Red Mae heard her voice in the network. It was like a dream. Standing in the temporary shelter of a cave near the valley, she observed as the news hit her mother. Zula Hendricks struggled to hold back her tears. They’d all been struggling a lot these last days, and hope died easily in this wind-blasted place.
So much running. So many lost Jackals.
Captain Shipp rested against the one large vehicle that survived. They’d parked the smaller buggy, which could carry only four, a short distance behind it. The company facility’s supplies were plentiful. Scavenging kept them all alive. Crates full of food and ammo were hard won, though. Each one they attempted to reach meant risking an encounter with the Xenomorphs.
Private Feldman and his rescued worker were the first victims. They hadn’t ever made it out of the tunnel system.
However, the first week, it seemed, the larger group of Jackals were of little interest. The queen’s drones captured plenty of Wey-Yu employees to be cocooned next to eggs. It was almost as if the hive wanted the Jackals loose. Like a child saving a sandwich for the next day’s lunch.
So Red Team kept mobile, endlessly running and fighting. Survival was their objective, but not all of them made it. Privates Sampath and Zhany, as well as Corporal Thami, almost made it, but they were killed in combat three days ago.
That left only six Jackals alive. Sergeant Ackerman leaned up against the wall of the cave because he refused to sit down. Some kind of insect-like planetary life form had stung him only hours before, which appeared to annoy him more than anything.
Private Amutenya, their remaining medic, crouched next to the sergeant and tried his best to treat the bite. Certainly, Ackerman could not run if required.
Over the last few days, the hive had become ready for more eggs to open. Now, the Xenomorphs pursued them far more aggressively. Their supplies were running low and their ammo was almost spent. The remaining Jackals were exhausted, powering through on stims and willpower.
Mae monitored their condition. Like Amytenya, she was the last of her kind down here. The two synthetic squads were gone. The Pinpoints and two Good Boys remained, but they were low on power. Unit cohesion wore down with the losses they took, and even Zula Hendricks had limits.
Weighing all the odds, Mae stayed at the colonel’s side, waiting for some kind of hope.
Her mother cut the network connection with Mae Prime, and she wasn’t smiling. She jerked her head to Shipp and Mae. They took a few steps away, behind the vehicle, and continued in lowered voices. Even in their dire situation, they all kept Mae’s nature a secret, on the off chance they might survive.
Zula ran her hand over her face before delivering the news. “We have to get to the elevator crawler right now. It’s on its way down to us, but we’re on our own making it to the entrance. We’re close, but so are they.” She opened up her wrist-pd, daring to use some of the valuable battery life to display the Pinpoints’ intel of what lay ahead. In the fading light of evening, their chances did not look great.
Shipp stared at the readout and let out a sigh. “The Xenos have moved up from yesterday. They definitely have us on the menu, and don’t want us to skip out on dinner.”
“Yeah, for sure they’ve got plans for us,” Zula agreed. “So how much fuel does the last people-mover have?
“We have a quarter of the battery charge left. More than enough to reach the space elevator.” Mae delivered the one piece of good news.
Zula scrolled through the grim status of their ammunition supplies. They didn’t have enough to take down more than one wave of monsters—if they got lucky.
“If we don’t get to that crawler, we’re going to be part of the mess along with the Xenos,” Shipp observed, her tone almost casual.
“We have two Good Boys left, and the C4 charge.” Mae checked her rifle. “That should be more than enough to cause a distraction. I’m ready.”
“No!” Zula rounded on her. “Not after everything we’ve been through together. I’m not leaving you here.”
Red Mae peered over the hood of the vehicle at the Jackals. Ackerman attempted to stand, while Minkas, Konaan, and Amytenya checked their weapons. All were dirty and tired, but still resolute. Mae’s calculations couldn’t be argued with, although her mother and Shipp would make a heroic attempt. They wouldn’t make it.
“We don’t have time for another plan. Besides, I’ll tight-beam all my recent memories up to Mae Prime. I want her to know what we’ve gone through down here.” Despite the logic of her plan, a small kernel of sadness still broke through.
Zula shook her head again. “Please don’t… don’t do that.”
Mae put her hand on the colonel’s shoulder. “You’re not making a logical choice, Mother. I’m the last synthetic standing, and I’m replaceable. We do not have a choice, if you want to save your Jackals.” Mae examined the shape of her mother’s face. “I will be gone, but I will also be with you. Isn’t that what some humans believe happens?”
Zula choked out a laugh. “Are you suggesting you’ll be a ghost?”
“It would be an interesting experience.” Mae shrugged. “I was being more literal than that. My other, primary self is waiting for you. Now, please, you must go.”
As a colonel, Zula Hendricks understood tough choices. She made them all the time. Her mother’s arms wrapped around Mae, and she squeezed hard. Then she turned to her remaining Jackals. “Let’s get back to the station and then the Fury.”
So the two of us will make a sacrifice. Father and daughter will stay. Her father’s voice whispered in her head. I’m not leaving you alone like this.
I’m just an echo. Red Mae said it, even if she didn’t feel it.
An echo that spent weeks saving humans, and was a part of Zula Hendricks’s life all that time.
I guess that counts for something. She straightened up and considered her next move. It’ll have to do.
The Jackals loaded into the people-mover. Shipp drove them away while Zula sat up front. Only Zula glanced back at Mae. Her expression was sad but resolute, and somehow that cheered her daughter.
Red Mae could have completed the transfer to Mae Prime at that moment, but she wanted to wait. She wanted her death to be remembered and recorded.
She gathered the remaining Good Boys and Pinpoints around her. With the sentry guns at her disposal, she could make quite a ruckus to direct all the monsters’ attention her way.
She loaded up the smaller buggy with the C4 and wired it for detonation. Then she strapped the remaining sentry guns to its side. This vehicle had a few kilometers of power left, but Mae only needed it to reach the hive. Slipping into the driver’s seat, she launched the Pinpoints in front of her. In their time on the planet, the Jackals had figured out that certain frequencies attracted the Xenos as strongly as the Good Boys’ audio drove them away.
Mae programmed the Pinpoints to track with her as she gunned the buggy into the valley and towards the hive. The Pinpoints overhead began screaming the dinner bell, while the Good Boys kept up with the vehicle in long strides. That noise, and Mae’s ride towards the queen, should hopefully override any other imperative the drones had.
Her calculations proved accurate. Mae heard them before she saw them. Their screams and hisses emerged from the mist behind her moments before they did. A wave of dark drones poured over the flat mountaintop plateau as she came within a click of the colony entrance. Their shrieks echoed off the hills as they ran to catch up to Mae on her Valkyrie ride.
There is music for that, you know. Her father’s voice reminded her she was not alone on this final journey.
Play it for me.
He filled her mind with a swell of strings by Wagner, then the woodwinds that built on it. The trumpets, when they entered, provided a feeling similar to human adrenaline. For a moment, it almost looked as if the Good Boys were keeping time with the music’s rhythm.
Mae pressed her foot down on the accelerator to keep pace. The facts about this piece of music slid through her mind: the Ring Cycle, uses on stage, famous performances. It had a long, rich history.
Don’t do that. Enjoy the moment and the music as they are, her father urged her.
Still, Mae summoned the smell of napalm and victory from data sources to accompany their last ride.
The Xenomorphs gained on the buggy, desperate to stop Mae before she reached their queen. The sentry guns opened up, firing into the mass of snarling monsters which approached from both flanks.
One Xenomorph leaped for the door of the buggy. It pulled itself up to the side, black claws reaching for her. Mae took up her shotgun from the passenger seat. As the Xeno opened its mouth, she kept one hand on the steering wheel while racking and shooting with the other.
The acid splashed across her hand and face. Her combat body repelled most, but it dripped across the buggy. It didn’t have her protections. The vehicle bucked and jolted like a wounded animal.
Worried that she wasn’t going to make it, Mae triggered the Good Boys to clear some of their pursuers out of their path. Their audio blast repelled the Xenomorphs, driving them away from the slowing vehicle. Smoke began streaming out from beneath, but the wheels kept rolling.
The buggy groaned and shuddered but only slowed a little. Wagner’s music swelled in her head, bringing the strangest surge of complicated feelings with it.
Mae, we’re at the crawler. We made it. We’re going up now. Her mother’s voice mixed joy with sorrow.
That they would remember her in this way pleased Mae. Many genetic humans wished for a good death, and she got that. She sent the tight-beam up to Mae Prime. Hopefully, her memories would give her context and help her understand Zula even better.
She urged the buggy on for the last few meters and into the Mother Colony’s entrance. The Xenos spilled out towards Mae from in front and behind. They sprung up and overwhelmed the Good Boys, smashing and destroying them in their rage.
Yet she wasn’t completely alone. Her father’s voice welled up inside her.
The final test of humanity. You have passed it, Mae.
Mae fired her shotgun until the very last moment. She’d already exceeded her operating parameters. As the Xenos reached out for her, she flicked the switch on the C4.
She pictured the reunion of Mae Prime and Zula Hendricks. They would be together soon, and she would be there too.