Stellarnet Rebel (24 page)

While the colonel gave the word to have the hangar prepped, J’ni was connected to the comm center and her voice relayed to the Finder ship.

“Hello, this is J’ni Nagyx Duin,”
she said in Glinnish.
“Welcome to Asteria. Why are you here?”

One word came over her bracer, spoken with the cheep of a Finder accent.

“Found.”

She glanced at Belloc.

“What is found?”
she asked.

There was a moment of silence, and then the reply stunned her.

“Duin’s river people.”

She stopped in the middle of the thoroughfare as several emotions washed over her. Joy, fear, anticipation, excitement. She couldn’t breathe suddenly, in the corseted dress.

Belloc grasped her forearm and spoke into the bracer himself.
“You found Duin’s family, and everyone from his village?”

“Yes.”

They rushed to Sector C.

“What? What is it?” The colonel ran with them.

J’ni explained. “The Glin from Duin’s village, his family, who were relocated. They’ve been found.”

The ship was in the hangar, settled like a giant water drop on the floor. When they entered, a doorway formed in the side of the Finder’s vessel. J’ni didn’t know what she expected. To see Ullu? Duin’s children and grandchildren? Would Ullu recognize the
nagyx
at J’ni’s neck? She had no idea what she would say to them, but she knew she would embrace them, as Duin would. Her eyes misted with tears. He would be so happy.

But she saw no Glin inside. A lone Finder disembarked, walked to J’ni and raised its arm, curling its two-fingered hand toward her. Not sure what it wanted, she held out her own hand.

Blaze launched into his official spiel. “I am Colonel Blaze Villanueva. On behalf of the Earth Air & Space Force, the United Nations, the Extrasolar Space Colonization Consortium, the citizens of the Solar System and the colonists of Asteria, I welcome you to Asteria Colony.”

The Finder ignored Blaze. It gently touched J’ni, stroking the device on her arm. The device flashed in a way J’ni had never seen before, in patterns of blue, yellow and pink.

Blaze looked concerned. “What’s it doing?”

She examined the display on her bracer. “It looks like a file transfer. There are new vids in my queue. And some sets of coordinates.”

The Finder addressed J’ni in Glinnish.
“We are sorry.”

“Sorry?”
A horrible sense of foreboding washed over her, black and oppressive, until she felt Belloc’s hands on her shoulders. His touch kept her from drowning in the darkness.

The Finder returned to its sparkling bubble vessel.

“It’s my duty, as the designated representative of Asteria on behalf of the United Nations of Earth, to request that a further exchange of cultural…aw, hell.” Blaze watched the doorway seal itself behind the Finder. “I’ve had sneezes lasted longer than that visit.”

They went into the guard station so the Finder could depart. As soon as the door clanged shut, sealing them off from the hangar, J’ni selected the first vid in the queue and opened it on the wall. It looked like the inside of a Finder ship. Past the ship’s translucent walls, a Tikati vessel could be seen hanging in the black sky. It was much larger than the ship Duin captured.

“That’s the same kind of ship I was in with my mother,” said Belloc. “A prison ship.”

The vid seemed to be shot from the pilot’s perspective, and they watched as the Finder went through the process of connecting to the Tikat ship and opening its hatch. The interior was dark, until the Finder touched the wall and the ship filled with illumination. It also filled with gravity, and they heard several loud and ominous thumps as previously weightless things hit the floor.

“No.” It was all she could find the breath to say. Her eyes blurred with tears.

The inside of the relocation ship was filled with the bodies of Glin. Males, females, children and infants, which had been drifting in weightless death and were now lying across the floor. Meticulously, the Finder went from room to room, body to body, recording each detail. The same grisly scene occurred again and again.

J’ni had no idea which faces were the faces of Duin’s family, his children, his grandchildren. Who had died first? Did the adults have to watch the children die, or were the children left to die alone? Did they die of starvation, lack of air, or cold? Which were the faces of individuals for whom Duin once acted as
anah anah
to settle their disputes? Which were the Glin who had joined him in
r’naw
and
wallump
hunts? Which children had sat and listened to him tell the story of
Glippit
?

She couldn’t watch any more. Her head and her heart hurt too much. She buried her face in Belloc’s chest and wept.

Blaze continued watching the vid, his face grim. “Looks like the ship malfunctioned. No power or life support. But where are the Tikati?”

“The ship I was on, it contained no Tikati,” said Belloc. “We were there for a long time, without food or water. After my mother died, I got out of our cell. My hands must have zapped the door, I guess. I searched and found the bridge, though I didn’t know what it was. There were no Tikati. The Finders rescued us soon after that.”

“There are three files.” Her hands were shaking, and she couldn’t stop crying. “All vids.”

She opened the three vids on the wall at the same time. They were more of the same.

“Goddamn it, why would they do this?” But Belloc and Blaze had no answers for her.

The Tikati had never meant for the Glin to arrive anywhere at all. They weren’t relocated, they were executed. A long, painful execution, without food or water, and eventually, without power or air. Drifting for days, weeks, months…years…away from their home. The same thing would have happened to Belloc, Sala, Eb, Nish, Ga’Duhn and all the rest of the Glin on
Wandalin
, if they hadn’t been found.

The colonel’s voice was low and somber. “I want copies to send to the UN, the ESCC, and the US government. I’m assuming you’ll post these on your blog, but Duin should see them first.”

J’ni wiped her eyes. “I can’t let him see this alone. I have to be with him, to tell him myself. Can you arrange for me to visit ACCESS?”

“Wouldn’t be any point.”

“Why?”

The colonel didn’t answer but watched the vids with a clenched jaw.

“Blaze, why can’t I go?” she repeated.

Without looking away from the wall, the colonel replied. “Because Duin’s not at ACCESS. He’s gone to Glin.”

Duin was haunted by ghastly images of his family and the Glin of
Willup W’Kuay
. He had no idea why such dreams would come to him. For the first time in more than half a rain season, he’d curled up in a bed of damp
skish
and fallen asleep on his home world. But he didn’t sleep well and the horrible nightmares wouldn’t cease. He tried to forget them and focus on the work at hand—which was evacuating his people from the Progress Center before the U.S. Marines attacked.

“Get out! Get out! You’re free! Go!”

When the Glin saw their dead Tikati captors, they needed little urging. Nish and Eb were waiting for him outside the prisoner barracks. The Finders had brought them back from
Wandalin
to assist Duin, and all three of them were outfitted by the U.S. military with weapons and suits. But these suits were not like the ones worn by the Air & Space Force or UN Peacekeepers on Asteria. These were flexible, lightweight and rendered the wearer nearly invisible. Sensors detected light and then relayed that light to the opposite side, to create a constantly changing camouflage that blended in with whatever was behind them, from whichever angle they were viewed.

At the moment the suits were dark green, the default color—deactivated so that the other Glin could see their rescuers.

Nish grasped him on the shoulder.
“Is everyone out?”

Duin nodded.
“This building is clear.”

“Those are empty.”
Eb pointed to structures in the distance.

Families joyfully reunited as they headed across the marshes and away from the compound.

“Get them far away from here, fast as they can swim.”
Duin gestured to the escaping Glin.
“Don’t let anyone return.”

“Where are you going, my friend?”
Nish asked.

“The algae processing plant. There are still workers there.”

A patrol of Tikati guards rounded the corner. When they saw the escaping prisoners, they enlarged to their full, threatening size. Bursts of flame shot from their weapons. Several of the Glin screamed in terror.

But Duin, Nish and Eb were armed with zap-guns. The weapons were designed—with Duin’s input—by specialists at ACCESS. These didn’t shoot bullets, lasers or fire. Instead, they enhanced the natural bio-electrical charge of the Glin, hurtling bolts of lightning over a distance.

Eb ran at the guards.
“Death to the enemies of liberation! For water and freedom!”

Within seconds, the patrol joined the other dead Tikati wherever it was that Tikati went after they died. The dark heart of their dying world, Duin hoped.

Duin waved his arm.
“Go. I’ll catch up with you at Wide Water.”

Nish and Eb nodded in acknowledgment and ran after the freed Glin.

Duin headed in the opposite direction, down a long, narrow courtyard. Activating his suit and slinging his zap-gun over his shoulder, he climbed a metal ladder up the side of a large cement tank. He peered over the top of the ladder. Only his face was visible, as the high-tech camouflage helmet made the rest of his head look like the dark, cloudy sky behind him.

In the faint green light emanating from the algae in the tanks, Duin counted six Tikati guards spaced out across the facility, and more than two dozen prisoners. He pulled himself over the top and crept along a catwalk toward the nearest Glin. Ducking down alongside a contraption of pulleys, cables and gears, he deactivated his suit and spoke quickly to the surprised worker.

“I am Duin, elder of Long River. Earth hunters are coming to destroy this place, and cleanse it of Tikati. You’ve got to leave. Get everyone out of here, as fast as you can. Head across the marshes.”

“But, the guards
.
They have fire.”

Duin gripped the zap-gun in his hand.
“And I have justice
.”

He bounded up and ran straight for the first guard. Duin shot a burst of lightning that crackled over the creature’s thick skin, killing it and drawing the attention of the other guards. Spouts of flame erupted from their weapons. The fire didn’t have much of a range. But if they converged on him, this suit wouldn’t be able to withstand several point-blank flamethrowers.

He shot lightning at two more guards, who plummeted into the tanks below.

Soon, every Tikati in the compound would be aware of his presence. That was fine with him. Let them come. It would help the prisoners escape.

He stepped over the railing of the catwalk and leaped, sailing through the air and landing on another walkway some thirty feet away. Running across the network of catwalks, he tried to find a way down. But all of his exits were blocked as more Tikati emerged from the compound and closed in.

Duin shot any Tikati that would come within range, and then zapped the metal network of catwalks itself, which killed a satisfying number of Tikati all at one time. But he couldn’t keep that up for long. Duin heard the bang of projectiles and wondered if the Tikati were firing his own weapons at him, the ones they took when he was captured. Bullets whistled past him, pinging on the metal machinery. Something large-caliber hit the catwalk and blew a hole in it, causing the walkway to rock dangerously.

“Time for a swim.” He swung over the railing and hung from it by an arm and a leg. Then he took out a grenade, activated it and dropped it into the tank below.

A roaring explosion ruptured the side of the tank, and Duin let go of the catwalk. He hit the surface in a dive and was carried out by the rush of the escaping water. The flow spilled over onto the roof of the control center and washed across several waiting Tikati. Duin landed on the platform and loosed a burst of lightning from his zapper. The electricity was conducted through the water and all of the Tikati dropped dead.

“Glorious,” he chortled happily, getting up and slogging to the side of the roof. There was no ladder here and no water below for him to land in. He’d have to go down through the building.

As he ran for the door, he was grabbed from behind and the zap-gun ripped from his hand. An immense Tikati grasped Duin by both wrists and threw him against the wall. Its razor-toothed mouth clamped down on Duin’s helmet, ripping it off his head and spitting it aside.

Flickering eyes and a sickening smile loomed over him.

“Envoy Duin,” said Kitik as if he were pleasantly surprised. “How goes the cause of liberty?”

Duin’s hands flared with bio-elecricity, but the Tikati liaison wore gloves that deflected the zap.

“Oh, liberty is not going very well, I see,” said Kitik in mock sympathy.

Duin grumbled two words.

“What’s that, a murmur of fear?” Kitik’s glowing eyes were so close, they filled Duin’s field of vision. “What? No grand declarations, no poetic arguments, no indignant eloquence? You disappoint me,
ambassador
.”

“No. Humans have an idiom, and it expresses my feelings thoroughly.”

“And what is that?”

“‘Fuck you
.’”

With a vicious crack, Duin slammed his forehead into the middle of Kitik’s skull. The Tikati reeled from the blow and he grasped Kitik’s long neck.

“Awah na glem!”
Duin snarled, zapping the liaison dead even as he crushed its plated throat.

Kitik’s corpse collapsed at his feet. Duin retrieved his zap-gun and ran into the building. At the bottom of the stairs, he emerged on a narrow platform above the control center. There were more Tikati below, but their flamethrowers couldn’t reach him. After killing one with his zap-gun, they retreated.

He jumped down and made his way across the top of the machinery to pursue them. But he realized—too late—that they’d retreated so they could blow up the control center, and him in it. When he jumped from the machinery to the floor, the room erupted, and Duin fell in a shower of debris. It felt like a thousand fists pummeled him to the ground.

Duin was on his side, crushed between concrete and metal. He had one arm free, the other was pinned under the rubble along with the rest of him. Through a fog of pain, he was vaguely aware of flashing lights and the distant screech of angry Tikati. He wondered if the Marines had come early. Or if Nish and Eb had come looking for him. He tried to call out, but it was too painful. His mouth filled with blood, and it was difficult to breathe.

The only thought which surfaced from the spinning darkness was J’ni and her voice resonating through his mind. “I love you, Duin.”

“Thank you.” He mouthed the words, and hoped that somewhere, somehow, she heard him. It seemed that he could smell her, the salty, wet smell that reminded him of a storm over the Great Ocean.

A black-helmeted head loomed over him. He tried to focus and saw his own reflection in the visor. The helmet was pulled away, revealing a halo of viridian.

No
, it wasn’t possible. It was a vision. A desperate vision. But her tears fell on his lips and cheeks, and he felt her moist mouth kissing him.

“I’m here.”

“J’ni.” Duin’s voice was a strained whisper.

The gunfire ceased, and Duin could make out a thin shape, moving debris to free him.

The pressure on Duin’s chest lessened, and he coughed out a mouthful of blood. “Belloc…”

“Yes, Duin.” The younger Glin pulled off his helmet and crouched down.

Duin summoned every drop of strength he had and, with his free hand, smacked Belloc across the face. “You
ezzub
. Why did you bring her here?”

“She would have come without me.” Belloc grasped Duin’s hand. “You know that.”

“I give you
one
thing to do…keep her safe…and make her happy… I give you
two
things to do…”

Belloc squeezed his hand. “You talk too much. Shut up and move.”

But Duin’s body wouldn’t do what he told it to do, despite Belloc’s help. His vision blurred, and he didn’t know if it was due to impending unconsciousness, or the thickening of his eyes with tears of pain. He gasped. “I can’t.”

“Since when is the word
can’t
in your translator?”

“Duin, please,” J’ni pleaded, leaning over him again. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

“Go.” He groaned the word. “They’re going to attack…blow up the dams. Everything will flood.”

The room shook with the vibrations of a distant explosion. Belloc reflexively threw himself over J’ni, pushing her closer to Duin.

“I will return to you in the rain,” Duin whispered into her hair. “I promise.”

“No!” J’ni was screaming, but it sounded so far away, as though he was hearing her from underwater. He was sorry to cause her so much pain…sorry that he wouldn’t live to see Glin freed…sorry that he wouldn’t be at the wedding…sorry that he would never kiss her again.

And then he smiled.

What a wonderful thing it was, to regret dying
.

***

Duin smiled for a moment. Then his eyes closed, and his face grew still. J’ni called his name, over and over, but he couldn’t hear her.

Belloc placed a hand on the back of her head. “We must go, J’ni.”

She tried to pull Duin free herself.

“J’ni, there are more Tikati coming. We must go.”

“Then get him out and let’s go!” Her face was streaked with Glin blood and human tears.

“It’s too late for Duin.”

“No, it’s not, he’s unconscious. This happened before.”

Creaking metal caught Belloc’s attention and he twisted to his feet, firing his Multi high above their heads, aiming for the doorway that led out to the roof. His laser cut through two Tikati.

J’ni grabbed her own Multi and launched the last of her rockets. The explosions caused the doorway and what was left of the platform to collapse. No more Tikati could enter.

“Whether he’s dead or alive, I won’t leave him here!” She kicked at the rubble covering Duin’s legs.

Two more Tikati entered through the door at their backs. One lunged at Belloc, trying to knock him down. Its mouth clamped onto his right arm and he dropped his Multi. Belloc’s gloves flared and zapped the Tikati dead.

The other Tikati grabbed J’ni, flinging her violently into the broken machinery. Belloc was afraid to use his zap, for fear that the electric current might hurt her, too. Instead, he picked up a piece of twisted metal and swung it with the full force of his Glin strength, batting the creature’s bobbing head off its neck and sending the head flying across the room.

Another explosion rocked the room as Belloc crouched over J’ni. She was bleeding from a gash across the back of her head, and one leg was twisted at an unnatural angle. He lifted her in his arms and she cried out in pain. But her injuries were not the cause of her anguish.

“Don’t leave him,” she begged.

“J’ni…”

“Put me down! I won’t leave without him.”

“You won’t. You are
J’ni Nagyx Duin
. You are One. Forever.”

“Screw that Glinnish soulbound crap, I want him with me!”

Belloc gripped her to his chest and looked her right in the eyes. “And I want you with me. I am not going to lose you. You are
my
wife, J’ni.
Anah!
” He yelled the word as he carried her out of the room.
“Anah!”

The building shook so hard that the rumbling drowned out all other sound. But Belloc could still feel it in his bones as she shrieked.
“Duin!”

Then she lost consciousness.

***

Someone was singing. It was the most beautiful sound she’d ever heard.

J’ni opened her eyes. The singing stopped and she felt a cool, webbed hand take hers as she tried to focus. When she saw blue, she squeezed her eyes shut again.

“Belloc.”

“J’ni.”

Now she heard other sounds. Distant voices, chimes, a high electrical whine. “Where are we?”

“Still on Glin. In a U.S. base called Camp Watersnake.”

Still on Glin
.

She recalled obtaining weapons and suits from Hax, and a ship from Blaze. The colonel told them that Duin was involved in a U.S. offensive against the Tikati, and that he was helping to evacuate the Progress Center before it was bombed. Belloc had flown her there.