Sidespace

by G. S. Jennsen

  The armory was two floors below, and they earned several odd looks from passing Khokteh as they squeezed down the stairs. All were aware of their presence, but many had never seen them. Still, looks were the most they received, because no one had time to worry about two puny little aliens wandering the halls.

  Two soldiers were tossing out weapons to everyone who passed by the armory entrance, including many who weren’t wearing military garb. They ran up to the door as the soldier on the left pivoted to them. It was Orange, the guard from their time as captives.

  He crossed his long arms over his chest. “No. I accept that Tokahe Naataan says you are friend to the Khokteh, but I will not arm you.”

  Alex planted her palms on the high counter and hoisted herself up, leaning over it to get in the alien’s face. “Give. Us. Weapons. We will fight for you.”

  Orange glowered at her for several seconds, then threw his hands in the air and capitulated, much as everyone eventually did once Alex decided the way things were going to be. He handed over two of their standard guns. “Shoot for the head, neck or shoulders. The chests are hard to penetrate, especially when you factor in their armor.”

  The guns weren’t so large as the rocket launchers he’d seen earlier, but they were still twenty percent larger than TSGs. Alex hefted hers awkwardly under her arm.

  Caleb rested the bulk of the gun on his hip. “Give me a blade, too. In case.” Their weapons had, for perhaps understandable reasons, never been returned to them, and his sword remained on the Siyane.

  Orange growled but after a brief hesitation reached under the counter and produced a half-meter long katana-style blade.

  Caleb accepted it with his free hand. “Thank you. Good luck.”

  The building shook again as they hurried off; this strike hit close enough to send sandstone dust falling from the ceiling. He grabbed Alex’s arm and pulled her into the next hallway. “Let’s find a vantage on the third floor.”

  She followed his lead, vaulting up the stairs two at a time beside him. This was a place they had been before, on their tour of the facility upon being freed. He remembered a large meeting room down the hall and to the right.

  They rushed in and found four Khokteh lined up at the open windows firing on attackers below. One jumped up in surprise at their arrival, but the one next to it placed a hand on its arm and muttered something. The Khokteh snarled but settled back into position.

  When they reached the sole window not occupied he crouched below the rim, dragging Alex down beside him. “The trigger is activated by pressing these two points together. It’s a laser weapon, so we don’t need to worry about ammunition or jamming. Simply point and fire. It’ll have a solid kick, so brace yourself.”

  “Got it.” She dropped to her knees and hefted the large weapon up on the ledge, but after a few seconds she cringed at him. “The attackers are Khokteh, too, and they…all look the same.”

  He touched her shoulder. “We don’t have to do this.”

  “Yes, we do. I only…how do I tell friend from foe?”

  He studied the activity on the chaotic streets, working to concentrate on the details. “Let’s see. The defenders’ uniforms are brighter in color, while the attackers are wearing black and gray—and their armor is thicker and broader across the chest. Also, the attackers wear armor and attachments on one of their arms, but the defenders wear utility belts instead.”

  She nodded understanding, repositioned her weapon, sighted down and fired. Her shoulder jerked violently; the recoil didn’t knock her to the floor only because she was already on her knees. “Damn, what are they using to power these guns?”

  “We can ask them later.” He’d wondered the same thing on seeing the weapons fire, but again, later. Satisfied she had command of the situation, he aimed his own weapon over the sill.

  The perimeter guards were holding their own, but barely. They had the advantage of position, but the enemy had numbers and heavier armor. Still, the attackers had to expose themselves in order to climb the wide stairs and reach the Center.

  Sniping was to some extent a skill that degraded absent frequent honing, but the process itself was pure muscle memory. He exhaled evenly through his nose, closed one eye and peered through the scope. Then he zoomed his ocular implant to full magnification. His fingertips gently closed on the trigger mechanism. He fired.

  The target’s head lurched backward in an explosion of amber light and darker blood.

  One down.

  “They’re inside the building!”

  Given the layers of bodies now littering the steps below, Caleb had difficulty believing sufficient attackers remained to get inside. And yet.

  Alex sank against the wall. Debris coated her skin and clothes in a fine layer of dust and dulled her normally vibrant burgundy hair to muted auburn. Her upper lip bled where a shard from the ceiling had struck her earlier. “Ideas?”

  He eyed the sword he’d hooked to his belt. It was an impressive weapon, displaying skilled craftsmanship. Would he be able to kill even one of the massive, powerfully strong Khokteh using it? He understood their weak points now, and he’d had a lot of time to watch how they moved. So maybe. Problem was, a great deal more than one would soon be terrorizing the hallways.

  “Let’s get to the roof. Call Valkyrie in.”

  She wiped dust from her brow. “You want to run?”

  She was putting on a brave front, but her voice had grown laden with concern and a trace of fear. He hated the sound of it, but he was glad she recognized the gravity of their situation.

  “I want us to live. We won’t be the difference in the Ireltse winning or losing today, and us dying for them won’t do a damn bit of good for anyone.”

  Her gaze drifted to the sky outside. “I don’t know if Valkyrie has the finesse to maneuver around all these ships and the weapons fire. I could, but—”

  Pinchu’s voice boomed over the loudspeaker system. “Hold the upper floors and prepare for SAIC—” the translator stuttered, then provided [acronym, reference not available] “—deployment.”

  Alex’s brow furrowed into dusty creases. “The what?”

  A blinding white light swept out across the landscape, and the world went silent.

  28

  IRELTSE

  * * *

  CALEB BLINKED. He was prone on the floor. The bootup sequence for his eVi flickered in his vision. Had they used an EMP?

  Alex. He spun around to see her collapsed on the floor next to him. He frantically brushed hair out of her face with one hand while feeling for a pulse with the other. “Come on—”

  Her eyelids fluttered. His heart returned to its rightful location in his chest.

  Another blink. She opened her eyes, and he gathered her up into his arms. “You’re all right. You weren’t connected to Valkyrie.”

  “I…I think I was,” she murmured groggily. “Valkyrie, are you good?”

  ‘I am functional.’

  “What happened? My eVi’s restarting.”

  “Mine too. I think Pinchu used an EMP.”

  Confirmation came the next instant in the sound of thundering crashes as ships began falling out of the sky. Dust flooded the room through the open windows, sending them and the nearby Khokteh into coughing fits.

  He held his shirt up over his nose and mouth and urged her back down. Though the dust would gradually settle to the floor, it should dissipate as it did so. “Stay low. It’s easier to breathe the lower you are.”

  She complied, and they huddled on the floor, finding just enough air not to suffocate.

  A minute or so passed before Pinchu’s voice came over the speaker again. “Push into the lower levels and clear out the remaining invaders. The city is saved.”

  Alex coughed but sat up, her eyes tearing as she wiped yet more dust off her forehead. “Should we help?”

  He shook his head wearily and drew her close. “You are an amazing trooper, but I think they can take it from here.”

  She nodded
into his neck. “All right. If you say so.”

  Breathing remained slightly challenging, but Alex nonetheless relaxed against Caleb. She’d been tense and running on adrenaline and chemically heightened concentration for what had surely been hours—not nearly so long as the battle over Seneca, but still quite a long time.

  Her arms, shoulders and back all ached from the strain of holding the heavy gun. The inside of her eyelids felt like sandpaper every time she blinked, and she was suspicious her lungs had a quart of dust in them. But his embrace was warm and welcoming, and she gratefully sank into it.

  The moment of peace shattered when a roiling crash shook the walls of the building. Seconds later Khokteh began sprinting down the hallway toward the front entrance.

  She squeezed Caleb’s hand and straightened up. “Come on. We need to see what happened. Also, the building might fall down on us, so we should get outside.”

  He rolled his eyes but conceded the point. They climbed to their feet, slipped into a gap in the passing Khokteh and let the crowd carry them to the entrance.

  The building they’d occupied may still be standing, but the large structure across the street and up one block was not. Most of the edifice had crumbled into the road; presumably it had sustained damage during the assault that led to a delayed collapse.

  “Valkyrie, what was in the building?”

  ‘City maps indicate it served as the central hospital for the city.’

  Hospital…. She and Caleb stared at each other for a beat. “Shit. Cassela.” They rushed down the steps and toward the wreckage.

  Dozens of Khokteh heaved broken slabs of sandstone off large piles and tossed it to the side. Some of the pieces must weigh nearly a tonne, proving a challenge for the brawny Khokteh. Still they managed, undoubtedly driven by the knowledge of dwindling lives beneath the rubble. Others were tending to the injured who lay out in the open, bodies whose fur was soaked so thoroughly in blood it looked as if it had been dyed red.

  She was about to lend a hand to a Khokteh dragging two of the injured clear of some debris when a piercing cry tore through the cacophony of noise. Everyone froze, then all heads turned in the direction of the scream.

  At the center of the block in front of the former hospital, where the debris was the thickest, Pinchu fell to his knees and gathered a body into his arms. Even from a distance the white fur and distinctive lavender flourishes were unmistakable.

  He renewed his scream, a guttural roar of anguish and despair.

  Two unfamiliar vehicles were parked in front of her house when Alex got home from school. No, wait…she thought one of them belonged to Richard. She perked up; he’d been on secret assignment doing war stuff, and she hadn’t seen him in several months.

  Mildly curious about the unfamiliar car, though, she tip-toed into the house. Maybe she could eavesdrop on something interesting.

  Her mother and Richard were in the kitchen, along with a tall man she didn’t know wearing a military dress uniform. She peeked around the door frame. Her mom’s back was to her, but Richard stood at a slight angle from the entry.

  “That is no excuse! Why weren’t they—” Great. Drama.

  “Commodore Solovy, I understand you’re upset, which is a completely justifiable reaction.”

  “Upset? Is that what I am? Because—”

  Richard glanced in her direction and instantly saw her. He cleared his throat. “Alex.”

  Her mother spun around. Her skin was deathly pale, as if a vampire had been feasting on her. Her eyes were wide and appeared frozen, locked in a state of cold fury.

  Alex frowned as she stepped into the archway. She’d never seen her mother look anything like this before. “What’s wrong?”

  Her mother’s chest heaved. “Alexis, there was…your…” she spun away to face the cabinets “…Richard, I can’t…please….”

  He nodded and squeezed her mother’s hand then came over to Alex. As he drew closer, she realized his eyes were bloodshot and his cheeks were shiny, like…like he’d been crying? Ridiculous.

  He placed a hand on her shoulder and started guiding her into the living room. “Let’s go sit down for a minute.”

  “What’s going on? Why is everyone acting weird?”

  He sat on the edge of the couch and patted the cushion beside him. “Sit with me.”

  She backed toward the center of the room. Her skin felt tingly, and her pulse started pounding in her ears. “I don’t want to sit. Tell me what’s going on.”

  His Adam’s Apple bobbed above his uniform collar. “There’s been an accident—no, he wouldn’t want me to call it an accident. There was a battle, and your dad protected a whole bunch of people. He saved so many lives, Alex. But…his ship was destroyed before he was able to escape.”

  The walls seemed to undulate, pressing in on her threateningly. “So he got out in an escape pod, right? Is he hurt? Does that mean he’ll be coming home soon?”

  “Oh, Alex, sweetheart…he’s gone. He was killed.”

  “What? No—no, that’s impossible! They just haven’t found him yet—are they looking? They better be looking for him!”

  “I’m so, so sorry. Come here—”

  Richard reached for her, but she yanked her arm away. “No!” She spun and ran to the kitchen. “Mom, why is Richard saying these things? Where’s Dad? Where is he?”

  In the kitchen, her mother again had her back to Alex, but now her hands splayed atop the counter and her head hung limply down. The stranger stood to the side, his hands clasped formally in front of him.

  “Mom? Mom, answer me!” But her mother’s head shook a refusal.

  She couldn’t breathe. Gasping in air, her face hot. “No. No, you can’t…he can’t…I don’t believe it!”

  In desperation she sprinted for the front door. Outside there would be air, and she would be able to breathe. Outside she could find her dad.

  Richard’s arms snatched her up from behind when she was but a meter from escape. “Easy now, Alex.”

  She struggled in his clutches, flailing out at him, kicking ineffectually at his strong, sturdy legs with her weak, skinny ones. “Let me go! I have to—I have to go!”

  He held her firmly. “There’s nowhere you need to go, sweetheart. You stay here, and your mom will take care of you.”

  “I want my dad!” It came out all garbled and wet and sloppy as sobs began to wrack her chest. “I want my dad….”

  “I know you do.”

  She tried to see through the blurriness, and found she was curled up on the floor and Richard arms were wrapped around her shoulders. “It’ll be okay.”

  But it wouldn’t be okay. It was never going to be okay again.

  Alex blinked past the stab of searing pain that flared in her chest at the memory and tried to refocus on the here and now.

  Several Khokteh rushed toward Pinchu. He let out a full-throated growl, a frightening warning, and thrust his arm out to wave them away. They stopped in their tracks, instinctively obeying their leader’s command.

  As his gaze swept across the scene, his eyes landed on her. “You! Alex Human!”

  She slowly walked to him, Caleb at her side and her heart breaking. For the first time, she was able to look down on him…and for all his size and strength, he was now a broken, diminished shadow of himself. “Pinchu, I’m so—”

  “You are an emissary from the Gods. This must be why you were sent here. Save her for me. Bring her back, I beg you!”

  She gasped in horror. “I’m so sorry. I’m not an emissary for any gods. I tried to tell you—I’m just a woman. I have no special powers. My people can perform medical marvels on those who still breathe, but even we cannot bring back the dead. There’s…there’s nothing I can do.”

  “You must!” He placed Cassela’s head on the ground with shocking tenderness and rose to his feet with shocking vehemence, reaching desperately for her. “Seek their favor, beseech them for her life, I will pay any price—”

  She instinctively
shrunk away from him. “I can’t. I wish I could, I do, but this—” she activated her glyphs and gestured to them in agitation “—it’s not magic. It’s not spiritual. It’s just…it’s just technology—” She choked off a sob in her throat as Caleb’s arms wound around her to draw her into his protective grasp.

  Pinchu stared at her in wild-eyed desperation—then he collapsed to the ground and gathered Cassela against his chest. “My life-mate…my child I’ll never meet…my….” His long nose nuzzled her forehead as a high-pitched, nasal wail emerged through his clenched jaw.

  They could only stand there and watch, helpless to provide aid, helpless to provide comfort.

  At last he murmured something the translator didn’t understand and gently laid her out on the ground. He gazed at the body, and his growls and cries subsided to a shuddering plea.

  “How am I supposed to stand before my people now? They need me to lead them through this crisis, but I have lost my faith. I have lost my very soul.”

  No Khokteh had dared approach him after his outburst. He was talking to them…but she had no answers to give him.

  Caleb’s voice was resolute, however, quiet yet somehow persuasive. “You’ll lead them because they are suffering loss right now, too, the same as you, and they need you to be strong for them—for all of them. You can’t live for her, but you can live for your people—your shikei.”

  Pinchu struggled to stand, as if a gravity well were dragging him back to the ground, to Cassela’s broken body.

  “Then all that is left to me is vengeance.”

  PART VI:

  EVENT HORIZON

  “The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.”

  — Charles Du Bos

  PORTAL: AURORA

  (MILKY WAY)

  29

  NEW BABEL

  INDEPENDENT COLONY