by Rupert Segar
The gaggle of monsters began looking nervously backwards. They were all pushed forward by something behind them. Then the wall of creatures was split to reveal a much bigger, bloated bat-shaped demon. It advanced on Art and Yelena.
“Your turn to disappear in smoke,” said the avatar of the Brood King. “I have ordered the medics to execute you.”
+++
“Kill them. Kill them all,” shouted the Brood King. “Garth, let the poisoners dispose of the prisoners. I don’t care how but they must do it now.”
Colonel Garth muttered his orders into his lapel mic.
+++
“Ship, listen to me. We need your help,” shouted Yelena.
A crude stone wall was quickly erected by unseen builders. It was like the stone walled dome Yelena had constructed in her wild wood. Almost immediately, the monster began pounding from the other side. Stones began to shake and mortar began to work loose. There was a loud thud and a large section of the wall crashed to the ground. As the dust cleared, the monsters glaring face was framed by the remaining stones. More of the wall cracked and the creature began to push through.
“Why are you still here? You should be dead by now,” said the monster, shoving its bulky body through the opening. “Once again, it is for me to do the job.”
The creature shuffled forward to within a sword’s length of Yelena and Art. They both swung at the monster but its horny talons brushed the blades aside wrenching them from the couple’s hands. Three swords clattered to the floor.
“Now, you are mine,” slavered the creature.
Art stepped in front of Yelena as the monster raised its wings, so its talons could rip Art in half.
A sword blade thrust out of the creature’s breast. The monster looked surprised for a moment before its entire body disappeared into a wreath of smoke. The vapours themselves dissipated revealing a tall alien wearing dreadlocks and with eyes just slightly too far apart. The man leant on his long sword and looked at Art with a smile.
“I am Kimo, your son.”
+++
“I am surrounded by incompetents,” bellowed the head dangling below the fat spider’s belly. “Why are the prisoners still alive and where are the troopers?”
“My liege, we are trying our best,” said the Emperor, “but we have comms problems.”
“Do not bring me your pathetic problems,” said the head as two more football sized spiders stepped up onto the green slime sensor mat, either side of the Brood King. “My children will find solutions.”
+++
In the medical lab, six poisoners flapped around going from prisoner to prisoner. Both of the nurses had died, which was puzzling. The feedback loops from the sensorium could be fatal: the stress and strain of dying or being tortured in a virtual world could push a victim into toxic shock. However, both nurses had been connected by their medibot units that should have insulated them from any ill effects. It looked as if they had been killed by their medibot units.
All the other four prisoners were suffering high levels of stress and the poisoners were constantly adjusting the amount of sedative they were given. No-one would thank the poisoners if their victims died prematurely.
The vid screen on the far wall switched itself on. Orders scrolled across the screen: ‘Command control – kill all the prisoners – kill them no …’
There was a click and the screen went blank. Over the speakers came a voice with a slightly metallic twang.
“Correction: revive the prisoners and undo their restraints.”
The six poisoners looked at each other turning their heads from side to side. One of the torturers placed his thumb less hand on the button of a squawk box.
“Control, clarification please,” the sexless creature said. “Are we to assassinate or revive the prisoners? There is some confusion and we need proper authorisation.”
“Putting you through, standby,” said the voice with a metallic twang.
There was a short silence then a familiar voice came over the line.
“Colonel Garth here. You are to revive the prisoners and release them into my custody.”
“Sir, two of them have died,” wailed the poisoner.
“Which two?” Garth asked sharply.
“The nurses, they were killed by their medibots …”
“Spare me the details of your failure. Make sure the others are all safe … and healthy. Garth out.”
+++
The football sized spider on the Brood King’s left hand began quietly wailing. The arachnid ruler turned to the Emperor.
“My child gave the execution order but has been cut off from the medi lab. And it says there has been communication from the lab to someone in here.”
“My lord, could not your child be mistaken. We are not in control of our comms.”
“But someone or something is, and orders are being changed or delayed. Where’s Garth?”
“I am here your lordship,” said Garth walking over towards the Brood King. “I have just been checking security on the loading bay gate.”
Two technicians ran down the ramp from the Ship. They rushed up to the Emperor.
Oh, King of Kings, there are aliens on board the vessel,” said one of the scientists. “Real aliens: tall with huge eyes.”
“We saw four or five of them,” continued the other technician. “They stunned our colleagues. I think they are still alive. We hid ‘til just now. One of the aliens is using the pilot’s chair.”
“It is using the sensorium to prop up the mechanical intelligences,” coughed the head hanging below the Brood King’s stomach. The technicians glanced at the arachnids and looked away in fear.
+++
Hunched up in the egg tray cupboard, Kimo laid his long fingered hands on the casing of Mr Angry. The red coloured pod and the other five grey ones were all hovering a little above their cup seats. Art, Yelena, Carol and Sy crowded the doorway.
“Father, I am using your pilot’s chair in the ship to enter this sensorium,” said the young alien. “My sisters, Gemi and Calli, are with the real pods on the real Ship trying to break the plague cycle. But such is the intensity of the feedback from the sensorium that it too can cause re-infection.”
“You can mentally interact with the pods?” asked Yelena.
“Yes, I am half Creator, half Human,” said Kimo looking at Art. “Father, even you can interact with Mr Angry.”
“Yes, for a human, he is almost telepathic,” said the red cased pod, nodding at the young alien. “Kimo, what is going to happen?”
“Up there, where you really are, my sisters will assist you to purge the plague. Down here, well, I am simply going to turn you off.”
An inert Mr Angry dropped into his seat. The other five pods followed as Kimo waved his hand in their direction.
“If they are turned off, why are they still here,” asked Carole.
“You have to remember that all of us are being projected into this simulacrum from outside, from the real world,” said Kimo as Carole and Sy’s avatars suddenly disappeared.
“What’s happening, are they safe?” asked Art.
Kimo turned his head to one side as if reading a screen.
“Their feeds have been cut but I think they are OK.”
Yelena and Art blinked out of the simulacrum.
“Job done, as my uncle Marcus would say.”
Kimo smiled then he too disappeared.
+++
Six football sized spiders crowded round the Brood King on the green slime sensor pad.
“Now, I will take the fight directly to the machines and the alien minds on that vessel. Meantime, Peter, set up the antenna. More suns will go nova.”
Mad Peter made a monkey sound and performed a forward roll on top of the sentinel. His insane act hid the serious look on his face.
“This is the way the world ends,” said Peter
“Not with a bang but a whimper,” replied the Sentinel.
The Emperor was more than ever co
nvinced of Peter’s madness. Colonel Garth was less certain. He saw some determination in the ragged man’s face. Garth felt an itch on the back of his hand. Garth smiled. He looked down to see a mosquito one a finger. It was one of the thousands of insects he had let loose from a stasis flask in the royal park. Within seconds of release, a flock of Iberian mosquitoes had taken to the air. A small proportion of the insects disappeared into the surrounding foliage but most went straight up. They were sucked into the air ducts that fed refreshed air to the rest of the giant ship.
Now the mosquitos had found the spider’s lair. Colonel Garth felt a tiny nip on the index finger of his right hand. He watched as the proboscis pumped a little of the tiny insect’s stomach content into a vein. The liquid contained an anticoagulant to stop his blood clotting. It also contained the space leprosy virus and sporozoites, the first stage in the mosquito’s reproduction cycle. Being bitten by mosquitos had cleared the spider’s micro-organisms from Garth’s blood stream. He calmly watched the female insect feed.
+++
Kimo, Gemi, and Calli descended slowly into the clearing in the wild wood. Each of the three siblings carried a sword but they were all occupied reading screens that hovered in front of their faces.
“The real battle is taking place in cyberspace,” said Gemi, tapping the screen in front of her nose. “This simulacrum is just a shadow of the machine code war taking place.”
“The Ship is doing most of the work but we can help,” said Kimo.
“There it is,” said Calli, jabbing her screen and highlighting a piece of code.”
“Mr Angry said it was the most malevolent software he had ever met,” said Kimo. “Here it is again. We can divert this bit.”
There was a roar from inside the wild wood.
“Can we do this?” asked Gemi.
“Yes,” replied Calli. “We are Creators, our minds dominate machines.”
“We are also Human,” said Kimo, dabbing at another piece of code streaming across his screen. “We have our father’s resilience.”
There was another roar and a monstrous, bloated bat burst out of the undergrowth on the edge of the clearing.
“Protect me, while I delete these codes,” said Kimo.
Gemi and Calli turned off their screen with a flick of an index finger and raised their swords. The two wide eyed alien girls fought the beast with steely determination. They slashed and jabbed as the monster’s cruel talons tried to rip at them. All the while, Kimo, crouched down, concentrated on the lines of code streaming across his screen. His two sisters we being slowly forced back and were almost tripping over him before he noticed.
“Ship we need your presence here, now, if you please,” he asked politely.
A golden automaton appeared beside the alien trio. It flickered and went out, then reappeared.
“The last of the plague is being purged,” said the golden figure. “You now have my full attention.”
The automaton held out its arms and the golden hands extended into a pair of golden lances. The monster roared and began to retreat. The automaton’s onslaught was a relentless pumping, jab after jab. The overstuffed bat-like creature was forced back to the edge of the clearing. It turned to escape into the thick undergrowth and hesitated for a moment looking for a trail to follow. The automaton struck the monster in the back, stabbing it repeatedly, harder and harder. The beaked face swivelled around, it’s cruel eyes full of surprise. The monster’s back was gushing smoke from the wounds. The creature bellowed and began to shrink. It broke away, scampering through the brush like a fat black pig.
“The cybernetic assault is over,” shouted the golden automaton, turning to the three young alien with its lances pointing upwards. “We are victorious.”
Kimo looked at his two sisters. The two girls shook their heads.
“Sisters, I too disagree,” said Kimo. “Ship, you have countered the latest cyber-attack. You may have purged the plague virus but there could still be malware left behind.”
As if to confirm the trio’s opinion, the automaton flicked out of existence and then back again.
“The beast is moving from pod to pod leaving behind self-replicating viruses,” said Calli.
“Time for us three to go on a monster hunt,” said Kimo.
+++
As Colonel Garth approached the medi lab, he observed both marine guards twitching. Being on guard duty and because of their training, both troopers resisted the temptation to slap at the tiny mosquitos. Nearing the pair, Garth was pleased to see the man and the woman each had several of the insects feeding on the backs of their hands.
“How long have these mosquitos been biting you?” asked Garth.
“Fifteen minutes, maybe a bit longer,” said the female sergeant.
“And to whom do you owe your loyalty,” asked Garth.
“The Brood King,” shouted the male trooper.
“Er … I am a bit confused,” said the sergeant. The trooper glared at her. “Yes, yes, the Brood King,” she added hastily.
“Listen to me carefully,” said Garth, with a hint of menace in his voice. “The release of these insects is part of a test: an experiment conducted by the Brood King. You are to allow the insects to bite you. On no account must you harm any of them. Now, allow me to enter the lab.”
Inside, Garth viewed the banks of medical equipment, the tools of the torturers and the medical cots. Sub-Lieutenant Carole Porter was waving away a pair of poisoners. She was checking the readings from the casket head, the remains of Captain Sying Chang. Over the other side of the lab, Art King and Yelena Kolowski were standing beside the cots of the two dead nurses. Art was taking to one of the poisoners who was flapping his hands and twisting its head from side to side.
“You bastard,” said a voice. “What are you doing here? Come to finish the job?”
Garth turned to find an angry Carole Porter, holding a laser scalpel in her right hand. Garth thought she looked more attractive than he remembered.
“Play nicely,” said Garth, quietly. “I’m on your side now. And if things work out, I might be able to offer you an interesting position.”
“I know all your interesting positions, Garth. If you value your genitals, you’ll keep a wide berth.”
“Garth what’s happening?” said Art, who had come across the room with Yelena.
“Other than trying to kill us?” said Yelena.
“On that score, Miss Kolowski, I’ve already saved your lives not once but twice. Now to business.”
+++
Garth, a stunner in his hand, lead a group of four prisoners out of the medi lab and onto the wide corridor.
“Sergeant,” said Garth, “to whom do you owe allegiance?”
“The Emperor, sir,” she said
The other trooper’s face contorted before he spoke.
“The Emp ..,, no, the Brood Ki … ,” he faltered.
Garth fired his stunner at point blank range and the trooper collapsed.
“It’s dangerous to have divided loyalties,” said Garth, kneeling down to feel the man’s pulse. “I expect he’ll know who his real leader is, when he wakes up.”
+++
In loading bay 7, the Brood King had left the crowded green slime sensor. In its place, there were ten football sized spiders dancing on the pad. A dozen more lay dead nearby.
“Peter, prepare the cables for a continuous feed of antibaryons. We may lose the cyber war. I want to be prepared.”
The Brood King was flicking switches on the coffin sized Sentinel.
“Sentinel, you must obey. I am channelling many of Orion’s vital functions to you.”
Some static noise came from the sentinel’s speaker, then these words:
“I have known the planets, stars, and moons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”
“This is no time for poetry,” said the head propped up on top of the Sentinel. “Prepare the virteron cables for continuous loading.”
On
e of the ten, football sized spiders, shrieked and fell dead. One of the Brood King’s long legs swept the carcase from the pad. Another medium sized spider stepped up and began dancing furiously.
+++
In the centre of the clearing, the three young aliens stood back to back, their swords held at the ready. However, their attention was given up to the screens floating just centimetres from their noses.
“It is like the Hydra,” said Gemi. “Cut one head off and two more grow back.”
“I’ve got the pods isolated from one another,” said Kimo, tapping and wiping his screen. “But still the malware is jumping from one to the next.”
On the edge of the clearing, a bush started shaking. The golden automaton thrust its two long lances into the undergrowth to still the movement. The bushes either side began shaking. There was motion all around the edge of the clearing and dark eyes and cruel beaks peaked out.
“We have been doing this wrong,” said Calli. “Let the pods work together, Kimo. That’s what they were designed to do.”
“Calli, you are always the sensible one,” said Kimo, tapping his screen. “I am connecting the pods.”
The rustling in the undergrowth became more agitated: bushes and small trees thrashed around as if in a tropical storm. Black wings with sharp talons struck out of the undergrowth on all sides.
“There must be thirty of them,” said Gemi.
“Even more,” said Calli. “Ship, we definitely need you to help us.”
The golden automaton stopped moving and stood sideways.
“Connecting, connecting …. downloading,” said the golden figure.
The automaton began running in a circle, faster and faster, round and round the edge of the clearing. In the simulacrum, the golden man was running so fast that his figure began to blur. There was a spinning golden torus surrounding the three young aliens. Then the golden band slowed to a walking speed and there were sixty automatons one behind the other. They all took two steps, turned and attacked the creatures in the foliage surrounding the clearing. Some of the robots pumped their lance hands into bushes, others crashed off into the scrub pursuing squealing black shapes.
