Trail of Evil

by Travis S. Taylor

Our guy is speaking with somebody now, Nancy. Want to hear it?

  Yes.

  Okay, playing now. The audio of the conversation began playing in Nancy’s head.

  “Time is running out,” the target’s voice said.

  “How so?” It it was a female voice—one that sounded vaguely and eerily familiar to Nancy.

  “The Chiata have made the decision to act on their property and the courts have ruled in their favor. The futures on your system were bought by the Chiata over fifteen thousand years ago. At that time they had no way of suspecting what your people would become. At least that was their argument,” the target voice said. “And, of course, the court system passed it through.”

  On the way up Nancy crawled up through the top escape hatch of the elevator onto the upper side of it. Once it peaked at the top floor, she jumped off onto an elevator maintenance ladder. She worked herself around to a catwalk leading through what appeared to be an equipment attic and then sat still for moment to listen to the conversation.

  I’d really like to get a visual on this, she thought.

  I’m working on it, Allison replied.

  “Rackman, where’s my visual?” she subvocalized over the com channel.

  “No good vantage point out of view of the locals out here. I’m still working on it.” Nancy understood and turned her focus back to the conversation between her target and the new player.

  “And you’re certain there is no way to stop this?” the female voice said.

  “Yes, I’m certain. Honestly, I never thought we could. The Chiata have controlled the courts for more than fifty thousand years and nobody has been able to stop their expansion. My people couldn’t stop them when they acquired my system and nobody else has stopped them in many millennia. It is only a matter of time before they take the entire spur of the galaxy,” the target voice said.

  “So, what is our play? Can’t we appeal to the courts directly?”

  “My dear, you are nothing more than annoying pests in the eyes of the courts. When the assessment of your world was done it was found that there was nothing you could do to stop nature. You were not deemed a viable lifeform,” the male voice replied. “Most certainly, a business venture worth the wealth of several star systems would not be stopped on your account.”

  “Our assessment! We were still living in thatch huts, how were we expected to stop an asteroid impact? Your court system is morally defective.” The voice sounded so familiar, but through the garbled hacked intercom and multi-path filtered audio, it was hard to get a fix on it.

  “Morality is not solely a function of humanity, my dear. But for the last fifty thousand years or so the Chiata have corrupted our morality with fear. I knew fifteen thousand years ago that this day would eventually come. My legal team and I have taken on these cases since the Chiata came into power. They are ravenous, vile beasts, and I fear they will never leave well enough alone until they have devoured our entire galaxy and moved on to the next nearest one. We aren’t even certain that they originated in our galaxy. We think they are one of the few species that expanded from the edge of the galaxy inward. There is still enough of a semblance of legality and morality in the system that we are usually able to stall with legal proceedings for a milennium or two, but never indefinitely. In your case, we have done well. Fortunately for you, the Chiata have been occupied with other endeavors, and yours was a minor one.”

  “Minor!” the female shouted. “Minor! You think the total destruction of an entire sentient species over multiple worlds is minor?”

  “We’ve had this conversation so many times. Yes, in the grand scheme of things, it is minor, as I have explained to you for nearly two hundred years. We must get past this and decide how to evacuate your people.”

  “Bullshit! You didn’t build that damned membrane detection and communications systems out here at the edge of the auctioned region all those years ago just to tell us this bullshit and then evacuate us. You have allies or you wouldn’t have been able to hold them off in court for so long.”

  “You are suggesting I do what, then?” the male voice said.

  “Help us fight them.”

  The man laughed. “Without some sort of proof that you can stand up to the Chiata, there is no chance of having anybody else get involved. Not even the Ghuthlaeer, who hate the Chiata down to their last ounce of blood, would stand with a small group of primitive worlds.”

  “Okay, so you won’t fight with us for now. Give me some intelligence on them that will help. I need information. Give me a target. Preferably a soft one that we could get to and make a first impression or a statement about who and what we are. What type of creatures are they? What is the basis of their technology?” Nancy shifted her weight on her feet as she listened. There was too much familiarity in the discussion. She had a bad feeling about all of it. This was big and needed to be reported back to General Moore immediately.

  “Rackman, the visual?”

  “Almost there, Penzington. Keep your shirt on,” Rackman said.

  Any luck on that visual, Allison? she thought.

  Yes, I have had DeathRay move one of the Archangels into a position that I have given them, and the pilot is pointing the mecha’s telescope per my specs. If the light incident on the exterior penthouse windows will allow, we might be able to zoom in on the room. Imagery is coming up in a couple of seconds.

  Good work, Allison. Her DTM view turned into imagery data. A video screen floated out in front of her with real-time optical imagery on it.

  Zoom in on it and get me facial views.

  Done.

  Nancy watched the image self-adjust, and a clearing algorithm removed fuzzy edges and made it sharp. There were a few glares and the occasional glint from the window that got ahead of the software, but Allison quickly cleaned it all up.

  The man was definitely her target. He had close-cropped black hair and boring features. It was him. The female was presently turned and looking out a window on the opposite wall.

  “I have been feeding your people technology, strategies, plans, and more for two centuries. Once you were able to communicate with me in real-time I did what I could. There is little more I can do for now. Please consider the evacuation strategy.”

  “Not unless it is a last resort. An absolute last resort!” The woman shouted and pounded her fist against the window. The spike in the audio algorithm caused by her fist hitting the pane hurt Nancy’s head and made her skin crawl. She shook her head and blinked her eyes from the pain.

  Put an amplitude impulse filter on this thing, will you, she thought.

  Sorry about that.

  “Very well. It is your choice to choose extinction. I have always suspected this is the path you would take. But at some point, don’t you think you should give the rest of your people a chance to decide?”

  “A target, Copernicus. Not civilian. Military.”

  Copernicus laughed again. “To the Chiata there really is no difference. You should consider what you are planning here, Sienna. Please let us find a way to evacuate your people while there is still time.”

  “How much time?”

  “The Expanse usually moves quickly. While they do not have quantum membrane teleportation, thank goodness, they do have something similar to your hyperspace vortex jaunt propulsion that allows them to expand their borders at about seventy-five light-years per year. Their newest world closest to you is Alpha Lyncis, which is about two hundred and three light-years’ distance from Sol. I would guess they will be here at your world in two years. They always start from the outer worlds and work their way in. Though, with your technologies, it shouldn’t take them long at each of your worlds. I would guess no more than a few months before they venture inward to the subsequent world. In less than five years they will be at Earth. If you are very clever and as mighty as you think you are, maybe you can stall their expansion wave another year or so. You must start to evacuate now.”

  “We will do that if we have to. For now, give
me some intel on them and a place to strike while we can. We don’t have to defeat them at first, we just need to draw in some allies.”

  “Penzington, I’ve got the target in my scope. You should have the imagery DTM now,” Rackman told her. Nancy brought it up beside the other imagery in her mind. Rackman was looking at a completely different angle than the mecha sensors were. He was looking right through the window that the woman was staring out of, but he was focused on the male target.

  “Rackman, put the female in your crosshairs now.”

  “Roger that.”

  “I’m downloading to you now the nearest Chiata settlements and outposts that might be of interest to you. These are smaller settlements and exploration outposts and will not hold the full might of the Chiata Expanse’s forces. You will have little chance against them, I fear.” Copernicus hesitated briefly and then said deadpan, “My dearest Sienna, I can only wish you good luck.”

  “Got her in my sights,” the SEAL said over the net.

  Then Nancy heard a sizzling through the audio and there was a flash of light in the room. As the lightning settled away the visual view cleared. The lady in the penthouse continued to stare out the window with a grimace of anger on her face. Nancy had no doubt who she was looking at.

  Ninety-nine percent image correlation with President Sienna Madira, Allison said.

  No shit. I got that several seconds ago. We have to get the hell out of here now. Connect me to Jack AIC direct!

  You are connected.

  Jack! Emergency snap-back to the Madira immediately! Everybody get out of here now!

  Chapter 33

  December 3, 2406 AD

  61 Ursae Majoris

  27 Light-years from the Sol System

  Saturday, 4:41 PM, Expeditionary Mission Standard Time

  The inside of the Madira II aft hangar bay was a flurry of action, but it was a routine one. Supply ships continued to pour in from Sol space and the occasional mecha would take off or land on routine patrols. Every now and then an AEM or a droptank would QMT in. The AEMs would pound off toward the gear locker and the droptanks would walk themselves to their predetermined hangar space. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

  The flash of light around Nancy subsided and the buzzing and crackling stopped as she appeared on the hangar floor in the personnel emergency QMT safe zone. Her armored suit buzzed in a half of a second after her and fell limp next to her. The two security officers on watch for the area looked up sharply.

  “Are you okay, ma’am?” one of the guards asked her. Nancy knew it was standard protocol. “Is there something wrong with your suit?”

  “I’m fine. Thank you. Suit is fine too. Could you have it put in a locker for me? I’ll get it later.” Nancy turned toward the hangar bulkhead walking path and, as fast as she could, made her way toward the elevator. Rackman and then several of the AEMs popped into reality nearby. The security officer paced her.

  “Uh, yes, ma’am. We’d be glad to,” the security officer said nervously. Nancy knew that she couldn’t order soldiers around, since she was a civilian. On the other side of that coin was the fact that she was very closely tied to the general’s family and to DeathRay. Most people always helped her.

  “Mrs. Penzington?” Gunny Suez raised his visor. “What gives, ma’am?”

  “This is above all our pay grades, Top. Sorry I can’t explain further.”

  “I understand, ma’am. Is there anything I can do for you?” Top asked as Lieutenant Colonel Jones and First Sergeant Howser QMTed in next to him.

  “Not at the moment, Tommy. Thank you though. If you’ll excuse me I have to see the general.” Nancy turned and continued to walk.

  “Rackman, what you saw was classified at the highest level. You are not to share it with anybody until the general can debrief us. I know I’m not your commanding officer or anything, but DeathRay will confirm these orders. Are we good on this?”

  “No worries, ma’am. This ain’t my first rodeo, mate.” Nancy could see what Dee liked in him.

  “Great, thank you, Lieutenant.” Nancy said.

  Allison, where is General Moore?

  The Moores are in their quarters. It is night cycle here. They are in bed.

  Patch me through and let me know as soon as Jack and Dee land. No, better yet, just have them report to wherever I am with the Moores at the time.

  Understood. You have an audio channel with the general.

  “General Moore, this is Nancy Penzington.”

  “Yes, Nancy? Is your team back already?” Moore asked. He sounded as if he’d just woken up and wasn’t completely to his senses yet. He rarely sounded that way.

  “Well, sir, we need to speak immediately, and in a secure private location. And by ‘we’ I mean you and Mrs. Moore, sir,” she said.

  “Very well then, meet us in the captain’s lounge,” Moore said. “Can this wait ten minutes, or is it ‘the’ ship is about to explode’ immediate?”

  “Uh, well, sir. I don’t think ten minutes will matter.”

  “Okay then, we’ll see you in ten minutes. Moore out.”

  “DeathRay to Penzington?”

  “Go, Boland.” Nancy switched channels immediately.

  “What gives? Where’s the emergency? Are you okay?” DeathRay sounded nervous.

  “I’m fine, Jack. But, as soon as you land, get Dee and go to the captain’s lounge. Can’t talk until we get there,” Nancy said. The elevator opened and she stepped out onto the bridge deck. The captain’s lounge was to the port side of the bridge entrance and only a few doors down from the Moores’ quarters.

  Alexander hadn’t said a word throughout the entire briefing and replay of the audio and visual data from Nancy’s encounter. At first he wasn’t quite sure what to think and believe, but there was no denying what he was seeing and hearing right in front of him.

  “But she killed herself,” Sehera almost whispered. “How can this be? We were there. She did it right in front of us.”

  “The continent city we were in was filled with repeated faces,” Nancy said. “Look here at the images. We can only assume they are clones of some type.”

  The images popped into everyone’s virtual DTM view. All three Moores, DeathRay, and Nancy were looking at hundreds of images of clones. There were repeated images that could have been the same person except that they were wearing different clothes and in different locations at the same time.

  “There are one hundred and three faces as far as we could tell, sir,” Nancy added. “Uh, not counting Sienna Madira and Copernicus.”

  “Wait a minute. I can’t believe what I’m seeing,” Alexander said. “Abby, do a cross reference of these images with images of the 91st Tharsis Recon Battalion Armored Environment Suit Marines and display the results for everybody here.”

  Twenty-nine of the images matched with the faces of his old squad, and matched exactly. That explained what Madira was doing with the blood samples the doctor had found in the med bay of the ship. That also meant that Madira herself had likely been on this ship.

  “What does this mean, Daddy?” Dee asked. Alexander was glad she chose not to call him “general.” He smiled at his daughter. She was still in her flight armor skins. It amazed him how much she looked just like her grandmother.

  “It means that Elle Ahmi collected the DNA of my squad while she was torturing them. And it means that she then cloned them and some other people for whatever purpose,” Moore said.

  “It makes perfect sense!” DeathRay actually snapped his fingers. Moore looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

  “Jack?”

  “Sir, sorry, uh, well, it does make perfect sense,” DeathRay explained. “When Nancy and I found the ships so far from Earth we couldn’t imagine how people could handle such long trips in space. I mean, it would have taken them many tens of years to get out this far with that old propulsion technology. And how much food and water and air scrubbers would they need to make it? The logistics of that seem almost imposs
ible.”

  “Of course,” Nancy nodded in agreement. Moore kept silent and listened. “You’re right on target, flyboy.”

  “You see, sir,” Jack continued, “you could send a ship full of blood and all you’d have to do is keep it cold. Once it arrived at the destination, just thaw it out and start growing clones.”

  “Is it possible that the Madira out there is a clone or that Elle Ahmi had been a clone of her?” Dee asked.

  “No way to know.” Nancy answered. “But this one at 61 UM is certainly acting like the Elle Ahmi that I encountered.”

  Moore sat and listened to the speculations being thrown about by his family. They really didn’t have any solid evidence to go on. But Alexander wasn’t so sure that it mattered. The big elephant in the room wasn’t Madira. It was this alien threat. He needed to steer the conversation toward that and get some thoughts on it. He turned and looked at his wife, who had been quiet the entire time. She looked pale.

  “Sehera, are you okay?” he asked her softly and gripped her hand underneath the conference room table.

  “I’m okay. She’s alive. That is her. I know it, Alexander.” Moore could tell his wife was fighting back a mix of anger, sadness, guilt, and joy all at once. Her eyes were watery and her jaw was clenched. He had hoped they’d made peace with that part of their past but somehow it kept coming back like a recurring nightmare.

  “I wouldn’t doubt it.” Moore said. Then he stretched and leaned back in his chair. He was going to need some stims to stay awake for a few days.

  Abby, bring up our path and the colonies on the star map I briefed the President with.

  Roger that, sir.

  A star map with all of the human colonies and outposts marked popped up. He tapped 61 Ursae Majoris with his finger and it turned red. Then he grabbed it and expanded it to see the system now that the recon team had images of it.

  “Three planets, many moons, an approximation of tens of billions of, well, people of sorts, some kind of QMT transceiver system built by an alien, and a long-dead former president discussing a pending alien invasion.” Moore paused briefly. “They will be at Earth in five or so years if we can’t stop them out here. What does all of this mean?”