Alliance Hunter -
Chapter 5
“Don’t wriggle,” she said her voice sounded gruff but normal. By that it meant there was no metallic tang to it. “Or panic, your adrenaline spike is doing nothing to help my analysis.”
“Who are you and what are you doing?”
The stranger scowled. “Correcting the mess that idiot caused you. She may be a whiz with computers she has no idea how bodies work. Frankly I’m surprised she hadn’t made a total mess of it.”
I froze as I realised that the finger of the hand on my chest was inside me. I couldn’t feel any pain but it was inside me. Fear surged through me I tried move but I couldn’t.
“Girl what have I told you about panicking. I cannot do a proper analysis if you’re thrashing about and that heart of yours is racing too fast. Take a deep breath and calm yourself down. I really don’t want to have to restrain you!”
“No!” Fear of the exoskeleton flashed through my mind I didn’t want to be enslaved again.
“Then remain still and calm. I’m nearly done.” She withdrew her finger I expected my blood to come gushing out behind it. All that was on her finger was a black goo. “Got the little blighters!” she said triumphantly.
“What, what is that?” My voice sounded as scared as I felt.
“That girl is someone else’s mess, someone with a basic knowledge but no practical. You really should have awakened me first?”
I stared at her disbelieving.
She stared back. “I know it’s hard to digest but we have to do what we can to help you. I’m called Digger.” Digger made a face. “That’s what we been advised to tell you. To be honest your voice would have a hard time trying pronounce my name.”
“Can I go home now?” By that I meant the ship I wished it was Earth but I had my promise to Solstrid and I wasn’t about to leave Jervic in the hands of the Valkyrie. There seemed to be a faction on board this ship that hated males or it appeared that way to me.
“Not just yet I’m afraid.”
“Can I at least get off this bed?”
“Of course I’ve finished my diagnosis you shouldn’t have any problems now.”
I got off the bed acutely aware of my nakedness. “I don’t suppose you have anything for me to wear?”
Digger gestured and I felt something crawling over my skin I nearly screamed in terror as remembrances of the exoskeleton filled my mind. I suppressed my urge to run. As quickly as the sensation started it ended. I looked down only to find myself clothed in boots, jeans and T-shirt the colours natural and not the unrelieved black of the caverns.
“Satisfied?” Digger asked.
“Only when I can go back to my home?”
“And how do you know that this isn’t?”
Digger’s question floored me I wasn’t sure how to answer that finally I did. “It isn’t I was born on Earth that is my home.”
Digger glanced over my shoulder. “Oh wonderful. Here comes the idiot now!”
I turned to see Mouse approach looking concerned. “Mouse?”
She gave me a smile it slipped on seeing Digger. “Hello Little One.” She pointedly ignored Digger. “How are you?”
“Could be better if I wasn’t here.”
Digger interrupted. “What she means is why did you bring her here?” Digger’s voice dripped with malice. “Oh is it the apology you are supposed to make for ruining her life?”
Mouse glared at Digger her mouth tight. I didn’t like seeing that expression on her face it reflected mine even if she was an older looking copy of me. “Someone is correct in that aspect. Little One I must apologise to you. I seem to be doing that a lot to you. Please be patient we’ve a lot to learn we’ve been as you would say out of the loop for a very long time.”
“Gee I wonder why?” Digger glared back at Mouse.
I noted they were using a heck of a lot of human expressions in their words I wondered if they copied more that just my features. I had to stop this bickering and find out why I was here. “Will you two just shut up for a minute!” I hadn’t meant to be harsh but I was scared and just wanted this ordeal to end. I’d only be facing more back on the ship.
They both stared at me their mouths half open.
“Way to go girl!” Digger applauded.
“I’m sorry Little One,” Mouse apologised.
“Will you just stop bickering and get to the point. Why have you dragged me here?”
“Because girl it easier to talk to you like this.” Digger fixed me with an amused gaze. “Or would you prefer that we whisper in your ear and then everyone thinks you are mad?”
Digger had a point but I was here then my lack of presence on the ship would have search parties out. I could really see me explaining this to Runa. “Oh Runa some aliens I’d met on Saros wanted to talk to me.” Yeah like she’d believe me. “No not that!” Then a thought occurred to me. “You can do that talk to me. Of course you can if you can drag me halfway across the galaxy then you can speak to me directly?”
Mouse grimaced. “It a lot more complicated than that.”
“Come on you are so technologically advanced compared to us this should be simple for you?” I countered.
“It is complicated girl this is one of the few things we see eye to eye about as much as it pains me,” Digger said pointedly her eyes on Mouse.
Mouse glanced at Digger her cheeks reddened. I know they shouldn’t have, I began to believe they weren’t the simple constructs I’d imagined them to be. If they could transport me across space then they could build themselves flesh and blood bodies I just wished they’d used someone else as a template.
“I’ve been alone so long I just want to talk to you and feel the joy in that,” Mouse said.
I distinctly heard the pain of unending years on her own in her voice. As scared as I felt she must have been more so trapped as data in a column unable to touch or feel anything.
“Ok, ok,” I said my fears slipping away. “So what is so important that I’m here. They would miss me if I wasn’t on the ship?”
“As we’ve stated girl it’s complicated.”
“It can’t be that complicated and you haven’t got to the reason I’m here?”
“I’m sorry,” Mouse said to me.
“You better be,” Digger added.
I shot her my best glare.
“I’m so sorry Little One,” Mouse said to me repeating her words something a lot of people accused me of.
“My name is Gwen!”
“I’m sorry Gwen for all the hurt I’ve caused you. You didn’t deserve the pain I put you through I was judging you by our standards and that wasn’t right.”
“Darn right,” I replied hotly. I was getting tired of all the interference in my life. “I’m not one of you.”
“That’s not entirely correct!” Digger said.
I knew it wasn’t that simple.
“What do you mean by that?” Mouse demanded, Digger knew something she didn’t and nor did I.
Digger nodded to me and smiled reassuringly. “It appears the renegades visited her world at sometime in the past.”
“Renegades?” I asked shuddering as I remembered the corpse on the computer. The one that turned to dust as I touched it, the one associated with the silver cube. “That body I found the one that turned to dust at my touch that was a renegade?”
“That was a Corrupted, one of our own turned against us,” Mouse said reaching out and touching my arm her hand felt real.
“And the renegades they were the same?”
Digger shook her head and grimaced at Mouse anger sparking in her eyes. “Ours doing what we wouldn’t do. Except we used others to do exactly the same.”
“Who?” I had to ask the question.
“The Rho’xan,” Mouse said without emotion. It seemed like she had tucked her anger within herself.
“They made us believe the lies they told us and like the idiots we were we lapped them up. We gave them our best and they destroyed us,” Digger told me not holding back her contempt.
Mouse nodded sadly the emotion she lacked moments ago showed fully in the tears that trickled down her cheeks. “This was our last secret bastion. There were so few of us left there wasn’t enough for a viable population.”
Despite my initial anger my heart ached at the despair in her voice.
“We could have had you let the renegades return. No you just turned you back on them?” Digger said to Mouse but her words lacked fire like argument they’d had before and before that with both sides tired of it.
“No they were violent killers. I couldn’t let them contaminate our future,” Mouse said her words shaky.
I stood back clearly I had no input here I just let them continue.
“Future what future we died as a race. No one mourned our passing. With the renegades we could have at least rebuilt our race.” Digger sounded angry.
I saw tears shine in Mouse’s eyes. Impossible the more logical part of me said but they were there. “Enough!” I roared. “Stop it, stop it both of you. What is past is past there’s nothing we can do to change that. We have to move on.”
“Sorry,” they both said together and stared at each other shocked.
Digger cracked a smile in my direction. “It is a old wound we keep opening and let fester I apologise. You are right Gwen here we are as you have stated bickering when we should be looking to the new future you have created for us.”
“New future?” I looked from face to face seeking an answer to my question.
“Yes the one you created for us. Did you not save us from certain doom?” Mouse replied. “You found the cube that would have caused our final demise and that of the world Saros.”
“How does that to equate to you saying I’ve created you. I can’t create a future I’m just one person?”
“It was your essence,” Mouse said to me.
That didn’t make things any clearer to me I was confused. “How?”
“Genetics,” Digger said.
No I was definitely still in the dark on this.
“You created our forms?”
“How, what, why I don’t understand?” That was the understatement of the year.
“I’ll try and explain,” Digger said to me. “This is my field rather than Mouse’s.” She gave Mouse a look. “It won’t be easy but I’ll try you deserve this at least.”
“At the core of you is an essence that are the building blocks of life.”
At least I caught part of that I guess they were talking about DNA but because of the Elders mine was a little mixed up. “Essence?”
“You call it by another name but it is the same. In fact you have a lot more in common with us than we ever expected,” Mouse said.
“Which is why it was easy to create these forms. We used your essence to recreate ourselves. In ‘essence’, excuse the pun you are our mother,” Digger said to me.
“What do you mean by that you have to be joking right?” I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard.
“It isn’t a joke we’re deadly serious, of all the people on this world you are the only one with a combination of essence that is compatible with ours,” Digger replied.
“Come on I can’t be the only one. I’m human?” I wasn’t too certain about that anymore and Digger’s comments had widened the gap between human and whatever I was now.
“You are the only one with that combination of essence markers. They would have been inactive had not those you call the Valkyrie altered your essence.”
I held my hands over my ears like some spoiled child in a tantrum. “This isn’t real,” I kept repeating. “It isn’t real.”
“Real it is but it doesn’t alter who you are,” Mouse said. Comments Kelli would have made.
I felt broken and betrayed, my heart plunged into the depths of despair. Finally I pulled myself together. “Ok things can’t get any worst can it?” I muttered to myself.
“I’m sorry Gwen. I did bring you here not for that reason but to warn you, you are walking as you put the expression into danger.”
“I thought I already was,” I said bitterly.
“You are heading to a world called Melanos the world of our rivals and the ones we had mistakenly thought were our enemies.”
“Another lie of the Rho’xan,” Digger said angrily.
“And now?”
“We’re not sure,” Mouse said.
“Oh wonderful,” I replied unable to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. “You could have warned me before I got on board.” It would have given me a legitimate excuse not to go.
“We didn’t know that was your destination,” Mouse told me.
“Their hatred of us only was exceeded by their hatred of the Rho’xan. But they were deceived the way we were deceived. And once our world was destroyed they sent their Avatars out to hunt down the few of us that remained,” Digger added. She glared at Mouse. “Had we been able to defend ourselves those few may have survived.”
I winced at the bluntness of her statement Digger hadn’t softened her contempt of Mouse’s decisions. I diverted her attention back to me. “Avatars?”
“A word from your past. Old Earth language, Agents of the Gods. They certainly were conceited enough to do that.” Mouse sighed loudly.
“Living weapons,” Digger continued after Mouse had lapsed into silence. “They created hundreds if not thousands of the living weapons in their conflict with the Rho’xan. The worse thing is they had no care for these weapons.”
“What do you mean by living weapons?”
“Poor unfortunates they ensnared with no care whether they lived or died as long as they did the task assigned.”
“An Avatar would have their symbol on them,” Mouse said to me.
“And you are telling me this now?” I asked my head started pounding and oddly it felt as if something was pulling at me. I swear I could hear someone calling my name in the distance. I ignored it and concentrated on the task in hand.
“Because we’ve only learned about it now,” Digger stated.
“Will it attack me on sight?” I considered that a viable question.
“I think not this one was created in haste and they didn’t have time to programme it for obedience.”
Digger chuckled. “From what we discovered this one is more of a danger to them than a help. They tried and failed to impose another life form within their Avatar and that failed.”
I shuddered at the thought thinking of how I was trapped within an exoskeleton.
“There’s more but you have to return,” Mouse interrupted.
“Return?” I felt my eyelids droop I fought to stay awake. “Wait tell me…!”
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