Playing God

by Sarah Zettel

  They'd been fed twice in what Arron estimated was twenty hours. A tray holding bowls of lentil mush and plastic bottles of water had been shoved through the slot in the door. They'd shouted through the slot. They'd pounded on the door and screamed themselves hoarse. No answer came. No sound at all. Twice the door had opened and a silent soldier with an ovrth's black bands on her uniform cuffs and a filter mask over her mouth and nostrils came in to stare at them all. Lynn had been startled by the fact that she was alone, until Arron pointed out she was walking into a poison chamber. The ovrth answered no questions, responded to no threats or pleas.

  Lynn and Arron agreed that she must be looking to see if Resaime had died yet.

  They wouldn't have to go through with it, Lynn tried to tell herself. Keale would find them before the ovrth came in again. Praeis would be called. They'd get Resaime to a hospital. They could bring down one of the doctors from the Ur.

  David. Lynn's heart sank. Where are you? Do you know what's happened? Or didn't they tell you? Are they keeping this secret so not to spread panic?

  Keale's going to open the door any second. We're not going to have to go through with this.

  The bolt shot back. Lynn froze. The door swung open, and she saw the ovrth's hand and arm.

  The ovrth stepped into the cell. Her gaze swept across her prisoners. Resaime coughed so hard she gagged deep in her throat. The ovrth gazed down at her dispassionately.

  “You're killing her!” Arron shouted at their jailer. He stormed over to the ovrth. Nothing new there. Nothing to disturb anybody. They'd done so much shouting and storming.

  “Look at her!” Arron grabbed the ovrth's breath mask and yanked. She swung at him.

  Lynn half dived, half fell forward. Her hands slapped down on the ovrth's shoulders. She hung on while Arron dug his fingers into the mask and pulled it down. The ovrth snatched for Arron's wrists, and Lynn slapped her naked hands over the ovrth's nose and mouth.

  The ovrth screamed into Lynn's hands. She felt the ovrth's teeth slide against her palms. The ovrth grabbed Lynn's arms and heaved. The room spun and the floor slammed against Lynn's back, knocking all the breath out of her. The door banged shut. Lynn rolled over. Arron crouched between the ovrth and the door. Resaime, temporarily forgotten, crawled forward. The ovrth brought her gun to her shoulder. Lynn struggled to her feet.

  Resaime grabbed the ovrth's ankle and bit down hard on her calf. The ovrth screamed again and her gun swung down. Lynn launched herself forward. She clapped one filthy hand over the ovrth's nostrils and grabbed the back of her skull with the other, trapping the ovrth's face between her hands. Arron lunged for the gun.

  The ovrth flailed wildly. Lynn held on. The ovrth's eyes grew wide. Breath came in panicked spurts. Lynn was barely aware of Arron covering them both with the gun. The world narrowed down to the feeling of warm leathery skin under her bare hand and a ragged choking noise. Muscles went slack underneath her. Lynn let go.

  The ovrth toppled to the ground, retching and gagging. Arron raised the gun like a club and slammed the butt down on the side of her skull. She jerked abruptly and collapsed onto her side.

  Lynn eyed Arron. He panted like an anxious Dedelphi.Resaime teetered to her feet. Lynn crouched down next to the ovrth. As she did, Resaime made it to the door.

  “No, Res!” Arron jumped forward and leaned a hand against the door.

  Res tugged at the handle. “I've got to find Aunt Senejess.”

  “We'll find her, Res.” Lynn didn't look at her. She looked at the ovrth's limp body. Her temple was starting to bruise. “Try to hang on.”

  “I've got to find my aunt.”

  “Hang on, Res,” said Arron softly. “Just hang on.”

  Lynn found the buckles on the ovrth's filter mask. As soon as she had it loosened, she tossed it to Resaime. Res snatched it up with trembling hands and slid the mask over her face. Something small inside Lynn eased. She straightened up, rubbing her palm, which was still wet with saliva and sweat, against her leg.

  Keeping himself between Res and the door, Arron eased it open and put his eye to the crack. Lynn stood on tiptoe behind him. The corridor was narrow and made of bare cement just like the cell. She thought she saw two more doors in it. Two guards stood on duty: one about three meters away, one about six meters. Both had guns in their hands.

  Arron closed the cell door and turned to face her. “We've got two more guards out there.”

  Lynn licked her dry lips. “Can you shoot that thing?” She nodded toward the gun in his hands.

  “I can,” said Res. The filter mask muffled her voice, but it rang surprisingly strong. “My mother made sure we knew how. We can get out of here and find Aunt Senejess.”

  “Res…” began Lynn. Resaime held out her hand. It was perfectly steady. Arron glanced at Lynn for a moment, then handed Resaime the gun. As he did, Lynn looked at Res's face and saw her dilated pupils and how her skin was stretched tight and shiny across her face and she knew what was happening. Fear, anger, and action had triggered the Burn. By now, Res was probably so full of endorphins and adrenaline she could have run on two broken legs.

  Resaime moved to the door. Lynn stood behind her, hand on the latch. Resaime nodded. Lynn eased the door open. Resaime slid into the corridor. One explosion, two, three. Grunts and thuds and the slap of running feet. Arron leapt into the corridor. Lynn gritted her teeth and followed.

  The guards’ bodies sprawled on the floor. Resaime bolted between them to the first door. Arron bent to scoop up one of the guns.

  “Aunt Senejess!” Resaime hammered on the door with her fist. “Aunt Senejess!”

  No! Lynn staggered forward. Arron was closer. He grabbed her arm.

  “She's not here, Res,” he whispered furiously.

  Res turned to stare at him, uncomprehending. “Not here?”

  “No. They wouldn't keep her locked up in the same place as us. It'd be too easy for us to get to her.”

  Lynn heard the gulp as Res swallowed. The Burn wouldn't let her think or stand still too long. Her skin bunched and twitched. Without another word, she ran for the exit. Arron shot Lynn a desperate glance and followed.

  Lynn gritted her teeth. After a few stumbling steps, she pushed her pace into something approaching a run. For the first time, Lynn felt a rush of gratitude for the Dedelphi's lack of an efficient communications system. She heard no footsteps or voices. The alarm hadn't gone up yet. Her foot skidded in the blood seeping out of the guards. She pin-wheeled her arms and managed to keep her balance. She even managed to follow Arron's example and retrieve one of the guns. Cradling it awkwardly in her left hand, she dodged around the corner.

  She almost collided with Arron, pressed flat against the wall. Resaime, on his other side, eyed the short ladderlike stairway that led up to a solid metal door at the end of the hall.

  “Probably locked,” whispered Arron. “I'll go check. I can shoot—”

  A thunderclap rocked Lynn back. Arron dragged her to the floor. Resaime was already flat on her belly. Another boom sounded, followed fast by a sharp bang. The door flew open and slammed against the wall. A pair of soldiers stood silhouetted against the brighter light of the upper level.

  Shot through the door and then opened it. Smart, thought Lynn dazedly. The pain in her head blurred the vision in her remaining eye.

  “Drop it!” One of the soldiers pointed her gun at Resaime. Showing she wasn't a complete fool, Res dropped the gun.

  “The Humans get up and move back.”

  “Well,” said Arron as he heaved himself to his feet. “That was short-lived.”

  Lynn bit her lip and got onto all fours. She made as if to stand, but let herself fall onto one knee with a small cry.

  “The Humans get up and move back.” Lynn was sure the soldier raised the gun muzzle a little higher.

  “She's lost blood, and she's got an infection,” said Arron, from his place behind her. “She probably can't stand.”

  “Help her.”

&n
bsp; Lynn felt Arron move up beside her and bend over. A shot exploded from somewhere, and another. Lynn grabbed for her gun, brought it up, and fired. It kicked into her shoulder and she gasped from fresh pain. She couldn't see straight. Half the world was black. She fired into the light again. And again.

  “Run!” shrieked Resaime.

  Arron grabbed Lynn's shoulders and dragged her forward. Lynn stumbled up the steps and would have tripped over the squirming, gasping soldiers if Arron hadn't kept her upright.

  Her vision cleared a little and she could see windowless walls of brown-and-white stone. This was a bunker, probably burrowed into a mountainside. The Getesaph had been digging them for centuries.

  Lynn found her feet and made out Resaime's fleeing back. Lynn pelted after her.

  “Stop!” shouted voices behind them. “Stop!”

  Something yanked Arron's hand out of hers. She wheeled around in time to hear the thud and see Arron tackled by a big Getesaph in green-and-lavender civilian clothes. Lynn swung her gun at the Getesaph's skull. The blow connected, startling them all. The Getesaph's grip loosened, and Arron twisted around and smashed his hand against the Getesaph's nostrils. The Getesaph screeched and scrambled backward. Lynn held out her arm and let Arron pull himself up and drag them both toward where, she hoped, Resaime had run.

  Shots rang out. The air beside Lynn's ears hissed and sang. Adrenaline poured into her heart and she ran. Blind and panicked, she ran without thinking, just to get away from the shots.

  “Don't kid the Humans!” someone shouted.

  Arron shoved Lynn to the floor again in a shadowed place. She blinked and tried hard to focus. They were behind a heavy desk. Resaime had upended it for cover. Shouts Lynn couldn't understand were filling the place.

  But they had an out. They had one out. “Arron, get your gun up. Res, do you see a door?” Lynn fumbled for the fastenings on her helmet.

  “Yes.”

  “Lynn, what…”

  She tore her helmet off. “If we can keep them back, maybe we can walk out of here.” Hands raised, but not in surrender, Lynn stood up.

  “I'm stripped!” she shouted in Getesaph. Her voice was harsh and tremulous. “We're walking out of here! The first one who wants to die of the Human poison can try to stop us!”

  For the first time, she got a good look at the place. It was an open lobby with desks sitting here and there. About a dozen Dedelphi stood between them, some in civilian clothes, some in uniform. Slanting ladders led to catwalks for access to the second-story rooms.

  They'd taken shelter directly under one of the catwalks. Lynn's scalp crawled. She couldn't see who was up there, but, then again, they couldn't see who they were shooting at down here.

  “We have no quarrel with the Humans.” A squarish Getesaph with sandy pink skin and a uniform with a trindt's red bands around her wrists.

  “We seek no blood from you,” the trindt went on. “But we have to defend ourselves from the t'Theria. You inadvertently prevented this operation. We are negotiating your release …”

  “Bullshit!” spat Lynn. She recovered herself and spoke in Getesaph. “We are walking out of here. You can shoot us or you can send your soldiers to take the poison for you.”

  “We seek no blood from you,” repeated the trindt patiently. “We will escort you to a Human installation, but the t'Therian—”

  “I didn't do anything to you!” screamed Resaime.

  The trindt's calm snapped. “Devouring spy!” she shouted. “Daughter of death and lies! You will be stopped! All of you will!”

  A few Getesaph started forward. Lynn held her hands up, one out to each side, palms outward.

  “Halt!” thundered the trindt.

  They obeyed. Relief washed over Lynn. “We were invited to save the whole of the Earth!” Lynn's shoulders shook. Her knees weren't going to hold her up much longer. “Not just your islands!” In English, Lynn said, “Let's go.”

  She heard shuffling noises. After a moment, Arron came into her line of sight. He carefully kept his gun up. Resaime hunched on his other side.

  The world blurred. Two figures dropped in front of her. Getesaph. In clean-suits and helmets.

  “Run!” screamed Lynn.

  She felt the breeze behind her scalp as a Getesaph snatched at her and missed. Fear and anger lent her speed, and she almost piled into Resaime and Arron.

  If they've locked the door… Arron grabbed the handle and shoved it down. The door swung open, revealing a broad, braced, metal ladder. Forgetting her naked hands, Lynn grabbed Resaime's shoulders and all but tossed her through the threshold. Res grabbed the rungs with hands and feet and climbed up. Lynn followed, clumsy and scrabbling. Res threw open a metal hatch, and they both dived out into the daylight.

  Lynn's boots found level ground, and she started running before she realized she was running across packed earth, not the damned blank concrete that surrounded every Dedelphi secure area. She'd been right. This place was not official.

  She concentrated on Resaime's back and put herself in line with it. As long as she was between Resaime and the thudding footsteps behind her, the soldiers couldn't get a clear shot at Res.

  A fence of metal slats loomed between the compound and the outside world. Her brain had just defined it when her legs jerked backwards and the ground smashed against her chest. Shots whisked overhead, and Lynn twisted around frantically. A clean-suited soldier clung to Lynn's knees. Lynn swung out. The Dedelphi grabbed her wrist and levered herself up Lynn's body. Another shot sounded, and the soldier jerked back. Lynn tore out of the Dedelphi's grip and threw herself toward the fence.

  Where's Resaime? Where's Arron?

  Where's the other soldier?

  Getesaph voices shouted behind her. More shots echoed around her. She couldn't understand any of it. Her vision narrowed to a grey-walled tunnel with shiny slats across the end. Fat slats, widely spaced. Designed to stop an adult Dedelphi.

  Lynn measured her length on the ground, screamed as the pain raised sparks in front of her eyes, and wriggled under the lowest slat. It scraped hard along her back, ripping cloth and rotted organic.

  Where's Arron?

  She tried to stand and run but stumbled instead. Her remaining eye didn't want to work. The world was a blur of tears and voices. She lurched forward, praying for smooth ground. If she tripped, she wasn't getting up again. An uneven roar cut across the voices, and the tunnel in front of her eye began to shrink rapidly.

  Oh, no.

  “Lynn!”

  The ground hit her knees and her palms, jarring her all the way up her shoulders. Hands grabbed her, and the ground went away. Something soft hit her shoulder, and the roaring filled the entire world.

  The tunnel of her vision shut down altogether.

  “Lynn! Lynn! Eia! Oereth u, Arron, iyullena or'ena esa!” Groggy, aching, ears ringing, Lynn lifted her head. The world roared, jounced, and rattled. Someone shouted at her in t'Therian. Someone young.

  Res! Her left eye snapped open and her right eye tried to. Its flutter sent a shot of pain across her temple.

  Her vision took a moment to clear. Resaime, filter mask still in place, leaned over her, dangerously close.

  “Wake up!” screeched Resaime. “We've got to abandon the car!”

  Car. The world jumped again. The roar was the engine, she was on the back bench and… She turned her head a little. The top of Arron's helmet gleamed above the driver's seat.

  Pride at deciphering her situation leaked away, replaced by fear, anger, and urgency. The world jerked rattled again, and tilted. The wind and roar stopped. The top of Arron's helmet jerked left as he scrambled out. “Get back, Resaime.”

  Lynn realized she was going to have to move. She clenched her muscles, grabbed the seat back, and heaved herself upright. The world spun, but she managed to make out a tree-choked slope in front of them. Arron grabbed her by the elbow and shoved her to one side. She almost fell against Resaime, but managed to catch her balance in time.
Engine noise filled the air behind her. Resaime wasn't moving. Lynn turned. Arron got behind the frame car, put both hands on its back bar, and shoved it forward. The car crashed down the hill until it rammed into a tree that would not give way.

  “Let's go.” Arron loped across the road's cracked pavement and into the scrub on the other side.

  Ah, a distraction, Lynn thought muzzily as she followed Resaime, who followed Arron. If we crashed down the hill, we'd keep going downhill. We would not scramble up the slope and head across the other side.

  The moss-covered, puff-leaf trees enclosed them, cutting off the watery sunlight and dangling branches in their faces. The thick undergrowth of ballooning weeds, pitcher plants, and rubbery reedlike growths rustled and flapped, spattering water on her shins. The rags of her tattered clothes and clean-suit flopped against her shivering skin, getting wetter by the second. More water dripped on her head and smeared across her cheeks. Fungus and mushrooms popped and squelched underfoot. She kept her right hand stretched out to try to keep herself from smashing into trees on her blind side. Mostly it worked.

  She had hoped the movement and fresh air would clear her mind and vision, but it wasn't happening. She blundered through a blur of shadows. Her temple throbbed incessantly.

  Keep going, just keep going. We've got to get out of here. Got to.

  All at once, Arron was beside her. “Lynn, do you see it?”

  He pointed. She sighted along his arm with her good eye. Through the trees and hanging moss, she saw a cluster of buildings, most likely a Getesaph family home. Nothing moved in the yard, and no light shone through the windows.

  Probably deserted. Probably the owners were dead, but maybe they were just evacuated. She glanced anxiously at Resaime, who leaned against a tree, panting hard. Was it safe to take her there? They were already dancing with the plague out here. What if they took her inside to sleep with it, too?