Alien Alliance (36 page)

All was quickly organised. On the
13
^th
day of the War, eight left by the largest ship for
the Northern Hemisphere and eight headed first up the coast by
boat, then inland up a river to hide near the village that had yet
to be emptied. For both Teams, Mathew’s instructions were the same;
don’t return until you have the planes or were unsuccessful.

Mathew agonized over this decision and the
choice of people to go. He had to get things right. There were so
few of them to accomplish so much that had to be done. And so many
barriers. He would have liked to have sent both Julia and Karl.
Both were competent, level headed and tough enough for the purpose.
Both could talk to the Cats. Both assured him they thought they
could handle killing. But both could not go; small problem of their
three children. He also had to allow for accidents or fatalities on
the way. Here, the power kept going out and Helkmid, Nial, Con and
Akira seemed to be the best fixers. All four were competent
handyman types, Akira for the complex technical stuff. He had
confessed to an aptitude for retro-engineering…

But foremost in Mathew’s mind was that he
couldn’t see how he could win this war without planes. They were
essential. He decided to send four pilots with each group to allow
for casualties or dropouts. And to send as good a group as he
could. It was so frustrating! So many planes they needed so badly
right in front of them in this city; all disabled. But militarily
it was an essential and logical thing to do. To leave them
functional would be stupid and it would increase the surveillance
need as escaping planes would have to be shot down. Mathew realised
how well organised this operation was. These Keulfyd were
professionals and very good at what they did. They had done this
before, he guessed and they were far from stupid. Mathew could
admire the military organisation though he doubted anyone else
would!

Donny wanted desperately to go but was
unsure if he could kill. Also his leg, which had been badly broken
a year ago, was still causing pain. Steve doubted he would be up to
it physically considering the amount of walking that would be
needed. He advised against it. Mathew interviewed everyone he
considered, rejecting several due to unfitness, unwillingness to
kill, they couldn’t be spared etc. Those going with Az would all
have to be strong swimmers. Finally, the decision was made.

Tomorrow, with Az would go Mayling, Helene
and Jolene who were all pilots and Li, Karl, Tue, and Dan. They
were going to the village. It looked like a longer and more
difficult trip. They would have to be fit.

With Kaz, would go Kelly, Akira, and Miyuki
as pilots and Ali, Mohammed, Stella and Steve. They were going to
the Northern Hemisphere. Both groups were armed with all Mathew
could spare. There were some anticipated problems; they had no idea
what Race(s) the pilots would belong to and therefore they all
would have to decide how to kill them ‘on the spot.’

Mathew addressed both Teams. “At least one
Team has to succeed. I can’t see how else to accomplish this
properly. And we need you all to survive and return to help.
Especially Az and Kaz. May I suggest that they not fight. We can’t
spare them. They are unique. You will have to plan as you go. At
least you will have some time to do that. The Priskya will be
trailing you and the Cats will help too. Another thing I needed to
consider! We know Stella, Li and Karl can ‘talk’ to the Cats. We
don’t know if anyone else among you can. So Stella or Li had to go
with you so at least one in each Team could communicate with them.
Helkmid says he thinks it is a rare ability and genetic. Maybe
Kelly can talk to them too.”

He sighed and paused to think. “The slaves
cannot know who we are or that we are fighting back. They cannot
join us. The security risk is too great. I suggest you could let
them go but I’ll leave that decision to you jointly. I have left
you as much leeway as possible as to how you accomplish this. Do
your very best. We must get at least two planes. Oh and Helkmid
said my idea you use the blowguns to hunt food was a very bad one.
The meat will be poisoned. Just as well I mentioned it to him.” He
looked a bit embarrassed. “Everyone has contributed to provision
you. Thank Nanelle for the tents, your sleeping bags and your
backpacks. Food, you’ll have to catch on the way or eat the
dehydrated stuff. Try fishing. Take great care if you light cooking
fires. Make sure they don’t smoke and keep them small. You have a
blowgun each which hopefully will solve the Alien pilot problem.
And all you pilots, no macho stuff. You’re there as pilots not
mercenaries. If you’re dead or injured who’s going to fly everyone
out?”

Az’s group, heading for the village, left
first. Everyone stowed their gear away then some explored while
some settled down to enjoy the trip. Az, of course, knew nothing
about boats so watched, apprehensively, as Tue gave tuition to
anyone wanting to know. Tue explained his family were amateur
fishermen but he found the controls a little tricky unless he kept
his mind on the job. He kept missing the wheel!

The Priskya trailed both Teams and
maintained communications through their relay system, using their
children as ‘runners’.

*

While the teams were away Sarah and Dan got
the children organised. They set up targets for the blowguns and
held competitions with prizes. Lots of prizes. Very quickly, the
children were deadly accurate. The pipes remained at full length to
give accuracy. Simone and Kelly had added different colours of tape
to cue the children as to where to put the balls and where to put
the gas canisters. The triggers were slightly altered by Con to
make it easier for the children’s smaller fingers to fire them. The
targets were dabbed with wet paint to determine where the balls
hit. Tents were spread under the targets so the children could
readily retrieve and re-use the balls.

The most hilarious aspect was the camouflage
suits. Everyone had to have one and made their own. This also
quickly turned into a competition. With prizes. Once made, their
main use tended to be for hide and seek and ambush.

“It would be worse without the children,”
Sarah said softly to Dan as they watched the children playing hide
and seek. “We are all holding it together because of them.”

“Yes, and I reckon there are fewer disputes
and arguments and more cohesion among us.”

Sarah nodded as they watched the play. There
were. He was right.

Az missed his brother and not for the first
time, he wondered about the wisdom of taking up with these Terrans.
Sometimes he was in awe of them and sometimes they frightened him.
He sighed. So many decisions, from the moment as a young teenager
when he had decided to be a mercenary to earn a ship. Kaz had
followed him as usual. It had all been going so well until the
Zeobani suddenly and inexplicably lost. He shuddered at the memory
of facing surrender and capture, feeling so guilty at involving
Kaz. He had expected to die when he refused to pilot for the
Keulfyd. He refused both because he despised them and because they
told him what he would have to do. He didn’t feel much better when
he realized he was headed for the slave locker. Hunched down in
despair and humiliation, dirty and naked, he had been thoroughly
miserable for several awful weeks until bowled over by an equally
grubby, joyful young brother. The two had stuck together, looked
out for each other and supported each other day after day following
the appalling task of removing bodies. They had been the only
Niseyen in that locker but there were a lot of Zeobani. Some of
them had suicided.

His mind skipped past the horror to the
moment of seeing a lot of his own people, all dead, to a body up in
a cupboard and to the horrible moment of gritting his teeth to pull
a little Niseyen girl, he thought, down from a cupboard. He closed
his eyes and replayed the moment Li had opened her eyes and looked
up at him. He smiled. He and Kaz had decided within minutes that
they could not leave the girls alone but would desert and join
them. And now this. But he worried about Kaz now. The scanners
would probably not be searching the Southern continent but Kaz
would be in danger from them.

By the third day, they were well up the
river and estimated they were parallel to the village. They pulled
the boat as far up the bank as they could. They tied it up
securely. They couldn’t get any further now by boat due to rapids,
waterfalls and steep cliffs. They would have to round this part by
foot. If this mission failed they would need to get back by boat.
If they couldn’t get the planes, Mathew’s back-up plan was a
mixture of balloons with gas canisters and releasing the virus,
from the sea, during the night, when the wind blew onto the land.
Both methods would probably be suicide missions.

Li shouldered up her pack and looked around
at the others. She was missing Stella terribly. Every time she got
to sleep the nightmares started. Even the two nights they’d spent
very uncomfortably on the boats, trying to sleep. They had pulled
up last night, unwilling to risk piloting with lights and risking
being seen by Keulfyd satellites and just as unwilling to pilot,
blind. Every time they couldn’t see by moonlight, they stopped.
When the light was bright enough, they went on. By this time most
were tired and grizzly and longing for a decent sleep on something
that didn’t move. But it had been worth it. They were ahead of
schedule.

Li’s nightmares had started a few nights
after the invasion. She kept seeing all the dead bodies. She’d turn
them over and they would be her mother, or monsters, or decaying.
The nightmares were getting worse and now occurring every night.
She was frightened, irritable, terribly tired, felt stretched and
strained and simply standing up was an effort. She wasn’t all that
worried about the future. Li walked all day, without complaint and
with barely a comment. She ignored her surroundings. By evening,
she was so tired she couldn’t think and had to be told twice to
stop. She sank down.

As Jolene and Akira prepared a pre-packaged
meal, Helene again asked her what was wrong. Wearily, past
embarrassment Li explained about the nightmares. That night the
nightmares came again and Li woke up. In desperation, Li looked
over at where Az was and decided to move beside him. She knew Az
was totally smitten with her and she reasoned he would help her
unconditionally. She was beyond caring what the others thought. She
smoothed her bag beside his and he woke up as she moved next to
him. She snuggled in beside him and he put his arm around her.
Exhausted, she went back to sleep. Waking from another nightmare,
he was there to comfort her as Stella had been. It helped.
Exhausted, she slept most of the night, waking after the others to
find them all up and breakfast ready. She felt better for the sleep
but stiff and sore from yesterday’s tramp. Helene and Jolene were
unsure what to do. Quietly, they discussed the situation. They
decided to take turns sleeping on the other side of Li to keep Az
honest.

They walked steadily through that day. Li
was awake today, alert and looking around. The vegetation was a
little different here but the trees were still weird shapes and
colours. She also realized that there were more shrubs than trees.
Or were the shrubs immature trees? It would take decades to make a
start on studying the plants here. Purple leaves were interspersed
with trees with more familiar green leaves, tending to yellow green
in colour but soft colours and pretty. She reached up to one tree
and plucked off a purple thing that hid among identical shaped
leaves. It was like a small, purple banana. She tasted it. Like a
melon but a little tart. Nice though. She turned to Mayling who was
behind her to find she was already munching another. They both
laughed.

“What about a fruit stop,” said Mayling and
they all stopped. Karl boosted Li up into the tree and she passed
fruit down. Az groaned at the sight of Li up a tree. Another thing
so self respecting Niseyen adult would do. He still ate his share
of the fruit though, even if he disapproved of the method of
harvesting it. But this trip was making him re-think all the
protocols ‘civilized’ people were supposed to live under. He
thought again about the Kepis who refused to wear clothes and as a
consequence were ignored by most People. Not Terrans though. They
had made friends with them and promptly helped them. Az had been to
another world once, that was owned by fish. He had not even
considered trying to talk to them or learn about them. Yet all the
Terrans had spoken to, helped, played with and socialized with the
Priskya; People that his customs decreed were below him in the
pecking order and therefore not worthy of noticing. And it was
because of this, and because they had helped the Priskya, that most
were alive. The Terrans had made friends with the Okme too. Another
Race categorized as very low in the pecking order as they only had
one planet. It did have a Defence Shield though, which Petislay
didn’t.

The church had been at first agreeing with
those attitudes, then went almost silent for decades, but over the
last few hundred years had been getting increasingly critical over
arrogant and xenophobic inter-racial attitudes and the general lack
of tolerance. Az shook his head. He had too much time to think.
This type of thing didn’t normally bother him. He’d been around
Terrans too much. They were making him rethink things.

As evening approached, they decided on
stopping for the night by a river. This was a problem. Tue turned
to Az, “how are we going to get you across?”

Appalled, Az stared at the river. It was
wide and deep. He shuddered. It looked to be fast too. “I can’t
cross that. We’ll have to find a way around it.”