The inside of the ship was stranger than the outside. It looked as though it had been patched and rebuilt so many times that there was hardly anything of the original left.
I worked on this one myself, General sLara said, and then did the glancing away thing again. Yes, all right. We worked on it. Take a seat and well fly down.
There were chairs that looked more like armchairs than the kind of benches or flight seats that Kevin would have expected from a military craft. It seemed strange to have such comfort in a generals ship.
Whats it like being linked to an artificial intelligence? he asked.
Its like being two halves of a whole, the general replied. They can provide more information, react faster, and work things out that I never could, but we provide the emotion and the intuition. It works.
Kevin tried to imagine it, and couldnt. The closest he could get was the connection to the Hive, and that had been nothing like the way General sLara described. It sounded more like a kind of perfect friendship, the way hed had with Luna back on Earth, each of them filling in for the others weaknesses, each of them looking out for the other without question.
He missed Luna so much right then that it hurt.
Hold on, General sLara said, but in truth, the movement of the ship was perfectly smooth as it exited the larger vessel that held it, sliding down toward the surface.
As they descended toward the world below, Kevin could see the greenery ahead of them, so great that it seemed to encompass everything. For the first few seconds, it was just one giant wash of green, but then he started to make out different shades and textures within it. There were areas that appeared to be open grassland, and far more that seemed like nearly endless forests. There were patches of dark green similar to firs, and others that looked like tropical palms.
As they got still lower, Kevin started to get a sense of the scale of them. Many of the trees seemed to be normal sizes, but there were others that were as tall as cathedrals, and whose canopies spread out to cover huge swaths of land, so that the ground beneath seemed almost like an afterthought.
Its a beautiful place, General sLara said. So much lives here, but it was never intended to be a world for us. It is too wild, and too many of any species will upset its balance.
She took her ship down low, and Kevin could see buildings now, nestled amongst the trees, disguised so well that for a few seconds it was hard to pick them out from among the foliage. They hung like great fruit, or balanced in the branches, so beautifully constructed that they might have been a natural part of the forest.
How many people do you have here? Kevin asked.
A few thousand. Not enough for a true civilization, the general replied. Even with all the people weve brought with us were a shadow of what we were.
Vehicles shot between the trees, moving rapidly, high above the ground. More moved slowly at ground level, disguised by shifting fields of color that changed as they caught the light.
Do you have weapons here? Kevin asked. He had to hope that they would have something that might destroy the Hive.
Some, General sLara said. We like to be able to defend the places where we have bases, but the main defense we have is secrecy. This was always supposed to be a hidden place.
But were coming here now, Chloe pointed out.
Were desperate, General sLara said. Were out of people, out of places, out of everything except this. Well hide here for as long as we can.
And if the Hive finds us? Kevin asked.
General sLara shook her head. We lost them when we started to bend space. Even they cant track us at those speeds. Unless you know something we dont?
There wasnt any note of suspicion there, but even so, Kevin felt as though he wasnt entirely trusted. He looked over at Ro, who shook his head.
The Hive has stolen many technologies before, but they cannot track the Ilari. It was why they required you, to trace their signals. Without you
Without me, they would never have been able to destroy the world they ran to, Kevin said.
General sLara shook her head. There will be others who try to blame you for it, Kevin, but I do not. You were controlled, and we are safe now.
They flew forward, in amongst the trees, the ships finding their way between the trunks to land on great platforms that extruded from the side of the buildings amongst the trees. This close, Kevin could see that there was a whole city there.
The ship touched down and they stepped out. Inside the landing craft, surrounded by walls, there hadnt been the sense of space there, but now, Kevin could see just how high up it all was. It was high enough that the air felt thin and made his head hurt, while he stumbled unsteadily. His brain felt bewildered by the sheer height.
Come on, General sLara said. I announced that we were coming as we approached, and people will want to meet you. Theyre excited by the prospect of people who could break free from the Hive, and they think that you, Kevin, are very special.
Now Im feeling left out, Chloe said, but she didnt sound as though she meant it that much.
Kevin put a hand on her shoulder. I think youre special.
You are, General sLara assured her. If you will let our scientists study you all, we will potentially learn so much.
Chloe looked worried by that. Ive had enough of being studied for a lifetime.
We wont force you, General sLara said, and there was something understanding about her tone then. Its your choice. Now, come on. Ill show you the base.
Inside, it was every bit as impressive to Kevin as it was outside. The corridors had the same impossible scenes on them as had decorated the inside of the ships, each one turned into a canvas that it seemed the Ilaris AIs could manipulate, since Kevin saw one of the blue-skinned aliens manipulating the wall into a strange kind of abstract work as they passed. He turned to look at them, offering a kind of bow to the general.
Oh, stop it, Cler, you know Im the one who should bow to you, the general said.
They kept going, and the general started to explain the buildings they passed through as they went.
In theory, people take whatever rooms they need for whatever theyre trying to do, and reshape them to suit, but there tend to be common areas to it all, she said. There are living spaces on either side here, in pods branching off the main corridor. These spaces seem empty. You can have those.
Was it really as casual as that? They needed a room so they got one? She led the way into a big open living space with couches and beds set out around it. The whole place was empty and still, but didnt seem sterile in the way that Kevin knew from the Institute, and it lacked the precise opulence of the Hives golden towers. It was comfortable instead, and felt as though it could easily be someones home.
So we just wander in and take a room? he asked, leaning against a couch as a brief wave of exhaustion hit him.
How else would you do it? the general asked, sounding genuinely puzzled that there might be another way to do things. She gestured to an open slot on a wall. This is where we get food. It will be a little slower for you since you dont have AIs, but you can still ask for what you want. Here, let me.
She paused for a moment in front of it, and a tray of food just appeared. Steaming strands of blue mixed with what looked like red berries sat there.
My AI tells me that laxatha should be safe for you to eat, and its one of my favorites, she said. Here, try it.
She set it out in front of them and sat down beside them, in a way that seemed strange for a general to do. Chloe was the first to taste the dish, and the surprised delight on her face told its own story.
This is good isnt enough. Its amazing. You have to try it, Kevin.
Kevin took a tentative bite, and was surprised by just how good the mixture tasted. There was only one question on his mind, adding a slightly strange note to the meal while they ate.
General sLara, he said, why are you here serving us food?
Because youre our guests, the general said.
And thats very kind, but you could have sent someone to do all of this. Dont you have meetings and things you need to be at? Kevin had met at least some important people, and he couldnt imagine them doing this. Why you?
General sLara nodded. Ill admit that there are plenty of talks I should be having, but my AI is having at least some of them with others. Besides, here with you may be one of the most important places I could be right now.
Kevin didnt get it for a moment, but then frowned slightly as he did. Because of everything that we might know?
I wont lie to you, General sLara said. I think that you three may hold the key to this. Weve been able to beat individual members of the Hive, we can do it easily when the numbers are equal, but the numbers are never equal. They just keep coming, and worse, they just dont care. They throw creatures at us, and they dont care if theyre killed or not. How do you fight something that doesnt worry if it is going to die?
Kevin wasnt sure he had an answer to that. Hed used that against the Ilari when theyd been fighting. Hed thrown ships at them, seeing their desire to live as a weakness to be exploited.
Its the Hives greatest strength, Ro said.
The fact that you know them, and you were able to break free, might let us understand how to actually beat them. We might actually be able to win this war.
But we dont know anything, Kevin said.
You might not know what you know, the general said. For a start, what do you know about this ability of yours?
Kevin shook his head. I hardly know anything. I hear signals, and I can translate them. I see things that need translating, and my brain just does it.
And its killing him for it, Chloe put in, sounding somber. Just the words had Kevin feeling sad about the prospect of the ticking clock that had restarted in his body.
What do you mean, killing you? General sLara asked.
Kevin started to answer, standing up as he did so. The pain hit him almost immediately, and he realized that the things hed been experiencing as they landed had been a lot more than just the background symptoms that had been plaguing him since hed come out from the Hive again.
Hed gotten so used to ignoring it that hed done it even when his body had been trying to warn him that something wasnt right. Now it seemed that everything hit him at once. Dizziness overwhelmed him, spinning Kevin half around, so that he dropped to the floor in stages, putting out a hand to catch himself even while it started to twitch in the beginnings of a fit that seemed to wrack every inch of him.
Pain came with it, bursting inside his head in a supernova of agony. It felt like something broke inside him then, and he would have screamed if his mouth had still been under his own control. Hed felt himself lose control of his body before when signals had ripped through him, but this was different. This didnt hold the promise of a message or an answer; the only promise it seemed to hold was the blackness that lay beyond it, threatening to rise up and overwhelm everything.
Kevin could see Chloe, Ro, and General sLara beside him, their lips moving as they talked. Chloe looked as though she was shouting something down to him, but he couldnt hear any of it. It felt as though it was on the other side of a curtain, and slipping further away by the second.
He was dying, and there was nothing he could do about it.
CHAPTER THREE
Luna woke, blinking in the light, and even that was a surprise. When shed slept, shed expected to slide down into darkness and not wake up, consumed completely by the alien nanobots that were slowly taking over her body. Instead, she could still remember who she was, and where she was, and all the horrors that had struck the world.
It was only when her body stood without her thinking about it that she realized that something was wrong.
No! she screamed, but the scream just came out as a groan past lips that refused to move in response to her commands. They werent hers anymore, not really. Someone else was pulling the strings that controlled her.
She looked around at the compound where theyd fought against so many of the transformed and the aliens, and Luna had the sense that it wasnt just her looking around in that moment. Other things were looking through her eyes, making decisions on her behalf, issuing commands without a thought for what it might do to her.
Luna fought against those commands as hard as she could, but it made no difference, just as it had made no difference the last time she had been one of the controlled. Instead, she stood like a prisoner in her own flesh while her body started to walk over to the others, held by walls made of her own muscles. She grabbed a long shard of metal that was as sharp as any machete or knife. If it cut into her hands, she didnt notice.
Luna didnt understand that. Before, the transformed had grabbed blindly at people and tried to convert them, stupid in the absence of direct control. This, though this felt like someone was using her for something far more focused, something far more dangerous.
She stalked forward, and it was only as Luna did so that she realized exactly who she was heading toward. Ignatius, Cub, Barnaby, and Leon stood aheadall the people the resistance to the invasion needed. The aliens were going to use her as a knife thrust at the heart of it all, aimed to kill the only people who truly knew how they might stop what the aliens had done. If the aliens could kill them, then who would truly know how the cure worked?
Luna tried to shout a warning, but it didnt do any good. No sound came out, and while the change in her eyes would be obvious by now to anyone who looked, no one was looking. They were all too busy trying to recover from the aftermath of the battle, patching wounds and trying to find enough food for people who hadnt felt thirst or hunger for days or weeks.
Then Bobby the sheepdog ran up, growled, and bit her.
Luna didnt feel it, because at this stage, she couldnt feel anything. She looked down at the dog, drawing back her leg ready to kick him, and Luna knew that she would, in spite of all the effort she put into holding herself back. Bobby danced back, snarling and growling, as surely as if shed been a wolf troubling some ancient flock. Luna stepped toward him, lifting the long shard of metal now.
Bobby, what are you doing? Cub demanded, moving forward.
Luna turned toward him, slashing with the weapon that she held and managing to cut through the skin even as he danced back from the attack. She remembered this strength and this speed, but shed never had the chance to use it to strike out at anyone before. She hadnt realized just how dangerous it made her.
Luna, whats going on? Cub demanded, dodging back from another blow. Luna saw him stare at her. Oh no. No!