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“It is,” Ror’k said. “It’s very strange. A hunter group on the other side of the planet tried to fly over the nest, dumping incendiary weapons on the scourge. They managed to kill many of them before the scourge fought back and retaliated, sending large numbers to their base.”
“Welp, there goes my genius idea of destroying them all while they are sitting ducks,’ I mumbled.
I couldn’t imagine what would happen if the nest closest to our base sent even a quarter of their numbers at us right now. During the swarms was one thing; then, the scourge’s goal was to find new places to nest. They were chaotic and unstructured, and that made it easier for us to funnel them into our traps and reduce their numbers.
But a direct attack? Nope. We’d be toast.
“What about the smaller nests?” I asked, not willing to let my idea go too soon.
“Yeah,” Lenny agreed. “Wouldn’t this be a good time to attack those?”
“The hunters could send reinforcements to the area to deal with the backlash…” I added.
“…and we can illuminate the base with UV-C flood lights, the ones that weaken their fungus.”
“Ooh, yeah! Good idea! Set a trap.” I grinned, getting excited at the idea of killing more scourge.
Ah, just like old times. This was how Lenny and I always worked. We built on each other’s ideas until it all snowballed out of control. In the early days, Lenny and I had thought we could bea thing.We’d given a relationship a try but ultimately realized we were better as friends and co-Tech Wizards. We made a good team, but not a good couple. At all.
Despite that, we’d shared living quarters for years in the hunters’ building in Franklin. When we’d moved to our new home out in the great plains, though, I’d insisted on a different living arrangement. I just couldn’t handle Lenny’s mess anymore. The man was a genius, sure, but he was the messiest genius alive. In fact, he was the only person in the entire camp who’d gotten stuck with latrine duty for a week for hoarding dirty dishes.
I wasn’t exactly neat either, but at least my messes were organized. I was a pile maker. Everything went into a pile. Someone told me once that piles were just vertical clutter, but I didn’t care. Because of my pile making habit, I always knew where things were, and I got shit done.
“It would be a planned, concentrated effort,” Lenny agreed. “We might even be able to wipe out a few nests for good!”
“Pip?” Jask’l asked. “What is the statistical probability this plan will be successful?”
“Give me a moment, and I’ll work that out for you.” After a minute of strangely fake robotic blips and bleeps, Pip answered. “The odds are overwhelmingly positive for these nests here.” A map showed up on the screen with several red dots on it. Then, several orange dots appeared as well. “The probability of success is high for these ones as well, but we may incur casualties.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Ror’k said. “We will send out this information and start organizing the strike on the first set of nests. The reds.”
I grinned, enjoying the hope and excitement I felt every time I thought I had contributed to our fight against the scourge. These bugs better watch out!
Chapter 6: Kan’n
I did another circuit around the mothership before stopping in front of the repair bay and pressing my ear against the door. Ror’k and Jask’l had not been lying when they said the bay would be off limits to me. They’d locked me out.
Which meant Jask’l was in there alone with Sam. Which didn’t bother me. Not at all.
I told myself that I was only eavesdropping in case she tried something funny, like hacking into our ship or something. A tiny voice in the back of my head reminded me that code was Lenny’s specialty, not Sam’s, but I didn’t listen to it. I didn’t trust Lenny either.
Iespeciallydidn’t trust the way he and Sam worked together coming up with ideas during the ride up to the mothership. From listening to the talk around the camp, I’d deduced that he and Sam had once shared living quarters, though they slept apart now. Did the male still wish to lure Sam back to his bed?
Not that I cared.
The most frustrating part was that Ror’k and Jask’l had actually taken their suggestions seriously. Even my shuttle agreed it was a good idea! Since when did we accept advice from aliens?
Since I’d been gone, apparently.
There had been so many changes to the processes the Xarc’n Warriors used here on Earth in the time I’d been isolated from the Xarc’n system that I felt like a stranger among my own people. For one, warriors here stayed in hunter groups all year round now instead of just during the swarms. Traditionally, hunter groups had always disbanded during the colder seasons to hunt the scourge individually.
And the inclusion of Tech Wizards among our ranks? They hadn’t been part of our structure since we’d lost Xarc to the scourge. Sure, there were some hunters who were more technologically inclined, and if those were made Tech Wizards, I might be amenable to the idea. But humans?
The hunters at the camp referred to Sam and Lenny as their Tech Wizard, though both had denied it. It was true that they understood our technology more than many of us did since we’d been engineered to be fighters, not thinkers, but still. Giving aliens such key positions was dangerous.
The sound of approaching footsteps had me jumping away from the door and continuing nonchalantly down the hall, pretending I hadn’t been trying to listen in. I hadn’t heard anything useful anyway. It was just a lot of talk about shuttles filled with big words I didn’t understand.
Needing a distraction, I went to the training facilities. I had regained much of my muscle mass since getting rescued, but my new muscles hadn’t been conditioned for use yet and I was, frankly, still weak. I’d gone hunting with Lok’n and Harb’k a few times, and it was clear that I was woefully out of shape.
