He’d said it would take them a count of twenty to reach their position in the sea. She started counting as the Hirachi men dove beneath the waves. “One, Mississippi, Two, Mississippi, Three ….Twenty!” she yelled the last word. “Hit the dirt!”
It almost seemed for a handful of seconds that everything and everyone around her froze. She turned in a slow circle to make certain the Sheloni who, predictably, had gone out to peer down into the water at the progress of their excavation, to make certain they hadn’t realized the threat and begun to race back along the wall toward shore.
They were mere insects at this distance, but she could almost feel the tension that went through them as her voice echoed out across the water, imagined she could see the frozen looks of shock on their faces. A rumbling growl like a bear awakened from slumber began, grew louder and louder until it was a deafening roar of sound. The ground beneath her feet began to tremble.
Time shifted, began to race until everything seemed to be moving at blinding speed. A deafening roar filled her ears. Smoke, fire--the earth itself rose into the air as if trying to shake them off. She threw herself toward the ground, but it seemed to take forever to reach it. A concussion rolled over her, rattling every bone in her body even as she clamped her arms over her head to protect it.
Dirt coated her, stinging every inch of exposed skin, scouring her until she wasn’t certain if it was the abrasion of the sand or actual fire burning her. “Attack!” she screamed the moment she could find her voice, command her shaking body to push free of the blanket of sand that covered her. Pushing herself up, she staggered drunkenly toward the shelter where they’d concealed the bladders filled with acid. Her ears felt as if they were as filled with sand as her eyes and mouth. Screaming, dulled by the aftereffects of the blast against her eardrums, further confused her.
Around her, it looked like total chaos, but even as she gathered her own wits, she saw the women dashing about the compound, dodging the robots that were still mobile, pelting the bots with acid filled bladders. Sparing a few moments for assessment, Bri whipped her head around in a dizzying glance.
They’d underestimated the power of the blasts or overestimated the strength of the walls. Huge segments of the walls had crumbled. The gates hung ajar, twisted and curling. Robots lay in pieces. The entire seawall had vanished.
Bri’s heart seemed to lodge in her throat when she saw that, and the fear assailed her that the men who’d gone down to blast the support from under it could be trapped beneath the rubble they’d created.
She couldn’t afford to think about that now, though. Switching her focus to the robots clambering over the debris in search of victims, she grabbed up a bladder in each hand and raced toward the nearest spider bot, zigzagging in and out of its legs until she’d managed to hurl both at its vulnerable underbelly. The bladders stuck when they splattered, acid oozing out, dripping down and taking liquefied robot skin with it. It spattered her, as well. Screaming and cursing at the fire, she raced away again, pausing when she dove into the shelter to grab more bombs to scrub sand over her skin to remove the burning drops of acid.
“Oh my god!” a woman screamed nearby as Bri struggled to her feet again.
“There’s two! There’s two!”
She looked up instinctively, not because she was able to fully grasp what the woman was screaming about. She went still with disbelief when she saw the crafts barreling down upon them from the sky--a huge disk shaped craft led the way, plummeting toward them as if it was falling out of the sky. Behind it was a second craft shaped like a triangle.
A sense of defeat welled up inside of her. Gritting her teeth, she shook it off. It was the moment of truth. They were going to take out the Sheloni or die trying. “Go! Go! Go! Now!”
As loud as she’d screamed the order, she wasn’t certain she could be heard above the screams of the other women, but they either heard or were simply caught up in a mindless instinct to escape. Everyone broke off their private battles and darted away in different directions, the women toward whatever breach in the wall was closest, the Hirachi who’d been battling beside them toward the sea.
Bri raced toward Cory, but when she’d snatched him up, she realized she didn’t have time to reach anything but the sea. She didn’t hesitate, didn’t think beyond his safety. She ran for all she worth. She had to get beneath the water before the Hirachi brought up the bubble of methane or she and Cory both would be burned to death.
A hail of fire pinged into the water around her as she fought the waves. She gasped in painful gulps of air, trying to oxygenate her blood as much as she could before she dove under, but a sense of defeat began to pull her even as she reached the moment of truth. Terror caught hold of her.
She gulped. “Cory, I love you. Please remember that,” she gasped, closing her eyes, clutching him tightly in her arms and stepping off the shelf into the black abyss. Something slammed into her even as she went under, like a huge hand driving her toward the bottom. As if she’d been shot from a cannon, she torpedoed into blackness. Her lungs had already begun to burn with the need to breathe when she was snagged around the waist hard enough it forced the air she was trying to hold onto from her lungs.
She fought, feeling something tug at the baby. All she could think of was holding onto him, but he was wrenched away from her. Resisting the urge to scream, she clawed and pounded ineffectually at the thing that wrapped around her, becoming weaker by the moment.
A hand clamped around the back of her head, stilling her. A mouth clamped over hers, forcing her lips apart, and air filled her lungs as he forced it inside of her. Kole’s taste and scent swept into her lungs. She stopped struggling, opened eyes as he removed his mouth from hers.
Something tickled at her. Words formed.
Come. This way
.
Cory
, she thought with renewed panic.
With Dansk
.
She twisted her head to see as Kole pulled her snugly against his chest and began to swim with her. Relief flooded her when she saw that Dansk swam beside them, Cory clutched closely to his chest with one arm.
Her fingers tightened on Kole as her lungs began to burn with need again. He paused, gave her breath and pushed onward, cleaving through the water at a dizzying speed. It was torture, a nightmare of torment. Fear clawed at her mind every time she felt the burning need for air, but each time Kole breathed for her, filled her lungs until it drove the fear and need away.
When they broke the surface at last, Bri was weak and shaking from her ordeal. Grateful to breathe on her own, she gulped the air, choked and coughed, and sucked in more air until the desperation began to subside. “Did we get them?” she managed finally.
Kole’s voice was grim. “No.
They
got them.”
Twisting around in his arms, Bri searched the ocean briefly. Smoke marked the spot where their prison had marred the landscape. On the water’s surface, chunks of the material that had once been the Sheloni ship floated. Just above the surface of the water, the black triangular ship hovered.
Bri simply stared at the thing while fear gathered inside of her. It merely hovered, however, and the sense of threat began to ease. “
They
destroyed the Sheloni craft? It wasn’t the methane?”
“We aborted when I saw you and Cory.”
Consternation filled Bri.
She
had ruined the plan? “You shouldn’t have done that!”
He caught her face between his palms. “I would far rather be a slave with you, Bri, than a free man without you. I couldn’t do any else.”
Something painful gripped her chest. “I wanted this for you and Cory and Dansk … for everybody. I was willing to risk it!”
Kole glanced at Dansk. “We weren’t.”
There seemed no arguing with that, and it was too late anyway. She felt like crying. Everyone had tried so hard, risked so much! “We should go back,” she finally said, her voice dull with fatigue and defeat. “I’m not Hirachi. My skin’s pruning.”
The black craft moved ashore as they turned and began to swim back, settling just above the ruins of their prison. Bri was too weak to walk without support by the time they reached land again. Holding her close to his side, Kole walked with her, Dansk and Cory on her other side. Around them, the Hirachi emerged from the sea. Those who’d taken to the jungle to avoid the blast, returned, as well, until the compound was filled with the Hirachi and Earth women still standing.
There were many who couldn’t. Many who’d died in the effort, and Bri had to struggle with tears of anger and grief as she stood waiting to see what the inhabitants of the craft would do.
A ramp appeared beneath it, lowering slowly to the ground. Moments passed and still they waited. Finally, when everyone had begun to shift restlessly, alien legs appeared at the top of the ramp, many legs. Bri’s heart leapt into her throat and lodged there as she watched, expecting to see dozens of soldiers carrying weapons. Instead, three creatures emerged. They had the look of giant, armored insects, but she couldn’t see that any of them were carrying anything that looked like weapons. The three halted at the foot of the ramp and surveyed their audience. Finally, the one in the lead dipped its head almost regally, as if bowing to its subjects. “We come in peace,” a mechanical voice pronounced in tones that reverberated against the ears of those listening to hear their fate.
Chapter Twenty Four
Bri, Dansk, and Kole exchanged doubtful glances. It had seemed to Bri that the creature had spoken in English, but she could tell from their expressions that Dansk and Kole had both heard and understood, they simply hadn’t believed any more than she had.
The creature that had spoken lifted one of its arms and gestured toward the debris still floating on the water. “We have destroyed your enemy. We wish to negotiate a mutually beneficial alliance for the
jasumi
which grows in such abundance on your world.”
This time, although she felt Kole and Dansk glance at her again, Bri kept her focus on the aliens as enlightenment dawned. These were the creatures the Hirachi had been enslaved for. Whatever agreement they had had with the Sheloni, they had ‘revoked’ it when they saw the
jasumi
that was so desirable to them was threatened.
The wonder was that they seemed perfectly willing to work out a peaceful trade agreement.
‘Seemed’ being the key word. That was yet to be established. “What are you offering?” she asked bluntly.
The creature fastened its multi-faceted gaze on her face. She wasn’t certain whether it was translating her question, or ruminating over it--or wondering if she was the one they needed to speak to.
“You are the leader?”
The question threw Bri completely off guard. She tried her best to hide it, but she felt the gazes of everyone gathered around her. No one said anything, either to dispute or agree. No one seemed inclined to talk either. “Yes,” she responded firmly. “What are you offering?”
He--she guessed it was a he--seemed to mull that over. “This world lies within those claimed by the Sheloni. We have broken treaty to protect … you.”
Even without the significant pause Bri knew it hadn’t been any interest in
them
that had inspired the ‘protection’. She lifted her brows doubtfully. “The
jasumi
, you mean.”
The creature almost seemed to shrug. “We will protect the source, which benefits you.”
“To benefit yourselves,” Bri pointed out. “You’re not actually offering us anything.”
She could tell her bluntness was making everyone uneasy, and yet she wasn’t going to simply bow and scrape to these damned things and pretend stupidity. They were only willing to negotiate because they wanted the
jasumi
. If they wanted it, they were going to damned well have to offer some sort of real incentive.
“If we withdraw, the Sheloni will send more ships to attack and reclaim this world for their own.”
“And then you could negotiate a new treaty with them, but they might be pissed off about you blowing their ship to hell, and they might not give you as good a deal as they did before … and they can’t harvest it themselves or they wouldn’t have stolen us from our home worlds.”
The silence lasted longer this time. “We are willing to barter for what we need,” the creature said finally. It gestured around the ruined compound. “You have nothing by way of technology here, or shelter, or even small comforts.”
Bri nodded. “We need time to discuss this among ourselves and decide what we feel like would be a fair trade.”
The creature didn’t look particularly happy about that, but Bri was just guessing. Like the Sheloni, their faces didn’t appear suited much for facial expression. In fact, she was inclined to think there might be some sort of connection between the two species. She’d thought from the first that the Sheloni reminded her of spiders.
Again, it signaled agreement with the nod of its head. “We will withdraw then and allow the discussion.”
“We’ll meet with you when the sun rises again,” Bri offered.
Nodding again, the creatures turned and made their way up the ramp again. When the ramp had closed, the craft began to hum and then lifted almost silently into the air, drifting seaward, it paused when it was perhaps a mile from shore, turned and hovered.
Feeling weak kneed, Bri sank to the ground.
As if a spell had been lifted, everyone rushed together, babbling all at once. Bri let the voices flow over and around her as Dansk knelt beside her and handed Cory to her. Cory smiled, patting her cheeks with both hands. “Mama!”
A choked half sob, half laugh escaped her. His first word! And it was English, not Hirachi. She was suddenly so glad that Kole had saved her. She’d known Cory’s chances of surviving were good--hers not so good. She still felt that it was worth the risk she’d taken to save him, but she was so glad she was going to be with him to watch him grow up!
It wasn’t until she finally realized that Kole and Dansk were watching her with almost identical expressions of anxiety that she realized what the focus of the conversations were around them.