Manipulate (Book 1, Alien Cadets)

Chapter 22

Downy waited in agony. He had to get out of this room full of cadets. General Gustav returned from locking Shara in a holding cell. She must not have told him anything, Downy thought, or he would have attacked Downy on sight.

Shara had to be destroyed. Sam had figured out that she wasn’t the killer. He would offer her a deal, or Greg would threaten her, and somehow they would get the information out of her the next time she spoke to them.

Downy had to kill her before that happened. He made himself wait eight minutes before rising and leaving the room. Gustav questioned him, but only in a cursory fashion. Downy claimed that the stress made him ill. He needed a bathroom. Gustav gestured for him to go.

Downy’s reputation for weakness: physically, mentally, even socially; made it easy for him to get away with this excuse. Someday Gustav would know just how completely Downy had fooled him. He would know just how strong Downy was.

Free in the space station, Downy headed for the pilot room. The ‘brig’ as Greg called it, or the containment chambers, were generally used for trouncers before their brains were harvested for the biocomputer. Hence, they were usually situated near the pilot room and the computers.

Downy entered the containment area unchecked. The bioexperts saw no reason to keep people away from the trouncers. The trouncers did that plenty well by themselves.

Twelve large cages opened onto this dark hallway, six on each side. No lights lit the cages, only the tiny lights along the walkway illuminated the space, and they didn’t reach far. He heard breathing.

The first two cages were empty. As he came to the next one, a trouncer lunged into sight. The trouncers made no sound before they attacked, the better to surprise their prey. This trouncer slammed into the crisscrossed bars of the door, and one long claw got through. It nearly sliced open Downy’s shoulder. He yelped and backed away.

The creature retreated into the darkness at the back of the cage, where Downy could only make out its hunched profile.

He breathed again.

“Stupid trouncer,” he said. “Just wait till they put your brain in a bowl.”

Laughter echoed from one of the last cages.

Downy growled. She was here. She was laughing at him. He would kill her now.

 ***

The Spo emperor took his time thinking. Sam’s stomach felt empty and full at the same time. Like he’d eaten cotton candy that began to spin and grow in his stomach.

If the emperor decided not to sponsor humanity any longer, this trial was over. The Rik would move in, stealing and killing and making Earth their own. And no one would lift a finger to help a condemned non-sentient species.

The emperor finally spoke.

“I formerly believed that humanity could overcome the stigma of the Hadron event. However, this current violence against the human cadets fills me with doubt.” He looked at Greg, “You did not reflect this trend in your reports to me.”

“We believe that the Rik are responsible for these deaths, not the humans,” Greg said. He pointed at Tishing. “We have good reason to think this. Jonathan’s mind was wiped; a use of sasoikeo that only the Rik have perfected. Locked on this space station is a person involved in the killings. I would like the chance to question her before this issue is decided.”

The Merith deferred to the emperor, “Are you willing for this witness to be called now?”

The emperor traced a design on the table.