I shook my head. “Such an odd creature. How exactly did the doctor get caught up in the rebellion?”
Jaysen shrugged. “I tried to ask him once, but all the doctor would say was that he had nowhere else to go.”
Kaya pursed her lips, “Mara told me once that the Qharr despise the doctor’s people, but that for whatever reason they have some rule against doing them any harm. The gray skins won’t lift their fingers against the doctor, but neither will they help him leave Earth. Mara says she’s known him for years, but he’s only been with the resistance for about five.
“You mean to say he was alone on Earth for almost twenty years without anyone to help him?” I asked finishing off the last little bit of my bread.
Kaya shrugged and shook her head. “Mara said once that the doctor is a part of a much larger puzzle about the Qharr one which most of the pieces were missing. She wouldn’t say anything more.”
“Well, maybe we can find the pieces,” I said dipping my spoon in the soup.
Kaya nodded then downed a mouthful of food and didn’t say another word. All the pieces… Then it occurred to me, maybe I’d already found one of the missing pieces. I couldn’t escape the feeling that I was missing something about the K’teth something that would explain so many mysteries about our self-proclaimed masters, but there was still too much I didn’t know. God, if only that damned thing would speak to me again, but nothing seemed to catch its attention.
I sighed and continued to eat my soup and resigned myself to hoping the answers would come with time.
Just as we finished eating the rest of Kaya’s band started to show up. I recognized a few of them from the compound, but other than first Jaysen then Felix, I had never learned their names. The rest of them were new faces and they studied me with thoughtful expressions as they passed our table. Pyramus and Farris made an appearance too, but neither would look me in the eyes and went out of their way to avoid me.
“My dear Kaya, you’re looking absolutely breathtaking today, just as you always do,” a tall bearded fellow with fiery-red hair seating himself next to Kaya with a roguish lopsided smile on his face as he threw his arm around her shoulder.
Kaya rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh. “Strave, so help me if you don’t remove that hand I’ll break that damn thing off.”
“You’d really do that? You’d really break my arm?” he asked his eyes growing wide in mock disbelief.
Kaya face stretched into a wicked grin and twitched an eyebrow. “I wasn’t talking about your arm.”
Strave chuckled and quickly slid his hand away. “Kaya my beloved queen of ice someday I will win your heart, I just know it.”
“It will be a cold day in hell, Strave,” she glared at him.
Strave grinned and shook his head. “So… you must be Jellfree,” he said his eyes suddenly darting across the table to land on me. “Everybody’s been talking about you. You’ve got Pyramus and Farris all fired up which is a surefire way to make friends around here. The name is Straffen McMillan, but all my friends–” he said pausing and glanced at Kaya before continuing. “–call me Strave.”
I choked. “The Straffen McMillan! God, you’re a real person! I always figured you were the product of someone’s over-active imagination.”
Strave grinned and stroked his beard, then turned to me lowering his voice. “Some of my exploits may have been exaggerated. If I’d done half the things that people say I’ve done, the Qharr would have had me hunted down and killed me long ago.”
I shook my head in amazement… Straffen McMillan was something of a folk hero among the slaves of North America. There were dozens of tales about him freeing slaves, and fighting Qharr with his bare hands each more ridiculous and over the top than the last. When people spoke of Straffen McMillan it was always in hushed tones out of earshot of the Qharr. I’d always enjoyed hearing the tales, because they always depicted the Qharr as the blood thirsty tyrants they really were, but I’d always figured them to be fiction. Perhaps, there was some truth to them after all.
Kaya snorted. “I’d say. Strave is pretty good in fight, I’ll admit that much, but the only reason he’s still alive is because he has more luck than any person has any right to have and an ego twice as big.”
“Kaya,” Strave said in mock-surprise, “I do think that’s the closest you’ve ever come to giving me a compliment. There’s hope for us yet!”
“Why don’t you leave Kaya alone, Strave? I think it’s pretty obvious she despises you,” Jaysen said suddenly.
“Jaysen my good friend, what would be the fun in that?”
He paused and looked at me with the spark of curiosity in his eyes. “Is it true? What they’re saying? That you’ve been… inhabited by some sort of creature one which grants you superior strength?”
I coughed then looked around the room. “Well that didn’t take long to get out.”
“It’s also responsible for giving him that face and it’s probably going to give him a body to match. So if you’re interested in having one of those things put inside of you I’m all for it. Maybe if you had a pair of breasts of your own you’d even leave me alone, for a change,” Kaya said glaring at Strave.
He grinned and let out a soft chuckle. “Kaya, my love for you is eternal. I’d be willing to go lesbian for you!”
Kaya rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh. “Come on, Jellfree. I think I’ve had about as much of Strave for the day as I can handle. Why don’t I introduce you to the rest of the group?”
I nodded and gave Strave a sideways look before following Kaya to the next table. “Hey, Bentley!” Kaya called and then began the round of introductions.
Besides Pyramus, Farris, Strave, Kaya and Jaysen there were five other rebels in the room I had yet to meet.
Bentley Laden, was the first to step forward and introduce himself. He scowled and shook my hand, eying me with a set of cold blue eyes, before smirking and stepping aside to. My first impression of Marta Galday was an interesting one. Outwardly she seemed open and friendly, but there was something about the way she kept glancing into my eyes that made me uneasy.
“Name’s Territh Roggin,” a wizened little fellow stepped forward and clasped his hands in mine. He looked frail, but the firmness of his handshake definitely seemed to belie that impression. He grinned, displaying what few teeth he had left, then stepped away without another word.
“Uh, hi? I-I’m Nate Leeson,” a gawky kid stepped forward rubbing at the back of his neck. He reached out to shake my hand, but yanked it back and wiped it on his shirt. “Sorry, I’m a little sweaty. Been working out.”
He smiled and put a hand on the shoulder of the final member of the crew. She jumped and looked up at the kid with wide eyes. “This here is my cousin Loon Melowitz. She can’t really talk though. Her old qharr master cut her tongue out.”
Loona nodded and opened her mouth to demonstrate. I averted my eyes, and cleared my throat before returning my attention to the group as a whole. “Nice to meet you all. I’m sure you’ve heard all about me already.”
There were a few polite exchanges, but then things took a decidedly uncomfortable turn when they started up the questions. Most of them were about the K’teth symbiote and for the most part I really didn’t have any answers. I gave it my best, and the questions certainly didn’t get any easier to respond to. My answers were met with a lot of skepticism and distrust, and looking back I don’t think I handled it all that well, but considering the way I had been received it wasn’t all that surprising.
“Fuck it! You guys really think I have the answers! I’m through with all your damn questions! All I know is I have this thing in me! I don’t know why it’s doing this to me or what it wants, but I do know it scares the shit out of me and I don’t need you people badgering me for answers that I don’t have!” I snapped then went tearing out of the dining hall.
I stopped just outside the doors leaning against the wall and taking deep breaths as
I fought down the vast array of emotions that I suddenly found myself confronting. My body had been invaded by an alien being and I had no idea what it was doing to me and on top of that I had been caught up with a group of rebels nearly all of whom were worried that I was under the influence of the entity.
“Jellfree,” Kaya said from the doorway.
“Leave me alone Kai,” I yelled thumping my head against the wall. “I don’t want to be consoled, especially not by you. I just want to be left alone.”
“Fine.” She folded her arms and stepped away before disappeared back down the hallway.
I stood there with my head still resting against the wall and let loose the torrent of tears. God… I hated what was being done to me. I knew there was no way I could stand up to that freaking parasite. It was fused to me like two metals melted into an alloy. How could I resist that?
I heard footsteps again, but this time they were coming from the opposite direction. I wiped the tears from my eyes and turned to find Mara standing at my side with a single raised eyebrow. She put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “Jellfree, dear, what wrong?”
“Nothing, I’m fine.” It was an obvious lie, but I didn’t want anyone else prying into my business.
She frowned and folded her arms across my chest. “If everything is fine why you were crying?”
“I-I, just leave me alone!” I yelled then shouldered past her and fled back to my room.
Chapter Seven
“Ah, Jellfree, sit, sit, sit!” the doctor said patting at the scanner bed as Mara and I stepped into the lab. Jaysen, my guard for the day, peeked inside, frowned, pulled something out of his jacket then let the door close in his face.
Mara gave me an encouraging smile, but didn’t say a word as I plopped down where Vakrexid had indicated. I stared at the doctor apprehensively as he moved about the lab and caught a glint of metal as he grabbed something off the counter then spun back around to face me. “Before you humans perfected the body scanner, your forebears used another means to find illness and infirmity within their bodies,” the doctor said holding out a plastic tube from which protruded a long metal needle.
“Well doctor!” Mara smirked. “It looks like you’re finally going to get a chance to use one of those things.”
“What the hell is it?” I asked, staring at the wicked looking thing in complete confusion.
“It’s a syringe, they used to use them to draw blood,” Mara said suddenly the very barest hint of a smile touching the corner of her lips.
“Draw blood?” I asked then I realized what she meant and turned sharply to eye the doctor warily. “You’re going to stick that thing in me aren’t you?”
“That is the function of this particular instrument. Vakrexid has practiced using it in the event of equipment failure, it will only be slightly painful but the pain will be gone quickly.”
“Damn, try to make it quick, just looking at that thing gives me the creeps.”
“Why did Vakrexid’s not cogitate with my dlepebur!?” the doctor proclaimed slapping an open palm against his forehead. “Vakrexid needs a tourniquet and something for sanitation!”
The doctor scrambled across the room and pulled open a drawer, grabbed something out of it, then quickly returned to my side with a sort of flexible rubber tube, a bottle filled with clear liquid and a white cloth. “Vakrexid needs your arm,” he said looming over me.
I sighed and held it out. The doctor slid his hand up my wrist and pushed the sleeve of my shirt up my arm. He cleaned the crook of my elbow with the cloth and liquid then grabbed the rubber tube and tied it around my arm. He held the syringe over my arm then plunged it into the vein. I gritted my teeth and as I felt a very brief sharp sting and I swear I could feel the needle inside my arm as blood filled the inside of the tube. Then it was all over, the doctor released the rubber tube and pulled the damned thing out.
“Vakrexid shall have the computer analyze this sample,” the doctor tooted.
I grunted. “Well that was fun… let’s do it again sometime.”
Vakrexid cocked his head, “Truly?”
Mara laughed, “No doctor, remember our little discussion on sarcasm?”
“Yes.”
He blinked his eyes and stroked his hand around his center face tube, “Humans! Vakrexid is continuously perplexed by your kind! Why do you persist in saying things and meaning something else entirely?!”
“Doctor, even humans sometimes have trouble understanding why we behave the way we do.”
“How strange,” he tooted then suddenly turned his back and walked out of the room.
I really, really hate awkward silences, so as you might imagine I was pretty miserable after the doctor left and I found myself languishing within such a ticklish situation. Silence. Mara didn’t say a single word, and I couldn’t think of a damned thing to say. I opened my mouth, thinking that maybe I might say something, but soon thought better of it and snapped my jaw back shut. Thankfully, the doctor wasn’t gone long and burst back into the room lugging a large cylinder about a quarter of a meter around in both his arms.
He let out a high-pitched whistle and lifted the cylinder onto the counter opposite me. “That is most cumbersome.”
“Vakrexid has put the computer to the task of examining your blood. It is very old and it shall take some time before the results are given. I wonder, have you given any thought about what Vakrexid said earlier concerning the continuation of your changes?”
“Shit, you’re not going to give up on this are you?!”
I dropped my face to my hands and slowly shook my head.
“Maybe it would be for the best,” Mara said suddenly.
“Oh god! What the hell has gotten you two so eager to let this damned thing have its way with me?!” I demanded letting my hands fall away from my face as I glared at her.
“There is a certain logic to it. Without letting it near a source of energy how long will it take the K’teth to change you weeks? Months? The sooner you are transformed the sooner we know if it will be able to take control of your body. I think that if I found myself in your situation and that horrid thing was changing me into a man, I’d rather have it over and done with. That way I wouldn’t have that horrible weight hanging over my head for so long. At least then it would be over!”
“Yeah, well it’s not happening to you!” I yelled. “What if by feeding that thing we give it the opening it needs to gain control of me?!”
‘I can only gain control if you give it to me and only then for a limited time,’ the symbiote’s voice echoed suddenly within my mind.
‘Where the hell have you been?! I demanded immediately aware just how much more well-spoken the creature seemed.
‘I haven’t gone anywhere. I have been working to complete the joining process so that we may better communicate because of this our minds were temporarily… disconnected, but that will no longer be an issue,’ the K’teth replied in an almost matter of fact manner.
‘You seem so much more well-spoken now,’ I noted.
‘A result of our bond being complete. It is very difficult to communicate when the joining process has first begun. Fortunately, once our minds are tied communication is no longer a problem.’
“Great, we can communicate. Just what I always wanted a damned voice in the back of my head. Fuck, this still doesn’t mean I can trust you.’
‘Trust must be earned. At the moment, you have no reason to trust me or I you, but perhaps we can find some common ground. We both want the same thing, after all.’
‘And that is?’
‘Freedom from the Qharr!’
“Jellfree!” A voice called urgently as a hand latched onto my shoulder.
I blinked and found Mara standing there next to me, her eyes were wide with worry as she spoke, “Jellfree, dear, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“It’s the K’teth it was speaking to me,” I mumbled reaching up to touch her hand.
‘She… call me she I am female,’ it suddenly insisted.
“It spoke to you? What did it say!?” Mara demanded.
“Among other things it… she says she wants to be free from the Qharr,” I responded.
“She?!” the doctor exclaimed suddenly stepping between Mara and myself. “The symbiote, it is female?”
I nodded. “That is what it claims.”
“Fascinating!” Vakrexid said then suddenly backed away from Mara who was glaring at him. “Apologies!” the doctor tooted shuffling away, “please continue.”
“I don’t care what that thing says. I do not believe it can be trusted… Maybe accelerating your changes isn’t such a good idea.”
Mara glanced over her shoulder, frowning at the doctor.
“No…” I said surprising even myself with the sudden change of heart. “Shit… I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I don’t think I want to prolong this any longer than I have to. If she takes over me then I’d rather know sooner rather than later. Just don’t hesitate to pull the trigger if you think that thing is the one calling the shots.”
Mara nodded, “Very well, I would be loath to terminate your life, but should the worst happen I will not fail to do what is necessary.”
The doctor made some strange comment, but I wasn’t paying attention I was too focused on what I knew I had to do. My eyes locked on the large cylinder which the doctor had toted into the lab. I was pretty certain it was a powercell, but there was no way to be sure. Well, there was only one way to find out I could try touching it and see if the symbiote reacted. Before anyone could so much as mutter a word of objection I leaped across the room and slammed my hand into it. For a moment, I thought that nothing was going to happen, but then I heard the K’teth’s voice howl in my head and it began.
Just like before light filled my vision and my ears started to buzz and then the pain came. It burned through my body like a wildfire and I screamed out in agony. It started out in my scalp and I felt it burn as hair gushed from my head in a single great eruption of blue that went flowing down my back in a shower of wavy ringlets and got so long that it flowed down past my waist. I could feel my skin ripple and gritted my teeth as the flesh on my neck and inside of my throat begin to twist and change. For a very brief moment I couldn’t breathe, and I clutched at my throat gasping for breath, but then air flooded back into my lungs. The pain seemed to subside for a bit then suddenly flared back to life and I let out a loud high-pitched wail when the bones in my right shoulder started to crack and snap.
Battle For Earth Page 7
