The Indestructibles (Book 4): Like A Comet (21 page)

Chapter
35:

I'd
like to try

Kate walked onto the landing platform
the Indestructibles used as their aerial front door to the Tower. Jane stood
alone near the edge and looked out across the cityscape. Her hair flamed in the
early morning sunlight, at odds with the ruined uniform she hadn't bothered
changing out of and her borrowed sweatpants. Still, Kate thought, while
standing there in her bare feet and pajamas, she looked more like a superhero
than any of the rest of them.

      "You look like you're
thinking bad thoughts," Kate said.

      Weariness settled into the corners
of Jane's eyes.

      "I have a stupid idea. Nobody's
going to like it," Jane said.

      "You'll do it anyway,"
Kate said.

      "Will I?"

      "Yes," Kate said. "Whatever
it is, you should do it."

      "You don't even know what it
is."

      "Your worst decisions are
better than our
best
decisions," Kate said.

      "I want to try to talk to
them," Jane said. "I want to find a solution that doesn't involve us
going to war."

      "That's a terrible idea,"
Kate said.

      "I know."

      "Jane, as far as we know,
they have no interest in talking. They're just looking at our planet as a meal."

      "I know," Jane repeated.
"It seems so wasteful. People will die."

      Kate paused for a moment thinking,
then inhaled sharply. "You know what I would do?" she said.

      Jane raised an eyebrow. "Do I
want to?"

      "I wouldn't offer them peace,"
Kate said. "I'd walk in and state their terms for surrender."

      "And you said my idea was
terrible," Jane said.

      "No," Kate said, holding
up a finger. "To ask for peace is to appear weak. But if you were to walk
in and tell them that going to war with us is the worst possible thing they
could do—if you said in no uncertain terms that we will be the end of them if
they try…"

      "You're telling me I should
bluff," Jane said.

      Kate's mouth broke into a grin.

      "It's not bluffing if you
believe it," Kate said.

      "You're really insane, aren't
you?" Jane said.

      Kate shrugged and handed Jane a
tablet she'd been holding. On the screen was a map.

      "What's this?" Jane
said.

      "Remember how Titus told us
another signal was sent during our fight with those ships yesterday?"

      Jane rubbed her eyes, the gesture almost
an exact replica of Doc's habit when he was tired.

      "That was yesterday?"
she said. "Yeah, I remember."

      "Neal snagged it. It took him
time to decode it, but he figured things out," Kate said.

      "Coordinates," Jane
said.

      Kate gestured to the screen.

      "Something is there,"
Kate said. "Has to be."

      "We should go check it out,"
Jane said.

      Kate shook her head. "Let me
go in quiet," she said. "Maybe we can catch them by surprise."

      Jane gave her an indignant look.

      "Are you saying Emily and I
aren't quiet?"

      "Your hair's on fire."

      "I'm kidding," Jane
said. "Okay. Yeah. Not alone though?"

      "I'll bring Titus," Kate
said.

      "And Bedlam."

      Kate could tell Jane expected her
to protest, but it made sense—if things went poorly, it'd be good to have the
extra pair of fighting hands available.

      "Sure. If she's willing,"
Kate said. "I'd like to leave immediately."

      Jane returned her gaze to the
City.

      "Billy says they're less than
a week away," she said. "Sooner is better."

      Jane handed the tablet back to
Kate and wrinkled her nose.

      "I really feel like I have no
idea what we're doing," Jane said. "Do you know where Doc went?"

      "I saw Emily. She said he
went to get us some help," Kate said.

      "Help," Jane said. "Who's
left to call?"

      Kate shrugged. She turned to
leave, but stopped herself.

      "Don't go flying off to try
to be an ambassador for the entire planet without speaking with him first,"
Kate said.

      "Doc'll say no," Jane
said. "You think it's a stupid idea?"

      Kate pursed her lips and looked
away.

      "At this point, all that
remain are stupid ideas," she said. "Just be careful."

      "You too."

Chapter
36:

Where
we come from

Billy couldn't tell if Dude's powers
helped him recover faster from his injuries or if he was just incredibly bored,
but it didn't take long for him to drag himself out of bed and go wandering.
The clothes Titus left him were ridiculously comfortable after having spent
several days in his uniform.

      "No wonder he wears yoga
pants and a hoodie all the time," Billy said.

     
We can always change our
uniform choice,
Dude said.
You were the one who wanted to look like a
comic book character.

      Billy shuffled down the hallway,
his legs unexpectedly stiff and uncertain. Confused at first, until he realized
he hadn't walked for several days. His limbs weren't used to bearing his own
weight. His powers righted his internal compass and strengthened his balance.

      "Thanks, Dude," he said,
knowing the alien was working to get him back to a hundred percent as each new
little weird problem arose.

     
This is what we do,
Dude
said.
When my previous hosts and I traveled between worlds, I'd need to help
them adjust for different gravity or atmosphere so they can breathe. Let me do
my job.

      "I appreciate it," Billy
said.

     
I don't think you've ever said
that before,
Dude said.

      "Don't get used to it,"
Billy said.

      Billy stopped by one of the other
quasi-hospital rooms, somewhat amazed how little time they'd spent in this part
of the Tower. The interior of the place was so irrationally big, he thought.
There were days he was convinced it was twice as large inside than out.

      He peeked into a room and saw Seng,
the other Luminae host, sitting on the bed, eyes closed as if asleep.

      Then Billy edged out quietly,
afraid he'd wake him.

      "Come back, young one,"
Seng said in a strangely echoing voice. Billy wondered if that was the way his
voice box was designed, or if the echo was some side effect of having his own
Luminae translate his words into English for him.

      "Didn't want to disturb you,"
Billy said.

      "It's never a disturbance to
speak with one of my brothers," the alien said. He opened his eyes and
gestured for Billy to come forward.

      "I'm... glad you made it,"
Billy said. "I was worried the crash killed you."

      "I'm sure you've noticed we're
a little more difficult to kill than most," Seng said. "You went to
meet the Nemesis fleet. Tell me what you saw."

      Billy described the dark, bug-like
ships, the chase, the encounter with Suresh.

      "So our other brother still
lives," Seng said. "He no longer speaks to any of us."

      "Did he talk to you before?"
Billy said. "I've never had a conversation with another one of our kind."

      "Sometimes we leave our
worlds, the ones we're supposed to protect," Seng said. "He's not the
first of us to give up hope. Believe it or not, your species is not the first
to drive a Luminae to despair."

      "We seem to be pretty good in
that role," Billy said.

      Seng shrugged.

      "I haven't been here long,"
he said. "So I can't say. But usually when we have to move on—whether the
world is destroyed or it simply can't be saved—we do reach out. Your Luminae
wouldn't have needed to talk to his brothers if he felt secure here."

     
I did feel we were secure,
Dude said.
I'm unhappy with myself for not anticipating this invasion
sooner.

      Billy mentioned his encounter with
the egg-thing near the moon, describing the fight and how he escaped. "What
was that thing?"

      "Sometimes, the Nemesis
identify a world to consume and then send scouts. These scouts often bring
eggs. The first round of warriors for the battle ahead," Seng said.

      "Did I… I mean, were they
babies? They hatched in front of me. Did I kill a bunch of babies?"

      Seng shook his head. The human
gesture seemed creepy and out of place on him.

      "You shouldn't feel guilty
about anything you do to defend your home, but you're young, and you haven't
lost a world yet," Seng said. "So I understand. But the… you call
them parasites?"

      "The grabby things. Yeah."

      "The parasites are an
extension of the consciousness of the mind-ship," Seng said. "To kill
one is…"

      Seng held out his hand and wiggled
his fingers.

      "To chop off a digit. You
aren't ending a life. You're simply maiming a threat."

      "Not super reassuring,"
Billy said.

      "You chop off a finger from a
monster who can regrow its hand whenever it wants to," Seng said.

      "That's disgusting,"
Billy said.

      Seng shrugged again.

      "I apologize for my lack of
manners. I don't know your language customs. My companion can only translate my
words for me," Seng said.

      Billy threw up his hands. "No
need to apologize. I've heard worse," he said.

      Billy peered at the alien's face,
saw the old scars there, wounds that his Luminae hadn't been able to heal.

      "You came here to warn us,"
Billy said. "But where were you before? What happened?"

      Seng remained silent for a long
moment, almost as if he hadn't heard Billy's question. Billy could tell, that
the alien was having a conversation with his own symbiote. Were they getting
their stories straight? Figuring out a lie? Determining their own truth?

      "We couldn't save my home
world," Seng said finally. "We did our best. But the Nemesis proved
to be too much."

      Billy felt his chest constrict, a
cold fear seeped up the back of his neck and down his limbs.

      "They destroyed your world,"
he said.

      Seng's voice grew quiet as he
spoke next. Sometimes, he paused to say things in another language, some dialect
that sounded like water rushing over sand.

      "Our world was just the kind
they like best," Seng said. "An ocean world. A well cared for world.
The Nemesis like blue worlds. Ones teaming with life for them to consume."

      "You fought back?" Billy
said.

      "We tried," Seng said. "But…
it was never a military world. And not aimed toward the stars. We tried to warn
them. That we were too happy. Too complacent. Your world, is it an angry place?"

      Billy almost laughed. He would
have cracked if his mind wasn't reeling from the image of an entire world eaten
alive by that fleet he'd seen.

      "We've got some anger issues,"
Billy said instead.

      "Good," Seng said. "I
thought our hope would have saved us, but I think it only made us unprepared.
Perhaps your world will be able to harness your anger. If you can use it like a
weapon…"

      "Most times we use it on each
other," Billy admitted. "We're good at that."

      Seng made a soft clicking noise.

      Dude told Billy that the noise was
equivalent to a sigh.

      "Maybe this is just another
world that deserves to be ended," Seng said.

      "You believe that?"
Billy said.

      Seng turned his eyes to the door
of his room and looked out into the hallway.

      "I have met your allies,"
Seng said.

      "They're a little odd,"
Billy said.

      "But they are… you have
something we lacked," Seng said.

      "Crazy people in costumes?"

      "Heroes," Seng said. "My
brother and I stood alone against the fleet. We did our best. But my people
weren't ready. We had no heroes."

      Billy thought about Jane's question.
If the Nemesis fleet could be reasoned with. The hero who wanted peace. He felt
a gnawing in his stomach, acid roiled inside. Poor Jane, he thought. Someday I
want her to be right. Someday I'd like her to discover that finer world she's
always searching for. It won't be this time, will it Dude?

     
Thousands of years, Billy Case,
Dude said.
We have tried. I promise you. We have tried.

      "Well, heroes we got,"
Billy said. "You think we should fight?"

      "I think you should,"
Seng said. "And I will join you."

      Billy almost smiled, but then
realized he needed one more answer.

      "What happened to your
brother, Seng?" he asked.

      "He gave his life to buy me
time," Seng said. "So that I could find the next world, and give them
a chance."

      "He must've been pretty brave,"
Billy said.

      "The bravest ever known,"
Seng said. "I'll battle with you, but I fight for him."