[scifan] plantation 02 - dark legion

by Stella Samiotou Fitzsimons

  “You see, there’s a problem with that. It’s only worth killing you if we can go on living after you’re dead,” Damian says.

  “Don’t you trust in your skills at all? Each one of you is special, I know that. You can sense danger. Don’t you have faith in Freya’s power? I do. That’s why I’m here.”

  “Which one is it? Is she invincible or not?”

  “Against eight Sliman and three aliens, she is. With us, she is.”

  Damian laughs but the laughter is short and unconvincing. He turns to me. “What do you think?” he says.

  “I think he’s telling the truth,” I say and I’m not even sure why. I wish Daphne was here. She would have known whether the Sliman are sincere or not. Her psychic powers would have penetrated through the deepest connections in their brain.

  I go to Wudak and untie the rope on his right hand. “Don’t make me regret this,” I say. “I know how to use the receptor. Maybe not in a perfect way, but I can make a mess of you.”

  Wudak extends his hand to invite Pip over. She goes to him without any fear. Wudak places the palm of his hand over Pip’s face. “You are back,” he says. “You are here. You are whole.”

  Wudak lets his hand drop. Pip looks exactly the same as before. Then to our great surprise, she smiles at Wudak.

  “Pip, are you okay?” I ask her.

  She nods. “Freya, you are beautiful.”

  I laugh and I hug her. Then I turn to Wudak. “What was that?” I say. “What did you do to her?”

  “Just hypnosis, nothing too strange,” Wudak says. “There’s a few among us who have been trained to do that.” Then he turns to Pip. “Sorry about that,” he says. “Talking about things can unlock blocked memories. I had to block part of your memory. We didn’t want you to have any memories that you wouldn’t be able to handle without us here to help you.”

  *

  Damian catches up with me on my way to find Finn. It’s dark. The plan has been laid out and rehashed several times. In the morning, the Sliman will lead us on the path to the spaceship landing area. With any luck, the mission won’t turn out to be a complete fiasco like the last time we attempted something similar.

  “Are you sure about this?” he says. His intense gaze makes me feel uncomfortable.

  “I’m not sure, but I don’t want to keep running for the rest of my life.”

  “I’m going to trust you. Just don’t let go of that receptor. And don’t leave my side tomorrow. You stay close to me no matter what.”

  “It’s part of the plan, I know.”

  How different things are now. I was told to stay behind last time, now I have a central part along with Damian, Finn and Nya. Scout and Tilly will stay at the camp with Pip. Theo, Zoe, Doc, Biscuit and Rabbit will be our backup forces.

  “Where are you going?” Damian asks.

  “I’m looking for Finn.”

  He narrows his eyes. “It’s late, you should rest.”

  “Right, Damian, as if I can sleep.”

  He nods and puts his hands in his pockets. As he turns to go, I get a strange pang in my stomach. I can’t help but think that I owe him. Big time.

  “Damian, wait,” I say. “I know I’ve said this many times already but I’m grateful to you for so many things. I appreciate how you try to keep an eye on me without being too meddlesome. We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?”

  “Just don’t let your guard down,” he says, but I can see he has a million things going through his mind. The responsibility he carries weighs on him even more now with the Sliman among us. Making the smallest mistake could cost us our lives.

  I hold his hand in mine for a moment before I head to Finn’s tent. I find him there with Rabbit who is fidgety as usual and is hovering around Finn. Rabbit is not good at hiding excitement, fear or any intense emotion.

  “Pip’s with Scout and Tilly, Rabbit. Can you go check on her for me?” I say.

  “Why? If she’s with Scout and Tilly, she’s fine. I won’t be fine though with all the chattering and blabbering and gossiping that will be going on in there. Now that Pip’s verbal, they will want to make up for lost time. No, thank you.”

  His nervous energy has been transformed into nonsensical talk.

  “Rabbit!” I cut him short.

  “Oh,” he finally gets it. “Right, I’ll go check on her.”

  “Well, that was subtle,” Finn says as soon as Rabbit’s gone.

  “He drives me crazy with all his bouncing around.”

  “No, he doesn’t. You just want me all to yourself,” Finn jokes.

  “Yeah, that too.”

  I let my body drop to the floor like a heavy sack of rocks. I pull my knees to my chin. I feel drained. Finn gets down next to me. I feel safe and cozy with him like I always have. The tragedy with Daphne, our quarrels, my fears and concerns have not been able to change that. Finn and I are as close as ever. Our friendship has recovered. It’s probably because of Finn mostly. Finn the loyal. Finn the true. The place he has reserved for me in his heart will always be there. I know this now.

  “It’s happening,” I say. “Again.”

  “So it is. And this time you’re welcoming it.”

  “I am. It’s necessary.”

  “Let’s hope your instincts are better than mine,” he says. Then he hurries to add, “They are. You have great instincts. I should listen to you more.”

  “Don’t take that resigned attitude with me, Finn. You are nothing but a blessing to me, to the Saviors, to the entire planet.”

  He smiles. “The planet might be a stretch, but thanks.”

  The proximity to Finn brings my guard down once again. It’s easy to allow melancholy to creep in when warmth replaces tension. Finn’s warmth. I could use even more of it.

  “I feel like a hypocrite,” I say.

  “Why? What have you done now?”

  “Nothing, Finn! I need you to be on my side right now.”

  “What’s up, Tick?”

  “I can’t help thinking about what the Sliman said about my sister. I don’t know why it weighs on me so much. She’s not the only child to have vanished from the plantations. It happens every day, we know that. Why does it matter more when it’s my sister? Everybody has had their losses. You had a sister, too. At least I got Pip back. Nobody else had anything like that happen to them. I shouldn’t be complaining.”

  “It’s not a competition, Freya. How you feel is nobody’s business. You are allowed to be vulnerable and deal with your losses in your own way.”

  He pulls me closer and we stay that way for a while. I like it. Outside the night birds sing their beautiful cries of loneliness.

  “I’ll go get Pip,” I say fighting every cell in my body. “It’s getting late and we need to rest.” I kiss his cheek and get up.

  “Tick,” he says, “everything will go as planned tomorrow. We’ll strike our first big victory.”

  I nod with a half-smile. “The receptor will make sure of that.”

  “Whatever happens,” Finn says, “I love you, Freya. Never forget that.”

  “Yeah, me too,” I say feeling his words in my blood. I do my best to get out of the tent as fast as possible.

  4

  Dust and leaves fly up in the air behind Rabbit’s feet as he runs back to us at full speed. He can run without making noise, his feet produce no audible signals. It’s as if they don’t even touch the ground. Rabbit running is a thing of wonder.

  “They’re on their way,” he says. “I spotted the convoy. Five miles out. They’re moving slow. They should be here in ten minutes.”

  Damian nods and unlocks his pulse gun. Finn does the same. Nya caresses her shock bow. I squeeze my fingers around the sensory receptor. Wudak has instructed me how to use it to create an invisible shield around us, a shield that will prevent even the alien sensors from locating us when they get close.

  Creating the shield felt strange at first. My fingers had pins and needles and my vision got blurry, but now I can ho
ld the shield in place without too much effort. The trick will be to switch from a defense mode to an attack mode within a split second. As soon as Wudak gives the sign, I’ll have to let the shield down and build up an energy blast. I’ve never done this but Wudak is confident I will pull it off. There’s so much I have yet to learn.

  The Sliman cannot help us in the fight. They cannot be seen. They cannot leave any trace behind. Their presence cannot be suspected or it will be the end of them. They will remain hidden in the trees hoping not to be picked up by the sensors among the commotion that the attack will surely create.

  The sensors can, in theory, send signals to the plantation and that is our biggest fear. Theo doesn’t have access to the satellite coordinates anymore and he cannot block them.

  Biscuit, Theo, Zoe and Doc have climbed onto the branches of two huge oak trees. They are scanning the area for the first visible signs of the convoy. My job will be to immobilize the aliens with the receptor before they have time to reach for theirs. It is likely they will carry at least one sensory receptor among them. I will have to act fast to prepare the terrain for Damian, Finn and Nya who will attack the Sliman head on once the aliens are under my control. Theo, Zoe, Doc and Biscuit will cover us with their pulse guns from above.

  “Rabbit, tie the Sliman up and stay close to them. You can shoot them on the spot if they so much as move a finger,” Damian says.

  “Hang on,” I say. “Damian, I need Wudak. You can’t just have him tied up. I need his guidance.”

  “He doesn’t need his hands for that, does he?”

  “I can’t believe you sometimes.”

  “I’m not changing my mind. End of the conversation.”

  Rabbit looks confused. He has no idea what to do until Damian repeats the order. Rabbit quickly ties Malzod and Gritu but hesitates with Wudak. Damian takes the rope from Rabbit and ties Wudak’s hands behind his back.

  “You can stay close to Freya until the convoy is here and she switches on her energy,” he says abruptly before he leaves to talk with Finn and Nya.

  “I’d be careful with that one if I were you,” Wudak says.

  “What do you mean?” I say quite astounded.

  “He’s after you. And not in a way that would make sense in human terms.”

  “The only thing that doesn’t make sense is your words,” I whisper.

  “I wish I could reveal more. As it is, I can only promise to protect you.”

  My head starts spinning and my focus diminishes.

  “Steady there,” Wudak says. “Do not pay attention to my ramblings. Like I said, I don’t understand human vulnerability all that well.”

  “On the contrary, I think you understand us quite well. I think you’re trying to create problems for us. Making us suspicious of each other.”

  “Forgive my insolence, it will not happen again,” Wudak promises avoiding my eyes.

  Biscuit gives the sign. He sees them. We all move to take our position.

  The seconds go by with remarkable sluggishness. They drag their feet in my ears with a ticking sound. Every beat of my heart lasts an eternity.

  I hear the sound of the alien vehicle. It moves slow to keep pace with the Sliman who are on foot. They might as well be a brigade of marching elephants in metal boots.

  Wudak bumps me gently with his shoulder.

  “It’s time, dear Freya,” he says. “I will count to three and then you will let the shield fall and you’ll bring your blasting energy back. Allow your brain to be fluid in its commands. Do not strain yourself.”

  I nod and he starts counting.

  “One.”

  Damian’s right behind me.

  “Two.”

  Finn and Nya on each side.

  “Three.”

  I place the receptor in front of my face and gently blow at it. My breath is visible as it touches the small screen on the receptor. Immediately, the energy switches and I jump out of the trees and right in front of the convoy. The two Sliman that lead the way are caught unawares and waste seconds before reacting.

  It’s all I need. My receptor’s energy field slams the alien vehicle and tears off its roof. At the same time, the aliens are engulfed in a blue mist that keeps them immobilized. Their breathing becomes labored and they have to focus their entire being on that simple function.

  Simultaneously, Damian falls over the two leading Sliman. He grabs them by their necks and crashes them with a ferociousness that I have not seen in him before. Their lifeless bodies fall to the ground.

  Finn and Nya attack the remaining six Sliman, Finn from the left and Nya from the right in an avalanche of pulse gun blasts coming from the trees. Two more Sliman go down. Damian steps in front of me and walks to the open vehicle that holds the three stunned aliens inside.

  “You’re free,” he tells me as he pounces down on the aliens with all his force. I stare at him in horror, unable to reconcile the violence of his assault with the gentleness I have seen in him. I realize that he doesn’t just want to kill the aliens, he wants them to suffer a bit first. He wants them to know they are at his mercy. That is why he instructed me not to kill them with the receptor. It was not to avoid having the vehicle explode on us like he said. It was so that he could finish the job himself.

  I wake from my trance when I hear Nya scream. The eight Sliman are all dead or badly wounded but a ninth Sliman has appeared out of nowhere. He has thrown a knife at Nya’s thigh. I turn the receptor on him but Finn reacts faster and shoots the Sliman dead. Doc climbs down the tree as fast as he can and rushes to Nya’s side. Her thigh is bleeding. The knife is still inside her flesh. Doc examines the wound and places a gauge around the knife before he pulls it out.

  “No punctured arteries and it’s not magnetic,” he says relieved. My hands tremble and I feel weak in my stomach.

  “Are you okay, Freya?” Finn says. “You look so pale.”

  “I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”

  Finn calls Zoe and Theo to check out the surrounding area, guns in hand.

  I look to Damian. My heart freezes. He lifts his face to the sky. His hands and shirt are covered in blood, his features are hardened. In his hands, he holds the two sensors he has found in the vehicle. They are bloodied as well.

  He looks like a primitive god, a warrior king. I turn my face away in shock. Maybe I am too naïve. Maybe he’s right about this as well. You can’t win a war with kindness.

  I rub my hands together. They feel clammy and cold. I always feel cold when I get a bad feeling. I sense a shadow behind me and when I turn, I come face to face with Wudak. He looks down on me silently.

  “I’m not that interesting, stop staring at me,” I blurt out but he doesn’t respond. I take a look at Nya. Doc has cleaned and bandaged her wound. Biscuit has given her water and some kind of bread.

  “Is she okay?” I ask.

  “She’s fine,” Doc says. “She’ll recover quickly.” I nod and I take off into the woods looking for a moment alone. A moment to pull myself together. To take in all that has just happened.

  We have won, we’ve killed three alien invaders for the first time and we have made a statement. Wudak’s word was good. He has proven that he can be trusted to some extent. I wish he’d never stare at me that way again, though. His deep green eyes are so penetrating, I feel like he could expose my soul. I’m afraid he can sense that I somehow failed myself during the fight, that my thoughts took over and for a few moments I was useless and looking at things from a distance.

  I need to grow thicker skin, maybe become more like the Sliman who can literally make their skin thicker when it’s too cold or when they are underwater.

  Most of all, I need to examine my feelings for Damian. I need to see why I spend so much energy trying to figure him out.

  I take a deep breath, tap the receptor in my pocket to make sure it’s there and decide to go back. I see Damian approaching with long strides and I know it’s the last thing I need right now.

  “You can
’t run off like that,” he says and before I know what’s going on, he lifts me up and hides his face in my hair.

  “That felt good back there, didn’t it?” he says. “We make a good team.”

  “Put me down,” I say but his lips are on mine already. I feel paralyzed, unable to push him away and this time I can’t blame it on overwhelming grief. I’ve grown closer to him over the past couple months. I’ve come to like him and trust him. I even like it when he kisses me. But being with him is not an option for so many different reasons.

  “Put me down,” I repeat as I pull away.

  He does so but a moment later he pulls me in his arms and kisses my neck. His breath is warm and sweet and his tenderness takes me by surprise. I have to be careful or this won’t end well.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I say. “You can’t just grab people and kiss them whenever you feel like it.”

  He turns his head left, then right to show his bewilderment.

  “People? What does that mean? I don’t kiss people. I kissed you. And you kissed me back.”

  “This is the part where you’re supposed to apologize,” I say.

  “Don’t hold your breath.”

  “You make me so furious sometimes. You can never do that again, do you hear me?”

  “Sure, if that’s what you want.”

  “Yes, that is what I want.”

  “Fine.”

  “Let’s get back. I can’t believe we’re arguing about such stupidities in the middle of nowhere while our lives and the lives of our friends could still be in danger. Do you have any idea how inappropriate this is?” I keep going on about how we could jeopardize everything by being careless, how we should put the common good first.

  “You will grow up one day,” is the only thing he says in response. He speeds up his pace and leaves me behind.

  *

  Pip comes running when we return to the camp late in the evening.

  “You’re all safe,” she says and claps her hands.

  “Of course, what did you think? We have super powers, remember?” Finn says.

  “Nya, what happened?” Tilly asks when she sees Nya’s bandaged leg.