Horizon Beta

by D. W. Vogel

  Two boys that had disappeared over a week ago lay alongside the beasts, their heads on the edge and bodies in the water. Their chests were sunken, cheeks sagging under dull skin. Only their slow breathing and the darting of their wide eyes hinted that they still lived. An older woman lay next to them in the same state.

  Their bellies were squirming masses of larvae. Beast and Lowform alike were covered in giant larvae, each as thick as my thigh and as long as my forearm. Shiny and pale, their bodies waved in the shallow water, heads buried in the living flesh of their hosts. And beside them all lay the Feral from the beach, the pale thing that had burst from the trees and run straight for me. He had been stripped of his clothing, the eggs on his belly large and glistening.

  The Master dragged me into the next room. Four of the water beasts were already positioned around the shallow pool, submerging the eggs cemented into their gray skin in the warm water. Gil and Jerome had been laid next to them, faces out and bodies in. Their chests rose and fell slowly, making ripples in the dirty water. Their bellies were covered in eggs, tunics pulled up around their necks. The Master laid me next to Jerome.

  I struggled to move, but my arms and legs felt as if they were no longer attached to my head. My eyes moved a bit, but I couldn’t turn my head to meet the gaze of the boys on each side of me. It was just as well. What could our panicked eyes have shared?

  There was no illusion in my mind. This was how I would die. Emotions warred inside my still body as I lay there in the pool, listening to the quiet breaths of the water beasts, my friends, and myself. Was there any higher honor than to die for the Queen? To give my body to nourish new Masters? In a tiny way, I would be part of those Masters who were born of my flesh. Though I would die, I might live in them.

  Idiot. You’re nothing to them. You’re no better than a stupid water beast. Worse, actually. You walked willingly to your own death.

  The thought seemed to come from some other Noah. Never in my fifteen years could I have imagined such treacherous ideas.

  But it’s true. You’re no different than a shellfish. They harvest you and still you thank them for it.

  I wanted to scream, but no sound came from my throat.

  The glowing blue walls faded to black overhead in the quiet cavern.

  ***

  My finger twitched. It made a little splashing sound in the water.

  It’s wearing off. Maybe you can escape.

  I concentrated, willing the finger to twitch again.

  The finger was stubborn, but my right toe responded.

  Yes! That’s it. Move the foot. Stand up. Run.

  I was almost able to wiggle my whole right foot when my vision darkened as a Master loomed over me. Its tail made a whooshing noise as it swung around to sting me, but I felt nothing.

  My foot went still.

  ***

  The betrayal was agony.

  I trusted them. Worshiped them. Our magnificent Masters, who cared for us and protected us . . . how could they use me like this?

  Because it’s what you were born for. They are great, and you are small. Be glad you can serve in this way.

  The unuttered scream rose in my throat. We breathed in darkness.

  Chapter 10

  Noah

  I couldn’t count how many times the cycle repeated. A tiny part of me would tingle, angry shards poking from the inside of my skin. I would struggle to move, to regain control of my limbs. The Masters would return and sting me back into paralysis. It could have been hours, days, or weeks. I was dimly aware of Jerome and Gil on each side of me. Were the same thoughts of betrayal and rage pounding in their minds? Did they remain loyal to the Queen? With each passing moment, the anguish grew. I hated her. I hated them. The Queen I had so revered was nothing more than a pale, fat, egg-spewing monster, crouching in darkness in a room she had grown to fill. If I could have moved, I’d have run in to her chamber and ripped her head from her thorax. I imagined how it would taste as I lay there. My mandibles would crush her old carapace, and the juice from her body would run down my armor.

  You don’t have mandibles. You’re a Lowform.

  But the image wouldn’t leave my brain.

  ***

  The eggs hatched.

  ***

  I couldn’t feel the larvae that buried their heads into the skin of my belly. There was no pain as they started to suck the life from my body. My rage grew with each wave of their slimy tails, splashing in the water.

  ***

  My left index finger twitched. My left toe. The angry shard pain needled into my right calf, cramping the muscle. Where the larvae burrowed into my skin, it started to sting, the numbness of the venom wearing off. My vision darkened with the shadow of a Master. Three of them crowded around us and I waited for the sting that would take the pain away. Just a few more. Soon they’ll have taken all I have to give, and this final nightmare will end.

  The Masters didn’t sting us.

  They lifted us out of the water in turns, running their feelers over the larvae on our bellies. The clicking they made was so fast I couldn’t understand them. My back burned as they dragged me out of the water, pulling my wet tunic down to cover the larvae.

  My arm twitched, and my head lolled to the side as a Master Digger picked me up in its strong forelimbs. Leaving the water beasts in the pools, they carried me, Gil, and Jerome out of the chamber and into the dark corridor beyond.

  ***

  My body was wracked with pain. Every inch of my skin screamed with fire as the Masters’ paralyzing venom wore off. Great spasms lurched through me, and the Master carrying me tightened its grip. I had no control over my arms and legs, flailing them around like a waterbug held in the air.

  They carried us through passages I had never entered, beyond the boundary where Lowforms were allowed. In a dark hallway, they paused. Noise echoed down the cavern, crashes and bangs, and the harsh screams of Lowforms. In a moment, another Master appeared. It did not click to the ones that carried us, but they followed it up and up.

  Light brightened the caverns, and the air smelled fresher. I struggled against the Master that carried me, and it clicked at me to be silent. We entered a hall I recognized, the one that led to the chamber where our huge vats of green slime sat in the sunny chamber that faced the sky. The Masters carried us into that huge room. The holes that led to the sky were covered in cloth now, as they always were during the pollen storm. The chamber was dim. No one stirred, Lowform or Master. Where had everyone gone?

  The Masters clicked. “Wait. Still. Silent.”

  They dumped us on the floor and scuttled away.

  “Noah?”

  Jerome’s voice sounded like rocks rubbing together.

  “I’m here,” I said, sounding just the same.

  “What . . . what’s going on?”

  I shoved my elbows up under my back, raising up. All three of us were hidden behind the slime vat. Jerome and Gil were still lying flat, but both were moving their arms and legs, flexing their fingers. The moving bulges under their tunics looked the same as mine.

  Larvae. They were still eating us alive.

  “We have to get these things off us,” I grunted. “They’re sucking us dead.”

  I struggled to push myself up against the outer wall of the chamber, shoving my feet into the hard ground. The solid wall tore at my back, but I pushed with my legs, arms splayed against the flat wall. When my fingers found purchase in one of the holes that let sunlight in, I grasped it and hauled myself up. My head felt heavy and soggy, like I’d just come up from too deep a dive. I leaned against the wall and pulled up my sopping wet tunic.

  Underneath, the larvae squirmed on my belly. My hands still felt like they belonged to someone else as I grasped one of the larvae and pulled. The shock of pain sent me sliding back against the wall.

  They’re sucked on to you. Pry them off like a shellfish.

  I stuck a finger under the rim of one
of the larva’s mouth where it joined my skin. With a wet, popping sound, the seal broke. It flailed around in my hand. The sticky white goo that had cemented the eggs to my belly was still smeared all over me and I couldn’t drop the writhing maggot. I tried to wipe it on the side of the slime vat but my hand stuck.

  Finally I plunged my hand into the slime. The sticky goo let go and the larva dropped away into the murky depth.

  One by one I pulled the larvae off, washing them away into the giant vat. The last one held tighter than the rest, and was bigger. It sucked on to my hand as I pulled it free of my belly, and I had to peel it off under the slime. When I was free of the last larva, I looked down at my belly. The skin oozed blood from dozens of perfect rings where the larvae had attached to me. I pulled my tunic back down and turned to help Jerome and Gil, who were just struggling to their feet.

  “Pull them off,” I said. “They’re really sticky. You have to wash them off in the slime or they just stay glued on to you.”

  A harsh clicking cut me off. The three Masters surrounded us and grabbed us, pinning our arms to our sides and lifting us like we were nothing.

  You are. To them, you are nothing.

  They each waved their feelers over my tunic and clicked fast.

  “Silent. Leave.”

  I had no idea what they were talking about. I wanted to scream, but what would I say? The Hive was full of Masters. All the Lowforms together weren’t a quarter of their number, and four Lowforms would barely match the strength of one. Who would I cry out to?

  They carried us out of the food chamber and down the hallway toward a small, side entrance to the Hive. In the doorway, they paused. Outside, the pollen storm raged. The air was full of tiny red dust particles that covered everything. Pollen storms lasted two days each month, when the moons aligned. Every forty-three days it happened, and the Lowforms including myself would have to venture out of the Hive without the protection of our Masters. The Masters hated the pollen. They always stayed safe behind our mud walls, or deep in the tunnels below until the smaller insects cleared the pollen from the hard ground. Would they carry us outside now?

  They dropped us in the doorway and held us by the shoulders. Smaller shadows filled the entrance. They smelled unfamiliar, but their shapes were like ours.

  Ferals.

  Right here in our Hive.

  The Masters held us and the Ferals grabbed our hands, winding woven rope around our wrists, binding us tight. They nodded to the Masters, who shoved us out into the storm, tethered to the Ferals. Gil, Jerome, and I were pulled from the Hive, stumbling along behind the Ferals that clutched our binding ropes.

  “No!” I shouted into the hot, red wind. But no Master came to save me.

  The Ferals tugged our ropes, and we ran across the open field in the haze of the storm.

  Chapter 11

  Noah

  We ran straight down into the Forbidden Zone. I slammed on the brakes as soon as I realized where the Ferals were taking us, but they tugged on my rope, pulling me over the edge. I could barely see the hulking shapes, squinting in the red wind. My eyes streamed with tears and my nose ran.

  “We can’t . . .” I began, but the Feral holding my rope jerked my arms and I had no choice but to follow.

  The shapes were so much bigger up close. They towered over my head, not as tall as the Hive, but longer. Some were bigger than others, and as we passed into their shadows, I realized they were made of the same metal as my prybar, and the odd little tubes I’d used to build the strange seat during the Ranking. A million years ago, or a few days? I wasn’t sure. Creeping plants covered most of the surfaces, and some had great openings in their sides, mouths yawning to darkness. Every shape was different, and most appeared severely damaged, caved in and smashed. The ground around was pockmarked from what must have been a huge fall of the rocks that sometimes rained from the sky.

  We jogged past the shapes and climbed the hill on the other side. Red pollen filled my nostrils and burned my eyes. My strength was flagging, and I slipped, dropping to my knees. The Feral pulled me up by the rope.

  “I know you’re tired,” it said. “But we have to get clear before the pollen ends.”

  I goggled at it. Ferals could talk? I remembered the one from the beach. How long ago was it? Felt like years. It had tried to talk as the Soldier’s venom flooded its body. Now this Feral spoke the Lowform language.

  “You can—“ I began, but it pulled at my arms.

  “Save your breath. We’ll stop for a break once we’re into the mountains.”

  My mind whirled as I followed. The Lowform was male, I could tell that now. He was a lot older than me. All four of the Lowforms that were pulling us along were older males. Could they all talk? I glanced over to Gil and Jerome, but they were plodding along, eyes on the ground. They looked even worse than I felt.

  In the low, rocky hills, we paused. The Ferals took out water skins and poured them over the fronts of our tunics before giving us drinks. I realized their clothing was not like ours, but fit much closer around their waists and legs. They wore some kind of thick, stitched hides on their feet.

  “You can talk?” I asked the one that held my rope.

  He rolled his eyes. “Of course we can talk. What kind of nonsense do those monsters feed you there?”

  I shook my head. “Ferals are stupid, like waterbugs. They look like us, but they’re not like us. Not worthy of the Hive.” The treacherous part of me snickered. Not worthy to get sucked dry by a bunch of maggots?

  The Feral spat on the ground. “Worthy of the Hive. Listen to you. Brainwashed from the minute you’re born.” He sighed. “Look, kid. I know this has to seem crazy right now. And I wish there was time to explain everything. But right now you just have to trust us. We’re saving your lives.” He glanced into the mountain pass where we were headed. “All of our lives.”

  They fed us some unfamiliar food, soft and chewy, and mostly devoid of flavor. After another quick drink of water, they helped us to our feet and led us farther into the mountains.

  ***

  We spent the night in a cave on the mountain, shivering on the wet, cold ground. The Ferals kept us bound and tied us to their own waists. They sat us on opposite sides of the cave so we had no chance to untie each other. Jerome looked pale, and two of the Ferals crowded around him. I could hear them whispering, and I had a million questions, but was too exhausted to ask them. I passed out on the ground and woke stiff and sore.

  I looked around, blinking in the glow of pre-dawn. The Feral I was tied to grunted and rolled over. I sat up quietly. Gil was still asleep on one side of the cave, and Jerome on the other.

  “Gil,” I whispered, eyeing the sleeping Ferals. “Gil, wake up. We need to get out of here.”

  He twitched in his sleep but did not wake.

  “Jerome,” I said, looking over to where he slept. He didn’t even twitch.

  My whispers woke the Feral, who woke the rest of them. He was checking my bindings when a voice across the cave stopped us both cold.

  “He’s dead.”

  My head jerked up. One of the Ferals was standing over Jerome. As the dawn light spread into the cave, I could see that he was right. Jerome was still and hollow.

  The Feral swore, using a word I’d never heard before.

  “Blast it,” one of the others said. “But he doesn’t have her. I hate to leave them here to die, but we need to get moving.”

  They pulled out more of the tasteless, chewy food, shoving it into my mouth when I tried to resist.

  “I’m sorry about your friend,” one of them said to me, “but we have to get out of here. You have to eat or you’re going to die, too. It’s not that far. Come on, buddy. You can do this.”

  Hunger won, and I chewed some of the food. They helped me to my feet and we emerged into the dawn, leaving Jerome’s body in the empty cave.

  By the time we crossed the pass and headed down the other side, the
pollen storm was waning. I could see down the valley to another Hive in the distance. This one was nowhere near as large as ours.

  Ours? Is it still yours? Was it ever yours at all?

  Part of the south wall had collapsed, exposing the inner chambers to the harsh sunlight.

  Ferals poured out of the entrance as we approached. A couple of Masters joined them, Builders and Diggers, mostly, hanging back in the shadow of the doorway.

  “You did it,” one of the Ferals said. “You actually got them out. I can’t believe it.”

  This Feral was smaller than me, female, with long brown hair and brown eyes. She was dressed like the others and eyed my wet tunic. “Did you get her?”

  The Feral that held my leash nodded. “The ‘Mites said so. She’s on this one.” He nodded at me and I stared blankly at him.

  Another Feral emerged from the Hive. This one was older than any Lowform I’d ever seen. His hair and beard were gray, and wrinkles lined his eyes. He opened spindly hands to indicate the small Hive behind him.

  “Welcome, friends,” he said. “Welcome to freedom.”

  Chapter 12

  Noah

  In the clicking language we shared with the Masters, there was no word for “Welcome.” Instead, as Gil and I filed past the waiting Ferals and Masters at the new Hive, the closest Digger clicked out, “Eat here.” It was as close as they got.

  The feral humans took us inside the Hive, into the large, central chamber dotted with holes to let in the light and air. The few Masters crowded around us, waving their feelers at us. I counted around forty of the Ferals, mostly males. There were a couple of females with babies, and a few small children, and I stared at them. Why were they running free with the worker males? And where were the rest of the Masters that protected this Hive?

  Gil looked as mystified as I felt. The Ferals sat us down in front of the old male, untying the ropes that held us. I rubbed my arms where the ropes had cut into my skin, working the circulation back. They handed me water, which I slurped greedily, and more of the tasteless food.