Alien Caller (41 page)

“I know. You’re
right, and I was wrong. I doubted you and I shouldn’t have, and I
owe you my life, again. But please understand, you’ve never seen
Dimock at work. You’ve never seen corpses piled like sacks of
potatoes. Men, women and children. You’ve never seen the way he
tortures people, for fun, or what he does to them. He is evil. And
he kills everybody. And unfortunately he’s a hundred times as fast
and strong as anyone else. Maybe a thousand times. Too many have
thought they could protect themselves. But against him, there is no
protection. No mercy.”

“We can protect
ourselves.”

“I know that.
Now. But not then. I knew you had superior technology. But so does
everybody Dimock faces. He doesn’t care. He is technology, in some
ways he’s beyond it, and in others he’s its master as he takes
whatever technology you use against him and makes it his. And I had
no idea whether you could match him. No way of knowing. And I
couldn’t risk you.”

“If you had
just asked.” Which was perfectly true, and the heart of his
problem.

“You know I
can’t. I will always be true to my oath, and Dimock is a national
secret. An international disgrace, and a freaking nightmare, but a
secret never the less. I’d also guess if your people hadn’t had
enough time to study him as he attacked me, he might well have
overcome you too. And the costs would have been horrendous as he
destroyed your people and stole your technology and then turned it
against us all.” Which he was pretty sure was true. So did Cyrea.
It was in her eyes, though she didn’t want to admit it. She shook
her head, furiously, but she wasn’t being honest. They both knew
it. But it wasn’t the time to challenge her on it. It was time to
plead.

“Cyrea, I’m
sorry. I couldn’t take the chance. I just couldn’t. If you knew
him. If you’d seen his evil, his sadism, you’d understand.” He was
practically begging her to understand, even though he didn’t really
want her to know that such evil could exist. He felt as though it
would blight her, just the knowledge of what Dimock was. Still he
had to tell her. Make her understand.

“He’s a
monster. Mass murderer and rapist. A cannibal. And something as
close to unkillable as anything ever seen in a movie. He’s a
lunatic given unimaginable speed and strength and the will to use
them.”

“I’ve seen him
rip apart a tank with his bare hands and then rip the people inside
apart. I’ve seen him destroy a fortress, breaking down walls with
his fists and then turning the occupants into bloody rag dolls.
I’ve seen the results after he’d murdered an entire convent, just
to kill one patient, who just might possibly have seen something
she shouldn’t have. He never stopped laughing as he first raped
them and then ripped them apart. He played with them all. Men,
women and children. He even taped himself as he did it. He loves to
tape himself.”

“You can’t even
begin to imagine what he would do to you. To your people. And you
couldn’t stand the cost. I couldn’t.”

“If you gave
him a single chance, the slightest benefit of the doubt, there’d be
hundreds dead. Maybe your entire mission. And the way they, - you
would die, it’s worse than hell. He is monstrous, ruthless,
inhuman. Meanwhile your people are so decent it’s frightening.” He
meant it in the most complimentary way, but something in Cyrea
bristled, and he knew he’d offended her. Again.

“Decent yes,
but not stupid. And we are not the pacifists you seem to think we
are. We can fight very well when we need to. We simply don’t choose
to play at war.” Her eyes flashed at him. She was becoming even
more angry, as she doubtless heard him calling her people weak.
Which he realised he was doing, however wrong it obviously was.

“I know, and
you did a brilliant job too. Which reminds me, how did you stop
him?” Partly he was curious, but mostly he was just desperate to
change the conversation as quickly as he could. He was beginning to
feel worse and worse about putting her people down. Finally
something seemed to work.

“Easy. We just
sent out a couple of dozen level ten synthetics armed with galvanic
inhibitors, and a few more mounted on the floating cameras. Every
time he attacked one of them, the others simply blasted him a few
more times, slowing him down, sucking the energy right out of his
system until he could barely breathe. Then when he couldn’t move,
we captured him. He couldn’t even get half of the synthetics.”

“Captured? He’s
not dead?” Cold suddenly sucked at David’s spine as he was caught
off guard. His dream of Dimock on the operating table came back to
him with a vengeance and he wondered why he should even be
surprised. The Leinians would never kill anyone if they didn’t have
to. Terrible thoughts assailed him, as he began seeing images of
Dimock suddenly springing back to life in the middle of an alien
spacecraft, and then wrecking havoc. But Cyrea seemed relaxed, and
he’d already under-estimated her and her people once. More than
once. He tried to give her the benefit of the doubt though it
wasn’t easy.

“No, of course
not. But he is completely crippled. He can’t move, at all, and he
won’t be free for a long time to come. As you say, he is insane,
and we’re not stupid. Besides, he’s due to ship out today, never to
cause anyone any pain again.”

“Ship out?”
David was caught off guard once more. He didn’t know what he’d
expected of them, maybe a high tech prison or some form of
suspended animation. Instead he had the horrible thought of the
Earth’s worst maniac being loosed among the stars. God alone knew
what terrible evil he would cause there. Especially when he got
hold of their technology.

“The leaders
decided on his fate nearly five days ago. Once he is fully normal,
physically, he is to be exiled to somewhere where there’s no-one he
can hurt. A primitive world, with no people. There are a few of
them around, though they’re all very primal. Usually life’s not
much more advanced than slugs and snails. There he’ll spend the
rest of his life, subsisting, growing older and more alone, and
hopefully learning the error of his ways.”

“Exile. No!
Dear God no!” It seemed too stupid for words to David, who was
still reeling from the shock of his still being alive. Any just
universe, would not allow something like Dimock to live. He
shouldn’t have even been born. But he couldn’t contradict Cyrea or
her people. Not after they’d stopped him where he couldn’t, and
saved him in the bargain. And yet he had to. He couldn’t let them
continue with this insanity.

“No, no, no.
You have to kill him. He has to be killed.” He sounded like a
frightened school girl as he spoke, all but yelled hysterically at
her, and he hated himself for it, but it was the truth. “No exile.
No prison. Nothing but death. All of him, every single cell. He has
to be destroyed.”

“Exile.” Cyrea
was firm. “It is our harshest punishment. And in addition, he’s
also been returned to normal strength and speed. The drugs have
been permanently cleaned out of his system, all the added features
like thickened skin and enhanced bone structure, have been removed,
and the implants destroyed. When he is finally released in about a
month, he’ll have only normal human abilities to survive on.
Believe me, it won’t be easy, or pleasant for him.”

“I don't care.
It’s a mistake, letting him live. You have to kill him, while you
have the chance. And this may be the only chance you have.” He
tried to make his tone neutral, balanced, as if he was truly in
control of himself, but he wasn’t particularly successful. If he
was totally honest though, he knew some, maybe most of the reason
for his anger wasn’t just hatred of a truly despicable individual;
it was simple fear. For while Dimock lived, even if it was on the
other side of the universe, he would always fear him. And with good
reason. Dimock would be back. Cyrea saw that fear too.

“We don’t
murder people.”

“He’s not
people. He’s not human, and it’s not murder. It’s self-defence.
Please let me kill him. Now, before he comes back to destroy you
and us. He cannot be held by any prison known to man, and once he’s
free he’ll only come back at you stronger and meaner than before.”
Cyrea stared at him coolly, and he knew she was starting to assess
him, to wonder whether her lover was a homicidal maniac. That was
almost worse than he could bear and he wilted inside, but he still
had to stop them in their insanity.

“I’m sorry
love. I’m not mad, I’m just scared. For you and for me. And I have
the right to be.” Cyrea stared at him intently, and he knew she
wasn’t happy with him. Rightfully earned or not, hatred was never
something she would approve of, and he quickly decided he’d better
change the topic again.

“Cyrea, I’m
sorry, but you don’t understand. I can’t help myself. I’ve known
him too long, and seen what he’s done. I will always hate him. And
fear him. But it’s your people who caught him for which I’m
eternally grateful, and so it seems only fair you should decide
what to do with him. I won’t argue with you. But I will plead. I
will beg. Exile is far better than he deserves. It denies justice
to his victims, many thousands maybe tens of thousands of them. And
you have to understand, it’s dangerous. Very stupid and incredibly
dangerous. Your people and mine are being placed at terrible risk.
I don’t want you to have to live with the shame and guilt of having
loosed a monster when he returns and wreaks havoc on your people. I
live with that pain every day, and I wouldn’t wish that fate on
anyone.”

Cyrea continued
to stare at him, studying him closely. She wasn’t happy, especially
when he’d just called her people stupid, but she also knew he was
telling the truth. Eventually something in her eyes gave in, and a
trace of understanding returned to her face as she forgave him. He
breathed in silent relief.

“David, we know
what he’s done. What he wanted to do. He told us a lot while the
doctors were fixing him, and we put that together with the police
reports. He is a bad man, and we’ve acted accordingly. You don’t
ever have to fear him again.”

“Yes I do, and
so do you. So does every one of your people. Know him and fear him
as nothing else. Please listen to me. I know this monster, and it
has to be stopped, permanently. And you don’t truly know what he’s
done, what he is. You only know a fraction of what he is. You can’t
even begin to imagine the truth. He’s pure evil.”

“He’s not going
to ever return to Earth. And he’s never going to be so deadly
again. You are safe. I promise you that. He’s going to be light
years away from you, with no way back. And with no chance of
release.” She was so calm and serious that he wanted desperately to
believe her. But he couldn’t, and his disagreement would only make
things worse. Instead he changed the topic.

“I pray you’re
right love. And I do love you very much. I need you to understand
that. If I make - if I made mistakes, it was only because I was
desperate to keep you safe. And so you would never find out about
how bad some of us are. His very existence shames us all. He’s a
blight on our souls.” He was rewarded with a slight softening in
her expression, even a trace of a smile. But she was still very
guarded, and he knew it would be a long time before she forgot his
betrayal as she saw it.

“I know.”

“I owe your
people another enormous debt for saving my life. And this time I
guess it was pretty bad too.” Finally he saw a change in her
features as she remembered his injuries. But it wasn’t the sympathy
he’d hoped for as her anger returned.

“Pretty bad?
You lost half your blood in seconds as he practically cut your arm
off! Through body armour at that! Then most of your intestines were
literally shredded along with half your rib cage and your ankle was
actually powdered. They had to clone several bones to replace the
old ones with. They worked on you in teams for four solid days and
even so it was close. What the hell made you think you had a prayer
against him?!” It wasn’t a question, and lying not too far
underneath was her anger as she remembered how close he had come to
dying. Her anger at him, not Dimock, because he had chosen to fight
alone. Because he had never stood a chance.

“I know. I’m
sorry. But I thought I had a chance. I really did. I’ve been
preparing for years for this day. I always knew one day Dimock
would escape, that he would come for me, and I planned for it. My
house is a fortress and he’s the reason why. The gun posts, the
gas, it should all have helped slow him down and given me a chance.
Instead he seems to have gotten even faster and stronger. Yet
a-bloody-gain. I must have hit him hundreds of times, with the most
powerful guns known to man, and I barely even scratched him.”

“So he was why
you set up the gunposts?” She didn't seem happy by the thought, and
maybe with reason. He quickly explained about the Ether D. Less
than half way through however she started groaning quietly. Almost
crying.

“It was the
only explanation, and we should have asked. I'm sorry.” Her words
made no sense and so he asked. He shouldn’t have asked. When he did
she told him that the party had found and removed the soporific gas
years before, considering it a threat to themselves, and replaced
it with plain air. They had never even considered the possibility
that he might need it to defend himself against a psychopathic
superman. The fixed guns too had been tampered with, most of their
charges removed so they wouldn’t do much more than sting.