by Isaac Hooke
Or actually do it.
Instead, Harlequin positioned himself farther behind her so that she would act as a shield for any rifles pointed up at him from the plains below, and transmitted: “I can see you and your fire team, Rade. You haven’t dropped your weapons.”
Shaw gazed down onto the plains, toward where Rade and the others were encamped near the distant nest entrance. She zoomed in and activated the “stabilize video” function. When the focus adjusted, she saw him and the other four all down on one knee, their laser rifles aimed up at the plateau. Would they dare take a shot from that distance? They might be able to see part of the Artificial’s face, given his positioning behind her. But even if one of them hit Harlequin before he could pull the trigger, there was no guarantee his neural net would receive enough damage to cease operating.
Finally, she saw Rade lower his rifle. He gestured toward the others, who also reluctantly lowered their weapons.
“Hurl them to the side,” Harlequin instructed. “Far away. The blasters, too.”
Shaw watched the five of them comply.
When that was done, Harlequin apparently felt confident enough to wrap his free arm around Shaw’s torso assembly from behind, pinning her right hand to her body.
“Do the same with your jetpacks,” Harlequin ordered.
The five Argonauts on the plains shrugged off their jetpacks and tossed them away.
“Tantalus, are you there?” Harlequin said.
“I am,” a voice replied over the comm.
On the zoomed camera feed, she perceived movement in the darkness of the cave behind Rade, and focused her attention on it.
A humanoid figure emerged from the hole, blaster in hand, not wearing a jumpsuit. She thought it was the Artificial they had shot down in the queen cavern.
As the newcomer stepped further into the light, two warrior gatorbeetles emerged to accompany it.
The Artificial, this Tantalus, aimed the blaster at Rade and the others with him. The weapon moved between each of them in turn, finally settling on one.
“This is the woman who took the queen,” Tantalus said.
Shaw realized the Artificial had aimed its blaster at Ms. Bounty, Surus’ host.
“Bring her to me...” Harlequin said.
Two more gatorbeetles skittered forth from the cave, taking up positions beside the party.
“And the others?” Tantalus transmitted.
“The Conquered can have them,” Harlequin replied.
Tantalus turned toward the aliens and issued a short chittering sound.
Two of the gatorbeetles rushed forward. One of them, mandibles open wide, headed directly for Rade.
“Rade!” Shaw said. “No!”
Shaw tried to break free from her captor, but Harlequin tightened his grip.
Below, the alien scooped up Rade by the waist with its mandibles, while the other took Tahoe. Shaw feared that Rade and Tahoe would be split in half, but thankfully the gatorbeetles merely carried the squirming figures toward the cave.
Shaw struggled a moment longer, but then remembered the blaster pointed directly into her faceplate and surrendered.
On the plains, Manic and Bender tried to help their friends, but the remaining two gatorbeetles intercepted them with their mandibles, similarly scooping them into the air by their waists. All four aliens retreated toward the cave and in moments the prisoners and gatorbeetles were gone.
Tantalus kept the blaster aimed at Ms. Bounty the whole time.
Shaw tried connecting to Rade privately. “Rade, are you still there?”
“Hey Shaw,” Rade said. His voice distorted badly. Shaw wouldn’t be able to communicate with him much longer. “This mission isn’t turning out quite the way we thought it would, is it?”
“I’m going to come back for you,” Shaw said.
“I was just thinking the same thing about you,” Rade said. “Listen, if you have a chance to escape, take it. Get as far away from here as you can, do you hear me?”
“I can’t leave you,” Shaw said.
“You can,” Rade said. “I’ll find a way to escape. I’ll make it through this, somehow.” She could barely understand those latter words from the distortion.
“I love you,” Shaw tried. She hoped her words got through.
Rade didn’t answer. Either he was out of range, or he chose not to speak. She decided it must be the former.
She slumped in her jumpsuit, staring at the distant hole in the ground that had swallowed the one man who meant more to her than anything in the galaxy.
My Rade.
She switched back to the main comm and glanced at Harlequin. “What’s going to happen to them?”
But Harlequin wasn’t forthcoming.
More unencumbered gatorbeetles emerged from the cave. Members of the warrior caste. Twenty in total.
They formed up around Tantalus and Ms. Bounty, and escorted them toward the mountain.
When the alien party reached the winding trail at the base, five gatorbeetles took the lead, followed by Ms. Bounty. Tantalus remained behind her, the blaster pointed at her the whole time, and the fifteen remaining gatorbeetles brought up the rear.
Upon reaching the avalanche area, the party proceeded to scale the cliff face. It would have been dangerous without jetpacks, but Tantalus and Ms. Bounty reached the top without issue. Two of the aliens lost their grips along the way and plunged to their deaths, however, so that only eighteen gatorbeetles arrived.
At the plateau, Tantalus led Ms. Bounty forward. Harlequin had taken Shaw away from the precipice by then, and the other Argonauts sat some distance from it, their hands flexicuffed behind their backs, their removed jetpacks joining the weapons in a pile near the center of the plateau. Harlequin had made Shaw remove her own jetpack.
She gazed at the pile of weapons and jetpacks longingly. I wonder if I should have tried harder to escape?
Then again, she would have been pitting her reaction time against that of an Artificial. Humans never faired well against machines in that department, not even when wearing strength and speed-enhancing exoskeletons.
Harlequin removed the black box that was attached to Shaw’s harness. He stepped back, then placed the tip of the blaster against the box and fired. The container wasn’t damaged, of course: Surus had designed it to be impenetrable to laser fire.
Harlequin handed the box to her.
“Release my Queen,” Harlequin commanded.
“Your Queen?” Shaw said.
Harlequin had retreated a few steps, but he kept his blaster squarely pointed at Shaw’s faceplate.
“Don’t do it,” Ms. Bounty said.
“If you release my Queen, I will spare your men,” Harlequin told Shaw.
“He’ll never keep his word,” Ms. Bounty said.
Shaw hesitated. She stared at the box she held. It suddenly felt heavy in her hands, and she wanted to drop it. It was a black, ominous, sickening thing that contained the distillation of pure evil.
Surus had shared the necessary remote access codes to the box with her and Rade, so that the three of them, as well as Ms. Bounty, were the only ones who could open it. The security protocols Surus had used were some of the most advanced TJ and Bender could come up with.
“If she refuses, I’m certain I can hack into it,” Tantalus said. “Like I did with the other container.”
“And how long will that take?” Harlequin asked.
“Maybe an hour or two,” Tantalus said.
Shaw spun about. She drew back her arm, intending to throw the black box over the edge of the plateau. She shot her arm forward—
Harlequin reached her in a blur and before Shaw could release the box he had snatched it completely from her grasp.
Harlequin shoved her toward the prisoners. He forced her on her knees in front of them.
He dropped the box in front of Lui.
Then he stepped beside the man and pointed the blaster at Lui’s helmet, execution style.
�
��Release my Queen,” Harlequin said, addressing Shaw.
If she let anything happen to any of the men, Rade would never forgive her. Hell, Shaw would never forgive herself.
Lui stared at Shaw calmly. “Whatever you decide, I won’t blame you for anything. Neither will Rade.”
But Shaw was already defeated.
She gazed at the black box that sat on the rock between them and accessed the remote interface. She entered her passcode.
A soft click came from the box, and then its sides unfolded one by one like a flower blossoming in realtime, revealing the black liquid that had collected on the bottom inside. It flowed out onto the rock of the plateau and threaded between Lui and Shaw, moving toward Harlequin.
That liquid embodiment of evil swerved away at the last moment, steering toward Tantalus and Ms. Bounty instead.
“When you so blatantly and undeservedly attacked us,” Harlequin told Shaw. “You failed to notice me among the mates of the queen. I suppose it would have been difficult, considering I was on her far side, the Interface upon my head and thorax hidden from your view. When you shot down my host, I fled into the closest suitable vessel I could find: this Artificial. Once there I bided my time, waiting for the most opportune moment to strike. When you split your team in half, I originally intended to transfer into the Centurion before making my move, but then you generously repaired this body for me. Humans. I hate you, and I love you.”
The black liquid was only a meter from Ms. Bounty by then. She stepped back in fright, but Tantalus restrained her.
“No! No!” She struggled, kicking the air as Tantalus lifted her off the ground.
Tantalus threw her onto the plateau and mounted her roughly, forcing her helmet against the stone. Apparently Tantalus’ servomotors had been augmented to produce extreme levels of motive force, because even though Ms. Bounty had the jumpsuit with its exoskeleton to further boost her strength, she was unable to free herself.
The Black Phant flowed into her suit via the faceplate.
Ms. Bounty’s struggles became weaker, as did her voice. “No.”
Shaw watched helplessly as the liquid flowed completely inside the faceplate of the woman, and began to penetrate the artificial skin of her neck. In moments, there was no sign of the Phant.
Ms. Bounty appeared to lose consciousness, and closed her eyes.
When those eyes opened again, for an instant black drops of condensation swam about the sclera. But then Ms. Bounty blinked and all signs of the Phant were gone.
“Release her, Tantalus,” Harlequin said.
The Artificial obeyed.
Ms. Bounty stood to her feet and tentatively flexed her arms. She looked up, and gazed directly at Harlequin.
She smiled wickedly. “My King.”
sixteen
The gatorbeetles brought Rade and his four companions deep into the nest, traveling at least a kilometer under the surface. Eventually they arrived at one of those tunnels that was lined with larvae growing inside individual cells. These larvae, which were encased in the usual translucent blocks of that thick, honey-like substance, were larger than those Rade had witnessed closer to the surface, and more mature: he could see limbs, breathing tubes and mandibles taking shape. Vertical bars of light occasionally placed between the cells provided dim illumination.
He and the others were forced into empty alcoves near the end of the tunnel. While one gatorbeetle held Rade against the wall with its mandibles, another came in and ejected that gooey yellow substance from its mouth and glued his arms, legs, waist, and neck in turn to the stone. When the two gatorbeetles retreated, Rade was bound firmly to the alcove.
Across from him he saw Manic and Bender, similarly glued. And according to his overhead map, Tahoe was trapped in the alcove just beside him.
“You know what they’re going to do to us, don’t you?” Manic said.
“What?” Bender asked.
“They’re going to take some of those larvae,” Manic replied. “The smaller ones, and they’re going to embalm us in that slime with them, and the larvae are going to use us as food. Eat us alive. Happens in the insect world all the time.”
“Oh no, man, no,” Bender said. “That’s like a scene from my nightmares. Being eaten alive by bugs.”
“Without a queen, they can’t create any more larva,” Tahoe stated.
“Sure,” Manic said. “But what’s to stop them from taking a larva from one of these other cells and encasing it in slime with us?”
Bender whimpered.
Rade received a private tap in request from Tahoe but he ignored it. He didn’t feel much like talking to Tahoe at the moment.
Unfortunately, the request was persistent. Rade finally answered it. “What is it?”
“Only wanted to see how you were holding up,” Tahoe said.
Rade closed his eyes.
“You okay?” Tahoe said.
“Yeah,” Rade said.
“She’s going to be all right,” Tahoe said.
Rade found himself shaking his head inside his helmet. “You don’t know that, Tahoe. She could be dead already.”
“She could be thinking the same of you at this very moment,” Tahoe said.
Rade sighed. “I just hope she listens to me. I hope she escapes somehow, and gets as far away from here as she can.”
“You know she won’t,” Tahoe said. “She cares about you too much for that. And she’s far too headstrong.”
“I know,” Rade said. “And that’s what I’m afraid of. We can get out of here on our own.”
“Really.” Tahoe didn’t sound convinced. “They’ve taken our weapons, trapped us in the heart of their nest. What, we’re going to fight our way out of here using the strength of our jumpsuits alone? You saw what happened to Unit B in the queen chamber. Split right in half by one of those aliens.”
“We’ll find a way,” Rade said.
“All right,” Tahoe said. “So that’s basically your way of saying: you don’t have a plan, you’re just going to wing it and hope that some sort of opportunity presents itself.”
“Basically yeah,” Rade said.
“I don’t see that there’s anything we can do,” Tahoe said. “We’re at their mercy at this point.”
“But you forget Surus is still out there,” Rade said. “The Green won’t abandon us. If she can reach the Hoplites, we might just have a chance.”
“If not, I don’t know what else the Green can do,” Tahoe said.
“In Phant form, she can incinerate any gatorbeetles she touches,” Rade said.
“Well sure, but how about taking on our so-called prey?” Tahoe said. “Without our support, the Green will have to fight the other Phant alone.”
“We’ll just have to hope she can handle herself if it comes to it,” Rade said.
Tahoe was quiet for a moment.
“So what do you think came over Harlequin?” Tahoe asked.
“I don’t know,” Rade said. “But I suspect there are at least two Phants here, not one. We made a very big mistake when we assumed we’d gotten them all.”
Rade thought about everything that had led them there. And then he added: “Surus was right earlier.”
“About what?”
“Out here, we’re the ones who are the prey,” Rade said.
ABOUT TWO HOURS later a voice snapped Rade out of the trance he had fallen into.
“Do you see that?” Manic said, the excitement obvious in his voice.
Blue dots had begun to appear on the overhead map in the upper right of Rade’s vision. Manic’s exhilaration was infectious, so that for a moment Rade thought Surus had succeeded in retrieving the Hoplites. Either that, or Shaw and the other Argonauts had come to rescue them. He added their vitals to the left of his HUD so he could read their names.
“It’s Shaw and the others,” Tahoe said. He didn’t sound as excited as Manic. Instead, his words seemed guarded.
That was when Rade noticed the red dots that accompanied the
blue.
Rade switched to Shaw’s point of view, and when the distorting video feed filled his vision, all joy quickly flowed from him.
Shaw and the others were prisoners: held in the mandibles of a line of gatorbeetles.
Rade tried to tap her in. The connection succeeded.
“Shaw,” Rade said.
“Rade,” she replied.
“Are you all right,” he said.
“Yes,” she told him. “You?”
“We’re fine.”
“What have they done to you?” Shaw asked.
“Glued us into cells,” Rade said. “I’m guessing they’re still deciding what to do with us.” He didn’t know what to say for several moments. Finally: “I told you to escape.”
“You say it like it’s the easiest thing in the world,” Shaw transmitted. “Like I had control over any of this. But I didn’t. They almost killed Lui. They made me give up the codes to the Queen. I’m sorry.”
“Wait a second, slow down,” Rade said. “What do you mean, they almost killed Lui? And what codes for what Queen?” But he suspected he already knew the answer to both questions.
“Harlequin put a blaster to Lui’s head,” Shaw said. “He made me release the Phant. It flowed into Ms. Bounty and took control of her. She’s the Queen, now. She calls Harlequin the King. He has another Phant inside him. I’m sorry for letting you down.”
“It’s not your fault,” Rade said. “If anyone’s to blame here, it’s me. I was the team lead.”
“Well, we’re not done yet,” Shaw said. “As long as we’re living and breathing, we’re going to fight. And don’t you forget it.”
“That’s my girl,” Rade said.
He tapped out, and then relayed the news regarding the second Phant to the rest of the team.
“You were right,” Tahoe said.
“Yes,” Rade said. “But I didn’t want to be. I hoped I was wrong. Because now... two Phants. Where the hell is Surus?”
A gatorbeetle arrived in the tunnel ahead of Shaw’s group. It ported the glass container the team had left behind in the queen chamber and set it down near Rade. In the center of the metallic disk at the bottom resided a green pool of liquid.
