died protecting that thing while a dozen of his buddies incinerated her.”
Ben stared back at the big Russian, looking like he wanted to say something to that. Instead, he looked away and led Ch-va-la back to his chair. They spoke in hushed voices, and Ben sat down, listening as Ch-va-la gave him orders.
Ben frowned at the alien displays and shook his head. Then he focused on one in particular. His chair rotated to face it, and he stabbed at the display, making selections from the sea of alien text. Some kind of map appeared. It zoomed out to reveal what looked to be a schematic of the harvester. A cluster of blinking yellow dots marked one end of the cylindrical ship, while a solitary sky-blue dot blinked at the opposite end.
“There’s only one of them left,” Ben said. “Looks like... it’s in the... aft section somewhere. Did you find Esther yet?” he asked.
“No,” Alexander replied. “Just the Grays.”
“Then that blue dot is her,” Ben said. “I don’t know what she’s doing, but it’s a good bet she knows we killed the others, and an even better bet that she’s up to something.”
“We need to get rid of her before we head for the rendezvous,” Jessica said.
Ben nodded. “Any volunteers?”
“I’ll go,” Councilor Markov said, clanking up behind Ben.
“You can’t go alone. Everyone except for two of you should go,” Ben replied. “Someone has to stay here to guard the doors.”
“Can’t Esther just use one of those portals to get in here?” Catalina asked.
Ben looked to Ch-va-la, and the alien said something. “Not anymore,” Ben said. “Ch-va-la just activated the jamming field. Unfortunately that means you’ll have to walk all the way to the other end of the ship.”
Exodus: Book 3 of the New Frontiers Series (A Dark Space Tie-In) Page 19