She looked away a moment toward the north east. "The mountains are Eya'Etee Ki Kee Reenot, mother's breasts. And the water is called Kosta tea elle, the dew of life." There was reverence in her voice as she spoke. "Now, come." They followed the woman deep into the cave. There were clear paths etched into the cave floor, the result of years of heavy foot traffic. Most of the speleothems had been removed, except for those which were enormous or those of exceptional beauty, and there were plenty of both. The cave was illuminated with large, glowing stones. Some were suspended from the ceiling in hand woven nets or lying on rock shelves, others just lay strategically about the floor.
Dave approached one of these brightly glowing stones, casually monitoring for radiation. There was no perceptible trace of radiation.
"Why do you stop?" the woman asked.
"What is this rock?"
"It is called Volessa Eya'Etee Ki Kee. It is found in the deep places of Eya'Etee Ki Kee. Come."
They entered a large hall deep inside the cave. As they stopped at the entrance to this room, they detected a slight breeze.
In the center of this great hall, there stood a large, stone platform, atop of which burned a small fire, all that remained of a much larger fire which had burned earlier. Several tall men were already stacking wood and preparing to build another large fire. Directly above the hearth, a hole in the great, vaulted ceiling acted as a chimney.
The woman led them to a spot in this room and bid them sit against the wall and wait for her.
Dave sat and leaned against the cave wall. He noticed Zolna watching the men prepping the fire with a great deal of concern on his face.
"Zolna, they are probably preparing for the cooking of a communal meal."
"I was just thinking the same thing, sir."
"Oh, come on man, you don't believe those stories of them being cannibals, do you?"
"Sir, them eating us would not be an act of cannibalism. They are not human."
"Okay…and just what part of you do you think they would find most delectable? Perhaps your graphene based ultracapacitor, eh?"
"Problem is sir, they don't know about SUBs, and might not figure it out till they've burned us to a crisp."
"Relax, Private. Panic when I do; otherwise, remain calm. And above all else, let me do the talking."
They waited over an hour before the woman returned. With her were four others, two males and two females. One set of each were obviously elders and the other two were much younger, Dave guessed in their late twenties, but he was really only guessing. For all he knew, these people aged in reverse.
They were all were dressed in brightly decorated loincloths and animal furs were draped over their shoulders. The elders wore golden ornaments on their arms and about their waists and necks. The elder woman had colorful grasses and more golden items woven into her hair.
The Mets-sa and the other four sat cross-legged on the ground around Dave and Zolna in a semicircle. The younger man carried a large hand-woven tray upon which was what Dave guessed to be fruits and vegetables. The younger woman carried a clay vessel containing a fruit.
The Mets-sa would do all the translating.
"Eat, drink, and refresh yourselves," the younger woman invited them in her language.
"Thank you, but my companion and I do not require food or drink," Dave said.
"And why is that?" the younger male asked.
"Our bodies do not need it to sustain our life force."
"How can that be?" the older male asked.
"Ah…our minds are the same as the other monochrome people, but our bodies are very different."
"Golden leaf," the Mets-sa addressed Dave, "I do not know this word…mono comb."
"I'm sorry; I thought it's what you called Earth people."
"We call you Ukse varie E'meset means the people of one color. Most just call you Ukse, the ones.
"How are you different?" the older male asked.
"Our bodies are cybernetic," Dave answered his question.
"What does this word mean?" the older male persisted.
Dave reached into his pocket and removed his pocket knife. As he opened the blade, the Mets-sa quickly pulled her huge hunting knife out from behind her back. Dave held both his hand out, his small pocket knife between the finger and thumb of his right hand. "I mean no threat to you," he explained, looking into the Mets-sa's eyes.
She relaxed, but did not put the knife away. Dave opened the top of his one-piece survival suit and pulled his arms out. He then rolled up the sleeve of his uniform jacket to reveal his right arm. He presented the bottom of his forearm to the group. As all watched, he cut a nine-centimeter-long slice in his arm. A thick, milky liquid flowed out. Then with the fingers of his left hand, he pulled the synthetic flesh apart to expose the mechanisms that operated his arm, wrists, and fingers. The younger female recoiled; the others, however, leaned in closer.
At last, the older woman spoke. "Golden leaf, do you have no lungs…no heart?"
Dave did not like the sound of her voice as she asked about his heart. Rather than explain his inner workings and try to draw comparisons, he simply said, "No."
The group of five began to talk very rapidly among themselves. Every once in a while, one or two would look his way, but Dave could read very little of the emotions from their faces. The old woman spoke little, but when she did, the others paid her considerable deference.
At last, the Mets-sa spoke to him again. "You Ukse of the metal bones are well-known to us. You are the first to share words with us. How is it that you are called?"
It took Dave a moment. "Oh, my name…I am Dave Mitchel. And this is Private—" Dave looked over at his companion to see his identifier. "Talme Zolna. We are both made with metal bones. We are called SUBs."
The Mets-sa pointed to the younger man in her group, "He is called Nurkay Vern." The man dipped his head.
Next, she pointed at the younger female. "She is Mawkey A'Kukwa."
Then the older male, "This is Kul Kay Uh'ha." He also dipped his head.
"The elder woman is of greatest wisdom among the E'lawvat E'meset," the Mets-sa indicated the elder woman, "she is the most ancient of our Poh'palm meas. When I recite to you her name, you must bow your heads. She is called, Sursa Vee Towta."
As instructed, Dave and Zolna dipped their heads as they had seen the others do. "We are both honored to meet you," Dave said. Then he looked at the woman who had brought him here. "And you, Mets-sa. What is your name?"
"I am Le'ha Ayana. Together, we are the council of the Paha Vadeat, the watchers of the sacred waters."
"I am pleased to meet you Le'ha Ayana," Dave nodded.
"You said I am to call you Dave," the Mets-sa said. "You may then call me Le'ha."
"Thank you Le'ha. Where did you learn to speak English?"
"We first have questions. Why did you spy on the works of your own people? Are the Hopeerlun E'meset at war with the ninein vermembek?"
"War with who?" Dave asked.
"Are those of the metal bones at war with the red bleeders?"
"No. Why would you ask that?"
"Three hands of you with the metal bones, carrying your guns, quietly approach those in the Blood City so as not to be seen. Why?"
"Among the Ukse," Dave considered his words carefully, "there are three different types of people; the peacekeepers, the seekers, and the governors. They are not all seeking the same things. My type, the peacekeepers, are trying to find out what the other two are doing out at the clinic…you called it Blood City. Why do you call it Blood City?"
The old lady, Sursa Vee Towta, now spoke in English. "Why do you not wear the second face as the others wear?"
Dave shot Le'ha a glance. A moment passed before he grasped the old one’s meaning, "Your air is a poison to the red bleeders," Dave explained. "The mask is a device that removes the poisons from your air so they can breathe. We SUBs do not breathe."
"You have eyes, and with them, see. You have ears, and with them
, hear. If you do not breathe why do you have a nose?"
It appeared to Dave that she was trying to trap him in a lie. He knew he had not told any lies, but he, nonetheless, moved with caution.
"I have a nose that I may look as other of my kind. How would you feel, Sursa Vee Towta, without your nose?"
The old woman reached up and felt her nose and smiled at Dave, then nodded.
“Dave Mic hell,” the older male spoke, also in English. "If you could have red blood…now, would you take it from us?"
"Kul Kay Uh'ha, we SUBs do not need blood."
Again, the council conferred among each other in their own language.
Rather suddenly, Mawkey A'Kukwa, the younger female looked up and asked, "Why do your people make us sick?"
Dave felt embarrassed. "We do not know. But that is what the clinic, Blood City, is doing, working to treat the illness."
The younger man, Nurkay Vern, leapt to his feet and pointed an accusatory finger at Dave. "You lie!" he shouted. "The E'lawvat E'meset enter that place without illness. Those who do leave it are near death!"
"Nel ta Han le," the old sage spoke to Le’ha who instantly got to her feet. "Come…I am to show you."
Dave and Zolna rose. Le'ha held up her hand toward Zolna, her long delicate looking fingers spread wide, "You are to remain," she snapped at him. Zolna resumed sitting against the wall and smiled at the old woman. "Geezz," he spoke through his smile, "you'd think we were married."
Dave followed Le'ha deeper into the cavern. Eventually, they entered into a long, straight gallery that was obviously carved from the stone by hand. In the room, the floors were lined with sick E'lawvat E'meset. They lay on beds of leaves and were covered with blankets woven from a fine, soft plant. Everyone appeared quite weak, and the colors of their bodies were very pale. They were being attended to by younger E'meset.
Dave noticed that the arms of each patient had small puncture marks below the elbow, and on the foreheads of each were three bruises. One center, and one near each temple.
"We have six chambers here like this one, and each lowallo, cave, has many and more. Most of these E'meset will die. We could have saved them all, but something is wrong in their heads and they die. We are moving our people away from here to lands far away."
Dave looked up at Le'ha. "These people enter the clinic well and leave ill?"
"Yes, of five hands that are taken in, only one hand ever returns."
"Have you told the Ukse at the clinic about this?"
"They do not listen to us. Inside their walls the E'meset are forbidden to speak even among themselves."
Oh, hell, that ain't good, Dave said to himself. "Le'ha, do you have any idea what is being done to these people once they enter the clinic?"
"You do not know? The Ukse bleed us, and drink our blood."
Chapter 10
A Song of Joy and Hope
Kathy made good time heading back to New Roanoke. She wanted to reach the city as soon as possible. Delivering the intel to the general meant the successful completion of the mission. Then, she planned to return immediately to search for Dave and Zolna. She found she could think of little else.
The farther away they got from the clearing where Dave and Zolna were captured by the Indigs, the more critical their rescue became to her. She didn’t want to lose two more if there were anything she could do to prevent their deaths. And there was something else. She felt it…there was something different about this situation. She wasn't sure what, but it was acting on her powerfully.
Sal's SUBs were closing in on Home Station, only about seven kilometers to go. They were passing along a wide treeless boulevard between two long, low hills, the crests of which were sprinkled with trees. Kathy's mind was trying to unravel all that she was feeling when in the distance ahead of them, she heard rifle fire.
Over her COMde, she ordered her column to halt. They had already gone to ground, covering their three hundred and sixty-degree perimeter, as they were trained to do. Then Kathy heard the voice of Sergeant First Class Webster, leading the point element.
"Charlie Oscar this is point, we are taking fire from a hundred meters, direct front. I estimate forty weapons. I have two down and am returning fire. Attempting to disengage, over."
"Point this is Charlie Oscar, you said direct front, are they in a linear formation?"
"Roger that, perpendicular to our line of march."
"Point, I want you to hold. Hold where you are and keep them busy. I am sending reinforcements forward."
"This is point, wilco."
"Charlie Oscar out."
Kathy sent ten troops forward to reinforce the point, and with her remaining soldiers, took off toward the west in an attempt to flank the hostile position. All of them being SUBs, they moved with great speed.
Kathy was quick to realize that the force that ambushed them was obviously a bunch of amateurs. They set up a block to initiate an ambush, they executed it too soon, and their marksmanship was pathetic. Otherwise they would have gotten all ten members of the point element with the first volley. She was banking they had not established any security either. It appeared they just popped up in the woods and opened fire. She was right. Peeking up over a slight rise in the ground, she saw she was on the enemy's right flank less than seven meters away. She and five others remained in position as the remaining ten went north to form the other arm of Kathy's ambush.
Once in place, they reported ready to Kathy who then initiated her attack with a volley of six hand grenades. Being SUBs, the grenades did not fall at random. Each weapon landed directly behind the enemy's line about two meters apart. The sharp crack of each exploding grenade and the volume of shrapnel each produced instantly silenced eighteen of the enemy rifles. This bombardment was followed by all six of Kathy's rifles opening fire from the enemy's right as well as eighteen from their front. The ambulatory survivors broke cover and ran to their rear, directly into the sights of the ten soldiers in the second part of Kathy's ambush. Soon all weapons fell silent.
Kathy then got a report from the leader of the anvil portion of her element, "Charlie Oscar, we have three hostile prisoners here, all other tangos have been terminated."
"Roger. All elements report casualties," Kathy ordered.
"We're good to go here," the anvil element reported.
"Charlie Oscar this is point. I only have the two down. Both are alive, one is mobile."
"Good job, Brenda. Now let's check for enemy wounded."
Kathy established her security perimeter and had the eight total enemy survivors consolidated near a large stone in the forest. A tree had grown alongside this boulder. Its roots had encompassed it and split it down the center.
Kathy had two of her people apply first aid to the wounded. The first thing they discovered was that all their assailants were Bios. They were all large men, the type found on Wilmington's "executive committee."
Kathy stood before them. "Who's in command here?" There came no response.
"Gentlemen, you all smell of blood. How long would you wager you'd last out here smelling as you do and stripped of your survival suits?"
She noted one brutish looking fellow with a crack in the shield of his respirator. She bent down and looked at the crack closely. "I'll bet that's leaking." She said to him as she tapped the broken visor with the tip of her finger. "Let's see, it's been about fifteen minutes or so since that cracked. I'd bet you have about five minutes to go before you pass out. What do you think?"
The brute looked into Kathy’s eyes. Glaring at her, he grunted, "The guy in charge was killed when that first group opened up.”
"Where's his body?" Kathy asked.
"I don't know. Up at our first hiding spot, I guess. You gonna let me have another mask?"
"What was his name?"
"Who?"
"The guy in charge," Kathy responded patiently, and then added, "three minutes forty seconds."
"Ivan Hogg. I'm feeling dizzy here."
Kathy
stood up and spoke to a nearby guard, "Find an undamaged respirator for this man." She looked down at him again. "If I don't find a Hogg up there…you're bacon." She turned to address the other seven. "Okay, boys, of the eight of you, who is in charge now. You have ten seconds to speak up, then we're leaving—and you aren't."
"That would be me," A very large Mr. Universe type spoke up. He had been shot twice; once in the upper left arm and again through the center of his left hand.
Kathy walked up to him. "Not that I need to hear you say it, but Wilmington sent you out here, right?"
There came no response.
"Are we going to have to play this game again? Is there something about my demeanor that makes you think I won't leave you out here?"
"Ma'am, would you look at this!" All eyes turned to SFC Webster who was lifting up a large dried patty of dung over a meter in diameter.
"So, big boy," Kathy turned back to Mr. Universe, "you've obviously spent a lot of time building up that body of yours. How do you think it's going to look all diced and part of one of those? And all for a man who sent you amateurs out to ambush professionals."
"Yeah, okay. It was Wilmington," Mr. Universe answered.
"What's your name?"
"Brown, Edmond Brown."
"Sounds like an alias to me, Ed. You have one good arm I see; you can help carry my wounded."
"You know under the terms of the Geneva Convention you can't—"
Kathy turned on the man, and grabbed him by the throat pulling him to his feet. With his enormous right hand, he tried to break her grip, but found it impossible. "Let me educate you," Kathy snarled. "One, the Geneva Convention only applies to uniformed soldiers. You are neither uniformed, nor a soldier. And two, we are a long damn way from Geneva." She dropped him and walked away. She had not been so angry in years.
She had her answer; the enemy is Wilmington, and possibly the entire IIEA. So, what was it they were doing that they'd kill thirty-eight SUBs from the various allied nations to keep concealed?
The Vampires of Antyllus Page 14
