All the remaining humans were hunkered down, fearing strangers in case they were infected with Rat Flu, and waiting patiently for forces of law and order that never arrived.
In fact, it made a horrible kind of sense. Zanesville wasn't a large city, it had no big corporate sponsor to plead its case and had already been designated a plague-zone. With so many cities full of (presumably) uninfected humans needing what little aid there was. We'd effectively dropped off F.E.M.A.'s 'to do' list.
Using binoculars, I watched a human youth breaking into a house, hunting a few precious cans of something, anything.
"A candidate down there." I commented dispassionately
"I see him" replied Suriv "Can we go get him?"
"Go for it" I said firmly, feeling a vicious urgency, soon the repellent urchin would be ours and I wouldn't have to despise him any more.
As Suriv and his five hara scampered down the hillside suburb in military style, I couldn't help wondering at how much my own attitude had changed since the quake. Even the thought of humans had gradually become more squicky, I didn't want them anywhere near me; It wasn't entirely rational and it seemed to be getting worse.
"Its all right" said Brook, sensing my thoughts
"No. Its not. I shouldn't be like this. Intellectually I know I don't hate these people, but every time one of them gets within sight...it just freaks me. I get the whole fight or flight thing going on. Yesterday in the Nayati, I nearly slit throats rather than just wrists"
"I know that, Sixteen. We just shared breath remember? It’s just an instinct, it feels utterly natural when I taste that emotion in you. You're meant to feel that way...and you're not about to kill an unhar, I tasted that in you as well, so stop worrying!"
"But you don't have the same instinct growing in you. You're the same as you've always been. Why me and not you?" I whined, sounding a bit pathetic even to my own ears.
"Maybe because you're a bit further past inception? Or perhaps it’s a caste progression thing." Brook suggested
"I'm worried it’s effecting my decisions Brook. What if I'm making bad choices because I suddenly can't tolerate humans?”
I gestured at the hunting party below, Suriv's hunters were circling around so that the teenager had no escape.
"We've been harvesting every male that we catch out alone...it feels good, it feels right. But it can't last. When we came to Zanesville the idea was to get lost in the crowds, we aren't lost in the crowds anymore, there are no crowds left."
On the deserted street the human caught sight of Suriv, who'd deliberately broken cover. The boy sprinted in the opposite direction, toward the awaiting ambushers.
"Yeah, but this point was always going to come. We were always going to outnumber them sooner or later." Brook pointed out reasonably
"I was relying on the whole country falling apart pretty much all at the same time, that’s what I foresaw." I replied, the more I thought about the situation, the less I liked it. "But I don't think its happening that way. I think we only out number them here in Zanesville. As far as we know the rest of the country is still stuffed full of the unevolved half-sexed brutes."
I shivered slightly and felt irritated with myself that the idea of human run cities was so revolting.
"Why don't we go find out then. Just you and me. Call it a vacation." suggested Brook
The idea of extended time alone with Brook was extremely tempting, but I had responsibilities...
"But..." I started
"No Sixteen. Stop worrying for a second and think!" He replied, suddenly excited as if he'd had some inspiration "Everyhar has been relying on you for leadership, what if you got captured or killed? The tribe would disintegrate, that’s what. They need to learn how to make decisions without you holding their hand, they need it as much as you need a break."
I cocked my head to one side and gave a crooked smile "You know. That almost made sense"
Brook frowned in concentration and I felt a telepathic tickling in the middle of my back in that spot that your own hand can't reach.
"Cut that out!" I protested wriggling and trying not to giggle.
"Good! That’s better. That’s the first smile I've seen out of you in days!" he replied crossing his arms in the cutest way.
Then he intensified the tickle.
---
The Tuaththua Council didn't like the idea. Oddly, it was their very unease that finally pushed me from just voicing Brook's idea to firmly supporting it.
"We can't let the tribe turn into a personality cult. I absolutely do not want to wind up with the inherited title Queenking...and that’s final" I said, ending the visualized meeting and making the sort of dramatic exit Ash would have been proud of.
---
Horses had seemed such a wonderful idea when I'd first had it. I'd had precognitions of pure white stallions with manes like waves breaking on a Hawaiian beach. In my precognition I'd rode like I'd been doing it forever, the steed sensing my movements and adjusting himself to my needs.
Reality check.
Our sweep of the outlying farms had led my Tuaththua to acquire two herds of cattle, a herd of sheep, eight farmers sons who 'thought' they knew how to care for animals, and a herd of ten rare-breed ponies from 'The Wild West Experience and Dude Ranch'.
The animals had once been billed as a pure Apache bloodline, they'd been abandoned along with the ranch during the Rat Flu terror and a week without feedstuff hadn't done anything for the ponies’ temperament.
My steed was called Red Feather. Much to Brook's amusement, Red Feather and I just hadn't had a meeting of minds yet. I had expected my mount to understand my intentions, to be turning in the required direction almost before I had made the decision to turn.
Red Feather was clearly holding out on me and tended to make up his own mind about speed and direction.
On the plus side as long as I stayed in Soume mode it was only my ass that was getting rubbed raw.
Brook of course, had had riding lessons as a child. I hated Brook.
We'd been riding west toward Columbia for three hours when a figure emerged from the roadside and stood in the middle of the empty interstate, arms crossed across his chest.
His posture screamed Wraeththu even before we were close enough to recognize him.
Flamepetal, what are you doing here?
Protecting your Ladylordship.
"Go home Flamepetal"
"No can do amigo-har" he replied with an infuriating grin "Judge Jasem agreed that guarding you two for a week would be a suitable penance for my crimes"
A second figure uncoiled itself from the verge and walked out to the middle of the highway.
I bowed my head slightly "Phylarch Massasauga" I acknowledged, somehow not surprised to see him.
"Ladylord" he replied and gracefully bowed his head by exactly the same degree.
"I suppose you just happened to be traveling in this direction"
"No. Random chance has little to do with my presSSsence" he whispered pompously enigmatic as ever, turning to nod in the direction of the treeline.
In the distance I could hear the thwok, thwok of rotor blades.
"Raptor Class UAV" said Flamepetal knowledgeably. "They've got the things circling the quarantine. Come and see."
Handing Red Feather's reins to Brook I followed Flamepetal and Massasauga to the crest of the ridge, where a stand of trees shielded us from view.
In the field below some dead cattle lay collapsed in a line.
"Its been programmed to kill anything that moves into its zone. Usually a UAV is supposed to check back with a remote pilot before cutting loose. This one's on autopilot. You can see the edge of its designated killzone by how the carcasses are placed" explained Flamepetal.
My mouth compressed to a thin angry line, I recognized the markings on the UAV, it was Citadel's toy.
A movement at the periphery of my vision caused me to focus in that direction. Almost invisible in the distant heat haze another UAV hovered. Checking in the opposite direction a few minutes squinting revealed a third and a fourth killer hovering at equal spacings.
"If they're killing wildlife, maybe all the pilots are dead, the machines just continuing with their last order." suggested Brook
Brook's idea had a certain superficial logic; it was the sort of thing you'd see in a good sci-fi yarn...I wasn't buying it.
"I don't think so. If the ground crew is dead, who is keeping those things gassed up?"
"Why kill cows then?" he countered
"Maybe they think that the animals are spreading the Rat Flu." suggested Flamepetal.
I felt a prickle of apprehension "or maybe this is just the default setting. If you kill everything there's no chance of being blamed for missing something infectious; callous but efficient."
"You should go back,” said Massasauga
"No. We go on, we have to." I replied firmly "That thing is way way too sophisticated for a regular quarantine."
"What do you mean?"
"Remember When the Flu first hit Cleveland, FoxNews had a report on showing a checkpoint and a disinfectant tray to dip your shoes in, not dissimilar to our local Home-Sec's first efforts. UAVs and dip trays just aren't in the same league." I explained
Massasauga might be slippery but he didn't get to be a Phylarch of his tribe on the strength of his lisp alone.
"I see your point,” he agreed reluctantly.
"Besides, this gives us an opportunity. Have you ever tried matching wraeththu abilities against the highest grade military hardware, Phylarch?"
"Of course not. I am not sSSsuicidal"
"And there's the problem, none of us have dared. Look, I have had precognitions of a future where I am a Great High Grandsire writing his memoirs in an age without humans. To get from here to there we have to come up with a serious edge, something that renders strike fighters, gunships, artillery, UAVs and especially rooning nuclear missiles completely obsolete"
"Oh I agree, but it shouldn't be you, doing the testing Ladylord Sixteen"
"Why not?"
"I told you two weeks ago, you are too valuable to risk"
"And we already had that conversation. I won't ask anyone to take a risk that I won't take myself. Besides, we ought to be able to do this without risking anyone."
"Ooh smell that testosterone"
Massasuaga and I turned as one to glare at Flamepetal, who had leant against a tree in a very soume pose.
" Flamepetal does have a point guys" said Brook, trying to calm the horses "You two get very ...human.... when you get together"
I glanced at each of them, trying to sort out how I felt. A part of me wanted to flounce off and sulk like a hormonal human teenager and I found, to my surprise, that I wanted to be better than that.
"Anyway. My plan doesn't involve getting close to that UAV. I want to see what magarii will work at a safe distance."
"Very well." replied the Colurastes leader. "You obviously have something specific in mind"
I nodded "You've seen how effective it can be, when we force humans to experience the higher realms. I was going to see how the machine's sensors react to quick trip to another reality"
"At this distance?" Asked Brook
"I don't think the physical laws of distance apply. When I was sensing humans in that collapsed building, it didn't." I explained
"Hmmm, I had not considered that approach. My Magarii tend to have a verbal component, the distance that sound travels limits them" Replied Massasauga, looking younger and less certain. I wondered briefly what his real age was, I'd always assumed he was several years older than I was. Now I wasn't so sure.
I motioned for them to sit in a circle, and once Brook had tied the horses we began to meditate on the problem.
---
An hour later I dispelled the magari and slumped back on the grass, my clothes glued to me by the sweaty mental efforts.
My plan had been to suck the UAV into the etheric realm and to deal with it there. Unfortunately it had resolutely failed to respond, even the illusion of people running across its line of fire failed to move it. Basically my whole brilliant plan was a complete failure.
"Maybe only living things can be pulled into the ether?" suggested Flamepetal
"We'll just have to find another way." I replied "But not against this one. Once we've rested I want to try the next UAV north of here."
"Why? What’s wrong with this one?"
"I don't know. I just want to." I shrugged. "Call it a hunch"
We sat in silence for some time, each of us regaining our strength in our own way. For me it consisted of being in a cross-legged meditative pose, Brook lay stretched on his back absorbing the sun, Flamepetal paced back and forth and Massasauga sang a melody that drifted just beyond the senses.
I drifted; sensing more in that relaxed timeless meditation than in the hour of utterly misplaced effort.
---
An hour later we dismounted in a virtually identical stand of trees overlooking a nearly identical killing field, the difference was that this time a pair of cars, piled high with a family's belongings, had been targeted.
"So. What's the plan?" asked Brook
"My turn!" replied Flamepetal cracking his fingers "Forget all this etheric crap, I know how to bring that thing down."
"How sSso?"
"Watch and learn snakey-boy."
In a rather theatrical gesture Flamepetal reached out his hand and pinched the air between thumb and forefinger.
I sensed the agmara flowing out of him and quickly placed a hand on his shoulder, letting him use some of my life force.
"Fool! ItsSs too far for telekinesis!" hissed Massasauga. "You can't possibly hit it hard enough. It gets a heavier buffeting than that when it’s landing back at base"
"I'm Not ..thumping... I'm pinching,” gasped my tribeshar
In the distance the UAV's engine stuttered and then fell silent, its rotors beginning to slow.
"The fuel hose?!" guessed Brook
Across the field the UAV revved suddenly, its engine screaming as the pilot kicked the turbocharger and guided his craft back up to its patrol altitude.
"What the?!" gasped Flamepetal losing concentration and collapsing to his knees.
"Get him on a horse, we move on to the next UAV right now!" I ordered as the UAV wheeled around, clearly now under the control of a living being.
"I don't ..get it..I still had the fuel hose blocked when it recovered" mumbled the drained hara as I hauled him up onto the horse and mounted behind him holding him in place."
"It probably has a backup fuel tank in case one gets damaged" I guessed, "It was a good idea though"
Behind us, the UAV took up position above the trees we'd been hiding in a minute earlier. Clearly it had sufficient sensors to detect that we'd stood there recently.
Like a guard dog stood behind a fence, the UAV paused, its weapons-head pointed in our general direction. The message was clear, stay in the Q-zone or get shot.
I sent a gallop thought in Red Feather's direction. For once the pony agreed; he didn't like the flying metal thing either.
Anyone who knows anything about horses knows its far easier to get one to start running, than it is to get one to stop. As a result Red Feather was snorting hard and lathered in sweat by the time we slowed.
At the least I'd been lucky in the direction Red Feather had chosen to take us, we were now close to the location of the next UAV.
With some relief I eased the exhausted Flamepetal to the ground and tied Red Feather to a tree. Caressing the exhausted hara's face, I willed more agmara energy into him; telekinesis worked ok, but the cost was way too high if it left a hara in this state.
After a minute Brook and Massasauga arrived on the other horse.
"How is he?" asked Brook
"He'll live, but I guess he's going to need to rest for a time." I replied "This is foolish. We should return to our tribes and inform them,” said Massasauga
"No way. Not when we're this close. This time we'll get through, I'm certain."
"You figured it out?" asked Brook
I nodded "Flamepetal gave me the clue; we were going at it the wrong way. These UAVs do have a weakness, its just that its not here...its someplace else"
"The pilot?"
"The Pilot" I confirmed
"But he's miles away"
"Maybe etherically he isn't. A part of his mind is looking through the UAV's camera and has to be focused on that ravine down there. Maybe in the etheric realm he will be stood where his attention is focused. What do you think Massasauga?"
"Once again you tread beyond what I know. The etheric realm appears to be very malleable, if we believe that the human's mind is there, there's a chance that our belief makes it so. Conversely there's no saying how much effort will be involved. Remember that dying human who's passing you tried to ease? You did what you did easily enough, but it nearly sucked you dry"
"Don't remind me"
"I am of higher caste, therefore I shall attempt this. Both you and Flamepetal are drained, and no disrespect to Brook, but he lacks the discipline." replied the Coluraste unexpectedly
It sounded logical, but something didn't quite ring true...not that anything ever did where Massasauga was concerned. Dismissing the fleeting concern I nodded my consent. If he wanted a shot at it, so be it.
---
For once I wasn't in control of my reality. Looking down at myself, I realized that the impossibly elegant Wraeththu body I was seeing must be how Massasauga perceived me. I felt radiant and almost deharic, very weird, very flattered.
The Coluraste himself looked relatively normal except that his hair braids seemed longer and moved like a Gorgon's serpentine tresses.
Love what you've done with your hair I sent mischievously
Massasauga looked slightly surprised and then seemed to expend some effort making his hair appear less mobile.
As I'd expected Massasauga was proficient in his duplication of the UAV's environment. This one had an easier patrol station than the last two, with the terrain funneling into a steep sided ravine. Like the other two this UAV had taken its toll of the passing wildlife, the pile of corpses looking worse because the constraining terrain had made a pile of the dead.
I don't see the pilot I sent, wandering down toward where the UAV's outline hovered.
She is definitely there. I sense her replied Massasauga
In normal space it would have taken ten minutes clambering through thorny undergrowth to reach the UAV's position, because Massasauga was choosing which laws of nature applied it only took, like, a minute.
Up close the UAV looked hideously unnatural, its sleek grey shark-shaped body radiating menace and death. I stared at it for several minutes trying to detect any sign of life without success, it seemed just as inert as the previous two craft had.
There! said Massasauga mentally pointing at the eyepiece.
I looked closer and noticed a tiny glowing mote that seemed to cower in the corner of the vambrace housing.
I reached out my hand and gently coaxed it out so that it sat on the palm of my hand
Gotcha
The mote trembled, radiating confusion. A tiny pulse of emotion zipping away from it, as if it were following a railway line back to momma.
Follow it, the emotion leads to the pilot instructed Massasauga
I gently let go of the mote and willed myself to follow the emotional pulse, only to find that after a moment I'd reached the edge of Massasauga's visualization. Beyond that point the etheric realm gradually faded into a formless mist.
I can't do it I sent back
Ok, get back here then.
In a blink I was back at the UAV. The two of us stood looking at the tiny mote that represented the female pilot sat some miles away concentrating her attention on a screen that displayed this spot. Personally I had no idea what we could do to the female nor what it was safe to try to do.
Any ideas? I asked
We can show the human something scary replied Massasauga
But what would that gain us? I asked
Perhaps its time that I also pushed the bounds of what’s possible and found out, Ladylord Sixteen
Massasauga reached out and crushed the mote in his fist.
Feel pain murderer, feel the pain of those you've sSSlautered he hissed with a lethal savagery that I'd not expected.
With his other hand Massasauga made a summoning gesture, pulling at the agmara of the recently dead animals, directing the energy at the mote.
For an instant I was caught in the backwash and carried along the stream of rage, all the way back to the pilot's reality.
---
Something terrible was happening! Desperately I pushed myself back from the monitor, my cheap plastic coffee cup spilling latte over the keyboard, as I desperately tried to rip my headphones loose.
I screamed as snakes began oozing through the screen and landing on the worktop. All around me, my girls turned toward me in confusion.
Fumbling with the flap of my holster I desperately yanked my service pistol free and began pumping round after round into the snake infested UAV-control station.
For a second I thought I'd eliminated the threat, and then one of the dead cobras sprouted wings, launching itself at me, landing between my breasts. Without hesitation I turned the pistol toward it and fi.........
---
Something covered my mouth, soft and warm. Gently he exhaled and I knew that I shared my breath with my Chesnari.
My eyes opened wide and I looked into his gentle, loving gaze.
I'm Ok
Hesitantly he withdrew, allowing me to push myself up onto an elbow.
"The UAV?"
"..Crashed when you two collapsed"
"We have to move through the ravine now, before they get a replacement up. How's the snake?"
"Pretty much like you were, Flamepetal's dealing with him" He replied hauling me to my feet.
Now that I was awake, I found myself recovering with remarkable speed. Of course I hadn't been the one creating the illusion. I glanced at Massasauga and was relieved to see that he also seemed to be ok.
"sSsorry Ladylord Sixteen. I had not intended to suck you into it"
"Not a problem. Actually I learned some things about our enemy" I replied grabbing hold of Red Feather's reins. "I'll explain when we get clear"
---
'Getting clear' took longer than I'd expected. The squadron of UAV pilots might not understand why their Squadron Leader had shot herself, but they were thoroughly drilled in what to do when a patrol went down. Fortunately the ravine opened out onto a pasture that allowed us to make good progress and we soon found cover in a barn next to the highway.
For an hour the UAVs patrolled like angry hornets, seeking some external cause for events that the pilots probably didn't comprehend. By luck our hiding place lay just beyond their search pattern. After what seemed like an age two of the UAVs banked away and headed back to their normal patrol areas, leaving a single craft to guard the perimeter.
"What's the plan now Chesnari?" asked Brook, slipping his hand into mine.
"We wait. At nightfall I want to head Northeast; there's a place I want to check."
"Two whole hours” he sighed wistfully
It didn't take any highly evolved telepathy to understand how he wanted to spend the time. I felt my ouana shift slightly in my pants, its various parts rubbing warmly against one another; Brook's desires weren't unwelcome.
"Brook's intentions may be useful to your caste training." said Massasauga, who'd approached silently.
I glared at the Coluraste, I'd just been drifting into a rather erotic frame of mind and here he was like a ringing telephone interrupting things.
"I must ask you a question Ladylord. Have you ever performed Grissecon? The act of aruna with a specific magaric purpose?" he continued
The question took me by surprise; I'd been about to say 'yes of course' but then thought about it some more. Sure I'd used aruna to beef up my agmara levels, but never as an intrinsic part of majhahn.
"No... I guess not"
"Tiahaar Brook, are you willing to take the soume role for a purpose other than pleasure?"
"It won't hurt will it?" he asked nervously
I caressed his arm with a finger "I would never hurt you"
"It will feel different, but not painfully so" replied Massasauga
"If it helps Sixteen's caste progression, then yes, I'll do it,” he replied, sounding delightfully brave.
I leaned close, exhaling, sharing breath without touching lips, wrapping Brook in a blanket of mental reassurance.
"The greatest majhahns that we the Colurastes know require two lovers to perform aruna. Being able to divert the agmara generated by aruna into something other than pleasure is an essential aspect of caste progression." Explained Massasauga "The timing of this may seem a little strange, but this is the first time I have been present when you two have been umm 'fully aroused' and there is also a useful purpose that the effort could be directed at."
Naturally we both blushed.
"You're saying we could have done more for those friends of Docanton's if we'd been 'in the mood' ?" asked Brook
"Almost certainly"
Guilt trickled through me, unhara had died because...
"Don't get twisted about it. You did what you could"
He was right. I took a deep breath, running through a couple of calming mantras. I'd come to terms with the earthquake once and I wasn't going to let it get at me again.
"So. What do we do? What's the purpose of the majhahn we're going to do?"
"The grissecon ritual allows us to create an entity in the etheric realm. One that we can bind to a sSspecific purpose"
"Like a Dehar?" asked Brook frowning
"No, not really. We create these entities with a finite amount of agmara and a specific purpose."
My mind whirled, so many of my lessons, experiences and precognitions fit into place. I'd clearly come close to this several times.
"What will we use this entity for?" I asked
"Your purpose outside the quarantine is reconnaissance and the testing of our combat ability is it not?"
"Yes"
"I suggest that we send it to the UAV squadron and have it possess one of the pilots."
Brook and I glanced at each other wide eyed, after all Massasauga's complaints about trying things I didn't know were impossible, here was the same hara suggesting something even more sophisticated.
"Sounds fanciful I know, but this method works. Thiede taught it to us himself"
The name Thiede sent a chill up my spine for some reason. I'd heard that name before or possibly heard it in a precognition. In my mind the name tasted of vast power.
"Ok, so it’s useful then. How do we go about creating it?"
"At the final instant of aruna you must change direction, focus the agmara on something other than Brook, in this case a quartz crystal, and think of the entity's purpose. This is not as easy as it sounds."
I wanted to kick back with 'actually, knowing how it feels during aruna it sounds near impossible'. But I kept silent.
"We'd better get started then,” said Brook shifting his weight from foot to foot like he had an itch in his pants.
"If you will prepare yourselves, I will create a Nayati,” instructed Massasauga
Slowly Brook began to undress me, kissing my body as each button or lace was undone. Soon I was naked, my clothes an untended entanglement around my booted feet. I felt the urge to rip Brook's clothes from his body and give in to mindless passion but at the last instant forced myself not to, instead I did as he had done covering his torso in a fluttering rain of kisses.
Reality did the decent thing and faded into the background. The Barn, the exhausted Flamepetal snoring in the corner, our horses nibbling at the feedstuff, all of it becoming inconsequential and irrelevant as I ran my fingers over Brook's spine, making his back arch I became aware that Massasauga had not faded with the rest and was expending some effort to be a part of this private moment.
Instinct wanted him gone so that I could concentrate fully.
The brush of one ouana against another caused an instant refocusing of my attention. This was an arunic trick Brook had learned from Bradoc; instead of merely flowering into soume he let his ouana rub against mine. The sensation was exquisite, far more so than if it had been his hand doing the caressing.
Brook's pretension to the ouana role was of course exactly that. Each time our ouana touched, his member seemed softer and less tightly raveled. On the fifth touch he let out a tiny gasp and instead of a tight muscular ouana my member was brushing through the unfurling outer petals of a soume-lam, their texture alternately like velvet and silk sliding against me.
Patiently I waited as Brook's body completed the necessary adjustments, allowing me entry and sucking me in at the same time.
I lost track of my true objective almost instantly reveling in the psychedelic pleasures of aruna that had become so central a part of our existence since our inception.
We had already reached the third level of passion before a slight niggle at the back of my mind reminded me of Massasauga.
Sixteen..Sixteen, focus, ..purpose..
Massasauga's sending was faint almost wiped out by my single desire, my one purpose....'purpose'.. I focused on the word, remembering that this wasn't all about pleasure.
I...Hear.. I sent back
The fourth level of aruna washed through us, wiping away the fragile thought of purpose as our minds and bodies began to react as one. We moved together each knowing exactly what caress and thrust would best arouse us the most.
Before I was ready, I felt the familiar rushing surge, like a high-speed train rushing forward, launching itself from me. Almost too late I remembered why we were doing this and focused on diverting the pyroclastic flow of pleasure.
Something wrenched, doing this felt less natural, less right.
The surge of fulfillment sparked, only to be instantly drawn away to the tiny quartz crystal that Massasauga had placed next to us.
For an instant I was in four places at once. I was me-Miyacala full of knowledge and purpose, I was Brook-Aruhani giver of life and passion, I was -Lunil curled up in contented sleep and I was -Agave awakening within the translucent rock eager for justice.
The moment faded and I crashed all the way back into normal reality.
"Excellent! You did it! Well done Tiahaara" said Massasauga, examining the uninspiring lump of quartz.
Noting my puzzlement he added, "Look at it etherically"
We did as instructed and both Brook and I gasped. When viewed properly, the tiny crystal glowed an intense red, seemingly surrounded by tiny flames like a miniature meteor.
"Wow"
"Like Brook said. Wow!" I said rolling off of Brook, utterly captivate By this new thing we'd created. "But what about its purpose?"
"One of you must hold it in your hand and command it. Tell it where to go, what to do, and that it should let you see through its 'eyes'."
Brook glanced at me and it was plain from his expression which of us was going to touch it.
I reached out and grasped the quartz crystal. It felt warm in my hand, almost body temperature. The entity felt real in my mind, but unlike the Aghama or Daananan, it didn't have a personality as such, just an eagerness to do my bidding.
Fortunately it understood my needs and plucked its mission directly from my mind. An instant later my inner eye was flying across the darkened landscape, the distinction between myself and the entity I'd created becoming blurred and indistinct.
The entity snuggled next to me, radiating a sense of joyful determination, rather like a small child intent on writing his own name for the first time, with no thought beyond that task.
---
Abruptly, I was someone else, no longer Wraeththu, nor Wraeththu created entity. It was like a sharing of breath only more so.
I sniffed and dabbed a hanky to my eyes. Why had Squadron Leader Fletcher committed suicide like that? She'd seemed so tough, nothing had phased her. She hadn't even blinked when they'd discovered the corpses in the abandoned base and even the virus had been just another combat environment factor to her.
A hand touched my shoulder; it was Karen, dropping into the control station next to me. I suddenly realized that it must be shift change, time had sped bye.
"Prepare to switch control on my mark...mark"
A quick five-figure security code diverted control of my UAV to her station.
"Control switched" I replied, my voice sounding slightly high pitched to my ear even though it sounded exactly normal at the same time.
I felt slightly dizzy.
"Control switch confirmed. Helen, the Commander wants you downstairs for a debrief, he's trying to find out why the Squadron Leader...why she...."
We are called Helen then, useful to know. The entity and I filed the information away for future reference.
"On my way" I nodded and pulled my headset loose. I didn't like going downstairs, it made me uneasy, people had died down there.
Moving to the flight control centre's airlock meant passing the shattered workstation, I gritted my teeth and stepped over the mess, hurrying to get into a has-mat suit. Some of the mess had been a person I'd respected.
Focusing on getting the seals on the suit right, helped me to not think about some of the more organic parts 'd just stepped over.
Opening the door, I felt an icy shock travel down my spine. I knew this place! The UAV flight control centre was parked right next to the entrance to Citadel's Genetic Research Lab! This was the place where I'd been incepted, the place where a human boy called James had been changed into a Wraeththu called Specimen-16 purely so that the scientists here could study the change and dissect the resulting mutant.
Rage burned within me. Without quite realizing why, I unclipped my holster and checked that the pistol had a full magazine.
With new purpose I marched quickly to the entrance, going through the decontamination procedure almost on autopilot.
Commander Burton would be on level five; ironically he'd decided to occupy the office that I'd first had aruna in.
I felt dizzy again
As I walked the flap of my holster slapped against my thigh. Embarrassed by my untidiness I quickly fastened it shut and proceeded toward the elevator. Once inside, I checked the rest of my appearance, buttoning up my uniform so that no cleavage was visible, CDR Burton was a letch and I was in no mood to give him a free show, not today.
The dizziness returned again.
I looked in the mirror and realized for the first time that I was a woman, a female human. How weird was that.
Slightly annoyed with myself, I undid the holster again, this time sliding the flap behind my belt so that the gun's pistol grip was instantly accessible.
Walking down that corridor was like taking a trip back in time to the most traumatic events of my life. I paused at the corner, the floor was still stained with blood from the two who's throats Ash had slit as we'd made our break out from the cells, the stain flash burned into the paint by the explosion that we'd assumed had destroyed everything.
Across the corridor was the glass walled samples lab, now full of military grade laptops hooked up to the computer core. When we escaped we'd made very very sure that every computer was smashed. Clearly Citadel had had backups.
The dizziness again. I frowned, I must have taken a wrong turn this wasn't the way to CDR Burton's office.
Just as I was about to head back into the corridor the dizziness returned and my fingers brushed against the keyboard, igniting a log in screen...What if....if they had old data...would they have bothered deleting old passwords?
Apparently not.
Within seconds I had full access.
I looked around for a memory stick or other portable media and then paused, I wasn't thinking straight, this body wasn't going to be leaving, I'd just have to read it off the screen.
I returned my attention to the monitor and the file list. The first to catch my attention was a CDC report on Rat Flu, the map looked like a Swiss cheese with the death toll varying wildly with each outbreak, the Ohio variant had been the most deadly, with the NYC outbreak little worse than a bad suntan. Even so, Human population within the US was down by approximately 21%.
The next file that caught my eye was on 'Spread of the Wraeththu Infection' that showed that we were beginning to spread fast, with missing person reports in all the major cities and many minor ones. The report concluded that Rat Flu outbreaks and earthquake damage, and the murder of several census teams, were making it difficult to attribute all the disappearances to a single cause.
The last file nearly stopped my heart Zanesville Experiment.doc I read it with mounting terror, I'd been right about the UAVs being overkill, I'd been right to worry that our inceptions had become too obvious. Once Citadel had found us, they'd to let things run, figuring that they'd find out what happened if a tribe of Wraeththu were allowed to do their own thing in a small human city. They even had a small tactical nuke on order so that they could sterilize the area after they had their data.
It was evident from the summary that they'd seen how the tribes multiply, they'd done the math. We were no longer a potential source of bio-engineered soldiers; we were a threat to the profit margin, one that couldn't be allowed to spread.
The terrible irony was that I'd lied to Docanton and Bradoc, telling them that Citadel was behind the Rat Flu outbreak. I was now finding out that that was exactly what they had done. The quarantine around Cleveland had been tight; the 'refugees' that had brought Rat Flu to Zanesville had done so in transport supplied by Citadel. The last paragraph indicated that they'd been extremely disappointed with our high resistance and were looking at bringing forward the 'closure date' for the experiment.
"Find anything interesting in there Lieutenant?" said a voice behind me.
The dizziness returned. I glanced between the security detail and the laptop. Why was I sat at a laptop? I was supposed to be on my way to CDR Burton for a debriefing.
"I...I don't remember" I replied, my head felt so wooly.
The scientist who'd accompanied the guard looked suddenly intrigued "One moment Sergeant. Lieutenant, are you saying that you don't know why you are sat at that computer?"
My eyes widened I recognized his voice. He'd been one of the bastards who'd demanded that I describe what it felt like as my body evolved on the table before him. He must have been off base when I'd slaughtered the rest of the bastards.
"No. She doesn't remember a thing." I replied, "I, on the other hand, remember you quite well Doctor. You were very lucky not to be here when we left."
"Fascinating! And which one are you? Fifteen? Sixteen? Guardsman Murray?"
"Sixteen Har Tuaththua"
"The tribal leader? Excellent!... Kill it!" The change in tone from slightly frightened fascination to cold-blooded murder was completely unexpected.
Citadel trains its mercenaries well, they don't question, they just obey. For a moment there was no sound, just the flash, flash, flash from the assault rifle's muzzle.
I looked down at my ruined breasts and abdomen in complete surprise. I ought to be on the floor, I ought to be dead. I wasn't.
Helen's spirit raged. We were separate now; she hated me for using her as a puppet, but hated the Doctor more for murdering her. I offered her the chance to do one last thing and she accepted.
The guard and the doctor stood wide eyed in shock, not believing that Helen's body was still standing.
"My turn!" I replied brightly, pulling the pistol from its holster and emptying the clip into the two humans.
Go now. There is no more for you to see said a gentle voice in my head. It was the entity, and yet it sounded like my own sending. It was as if it had absorbed my personality and taken it as its own. At the heart of the sending was the awareness of the immutable destiny I'd given it...him.. he had a life and a purpose, like a butterfly it would be a short life, but he knew that he would die having lived every second and achieved everything that he held to be important. I got the impression that he was utterly confident that when he'd finished, no human life would exist in the Citadel Complex. It also seemed that he had enough of my emotional traits to know that I did not need to see how he achieved his destiny.
I understand I choked Farewell my butterfly
Without further words I found myself expelled, perceiving vaguely the rush of passing scenery as my mind returned to my body.
---
I was back in the barn, the quartz crystal slowly crumbling to dust in my hand. Tears rolled down my cheeks, I felt as if I'd gained a son and lost him within the space of ten minutes. Did Massasauga and this Thiede hara realize the true cost of what they regarded as just a powerful trick?
"Make a note. Don't try that unless its a life threatening situation" I said, trying to gather my scattered thoughts and emotions.
Across by the ravine, the current UAV pulled up sharply, its engines screaming as it attempted reach the heavens before faltering, stalling and sliding silently back to earth. The pilot made no attempt to correct its course. In the distance, I could see smoke plumes marking the final resting place of other UAVs.
"Judging by all the crashing aircraft you sicced 'em good?" said Flamepetal who'd propped himself up on one elbow and appeared oblivious to how emotionally mauled I was feeling.
Using some of the meditation tricks I'd learned during my Caste Training, I put my emotions to one side in order to concentrate on the important message "Its..a trap...Zanesville, they all have to get out. The Tribes need to be on the move by sunrise at the latest."
Massasauga raised an eyebrow, in a Vulcan-like expression.
"Citadel. They found us almost a month ago. They let us have Zanesville so that they could monitor how fast we can spread. They were getting ready to nuke the town" I replied
"My Dehar!" exclaimed Brook horrified
I paced up and down for a moment trying to figure out what we should do next, the Tuaththua couldn't move as a tribe, there were too many of us, on the other hand we needed a focus to keep from being absorbed into other tribes.
"We're out of telepathic range....Massasauga. If I gave a Dehar a message would he be able to pass it on to our tribes"
"I...do not know. We Colurastes hold our Dehar in far too high an esteem to use him as a simple messenger"
"You could use my Cell if you want, The Hill is fast-dial two" suggested Flamepetal handing me the clamshell device.
All three of us looked at him like he'd just grown a third head, then I pressed 'Two' and waited.
The phone rang unattended for ten minutes. Finally a hara irritated by the human noisemaker lifted the receiver. I could tell by the way the phone clunked that the hara had no intention of answering and was either going to cut the call or leave it dangling off the hook.
"TUATHTHUA!" I yelled into the stupid device
There was a brief fumbling followed by a tentative voice "Uh..Hi...This is ..umm.. Tiahaar Gernii Har Tuaththua"
I didn't recognize the name and from the sound of it the har wasn't used to it either; he also sounded like we'd incepted him in his mid-teens.
"This is Ladylord Sixteen. Get a councilhar to the phone right now!"
There was a long pause followed by "This is Amnil"
"Sixteen here. Listen carefully; they plan to nuke you. You have to evacuate Zanesville and disperse the tribe. Each Batch must head in a different direction; spread so widely that every single town gets touched by the Tuaththua. Tell them they have to be out of there within 12 hours and that there are three rendezvous points :- Tory Island off the Irish Coast, Immanion City, or back here at Zaan in three years."
"Uh..understood, we'll start right away"
I clicked off the power, tossing the Cell back to Flamepetal.
"So...we're meeting them where, where and where?" asked Brook
"I...." I frowned recalling what I'd said, immediately hitting that odd sensation I get when I've used precognized information by mistake.
"Lets see. I said 'here at Zaan' so I guess Zaan is what we'll call Zanesville eventually. I've no idea what the other two are" I mused
"I can tell you one of them." replied Massasauga somewhat acidly "Immanion City is a myth, a secret Wraeththu sanctuary, hidden from the world, only attainable by those who have achieved a purity of emotional balance that is beyond the highest caste ascension. Streets paved with gold and lit by an eternal summer"
"One place is the one we're fleeing, one place is a grail quest..I guess that means we're heading to this Tory Island then" replied Brook, smiling happily.
"What about you Massasauga? I guess you will want to return to your tribe?"
"No Ladylord. I must travel with you a while longer, your caste training is reaching a critical phasSse, It would be irresponsible to leave you now"
I glanced at Flamepetal
"I'm not going back either. Roon that! Besides I'm still obligated to protect your cute ladylordship's ass" he replied.
"Ok then. Lets get moving. I don't want an instant sun-tan from being too close to a nuke." I instructed, walking toward Red Feather who was eyeing me with suspicion.