“Greys?!” exclaimed The Flying Fox.
“Lizard men!” gasped Surya.
“She’s the mother,” murmured Ostara, pointing to the cage. “So Taranis is the father?”
“Gross,” muttered the Maharani. “I don’t even want to think about it.”
Ravana winced and put a hand to her head. Inside her mind, the angry thumping of fists against glass was a thunder of hatred and confusion. She did not know how, but she could feel the thoughts of the twelve as their raw alien emotions bled into her implant, drenching her in fear from within. She suddenly felt a hand shaking her shoulder.
“Ravana!” whispered the birdman. “You’re going into a trance again!”
“I can’t help it,” she moaned. “It’s all too much!”
“Don’t worry,” he replied. “If I get a chance, I know what to do!”
The glass vats had now completely drained, leaving a pool of green sludge upon the floor. The steel walls of the engine room echoed with a staccato of loud clunks, then a vertical slit appeared in each tank and they began to split like huge seed pods. Grey scaly fingers scrabbled through the widening gaps as the clones inside forced the vats open.
“Magnificent!” Taranis cried. “My children! My disciples! My chosen ones!”
He turned his back upon his human audience and shuffled through the sludge to welcome his creations. Ravana’s cat still clung to its precarious perch on his spider-walker torso, voraciously gnawing upon the bundle of wires caught up in its diamond-tipped paws. Now two of Taranis’ mechanical legs were visibly dragging, yet the priest was too wrapped up in his moment of triumph to notice.
“Jones!” whispered Ravana. “What are you doing?”
“I think your cat has bitten off more than it can chew,” observed Ostara.
One by one, their grey scaly skin damp and glistening, the twelve clones stepped free of their glass wombs, lifted their arms towards the priest and in unison released a quivering howl. They were truly a terrible sight to behold; a humanoid yet somehow reptilian perversion of nature that moved with the cold implacable air of a snake preparing for the kill. The grey in the cage whimpered and tugged frantically at the bars of its prison. The clones cried out again, only this time their squealing voices sounded defiant and almost human.
“zz-taaraaniis-zz!” screeched the twelve. “zz-leeaad-uus-zz!”
“Do my bidding, my disciples!” the priest cried, then whirled around and pointed to his unwilling guests. “These people are unbelievers. Show them the path to oblivion!”
The clones instantly lunged forward and surrounded Ravana, Ostara, the Maharani, Surya and The Flying Fox to block their escape. Ostara gave a shriek and dropped Fenris’ pistol, then watched in dismay as it clattered across the floor and out of sight. The twelve stood poised, their bony grey fingers outstretched like claws as they awaited the word of the priest. Looking smug, Fenris strode to Taranis’ side. His gloating smile quickly faded when he saw the mess Ravana’s cat had made of the priest’s electronic entrails.
“Blasted cat!” he yelled. “Get off him!”
“What is going on?” roared Taranis.
“Was this your plan?” Surya asked Zotz, who had finally removed his tattered mask.
Fenris leapt forward, grabbed the electric pet and pulled it away from the priest, then dived for cover as a shower of sparks exploded from Taranis’ mechanical torso. A thin burbling voice drifted up from the AI unit beneath the seat of the multi-limbed chair.
“Reboot me,” the spider walker whispered. “Reboot me…”
“You idiot!” shouted Taranis. The priest tried to turn but his metal legs refused to budge. Smoke poured from beneath his seat and the smell of short-circuited wiring and melting plastic filled the air. “What have you done?”
“This stupid thing will eat anything!” cried Fenris. He scooted around to face Taranis and held Ravana’s electric pet up high. “And now it has eaten its last!”
“zz-eeaateen-iits-laast-zz!” echoed the twelve.
“No!” cried Ravana. “Leave my poor cat alone!”
“Thraak! Thraak thraak!”
The sudden cry cut though the air, piercing yet jagged as the creature in the cage finally found its voice. As one the clones turned their heads, for what they heard was not a plaintive call for help but a fierce demand to shut up and listen. The grey’s defiant cry died as abruptly as it had begun, only now the twelve were staring at Fenris and the struggling pet in his arms. They had heeded the scolding tones of their mother, for she was not happy.
“What is this?” demanded Fenris, as the clones moved to surround him.
“You’re a bully and a coward,” Ravana said calmly. “I don’t think they like you.”
Fenris gingerly lowered her electric pet to the floor and backed away. Behind, Taranis wriggled helplessly in his seat as he tried to get his metal legs to work. The cat looked up at them both, gave a self-satisfied meow, then trotted calmly towards Ravana and burped.
“The cat?” said Fenris. “Right as rain! Such a sweet little kitty.”
His words became a strangled yelp as all twelve clones suddenly reached forward and placed their outstretched fingers upon his head. Fenris tried to look away but was drawn into their emotionless expressions. His own hands fell weakly to his side.
Ravana felt an odd tingling sensation via her implant. In her mind’s eye she pictured a warm glow cascading from the clones’ fingertips, seeping down through Fenris’ body. The visible thumping of his chest eased and an angry grimace became a gentle smile. Cleansed of his fears, Fenris looked as if every one of his senses drank their fill of utmost bliss.
“Rapture!” he murmured. “It’s beautiful!”
Still the twelve kept their hold upon him. His chest no longer heaved and Fenris began to waver, his breathing now too shallow to take in air. A brief expression of panic flickered in his eyes, the blood drained from his face, then suddenly he fell and with a thump landed lifeless upon the floor.
“zz-uunbeeliieeveer-zz!” chanted the twelve. They lowered their hands. “zz-aall-thaat-iis-paart-dooees-beeloong-zz!”
“Behold the might of my disciples!” cried Taranis. “The power of the greys!”
“Is he…?” asked Surya, staring wide-eyed at the fallen body.
Ostara nodded. “They killed Fenris!”
“Good riddance to bad rubbish,” muttered the Maharani. In the shock of the moment she saw an opportunity to escape and pulled a dumbstruck Surya towards the stairs.
“Jones has an alien AI chip for a brain,” Ravana whispered, realising what had happened as she scooped her cat into her arms. “Taranis said they care for nothing but the mind. The clones were just trying to protect their own kind!”
Taranis’ creations slowly advanced to where Ravana and Ostara stood. As Ravana stepped back, her foot caught something upon the floor and she glanced down to see a discarded red birdsuit. The Flying Fox himself was nowhere to be seen.
“This is the first time I would really like my implant to be made of alien brain cells,” murmured Ravana. Her cat started making retching noises.
“Yes, but where does that leave me?” wailed Ostara.
Ravana dropped her pet into Ostara’s arms and stepped towards the twelve. She had caught sight of Zotz in a vest and shorts, looking incredibly small and vulnerable without his superhero costume, as he scurried around the back of the empty vats towards the reactor. Behind her, Ostara clutched the cat to her chest, stroking it frantically as if that were the only way to stop it exploding. Her heart pounding, Ravana stood before the clones and held up her hands. She had never felt more terrified in her life.