Goddess of the Galacticide Episode 44 - Do Not Obey Me

Episode 44

“I’m going to blast this monster!”

“Oonzu’s not a monster,” said Cha Dzeeny, “he’s our pilot.”

Baaii Fij’s automatic remained trained on the Traaz. “That pilot is killing the Shaajis.”

Metallic clangs, screeching and screaming had risen him from his light sleep inside the dustbin, the freighter’s crew quarters. Like Baaii, his instinct and training compelled him to grab a weapon before running down the central corridor, toward the commotion. When he met Baaii, they had both reached the door of the skipper’s quarters from different sides. Furniture had been dragged from the dustbin, repeatedly smashed into corridor walls, then abandoned on the path. Bent metal rods left pointy ends, then the trail turned bloody, first drops on the floor, then red smears along the walls. A red imprint of a human hand covered the skipper’s quarter’s door mechanism.

Cha and Baaii exchanged glances, then—weapons at the ready—entered. Linuka Omga had nearly vanished—one leg spasming defiantly—into the silicate hulk that was Oonzu, his gray body mass enveloping the Shaajis.

”Tell it to drop her!”

“I can’t talk to the Traaz,” said Cha.

“What? How do you communicate with your pilot, then?”

“We don’t. Only the Shaajis can.”

Every muscle fiber in his finger urged pressing that trigger, but the projectiles could hurt Linuka, too.

“We got to do something, Dzeeny! This is our ward. We’re not letting her die without a fight.”

A fight. The Traaz’s body showed bulges where it enveloped Linuka Omga, but the gray surface was smooth. No spikes. No translucent tips.

“He’s not aggressive,” said Cha. “Whatever he’s doing, he does not want to fight.”

He lowered his automatic and gestured Baaii to do the same.

“Nreedz, I hope you’re right about this.”

The spasms stopped. A hole appeared on Oonzu’s main body mass, approximately where Linuka’s head must have been buried inside the silicate rock.

“He’s keeping her alive.”

“Why did she struggle, then?” asked Baaii. “This doesn’t look like a friendly embrace.”

“I don’t think Oonzu grabbed the Shaajis and pulled her in here to fight her. If he wanted to kill her in her sleep, he would have done so.”

“Isn’t she immortal? What if they fought all along that trashed corridor? Because she refused to die?”

Baaii had a point. Traaz strength was legendary, but maybe Linuka’s powers could prove to be a match. But why assault her? Why now? He shook his head.

“Oonzu saved her life once by protecting her from harm using his body. Maybe he’s helping her again.”

“Protecting her?” asked Baaii. “From what?”

The Traaz’s bulge flattened, the gray silicate splitting, revealing a face. Sweaty, wild strands of hair sticking to pale skin, but unharmed. Cha shouldered his weapon and kneeled next to Oonzu, ready to catch the Shaajis once the silicate fully released her out of his bodies’ envelopment.

With a broken voice, raspier than Baaii’s, Linuka said: “He protected me from myself.”

Her neck went limp and her head sank onto Cha’s arm.

***

“Shouldn’t the Shaajis regenerate?” asked Baaii, standing guard over Linuka.

The bloodstains on her cuffs hadn’t dried yet, but the wounds that caused them closed and vanished. The struggle had left the Shaajis unconscious; however. Cha had dragged one of the bunks from the crew quarters to Oonzu’s room. Whatever caused Linuka Omga’s destructive rampage, she would be safer with the Traaz nearby. Baaii and Cha would likely be safer, too.

“The scars are gone,” said Cha. “But I doubt her ordeal was only physical. Let her rest.”

He pulled up the blanket when Linuka’s hand grabbed his wrist.

“Don’t go to the jungle world.”

Her voice sounded weak, but clearer.

“To Green Wave, Shaajis? The freighter is still in the Chéé’s hangar. We’re not going anywhere.”

She held his wrist tighter, stared into his consciousness, pupils dilated.

“Do not do anything. Anything I ask for.”

“Shaajis?”

“Anything stupid. Or unusual.”

He glanced at Baaii. She shrugged.

“What happened, Shaajis? You’re still in Oonzu’s quarters. Oonzu is here, if that’s alright with you.”

“Yes. Oonzu. Keep him nearby, please.”

Cha Dzeeny had never aimed his weapon at someone whom he wasn’t ready to kill. He mouthed an “I’m sorry” to the skipper. He had only met one Traaz who could read human gestures, and his skimpy apology was likely lost on the dark giant, but it would have to do for the moment.

“Did you… rearrange your bunk and the corridor?”

Linuka could hold the faint smile for an even fainter moment.

“It wasn’t me. It was my Uurmi.”

The Traaz name for the symbiont living in Linuka Omga’s body. All members of the silicate species had one, forming their consciousness. Their brain.

“It… made you do all this? Go to Oonzu’s quarters?”

“No, I wanted to reach Oonzu. The Uurmi made me cling on to things every step of the way. It knew a Traaz could help me regain control.”

“It fought you?” asked Cha. “I thought it healed you, gave you strength.”

“It remembers my youth at the Traaz court when I was taught how to balance the Uurmi’s healing effects with its desire to replace my human consciousness.”

The bond between all silicates—or their Uurmis—remained a mystery for Cha, despite having fought alongside the Traaz in past conflicts. It seemed… intimate and never wanted to pry.

Tactical concerns were more immediate.

“What does it want?” he asked.

“Go back to the planet Green Wave. It’s growing impatient with our plans leading elsewhere, and wants me to force us heading back there as soon as possible.”

“But there is nothing there, except danger. Well, and a newly built Remnant breeding station for Dark Ones. What does it want from them?”

“I don’t think it’s them,” said Linuka. “These symbionts are ancient life forms, looking for hosts they could grant powers—and consciousness—to. The Traaz had been their go-to species for eons. Extreme longevity and hardiness, what’s not to like? But Green Wave is something else. An interconnected ecosystem, semi-sentient as it seemed. Maybe the size of half a planet.”

“It wants to—” Cha tried to avoid the term ‘infect’ “—control it?”

“I believe so.”

“Why didn’t it take the opportunity to jump ship when we were on Green Wave? Why now?”

“It’s not an easy transfer. The Uurmi is so closely connected with my body chemistry I doubt it could resettle. But it must have seen a chance because I’m convinced it tried to kill me there.”

“Revered Shaajis,” said Baaii, “you have a creature inside you that wants you dead?”

You should have told us, thought Cha.

As if she heard him, Linuka said: “I put enough crazy stuff on your shoulders. This is my personal fight, and I got to win it myself.” She looked at Oonzu. “Or so I thought. It was a mistake to keep it from you. But this has been my life for as long as I can remember. The Uurmi used to attempt a takeover only if there was any danger. Now it’s becoming more frequent.”

“You are in danger,” said Cha. “The Assembly is doing everything they can to keep you away from Omech Chaa. And now your own symbiont wants to drag you to this green death trap.”

“Stand me up, please,” said Linuka.

Cha helped her up from the bunk. She gestured that she could stand on her own, but needed a moment to appear steady.

“We’ll stick to the plan. No more loose ends. We’re going to Prral.”

Cha nodded. “It’ll bring some much needed closure, Shaajis.”

“Yes,” Linuka said, “closure. But there’s something else we’re seeking in the Prral system.”

“The system? Off planet?” asked Cha.

Linuka nodded. “Yes. Causality bombs.”

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