“Connor has a point. Even if the authorities are as useful as most on earth, we can track each other and probably mount a rescue or escape. Just don’t cause a scene.” Lekiso was also trying to calm Meriam.
Connor’s eyes flickered over to Lekiso in thanks.
He really didn’t want to start something with all the uncertainty involved, even though his current urges were firmly in the direction of stuffing this guy’s head up his ass.
“Hmmm, by general standards, this should be your breast correct?”
The Lanillan leader brought up his weirdly four-fingered hand, which looked like all thumbs, long and yellow.
Then he groped Meriam through the singlesuit. “I believe many species find this to be pleasurable…or painful?”
He gripped harder and twisted. “I hope it is both. It is a lot more fun that way.”
“He is seriously pissing me off now!” The others caught a glimpse of the pain she was in through the link. He really was trying to hurt her.
Connor clenched his fists in frustrated helplessness. “Marc?!”
“Almost there…” Marc’s eyes were flitting about in their sockets as he worked with his display. “This thing is so hard to use when you’re in a hurry!”
“Bugger that. Meriam, I’ve checked our tactical specs. These suits we are in have some kind of force field. Those pistols of theirs can’t hurt us!” Ormond stabbed into the general channel.
“Oh, hell yes!”
Meriam’s right foot left the floor, describing a graceful arc with the toe pointed out, the silvery-coated leg a blur. Limned in the sudden appearance of violet light, the whole leg became startlingly clear as her foot connected with the head of the Lanillan leader.
There, it paused for a split second before, with a sudden crack, the alien’s head was blown aside, followed by his body, which was sent flying across to the far side of the clearing.
Meriam’s body pivoted around as her leg came down with a solid thump into the metal floor plates, hard enough to create a dent, leaving her with her back to the other two thugs and an echoing silence, the only sound that of cloth and flesh on metal as their leader slid down the wall.
Ormond blinked and spoke up first in the sudden silence.
“Hey? Come again?”
Automated log update.
Subject Meriam Cleese displayed a brief surge of gravitonic manipulation at the most basic level. Recording of Gravitonics used to accelerate and harden physical action achieves approximately point fifteen percent of expected gravimetric energy output in stage 1 grades.
Success of exotic radiation process has been noted in the log with extrapolation data and actualized references to subject’s biology in file X98-118.
Also updated in this log entry are the interactions so far displayed by the subjects with the other species.
Further evidence of team cohesion and exploration is provided.
Monitoring continues.
* *
Marc’s mind was a flurry of activity as he mentally plowed through the available software in his head.
Amber alerts had begun flashing in the periphery of his vision, something about “Gravitonics Detected,” but he ignored that through the hot dagger already stabbing through his head from all the knowledge about the software he had lit up.
Through the various icons and displays he was manipulating, he saw the Lanillans raising their weapons to point at Meriam’s back.
The bastards! Was the only thought he had before Meriam was outlined in coruscating light as both weapons discharged.
The force and energy field integrated into her singlesuit, which wove the incoming energy along pre-designed patterns of diffusion currents and back out again off the surface of the suit. The science and engineering around superconductors, magnetic flow manipulation and other reasons why the shielding worked would have given him a migraine, so he ignored it and focused on the software.
The energy discharge of the weapons didn’t even ruffle her hair.
As it dissipated, she was still standing with an aurora of light beaming out around her like the goddess many men on Earth would have charismatically claimed her to be.
Then Connor and Lekiso came into Marc’s point of view. On the move, they took quick steps to either side of Meriam and engaged the Lanillans at close range.
Connor’s target managed to fire his weapon again, sending a nimbus of energy waving behind the awesomely large man as his energy field absorbed and digested the bolt. Connor drove his right fist into the abdomen of the Lanillan.
No matter what the alien’s anatomy was inside, the force of the blow still doubled him over.
With one leg straight and his arms pulled back, Connor executed a neat upwards knee thrust to the Lanillan’s chin as it came down.
Marc was startled at the force the big man was putting out as a subsection of his display registered the breaking of bones in the alien’s jaw. Another part of his mind was interested in the detail that his singlesuit could scan at close range.
Lekiso’s target raised his weapon to point it at her, and she immediately grabbed him under the hand and pushed up and around to go for a thumb lock.
The Lanillan’s fingers seemed to bend further than she was used to, though, as if the entire set were double- or even triple-jointed. She succeeded in getting the weapon to drop as the Lanillan lost his grip, but she was in no position to now hold him down.
Changing tactics, the soldier switched hand-to-hand styles and shoved her hip up into his.
She twisted around to grab his other arm and, with a neat pivot, executed a judo throw, with the Lanillan’s full weight following him down to the metal floor. A swift pull on the arm she still held and the entire heel of her foot slamming at his head left the Lanillan unconscious.
And with a cracked skull, ow, Marc read from his display.
Connor dropped his target with a left cross to the temple, leaving both of the thugs unconscious on the metal floor, with Lekiso and Connor looking around to see if the other was alright. Both gave a smile when they saw that they had succeeded at about the same time.
“Um, I’ve got station security on their way,” Marc said out loud.
He had managed to get around the blocks put in by the Lanillans during Meriam’s well-executed kick. Security had already informed him that they were on their way and had tagged the officers on the network grid.
He could track them as they came to the group.
“Um, I can see them moving through Enone Hub. From their ETA, they should be here in three minutes. I know a lot more about the software we have now. I could probably hack a lot of things.”
Lekiso was about to comment, with Marc rubbing at a sore temple, when Ormond interrupted, pointing at the body of the Lanillan that Meriam had sent flying into the far wall.
“What the hell is that thing?”
Marc looked over, along with everyone else.
At first, all he saw was the body, and he wondered what Ormond meant, and then his display highlighted the other creature in violet light. It was listed as a Parasitoid Xeno-adaptic.
His head hurt so much he didn’t get a full picture, but it looked like a centipede: many insect legs on a segmented body, with both ends capped in starfish-like organs. It would have fit like a watch around Marc’s wrist it was so small.
Marc knew instinctively that the creature had no head; both ends were equally the same organ.
The reddish-brown color of the segmented spine and legs was clearly visible on the yellow skin of the corpse even as the dull orange starfish on one end was planted onto the back of the Lanillan’s head where it bent sideways on his broken neck.
With a sickening snapping sound, the Lanillan’s head rocked from side to side, startling the five humans who were watching.
Then the body stood up, not like someone who has been knocked over, using their hands to steady themselves and bending to center their gravity. This body just stood up in one smooth motion, carrying all the body weight u
p on its legs, bending the knees and arching the feet until it stood upright, and then it settled back down on flat feet again.
It was a wholly unnatural movement for anything, and it really freaked Marc out.
“Um, do you think we can figure out how these things work?” Ormond had picked up one of the weapons from an unconscious Lanillan.
“I’m not sure we should try. It could be coded to them in some way,” Meriam said.
Marc was surprised that she said that, but she could have seen it in a movie.
“Marc, how long until security gets here?” Lekiso was keeping a wary eye on the corpse. It was upright and very still.
“Uh, they are very close now, just over sixty seconds.”
“Okay, everyone stay calm and stay back. We’ll just let the authorities handle this.” Lekiso looked over her shoulder at the others. She was closest to the standing corpse.
“Sure, boss lady. No problem.” Ormond dropped the weapon back on top of the unconscious Lanillan he was standing near.
Then Meriam screamed.
The corpse had suddenly charged toward Lekiso, and the yellow skin had sprouted small tufts of greenish feelers around the eyes, ears, and nose of the head.
The jaw was open and slack, with the tongue lolling around as if the Lanillan was a walking drunk, but the body moved with determined speed right at the African woman.
Marc fumbled with the icons of his display to try and find something that would help as Lekiso went into a low crouch, bringing her shoulder in at the waist of the Lanillan. As it charged, she pushed in and then swept upwards with both arms around its waist, and with a heave, she used the corpse’s momentum to throw it up and over her.
Somehow, though, the corpse didn’t move as expected.
It twisted around at the waist like it had no bones, pushing around itself to bring the feet of the body down to absorb the landing and entirely back to front, with the torso now facing backward.
Both of its arms were holding on to Lekiso’s arms, the head stretching out on its neck to allow the centipede-like creature to extend the starfish portion of its body out at her. The parasite moved up and stood in the Lanillan corpse’s mouth.
It looks ready to jump. Marc felt like he should piss himself.
An expression of revulsion on her face, Lekiso stretched backward to stay out of reach of the parasitic organism. As she pulled rearward, the corpse twisted at the waist to bring its feet the right way around and began to pull her back.
Connor became a shadow over both of them as his jump brought him crashing down past the corpse, his elbow out in a drop that connected with the back of the corpse’s head in a crushing blow.
The force of the big man’s weight drove the corpse down between its own arms, breaking its grip enough for Lekiso to twist free and take several steps away, putting distance between herself and the corpse.
The elbow strike didn’t seem to cause any damage, though.
The corpse twisted both arms down and to the side, brought the head up with the parasite in its mouth, still attached, and lurched at Connor instead.
With Connor backing away as fast as he could, the creature looked as if it was about to jump at him when a sizzling bolt of green fire erupted against the side of its chest. The corpse stopped for a moment, and two more bolts struck it in the chest, the fire quickly spreading to chew into the flesh with a horrible burning smell and a sizzling sound.
Another shot found its mark and toppled the corpse over onto its back.
The green fire was consuming the flesh quickly now, spreading along the arms and legs. The parasite itself made a springing leap, like a caterpillar would, arching the center of its body up and then throwing it down to propel itself off the burning corpse and onto the floor a few feet away.
If it can leap that far, it can jump and latch onto people as well. Thought Marc.
That was another scary idea confirmed for him.
Another bolt of green fire hit the floor plating right where the parasite had been a moment before. The creature was a small target at a few inches long, but it also moved fast.
Bolt after bolt went flying at it from the two Domum security members who had arrived along the walkway, emitted from large single-handed weapons they gripped in gloved fists.
The creature zigged and zagged along the floor, towards the rocks and crevices of the park, scorch marks left behind it. The Domum security were both ample examples of their species, eight feet tall and as wide as boulders.
They had dark-blue, almost black material covering them from neck to toe, with hardened patches over the shoulders, upper arms, and thighs and solid-looking boots. Each one of them also had a matte-black utility belt with empty holsters, from which they had drawn their weapons.
One of the security guards let out a yell of triumph when he finally hit the parasite just before it was about to disappear down a crack in the rock. It sounded something like the blurt of a bull.
He, and it was a he according to Marc’s display, then spoke to the humans.
“Step back, please. We must deal with the corpse properly.”
His companion moved closer.
Pressing a button on the side of his weapon, he then pointed the device at the smoldering body and squeezed the trigger. This time, green flame spewed out in a jet like it was some kind of flamethrower, the body reacted as if stung, jumping from elbow to elbow and trying to get up again even as the muscle it needed vaporized.
Marc considered the various alien themed horror possibilities. The corpse did not need the parasite after it got up?
The security guard generously sprayed fire over the corpse, setting it alight and continuing to feed the fire until the body was consumed.
Marc thought the smell and the sound were ghastly. Covering his mouth and nose so he wouldn’t gag, he saw that Meriam did the same and Connor was looking pale. Lekiso and Ormond grimaced at the sight and the smell but otherwise seemed in control of their stomachs.
The security guard who had spoken came over and asked them, “Would you mind explaining what happened here?”
* *
Ormond looked out at the passing Puzzle Box buildings.
Those close by went past quickly as the group traveled down the magnetic carriageway, while the ones further back passed more slowly.
It’s like traveling on a train, he thought.
The massive chunks of broken planetoids and rock in the distance stayed still. Only lights in front of them showed the presence of buildings too far away to see with the naked eye. Of course, it was quite something that they were traveling about four hundred thousand miles to the command center in as little as a quarter of an hour.
When the Domum security had insisted that the humans go with them to meet the station commander for a word, there had been no reason to argue, especially since the commander was going to explain the legal process now that they had killed another living being.
Even with the evidence of the video recorded by Marc of the Lanillans’ actions, the Domums had insisted that the commander had instructed them to bring the five humans to meet him.
Ormond wasn’t much for the trip since these authorities seemed the same as every other stuck-up set he had dealt with. But the others agreed that being diplomatic would serve them best, and since Ormond didn’t have any other option, he didn’t argue.
So, they had been escorted down Enone Hub to one of the magnetic carriageway connections and loaded onto one of the carriages. Seeing the square box with its transparent walls and a three foot round sphere on each corner just floating above the rails brought a host of information into Ormond’s brain.
The magnetic carriageway was, in essence, a simple concept.
The spheres on the carriage would be repelled by the electromagnets in the walls of the boarding area, suspending the carriage in the air. The magnetic field would then be angled to push more on the back of the carriage and less on the front, pushing the carriage forwards by the spheres, where t
he next set of electromagnets in line would attract it.
Each set would then repeat the sequence of change from weak to strong repulsion, with the furthest set being attraction, and the carriage would then move onwards.
To speed up the effect of the magnetic field was a simple case of changing the flow of current, that changed the pulsed attraction and repulsion, which operated at the speed of electricity.
The changeover of the electromagnets just had to be kept in line with the acceleration that the carriage was able to handle along its length. Then the velocity management, all of which was quickly processed by the computing behind the magnetic carriage loops.
The lack of friction once the carriages exited an atmosphere like the one in the Enone Hub and entered the vacuum of the carriageway played a part too. With enough power and fast enough computers, the system was safe and easy to manage at high speed.
The Domum Manors had designed magnetic carriages a long time ago, and with the design improvements, it could be manufactured quickly. With the limitless and clean energy they had made it for, it was an easy-to-maintain transportation system.
That was why there were millions of large rings with concentrically smaller rings spaced equidistantly apart in sequence through the network that made up the puzzle box. They were necessarily tunnels or subways through space.
With a modification on the technology of the gravity plating, the internal effect of inertia was taken care of; otherwise, the occupants would be pasted to the opposite wall when the carriages accelerated to almost twenty-seven thousand miles an hour in the space of a few rings.
Ormond’s memory implants also had information on how the cargo carriages could move faster because the inertial management margin of organic compared to inorganic matter was so different, but by that point, he had started to ignore the extra information, although there was one thing he was curious about.
“Hey, Marc,” he asked over the private channel.
With the two guards in the carriage, he thought it best to stay silent and not give anything away, old training.
“Where do they get all the power for this technology from? Something like anti-matter like in the movies?”
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