The Song of Earth (Children of Earthrise Book 5)

by Daniel Arenson

  They all turned toward him. Najila looked confused, but Leona understood.

  Tom survived a gulock, she thought. He lived through hell.

  She stepped closer to the tall, silver-haired man and squeezed his hand. She gave him a soft smile.

  I'm here with you, she said, speaking with her eyes.

  Tom gave her a sad smile in return. I know. Thank you.

  "Fellas, I hate to break the tender moment," Ramses said, "but you might want to check out that screen."

  The Pharaoh pointed. They all turned to look. A screen hung on the wall between wanted posters, alien heads on plaques, and centerfolds of seductive, green-skinned sirens. A news bulletin was playing. The anchor was a gelatinous, translucent alien. A smaller alien was visible inside him, being slowly digested.

  "Earth is under attack!" the anchor announced, jiggling. "The war against the pests escalated this morning, with Queen Xerka's exalted hosts launching a massive bombing campaign against the human infestation. As our viewers recall, only days ago, the foul apes declared independence on Earth, openly defying the decree of the Galactic Council. An alliance of seven brave nations have launched a holy war, seeking to crush the ape rebellion. At the risk of veering into editorial, this broadcaster says: Bless Xerka and damn the pests!"

  Inside the reporter's belly, the devoured alien raised his paw. "Damn the pests!" he squeaked.

  The video switched to live footage of Earth.

  Leona inhaled sharply and cursed. Ramses pulled Najila into his arms. Tom stared with cold, dark eyes.

  Thousands of alien warships were bombarding the planet.

  Earth was burning.

  Across the bar, aliens began to cheer.

  "Kill the damn pests!" roared a giant rodent with patchy fur.

  "Burn all the apes!" cried a hunchbacked, three-legged alien.

  "Hail Xerka!" A feathered alien lifted a bowl of worms. "Hail to the huntress of humans!"

  The barflies were all laughing, pointing at the broadcast, and celebrating the destruction of Earth.

  We suffered so much, Leona thought. Millions of us died in the gulocks. We saved the galaxy from the scorpions. Yet still they hate us so much.

  "They're all dead," Najila whispered. "Oh Gaea, they're all dead. Our people. My family …"

  "No." Leona shook her head. "Look, Najila. Egypt has been spared. The aliens don't know your people are there. They're concentrating fire on the colonies they know about. On my people. And my people have bunkers." She turned toward her companions. "We can still win this war."

  Najila lowered her head. "It seems so hopeless."

  Leona nodded. "We deal with hopelessness. That's what we've always done. We were the Heirs of Earth. We brought hope to the hopeless. Today we are the Human Defense Force, and we do the same. Wherever the situation is darkest, we shine a light." She looked at her companions each in turn. "Soon Aurora will be done repairing and fueling up her starship, and we'll fly away from this space station. We'll fly to Menoria, Aurora's homeworld, and speak to her wise elders. The Menorians have always been friendly to humans. They will sell us starships. Earth is suffering now. But we will return with a fleet! And we will strike Xerka down."

  Tom turned to look at the monitor again. The light of Earth burning painted his face red. Following a style popular among Earth's officers, he had begun to grow a beard—joining Emet, Bay, and Ramses in the effort. Tom's beard was pale silver, which Leona found attractive and distinguished. But now, staring at the monitor, Tom seemed almost demonic, brooding and simmering with fury.

  Yes, there it is, she thought. The demon inside him.

  Tom was a kind man, she knew. A wise, compassionate, and gentle man. A man she loved. But there was a dark fire inside him. One she had seen blaze too often. One that hardened his eyes when he killed. She saw that fire in him now.

  The gulock put that into him, she thought.

  The gulocks had broken most who survived them, leaving them shattered beyond repair. But not Tom. That inferno had only hardened him, forging him into a weapon.

  "I will not join you," Tom said, still staring at the images of Earth. "I will not fly onward to Menoria. I must return to Earth—as fast as possible. I must begin my journey back today."

  "Tom!" Leona grabbed his arm. "I need you with me."

  He slowly turned toward her. He stared into her eyes, and Leona took a step back.

  My Ra.

  She had never seen such intensity in his eyes. Such deep pain. She did not see her lover, the shepherd, the musician. She saw the killer.

  "Earth needs me." And there was fury in his voice. But then his face softened. He held her hands. "Leona, I love you. More than anything. You are strong, capable, and experienced. You can complete the quest to Menoria on your own. There are barely any experienced officers on Earth. You, me, Ramses—we're among Earth's most battle-hardened commanders. And all three of us are out here, so far from home. There are—or were, when we left—half a million humans on Earth. But most are refugees, frightened, hungry, weak. Earth needs me right now. Emet needs me. I can buy a cheap starship at this port, or maybe pay for a smuggler to transport me. Menoria lies across the galaxy, months away. But if I head back to Earth now, I can be home in two weeks."

  "You'll fly into the fire alone?" Leona said. "In a few months, if we succeed, you can fly home with a Menorian fleet."

  "Not alone," Ramses said, stepping closer. The Pharaoh clasped Tom's shoulder. "I'm with you, brother. I too will return now. Leona can continue without us boys. We're both experienced military commanders. Right now, our place is on Earth." He winked at Leona. "We'll hold down the fort while we wait for you."

  As she looked at the two men, Leona's heart twisted. Both were men she had slept with.

  With Ramses, it had been two years ago. They had been alone in space for so long, seeking Earth, a planet they had never seen. So many around them had died. That one night Leona had found comfort in the Pharaoh's bed. She did not regret it. It was still a tender memory. But it was a night that had never recurred.

  With Tom, Leona had only recently found love. Tom was fifteen years her senior, deep into his forties, and looked older with his silvery hair and beard. He had none of Ramses's swarthy, rakish good looks. But Leona had come to love Tom more deeply than any man in her life. In many ways, it was a deeper love than she had felt for Jake, her late husband. After all, she had been only seventeen when marrying Jake, then losing him the same day. She was a woman in her thirties now, and she loved Tom with a woman's maturity and wisdom.

  They don't know, Leona realized, looking at the two men. That I've shared both their beds. Or maybe they know but won't speak of it. So neither will I. They need to fight as brothers.

  "Hey, lobos. Smoke sticks, you buy?" The squat alien trundled back, holding out a box of the foul drugs. "You buy. You buy from Ulof." He held out the stained box. "Lobos. You buy?"

  "Not interested!" Leona said.

  The squat beast pawed at her coat. "You buy from Ulof. You buy now."

  Leona shoved him away. But the alien's claws snagged her cloak, pulling the dark fabric. Her hood came free, and her mane of curly hair spilled out.

  The little drug dealer gasped and stepped back.

  "A lobo human!" he cried.

  Leona cursed under her breath.

  "Be quiet!" she urged.

  But the alien scampered away, shouting. "Pests! Pests, lobos. Pests in the bar!"

  Everyone in the bar turned toward the humans.

  "Muck," Leona muttered, pulling her hood back up.

  But it was too late. They had seen her. Aliens reached out with claws, tentacles, and paws, tugging at the companions' cloaks. Najila yelped and slapped an alien's tentacle away. Tom and Ramses were swatting alien insects that buzzed around them. The little buggers were pulling back the men's hoods.

  The aliens overpowered them. Within moments, the four humans were exposed to the crowd.

  "Apes!" gurgled a cyborg with
an array of eye stalks.

  "Disgusting creatures," said an oozing, boneless alien that quivered on a tabletop, several parasites sucking on its sores.

  "Kill the pests!" squawked a crab-like alien, resting inside the throat pouch of a giant bird.

  "Enough!" Leona roared. She stepped onto a table and glared at the crowd. "We are no pests. We are humans and proud! We slew the scorpions and defeated their empire. We saved this galaxy. Now we only want a home! Look at the images from Earth. Look at the destruction Xerka wreaks. This is a new menace to the galaxy. One we humans fight!"

  But the crowd scoffed.

  "The Council has spoken!" said one. "Earth belongs to Xerka. Humans are vermin."

  "An infestation!" rumbled another alien. "They infested Earth, and now they infest this space station."

  "Sin Kra should have killed you all!" roared an alien. "Hail Xerka the exterminator!"

  Ramses reached for his pistol, but Leona grabbed his wrist and shook her head.

  "Pick your battles, Pharaoh," Leona said. "We fight in wars, not bar brawls. Let's get out of here. Aurora should be ready by now."

  She turned for the exit. But an alien moved to block her—a furry giant with claws and fangs. Leona tilted her head back, glowering at the creature.

  "Stand back!" she demanded.

  The beast grabbed her with massive paws, lifted her into the air, and roared.

  Leona was far weaker than this gargantuan brute. But she kicked with speed and accuracy. Her foot connected with the alien's chin, knocking the furry head back with a sickening crack.

  The alien released her. Before Leona had even hit the floor, she delivered a punch, hitting the alien in the same spot.

  The towering creature fell. The bar shook.

  And then everyone, it seemed, was leaping into the fray. Aliens of all shapes and sizes lunged at the humans. Ramses was throwing punches. Tom lifted one alien and hurled him into a group of others, knocking them down. Najila was tossing plates and mugs, shattering them against alien heads.

  "Everyone, fall back!" Leona shouted. "This isn't our battle. Come on!"

  She leaped over the fallen furry giant. The beast was coming to, but Leona delivered a kick to his temple, knocking him out again. The other humans followed, exiting the bar. Several aliens spilled out after them, tugging the humans' clothes and hair, trying to drag them back in.

  Leona swung Arondight, her loyal rifle, clubbing an alien's head. The creature fell. A scaly, winged alien was pulling Najila's hair, nearly lifting her off the floor. Ramses pistol-whipped the creature, knocking it against the wall and freeing Najila, sans a few strands.

  Leona slammed the bar doors shut, sealing the other aliens inside. A blast from her rifle shattered the control panel, locking the door.

  "Bastards," she muttered, wiping blood off her forehead.

  Tom grunted. "Our troubles aren't over. Look!"

  They stared down the corridor. This was a space station typical of the inner sectors—a hive of brothels, drug dens, casinos, and fighting pits. Orphans slumped on the floor, hung from the ceiling like bats, or clung to the walls with suction cups, all begging for scryls. A wizened fortune teller with twenty arms sat on a rug, twenty eyes blinking behind twenty thick lenses. A neon sign flashed above a curtained doorway, promising electronic delights within. Leona had been to a thousand space stations like this.

  Less typical were the six Peacekeepers racing toward them.

  Most sin hives were lawless. But following the war, the Peacekeepers began spreading out, struggling to maintain order in a fraying galaxy. These brutes ahead were not organic aliens like most Peacekeepers. They were robots, towering and vaguely humanoid, their shoulders equipped with mounted machine guns. And those machine guns were pointing at Leona and her friends.

  "Humans—halt!" intoned the lead robot.

  If Leona had qualms about shooting organic aliens, she had none about robots. Especially Peacekeeper robots. She fired her rifle, and one robot's head shattered. Ramses and Tom added their firepower, taking out three more machines.

  The remaining Peacekeepers opened fire just as the bar door slammed open. The drunken aliens spilled out, eager to kill the pests, and stumbled into the hailstorm of bullets. Blood sprayed the corridor. The fortune teller shrieked and fled. The orphaned children vanished into vents, fleeing through the HVAC ducts like Rowan must have done a thousand times in her childhood.

  "Run!" Leona shouted.

  The humans skirted a corner, seeking cover from the bullets. One had scratched Tom's arm. Another had hit Ramses in the hand; it was bleeding profusely, and he cursed as they ran onward.

  "Mucking bots took off my finger!" Ramses said, slowing to stare at the stump.

  Leona grabbed him. "Keep running."

  Ramses gave a crazed laugh. "I have to go back for my finger. I—"

  "Forget it, it's gone!" Leona shouted, dragging him onward.

  The Peacekeepers emerged around the corner. Leona fired twice, taking out two of the robots. Tom took out a third. Ramses tried to aim but his hand was slick with blood, and he cursed, unable to fire. Najila grabbed his rifle from him. Screaming, the Gaean peppered the robots with bullets.

  They continued running. The corridor took them by a large aquarium—a pub that catered to aquatic aliens. Through the glass, Leona saw a host of bizarre marine life: bright blue alien crustaceans feeding on a carcass, a demonic mermaid battling a spiky eel, crabs that used skulls as shells, and floating sacks of skin that flipped themselves inside out to catch their prey.

  Leona just hoped they could survive for a while in a puddle.

  As she ran by, she fired her gun, shattering the aquarium glass.

  As the humans ran onward, the water roared into the corridor. Fish and sponges splashed around Leona's feet. Behind her, the Peacekeepers crashed down, their electronic components sparking.

  Finally the companions reached the station's hangar. A couple hundred shuttles were docked here. Outside, dozens of larger starships hovered in space. Aurora was waiting in the hangar, anxiously beckoning with her tentacles. Her boneless body was changing colors in rapid succession. Leona's minicom translated the visual language.

  "Hurry, friends! The Peacekeepers sent out a Code 9 alert!"

  Tom, a retired Peacekeeper, cursed as he ran. "Code 9. Infestation. Bastards. This station will soon be swarming with exterminators."

  Aurora was standing—well, as much as a mollusk could stand—beside her shuttle. It was a round, rocky craft inlaid with crystals. Her mothership floated outside the station, visible through the portholes—a starship shaped like a giant geode.

  Leona ran toward Aurora. But Tom ran in another direction.

  "Tom!" she cried.

  She saw where he was heading. Toward a Peacecar—one of the slender blue starfighters of the Peacekeepers Corps. During her long years in space, Leona had fled more than one of these police ships.

  Tom paused and looked at her.

  "Didn't you want to say goodbye?" Leona said.

  He took several large strides back toward Leona. He embraced her.

  Behind Tom, a hatch opened on the Peacecar, and a robotic head emerged.

  Without breaking her embrace with Tom, Leona drew her pistol, fired, and destroyed the robot. Not losing a beat, she kissed Tom—a long, deep kiss, one hand in his hair, her smoking pistol still in the other.

  "I love you, Leona Ben-Ari," he said.

  "I love you too, Tom Shepherd. Godspeed. Go kill some basilisks." She stroked his cheek. "And keep the beard. It suits you."

  "New Peacecars incoming!" Aurora cried, flashing red. Leona saw the lights outside.

  "Tom, my friend!" Ramses grabbed him. "You know how to jumpstart that Peacecar?"

  Tom nodded. "I'll fly. You can operate the guns."

  Ramses raised an eyebrow. "Normally I'm the pilot, but—hey, I'm missing a finger now, so you take the wheel."

  Najila joined the two men. The three hopped into the
blue Peacecar. Leona raced toward Aurora, pausing to shoot several more Peacekeepers that burst into the hangar.

  More robots were clattering down the corridor, and new Peacekeeper ships were getting closer outside. As Tom's commandeered Peacecar roared to life, Leona and Aurora hopped into the Menorian's rocky shuttle. The two vessels rumbled toward the hangar's airlock.

  Red lights flashed on the doors, denying access. A photon beam from Aurora's shuttle took care of that problem.

  The two vessels roared out into space—and into a hailstorm of enemy fire.

  Aurora took a sharp turn right. Tom's Peacecar swerved the other way. The bullets pounded the space station behind them, destroying a few portholes, billboards, and neon signs. A giant sign, shaped like a green alien in chains, tore free. The manacled alien floated through space, its neon chains sparking, promising cheap bail loans.

  Aurora piloted her shuttle with four tentacles, using the other four to fire bolts of lavender plasma. The plasma slammed into the incoming Peacecars, knocking them back. Several bullets hit the Menorian shuttle, chipping its stony hull. But the shuttle kept wobbling forward, heading toward the geode mothership.

  Several other vessels burst from the space station—the ships of bounty hunters, mercenaries, smugglers, drug dealers, pimps, and gunrunners. Here were galactic lowlifes. They all hated the Peacekeepers. Maybe these aliens hated humans too. But they hated the law even more. Especially when the law was destroying their space station.

  A battle raged outside the station. Lasers, plasma, and bullets flew back and forth. Several starships exploded. This was no organized battle. Things descended into a chaotic brawl. A hundred starships fired in every direction, rival gangs using the chaos to settle scores. Outlaws, Peacecars, and just drunkards itching for a fight—everyone seemed to be fighting everyone.

  Amid the madness, Tom's Peacecar engaged its warp engines. It vanished with a streak of light, heading home to Earth.

  Godspeed, Tom, Leona thought, watching the light fade. Bring Earth hope.

  Aurora and Leona kept flying their shuttle toward the Menorian mothership.

  Five Peacecars rose before them, blocking their way. The Peacecars aimed their cannons.