by A. R. Knight
Plake shakes her head. Sax doesn’t know either, but Bas gives a low hiss and they turn her way.
“It’s all vanity,” Bas says. “The Amigga built species to solve other problems, so why not this one too?”
“That’s a lot of trouble to go through for pride,” Agra-Red says.
No one disputes that, and nobody knows otherwise, so Sax turns the conversation to ribbing the Whelk and Vyphen for failing to catch a worm of their own.
“We can help you with that tomorrow,” Sax finally says, once he’s earned steady glares. “We found a whole nest. Even you two should be able to catch one there.”
“A whole nest?” Plake says, and the way she turns her head towards Agra-Red has Sax reading layers into the words.
“Might be enough,” Agra-Red replies. “I’ve never tried with a glimmer worm. Might just explode.”
“What?” Bas and Sax hiss at the same time.
Agra-Red jiggles its loose, gel-like skin. “I’m a Whelk. What I’ve got for organs float around in mostly water. If we can get a glimmer worm out of the tunnel without them collecting it, I should be able to pass its current along into the gate, short it out.”
“Couldn’t any one of us do that?” Bas asks. “We’re all organic.”
“Yeah, if you want to dilute the current,” Agra-Red replies. “I’ve done it before, to help jump start machines on the Mobius.”
“And it doesn’t kill you?” Sax says.
“Stings a bit,” Agra-Red laughs. “There’s a theory Whelks came around because of lightning strikes hit the wrong puddle. Stick us into a power source and we’ll pass the energy through like a wire.”
The Whelk’s plan, though, requires them to get a glimmer worm out of the caverns without getting detected. Given the worms are well over a meter long, that’s going to be a trick in and of itself.
“We’ll cause a diversion,” Sax hisses. “They’re already scared of me - they won’t look away if I start showing some claw.”
Nobody objects, though Bas gives Sax an eye roll. She knows as well as he does that Sax wants the chance to slice a bit, bite a bit. He knows she wants the same, even if she won’t admit it.
21 Reunion
“I need you to stay here,” I tell T’Oli as I turn back from the windows.
The Ooblot’s twin stalks look back at me. It’s unnerving that there’s no expression, no face to read on the slime creature, so after a second I start the walk towards the other side of the room, towards the lift shaft leading down.
“You’re going to need weapons, you know,” the Ooblot says to my back.
“I’ll find some,” I reply. The Sevora took the gear I had on Vimelia, and while I’m still in my mask, I’m not foolish enough to think I can do what needs doing with my hands.
“Why don’t we start with these?” T’Oli oozes over to me, goes up along my arm and hardens itself into a blade again, and points with its eyestalks towards one of the tables.
With three quick slashes, I cut apart one of the legs and slice the rounded end to turn it into a jagged point. I make a second one, and then set the pair of makeshift short spears into my mask, where they hang as though I’d set them into glue.
“You’ll keep her safe?” I say to T’Oli as I head to the shaft, armed and slightly dangerous.
“An Ooblot’s not going to stop much by itself,” T’Oli replies.
“Keep her alive till she wakes up, then come find me.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Lan and Gar are the only things on this ship that can stop the Sevora,” I reply. “I’m going to rescue them.”
“A suicide mission? Clarity’s Dawn had plenty of martyrs. They never accomplished what they wanted.”
I quirk a smile. “It’s my fault we’re in this. I told Lan to let the Sevora on the shuttle. I have to try.”
“Or we could try and make it back to the shuttle,” T’Oli says.
“You and I both know that’s where they’ll think we’re going.”
Ooblots can’t sigh - that I know of - but the puttering pops that come from T’Oli then seem awfully close to it. “Then do yourself a favor and stay alive. The galaxy is much more fun with you humans in it.”
Going down the shaft is easier than climbing up - I hang from the edge, then push off into a roll, just like dropping from a jungle tree, though the floor here is harder than the leafy dirt I’m used to. My haphazard spears scratch against the tiles too, something to note if I’m trying to be quiet.
From there it’s back into the dim dark entertainment section, where I spend my time slinking back towards the ring gateway. There’s still no sign of the Sevora in here, and I’m surprised that Ignos and the others think I’m so little threat as to not warrant even a couple Flaum.
But then, Ignos has been around humans. Its been inside my head. If anything can judge how dangerous I am, it’s the Sevora.
So I try not to take the lack of interest personally as I make it to the gateway, which is shut. I try to do what Ignos did and walk over to a black nub. Ignos had stared into it from Malo’s eye, and I try to do the same, but get no response. There’s no panel in sight either, which means I’m stuck.
No, it means I have to look for another way in.
I retrace my steps quick - behind me, there’s the entertainment district. Then the empty and even creepier residential area. Following both of those is the docking bay. That last is the only place I’m sure the Sevora won’t leave me alone - if I get to the shuttle and toss a message out to Kolas and the Vincere, their new civilization is going to end quick.
Now, I’ve never sent a message through space, but Ignos wouldn’t know that.
I backtrack, my boots treading soft on the metal. Alone, the entertainment district goes from being a curiosity to a cavern of shadows. The emptiness takes on an ominous tone, and the faint whir of electronics bustling beneath the surface permeates everything, a continual whine that sets me on edge. What I wouldn’t give for a singing bird or a rippling breeze through some trees.
What I wouldn’t give for a bite of food too - I haven’t had anything to eat since before our assault on Vimelia, and my stomach’s considering that an emergency on par with being a solo insurgent on a seed ship.
The gateway on the other side of the entertainment district is open. There’s a black nub here, on the right side, so I don’t think it’s a different setup than the ring-ward door. Both of them opened when I came through with the Sevora, so if only one is open now...
The Sevora are setting a trap.
I quickstep to the side of the gateway and peer through back into the residential district. While it’s not a bright oasis, there’s been a change since I was last here: the lights along the avenues and in some of the buildings are glowing, and they’re casting a green-blue glow through the space. Doorways into those same buildings, dark and closed when we first went through here, now stand open, beckoning to soft-lit interiors full of screens.
What I don’t see are any threats - no Flaum, no Whelk, nothing. So I take a cautious step through. The glow of a building to my immediate right, a five-story sloping affair that looks like a mountainside turned domicile, draws me towards its orange fluorescence. It’s not the flickering fires of home I’m seeing through its jagged, curled entrance, but the similarity is enough that I can’t resist going closer, holding my short spears at the ready.
There’s a whistling bang from behind and I whirl, jabbing at air. Nothing there. Except, I notice, the gateway. It’s shut.
I have no way back.
For the gateway to close now seems too suspicious to be coincidence. I turn back to the gravelly building, but instead of fascination, I hunt for traps, tricks, eyes in the dark. A vice holds every nerve.
Breathe, Kaishi. You’d be dead already if they wanted you that way. You’ve made it this far - beyond the skies of your own home, on a ship of an alien species, one of whom has taken over the mind of the man who took you on this journey
to begin with, a man you’re realizing you...
It’s all too impossible to be scared.
But I can’t let that distract me.
The deep breath does help. As does my grip on the spears, the light feel of the mask on my skin. I’m way beyond what I know, but I’m an Empress. I’ve survived this long.
When I walk through the archway into the building’s entrance, I see the imitation fires burning in glass cages dangling from a close ceiling. Their source, rather than dried wood or brush, are little discs set in the bottom of the cages, and their gouts of sporadic orange and red glint through the enclosing prisms to dance along the walls.
I say walls, but as soon as I recognize them as such, as soon as I step into the middle of the entrance, they shift, fading from the rocky brown to a deep blue that draws in the fake-fire light. In large, block letters, a question appears:
What is your name?
I stare at the image. What is my name? What kind of question is that?
“Are you going to answer it?”
Ignos’ words have the telltale verve of a transmission, a wired tone that says the sound isn’t entirely natural. It’s a twisted version of Malo’s voice and I hate it. There’s nobody in the room, though. Ignos must be watching me - from outside my mind this time.
“Kaishi, you have to play along.”
There’s no nub to look at. No direction I ought to stare. Only the screen. Only those words.
“I will not play.”
The screen doesn’t change. Ignos doesn’t appear out of some hidden door. But there’s a hint, a whisper of a sigh making its way through the magical channels that tie Ignos’ voice to my ears.
“Kaishi, we are closing in around you at this very moment. Even if Malo or those Oratus gave you enough training to evade us, I’ll seal you in this section. This ship is huge. You’ll starve before we need to think about opening it up.”
The door I came through is still shut, so if those Sevora are coming, they’re not here yet. There’s no other way out of this chamber, though. Only the blue screens. Ignos is calling it right - I don’t have much leverage.
“Then what’s the point?”
“The point? Kaishi. The point is you. Imagine what might happen if we sent a seed back to Earth with you inside of it? How simple it would be to take humanity at a single stroke? You and I had nearly completed the birthing pools in Damantum. We could finish what we started.”
Insults die in my mouth along with defiant proclamations. Those won’t do any good here.
“You still want to take humanity?” I stay in the middle of the room, my short spears ready.
“All species, Kaishi. All of them ought to have the chance to join the Sevora,” Ignos replies. “Look at Malo. He lives because I allow him to. Without the Sevora, he would have died in that spaceport, where you left him.”
“You caused all of that.”
“Because you would not open your eyes. Now choose Kaishi. We want to come in. Nasiya and Jel, they do not trust you. I do. I know you’ll see. Let the Sevora into your world, and your people will never lack for miracles. They will survive whatever evils the Chorus designs for them. Humanity will prosper.”
I point my spears to the floor. Let them hang loose in my hands and give the door a slight nod. My shoulders slump, and I take a deep, hanging breath as my eyes close.
The door shunts open, and standing there is Malo, is Ignos, and my warrior-champion is flanked by a pair of Flaum holding miners. They’re straight, quiet. Resolute in the way of total Sevora control.
Ignos walks into the chamber, Malo’s arms reaching for the spears, and the two Flaum come behind. Malo’s eyes are a defiant blue, even as the rest of him is still gaunt, starved and weak. Somewhere behind those irises is my friend. I left him behind once. I will not do so again.
“Humanity will be free,” I whisper.
Ignos cocks Malo’s head, and I move. My right short spear carries with my lunge, sweeping up even as I duck under the snap-quick turn of the Flaum’s miner. When it fires, the Flaum’s shot scores over my head. My short-spear does not go beneath its stomach.
Ignos, with Malo’s body between me and its second guard, grabs at my left arm. Rather than trying to fight the pull, I let go of my short spear, let Ignos stumble back with its own strength. The Sevora clears the line for its ally, just as I brace and swing, with my right short spear, pulling the Flaum stuck on it to the left. It’s body blocks the second miner flash, which fills the air with the stinging scent of burning fur.
The seed ship’s lower gravity helps me push my Flaum shield forward, and the Sevora host takes another pair of miner hits to the back before I crash into the shooter. Before I drive my spear through one victim and into a second.
Before my own gets driven into me.
It’s a numbing lance, a sudden wrongness in my back. There’s pain, yes, but it’s white-cold with shock. Ignos drives me forward with the attack, helping me impale the two Flaum and driving us against the wall. Warmth doubles up with the chill, and it feels as though my stomach is leaking, spreading itself around me.
The mask isn’t made to stop short spears.
Ignos withdraws the weapon and the three of us, the two silent Flaum and I, collapse on each other. The burned fur of my first one brushes my face - a desert yellow color, though now spotted with red. It is, though, the first soft, comfortable thing I’ve felt in a very, very long time. I could almost sleep...
“Stop it,” Ignos says behind me. “Quit fighting.”
No. I blink. No.
I hear Ignos backpedal. “We know your species. I am your mind.”
Ignos is... my mind?
The question cuts through the pain’s haze. The Sevora and its host are leaning back against one of the flames, still holding my short spear, its dark metal glistening with red wet. Malo’s cerulean eyes see mine, and even from across the room, I know them.
I left Malo behind once. I will not do so again.
My fingers find the miner, pry it free. It hurts, it tears to turn myself, but I need the shot.
“Hey,” I say, and my voice doesn’t sound like me. It’s soupy, strange and thick and it runs down my lips.
Malo looks at me. Ignos grips the spear, opens its mouth..
“Do it,” Malo says to me.
I pull the trigger.
22 Break
The journey to and from the nest the next day goes smooth, though Sax enjoys the jaw-dropping awe that comes over Plake and Agra-Red when they come to the glowing ball of lightning swirling in the back of the cavern. The nest has grown overnight too - there’s a dozen or more of the glimmer worms here now.
Sax and Bas take one, reaching in and pulling it out from the swarm, then hand the limp worm to the Whelk and Vyphen. They take a second for themselves.
“Look at this, the Oratus find the treasure,” says a voice from behind them, a squeaky, old one that belongs to the elder Teven from the yard. The creature’s not alone, though; there’s a pack of Flaum, Whelk, and others crammed behind him. “Told all of you it’d be smart to follow these two. The Amigga didn’t fool around when they made Oratus. Not at all.”
A moment hangs while both parties, the four and the two dozen, decide what happens next. With no weapons between them, it’d be a trivial exercise for Sax and Bas to rend their way through all the prisoners. What benefit, though, would such a massacre serve?
“We have an offer for you,” Bas strikes first, and when she lays out the terms and conditions, there’s not a single dissent from the bedraggled crowd.
The offer, though, requires the two Oratus to lead the flash-blue train of worm holders up to the cavern’s front. At first, the half-dozen Flaum guarding the cargo skiff are shocked when the worms begin to appear, then, when every pair of emerging prisoners comes out carrying another, they get suspicious.
So Sax makes his move.
The Flaum guards are watching the next batch unload their worms into a suddenly-packed cargo sk
iff when Sax steps up behind them, takes his claws, and taps two of the guards on their shoulders. They turn, and start to stumble back at the sight of him, when Sax tightens his grip on their shoulder pads. With his foreclaws, Sax slams each of the Flaum against each other, mashing their miners and helmeted heads together and dropping them, limp and unconscious, to the ground.
This gets the attention of the other guards, who, launching into chittering alarm, start to bring their miners to bear on Sax. The Oratus is already moving to the next pair, while Bas, who’s positioned herself behind the two closest to the cargo skiff - and farthest from Sax - neutralizes her targets.
The prisoners break into their own part of the play, lunging forward and grabbing at their oppressor’s miners. A pair of Teven jump onto the cargo skiff and knock off the pilot, smothering the shrieking Flaum to the ground, where a stunning blue flash numbs it a moment later.
A bellowing horn rolls through the courtyard as the resistance expands, and the far gate leading to the landing pad shunts open a moment later, with another dozen armed Flaum pouring out of it and into the yard.
And everything goes wrong.
There’s no warning from the Amigga, no call to surrender - the Flaum guards simply advance beyond the gate and begin firing. The bolts aren’t blue either, but the burning, killing red. Flaum, Teven, Whelk begin to drop as they’re struck.
Sax reacts with instinct. Before, he’d been trying to keep Chorus Flaum alive in hopes they would change their sides. Now, the stakes are mortal. Preserving life means taking it.
While some of the prisoners who’ve taken miners from downed guards take scattered shots back, the Oratus goes for a direct route; he takes two long lunges towards Bas, who kneels, sets her midclaws, then catches Sax as he jumps. The boost gets the Oratus high enough to catch the top of a heat stick.
Oratus are huge creatures, tall and heavy with endless cords of muscle beneath their scales. When Sax slams into the top of the heat stick, it bends, breaks and sends Sax riding back towards the ground. What the heat stick also does is blow bright, a shockwave of compressed light and energy suddenly loosed on the yard.