[MV] The Super Wizard From Space #48: The Red Hand Of General Dragutin, part 5

[Wil Alambre]

Can't see *anything* but blinding white. There's a sweet
pause of blinking relief, and then its back to stinging
blindness as Vaso shines the light into my other pupil. When
he finally turns it off, I swear I rub my eyes hard enough
for them to fall out.

"Okay, sir, you seem fine."

"Fine?" My sight's still adjusting, but Vaso's blurry stance
lacks the square shoulder confidence I expect out of him.
"Leniency does us no favors, solider. We've *got* to be
certain. Of me most of all. Otherwise, our methods, our
objectives, *everything* comes into question. Now... are
you *sure*?"

This time, his response is rock solid. "Sir, you're all
clear, sir." Hm. All right. That'll have to be good enough.

He frowns and steals a look over his shoulder. "What about
*them*, General? We can't check them all."

Far enough away to prevent eavesdropping sprawls millions
and millions and *millions* of restless, hulking,
*monstrous*  bees. The *entire* transformed population of
Volsci. Milling about the sky. Covering the sandy horizon.
Carpeting the rolling desert landscape. All buzzing and
bunching and generally anxious to be doing *something*. We'd
brought the whole lot of them with us. At least, I think we
did. Its near impossible to get an accurate headcount of
them. Its near impossible getting *anything* out of them.
But we've been managing, Vaso and I. We're nothing if not
old hands at improvising. "We don't have to. We just need to
check a handful. They're a eusocial colony with telepathic
abilities. If any of them have it, they'd all have it
in short order."

"Okay. Which ones?"

I point at the nearest group. The tight bunch, climbing on
top of each other, clustering around the misshaped queen.
"Those. Those guarding her. I'll keep her busy while you're
working. She's about due for some time away from
them, anyway."

It isn't easy taking from her 'subjects'. When we approach,
they surround her immediately. She's shocked. And
frightened. Of them and of us. And it echoes exponentially
throughout swarm. Vaso has to physically haul them off, even
burn a couple, before I can take Sybilla's arm and
pull her away.

She watches Vaso shine lights into multifaceted eyes.
"What... what's he doing? Isz he hurting them?" she asks as
I lead her from the swarm.

"Don't worry. Just a routine exam." Its difficult guiding
her. Her oversized abdomen drags, her lanky sharp legs
struggle to find purchase. Too much of a grip or too strong
a push, and I risk tipping her over completely. She still
doesn't know how to manage her new proportions. Hasn't
accepted it yet. I figure she's not really trying. "He'll be
done momentarily. Here, I want to show you something."

She moves mechanically. "Is he a doctor? The szacred
writings left to us described you as sczien... scienzZ..."

"A scientist, yes. Most of our race start out that way. But
he makes an excellent field medic. Watch your step."

"But he calls you 'General'. Are you two some
szort of military?"

Military. A little grandiose for just the two of us. The
three of us. "Well, its like... hm. There's what we *want*
to be, and there's what we *need* to be. For the lucky ones,
that can be same thing. For others, for the rest of us, its
a balancing act."

"So, which is it? For you... is thisz what you want? Or
what you need?"

I stop. And I stare at her.

She immediately shrinks. "Szorry, szzorry, I... should
not... itsz not my place."

"What I do... what I am doing, it *has* to be done. Because
someone has to do it. Because no one else is doing it.
They're scared. Scared of what might happen. Scared of what
they could lose. Scared of things they can't change. We
can't live like that. We can't just accept things are so
much out of control, that things cannot possibly be
corrected. Its a coward who lets fear overcome his
sense of... duty."

"What if szomething happens? Szomething terrible, and you
can't never take it back?"

"I'd rather chase a good cause than suffer a bad one."

She's quiet for a while after that. Quiet and shivering. Not
from the desert cold. I doubt she can even feel temperature.
I move on, leading her up a low rocky hill.

When she finds her voice again, its barely a squeak. "I had
to kill Urbain Jean Joszzeph earlier today."

"I know. I saw."

"He wasz my mentor at the obszzervatory. I mean, I *think*
it wasz him. He szzaid thatsz who he wasz, before he was...
before it happened."

"You did what you had to do."

"It wasz like you szZaid. They're at me. Conszztantly.
Szaying I'm worthlessz, telling me to give up, to give in,
to let szzomeone better take my placze. They would have
crusZhed me... He wasz the leader thisz time, riling up the
pack, and I had to... I had to."

"They're monsters, circling you, sizing you up. I can't
always be there to defend you. You'll have to be the one to
push back. You'll have to meet them head on if you want to
survive. Thats means getting your hands dirty. Doing things
you never thought yourself capable of. Meeting their
savagery head on."

"Are they... do you think they remember who they were? From
before? Thisz one waszn't like the otherszz. It szpoke like
him and it acted like him and it had a bad leg juszZt like
Jean Joszzeph uszed to have and it talked about our azzro...
aszztronomical sztudieszzz... and it knew me. It *knew* me."

"No. No, of course not. They share a connection with your
mind, and they're going to exploit that... but they're just
animals." I've seen that look before. The look on her face.
She knows I'm lying but she wants to believe it anyway.
"Never mind that. Come on, up this way. I want to show you
something." At the top of the hill, I wave up at the night
sky and ask, "Tell me what you see."

"I szee... wait, what'sz... I've watched the szkies all my
life. I've known them since I was a girl. But I... don't
recognize these. Where are we?"

I smile and point up at a small distant dot. "See that one
there? That's your solar system. That's Volsci, over forty
*trillion* kilometres away."

"I'm... on another planet?"

"Some confusion's expected when travelling. Usually, you'd
experience this through the swarm's telepresence technology,
but..." ...she stops listening. There's a child-like
excitement in her eyes as she wanders away from me. She
reaches up at the sky, trying to pluck down the stars.

"Ah! Ah! I see it! I see it now! That's Alpha Circeii! And
that's Fabrateria Vetus, the binary! That would put... yes!
Yes, there's Sora and Arpinum! And Atina Gamma! Foreign
constellations! I'm seeing completely foreign
constellations! Ha ha ha! This is wonderful! I'm on another
planet!" She turns back to me. "What planet is this? Does
it have a name?"

"Officially, it has an incredibly long and complex serial
number, but everyone calls it 'Planet M'."

"M? The system described in the apocrypha handed down to us
by the gods of...?"

I give a half nod. "Hm. By the super wizard race, yes. A
strategic value, recognized a long time ago."

Footsteps behind us. Vaso, joining us. Finally. "I give them
a clean bill of health, General."

"Good. Just in time," I say, watching the opposite horizon

Sybilla's oblivious to us. "We weren't told much of M. I
mean, nothing beyond what we were instructed to do. We
observed and we recorded. We hypothesized and we
philosophized. Why it was so important, that particular
piece of the universe? Was it special? Was it holy? Was it
inhabited by...? Oh. Oh! *Is* it inhabited? Are
there *people* here?"

Vaso laughs. "People? Damn straight there's people here. You
can see a whack-load of them right over there." He points to
the growing number of black specs sprinkled in the distance.
Too far away to make out details, but I can see them
collecting into large, separate formations. Organized,
regimented formations.

"That... looksz like an army."

"That *is* an army. They've been gathering over the past two
hours, I estimate."

"For what?" Sybilla asks.

"For *you*," Vaso says.

"Me? ...but why? I haszzn... I haven't *done* anything."

"Sure you have. You've *invaded*! Your swarm is here! Your
planet's entire population. All of them flight-capable,
heavily armed, obedient soldiers."

She looks at me. Shocked. And frightened. She wants me to
lie. Not this time. "I told you, I needed your help."

She shakes her head. "I thought you meant our recordsz! Our
noteszz! I gave you our aszZtronomical data!"

"Yes, that's why I visited Volsci originally, and trust me,
the intelligence you provided will be immensely invaluable.
But now, I'm talking about *you*. You, personally. And your
troops. Your countless forces. Finding purpose. Finding
worth in whats happened to them. Help me complete my
mission. Do what has to be done. Be my red right hand."

"You szaid... you promiszZed..."

"I did. I *promised*. But this is the *cost*. This
is the price."

"And it only getting more expensive from here on
in," said Vaso.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES

The direction of this arc as veered from the original
direction I had it going. There's a plot point in the
upcoming issues that doesn't feel as solid as I'd like
it. I've been able to 'stall' for a bit with Sybilla's
introduction, but I haven't been able to cement that
problem completely yet. I'll wait and see how the rest
of this arc - and this series - is welcomed. 

I don't often have so much dialogue in a single issue.
I prefer people acting rather than talking. Keeps the
action moving. But because I just came off an
explosion-filled sequence, I thought I could get away
with a slower chapter. I took the opportunity to
tell as much as I could with only what characters
*say*. I even stripped out as much dialogue 
attribution as I though I could get away with. With
luck, no one gets lost with who said what why :)

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Written by Wil Alambre. Follow me at http://twitter.com/wilalambre