I felt Mack hesitate. His arm tightened, and he turned his head towards T’Kit. I don’t know what he passed between them, but I did hear what she said to the queen.
“Your Majesty, we will form the vanguard, and clear you a path so you can capture the offenders—and I have tasked Sandoran law enforcement with handling the non-combatants. If you would give me a thirty-second start?”
Thirty seconds didn’t sound like enough time, but T’Kit spoke again, this time to Mack.
“We’ll drop you and Cutter, first. I can direct her, but she won’t be subtle. You will need to protect her as best you can. Don’t get in her way, and don’t try to stop her. We will take out the outer perimeter, and then come and assist you.”
“Done,” Mack said.
And T’Kit was in my head.
“Cutter,” she said, and flashed a huge picture of Mack’s face in my mind. “Not a target. Okay?”
“Not a target,” I repeated, and energy roared through me. “Show me the targets.”
“Here, here, and here,” she said, highlighting a path, through the house.
I thought I saw one that was faster, but a terrible feeling rolled through my stomach, and I decided to follow the wasp’s plan. I ran through Tens’ scans again, noting that some of the targets had shifted position. Well, that wouldn’t help them.
The flyer came in hard and fast behind the walls, but the vespis left us just as it crossed the perimeter, letting go of the hand rails, and leaping into the air with a flick of their wings. I thought about jumping over the side, but the flyer came in hard and low, and I didn’t have to.
It barely slowed as it skimmed the driveway behind the gates, but that was enough for me. I heard an oath, and then gravel crunched as Mack came down behind me. I took the route T’Kit had advised, noting the fleeing shapes of servants. I wondered if they were targets, too, but decided it didn’t matter; T’Kit’s designated targets weren’t far ahead. I could deal with the servants, after.
Mack followed, but he didn’t say anything, and soon faded from my mind.
I moved starshine swift and shadow silent, and realized the Blazer hadn’t been returned. Well, that was going to make things more difficult than they had to be. The extra challenge made me smile, and I slid up to one side of the final doorway, glancing through, and diving momentarily in the security feeds. A few seconds was all it took to pick out where the enemy were.
They were all focused on the front of the house, in particular the portico, before which the driveway curved around an ornate fountain. That was where party guests and any other visitors would be dropped off. There, in the shadows of the columns and ornamental pots and plants. Except for tonight.
Tonight, the queen was leading her team up there, and these folk were setting up to kill her.
I wasn’t going to allow that.
I kicked back into reality, sliding the machete clear of its sheath, and pulling the shorter, curved blade I’d been given on the flight to the fishing village. I could pick up a gun shortly.
It was easier than it should have been, sliding in behind the nearest guard and taking her head from her shoulders. I threw the big blade and plucked her blaster out of her hands before it could hit the floor. The machete hit the floor several meters towards the front of the building, the clatter it created drawing fire from several points around the hall.
I noted the dull burst of light that accompanied each shot, and resisted the urge to laugh. Now I knew where each of them was for sure. I didn’t have to try to match the scans and security feed to reality. Reality had already matched it for me.
The next soldier died as he turned toward me. The one after him, fell screaming as I missed a head shot, and caught him in the middle, instead. It wasn’t a problem, I put a hole in his head as I ghosted past to take shelter behind his pillar. I had the attention of his colleagues, now.
But it seemed too easy. I mean, if this was the person liaising with the arach, where were they? They had surely not left their human ally free of their companionship, and guidance? Shadows moved where a pillar joined the ceiling, and I shifted aim.
I hadn’t thought so!
And there was more than one, if Mack’s shout of alarm was anything to go by.
“Hang on, Mack. I’m coming.”
And I was. Just because I’d let him fade from my consciousness, didn’t mean I didn’t know exactly where he was. I was coming, even if the arach were already here. We stood a better chance together than apart.
The world slowed, the ugly buzz of energy smoothing out as I sped up to meet the threat.
Man! How had so many arach made it onto the planet? What the fuck had Odyssey been doing? If I hadn’t known any better, I would have said their heads were….
I regretted throwing the big blade away, now. The blaster was a poor substitute. I slid along the floor between two stabbing forelegs, flipping sideways to avoid the fangs reaching toward me. A second one dropped down alongside the first, but I was already rolling to my feet, having stitched a line of holes in the monster above me as I went.
I used the shorter blade to separate a segment of leg from the one above it, and then I fired at the darkened ‘V’ between the two fangs lashing out towards me. The spider jolted back in a familiar dance, and I took the chance to sweep up the gun from another of my downed foes.
The second spider collapsed, but I had lost sight of Mack. Movement caught the corner of my eye, and I hit the floor, firing upwards at the foreleg that had stabbed through the space I’d been in. That had been far too close. I missed, but at least I had a direction to fire in.
Pivoting, I held both blasters close to my waist, locking them tight against me with my elbows and firing up at an angle. The stars knew these critters were big enough. It wasn’t like I had to actually aim. And that was when I got an idea of the odds. There had been fifteen human soldiers…
There should have been fifteen human soldiers. There hadn’t been. There’d been a half dozen humans in the opponents I’d scanned on the security system; the rest had been arach. Where was Mack?
I lifted the blasters away from my sides and held them out at arm’s length, just like I’d seen Delight do with her Glazers. Granted, those were side-arms, and these suckers were just too big to do that with, but it didn’t matter. Whatever they’d put into the regen tank the last time I’d been in there, was doing wonders for my strength and accuracy. I could keep this up all day.
I found a pillar, and braced myself against it. I figured if I winged enough of them then they’d need to eliminate the threat. Momentarily closing my eyes, I bowed my head. I could hear them moving, separate their scents on the air, smell the wounded from the well, hear…
I could hear Mack in pain, his breath labored, his fingers fumbling as he tried to change energy clips on his Blazer. I could smell the blood of a half dozen humans.
What the fuck had they put in my tank?
It didn’t matter. The arach were coming, homing in on my position in exactly the same way I was mapping theirs. I pushed off the pillar and moved into the open, pivoting and firing as the first of them dropped right where I had been leaning.
“That only works once,” I said, but I didn’t stop.
I took two running steps towards it, and leapt upwards, bouncing off the cephalothorax, and then kicking off the wall to leap out and onto the next one to drop. That one was easy to kill. I fired straight down, and then angled my aim to take out the join between abdomen and chest.
It dropped, and I leapt, again, vaguely aware of silver shadows wavering into being over where I had smelt Mack, more than aware of the monster coming in on my right, and its partner in the pincer, on my left. I raised both guns and fired outwards, not quite Delight in accuracy, but accurate enough for this.
I let them get close, and then raced out from between them, hitting the floor and sliding, not caring what might be soaking into my combat suit, or burning against my skin—not c
aring about anything except finding the next target, and making it fall. I didn’t even care about the silver shadows. I just cared about the next arach, about taking down each and every one that had drained a human so they could take enough of their form and memories to be able to take their shape and draw from their lives.
Forget the vampires in movies. Forget them all. These things were leeches, sucking more than the life from a person when they fed—and I was going to end them. I was going to end them all. I dropped another one, flowing past its flailing legs and the growing stain of its leaking innards, to look for the next target.
I found no more shadows.
The stench of spider rose all around, mingled with the acrid stench of blood and gore, but there were no more shadows, save where there were meant to be. There were, however, silver ghosts. T’Kit had said nothing about ghosts. Whether they were friend or foe. Where was Mack?
I could not see him. Could not hear him. I paused, drawing in a long, slow breath and letting it out. Nothing gave me a clue as to where he might be, and I remembered the white ghosts materializing around him. The white ghosts!
Someone cursed, and I turned towards them, pivoting on my heel and bringing both blasters to bear. I knew that voice.
“Delight!”
And the silver ghosts lost their glow. All of them. Bar one.
“You done, Cutter?”
I eyed her, and then threw the blasters away.
“Where’s Mack?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Well, yeah, actually, I would.
I moved towards her, stooping to pick up the big blade I’d dropped at the beginning of the battle. She was either going to tell me where Mack was, or I was going to carve her into itty bitty pieces.
Like one of the arach.
I swung the blade, and indicated the arach missing its leg, and then I swept up the second blade.
“That’s you,” I told her, and began running towards her.
Why she should start shouting Mack’s name, I have no idea—and I didn’t care. Funny that I could hear him, but not see him.
“So, you’re sorry you slipped a mickey into the tank, aren’t you, Delight?”
“Mack!”
“Aren’t you?”
Delight turned and ran.
“Mack, this isn’t funny.”
From the coughing fit he was having, Mack found it very funny. I didn’t care. He could laugh at Delight as much as he liked, but she was still going to tell me where he was.
“Fine! Mack, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have added anything to her tank!”
It was obviously not enough for Mack.
“And you’re never going to do it again. Are you Delight?”
She’d managed to slip out of sight, so I waited for her to answer. Heavens knew, she deserved exactly what I was about to bring.
“No, Mack. I will never give Cutter anything Doc doesn’t approve of EVER again.”
I’d found her! I moved quickly towards the sound of her voice. She’d backed herself into a corner, this time.
“Mack!”
And, judging from the panicked pitch in her voice, she knew it.
“And Odyssey is never going to test anything on my crew, again. Is it, Delight?”
I came to a stop in front of her, and twirled the large blade in my hand. Delight watched me, and then drew her own blade. Judging from the look on her face, she knew just as well as I did that she was never going to be fast enough.
“No, Mack. No-one from Odyssey will ever test anything your crew, ever again. Not if I can stop it.”
I danced in, striking out to test her defenses. She blocked the big blade, but failed to stop the second strike.
“Mack,” she said, as I danced back and to the side to avoid the shot from the Glazer she held in her left hand.
I whirled the big blade and prepared to make a hole—which is when Mack’s shot caught me. I shook my head, feeling the sluggish numbness that accompanied a good stun shot. But Mack didn’t give me the chance to recover. He shot me again, and then Delight raised her hand.
“Stop,” she managed. “Twice should do it.”
“It’s your funeral,” Mack said, and I didn’t know whether he’d shoot me a third time, just to be sure.
Because, to be honest, I was going to…
Well.
That wasn’t supposed to happen.
My arm went numb, and the world shook. I let go of the big blade, and felt the small blade fall. I think I even heard them hit the ground before me...
32—Time Enough for Sleep
I woke up in a tank—again.
Of course, I did.
I hadn’t thought it was possible to feel nauseous, dizzy, and this sore, all at once. Not in a tank.
“Oh, Stars,” I managed, glad the tank had an answer for nausea.
Movement beyond the glass caught my attention, and I tried to see what, or who, it was. I was kinda hoping for Mack, but the figure I could see was a good foot taller than him, and decked out in orange, black, yellow and red. And it wasn’t alone. Two more red and black figures stood beside her.
“Your Majesty?”
This time I knew she was smiling. I didn’t have to see her properly to know that—and she didn’t have to be in human form to show it. I could feel her in my head. It wasn’t invasive. It was just the vespis way. To feel her presence in your mind was to be blessed. I wasn’t sure about blessed, but I could appreciate it. She was the queen, after all.
“I came to say goodbye, Cutter—and thank you. You have my appreciation, and the appreciation of my world and all its peoples.”
“It was the least we could do, after…”
She brushed that aside.
“No, Cutter. You went far beyond what we asked in repayment for your mistake. You provided a bridge by which we could find common ground. You fought for us, not just with us. The memories we share of you will bring us closer as a world.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I changed the subject.
“How is Askavor?”
“He will recover, but he will need time.”
His whole village had been murdered. His entire family. I just bet he needed time. The queen ignored that thought, but told me what had been done for him.
“Odyssey need him to teach them how to deal with arach code. They are taking him with them, and then they are bringing him back with the staff for our college. We have sent his sister and his queen into the strands of night, along with the brother of his heart and all that were slaughtered with them.”
For a moment, I thought Odyssey had been able to catch the arach ship, and blow it apart, but the queen set me straight.
“We could not stop the arach ship. Your Odyssey tried, but it was not enough.”
She paused, and I felt a reflection of her sadness rising inside me. I knew what awaited Askavor’s family… I wished….
“We could not save them,” the queen said. “It is not your shame, but my own. We should have uncovered the incursion long before they were taken.”
And I remembered something Mack had said to me some time back.
“Your Majesty, you cannot save them all.”
She stilled, and I could see her studying the tank. For a moment, I thought I might have spoken out of turn, but then she responded.
“No, but we save as many as we can—and you have helped us do that. For those we could not save, we will take vengeance.”
And I remembered that there had been prisoners taken. For a moment I wanted to know what justice would be done—and then, just as quickly, I didn’t. I think the queen thought of showing me exactly what had been done to exact justice, and then she changed her mind.
Unfortunately, she didn’t change it quickly enough, and I still caught a glimpse of what had been carried out, or was about to be. The wasps of K’Kavor really did share traits with those of my home world. There rea
lly were arach and human-sized cells suspended in the air, or set inside buildings, and wasp larvae…
I swallowed, wanting to curl into a ball, to escape the image in any way possible. I had known it, but it was not a memory I had wanted to carry. The queen approached the tank, and laid a long-clawed forehand against the glass.
“I am sorry, Cutter. It was not my intention to share that image with you. I came only to give you my thanks and the thanks of my world, and to say goodbye.”
I wanted to tell her that it was okay, that I was happy that justice had been done, that her people would be better equipped to face the arach threat…and that I wished I didn’t have to say goodbye. I wanted to say a lot of things, so many images passing through my head that I couldn’t get a word out. She came closer and rested her head against the glass.
For a moment, I wanted to run, and then I wanted to weep, but that last urge was not mine alone, and I had a sense of the loneliness of being a queen. Before I could quite grasp it, however, she tapped the glass, and her mind gave this curious twist inside me.
“Goodbye, Cutter. We will welcome you, if you come, again.”
“Your Majesty,” I replied, and could find no more words.
She was gone, and her entourage followed without a word. I felt the briefest touch of T’Kit’s mind, and then I was, once again, alone. I drifted there, trying to process what had happened, trying very hard to process that we were leaving, and that I did not know if I would ever see them, again.
Usually that did not bother me. I had visited enough worlds to know my chances of returning to any of them were extremely small. Why that should affect me, now, I did not know.
“Because the vespis are psi.” Mack’s voice came through the glass, and I opened my eyes.
Weird. I hadn’t realized I’d closed them.
“Mack.”
“How you feeling, girl?”
“Like I’ve gone ten rounds with a freighter.”
“Not even close.”
“Damn. How about you?”
Last I remembered, he hadn’t sounded so crash hot.
“Me? I’m fine,” and I wondered why he was trying to hide the fact Doc wanted to throw him in a tank, too.
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