“What can I say?” Mimic answered with a shrug. “It’s my first revolution.”
“I think we can safely say it’s all our first revolution.”
Once more, the twins exchanged a very certain look. One that didn’t slip by me. But if they didn’t have faith in Mimic, they needed to at least have faith in me.
“Come on,” I said, walking forward. “We should get this done before nightfall.”
“Why, is there some sort of timer?”
“No, but if something goes wrong and we have to escape quickly, would you prefer to do that during the daylight or in the dark?”
“Good point. Let’s get a move on, shall we?”
There was a chorus of quiet agreement all around, and then we were heading up the mountain.
The mini-mimics acted much as they had before, all of them hurriedly scuttling to complete their tasks as fast as they could just so they could do it again. They hastily dodged out of our feet’s way as we walked, but that was the only sign they gave to acknowledge our existence.
It was hard for me not to get stuck in a loop of sadness and incredulousness as I watched them move. There was a whole civilization of Mimics in front of me, but they had been stunted, starved, and abused until they were nothing more than child slaves. What kind of creature could have done this? After leaving Giomatti behind, I didn’t expect to find a sentient life more selfish than him, and yet here we were.
No one said much else as we made the hike. I sensed that we were all lost in our own thoughts, imagining the ramifications of what we were doing and what would happen if we failed.
Normally, I didn’t think of myself as a very violent person. I had never purposefully hurt someone in my life, as long as one didn’t count the time I knocked Giomatti out to save Mimic, and before today, I didn’t think I ever would.
But now, after learning what had befallen Mimic’s people hundreds of years ago, I found myself angry enough to actually want to hurt the creature. I wanted it to be scared. I wanted it to wonder if it was going to die. And then I wanted it to feel the same torture it had put thousands of innocent lives through.
The intensity of my desire surprised me. Was…was I a bad guy? I didn’t think of myself as such, but what else could be the truth? I was willfully imagining murder over and over again. Not justice, not just stopping the alien, but straight up murder. I couldn’t be a good person and think such things…right?
I didn’t know. And in a way, it didn’t matter. The only thing I was concerned about was freeing Mimic’s people so she wouldn’t be alone any longer.
Even if victory meant her leaving our group forever.
I shoved that thought down with all the others. It would only distract me, and the last thing I needed during our grand revolution was to be distracted. Besides, we had reached the lip of the cave.
Gonzales shivered. “Is anyone else getting the heebie-jeebies something fierce?”
“Count me in that number,” Ciangi said, crossing her arms.
“I am not fond of the atmosphere as well,” Bahn added at the end.
“Now that we know the history in these halls, I don’t think we’re ever going to like this place. But this is just the start of the plan, so we probably should worry less about goose bumps and more about the real danger up ahead.”
“Oh, I don’t need a reminder of exactly how dangerous it’s going to be for all of us,” Gonzales said. “That’s the one thing I am acutely aware of.”
“Enough speaking,” Mimic said, cutting between all of us to continue into the tunnel. “We must be quick, before it can mount a full assault on us.”
“You think it would do that? Just for the four of us? Especially considering we’re lifeforms it’s never met yet. I mean, for all it knows, we could help it get off the planet.”
“This creature uses children as its soldiers and forced them to kill their own parents. I doubt benevolence or patience are part of its decision-making paradigm.”
“Fair point. Let’s get going then.”
The five of us crept along, making no noise other than our soft footfalls and harsh breaths. With painstaking care, we inched our way until the stone became that smooth, otherworldly metal, and until otherworldly metal began to open up into the same chambers we had seen before.
And just like before, the large vat sat upright, mini-mimics scrambling up the ramp only to vomit out all the minerals they were carrying at the top, then hopping off only to slam into the ground below, shake themselves a bit, then skitter to wherever else it wanted them to go.
“Everyone got their anti-grav boots on?” I hissed as we ducked behind a pillar. “It’s an awful long fall down from the top.”
“If we didn’t, would there be any fixing that at this point? Unless we’re all gonna turn around and go back to the ship for a little oopsies, forgotsies.”
“Less sarcasm, more seriousness,” I said flatly. On a good day, humor was hit or miss for me, and this certainly was not a good day. I was tense and full of emotions that I had never felt before.
“I don’t think that was sarcasm as much as it was my naturally smart mouth, but point taken. Yes, I have my grav-boots.”
“As do I.”
“Me too.”
Gonzales turned to Mimic. “What about you, friend?”
“I do not need your boots.”
“Oh right. You’re a shapeshifter so I suppose you could just imagine yourself with some wings and be just fine, right?”
“I could. Except I’m not going with you.”
“Wait, what?” I asked, almost shocked enough to shout. ‘Almost’ being the key word of course.
“Why did the four of you think that you had all of the supplies? I have my own part of the plan. One apart from all of you.”
“Why didn’t you bring that up before?” Gonzales spat. “We spent hours and hours going over this, coming up with the best possible way to take down this alien guy with the supplies that we have!”
“Just tru--”
“Trust you! I know! That’s the one thing you did say. Over and over and over again! If I had a credit for every time that phrase came out of your mouth, I would have enough to send back to Earth, buy my own warship, and fly it back here.”
“Save your energy. There is still much that can go wrong.” Her eyes flicked to me, more serious than I had ever seen them before. All the warmth, all the happy inquisitiveness, I was used to seeing in her gaze was gone. There was only a cold determination. I wondered if my own expression was similar.
Something had changed in us in this presentation of our latest enemy. Before, our adventures had certainly been dangerous, but never really very life-threatening to anybody else. This, however, was quite different.
“Be safe,” I murmured, reaching out to touch her shoulder for what could possibly be the last time.
“Are we ever?” she asked with a half-smile before walking forward.
She shrank as she went, her skin receding until she was exactly like all the mini-mimics around her. I watched her hop forward, then she blended into the thousands of other shapeshifters rushing across the ground.
“I…I’m not sure how I feel about this,” Gonzales murmured, looking into the room with her brow furrowed in worry.
“We need to tr--”
“Oh my flip, we have to trust her. I get it. Did I not just have a rant about that exact phrase?”
“Easy,” Ciangi said. “We’re all tense, but you should really save that fire for the mission at hand.”
“Well, speaking of the mission, are we ready?”
My hand automatically went to the bag still at my side, resting on the fastenings that kept it hermetically sealed. “I am.”
“Alright then, we already agreed on the teams, so let’s go poison this guy before he figures out we’re here.”
“Right.” I took a deep breath, then quickly jogged forward.