“Actually,” Springer said, “I meant seeing as the Hardits have cut you off, how come you aren’t starved and suffocated?”
“Oh, we’ve extracted food, water, energy, and air from moon rock. Have you any idea how labor intensive that is? The Hardits gave up trying to flush us out and bricked us in instead.”
“Couldn’t Pedro’s people dig you out?”
“It’s just me and the big guy,” said Hortez. “And his digging days are over. Hey! You’ve stopped! Don’t you vecks dare stop now. Keep digging! Get me the hell outta here!”
— Chapter 74 —
Pedro had grown really fat.
Last time Arun had seen his old friend, the insect-like alien had bloated to a larger size, and his legs had atrophied, but he’d still had the three-segment structure akin to head, thorax and abdomen. But now there was no sign of a carapace over Pedro’s thorax, which had six red markings on the underside to mark where his legs had once attached. Contrasting the enormously expanded thorax, his abdomen had shrunk into a stub like a human navel, and the head had slid down the front of the thorax so it was slightly above ground level, just high enough for his mechanical voice translator to hang around his neck.
Pedro looked like a comedy caricature. But Arun was simply glad to see him.
Arun took his arm from around Hortez’s shoulder and touched Pedro’s feelers. He could feel a throbbing pulse within them. That was new.
“Good to see you, my friend.”
The alien gently withdrew his antennae, using them to describe lazy circles. Last time around, that meant the big insect was happy, but who could tell with these constant body changes.
“Are you well?” Arun asked. “Do you need medical assistance? Food?” Arun gestured to the Marines in Majanita’s detail who had dug out Hortez and Pedro. They were observing the unexpected delight of reuniting with old friends thought dead, and were available to assist if called upon.
“I am well. I am far more than well. I have become a fecund time-bomb bursting with life, glorying in the most important role it is possible to be given.”
“You mean a Great Parent? But you were the big bug queen back when you first started up a chapter of your nest on Antilles.”
“No, friend Arun. The translation in your language for my new role is Great Grandparent — the founder of an entirely new nest. This moon is not an acceptable location. You must take me to a better colony site where I can spawn a new nest in memory of those who died. When we knew we were doomed, those of my people with reproductive potential gathered near to me and–”
“Spare Arun the gooey details,” said Hortez. “Let’s just say his people filled him with their life force, and now he wants a nice warm hole to park his butt and spawn Troglets.”
Arun stared at the insectoid, a confused mix of emotions swirling through his gut. “I’m happy for you, pal,” he said. “Really I am. But there’s a question I have to ask. Why the frakk didn’t you tell me about the secret levels of Marines stored beneath Detroit? Millions of them, Brandt said. Before I shipped out-system, you promised me you’d told me everything.”
Pedro stilled his feelers. “I assured you that I had explained everything you needed to know.”
“And you didn’t think I needed to know there was an army waiting in Detroit.”
Pedro’s antennae shot up. “Exactly. You see, Hortez, I told you Arun would understand.”
Hortez let out a long whistle. “You’ve been a bad, bad, bug, Pedro. Told you Arun would be pissed at you for holding out on him.”
“Oh, did I misunderstand?” Pedro paused, and then seemed to believe Hortez. The alien rested his antennae on Arun’s shoulders. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? I’ll make you sorry. If you’d trusted me with the info, we’d have stayed at Detroit, and revived an army, not try to liberate slaves. Good people died because you kept that from me. It might cost us the planet yet.”
“Arun, there were things I couldn’t say.”
“But you knew.”
“I did.”
“I want you to tell me everything. I mean it, frakk you. From this moment, if I ever find out you’ve held something back, I’ll execute you the same as I did every Hardit I found on Antilles.”
Pedro’s antennae folded back along his head. “Arun. You executed them all? That was cruel.”
“War is cruel. Now talk.”
“But we are talking. Arun, when I kept silent about the hidden levels in Detroit, I thought I did the right thing. I cannot predict the future.”
“Thank frakk for that. I’ve had far too much drent from the Night Hummers to cope with you too.”
“Maybe you are not as free of the Hummers as you think. It was a Hummer who convinced me not to mention the sleeping Renegade Legion.”
“Renegade Legion?”
“It’s the translation of the Night Hummer term. This is their aim: to create a renegade legion. One that has no affiliation to any existing faction in the White Knight Empire or outside. A new entity that will shelter and protect them.”
“That will do their bidding,” said Arun, darkly. “Isn’t that what this is about? Power?”
“I do not think so. The Night Hummers do not lust for power and domination in the way your species does, Arun. Their greatest desire is to be left in peace.”
“Seems to me like the Hummers see themselves as victims,” said Hortez. “Ever since they were forced into the White Knight Empire.”
“What’s your point, Hort?” asked Arun.
“Just because you’re a victim, doesn’t make you one of the nice guys. Their Renegade Legion might be designed to set them up as worse tyrants than the White Knights. If you want to be left alone, how better to achieve that than to create such an aura of intimidation that everyone is too scared to come near you? Arun? Arun, are you all right?”
Arun’s head was filling with the now-familiar clanking sounds of gears engaging, dripping hot lubricant.
“Ahah,” said Pedro, which always sounded weird through his voice translator. “It is your organic mind augmentation. I do have something to inform you about but, first, please take your time. You are only a prototype after all.”
“I’m a what? No, never mind. For a start, we are not the Renegade Legion, we are the Human Legion.”
“Of course,” said Pedro. “You would naturally use your species designation.”
Blinding flashes erupted in Arun’s vision. He sank to all fours, swaying, and closed his eyes.
“No, big bug,” he heard Hortez say. “Arun’s doing some serious thinking. You can tell by the way his eyes have glazed and his mouth dropped open.”
Arun closed his mouth.
“It’ll open again in a moment,” said Hortez. “Then he’ll start drooling. You wait and see…”
“Hu- human.” Arun coughed, and then tried again. “Human Legion. More… more than just a name. The Hardit prisoner said as much. So did Nhlappo long ago when she was our instructor. The word human has become a joke. Shorthand for the dispossessed, the underdog. You know that, Pedro?”
“You are correct. For those species with a voice box analogous to yours, the word ‘human’ has become a common loan word.”
Hortez whistled long and low. “Shit, Arun. If you’re thinking what I think you are, I don’t know whether to shake your hand or shoot you. You sure think big, don’t you?”
Pedro jigged his feelers in agitation. “I do not understand.”
“When our friend says Human Legion,” Hortez explained, “he’s proposing to use the wider sense of the word.”
“We stand for liberty and justice,” said Arun. “Not just for Homo sapiens and its descendants. For everyone.”
Pedro curled his antennae into a questioning shape. “Even Hardits?”
Arun didn’t have a reply.
“Never mind the details,” urged Hortez. “He might get the details wrong along the way, but Arun’s always been a big picture guy, and now he’s gotten a whoppe
r to aim for. And the big fella here is hiding a contribution to help you on your way.”
“What?” Arun dared to hope.
“He smuggled me with him when he came to Antilles. But I wasn’t alone. You see, when they put new Marines on ice for long-term storage, sometimes they reused old ice boxes. Thawed out the Marine already in there in a way that killed them, before tossing them away like rotten old garbage. Pedro’s been on a mission for years to rescue your oldest relatives. Hiding away their ice boxes before they get reused. Damned lazy Hardits could easily create new boxes, just couldn’t be bothered.”
“How many?” Arun asked.
“Just under six hundred. Not a lot, I know. Probably barely make a difference to your force numbers, but Pedro here tells me these ancients can teach our generation a thing or two.”
“That’s brilliant news, Hortez. But… about our numbers…”
“Now I understand,” interrupted Pedro. His antennae swirled in large and enthusiastic circles. Arun and Hortez had to dive for safety when the Trog started slithering around the chamber in his excitement.
Arun couldn’t remember seeing him so animated.
Pedro came to a halt and explained. “When the Hummers talked to me of the Renegade Legion, as they termed it, they frequently used a verbal motif, a slogan if you will. Now I see their phrase in a new light.”
“And?” prompted Hortez when the alien didn’t elaborate.
“And I am taking care with my new translation, to get it right. I have it now. The slogan of the Night Hummers was this: Freedom can be won.”
— Chapter 75 —
“Begin,” said Indiya from the apex of the Captain’s Table.
Arun felt the crush of expectant faces around the cabin. The Reserve Captain in her life-support chair, and the other senior officers were sitting around the polished stone table itself, all except for Loobie who was busy as watch officer. Pedro was lashed to the overhead, an ungainly position, so it was just as well the Trog had never shown any understanding of dignity.
Junior officers floated politely in the zero-g. So too did Hortez, who looked out of place in his drab fatigues amid the smart new officer uniforms, which were all black, the color of the void, with bronze facings for Marines and silver for Navy. Arun had agreed to the new design at some point before arriving in the system, but his mind had been on more important matters.
The reprogrammed uniforms looked new, had been argued for by people who wanted the Human Legion to be something new. That belief hadn’t yet died.
“There have been too many secrets,” said Arun. “No more. I say to you now. You are the commanders of the Human Legion. I will accept no more secrets. If I discover any one of you is concealing anything of importance from this moment onward, you will be executed. Any questions?”
Arun looked from face to face. Human and alien. Navy and Marine. The grim looks in those eyes told him his message had gotten through.
“This is the Conference for Truth,” continued Arun. “I’m regretting that name already because this is not a forum for chatting or windbag speculation. We will share key things we have learned, and we will do so in order to develop a strategy for liberating Tranquility. If we need multiple sessions then that will be scheduled. I shall begin.” He paused, eager to press on but unsure where to start amongst all the shocks that had assailed him, trying to piece everything together. But of course, he couldn’t. That was the point of this conference.
Arun started by recounting the salient facts since that day over two years ago in Detroit when he’d been summoned to see Colonel Little Scar, and introduced to a shadowy conspiracy that extended to Jotuns, humans, Trogs, and the Night Hummers. He, Xin and, probably, Indiya too were prophesied to be great actors in this drama. He told how the Hummers claimed to see into the future, and saw their own extinction at the hands of the White Knights. Arun had vowed to protect and nurture the Hummer race under human protection, and in order to do that, humans, Trogs, and Jotuns would have to free themselves from White Knight tyranny.
“I can see the Hummers could be a useful asset,” said Xin. “If we knew what our opponents would do before even they did… Let’s face it, even the most braindead donk could see how useful that would be. I’ve also talked with Jotuns and Hummers who were in on the conspiracy. They’ve been setting this in motion for centuries, but all of this only started when the Hummers foresaw their own extinction. They don’t want us to carve out our freedom because they feel sorry for us. This is all about the Hummers saving their own… bubbles. Who’s to say what lies they would tell us if they thought it would help save themselves?”
“I agree with the lieutenant,” said Indiya. “I don’t like this talk of prophecy. Smacks of mysticism. You’ve just said we have all of us been set up by the Night Hummers to fulfill their agenda. They might genuinely have seen you playing a role in the future, true. But then again, maybe that’s just a suggestion planted in gullible human heads.”
“A whole series of suggestions,” added Arun. “They manipulated me so I would go to Beta… so I would order Beowulf away. So that Brandt’s unit would die. All that so we would follow their instruction to go to Shepherd-Nurture-4. It’s like a chain pulling me where they want me to go.”
“Me!” exploded the Reserve Captain in her own gravelly voice. “You humans always believe everything is about you. You, Arun McEwan are a key part, but only one piece of a greater whole.” She slipped back into using her synthesizer. “This is becoming abundantly clear to me now.”
“This is much bigger than Tranquility and you human Marines,” said Pedro.
Arun was out of practice with interpreting the Trog’s emotions, but his antennae movements looked listless, and that suggested reluctance. Even shame. Probably nothing more than being in zero-g, Arun told himself.
“The Hummers and their co-conspirators,” Pedro said. “We refer to ourselves as the Renegade Conspiracy – have seeded the galaxy with potential allies, with hidden weapons. Assets. Of which Major McEwan and 2nd Lieutenant Lee Xin are merely two local examples. The sleeping legion under Detroit is another.”
“And Shepherd-Nurture-4 holds more assets,” said Xin. “The Hummers have set us a treasure trail.”
“A pheromone trail more like,” said Hortez. “Like the Trogs use to organize their workers.”
“Exactly,” said the Reserve Captain. “I enjoy being manipulated no more than you humans, but at this stage I want us to follow the Hummer’s guidance. For now, at least. We should travel to Shepherd-Nurture, and not wipe our forces out on another foolhardy attempt to reclaim your home.”
A charge of anger shot through every Marine there.
“There are still many of our kind down on Tranquility,” Arun said, trying to keep the anger from his voice. “Tens of thousands. Maybe more. I cannot desert them.”
“It is no longer an option,” replied the Reserve Captain. “The Hardit leader, Tawfiq Woomer-Calix, who now styles herself Supreme Commander of the New Order, contacted me shortly before this conference. She promised me power and material wealth in exchange for delivering Beowulf to her control.”
Xin and Nhlappo glared at the Jotun. Arun held his breath, waiting for what she would say next.
“Oh, come on,” Indiya chided. “Did you seriously think the Reserve Captain would be tempted? Sounds to me like the latest Hummer manipulation.”
“If I may add to that…?” Ensign Dock spoke tentatively, checking for Indiya’s approval. He got it, though with a scowl. “Lieutenant Commander Lubricant and I were tracking Hardit comms wherever we could. She’s a whizz on Earth history. Says some of the translations she was hearing sounded uncannily similar to real tyrannies of 20th century Earth. Our theory is that the Hummers planted some particularly brutal examples of our human past for Tawfiq to use as a template for winning power, but worse than that. They’ve planted the seed of fear in her brain… the notion that humans are not merely contemptible, but are dangerous. That the only answer, th
e final solution–”
“Is to murder every human on the planet,” said Arun. “Spartika told me Tawfiq had used those words.”
Arun slammed his fist onto the table. “And all this to get us to move on to Shepherd! I really hate these Hummers. Our people down there are in peril, and so many Marines have died already, all because of what? Why didn’t the Hummers just give us the coordinates and say, ‘go there!’? All this was for nothing.”
“Pull yourself together, Marine!”
Arun looked wide-eyed at the Reserve Captain who had gotten to her feet and was leaning on the front of her life-support chair, waving both arms on her left side at Arun. The Jotun officer did not look pleased.
“Listen to yourself talking like a loser,” she continued. “You’re a disgrace to your instructors and the Jotun officers who guided and protected you. You have the assets. The opportunity has been laid open for you. Seize it! Do not let Brandt and the others die in vain. Go out into the galaxy and win your war of liberation. Freedom can be won.”
There was that motto again. The refrain had a physical presence that resonated through the cabin. A battle cry.
The old Jotun jabbed her limbs in Arun’s direction with a fresh intensity. “You, McEwan, are allowing the Hummers to defeat your spirit. Do not let them. You humans have more assets than you admit to. Just like the Hummers and the White Knights, you perpetually underestimate the other species around you.”
“I regret our faults, sir,” said Indiya. “Can you explain which assets we are undervaluing?”
“Hummer foresight is erratic,” said the Jotun. “They do not see every detail, and they underestimate the ability of other species to see into the future after their own fashion. We are not blind fools stumbling into the darkness of a future we can never see.”
“We can plan,” said Xin. “Set aside contingencies. We cannot see into the future but we can imagine it.”
“My brain has augmentations,” said Arun carefully, treading a path to a conclusion he wasn’t sure he wanted to find. “It doesn’t work to order but you knew about it before I ever met you,” he said to the Reserve Captain. “I’m a prototype defense against the Hummers, aren’t I? You needed your own way of seeing the future, independently of the Hummers. Springer too. She’s an alternate version. The Hummers, they don’t know, do they? Conspiracies within conspiracies. I thought I was done with that!”
Renegade Legion (The Human Legion Book 3) Page 30
