by Shawn Jones
“Oh gods.” Kim reached over to the nearest corpse, grabbing the belt from its holster so she could tie it around Cort’s leg. It would be four hours before the shuttle would arrive in the system, and without its equipment, they had no way to figure out what the poison was. As she tightened the strap around his thigh, she said, “Give me all of your symptoms.”
“Numbness right now, but it’s heading for paralysis. What does it look like?”
Kim was surprised by the question and looked at Cort’s face. Oh fuck. “Your face is messed up again, baby.”
“Yeah. I think I took some poison there too.” Cort said.
“Baby, as much as I want to sometimes, I cannot put a tourniquet around your neck. What do we do?”
It’s good she’s keeping her sense of humor. “We have to buy the synthetics some time.” Cort’s speech sounded just slightly slurred. “You aren’t going to like what I have to say, but you have to do it. Put me in the water. We need to irrigate the wounds. Then start a fire and get some water boiling. I also need to eat some of the alien guts.”
“What? Why?” Kim asked.
“If they could, they would choose a poison that didn’t affect them. If I ingest some of their flesh, my synthetics might start building antibodies. After that, give me a boost of synthetics.”
“Wait!” Kim said. “The CONDOR has a spectral analyzer.” She put the torso of her armor on and added the helmet, then activated her HUD. Looking at Cort she said, “It looks like something called ‘desomorphine’ but has an additional, unrecognized molecule. The highest probability is a complex synthetic opioid biotic.”
Kim struggled to understand what Cort was saying now. “Synthetics... opiate.” He gasped. “Boiling water... face… leg for… morph… soon.”
“Hold on, baby,” Kim cried. “Don’t leave me. You have to get our boy back.”
Kim didn’t want to put Cort’s face in the water for fear of him drowning, so she pulled him to the edge of the stream and lowered his legs into it. While he could still breathe reasonably well, she poured several helmets full of water over his head. Then she set about starting a fire and boiling water. By the time she had a pot of water ready, he was unconscious. I have to hit his face first. Oh Gods. She dumped the boiling water on Cort’s head. As she watched the skin on his face blister and redden, he awoke screaming. Tears streamed down Kim’s face as she refilled the pot and put it on the fire. Cort didn’t wake up when she repeated the procedure on his leg wound.
Two hours later, Cort opened his eyes. His face was horribly blistered, with large sections of his flesh and bone exposed by the lack of skin. Dusk had fallen, and Kim had built three fires around their camp to discourage predators. She knew she was safe in the CONDOR, but Cort was as vulnerable as she had seen him since the battle on Sorano’s World. She had lined his leg up and splinted it to keep the synthetics from improperly aligning it, and since dumping the boiling water on him, Kim had been pouring cool water from the stream onto both his leg and face.
“The stars are moving.” He whispered slowly. “Activate the defense network.”
“What?” Kim asked as she looked up. Sure enough, there was a group of ten stars moving in a triangular formation through a borealis. She donned her helmet again and connected to the defensive network. Looking through sensors, Kim found the formation of ships approaching the planet and studied them for a moment. “It’s not our configuration. I am going to challenge them.”
Five of the planet’s satellites were able to target the incoming formation as Kim broadcasted her message. “Incoming vessels, you are approaching an Ares Federation planet. Please identify yourselves.” The minute Kim heard the whistling sound over the channel, she fired fractional railguns from all five satellites. She took off her gauntlet to touch Cort’s hand. “It was them again, baby. How are you?”
“I’ve been better.” Cort whispered. “How long until help arrives?”
“Just another hour. JJ is sending the Kalashnikov, but it has to use the Jonah Construct to get here. Something has happened with the Core on Nill.”
“Good. I’m really glad I didn’t have to eat a monkey. Good thinking about the CONDOR.”
“Yeah. It would have killed you, even with synthetics. They are seriously poisonous. Don’t talk so much. Let’s just watch the stars until the shuttle gets here.”
“Poisonous? Are the wolves okay?”
“Yeah, baby, they are. They vomited some, but they seem fine now.”
Bergh Station
Cort was in a medbed, but he wasn’t taking a break. Lap had arrived and was talking to him about the Nill.
“They will not let you onto their holy ground, General. They have assured me that the Core is irreparably destroyed and they are considering withdrawing from the Collaboration.”
“Bazal?” Cort asked.
“They will withdraw within the week, Cortland.” While he was always available for Cort, Bazal had spent most of his time communicating with Dalek telepathically. He had learned a considerable amount about the enemy from the boy, and Cort was absorbing every bit of it.
“I don’t care if they stay or go, but I want my people to have access to the Core. I will go to war for it, if I have to.”
Lap clicked, “Until they withdraw, you cannot violate their holy ground, General.”
“Lap, in the years you have known me, I would think that you understood me better by now. Dalek is my son. I would burn your Collaboration to the ground to rescue him.”
Lex showed H’uum into the room and left again. There was instant tension between the two insectoids. H’uum walked to Cort’s side, shook his hand and said, “General, I am at your mercy. You charged me with your son’s safety and I have failed you. I am sorry.”
“How do you know he was not complacent, General Addison?” Lap asked.
H’uum looked at Lap and flexed his mandibles.
Cort said, “Lap, I listened to the battle. I had no doubt about their love for my son or I wouldn’t have let him travel to their planet, again. I trust the H’uumans completely. But after listening to the battle through both Dalek’s and Heroc’s comms, I have no doubt they did what they could to save my son.”
“If you say so, General.” Lap replied.
“I do say so, Minister. And you will watch your tone. The H’uumans have dealt honorably with me.” Turning to the newcomer, Cort said, H’uum, we know more than we did before. This isn’t your fault. The attack could just as easily have happened on Earth. I know what your people did to try and save my son. You bear no guilt in this.”
“Thank you for your kindness, General. My empire is at your disposal to find Dalek. And let me be clear, it is not just because our First Queen was lost in the attack. Dalek is special to us.”
“Your empire is confined to your planet, and it will stay so,” Lap clicked. “You will be of no help to the General.”
Cort ignored Lap and said, “I know, H’uum. And I do have something I want you to do. We will find these people, and when we do I want to be able to strike quickly. So I want to refit one of your warships. I need a chamber inside it to protect my people from jump radiation. Can you help Admiral Jones do that?”
“Of course, Cortland. I will begin assembling my engineers now. Please excuse me.”
After H’uum had departed, Lap objected, “General, is it wise to trust H’uum? And even if you do, you cannot allow his people to leave his planet. It is law. I would be forced to protest.”
“Lap, I signed the treaty with him. I’m not asking the Collaboration to agree to this. I am telling you that the Ares Federation is going to do it. The H’uumans have acted honorably with me, and I will treat them as friends. More than ten thousand of them died trying to protect my son. And of those, two thousand were queens. They set their society’s recovery back by decades to help me. To help the man that brought their empire to its knees. So I don’t care if you protest, Speaker Lap. They are my allies. More so than any other species in ga
laxy, right now. Now get out.”
When Lap was gone, Lex stepped into the room again. “Sir, Jeff Pence and Speral are here. Speral would like to see you. She says she can help.”
“Send her in.”
Speral walked into the room, dressed for the first time since Cort has known her. “Cortland, the rumor is that the Nill are being less than cooperative.”
“Yes, Speral, they are. Do you have any ideas?” Cort asked.
“Yes. I can lead a small team to the Core. If there is any transition data available, I can retrieve it.”
Cort didn’t question why Speral would assist in the desecration of the holiest site on Nill. He was just thankful that she was willing to. “Okay, how many people do you need?”
“No more than four. And regardless of what he says, you must promise me that you will not allow Jeffrey to be a part of it. I do not want him involved in the coming war. If the people who enter the Core with me are caught, they will be branded as enemies of Nill. I would wish that you could be a part of the team, but you do not appear to be able to join me.”
“I’m working on that, Speral. And I promise you, I won’t allow Jeff to go.”
“How soon will the team be ready?” she asked.
“Just a moment,” Cort said, and activated a comm. “Nurse, get my docs in here. And have my wife come in too.”
A minute later, Kim and two doctors entered the room. Cort turned to Speral and said, “Can one of the four be my HAWC?”
Speral remembered the day she met Cort, years before on Mars. He had been wearing the ten-meter tall HAWC power suit. It was months before she learned he was a normal-sized human inside a power suit. “Yes. In fact, that would reduce the number necessary for the attack.”
Turning to the doctors, Cort said, “Okay, when I was recovering from the Atlantica invasion back on Mars, I strapped into my HAWC suit and used it to function while keeping my body immobilized. Miles Verne didn’t like it, but it worked. Can I do that now?”
The female doctor said, “Tell us about how the HAWC suit works, sir.”
“When I am in the suit, my body is paralyzed. The suit is jacked into the Atlas interface on my neck. Autonomic functions are maintained, and I can still move my head. The rest of my body is secured in form fitting couch and is completely protected. The suit would have to be destroyed for me to be hurt inside it.”
“We would need to see the couch, sir.”
Calling Lex into the room, Cort ordered the Colonel to make the HAWC specs available to the doctors. The three of them left the room and Kim turned to Cort. “What’s going on?”
“Speral is going to get us into the Core. If the transition data is there, I am going to use it to go get our son.”
“We are going to use it to go get our son,” she corrected.
--
“My Poppa is coming to get you,” Dalek said to the ape that brought him dinner. Bazal told him to say it, or a phrase like it, every time one the monkeys came into the room. Bazal was always with him, keeping him company, playing games with him and asking questions about where he was. Often, when Dalek cried, Bazal would sing to him or tell him that they were close to finding him.
On this day, Bazal was telling Dalek about how many Marines were looking for him.
“Awe they going to come and kill the bad monkeys, Bazal?”
Thousands of them are waiting to do just that, Little Warrior. They are all mad and they want to see you in your new uniform. They will be there soon.
“Will Poppa come with them, Bazal?”
Yes, Little Warrior. Your Poppa will come for you, and your mommy wants to come too.
“Poppa won’t let Mommy come, Bazal. She’s too pwetty.”
Yes she is, Little Warrior. But your mommy loves you so much that I am not sure even your Poppa can keep her from coming with him to get you. Now it is time to rest, though. What song would you like me to sing you?
“Do you know Poppa’s songs, Bazal?”
I know some of them. Which one do you want to hear?
“Hewoc used to sing me Tupelo Honey. Can you sing it, Bazal?”
Bazal reached into Dalek’s mind and pulled the song from it. I should have known she would sing you that song, Little Warrior. I think I can remember it.
--
Kimberly, he is happy today. He wants me to sing Tupelo Honey to him.
“Thank you, Bazal. Tell him I love him and we will see him soon.”
Of course.
--
“Do we have any idea how they got on our planets without being detected?” Cort asked the next morning. He was fidgeting and desperately wanted out of the medical bed he was confined to.
Lex answered, “Yes, sir. They use an Alcubierre drive, similar to our own. We retrieved a lot of information from the ships that Kim destroyed. Their hulls use charged tachyon shielding. Essentially it creates a warp bubble around their ships all the time. The only reason you were able to see them when you did is because they moved through a flare in the planet’s ionosphere. It overloaded their shielding.”
“Have we found a way to detect them normally?”
“Not yet, but if they fire their weapons, we can detect them immediately. On the upside, we have gone through the sensors on the one ship they lost at the H’uuman homeworld. They cannot detect us, either. Also, we lost a complete ship. The Beretta transitioned at the same time as the Core was compromised. We have no idea what happened to them.”
Cort sighed. “That was Captain Ross, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Okay, List them as missing and presumed dead. They died in their attempt to save Dalek, so reward them as such.”
“Yes, sir.” Lex repeated.
The female doctor from the previous day entered the room with Kim. “General, I have gone over the specs on your HAWC suit. Your idea will work, but at a price.”
Turning toward Lex, Cort said, “Okay, the Kalashnikov can deploy the HAWC. Notify them Speral and I will be onboard as soon as I can be moved into the suit. I want Captain Munroe and Mike Rage with us.”
Lex started to object, but Cort raised his hand. “Lex, I’m not taking any chances. If something happens on Nill, I still need people that can help Kim get our boy. You are my backup plan.”
Dejectedly, Lex said, “Yes, sir.”
“General,” the doctor interrupted, “I think you need to know what the risks are, sir.”
“It doesn’t matter what they are, Doc. This is my son we are talking about. I’ll hear you out, but my mind is made up. So what do I need to know?”
“Your synthetics produce a lot more waste when you are healing, and you will be healing for a long time. When you are healthy, it is not a problem because the digestive system is so efficient. You are going to need some sort of waste system inside the suit. The simplest solution would be to allow the suit to dump waste into the environment, but I would rather not leave our synthetics, even spent ones, on an alien world for them to study.”
“I promise you, Doc, there won’t be anyone left on that planet to study my shit.”
“I am sure, sir, and I understand your feelings. But I am planning for the worst. If you fail, they may be able to study it and find weaknesses to use in the subsequent war against the federation.”
“Ah. Okay. I can’t argue with that. Then set me up with a tank. What else?”
“Your healing is going to take a lot longer. Especially your leg. We were barely able to save it, General. You may lose it if you put too much stress on your body.”
“Have you met Captain Munroe, doctor?”
“No, sir.”
“She was a petty officer who lost her legs in the Cuplan war. Rather than settle for prosthetics, she had her stumps removed and grew new legs.”
“Oh my gods! I read about that.”
“Exactly. She went through that just to be one of my Marines. What do you think I would go through to get my son back?”
“I understand.”
Turning to Kim, Cort said, “The wolves stay with you this time. While I am gone to Nill, make sure their armor is in good shape. I want you and Lex to mobilize the wolfpacks and be ready to go the minute we get back. Have JJ put everything but system ships on alert. The minute I know where our target is, I want her to be ready to send every black ship we have ahead of us.”
“That means you have a plan, baby.”
“Yeah. I plan to get our son back. Then I am going to wipe those fuckers from the universe.”
When Kim and the others left, Cort spoke to Bazal.
I need you to do something for me.
Yes, Cortland, what is it?
I want you to go with us, and when we are close, I want you to calm the ones guarding Dalek. I don’t want them to hurt him.
Of course. I was hoping you would ask me to help you.
You’ve been helping every minute of this, Bazal. My son is not alone because of you, my friend. I will never be able to repay you for that. Not for as long as I live.
You are my family, Cortland. I am not alone because of you.
Five
Nill
“Director Pagztay, there is a private communication for you, sir.”
“Thank you, Sirai.” Pagztay turned from the door and closed his eyes. When the message queue projected, he opened his eyes in shock. After composing himself, he closed them once again and looked at the symbol being projected onto the inside of his eyelids. Speral. It must be her. I have never told anyone of the symbol. She would not have either. It was our secret. Why now? Of course it is now. If I am honest with myself, I expected it. Please do not ask me to violate the sacrament, Speral. With the last thought, he entered the phrase Speral must have used to protect the message. A moment later her image appeared, wearing an Ares Federation uniform.
“Pagztay, old friend. I hope this message finds you well, but I will not delay with niceties. I am coming to the Core. I intend to help Cortland, General Addison, to trace the transition signature of the Tapon. Yes, old friend, the attack was carried out by our ancient enemy. General Addison has lost his spawn because of the sins of our ancestors. Because he protected us. I must do my part to make that right. I hope you will sense the same obligation.”
