Greenflies

by Darling, Andrew Leete

  As the humans backed away towards the door, terrified, Franz caught sight of a second Greenfly and let out a girlish scream. It was perched just above the doorway, and it had probably been there as the humans had entered the lab. Unlike the other one, it wielded a plasma cannon. The second Greenfly was not aiming at the humans, but like its counterpart, it was staring directly at them, and its skin was writhing with increasing rapidity.

  “They’re getting frustrated that we can’t understand them,” said Butler, “They’ll lash out in a moment.”

  “I will translate, Butler,” said an electronic, gender-neutral voice.

  Greenbeard scuttled out from a table further down the lab. In one great bound, he landed atop the dissection table next to that of the first Greenfly. At this range, the changes to his body were readily visible. His skin no longer had the wilted appearance resulting from oxygen exposure on his first mission to human-occupied earth. There was very little sign of damage; even his claws appeared to be sharp again. The one physical defect still in evidence was his bad eye, which was still cloudy and probably non-functional, but it now appeared orange rather than milky white. He still wore the translator mask and monocle that let him speak and understand human speech.

  “Greenbeard,” said Butler, the surprise evident in his voice, “You’re looking… better.”

  “I was healed by the Harvester that revived the other Greenflies. It still resides within me, but its mission is done. It will do you no harm.”

  “Revived them?” Butler asked. Even as he did so, he could see some remaining battle damage on the Greenfly above the doorway. That one had several pockmarks on it that might have once been bullet holes. These Greenflies had already been killed by human soldiers once.

  “Yes. I know these Greenflies well,” said Greenbeard. “They do not wish to fight against humans anymore, and they have sufficient savings that they are no longer obligated to. However, even with the Harvester, we cannot remain in the atmosphere of your planet very long. I was trying to make the plastic air things work, but they are more difficult than a door knob.”

  That explained what had happened to the plastic sheeting in here, Butler thought. Greenbeard knew they could be used to make an argon atmosphere, but he had no idea how. Once his prison cell had been broken open by his revived friends, he was exposed to oxygen just like the others. Without the Harvester, he’d probably already be dead, but there had to be limits to what that creature could do. It most likely wouldn’t be able to maintain three Greenflies in an oxygen atmosphere forever.

  “Do your friends want to join us?” asked Butler.

  “No. Humans are losing, and they do not trust a human-made blood supply,” replied Greenbeard. “They want to be returned to the Whaleship, so they can wait until the war is over. They are asking your help in getting to a transport in which to make the trip. There are many human soldiers on the levels above us, and they cannot make it without help.”

  “Would they let humans go with them to the Whaleship?”

  “They died very early in the war. They do not understand what humans are capable of. They could be made to believe that the humans they are taking with them are valuable samples. I could convince them that humans are harmless and do not need to go to the quarantine site. That is their impression from seeing you, and that one’s plasma cannon is saying that Meg is a valuable species.”

  What Greenbeard was offering was a betrayal of his people. He had to be aware that any trip to the Whaleship would end in the humans trying to destroy it, and that destruction would result in the immediate cut-off of blood supply from all of the other Greenflies dependent on this Whaleship. Greenbeard’s loyalty had been bought, or rather extorted, by the human-built device implanted in his third torso segment. He believed the humans could kill him at any point, and that trumped any remaining altruism he held for his own kind.

  “Couldn’t you just direct one of the alien transports yourself? Do we really need these two?”

  “A transport with a scheduled job is more likely to come when called by three Greenflies than one,” said Greenbeard. “They can be stubborn.”

  “Like truckers,” commented Meg.

  Butler nodded. He began sweeping aside some of the torn plastic in the room and looking through the standing cabinets. His hope was that not all of the equipment had been stowed elsewhere since this bio-lab had been relegated to a less active role. His search was rushed as he doubted the new Greenflies would be as friendly once their skin started to degrade in Earth’s atmosphere. He found what he was looking for in the second cabinet he investigated. He withdrew three packs about the size of a suitcase and handed one to each Meg and Franz. They were the pressurized isolation suits used by anyone who researched the Greenfly corpses or domestic animals.

  “Put those on,” said Butler. “They have about forty five minutes of oxygen when you’re not plugged into an external air feed. There’s a heater in there, but I don’t know if they can handle vacuum.”

  Franz nodded, “They’re pressure suits. Originally, they were going to depressurize the bio-labs, but they found out argon was better and cheaper.”

  “You expect us to go with them?!” asked Meg.

  “Listen to what’s going on, Meg. Those rumbles above that are getting more frequent; those are teleportation bombs, and they’re getting through because our forces are losing. This is a long-shot, yes. We may not be able to make any impression on the Whaleship. We may not be able to find any soldiers to come with us. We might not even be able to get a transport with these three Greenflies. But, one way or another, we’re safer in an alien transport with Greenbeard than we are here. This entire facility is going to be at the Greenfly quarantine point before too long,” said Butler.

  “In which case, you’ll be glad you were wearing a pressure suit anyways,” said Franz, already climbing into his own suit. “He’s right, Meg. It’s not safe here, and Greenbeard’s way is the fastest out of here.”

  There was a knocking noise from the passageway that had led to Greenbeard’s holding cell. The armed Greenfly pointed its plasma cannon, the other two Greenflies crouched as if ready to leap, and the humans cowered behind a table. It took everyone a moment to realize that the knock had been an intentional signal to get their attention without startling the armed Greenfly.

  “Dr. Butler,” said Colonel Marshal’s voice from around the corner, “We came down here looking for the captive Greenfly, heard the entire conversation, and we are in full agreement with your plan. Please introduce us to your friends, so there aren’t any misunderstandings. I’ve got Hegerty and Ramachandran with me, armored and with spare oxygen.”

  Decker was stationed with a small detachment of conventional infantry around the easternmost automated air defense laser. The defense laser looked like a telescope observatory in miniature, a dome sticking out of the concrete perimeter with a square opening and a single lens sticking out. The dome was only ten feet in diameter, nestled among the more formidable looking perimeter defenses, but it was this unprepossessing structure that had, so far, kept the enemy at bay. Decker would occasionally take down on of the arrowhead bombers with his heavy laser by hand, but sniping bombs falling towards the facility was beyond even his capabilities. The dome was constantly swinging around, the telescope-like lens shifting position, a blue beam lancing out to strike falling bombs that Decker couldn’t even see. It was a perfect blend of the new laser technology and the advanced control systems of radar and missile defense hardware.

  A shout of alarm drew Decker’s attention away from the skies. One of the infantrymen on the far side of the dome, that facing the interior of the base, had evidently seen something. Decker jumped on top of the dome and slid to the other side with a dexterity few other soldiers could emulate.

  The infantry on that side of the dome were tightening their line, and he took a position among them, plopping the barrel of his laser down on the defensive sandbags. There was no need to compensate for recoil, of course, bu
t old habits died hard.

  “Runners, sir,” said one of the non-coms there.

  Decker didn’t reply. He just peered through the smart-site with one eye while maintaining his overall field of view with the other. Most of the other lines of defense between here and the tarmac had been overrun or withdrawn, he now saw, and the air cavalry had been decimated by the plasma fire from the dinosaurs. There would likely be no assistance when the attack finally came. The field of fire towards the tarmac was limited here, with all the buildings in the way. Tripeds could be seen occasionally darting between buildings. Whatever they were, they seemed to know how to use cover.

  When the little metal monsters ran out of cover, they came at the defensive line faster than Decker would have imagined possible. There was a greyhound-like quality to their movement, despite having only three limbs. The three spinal columns that connected the legs to the center of the creature would bend nearly ninety degrees as the creature ran, the two legs in back acting like spring-loaded catapults with every step.

  Lasers and M-16s lashed out at the creatures, to the sound of hissing steam explosions and the ricochets of metal on metal. It was not just a shiny appearance, Decker realized. Those creatures were literally metallic. Not robots but metal animals.

  The first of the triped runners breached the line and leaped straight for Decker’s head. He backed away from the sandbags and lashed out with his foot to stop the creature’s momentum. It was like deflecting a flying anvil, but somehow Decker managed it, holding the creature to the pavement with a foot on its belly. The three legs kicked and clawed viciously at him. He realized too late that the claws were also mouths, as all three bit into his leg. A sustained laser blast killed the creature, but the legs remained firmly attached to his own.

  He looked up to see that far worse fates were being doled out to his men.

  Moments later, the automated laser defense turret stopped firing. The teleportation bomb assault increased in intensity.

  The group of nine walked along the catwalks of the first floor towards the hangar bays where they intended to exit to the surface. Marshal walked in front, briefing the civilians in pressure suits, while Hegerty and Ramachandran took up the rear, keeping an eye on the scuttling Greenflies in the process. The battle was raging about twenty feet above them, the stomping sounds of a dinosaur audible even at this depth. The teleportation bombs now felt like small earthquakes.

  “Nothing fancy,” said Marshal. “We get to the surface where the enemy is sparse, have the Greenflies call one of the transports, and teleport directly to Troy. At that point, we attempt to board the alien vessel. Dr. Butler can attempt a diplomatic solution while Dr. Lietner attempts to find sensitive targets for demo charges. Then we leave. Understood?”

  “No nuke?” asked Franz.

  “We have nukes in the hangar but no codes to detonate them. Command and control is breaking down with no satellites and constant static on the radio from the bombardment. Landlines were working, and I was sending messengers to the war room.”

  “Was?” asked Butler.

  “The war room disappeared twenty minutes ago. The remainder of the senior staff have been evacuated to a hardened shelter deep beneath the minefield. There’s been no bombardment over that part of the facility so far. That’s where we’ll send the Rudisell girl. I see no reason why we should take her.”

  Meg was in earshot, and despite her objection to being called ‘the Rudisell girl,’ was fully behind this idea.

  “The Greenflies won’t want to leave without her,” said Greenbeard, in the lead of the other two. “Her species is very rare.”

  Colonel Marshal turned on Greenbeard, his face dispassionate, “Then you’ll have to convince them otherwise. She will be a liability on the mission, and we have a secure shelter available here.”

  “You think,” said Franz.

  “They will explore these tunnels eventually, Colonel,” said Butler. “The Greenflies are miners, after all. She may be safer with us, and not taking her may upset our two new Greenfly non-combatants. She represents a paycheck for them, remember. We need their cooperation.”

  “I’m not going to…”

  The rest of Colonel Marshal’s words were sucked out of him as the ceiling above the catwalk disappeared. The wind this close to a teleportation bomb was tremendous, and the instant pressure change surely would have deafened the humans had they not been wearing beige pressure suits or black combat armor. The two new Greenflies remained completely unmoving through the wind rush, their adhesive limbs holding them securely to the catwalk. The humans were not so lucky. All six of them, soldiers and civilians alike, were blown straight up. Greenbeard managed to catch the four people in front of him, reaching out five of his limbs like a spider while the remaining one held firm to the catwalk railing. The catwalk railing bent and nearly buckled, but as the wind settled, all but the two rear guard were still present. Blown up through the hole in the ground, Hegerty and Ramachandran landed ignominiously on the battlefield just outside the crater, only their jump training keeping them from breaking in half.

  The entire base looked like a brown golf course, all of the vegetation either wilted or burned away. Teleportation bombs landed uncontested wherever there was a sign of human resistance. A half dozen sauropods, some maimed by missile fire, moved across the blighted, dusty landscape, their heads and tails spewing plasma. Alien transports moved among the dinosaurs, occasionally breaking away from their larger counterparts to disgorge triped runners into the surface buildings. The sky was clear and blue, save for the murky yellow contrails of flying Greenflies far above and the occasional arrowhead bomber. The air was stifling, and everywhere hung the scent of ozone.

  Hegerty and Ramachandran quickly surveyed the scene for tactical possibilities. The obvious route was to head back down the hole, using their repulsor belts to reduce their fall inside. However, there were other objects laying on the battlefield which might be used for cover as well. Only one of the sauropods had been killed, apparently, and its carcass lay sprawled a hundred yards away from the two Gammas’ position. The two, sharing a thought, made a mad dash straight for the dead dinosaur.

  “Colonel, there is significant cover one hundred yards north-northwest of the crater!” Hegerty shouted into his radio over the din of the battle.

  Most of the triped runners were in the buildings of the facility now, flushing the remaining human troops from their cover. A few, however, had remained on the battlefield proper, and they had caught sight of the two running soldiers. Five of the creatures converged on the pair, running cheetah speed with their bizarre three-legged gait.

  Leena blasted the closest one, which had been approaching from the front. She had to sustain the laser beam until the red overheat light flashed to life on the barrel, but the creature was stopped, sliced in two, about ten feet ahead of them. The perimeters of its wounds glowed red like molten metal, and the inner organs were actually shiny, as if a more conventional animal’s innards had been lined with tinfoil.

  The remainder of the triped pack was coming from behind them, closing rapidly. Hegerty grabbed a grenade from his waist. It was one of the experimental ones that had only begun production in the past few weeks, for use in urban areas where explosive grenades would cause unwanted collateral damage. In this case, Hegerty just hoped it would work where ordinary grenades most likely would not. He pulled the pin, timed the drop in his head, and dropped the grenade to the ground as he kept sprinting.

  The small metal tube sprayed a fine blue mist into the air as the tripeds approached. The cloud spread five meters in radius, with Hegerty and Ramachandran just beyond the perimeter. The tripeds had no way of knowing that this cloud consisted of the alien’s high energy fuel, and they lacked the intelligence to understand the implications even if they did. The pulse grenade followed up on its cloud by releasing a spray of catalyst. There was a loud peal of thunder, as a hemispherical lightning bolt came into existence on the scorched prairie. Three of the
four runners were clearly killed by the blast, and the last was experiencing some sort of seizure.

  “Electricity works on the metallic creatures, sir,” Hegerty said over the radio as he reached the dead sauropod they were intending as cover.

  As sketchy as the radio communication was, he could not be sure the Colonel had received his messages until he saw the others coming through the dust. The three Greenflies were leading the way, each of them carrying one of the civilians wearing a pressure suit. They held their passengers in the foremost limbs, while their lower four limbs were being used to run. Behind the Greenflies, with their centaur gait, ran Colonel Marshal with his stun rod at ready. The tripeds seemed to be giving the Greenflies a wide berth, but one charged the Colonel and quickly found a stun rod jabbed in its middle. It collapsed to the ground, still arcing with electricity even after the Colonel had removed the rod and sprinted on.

  When everyone had reached the shelter of the dead dinosaur, Marshal ordered, “Get that transport here, now. This is not a sustainable position.”

  All three Greenflies dropped their passengers and clambered to the top of the dinosaur. Once there, they appeared to do nothing. The humans had to take it on faith that the Greenflies were broadcasting infrared messages with their skin. The heat of the battlefield had made the air so rippled, it was impossible to see their skin writhe, even at this close range.

  It didn’t take long for them to get a response. A lone alien transport hovered around the sauropod carcass. It appeared to have taken quite a bit of battle damage, as one of the door-like mouths had been completely blasted off, but it still hovered along very stably. It stopped directly in front of the humans, and the Greenflies jumped down to join them.