A Bug's Life (2 page)

Once in position, we were all standing up,
really tethered more than strapped in, each against a padded
interior wall -- concussions tended to slow a being down, and if an
asteroid breached, slow was not the best option. But we controlled
how far our tethers could release. Until necessary, “not at all”
was the operative choice. Everyone also had a patch kit in hand and
ready to go.

“Intercom is open. Crew report, please,”
Doven, our Quillian co-pilot and navigator said. “In station
order.”

“Engineering strapped,” Willy shared. “No
damage at this time. Engines running fine. Kyle’s with me.” Willy
was our ship’s engineer. Kyle was Roy’s younger brother and
basically making it a point to learn every station on the crew,
just in case. And in cases such as this, Roy always wanted two in
Engineering anyway.

“Medical strapped, all’s well here,” Dr.
Wufren said.

“Quarters strapped,” I said. “Ciarissa,
Bullfrog and I are in, doors are open, no signs of damage.” Our
living quarters required the most beings to watch them, as we had a
crew of nine and had ten rooms, total. Two of them weren’t used
currently, because Roy and I slept together. However, ten rooms,
two group bathrooms, and a connecting hallway took more than one
being to watch. If Roy hadn’t wanted two in Engineering, we’d have
definitely wanted Kyle with us up in Quarters.

“General Areas strapped,” Tresia said.
Normally, we’d want another crew member in General Areas as well,
but Tresia was an Arachnidan. Eight-limbed beings had an advantage
when it came to patching holes quickly, and Tresia was extremely
quick. She said being our galley chef made her fast, but it
probably had more to do with the speed and agility exercises she
performed daily.

Which was a good thing, because
even though Roy had the
Hummingbird
whirling like a dervish, we still took damage. We
all heard the
pingggg
sound. I couldn’t speak for the others, but my whole body
tensed. Then there were more
pinggggs
.

“Got it!” Tresia called. Cheerfully. I hadn’t
asked her, but I always felt that Tresia actually enjoyed the
danger asteroid showers presented.

“There were at least five hits,” Roy said,
voice tight.

“Six,” Tresia corrected. “All in the same
area. Patching them all at once was easier than making breakfast,
Roy. And before you ask, I’m ready with six more patch
kits.”

“Good. We’re not through this yet.”

Everyone managed to refrain from
stating that we knew we were still in danger. The
Hummingbird
spinning and
flipping was sort of a clue. Strapped or not, from the sounds most
of us were making, we were all really testing out the padding at
our stations. Tresia, however, was humming. Yeah, she really loved
these moments. Clearly Roy wasn’t letting her see enough
action.

More
pinggggs
. Not good. Roy was usually
far better at avoiding hits than this. “Got them!” Tresia
called.

“Engineering took one hit,” Kyle said. “It’s
patched. You gonna ever get us out of this, big bro?”

“It’s a gigantic shower,” Doven replied, voice
tenser than Roy’s had been. “I see no end to it.”

“Then how did we get into it in the first
place, if it’s that big?” Bullfrog asked as we took another hit
that he leapfrogged to and patched. Since he was a Polliwog, he
really did leap. Like a frog. Having him stationed in Quarters was
a big reason why we were able to cover with just three of
us.

“There is nothing of this on our navigational
charts,” Doven said. “And we have the most recent
updates.”

“It came out of nowhere,” Roy said. “Just be
glad we weren’t at warp when we hit this. Hang on. Heading for one
of the giant rocks.”

“That never ends well,” I pointed out as we
took another hit, near me, this time. I slammed the metal patch
over the hole and welded it shut in just a few seconds. Then I
looked for the rock that had made said hole.

And found it.

And discovered something unsettling – it
wasn’t a rock.

“Roy, abort that plan!”

“What?”

“Don’t go into whatever it is you see ahead of
us. We need to get out of this, but don’t get into it even
more.”

“Why not?” Doven asked. “We can shelter from
the smaller rocks inside the larger one.”

“It’s not a rock. It’s a ship. Well, what’s
left of a ship.”

“How can you tell?” Roy asked. “You’re in
Quarters. Are you looking out a porthole?”

“No. I can tell because I’m holding the object
that came through the hull near to me, and it’s not a rock. It’s a
rivet.” I looked at the rivet more closely. “In fact, I think it’s
a Pillar rivet.”

“I’ve searched for what broke through in the
Galley,” Tresia said. She no longer sounded cheerful. “I also have
metal pieces, and they are absolutely Pillar design.”

“I sense no minds other than ours,” Ciarissa
said grimly.

“Roy, I’ll try to create a telekinetic
shield,” Dr. Wufren said. “Not sure how long I can hold it, my boy,
but now that I know what we’re in the midst of, I can at least make
the attempt.”

“You’re sure?” Roy asked, sounding concerned.
Dr. Wufren normally didn’t expend his telekinesis talent on meteor
showers because for him to create this kind of shield took a lot of
energy and, in case a big rock made it through, his talent was our
last line of defense to keep us from ripping apart.

“Yes,” Dr. Wufren said firmly. “The danger is
confirmed greater than normal. What we’re in the midst of could rip
us to shreds much more effectively than your average asteroid
shower.”

“What
are
we in the midst of?” Kyle
asked.

I had the answer. It wasn’t a good answer, but
we were all used to that. “Genocide.”

The Diamante Purge had focused on races and
sub-species of races that had greater powers than the norm. The
only planet filled with special beings left alone was Espen – where
Ciarissa and Dr. Wufren were from – a planet filled with beings
with a variety of tele-talents. The generally accepted reason why
Espen had been spared was that they had a strict noninterference
policy and they policed their people better than anyone else
could.

The rest of us weren’t so lucky. Quillians
with Shaman Powers, which Doven possessed, were almost completely
wiped out. Shape shifters such as myself were even rarer. Doven and
I had both survived because we were the best as what our races did
and we were smart survivors. And because we’d joined with
Roy.

Roy and Kyle were as rare as Doven
and I were; not for their special powers, but for their bloodline.
They were from the Martian Imperious line, meaning that Roy was the
true Galactic Emperor. Not that anyone other than the crew of
the
Hummingbird
and a select, trustworthy few knew this.

The Diamante Families had done their best to
destroy not only the Imperious bloodline, but all the existing
governments – monarchies, democracies, theocracies, and so on – so
that every being in the galaxy would bow to one name and one name
only.

Millions died in the Purge, but most still had
planets to call home. Not all, of course. I was among those who
would never, ever be able to return home – the shifter home planet
of Seraphina had been turned into an asteroid belt by the power of
the Diamante Families and their weapons of horrific
destruction.

The planet of Pilla had also been destroyed.
However, the Pillar had no special talents that made the Diamante
Families jealous or wary. They were an insectoid race – and unlike
the Arachnidans, who, per Willy, resembled a cross between Old
Earth grasshoppers, beetles, and spiders – Pillars weren’t remotely
threatening.

Arachnidans had eight limbs complete with
pincers, were tall and could be imposing, and could move
deceptively fast. Among their many talents, they were excellent
hand-to-hand and weapons fighters, fabulous dancers and artists,
and, as Tresia proved daily, excellent chefs.

By comparison, Pillars were long, but not
tall. They possessed a brittle shell and fifty tiny legs. When
threatened, they curled up into balls. This was effective because
their brittle shells became hard as iron when they were in a ball.
It was ineffective in that they weren’t able to do much other than
roll – if they’d curled up on an incline. They were good scientists
and mathematicians, however, their species focus was on their own
planet and people and doing their best to be left alone.

Their main contribution to the galaxy was
music. Pilla had the most accomplished musicians of any planet –
fifty little legs could do amazing things with a piano, a drum set,
a violin, or anything else. They were mostly useless on woodwinds,
though some Pillars did manage to master them, and those who did
were always exceptional.

There was no logical reason for the Diamante
Families to destroy this planet. Pilla had nothing impressive in
terms of natural resources, no solar- or galactic-level weapons of
any kind, a desire to just stay on Pilla and be ignored, and a
planetary belief that the power of music was all a being needed to
make the galaxy better. When a being looked up the definition of
“nonthreatening” a picture of a Pillar would be shown.

But destroy Pilla the Diamante Families did,
as viciously as they destroyed Seraphina. However, they didn’t
destroy the Pillars. Because the Pillars had been warned somehow,
and the entire population was off planet when the Diamante
Families’ Destruction Fleet arrived. The general assumption was
that the Espen Resistance had given the Pillar leadership the
head’s up that it was time to run, but this had never been
proven.

Due to their brittle shells, the Pillar were
unable to travel in warp – the pressure of traveling at warp speed
would crush them flat. They could go into what they called Round
Form and survive, but they couldn’t remain in Round Form for longer
than about thirty minutes to an hour. And the younger the Pilla,
the shorter time they could last in Round Form. And it was pretty
hard to pilot a spaceship if all you could do was roll
around.

But what the most nonviolent race in the
galaxy had been doing since the first hints – decades prior – that
the Diamante Families were getting uppity had come to them, was
creating gigantic, generational, self-sustaining
spaceships.