Killer Kittens from Outer Space- Chapter Twenty Eight

My latest university assignment is a long-form fiction, and it's taking up a large chunk of my writing brain. It would be nice if I could submit this one, but apparently that would still be plagiarising, even though I wrote it. Sigh.

Next chapter out Thursday (US time).

Please Enjoy.


“And that’s all the doc said? That my body rejected them?” Ana’s brain was grasping at straws to make sense of this new information. Implants. A slimy, crawling sensation wriggled its way down her back, and she shuddered. Part of her wasn’t sure she could believe it; maybe these two were part of some faction that wanted to strike a rift between the Imperium and its first human recruit. There were undoubtedly those who would benefit from such a thing.

It was the looks on the faces of the two aliens opposite her that made Ana believe they were telling the truth though. They were terrified, and her translator confirmed it.

Both kespans shook their heads. “All he said was that there was swelling in the front of your brain and that you had multiple rejected implants,” Skara said. “The nurse said there was nothing on your medical record to suggest you even had them in the first place. It always takes time to study new species’ biology before anything more invasive than the translator chips is permitted for installation, so we… we thought it was odd.”

She swallowed, looking between the table and Ana’s eyes in clear discomfort. “We were asked to leave after that; they were about to operate. I don’t know much about human technology, so I thought maybe there was a slim chance that you’d had something implanted before the Imperium arrived, but…” she tailed off when she saw the look on Ana’s face. “I gather that’s not the case.”

Ana’s hand went to the bandage on her head. “They called it a stress-induced episode. Said I hit my head on the way down.”

“You weren’t bleeding when we carried you in,” Jelakka shook his head grimly.

Ana’s fist clenched underneath the table. Someone is lying, and I don’t think it’s these two. But how deep does this go? When would they even have had the chance to mess with my head in the first place? She thought back.

“My translator chip installation,” she said aloud. “Right before I decided to join the Imperium’s military. It took me a week to recover from that surgery, the nurse said there were some minor complications. Then the job offers started coming in straight after and I… I just accepted,” she frowned.  “I negotiated for a combat role. It-it seemed like a good idea.” Why had she accepted so readily though? 

The churning in her stomach reached a fever pitch, and she stood on wobbly legs. “I… I need to…” The restaurant swam around her as she made a mad dash for the bathroom, barely reaching a stall before the bile that had been building in the back of her throat overflowed. She retched until nothing came up, then knelt with her head in her hands, blinking away tears.

She felt violated. The crawling sensation wouldn’t stop, like a thousand skittering cockroach legs formicating beneath her skin. She wanted, needed a shower, but had to settle for cold water out of the taps in the bathroom instead, splashing it over her face and gargling to remove the bitter taste of sick from her tongue.

When she returned to the table, the aliens had set aside a third of the fish and rice in her place and had already made a dent in their portions.

Skara shot her an apologetic look as she slid back into the booth. “Sorry, we were hungry, and it smelled so good that—”

“It’s fine,” Ana said, curtly. Not trusting her stomach, she sipped at her water instead. Drinking helped, and she set the cup down firmly when it was empty. “I need to know something.”

“Y-yes?” Jelakka stammered, a piece of sushi falling from his chopsticks as he tried to emulate the other diners in the room.

“These implants… there are lots of different types, right?”

“Oh, certainly,” he confirmed, trying in vain to pick up the offending salmon slice before resorting to using his fingers— the staff had not provided forks. “There are implants for interfacing, communicating, for medical reasons…”

“Do any of them….” Ana’s voice hitched in her throat and she swallowed. “Change the way you think?”

Both kespans hesitated again, and the pit in Ana’s stomach deepened.

“That… it depends on what you mean,” Skara said cautiously, her voice low. “Your translator can talk to you in a sense; you’ll have noticed soon after it went in that it can tell you things, like the body languages of other species.” She hesitated, then plowed ahead. “They can’t force you to do something you don’t want to, but they can be made to whisper things. Malware installed on them can use low-level repeating signals that wear you down mentally the same way repeated exposure to propaganda material can, but faster and better. It’s why we’re always cautioned from very young never to mess with the software of our translation hardware. Some services can scan them for abnormalities, and creating or distributing unauthorized software for them is an automatic jail sentence.”

“And they still just…. hand these chips out to every citizen like candy?” Ana gaped.

Skara shrugged. “They’re useful,” she said simply. “In the core worlds, where so many species live piled on top of one another, you might be able to get away with using galactic standard for most things, but not every species even uses sound to communicate. Others are completely blind and can only use sound. Once you start traveling any further out than that things only get more complicated. The chips level the field.”

“We’re getting off topic,” Jelakka interrupted. “Aside from what your translator chip can do if things go wrong, there are also implants that can regulate hormones and create positive feedback loops in response to external stimuli. They’re only legal to use in prisons to keep violent inmates under control, or in extreme cases of mental illness to keep the patient docile,” he turned away, looking stricken. “All of those things used in conjunction with an AI that’s been given an express set of directions would create… a rather strong persuasive effect.”

“First killer nanobots, and now brainwashing tech.” Ana hissed. “How could your society be okay with that? It’s monstrous!”

“They’re completely illegal in every other application,” Jelakkar insisted. “There are steps in place to ensure that they’re only used in serious cases. Being caught making use of illegal implants is a huge deal. If people found out that you’d been subjected to anything like that—”

“The fact that they’re legal in any circumstances at all is horrific,” Ana snapped. “And with your government’s track record of misusing wildly dangerous technology, I’m willing to bet there have been cases where the Imperium has been caught with its hand in the cookie jar before.”

The look on the journalist’s face was enough of an answer, and Ana clamped down on the urge to smack her fist down on the table.

“Look,” she continued, making an effort to keep her voice down below the chatter of the restaurant, which had slowly resumed since they’d taken their seats. “Say I believed you, and hypothetically, I’d been feeling and thinking differently ever since I woke up yesterday. Where the fuck would I even begin to address this? What would you do in my position?”

“I’d be extremely careful,” Jelakka answered slowly. “I’d never go under the knife again, not in an Imperial facility, not until I knew who was responsible. I’d start paying attention to anyone in a powerful position who has approached me over the next few days. Any behavior that’s out of character, anyone who starts treating you differently.

“I’d also keep in mind,” he met her eyes now, “that we are on the frontier of explored space. Things are possible out here that wouldn’t be possible if we were closer to the core worlds. Money changes hands faster, lives are bought more cheaply.  Of course, it’s also possible that the doctor was wrong and there were no implants after all.”

“But you don’t think that’s the case.”

The male pursed his lips. “…No. No, I don’t.”

Both of Ana’s fists clenched reflexively, and she made an effort to open them, looking down at her fingers. Her eyes fell on her trigger finger. I’ve killed people with these hands, killed them on behalf of the Imperium. Sure, they were people she might have killed in a similar situation as an officer, but if she couldn’t even trust her own reasoning… They clenched themselves again, and this time they stayed shut.

“I’ve been… angry since I woke up,” she admitted, and the pair across from her winced collectively. “It’s like I’ve been living under a nice comfortable blanket of justifiable bullshit for the past six months.” She looked up, a scowl on her face. “If I find out that this is true, that someone’s been messing with my brain…” She stood, abruptly, and the couple flinched, avoiding her eyes. “Thank you for telling me all this. I need to make a call.” She reached for the bag.

“I still need an interview—" Jelakka started before the words fizzled out in his mouth at the look Ana shot him. He sighed, then held up both hands as Ana went to take her phone out. “Just hear me out, please. The Admiralty is expecting an interview out of this meeting. I can’t just leave here empty handed or there will be questions. They’ll think I’ve hidden the tapes.”

“I get that,” Ana snapped. “But I’m not exactly in a state to smile for the camera right now. Just tell them I was feeling poorly and requested you delete the footage and reschedule, I’ll back the story.” She pulled her communicator from the sack, and both aliens sat back in their seats with wary expressions.

“Fine,” Jelakka nodded, his words taking on a more stilted tone.

It took less than two seconds for Vrina to pick up the call. “Ana,” she greeted her. “The staff said that you’d gone out for lunch with the cute reporter and his wife. All good?” Her voice took on a more sly note, “Are you calling to tell us you’ll be gone a while longer? Go get you some girl, you’re on holiday.”

“Nothing like that,” Ana said. “I was actually just calling to see if the two of you wanted to join us. We’re at Hisashiburi donburi, not too far away. I’ll send you a pin.”

“You… want us to join you?” Vrina said hesitantly.

“I insist,” Ana replied firmly. “Trust me, the fish here is incredible.” She looked down at her untouched meal. “You’ll love it.”

“Fish?” Ana could practically hear the bird woman salivating through the phone line. “We’ll be there right away.”

“FISH?” she heard in the background, as well as what sounded like an entire bed scraping on the floor. “We’re there, Ana, just wait for us.”

“Tell Banta she’s paying her own way,” Ana rolled her eyes, and Vrina chuckled.

“I’ve plugged it into my navigator, we’re ten minutes away.” Vrina said. “See you soon.”

The call disconnected, and Ana sat back in her seat as the two kespans stared at her with wide eyes. When she returned her communicator to the sack, Jelakka scratched at his head in discomfort.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” He asked her, frowning.

“If what you’re telling me is true, then I’m going to need some help,” Ana said, simply. “These two are the only people I can trust fully to have my back.” She sighed, sitting back in her seat. “The only ones I haven’t burned by running off to join the Imperium, at any rate. Fuck.”

She rubbed her temples to rid herself of the blossoming headache that was forming there. I’ll feel a lot better with some friendly faces in the room. Plus, maybe Vrina will finally tell me what’s going on with that whole royalty schtick. The Ulu had remained tight-lipped since Banta’s outburst several days ago, refusing to elaborate on what the bear woman had been talking about. Ana had meant to do some research on the bird woman’s species, but her convalescence had thrown a spanner in the works.

It was a long, awkward fifteen minutes before her squadmates arrived. Jelakka took the opportunity to ask a few questions about the tattooing process, which Ana answered, but after a few minutes, the conversation had waned and given way to an awkward silence.

Ana heard her squadmates before she saw them.

“Smells great!” Banta boomed, tromping through the restaurant towards Ana’s table with all the grace of punch-drunk elephant. Even those patrons who’d been brave enough to linger despite the presence of the kespans took the opportunity to scurry out, flowing like water around the sides of the room toward the front counter as the ursinian ambled down the center of the restaurant, beaming widely as she nudged chairs out of her path.

“It has been a long time since I last ate fish of any description,” Vrina agreed, picking her way more delicately between the tables. “Thank you for the invitation Ana. These must be your new friends?” She stopped and frowned, her eyes flickering back and forth as her translator chip read Ana’s body language. “You are… unwell?”

“Among other things,” Ana said darkly. “Pull up a seat you two, this is Jelakkar Mar’miar  and his wife, Skara.”

The pair nodded awkwardly, and then leaned away as Banta came closer, her nose twitching. “Is that for us?” she pointed at Ana’s bowl.

“Knock yourself out,” Ana said, and the larger woman wasted no time in shovelling a handful of fish and rice into her mouth.

Chewing loudly, Banta looked between Ana and the kespans. “So,” she said. “You gonna tell us what’s got you wound up tighter than a fresh private on her first shore leave in Kemral’adeen?”

Wordlessly, Jelakka slid the sack with the communicators across the table. Banta’s fuzzy eyebrows rose as she peeked inside, and she held the bag open to show Vrina.

Vrina looked between Ana and the two kespans. “On the clip below my left wing,” she said, and Banta reached into her plumage to extract the communicator.

Once both devices had joined those already in the bag, the bird woman stared across the table fiercely. “You’re not even a day out of hospital,” she glowered at Ana. “What, by all that is holy and good, have you gotten yourself into now?”

Ana had just opened her mouth to snark a response back to her, when the front door to the restaurant burst open in a flood of pink skin and cold metal.

“Nobody in or out!” the lead kespan called, a plasma rifle in her hands as her troops fanned out to comb the seats of the restaurant. “Specialist Cardoso, if you’re in here, make yourself known!”

“Looks like I might need to fill you in later,” Ana muttered darkly as she stood, and her squadmates followed suit. “Just play dumb.” Her hand crept toward the reassuring weight of her sidearm, and she made a conscious effort to drag it away.

“Won’t be hard for me,” Banta grinned, though the smile didn’t reach her eyes as she watched the soldiers move closer. Their lapels and sleeves were adorned with the red buttons of the Imperial Garrison, and she whistled between sharp teeth. “Quite the search party you’ve managed to attract Ana.”

The lead kespan sighted them. “Specialist,” she said, her eyes grey like slates. “I need you to come with me. Now.”