Nepenthe Rising

by John Triptych

  “W-we got lost,” the boy said.

  The uniformed man grabbed Hauk by the throat. “If you think we’re stupid enough to believe such an obvious lie, think again. Consider this your final warning.”

  Hauk coughed a bit after the man withdrew the hand from his throat. “I’m telling you the truth. I-I don’t know any more.”

  “What is your relationship with Dr. Dhara Hayer?” the Arbiter asked.

  “T-the woman who was with us? Nothing,” Hauk said. “She met us at the consortium way station and asked if she could ride along.”

  “You continue to lie, and now you’re just insulting our intelligence,” the Arbiter said. “I hope you are smart enough to realize we can do anything we want with you. Your violations of the bilateral treaties of the joint administration of this planet mean you have forfeited whatever rights you once possessed.”

  The man with the uniform narrowed his eyes. “We know all about the dearly departed Dr. Hayer.” He turned and pointed towards the still-unconscious Maeve. “What we want to know about is you two. The young man who died with Hayer was identified as a suspect in a recent hostage-taking at a Union information relay site. Now tell us what you are really doing over here.”

  Hauk let out a sigh. “As I told you, we’re just prospectors.”

  The man gave Hauk a backhanded slap and the boy winced in pain. “You’re just making this tougher on yourself.”

  The Arbiter turned his torso slightly and gestured at the other man in the room. “Bring the pod over here.”

  The second man also wore a uniform, but it seemed less gaudy compared with the first one’s. He had broad shoulders and a bald, tattooed head. The man bent down and seemed to grab onto something on the floor before bringing it up.

  Hauk felt the metallic taste of blood on his lower lip. “Look, what do you want from me?”

  Maeve let out another groan, only this time she opened her eyes. “What, what happened?”

  “Ah, we now have another guest present at this wonderful occasion,” the Arbiter said. “What is your name?”

  “M-Maeve,” she said. “What’s g-going on here?”

  “Don’t tell them anything!” Hauk said before the xtid suddenly extended one of his arms and clamped his eight wire-like tendrils around the boy’s throat. Hauk tried to cough, but the tight constriction over his airway made it impossible.

  Maeve’s confused look turned to anguish. “No! Leave him alone!”

  The first man walked over until he stood beside her. “Looks like we have a more willing answerer here.”

  “I’ve always thought females would be deadlier than males,” the Arbiter said as he continued to choke the boy while turning his spout-like head to face Maeve. “Now then, if you want me to release my hold on this youngling, answer my questions. First, what were you doing in the quarantine zone?”

  Tears began to stream down Maeve’s cheeks. “We w-were there t-to look at the artifact. P-please stop hurting him.”

  “That much is obvious,” the Arbiter said. “Tell me, why did you choose this particular artifact?”

  Hauk kept his eyes open to try and stay conscious. The suffocating pain in his throat was unbearable, and he started blacking out.

  Maeve could tell Hauk was close to dying. She couldn’t bear to have his death on her conscience too. “Dhara brought me here for the artifact. Let him go, please.”

  The Arbiter immediately unwound his wiry fingers from Hauk’s throat. The boy instantly drew in a sharp breath, only to cough out the chemically laced air just as quickly.

  “Go on,” the first man said.

  “They said I could affect it somehow,” Maeve said. “That’s all I know.”

  The Arbiter stroked the underside of his head with one of his four hands. “Now we are getting somewhere. See how easy this is? We have reviewed the footage from one of our monitors in the area, and we detected an energy surge emanating from the artifact, a wholly unprecedented event in the time since it was first discovered. Did you have something to do with it, youngling?”

  “I-I don’t know,” Maeve said.

  The first man gave the xtid a look of bored resignation. “Did you expect more from her?”

  “At this stage, no,” the Arbiter said before gesturing at the second man once more. “Place it over here.”

  Hauk pushed his shoulders up to get a clearer view. The second man carried a sort of oblong-shaped lozenge made of some unknown, leathery material. The object was roughly the size of the man’s wide chest, and he stood across from the Arbiter and set it down on the side of the sloped chair, almost touching Hauk’s left arm.

  When Hauk thrust his face closer to the item, the lozenge shuddered a bit. The boy instantly drew his head back in horror.

  Maeve could also see what was going on. “What is that?”

  The Arbiter used two hands and touched the sides of the device. The top part of the lozenge suddenly peeled back, revealing a hollow. The object was apparently a container of some sort. The xtid reached inside before looking up at the girl. “We shall now proceed with the second phase of the interrogation.”

  Both kids cried out as the Arbiter held up a wriggling creature with his two hands. The symbiote had a dark gray mantle close to half a meter in length, its saddle-shaped back resembling a very large terrestrial slug. Countless pale little tentacles squirmed freely from its bottom, its entire body oozing thick gray mucus. The creature’s putrid stench was unbearable.

  “I’m guessing it is the first time either of you younglings have ever seen a symbiote,” the Arbiter said. “This one is but a few years old. Just a juvenile, ready to stake its own claim to the galaxy.”

  Despite the alien’s disgusting appearance, Maeve couldn’t take her eyes away from it. “What … what are you going to do with that thing?”

  A series of clicks emanated from the Arbiter’s mouth, indicating laughter. “Why, isn’t it obvious? We need to know more than what you’re both telling us. This is simply the most efficient way of gathering such information. Why bother with more questions when you can delve into another’s mind via the use of symbiosis?”

  Hauk continued to struggle against the restraints. “Get that parasite away from me!”

  The second man grimaced before letting out a screeching bellow.

  “What an offensive thing to say,” the Arbiter said. “Do you know the word you just uttered is considered to be a very bad insult within the Concordance territories?”

  “I demand you keep it away from me,” Hauk said tersely.

  The Arbiter laughed again. “You demand? Look around you. Do you honestly believe you can make a demand to us?”

  “Please.”

  “I’m afraid the time for bargaining is over,” the Arbiter said. “Do not worry. I believe there is only a short instance of pain as the symbiote establishes a link to your nervous system, much like the neural AI implants which are common in the Union. In fact, a physical link with another living creature is far greater in terms of benefits, unlike those of a cybernetic nature.”

  Despite the chilly air, Hauk began to sweat profusely. “If it’s all so good, how come you don’t have one?”

  The Arbiter seemed to shrug, despite not having any shoulders. “It’s impossible for my species to establish a symbiotic link with our erstwhile allies. We’re just incompatible. Humans, on the other hand, are the most suitable candidates. Symbiotes just love to attach themselves to your species. Isn’t that right, Kyubok?”

  The man with the fish scale uniform reacted slightly when his name was called. “We need to hurry up. The Union forces are returning to the quarantine zone.”

  “We’re safely in our territory,” the Arbiter said. “The corrupt technocrats would not dare venture here unless they wish to start a war.”

  “Nevertheless, we need to finish this soon,” Kyubok said. “The Union will no doubt investigate their downed security bot near the artifact.”

  “Oh, very well,” the Arbiter said
before looking over at the second man. “Loosen one restraint and turn him around.”

  Hauk screamed and put up a struggle, but the hulking man standing above him was too strong. The moment the restraint around the boy’s right arm was loosened, the second man rolled Hauk sideways, exposing his back. Hauk tried to wriggle free, but the man pinned his free arm down onto the side of the chair.

  “No! Please leave him alone,” Maeve said.

  Still holding the symbiote, the xtid shuffled over until he stood behind Hauk’s exposed back. “Do not despair, young lass. We have another pod for you too. This is simply the best way. Once you both get your symbiotic links, all of your sadness will go away, I can assure you both.”

  Hauk closed his eyes. “Kill me! Kill me! Kill me!”

  As the xtid began to place the symbiote onto Hauk’s back, Maeve yelled out in both anger and frustration. The juvenile creature in the Arbiter’s hands uttered a shrill squeak of danger before curling into a tight ball.

  The Arbiter held the unresponsive symbiote closer to his face for a better look. “What just happened?”

  Kyubok knelt down on the floor before falling sideways, and began convulsing. The tall, hulking man holding down the boy’s arm suddenly let go and backed away, his face staring blankly at the ceiling.

  The Arbiter leaned over the chair, trying to catch the taller man’s attention. “Vorsted, what are you doing?”

  Hauk sensed his chance. With his right arm free, he twisted back and reached over, grabbing at a weapon holstered along the Arbiter’s trunk-like torso. The xtid reacted by using one of his free arms to try and slap the boy’s hand away, but he underestimated Hauk’s quickness. The boy was able to snatch the weapon and aimed it at the surprised Arbiter.

  The weapon resembled a sort of pistol, with a knob-like handgrip and protruding barrel. Like all Concordance equipment, it had a melted metal look. Hauk felt the button trigger along the back of the knob the moment he grabbed hold, and managed to fire it just as the Arbiter was about to strike him with one of his arms.

  A series of small flechettes fired out of the pistol barrel at subsonic velocity and struck the Arbiter just below his set of four arms. The xtid made a series of disturbing clicks as he instinctively backed away, hoping to get behind a table for cover. The tall man began screaming as he ran up to the Arbiter, and tried to tackle him to the floor. In less than a second, they both ended up struggling on the ground.

  Hauk leaned over to the other side and pressed one finger on the release button of the other arm restraint and got both limbs free. As he sat up and began to disengage the leg restraints, the boy suddenly noticed the symbiote that had been dropped on the floor. The creature had uncurled and its tentacles had stopped moving. It looked dead.

  Despite his wounds, the Arbiter managed to get three hands around Vorsted’s head and squeezed, crushing his skull. The symbiote that had been attached to the dying man’s spine ripped through the back of the uniform and flopped onto the floor before it began to twitch about, shrieking in agony.

  Hauk dashed over to where Maeve was being held down, moving past Kyubok, who remained lying on the floor with his eyes open and blood dripping from his mouth. Kyubok’s own symbiote lay still on its back a meter away, the rotten smell of death emanating from it.

  The Arbiter managed to stand up and got hit a second time by his own stolen needler pistol. Screeching with rage, the alien tried to make it to the exit, only to be shot again in the lower back. The Arbiter turned and charged, his four arms spread out wide, the wiry tendrils ready to smash the boy into a pulp once he got close enough.

  Hauk kept firing and soon heard a loud click, just as the Arbiter got to within melee range. The boy tried to roll sideways but the taller xtid fell on top of him. Hauk feared he was about to be crushed by the more powerful alien until he realized the Arbiter had stopped moving.

  Maeve couldn’t catch her breath. The whole thing had unfolded in a blur of vicious action, and she could hardly keep up. “Duncan, you okay?”

  Hauk grunted positively as he pulled himself away from the Arbiter’s crimson-colored corpse. “I emptied the entire magazine into him. He sure could take a lot of damage.”

  Maeve sobbed as the boy began freeing her. “Oh my antecessors. I thought … I thought you w-were gone for sure.”

  Hauk gave her an affirming hug right after he disengaged her leg restraints. “Thanks. You saved my life.”

  Maeve looked around while getting to her feet. She couldn’t find the words anymore. Too many things had happened all at once, and her head hurt.

  Hauk knelt beside the Arbiter and took out an additional magazine that had been attached along the xtid’s belt. It took him only a few seconds to figure out how to reload the weapon. The AI neural implant at the back of his ear hadn’t been removed, and he was able to access an offline reference point on Concordance small arms. “Come on, we gotta go.”

  Maeve stumbled forward as the boy took her by the elbow. “I … I did this?”

  “It’s gotta be the power you got,” Hauk said as they made their way towards the exit. “Lieutenant Strand told me you can somehow kill those parasites with it.”

  Maeve was still in disbelief. “I-I don’t know how to work it.”

  There was a sort of button by the door. Hauk opened the exit and peered out. “Well, it seems to happen when you get mad. Come on.”

  The corridor had the same strange, smooth architecture as the room did. It was like moving within the bowels of some gigantic beast. There was a fine mist along the floors of the passageway, and the bleach-like smell of chlorine had somewhat lessened, easing the constant irritation of their lungs and throats.

  Hauk stealthily led the way, using the shadowy alcoves along the corridors to dash from one hiding place to another. Maeve would follow quickly the moment the boy signaled it was clear.

  Maeve crouched down beside Hauk as they saw a junction up ahead. The girl leaned close to whisper in his ear. “Do you know where we’re going?”

  “I’m getting a faint signal from my implant since there’s a tracking beacon on the hard suits we wore,” Hauk said softly. “I think it must be pretty close—”

  The boy’s words were interrupted by a series of screams coming from somewhere close by, followed by the sounds of fighting.

  Maeve’s gut reaction was to grab hold of the boy’s shoulders. “What was that?”

  “I don’t know; maybe the lieutenant is trying to rescue us or something,” Hauk said.

  Right after he said those words, a dazed bio-warrior staggered out into the far end of the corridor. The Concordance soldier’s spiked armor had been shattered, and greenish liquid seeped from numerous breaches. The bio-warrior turned sideways when a gaunt human male suddenly came out of the shadows and flung himself at the wounded soldier, using a handheld plasma cutting tool to stab at him repeatedly until the bio-warrior fell to the ground. The man turned and began running down another corridor before disappearing from their sight.

  Maeve’s mind remained in a cloud of confusion. She couldn’t think straight. “What … just happened?”

  Hauk looked into her eyes. “I think it was caused by you. The power you have, it looks like it affected this whole installation or something.”

  They both instantly crouched back down as the sound of weapons fire boomed along the passageway. Holding onto her forearm, Hauk kept her low until the sounds of death and dying faded into the background once more.

  The boy stared ahead while scanning past the northern corridor. “Looks like it’s clear. I can sense the suit’s transponders somewhere over by that area.” Moving forward, he continued to hold her arm. “Let’s go.”

  He led her down the corridor before reaching a turn. Glancing from the shadows, Hauk figured it was clear, and they proceeded down the second passageway. Along the middle part of the tunnel they came upon what looked like an embedded door.

  Running his left hand along the sides of the closed entryway, Hauk was
unable to find the switch to open it. “Can you feel the button anywhere?”

  Maeve started sliding her hands along the opposite side of the doorsill. “It’s all smooth over here; what’s it supposed to feel like?”

  “Like a protruding button, I guess,” Hauk said while trying to feel for it.

  “It’s in the middle of the door,” a voice behind them said.

  Turning around, Hauk bought the needler pistol to eye-level, hoping he had enough time for a snapshot before he got attacked. When he saw who it was, he hesitated. Maeve gasped in surprise.

  The slave woman who had been watching them while they were unconscious in the interrogation room stood just across from them, on the opposite side of the corridor. Her eyes were no longer blank, and she gave them a gap-toothed smile. She pointed to the center of the door. “The button is there.”

  Maeve turned her attention back towards the entryway and pushed the central bulge on its front. The door instantly slid sideways into the wall, revealing what looked to be an outer airlock. Heaped in a pile at the far end of the room were the hard suits they had previously worn.

  “They’re still functional,” the slave woman said. “I was one of those tasked with stripping them from you.”

  Hauk pointed the needler towards the floor. “The parasite on your back?”

  “Is gone,” the woman said softly. “Whatever you did, I want to thank you. Every slave in this research station is free now, and we’ll fight for our freedom. You both need to go. Hurry before the reinforcements from the orbital station arrive.”

  “What about you? You should come with us,” Maeve said.

  The woman shook her head. “No. My husband died a long time ago, along with my children. I’m staying here to take out as many of the parasites as I can. I’ll seal the door behind you, so get going.”

  “May the antecessors watch over you,” Maeve said.

  They had made it out of the airlock and were moving briskly towards the dig site. Hauk suggested they try to commandeer a vehicle and get out of the area, but Maeve had insisted they head back towards the artifact’s location.