STAR TREK:
THE HEIRS OF PROTEUS
By Darrin Colbourne
Flores dove just before the insect reached her. Undeterred, the bug swung around and lunged at Price. She dodged as well, squealing as she tried to cover her head. Goren was already moving before the bug lunged at him. He was keeping his back to the tent wall, hugging the perimeter while he looked around frantically for something to use as a swatter.
That's when they heard Girardi's and other screams coming from the rest of the camp. "That's gotta be Kryczyk making her move!" Goren said just before he had to dodge the bug's attack.
Flores kept her eyes on the bug as she fished around for her radio. When she had it: "Flores to all Landers! Converge on the campground!" She ducked as the bug came at her again. "I need you to contain Ensign Kryczyk! Do whatever you have to do!"
Tupolev's voice came back instantly. "This is Tupolev! We're already moving! Kryczyk's not the only problem!"
"He's so right!" Goren said as the bug came after him again. This time it kept hounding him until it had a clear shot at his shoulder. He screamed as the thing plunged its stinger into him from behind, then he fell as the stinger broke off and let the bug fly free.
"Ben!" Flores called out.
"He'll be all right, won't he?" Price said as she watched the bug grow a new stinger. "I mean, it's disguised as a poisonous insect, but its sting can't actually be poisonous…can it?"
Flores was still watching Goren. "It can if the part it left in him decides to become poison and acts accordingly," she said. As she said it, Goren began to groan as something from the sting began to affect him.
The bug attacked Flores while she was distracted. She barely managed to dodge it and swat it ineffectually with her arm. Price tried to use the distraction to help Goren, but as she ran to him the bug launched itself after her. She spotted it when it was halfway across the table and froze, unsure of whether she would make it or not.
Just when it looked as if it had her, the back of a folding chair screamed down from above and crushed the insect between itself and the lab table. Both women looked to see Goren holding the chair's legs. He was panting with the effort and sweating, but he had a satisfied look on his face as he spied the bug's remains splattered across the tabletop. "Next time…pick a…tougher disguise…" he huffed.
As if to mock him, the bug's remains converted back to water, flowed down to the floor and reformed from the puddle that formed there. "Oh, come on!" Flores groaned as it rose and prepared to attack again. It leveled off above their heads, seemed to take a second to pick a target, then zeroed in on Goren.
It only managed to advance a few centimeters before two flashes of light accompanied by two distant thundercracks blasted it into a shower of water droplets.
The officers turned to see a Lander standing in the opening to the tent, Childress pistol drawn and barrel glowing. "We better get out of here," he said. "I don't know how long that will hold it."
Flores just stared for a second, then turned to the others. Whatever strength Goren had was fading. Price was holding him up. "Get him to the shuttle!" Flores said. "Get that stinger out of him and get the poison out of his arm, however you can!" She followed the Lander out of the tent at a run.
"Right," Price muttered. She started to help Goren to the exit, searching for the stinger as she went. She reached for it when she spotted it…then recoiled as it liquefied and dropped to the ground, transformed into a tiny worm and made its way to where the other drops of the bug had fallen.
Price got a strong grip on Goren and double-timed it out of the tent.
There was chaos in the main part of the camp. Flores could hardly believe her eyes. A pair of six-legged wolves were chasing people around the campground, while a colorful bird dove down on random targets and clawed at them. "What the hell's going on?" Flores asked the Lander - "Mehti" it said on his collar. "Where's Tupolev?"
"I don't see him," Mehti said. "He had me double-time it back here and find you, but after that…" He screamed as a jolt of pain at his ankle interrupted him.
Dumbfounded, Flores watched him fall, then spotted the camouflaged snake as it withdrew from Mehti's leg. It spotted her at the same time, reared up and hissed as it prepared to strike. With reflexes faster than she'd ever seen, Mehti grabbed the snake's head as it lunged at her and held it fast. The serpent hissed and writhed in protest, then Mehti screamed again as it bent its neck and bit his knuckle.
"My weapon…" he groaned as he handed Flores the Childress with his free hand. She only hesitated for moment, then took careful aim and blasted the body of the snake until the part Mehti wasn't holding was nothing but a wet patch on the ground. The head turned into water then and flowed out of Mehti's grip.
Flores stared at it in fascination, then crouched down to check Mehti's wounds, asking, "Do you know where Tupolev was going?"
Mehti groaned, then said, "…said…he would take care of Kryczyk himself…"
Flores glanced in the direction of her tent, then turned back to Mehti. "Okay, I don't want to leave you like this. Do you have any kind of first aid kit on you?"
Mehti nodded, then used his good hand to reach into a pocket and pull out a small case. Flores took it and opened it. Glancing quickly through the contents, she found a tourniquet and a small ampoule of anti-venom. Since she only had the one, she tied the tourniquet around the calf above the leg bite. As she loaded the anti-venom into a small mechanical syringe, she said, "I'll be honest with you. This stuff may not work…"
"Beggars…can't be choosers, right?" Mehti groaned back.
Flores smiled at him, then injected the anti-venom near his thumb and ankle. When she was done she handed back the aid kit and took the Childress. "I have to go," she said as she stood, "but I'll try to send someone to do more for you as soon as I can." Mehti nodded. Flores nodded back, then turned and headed for her tent at a run. She was only halfway there when the colorful bird swooped down on her. She managed to protect her head, but felt the bird's claws scratching at her arms. It flew off after she tried to strong arm it, giving her enough room to fire three Childress shots at it. She missed, but the bird decided to go after a less well protected target.
Flores continued on to her tent and found it open and empty. Then she checked the surrounding area and found someone laying on the ground a few yards away. When she rushed over she saw that it was Tupolev. He was groaning in pain and had a large puncture wound in his midsection. "Did Kryczyk do this?"
Tupolev groaned and nodded. "She took Lt. Girardi. They're headed for the transport."
Flores glanced in that direction and cursed, then turned back to Tupolev. All she could do for him was state the obvious. "Try and keep pressure on the wound. I'll get someone to look at you as soon as I can." With that she took off for the landing zone.
The being known as Kryczyk was almost at the transport. Its Invader prisoner had tried to struggle out of its grip the whole way, but constant reinforcement kept its hand strong and unyielding. As she struggled, the Invader continued to vibrate the air incessantly. "Let me go! Dammit, Mira! What are you doing?? You let me go right now! That's an order!!"
The being glanced at her, still unable to decipher what she was saying, but it was apparent that the Invader didn't appreciate the honor bestowed upon her. No matter. She would be a useful specimen, willing or unwilling. In the meantime, the being sensed that it was getting closer to its primary targets. It saw them when it reached the large, inorganic construct that it recognized immediately as the object that carried them off. The First Invaders were inside, badly wounded and incapacitated. Making sure they were dead was its primary objective.
With a grim resolve, it took a step onto the loading ramp…
Flores arrived in time to see Kryczyk walking into the transport. "Get out of there!" she called out.
Kryczyk and Girardi turned at the sound. There was no expression on Kryczyk's face. Girardi looked relieved, then worried. "Flores, be careful!" Girardi called out. "I don't think it's really Mira!"
Flores fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Yeah," she called back, "we're already past that chapter, Girardi!" She leveled her weapon at Kryczyk. "I said, 'get out of there'!"
Flores and Kryczyk traded stares for several seconds, then Kryczyk put on a smile and resumed her march up the ramp, dragging Girardi behind her. Flores took careful aim and fired three times. Two of the shots went through Kryczyk's midsection, while the third went through her head. She stopped walking and staggered a little, but didn't fall. Instead she stood straight up, turned to face Flores and let go of Girardi. As Girardi backed away, she watched in horror as all of the wounds melted into colored water and begin to seal themselves.
When she was fully intact, Kryczyk stared Flores down again. This time she tried to think of a response to what Flores had said. As she remembered all the things Girardi had been saying, she chose a phrase that seemed appropriate. After a couple of false starts, she breathed, "Do-o-on't yoou…eever…ssscare me like thaat again…beeetch…"
The horrific tone of voice and the turn of phrase were enough to stun Flores so much that she was unprepared when Kryczyk's arm extended toward her like a whip and slashed at her right leg! As Flores started to go down Kryczyk's other arm extended and went through her right shoulder like a spear! Then both Flores and Girardi looked on in awe as Kryczyk's whole form reverted to water, arced out of her borrowed shirt like a geyser and reformed into Kryczyk with Flores at her feet. Flores tried to raise the weapon again, but Kryczyk knocked it out of her hand, then grabbed Flores by the throat and raised her off the ground. With another smile, Kryczyk tossed Flores toward the transport. She landed with a grunt of pain in the grass at the bottom of the loading ramp.
Girardi looked on wide-eyed as Kryczyk's nude form approached the loading ramp. After a second, she rushed into the transport, searched around, then came back out brandishing Rice's Childress. She took aim and said, "Stop, Mira! I mean it!" When Kryczyk didn't respond Girardi fired, then kept firing as the doppelganger continued her approach.
Flores lay on the ground clutching her wounds and watching the whole scene in despair. The pistol wouldn't stop Kryczyk. Unlike the bug, there was too much of the alien lifeform in her mass to be affected by a few particle blasts. A bigger weapon might destroy her, but all the big weapons were aboard…
Just as she thought that, she heard it. "Away Team, this is Enterprise. We're reading a distress signal. Do you require assistance, over?"
Flores looked at her pants pocket in utter shock. "No way…" she said with a grin, then she pulled out the radio and keyed the mike. "Enterprise, this is Flores! You're damned right we require assistance!"
The female voice at the other end of the connection was annoyingly calm. "Roger that, Lieutenant. We will be in orbit in two minutes. Please state the nature of the emergency, over."
"We're under attack by a hostile native life-form!" Flores said as she looked at Kryczyk. The doppelganger had halted her advance and was watching Flores curiously. "We need…" Flores thought about it for a second as she watched Kryczyk. "We need…" What was the phrase? "We need fire support!"
"Roger that, Lieutenant. What kind of fire support do you need?"
Flores thought about it, then glanced at Girardi, who still had Kryczyk in her sights. "What do I tell them?"
Girardi glanced at her, then said, "Well…what do you want to hit?"
"The mountain they came from."
"Tell them we need a particle bombardment. We'll mark the target."
"How??"
"The mountain is visible from here, right? I'll mark it."
"Lieutenant Flores," Enterprise said, "how do you read?"
Flores had no choice but to trust Girardi. "Loud and clear, Enterprise! We need a particle bombardment! We'll mark the target!"
A pause, then: "Roger that. Enterprise is now one minute out and coming in hot with guns. Standby to mark the target on our signal and be sure the target area is clear of friendlies. Over and out!"
Flores put the radio away and glared at Kryczyk. "If you don't leave," she said, "I'll kill them all." After a moment. "If there's anything left of the real Kryczyk in you, then you can understand what I'm saying. I can stop the ship from firing, but if you don't get out of our camp right now, I'll let it kill your whole family."
They stared at each other for the longest time, then Girardi said, "I don't think she understands."
Flores checked her watch, then looked back at Kryczyk. "It doesn't matter," she said. "We just have to keep her out of the transport and concentrating on us until…"
As she spoke, Kryczyk resumed her advance until she got to the ramp. Girardi kept the pistol on her but didn't fire. Kryczyk simply pushed her out of the way as she stepped on and went into the transport. She stopped inside when she was standing between Rice and Montoya. Turning to the Science Officer first, she let her right arm change into a jointed blade.
Just then: "Enterprise to Flores! Mark the target now, now, now!"
Without another word Girardi stood, switched her Childress to "Full Auto", found the mountain, aimed and fired. A six-second stream of high-energy particles traveled the distance at near the speed of light and bloomed as it impacted on the mountainside.
"Target!" The Sensor Officer said as Enterprise pulled into orbit. "We've got a particle bloom on a mountain about 26 klicks Southwest of the campsite!"
"Recommend a sustained burst from Mount One," the Fire Control Officer said. Enterprise's two forward particle cannons were already deployed. Mount One, the portside cannon, was being maneuvered into position.
"Away Team reports all friendlies clear of the target area," the Communicator said.
"Fire," Captain Christopher Pike said from the center chair.
Girardi and Flores watched as the night sky above the mountain began to glow bright white, then had to shield their eyes as what appeared to be a thousand lightning bolts struck down and started blasting the mountain to pieces. Girardi recognized the light show as the effects of Enterprise's particle blasts tearing through the atmosphere. Flores just thought it was frightening…and cool as hell.
Kryczyk screamed, and kept on screaming as explosive energy disintegrated the mountain. To Girardi and Flores the scream sounded inhuman, but the screaming Kryczyk was hearing, the screams coming over the link from brethren dying in heat and pain, was like nothing she could ever imagine. She fell to her knees, overwhelmed by it all.
Girardi helped Flores to her feet, then the two women went into the transport and found Kryczyk suffering. "Cease fire, Enterprise," Flores radioed. The bombardment ended a second later.
Kryczyk continued to moan for a moment longer and stayed on her knees for almost another minute. Then she stood and turned to face Girardi and Flores. The women could see that the doppelganger had discovered a new expression: enraged.
Kryczyk walked past them and out of the transport. She stopped at the bottom of the loading ramp and looked toward the camp. She was waiting for something. A minute later, two six-legged wolves, a colorful bird, the snake that bit Mehti and the bug that attacked Flores and the others in the lab gathered around her. They reverted to water and formed a puddle around her feet as she continued to look toward camp. Nothing happened for a few seconds after that, then she looked back into the transport. Her eyes locked onto Flores.
She spoke as clearly as she could manage. "HHiif you…don't leave…I'll kill…them all…" With that said, the being disguised as Kryczyk reverted to water and collapsed into the puddle, then the whole body of water transformed into a large flying mammal, which took off with a gust of wind and flew away in the direction of the mountain.
Girardi and Flores were too stunned to say anything. Flores recovered first. "Well," she said with a smirk, "I guess we've overstayed our welcome."
The women chuckled as Girardi helped Flores to one of the retractable chairs in the cargo hold and sat her down. The ship called as Girardi left to find some bandages. "Enterprise to Flores. Report your status, over."
Flores keyed her radio. "Flores to Enterprise. Several members of the Away Team are critically wounded, our transport is damaged and our position is compromised. We need medical teams and Lander reinforcements, ASAP. Flores out." She turned off the radio and let it drop to the deck as she leaned back and closed her eyes. There was nothing else she could do but rest and wait.
When her eyes opened again, she found herself lying on her back on a stretcher, looking up at the face of Dr. Phillip Boyce. "There you are," he said with a smile. "For a minute there I thought I had lost my favorite exobiologist."
Flores grinned back. "Don't want to break in a new one, huh?" She said weakly.
"Too much work," he said. "Better to just keep patching up the one I've got."
Flores suddenly got serious. "Belle…and Sgt. Rice…they're…"
Boyce put a hand on her shoulder to calm her. "They're already aboard Enterprise. We sent them back as soon as we found them."
"And Ben…Connie was supposed to bring him to the shuttle…"
"They never made it. Connie said they got about halfway when they were attacked by some kind of bug. They were trying to avoid it, but they said it stopped attacking about the time we fired on that mountain…"
Flores closed her eyes again. "A bunch of people were attacked…"
"All the critically wounded are either in Sick Bay or on the way. We're about done treating everyone else down here. Fortunately, we haven't lost anybody yet."
"We did lose someone…Ensign Kryczyk was lost in the first attack."
Boyce let that sink in. "I'll let the captain know."
Just then someone else's voice intruded. "Is she awake, Doc?" Flores opened her eyes. It was Major Wayne Song.
"I'm up," Flores said.
Song looked down at her. He looked like he was wearing a helmet, and Flores realized he was in full battle dress. "Hey," he said. "I brought about half my company down and I was wondering if you could tell me what we're supposed to be looking for."
Flores smiled. "Remember when you were training us how to use weapons," she said, "and I asked you what we should do if we ever ran into a land jellyfish or something?"
Song smirked. "Yeah, I remember."
"Guess what we ran into tonight…"
Long after the last transport had departed, there was a rumbling in the middle of the campsite. No humans had remained to see the giant worm break through the ground with a spray of dirt and rock. Seconds after it emerged, the worm turned into water and flowed along the grass, then the puddle reformed into several humanoid shapes. This time none of the disguises were as elaborate as the first being's had been. They all had four limbs and heads that had the vague appearances of eyes, noses and mouths, but no hair, no musculature and nothing to mark gender. They were simple mannequins, unremarkable except for the fact that they moved at will.
"These are interesting forms," one said in its language. It was using the manner of speech of the Invaders. "Their method of communication is crude, but these limbs appear to be very useful."
"They must use them to build the structures we saw," another said. "They did not live in natural habitats, like other animals."
"Should we attempt to pursue them again?" Yet another asked.
"No," one more said, "not until we've learned how to build the same things ourselves. From now on, if we are to fight them in their habitats we must learn to fight their way, as we have done with all the aggressive species on this world."
"It is decided," the last one said, and in unison they communicated this decision through the great link to their brethren that had survived the attack of the Invaders, the isolated, solid beings that apparently commanded the skies and lightning as easily as gods.
Very well. Someday, to destroy the Invaders, they would become gods as well.