Tobias Buckell - Ragamuffin

Like standing on the inside of a giant world. But no grass or forests like a human habitat. Every available inch of the space dotted with glistening cocoons. Eggs. Teotl. Massive polyps sprung from a ground saturated with a nutrient web. John dug at this with a foot. Faint white wires that broke in a gush of fluid.

This was a colony ship festooned with the creatures waiting to molt into their various forms. An invasion force. John swallowed. Each of those things was capable of turning into a creature adapted for competing with humans for any environment they happened to be in. Or just shoving them aside.

The stump of Metztli’s missing tentacle had been covered in an amoebalike substance. Metztli inched toward John in a sedan festooned with spiny bones. The foot part of the sedan picked up speed, slipping down a smooth track toward them. Pepper followed close behind.

They both stopped in front of John.

The Teotl twisted and regarded John with lidded eyes. “We are the last of our kind, aboard this ship. We are in desperate need of your help. This is the truth. Can you convince your friend to take the collar off me?”

“You have lied before. I’d rather see it on,” John said. “You talk as if reformed, but you let the Azteca take Capitol City, you rule it with fear.”

“I know.” The Teotl waved one of its healthy metal-tipped tentacles. “It was dirty, and quick, and uncivilized. But imagine that any moment now our devices holding the wormhole closed will be overcome. When our masters pour out from it to destroy us, they will destroy you too. It is in your interest to assist us.”

John leaned toward the sedan and grabbed one of the spikes. He bent it under his hand. “You are designed to understand us and talk to us. I’ve met your type before. You’re dangerous.”

“We both are.” It held up the stub of the tentacle John and Pepper had cut off. Then it tapped the collar. “As Pepper noted, if I try to remove this, I’ll die. An effective device, we made. And on a bigger scale, no one won the mess we were orbiting. But despite all that hostility, even we are capable of learning from mistakes.”

“Learning to put that behind us isn’t easy.”

“We did not pretend it to be. But we have a higher goal now. Survival. We do not want your world, it is yours to do with what you will. It’s in too dangerous a position for us. We want to follow the other wormhole out to the human worlds. We want to find a place to hide there, and allies to help us keep the wormhole back where we came from closed. It will require a lot of energy.” The Teotl’s sedan began to ooze down the shallow trough, and John walked with it.

John looked around at the soft, wet corners of the world he walked inside. Suppose this was it for humanity and he had the remains of his entire race in this craft. What would he do with the weight of an entire species on his shoulders?

And what if this was just one big snow job?

“Where are we going now?” he asked.

“We will show you the reopening of the wormhole back to the human worlds. We are about to break orbit.”

John paused. “Bring my son with us.” He folded his arms and stared at the Teotl as it slowly slid past him. “I demand he stand with me. There is no reason to separate us.”

“It will be done.” The sedan lurched to a halt. The Teotl turned to John. “You are possessive.”

“I want him to see this.” Wanted him to see their return to the rest of the worlds, something John had dreamed of for far too many years. And he didn’t want to be pulled apart. They’d been through enough. And if Pepper had something up his sleeve, better Jerome stayed close to John.

The sedan slithered its way along the track again.

“My son,” John snapped.

“Will join us in the viewing, yes. You are very protective of your offspring. We go to join him.” The Teotl wiggled a tentacle. “Come.”

John unfolded his hands and followed the alien. Pepper leisurely strolled behind them both.

Ahexotl had flown from Tenochtitlanome by one of the alien airships, and now his entire personal guard marched up the steps into the Minsterial Mansion. Xippilli watched them flow past his own warriors into the building.

He moved from the balcony, sat down at his desk, and waited.

Ahexotl walked in, his gold-threaded cape flowing behind him. He stood before the desk. The door shut behind him, and it was just the two of them.

Xippilli stared up at him.

“The gods are now leaving this world. They want another two hundred warriors to load into their machines, and then they leave.”

Xippilli frowned. “We’re no longer looking for the councilmen?” He had hunted down a handful of them for the Teotl, immortals like John and Pepper who founded Nanagada all those years ago.

“No, the Teotl are happy with the two we found them. They seem to be on a fast schedule.” Ahexotl grinned. “Your work is done.”

“I’m to step down?”

“Yes. The lenience disturbs the pipiltin back in Tenochtitlanome. And, Xippilli, I think it would be best for you to keep to the shadows for now. Your feelings are well-known, and your usefulness for finding immortals isn’t needed.”

“And you will take control of the city?” Xippilli said.

“Warriors are flowing over Mafolie Pass and into Brungstun, and from there they’ll move along the coast towards this city. We are taking the whole land again. I am the new pipiltin of Nanagada.”

Ahexotl’s dreams of business had grown into desire for an empire. Xippilli wondered if the pipiltin back in Tenochtitlanome realized just how dangerous Ahexotl could be.

“What is to become of me?” Xippilli asked.

“A small, but well-paid, position as a clerk. You will be well looked after, my friend, despite your peculiar beliefs and love of this city.” Ahexotl walked toward the window. “And as one land, trade will be ever so profitable. And don’t worry, Xippilli, the blood will be spilled to our gods carefully. I am no more interested in giving the priests the power they once had than you are.”

Xippilli looked at the new ruler of Nanagada and thought about his own future as a clerk, hiding and in fear of his life. He would see friends give their lives, no doubt, as sacrifices.

And then Xippilli listened to the sound of the warriors lining up to board the Teotl airship. The last one up.

He looked over at the pistol. Killing Ahexotl would bring another just like him and end Xippilli’s life that much sooner. There was no way he could outfight Ahexotl either, not by sword or by hand.

Xippilli looked out across the town and thought about the pens of Nanagadans awaiting their fate.

“Ahexotl, I have a better idea,” Xippilli said.

Ahexotl turned. “Yes?”

“Send me up to lead the warriors. Get rid of me and any trouble I might bring right now.”

He’d caught Ahexotl off guard. “You really want to join them, in the sky?”

“Yes.” Xippilli stepped forward and looked at the alien airship on the bright green grass lawn. “If I’m of no use down here, maybe I can make something of myself up there, with the gods.”

He refused to look over. Let Ahexotl calculate for himself how convenient it would be to get rid of Xippilli, a well-known and loved leader here.

And up there maybe Xippilli could be of more help.

Ahexotl sat down in Xippilli’s chair. “Okay. Go, go to the stars.”

Ahexotl spun the chair around, pleased with himself. Xippilli turned to leave the room, trying to get out before Ahexotl changed his mind.

“Xippilli,” Ahexotl said.

“Yes.” Xippilli paused at the door.

“Up there, you won’t be able to save your friends, or them you. The gods rule there, even if they aren’t really gods.”