The Parabiont Invasion Book 3

by Y. J. Gendron

“Oh, that’s easy.” Paige had a lopsided grin on her face. “With Colonel Graves, of course.”

  22 Options

  “Here, you’re all set to go.”

  Beatrice stared at the smartgun in her hand. Her fingerprints were registered in the weapon now, making her the sole user of the factory-new Colt.

  “You have 10 rounds in the magazine, plus the one already in the chamber.”

  Beatrice nodded, her eyes still glued to the gray carbon-fiber clad pistol she held. Paige gripped her shoulder. “You’ll be okay. Me and Kyle will go in first. You wait for my signal.”

  “It’s just… this is so new to me.”

  “Understandable,” Paige said with a lopsided grin. “It is for me, too.”

  “Really?”

  “Absolutely. What do you think? That we regularly train to fight aliens?”

  “Oh. Right.”

  “But that doesn’t mean we’re helpless. We have the brains, the knowhow and the attitude to do this. Right?”

  Kyle, who had been shoving ammo cartridges in a backpack, acknowledged with a confident grin. “Hooah!”

  Beatrice turned to him. Though his puffed-up chest was full of swagger, there was a trace of worry in his eyes.

  Paige checked their gear out one last time, then closed the double set of doors. There was a clang of metal against metal, and after one final check, she punched a series of digits on the armory’s security keypad. The lock slid into position. Satisfied the contents were now secured, she joined up with the others.

  “Okay, so we’ll proceed as you suggested,” Paige said, glancing at the others in turn. “We find the place where they locked up Asalak and the others and we bust them out.”

  Beatrice nodded.

  “What happens if we can’t, uh, find them?” De Rozan asked.

  “Then we’ll have to improvise.”

  Paige gave them one last nod before moving out. Proceeding in a tight formation, with Beatrice in the middle, they made their way alongside the rear wall of the main building, hugging the shadows of the old brickwork as the sun set behind the trees. To avoid detection, Paige had chosen a separate route back into the plant. It forced them to go around the perimeter of the building, away from the Cube, but she felt it was the safest way. Having no alarms ringing in your ears wasn’t confirmation you weren’t being watched.

  Beatrice hunkered low as they huddled behind a tall bush, right outside the corner of the building where the front facade met the side wall.

  “So far, so good,” Paige said, keeping her voice low.

  Ahead, not 20 yards out, an exit could be seen, the gray steel door cutting into the red bricks. That was their way in. There were no door handles or any other exterior features, save for a tiny gaping hole three quarters of the way up.

  “Maybe we ought to try the front door,” Kyle joked, his voice muffled by the dark gray bandanna tied around his neck.

  Paige raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Sorry, bad idea.”

  “Maybe not,” Beatrice said.

  Paige’s stare reflected her bewilderment. “What do you mean?”

  “I could try to sneak my way in. I know the place pretty well. I’m sure I can find this door,” she shifted her eyes to the steel door, “And let you guys in.”

  “I don’t know.” Paige said, visibly unconvinced.

  “I can do this. Listen, you guys are built like tanks.” Beatrice said, her eyes going from one soldier to the next. “No offense.”

  “None taken.”

  “Me, I’m a subcompact. That’s my advantage. Let me use it.”

  There was a trace of a grin on Paige’s face. “Very well, we’ll wait for you here.”

  Beatrice gave a short nod and hurried off. She heard the words ‘Good luck’ echo among the gloom.

  She was on her own.

  Keeping to the dim areas clinging the building, she zipped in and out of the murky light, shadowing the pathway that lead to the main entrance. She reached the apron of concrete at the base of the steps and froze. There was a guard standing in front of the doors, staring out. He stood motionless, a rifle slung over his shoulder. She slid back into the shadows, breathing hard.

  Just my luck.

  Staring at the guard, she noticed the night vision googles fastened to his helmet. She’d been lucky he still had not activated them, because she would have been spotted for sure.

  She needed to move. Now. Before he did slipped them on.

  A diversion. That’s what she needed.

  Thinking hard, she cycled through various scenarios, casting aside those she deemed too reckless. Two options crystallized in her mind.

  Option 1: she could lob a rock in the trees and hope he went for it. But there was the danger he would return too quickly to his post, intersecting her as she rushed up the steps.

  Better to use option 2.

  She pulled the Colt from the holster tied to her thigh. It felt heavy in her hand, much more so than the Amilaki weapon she had used in the warehouse raid. She thumbed the safety off and waited for the authentication protocol to complete. Five milliseconds later, a tiny green light confirmed the weapon was primed.

  And ready to be used.

  She glanced at her hand. It was shaking. She took a deep breath and willed herself to be calm.

  Then she pounced.

  There was a distance of 20 yards between her and the guard. She glanced at him as she hurtled forward, heart pumping. There was something familiar about the man, about his body shape. She had seen him before. With a start, his name popped into her head.

  Owen.

  She zipped across the lawn and found herself a few steps away from him. The man stared at her, mouth agape. He raised his right arm. Beatrice ran up to him and threw the Colt directly at his head. The gun smacked into his face with a loud thud. He yelped in pain and crumpled to the ground, at once deflated. Moving with speed, she picked up the Colt and aimed it at his head.

  “Don’t move.”

  “Ow,” the plump man said, gingerly touching his nose. “Not my nose again.”

  “Get up.”

  He picked himself up with deliberate care, groaning with effort. “I recognize you,” he said, after finding his feet. “Your Asalak’s friend.”

  Beatrice shook her head. “That’s right.”

  She’d met Owen before, when Asalak had given himself up to Graves. He had accompanied them in the van, taking an interest in Paige even though she had previously crushed his nose.

  As she stared at him, she realized that he wasn’t dressed as a soldier. He still wore the gray coveralls she’d seen before, the ones from the warehouse. He had, however, slipped on an army winter jacket, as well as the accompanying helmet, which was the reason why she’d mistaken him for a soldier. She grabbed the rifle from the ground and kicked the helmet away. It spun away and bounced down the steps, vanishing in the shadows.

  “Listen,” he began, glancing right and left, his jowls moving like jello. “I’m on your side.”

  Taken aback, Beatrice’s stare turned hard. “What?”

  Wrangling his hands with nervousness, he shot a glance at her, eyes pinched with agitation. “Yes. What Tebayi is doing is wrong. I’m with Asalak, now.”

  She locked eyes with him.

  Is he telling the truth or bamboozling me?

  It was hard to tell.

  It was true, though, that she’d never considered him a threat. She thought of him as a servant and a worker, one of Tebayi’s pawns. He was obeying orders, an ant in the colony. His friendly disposition and out-of-shape physique made him an oddity among Tebayi’s followers.

  A misfit.

  “Your name is Owen, right?”

  He nodded but the movement was full of hesitation.

  “I believe you, Owen.”

  There was a wash of relief on his round face.

  “I need you to open a door for us.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t. Vokug will be back shortly to check up
on me. If I leave my post, it will alert him that something’s up.” His eyes widened. “And you don’t want to cross that man, believe me.”

  Beatrice nodded. “Yeah, I’ve bumped into him before.”

  “Okay, I will go in then.”

  Again, he seemed unsure of what to do. She noticed his unease and said, “What is it?”

  “You are going in there alone? To stop Tebayi?”

  “I’m not alone. Paige is with me.”

  His eyes brightened at the sound of the Corporal’s name. “She’s okay?”

  Beatrice realized he wasn’t aware that Paige had came out of limbo. “Yes.”

  He seemed relieved by the news.

  “But I need to free Asalak first.”

  The doubt returned in his eyes. “Vokug has him locked up, along with Eklan and those of us who have seen the light.”

  “Do you know where?”

  “Yes. They were to be taken to an old control room… but I have no idea where that place is. Do you know of it?”

  She closed her eyes. A layout of the plant played out in her head. Graves had shown it to her, during the tour. The answer was there. She just needed to bring it into focus.

  There.

  The old control room was on the second floor of the unused section, the one cordoned off by the army as being unsafe. Reaching it would not be a piece of cake. They would have to go through the common area without being seen, and she was pretty sure Tebayi’s people were roaming there, keeping an eye out on those going in and out of the Cube.

  Unless…

  “Change of plan, Owen.”

  “You’re not going in?”

  She turned on her heels and hurried down the steps. “Yes, but I just thought of a faster way.”

  “What am I to do?”

  She stopped in her tracks and turned back to him. “Do what you’ve been ordered to do and try not to attract attention. I’ll tell the others that you are on our side. When all hell breaks loose, join us at the Cube.”

  He stared at her, lost in thought. Then, as if making his mind up about something, he acknowledged her with a quick nod. “Ok.”

  She gave him a little wave than sprinted away.

  “Say hi to Corporal Hillcox for me,” he called, his voice falling behind as she turned around the corner of the building and sped out into the darkness.

  Despite herself, she had a grin on her face.

  She knew where Eklan was.

  And she knew what she had to do.

  And for once, it was rather straightforward.

  All she needed was a rope.

  23 Kalxin

  Kalxin’s hands went to his head. The throbbing in his cranium went on unabated, the pressure building with each passing minute. He was dying, no question about it. The parabiosis between Doctor Henry Sopp’s body and himself was failing.

  And there was nothing he could do about it.

  It had started with a tenacious discomfort, one resembling an ailment the humans called a ‘migraine’. He had taken the prescribed meds, but the pain, though diminished, had never went away. He had learned to deal with it, using meditative techniques to curb the knife slicing its way into his cerebral cortex.

  But it was no use.

  The stinging continued, without relief. It inserted itself between the tendrils that linked him to the human body, dissolving the binds that had kept them together. After a moment, he realized there was nothing he could do about it, that the interconnection was doomed, that it was just a matter of time before he died.

  He had told no one about it, not even Asalak; though it was possible that he already knew.

  And the reason he kept his condition hidden was sitting in a chair not five feet away.

  Or rather had been.

  Because Tebayi was now more machine than a breathing, living, organism.

  And it was all his fault.

  He should never have allowed it, should have prevented her from doing the irreparable. But he hadn’t, and now that his last, final, minutes were at hand, he knew he’d not only failed her, but all his people too.

  He stared at the big man with the square shoulders hovering above Tebayi’s body. Vokug was one of the dark ones, his intellect twisted by ambition and by a foolish devotion to his mistress. The brute was altogether a reflection of all that had gone wrong since their arrival on this planet.

  But that wasn’t entirely true.

  The darkness in the man’s heart had started even before. Back on Ukun. Stoked by Tebayi’s fiery condemnation of the Elders. She, a leader of the Futurists, had argued against the ideology behind the mission of exploration.

  “We ought not to be gracious,” she had clamored. “We ought to be enforcers.”

  For she feared what the Universe kept hidden from sight, what dangers lurked in the vast and empty gulfs of space. “We should shore up Ukun’s defenses, not sail like beggars into the unknown,” she spat, urged on by her coterie of soothsayers and prognosticators.

  There was much noise and much debate, but in the end the sages prevailed and the grand vessel was readied for the journey ahead, the crew selected for their accomplishments in the fields of arts, education and science.

  But the bold voyage became instead a race for survival when the Snyl pulverized their aspirations.

  And for Tebayi, the vindication came from the realization she’d been right all along, that she alone was now the true voice of the Amilaki.

  Kalxin’s whole body shook. He made his way closer to the one chair that was empty. The row of people that stared with rapturous attention to the glowing extension of Tebayi’s mind ignored him, their focus elsewhere.

  And since he’d completed his task, he was now useless, a nuisance even.

  Vokug stared at him with calculated disaffection, his allegiance now exclusively with Tebayi. Kalxin let himself fall into the chair. There was a rustle of movement beside him and he felt the tight binding of plastic straps around his arms and legs. He looked up at Vokug. The man turned away, a look of disgust on his face.

  Kalxin felt his heartbeat accelerate.

  The contempt in Vokug’s eyes was well merited.

  He, Kalxin, a respected Elder, had trounced his own principles. He had hurt those he had vowed to support. He had championed the one he had feared the most, the one that shouldn’t be in control.

  For Tebayi occupied a large place in his heart.

  As a younger man, he had guided her as she explored Ukun’s vast seas of knowledge, her brilliant intellect a welcomed challenged for his teaching skills. He distilled his wisdom without reserve, trusting her occasional belligerence would taper off as she grew older and hopefully wiser. Some thought she was too brash, too temperamental to be one of the Thinkers.

  To those, he didn’t listen, rejecting out of hand any and all objections.

  And now that he was at death’s door, he could see the cruel truth of his time among the living.

  He had failed.

  They were all spiraling into a shapeless future, casting aside the logic of the past. They were reacting to the threat posed by the Snyl by becoming what they had vowed never to be.

  A race of overlords.

  Rulers of humanity.

  And instead of handing out knowledge, they would dominate those that needed it. For that was what Tebayi had planned for Humanity. Already, she travelled amongst the networks of information, gleaning and gathering what she needed to take control. She had bridged the gap between consciousness and artificial intelligence, hacking Asalak and Eklan’s interface for her needs. Though their work had been conceived to infiltrate the Snyl’s inner sanctum, Tebayi was now using it for a more sinister purpose.

  Kalxin could see it in his mind.

  Tebayi had access, now, to the mainframes and super data centers of the world. Nothing the humans could do to protect their systems would work. For she had thousands of years of Amilaki accomplishments at her disposal, reams of scientific intelligence she could whimsically tapped i
nto to take down firewalls, reroute power, rewrite code. The humans in charge of protecting the infrastructure would never know what was happening, confounded by the speed and the sheer audacity of the takeover. She was already deeply coupled to what made the different platforms talk to each other. Be them military, financial, governmental, they all shared the same primordial, human, way of functioning. A way she had learned to repurpose to her will.

  And what she wanted to do was a death sentence for humanity.

  He had witnessed it first hand when she touched his mind.

  Her vision.

  An army of obedient beings, governed by one overseeing mind. Without wills of their own, the humans would become what they were destined to be, instruments to be used. Usurping their minds via powerful waves of mentally projected commands, she would order them around like so much pawns, facing the Snyl with her own personal army of minions. The tide of demonic creatures would have to claw through barriers of men and women before reaching her.

  For she was the most important entity on earth now.

  The only one that should survive.

  Not the billions of fools that occupied the heavenly pearl circling around a blessed star. They weren’t worthy of such a privilege. Survival was only for those with a vision, not for those lacking in brain power to even dream of one. As for the Snyl, they were the Universe’s scourge. They had no right to exist, for their whole reason of living was to destroy other Life. They had no exalted nature, no transcending aspirations, no evolved intellect. They were just bugs. Things to be squashed without a second thought, and with extreme prejudice. The Cosmos would be better without them, rid of an infestation that could only dimmed its grandeur.

  ‘We have earned our right.’

  Kalxin flinched. The voice crashed into his mind with absolute certainty. It was colder than before, less emotional, but equally terrifying. He felt the blood drain away from his limbs. It would seem that his last moments would be ones of grieving.

  ‘Grieving?’

  “Yes, Tebayi,” he said, choosing to voice his thoughts so that others could hear his final words.

  “Isn’t it a time for celebration instead?” The voice called from the stack, loud enough for everyone to hear.