Robert Sheckley - Alien Harvest

The suppressor was working. It had been Mac's, but that was quite a while ago and now Mac was a bundle of wet fur on a garbage heap in an alien hive.

Gill knew he had to keep his mind on business. Usually, this was no problem for an android. Artificial men weren't bothered by random thoughts, stray insights, weasel realizations that came to them like thieves in the night. Not usually. But this time was different.

Gill found that his attention was divided. Part of him was observing the terrain he passed over, noting the presence and position of the aliens, watching as he drew nearer to the Lancet . But with another part of his mind he was thinking of Julie, seeing her as she had been just a day ago, vibrant and laughing, filled with life. He had felt something special for her then.

What was it? Was it what the humans called love? How could he find out? No human had been able to explain love to him. Even Stan grew embarrassed and turned away when Gill had asked him to explain the concept and give it a quantifiable value.

Humans were so strange, so filled with odd compunctions that covertly ruled their behavior. And now he had the most understanding of them he would ever have. It all came from stray thoughts, he told himself, and he worked hard to banish Julie's image from his mind as he approached the entry port of the Lancet .

Two of Potter's crew, heavily armed, were waiting for him in the entryway.

“I don't know how the hell you got through,” one of them said.

“I've got a pass,” Gill told them. They just stared at him. Gill decided that his first attempt at that key human quality, humor, hadn't been a success. But he reminded himself that he was new at it. Perhaps he would get better as he went along.

The two guards looked through the port visor. They could see the aliens, slowly drifting toward the ship, forming up against the almost invisible walls of the force field. They didn't do anything. Just stood there, their heads facing the ship, and it was as though some great power of attraction held them there. They were surrounding the force field that protected the harvester, too, more and more of them, and the sight of them was singularly uncanny and disquieting.

“We better tell the captain about this,” one of the guards said. To Gill he said, “Come on, you. Raise your arms. We're going to search you.”

Gill did as he was told. “I carry no weapons,” he told them.

“Sure. But we'll just check you anyhow. What happened to your arm?”

“I lost it at the movies,” Gill said. Again, the guards did not laugh. They just stared at him like he was crazy. Gill wondered what he was doing wrong. This humor thing was going to take some studying.

“Julie, can you hear me?”

Julie had been lying on the deck of the harvester near one of the heaters. Stan had found a blanket in one of the back bays and wrapped it around her. She looked better than she had since the accident.

“Stan?” she said. “I'm very cold.”

“Let me see if I can find another blanket,” Stan said. “I already have these heaters going full blast.”

He stood up to go, but Julie reached out and grabbed his arm. “No, don't leave me, Stan. We're in a lot of trouble, aren't we?”

“To one way of thinking, yes, we are. But to another, we're in no trouble at all. We're together, and we're going to stay that way. Here, Julie, I have something for you. For us both, actually.”

He reached into his jacket pocket and brought out the little case containing the Xeno-Zip ampoules.

There were six of them. He uncapped one and lifted Julie's head so she could drink. When she took down the first ampoule, he matched her with one, then uncorked another.

“We aren't supposed to take more than one, are we?”

“I've got a special dispensation,” Stan said. “Don't worry, it'll do us no harm.”

Julie swallowed the contents of a second ampoule. She shuddered, then laughed. “You were right, Stan. I feel a lot better.”

“Me, too,” Stan said, sitting down on the deck beside her and holding her close to share the warmth. “This is nice, isn't it?”

“It's very nice, Stan,” Julie said. “We never found much time for this before, did we?”

“Unfortunately not. Sometimes it takes a long time to realize what a good thing is.”

“As long as it happens sometime,” Julie said. “Don't worry, Julie. We're going to get out of this.”

“I'm sure we are,” Julie told him. “One way or the other.” She could feel the pain leaving her body. How miraculous the Xeno-Zip was! What a pleasure it was to be free of pain.

She knew it had to be the same way for Stan. For the moment they were both young and strong and were going to live forever. This could only last a little while. But perhaps, she thought, it'll be long enough. The radio kicked into life. “Dr. Myakovsky! Are you there?” It was Captain Hoban from the Dolomite .

“I have to issue a few last-minute instructions,” Stan said to Julie. “Excuse me, my dear, I'll be back as soon as I can.”

In the Dolomite , Hoban had been working hard to keep the location of his ship a secret. He had no doubt what Potter would do if he knew there was another ship in the area, and where it was situated. He had no intention of sharing the fate of the Valparaiso Queen , the wreck that silently circled the planet. He hadn't known quite what to do. But then Stan's message had come to him, and he had no choice but to make contact.

“Sir,” Hoban said, “I need to tell you, by radioing me, you have compromised this ship's position. You shouldn't have done that, sir.”

“Now, now,” Stan said. “I have a plan whereby Potter and his crew will be neutralized. There will be nothing to prevent you from making rendezvous with us at these coordinates as soon as possible.”

“I understand, sir,” Hoban said. “But there is a problem. From your present location, it is going to take me at least twenty minutes to get to you.”

“As long as that?” Stan exclaimed. From where he sat, he could see through one of the viewports as the aliens massed in front of the force field, not trying to get through it — that would have been impossible — but coming together in ever-growing numbers, those behind pushing away those in front They were crowded as close to each other as they could get and some of them were mounting on the back of others, and others were climbing on top of those.

Stan saw at once what was going to happen. They were going to keep on piling themselves up until they were able to topple over the rim of the force field, which was only about twelve feet high. Then they'd come for him and Julie.

He didn't want to think about it, so he took refuge in analysis.

This swarming behavior was probably some sort of instinctual mechanism for getting them over barriers that were otherwise impassable. It was really very interesting. Ari had to see this.

Stan took out the cybernetic ant, poised him on a fingertip, and lifted his hand so Ari could see through the viewport.

“See what's happening, Ari? Are you taking it all in? Future generations are going to be very interested in what we have done today.”

The little creature gave no sign that he was listening, yet he showed a certain alertness.

Stan continued, “You've been a good companion, Ari. Silent and uncomplaining. Who could ask for anything more? I only wish Norbert were here, too. You'll have to tell them how it was with us, Ari. If you get out of this, that is.”

Ari, as usual, was silent.

“Stan!” Julie called.

“I'll be right over,” Stan answered. He broke the connection with Hoban and changed frequencies. In a moment the sullen face of Captain Potter appeared on the viewscreen.