Chapter Eleven
Travelling Companions
“You are a numb-head!” Kelandra told Tipi as they cowered under an empty truck.
The truck had the number eighty-eight painted on the side of it. All around it people screamed and Gatherers ran in pursuit. There were distant gunshots and the flickering light of flames. But under the truck, in the even darker shadow, there was a brief peace.
“I thought it was a child!” Tipi said back to her in irritation.
He felt embarrassed and he couldn’t help it. It had been a spur of the moment thing. He had seen the figure crawling on the ground, picked it up, and then the kicking and flailing had begun. He was so surprised, so terrified of the attention that the sudden movements might bring, that he had almost thrown the slender body aside. Instead he had run on to the truck, hidden underneath it, and flung himself on top of the writhing body. He was sure he had heard a bone crack.
“A child?” Kelandra exclaimed. “Since when have you seen a child with legs as long as that?”
“Alright! So it’s not a child! But it isn’t one of them!”
“And it’s not one of us, either! Our world is being invaded, and you’re picking up stray aliens!”
“I thought it was a child!” Tipi repeated.
“Well, it isn’t! So what are you going to do with it?”
“Oh, I don’t know! And it’s not an ‘it.’ It’s a girl. And she’s not moving anymore.”
“You’ve probably squashed her!” Kelandra said almost hopefully. “I can’t even see her!”
She reached out and pulled at his shoulder, peered underneath, and then made a face at him.
“Alien child or not, she probably does need to breathe you know,” she said rather sarcastically.
Tipi raised himself up and took his hand from the face hidden underneath him. The head just lolled forward on the ground, blood on the delicate nose and tiny mouth.
“I think I’ve killed her,” he said sadly, remembering how hard she had struggled before.
“Typical! Numb-head!” Kelandra shoved at him. “Get off her!”
Tipi rolled off, leaving a very slim and long body embedded in the grass.
Kelandra shook her head. “Oh, look at that! It’s a brain on a stick!”
The truck rocked above them, filling them both with sudden fear. They both flattened themselves lower to the ground. The air was suddenly filled with very loud gunshots and shouting. Next thing the engine of the truck had roared into life.
Kelandra pulled at Tipi’s arm. “It must be people trying to get away! Come on! Before it goes!”
Without waiting to see if Tipi followed her, Kelandra rolled out from under the truck and began to climb on board. She pulled up the canvass cover and dragged herself over the wooden side. She was just in time, her legs still dangling as the wheels spun in the grass and the truck darted forward.
Kelandra landed on her head on the floor of the truck, her body and legs going over the top of her as the truck lurched and rocked violently. She had just managed to get the right way up when the truck bounced and she ended up on her face again. It didn’t get any better. The truck kept changing direction, weaving back and forth as well as bouncing up and down. Kelandra was aware that she wasn’t alone in the dark in the back of the truck only because she heard other people grunt and cry as they were all bounced and knocked about constantly. Occasionally she would bump into someone, getting a foot in the ribs or an elbow in the back of the head. But who they were she didn’t know. She didn’t even know if the numb-head boy from College was one of them. It was difficult to tell as the truck hurtled over the undulating and uneven countryside bouncing everyone around inside.
Farther north, on the far side of the ever-expanding area occupied by the Keruh Host, Anaxilea knelt among the other survivors of her crew on a quiet and deserted stretch of the road. She held her com-unit in one hand and was pressing the controls with a mixture of irritation and urgency.
“Are you sure you gave everyone one of these com-units, Celaneo?”
Celaneo nodded in the dark. She was sitting on the ground supported on her arms, her legs stretched out. “Everyone had one. Even Phoebe. And they were all fully charged.”
“Deianeira, who was with Phoebe?”
“I think it was Eumache,” Deianeira replied. She was sitting behind Aello and Thermodosa, both of whom were laying full length on the ground. They were still exhausted.
Anaxilea looked up at her. “You only think?”
Cassiopea put a hand on Anaxilea’s shoulder. “It was Eumache. Don’t be angry with Deianeira. It isn’t her fault.”
“I know whose fault it is,” Anaxilea told her, her expression giving away the identity of the guilty party.
Anaxilea held the com-unit up to her mouth. “This is Anaxilea to any crew of the Furnace of Charity. If you’re alive, come in.”
The com-unit crackled with static but nothing else. Anaxilea tried again.
“Anaxilea to any survivors from the Furnace of Charity. Phoebe, answer me!”
There was more static, and then the sudden sound of a voice. Despite the distortion, its origins were unmistakable.
“Where are you?” it hissed. “Tell us and we will fetch you.”
Anaxilea stared at the com-unit in horror. And then another voice rang out. This time the voice was stronger, female, and far more urgent.
“Are you mad, Lea? What are you thinking? Head north, and break those com-units before the Keruh triangulate on your positions! You know they can do it! Break them now!”
Anaxilea dropped the com-unit instantly. She smacked it with her fist, but it didn’t break. She picked it up again and began banging it on the ground. It still wouldn’t break. She dropped it again, her fingers flexing and curling as she looked around for a stone or something with which to break the com-unit. Then a large foot stepped on it and the com-unit was crushed flat. Anaxilea looked up to see Breda standing over her.
Cassiopea threw her com-unit to the ground, Celaneo doing the same. Breda crushed them both. As all the other Klysanthians crawled forward and threw their com-units onto the pile, Breda crushed them all.
With the last com-unit broken, there was a brief moment of relief. Then Anaxilea slumped to the ground and beat her fists on the concrete.
“I am such a fool! It was the most basic, childish mistake!”
Cassiopea went to her side. “You had to try. We all know that. We all understand.”
Anaxilea looked up at her with tears in her eyes. “It could get us all killed! You heard the voice! The Keruh don’t take prisoners! They must have taken the com-unit off one of the bodies! They could have taken it off Phoebe’s...”
Anaxilea couldn’t finish the sentence. She just collapsed on the ground, sobbing. Cassiopea tried to pull her up.
“Stop it, Lea! Enough! You had to try. Now we know. Now come on. We have to get moving again. You heard Scyleia. We go north, quickly, before the Keruh come this way looking for us.”
It was no use. It was like trying to lift up a dead weight. Anaxilea just lay slumped on the ground, the spirit gone from her. It was up to Cassiopea to get them all moving again.
“All of you, back on your feet! Clyemne! Look after the Edenite! See if she knows where there is any water to wash this muck off before it begins to corrode our skin! Philippis, help me with Anaxilea! Deianeira, Aello, pick up those rifles! Celaneo, wake up Thermodosa! Get up, the lot of you!”
Reluctantly, they all began to get back on their feet. It seemed as if they had hardly rested at all. Anaxilea was the last to be lifted from the ground, and Cassiopea needed every bit of help she got from Philippis to do it. It seemed that Anaxilea just didn’t want to move.
“Come on, Lea!” Cassiopea begged her. “Don’t fall apart now! We need you!”
Philippis also pleaded with her. “Listen to Pea, Anaxilea. We do need you. We believe in you. We would have all died in the Charity. You told
us to run from the ship, and you were right. After all we went through, it would be a shame to give up now and just lie here and wait for the Keruh to find us.”
Anaxilea nodded slowly. “All right,” she said in a tired voice. “It’s alright. I know. I’m Captain. I’m Matriarch. I’m responsible, for me and for you. I’m all right now. You can let me go now.”
Philippis and Cassiopea let go of her and she stood on her own at last. She wiped the tears from her face with her hand and noticed the black muck on her skin. She turned quickly and called out with more strength, “Clyemne? Where’s that water?”
Clyemne was already standing next to Breda. “Give me a chance!” she called back.
“We haven’t got time!” Anaxilea told her. “Because of my stupidity several Keruh Warriors could already be on their way here! We have to move quickly! Find us some water to drink and wash in.”
While everyone waited and listened, Clyemne took Breda gently by the hand.
“Water? Is there? Somewhere?” she asked hopefully in Edenite.
Breda’s eyes slowly focussed on her. It had taken a moment for the delicate sound of Clyemne’s voice to register. Until then, the Klysanthians conversations had sounded like a musical symphony to Breda.
“You can speak Edenite?” she said in a timid voice.
Clyemne nodded. “Many languages speak most of us can. But practise need.”
The Edenite words were very clear, but the tones were far too delicate and musical. It was almost as if Clyemne was singing to her. But there was something else not quite right.
“You get some of the words the wrong way round.”
Clyemne smiled. “Need more practise.” She reached out with her hand, but then hesitated for a moment, her long fingers flexing. Then she pulled some of the black muck from Breda’s hair. “Must wash this off. It will damage the skin. Cause pain. Is there any water near here? Or to the north?”
Breda thought for a moment, trying to remember the geography of the area she was now in. Finally she nodded.
“Yes. I’ll show you. This way.”
“Is it toward the north?”
“Does it matter?”
Impatiently, Anaxilea called out in Edenite, “Only if live! You want to!”
Breda paused to think again, and then she nodded. “Yes, it’s to the north. But we’ll have to leave the road.”
Anaxilea didn’t need to be told a second time. “Good!” she said in Klysanthian. “It’s probably best that we keep off the road for a bit. Tell her to lead the way, Clyemne!”
Clyemne smiled at Breda again. “Show us. Please?”
Bouncing around in the back of the truck, Kelandra didn’t know which way was up or which way was forward. At any moment she thought her arms and legs would come off. The violent bouncing and rocking seemed to go on forever, but with another final and enormous bounce and a screech of tyres, it suddenly stopped. The truck now accelerated evenly. It was going in a straight line and everything was suddenly stable and firm.
Kelandra rolled over and sat up, gasping. Her eyes began to focus in the dim light and she could finally see who her travelling companions were. There was a soldier, two women, and a man. They all looked battered and dirty. The man had a bandaged arm, his sleeve cut away, and there were cuts and grazes on his head. One of the women also had a bandage around her head. They were all scattered around on the floor in different positions of disarray after being tossed about and thoroughly shaken. The boy from College was also there, lying on the floor of the truck. He hadn’t come empty handed, and as everyone stared around at one another in the dark, all eyes gradually became fixed on the slender body sprawled on the floor in the middle of them all.
“It’s a Klysanthian,” said the woman with the bandaged head. “Where did she come from?”
The soldier scrambled forward and grabbed Phoebe by the scruff of the neck. He held her up like a rag doll, her arms hanging limply by her sides. “They’re in league with the Keruh!” he snarled angrily, shaking her. “We should kill her!”
He clamped a hand around her tiny neck and it looked like he was going to carry out his threat there and then, but the others in the truck quickly gathered around him, their protests causing him to hesitate.
“Stop that!” one woman said.
“Don’t be so cruel!” the other woman added. “She’s obviously hurt! Leave her alone!”
As the two women wrestled the limp and slender body away from the disheartened soldier, the other man in the truck added his weight to the argument.
“You can’t just kill someone out of hand like that! We have to hear her story first!”
The soldier turned on him, his anger renewed, happy to have a man to argue with instead of the fussing women. “They attacked the landing fields at Nemen and Kalahar! They’re the enemy!”
“And we signed a treaty with the Keruh. That makes us their enemy, not the other way round. It’s us that have changed sides. It’s us that have been damn stupid. The Klysanthians have been at war with the Keruh from the beginning. Everyone knows that. Now calm down.”
The soldier slumped down in a corner, rubbing his head with his hands. His green armour was all grubby and dirty, and he suddenly looked very tired.
The man now turned to Kelandra and Tipi. “Where did you two come from? Were you hiding in here?”
Kelandra shook her head. “We were hiding underneath. We climbed in when we heard it going.”
“Are your parents with you?”
“No. We were both at the College of Learning. Our truck crashed and we were the only ones who survived.”
Kelandra had answered quickly, hardly thinking about what she was saying. The tears only welled up in her eyes afterward. The man nodded sadly and stroked her hair comfortingly.
“We’ve all had a bad time. Don’t think about it. Just be thankful that you’re alive. And keep in your mind the hope that those you love are alive too. Alright?”
Kelandra nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. The man smiled encouragingly and let go of her.
There were other sniffs and more tears from the two women as they laid Phoebe out on the floor of the truck and began gently straightening and feeling her body. They also had loved ones to worry about and experiences that were best forgotten. Now that the carnage and fear was over, they needed to be able to do something almost normal. Looking after Phoebe gave them that chance, and they seized it gratefully.
Tipi watched the women as they tended to Phoebe.
“I brought the Klysanthian,” he admitted. “I did it without thinking. I just saw her and picked her up. She was alive when I found her. Is she alright?”
The woman with the bandaged head looked up when she heard Tipi’s question. She sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes, and then she nodded and smiled weakly.
“She’s alive, but she has some broken bones. Klysanthians are so tiny, you have to be careful or you can hurt them more.”
As if to emphasis the point, Phoebe moved and moaned as the other woman found her damaged ribcage. The woman nodded.
“That must be where the blood’s coming from. I bet her lung’s punctured. We need some bandages.”
Without saying anything, the soldier unclipped a first-aid kit from under one of the benches and handed it to one of the women. The woman smiled at him.
“Thank you.”
Things settled down in the truck after that. Kelandra, being curious, asked everyone their names, finding out a little bit about them all. She even found out Tipi’s name for the first time. And unlike Tipi and Kelandra, their new travelling companions hadn’t all started out in the same truck; they had all ended up together by chance in the dark and confusion.
The soldier’s name was Bede. There were two other soldiers in the cab. They were in the same unit under Colonel Falamunus. The man with the bandaged arm was called Lupili. Like the two women he was a survivor from Jutlam City. The woman with the bandaged
head was called Rualda. She had worked in linguistics and alien studies for a news station. The other woman was called Jeddra. She was a housewife who had simply been out shopping.
With the introductions over, there wasn’t much more to talk about that wouldn’t bring on depression, so Kelandra quickly gave up. She sat back on the bench next to Tipi. Tipi looked across at her.
“Your nose is bleeding,” he said, reaching out to her nose.
It was the slightest touch, but Kelandra moved her head away, wiping at the thin trickle of blood and sniffing. “It must have been when I was bouncing around. It’s nothing.” She looked back at him. “You don’t look too good, either.”
Tipi nodded, but didn’t reply.
No one spoke for a while. The two men sat in silence facing each other at the back of the truck, their thoughts their own, while the two women looked after Phoebe on the floor near the front of the truck. Tipi and Kelandra were sitting on the bench near to them and watched as the women opened Phoebe’s jacket. Kelandra winced at the sight of Phoebe’s damaged ribs.
“One of the bones is poking out—can I help?”
“Of course you can,” Jeddra said, and handed her a roll of bandages from the first aid kit. “Here, take this while we put her bones back in place.”
Kelandra instantly got off the bench and went to help. Tipi was left on his own, watching as his charge was now tended to by three women.
Tipi suddenly felt sort of jealous. For some reason, he had liked holding the slender body in his arms. Now as he saw her exposed chest and stomach he realised how she was totally the wrong shape. She was tiny, her breasts round and full but somehow far too small. And her waist was probably smaller than his arm. When he seriously thought about it, nothing about her should have stirred his interest. But he had liked holding her none-the-less. Now others held her and fussed over her. But at least she was alive. For a while Tipi had been sure that he had crushed her to death. Some of her broken bones were probably down to him. He suddenly felt depressed.
Phoebe cried out like a child and her legs kicked as her ribs were pushed back into position by powerful fingers. It was obviously painful, but probably beneficial. A dressing was put over the wound in her side, and the bandages were wrapped tightly around her. Soon they enveloped her from chest to hip.
The women had only just finished their ministrations, and Rualda was still pulling Phoebe’s jacket back into place, when the truck suddenly screeched to a halt.
Everyone looked around, startled, but the soldier came instantly to life. Bede jumped up, threw back the canvass cover and looked out. There was nothing to be seen except empty road. Hanging out over the tailgate, he looked toward the front of the truck and began to shout toward the cab.
“Alpi! Vutu! What’s up?”
A head poked out of the cab window and looked back. “Keep everyone inside, Bede! The radio’s on! The column has been ordered back to Jutlam City!”
Bede couldn’t believe his ears. “Jutlam City? That’s crazy!”
“Shut up! We’re trying to listen!”
The head disappeared back into the cab. Bede gave up. He levered himself back inside the truck, dropped the canvass flap, and sat down on the bench. He looked around at everyone. They were all staring back at him. He shook his head in confusion.
“I can’t understand it. They can’t order us back to Jutlam City. The place is crawling with Keruh Warriors. It doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe we should wait until we hear the whole story,” Lupili suggested.
Bede nodded, and then there was a crackle of static and another voice rang out. The voice was slightly hoarse, but it was still angelic compared to the average voice of an Edenite; it almost tinkled with beauty and musicality. “This is Anaxilea to any crew of the Furnace of Charity. If you’re alive, come in.”
Everyone jumped and began to look around, expecting to see someone hiding in the shadows.
Bede said what they were all thinking. “Who the hell was that?”
Rualda looked more surprised than anyone. “It was somebody called Anaxilea,” she told them all. “She was calling any survivors from her ship. She spoke in Klysanthian. I can understand it.”
Bede wasn’t interested. “Never mind what she said, where’s it coming from?”
Rualda looked down at Phoebe. “Maybe it’s that square thing attached to her belt?”
Lupili leaned forward and unclipped it. As he held it up, it burst into life again.
“Anaxilea to any survivors from the Furnace of Charity. Phoebe, answer me!”
Lupili hastily thrust it toward the soldier. As soon as Bede had it in his hands, a much more menacing voice was heard.
“Where are you?” it hissed. “Tell us and we will fetch you.”
Almost instantly, another female voice rang out. It was even more angelic and tone perfect than the first voice.
“Are you mad, Lea? What are you thinking? Head north, and break those com-units before the Keruh triangulate on your positions! You know they can do it! Break them now!”
Bede stared at the small com-unit in his hands. He seemed to freeze. In contrast, Rualda was now manic. She dived forward grabbing for the com-unit.
“Break it! Break it!” she almost screamed.
Bede snatched it out of her reach. “Why?” he said. “This could be useful.”
“Because the Klysanthian said that the Keruh can track it! She said something about using it to focus on our position! She said to break it!”
Jeddra didn’t believe her. “Are you sure? Your Klysanthian might not be that good.”
“She said to break it!” Rualda insisted.
And Lupili added, “You could be mistaken.”
Bede stared at the com-unit in his hand while the others argued about whether to break it or not to break it. What the Klysanthian might or might not have said he was unsure of. But there was one thing he was sure of. That had been a Keruh Warrior he heard talking, and if the Keruh could detect and transmit signals on this radio, they could do it on others.
In a sudden motion, Bede threw the com-unit to the floor and stamped on it.
Everyone looked down at the crushed mechanism and there was sudden silence.
The canvass flap was thrown up and the figure of a soldier appeared, startling everyone and causing Kelandra and one of the women to scream.
“What’s the racket?” the soldier asked.
Bede instantly grabbed him. “Never mind about that, Alpi! Did you use the radio?”
Alpi looked surprised. “Of course we did. Vutu’s still talking to HQ. That’s what I’m here to—”
“Break the radio!” Bede interrupted him. “Now! The Keruh can detect and track radio frequency devices!”
Alpi was now confused as well as surprised. “How do you know that?”
Bede looked toward the others in the truck for some support. Lupili supplied it. He spoke very calmly.
“We have a wounded Klysanthian in here. She had a radio, and someone from her ship was advising any survivors to break their radios because the Keruh can track them. Don’t ask me how.”
Alpi still looked confused, but Bede drove the point home. “If they can detect our radio receivers from more than one location, even when we aren’t using them, then they can map all our positions!”
Alpi stared at him as the thought finally penetrated his mind. He quickly dropped down from the tailgate and ran back toward the front of the truck.
“Vutu!” he shouted urgently. “The Keruh can track our radio receivers! Advise HQ and then trash the rig!”
Bede dropped the tailgate down and chased after Alpi. Everyone else began to climb out of the truck and follow him. Soon they were all gathered around the open door of the cab listening to the same confused discussion. It followed the same pattern, finally reaching the same conclusion after which there was a hasty exchange over the radio before it was clubbed to death with a rifle butt.
>
With the deed done, there was relief among them all. But it didn’t last long. They all stood about in the dark next to the truck, thinking the same thing.
Vutu leaned out of the cab and looked down at everyone. “Now what do we do?”
Lupili turned to Bede. “You said something about going back to Jutlam City.”
Bede shook his head. “I can’t understand that at all. It’s crazy.”
Alpi said, “Forget that. It doesn’t matter.”
Bede looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“That’s what I was coming to tell you before. We’re on the wrong side of the Keruh Host. To get back to Jutlam City we would have to drive back right through the middle of them. And I don’t fancy that, do you?”
Elengrad was silent and still. The broken and burned out buildings were just empty skeletons of stone and steel. The streets were deserted, and the wide pavements and squares were devoid of any flora. Everything was gone, grass, trees, everything. The earth was black and bare. The vehicles that lay scattered and abandoned in the streets were stripped to the metal. Anything edible was gone, even the tyres and seat covers.
There were no bodies.
At the Keruh portal nothing moved. The scene was as silent and still as the rest of the city. All around were the deep craters left by the bombardment from the Edenite ships and aircraft. Debris lay everywhere. One of the maser batteries had been hit, its large, steel-reinforced casing blown open. It now lay at an angle, the metal ruptured and twisted. The other maser batteries lay still, dormant, waiting.
It was an alien scene, the land broken and barren, the darkness adding to the uneasy feeling of foreboding.
Occasionally a single maser blast would hit the ground, throwing up the earth and rock. One or more of the maser batteries would reply, sending a bright pulse of energy hurtling back into the night sky. The exchanges were more token then effective. In general, nothing moved. There was silence and stillness everywhere. The vast Host that had spread out over the land were nowhere to be seen. But they were still there, heaving and swarming in great numbers.
Soon after the portal had been established, the Keruh had brought through another form of their kind. Unlike the Warriors, Gatherers or Receivers who made their presence felt almost immediately, the presence of this creature on Eden was still unknown. But it was equally effective. Although its purpose in life wasn’t for foraging or for war, it was built just as strongly as those that were. It possessed heavily armoured and massive upper body parts, with huge jaws and tremendous arms and hands. Each heavy hand had armoured plates and long wide fingers with great claws on the end. Its lower body was minuscule in comparison, and it walked with more weight on its great arms and hands than on its wide, clawed feet. Totally blind, the purpose of this creature was simple. Here was the builder of the Hive, the engineer and tunneller.
The Diggers.
Spreading out from the very edge of the portal, the Diggers had begun to tunnel deep under the land as soon as they had arrived. While the Gatherers and Receivers toiled overhead, they busied themselves underneath creating a complex and large tunnel system. It was an instinct bred over millions of years since the very first beginnings of life. But here no Hive would be built; here there were no great caverns and storage areas. Only swift passage back to the portal was required, swift and safe from attack.
As the Host spread out over the land, the Diggers pursued them underneath it. Soon they had moved far enough away from the portal to break out from the ground for the first time. Now the Gatherers and Receivers returning with their bounty climbed down into the new tunnels and returned to the portal underground, while those coming forth from the portal fresh and empty traversed other tunnels before climbing up into the starlight.
But with the Host spreading outwards all the time, and with the Diggers keeping up their relentless toil beneath them, these first entrances and exits were soon overtaken and replaced by others farther up the line. And as the area covered by the Host increased, so did the tunnel system underneath them. More tunnels grew out from the first, until a complex system of tunnels criss-crossed the land. And soon the only surface movements of the Host were at the fringes where the food was still plentiful. Behind them, where the land was barren and swept clean, all was stillness and silent. But beneath the surface the constant comings and goings from the portal increased even more.
The Edenite ships may have heavily bombarded the area around the portal, but the Host now moved about their business deep underground, oblivious to the impacts and the attacks. They were just distant rumbles.
Eden was now part of the combined Hives, joined by the portal across the vast distances of space. And slowly, relentlessly, everything consumable, even the soil dug from the ground itself, was being stripped away.
The Friendly Ambassador: The Beginning of the End Page 12
