by T. R. Harris
The Queen looked at the patient High Noslead standing before her. “Forgive my silence, Gorvus. It is just that many complications have arisen since I first devised my strategy for the future of the Colony.”
“How could the Hal’ic have been forecast?” Gorvus said. “Their very existence was unknown to us.”
“Yes, and now they appear to be employing an almost unnatural ability in battle tactics. Do we not have any capacity to learn of their command structure?”
“We have taken several prisoners from Kor. The evacuating forces have brought some to Silana for interrogation.”
J’nae’s expression lit up. “Excellent! I wish to participate in the interrogation.”
“As you wish. Shall I have the prisoners brought here, or will you journey to their holding center?”
“Bring them here. I cannot afford travel time. Make it happen now.”
********
During the battle for Kor, several Hal’ic ships had been shot down and a number of crews taken prisoner. Normally, the Sol-Kor would not have taken prisoners, yet the Hal’ic were unknowns and there was much to be learned of them.
Even still, only eighty prisoners were evacuated from Kor before the entire planet was abandoned. Eight of the highest ranking were brought into the command pyramid where the Queen had set up her base of operations.
The first two prisoners were brought into a small room and placed at a table. J’nae sat on the other side, her seven-foot-tall frame dominating the much shorter Hal’ic. To her surprise, the two aliens did not appear to be frightened. They met her steady gaze.
“Do you know who I am?”
“Yes, you are the Queen of the Sol-Kor,” said the older of the two prisoners.
“Who are you?”
“I am First-Tier Savan Loc, and my companion is First-Tier Was Qint.”
The Queen smiled. “Do you know my name?”
There was a hesitation before Savan Loc answered. “Yes…it is J’nae.”
“Just like the name of your planet. Do you not find that odd?”
“I have not thought much on the subject.”
“I was named after your planet by my creator, the mutant Panur.”
“We have heard of him. He is a pariah to the Hal’ic.”
“And why is that?”
“Because he has used his genius to assist the Sol-Kor in their evil ways.”
“Panur is half Hal’ic.”
“That we are aware.”
“I am also part Hal’ic. So you see, I also rule over your kind, just as I rule over the Sol-Kor.”
“You do not rule over us!” said Was Qint, speaking for the first time. “You are as much an abomination as is Panur.”
“Yet I have Hal’ic blood in my veins.”
“Which only adds to the insult that is your existence.”
J’nae pushed back in her chair and grimaced. “You do realize no Sol-Kor would be allowed to speak to me in such a manner?”
“We are prisoners of the flesh-eaters. Our fate is already pre-determined. At this moment, you are speaking with the walking dead. You can do no more to us.”
“I can shorten your suffering—or I can make it last…much longer.”
“As we said, we are already dead. We accept whatever you wish to do to us.”
J’nae’s right hand, resting on the table, began to slowly extend, stretching out as new cells were created by the conscious effort of the queen. Both aliens watched in disgust as the limb grew to almost twice its normal length, until it reached the other side of the table. Then J’nae used long, creepy fingers to crawl up the tunic of Savan Loc, until they danced across his perspiring face. Both prisoners found the episode disturbing, to the say the least.
“You are indeed an abomination,” said Was Qint.
The Queen shifted her hand to Qint’s face. He recoiled, but the hand clamped around his neck and pulled him back. The grip began to tighten.
“There are many more prisoners I can play with,” J’nae said. “The two of you are expendable.”
She squeezed. The pressure came with such speed and intensity that Qint’s eyeballs literally popped out of his skull, leaving one dangling by optic nerves; the other launched itself at the Queen. J’nae released the dead alien, turning her attention to the bloody ball resting in her lap. With her normal hand, she picked up the eyeball.
“You may not beware, Savan Loc, but I do not require normal food.” The alien watched with horror as the Queen studied the eye, turning it in her fingers so she could see it from all angles. “Yet I do have taste buds…” She popped the eyeball into her mouth.
Savan vomited.
“That was delicious.”
J’nae waited until the Hal’ic pilot composed himself.
“I will keep you alive…as long as you and I can have conversation. I seek no tactical information—your strategy is now obvious to me. What I am curious about is how it is that the Hal’ic can be so proficient at battle tactics when you have no experience to draw upon.”
“I will tell you nothing.”
The Queen’s obscenely extended arm shifted over in front of the surviving alien. “As a mutant, I have other abilities of which you are not aware. It may interest you to know I can enter your mind through incisions at the base of your skull and absorb your thoughts directly. I do not need your cooperation to acquire the information I need. Of course, once I am done, your brain is nothing but a mess of torn gray flesh—which to a Sol-Kor is the ultimate in gourmet cuisine.”
“I do not understand the reference.”
“It means we love to eat brains more than anything else. Now, let us not delay any further. Why are the Hal’ic so good at war?”
J’nae began to drum the fingers of her extended arm on the table in front of Savan. He watched the rhythmic movements with bulging eyes.
“It matters not,” he said finally. “In fact, it may come as a form of bitter justice for your efforts against them in their own universe.”
J’nae frowned. “What are you saying?”
“I am saying that the Hal’ic are being led by another of your victim species.”
“Which one?”
“The Humans.”
J’nae’s eyes burned into the Hal’ic officer. “Adam Cain!”
“No, not any longer.”
“What does that mean? He was in command, but now he is not?”
“That is correct. We are now led by a great and experienced Human warrior named Admiral Tobias.”
J’nae was aware of the military ranks of the Humans, so she knew an admiral was a high-ranking position reserved for only the most proficient of officers, even if the name was unknown to her. She leaned back in her chair and thought on this news.
This explained much. She was up against an individual with vastly more tactical experience than she possessed at the time.
“And what of Adam Cain?”
“He was first appointed Veritis, before surrendering the position to Admiral Tobias.”
“Veritis is your supreme military commander?”
“That is correct.”
“What became of Adam Cain?”
“I do not know. I am not of sufficient rank to be aware.”
“Thank you, Savan Loc. You have been most cooperative.”
Her extended arm extended even further, until the fingers wrapped around the thin neck of the alien. Once again she squeezed hard, and both eyeballs popped out of their sockets. She pulled the inert body over the table, using her other hand to pluck out the dangling orbs. She placed then in her mouth.
“Indeed, tasty.”
She tossed the body aside.
“So where is Adam Cain?”
Chapter 9
From orbit, the planet Silana was a pale, tan, reflective globe, dominated by a near-continuous desert broken only by a series of large blue lakes near the poles and a thin spread of vegetation along the equator that supplied oxygen to the atmosphere. Huge swirling dust clouds swep
t over most of the surface, and there appeared to be only one major settlement on the planet, positioned just south of the lakes.
But major it was. It consisted of a triangular pattern of huge pyramid structures visible from space, with individual buildings numbering into the hundreds. Without any mountains to speak of on Silana, the traditional Sol-Kor constructs rested on the flat desert floor instead of atop ridges. The buildings in this complex were arranged much closer together than they were on Kor, and keeping with tradition they ran along three long lines forming a triangle, with four other, albeit smaller patterns contained within the defining outer perimeter. In the very center of the formation was one over-sized pyramid of titanic proportions.
This would be where they would find the Queen.
Three huge spaceports were located along each of the outer boundaries. With the largest space battle in history taking places only a few light-years away, one would expect these ports to be beehives of activity. Instead they sat virtually empty, except for a staggering number of ugly transport vessels all piled to the south end of the western-most spaceport. On closer examination, huge rear panels on these ships had been pulled away, leaving gaping holes in their hulls. Something had been removed from the engine rooms of these ships and no effort had been made to reseal them for flight.
Adam let his curiosity fade as he used the telescope aboard the mainship to scan the other two spaceports. The Najmah Fayd was a unique vessel and should be easily visible from space—if it was at one of the space ports.
“She probably has it over at that big-ass pyramid,” Sherri said, reading Adam’s mind.
“Of course she would. Wouldn’t want to make anything easy on us, now would she?”
“What a shithole,” Sherri continued, scowling at the monitor. She checked the readouts. “Surface temperature around a hundred, typical Sol-Kor atmosphere mix—so little red pills for the Humans—no readily apparent water supply to provide for such a large population except those meager lakes on the other side of the hills. Probably why they built the complex here. Like I said, a shithole. Why the SK’s would pick a planet like this to settle on is anyone’s guess.”
“Maybe so they can work on their tans?” Riyad said with a brilliant smile. “Some people have to do that, while the more fortunate among us are blessed with a perpetual bronze glow.”
Sherri snorted. “Yeah, this place should make you feel right at home, King Tut.”
“Tut was Egyptian. I’m Lebanese.”
“Yes, I’m fully aware of that.”
“Knock it off, you two. Get ready for landing. Once down, Riyad, Lila, and I will put on those shiny armor suits they have aboard and go take a look around.”
“Why can’t I go?” Sherri asked.
“Because someone has to watch the ship.”
“I should see if there’s a deck of cards around. Hanging out with Arieel and Benefis while you guys go have all the fun is getting kind of old.”
“Once we figure out how to get to the main pyramid, we’ll come back for the rest of you. Besides, with our ATD’s, you and I will be able to communicate without fear of our conversation being intercepted.”
“Be careful.”
“Always.”
“Pfft. Yeah, right. That would be a first.”
********
With all the confusion resulting from the battle in space, Adam was able to land the Sol-Kor mainship at the spaceport with all the derelict bulk transports, and at a spot close to the outer perimeter of pyramids. Once on the surface, the sheer size of the pointed-top structures became apparent; however, the rust-colored one at the center of the complex ruled over them all.
The shiny battlesuits the three wore was something new—all the other armor they’d seen from the Sol-Kor had been charcoal black. These were lightweight and air conditioned, and even had built-in armaments on each arm. A separate articulated glove below each weapon allowed for more intricate operations while in the suits—like opening doors.
It was strange stepping out onto the light-gravity desert world and staring up at the impossibly long row of reddish pyramids towering beside the spaceport. In the spaces between the buildings, Adam could see the next row, and then the next. But in the center of it all, and reaching twice the height of any of the other structures, was the main pyramid.
What made it all seem really strange was the fact that no one had approached them or challenged their arrival. In fact, there wasn’t a Sol-Kor to be seen for several hundred meters, and these were in small, open-air shuttles rushing through the harsh mid-day sun for destinations unknown.
The trio stood on the shimmering, pebble-strewn tarmac, wondering what to do next.
“There is a hangar of some kind to the south. We might find a shuttle of our own within,” Lila suggested.
There was a towering wall separating the spaceport from the pyramid complex, and scanning along its length, no openings were seen. “Sounds like a plan,” Adam said. “Besides, it looks like we have a ways to go to find the exit out of this place.”
Riyad stepped away from the others, placed one leg in front of the other, and lifted his weapons-equipped arms in a show of power and dominance. “I could get used to wearing one of these suits. Do I look badass or what?”
“Or what, I’d say,” Adam said. “Now stop screwing around. We have a hike ahead of us.”
********
After fifteen minutes in the sweltering heat of Silana, Riyad had changed his impression of the suits. Yes, they did have air conditioning, but not enough to counter the baking the two Humans were experiencing. And although he could see out the visor, for the life of him he couldn’t figure out how to open the damn thing to provide ventilation short of removing the helmet. Granted, the gravity was light on Silana, but after a while the heat had sapped his energy so much that the suit became just so much deadweight to carry.
When they reached the hangar, Riyad yanked open a small side door and quickly stepped inside, temporarily blinded by the relative darkness inside, oblivious to what was inside. It was fitting that he would tumble over something just beyond the doorway.
“Take caution!” a voice cried out.
Riyad was on his back, lying on the concrete floor of the hangar. Towering over him stood four Sol-Kor technicians. None wore armor, yet they did carry sidearms, along with angry sneers.
“You are allowing the heat to enter,” another of the aliens complained. His expression changed as he peered through the tinted glass of the visor at the odd, hair-covered face inside the helmet.
In the first few moments of confusion, Riyad had slipped his hands from the flexible gloves to the weapons controls. Both his arms were elevated, each aimed point-blank at a Sol-Kor. When the expression of the complaining alien switched from anger to recognition, Riyad fingered the triggers of his hand guns.
A series of miniature flash bolts erupted from the barrels, ripping two of the four Sol-Kor in half. Unfortunately for Riyad, their blood rained down on his suit, blanketing the helmet and visor in a blinding coat of red. Then something hard and hot impacted the chest of his suit. A painful heat entered, but not enough to burn. Then he felt relatively cool air spreading across his chest. His suit had been punctured. Another shot at the same location would be deadly.
Then it was his turn to have something heavy fall on his body, following two quick flashes of light that penetrated the red sheath covering his visor. Both his arms were grasped by hands of incredible strength.
“Don’t shoot, dickhead!” Adam cried out. “The other two are dead.”
His arms were released and Riyad quickly shifted his hands into the gloves. He wiped wet blood from his visor.
A dead Sol-Kor was still draped over him. A quick glance around showed three more dead aliens sprawled nearby.
“That was real smart, asshole,” Adam’s angry voice was saying. “There could have been a hundred of them in here.”
“Sorry, the heat got to me.”
“And you of all
people.”
“Very funny. Help me up.”
Lila had already located a shuttle cart; the hangar contained about fifty of them. The trio surveyed the hangar for any computer equipment or map of the complex, but neither was found.
“Let’s each take a cart and get back to the ship,” Adam commanded. “We’ll follow along the wall until we find a way out.”
“What about cover for the other three?” Riyad asked. “There were only three battlesuits aboard the ship.”
“Grab some of those tarps. We’ll cover them with those. And dammit, Riyad, clean the rest of the blood off your suit. No need to attract any more attention than we already have.”
********
“Is that blood?” Sherri asked. “You didn’t go kill some aliens and not invite me along for the fun, did you?”
“Sorry, honey,” Riyad replied, wiping the telltale trace of dried blood from his suit that he’d missed earlier. “Next time I’ll be sure to save you a few.”
“You better!”
“If you like, you can ride with me.”
“Under the tarp, in this heat?”
“No other choice. You don’t look enough like the natives around here to ride up front with the grownups.”
Sherri climbed under the thick, heavy cloth. “Don’t kill anyone without giving me heads up.”
“Relax, I’m sure you’ll meet your quota by day’s end. After all, there have to be about a billion Sol-Kor within a ten-kilometer radius.”
“Ah, now I’m getting aroused.”
“What is it with you two these days?” Adam scolded. “We’re a team of six mismatched individuals, on a desert world located in a foreign universe, with—as you say—a billion flesh-eating aliens, and all you want to do is crack jokes.”
“Did you hear what you just said, Mister Cain?” Sherri asked.
Adam stopped in his tracks next to Riyad’s cart. “Damn…you’re right. In light of a menu like that, there’s no need getting all serious. The situation’s serious enough already.”
