Laura shrugged, spread her hands, and allowed her face to fall into an expression that was both innocent and pouty. “Well, we anticipated having to bring several captured soldiers back with us, so we had to account for them as well as the initial team. But then too many men volunteered once I informed them we’d go to rescue Hauptmann Shalwar, anyway,” she explained. “We couldn’t fit them all into only one.”
He pressed his lips together and looked aside. “Well, you might have told some of them to stay behind. Do you have any idea how much fuel those things burn?”
“None whatsoever,” she replied. “I’m terribly sorry.”
“Well, the brass has other things to distract them right now—good things, too.” The director chuckled. In his bony hand, he hefted the egg that “he” had discovered. He turned away from her and walked over toward the base’s researchers assembled in one corner of the cafeteria, along with a man whom she was fairly sure was from the Associated Press.
“As you can see,” he told them, “I have finally gathered an unhatched specimen from the depths of the Zoo itself. Under my directorship, this base has finally prioritized important scientific study over wasteful expenditures aimed purely at pacification. With this egg, we will finally be able to witness how newborn Zoo creatures develop without pressures from their parents molding their behavior and making them impossible to study, as was the case in the past.”
“That’s truly impressive, sir,” said a young female scientist.
“People are hungry for news about the Zoo,” the journalist added. “Especially good news. Or useful news, anyway. It’s encouraging to see that someone around here has a few good ideas.”
Ernest chuckled and thanked them for their kind words, an expression on his thin face that was halfway between gloating smugness and subdued ecstasy.
Laura sighed. She did not regret her bargain with Roden but it disturbed her to think that her coworkers-to-be in the lab would practically be the man’s groupies. Some of them, anyway.
“Ehh, don’t worry about that. Most people see through his type dead easy as though they was invisible,” Sonny said as he set an enormous plate of delicious-smelling food in front of her. “I even brought you a proper fork on the condition you don’t ruin it like the last one.” He momentarily gave her a sharp glare before his face returned to its usual lazy friendliness. “Every real fork we lose is one more special guest condemned to eat with a bloody plastic spork.”
“Thank you, Sonny,” she replied. “I shall return this one to you in pristine condition, I swear it.”
“That’s good to hear, miss, good to hear. Don’t you eat too fast, now.” He wandered off.
Laura dug in. Misadventures in the Zoo seemed to stimulate her appetite in a way few other endeavors ever had.
After she had demolished the top half of Sonny’s edible mountain, she slowed a little and looked around the mess hall. It seemed most of the base was present, British and German personnel alike, and it pleased her that she was starting to recognize so many of the faces.
Gunter Grün and the other fellow, the Doctor Who fan who especially liked the one episode with the aliens, were talking nearby. Laura wouldn’t mind chatting to both of them if she could. She might seek them out after she had finished her meal.
Or she might pass out directly. In another half-hour or so, she would undoubtedly find out.
Two people walked up to the end of the table where she sat and now ate at a more dignified pace. She glanced at them. One was tall and dark and the other short, pale, and stout.
“I won’t say that I owe you an apology,” said Sergeant Cooper, “since I was only doing my duty and frankly, you were breaking a great many rules. And not only Hauptmann Shalwar’s, but regular, base-wide rules as well. But for what it’s worth, I’m glad you rescued Jan, Klaus, and everyone else.” He nodded toward her.
“Thank you, and you’re welcome,” she replied with a smile. “I do believe this is the first time I’ve seen you away from the gate, though.”
“I am occasionally relieved by someone else.” The man chuckled. “Although I then find myself growing anxious with the prospect that they might let a stampede of locusts through. If you want something done right…” He trailed off and shrugged.
“Anyway, ja, thank you,” interrupted Leutnant Ferris. “Next time you need to borrow the transportation equipment to save Jan, you come and see me first instead of sneaking around and putting your hands on things.”
“I shall try to keep that in mind,” Laura responded between bites of biscuits and gravy. “And thank you for helping me to convince our fearless leader there to allow us to do the right thing.”
“Bitte,” said The Bull. “You eat up now. Do not be like Jan and become so skinny that two days without food would kill you of starvation. He should know better and put on some fat as emergency energy storage.”
She bit her tongue to hold back the laughter—which would inevitably have spewed half-chewed morsels all over the table. Before she could answer, however, they both took their leave.
A few peaceful moments passed before she had one more visitor. To her surprise, Jan set a mug of beer down in front of her.
“Drinks are on me,” he said. “Now stay here. I will be back with my own.” He walked with a crutch, which made it rather difficult to carry two mugs at once. She would have offered to help him but she suspected he was the type who, when injured or sick, preferred to retain as much of his independence as he could.
A moment later, he returned with a second foaming cup. He set it down opposite her at the table, maneuvered himself slowly into a seated position on the bench, and rested his crutch against the table beside him.
“Thank you,” he began without preamble, “for saving my life. Unfortunately, we lost that one man, Soldat Schmier, in the rescue operation, but we saved more than twenty others at the same time. This time, I think, we won and the Zoo lost.”
“I suppose that’s true,” she replied. She took the mug of beer and downed a good quarter of it in one long draw. “That’s actually very refreshing, although it will be hard to sleep well if I constantly have to pee.”
He waved his hand. “Somehow, it looks like something is bothering you,” he remarked, “other than that issue.” He took a long draft of his own fermented hops.
Laura sighed. “I agreed that Director Roden could take credit for the discovery of the primaraptor egg I found,” she explained, “as a condition of his permission for us to rescue you. Since, of course, he didn’t want to be responsible for the wasting of lives, let alone funds. That,” she gestured toward Roden and his entourage and by implication, the egg, “was my discovery and I hate the thought that such an imbecile takes credit for it.” She knew she was moping like an angsty teenager, but she couldn’t help it.
“Well,” he responded, “cheer up. You are still at the top of a particular list right now, you know.”
Laura raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?” she mused.
“Yes.” Jan took another drink and waved toward the large board in the pub with the words DEATH LEAGUE printed at the top. “Every week, each person serving at this base has their actions and fortunes calculated according to a risk algorithm. Whoever tops the list is the one considered most statistically likely to die next. It is considered a great honor here to be recognized for displays of suicidal stupidity.”
She stared, not immediately sure how to react.
“I am very often at the top of the Death League,” he went on, “due to my willingness to command dangerous missions, although sometimes, I feel I should be lower since I at least make adequate preparations—unlike Klaus, half the time. In any event, this week, you going into the Zoo repeatedly, alone without training or equipment and in direct violation of rules and orders, and finally mounting an extremely hazardous rescue mission on short notice…”
Laura bit her tongue again but could not quite contain the ghost of a smile.
“All of these factors combin
ed to make you our current champion,” he stated. “You have pushed me into second place. The entire base recognizes your achievement.”
Surprised, she looked past him. It was true. Below the words DEATH LEAGUE someone had written Dr. Laura Curie above H Jan Shalwar.
“Well,” she said, “I suppose that’s…actually kind of cool, when you put it like that. I mean, it’s not the history books, is it? But it’s something. I have my name prominently featured on an…er, official document of sorts.”
“It’s better than a news story about your hacking, anyway.” Jan smiled at her—one of his infrequent, warm, generous smiles—retrieved his crutch, and pushed awkwardly to a standing position. He had somehow already managed to drain his entire mug. Germans and their beer.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“To call my son,” he answered. “It will be about as difficult as anything else I have done lately, but I should keep trying. And so, I will.”
“I see. Well, good luck, and I truly mean that.”
“I almost forgot, I have some news for you. Not long after the Zoo appeared, some articles were recovered in the area you mentioned. Do you recognize this?” He held up a plain silver necklace with a simple heart-shaped pendant.
“It can’t be…” She took it from him, opened the pendant, and immediately recognized a photograph of her and her sister as children inside. “Where did you find this?”
“It was found in the remains of a bounty hunters’ camp,” he said. “Someone recovered it not long after the Zoo started to expand. It has been in storage ever since.”
“Oh.” She guessed it was lucky someone found her necklace before that too was transformed.
“I hope it will bring you some comfort,” he said with unexpected gentleness. “At least now that you have something to remember your sister by, you will be able to put the Zoo behind you.”
“Well…I’m still quite worried about what we saw out there, to be honest. Of course, you and the other troops have likely seen even worse than what I have, but I mean with regard to the nature of those primaraptor creatures. Again, the Zoo can only produce its mutants with infusions of DNA from Earth animals. I had wondered if maybe they obtained velociraptor DNA from a fossil, but then I remembered that raptor fossils have only ever been found in Asia. It simply doesn’t make any sense. Something strange is going on here.”
“Do not worry,” Jan reassured her. “They are nasty, yes, but we know how to fight them and we destroyed their nest. Even if the entire host had hatched, the wall is probably strong enough to have repelled them. A large-scale attack like that against our fortifications would have been dangerous, but it might also have convinced our superiors that our fight against the Zoo is an actual war and not merely a minor peacekeeping exercise.”
Laura sighed. Hauptmann Shalwar was thinking in strictly military terms again. She reminded herself that someone had to.
“I understand, but that is part of what worries me,” she went on. “It makes me wonder if this is all a prelude of some kind…if again, the Zoo is preparing for something bigger. Even bigger than a million primaraptors hatching at once, I mean, as ridiculous as that might sound. It’s happened before. The Surge was almost unprecedented in its ferocity. We can never underestimate this place.”
“You are right,” he replied, “but again, do not worry. We can handle whatever it throws at us.” He nodded, turned, and with his crutch, hobbled away.
She watched him go and allowed herself to admire how he carried himself so well even with a bum leg. “He’s a better man than I thought,” she said softly, “but he’s really quite a bad liar.”
Epilogue
The scientist sat among the broken tables, rusty equipment, and moss and slime of his laboratory. He was calm and happy. Things had not gone exactly according to plan, but they had nevertheless gone well.
“Those idiotic interlopers,” he said in French, his native tongue. “They think they have won. They always seem to think they win simply because they come into the Zoo and kill a few creatures with their guns and bombs. They know nothing and they accomplish nothing. It is the same as always in that regard, isn’t it?”
He recorded a few notes in his journal with a sharp charcoal pencil. He had a good supply of those, fortunately. It might be a while before he could stock up on more. The journals themselves had to be stored wrapped in plastic, though, given the heat and dampness of the Zoo.
“Yes, they thought they achieved some great and mighty victory,” the man went on. “They have not. In fact, all they have done is proven that I am on the right track. They have, in essence, conducted an experiment that I myself could not as I lack the equipment, the manpower, or the funding. And now, after their efforts, I will be the one to harvest the data. They have served the greater will of science despite their ignorance.”
He chuckled, stood, and shoved his hands in the pockets of his filthy lab coat before he turned.
Of course, he had not been talking to himself. He had spoken to one of his new friends.
The raptor-apes, as impressive as they’d been, still did not demonstrate the Zoo’s full potential. There was so much more yet that could be done, and he had achieved some of it now. He had held the hand of evolution itself and aided it in its first steps in this, the new phase of planet Earth’s development.
This particular new friend differed from the raptors-apes in several notable and interesting ways. He imagined how the various fools around there would react when they saw it for the first time. Whether Americans, British, Germans, or anyone else, most humans tended to be fairly stupid. They could not appreciate things.
The creature was eating. An expired soldier, apparently a German, lay on the floor—or, at least, what remained of him did. The scientist’s companion continued its meal. It tore great strips of the dead flesh and chewed them, making wet slurping and smacking sounds as it did so. Something about the way it ate reminded him of a kitten trying to work its way through a lovely can of tuna. He admired the motions it made and the efficiency and economy of its biological processes.
“So nice, so nice,” the scientist said. He smiled what he supposed was a warm, paternal kind of smile.
His friend unfurled its wings and roared.
THE END
— — —
Want to read more by Michael Anderle?
The Kurtherian Gambit
Read the story that started it all, DEATH BECOMES HER
There is more in our world than you know.
Deep in the darkness of a government building, one man needs to find the perfect solution to a vampire’s request that the government satisfy the debt of honor owed him.
If he falls short, the failure will be paid in the blood of the military.
He needs three uniquely qualified individuals.
He can find only one.
One woman, dying, might be the ace-in-the-hole he needs to appease the Vampire.
But then, she might also be the one person needed to save humanity.
If she is accepted, will she willingly change?
If she is willing to change, will she pass the turning?
If she survives the turning, will she be powerful?
If she is powerful, what will she do to those who will now want her dead?
The universe might forever be changed in her wake.
What you thought you knew about Vampires and Werewolves is wrong...so very, very, wrong.
Available now: https://books2read.com/DeathBecomesHerBook01
About the Author
Michael Anderle (ok, weird talking about myself in the 3rd person) (1967-Hopefully a long time from NOW) was born in Houston, Tx. A very curious child, he got into trouble — a lot. What to do with an inquisitive mind when he was grounded? Read!
Ok, done with all of that 3rd person stuff.
In the first 20 years, I mostly read Science Fiction and Fantasy. In the last 10 years I have enjoyed Urban Fantasy and Military Fiction. With thi
s background, I've been blessed with creating The Kurtherian Gambit series, a well-selling, and fan loved, collection of stories.
The fans have propelled these stories beyond my wildest imagination and they should get all of the credit for sharing with friends, family and occasionally the random person on the street. They are fantastic!
David John Williams is a bunch of stuff all thrown together in a wonderful package for your reading pleasure.
He's one part Pepperoni, one part cheese only and enjoys both a good sci-fi book as well as a good science textbook. (Seriously, don't hate on DJW for learning, it's not polite.)
With friends like Ell Leigh Clarke and Michael Anderle in the background, he's going to screw up. When he does, the two of them will point at each other and politely say 'he/ she said to do that.'
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Thank you for reading
GALAXIA!
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Until next time, happy reading!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THEIR SOLITARY WAY
To The High Council Of Fiore
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Galaxia Page 120
