by Thadd Evans
“I love you so much.” Despite her promises, I knew that life was unpredictable. If I died, she would find someone else. Men wouldn’t leave her long alone, she was so beautiful.
Chapter Twenty-Three
In the morning, I put on my clothes. Ieeb kissed me, climbed out of bed, and put on her work jumpsuit.
Ieeb sighed. “I wish I could go back to Icir with you. The problem is that I can’t afford to lose my job.”
“I want to spend another day or two with you, but I have to return to the hangar and inspect ST Seven’s hull. I’ll have to work around the clock to finish doing that.”
Ieeb frowned. “I understand, though I don’t like it. I wish we could stay in bed all day and fool around.”
The door opened. Boma entered. “Jason, are you ready to go?”
I nodded and left the room, already feeling lonely.
We went outside. Several Urus walked into the barrier. Arcs of electricity jumped out of a pole, hit them, and they collapsed.
I paused for a moment. “Those dead Urus smell like burnt grass.”
“Yes. The crew will have to get rid of the corpses.”
We hopped inside the giag. Behind us, several guards began mumbling. As the engine groaned louder, we pulled onto the road.
After we passed several hills, I saw motion straight ahead. A hundred yards down the road, eight Tiel came out from behind trees, and crawled onto it.
Boma complained, “We can’t kill all of those!” He shoved one hand through floating text. The giag abruptly veered left and went off the road, entering a forest. The cab began shaking as we drove over tall weeds. Suddenly, it went between trees.
I blurted, “I hope the bushes don’t break the axle.”
“We’ll see.” He stuck his hand through syntax, steering the giag to the right. We drove by a sixty-foot tall Mus Nantus. At the same time, eight-inch long thorns hit the windshield and started piling up.
Behind us, a miner with a raspy voice shouted, “Ank, ank!”
The right wheel hit a log. My side of the giag jerked up, then plummeted to the ground.
Boma yelled, “Fuck!” He rammed one hand through syntax. The giag veered left, and went around huge bushes.
I smelled fumes similar to excrement and sulfur. Within seconds, my helmet rose and the face mask closed. All around me, everyone else started coughing, reacting to the stench.
Much to my surprise, the giag entered a clearing and went down a hill. As the fumes dissipated, we reached the top, and descended. Beneath the giag, I heard a loud noise. Snap.
Boma shouted, “The axle just broke.” The giag began shaking.
I held my right hand over a door-mounted sensor and the window rolled down. I grabbed the windowsill, trying to hold on. In an instant the giag tipped over—ending up on the driver’s side. Soon the vehicle slid to a stop, crashing loudly as it knocked bushes aside.
I climbed out, reached down, and pulled Boma out. After he rose to his feet, we jumped to the ground.
To my right, on the side of the giag, all the guards leaped. They landed on their feet amidst knee-high weeds.
I yanked out my tablet. The screen appeared. Near the middle of it, a compass emerged from a taupe background. I pointed. “Boma, if we go around that hill, and head south, we’ll reach the hangar sometime tomorrow morning. Even if stellar aircraft doesn’t pick us up, we can reach it in that amount of time.”
He scowled. “We’ll see.” All eight of us, six guards, Boma and I, started hiking around a hill.
The approaching sound of Oiins, a swarm hidden behind nearby Mus Nantus, became louder. Chills ran down my spine as I raised my flamethrower, preparing to fire. At the same time, everyone else aimed their weapons at the Mus.
A tall guard named Worik gripped his M-349 rifle, an automatic weapon that could fire a thousand bullets per minute. “I’m ready.”
Wind speed decreased while the swarm came toward us, making an ominous Nnnnn.
Everyone started firing, a deafening noise. Not far above the weeds grenades exploded, creating brief orange and maroon fireworks.
As sweat poured off my forehead, the huge swarm blocked out the sky. Bullets tore many Oiins to shreds, but not enough.
I squeezed the trigger. Flames engulfed hundreds of the insects.
A clot of Oiins came to rest on a guard. He screamed and dropped his weapon.
I lowered my barrel and the flames engulfed him. Soon charred insect carcasses fell off his flameproof suit. I released the trigger. The flame disappeared. The guard jumped to his feet, grabbed his rifle and started firing.
I raised my barrel and pulled the trigger. Flames swept across more Oiins. Thousands of them began circling one guard. He howled, stumbled to the ground, and went into convulsions.
I pivoted and fired.
Flames engulfed his writhing silhouette.
I released the trigger. The flame vanished.
Gradually, all the burnt insects fell off as his body kept jerking. It was too late, he’d been stung too many times.
I aimed and fired again. Flames came out while grenades went off.
All around us, the swarm of undulating arcs droned louder. Suddenly, they began making a screeching noise, one that resembled a saw cutting metal. Zeeeeee!
One guard shouted, “Time to use your G’s!” His fellow workers scrambled to put on gas masks.
Someone fired, shooting a canister. It exploded, sending ochre-colored fumes in every direction.
Even through my face-plate, I smelled a mustard-like gas. Soon my throat and eyes started burning. I cranked up the suit’s ventilation.
The Oiins buzzed louder, then started flying away, wanting to avoid the fumes.
As my stomach churned, the remaining insects flew toward a distant hill.
Within moments, the fumes dissipated. The bottom of my face mask opened. “I’m surprised you didn’t put on the gas masks earlier,” I gasped.
Boma removed his gas mask and took a deep breath, upset. “After you put them on, it’s difficult to see well enough to hit anything. I wish Obno would give us the latest equipment rather than this outdated shit.”
His gas mask automatically folded, and Boma attached it to his sleeve. He hurried toward a collapsed guard while others did the same. Boma stooped, touched the guard’s wrist, then announced, “Zat is dead.” After cursing softly, he spoke into his tablet, “This is Boma. Alip, anybody, can you hear me?”
A faint voice came out of the device, “Wha?”
Boma tapped the tablet with his hand. “I can’t understand a single word. We’ll have to come back for his body later.”
Everyone hiked on as the late afternoon sun-like star moved toward the horizon.
The guards, all Ulthe warriors, frowned because they knew that any one of them might be next. The sad look on their faces also meant every one of them recognized that today, tomorrow or sometime soon might be their last day.
Worik, with a frightened expression on his face looked at Nebo. “In the last few months, I’ve made more money as an Obno employee than I have in the last eight years.”
Nebo nodded, his face tensed up.
Worik scowled. “I’ve got a bad feeling that all of us are gonna die before we go back home.”
Nebo grimaced, but didn’t say a word.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dusk had come. To our right, at the top of an adjacent hill, a great many four-foot tall, mocha–colored, furry creatures with long ears and narrow snouts barked. Soon they hopped down the slope and went past us.
Boma squinted, trying to see them more clearly. “Those are Finas, a harmless species that eats wild Oza berries and Nopa leaves. They’re migrating toward the Baqqar plain, a spot that’s about thirty miles north of here.”
“How did you find out about the Finas?” I glanced at him.
“I opened a database and discovered that the Tiel eat a lot of them. Be on the lookout. There might be some Tiel in that grove of Zeeo.” He poin
ted at it.
I didn’t see any Tiel.
After hiking by a dried–up streambed, everyone threw his or her compressed tents to the ground.
I said, “I’ll stand guard for a few hours.”
Nebo announced, “When your shift ends, I’ll take your place.”
I gave him a thumbs up. Everyone climbed into their tents and started whispering nervously, terrified.
I took a compressed chair off my sleeve, expanded it, placed it in the grass and sat down. Somewhere in the darkness, beyond several dimly lit Mus Nantus, a bird chirped. I rested my flamethrower on my knees and yawned.
Inside the tents, guards switched on lights. The wind started blowing harder, making it less likely that the Oiins would attack. I took a protein wafer out my sleeve, tore off the wrapper, and ate. Near the top of a hill, a few silhouettes—small birds, barely visible in the dim light—started whistling.
Somewhere in the dark snakes hissed, but I couldn’t see them. I said, “Ey.inf.on.” My left eye switched to infrared.
Eighty yards from me, a nine-foot-long Eoim, an ivory-colored snake with lime green spots, hissed and slithered away. Behind it, several more opened their mouths. One of them lunged at a Qeq, a rodent, and swallowed it. Moments later, all of them crawled toward a Zeeo Xutus.
Worried that the Zeeo would give off toxic fumes, I sniffed, but only noticed a pine smell. I grabbed a bottle of water off and drank. Above me, amidst a sea of stars, a cloud glided across one of Danig’s moons, Uir. At the same time, the faint chirping sound of insects, a harmless species called the Leom, grew louder.
Nothing more happened before Nebo came to relieve me.
At dawn, I crawled out of the tent. It folded flat, and I stuck it on my sleeve.
All around me, the guards and Boma likewise put their camping equipment away.
“Is everybody ready?” Boma glanced to the right and left, a weary expression on his face.
Everyone else nodded, and all of us walked around the hill. Behind a waist-high thicket, a hissing sound got louder. Everyone raised their weapons, waiting for a Tiel to strike.
I listened closely.
There was only silence.
The snake had crawled away.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Within an hour, after descending a steep incline, we reached another dried-up stream and stepped over it. About twenty feet away, behind chest-high wild grass, I heard a soft cracking noise, a barely audible sound made by a large snake that was crawling over weeds.
Boma murmured, “It might be a Tiel, but I can’t see it.”
We swerved to the right, stepped into the streambed, which was bordered on both sides by knee-high vines, and continued on.
Just over an hour later, we reached a small clearing. In front of us, about two hundred yards beyond a grove of Mus Nantus, a sixty-foot long triangular ship, a craft with rectangular facets on its belly, rose out of the hangar. According to my tablet, the ship was called an EQT, an equipment transporter.
All the guards cheered, “We made it!”
I took a deep breath, relieved.
Much to my surprise, the ship began plummeting. In an instant, it crashed. As I watched in horror, it exploded. Maroon flames spread out.
All of us ducked.
Boma sighed. “That EQT was full of explosives. There won’t be any survivors.”
“Why did they crash?” I turned toward him.
Boma replied, a haggard expression on his face, “Wind-shear.”
All of us hiked on.
As our boot heels kicked up dirt, Heos—hundreds of small crimson snakes, a species with narrow snouts and huge white eyes—crawled out from beneath logs. After raising their heads, they sprouted wings—then flew at us.
All around me, guards fired. Bullets tore many Heos to shreds.
I raised my barrel. Flames swept across several snakes. Beyond the flames, grenades exploded.
Without warning, a Heos banged against my face mask. I threw the reptile off and stomped on it, then lowered my barrel and fired. Flames shot out and burned the Heos to a crisp.
More of the reptiles spit from a distance. Although I had my mask on, my eyes started hurting from the venom.
One of the creatures grabbed a guard’s shoulder with its claws, knocking him onto his back. The guard kept firing. Bullets ripped the snake to pieces. By now, snake corpses covered the ground.
Boma shouted, “Cease firing!”
Everyone stopped.
Worik glanced down and kicked a charred snake corpse. “We killed all of them,” he said, amazed.
Boma shouted, “Good job, men!”
We stepped over piles of lifeless Heos, continuing our journey.
Worik spit on the ground, and muttered, “This shit is getting old. I fucking hate this job!”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Hangar
Finally, we reached the hangar and entered.
A six-foot tall Ulthe guard, one of six men in amber jumpsuits, glanced over his shoulder at us. He raised a hand, trying to get our attention. “I’m Sutiiv.”
“Sutiiv, where is Alip?” Boma glanced at him, worried.
He grimaced. “She was on the EQT, the one that just crashed.”
Boma shook his head, angry. “I’m tired of losing friends. I’d like to hold a burial ceremony for Alip tonight by the north entrance.”
I said, “I’ll be there.”
Worik and the rest of the guards muttered that they’d attend, then they quietly walked off.
I headed for ST7, knowing that a spectrometer had to be inspected. In my mind’s eye, Alip, Ieeb and I hopped inside the giag and drove off. The thought that Alip had just died made me sad and more than a little angry. After only a few months here, she was dead. I more than wished that Obno had cared enough to hire more guards.
I left the building and stopped close to Boma.
Beneath a starlit sky, he and the other guards gathered around a waist-high Ulthe raku bowl, a ceremonial vessel partly filled with burning coals. While the fire crackled, they raised tongs and placed more coals in the vessel.
Boma held one hand, the palm aimed toward me, next to his chest, greeting me. “Jason, thank you for coming.”
“It’s my pleasure.” I put my hand close to my chest, copying his gesture.
As part of the ceremony, Boma placed a Na Ya fruit on the fire and it emitted a fragrant odor, similar to the smell given off by burning oak. “We’re here to honor the passing of Alip. She was an Ulthe warrior, a mother who cared deeply about her family.
“For years, just like the rest of us, she practiced the tranquil side of Dehon, the art of seeking peace rather than fighting. She fought in tournaments with swords and laser rifles because Dehon recognizes that if your opponent attacks you must fight or die.
“In a couple of weeks, once the server’s been programmed, I’ll send her husband an email, telling him the bad news. I wish I could contact him sooner.
“Every one of us will miss her, because she saved all our lives many times. With her passing, all of us die a little.”
Boma and every guard drew swords out of their sheaths and raised them, honoring Alip. Without warning, they clanked the blades together. At the same time, the somber looks on their faces deepened.
Boma and the other guards began chanting, “Nalm mor, nalm mor, nalm.”
The translation came out of my earplugs. Every one of us will fight on, even in the face of death.
I wanted to believe that all of them would keep their word, refuse give in to their fear, so that a few months from now they could return to Icir.
All of them put their swords away. As more smoke rose out of the bowl, they chanted softly, morose expressions on their faces.
But no fear.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
In the morning, after eating, I left the small hangar guest-room and headed for ST7.
Boma came out and I glanced at him. “Boma, Vren and I never got a chance to have
dinner with Youn or her father.”
“There’s a problem.” He sighed. “Every day of the week, he has to drive a giag from the Crec mine to Hangar Two, an EQT facility that‘s ninety miles from here. Her father doesn’t have the time to see you.”
“Hopefully Youn, Buar, Sone, and Tayt are doing fine.”
“They are. In the last few days, Buar and his team have finished building one Tokamak, the first of five. Tayt and four other nurse-practioners are testing a serum that will counteract the neurotoxins in the Heos’ venom. Those pre-synaptic neurotoxins block neurotransmission by inhibiting acetylcholine transmitters, so that after a Heos bites someone, they die of a heart attack in a few minutes. Sone is showing his team where to put carbon nanotubes supports in the walls of the tunnels, and Youn has two private tutors, dedicated teachers.”
“I’m glad everyone reached their destinations safely.” I smiled faintly.
“So am I.”
“Have you seen or heard about Vren?”
“No. I’ve been too busy. I tried calling him with my tablet, but all I heard was static.”
I sighed. I wanted to leave later today.
Within an hour, after I finished inspecting the port wing, I climbed the stairs and entered ST7’s bridge. Behind me, on the curved wall, the hatch opened. I glanced over my shoulder.
Vren entered, a cheerful expression on his face. “I found one thousand milligrams of tritium for sixteen micas.”
“That’s not a great price, but it’ll do.”
Vren shrugged. “Obno’s a monopoly. There’s not much choice.”
I frowned. “I can’t say I’m surprised. All they care about is making as much money as possible.”
“It could have been worse. They could have charged a lot more.”
