The Matsumoto Trilogy: Omnibus Edition

by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  I wanted to think that the shadows weren’t people and that they just re-formed when they burst apart. It was possibly true, since we’d witnessed them re-forming, but it was possible that it wasn’t true and I was willfully trampling a humanoid species to death. The thought gave me chills. It was necessary for my survival, but maybe that’s what my family thought when they committed this genocide.

  Despite trampling dozens of shadows already, we were progressing more slowly than continental drift. The press of bodies, if that was what they really were, was just too strong. Their mental noise was wearing steadily on me. I was having trouble thinking beyond the moment. I thought that perhaps I could use my implant to help us out, but I lost the thread of that thought almost as soon as I embraced it. Any other strategic planning was shoved forcefully out of my mind by the incessant drone and shriek of angry aliens filling my mind. I thought about shutting the implant off, but it controlled the programs for fighting. I needed those.

  Out where Ch’ng and his allies stood, Kitsano seemed to be struggling as much as I was. Her hands were clamped over her face and she was sunk down on her heels in a squat, unable or unwilling to move. Ch’ng prodded her from time to time, but he and the others were being overrun. One of his people was snatched from his perch and moments later a green translucent fungi sprang up like a flag behind them.

  Shut down exterior communications coming in, I ordered my implant, hoping to stem the tide of alien communication.

  A moment of pure relief washed over me as the river of thought abated for a moment, only to return again in full force. The implant command must not have worked – or maybe I was hearing their voices now without the aid of the implant.

  We were close to Kitsano and Ch’ng, but still too far away to do much beyond fire into the shadow ranks. Moments later my nettlegun stopped responding. A brief look at the readout showed I was out of ammunition. Driscoll’s gun also stuttered to a stop.

  Here we were, overrun and outnumbered. In a moment we’d be dragged from our high ground and planted in the ground to grow a fungi garden. It had all come to nothing. All the struggle. All the hopes.

  I gave a mental yell of frustration, projecting it in all my fury at the shadows. My eyes clenched shut as I released all my emotional frustration in the wordless – soundless scream. I finished and drew a deep breath, opening my eyes to receive my death.

  Before me, shadows were strewn motionless across the ground. The others were pushed back against burning walls. I glanced back at Driscoll. He was stunned and blinking at me, but otherwise fine. His eyes were glowing again.

  “Don’t stop! Keep going!” he said.

  I spurred Rhinric forward and we angled in to where the last living humans stood. One glance at the compound confirmed that no living person could survive in that inferno. Ch’ng lifted Kitsano up to us and I slung her limp form on Rhinric in front of me. Driscoll was already helping Ch’ng and the other colonist up onto the back of Rhinric. I didn’t know his name. At this point, it hardly mattered. If any of us lived to see the end of this journey we could deal with introductions then.

  As soon as they were settled I spurred Rhinric through the gates. We rode out at full speed, scattering shadows as they were rising from the ground and thundering across the open terrain. Where to go? Where to go?

  I could see the crashed El Dorado on my map program, and there was the Baldric Three’s little base, but that wouldn’t be enough to defend us now that the shadows were rampaging. Where else was there? A tiny red inverted caret indicated two somethings at our original crash site. I consulted my implant. Their transponders were Blackwatch marine assault shuttle codes. The ship must have sent someone after all – only to the wrong location.

  How far could Rhinric run with us on his back? Five people were a lot for even a giant shadow rhino to carry. I angled us into the trees towards the bridge, south of the colony. I noticed, for the first time, that the original party had crossed three bridges when they made their way to the colony. There must be other buildings or compounds out there if there were bridges. Maybe they were observation posts like the one we had spent the night in. Retracing their steps made more sense, and would be more direct, than retracing ours. That first bridge wasn’t far. I remembered that much from our original journey. I hoped I’d chosen well.

  Already, in the trees, shadows were amassing again. How long until they pressed their attack once more? Worse, how long until their leader arrived? ‘She’ sounded worrisome.

  “What happened?” Kitsano said, waking enough to pull herself into a seated position.

  “We got out. We’re riding this near-rhino towards our original crash site.”

  “Why there?” Driscoll asked, “Why not the cliffs?”

  “The ship sent two marine assault shuttles to the crash site. I hope we can get there before they leave again.”

  “Do you still have a way to communicate with the ship?” he asked.

  “No,” I said.

  “But you did get an emergency signal to them before we were overrun?”

  “For all the good it did, since they sent the shuttles to the wrong location,” I grumbled, trying to focus on the map in my sights. We had six more hours until dark. Was there anywhere we could go along that route to shelter during the long Baldric night?

  “How do you know that they sent them to the wrong place?” Driscoll asked.

  “Isn’t it obvious by now?” Ch’ng said, surprising everyone but me. He sounded almost as tired as I was, and definitely just as resigned. “She has an implanted computer chip in her skull. It’s a super powerful one. It’s how she can fight without training, how she knows where we are all the time, and how she can tell us all this stuff she shouldn’t know.”

  Driscoll must have already known after the incident underground. Besides, if Roman’s experience was true then Driscoll’s Own was injecting computer chips into civilians in other parts of the Empire. He still nodded in a way that said the wheels in his head were turning.

  “But that’s illegal,” the other colonist said. He was a small, wiry man and his eyes drifted as he spoke as if he was so tired he couldn’t keep them in one place.

  “And top secret,” I added, with minor irritation.

  “Everything with the Matsumotos is illegal and top secret,” Driscoll said, as predictably as snow in winter.

  It was Kitsano, though, who seemed most in thought over the new information. She stared at me over her shoulder until I was starting to get too flustered to focus on the map.

  “They implanted a chip in you. A powerful one,” she said, like she was speaking her thoughts aloud. “It would affect your subconscious. Make it more powerful. That’s how you do it. It’s how you tap in to the collective unconscious of the Javierians even though you aren’t even half shadow.” Her eyes widened before she continued, “and it’s why all Matsumotos have ‘a way’ with them, isn’t it? You all have this upgrade. You can communicate with them without becoming them. I wonder if you turned them into shadows just to perfect that pretty little technology of yours.”

  Her eyes were fiery, but I didn’t rise to her bait. Who knew who set this all in motion or why? It was a little unsettling to see Kitsano so worked up, though. I had thought we were gaining an understanding of sorts.

  “It was a Matsumoto who gave the order to split the planet,” she said. “I’ve seen the records. He broke their minds and drove them mad, and when they died they were sucked into the common subconscious. The stuff they laced us with did the same thing. By becoming like them we were given the gift of subconscious communication – and with it the curse of a subconscious afterlife. We were split and rendered body from soul and our bodies are gone – or at least mine is half gone – but our minds are joined in everlasting pain. We call that day, ‘The Splitting.’”

  She looked at me with a murderous gaze, “And it’s all on you. Matsumotos did this to us. Matsumotos will pay in blood.”

  I couldn’t prevent the sigh this t
ime. Was there any tragedy on any planet of the known universe that was not - somehow, when you got right down to it - my fault? At some point it was hard to maintain the same level of horror and guilt when the sins of the world were put again and again on your shoulders. It was hard to care. It was hard to go on caring about anything. My parents were dead. Edward was dead. Denise was dead. Albert was dead. Ian was dead. A planet of humanoids and their human colonists were dead. In all probability Roman was dead now, too.

  Link established.

  Was it really worth it to try to fix all these problems? All they did was multiply so that now there were more ills than I could possibly resolve. Was it worth it to save my own life and wrest the empire from Nigel only to discover that we had created a mess so big and scars so deep that no restitution could ever be enough? It wasn’t worth it. I should just go to sleep somewhere here and wake up a lovely chartreuse fungus.

  Vera? Is that you?

  THE SPLITTING: 29

  My heart leapt.

  Roman?

  Kitsano was still breathing death threats and ominous prophesies, but I heard not a word. The chorus of mind-deafening susurrations from the shadows continued, but I paid it no mind. All my mind could think was: Roman. Roman. Roman.

  A lump formed in my throat like a dam, and I was afraid of what would happen when it loosened. It sucked my very breath away.

  Vera! His mental voice sounded like it cracked – which was impossible. It’s really you. I thought you were dead.

  The flashes of color through our communication channel were so powerful that they blocked everything else out. I was glad I was riding Rhinric because I would have stumbled if I’d been walking. There was the gold of joy, of course, and then the colors of relief, intense affection, hope, and for a split second a sliver of guilt. It was like he couldn’t form words. That was ok, because neither could I. When I finally could, it was only after long minutes of just relishing the fact that he was alive and near.

  Is there anything so sweet as death undone?

  I’m so glad you’re alive. I knew they’d sent you somewhere terrible. Your commander expects it to kill you.

  I know, but I’ll find a way. Now that I know you’re alive - that I’m not just dreaming you – I’ll find you and I’ll rescue you from wherever they’ve put you.

  I missed you.

  I missed you, too. He paused Every day.

  I didn’t say what I thought. I had a hard time believing that he missed me every day when he had found comfort in someone else’s love. I felt him react to my jealousy through our connection. Oops. I forgot he could read my thoughts. Even the ones he wasn’t supposed to. He didn’t say anything, though.

  Where are you? I asked, trying to break the tension. I was trying to just cling to the relief and joy and stuff the bitter jealousy threaded with worry to the back of my mind.

  “Are you even listening to me?” Kitsano asked two inches from my face.

  “You want your revenge,” I said, irritated that she was distracting me from Roman.

  “Yes,” she said, “and when this is done I will have it. One way or another I will have it.”

  “Get in line, then,” I said, and tried not to sound too world-weary.

  They’ve sent me to a planet named Baldric. It’s extremely hostile. Someone called for help, but they’re nowhere to be seen. I have to go. I need to concentrate. Private McCann just went missing.

  Wait! Roman! There was no reply. Hang in there. I’m coming for you.

  He was here. He was on Baldric. On a galactic scale he was practically on top of me, but on a more realistic scale he was ninety kilometers away and surrounded by hostile shadows that would love to see him in a long chartreuse pillar. I could do it, though. I could save him. I just had to get there somehow.

  Kitsano had apparently taken my absent-minded challenge as an invitation. She was still talking.

  “…and then I will see you and all your people before a Galactic Tribunal,” she said triumphantly.

  I faced her with my full concentration. She fidgeted under my steady gaze. It was time to deal with this. I didn’t have time to spare on small fights with a full scale war going on around me.

  “There are five of us that I need to get to the shuttles,” I began. “There could just as easily be four. Four would mean less work for Rhinric and a faster arrival time. So when I tell you to pay attention and listen to me, I mean it.”

  She froze, her eyes going wide. I guess when you’re used to Matsumotos being far, far away it’s easy to threaten them, but it’s a lot harder to poke a tiger who is snarling in your face.

  “Regardless of what the Matsumotos have done to this planet,” I held up a hand as she opened her mouth, “I’m not defending it, but I am saying that regardless of all that, I am your only chance of reaching safety alive. If you want to come along, be my guest, but just hold up on the condemnation for the time being. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m currently serving my time, with a death sentence hanging over me, so a ‘Galactic Tribunal’ doesn’t exactly leave me ‘all aquiver.’ Right now I’m slightly more worried about your shadow cousins. Understood?”

  I gave her a piercing stare just to punctuate my words. I needed to focus, and she was an unwelcome distraction.

  Her mouth twisted bitterly, and she flickered a bit, like she was having trouble controlling her shadow-self. Eventually she said, “Understood.”

  “In that case,” I said, “Maybe, since you have all this knowledge you didn’t share before, you might have an answer to something we’ve all been wondering.”

  “What’s that?” she asked, guardedly.

  “Is it just me, or are the shadows not trying very hard?”

  I heard a snort of disbelief from Ch’ng, but Driscoll said nothing, and I knew he’d been thinking this same thing. I missed Ian. He was good at winning people’s trust. He’d get Kitsano on his side in no time if he were here. Instead he was stashed somewhere like a pack we’d forgotten to bring. It hurt to think about. And for that matter, hadn’t Driscoll won Kitsano over to his Driscoll’s Own? What had happened back there to shake her loose from that? I realized belatedly that it might be the deaths of her friends. Maybe Kitsano was smarting over Michael the way I was over Ian. Maybe she was mourning Roberta though that might seem impossible to me right now.

  “What do you mean?” she hedged. It was definitely a hedge. Her eyes didn’t match her voice. It looked like she was trying to read me with those eyes while her voice strove for innocence.

  “I mean that thousands of them just flooded that colony, and they said more were coming. Before that, there were hundreds harrying us as we trekked through this wilderness. At any time they could have snuffed us out like a candle. Even in that last confrontation it was like they were testing our skills and resolve more than actually trying to kill us.”

  We were still riding down the route I’d traced out. In the surrounding trees I saw flickers of shadows, and red inverted carets appearing.

  “I don’t want to see what you think it looks like to have someone actually trying to kill you!” Ch’ng exclaimed, too upset to keep his thoughts inside. “In case you haven’t noticed, Matsumoto, there are only five of us left.”

  “As shocking as it may seem to you, Mr. Ch’ng, the Blackwatch education system has not failed me and I am able to do simple addition. Yes, I have noticed that there are five of us. And on a side note, I know what it looks like to have someone really trying to kill you, because several such people have made attempts on my life in the past few months and done a considerably more passionate job of it. Those shadows are not trying very hard. They give us chance after chance. My proof of that is the five of us. There is no reason that we’re still alive.”

  Driscoll’s voice surprised me.

  “Well, Vera, I like to think that we fought rather valiantly back there.”

  “What about Sammy, Driscoll?”

  He said nothing.

  “Lieutenant Kitsano?”
I prompted.

  She clenched her jaw like she wasn’t going to answer, but after a few moments her shoulder sagged. “Yes. The Javierian’s culture was not lost when the planet experienced ‘The Splitting.’ They were an assortment of cultures based on a strong honor system. Now, more than ever, they cling to it. Those they deem worthy they absorb into their shadow existence. Those deemed unworthy are ‘planted’ in the ground, as you have no doubt noticed.”

  “No doubt,” I agreed. It was hard not to notice eight meter glowing fungi.

  “Why now more than ever?” Driscoll said.

  “Because now, when you join them you become a part of them. They only want to add individuals who bring something to the overall ‘internal climate’ of their shared subconscious. The ‘worthy’ are tested, challenged and tested again. I’ve seen them sometimes select someone from the herd. They call to him until he battles them and then they absorb him into their noble band of brothers.” She couldn’t keep the cynicism out of her voice. “The fact that we are still here is a testament to their interest in those of us who are left – or maybe I should say ‘those of you’ because I will become a shadow as a result of Compound VX-7. They don’t like that at all. It short circuits what they’re trying to do here.”

  She ended her speech with a grunting laugh. I didn’t think that any of the rest of us felt like laughing. I certainly didn’t. I scanned the trees for shadows. There were many of them in every direction, but if they weren’t willing to fight yet that was fine with me. The longer they waited, the closer I would get to Roman. I could already see the first bridge coming up on my map. We were making progress.