Alien Alliance (49 page)

“The Priskya said they might be. Many of the
Alien Races we are fighting have killed a great number of them for
sport. These are mostly young males. They want revenge. The Priskya
and Cats also worried that there would still be too many Aliens for
us to handle. The deal was, if they turned up, they stipulated they
are to be treated as smart animals not sapients. Everyone
knows.

It was a brisk hour and a half walk to where
the perimeter was. Another reason Alan could not have come. The
adults had taken turns carrying the smaller children. They would
need to be fresh and not tired. Az checked out the scanners and
guided little Bea in. She passed the scanner safely and then pulled
the blow guns through, one at a time. Her ammunition was tossed in
after her, in small bundles so as not to be enough metal to tip off
the scanners. He sighed in relief. He had been afraid the Keulfyd
would beef up security. He did not know they assumed the threat was
from within. He did not know that they would have surrendered had
he asked nicely. He did not know they would get the shock of their
lives to find out the attack was external.

Once Bea was settled, Tasha snuck in. But
then she paused and came back. She went back to Mathew. After a few
seconds, Mathew beckoned to Az. He went over. Mathew whispered,

“Tasha says one of the scanners isn’t on.
Can you check?”

Az cautiously went over. Of the three
scanners he could see, one was definitely off. Sloppy. He smiled.
This was helpful. Tasha openly took her blow guns and hid. Mathew
looked around for the smallest people. He gestured a few more in,
speaking softly to each. He added the blue balls to their
ammunition.

Everyone settled down to wait. In the other
three cities, the progress was the same. All ready, all quiet.
Everyone well hidden inside their hides or camouflage suits. Just
as well this planet had gardens and plants! Most gardens were trees
and shrubs.

The first stragglers appeared well before
sunrise. All the blow gunners went to work. Many of the Aliens were
Yakkidimux as they had been assigned to work today, because they
were well. They didn’t feel well. Most were jumpy and downright
frightened. They knew they hadn’t done this. They were waiting to
get sick. Some were imagining sickness where it didn’t yet exist.
They were very unhappy. And now they were getting bitten by bloody
insects.

Around the perimeter of the scanners, most
of the adults were out of range. But some, like Ludmilla, were
close enough and very accurate. As dawn came, the city’s
inhabitants started to move about and further afield. By daylight,
in all the cities, the adults were getting as many as the
children.

*

Just before sunrise, in City 72, a
Yakkidimux reported sick. It felt dizzy, its eyesight was out of
focus. It couldn’t walk properly and had to be helped into the
sickbay. It was very frightened. It had good reason to be. Within a
few minutes, it died. Cause unknown. Immediately, this was reported
to Isjidakawi. Within a few more minutes, reports started coming in
from the other cities. By the time Isjidakawi reported to Tyrid and
Lijfomid, the deaths were being reported every few minutes, in all
the cities, plus a rising count of People getting ill with this new
symptom.

“Deaths are being reported all over the
cities. So far about a hundred are sick. The first few Yakkidimux
are being flown up to the lab to see what has caused this. It
started this morning and spread rapidly. Some others are dying
too.”

“What races?” Asked Lijfomid.

“Most of them. None of us yet. Many
Yakkidimux. Several Relogs. No known cause. It is acting like a
neurotoxin. I haven’t identified any common factors yet.”

Tyrid went back to his bridge. He could
tolerate only fluids now and was listless and tired. Exhausted by
the end of his shift, he couldn’t sleep due to the pain in his
stomachs.

Isjidakawi was starting to feel very ill.
His stomachs were bleeding. He was just into the last stages of the
illness. He had had a talk with their captured Okme. They had said
for most of the Keulfyd they had treated on the way here, most had
not had a Full Treatment so this ancient virus may not have been
programmed in. They didn’t know. That was the programmer’s job.
They had an incomplete Team.

Isjidakawi seethed. It had been Lijfomid’s
decision to include only the Healing Machine Operators and
Maintenance workers and leave the Doctors, Researchers and
Programmers behind to save on facilities and costs. But that was
what they usually did. And the Okme and their Machines were the
most valuable loot in the galaxy. And the most illegal loot. It was
actually illegal to enslave Okme Healers. Which was meant to
protect the Okme. But it meant the Okme would have to be killed to
conceal this crime. So it didn’t exactly protect them. Stupid law,
he thought.

As Isjidakawi explained to Lijfomid and
Tyrid, the next morning, “Much of the night I spent persuading,
bribing and finally threatening the only two Keulfyd on this
flagship, who have been through a Full Treatment of the Healing
Machines prior to this journey. A very expensive Full Treatment. I
needed them to donate blood for us. Because both their treatments
were full and done well over a year ago, this ancient virus would
have been in the complete programme and the full course of the
treatment has been completed. It takes six months for the body to
complete the process the Healing Machines started. Their treatment,
evolving slowly over the months following Treatment would have
rendered these two at least partially immune. Once the two had been
in contact with the virus, which it appeared all of us have been,
their immune systems should have kicked into high gear. They should
by now have a good crop of anti-bodies in their blood.”

“But you said this virus has been altered.
Will their antibodies be any good? Will it work?”

“It should help. Anything should be better
than nothing.”

“What about all the ones that have been
treated on this journey?”

“The Okme say their Treatments may not
contain this ancient virus and probably wont. They told me for a
Full Treatment, a Programmer will determine what is added to the
Treatment according to what the patient has requested and has paid
for. They say each Treatment is separately programmed in.”

“And we did not bring any Programmers.”

“Correct. We expected to encounter just
ordinary problems that affect our race. We told them just to bring
standard Treatments, one for male and one for female.”

Lijfomid thought carefully. He and
Isjidakawi had sold off the Treatments to their crew. It formed
part of their personal profit for this trip. They sold the
Treatments, performed by the reluctant enslaved Okme, for a tenth
of what it would normally cost. And the crew had paid up. Very
enthusiastically. But neither he nor Isjidakawi had ever had a Full
Treatment themselves. It was something Lijfomid had been saving up
for as a part of his retirement; to have his entire family treated
at one go. But he had had many brief treatments, was in good
health, and had not been in a hurry. Now, he thought it looked like
he should have prioritised his health over his wealth. He had not
felt the need. His mistake. His big mistake. But he had wanted to
do his whole family together so as to be less disruptive to his
family.

A Full Treatment was socially difficult on
relationships for obvious reasons. Bit of an adjustment problem for
his wife and his family if he became younger than his youngest son.
One had to factor these things in. Many a Keulfyd working in this
industry had himself or herself treated without treating their
spouse. Big problem. Very disruptive for the whole family and the
cause of broken marriages and strained relationships within
families. Lijfomid was very fond of his wife and his family and he
wanted them all to stay together. He had no wish to start another
relationship. A huge waste of time and energy. He had even less
wish to lose the family he had. He trusted them. He had trained
them all. They were loyal to the family. They were all smart and
competent. And he loved them.

His wife, Janulan, had asked him where all
these goods came from to the retail outlets she managed, along with
their children. These goods with no receipts, no paper trail. She
was an expert at laundering these goods and selling them on from
their warehouses. He had told her best she didn’t know. He doubted
she knew the whole truth but she knew it wasn’t legal. When he went
off on his buying trips, he normally bought legal goods back.
Ninety percent of it was legal. But the other ten percent was the
real profit. The ten percent which constituted his take from little
jaunts like these. She probably thought he was buying stolen goods.
That he acquired them himself, was what he did not want her to
know. Should he ever be caught, she would be innocent and could
hopefully carry on business and care for their family. He had kept
telling himself to quit while he was well ahead. He had not
listened to himself. He realised he had been greedy. What was it
about the super rich that they were never satisfied no matter how
much they had? His wealth was obscene. His whole family couldn’t
spend it in a hundred years. Why had he not quit, at least quit the
illegal stuff? His family only knew about the wealth he had on his
own planet and two others. They did not know about the wealth on
another four planets.

*

Isjidakawi was focused on staying alive. He
checked over the initially reluctant and now well paid donors. He
could collect the plasma and transfuse himself. Their antibodies
might help to cure him. Both were very mildly ill so he reasoned
they should have a good antibody count. He hoped. It might not
work. The virus had been altered. But it was the only chance they
had. If they lived long enough. They had no idea how much to use.
The computer recommended 5ml. Due to the tampering, they doubled
the dose and tripled it for those in the last stages. Isjidakawi
had taken 25mls and gave the same amount to Tyrid and Lijfomid. He
was in charge of the distribution and he alone knew how much was
available. Keulfyd were not known for altruism.

Leaving his staff to divide up the plasma
and treat the rest of the Keulfyd among the crew, Isjidakawi and
Lijfomid turned their attention back to this morning’s newest
threat. Tyrid went back to his bridge. It was his sleep time again
but he couldn’t sleep. He hoped the antibodies would work. His
bridge crew were among the first priority, then all the officers.
The medical staff were all done. They said if they didn’t live
everyone else wouldn’t. Tyrid had told them they wouldn’t last long
if the bridge crew lost consciousness and the ship crashed. It
wouldn’t, of course. It was on autopilot, which they probably
knew.

*

“What are we doing?”

Isjidakawi looked up at Lijfomid who looked
like he hadn’t slept for a few days either. He automatically noted
the weight loss. Stomaches playing up he assumed. “Trying to
identify it. No cases on the ships yet.”

“Are you taking precautions with the dead
Yakkidimux?”

“Full Hazmat. But my guess is that it is a
neurotoxin. How it is introduced is the problem. Not all had eaten.
Some had their own fluid and food supplies. Neurotoxins are not
usually airborne. I don’t feel well.” He sat down. Without
permission.

Lijfomid looked at him. He didn’t feel very
well but by Isjidakawi’s description, he was only in the early
stages. He wondered how he would feel once he was in the next
stage. He was nauseous and noticed that micro bleeds had started.
He was bruising easily and his joints were sore. He felt totally
overwhelmed. He had no evidence to indicate where the attack was
coming from. He assumed it was internal, maybe another ship captain
who wanted to make Commander. That would make sense. But all the
ship’s captains were Keulfyd.

Isjidakawi thought this was another Race
attacking the Keulfyd. It couldn’t be another ship’s captain unless
that captain had the anti viral. But there were sick on all the
ships. So if this was another captain, he was letting his own
ship’s crew be infected. That wasn’t very nice. The crew would be
majorly miffed at the risk. The sick would be positively peeved.
The dead would feel definitely demeaned, devalued and deprived.
Lijfomid sat with his head in his hands, shocked. His thoughts were
wandering all over the place. What was wrong with him? This wasn’t
funny! Was he hysterical? Was he bleeding into his brain?

Lijfomid was so tired and so sick he was
having trouble reasoning this through. It didn’t make sense. And he
couldn’t exactly call the Security Patrol. That was the trouble
when you did something illegal. But mass murder of their own kind
was pretty drastic, even for Keulfyd. Whoever was doing this would
not live long he vowed forgetting that by the look of things
neither would he.

Lijfomid had met with his officers
yesterday. They were stumped too. None of them had any proof nor
any bright ideas. They did, however, make the decision to order all
in the cities to disarm the rest of their mercenaries, the few that
weren’t sick, and lock away their weapons. That would leave only
the Relogs armed. The Relogs were not sick. They were also stupid
and unimaginative he thought.

Helkmid’s anticipation was spot on. Armed
mercenaries with paranoia, hallucinations and no actual targets
could be a problem. Only the sentries were now armed. They were
Relogs. Relogs were not generally thought of as Thinkers.

But Lijfomid got this wrong too as did
Helkmid. The Relogs were fully capable of working out the cogent
points. Many sick, more and more dying, no identified target, no
who, where, when, what or why. Badly worried leaders. Relogs were
perfectly capable of worrying. They were presently demonstrating
lots of that. They thought their leaders had cocked up badly. Not
for the first time. Normally it was petty stuff like right weapon,
wrong ammunition provided. Just because they normally didn’t
complain didn’t mean they couldn’t think. They had a lot less
respect for the Keulfyd than Lijfomid thought. And what respect
they did have was further reducing, steadily. They were starting to
make some of their own decisions; like the extra patrols. This was
unprecedented. But because the Keulfyd in charge of the sentries
was very sick and therefore rather preoccupied, she didn’t even
notice.