Suddenly, she saw something. It was just different enough to snap her out of it, even if just for a second.
There was a man approaching. Moving forward without fear. A real man. Not controlled.
How could that be?
Where Luna and the others moved with an almost mechanical synchronization, he moved forward in furtive little darts and stutters, with what looked like some kind of gun cradled in his arms.
He didnt look like a soldier, though. He looked more like a pirate, crossed with a professor. His hair was wild and spiked, while half a dozen earrings dotted one ear, and he had the beginnings of an unkempt beard. He was wearing a tweed jacket and button-down shirt over jeans and hiking boots. He wasnt wearing a mask, which made no sense at all.
Luna moved to meet him, her hands coming up to grab for him fast enough that he couldnt even begin to jump back, or maybe he just didnt want to try. Even though he was a grown-up and she was just a kid, she had enough strength to hold him in place while her mouth opened wide and then wider still, a great cloud of vapor seeming to boil up in her throat as if waiting to be released. Feeling almost guilty, she breathed it out toward the man, enfolding him in a cloud of vapor thick enough to leave him coughing.
Luna stepped back, the aliens who controlled her obviously waiting for him to transform. He stood there, though, lifting the gun he held, and Luna felt a rush of fear. She might not feel pain, but she was pretty sure that if someone did enough damage to her, she would still be able to die. For a moment, she found herself hoping that the vapor shed breathed out would take hold before he got a chance to fire. She didnt want to die. Then she felt guilty for even thinking that. She shouldnt wish this on anyone.
But the gun did not fire.
Instead, a cloud of blue-green vapor came out of the barrel, pouring into Lunas lungs with every breath. She started to reach out for him to snap his gun in half, and probably to do the same to him, but the strangest thing happened when her arms were less than halfway to him.
She stopped.
In a single moment, she froze in place, her heartbeat coming faster and faster. She felt her whole world spinning.
Luna fell to her knees involuntarily. She felt them scrape on the sidewalk, actually felt it, and the sensation coming back was like when blood rushed back in after an arm or a leg had gone to sleep. It hurt and she cried out.
She couldnt believe it.
She was back.
Back to her old self. No longer controlled.
She dug down into her memories, making sure they were still there; that they hadnt been lost completely. She pictured Kevins face, and her parents as they had been on the first birthday she could remember. She breathed a sigh of relief, and not just for herself. It meant that the people who had been transformed werent lost.
She wanted to shriek with joy. To reach out and hug this man and never let go.
She stared up at him in wonder.
He smiled down in a curious, academic way.
My, he said, you seem to be responding much quicker than the other subjects Ive tried this on. Oh, forgive me, where are my manners? Im Ignatius Gable. The vapor you just breathed in is the vaccine I created to counter the effects of the alien control. You should feel complete control returning to you shortly. Now, Im sure you have a lot of questions about whats going on, but were not exactly in a position to chat here. So unless we both want to get killed for good, I suggest you come with me.
She blinked back, startled, and followed his gaze to see countless controlled closing in.
NOW! he shouted.
The controlled started to descend on them in a swarm. Luna could only watch as they crowded in close, grabbing for them. He sprayed them with his gun, but for the others, it didnt seem to work.
Luna ran forward, plunging into the crowd and slipping through the spaces with every advantage she could get from being smaller than most of the people there. She ducked under arms and skidded between legs, taking Ignatiuss arm and not letting go.
Luna spotted Cub, and Bear, and the rest of them, and she snatched the gun and whirled around.
What are you doing? he cried out in alarm.
She sprayed a cloud of it that started to slow the controlled around her, spraying Cub and Bear and all the rest of them.
Come on, she said, as she kept her finger down on the trigger. Change!
Luna saw Cub blinking in the sunlight, stretching out his hands and staring at them.
She looked around until she saw Bobby in the shadows of a building and held out a hand to him.
And then she turned with the others and ran.
And didnt stop running.
CHAPTER FOUR
Kevin recoiled when Purest Xan came into the room that held him and Chloe. Hanging there alone and unattended was bad enough, but somehow he knew it wouldnt be as bad as anything the alien chose to do now.
Fear is a weakness, Purest Xan said, the words coming out a moment later through its translator. Just one of many we have conquered.
What do you mean? Kevin asked. He tried to hold back the fear he felt too, because he didnt want the alien to see it now.
Chloe looked scared enough for both of them, but she looked angry too. If the twisted gravity hadnt been there, holding them to the frames, Kevin suspected that she would have tried to attack the alien.
Once, we were as weaker beings, Purest Xan said, making a gesture so that a section of wall shifted into a screen that showed things that were like the Purest and not like them, all at once. They werent quite smooth-skinned, werent quite as graceful or as perfect looking, and certainly didnt have the sense of cold implacability that the Purest had. They looked like the kind of things the Purest might have been a long, long time ago.
We fought and we warred with one another. We turned our home world into a place that was almost unlivable with the weapons we used.
The image on the screen shifted, showing a world that started out green and beautiful, only for all of that plant life to wither and die, and explosions to ripple across the surface, with fire and tearing winds spreading out in ripples from what looked like the heart of cities.
We had to find ways to adapt.
By attacking other peoples worlds, Kevin said. By tricking us into letting you in so that you could take over peoples minds.
Youre evil, Chloe added. Youre nothing but monsters.
Purest Xan looked at them without a hint of emotion. Kevin doubted that the creature was capable of them, and in some ways that was scarier than if Chloe had been right. These creatures werent malicious, or filled with hate, or determined to wipe out everything they feared. They acted as coldly and calmly as a glacier rolling over a town, not caring about the lives within.
Your worlds do not matter, Purest Xan said. You are not of the Hive. You are not of the Purest.
You really think youre the only things that matter in the universe? Chloe demanded.
We are the Purest, Xan replied, as if that answered everything. We created the Hive to solve the wars of our world. In coming together, we learned to put ourselves beyond the weaknesses of emotion. We learned from the worlds nearest us how to transform the lesser to be all that we require them to be. We built the Hive ships to carry us and gather materials with which to regenerate our world for the Purest.
So you just take and take, and give nothing back, Kevin said.
So you just take and take, and give nothing back, Kevin said.
All else is lesser, Purest Xan said. All is ours.
Until we stop you, Chloe said, struggling against the gravity that held her. If it felt anything like the shifted gravity that held Kevin in place, he knew that she had no chance of breaking free, but he guessed that telling her that wouldnt persuade her to stop. If anything, it would probably make things worse.
You are weak. You cannot stop the Hive, Purest Xan said.
Then why are we still here? Kevin asked. If you think were so weak and useless, why didnt you have us killed the moment we arrived on your ship?
We do not destroy what is useful, Purest Xan said. We gather it. It is our purpose.
Useful. Kevin wasnt sure he liked the idea of being useful to something like this. From what hed seen of the other creatures they had found useful, the aliens went around reshaping their flesh, transforming them. Hed already felt the pain involved just with the aliens going through his thoughts. The visions hed seen of the aliens world had been even worse.
I dont want to be useful to you, Kevin said.
You get no choice, Purest Xan said. You should be grateful to us. The chosen of a world are typically destroyed, to stop them being a danger to us. You survive because we permit you to survive.
Why? Kevin insisted.
Purest Xan didnt answer for a moment or two. Instead, the alien moved around the room, making adjustments to some of the machinery.
Theyre going to look in our minds again, Kevin, Chloe said, sounding terrified by the prospect. Theyre going to use those tentacle things again.
Not on you, Purest Xan said, sounding almost contemptuous. You will be intriguing enough to dissect and reshape. Your mind is quite interesting, but you are not worthy of more.
You cant dissect Chloe! Kevin yelled, fighting against the gravity that held him. It pressed him back into the frame easily, no matter how much he struggled to break free. The pressure held him flat, like a lead weight pressing down on his chest.
We may do as we wish, Purest Xan said. If that is the greatest use the female can be to the Hive, that is what will happen. We will be generous, though. You will get to choose what happens to her.
Then I choose that she doesnt get dissected! Kevin said.
After we are done, Purest Xan said. After you have joined our Hive.
What? Kevin said. He shook his head. No way.
The alien moved to him, the tentacled devices ready in his hands.
Your brain has capacities that the Hive requires, Purest Xan said. Therefore you will join us.
The alien made it sound like an undeniable fact, as if it was simply the way the world was. It made the idea sound as obvious and natural as water being wet, or as the sun being hot. There was nothing natural about the tentacled things that Purest Xan held in its hands, though.
So, what? Kevin demanded, mostly because every moment he could delay this felt like a good idea. Youre going to make me into one of the Purest like you? Do I get to lose all of my hair and have freaky eyes?
Maybe if Kevin could annoy the alien enough, he could distract it from what it was about to do. Of course, it might then decide to do a whole host of things that were even worse, but right then, Kevin couldnt think of anything worse than being changed into one of them.
You are not of the Purest, Purest Xan said. But you can be made of the Hive. You will become our emissary, one of our chosen. You should welcome the honor.
You think its some kind of honor for Kevin to have his brain invaded? Chloe demanded.
It will not be an invasion, Purest Xan said. Kevin will welcome us. He will agree to become one of us.
Why do I have to agree? Kevin demanded. Why dont you just do it if youre going to, instead of playing games?
The alien looked almost offended by that, although Kevin doubted that it could feel that emotion either. He doubted that it could feel anything.
We do not play games, it said. Your species brains are delicate, though, and we require yours intact for the tasks that the Hive has for you. If you fight too much during the process, there is the potential that you could be damaged.
Ill fight you, Kevin promised. Ill die rather than do anything to help you.
The alien stood there staring at him, apparently not comprehending what he had just said. It frowned at Kevin slightly, tilting its head to one side as though listening to something only it could hear. Kevin got the feeling that it was trying to make sense of him, and trying to work out what to do while it did so.
Your statement is foolish, Purest Xan said. Yielding is to your advantage. You get to continue to exist.
Im dying anyway, Kevin said, thinking about the moment when the doctor had diagnosed him with his illness, had told him just how little time he had left to live. Do you think I care about threats?
The alien stared at him for another moment or two, and again, Kevin had the sense of it getting advice from the others of its kind.
We can save you, it said, dropping the words there like lead weights.
The shock of that ran through Kevin like ice water. The best scientists Earth had to offer had tried and failed to help him. Now here the aliens were, offering to make him well as if it were nothing.
Youre lying, he said. He had to believe that they were lying. You already lied about so much, do you think Im going to believe this?
He thought about all the ways theyd lied to get him to help with their invasion of the Earth. Theyd told him that they were refugees seeking the safety of another planet. Theyd told him that they were the ones fleeing destruction, rather than causing it.
You have seen what we can do, Purest Xan said. We can manipulate flesh in ways your human mind cannot imagine. The Purest of the Hive are preserved almost indefinitely. We have every reason to want you alive. We could heal you, if you were of the Hive.
What could Kevin say to that kind of temptation? It was everything he had wanted from the moment the doctor had told him what was happening. When hed been at the NASA institute, hed secretly hoped that one of the scientists there might find some way to help him, to make all the shaking and the pain stop. Hed thought that he would give almost anything to be well again. It took almost everything Kevin had to shake his head.
If I have to die to stop you getting what you want, then thats what Ill do, Kevin said. He meant it. He wanted to live, hed hoped for a cure, but by now, hed had plenty of time to accept what was going to happen to him. If dying could help to stop the aliens well, he didnt want to, but he would.
And what about the other things the Hive can offer? Purest Xan said. We are told that your species values parents and friends. As one of us, you could decide what was done with those we controlled.
Kevin swallowed, thinking of his mother, thinking of Luna. There were so many people he knew back on Earth, so far away that it was no longer visible on the screen. If he could help them no, if the aliens wanted something from him, that wouldnt help them at all.
Then there is the question of your friend here, Purest Xan said. As this one has said, as one of the Hive, you could determine what happens to her. If you do not do this, the female will be experimented on while you watch.