Galileo (Battle of the Species) (43 page)

A Zeanup stood up as Adam walked onto the bridge, incensed at Adam's presence. “No. No, you can’t just come in here, Adam. You’re no longer the second lieutenant, I am,” the Zeanup grunted.

Adam walked up to the Zeanup with such force, the Zeanup instinctively took a step back. “Second lieutenant is assigned to the heirs’ second parent. That’s how it is and that’s how it will always be. Thanks for covering for me for the last 14 years, now get the hell out of my way,” Adam said.

The Zeanup hesitated, then stepped aside, submitting to the protocol whether he liked it or not.

Adam walked up to the screens, which displayed astronomical maps, with Hollen’s location highlighted. “Why don’t we have visuals?” Adam said.

“The planet’s Martex. Portals were only opened there a week ago,” a crewmember replied. “It’s not even part of the Federation yet. It’s still being researched by Cybernex.”

“I’ve already sent satellites. We’ll have them in place within the hour,” the Zeanup added.

“It’ll be over in an hour,” Adam replied. “If Cybernex has portals there, then they’ll have
reconnaissance-bots in place. Request connection from Cybernex to bring up the visuals on every bot within a five mile radius of that portal.”

Within seconds, the screens displayed a dozen different angles of the area, seen through the eyes of robotic insects. The screens showed sheets of silver cascading near the framed portal. Warriors from dozens of species ran through the silver sheets, wearing the I.A.’s black and silver battle suits with the I.L.E. emblem chiseled into the shields and uniforms.

Torans took flight towards the mountains, flying low enough to remain out of view from the Eminites and Aranea on the other side of the mountain. 

“Where are you, Renn?” Adam mumbled, as his eyes scanned the screens.

***

Hollen walked up to Schepp while soldiers filtered through hovering portals.
Has Kia found the boys?
she projected.

I can’t find Kia, but I found Micah. His body was behind the trees over there,
Schepp thought.

“His body? What killed him? Aranea or Eminite?” Hollen asked.

“Kia,” Schepp replied, holding up the arrow.

Hollen looked at Schepp, alarmed. “It was Micah?” Hollen grimaced, thinking of him aboard the Galileo with her sons.

“We’ll find them, Sister,” Schepp said.

She turned to one of the soldiers. “Maleese. Send out ident-seekers.”

“Yes, Captain,” a female Lucian replied. The Lucian pulled out half a dozen silver discs, tapping the command onto a tiny screen on each of the seekers. The discs took flight, scanning her face to see if she was the one they sought, and then continued on to the next face.

The thumping of the Aranea’s tails increased, faster and faster as one last warning.

Hollen looked up towards the flying Torans.
Do any of  you see the heirs?
she projected.

No, Captain
, the Torans thought.

***

Tears streamed down Renn’s face as he kissed Meta one last time. He stopped, looking into her eyes, and leaned forward to reach behind her.

“No, no, please don’t,” she cried. She tried to pull away, but the chains binding her wouldn’t allow her to go too far. “Don't turn me off. I love you. I want to be with you,” Meta pleaded.

“No, Meta wanted to be with me,” Renn replied in agony.

“I am Meta!” she replied.

“No you’re not!” Renn cried, getting angrier by the second. “You’re the reason she died. Your
function
was to lure me here so the enemy could get to my mother. Well done!” he said, gritting his teeth, hating the android for resembling the girl he was willing to die to save.

He shut her off, letting her head slump to her chest. He stepped back out of the poles, receiving a blow to the head with the butt of a sword, knocking him unconscious.

***

Hollen turned to the soldiers and projected,
Fighters, prepare
.

The soldiers aligned, facing the mountain and readied themselves. Humans checked their bionic suits and laser guns; Torans slung back their dipped arrows and extended their wings; Mindeerians’ hands illuminated, while Janiuns, Zeanups, Humans, Lucians, Larks, Zorgres, Dotnets, and Gopecs stood ready for the call.

If any of you find the heirs, your sole mission is to get them back to the Quintessence. This surpasses all commands,
Hollen projected. She walked towards the mountain, when the mountain suddenly disappeared. She found herself face-to-face with the enemy, not having realized the mountain had been a hologram. Her eyes widened and she jerked, initiating a force field in time to deflect laser blasts that had been fired.

There was no time. Schepp leapt high into the air and gave a thunderous war cry. The I.A. soldiers and Eminites charged, both sides firing as they ran. The Eminite commander roared from behind, while Aranea and Eminites filtered through the soldiers.

Hollen charged, thrashing and jumping, while two Mindeerian swords severed necks at a rapid pace around her.
 
She leapt over the enemy, making her way towards the commander who stood in the back, as if waiting for her.

The battlefield was a chaotic storm of arrows firing down, laser blasts firing up, swords slashing, teeth biting, war cries, screams of agonizing pain, the smell of death, and the taste of blood.

Schepp sprayed Baylorblood-soaked arrows into the enemy, never straying too far from Hollen. 

Hollen reached the commander, blasting him with lightning, which he deflected with his shield, ricocheting it back to her. She deflected her own blast, and spun the Mindeerian swords before her, snapping and hissing with electricity. The Aranea beneath the commander snapped its long teeth towards Hollen.

The silver on Hollen’s uniform shattered, fanning out into a dozen six-blade shurikens. The shurikens flew this way and that, slicing the Aranea to pieces while it screeched in pain.

The commander jumped off the dead beast, continuing to fight Hollen, showing skill with his sword and shield.

Schepp took aim at the commander, releasing a Baylorblood-soaked arrow into the commander’s chest. He watched the arrow penetrate the Eminite and stared in horror when the commander continued to fight.

           Hollen switched tactics, sending her shurikens in the air while the commander focused on keeping the Mindeerian swords at bay. The shurikens sliced off the commander’s hands, causing the wrists to reveal severed wires that sparked.

Hollen rushed him, reaching behind its neck, and turned the bot off. She put her hands out, summoning her swords as the shurikens returned to her uniform as armor. She scanned the battlefield with chaos everywhere. The real commander would be there, if not in battle, then where?

Schepp looked around anxiously. Some Eminites and Aranea were dropping by the arrows and spilling blood by the swords, while others had arrows sticking out of their chests, continuing to fight.

           “We need electromagnetic pulses out here right now, Control,” Schepp beckoned through his vicom.

            “Copy that, sending EMPs,” a Janiun replied.

More soldiers exited the portals, carrying portable EMTs, and ran around, circling the battlefield. 

Schepp watched from above, waiting till everyone was in position. He let out a deep squawk and the soldiers hit the EMT switches. Half the Eminites and Aranea dropped to the ground, making the living that much closer to death.

With half the numbers diminished, the soldiers gained ground, getting a second wind as they overtook the enemy.

***

Desh and Kia ran through the cave until the path split into two. They hesitated, not knowing which way to go. “Check that one!” Desh said, pointing to the right.

Kia ran a few feet down the right tunnel, while Desh ran down the left.

I see sconces!
Kia thought.

Yeah, but there’s light down this one too!

They ran back to where the paths parted when they heard a buzzing sound racing towards them. An ident-seeker zoomed around the corner, stopping before the boys.

“Hurry up!” Desh hissed at the apparatus.

The seeker scanned his face and a small light on the screen blinked, then scanned Kia and blinked again. It turned towards the two paths, pausing for only a moment, and then zipped down the right tunnel.

“Should we follow it?” Kia asked.

Desh closed his eyes and listened for thoughts, but heard nothing come from inside the cave.

“Desh!” Kia said, becoming impatient.

“No, let’s go down the other one. If we’re wrong, the seeker will find him,” Desh replied, racing down the left tunnel.

***

“There!” Adam said, as the ident-seeker’s data downloaded onto the screen. Desh and Kia’s pictures appeared next to a map with two red dots gliding together. “Send the reconnaissance-bots after them,” he said.

The Omite’s fingers clicked away, ordering moths to fly and spiders to crawl into the cave.

***

“Very touching,” the Eminite commander sneered when Renn woke up. “That worked out even better than I had hoped.”

Renn looked around, finding himself sitting underneath the suspended stone and inside the poles. He felt dizzy and sick while his eyes tried to gain focus. He saw two-dozen Eminites standing before him, but when he tried to move, he found that his hands were stuck together, as if in constant prayer. Renn watched a pair of scuffed boots walk up to him and he looked up into the eyes of the commander.

The commander smiled. “I wouldn’t spark if I were you. Your palms are covered in E.S.T-39. It won’t cause a blast large enough to kill you, but just enough to take off your hands.”

Renn could see his palms illuminate and he closed his eyes, shutting everything out. He tried to control his thoughts, for fear of a spark, and willed himself to calm down. The blue light dimmed until disappearing between his hands.

“Very good,” the commander said. “But you see — I want your hands to explode. Here, let me help.” The commander then walked to the wall and released the chain from the wall.

Renn looked up and emitted as much energy as he could, stopping the stone in mid-air, hovering above his head.

The commander laughed. “Oh come now, that has to be worth a spark!”

Renn tried to suppress every emotion filling his body: fear, anger, agonizing torment at losing the one he loved, defeat.

He took deep, slow breaths and glanced at the Eminites behind the commander, noticing they were all brandishing laser guns, while their swords remained idly sheathed. He targeted the Eminite furthest in the back, and slowly unsheathed its sword. He raised it into the air, hesitating when his own palms once again illuminated. He tried to control his own thoughts, but all he could think was:
She’s dead...she’s dead.

“I wonder,” the commander said, glancing up at the stone. “How long do you think a young Mindeerian can emit this much energy before draining his body to the point of death?”

Renn quietly brought down the Eminite’s sword, taking its ear with it. He quickly entered the Eminite’s mind. The Eminite opened its mouth to yell and jerked its body to move, until Renn gained full control of its body. The Eminite closed its mouth and stood up straight, unmoving.

Seeing through the Eminite’s eyes created a double-image in Renn’s head, and it took him a moment to focus on how to move the Eminite’s body without moving his own. Renn could feel the presence of the Eminite’s consciousness, fighting him to regain control, but Renn pushed back, unwilling to yield.

“Why are you doing this?” Renn asked, trying to keep his own eyes focused on the commander.

“So your mother and I can be introduced,” the commander replied with a self-satisfied grin. “Is that asking so much?”

Renn could feel his own body growing weaker by the second. He brought down the sword again, slicing the ear off the next Eminite and struggled for a moment in an attempt to keep both Eminites from moving. He used the two Eminites to fire into their comrades and the room quickly became chaotic with baffled Eminites looking at each other in a state of confusion. He kept the sword flying, and took over more Eminites, one by one.

The Eminites fired at their comrades, but the commander turned to Renn.

Renn found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

“Release them!” the commander roared.

But Renn knew he wouldn’t fire. Renn would be killed by Desh in that room, on that day, and all he could think of while he watched the Eminites was:
I’m going to take you all with me.

Renn closed his own eyes, and the eyes of all but one Eminite, so the multiple-sights in his head changed to a clear single vision, seen through the eyes of the lone Eminite in the back. He watched half a dozen Eminites fighting his battle and the scared boy between the bars, sitting under a large stone. In the mind of the furthest Eminite, he
heard the scuffling of feet running up behind him. He turned the Eminite’s body and looked into the eyes of his brother’s furious face.

Desh took one look at the Eminite and sent the Mindeerian sword through the air, decapitating it.

Renn almost dropped his energy stream and the stone hovering above him when he realized the dream had come to fruition and yet he was still alive. The stone stopped inches from his head and then rose, depleting more of Renn’s energy.

“Kia!” Desh yelled.

“I got it!” Kia replied, releasing an arrow into an Eminite and running behind the poles. He chained the stone against the wall and turned just in time to dodge a laser blast.

***

Adam watched the screens as robotic insects entered the battle room. He gave a set of coordinates and unholstered his gun.

An Omite at the controls hesitated. “I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”

“What do you mean you can’t do that?” Adam asked in bewilderment.