by Craig Allen
“Check your HUD,” Deveau said. “Magnetic spectrum’s going crazy again.”
The magnetic waves emanated outward from the beetles. Abruptly, the waves stopped, only to be replaced by another set of waves coming from the bat creature hovering over the beetles. The short burst of magnetism lasted a few seconds. The flying creature’s snort was followed by a collective screech from the beetles. The bats rose into the air more quickly than any animal that size could manage on Earth. It gained altitude quickly, and then opened up its parachute body. Behind it, several more creatures did the same, forming up behind the first. The prevailing winds carried them away.
“What were they doing?” Anne asked. “They couldn’t be—”
“Talking to each other?” Cody nodded. “I think that’s exactly what they were doing.”
“Like I said, they’re smart,” Bodin said.
“Then those bats are smart, too,” Sonja said.
“A predator species communicating with prey,” Cody said. “Or what looks like prey, anyway. I wonder why?”
“Maybe those beetles are too small to catch,” Anne said. “I’m sure those bats prefer a main course.”
“Like us,” Deveau said. “That raises some points I don’t even want to think about.”
“Intelligent predators,” Sonja said. “They’re larger than we are, faster, and more aggressive.”
“I hope they’re the only ones,” Anne said.
Cody smiled at her. The creatures that had infiltrated the Spinoza had doused the optical readers as they burrowed deeper into the ship as if they had known what they were. He let his smile fade. The odds of landing in an area inhabited by three potentially sentient species were rather remote, and yet…
“Well, shit.” Bodin gestured outside. The beetles had disappeared.
Cody examined the area with the magnifier on his HUD. No trace of them remained.
“I think I liked it better knowing where they were,” Anne said.
Cody could only nod in agreement.
~~~
Cody leaned against the cave wall. The impact gel, soft in its inert state, made the hard cave floor more bearable. It wasn’t quite like sleeping on a stack of pillows, but better than camping. Still, he hadn’t slept well. He started to rub his forehead where his wound had been, but his hand bumped his helmet. He did an examination via his suit, scanning the wound. The skin patch had meshed with the open gash, becoming part of his skin as though it had never been there.
Night fell quickly, the daylight winking out over the course of a few minutes. It rained again, filling rivers and ponds, and then half an hour later, the water was gone again. The stars shined brighter than they ever did on Earth. The world orbited closer to the galactic center than Earth did, sitting just on the edge of the habitable ring of the galaxy. If it were a few light years closer, galactic radiation would have sterilized this world. Perhaps bacteria could exist on such a world, but little else.
A bright diffuse spot rose over the horizon just outside the cave entrance. The light was too dispersed to come from the planet’s moon. It had to be from the globular cluster two light years away. A thousand stars sat within a cube two light years across, and that cluster lit up the night sky as brightly as the Earth’s single moon.
“We’ll see her again,” Anne said.
Cody turned. “Excuse me?”
She pointed at the cluster. It took a moment for Cody to remember. A hundred light years beyond that tightly packed collection of stars was Earth. “I hope so.”
They sat quietly for a while. Finally, Anne spoke. “Doc, why do they call you Doc anyway?”
Cody smiled. “I have degrees in history and anthropology.”
“Oh. Did you get those before or after orbital dropping?”
“After. I got bored with dropping and wanted a change.”
“Bored? It sounds like one of the more exciting things.” She laughed. “Shit, you really nailed Honolulu.”
He shrugged. “Missed Everest, though.”
“Everyone misses now and then. You’re dropping from Earth’s orbital ring, surfing on the atmosphere, and then skydiving onto a one-meter square.”
Cody narrowed his eyes at her. “Aren’t you kind of young to remember that?” She was young, probably in her early twenties. Rejuv made everyone look young, so it wasn’t always easy to tell a person’s age. But from the way she spoke and acted, he suspected she actually was young instead of simply looking it.
She shrugged, but it wasn’t very noticeable inside her enviro-suit. “My old man was a fan. I watched you a lot when I was a kid.” She grinned. “I was there at Honolulu.”
“No kidding?”
“I’d never seen anything like it.” She held up her hands, forming a square with her index fingers and thumbs. “I remember they had those virtual screens above the drop zone, all of them focused on you as you skated through the air. I wanted to do it myself, but here I am.”
“You still can, you know.”
“I guess so, maybe when I muster out.” She nodded at him. “So why’d you get out of it.”
Cody chewed on his lip for a minute before answering. “I quit dropping when the war started. I got involved in a civilian industry and found I had a knack for finding patterns in code. They put me on Project Rosetta.”
“You figured out the Spican neural language.”
Cody shook his head. “Not alone. There was a whole team of us. We all worked on it, and we solved it together. Just in time to use it on the Spican home world when they surrendered.”
Anne gestured at him. “So why didn’t you go back to it?”
“After the war, I didn’t want to do anything like that again. No dropping, no math.” Cody closed his eyes for a moment. “I was in the middle of a drop when the Spicans first hit the outer colonies. I found out about it after I landed.”
“So you just quit?”
Cody nodded. “After the war, everything changed. I guess I just wanted to move on instead of doing the same things over and over again.”
They sat for a moment, saying nothing. Cody reached up to rub his eyes. His hand smacked his helmet.
Anne snickered. “Old habits. The suit’s nanos keep any debris out of your eyes and air passages, but it still took me weeks to keep from rubbing my eyes. Especially when I was tired.”
“Well, I can’t sleep anyway,” Cody said.
“Me neither.” Her breath came out ragged. “I don’t think I’ll sleep until we’re off this rock.”
“Someone has to keep watch, right?”
Anne smiled. “Good excuse, except the suit will detect movement up to a hundred meters.” She ran her hands through the air as she scrolled through her suit’s menus. “Even in this place. Christ, you can’t believe how much metallic ore there is around here.”
“This world is rich with it,” Cody said. “It explains the magnetic fields. I guess it also explains the creatures of this world, too.”
“What do you mean?”
Cody gestured outside. “Those beetles are shiny. The heavy metals in the soil have probably gotten into their diet. Their bodies make use of those materials and create an outer shell.”
“Armored bug,” Anne said. “Good defense.”
“Not just that,” Cody said. “I have a theory. Remember when they all froze at once when I showed them the light display? It’s possible they have a communal intelligence.”
“You think they’re actually smart?”
“As a collective, yes. Each is a piece of a whole. When they solved the problem I presented them, they may have done so by sharing their individual intellectual ability with each other, as if they were networking.”
“So how do they do that?” Anne asked.
“Magnetic waves.” Cody gestured around him. “Remember that flying creature outside? I bet the beetles used the cave as an antenna and summoned the bat. Then, while they were communing with it, or whatever, magnetic readings increased from both the bat and
the beetles. I’m guessing they communicate with magnetic waves. Not just with other creatures, but they create a shared intelligence through those waves. The group acts as one.” He raised an eyebrow. “It’s fascinating, really.”
“Be even better if people weren’t dying.” Bodin’s voice through the comm was barely a whisper. He leaned against the wall at the back of the cave.
“I agree,” Cody said after a moment. “I’m not forgetting that.”
“Had me fooled,” Bodin said.
“With all due respect, Jim was nicer to me than anyone. I’m angry he’s gone, but I’m not angry with them.” Cody pointed outside the cave. “It wouldn’t do any good. They’re just animals.”
“Those bugs are smart enough to figure out your test,” Bodin said. “Why not those things that killed Jim?”
Cody wondered how long Bodin had been listening to their conversation. “A chimpanzee is smart. So is a cat. But they’re still just animals. Being mad at animals for killing our friends would be the same as being angry at a rock that smashes your foot. It’s just a rock.”
“Maybe.” Bodin shifted his position.
“They’re in a better place,” Anne said.
Cody looked at her. “What’s that?”
“Jim,” she said, “and everyone else.”
“Didn’t know you were religious,” Cody said.
“Everybody’s religious in combat,” Bodin said. “Everybody.”
“Including you?” Cody asked.
Bodin didn’t answer.
Cody pressed the issue. “You know, we’re not in combat right now.”
“We sure as hell are,” Bodin said. “You forget that shit, and you’ll end up dead.” He sniffed. “It’s us or them.”
“That’s a terrible way to live,” Cody said.
Bodin nodded slowly. “Yes, it is.”
Cody frowned. “I’m not sure I could live like that.”
“Start learning,” Sonja said.
Cody wondered how long she had been listening. “Did we wake you?”
“You kidding?” Sonja said. “I’m with Salyard. I’m not sleeping until we get the hell off this rock.”
“What did you mean by ‘start learning’?” Cody asked. “Do we have to kill them?”
“As opposed to what?” Sonja said. “Talking to them?”
“Yes, if it’s possible,” Cody said. “But killing them? Isn’t that what you guys do?”
Bodin leaned forward. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
Cody grimaced. “I didn’t mean it like that.” He tried to find a way to say it without sounding insulting. “This is something I’ve never done before. I’ve never had to learn it.” He gestured at everyone present. “If all of you were doctors, would you want me on your operating team?”
Anne shrugged. “This is a bit different.”
“Is it?” Cody said. “You train for this. You train hard. I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
Sonja sighed. “Look, Doc, no one said we needed you to turn into a marine overnight. What we need you to do is cover our backs when we need you to. When I say so, you pull that out”—she pointed to the coil pistol at Cody’s side—“and start pulling the trigger at the monsters.”
“And make sure you don’t shoot your foot off.” Deveau jabbed his thumb at himself. “Or mine.”
“I guess none of us can sleep,” Anne said.
“Oh, I was sleeping.” Deveau yawned. “You guys just talk too much.”
“Sorry, Corporal,” Anne said. “We just… what the hell?”
Anne rose slowly, pointing her coil rifle at Deveau. He stared at her, his eyebrows raised. “You want to explain yourself, Private?”
She waved her rifle at him. “Move back. Real slow.”
Sonja cocked her head. “Do what she says.” She got to her feet, waving him aside.
Deveau inched to the side. He turned at where Anne was pointing her rifle, and he jumped away from the wall. “What the shit?”
Deveau brought up his rifle, and so did Bodin. Against the wall rested a beetle. It was bigger than the others, maybe three times as big. It sat perfectly still, even after Deveau jumped away.
Deveau stared at it, gesturing with his rifle. “What was it doing there?”
“Got me.” Bodin inched toward it, keeping his rifle ready. When he was near it, he prodded at it with the barrel. At the first nudge, the beetle tumbled on to its side, clinking on the stone floor. Its pinkish underside hung low like an empty balloon. Not even a leg twitched.
“So it crawled under me and died?” Deveau lowered his rifle, as did everyone else. “What the fuck for?”
“Corporal,” Sonja said. “Why don’t you take a step back. In fact, why don’t all of you take a step back.” She gestured toward the back of the cave with her rifle.
Beetles appeared near the rear of the cave, emerging from one of the many tunnels. Then they ambled forward, moving much more slowly than they had before. Almost marching, they crawled along the floors and the walls as they waddled toward the larger beetle. Those on the walls held on with their tiny arm on top of their bodies, grabbing hold and dragging themselves up and locking their legs in place until they could get another foothold. They did this with the grace of any insect on Earth.
The beetles gathered around the corpse of the larger beetle, surrounding it in nearly perfect circles that overlapped the surrounding rocks. When there was no more room to form circles, they rested on top of one another, stacking themselves nearly a quarter meter high. They sat unmoving in their circles, staring—at least, Cody assumed they were staring in their own eyeless way—at the larger beetle. After a moment, the cave hummed. Cody’s suit monitors lit up as magnetic waves filled the room. The ore in the walls vibrated gently.
At last, the humming stopped. One by one, the beetles moved toward the larger beetle. Some crawled under the corpse carefully, as if not wishing to disturb it. When enough were under the body, they lifted it. In unison, they marched the corpse outside and into the yellow sunlight. They carried the body up a small hill just outside the cave and set it down with great care. Without waiting, they turned and shambled back toward the cave.
“I guess that settles the matter of sentience,” Cody said.
“What was that thing?” Deveau asked. “Was it like their queen or something? Like ants?”
Cody shrugged. “If it is, I wonder how they’ll replace her.”
The creatures entered the cave, gathering into groups of twenty-five. Everyone took a step back, but the beetles kept their distance. They stopped about two meters short of everyone. Some remained outside, surrounding the cave entrance, but still grouped in the same manner. Inside the cave, the beetles waved their single arm-like stalks back and forth. Those outside laid their arms flat against the top of their bodies, waiting.
“What now, clue?” Bodin said.
Cody forced away his anger at the nickname. “How should I know?”
“Well, you’re the expert,” Sonja said. “What do we do?”
“I guess we could say hello,” Cody said, “if only we knew how.”
Anne shrugged and took a step forward. The beetles did nothing.
“What do you think you’re doing, Salyard?” Sonja asked.
“Saying hello,” she said, and turned to the beetles. “Hello.”
The central stalk on each creature jutted forth about half a centimeter, like tiny satellite dishes focusing on Anne.
Deveau snorted. “Maybe you should check with clue here before trying anything else.”
“You know, he has a name,” Anne said. “Could it really do you any harm to—?”
“Oh, shit.” Bodin pointed his rifle at the beetles. “You done it now.”
Several of the beetles scurried forward to within half a meter of them. They spread out across the cave, arranging themselves into lines. Others joined in until they formed lines and circles on the cave floor. The patterns they created were immediately recognizabl
e.
Bodin lowered his rifle, staring at the beetles. “Son of a bitch.”
Sonja kept her eyes on the beetles. “I guess now we know for sure they’re smart.”
Cody ignored them. Even Bodin’s language didn’t affect him. The beetles had formed distinct, unmistakable words.
We help. Follow.
Chapter Six
They walked for hours, lined up in columns of two as they had the day before. Cody managed to stay in formation this time, all while keeping his eyes on his designated sector. It was starting to become second nature. The dull pain in his legs had drifted away. Either the nanos in his body, with the help of those in his enviro-suit, had finally infiltrated his body enough to clean out the poisons his muscles produced from the exertion, or he was just plain used to it.
Cody munched on a ration bar. He had to place the bar into an aperture on his suit, which then positioned it near his mouth. When he turned his head, the bar pushed forward so he could take a bite. It didn’t taste awful, but he’d certainly had better.
Earlier, they had been walking into the rising sun. But the sun had risen above them. Cody checked the time on his HUD. Less than three hours had passed. Fast days meant the world spun a little faster than Earth did, which partially explained the awful weather.
“So what does it mean?” Anne asked. “We’re supposed to help them, or they’re going to help us?”
“You’re missing the big picture, Salyard.” Bodin gestured at the formations of beetles ahead of them, just one of many formations that surrounded them. “Where’d they learn English?”
“And how’d they learn to march in formation?” Sonja asked.
The beetles marched in tiny wedges, five in each wedge, and then five wedges gathered into a single formation. About a dozen formations circled the group as they walked. Dozens more marched ahead, behind, and to their sides, never venturing out of sight. Every hour or so, they swapped positions.
Cody adjusted his HUD to read the magnetic fields around him. They were everywhere, but the waves were strongest around the beetles, blanketing them and the area around them.