The Collective mind thrilled. We also believe you are the key. Would our appearance make you afraid?
Ashur considered the question. Honestly? I’m a dog. You are friend, not foe. I don’t care much what you look like. He ate his words when three Collectives pushed their way out of the kelp and filled the glass wall. Holy shitballs!
He couldn’t miss the needle-sharp mouths they had in place of the suckers most cephalopods had. My, what big teeth you have.
The Collective in the center remained, and the other two vanished back into the kelp in a coordinated swirl of their tentacles.
Eve came back with a floppy piece of plastic in one hand and a clear bottle with a squirt nozzle in the other. She bowed her head to the Collective at the glass and knelt by Ashur. “Ready? I’m going to put this gel and this cap on you.”
Ashur caught a whiff of the bottle’s contents. “What is that for?” he yipped, moving back a few steps. “That stuff smells like hospitals. I don’t like hospital smells.”
Eve smiled gently. “Nothing to do with hospitals. Remember the first translator module you had? You had to go into the Pod-doc, right? It read the waves your brain produced when you were ‘talking,’ and we were able to build a lexicon of canine language and play it through your collar device, yes?”
Ashur shuddered. “Don’t remind me. I hated those collar devices. I prefer it now that the translation is done through my chip. It was frustrating before you came up with a way to translate all of my communication, not just my barks and chuffs.”
“Exactly,” Eve enthused. “You communicate non-verbally more than you do verbally. My aim is to find out how the Collectives connect. We cannot just implant a chip into the Collectives, however. Their brains are structured much differently than ours. We need to build the lexicon and figure out a way to make it work with the translation software.”
Eve shook the cap. “With this, ADAM and I will be able to read your brainwaves through this cap while you talk to the Collective. The gel is to improve the connection, and it dries fast, to be brushed out easily.”
Ashur considered. It was only a small thing to get his fur messy to help the aliens. “Okay, then. I suppose that’s not so bad. But you’d better get all that nasty stuff out of my fur afterward. I don’t want Bellatrix to make me sleep in the yard because I came home sticky.”
Eve snickered. “Deal.”
Ashur dipped his head, then sat and watched while Eve squirted a blob of gel into her hand and warmed it before applying it to his head. “How does it work?”
Eve wiped her hands off and picked up the cap. “The chip in the cap connects your neural chip to the translator module. All you have to do is continue your chat with the Collectives whenever you can get down here, and the module will translate what you are ‘hearing’ into something we can ‘read.’”
She tilted her head and smiled at Ashur as she eased the floppy cap over his ears. “Whatever we get will be a step toward saving them from isolation.”
14
Qu’Baka, Jungle
Addix paused to untangle herself from the knot of vines. Hot, tired, and beyond aggravated by her slow progress, she opened the comm channel and barked out loud to relieve her tension. “Izanami, where the hell are you?”
I will arrive at your location shortly, the AI replied. Are you caught up again?
Yes, Addix grumped.
True to her word, Izanami streamed through the thick foliage a few minutes later.
Addix glared at the small egress Demon had likely slunk through easily. “How far ahead is she?”
Izanami reformed her human avatar. “It is a good thing I went to scout ahead. She is heading deeper into the jungle at some speed.”
The holdup frustrated Addix. Every minute they wasted was a minute Demon put more distance between them. “We’re going to lose her trail again. We should consider whether it might be better if you went on without me.”
Then again, the mountain lion did not have the ability to cut through vines and such with her limbs. Addix slashed the vines with her legs while tearing at them with her hands. She landed on the ground with an underwhelming thud.
Izanami glided over. “I’ve been ahead. It only gets thicker.” She raised an eyebrow at Addix’s efforts to regain her feet. “Perhaps you are right, but we should keep moving until you cannot progress.”
Addix glanced up at the canopy. “I’m going to look at this from a different angle. You keep low, I’ll go high.”
Izanami held out a hand and manifested a small ball of light.
Addix shook her head. “Darkness is my friend.” She made it to the first level of the canopy in a few leaps and forced her way through the lowest branches.
Izanami peered up at the impenetrable mat of leaves. “Is it passable?”
Addix leaned out to look down at the jungle floor. “It’s a lot better than it is down there. Can you give me a guide?”
“Of course.” Izanami opened her hand and a ball of red-gold light appeared. “Since you will not be able to see me once I leave, I have no need to use energy to maintain this form.”
The ball of light spiraled up to Addix as Izanami’s avatar dissolved into a mist of golden sparkles and streaked away through tiny gaps in the vines.
“Showoff.” Addix set off after the guide-light, across the carpet of leaves and branches as Izanami filtered through the jungle below.
Qu’Baka, Jungle
Demon was getting close.
The cat scent grew stronger with every step she took.
A frisson of anticipation ran down her spine, causing her tail to flick from side to side of its own accord. She stayed low, her belly almost touching the ground as she crept through the undergrowth toward her target.
The cat was the apex predator in this jungle, a fact proven by the meal she’d made of the lizards that had attacked her the previous day. No other predator had appeared to challenge her for the kill.
Maybe the male had killed them all.
He was a cat, after all.
Demon didn’t care. These were fleeting thoughts that she dismissed as she crept ever closer to his den. She would fight him off, and then the jungle would belong to her entirely.
The shrubbery gave way to long grass, dotted here and there with rocks and trees. Demon smelled water and grazing beasts. Why the humans chose their cities over this, she could never figure out.
If not for the uncatlike emotion that bound her to the humans, she could see herself enjoying ruling in a place like this.
However, she was only here for a fight.
Demon paused at the edge of the grass and observed the area from her hidden vantage point. Her examination of the male's territory told her he had made his home in a cave on the opposite bank of the river.
A twitch of her nose told her he wasn’t there at present.
Demon’s curiosity got the better of her.
She inched her way to one of the trees overlooking the shallow part of the water where she smelled him strongest. It was a simple leap to reach the lower branches, where she curled up to continue her observation through a gap in the leaves.
The underworld had no sky, and no sun to set and bring the night. There was light from the surface that crept in for some hours, but it was nothing like the day and night of Deon’s experience. There was a rhythm to the ecosystem, nonetheless.
Nature always found its way.
The rest beat forcing herself through endless tangles of vines, that was for certain. The light came and went through holes in the roof, leaving the shifts in the song of the jungle as Demon’s best way to mark time.
It was warm here, and her stomach full of dinosaur meat. How many hours she sat in the tree, she couldn’t tell.
Demon felt her eyes grow heavy.
That wouldn’t do at all.
What if the enemy cat came back and found her sleeping? She shook her head to clear the drowsiness. Apart from losing her element of surprise, it would be downright em
barrassing.
Demon washed her whiskers and pretended the lapse in alertness hadn’t just happened.
The wait stretched out.
It rained a spell, driving Demon farther into the tree in an attempt to stay dry. She didn’t mind the rain, as long as it didn’t touch her fur. The rain was a gift that washed away any trace of her path to the tree.
As the songbirds exited the stage for the night-callers, Demon felt his presence. All of her senses came alive when the male cat loped into view farther down her side of the riverbank.
Her conquest had arrived.
Demon narrowed her eyes, her lips drawing back over her fangs as she assessed her quarry. He was about the same size as her, although his fangs looked to be much longer than hers.
She wasn’t at all jealous of their magnificent length. Not even a little bit.
He was also wider across the shoulders. Demon didn’t care. She’d taken down bigger beasts than him back on High Tortuga without breaking a sweat.
She was the huntress, and he was her prey.
Demon moved silently into position. She tasted the air as the cat approached the river crossing, his golden pelt taking on a burnished glow under the lava-light.
The cat paused to scent his surroundings. Curious, he padded over to the spot Demon had lain in earlier and inspected the crushed grass with a low snarl.
Demon almost purred in anticipation when he abandoned the grass and made to cross the river. Come closer. Closer…
Her hindquarters in the air, she pounced.
The male reacted to the rustle of leaves, but nothing could have prepared him for the three hundred and fifty pounds of predatory female that came rocketing out of the tree.
Demon landed on the male’s back and sank her teeth into his neck.
The male freaked, letting out a panicked growl as he flipped Demon off his back.
Demon landed on all four feet and whirled to face the male, her fangs on display.
The male cat froze when he saw his attacker. He backed up, all his aggression draining away, to be replaced by a look of pure confusion.
Demon flashed her red eyes at him, to no effect.
Where was her fight? She snarled and leapt at him, taking away his choice.
The male roared. He reared up and caught Demon’s front paws with his splayed claws, fury in his eyes.
Demon hissed and pulled him to the ground in return. This was the fight she’d wanted. An equal foe to pit herself against.
Locked paw to paw, jaw to jaw, Demon and the strange cat tumbled head over tail on the riverbank, heedless of their surroundings.
Demon rabbit-kicked him, scoring his soft underbelly with her claws.
The male twisted out of her reach and slunk around to take his revenge.
Demon yowled as the male nipped her neck. She found herself flying through the air and landing with a splash before she’d realized what was happening. That damned male had picked her up like a kitten and tossed her into the water!
Pure indignation gripped Demon while the river did its best to run through her.
She surfaced, scrambling with her paws to get out of the current before it took her.
Too late. Demon went under again, spluttering just the same when she surfaced a second time. The current tugged at her body, dragging her downstream whether she wanted it to or not.
Regaining control of her senses, Demon realized the only reasonable thing she could do was go with the flow until she got to a calmer stretch of the river. Then she could get out and find her way back here to teach that cat a lesson.
Demon twisted her body around to swim with the current. The last thing she saw before the river swept her away was the male sitting on the riverbank.
She could have sworn the bastard was smiling.
15
Qu’Baka, Citadel, Inner Ring
Michael crouched at the edge of the royal complex, listening in as Bethany Anne wrapped up her last-minute instructions to the team leaders while he kept an eye on the activity on his HUD map.
Getting the Guardians into the Citadel wasn’t proving as difficult as Eric had predicted since Jean’s chameleon tech had been rolled out across Bethany Anne’s fighting forces. The map filled rapidly with layers of information collated by their armor’s sensor suites to go with the aerial surveillance.
“Teams Two and Five are in,” Peter confirmed. “That’s all the Guardians inside the citadel. Ready to move to the second ring on your word.”
Bethany Anne nodded, zooming in on her helmet HUD to look over the parts of the outer and middle rings where the Guardian teams were gathering in the shadows. “You’re good to go, Peter. Mahi’?”
“We are in the commercial quarter,” Mahi’ came back for her and Kel’Len. “Bor’Dane sends his greetings and promises a good meal to end the day.”
Bethany Anne smiled. “I haven’t even met your uncle, and I like him already.”
“Do you have the location of Bor’Dane’s property?” Michael asked. “There’s nothing on the map to say where everyone is to reconvene.”
“You see the green area?” Mahi’ highlighted an area that covered much of the middle ring of the Citadel. She added a marker to the map. “This is my uncle’s home. He is expecting our arrival. Where are my brothers?”
“We are still in the outer ring, outside the walls,” Li’Orin reported. “We came out near an unexpected garrison. There’s no way past. I’m going to move my warriors southeast until we find a quiet place.”
“The damn computer has malfunctioned,” Da’Mahin complained, ignoring Ch’Irzt’s attempts to intercede. “It won’t shut up!”
“The ‘damn computer’ is thinking of performing the galaxy’s first long-distance frontal lobotomy on a Baka,” Izanami cut in. “Take a left as I instructed, you bubble-headed brute, or run into three dozen of Lu’Trein’s guards.”
“My warriors can take a mere three dozen without breaking a sweat,” Da’Mahin boasted. “Stick to making sure we don’t crash into asteroids, Computer. Leave the war to the warriors.”
Izanami sniffed. “I have enough to do without holding these babies’ hands.” She vanished from the comm channel.
Michael lost the bet with himself when Bethany Anne cursed with only maybe half as much vehemence as he had been expecting.
Bethany Anne’s eyes flashed red. “ENOUGH.” She gave her gauntlet a look of distaste and wiped away the dirt from where she’d used the ground to release her anger. “Li’Orin, maintain your position. Da’Mahin, get your sad-sack ass around to the south side and be your usual charming self. We want some unrest, right? If three dozen is no problem, then you shouldn’t have any issue taking the garrison out without Izanami’s help.”
John grinned from his tiny window in her HUD. “I’ve got just the thing to take it out with, Boss.”
His low voice held a touch too much joy for Bethany Anne’s comfort. “Jean gave you a new toy?”
“Toys,” was the reply.
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow at Michael. Should I have checked Jean’s bags before we left QT2?
Michael lifted his hands. Maybe a check before we left Devon would have been more appropriate.
You don’t say. “Sound off, everyone who has non-standard equipment with them.”
Michael snickered at the chorus of clicks that came over the comm.
“All of you, then.” Bethany Anne would have been royally annoyed had it not been for the distance between them and the nearest Pod-doc. “John, back Da’Mahin up. Make sure your toy was worth bringing. I want all of you—everyone—on the Baba Yaga in one piece when we leave. Team leaders will be coordinating from here.”
Bethany Anne handed off the comm channel to Izanami and shut off her HUD feed before any of the Bakas could complain. Ready?
Michael swept a hand out. Lady’s choice. Front, back, or roof?
It doesn’t matter. They won’t know we’re here unless we start killing Kurtherians. Bethany Anne narrowed
her eyes at the six-tiered crystal-clad construction that had been added to the original building, throwing off the balance of the carefully constructed inner complex. Do you know what pisses me off?
Michael’s mouth twitched mischievously. I don’t think we have time to go through that list.
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow. It could always be you in the number one slot, she shot back. It’s when I get somewhere completely alien and see proof that those wormy fuck-suckers were elbows-deep in human development from the start.
She came over to Michael’s position and joined him in observing the entrance to the ziggurat. I mean, does that not look Aztec or something to you?
Michael lifted a shoulder noncommittally. It does have similarities. However, the likelihood that the clan responsible for this eyesore could also be responsible for the rise and fall of the proto-American civilizations on Earth is low. It could be coincidental since many worshipped animals.
Bethany Anne snorted. Yeah, in a world where I’m a ray of sunshine and you’re morally flexible. There’s a Kurtherian playing God with these people, and judging by that building, we’re dealing with the Judkah.
What leads you to that conclusion?
Bethany Anne’s mouth quirked. TOM.
Michael matched her smile. Which is actionable information we didn’t have a moment ago.
There was nothing poetic about the rage Bethany Anne was building. She started walking toward the complex, invisible to all except Michael. If it wasn’t for the certainty that there are innocents in there, I’d be tempted to level the damn thing on principle. One of these days, I want to know just why Earth attracted so many of them.
Does it matter? Michael countered, getting to his feet. You made certain there wouldn’t be any more unwelcome visits.
The reminder cooled Bethany Anne’s fury some, not that her desire to grind the skull of any Kurtherian on this planet to dust under her heel lessened any. Let’s go, already. We can’t wait all day for Mahi’ to get here.
Mahi’ requested an audio link when they were halfway across the courtyard. “There’s something we didn’t account for.”
Enter Into Valhalla Page 15
