Rokul Read online

  “You’re out of line,” General Rouhr warned me.

  “I apologize, General. I simply don’t see what a gardener with access to a fancy lab can do to help us solve this problem, especially when we have an arsenal at our disposal,” I countered.

  “Rokul,” Takar muttered in warning.

  “Don’t scold me for wanting answers,” I snapped. “Karzin, Annie is a sweet female and she’s very smart. I’m impressed with the information she was able to uncover, but I don’t see what more information we need. We know the thing is dangerous, we know it’s toxic. Why not take it out with a well-executed aerial attack?”

  “How do we kill it?” General Rouhr asked. “You seem to have thought everything through. Tell me how to kill it.”

  “A couple of grenades will kill just about anything,” I shrugged.

  “And if that doesn’t work? We’ll have lost some grenades and angered that thing even more,” General Rouhr replied. “What are the consequences of killing such a massive creature that may be deeply entangled with the planet?”

  “We won’t have to deal with that thing attacking cities and wiping people’s memories,” I said.

  “What will happen to the integrity of the land mass, removing something so large?” General Rouhr asked. “How will it affect the ecosystem? Man-made resources are in short supply thanks to the Xathi destroying a large part of Duvest’s manufacturing district. The humans are relying on natural resources now more than ever. Will killing this creature affect that?”

  “Why would it?” I scoffed.

  “I don’t know, but do you know for a fact that it won’t?” General Rouhr demanded.

  “I suppose not,” I replied reluctantly.

  “Now you know why we need more information. Killing this creature might do more harm than good. In such a turbulent time, we can’t afford to make any mistakes,” General Rouhr said.

  “I, and the rest of the humans, appreciate the sentiment, General,” Leena smiled. “However, my friend isn’t here and we still have to come up with something.”

  “Do you know any other botanists?” General Rouhr asked.

  “No, but I can ask around. Maybe some of my old colleagues from the university know someone else,” Leena suggested.

  “Great. Get working on that. Where did you say your friend went?”

  “Rigkon. I’ve never heard of it,” Leena shrugged.

  “It’s an outpost of sorts,” Vidia, General Rouhr’s human mate, spoke up. Since the Xathi were defeated, Vidia has been at the forefront of rebuilding human settlements.

  “Of sorts?” General Rouhr repeated.

  “It was meant to be the first step in rebuilding Fraga, but funds had to be redirected at the last minute.” I didn’t miss the hint of sadness in her voice. Vidia used to be the mayor of Fraga. I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, exactly. Skotan governments didn’t have anything like it. But I knew that it was a person of importance and I knew she took the destruction of Fraga hard.

  “Ah,” General Rouhr said softly. “Well, in that case, since we know where it is, I’m going to send someone to retrieve this botanist.”

  Personally, I didn’t think it was worth the trouble. Unfortunately for me, my thoughts must’ve been written all over my face.

  “Rokul.” The general’s voice was too perky and his smile was too big. That never, ever boded well for anyone. “I think this is exactly the sort of job you’re suited for.”

  “An errand job?” I tried not to scoff. I was already in enough trouble.

  “Yes,” General Rouhr replied. “It’ll give you some time to get to know our new colleague. Perhaps the botanist can help you understand why we can’t just blow up the creature out in the desert, since I’m not getting through to you.”

  “Yes, sir,” I muttered.

  Beside me, my brother and the rest of my strike team tried to hold back their laughter, and failed.

  Tella

  The forest looked like it’d been strangled. The leaves weren’t as vibrant as they used to be. The canopy used to be so thick that it was impossible to see the sky. When I looked up now, the canopy was more sky than plant life.

  Since the canopy was so fragmented, much more heat was able to pierce down to the forest floor. The temperature of the whole forest was elevated. Quite a few native plants weren’t meant to cope with such high temperatures. I bent down to examine the crinkled, dry remains of what was once a Pallidia flower. Ordinarily, that flower was the size of my face. Now, the dried-up petals fit into the palm of my hand.

  I stood up and let the petals fall back down to the forest floor.

  My footfalls were too loud now that this section had dried out so much, and I tried to walk as quietly as possible to avoid drawing attention to myself.

  Before the Xathi attack, this area of forest had been particularly hazardous.

  When humans first settled on Ankou, the forest seemed the most promising location to settle due to rainfall and abundant resources. It didn’t take our forefathers long to figure out that the lush forest was filled to the brim with creatures pulled from a nightmare.

  Our forest had two giant species of sentient trees, flowers as large as a grown man with a taste for blood, and vines that silently stalked people as they ventured into the depths of the forest.

  It’s amazing that any of the first settlers survived long enough to reproduce.

  As I went over the catalog of flora and fauna native to this part of the forest, I realized something unsettling.

  The forest was silent.

  Before the Xathi attack, it sounded like every creature in the forest was right on top of you at all times. There was always something rustling, hissing, or growling. The sentient trees sounded like thunderstorms when they moved.

  Forests like this weren’t supposed to be quiet. I wondered if the Xathi slaughtered the wildlife as well as the humans, or if the wildlife migrated before the Xathi came through.

  Something glinting in the light caught my eye. My heart clenched in my chest. I stumbled backward.

  Half buried in dead leaves was a fragment of a Xathi’s leg.

  I liked to think that nothing in this forest could scare me, but the sight of that leg shook me to my core. I gave the leg a wide berth and changed direction. I didn’t want to turn my back on that thing. The Xathi tried to kill my race, they tried to kill this forest, and they’d very nearly succeeded in destroying us all.

  I walked for nearly a full hour before I heard signs of life. The unmistakable crack of wood snapping against wood echoed through the forest. I grinned and quickened my pace.

  I enjoyed fieldwork. I liked the element of danger. I liked harvesting my own samples for analysis in a lab. I liked controlling every step of the process. However, I’d never been so excited to hear a sentient tree that I rushed toward it.

  I expected to find kodanos and I was not disappointed. However, I was alarmed. The kodanos tore at another tree, a non-sentient tree, with speed and ferocity I’d never seen before.

  Kodanos were the larger of the two species of sentient tree. Their limbs were massive and heavy. They usually moved much more slowly.

  I crouched low and held very still.

  Kodanos didn’t have eyes. They relied on the tiny but incredibly sensitive fibers that covered their body to sense even the tiniest movement. If the kodanos was behaving normally, it would’ve sensed me long before I spotted it.

  But perhaps, since it was moving so erratically, it couldn’t feel me? Something wasn’t right.

  Kodanos might’ve been the bigger of the two species, but it was the less aggressive.

  Normally.

  As I watched it tear into the regular tree until only a stump remained, I wondered what it was doing. And why. It took a lot of effort for a kodanos to move its body. It wouldn’t do something like that without reason.

  Something gave out beneath my feet. I must’ve been standing on a dried-out branch or root. The snap it made was the loudest noi
se in the forest beside the kodanos. It twisted its gnarled body in my direction. Its delicate filaments flared red, though it was hardly visible in the harsh light of day.

  I held my breath, but that didn’t matter. It knew I was here. I kept as still as possible. Hopefully, it would decide I wasn’t worth the energy.

  Instead, it charged at me faster than I’d ever seen an ordinary kodanos move.

  I didn’t think twice.

  I ran for my life.

  I pelted through the forest, barely dodging the trees. Branches caught in my hair and slashed at my face. As the kodanos continued to hunt me, I noticed something else unusual about its behavior. Within the central chamber of a kodanos’s body was usually a hive of live talusians, small winged reptiles with needle-like teeth and toxic saliva.

  If a kodanos decided that a target was worth perusing, it released a swarm of talusians. The two lifeforms worked in an elegant, lethal symbiosis.

  Yet as I ran, I didn’t hear the telltale hiss of wings.

  I’d begun to think that I’d discovered a new species of kodanos when I spied a gnarled tree, perfect for climbing. I leaped onto the trunk and scrambled up into the branches just as the kodanos collided with the tree.

  Kodanos couldn’t climb, but this one refused to give up. It started to tear and slash at this tree just like it had the other one. The tree shivered and thrashed from the assault. It wouldn’t be long before this tree came down, too.

  My options were limited, but I had to think fast.

  I grabbed the hilt of my hunting knife and pulled it loose. If I timed this correctly, I might live long enough to see the inside of the lab.

  Never thought that would sound like a good plan.

  I took a deep breath and leaped down from the tree, pushing off hard enough that I would sail clear over the kodanos.

  I twisted in the air and, as I fell, I drove my knife into the wooden knot at the top of the kodanos’s back. The blade drove in down to the hilt. I gripped the hilt with both hands and used my body weight to pull the knife down its spine.

  It worked for about a foot before the knife slipped free and I slammed onto the forest floor.

  The kodanos arched its back and let out a shrill cry. It waved its thick arms, trying to claw at the fresh wound on its back. Thick black sap burst from the new gash like a geyser. While it thrashed in pain, I lashed out with my knife again.

  This time, I buried it deep within its leg joint. One sharp twist of my hand, and black sap began to spurt out from the joint. I pulled the knife back and jabbed again. My blade was almost completely through its leg.

  Using the gash I’d already created, I threw my weight against the hilt. Wood gave out beneath my blade. The bottom half of the kodanos’s leg snapped. Its bulky body lost balance. I scrambled away, dead leaves clinging to my sap-covered hands as I went.

  The impact of the kodanos hitting the earth reverberated through my body. Though it was down, it still fought. I knew it would never stand up again, not with one of its legs hanging on by a twig. It had fallen on its front. Its vulnerable back was exposed.

  I got to my feet and took off running. With one bound, I landed on the kodanos’s back. It flailed beneath me, but its arms couldn’t reach me.

  “I’m sorry,” I murmured before driving my knife through its head. It gave a final shudder, then fell motionless.

  There were two aspects to botany in this world. There was the part in the lab looking through microscopes and running experiments. This was the other part. It wasn’t a surprise that many botanists didn’t enjoy fieldwork.

  I still loved it.

  My hands were trembling, but not with fear, with adrenaline. I lived for this rush.

  I didn’t like killing the kodanos, however, that was the job I’d agreed to do. I didn’t imagine it would be like this, though. What was wrong with this one? I’d thought Gille was exaggerating, maybe just a city idiot who didn’t know any better.

  But there was something terribly wrong here.

  I decided to open it up and take a look for myself. The inside of a plant, especially a sentient one, always said more about it than the outside. I cracked open the hard bark shell of its back and chipped away at it until I could see inside.

  I’d never seen anything like it before. The insides of the kodanos were twisted up with the vines of some other plant. Even the talusians’ hive was crushed beneath the vines. A few dried-up dead talusians had spilled out of the hive and were just sitting there inside the gullet of the kodanos.

  Did those vines come from some kind of invasive species?

  Perhaps the kodanos accidentally ingested a seed and the vines sprouted within it?

  That would explain why it seemed so uncomfortable and irritated.

  The only way to find out more information was to go looking for another kodanos. It would mean another kill, but the possibility of an invasive species was a huge threat. This ecosystem was far more delicate than most people thought it was.

  Leaving the kodanos behind, I ventured deeper into the forest. I must’ve moved off the Xathi warpath, for some of the lushness had returned. I took a deep breath, inhaling the rich aroma of the forest. By the time I felt the stalking vine wrap around my ankle, it was too late.

  I was at its mercy as it yanked me off my feet and dragged me deeper into the forest.

  Rokul

  General Rouhr insisted that I leave right away. Apparently, all of my routine duties would wait until the botanist was located.

  I didn’t even get a name or a physical description from anyone. As part of my punishment for honesty, the general told me to use my wits.

  Takar didn’t laugh. Out loud. Much.

  I packed a few weapons and some basic gear.

  And as Fen was fine-tuning the connection between the Aurora’s A.I. and the Gateway, I’d need to take the trip the long way.

  Probably for the best.

  If I wasn’t looking carefully, I would’ve missed Rigkon entirely. Thankfully, the forest’s canopy wasn’t as thick as it used to be. I could see the gap where trees had been cut down to make some kind of pathetic excuse for a road.

  I landed my aerial unit as far away as I could from the squat row of buildings. From the look of them, one strong gust of wind could be their undoing. They were made of natural materials, likely harvested from the surrounding forest.

  Vidia mentioned that this place was constructed as a jumping off point for rebuilding Fraga. If that project had been put on hold, why did these people remain? Surely, better houses were available. I thought of some of the makeshift settlements erected to house displaced refugees. Many of them weren’t any better than the buildings before me. I retracted my previous thought.

  I spied an open market with three stalls tended by two people. I powered off the aerial unit and jumped out, their eyes boring into me.

  And now would come the ever-exciting game that seemed all the rage on Ankou now. Friendlies or anti-aliens?

  Out here in the forest, I doubted they came across many Skotan. As far as I knew, none of the Vengeance crew had been stationed this far out. The strike teams operated in Nyheim unless otherwise instructed. The ground teams, much more numerous than the strike teams, were scattered through the human settlements and provided what aid they could.

  Sometimes I wished I was part of a ground team. At least they had things to do other than busy work. Their work made a difference to people. The strike teams couldn’t even handle a rogue plant.

  I approached the open market. A large human female with a big round face smiled at me. From what I could see, she was missing most of her teeth. I took that to mean that this was an alien-friendly settlement.

  “Well, we don’t get your kind here very often. Are you here to deliver the support beams we ordered last week? My shop could really use it. It’s right over there.” She pointed at the building next to the market. “It has a little bit of everything. You can go in and have a look if you want.”

  “No
, thank you. I’m not here about the beams, either.” Her face fell a bit with disappointment but her smile remained.

  “Oh,” she said. “What can I do for you?”

  “I’m looking for someone. A botanist. Dr. Briar.” I explained. “They could’ve arrived anywhere within the last two days.”

  “A botanist?” the woman repeated. She looked to her companion, a rail-thin man who shrugged in response. “We’ve had one new person come by, but she didn’t mention anything about being a botanist. She actually didn’t talk much at all.”

  “I don’t think that’s who I’m looking for,” I frowned. Leena mentioned something about the botanist taking a field job. A botanist that worked in the field on this planet would often enter combat with the planet’s vicious plant and animal life.

  To me, that sounded like a job more suited for human males. Sure, Jeneva had lived out there, but I knew enough of her story to know she’d lived in the forest by necessity, not choice.

  Since no one had given me a name or a description, I had to go with my gut.

  “Are you sure the person you’re looking for came through here?” the woman asked.

  “That’s what I was told,” I replied.

  “Perhaps you should try the Crooked Swiggen,” she said brightly.

  “What’s a Crooked Swiggen?” I asked.

  “It’s our local watering hole, if you will,” she giggled. “It’s the only place to get food you don’t have to cook yourself. Your botanist probably stopped in there for a drink and a bite.”

  “Right. Thank you for your help.” The woman opened her mouth to say something else but I had already walked away. I wanted to find this botanist, get back to the general, and get on with things.

  The building she indicated to was as unimpressive as the others, but there wasn’t anything crooked about it.

  The inside was so dark I needed a moment for my eyes to adjust.

  There were only three people in this building. One tended the bar, one sat at the bar and the third was fast asleep at one of the tables. Everything was covered in dust and nothing looked nice.