I spot Jane at a far table. Her feathered brow glistens in the light. She seems human enough for the small addition not to matter.
“Why?” I ask. “Why would you mutate us if you mean to change us back?”
“I do not represent buru interests,” says Dinuth. “In their opinion, I would be considered a traitor.”
My eyes narrow. I consider his admission—try to work his angle. Why would he want these human children? Why would he collect them here? Is he trying to create a child army to draw out the last vestiges of humanity still resisting his kind?
Dinuth must sense my hesitation. “These children are here because it is not safe for them to reside outside. They would be captured again and the other buru would discover my work. They would come for me and destroy everything.”
“Why do you care about humans?”
Dinuth tilts his chin. “I was not always buru,” he says. “I came from another place—a peaceful world—also invaded by them. All my people were mutated into hybrid creatures—made into mindless warriors. I alone was permitted to keep my free mind because of my knowledge of chemical compounds. I could help the buru create new crossbreed species—make stronger soldiers for their armies. But to control me, they changed me—mutated me into their image.”
He grabs his own chin. “This is not the face I was born with. I know what it is to lose yourself, to have your essence corrupted.” His gaze grows distant. “So, I learned their methods. I perfected the science. And then I escaped. Now I work to at least give your kind back their identity. I wish to save humanity.”
And I believe him. I’m not sure why, but I do. I’ve killed a hundred buru in my quest to save my sister. Looked into those hundred pairs of eyes as the light faded from them. Never once have I seen the torment I now see in Dinuth’s gaze.
I glance back at the groups of children laughing below. “And you can do this for my sister? You can change her back.”
Dinuth nods. “I already have. I added the modifier to the vaccine. Your sister will be herself when you return.”
My chest squeezes and my eyes burn with tears I have held back for ten years. My sister. I’ll finally be able to tell her that I am sorry.
An explosion rocks the ruined vessel. The hull groans and a rain of rust, debris, and embers falls from the tattered hull. We collapse to the gantry, choking on the filthy air.
I cough. “What the hell was that?”
“Buru weaponry,” says Dinuth. “Missile by the sound of it. How did they find me?”
“I told you they were coming!”
The muscles in the alien’s cheeks bunch. He knows as well as I do that it doesn’t matter how they got here. We just need to get out.
Dinuth stands. “They’ll send in their mutants next. We need to get to the weapons store.”
“How far away is that?”
He points to the roof. “Maybe too far.”
I look up. Dusk’s red glow filters through the holes in the hull. Then the light disappears as a wave of shadows flood across. Shapes shift and blur. A horde of mutated bodies—an army—coming to snuff out the spark of hope that Dinuth has built here.
He places an urgent hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “Please. Go back and protect the children. I’ll get your sister and additional weapons. We will make our stand in the common room.”
I hesitate, unsure. Do I get my sister and run or stand and fight with this buru traitor?
“Surely you trust me by now?” asks Dinuth.
“Okay.” I pull out my xiphos and hand it to him. He takes it, wide-eyed.
“I’ll give you five minutes,” I say, “then I’m coming to get my blade back from you.”
Dinuth’s smile is grim. He nods and turns, gone before I even know he’s left.
The children are huddled under tables pulled together in a type of fort. The younger ones are crying, tears falling down their smooth, pink cheeks. The older children stand ready with makeshift weapons—pots and kitchen knives. They tense as I enter.
“I’m here to help.” I move forward, but the children are wary.
“Who are you?” calls an older boy with slit-pupiled eyes like a lizard’s.
Jane crawls out from under a table. Her hair has fallen free of its ponytail. “She’s with Dinuth,” she says to the boy. “She’s got a sister here being changed back. We can trust her.”
The boy’s eyes narrow but then he nods. He hands me his kitchen knife.
I reach back and pull my shotgun free. I tap my belt and the eighteen cartridges stored there.
“Thanks, but I’ve got my own weapon.”
The younger children grow quiet, and the room falls silent but for the sound of breathing. Outside, mutants roam, claws clicking over metal and raucous voices screaming in languages that have nothing to do with being human.
The seconds pass. One minute turns to four. The tearing of metal screeches out closer than before; sounds like the hull is being sheared open.
Five minutes. Still no Dinuth.
I wrack my mind, trying to recall other buru ships I infiltrated in the past. My gaze slews to the far workbenches that serve here as the kitchen. The eyehooks welded into the surfaces are something I have seen before—this was a human bonding room.
There are large drainage ducts below those benches.
“Quickly, children,” I whisper as the noises outside the room grow louder. “To the benches.” I sprint the fifteen meters and drop to the ground. I take the knife off the boy and wedge the tip into the metal plate flooring. A grated panel slides free to reveal a dark passage below.
“Get in here,” I say to the huddled children. “These ducts will conceal you while I go to find Dinuth. Crawl down as far as you can.” I hand the knife back to the boy. “When you reach water, start prying at the side panels. They’ll open to the hull’s skin. Swim for the forest.”
“But there are monsters there,” whimpers Jane.
“There are more monsters here,” I say. “You have a better chance of survival hidden in the trees.”
I look to the older boy. “Get them across the lake and into the forest. Head north until you find the corpse of a female snake mutant. Go about sixty meters further on into the undergrowth. Behind the wild ginger clump there’s a hatch to underground bunker—my home. Hide there and we will come for you.”
The boy nods and disappears into the duct. The others follow.
Only Jane hesitates. “Promise you will come for us?”
A smile is all I have to comfort her. “I promise.”
She disappears into the hole. I replace the plate and stand. Time to find Dinuth and my sister.
The ruined ship crawls with mutants. Viperions, griffinous, and others I cannot name, but all equally as terrifying. I cling to the shadows easing my way along the gantry towards Soleil’s room. My gun is loaded and ready to fire.
Ahead, a commotion. A group of humanoid insects, by the look of their diaphanous wings, faceted eyes and black exoskeletons. They batter at a door with a rusty beam, chittering and cackling as the door shudders with each hit. Something in there has drawn their attention. It can only be one thing.
I aim and fire. The first shots plow into the mutants. Some fall and others flit away to hover in the darkness. I reload, the pump action sliding smoothly. I fire again, surging ahead. My back meets the damaged door. I yell out.
“It’s me. Let me in!”
The door creaks open and Dinuth pulls me through. The metal panel slams shut and the hatch is sealed.
“Where are the children?” he snarls. His armor is scratched and mired with blood. The fight to this room doesn’t seem to have been easy.