by Richard Fox
Yarrow chuckled.
“Not fucking funny. For the record,” Cortaro said as he walked over and helped Egan to his feet.
“I guess we know why there aren’t any villagers around this lake,” Hale said. “You think this was some overlord’s pet? Anyone going to notice that we killed it?”
“They can’t be tamed and are quite territorial,” Lafayette said. “If there are more around here, its death will be seen as a natural occurrence.”
“More? There are more?” Egan asked.
“Probably. Shall we continue on before we find out for sure?” Lafayette pointed over the berm toward the unseen village.
****
Standish stepped through a patch of ferns slowly, moving faster as a breeze tousled the dark-colored fronds from side to side. The cloak masked him from view, not the effect of his passing through the environment.
A warning icon popped onto his visor—only a few seconds until the cloak failed. He jogged over to a leafy bush next to a drop-off and went prone. He keyed off the cloak and held still, scanning for any movement around him.
A tree next to the bush towered over the fungal towers. The tree was covered in bark, unlike the smooth texture of every other tree he’d seen on Nibiru. He ran his fingertips over the rough bark, then picked up tiny green needles sprinkled around the tree’s base.
“That’s funny,” he said.
“What?” a low voice said almost in his ear.
Standish tossed the needles away and clutched his rifle against his chest.
“Steuben! Is that you?” Standish said in a loud whisper.
The Karigole, who’d been kneeling on the other side of the bush, dropped his cloak.
“What did I tell you about sneaking up on me?” Standish asked.
“What did I tell you about losing your situational awareness?”
“Speaking of which,” Standish grabbed a low hanging branch and brandished it at Steuben, “that is a cedar tree.”
“How do you know so much about Nibiru botany?”
“You’re dense, but I still like you. This tree isn’t from Nibiru. It’s from Earth, and this bush,” Standish said, shaking a branch, “will be an oak tree when it gets bigger. Also from Earth. Who gets the ‘situational awareness’ ribbon now, smart guy?”
“Curious, but not as interesting as what’s ahead. Yarrow, you may de-cloak. The area is clear,” Steuben said.
Yarrow appeared in the patch of ferns as his cloak dissipated.
“What’ve you got?” Yarrow asked. “Should we call it back to Hale?”
“I’m not sure what it is…yet. Follow me.” Steuben got to his feet and ran forward in a low crouch.
Standish tried to keep up with the Karigole, but he moved remarkably fast and nimbly for one so large. The number of cedar trees increased, mixed with a few oaks Standish recognized. The smell of sap and moist soil brought back memories of his youth in British Columbia where he’d worked on his grandfather’s cattle ranch. The trees thickened and cast shadows across the landscape until the sun and red-tinged sky were nearly lost above the branches.
If Standish hadn’t known better, he could have sworn he was back on Earth.
“Here.” Steuben stopped next to a tree with a trunk so thick it could have been a hundred years old. A faded sign was bolted to the bark, a square slab of fired clay with a picture of a man and a woman in belted tunics, a red line of pigment slashed across the image.
“I see more signs every few meters,” Steuben said. He clicked his needle sharp teeth together and pressed the palm of his hand against an ear. “Can you hear the noise?”
“Noise?” Yarrow asked.
“Your senses are so blunt I swear you evolved from stones.” Steuben shook his head and removed his helmet. “There is a constant noise that I find most irritating.”
“We can’t hear it.” Standish looked back the way they came. “You think those krayts could pick it up?”
Steuben tapped a clawed fingertip against his helm. “Yes, it falls within their hearing range.”
“We’ve got ourselves a fence line,” Standish said. “The noise keeps the big uglies out.” He pointed to the sign. “That keeps the humans in. Doubt anyone would go any farther knowing those things are out there ready to eat their faces.”
“Do you want to see the chaplain about this whole ‘eating faces’ thing of yours?” Yarrow asked. “You seem preoccupied with it.”
“Perfectly valid concern, new guy. Just ask Egan. If he hadn’t had his helmet on…” Standish waved his hand across his face.
Steuben sniffed the air. “Moisture…and soap. Not far.”
“Lead the way,” Standish said. The Marines followed Steuben farther into the woods.
Steuben went prone and crawled to a drop-off in the forest floor. The sounds of rushing water filled the air.
Standish got onto his hands and knees and got to the edge. He peered over and froze.
A young woman, a human woman that looked to be in her late teens, sat on a rock next to a running brook. Her attention focused on a data slate she held in her lap. Platinum-blond hair streaked with violet fell around her shoulders and over an eggshell-white tunic tied with a brown sash around her waist. Leggings stopped at her knees. One foot kicked lazily in the air, a sandal dangling from her toes.
She glanced up at the running water, and Standish got a look at her face.
“Oh…wow,” Yarrow said from beside Standish.
“Her hair follicles and skin pigmentation don’t match what I’ve seen before. Is that a human?” Steuben asked.
Both Marines nodded vigorously.
“I saw her first,” Standish said.
“No, you didn’t. Steuben did. He doesn’t count because he’s not human. And…what’re we, on a playground? We’re on a mission.”
“You’re not even a year old and definitely not ready for the kind of adult thoughts I’m having right now,” Standish said.
“Shh, she’s moving,” Yarrow said.
The girl stood up and slid the slate into a pocket. She stretched her arms over her head, bent backwards slightly, then took a trail into the forest.
“Think she saw us?” Yarrow asked.
“Pretty sure she’d have run away screaming if she got a look at Steuben,” Standish said.
The Karigole flashed pointed teeth at Standish.
“Don’t get all indignant on me. You’ve got a face that frightens children. And big strong Marines not trained or ready for first contact,” Standish said.
“Let’s call the lieutenant,” Yarrow said. “I think our job down here just got a lot more complicated.”
****
Hale looked at the empty landing pad through a pair of binoculars. He let out a disappointed grunt, then turned the viewer to the ocean just beyond the tree line surrounding the landing pad.
An immense dome of shifting light sat on the edge of the horizon, almost twenty-five miles away with a roiling sea between Hale and Mentiq’s city. A steady stream of Toth craft flew in and out of the city from a single point, most ships following flight paths to and from orbit. A few larger cargo landers skimmed over the ocean’s surface toward islands and a peninsula surrounding the city.
“Well, sir?” Cortaro asked.
“Lot of activity around the city. It’d be a lot easier to get in—and out—during the chaos of some major event…but that shuttle we saw from orbit isn’t here. Doubt we could get our Mule in even with the cloak,” Hale said.
“The locals know something. Want us to grab one for interrogation?” Cortaro asked. The Marines had gotten close enough to the human settlement to establish an observation post between the village and the landing zone. Given the number of structures and the number of civilians—ranging from elderly to newborn children—that the team’s snipers had counted, there must have been close to five hundred human beings living in the village.
“Someone goes missing and there will be a search party.” Hale looked toward
the sun, now setting behind bands of orange and yellow clouds. “It would be better to grab someone in the morning, more time to get information before anyone gets worried. This late…”
“But we wait too long and the Breit’s cloak will fail,” Cortaro said.
“I’d rather we be damned if we do than damned if we don’t,” Hale said. He opened a channel to the sniper nest. “Bailey, Rohen, keep an eye out for a straggler we can bring in. We’re returning to the command post.”
“Roger, sir.” The snap of Bailey’s gum filled the channel. “Looks like they’re getting ready for a party in the town square. They’ve got a stage set up with flowers and everything.”
Hale and Cortaro walked through the forest, heading to a group of tightly packed trees. He reached a hand between the trunks and grasped a sheet of camo-fabric. Light bent around his handhold and he swept fabric to the side. He entered the tent strung up between the trees and found Egan next to a communications station, a metal frame with a rolled-out screen and a dish antenna pointed to the sky.
“We got the Breit yet?” Hale asked.
“I can send limited text messages, sir, but nothing else. There’s a lot of ionization and water vapor in the atmosphere. We should have voice and data once the sun sets,” Egan said. “The ship doesn’t have anything significant to report. All I could get back to them is that we’re in place and without any casualties.” He touched his armor plates gouged by krayt teeth and shrugged.
“Good work. We should have more to report soon,” Hale said. He took off his helmet and ran a hand over his scalp. He took a deep breath and sat against a trunk. He grabbed a power line attached to the PV cells in the fabric and connected it to his armor. The cloaks had drained more battery life than anticipated. Operating in and around the Nibiru foliage was more taxing than the simpler environment on the Breitenfeld.
Cortaro sat across from him. The gunnery sergeant stretched out his cybernetic leg and flexed his foot a few times.
“How is it?” Hale asked.
“The ankle sticks sometimes. If it was real, I’d just say I’m getting old,” Cortaro said.
Hale took a plastic tube the size of a cigarette from a belt pouch and tore off the end with his teeth. He sucked out a mouthful of mush and washed it down with a sip from the water his suit recycled from his sweat and other bodily functions.
“What’d you get?” Cortaro asked.
“I think it’s tuna and noodles.” Hale downed the rest of it and frowned at the empty tube, uncertain what it really was. Nutrient paste was little more than densely packed carbohydrates, amino acids and vitamins designed to keep a Marine able to fight on no more than a single serving of paste each day. Taste wasn’t a significant concern for the manufacturer.
“Incoming,” Rohen said over the IR.
Hale donned his helmet and detached from the power line. He checked his cloak charge, only about a minute of active cloak left.
“What’ve we got?” Hale asked.
“Kid, male. Maybe six years old. He’s on the path to that stream where we saw the girl,” Rohen said.
“I can get him,” Orozco said. “Say the word.”
“Negative. Sounds too young to know what we need and parents will be out looking for him the minute he’s late for dinner, is my guess.” Hale looked at Cortaro, the only one on the team who’d raised multiple children, for confirmation. Cortaro nodded.
“The boy looks upset. Tears and everything,” Bailey said. “And we’ve got another one, a sheila, coming through on the same path.”
“That’s her, sir. The hottie we saw earlier by the stream,” Standish said. “We should bring her in for questioning…because she had an electronic device on her person that would be of intelligence value. Yeah, that’s why.”
Hale rolled his eyes.
“Orozco, Steuben, if you can capture her without alerting the kid or hurting her, do it,” Hale said.
“On it,” Orozco said.
“Cloak,” he said to Cortaro and Egan. “No need to let her figure out our head count before we let her go.”
The other Marines activated their cloaks and vanished.
“What’re you planning, sir?” Cortaro asked.
“Either we get answers and figure out a way into Mentiq’s city, or we abort the mission and leave her bound and gagged with time-locked restraints. Give us enough time to get to the Mule and back to the ship before she can tell the Toth we’re here.” Hale touched the voice box attached to his throat and switched it on. “Sure hope this thing works or I’m going to look really stupid in a minute.”
He heard the sound of heavy footfalls and backed against a tree.
A flap flew open and light bent around a cloaked figure as he carried the woman into the tent. Her arms were pinned to her side and a hand clamped over her mouth. The girl’s violet eyes were wide with terror and she did her best to scream when she saw Hale’s armored form.
She kicked at the air and struggled uselessly.
Hale hooked his thumbs under the front of his helmet and took it off slowly. The woman’s muffled screams grew louder, then died away. Her eyes narrowed in confusion.
“Can you understand me?” Hale asked. He heard his words come from the voice box, designed to cancel out his original speech and project the translation to those around him.
The girl did her best to lean away from Hale.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” Hale held his palms up. “Friend. OK? Friend. Understand?”
She nodded slightly.
“I’m going to let you speak. Just don’t scream.” Hale looked over her shoulder and the cloaked hand mashed against her mouth loosened its hold.
“This isn’t necessary, kadanu. I accepted my call. I’m not supposed to leave until tomorrow morning,” she said. “I’ve been waiting years for this. There’s no need to take me by force.”
“Take you where?” Hale asked.
“To ascension with Lord Mentiq. Where else?” She frowned and looked Hale over. “Why is your armor different? What’s going on here and who is holding me?” She squirmed against the grip across her stomach.
“OK…here we go,” Hale said. “I am from Earth. Just like you. How long have you and the rest of your village been out here?”
“That’s impossible…Earth was destroyed centuries ago.” She swallowed hard.
Hale raised his chin and the girl lowered to the ground. She spun around and reached out, her fingers bent against her unseen captor, and she stepped back.
“My name is Hale. What’s yours?”
She clutched her hands against her chest and turned back to Hale.
“Lilith. No. There is no more Earth. The elders saw it destroyed. Mentiq’s servants saved us, brought us here to fulfill our purpose and make the journey to heaven with him,” she said.
“She has no idea what the Toth do, sir. Maybe now’s not the time to tell her,” Cortaro said to Hale through his earpiece.
“Earth wasn’t destroyed—well, not the way you think it was. We’re here to find Mentiq and we need your help,” Hale said.
“You are not from Earth. This is some sort of kadanu trick. You’re just jealous that I’ve been anointed and you’re fated to spend your days as a laborer.” She put her hands on her hips. “Elder Idadu will hear of this and you will be punished.”
“No, Lilith. Humanity is part of an alien alliance fighting against the Xaros. Have you heard of them?” She frowned. “We didn’t expect to find you here, but I think we can bring you all back to Earth.”
“More lies.”
“Steuben, please.” Hale sighed.
The cloak fell away from the tall warrior, who looked almost the same as a human in armor but for his four-fingered hands. He broke the seal on his helmet, then paused.
“Don’t be scared,” Steuben said. He lifted up his helmet and looked at Lilith.
The girl cocked her head to the side.
“What is a Karigole doing off its island?” she asked. “The
y’re still under sanction for heresy.”
Steuben dropped his helmet into the dirt and grabbed her by the waist. He hoisted her into the air and brought her eye level.
“You’ve seen my kind before? Are you certain?” Steuben asked with such force that he nearly shouted.
“Let go of me, you brute! Of course I know what you look like. One of you collaborated with me on my great work. What is your problem and when did the kadanu let you join their ranks? I should—” She fell to the ground as Steuben released her without warning or ceremony.
Steuben turned his head to Hale, his mouth agape and eyes wide, and said, “Hale…I may not be the last.”
****
Hale stood next to a cloaked Cortaro on the opposite side of the tent from where Lilith sat, her knees pulled against her chest. Yarrow crouched beside her, using his thick corpsman’s gauntlet to examine the young woman.
“She doesn’t know,” Hale said, his voice box deactivated to keep Lilith from understanding him. “She doesn’t know what the Toth really do to anyone that they take to Mentiq’s city. They’re consumed—I’m certain of it—but I’m not sure how to break that to her.”
“The transport will return in the morning,” Cortaro said. “We can take that into the city, figure things out from there.”
“Whoever these kadanu are, they’re expecting at least her to be there…” Hale tapped his fingers against his gauntlet in contemplation.
Yarrow came over to the two and turned off his voice box with a click.
“She’s remarkably healthy,” Yarrow said. “Blood work reads like an Olympic athlete. She’s been asking about her brother, the kid we saw earlier. Seems he wasn’t taking the idea of her leaving forever ‘to be exalted’ very well. I didn’t spill the beans. Weird thing, she figured out how to use my scanners.” He lifted his gauntlet slightly. “Asked to see an EKG reading of herself.”
“I guess we’re not dealing with some simple peasant,” Cortaro said.
“All right, let me try something.” Hale turned his voice box back on and walked over to Lilith. He offered a hand and helped her to her feet. “Does the village have a leader? Someone I can speak to?”