she’s got a catwalk to slay. Cat’s just kind of trudging in front of us, no doubt coming down from the kick of getting the Longbow on the ground in the first place. Behind me, Tyler and Zila are bringing up the rear, him carrying the containment system we need for the replacement core elements, her—well, exactly as expected. Stoic. She’s got a pair of telescopic binoculars pressed to her eyes as she walks, looking up into the sky instead of at what’s directly in front of her. There’s no signs she intends to shoot anyone, though, so that’s a bonus.
The undergrowth gets thicker as we travel, and we find ourselves walking in what might’ve been light woodlands before it was overrun with this … well, whatever it is. I’m walking in silence, still thinking about my dream, and maybe it’s because I’m so tuned in to the soft, distressed whines and hisses of my suit, that I think I hear the sound.
Behind us.
Rustle, rustle.
I stop, peer over my shoulder with narrowed eyes.
“All right, Finian?” Goldenboy asks, coming up beside me.
“… Do we know if there was any native fauna here?”
Zila glances at me. “Is there a reason for your query?”
“I thought I heard something,” I admit, my pulse pounding a little too quick.
“Most of the fauna on Octavia wasn’t very complex,” Auri says from up ahead. “At least from the early surveys and reports from the biology department. There were mice in the labs, though. And chimps, too. My dad worked with them.”
“There were what now?” My imagination’s supplying a steady stream of things that could match that name, most of them with claws and teeth I would not like to say hello to. Kal’s on alert immediately, his grip tightening on his disruptor rifle.
“Chimps,” Auri repeats.
“Pan paniscus,” Zila supplies helpfully.
“They’re almost the size of a regular person,” Auri explains. “Same basic build as us, same family tree. They’re covered in black hair, though. They climb really well.”
“So they’re just hairy humans?” I ask. “What’s the difference between a chimp and— Did you guys ever meet O’Donnell? There was a guy who sat behind me in mechaneering, and let me tell you—”
“They’re not human,” Tyler replies. “They’re highly intelligent, but they’re animals. What were they doing on the colony, Auri?”
“Initial environmental testing,” she said. “They’re the nearest thing to a human, without being one. Our DNA is almost identical. That’s why they were in the very first rockets ever launched from Earth as well.”
“Wait,” I butt in. “These things are smart enough to pilot spacecraft?”
Kal has his disruptor rifle up now, turning in a slow circle.
“They sound a deadly foe. …”
“No,” Auri corrects us. “Look … They’re not dangerous. And they didn’t fly those early ships, they were just passengers. We put them into space to see how it would affect them. Because physiologically, they’re a lot like humans.”
Pixieboy and I share a long look.
“But if these chumps … ,” I begin.
“Chimps,” she corrects.
“If they couldn’t fly the ships … how did they land them?”
“They didn’t have to,” says Auri. “It was automated.”
“So,” I say carefully, “just let me understand this. You dirtchildren took these animals nearly as smart as you, and shoved them in rockets and hurled them into space to see if it would melt their insides?”
“It wasn’t us personally,” Cat points out, defensive, and there’s a fair amount of foot-shuffling going on among Team Terran.
“Wow,” I say, looking about the group. “Did we Betraskans know about all this choomp murder when we allied with you?”
“Enough, Finian. Even if there were chimps here, that was two centuries ago, and …” Tyler trails off, no doubt thinking the same thing as the rest of us. Patrice Radke and her fine, ferny friend were here two centuries ago as well. Didn’t seem to stop them from roaming the galaxy.
Maker’s bits …
“Weapons,” says Kal simply, and when we continue, everyone’s holding one.
I don’t hear the rustle-rustle again.
Aurora leads us on through the spiny fronds, the suffocated trees, thick pollen falling around us like sticky blue rain. Our biosuits are soon covered with it, and we have to be careful about the fronds, too—the suits are tough, but not indestructible. It’s a couple of hours and several battles with the undergrowth later that we crest a hill, and find Butler colony in the valley before us.
Or at least, the ruins of Butler colony. Every building is wreathed in that green-blue foliage, crawling with creepers, every squared-off shape and hard angle softened