by Steve Perry
Noguchi scanned the immediate area for other dangers and then looked at Broken Tusk again.
He was much more adept than the one she'd shot had been.
It dawned on her.
It would explain the difference in prowess, the difference in behavior
Broken Tusk must be the commander.
Dachande was disgusted with himself. He had been so intrigued with the ooman female, so intent on opening the door, he had not scented the yautja.
It was Oc'd jy, one of his less adept students. The dead yautja's attack had been, as it seemed with all of their moves since they arrived, stupid. "Look before you shoot" was one of the cardinal rules. If you aren't sure of your target, the burner stays cold, the spear does not fly. Shooting a brother warrior accidentally was the height of bad manners.
And quarter-wit Oc'd jy breathing his last on the ground would surely have killed them both if Da'dtou-di hadn't fired first. No doubt of it. He was embarrassed that his students were so inept.
Dachande clattered a respectful appreciation to Da'dtou-di and then cracked Oc'd jy's head open. That his thick skull could no longer be any Hunter's trophy was a disgrace, and one he had earned. Too bad he had not broken Tichinde's. Ah, well. It was not likely anybody on this world would ever find the dead student, save for scavengers.
Dachande took a deep breath and frowned slightly. The yautja's musk, the h'dui'se, was weak, covered with the stench of dried feces and blood. At least that explained his inability to detect the student before . . .
He snatched the burner from the ground in irritation. A Leader should not make excuses; in Hunting, they did not matter-you died or you did not.
At least he had a decent weapon. Dachande checked it over and growled. Four more fires; not much, but better than his spear alone. Tichinde's burner had been empty.
He glanced at Da'dtou-di, who studied him carefully. He did not know contempt on an ooman face, but she probably felt it.
Da'dtou-di motioned again toward the nest as she finished reloading her weapon. Dachande tilted his head and stepped forward, slinging the burner over one shoulder. She was right; now was not the time for recriminations. He could dwell on his incompetencies later.
Maybe.
Noguchi pointed at the ship, only a few structures away, fifty or sixty meters.
Broken Tusk moved again to the fore position.
They edged forward, Noguchi careful to check the roof.
They made it past the south end of the pen they'd been in before the first attack.
Broken Tusk walked into the open space between two of the pens.
Noguchi backed toward him cautiously.
He hissed a warning.
Noguchi spun, handgun extended.
Broken Tusk crouched, hissed again, his arms spread wide, spear pointed at the sky.
Two of the bugs sprinted toward them from the shadows of the alley, joined by a third. Then a fourth. And a fifth.
Dachande counted them quickly, then stood. Only five.
As the first two rushed to attack him, he sidestepped and thrust the bladed staff out.
The closest one caught it in the throat; it screamed, collapsed, hit the ground.
The second rammed its head directly into the durable blade; the top of its head sliced neatly from its body. Acidic blood fountained.
Da'dtou-di fired her burner from behind him, the sounds loud and sharp.
Two of the running drones fell. Four of five.
Dachande stepped in again to take out the last.
It seemed not to see its fallen siblings. The creature ran straight at him, shrieking.
Dachande hopped to one side as the creature neared, spear held to the other side-
-except the drone hopped and matched his move.
And hit him, running full speed.
Noguchi aimed past Broken Tusk and fired. The first two shots missed, but the third took out one of the black bugs, still a dozen meters away.
She trained and fired again, this time right on the target. A second fell, its corrosive blood sprayed and began to sizzle and eat into the nearest wall.
She tried for the last, but Broken Tusk was in the line of fire. Noguchi turned quickly, alert to other threats.
From The Lector or close to it, she heard what sounded like a hundred of the nightmares. They shrieked and howled and pounded the earth, but none came into view.
Noguchi spun, just in time to see the fifth bug barrel into Broken Tusk and knock him down.
Dachande felt ribs snap as the drone tackled him. He'd lost his spear-
The snarling bug drove its head downward, opened its mouth, exposed its inner jaws-
-he plunged his fist into its mouth.
The alien gagged and bit down. Dachande felt the dagger teeth pierce his arm but he drove his claws in deeper, dug deep into softer flesh-
The drone jerked its talons away from Dachande's throat and clutched at its own. The Leader brought up his other fist and slammed the bug's neck, hard.
The drone spilled to the side.
Dachande let the weight of the creature pull him over to land on top of it. He grabbed for the burner, that sent a shooting pain through his side-and brought the blunt end down on the bug's slender throat.
The drone let go of his arm and died.
Broken Tusk staggered to his feet and retrieved his spear. He turned and jogged toward her. His arm was dotted with green spots where the thing had bitten him.
If he felt any pain, Noguchi couldn't see it. She covered him until he reached her, and then turned toward the ship without her pointing to it.
He knew that much, and she had figured it out on the way.
They were going to where most of the creatures called home.
Dachande ignored the jabbing pain as they edged closer to the nest. The drones would surround their queen now, protect her. They made it past the second and third structure with no more attacks.
Da'dtou-di paused for a second to reload her burner. Dachande glanced at her thoughtfully.
She was the prey he had waited most of his life to Hunt. They were small but powerful, obviously more intelligent than the yautja had thought, and as brave as any warrior he had Hunted with.
Of course, Da'dtou-di could be an exception; she was obviously trained better than the other few oomans he had been in contact with. The kind one that had died, for instance, it was not trained to Hunt, and had been blind to the danger he could have represented.
He would have enjoyed Hunting oomans. But he was proud to Hunt at Da'dtou-di's side. This would be a tale to tell for generations to come . . .
The ooman saw that he watched her and raised her fist into the air. She exposed her teeth again at the same time, probably a sign of aggression.
Dachande still wore his mask, but he raised his arm also and then clattered, as loud as he dared, the Kiss of Midnight.
Kill or die. He was ready.
They crept into the open space in front of the shield wall as quietly as possible. Ryushi's suns beat down on the nearly lifeless compound. It seemed like hours ago that Noguchi had been thinking of how beautiful the town was. Not now. Especially since the heat of midmorning had taken on the cloying stench of rot and decay. A lot of bodies-humans, aliens, warriors-must be cooking in the hot sunshine.
The Lector seemed deserted from the outside. A lone dead rhynth lay on the ground in front of the ship, its intestines ripped out. It must have staggered from the stampede to die there . . .
Noguchi figured the bugs had nested in the ship, and that they waited there now, grouped to attack. Their actions reminded her of a bee colony, the way the drones of a hive lived only to feed and protect their queen.
She shuddered slightly at the thought; she wouldn't want to meet with whatever those monstrosities called "mother."
The distance to the ship slowly dwindled as they crossed the compound. Noguchi's heart thumped louder with each step. She stifled an urge to go back to the empty holding pen and st
udy Conover's map for a while longer.
Like five or ten years.
Broken Tusk walked cautiously, but not too much so; Noguchi figured he knew something she didn't. That wouldn't take much.
As they neared the main loading entrance, her worries about what they would do if the door was closed vanished. The middle steel entry was halfway open as it had been when she and Mason had gone in-
Another pleasant thought. They reached the bottom of the ramp and Noguchi looked up into the black interior of the dock; the metal door was raised horizontally, exactly the right height to let the bugs come and go.
The bugs didn't seem too smart, but she wondered. Conover had spoken of one that was much larger than the others, that had slept near them when they were captives.
Queen?
She might have stood there for a lot longer, but Broken Tusk growled at her. Noguchi took it as impatience. She took a tentative step onto the ramp.
From somewhere inside the blackness, a low hiss.
Noguchi took another step, gun ready for the fast thing that moved. Broken Tusk was by her side, his weapon also out. He had slung the spear over his back.
The dark lock stirred, shadows shifted. She heard the clatter of alien movement, and then silence.
Broken Tusk moved in front of her. She let him.
They were halfway up the ramp when a sudden flurry of motion in the dark ahead of them surprised her. She fired into the dock, twice.
The gunshots clapped loudly in the still air. Whatever had moved wasn't moving now.
Broken Tusk made a few guttural sounds and then walked without hesitation to the top of the ramp. He turned and motioned at her to follow.
Noguchi joined him and peered inside. Nothing, at least nothing she could hear or see. It felt empty, too. But there was alien spoor all around. An odd, wet-metal smell. What looked like meaty chunks of slaughtered rhynth-or human.
She edged inside, adrenaline pumping. On the dark floor there were several of the unclassifieds that the Revnas had dissected, their spiderlike bodies curled and motionless. Dark shapes lined the walls. She looked closer and then shuddered. The Lector's crew, at least some of them, with chests ruptured, webbed like flies in the nest of a demonic spider. Some of them had not died easily, from the expressions locked on to their dead faces.
Where-?
A jagged hole at the rear of the dock answered her. The edges of the torn metal looked melted, scorched. All around it were bizarre formations of shiny black material. It stretched and hung in thick ropes, appeared both organic and deliberate.
It seemed twice as hot as outside in the burning sunlight with the humidity added. Noguchi took a shaky breath and then moved into the darkness. Broken Tusk walked ahead of her to the hole and waited.
She heard a chittering movement come from deep inside the ship somewhere, and steeled her nerves as she approached.
They were going to have to find the control room. Which meant going in, navigating a labyrinth of corridors, climbing two flights of steps, and unlocking a locked door.
Broken Tusk watched her for a second and then stepped into the hole.
Noguchi prayed silently to anyone listening, and followed him.
* * *
Chapter 30
Dachande went first.
He crouched down immediately and searched for life, sweeping back and forth with his burner. Nothing moved.
Da'dtou-di slipped in after him. He ignored her for the moment; she could take care of herself. What she lacked in skill, she made up for with intelligence; it would have to be enough.
He scanned the long dark corridor through the eyes of the mask. More of the alien spittle secretion, te'dqi, lined the steep walls. It was a brittle substance, but could provide camouflage for hiding drones.
The lenses showed nothing. He glanced at Da'dtou-di. Her sickly pale skin seemed whiter than before.
"Nothing, he said.
She babbled a short reply. The words were nonsense but the tone was watchful and ready.
They crept forward.
Da'dtou-di stumbled behind him. Apparently oomans didn't see well in the dark. She followed closer.
At the end of the corridor, another door, open. Dachande heard the kainde amedha as they skittered somewhere beyond. He ducked his head to get through the portal and discovered that he would have to move in a crouch through the next hall; the ooman ceiling was lower here.
Dachande had gone into three nests before this one. But always with fully stocked burners and at least a handful of armed yautja with him. Not to mention that he felt like a month old Jet turd-his side ached from the drone attack and each deep breath burned somewhere inside. From his experience and the way he felt, the wounds were fairly serious. Well. Nothing to be done about it.
He wasn't afraid, Blooded warriors seldom were in battle. But he accepted that dying could come easily here. He hoped it would come with honor. The real pity would be that there would be no one to tell the tale. No one except a small ooman-assuming she survived as well.
They moved forward in the thick dark.
Noguchi tripped on something and caught herself before she fell. There was virtually no light. Every dozen paces or so, a small dim emergency torch set high into the wall illuminated just enough to make it seem darker. She could make out her own weapon and Broken Tusk's back; beyond that, nothing.
The warrior seemed to be able to see better. He must have done this a dozen times, and he obviously knew something about the aliens' behavior-
Noguchi felt her gut clench at the sound of movement ahead somewhere. She gripped her weapon tighter, her eyes wide and semi-blind.
They stepped into a second corridor, the air grew muggier as they progressed. Their footsteps were oddly muffled by the strange alien material that lay thick on the floor.
She should be in front, she knew that; Dachande had looked at the map Conover had given her, but his understanding of it couldn't be clear. Then again, he could see better, and was stronger-
As they neared the end of the second hallway, Noguchi heard another alien chitter, close.
From behind them.
Dachande whipped around at the drone's cry and pointed his burner.
Da'dtou-di had also heard it. She fired at the bug as it ran for them.
The shot from her burner hit the drone in the shoulder and spun it around. It didn't fall.
Dachande aimed his burner at the screaming creature. Light and heat spewed in a tight beam.
The drone's back exploded outward in a spray of corrosive blood and cooked entrails.
Footfalls. He spun. Two drones attacked from the front.
Dachande turned, got the first with his bladed wrist, a sharp slashing jab to the bug's throat.
The second clambered over its falling brother and reached for him. Dachande knocked it down, used the burner as a club to crush its jaws. Blood hissed over the durable metal and dripped to the floor, ate holes in the hard material.
Da'dtou-di inhaled sharply and fired past him, at a third drone.
And missed. The Hard Meat turned and sprinted away from them, down the third winding corridor, shrieking an alarm to the others. It was too stupid to be afraid so it must be a sentry.
Dachande cursed. Behind him, he was pretty certain Da'dtou-di did the same in her own language. He didn't need a translator to understand that.
Well, it just meant they'd have to hurry. He had hoped to make it farther . . .
The Leader picked up his pace and hit the hallway at a jog, Da'dtou-di right behind. Ahead, the Hard Meat waited.
She was terrified but ready. This had to be done or else the colonists would die-
And you, too, Machiko.
No shit.
At the end of the third hall, the corridor came to a T -junction. Noguchi pointed for Broken Tusk to turn left; she hoped she'd remember the rest as they came to it.
She moved blindly behind Broken Tusk. There would be a rung ladder on the right pretty soon-
/>
-a bug hissed behind her. Noguchi turned and fired. The shots were deafening in the closed area. The alien's dying screams were quieter.
This was getting old real goddamn fast.
She turned again, just in time to see a bolt of hard light come from the warrior's weapon, accompanied by an echoey thud. It acted as a strobe, showed them a nightmare of dark limbs and shiny teeth.
More screaming.
Noguchi breathed the stifling air shallowly. Her body twitched and jumped as she searched the darkness for the ladder. Her chest had started to bleed again.
Maybe she was already dead and didn't realize it.
Maybe they were in hell.
Dachande felt the ooman slap him on the back and turned.
Da'dtou-di pointed up, her face distorted. She seemed disturbed, as far as he was able to read her expression.
He eyed the flimsy ladder and then started to climb; the narrow rungs allowed him to take three at a time.
Dachande reached the top and looked down at the small warrior. She swung her weapon in an arc; dull light glinted off the small metallic burner.
He looked up again, reached for the floor of the next level-
-a clawed hand dropped down to cover his own. The black talons etched into his wrist, raising small fountains of his blood.
The drone bent down and hissed into his face.
Noguchi looked up just in time.
The bug leaned toward Broken Tusk and opened its jaws.
She aimed and squeezed. The AP bullet went into the alien's mouth and out the back of its head. It fell
Dachande stood up and hit the first drone to come at him with the weighted staff. It dropped, still alive but out of the fight. There was nothing behind it, at least for a few seconds.
He turned to cover Da'dtou-di on her climb, at the same time her weapon fire stopped.
A drone leapt at her, knocked her back against the ladder.
Dachande felt pure rage. He jumped from the second level, staff in front of him---
-and landed on the drone.
Like that, tarei hsan?
The drone did not. So he killed it.
Noguchi was dizzy. Broken Tusk stamped the life out of the bug that had grabbed her. He tucked her under his arm and ascended the rung ladder easily.
