Forging Zero (65 page)

Lord
Knaaren appeared much later than he had scheduled.  He trotted out in front of
the battalions almost two hours past due, his talons throwing diamond gravel
into the air.  He held a slim black Congie rope between his teeth, dragging
something big in his wake.

It took
Joe a moment to realize the bundle at the end of the rope was Elf.

Lord
Knaaren dropped the rope.  Two Takki lifted Elf to his feet.  His whole body
was covered in welts and scabs, and he had lost his ear and most of his left
cheek to alien claws.  Both eyes were masses of puffy, bruised flesh, his
fingers dark from where the ropes around his wrists had cut off the
circulation.  Joe suddenly found it hard to breathe.

“I knew
the taint stretched beyond Kihgl,” Knaaren said.  “This Human scum killed a
pregnant Ooreiki on her way to Poen to give birth, then stayed out of sight
using an extremely rare, highly illegal device while we searched for him. 
Then, despite carrying an akarit of the highest caliber, he was stupid enough
to leave it behind when he went searching for food and water.  The Kophati
government wants him for murdering the
yeeri.
  The Peacemakers want him
because of the akarit
.
  But none of that interests me.  He is my
recruit.  They can take their weak, toothless threats and feed them to my
Takki.  The boy will not be punished.”

He’s
letting him go?
  Joe felt a brief pang of hope. 

Knaaren’s
rainbow lips peeled away from triangular black teeth as he surveyed Sixth
Battalion. 
“All
of you will be punished.  After you watch him die, the
entire regiment will receive the Black Pain of the Sixth Degree…unless one of
you comes forward and tells me something that makes sense.  Why did this
recruit kill the
yeeri?
  Where did he get the akarit
?”
 

Joe’s
hope became despair as the Dhasha’s emerald gaze swept over the regiment.

“Release
him,” Knaaren said.

The
Takki moved away from Elf, who swayed on his feet without the support.  Knaaren
moved up to him and gazed down at him with cold emerald eyes.  “Do you have
anything to say in your defense?”

“I just
wanted a ship,” Elf whimpered.  His eyelids were sunken into his skull, despite
the bruised puffiness of his face. 

Seeing
that, bile surged in Joe’s throat.  They had cut out his eyes.

Knaaren
cuffed Elf.  It was a light blow, but Knaaren’s black talons cleaved through
the flesh of Elf’s shoulder and his left arm fell to the diamond gravel,
clinging to his other wrist by the length of rope still binding them together. 
Elf’s mouth formed an O and he stood there for a moment, as if unaware of what
had happened.  Then he screamed and slapped his hand over his shoulder while
shying away from the heavy limb dangling from his wrist.  The damage was too
much.  No sooner had Elf tried to save himself than his skin began turning a
deathly pale.  He slid to the ground, still gripping his bleeding stump between
rigid white fingers. 

“Fix
it,” Knaaren said.

A Takki
rushed forward and jammed a needle of the silver stuff into Elf’s chest. 
Almost immediately, the bleeding stopped.  Elf lay on the ground, panting. 

“Just…wanted…ship. 
Just a ship.”

“I want
to know who else is involved in this conspiracy,” Knaaren said.  “You could not
have gotten an akarit
on your own.  You do not have the resources to pay
for one, let alone the connections to find such an item.  Who gave it to you?”

Elf
tried to stand, but Knaaren stepped on him, razor claws sinking into Elf’s
chest like it was warm butter.  “Answer me,” Knaaren said.  “Who helped you?!”

“No
one,” Elf whimpered, his uplifted arm dwarfed by Knaaren’s massive leg.

Almost
delicately, Lord Knaaren bit off his remaining hand.

Knaaren
allowed Elf to scream for a while, then said, “Fix it.”

A Takki
rushed forward and gave him another dose of nanos.

“I will
not allow you to die until you tell me,” Knaaren rumbled, his sharklike teeth
hovering only inches from Elf’s contorted face.

“Please. 
He didn’t help me.”

“So
there
was
someone!” Knaaren roared.  “Who was it? 
Who?”

“I want
my mommy,” Elf sobbed.

“Answer
me, you miserable beast!  Who was helping you?!”

“No one
helped me,” Elf said.  “No one.”

Joe
felt a spear of agony lance his chest.  He couldn’t watch, but he couldn’t look
away, either.  Half of him wanted to rush forward and confess.  The other half
feared what Elf would say.

“Slave,
punish him.”

A Takki
standing nearby twisted the dial on a black device resembling Tril’s.  Elf
began to scream.

“Stop.”

Sobbing,
Elf rolled in the dirt, begging for his mother.

“Tell
me who helped you,” Knaaren said.  “It won’t end until you do.”

“Nobody
helped me!”
Elf screamed.

“Punish
him.  A higher setting.”

Joe
shuddered at his friend’s screams. 
I gave him the akarit
.  His
fingernails bit into his palms and his jaw ached.  His chest was a throbbing
mass of agony.  He took a step forward.

Libby
grabbed his arm.  She gave a slight shake of her head, eyes hard. 

Joe
shuddered and closed his eyes as Knaaren’s frenzy continued.

“Are
you ready to talk?  No?  Punish him.  Stop.  Punish him.  Stop.  This will go
on as long as it needs to. 
Who was helping you?
  Punish him.  A higher setting.”

“Stop
it,” Maggie whimpered.  “Somebody stop him.”

The
Dhasha paced around Elf as his Takki hurt him, saliva frothing around his
teeth, staining the ground orange.  His muscles were twitching as he stalked
back and forth, his insane emerald eyes fixed to Elf as he moved, ordering his
Takki to hurt him.  It continued for almost half an hour, until Commander
Lagrah crossed the plaza and stepped into the formation.

“That’s
enough, Knaaren,” Lagrah said. “Even if he knew, he can’t answer you now.”

By that
time, Elf’s pleas had devolved into unintelligible, animal babbles.

Knaaren
swiveled and rushed the Ooreiki, spraying black dust across the plaza. 

Lagrah
never moved.  He stared fearlessly up into the Dhasha’s open maw, his sudah not
even flickering.  After the Ooreiki met and held Knaaren’s insane gaze for
several heartbeats, he said, “He’ll haunt you until you die, Knaaren.”

The
Dhasha made a grating bark of laughter.  “Humans have no soul.  They cannot
haunt me.”

“Not
him.  Kihgl.”

The Dhasha
took one step backwards, baring its teeth.

Lagrah
continued, unperturbed.  “You see him, don’t you?  Where is he right now? 
Standing over your shoulder?   Over mine?  Do you hear him whisper to you when
you’re trying to sleep?  What does he say?”  The Ooreiki took a step toward the
Dhasha.  “Because he will
never
go away.  He has all of eternity to
whittle away at your mind.”

For a
split second, Joe thought that the Dhasha would eat Lagrah.  Instead, with a
cold, merciless fury, Knaaren spun on Elf and tore his groundmate apart until
all that was left was strips of twitching meat and severed bone.  Then he
abandoned the corpse and returned to his tower, his Takki trailing along behind
him.

I
failed him,
Joe thought, watching the rainbow
figure rise toward the top floor in his elevator. 
I was supposed to take
care of him and
I let the monster eat him instead.
  Joe was left in
shock.

“Fall
out!” Commander Lagrah shouted to the regiment.  “Go back to your barracks
rooms.  Your battlemasters will meet you there.  All hunts are cancelled for
today.”

Joe had
to tear his eyes away from the spot at the top of the tower where the Dhasha
had disappeared.  When he turned, he caught Libby watching him intently.  Joe
quickly looked away.  His gaze returned to the plaza behind them where medics
were picking Elf’s remains from amongst the diamond bits. 

I
failed him.
 
The
single, powerful thought overwhelmed everything else.  Maggie and Monk were
crying, but Joe remained silent. 

He
didn’t deserve to cry. 

He
knew, beyond any doubt, he’d gotten Elf killed.

CHAPTER
31: 
Mourning the Dead

Joe
gathered the group together that night to say a small prayer for Elf.

“I
didn’t really go to church,” Joe said, clearing his throat, “But we say the
Groundteam Prayer every night, and he was one of our groundmates, so I didn’t
think it would be right not to say something about him…”  He cleared his throat
miserably.

Maggie
came to his rescue.  “Dear Lord, please take good care of our friend Elf.  I
know you don’t like the stuff he’s been doing lately, but please take him to Heaven
anyway.  Elf was a good kid that got captured by aliens.  He liked toy soldiers
and peanut butter sandwiches and hated gummi bears so he couldn’t have been so
bad.  Amen.”

“Amen,”
everyone agreed.  Libby nodded.

When
Joe couldn’t sleep that night, he got out of bed and began sharpening his
knife.  He knew it was a stupid thing to do, that half the creatures in
Congress wouldn’t even blink if he stabbed them to the hilt, but it made him
feel better. He wanted to do nothing more than to plunge it into Knaaren’s big,
perfect eye. 

He had
been sitting like this for several minutes before he realized Libby was
watching him.

“Go to
sleep,” Joe said.  “I’m just not tired.”

Libby
slid out of bed and put her hand on his shoulder.

“I
don’t feel like raiding tonight.”  Growing uncomfortable under her unyielding
gaze, Joe got up and moved off into the baths, where he sat down beside a
stinking vat of alcohol.

I
failed him,
he thought. 
He trusted me and I
failed him.

How could
he have thought he was a good leader?  How could he have been
enjoying
himself?  He’d gotten someone
killed.
  A friend.  Someone who trusted
him.  Someone who’d followed him.  Someone who
needed
him.  He was
dead
.

And
it’s my fault.

Libby
slipped into the baths and sat down beside him.  She touched his arm, then,
before Joe realized her intent, she leaned over and kissed him.  On the lips.

Joe got
so hard so fast that he experienced physical pain.  Thoughts of Elf vanished,
replaced by instant panic.  He pulled back quickly.  “What do you want?”

Libby
gave him a look of utter consternation.  He could almost read her mind. 
What
do you
think
I want, furg?

Joe
cleared his throat.  “I…uh…I just wanted to sharpen my knife.” 
Great.  You
Grade-A furg, that’s just what she wants to hear.  Joe Sex Master Dobbs.  First
time any woman shows even the least bit of interest in your sorry ass and you
tell her you’d rather polish cutlery.  She’s gonna hate you forever.  You can
still save it though.  Just—

But
Libby was already up, her graceful legs removing her from the baths at a run. 
Joe stared after her in despair.

#

“I
heard what happened, Choe.  I’m sorry.”

Joe
refused to look up at the haauk hovering above him on the plaza.

“It’s
always hard to lose a friend.”

“Go
away,” Joe said softly.  “I know what’s going on.  You’re a rebel.  You’re
trying to turn me into a spy.”

Yuil
didn’t even blink.  “So?  Do you really want Congress to survive?  It killed
your friend.”

“
Knaaren
killed my friend,” Joe said.  “Congress didn’t even know he existed.”

“Exactly,”
Yuil retorted.  “We’re all insignificant to them, Joe.  We’re all pawns to do
as we’re told.  We don’t even have the freedom to choose membership.  They
force us to pay tribute, send children off to die on strange planets, and have
Peacemakers kill anyone who objects.  We need to destroy them, Choe.”

Joe
gave Yuil an irritated glance.  “What the hell can I do?  I’m just a kid.”

“I’m
not sure yet,” Yuil said.  “But Kihgl told me to help you.”

Joe
stiffened.  “He did?”

“Kkee. 
Take this.”  Yuil held out another akarit
,
complete with black shielding
box.  Joe hesitated, then reluctantly took it from the Ooreiki’s metal-tipped
tentacles.

Yuil
looked satisfied.  “Next time you find yourself in trouble, come to the
abandoned
ferlii
I showed you.  Take the first stair you see up three
levels and circle the building until you find a tunnel entrance that is more
circular than the rest.  Inside, there will be a small diamond etched into the
floor—this is the symbol of the resistance.  Take that tunnel up and you will
find a room fitted with weapons and communications equipment.  Say anything at
all in that room and I will hear you.  Just be careful—it is fitted with enough
explosives to wipe out half of Alishai, should the authorities discover it.”