The Human Insurgency (5 page)

"The fate of the Middle East seems to be fast
spiraling out of human control. Baghdad has fallen and eyewitnesses
have identified brightly-skinned and heavily armored Invader troops
occupying the city center.

"Wait...dear God! Please listeners, bear with us. We
have a breaking news update. This has just been confirmed from my
colleagues in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli-Palestinian alliance has
successfully destroyed at least three Invader carrier ships near
Jerusalem, killing all aboard. Disguised suicide bombers were
placed in key positions to be abducted by Invader extraction teams
early this morning. In an official statement the Prime Minister has
said, 'We will use all weapons at our disposal, even the brazen
sacrifice of human life, to protect the land that God has given us.
We stand alongside our Palestinian brothers and sisters so that our
children may one day walk freely upon this earth. We shall never
surrender.'

"This is Tanya Westenridge reporting, CNN news. We
now take you to my colleague Mikhail Lazengow, reporting from
Mexico City. Mikhail, what can you tell us about the situation in
Latin America?"

I stepped through the wall into the welcoming arms of
'Oh, crap!' and I didn't have time to pass the key to the others. I
found myself suddenly face to face with ten, no, fourteen or more
of the orange-skinned freaks
. Great escape plan, Skye
.
Wonderful freak-ing idea
. I'd jumped out of the hot plate
and into the raging inferno.

Hands grabbed me roughly, pushing me backward onto
the floor. The brightness of that many Glowing Ones so close was
too much. I could barely keep my eyes open. I obviously couldn't
know what they were communicating to one another, but I knew this;
they were angry and afraid. I caught glimpses of frightened,
rage-filled memories, and they were fresh. Glowing Ones killing
Glowing Ones. The aliens murdering each other.

I was in a chamber maybe 20 meters long, 15 meters
wide, with equipment that looked bizarre, but familiar enough to my
human senses that I could guess that this was probably where their
scientists observed and studied us. I couldn't quite be sure, but
it seemed that the fourteen or so uglies that were holding me had
been the same ones controlling us at the observation tables on
Level 3. The same ones violating the intimacy of my body, stroking,
prodding, touching in places they had no right to touch.

Two of the bastards were holding me down while I
struggled. I connected my knee with something soft. I felt it
recoil, drawing backwards as it sent a sensation of pain to jolt my
mind. Then the other Glowing Ones were making awful, high-pitched
noises, like an animal does when trying to defend its territory. I
abruptly realized, hearing the sound of tissue ripping apart, that
someone was shooting at us.

Not at us. At
them
. A phalanx of Glowing Ones
marched into the laboratory wearing head-to-foot body armor. Their
weaponry looked something like an M16 married to a crossbow, though
it was hard to recognize details in anything given my current
state. I clambered over the corpse of one of the Glowing Ones who
had held me down, only to stop deathly still in front of what
looked like one hell of a firing squad.

There were at least thirty of the uglies, the orange
light bathing their skins filling the room and making me shade my
eyes. There seemed to be a captain or leader of some sort. He
looked at me, and I just barely made out his tiny, grape-sized eyes
taking the measure of me.

He sent an image into my head, then an avalanche of
images which threatened to overwhelm me. For a second I became
confused, until I realized what he was trying so urgently to
say.

We're taking over the ship. You are not the enemy.
We will keep you safe.
That was all I knew for sure, but it was
enough. Given what I'd been facing a few seconds ago, it was more
than enough.

Suddenly I saw two of the armored uglies barge
through the permeable wall into Level 3. They came out with Myla,
Kane, Jobe, and Oliver in tow. The four of them looked so relieved
to see me they seemed ready to burst into joyful tears. We hugged
fiercely but quickly, and then I tried to explain to them what was
going on even as I knew they were probably being bombarded by the
same images that I had been.

"You okay?" Myla held me tight one more time for good
measure.

"Not that I'm not enjoying this little reunion," Kane
hissed, "but I think they want us to follow." Two of the armored
uglies were waiting for us while the leader had charged ahead with
his main. We joined our escorts and caught up with the main body of
troops winding from one corridor to the next. Every now and then I
noticed a section of purplish muck sliding away. Sometimes more
uglies poured out of the openings, bristling with weapons and
armor, enlarging our rapidly growing army as it swept through the
ship.

I couldn't be sure how long we traversed those
endless corridors. It was long enough that my feet began to hurt.
Then again, we were all out of shape after being held captive in
that damn cube for more than three months. I held Myla's hand as we
stumbled after our rescuers. It took every stroke of willpower not
to run away, reminding myself that though these 'rescuers' still
looked like the monsters that had come to haunt my dreams,
apparently not all aliens were the same.

So far I'd been hoping against hope to find other
survivors, humans who had been abducted just like us. But to my
surprise it seemed that we were the only ones.

"Get down!" Jobe shouted, pushing me down as gunfire
- alien gunfire - erupted in streaks that sounded more like hissing
air than anything lethal. Sound could be deceiving though. Whatever
those things fired, the holes they left in their victims were real
enough. We stepped gingerly over the bodies of one, two, then half
a dozen more Glowing Ones who had resisted our rescuers'
advance.

"Is this a military takeover?" Jobe whispered to
us.

"Maybe the grunts are staging a coup against the
captain of the ship," Oliver guessed.

"Whatever the hell's happening, let's just stick
together and try not to get shot, how about that?" I barked. Stupid
speculations could wait. I wanted all our brainpower focused on not
getting dead for the time being.

More endless corridors, more dead bodies...luckily,
none of them human. We did start to notice a pattern though. Most
of our saviors were heavily armored and armed. The opposition
seemed to be lightly clothed, with lighter weaponry. If I'd had to
guess, a coup by the military personnel of this ship seemed as
likely as anything.

Myla was nearly hyperventilating by the time we
reached what I discovered to be the ship's bridge.

It was huge.

I'm talking about a football field - not American,
but European football. It was a giant dome, a bustling hive of
activity. Less than fifty meters away I saw towering shards, thin
as windshield glass, rising from the floor like keys on a piano.
Each of the shards displayed rapidly scrolling symbols which I
assumed had to be information on the ship's functions. Was it part
of some impossibly vast computer network? I couldn't be sure, but
it was my best theory.

If they were, the tall glass shards were a lot more
durable than our human hardware. I gaped as some of the Glowing
Ones near the shards opened fire on us. I ducked down and saw our
Glowing Allies returning fire. To my shock the fragile-looking data
shards shrugged off the weapons' fire. I heard tiny bursts of
impotent gunfire blocked by the shards while the enemy Glowing Ones
used them as cover and returned fire to deadly effect.

For a few minutes I thought we were going to die. But
at that moment I got my craziest idea yet. It was a stupid, stupid
idea. But all I could see was a standstill, and that wasn't going
to cut it. Earth was being systematically conquered, and for all I
knew this was the only bright spot in humanity's fortunes. I had a
theory about the Glowing Ones who we were trying to overpower. They
had kept us captive for so long, studying us, developing us, even
going so far as to start teaching us a new language. So we had to
be valuable to them. You didn't invest that kind of time and energy
without placing value on whatever you were pouring that much effort
into. That's the assumption I was clinging to as I stood up, yelled
at the top of my lungs, and rushed forward, heedless of certain
death.

Did I mention that this was stupid? The Glowing Ones
on both sides of the battle stared at me, and for a moment the
exchange of gunfire actually stopped. Maybe the aliens were gaping.
I didn't know what a gaping Glowing One looked like, though. All
their expressions looked the same to me. At first I wasn't sure if
they were simply amazed by my audacity or if my plan was really
working. I was even more shocked to realize that Myla and the
others were rushing alongside, as fearlessly stupid as yours
truly.

"Skye, you're going to get us all killed," Oliver
hissed.

"Grow a pair," I replied, feeling almost guilty for
insulting him when we were probably all about to die.

Except that's when I noticed it. That this insane
plan might actually be working. Just as I'd hoped, the enemy uglies
who were dug in behind the data shards didn't fire on us. We were
like priceless lab specimens to them. They still returned fire, but
not anywhere near us. I watched as one of the good guy Glowing Ones
fell writhing with a smoking hole in his neck. Sure enough, though,
as the five of us advanced in one sweeping line and kept advancing
across the bridge, many of our Glowing Friends were actually using
us as cover to choose and puncture their targets.

Soon some of our allied Glowing Ones had established
a toehold among the data shards. Using us for cover, three, four,
then three more Glowing Ones had been able to advance and take up
positions, outflanking the enemy as their buddies kept up a steady
stream of supporting fire. We'd done our part; now it was time to
not die by accident.

As we ducked behind one of the data shards my breath
exploded and I unclenched my sweat-slick palms, feeling more sweat
pouring down my face. My heart was a jackhammer. Though I'd been
able to convince myself for a few seconds that I wasn't afraid, now
I was terrified. My body had responded with fear-masking adrenaline
for a while, but now I was crashing. Jobe put his arm around me,
shielding me with his own body in addition to the data shard at our
backs. Myla, Oliver and Kane looked at me with newfound
respect.

"Why didn't they shoot us?" Oliver blurted.

"They didn't want to kill their prize pets. They
probably also didn't think a few humans walking in the middle of
their gunfight would change anything," I replied.

Jobe interrupted me. "Wait, are you saying that you
knew that the rebellious Glowing Ones would be willing to use us as
human shields, and that the enemy uglies would let them?"

"That was my gamble, yeah. I felt that our newfound
friends here would be desperate enough to risk us. I also thought
that the ones studying us wouldn't want to kill us after all
they've invested in us."

"Even when it means they'll lose control of their
ship to the rebels?" Kane asked as the gunfire continued. Our
Glowing One allies were advancing, hundreds of them now on the
bridge, swarming forward. The battle was still raging, far from
over. Yet there was a subtle, dynamic shift. That one toehold among
the impervious, glass-thin data shards had made a real difference.
We, despite the odds and our own helplessness, had made a
difference.

"It still doesn't seem real," Oliver said in
amazement as we watched the battle escalate and turn in our favor.
"Your insane ploy actually worked, Skye. You're crazier than a bat
with rabies."

I scanned all their faces, almost as dear to me as my
own parents after all we'd been through. Why didn't they see it as
I did? Maybe I was that perfect mixture of weird and crazy, but I
also had extra justification for what I'd done:

"Look, I felt one of the enemy Glowing Ones in my
head. He reached out with his thoughts and tried to urge me to run
away. When your enemy wants you to do something, often your best
bet is to do the exact opposite."

Dad had taught me that long before I hit puberty.

"Kitty-Kat, if a stranger tells you not to scream,
what do you do?"

"Scream, Daddy."

Yep, Dad's advice had been dead-on, at least this
time around. I almost smiled, wondering what he would say if I told
him that I'd applied his cardinal rule to strangers, except these
strangers were from another galaxy. But when my mind went down that
dangerous path of thought, it wasn't long before I was stifling hot
tears.
Mom and Dad, I hope you're still alive. I miss you
guys.
I needed to get my head cleared, so I shook out my hair
and swore. The others were looking at me for a clue as to what to
do next.

Jobe gave me a gentle nudge.

"What now, Commander Skye?" I looked at everyone,
totally confused.

"You're letting me lead after what I just did?"

Myla shrugged. "You haven't gotten us killed
yet."

"Yet is right," Oliver mumbled, but even he looked at
me with grudging respect and waited for what I'd say.

Eventually the Glowing Ones on our side seemed to be
mopping up. Only a few pockets of resistance held out, and most of
the enemy uglies were either throwing down their weapons or being
turned into Swiss cheese.

"Just follow my lead." I focused my attention on the
Glowing One that had led the attack. He had played it smart,
standing in the back and directing his men. Now I approached
him.