Warblegrub and the Forbidden Planet, page 11
Peter was astonished. “How on Earth did you do that?”
“I tell your brain it can’t see me,” said Warblegrub’s disembodied voice.
“How can you tell my brain it can’t see you?”
“I’m very persuasive.”
“But how?”
“Most of the time, you humans haven’t got a clue what your brains are really doing,” Warblegrub explained. “Tricking you is much easier than actually becoming invisible.”
“But I know you’re there!”
“You are particularly susceptible to persuasion.” And with that he was gone.
When the soft padding of his footsteps had died away, Peter made contact with the company on the com-link. As he approached, he raised his hands as ordered, and while submitting to Private 312’s inspection, glanced round in vain for any sign of Warblegrub.
Satisfied he was the genuine article, 312 lowered her weapon. “What happened to you?”
“I was rescued,” said Peter, lowering his hands. “Where are the Colonel and the Sergeant?”
“The Colonel’s gone to send the signal,” 207 replied. “I’m Sergeant now, and what do you mean, you were rescued?”
“Where’s Sergeant 236?”
The others glanced round but she was nowhere to be seen.
“She must’ve gone after the Colonel,” said 312.
Peter started towards the door but 207 blocked his way. “Our orders are to hold the enemy here!”
Peter loosened his sidearm in its holster. “I’m countermanding that order!”
207 raised the Redeemer but Warblegrub appeared beside him and tore the weapon from his hands. Then shots rang out from several guns almost simultaneously: Private 941 shot Warblegrub, to no effect, and was in turn shot by Peter. Then Peter went down, shot in the back by Private 312. Swinging the Redeemer in a wide arc, Warblegrub stunned 312 with a blow to her helmet, and Private 856 jabbed his gun into 207’s back and ordered him to relinquish his sidearm.
Kneeling beside Peter, Warblegrub examined the smoking hole in his body armour. As he probed the wound, Peter screamed in pain and 207, who had yet to hand over his sidearm, deftly spun the gun on his forefinger and shot the distracted 856, killing him instantly. Springing up, Warblegrub turned on 207, whose last sight was of a creature that bore a striking resemblance to Fardelbear, its jaws opening wide. Backing away, the others watched in horror and amazement as the Warblegrub-monster returned to normal – almost. He wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth on his sleeve, flashed them an apologetic grin then knelt beside 856.
When he found no pulse, Warblegrub returned to the barely conscious Peter and tended his wound. Once he had drawn the bullet out, stemmed the flow of blood and closed the wound by laying on his hands, he turned to Private 312, cowering against the tunnel wall.
“Keep him warm!” he ordered
Too terrified to speak, she nodded.
“You’ll find two more of your friends back down the tunnel – untie them and all of you get as far away from here as you can, to the furthest tip of the island!”
She nodded again.
His eyes blazed with fire. “Disobey,” he growled, and she saw the monster again, “and you will suffer a fate far worse than your Sergeant!”
*
Within very few moves black and white were locking horns, and pawns and royal pieces merged into a confused mêlée. First to fall was an unguarded white pawn. Kali touched her queen and it turned into a miniature Fardelbear, who bounded forward and tore the pawn – now a soldier in familiar helmet and jumpsuit – into pieces. His prey devoured, Fardelbear belched loudly then turned back into a queen. Trying to put the image from her mind, Alex considered her response.
Kali’s move had been the first stage in a dangerous attack, threatening her knight and her castle (the Science Officer and Private 585). Alex was forced to save the castle and Fardelbear bounded forward again and dispatched the screaming Science Officer.
“There’s harmony in death, don’t you think?” said Kali. “When the cobra strikes or the falcon dives, the world turns – their prey dies so they and their young live.”
The violence on the board and the talk of death was hardly helping her concentration but even though she was more terrified than she had ever been before, Alex had played enough chess to know that if she simply responded to her opponent’s moves she would lose. Moving her second castle (Private 207) right down the flank, she checked Kali’s king.
Kali was surprised and seemed impressed. “Of course,” she continued, barely missing a beat, “all creatures are pawns to me.”
“Even Shmi?”
Kali nodded.
“What about Warblegrub?”
Realising who she must mean, Kali smiled. “Even he!”
“Are you Death?” Alex’s voice quavered.
Kali shook her head and the skeleton earrings danced a horrible jig. “I have many faces,” she said and looked down at the chessboard. “Death is but one of them.”
“Will you kill me if I lose?”
“No.” Kali glanced up from under her matted fringe. “But I might just kill you on a whim.”
Alex studied the chessboard intently and Kali laughed.
“Now I know why he misses you!” she chuckled.
“He?”
“The Preserver – the one you know as Warblegrub.”
“The Preserver,” repeated Alex, liking the sound. Then she wondered about Fardelbear. “And your husband, what’s he called?”
“He’s the Destroyer.”
“Sounds about right!”
“Between them they hold the balance,” said Kali.
“Balance?”
She rolled her eyes. “Everything that exists must be in balance,” she explained. “Living and dying, coming and going, taking and giving back; it’s how Life is maintained, and why you humans are such a damn nuisance!”
“So why does he miss us?”
“You make him laugh.” She moved a knight to protect the king then moved her Queen to attack.
“You can’t take two moves!” Alex protested.
“Who’s going to stop me?” Kali asked, genuinely surprised.
*
The sound of the stairs crashing on the beach far below echoed round the bay and the gulls driven from their ledges screeched wildly. 395 fought the urge to look down and wedged his toes into a crack in the rock. Letting go of the ledge with one hand, he let his cumbersome rifle fall, ran his hand along until he found a better hold then clung there, trying to steady his racing heart. But his strength was failing. He reached for the next ledge and felt desperately for purchase. Then a hand grabbed his forearm and he was hauled onto a shelf covered in guano, broken egg shells and empty nests.
The Colonel was off again before 395 could catch his breath. With his back to the cliff wall, he edged along as quickly as he was able and was relieved to find the next flight of stairs more securely fixed. Driven by the rush of adrenalin from his brush with death, he soon caught up with the Colonel. At the top of the stairs they entered a rocky gully, which climbed steeply to the summit. As they turned a bend, they looked up to see the enormous deep-space transmitter looming over them, pointing towards the sky like an upturned umbrella, the wind moaning through its rusty frame.
While the Colonel widened a breach in the wire fence surrounding the compound, 395 admired the view. Shading his eyes, he looked round at the archipelago of emerald islands, imagining himself living in a little shack on the edge of golden sands, catching fish and combing the beach, then he noticed that the smoke rising from the volcano was thicker and darker. Furthermore, there was an ominous-looking bank of cloud on the horizon.
“Come on!” urged the Colonel from the other side of the fence.
“Transmitter’s intact,” observed 395, as they jogged towards a little cluster of concrete buildings beneath the huge dish.
“Sturdy!” the Colonel agreed.
“Fifty years up here without a maintenance crew – it would have to be!”
At the door of the nearest building, 395 stopped and rummaged in his pack. “The dish’ll be rusted stiff,” he said, handing the Colonel a tube of gel, “but this stuff’ll move it. While you do that, I’ll enslave the operating system, program the co-ordinates and Bob’s your uncle!”
The Colonel was perplexed. “Who’s Bob?”
“Just an old expression, Sir.” 395 offered the Colonel a salute.
The Colonel studied the tube in his hands and frowned. “Seriously!”
“It’ll work,” 395 assured him and the Colonel returned the salute.
As he watched him climb the superstructure cradling the dish, 395 realised they were on the verge of completing the mission and his heart began to race again. Hurrying inside the building, he found banks of antique-looking consoles, computer screens and stools around the walls. He removed his helmet, retrieved a power pack and a variety of adaptors from his pack and selected the appropriate devices. Enslaving the transmitter proved as easy as he had predicted and when it was fully under 395’s control, he detached the com-link from the rim of his helmet, placed it on the console and opened up a channel to the Colonel.
“Have you freed the dish yet, Sir?”
The Colonel grunted. “How long’ll this disgusting stuff take to work?”
“It’s almost instantaneous.”
“Then send the signal, over and out!”
At 395’s command the huge dish began to turn. When the terrible grinding screech had stopped, he uncovered his ears and was about to open up a channel to the fleet when his hand froze. His throat went dry and his heart began to pound; unable to obey the order, he found himself compelled to break his oath.
“What’s happening, S.O.?”
395 turned off the com-link, pushed back the chair, gazed up at the ceiling and began to breathe more easily. The paint was peeling, cobwebs hung like curtains and a fungal growth was spreading out from one of the corners. He had just noticed a strange pattern resembling Warblegrub’s face when the doorway darkened.
“What’s going on, S.O.?”
“I can’t do it, Sir,” 395 apologised not even bothering to turn round.
The Colonel drew and cocked his revolver. “You will send the signal, or I’ll shoot!”
Chapter Seventeen
“So if Warblegrub is the Preserver and Fardelbear the Destroyer, who are you?” asked Alex.
“Absolute and total disaster,” replied Kali, completely straight-faced.
Alex nodded matter-of-factly and continued to study the board.
“Did you know that chess was played in many different lands?” said Kali, enjoying her opponent’s discomfort. “In a vast country of great rivers they played with a river in the middle of the board that only certain pieces could cross, and I remember one king who used real soldiers instead of chessmen. And in the east – on the Islands of the Dawn – they played on huge boards with hundreds of pieces on each side. But whatever the variation, the purpose of chess is to train your mind and better yourself, not just to win games and beat your opponent.”
Alex glanced up. “A martial art for the brain!”
“Exactly!” Kali agreed. “You humans rarely think about the consequences of your actions; you feel fear, you attack; you find a resource, you exploit it to exhaustion. I must confess to similar tendencies,” she admitted with a chuckle, “but chess teaches you to think efficiently, with clear perspective. As you read your opponent’s intentions you learn to recognise the genuine threats, instead of just reacting hastily and violently to everything.”
“Useful advice,” conceded Alex, irritably, “but I hardly have time for lessons now!” Remembering to whom she was speaking, she looked up anxiously only to find Kali grinning.
“You needn’t worry,” she replied, “time passes… differently here.”
“What on Earth do you mean?”
“Strictly speaking you’re not on Earth.”
“Where am I then?”
“In my house.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Does a worm understand that it lives on a planet, spinning round a star, travelling through the Universe?”
Alex decided not to take issue with the analogy. “But why am I here?”
“Because Shmi still cares about you; if it were up to me, you and all your friends would be dangling from my necklace!” Her eyes began to smoulder. “Do you not understand how dreadful a crime it is for you to return to this beautiful planet that you befouled and from which you were justly banished? You humans, who share in the consciousness of the Universe, who can understand its deepest mysteries and marvel at its profoundest beauties, the Universe itself cries out for your destruction!” Noticing that Alex was petrified, she softened her tone. “But Shmi persuaded me to give you a chance. Clever little mongoose knows just how to appeal to my sentimental side!”
“What I meant was, why is chess necessary?” stammered Alex, unable to imagine a sentimental side to Kali. “Shmi could just go inside my mind and... look around. You know…see whether I’m worth….”
Kali raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”
“Will it…” Alex swallowed hard. “…harm me?”
Kali shook her head.
“And it will help you decide?”
Kali nodded.
“Go on then,” said Alex and braced herself.
“Very well, let’s find out!”
There was none of the consideration Shmi had shown; in an instant Kali unearthed everything Shmi had seen and more. It was as if her whole life was a pool into which she had been thrown, to sink or swim. Images from her past whirled round her like currents and bubbles, and she remembered, with perfect clarity, all her selfish actions, her lies and her broken promises; her crimes and misdemeanours were all laid bare before her until she thought she would go mad with the truth.
“Shmi made me promise I wouldn’t do that,” said Kali. “She thought chess and a chat would be more… friendly.”
Alex stared at her dumbly, panting heavily.
“Not pleasant, is it?”
“I didn’t realise… I was so selfish and dishonest!”
Kali laughed. “You humans have found you live in a vast universe, too complex for your limited minds to cope with. It’s hardly any wonder you surround yourself with lies and illusions – fantasies of your own self-importance; the truth is beyond most of you and lying is your nature!”
A solemn silence fell over the pagoda as Alex considered this radical new perspective, then Kali chuckled.
“You did very well though,” she continued, as if Alex had just passed a spelling test. “Most people go completely insane with me inside their minds. I must confess, I’m surprised to find a human still prepared to know herself.”
“I thought you said it wouldn’t harm me!”
“You’re not harmed!” scoffed Kali. “I wouldn’t harm you – I’d destroy you!”
Alex let the matter lie. “What do you mean, ‘know herself’?”
“The words 'know thyself' were written on the shrine of a famous oracle, warning mankind that without self-knowledge even the power of prophecy was useless. Don’t you think people should look for their own failings before they look for those of others?”
Alex nodded dumbly.
“You humans must face the truth about yourselves,” Kali continued, “and take responsibility for your actions!” She sighed. “Needless to say the great majority of your wretched species didn’t listen to the oracle, but you may be different.”
She looked expectantly at Alex.
“What?”
“I’m waiting for your next move.”
Alex was outraged. “But I just let you look inside my….” She raised her hands to her head in exasperation.
“So what? Every game of chess is a lesson to learn – we finish the game!”
To Kali’s satisfaction, Alex gave up protesting and turned her attention back to the chessboard. Despite her opponent’s lax interpretation of the rules, and though she had lost two bishops and a knight, she manoeuvred herself into a more favourable position and soon had an opportunity for victory; Kali’s king was in a vulnerable position in the corner. Alex fended off an attack on her queen and took a knight in the process, then moved one of her castles to block the king’s escape. Kali failed to notice the danger and she moved her second castle to deliver the coup de grace.
“Checkmate,” Alex ventured, and all the remaining black pieces groaned aloud and fell over.
“Well done!” exclaimed Kali.
Alex was bemused, wondering how she had managed to win against such an opponent.
“Black wins! What’s the problem? You want a prize, a pat on the head, a bone to chew?”
“But you’re… you’re a….”
“I’m a terrible chess player,” Kali admitted. “But then I rarely need to solve problems by subtle means.”
Standing over the corpses of their fallen foes, the victorious white pieces began to whoop and cheer, and Alex saw they were all soldiers, firing their weapons into the air in celebration. Kali picked up the white king and showed it to her, and she saw it was the Colonel.
“I hope this isn’t an indication of where your loyalties really lie!” Kali warned, and the Colonel’s eyes began to glow with a green light.
*
Corporal 236 peered over the ledge, straight down the cliff face at the beach far, far below, and congratulated herself on having spent almost every hour of her childhood climbing in the rocky ravines around her settlement camp. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the sky while she caught her breath, but moments later she was on her feet and off up the next flight of stairs. As she started up the gully, she heard a dreadful noise from above, as if all the seagulls on the island were being strangled simultaneously. The huge transmitter was turning – the signal was about to be sent!
She reached the fence in the time to see the Colonel disappearing into one of the cabins then she heard his voice.
“What the hell’s going on, S.O.?”
