Analog Science Fiction and Fact - March 2014 Read online

  Analog Science Fiction and Fact

  Kindle Edition, 2014 © Penny Publications

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  All Human Things

  Dave Creek | 13734 words

  Illustrated by Josh Meehan

  "All Human things are subject to decay, and when fate summons, monarchs must obey."

  —John Dryden

  As he squeezed his way through the hole blasted into the crippled Jenregar starcraft, Mike Christopher thought, All right, so this is the last place I want to be—but a Human's apparently a captive in here, so it's worth the risk. He lowered himself carefully through the jagged tear in the ship's skin, being especially careful of the small propulsion unit on his back.

  The first thing Mike saw in the narrow corridor was the body of a Jenregar individual. It was missing an arm, and bodily fluids were leaking from the hard carapace of its body. Its small eyes, which for the Jenregar were secondary sensory organs, stared, unseeing. The slender antennae extending from its forehead, which were smell receptors, hung limply. If the energy bolt from the Kojima didn't kill it, Mike thought, the sudden vacuum would have.

  With the height of an average Jenregar being about three-quarters of a meter, Mike couldn't quite stand upright in the corridor. He glimpsed movement down the hallway and pulled his stunner. Two Jenregar, both of them wearing lifesuits, came around a corner, each carrying a different piece of equipment. They ignored Mike as they passed him and began working on the hole in the side of the ship. One instrument, it seemed, created a mesh over the hole. The other emitted a beam that caused the hole itself to smooth over at its rough edges and begin filling itself in.

  Can't allow that, Mike thought, and aimed his stunner at the Jenregar. A couple of pops from the stunner, and they fell to the floor.

  A voice over his datalink was loud enough to make him wince. "Mike—we read stunner fire from over there. Are you all right?"

  That was the voice of Kelda Lee, the captain of the Earth Unity light cruiser Admiral Susan Kojima, which had punched the hole in the Jenregar ship. She'd "borrowed" him from the exploratory craft Asaph Hall just for this mission.

  "Don't worry, Captain," Mike said. "Just making sure my escape route wasn't about to be blocked."

  Mike could hear the relief in Captain Lee's voice. "Thanks, Mike. Find out what you can, but be careful."

  I will, Mike thought as he checked his wrist sensor. The Human on board was located somewhere toward the front of the ship. Mike headed in that direction. The Jenregar craft was a small one, barely twenty-five meters long, with a crew of only twenty-seven. It was part of a swarm of such craft that had been detected out past the orbit of Neptune, headed directly for Earth.

  Mike knew the Unity was probably correct in its assessment that the Jenregar was about to attack the Earth ("Was," because the Jenregar possessed only a single hive mind, with individuals acting only by hard-wired programming and coded chemical messages).

  The corridor took a turn, and Mike found himself before an energy field, presumably one that had closed off most of the ship from the part now open to space. I wonder, does the shield also recognize pheromonal cues? He reached out a finger toward the field, and sure enough, it passed through easily. Damn, he thought, I'll take being lucky over being good any day. But as he stepped through the energy field, his first thought was, Maybe not so lucky after all.

  A dozen Jenregar stood within a small room, several of them operating ship's systems, others just standing around. Looks like the bridge, or at least some sort of command center, Mike thought. But pretty crowded. I'd guess some of these Jenregar were evacuated from the damaged parts of the ship.

  The Jenregar recognized one another and imparted information to one another by smell, so Mike's lifesuit had been infused with what he hoped were the appropriate scents that would allow him to pass as a member of the Jenregar crew. I would have to be one of the few Humans to have made contact with the Jenregar, he thought. Unfortunately, I'm probably the best person qualified for this mission.

  Even if it's for an ungrateful Earth.

  So far none of the Jenregar took notice of him—in the same manner, Humans didn't normally recognize one another by scent. Another glance at his wrist sensor, and Mike realized he was quite close to the other Human on board, who was probably just down a short corridor to his right. Mike headed that way—

  —And found himself nearly face-to-face with that other Human.

  The man sat at the end of the short corridor, his head in his hands as if in despair. I can't blame him, Mike thought. Captured whoknows-where, brought aboard this Jenregar ship, which then comes under attack, with no hope of rescue as far as he knows.

  The man seemed to sense Mike's presence and looked up. He was in his thirties, with pale skin, curly hair, and a wide-eyed expression. Mike knew that in return, the man saw his unusual features that reflected all of Humanity's origins—light brown skin, tightly curled hair, bright blue eyes.

  But Mike's next thought was: Did the Jenregar torture this man? He had a series of cuts all around his eyes, and his left eye in particular was swollen, as if he'd been beaten. His clothing seemed to sag around him, as if he'd started out as a much bigger man.

  "Thank God," the man said. "Are you here to bring me out?"

  "That's my intention," Mike said. But when he took another step forward the other man stood, almost bumping his head on the ceiling, and motioned for him to stop.

  "Don't get any closer. If I try to take more than about four steps from this corner, I guess some kind of alarm goes off. The Jenregar come after me."

  "I don't see anything," Mike said. "But I'd guess there's some kind of pheromonal barrier on the floor or the walls." He looked at the other man. "What's your name?"

  "Jeremy Sheffield—have you heard anything about my wife?"

  "I'm Mike Christopher—no, we didn't know anything about you until a few hours ago. There aren't any other Humans on this ship other than the two of us."

  "Oh, God— Julia! We were on holiday—it was supposed to be a time we reconnected." Then Jeremy looked up at Mike. "Your name sounds familiar."

  Mike couldn't be concerned about that right now. Over his datalink, he said, "Captain Lee, I've made contact. I'm about to get him out of here."

  "Heard and understood," Captain Lee said. "Make it fast as you can. It looks like they've got automatic systems repairing their stardrive. You don't want to take a trip with them."

  "Shit," Mike muttered. "You've got that right."

  Jeremy asked, "Who were you talking to? What's wrong?"

  "Unity warcraft—the Susan Kojima. They're the ones who punched the hole in this ship and disabled it."

  "Warcraft? Oh, dear Lord, has it come to that?"

  "That's part of what we're trying to find out. Listen, Jeremy—we've got to get you out of here. Do you still have your lifesuit tech?"

  "Yes, thank goodness."

  "I'm going to risk reaching my arm past that barrier." Mike pulled a small tube from a wrist pocket. "I'm going to want you to activate your suit, then take this tube and smash it over the top of it."

  "I think I get it—Jenregar pheromones?"

  "It'll be as if you transformed into a Jenregar right in front of them. Ready?"

  "Ready," Jeremy said, and pressed his left middle finger into his palm. His lifesuit formed itself around him, Mike handed him the tube, and Jeremy smashed it over the top of his helmet.

  "Com'on," Mike said. "We've got to get ourselves into the Jenregar population where they won't notice us."

  Mike watched as Jeremy took a deep breath, then took that step. Mike put his hand on his stunn
er, looked all around. The Jenregar took no notice of either of them. He told Jeremy, "Let's get you back to Humanity," and he led the way back down the short corridor.

  "I'm ready for that," Jeremy said. "You won't believe how long I've been in there, how many times they've knocked me unconscious." He shook his head. "This is like being inside a virt, only not as much fun."

  Great, Mike thought. A virt enthusiast. Well, maybe a dose of reality will do him good. They reached the command center. But as Mike started to hurry through the crowded room, he sensed Jeremy wasn't right behind him. A look back, and he saw the man standing stock still in the middle of the room. Goddam it, he thought, and made his way over to Jeremy as quickly as he could, trying not to run right into any of the Jenregar.

  He grabbed Jeremy's arm. "Com'on," he said.

  "This is no time to lose your nerve."

  Jeremy's features behind his helmet face-plate were a study in fear. "This is exactly the time," he said.

  Mike eased his way past a couple of Jenregar, got behind Jeremy, and pushed, hard."Go," Mike said.

  Jeremy went.

  As they approached the energy field that led back to the damaged part of the Jenregar craft, Captain Lee spoke up again. "You've got to hurry, Mike—our sensors show their stardrive spinning up."

  "We're getting there as quickly as we can!"

  "You may not have a chance to—"

  A tearing, rending sound broke off Captain Lee's words— Is this what a stardrive jump for a Jenregar ship normally sounds like? Mike wondered.

  Mike didn't even have a chance to get through the energy shield before every nerve in his body felt as if it had caught fire and he screamed in agony as he slumped to the floor.

  For Mike, in the instant of the Jenregar ship's stardrive transition, it was as if the Universe disappeared...

  —As a five-year-old, he rushes toward his prospective foster parents, only to run right through their images.

  —At age sixteen, he stands his ground with three bullies and holds his own against them thanks to the special abilities of his artificially conceived body.

  —Just months after turning twenty-one, he watches the image of the receding Earth on a viewscreen, wondering if he'll ever want to return to his homeworld again.

  ... and the Universe returned, faster than thought.

  Mike shook off those unpleasant memories. He knew he was lying on the floor, but he didn't know where and couldn't remember what made him pass out. When he tried to rub his head, his hand clunked against his bubble helmet.

  He opened his eyes. Damn, he thought. The Jenregar ship. Hell of a place to wake up on.

  And what the hell knocked me out like that?

  He looked over at Jeremy, who was still unconscious. The stardrive jump, Mike thought. We could be anywhere—for all I know, the Jenregar homeworld. There's no amount of pheromones can hide us much longer.

  Mike got to his feet and found himself standing right next to one of the Jenregar. Instinctively, he froze, expecting this particular Jenregar to walk right past him as if he were nothing unusual.

  But this Jenregar individual looked right at him!

  Mike was so startled it took a moment for him to concentrate and take a good look right back. This Jenregar's eyes are bigger than what's normal for them, Mike thought. They're comparable to a Human's eyes.

  Mike's attention flashed back for an instant to his first sight of Jeremy, of the cuts and bruising all around his eyes, and Mike had to wonder— Have the Jenregar been performing experiments on him?

  The Jenregar individual tried to grab Mike, but it only came up to his waist, and its tentacle-like arms didn't have the strength to hold onto him. Mike pulled himself free, pulled his stunner, and shot the Jenregar, who crumpled to the floor.

  Now the other Jenregar in the command center took notice, but only of the Jenregar Mike had just shot. Gotta be grateful for small favors, Mike thought, as he pulled Jeremy up to a sitting position. "Wake up, dammit," he said, wishing he could slap the side of the man's face. Resigning himself to the inevitable, he pulled Jeremy up, laid him over one shoulder, grateful for the little bit of added strength a "normal" Human didn't have, and headed back down the corridor toward the damaged part of the ship.

  They passed easily through the energy field as Mike activated his datalink: "This is Mike Christopher to Captain Lee. Kojima, do you read?"

  No response.

  As Mike reached the hole the Kojima had made in the side of the Jenregar ship, Mike found himself with a dilemma. I still have no idea where we jumped to, he thought. We might be in the middle of nowhere, waiting for a repair crew. Or in the midst of a Jenregar fleet.

  Mike reached up and pulled himself just high enough out of the jagged hole in the ship to catch a glance all around. What he saw made him gasp.

  Earth! Mike could barely believe he was seeing the Sun-drenched outlines of Europe and Africa, plainly visible even amidst the cloud cover, the strings of light on the world's night-side that were the cities of Asia.

  It looks like we're just beyond synchronous orbit, Mike thought. And if it's not my imagination running ahead of me, it looks like the planet's getting closer by the moment.

  Mike lowered himself back through the hole, his mind racing. Did he dare stay aboard this Jenregar ship? I've no idea where it's headed, whether into orbit or some kind of landing. If it's part of an invasion fleet, what are my chances of survival?

  Mike saw several Jenregar starting down the corridor toward him and Jeremy. That settles that, he thought. Whether through that Jenregar who looked right at me or some other way, they've started to perceive us.

  Time to go.

  He grabbed the still-unconscious Jeremy, and lifted him up. We're better off taking our chances on our own, he thought. I can only hope my lifesuit's propulsion can get us a reasonable distance from this ship. Mike was careful not to let Jeremy's lifesuit catch on the hole's jagged edges as he pushed him through. He managed to hold onto one of Jeremy's legs as he pulled himself up.

  Earth was getting closer. I can't make out any Human ships, or even other Jenregar ones, he thought, but what would the chances be that either would be within visual range?

  Mike grabbed Jeremy in a close embrace, which at least was easier here in zero-G conditions on the skin of the Jenregar ship. He flexed his knees and jumped away from the Jenregar ship. Fortunately, Jeremy was slender enough that Mike could reach with his right hand around Jeremy's back to punch controls on his own lifesuit's left wrist. The small propulsion unit on his back pushed him and Jeremy away from the Jenregar craft at an angle perpendicular to its trajectory.

  Soon the Jenregar ship receded from view. Over his datalink, Mike said, "This is Mike Christopher of the Unity exploration craft Asaph Hall. I'm on an unknown trajectory out of a Jenregar ship apparently approaching Earth. Does anyone copy?"

  No one answered. He turned off the propulsion unit now that he and Jeremy were on somewhat of a different course than the Jenregar ship. Fuel's pretty limited, he thought. No telling when we might need to make a course correction. He set his lifesuit to send a constant distress call and activated a proximity alarm that would let him know if any craft approached, then took a closer look at Jeremy's face behind the bubble helmet. To his relief, he saw the man's eyelids flutter, saw him licking his lips. Com'on, dammit, he thought. Wake up!

  Jeremy's eyes opened and Mike saw the instantaneous flash of fear in his features. Jeremy started to push away from him, but Mike held on tight. "No you don't," he said. "You've got to stick right here with me."

  "What happened?" Jeremy asked. "How'd we get out here?"

  "The Jenregar took a stardrive jump—when we woke up, they'd started noticing us. That's when I got us out of there."

  "So that jump—that's when we lost consciousness, just like I told you had happened several times. That's what caused it?"

  "Jenregar stardrives aren't calibrated for Human physiology. The same thing happened during the ea
rly days of Human stardrive flight."

  "And would people have—some kind of dreams, or flashbacks?"

  "They would," Mike said, not wanting to recall those he'd just experienced. "People would have to medicate themselves before a jump."

  Jeremy looked all around. "Wait a minute— is that Earth?"

  "It is."

  "Then we're saved!"

  "Not yet—I've got a beacon going, and I've tried to contact someone—anyone—on my datalink. But I haven't gotten a response yet."

  "But we're headed toward Earth—that has to be good."

  "Let's hope so—but even though I've gotten us out of sight of the Jenregar ship, we still have most of its momentum. We'd be running parallel to it, and I think we're headed right for the planet. Our lifesuits wouldn't survive reentry. And this propulsion unit isn't powerful enough to put us into orbit."

  Jeremy said, "So we could still die."

  "If we'd stayed on that Jenregar ship, we'd already be dead—or worse."

  "I think I know what worse would amount to."

  "I saw a Jenregar that had larger eyes than normal—similar to a Human's."

  "They poked and prodded at my own eyes enough. I thought they were going to carve one out of me."

  "How did they—" Mike was interrupted by his lifesuit's proximity alarm. "Oh, I hope that's good news."

  "What is it?" Jeremy asked.

  "Something's within a couple thousand kilo-meters."

  "Thank God. Rescue!"

  "We don't know that. Could be another Jenregar ship."

  "I'll pray that it's a Human craft instead. Will you join me?"

  "Sorry. I don't care if you do. But I know a god didn't create me. I'm—"

  "Mike Christopher! I knew I recognized that name. You're the artificial Human!" Jeremy squirmed in Mike's grasp. "Let me go! You're an ungodly being—I don't want to have anything to do with you!"

  Mike's anger helped him hold on that much tighter. "Now, listen—I'm your lifeline! I have the propulsion unit—I have the spacer experience. Whatever happens, I'm your best chance at staying alive."