by M. R. Forbes
Hayden tried, but it was hard to wrap his mind around. “Where did you come from?”
“The first Relyeh came into being many thousands of light years from here.”
“Came into being?”
“Organic matter assembled and over time gained sentience. That sentience sought to understand the nature of the universe in which it was born. It came to realize the scale of things, and then it sought to understand its place within it. That understanding produced the logical conclusion that it was brought into being to bring order to the chaos of natural creation. In order to see that work done, the first of us were born, broken off from our father like branches from a tree and delivered to worlds already harboring life. Our purpose has never changed. Subdue life. Feed. Integrate. Expand. To that purpose, we eternally hunger.”
“You’ve been pretty successful at it, I imagine,” Hayden said. “Taking worlds across thousands of light years.”
Shurrath smiled. “We have. But there are some laws of nature even we cannot change. Sibling rivalry is one of them. In the beginning, my brothers and sisters and I all worked together, sharing our increase and gaining strength together through the Collective. When everything we learned became common knowledge to one another, when we couldn’t keep secrets, there could be no advantage. Then one day, my brother Nylarth discovered a means to encrypt parts of the Collective. To create his own subnetwork. He started keeping secrets. Azoth discovered the treachery, turned on Nylarth and captured the method. It spread from there, and we’ve all been fighting one another ever since.”
“You haven’t been doing too well,” Hayden said. “The Axon defeated you.”
He could see the sudden fury in Shurrath’s expression. It vanished quickly. “When you’ve existed as long as I have, you learn to accept setbacks. You work to overcome them. I had the opportunity to escape to this world. I intend to rebuild my armies. Not to fight my siblings, but to try to bring us back together against a common threat.”
“The Axon.”
“Yes. We are organic beings, in whatever form we take. This, for you. Something else for me. The Axon, they are organic. But their armies aren’t. Their people aren’t. Their worlds are composed of machines. Entire planets with millions of occupants, but not a living soul among them. And when we do find a world with a real Axon living on it, they evade us too easily, stepping through their portals and escaping to another planet as easily as you might snap your fingers.”
“I can’t say I empathize.”
“Yet you should be concerned. The Hunger doesn’t destroy all life it encounters. We integrate with it, taking pieces of the genome that we find of value. We raise the individuals we find worthy to places of high honor within our armies, where their comfort and purpose is unmatched.”
“And you enslave the rest.”
“We require certain chemicals to survive. The need was implanted in us to keep us moving ever forward in our purpose so that we wouldn’t become stagnant. The universe is expanding more rapidly than we can conquer it, but this won’t always be the case as long as we stay in motion. The Axon are a barrier to that. The first intelligent race we have struggled to subdue because of their use of machines.”
“You enslave the rest,” Hayden repeated. “After you’ve already killed billions.”
“The universe is changing, Sheriff. You can’t avoid it. It’s so much larger than you or your problems. Humankind is nothing compared to the Relyeh. It is nothing compared to the Axon. The best you can ever hope for is to put yourselves in a position to survive. I’m offering that chance to any who will join me. I have earned thousands of followers over these centuries, spread across one land mass to the next.” Shurrath smiled widely. “And to other worlds.”
“Proxima?” Hayden said.
“My siblings don’t know about Proxima. They aren’t here to see the ships coming and going, or hear the reports. And I’ve closed myself off to them. I have my foothold there, just as I have it here. Which is my reason for being here now. To show you that you cannot escape from me. You cannot avoid me. You cannot sneak up on me. My eyes are everywhere. My hands are everywhere. Earth is already mine, Sheriff. And what I offer is more than the Axon will ever provide. They have no use for humankind anymore. No reason for this world to exist as a feeder for our expansion. As soon as they can get another Intellect through a portal, they’ll send their ships, and they’ll destroy this planet. They’ll render it inert and lifeless. Compare that with what I am offering. Compare that to the alternative.”
“You’re assuming there are only two choices. Relyeh or Axon.”
“And what is the third choice, Sheriff? Human? One defeated planet against the two most powerful races in the universe? Where do you think that will lead you?”
“I don’t know. But I’m willing to bet most people out here would rather find out than be under the thumb of one invader or another. Why else do we keep fighting?”
“Few of you are fighting. Very few. Your rebellion, if you want to call it that, is failing. Your future isn’t yours to decide. Now that I have Isaac, now that I’m on the verge of unlocking the secret to defeating the Axon’s neural disruption technology, there is only one clear winner in this fight, as creation has always determined there would be. The only question is whether you can see reason. I’m here because I hope you can.”
“And if I can’t?” Hayden asked.
“You’ll come for me, and I’ll be waiting for you. You’ll try to reach me, and you’ll fail. You can’t sneak up on me. You can’t hide. And while you die trying, your people will die too. Everything you’ve worked so hard to build will be destroyed. If you thought Cain and Grace were the best I could do, you’re wrong. They too were a test. An opportunity for you to earn your place. I won’t be so subtle again.”
“We’ll stop you,” Hayden said. “My people aren’t as weak as they seem. I know you have control over the trife, but we’ve got weapons of our own. We’ve got allies too.”
“Are you willing to sacrifice all of them, Sheriff? Are you willing to risk everything?”
“To keep humankind free? Do I have a choice? Maybe you can say this person belongs here or that person belongs there. This one is a warrior, and that one is a slave. This one is elevated while that one is beaten down. I don’t believe in that way of life. I’d rather die than accept it.”
“No matter the cost?”
Hayden nodded. Shurrath’s words were unsettling, but he couldn’t change who he was because of a threat. He had to keep his faith in himself, in his people...and in humankind.
“No matter the cost.”
Shurrath nodded. “Very well. I respect you for your courage, Sheriff. You’ve shown more than most life forms I’ve conquered. If you want me, continue south. You’ll know when you’ve arrived. If you can survive the next ten seconds.”
Hayden reacted instantly, reaching for his revolver as Jim’s face slackened, the scavenger jumping to his feet. He lunged at Hayden without a word, leaping across the table as he produced a microspear from somewhere near his waist.
Hayden grabbed Jim’s wrist with his augmented hand, breaking it easily and forcing the weapon from him. He put his revolver to Jim’s temple and fired.
The shot left the man face down on the table, the whiskey spilling out of the flask over the edge. Hayden let go of his wrist and stood, tearing Jim’s clothes away from his back. He could see the khoron moving beneath Jim’s flesh, trying to figure out how to escape now that its host was beyond healing.
Hayden closed his hand, the Axon compound forming a pair of blades on the back of it. He stabbed into Jim’s back, spearing the khoron and lifting it out. The worm-like Relyeh wiggled at the edge of his blades, its tendrites stretching back to Jim while a high pitched shriek came from the front of it.
Hayden flung it onto the ground and stomped on it, crushing it beneath his boot.
“That’s one,” he said. “Zorro, here!” He whistled, and the horse started toward him.
<
br /> He knew he had made the right choice. He also knew it would cost him.
Chapter 9
“Where am I?” Grace asked, her voice weak and dry.
“A hospital,” the nurse replied.
“A hospital where?”
“Somewhere safe. Stop struggling against the restraints and I’ll consider getting you some water.”
Grace let her body relax. She hadn’t expected to wake up in a bed. She hadn’t expected to wake up with her wrists and ankles bound, preventing her from rising.
Then again, she hadn’t expected to wake up at all.
The khoron was gone. She could tell that much the moment she came to. Gone was the sense of something else inside her consciousness. Gone was the pressure against her mind, threatening to steal every last ounce of resistance and control. Gone was the tickle in her back, where the alien slug’s physical presence once rested.
But she was still alive. She wasn’t sure how that was even possible. In the first few moments, she thought maybe Shurrath had brought her here to torture her for her failure. Instinct had caused her to try to get away. She didn’t need to get away, did she? Shurrath wasn’t here.
Shurrath would never be so kind.
“That’s better,” the nurse said, standing at the edge of the bed. “Doctor Hess will be ecstatic to know you’re awake. It’s about time.” The woman smiled. “The Governor will be beside herself too. Don’t move. I’ll be right back.” The nurse laughed at her joke as she left the room.
Grace tried to remember how she had gotten here. She failed. The last thing she recalled was running north with Cain to confront Sheriff Duke. And now she was here.
Cain. Where was he?
She wished she could remember. Then she questioned her wish. Maybe it was better that she couldn’t remember. The nurse was going to fetch a doctor, and someone called the Governor.
The United Western Territories. She recalled that much. She and Cain had entered the UWT. They had killed people. Innocent people.
Her body turned cold and she started to shake. What had she done? Her eyes filled with tears, but she couldn’t lift her hands far enough to wipe them. She closed her eyes while she sobbed, letting the tears run down her cheeks. She was no stranger to violence or killing, but she had never hurt anyone who didn’t have it coming. Not ever.
She barely noticed when the door to her room opened. She was lost in the moment, in the sudden surge of sadness and despair and guilt—emotions Keshk had suppressed. The Relyeh had made her into a murderer, the same as they had done to her father. It wasn’t her fault unless it was his fault.
She couldn’t bring herself to blame him.
Even if he did still need to die.
Grace opened her eyes. A man in a white coat was watching her. The nurse was at her bedside, a glass of water in her hand. She had grabbed a cloth too, to wipe Grace’s eyes.
“Welcome back to the land of the living,” the man said. “I’m Doctor Hess.”
Grace let the nurse pour the water into her mouth. She gulped it down despite the way it burned her throat to swallow. “Grace,” she said afterward. “I’m Grace Salk.”
“Nice to meet you, Grace,” Doctor Hess said.
“Where am I?”
“Sanisco Hospital.”
“What happened?”
“You were shot in the chest with an arrow. Not generally a fatal wound, but the little bastard inside you complicated things. You would have bled to death if Sheriff Duke hadn’t gotten you back to me so quickly.”
Grace used her body to shift aside the blanket covering her just enough to see the dressing on her shoulder. She had never seen anything like it before. “What is this?”
“I had to operate on the internals, but the patch will heal the skin good as new.”
“I’m really confused.”
“I don’t blame you. From what I understand, you’ve been through the grinder the last few weeks.”
“You could say that. Sheriff Duke, is he here?”
“The Governor is on her way.”
“I asked you if Sheriff Duke was here.”
“Not at the moment. Just relax. You’re safe here.”
“If I’m safe, why am I restrained?”
“To make sure we’re safe. You were under the influence of an alien parasite.”
“You seem to know a lot about it.”
“Only as of a few days ago. But my teachers always told me I’m a fast learner.”
Grace tried to smile. Failed. “How long was I out?”
“Four days. Not too bad, all things considered. I guess I’m a better doctor than I thought.”
He smiled. He was trying to add some levity to the atmosphere. Grace was struggling to accept it.
“What do I have to do to get the restraints off?”
“Why so eager? It doesn’t lend to your trustworthiness.”
Grace frowned. He had a point. She let herself relax onto the mattress again.
“Your vitals look good,” Doctor Hess said, glancing at a display somewhere behind her head. “Blood pressure is normal. Heart rate is good. Your arm is probably going to be a little stiff. You won’t be using a bow for a while, but all in all, a good result. I’m especially proud of myself.” He smiled again, still trying to get her to react.
She forced a smile, hoping it would satisfy him. “Thank you, Doctor. For everything you did.”
“You’re welcome. More water?”
“Yes, please.”
The nurse hurried from the room again, leaving Doctor Hess alone with Grace.
“A shame we didn’t manage to capture the alien alive,” he said. “I would have liked to study it.”
“Believe me, Doctor. We’re better off with it dead. There’s no need to study it.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve already got data on the biological makeup of the khoron. They’re fairly simple creatures once you take the Collective out of the equation.”
“Collective?”
“Their method of communicating across infinite distances at faster than lightspeed.”
“Real-time?”
“Not fully. I told you, that part’s complicated.”
“I’d love to see the research.”
Grace noticed the tension in his face. There was something about it she didn’t trust. “I bet you would.”
The door opened. Grace was expecting the nurse. She nearly broke into tears again when Ginny walked into the room.
“You,” Grace said. She wasn’t sure what else to say. The guilt came rushing back.
“Hi, Grace,” Ginny replied with a comforting smile, looking up at the woman who had entered behind her. “Hello Grace,” the woman said.
Grace looked the woman over. Brown hair, soft eyes, a lean, compassionate face. She was wearing a pair of dirty overalls cinched tight around her hips by a toolbelt.
“I’m Governor Natalia Duke,” she continued, joining Ginny at the side of Grace’s bed and sticking out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Grace reached out tentatively, taking it. It was slightly calloused. This clearly wasn’t a leader who didn’t get her hands dirty. “Grace Salk. You’re Sheriff Duke’s wife?”
“Yes.”
“Is he here?”
“No.”
Grace hesitated, afraid to ask her next question. “He went after Shurrath, didn’t he?”
“He did.”
She shook her head. “No.” Grace groaned. “No, no, no.”
“What’s wrong?” Natalia asked, surprised by the reaction.
“You have to call him. Tell him to stop. Tell him to come back.”
“Why?”
“He can’t kill Shurrath.”
“Are you worried Shurrath will kill him first?” Natalia asked. “I worry about that too, but Hayden’s got a knack for things like this.”
“It isn’t that. If he kills Shurrath, the entire planet is doomed.”
Chapter 10
&nb
sp; “I don’t understand,” Natalia said, her expression shifting from sympathetic to worried. “How can you say that?”
Grace wiggled her hands in their restraints. “Please, let me go. We need to stop him.”
“Doctor,” Natalia said. “Undo the restraints. Let her loose. Grace, just relax. Two minutes won’t make a difference either way, and I need you to tell me what’s going on.”
Doctor Hess came up beside them with the key for the bonds. He unlocked them from Grace’s wrists and then went to her ankles. Freed, she sat up, holding the bedsheets over her body while she rubbed at her wrists and tried to calm down. Governor Duke was right. She had been out for four days. Two more minutes wouldn’t change anything.
“You have to understand, Governor,” she said. “In terms of the hierarchy of Relyeh ancients, Shurrath is the bottom of the food chain. He’s the weakest link.”
“Hayden told me he took Isaac because Isaac’s immune to Axon hallucinations, and Shurrath wants to isolate the abnormality that’s causing the immunity and trade it with one of his siblings for a higher place on that food chain.”
Grace nodded. “That sounds about right. Shurrath. He…he entered my father, Cyrus. After the Reapers sent him through the Axon portal because they didn’t have anyone else to risk.”
“The Reapers?”
“The secret science team that was working out of Dugway. They were experimenting with the khoron, among other things. The head of their team, Doctor Riley Valentine, was desperate to find a way to kill off the trife in a mass event. She thought maybe the khoron would help her figure it out.”
“Isaac told me about what happened to your father. And what happened to his son.”
“Jason,” Grace said. “Yes. Poor Jason. All of those children.” She closed her eyes, trying to avoid succumbing to that trauma again. “I’ll never forget.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you back there. I’m trying to make sense of everything. Hayden isn’t within comm range, or I’d stop him right now.”
