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11
EVE
Tschenkar sent me into the tent to wake the other two.
“Who wants to take the next watch?” I asked.
“How’s the radio going?” Julia asked.
“Good,” I said, but my voice sounded guilty.
“The radio sounded really loud,” Cleopatra said.
My face went red. “Um, it’s not done yet.”
“Really?” Cleopatra said. “I swear I heard something. Julia said she thought it was you and Tschenkar having sex, but I told her you wouldn’t do thatrightoutside the tent.”
“You were listening?” I asked.
They both rolled their eyes. Cleopatra sat up and crossed her arms. “We didn’t have much choice,Sex Teacher.”
“I thought you weren’t going to call me that.”
“If you insist on teaching us like that,” Julia said, “then you’re Sex Teacher.”
“I wasn’t trying toteachyou!”
Cleopatra laughed. “Well, you did! We even snuck a peek!”
“You bitches!”
They cackled. And Cleopatra smiled wide. “I can’tbelievehe lifts you up in the air like that! I mean, Goddess, my Orgasm Therapist never even came close to anything like that! No wonder you couldn’t keep quiet!”
“You creeps!” I said, but I couldn’t blame them. Of course their curiosity would win out over their modesty.
I’d just have to get Tschenkar to fuck me further from camp next time.
I waited until Tschenkar was asleep, then I snuck out of the tent and got back to work on the radio.
Just before dawn, I got it working. It was basically just some copper wires attached to a wooden board and a battery from theEve Thumper. I plugged some beat-up headphones one of the pirates had been using into it, and I rewired the left speaker to work like a microphone. I tried not to let the headphone actually touch my ear, because the headphones were filthyandsticky.
There was a hiss though, and I heard a ghostly woman’s voice through the headphone. There was so much static and feedback I could barely hear what she was saying. Only one in ten words was intelligible.
Eden only used radio for emergency communications, and most of the emergency channels used amplitude modulation. Modifying the frequency gave better sound quality, but modifying the amplitude worked better for long distances—especially for sending signals into space.
I tweaked the power, and soon I could hear the message:
This is a recorded message from High Command. We have lost control of all major cities. Alien and human men have landed. The Aliens, known as the Khetar, seem to be on our side, but extreme caution is still advised. Avoid human males at all costs. Repeat, avoid human males at all costs. Human males are extremely hostile and will show no mercy. Kill on sight if you are armed. High Command is no more. We are all tainted now. Still, we are women, and we are strong, survive and prosper!
The message started to repeat. I listened to it a few times, then started adjusting the amplitude again. Goddess. Survive andprosper? They were giving us permission to breed with the Khetar. They really were no more.
I went through a lot of dead air, but then I heard the hint of a familiar voice, a deep, booming Khetar voice.
It had to be too good to be true, and even with as much adjustments as I could manage, it just didn’t seem like the battery was strong enough to get a super clear signal, but listening carefully, I managed to make out the message.
All Khetar packships must make landfall on Eden.We don’t know if the Hivemind has failed everywhere, or only within this system, but any Khetar ship which arrives in system will fail within a week. Make landfall quickly to survive re-entry. Keep your pack whole.Wrathwill remain in orbit as long as it is able to coordinate our ground forces. If you have a comms nerd, give him the following frequency to open a two-way comms channel…
The voice was Thuliak’s. It was a pre-recorded message just like the one from High Command had been, but he’d said there was a two-way channel, and—
