14. All Hail Another Queen
Chapter 14
All Hail Another Queen
Bellator
“ A nother egg! Where?” Bellator asked the scout which was one of his legionnaire betas.
“In the valley, near the river bank. An omega saw something odd sticking up from the mud,” Militus reported.
“Did you get the queen out?” Artifex anxiously asked.
“No.” Militus shook his head. “The omegas were still unearthing it when I left, but it appeared to be intact.”
Worry was etched on everyone’s face. It had been a full rotation since the meteor shower, and if this queen was injured like Isa had been, that didn’t bode well for the female.
“Go! I will take our queen back to the hive.” Phara reached for Isa.
“No. I’m going to help,” Queen Isa insisted as Bellator started to hand her over. “You guys will be strangers and alien to her. If this woman is awake, I bet she’s already freaking out. Seeing you might make her have a heart attack. Remember, we thought this planet was uninhabited.”
Bellator looked at his fellow alphas. They worried about their queen’s safety but she was right. This new queen was from her hive, from a planet far away. If she was injured, Isa would know best how to help and keep her calm until they could get the female back to the hive for treatment. Artifex and Phara nodded, coming to the same unspoken conclusion.
“Let’s go for a ride. Same as before, hold on tight,” Bellator instructed their queen as he set her down and swiftly fluxed into his fero form.
“Got it.” Isa leapt onto his back. Instead of holding onto his scruff, she wrapped her arms around his neck as she leaned completely forward, her knees squeezing his flanks.
“Good. Militus, lead the way,” Bellator relayed with an added yip for urgency.
Militus shifted into his four-legged form and they all continued down the path. Bellator was slow at first, worried about Isa, but quickly found he could go faster. It helped that Phara and Artifex ran by his side, in case their queen slipped. With another queen’s life on the line, this wasn’t as fun as the earlier trot through the woods, but he would definitely see if Isa wanted to go for runs in the future.
“Oh, wow,” Queen Isa gasped when they broke through the treelined path.
Bellator slowed, worried she was slipping, though it didn’t feel like it.
“That bridge is huge,” she added with awe in her voice.
Bellator sighed and continued running, glad nothing was wrong; she was simply impressed by the sight. The stone arch spanning over the waterfall tumbling down the mountainside was picturesque. The mist from the churning water, along with the sun striking the glossy stone added to its beauty. As urgent as the situation was, his heart swelled, happy he could experience this with his queen. That was one of the joys he was discovering, seeing things all over again through Isa’s perspective.
“How common are these bridges, buildings like the hive, and the farming terraces on your planet?” Isa asked as they crossed the bridge, her voice suddenly somber.
Bellator’s brow furrowed at her change of tone. She was curious, but also worried. It was unfortunate this emergency had ruined her first tour of her new world.
“Somewhat common, though construction materials and methods are different in different territories,” Artifex replied.
“Hmm.” Isa nodded.
After that, their queen was grimly quiet, and so was everyone else in the group as they followed Militus. They were all worried about the new queen. The legionnaire beta exited the main path taking the route leading into the valley. When they finally reached the bottom of the mountain path, Bellator spotted the omegas pulling the egg out of a muddy hole just up the riverbank.
“We got lucky it didn’t take out this bridge,” Artifex declared as they hustled across the bridge spanning the river.
From the skid mark crossing the river, if the egg landed any farther downstream it would’ve struck the bridge. That would’ve been very bad for the poor queen inside.
“Truth,” Bellator agreed as he went off the main path and headed up the riverbank.
The Vorto surrounding the egg parted for him and the other alphas.
“It started beeping as we got it out of the muddy hole,” one of the omegas reported.
Bellator frowned. He was no expert but this egg looked skinnier and longer than the one Queen Isa had been in. Something didn’t feel right.
Isabella
“That’s not a stasis pod!” Isa stared in horror at the missile.
The strange sinking suspicion she had since seeing the farming terraces and bridges coalesced in her brain. Anger and shame instantly flooded her, bile rising in her throat. There was no way the probes her people sent scoured the planet and concluded it was unoccupied. The Unified Federation knew Tellus was inhabited by a sentient race.
That’s why they needed me, a specialist in cultures. Her breath heaved out faster, the conversation with Audre on the tarmac coming back to her. The government needed people skilled enough to repurpose what was here after they killed off the native inhabitants. Why stop at stealing a planet when you can steal its cities and infrastructure, too?! Bastards! she angrily cursed her people.
The beeping on the missile tugged her out of the downward spiral.
“Oh god!” She scrambled off Bellator’s back. “Don’t touch anything! Get back!” she screamed as she ran toward the missile.
“My queen, what is wrong?” Bellator followed her along with Phara and Artifex.
She ignored them as she panned the missile then ran to the other side. There it was, the display with the blinking countdown.
“Oh god. Fifty-four minutes,” she murmured. The omegas must’ve hit something to trigger the countdown when they were unearthing it. “It’s counting down. We don’t have long.”
“We will find a way to get the queen out.” Phara wrapped an arm around her.
Her eyes widened at his response. “There’s no queen in here. It’s a weapon. It explodes,” she informed him while studying the display.
“Explode?!” Phara barked, instantly tugging her off her feet and leaping backward.
“Take her and go!” Bellator roared.
“No!” Isa shouted before Phara could take off running with her dangling in his arms.
“We have to get you to safety,” Artifex insisted.
“We have some time before it goes off,” she countered.
“My queen, we cannot lose you,” Phara implored, desperation swimming in his eyes.
“I know, but please let me try.” She had no clue about missiles and was still reeling from its mere presence here, but she was going to do her damnedest.
Phara hesitantly walked back to the missile, despite Bellator’s objectionable growl, and reluctantly set her on her feet. Again, she looked at the display panel with the very disturbing countdown. Was it simply a display?
Please God, she sent up a prayer as she reached out and touched the lower left corner, the way she would’ve engaged the touchscreen on her PA at home. Isa nearly had a heart attack when the countdown disappeared.
“Did you fix it?” Bellator asked over her right shoulder.
“No. It’s still beeping.” As she was shaking her head no, the symbol requesting a fingerprint appeared. “But it didn’t blow up.” She grimaced at him.
The big teddy bear did not smile back at her. He was not amused. She couldn’t blame him. Isa turned back to the display screen and pressed her index finger to the symbol.
“Isabella Marie Laurent, one hundred and thirty-fourth crewman of the United Federation vessel Manifest, what are your instructions?” the computer droned.
Isa let out the breath she was holding, her shoulders slumping in relief.
“It’s making the same twitters as our queen,” Artifex commented as he watched over her left shoulder.
“But I don’t understand any of it.” Phara shook his head, also hovering nearby, making her beyond nervous.
“Shh please. It’s asking me what to do.” She waved at them to hush.
“I did not understand. Please repeat your instructions,” the computer stated, responding to the wrong conversation.
“Halt launch,” she quickly said.
“Unable to comply.”
“Stop the countdown,” she tried.
“Unable to comply.”
“Why?” she demanded.
“You are not authorized to halt the sequence,” the computer informed her with its disturbingly pleasant voice, considering the dire circumstances.
“Well, what the fuck can I do?” Isa tossed her hands up in frustration. Why the hell was she even programmed into the damn thing?
“In an emergency, you are authorized to delay the sequence,” the computer stated.
Two buttons appeared on the missile display; delay and resume. Swiftly she hit ‘delay countdown.’
“Initiating an emergency delay,” the computer declared, as Isa stared hopefully at it. The countdown flickered. “One hour until detonation.” The large numbers reappeared on display.
They’d gained a whopping ten minutes. What the hell good was that going to do them?
“Fuck!” she screamed, then her head dropped forward and her shoulders slumped.
“You tried. Please let us take you back to the hive,” Phara urged.
“I only delayed it,” she explained.
“It is more time to get you to safety.” Artifex tried to put a positive spin on her inability to help.
“We probably wouldn’t make it back to the hive in that time,” she informed the alphas, since they had no clue how short an hour was.
Phara paled, Bellator clenched his jaw, and Artifex rubbed a worried hand over his face.
Isa studied the missile, desperate for a solution. She didn’t have all the hazard symbols memorized but she knew the red concentric circles painted on the side of the weapon meant it was nasty. Then something Reina said before they boarded the Manifest flashed like a beacon in her mind.
Chemical weapon! Reina was accused of stealing awful chemicals from Intech even though she was a programmer. Intech was one of those technology companies the government used, known for their less than ethical business practices. Whether Reina realized it or not, she probably saw something about the poison while at work and the government sent her to Tellus to get rid of her.
Even if this wasn’t related to what Reina said, the missile had to be some sort of chemical agent. The hazard symbol wasn’t the radiation or explosive symbol. As stupid as she believed her people were, it didn’t make sense to blow up or irradiate their future home. Chemical or viral weapons could be targeted to just kill the Vorto and not ruin the environment.
“The Blight!” Isa gasped as something else occurred to her. If her people were trying to kill the Vorto now, maybe they’d done it before. Maybe the probes that found this planet weren't just probes. “Oh god!”
Artifex
Artifex couldn’t fathom what sort of weapon had the destructive power to reach all the way back to the hive. The Vorto possessed no such thing, blades, bows, and javelins, yes, but nothing that could level a mountain. And yet, there was something familiar about the weapon. He just couldn’t place it. His brow furrowed as he stared at the terrible object.
Queen Isa’s declaration instantly jogged his memory.
The Blight! That was it!
“I thought I recognized this weapon from somewhere.” Artifex pointed accusingly at the elongated cylinder. “In the archives about the Blight, there are images of things like this. They showed up at the same time as the horrible plague.”
Isa looked at him with horror and he stopped explaining. She leapt to her feet and ran, pushing through the omegas. The instant she cleared everyone, she bent and started gagging, spewing fluid on the ground.
“My queen!” he raced to her side, and was swiftly joined by the others.
“They really did it!” Isa choked, dispelling more fluid, while rain fell from her eyes.
Horror filled Artifex at how sick she was, and he wrapped an arm around her. It was true! This terrible weapon carried the Blight, and their queen was getting ill already.
“Please Inana ,” he begged, his world folding in on him.
“What is happening?” Bellator demanded, confusion and devastation etched on his face.
“Why is Queen Isa ill?” Fear swam in Phara’s eyes.
“The weapon gave her the Blight.” Artifex’s mind stuttered as he conveyed the terrible news.
“No!” Phara dropped to his knees.
Seeing his brethren collapse hurt nearly as much as seeing their queen getting sick.
“What?!” Isa looked up at them. “No! I don’t have the Blight.” She used the back of her hand to wipe her mouth.
“You said Blight, and I thought…” Artifex grimaced, hating he’d jumped to conclusions.
“I put off the detonation, so it’s not spreading anything yet. But I do think the missile is carrying the Blight. I got sick because I can’t believe my people would do this, and I don’t know how to permanently stop it.” More rain fell from her eyes as she angrily shook her head.
Artifex pulled their queen into his arms. Phara stood and joined them, along with Bellator.
“They murdered your people and I think they’re trying to finish the job,” Isa sobbed as they hugged her. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.”
The way his queen trembled in his arms, murmuring how sorry she was gutted him. She was not at fault for this, her hive was. Except there wasn’t time for anger at her hive. They needed to find a way to stop this weapon or lose everything.
“The ignivo !” The thought burst forth in Artifex’s mind.
The stories passed down over the generations said that the Tumulus Hive gained status during the Blight because their territory held the means of destroying anything. The archives supported the tales. He’d even visited the ignivo more than once. It could take care of this weapon.
“Except, it takes a rotation just to fly there, and Isa said we won’t even make it back to the hive before the weapon erupts,” Bellator reminded him with a grimace, and Artifex’s hopes instantly sank.
“What are you talking about?” Queen Isa looked up at them.
“The ignivo . We were told that is where these Blight weapons were disposed of. But we’d never make it there in time,” Artifex explained. “The same as generations ago,” he added with a morose sigh.
The queen’s eyes widened. “Not if I am able to keep resetting the timer.” She anxiously bit her lip.
Hope surged in Artifex at the brilliant idea.
“Do you think you can do that?” Phara asked, his expression equally hopeful.
“I can try. I think it’s our only option.” She smiled tentatively at them.
“Then we must make haste!” Artifex declared and Bellator nodded.
Phara
I don’t like this! Phara reluctantly lifted their queen over the basket wall into the produce carrier.
Isa crawled across the large basket meant for hauling grain and vegetables from their growing fields to the hive. He cringed as she sat next to the weapon that was strapped down, hating that she’d be riding the whole trip with the blasted thing.
They’d settled on this method since they needed to fly to the ignivo to get there in a decent amount of time. The produce carrier was large enough to hold the weapon and was conveniently stored nearby at the terraces rather than all the way back at the hive. They could’ve fused together to make one larger screo to carry the missile, but then their queen couldn’t easily access the weapon every span. Also, carrying their queen in their talons was not an ideal way to travel. That left them riding in a basket with his queen sitting next to the cursed weapon. It was far from perfect, but nothing about this horrible situation was.
“Are we ready?” Queen Isa asked as Phara dropped some rope and other supplies into the basket.
“Yes.” He nodded then climbed in since he was taking the first shift sitting with their queen.
She grew quiet again, her gaze glued to the changing display, the way it had been for the last span. She was watching for the weapon display to reach a particular symbol then she’d reset it. That moment was drawing near again. Ideally, they’d already be in the air, but they’d eaten up time making plans and fetching the carrier. He understood the logic yet still he was anxious to get going, like everyone here.
He’d been trying to not abhor Queen Isa’s former hive because they had created the queen he treasured. This new revelation about the Blight had him seeing red. He didn’t want to believe people he never met from worlds away would do the Vorto harm. It was unfathomable. Except, the proof was right in front of him.
A dozen Vorto fluxed, changing into their screo form. They grabbed the ropes connected to the carrier with their talons and lifted off. He sat behind Queen Isa, in case anything happened with the basket. They had more Vorto carrying ropes than was necessary as a failsafe. Also, worst case scenario, he could change into his screo form and grip Isa with his talons. He’d gouge her arms with his claws, but she wouldn’t be mortally wounded from a fall. Thankfully they were flying just over the river for much of their journey east along the valley, which would be a softer emergency landing than the hard ground.
Queen Isa’s hand tightened on his knee as the Vorto took off.
“How are you doing?” He squeezed her hand.
Isa ignored him, and his stomach sank. Discovering how cruel her former hive was had deeply affected their queen. He understood, yet it hurt that she was shutting him out. But then she reached over and started tapping on the symbol display of the weapon. The weapon twittered and the display flickered as Isa went through the routine to reset it. He instantly felt like a fool for thinking she was ignoring him. Obviously, everyone was on edge.
“Oh, thank god.” Isa sank back against him. “I was a little worried it might not let me do it again.” She frowned.
“That would be a problem.” He grimaced as he wrapped his arms around her.
“I should have mentioned that. I’m so very sorry.” Queen Isa looked mournfully up at him.
“My precious queen, we don’t blame you for what your hive did.” His arms tightened around her.
“Really, because I blame me. I didn’t know that my people planned this and yet I feel utterly to blame. It was so obvious. Why would they need to send a specialist in cultures to a planet without people? Because there are people! Duh.” She smacked her forehead.
“Hey, no!” Horrified, Phara grabbed her hands to stop her from hitting herself.
“We killed your people. We’re trying to steal your world. I know how cruel my people can be. I should’ve warned you sooner.” She sucked in a gasping breath. “Oh god! What if there are more of these weapons?” Isa pulled her hands away from him and covered her mouth.
As she tugged in several gasping breaths, he was sure she’d be sick again.
“Isa, please. We sent additional runners to the other hives so they can look for these weapons.” Phara tried rubbing her back to soothe her.
“But I won’t be there to stop the countdown,” she sobbed.
His queen was spiraling and he wasn’t sure how to help. This situation was terrifying. Then again, he’d always lived in a world on the verge of collapse, so he wasn’t panicking.
“Isa, we can only do what is within our power here and now.” Phara caressed her cheek. “And what I want is to enjoy our time together, whether it’s a single rotation or another fifty orbits.”
“How can you not hate me?” She hid her face against his chest.
“Because you brightened my world from the moment you entered it.” He kissed the top of her head and held her close.