The Human Insurgency

by J. Kirsch

  Hands grabbed me roughly, pushing me backward onto the floor. The brightness of that many Glowing Ones so close was too much. I could barely keep my eyes open. I obviously couldn't know what they were communicating to one another, but I knew this; they were angry and afraid. I caught glimpses of frightened, rage-filled memories, and they were fresh. Glowing Ones killing Glowing Ones. The aliens murdering each other.

  I was in a chamber maybe 20 meters long, 15 meters wide, with equipment that looked bizarre, but familiar enough to my human senses that I could guess that this was probably where their scientists observed and studied us. I couldn't quite be sure, but it seemed that the fourteen or so uglies that were holding me had been the same ones controlling us at the observation tables on Level 3. The same ones violating the intimacy of my body, stroking, prodding, touching in places they had no right to touch.

  Two of the bastards were holding me down while I struggled. I connected my knee with something soft. I felt it recoil, drawing backwards as it sent a sensation of pain to jolt my mind. Then the other Glowing Ones were making awful, high-pitched noises, like an animal does when trying to defend its territory. I abruptly realized, hearing the sound of tissue ripping apart, that someone was shooting at us.

  Not at us. At them. A phalanx of Glowing Ones marched into the laboratory wearing head-to-foot body armor. Their weaponry looked something like an M16 married to a crossbow, though it was hard to recognize details in anything given my current state. I clambered over the corpse of one of the Glowing Ones who had held me down, only to stop deathly still in front of what looked like one hell of a firing squad.

  There were at least thirty of the uglies, the orange light bathing their skins filling the room and making me shade my eyes. There seemed to be a captain or leader of some sort. He looked at me, and I just barely made out his tiny, grape-sized eyes taking the measure of me.

  He sent an image into my head, then an avalanche of images which threatened to overwhelm me. For a second I became confused, until I realized what he was trying so urgently to say.

  We're taking over the ship. You are not the enemy. We will keep you safe. That was all I knew for sure, but it was enough. Given what I'd been facing a few seconds ago, it was more than enough.

  Suddenly I saw two of the armored uglies barge through the permeable wall into Level 3. They came out with Myla, Kane, Jobe, and Oliver in tow. The four of them looked so relieved to see me they seemed ready to burst into joyful tears. We hugged fiercely but quickly, and then I tried to explain to them what was going on even as I knew they were probably being bombarded by the same images that I had been.

  "You okay?" Myla held me tight one more time for good measure.

  "Not that I'm not enjoying this little reunion," Kane hissed, "but I think they want us to follow." Two of the armored uglies were waiting for us while the leader had charged ahead with his main. We joined our escorts and caught up with the main body of troops winding from one corridor to the next. Every now and then I noticed a section of purplish muck sliding away. Sometimes more uglies poured out of the openings, bristling with weapons and armor, enlarging our rapidly growing army as it swept through the ship.

  I couldn't be sure how long we traversed those endless corridors. It was long enough that my feet began to hurt. Then again, we were all out of shape after being held captive in that damn cube for more than three months. I held Myla's hand as we stumbled after our rescuers. It took every stroke of willpower not to run away, reminding myself that though these 'rescuers' still looked like the monsters that had come to haunt my dreams, apparently not all aliens were the same.

  So far I'd been hoping against hope to find other survivors, humans who had been abducted just like us. But to my surprise it seemed that we were the only ones.

  "Get down!" Jobe shouted, pushing me down as gunfire - alien gunfire - erupted in streaks that sounded more like hissing air than anything lethal. Sound could be deceiving though. Whatever those things fired, the holes they left in their victims were real enough. We stepped gingerly over the bodies of one, two, then half a dozen more Glowing Ones who had resisted our rescuers' advance.

  "Is this a military takeover?" Jobe whispered to us.

  "Maybe the grunts are staging a coup against the captain of the ship," Oliver guessed.

  "Whatever the hell's happening, let's just stick together and try not to get shot, how about that?" I barked. Stupid speculations could wait. I wanted all our brainpower focused on not getting dead for the time being.

  More endless corridors, more dead bodies...luckily, none of them human. We did start to notice a pattern though. Most of our saviors were heavily armored and armed. The opposition seemed to be lightly clothed, with lighter weaponry. If I'd had to guess, a coup by the military personnel of this ship seemed as likely as anything.

  Myla was nearly hyperventilating by the time we reached what I discovered to be the ship's bridge.

  It was huge.

  I'm talking about a football field - not American, but European football. It was a giant dome, a bustling hive of activity. Less than fifty meters away I saw towering shards, thin as windshield glass, rising from the floor like keys on a piano. Each of the shards displayed rapidly scrolling symbols which I assumed had to be information on the ship's functions. Was it part of some impossibly vast computer network? I couldn't be sure, but it was my best theory.

  If they were, the tall glass shards were a lot more durable than our human hardware. I gaped as some of the Glowing Ones near the shards opened fire on us. I ducked down and saw our Glowing Allies returning fire. To my shock the fragile-looking data shards shrugged off the weapons' fire. I heard tiny bursts of impotent gunfire blocked by the shards while the enemy Glowing Ones used them as cover and returned fire to deadly effect.

  For a few minutes I thought we were going to die. But at that moment I got my craziest idea yet. It was a stupid, stupid idea. But all I could see was a standstill, and that wasn't going to cut it. Earth was being systematically conquered, and for all I knew this was the only bright spot in humanity's fortunes. I had a theory about the Glowing Ones who we were trying to overpower. They had kept us captive for so long, studying us, developing us, even going so far as to start teaching us a new language. So we had to be valuable to them. You didn't invest that kind of time and energy without placing value on whatever you were pouring that much effort into. That's the assumption I was clinging to as I stood up, yelled at the top of my lungs, and rushed forward, heedless of certain death.

  Did I mention that this was stupid? The Glowing Ones on both sides of the battle stared at me, and for a moment the exchange of gunfire actually stopped. Maybe the aliens were gaping. I didn't know what a gaping Glowing One looked like, though. All their expressions looked the same to me. At first I wasn't sure if they were simply amazed by my audacity or if my plan was really working. I was even more shocked to realize that Myla and the others were rushing alongside, as fearlessly stupid as yours truly.

  "Skye, you're going to get us all killed," Oliver hissed.

  "Grow a pair," I replied, feeling almost guilty for insulting him when we were probably all about to die.

  Except that's when I noticed it. That this insane plan might actually be working. Just as I'd hoped, the enemy uglies who were dug in behind the data shards didn't fire on us. We were like priceless lab specimens to them. They still returned fire, but not anywhere near us. I watched as one of the good guy Glowing Ones fell writhing with a smoking hole in his neck. Sure enough, though, as the five of us advanced in one sweeping line and kept advancing across the bridge, many of our Glowing Friends were actually using us as cover to choose and puncture their targets.

  Soon some of our allied Glowing Ones had established a toehold among the data shards. Using us for cover, three, four, then three more Glowing Ones had been able to advance and take up positions, outflanking the enemy as their buddies kept up a steady stream of supporting fire. We'd done our part; now it was time to not die by acci
dent.

  As we ducked behind one of the data shards my breath exploded and I unclenched my sweat-slick palms, feeling more sweat pouring down my face. My heart was a jackhammer. Though I'd been able to convince myself for a few seconds that I wasn't afraid, now I was terrified. My body had responded with fear-masking adrenaline for a while, but now I was crashing. Jobe put his arm around me, shielding me with his own body in addition to the data shard at our backs. Myla, Oliver and Kane looked at me with newfound respect.

  "Why didn't they shoot us?" Oliver blurted.

  "They didn't want to kill their prize pets. They probably also didn't think a few humans walking in the middle of their gunfight would change anything," I replied.

  Jobe interrupted me. "Wait, are you saying that you knew that the rebellious Glowing Ones would be willing to use us as human shields, and that the enemy uglies would let them?"

  "That was my gamble, yeah. I felt that our newfound friends here would be desperate enough to risk us. I also thought that the ones studying us wouldn't want to kill us after all they've invested in us."

  "Even when it means they'll lose control of their ship to the rebels?" Kane asked as the gunfire continued. Our Glowing One allies were advancing, hundreds of them now on the bridge, swarming forward. The battle was still raging, far from over. Yet there was a subtle, dynamic shift. That one toehold among the impervious, glass-thin data shards had made a real difference. We, despite the odds and our own helplessness, had made a difference.

  "It still doesn't seem real," Oliver said in amazement as we watched the battle escalate and turn in our favor. "Your insane ploy actually worked, Skye. You're crazier than a bat with rabies."

  I scanned all their faces, almost as dear to me as my own parents after all we'd been through. Why didn't they see it as I did? Maybe I was that perfect mixture of weird and crazy, but I also had extra justification for what I'd done:

  "Look, I felt one of the enemy Glowing Ones in my head. He reached out with his thoughts and tried to urge me to run away. When your enemy wants you to do something, often your best bet is to do the exact opposite."

  Dad had taught me that long before I hit puberty.

  "Kitty-Kat, if a stranger tells you not to scream, what do you do?"

  "Scream, Daddy."

  Yep, Dad's advice had been dead-on, at least this time around. I almost smiled, wondering what he would say if I told him that I'd applied his cardinal rule to strangers, except these strangers were from another galaxy. But when my mind went down that dangerous path of thought, it wasn't long before I was stifling hot tears. Mom and Dad, I hope you're still alive. I miss you guys. I needed to get my head cleared, so I shook out my hair and swore. The others were looking at me for a clue as to what to do next.

  Jobe gave me a gentle nudge.

  "What now, Commander Skye?" I looked at everyone, totally confused.

  "You're letting me lead after what I just did?"

  Myla shrugged. "You haven't gotten us killed yet."

  "Yet is right," Oliver mumbled, but even he looked at me with grudging respect and waited for what I'd say.

  Eventually the Glowing Ones on our side seemed to be mopping up. Only a few pockets of resistance held out, and most of the enemy uglies were either throwing down their weapons or being turned into Swiss cheese.

  "Just follow my lead." I focused my attention on the Glowing One that had led the attack. He had played it smart, standing in the back and directing his men. Now I approached him.

  What in the world did you say to an alien from another galaxy when all you could go by were vague mental images and even more ambiguous emotion?

  I knew what I wanted to ask, in a perfect world:

  Please, Mr. Alien, can you give us a ride home back to Earth? Oh, and while you're at it, can you get all your people to stop killing us?

  Instead I did the next best thing. I focused my mind on just the one memory I wanted him to see. I stepped in front of him and waited for him to make contact, anxiously hoping for his mind to probe mine.

  Chapter 10:

  News Flash

  An interview by Tanya Westenridge, live on the CNN Underground Network:

  Q: "Mr. Kinkade - "

  A: "Please, call me John. We don't need formalities here, Tanya."

  Q: "OK. John...tell us your theories. I know our listeners are mystified by the events of the past year. We had isolated reports of alien abductions, most of which were dismissed as hoaxes. Then a few months later our planet was suddenly and brutally attacked by an alien species."

  A: "Indeed, and we are still under imminent threat. None of us should forget that."

  Q: "John, there are many experts who believe that the aliens, ruthless as they are, have not used their full firepower on us. That they've held back. Do you think this is true?"

  A: "Tanya, let's look at the facts. The reports I saw showed that the Invaders came at us with nearly 100 carrier-sized ships and probably tens of thousands of fighters, not to mention transports and the troops they've already put on the ground. Now look at what we were able to do. The victories in China, in the Middle East, some promising defensive triumphs in the U.S. Look at the string of fortress towns the Americans were able to build along the Colorado Rockies. Even the British are rallying with an insurgency against the Invaders, who have gone from occupying 90% of England to a mere fraction of that.

  "Given the Invader's technology though, given how useless most of our conventional weapons have proved to be against them, the question that most of my listeners have asked me is 'Why?' Why didn't they simply wipe us out?'"

  Q: "So do you claim to know the full answer to that question?"

  A: "Surprisingly enough, I think I do. I think that the aliens abducted some of us and had an inkling for what we are capable of, wanting to study us, maybe even cultivate us as slaves or subordinates. I think they knew that if they tried to take us by raw force we would launch our nuclear weapons and make this world uninhabitable before we'd give it up. So instead they practiced a strategy of attrition. They thought they could grind us down, make us think we were going to survive...like a toad being slowly cooked...until it was too late and they had conquered."

  Q: "So, in a way John, you're saying that they underestimated the resilience of the human race?"

  A: John shakes his head. "I'm not going to go that far, Tanya. We're not out of the woods at this point. Look at South America, Africa, big chunks of the Middle East, not to mention eastern Russia. They still have ground forces, they're still a threat. We have a lot of work to do before we can safely call this planet 'home' again."

  Q: "That may be true, John, but if I may, I'd like to play back the broadcast I did yesterday, and get your perspective on it."

  A: "Sure, go ahead."

  The big screen behind them shows Tanya Westenridge reporting. A huge crowd, tens of thousands, waves flags and chants slogans in Tiananmen Square.

  "This is Tanya Westenridge reporting live from Beijing, China. It is official. We have confirmed what no one thought was possible. Of the four huge mother ships orbiting our planet, two of them have changed course, one has been destroyed, and the last appears to be in full retreat."

  "Residents in more than half a dozen countries have claimed that abducted people are returning to their homes. It's been hard to piece together anything definite, but our sources seem to confirm that two, I repeat, two of the mother ships are in rebellion against their own kind. These rebel mother ships initiated hostilities with the other invading ships."

  "One hostile mother ship has been badly damaged and seems to no longer have any propulsion ability whatsoever. The remaining hostile mother ship appears to be heading away from Earth's orbit. All across the globe we have seen jubilation. The remaining carrier fleets have drawn back even as some Invader forces still remain active on the ground. All signs though, as of this moment, point toward hope. Toward an actual future. As you can see, the crowd behind me is celebrating V-Day in China..."

 
; Q: "Do you think that the worst is behind us, John?"

  A: John smiles ruefully, wagging his finger at the reporter. "You know, Tanya, reporters are good at goading people like me into saying stupid things. I'm going to take a pass on that question. I will say this, however; we have a long, long way to go. We have an entirely new species with whom we have no idea how to interact. If the aliens in those two rebel mother ships represent an intelligence we can work with, that's great. I'm hopeful. But so many barriers persist.

  "I am, though, more than anything encouraged. And I have a few last words to the hard-core skeptics out there. The ones urging us to wipe out every alien we find, mercy be damned, ally or foe.

  "The truth is, what has happened only goes to prove that the aliens are like us in many of the ways that count. They have factions just like we do. Who knows why they originally came here? Maybe they didn't originally come to attack us. Maybe they did. None of that should be the focus now. What matters, no matter who was behind the coup on those mother ships, is that this means that the aliens don't think as one. I'm betting that they have a peace faction, a neutral faction, a pro-human faction, whatever you want to call them. And I'm guessing that one of those factions somehow gained power. We owe those aliens our very lives in a way, much as it damages our pride to admit it."