Syn-En: Registration

by Linda Andrews

  Admiral, ET seems to be attempting to land again.

  Lead naked person on board, Bei. Keyes has just reached the ramp. I’m heading to the bridge.

  Roger that. Bei watched the bright white flames of the civilians board his ship. His bare feet touched metal. Raise ramp and prepare for lift off. Let’s use ET’s touchdown to cover our tracks.

  Gears ground behind him and the ramp shifted.

  Pet stumbled, found his footing, and staggered to a bench.

  Keyes stepped from the haze. “All present and accounted for.”

  “Punch it, Rome.” Bei set the toddler on the deck.

  Punching it.

  Keyes fell in behind him, shielding Nell’s back from their view. “The infirmary is prepared.”

  The ship hummed to life under his feet. Adjusting his magnetic strength, he rolled with the motion as the Icarus gained altitude.

  A repair warden climbed out of the engine room. Rome’s favorite spare arm hung from one socket, spindly limbs graced the other seven.

  The civilians pressed against their seats.

  Ruth hugged her knees to her chest. “What is it?”

  “It’s a warden.” Bei shifted to the side as the spider-like creature crawled toward him. “It repairs my ship.”

  His focus dropped to the canister in the drone’s hand. What the hell? The warden held his supply of neodynamic armor. Bei held out his hand. “Are you malfunctioning, warden?”

  “I am to repair Nell Stafford.”

  Bei reached for the NDA. “Nell is flesh and blood. That is for Syn-Ens.”

  “It is for repairing.” The warden sliced open the canister. With Rome’s spare arm, it spun Bei around and poured the Neodynamic armor down Nell’s back.

  Her arms and legs unlocked.

  “Nell!” He grabbed for an ankle. Caught it, but it wasn’t enough. Her pulse was gone. She wasn’t breathing.

  She flopped backward.

  The warden caught her in its spindly arm, carefully rolled her onto her side and set her on the floor.

  “What have you done?” The field keeping Nell intact could have shorted out. She could be dead. Raising his fist, Bei swung at the warden.

  Standing on the bench, Keyes caught his fist. “Look at her.”

  The liquid metal armor coated her vertebrae and ribs, built a framework of mesh, straps of synthetic tissue and muscle and spread out in sheets of silvery skin. Thin strings tapped into her nervous system.

  Bei crouched next to his wife, carefully set her leg on the deck. The NDA filled in the missing pieces of Nell like finishing a jigsaw puzzle. But was it enough? He skimmed her wrist. Her heart resumed beating. “How is it doing that?”

  “We’ve always assumed the NDA was a patch, maybe it’s something more.” Keyes reached out to touch the silver curve of Nell’s back.

  The warden pushed her hand out of the way. “The NDA must identify with Nell Stafford’s coding, no one else’s.”

  “Sorry.” Keyes rubbed her hand. “Her vitals are stabilizing. You know what this means, don’t you?”

  His wife would live. His magnetic field pulled him toward the ceiling. “I’m never letting her out of my sight again. Ever.”

  That way he could keep her safe and prevent his cardiac subroutines from melting down.

  Now that Nell Stafford is firmly in the land of the living, Rome’s irritation charged the air. Bei, either the Erwar Consortium has been destroyed or we’re in Butt Fuck Erwar. I see nothing but a sand pit.

  Coming. “Watch her.” Bei marched to the ladder at the end of the crew compartment.

  “No one shall touch her until the process is complete.” The warden shifted forward, planting its rectangular body over Nell’s.

  He shook his head. He’d been talking to Keyes, but the warden worked, too.

  Ruth reached out to touch the drone’s body. “Is it safe?”

  “Yes. It’s our helper.” Keyes patted the metal torso. “Now who would like to sleep in a nice soft bed?”

  Climbing every other rung, Bei quickly scaled the ladder then raced up the steps to the bridge. A sandy pit filled the view screens. “I ordered the shuttle to take us to the Consortium steps.”

  “Sorry, Bei.” A soft voice filled the cockpit. “I kinda changed the plan.”

  Although digitized, he knew the inflection. He checked the bridge’s entrance. Empty. “Nell?”

  “Yep, I escaped Mom’s make believe world.” Nell snorted. An image of her smiled back at him from view screens. “That’s so old school SciFi. Well, my mind did. My body’s still down there healing itself. I’m taking up a lot of space in the mainframe so you’re kinda blocked.”

  Rome shook his head. “We have limited fuel reserves and you took us for a joy ride? What if we don’t have enough juice to reach the registration point?”

  “We have enough. Mom calculated it. Besides, we have to retrieve Elvis. He’s at the Skaperian embassy.”

  Bei skimmed her image’s cheek. “Nell, the embassy was destroyed.”

  “No.” Her brow furrowed and she turned, looking at the picture she overlaid. She bit her lip. “But I sent Elvis there to be safe. He was supposed to warn the Shish, Padgows and Ck’son. We were all supposed to be free together.”

  Bei’s cardiac subroutine malfunctioned. He wouldn’t fail her in this. That feather-face meant the world to her. “Run scans again. Penetrate the crust as far as you can.”

  “Elvis must have taken them into the tunnels.” Nell’s chin trembled. “Please.”

  “Rerunning scans.” Rome’s fingers flew over the control panel. The computer beeped the results—no life signs. Just sand, tons and tons of sand.

  The engines hummed to life under Bei’s feet and the ground slowly receded. “Nell?”

  His wife swiped at the sparkle on her cheeks with her fists. “First we register, then we kick some alien butt. For the others and Elvis.”

  Chapter 30

  Bei finished securing the body armor over his wife.

  She swayed with each adjustment. “I’ll be fine. Really.”

  His sensors indicated that she was functioning normally, but Neodynamic armor had never replaced biological organs, or tissue before. Yet Nell had incorporated the NDA fully and ten minutes later, only her fatigue remained.

  He kissed her hard before pulling back. If she died now, it would be over his dead body. Literally. “Remember to stay between us. We don’t know how your armor will react.”

  She adjusted his collar. “I promise to be the good little filling in the Syn-En sandwich.”

  The shuttle bucked as it touched down in the public square before the Consortium.

  “Ready?” Standing in the Icarus crew compartment, Bei glanced at his Security Chief.

  “Willing and able.” Rome kissed the sub-machine gun Trunch-69. “Let’s hope everything else doesn’t go this easy.”

  “We haven’t registered yet.” Bei’s hands skimmed the Torp-SK7 hanging on his hip, the rows of throwing stars adorning his formal Syn-En uniform, then adjusted the strap of the Destroyer-PSK12. The shotgun style weapon hummed against his back.

  A thud sounded from the crew quarters in the deck above.

  Keyes slid down the ladder and landed with a soft thump behind him. “The ship is programmed to relocate if we encounter any resistance. Our passengers should be safe. For a while.”

  If Humans didn’t register, their civilian passengers wouldn’t be safe for long.

  “Armor up.” Bei locked his armor, but kept the spines flat. He needed to look like a normal Human. A very pissed off Human. He checked the charge on his Torp. Full, with two extra charge packs in the pockets of his uniform pants.

  Reaching around her back, Keyes shifted her Destroyer into her arms and set her finger on the trigger. “They know we’re here. Scraptor vessels are moving to intercept.”

  “Let’s not disappoint the ugly bastards.” Rome gripped a Trunch-P69 in each hand. Extra clips of armor piercing bullets hu
ng from the straps, crisscrossing his chest.

  Bei pulled his wife to her feet, resisted the urge to pull her into his arms then his body to keep her safe. “Stay—”

  “Between you. Got it the first time.” Nell tucked the rest of her energy bar into her mouth. Pushing off the left bench running the crew compartment’s length, she swayed on her feet. “I’m ready.”

  He cupped her elbow to steady her. “Perhaps you should stay and rest.”

  “I’m going.” She smoothed one of Bei’s old shirts over her hips before picking up the electronic pad. “They’ll accept this letter for Skaperian sponsorship, even if I have to shove it down their throats.”

  Bei lowered the Icarus ramp.

  With a soft hum, the back of the ship dropped. Sunshine and shadow slipped into the opening. Thistle-shaped spires, soaring towers of glass, and floating palaces of marble filled the skyline. The capital of the planet had been designed to impress.

  He only saw the corruption behind a pretty facade, targets waiting to be destroyed.

  “Showtime.” Nell eased behind him, tucked her hand into his waistband.

  Rome closed ranks on Bei’s right, Keyes on his left. They marched in lock-step across the compartment and down the ramp. Angling their bodies, his men positioned themselves to provide a three-hundred-sixty degree line of sight.

  ETs filled the gaps between the drooping trees lining the paved square. Rich, jewel-toned fabrics identified the registered sentients. They whispered as they caught sight of Bei’s group. A few ETs paled. Humanoid servants in crow-black livery juggled baskets of fruit, lumpy bundles and glittering, string-tied boxes.

  Thirteen Humans dropped their burdens and stepped forward.

  Red armored Scraptors shoved through the crowd. Snapping their claws, they beat the Humans back into the throng but didn’t advance.

  Bei’s insides twitched. He encoded each Bug-ugly onto his memory chip.

  Rome raised his weapons. “Where’s the line in the sand, Admiral?”

  “Until we register, we’re not supposed to attack.” Nell gripped Bei’s waistband tighter. “The only caveat is if they physically block our entrance into the Consortium.”

  “Looks like they’re blocking.” Bei rested his hand on the Torp’s grip. He wouldn’t pull it. Yet.

  Four ETs stood on the arched bridge leading to the steps of the Consortium. Bei’s software identified the stinky green one as Mopus and the Scraptor as Groat. On Groat’s right stood a bird-like creature so thin he needed a grain of rice to have substance. On Groat’s left, a scaly lizard creature stood on four of its eight limbs and stroked its diamond encrusted robes.

  Nell jerked on his waistband. “There’s another in the water.”

  The last representative of the Founding Five heaved itself out of the moat surrounding the post and lentil building. Whiskers twitched in its pointy nose. Water cascaded off its ghostly white rolls of flubber.

  Bei stopped short of the bridge. If the aqua-ETs planned to attack, it wouldn’t be where they had the tactical advantage. “On behalf of the peoples of Earth and her territories, I am here to register the Human race, in all her incarnations,—”

  “And her companions.” Nell’s warm breath swirled over his cheek.

  “And her companion species as sentient.”

  Mopus flicked his pale green hair over his shoulders. After glancing at his associates, the humanoid glided down the bridge. “I do not see a sponsor.”

  Nell pushed against Bei’s shoulder. “You need to let me out.”

  His stomach knotted. He should just hand the damn electronic tablet over, keep her protected. Unfortunately, this was her fight, too, and she was the one the ruling body on Terra Dos had voted to do the honors. Olfactory alarms blazed in his head. The stink was on. Obviously Greenie still thought he could control Humans with his pheromones.

  Bei’s cerebral interface could protect him, but his wife’s may not. “You know—”

  A wicked smile curved her lips. “Yep, and I know how to deal with his elfin mojo.”

  Bei eased forward. His men followed suit, opening the circle but not compromising their defensive position.

  Squeezing through, Nell swept her hand across his back, keeping in contact to the last moment. She took two steps then covered her nose and mouth with her free hand. “Oh, good God, someone needs to clean those canals. They reek.”

  Bei swallowed a laugh.

  Keyes’s shoulders shook.

  Rome coughed. Your wife is my all-time favorite civilian.

  Mopus colored a deep emerald. His nostrils flared but he extended a hand. “Your proof.”

  Nell placed the electronic tablet in his hand. “Ugu, Head of the Paladins’ Witan, signed it herself.”

  Mopus pursed his lips and scanned the document. “Skaperian sponsors. Everything seems in order.”

  “Nell.” Bei spoke softly. Her job was done; she should return.

  Admiral, more Bug-uglies are joining the party. His cerebral interface began to map out the square. Get your wife back in formation.

  He would love to. Bei took his eyes off his wife to look up. Tubular transports deposited enough Scraptors to line the roof tops of every building around the plaza. The shuttle ramp closed.

  “Nell.”

  “Everything is in order.” She poked Mopus’s shoulder. “You will cease and desist your exploitation of humanity and its friends.”

  With a sniff, she turned on her heel and stomped toward the Syn-En.

  The skin between Bei’s shoulder blades itched. Faster, love.

  Over his wife’s shoulder, he watched Mopus drop the tablet. “Oops.”

  Nell stopped.

  A shadow drifted over the square.

  The flubber ET near the canal scooped it up in a flipper before oozing back into the water.

  Shit! Bei lunged for her.

  Every Scraptor rifle aimed at him and his men.

  She took a step toward Mopus. “What do you mean oops?”

  ET dusted his green hands. “The documents are obviously forged. The Skaperian race died out over a hundred solar cycles ago.”

  “It is not forged, and you know it.” Nell’s hands fisted at her side.

  Damn it woman, get back here. Bei shouted through their cerebral connection.

  Nell flinched.

  “Even if we could believe that pathetic ship,” Mopus laughed. “Could have traveled from Earth. Humanity has no sponsor. Request for sentience denied. Take these obviously escaped workers and return them to their owners.”

  “Go to Hell!” Nell spat.

  The moisture clung to Mopus’s cheek before slipping down. He raised a hand to touch it.

  Pride warred with fear. Pride won. No matter what happened. Today would be remembered. Get ready to fire.

  Nell’s back shimmered. Silver spread in lines from her back over her body. His shirt shrunk, molded to her body. The extra fabric stretched down her legs. In the blink of an eye, she shifted into gleaming silver. Hands and feet lengthened and narrowed into sharp blades.

  “NDA can do that?” Keyes whispered.

  “Why the hell can’t we do that?” Rome growled. “I want to do that.”

  The insect and bird-like aliens fled. Groat lowered his head.

  Mopus stumbled back. “What are you?”

  “Your worst nightmare.”

  Chapter 31

  Bei detected movement in his peripheral vision. Damn, ET surrounded him on the roofs and on the ground. Rappel lines dropped from the sky. Soon three Syn-En and one Nell would face off against hundreds of Scraptors.

  Mopus and Groat really wanted him and his men dead.

  The ETs would have to earn it.

  Two meters ahead of him, Nell’s body gleamed like quicksilver. With hands stretched into swords, she lunged for Mopus.

  The stinky green ET leapt back.

  Damn, but his wife was amazing.

  “Stand still so I can show you how I feel about oopses!” Nell
sliced through his emerald robe.

  A soft hiss echoed around him. The ETs were rappelling down.

  We gonna let your wife have all the fun? With a Trunch-P69 in each hand, Rome covered Bei’s back and aimed at the Scraptors on the roof.

  Keyes covered the left. Let’s help a few of these Bug-uglies on the chariot to Hell.

  Fire! Bei pulled his Torp-SK7 from its holster. He raised the gun in one hand and reached for his Destroyer PSK12 with the other. Both weapons fizzled when he pulled the trigger. “Son of a—”

  Rome’s and Keyes’s guns also malfunctioned.

  The Scraptors ringing the square advanced.

  Tossing his Trunches to the ground, Rome shook his arms. Spines grew down his limbs. “We’ll do this the fun way.”

  Slashing the air, Nell advanced on Mopus, forcing him across the bridge. “You are such a coward. Stand still!”

  Stinky’s green skin darkened. He raised the hem of his robe and raced up the bridge over the moat to shout in Groat’s face. “Do something! We only tolerate your stupid species because of your brute strength.”

  Groat’s mandibles spread open and his teeth parted. His attention remained fixed over their heads.

  Nell stabbed at Mopus’s head, shaved off a lock of hair.

  ET ducked behind his armored friend. “Attack! Attack!”

  Dropping his weapons, Bei called up his own spines then charged his armor to a lethal dose.

  The Scraptors on the ground picked up speed.

  A wall of black materialized in front of the Bug-uglies. The Syn-En insignia blazed across the backs of ebony uniforms.

  Bei practically short circuited. His men were here. But how? Nell. She must have gotten through.

  More of his soldiers rappelled down the black cables. The ones forming the boundary raised their arms.

  Blue light arced from their hands to the Scraptors’ chests and the Bug-uglies collapsed.

  That took care of the ones on the ground. What about the ones on the rooftops? Bei looked up.

  A ship’s hull filled his vision and obscured the rooftop snipers’ line of sight.

  Syn-Ens lined up at the open bay door, waiting for their turn to join the fight. Amarooks leapt from their carrier’s arms when they were two meters from the ground. Snapping and snarling, they prowled the square behind his men.