by B. V. Larson
“Wur? They’re the ones that permed your parents, right?”
“Well, they tried. My parents left the ceremony early back on Earth.”
For some reason, this struck Harris as extremely funny.
“I can see it now,” he laughed. “They ran out on you the second they dropped you off, didn’t they?”
Annoyed, I didn’t answer him. Instead, I circled around the giant cactus and eyed it from various angles.
“Remember,” I told him, “we pretty much permed their entire planet.”
“Right… There can’t be any lost love between our two species. McGill, as your senior veteran, I hereby recommend that you burn down this lump of spines right now.”
“Suggestion noted and filed, Harris. But I’m going to try to talk to it instead. I watched Claver do it once. This could be a diplomatic coup if I could pull off the same trick.”
He snorted, but he didn’t argue. I took Carlos, Kivi and Lisa closer to the plant.
Like the last one I’d encountered in a hole on Death World, this beast was squatting in a pool of muck. They must like it that way—all slimy and wet around the roots.
We found tubers, and I tried not to damage them. When we got close, I asked Lisa to transfer the program Claver had been running on L-374 to my tapper. It was a translation app that allowed our species to converse with the Wur.
She hesitated. “That’s classified and untested, McGill.”
“Yeah, well, what difference does it make? Earth has about seventy-two hours before doomsday. You think we should hold onto every secret until the bitter end?”
Reluctantly, she let me have the program. It had come from Claver’s tapper originally. The Lord only knew where he’d gotten it from.
With Kivi’s help, I followed the procedure. Me and this building-sized cactus had to mingle, one-on-one. It was a mind-meld of sorts, but involved getting abused a bit by one of the weird tubers around its base. There were many fine filaments which lengthened from the tuber and penetrated the flesh of my forearm—sticking like tiny spines. I felt calmer immediately after they were stuck deep into me, and I watched my tapper. My pulse dropped to the mellow zone on the bio-readout.
Claver had told me it got you kind of high when you melded with the plant. The toxins involved in exchanging bodily fluids had side effects.
When I was linked up to the plant, I did feel strange. It was like I was dreaming—or on hallucinogens.
“All right cactus,” I said, “let’s talk. What are you doing here on this world?”
“What creature dares to question a Nexus?” it answered.
“I do. I’m an Earthman. You’ve talked to one of my kind before, his name is Claver.”
“The creature you speak of is a thief. A villain. A devil-of-the-flesh.”
“That’s him,” I said, chuckling.
“What message do you carry to me from the Claver-creature?” the plant asked.
At that point, I almost blew it. I almost told the green blob that I had no message from Claver. I almost admitted, in fact, that I wasn’t Claver’s friend or errand-boy at all.
But then I got hold of myself. Despite my floating state of mind, I managed to come up with a lie instead.
“You’ve got it wrong,” I told the plant. “Claver works for me. He is my servant.”
The needles around me shook and rattled. The plant seemed pissed off.
“The Claver-creature has manipulated me. Its words have no substance.”
“What did Claver tell you?”
“That it was the master of Earth. That it could arrange any deal with Earth. That it spoke on behalf of its entire species.”
This information honestly didn’t surprise me at all. If there was anyone in the universe that I acknowledged as my master when it came to the fine art of telling a whopper, it was Claver.
“I see,” I said. “Don’t you worry about a thing. I’ll punish Claver for his misbehavior next time we meet.”
“What of the deals I’ve made with him in good faith? What of our arrangements?”
“Hmm,” I said. “Give me a hint. What are these deals about?”
The spines shook again.
“More lies! Claver is a monster! You should put it down and never let its roots regrow. How can Claver’s master submit if it doesn’t even know about our treaty? How can Earth be expected to lie supine while the cephalopod fleets conquer her? Much time has been wasted.”
“Ah…” I said, catching on. “So, that was the plan. You Wur control the cephalopods. It’s you who are trying to conquer Earth, not the squids on their own. I get it.”
“Your pathetic comprehension does not gratify me. I’d heard reports of resistance, but I’d dared to hope they were overstated. Too much time has been lost. The end grows near for your species. Without an arrangement, you must be put down.”
“Now hold on,” I said. “We can come to a real, binding arrangement. We’re here, aren’t we? We’re talking.”
My nerves tingled, and I smelled something like tangerines. Part of my chemical melding with the Nexus included some awareness of its private thought processes. The plant didn’t seem to be listening to me any longer. I had the sense it was sending communications to somewhere else.
“Another of your kind is known to me,” the plant said. “I’ve tasted this flavor of thought before. There was one of your species here. I dissected her and consumed her with my roots. The same fate shall befall you, creature.”
Those words—or thoughts—penetrated the haze in my mind. Who could it be talking about? There was only one missing female human I could think of that might possibly be out here on an unexplored world: Natasha.
To test the plant’s memories, I thought of her. I envisioned her soft skin and soft voice.
“Is that who you’re talking about, cactus?” I demanded.
“I believe so. She squatted right where you are now when I melded with her. She succumbed to my toxins—as you will shortly. She wanted to talk at great length.”
I felt a little sick from the plant’s biochemistry, but I wasn’t dying yet. Natasha might have taken something like this too far. If she made it down here and talked to this plant, she’d probably get excited and commune with it all day long.
“What about our deal?” I demanded, hating the plant now. “Give me an answer.”
“Your answer is ‘no’ and there is no more time to discuss it. The fleet must be instructed. My servant above is not responding to my will. What has happened to it?”
Rousing myself with a great effort, I got to my feet and swayed in a semi-trance. I lifted a finger and shook it at the plant.
“What are you trying to tell your servant?” I demanded.
“To relay my orders to the fleet, of course. Earth must be cleansed. Holding back the cephalopod ships is now pointless. Your race is feral, and—”
It went on like that, but I was no longer listening. I staggered away, and the tuber that had stuck in my arm decoupled. It was no longer mixing our blood and linking our nervous systems.
My team gathered around me, and I realized after a moment they were propping me up. I was barely able to stand.
Pushing them away one at a time, I fell to my knees in the muck. I felt around down there, and I touched a human arm.
My heart beat faster. It was Natasha’s body. It had to be. I’d found her at last, dead and forgotten on this muddy planet.
I almost shouted and called for Carlos, our bio. But I held back. I was upset, but I’d gotten the inkling of an idea concerning Natasha.
Getting to my feet again, I struggled to Sargon. I put my hand on his armored shoulder, and I pointed with my other hand at the bulging cactus behind me. My lips curled in anger.
“Sargon,” I said, “would you please blow that thing’s big green brain out?”
His frown transformed into a grin. He shouldered his weapon and sighted.
“What took you so long to figure that one out, McGill?” he aske
d.
He blew a hole the size of a hubcap right through the nexus plant’s rind. The mushy goop that flowed out, steaming and sticky, fouled the water around us.
Kivi and Lisa, who’d been poking around at the roots, retreated making sounds of disgust. They never did find Natasha’s remains.
-27-
Soon after destroying the nexus plant, we jumped back to Earth. My first thought was to report Natasha’s death, but I didn’t do it. I’d had a better idea by then. These teleport suits… they had serious possibilities.
When I made my report to Graves, he was less than happy.
“We’d better take this upstairs immediately,” he said.
Without another word, he turned and marched toward the elevators. I followed him. Harris fell in behind us, and I glanced over my shoulder at him. I didn’t like the look on his face. I could tell he was hoping he’d get the chance to arrest me again. It almost made me wish I’d gotten him killed somehow on Green World for sheer spite.
Imperator Drusus didn’t become violently angry after I made my report, however. He brooded instead. When he’d thought it over to his own satisfaction, he unfolded his bony elbows and turned to question me once again.
“So,” he said, “you made contact with the enemy’s supreme commander—as far as we know.”
“I guess that’s right, sir.”
“And your immediate response to the situation was to blow its brains out?”
“Well… now hold on, Imperator.”
Harris had his grin back. His hand slid to the pistol on his hip. He could smell an execution faster than a dog smelled shit.
“Hold on?” Drusus asked sternly. “You didn’t hold on when dealing with my counterpart.”
“That thing told me that the cephalopod fleet was here to conquer Earth,” I said. “It said that Claver had made a deal with the Wur, promising them we’d throw the fight.”
“Yes, that’s what you just described to me minutes ago.”
“Well?” I demanded. “Think about it. Wouldn’t you rather have the squids try a ground invasion? That’s way easier to stop than having their fleet come here with orders to bomb us out.”
Drusus looked thoughtful. “You think an invasion is better than a bombing?”
“Yes, I surely do. Invasions take time, and we need more time to figure out how to win this.”
He nodded slowly.
“It was my fault,” he said at last. “I’m the one who put such a critical mission into the hands of an amateur. A man known for fits of drastic action.”
“Sir, if I’d tried to negotiate further with the nexus plant, it would have simply ignored me. I know these aliens. It’s their way or the highway. I knew the brain-plant would signal its fleet the first chance it got. We’d be facing bombs right now instead of an upcoming invasion.”
Drusus stared off into space for a time as if deep in thought. Finally, he met my eyes again.
“The situation has changed in your absence, McGill. The enemy has already begun their invasion.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, looking at both the officers.
Graves just shrugged and Drusus didn’t meet my eyes.
“But…” I began, “I thought the Cephalopod Armada was between Jupiter and Mars, chasing our fleet out in the dark somewhere.”
“They caught the last of our fleet and destroyed it during the night,” Drusus explained. “But instead of driving straight to Earth, they paused at the asteroid belt. We’ve been preparing to do battle with them, gearing up our fortifications on Luna and other orbital platforms. But they’ve continued to hang back, out of range.”
“Why?”
Drusus tapped at his desktop. A diagram appeared, but instead of depicting local space, it showed Earth.
“They’ve set up a beachhead in northern New York Sector,” he said. “in a forested region known as the Adirondack Mountains.”
“What the hell…?” I asked, looking at the map.
Harris and Graves crowded around me, staring at the map.
“No frigging way!” Harris blurted in a sudden outburst. “McGill? How the hell did you manage to get Earth invaded? Oh…. sorry sirs.”
“It’s quite all right,” Drusus said grimly. “Your astonishment is shared by all of us. McGill appears to have caused this move by the enemy. They apparently have technology beyond simple teleportation suits. They’ve set up some kind of… station. A gateway. A connection point between Earth and their invasion forces.”
My jaw hung low. “How’s that even possible?”
Drusus shrugged. “Did you honestly think that Earth has been exposed to the most advanced technology in the known universe? We’ve only seen cast-off trinkets from the Galactics—hand-me-downs the Mogwa and their ilk don’t want anymore. But these squids have a much larger Kingdom to back them up. They’re under no restrictions as to what kind of tech they can develop and deploy.”
“It makes sense,” Graves said, speaking up for the first time. “If they can teleport, how much harder could it be to set up a connection between two points in space and move freely between them? But what I don’t understand is how they built the station here on Earth to receive their troops.”
“So…” I said as we stared at the map. An irregularly-shaped region glowed red in the center. “They built a beachhead under our noses? When did all this happen?”
“As far as we can tell, it’s been ongoing for over a week. Part of the plan was to take out Central first. But when that failed, they stopped coming here. They switched tactics and launched a ground campaign. As far as we can tell, they brought down their gateway equipment in bits and pieces to install it in the forest. When they were ready, they marched through with a larger force and began infiltrating the surrounding country side.”
“Are we talking about squid troops?” I asked. “Are cephalopods really overrunning upstate New York?”
Drusus shook his head. He tapped at the region, and it zoomed in sickeningly. We were soon looking up-close at snowy fields shadowed with a thick forest.
When the zooming image slowed and transformed from a blur to a clear picture, I saw what I’d never expected to see again. A group of nine very large humanoids came marching out from under the pines.
They wore black, and they carried muskets. Huge sabers were strapped to their armored backs.
“Heavy troopers?” I asked incredulously. “Like the ones we beat back on Dust World? I can’t believe it.”
“That’s not all—watch,” Drusus said.
After another few moments, while the square of nine litter-mates stood shoulder to shoulder in perfect formation, the trees shook. They parted like tall weeds pushed aside by a strong man.
Shoving through them, a massive figure stepped into view. It was a monster, a full six meters in height. It carried a heavy energy projector, and a glittering shield of force wrapped around its body like a glassy nimbus.
It was a true giant bred from human slaves stolen from Dust World. I’d fought its kind before—and they didn’t go down easily.
The sight of the giant floored me. I couldn’t believe it. I’d seen these beings before, years ago, but I’d never thought I’d run into them again.
“They use humans as breeding stock,” I said. “They’ve always used us for slaves. To them, we’re chattel. These creatures have been bred to serve as ground troops.”
“That’s right,” Drusus said. “That’s why the cephalopods are so determined to take Earth. They see us as a good source of raw material.”
Stunned, I kept staring at the vid feeds. More and more heavy troops were marching out of the forest now. Teams of nine litter-mates overran a local automated farm as we watched.
Of the few people there, the humans that cowered were captured while those that resisted were killed. They even destroyed the farming robots they ran into. They seemed not to know the difference between harmless automated servants and dangerous enemies.
“Della told me about
this,” I said. “The squids used to periodically send ships to Dust World to pick up fresh slaves. They needed new basic stock. From our bodies they bred these abominations. They should all be destroyed. Why don’t we just nuke the whole sector?”
Drusus shrugged. “We tried that at the start, but they’ve got excellent tech. Our aircraft are immediately shot down. Missiles as well. In addition, they have a large dome over the region. It moves with them—they can’t be taken out en masse.”
Finally, at long last, I caught on.
“Uh…” I said. “Are you saying we have to fight them on the ground, sir?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. We have to stop this invasion the old-fashioned way.”
I hooted loudly, and they all three jumped.
“That’s the best damned news I’ve heard in a week, Imperator! Harris, get out the standards. Legion Varus is marching to battle in the open field!”
Harris looked nowhere near as excited as I was.
Drusus actually chuckled at my comments.
“I admire your spirit, McGill,” he said, “but you’re still our most experienced man on the teleport team. I was thinking of using your particular talents again—but in a more refined way.”
“Damn,” I muttered, crestfallen. The idea of facing a squid army in the open field was both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.
I’d really been looking forward to it.
-28-
When I heard the details of Drusus’ plan, I was even less excited than I’d been at first.
“Let me get this straight,” I said to Graves when we’d been dismissed from the Imperator’s office. “I’m supposed to jump to all the locations on the dial? Alone?”
“That’s pretty much it.”
Harris, who’d somehow snuck into the meeting with us, chuckled evilly.
I didn’t even glance at him.
“That doesn’t work for me,” I told Graves. “I want a partner.”
“Ah,” he said, “I was expecting this. You want that little tech to come along, don’t you?”