Hearts of Darkness - Plague of the Void Seeds / 11

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This is an original, write-as-I-go, Steemit adventure. None of us knows where it will lead...

Post 11

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10 Years ago

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Anna had always thought of herself as relatively meek. A researcher, a scientist, completely and blissfully ignorant of anything marshal in nature. Over the last fourteen years, she had been incrementally changed by circumstance and experience. Due to her genetic enhancements, she was not visibly aging but, according to Gary, the measure of her gaze had changed. He said she had the look of a hunting cat.

She had assumed command of the human contingent at the behest of the Alliance council. Gary had become her second…..everyone looked up to him because of his calm stoicism and easy, yet authoritative manner. Together, they had helped to enhance and train the humans so that they could help the Alliance. Every two years they cycled five hundred back to earth and brought a replacement five hundred into the Alliance. The five hundred on Earth would support the training and preparation activities that were ongoing. There was an elite core of five hundred that stayed with the alliance permanently, including Gary. These were the most experienced and most highly trained of the human contingent. They had proven themselves to be valuable assets, motivated, adaptable and fearless. She was proud of them all.

Anna was sat on a raised platform in one of the training hangers, aboard the Daxiste-agorian flagship. Gary was standing, he never sat down, next to her and the remaining humans were patiently waiting for her to address them. She stood up and began.

“Four the past fourteen years, we’ve been coming to terms with a new reality, adapting and preparing ourselves. Gradually, we’ve increased our active engagement with the Alliance and its war effort against the Void Seed. We’ve gained the respect of our allies and have earned a place among them. I congratulate every one of you. Now the real test begins. We’ve been assigned an important and dangerous task. The Alliance has requested half our number to begin operating behind enemy lines, supported by the Deepsee analysts. We are to gather intelligence and salvage what we can from destroyed systems and planets. Are we ready?”

“Yes Ma’am!”

“Five hundred of you will be assigned to the mission under Gary’s command, the rest of you will continue your training and act in support. Good luck.”

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Present

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Dagr and Khal moved back to the Shaad-rin. The council had approved the expedition to Eod and Dagr wanted to inform his people immediately. They reached the Argantuan deck quickly and entered into one of the Shaad-rin’s cargo bays that acted as their quarters. The Argantuans were spread around the enormous bay. Some were playing stones, some were exercising and others appeared to be meditating. Whatever they were doing, they were…..intimidating. Khal smiled. The Argantuans would have made a worthy opponent for the Shaddonos in another time. Now, they could never be anything other than brothers and sisters. Khal and the remnants of his people would die for these noble beings and they would do the same for the Shaddonos.

“We have news,” said Dagr.

His deep, powerful, voice, effortlessly rolled around the cavernous space and the Argantuans immediately stopped what they were doing to gather around. This included one male that had been using a huge metal crate to work his chest. Khal didn’t want to think about how much it weighed as he casually set it aside and headed over.

“It is time. The Alliance has approved a mission to Eod.”

A massive sound exploded around them as the Argantuans vented their approval.

“This will not be the engagement we most crave. It will be a sortie to recover our white bone and any left alive in the deeper hibernation halls.”

The Argantuans still seemed to be pleased, nudging each other and patting backs.

“Three of you will accompany me and the Midnight Sun, along with a handful of others. We will recover all that we can. One day soon, the blood of our enemies will run with the blood of Ganal. Until the bone drowns!”

“Until the bone drowns!” The Argantuans and Khal bellowed.

Several of the Argantuans clapped Khal on the back and boy could he feel it. It felt good. Solid.
It was at that moment that an alarm sounded throughout the Shaad-rin. Dagr looked to Khal, questioningly.

“The Alliance is under attack.”

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Present

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It was not the Alliance fleet that was under attack, but the Ziffnindel homeworld of Sserwellia in the Vosserel system. A massive Void Seed assault was under way. Given the scale of the attack, there could be no doubt that their aim was total annihilation. The Alliance council had held an emergency gathering and rapidly concluded that seventy five percent of the fleet would be committed to supporting the Ziff. On every ship in the fleet, beings were urgently making preparations, accompanied by a variety of alarms. This engagement would decide the fate of an entire race, one that had remained steadfast in it’s support for the Alliance over several hundred years. Failure to repel the enemy was not an option.

Sill was feeling extremely anxious. Once the council meeting had concluded, she had immediately moved to the Ziffnindel nest-mother. Bulvodin had accompanied her and she was very glad to have her friend nearby. To his eyes, the activity within the nest-mother must seem like a never-ending blur of motion. The Ziff had been stirred. They would be defending their home and by the suns, the Void Seed would pay for this outrage.

Sserwellia was a binary system and was hot and arid. There were twenty great cities, ten distributed around each of the poles. The center of the planet was too hot and consisted almost exclusively of sand and rock…..one gigantic desert. Through a Ziff’s eyes, the light on Sserwellia was like nothing else in the universe, an endless variety of mesmerizing beauty. Observing the light of their suns from different places on the planet was one of the only activities that could really get the Ziff to stay still.

Sill had heard the same intelligence reports as everyone else at the council meeting. Every city was under attack at both poles. Fortunately, the Ziff had built defensive perimeters around each of them. These consisted of great, monstrously thick, sandstone walls from which an energy shield projected to completely cover the cities. The Void Seed would no doubt drop onto the energy fields and begin devouring them until they failed. At least there would be some time before they would be inside the city, wreaking havoc and making a coordinated defense, virtually impossible.

Sill led Bulvodin to the primary observation deck. They reached it just as the nest-mother completed it’s move to a position, one mile above the northern pole of Sserwellia. She stood in front of the panel as it began to render a view of the ground. Her feather-knives stood up and began to quiver. She would never forget the horror of the vision that greeted her eyes…..

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Present

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Click led Joshua in a hurry through the large, smooth corridors of the Daxiste-agorian flagship. He knew they were urgently heading to the quarters of the Daxiste-agori known as The Collector. The situation on Sserwellia was so desperate that any possibility of an advantage had to be explored. Joshua had willingly consented to exposing himself to The Collector’s pathogens in the hope that he might be affected and a biological weapon could be developed. Click’s now familiar voice appeared in his head.

“Now remember, she can be uncomfortable to behold. Steel yourself.”

“It’s ok. I’m ready.”

They reached a doorway and Click flicked an arm towards the sensor and the door opened. They stepped inside. The room had the appearance of a medical facility. Everything was white and minimalist with floating blue screens, covered in incomprehensible information. There didn’t appear to be a bed and then he saw her. She was reclining in a raised chair, looking up at a blue screen that was floating above her head. As he took in her appearance, Joshua felt bile rise up into his throat. His feet involuntarily stopped moving. It might take you a thousand years to describe every detail of this creature’s form. Here was the manifestation of layer upon layer of extreme, mature, pathogenic corruption. His entire body wanted to rebel against what his eyes were seeing.
Her form loosely resembled Click’s, though the familiar form of smooth, interlocking plates and ripple of legs and arms was hidden behind; bulging sacks of fluid, inflammation, deep, weeping abscesses, rotting appendages, rows and rows of tiny, moving polyps, wet sores and angry protrusions. Even worse was the softly pulsating, worm-like matter that was buried in several of her eyes. Joshua looked over at Click’s one hundred smooth, uniform, jet black, interlocking plate of eyes, then back to The Collector’s milky, deformed, erupting mess and almost vomited on the floor.

“Are you ok Joshua?” Asked Click?

“No. I feel bad for her. Why is she doing this to herself?”

The Collector answered. Of course, she was telepathic too.

“It is my sacrifice. The Daxiste-agori have lived for so long. I had lost interest in myself. I was becoming empty……a fate worse than this, far worse than death. I’ve learned much and saved lives. What happens to my body is of no consequence. If I chose, I could shed this disease riddled form and take another. Perhaps one day I will. Come closer.”

Joshua slapped himself in the face and focused his mind. If she could stand it for all this time, he would honour her nobility by keeping down his last fucking meal. Besides, if he caught one of her fabulous diseases, she had the ability to heal him. So really, all he was putting up with was her grotesque appearance. Werreuup. Come on! Hold it down. Just don’t think.

Joshua reached her side and several of her arms took hold of his.

“I will begin releasing the pathogens. You might feel…..uncomfortable. My scanners will detect if any are able to infect.”

His arm began to feel warm and wet, then sharp, needle-like pains, crawling, slithering. Stop! Thinking! La la la. La la la. Seventy two. Seventy two. I see you. What was that?! Something crawling in! No! No! Ha ha ha ha. This goody goody! Fuck! No! Quiet brain! Please. Hurry up.

Then it was over. The Collector withdrew her horrible appendages and began clicking rapidly to Click. Their conversation seemed extremely animated and although he felt physically fine, he started to get a bad feeling that someone was about to tell him something he wouldn’t like.

“Joshua. Completely unexpectedly, we’ve had some success.” Said Click quite calmly.

“Success? What do you mean?”

“I’ll let The Collector explain.”

“A highly resilient viral spore has successfully invaded your body and survived your formidable defenses. It is sitting in a muscle cell in your right arm.”

“Does that mean I’m going to get sick?”

“We don’t know. It is currently in a dormant state. But there is hope.”

“Ok so if I get sick, there’s a chance the Void Seed may be susceptible to the virus?”

“Correct.”

“Will I present a danger to others?”

“No. We will know before you become infectious.”

“Will you be able to cure me?”

“Absolutely.”

“Do I want to know what the disease does?”

“No.”

“Ok. What now Click?”

“Now we move to the Ziff homeworld and help to repel the invaders before another race is lost.”

“I will look forward to our next meeting,” said The Collector.

“Me too, thanks. It was nice to meet you.”

The Collector began to click vigorously and Joshua realized she was laughing.