Alien Alliance (29 page)

“Yeah but just bruises, cuts, scrapes.”

“Over to Kelly or Bert, then back here to
have some food and a little talk. Then I’ll talk to the children to
see what they noticed.”

All during the night, Mathew sent people
into the city, in small groups. He ordered, “Get in, load up
anything useful and get out as quickly as you can. Keep looking for
any survivors and grab anything you think could be useful. But
first, before you do anything else, get another boat ready for your
booty and your escape route. Constantly plan your exit.” And he
insisted that each group did not go in until the previous group was
returning.

“Every time you go anywhere, first organise
your way out. You are not kamikazes and this is not a suicide
mission. Go everywhere with an eye on your escape route. Make your
own safety your first priority. You kids are good guerrillas alive
but useless to me dead. So far you’ve managed very well but luck
had a hand in that. Don’t get complacent. Is that very clear?”
Mathew looked at each of them in turn. They nodded, excited. All
were thrilled at their near adult status and their success.

Sarah and her SETI team continued with all
the administrative work, organising people, goods, food
gathering,meals, fishing, medical care and such military aspects as
lookouts which were mainly the children, with an adult running the
team.

There had been a heated argument between
Kelly and Mathew but Mathew had won. Kelly was very upset at Mathew
using the children but she couldn’t fault his logic. He pointed
out, “Those kids were resourceful to the point of leaving the
adults for dead. Literally, in Mahmoud’s case. They got food,
Intel, gas masks, our only weapons, more information, survived even
when Mahmoud had been gassed and Stella was the only one to think
of artificial respiration. They negotiated pockets of gas, they
used their observation skills well. They blitzed everyone else.
Most importantly, they survived.” Mathew kept telling all the
scroungers, “Remember, it’s not how much you find or what Intel you
get that matters. If you don’t get back here to tell me, it’s
useless.”

Excited, the kids and others left by boat
for the city. Li, Stella, Donny and Mahmoud had been in the city a
few hours when Li reminded them, “Mathew warned us to get out
before dawn.”

Donny and Mahmoud started off with some of
their booty and one small boat. Back in the big conference hall,
Stella and Li again tried to persuade some more Terrans to leave
but they wouldn’t go. Stella was getting nervous as dawn was
breaking and they were still in the city. They hadn’t realised how
light it was getting outside. Stella and Li were frustrated, angry
and confused. They were about to leave when there was a
disturbance. Horrified, they heard that planes were landing. “Now,
we will find out whether we are to be ransomed, enslaved or
killed,” said one of the Aliens through a Translator.

“Not bloody likely!” Yelled Li and she and
Stella ran for the nearby apartment block. They ran through the
lobby and up the ramps that functioned as stairs here and started
to climb. They ran as fast as they could. With the power still out,
none of the lifts were operating. Behind them, there was a long
silence, followed by screams in any language, then an ominous
silence. Panicked, they picked up speed. They climbed, exhausted,
until they reached near the top of the building. They were about 15
stories up. They went over and cautiously looked out the window.
Appalled, they looked out at a nightmare. Bodies were being hurled
outside and loaded into planes by a weird variety of Aliens. At
least they assumed they were bodies. When apparently full, the
planes took off. The speed at which the Aliens were working, and
the numbers of bodies they were loading was stupendous.

“Maybe they aren’t dead. Maybe they’ll be
ransomed,” said Li hopefully.

“But who’ll pay for Terrans? We’re not even
recognised let alone Allianced. I hope those Aliens aren’t alive.
Look how roughly they’re being thrown.” Stella looked more
closely.

“Oh my God,” she said, “they’re throwing
them out of the windows and it looks like they’re several stories
up! They’re searching the building! We have to hide!”

They searched for a likely hiding place.
Some time later, they found some storage areas that they would fit
into if they removed the contents. It was a struggle, but they
managed between them.

“We need to put these boxes somewhere else
or they might smell a rat and look closer.”

“Good idea,” puffed Li. They dragged the
heavy boxes, one by one, down the ramps thinking it was lucky they
weren’t stairs. Having a quick look around, they put them in one of
the lecture rooms, assuming they were aids for lecturers. The
sounds of the body removers were getting closer but were still
several stories away. Li saw a Translator by a desk-like thing and
put it on. Then she had an idea. She grabbed some of the
polystyrene-like containers, emptied them, and gave a large box to
Stella. She emptied one for herself.

“We won’t fit in these.”

“No, but we can hide behind them.”

“Oh. What if they have life signs
detectors?”

Li looked up at her, “Then we’ve had it. We
take flying lessons!”

They went back into the room they had
chosen, Li climbed up by using other cupboards as steps. She was
now about seven feet up. Stella split the boxes and passed them up,
then followed, awkwardly closing the cupboards behind her. They
moved into the cupboard, hiding behind the box fronts. Carefully,
they pulled the door closed. Li whispered, “if the cupboard is
opened but the contents not checked, we should be all right.”

“At the speed they’re going, surely they’re
not checking for people hiding. Those idiots downstairs weren’t
hiding,” whispered Stella.

Another hour or so passed and the noises got
closer. They were holding hands now, numb almost beyond fear. The
noises got closer still. Then something was searching the room!
They shrank as the cupboards were opened! Then the cupboard they
were in! They shivered in terror as their box fronts were swept
away. A brown paw grabbed Li and hauled her onto the floor.

She crashed down, stunned. Terrified she
looked up at something that looked like a slim brown gorilla. It
leapt back and looked as startled as her. It had brown eyes that
looked out from a face that looked like it could be human under the
dirt. It spoke to her, then gently helped her to her feet. It
didn’t look much like a gorilla on closer look. The palms of its
hands were hairless. Its neck was furry too and the fur seemed to
stop at what would be a low natural hairline on a human. The fur on
its head, like the rest of it, wasn’t long but was dense and the
fur was the same length all over.

It was tall, over six feet. On second look,
it didn’t have the stature of an ape, more human in shape. And its
speech sounded like something a human could replicate. That made a
difference. It made a change too! Then it called out. Another one
came it. It was shorter, but still tall and slightly more of a
golden brown in colour. It also looked startled to see Li. The two
conversed, then the newcomer looked up into the cupboard and hauled
Stella down but a lot more carefully. It spoke to her, seeming
puzzled when she didn’t answer. There was the noise of yet another
creature approaching. Quickly, Stella and Li were hoisted back into
the cupboard and very obviously admonished to shut up and stay put.
The box fronts were lifted up to cover them. The cupboard doors
were left open. The gorilla things called out something and ran
from the room.

Stella and Li stayed put, silent, bewildered
and increasingly cramped as noises continued all around them. They
were in too perilous a situation to talk. Li looked at Stella
seeing the same confusion she felt. Why had those gorilla things re
hidden them? Li pondered. They had been surprised to see them, or
to see them alive? Or both? They appeared to have been protective
of them. But how could she accurately read their body language?
They were Aliens.

Another hour or so passed. There were sounds
of something approaching. The box fronts were pulled away again but
it was the same creatures. They hauled them down again but gently
this time. The darker one touched Li gently and talked to her
again. It looked puzzled when she didn’t reply. It obviously
expected a reply! Li passed up the Translator. It looked even more
puzzled but adjusted it.

“… none alive. Where are you from? “I’ve
never seen a girl with eyes like yours before.” Its language
sounded vaguely familiar and he definitely sounded male.

“We’re Terrans. From Terra.”

“Where’s that?’ “I’ve never heard of it. Why
can’t you speak Universal?”

“What’s universal? I don’t know what it is.
Is it a language?”

“How come you don’t know your own language?
Are you a slave?”

“No we’re not slaves. What do you mean our
language? Why would I speak your language?”

“Well it’s yours too!”

Li stared at him, confused. “Are you
Human?”

“What’s Human?”

“Well, like us.”

“Of course I’m like you!”

The two groups looked at each other,
baffled.

Stella tried to work this out. “I have never
seen people of our race that look like you.”

“Well I’ve seen plenty that look like you.
One of my cousins is jare,” said the darker one.

“What’s jare?”

“Hairless, like you.”

“But we’re not the same race.”

“Yes we are!”

“Where are you from?”

“Petislay.”

Li suddenly remembered what Donny had said.
“Are you Niseyen?”

“Of course we are! Like you!”

Stella gave up. There were more important
things to think about. “What are you going to do with us?”

“We don’t know. Have you got any good ideas?
You could stay here. It’s probably safe now. It won’t be searched
again today but it will be scanned later. But the food has been
poisoned. You’ll starve.”

“No we won’t. Our people are organizing to
fight back. We were sent into the city to get supplies but the
planes arrived so we hid.”

The two looked very interested. “There are
more People? How are you hiding? They have scanners.”

Li smiled, “We know. But we’re proving
difficult to kill.” She looked bleak. “They got about half of us
the first day but the rest of us are well spread out.”

Dark furred one said, “They have
mercenaries. They will kill everyone on this planet. What is this
planet? I don’t recognise it.”

“Torroxell.”

“Never heard of it.”

“Are you slaves, soldiers or what?”

They both looked ashamed. “Slaves,” said
lighter fur. We were captured a while ago. We hate this. The rumour
is that some or all of us will be killed to make way for loot and
captives. But they don’t seem to be taking any captives. They’re
just killing everyone.”

“What? Everyone on the planet?”

“Yes.”

“But there must be millions. How is that
logistically possible? And what are they doing with the bodies? Are
all those People outside dead?”

“We heard there are about 100 million here.
Almost all of them are dead now. All the bodies are being dumped
into the deepest parts of the oceans to get rid of the evidence.
And I do mean all. But everyone we’ve seen is dead. How did you two
survive?”

“We were North of the city when it was
attacked. The gas missed us. Well it got one of us but he
survived.”

“How?”

“We breathed for him until he could breathe
for himself. Her mother’s a doctor” (Li indicated Stella), “and
taught her and my mother taught me. My mum’s a vet. She’s
missing.”

“How old are you two? Why are you so small?
Are you children or (click)?”

Li recognised the all too familiar sound of
the Translator encountering a word it didn’t know. “No we’re not
children, we’re adults!” said Li indignantly. “And yes I am small,
but in my case it’s genetic and dietary.”

Stella wondered what the (click) word was.
Did he mean dwarf or midget? “This is crazy,” said Stella. “How can
they find every Person on this planet?”

“Very good scanners,” said light fur. “But
it isn’t as hard as it appears. Almost all the population is
confined to the cities and in these buildings. And the good
scanners will be used later to find live People. They won’t panic
about a few dead ones not being found. It’s live witnesses they
don’t want.”

“Who are they?”

“Keulfyd. But the rumour is they capture
planets to order. Someone else ordered this planet.”

“Someone ordered a planet? That’s obscene!
That’s immoral! How can this happen?” Asked Stella.

“It’s complicated. It’s connected with
treaties and alliances,” said dark fur.

The girls looked at each other. “What time
are you two expected back?” asked Li.

“We’re not going back. We’ve decided to stay
with you two. We need to stick together.”

Stella switched the Translator off. “What do
you think. Can we trust them?”

“They’ll have information we need. What do
we have to lose? These Keulfyd know where most of us are anyway.
What harm can they do? I think we should take them to Mathew,” said
Li.

Stella switched the Translator back on. She
couldn’t resist it and said with a grin, “I’ll take you to our
Leader.” Li groaned.

It was only about midday. It would be a long
wait until dark. The building was now silent. Li sat down. She
started to cry and shake. Stella thought she was in shock. She
started to move but dark fur was closer. He put his arm around her.
She turned towards him. He eased her onto his lap and cuddled her
while she sobbed.

“Her parents are missing. They may be alive,
we don’t know.” Stella and lighter fur eventually sat down.