The Alien Invasion

Chapter 9: A Most Unexpected Capybara

Chapter 9: A Most Unexpected Capybara

I'm certain my jaw dropped; I think Professor Capybara was just about the last being I expected to see in an Insect stronghold. His brown, straw-like hair, webbed feet, box shaped nose, and dark black eyes were just as I remembered; he was even wearing his trademark spectacles (which weren't really spectacles, but another piece of technology entirely).

I started to tell everyone not to fire, but they had the good sense to lower their weapons slightly; they saw what he had done to the Insect attackers. Had Professor Capybara eliminated all those Insects? To our knowledge, the Professor was an unarmed and extremely peaceful being.

"Clifford, (tweatle tweatle) how unexpected to see you," said the Professor, in that sing-song voice of his.

"I could say the same," I said, still stunned. "What are you doing here?"

"I was on the way out, and I sensed the commotion these (tweatle tweatle) beastly creatures were creating," said the Professor.

Sensed? Not heard, but sensed? But more immediately: "What do you mean, on the way out? What were you doing in the heart of Sarney Sarittenden in the first place?"

"Dropping by for a (tweatle tweatle) chat. We must hurry, Clifford, they will be summoning reinforcements."

We got to our feet and made our way around the bend, with Professor Capybara in the lead. It was there we saw the very large pile of bodies, dead, crushed, and splattered against the wall and floors.

"Did you..."

"They were very (tweatle tweatle) rude," said the Professor, trotting along at a good pace. "I merely asked them to step aside. If they had showed proper (tweatle tweatle) manners, they would not be leaking as they are now."

At that moment I hoped I had always been polite to the Professor; I gave this some thought as I automatically started to turn for the stairwell.

"No, not that one," said the Professor. "Just a little farther." He trotted to an apparently smooth portion of the glowing wall and tapped it twice with his snout. A panel slid open, revealing a room filled with humming machinery... and a hidden stairwell leading down!

The panel closed behind us as the last of us filed in. "I assume you made your way in through section four on level one," said the Professor conversationally, as if giving a tour of the hidden recesses of Sarney was an everyday occurrence. He walked down the stairs as easily as we did on two.

This shook me out of my stunned silence. "Yes," I said. "But what are you doing here? I looked for you, after the invasion, but you were gone-"

"I just needed to gather a few more notes in the field," said the Professor.

Field notes? Field notes about what? I started to speak, but the Professor said, "Quietly now; we're on level one, but you may encounter some (tweatle tweatle) resistance."

We emerged on level one in what was apparently a gap in a featureless wall, which closed behind us as we exited, leaving no sign it had ever been there. I looked around, and recognized this corridor. We were just a few dozen feet from the room we had entered the palace from! We made our way down to the corridor to the room. As we walked quickly, I saw two Insects, which Preston and I blasted. But buzzing sounds in the distance suddenly grew louder.

"Hurry," said the Professor, tapping the appropriate panel. We all ran into the room, and the Professor entered with us, shutting the door behind us.

Professor Capybara turned to me. "I believe you know how to get out from here."

I nodded. But then I caught the implication. "Aren't you coming with us?"

"No, Clifford," said the Professor. "I need to (tweatle tweatle) the facilities here."

Facilities? What was the Professor talking about? Could he just walk around Sarney with ease? Evidently, he could. As he pad-padded towards the doorway I said, "Wait! can we meet again, later?"

The Professor shook his head sadly and looked at me like I was retarded. "I'm going home, Clifford."

Home? As far we knew, the Professor was one of a kind; if there were a planet of the Capybaras, we surely didn't know about it.

"Wait!" I said, getting my wits about me. This was all happening too quickly, but I was starting to catch up. "If there are more of you, perhaps you can talk to your people, get them to help us in our war against the Insects."

"I'm sorry, Clifford, but we don't work that way," said the Professor. He tweatled almost apologetically.

"What I mean is, you don't have to fight yourselves; if you could even give us materials, supplies, weapons-"

The Professor looked at me through his spectacles. "I really regret what's happened to your people, Clifford. But much as I'm fond of your species, I cannot intervene; my only role is to observe, (tweatle tweatle), and report." He turned away, for the last time.

"Will we ever meet again?" I asked, half chokingly. I had grown very fond of my four legged friend.

Professor Capybara paused, as if he were considering, and he flexed one of his webbed feet. A small cramp, maybe. "Perhaps," he said, opening the door, and he was gone. As the door slid shut behind him, we heard insane screams in the corridor and a splat of green circulatory fluid streaked across the corridor before the panel slid shut.

Preston and I exchanged glances. I think in that short exchange I learned more about Professor Capybara than all the xenobiologists on August had in several decades. But our conversation also raised more questions than answers.

I noticed the Silencer was bleeding rather profusely and he looked faint; I dug out some bandages from my backpack and set about binding the wound. His wound ran the length of his upper arm and shoulder, and looked deep. Nasty. The Silencer tried not to cry out in pain as I bandaged it, but he grit his teeth and looked very uncomfortable.

"We'll see what we can do for you when we get back," I said quietly.

We exited the way we came and reentered the tunnels around Sarney. The Insects didn't seem to realize that we had made our escape this way, and the alert seems not to have triggered any additional activity outside the palace, at least not at this junction. While we had to dodge a routine patrol or two to make our escape, we made our way back to maintenance closet without further incident.

*********

Sashay's eyes were round when he saw us bringing in the bleeding Silencer, who by now had lost so much blood that he was having trouble walking. But Mongo only looked at his right arm and muttered knowingly.

"I guess you don't have to ask us what happened," said Preston sarcastically.

"You are alive," said Mongo. "Mongo tell you best time to go, and you come back alive. Why so unhappies?"

"You could have mentioned that the hairy guy with the long nose wasn't human."

"Did not ask. Many questions you do not ask Mongo, such as 'How are you today, Mongo? What is new with you, eh?'"

The Silencer groaned. "Somebody shut him up," said Preston, referring to Mongo.

I looked at the Silencer; he was bleeding through his bandages. He needed medical attention. Well, that was easy enough; all we would need was a doctor, a hospital, and medical equipment. All doctors who were still alive were probably scattered among workfarms across August; locating one of them would be difficult.

But equipment and hospitals....? There was a chance they were simply deserted, abandoned. Surely scavengers would've picked through them, but there was a chance there could be some medical equipment left. As a field operative I had been given basic medical training; if I could get a cauterizer, I might be able to stop the bleeding.

"I'm going out to look for medical supplies," I said.

"It's bound to be risky," said Preston. "They're all stirred up now."

"The Silencer isn't going to survive the night if I don't," I said. I licked my lips. "You stay here and watch over him."

"Are you sure you don't want company?" said Preston, offering to come.

I could tell he had experienced enough shock for one day. I nodded.

Clap clap. "I'll go."

I turned to the Clapper, a bit surprised. "No offense, but this operation requires stealth."

"I can help (clap clap)."

I was about to turn him down, gently, when I noticed Mongo looking at me, with those great big eyes, giving me one of his "you'll be sorry" expressions if I said what I was about to say. Or was I just imagining it?

"All right," I relented.

*********

The first two hospitals we checked out had been thoroughly scavenged; in one of them, even the sheets on the beds were gone. The second had been destroyed by fire. Time was pressing when we arrived at our third prospect, and I was surprised to find that it was quite unabandoned.

And concerned; it was buzzing with activity, literally. We snuck in through an air vent, and saw Insects buzzing around... experimenting on humans. They were strapped to surgical tables, being injected by very alien looking machines, or having implants added to their bodies. Most of them appeared to be sedated but there were a few moans from those that weren't.

I grew sick to my stomach, and retreated back farther in the vent where the Clapper was waiting. He saw my expression, and reached up with his hands-

"No!" I hissed almost silently, grabbing them and holding them together. "One round of applause is all it will take to get us strapped down in the operating room too."

Mentally I started to calculate if I could save them, if I could burst out, gun blazing, and try to rescue some of these people. But I had no idea what kind of firepower there was in this hospital; the last time I had participated in an unplanned mission, I had almost been slaughtered in a dead end corridor. Besides, every minute I delayed, increased the likelihood that the Silencer would bleed to death. He was the only one I might be able to save right now.

I searched some of the other avenues offered by the vents, and found one leading into a storeroom, just off one of the surgical chambers. Supplies were scattered all over the floor, but it didn't look like the Insects had made a concerted effort to destroy or take the items here. Keeping one eye on the open door, I scrambled around, looking for what I could find, trying to be as silent as possible. I located some more bandages, and sedatives, and put them in my backpack. I kept searching, aware of the buzzing sound in the next room. I really needed a cauterizer. I rapidly glanced through the row of shelves, but didn't see one. Then, on a small table just opposite the doorway, out in the corridor, I saw what looked like a handheld model sitting on a bench. I couldn't tell for sure unless I got closer... but it was right in view of the open doorway.

I peered ever so slightly out of the doorway. There were a number of Insects performing their ghastly procedures, but several of them were facing in my general direction. They'd definitely notice me grabbing something from the bench.

I thought for a long, hard moment; the Silencer was running out of time! Then I went back to the vent, and silently gestured for the Clapper to come down into the room. Actually I lowered him gently onto the ground, to prevent him from making any noise; he looked down on the ground with anticipation, as first his toes and then his feet touched down, as I lowered him by his belt. I motioned him forward, almost to the point of the doorway, and pointed to the object on the bench.

The Clapper raised his hands nervously to clap; I grabbed his hands, shook my head vigorously, and pointed to the object again.

The Clapper nodded. The object started to move, making a slight scraping sound on the table. One of the bugs turned around to look very specifically in our direction; seeing nothing, it turned away again. I winced and gestured for the Clapper to lift the object again, and suddenly it rose, and floated across the corridor, into the room, and into the Clapper's hand. Itwasa cauterizer.

We heard an odd tenor change to the buzzing, and the sound of movement; I quickly motioned for the Clapper to hide behind the ends of one of the shelves; and so did I, tightly gripping my blaster.

An Insect entered the room. It stood there for a moment, buzzing. I stood with my blaster, peering through a tiny obscure gap to see it standing there. It looked this way and that. And then it left the room entirely.

*********

We made our way back into the vent and out of the hospital without incident. I tried to sprint as much as possible, but had to slow down to let the Clapper keep up. Finally, we had almost reached the turnoff to the corridor where the maintenance closet was located, when I saw something very alarming: an Insect standing guard at that junction.

Had they discovered our hideout? That was certainly possible. Or this bug could just be part of a general sweep trying to catch resistance members. But it seemed quite a coincidence that a guard would be stationed here, almost right outside their base of operations.

But I had to find out if the hideout had been discovered. The Silencer could still be bleeding to death inside. I thought for a long moment. I could kill this Insect easily enough, but there could be an entire platoon around the corner. Even if there weren't, the death of an Insect almost outside our hiding place would create unwanted attention in this area.

I thought for a moment. Time was running out for the Silencer. What could I do? And then, for some reason, I thought of Mongo. He had seemed to hint that the Clapper would be useful on this mission. He had already proven his value once. Maybe he could do so again.

I pulled the Clapper forward, and whispered something to him. He nodded.

A piece of debris just past the Insect lifted itself up and clanged against the wall. The Insect, suddenly stirring from immobility, started marching down the corridor to investigate. When it was out of sight, we raced to the junction to try and reach the turnoff before it returned. I was conscious of the fact that we could be running right into the hands of a full platoon of Insects, but we needed to take the risk.

The corridor,ourcorridor, was now empty; I raced down to the entrance, peeled back the door, and dialed the lock. As the Clapper scampered in, I cast a glance back to be sure the Insect hadn't returned and spotted us; then I ran in and shut the door behind me as quietly and quickly as possible.... to find myself facing Preston's blaster.

"Sorry," he said, lowering it. "They've been milling out there for hours. I think our little raid got them really stirred up."

"How's the Silencer?" I said, suddenly spotting his inert body and fearing the worst.

"Not good," said Preston.

The Silencer moaned as I reached over for him, and I saw he was bleeding onto the ground. The first thing I did was give him a sedative to knock him out. Then I took out the cauterizer. In my haste I hadn't even tested to see if it worked, or still had power. But I flicked the activation switch and was rewarded with a small glow at the tip.

Surgery isn't one of my favorite tasks, and it was about as unpleasant for me as it was for the Silencer, but in a few minutes it was done. He jerked a bit from the obvious pain even when he was unconscious, and I had to give him another shot to keep him knocked out. When it was done, I had stopped the bleeding; but the question is, had I stopped it in time? What the Silencer needed was a transfusion, but we had no way to get him one.

For the first time in what felt like years, I slumped into a corner, and immediately sank into unconsciousness.

********

"There is no sign of the alien who invaded my sanctum; no sign of the humans who attacked the control center and killed the senior watchers, and no knowledge of how they got in or out; is this correct, commander?" Queen Zsst asked.

The commander, who was actually the deputy commander of the Sarney garrison until several minutes ago, couldn't help but tremble. Both the Governor-General and the commander of the garrison had been unlucky enough not to be in the control room at the time the humans had attacked; at least if they had, their endings could have been quick and relatively painless; instead, both their dismembered corpses were hanging just feet away from the Queen's throne, a very poignant statement about her unhappiness with palace security.

"We do have some more information about the creature who attacked you," said the commander, sweating profusely. "It was a-"

"I know what it was! Don't you think I recognize one of those when I see it!" The Queen snapped. "And it shouldn't have been here! Is there anything elseusefulyou have to say?" She stressed the word useful. If the commander had nothing useful to impart...

"We also have a holo of the human attackers," said the commander.

"Not enough to show how they got in or out," the Queen noted.

"They disappeared somewhere on level one," said the commander. "My men are still searching, but the structure of this place prevents effective-" he broke off, seeing the expression on the Queen's face, seeing her tendril start to lift, as if to motion her bodyguard to move forward and set another example. Ever since the raid on the Palace, she had placed four heavily armed squads located inside her chambers, and several more platoons were scattered throughout the whole of Sarney Sarittenden.

"We have the identities of the human attackers!" The commander blurted.

The Queen lowered her tendril, for a moment. "Go on."

"One of them has been identified as the same Graftonite who stormed our ship orbiting Grafton and slaughtered the crew. He has been identified as one called 'The Silencer' and is reputed to be one of their fiercest warriors."

A Graftonite. The Queen shuddered; wasn't there supposed to be a blockade in effect? Even their intense efforts to invade and pacify the populace had so far been stymied by strong resistance on the ground; so far all they had managed to do was occupy and fortify a small, four square mile area that was under almost constant attack.

"And the other?"

"His name is Clifford Croft, he's a level one operative with the Column-"

"I thought we had located and killed all the top Column Operatives!" the Queen roared.

"Apparently not. They may have formed an alliance with the creature that attacked you in an effort to destabilize our pacification program."

The Queen considered this possibility. If so, that would be very, very disturbing.

"Then we must prevent such an alliance from being cemented. Bring me the heads of this Graftonite and Column human. Bring me their heads within two planetary revolutions, or I will have yours," said the Queen.

********

I got up and stretched my very sore muscles; the whole previous day seemed like a bad dream. Then, remembering, I rushed over to the Silencer. He was lying on the ground, but his eyes were open and he was conscious.

"How're you feeling?" I asked.

"Awful," said the Silencer. He didn't look very good. His face was very pale.

"You lost a lot of blood," I said. "Most people wouldn't have lasted as long as you did." I looked around. "You should eat something to replenish your strength."

"Preston gave me the last of the food before he left," the Silencer whispered.

"Left?" I looked around. Red Sally and Sashay were gone too, but Mongo and the Clapper were there.

"Rude Column man leaves several hours ago," said Mongo. "He asks Mongo if bugs still waiting outside, but Mongo not know everything, so finally he goes out." Mongo reflected. "Rude Column man only talks to Mongo when he wants something." Mongo sighed.

I ignored that last part. I was more concerned with our immediate situation. "Are the bugs still outside?"

"Mongo not hear sounds of weapons fire, so Mongo thinks not," said Mongo. Then, as an afterthought, "But Mongo always criticized for being wrong, Mongo would not want to try to make guesses that will later get him criticized by rude, unappreciative Columnists."