Chapter 213: Best Laid Plans
We had only gotten to the lift at the end of the corridor when the little Istar in my arms started to vibrate in agitation. Letting him down, I watched him completely disappear from sight. Not even the multiple vision settings of my helmet allowed me to be able to see him.
I looked at the men, wondering if I should be concerned, but they didn’t see anything wrong with what just happened. Or maybe they were hoping that I would forget about it and let them kill him the next time he appeared.
There was a strangled squeak, causing all of us to look up at the ceiling. I jumped back as a drop of red acid dripped from the darkness of the ceiling and onto the floor, landing right where my head would have been.
Before I could process what was going on, I heard a thud, and the carcass of something brown dropped down in front of me. Red acid poured out of the body where the head of the Istar would have been, eating its way through the floor.
Sha Shou would probably need to find a new ship to live in after this. I don’t think there was any way of getting acid burns out of the floor like that.
"Fuck," whispered Midnight as my Istar dropped down from the ceiling and landed on the body. In his mouth was the head of the other bunny, its ears hanging down limply.
"Good boy," I said, petting my bunny on the head, avoiding the red blood. He opened his mouth, and the entire head disappeared in a single bit. Licking his lips and face free from blood, he jumped back into my arms and let out an adorable burp. Snuggling down so that he was cradled on his back, all four feet in the air, the Istar promptly fell asleep.
"I’ll add that to the notes," said Ye’tab. It would be a lot nicer on me if I could see them instead of just listening to random voices in the darkness, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
"That was too close," said Da’kea. I looked up at the ceiling to see if I could notice anything that might tell me there was another Istar waiting to ambush us. Then again, maybe I didn’t need to if I had an early warning device in my arms like that.
Maybe I should try and bring a few back to Jun Li... dead, of course... or maybe frozen. This little one seemed to eat meat, and I didn’t want him hunting any of the nightmares on board.
"Is there any way we could freeze them?" I asked, looking at Midnight.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, on Earth, fishermen flash freeze the fish as soon as they catch them to preserve their taste and texture. Could we do something like that here?" I explained.
"You are keeping the little creature, aren’t you?" sighed Midnight, looking down at the bunny in my arms. "Fine. I’ll think of something. I only wonder if it will be satisfied with something that is already dead or if it will feel the drive to hunt. It is a more simplistic creature, and they tend to be driven more by their instincts than by rationality. I wonder—"
Before Midnight could finish his thought, the aforementioned creature in my arms opened one of its eyes and hissed at my mate. Letting out a chuckle, I gently booped it on the nose. He brushed off my boop using his front paws and gave me a pouting look.
"Apparently, it is not as simple as we thought it was," I said, looking at the male. If the creature understood what Midnight was saying, that would open a whole new kettle of fish. One that I didn’t really want to think about.
"I’ll add it to the list as well," grumbled Ye’tab, and I was beginning to think that his biggest pet peeve was information not being complete or accurate. But—
"Don’t," I said. "Or at least wait until we get back to Jun Li, and you can write things down on paper. I don’t want anyone else having access to this information outside of us."
"May I ask why?" asked Da’kea, but Ye’tab only let out a grunt that I took as agreement.
"Because," I started, not sure where I was going with this, but knowing a few things for sure. "If that information got into the wrong hands, we could be facing an entire army of Istars controlled by one entity." It was not too much of a stretch. I knew one ruler back on Earth who had tried to use mosquitoes as a biological weapon against their opponents.
Dogs, camels, and donkeys had been used in times of war as anti-tank machines. They would be trained to seek out food in and around tanks and then left to starve. When enemy tanks approached, their handlers would load them up with explosives, and they would be released. Going to the tanks, looking for food, they would be blown up as soon as they got in range, destroying the tank at the same time.
Rats, loaded with explosives, have been used in countless causes, and even dolphins have been used as spies, outfitted with cameras instead of bombs and released into enemy zones. Dolphins also would kill enemy divers, their snouts installed with a needle full of compressed CO2.
And those were all done with defenseless animals. Imagine what could be done if these Istars could be trained to attack. I mean, they did it anyway as they looked for food, but to have one person controlling them? Then, the possibilities were endless.
I should know. After all, I did get Night to use his power over the other nightmares to kill the tribal chief a few galaxies away.
Gently rubbing its tummy, I looked down at the deadly creature in my arms as I entered the lift. The plan was to start at the very lowest level and work our way up, killing everything in our path.
But you know what they say about the best laid plans.
