Wings of Retribution (55 page)

The noise had been going on for hours, ever since the ship pulled into the dock.  Several times, he had heard the dockmen refer to the ship’s cargo as ‘floaters,’ but as of yet he had not seen anything come off the ship other than a few sailors.  Sailors and dockmen alike had cursed when they found out that the transportation canisters for the floaters were all in use and they’d have to wait until morning to unload.

Ragnar walked up the gangplank and stepped onto the worn, sunbleached deck.  The wood beneath his feet was vibrating with the intensity of the sound.  When he looked closer, he realized that the keening was coming from a huge metal box inset in the deck of the ship.  A metal lid prevented him from seeing what was inside, with only a small porthole welded into the top.  A crane sat poised over the box, equipped with a fishing net.

Ragnar stepped closer and touched the box.

Immediately, the keening stopped.

Ragnar yanked his hand away and stepped back.  The ship remained eerily silent.  He glanced around, wondering if any of the dockmen would notice the sound had stopped.

When no one appeared to stop him, Ragnar circled the box until he was standing in front of the porthole.  It was bolted in ten places.  Gingerly, he touched the bolts.  They and the box were both heavy iron, on a planet where iron was scarce.  Whatever was in there, the dockworkers didn’t want it getting out.

Ragnar glanced up, where the ring of buoys bobbed in the waves, glittering in the moonlight.  He had watched them painstakingly push the net under the prow so that the ship could pass through earlier in the day.  Did this cargo have something to do with the massive net that ringed the island?

Whatever is in that box can hurt you just as easily as it can hurt those humans,
a part of Ragnar warned.
  You should leave it alone.

And yet, after what the humans had done, Ragnar felt a flush of rebelliousness that clouded his good sense.  He was so helpless in all other matters—any sort of sabotage would make him feel better.

He put his hands on a bolt and tugged.  It slid back with a heavy metallic thud.  The rest went just as easily.  In the end, Ragnar was left staring at the unbolted lid, wondering if he was making a huge mistake out of petty revenge.

He touched the edge of the lid and took a deep breath.  Then he lifted.

Nothing.

Tense, he leaned over the lip of the canister and peered inside.

“You made us wait a whole day for
this?”
  Athenais kicked a weather-worn stone, disgusted.  “There’s nothing here.”

Fairy was standing beside her ship, one hand pressed to the hull, looking out at the destruction in dismay.  She hadn’t taken two steps away from the ship the entire day.

Seeing the little twit’s nervous expression, Athenais laughed.  “Afraid it’ll fly away on you?”

“Stuart doesn’t like this,” Fairy said.  “He says we should leave.”

“Leave?”  Athenais snorted.  “Look at this rubble.  It’s at least three thousand years old.  If it was a sickness, it’s gone.  If it was a war, it’s over.  If it was a storm, it’s passed.  Whatever happened, it’s safe now.  I’d say it’s an unexpected bonus that we found a good place to land.  If this wasn’t here, we’d have to land right in the middle of one of their forts, and I’m not quite ready to deliver myself to Juno so easily.  Isn’t that right, Rabbit?”

Rabbit was staring off toward the ocean, his brow wrinkled in a frown.

Athenais turned to look.  “What is it?”

“I just…”  Rabbit shook his head.  “I thought I saw something.  But that’s impossible.  At this distance, it must have been larger than a ship.”

That got Athenais’s attention.  She peered out at the aquamarine waves, shielding her eyes from the sun. 

The Colonel pointed.  “Look at the beach.  There’s something out there.”

Indeed, two bluish shapes were resting on the sand.

“They’re huge,” Fairy said.  Then, in the worm’s flat tones, “I think we should go.”

“They’re probably just dead whales,” Athenais said.  “Juno would’ve seeded this place with Earth marine life to make it livable.  Not enough land for agriculture.”

“Dead whales that are moving,” Rabbit commented.

“Someone go get me some binoculars,” Athenais ordered.

No one moved.

Reddening, she began to walk toward the beach.

“Where are you going?” Fairy demanded.

“I’m going to find out what’s out there,” Athenais said.  “You should probably stay.  I don’t want you wetting yourself, little girl.”  At that, she started navigating the rubble-strewn slope that Fairy had chosen for their landing site.  The highest point on the island.  Athenais was still fuming over that.  Sure, they had a better view, but they might as well paint a target on their hull. 

Athenais was ruminating over this when she happened to glance up.

Her feet came to a dead halt.  Whatever it was on the beach, it was bigger than she had first thought.  And it was definitely alien.

She felt a wave of panic as an enormous, bulbous head lifted from the sand and let out a long, deep bellow out over the ocean.  Then the alien settled back to rest.

Athenais knew she should go back to the ship, but she had to get a better view.  How could something grow to be so
huge?
  She crept closer, shielding herself with the broken walls of abandoned buildings.  She got close enough to see the creatures were covered with bluish scales the size of breastplates before one of them suddenly lifted its head to stare directly at her.

The other looked up quickly, let out an ear-shattering scream, and splashed into the ocean.  Ten-foot waves crashed to shore behind it, swamping Athenais’s boots with warm saltwater.

The other creature, the larger of the two, remained where it was.  It stared at her with its skimmer-sized eyes, unblinking.

Suddenly, Athenais felt the overwhelming urge to take a bath.  The water was warm on her feet, reminding her that her last real bath had been in a cell on Terra-9.  She stank worse than Goat.  Her skin itched.  She needed a bath.

Leaving the shelter of the rocks, she started walking towards the ocean.

Just a short dip.  Dunk her head under, wash her hair, maybe swim a little.  It would be refreshing.

“What the hell is she doing?” Tommy demanded.

Rabbit suddenly turned away from the ocean.  “Everybody get on the ship,” he said.  “We’re leaving.  Now.”

“But what about Athenais…?”

“We’ll come back for her.  Let’s go.”

“If you think that thing’s dangerous, I can get onboard and blow it to pieces,” Dallas said.

“I’m not afraid of the alien,” Rabbit said, pointing.  “I’m afraid of
them.
”

A squadron of airborne warships were bearing down on them like a hive of bees.

“Everybody get on board!” Dallas squeaked.  They got inside and shut the doors just as the first bombs hit, shaking the ship.

Dallas ran with the others to the helm and began to execute the commands for takeoff.  She was just lifting off the ground when she saw the size of the ship in front of them.  She released the controls, her jaw dropping.

Interstellar warship
Retribution
, this is
Everest
, unclassified.  You are trespassing on the Emperor’s soil.   Proceed with liftoff and you will be terminated.

“Since when do atmo ships get that big?” Rabbit whispered.

Athenais was brought to the helm of
Retribution
wet and near-drowned.  The two men escorting her wore stylized medieval plate and carried pikes, but Athenais’s bloody nose attested to the fact that they were more than just decoration.

  “Athenais.”

Juno sat in the captain’s chair and looked up at her approach.  The former Psy operative wore a brocaded white shirt and matching pants that reminded Athenais of a karate gi.  Her golden hair was wrapped into a tight bun behind her head and her angular face twisted at the sight of Athenais.

“Juno.”  Athenais nodded coolly.  “What did you do to the girl?”

“We’re educating her, along with that former Utopi you were dragging around.”

“You’re brainwashing them.”

Juno’s lips tightened.  “Why are you here?”

“I came to get my shifters.  Where are they?”

“
Your
shifters.”  Juno snorted as if she found that particularly funny.  “They are currently involved in procreating a new shifter race on Xenith.”

“Well, get them.  I’m taking them home.”

“They aren’t going anywhere.  They’re my guests.”

“Your breeding stock, you mean.”