Genetic Drift (22 page)

DAY 284

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

OUTSIDE CAMP PHOENIX

“We have to get moving,” Ben rushed Ethen.  The water had receded to the point that it could be traversed by foot.  Ethen had gathered a small amount of armaments from around the camp.  There were 32 survivors and each one of them was given the opportunity to leave.  Having no place to go, not one person wanted to leave.  Marcus made sure that everyone knew how to use their guns.  Everyone was grouped at the doorway and ready to leave the camp.  “Charles, you know this area the best, you lead,” Ben directed his orders.  Charles nodded and went through the door.  Giving the area a quick scan, Charles deemed it was safe and told the others to follow him.

Marcus and Ethen were the next two out of the door, followed by everyone else.  Charles led everyone directly to the hill.  Marcus made it to the hill and turned around to see many of the people were not able to keep up the pace, “C’mon, move.  You’re in the open.”  Some of them picked up the pace while the less fit individuals halfheartedly lifted their legs.  When the group had made it to the hill, Charles started running to the top. 

“You’ve gotta be kiddin’,” Kenny said.  He was the last to reach the hill.  He was a large man, tipping the scale at 300 pounds, and was already drenched in sweat.

The steeper incline caused slower movements and more separation between the fighters.  Charles made it to the apex and stood there as he looked down the other side.  Marcus caught up with him shortly and began to look at the same area.  Charles was already amazed and Marcus found out why.  In the short time since they had left this spot, it had been covered with a purple-type of moss over the foliage and ground. 

“What the hell?” Charles asked in disbelief. 

“That huge bunker must have done this,” Marcus said.  He pointed to the newly landed bunker that was at least ten times the size of the bunker where he had found Maddie.

It was difficult to see clearly through the trees, but Marcus put his binoculars to his face to examine the huge bunker that had landed a day earlier.  Charles mimicked Marcus’ actions.  “That isn’t a bunker, that’s a fortress,” Marcus said.  Near the top of the fortress were openings that were the origination point of the flowing purple moss.  Lines of purple streamed down the sides.  Marcus could not see where it met the ground from his vantage point.  The dense leaves hanging from the trees obstructed his view. 

“I think we should get a closer view,” Charles said. 

“We should go down there and see what’s actually happening,” Marcus agreed.

Ben and the others joined Marcus and Charles while Kenny had not yet made it halfway up the hill.  “We need to go down and see what we’re up against,” Marcus told Ben. 

“You shouldn’t go by yourself.  You don’t know what else is down there,” Ben said.

“Some of these folk will slow us down.  It would be best if me and Charles went by ourselves,” Marcus replied.  Charles nodded but Ben thought differently. 

“The radio operators and the non-combats will stay here.  The soldiers and I will go with you.  That way, we will get plenty of eyes down there and see what’s actually going on,” Ben said.  Marcus didn’t argue.  Ben was the General and he was the one giving the orders.

After separating the soldiers from the others, Charles led the way down the hill toward the fortress.  Marcus, Ben, Ethen, and four others followed his lead.  The rest waited for their return.  Charles continued down the hill and a sweet aroma began to fill the air.  “Do you smell that?  Is that vanilla?” He looked behind him to make sure he wasn’t imagining it.  The others approached.

“Smells nice,” Marcus said.  They looked around to see where the smell was coming from.  One of the soldiers spotted something.

“Look over there,” he said.  He pointed to a line of purple moss on the ground.  They slowly walked over to the purple line and stopped at the edge.  Marcus picked up a stick and poked the moss.  The moss did not react.  He poked it again. 

“It’s spongy,” Marcus said.  He withdrew the stick and the moss stayed in place.  Marcus examined the end of the stick to check for residue or any remnants of moss.  “I think it’ll be safe to walk on.” 

Marcus took a tentative step onto the moss.  He watched as he expected some tentacles to come out and grab his legs.  Nothing happened other than his foot creating an indentation into the moss.  He took a second step and his full weight was on the moss.  Marcus walked in place and the moss did not react.  He planted his feet and looked down, “It’s definitely safe.”  The others took a timid initial step onto the moss with the same result.  With their confidence regained, they continued to the fortress.

As they walked, the ground changed from alternating patches of moss and earth to being completely covered by moss.  They were walking in a lake of purple.  “What in the hell are they doing?” Ben asked as he looked up.  The moss was hanging from the tree branches.  What used to be the green and brown of the woods had transformed into an area of purple.  Purple ground, purple trees, and purple moss hung everywhere.  Marcus took moss off of a tree.  He made sure that he kept it as connected as he could.  He took the sheet and draped it over his head and shoulders.  He looked at Ben.

“Camouflage,” Marcus said.  The others saw what he was doing and grabbed their own camouflage.

They appeared to be moving outlines of purple as they crept to the clearing that was made by the landing of the fortress.  Charles raised his hand to tell everyone to stop.  It wasn’t just purple moss that was coming out of the fortress.  There were Trolls too.  And other blue creatures.  But they weren’t Trolls.  The Trolls were escorting what appeared to be animals of some sorts, definitely not of this world, from the fortress.  They watched as Trolls and animals came out one-by-one.  Each Troll would touch its animal and then the animal would run into a different part of the woods.  One after the other would follow the same process.

The next animal came out of the fortress and was led by a Troll.  Ethen watched in shock as the behemoth stepped onto the moss laden ground.  The animal was blue like everything else coming out of the fortress but this one looked vicious.  It was taller than the Troll and about seven feet in length.  Its face was long with a horn protruding from the tip.  Two long teeth came from the sides of its mouth.  It had long quills extending from the sides and bottom of its neck.  A mane of spikes jutted out from its neck.  Its body looked armored but leathery. It had been named a “Crossbearer” on its former planet.  The others were watching the same animal.  Instead of feet, it had blades that sunk into the ground with each step. 

The Troll touched it and it began to sniff the air.  With a sudden jerk, it sprinted toward the small group of soldiers.  They all took cover.  Most of them sheltered behind a tree and their camouflage hid them.  One soldier wasn’t close enough to a tree and went straight to the ground to blend in with the moss.  The animal came barreling through their small clearing.  Each one of the knives coming from its legs sliced into the earth without a sound.  It stopped for a moment to sniff the air.  It stood still as it looked around.  Its feet silently came out of the ground as it moved in a circle.  Something caught its attention and it focused on Ben’s tree.  It stared at it for a moment.  Ben’s heart was racing watching the animal bore its eyes in his direction.  The animal stopped, stood motionless, and waited.  Ben stood still, knowing his life depended on it.  Marcus also stood as still as possible so as not to draw attention to him.

The animal stopped its stare at Ben’s tree and turned to face deeper into the woods.  The animal started running, leaving the soldiers behind.  As soon as it left the area, they relaxed from their hiding and regrouped, except for the soldier on the ground. His body wasn’t moving.  Marcus walked to him and saw two foot-long slits on his neck and back.  The animal did not notice the man but he was in a poor position.  As the animal turned, its knifed-feet pierced the soldier’s body like it was part of the ground.  Ben saw the soldier was dead, “Is everyone else okay?”  Ben looked around and did a head count.  Everyone else was accounted for.  Charles maintained his watch over the fortress and saw some people running toward it.

“Hey, hey, look at that,” he said, and got the others’ attention.  Ben and Marcus looked toward the fortress.  The door had closed.  There were people running into their view.  Two guys and two girls. 

“That’s Maddie.  And Quill,” Marcus said to Ben.  Ben maintained his stare.

“I know, let’s watch them and see what they do,” Ben said.

The group left at the top of the hill was becoming impatient.  “When are they going to come back here?” one of them asked as she paced back and forth.  The sound of wheezing was approaching and getting louder.  One of the men raised his gun and pointed it in the direction of the sound.  Kenny eclipsed the border of the earth and the man dropped his aim. 

“Geez Kenny, do you know I almost shot you?” the man asked.  Kenny was still wheezing from his running.

“Thanks… for… not shooting,” Kenny said.  He didn’t bother to find a place to sit or rest.  He fell down to the ground and lay there.  “I just need some time to catch my breath,” Kenny said in between deep breaths. 

“Don’t worry about it,” said the man, “we’re all waiting for the others to come back.”  Kenny was relieved that they were going to wait.

“That’s a great plan,” Kenny said, and his arms fell down to his side as the rising and falling of his chest continued.

One of the blue animals approached the group.  It looked like a household cat with huge ears that folded forward.  Another man in the group saw it and walked up to it.  He wanted to see what exactly it was.  The blue kitty didn’t run away.  It didn’t make a sound.  It seemed like an innocent little kitten.  The man wanted to see if it was friendly so he bent over and extended his hand to pet it.  The blue kitty began to back away and the man brought his hand back to his body.  The blue kitty stopped backing away when he withdrew.  He took that as an invitation for another petting attempt.  He leaned over and reached his hand out again. 

There was silence as the man stuck out his hand.  Out of the woods, the knife-footed animal ran at him and sunk its foot into his head.  His body slumped immediately.  The animal flicked its foot to the side and the man slid from the blade, landing on the ground.  The blue kitty placed itself behind one of the animal’s knives.  The commotion caught the attention of the others waiting on the hill.  They went for their guns to defend themselves but the knife-footed animal was quick.  It ran toward the mass of people and began to slash and slice.  Arms and legs and heads were severed from their bodies. 

The blue kitty attacked as well.  It jumped on one person’s leg and distracted him long enough for the knife-footed animal to plunge its foot into his chest.  Kenny lay in silence as he watched the carnage.  He was so tired that he couldn’t have moved if he tried.  The last person standing aimed his gun and started to shoot the behemoth.  A bullet hit the animal in its long neck.  The quills took the shape of a cross as it immediately covered its neck and head.  The man continued to shoot as the blue beast walked towards him.  A click sounded from his gun as he tried to fire an empty magazine.  Click, click, click.

The quills went back to their normal position and the behemoth lunged at the man sticking two of its knives into his chest.  The blue kitty ran away and the behemoth stood with its knives stuck in the man.  It sniffed the air again and jumped off of the man.  Just as quickly as it had struck, it ran down the hill toward Camp Phoenix.  Kenny watched it as it ran out of view.  When he couldn’t see it anymore he was filled with enough adrenaline to jump to his feet.  He ran straight to the fortress in hopes of finding the other group.

DAY 284

FORTRESS

THE FORTRESS GROUNDS

“Rho, how did you fix my eye and my hand?  Everyone else has normal healing except me,”
Maddie thought to
Rho
. 

“Maddie, I healed you with what I was given.  There were only red amino acids available when your eye was injured.  We could only use them as a source to fix your body.  As for your hand, I thought we could use a hand that was infused with the metal scraps.  It was a source to make us a stronger body.  Your hand should be able to absorb fire from orbitizers now, or at least most of it,” Rho
answered.

Maddie hadn’t given it much thought until now.  Her metal hand was now made from the same material that the orbitizers couldn’t penetrate.  She liked
Rho
’s genius with what it did for her.  She picked up her hand and started to look at it.  As she looked at her hand, she noticed Hope and Jay walking in front of her. 
“What is happening inside of Hope?”
she asked. 

“The vessel you call Hope and her other being are learning to integrate.  The other being will find where it needs to integrate and will work in harmony with the vessel,”
Rho
explained.

Maddie watched silently as Hope and Jay talked. 
Rho
continued,
“The other being has accepted us as its queen mother and will follow us.  It is not as integrated as we, so I cannot tell you what will happen if the vessel attempts to reject the other being’s desire to follow us as the queen mother.”
 

Hope turned back and approached Maddie.  Maddie quickly dropped her hand and greeted Hope, “How’s everything going?  Are you feeling okay?”  Hope smiled.

“Thank you so much.  This is so much cooler than not knowing what is inside of me,” Hope said.

“Do you have conversations with each other?” Maddie asked.  Hope dropped her smile.

“You can talk to each other?” Hope asked. Maddie felt bad that she had asked.

“I didn’t mean to ask you—” she said.  Hope’s smile returned.

“I’m just kidding with you.  Yes, we talk all of the time.  Her name is
Kappa
and she totally understands me,” Hope said.

Quill approached from behind, “Are you two plotting somethin’?”  Maddie stopped and turned around.

“Why are you so worried?  Do you really think we want to be like this?” Maddie asked. 

“Yeah, we are the way we are and you’ll have to accept that,” Hope said, and she took a couple steps and turned to follow Maddie.

Quill pointed at Maddie, “You,” and then pointed at Hope, “and you, it’s not you I don’t trust, it’s what is inside of you.”  Quill dropped his hand and ushered Maddie and Hope in front of him.  “You two walk in front of me.”  Maddie started to walk and Hope ran to Jay.

Jay stopped in his tracks and stared at the path in front of them.  Hope caught up to him, “What is that?” She stood beside him and looked at the purple moss on the forest floor.  Maddie reached the stopping point. 

“Rho, what is this stuff?”
she asked.

“It has to be from the old planet.  This is one of the reasons that we have to get to the interface.  I can’t identify the substance,”
Rho
responded.  Maddie put her hands on her hips and her lips shifted to the side. 

“What do you mean that you can’t identify the stuff?”
she asked. 

“There is a massive database of the organisms from the other hosts’ planet.  I can gather that information if we get to the interface,” Rho
explained.

“More alien crap,” Quill said as he saw the lines of purple in front of them.  He continued to walk past the three and straight to the moss.  As he walked, he removed his blade from his makeshift scabbard and starting whipping the blade to stir the moss.  The back and forth motion of his blade quickened, “Alien crap, alien crap, it’s all alien crap.”  Maddie, Hope, and Jay walked to Quill.  The whipped moss was flying to Quill’s left and right as he continued to create a path.  One of the purple remnants landed on Maddie and she picked it off of her arm. 

“Rho, do you know what this is now?  I’m holding it.” 

“No Maddie, I cannot communicate with everything from the other hosts.  It does seem benign,” Rho
answered.  Maddie took
Rho
’s word as a cue to not walk behind Quill.  She overtook him and started walking on the moss. 

“It’s harmless Quill, stop slicing that stuff,” she said.  Quill looked at her and stopped. 

“You’ve got that alien stuff in you,” he said, and he turned to Jay, “If you trust it, you go first.”  Hope had already started walking to Maddie and Jay followed.  Jay walked onto the moss with no problem.  Quill watched as Jay continued to walk toward Maddie.  Jay was safely traveling and Quill gave a grunt.  “Guess it’s okay,” he muttered.

They recommenced their walk to the alien ship.  Quill stayed behind everyone as the patches of purple turned into a sea of purple.  A rustle in a tree caught Quill’s attention.  A little sparrow fluttered its wings as it sat perched on the moss laden branch.  Quill watched as it readied itself to fly.  The sparrow jumped and a sudden swoop came down on it.  The sparrow was in the claws of a blue monster.  Its wings flapped slowly as it landed on the same branch with the sparrow in its clutches.  Its small but pointed beak reached down to the sparrow and with one snip, the sparrow’s head fell to ground in front of Quill. 

Quill did not flinch as he held his blade up to defend himself.  The monster dropped the body of the sparrow and extended its wings.  Its wingspan was wider than Quill was tall.  Its chest was speckled with dark blue spots.  Its beak was crossbilled.  Its eyes were also dark blue and fixed on Quill as it looked down.

The monster leapt from the branch and streamed toward Quill.  It approached and opened its beak.  As it closed the distance between them, Quill’s hand tensed on his blade and in one fluid stroke he sliced at the bird.  A large thud came from the monster’s collision with the earth.  Quill stared at it breathing slowly but deeply.  Maddie turned around and saw the monster’s head separated from its shaking body.  Quill walked up to the headless body, “Another alien.”  He took his blade and sliced the regenerating neck.  He watched to see if it would try to reform again.   The neck started to reform but then it suddenly stopped.  Blue blood oozed from the opening and the body stopped moving.  Quill backed away from the monster as Hope ran up to it.  She reached for the blue monster but Jay stopped her as her hand nearly touched it. 

“What are you doing Jay?  I want to touch it,” she implored him.  Jay maintained his hold on her.

“Don’t touch that thing, you don’t know what it is,” he said as Hope wriggled in his grasp,

“
Kappa
wants me to touch it, it’s an alien,” she said, and tried to move her hand.  “Please, please,” she continued to beg. 

Jay kept his hold and told her, “No.” 

“Fine,” Hope capitulated.  Her body loosened as she gave up her fight.  Jay picked up Hope and turned so his body was between Hope and the monster.  He released his grip.

“Don’t touch it,” he told her.

“Hope, if it’s dead, you won’t hear it,” Maddie said.  Hope frowned at Maddie.

“I could have found that out myself,” she said.  Jay stood unfazed by Hope’s disappointed voice.  He started walking toward the alien ship again and Hope saw her opening.  She quickly moved toward the monster and placed her hand on its wing.  She knelt over it waiting for a response but could not hear anything.  Too late to react, Jay let Hope finish her investigation.  Hope released her hand from the monster in disappointment. 

“There wasn’t anything, was there?” Maddie asked.  Hope’s head dropped.

“You were right.  I just wanted to see for myself,” Hope said.

Hope and
Kappa
were beginning to build a strong bond.  Hope’s willingness to interact with
Kappa
allowed her to act on
Kappa’s
desires. 
Kappa’s
willingness to convert any being to
Rho
’s side was openly apparent.  Maddie saw that Hope and
Kappa’s
relationship showed the importance of having the aliens on their side and knew that
Rho
’s plan to eliminate the queen mother was a worthy endeavor.

Maddie looked around, “Where’s Quill?”  She scanned through the trees but could not see him anywhere. 

“We’re close,” Quill yelled from a tree branch. 

“What are you doing up there?” asked Maddie. 

“I am looking for more of those flying things.  Those aliens aren’t going to sneak up on me.  Your alien base is right over there,” Quill said and pointed them in the direction of their destination.  Maddie looked through the trees.  It was difficult to see through all of the purple hues.  She could not see the base or bunker or fortress or whatever it was.  She just started to walk in the direction that Quill was pointing. 

“Are you going to come down?” Maddie called up to Quill. 

“Don’t worry about me.  I’ll be behind you,” he shouted back.

The path disappeared and Maddie was traversing left and right through the trees.  Hope and Jay were immediately behind her.  Quill was nowhere to be seen.  As the number of trees began to thin, they could see the alien fortress in the distance.  They stopped before entering the clearing that housed the fortress. 

They watched a Troll lead the blue Crossbearer out of the fortress. 
“Whenever that door closes, we need to enter,” Rho
told Maddie.

“How are we going to get in there if the door is closed?”
Maddie asked, confused.

“If you do your part and get us to the door then I will do my part and open it.  Remember that there are things with us that only I can do,” Rho
answered.  Maddie did not inquire anymore about
Rho
’s plan.  She would do her part and get them to the door.

The Crossbearer sprinted toward another part of the woods.  The Troll that released it stood at the door and watched as it ran away.  Once the beast crossed the timberline, the Troll turned to the fortress and looked into the door.  Maddie was at a bad angle and could not see what the Troll was looking at. 

The Troll walked up a small ramp and turned around.  It looked around the surrounding area and took a step back.  The door quickly closed and there was no movement in front of it. 
“You need to go,”
Rho
told Maddie.  She started to move into the clearing. 

“What are you doing?” Jay asked her. 

“I’m going to the door and getting into that fortress,” Maddie snapped back.  Hope and Jay left their trees and followed Maddie.  Nervousness took over Maddie as her slow entry into the clearing became a sprint.  Hope and Jay started to run to keep up the pace.  Quill exited the woods and started his sprint as well.  The four were running straight for the door. 

Maddie reached the ramp and looked up at the door. 
“Place your hand on the pad to your left,” Rho
told her.  Maddie walked up the ramp and saw the pad
Rho
mentioned.  Quill had passed Hope and Jay and was on the ramp.  Maddie’s hand connected with the pad and the door quickly opened.  Hope and Jay made it to the ramp and started to run up it.  Maddie walked through the door into a dimly lit hall.  Quill tightened the grip on his blade and took a step into the hall.  Hope and Jay had to slow down to avoid running into him.  They entered the door and Jay gasped for air after their sprint.

“Alright Rho, where do we go now?” 
Maddie asked in her mind. 

“We must find the computer interface.  I don’t know where it is but I will know when we see it,” Rho
told her.

Maddie sighed and said,
“Nothing can be easy with you.” 
Maddie started to walk down the hall.  Quill stood there with Hope and Jay behind him.  Maddie noticed there were no other footsteps behind her and turned around.

“I don’t know where we are going but staying here isn’t going to beat the Trolls,” Maddie said.  Quill started walking toward her.  Hope and Jay soon followed him toward Maddie. 

“We need to find the computer interface, and before you ask, I don’t know where it is,” Maddie said and started to walk further down the hall.