Forging Zero (82 page)

“We’ll
take them both,” Na’leen said from the doorway.  “Even if she is not the one we
need, she will do well in our army.”

“I’ll
never fight for you,” Libby said, her eyes fixed on Joe.  “I am not a traitor.”

Joe
felt a stab of fear, realizing she had misunderstood.  She thought he had given
up!  She thought he had surrendered.  “Libby, I—”

“Shut
up,” Zol’jib snapped.  “No more code.”  The Huouyt’s downy tentacle brushed his
neck.  Joe felt another pinprick and all powers of speech left him.

Representative
Na’leen had noticed Libby’s scowl.  “You have no idea who he is, do you, girl?”

Only
reluctantly did Libby’s eyes leave Joe’s face.  To Na’leen, she said, “Who is
who?”

“Your
friend.  Zero.  He’s what every Congressional citizen has been waiting for
since our society was spawned.  He is the one the Trith have foretold will
destroy Congress.”

No!

Libby jerked
as if she’d been struck and gave Joe a wounded look.  “You will?”

No,
no, no!
  It felt like his body was floating
outside his body, watching from afar, utterly disconnected from the controls.

“The
Trith came to you that day too, didn’t he, Joe?”

After
countless hours in the tunnels, Joe knew she could read his eyes, just as he
could read hers.  She knew Na’leen was telling the truth, just as Joe knew she
hated him for it.  He felt an ache of despair and closed his eyes, wishing he
could explain.

“And he
said you would destroy Congress?”

Joe
could only listen miserably, unable to even twitch his head in the negative.

“You’re
a rebel, Joe?”

No! 
I’m standing next to a burning assassin and I’m paralyzed, can’t you see that?!

Libby’s
face hardened.  “Well you know what the Trith told me, Joe?”

He
said I was a traitor.  But I’m not.  I’ve got an assassin’s poison in my veins
and I can’t.  Burning. 
Move!

Like a
panther rising from its nap, Libby stood, her gaze fixed on Joe.  “He said I’d
have to kill you to save Congress.”

Joe’s
eyes jerked open.  At the same time, Libby hurled a knife at him.

The
blade hit home.  Joe felt the air rush out of him as it slammed into his chest
in an arc of wet fire.  He reeled, staggering backwards.  He heard a commotion,
a Huouyt screaming, and the soggy
burp
of a plasma rifle going off. 
Then, nothing.

Joe was
on his back, staring at the ceiling, his vision fading to a red haze.  His
heart was slamming in his chest, slicing itself on the blade, driving the agony
deeper into his body.  He grew weaker, unable to even call for help.

She
hit me in the heart,
Joe thought.  His mind felt
as clear as ever, utterly logical. 
I’m dying.  Not even nanos can work fast
enough to save me.

He knew
he should feel hurt, betrayed, but all he felt was frustration.  It was all a
misunderstanding.  Libby didn’t really hate him.  She did what she thought she
had to.  If only he could
explain! 
Then, as his vision faded, taking
his thoughts with it, he saw a slender black shape crumple to the ground. 
Something about the way she fell sent another jolt of adrenaline lancing his
shattered veins.

Oh
God.  Libby!

CHAPTER
39: 
The Tug of Fate

“Dad didn’t come home last
night, Joe.”

“What?  How do you know?”

“I stayed up on the sofa
waiting for him.  I heard Mom calling the hospital this morning.”

“Why would she call the
hospital?  Where’s Dad?”

“I don’t know, Joe, but the
aliens are saying they killed a bunch of Marines last night.  I hacked into
their waves.  They laid a trap for them.”

“Shut up, Sam.  You’re lying.”

“I’m
not
lying
,
Joe!  Get out of bed!  Mom wants to talk to
you.”

“We’ve got to go find him.”

“Dad?  Mom told me not to leave
the house.  She wants to talk to you.” 

“So let’s go out the window,
okay?”

“Sure, okay.  You know where he
is, Joe?”

“Probably pinned down
somewhere.  You know where they laid their trap?”

“By the river.  Pushed them
into the water.  It was on the news, Joe.”

“I think Mom heard us.  Your
door just slammed.”

“Run, Sam!  We’ve gotta check
the river.”

“But Mom’s gonna—”

“Just
run,
Sam!”

“Joe, what’s that up there? 
Why are all those kids—”

“Shit, Sam, hide!”

“They’re behind us, too.  Joe,
they saw me.”

  Stay away from my brother you
assholes!”

“Joe!  Help, Joe!”

“He’s breathing.”

“It’s an improvement.  Brain
damage?”

“Possibly.”

“Will
it impair his functions?”

“I
don’t have the proper equipment, so it’s completely up in the air.  Your dose
was the best Congress has to offer, but he wasn’t breathing for several
minutes.  I think the drug I gave him kept him sedate enough to avoid too much
damage, but I’m still not sure he’s completely stable.  The antidote showed no
change at all.”

“He
can’t die.  The Trith told him he’d be the one.”

“We
don’t know that.  He could’ve been lying.”

“The
girl tried to kill him for it.  Possibly did kill him.”

“So
what should we do?  We’re losing time.”

“Can
you move him?”

“Not
sure.  Humans are delicate.”

“Representative,
Commander Pur’wei is having problems in the third Alishai ring, near the
shuttle launch.  He wants to talk to you.”

“If
it’s not important, I’ll pull his
breja
out myself.”

“Representative
Na’leen?”

“Yes,
Commander, what is it?”

“You
were supposed to kill all the Dhasha, sir.”

“Excuse
me?”

“There’s
a Dhasha ripping apart my regiment out here.  Biggest one I ever saw.  He’s
leading a small Ooreiki contingent against our positions.  Rousting them every
time.  He’s pushing through Alishai, headed straight for you.”

“Curse
him to the ninety Jreet hells.  Fine.  We’ll move things forward.  Destroy all
the haauks you can find, force him to walk as far as possible. 
Jreet hells!
 
I’d like to know how that janja slug survived space.  Zol’jib, is he awake
yet?”

“No,
Ko-Na’leen.”

“Then
stay here with him.  Meet me at the main control hub once he wakes.”

“You’re
firing the ekhta?”

“Bagkhal
gives me no choice.  If he finds a usable haauk
,
we only have eighteen
tics before he tears open the door and finds his way down here.”

“What
did you do, Joe?”

“I’m
sorry, Mom.”

“What
did you
do?!
  Where’s your brother?”

“He’s… 
He…”

“The
aliens got him, didn’t they?  You let the aliens take your brother, didn’t
you?!  Answer me, Joe!”

“I’ll help Dad get him back. 
I’ll go with them tonight and get him back.”

“Your Dad is
dead,
Joe.  All of his friends are
dead.
  There’s no one
to help your brother now.  They’re both
gone
.  I told you not to let him
leave the house and you took him anyway and now he’s
gone
!”

“I could go find Dad, Mom.  We
could get Sam back together.”

“You’re just a stupid kid,
Joe.  A stupid kid who gave his brother to the aliens.”

“I’ll
find Sam, Mom.  I’ll get him out, I swear.”

“Oh
just go to Hell, Joe.”

“Hey asher. 
Thanks for getting my platoon killed.  I knew Lagrah would never make us do
anything this stupid.  Libby had the right idea when she tried to gut you.  Too
bad they killed her.”

Joe’s
eyes flashed open.  Rat stood by his arm, sneering down at him.

“Shut
up, girl.”  A Huouyt pushed her out of the way and beamed down at Joe.  Joe
recognized Zol’jib and felt bile burning his throat.

“You
killed Libby?”

“She
acquired another plasma weapon and was going to use it on you.”

No.
  Joe let his head fall to the side, away from Rat, away from the
Huouyt.  He found himself staring at Libby’s empty boot.

You
will try to fight it, but invariably, your path will lead to the same end.

What if Nebil was wrong?  What if
he had to help Na’leen?  What if everything he did only prolonged the
inevitable?  What if he’d just gotten Libby killed?

No.
  The voice within him seared through his veins like fire. 

The Trith never said
how
I would shatter Congress. 
The sheer truth of it
resonated within him, extinguishing his doubts. 
I’m a Congie.  Bagkhal was
right.  I don’t have to help them. 

Joe clenched his fist, reveling in
the strength he felt there.

Zol’jib
noticed the movement.  “He’s weak.  Gather the other Humans.  They’ll carry
him.” 

“Like
Hell.”  Rat spat at Joe and backed away, throwing off the Huouyt’s grip.

“Rat,”
Joe said.  She hesitated and frowned down at him.  “I’m gonna need your help.” 

“I’ll never help you again,
traitor,” Rat said.

“I’m not a traitor,” Joe said,
eyes falling once more on Libby’s boot.  He thought he could see a naked human
form sprawled on the floor beyond it, but couldn’t make his eyes focus on it. 
I
never was.

You
will try to fight it, but invariably, your path will lead to the same end. 
  

Joe sat
up and tore the
fahjli
grenade out of Libby’s boot. As the Huouyt
watched with startled white-blue eyes, he twisted it and set the grenade down
on the ground between them.  “Take the ones along the wall,” Joe said to Rat. 
“I’ll get these.” 

As
Zol’jib bent to retrieve the grenade, Joe grabbed the knife Libby had thrown at
him and rammed it into the creature’s tubular, downy white chest.  It reeled
backwards in surprise, forgetting the grenade.  Instead of pulling the knife
free, Joe twisted it and yanked down, eviscerating him from neck to legs. 
Several egg-shaped orange lumps gushed from the wound on a wave of clear
mucus.  Zol’jib let out a terrified, musical wail and Joe kicked him backwards
off his knife. 

When
the
fahjli’s
blue flash went off, Joe descended upon the others.  The
startled Huouyt could only watch in horror as he slaughtered them.  Joe killed five
before the flash wore off and they began reaching for their weapons.

“Put it
down, Zero!” one of the Huouyt snapped, its mirror-like eyes staring back at
him in calm disdain.  “You are outgunned.  I don’t care what Na’leen said.  Fight
us, and you won’t get out of here alive.”

Joe
glanced back at Rat, who had another plasma pistol in her hands.  A group of four
terrified recruits were huddled behind her, eying the Huouyt in terror.  Like
Joe, all of them were naked, their bodies bared to the dozen guns aimed on
them. 

Sometimes
you’ve gotta stand up for yourself, even when you know you ain’t got a chance. 

He spun
and slammed his knife into a startled Huouyt’s throat.  As his opponent fell, something
carried him onward, a culmination of every bit of anguish, every bit of rage,
every bit of terror he had endured in the past months.  He leapt over the body
and dove into the startled throng of defenders.  Something deep within was
powering him, now, pushing him, electrifying his limbs as he sliced through his
opponents with a detached grace.  More Huouyt rushed into the room and grappled
him, but they couldn’t find a secure hold and their bee-stings didn’t work on
him. 

“He’s
had the antidote too soon!” one of them cried.  Joe rammed his knife into the
speaker’s slit of a mouth, then pulled the blade up and through the brain.  The
room echoed with plasma fire and Huouyt screams.  Behind him, he heard the
shee-whomp
of a Jreet.  Earlier, in the tunnels, the very sound had been enough to push a
sheet of adrenaline through his body.  Now, it only gave Joe another target.

Sometimes
you’ve gotta stand up for yourself, even when you know you ain’t got a chance.