The Blue Gem, page 1
Book Description
After unknown aliens destroy the Hoo-Lii penal colony, the once-decadent world of Hool, under the leadership of the upstart Hive-Mother, Suh-Joh, seeks to reestablish its former heights. Suh-Joh’s scientists detect a faint electromagnetic pulse (EMP) of a fusion weapon, which originates in the Solar System. Believing this is the world responsible for bombing their penal colony, Suh-Joh sends a ship to investigate.
The ship jumps through a space-time gate and enters the Solar System near Pluto and then blunders into a space battle between the humans and the Qu’uda. A laser blast breaches the Hoo-Lii ship’s hull, causing it to lose all of its water and much of its air. The humans attempt to establish communications and give the Hoo-Lii water, which they regard as a symbol of submission. The Hoo-Lii depart, promising to return and “lead them.”
The Blue Gem
Clash of the Aliens
M. B. Wood
The Blue Gem
Copyright © 2018 Faucett Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the copyright holder, except where permitted by law. This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, or, if real, used fictitiously.
The eBook edition of this book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. The eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share the eBook edition with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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EBook ISBN: 978-1-68057-052-6
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-68057-051-9
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Cover artwork by Michael J. Canales
Kevin J. Anderson, Art Director
Published by
WordFire Press, LLC
PO Box 1840
Monument CO 80132
Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta, Publishers
WordFire Press eBook Edition 2020
WordFire Press Trade Paperback Edition 2020
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Printed in the USA
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Contents
The Story so Far
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Epilogue
Personae
About the Author
If You Liked …
Other WordFire Press Titles by M.B. Wood
The Story so Far
Middle Eastern fanatics paralyze Western Civilization with massive EMPs, creating a post-apocalyptic world that is a sea of chaos and near-anarchy. Refugees create a society under a primitive rule of law. Proud, fierce, and free, Taylor MacPherson and a tight-knit group of survivors known as the Clan take their first steps to restoring law and justice … as a race of hermaphroditic aliens, the Qu’uda, arrives to find a post-apocalyptic Earth.
As the Qu’uda ship orbits the Earth, a leftover missile-defense weapon fires a shot that hits the ship’s drive. When the Qu’uda attempt to restart the ship’s drive, it explodes and puts the disabled vessel into a decaying orbit that will ultimately spiral into the planet. The shock of the explosion and the crisis triggers an abrupt gender change in many of the alien crewmembers.
Needing a new propulsion tube to complete the desperate repairs, the Qu’uda disguise one of their crew, Bilik Pudjata, to look like a human and send him to the surface. In reality, however, they make Bilik into a caricature of a human. It takes Bilik a year to learn the English language by eavesdropping on the natives using a language-learning algorithm in his personal biocomputer. Bilik makes contact with a humble farmer who turns his name into “Billy Potato.” The name sticks.
Conflicts with humans convince “Billy” to kill those who oppose him. He takes over the Fed, a small city-state headquartered in Defiance, Ohio. He uses a fusion-powered drive unit from a wrecked shuttlecraft to generate electricity for a foundry to cast the needed parts for the necessary propulsion tube. The Fed expands into Taylor MacPherson’s Clan territory south of Cleveland, starting a border dispute, which deteriorates into series of bloody battles.
The arrival of a Qu’uda shuttlecraft causes a crisis in the Clan, because they fear that the Fed has a terrible pre-Collapse weapon. Taylor persuades the Clan Elders to negotiate a solution to the crisis, but unfortunately the solution fails. A larger war becomes inevitable. After a series of battles, a Clan attack catches the Fed without a full complement of guards in Defiance, and Billy has to summon the alien shuttle to pick up the last castings. In only a matter of days, the giant spacecraft will plunge from orbit. During the attack, Billy is injured, and a woman, Joyce Vargas, drags him to safety. The noise and flash of the shuttle’s beam weapon and the purple color of Billy’s blood makes Joyce believe she has gone insane.
The Qu’uda shuttle picks up the last parts and takes off. Heavily laden, it flies low across Defiance. Fed guards panic and fire their muzzle-loading rifles at the craft, damaging it. The damaged shuttle limps back to the alien ship with the parts for the propulsion system, but it cannot return to the planet. The Qu’uda are forced to abandon four crew members on the surface, on Andros Island in the Bahamas, where they are guarding eggs sent down from the ship.
The humans’ violence angers the military faction of the Qu’uda. They vow to build battle craft and return to Earth, where they will remove all technology from the violent “dry land vermin” and bomb the land into ruins.
Meanwhile, Taylor questions the wounded Billy after he regains consciousness, and then he examines the Qu’uda drive unit that powers the Defiance generators, which makes Taylor believe Billy is an alien. Billy learns from his biocomputer’s communications module that the Qu’uda on the orbiting spaceship no longer need or want him. Betrayed by his own kind, Billy turns to the humans and reveals everything. Taylor and the others learn that the Qu’uda plan to return with advanced weapons to wreak havoc on Earth.
Chapter One
A scream woke Suh-Joh.
Once more, a cry echoed through the tunnels. It was a death cry, like a baby wailing for its mother.
It’s a guard, Suh-Joh realized. He’d sounded the alarm with his last breath.
She ran toward the sound until she caught a glimpse of unknown Chosen-Male warriors racing into the bowels of the Hive.
She stopped, stared, and sniffed. Unknown, she thought. I must warn Lok-Nih, my Hive-Mother. She raced back to her sleeping quarters. “Intruders.”
“Who violates my Hive?” Lok-Nih asked.
“Blessed Hive-Mother.” Suh-Joh flexed low. “I know not. They came without warning. They use naat-jii juice to hide their spine markings and they mask their odor with glik-lee. They’re in the food stores.”
“Do they use energy weapons?” Lok-Nih, like all devout worshippers of the Spirit-of-the-Mother, feared the energy weapons of war that had been used in the time of high technology. There were no defenses against heretics who violated the bans on weapons of mass murder.
“No, blessed Hive-Mother. I saw none.”
“That’s one mercy,” Lok-Nih said.
Lok-Nih gave her paat-kli a quick poke with a spine. The tiny creature squeaked and folded into its articulated shell and scurried under Lok-Nih’s klut-shi, the mating-skin flap.
“Rouse more warriors.” Lok-Nih gestured to Suh-Joh.
“Now help me,” Lok-Nih said. Attendants rushed to her assistance, keeping clear of the klut-shi. With ponderous bulk, she moved slowly onto her spindly rear limbs, using her mid-limbs for balance. Her deadly spines could either ripen them to Chosen status or kill them instantly. Now erected in anger, there could be only one outcome.
The intruders’ attack had come in during the middle of the sleep cycle. Once the intruders found the Hive’s food stores, they fell into a feeding frenzy, their discipline disintegrating.
The war-chant of the Hive’s warriors grew louder.
“They remind me of Zak-Joh and the battles he fought on my behalf.” Lok-Nih sighed. “Oh, Spirit-of-the-Mother, I do so miss him.”
The chant changed to a cacophony of squeaks and cries.
Lok-Nih moved quickly to a growing melee near the main entrance.
“Hoo-Lii,” she screamed. It was a challenge to the intruders. The word “Hoo-Lii” meant Mother-favored. “I am here. Protect me.” She pushed forward.
At these words, her Chosen-Male warriors redoubled their efforts against the intruders.
The tunnel reeked with the odor of glik-lee and the metallic stink of spilled blood and guts.
Warriors twisted with acrobatic fury, flicking and slashing with their long cutting spines. Whenever a spine touched the skin between the armor-like plates of the invader’s hide, muscles ruptured, and blood spewed forth. The Hive’s warriors tightened into ranks, sweeping forward against the disorganized intruders.
Suh-Joh watched Lok-Nih advance with her Chosen-Male warriors, urging them on. Even the unripened May-be-Chosen joined the fight, wielding domestic implements as weapons against the out-numbered intruders.
Some of the May-be-Chosen fought well, Suh-Joh thought as the warriors continued to drive the intruders back. The Hive’s warriors surged forward, and the intruders broke and ran, fleeing into the darkness of the tunnels carrying their stolen food.
Bodies of intruders and defenders lay scattered around the entrance to the Hive. Pools of blood and coils of guts gleamed darkly on the time-polished stone floor under the pale yellow of the emergency lights. The wounded twitched, unable to rise.
I wonder who was behind this raid, Suh-Joh thought.
Four squared of the Hive’s warriors were dead. Some lay paralyzed, their hind limb muscles cut. Others called out in agony. They fought well, for there were more bodies of the intruders than the Hive’s warriors. Suh-Joh stooped to examine the corpses of the intruders, wiping the naat-jii juice from their spines.
Chapter Two
From within the Hive came a coterie of sterile Chosen-Male priests singing the prayer of death. Its familiar and comforting cadence brought a soothing note to the chaotic scene, calming those present.
“… From Life to Death,
Death to Life,
As ever, the cycle repeats …”
“Now.” Lok-Nih’s voice rang out. “I must ripen more males. It is time for more offspring.” She touched eight May-be-Chosen who abased themselves before her.
“Blessed Hive-Mother, may I speak?” Suh-Joh asked.
“Yes?” Lok-Nih emitted an odor of irritation.
“I cleaned the spines of the dead intruders. They had the markings of the Af-Gih and the Jan-Dil Hives.” Suh-Joh flexed low in abasement.
“So, my precious offspring, Af-Gih, grows bold.” Lok-Nih erected her breathing flaps in annoyance. “Prisoners?”
“There are thirty-two uninjured captives. As I speak, the dead and maimed are being fed to the food-insects.”
“Condition of the prisoners?”
“Emaciated, smaller than our warriors. Many show signs of malnutrition,” Suh-Joh said. “It looks like their attack was an act of desperation.”
“Hmm, unfit for breeding. Pluck their spines and neuter them. Send them to the surface to replace the weak and worn-out crop workers. Feed the discards to the insects.”
“Yes, blessed Hive-Mother.”
“Those two Hives produced many of the Disobedient.” Lok-Nih paused. “They’ve lost so many of their young they must be weak. Raiding them would garner little, if anything.” Her voice was soft, barely audible. “They do have a strong gene pool, perhaps a female—”
“Blessed Hive-Mother. You can’t leave us.” Suh-Joh crouched low, touching her head to the ground. “Please.”
“No. I’m just thinking out loud. Don’t repeat that.” Lok-Nih released an odor that showed her frustration “So, my offspring Af-Gih seeks to steal from me? Send her the spines from her dead warriors with this message: She must ripen a daughter and send her, with a levy of Chosen-Males, to the planet Kamah as colonists.”
Lok-Nih rippled her spines. “This will ensure the survival of my bloodline even if Hool continues its decline. If she chooses not, tell her to expect a visit from my Chosen-Male warriors. As for Jan-Dil, she deserves something special.”
Lok-Nih scratched her plate-like skin and raised the fringe of spines along the edge of her klut-shi. The paat-kli cautiously extended its head out from its shell. Lok-Nih tickled the paat-kli gently and it chirped. It resumed grazing on her skin, feeding on the dead flakes between the plates on Lok-Nih’s hide. She stroked the paat-kli, encouraging it to rasp its tiny tongue on her skin.
Our richness in food makes us the target of every starving Hive, Lok-Nih thought. I’ve balanced my Hive’s population with the supply of food-insects and crops from the surface. My populace is healthier and more energetic than most. Still, we could use more food. She knew she could only mate when the Hive needed replacements or conquest expanded its resource base.
“Follow me.” Lok-Nih gestured to the eight unripened ones she’d raised to Now-Chosen status. Her arousal grew as she went through the tunnel leading to her quarters. She always enjoyed ripening males.
Suh-Joh could hear the Now-Chosen twittering and smell their arousal. Yes, she thought. They are ready to breed with Lok-Nih. The emotional state of the Hive-Mother controlled the toxins or hormones produced by her klut-shi. She had to be aroused to produce the hormones that turned unripened males into warriors. If not, the klut-shi produced poison. If I were a Hive-Mother, Suh-Joh thought. I too, could enjoy … No. I’ll never be a Hive-Mother.
“Hoo-Lii, you,” Lok-Nih uttered the blessing and pointed to the first Now-Chosen, gesturing he should come forward.
“Hoo-Lii. Immediately, gracious Hive-Mother,” the young male twittered in a voice pitched high with excitement.
“Take the position,” Lok-Nih said.
Suh-Joh found the mating aroused feelings of envy within her. She could not draw herself away. Fascinated, she continued to watch.
The young male moved in front of Lok-Nih and flexed into a position of abasement as demanded by his status. He exposed the tender connective skin between the armored plate-skin, thus presenting her with many vulnerable locations.
Lok-Nih moved behind him and draped herself over him, enfolding him with her mating-skin flap. She flexed the edge of the mating-skin flap inwards, hooking the klut-shi into the delicate membranes connecting the plate-like sections of his hide. She held him in a grip from which there was no retreat.
“Closer, still closer. Here, let me feel you,” Lok-Nih said to the hesitant male who assumed a raised position. “You know what is next?”
“Yes, gracious one.”
“Are you ready? When you are, call my name.”
“Lok-Nih—”
As he spoke, Lok-Nih slid the spines of the klut-shi between the plates of his hide. They bit into his flesh and flooded his system with hormones that catalyzed his transformation from a juvenile to a mature state.
Lok-Nih pushed against him.
The male shuddered as hormones sped throughout his system, triggering his instantaneous arousal. He shuddered and sagged.
Lok-Nih relaxed her grip. “Ah, good.” It was over. “Males,” she said. “They have so little capacity for this. Mate once and they are done.”
