by James Axler
“O—” Mildred clamped her mouth shut, not wanting to offend the thing. Who knew what it might be able to do to her mind if it channeled that terrible chorus into a weapon?
“Okay. What are you?” she thought.
“ALTHOUGH I DO NOT KNOW EXACTLY HOW LONG I HAVE...EXISTED, MY PEOPLE SAY THAT I AM APPROXIMATELY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FIVE YEARS OLD. FOR ME, I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN, AS LONG AS THERE HAS BEEN A...WORLD AROUND ME. FOR A LONG TIME, I DWELLED IN DARKNESS, UNTIL THE ONE APPEARED TO ME, AND WAS ABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH ME DIRECTLY. HE EVOKED SOMETHING THAT I HAD NEVER...FELT BEFORE...A KINSHIP WITH ANOTHER LIVING ORGANISM. WITH HIM TO HELP ME, I WAS ABLE TO EVOLVE INTO A FORM SIMILAR TO WHAT YOU SEE BEFORE YOU NOW. AS THIS HAPPENED, I CREATED MY CHILDREN AND SENT THEM FORTH TO BRING OTHERS SIMILAR TO THE ONE TO ME, TO GROW AND NOURISH ME, THAT WE MAY ALL EXIST TOGETHER. EVENTUALLY I WAS ABLE TO CREATE ENOUGH CHILDREN THAT THEY COULD BRING ME TO THIS PLACE, WHERE I HAVE EXISTED EVER SINCE.”
The speech was long and arduous for Mildred to follow, mainly because behind the brain-thing’s near deafening mental chorus, she also began to make out other, quieter voices, many of which were saying something else entirely, at odds with the main chorus. Trying not to arouse the main consciousness’s suspicion, she did her best to focus on these other, dissonant voices.
“—the organism is composed of both plant and animal matter, a unique hybrid mutation—”
“—its powers are unparalleled. Indeed, we are looking at a brand-new form of life here—”
“—not allow ourselves or our mission to be subverted—”
“—it is too late for us. Save yourself—”
This last one made her start, which engendered a similar reaction from the brain-creature; she actually saw one of its lobes tremble.
“YOU SEEM...APPREHENSIVE. WHAT IS TROUBLING YOU?”
Mildred knew her very life depended on telling the creature in front of her what it wanted to hear. Its alienness was both a help and a hindrance to figuring out what that was, however. She managed to tear her gaze away to check out what Morgan and the others were doing. All of them were staring at the giant brain-thing with wondrous looks on their faces. Focusing all of her mental powers, she projected her reply:
“I just... Having never seen anything like you before, I am in awe of a creature such as yourself. It is...very intimidating to stand before you like this.”
“YOU HAVE NO REASON TO FEAR OR BE ALARMED. INDEED, I FIND YOUR MENTAL EMANATIONS TO BE QUITE PLEASANT.”
Mildred blinked. Had it just said it liked how she thought? That had to be a first. “Um...thank you?”
“YOU ARE...MOST WELCOME.”
“What is...what is to happen to us now?” Mildred asked.
“YOU ARE BOTH TO JOIN MY CHILDREN, OF COURSE. AS SUCH—”
The elevator doors opened, and two more scientists emerged, escorting an old, white-haired woman dressed in a hospital gown between them. On seeing the group already there, they stopped.
“Apologies, Mind, we did not think you were occupied,” one of the scientists said. Mildred was nonplussed to discover that she could hear his words inside her head as well as when he spoke.
“IT IS OF NO MATTER. THESE TWO ARE TO BE BROUGHT INTO THE FOLD SOON ENOUGH. I SENSE THAT YOU HAVE BROUGHT A FINAL FOR ME?”
“Yes, Mind, she is ready to join you,” the second whitecoat replied.
“I AM PLEASED AT THIS. STEP FORWARD, MY CHILD.”
The frail woman shuffled forward, barely able to stand on her own. She drooled as she walked, her eyes clouded with cataracts. When she stood at the edge of the tank, she swayed back and forth, her legs trembling.
“YOUR LONG JOURNEY IS FINALLY AT AN END. COME AND JOIN ME.”
Before Mildred could say or do anything, the old woman sighed and pitched forward—directly into the tank!
“Oh, my God! Somebody help her!” Mildred lunged forward but was caught by Morgan, who held her back with ease.
“She is being helped even now,” Morgan replied. “She is being granted the greatest gift the Mind can bestow—immortality.”
The woman splashed weakly in the sludgy fluid, but made no real effort to swim to the lip of the tank or climb onto the brain-creature itself. “It will be over soon,” Morgan said. “And then she will be one with the Mind.”
Indeed, as Mildred watched in horror, the old woman’s body was slowly being drawn toward the brain-creature. Soon she was right next to it, and began disappearing into the large mass, as if the brain were actually devouring her a bit at a time. The very last thing to disappear into the organism was her face, now with a blank, peaceful expression on it. But before it did, her mouth opened, and the slug-like parasite that had been living inside her emerged to splash into the nutrient pool. Mildred felt her gorge rise, but kept it down with an effort.
“That is our fate when each of us grows too old to sustain one of the children inside us,” Morgan said as he released her. “Our bodies are absorbed back into the Mind, and our collective intelligence is joined with it forever. And fortunately for both of you, this also means that a symbiote is available, so that you can join with the Mind, as well.”
“What? Thank you for the uh, generous offer, but I don’t wish to be any part of—this.” Mildred began backing away, but bumped into the pair of doctors behind her. Before she could get away, each of them grabbed one of her arms, and held it tightly.
“I understand your reluctance, I truly do,” Morgan said as he walked toward her. “It is unnatural to think of something else living inside you, something that you feel doesn’t belong there.” He shook his head. “But you couldn’t be more wrong. The symbiotes protect us, they heal us and ensure that our bodies and minds are the very best they can be. We are no longer susceptible to disease or injury, and our life span is greatly extended.” He waved at the tank. “The woman you saw go to join the Mind today? She was one hundred and eight years old. She had lived her entire life here, and now she will live on forever as part of the Mind.”
“The Mind also connects us in a community that none of us had ever experienced before,” Markus said. “With everyone living and working in harmony, we have made so much more progress, unlocked so many secrets of the human mind and body, that we are on the cusp of achieving major breakthroughs in creating the next stage in human evolution as well, to catch up with the wonder that is the Mind’s symbiotes.”
Phieks nodded. “And once the secondary colony is established—”
“ENOUGH. IT IS TIME TO UNIFY THESE TWO WITH US.”
“Yes, Mind....” Morgan and the doctors answered in unison. The two doctors marched a struggling Mildred toward the large tank. As she got closer, she saw the symbiote ooze up onto its lip, dripping wetly with the sludge the brain-thing rested in. It reared as it sensed her approach.
Mildred twisted and squirmed, but the hands pinioning her arms were unmovable. Her two captors applied pressure on her shoulders and back, forcing her to bend closer to the quivering parasite. “No, no, you can’t make me! I’ll bite its fucking head off first—”
“THE ONE CALLED MILDRED WYETH SHALL NOT BE HOSTING THIS SYMBIOTE.”
Immediately, the doctors froze, holding Mildred only inches from the questing slug. “What will happen with her, Mind?” Morgan asked.
“I FIND MILDRED WYETH TO BE WORTHY OF ASSISTING WITH OUR CONTINUED EXPANSION. SHE WILL BE GIFTED WITH A QUEEN SYMBIOTE, TO CREATE YET ANOTHER REMOTE COLONY. WE HAVE BEEN EXECUTING OUR EXPANSION PLANS INCORRECTLY, MY CHILDREN. ONCE A QUEEN IS INSIDE HER, WE WILL RELEASE HER BACK AMONG THE OTHERS, AND SHE WILL BE OUR IMPLEMENT TO BRING THEM ALL INTO OUR COLONY.”
“Your will be done, Mind,” Morgan and the doctors replied.
“But what of the symbiote that is ready now?” Phieks asked.
“JENNIFER THERAS SERVED US WELL AS HEAD OF SECURIT
Y FOR MANY YEARS. JUDGING FROM THE INFORMATION I HAVE GATHERED FROM OUR PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN CARRYING OUT THE MISSIONS AGAINST THE TARGET POPULATION OUTSIDE THE COMPLEX, THE EXPERIENCE GATHERED BY HER AND HER SYMBIOTE WILL SERVE OUR NEW HEAD OF SECURITY—THE ONE CALLED RYAN CAWDOR—EQUALLY WELL. BRING THEM TOGETHER NOW.”
“No!” Mildred lunged forward, lashing out with a foot to try to smash the slug in front of her, but was hauled away from the tank before she could connect. “Ryan? Ryan! Fight! Move! Do something!”
She saw his muscles quiver impotently, but the drug in his system held him fast as Morgan wheeled his chair to the tank. The slug glided over the side and flopped onto Ryan’s lap. Morgan pried open Ryan’s jaw as the symbiote started climbing up his chest.
Held fast, Mildred could only scream as it got closer and closer to his open mouth....
Chapter Twenty-Six
By midday, Krysty and the others, along with the remaining Silvertide members, had accounted for everything they had left. The final tally was four of the collective members killed in the flood, and six they assumed were missing, instead of washed away to die. That didn’t count Ryan or Mildred.
They had also found two of the previously missing collective members, both drowned. There was no obvious sign of the parasites, and without Mildred on-site to verify that they were clean, Krysty and J.B. weren’t keen on keeping the bodies around for too long. Fortunately, neither was the rest of the collective, and all of the dead were burned in a pyre while a prayer was said over their bodies by Elder Chreis.
Along with the earlier damage inventory, it was found that two more of the wagons were disabled enough so that it would be at least a day before the train could get underway again. The overall mood of the group, already sullen before this news, had turned downright hostile, particularly in regards to their sec personnel. Krysty was already partially aware of that—even if she hadn’t seen the dark glares leveled at them, she could sense the emotional mood of the group.
Elder Chreis had shared the news with them once everyone had come back together at the new camp. “Sister Krysty, a word, if you please.”
“J.B., come with us,” she said as she walked a few yards away with the older man. “What’s going on?”
To his credit, Chreis looked pained at being the bearer of this bad news. “There has been much talk among the rest of the collective about whether to follow your sec directives anymore. Many feel that your group is at least partially responsible for the situation we are now in—”
“Just a second,” J.B. interrupted. “Are you people trying to blame us for the fireblasted weather?”
“Let the man finish, J.B.,” Krysty said. “Go on.”
“You must understand—” The older man looked around before he continued speaking. “We are a simple people, who follow the Lord’s word in all things. As such, that makes many of our populace... Well, rather superstitious.”
“Careful. That sounds suspiciously like educated words coming from your mouth,” Krysty said with a smile to reassure him that she was kidding.
Chreis smiled back and nodded. “I knew you were clever ones from the way you spoke. Yes, I had received some schooling back home many years ago. I was even a teacher before I decided to join the collective on its journey. It is my hope to reestablish my school when we are finally settled somewhere and train the next generation to continue driving back the darkness.”
“That’s all great, but I hardly see what that has to do with us and how we’ve been handling things,” J.B. said.
“You have to understand that many of the adults here don’t have much of an education beyond the bare minimum. Many can barely read or write, since there wasn’t all that much call for it outside whatever called for technical aspects, like the water machine. The physical skills—farming, hunting, hide tanning—are all passed down orally and by hands-on training, as the older generation passes on its skills and information to the next.”
“And with so much emphasis placed on the tools needed for survival, other aspects fall by the wayside, while certain other rituals and stories take on an oversize importance in their lives,” Krysty said.
“That’s it exactly,” Chreis agreed. “I think there are those who still believe in you and what you’re doing, but there has been a gathering of like minds in the colony—mainly from those who have recently lost members—who are saying that you people are allied with these kidnappers, and trying to lure us astray so that we’ll be easier prey for them.”
“These folks do realize that we’ve also lost two of our own to these bastards?” J.B. asked, two pink spots on his cheeks highlighting how angry he was. “To accuse us of collaborating with them takes a hell of a lot of gall—”
“Actually, I can see where they’re coming from,” Krysty said, cutting him off. “Forgive my bluntness, Chreis, but your people are more shrewd than I gave them credit for to think of this. Even with Tully and Latham witnessing what we did back at the building where we first met them, we could have arranged all that as well to insinuate ourselves more completely among your people. After all, who would suspect us after watching us kill one of our own? No one.”
“Krysty, you’re talking paranoid delusions here,” J.B. said. “If that was true, then we also would have had to set up that situation two nights ago, where we saved three people from being taken, remember? Are they saying that would have been all planned, too, including killing the three kidnappers, just to make us look good?”
“Yes,” Krysty replied flatly. “Keep in mind that I’m saying the people who are unhappy are fitting what has happened into their own narrative, to fit what they think is happening. However, that scenario does have some basis in fact.”
“How do you figure that?” J.B. asked.
“To make this work, we have to assume that these parasites are only interested in their own survival and to reproduce by whatever means necessary,” Krysty said. “With that goal in mind, and remember some of what we learned about bees, for instance, in Heaven Falls, a hive will often sacrifice members if the risk versus reward is acceptable. If they believe they have the chance to get thirty or forty new members by sacrificing three or four, they might very well go for it. In that case, inserting double agents among the target group makes perfect sense.”
“All right, all right, I get your point.” J.B. blew air out through his pursed lips. “Well, whatever you think of them, they’re still the bad guys and we’re still the good guys. That is the case, right?”
“Yes, I was just putting myself in these people’s shoes for a minute, that’s all,” Krysty replied. “Whatever our next step against the kidnappers is going to be, we’d better settle this matter before it gets any more out of hand. Chreis, can you gather everyone in a few minutes? I find it’s best to face our accusers and see if they still have the guts to confront us directly.”
“I will,” the elder replied. “Let’s meet by the double wagon your friend created. Most of our people are near it already, so it will be easy enough to gather the rest.”
“We’ll give you a few minutes to gather everyone, then we’ll head over, all right?”
“Thank you, sister.” The elder trotted toward the forlorn cluster of working wagons, with Krysty and J.B. watching him leave and not saying anything until they were sure he was out of earshot.
“You and Ricky get the truck running yet?” she asked.
J.B. nodded. “Yeah, it’ll go, but I can’t guarantee how far. Engine’s balky at best, and there might be water in the fuel line, so she may stall out on us when we least expect it.”
“All the same, it might be best to have it ready.”
“Especially if our little powwow doesn’t go as planned,” he observed soberly.
“Right. I don’t really expect them to attack us, but it only takes a minute or two for a crowd to turn into a mob. Either way, best be p
repared if that comes to pass.”
“Way ahead of you,” he replied. “While we’ve been cleaning up after the flood, I’ve been packing supplies in the truck, just in case we were going to try to head out to find that redoubt—or if we had to bug out in a hurry, for whatever reason. There’s enough in there to last us a week or two if we eat lean. The weapons, of course, are our biggest aces in the hole.”
“Exactly. When the time comes, you, me and Doc will be the ones to talk to the others. Ricky will be manning the truck, in case there’s trouble, and we’ll put Jak up on the hill with a carbine—just in case.”
J.B. nodded. “Works. Give me a minute to get the boys set up, and then we’ll head over.”
Krysty nodded, and the Armorer loped off while she checked the load in her Glock 18C before putting it back into its holster, hoping that she wouldn’t be forced to use it this day.
* * *
WHEN KRYSTY AND J.B. finally headed toward the pair of wagons, they saw that the bulk of the collective was already assembled, with clusters of men and women talking among themselves.
As the two approached, Krysty noticed that the majority of them were armed now, mostly with farm implements—pitchforks, shovels, axes—but others were carrying improvised clubs and many hands hovered uncomfortably close to the knives sheathed on their belts. The two were easily outnumbered by a factor of ten to one.
“Jak’s in position,” J.B. said as they walked up to the wagons. “Ready to face our grateful employers?”
From inside the wagon, they heard Doc’s booming baritone as he entertained the children with a fantastic story about a girl named Alice, who was apparently in the midst of a strange adventure featuring a talking rabbit and a queen who sounded as if she ruled a kingdom of playing cards.
Krysty stepped up to the side of the wagon and knocked on the gunwale. “Sorry to interrupt, Doc, but we’ve got some business to take care of, and we need you to join us.”
The old man looked from her to the kids, all of whom groaned at the interruption of their story. “I am sorry, children, but I’m afraid we’ll have to pick this up another time. Perhaps we can get together after dinner, and I will tell you how Alice escaped from the Queen of Hearts.” Catching Krysty’s nod away from the wagon, Doc got them all on their feet. “All right, little ones, everyone run along and play.”
