The Ashes of Worlds

Margaret considered running to the trapezoidal frame of the main transportal. Before the hive mind guessed what she intended to do, she could punch any coordinate tile and simplyleave. But the transportal network went only to other Klikiss planets, and any gateway would just take her to another insect-infested world. She was better off here.

No, she would stay here and take her chances with the Llaro breedex. Though this one seemed more bloodthirsty than any of the others, it had intentionally kept Margaret safe. Therefore, the breedex must want something from her, if only she could understand what it was. She had no reason to be afraid. The Klikiss had kept her alive this long.

From outside, the hall of the breedex appeared tall and lumpy with twisted candlewax towers on either side. Spiny warriors ushered Margaret into the dark opening of the central structure, and she went willingly. With their razor-edged serrated limbs, the Klikiss could have chopped her to pieces in an instant. but they could have done that at any time over the past several years. She knew they wouldn’t harm her — not yet, at least.

Margaret was still a scientist and had spent many years with Louis studying the ancient ruins of the supposedly extinct race. She knew the Klikiss as well as any human could know an alien species. She straightened her shoulders and kept pace with the armored creatures along winding corridors like the chambers in a spiral seashell. The closeness of the numerous Klikiss intensified the smells that reminded her of sour bile, rotten eggs, decaying fish, and old sweat, a symphony of pheromones and chemical signals.

Her warrior escort guided her into a buzzing, humming central grotto filled with horrors. The heads of more than a hundred vanquished domates lay stacked like trophies. In the middle of the chamber, beside the grisly trophies, lay a stirring heap composed of millions of squirming, shifting bodies. She had seen the breedex before, but she did not look forward to this encounter.

Margaret stopped. The stench made it hard for her to breathe as the Llaro hive mind formed itself into a structure that could face her. The myriad mound began to move as hundreds of thousands of components assembled like the pixels of a broad and complex image. As the shape began to grow definite, Margaret realized that something else was different from the previous incarnations of the Klikiss hive minds.

Not only the warriors, but hundreds of large workers, diggers, and other sub-breeds stood together like worshippers in a church. The background noise became more than just the incessant rustling of limbs and wings and shell casings. She heard a clacking of mandibles, a buzzing of chitin plates being rubbed together to create musical sounds. It became recognizable as a language.

In her years among the Klikiss, Margaret had developed a rudimentary ability to communicate with the creatures. She comprehended some of their tones and chirps, and could make similar noises herself. Now, however, the background drone changed. Though it was slow and unpracticed, the sounds became recognizable. A word.

“Margaret.”

The warriors and workers made a single voice in an extended, eerie choir.“Margaret Colicos.” Never before had the Klikiss attempted to speak human words. Never, as far as she knew, had the creatures even understood the concept of names.

Startled, she took a step backward and bumped into the spiny body of a warrior, but the Klikiss creature did not move. She faced the breedex, which continued to form itself like a gigantic, interlocking puzzle.

“You’re different from the last breedex,” she said.

The breedex mound finally completed shaping itself until it vaguely resembled a giant human head made out of clay by a clumsy child. Its mouth moved, and noises came out like swirling breezes that picked up sharp-edged sticks.“Margaret Colicos. I know you.”

Something had definitely changed. “What are you?” she demanded.

“I was. in part. a man.”The human features continued to resolve themselves into finer detail.“A man named Davlin Lotze.”

She stared. “Davlin?” She had never learned what had happened to the man; obviously, the Klikiss had assimilated his genes as well as his memory. But Davlin must have done something to the formative breedex, retaining some kernel of his own mind, which was now coming to the fore.

“After several fissionings, my subhive has gathered enough human DNA to make us more human.”The pieces shifted like an image coming into focus, and now the rough approximation of a face became more clearly Davlin’s. She could easily distinguish his features.“I fought the breedex larva, and I am now part of it.”

“Your mind is the Klikiss mind?”

“Part of it. We became stronger, and I struggle for dominance.”As he remembered how to communicate, the Davlin-breedex seemed to grow more proficient with his words.“I won’t let the faint human traces from the colonists be diluted further.”

She saw a heartbreaking change of the portrayed expression, a slight alteration in the tone of voice. The image blurred and then sharpened again.“We now have. an uneasy peace, the Klikiss and I.”

Margaret stepped closer to the horrendous mass. “Then why are you so bloodthirsty? Can’t you stop these hive wars and impose peace? The Llaro subhive has been more vicious than any other.” It made no sense to her.

“Because we must be more vicious. I. we must eradicate all the others.”

“Why?”

“To save humanity. The subhives will attack, and dominate, and destroy. In the end, only one breedex will survive. One breedex will control all. One breedex will bethebreedex.” He paused for a long moment, and Margaret struggled to understand what Davlin was implying. “Therefore, I must be that breedex. Humanity has no chance unless I conquer the other subhives.”

Margaret caught her breath, though many questions tumbled through her mind. Was this why she had been saved? To become a liaison? “You want the human race to deal with you, instead of another breedex.”

“Yes.”

“And then there will be peace between the humans and the Klikiss? We’ll no longer have to fear you?”

“I am strong, but I am not the only mind here. Even if I win, there are no guarantees. I am still part Klikiss.”

Staring at the monstrous form, Margaret felt a chill go through her. “How many subhives do you still need to defeat?”

“Five other subhives still fight on the Klikiss worlds, spreading outward. Two are battling at Relleker.”The face shuffled itself, crystallized again.“I remember Relleker from when I was. merely Davlin. My subhive will wait, and then crush whichever breedex wins there.”

“And how can I help?”