Alien Alliance (21 page)

“I’m dizzy and I feel sick,” said Li.

“Me too,” said Stella. “I guess we inhaled a
little too. That’s why I need Donny to help. If we stop he’ll die.
Oh God I’ve got a belter of a headache.”

“Me too,” said Li. “I feel terrible.”

“Why can’t he breathe for himself?” Asked
Donny as Li took a turn.

“I don’t know. I’m wondering if all those
animals are dead. Whatever this is, it seems to paralyse the
lungs.”

“Should one of us go and get your mum?” he
asked.

“I’m too scared of what that smoke did to
the city. And we shouldn’t leave him. It will need all of us to
keep this up unless he recovers quickly.”

“I was trying not to think of what happened
to the city.”

The long afternoon wore on until the light
started to fade. Stella was a little relieved to see that Mahmoud,
although he still was not breathing, was rousing. His heart was
beating faster and was now up to 40 beats a minute. Stella
reported, “He is improving. He’s responding to pain and has a
little muscle tone.” As the light faded he started to stir. Several
minutes later he was grizzly and moaning. But he still was not
breathing for himself. Neither was he conscious. Stella was
encouraged but still very worried.

By this time the three kids were exhausted,
frightened, still dizzy and frustrated. They all had very bad,
pounding headaches. But it was another hour still before Mahmoud
roused. He too was dizzy, he had a raging thirst and a terrible
headache. They had no water left having drunk it all, including
his. Stella’s focus had been on keeping her helpers going. Slowly
and carefully, they got him down to the ground. They started to
move back to the city but he kept staggering and couldn’t
co-ordinate himself. They took turns supporting him but his balance
was terrible and twice they all fell over. He still kept forgetting
to breath.

Stella organized them so that two supported
him, his arms around their shoulders, while the third walked behind
prompting him to breath.

“I feel sick and I’m all dizzy. My head’s
splitting,” he moaned. Stella, however, was delighted that he could
think and speak. She had been terrified he might be brain damaged
due to lack of oxygen. He stank of the smoke too.

“Stop!” yelled Li suddenly, “I can smell
that smoke again! She cautiously walked forward. “It’s in all the
hollows. We’ll have to go around it.”

They continued walking slowly. Mahmoud was
taking more of his weight but still had poor balance and poor
co-ordination. They had passed many dead animals and balloons but
then Li noticed some balloons up in the sky. It was heartening to
know they weren’t the only survivors. Stella wondered at their
calmness. She thought they were probably all in shock. And scared
of what the city would be like.

Eventually they approached the city. All was
quiet. The smoke smell was everywhere. Then they saw there were
bodies everywhere all races including Terran.

They walked towards the bodies as if in a
dream. Then Li ran forward. She crouched beside a woman thinking it
was her mother but it was Dr. Jones. She was dead. A man was beside
her and he was dead too. Looking around, they saw some of the
American delegation that came with Mathew. Stella and Li checked a
few of them. They were all dead. There were balloons everywhere as
well; still and unresponsive. Every creature they saw appeared
dead.

Li turned and ran for the sea. Reaching it,
she loudly and furiously clanged the bell. A few minutes later she
saw a Priskya speeding towards her. As it neared her she saw it had
a Translator! By this time the others had reached her. Mahmoud was
sitting in the water trying to drink as much as he could but his
hands were trembling and he was dropping most of the water.

“What happened, where are our people, are
any alive, what was that smoke stuff, was that what killed
everyone, are they all dead?” she wailed.

“Many have died but some of your Race have
survived with us. They are in boats. The gas kills all it touches.
It dissipates over the sea. We don’t know who attacked. If you can
find a boat I can tow you out to your people. You must avoid the
gas. A touch is deadly.”

“Not quite,” said Stella. “It got Mahmoud
and seemed to paralyse his lungs but we breathed for him and he is
alive.”

“I have never heard of that before.”

“He is very sick though. He keeps forgetting
to breath.”

“Can you find a boat?” the Priskya repeated,
“there should be some in the shops. All by the sea have been
used.”

Li refused to re-enter the city. Mahmoud was
no use. Stella took charge again, “Keep an eye on Mahmoud.” She
ordered Li. “Don’t leave him and make sure he keeps breathing.
Donny and I will go and look.”

They reluctantly returned to the city. Both
switched off from the horror and did not look at the Humans they
passed. Both were terrified of seeing their parents. They did not
want to know. They searched the shops and found a boat big enough
to take four but small and light enough that they could carry it.
They returned to the sea struggling with the boat. Li came up to
help them put it in the water.

“Can you go back for some rope so I can tow
you?” asked the Priskya.

That took another nightmarish trip into
town. “I’m hungry,” said Donny. They looked around for some food
but were unsure what was safe.

“That fruit could be poisonous now,” said
Stella as Donny picked up some. He dropped it.

Stella looked around and walked back into
the larger stores. “Look for pictures that look like food,” she
said. They walked past bodies before Donny said,

“Why don’t we just wheel out what passes for
shopping trolleys here. There must be food in these,” he said as he
looked at packets of stuff in a sort of trolley. “Do you know what
any of this stuff is?”

“No, but I think you’re right. We’ll just
empty a few trolleys,” said Stella. They filled up two trolleys
from stuff that other Races had chosen, hoping it was edible and
wheeled them down to the sea along with some ropey stuff from the
same store where they found the boat. Donny made up a harness and
put it around the Priskya. They got Mahmoud into the boat, piled
the groceries around him and got in. Soon they were being slowly
towed out to sea and away from the horrors on land.

After travelling about fifteen minutes, they
saw some boats in the distance. There were several! As they got
closer, people started yelling out asking who they were as it was
too dark to see clearly.

“Li Chieng, Stella Black, Mahmoud Nedri and
Donny Nilsen,” yelled Li. “Are my parents here?” But she was
interrupted as Kelly yelled out to Stella.

Another voice yelled out, “We think your
father went to the caves Li. No one has seen your mother.”

“That’s Mathew,” Li hissed. “Why did he have
to survive and my mother be missing?”

As they got alongside the other boats, it
soon became clear that of all their parents, only Kelly was here.
She and Stella hugged and cried over each other then Stella became
all business like again.

“Mahmoud is sick. He keeps forgetting to
breathe. The gas got him and he arrested. We resuscitated him.” The
adults were very impressed with how the kids had survived.

“But what happened in the City?” asked
Stella of her mother.

“We survived by initially trying to save the
Priskya. Then we were gassed again and again by the planes. We
survived by going under the water. Dieter survived because Simone
put him into what passes for plastic bags here but we found no
other bags big enough for other kids. Mathew held his breath as he
swam through the gas but he was sick too and is struggling to
breath. We didn’t know what the gas was but it dissipates very
quickly over water. The smell of the gas seems to affect
people…”

Listening, Donny grabbed Mahmoud and tipped
him into the water.

Mahmoud spluttered and gasped, “What’d you
do that for?”

“Dr. Black says the smell of the gas makes
you sick. It’s in your clothes. It was a good excuse anyway. You’re
breathing better now aren’t you!” And as it turned out, he soon
found he was.

Meanwhile Li had been talking to the other
survivors. She met up with one drenched Mahmoud, Donny who was
still grinning and Stella who couldn’t stop crying and told them,
“There’s been a heck of a fight here and Sarah is our new leader.
Mathew is our self styled General in charge of guerrilla warfare.
He told me that is what this is now. He said everyone has to fight
including us kids. You have to report to him and tell him what we
saw and did. He wants to hear from everyone.”

Donny went first and came back stunned, “He
listened to me! He asked questions and my opinion and he didn’t
treat me like a kid! He said we kids have done outstandingly well.
He said we need information, about weapons and tactics but
information is the most important thing. He said you must know as
much as possible about your enemy in order to defeat him. I
promised to help any way I could. He said we need to know who’s
alive. He said Mahmoud’s family might all be in the caves and safe.
I don’t know where my parents were today. Mathew said he didn’t see
them. He said the political people were in the city and all his
delegation but most others were exploring. They could still be
alive. Oh, why didn’t I ask them where they were going? He said
they were gassed three times here on the water yesterday. We have
to learn to obey orders instantly, like soldiers, to survive. He
says if you stop and think you die. Several people died the first
time because they weren’t fast enough. No one died the third time.
You learn fast or you die. We have to keep a lookout, get over the
side when the planes come, go under at the very last minute when
you’re told to and hold your breath as long as possible. The gas
moves over fairly fast and kind of dissolves.”

Stella went to talk to Mathew last. She came
back and said, “Cripes he’s human. He’s never even talked to me
before. He does seem to know what he’s talking about too for once.
He said he’s an expert on military tactics in general and guerrilla
warfare is his specialty.” Stella’s mum and Mathew had also been at
loggerheads a few times. Kelly had considered him an idiot. Kelly
told Stella later that night,

“I just might just revise that opinion under
the present circumstances.”

It was a long night. No one felt much like
sleeping and most were too cramped. Some of the adults were on
sentry duty but it was doubtful they were needed. Everyone was
worried and kept looking and listening for more planes.
Unfortunately, the planes were very quiet. All watched the dawn’s
beautiful colours as daylight slowly broke; from blue/black to dark
blue, to blue/violet and finally to a soft violet. Soon after, they
saw a Hoekfyd flying towards them. It landed awkwardly on a boat
near them where Mathew was. They heard its Translator chattering.
Apparently Mathew had anticipated its arrival as he had a message
waiting. It took off again.

Minutes after this the kids heard, “Take
cover! Into the water! The kids froze in shock but moved when they
saw the others leap straight overboard. “Hyperventilate!” yelled
the voice. Following the other’s lead, the kids forced all the air
into their lungs that they could and breathed in and out as deeply
as possible then “Dive! Dive! Dive!” Yelled the voice and they all
went down together.

Donny stayed under until he thought his
lungs would burst. Struggling, he started slowly releasing air
while staying under and panicking. He had never been good at this.
He also worried about Mahmoud, hoping his damaged lungs could take
this. At the point when he was near blacking out, he rose up
gasping for air. He looked around and sniffed. He could smell the
gas but it was not too bad. He was breathing. He noticed to his
embarrassment that he was one of the first up. Slowly, one by one,
the others rose up. There were a few minutes of confusion then a
woman’s voice was heard demanding each boat do a roll call. In a
few minutes the result was clear. All OK, including Mahmoud who had
come up just after Donny. He was dizzy and his headache was worse
but he was alive.

A few minutes later they got ‘breakfast’. A
container of something that looked like a museli bar but tasted
more like vegetables. They drank sea water. The adults said there
were some salts in it but it didn’t taste salty. They reckoned it
was safe to drink. At least they wouldn’t die of thirst.

Stella swam over to Mathew’s boat in time to
hear that the Hoekfyd had been gassed. A Priskya had come up to
talk and reported it was dead. The Priskya were asking for help.
They were terribly worried about what was happening and what it
would mean for them and their world. There was a lot of political
stuff that Stella didn’t follow about alliances and war. She
already knew that Torroxell was independent and that being so was
risky. Mathew wanted to talk to them about fighting back but the
Priskya were begging him to help and release the animals in the
zoo. Some of them were endangered. The Priskya wanted to know if
some of the bigger carnivores were still alive.

Li had swum over along with others and was
listening. She offered to go but Sarah said no.

“But I’ve been there. I know which animals
they mean. I know where they are. I know which animals are
dangerous and where they are. And I’m not stupid.”

“Yes Li but you’re what, 13?”

“15!”

“OK, sorry, but it seems wrong and
irresponsible to ask you to do this. Those ships might attack
again. The city is occupied and you might be seen. We also have no
idea of what sensing equipment they have. They might have life
signs detectors. They probably do. Li, the Priskya say they will
try to kill every sentient Person on this planet. They will cause
an enormous amount of damage to the planet when they kill the
Priskya and obviously they will need something other than this gas
to kill fish. We don’t know what they will do next. They might
somehow make the water poisonous. We don’t know enough. We don’t
know if they can detect one person or groups. We don’t know if they
can sense you and kill you.”