Blend and Defend

by Viola Grace

“You needed one.”

  Corbyn went to the front of the med centre, and she took in the quarantine gates that had dropped. “Well, at least we have food.”

  She stopped by the supply centre and went to Xaia. “Here. Drink and eat as much as you can. The nanites need fuel, and you need to urinate the little dead buggers out.”

  Xaia got out from under the scanner. “Fine. How long does this drill usually last?”

  “Oh, this isn’t a drill. We are under full quarantine until you are clear of the radiation.”

  Xaia grabbed the bag of water and started to chug it. When it was done, she held out her hand. “Another.”

  “Eat, and then, I will get you another.”

  Xaia ripped open the ration pack and started to eat.

  Aikoro was near and he smiled. “Those rations are tasty.”

  Corbyn paused. “You have had them?”

  “Yes, we each had three or four when we were first stuck in here.”

  Corbyn smiled. “You are all looking a little different.”

  Aikoro nodded. “We noticed that. It started a few hours. We are reverting to our original appearances.”

  “Original?”

  Xaia was listening raptly as she ate her ration.

  Aikoro looked around at his brethren. “We were sent here to blend in with and defend this colony. We were dropped by a mothership, and with our AI helping, we managed to get the hang of the language. Once that was done, we introduced ourselves to the colonists, and we set out to help them tweak their technology into a more user-friendly configuration.”

  “So, you don’t look like us.”

  He shook his head. “We are similar but not exact. It appears that our awakening has begun our return to our original conditions.”

  Corbyn snorted. “It wasn’t the awakening. It was the ration packs. The meat that we use is the equivalent of a protein bomb. It would give your bodies the boost that they needed to take over and charge into its regular formation.”

  He looked at the pack that Xaia was slurping on. “Protein boost?”

  “Yes. We harvest a few larvae from the local beehives and use them as a supplemental protein. We carefully monitor what we need so that we don’t put stress on the colonies, but it definitely helps for the ration packs.”

  Aikoro held his hands apart. “Those bees?”

  She nodded. “Those bees. The crimson bees have been our food source and our source of sugar.”

  “You harvest from them?”

  Xaia chuckled. “She guards the harvesters.”

  Corbyn shrugged. “It is one of my favourite jobs. It gets me outside and saves me from breaking up brawls.”

  Crebar, the Nine member who was slowly turning grey from head to toe, was surprised. “Don’t tell me that these ladies brawl.”

  Corbyn chuckled. “They drink, they brawl, they have sex in public, they are just like any other growing population. They go wild, and someone has to remind them what good citizens do.”

  That appeared to shock Crebar. “But, they are women!”

  Xaia cackled. “I know it has been a while, but think back to your mate. Was she a delicate flower that wanted protection?”

  Crebar blinked, and a slow, wistful smile spread across his face. “No, she was fire and wind in a small column.”

  “So, that is what we are dealing with. A population of driven women who need to occasionally let off steam.”

  Crebar sighed. “Damn, I miss her.”

  Corbyn nodded. “We know.”

  A sharp whistle from the next cubicle got Corbyn’s attention. She excused herself and went around the corner where Duel’s brain was still lit up.

  * * * *

  Duel was sitting up when Corbyn came in. She was alone. “I heard what you were talking about, and I think I have a theory, but I need someone to test it.”

  Corbyn frowned. “What are you thinking?”

  Duel beckoned her forward. “I need to share it in a data burst. It is too crazy to say out loud.”

  “Sure. Open it up.”

  Duel smiled, and the next moment, she sent the data burst with all the information she had gleaned from the histories, the inventories, and the schematics of the valley. The images of the founding mothers were given to Corbyn and so was the location of the emergency hatch located in the medical bay, unwired to any systems.

  Corbyn’s head rocked as she got the download.

  “How, how did you do that, Duel?”

  Duel knew what she was looking at. There was no headset attached. “My brain learned how to do it when Kab sent signals through it. I just managed to keep that information when they thought they unplugged me.”

  “Your brain is still bright.”

  “Yeah, but it isn’t stressed or deteriorating. That is why they are off having a little meeting.”

  Corbyn blinked. “Are you sure about this information?”

  “Yeah. Share it with Kiida and Nyvett. They will be able to confirm bits of it from their clan archives.”

  Duel smiled as brightly as she could. “Call me if you find what I think you will.”

  “Will do.” Corbyn turned and smiled. “You are going to make some people very angry and others delighted if this is accurate.”

  “I know.” Duel leaned back into her pillow. “I can take it.”

  She watched Corbyn leave, and when she was out of sight, Duel linked up with the security systems of the underground city, and she watched as the three had their conversation, and then, they slipped out of medical via the tunnel in the furthest supply closet from the point at which Duel lay.

  They were going hunting for a grave that wasn’t, and Duel was watching them as long as she could. She could hijack their headsets but that would be rude. There was never an excuse to be rude.

  * * * *

  They had climbed down four levels before they started to talk. Nyvett whispered, “This is what I was looking into when we were here for our break.”

  Kiida blinked. “Me, too.”

  Corbyn whispered, “Apparently, Duel took Kabriuk to visit the graves of her clan, and she had a thought when she found the first daughter but no mother. I mean, does it make sense?”

  They continued downward until they reached the silence of the memorial level.

  “This place is eerie,” Kiida murmured.

  “Duel puts our relatives to rest. She knows this place and talks to those who have gone before. If she says that something isn’t right, it isn’t right. If it is out of place, it is out of place.”

  They walked to the corner that Duel had directed them too, and the headsets were trained on the outcropping of stone.

  They all sat back when they found what Duel had said would be there.

  Kiida said, “What do we do now?”

  Nyvett smiled. “We bring them down. This has been enough of a strain on them. They need to know.”

  They were all in agreement. The Nine needed to know.

  Chapter Five

  Making thirty aliens disappear from a secured facility was a triumph of misdirection. The bed-ridden pilots merely said that the Nine had moved on to another room.

  Duel grinned. All she needed to do was to fake a seizure and the medics would come running. She explained it away as an itch on the healing skin of her neck.

  The others were downstairs with the thirty members of the Nine. It was a very good thing that that tube had been set as an air conduit and emergency access tunnel.

  Kab kept asking her if she was okay. She silently responded that she was fine, but the testing continued.

  It sucked to be kept out of her own idea, but she was sure that Corbyn would get them through. It was Corbyn’s basic characteristics. Protective and determined.

  Kiida was the inquisitive one, and Nyvett was the know-it-all. Put those three together and you could unlock any information in Bot City.

  She hoped that it was what the girls were doin
g now.

  * * * *

  Trying to be quiet with thirty aliens following you around was a new task, but Nyvett was always one for following the rules. It was a quiet space, so they would respect that quiet.

  They walked to the rear of the Aka plot, and Nyvett examined the wall. Iff spoke in her ear. “I am not alone in your headset. Duel is watching, so you can speak to her if you like.”

  Nyvett got a little worried, knowing that Duel’s health was suspect. “Should you be watching this?”

  Duel’s voice came through. “Yes. There are honour picks on the graves of a few of the Aka dead. You can use them to get through the walls.”

  Nyvett turned toward the crowd behind her. “Duel suggests that we use the picks on the graves behind us to get through the wall.”

  Crebar and a few others who were turning grey stepped up. “We can get through the wall without the picks. Show us where you want a hole, and we will make it.”

  Nyvett saw the confidence in his eyes, and she nodded. “This is the spot.” She drew an archway with her hand to show the area that they needed to remove.

  Crebar smiled. “It is simple. Give us some room, and we will make the entry.”

  Nyvett hesitated, but Iffendro put his hand on her shoulder and he pulled her back.

  Crebar and the others walked up to the wall, and one at a time, they shoved their hands into the stone and pulled them out with a shower of sand. Holes began to appear around the edges, and light glowed through into the space they were standing.

  Nyvett whispered, “Holy. She was right.”

  Kabriuk nodded, “Of course she was. Duel is a highly intuitive woman.”

  Nyvett heard the laugh in her ear. “She heard that.”

  “She is in your headset?”

  Nyvett nodded.

  “How did she get in contact with your headset?”

  She looked at Duel’s ancestor. “Kab opened her mind, and her mind remembered what it had seen. Don’t doubt for a minute that we are worried.”

  Duel’s voice was low, and the jolt of surprise showed that Kiida and Corbyn were getting the signal. “Don’t be worried. I am fine. I am just affected by my time as a pilot, just as Hima has been.”

  Kiida asked, “How is Hima?”

  “She is recovering. Members of her clan are waiting for the end of the quarantine to donate plasma and tissue to speed her recovery.”

  Kiida asked, “What about your recovery?”

  “I am going to take a while to get to a balance point. For now, know that I am already getting familiar with the systems that you can see through that door. The fabricators are starting up, and the lights are coming on.”

  Nyvett muttered, “What is on the other side of that wall?”

  “Our past and our beginning, which may lead to our future.”

  The members of the Nine moving the stone had created an open archway.

  Nyvett asked Kabriuk, “How are they doing that?”

  He smiled absently. “Molecular manipulation. They can move through static states, and stone is the easiest.”

  “What does your branch of the Nine do?”

  He opened his mouth to answer, but Crebar raised his dusty hand. “It is ready to push over. Shall we?”

  Nyvett looked through the carved edge that they had created. Kiida and Corbyn nodded.

  Nyvett looked at Crebar, and she nodded. “Push it down.”

  They watched as the men stood at the stone wall. Their shoulders tensed, and the carved opening rocked and then fell forward. The stone shattered and scattered across a very polished floor.

  Crebar smiled. “The gateway is open. Where are we going?”

  Nyvett consulted the schematic that Duel had provided. “We are going this way. Please, follow me.”

  She led the group through the new doorway and over the rubble. There were several halls to choose from but followed the lit path that Duel was projecting through the headset.

  The cool air and whirring of machines in the distance drew them on.

  Kabriuk asked, “This is fascinating, but where are we going, precisely?”

  “Duel has a theory, and I agree that it is likely.”

  “What is the theory?”

  “That if you were put in stasis before your wives founded Bot City, then there was a chance that they would have put themselves in stasis once the next few generations were all set up.”

  A weird excitement went through Kabriuk when she said that.

  “Do you think that it’s true?”

  Nyvett smiled. “I know that this hall is the same structure that we located you in. It is leading us into the same atmospheric conditions about half a kilometre from the city itself.”

  Kabriuk blinked rapidly. “Why aren’t we running?”

  “Well, according to Duel, she has to deactivate the security protocols in the area. This section of tech is self-contained, and she had to wait until she could see the connections before she could get to work.” Nyvett was relaying what Duel was saying.

  They continued forward and more motors whirred to life ahead of them. When their group rounded a corner, an expansive facility was exposed to view.

  The large canisters were shadowed, but figures could be seen stretching back into the darkness.

  Kiida moved up, and she whispered, “They aren’t coming online.”

  In Nyvett’s ear, she heard Iff. “We sent the signal to wake the Nine hours before we arrived. We didn’t know about these women.”

  Nyvett nodded. “Right. Well, we are going to have to start waking them. Duel, can you help us out?”

  Duel’s voice was faint and slightly out of breath. “No. The equipment needs two hands to wake the inhabitants. It needs the touch of the Nine and the touch of a descendant.”

  “Duel, are you all right?”

  A scuff from behind them caused them all to whirl around. Duel stood there, leading a group of women all wearing different clan insignias. “Yeah. Sorry. I got here as soon as I could. It is a good thing that breaking through the wall took a while. Forcing open the quarantine and locking Xaia into a room of her own took a bit of doing, but I got it done.”

  Duel was looking a little weak. She smiled. “Sorry that all of the pilots couldn’t be here, but I promise to give recordings to all.”

  She beckoned, “Ciotan, this is Lmeeka of the Padu clan. She is one of the few to excel at her work, and she will be waking your mate today. Lmeeka, this is your ancestor, Ciotan.”

  The young woman was barely an adult, but she carried herself with confidence. She stepped forward to extend her hand. “It is good to meet you, Ciotan. Shall we go and find your wife?”

  Ciotan took her hand and grinned. “Yes, please.”

  Duel started to make the connection between all of the women and their eight-times great grandfathers until she was standing and smiling at Kabriuk. “Sorry, you are stuck with me.”

  He inclined his head. “I would not have it any other way. Are you well?”

  “Well, I may have escaped from medical and gathered up women from other clans that I have known from burying their dead, but they were willing to come, so here we are.”

  “All of the Nine have recognized their own, so that is good. Now, let’s find Jeanell.”

  Duel nodded. “Let’s.”

  They walked, and she could spot the only unattended pillar. “I think that is her.”

  A woman was floating with her hands demurely crossed over her breasts, holding her shoulders. Tubes and connections were running in and out of her, but Jeanell herself looked asleep and serene.

  Kabriuk let out a small sob. “I never thought that I would see her again.”

  Duel smiled. “You have no idea how happy I am that you are no longer alone.”

  Duel looked at the controls, and she nodded. She used the com speakers set around the room. “Herans, put your right hand on the right pad. Members of the Nine, put your lef
t hand on the left pad. Count to three and each push the activation buttons down. The DNA samples will be taken and the waking protocol will start. After that, we have to wait for two hours while the tubes are extracted and their blood is slowly replaced. When that is done, they will wake and we can remove them from the oxygenated fluid.”

  She could hear the sounds of folks around the room activating the humans in the tanks. She looked to Kabriuk. “Ready?”

  He set his palm in the scanner. “Please.”

  She smiled and set her right hand in the scan plate, counting to three and then she felt as well as heard the click.

  Soft lights came on above Jeanell Aka, and the systems began the process of waking her.

  Kabriuk climbed to the steps at the top of the tank.

  “This is going to take hours, Kabriuk.” She smiled.

  “I will wait for her. She has waited for me.”

  Duel nodded, and she sat on the floor, leaning against the cool metal. She dropped her head onto her crossed arms and she breathed as her brain continued to create a separate node for her new communications skills.

  Pain control was all that they could offer her. The nanites were busy building her communications node, and it hurt like hell. A few hours of rest and silence were all that she wanted at this point.

  * * * *

  Corbyn left Myxiorden’s focus on Reeda, and she went looking for Duel.

  She was about to call out when she heard a communication that she wasn’t expecting.

  “Pilot Corbyn.”

  “Yes.”

  “This is Kab. Duel is unwell, but she is recovering.”

  Corbyn paused in the middle of one of the empty aisles. “What is happening to her?”

  “She is developing a communication adaptation. Her brain is creating a means to communicate with and via technology.”

  “Shit. Where is she?”

  “Resting. She is resting now, but she would not, could not, rest until now. I am monitoring her life signs via that new node, but I wanted you to know the situation in case I need you to get her medical attention.”

  “Why don’t I take her there now?” Corbyn wanted desperately to act.