Two roiling suns scorched the desert landscape as the gaunt man stumbled toward the bivouac site. Commodore Tina Morales wiped the sweat off her brow and took another glimpse through her binos. More bone than man, the colonist seemed almost feral. His shredded and grimy olive drab coveralls hung from his skeletal frame like a parachute.<\/p>\n
The commodore had planned to send an expedition out to New Roanoke within forty-eight hours. She\u2019d wanted to go sooner, but her command team had needed time to analyze the probes\u2019 data.<\/p>\n
Keying the comms device secured around her right ear, she said, \u201cReaper Six, this is Falcon Six, SITREP. Over.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFalcon Six. Reaper Six. Wait one,\u201d Colonel Carlson replied.<\/p>\n
She rolled her eyes. Space marines. Any chance they had to assert their authority over a fleet officer, they took it. Still, she was the highest-ranking officer on the expedition. Her only crime was she wasn\u2019t a space marine, but she played along, because she needed them more than they needed her. \u201cReaper Six. Standing By.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFalcon Six. Identified male survivor at five-point-zero klicks and closing. Permission to engage with lethal force?\u201d<\/p>\n
Carlson had always been trigger happy, but this request was absurd. She was convinced he was the wrong man for this mission. She needed a ground commander who saw the world in shades of gray, not through a black and white prism.<\/p>\n
She keyed her comms device. \u201cNegative. Stand down. Acknowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNegative. Contact could be infected. Over.\u201d<\/p>\n
An alien pathogen was a logical hypothesis. Over the last fifty years, something had reduced the colony\u2019s population from the two hundred and fifty souls on the original colony ship\u2019s manifest to fewer than ten. <\/p>\n
What Morales found even more intriguing were the thousands of heat signatures remote probes had detected beyond the eastern mountains, but remote DNA spectral analysis had determined there was no human genetic material there, so Admiral Chu had limited operations to within fifty klicks of New Roanoke.<\/p>\n
The intel was a one-time deal. The United Earth Ship Eldridge<\/em> would be moving on toward the nearest star in twenty-four hours. After that, the expedition would be on its own and Morales would be in charge.<\/p>\n \u201cReaper Six. Engage with stun weapons only. Acknowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n A long pause followed. \u201cAcknowledged.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cReaper Six. Give me a SITREP in fifteen minutes. Out.\u201d <\/p>\n Two six-wheeled mobiles carrying a space marine platoon streamed past. The marines seemed frisky this morning, almost too frisky. They\u2019d never operated in a one-point-one gee environment before, and she worried their bodies might break before their enthusiasm did.<\/p>\n Morales surveyed the horizon. She still couldn\u2019t get over seeing two suns in Alpha Centauri Prime\u2019s sky, and knowing that somewhere out there laid the answer to the great mystery that had spurred her parents to leave Earth in an interstellar generation ship forty-four years earlier. Three quarters of the crew had been born in space, and this was the first time most of them, including her, had ever set foot on a terrestrial surface. The starveling huddled in a field tent about a hundred meters from the marines\u2019 mobile compound. Morales entered the tent with the marine battalion\u2019s intelligence officer, Captain Aram Berberian. Both wore their sleek light-refracting environmental suits and protective masks. Three folding chairs surrounded a square table dominating the tent\u2019s center.<\/p>\n The horse-faced man rocked in his metal chair at an irregular cadence, his balding skull cradled in his arms. Morales looked at Berberian. \u201cHas he been treated for heatstroke?\u201d<\/p>\n Berberian nodded. \u201cYes, ma\u2019am. He\u2019s fine. A lack of water isn\u2019t his problem.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, he didn\u2019t survive out here without eating something. I wonder what\u2019s changed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Pulling out a nutrition bar, she offered it to the man. He stared at the offering with bloodshot eyes sunk deep in black sockets. The tent was so quiet she could hear her heart beating. Then the man lurched forward, snatched the bar and devoured it.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened to your settlement?\u201d Berberian asked. \u201cWhy did it stop sending signals to earth?\u201d<\/p>\n She held up her hand: too many questions. They needed to ease him into the interrogation.<\/p>\n Berberian tried again. \u201cWe\u2019re just here to help. Why weren\u2019t you with the other colonists?\u201d<\/p>\n The man remained silent, twitching and rolling his eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, we\u2019ve come to investigate what happened here,\u201d she said, \u201cWe haven\u2019t heard from your people in over forty years. If I can\u2019t get answers from you, I\u2019m gonna send marines into your settlement to find out myself. My marines are among the finest, but they make mistakes too. I\u2019d hate for someone to get hurt because of a simple misunderstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n The survivor looked down. His twitching intensified. \u201cP-P-Please don\u2019t. Your men could get infected.\u201d<\/p>\n Inclining her head toward Berberian, she said, \u201cI\u2019ll be damned. Carlson was right.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs you can see,\u201d she said to the colonist, gesturing at her environmental suit, \u201cwe\u2019re prepared for that. Unless you cooperate, we\u2019re going to the colony.\u201d<\/p>\n The colonist\u2019s twitching escalated to quaking. His eyes rolled into the back of his head. Then he bit her, ripping a hole into her suit and savaging her arm before she could knock him to the ground.<\/p>\n Her heart raced, but she took a deep breath. \u201cCaptain Berberian, as of fifteen hundred hours local time, you and I are on quarantine. Order a detachment to seal off this field tent. Radio Major Jones, report the incident, and request full medical examinations for both of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Berberian did as instructed, and Major Jones arrived within the hour. <\/p>\n \u201cCommodore Morales, my apologies for the delay. We had to erect secondary and tertiary containment structures around the field tent.\u201d<\/p>\n She nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened to him?\u201d Jones pointed at the unconscious man.<\/p>\n \u201cI gave him a little love pat after he took a chunk out of my arm.\u201d She smirked.<\/p>\n Jones nodded. \u201cCommodore Morales, please remove your environmental suit.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou sure that\u2019s a good idea?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf this man\u2019s carrying anything, you already have it. Your suit\u2019s just gonna get in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFair enough.\u201d She removed her suit, and then turned her head toward Berberian. \u201cWhat about him?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDid the subject bite him too?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen it\u2019s unlikely he\u2019s been exposed. His suit stays on.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones pulled out a foot-long cylinder the thickness of a human thumb. \u201cStand at attention,\u201d he said to her.<\/p>\n \u201cAren\u2019t I supposed to say that to you?\u201d she said. The humorless doctor showed no reaction. He pressed a button on his device and a light source emanated from it, scanning her from head to toe. The doctor projected an image of her vital functions in the air accompanied by a detailed readout of her medical condition.<\/p>\n \u201cAm I okay, doc?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStand by,\u201d the major said as he processed the medical information. \u201cRespiratory and cardiovascular systems are operating within normal parameters. Lymphatic and endocrine systems are also functioning normally. No signs of any harmful astro-bacteria. No foreign toxins in your system. It looks like you have a clean bill of\u2026wait a minute. What\u2019s this?\u201d<\/p>\n Morales tried to hide her anxiety. \u201cI\u2019m going to need a little bit more than that, major.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones pointed at the hologram. His thumb and forefinger grasped the three-dimensional cross section of her skull like a pincer, and then released it to expand the image. Jones pressed an icon below the hologram and a detailed rendering of her brain appeared. Jones pointed at two almond-shaped structures above the brain stem. \u201cSee these microscopic growths here on your amygdalae?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy what?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour amygdalae. These two kidney-shaped structures process emotions and help store long-term memories.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBottom line this for me, doc.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, ma\u2019am, the good news is that the virus in your system is dormant. The bad news is that it\u2019s triggered the growth of these nodules, and I don\u2019t know when they\u2019ll stop growing. While their growth rate has decelerated, I\u2019m going to insist you confine yourself to quarters until I can ensure your safety.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs it contagious?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes. You can transmit it from exposure to your blood or via sexual intercourse,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I don\u2019t go around biting people, mixing blood with them, or sleeping with them, can it spread?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, technically, no, but I insist that\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNegative, doc. That\u2019ll be all. Dismissed.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones turned to Berberian, but Berberian just shrugged.<\/p>\n \u201cMajor, I gave you an order. Dismissed!\u201d<\/p>\n Jones snapped to attention, rendered his salute, and left.<\/p>\n By the time Alpha Centauri Prime\u2019s primary sun pierced the horizon, the marines\u2019 mission to New Roanoke was well underway. Morales had decided to tag along despite Colonel Carslon\u2019s protests. <\/p>\n Major Jones was required to keep her medical diagnosis confidential, but Captain Berberian wasn\u2019t, and rumors of her medical prognosis had spread through the marines like a virus.<\/p>\n Morales shared a mobile with a marine squad, and the marines kept their distance. They were a superstitious bunch, but she decided not to force the issue. That they didn\u2019t panic when she entered their mobile was an encouraging sign.<\/p>\n The mission objective was to secure a facility on the colony\u2019s outskirts. Towering above the colony\u2019s other buildings, the structure\u2019s solitary and soot-encrusted smokestack stretched toward the sky. Remote probes had indicated that the settlement\u2019s remaining heat signatures were concentrated there. Twenty-four mobiles carrying nearly three hundred marines, or nearly two-thirds of all combat power on Alpha Centauri Prime, headed toward the objective. It seemed like overkill to Morales, but she deferred operational planning to Carlson as he was the expert on such matters.<\/p>\n A small marine contingent had cleared out an adjacent outbuilding before she arrived. She listened to the radio traffic as they reported their discovery: an empty arms room with storage racks designed for stun weapons and rail guns.<\/p>\n Her mobile positioned itself fifty meters from the facility\u2019s hanger doors several minutes later. Through her mobile\u2019s periscope, Morales watched as the rear exit ramps of two nearby mobiles dropped to the ground and two marines lumbered through the gravity soup toward the hanger.<\/p>\n They attached explosive gel on a locked hanger door, embedded a quantum sensor in the gel and trudged away from the target. Seconds later, a rectangular, man-sized breach burned through the door.<\/p>\n \u201cFalcon Six. Reaper Six. I\u2019m taking a team into the building. SITREP to follow. Over.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cReaper Six. Falcon Six. Roger. Out.\u201d<\/p>\n She watched the five men disappear into the facility, and waited.<\/p>\n \u201cFalcon Six. There\u2019s something you need to see.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cReaper Six. Report.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNegative. You need to see this in person.\u201d<\/p>\n Morales found Carlson\u2019s request out of character. He normally didn\u2019t bother to filter his thoughts. She descended the ramp of her dark mobile, the blinding light and blistering heat of the planet\u2019s primary sun overloading her senses.<\/p>\n She plodded toward the breach, and entered, stumbling as her eyes adjusted again to the darkness. The area stank of rot and putrescence.<\/p>\n \u201cCommodore Morales, over here!\u201d Carlson shouted.<\/p>\n She followed his voice, while her eyes struggled to adapt. A vision of the factory slowly coalesced. Metallic meat hooks dangling above stainless steel troughs lined the ceiling in orderly rows. A conveyor system wended its way through the plant, culminating in a human-sized, cube-shaped machine. A single steel platform rose above the plant floor. <\/p>\n At the far end of the facility, the marines were assembled in a horseshoe. Carlson turned his head. His eyes locked with hers, then he looked away and pointed beyond the semicircle of fazed marines.<\/p>\n Children.<\/p>\n Huddled, shaking, and emaciated, the kids were nothing but bone bags covered in tatters. There were five: three boys and two girls. Their ages seemed to range from about three to twelve. All had haunted looks in their eyes, the veneer of innocence long since corrupted, twisted, and exposed for a lie. They reeked of filth.<\/p>\n Morales labored to remain calm despite overwhelming feelings of nausea. \u201cColonel Carlson, get these children to a medic.\u201d<\/p>\n Carlson nodded and relayed the order over the net. Five more marines arrived and escorted the children outside. Carlson gestured toward those who remained. \u201cClear out the rest of this shit hole. Send a SITREP every ten minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n The marines saluted and moved out. Carlson turned back to her. \u201cYour orders?\u201d<\/p>\n She wasn\u2019t expecting that. She was hoping she\u2019d have some personal time to get herself together.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s see what your marines learn,\u201d she said, \u201cthen we\u2019ll decide what to do next. Once we get those children some medical attention and food, we\u2019ll ask them what happened here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThose children need some serious psychological help. They need an interrogation like I need the clap.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell that shouldn\u2019t be a problem since you\u2019ve already got it, Carlson.\u201d<\/p>\n Carlson chuckled, but then his voice took on a more serious tone. \u201cCommodore, what is this place?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSome kinda slaughterhouse.\u201d She pointed at the meat hooks. \u201cThe colonists probably hung the animals up there and let the blood collect into the troughs below. I\u2019ll betcha dollars to donuts that whatever they ate had something to do with those thermal signatures beyond the mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n Carlson nodded, but his eyes seemed elsewhere. \u201cWhy would anyone bring children here? What kinda sick fuck does that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe kind we already have in custody.\u201d<\/p>\n Carlson grinned.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t get any ideas,\u201d she said, then pointed at the block-shaped machine, \u201cAny idea what that\u2019s for?\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cNo clue. All I know is that the spectral analysis my marines ran on it showed an unusually high concentration of arsenic. Seven hundred times higher than the arsenic concentration in the surrounding soil, which is fifty times higher than Earth\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n The battalion net squawked with a transmission. \u201cReaper Six. This is Warlock Three. You gotta see this, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n Carlson glanced at her and then extended his arm in a direction leading deeper into the facility. \u201cLadies first.\u201d<\/p>\n The two walked past rows of meat hooks until they reached a massive steel partition. Making their way through the partition door, they passed several tables holding a variety of worn cutting and carving implements.<\/p>\n \u201cWarlock Three. Reaper Six. Talk to me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cReaper Six. We\u2019re inside a refrigeration unit. Break. Once you pass through the first partition, there\u2019re double doors at the far right end of the building. Break. You\u2019ll find us there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAcknowledged, Warlock Three. We\u2019re on the way. Out.\u201d<\/p>\n Morales saw the double doors ahead. She advanced slowly, her curiosity pushing her forward, but a sense of foreboding holding her back.<\/p>\n She pushed open the doors to find the four marines at the rear of the refrigeration unit. Scores of frosted blue-scaled torsos dangled from meat hooks.<\/p>\n She found the sight unsettling, but no more disturbing than the beef held on meat lockers on the Eldridge<\/em>. Yet, the marines at the far end of the corridor stood sullenly, facing away from their discovery.<\/p>\n \u201cC\u2019mon, it\u2019s just lizard meat,\u201d Carlson said, appearing to have rediscovered his swagger.<\/p>\n \u201cIt ain\u2019t about the lizard meat, sir,\u201d a marine said, then he pointed up. \u201cThis is why we called.\u201d<\/p>\n She looked up and saw more torsos. Human torsos.<\/p>\n \u201cWho murdered those people, you twisted bastard?\u201d Berberian said, leaning toward the man the children called \u201cUncle Tom\u201d. <\/p>\n No response.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy\u2019d you lie about the pathogen?\u201d Morales asked.<\/p>\n The colony\u2019s sole adult survivor stared into space. She was losing hope. The man refused to talk no matter what they did, and the children hadn\u2019t been much better. They\u2019d only offered their names and identified Tom. Otherwise, they were all but comatose.<\/p>\n She pounded her fists on the table. \u201cDammit! Why are there human remains in the meat locker?\u201d<\/p>\n Tom smiled. His eyes locked on hers. Fear. Anger. Vengeance<\/em>. A train of images followed. The abattoir. Reptilian heads on hand carts. Men in coveralls beating on Tom. Squat, light-blue reptilians firing rail guns at men<\/em>. The torrent of images assailing her mind faded as suddenly as they began, but she felt a lingering sense of revulsion.<\/p>\n Tom broke his silence with maniacal laughter. \u201cYou fools!\u201d He giggled. \u201cThey\u2019re coming! He-he! They\u2019re coming! Ha-ha!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho\u2019s coming?\u201d Berberian said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll see! And you\u2019ll be sorry you ever messed with \u2018ole Tom Ehrlicher.\u201d<\/p>\n Faster than she could react, Tom jumped up on the table and began dancing. \u201cHa-ha! He-he! <\/p>\n They\u2019re coming for me! Just wait and see! Just wait and see! Ha-ha! He-he!\u201d<\/p>\n Berberian grabbed his stun pistol and applied two hundred and fifty kilovolts to Tom\u2019s sternum. Tom fell backward, hitting the hard sand, his body convulsing.<\/p>\n \u201cWake up, ma\u2019am, Colonel Carlson needs to see you ASAP.\u201d<\/p>\n Morales opened her eyes to see a burly, ginger-haired marine standing beside her cot. <\/p>\n \u201cWhaah?\u201d she said, half asleep, \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not at liberty to discuss it, ma\u2019am.\u201d<\/p>\n She didn\u2019t like the sound of that. \u201cExcuse me? I outrank the colonel. Anything he knows, I know. Why does he need to see me?\u201d<\/p>\n The marine pointed his shock lance at her. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, ma\u2019am, but you\u2019re coming with me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGoddammit, marine! I give the orders around here, and I\u2019m ordering you to put down your weapon.\u201d She stormed toward him until his weapon touched her chest. \u201cI\u2019m not going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n The marine lowered his weapon and then keyed his comms device. \u201cReaper Six, this is Thunder Three. Over.\u201d<\/p>\n She was close enough to hear the reply on the marine\u2019s earpiece. \u201cThunder Three, Reaper Six. Send it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFalcon Six refuses your orders. Permission to engage. Over.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPermission to engage?\u201d Morales yelled. \u201cYou kidding me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThunder Three. Negative. Heading to your location, time now. Out.\u201d<\/p>\n She glared at the marine. \u201cBoy, I\u2019m gonna have your ass when this is all over.\u201d<\/p>\n She turned and grabbed her khakis. The marine just watched. She dressed quickly, though she took care to tie her hair into a neat little bun. Maintaining her military bearing was more important now than ever.<\/p>\n Moments later, Colonel Carlson arrived with two stocky marines in toe. \u201cCommodore Morales, by order of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, I declare you unfit for duty. I am\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBullshit!\u201d She cut in. \u201cThis is mutiny, Carlson. Calling it anything else is like putting lipstick on a pig.\u201d<\/p>\n Carlson continued. \u201cI\u2019m assuming command of this detachment until Major Jones can provide you with a clean bill of health. You\u2019ll be confined to quarters until further notice. That is all.\u201d<\/p>\n Clenching her fist, she ran toward Carlson. She felt a blow to the head. Then everything faded to black.<\/p>\n Morales awoke in a cold sweat. Intense afterimages of clinical decapitation seared into her mind without reason or context. She struggled for meaning.<\/p>\n A cursory glance at her surroundings confirmed her worst fears. The marines hadn\u2019t confined her to her quarters. They\u2019d thrown her into the brig.<\/p>\n A wave of someone else\u2019s emotions flooded into her mind. And Tom was at the center of it all. She watched Tom wheel a cart of severed reptilian heads through the abattoir as dark green fluid dribbled from man-sized lizard carcasses on meat hooks. She saw a severed head bite Tom in a final nerve-spasmed gasp, and with it felt a new awareness. She experienced the escalating bullying of Tom as he struggled to describe his visions and the unsettling truth of Raptorian sentience to others who refused to understand or accept it. Storms of anguish and suffering battered her psyche, pushing her to sanity\u2019s brink.<\/p>\n She descended further into Ehrlicher\u2019s madness. She watched him become the conduit between the hives and humanity. When the hives beyond the mountains had learned the colonists were eating their kind, they sent their swarms toward the gleaming city upon the hill. Convinced that the Raptorians would ultimately overwhelm the colonists with superior numbers, Tom freed the Raptorians bred in captivity and subjugated his own people in the hope that it would appease the hives.<\/p>\n Morales watched in horror as Tom collaborated with the Raptorians to corral the colonists. Predator became prey. As a reward for his service the Raptorian hive minds had allowed Ehrlicher to eat their dead, but the logistics of traversing the eastern mountains had proved difficult for one human adult and his prepubescent workforce. So Tom had had to choose which colonists would live and who would be eaten. Each processed human was a ticking clock. As the colonists\u2019 numbers dwindled so too did Tom\u2019s projected lifespan. <\/p>\n She knew Ehrlicher was a monster, but she still pitied him. Then more visions came, filtered through Tom\u2019s mind, but alien and born of a collective consciousness. Thousands of Raptorians streamed over a mountain pass armed with spears and rudimentary armor toward the cursed desert city.<\/p>\n Morales screamed.<\/p>\n Within seconds a marine sentry entered her cell. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGet Colonel Carlson. Immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n The marine shook his head. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, but that ain\u2019t gonna happen. He\u2019s busy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDammit, marine, that\u2019s an order, not a request.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t take orders from you anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Falling to the floor, she screeched louder. The marine hesitated, and then tried to lift her off the ground.<\/p>\n Morales kneed him in the groin. He toppled over, wheezing. She slammed his head against the floor, knocking him unconscious. Grabbing the marine\u2019s shock lance, she sprinted from her cell, stunning a second marine rushing toward her.<\/p>\n She removed the comms device from the downed marine and broadcast over the battalion net. <\/p>\n \u201cReaper Six. This is Falcon Six. Report.\u201d The instant the words left her mouth, she knew she\u2019d made a mistake. Carlson wouldn\u2019t respond to an order. <\/p>\n Then she reconsidered. No. Screw him, she thought. I\u2019m in charge.<\/p>\n \u201cReaper Six. This is Falcon Six. You have thirty minutes to report to the brig to answer for charges of mutiny and sedition. Break. As you know, a defendant found guilty of mutiny, sedition, or failure to suppress or report a mutiny or sedition shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct. Break. If you cooperate, I will waive the death penalty. Over.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPrisoner Two. This is Reaper Six. Surrender immediately, or I will use deadly force to put you down. Out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cReaper Six. You now have twenty-nine minutes. Out.\u201d<\/p>\n Morales knew she had no way of reestablishing her authority now, but she needed to warn Carlson about what was coming.<\/p>\n The marines stormed the brig. She stunned five before they took her down.<\/p>\n She woke tied to a chair with a beaming Carlson seated across from her. \u201cWell, well. You bested seven of my marines. Pretty good for a space squid.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCut the crap, Carlson. And it\u2019s Commodore Morales to you.\u201d<\/p>\n Carlson rolled his eyes. \u201cDon\u2019t piss on my cornflakes and call it milk. Did you really think you could bust outta my brig or that my marines would follow you over me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo. I just wanted your attention.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou sure as hell succeeded. Did you call me to plead for your release, to tell me you\u2019re no longer infected?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo. I need to warn you. There are tens of thousands of the creatures we found in the abattoir coming here to wipe us out.\u201d<\/p>\n Carlson laughed so hard he nearly fell out of his chair. \u201cNow I know you\u2019re a one hundred percent certifiable, class one whackjob. You constructed an elaborate fairy tale using a whiff of real intel.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo I\u2019m right. Your sensors are picking up movement over the mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n Carlson smirked, then his jaw tightened. \u201cThat\u2019s no longer your concern.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCarlson. Hear me out. Send me out there. I can broker a deal and convince them we have enough food to prove we\u2019re not a threat.\u201d<\/p>\n Carlson chuckled. \u201cYou\u2019re telling me they think we\u2019re here to eat them? How the hell do you know that?\u201d<\/p>\n She couldn\u2019t tell him the truth. It was too preposterous. \u201cEhrlicher can communicate with them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBullshit. You said you<\/em> could broker a deal, not Ehrlicher.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter. Send me out there. Best case I come back with an agreement that avoids a fight. Worst case they kill me. Either way, you win.\u201d<\/p>\n Carlson grinned. \u201cWho said I wanted to avoid a fight?\u201d<\/p>\n She lost it. \u201cAre you insane? You think three hundred marines can stop tens of thousands of sentient creatures evolved to fight in one-point-one gees?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOorah!\u201d <\/p>\n Morales couldn\u2019t decide whether Carlson was stupid or mad, but his response left little room for interpretation.<\/p>\n She had only one option. <\/p>\n Her thoughts reached out beyond the compound, and sought out a mind so mad, she doubted she could find any remnant of sanity. Receiving thoughts had become painless for her, but transmitting them required more effort than she\u2019d imagined. Yet, she pushed on, sending images of the bivouac site with the locations of all marine sentries, the way to the compound, and the path to the brig. Blood dripped from her nostrils as her head throbbed from the strain. <\/p>\n A response emerged from the ether. I\u2019m coming<\/em>.<\/p>\n Days later, shortly after twilight, Morales\u2019s cell door opened. Tom entered with the five children.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy did you bring them?\u201d she said, glancing at the children, \u201cOur work will require stealth.\u201d<\/p>\n Tom grimaced. His thoughts entered her mind. We\u2019re the only ones who will survive. If I leave them here, they will die with the rest<\/em>.<\/p>\n She answered, The Raptorians will understand reason. We can show them we have our own food here, and we mean them no harm<\/em>.<\/p>\n No<\/em>. The thought\u2019s emotional finality betrayed Tom\u2019s madness. Do you think I wanted to eat the others? I had no choice<\/em>.<\/p>\n She didn\u2019t respond. It was pointless arguing with a madman. She just needed his help to get to the Raptorians.<\/p>\n How\u2019d you get here so quickly<\/em>? Morales projected.<\/p>\n The marines are using every available fighter to defend the colony\u2019s perimeter. They left you locked here without a guard. I faked another epileptic episode and my guard bought it<\/em>.<\/p>\n How\u2019d you know what the marines were doing? You were under guard<\/em>.<\/p>\n The hives told me. They have binos too<\/em>.<\/p>\n Then she remembered the empty arms room. My God<\/em>, she thought, they have rail guns<\/em>.<\/p>\n Tom smiled.<\/p>\n She led Tom to the compound\u2019s arms room, where she punched in her code into a wall-mounted keypad. A light scanned her retina, and then a door opened. <\/p>\n I can\u2019t believe that bastard didn\u2019t change the access codes<\/em>, she thought. She grabbed two shock lances, handing one to Tom.<\/p>\n When they emerged from the compound, the area was deserted, but Morales saw a riot of activity in the distance as marines dug trenches, unrolled concertina wire, and installed automated spider mines. She was certain the marines would wrack up an impressive body count, but she was convinced the Raptorians would ultimately overwhelm them. Yet, she was still hopeful she could prevent a confrontation.<\/p>\n She led Tom and the children into the desert. After four hours of slogging through sand, she reoriented the group in a direction that would skirt New Roanoke\u2019s eastern outskirts, providing them with a five-kilometer buffer to avoid tripping any remote defense systems.<\/p>\n The group meandered through sand dunes until the primary sun rose in the east, where its orange hemisphere illuminated a limitless stream of Raptorians funneling onto the valley floor.<\/p>\n Morales looked west, where she saw two armored mobiles heading in her direction, churning clouds of dust in their wake.<\/p>\n Waves of bloodlust washed over her. She broadcast her thoughts to the hive, pleading for mercy, but she might as well have tried reasoning with an earthquake.<\/p>\n The air rippled with the sonic boomlets of rail gun rounds streaming overhead toward the Raptorians. A little girl screamed. The other children held their hands over their ears, while Tom cackled with insanity.<\/p>\n Morales dove for the dirt, motioning for the others to follow. The children complied, but Tom ignored her, babbling incoherently.<\/p>\n The mobiles would be at their location in minutes.<\/p>\n The ground rumbled from the footfalls of thousands. Morales strained to reach the Raptorians. Please. Peace. Talk<\/em>. She sent images of their starship, their lives, and their food stores.<\/p>\n The mobiles stopped within two hundred meters of her position. Carlson emerged from an exit ramp, armed with a rail gun. He crawled across the open plain, firing his weapon. His first shot landed near Tom, tearing a three-foot crater into the earth. Tom lost his footing and fell, and then another sonic boom heralded his disintegration.<\/p>\n Morales made one final plea to the hive minds, and in an instant, thousands ground to a halt. Then, a single Raptorian made its way toward her. <\/p>\n The air crackled as the Raptorian fired a round at Carlson. She watched as Carlson exchanged fire with the Raptorian. Using the distraction, she aimed her shock lance at Carlson, fired and missed.<\/p>\n Two squads of marines joined Carlson in the firefight. She took another shot, and missed. Another marine returned fire. Carlson fired again at the Raptorian. She glanced behind her and saw a whiff of smoke where the Raptorian had been standing. Then the ground began to shake as the Raptorians resumed their march.<\/p>\n Towers of sand exploded before Morales as more marines targeted her. She returned fire, stunning two marines. The children screamed. A little blonde girl panicked and bolted toward the Raptorians and a marine turned her to ash.<\/p>\n A tear rolled down Morales\u2019s cheek as she struggled to suppress what she\u2019d just witnessed. What have we become<\/em>? she thought. <\/p>\n The marines appeared to have similar reactions and ceased fire. Carlson waved a white flag. She waved back. Carlson motioned for her to come forward, so she crawled across no-man\u2019s land hoping for a peaceful solution. When she arrived, Carlson smiled and recited her previous words, \u201cA defendant found guilty of mutiny, sedition, or failure to suppress or report a mutiny or sedition shall be punished by death.\u201d<\/p>\n Then he pulled the trigger.<\/p>\n
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