Part 28 (1/2)
I showed her the top of the vid collection Id saved previously. I played the most meaningful one. The movie Id chosen displayed the world that was different from all the others.
”Look,” I said, ”see the skyline? There are more buildings up on the landma.s.s, structures that are completely dry.”
”So what?” Carlos demanded. ”Maybe their oceans dried up. Maybe theyve got global warming or something.”
”No, I dont think so. I think those buildings arent built like the rest of them because theyre built for different beings. Land-based aliens of some kind.”
Natasha was fooling with the controls and rubbing her hands on the clear surface of the globe.
”What are you doing?” Carlos asked.
”The surface of this device is touch-sensitive,” she explained, ”but the interface doesnt operate in quite the way were used to. They have tentacles, not fingers. I think the squids-there! Ive got something!”
The image blurred and zoomed. We were taken away from the street scene wed been watching, which showed squids wandering their spires over the waves on ramps between the buildings. We were taken over the ocean at an alarming pace to the landma.s.s nearby. We zoomed in on a cl.u.s.ter of squatty buildings that were entirely dry.
”Howd you do that?” Kivi asked Natasha. She sounded jealous to me. ”Ive been working with this thing for hours. It never let me select a portion of the image and jump to that focal point.”
”You have to think like a cephalopod,” Natasha said. ”They have tentacles, which are a lot different than hands. I laid my hand down like a single curling appendage, using my forearm, actually, to simulate-”
”What the h.e.l.l?” Carlos interrupted. ”I know that guy! See that freak? Hes one of the slavers from Dust World!”
Sure enough, we were treated to a shambling giant of a man. He was tall and thin, almost nude, and I knew from experience he smelled bad.
”Thats one of their slavers all right,” I said. ”Id know their kind anywhere. Lets look for a littermate. Humans-just think of it-altered humans are living among the squids on this planet.”
We kept working with the system and found evidence not only of the humans theyd specially bred as slaves, but also a dozen other types of beings. They all seemed to live in relative squalor on the land.
”Lets go over what we have so far,” Natasha said in her best imitation of a college prof. ”This world does seem different. Its more built up than the others weve seen. Far more of the areas are urban and they have enslaved beings from many other planets living there with them. Ive noticed many of the enslaved aliens are wearing collars and working at manual tasks.”
”Just like the machines here in this mine,” Kivi said. ”The squids are consistent, at least. They seemed bent on enslaving others.”
I nodded thoughtfully, remembering the words Id heard in conversations with various squids over the last few years. ”I remember the guy we met up with on Tech World,” I said. ”We were calling him an amba.s.sador, but he told us that was wrong. He called himself the Conqueror or something like that. He said he wasnt an amba.s.sador or an emissary. He made it very clear his job was to enslave all aliens he encountered. He seemed to think the idea he was a friendly, talkative representative of his race was amusing and maybe a little insulting.”
”A slave culture,” Natasha said, nodding. ”A kingdom based on slavery and expansion. Its nothing new, but it might help Hegemony understand what were up against. This is an excellent find, Carlos. And you Kivi, youve shown real progress. I bet when the next exams come around for elevation into the ranks of the techs, youll be chosen.”
Carlos and Kivi both beamed. This made me smile. Natasha was anything but dumb. She had to know that such praise was exactly what they were seeking. I couldnt see any harm in it, all the way around. They were doing exactly what their officers wanted, bettering themselves and making themselves more useful to the legion they served.
Earths Legions didnt handle promotions quite the way militaries of the past had done. In the old days, most armies depended on a steady diet of new recruits. The best of these became experienced and were elevated in rank. The rest were discharged as they got older and they were no longer in top physical condition.
In our small independent legions, people didnt age. You could stay a regular in a combat unit more or less forever. Eventually, most people got sick of fighting and dying and left the service. Some did stick with it and eventually rose in rank.
The difference was we didnt use seniority as the primary means for deciding who was promoted. Sure, it was a factor. But the promotional system was largely based on skills and performance. As anyone could stay young and useful to the legions for decades on the front line, an individual had to demonstrate they were special to gain rank. Kivi and Carlos were attempting to do just that, and I had to agree with Natasha, theyd shown promise.
”As your veteran,” I said in a formal voice, ”Id be willing to sign any letter of candidacy you might be awarded. Based on what Ive seen today, you two have shown youre ready to move up in rank.”
”Thanks for your support,” Kivi said to me. This time, I could tell she meant it.
Carlos looked like a kid whod finally gotten the cookie jar out of the kitchen. But he wasnt completely satisfied yet.
”Weve still got to get an officer in our chain of command to kick things off in the first place,” he said. ”I think thatll be the hardest part. Leeson is a p.r.i.c.k and Graves only cares about capturing points on maps. But first, we have an arrangement of our own to conclude.”
The two left, but they didnt head down to the main chambers. Instead, they went into the dark, unexplored tunnels behind the water tank. There was machinery back there that pumped and heated the water in the tank, making it slosh and gurgle.
I looked after them, smiling. Just before they turned the corner and disappeared, they kissed.
”Thats cute,” Natasha said, looking after them with me. ”Looks like Carlos has learned a few tricks from you.”
I glanced over my shoulder at her, eyebrows upraised. She went back to curling her arm into odd positions, trying to get the globe to recognize various touch-commands. Carlos and Kivi were making out in the tunnel for a minute, but then vanished.
”Hes bettered himself,” I said to Natasha. ”Hes made himself more useful to the legion. h.e.l.l get rank, just as I have.”
”Thats not what I meant,” Natasha said. ”Carlos isnt out to become a tech. Hes after Kivi. Hes hunting tail not stripes, and to me it looks like hes managed to get what he really wanted.”
”Oh-that. I dont think he learned that from me. I never had to work so hard to get with a girl. Women just come and go naturally.”
Natasha gave me a wry glance. Somehow, I figured my words hadnt made her happy.
She might have said something rude, but right about then a big ruckus began in the room with the squid tank. Carlos was shouting, and Kivi was making a strange, screeching sound.
I ran into the tunnels with Natasha right behind me. In my mind, I figured Carlos had gone too far with Kivi. Maybe hed grabbed the wrong part of her, and p.i.s.sed her off so badly she was killing him for it. Thats what I honestly thought.
The truth was far stranger. When Natasha and I got to the chamber with the pumps and filters, we found Kivi was in the curled tentacle of a ma.s.sive squid. The thing must have been hiding somewhere-probably down in that stinking mess at the bottom of their bathing pool, or maybe it had managed to cram itself into the pipes to hide.
Either way, the tank of water must have run deeper than we thought. I didnt care where it had come from at the moment, because a squid the size of a school bus was killing Kivi before my eyes.
Without our dragons, riders like us didnt have much in the way of armor or weapons. We had less equipment than your average light trooper, in fact. But what I did have was the knife Id always carried at my side. I drew it now, climbed up onto the edge of the tank and slashed at the tentacle that held Kivi aloft.
The whole tank sloshed wildly as the squid s.h.i.+vered in pain. I got the feeling it wasnt used to being cut like that. The giant squid dropped Kivi, who lay limply on the edge of the tank. Natasha and I backed away, dragging Kivi with us. The foot-thick tentacles lashed overhead, but didnt strike us. I figured the ma.s.sive squid hadnt liked getting a limb amputated.
On a hunch, I raised my knife again, letting it glitter in the monsters eyes. Those eyes showed a malevolent intelligence. But unlike every other squid Id ever met, this one seemed less interested in self-sacrifice. It didnt want risk being injured. Normally, squid troops were more than ready to die to kill a man.
”Thats right,” I said to the squid, even though I doubted it could understand me. ”Dont even think about whacking one of us. Ill cut you apart.”
Waving my knife to keep it at bay, I dared to glance at Natasha. ”Is Kivi still alive?”
”Yes. She might have some broken ribs, but sh.e.l.l live.”
”What do you think this thing is?”
”A fantastic opportunity. Hold it here, James. Ill run down to the main chamber and get a translator. We have the squid language loaded on our bigger computers. We can interrogate it.”
”Okay, go,” I said, backing away further and standing over Kivi. Unless the squid came out of its tank, it couldnt reach me now.
Natasha ran off, and I looked around quickly. ”Where did Carlos go?” I asked Kivi.
She groaned in response, trying to stand. I helped her to her feet. She had both arms wrapped around her mid-section, where the squid had squeezed her with its powerful tentacle.
The squid watched us balefully from its tank, one eye lifted up into the air with a hump of brown flesh around it that looked wet and slimy.
Carlos returned to the scene shortly after that. He had a belcher with him-lord only knew where hed gotten it. Before I could say anything, he charged up to the tank and blasted the squid in the face with the weapon.