Kristin (11 page)

The Beast reassembled the fabric of her
existence to find herself lying face down in the lush, green vegetation of a
steep hill. She levered her body up against the rough stem of a tall, organic
life form. It was even colder here, but it was a different cold to the desert
area and the air, heavy with moisture, made her feel uncomfortable at once: The
atmosphere seemed almost confused. She jumped as she felt fluid stream down her
face, in between her swells.

Collecting a drop on the
tip of her longest digit, she transferred it to the tip of her organ of speech
and taste ... SALT! Urgently, she ran a digited limb-end over the affected
surfaces, wiping the moisture off, but it returned immediately and she
panicked, shooting up. At once she was beset by raging thirst:
she must find
more fluid
,
pure fluid
,
quickly. Evidently
,
its consumption was essential to the well-being of her human form.

Below, a flow of partially
frozen liquid shimmered in the golden glow of the rising sun.
How much of it
would she need to consume in order to feel well again — the whole flow
?
She couldn’t be sure until she’d tried. Unsteadily, she started down the hill.

Near the banks of the flow
a large structure diverted her attention, luring her with the promise of
something far greater than the need for physical survival. The structure was
surrounded, protected on all sides by a number of humans. She partially
dematerialized and hid with stealth in the shade of another large organic life
form. The humans weren’t the same as the one she’d murdered, or the ones in the
rock. Their organs of vision appeared narrow, and their outer membranes bore a
different hue. There were no hairs of disguise upon their faces and they wore
austere, authoritarian coverings. They, too, were equipped with upper-limb
joint weapons.

One by one the humans
slumped to the ground, screaming, as she superheated their organs of thought,
boiling them down to nothing inside their thin shells of encasement.

Fully reformed, she
approached the structure and stood astride her first victim. She lowered
herself, perched on the corpse and wondered ...
maybe?
Bending forwards, she closed her
sharp, oral bone protrusions around the human’s head-stem, punctured the
membrane and sucked insatiably on a major lifeblood conduit. She kept drawing
until her oral cavity was full and then swallowed. Now she felt even worse than
before, and her digestive sack spurned the offering, sending it gushing back up
the same tube with great force, covering the human’s face.

The dead human’s coverings
appealed to her, even though the lifeblood, and the contents of the ejection
had marred them somewhat. She ripped them from the corpse and dressed herself
in them before vomiting more bloody effluence over the human’s remains.

Above her left swell she
noticed a crude marking on the covering and tilted her head awkwardly to
ascertain its meaning: KWANG.
What was it
?
Was it a message
? She scowled with frustration. More likely a
description, she surmised. Or could it be an identifying mark? Yes ... KWANG!
This, she decided, would now be her identity. She would be Kwang, since she
lacked any other name.

She coughed up more bloody
fluid, spat it out over the deceased human’s face and kicked it hard in the
head, hearing the shell shatter, then proceeded to what seemed to be an
entrance to the structure.

Breathing heavily, she
jammed her digited limb-ends into a narrow opening, swept the moveable barriers
open and felt the now familiar sensation of pleasure surge through her mortal
body.
But why
did the slain human have a collection of external organs located between its
limbs of mobility
?
Why didn
’
t she have these too
?
Had her father not created each human equally
?
Had he hated his
firstborn so much that he
’
d left her without a vital physiological appendage
?
Since he no
longer spoke to her
,
she would never know.

Before her, in the tempered
light of a cavernous space, four mighty weapons of death rested on their means
of transport, humming with impatience and intent.

Suddenly, an overwhelming
wave of doubt and fear flooded her human mind ... the thought patterns were
distant, but exceptionally clear — they belonged to the weapons’ masters.
Without hesitation, she travelled to the source, descending into the heart of a
vast metropolis of structures.

Near the centre of the hard-featured sprawl
an erection of considerable size sucked her bodily molecules in through
supporting external barriers, internal barriers, and countless small spaces divided,
and subdivided by them, until she came to be in the corner of a big space full
of light. The space was dominated by an enormous, thick piece of organic
material, around which six human beings were positioned. They were in dispute,
their voices loud, their faces aflame. They didn’t look happy to her, screaming
at each other in their ugly language. She translated as the obese human at the
end of the piece of material rattled its vocal membrane at the others like an
indigenous species of mammal.

To one side of the obese
human was a non-obese being with hard, flat facial features. It wore coverings
similar to hers. Opposite, a shrivelled human with a curiously oversized cranium
stared at its fellow human through some things that looked like thick, visual
aids.

The obese human appeared to
be in a position of superiority. When it had calmed down sufficiently, ceased
its jarring, clattering oration, the non-obese being started to babble at it,
but in a much higher pitch that amused her, causing her upper side-limb joints
to shake gently up and down, and left her respiratory sacks short of air.

We
must
act before we are subject to
attack, Mr President,’ the non-obese being insisted. ‘The Americans have forty
thousand troops based south of the border — why do you think they are
there? I don’t care what Seoul says, they have no right to be on Korean soil.
We should eradicate them at once. Does
nobody
here recall Vietnam?’

The shrivelled human looked
upwards in exasperation.

‘You are a fool, General,
if you believe the Americans would take a pre-emptive strike lying down.
President Joyce is a psychopath, the United Nations merely his puppet show.
They would answer with a nuclear strike on Pyongyang.’

Another member of the
gathering, silent so far, spoke. ‘We dare not antagonize the Americans, and we
cannot afford to alienate them. Neither can we cope with further United Nations
sanctions. Our natural fuel resources are critically low, in two years time we
will no longer be able to illuminate our cities at night. May I remind you,
gentlemen, that the reason behind the decision to develop a nuclear capability
was purely economic — a persuasive method of bringing the West to the
bargaining table.’

‘The West thinks it runs
the world!’ the non-obese being countered, vibrating its vocal membrane to the
limit. ‘It thinks it can pull our strings, that we shall dance to its tune ...
we shall not! Humanity exists only in the Eastern Hemisphere, the great cities
of the West are dispensable, its people worthless bags of flesh and bone.’

She felt a rush of physical
gratification that almost equalled her experience atop the missile, but fumed
as the shrivelled human offered its own solution.

‘If you want to bring them
to their knees, force them to lift their sanctions, there is another way.’

‘Explain,’ the obese leader
instructed, its face wet with salt-fluid.

‘Cripple their computer
systems — business, government, military, they will end up like a
toothless lion.’

‘ ... A computer virus?’

‘One that will not be cured
in ten years, maybe more. Physical war is outdated, unnecessary and expensive.
Your information technology department are already at work on such ... ’

‘
Computer warfare
?’ the non-obese being
warbled, derisively. ‘Have you all gone completely mad?’

The obese leader clenched
its digited limb-end and brought it down hard on the shiny surface. ‘GENERAL
CHOI!’

The large device of air
circulation rotated slowly above their heads.

‘ ... Mr President,
American cities could be atomized on your word. We have the means at our
disposal. The Taepodong-2 missiles are armed with nuclear warheads and ready to
go. Their range is two thousand kilometres, they can reach the western seaboard
of the United States — Los Angeles, San Francisco.’

Yes
,
exterminate the
humans of the West
,
now
! she urged, squirming with ecstasy.
In turn
,
they will obliterate the humans of the East
— many will perish in such a cataclysm
,
bringing me pleasure beyond thine
understanding
,
and I will possess all who survive until the end of time.

‘And who has told you
this?’ the shrivelled human probed, sarcastically. ‘This all-powerful,
all-seeing female embodiment of the devil?’

Yes
,
I told it
,
she thought, proudly.

‘I only listen to my inner
voice, Professor.’

I am thine inner voice
!

‘If we do as you suggest it
would be the same as signing our own death warrants. Please, Mr President,
don’t listen to the General’s insane ideas any longer. You are a great threat
to the future of Korea, General Choi, your kind should be consigned to the
rubbish bin, you are not a forward thinking man!’

She observed, enraptured,
and emulated the non-obese being as it pulled the fleshy surrounds of its oral
cavity into a tight, elongated shape. A drop of salt-fluid ran down its face
from beneath its authoritarian head covering.

‘Neither are you,
Professor. For instance ... you didn’t see this coming, did you?’

In a period of time she
equated to three pumps of its organ of circulation, the non-obese being
produced a flashing steel barb from nowhere and hammered into the side of the
shrivelled human’s head.

She writhed with pleasure
as the shrivelled human’s lifeblood spurted and gushed in all directions, splattering
the faces of the others.
He is dying, dying
!
Now the others ... kill the others too
!
Bring them death
!
End their lives ... and then release the
great weapons of destruction
!

But the non-obese being did
not listen to her commands. Calmly, it poked a digited limb-end into an opening
in its bottom covering, withdrew a piece of white material and wiped the steel
edge clean of lifeblood. Then it replaced the blade and leaned forwards,
limb-end digits intertwined, ready to resume its dialogue with the others.

Thou wilt hear me
, she seethed.
To deny me is to ignore thine own conscience.

The face of the obese
leader had dried, gained an unnat-ural hue. It looked as she had felt when
she’d attempted to sate her thirst with the lifeblood of the owner of her coverings:
It really was an extraordinarily grotesque individual. Seemingly, her father
had not created each human equally. She was quite beautiful, whereas the obese
leader looked as if it had been conceived and produced with spite. For a
flickering moment she felt sorry for it.

The obese leader locked its
slit, puffy organs of vision on the shrivelled human until its bloody gurgling
stopped.
Death
!
Death
!
Death
! she
writhed.
It
’
s life has ended
!
In front of my
mortal organs of vision ... how glorious
!
I must have more ... I will see this
homicide spread across the whole of the Earth
!

The obese leader shifted
its gaze to the shrivelled human’s lifeblood-splattered killer, gazing at it as
if it were deranged. Without further vocalization it fumbled for something
under the edge of the piece of organic material. Seconds later, a barrier
entrance burst open and a group of stunted humans rushed in, weapons ready, and
took up position either side of their gross ruler, who struggled to communicate
further.

‘ ... Place ... the General
under arrest,’ it instructed, eventually.

Stop
!
What are you
doing
?
Let
it discharge its duty to take life
,
this is what it desires
,
what I demand of it
,
of all of thee
!

‘You will die if you do not
kill!’ cautioned the non-obese being, as it was dragged from the space. ‘YOU
WILL LEARN ... YOU WILL DO AS SHE SAYS, ALL OF US WILL!’

She moaned, ecstatic.

When the non-obese being’s
falsetto protests had faded into the distance the obese leader turned to face
the slain intellectual. It paused, then swung a side-limb through the air
slowly. Two of the stunted humans, acting upon its signal, got hold of the body
and transported it from the space, leaving a trail of lifeblood, and closed the
barrier entrance behind them.

‘Please leave me alone,’
the obese leader requested, hanging its head.