Only Human

by Chris Reher

  He inclined his head formally. "None of us are."

  The door beside them opened to admit Tharron and two Rhuwac guards. He saw the remains of his supper on the floor and Nova's tired, disheveled appearance. It did not look as though her stay in this room had been a pleasant one. His eyes narrowed when he saw her standing close to Pe Khoja. He saw no fear there, only a serene expectancy that enveloped both of them. What had happened here?

  Pe Khoja shoved Nova toward the Rhuwacs. "Is it time to go?"

  "It is," Tharron said. "You, Whiteside, will talk sense to the boy. It is his last chance or he will watch you bleed. Am I clear?"

  Nova nodded. They would let her talk to Kira! She began to feel some hope.

  An air car was waiting for them outside. She blinked into the bright morning sun, looking to the walls of the plaza. There was no sign of Tychon or her elfin friends anywhere. A Feydan rebel jabbed a gun into her ribs to force her into the car and then took the driver’s seat. She saw Tharron, Jelani, Pe Khoja and the K'lar woman climb into two other vehicles.

  "Nova!" A small body crawled over her backrest to drop into her lap. "I knew you'd come back."

  Nova hugged him closely. "Kira! Are your all right? Did you have breakfast?" She switched to rapid Delphi mainvoice. "Can you handle Jelani?"

  "I do not know," he said. "He scares me. I think I have hurt him." The corners of his mouth twitched.

  Good! Nova thought, but did not say so. She would not ask Kiran to hurt Jelani. The boy still believed in good and evil, that fine line between Union and rebel and who was who. If he was to be taught to kill she would not, could not, be his teacher.

  "Kira, he is an old man. You are stronger. Don't let him–" A sharp cuff into her side left her gasping for air. Kiran flinched.

  "Shut up with that, Human," the rebel growled.

  She hugged Kira closely, watching the town pass by. Was she imagining round little faces peering from windows and door ways as the short convoy passed? Was Tychon planning an ambush in these narrow and crowded streets?

  She nudged Kiran who looked up at her, startled. Carefully, she raised her hand and tapped the neural node at her temple.

  "What if I hurt you, too?" Kiran whispered, understanding her request.

  "It doesn't matter. I'm not leaving you alone with Jelani."

  He reached up to hug her and she felt the contact with his mind as soon as he had placed his small hand over her interface. She nodded and smiled reassuringly.

  The air cars reached the first runway of Shad Areen's makeshift heliport. A guard raised an arm to stop them. Nova peered out of a side window to watch the exchange between Tharron and some of his men. The leader gestured furiously in all directions, finally turning to wave at the waiting cars.

  "What's the problem, boss?" Nova asked hopefully when she had climbed out of the vehicle.

  "Get them into the hangar and bring me another plane!" Tharron roared. He forced himself not to look at Nova. Doing so might fan his fury to the point of killing her. But Pe Khoja had advised him to let her be. She could well be the lever they needed to deal with the boy.

  "All of the planes are sabotaged, sire," a Terran at his side said.

  Shouts from afar reached their ears. Nova did not hide a smirk when a high-bridged cruiser leaned dangerously. Several people scurried to a safe distance as the all-terrain landing gear buckled and the ship sank to her knees, crushing her undercarriage.

  "So you made some friends here," she heard Pe Khoja's voice close to her ear. When she turned she saw him leaning against her car, looking amused. "Or could it be that Tychon came to his senses, after all?" He smiled at Kiran and lifted him up to sit on the skimmer. Kiran tried to climb on Pe Khoja's shoulders; apparently the Caspian was no stranger to the boy. "I can see that you're not taking any of this serious, Captain," Pe Khoja said, playfully trying to keep Kiran from succeeding.

  "What do you mean?"

  He switched languages. "I got you alone with the boy. If you had any idea who this Tughan Wai is you would have strangled him with your bare hands. The driver would not have stopped you." Pe Khoja looked toward his irate leader. "I'd better go and get us another plane." He put Kiran on the ground and climbed into the skimmer. "You are on your own, Human."

  Nova could only stare after him as he careened out of the airfield.

  "Inside!" Tharron roared, gesturing at the hangar.

  The K'lar nursemaid took Kiran's hand.

  "Don't you touch him!" Nova hissed and tried to reach for the boy. A strong hand gripped her arm and she saw him led away.

  She turned. Fynn Bridger stared back at her.

  "Fynn," she whispered.

  He stood wordlessly before her, looking like a stranger without his Union uniform.

  Before she could stop herself she flung her hand toward his face. He made no move to defend himself when her hand crashed hard against his cheek. It was the only comment she had about the career choice he had made for himself.

  She turned away and walked ahead of him to the hangar.

  The air around them shifted in a flash of heat and light when a nearby air car nearby burst into flames. Something large moved between them and the sun above. The ground around them seemed to explode upward in chunks of pavement.

  All of them looked up to see the Eagle hover over their heads, its cargo ramp lowered where, incredibly, a Shaddallama in a kilt was wielding a most deadly weapon. Greah whooped loudly and continued to aim at the rebels that stood apart from those near Nova and the boy.

  The K'lar woman picked Kiran up and raced into the hangar. Most of the remaining rebels scattered to return the fire from the ineffective cover of the building.

  "Kira!" Nova started to sprint after them when once again Fynn Bridger stood in her way.

  "Get on that plane," he snapped.

  "I'm not leaving Kira!"

  He gripped her arm and shoved her toward the Eagle now hovering close to the ground. "Go, dammit! You won't last another hour here."

  She saw two Centauri rebels rush toward them, looking confused by Fynn's actions. Fynn aimed his gun and one of them dropped to the ground. "Get on the fucking plane, Nova!" He backhanded his gun across the other rebel's face. More of Tharron's men now headed their way.

  Nova whirled toward the Eagle's cargo bay. Greah stood on the ledge, tethered to the interior by a long rope. He fired past her at the rebels, missing her by nearly nothing. She dove head-first into the bay.

  "Kira!" she turned back to look across the airfield. She saw the hangar door slam shut and lost sight of Fynn Bridger when the Eagle spun and rose from the tarmac. Someone raced out to collect Jelani who still stood unmoving beside the wreck of the air car, seeing nothing, hearing nothing.

  Armed rebels were running toward them and several skimmers approached from the city. They moved fearlessly, despite Greah's well-placed fire. The surprise had worn off; they now remembered how Tharron dealt with cowards.

  "Go, go, go!" Greah shouted back into the ship's interior.

  Their takeoff was dangerously clumsy. Greah was still laughing and shouting at their enemy when Tychon pulled the Eagle up. Nova had to drag him inside so that they could pressurize the cabin. Tychon locked the ship into a wide circle far above Shad Areen and focused the surveillance system onto its airfield.

  "Who was that man back there?" Greah wanted to know.

  Nova dropped onto the lounger, stunned by what had just happened.

  "Get in here, Greah," Tychon shouted from the cockpit. "Keep your eyes on these screens," he instructed. "If those dots start moving or blinking or if any new ones show up, let me know. Those dots are planes, all that green stuff is people."

  Greah nodded earnestly. "And what are those?"

  "Robots, hardware, electric toilets for all I know. It doesn't matter. Just call me if anything moves. Oh, also if that turns red. It'll mean they've got something with a range to hit us up here."

  He left the Shaddallama in the cockpit and went to No
va.

  "I had to leave him," she cried. "I'm so sorry!"

  He sat beside her on the lounge. "We'll go back in. As soon as we get some help. I've signaled the other Eagles. Tharron is stuck in that hangar for now."

  "He'll murder Kira before letting us take him. And Carras'll blow that hangar up and us along with it! Why else would he be here now?"

  "I'll tell him to stand down. We've still got a chance here."

  "I should never have gone into Tharron's hold."

  "Probably not."

  "Gods, Ty, what he did to Jelani!"

  "Tharron?"

  "Kira! I guess Jelani started to condition him. But I don't think it's going so well for him. He looked half dead. And Kira! He looks so..." she shrugged. "So old! It's like he knows things he's got no business knowing. He..." she paused when she felt a gentle contact, like a thought that wasn't her own.

  Tychon noted the change in her expression. "What is it?"

  "We're in khamal," she said, listening.

  "Nova! You can't! If Jelani can't handle it, who knows what it will do to you!"

  "I'm not leaving him again, Ty."

  Chapter Seventeen

  "You will do it now!" Tharron hovered over Jelani in what was no more than a storage room for old and broken-down equipment.

  "I cannot." Jelani stared at Kiran huddled in a corner. The boy watched them silently.

  "We will never leave here if you don't. We're well outnumbered up there even if we make it past that woman. And if we wait here long enough, the Union is going to land on us with both feet."

  The Shantir shook his head.

  "Think of what you will accomplish!" Tharron tried. "Your name will live forever! It is you who can change history!"

  Jelani did not reply. His mind relived again and again the sight of Tharron as he had practically decapitated the Terran rebel with his bare hands. What did the woman matter? But Tharron's rage had exploded when he saw one of his own men help Nova escape. At least Kiran had been in this room already and had been spared the sight.

  Tharron strode toward Kiran. "Look, boy, Shan Jelani is going to have a little talk with you. Then you'll do exactly as he says."

  "No."

  Tharron crouched beside Kiran, ready to strangle him. "You wouldn't want a whole lot of people to get hurt, would you?" he said, experimenting with a gentler tone. "So, we'll have to get rid of the bad ones. I will show you which planes are the bad ones and Jelani will show you how to stop them."

  "Stop them?"

  "Yes, so they can't fly any more. Nothing to it."

  "I want Nova. Where is my Dadda?"

  "You don't think they’d leave without you, do you?"

  Kiran shook his head.

  Tharron turned back to Jelani. "You go in there and do it. Now!" He paced to the door and looked across the interior of the hangar. "If I don't have a plane here soon your heads will decorate the end of a spike! Where is Pe Khoja?"

  He stared at Jelani, fuming. The Delphian had explained that, once in khamal, the Tughan would be a tool of his own mind, as easily directed and controlled as a pistol. He would simply take over to lead the Tughan into battle against their enemy.

  But something had gone very wrong.

  Jelani had initiated the khamal easily, delighted with Kiran's capabilities. As a Shantir, he found his exchange with the child most interesting. Even while the Tughan still lay dormant, Kiran possessed a fine mind that would normally qualify him to apprentice to the Shantirate. He would have been a wondrous addition to the guild!

  Prodded by Tharron, Jelani had begun to show Kiran those things that were new to the child. Certain abilities were genetic, others had been given to him by the Shantirs of Delphi at his first khamal gzali. Now Jelani fit the pieces into place to create the Tughan for Tharron. He showed Kiran how a thing was destroyed and an enemy killed with a glance. Most importantly, he showed him how he could absorb the knowledge and experience of anyone he touched to enrich his own. It was then that something went against the centuries-old dream of the Shantirs.

  The Tughan asked: Why?

  Jelani was drawn into a battle of monstrous proportions. He came to understand why the Tughan had to reach maturity within controlled conditions before its release. Kiran had thrown a tantrum. Instead of screaming his anger and confusion at Jelani, Kiran had directed his fury at the Shantir's mind, unwilling and unable to understand his purpose. Jelani had suffered.

  Tharron leaned close to the Delphian, his arm stretched toward Kiran. "Do it," he whispered.

  Jelani came to his feet. Slowly, he shuffled across the room to sit on the floor beside the boy.

  "Kiran," he said, his voice unsteady. "You can be good, is that not so? I know that your Dadda would be very unhappy if he knew what you did last time. It is not nice."

  Kiran’s thoughts wandered to Nova. She was on the plane and he understood that his father was nearby. She acknowledged his presence and he began to feel a little reassured that, somewhere, a grown-up was going to help him.

  Jelani took his hand.

  * * *

  "He's so old," Nova whispered. She perched on the edge of the lounger, eyes fixed at some point below the ceiling, seeing nothing. Tychon watched her spellbound face anxiously, torn between manning the cockpit and staying here, beside Nova, where the real battle was about to be fought.

  * * *

  "Erato is in orbit over the valley, Colonel."

  Carras nodded. "Newson?"

  "Sir?" The engineer looked up from his monitors.

  "Erato's Challenger controls will be off line?"

  "Yessir, it can be controlled only from here," Newson replied. "By your orders," he reminded him.

  "What coverage do we have?"

  "The northern half of the plateau and most of the Shad Laika lowlands."

  "Can we reduce that?"

  "Certainly. We can narrow our target area down to approximately two square kils from here."

  "Good. Do it."

  "Which coordinates, sir?" Newson hid his surprise.

  Carras turned to the lieutenant near the helm. "What are the coordinates for Eagle Five?"

  "Sir?"

  Carras nodded. "Tharron knows we have arrived. If he can use his weapon, he will do so now. If my agents are still working, they will be close by. If not, I will assume that Tharron has taken possession of the Eagle. It is a valuable ship and likely faster than anything he has. Either way, Tharron is where the Eagle is."

  Newson adjusted the Challenger. "Shad-Areen, then. Ready, sir."

  Carras studied a real-vid of the peaceful planet below. The passive signal emitting from Eagle Five, Tychon's borrowed ship, originated within a town of a surprisingly high population compared to other parts of Shaddallam. It could very well be a rebel stronghold and destroying the city would deal a serious blow to the enemy.

  But what if those people his scanners indicated were civilians?

  The maddening uncertainties of this entire operation irritated him. He must act, and soon. No, he could not wipe out the entire valley. But this city, this one city, might not be too high a price to pay for both Tharron and the Tughan Wai. Perhaps even Comori! Carras had simply scaled down an outrage that would never be muted by the Union's public relations specialists and propaganda makers. Gone was the hope to make Brigadier General before his honorable retirement. Gone was the hope of being remembered as one of Targon's more capable commanders. He would be remembered as the man who wiped out thousands of peaceful sentients. And no one would ever know why.

  "Colonel Carras! Vanguard One reporting."

  Carras rushed to the communications console. "Adachi! Come in."

  "I'm over Shad Areen, sir," came the reply. "Eagle Five is in the air. Holding position over the city at fifteen hundred meters."

  "Are any other planes launching?"

  "Negative. Just the Eagle."

  Another voice cut into their exchange. "Colonel Carras, this is Baroch on the Erato. Please identify the
occupants of that craft. If they are yours, order them aside so that we may begin our operation. We have only minutes before you must engage the enemy carrier."

  "Yes, sir," Carras said. "Stand clear as well, Adachi."

  "Affirmative."

  * * *

  "Jelani!" Nova whispered aboard Eagle Five when she recognized the other presence within Kiran's mind.

  The Shantir, in his weakened state, did not notice the intruder. Kiran offered no resistance. Jelani slowly put the fuses together, gaining confidence with every step. This, he knew now, the creation of the Tughan, had been his one purpose in life. And it was he, of all the Shantirs privy to the secret, who had been given the opportunity to realize the dream. That Tharron was the beneficiary of all of this was a remote point of interest that faded in the light of the whole.

  The boy that was the Tughan counted on Nova to stop the Shantir with the blind trust of any six-year old. And his father was there and would not let bad things happen. Was that not what Nova believed?

  But Nova merely watched in amazement, now part of the Tughan. How easy it all was! Could something as infinitely complex as the Tughan Wai be moved so easily? She followed Jelani through the blinding maze of Kiran's mind, awestruck by what she saw. She was lost, standing small and insignificant before a power that her own mind could not begin to understand. It was all there! Had they really worried about the Tughan as a mere weapon of destruction? Did no one know how much more lay dormant here? She was looking into infinity! Here was a creature of unfathomable proportions, waiting to receive knowledge that would give substance to its powers, knowledge that it would begin to assimilate once Jelani had completed the creation. This creature knew that it was about to be born and Nova was like a mote caught in the vast machinery that drove this endless unknown. She shivered.

  "What's that?" Greah yelled.

  Tychon looked up at a secondary monitor and leapt into the cockpit to identify the craft now approaching from above.

  "They're here, Nova! Vanguard!" He hailed them. "This is V7 on Eagle Five."

  "Tychon?" came the incredulous reply. "Dammit, Ty! What's going on down there?"