I understand.
With that, I advanced slowly. She followed a couple meters behind along the opposite wall.
I signaled stop.
She flattened on the floor, aiming ahead.
I could hear rapid breathing, three, maybe four sets of lungs, immediately ahead. Whoever was there was scared. I mean, who wouldn’t be, but a seasoned veteran would probably be more in control.
I called out in Xastral. “We’re humans. We come in peace. We don’t want a fight. Please acknowledge you understand.”
Kendra flashed I understand.
It took almost a minute, but a male voice returned, “Show yourselves. We won’t shoot.”
“No can do. Until we know we can trust you, we need to be cautious.”
He was clearly confused. “Then how the hell do you suggest we proceed? You want to exchange email addresses?”
Civilians. Good and bad. They were more likely to be trigger happy but were also asking an unknown force for directions.
“I count four of you. You know there are two of us. Turn on the lights, then two of you and one of us stands in the clear, weapons in the air.”
“You can’t count us. I’m not stupid.”
“Okay, please answer honestly. How many are you?”
“Ah, four. But you can’t have known.”
“Buddy, I do this for a living. Can we get on with this before the Berrillians hear us yelling?”
“What’s a Berrillian? Who the hell are you?”
“Big cat, weighs the same as two and a half men. Big teeth. They rule the planet. Am I ringing any bells?”
“You mean the Quantrep?”
“Sure. They have lots of names.” I shrugged at Kendra.
The cave was flooded with light.
“Okay, two of my team are stepping out from the rocks.”
“My wingman is too.” I nodded to Kendra. We’d discussed this type of scenario before. If I got killed and she didn’t, she was permanently marooned. She specifically said she’d rather die than be stuck here, waiting for the big cats to find her.
She signaled I understand, and slowly stood, lifting her rifle above her head.
Two figures lurched erect from behind a large boulder. One was an adult, a woman most likely. The other was a kid not even into his teens. Maybe this was a family. That meant dad was covering his wife and child, with an even younger one still with him. That wasn’t reassuring. He’d be real jumpy.
I slowly stood up, my rifle way overhead.
“We’re both up and defenseless. Your call, sport. Either shoot us or come out.”
I tossed my gun to the ground.
Kendra set hers down gently.
“Stay right where you are,” he said louder than I’m sure he intended. He stepped sideways into view. He held a rifle, but it wasn’t Berrillian. I thought I’d picked up the faint whiff of gun powder. It looked like he pointed a conventional shotgun at me. Not an ideal weapon to hold off the Berrillian hordes, but useful to hunt game.
Whoever the fourth member was, they remained concealed. Had to be a young child.
“My name is Jon.” I tilted my head. “This is my wife, Echo.” My name worked in terms of the harsh Xastral phonetics, but Kendra’s didn’t.
She waved to them unconvincingly.
“How do I know this is not a trick?” the man challenged.
“You search us. Here, we’ll lay on the ground and your wife and son can pick their weapons back up. They cover you while you pat us down.”
“I…I can’t pat down your wife. What kind of suggestion is that?”
Hmm. Must be a prudish society. “I meant your wife pats down my wife, my friend. What kind of husband to you take me for?”
“I…I suppose so. Relledma, pick up your weapon and search the woman. And please be thorough. This is no time for shyness.”
“Vorss, can I just leave my stick on the ground while I search her? From the looks of her, a piece of wood wouldn’t protect me if she attacked.”
“Woman, don’t reveal secrets you don’t have to. You don’t know that we can we trust these strangers.”
Relledma walked cautiously to Kendra. “I’m going to be thorough. Otherwise my fearless leader will make me do it again. Sorry, sweetheart.”
“No problem, ma’am.” Al’s translation circuit was working like a charm.
Relledma ran her hands over Kendra comprehensively, including under each breast. I bet mama would blush if she knew Kendra was probably not bothered in the least.
“She’s unarmed, husband. May I help her up to maintain a shred of my dignity?”
“Yes, but be careful. She looks more like a soldier than a wife.”
“Can’t I be both?” asked Kendra.
“Wh…what are you saying? Jon, what is your woman saying?”
“She joking, Vorss. She’s trying to lighten the mood so you don’t accidentally shoot her reason for living.”
I didn’t have to look back to hear the word five mumbled.
“Husband, do you still wish to search this man who can joke while you point a gun at him?”
“Of course. Think of our children.”
“Think of how silly we act. These people are human. They speak Xastral better than I do. Do you think they are spies for the Quantrep, who consider our species as worth nothing more than slaughter?”
“If they turn on us, I will tell you I told you so. Do you hear me?” replied Vorss.
He lowered his shotgun.
“Come, dear,” Relledma said to Kendra, taking hold of her elbow. “I have some hot tea.”
Vorss waved me over.
“Where’s your other child?” I asked as I walked over.
An old woman stood up from behind the rocks, holding an infant.
“This is Symetra. She holds our daughter Proventia.”
“Is she the grandma?” I asked, pissed at myself for having miscounted.
“No,” replied Relledma. “She flees the beasts as we do. We came together several months ago.”
“Nice to meet you, Symetra,” I said, tipping my cap.
“You are a strange man, Jon,” said Vorss. “First you use the wrong word for our conquerors, then you introduce yourself to an unescorted woman. Were you raised by farm animals?”
“No, wild ones,” I said, as I winked at Relledma. “Vorss, in case you hadn’t noticed, our society is sort of broken—gone in fact. Those rules you cling to didn’t save us from the Quantrep. I fear that soon no one will exist who knows our quaint, ineffective ways.”
“What have I been saying, husband?” responded Relledma with a frown. “The old ways were silly to begin with and are now gone. At least let us all die free of all the social rules that were obsolete a century ago.”
“Woman, how can you say that? We must remain true to our ways. It is the only thing the enemy cannot take from us.”
“It is the only thing I’d gift them for free,” she responded. “Stupid rules to the stupid cats.”
“May I sit?” I asked, hoping to break up the ongoing domestic quarrel.
“Yes, please,” said Relledma, pointing to a rock. “I’d offer you food, but we don’t have enough for even the children.”
“Here,” Kendra said removing her pack. “I have plenty more.” She reached in, removed all her rations, and handed them to Relledma. “These are packets of dehydrated milk, for the baby. You have water, right?”
“Yes, plenty. Deeper in the cave there is a lake. My dear, I can’t accept your last supplies.”
“I insist. We’re all in this together. If we don’t help one another, surely, we will perish,” responded Kendra.
“As if we won’t in any case,” said a bitter Symetra.
“We cannot give up and allow the Quantrep to have that satisfaction,” said Vorss. “You are the picture of kindness, Echo.”
Their son was inching toward his mother, eyes fixed on the packets.
“Here,” Kendra said to the boy, “let me
show you how.”
He was transfixed as she showed how the flameless ration heater made the beef stew warm. Once it was ready, he wolfed down like I’d expect a starving child would. It was heartwarming. He couldn’t help staring at a second packet.
“You still hungry, little dude?” Kendra asked. “Well, let’s open up…”
Mom interrupted. “Let the food settle before you decide you need more, Havilpo. Come, sit with your mother and let the nice lady enjoy her tea.”
Reluctantly, he obeyed.
Kendra waved him back conspiratorially. From her vest pocket, a huge chocolate bar appeared.
“Here, take this. But don’t tell your mom, okay?”
He giggled and nodded in the affirmative, then went back to mom. He opened the wrapper tentatively and bit off the tiniest corner. One, two, three. He stuffed three-quarters of the bar in his mouth like a fish taking bait.
Everyone laughed and smiled. Everyone but Symetra, I noted with concern. Hey, maybe she’d been through hell three times over, but a kid eating a candy bar? You had to smile at that, unless you were dead inside. If you were dead inside, you didn’t struggle on. I needed to keep an eye on that one.
Relledma finally agreed to split one ration pack between the three adults. Good mom. After they had licked the plate clean, she heated up some water to make the milk.
“Where did you find powdered milk?” she asked Kendra. “The horrible lords of our world stopped production a long time ago.” She wrinkled up her face. “They hate the taste of our milk and forbade its production.”
I wondered briefly if she meant our milk literally or if she meant cow-like creature’s milk. But, in the end it didn’t matter. What we carried was better than they’d had.
As Relledma fed Proventia, Vorss turned to me. “So, now the important questions. What are you doing here? How did you survive? Do you have a plan to keep the few of us left alive?”
“Husband…”
He raised a hand to silence her. “This is man’s talk. Please respect me at least that much.”
Good wife that she was, she gave him a pass on that one.
Kendra flagged my attention, pointed to him, and held up one finger. Two lists. I’d brought an accountant with me after all.
“We come from Usellar.” That was geographically far enough away to account for our oddities. “I was here working…on an assignment when they attacked. We couldn’t get home before the took out the airships.” I lowered my head.
“Chankak’s blessing on your families back home,” said Relledma.
“There is no Chankak, woman,” blasted Symetra. “Stop invoking your superstitions. I have enough pain to carry without such mockery.”
We all let that outburst pass.
“As to a plan, no. Who can stop the Quantrep?”
“Earlier, you called them something else. What was it?” asked Vorss
“Berrillians. That’s what they call themselves. Their home world is Berrill.”
“How would you know this?” He eyed me with renewed suspicion. “They shoot us, they eat us, but they don’t chat with us.”
“I worked for…my assignment was very high level. We had some information we didn’t…didn’t share with the public.”
“Well, whatever it was you secreted away didn’t matter, and it doesn’t matter. We’ve lost and it’s over,” responded Vorss.
“So it would seem,” I replied.
“Sir, we’ve just met, and you have given my flesh and blood food, but please don’t mock our position. We have lost everything.” Quietly, he said, “My greatest hope is that we all starve to death here as a family. Please don’t remark that the futility of our lives would seem so.”
“Sorry. I’m just trying to stay positive. That’s my nature.”
“Then you are a greater fool than you appear to be,” said Symetra, that bundle-of-laughs. Again, I let her remark pass.
“And, how is it you and your woman survived this long?” asked Vorss.
“We managed to acquire these.” I held up my modified Berrillian gun.
“An adequate gun is hardly enough to hold them off.”
“True. We fled the city sooner than most, got farther away than most made it. From there, it’s been the blessings of Chankak and more than our share of luck.”
“Do you have a base of operations?” he asked.
“Not any longer. We’re just running as fast as is safe.”
“From where to where? Why does it matter where the Quantrep shit you out?” Man, I needed to slip that Symetra some happy pills. What a Debbie Downer.
“Because our mission isn’t necessarily over,” I replied studying her eyes.
“What mission?” asked Vorss. “All the governments have collapsed, all communication networks are shattered, and no more than a handful of us roam free. The only mission left to any of us is to die well.”
“Not for us,” I said. “You know what they say. No rest for the wicked.”
“No one says that,” scoffed Symetra.
“Well I do,” I replied. Bitch.
“As nothing matters any longer, might you tell me what your mission was or is?
“No. It’s still not safe to say.”
“What? Do you have a bug spray that will repel the giant insects that consume us?” asked Symetra.
I lowered my head. “No. Something worse.”
“Jon,” shouted Kendra. “Enough.” Good ad-lib, Commander.
“She can talk to you like that?” Vorss asked incredulously.
“We’re different, I guess. More modern.”
“If that is what the future holds, it is good we are all to die very shortly,” responded Symetra.
“Please, not in front of the children. Such words will breed nightmares.” Relledma held her son closer.
Symetra looked only partially abashed.
“Very mysterious then, your mission. So be it. It is of no concern to me. What is it you seek to accomplish?” Vorss asked absently.
“Do you know this area well?” I asked in a hushed tone.
“Yes. I was born nearby, before moving to Kremklaw. My wife’s family has lived in this area for many generations. Does that matter?” He seemed more interested now.
“We need to find something. A place. We lost our maps when we had to leave a camp in a hurry.”
“What is the name of the place you wish to travel?”
“Ah, it doesn’t have a name. It’s a location we must find.”
“Again, very mysterious. What can you tell me so I might help?”
“I’m afraid not much. I need to find a working radio. That way I can confirm if my compatriots are still active.”
“That is impossible. Any radio broadcast sent would be tracked within seconds. The sender would die before they finished their greeting.”
“Be that as it may, if the others are still secure, my role evaporates. Then we are free to die as well as we can.”
“What others?” asked Symetra dubiously.
“Look, the less I say the better. I need to know if I’m the only one left. Can you direct us to a radio?”
“No. And, please, my answer is final.” Vorss crossed his arms.
“Husband, how can you sat that to people who have fed our hungry children?”
“If they find a radio, they will find the Quantrep or be found by them. Either way, they could be tortured into divulging our location. I forbid telling them.”
“We would never betray your location,” I said. “That I can promise.”
“You seem not to know the enemy as well as I do,” replied Vorss.
“Then I thank you for your time and the tea,” I said rising. “Echo and I must be going.” I nodded to her and she stood.
“No, wait,” Relledma said. “Tell us what it is you must do. If your mission is worthy enough, I will defy my husband and aide you.”
“Wife…”
“No, you old fud. Not this time. These lovely people have shown us k
indness that I thought had passed from our world. If I can help them, I might, despite what a man with his head stuck in the past might think.”
“But I forbade it,” he said, deflating.
“Jon, I’m listening,” said Relledma.
“I was assigned to a program named Last Leap. We were in charge of a doomsday devise. I need to know if the other half of the group still functions.”
“What is a doomsday devise? I’ve never heard of such a thing,” stated Vorss.
I waited a moment to build suspense. “It’s the ultimate weapon. When it was decided the Berrillians could not be stopped, we were to destroy Mosparo.” I lowered my head.
“Such a thing is not possible. I am no scientist, but neither am I a fool.” Vorss puffed out his chest.
“If you knew of the project, it wouldn’t be much of a secret, now would it?” I replied.
“No, I mean one cannot blow a planet up. That is science fiction, not fact.” He was adamant.
“If the man says there is such a tool, then I believe him,” said Relledma. “I don’t need to know how a sewage plant works; I just need to know how to flush the toilet.”
“Wife. Such language.”
I couldn’t help but snicker.
“How does it work? Yes, if you can convince me, I will believe you,” responded Vorss.
“Simply, actually. We placed large stockpiles of nuclear weapons inside mountain ranges that occur naturally along the coasts all over the planet. If exploded, the mountains will fall into the seas creating tidal waves of enormous size. If our estimates are correct, and I believe they are, we would generate waves over ten kilometers tall. Those would crash into the coasts all over Mosparo. Nothing could resist them. The waves would splash over the tallest mountain ranges like they weren’t even there. All civilization and possibly all life would be extinguished. That is our doomsday weapon.”
“You would kill everyone on Mosparo?” Vorss was incredulous.
“If they were already dead, yes,” I said flatly.
“This is a fairy tale,” said Symetra. “If such a devise existed, it would already have been triggered.”
“Which is why I suspect my comrades have been taken out,” I replied. “Making it my job to explode the device.”
“I will tell you where you will find a radio. Your work is Chankak’s work.”
“I’ll do better. I’ll take you there,” said Symetra.
Forever Series 5: The Forever Alliance Page 9
