by Frank Albelo
“We are okay. We must continue, I do not recall escape pods taking so long to launch,” Koma said as he pulled himself to his feet.
“The temperature of the surface must be forcing them to heat the engines enough. It might also be different to reach atmosphere on this moon so they might need launch vectors on the fly, but I can’t be sure about that,” added Epsilon.
“Regardless, let’s get to the fucking pods!” interjected Galileo. The normally tame man appeared to be a bit nerve frayed and was motioning frantically with his arms.
Less than a minute later we arrived at another airlock type chamber. The scientist, Mark, described our location. “The pod bay is on the other side. If I had to guess the other group is coming in from the opposite side of the launch area. If they are not in there already.”
“Thanks for that. Very useful,” said Beta.
“Enough. I want everyone ready to run in there and find cover. Anything we can use?” I turned to look at the scientist. The man flinched and looked away but responded anyway.
“There were some loading pallets around the launch area and a railing, but that’s about it.” He looked at his friend pleadingly, but the woman shook her head and agreed that it was mostly empty space for the pods to launch and land.
My sensing was scrambled due to the pain the gong had caused, so I wasn’t sure if there were already mutants on the other side, but I chose to proceed as if there were. Delta suggested him and one of the mutants should lead until the others could get cover since he at least had a shield. All the others had found my makeshift work to be too cumbersome and had left them in B1. Without much time to lose I instructed the multi arm mutant to take up a spot next to Delta as soon as he breached the door. Everyone lined up behind them so we would get to cover as soon as possible. There was no guarantee that the Officials were out of ammunition.
I was a step behind Delta with Hunter beside me, Beta was carrying Gamma behind me and the others were sticking out in the hallway, hoping to follow in quickly. After a deep breath, the rumbling of the engines still shaking out feet, we spilled out into the open.
The Officials were already there next to two pods.
Thanks to the shading of our helmets we were able to avoid the glare of the sun and ran for the closest pallets. There were three clusters of four foot pallets scattered some fifty feet from the pods. The moment the door opened, bullets started to ping in our direction when I had cleared the doorway. Delta stood, stoic as he covered the doorway with his shield. Thankfully, none of the Officials had railrifles otherwise the metal from the slab would have been no better than paper.
There was plenty of incoherent shouting from the other side of the clearing, but the Officials were already beginning to load up into one of the two pods. A few seconds later, we were all in cover and the first pod was already launching into the sky. The quaking weakened, now that there was only one pod warming up.
I saw Starden’s winter suit lumber up into the pod and a pair of soldiers followed. We’re gonna miss the pod. The ship is no guarantee, and there is no way I am going to save Craft. The sudden thought of Craft led my gaze to him. There were two mutants standing between us but I could see him eyeing us as he waited to board the second pod. I concentrated on his mind and even through what felt like brain syrup I latched on. His immediate color change told me all I needed to know. He’s fighting the human Howard. I had managed to disrupt his mental state enough to give the trapped human a chance.
Enough to potentially raid a space pod.
“Alright everyone, we need to rush now. If we can— Gah!” A sharp pinch moved through my back and out my chest to hit Beta beside me. When we both dropped down, Delta moved from his pallet to ours screaming, “Justin!”
I wasn’t sure what happened, but I dropped to my knees as a numbing feeling began to spread through my lower body. The iron taste of blood surged up my throat with a wet cough and I retracted my helmet to get more air. I heard a sucking sound as I inhaled and looked down to see a finger size hole in my chest, right where my lung was. I was shot. It was an obvious realization, but it was all my Subconscious Manipulation needed to get to work. I stared in wonder as bone plating sealed the skin of my wound and I vomited out blood. My body ejecting out what I could only assume was internal bleeding.
Three breaths more and I felt ragged, but alive. I sagged on the ground and gave up any hope of making it to the pod. As the pain ease slightly, I remembered what had happened to the shot after punching through me. Beta laid gasping like a fish, a much wider hole gaped from his abdomen. One of the pieces of armor plating had deflected the shot from his spine, but it was now jabbed into his abdomen along with the slug.
A cold sweat ran down my back as I looked at the boy. I frantically called for help as I applied pressure to his wound, but his slick red blood was flowing through my hands. A moment later, groups of people hovered around me. I couldn’t differentiate who was who through the tears in my eyes, but they all had grim expressions on their faces. I knew that Beta was not going to make it.
I sobbed as I pulled my hands back from the wound. I hope the blood loss makes it a bit painless. The youth had passed out long before I had managed to get to him. His breathing was erratic but weakening even before my eyes. I sobbed again and a cough escaped me. Spittle of blood fell in front of me as I wiped my mouth off. My mind was immediately filled with static.
<...>
I was stunned, but almost absently replied ‘Yes’.
<...>
Without thinking, I mutated a claw and sliced my palm open. There were gasps around me but I moved my hand back to Beta’s wound. Maroon black blood spilled out of my hand and into Beta’s gut wound. The blood seemed to move with a mind of its own and began to form a strange membrane along the surface of the wound. As the blood continued to spill from my hand, I began to feel lightheaded and heard murmuring around me, but I was completely concentrated on Beta. I bit my tongue to fight losing consciousness. After several tense moments later, and a sudden jerk from Beta, the Overmind spoke again.
<1%...>
...
<2%...>
Before my eyes, Beta started to seize. I tried to grab a hold of him, but three pairs of arms grabbed me back. “Best let it run its course.” I recognized the voice and the grief there in. Zeta.
I turned slightly to face Beta as she laid me on the ground. My body sagged and my energy drained as the slit in my hand healed. Maroon darkness swam in my eyes and I fell unconscious.
● ● ●
When he saw Starden disappear into the second space pod and Dr. Craft shaking around while the other soldiers dragged him up the ramp, Justin knew it was time. He had picked his spot carefully, making sure the grotesque aliens Alpha had somehow managed to enlist were far far from his spot next to Alpha. The Digit Supervisor pulled a four shot pistol from his right boot. The double vertical barrel gun fired specially designed charges that packed a bigger punch that even the old .45 ammunitions. The piece had saved his life twice to the date, before Alpha secured them in the wilderness.
Justin pulled his remaining two bullets from his left boot and loaded them while everyone scanned the vacant area around the launch pads in between burst of gunfire. He scooted as close to Alpha as he dared. The man had shown he had uncanny reflexes and strength so Justin wanted nothing to do with his hands. He aimed right at Alpha’s neck, but he suddenly turned to shout the others.
“Alright everyone, we need to rush now. If we can— Gah!” Justin panicked and pulled the hammer on the gun, firing almost a foot off target.
He could almost feel everyone
turn to look at him, but he was already jumping over the pallet. After a second, he heard his name shouted from behind him and he fired blindly back, running across as fast as he could. The fact that he had shot over his shoulder gave him the pause he needed from the soldiers for them to recognize and urge him forward, instead of blasting holes in him. He rushed up the platform and latched himself to the restraints along the walls of the pod. He heard his blood pound in his ears as the soldiers fired back towards the Digits and closed the pods’ airlock.
“Get fucking going! Those things can rip the door right off, idiots!” shouted the traitor.
“I am well aware, Digit. Now would shut your pie hole so I can get us off this rock.” The man immediately recognized Captain Starden’s voice from the command station. He sat at the only chair in the pod while someone had knocked Craft unconscious and latched him in next to the Captain. His mutants had been left behind, since no one wanted to deal with their rampaging when he lost consciousness.
The Calforn levitation beam fired from the control tower in the base and the thrusters pushed them upwards into the atmosphere. The inertia dampeners triggered immediately and Justin felt the pressure of G forces lessen on his body. Moments later, they were approaching orbit and sending out their location to the Pendett. As Starden angrily reported the status of the base as lost and the Calforn Gene project as a failure, Dr. Craft stirred.
“Not yet. Alpha isn’t the only resilient one Starden. My experiments have been a success for a long while.”
The Captain shut off communications from the Pendett. Static sounded through the comms.
“What are you talking about, Howard?” There was ice in the man’s voice.
“Let’s just say that Earth will probably not be the same as when we left.”
The only sounds in the dead of space was the static of the comms and the breathing of half a dozen men and a true monster.
● ● ●
I awoke with a jerk. The moment my body tried to move, sharp pains flared through me and I laid back down with a scream. I was surprised to find that I had landed on a soft surface that gently encased my head. Still laying down I reached around with my hand and touched what I laid on. Memory foam. The ridiculous material brought me back to the moment. Memories of the bullet, Beta, the pods, the Digits, the messages from the Overmind. It all rushed back and it felt as if I sunk deeper into the mattress. I grit my teeth and fought against my body to stand. On my third attempt Beta himself burst into what I had realized was a bedroom of some kind.
There was a look of relief on the youth’s face… as well as vertical slits for pupils and grey irises.
“Hey, Boss. Oh… wait, Koma told me to call you King. That work for you? I was already having trouble keeping up with everyone having names, but you have a title and a nickname. You sure are doing well for yourself Bo..err, King.” Beta was laughing nervously as I stared at him.
He didn’t say anything as I looked him up and down. He was wearing the blue slacks the Officials wore underneath his retracted armor. He looked to have grown several inches and was now almost to the height of the ceiling which I gauged to be at least eight feet. Most important of all, he was alive.
“Beta, what… what happened? All I remember is something about assimilating you into the Hive, some kind of advancement and then I bled into your wound. You were having a seizure!” By this point I had recovered enough of my wits to sit up, but Beta crouched to look me in the eye.
“I think it’ll be better if I have Koma tell you. We haven’t been lazy while you were out, considering its been just over a week, but we aren’t in great shape.” There was a notable downturn to his attempt at a smile.
“Beta. What happened?” Without saying another word, the giant youth gestured out to the hallway.
With the help of his now much larger hand, Beta helped me to my feet and led me around the USG base. I could see several upturned beds in the doors that were adjacent to mine. Must be where the others slept. I couldn’t resist concentrating on every little thing in hope of eking out an answer. Remembering my abilities, I expanded out my mind but immediately felt a wall around me. Beta must have noticed because he patted my shoulder with his free hand.
“Koma put up a mental wall around you. Even while unconscious you kept… Calling.”
“What? Calling who?”
Before I could continue my barrage of questions, we entered the mess hall. It was like day and night. The blood had been mopped clean and the upturned tables rightened. There were no signs of the broken furnishings and most all the lighting fixtures had been replaced with working ones.
Seated with his legs crossed atop one of the tables, was Koma. He held his human hands pressed against his temples while his working Calforn arm gripped the table hard enough that it punched holes with his claws. As soon as I crossed the threshold, his whole body relaxed. A moment after he opened his eyes and rose to his feet. His eyes were no longer the simple brown they had once been, but instead an intense yellow and his pupil had also been reshaped.
“Welcome, King.” Koma pressed his human knuckles together and bowed slightly.
“Koma, cut the crap. What the fuck is going on?”
In an attempt to hide the smile twitching at the corner of his mouth Koma rubbed his human hand along his chin. I hoped it was not a simple prank or I would be dishing out some severe punishment.
“I think you should sit for this, Alpha.” He motioned to the table he had been sitting at and we joined him before he continued. “You have established a Hive. Thanks to my status as a multi conscious Calforn, the Overmind has assigned me as the Hive’s Host. That is to say, I am the link between your Hive, hive mates and the signal of the Overmind that spans the Universe. An… antenna for lack of a better word.”
“Wait, then how have we been able to hear the Overmind? And that also doesn’t explain what happened to your eyes or,” I motioned up and down Beta’s body, “how Beta is all of a sudden alive and taller than me.”
“Ah, well the eye situation is quite easily explained. Once a Hive has a Host, it is given an identifying genetic trait which also varies based on their advancement within the ARC system. You yourself have silver and gold speckled eyes.”
I inadvertently reached up to my eyes as if I could feel the color with my fingers. Idiot. I quickly reprimanded myself and got back on topic. “Okay, well, what about the Overmind?”
“That is a bit more abstract. I am still learning what it means to be Host, but it should allow us to communicate over much longer distances and manage the Calforn under our care. Which as of now includes Gan, Tiv, Dov, Beta, you and myself.”
“Wait, Dov? He was under Craft’s control. The scientist that started this whole madness.”
“Yes he has expressed as much. However, it seems he was born of a single Calforn that was suppressed with some kind of medication. He did not know the specifics.”
I nodded my head as I lapsed into silence. This was a lot of information, almost too much, but I needed to come to grips with the situation so I asked the next pressing question. “What happened after I got shot?”
Over the course of the next half hour Koma, with interjections from Beta, caught me up on the events while I had been out of commission. They mentioned Justin’s betrayal, Dov’s mostly clear headed arrival and the subsequent attacks from hordes of frenzied mutants. The Calforn explained that nearly every day I would activate the Elite’s Call, hoping to receive aid while trapped in my mind which forced him to place me in a sort of mental bubble. At one point during the story, the other survivors began to arrive.
First of all were the mutants. The multi armed mutant, which I learned was Gan, and the long limbed mutant, Tiv, both bowed as low as their unwieldy bodies allowed. I waved them off and they went to stand at the corner of the room. Beta added that they barely spoke as Dov approached and bowed much more gracefully. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I had never been good with attention, but it was there and I tried to a
ccept it. I nodded awkwardly at the mutants. When the other Digits arrived in the mess hall, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. Not even Justin’s betrayal truly bothered me we had survived.
Or so I thought.
When I did a quick count, Delta was missing. I turned to the others amidst firm handshakes and heartfelt hugs. “Hey, where’s Delta? That grouch keeping a lookout while you all party in here with me?
Everyone present tensed at my words and Hunter approached me from the periphery of the group. “He… didn’t make it, Alpha. When you got shot, he tried to go after Justin. But… he was shot. There was nothing we could do.”
For the first time since I had met the man, he looked down and failed to meet my eyes. I felt that near imperceptive weight settle right back on my shoulders. The mantle of failure, guilt and responsibility. I took a deep, shuddering breath.
