by Craig Allen
“You ordered her to destroy the Washington,” Cody said. “Why would you kill so many? For what gain?”
“To remove you from this world.” She bowed her head. “I have failed. I cannot keep you away. You can destroy this world and overwhelm me and the technology I copied from you.”
“Is that why you eliminated all of your technology?” Cody nearly laughed, recalling what Bodin might have said: the balls on that woman. “You’re hoping for leniency.”
“I cannot win against you. You will kill everything here to keep your technology from me.” She backed away toward the edge of the cliff. “But I have what I need now, even without technology. I have knowledge and the ability to expand upon it in ways your people cannot fathom.”
After a moment, the reeds lifted her off the ground like some bizarre magic trick. “I will abide by the agreement you made with this world’s top predators, the entities you refer to as the toads. All technology here will be destroyed before your eyes, with the exception of a bridge satellite in case I have need to reach you.”
“That wasn’t part of the agreement. And I’m not sure I can convince everyone to go along with it.”
She continued as if she hadn’t heard. “You may have use of the neutron star.”
“Just like that?” Cody asked. “You attacked us in orbit around that neutron star, not once but twice. And now you’re just abandoning it? Why?”
Her eyes were dead. “Twice?”
“Yes.” Cody counted off on his fingers. “Once, you attacked our hoppers when we left the mine. The next time, you—”
“I attacked your fleet when you approached the star,” she said. “After your hoppers returned, I assumed it was from the mine. You had found it, likely through the bridge satellite I had stationed in the rings of the larger planet so I could communicate with a station out there.”
“The broken Kali ship in the zero-g tunnel.”
She ignored Cody as she went on. “I sent vessels to protect the mine, a facility far too advanced for your kind to have made. I fought your main fleet there, but that was the only battle we had there.”
“But there were Kali ships there,” Cody said. “We saw them. I saw them. They moved to engage, but in the end they just let us go. Why?”
Her mouth fell open in a very human gesture. “I know nothing of this.”
Cody believed her. Her bewilderment was obvious. “Then who were they?”
She didn’t answer but simply faced Cody. Her eyes had become writhing red snakes. “You will not return to this world except by request.”
“I’m afraid you’re not in a position to make that demand,” Cody said.
“I am.” Her skin quivered as if a million snakes were crawling under it. “This is my home. These creatures are mine. This world is mine, every part of it. I can do with it as I will.”
“You’re being literal when you say the world is yours, aren’t you?” Cody’s mouth slackened. “Not just the living beings here but the actual planet. That’s how you made the ground swallow the hopper.”
Again, the Ann-puppet ignored Cody. “The beings of this world will return to the ways they embraced before your people arrived.”
Her body retreated until she hovered off the cliff’s edge. “I suggest you leave while you still can.”
Cody was taken aback. “What’s going to happen?”
“Treat the eaters of the dead well.” Her body sagged, as if tired. “There will be a price to pay if you do not.”
“Why? What’s so special about them?”
Private Ann Salyard proceeded to fall apart. First, her face transformed into red tentacles, followed by the rest of her body. Every piece of her retreated into the water as Ann reverted into red reeds and retreated below the surface of the ocean without disturbing the waves rolling onto the shore.
Someone spoke over the comm. “Tokugawa to all units planetside. Evacuate immediately. I say again, evacuate the planet at once. Pull out to a minimum distance of one hundred thousand klicks from the planet. Bring the fliers as well.”
Electromagnetic sensors lit up on Cody’s suit as the fliers appeared from around the hopper. Either they had somehow heard the radio call, or they were reacting to the disappearance of the Ann-puppet, but they were reacting to something else entirely.
Smoke crawled in over the horizon like a fog, circling the island, even moving against the wind. At a second glance, it didn’t even resemble smoke but more like a dark-red vapor hovering in the air, turning the yellow sky bloodred.
Cody tried to scan it with the meager sensor systems on his suit, but it didn’t register as actual smoke. The air was a good thirty percent thicker than typical Kali air. The oxygen content was much lower, maybe ten percent, but it had typical nitrogen levels in addition to high levels of cyanide and arsenic. Cody had no idea if the envirosuit could protect against the haze.
Whatever the smoky air was, the fliers didn’t like it. They scurried toward the hoppers. Stripe tossed a viewer at Cody. He barely caught it as the flier partially took to the air.
The Reed will take us now you must save us and our brothers throughout the world from the Reed.
“What’s going on?” Cody chased after the flier as it boarded the hopper. “You know, don’t you?”
It reached for the tablet and held it up but didn’t take it from Cody. Stripe tapped another message.
The Reed brings death.
~~~
“The hell?”
Jericho glared at the viewing globe, as if that would explain what was happening across the planet. The atmosphere had grown thick with dark-red smoke and covered almost everything. Only a few places had been spared the hazy smoke.
The communications officer spoke. “Sir, we have a message from the Spicans.”
“Ah, shit.” He muttered it, but a few officers noticed. He glared at them, causing them to look away. In a louder voice, he said, “Patch it through.”
The hollow voice of the Spicans spoke through the main comm speaker. “We request you remove your large vessel from the vicinity of the planet so we may attack.”
Jericho frowned. “We appreciate your concern, but we believe it is wise to watch the current events unfold.”
No response came for a moment. Jericho forced himself to unclench his fists. He hoped the delay was due to the Spicans deliberating and not them deciding to ignore him and proceed with the attack anyway. After the reeds’ speech via the simulacrum of Private Ann Salyard, along with the glut of technology spilling across the planet’s surface, he was ready to consider the matter done. He really didn’t want to initiate Armageddon or watch someone else initiate it.
Finally, they responded. “It is unlikely the current response from the planet will hinder the plan. But waiting will not hinder the plan either.”
Jericho let out a breath.
“We agree. We will increase our distance from the poison world and would be honored if you would join us.”
So they see what’s going on, too. “The honor is ours,” Jericho said.
Then the comm signal cut out.
Jericho grumbled. “Is everyone clear?”
“Negative, Admiral,” the captain of the Tokugawa said. “There is one hopper down on Monster Island.”
Jericho focused on the viewing globe as it zoomed in on the island. “Dr. Brenner had better not be holding them up. I want that planet cleared.”
~~~
“Doc.” The marine next to Cody pulled at his arm. “Time to go. Now.”
Cody retreated to the nearest hopper. The smoky air grew closer, and he didn’t want to know what it would do to his suit—or to him. He could only imagine what it would do to the unprotected on the planet or why the reeds were holding the smoke back—or how.
The fliers had already boarded. When he reached the loading ramp, they jumped up and down expectantly.
One marine closed the rear hatch and activated his comm. “We’re in. Bounce it.”
“Roger tha
t,” the pilot said.
The hopper took to the air even before the hatch fully closed. The smoke had already reached the island.
Cody shuffled his way between the fliers toward the starboard side of the hopper and pulled up an external view on a viewing globe.
Below, the smoke crawled across the land. Shrubs and red dish trees with their bowl-like leaves tried to run, but as soon as the smoke touched them, they changed. Their bright-red leaves darkened like dried blood. The leaves divided again and again, as if an invisible hand was ripping them to shreds. Then the leaves quickly reformed into dozens of smaller leaves scattered in a spiral pattern from the center of the tree. Each leaf in the spiral was in the shape of a bowl, similar to the large bowl-like structures on the trees before they were altered.
Cody zoomed in closer just as bat creatures flew from the safety of the other dish trees, fleeing the smoke, which traveled far more quickly than they could. When the smoke touched them, they curled up into a ball, like insects under a magnifying glass, but they didn’t fall. They hovered in the smoke for a moment, then unfurled their wings once more.
What they had become was like nothing Cody had seen before. Instead of the single-wing design, each had developed a central body with a round head. A tail stretched back behind the now four-winged creature. Its mouth opened wide as all four wings fluttered like a dragonfly’s. Dozens of the creatures circled in place, their mouths wide open and their heads pointing upward, as if laughing.
Every creature in sight fled from the cloud, only to be overtaken, transformed, then released. Each creature then spun around in place, as if celebrating its new form.
The fliers stared at the spectacle, unmoving. They didn’t even bother to speak to each other. Cody wondered how the planet would have changed them or if it would have simply destroyed them. The reeds could’ve done either. It obviously cared little for the creatures on its world.
The radio flooded with chatter as the planet fell away from them. The land had changed to a deep red and the ocean to black. The dark, poisonous atmosphere permeated everything, even the piles of useless technology scattered about the planet.
The technology didn’t remain long, though. The air around the useless junk grew darker, but not dark enough that what happened to the technology could not be seen. The ceramics and metals built from the atom up disintegrated into dust, then the dust vanished. Daedalus struts and gravity drives fell to pieces, and the pieces were gobbled up by the planet. In minutes, no sign of anything technological remained—only the bare ground. They had abided by the terms of the agreement, as far as he could tell. No technology was left on the planet.
Cody hated Kali more than he had at any other time. The world had its own god, not a loving one but an indifferent one who had no care for its followers.
The hopper finally flew far enough away from Kali that Cody could no longer make anything out. Something bumped Cody’s arm. He took the handheld viewer Stripe had handed him, one he must have pulled out of a locker. He, as did all the fliers, hung his head very low.
There is no home.
Cody had no response.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Cody sat by Sonja in sick bay while her arm rested inside an incubator. She would make a full recovery, thank God. Though her arm had been connected while fully grown, she still needed several hours to grow the muscles to match her other arm. When he had told her the story of what had happened, she maintained an even expression, for the most part.
When Cody finished, she finally spoke. “This is a fucked-up planet. We should get away.”
Cody tried to keep an even expression. “I thought we weren’t together anymore.”
“Right.” She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I was angry because I didn’t want you hurt, and I thought if we weren’t together, it wouldn’t hurt as much if…”
“You really thought by just breaking up with me that you wouldn’t feel anything if I died?”
She winced at the last word he spoke. “Stupid, huh?”
He squeezed her hand. “I’ll say.”
She narrowed her eyes at him then turned her lips inward. “When we were in the hopper ready to drop those nukes, that’s when I figured out how wrong I was. Whether we’re together or not, I’d rather be dead than lose you.”
Cody’s heart did a flip. “I’m glad you think so. We’ll make it work. And I think you’re right.”
“About the fucked-up planet or the fact we should get away?”
“Both.”
She furrowed her eyebrows. “Mountains or ocean?”
Cody raised an eyebrow. “I hope after OCS, and after I’m done here, you can get stationed on a planet with both.”
“I like that.” She winced. “Oh. This is weird.”
Dr. Moralez came in at that moment. “First replacement arm?” He checked her vitals on the console sitting above the table, almost like a tombstone. “Well, perhaps in the future, you won’t misplace this one.”
“That’s the plan, Doc.” She grimaced again.
“All right, I think that’s enough.” Moralez adjusted the holocontrols. “It’ll be best if you get some rest now.”
“Doc, I’ll rest later. I want to…” She blinked her eyes. “Oh no. What’d you give me?”
“A mild sedative.”
“What?” She started to shake her head. “Oh, wow, that’s not mild. I want to be… awake.”
“Doc?” Cody wanted to talk to her more. “Couldn’t we wait just a bit before drugging up my girlfriend?”
“I’m afraid she needs her rest.” Moralez patted her shoulder. “It’s all right, Gunny. Just sleep now.”
“Oh no.” She gripped Cody’s forearm. “You’ll be here when I get back, right?”
Cody picked up her free hand. “I said I would be. Don’t worry.”
She had already closed her eyes, though.
~~~
Outside the isolation chamber, Cody tapped his fingers on his opposite arm while Dr. Moralez leaned over Reggie’s body. At least the poor thing wasn’t living in torment any longer.
Nearby, Admiral Jericho stood, unmoving for the past half hour, waiting far more patiently than Cody had waited while Moralez finished the autopsy. The clear transparency between them and the isolation room reminded Cody of the brig in many ways.
The doctor had been in the isolation chamber for two hours, cutting and prodding at the corpse. Cody had run through a few possibilities in his mind as to how the toad had died. Perhaps they hadn’t duplicated the air of Kali properly, or perhaps it had happened due to an infection caused by bacteria found in humans. All of that seemed unlikely. Typically, Earth-like environment was tame compared to Kali’s, meaning the denizens of the planet could handle anything Earth biology threw at them.
Or maybe he had found a way to end his own life, as he’d wanted in the first place.
At last, Moralez stepped outside the chamber’s first door. The decontamination field passed over him, and the second door opened, through which the doctor emerged. He pressed a button on his surgical suit, and his mask unfolded, disappearing within the suit.
“Well, Doctor,” Jericho said.
Moralez raised an eyebrow. “What a strange creature.”
“That will make three times you’ve said so, Doctor,” Jericho said. “Do you have a cause of death or not?”
“No, Admiral, I’m afraid I don’t.” Moralez put his hands on his hips. “We have a basic understanding of the creature’s anatomy based on Dr. Donaldson’s analysis, and this creature has most of the same features.”
“Most?” Cody asked.
“Organs have changed in size but are still in the same place. The central nervous system has been restructured significantly, along with the muscular system and what passes for a skeletal system.”
Jericho clasped his hands behind his back. “So you can’t determine how it died?”
“No, I cannot.” Moralez pulled off a
glove and scratched his head. “There’s no evidence of disease or trauma. No scarring, no tissue loss. As far as I can tell, the organs appear healthy.”
“Yet he’s dead,” Cody said. “What about his central arm? I assume that was removed surgically.”
Dr. Moralez pulled up an image showing a magnification of the underside. “There’s no indication this toad ever had one.”
“But he did have one. I’ve seen it.” Cody scratched his head. “The reeds must have altered him, and they did it on such a scale that we can’t tell he had ever been anything else.”
“They did the same to numerous creatures,” Jericho said.
“That would explain what I’m seeing here.” Moralez pressed his lips together. “As to cause of death, it’s almost as if the creature were simply switched off like a light. If the reeds can alter physiology on this scale, they could easily stop the biological processes of their creations.”
“The reeds had no more use for Reggie, so they destroyed him,” Cody said. “I wonder how many others died like this.”
“All those piloting the vessels we fought, at the very least.” Jericho sighed. “Thank you, Dr. Moralez. Have the body placed in a stasis chamber and stowed away. Dr. Brenner, walk with me.”
Cody checked on Sonja, who was sleeping peacefully, before following Jericho out of sick bay.
In the passageway, Jericho spoke. “When we were evacuating the last of the fliers, we found more bodies just like this. The fliers were feeding on them.”
Cody grimaced. “I’m assuming the toads died the same way as the one in the brig.”
“Dr. Moralez will have to confirm it but likely so.” Jericho crossed his arms. “It could be that every toad on the planet is dead.”
“Unbelievable.” Cody wondered if the planetwide message the Tokugawa had broadcast, a message he had suggested, was the cause. “The reeds committed genocide. And for what? To prove they mean business?”