Erickson looked at Stella with interest and smiled. She blushed and fluttered her eyelashes. Alvarez rolled her eyes.
Thorvall continued, “…and then use him to infiltrate a team into the ship.” There was a momentary catch in his throat as he said, “Well, you can be proud of yourself. It almost worked. But we are tougher than that. I will get over you, Stella Vegas…or should I say, Commander Stella Williams!” He turned to the guards. “Take them all away. Through them in a cell!”
Bernie said, “What about Olaf?”
Thorvall curled his lip. “All I want that schmuck for is to skin him and feed him to the rats. You think I give a damn about that piece of scoria? I just wanted to draw you into the ship. Take them away!”
They were disarmed, marched to an elevator and taken down three levels. Here they were again marched down several passages with grilled metal floors until they came to a row of doors. The guard punched a code into a panel on the wall and one of the doors slid open. They were pushed in and the door closed with a hiss.
There were no seats, so they sat on the floor. Erickson smiled at Stella. “You must be Stella Williams.”
“Kinda. I’m Stella, but not Williams.”
He raised an eyebrow. “So…?”
“He kinda got hooked on me.” She grinned. “I must be a damn good lay, because he raped me and it was so good he fell in love.” Alvarez snorted, then burst out laughing. Stella glanced at her. “I know, right? Anyway, you heard him, for some reason he thought it was mutual, and took me into his confidence. So I played him. It was the thing to do, right? He asked me for advice on how to catch you. The cube was my idea…”
“So you set us up?”
She pulled a face. “Not exactly. I needed to get you here… Anyway, when you offered to trade Olaf for a Stella Williams, he assumed Stella Williams was me. Who is she?”
“Wait, back up. Why did he assume it was you?”
“Probably because I crippled three of his guards before he raped me. I’m pretty good at Krav Maga and Jeet Kune Do.” She made a slightly regretful face and added, “Plus I have a bit of an attitude problem.”
He said, “Good to know. And why did you need to get us here?” She glanced around the room and he caught her meaning. The cell was probably bugged. He glanced at Alvarez and Bernie. They got it too.
Suddenly he made a savage face and scowled at her.
“You fuckin’ lying bitch! You fuckin’ set us up!” He got on his feet. “How much are they paying you, you fuckin’ traitor? Ay! What are our fuckin’ lives worth?” Suddenly he was on her, screaming “I’m gonna fuckin’ kill you!” And Alvarez and Bernie were on his heels.
She screamed and cowered and they whaled into her, kneeling on her and raining blows from every angle. She cried out for help, but her shouts were drowned out by the savage rage of her three assailants. Within a few seconds Bernie and Alvarez had immobilized her and Erickson was kneeling on her, pounding her head with his fists. All the security cameras could see were her feet twitching from under the mass of bodies on top of her. The guards knew one thing. Their lives were not worth a damn if Stella was killed. Thorvall would not feed them to the rats, he would eat them himself!
It had only been thirty seconds, but the attack had been like lightning - and deadly. The door hissed open and four guards burst in shouting, “Stand back! Move away!” as they rushed toward the prone girl. Her three attackers pulled back. The first to strike was Stella herself. Her kick to the guard’s head broke his neck. Erickson snapped a second trooper’s neck and as he did so Bernie choked a third. By which time Alvarez had shattered the fourth’s windpipe, taken his gun and shot him.
They took their weapons and made for the door. As they came out into the passage four more guards were running their way. Three double-taps laid out three of them. The fourth dropped his weapon and put his hands up. Stella shot him between the eyes.
They moved toward the elevators. Stella said, “We need to get to the engineering department.”
Erickson said, “First we need Thorvall.”
Stella said, “There are things I need to explain to you.”
They had reached the elevators. Stella said, “You just tell it where you want to go.” She gave a cough and said, “Elevator, Divinity Level One.”
The door opened. They climbed in and the doors closed. They started to rise. Erickson narrowed his eyes at her. “You know your way around here…”
“I’m observant. I was naked at the time, and wet and covered in soap, but I still observe.”
He nodded, visualizing it. “Interesting.”
She smiled, “You think so?”
`They came to a soft halt and the doors opened. They moved on, all four with their weapons drawn, to Thorvall’s door. They looked at each other. Unsure how to open the door and get in. Stella reached over and knocked. A voice inside said, “Come!” and they opened the door.
Ten
Erickson stormed in like a tornado, sent Thorvall sprawling across the floor, stood on his neck and scanned the room for guards. Then he knelt on Thorvall’s chest and snapped, “Alvarez, Bernie, check the other rooms! Stella, tie his hands and feet!”
“With pleasure!”
Thorvall was staring at Erickson. “How do you think you can get away with this? Do you realize how small and impotent you are?”
Erickson grabbed him by the scruff of his neck while Stella pulled out his shoelaces to tie his wrists. He snarled, “That’s what all the seven hundred million other sperm said to me as I was swimming for the egg, and look at me now!”
Thorvall frowned. “That is a really weird thing to say.”
Stella nodded, “He’s right, it was.”
“So I’m weird. What’s new? Now his ankles.”
They rolled him over and She tied his ankles together. Alvarez and Bernie came back. “Apartment’s clear.”
“Right everybody sit down.” As he said this, Erickson stood. Everybody else sat. Thorvall said, “I can’t.”
Erickson ignored him and pointed at Stella, “You are going to explain why you needed to get me here. And then you…” he pointed at Thorvall, “Are going to tell us how to get out of here.”
Thorvall sneered, “And then what? How long do you think you will last out there? How long do you think you can survive? You have seen how powerful we are! You have seen what we can do!”
Erickson considered him for a moment. He was smiling.
“Let’s forget for the moment what I have seen, and let’s consider what I am seeing right now. I’m seeing you tied up on the floor, telling me how powerful you are. I am seeing you tied up with…” he hunkered down and flicked Thorvall’s bonds, “…shoelaces. He stood and wandered around the room. “I’m seeing soldiers – not galactic imperial star troopers – bog standard grunts and not very well trained ones at that. And I am seeing that they are using standard issue, NATO 43mm M4 rifles.”
Thorvall was silent, watching him. Erickson pointed around him at the ship. “I grant you this is impressive. I don’t know how you do it, though I could hazard a few guesses. But I’ll tell you something I do know. In this vast ship, three miles across, I haven’t seen more than twenty-four men at any one time. Where is everybody? Where are the troops, the administrators, the engineers?”
Thorvall didn’t answer. He stared accusingly at Stella. Erickson shook his head.
“You’re not aliens, are you? You’re not from another planet. You’re not returning after millennia roving the galaxy. This is some big, nasty hoax. And you are going to come with us and tell me all about it.”
A look of panic flashed across Thorvall’s face. Erickson caught it and narrowed his eyes. He turned to Stella.
“Shoot.”
“After what you’ve just said, I’m not sure if you’ll believe me.”
“Try me.”
“Just after I was captured and…” she scowled down at Thorvall, “…raped! This guy seemed to go soft on me, thought we had somethi
ng special going on. So he told me a few things, you know, pillow talk. He told me that we are the same species…”
“That’s what Olaf said. I think it’s bollocks.”
“Who’s talking here, you or me?”
“All right, don’t get your knickers in a twist.”
“I’m just saying. Cause if you ask me a question, and then you talk, we’re wasting time, right?” She waited. He raised an eyebrow at her. Alvarez snorted. Stella said, “OK. So he tells me, they go around the galaxy seeding colonies of humans, they wait for them to reach maturity and when they do, they come and get all the hot chicks for their sex trade. It’s the biggest industry in the empire.”
Bernie shrugged. “Makes sense, I guess. But what does ‘maturity’ mean? They could have been doing that for the last ten thousand years, why now suddenly?”
Thorvall said, “I’m right here! I could be telling you this myself!”
“Shut up! That’s what I asked him. And here is the important part which made me think I had to get you onboard the ship…” She paused. Thorvall groaned and closed his eyes. Alvarez, Bernie and Erickson stared.
“We, our two species, are almost identical. But you know what kind of an impact a minute difference can make at the genetic level?”
Bernie nodded, “It’s true. Chimps are 98% similar to humans. That 2% makes a massive difference in real terms. Cats are only 10% different. The fruit fly shares about 60% of its DNA with humans.”
Erickson said, “OK, I get the point. A small percentage variation in DNA can have a big impact. So we are 99.5% similar to this bunch, what does that .5% amount to in actual difference?”
Stella said, “Air.”
“Air?”
Thorvall groaned. “We don’t like your air. Or, rather, your air doesn’t like us! We made the mistake of seeding you when the glaciation was at its height.”
“What the fuck has ice to do with the price of bleedin’ eggs?”
“Everything!” It was Stella again. “Before the glaciation CO2 levels on the planet were through the roof. The whole planet was a tropical steam bath. It was an environment which was paradise for reptiles and dinosaurs. We share about 65% of our DNA with reptiles, birds and, presumably, dinosaurs. These guys share a little more, about 66%. And here’s another thing, where we lack the proteins to trigger a lot of that DNA, they have more of those proteins.”
Erickson was scratching his chin and his head by turns
“What are you saying…?”
“That these guys are a bit closer to the reptile than we are, and they benefit from a CO2 rich environment. As of the last couple of years, levels have been approaching those of about four million years ago.”
Bernie said, “And that’s why they have come back now.”
“Yeah.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah. But there is more…”
Thorvall thrashed on the floor and tried to sit up, shouting, “Shut up you stupid woman! You traitor!”
“You shut up!” It was everyone. They all shouted it at the same time. Erickson said, “What more?”
“Everything that has happened since about 1750 AD – the steam engine to the microchip and artificial intelligence – all of it has been fed to us by them.”
Erickson looked incredulous. “These bozos? Are you kidding? That’s hard to believe…”
Stella shook her head and wagged her finger at him. “They ain’t so much stupid as complacent and arrogant. The whole thing had a dual purpose, to massively increase CO2, and to bring about the handheld screen.”
Bernie said, “The Zombie Revolution. Make the environment suitable for them, and at the same time turn us all into brain-dead, fast-food-fed morons, so they could just walk in and take over.”
Thorvall stared at Bernie. “Oh, please, tell me you are not shocked and disgusted.”
Bernie shook his head. “No, it just proves just how closely related we are.”
Erickson said, “We haven’t got time to get philosophical, chaps. This is all very interesting, but it doesn’t help with the immediate problem, which is survival.”
Thorvall glared at Stella, who gave him the finger.
“Actually, that’s where your wrong, Erickson. Survival is exactly what it does help with.”
Eleven
“Apparently, with their technology, getting CO2 levels down is easy. The problem is generating the stuff. For that, they had to cover the planet in factories – or at least persuade us to do it.”
Erickson hunkered down in front of Thorvall. “So if we reduce the CO2 levels to what they were in, say, ten thousand BC, you’d have to fuck off?”
“Yeah, but you’d also trigger a new Ice Age.”
Erickson stood. “I saw you on the TV, you were down at the UN Building. You were not suffering with your breathing.”
Thorvall shrugged. “You expect me to help you? Fuck you.” He glanced at Stella. “And you, you treacherous bitch!”
“Rapist.”
“You broke my heart!”
Erickson turned on them both. “Shut up!” He eyed Thorvall. “OK, Thorvall, I’m going to take you to an airlock and I’m going to throw you out.”
“What?”
“I saw you on TV and swore to myself that I would kill you. And that’s how I’m going to do it.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t like you. Because you invaded my planet. Because you take our women and enslave them…I could go on. A lot.”
He stared at Stella. She shrugged. “I agree with him. This whole love thing happened in your head, not mine.”
Alvarez looked uncomfortable but Erickson silenced her with a look. Bernie, who was smart and had read Erickson’s game, said, “You have one chance, dude. I know this guy. He teaches special ops SOBs how to be mean. He is ruthless. I tell you, you think you are reptilian – this guy thinks having a heart is a reference to the menu of the day…”
“OK! I get it! You sold it to me! What’s the chance I have?”
Bernie shrugged. “Make yourself more valuable alive than dead.”
Erickson pulled a face. “It might work.”
“How?”
“We eliminate the CO2, make the planet cold and you fuck off for the next ten thousand years.”
“Thorvall was shaking his head and blinking furiously, “No, no, no…you don’t understand…”
“Grab him. Let’s get to the airlock.”
“No! Wait! Just listen to me!”
Alvarez said, “Let’s just hear what he has to say.”
He looked at her curiously for a moment. “Thank you.” Then to Erickson, “There are almost eight billion people on this planet. Have you any idea what happens to them if the planet suddenly freezes? They die!”
“OK. And if it doesn’t freeze they become sex slaves in your filthy empire. And what happens when they lose their looks? They get sold as food to the Fnarglblorgs?”
Thorvall gaped. “How did you know that?”
“Lucky guess. Come on. Airlock!”
“Wait! Jesus, man!”
Erickson froze. “…Jesus?”
“I…uh…”
“Would that be the same Jesus? What happened, Thorvall? When he was done here he nipped over to Proxima B for a bit of Bible bashing?”
“I…uh…um…”
“I’ve had enough of this bullshit. Airlock.”
“OK, I’ll take you to the GFART and explain everything as we go.”
Alvarez snorted. “The GFART?”
“Sure, the Gaseous Fundamental Alteration Realignment Transformer. Why?”
“Nothing.”
Erickson slapped her on the back of her head and shook his own. “Child.” But as he did it he was wondering where he had heard the word before.
They untied Thorvall’s ankles and stepped out into the passage. It was empty. Thorvall turned left and said, “It’s this way.” Alvarez had him by the arm and was pointing a gun to his head. He began to talk.<
br />
“It’s a pretty complicated thing to explain. It’s been going on a long time. You know, everything I told you is true, it’s just there is a lot more to it than that. I am what you would call a hybrid. Mind you, so are you, but I am just a superior hybrid to you. You can see that at a glance, right?”
He smiled a smarmy smile at Alvarez, and to Erickson’s astonishment she smiled back.
“I’m curious,” Erickson said, “to know just how much bullshit and lies you can generate in the space of a short walk, keep talking.”
“I was born on Earth. Most of us were born on Earth. In fact, all of us were born on Earth.”
“And how many is all?”
“All? All told? Including the other ships?”
“Yeah, all. In the usual meaning of the word, as in, you know, all…”
“About two thousand people.”
“Two thousand people? You took over a planet of seven and a half billion with two thousand people? And you are note even aliens?”
He stopped and turned to face Erickson with a smug little smile. “I told you I am superior. It’s in here.”
He touched the wall and it opened. He and Alvarez stepped through and it immediately closed again. Bernie swore and started feeling the wall. Erickson shook his head. He said, “Don’t bother, mate. It’s not real. The whole fucking thing is a hologram,” and Bernie kind of fell through the wall and vanished.
Erickson grabbed Stella’s hand and said, “Come on. I have a hunch.”
She said, “Me too. I wonder if it’s the same one.”
“Probably.”
They ran for the elevators.
Thorvall turned to face Alvarez. He said, “I have a good feeling about this.”
Alvarez was staring around her wildly. There were no walls, no ceiling, no floor. Everything was an amorphous gray, and Thorvall was very close and very intense. She knew Erickson would want her to shoot him. But she didn’t want to. First because if she did she would have no way beck, and second, well, she just didn’t want to.
To Love A Hitman Page 45
