Chapter 19 Alive #2
“I’ll be okay. I’m going to be helping those people. And we need to see the enemy we face,” Jace told him, surprised how certain those words came out as if he had been training to fight all his life.
You have been, Jace, Gehenna told him.
He embraced his parents one last time before turning to the counter where a rahir, a draagves, a laser pistol, several mines, forcefield chips to augment the suit’s defenses, and something that looked rather like a thumb drive that could be inserted into the Khul’s ship to end the suffering of all those inside.
There was no slot. It was smooth all around and simply bringing it into the ship and pressing on the outer casing would unleash destruction.
It had been Gehenna’s contribution though she was going with them.
But just in case something untoward happened to her body, they would have the thumb drive to upload a virus that would, supposedly, be able to take down even a Hive’s defenses.
He easily slotted each piece of equipment in his suit, slung the rahir and draagves over his back, slid the pistol into a side holster, before he finally took the drive and put it in a pocket over his heart.
“Ready to go?” Jace asked Khoth, knowing the Thaf’ell Commander was.
Khoth gave a brief nod. Jace gave a brief look at each person. His parents gave him watery smiles as they laced their hands together. Thammah saluted him in a rather ironic, loose manner which he doubted was Thaf’ell, but more Top Gun. The general stepped up to him.
“You’re doing a service to those people inside the ship, Jace,” General Intoshkin said with a kindness that Jace was surprised by.
“I’ve been in combat. And I’ve also sent soldiers into combat.
I will honestly say that it's much harder to do the latter. What you will do… you’ll be ending suffering. ”
Jace couldn’t quite believe that he would be killing people in less than 30 minutes. He couldn’t quite get his head around it. Even as Gehenna told him over and over again that, truly, all he was doing was saving them from intense pain. It didn’t seem real. Maybe it would when he was there.
That’s why I have to see this. So what happened to them doesn’t happen to anyone else. That I’ll be able to make the hard decisions ahead, because I’ve seen what awaits anyone the Khul capture, Jace told himself.
But still he couldn’t quite believe it.
He simply nodded to the general and strode over to Khoth, Gehenna and Thammah.
“You sure you don’t want to join us, Thammah?” Jace asked.
“Go into a Khul ship or stay here and check out the Krytoria 2? Hmmm, let me think.” She tapped her right temple.
“Okay, okay! Just don’t snoop around too much. The Osiris is willing to let us see some of its secrets, but not all,” Jace reminded her. The Osiris had actually offered this after releasing the weapons and armor to them. “Enjoy yourself. But not too much.”
“Oh, yes, I do all things in moderation,” Thammah assured him.
“The Slim Jims would suggest otherwise,” Khoth replied dryly.
A soldier, whose name was William Farmer, stepped up and gave a real salute, though none of them was officially in the US military.
“I’ll be the one driving you to the ships,” he said.
“Thank you. Lead the way,” Jace said.
Immediately, Gehenna listed off all the young man’s accomplishments.
She also gave him a rundown of his family.
Mother was a school teacher--fifth grade--and his father had worked as a truck driver.
She even offered him William’s medical history, his parents’ medical history, his grandparents’ medical history and. ..
Gehenna, do we really need to know this all about poor William?
He’s just driving us about three miles, Jace told her as they followed William out of the Armory, though some hallways and out of the Osiris itself.
Every step he took, he felt the distance from who he had been and who he would be. It feels a little… invasive.
But he could have a myriad of medical problems that could impact his ability to drive us safely! she informed him.
If that happens you can take over the driving for him, Jace suggested.
Gehenna brought two of her tentacles together as if rubbing her hands together once more. Really? You’d let me drive?
I’ll make a deal with you, if dear William keels over from some medical malady--or Hell, for any reason whatsoever--I give you permission to drive, Jace told her. You can crawl right over William’s prone body and grab that wheel!
Oh, Jace, you’re so silly! Gehenna laughed. I wouldn’t have to physically use the steering wheel, brake and gas pedals, I’ll just have the Jeep’s computer!
Jace’s lips twitched. Okay, right, sure.
Gehenna hummed happily as they rode up in the elevator. They were at the top in seemingly no time. As they stepped out of the elevator, Jace turned to Khoth who had been holding himself very stiffly. Jace didn’t get the sense that Khoth was tense, more that he was preparing himself.
“This ride took more time when we were going down,” Jace said to him.
“You were dying. Everything felt like forever,” Khoth answered.
He’s right. You actually did die for five minutes--
I don’t need to know, Gehenna! Jace interrupted her. My mom was right. I really will have to freak out at some point.
“Have you ever done this before, Khoth?” Jace asked.
“Only… once,” Khoth answered.
His sister, Gehenna filled in.
Oh, man, maybe I shouldn’t ask him then--
But Khoth continued on, “When people are taken by the Khul, we do not attempt to rescue them.”
“They’re already infected and they can pass that onto others?” Jace recalled.
“Yes, and there is no way to cure them. For a long time, we attempted to find a way to stop or reverse the process,” Khoth told him. “But that only ended up infecting whole cities, sometimes whole planets.”
“Oh, my God,” Jace breathed.
Their conversation was interrupted as William took them, not back the way they’d come to the medical facility, but instead down several corridors that lead to a set of doors.
The doors took them out onto a tarmac where a Jeep waited.
There were two other soldiers waiting by the Jeep.
They again saluted. Khoth ignored it while Jace waved awkwardly.
William slipped into the driver’s seat while Gehenna somehow folded herself into the front passenger seat.
William gave a look of horror, but then he rigidly looked forward and pretended there wasn’t a 10-foot tall metal squid beside him.
Jace didn’t have the heart to tell her that she was scaring William even as she tried to communicate with him.
William was sweating heavily and gripping the steering wheel with white-knuckled fingers.
As the Jeep pulled away from base, Jace looked back towards it.
The base looked so unremarkable. A dusty, dry place in the middle of the desert.
Aircraft hangers that looked rusted and old, battered by the elements.
Undistinguished low off-white buildings that looked to have been built in the 1970s dotted the flat plain.
Nothing about this place indicated the wonders of the Osiris below.
Khoth surprised him by filling the silence, continuing his experiences with the infected.
“We never were able to do anything for the infected and the cost to even try…” Khoth shook his head and the beads clacked in his hair.
“So what did you do? What do you do?” Jace asked.
“We destroy the ships. We do not normally go inside. The risk is… high. But we should be fine,” Khoth said.
“Why?” Jace asked, wondering if he should have asked this before agreeing to go inside of the Khul ship.
“The infections are only in the beginning phases at this stage. When they remove them from these vessels to the Hives and place them into the tanks to soften their skin is when the infection truly takes hold,” Khoth explained.
“Their skin rips at the slightest touch which releases the larvae… I think you can imagine the rest.”
“Uh, yeah… definitely. Not touching anything inside the ship,” Jace said, swallowing a bitter bile that rose up in his throat.
The Hive is the mothership. It is circling Earth right now, Gehenna explained and showed him the image of a vessel that looked like a wasp’s nest.
Jace’s stomach roiled somemore. He saw William’s shoulders tense as well. William was listening intently, but Jace didn’t blame him. He was amazed at how professional the soldiers had been. Aliens. Space craft. Giant metal squids. And whatever he would be considered in the soldier’s eyes.
“Why haven’t the ships returned to the Hive?” Jace asked. “Or do they need pilots?”
He had killed all the pilots and he felt even better about that then he had.
“No, they should return to the Hive once full or when an order is given by the Hive,” Khoth stated.
Gehenna was the one that answered, The Osiris puts out a field that interferes with Khul’s vessels.
“We believe the Osiris--”
“Is keeping them here,” Jace filled in. “Okay, makes sense. Oh, man…”
“What?” Khoth asked.
Jace had caught sight of where they were.
Just a few blocks away from the Con-Ve. His stomach clenched as he saw the empty streets and signs of the former firefights.
He could see the needle-shaped ship that he had passed along with Sami and George.
He wondered if they were okay. Were they back home or had the Army kept them on base to interrogate them and make sure they wouldn’t tell anyone the truth of what had happened?
“I was just here this morning,” Jace said softly. “And everything is changed. Including me.”
Khoth surprised him by reaching over and touching the back of his right hand.
Even with the armored gloves on he could feel that touch.
Gehenna had twisted around in her seat and was looking down at their hands.
Jace felt so grateful for that touch. He looked over at the Thaf’ell Commander, but the moment he did, Khoth removed his hand and was staring out the window as if that momentary touch hadn’t happened.
The Jeep’s brakes squealed as if in reluctance to stop this close to the still-smoking Khul ship. The gangway remained down. The inside was filled with a velvety blackness. What was inside there? What would he say? Were people in agony in there? Was he really going to kill them?
“We should have our helmets up and shields engaged,” Khoth said after silence fell again. “Also, you should have a weapon handy. The pistol or rahir would be best in such close quarters if there are any Khul inside.”
Jace’s mouth was dry. He just nodded. Then the three of them exited the vehicle.
“Stay here, William,” Jace instructed.
William nodded jerkily. He definitely wasn’t leaving the Jeep.
Jace wouldn’t have been surprised if he took off back to the base or simply kept driving until he’d put thousands of miles between himself and the Khul ships.
Looking at the long, narrow, matte black ships, Jace wanted to do the same. But instead they were going in.
He merely had to think about the helmet closing over his head and it did it while Khoth had to touch a part of his suit right over his heart to cause the helmet to come up.
Khoth unsheathed his rahir while Jace took out his pistol.
His hand was much more steady around it this time around.
Gehenna twisted to the right and left, her tentacles swaying nervously.
I should go first, Gehenna stated. I will be able to sense any life signs once we’re inside.
You can’t sense them from here? Jace asked.
There is some… interference, she answered uncertainly.
That worried Jace a bit. But it wouldn’t stop him from going inside.
After hearing what Khoth said, he didn’t want the poor people inside to suffer any longer than they had to.
So the three of them approached the gangway.
Gehenna glided ahead of them up the metal grating.
She disappeared inside the gloom. He could just barely see the lights in her squid head.
Gehenna? Jace asked, nervous the moment she was inside that ship, and tempted to call her back. There was a little of that electronic fuzzing for a moment which caused him to jerk upright. Gehenna?!
I’m here, her voice flickered in and out. No Khul. Just… people.
“Was it it?” Khoth asked, putting a hand in front of Jace.
Jace hadn’t realized he had taken two steps up the gangway. “There’s interference. And I… I’m having tinnitus again.” The high whine of the drill was in his ears. The terror he was backsliding though was more easily pushed aside than easier. “I think it's the Khul ship.”
“Should we abort?” Khoth asked. “Should you remain outside?”
“It’ll never be completely safe,” Jace said after a long moment considering this. “I need to go inside. I need to see.”
Khoth nodded.
You can come in, Gehenna sounded so sad. I think you should.
“Gehenna says it’s clear,” Jace told him.
The two of them then strode up the gangway and stepped into the gloom of the Khul ship. For a moment, the whine in Jace’s head became deafening and he saw auras even in the dark. A headache spiked through him and he nearly went down, but Khoth grabbed his arm.
“Jace?” Khoth’s voice was threaded with alarm.
“I--I--I’m okay. It’s just. I don’t know. It’s gone now. Passing,” Jace said as he managed to keep his feet.
Cold sweat coated his face. Something wasn’t right. But what was it?
This whole place isn’t right.
Even with his helmet up and purified air rushing into his suit, Jace still smelled--or imagined he smelled--the sharp, metallic bite of blood and pain.
Lights on either side of their helmets switched on automatically, even as Jace was suddenly aware that he had some kind of heat-sight as well that was not part of the suit, but part of him.
But his eyes were fixed on the pods that lined the walls of the Khul ship.
Only a few dozen of the hundreds were filled.
Jace recognized the Naruto-runners from earlier that day.
Their eyes were open. Their mouths parted in agony.
He saw dark shapes move underneath their skin.
He only got out, “They’re alive. They’re really alive.”
Before the light from the ship’s doorway was cut off as the door slid shut. Then the Khul ship’s engines rumbled to life.