by Aaron Hubble
“Okay, then we need to begin taking steps toward that goal.” In front of them, the representation of a sprawling city surrounded by massive walls slowly rotated. “The raids have worked well, but we really know nothing about the humans, how many there are and what type of armaments they have. From more than one person we’ve rescued, we’ve heard this city—” She paused mid-sentence as she pointed to the holo-map, considering the ramifications, then continued. “The professor is right. Homa seems to be the center of the human operations. We also think the Am’Segid women are being taken there as well for some purpose. Why not try to get into Homa and gather as much information as possible? With information we can develop real, detailed plans and take the fight to the humans at some point. Taking back some territory, maybe a city, would alleviate our overcrowding issue.”
Jondon glanced up from the map. “You’re actually taking this seriously.” He shifted in his seat. “If we took a city, what would keep the humans from bombing it as they did the first day of the invasion? They have the capabilities and a lack of conscience for killing thousands all at once.”
“You’re right, they wouldn’t hesitate, but what the professor is advocating here is a step toward the goal of taking back a city. We start with information and then liberate more men, swelling our sentinel corps, then take some warships or retrofit existing Am’Segid aircraft with weapons. When we feel we’re ready, then we make the big push. If we can keep our existence and location a secret, we hold somewhat of an advantage.”
Rubbing his chin, Jondon leaned back into his chair. Several thoughtful moments of silence passed and Ammaya watched her commander weighing the risks and rewards of the proposed plan. At length, he leaned forward again and rested his forearms on his desk. “Okay, you make a good point. We’ll need to go on the offensive at some point, and I like the idea of gathering as much information as possible before that time. All we need now is a spy or spies who can get into the city and move without attracting attention.”
“What about the human woman, Evie?” Ammaya asked. “She’s been very helpful so far.”
Jondon shook his head. “Hers was the first name that came to mind, but I’m not sure I trust her enough to let her out in the wild beyond my control.”
Looking at the map, Ammaya flicked it with her finger, spinning it faster before it slowed of its own accord. She played with the prominent black streak that ran through her hair. “We look so much like them, except for the hair and eyes.”
Grunting, Jondon replied, “Don’t remind me of our unfortunate resemblance.”
Hair could be shaved off and eye color could be masked or dulled with some sort of lenses, but they still needed the right kind of people with the right knowledge to get into the city.
Ammaya ticked off a list of attributes of the perfect person for the job. Someone with an attention to detail and a keen mind who could analyze what information was important and what could be left behind.
“It has to be Calier who takes a team into Homa,” Ammaya said.
“Calier? He’s an academic, not a black ops spy.”
“True,” Ammaya said, edging closer to the desk. “But he did organize and help lead a group of people through Sho’el. That counts for something. He has a mind for the details. Without him our missions wouldn’t be nearly as successful. It sounds like he knows the ancient sewer system running under Homa. It would take us months to train somebody with the knowledge to navigate the tunnels. That’s months we don’t have.”
Jondon drummed his fingers on the desk top and stared through the holo-map at Ammaya.
“You really think he can do it?”
“Put the right team around him and I think he’ll do just fine. Really, what other choice do we have?”
A smile creased Jondon’s face. “And I suppose the right team would be your team.”
“Of course,” Ammaya said, grinning.
Jondon slapped the desktop. “Okay, you convinced me. I’ll talk with Calier while you decide on two other people you want to form the team. Let’s keep it small.” He raised his glass and tilted the rim toward her. “To going into the stalker nest.”
“It’s about time,” Ammaya said, downing the rest of her drink.
Time had always been something that just was. Now it had become a precious commodity. She prayed there was still enough left to rescue Aereas.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Aereas - Alam, Ma’Ha’Nae city under Lake Keali
Twelve steps to one white wall and twelve steps back.
That was the path Andy knew too well. He’d been pacing it for however long they’d imprisoned him in this room. When the doctor had proclaimed him fit and recovered from the injuries he’d sustained at the claws of those nightmarish creatures in the forest, he’d been taken out of the hospital and brought to this little apartment.
Andy shuddered. The gargoyle-like creatures, night stalkers the natives called them, had swooped out of the trees and slaughtered his squad while they were chasing a group of indigenous through the forest. The attack had been quick, brutal, and without mercy. One minute they’d been on the cusp of capturing their prey and then they’d become the prey. The image of his men lying eviscerated at his feet would never go away.
He shook his head and forced the bloody memory to a dark corner of his mind. Looking around the apartment he had to admit that as far as jail cells went, it was a pretty nice one.
There were two tiny rooms. The one he was pacing currently contained a small table and chair bolted to the wall. There was a cushioned couch in the middle of the room. The second room was smaller; it contained the bed he slept on and the bathroom. There were no windows, and he’d been unconscious when the natives had brought him here. He had no idea if he was in a city in the hellish forest or underground. As far as Andy knew, he could be on a space station orbiting the planet. Incredibly, this place seemed untouched by the invasion.
How had the Continental Peace Federation missed it? The CPF’s plan had been simple: strike all major cities concurrently and quickly, then round up survivors. Somehow this city seemed to exist off the grid.
He didn’t think the city was underground. They let him out every day for a few hours. The building housing his apartment had a courtyard filled with lush grass and trees. His view of the outside was blocked by the building that rose up on all four sides and the cleverly constructed pergola that spanned the entire area of the courtyard. The pergola was covered with thick, leafy vines that obstructed his view of the sky, but allowed sunlight to filter through. He spent his time there jogging and exercising, trying to burn off the pent-up energy. He was used to action, and being confined like a zoo animal drove him crazy.
Tired of pacing, Andy sat down on the couch and picked up the thin tablet sitting on one cushion. Several books had been loaded onto the device. The language was unreadable. He swiped to a random page. The page he stopped on was an aerial picture of a gleaming city sitting on a cliff that overlooked the sea. An ancient bridge spanned a gorge, and one part of the city was a green space thickly populated with trees. He’d been to this city. It hadn’t looked like this when he’d arrived; in fact, it had been on fire when he got there thanks to the Continental Peace Federation’s Helix fighters and advanced weaponry. Part of him wished he could’ve seen the city before they’d reduced it to ashes.
The book was filled with pictures of what he could only assume were the landscapes and cities of HP-397, or Aereas, as the natives called their home world. It was a striking place. The vast majority of the planet’s dry land was concentrated on one massive continent. The land mass was home to stark contrasts in geographic phenomena, natural flora, and animal life. He swiped through more pictures of a book he’d looked at countless times and then tossed the tablet to the side.
He leaned his head back and let out a long, slow, bored breath. The silence in the apartment was deafening. His captors had tried to get information out of him, but not by the means Andy was used to. Their method was to
relentlessly question him, day after day. By now, the CPF would have tortured the information out of the captive or killed him in the process. This methodical interrogation confused him. Strangely, he was finding it harder to keep information from the man who questioned him. Jondon was a gruff, no-nonsense man. It was easy to see he was a fellow soldier and somebody Andy wouldn’t mind sitting down and having a drink with or fighting beside.
But there was that sticky bit about his people bombing and subjugating Jondon’s people that might interfere with any sort of social relationship.
Then there was the Pilot…
Andy jumped off the couch and started pacing again. He tried to fill his head with any kind of thought to distract himself from thinking of the woman who had, until recently, been plugged into his ship. Now she claimed they’d been married on Earth and his name was really Lucas. Andy had chalked it up to delusions or misfiring cerebral connections, an after-effect of her time connected to a computer. It was liable to cook a brain a bit, wasn’t it?
Still, what if she was right?
No, it’s preposterous, and it’s distracting you from what you need to do.
And what Andy needed to do was escape from this comfortable little cell.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Aereas - Alam, Ma’Ha’Nae city under Lake Keali
The door chimed and Evie pushed herself into a seated position.
“Come in,” she said in her native English and then quickly corrected herself and repeated the Aerean phrase inviting entry. Inexplicably, the Aerean language had come very easily to her; it felt natural and she didn’t really understand why. The only reason she could come up with was a possible lingering after-effect from her time plugged into the Valkyrie troop transport ship’s computer. The CPF had translation units, so it wasn’t hard to believe the ship’s computer would also have a translation matrix. However it had happened, it was a blessing. She could converse with the Ma’Ha’Nae and her ears could pick up the subtle nuances a translator might not be able to convey.
Evie positioned the wheelchair closer to the chair she sat on, preparing to hoist herself into this new mode of conveyance she found herself dependent upon. When the Ma’Ha’Nae had pulled her from the wreck of the ship her legs had already been gone. How she’d lost them, like so many other things about her past, remained a mystery.
Her face broke into a smile when Mirala entered the room. The young doctor and Evie had struck up an unlikely friendship during the time Evie had been in the hospital recovering. Even if Evie had been unaware of what she was doing, she’d been part of the invasion which had laid waste to cities across Mirala’s planet. The friendship was a testament to the doctor’s character.
Today the doctor wore a barrette adorned with a large purple flower in her shoulder-length brown hair. It was always a treat to see what new and colorful accessories the woman would be wearing.
“I see it’s purple today.”
Mirala touched the flower lightly. “I was feeling nostalgic. I wore this on the day I finished my apprenticeship as a doctor and was presented with my certificate. The stuffy old doctors thought it a bit much.”
“I think it’s lovely. Although I was particularly fond of the blue and pink ribbons you wove into your braids yesterday,” said Evie.
Mirala had confided in Evie that she wore these things because she felt plain compared to most other women. Due to a rare genetic difference, she lacked the colorful streaks in her hair and matching eyes that dominated the Am’Segid people. She compensated by wearing loud and colorful accessories.
“Any jewelry I haven’t seen before?”
“Not today.” Mirala wiggled the fingers of one hand, showing them noticeably bare compared to her usual multitude of rings. On her left wrist she wore the simple silver bracelet that Evie now knew meant she was joined in covenant. It was the same thing as marriage, although Evie had the feeling it was taken a little more seriously among the Am’Segid than it was in the nebulous world of CPF-dictated morality that dominated Earth.
Mirala stood in the doorway, quiet. Evie cocked her head to the side and studied her; there was something just a bit different about her today. The young doctor bubbled with a nervous energy she had a hard time containing.
“What’s wrong with you today? And what do you have behind your back?” Evie asked Mirala.
A wide smile lit up the woman’s almond-shaped face. She produced a long, black, zippered bag from behind her back. “I have something for you.”
Evie raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”
Mirala rushed across the room and set the bag on the floor in front of Evie. She knelt beside the bag and patted it softly, almost reverently, as if its contents were priceless. “I called in a few favors and begged my dad to put in a good word for you. By the way, he says the information you’ve been able to give the sentinels has been invaluable, especially about the aircraft our troops confiscated.” She took a breath and pulled the zipper open. “These are for you.”
She produced two large objects, a latticework of gleaming metal, struts, gears and wires. They were mirror images of each other. It wasn’t until Evie’s eyes traveled to the distal end of the objects that it hit her what she was looking at.
“Are those toes?”
Mirala nodded her head and clapped her hands triumphantly. “Yes! Aren’t they wonderful! Forget about the wheelchair, lady, we’ve got legs for you again.” She held up one of the legs to Evie. Evie took it in her hands and was surprised by how light the limb actually was.
“Mirala…I…I don’t know what to say.”
The doctor waved her off. “It really wasn’t that hard to get the prosthetics lab to work on these. They know how much of a help you’ve been, and they miss seeing you every day. You’re somewhat of a celebrity around this city. They understand you were as much a slave as the people we’re rescuing right now.” Mirala’s eyes sparkled with joy at the ability to give her new friend these gifts.
A tear slid down Evie’s cheek and she reached out and pulled Mirala into a hug made awkward by the prosthetic leg between them.
Mirala squeezed her and then pushed back. “Well, come on. Let’s try them out. I want to see you walk.”
Mirala showed Evie how to fix the limbs in place. With a little adjusting, they had the prosthetics secured. Once that was done, Mirala took several steps back from the couch and motioned toward Evie.
“Your turn. There will be a bit of a learning curve, but these are our latest model. They sense the motion of your muscles and, once they’re attuned to the messages coming from your nervous system, they’ll work just like normal legs. Give it a try.”
Evie placed her hands under her and pushed up from the couch. She felt her thigh muscles contract and watched as the legs under her came to life. The knees straightened, and she was standing. It was an incredible feeling for Evie. She smiled at Mirala and took two shaky steps toward her. The legs wobbled under her, but, with effort, she was able to maintain her balance. After one more step she grasped Mirala’s hands, and the two women embraced.
“Oh, Evie, this is wonderful! With a little more practice you’ll be skipping around Alam.”
The two women broke into laughter as they walked around the perimeter of the room several times, chatting excitedly. At first, it felt to Evie that she was standing on something stiff and inflexible, like using stilts. Then the legs gradually began to feel like more of an extension of her natural body. She marveled at the engineering that must have taken place to make pieces of metal act like muscle and tendon.
“I can’t believe how well they work, Mirala. Please tell everyone how grateful I am for what they’ve done for me.”
“You can tell them yourself. They’ll want to see you walk into the lab on these things soon. And they wanted me to tell you they’re working on synthetic skin to cover up the metal. Your complexion is a bit paler than a typical Am’Segid’s. It’s going to take just a little longer to get it right.”
Evie hug
ged Mirala once again. She was overcome with joy, and words failed her. All she could do was let her happiness escape from her body in liquid form as more tears fell from her eyes. There was no reason why these people should treat her with such kindness and compassion, and yet they’d embraced her as one of their own.
“Are you ready for a break yet?” Mirala asked.
Evie wiped tears from her cheeks and shook her head. “Are you kidding? All I’ve done is sit since I woke up. I may not sit again for days.” She looked out the window of her apartment. “In fact, I think I’d like to go for a little walk in the courtyard, if you don’t mind.”
Mirala offered Evie her arm. “It would be my pleasure.”
The pair moved toward the door as Evie spoke. “If I’m not mistaken, Lucas, I mean Andy, will be there exercising at this time.”
Evie saw Mirala’s face darken at the mention of the other human who resided in Alam. There was no love lost between Mirala and Andy. In fact, Mirala had been quite open and up front that Andy should be dealt with severely for his role in the destruction of Aereas.
Evie tried not to notice. To her, Andy was Lucas, her husband, even if he couldn’t remember. While Evie smiled at the thought of seeing Andy, inside she felt a deep yearning. The yearning of someone desperately trying to reclaim something that had been lost.
CHAPTER NINE
Aereas - Alam, Ma’Ha’Nae city under Lake Keali
Andy’s pulse pounded in his ears as his legs pistoned up and down. He sprinted toward the far wall of the courtyard. The tension from being confined to the small apartment begin to leach out of his system and exit his body through the sweat that ran off his forehead in small rivulets. Slowing, he reached out with his hands and touched the smooth stone of the far wall. He leaned his forehead against the wall; the coolness felt good against his skin. He allowed himself a brief respite, sucked in a long breath and then dropped to the ground and hammered out fifty push-ups. As his arms began to feel the lactic acid burn, he rolled onto his back and curled his torso toward his knees in a crunch. He lost count, but stopped just as his stomach muscles threatened to seize from overexertion.
