Syn-En: Plague World: The Founders War Begins (9 page)

Doc frowned at the screen. Deft fingers flew over the readout then the numbers disappeared.

Nell took a deep breath. She knew she was infected. How bad could it be? “So Skaperians are the sixth pillar and humanity is the seventh?”

“No. Skaperia has no pillar.” Apollie dragged a hand down her face. “Earth is the sixth pillar. We only know of the seventh pillar because of references to it. That world, if it still exists, has not been found.”

“I’ve been to Earth. We have pyramids, great walls, and nose-bleed cities.” Nell ignored the readout. “I don’t recall any pillar.”

“That is because the Founders removed it when they held Earth as their territory.”

Bei’s fingers curled into fists. “The Founders claimed Earth?”

“Yes.” Apollie folded her hands in her lap. The power jewels in her vambraces winked. “They had to cede the territory to Skaperia when they joined the Erwar Consortium as war reparations. We found evidence of a pillar soon after taking possession.”

Nell shifted on the cushioned bench. “If Skaperia owned Earth all this time, why didn’t we know it? I mean, you’re hardly a Gray and I very much doubt you wield anal probes.”

She squirmed inside her skin. The feather-heads had tinkered with her egg basket.

“We had liaisons in your governments.” Apollie studied her fingernails. “As long as the Empress received her quota of slaves, she didn’t really pay much attention to what we did on Earth.”

Nell blinked. She was missing something.

Bei dropped to the seat opposite Apollie. “You allowed most of Earth civilization to proceed without interference, because you thought Humans, as one of the seven pillars, could be used against the Founders.”

“The Founders uprooted humans and placed them on all their colonies and worlds. If Humanity could declare itself sentient, then Humans on those worlds could get revenge for their treatment by spying and revealing information about the forbidden worlds deep in Founders’ space. It is a valid military tactic.”

Nell rose off her seat. Everyone on Earth had been used. She felt dirty. Unclean. “I know where you can shove your valid military tactic.”

Bei rubbed the back of his neck. “She is correct. We are gaining a lot of intelligence about the Founders with every group of rescued humans.”

Nell wanted to kick him in his military tactic. “How can you say that?”

Doc tugged her back onto the seat. “You’ve seen how the Founders treat their conquered worlds. Would you rather Earth be under their thumb or the Skaperians?”

“I’d rather be free.” Nell plopped onto the seat. Memories played like a commercial asking for donations to a third world country—bloated corpses, starving young, missing limbs, and unspeakable mutilations. What the Founders had done made all of man’s wars seem like a cake walk.

Setting a square of gauze atop the needle, Doc removed it. “We’re free because of the Skaperians.”

She bent her arm to stop the blood flow. “And because we survived the Surlat strain.”

Nell just hoped they did this time around. The yellow glow faded from her skin.

Apollie scooted back on the bench and folded her legs Indian-style. “We did not wish to infect Earth, but we were desperate for a cure to save ourselves.”

Nell pursed her lips. She guessed that was as close to an apology as the Skaperians would allow. Besides, hadn’t Nell been willing to exterminate the feather-heads to save Bei? Her hands weren’t exactly clean. “I suppose it worked out for the best in the end.”

Smiling, Apollie cupped her knees. “Better. We are on Surlat.”

Bei cocked an eyebrow. “How is that better?”

“Surlat was a protected planet before the Plague hit. Few were ever allowed to visit.” Apollie licked her lips. “The Founders even wiped it off their official star charts. Our intelligence hinted that the sun-killer weapon had been developed here.”

Resting her head against the bench back, Nell rubbed her eyes until stars appeared. Alien conspiracies. Deadly Plagues. Underhanded plots. And now this. She shouldn’t ask. She didn’t really want to know. “What is a sun-killer weapon?”

“It’s a plug of lead that can breach a star’s magnetic field.” Apollie’s leg bounced. “It’s banned under the Erwar codicils.”

Bei’s eyes widened. Doc whistled low.

Well crap. Nell had missed something here. “Why is a lead bullet bad? Other than the whole shooting side of it.”

Bei rubbed his temples. “The moment a molecule of lead forms in the fusion reactor of a star, the star begins to die. To artificially seed one, would be to chop billions of years off a star’s life. “

Nell sagged on the bench. Dying sucked, even for a star.

Apollie nodded. “We lost four worlds. Prime worlds with two habitable planets in each during the war.”

And Earth was the Skaperian payoff.

“So we’ll do a little scouting while we’re here. Look to see if the Founders have anything else in development.” Bei’s attention cut to Nell. “But the vaccine must be our priority.”

With a sigh, Nell straightened on her seat. A vaccine to the Surlat strain was a bonus. “What’s the word, Doc?”

Doc blinked. The hair in his goatee bristled in agitation.

“Doctor?” Bei growled. “Do you have enough antibodies to start on a vaccine?”

“I ran the scan twice.” Doc tucked the used needle and tube into a biohazard bag. “Nell Stafford isn’t infected with the Surlat strain.”

“I’m not?” She wanted to clap, stomp her feet, and shout hallelujah. Life was good. She and Bei would leave the planet, they’d have children, they’d... Wait a minute. Her husband’s almond-shaped eyes were squinty and his nostrils flared. Why wasn’t he celebrating?

After rising from his seat, he stood next to her. “What is she infected with?”

“You just couldn’t let me have a minute to celebrate, could you?” She wanted to kick him. Unfortunately, his armor was too hard and her toe too soft.

“Fermites.” Doc closed the metal encased med kit. “They’re in every organ of her body. The glow doesn’t indicate infection of the Surlat strain but these fermites. They’re taking elements in Nell Stafford’s body, creating others and replicating. I won’t know what effect they will have until the full laboratory upstairs comes on line.”

Bei turned toward the engine room. “Brooklyn. Queens. Status report.”

The two dark-haired Syn-En medics jostled each other in the doorway.

Brooklyn stumbled through first. “We’ve eliminated surges, EMPs, and overloads.”

“We’re looking for broken connections now.” Queens fidgeted next to his friend. “Anything to explain what happened.”

“Check for fermites.” Bracing her hand on the wall, Nell pushed to her feet. “If they’re in me, they could be in the ship making gremlins.”

Bei opened his mouth.

The overhead lights flickered then powered on. The engines hummed, sending vibrations throughout the shuttle.

Leaning over, Bei picked her tiara off the bench. “Perhaps you are not just queen of the Syn-En and NDA, but hold court over these fermites.”

“I think I’d rather be able to fly or leap small buildings in a single bound.” The crown melted in her palm. Metal ran like warm syrup along her wrist before subsiding under her skin. She should have asked for a bigger crown.

A soft whirring drifted on the air, and a cold breeze stirred her cheek. What in the world?

“The back is opening, Admiral.” Apollie sprang from her seat and landed a foot from Bei.

“No!” The human guinea pigs, Karl and Erin, scrambled down the ladder from the deck above. “We’re not sealed in quarantine. We’ll become infected!”

With a thought, Bei tapped into the shuttle’s Combat Information Center. The CIC opened a digital door, allowing his avatar to walk inside. A shadow danced in his peripheral vision, there and gone before he identified it. Data packets zoomed by on streams of light. Diagnostics reported everything working at a hundred percent efficiency. His shuttle never worked at a hundred percent. “Queens, Brooklyn, I want an explanation of the shut down.”

“Aye, Admiral.” The two Syn-En medics nodded their dark heads. Queens rushed for the ladder at the end of the crew compartment leading up to the bridge. Brooklyn ducked through the door to the engine room.

A cool breeze slipped through the deploying aft ramp.

Nell turned her face toward the creeping sunshine. The wind stirred her blond hair and she inhaled deeply.

Bei bit his tongue before telling her to stop it. His wife’s infection and recovery were the point to this mission. “Doc?”

Doc’s goateed avatar popped up next to Bei’s. It tapped into the green health feed.
Home, sweet home.
His pixelated man plucked on the green line. Air intakes scooped up the atmosphere.
I’m filtering sixteen cubic meters per second, Admiral. No sign of the virus.

Bei doubted their luck would hold. Dirtside missions had a way of going fubar faster than a circuit relayed information. He buzzed the com for information on the second shuttle.

Starflight 2
skipped across the top of the atmosphere.

He opened a channel. “
Starflight 2
switch to manual instruments before punching through the atmosphere.”

“Aye, Admiral. Switching to manual.” Ensign Richmond spoke softly into the Com. “Will target your LZ.”

“Expect turbulence.” Bei copied his memories of the trip down and sent it to the fledgling security officer.

Her shock exploded like a grenade through the CIC.
Holy shit!
She swiftly brought herself under control. “Copy that. Hitting atmosphere in three...two...one.”

Static crackled across the WA.

Bei sent a prayer that no one would die today and the chariot would return empty to the beyond, then pulled his attention inside his shuttle.

The humans, Karl and Erin huddled at the base of the ladder.

A green beam shot out of Doc’s wrist. Fanning out, the light swept over the two. “Accelerated heart-rate, vasoconstriction, and shallow breathing.”

Thanks to his relationship with Nell, Bei knew the symptoms well. “Anxiety.”

Doc nodded and switched off his diag beam. “No sign of infection. Come on, you two, let’s get you locked down.”

Erin scampered up the ladder first.

Nell inched toward the ramp. “Do you think the Scraptors lied about the infection?”

Bei’s systems stuttered in their own display of anxiety. He grabbed the back of his wife’s uniform, stopping her from leaving the shuttle.

Apollie adjusted her red-speckled breastplate. “If they thought the planet was clear of infection, they would have reclaimed it years ago.”

“I’ve got nothing.” Doc shrugged.

Bei swore softly. Nothing didn’t help. “What can you tell me about these fermites?”

Apollie checked the knife in her boot. “Other than what I’ve already told you?”

“Yes.” Bei’s memories automatically recorded. He could play them back anytime he wanted.

“Nothing. We don’t even know where they come from.” Apollie frowned. “I never would have considered that might be causing the tech failure. There doesn’t seem to be enough of them.”

“There can be if they can replicate at will.” Compression sensors flared in Bei’s palms. And the fermites had done so inside his wife.

Something pinged the hull. Another ping. Then another.
Starflight 2
approached for a landing. The shuttle listed to the side as the ramp touched down. Grass covered the rolling hills surrounding them. Stalks of green grain brushed his ship’s hull. Amplifying his hearing, he detected running water. Son of a bitch. Brooklyn and Queens had chosen a perfect spot to be ambushed.

Nell waved her hand in front of her face. “Can we go outside?”

“Not yet.” He shifted in front of his wife. Switching on Infrared vision wouldn’t help. The temperature reached nearly thirty degrees Celsius and judging from the angle of the sun, he’d bet his favorite circuit the season was late summer. “Queens, launch a probe. Find me the nearest human settlement.”

“Aye, Admiral.” Static sifted through Queen’s voice. “Probe away.”

A silver sphere zoomed across Bei’s line of sight. The probe circled their position in ever-widening circles. Telemetry streamed through his skull. Just plants within two klicks of their position.

“All clear then.” Nell glided toward the ramp.

Doc glanced at Bei before climbing the ladder.
I think you might be onto something with the fermites
.

Given that Bei hadn’t sensed his wife in the CIC, he’d believe the alien tech was responsible until proven otherwise. A chill ran down his spine. If the Founders did invent the fermites, the Syn-Ens’ technology would be worse than useless in the upcoming war.

Apollie cocked her head to the right. Her beads brushed her shoulder. “Shall I accompany Nell Stafford?”

“No need.” Stopping at the bottom of the ramp, Nell stuck her hand into the sunshine. “Ah, that feels good.”

Bei snapped the image of Nell’s hand. Shunting it to the CIC, he magnified the crease behind her knuckle until it resembled the Marianas Trench. Flecks of glitter shot like geysers from her pores. He wanted to know what the fermites were. He wanted to know how to destroy them.

Nell glanced back at him. “You should check yourself and Apollie, too.”

With her hand on the scythe tucked into her belt, the Skaperian faced the shuttle’s interior. “Check me for what?”

“Fermites.” Bei took a snapshot of the Paladin’s hand. Up close, her skin resembled Nell’s. But magnified near atomic levels, the similarities ended. Only one or two fermites penetrated her pores. The rest clumped in ridges along her skin.

Apollie brushed her hands along her arms. “Are they on me?”

“They don’t seem to like you.” Bei checked the seams between his prostheses. Fermites poured into his upgrades like melted butter. “They do seem to like humans.”

“We found them in humans first.” Apollie swiped her hands down her pale legs.

“Have you checked the Founders?”

Nell batted her hand in front of her face. “Go away gnats.”

Bei scanned the area in front of his wife. No insects disturbed the air. He’d bet it was the fermites.