The Wild Ba’Neesh Chapter Eleven ©2019 Fay Thompson All Rights Reserved
“They could find us, anytime. Right?” Mick spoke up between the class programs. He felt like his brain was too full. Early on in his development he had been diagnosed to have some features of Eidetikers Syndrome or the ability to capture and retain information, detail and sometimes images with great clarity. He remembered his parents being told it happened occasionally in young children and usually ended when the child could speak well. His ES persisted but it wasn’t complete.
He couldn’t remember everything but he could recall most of what he heard. Maybe that was why he favored audio material over visual. Sometimes he imagined his brain like one of those twisty straws only his was a tube, miles long and knotted together so tight it could all fit inside his skull. In his imagination of that tube, information poured in and in and in until it filled up. Then, he had to process or sleep or there wouldn’t be any more room. He had reached that point. He clicked off the class stream.
The inside of the floater felt eerily quiet. Elias had long since sagged back in his seat, hearing his life playing out like some horrible echo. To his chagrin, he didn’t remember most of it. He heard voices of other boys, voices of Masters and he didn’t know who they were. Unbeknownst to Mick, Elias also had a form of ES but his centered on technical analysis. Put him in front of a computative system with his ears covered so he couldn’t hear surrounding sounds and he had almost total recall. Mick’s playback was almost torture and in large part Elias felt like he couldn’t string the words together, they became one giant blur of sound. When the room went silent he couldn’t comprehend the absence of the noise and then he picked out Mick’s words from the sounds that had been his life. He’d asked a question. Elias pushed his chair back to upright and stared dully at Mick. Was it over?
“DireSec and those Tule Soc people, they could find us anytime, right?” Mick repeated. He saw the glazed expression on Elias’ face slowly correct to some semblance of awareness. It was like the guy had totally zoned out. Good to know.
Elias looked at the time display on one of the holographic screens. It was two in the morning. He was both hungry and tired but more tired than hungry. Body confusion.
“Right.” He nodded, his security training rising. “It’s been sixteen hours. How long did the immobility weapon last?” He asked aloud.
Mick shrugged. “How would I know?”
Elias sighed. His thoughts were sluggish.
“I think we should send one of those little drones out to each entrance to the tunnel with pre-sets.” Mick said, “You know, like mechanical movement, sound, air changes, whatever. I don’t know what they do, besides spy.”
Elias nodded. It was a good idea. Why hadn’t he initiated defense earlier? Those damn classes.
“They can do all of that, it’s their primary function.” He pivoted and reached over to select two drones. Mick arrived behind his chair but he didn’t stop him. Elias took a deep breath. He hadn’t intended to do anything deceitful until Mick reacted. Whatever. He programmed the two drones for standard surveillance defensive mode and then programmed two more to switch off at two hour intervals so they would have two out and two charging at all times. “That work for you?” He asked Mick, uncertain how much of what Mick saw he understood.
“Make it a loud alert.” Mick answered. It looked okay even if he didn’t understand all of the commands. “Will they alert even if it is DireSec out there?” He asked.
“Yes. I can program them not to communicate with DireSec but to alert us first.”
“Do that.” Mick nodded. “I don’t want them sneaking in here to turn on my molcom and diddle my brain while I’m asleep.”
It was a crude offhand comment. Elias stiffened. It was perhaps the first time he acknowledged that his rating status that protected him from molcom limiters was adjustable. Yes, his molcom was off, like he’d done with Mick. But, as Mick guessed, it was just as easy to turn it on as off if you had that level of access to the system. DireSec certainly had the ability. Why hadn’t he noticed that himself? The only people he knew whose molcoms were effectively dead were top Masters who somehow killed them with Vrill as part of their finals exams to become a Master. On and off. He reached up to touch the back of his own skull. Would Jordy toggle him on and memory adjust him? The threat hung there. They weren’t supposed to.
He examined his trust in the leadership of DireSec or even OrderSec. Had he become a liability by being in this situation? There were ways he could easily see that being a consideration by top brass. He got chills. He didn’t want his brain diddled either. He adjusted the settings on the drones to maximum distance review and sharp alert and absolutely no communication even if approached by DireSec communication. There were settings in case DireSec had a rogue situation. He simply reversed the technology, his own expertise giving him the ability to override the systems and enter new code.
“No brain diddling tonight.” He announced when he was finished. He looked up to find Mick staring at him, his right hand holding that bone necklace right through his new clean t-shirt.
“Good.” Was all Mick said. Somehow the bone helped him sense duplicity. He was a quick study. He was already learning to trust the bone. They deployed the drones.
“You aren’t planning to bonk me while I sleep, are you?” Mick asked Elias.
“I might.” Elias said. It was truthful.
Mick’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t feel threatened. Would the bone tell him if he was threatened? He didn’t know. He did know he was super tired and likely couldn’t defend himself worth a shit if Elias did jump him. He would have to trust Kiena. He frowned. Sucketh.
“Right. I might jump you too.” Mick rolled his eyes and then pointedly turned his back on Elias to check the doors making sure they had their interior overrides on.
Elias grinned. He got up to check the top iris, equally firm in doubling its security. Damned if the kid hadn’t got him guessing. He then used the downstairs bathroom, followed by Mick. Both grabbed pillows and blankets out of the storage lockers and extended the chairs to their sleeping position. They weren’t super comfortable but between the floor or the chair, at least the chair had some cushion. Each slept across from the other and both of them fell asleep almost as soon as they got in a decent position.
The scream of the alert brought both of them upright what felt like only moments into their sleep.
“What the hell?” Mick yelled. “Did you set that to go off in an hour or what?”
“It’s five hours and no, we have company.”
“DireSec?” Mick was standing in the middle of the aisle, not really sure what to do.
“No. Looks like Tule Soc found us first.” Elias was busy running data, not even looking at Mick. This was his job. He was in protect and defend mode. Daylight had brought danger.
“Who is Tule Soc exactly and why are they chasing me?” Mick asked.
“They are dividing, half toward the other end of the tunnel. They intend to trap us. Internal system override. Seal all seals, recirculate interior life support. Defend against bacteria, viral, chemical and aerosol attack.”
Mick gaped. “They use biologicals? That’s illegal.”
“Quite. They are the best in the world with them.” Elias spoke grimly. “They are after you because you took out a city grid, a likely indicator of Ba’Neesh activity, Soek activity, DireSec and/or OrderSec involvement. They are in the business of exterminating all Ba’Neesh and Soek not in the direct control of Tule Soc or the Tule Society. That means two Soek in a floater in a remote tunnel in the Reserves is open season. They should likely try to acquire you first in order to rend the secret of how you took out a city grid. But, if that proves too hard, they will simply kill you, and me and then they will melt down the floater into a blob. Sound good?”
Mick was gaping at Elias, horrified. “You aren’t kidding?”
“No. Fraid not.” He was programming the floater’s weaponry so that half would fire under automation. It wasn’t optimum but he had only two hands and he expected the near tunnel entry to be the first assault.
Elias stilled. There was something wrong with his brain. He stiffened. There was stuff in his head he hadn’t known before sleeping. Fragmentary but not dream residue. He blinked rapidly. He knew Mick had played a lot of a game called Fighter Hero by Exicon. The controls in Exicon were largely similar to the weapons on the floater, intentionally so. It allowed operatives to practice strategies and firing in their free time like a simulator.
Mick was having a similar experience, he knew what Vrill should feel like and look like and he knew Kiena was seeking revenge. From whom he had no clue. There was other stuff, too much to fix on. He looked down at his right finger and pushed. He watched an eerily familiar trickle of light arc off his finger toward the floor. Not as strong. It didn’t melt the mat flooring. Something had happened while he slept, he had entered Kiena’s thoughts in some way, into her knowledge.
“Mick?” Elias made a snap decision. A manned fight was better than auto. Opponent fighting systems could identify known auto patterns; it was harder to solve independent individual choices. “Fighter Hero. A few differences but just yell, and I’ll try to coach you through them. You got the long tunnel, I got the short. Don’t play nice. They will be trying to kill us.”
And, there it was.
Mick scrambled to the seat opposite Elias, adjusting it to face outward. He powered up the generic screen controls. Fighter Hero. Had that company made the game for fighting in real life? That was a creepy thought. Maybe all those extra hard games he’d played weren’t against the machine. The world wasn’t nearly what he’d thought it was. It was like there was a second world under the surface reality. Then he saw the first target and it was on.
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Elias flinched when the boy started yelling out, hurtling curses at the men running toward him or riding vehicles down the tunnel. Then Elias realized the boy was in a game. He grinned and let himself be totally improper and yell out too. It helped. It made shooting at things so much more exciting.
The first battle happened almost too fast and then the aggressors pulled back, well into the darkness, leaving a handful of dead or dying behind.
Elias twisted around to look at the full display on Mick’s side. Darkness. Half the floater exterior was showing Mick’s field, half his field. Too dark. Sure, they could see some heat signatures but Elias knew that certain cloaking devices could mask heat. And, no doubt the next volley would be robots. They needed light. A slow smile crept on his face.
“Kiena, you watching?” He said aloud, “I can’t move a damn spoon, but I can do this.”
Mick pivoted to see Elias raise his right hand pointing outward, as if the floater walls weren’t there. “Light!” He yelled the word out and Mick could feel the Vrill snaking from the multiplier machine toward Elias and then the tunnel filled with light.
“Kiena? I’m busy. You do it.” Elias said aloud, the light snapping off.
Kiena was riveted. The Soek was using Speech, but not on any of them. Summoning light itself? She lifted her invisible hand and pointed outward and cast the word toward the tunnel and its invisible light. She laughed aloud as light came to life all around them.
Mick snapped his mouth closed. Light. They were making light inside the tunnel with Vrill. He saw movement down the tunnel on his side of the bend. Bugs. Lots and lots of bugs. Mechanicals, and they were fast.
“I got fucking bugs!” He yelled out. “They look like roaches, for real.” Then he was busy shooting, accompanying each shot with a yell and an obscenity.
They launched into the second far more protracted battle.
Mick was quickly annoyed with his weapons. They were too slow, too small and not enough diversity. He was sweating and the freaking bugs were advancing.
“Who designed these cheesy-ass weapons. Too slow, too weak, no broadcast, no concussion and I am seeing bugs with cans on them. What’s in the cans? Explosives? Acids?”
Elias blinked. The boy’s litany of verbal spew was abrasive and entertaining both. He reached out and toggled the external speakers, he had already added one more external view, what was on their screens, the view of the battle from inside the floater out on a tight DireSec encrypted channel. If DireSec was out there he wanted help before they lost their hull because sure as shit some of Mick’s cans were explosives and some were biological agents. He didn’t want to know.
“Well, Elias? Who was the asshat who under designed our weapons here?”
Elias grinned. He could imagine that DireSec would play this crap in review at some point. Let them. When would he ever get the chance to poke back at authority. “That would be Kirsan, likely.” He said aloud.
“Well Kirsan, whomever you are, you suck the big wad. These bugs are faster than grease on a pole and your weapons have a delay on re-charge and seriously, shitty selection and the game stick is slow. I mean seriously, Exotec makes better. Oh shit. More bugs. Take that you weasily, crumb-eating bottom feeder. Die you scum. Die.”
“Fuck me. I’ve got five more large transports.” Elias yelled out. “Reinforcements.”
“No fucking way!” Mick yelled back while blowing up another three of the flying type of bugs. They were extra hard. He hoped he scored extra for them. “Wasn’t this load of nasties just one large transport, a few on my side and more on yours?”
“Yeah.” Elias was hating their odds. It occurred to him they were about to die, for real and everything. “We can’t fight five transport loads of fresh reinforcements.”
“I’m getting rats now. Still mechs but they have larger bundles and they climb walls. Oh, you creepy mother fuckers. Die, I said die.”
The Tech Ops team onboard Kirsan’s large floater yelled out. “Broadcast incoming.”
Screens around the perimeter of all five floaters shifted to show split views of the inside of what could only be a tunnel.
“Location lock?” Kirsan couldn’t help himself.
“I got fucking bugs!” A voice yelled out. “They look like roaches, for real.”
“Analyze voice for ident!” Jordy yelled out.
The same mystery voice continued, “Who designed these cheesy-ass weapons? Too slow, too weak, no broadcast, no concussion and I am seeing bugs with cans on them. What’s in the cans? Explosives? Acids?”
“Likely ident is Mick Huxley.” A tech called out.
“Well, Elias? Who was the asshat who under designed our weapons here?” Mick continued, his voice sarcastic.
The screens were full of exploding bugs on one side and dart and dash on the other with Tule Soc operatives trying to evade direct hits.
“Shit.” Jordy said, “They are in an all-out battle.”
Kirsan was processing the analysis of himself as the asshat designer. A part of him was cringing. To his right a Soek with a turtle-shell on top of his head was watching avidly, alongside Xasper, the Master Caster. Xasper was snickering. The bastard was snickering.
“That would be Kirsan, likely.” Elias said aloud.
“Voice ident is Elias.” Jordy yelled out as the realization hit home, Elias and Mick were fighting Tule Soc together.
“I think we found them.” The Turtle said, matter-of-factly.
“Two hundred kilometers and closing. Estimated arrival of Tule Soc reinforcements at target area, under five minutes.” A techy yelled out.
“We won’t make it.” Kirsan spoke aloud. “We are at least fifteen minutes out. Do we have satellite views? Send fast drones out ahead and get us external visuals.”
“Well Kirsan, whomever you are, you suck the big wad.” Mick’s voice seemed larger than the speakers. Everyone was riveted to every word. “These bugs are faster than grease on a pole and your weapons have a delay on re-charge and seriously, shitty selection and the game stick is slow. I mean seriously, Exotec makes better. Oh shit. More bugs. Take that you weasily, crumb-eating bottom feeder. Die you scum. Die.”
“Gaming.” The Turtle spoke, amusement in his voice.
“Fuck me. I’ve got five more large transports.” Elias yelled out. “Reinforcements.”
“They must have drones up outside. Excellent. Get us those feeds too.”
“No fucking way!” Mick yelled. “Wasn’t this load of nasties just one large transport, a few on my side and more on yours?”
“Yeah.” Elias replied. “We can’t fight five transport loads of fresh reinforcements.”
“I’m getting rats now.” Mick’s voice overran Elias. “Still mechs but they have larger bundles and they climb walls. Oh, you creepy mother fuckers. Die, I said die. I’m going to stomp you like the ugly gutter juice you are.”
It was becoming clear to the operatives on all five of the DireSec floaters that the unimaginable battle inside the tunnel was on the verge of being lost. Many of them were yelling out and slamming their fists into their upper thighs, helpless to help. This wasn’t a battle like any they had ever seen. They wanted in on it in the worst way.
“They have light, continuing light.” The Turtle said, a fact everyone had missed.
Kirsan glared over at Mael and then back at the screen. Was Elias able to maintain light while fighting?
They watched one of the Tule Soc transports veer off, heading, no doubt, for the other end of the tunnel, the long end.
“Anything we can do?” Kirsan’s frustration weirdly mirrored Micks. Their weapons were simply not designed with this kind of a scenario in mind.
“Don’t we have any god damned thing to reach out past the tunnel entrance to target those transports?” Mick yelled.
“We got those big drones but we would need to unseal to launch and likely we already have biologicals in the tunnel as we haven’t seen an operative in here since that first round. What was alive is dead.” Elias answered, as much for Mick as for DireSec. They would need to know.
“You mean those guys I shot are really dead?” Mick blinked. It felt like game yet he could see bodies on the screen. Real men? It was gross and horribly, rather exhilarating. He really was fucked up. “Fuck. More rats and more of those spider things. Those fuckers blow up when I shoot them. Aracnid bombs.”
Several of the techs were hiding grins. The dialogue in this battle was priceless.
“We need to crush one of those transports. That would be a game changer.” Mick yelled over at Elias.
“They are pulling their mechs back to re-group, that suggests human hive queen deployment.” Elias answered.
“Yeah, my cowardly bastards are pulling back too.”
Something thumped the underside of the hell. “Oh shit, something got past. Was it cloaked or am I just missing shit? God damned fuckers. Does this hull have a way to charge it with electricity, Elias? Can we zap them off? Likely they are using electro-magnets, right? No hull breech.”
“No hull breech.” Elias’ fingers were flying over the floater’s specs. “You think that was dead under?” He yelled out.
DireSec operatives were leaning forward, straining.
“We are still ten minutes out.” Jordy announced so that all five ships could hear.
“Sounded like. You got an idea?” Mick pivoted to stare at Elias. “How long before they detonate it?”
“Not long.” Elias answered. “Likely they will make another mechanical rush and will want to gas us or kill us before they risk any of their agents. Cowardly fuckers.”
“You charge, I drive?”
“Now!” Elias yelled.
The light in the tunnel snapped off.
“Did we lose the view?” Kirsan yelled, everyone thought the planted device must have exploded. A flare at the very edge of their visual range and the sound of falling rock overwhelmed the speakers.
“No. We have view. Vrill withdrawal.” The Turtle answered.
“He must have charged the hull to detach the magnet and Mick piloted deeper on his end. That will leave a mine field of unexploded and now buried devices. What a mess!”
“Why hasn’t he given us any interior surveillance?” Kirsan snarled. He wanted to see what was happening, not just hear voices.
A new noise poured out of the DireSec speakers. It was a wail that sounded half alive and half mechanical.
“What the hell is that?” Jordy was leaning over the shoulder of the top Ops guy trying to make the guy give him answers.
“Elias. The damn multiplier.” Mick’s voice added to the din.
“Does he mean that sound is the onboard Vrill multiplier?” Kirsan asked everyone and no one in particular.
“Likely.” Mael too was leaning forward but his head was tilted to one side, listening intently. Beside him stood Anya, her two twisted horns glowing. She and the cluster of Ba’Neesh behind her remained eerily silent, only their eyes glowed. Battle. They loved battle.
“Zoom in.” Jordy’s voice brought them all to staring at the overhead satellite view which was already tight over the four remaining transports. “What the hell is that?” He pointed.
A blue arm was reaching out of the nearest tunnel entrance. It had a hand. It had elongated fingers. It flowed like molten lightening.
Too late the lead Tule Soc transport recognized the blue object as an unknown danger. As the craft veered hard to the right the fingers stretched out to wrap round the craft, to squeeze it causing explosions and sharp, jagged knives of energy light.
“And, that is why we are here.” The Turtle said as the remains of the ship dropped to scatter on the ground and they watched the arm swing with deadly precision, not grasping this time, this time it was a bat that knocked a second transport through the air and into the ground where it exploded. Then, as fast as it had appeared, it vanished. A cheer roared to life in all five ships.
“Shit!” Elias yelled out. “Two fuckers down.”
“Elias, look at the gauge.” Mick said.
Kirsan thumped his fist on the console. He wanted to see the damn gauge. It must be the multiplier. He needed to know.
“Are they running or re-grouping?” Mick continued.
Back to the game. Operatives and techs alike were going from screen to screen studying the behavior of the three remaining Tule Soc arriving transports and the one already on the ground. Technically Tule Soc still had the advantage.
“There’s not enough juice left.” Elias said.
“But, do they know that?” Mick answered. The two of them were looking through the limited lenses of the two small drones lurking in the brush and trees, one on each side evading detection.
Their screens shifted to a satellite view.
“What the fuck?” Mick yelled. “God damned game glitch. Where did that imaging come from?”
“DireSec.” Elias answered, turning to watch Mick carefully while keeping one eye on the two stationary transport floaters, deciding what to do no doubt.
“Sleazy bastard.” Mick yelled, “Are you trying to sell me out? I have the damn stunner…here somewhere.” Mick answered. “And, I’ve got the damned Beloved. Wanna play, Elias? Wanna play?”
“The Beloved!” Anya announced. “There is a Beloved in that tunnel.”
(Ahh, our first battle is here. Did you enjoy? I enjoy the wild battle scenes the most, as a writer and this novel has quite a few and each is different so they are a blast. I'm here every day posting so please comment if you have any questions I can answer without spoiling the story.)