Chapter 9
- Krix’vorr -
I can’t be sure that the translation is correct. Surely that little alien female didn’t just tell me ‘no’?
“Repeat the question,” I order the flying machine. “And take great care when you translate the answer.”
But the result is the same. She speaks only one alien sound, and there’s a finality to it that even I can hear.
I’m more puzzled than furious. Nobody ever says ‘no’ to me. This is the first time I can remember. And it’s not even another Harrower, but an alien, possibly from a harvestable world!
“Are you sure she understood the question?” I demand.
“She understood,” the machine says in a passable imitation of our beautiful language. “She refuses to comply.”
For a moment I can’t think straight. She is actually refusing, and I have no reference points for it except murder. I would immediately snap the head off any underling who refused my order, and rightly so. Neither the Brood nor the Swarm can tolerate any insubordination.
But Nora - such a strange name - is not of my Brood. I have to process this.
I take hold of her thin wrist. “Come along. Machine, you may follow. But any more shenanigans from you and I’ll toss you into space myself.”
“Understood,” the flying disk says as I drag Nora out towards my resting chamber.
The Beast makes the way short, opening membranes in walls and generally being helpful. She must realize that her attempt to kill the alien was not to my liking.
The alien offers token resistance, but she is still weak after the short visit in open space.
In my chamber I sit her down on my resting platform.
“Machine, translate: You are not to leave this room. If you do, the Beast will try to kill you again. There are many dangerous places on this ship. If you have needs, tell the guard outside and he will alert me. You will be safe in here, but in no other place.”
Nora makes a movement with her head.
“That means 'yes',” the machine says.
I stare down at the female, and she looks innocently away. “Perhaps. I wonder if this female is in fact a chaos agent. She’s constantly looking for exits and weaknesses. All the way here. Machine, I hold you responsible for her actions.”
“Also understood,” the machine says. “Chief Harrower, may I ask–”
“You may not,” I cut the machine off. “All questions are to be asked by me. Now she may rest. Sris, how do you evaluate her state? Is she in need of additional healing?”
“Her state is recovered, sir,” Sris says. “She’s no worse than at the moment when she escaped.”
“Hmm,” I growl, somewhat disappointed. “Come with me.” I turn and leave the room. I doubt the Beast will let the alien out, but a living ship has a mind of its own and it’s clear it wants Nora dead.
“That female doesn’t act like prey,” I observe to Sris as I stride through the ship. “She acts like an equal. And yet I see no obvious sign that she is from a Harvesting species. If anything, she looks made to be Harvested, with no shields or armor on her. She’s almost deliberately undefended.”
“Her actions in the minefield indicate an aggressive and war-like species,” Sris replies, hurrying to keep up with me. “That doesn’t have to mean that they are Harvesting. They may be prey that fights other prey. Such things are known. Sir, I am worried about your state.”
I slow down to look behind me. “What? My state?”
“Your carapace produced lightning, Sir. It wasn’t static electricity. It was lightning. Coming from you.”
“Nonsense,” I scoff. “I’ve never shot lightning before. Nor have I seen anyone do it.”
“Neither have I. May I experiment with it? Try to make it appear again?”
“You may absolutely not. It was simply powerful static electricity.”
Sris quickly taps along behind me. “With respect, sir, you shot lightning around your chest. There was even a sound. And it happened when you were close to the alien. Very close.”
“There shall be no experimentation.” A membrane opens in front of me and I step into the command center. All the crewmembers straighten to attention. Some are servant species, some are Thyrr like me, all from my Brood. “Signals chief!”
“Sir!” A crewmember bows with both hands on his chest. “How may I obey?”
“You will send a secret signal to certain Brood-mates. Pay attention.” I tell him which ones and the approximate area where they may be found. “A secret signal, only to those allies and underlings. Here is the signal you shall send:
All hail our Queen!
In the name of Queen Szum-zic, I command these questions answered with all speed.
First, have you witnessed or heard of anyone from any Swarm or Brood who have found or captured an alien species with no carapace, with hair on the head but no antennae, small and soft-looking, two legs and two arms?
Second, have you seen or heard of exotic crash debris?
Third, have you seen or heard of unusually energetic or disobedient captives or rescues?
Keep this message a complete secret! For the Glory of Queen Szum-zic and her Brood!
So ordered by
Chief Harrower Krix’vorr.
Got it?”
“Yes, Chief Harrower,” the signals chief says and hurries to his communications wall.
The crew do their best to look busy. We all know that the Beast mostly flies herself. She may be the best tamed ship in our whole Brood, and yet it can be useful to have a crew.
I sit down on my Chief’s seat and let out a breath as it adjusts to make me comfortable, slowly pulsating in the way the Beast knows I like. “It pains me to keep secrets like this. But nobody may know.”
Sris climbs up and grabs onto my upper arm. “This secret won’t keep for long, sir. But if others like her have been found, it would make your discovery much less valuable and it would turn this all into a race.”
“We can handle a race to find that planet,” I ponder. “But not if we start from far behind.” I think of the alien, her big, dark eyes, her round face. “She almost escaped. She almost killed herself. She acts nothing like prey. Does she perhaps realize what I intend to do with her planet?”
“Perhaps,” Sris says. “Perhaps she has enough Brood-spirit to want to kill herself instead of risking you finding her Brood and Nest.”
“Or perhaps it was an escape attempt,” I counter. “Yes, I think that was it. She was genuinely surprised to find herself in space. That was the Beast’s doing, not hers.”
I put one leg up on a cushion that grows up from the floor for that purpose. “She acted after capture. She acted with great spirit. And I can’t ignore the way she dealt with that minefield. With both bravery and skill. She almost got through it! She’s a dangerous one, that alien.”
“That dangerous alien is now in your personal chamber,” Sris reminds me. “Shall I have her put in a holding chamber instead?”
I raise one hand. “No, no. She’s safe where she is.”
“I was thinking of the safety of our ship and our Brood,” Sris says with some coolness. “Not of the safety of an alien captive.”
“Captive or guest,” I drawl. “It depends on how useful she is. You! Navigation chief! Bring a map.”
“Yes, sir!” The underling scurries to obey and brings me a big star chart, much more detailed than the one I showed to Nora. The creature writhes in its bowl and then settles into stars and space lanes and imperial frontiers and other useful markers.
“We are here,” I ponder, pointing with one finger.
“Still near the minefield. The alien did mention others, likely earlier scouts. I want us to complete a patrol of the whole outside of the minefield. We shall look for other small ships. Perhaps we may invite more of Nora’s kind.
Or capture them. Before anyone else can. ”
“So we shall delay the reports of your discovery even further?” Sris asks.
“It will mean some delay,” I concede. “But it would be embarrassing to go to the Royal Nest and then find that someone else has already found the same type of alien and perhaps even its planet. No, it would be more than embarrassing. It would be destructive! My whole career at stake. We will do this right. The Queen will understand.”
“I would submit that deep understanding for errant males, Chief Harrowers or not, is not our beloved Queen Szum-zic’s strongest quality,” Sris points out.
“Ah, but I’m not errant,” I explain, both to Sris and to myself. “I am being prudent and serving our Queen and her Brood as best I can. If we do find another, we shall make all haste to the Nest and present our discovery. Including the location of the rich world that Nora certainly comes from.”
“You could find out now,” Sris persists and holds up both claws. “And I mean now, within the next smallcycle.” She quickly opens and closes the claws with metallic snicks. “That lack of shields does render the alien immensely vulnerable.”
For some reason I feel an immediate anger at the suggestion of torturing Nora. “Sris, your point is taken. Now be quiet, or I shall suspect you of being in the service of another Brood!”
Sris quickly climbs down from me. “I’m only in service to you, Chief Harrower,” she insists. “It is my task to serve you in serving our Queen. But these things must be pointed out.”
I lean back in the seat. What might she be doing right now in that chamber?
Possibly she’s lying down, resting after a challenging time.
Because being ejected into space must be challenging for a completely shield-less species.
She must have been close to death for the second time in just a cycle or so.
To be so fragile! To only barely survive a short-smallcycle outside in space!
“Perhaps I should check on her,” I mutter. “Perhaps she needs more healing after all. Perhaps she’s dying right now.”
No, the Beast would alert me if that were the case.
I frown. Would she? Or would she simply kill Nora again?
She has a history of intensely disliking female crewmembers that I tried to bring aboard, so that I have to only hire males or neuters, or in some cases females like Sris, who are completely different.
And even then, I know that the mood between Sris and the Beast is tense.
But still, the strength in her! Saying ‘no’ to me, a Chief Harrower! “Certainly she could have no idea what she was doing,” I muse. “She was simply groggy and confused after the spacewalk.”
But what if she wasn’t? What if she meant it, fully aware of my rank?
What if she defied me on purpose?
The idea is impossible. But for some inexplicable reason, my crotch starts to swell, to the point that the shield bulges out.
I stare down in disbelief. How is she having this effect on me? From the other side of the ship?
“Sir!” the Signals Chief calls as he comes running towards me. Still moving, he goes down on his knees to make sure his antennae are lower than mine, even when I’m sitting down. “There’s a message!”
“A reply from another Harrower?” I ask. “A reply to my query?”
“Regrettably!” the Signals Chief squeaks. “It is not that! It is a message from the Queen’s Nest, Chief Harrower!” He holds out a message tablet, keeping his head down.
I reach out and take it. Millions of tiny, orange creatures on the surface of the tablet can make out a message that can be read, governed by the Brood’s vibration signal that can carry through space.
The crewmember scurries away.
“A message from the Queen,” I mutter. “The timing of it all!”
“I don’t like it,” Sris says. “It comes right after your secret messages. I hope she hasn’t figured things out.”
“Well, let’s get clarity.” I touch the tablet to one antenna, making it vibrate in the way that tells the tablet that I am indeed Chief Harrower Krix’vorr.
The myriad of small creatures organize themselves into readable signs.
My dear Krix!
My Brood and Swarm is getting hungry. Even now I feel it in my very eggcenter.
The Harvesting will soon be upon us. As Chief Harrower, you are expected to suggest suitable targets that are ripe for the Harvest by the Swarm.
You are to return to the Nest and beg for an audience with Me, that I may plan the Harvest for My Brood.
Now, Krix. I will allow no tarrying. My expectations of you are high after your promotion. Prove to me that I wasn’t wrong.
Szum-zic Queen
“Wither!” I curse. “Of all the times…”
“Harvesting soon, sir?” Sris asks. “It’s about that time.”
“The Queen commands my presence,” I growl. “Threatening death if I don’t deliver something good to be Harvested.”
“She says that?” Sris asks, incredulous. “Death?”
“Read for yourself,” I tell her and show the tablet.
“Oh dear,” the servant crab says. “That’s worse than I thought. Prove to me that I wasn’t wrong… these are strong words for our beloved Queen Szum-zic! They imply not just death, but painful, drawn-out death. She must have written this in a fury.”
I groan. “Our beloved Queen is often furious. And that’s when she tends to send missives like this one.”
I’ve seen enough of the Queens executions of Harrowers who have not performed to find the idea unpleasant. They are slow, ritualized deaths where each limb is slowly gnawed off, the carapace ripped from the body, the antennae cut…
“And now, before we can confirm the presence or location of Nora’s world!”
“You still have other targets,” Sris says. “The moon we found with a Crut colony. Several space stations.”
“Small fry!” I seethe. “She needs a planet! A full, rich planet our Brood can truly Devour. She won’t make me a Royal Mate because of a space station!”
“Chief Harrower!” the Signals Chief calls again. “A message!”
“More messages?” I bellow, making everyone in the command room flinch. “That’s all I need now. Yes! Bring it!”
The underling comes crawling on the ground, holding another tablet in the air over him. “From Harrower Buc’Xsit!”
“Ah. Read it.” I touch one antenna to the tablet.
“Yes, Chief Harrower!” The Signals Chief dips his antennae and stays on the ground.
“Message reads: Greetings, in the name of our beloved Queen Szum-zic! I have respectfully heard reports of another Queen’s Brood gathering strange wreckage near a newly discovered branch of the minefield in the direction of the Little Branch seven cycles ago.
That is all. It is my sincere hope that this may assist you, Chief Harrower, in serving our highly beloved Queen!
May she live forever! Harrower Buc’Xsit. ” He crawls quickly away.
“That’s this minefield,” Sris helpfully tells me. “But it can’t be Nora’s ship. That wasn’t seven cycles ago. Only about one cycle.”
Another survivor. Another chance to find the world. Or another Brood already holding the key.
“No,” I growl, wanting to smash the whole room, but staying in control. “This is another of her kind.”
And getting the location of Nora’s world is now truly urgent.