Of Bravery and Bluster

by Scott Kelemen

  “Might take a few guesses, but if they are like the ones we saw disassembled in class, shouldn’t take too many shots.”

  Johanna was grateful for her memory. “We won’t get many. The noise is going to bring security right down on us.”

  As Paula leveled the weapon at the door, Johanna faced the spherical spiders hovering behind them. “We break lock. You rip open door, like in horrid place. Understand?”

  “Yes!” The response came in an enthusiastic chorus from the whole set.

  Nadia warned, “Just be careful with your angles and power settings, Paula. Don’t send any slugs into the power core!”

  Paula scowled, not looking away from her target. “Remember who you’re talking to. I know what I’m doing.” Her thumb ticked the power down just a touch more, right in the sweet spot to punch through a layer of durasteel while leaving enough kinetic energy to bounce around and make a mess of the electronics behind the bulkhead. She didn’t waste time, squeezing the trigger and firing the bullet made of full battlesteel into the hard bulkhead at well over the speed of sound. The deep hum of the pistol was overwhelmed by the sizzling crack of the bullet’s flight and the shriek of distorting metal. The ripple of force bent the door in its frame.

  Knowing they had just sent up a flare to the security teams, Paula continued to move quickly. She aimed lower on the left side, then repeated mirror shots in the upper and lower corners of the right door. By the end, the magnetic seals had certainly been scrapped beyond function. That hardly mattered, as the doors were partly unseated from their tracks and twisted to create an opening between them.

  Johanna pulled Paula out of the way as the Adonlaeydians surged forward. Emotions running hot, and they weren’t waiting for invitations. Forty limbs joined together, anchoring in place and then heaving as they yanked with inhuman strength to drag the doors further apart. Their screeching progress mingled with the high-pitched emotives peeling off the aliens as they frantically sought entrance to their lost families.

  Nadia clutched Johanna, “If there is anyone in there, those things aren’t going to leave them alone!”

  Johanna knew she was right, but at that moment, she didn’t try to stop what was happening. She had too terrible a feeling of what they were going to find. If it wasn’t just another engineering space, and it was a hidden lab, the lost Adonlaeydians were not going to be in there living in luxury.

  Sure enough, as soon as the hole was large enough, the first of the aliens squeezed through. They weren’t soldiers in any respect. There were no tactics about the way they entered. There was only fear. Worry. Need to know.

  The three cadets didn’t try to interfere, waiting for the last to rush into the passageway beyond. By the time they had stepped through, they could already hear cries of distress from ahead. Cries that were certainly human. The long passageway was painted a sterile white, and the soft breeze washing them in the face spoke of a positively pressurized space. There was a clean room ahead.

  At the end of the corridor was another airlock, but this one wasn’t made of the same robust materials as the core space station. The Adonlaeydians had already torn through the weaker materials and were ravaging their way through a room that Johanna would have called a torture chamber. That same sterile white. Tables holding bits of dissected flesh. Straps made of material far stronger than leather to hold a victim in place. Freezers for holding other samples that had not yet been used. Cages for those that were still living, waiting their turn for the inevitable.

  All those pieces were sliced off the bodies of previously captive aliens, sacrificed on the altar of this grisly exploration.

  If the Adonlaeydians had been frantic before, now they were lost in fury. Johanna counted five scientists scurrying around tables and counters, screaming in fear and rushing to evade the thrashing limbs. Fortunately for them, horror was no doubt warring with the need for revenge inside the Adonlaeydian minds. The aliens waded through the loom, lashing out at any human they saw, but freezing at each table as they recognized what – and who – they were seeing.

  Nadia rushed into the room, heedless of the danger. She raced to a secure processing room in the back with heavier metal fittings. She could only hope it could stand up to the aliens’ power. Flinging open the door, she yelled, “In here!”

  One by one, the scientists scrambled inside. Three made it before one of the aliens caught sight of them and lunged to the attack. Nadia heaved the door shut and punched the securing mechanism seconds before the first claws reached it and tried to pry their way in, knocking Nadia aside.

  Another scientist got pinned in the corner. He held up his hands in meagre defense as one of the aliens loomed over him, ready to strike.

  Paula stepped forward and fired a MAAC round into the wall between them, proving her sharpshooter skills. “You are not going to kill him! Johanna, tell them! I will kill them if they try and kill one of us!”

  Johanna had entered the room too, sending out a constant stream of glowing commands to Stop! and Wait!

  The last of the scientists was also pinned down, though he had managed to get his hand on a laser scalpel as a weapon. It was pitifully small, but he sent out small bursts of radiant light, hoping the display of superior technology might spook the Adonlaeydians. It worked for the very short term, two of the spider-aliens prowling just outside of where their limbs might get struck.

  Johanna darted in, running right past the aliens and standing between them and the scientist. She changed the stream on her prototype. “You kill him, others kill you. All die!”

  The body of the nearest Adonlaeydian hammered her senses as it glowed like the sun itself with barely constrained fury. “You see what they did!”

  “You must not kill! Or you die! You all die!”

  A few of the sub-patterns that began to form hinted that they wouldn’t mind if it would lead to revenge. Paula’s pistol shot, the glowing torch, and the unreachable three in the room had broken their blind rage and let reality bleed in. To let them remember they wanted to live. Fear seeped in as well, reminding them that they were lost in a station ruled by the demons of their history, trapped by technology they couldn’t understand. They made voices that were their version of sobbing pleas. “Do something!”

  Into the tinderbox ran a lit match in the form of a squad of station security. All four of them were in powered armor that would make them a physical match for the massive Adonlaeydians. With the MAAC rifles each carried, any battle had suddenly become a certain massacre. The leader of the squad snapped his rifle left and right, clearly disoriented, trying to figure out the scene.

  The woman in the white coat behind Johanna screeched at them, “Kill them! They’re trying to murder us!”

  The squad leader called back, his voice amplified by his external suit microphones, “What’s happening here, Doctor Hamblen?”

  Johanna heard her chance. “Don’t fire, petty officer!” The rank was a guess. Navy battle armor didn’t sport rank on the outside. But this was a four-man squad, and the others were following his lead. It wasn’t a cobbled together unit. They were used to working together. Units like that were led by petty officers or master rating. She guessed high, just in case. “This isn’t what it looks like!”

  Hamblen tried to shove past Johanna, only to have the nearest Adonlaeydian snarl at her. She backed off and up against the wall, presenting the laser scalpel in threat. “It’s exactly what it looks like! These animals escaped and are trying to kill us! They have to be stopped!”

  Johanna didn’t let the words sink in. “They have stopped, petty officer! Look around you. You don’t know this place, do you? That’s because what they do in here, they don’t want anyone knowing about. They’re not just dissecting aliens in here, P.O. They are torturing them.” Johanna was less guessing and more hypothesizing. The straps on the tables and wicked shape of the instruments spoke of intent beyond medical curiosity. She received confirmation enough when Hamblen didn’t rush to argue.

 
; The petty officer’s rifle continued to track left and right, but uncertainty crept into his voice. “What’s happening here, cadet?”

  Johanna felt a rush of hope as he accepted her as the authority figure in the room, instead of the doctor.

  Hamblen tried to push back in, “I told you what -”

  Paula shifted her pistol and pointed it right at her. “He wasn’t asking you!”

  The scientist retreated against the wall, face aghast. “You wouldn’t dare!”

  Paula shrugged, and let that be the dare for the scientist to test her theory. Johanna’s words hadn’t just affected the petty officer. Paula was suddenly starting to realize what all the scientific equipment meant. None of it was humane enough to use on an animal, much less a sentient species. Whatever her phobias, she couldn’t ignore that.

  Neither could the petty officer. “You have one chance to give your side, Cadet.” His adrenalin was leveling off, remembering that even cadets were emerging officers he would one day be bound to obey. “We have a containment breach and at least two people are dead up above. Spell it out or I’m following my orders.”

  The tension was dragging on, and the Adonlaeydians started to chitter, their hides lighting up with nervous patterns of mottled color. They didn’t understand, and were twitching with the need to leap to the aid of their still-suffering family lashed to the tables.

  Their need to act itched at Johanna’s skin. ‘I’m running out of time.’ She spoke quickly, “They didn’t break out. Someone let them out. A foolish, stupid choice that I don’t understand. We’ll find out why later, but these beings were simply taking advantage of the chance to find the ones they love. Do you know they can feel each other? They could feel their brothers and sisters being tortured, P.O. How would that make any of us react?” Instinct spoke to her, telling her she needed to connect with him. She asked, “What’s your name, P.O.?”

  “Reynolds, ma’am. Petty Officer Carlen Reynolds.”

  “Alright, Reynolds. Listen to me. All of this is coming down on you. I don’t want to believe my Navy would do something like this. Do you? Do any of you? You must decide if we want to stop it or let it continue. The Adonlaeydians here have lost everything. What else are we going to make them suffer?”

  “They’re…they’re just aliens, cadet. They killed our people. We can’t ignore this.”

  Johanna held out a hand, imploring him to see this from a different perspective. “They’re people. People we fear, fine. But still living, breathing, thinking people. Don’t let this stand. Tell your lieutenant. Ask him to tell the security department head. Take this as high as you can go. They aren’t killers. They’re just scared people.”

  One of the security team members behind Reynolds called out, “Reinforcements coming in hot!” He could have said it internally. He had reasons of his own to let everyone in the room know.

  Reynolds froze on the spot a moment longer, then bellowed out on his comm circuits as well as over his outer microphones, “Copied, Olson. All teams, use non-lethals only! We want them alive. Bring tasers. RVNs will do nothing against their exoskeletons.”

  Johanna tried to object, “They can surrender. There’s no need -”

  Reynolds ended her attempt, “I’m not walking them through the station alive back to containment. They’ll be tranquilized until we sort out the mess. Don’t ask for more, Cadet.” A pause. “Please, this is all I can do. More than I should do.”

  Johanna understood. He could lose his own career over taking the risk. What family did he have? What love for his work? He was already risking so much for aliens he had been taught all his life to hate. She had asked enough of him.

  Instead, she spun toward the Adonlaeydians, tapping a rapid sequence into her translator. ‘Much anger in all. Give up. They not kill you. Believe! Trust!’

  Immediately, their hides erupted in a riot of disbelief and anger. ‘What will they do? You said you would help! Let us go!’

  Feeling evil, Johanna could only try again, ‘Hurt comes, but will not kill you. Promise to you, I will fight to let you go.’

  Behind her, the ingress of another half-dozen security team members in battle gear ended whatever time she had. Reynolds called out, “Tasers fire!” The balance of numbers was now also in the humans’ favor. The new team had come loaded as ordered, and six charged bolts lanced out at the four aliens. They doubled up on the largest of the two, and even their exoskeleton protection couldn’t stand up to the voltage that hammered through them.

  It happened fast, and Johanna couldn’t be sure if they purposefully chose not to fight or simply didn’t have time. Colored patterns pleading for ‘Mercy!’ went unknown and unheeded by the soldiers that cut them down. Tears stung at the back of Johanna’s eyes as her translator caught a final pattern from the alien who had first dared to listen and talk to her instead of fighting. “Remember us!’

  The last Adonlaeydian twitched into unconsciousness. Absent their agitated chittering and colorful speech, the room felt dark and silent.

  The squad moved among them, taking more complete control of the room. Nadia was soon guarded, and another demanded for Paula to surrender her weapon.

  Paula reversed her grip and handed it over, but said, “You need to watch her! She’s dangerous.”

  The soldier replied, “And you aren’t?”

  Hearing the man less than willing to go along with the coup, Hamblen chose her moment. She stepped toward Reynolds, “These creatures are out of control. You need to kill them! We’ll be gathering a new crop of them no matter what. Any experiment we run on these ones will be tainted by her interference.” She jabbed a finger at Johanna.

  Reynolds’ face was invisible behind his face mask, but the frost in his gaze carried through anyway. He jerked a finger in Hamblen’s direction.

  That was all his team needed. Olson stalked over and leveled his gun at her face. “Shut up.”

  She backed against the wall again with a gasp. “How dare you! Do you know who I am?”

  “My HUD designates you as Target 058. That’s about the same concern as you gave to the aliens, isn’t it? I figure that’ll do.”

  Her face went white.

  “Enough!” A voice used to authority cut into the chaos. Stepping into the room around the forest of battle armor, Commander Adron Jakes and Executive Officer of the station paced up to Reynolds’ side. His own eyes widened in disgust as he took in the twisted bank of lab equipment and restrained aliens. “What the hell is this place?”

  Reynolds grumbled, “Not any sort of machinery room I’ve ever seen, Sir.”

  Hamblen glared at Olson, daring him to force her to be quiet in full view of the station’s Exec. “Commander Jakes, this has gone way too far. I demand to see Captain Gressler immediately! This is my facility, and I am acting under his full authority. None of you have any right to interfere in my research!”

  Reynolds glanced at Johanna, who was staring back with mute appeal. This was out of her hands in that moment. She needed to trust him. He didn’t let her down. “Not sure what you know about this, Sir. But this isn’t research. This is a horror show. Let me put her in the brig with the rest of her team until you can sort it out with the Captain.”

  Jakes nodded back. “That’ll take time. The Captain is over on Nearwatch 2, talking with his opposite number. Monthly alignment meeting. He’ll be back in two days.” He pointed a finger at Hamblen. “Put her in the brig. No communication with the rest of her team. Lock this whole place down.”

  She snapped back, “Your career is over, Commander. Finished!”

  “We’ll see. If the Captain signed off on any of this, I’ll bet most of what you told him was a lie. Meanwhile, enjoy the inside of a cell.”

  Paula sniped from one side, “Might give you some perspective on what you put them through!”

  Hamblen shot a waspish look at her, hating her for having made her feel fear for her life. The one she cast Johanna’s way was equally sharp. “Do you know what you’ve do
ne? What knowledge you’ve cost us!”

  Johanna was too intelligent not to understand. Hamblen had seen the aliens on the same level as sentient bugs, unworthy of any compassion. She could torment them, tear them apart, and measure their reactions in a way that would never be allowed with human subjects. The passion in Hamblen’s voice sickened her. She answered, “I’ll sleep perfectly fine, tonight. Rest assured.”

  Hamblen was dragged away.

  Johanna slipped over to the sunken Adonlaeydian who had sent the last message, resting a gentle hand on its tough outer hide. “This didn’t need to happen. This didn’t have to end in fear.”

  Jakes followed her, standing over her shoulder. “How did you expect any of this to end, Cadet? Did you want these men to trust the aliens because they trusted you? Nothing about this feels clean, and trust is going to be in short supply for a while.”

  “What now, Sir?”

  “Now, we’re taking you and your friends to your own cells until we sort through the mess a little better. Cooperate, and we’ll talk. Otherwise, Hamblen’s future isn’t the only one that just got very short, understand?”

  “Aye aye, Sir. Please, go easy when you move them. If nothing else, let them wake up with the ones who were in here before.”

  Whatever their differences, on that the Commander saw eye to eye with the young cadet. “That much, I can promise you.”

  ***

  “He’s not going to show up,” Nadia repeated.

  Johanna didn’t answer. Her legs remained folded in the lotus position, hands gathered calmly in her lap, eyes closed.

  Nadia went on, her words coming out of her cell as if to remind the other two of her presence. “Why would he? Ogawa is a government stooge. You were right back there. Captain Gressler had to know what he signed off on in all this. Gavalt? Head of science on this station? She had to know what Hamblen was doing. Only makes sense their government handler knew, so why would he even talk to us?”