Waiting (19 page)

'You bastard,'
snapped Gunther. 'Leave my daughter alone.'

'Silence. Take
her away, General Kane.'

'Yes, sir. And
the other two?'

Maxim sighed
and said, 'Do I really have to think of everything, Kane? Lock them
away somewhere, suitably chained up with two guards outside. Go.
This has become tiresome.'

'Yes, sir.'

'You would be
wise to reconsider hurting any of us,' said Salamandra.

Maxim glowered
at his prisoner. 'Rest assured. I'll make a particular example of
you.'

'Move it,'
growled Kane.

Like lambs to
the slaughter, Kane had them escorted away.

Chapter 59

He lay on his
bed considering the latest events and their possible significance.
The one called Gunther back on Earth was aware of what was
happening. Did that matter? They were after all, many millions of
miles away. Nothing could interfere with the plans. Soon it would
be time to impregnate the others. Conditions had to be right. There
was no hurry, and he would know when the time would come. They
always did.

He thought
about this host, so different to any others. He was getting used to
the body, feeding off it, the thousands he carried were growing,
waiting eagerly for their time when they would have their own host.
For now he would nurture them and keep them safe. He could feel
them feeding off the body, taking from it without causing it harm.
It was a sensation he had experienced before, nothing new.

He found the
brain interesting. A little different to others he had encountered.
What was it about these humans? Perhaps the human he had chosen was
not like other humans, but he thought that unlikely. There was a
uniqueness about him, true, his mental processes seemed healthy and
were therefore typical of their species.

The mind was
dormant and under his control, allowed enough freedom to appear
normal to the other humans, functioning as it always did to them.
But all the time,
he
was learning from it,
the history of his life, the history of their species since they
had recorded it.

Emotions! Yes.
That was it. That was the difference. Of course other species they
had taken over had emotions, but it seemed that in humans it was a
more advanced part of what made them human. It seemed from this
human's memories that he had experienced all of them in the last
few years. Some of the emotions were new so understanding them was
a challenge. He delved into individual memories, "seeing" and
"feeling" them as his host had done at the time.

Sadness.
Running so very deep. This was still strong and raw, from when the
war had taken his blood relatives. A tear ran down his cheek as
part of the brain still allowed to be human felt this sadness
again. Using the human's fingertips he touched the face, felt the
wet tears. He stared at his fingers at this physical expression of
sadness then used the human tongue to taste them. Interesting.
There was a saltiness to it.

The sadness
was tiring, so he explored the mind randomly, seeing the different
events which triggered various emotions. Anger. This seemed more
familiar, somehow. The human was angry at those he considered
responsibility for his loss, for his sadness. The anger raged
through him, almost uncontrollably. It was so intense, it had to be
let go to find another emotion.

Happiness.
Laughter. How peculiar. Something had caused this physical,
spontaneous reaction and the laughter was the physical release of
the emotion along with more tears, and although the tears were
fewer, they were still as the salty tears had been released for the
sadness.

It was almost addictive, exploring this mind, experiencing
the emotions so real it was as if
he
was feeling them as his own. This one. How strange that it
had produced the tears with the happy emotion, but felt so
different to sadness. He was seeing what the human had seen at the
time. He was also feeling what the human had felt, the new-born
baby in his arms. The infant was truly ugly; all red and blotchy,
its face all screwed up and making a most disturbing sound. And yet
this human felt such joy at holding it in his arms that a solitary
tear had run down his cheek.

But there was
an emotion so confusing it was almost impossible to understand.
Concentrate! There was so much love going on. But more than one
kind of love. He let himself "see" what the human had seen. The
baby in his arms. Yes. A flood of emotions for the infant, both Joy
and love. On a bed looking up at him was a female. The mother of
the infant. When the human looked at the female he felt so many
emotions. Pride. That was one. But the strongest of all was love,
almost the same love felt for the baby, but not quite.

He had to let
the emotions and experiences go. He felt drained from them, and yet
excited. He felt more alive than he had ever done in any other
species. And it was all his, for the lifetime of this human. He got
off the bed and stood before the mirror at the human face. Not
totally human, though. The familiar light appeared in his eyes, the
light unique to his own kind, for now hidden from the other humans.
Only when all the humans were taken over could that light be in
their eyes forever.

Inside he
could feel his kind feeding, growing. Waiting.

'Soon,' he
promised them.

Chapter 60

Gunther
rattled his chains. 'Must be a way out of this. I have to help
Bridget.'

Like Gunther,
Salamandra had been shackled to a very solid high-backed dining
chair in a small seldom used room and he had been pulling at his
chains to try to break the thick wood. It proved to be a remarkable
testament to craftsmen of a bygone age.

'I could do
with a chainsaw. Do you have one in your pocket or are you just
pleased to see me?'

Gunther said,
'Hang onto that sense of humour. You're going to need it. No chance
of a rescue from your people I suppose?'

Salamandra
sighed and admitted, 'Licking their wounds, I suspect. That last
onslaught from the Tricor scattered what was left standing into
hiding. Not that it matters now, but after making a few holes in
your army when we almost had you on the run, we were well and truly
beaten. Perhaps small pockets of resistance will remain, but even
if any came here to try to rescue us, they would never get through
the forcefield. They'd be wiped out by the troops here. Face it. I
expect we'll be little more than slaves.'

'Not all my
people agree with doing that.'

'Perhaps if
Loretti dies the cry to enslave us will be silenced. Oh. I'm sorry,
Gunther. I forget she is your woman.'

Gunther
laughed. 'Trish was never that. She thought I was her property to
use as she pleased. I was besotted by her at the time, so I didn't
object too much.'

'Bridget has
her mother's toughness and your humanity.'

'That's one
way of looking at it. Salamandra. You were the other one on that
message I found. What do you know of those alien beings?'

Salamandra
shrugged and said, 'Very little. Loretti called me from the Base
when she was assessing the progress with the mission. The Goliath
was only a couple of million miles from Spero with a few weeks to
go. Loretti had discovered the random signals others had dismissed
as being nothing of significance. Signals from Earth have been
bouncing around space ever since we had ships out there and it was
easy for them to assume that is what it was. Loretti realised they
were not from humans but from deep space and the direction of
Spero.'

'Something of
a coincidence isn't it? We are sending a ship to Spero, considered
to be a uninhabited planet suitable for terraforming, and hey
presto, these aliens suddenly appear.'

Salamandra
explained, 'Not so much of a coincidence. Radio signals have been
going back and forth for ten years between the Goliath and Earth.
Obviously, the aliens picked up those signals and realised the
destination of the Goliath and the reason for the mission. The
aliens saw an opportunity and decided to take it.'

'To do what? Destroy us? They would have wiped the Goliath
out if that had been the intention. Our ship is pretty much
unarmed. One thing we didn't think much about was to expect bumping
into an alien race, so weapons were thought unnecessary. What else
could be happening?'

Salamandra
said, 'Loretti suggested what would happen, rather than specific
details. But you know her as well as anyone. Ambitious. Devious.
Ruthless.'

'And those are
just her good qualities. Go on.'

'It seems they
live through others. A symbiotic relationship with them feeding off
us, but them dominating our minds. Rather like a parasite, but with
overall control of our minds.'

Gunther frowned
and said, 'And now it's our turn to be used. I assume this would
happen when the Goliath lands on Spero?'

'I presume
so.'

'Then not too
late to warn them if we can get out of here. But that's those on
the mission. What about Earth? How can Loretti benefit from a deal
with the aliens all those millions of miles away? Think they could
come here?'

Salamandra
said, 'Eventually. If they take over the Goliath, they could come
here that way. Take over the crew and come here in the ship. Or
they could just use it to land on Spero.'

'Or both. There
are still a few million of us here. If they did come here, Loretti
and those on her side could help the aliens take over the humans
here. She saw you as somebody to rule Earth with.'

Salamandra
said, 'Yes, I know. She'd be thinking keep her friends close, her
enemies closer. Especially me. But putting my lot in with Loretti
would be like keeping a pet scorpion in my pocket. Never knowing
when it would kill me.'

Gunther pulled
on his chains and said, 'And there's not a damn thing we can do
about it.'

Chapter 61

'Are you not
hungry? That's not like you,' said Willis, mopping up his gravy
with a chunk of bread.

Staples said,
'Hard to eat with a hundred pairs of eyes staring at me.'

'A bit of an
exaggeration,' said Willis, looking around the huge dining hall. 'I
count only ninety-nine pairs of eyes looking our way. Ignore
them.'

Staples leaned
forward and whispered, 'I am. But there's something else. I heard
Corporal Smithy talking with Private Hawthorne. Bridget's in the
cell and Kane's going to be interrogating her in the morning. Maxim
thinks Bridget knows something and Kane loves hurting people.'

Willis pushed
his plate away. 'I can hear your cogs turning. The answer is
no.'

'Then I'll do
it myself.'

'Ok.'

Staples stared
at Willis in disbelief. 'I didn't hear you say that.'

'Then I'll
repeat it. Ok. You want to end up very dead very soon trying to
save Bridget, you knock yourself out. Oh. Don't bother. There'll be
a very long queue eager to do that for you.'

'I'll take my
chances.'

Willis said,
'You're a worry. Why the hell do you want to get involved? You
hardly know the girl. Forget it and move on.'

'Hey. You've
said your piece. You don't want to help me, that's just dandy. But
don't
you
go telling
me
what I can and can't do.'

Willis grinned.
'I get it. Marcia Potts all over again.'

'What?'

'Marcia
Potts.'

'Damn it,
Nathan. We were seventeen.'

'Ah! Loves
young dream. And look where that got you. She went off with Doug
Merryweather.'

'Don
Fairweather.'

'Yeah. That's
what I said. He had a second-hand hover-cycle. You had...Not a lot
as I remember. Hmm. No wonder she dumped you for him. But I've seen
that look on your ugly face before.'

'What
look?'

'The look of
love, my friend.'

Staples said,
'Rubbish.'

'This changes
everything. How can I possibly refuse to help rescue a lady in
distress, especially when my best pal is in love with her.'

'You'll help
me?'

'Against
hundreds of troops trying to kill us and certain death for our
efforts? Yeah. Why the hell not.'

* * *

Davis and Mills
looked at each other then back at the lieutenant. 'Not that we're
complaining, but we've another two hours to go,' said Private
Mills.

'Sounds like
complaining to me, private,' snapped Staples. 'Orders have changed.
Live with it.'

Sergeant Willis
glared at the privates and snarled, 'Why are you two still here?
Three seconds, or my boot, your ass.'

Those magic
words had the two privates running away down the corridor.

'That was
easy,' said Staples. 'I wasn't expecting that.'

'Told you,'
said Willis, turning the key. 'After you.'

Staples said,
'They look quite comfortable in here. Maybe we should just leave
them.'

Gunther rattled
his manacles and said, 'I don't suppose you have a key for
these?'

'Ah, now,' said
Staples. 'One thing you always drummed into us was always have a
plan and always be prepared.'

'When did he
say that?' said Willis unlocking Salamandra. 'I must have been off
sick that day.'

Salamandra and
Gunther rubbed their wrists and eased their joints.

'Bridget,' said
Salamandra. 'We must save her.'

'Ok,' said
Willis. 'If you insist. Now we did think this bit through. Sort of.
Heck. it might even work.'

* * *

It was a matter
of timing. The two guards outside the cell on floor H were up on
their feet the second the elevator descended to their level and
both had their lasers pointing at the door. Concentrating so hard
on the elevator as they waited for the door to open, they didn't
even see Staples and Willis appear at the foot of the concrete
steps until a laser shot hit their legs; the shock and the pain
making them drop their weapons and buckle-up to the floor in
excruciating agony. They could do nothing about the strong hands
pinning them down as other hands gagged and bound them.