Kali's Children (Kali Trilogy Book 1)

by Craig Allen

  The grove of dish trees sat nearby. On the map, they seemed as though they were farther away.

  “Any luck?” she asked.

  “No.” Deveau connected a cable from his suit to the hopper, diverting power to the door mechanism. “Will you stop asking?”

  “Sorry, sir.”

  “It’s all right, Salyard.” He let out a small sigh. “I’m actually not used to you guys calling me ‘sir.’”

  “You could have told us before, sir.”

  “I explained that,” Deveau said. “We had civilians on—oh, forget it. This isn’t the venue.”

  “Venue, sir?”

  “Yeah, it… never mind.”

  Anne reached for one of the black vines draped across the hopper. It wasn’t red like everything else. Cody had said the reddish color was due to an alternate form of chlorophyll. She pulled gently at a leaf, which had a shape between a pentagon and a circle. It came away in her hand and disintegrated.

  “It’s dead.” Anne looked over the entire hopper. “They’re all dead.”

  “Then we are a go for destroying the hopper.” Deveau grunted, and then a soft, metallic clack came from just under the hopper. “Ah, there we go.” The poly-alloy door inched open without a sound. “I’m going in.”

  Deveau’s camouflaged form slinked inside, and the door closed behind him. Anne checked their six. The only thing behind her was the rising sun. Its glare kept anyone in the village from seeing her and Deveau, but it also kept her from seeing anything farther east. She checked her motion sensors again. There was some movement in the village, but nothing more to indicate they’d been spotted.

  On her shoulder, two of the beetles had crawled out of her pack. They seemed to be peering inside her helmet, even though they had nothing resembling eyes. “You guys okay in there?”

  They bounced up and down in a little dance that Anne had associated with meaning yes.

  “Good. Now get back inside before someone sees you.” They complied immediately.

  She looked at the bare ground around her. The suit camouflaged them, but their footprints were still present. She hoped nothing around them would figure it out before the hopper went up in smoke. Their tracks intermixed with hundreds of tiny craters, as if something had once been in the ground beneath her feet.

  “Major, we may have a problem.”

  ~~~

  Cody closed the glossary on his HUD, still trying to figure out what CEOI meant. He scanned the area. It took him a moment to notice what was wrong. “Guys, I don’t see the reeds around the hopper anymore.”

  “Well, shit,” Bodin said.

  Cody’s HUD showed him and Sonja standing near the hill on the north, where the Kali was buried. They kept low, remaining perfectly still. “Hope nobody notices that.”

  Anne’s voice rose in pitch. “Major, I think we should hurry.”

  “Understood, Salyard. Stand by.” After a moment, the door opened slightly then shut again. Deveau swore. “The batteries are gone. Stripped out. The fusion plant is also gone. But it looks like it was removed, not torn out.”

  “Who removed it?” Cody asked.

  “Survivors, obviously,” Deveau said. “It doesn’t matter now. Salyard, hand me a cherry.”

  Cody watched the view from Anne’s optic as she handed him the grenade. Technically, it was a tiny fusion bomb. Plasma bombarded a tritium reservoir, creating a miniature thermonuclear detonation. Deveau twisted the top, and a small holographic spiral appeared, indicating it was live. He released the button, and the holo spiral started to shrink. Deveau tossed it inside the hopper. Both he and Anne turned and ran like hell. Deveau’s voice was calm, as if he had just lit a birthday candle. “Fire in the hole.”

  Seconds later, the hopper exploded. The force didn’t just burst from the hatches. The entire hopper went up in a ball of fire, stretching a good ten meters above where the hopper had been. Debris rocketed into the air then rained down on the village below, some of it into the slave pen area. The shockwave rolled over Cody. The red reeds, even those visible in the distance, had completely disappeared.

  “Goddamn it.” Deveau’s optic view turned and faced the village as debris rained down on it. “That was bigger than I wanted. Structural integrity must’ve been shot to hell. We’re heading south to objective three.”

  “Roger that, Major.” Sonja’s voice held steady. “Cody, confirm what I’m seeing.”

  Cody’s mouth fell open. Toads poured out of the opening in the northern hill, so packed together that they almost stepped on one another. “Looks like an ant hill.”

  “I’ll take that as confirmation,” Sonja said.

  The behemoths swayed, trumpeting a high-pitched cry. The riders pulled at the hairs along the behemoths’ backs, pushing them forward. Those closest to the hopper lumbered west toward the pits and away from the toads that had gathered on the eastern edge of the camp. They wove their way around the pits. Two more marched toward the hills, right toward Bodin and Sonja’s position. If the blast hurt any of them, they didn’t show it.

  “Gunny,” Bodin said. “This is our chance.”

  Without a word, Sonja deactivated her camo. The behemoths stopped and lurched back as Sonja materialized right in front of them. The mantis-like riders didn’t seem to react, but Cody had no way to tell for sure. Sonja didn’t hesitate. She pulled her pack off her back and set it on the ground. For a split second, the behemoths seemed confused, and then the beetles poured out of the pack.

  They swarmed around the legs of both behemoths. For a moment, they danced, but then became very still. Cody glanced up at the toads. They had busied themselves around the remains of the hopper. Some picked up debris, only to throw it down again. The hopper remains were still hot from the cherry grenade. What mattered, though, was that none of the toads were paying any attention to the behemoths.

  The beetles scurried out from under them and back into Sonja’s pack. As soon as the beetles were clear, the behemoths spun around faster than an elephant ever could’ve managed. They charged toward the pits and ran along the edges. They nudged the logs and sent them into the pits.

  “Shit, yeah,” Bodin said. “It’s working. Buzzards in place?”

  Cody peered over the edge, gently pushing the leaves of the shrubs out of the way. As he did, the shrub leaves recoiled then stepped aside altogether. The entire shrub seemed to uproot and inch away from him.

  Below, the fliers hopped through the small ravine along the western hill. From around the corner of a rock, they peered at the debris. They jerked back when they saw the toads. They were no doubt very vulnerable on the ground. One of them spotted Cody. He gave the flier a thumbs-up sign. It unfurled one wing and tried to mimic the maneuver.

  “Fliers are in position,” Cody said.

  “Good,” Deveau said. “We’re near the entrance.”

  They had taken a position behind a cluster of shrubs similar to the ones near Cody. “Major, watch out for those shrubs. When I got too close, they—”

  The shrubs inched away from Deveau and Anne, leaving them exposed. Their camo kept them hidden, but it was only a matter of time before the toads noticed something was wrong.

  “Shit,” Deveau said. “We don’t have a lot of time. What’s the status on the slaves?”

  “Civilians exiting the holes,” Bodin said. “But… ah, shit.”

  The creatures in the holes managed to escape, but they headed toward Bodin and Sonja.

  “That way.” Sonja pointed to the small ravine to the south. The creatures stared at her hand. “No, not my finger. Jesus, you’re like a cat.”

  “They don’t understand our body language,” Cody said. “They’ve never seen humans before. Wait, I have an idea.”

  Cody slid down the side of the small hill. The gravity pulled him faster than he had anticipated, but the suit’s muscle fibers kept him from breaking any bones. Every shrub and bush in his way retreated into the ground, only to spring back up after he’d passed.

 
; “Doc, get your ass back up that hill before I…” Bodin gritted his teeth. “Shit, we got more company.”

  To the east, the grove of satellite trees stood much closer than they had before, and they were moving even closer. Their leaves quivered back and forth as if the wind were continuously changing direction. The toad creatures turned, facing the trees, as if studying their reaction.

  “Oh, crap,” Deveau said. “Salyard, let our friends loose. Hopefully, they can talk them down.”

  Anne set the bag down and opened it. “There you go, guys. Be careful.”

  The beetles left the sack, scattering in all directions but mostly moving toward the toad creatures, and it didn’t take long for them to notice. They scurried about in front of one of the toads. The toad tilted its head down toward the beetles, and then its central claw reached out and swatted them aside.

  The toad focused on Deveau and Anne, even though their camo fields were still active. It opened its tremendous mouth and let out a loud trumpet call. Every toad turned its attention toward Anne and Deveau. Even from his vantage point on the hill, Cody could read the magnetic fluctuations from the toads. Those fluctuations lasted about two seconds, then every toad bounded toward the exposed group.

  Anne raised her weapon. “Warning shots, Major?”

  The toads’ lumbering turned into an outright charge.

  “Fuck it.” Deveau raised his rifle. The hypersonic rounds ripped through the toads as if they weren’t there. The weapons fire reduced four of them to jelly before the rest turned tail and darted south and around the southern hill, leaping several meters per hop.

  “Major,” Sonja said. “Those trees are right on top of you.”

  The dish trees stopped not far from the burning hopper. Their leaves parted, and black shapes burst forth. The giant leaves folded to the side as the large bat creatures took to the air. They swept through the village. Every living thing scrambled for its life. Some headed east toward the ravine along the southern hill. Most simply ran somewhere, anywhere to get away from those awful things. They swooped so low that Cody was sure they would crash. But they altered their trajectory at the last second, turning backward before landing on top of fleeing slaves. When they landed, they engulfed their target completely then launched themselves into the thick air again, each bat carrying a prisoner in its giant mouth.

  The remaining creatures scattered. Many scrambled expertly over the hills. The mantises riding the behemoths tugged at their mounts’ thick hair, whether to stop them or urge them on, Cody didn’t know. The behemoths trampled a blob creature in their stampede. Almost none headed for the ravine leading away from the village.

  Cody jumped up and down. “Here, here!”

  “Goddamn it, clue, what the hell are you doing?” Bodin waved at him, his HUD outlining his camouflaged form. “You want go for a ride into the sky? Get your ass down.”

  The bats soared overhead, circling the encampment as they dropped the creatures from their mouths. In the higher gravity, the impact would make it nearly impossible to tell what kind of creature it had been.

  Bodin shouted again. “Doc, watch it!”

  Cody leaped to the side just in time as a behemoth stampeded past, charging toward the narrow opening to the south along with the others. Cody hoped they wouldn’t crush any of the fliers.

  “They’re coming back.” Deveau fired his weapon in the air. “Take cover!”

  The sun darkened as the giant bats circled and dove, like old-fashioned airplanes on a strafing run.

  “Too late. Here they come.” Sonja fired at a formation of four bats. One of them split apart and fell from the sky. The others didn’t react to its death.

  Waves of bats swept across the ground, grabbing creatures at random and launching themselves into the sky. Cody pressed himself against the southern cliff as tightly as possible, trying to avoid the running behemoths—and anything else. One bat creature landed forcefully on top of a behemoth, nearly toppling the massive creature. It engulfed the behemoth’s rider. When the bat took to the air again, only half of the rider remained. The creature’s legs twitched as the behemoth thundered on.

  Many smaller creatures perished, either swept off by the bat creatures or trampled. It was absolute bedlam as every living thing ran in fear. Like all creatures in the universe, from the amoeba to sentient beings, they understood that being eaten alive was the most terrible thing imaginable. Heedless of the others around them, they each sought only to avoid that fate.

  Cody’s suit motion detectors raged at the chaos all around him. He couldn’t make sense of the readings, until his HUD highlighted a single target above him. A black shape dove straight for him, in spite of his active camo field.

  He fumbled for a second with his coil pistol. The bat creature was meters away before Cody managed to draw it. The pistol vibrated in his hand as he squeezed the trigger several times. The creature squealed as holes pierced its wing. Cody had to duck as it sailed overhead. It bounced off the hill and landed in front of the last retreating behemoth, which stomped over the creature’s remains as it fled.

  The bat creatures took to the sky again, some carrying stragglers that were too slow. No more of the creatures approached Cody. Soon, they were gone, leaving behind only the injured. Some would never move again.

  “Cody?” Sonja’s voice sounded panicked over his helmet speaker. “Cody, respond.”

  “I’m here,” he said. “I’m okay.”

  “You’re not going to be if you stay out here with your ass hanging out.” Her camo field was on once more, but his HUD outlined her location as she charged toward him. The end of her coil rifle hissed as coolant evaporated from the barrel.

  Cody pointed toward the bat he’d shot down, lying trampled not far away. “I think it’s safe to say they’re more sensitive to our camouflage.”

  “No shit, Doc,” Sonja said. “Let’s move.”

  “Can’t you just shoot them?” Cody asked.

  “Oh, now you want us to just shoot them?” She grabbed him by the elbow and started dragging him. “I said move it.”

  Cody pulled away. “I move under my own steam, thank you.”

  “Fine, get your steamed ass into that cave, now.” She lowered her head as she spoke into her comm system. “Major, you copy?”

  His voice sounded level over the comm system, as if he were having a rough day at the office. “Roger, Gunny. Our friends, the toads, are retreating. We’re going inside. You got the doc?”

  “He’s on his way.” She pointed at Cody then to the cliff entrance.

  “Good. Make sure he keeps his camo on. You and Bodin take up position just inside the entrance. Keep an eye out and shoot any toads or bats.”

  “I copy that, Major,” Sonja said. “Looks like most of ’em have headed for greener pastures. Or redder, I should say.”

  The bats hovered high in the sky, dropping prey they had picked up earlier. Cody ran, slipping on the innards of either an escaped prisoner or one of the bats cut down by coil rifle fire. He nearly fell into a pit. The creatures inside still remained, unmoving.

  “Move it, clue.” Bodin’s outline appeared on Cody’s HUD, nudging him forward. “Shit just got real hairy.”

  “There’re still more in the pits,” Cody said. “We can’t—”

  “We can’t do anything about that now. Move.”

  “This wasn’t part of the plan.”

  “No plan survives contact with the enemy, Doc.” Bodin managed to run without slipping on alien guts, even while scanning the skies at the same time. “We’re improvising now.”

  Anne’s camouflaged form on Cody’s HUD gestured madly at him as he and Bodin approached the entrance. “Get in here, Doc.” When they reached the entrance, she put an arm around Cody and guided him inside. “Major, I have him. Are we clear?”

  “Roger that. We’re clear.”

  Anne and Cody went into the tunnel while Bodin and Sonja took up position outside. Each planted something along the entrance wall
s. About ten meters ahead, Deveau stood at an intersection with his rifle at the ready. “What do you make of the tunnel, Doc?”

  Cody struggled to catch his breath, adrenaline still coursing through him. His hand shook as he ran it along the wall, his HUD enhancing what little light there was. The sides of the tunnel were as hard as rock but as smooth as glass. “It’s like a secretion, almost.”

  “That’s not what it is,” Deveau said. “Look at this analysis.”

  Cody opened the file Deveau sent. It contained silicon oxide and carbon in an unnatural combination. Cody shook his head. “What is that?”

  “Look at the patterns of carbon,” Deveau said. “Nanotubes. This is a sealant we’ve used for decades.”

  Deveau ran his hands through the air as he activated his suit’s controls. When he finished, Cody’s suit received the same instructions. A hologram appeared in front of Cody, showing a series of red dots heading down the tunnel.

  “I got a power source,” Deveau said. “Twenty meters away.”

  The tunnel angled downward. Several side tunnels led off into darkness. The main tunnel diverged only a little.

  “Lucky,” Deveau said. “The signal is this way. If this tunnel leads—shit!”

  They came to a dead end.

  “What now?” Cody asked.

  “It’s gotta be down a side passage,” Anne said. “But which one?”

  “I’ll stay on point,” Deveau said. “Salyard, UV spray right here.” He pointed to the corner of a tunnel. “Make sure it points the way out, and keep that spray ready. We’re going to be using a lot of it. Doc, stay in between us. Keep your pistol handy and, for Christ’s sake, don’t shoot us.”

  Cody pointed his pistol at the ground. Anne leaned over and sprayed a section of the tunnel. In the UV spectrum, Cody could make out an arrow pointing up the larger tunnel. She turned and touched Cody’s arm.

  “Doc, take your finger off the trigger.” Anne held her rifle sideways, showing Cody her hand. She held the rifle grip firmly, but kept her index finger straight. “Don’t touch it until you’re ready to fire.”