Chapter 17

Insidious

~ Haden ~

Haden awoke the next morning to find that Venice had left without saying goodbye. Turning over, he pulled the cushion she slept on to his face and breathed in her light floral scent. The sleeping platform smelled strongly of all the mating they’d enjoyed the night before. Reluctant to rise on his day off, he snuggled under his bed coverings. Images of them flipping around his huge platform, mating in every conceivable position, filtered through his mind.

His beautiful queen had been so desperate for his touch, his kisses and his cock. He’d remember how she looked giving him the reverse halabow the rest of his long life. She appeared to love sucking on him and giving him immense pleasure every single minute of the evening. Haden loved seeing her face flush with pleasure over and over again.

His door chime sounded over and over again. Crawling out of bed he voice prompted it open, hoping it was Venice returning to him. Haden jerked on his undergarments and headed out to his main room.

Standing in the middle of his floor were Raec and his brother. They both looked more disheveled that he could ever remember them being. “Are we under attack? What is going on?”

Raec paced back and forth anxiously. Arac was pale and his eyes looked haunted. Finally, Raec spoke. “Remember when we thought it was something about us that brought out the worst in our queens?”

Haden tilted his head, his antenna searching around to pick up shock, fear and disperse. “Yes. We determined that was not true, as our human queens are well.”

Raec’s trembling voice whispered, “They are not. One by one, they are changing.”

“What do you mean changing? They are growing lashes out of their back, like our queens of old?”

“No, but they act like our old queens.”

“I spoke to both your queens only two nights ago. They were well.”

“My Helena has been having episodic problems for many weeks. She becomes angry, belligerent and physically violent at times. Then she is well. I was confused and did not know what to think. The episodes began increasing in intensity, frequency and duration.”

“She woke up this morning in a fury, sounding so much like Kabelda that I knew not what to think. She has gone up to the battle cruiser and means to fly it through the rift.”

Grabbing his com, he called Venice. After several tries, he gave up. “What do you think could be causing it?”

“I would tell you if only I knew.”

Arac dropped down into a chair. “My Tara does not simply sound like Kabelda. She is becoming our former queen.”

Kneeling before his friend’s brother, Haden asked quietly, “What do you mean she is becoming Kabelda? Kabelda is long dead, you know this, Arac.”

“My Tara told me things that only Kabelda ever did. She said even death could not separate us and she’s come back from the grave to claim me. How can my Tara know the words of a dead woman?”

“And the others are falling as well?”

“Queen Carolyn is well, as are the other queens. It is only the queens of me and my spawn mates. Why is this happening, Haden? You are one of the smartest and strongest among us. You must have some inkling of why this is happening.”

“I do not dare to speak what I think.”

“My general demands we join with her aboard the battleship. She demands our other queens come. She calls them her sister queens, Tara, Alexis and even little Penny. Armon is beside himself with grief as are the other Golugua.”

“What of the newest to your family, Queen Ember?”

“They have elected to live in the city center along with the young Maruvian queen we rescued and her family. The general has not called for either of them.”

“Alert your father to begin scanning for fragments of Kabelda’s parasite. I believe some of its genetic matter might have infected our queens. If we can find it and remove it early enough, perhaps they can be saved.”

“Her body was taken to our property and burned.”

“Did you encase her body in anything?”

“The Golugua dragged her as she dropped. Gods of chaos, you are right. Small pieces of the parasite might have fallen off or become snagged on branches. It never occurred to us then that the lashes were not part of her normal biology, so we were not careful.”

“I do not know for sure but this seems like the most likely explanation for the personality changes we are seeing.”

Arac shuddered. “I believe you are correct, Haden. I have no wish for my Tara to suffer any longer than necessary under Kabelda’s control. We must rescue her and remove the parasite.”

“I fear my storyteller is aboard that vessel with her and her newfound sisters. How difficult will it be for us to fight the ones we love?”

Coming to his feet on one swift move, Arac spoke. “I will see to my Tara. If she cannot be saved, she will receive the mercy of death at my hand, for I know she would never wish to survive only to maim and kill.”

Raec stepped to his side. “Agreed. Shall we proceed?”

With grim determination they headed to the landing strip and caught shuttles to the battleship. Haden noticed Raec whispering into his com device, informing his father of their suspicions. The older drone was their primary healer. If a way to neutralize the parasite could be found, Vraden was the drone to do it.

Nothing could have prepared Haden for seeing their beloved queens snarling and hissing orders. Their expressions were contorted into a mask of haughty superiority and their normally kind demeanor was nowhere to be found. Arac and Raec fell into line alongside their queens. Haden broke off on his own to see if Venice was aboard this ship or the other. He prayed it was the other, but luck was not his friend today.

Using the ships sensors, he discovered she was in an old utility room located on the lower deck, along with a small group of drones and Golugua. He hotfooted it down there and was once again shocked by what he saw.

Venice and her Golugua friend were both working on a contraption of some sort. It looked like a cross between a medical scanner and a blaster, only it was huge.

“You are doing that wrong, little human. You can’t bypass the coupler assembly that way.”

“I’m not bypassing every single one. I’m bypassing every other one. Trust me, it will increase the yield by almost a full seven percent.”

“Sure, if it does not blow up in your face when you trigger the mechanism.”

“We need as much range and force as possible.”

Haden stepped forward. “What are you doing, my queen?”

Running to him, Venice jumped into his arms. “Thank God you’re here. The other women are bat shit crazy today. We scanned Helena earlier this morning. We think she picked up some kind of virus or something.”

“And you hope to use this device to do what exactly?”

“We hope to use low grade radiation to kill or remediate the virus. The drones have been assisting us and digging up parts. Right now we’re focusing our efforts on creating the beam to be wide enough to capture them in a tightly formed group. Our concern is—”

“It’s not a virus. It’s a parasite from the fallen queen Kabelda. She taunts Arac so we know it is her. Where did you get this idea?”

Venice looked sheepish. “On Earth they use radiation treatment to fight certain kinds of cancer. We were brainstorming solutions and the drones thought we could modify the idea to attack the strange viral or bacterial infection.”

“It is a good idea. We need to create a functional prototype as soon as possible. The parasite is probably replicating and spreading, even as we speak.” Picking up the strange device, Haden began working on it. Making it strong enough to kill off the parasite but not the host was the trick. Donella was already building in filters to protect the human tissue from most of the damage. The Golugua was intelligent when it came to design and planning. Her talents were being wasted by being assigned to an engineering repair crew.

Haden glanced up at Venice’s worried face. “I know what it feels like to be controlled by Kabelda. Though she used a mechanical device rather than infecting my body with her parasite, it is still dispiriting to have one’s free will superseded by another. I must save them or die trying, my queen. Please do not judge me too harshly for leaving you.”

“That’s not happening. I’m staking my claim to you right damn now. As your queen, I command you to figure out a way to save the human women and survive.”

Flicking through each system on the device, he murmured, “Perhaps if I can pull this off, I might actually feel like I deserve your love.”

Reaching over, Venice pulled him down by the neck of his uniform. “You still aren’t listening to me. I don’t care if you think you deserve me. I’m one-hundred percent sure I deserve you, so don’t let me down.”

“You wish is my command, my queen.”

“Like hell it is. You’re you own person. Obey my commands only as they suit you.”

Grinning at her, he yelled over his shoulder. “I need twelve plasma packs and three strings of magnetite wiring that’s five triton in diameter.”

“You’re going to do this, aren’t you?”

“You better believe I am.”

“God, I’m so glad you came.”

“I’d never leave you on your own to deal with anything dangerous, much less something like this.”

“We’re gonna get through this, right?”

Leaning over, Haden gave her a quick kiss. “We are. Today is one of those days where we drones will pull together and partner with the Golugua to make sure every drone gets his queen back.”

Unless he missed his guess, his lovely storyteller relaxed a little. A drone walked up and flopped the items he requested on the table. “Pass the word that all drones are to stand down their weapons upon my approach.”

“Yes, sir. Do we have any idea when the device might be finished?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Arac is in chains and he is not reacting well.”

Doubling down his effort, Haden mumbled under his breath, “As soon as possible. We need a test subject.”

“I’ll gather some drones.”

Venice spoke up. “Drones are not a good control group. Their physiology is totally different from humans.”

“We’re not testing the device on you, my queen.”

Reaching out, she grasped his arm. “You are going to test it on me. Don’t worry, I trust you to get the calibration right.”