First Contact

Chapter 230: (Hesstla)

Dambree woke up with a jerk, reaching out for her mother, half standing up. The pistol fell to the floor with a dull thump, making Mister Mewmew open his eyes and look at her for a moment before closing his eyes again. Dambree sat back down, bent forward, and picked up the pistol before looking out the windows.

The sun was up, sunlight streaming through the trees to make patterns of light and shadow on the forest floor. The car was dirty, dusty, the roof ripped in three spots, the fenders dented, the windshield and back window gone, and missing the driver's side door. For a moment Dambree almost panicked at the sight of the empty seats and the open trunk, then remembered she had moved it all inside with Tru and Elu's help.

Dambree stood up, put the pistol in her waistband, and stretched. Her knee and hock popped loudly as she stretched up as far as she could. Her shoulder hurt, making her wince when she tried to raise her arm, and her elbow hurt on the other arm. She wandered back to the back of the cabin, where the kitchen was, and picked up a can of self-heat and a bottle of fizzybrew before she went back and sat down.

Outside she could hear small animals moving around and the noise of birds, once in a while broken up by the faint roar of aircraft going by in the distance, but nothing like the world-consuming roars of when the aircraft had passed by overhead while she was driving.

When she was done eating she put the can in the garbage, used the outhouse, cringing at the pottywipe that had spiderweb and bugs on the surface, and wandered around the cabin.

She found a firepit with old bottles and cans in it. A small pile of garbage hidden and half-devoured by a bush, a shack full of chopped wood with a smaller axe hanging on the door, and a bra hanging from a bush branch that was faded and rotted out. She found a handle on a pipe coming out of the ground and moved it up and down a few times. On the fifth try rusted water poured out and she went back to moving the lever, feeling resistance now when she pressed down and pulled up, until the water was clear and clean.

Several times she heard aircraft roar by in the distance and every now and then she'd hear the faint sounds of an explosion. The sky still had streaks in it as falling stars whipped across the sky.

I hope you're not the Slorpys, she thought to herself as she saw a large group of streaks falling from the sky, heading east.

She sighed and went back inside, finishing the fizzybrew and dropping the bottle into the garbage. She grabbed another one and opened it, the bottle auto-chilling when the cap was released, and took a long drink off of it as she quietly prowled around the cabin.

It was neglected. Cobwebs, dust, a few leaves in the corners, but it wasn't that bad.

It was better than being out on the road and having to stay moving.

She found a hatch in the wooden floor and, grabbing the ring and pulling, opened it up, wincing at the squeal of dry hinges. A ladder dropped down with steep narrow steps. She grabbed the eyecovering and went down inside, the light enhancement brightening the basement to daylight. It was largely empty, just a pile of chopped wood in a corner, empty shelves, and an old rodent nest long abandoned.

Seek shelter in basements, she remembered.

Dambree moved extra sleeping bags and several cases of self-heats, some packages of milkys, a few boxes of sippies, and some swaddling downstairs, putting them on shelves.

Just in case.

Her siblings were still asleep. Punee frowning and making fists, Elu sprawled out like a roadkill squirrel, and Tru curled up in a ball inside her sleeping bag.

Part of Dambree wished she could go back to sleep, but she knew what was waiting if she did.

Memories.

Grabbing another bottle she headed back outside, sitting on the stump between the battered car and the cabin. She set the extra bottle down and took another long drink.

Staying here till someone comes and finds us won't be too bad, she thought to herself. I doubt anyone's posting to GalNet right now. Nobody probably cares about selfies or quick little comments on Zimmer, nobody cares about statuses or relationships or whatever.

For a second the thought went through her mind that her mom and dad would have to upgrade their status to "brain bot" and "dead" and she started laughing quietly, sobbing at the same time, rocking back and forth for a moment.

She inhaled deeply and stopped herself from crying and laughing. She took another long drink off the crisp bitter fizzybrew and flicked her long ears a few times to calm herself.

Another set of aircraft went by, these ones close enough and fast enough they made the trees sway slightly. By the time she'd glanced up they were gone. She realized she had learned the difference between Slorpy and Terran aircraft engines. Slorpy sounded sputtery, Terran ones were a steady roar.

Part of her wished she could go back.

But she knew, there was no going back. Not now.

The leaves crunched behind her and she turned around and looked.

Elu and Tru were coming up behind her, Tru carrying Punee, who was glaring at everyone with her beautiful amber eyes while she gnawed on her fist and drooled.

"How long do we have to stay here, Bree?" Elu asked quietly.

Aircraft roared by overhead and in the distance were rapidfire explosions that echoed off the cliff.

"Till we don't hear that any more," Dambree said.

"Oh," Tru said. She sniffled and moved around next to Dambree, setting Punee on the ground on her stomach. "I miss mommy."

"I know," Dambree said. Punee was pulling her knees up to her stomach and kicking, trying to move forward.

"I miss mommy and daddy," Elu said. He started sniffling.

Tru began to wail, crying loudly, tears running from her eyes.

There was bright white flash that made everything seem flat, then a faint rumble that she could feel through her shoes.

Tru and Elu began crying harder.

Dambree jumped to her feet, grabbing both of them by their ears. They each grabbed the arm holding their ears with both hands as she lifted them slighty.

"DON'T CRY!" she bellowed. She shook them by her ears, even though she had always told herself she'd never do that to her kids like her parents had done it to her. She yanked them close, off balance. "Don't cry! Hold it back! Let it turn to something else. Just let it turn - to something else!"

She let go of her sibling's ears.

"Don't cry. Not for momma, not for daddy," Dambree told them firmly. She picked up the dropped bottle of fizzybrew and took a long drink. "Babies cry, we aren't babies any more."

Punee had rolled onto her back and was glaring at her. Dambree moved over and rolled Punee back on her stomach.

There was another flash followed by a rumble through the ground a few moments later.

"You see that? You hear that?" she snapped at her siblings.

They both nodded.

"That's the Terrans and the Slorpys killing each other. They aren't even our people and the Terrans are trying to stop the Slorpy's from killing us and stealing our brains because we can't. You saw all the dead Terrans on the roads. You saw that Terran die. He didn't cry, did he?" She said.

They both shook their heads.

"The Slorpys killed him and he didn't cry about it," Dambree said, staring at the woods, which had gone silent. "Don't ever cry again."

Both nodded slowly and even though Dambree could see the doubt inside of them she didn't say anything. Mister Mewmew curled around her legs, purring, them moved to Tru's legs.

"Let's get something to eat then we'll do chores," Dambree said.

"I don't wanna do chores," Elu said.

"That Terran didn't want to die, but what you want and what you get are two different things," Dambree answered.

They were silent as she picked up Punee and carried her inside, only having to flick her nose twice to stop her from trying to bite. Elu and Tru ate their self-heats silently, sucking at the straws on the sippys as they stared at her.

"We're going to dust, then sweep, then wipe everything down," Dambree said. "There's two bedrooms. I'll take one, with Punee, you two get the other."

"I don't want to sleep with a boy," Tru said, crossing her arms.

"People in Hell want water. Both of you are shit out of luck," Dambree quoted her Terran gym teacher. She sighed. "We'll put up a curtain."

"Where do we take a bath?" Elu asked, twitching his ears as he looked around.

Dambree sighed and looked around. There were big plasteel tubs hanging on the wall next to the stove and she cocked her head, her ears twitching as she thought. "In those tubs. We'll use the pump outside to fill buckets of water, warm them on the stove, and take a bath in the tub."

"But Elu might see me naked," Tru protested.

Dambree turned and looked at her. "We'll hang up curtains or something."

"Just because you drove around without a shirt so all the boys could see you naked doesn't mean I want Elu to..." Tru started to say.

Dambree slapped her and Tru stared in shock, her mouth hanging open.

"I drove around in my panties because if we stopped for me to get clothes, you would be dead," she hissed at her sister, leaning forward. "You don't get to judge me for what I did to keep you three alive. Not now, not ever, do you understand me?"

Tru nodded quickly, her head bobbing up and down and her ears flat against the back of her head in a sign of submission.

Dambree glared at her sister. "I killed people to keep them from hurting you. I shot them. I ran them over. To keep them from hurting you."

"I'm sorry," Tru said quietly.

"I know," Dambree said, turning away. "I am too, Tru."

"I love you," Elu said quietly.

"I know. I love you too. You and Tru and Punee. I love you all very much," Dambree said. She moved over to the sink and looked at it. There was a pump handle next to the faucet and she started moving it. It took six tries before she got any resistance and the first gush of water was dark brown with rust.

It was silent, except Punee fussing while she tried to scoot forward.

"Let's take a break. Have a sippy and a sweetie," Dambree said, setting down the damp rag she'd torn from a rotting curtain.

Tru and Elu moved over and opened the cupboard where they'd put the food away. Tru chose frosting covered cookies and Elu chose cake nibbles. Both came down and sat down next to Dambree as she popped the top of a fizzybrew and felt the bottle chill in her hand.

"Do you love me?" Tru asked hesitantly. "You don't hate me, do you?"

Dambree shook her head. "No, I don't hate you, Tru. I love you more than you'd ever believe right now."

"I love you too," Tru said, and leaned against her.

When Dambree put her arm around her little sister it seemed to make everything right.

Aircraft roared by overhead. A lot of them, close enough to the ground that it rattled the windows.

"We're going to be here a long time, aren't we?" Elu said in the silence afterwards.

"If we're lucky," Dambree said.

"What about Uncle Inkree or Aunt Fenn? Can we go stay with them?" Tru asked.

Dambree shook her head. "No, we'd have to go back to where they're fighting. We're lucky we got away."

"They're probably dead or hiding like we are, stupid," Elu said.

Dambree smacked her brother across the back of the head. "Don't call your sister stupid."

"I'm sorry," Elu said.

Tru just nodded. She didn't know why, but Dambree looked different. Like she'd lost weight but gotten bigger somehow. Tru didn't understand it and she didn't understand why it made her want to hold Dambree and cry.

But she wouldn't cry.

Dambree didn't know what was going through her sister's mind as she got up and got the broom to sweep the floor. She was thinking about how she'd need to hang up stuff to keep light from being seen from outside, how she'd need to figure out how to start a fire in the stove, how she'd have to haul in water from the pump to fill the bath.

When she was done sweeping, she picked up Punee, who had gotten little stinky, and changed her swaddling, noticing that Punee needed a bath. Mister Mewmew jumped up on the table and nuzzle Punee, who tried to grab him, then backed up. He bumped Dambree's hand until she looked down.

"What?" Dambree asked, wondering what the strange little robot wanted.

The dataslate pinged and Dambree shifted it so she could see it. An animated hand showed up, then an animated Mister Mewmew head. The Mister Mewmew puked up some paste looking stuff and it showed the hand rubbing the paste on Punee's privates and the rash going away and the cartoon Punee smiling.

"Um, all right," Dambree held out her hand. Mister Mewmew made some horking sounds and barfed up thick white paste. Dambree smeared it on Punee, flicking her on the nose once. After a moment Punee relaxed slightly and Dambree reswaddled her.

"Thank you, Mister Mewmew," Dambree said.

Mister Mewmew showed a ":-)" on the smooth area on top of his head, then jumped down.

Dambree ran her finger inside of Punee's mouth, ignoring how Punee tried to clamp down. There was two little bumps and one little hard spot that felt like the tooth had broke the gum but was still stuck inside.

"You're gonna get teeth soon and we'll switch you to yummy paste. Yes we will," Dambree said.

Punee snapped at her, glaring, but Dambree didn't bother to flick her nose.

"Give me a nibble, one of the hard cookies," Dambree said.

Elu brought it over to her. "Are you still mad?"

"No. I'm not mad at any of you," Dambree said honestly. She took the cookie and gave it to Punee, who immediately went to gnawing on it. When aircraft roared by overhead she glared at Dambree as if it was all her big sister's fault.

It was getting dim outside and Dambree set Punee on the floor on her stomach to get exercise and moved to the window.

Dark, ugly clouds had gathered. Lighting flickered in the clouds, but not lightning like Dambree had ever seen. It was purple, orange, and green. Thick bolts with lots of tracers that snarled among the clouds.

Dambree took a drink off her fizzybrew and stared outside.

"Can me and Tru play with the slate?" Elu asked.

"Play some games with Mister Mewmew," Dambree said, taking another drink.

It started to rain. It took her a moment to realize what was so strange about it.

Everything was slowly gaining a dark stain, like it was shadowed. Mister Mewmew ran outside then back inside, showing ":-(" on his head.

"Mister Mewmew, I don't understand," Tru said.

Dambree moved over and looked at the slate. It showed cartoon versions of everyone going downstairs into a hole and smiling then switched to everyone sitting upstairs and starting to look sick. Dambree looked out at the rain, which was coating everything in black that looked sticky.

She moved over and pulled up the hatch. "Everyone inside. Now."

"But it's dark," Tru said.

"Take a flash," Dambree said. "Elu, get a box of food and some sippys."

Elu nodded.

"Tru, get some milky and some swaddle," she said. She bent down and picked up Punee. "We're gonna hide downstairs for a little while."

"Are the Slorpys coming?" Elu asked, his voice tight with fear.

"I don't know. Maybe," Dambree said. She grabbed the sleeping bags and tossed them down the hole, kicking the pillows after.

"How long do we have to stay down here?" Tru asked, carefully stepping down the ladder steps.

"Until Mister Mewmew says it's safe," Dambree said.

She closed the hatch over her as she went into the basement.

Outside, the rain kept coming down, coating everything in black as the heavy clouds, born of atomic detonations, relieved themselves of the heavy particles and dust they'd been filled with from the uptake.

Off in the distance another atomic hammer smashed. Then another.

The brutal fighting for Hesstla continued, the only options victory or death.

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TASK FORCE TIAMAT

Ground fighting intense. Regrouping at 32% and rising. 92nd Infantry and 51st Infantry are securing population centers. 1st Cav and Second Telkan are still engaged with the enemy. Hotel Company, Dinachrome Brigade is still engaged in heavy action. Situation is still extremely chaotic. Civilian refugee camps are priority targets for Precursor forces.

The fight for the high orbitals is still ongoing. System control is still in flux. Precursors do not flee at 10% casualties as well as show advanced fleet tactics.

Precursor vessels used psychic weaponry as well as psionically assisted weaponry.

At this time, all SUDS are still redlined.

Further situation report to follow.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---