Juni flushed and stood up abruptly, as if the comment had somehow been aimed at him. “I’m going to milk the cow. It needs it, and we need the milk.”
“Juni?” Ariana stared at him. “After that attack? You’re not serious.”
“Of course I’m serious.” He pointed toward the back room. “We need the milk. And it’s obvious that the Izkop won’t stop me. They haven’t stopped me any other time.”
“Juni—”
“Why would they hurt me? I’m not a threat to them. I’m not posturing as a threat. I’ve always gotten along with them. I’m an ecologist! They’re close to the land. They understand living in harmony, in balance. I don’t disrupt the balance.” Juni held up the milk bucket, his face pale but determined. “I’m going out. It’ll take fifteen minutes. I’ll be fine.”
Ariana cast a pleading look at Singh, who shook his head. “Sir, I think you’ll die if you go out there.”
Juni kept addressing Ariana. “The Izkop need to see some normal, routine behaviors. Something that indicates that we understand how things are interconnected. I’ll show them that we are working to get the environmental imperative back in balance. That always works. Analyze the system and take corrective action. Right now they’re reacting to the presence of these soldiers, this disruptive factor in the eco-system, so everything’s out of balance.”
“Sir,” Singh said carefully, “there weren’t any soldiers around when the Izkop wiped out everyone in the valley.”
“And we have only your word for that, don’t we? How long has the military really been here and what did they do? We had no problems here until soldiers came!”
Adowa had the look of someone who couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What we did was come here to try to save your butts and lost a lot of friends. No problems here? What happened to your friends and their truck? What happened to your emergency equipment?”
“There’s something you’re not telling us,” Juni insisted, “or more likely something you don’t know. I’ve supervised assistants. You’re just… workers. No disrespect, but you have very limited perspectives. I know the big picture, and I can fit in the details. I understand what’s happening. And that’s why I know I need to stop acting as an au pair and get to work as an expert in ecological synergism!”
“By risking your life to milk a cow?” Ariana asked in despair. “Juni, there’s plenty of room for guilt in the misjudgments we all must have made, but blaming others and throwing your life away won’t make up for any errors that led to this mess.” She looked toward Scorse for support, but he just glowered at the floor.
Juni flushed again. “It sounds like you’re judging me already. If my projections and assessments were sub-optimal, it was due to independently functioning variables whose impact on the planetary organism could not be forecast.”
“Sergeant, can’t you stop him?” Ariana asked.
“No, ma’am. I have no place to lock him up, no one to spare to guard him, and if I did lock him up or tie him up that’d just mean he died helpless when the Izkop overran the place.” Singh looked at Juni. “Sir, I advise against this in the strongest possible terms.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Juni said.
“If you’re determined to go out there then Goldera will go with you to the side door and bar it behind you. He’ll open it only when he hears you call from the other side and confirms that there’s no Izkop with you. Understand?”
“If that’s required to satisfy you. I’ll be back pretty quickly, and then you’ll see how the Izkop react to proper non-confrontational stimuli.”
An hour passed, Goldera calling out occasionally to reassure them that he was okay but that Juni had not returned. Ariana sat huddled together, her face a mask of resignation and despair, until the children raised a fuss and she had to go in to deal with them. Scorse might have been made of stone, staring silently across the room.
Finally, Singh gave Johansen permission to look for Juni. “Don’t leave the building. Just do a visual recce of the yard.”
Taking Adowa along, Johansen led the way to the side entry still barred shut and guarded by Goldera. “Still nothing?”
“Not a sound. Haven’t heard anything except that cow mooing every once in a while.”
“Okay. We open it quick and I look out. Hopefully if any Izkop are waiting we’ll surprise them. If they rush us, get that door sealed even if I’m stuck on the other side. Got it?” Adowa and Goldera nodded.
Johansen took up position near the door, his weapon held at shoulder height, ready to fire. Adowa and Goldera, working together, yanked open the bars and pulled the door open fast without regard for the noise, then Johansen stepped into the opening, quivering with tension.
The yard lay silent in the afternoon light. From here, none of the Izkop bodies littering the front of the compound were visible. About a hundred meters distant in the barn, the cow stood looking back at him blankly. After carefully studying everything he could see for signs of Izkop, Johansen focused on the figure sprawled several meters from the door.
Juni’s body lay face up, his abdomen torn open and entrails spread to either side, his mouth still open in a silent cry, his expression locked into incomprehension.
Adowa edged to the door and took a look. “From the way he bled, they killed him fast and quiet, then tore him open.”
“How?” Goldera gasped. “I was listening. I didn’t hear anything!”
Johansen pointed toward the milk bucket lying in the dirt, the soil around it wet with spilled milk. “They let him milk the cow before they killed him. They really seem to care about that animal.”
“Sure wish I was that cow,” Adowa muttered.
“Yeah.” Stepping back inside, Johansen gestured to the others. “Seal it.”
“We going to leave him out there?”
Johansen hesitated. “There’s no place to put him in here. We’ll bury him proper if we get the chance later.”
“More likely we’ll be lying out here with him,” Adowa said. “I sure hope I’m dead when they cut me open.” She gave Johansen a sharp look. “Neither of you guys are going to make any comments about Old Harvard?”
Johansen looked at the dead man and shook his head. “Nah. Overkill.”
“Yeah,” Goldera agreed.
Ariana took the news with a sad nod.
Scorse finally spoke once more. “I’ll use one of those spears next time they attack. I’ll stay here and fight.”
All Ariana did was nod again. “Sergeant, I’d appreciate help with getting the meal.”
“Johansen. You and Archer. Eat while you’re helping so you can stand watch while the rest of us eat.”
The Izkop came in the night this time, their numbers undiminished, filling the yard as the soldiers emptied their rifles and pulled out their pistols, the piles of dead Izkop forming ramps in front of the windows so that some Izkop came running and hurling themselves inside while others smashed through the front entry. The soldiers’ weapons had little muzzle flash, providing just enough light to see the masses of Izkop as the soldiers fired, then the last pistol was empty and they fought in the dark, stabbing with knife and spear at smaller figures, Johansen being forced backwards toward the rear of the room and praying that he wouldn’t accidentally spit either Archer or Goldera. He could hear Scorse over by Stein, the civilian yelling obscenities as he fought with an Izkop spear. Burgos also shouted from her post near the door until her voice fell silent.
Pain burned as a spear went into his thigh. Johansen thrust back, despairing as the bodies pushed forward, shouting in the Izkop language, then as he made another stab Johansen realized the pressure had lessened, that the movement of the enemy had changed. The area in front of him held only a couple of Izkop, then none as the aliens fell back through the door and windows again, leaving the humans alone in the building.