by J. C. Diem
“Are you guys going to be ok?” I asked the leader of the Kveet army.
Waiting for the droid to translate, M’narl’s expression hardened. “We have suffered many losses but we are determined to eradicate this planet of the parasites who occupy it.”
I guess that means they’ll be ok. “So, you’re sticking with us to the end?”
Exchanging glances with the other elders and some of the warriors, M’narl gave a single nod. The survivors had retrieved their packs and were ready to march. “We are with you, Natalie, to the end.”
Once Gregor figured we’d travelled far enough away from the ambush site, we stayed well away from the dining area and headed for the sleeping quarters. The Kveet broke into small groups and filed into the bedrooms and our people did the same. Luc offered me his arm, knowing I wasn’t ready to attempt to sleep just yet. He looked as alert as I felt. Leaving our chosen bedroom, we weren’t surprised to see Gregor, Igor, Geordie, Kokoro and Ishida waiting for us.
Gregor put a finger to his lips to warn us not to speak then led the way towards the monitor room. Once we were all inside and the door had swished shut, we gathered around the floating screens. Most showed the bleak landscape and the blasted cities. One had been set to watch the factory we’d destroyed. It had been reduced to rubble and was still smoking. Strong winds tore the smoke to shreds and coated the new ruin in dust.
“I take it none of you feels the need for rest as yet?” Gregor said quietly.
Geordie shook his head. Worry etched a line between his brows. “Are we ever going to need to sleep again?”
Hesitating, Gregor wasn’t sure for once. “It is too soon to tell how permanent this change is.”
“It will not be very permanent if we are all going to die soon,” Igor said with his usual gruffness.
Glum at the prospect of no longer being of this world, or any other world, our silence was heavy.
Geordie was the first to break it. “Natalie has promised to avenge us, should we all die.”
Luc turned to survey my face. “I believe I would like to see that. I am sure it would be a memorable sight.” His smile was teasing yet I read the dread behind it. He wasn’t afraid to die but rather of leaving me all alone.
Ishida was curious about my promise. “What form will your revenge take, Nat?”
My smile disappeared and I could feel my expression turning grim. “I have no idea but I suspect Luc is right and it would be memorable.”
“We should not give up our lives without a fight,” Kokoro said.
Taking his new love’s hand, Gregor gave her a look that was so tender it brought imaginary tears to my eyes. “We have been abandoned by fate and so must make our own. I for one will continue to fight to the very end.”
With a soundless sob, Geordie buried his face against my shoulder. I patted him on the back until he composed himself and straightened up. “We should make a pact,” he declared.
Ishida’s interest was piqued. “A pact to do what?”
“To kill every last Viltaran on the planet and to try not to die.”
Hiding his smile, Luc gave the teen a solemn nod. “I swear to destroy the Viltarans and to try not to die.”
Our amusement faded as we each made our pledge. Our vow hadn’t exactly been worded very profoundly but I felt purpose settle over me as I repeated the words. I added a silent afterthought that I would try to keep my friends, my family, safe from harm.
.~.
Chapter Thirty-One
When darkness spread across the desolate land above, our kin and the Kveet emerged from their bedrooms. M’narl and his chosen few gathered in the monitor room with us to discuss strategy while the rest of his warriors waited out in the hallway.
Naturally, Gregor had already worked out a plan and directed a question at me. “Natalie, can you pinpoint where the closest Viltarans are?”
Closing my eyes, I searched for the aliens and found them all on the move. They had shifted towards what I thought of as the north end of the planet. The young Kveet warrior had worked his technological magic and the vast sprawling underground complexes were displayed on the monitors again. I pointed towards the top of the screens. “They’re all concentrated up there, as far away from us as they can get.”
“It will take us weeks to reach them,” one of Ishida’s warriors complained.
“Not if we take the elevators,” Gregor said.
M’narl brightened at the prospect. “We should be able to work out a way to control them and take them to any destination we desire.”
Ishida bowed to the tiny leader. “I have already done so once and should be able to duplicate the feat again.”
It was hard to tell with their scrunched little faces but they appeared to be surprised. We were a fairly primitive species compared to the Kveet and the Viltarans but they were learning that we weren’t complete idiots.
“There is a bunch of Viltarans to the north-west that is more isolated than the others,” I told the brains of our operation. “Maybe we should target them first.”
Gregor indicated the map. “Can you pinpoint where they are?”
“They’re still on the move but they’re roughly around here.” Stretching out my arm and standing on my tippy-toes, I pointed at a spot high on the upper left side of the monitors.
Ishida had a smaller version of the map system on his screen and made a note of where I’d indicated. Geordie had pretty much given up on trying to operate his monitor. It was tucked beneath his arm but he made no move to use it. He didn’t have the same fascination for electronic devices that Ishida had and the novelty had worn off already.
“I suggest we waste no more time and proceed to the elevator immediately,” M’narl said. He politely waited for my nod before heading for the door.
Ishida carefully negotiated his way to the front of the group and led us to the elevator that was hidden behind the walls. Tapping something on his screen brought the elevator door open. Another tap would hopefully take us to within a short distance of our prey. “We will have to make many trips,” the teen said as he moved aside to allow M’narl and some of his people to enter. They crammed inside but were in no danger of overloading the elevator with their light bodies. “I will send the next elevator on to you shortly.”
With a dignified nod, M’narl readied his weapon just in case they ran into danger at the other end. The doors closed and the elevator took off in a barely audible rush. Moments later, another carriage appeared and the doors opened. This time, I stepped inside. Half of my kin followed and a few Kveet squeezed in with us. I took Luc’s hand as the doors closed. I hadn’t enjoyed the first ride in one of the superfast elevators and I didn’t enjoy it this time either.
M’narl and his people waited in the hallway, safe and sound. I sent out my senses and found the Viltaran group nearby.
“How close are they?” Luc asked.
“Pretty close. If we were in a normal city, they’d only be about five blocks away. They’re moving in our direction but we should have enough time to set a trap for them.”
The robot hadn’t been transported yet so Gregor had to use hand signals to move the Kveet into place. As the little brown folk scurried further down the hall, the elevator doors opened to disgorge more of our allies. Minutes later, the last of our army joined us and then hurried to hide in the rooms up and down the hallway.
According to my internal radar, our quarry was still heading in our direction. My eyes started glowing in anticipation of the fight that was about to ensue. There were only eight of our distant ancestors on their way but they would have numerous killbots to back them up.
We heard them well before they stepped within our clutches. The Viltarans made no attempt at stealth and were bickering amongst themselves.
“How can a race so inferior to ours be hunting us down like vermin?” a raspy voice complained.
“They carry our nanobots in their veins,” another replied. The voice was slightly less gruff and I assum
ed the speaker was female. “These humans,” she spat the word out as if it tasted horrible to her, “are far too much like us.”
“They are small and puny,” another male whined. “We should be able to crush them beneath our heels!”
“I will crush you beneath my heel if you do not stop whining!” Presumably that threat was snarled by their leader. A cringing silence followed.
Waiting until our targets were roughly in the centre of our trap, Igor gave a roar and we spilled out from hiding. Believing themselves to be far enough away from the last ambush site that they were safe, the Viltarans had only one personal robot and two silver guards each. We annihilated the metal men and their fleshy masters in a barrage of violet flashes of light.
Viewing the ashy remains, Geordie gave me an uncertain grin. “That was almost too easy.”
Unfortunately, I agreed with him. “I think we’d better leave the area.”
Ishida hurried back down the silvery hallway to the elevator doors but they stubbornly refused to open. One of Ishida’s warriors heard the sound first and cocked his head. “Are there any birds on Viltar?”
“They aren’t birds,” I said as the high pitched, piping sounds carried to me. “Run!”
The Kveet didn’t have our exceptional hearing but they broke into a sprint without any urging. With their short stature, they quickly fell behind. Glancing back over my shoulder, I saw our allies turn to face the grey skinned beings who had once been their kin. There were far fewer of the imps than I’d expected from the amount of noise they’d been making.
“Be careful, Ladybug,” Luc said from right behind me. He didn’t need to see my face to know I was going to the Kveet’s rescue.
Scrunching up my nose at the nickname Geordie had bestowed on me and my one true love had taken as his own, I grabbed his shirt and pulled him down for a quick kiss. “I’m going to try something and I have no idea if it is going to work or not. Keep everyone back.” Without waiting for a response, I ran back towards the Kveet.
At the far end of the long hallway, the imps spotted their former kin and surged forward. “Food?” one queried as they began to stampede.
“Food!” another confirmed. Perpetually hungry, they raced bare handed to rend then eat M’narl’s people. They were a relatively small group of around thirty imps in total. If there had been more, I wouldn’t have attempted what I was about to do.
At a full sprint, I leaped over the cowering brown aliens, landed clear of them then propelled myself down the hallway. Dropping to my knees, I slid to a stop halfway between the two similar yet very different groups.
Faltering at the sight of a being that shared their blazing red eyes, the imps slowed and approached me cautiously. One of the larger and bolder clones trotted over to stand only a yard away from me. “Food?” it queried as it stared into my eyes.
“Not food,” I replied, not that it could understand me.
Its curiosity gave way to blankness as it fell beneath my spell. “Master?” it asked and whispers spread throughout the group.
“Not master, food!” another clone declared and strutted forward. I picked it up before it could try to bite me and made it mine before putting it down again. “Master,” it said in a wooden tone. Confused, the rest of the group became mine one by one until I had a whole herd of tiny grey slaves at my beck and call.
Almost afraid to see the reactions of my friends and allies, I stood and turned. I hadn’t heard my kin approaching and was slightly surprised to find them all standing just a few feet away.
“Well, this is an interesting development,” Cristov said. He’d volunteered to fall beneath my spell after I’d confessed that I seemed to be capable of hypnotising vampires as well as humans a while back. It must have been disturbing to see the blank stares of the imps and know that he’d been reduced to being my puppet for a short while.
Gregor’s chin came to rest on his fist as M’narl and his people joined us. The robot had been abandoned as we’d fled and the elder sent some of his people to retrieve it. When Gregor began to smile, I knew he’d concocted another plan. He waited for the small party of Kveet to return with their translator before he directed a question at me. “Where is the next closest group of our adversaries located?”
Ishida held up his monitor and brought up the map. Being on one screen instead of many, it was so tiny that it was almost useless. Checking where the Viltarans had fled to took only seconds and I pointed to a spot on the monitor. “They’re moving fast towards the east so it will be hard to catch up to them.”
Igor was no slouch at planning himself and smiled grimly. “Then why don’t we try to get ahead of them instead?”
“But they hacked the elevators and have blocked our access,” Ishida said.
The Kveet technician stepped forward. “I should be able to circumvent their block and get the elevators moving again.”
“We will have to time our arrival well,” Luc mused. “The Viltarans might be able to monitor the movement of the elevators and anticipate our arrival.”
“I very much doubt they will be able to anticipate what I have planned,” Gregor replied.
Our small group of survivors had been through a lot lately. We’d been booted from Earth, had travelled an unknown distance through space then had been hijacked by a Viltaran spaceship and brought to their ruined planet. Despite the alien environment and entities we’d faced, Gregor had managed to keep his cool and to come up with a plan every time we’d needed one. Is there anything that can faze this guy? I hoped not, because if we ever faced it, it would be far beyond my capabilities to figure out.
.~.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Zooming along at a reckless pace, I steadied myself with one hand against the wall of the elevator. My companions jostled for room but there was none to be found. We were a silent group as we hurtled towards our destination. The plan Gregor had come up with had been a stroke of genius. His guess that the Viltarans might be expecting us was correct and I felt a small group of them a short distance away as the elevator came to an abrupt stop.
When the doors whooshed open, my companions blinked stupidly at the twenty or so silver droids that filled the hallway. Scrunched into a corner of the elevator, the droids didn’t see me take a quick peek at them.
“Why aren’t you firing?” a Viltaran asked when none of the robots blasted the interior of the elevator.
“It’s just a group of Kveet slaves, master,” one of the killbots said.
His pronouncement was met with confused murmurs. “Move aside,” the same Viltaran commanded and the droids made a path for him.
Timing was crucial so I waited for all ten of my ancestors to move in closer before issuing an order to my ravenous servants. “Kill.” At my soft word, spoken in the native Viltaran language, they surged forward with shrill, bloodthirsty cries.
Astounded that their slaves had turned against them, the Viltarans were slow to react. Their leader was overwhelmed and tiny, sharp teeth began stripping his flesh from his bones. I slipped out of the elevator and remained unnoticed in the furious battle between masters and slaves.
As soon as I stepped out of the elevator, the doors swished shut and the empty carriage departed. I heard the next one approaching seconds later and readied my weapon. Two of the Viltarans were dead and their yellow blood coated the floor and walls. The remaining eight had regained their wits and were firing at the clones. None had issued an order for the robots to help out so the metal men merely watched from the sidelines.
A slight hum announced the arrival of the next elevator carriage. The instant the doors opened, violet bursts of light spilled out. I used my death ray to target the closest silver droid and blew it into microscopic particles.
Apart from the blood and two Viltaran corpses, there was very little mess when the short, vicious fight was over. The death rays didn’t leave much behind to clean up, not that I was inclined to mop up the halls.
“Ugh!” Geordie said as he exited
the elevator to take a closer look at the bodies. The Viltaran leader’s face had been eaten off and his empty eye sockets glared up at the ceiling. Most of his flesh was gone and he’d been reduced to a bloody skeleton.
Luc stepped up beside the teen and studied the carnage with his usual serenity in place. “The Kveet clones remind me somewhat of piranhas.”
“They can strip a cow down to the bone pretty quickly,” I agreed. All thirty or so of my temporary slaves had been destroyed and I was kind of glad about that. They had come in useful but I didn’t want a bunch of starving monsters following me around. The instant their hypnotism wore off they’d turn on us and try to eat us all.
“We should head back to the others,” Ishida urged from inside the elevator.
Taking Luc and Geordie by the hand, we all turned back towards our ride. A short while later, we were back with the rest of our party again.
Gregor did a quick headcount and determined that none of the vampires or Kveet who had been crammed inside the elevator had been lost. His relief was profound but brief. “I fear another mob of clones has been freed from their confinement,” he said quietly as we exited from the metal confines.
“We heard what sounded like a thousand birds twittering somewhere in the distance,” Cristov said nervously. As always, he was by Aventius’ side. The ex-Councillor had barely spoken since we’d landed on Viltar. I met his ancient, weary gaze and saw a flicker of doom in the black depths before he turned away. My closest friends and I hadn’t given up but he apparently had. Maybe he figured living for five thousand years was long enough. Maybe he couldn’t stand the thought of eking out an existence so far from our home. Whatever his reasons were, I had a feeling he would be of little help to us as we fought our foes.
“We’d better leave before they find us,” I suggested.