The Wild Ba’Neesh Chapter Thirty-Two ©2019 Fay Thompson All Rights Reserved

It was like someone pulled a plug, everyone except for the now snoring Norris began to move, Mick included. Now that the brain wipe business was done, he had a strong desire not to be around the guy who wiped him, even if payback was a bitch with teeth. He followed Mael, Anya and Brad to the door, only, they passed through with no problem while he hit an invisible wall.

He spun around to where Iiyiko and the Akaitapi were conversing in tones too low to be overheard.

“Really?” He yelled, getting everyone’s attention. “Why are you keeping me here with that Soek who nearly ruined me forever?”

Iiyiko barely glanced at him and as usual, she wasn’t in a mood to discuss anything with him, just talk to the muckity-muck tough Ba”Neesh who seemed to know her from some long ago time.

“Oh, I get it, you are staying here because of him.” Mick pointed at Norris. “Well, cut it out. I want to fly with the Directorate not a bunch of loser Ba’Neesh and a crud ex Tule Soc operative and a flipping gardener with leaky Vrill hands. You stay all you like Iiyiko, stop blocking my freedom.”

His rant managed to bring Mael, Brad and Anya back to jostle for position in the narrow doorway to watch.

Iiyiko stepped over toward Mick.

He hesitated but managed not to step backward although suddenly it was everything he wanted to do. He stuck out his chin.

“You guard Norris.” Iiyiko said firmly.

“You do it.” Mick argued back, “You have the big Vrill guns here, I’m just a stupid Soek gamer boy, remember? You don’t need me.”

The Ba’Neesh, all of them were forming a rough circle around Mick, he could see their nostrils widening and the excitement of conflict pushing their Vrill upward.

“You guard Norris.” Iiyiko repeated, stepping closer to him.

“Or what?” Mick stomped his right foot. “You want to blast me with your blue hand trick or force me with your weird voice hammer? That’s nasty shit. Means your weak if you think you can lead anything or anyone with intimidation and force. So do me, Neeshatari. That crud already beat you to it.”

The four mules were staring wide-eyed and they weren’t alone.

“Iiyiko stays with Mick.” She finally said. “Mick and Elias stay with Norris. When function restored, mobility resumes.”

“You did this to him you boneheaded phantasm.” Mick knew he should stop, should consider what he knew she could do to him but he was at his limit.”

“Incoming.” Serla broke into the disagreement. “Brad, you three run for the floater. Cover us while I get us out of this hole. Mick with the mouth…” But, Mick had darted for the door when the Akaitapi trumpeted at the Ba’Neesh and moved collectively. Clearly they had no intention of flying anywhere. He dove into the midst of them as they exited the craft. He screamed as he hit the barrier but the diffusion of Akaitapi Vrill allowed him to pass through in spite of Iiyiko. Elias swore but he was too late to play the same trick. He hit the invisible wall and bounced back.

“He’s alone out there.” He yelled at Iiyiko who was standing in the middle of the aisle, her head swinging indecisively back and forth from Norris to the doorway. She cursed in Neesh, an arc of Vrill curving down from her mouth to burn a hole in the decking. Then she vanished.

Elias ran for the door again and this time he was able to pass through as if it were normal. He immediately stumbled on the rocks as the aircraft, carrying only Jeffrey, Norris, Serla, Evgeny and the four mules lifted off. He ducked and pressed himself to the cave wall as the craft banged and smashed its way upward. Where was Mick?

He hurried across the boulder-ridden floor and upward, climbing out of one of the collapsed roof holes. All three of the aircraft had vanished already. Mick and the Ba’Neesh were nowhere to be seen. He cursed. The cave was surrounded in thick woods. He heard the sound of weapons and he cursed again. If the Tule Soc were like DireSec they would send a team in to examine the cave before or after they blew it to shit. Where the hell had everyone gone?

He followed a thin trail down through the forest trying to visualize his location because he didn’t want to use his peripheral devices as they would make him an easy target to locate. Fool kid. When he became winded, he stopped for a moment and breathed. Where was Mick? He closed his eyes and focused, calming himself. It was easy enough to draw a Seeker sigil in the air. He drew the spiral with a trail of Vrill following his fingertip, old dead traitor Master Ito would be proud, he thought, visualizing Mick. The sigil pulled him hard to his left. He ran on at a steady downhill pace. The boy was following something, the Ba’Neesh?

That idea nagged at him. He could guess that the Akaitapi would simply vanish in the woods but the local Ba’Neesh were in no condition to go hard or fast. Mick was young, if not in the best shape, could he trail them? What exactly was Mick good at besides gaming systems?

Mick was cursing his decision to rough it in a wilderness. He didn’t have the peripherals of the DireSec operatives, he didn’t even have his backpack or knife. All he had were three equally out of shape local Ba’Neesh who were lagging back and breathing hard. He caught up with them. The glared at him but thankfully didn’t attack him. He guessed they were maybe too tired to juice up. He didn’t speak German. He remembered they didn’t speak English and there was no Serla handy for translation. He could hear the sounds of explosions and the whine of something crashing but it wasn’t close. He could guess he might know more about the real world than they did. It was a good idea to steer away from the sounds.

His last memory of running through woods had been because bad guys were chasing him for being a terrorist. These same bad guys. Would they go after their escaped Ba’Neesh? He guessed that would be a hell yes. Perversely, he didn’t want these slower than he was, incompetent and inept youngers to be caught. He’d heard the discussion that they were slated for immediate termination when Evgeny took them for trade. Fuck that.

“I’m Mick.” He said to the slowest one, now going at a walk. The slightly faster two were only a bit ahead and they kept looking back, clearly worried and uncertain to be leaving one alone with him, a possible enemy.

“Edda.” She said. “Soek?” She asked.

“Yes.” Mick nodded and pointed at himself, “Stupid Soek.” He then pointed at her, “Ba’Neesh.”

“Ba’Neesh.” She repeated. They had caught up with the two faster ones, all three were drooping. In the distance Mick could hear running water. A drink sounded good. Technically, citizens were told not to drink from natural water sources due to continuing pollution problems. But, he was already thirsty and this escape had barely started.

“Water.” He said, cupping one ear toward the sound. “He made a motion of drinking.”

“Water.” Each of them said in turn, now pacing him.

He had played a lot of RPG games that were in the woods. Usually in a game you had to avoid traps. He doubted the enemy had time to set traps in a location they hadn’t expected. The trick would be to look like a herd of animals, not like humans, to their sensing devices. He didn’t have a molcom and Jeffrey had told him the Ba’Neesh fried them when attempts were made to place them in their brains. They might have locators though. He thought about that.

He reached over and touched Edda on the shoulder. She whipped around far faster than he expected, her top lip curling back to reveal sharp fangs. He held up both his hands and shook his head.

“Locator.” He said. Then he showed her his scar and he tried to pantomime cutting his skin to pop it out. They laughed at him and made derisive sounds.

“Fuck.” He said, frustrated.

“Fuck.” They repeated. He twinged a little at that.

A series of twirly whistles and chirps came from just above his right shoulder. Mick instantly knew that Iiyiko was back. He ran through his verbal rant in his head. He had spewed pretty harsh.

Edda looked at him and then whistle chirped back in Neesh, as if she thought he was speaking Neesh.

“That’s as incomprehensible as German to me.” He said aloud, looking over to the disturbance in the air that was all that was visible of Iiyiko.

“They do not have locators.” Iiyiko answered in English.

The Ba’Neesh trilled in reaction to clearly two voices.

“So, you can be useful.” He said, his tone sarcastic. “Iiyiko.” He said to the Ba’Neesh while pointing to the disturbed air.

He felt a zap of energy right between his shoulder blades. He cried out. It was in a terrible location, right where he couldn’t reach to rub it or scratch.

“Iiyiko!” The Ba’Neesh said in comprehension.

He heard Her laughter, with its cruel edge. Maybe he deserved the zap a bit for his zealous nasty mouth toward Her. He thought.

“You should not have run from me.” She said to him.

“You should have stayed with your new Soek toy.” He countered, picking up a stick to use as a back scratcher.

“Unconscious Soek not fun.” She answered. “More tired Ba’Neesh ahead and Elias catching up, using a Seeker on you. Can you feel it?”

Mick turned and tried to open himself to sensing Elias. Was he there? He couldn’t be sure if he was feeling Her suggestion or an actual tingle in one direction behind them.

“Where are the Akaitapi?” He asked, She was never this talkative.

“Far ahead, they seek traps.” Iiyiko answered, “Ba’Neesh communal, they collect to each other, stronger near.”

“You mean they are coming toward me?” Mick said. “Why? I’m not a Ba’Neesh.”

“You are an attractor, like a magnet.” She answered. “Beacon for Ba’Neesh. You attract me or I you, depending on perspective. Keep them moving.” She rattled off more sounds in Neesh.

Edda answered, her tone less friendly.

Mick knew the feeling, Iiyiko was inherently bossy. He came to a stop. First, it allowed the three Ba’Neesh to rest for a moment, which they did. It also positioned him as leading them, a subtle shift. They were instinctively following his lead even though he was pretty sure they were technically older than he was. They still felt younger than him, it was a sensation he couldn’t quite sort out. Elias had told him all of these Ba’Neesh had already borne offspring, some several. For Mick, the idea of having children at his age was ludicrous. But, he knew he didn’t know what he didn’t know. They felt younger, immature. He wanted to trust that assessment.

As they rested he was considering if they should go to the river. He could clearly see it now through the trees. It was close. In a game such an obvious lure was the signature of a trap.

“Is going to the water a trap?” He asked Iiyiko.

“Yes.” Elias answered, breaking through the brush behind Mick. “But, it’s early, a quick drink is likely a reasonable idea. Where are the rest of them?”

“Elias.” Mick said with true pleasure, “She said you used a Seeker, you will show me that?”

“Maybe.” Elias answered carefully, technically he didn’t know the rules of sharing Order techniques with Mick. All they had been through and he remained stuck in the uncertainty of their status. And, now this. It made more sense for the kid to have hopped back onto the floater with Mael, why run with the Ba’Neesh?

The Ba’Neesh were watching the two of them avidly, clearly listening intently. They might not speak English but both Soek could guess they were fast learners. Was hearing English causing them to remember understanding English? Mick puzzled over the thought. It was edging the area in his head he was avoiding, punishing him with a slight headache.

“English?” He asked Edda.

She blinked, her head tilting. “Hear.” She answered as if plucking the word out of thin air.

It wasn’t a word he had said to her or heard said inside the aircraft. He nodded.

“Yes.” He said. He gestured. “We go to drink.” He repeated the pantomime of drinking.

“Yes.” All four answered in unison, clearly grasping his intentions.

“You have a weapon, Elias?” Mick asked.

“Of course.” He answered. “But, my weapon, like my devices, will leave a trace if I use it. I’ve got everything shut down completely. We want to avoid using them if possible. Last resort, yes?”

Mick headed down a game trail toward the river, the Ba’Neesh following the two Soek.

Elias was back to paying attention, his inner analyst and intel gathering skills kicking in. This was Mick in a wholly new environment. He couldn’t help but remember the way Mick had vanished into a tree in that graveyard, a mystery never fully explained in the rush of everything that had happened.

“Iiyiko?” He asked, he too could see the disturbance in the air riding just above Mick’s right shoulder. “Can the trees hide us here in some way if we need to disappear?”

“The Great One lives here.” She said obliquely.

“What does that mean?” Elias asked Mick.

“I don’t know exactly.” Mick answered. “Something about tree roots and a fungus. She calls the fungus a Great One.” He culled that tidbit from his remembered conversation with her in the tree.

Elias frowned. They had reached the river bank and found eight more of the Ba’Neesh squatting and drinking. Edda and the other two hurried forward to join them to a quick gabble in Neesh. The word ‘fuck’ was passed around.

“You had to teach them that word?” Elias asked Mick. They were drinking too. With no containers it might be a long time between drinks so each took their time to allow their bodies to rehydrate as fully as possible.

“The battle stopped.” Mick observed, ignoring the profanity discussion.

“About fifteen minutes ago.” Elias said. “No way to determine the outcome. The Akaitapi will be in communication with Serla and likely they can reach these locals, or we should guess something like that. I don’t know their range, do you?”

“Nine leagues.” Iiyiko answered smugly.

Mick and Elias shared a glance. “How long is a fucking league?” Mick asked.

Elias wrinkled up his face. “I used to know that, Gen Ed History.”

Mick frowned, the back of his neck was heating up. “Hey,” He said, “Stop that.”

“What?” Elias continued to concentrate, his Vrill escalating with the effort to recall the lost minor detail.

“Ow.” Mick yelped and pressed at his neck. “Stop that.”

“I’m just trying to remember how far a league is.” Elias could feel the memory, like a brain itch. He strained, focusing hard.

Mick punched him, squalling. “It hurts.”

Elias warded off further punches and then straightened. “It’s three nautical miles.” He said triumphantly.

“I fucking know, you moron.” Mick was rubbing hard at his neck. “You were digging in my brain too. That’s not fair.”

Elias frowned. “I can’t dig in your brain.” He said. “It is my memory, not yours.”

“Dumb ass, we now share memories.” Mick leaned forward and splashed his neck with water.

Elias’ mouth formed a large circle. “You mean like a sigil search that crossed from my brain to yours?” He asked in wonder.

“What do you mean, a sigil search?” Mick’s neck was cooling down and his curiosity was rising now that the pain had stopped.

“Well, you know how you focus really hard to remember some stupid detail in classes and you can feel your brain compressing and running a search like those on a device.”

“Yeah?”

“I felt that, and then the rising of Vrill.” Elias said, “I never thought Vrill might be connected with searching memory, that would mean it has to do with storing and sharing the memory too, wouldn’t it?”

“I guess.” Mick trailed off uncertainly. “I know it fucking hurt when your Vrill was digging around in my head.”

“Yeah.” Elias was getting excited, “But, for a little bit of your header pain I managed to dig out a forgotten memory. I don’t think I would have remembered on my own. I hated those memorization of worthless details classes, so fucking boring.”

“Remind me how great it is when I dig into your fucking brain with the blunt Vrill instrument of me searching for something stupid.” Mick answered. Then he looked up, his shift mercurial. “We need to go, right now. That way.” He pointed, rising to start off at a dead run.

He didn’t even look to see if the small crowd of recumbent Ba’Neesh and Elias were following. He knew they would. It was instinct. Elias ran after him, shaking his head. Mysteries. What was in Mick’s head?

Elias caught up with him fairly fast and said, “Nine leagues is roughly twenty-seven miles. Just thought you should know.”

Mick glared at him, his pace slowing to a more manageable speed. He wanted to think the urgency came from Iiyiko, but he knew it wasn’t Her, it was them, the Ba’Neesh ahead of him. Attractor, attractee, who was whom? He could feel escalated Vrill. It didn’t matter what it was, he had to reach them.

(Back to Mick and Elias, mischief and mayhem. Off we go to head into the larger mysteries of what is truly happening and why. Enjoy! More tomorrow. Star me!)