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Earth, The Blue Venture
"They couldn't have gotten ten reapers in that crate. Even disassembled, they wouldn't have fit." Val paced the Venture's lounge in agitation, a thin strip of Wound-heal showing along her hairline. A latent throb made her suck in a breath, but it could have been worse. She could be in the med bay, like Tamar, nursing a broken clavicle with no nanocyte load to help it heal faster.
Tessa leaned against the counter. "No. Which means they've been programmed to make new ones. Either by replication, or by building them from whatever materials they can scrounge. Personally, I'm betting on the latter."
"I'm hoping for the second option, too," Magnus said. The edge in his voice said he was still angry over what he'd called Tessa's foolishness in going after the reapers without backup. Her argument that she'd had the twins and Hermie with her hadn't softened his irritation much.
He shifted his position on the couch. "Because from what you've told me, if someone repaired the damage you did to HiveZ in that first fight, we are all in real trouble."
Alex frowned at Val as she rubbed a tired hand just below the wound on her forehead. "Do you need a pain blocker?" he asked.
She flashed him a grateful smile, and he rose, heading to the nourichef to make her a soother.
"Nothing that will make me sleepy, though," she cautioned him. "I need to be awake for whatever happens next."
"Roger that, Captain," Alex said, shooting her smile back at her.
"You aren't wrong, Magnus," Tessa said. "There were ten reapers on that team. If you're right," she pointed to Val. "And there couldn't have been more than four in the crate..."
"I am," Val replied. "And there couldn't."
Tessa gave her a nod. "Then they have to have found a base. Raw materials aren't as easy to come by here on Earth, after Gaia put humanity's greatest hits in storage."
"That isn't... She destroyed the cities, the towns, everything, didn't she? That's what she told us."
"Matter can't be destroyed. Only changed," Tessa said. "And changing that much? It would have taken masses of energy and time. Even for Gaia. My guess is, she hauled it all underground and left it to rot, except for the most toxic stuff. I know, for instance, that she broke the plastics down into their original elemental components, and then released them into the ecosystem. But all the other building blocks of a civilization would degrade over time without too much impact on the environment."
"So she just sucked them underground?" Magnus asked, eyebrows raised.
"It was a bit more complicated than that, but yes. Basically," Tessa replied.
"So, if they found one of these decaying stockpiles..." Alex trailed off, worry tightening his features.
"They'd have all the raw materials they'd need to build an army, which is probably what the HDL wanted." Val accepted the soother from Alex and took his place on the couch.
Tessa frowned. "I'm sure they're making additional reapers, but they'd need enough nanocytes to program them. A simple robot wouldn't have the bandwidth for complex thinking or strategizing. Certainly not enough to wage war on an entire planet."
"Plus, that isn't the end game. A small-scale war isn't going to destroy the planet, and Gaia with it," Magnus said.
"Unless..." Tessa paled.
Tension pulled Val upright. "Unless what?"
Sighing, Tessa dropped into a chair. "Nukes. I mean, I'm sure that Gaia got rid of the stockpiles, but if they found even one..."
"Humans had nuclear weapons?" Magnus blinked. "I don't remember that in my high school history courses."
"It isn't something we taught the general populace," Val said wearily. "Not exactly something to be proud of, especially since the U.S. was a major contender in the arms race of the mid-twentieth century."
"They barely mentioned it in our warfare courses at the academy," Alex added. "Tried to downplay it even there."
"We need to send a message to Gaia. Make sure she dismantled any bombs humans left behind down to atoms," Tessa said.
"On it," Alex replied, and tapped his mindlink. The soft murmur of his voice faded into the background as Rakan came over the intercom.
"We got a delegation of... Umm... really short folks, at the gangplank. Say they got a message for 'Not-Hive.'"
Tessa and Val locked eyes. This was not good.
"Scan them," Val responded. "As long as they aren't armed, let them in, but send the twins with them."
"Affirmative. You want me to come down?" Rakan asked.
"No, stay on the bridge, but keep your blaster close, just in case," Val said.
"Roger that. Admitting visitors now."
Val turned to Tessa. "How did they know?"
"I have my suspicions," Tessa said. "But there's only one way to know for sure." She faced the door as it swished open. "Ask them.”
The twins flanked three individuals, two older, one younger, if the beards on the older two were anything to go by. Based on the resemblance, Tessa guess this was a family, or part of one. The taller male wore his beard full and flowing, with only the ends of his long mustache braided. The female's beard was more like an extension of her hair, hanging in short, lustrous braids from her sideburns to the point of her jaw, leaving her chin and throat bare.
All three were short in stature, and barrel chested with heavily muscled arms and legs. The younger male had only a thin down of peachfuzz along his jawline.
"Welcome to the Blue Venture. How can we help you?" Val rose from her seat, extending her hand in greeting. The older male gripped her forearm as he looked at the younger male.
The boy rattled off a short sentence in a language Val had never heard before, but Tessa nodded.
"He's translating for his..." Tessa turned to the boy and asked a question in the same language.
The boy's eyes widened, and he replied with a long stream of communication. The only words Val understood were 'Not-hive' and 'English.'
"He says he and his sister had an encounter with..." Tessa paused, frowning. "It doesn't translate well. The closest I can come is metal-monster. His mother saved the children, but she was wounded in the process."
"Reapers?" Alex asked.
"I think so." Tessa turned back to the boy and asked another question, to which the boy nodded.
"I speak human," he said, his accent thick but understandable.
"You speak English," Tessa corrected gently. "Humans have many languages. But we are in what was once U.S. territory, so I suppose that explains it. Where did you learn to speak it?"
"Ancient civilizations class. But... there is not... what is word?” His expression eased as it came to him. “Opportunity to use it. You will excuse me if I make mistake with my... cormusa? I forget the word in English."
"Communication," Tessa supplied.
The boy grinned. "Yes, communication. I learned few words of old Earth Spanish too," he said. "But not enough for this. I am Padraig Tarigson. I bear message for the Not-Hive."
Tessa closed her eyes briefly, the name shuddering through her, scattering unpleasant memories in its path like so many autumn leaves stirred by a cold wind. "I am Tessa Graham, but some know me as Not-Hive. What is your message?"
An hour later, the dwarves took their leave. Padraig looked as if he wanted to stay, an ambition Tessa would have granted any other time. But for now...
"Now we know for sure that they are here to destroy Gaia, and that they know who I am," she said to the others.
"And we know that, however they are managing it, they are building new reapers, all with the same corrupted programming. HiveZ never wanted to destroy Gaia, just you and all humans." Val drummed her fingers on the table and gave a light touch to the blaster on her hip, as if reassuring herself that it was still there. "Someone has tampered with them."
"Likely the HDL," Alex said. "Not that it matters at the moment."
"So, their plan is what? Build an army of reapers and go on a killing spree?" Magnus asked. "Sounds inefficient."
"Kill enough of Gaia's children, and it weakens her. Not to mention the mental distress," Tessa said.
"But would the HDL know that? We already established that they don't fully understand the Simoi – the idea of a bi-corpate species is foreign to humans." Val leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.
"Bi-corpate?" Magnus asked.
"Two-bodied," Tessa explained. "The Simoi have a terra and an astra. What humans would call a body and a soul. But in the Simoi, the two exist independently, though they are connected, and what affects one affects the other."
"Kill one and the other dies," Alex said. "The Simoi are nearly indestructible otherwise."
"Which explains why sending the reapers after Gaia on Elara didn't work," Magnus said.
Tessa dropped into a chair. "Right. So, they changed their plan, and sent the reapers here. But why attack the inhabitants? If they hadn't killed Marianna Margrave, we wouldn't even know for sure they were here. It doesn’t make any sense."
“It does if the goal is to lure Gaia to Earth,” Magnus replied.
The others stared at him. Finally, Val cleared her throat.
“So, they can attack her directly? How can they be sure she’ll come?”
Tessa shrugged. “If Irina was in danger, you would come. Gaia is no different. Their knowledge of the Simoi is incomplete, but it isn’t a secret that the Simoi view the species they create as their children.”
“OK, but–” Val began.
They are looking for something. Pan spoke for the first time since arriving in the lounge. He and Dora lay sprawled across the couch.
Tessa stared at him. "Like what, Pan?"
I do not know, Dr. Tessa. We cannot read the Reapers as we do other species. But that is what the Reaper said, and we see no reason for it to lie. It may not even be capable of deception.
"If you wanted to destroy a planet, what would you need?" Tessa voiced the question to the group. They all replied with the same answer.
"A bomb."
"A damn big one," Tessa agreed. "A planet killer."
Alex shook his head. "Gaia said she destroyed all the nuclear weapons, as well as anything big enough to cause lasting damage. Broke them down into their natural components and dispersed the elements where they couldn't do any harm."
Something stirred in Tessa's memory. She hadn't thought of it in so long. "No. She wouldn't have left it there, would she?" She whispered the question as if talking to herself.
Val stood slowly. "Left what where, Tessa? What are you talking about?"
Tessa opened her mindlink, sending an interstellar message to Gaia. While she waited for a response, she explained. "I doubt this is in any human text book, but Gaia was under attack during the evacuation."
"By Tevan. We know," Val said. "He used Sirius's nanocytes and your soul to target them."
Tessa grimaced. "Yeah, well, that's not all. He also implanted a spike in the Earth."
"A spike?" Alex asked. "I don't get it."
"Tevan's spike was a massive machine that threw Earth's eco-system out of whack. It caused a complete breakdown in the natural order, triggering catastrophic storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, worse than any other phenomenon the Earth had ever seen. Gaia disabled the machine, but it cost her. It took months for her to recover, and the Earth to right itself."
"He was trying to kill her." Magnus' statement was flat, his eyes angry.
"I don't know for sure what he wanted, but regardless, that is nearly what happened. If Gaia hadn't stopped it in time..." Tessa trailed off.
"But she did." It wasn't a question. Val went on, "but by that point, the fleets were already gone, launched and disappeared."
"Weakening her further." A scowl tightened Tessa's features. "Thanks to Sirius."
Magnus cleared his throat. "OK, but surely Gaia didn't leave the machine there after she stopped it."
"That's what I asked..." A notification flashed on her mindlink screen. She read the message and her jaw tightened. "She did leave it. Tevan had it made from a specialized, non-native material, so she couldn't deconstruct it, and removing it would have caused an immense amount of damage."
And now you know what they are looking for, Dora said sleepily.
