She believed Kelly Reynolds was one of the latter. After all, she’d survived so far. That indicated a strong will. So while the doctors gaped at the bony body and shook their heads, Cummings treated her as a person, holding her hand, talking to her even though there was no reply.
Deep in her mind, in the part she had escaped to when hooked up to the Easter Island guardian, Kelly Reynolds was more than alive, she was thinking. Reviewing the torrent of data she’d accumulated while in symbiosis with the guardian. So much history, most of it very different than what she had learned in school or read in books.
And the beginnings of it all, going back to the time when the Airlia first arrived on the planet. The guardian had shown her some of that, but every time her mind went to it, she recoiled, terrified of seeing the truth. And because of that, she couldn’t break through the coma she was in.
Turcotte stared at the crater in which the massive stones that had once formed Stonehenge lay tossed like a child’s building blocks after a tantrum. He keyed his radio.
“Yakov?” “Yes?”
“Where are the two craft?”
“They headed off to the southwest. I’ve contacted Major Quinn and told him to get your Space Command to track them as much as they can.”
“I saw Duncan.”
There was only static in reply.
“I couldn’t save her. The Swarm still has her. She looked to be in pretty bad shape. One hand had been cut off. She said she was sorry.”
Yakov finally replied. “For?” “I don’t know.”
“We need to go,” Yakov said. “Come on board.”
Turcotte turned and saw the gangplank extending from the mothership. Spearson was ordering his men to make a perimeter around the site. The SAS colonel came over to Turcotte.
“What just happened?”
“I don’t know.” Turcotte had neither the time nor the inclination to explain the Swarm and Duncan or Mars. “I have to go.”
“Do you need help?” Spearson asked.
Turcotte gave a tired smile. “I appreciate the offer. But the next battle isn’t going to take place here”—he pointed down—“but rather there”—he pointed up.
The pod hung in the air next to the spaceship five thousand feet above the ocean, hidden in the darkness. A hatch on the top of the spaceship opened and Garlin climbed out onto the craft, moving carefully but with no safety line. He moved to the center of the top of the ship and waited as the pod maneuvered closer. He stepped back as the pod descended and landed on the top of the ship itself. Garlin then opened a couple of small hatches on the deck of the ship, retrieved high-tensile mooring lines, and secured the pod to the ship. The ramp on the side of the pod came down and Garlin entered. He soon exited with Duncan in his arms. He carried her into the ship, tying her down in one of the seats inside. He then made a second trip, dragging the Ark of the Covenant on board. On his third he brought the priest’s garments and crown. The pod sealed and Garlin reentered the spaceship, shutting the hatch behind.
The spaceship slowly accelerated, heading upward, passing through the atmosphere until it was in Earth orbit. Once more the hatch on the pod opened. The Swarm orb, with only two full-sized tentacles attached, now moved.
No intelligent species in the cosmos knew the origin of the Swarm. Scientists of those races that survived contact with the species and managed to inspect the corpses recovered after battle had only been able to determine a few things. One was that the orb was basically a large skull containing a massive four-hemisphere brain. The tentacles contained a basic brain stem at the base that could communicate with the main brain when attached and control any organism it entered when separated. Another interesting thing that those species familiar with space travel had discovered was that it appeared as though the Swarm had developed in zero gravity. An orb could move only with great difficulty on a planet’s surface, and that required almost all tentacles to be attached.
However, in zero gravity, the Swarm could move swiftly and with great efficiency even with just one tentacle attached to the orb. It also could survive for a limited amount of time without oxygen. With eyes spaced equidistant around the body, the Swarm could navigate in any three-dimensional direction with equal dexterity and ease. There was no forward or back, up or down, for the Swarm. On those rare occasions in space battles where ships were boarded, the Swarm were vicious and practically unbeatable antagonists. There was some speculation among Airlia scientists that the Swarm had not evolved naturally, but rather were a race manufactured to be a weapon — one that had consumed its own originators and become a plague on the universe.
Here the task was simple. The Swarm crept along the surface of the spaceship until it reached the airlock. The hatch swung open and it entered, the hatch shutting behind it.
Inside, Lisa Duncan heard the outer hatch opening. She recognized where she was — the inside of her own spaceship. And she knew she was in space because of zero gravity. She was tied to a seat near the rear of the pilot’s chamber. She was coated with dry blood, her hair in knotted tangles.
She turned her head as the inner hatch opened. The orb swung in smoothly. Duncan’s skin crawled as she watched the grotesque creature. It floated to the seat next to where Garlin sat and grasped hold with one tentacle. After it settled into place, Garlin unbuckled from his seat and came over to Duncan.
“Are you there?” she whispered. “The real you?”
Garlin stared at her blankly for a moment, then opened the lid to the Ark of the Covenant. He picked up the crown and set it on Duncan’s head.
“Haven’t you got everything you need?” Duncan asked. “What more do you want?” “We want to know why you came to this planet in this ship,” Garlin said.
“Who was Garlin?” she asked. “I know you’re in there somewhere, some part of you. Some human part.”
“He is in here.” Garlin pointed at his head. “But we control everything. You will get no aid from him.” “Why didn’t you take me then?” Duncan was stalling, anything to keep it from activating the probing. Garlin shook his head. “We can’t. The virus that is in you, the Airlia’s Grail. It attacks anything that infiltrates the body.” He turned to the Ark and put his hands on the controls, Duncan screamed as the probe sliced into her brain.
Aspasia’s Shadow had prepared this operation years earlier and had given the initial implementation order when he first arrived at Easter Island. It was one of many orders he had dispatched, unsure how many of them he would actually have to follow up on.
So he wasn’t surprised as a dozen headlights appeared in the distance, heading toward his location. He’d planted thirty Guides, all ex-military, in sleeper cells here in this remote part of Texas to wait for his call, which he had hoped he would never have to make.
The twelve off-road vehicles drove up to the base of the Talon and the men exited. They pulled weapons and backpacks out of the trucks. Quietly they walked up the narrow stairs Aspasia’s Shadow had extended from the Talon. Once all were inside, he shut the hatch and took off. For step two in his emergency plan.