Alien General's Baby (Brion Brides 7)(57)

Alona stepped closer to skewer it to the ground, but before that, the enemy looked up, right at Naima. The smile on its face was familiar, belonging to someone who was used to grinning with razor-sharp fangs.

"You didn't think I'd forgotten about you, did you?" the Fearless asked. "Welcome to Darius, Miss Jones. Congratulations. You are the only one leaving here alive, but have no worry. I will ease your grief. Come see me, if you dare. I will gift you the spear stained with your champion's blood."

Naima’s blood ran cold.





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Naima





No, was Naima's first reaction.

It was also her second, third, fourth. And on and on until what seemed like the end of time.

No. Braen can't be dead. That's not possible. He wouldn't do that to me.

Her heart confirmed that belief, but words were words. Naima couldn't deny that the ones the enemy android had uttered with the voice of the Fearless had cut deep.

Kerven stepped up, jamming his spear into the android's back without ceremony. The light went out in its eyes, literally. Naima stood with shaking legs, trying to picture her life without the general by her side.

Her mind said: "No image available."

The young warrior looked to her with eyes that longed for revenge. Naima had never seen him like that, always associating Kerven with a cool and collected behavior – most unusual for a Brion. Now, he was shaking from head to toe, clearly aching to move on and kill the Fearless himself to avenge his commander.

Alona came closer too, picking its way between the fallen bodies of its artificial clones.

The AI didn't look sad, not even a little. The general had revealed to Naima that Sinetha had sent her most human-like proxy to them, with the explicit purpose to win her trust and then kidnap her. She was now beginning to wonder if Alona was some pet project of Sinetha's, one equipped with a program far beyond the others, just like her body was tougher than the rest.

Most of the androids the Chali used were able to replicate emotions through a simulator that picked between the best suited actions according to an algorithm. The more Naima saw it in action, the more she was convinced that Alona had a personality core instead – one that developed a true idea of self, with values and beliefs that built over time, predicted but ultimately out of control of its creators.

It hadn't just ripped itself free from its mistress, Alona was glad to be free. The AI had obviously hated belonging with the traders.

"I'm sorry for your loss," the android said and just like that, those few words knocked Naima back to reality.

She'd tried to concentrate on Alona, on her task. Anything to avoid even considering the idea that the Fearless wasn't lying, trying to lure her into an obvious trap.

"He's not dead," Naima replied, hearing how badly her voice was shaking.

It had nothing to do with the cold. She stood there, in the middle of an alien tundra, accompanied by two companions and far from the man she loved. How had she gotten there?

She thought about her baby. It felt like she'd let their child down, although it was a ridiculous notion that she could have helped Braen in a battle in any way. Yet she'd somehow lost the baby's father, hadn't she?#p#分页标题#e#

Kerven and Alona were exchanging looks.

"It's possible the enemy lies, of course," the warrior spoke first, trying to force calm into his own voice. "The general is extremely capable. It is very unlikely that he –"

"No," Alona stopped him, its usually soft voice sharp like a blade. "This is not helping. Denying a possibility like that does not aid us. Naima, I know you do not want to hear this, but the Fearless might not be lying.

“We have to proceed with the presumption the general might be dead, in which case destroying the android army is more pivotal than before. The enemy cannot be allowed to leave the planet with a force like that."

It made sense. Everything always made sense with Alona, who was basing its arguments on facts, ignoring the emotions that drove beings of flesh, even though she was capable of understanding them. Even Kerven, an ardent and dutiful warrior of the commander was nodding reluctantly, understanding the logic of battle.

"He's not dead," Naima repeated.

Alona rolled its eyes. It was such a human action that Naima stopped and stared for a moment. On a mechanical construct, it looked like blinking very slowly. It sighed dramatically, a habit it had probably picked up from humans and possibly Naima herself.

"I'm aware humans experience what is called "denial", an unwillingness to accept the truth. The galaxy is at stake, Naima," Alona went on. "We have to move and we have to be particularly careful now that the Fearless knows we're here."

"I'm not in denial," Naima snapped, although she didn't know what she was basing that statement on.

Somewhere on the edge of her vision and her mind, a light bloomed like the ray of hope that it was. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to catch it by the tail before it slipped away. Next to her, Naima was aware of Kerven and Alona shifting uncomfortably. One alive and one mechanical, neither one of them knew what to do with a grieving person, but Naima wasn't ready to bury Braen yet. They were both used to action – born to it or programmed – and her hesitation was grating on their nerves.

And then the pain ended, just like that. Like a vice around her heart, the thought of never seeing the general again, never cuddling into his arms, was gone and Naima opened her eyes.

"He's not dead," she said for the final time, cutting in to Alona's attempt to silence her: "No, listen to me! I'm not letting my feelings get the best of me. Do you remember what the Fearless said? That he'd present me with the bloody spear of my champion?"

Kerven and Alona nodded grimly.

"Yes," Kerven said, a dark look in his eyes. "It is to be expected. Our spears are the symbol of the Brions. Whenever an enemy manages to gain a temporary victory over us, the spears are valuable trophies."

"That's not what I meant," Naima said, walking past both of them and heading once more towards the gigantic Chali mothership. "The Fearless didn't mention the lifestone."

She kept walking, smiling to herself when the other two caught up, quiet and pensive.

"That doesn't prove anything," Alona put in.

"Yes, it does," Naima argued. "This is the enemy we're talking about. The lifestone is all it has desired for a while now, ever since its last incarnation. It would most definitely notice and it would take it from the spear. I would have felt a change in the enemy, no matter how miniscule and the Fearless would have boasted about it."

To that, neither one of them had a good counter-argument. They rushed on, Naima trying to keep up as best as she could. Time was running out and every second brought the possibility of another ambush.

All around them, Brion squads were keeping an eye on them from a distance, forming a perimeter to find every stray android that slipped from the battle to come and hunt them. Six had gotten through, but that barely mattered anymore.

In the mothership, more dangers and the heart of the army waited. And somewhere, in the dark depths of it, the Fearless lurked.

Naima was honestly amazed by how her legs still kept moving in the direction of the beast, but the answer was simple enough. She was doing it for Braen, for the future she wasn't willing to let go.

"Very well," Alona said finally as they reached the immense shadow of the Chali ship, their trek having been conducted in silence since leaving the sight of the small battle. "I will agree that it is more likely the Fearless hasn't faced the general yet. You cannot however rule out that it could still end that way."
#p#分页标题#e#
"I'm ruling nothing out," Naima said coldly. "I've been prepared for a while now. I don't expect you to understand, but I'm holding on to hope until the last moment."

Respectfully, Alona didn't comment that.

Above their heads, the sky seemed to be on fire. It started raining metal and people and everything in between. The Chali fleet had arrived.



The inside of Sinetha's ship was even more horrible than Naima could have imagined. The walls were lined with half-built androids, looking like mutilated people with their mistress gone for as far as the eye could see. The facial expressions struck her the hardest, with their jaws ripped open like they were screaming endlessly.

The floors were covered in slime and gore and blood, making it even more slippery than the ice fields outside. Naima’s party ventured deeper carefully, the narrow corridors echoing with sounds of battle. There was fighting going on and Naima had to hope that somewhere, Braen was getting closer to his target.

Closer to killing it once and for all.

The ship looked like it was ravaged by a storm, only from the inside. Naima could almost hear the screams of Sinetha's frightened crew as they realized that for once, they'd poked something too powerful for them to handle and that there was no profit to be made. She had only hate for the traders, but no one deserved the Fearless upon them.

Here and there, she saw pieces of what looked like flesh lying around on the floor. Some were covered by cloth, others had mechanical parts still attached to them.

"What are these?" Naima asked, whispering despite the fact that the raging battle hid the sounds of their footsteps and speech.