Ouroboros 2: Before Read online

  The more she clutched her left hand too. She pressed the fingers together, or clutched it into a fist, or rubbed her palm against her implant.

  She was beyond nervous.

  Though it had been a slow build up, she could no longer deny the fact this was really happening.

  Soon they would become acquainted with the Vex.

  A race that would eventually be totally and utterly destroyed. For she had stood on this planet before, far in the future, when it had been nothing more than a dust bowl filled with rubble and nothing else.

  Nobody knew what had happened to the Vex, in fact, nobody had known what the race that had once lived on Remus 12 had been called, but suddenly their history became very important to her.

  Had they been obliterated by a spatial anomaly? Had another alien race conquered them only to strip the planet bare, and leave them with nothing but dirt and stone? Or had they done this to themselves?

  All of the possibilities were equally as frightening. What was far more frightening, however, was that Nida got the sudden impression that she would eventually find out.

  Possibly first hand.

  Shuddering slightly but trying to hide it by shrugging her arms around herself, she took a step closer to Carson.

  Somehow that made everything feel better, if only slightly.

  But right now she would take slightly.

  Chapter 5

  Carson Blake

  They were nearing the city. Worse than that though, they would soon run into Vex.

  He had set his scanner to warn him whenever it detected the nearby presence of a Vex, and as it sent a silent but perceptible vibration through the belt he wore and into his hip, he knew one was close.

  He instinctively drew closer to Nida, and as she looked up questioningly, he angled his head to the side.

  She clearly understood, and her wide, completely black eyes stared back at him, her surprise and fear obvious.

  Though he wanted to grab her hand and tell her they would be fine, he didn’t. Instead, he whispered, ‘stay quiet, don’t say anything, and we will just walk past them.’

  She gave a nod, swallowed, blinked, and kept walking.

  Before they had left the building the time gate had dumped them in, Carson had spent a pressured half hour isolating certain aspects of his armor. It had been a particularly hard task considering he hadn’t had many tools, but he’d managed what he’d needed to.

  Considering how heavy and sophisticated his armor was, it had a very powerful on-board computer. Usually that computer was set to the task of analyzing battlefields, tracking the incoming direction and velocity of projectiles, and generally helping him out in combat. But it could also be used as a translator, if one had the need of such a thing.

  Incoming language would be picked up by the processor, translated using available models, and relayed through the helmet in Standard Galactic Dialect. Then, whatever the wearer said into the helmet would be translated in a synthesized voice.

  Well, Carson couldn’t exactly walk around with his helmet on. But he had managed to isolate an aspect of his helmet and its processor, and he now wore it discreetly behind his ear. It connected directly to his auditory nerve, and would relay instantaneous translations of everything he heard.

  But that was it. It would not be able to help him reply. If he wanted to reply in the language of the Vex, he would have to put his whole helmet on, and that wasn’t an option.

  Which was, frankly, terrible. If anyone tried to engage him in conversation, he would just have to brush them off.

  Feeling instantly sick and nervous, he clutched a hand into a fist as the scanner vibrated against his leg again, warning him that a Vex was close.

  Then he saw it and heard it. Out of the darkness the form of a large, broad-shouldered humanoid resolved, and the man came lumbering forward, towards Carson and Nida.

  Nida stiffened by Carson’s side, and she suddenly clutched her left palm hard against her stomach, hiding it with her right hand, even though both were covered in the black gloves. The blue glow could not penetrate the fabric, but that did not stop her from trying to tuck her left hand away under the bulk of her skirt.

  He wanted to tell her it was okay, but he couldn’t afford to speak.

  The male Vex walked towards them, its ridged, spotted face crumpling into an expression he assumed was mild confusion.

  ‘Welcome, strangers,’ the man said.

  Carson just nodded. He had no idea whether a nod was a sign of deference in this culture, or a pledge that you would kill a man and the rest of his family. But the move was instinctual.

  The Vex did not suddenly scream out in bloodcurdling rage and rush Carson, instead his lips crumpled to the side in clear confusion. Or, at least clear confusion for a human. ‘It’s quite late to be taking a Bride of the Sun out for a walk, isn’t it?’

  Bride of the Sun? What the heck did that mean?

  While the on-board processor of his armor could translate the Vex language, it could not yet account for cultural references. Its database just wasn’t big enough. So Carson had no clue what Bride of the Sun was, but he could assume the man was referring to Nida.

  Incapable of replying, Carson merely shrugged his shoulders, feeling ridiculous as he did.

  Though the man had been walking past, now he slowed and stopped. ‘Where are you two travelers from? And where are you headed? The gates to Vatron are already closed.’

  Carson nodded again. He assumed Vatron was the name of the city he was headed for.

  The man looked even more confused now. ‘Is there something wrong with your tongue?’

  Yes, it was a human tongue, Carson wanted to answer, but of course he didn’t. Instead, he shrugged his shoulders again. He felt exactly like a surly, apathetic teenager, and nothing like a lieutenant in the Galactic Coalition Academy.

  Though the man had appeared initially friendly, his gaze now narrowed and darkened as it swung between Carson and Nida.

  Instinctively Carson took a step forward and stood in front of her.

  ‘Why are you two out so late travelling alone? And where is her priestess? If you two intend to ask permission to be wed, realize that the customs of this region dictate you are to be chaperoned until permission is granted.’

  Oh, great. Fantastic. He was breaking cultural laws, and it was the first Vex he’d met.

  With absolutely no other way to communicate, Carson shrugged again.

  The man started to growl.

  Carson did the only thing he could think of. Brutal, but necessary. He reached around to his holster, getting ready to pull his gun out. He could set it to a nonlethal charge, and simply knock the man out, and then he could escape with Nida.

  It was the only way.

  But before he got the chance, Nida stepped out from behind him. ‘We already have permission, and yes, we are heading to Vatron,’ she said, except she didn’t speak in the Standard Galactic Dialect. She spoke in the language of the Vex.

  She also didn’t speak in her own voice. He could hear the control of the entity.

  He swallowed hard.

  ‘I see. Why is your friend so non communicative?’ The man asked, some of his suspicion disappearing, but not all of it.

  ‘He is a man of few words,’ she answered bluntly. And as she did, she stepped backwards, picking up his right hand, and holding onto it fast with her left hand.

  In fact, she held onto it very, very tightly.

  Her palm covered his, and her fingers curled around until they dug heavily into his device.

  With a tiny thrill of energy, he felt something cascade into it.

  Then he spoke, in perfect Vexian, ‘my fiancée and I are headed to the city, you are correct. Forgive us, we are not from these parts, and we are wary travelers.’

  The man looked mildly insulted, then gave a chuckle, shaking his shoulders. ‘Where are you from then? The Darg province?’ As the man spoke, his tone became derisive and slightly vicious.

&nbs
p; ‘No,’ Carson said simply.

  ‘It was just a joke; you don’t look like Dargs. But I’m afraid, as I said before, the city gates are closed. You will have to find somewhere to wait out the night. There is an inn nearby,’ he began.

  ‘What time will the gates open again?’ Nida asked, her tone wavering slightly, the effect of the entity only partially present now.

  ‘Not until morning. You will have to keep yourselves amused until then,’ the man said with something that looked suspiciously like a leer.

  Carson didn’t need the guy to paint a picture to understand what he meant by ‘amused’.

  ‘Tell me, stranger, how does a simple man, such as yourself, take a Bride of the Sun?’

  Carson didn’t like the question and he didn’t like the look the man gave Nida.

  Suddenly shooting the guy was on the cards again, and Carson let his hand rest by the large leather pouch that held his gun.

  ‘Thank you for all your assistance and advice,’ Carson managed through clenched teeth, ‘but we must be going. We have a long walk ahead of us tonight.’ With Nida’s hand still covering his own, he led her forward.

  ‘Don’t be so hasty. As I told you, I know of an inn nearby. And trust me, you will be a popular man if you bring a Bride of the Sun,’ the man smirked.

  Carson really, really didn’t like that smirk, but he hated the fact he had no idea what the man meant even more.

  ‘It’s a tempting offer, but we are well rested, and we do have a very long walk ahead of us. We have an appointment in the city early in the morning, and we want to reach there with plenty of time to spare,’ Carson said diplomatically.

  ‘Friend,’ the man brought his arms up wide, suddenly showing just how powerfully built he was, ‘I cannot let you walk away from this offer.’

  Again the man shot Nida what could only be classed as a disgusting look.

  ‘Oh, fuck it,’ Carson suddenly announced as he pulled his gun from his pocket in a smooth move and shot the man right in the chest.

  The guy crumpled to his knees.

  Nida yelped, her hand falling from Carson’s. ‘What did you do?’

  ‘I shot him,’ Carson announced as he walked slowly up to the body, pulling his scanner from his holster as he did. ‘He’s down and out, and will remain that way for several hours. And, considering the shock that blast will give his central nervous system, he probably won’t remember a thing. Now, let’s get the hell out of here,’ Carson said as he nodded along the path.

  Then he realized something odd. Something terribly, terribly odd. He wasn’t speaking in the Standard Galactic Dialect anymore. He was speaking in the language of the Vex.

  He brought a hand up and passed it over his mouth, then clutched at his throat. ‘What’s happening to me?’ he asked in Vexian.

  He passed his hand in front of his mouth several more times, and when Nida didn’t give him an answer, he came up with his own, ‘the entity . . . it did something to the device, transferred some kind of energy into it. And now I can speak perfect Vexian. Jesus Christ, that shouldn’t be possible.’

  ‘I’m tired,’ Nida suddenly announced, ‘and so is the entity. Whatever it just did, it took a lot of energy,’ she said, still speaking in the language of the Vex.

  Though he was completely shocked, he nodded at her. ‘We should go, before that guy wakes up.’

  Nida shot the unconscious Vex an uncomfortable look.

  ‘It’s fine,’ he promised, distracting her by walking in front of her, ‘but we really should go before he wakes up. Like I said, if we’re lucky, the blast will have wiped his memory, but considering what has been happening to us lately, I wouldn’t count on luck.’

  Thankfully he managed to distract her from the Vex, and she nodded.

  Then she did something strange. She walked up to him, hooked her arm over his, and lay her head heavily against his shoulder.

  Before he could ask her what the heck she was doing, he realized she was, as she had said, tired. Her legs appeared wobbly, and her steps were even more uncoordinated than usual.

  ‘Every time the entity uses its power . . . I feel . . .’ she closed her eyes, leaning even more heavily against his shoulder. In fact, he had to shore up his stance to stop from falling over.

  ‘What?’ he prompted gently.

  ‘I feel stretched thin,’ she finally managed.

  Though he didn’t understand, that didn’t stop him from shivering. It sounded ominous.

  ‘We can’t rely on it,’ he suddenly announced. ‘We can’t allow it to keep helping us get out of trouble. We have to figure out how to do this on our own.’

  She just mumbled a soft yes into his ear.

  Then, despite the fact she was a cadet and he was a lieutenant, he brought up a hand and patted her head softly and reassuringly.

  Or at least he hoped it was reassuring. He wanted her to understand that he was going to do everything within his power to make this okay. No matter what it took.

  Briefly he considered going back to the building they’d first arrived in. It felt like their only safe haven on this planet, which was really stupid when you considered he had no idea who the place belonged to. Whilst it had appeared abandoned for some time, that did not mean that the owners would never return. And if they did duck back into their home to find two aliens conked out on the couch after having eaten through the contents of all of their little silver packets, things wouldn’t end well.

  So instead they continued on. Towards the city.

  He quickly realized they wouldn’t make it in one night though, not with Nida this fatigued. So, with the aid of his scanner, he directed them off the road and up into a dense copse of trees. There he sat her down, and practically seconds later she was asleep.

  He was left alone to consider the night. As he turned his head up to survey the stunning star scape of the Vex home world, he considered his problems too, which seemed to be just as numerous as the number of stars twinkling down from above.

  He did not let himself rest that night, instead he went back to the task of trying to glean as much as he could of the Vex culture from whatever radio and television waves his scanner could access.

  By the end of the night he knew a great deal more, and hoped that his next encounter with a Vex would not end up in a firefight.

  Chapter 6

  Cadet Nida Harper

  It took her a long time to wake up. She’d been having a very strange dream. It had involved powerful flashes of light racing over a landscape, destroying absolutely everything in their path.

  It made no sense, and as she rose, she placed a hand over her eyes, trying to blink away the remnants of the dream.

  ‘You’re awake,’ Carson announced from her side, then, almost immediately he added, ‘and guess what? You talk in your sleep.’

  She took a moment to understand his words.

  She blinked heavily. ‘Sorry? I talk in my sleep? I do not,’ she rallied.

  ‘I’m afraid you do. At first it was something about you being very, very hungry, then a couple of names. Speaking of which, who is Harry?’ he asked, interest tightening his tone.

  She blushed. She’d dated a cadet called Harry Sinclair in her first year at the Academy. It had never gone anywhere though, and they’d broken up quickly.

  So she was damn sure she wouldn’t have talked about him.

  ‘I do not talk in my sleep,’ she chose to repeat again in a determined and proper tone.

  ‘Sure, just like I don’t snuffle,’ he added.

  She shook her head. Then she realized that the forest around them was lit by a gentle, early-morning glow. She looked up through the thick canopy above, and could see the brilliant colors the sun cast over the horizon as it peaked out from behind the trees. ‘How long did I sleep for?’

  ‘You needed to rest,’ he pointed out firmly, ‘somehow the entity has provided me with the ability to speak perfect and fluent Vex. I have no idea how that works, and it sounds like the badly co
nceived plot of one of the books I used to read as a kid. But the point is, you expended energy last night, and you needed to recoup it.’

  She simply nodded.

  Feeling a little cold, she brought up her hands and ran them over the long sleeves of her top. She couldn’t help but smile. ‘The Vex are a strange race, I’ll give them that, but they do make some very beautiful clothing,’ she commented as she assessed the embroidery on her top.

  Carson sniggered.

  There was no other way to describe it.

  She pressed her lips together and looked at him enquiringly. ‘What? Do you have a problem with embroidery? Is it too soft for the heroic Carson Blake?’

  He shot her a steely look, but promptly shook his head and sniggered again. ‘I think I figured out why that guy from last night was . . . inappropriate,’ Carson managed, his voice growing stiff.

  She shivered slightly, but tried to hide it by tucking her hair behind her ears. ‘Why?’

  ‘Because you are dressed like a prostitute,’ Carson said blankly.

  She spluttered. ‘Excuse me?’

  Carson picked up the scanner that was beside him, and started playing with it. ‘I’ve been amassing as much information as I can from radio and television waves, and the scanner has been doing its best to put it all into a navigable database. And a Bride of the Sun,’ he cleared his throat properly, ‘is a high-class prostitute. When you concocted that disguise at the building, I shudder to think what you used as a reference.’

  She could feel her cheeks turning incandescent red. ‘You’re making this up,’ she challenged.

  He shook his head, and started laughing again. ‘I wish I was, but I’m not.’

  She crossed her arms defensively in front of her chest, as if she was trying to hide it, which was dumb, considering she was exceedingly well dressed. ‘I am clothed from head to foot. That’s hardly the garb of a . . . prostitute,’ she finally said.

  ‘Maybe not where we come from, but here, I’m afraid it is. We might have to look into getting you another set of clothes.’

  ‘So if I’m dressed as a prostitute, what are you dressed as? A gigolo?’ She looked at him pointedly.