Chapter 11: Friendly Bugs or Vengeful Spiders

"OK, the poop's about to hit the fan."

Ger studied him. "Are you sure this is wise?"

Natalie scanned the sky, her hands clenched. "I agree. You're taking a huge risk. After all, this is a trap to draw you out. You said so yourself."

"No, that's not quite right. Our friends warned us the offensive is intended to draw us out so they can attack us en masse. However, while they're trying to tempt us, we'll be here on the other side of the globe."

"At this point, it's hard differentiating which is the trap and which the decoy. By the way, why is your sister here?"

Ger grinned, her eyes darting from one point in the sky to another. "I'm not letting my brother die alone. Whatever he faces, we'll face it together. When I left him on his own before, I was a nervous wreck. I'd rather see death coming than waiting, never knowing what's happening."

Otis hugged her to him. "Plus, it'll cast us in a more sympathetic light. Given our ages, I'm hoping it conveys we're innocent and non-threatening."

"That would have worked better before you grew so much in the past weeks."

Ger shrugged. "Or if the aliens know the difference between children and short people, or even if they didn't see us as snack food. In case you forgot, we're shooting in the dark here."

Natalie started listing details on her fingers. "Okay. Fred's set to fly a ship he's never operated before. This is a fight to the death and we've got rank amateurs manning the guns. You're sitting here empty handed and defenseless. We have no clue what this defector will offer us. We're gambling all our resources on one questionable endeavor." She paused a moment for those objections to sink in. "And you're sure no one has detected us yet?"

"There's no chatter, but there's a lot of talk about this attack. They're planning to hit China hard, hoping to draw us out. It'll be tough dealing with all those deaths, but there's no way we could save those lives."

"That's also why it took so long for the shuttle to land. It detects electronic monitoring, so it only advanced when the coast was clear." Otis held his hand up. "The attack is beginning. Many people will lose their lives to set this meeting up. I hope it's worth it."

"I just pray we survive; the Chinese, us and especially, humanity."

Natalie scanned the night sky, while Otis continued listening to the voices in his head and Ger checking her watch.

Without warning, a dark shape drew over them, blotting out the clouds overhead. It approached with little sound, barely clearing the trees in its path. Natalie and Ger took a step back. Otis stood where he was, frowning at his companions' reactions. David was positioned with his rifle nearby, and the ship was low enough for him to hit it, but there was no telling how the inhabitants would react. Fred and Peter were another matter, but he'd warned them all to only strike if he was attacked.

It hovered momentarily, and descended to land beside them, settling like a feather on a pillow. Otis noted it settled into the grass, rather than hovering over it like the Wi'Tibold shuttle. Unlike the shuttle, which was essentially a featureless black rectangle, the Ti'chrk crafts were sleek, streamlined aerodynamic vessels. They were colorfully painted, designed to intimidate, but in the low light, those details were impossible to make out. In short, the Wi'Tibold spacecraft looked like a bus for handicapped students, while this looked like something out of everyone's greatest fear: a sleek, efficient killing machine.

Returning to his side, Ger clutched his arm while Natalie took a photo of this momentous event. She figured that even if she were killed, she'd leave behind a tremendous story, though one she couldn't write herself.

A portion of the vehicle's roof opened up with a hiss of escaping air, and a figure crawled out. While Otis was familiar with their look, none of the others had seen them. Ger gripped her brothers' hand, shuffling in place, while Natalie continued snapping pictures.

As the first pilot exited the craft, a second one followed. It took a few minutes to disembark, mainly because of the size and shape of the craft, but after a few minutes they approached Natalie. The first raised one of its forelimbs and rattled off a prepared speech she couldn't understand. Instead, Otis stepped forward and returned the greeting. The two aliens turned, studying this newest figure, and soon all three were involved in an active discussion. Natalie continued snapping pictures, which the Ti'chrk ignored.

Ger tugged on her brother's hand. "Uh, I hate to be a stick in the mud, but what are they saying?"

"Oh, sorry. These two Ti'chrk are requesting sanctuary. You'll never be able to pronounce their names, so we'll call them Peter and Paul. It seems their culture is in crisis. There's a sizeable segment of their community which dislikes the current Ti'chrk approach. The ships which leave to conquer other worlds return fifty or more Earth years later, bearing new resources and trophies, generating a populist sentiment. In the excitement, the more cautious elements of their society get drowned out, and the newly returned 'victors' demand an ethnic purge of naysayers. As a result, no one dares question their military strategy.

"Peter and Paul object to the mass destruction of foreign worlds, but felt forced to join in, afraid they'd be killed if they refused." Otis turned and faced Ger and Natalie. "So far, this is the most successful resistance they've encountered. They're hoping, if we succeed, it might cast the militaristic wing of their culture in a bad light, allowing those less militaristic to claim the day."

Peter motioned to their ship, then approached and touched Otis's head. Otis bowed, before translating.

"They say they have no desire to ever fly these horrendously destructive craft again. They've transferred control of it to me." Otis and they spoke for another several moments, and his head jerked back sharply. Ger instinctively stepped in front of him, but he recovered quickly.

"I mentioned there was no way for me to fly an unknown ship well-enough to survive a fire fight. They revealed how I can access their database. Even as we speak, they're downloading the operations of their ship into my memory. It's ... astonishing how efficient this transfer is."

Natalie finally put her camera down and considered them. "As fascinating as this is, I'm not sure we should be standing around talking about it. The Ti'chrk will respond rapidly. When they do, they'll come searching for us. By the way, how's their attack in China doing?"

Otis cocked his head. "It's not pretty. They're broadcasting another global message, blaming us for the Chinese deaths. They've leveled many of the military and government sites, though they also targeted select residential neighborhoods as well. They're ... taunting us to 'end this cowardly facade' and stand up to them, face to face."

"You seem to have taught them a lot of unexpected English phrases," Natalie observed.

Otis shook his head. "It wasn't all my doing. The nanobots in my head learn as they go, building up vocabularies incredibly quickly. However, while they master English exceptionally fast, they aren't picking up any other languages."

Glancing skyward again, she motioned towards the surrounding countryside. "Again, we should move this discussion somewhere more ... private."

Otis considered it for a moment and conferred with the aliens. "Their attack crafts don't have much room. I'll take Peter and Paul with me, the rest of you should join Fred in the shuttle."

Natalie waved her camera for effect as she confronted him. "Forget that, I want to record this, and I need to prepare what to report."

"And I'm not about to leave you alone in a strange alien spacecraft," Ger insisted.

Otis sighed. "OK, I was hoping to avoid exposing our shuttle to them, but we'll split up. Natalie, you come with me. Paul will join Fred—they're on their way over. They're picking up David first, since he was maintaining a sniper overview of the proceedings. Ger, you're out of luck, you'll need to join the others. If I'm going to fly this thing, I need the fewest distractions I can arrange."

He hesitated, cupping his hand to his ear as if it would improve the reception. "There's a lot of chatter over the air about their attack on Beijing." He turned and regarded Peter and Paul. "They're talking about 'feasting on the brains of the Chairman's children'."

Otis motioned the others into action as he and Peter continued talking. Turning back to Natalie, he explained what they were saying. "Despite how much they repeat it, they really don't eat their victims very often. They do it to crush the spirits of their conquered worlds, but it's been shown to compromise their health, often resulting in immune system failures. However, they're obligated to participate, with each of the Ti'chrk consuming a small portion of the communal victims." He shook his head, shivering over the mental images.

Otis's head perked up, and he touched his ear again. "Uh oh!"

"What? Have they spotted us?"

"No, it's not the aliens this time. China responded. They launched an intercontinental nuclear missile into the upper atmosphere, hoping to damage the aliens' ship. However, the Ti'chrk disabled it, frying the guidance system. It fell back to earth where it exploded, taking out a segment of the city. What's more, electro-magnetic pulse overwhelmed the city's circuitry. Beijing is now off the grid. The rest of the world will think the Ti'chrk did to Beijing what they did to Chicago. I suspect we'll have some time now." He paused and frowned. "They're targeting the Chinese missile silos."

Peter said something and Otis nodded. When Natalie prodded him, he translated. "This plays into their hands, simultaneously demonstrating how they're impervious to attack while showing how rapidly they respond. This is likely to kill any attempt by the world's military to resist ... unless..."

When Otis stopped speaking, Natalie nudged him. Instead of answering, he followed Peter, climbing aboard his ship, so she had to wait until she entered to hear the rest of his thoughts.