“What do you want? That was not a very friendly way to greet us.”
“I know your kind,” Greg said evenly. “I’m here to tell you that your days of conquest are over. I will no longer allow interstellar travel by your kind. If you want help separating yourselves from the creature on your shoulders, I’ll see what I can do.”
“Impossible! Come down and we’ll discuss this further.”
“Do not take me for a fool. I will not submit to these creatures that control you. You may so advise the one on your shoulders.”
The man shook his head, appearing forlorn. “You have no idea what you’re missing,” he said. “Sharing life with the Oort is a gift beyond value. They bring us immortality. Come join us.”
“Immortality!” Greg scoffed. “I’ve seen the lines of your old and infirm going into the spires. They never come back out.”
“What you see is just the shells. Their minds joined the Oort at union. They’re already one with the Oort. They are the Oort.”
“Many have not chosen the existence you’ve forced on them. I do not choose that existence. At a guess, I doubt if you had a choice in the matter either.”
“We are descended from the Firsts. We are not allowed to share in full union with the Oort until our physical existence nears its end. But you would not have to wait so long.”
“I like my present existence, thank you. I’ll keep it.”
“You are the poorer for it, but do not fear. The day will come when we make the choice for you.”
Greg leaned into the video pickup. “Your star-faring days are over. Anyone who tries to leave this world, or any other world controlled by the Oort, will lose their precious immortality.”
“You don’t understand, but it’s not necessary that you do. We’ll take it from here. You may contact me on this frequency when you change your mind.”
The screen blanked. Greg turned to Grayson. “A stunning performance, eh?”
Grayson just shrugged while looking a question to Greg. “Activate the blockade,” Greg commanded.
“Did you catch the veiled threat?” Grayson asked.
Greg nodded. “I did. I wonder what he meant?”
“I don’t know. It must be some alien thing,” Grayson said with a worried shake of his head. “I feel like I’m missing something. I can almost touch it, but then it’s gone. If nothing else, he was far too confident for someone who just became a prisoner.”
“It might be a deception,” Greg said slowly, “but I agree—we can’t ignore the implications.”
Grayson gave the order to activate the blockade. Alliance ships entered the other five Oortbok systems, destroying Oort ships without warning. They tracked any Oort ships they could find that were on interstellar voyages and destroyed them as well. The Oortbok on all six worlds were finally confined to worlds they already occupied. Still, there were a lot of other Oort worlds, including the worlds the Oort had taken over in Harbok space.
Greg had planned for a long wait, and he got it. The only active ships in the system were Alliance ships. No Oort ships came or went. A month went by. When Greg’s patience wore thin, he called the surface again.
The same person appeared on the screen. “You try my patience,” Greg said to the man. “Do you accept my terms?”
“Of course not. We grieve at the loss of knowledge sharing, and we regret the wasted energy of bodies we can no longer consume, but we have an adequate supply here. You are no threat to us. We fear no one.”
Greg motioned for Kannick to enter the pickup. Kannick did so and removed his shirt, showing his back to the video pickup, a back that very clearly did not have an Oort attached.
“I see . . .” said the man.
“You have reason to fear us,” Kannick said in his growly voice, “and you know why. Your expansion to innocent worlds ends now. We defeated you. I came to discuss your surrender.”
“But we are brothers,” the man said.
“Stand before me with that creature removed from your back and we will discuss brotherhood.”
“Alas, it is not to be. Goodbye.”
The response was not what they had hoped for, but it was also not unexpected. Greg was glad to note that no one was making excuses for the Harbok down below. They had been taken over by the Oort, but they clearly enjoyed a partner relationship, not the parasitic relationship that most Oort/host combinations invoked. These Oortbok surely knew about and were likely commanding the spread of Oort to all those unfortunate worlds.
* * * * *
While Grayson was blockading the Oortbok worlds, Douglas’ science teams were studying the inhabitants of Forsaken, the world of Oort-dominated humans. When he arrived at his target world, Douglas destroyed every single Oort ship in the system, then Doctor Llambry set his project in motion. Dr. Jamyl’s explorers snatched six test subjects from the surface and brought them under strict quarantine to the baseship. Llambry installed them in a room that had been carefully prepared for the project.
The test subjects were left alone for a week, during which time Llambry gave them food and water but nothing else. They seemed to be fine at the end of the week, though the scientists observed no conversations taking place and little, if any, interaction.
Llambry transferred one subject to another room. During the process, he injected a dose of modified LifeVirus, a short-lived version of the LifeVirus that would expire in a few years. Within minutes, the Oort on the man’s shoulders and back changed color and began rippling from one side to the other. Hours later, the Oort turned from a dull brown to a dull gray color and stopped moving. It appeared dead. Rather than celebrate his freedom, the man slumped to the floor with glazed eyes, seemingly unconcerned about his own fate.
Despite the LifeVirus infusion that should have improved his physical condition, the man died the next day with the Oort still attached. Doctor Llambry’s staff began an immediate autopsy. There was no sign of the LifeVirus in either of the bodies.
They took another test subject from the room. This one received a massive dose of the modified LifeVirus. As before, the Oort began changing color and rippling, but this time it dropped from the back of the man, seemingly dead. The man was not. He collapsed, writhing in pain and howling. Doctor Llambry sedated him.
When the man awoke, he seemed lethargic, confused, and in pain. He stared about himself, then he got up from the floor to examine the room. Doctor Llambry and Professor Yarbo were ecstatic. The man seemed quite able to function. Could he speak?
Yarbo spoke a few words to him, but the man gave no indication he even heard the words.
They brought another test subject into the room. This one had not been treated with the LifeVirus. The Oort on his back immediately began growing nodules. A few minutes later, baby Oort burst from the nodules and floated around the room. Several attempted to attach themselves to the first man. He did not resist. As soon as a baby Oort completed attaching itself to him, the rest left him alone, but an hour later the baby Oort dropped from him to shrivel and die on the floor. Others attempted to attach themselves, but by the next day, all the baby Oort were dead. The man was suffering, his shoulders and back flayed open where so many Oort had attempted to attach themselves. Llambry sedated him and administered a massive dose of modified LifeVirus to the other man. The Oort on his back soon dropped to the floor, dead.
By the next day, the two subjects were awake, but neither seemed to have any interest in the other, and neither spoke. As long as they were given food and water, they did not seem overly concerned about anything.
Doctor Llambry, at Yarbo’s suggestion, sedated the three remaining test subjects and injected them with the modified LifeVirus. The Oort dropped from their bodies and were removed while they slept. The next day, Yarbo opened the connecting door. The two original test subjects joined the other three, but none of them spoke.
Clothes were put into the room. The test subjects had no trouble getting dressed, which implied enough motivation to be clothed, which in t
urn suggested self-choice. Yarbo scratched his head. Doctor Llambry sedated the subjects again and subjected them to various body and brain scans. The results were sad. The bodies seemed intact and healthy, but brain scans scored far below any accepted norms. Parts of their brains had atrophied to uselessness, including speech centers. Had this come about as a result of inactivity? Had the Oort done all the communicating for them? Was the damage permanent?
Yarbo and Llambry considered options. They could theoretically remove the Oort from the rest of the people on the planet below, but what then? The people would not know how to care for themselves. Would the Alliance have to care for their every need for the rest of their lives? Caring for a whole planet of mentally limited children was probably beyond the means of the Alliance, and this was just one planet among many.
And what of the rat people? There was no LifeVirus for them, not yet. It would take the An’Atee years to develop one for them.
Yarbo scratched his head thoughtfully and said, “We should run this problem by Ollie the next time we see him. The Harbok home world fell to the Oort early on in the conflict. The Harbok are now essentially a whole civilization of colonists. They might be willing to care for their own people if we can remove the Oort.”
Chapter Thirty-six
Lieutenant Cass Ayker sought out Emily. He found her in Gertie’s lab, a surprise since she had been focused more on medical issues than physics issues on this voyage. She brightened when she saw him and got up and gave him a welcoming hug while Gertie looked on with approval.
“What’s up?” Emily asked.
“You’ve been working with the science staff who’s studying the Oort. I have some questions about what you’ve learned,” he said.
She looked down, disconsolate. “We haven’t learned much.”
“That’s what I want to talk to you about. I know you’re studying how the parasite attaches to its host, but what about the Oort themselves? Are you studying them?”
“Yes. We’re dissecting them and running tests.”
“What about live ones?”
“Not separate from their hosts. We can’t separate them without killing them and their host. The Oort have too many connections to their hosts.”
“What about studying them where they live—on the ground. Has anyone examined the blue spires, for example?”
Emily frowned. “We’re more concerned with finding a way for the hosts to live without the Oort.”
“The spires must be an important part of the Oort lifecycle, don’t you think?”
“I suppose. We’re challenged enough without worrying about the Oort themselves.”
“You’re saying we haven’t fully met the Oort, but that it doesn’t matter,” he countered.
She frowned. “It doesn’t matter yet. It surely will someday.”
“We need to examine those spires,” he said.
“No, we don’t,” Emily and Gertie both said at the same time. “They’re not our concern,” Gertie added.
“Whose concern is it?” he asked her with his hands out to his sides. The last thing he wanted to do was to start an argument, but he was determined to press the issue.
“Someone else’s,” Gertie replied.
“Hey,” Emily said brightly, “there’s a dance tonight in the farmers’ community center on deck 2, section 11. Want to go?”
He felt his mind sliding toward the dance, but he forced himself back to the topic at hand. “I’d rather talk about the Oort. I’m thinking about taking a scout down to check out one of the spires. Want to go with me?”
Emily and Gertie both shook their heads. “No. And you’re not going either. Don’t even think about it,” Emily said. She stepped up to him and ran a hand over his chest. “Let’s think about dancing.”
Cass took Emily’s shoulders and sat her on a nearby stool at a lab table, then he did the same with Gertie. “I will,” he said, “but first I want you to do something for me. I want you to think about those spires, really concentrate on them, and tell me what you think is going on inside them.”
Gertie spoke up. “Cass, can’t you see we’re not interested?”
“Unfortunately, I do see,” he said frowning. He pulled another stool out and sat down in front of them. “I’m not asking out of idle curiosity. Humor me. Consider my idea from a scientific standpoint.”
“Those spires are someone else’s problem,” Emily said.
“You’re sticking your nose in where it’s not wanted,” Gertie said.
Cass frowned and nodded to himself thoughtfully. No one on the ship seemed to care about the spires. It didn’t make sense that a ship full of scientists would ignore such a fundamental aspect of Oort life, but he had been doing the same thing himself until yesterday.
“I’ve been curious about the spires from the first time I saw one,” he said. “I’ve imagined all sorts of things taking place inside them. But here in orbit, no matter how interested I become, I can’t bring myself to think about them. Yesterday, I sat down and forced myself to think about them. It was surprisingly hard to do. For quite a while, my mind kept slipping away from the subject and focusing on something else. Eventually, though, I managed a breakthrough and was able to focus my thoughts on the spires. When I got up this morning, it took me a while, but I was able to focus on them again. Even now, I feel like my mind doesn’t want to think about them. Do you see where I’m going with this?”
Both of them shook their heads. “Cass, are you not feeling well?” Emily asked.
“No. I feel great. You know I can’t get sick.” He shifted a hard look between both sets of eyes. “You’re not willing to think about the spires because your minds are being manipulated by the Oort in those spires. I’m certain. They don’t want us thinking about them.”
“You’re being paranoid,” Emily complained, frowning.
“Am I?” Cass rejoined, leaning closer and taking hold of her hands to soften his approach. “Whoever made the first contact with the Oort all those centuries ago was probably just as smart as we are. After all, they had interstellar travel. Despite that, they succumbed to the Oort. Why?”
“One Oort on your back is all it takes,” Emily said.
“I think it goes deeper than that. I think whoever or whatever lives inside those spires has the ability to influence our minds. We know their subjects die when we jump into hyperspace. I think it’s because a mind link gets broken.”
He stared at her, trying to determine if she was following him. He got the impression she did not care about his argument. He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead, saying, “Stay with me on this. Please. Our lives depend on it.”
That got her attention. She blinked, then leaned toward him with her eyes narrowed, very focused.
He took a deep breath and said, “I think the Oort share permanent mental links with each other, or maybe just with whatever is living inside the spires. I’m pretty certain we’ve encountered a hive civilization. I think the Oort we’ve met so far are just the workers. They spend their lives working, then they bring the old and infirm into the spires. I’m guessing they’re food for whoever or whatever lives inside.”
Disbelief filled Emily’s face. When he turned to Gertie, he sensed anger more than disbelief. He stared at them a little longer, then he stood up and leaned toward both of them.
“Stay with me,” he demanded. He held up a finger and said, “Focus. Focus your mind on my finger. It’s a spire. Just one spire. It’s a beautiful blue color about 50 feet high with one opening at ground level for the old and infirm to enter. Tell me what those old and infirm people see when they go through that opening.”
He kept at it, repeating himself time after time. “Imagine you’re an Oort host. It’s your turn to go into the spire. You leave the pen where you’ve been staying and walk toward the spire. What’s it like? There’s no door. It’s just an opening. What do you see when you go through that opening? You encounter someone or something. What does it look like? Does it eat
you? Does it absorb you into its body? Maybe it absorbs your thoughts into its own. Think. Just think about entering that spire.”
Despite their lack of interest, he kept pressing. After a long 15 minutes that seemed like an eternity, Emily pulled her hand from his and sat back in her chair, blinking repeatedly as her thoughts stayed internal. She eventually focused back on him, staring with wide eyes and a trembling lower lip. Tears filled her blue eyes to the brim.
She stood up and wrapped her arms around him, whispering into his ear, “Do they know? Are they listening?”
“I don’t know,” he whispered back.
She stared into his eyes from inches away, then she stepped up on her chair and sat on the table and leaned into Gertie. “Stay with it, Gertie. Don’t let them control your mind,” she pleaded, taking both of Gertie’s hands in her own. “See the horror of what’s going on here, of what they’re doing to you. See that spire and look into it. Imagine yourself walking toward it. Stay focused!”
Gertie eventually came around, almost as if she was coming out of a fog. Her gaze sharpened as her mind grasped what she had just come through. Implications quickly followed, horrible implications.
Emily saw fear in the woman’s eyes for the first time ever. “How much do they know?” Gertie asked softly. “How much control can they exert? Will they send one of our own crewmembers to stop us? Right now?”
“No one has tried to stop me,” Cass said in a conspiratorial whisper. “I came armed just in case.”
Emily sucked in a harsh breath. “You’d shoot a shipmate?”
“I hope not,” he answered, clearly as unsettled as she was by the idea.
“We have to see Douglas,” Gertie declared. “We could lose our fleet.” Her eyes widened in horror as she added, “We might have lost it already. If they’re reading our minds, the Oort might even know our secrets—the snowflake and our fast ships.”
She called Douglas and asked him to meet her in his duty cabin just off the bridge. When she entered, he was waiting. His eyes brightened when Cass and Emily followed her in.
Gertie got right down to work, sitting on the side of his desk and leaning toward him. “We’re under attack,” she said. He started to stand, but she waved him back into his chair. “It’s a mental attack, Geoff. You need to listen to Lieutenant Ayker.” When he started to question her, she stood up and took the two steps it took to reach him. She put a hand on his cheek and said softly, “I’m not kidding, Geoffrey. You might have already lost your fleet. Listen to him like you’ve never listened to anyone else in your life. Do it for me if not for yourself.”
Genesis Page 37
