Chapter 10
- Nora -
I stare out the big window. “Are we moving? Is he trying to find Earth?”
Lucius sets down on the alien bed. “I got an impression of this ship while you were being carried inside.
It's big, about the size of those old-fashioned aircraft carriers for ocean use on Earth.
But it's not metal. I get the impression that it's a lifeform.
So plainly capable of space flight, even long distance.
I suspect we are very far from both Krix'vorr's world and from Earth.”
I tap on the window. It feels soft, like bioplastic. “M-hm. Was he just waiting for us here? Did he know we were coming?”
“My impression is that he was simply observing the minefield and wondering how to get through it. Then he saw us and decided to rescue you. At great danger to his own life, I should add. He left the safety of his own ship and made his way into the minefield in open space. He brought you in and determined that you were about to die. I must confess, at that point I had assumed you were dead and I was making alternative plans. But he brought you back through some… unconventional means. It appeared you climaxed several times–”
“Yes, yes,” I snap, feeling heat in my cheeks. And still I press my thighs together at the memory of that healing process. “It worked, anyway. What alternative plans were you making?”
“I was planning to be quiet and act like a piece of trash, while recording as much as I could. Then I would try to make my way back to Earth and report your honorable death.”
I sigh and look around the room. Trophies, skulls, weapons. “So he probably owns this ship, right? And he's a Space Locust, stripping planets of all life and all resources and enslaving their sentients?”
“I think those are safe assumptions,” the drone says. “And that's the fate of Earth if you tell him where it can be found. He is clearly of a very high rank and likely commands massive resources.”
“He must know that Earth's on the other side of the mine field,” I ponder. “But that's all he knows. There are many stars on the other side.” I adjust the silly cardboard cylinder I’m wearing. “All right, Lucius, what's our best-case outcome here?”
“The best case would be for you to tell him nothing about Earth. Or to downplay its wealth and biomass, if there’s no other option.
The very best option may… well, speaking as a Space Force asset, I would have to suggest you make yourself impossible to interrogate.
” Lucius’s voice has gone mild, which is never a good sign.
“You think I should take myself out of the picture?” I ask, turning to look at him. “So I can’t tell him anything?”
Lucius dips his front edge. “It would make everything easier if he hadn’t resurrected you after the minefield.
You must see that, Captain. But it’s a Space Force principle that a living officer is more valuable than a dead one, regardless of situation.
No one is required to deliberately make the ultimate sacrifice.
But this situation was almost certainly not what they had in mind. ”
“Well, I’m not doing that,” I tell him firmly. “I will serve Space Force as long as I can. And I can’t believe that’s the best possible outcome you can come up with. I didn’t ask for the worst-case outcome.”
Lucius thinks about it. “You may be right, Captain. That was not a good reply to your query. How about this as a best-case thing: You persuade Krix’vorr to give you a spaceship so you can go back to Earth to warn everyone, or at least get out of Space Locust custody.”
“That’s better,” I tell him, feeling better. Drones can sometimes be disastrously wrong, even Space Force ones. “No more defeatist talk, Lucius. Recalibrate to assume our victory here, not defeat.”
“Yes, Captain,” the drone says with determination. “I suppose there’s reason to believe that we may be able to gain priceless intel about this alien race and then bring it back to Earth.”
“And that will be our mission,” I tell him. “Done recalibrating?”
Lucius suddenly takes off from the bed and flies in close, hovering at ear height. “That flower, Captain.”
I touch the blue flower that Krix’vorr placed behind my ear. “What about it?”
“Its petals move in sync with your speech. I wonder if-”
At that moment, a membrane opens and Krix’vorr comes in, ducking his head. “Nora,” he rumbles. It comes out “No-oara,” which I kind of like.
“Krix’vorr,” I reply, doing my best to make the alien sounds. “Do you have some actual clothing for me?”
Lucius translates, but so does the flower that Krix’vorr attached to his chest. It even uses my voice.
“We shall see about the clothings,” Krix’vorr says, and I jump as the flower by my ear repeats his words in almost perfect English and in his voice. “You may not needs much of it yet.”
Okay. So now we can talk for real, using the translation flowers that seem to do even better than Lucius.
And it’s a Space Force principle that attack is the best defense.
“I will need clothing, as anyone will. Also, when will you release me? I feel perfectly recovered now and I can go back to my own world. Thank you very much for helping me. I shall be sure to describe your great heroism to my people.” It’s all improvised on the spot, and I can hear it’s not great. But he has to know where I stand.
Krix’vorr comes closer. Despite the large room, he seems to fill all of it with his great size and intense presence. “Of course I shall take you back to your world, Nora. Simply show me where it is.”
“Oh, I can’t ask you for such a favor,” I tell him as sweetly as I can. “It would be much better if you simply lend me a small ship, a shuttle perhaps, so I can make my own way home. I wouldn’t want you to risk anything more for me, and that minefield is still in place.”
“You would brave the minefield in a small shuttle? We already know how that would end.” His voice is deep and resonant, and it fills the room just like he does. It’s physically impossible to look at anything else than him.
I’m barely aware of my surroundings when Krix’vorr is near.
He has this predatory aura, as if he could turn into a whirlwind of violence at any time.
But then he also has this total confidence in every movement and every word, that makes me think I’m totally safe with him.
And he has saved my life twice now, both times at great risk to himself. It’s screwing with my mind really bad.
“I know the minefield now,” I point out. “Going back through it will be easy.”
“I have no small craft to spare,” he rumbles. “I will now summon the star chart again, that you may show me where your world is.” He speaks alien words that are not translated by the flower.
“He’s talking to the ship itself,” Lucius says softly. “Giving orders through it.”
“There’s no need to get a star chart,” I state. “I have only ever seen one and don’t know how they work. I couldn’t possibly help you.”
“Then tell me, in your own way, where your world is,” the giant locust says with a hint of impatience.
I lean against the soft window. “I can’t. I can only find it when I’m flying a small ship by myself. That’s how my kind navigates through space. By… umm…”
“By pure intuition,” Lucius whispers.
“By pure intuition,” I echo. “By feeling. Not by seeing and planning.”
The translation hangs in the air while Krix’vorr stares me down so hard I have to look away.
“I’m not accustomed to being told obvious nonsense.” There’s a snarl to his voice that chills me. “I have seen the wreckage of your ship, and you are plainly not equipped to travel in space except in machines. You are in my ship now, and you shall speak the truth!”
The last word comes like a whiplash.
Shit. He’s seeing right through my lies.
The membrane opens, and the locust comes in, carrying a bowl with that living star chart from earlier.
“I always speak the truth,” I assure him, but the sudden tremble in my voice betrays me.
The lobster places the star chart bowl on the bed.
“The minefield is here,” Krix’vorr says, and the lobster points to a line in the bowl. “We are here. One of these stars must be your home star. Which one is it?”
I glance at the bowl. I can immediately see which of those points has to be the Sun. “I don’t understand any of this. It's very pretty, though.”
Krix’vorr takes a step closer. “I saw you fly through the minefield. I saw you try to escape from my ship. I’m talking to you now. And you are far too bright to not understand.”
“Sorry,” I say with a shrug. “I can’t help you with this.”
I press myself harder against the soft window. Lucius hovers near my shoulder while the lobster crouches beside the star chart bowl on the bed.
Krix’vorr leans over, piercing me with his stare. “You are protecting this world. You think I want to cause it harm.”
I try to hold his gaze. “Don’t you?”
I expect him to give me some smooth lie. Instead he looks away. “I will do my duty as commanded.”
I tilt my head to the side. “And your duty is to strip my world of everything, eat all that can be eaten, carry away everything that can be carried, murder my people and leave my planet as a dead, smoking rock.”
I regret the words the moment they come out. But I’m not a spy. I’m not a diplomat. I’m a Space Force officer faced with my worst enemy. Perhaps it’s time he knows that.
The room goes quiet. The lobster turns all its eyes on me and I swear Krix’vorr’s mandibles drop a millimeter. Well, at least I shocked them.
“That was incredibly stupid,” Lucius hisses, barely audible.
“Who told you that?” Krix’vorr finally snarls, taking a step closer.
“Who told me that?” I repeat, committed now.
“Thousands of refugees fleeing from you told me that. They call you Space Locusts. Did you know?” Yes, admitting that I know who he is may have been stupid.
But now, despite the silly cardboard I’m wearing, I feel like an officer again, not a victim or a friendless castaway.
I represent Earth, and I will do so as well as I can.
The locust’s mandibles move and I spot fangs behind them.
“This is not just an idle fancy, female. My Queen expects me to return with the exact position of your world. If I don’t, it will be the end of me.
And of you. Our only chance to survive the next ten cycles is if you tell me exactly where your world is. ”
I swallow in a dry throat. He’s not lying, that’s obvious. This predator has never needed to lie. “I don’t know anything about any Queen.”
“Queen Szum-zic is the Queen of our Brood! She will kill us both if I don’t deliver your world. Now point!” He points to the bowl.
All the blood drains from my face. He’s not kidding about this. Every cell in my body is screaming at me to obey, to get on the good side of this obviously deadly predator. But I can’t budge. Not about this.
“She refuses,” the lobster says with her bright voice. “She can no longer claim innocence or ignorance. That can be fixed, Chief Harrower.” She lifts both claws and snips them with ugly, metallic noises. They’re obviously knife sharp.
I gasp in fear as Krix’vorr suddenly takes two steps closer and grabs my upper arm. “Certainly there are ways to fix it.”
The lobster crawls up onto the alien bed. “Place her on the resting platform, Chief Harrower. Remove the packing material.” The claws snick together and she sharpens one pointy leg against another with an ugly grinding sound.
“I’m running out of options, female,” Krix’vorr snarls as he tightens the grip on me.
Blue-white lightning suddenly cracks across the plates of his chest, bathing the room in blinding light for a split second. The bang is much louder than last time.
Krix'vorr freezes up. His grip on me loosens.
The lobster goes rigid. Lucius drops three inches in the air.
“Chief Harrower,” the lobster whispers.
Krix’vorr slowly turns his head toward her. “Sris. Leave.”
“Sir?”
“Get out,” the locust grates.
“The interrogation has barely begun, sir,” the lobster says, confused, holding up one claw. “We can easily-”
“Out!” Krix’vorr bellows, making my ears ring. He grabs the lobster and flings it at the wall where the membrane was. “Get out!”