Tenacious

68

The Association of Associations was to meet at noon. Kris was there well ahead of time.

The plaza where the Alwans met was open, as was necessary to accommodate their endless shuffling about. Kris had two tables set up.

At one she held center place with Jack to her right and Granny Rita and Ada seated in comfortable chairs of Smart Metal^TM to her left. The other table was shared by the two felines, with four Ostriches from the south. Again, Smart Metal^TM adopted itself nicely to allow the two cats stools that let their tails twitch, as they eyed the birds not too obviously as prey. The Ostriches had a kind of nest for each of them.

They sat there as the Roosters strutted in, putting on minor displays and, in general, waiting for the acting pro tem leader. It had been years since they’d actually elected someone to call them to order. Now they passed the lead position from one to another according to some plan Granny Rita confessed she could not decipher.

Straight Tongue and his crew from the Alwa’s Sharp Eye View network arrived a bit after Kris. Their cameras today were much smaller than the one Kris had first been interviewed with. The mic the producer pinned to Kris’s shirt was downright dinky compared to what Kris had talked into a few months before.

Things were changing on Alwa. That was a problem for some and a joy for others.

Whoever the leader was, he finally crowed, and things got as quiet as a meeting of Alwan Roosters ever gets.

Behind her, Straight Tongue talked into his mic. Nelly translated.

“The heavy one, viceroy for her crowing leader, Kris Longknife, crowing leader in her own right, has petitioned to speak before the Association of Associations. We are bringing it to you live.”

MY TRANSLATOR IS WORKING FINE, KRIS. YOU TALK TO THE HUMANS. I’LL COVER THE BIRDS.

As Kris stood, two Marines ushered in a cylinder. Doc Meade in medical whites followed right behind them.

“I have shown you the battle that saved your planet,” Kris began.

A large white wall behind the speaker showed a hologram of the destruction of the first mother ship.

MY FEED OF THE BATTLE IS GOING OUT LIVE AND IN HIGH DEF THROUGH THE NETWORK, Nelly reported.

“You know that we heavy ones and many of your own fought the next alien mother ship that came to ravage your planet.”

Now the picture changed to show Ostriches manning lasers; humans, Ostriches, and Roosters working together to launch a Hellburner; and the second mother ship blowing itself up.

“I have found the aliens’ home world. I have found their holiest of holies. I have walked it with my own feet and seen what they crow about.”

The picture changed to show the contents of the pyramid.

“Here they bring one sample of the people of every planet they plunder. Here they bring a pile of heads. That is all that remains of the life on four hundred twelve planets.”

Around Kris, the Roosters came to a dead halt. Not one moved. Not one made a sound. All looked at the wall and the pictures on it.

They said they didn’t really believe what they didn’t see with their own eyes. From the looks of what Kris was seeing of them, some Alwans were making the connection.

“If the sight of what they put in their holiest of holies is not enough, I have an alien to crow to you here. Now. Dr. Meade.”

The cylinder folded back to show a bed. The gray-haired woman slept on it.

“I remind viewers,” was whispered by Straight Tongue, “that the aliens look exactly like the heavy people who have lived among us since our grandfathers’ times. However, they are very different. I am told that the two cannot mate and bear an egg.”

“Awaken her,” Kris ordered.

Doc Meade did something with her instruments, and the woman stirred. The doctor did more, and the woman rolled over and sat up on the edge of the bed.

Her eyes widened as she took in the view.

~Vermin. You are all vermin,~ she shouted.

Nelly translated for everyone present and watching over the net.

“I present you with an alliance of three sentient races,” Kris said evenly, as Nelly translated in bug-eyed monster. “They say to one and all that you will not add their heads to your house of horrors beneath that pyramid.”

~You are vermin,~ the woman spat.

KRIS, THE NETWORK IS GETTING ALL THIS. AND MY TRANSLATION.

GOOD, NELLY.

~You are all nothing but shit-eating vermin, and you will all die,~ the woman stormed on. ~The Enlightened One has sent the torch to all the ships. Together, we are more numerous than the stars. Our women are fruitful. We bear many warriors and workers. We will drown you in your own blood, and no one will ever remember your name.~

The woman was off her bed now and strutting around the plaza.

Before her, Roosters in her way got out of it. Those not, stood stark still.

KRIS, THERE’S A RISK THESE DAMN ALWANS WILL SURRENDER RIGHT HERE AND NOW TO HER, Granny Rita said on Nelly Net.

Kris stepped out to face the alien woman, almost chest to chest.

The Ostriches will like that.

“I have fought you five times,” Kris said curtly as Nelly translated for all. “Five times I have destroyed your people. Rather than face me, your so-called great Enlightened One took poison. You were ready to kill yourself once you had roared your empty threats at me.”

Kris turned her back on the woman and faced the Roosters. “You say you will drown us in our blood, but we have blown your ships to gas. It is you who have no one to remember you ever lived.”

The woman screamed. Kris whirled to find the alien charging her, arms out, fingers grasping for Kris’s throat.

Two pops sounded, and two sleepy darts appeared in the side of the woman facing Jack. He held his service automatic in the proper two-handed stance.

The woman collapsed face-first into the dirt of the plaza. She skidded to a halt with her arms still out, fingers twitching as if they might still clutch Kris’s throat.

Kris turned around slowly, addressing her words to the Association. Three cameras were carrying this. Three much smaller ones. “That is your enemy,” Kris shouted. “Will you cower before the likes of her, or will you fight with me? You must decide.”

Kris paused. “No, I am wrong. You may not cower before her. To her, you are only something to kill. Will you line up to fight with me, or will you line up to be slaughtered like chicks before her and those like her?”

Kris returned to her seat.

One of the Roosters shouted. “The Association has a proposal before it. Yes, it is from a heavy one, but it is a proposal. I call for a vote.”

“We must discuss this,” the pro tem said.

“What is there to discuss? With her we fight. With this monster, we die. I call for a vote.”

More voices were raised, calling for the vote.

I’VE NEVER SEEN THIS BEFORE, Granny Rita said on net. THERE’S NO MOVEMENT. THERE IS NO TALKING AMONG THEMSELVES. THEY ARE JUST STANDING THERE ALONE AND CALLING FOR A VOTE.

THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGING, Kris answered.

The vote was taken. It was unanimous. Another first. Even Straight Tongue remarked on that.