ERNIE 073

by Akktri

An autobiography of a Xenomorph.

118. Chapter 118: Zobaruc

The bug monsters circled and jumped at me, like tigers around a dangling piece of meat.

The thing holding me...what was it? Did it intend to rip me up in the air, and distribute my body to its friends?

We flew higher, rising out of their reach.

"Not the most agreeable creatures, are they?" a voice asked.

"Oh, I don't know," I joked. "I'm sure I'd agree with their stomachs once we're properly introduced."

I heard a chuckling noise. "Then you wouldn't mind if I dropped you."

"Actually," I said with a nervous smirk. "I never said I agreed to agreeing with them."

The creature laughed.

"Do I have anything to say about my destination, or is this merely in-flight dining?"

"I'd eat you, but you're really not my type."

The thing was black bodied, but more rounded than the creatures on the ground, its wings red and spotted black, like a ladybug. It had two sets of arms, though the second dangled limply at its sides.

They seemed rather small to me, making me worry if we'd stay in the air. It was all that was keeping us from those giant black things.

I introduced myself.

"I'm Thonwa. I'd shake hands, but I'd probably drop you. My...other arms don't work. Where to?"

I directed her to my ship.

Even winged creatures can occasionally be out of shape. My rescuer tired about halfway there.

We hadn't even reached the spaceport when we started dropping. An alarming development, considering how Whistler and his buddies kept trailing us from the ground.

The spaceport had a special scaffolding on its roof hemisphere, for repair work. It rolled around on a track like one of those wheeled ladders in old libraries. We settled down on the track while my companion wheezed and tried to catch her breath through her proboscis. "Not as young as I once was," she gasped. "I used to be able to fly from here to the government office without tiring."

It was a little unnerving at that height, on a building that's smooth all the way down, especially since I could see through the track. With clammy hands, I looked around for some way to access the ground level, but we weren't anywhere close to the rolling scaffold.

In the distance, I could see our ship, with its curving ax wings. The lack of visible windows gave it a comforting fortress-like appearance.

I had begun a nervous shuffle closer to the edge when Thonwa straightened, declaring, "Okay, I'm ready again."

And then, with a little wing work, we stood on the roof of my ship, watching the black creatures circling like sharks on the ground.

"That's not good," I said.

"No. It's not."

My ship had an access hatch on the roof. I opened it and climbed in.

The opening was barely wide enough for me. It had no room to spare for a large...bug thing like Thonwa. Once I informed her I didn't plan to stay anyway, she agreed to wait where she was, like an obedient taxi driver. I climbed down a safety ladder into the vehicle, hurrying to the room where my Wumpus was kept.

My room is the last door in the narrow cream orange hallway. I have it decorated with geeky scifi posters, you know, jokes about obscure things in different shows and movies, "Han shot first", "Keep calm and carry a sonic screwdriver", that sort of thing. A lot of recent life decisions have been inspired by my obsession, including becoming a space missionary. Regular Christians wouldn't even consider the possibility of life on other planets, let along evangelizing such life. It takes a special type.

My Wumpus stood next to my blob-like jamassi bed.

They look a lot like oversized scavenger shrimp, and do the same kind of tasks. Their container holds a water and nutrient dispenser, to keep it alive, but they really love the little treats left in our molars.

Being kind of like a pet, it has a little exercise chamber, which you can connect and disconnect. Some Wumpus cages get quite elaborate.

As is traditional in Abreya culture, I named mine. I call him `Munch', in honor of an alien video game character, and as a pun.

Poor Munch. We had to sacrifice his home for the greater good. I didn't know how to remove his feeding equipment.

Wanting to at least let him enjoy his last days as a free Wumpus, or maybe find a way to survive without it (there were cleaning solutions to use on naughty Wumpi that drink toilet water or root through garbage), I placed him gently on the floor. "Good luck, little guy."

The Wumpus stared at me for a moment, then scampered off into a corner.

Suddenly a dark shape appeared in the doorway, whistling three notes.

Somehow the creatures had found a way into the ship.

A cold chill ran down my spine.

The big monster entered my bedroom, sizing me up, I suppose. My wumpus cowered on the floor, its little eyes wildly glancing back and forth between me and the Whistler, and back again.

A Wumpus is not a very intelligent creature. Their IQ is barely at the level of a half breed dog. But they did have instinct.

Munch flinched a second before the Whistler leapt at me. Noting the Wumpus's weird behavior, I dove behind the jamassi bed right as the monster took to the air.

A jamassi is not a water bed. They sort of bleed when you slice the skin, and it comes out in a translucent ooze, like Jell-O, or one of those premium shave gels.

I tried to run around my attacker and sneak out of the room, but it grabbed me around the neck and slammed me against a wall. A claw-like thing shot out of its mouth. It would have stabbed me right in the eye, had I not moved my head out of the way at the last second.

And then Munch crawled up the monster's arm, digging at its teeth.

Whistler let go of me.

"Munch!" I cried, but you know sometimes you've got to make hard choices in order to live. I grabbed the jar and ran.

I still had gel on my feet from the bed, so I slipped and fell halfway to the ladder, knocking my skull against the bulkhead.

Pillow often says my head is made of rocks. Maybe she's right. I remained conscious.

The container hit the floor, but the material is shatter resistant. One time I dropped it on a very durable and expensive vase I bought from Pathilon, and the vase broke.

When I got to my feet and looked back, I could see Whistler hurling Munch into a wall. I've never heard a Wumpus shriek before, other than the one time I accidentally stepped on mine, but shriek he did.

Whistler bared her teeth, and I actually found myself chuckling at what I saw. The front part of its mouth already sparkled.

I hurried up the ladder, but I had delayed too long. The creature already had me by the leg.

If I had been wearing pants, I probably could have removed a pant leg or something to escape, but I had a skirt, without any sort of leggings underneath. But, you know, it's supposed to be more manly that way.

I kicked the creature in the face, but it only bit through my shoe, and my toe. Its saliva burned like acid, essentially cauterizing the wound.

I was screaming, but I had enough coherent sense to set the Wusu jar on the lip of an overhanging wall piece and spray the creature in the head with a fire extinguisher.

Somehow I got to the hatch with my jar, but the thing was snapping right at my skirt.

The hatch opened, and a black head with a proboscis poked in. I nearly soiled myself before realizing it was my `taxi.' "I heard a scream. Are you all right?"

"Thonwa!" I yelled. "Thank God! Here! Take this!" And I tossed her the jar.

Then the monster caught hold of my legs again.

"Do you need any help?" Thonwa asked.

"Got any guns?"

The proboscis appeared to frown. "I'm sorry. My bazooka appears to have fallen out of my pocket." (By the way, I paraphrased that quote.)

"Then pull me out! Hurry!"

Thonwa grabbed me, but it was a tug of war, and my calves were bleeding. I screamed as I got yanked from Thonwa's weak grip, to the floor of my vehicle.

I thought I was dead meat. There I lay with that monster pinning me into the metal slats of the flooring, dripping its scalding slime on my face.

A kind of spinneret popped out of its body, a glob pouring over the front of my Wighesh. The smell was awful.

And then Whistler grabbed at her face, trying to pull a frantically clawing Wumpus off of its mouth.

I rushed up the ladder as fast as my arms and legs could carry me.

A final pained squeal behind me told me my little friend wasn't so lucky. It saddened me, but I had no time to grieve. I burst through that hatch in a hurry, locking it shut behind me.

The metal panel smoked as a finger of acid ate through to the open air.

Things were getting too dangerous.

Thonwa took wing, and I found myself wobbling on the roofing scaffolds of the spaceport, watching with horror as the dark creatures climbed onto the top of my ship, hissing threateningly at me, as if they could see where I was.

"Now I'm curious," Thonwa said. "What's with the Wumpus jar?"

I told her about the cocooned bodies and the larva.

"It would have been safer to grab one of the solid waste processing pods from Treatment. You should verbalize your objectives more clearly, so we can avoid more of these unlucky incidents."

"Maybe if you had explained to me how you came into possession of such pods, I would have had a chance!" I snapped.

"Who told you it's trendy to run around with all your fur shaved off?"

"You have some right to talk, hairless hairy bug!"

"I should drop you off this building right now. And let those creatures enjoy your company."

"Then why don't you?"

"I would never harm the handicapped."

I was used to the remark. Abreyas saw my human tailless butt and automatically thought the worst.

"So you're a dung beetle."

"And what occupation are you, exactly? One of those lazybones actor types?"

I told her about the mission and everything.

"You're not doing your religion any service."

I answered, "Maybe not. Or maybe I just like you and I have a weird sense of humor."

"Do you talk to your wife like this?"

I shrugged.

She shivered in apparent disgust. "What does your nennop think about all that?"

"We haven't gotten one yet."

She made clicking tsk sounds at me. "I insist you take me to your female at once. If she doesn't get you a nennop today, I myself will take up the mantle. Out of principle!"

"You want to sit in on Guzdidux?" I teased.

Guzdidux was a sort of class to, um, educate married couples on how to best contort their bodies during lovemaking, and learn breath and birthing techniques, kinda like Lamaze. You'd think that would equate to cheating, or switching partners, but you generally come to class with your own nennop, and you learn to do things with your partner that make you forget about anyone else's.

You can get most other help with your marriage from your own personal nennop, so this is something you only did when your nennop thinks you're ready for the next step.

"If necessary."

"You're a very interesting...bug," I said.

"And you are a very amusing ape."

"All right, my new nennop, we gotta get back to my wife before she kills herself messing around with those things."

Easier said than done. Thonwa had to get her rest before we could even attempt to leapfrog over to the next building, the mega store.

I tried to call my wife on the communicator to tell her what just happened, but she didn't respond. Neither did the rest of her team. I left messages. "Uh-oh. That's not good."

"Did they get tired of your attitude?"

I frowned. "Ha ha."

We only made it halfway to the Zutapga before Thonwa got tired, and we came too close to the ground.

Before I could do anything to defend myself, Whistler and his buddies had me by the ankles, dragging me through the field of red plants, into the mouth of that cave I'd seen when they first ambushed me.

I screamed as she shoved me into a stalactite and threw a layer of burning slime over me.

I thought I was done for. I thought those things were going to eat me, but then all of a sudden, another creature joins their party, and I hear it speak.

"Wait," it hissed. "This one's mine."

"You speak Wava!" I cried in amazement. "How terrific!"

"Yes. This body is wearing out, and I've been looking for a new host..."

I swallowed. "Are you in any way related to that thing I met in the other building?" I paused. "I guess you would be, in some way or another..."

"Keep talking. It makes it easier for me to enter your mouth."

And then I see a big slimy slug thing come out of it, a creature just like the one that took over Salda's body.

Stuck in a cocoon, all I could do was close my mouth as the thing pressed its tentacles to my lips.

It pried them open, sliding into my mouth.

The moment it entered me, it was like I could see into the creature's mind, and it could see into mine.

I saw where it came from, a falling asteroid-like spaceship from a distant world. The creatures lived in a sort of hive around a queen.

The creature, in turn, dug out memories of me and my wife in all our naked glory, then of our Christian missionary work.

The thing jerked back suddenly, the slug returning to its old body. "You are a pacifist. You will do this clan no good!"

It tore me loose from my cocoon.

"It would be a dishonor to the Guzkoya to lay eggs in your body cavity!"

And then I got kicked and beaten until I stumbled into some dark maze-like cavern.

Half a memory flashed into my brain, a strange memory I knew for a fact wasn't mine. As if someone planted it there.

Maybe the creature had felt how intense my anxiety was about dying without my wife's knowledge, or my strong faith that included every species. I'm not sure, but I think it slipped me a mental map of the cave.

After thinking it over a bit, I discovered I knew a route to the government office like I'd been using it all my life.

The cavern turned into a tunnel, ending in a locked door looking into the prison. I beat on the bars and yelled, and after about ten minutes of this, I see Quana, my wife, and Thonwa approaching.

"What took you so long?" Thonwa asked.

Salda unlocked the door, allowing me back into the prison.

Immediately, Pillow rushed to my side, wrapping me in her arms. "Oh David! Thonwa told me! I was so worried!"

"Gosh," I said with a wry smile. "I should get almost eaten more often!"

Pillow let go, staring wide eyed. "What happened in that cave?"

I told her about the incident with the creature.

Pillow frowned. "That's...strange."

"Not as strange as you might think," said Salda.

She leaned through the doorway she'd opened, speaking into the darkness with a strange guttural tongue. It reminded me oddly of how my grandmother used to make me less scared of ghosts and her creaking old house by pretending to send them away. Weird, but oddly comforting, since I felt grandmother somehow had the power to do that.

"You should close the gate," I said, but she said it was perfectly all right.

"The Xeharbix are gone."

Pillow looked down at my legs. "Honey, you're hurt."

"I know," I sighed.

She took out a first aid kit and treated me. "You know, you don't have to hurt yourself to get my undivided attention."

I grinned. "I know. But it helps."

I dropped the mirth. "I wasn't able to get that Wumpus tube over here. You know, those things..."

"It's okay, honey." She finished bandaging. "Thonwa brought it to us."

Chikarra held the container, looking nervous as the bloody white creature banged and thrashed against its narrow confines.

"Let the larva free." Salda had her weapon aimed at the guard's head, looking quite serious and angry.

"Open the lid, and put the container on the floor."

"What is this!" Zero cried.

"Salda," Norenio said, her goat's eyes narrowing. "You're not yourself. We need this specimen to study what's going on here. Abreya lives are in danger."

"I'm afraid you misunderstand the situation. You are to cooperate, and if you fail to do as I say, Chikarra will die."

"Why are you so protective of those creatures, Salda?" the princess asked.

"They are important to the Xeharbix race. You are depriving them of their offspring. They have great emotional significance to Sskosbohi and others of the Gahizve clan."

Quana clenched her fists. "Abreyas are dying! We'd gladly leave...your friends alone if they would leave my people alone!" She waved her arm at a row of cocoons. "But look at this!" She sighed through her nose, glancing at the thing in the Wumpus tube. "We will release the larva, but only if you and your creatures agree to leave Abreyas alone."

"No," said a voice from the darkened doorway. "You will release her now!"

The slug possessed creature, the one that called me a pacifist, emerged from the shadowy cave, accompanied by the group of monsters that had chased me through the weeds across town. The Whistler emitted its strange three notes.

"We are prepared to fight," Zero growled.

"And you will not win," Slug Head said.

"I have fought in wars with worse odds."

"What about Salda? I saw your friend's memories. You love her."

Zero shot me an indignant look. "I have killed friends in the name of duty before."

Slug Head nodded to the Whistler, and the creature growled, slowly advancing on him.

Zero glanced at Thonwa, but the big insect only shrugged.

"Wait," Quana blurted. "Give them the larva."

"Your highness!" Chikarra blurted, sweat rolling down his beak.

The princess turned to face Slug Head. "Why should we release the larva to you? What will we gain in return?"

"Your lives."

"Sounds like a good incentive to me," I whispered.

"Are you the ruler of these creatures?" Quana asked.

"No."

"Show me your ruler. I wish to see it before releasing this larva."

"What? Are you crazy!" I yelled, but Quana ignored me.

Slug Head growled angrily. "Then you will die, regardless of whether you release the larva or not."

Quana swallowed. "If my death can save Abreya lives, it must be done. You are an intelligent race. I must ask your ruler to stop harming my people. I have made peace with Ponai and the Lord Jesus."

Quana had done quite well for herself, really. Even if Matt died, she had others instructed in the ways of Christ. The mission would continue.

Slug Head made a purring noise that sounded like laughter. "You are willing to die for a philosophy brought to you by a weak creature from another planet."

"Jesus is the son of God. There is nothing in the galaxy that can separate me from him. I do not fear your ruler."

"Very well," Slug Head said. "But you may wish to visit Tazordo for your last meal, before we embark."

"That sounds like a good idea," I said, but we did not.

"Show us, Salda."

"The name is Ottogbo," Salda said. "But I gladly comply."

We left the government office and marched across the flat rocky ground, swatting aside the clouds of aerobacteria, Whistler, Slug Head and the others following close behind.

We passed between two large gumdrop shaped buildings, a learning center (the Abreya answer to schools) and a vet.

A dead Grunkiahu lay in front of the latter, its cow sized stomach ripped open, flying insects crawling under its eyelids, over the lolling tongue in its open beak. Maggots squirmed around in its exposed intestines. Quana and Chikarra crossed themselves as they saw it.

A speckled egg-like building beyond these two caused Pillow to walk closer to me, clasping my hand. This was the Zauxanom, where Nennops got assigned to married couples, an important stage in any relationship.

"You think...?" she muttered.

I shook my head. "Not if those things did the same thing to them that they did in the prison."

"You're welcome to request services from ours," Quana said. "Anytime you wish, Pillow. You are like family."

"That's like using someone else's toothbrush," I said. "Or Wumpus."

Pillow elbowed me hard.

"And what am I?" Thonwa said. "Chopped mutwudo?"

With some embarrassment, I told my wife about my new volunteer Nennop.

Pillow nodded, appearing to really like the idea. I groaned.

"Now now," Thonwa said. "I can be just as sexually detached as a Nennop, so I'm just the kind of relationship counselor you need."

"Thank you," Pillow said. "When things are safer, we will perform the rite of kedoonk."

"Welcome to the family," I grudgingly agreed.

We crossed a mound of boulders, dropping down into a shallow crater. In the center of this crater stood an enormous gold building, surrounded by five minaret-like towers. It resembled a big headless snake, ending in a glass orb with a Quaceb symbol at its peak. I'd seen others like it. Temples to Ponai.

"Here?" I said, barely containing my surprise.

Quana was just as stunned. "Your ruler...is in Vanseb Bacvaco?"

"You are not far from the truth," I quoted with some amusement.

"Are you also worshipers of Ponai?" Quana asked our guide.

"No." Salda led us into the building.

A Quaceb temple is not your average worship center. There are no pews whatsoever. You sit on rugs on the floor, the higher ranking, more well-to-do Quacebs sitting on raised platforms, or in `box seats', but they still don't have chairs or benches.

The temple in Jerusalem was the only place where Jews could do ritual sacrifices, but Quacebs have a thing called a chirqui, which they believe can transport the essences of sacrifices across the galaxy to the central temple in Kwibron. They have a curtained holy of holies are you can't see into, and due to commandments against figurative art, lots of abstract art and sculpture. Instead of a baptismal font, you dip your finger in dirt and mark yourself with it. That's what's in the font.

Ordinarily, there are lights on in the Cohage, the electrified glowing plant creature standing outside the curtain, but it was dead. Temples like these also had electric lights, but they were all dark. The gold gilt interior lay in dim shadow.

A massive swollen beast sat on the raised dais that held the chirqui, a colossal version of one of those black creatures, but with a slug rupturing its interior. Bags of oozing material ballooned out the sides of its shiny skull, a pair of thin, sinuous gastropod eyestalks following our movements.

The beast had an exoskeleton elsewhere, a body like a giant ant, with shoulder plates, chitinous armored arms, and a distending jaw full of lion's teeth. Its stomach had stretched beyond the confines of its exoskeleton, a grotesque mound of white protoplasm encasing organs of unknown purpose. Its abdomen was a lumpy maggot-like extension of its body, from which I could see dozens of crawling slug things emerging at a very un-slug like pace.

Elevated on the dais like it was, and flanked by two of the smaller ant beasts, and shrouded in shadow, it resembled a dark god, and when it spoke, its voice boomed, echoing through the temple, intensifying the effect. "Princess Quana Falcameer. I've been meaning to pick your brain for a long, long time!"

"You know my name!" Quana cried.

The creature purred. "A host body is a powerful tool. The Zigmordu absorb not only its physical advantages, but its brain matter as well. It can be quite useful."

"Thoughts and memories are a delicate thing," Pillow said. "If you separate any part of the brain, connections are lost."

"We are deeply aware of that. The Zogmordu are good at solving puzzles."

"Who are you?"

"My name...is Zobaruc, queen of the Zogmordu. You are very bold to come here, princess. Very bold indeed. What brings you into the very jaws of death this day? Do you think you will save my soul?"

I thought Quana looked rather pale when the creature said this. "The thought has crossed my mind."

Zobaruc purred, then actually burst out laughing. "I should let you live, if only for the comic relief."

The mirth faded when the creature noticed the Wumpus container. "Why do you keep that larva prisoner?"

"We wish to negotiate for peace. I have not harmed your larva in any way, but you have killed several of my people. Is there some way we can peacefully coexist together? Perhaps find you an alternate source for egg laying and food?"

"No. The current symbiotic relationship is ideal for both Abreyas, Zogmordu and Gahizve alike. There is no need for change."

"I do not agree."

"Then no more remains to be discussed. You may leave."

"I can't let you do this. You seem to be intelligent life, but so are my people."

"Your people are abundant on this world. We enjoy the use of their bodies, their flesh and their roomy egg encasing body cavities."

"You will run out of Abreyas eventually. And then you will become extinct."

"We have plans for that contingency." Zobaruc explained no further.

"So what's your plan? We already know that Abreya bodies don't live long once your kind have infected them. They die when you lay eggs, and they rapidly deteriorate when others of your race enter them."

"We have plans. That is all you need to know. Release the larva, and I may let you leave unharmed."

"Destroy the larva," Zero growled. "This negotiation is at an end."

"We are outnumbered," Chikarra said.

"Then we will die fighting."

Quana didn't look so sure. "Zobaruc, what you are doing is a sin. A great evil before Ponai."

"I do not care what a nonexistent being thinks of me. It amuses me to occupy its dwelling and sit upon its throne."

Quana stepped closer to the creature. "Have you given thought to what happens when you die?"

Zobaruc nodded. "My thought matter will be passed to my offspring. We will live on through the communication of the information, the brain material."

"That would only be temporary. Cells die. You will lose much. All that is you will eventually be reduced to something unrecognizable. Are you prepared to lose your identity and become nothing?"

"It has happened before. And it will happen again. It is inevitable. What the Zogmardu provide is much more humane than the natural order of Abreya life in that respect. Apart from us, what is you will be lost to the kugfix, the creatures of soil and decomposition."

"I prefer to die that way," Zero said. "At least then we are individuals."

"There is another way," said Quana. "A home after death, one in which we retain our individuality forever, and never die again."

"Heaven..." Zobaruc sighed.

Quana nodded. "If you knew the joy of heaven, if you understood it, you wouldn't do these things to innocent Abreyas."

"Innocent!" The big creature scoffed. "What do you know about that?"

"Yes, we are all sinners, but what you are doing is wrong."

Quana sighed, nodding to Chikarra. "Release the larva."

"Geigy Quana, this is extremely unwise."

"I agree," Zero said.

"Jesus teaches me to love my enemy. I do this as a sign that my people mean you no harm."

"I already knew that," Zobaruc said. "You are harm-less. But I also understand this as a symbolic gesture of peace."

"No." Zero aimed his weapon at the larva. "You give away our only bargaining chip."

Salda drew her weapon, aiming at him. "I retain this body's military training. You will die before you get off the first shot."

"May the forgiveness of Christ reunite us," Zero muttered, blasting Salda in the chest.

She fell over backwards, collapsing on the floor.

He aimed for the larva next, but Salda shot the weapon out of his hand. "Forgive me, my love," she said in her last rasping breath.

Tears rolled down Quana's cheeks. My wife was sobbing.

Quana stared at the victim in shock. "She was still in there!"

"They are always `still in there," Zobaruc replied.

"Release the larva," Quana said again.

Zero clenched his fist, but did not stop Chikarra from placing the cage on the floor and opening it.

The larva scampered gleefully to Salda's body, burrowing into her chest.

Seizing his chance, Zero snatched his weapon off the floor, aiming it at the giant creature.

"The time of negotiation has passed," said Zobaruc. "You may depart this vanseb unharmed."

"I'm not leaving," Quana said. "Not until you change your ways, and stop using my people as cattle."

"You preach to me with your babbling tongue?"

"I will do whatever it takes." Quana nodded to Zero. "Take the others to someplace safe."

Her guard didn't budge. "I will not leave you, geigy. My loyalty is to your house."

The princess shook her head. "I need you to protect my husband and egg."

"I will not leave your side. Chikarra. Take Pillow and the others back to the ship."

The beaked one nodded. "Guep, ruuekdemo!" He urged my wife to move.

Norenio grabbed my arm, leading me toward the exit. Why her and not someone else? Because my wife came from the same country. I don't know. Thonwa followed close behind.

"Wait," Quana called to me.

I stopped.

"David, remind my husband that I performed the rite of Remvuaf. If I do not survive this, Dista is to be his new wife. Tell him that I love him."

"This is a bad idea, princess," I said. "You're not going to change her."

"I know. But God will."

I looked at her like she were crazy, but I saw deep conviction in those eyes. It was the same look my wife gave me when she decided to convert, probably the same she gave Matt when she set up the first alien church, an inflexible resoluteness that nobody on the planet could change.

I just stood staring at her, wanting to say something to change her mind, but I was held in check by my own religious beliefs. She firmly believed she could change this creature, and she was certain God was on her side. How could I argue with that?

Norenio dragged me out of the worship area, into the surrounding hallway. Her protectiveness felt...reassuring. Maybe I was more like Matt than I could admit, you know, liking a strong female to take charge.

Zobaruc grabbed Quana by the tail, dangling her upside down in front of its slimy face. "I have plans for you priestess of the Christian cult. "

Zero drew his weapon, but, seeing Quana's calm demeanor, did not fire.

"And my Lord has plans for you," the princess answered.

That's all I heard, for then I got dragged through the corridor, to the entrance.

I looked my female bodyguard in the eyes. "Um, thanks. I..." I fumbled for words.

"Don't," she said. "Your wife will get mad. Anyways, you're welcome."

I blushed. "You're right. Let's go."

"Go ahead of me. I'll cover you."

This made me smirk a little.

"I think you'll be needing to confess a few mental sins before our Lord later."

"The way I seem so readable to you, I'd say ditto."

She slapped me with her tail, urged me on.

As I passed through the wide, ornately decorated gate, I suddenly found a pink scaly tail wrapping around me, dragging me into a narrow concrete passage running along the perimeter. This was the Wodov's corridor, a secret tunnel used to access behind the scenes areas of the vanseb and avoiding crowds.

It seemed that Matt had decided to shirk his egg warming activities to sneak into the building.

My wife and Thonwa filed in. Chikarra closed a door behind us.

"Wait!" I hissed. "What about Norenio and Zero?"

"They're soldiers. They're more than capable of taking care of themselves. You, on the other hand..."

We slipped up a corridor, and another door slammed shut behind me, blotting out the light before I could see the face, but in the flash I recognized the brown pelt and white wighesh Matt frequently wore, and put two and two together.

"What's going on?" I heard Pillow whispering behind me, but I just told her, "Shh!"

We climbed a staircase, and then we stood in the priest's cubicle overlooking the temple.

Zobaruc still held Quana upside down, right in front of its mouth. "You are correct about us dying. I am about to give birth to my successor. The gift is a great honor. You will be queen over all Zogmordu, and share all my thoughts and memories."

"What I have to give is far greater," Quana said. "For I have within me the Spirit of God, and nothing you can do to me will ever triumph against its power."

"This is madness," Zero said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Geigy, are you to offer your life to this thing?"

"Do not attack them, Zero. They do not understand what they are doing."

"I'm not certain you do, either."

"Please, Zero. Do not interfere."

"I will not stand and watch you commit suicide."

He trained his weapon on the Zogmordu queen's head. "Let her go!"

Whistler whistled three notes, then picked up Salda's gun, blasting him in the shoulder. Zero clutched his wound, ducking into the outer hallway.

"I will break you, princess," Zobaruc said. "You will soon see that you follow a cleverly devised fiction, and all you are is blue matter to be assimilated into my offspring."

Hint: Abreya brains are not gray. "Your offspring will know hope."

"Quana!" Matt shouted. "Don't do this! I love you!"

The big creature looked directly at us and laughed.

Quana craned her neck around, trying to see where the voice was coming from. "Matt?...Why aren't you watching the egg?"

"I have a better question: Why didn't you tell your husband you were going to be a martyr? Why are you throwing your life away on this thing? I'm your husband, dammit! Shouldn't I have a say about whether or not my wife commits suicide?"

"Matt, there's a chance I'll still be me. I have to do this. They have to be saved!" She kissed her palm, then raised her middle, ring and pinky fingers in a sort of salute. It's what Abreyas do instead of blowing kisses.

"The egg's fine," Matt practically whispered.

Quana turned to face the creature once again, spreading her arms in surrender. "Let thy will be done, O Lord, not mine."

Zobaruc pressed her mouth to Quana's, and I heard muffling gagging sounds as something huge got vomited into her mouth.

"Quana no!" Matt screamed.

I thought I heard a gurgling chuckle coming out of the creature.

Its guardians glanced up in our direction, as if they all knew where we were hiding.

"We should go," Pillow whispered. "They're going to come looking for us."

"That's my wife down there!" Matt shouted. "You don't understand! She's everything to me!"

"When she first came to the decision," I said. "She had one of those looks on her face. You know, when she suddenly has an idea for a mission that seems really nuts, but when we actually do it, it's like standing back and seeing God holding the reigns?"

Matt sat down and cried. "That's my wife in a nutshell."

"Who's watching your egg?" Pillow asked.

"Knocknaser," he muttered, rubbing his eyes. "Look at me, all in touch with my feelings and shit. He did his job too well."

I looked down and saw that Zobaruc had released the princess. She stood up, straightening her dress.

"You understand the plan, my dear Nizrakto?" the beast asked her.

Quana nodded. "Yes, mother. We will take my spaceship to station Xaralpes and set up a breeding and processing center."

"Your host's husband is lurking in the priest's compartment," Zobaruc said.

"I trust you can take care of that. I must go to prepare the craft."