Nat had believed Greg. At least, she believed his assertion that the Spo had not been kidnapping random humans for hundreds of years. Now she wondered whether those alien abduction stories were true - perpetrated by the Rik, instead.
Nat tried knocking on their door. Speculation aside, she needed to get a Rik in here with some medicine. When Akemi moaned and rolled onto her side, Nat started banging. She’d never felt this alone and frightened and that was saying quite a bit, considering her past.
Suddenly, the door retreated from her banging fist. A group stood outside the door. Two humans, one of them Tishing, and three aliens. The aliens were short, maybe three feet tall, and resembled seals. These were the Rik she was familiar with. They walked with a hind tail, which was divided into long, thin flippers. Their front limbs were thick like a seal, though the left one tapered off slightly into thick digits.
One of the aliens barked something at her, but she didn’t see any of their mouths move. In fact, she didn’t see any mouths. Oh! They were wearing masks. The masks covered their snouts and eyes, giving them a bulbous, misshapen look.
Now that Nat thought about it, the ship’s internal atmosphere was clearly Earth based. The real Rik wouldn’t be able to breathe it.
Tishing nodded at the rear alien. “These are the doctors who are going to study you and her. They want to know how she is doing.”
“She’s bad, that’s how she is,” Nat said. “You took her from her home without any of the medicines she needs. She just had a lung transplant. Do you know what that is?”
Tishing barked back at the aliens.
“She also needs water, and food,” Nat added.
The aliens and humans came into the room, pushing up next to the cot, and touching Akemi with small tools.
“They are checking her heat, and other vitals,” Tishing explained. “We knew she was deemed unfit for the Spo project, but her exact ailment was not mentioned in their records.”
“You’ve been looking us up?” Nat asked. “Why did you take us?”
“We need a cadet if we’re going to get a spy into the Spo school... and into the trial.”
Nat got cold. “You need a cadet – as in, you need a cadet body?”
“That’s the thing,” Tishing said cheerfully. “If we’re going to screw up humanity’s trial, we need one of our people right there. After we got rid of Jonathan, you were the next best candidate. We knew Greg would use you in the trial.”
“You’re going to kill me and replace me with a Rik? Don’t you think someone will notice?"
He seemed so nonchalant. “Not if we get you back before morning. We’ve got the procedure down to 90 minutes, if all goes well. Then we jump back to Earth, send you down, and you get back to school before anyone realizes you were gone. Downy will help with that if we need him too.”
“But – my roommate knows,” Nat said. “She knows what Downy did, and she’ll know it’s not me.”
“Actually, our agent reports that she is dead… And that will give you a better alibi. You can say you were out searching for Jia, and the shock of your roommate’s death will explain any little personality deviations.”
"I won't say any of that!"
"Of course you won't, but the Rik who will be you can use the excuse."
His handsome black face was smooth. Not cruel, just indifferent. He really didn’t understand how this would affect her. She wanted to hurt him. She wanted to push him against the wall and use a Spo knife to slice open his stolen throat.
Nat took a deep breath. With the other aliens in the room, not to mention the gun in his hand, there was nothing she could do right now. Jia was already gone.
“What about Akemi?” Nat demanded. “Replacing her won’t get you anywhere.”
“She won’t be replaced,” Tishing said. “They want to study her for space jump capabilities.”
Nat’s brain wasn’t processing. Jump capabilities? For their spaceship? Akemi wasn’t a pilot.
Then Nat pictured the trouncer Tishing had just dissected. She pictured the brain he’d taken from the animal. How much it had looked like a human brain.
“Oh. Oh.” Nat said. She sank down on the cot and watched the doctors work on her sister. Oh God, she repeated in her mind, oh God help us.
The image that filled her mind was too horrible to consider.
Chapter 17
At 9:00 am, General Gustav and Greg walked Sam toward the amphitheater for his execution. They were back at Pepperdine and the sky was a brilliant blue white over the ocean, but the breeze coming off the beach smelled of smoke. Greg had shaved his hair off that morning and the wind felt strange on Sam’s buzzed head.
The Pepperdine amphitheater was built into a hill, five sections of concrete seating making a half circle around a low stage. The seating gave a view of Malibu’s tumbling hills and a glimpse of the Pacific off to the right. The aliens preferred it to the indoor auditorium for big occasions and the other 40-odd cadets fit easily into the front section. They were totally silent now; Sam could hear the waves crashing on the beach.
On the low central stage was a huge cage. It was a cube, probably 15 feet on a side. The bars were heavy and there seemed to be no door. A pack of trouncers filled the inside.
Sam couldn’t count them. His eyes ricocheted off fangs and slick skin and bent limbs. They had the distinctly plastic, skeletal look of the spooks. He forced himself to breath as Greg guided him down the steps toward the center of the arena. Sam heard a whimper and saw Melanie cringing on a bench out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t look at her. Nat must be here too, and Armen, and… he didn’t want to look at any of them.
He forced his eyes to focus on the cage. He was up next to it now, and the animals' acidic stink burned his nose. One beast stalked next to the bars. Its skin was slick, dark brown, with yellow spots. It flicked out a long, purple tongue to wet its face in a catlike gesture. It had eyestalks like the spooks, but bigger, more expressive. Now it stood on its hind legs, stretching and clawing at the top of the cage.
Greg led Sam around to a ladder on the back.
“What, no words?” Sam said. “Don’t you have to... say something?”
Greg looked more miserable than Sam had ever seen him. “What would you like me to say?”
Sam looked through the cage to the cadets huddled on the stone benches.
“You’re right,” Sam said. “Never mind.”
Sam climbed the ladder, Greg just behind. His brain was going numb, and he couldn’t hear the sound of the ocean anymore over the pounding in his head. On top of the cage was a trapdoor. One of the trouncers leaped at Sam as he stood on top of the cage and he stumbled backward, one foot slipping between the bars. Greg grabbed his shoulder to steady him and Sam yanked his foot out.
Greg didn’t let go of his shoulder.
“Sam. I hope you go to your…god,” he said.
Greg pulled a knife from his pocket and made a shallow cut his arm. He dotted his own thin, green blood on Sam’s bare head. “Goodbye.”
Greg opened the trapdoor. Sam didn’t know if Greg had to throw him in or what, but he couldn’t bear to wait for it. Sam jumped into the hole, taking the impact on the soles of his feet and in his knees. He prayed, once, that it would be over quickly.
The trouncers were startled by his sudden jump. A few sprang away from him, but the others remained still. The closest one was only a few feet away. It swayed gently from side to side and then froze in its attack sequence. Sam spun out of the way as it leaped for his face, almost by reflex. He saw long claws flash by his eyes.
That one slunk into a corner, hissing slightly.
Three of the trouncers started to pace around him, swaying side to side with each breath. If they all attacked at once, he would be ripped apart quickly. He should just let it happen, it was inevitable…but he couldn’t.
Sam zeroed in on the largest one. He watched it until it froze, and then he lunged low at its hindquarters as it sprang at him. He grabbed one of its heavy
legs and used the momentum of the animal’s jump to heave it over his shoulder, onto its back. Greg had taught him to do that, when fighting a Spo.
The trouncer screamed. It landed on its back, legs flailing for a moment until it righted itself. The others had backed away momentarily.
Sam’s hands were covered with brown slime from the animal, it smelled like bleach and urine.
“Whatever…” Sam said, and smeared some over his face. Maybe if he smelled like the trouncers they would back off. Sam wasn’t as resigned to death as he’d thought.
The trouncers were disturbed. All their tails flicked violently, and some of them paced around the perimeter of the cage. There were only twelve or so, Sam thought, but it was impossible to keep them all in sight.
He crouched down, edging toward the wall. The trouncers moved away from him, their purple tongues flicking in and out. Maybe they used their tongues for smell, like snakes. Sam couldn’t remember.
One of the animals scooted toward him. It wasn’t swaying in pre-attack mode, instead it shuffled up sideways, hesitantly. Sam cocked his head, he’d never seen this behavior in a trouncer. Was it ill?
The trouncer edged closer to him, bobbing its head. It almost looked like a dog…
Sam waited for the longest time, frozen in time and space.
Finally, he breathed a quick prayer, and slowly extended his hand toward the animal.
The thing flicked its tongue toward his hand. Once, twice, a third time. Then it hopped a little closer. This was either very good or very bad.
It was now only a few inches below his fingers. Moving his hand only from the wrist, he touched the creature’s brown head. An odd chuckling sound came from the trouncer, so Sam rubbed its head harder.
Suddenly the trouncer leaned forward to rest its snout on Sam’s shoulder. He froze. Its right eyestalk was inches from his face and Sam's eyes watered at the bleach stink. When it licked his cheek Sam flinched, but managed to check it almost immediately.
The animal waited a moment, and so Sam used his fingers to rub the side of its face. It arced its neck into the motion, like a cat. This was good, definitely good.
Then it reared back on its hind legs and roared at him. Sam screamed, falling over his feet and crashing into the cage wall. His arm went through the bars and he struggled to get back to his feet. This was it. He was going to die. Right now.
But when he got his arm free and spun around, the animal was…shaking. It was bobbing up and down and hissing slightly – like a laugh. Just like the spooks laughed. It was laughing at him!
A quick look around showed the other animals looking calmer. They weren’t laughing, or whatever the heck his creature was doing, but they were no longer flicking their tails and tongues.
Sam rubbed the beast on its head like a dog. It licked his hand a couple times with its long purple tongue, still laughing. Sam splayed his fingers out in front of its mouth, and it curled its tongue between his fingers.
“Wow,” Sam said. "A friendly trouncer." He knew a few of them were kept as pets on Spo, just like a few crazy people had tigers or alligators as pets. But how would a pet trouncer get mixed in with a group slated for the spacejump?
Sam moved his hand down and rubbed the trouncer’s shoulders and the softer joints of its arms. He always saw Downy rubbing his joints like it felt good. The trouncer made a soft exhalation noise.
“Neb neb neb,” it sounded like.
“Neb neb,” Sam repeated.
Without warning, his animal leapt away from him, colliding in midair with another trouncer. This one had been stalking on the edge of Sam’s line of sight, but he hadn’t realized it was about to attack. Sam’s trouncer caught the attacker on the right shoulder, throwing it off trajectory and towards Sam’s left, rather than right on top of him. With a croak, Sam’s animal butted its head against the other trouncer. It butted again, and then backed up, pinning Sam against the side wall. The trouncer put itself between Sam and the others and roared.
Clearly it had decided to protect Sam, and the other trouncers retreated toward the other side of the cage. Unless they mounted some kind of coordinated attack, Sam was safe. The way they moved around each other, not bumping or touching, had the feel of solitary animals in tight quarters. They were clearly intelligent, but they weren't pack animals. Most likely they would not attack in a group.
So what now? Sam wondered. He rubbed his animal some more, and it sighed, “Neb, neb, neb.”
“Thanks, Nebbie,” Sam said. “You’re my pal.” Sam felt jittery and faintly queasy. He was safe, for the moment. But what next? Sam became aware of a furious noise from the cadets. He’d heard nothing since he jumped into the cage, too focused on his imminent death to see or hear anything else.
Now that he was still, he could hear the cadets shouting. They'd jumped off the benches and gathered around Greg and Gustav. He couldn’t put together what they were saying, but he could guess.
Eventually Sam sat down behind Nebbie, feeling safe enough. Nebbie went off his defense pose, and crouched down next to Sam. He was still between Sam and the rest, but he looked relaxed. Sam rubbed the trouncer’s legs.
“This is more than a little bizarre, I gotta tell you,” Sam said. “I thought I’d be dead by now, and instead I’m scratching your ankles.”
Nebbie wiggled and licked his hand.
“I always wanted a dog.".
Nebbie coughed.
“You’re a good listener." So Sam talked to Nebbie for a while, until finally he saw Armen edging Greg and General Gustav toward the cage. Sam stood as they got close.
“You followed your custom,” Armen said. “Look at him. He’s been in there nearly an hour. They’re not going to kill him.”
“Then we must kill him another way, or kill that animal,” General Gustav said, gesturing to Nebbie.
“Hey, I’m the one supposed to be executed here,” Sam said. “Nebbie’s just a bystander.”
General Gustav sighed. “I could fetch a ritual knife. To execute him in that way.”
“No!” Armen said. “What exactly does the law say?”
Greg thought for a moment. “It says, “The criminal and his family shall be placed in the den of the trouncers. They will be outnumbered four to one, to assure a quick demise. When the frenzy is over, the victims shall be removed and their bodies melted with honor.”
“The frenzy is definitely over,” Armen said. All the trouncers were laying down now. The warm sun reflected off their shiny, wet skin. They looked sleepy.
“But he didn’t die,” Downy said, joining the group by the cage.
“So?” Armen said. “According to your law, he’s been executed.”
“This is not correct,” General Gustav said. “It must be done again.”
“Then there’s another problem,” Armen said. “You broke the law yourself. I don’t see any of Sam’s family in there.”
“There wasn’t time to assemble them,” General Gustav said. “They would be terminated at a later time.”
“That’s not acceptable,” Armen said. “The law states that the family goes in together. He’s been away from his biological family for years. By affection, knowledge, and experience, we are Sam’s family.”
General Gustav and Greg looked at Armen and the other cadets.
“All of you?” Greg half smiled.
“Yes,” Armen said firmly. “If you execute Sam, again, I would like to be considered his family.”
Sam’s eyes burned, and not entirely from the sting of the trouncer slime.
“Armen, you can’t do that for me,” Sam said. “I’m responsible for the interview. I didn’t give you a chance to stop me.”
Armen shook his head. “According to Spo law, you shouldn’t be executed alone. It’s only fair, and I’m not the only one who thinks so.”
Greg and Gustav looked at each other, eyestalk to eyestalk.
“This is an unexpected development,” General Gustav said. “If it was not so… ”
<
br /> “I understand,” Greg said. “You agree then, that Sam should not be executed again?”
General Gustav nodded.
Greg crouched and leaped to the top of the cage in one powerful lunge. He opened the door and lowered a rope for Sam.
The cadets cheered, screaming and jumping on the benches. Sam started to cry, and when he wiped his eyes, he got trouncer slime in them, which made him tear up worse.
When they were safely on the ground, Greg wrapped his hard arms around Sam and brought his face an inch from Sam.
“I have never seen anything like this. I think your god did not want you yet,” Greg said. It took Sam a moment to realize he was being hugged.
He patted Greg awkwardly. "Apparently not."
Sam slid off the stage with shaky legs, into the crowd of cadets.
Armen slapped Sam on the back, and most of the cadets surged around to congratulate him. All the girls were crying, and they all wanted to hug Sam and everybody else.
Sam noticed that Greg looked uncomfortable with all the emotion.
“It’s cathartic,” Sam explained to him. “It’s not just about me. The weight of the last six years just came crashing down on them. You should leave us alone for a while.”
Ten days ago Sam wouldn’t have dared to dismiss Greg, but now it almost felt natural. This was a human moment, and Greg was not human. This was also Sam’s moment, and Greg (though part of Sam’s life) was not part of Sam’s family.
Greg inclined his thick neck and left, taking General Gustav and Downy with him.
It was at least ten minutes later, with the cadets clustered in the front few rows retelling Sam’s execution over and over, that Sam finally nudged Armen.
“Where’s Nat?” Sam asked.
“Uh…” Armen looked blank for a second. “Oh, shoot. Downy said she decided not to come. She doesn’t know you lived!”
Sam and Armen looked around for Jia, but they couldn’t find her either.
“Forget it,” Sam said, with a grin. “I’ll go tell her myself.”
He ran up the stairs of the amphitheater and jogged to the girl’s dorm. He was still hyped on adrenalin and felt like he could have run twice as far. Nat would be so relieved. Sam couldn’t imagine how he would have felt if their situations had been reversed, the mere idea made him shudder. Maybe now she would let go of Greg’s unfortunate pairing and just let them move on…
Manipulate (Alien Cadets) Page 14
