by Viola Grace
She stepped toward the cockpit, and alarms began shrieking at her. “What the hell is that?”
Doros frowned and checked the systems. “Radiation alarm.”
He swept the scanner over her. “It’s you.”
She was out of his shuttle so fast that he blinked.
She took a step back for every step he took forward. “I don’t want to contaminate you.”
He smiled. “I know. I am fine. I have been running standard checks on myself, and there is no result from the exposure. I am guessing that you are setting off alarms because you were soaking in it.”
She sighed. “I can’t go to the new base like this. I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I don’t want to be confined to my quarters either.”
He grinned. “No one is going to confine you.”
She sent the thought burst to Alphy and included an image of the radiation scan results. Now it was up to the boss.
She could see the asteroid in the distance. Small ships took up protective positions, and then, a compromise was reached. Until they could find a solution for her exposure problem, she was safe.
That night, she sat with Doros in the shuttle bay and looked through the energy curtain that kept space from getting in. “So, I just get clothing on after four years, and I still have an exposure problem.”
He spluttered on his meal. “That is funny. I had no idea you were such a wit while you were bobbing like a pencil in the ocean.”
“Yes, well, there is a physical element to my comedy. I radiate good humour.”
He chuckled again.
She groaned and stretched out her legs. “I just take one step forward and get slammed back to the beginning. This is getting weird.”
“Weird? You can send the Splice running with the sound of your laughter. That is a skill that needs to be harnessed.”
“It only works when I can use their ship’s systems to augment the effect. It creates a very painful, somewhat piercing note that reaches into their brainstem. They don’t like that. Humans have one, too, but I don’t want to mention it. Folks get touchy about stuff like that.”
“You can replicate that signal?”
“Of course.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. Not a lot of folks know. Heck, I just figured it out last week while I was in the data stream. I ran it through some database searches from Alphy’s files, and yeah, there were definitely experiments on the note to break sanity.”
“Is that what you do to the Splice?”
“I twist their sanity a bit. I make them see their friends as enemies.”
He paused and asked, “So, you fired at their vessel?”
“They were calling for reinforcements.”
“Ah. That explained it. I confess, I had no idea that there were weapons systems on the array.”
“The Splice installed them before I arrived, but since I never used them, I am guessing that they didn’t think I knew about them.”
“You didn’t use them before?”
She smiled. It was fun to smile with her face instead of forcing it into her voice. “I wanted to save the use of the weapons until I had a chance to survive the experience.”
“You know they are going to come in force now.”
“I do. I had really hoped to be on my way at this point, but I guess I shot off too early.”
She got a ping and a rapid conversation. She spun through it and couldn’t come up with a reason not to engage in it.
She got to her feet. Doros matched her. “Where are we going?”
“Alguth. They don’t have a problem with this radiation spectrum. I can use that as my base.”
He scowled. “Won’t that endanger the natives?”
“There is an entire continent that was stripped bare by the Splice. I can set up housekeeping there. Are you with me, or do you want to head back to the base?”
He grinned. “I swore to bring you back, so until you are on base, where you go, I go.”
She sighed. “Okay. Buckle up... so to speak. We are going to take a trip.”
They walked together through the array, and she went through all of her connections to her senses and found the controls she needed.
“This way.”
“Do you have the clearances to move to this place?”
She chuckled. “I have stored every Splice passcode that I have heard in the last four years. I can definitely get this thing going.”
They headed into a room in the array that she hadn’t been in before, but the lights turned on when she stepped inside.
“Oh, yes, this is what I was looking for.”
She went to the command seat, and she settled in it. “Do you know how to navigate?”
“I do, but I don’t speak Splice.”
“I can translate what you are seeing and redisplay it. Would that work?”
He turned. “How are you going to do that?”
She quirked her lips and closed her eyes. “Magic.”
She brought the engines into standby, and she spoke to Doros. “We are heading to Alguth. Time of arrival is scheduled for four days from now.”
She keyed in the destination that she wanted, and it came up on his screen.
“We need to work out the route.”
He nodded and looked at the controls. “Huh. This is more similar than I thought.”
She smiled. “You don’t say.”
She couldn’t tell any human that they had a lot in common with the Splice, but they did. Both species were parasitic in the grand scheme of things. The Splice just didn’t destroy themselves first.
He worked on the location and brought it up on the screen. “Is this it?”
“It is.”
He turned to look at her. “It is very close. Why four days?”
“I am flying a giant satellite. It is difficult, and it will be slow. We are also going to be sitting ducks as I can’t fly and use the defense systems.”
“Why not?”
“This is a communication’s array, not a tank.”
He blinked and smiled slowly. “Right. The trajectory that will take four days. Plotting it.”
She sighed and continued to work with the engines. They were reluctant to do what they were designed to do, and she was settling in for a very long trip. It was going to be snacks and bathroom breaks for the next four days or the array was going to fall into a world that was far more hostile than she was prepared for.
Alphy spoke to her. “Are you heading out?”
“In a minute. Just doing a course check.”
“Good. There are seven Splice warships in your vicinity, and they have all just begun a turn to take them to your system. Get out of there.”
“Thanks for the tip. I am heading out.” Damn. She should have been aware of it herself, but this whole thing was tangling her brain.
She checked on the information, and it was accurate, seven ships were on their way to her, and even with them running silent coms, they always neglected their interiors.
“Alphy, are you there?”
“Sure, Windy. What do you need?”
“I need someone to bring one of those lovely med units down to Alguth. If I have seven ships on my butt, there are likely to be survivors in there. Can you have a shuttle and some personnel meet me there?”
“How do you know they are carrying?”
“I heard them. They are talking about life support for the bodies. That means something that isn’t Splice is alive in there. I don’t want to blow them out of the sky knowing that someone on those ships could need help.”
“Fair enough. I will send a set of supplies out, including a med bed. It can be activated within the shuttle. Are you good to manage the equipment?”
“Pretty good. If not, I know who to call for a consult.”
Alphy chuckled. “I will try to keep the line to Stitch open.”
“Thank you. I wish I had more time to tal
k directly, but walking and talking have taken some of my digital social chatter out of my grasp.”
“I am very glad you are up. I will try to have at least one Alguth on the landing team.”
“Thanks, Alphy. You are a trooper.”
“Troop carrier at this point. We are going to try and meet you on the way.”
“Heh. Like someone nine months pregnant colliding with a brittle old lady. This is going to be a splendid run.”
Doros nodded and gave his thumbs-up.
“Okay, I am on my way. Four days to Alguth or I fall apart. Wish me cohesion.”
“Good luck, Windy.”
Windy took in a deep breath, and the array pushed forward. Forward and backward were rather obscure concepts while she was flying through space, but the screen she was staring at had her path and course corrections on it, so any way to get to Alguth was forward.
Doros came over. “I am going to watch you with the controls, and when you need a break, I am here.”
Buddy walked up. “She will not need many breaks. I will prepare her meals and feed them to her, and if she allows me, I will assist her with personal hygiene.”
Doros scowled. “I can help her.”
Windy smiled. “Let Lacey help. She has gotten me this far. I think assisting me in the lav is one step above holding my hair.”
“Lacey? The other missing member of your grouping?”
Buddy looked over at him and nodded. “Correct. I am even more messed up than Windy is, so I can’t be here in person. Sorry. I can use the bot that I sent to her and talk with her directly. I can and will help her eat and keep things as easy and clear for her as I can. Good thing I sent her extra suits.”
Doros’s face showed that he now understood he was talking to the actual Lacey and not just a program.
“Right. Well, Lacey, Doros, buckle up or get a hold of something solid, we are going for it.” Windy grinned as she shoved the array forward, and it moved so sluggishly that she winced.
Lacey laughed, and Doros snorted. “I am going to need coffee.”
Windy settled into her long trip, and she silenced the part of her that kept asking, “Are we there yet?”
Chapter Eight
Having Lacey help her was a godsend. It had been bad enough for her when Doros was tending to her, but something about Lacey in Buddy’s body was just fine. It felt normal.
The days flew by, and she kept her focus on the details of the array’s condition. Doros kept her aware of course corrections, and they focused on the journey, not the warships heading toward them.
He left to work out a lot. She guessed that their situation as sitting ducks was stressful.
Their speed had reached maximum velocity on day one, so they just had to boost a little after-course corrections to keep the pace steady.
Lacey remained next to her. “He is handling it better than I thought he would.”
“You thought he would have a problem?”
“He is interested in you, you know. You are under no obligation to reciprocate, but he does care for you. I am an intrusion.”
Windy sighed. “I know. Part of it is that I am the only available human woman he has seen in years, and part of it is his caretaker complex.”
“And part of it is that you are a genuinely strong woman with a wicked sense of humour and staggering companionship issues.”
“And no boobs. They haven’t shown up yet. I used to have a really nice rack and now... poof!”
Lacey laughed. “If that is all, that can easily be rectified.”
“Not without a high-calorie diet.”
“It still can be fixed. You are delicate, and you were paralyzed and nearly dead. Give yourself some recovery time.”
Windy huffed. “It has been weeks!”
“This kind of recovery, if it happened at all, would have taken years. Those ladies might never have gotten their boobs back.” Lacey’s voice speaking through Buddy’s body was no-nonsense.
Windy laughed. “I am sure that was their primary concern.”
“You never know.”
Windy groaned and flexed her feet. “I don’t blame him for getting fidgety. I am a little tired of being stuck on the command deck myself.”
Lacey nodded. “We are in the last twenty-four hours. You will soon be walking the surface of Alguth. It’s a nice-looking place.”
Windy looked at Buddy’s body in surprise. “You have been there?”
“I am there. I needed someplace safe while I sent myself into Buddy, and I know what parts of the continent are uninhabited.”
“So, I will see you?” Windy probably sounded as needy as she felt.
“Nope. I am going to be on my way the moment you are safe. Frankly, I have my own body issues right now that I don’t want you to worry about.”
“Like what?”
“I will explain them later. There is a lot to do to make ourselves a new home away from Earth, and I am on it.”
“You are looking at finding us a new world?”
“Well, there aren’t many of us, and we aren’t really going to breed much, so just something small where we can have a base and those who wish can still hunt the Splice.”
“I hadn’t really thought about where we would go.”
“I have given it a lot of thought, and I have a plan.”
“Have you told Alphy?”
Lacey snorted. “No. I have not. She will learn what I have ready when things are in place.”
“Sounds complicated.”
“It has been my work for the last three years. Well, that and keeping Lucky’s spirits up. She was in a messy situation at that base.”
“I remember chatting with her inside the code. She always tried to keep herself cheerful and direct when we spoke. We shared pain without saying anything.”
Lacey nodded. “She had it rough. Not particularly rougher than you, but she had a painkiller addiction that she had to keep under control. The burn was extensive.”
“So, you have been watching over us?”
Lacey turned back toward the viewscreen. “I have been keeping tabs on my only remaining family. Whatever it took to keep you all alive, I did. Now, I am working toward the future.”
“What kind of future can we have?”
“With only one exception, all of us can have children. They can have a future. Even Alphy has her genetic material in cold storage. She can have kids if she can get a surrogate.”
Windy smiled. “The Alguth would do it, but Alphy might not want one of them as the father.”
“Possibly, but there might be an Alguth on the ship who would take care of the child of two humans. They are rather attached to the ladies at the base, after all.”
Windy shook her head. “You can’t use the Alguth. When they give loyalty, they do it completely, and if it is betrayed, they will retaliate. The ladies at the base have been offered the honorific of Queen, but if they use and discard one of the Alguth in a manner that is not acceptable, the fliers won’t hesitate to take them down. Since we have turned them into effective killing machines, I would not recommend it.”
Lacey nodded. “Perhaps we can just ask them then.”
“Very nice. That should work. They consider us comrades and know about our situation. I am sure that they will do some mild negotiation and then assist us.”
“Good. Negotiation is my forte.”
“Is that what you have been doing?”
“Off and on. I have been picking up assets for us to use in the next phase of survival. I believe that I have accumulated enough to give us a head start.”
“Well, that is something. You always were good at finding out what we needed, Lacey.”
There was a chuckle from Buddy’s faceplate. “That is just a childhood habit. I always try to keep the people around me happy. Now that I have learned my childhood was deliberately crappy, I am focusing on the people who have always had my back, even if only
for a few months.”
“You mean more than just stuff to us, Lacey. You are one of the team. Don’t get me wrong. I love the outfits, but it is knowing that you are alive somewhere that is helping us deal. That moment of not knowing where everyone was, or even where I was, was beyond unsettling. I think that I actually went mad for a while.”
“I guess that you might have. I know that I did. I sought out every hint for each one of the Adaptation Station survivors. I sought them out and even Stitch in her frozen state was never out of my range of confirmation. I had to know where everyone was, and once you woke up, the presents started. It is needy behaviour, but everyone gets so happy.”
“It was a welcome distraction. We deeply appreciate what you have given us. Well, I do. Buddy was amazing, and he kept me from falling into the deep well of crazy so close under my mind’s surface.”
“It is a pretty deep well.” Lacey’s tone was bland.
“Oh, shut up.”
They giggled for a minute and then Doros returned.
“Are we still on target?”
Windy checked and nodded. “Eleven hours to Alguth.”
Doros nodded and smiled. “I am looking forward to seeing you touching grass for the first time in years.”
“I am hoping there is grass.”
Lacey nodded. “There is. It has grown back. It was one of the first sites taken by the Splice. The Alguth don’t go there. It should be fine for a temporary base.”
Doros asked, “You seem to know a lot about it. Is there a reason?”
“I have been there a time or two. The locals are friendly enough, but they won’t go inside that initial burn site. The Splice harvested and processed them on their own soil, just to test for compatibility.” Lacey’s tone was grim.
“Damn. That must have been horrible.”
Lacey shook her head. “What was horrible was what came later. They tried to bribe the Splice to leave by sacrificing the queenless city. The Splice took the offering, and then, they came for more. The demoralized population had no chance.”
Doros whispered, “Shit.”
“Yes. I am desperate to stop humanity from falling to the same fate.”
Doros snorted. “Earth would never do that. They have the shield now. They are safe.”