Hellhole Inferno (36 page)

He turned to Tanja and Walfor. “Would you two consider remaining here on Tehila as coadministrators? Tehila needs it, and you both seem to be separated from your planets.”

They looked at each other. Walfor said, “Buktu is still my home, General, even though all my people were captured. I don't want to give up while there's still a chance I could bring them home.”

Tanja said, “After everything that's happened, and everything I've done, I still have too many scars to be a good planetary administrator. I grew up on Candela. I wanted to save it, manage it, and protect my people, but after so much sorrow, so much loss…” She shook her head. “No, General, I'm not fit for leadership.” She took Walfor's arm and smiled. “Besides, I prefer to stay with Ian, footloose and without red tape restraining me at every turn.”

Adolphus understood. “Maybe it's best that we let the people choose their own leaders then, someone from Tehila.”

He returned to the
Jacob
, where the officer on duty, Clayton Sendell, had completed preparations for their departure. Ten warships would return to Hellhole, while Captain Naridar's force would remain here until Tehila became stable again.

Lodo joined the General on the bridge. The large Xayan watched all the bustling activity with interest, but had not participated since the heat of the space battle. The other shadow-Xayans kept to themselves.

Now Lodo approached Adolphus. “We must return to Xaya, General Tiber Adolphus. Encix is growing increasingly concerned, and with this group separated from the other converts, we have diminished our strength as our race begins its final push toward
ala'ru
. Time is running out.”

“Have the observation satellites picked up any trace of the Ro-Xayans yet?”

“No … but they are there. I assure you, General, they are watching us.”

Adolphus stood next to the tall, pale alien. “And I am just as anxious to get back home. We have plenty of reasons to worry about Hellhole.”

 

46

When the bungalow door opened to allow the alien monstrosity inside, Michella felt as if she were drowning in a nightmare. All the indignities and torments she'd suffered had already strained her to the breaking point, but this hideous and disgusting thing that squirmed toward her was worse than all the other horrors combined.

She was the ruler of countless planets, and now she felt utterly helpless, frozen in terror. Even the scream withered in her throat. With nowhere else to run, Michella sprang from the bungalow's only chair and retreated to the farthest corner of the room. She yelled for the guards in a cracking voice, but the possessed humans merely stood at the bungalow door and watched her mockingly.

Michella had seen the slimy creatures before, when the passenger pod of emissaries had arrived at Sonjeera. A group of possessed humans and one of the disgusting aliens. Not daring to let them loose, she had sealed that pod in a spaceport hangar, killed everyone aboard, and quarantined the area. She had tried to save the capital world from the contamination, and eventually she'd had no choice but to vaporize the entire area.

Now she was held prisoner in the festering center of the contamination, where her very humanity was threatened every day. Michella had known the things would come for her sooner or later.

“Keep away from me!” Her voice was just a husky gasp.

The monstrous alien paused in the middle of the room to stare at her in a curious, almost perplexed, way. Michella could smell a musky odor, heard the soft wet shuffling of the wormlike lower body. She huddled against the wall, desperate for some way to defend herself, but the guards had made sure she had nothing that could be used as a weapon.

“I have come for you, Diadem Michella Duchenet,” said the alien.

Feeling impotent against such a threat and afraid to even touch the creature, she covered her mouth, tried not to breathe any disease or poisonous vapors. She was terrified of becoming one of the possessed humans, half-aliens like Keana, straddling two universes. She shuddered. “I refuse!”

The Xayan loomed in front of her, like a silent serpent contemplating prey. The black, unreadable eyes stared down at her, both hypnotic and terrifying. Michella couldn't help but return the gaze—was the expression inquisitive now? Or did it hold a simmering anger? Who could tell with such an inhuman thing?

She reminded herself that she was the
Diadem of the Constellation
, and tried to keep the quaver out of her voice. “You don't frighten me, monster!” She hoped she sounded strong.

The voice was thrumming and distorted through the mouth membrane. “I am not here to frighten you. I am here to
convince
you.”

She wished Ishop were here with her. He'd always been a reassuring presence for her during times of trouble. And he was a deadly killer for her, whenever she needed those particular services. They were both trapped here, prisoners, but they had to find some way to get away.

As if her thoughts had summoned him, the guards opened the bungalow door again and nudged Ishop inside. “Eminence, have they harmed you?” He looked disheveled and red-eyed, probably no worse than she looked. “I heard you cry out.” He drew himself to a stumbling halt as he saw the large alien facing her.

With another burst of icy terror, she checked to make sure that Ishop had not been possessed already. His reactions were fluid and normal, and she saw no strange sheen in his eyes. He darted to Michella's side, fidgety, angry, and indignant, but he didn't seem able to offer her much protection. She wondered if he had a plan—he was always scheming, and she knew their goals were aligned, especially now, even if he had seemed irritated with her at times. She had no one else.

The guards closed the bungalow door, sealing them inside with the alien. The thing loomed larger, facing the two of them. “I requested both of you here with me, because you must hear my words. Your cooperation is vital.” The black, impenetrable eyes turned toward them. “I am Encix, one of the only remaining Original Xayans. We survived the first asteroid impact in a deeply buried vault, and now we have very little time to resurrect our race before this world is devastated again. I need your help.”

The throbbing voice sounded so reasonable. Michella suppressed a shudder. This creature wanted to contaminate them with other aliens. She pressed back against the wall. “Keep away! I know exactly what you're doing.”

“No, you do not,” Encix said in a much harsher voice. “Your ignorance is plain. That is why I will explain what you must do.” The twin antennae on the creature's forehead twitched.

Michella used the chair as a barrier between herself and Encix as she said defiantly, “When one of you came to Sonjeera, making the same pleas, I destroyed him and all of his brainwashed followers—every cell of them has been incinerated. They are annihilated.”

“And your violence may have cost our race its best chance of survival. I should despise you for your ignorant fear, Diadem Michella Duchenet, but because my people need you, need
all
humans, more than ever, I will overlook my emotions. And yours.”

“We are important hostages, and the Constellation military will soon come to rescue us,” Ishop interrupted, sounding brash and defensive. “You don't dare harm us.”

“I do not intend to harm you. I require much more than that.”

Michella was defiant. “I know what you have done to so many gullible people, but I do not fear death. I'll die before I let an alien presence invade my body.”

She wished she had the courage to take her own life rather than let herself fall into this corruption. Her skin crawled at the very thought of it. If she commanded him to do it, Ishop would kill her—she had no doubt of that. But it would be the ultimate disgrace if she let herself die without mounting every resistance, an admission of defeat. And even now Michella Duchenet was not defeated.

The alien facial membrane formed an odd, contorted fold, as if Encix was trying to replicate a human smile. The alien moved closer to them, and Michella had nowhere to retreat. “
Ala'ru
will occur, and none of you unsavory human beings will matter anymore. I wanted to meet you, thinking you might be of use … but now I know you are not. Your faction is defective and dangerous. I will not force you into the slickwater pools, for fear that you might contaminate
us
.”

Michella blinked in surprise as the alien swung its centaurlike body around and pushed its way toward the door. “There is another ever-growing group of converts out at the Ankor spaceport. You are no longer important, or relevant.” The guards moved aside so Encix could pass, then closed the door, leaving an astonished Ishop with Michella, at least for now.

He rubbed beads of perspiration from his bald head. Both of them were trembling, but afraid to admit their terror. He glared at Michella, as if he blamed her!

But Michella knew they might only have a brief moment before he was whisked back to his own bungalow. She leaned closer to him, taking advantage of this brief moment of privacy. “Now tell me you've been working on a way to for us to escape. Commodore Hallholme will be here soon. We have to be ready for him.”

“I'll take care of everything the moment I see an opportunity, Eminence,” he said, but with an uncharacteristic edge in his voice. “I am your loyal servant, as always.”

 

47

The DZDF fleet returned to the Hellhole stringline hub, loaded aboard a large hauler framework. As the hauler decelerated on approach, General Adolphus was dismayed to see how relatively empty the orbiting complex looked, without a large military force. The majority of his guardian ships had been dispatched to secure other DZ planets, but he was pleased and relieved by the
normal
bustle of commercial traffic, cargo ships coming from frontier worlds loaded with supplies to be distributed throughout the Deep Zone.

How could Diadem Michella have been so naïve to think that the hardy colonists couldn't find a way to become self-sufficient, with over fifty fertile and viable worlds working together to survive?

From his flagship he broadcast the victory at Tehila, knowing the other ships at the hub would widely disseminate the news. He also transmitted the message to Michella Town, Ankor, Slickwater Springs, outlying produce-dome farm complexes, and mining outposts.

“Commodore Hallholme has been defeated once again—maybe badly enough that he's finally learned his lesson,” he said. “We destroyed part of the Constellation fleet, captured more ships, and sent the rest running back to Sonjeera. Tehila is now secure. After ousting their traitorous administrator, the people will now establish their own government, as every independent world should do.”

The officers of commercial ships parked at the hub congratulated him, and Michella Town celebrated—but Adolphus knew he couldn't let down his guard. His returning ships shored up the defenses around Hellhole, but he wouldn't feel safe until George Komun brought his thirteen additional battleships from Umber. After that, the hub should be able to withstand any military attack.

At the moment, however, Adolphus allowed himself a personal respite inside the ready room just off the
Jacob
's bridge. He washed his face, combed his hair, and sent a private communication to Sophie at Slickwater Springs. Her eyes sparkled when she saw him on the screen.

He wanted to tell her how beautiful she looked to him, but she understood that and knew how he felt about her. That was one reason why they made such a good team, why he felt so comfortable with her. She was confident enough not to need constant verbal affirmation, but appreciated his love for what it was. She could see it in his eyes and his expression.

“Even though I had complete faith in you, Tiber, I'm always relieved to see you home safe. When can I see you?”

“I have a few administrative details, but then I'm coming straight down to Slickwater Springs. I'll leave Lieutenant Sendell here in temporary command. Is the Diadem still secure?”

“You didn't think I'd let anything happen to dear Michella, did you?”

“Good. I've got news for her that she will find even more distressing than the loss of Tehila and the defeat of Commodore Hallholme.”

Sophie smiled. “I can't wait to hear it. I'll be glad to see her taken down another notch.”

*   *   *

En route to the surface in a troop shuttle, Adolphus reviewed reports from the outlying observation satellites that continued to monitor interplanetary space for any sign of incoming asteroids. Rendo Theris contacted him from the Ankor spaceport, speaking with his usual level of rushed nervousness. “General, the converts seem even more fearful about a threat from the Ro-Xayans, so over two hundred defenders have come here to Ankor, led by Encix. It's quite a large crowd, and I don't know what they expect to accomplish here.”

That puzzled him. “Are they interfering with launch or landing ops?”

“So far they're staying outside the paved zones, drawing slickwater from aquifers under the ground, channeling it into small pools. And they're growing more insistent in their … proselytizing. Is that the right word? Especially Encix. They keep wanting me and my spaceport workers to immerse ourselves in slickwater. They're frantic to get enough converts for that
ala'ru
of theirs.”

Adolphus was disturbed. When he agreed to let people awaken alien memories from the pools, it had been on the strict condition that no one was to be forced. “I'll see what I can do. I'm heading for Slickwater Springs now.”

And Sophie … Even with all the troubles, he allowed himself a smile at the prospect of being with her again.

He had freshened up and changed, wanting to look his best for her—and unruffled for when he addressed the old Diadem. As soon as he arrived, Sophie embraced him outside the main lodge house, but it was a quick hug, promising more later. She laughed at his awkwardness and discomfort at the public display of affection. “After all this time, Tiber, do you really think we're fooling anyone about our relationship?”