“Go ahead, Heyer,” he said, “complicate things.”
The alien nodded.
“They aren’t killing indiscriminately, Jonathan. They can’t see the difference between a child and an adult any more than you can discriminate between the ages of the Ferox. If you doubt this, understand that the green creature you killed the other night, formidable as it may have seemed, was a child. The coloring, the unformed body type, the tail, the uncontrolled rage it was struggling with,” Heyer said. “For better context, you killed the equivalent of a teenage boy.”
Jonathan let that sink in for a bit. He didn’t doubt the explanation. Frogs lost their tale as they made the transition to their adult form, and the Ferox’s ears had seemed prepubescent.
“The first Ferox, he called himself Sickens the Fever,” Jonathan said. “That name, it seems to embrace suffering.”
Heyer’s face changed into a grim half smile.
“Names do not translate well. They bring with them a cultural baggage that the simple explanation of their root meaning cannot contain. Take your own name. ‘Jonathan’ means Jehovah’s gift in Hebrew. How do you think that would sound to an alien unfamiliar with your planets beliefs? What if that species came from a culture that didn’t have religion as your world knows it? The machinery that allows the translation fails to capture such subtleties. Further complicating the issue, the translator only has access to the vocabulary in your head. What does the name Jonathan really say about you? I’d imagine nothing. Names have just become a noise that you associate with yourself.”
“Fair enough,” Jonathan said, “the teenager, the green Ferox, he called me Brings the Rain. Why did he give me one of their names?”
“I’d be guessing,” Heyer said, “but likely it was an expression of respect. Perhaps it found you quite formidable. Perhaps it wanted you to see that it valued you.”
“Valued?” Jonathan asked.
Heyer waved it off.
“We’ll get to that,” he said, “the point is, they choose what their name means as much as you do.”
Jonathan sighed. Even if it was interesting, this wasn’t important.
“Why pile the bodies?” Jonathan asked. “Sickens the Fever seemed to relish killing us.”
“It’s more instinctual than it is evil. But, that isn’t the real reason it did so the night you fought. The easiest answer to that question is because that was what the Ferox was instructed to do.”
“Instructed?” Jonathan asked.
“It is only looking for one human. It will continue to kill whatever it sees until that human is drawn out by the atrocity,” Heyer replied and stared at Jonathan until he made the connection.
“They come here for me,” Jonathan said.
“In a manner of speaking,” Heyer said, “yes.”
Heyer hadn’t lied; this was getting more complicated with every explanation. Jonathan couldn’t see how this made sense. Why would the Ferox come for him? What did the alien mean ‘in a manner of speaking?’
“Jonathan, I’ll try to give you some context, something a human can relate to.”
“Okay,” Jonathan said.
“Imagine that tomorrow the governments of your world locked away every female on the planet. All men on earth are told that mating is no longer allowed. All mating privileges, all access to sex at all, is only on government permission. What do you think the response of the men of earth would be?”
Jonathan thought to reply with a shrug, but as he considered the implications they became ugly in his head rapidly. There was no good ending to that story.
“I’d imagine the most violent rebellion in human history,” Jonathan replied.
Heyer nodded.
“Well, in this analogy, you, Jonathan, would be the government requirement. Well, to be more accurate, killing you, is the key to unlocking their females,” Heyer said.
“How is that possible?” Jonathan asked desperately.
“You, of course, aren’t guilty of literally keeping the male Ferox from their females. Still, to the Ferox you are what stands between them and their species extinction, their ability to bare children,” Heyer explained.
Jonathan still didn’t understand, but was starting to make connections in his head. The way the Ferox had desperately tried to keep fighting even after it was doomed. He knew now what it reached for. Jonathan wasn’t only taking its life; he was taking their future. They saw him as the key to unlocking the salvation of their species. He sat down on the weight bench and rested his forehead into the palms of his hands. Somehow, he was the ultimate evil to them. His threat to the Ferox, ‘I am the end of your species;’ could it have been exactly what they already believed?
“Go on, please explain.”
“The Ferox have always been a highly formidable species Jonathan. The planet they reside on now, is not their origin planet, it is not unlike the hell you wished they came from. That said, it is an immensely larger planet than Earth. They’ve evolved there, becoming intelligent and dangerous predators.
“Originally the Ferox shared their surrogate planet with two other species of similar intellect and lethality. They had reached a balance with these other species and co-existed in a natural equilibrium.”
“Unfortunately, the Ferox have evolved to require combat as part of their reproductive cycles. For the male of the species to become capable of impregnating the female of their species, they must engage in combat with an enemy species of paralleled combat ability. Likewise, for the female to achieve fertility, she must be presented with evidence of this combat from the male,” Heyer said. “It’s more complicated than this simple explanation, but it is enough for now.”
Jonathan, listening intently, interrupted. He’d taken enough evolutionary theory to know that what he was being told sounded highly unlikely.
“That doesn’t sound possible Heyer. I can’t imagine what type of evolutionary pressures would have had to be in place to create such a temperamental reproductive system,” he said.
Heyer nodded, seeming pleased that Jonathan was keeping up.
“Unfortunately, that is correct, Jonathan,” he replied. “Their evolution wasn’t strictly natural. Their current reproductive problems are due to the intervention of another species. Artificial selection, not unlike what humans have done to the wolves of this planet.”
Jonathan knew what Heyer was referencing. Though difficult to imagine, all breeds of dog came from the original genetic stock of wolves. Human intervention had formed the breeds to its wishes.
“Now, imagine similar manipulation in the evolutionary process of the Ferox, this time on a rapid scale with intervention coming from a technologically advanced civilization bent on creating a weapon. Genetic modification of the Ferox is performed. The resultant breed grows stronger with every generation because the only members of the species that are able to reproduce are those that are capable of seeking out, engaging, and inevitably killing a creature of similar lethality.”
Jonathan stopped to think about the implications of what he was being told. This explained why the Ferox seemed so unstoppable: bullet proof skin, metal inner skeleton, seemingly impossible strength, innate combat aptitude, but worst of all, a non-negotiable motivator for violence.
Things just do what they can, Jonathan’s father’s words echoed in his thoughts.
The creature resulting from what Heyer described couldn’t bother entertaining a moral argument about murder. There would be no conversation Jonathan could ever have with a Ferox that would convince it that violence wasn’t the answer. For them, violence was in fact the only answer. What was worse, it wasn’t even the Ferox’s fault, their biology required it of them.
“Why earth?” Jonathan asked. “Why target them to earth?”
Heyer looked to the floor again, placing his fingers over his eyelids. Jonathan worried. The alien was about to tell him this was not so simple again.
“Perhaps it is fortunate for the time being, that it is not so simple a matte
r as earth being targeted,” Heyer said.
“Perhaps it is fortunate?” Jonathan asked.
“If earth was simply under attack by a conqueror, this would be a diplomatic problem,” Heyer said. “Earth would have no choice but to surrender, as a full onslaught of these creatures would cripple your way of life in a matter of days and your planet would be easily invaded afterwards. No, this is a unique circumstance, and conquering earth is not the immediate goal, at least not yet.
“You see...” Heyer delayed, and the pause worried Jonathan. “It was my species. They played god. My species turned the Ferox into the incarnation you now know.”
“Your species made them into weapons?” Jonathan asked.
“Yes, but before you get upset, please try to understand the history,” Heyer said. “My species is almost entirely extinct.”
Until now, Jonathan had imagined Heyer came from some planet out amongst the stars, filled with enlightened beings, sending themselves out to help aide less civilized species. It was like a child making up a story to explain something he didn’t understand, and forgetting he’d made it up.
“I’m sorry,” Jonathan said.
Heyer waved him off as if to indicate that this was not an emotional confession, just a piece of the puzzle Jonathan would need to understand.
“I’ve only ever met one member of my species,” Heyer said, “my older brother, Malkier.
“Jonathan, I’ve been alive for thousands of years. My earlier formative years I spent with my brother, traveling the stars and dimensions that we had knowledge of from the libraries of information that our species left behind. The only impression I have of my species comes from my brother and historical records.
“I could speak volumes about those times, but what is relevant to our current situation is this,” Heyer began. “We eventually each chose a species to settle with, live among. We took on bodies that allowed us to blend in with that species and became a part of those worlds. I chose earth because Malkier said that the people here were the most like the people I had never known, our own species. Malkier, who had been alive to see the self-destructive traits of our species end in our inevitable extinction, was loathe of living among a race with similar characteristics,” Heyer explained. “He chose to live amongst the Ferox.”
Heyer saw the look on Jonathan’s face.
“I can tell, you can’t imagine what would lead him to make this decision. What you have to understand is that Malkier’s choice is one of virtue. Or at least it started as such. He felt a responsibility to the Ferox to restore their biology to what it was before our species corrupted them. Though it may seem hard to believe, the Ferox possess a trait very inhuman that my brother prizes above any other,” Heyer said.
“What’s that?” Jonathan asked.
“They are incapable of hurting their own species,” Heyer said. “They do not fight among themselves; violence is reserved only for their enemies and their mating requirements. They will never have a civil war or a squabble over resources, they have no countries. They live in tribe-like communities but if one member moves from one tribe to another they are immediately accepted. My brother, having watched our civilization destroy itself, found comfort in integrating with such beings. After thousands of years with the Ferox, he has come to love them much the same way I’ve come to love mankind.”
“I guess,” Jonathan paused. “I guess I can understand that.”
“The current problem we now face is quite simply this, Jonathan,” Heyer began. “The planet of the Ferox can no longer sustain their reproductive traits. My brother and I, though we come from an advanced civilization, are not scientists. What we know we have learned from our libraries and years of study. But there was never a well-educated member of our species to teach us, so our knowledge is highly fragmented. We do not possess the means necessary to fix the Ferox.”
Heyer let this information stew for a moment.
“Unfortunately, my brother will stop at nothing to save them. I have tried to negotiate with him; I’ve asked him to let the species run its course. Unfortunately, he is completely willing to sacrifice earth to have the species for which he identifies survive.”
Heyer was pacing now.
“I had to strike a bargain with my brother to preserve earth as unharmed as possible. What we have now is a balance. A fair confrontation, as fair as we can make it, where certain humans are given the necessary enhancement to fight the Ferox for their lives. One at a time, in a controlled setting that does not disrupt the majority of life on earth. He has agreed, only because I am his brother and this is my home, to maintain the Ferox population at a stable minimum. Only enough to ensure the species can persist. This is all to buy time as he searches for the solution to the mating problem. You have to understand, this was the best I could arrange for mankind.”
Jonathan was thinking intensely.
“Your bastard brother is playing cross-dimensional ecology? I am fighting for my life because he wants to save an endangered species of monsters that your civilization corrupted forever ago! I am just buying time, by giving them a damn combatant to fulfill their reproductive rituals.”
“Malkier could have opened doors into this world and let the Ferox loose on the planet. Your way of life would have been destroyed. Your military would have been in constant combat with these creatures, thousands would have died, and that would only be the beginning. Mankind was to be enslaved, bred in camps, devices such as the one in your chest forced on the males so they could present a challenge to the Ferox in an arena. All so the Ferox could persist.
“This was the only solution I could come to with him to preserve both planets existence. To ensure the fewest casualties on earth for a fight that was never its responsibility.”
Jonathan hated every word of what he was hearing. He was a sacrifice. He was fighting for no one but himself after all.
Things made sense now. This was why Heyer said the creature valued him, because he was a resource it needed for its species to survive. It was like a hunter thanking a deer he was about to eat for its meat. That was why it was instinctual to stack the bodies. They kept a count of their own kills. They worked themselves up into some type of combat based mating frenzy and presented their kills to their females. Jonathan realized then that this still couldn’t work. It didn’t make sense, Heyer was leaving something out.
“Wait!” Jonathan said angrily. “Heyer, even if I died and the creature took my body to the Ferox planet. It would only allow for one male to mate. That couldn’t possibly sustain the entire Ferox species. You’d need a lot more. Hundreds of people like me.”
Heyer hung his head.
“Jonathan, there is a reason I am constantly moving all over the globe,” Heyer paused and stopped pacing. “You are not the only combatant in play.”
Jonathan’s image of reality was shattered again.
“When a Ferox is allowed access to one of the gates to earth,” Heyer paused, “It hits a network of possible nodes where it will find a combatant, most in major cities. The nodes are targeted to those with the device implanted, the Ferox arrives in close proximity to the individual it will fight.”
That explained why the beast would show up within a ten mile radius of his house. It wasn’t his house at all; it was him.
“How many of us are there?”
Heyer looked away.
"The number fluctuates,” he said. “Few men are the victors, and those that are aren’t for long. The nodes often need to be replenished.”
Jonathan nodded angrily.
“This is so much worse than I feared. I thought you knew what you were doing. I thought I was fighting for earth. I knew you’d tell me the odds were against us, but I trusted that you had a plan!”
Heyer saw the look of betrayal on Jonathan’s face. It clearly hurt him to see, and Jonathan didn’t care.
“You’re right you know. I shouldn’t have asked. What the hell is the point?” Jonathan said as he angrily paced the garage. �
��That’s all I was that night you came looking for me, that night you put this thing into my chest. You were replenishing a node, refilling a damn bird feeder.”
“No, Jonathan,” Heyer said. “Please don’t see it as such.”
“How in the hell am I supposed to see it?” Jonathan asked. “It doesn’t matter what I do, how prepared I am, how vicious I become. It’s just a matter of time.”
“If you were nothing more than a sacrifice to the Ferox, if you were nothing but a reinforcement, I never would have activated you!” Heyer said, raising his voice.
Jonathan, still looking for a string of hope in all this terrible news, tried to reign in his growing rage at the sound of Heyer’s yelling.
“Jonathan,” Heyer said, “I do have a plan. I just can’t accomplish it on my own. I needed help.”
Jonathan felt like he was on the park bench again, desperate for the alien to help him, desperate to know things weren’t impossible, that he wouldn’t leave him with nothing but a void of inevitability that couldn’t be filled.
“You remember what you said, Jonathan?” Heyer asked. “That if man found themselves in a similar predicament, it would lead to the most violent rebellion in human-kinds history.”
Jonathan stopped pacing.
“The Ferox are at the brink of extinction. My brother, he lives amongst them as one of their Alpha leaders. They do not know that he is not of their species. He is the only one who can allow them access to the gates they require to get to earth and bring back their trophies. They saw him as the great leader, the one who found the way to spare them, but the tides are shifting and he doesn’t want to see it. The youth of the species are beginning to challenge his leadership.”
“They’re going to turn on him,” Jonathan said.
“The moment of rebellion is not far off. When that time comes, he will give them complete control of the gates to appease them. If they discover he is not of their species, they will kill him and take control of the gates in the process. Either way, mankind is in trouble, and we need—”
“You couldn’t kill him,” Jonathan interrupted. “You couldn’t just dismantle the gates and do away with your brother.”
Chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs 1: The Never Hero Page 38