What the fucking hells going on here? he demanded.
I have my baby again, she said in a lilting tone. Isnt he gorgeous?
I asked you a question. And you will now answer.
Do as he says, Kelly said hastily. Please.
The woman turned to her. Dont worry, my dear. You cant hurt me. Not now, not any more. Would you like to see my baby? I thought Id lost him. I lost so many back then. It was horrible, all those dead babies. The midwives tried to stop me seeing them; but I looked just the same. They were all perfect, so beautiful, my babies. An evil life it was. She bent forwards over the pram and lifted out a squirming bundle draped in lacy white cloth. The baby cooed as she held it out.
Where have you come from? Reza asked. Are you the sequestration program?
I have my life back. I have my baby back. Thats what I am.
Ariadne stepped forward. Im going to get a sample from one of those buildings.
Right, Reza said. Sewell, go with her.
The two of them walked round the woman and started off towards the nearest house, a whitewashed Spanish hacienda.
The baby let out a long gurgle, smiling blithely, feet kicking inside the wrap. Isnt he just adorable, the woman said. She tickled his face with a finger.
One more time, Reza said. What are you?
I am me. What else could I be?
And that? He pointed to the cloud.
That is part of us. Our will.
Us? Who is us?
Those who have returned.
Returned from where?
She rocked the baby against her chest, not even looking up. From hell.
Shes either nuts, or shes lying, Reza said.
Shes been sequestrated, Kelly said. You wont get anything out of her.
So sure of yourselves, the woman said. She gave Kelly a sly look as she cuddled the baby. So stupid. Your starships have been fighting among themselves. Did you know that?
Rezas neural nanonics optical-monitor program reported more people were appearing from the houses. What do you know about it?
We know what we feel, the pain and the iron fire. Their souls weeping in the beyond.
Can we check? Kelly asked urgently.
Not from here.
The woman laughed, a nervous cackle. There arent many left to check, my dear. You wont hear from them again. Were taking this planet away, right away. Somewhere safe, where the ships can never come to find us. It will become paradise, you know. And my baby will be with me always.
Reza regarded her with a chill of foreboding. Yes, you are a part of this, he said quietly. The yellow target graphics locked on to her torso. What is happening here?
We are come, and we are not going to leave. Soon the whole world will be hiding from the sky. From heaven . And we shall live on in peace for ever.
There will be more of this red cloud?
The woman slowly tilted her head back until she was staring straight up. Her mouth fell open as though in wonder. I see no clouds. She started to laugh wildly.
Reza saw Ariadne had reached the hacienda. The ranger scout was bending over, scraping at the wall with some kind of tool. Sewell was standing behind her, the long gaussrifle barrels he had plugged into his lower elbow sockets swivelling from side to side in an automatic sweep pattern.
Ariadne, Reza bellowed. Get back here. Were leaving now.
The womans laughter chopped off. No, youre not. She dropped the baby.
It was Rezas infrared sensors which caught the change. A wave of heat emerged right across her body and started to flow like a film of liquid, rushing along her arms as she brought them up, becoming denser, hotter.
His left forearms gaussgun fired five electron explosive rounds just as a white light ignited around her hands. There was three metres between them. Impact velocity alone would have been enough to tear her body apart, with the EEs detonating as well there was nothing left for the last three rounds to hit.
Kellys armour hardened protectively as the blast wave slammed into her. Then she screamed as a jet of spumescent gore slopped across the front of the paralysed fabric.
Sewell, zero the area! Reza shouted.
The twin heavy-calibre gaussrifles the big combat-adept mercenary carried began to blaze, squirting out a barrage of EE projectiles. Emerald-green laser beams emerging from Reza and Ariadne snapped on and off, traversing the clearing in a strobe waltz as their lighter weapons picked off targets.
Kellys armour unlocked. She fell to her knees, centimetres from the baby. Her hand went out instinctively, twitching the blood-soaked lace aside to see if it was still alive.
There was a vennal inside the wrap. The little xenoc creature had been distorted, its vulpine skull swollen and moulded into a more globular shape, scales melded together and stretched. They were losing their distinctive blue-green pigmentation, fading to pale pink. Its forepaws had become chubby, tiny human hands scrabbled feebly at the air. Squeals of terror emerged from its toothless mouth.
Her neural nanonics were unable to quell her stomach spasm in time. An emergency program triggered the shell-helmets quick-release seal, and the visor sprang open. She vomited onto the neatly mown grass.
Sewell ran backwards across the grass, making almost as much speed as he could travelling forward. An autonomic locomotion program took care of that, guiding his feet round possible obstacles, leaving his conscious thoughts free to assist with target selection.
The first fire sequence had ripped into the houses, smashing them apart in plumes of ionic flame and smoke. Even Sewell, who was aiming for maximum destruction, was surprised by the devastating effect the rifles inflicted. As soon as the first EE projectile hit the buildings their bright colours switched off, leaving behind a neutral grey. The rifles laid down a comprehensive fire pattern. Walls and roofs buckled and collapsed, sending out billowing clouds of thick dust, support timbers splintered then seemed to crumble. Within seconds the whole area had been reduced to pulverized rubble. The old shacks bent and bowed before the pressure blasts; they were far sturdier than the new houses. Several keeled over, wood twisting and shrieking. Slate-tile roofs somersaulted, intact walls slewed through the air rippling like giant mantas.
Sewell switched to the people, concentrating on coordinates where the target-allocation program had located individuals. The feed tubes from his backpack magazine hummed smoothly as they supplied the gaussrifles with fresh ammunition. There had been eighteen people visible to his sensors before Rezas shouted order. He pumped airburst shrapnel rounds after them as they dived for cover amid the shattered houses.
Infrared sensors showed him eccentric waves of heat shimmering amid the expanding dust. White fire, like an earthbound comet, streaked towards him. Boosted muscles flung him aside. The gaussrifles swung round to the origin, compensating for his dive. EE projectiles pummelled the area.
Up, you bitch! Reza yelled at Kelly. Back to the hovercraft.