Read Online Defenders by Will McIntosh - Free Book Online Page B

morning.” There were five angry red abrasions on the Luyten’s side, just under one of its limbs. Oliver squinted, trying to see them better.
    They were almost perfect circles, like burns. Oliver turned, waved the room’s comm awake, and connected to Ariel.
    “Do you know how the Luyten sustained these injuries?”
    “Yes, we took it through a session of enhanced interrogation last night.”
    The answer threw Oliver. He’d half suspected that was the case, but Ariel’s matter-of-fact tone surprised him.
    “All right. Can you tell me what happened?”
    “Nothing,” Ariel said. “It was in obvious pain, but it didn’t communicate with anyone. We kept Kai in an adjoining room, in case it would only speak to him.”
    It surely wasn’t the first time they’d tortured a Luyten. Oliver went back to the cage. “Why did you choose that spot on its body?”
    “Autopsies show there’s a high concentration of nerve endings there.”
    Oliver nodded, trying to act as blasé about it as Ariel clearly was, though the thought of torturing the creature made him queasy.
    “Hi.” Kai was hovering in the doorway.
    “Come on in. You doing all right?”
    Kai nodded vaguely, looking uncomfortable. Oliver tried to think of something to say to put the kid at ease, one of those snappy things adults said that made kids laugh, let them know you weren’t so different from them. His mind was a fat blank.
    He went back to studying the Luyten. He wasn’t surprised that torture was ineffective. They were tough bastards. Given their telepathic nature, Oliver guessed being cut off from communing with its own kind was more distressing than electric shocks. Maybe it drew some sustenance from tapping into human minds, the way an amphetamine addict might draw meager sustenance from a cup of coffee.
    “Kai, when you and Five were communicating, did he seem, I don’t know, like he was glad to have you to talk to?”
    Kai bit his bottom lip. “I guess. He told me we had a lot in common.”
    “What did you have in common?”
    Kai scrunched his face, thinking. “I don’t remember the exact words, but it was how we were both scared and lonely. Or something like that.”
    “You haven’t mentioned that before.”
    Kai looked at the floor. “I forgot about it until you asked. Sorry.”
    “No, not a problem. Thank you for remembering.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    If loneliness was unpleasant for it, what would happen if it was completely isolated? If the Luyten reached out to Kai not only as a means of getting food, but for companionship, it meant it could fulfill some of its social needs through contact with humans.
    “I think I may know a way to torture it for real,” Oliver said.

9
Lila Easterlin
July 16, 2029. Savannah, Georgia.
    Lila was in the backyard working on the solar array she hoped would soon power their house, when the emergency siren sounded.
    It was a mournful sound, a giant dog who’d been put out on a cold night. Her terror found another gear, one she hadn’t known existed. There were no drills; if the siren was sounding, the Luyten were coming.
    She raced inside to find out what was going on.
    Her father met her inside the door, holding both of their emergency evacuation bags.
    “Where are we going?” Lila asked.
    Her father handed Lila her bag. “Atlanta.”
    “
Atlanta?
” Atlanta was hundreds of miles from Savannah, all of it starfish territory. He might as well have said Mars.
    Dad headed toward the front door. “They’re coming, Lila. Savannah is going to fall. Atlanta’s the closest place that’s safe.”
    That couldn’t be right. “There’s nowhere between here and there?”
    “No. There’s nothing left but the cities. Let’s go.”
    “Can I—” She was going to ask if she could grab a few more things before they left, since they were never coming back, but the look on his face silenced her. He was terrified, his eyes wild.
    She climbed into their Toyota, her knees shaking as her father set the