A Clash of Aliens (The Human Chronicles Book 13) (29 page)

Chapter
30

Although J’nae had ordered a path remain clear for her to pass to the eastern launch pad, she found that in the panic of the oncoming alien invasion—as well as the two recent strikes upon the building—discipline had lapsed. She reasoned this wasn’t deliberate, but rather the result of too many orders being barked at too many simple-minded creatures. The lower level Sol-Kor and the Salifens were confused, being buffeted back and forth between Min and Nosleads who sought to commandeer any support troops they could. Having very little will of their own, these simple creatures followed orders immediately, up the point new orders were shouted at them.

So as J’nae pressed her way through the packed corridors, she found her journey to be slower than she would have preferred, especially knowing Panur was right behind her.

Throwing caution to the wind—as well as hundreds of her fellow Sol-Kor—J’nae used her special powers to bulldoze her way to her avenue of escape. She had already written off M-1, indeed Kor itself. She would take the Panur-converted Human starship and journey to Silana, the next largest Sol-Kor settlement. There she would find another eighteen billion of her Colony, along with thousands of additional mainships. What was happening on Kor at the moment was just an annoyance, a frustrating and illogical event that could never amount to anything in the long run, no matter what the Hal’ic, or the Humans, or even Panur, thought otherwise.

Already J’nae had birthed nearly a thousand Sol-Kor females. She knew she would live to birth thousands more until her efforts were no longer needed. Her offspring would go on to create untold millions more. The Colony would survive—it had to survive—and in numbers no one could ever imagine. And it all started with her—

Without warning, J’nae was pulled back from her original path by something around her thin neck. When she landed on the hard deck, she saw Panur standing near her, his right arm returning to its normal length.

She scrambled to her feet. This time both of Panur’s arms extended out, hitting the Queen’s chest and pressing her against a wall of the corridor. The Sol-Kor around her stood in stunned silence, before quickly running off. They knew they could do nothing to stop the two mutants from fighting, so they cleared the area to let the two of them settle matters on their own.

J’nae was strong beyond compare, yet when she resisted Panur’s restraint, she found she could barely move. His body still glowed from the intake of plasma bolts he'd experience earlier. Was this giving him even more strength? Undoubtedly. She looked around the hallway, desperate for any residual Sol-Kor defender who she could order to shoot her as well.

When she could find no one to help her, the Queen extended her right leg and slammed it against Panur’s much shorter body. Yet by now, her Creator had extended his own right leg until it pressed against the opposite wall, effectively wedging the two combatants between the immoveable sides of the corridor.

“Why are you fighting me?” she groaned out. “We are of the same kind. We should be united, not divided.”

“I agree,” said Panur, his eyes still pure white from the excess energy coursing through his body. “Yet it is you who have sided with the Sol-Kor, and who will do everything you can to grow the Colony.”

“You are of the Colony as well. Why is this a bad thing?”

“Because you are still a child. You have not experienced existence beyond the Sol-Kor. We seek stimulation and knowledge, yet by allowing the Sol-Kor to consume so many other species in the universe, you take so much away from the experiences we both should be seeking. That I cannot allow.”

“You created me and placed me where I am just so I could do what I am doing.”

“You ascended prematurely, before I had a chance to expose you to different races and different realities.”

“Then you should have stayed rather than run off to the Human universe. I would have listened and learned from you. Yet when the time came for me to fulfill my destiny, you were gone. I felt betrayed and abandoned. I had to learn on my own.”

“I regret what has happened, but now I must remedy the situation.”

“You cannot kill me.”

“No, I cannot. And that is why I must take you away from here, away from the power the Sol-Kor give you, away from all the death and destruction you can cause.”

“My offspring will continue. They have been taken from here. You cannot stop evolution from happening.”

“They are few, so the time will be extended before the Sol-Kor can become a threat again. But for now, I will take you away in the starship I have modified, perhaps to a new universe that has never heard of the Sol-Kor. In time, if I allow it, I will introduce you to all the wonders and variety of life that exists so you will learn there is more than just the Colony. That will only be allowed once you have grown up—”

A cloud of white gas filled the corridor, enveloping Panur and billowing toward J’nae, still pinned against the wall. The Queen felt the pressure on her chest lessen and she twisted away, falling to the floor to crawl away rapidly through the thickening white cloud.

Her legs became useless even though she felt no pain. She pulled with her arms and hands, even stretching one out several meters to grip a recess in the wall. She retracted the limb, which propelled her quickly away from the numbing gas.

Her legs recovered quickly, but not completely. She wobbled unsteadily when she stood and looked down the corridor. There, six Sol-Kor in silver protective gear were huddled over an inert body, spraying it with more billowing white clouds from nozzles attached to black metal canisters. They continued to spray the motionless body until their canisters ran dry, and then more were supplied. Eventually the figure on the floor was nothing but a white, frozen mass, wisps of steam rising from it.

J’nae stepped near.

“High-Noslead Gorvus, excellent job subduing the mutant.”

“We were delayed by the crowd. When the corridor emptied we were able to make our way here.”

J’nae looked down at Panur’s frozen body, looking small and insignificant in its compressed fetal position. “He will thaw quickly, so maintain a vigil and keep applying the liquid nitrogen until he can be placed into the holding chamber. Then have the body placed aboard the starship outside the eastern doors.”

“I have ordered the chamber to be brought here. It should be arriving soon.”

“Good. I will be taking the mutant away in the spaceship, to a place where he can cause us no harm ever again.”

“He is not of the Sol-Kor, my Queen. He is an abomination.”

“Indeed.” J’nae looked to her loyal Noslead and frowned. “If you view him as an abomination, how do you view me? Be honest.”

Without hesitation, Gorvus answered: “You are the survival of the Colony, my Queen. You are the future.”

Chapter
31

“Got some on the right!” Sherri called out. “Any spare packs?”

“Down to my last two, but here…” Adam tossed Sherri a power pack for her MK-17. She snapped it in and resumed firing. Three more Sol-Kor fell dead as a result, while the others backed away around a corner.

“Where’s Lila?” Sherri asked. “We could sure use her about now.”

“She was clearing out the room down the way, the place where Benefis was shot.”

Adam fired at a curious Sol-Kor peeking his head around a corner. Like the proverbial cat, he wouldn’t be curious anymore.

“How’s he doing?”

“He’ll survive, although it didn’t do anything to stop his
condition
from flaring up again.”

“Thanks, Adam, but I didn’t need that vision filling my head.”

“I am here,” Lila announced as she sped past Sherri and Adam and rounded the corner where the Sol-Kor were blocking their way. Brilliant flashes filled the hallway, then Adam’s daughter reemerged, her skin a radiant pink, her eyes already glowing white from the energy she’d been soaking up from the enemy plasma bolts.

“Are you sure that doesn’t hurt you?” Adam asked, concerned.

“On the contrary, it is quite the wonderful sensation—incredible, as a matter of fact. I wonder why Panur never told me about this?”

“Feelings of inadequacy, I would imagine,” Sherri said with a smile.

“All right, the way is clear,” Adam said as Riyad, Benefis, and Arieel slipped in next to him. “We’re on the ground floor now, and just in time. I’m down to less than one power pack left. I wish we hadn’t left most of our real weapons on the
Falcon
. But let’s make one last rush for the exit. The ship should be right outside.”

After having to fight nearly every inch of the way down the interior of the M-I pyramid, the team suddenly found their way clear, only token Sol-Kor resistance around. A wide path was open to them. The Humans—and Lila—ran ahead, securing the hallway for the slower aliens. But then they came to a series of spent gas tanks, and Adam stopped, feeling the containers. They were freezing cold.

“Liquid nitrogen,” he said to Sherri and Riyad. Lila also felt the containers.

“Only recently,” she said. “And from the amount, they appear to have successfully subdued a creature at this spot. There…wheeled tracks in the frost, leading to the exit.”

“The Queen?”

Lila shook her head. “The Sol-Kor would not do this to the leader. And from the foresight put into having such a supply of the gas available, I would suggest this has been something the Queen herself planned as a contingency against Panur’s return.”

“He has been taken?” Benefis asked, already knowing the answer.

“It would appear so. To the waiting starship.”

“The one with inter-dimensional travel capabilities,” said Sherri.

“Hurry!” Adam led them further down the corridor, until there loomed before them a wide, glassed opening leading outside the pyramid.

As they burst through the doors and into the bitter cold of Kor’s rapidly approaching night, their worst fears were realized.

The platform was empty.

The team filtered out onto the vast concrete expanse, protected from the cold by the heat still radiating off the pad, the residual effect of liftoff jets. Adam scanned the darkening sky above. All he saw were the winking stars, but no streak of light indicating a fleeing starship.

J’nae—and Panur—were gone, along with the
Star
—the
Najmah Fayd
.

Adam shook his head, not from any external frustration or feeling of loss, but rather from the one loud and persistent thought screaming in his head. Finally, he let it out, releasing the words into the stiff, cold wind.

“The admiral is going to be pissed!”