Whatever Gods May Be (24 page)

Only Thalick, the Sentinel, lived in perpetual wonder and frustration; he alone, deeply understood that his small family's arrival to this sandy planet was no accident.  He would have failed in an explanation to account for his mystifying clairvoyance, but he was wholly confident that forces even higher than his had mapped out the Thelericks fate eons ago.

One look at the space shuttle Challenger confirmed this theory for Thalick.  Somehow, this alien vehicle - a marvel of some extinct technological prowess that was clearly absent on this planet - was a cornerstone to Thalick's relentless vision.  With pure, unadulterated joy and excitement, the ancient Stinger approached the dead shuttle.

Another part of the millennium long puzzle would shortly be assembled for the curious Stinger.  Once completed, it would contribute further bafflement for Thalick -- and more than a little horror and surprise for at least one occupant of Challenger II.

When John Phillips first caught sight of Thalick, he fainted.

Exhaustion, hunger and a weakened nervous system all made the collapse long overdue.  One moment of shock, terror and disbelief had been enough to trigger all the appropriate responses for a complete mental breakdown.  John Phillips did not awaken for three days.  When he did, he found his ship overrun by giant savages, and the valley where Challenger had crashed invaded by more of the same, with several nightmarish apparitions he could have sworn only existed in the darkest abodes of a drug-induced hallucination.

As the tribes people who towered over him were almost embarrassingly friendly, Phillips introduction to this new world was not the terrible thing it could have been.  For an entire day, he simply watched the giant people move about their business, mingling with the enormous scorpion-like horrors as easily as they would trained pets.  In that first day, John Phillips was too numb to even ask about his baby daughter.

When a voice finally found itself back into his mouth, Phillips screamed for Valry.  He was rewarded with finding her safely being nursed by one of the younger ape-women of the tribe.  The nurse gibbered incomprehensibly all the time John hovered over the baby, and finally, seeing that Valry was in far more capable hands than his allowed the nurse to go one her way.  His attention now fully registered on the house-size scorpions.

As if sensing his readiness, Thalick was the first to attempt communication with Phillips.  For Thalick, this was a solemn occasion.  John Phillips would be the first form of intelligent life the Stinger had ever encountered.  He could not of course count the grunting residue of mankind which he and his compatriots had preserved for so long; these harmless and intellectually crippled beasts had nowhere near the aptitude Phillips had for translating Stinger transmissions.  The man from the spaceship was almost a different species of homo sapiens completely, with an intellect - while vastly inferior to a Thelerick Stinger - that could easily be introduced to an advanced form of telepathic interchange.

Thus, the beginning of a long partnership was formed between Thalick and John Phillips.  The astronaut recovered from the initial trauma of meeting the Stingers - though he was always clearly uncomfortable in their intimidating presence.  Thalick relayed as best he could the Thelerick history to him, including the recent exodus from the home galaxy to this crushed planet where they had all found themselves marooned.  Phillips in turn recapitulated his own tumultuous past.  Communication between man and Stinger was not a comfortable experience for both parties, but it was informative, and within a brief span of time a kind of respectful bond developed between the astronaut and the ten Thelericks.

Three weeks following Thalick's discovery of Challenger II, the Stinger tribe was again on the road.  This time, two new additions were included.  Valry was placed in the temporary care of several affectionate and doting primitives for the duration of her nursing, while John accompanied Thalick at the head of the tribe.  Gradually, a kind of unspoken shared leadership developed, in which John and the Sentinel Stinger both collaborated in deciding all issues of the tribe's existence.  From Thalick, John learned all that needed to be known about the vermin Redeye and the far more dangerous Jumper rodents.  He also discovered very early that the Dark above was not confining its infectious influence strictly to the savage humans on this world.

For within another week, John Phillips was diagnosed as suffering from the pre-infectious state of the Dark's plague.  Valry contracted the contagion two days later.

Phillips and his daughter were assured by the medically competent Stingers that their rate of deterioration would take place much slower than that of the tribe.  But in the end, they could expect to suffer from the full-spectrum of symptoms.  This, Thalick promised John, would not take place for many years.  But the sickness both he and his daughter now possessed would linger within their bodies for the rest of their lives.  Shock compounded shock in the case of John Phillips, yet he had one more confrontation with madness that was soon to be inescapable.

The Stingers assisted Phillips in scrapping Challenger, salvaging all equipment and materials for tribe use, then moving out of the valley again on a westerly course.

The tribe approached to within ten miles of the city.  Crushed, gnarled and dead, it was a place Thalick explained to Phillips that harbored the alien Redeyes.  On that day, the astronaut seemed not to have taken notice to Thalick's tutoring.  For there was something about the city ahead of him that was not altogether unfamiliar.

It was the first time Thalick had ever seen a human cry.  The Thelericks watched with amazement as Phillips wept and fell to the ground in heartbreak.  Even the tribe was unsettled at such an unfamiliar display of emotion.

Somewhere towards the rear of the tribe, nursing quietly against a patient breast, two smaller sets of eyes also began to moisten.  They could never have hoped to recognize the dead ruins of St.  Louis by name, but they were keenly aware of the scope of devastation around them.

A brief, momentary sparkle beamed in the youthful pupils and then was gone.

Not yet, the eyes seemed to say in that secondary instant.  The time was not yet right.

But the eyes continued to cry unabated.  For John and Valry Phillips had come home at last.

TWENTY-EIGHT

The tortoise herd reacted with typical disinterest when Thalick and three other Stingers commenced their attack.  There was not much it could do anyway, since the Thelericks were far faster than any "Fuzzy" in the whole lot.  Valry had again been responsible for this colloquial reference to the giant tortoises; as had been the case with the Stinger naming, her choice of words to catalog the wooly creatures ahead had been most fitting.  The listless tortoises were completely covered with hair, hiding even their heads and eyes from view, and until one was completely shaved it was impossible to distinguish any kind of detail.

The Fuzzies were one of the few sources of food that the Stinger tribe could rely upon.  Their meat was saturated with a low degree of radiation, and was thus treatable by the Stingers for human consumption.  Short of the Redeyes, the Fuzzies comprised the most prolific life form on Earth, with their herds numbering in the tens of thousands all over the world.  A pathetically docile creature, one Fuzzy could feed the entire tribe for days, while its heavy mammal-like coat was the mainstay for human clothing and protection against the elements.

Valry and the three Stingers passed undeterred into the center of the crowded herd.  There were a hundred or so Fuzzies scattered around the adjoining valley next to the Stinger tribe, but for all their numeric advantage over the intruders, the tortoises could rely on no defense to protect themselves.  Dimly aware of the danger approaching them, the only collective action the Fuzzies took was to move sluggishly into a group huddle.  But this puny effort was executed so slowly, and would not have saved the bull Fuzzy that Thalick and the other two Stingers were surrounding.  The kill would be completed by the time the remaining herd could converge on itself.

Valry jumped off of Thalick and watched as he and the other two Stingers began the awkward task of flipping the Fuzzy over on its back.  Once this was accomplished, the three Thelericks could then deliver the lethal dosage of venom to the soft underbelly that would painlessly snuff out the Fuzzy's life.  It was a more difficult task than it immediately appeared, for the protesting Fuzzy had sensed the oncoming attack and had mired itself into the clay and sand that comprised the valley ground.

Shoveling their enormous pinchers into the ground, the Stingers attempted to latch onto the shelled underside.  At last, when all three sets of claws were engaged, the Stingers hoisted the cumbersome animal on its side, and finally onto its back.

The Fuzzy bellowed pitifully, as each Thelerick arched its back and perforated the exposed stomach with their stingers.  For one dreadful moment, the dying Fuzzy convulsed in confusion.  Then its fur clad feet and head were still forever.

A moment later, Valry and the Stingers with the Fuzzy in tow began their slow journey out of the herd.  It was slow moving, because the Fuzzy would continually get caught against rocks, which forced the Stingers to stop and start throughout the way back.  By the time they reached the pass leading down into the stream valley of the tribe, it was already late afternoon.

They were about to start down the last slope leading back to the tribe when it started.

The earthquake was so severe that Valry was shaken off of Thalick's head.  From out of nowhere, a great gust of wind howled overhead.  Suddenly, the sky grew black and the clouds seemed to be sucked up into a kind of swirling vacuum.  The quake increased its magnitude and Valry could see in the distance a geyser of flame spitting forth from a mountain.  Below in the valley, the awakened tribe members rushed around the puzzled Stingers for protection.

The Dark's army of black spots abruptly came together and hovered overhead.  Then, a sound pierced the sky that the men of this world could not have possibly recognized.  Exploding over the air, it was the shock waves produced from a sonic boom, and a moment later, the culprit for the disturbance appeared.

Like a meteor, the object dropped out from the Dark's now enormous mouth and sailed across the sky, trailing a contrail of fire behind it.  A strange, high-pitched whine followed the thing as it disappeared over the horizon.

Abruptly, the earthquake ceased and the gale force winds died.  The same dull light that pervaded over the land was soon restored and the Dark had again splattered itself in jellied segments across the cloudscape above.  The whine of the fireball lasted only a few seconds more and then was gone completely.

Valry was on her feet quickly, staring at the smoke line snaking over the edge of the world.

"What was it, Thalick?" she asked in clear awe.  Thalick didn't answer her question, but instead hissed quickly to the other two stingers at his side.  Afterwards, he looked at Valry.

DETACH FUZZY, LITTLE ONE         

Valry jumped onto the dead tortoise's underbelly and unwrapped Thalick's cord from the limp head.  "I'm going with you," she yelled out from on top of the Fuzzy.

NO---THELRICK OTHERS GO WITH YOU—MAKE FOOD---THELERICK GO ALONE         

"I want to go," Valry insisted, hopping down from the Fuzzy and walking in front of One Claw.

Thalick hissed once, and before Valry could do anything, One Claw had his secure pincher wrapped around her.  Wriggling uselessly, Valry looked at Thalick and frowned.

"That's not fair'."

LITTLE ONE NEED EAT -THELERICK COME BACK SOON       

"I'm not hungry," Valry protested, smacking One Claw's pincher with her hands as hard as she could.

Thalick turned to go.  But suddenly, he was frozen in his tracks.  The two watching Stingers hissed in confusion as Thalick pawed at the ground ineffectively.  After several moments of this, he hissed quietly to One Claw.  Immediately, the pincher that had bound Valry released its gentle hold.  Running towards Thalick, she crawled up his back leg and over to his head.  Tickling the Stinger's antennae, the girl made herself as comfortable as possible.

She bit her lower lip and didn't say anything for a second.  Then "Thalick angry?" she asked petulantly.

THALICK ANGRY, ANGRY   

And with that, the giant Stinger lurched forward, leaving One Claw and Green-Belly hissing to one another in bafflement.

* * *

The external hull temperature on the Rover approached that of the surface of this new planet's sun.  Sky and clouds melted in its pathway, as it lacerated the atmosphere with rabid ferocity.  An overly curious creature with ten sets of wings and a beak had the distinct displeasure of being instantly melted, simply by virtue of occupying the same square mile with that of the seething starship and pausing too long to stare in fascination.

The Rover died a little more with every passing second.  But not so much so that it couldn't also monitor Zolan, who at the moment was doing very little aside from being tossed around unconscious on the cabin floor.  The Rover diverted all of its dwindling energy, save that of the landing retros for what would assuredly be a more than rough landing, to the internal passenger compartments.  However, even with such compensation, the inside hull temperature was approaching a danger point that not even Zolan's superior human structure would allow him to survive.