Chapter 14 - Leaving the nest.
He looked up from his array of dials and glanced musingly out the window. He pulled out some paper and started sketching out a rudimentary design for a ship based on a cloud.
He quickly finished the base design and fished out another piece of paper to draw the technical design out on. A couple of lines later he glanced up to clarify a shape.
To his chagrin he watched as a dark shape burst through it and dispersed it. He sighed and called out.
"Guess they are finally here..." A couple Cognit looked up in surprise and one raced off to get Lupus.
He looked at the ships and Went back to drawing. They were more streamlined then the first one that was still circling their base. With rounded forms and rivulets cut in the sides, they almost looked like they were living.
He drew out several pictures until Lupus finally walked into the room.
"Commotion?" He asked oblivious to the window. Ignoring him altogether he nodded towards the window and continued drawing. Lupus looked up at the window, "Had to happen sometime soon."
Shaking his head, he returned to tracing a trail of white streamlined wind, rushing down the cut rivulets. As they got closer everything got tenser. Finally he stopped drawing and stood up. He looked over at the technicians.
They signaled they were ready and they awaited the barges arrival. Rattling echoed through the room. He looked over at Lupus for clarification.
"That shouldn't be happening." Lupus said with a concerned note in his voice. A technician looked up,
"they are moving too fast! At least 7,000 bph!"
The rattling grew louder until the barges were almost on top of them and a deafening roar filled the room.
"How will they stop?" He yelled.
Before someone could respond huge explosions rang out and they looked up to find the fronts of the ships on fire.
"Did their engines blow?" Came the incredulous voice of Lupus. But the smoke and fire cleared showing no damage.
The ships cruised through much slower now and settled above the mycelium strips. "Ready to fire!" A technician called out, "They won't know what hit them!"
He looked over at Lupus and raised his hand as the ships began to lower to the ground.
Tense moments followed, but He couldn't do it. He turned away,
"We would be rude Hosts if we didn't introduce ourselves Lupus." The technicians slumped and looked at the ships now landed with armed troops pouring out.
They walked out the front and faced a General flanked by men. The General grunted and motioned towards him. Several men walked forward and took hold of him dragging him towards one of the ships.
He wrenches one of his arms away and looks back to find Lupus calmly talking to the General. He lost sight of them as he was pulled up into the ship. They dropped him in a seat opposite a finely suited man.
"Hello," The man said, but he ignored him. He moved and stared out the window.
He looked down and faintly made out the shapes of Lupus and the General. Unconsciously his eyes adjusted and he saw them clearly. As he did, the General reached out and punched Lupus in the face. He gasped drawing the attention of the suited man.
"What is it?" He only pointed as he watched lupus draw his swords and cut the general into multiple pieces.
The suited man jumped up and ran over, his eyes hardened as he saw the faint red of blood and a stream of Cognit forces assailing the disembarking humans.
"No!" the man cried. "Not like this!"
He picked up a phone and waited a moment. In that moment the room flashed red and white, then the Ship Shook violently. They looked out the window at the myriad of burning ships.
"Captain," He gulped. "Get us out of here!"
Warily, the man sat back down and looked him. The ship rocked under blasts once more and a white bead of air shot under the window.
"Pure Explosive ratio here." The man said as he relaxed.
He nearly pranced through the streets as he headed in the vague direction of the wall. He was happy, truly happy. Shiloh was going to meet with him on top of the easternmost wall, He pranced onwards.
He looked up as a large form blotted out the lowering sun, casting him into shadow. He slowed to a trot as he looked at it. It seemed to be some sort of ship. It would probably veer off right before the cannons. He smiled and resumed his earlier pace.
Then the world exploded and he was thrown across the street into a wall. Screams and explosions mix together in a strangely beautiful symphony, as he blacked out.
A crack finally resounded through his head and acid flushed his eyes. He pulled himself up from the ground and looked around at the destruction. The buildings around him were on fire and had hole cut through them.
Slowly, he turns and looks towards the wall. It lies in ruins, burning, destroyed, fiery ruins. Shilo was going to meet him on that wall he realized.
"Shilo!" He called out, as he scanned the streets before him.
As he nears the walls, he sees more and more bodies, more and more blood. He shivered despite himself as he passed another body.
"Who caused this?" A Cognit cried as he leaned over a body.
More cries went up as he trudged along. "Who is responsible!"
He ignored them and kept looking through the dust hoping to find Shiloh. Suddenly, he was lifted from his feet again and thrown high into the air by another explosion. This one echoing from below the ground and exploding upwards in fury.
He fell to the ground and rubble rained around hard yet not rock landed beside him and rolled up against him. he looked over and let out a mournful cry as he saw Shiloh's eyes staring at him from a severed head.
Sobs shook his body and he slowly brought himself up from the street. Shiloh's head gently cradled in his appendages. He screamed in pain as he looked around at all the meaningless destruction.
He looked back as the castle seemed to fade away into the distance. His eyes roved over the emptiness remembering the contours and designs. He looks up at the man in the suit.
"Can I get some paper and a quill?" The man seemed ready to decline but only nodded his head and rummaged through a bag beside him.
A minute later he handed over a sheath of paper and a fine quill.
"Thank you." The man only nodded his head and gazed off into nowhere. He turned back towards the window and began to draw the outline of the castle.
A quill later he put the paper down and looked back into the distance at the castle. A strange red light pierced the veil and blinked, then blinked again and held. After another moment it blinked again. He shuffled through the paper and grabbed another paper and mimicked the lights behavior.
"Long, Short, Long, Long, Long..." He muttered under his breath. The man reached forward and plucked the drawing of the castle from the pile.
"This is really good." the man said with a note of surprise in his voice.
He continued marking the code out and found several correlating lines.
"What coding system do you use for your Direct-light communications?" The man looked up from the picture,
"What do you mean?" He looked at the paper in his hands. "let me see that." He took the paper and read it out.
"S... O.. S." the man turned and looked at him, "There are still people back there!"
He shook his head, "The light cut out a minute ago." They both looked back through the fog. A fierce blue light suddenly burst through and he started charting the flashes.
The man shook his head. "I can't make sense of it."
"It's not yours." He jotted down strange letters on the paper.
"I've seen writing like that..." The man said in a bemused voice. "You can write in Spider."
He looked warily back at the man. "And if I can?"
"Then you could be very useful to us."
He looked down and continued charting out the words safe in the knowledge that they couldn't read it. He finished the transcription and read it to himself in Felic. "Andrew, If you are reading this then our human captive told me the truth and can enjoy his constrained liberty. We have fended off the human troops and have went to work rebuilding the castle. We will be here when you return.
"And if you don't when the time comes. we will come for you. If you wish, you can relay that we have fifty human prisoners. Spawns firmly reset. Prosper in the fields Andrew,
Lupus."
He looked up to the man. "Apparently, they have fifty human prisoners with set spawns." The Man blinked,
"Set spawns?"
"Yep."
They wrenched her head from his hands and dragged him away. He cried out as her head bounced on the ground and rolled away. "Give her back!" He cried. "I'll be good!"
A disgusted snort came from one of the forms dragging him and he stopped fighting. A cloth got slammed down over his head and he lost sight of everything else. Finally he let his ducts flush and he faded away.
His eyes flushed with venom when they stopped and lowered him into what felt like a chair. Low voices echoed around him but he couldn't make them out. Finally the Cloth was ripped from his head.
Not to much surprise he found himself staring into the Headmaster's eyes when he adjusted to the light. A strange but familiar light eased on the edges of his vision. Igniting warning lights in his head. He turned to avoid them but found himself looking at others.
He redirected his gaze towards the Headmaster and Pleaded. "Not the light!" The Headmaster seemed to ignore him. "Please not the light."
"You can not fail! You Can not concede! You can not and you will not know defeat.
You saw what the Humans Did to Shiloh. They murdered her! You can not let them get away with that."
He nodded frantically as the light eased into his frame of vision and obliterated all other thoughts. "They can't get away with this."
He looked around the stark white room and sighed. His unruly eyes traversed the glass door but moved away as he saw another officer march down the hallway. There were just to many people here at the moment.
It would probably be safer to find out what the General wanted to speak to him about first anyways. He looked over and looked at the odd wooden desk, planted in the middle of a white metallic room. He looked at the man sitting behind it and released an audible sigh.
"The Military broached your previous occupations now we are stuck with you." The white haired, wide shouldered, Apogee of the militant consulate said. "This is the third group we have sent you to." The general said with a growl under toning his words.
"They all said you couldn't interact with people your age. Chairman Zaddoc gives high regards to your drawing and designing ability coupled with your fluent understanding of the Main spider language."
The general grinned, a baring of teeth that served to intimidate rather than show amusement. "Since you cant act human, Maybe we should send you to those who aren't. The Pyritians could always use another hand."
He gave an involuntary shiver,
"Pyritians?" The generals grin grew wider,
"I believe that one of them intimately aided our tracking of you and your little spider buddies."
"You can't send me there!" He cried.
"And you'll stop us how?"
He shuddered and quickly made up his mind. He stood up and walked towards the door. "I am not going to them."
"Oh, Really?" The General snarled.
"Nope." He turned and watched as the General walked around the side of the desk. then he ran as fast as he could and stepped up onto the desk before launching himself off and smashing through a small glass pane behind him.
His arms smarted as he fell through the air and smashed into the ground. He rolled off the impact and ran past a group of surprised cadets. Behind him he heard faint bellowing, and the sharp report of the cadets resuming their marching.
Ahead he saw a Dimly lit Barge drop, A ship designed for short flights to and from land or barges. He hit the side of the cockpit and ripped it open. He jumped in and hit several buttons activating it.
The ship rattled as its engines powered up. He nudged the controls and it lifted into the air. He looked out the window and saw several troops of soldiers running towards the Barge drop.
Hurriedly he pressed forward on the controls and it rose higher into the air. He deftly turned the ship and moved away from the barges. The control panel flashed multiple colors and the gauges spun.
A bright red light on the roof lit up displaying "Autopilot" He groaned as the ship spun in a tight circle and headed towards a barge. He slammed on the cockpit eject button but the seat jammed. He grimaced as the ship came in for a landing.
A Major stood up and peered into the cockpit. "So you are our unruly passenger." The cockpit popped open and several soldiers appeared and wrenched him from the seat. He spat on the ground as they dragged him off into the ships depths.
The light seared at his eyes. He twisted trying to fight his way away from it. He cried out again but his throat was scratchy and he could barely speak. Finally he felts his ducts flood and sweep his eyes clean.
The light went with it, burnt away by powerful acid. He looked around his room and shivered as he remembered Shilo's eyes, and the destruction the humans had caused.
He stood and walked over to the window. He looked out and looked at the mostly rebuilt city. at the moment the city was rebuilding, but the war engine had awakened and it would not be halted.
The image of Shilo's eyes reappeared in his minds eye. "The humans were responsible, They won't get away with this!"
The pounding on the door woke him up. He eased himself up and groggily looked at the door as it opened. "Get up princess." An officer scoffed as he saw him still laying in bed.
He swung his legs over and stretched as he stood up. "Where to today, peon?" The soldier grinned.
"Not today princess. Today you ship out to the slenders." He groaned as the soldier smiled wider.
Then turned and followed the soldier from his room. They walked through several, organic hallways, built around the rest of the ship. Till they finally reached the hull and walked in a semi-straight line. Finally they came to an iron door.
The soldier looked through the grating on the top, "I'll miss your wit princess."
Then he placed a lever and flicked it. The iron door shifted open and displayed a yellow writhing hallway.
"I have to go through that?" He said incredulously. "You have got to be kidding me!"
The soldier nodded his sympathies then pushed him through the door and closed it behind him. "Face your fears head on princess!" He scowled and stepped cautiously on the yellow floor. It bent below him and he shuddered uncontrollably.
He backed up a step and jumped as far as he could, landing a foot away from the other side. He grabbed hold of the tough substance and pulled himself onto the other side.
He shook as he stood up and faced a pale creature that only vaguely seemed human. It blinked and he felt cautious tendrils tap his consciousness. It turned its head and blinked in confusion. "You are." It stopped seemingly lost for words. "broken."
"You are broken." He shuddered again and turned away from its piercing gaze. He walked into someone else.
"Its okay, they freak me out too." It was his turn to blink as he looked into a human, an actually human face. "So, they don't like you either?"
Confusion must have strayed onto his face, because the boy laughed. "This place is pretty odd, You have to like machines more than humans." He let himself grin.
"Then i should fit."
The boy turned away and started walking. "I'll show you where we normals sleep."
"Who are the rest of the 'Normals'?"
"Well, there's you... and your amazing host Dominic." He spun around and flashed another smile. "Hey when we finish our time here we are guaranteed our own ships. So Lets live it up."