Chapter Six - Forbidden Bath Salt

"A river red beneath the moon,

Carves through the land, a sorrowed tune.

It flows where hope and dreams are slain,

In its wake, only shadows remain.

Red River Armaments.

Violence is Poetry."

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***

"I suggest violence," I said. That had a few of the others turning my way, so I shrugged and decided to explain. "Look, if we sit on our thumbs and spin, then we'll never get anywhere before the aliens gather enough biomass to eventually overwhelm us."

"Sit on our... oh, I get it," Princess said. Then her face reddened. "I wish I hadn't."

"Do you have to be so crude?" Knight asked.

She didn't seem to mind so much earlier, when Princess wasn't around. Was Knight that bothered about the purity of her sister's mind or something? I could recall a few people that were scandalised about the language we used at the orphanage, but that generally only encouraged us to be even more vulgar.

"Right, point is, if we sit here, we're gonna get... fricked? No, I'm sorry Princess, I'm not censoring myself, that shit's fucked."

"It's okay, Miss Stray Cat," she said. "I wouldn't want you to be anyone but yourself."

That earned her a look from a few of the others. Tankette especially seemed a little worried. "Uh-huh," I said. "So, if we sit here, we die. Or worse, we'll have to call in reinforcements to bail us out in a few hours, maybe a day if we fight hard enough, right? Myalis, can you give us rough estimates here?"

Certainly. Based on the number of model twenty-twos, I can reach certain conclusions about the size and capabilities of the hive producing those models. These are, of course, very rough. Several factors come into play. The distance from the hives to their advance, the approximate age of the hive, the local available biomass, and the hive's temperament.

I nodded along. The others did too. Myalis was transmitting live, her voice coming from all of the little speakers in the room at the same time. Somehow it didn't sound like shit despite the varying quality.

On the lower end of that spectrum, it is entirely possible that a relatively young hive has dedicated all of its production to the birthing of the nine visible model twenty-twos. This would have taken a small hive three to four days, less if the initial models started to produce assistants from the moment of their birth. This scenario is unlikely.

"And the high end?" Gomorrah asked.

On the opposite end of the same spectrum, but weighing for the currently visible number of antithesis in the region, it's possible that there is a medium-to-large sized hive that has split its production, creating several model twenty-twos in order to expand faster whilst also keeping up the production of a variety of other models. This scenario is also unlikely.

"So, what's likely, then?" Crackshot asked. He reached under his hat and gave his hair a scratch.

The most likely scenario is something closer to the middle of these two extremes. A moderate-sized hive producing two to three model twenty-twos a day to assist it in expanding while also producing smaller models in order to gather local biomass and protect its main structure.

I nodded along, and started to think of what to say next. Surprisingly, Hedgehog cut in before I could think of anything half-way smart to say. "I know these aliens," he said. "From experience. They're not smart. It's wrong to give them more credit than they are due. Not to say that they're weak. They're not, not when there's enough of them, but they're also not able to think. They act on instinct. If this hive's acting this way, then there's something in its environment that's pushing that."

"Myalis mentioned the hive perhaps creating these model twenty-twos to expand further," Gomorrah said. "What would make a hive want to expand?"

This time, it was Atyacus that replied. He always sounded kinda smarmy to me. "A hive that is growing in an environment that's not conducive to its growth but which is aware of areas beyond it that are capable of sustaining it will usually attempt to either move itself, grow towards the richer environment, or will dedicate all of its biomass to creating the instruments necessary for a new hive to be born in that better location."

"Like a dandelion growing between the bricks," Tankette muttered.

I glanced at the maps on the table. "Are there any shitty places for hives out there?" I asked.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Gomorrah leaned back. "Prévost is to the north and a little west, along the highway. There's nothing special going on there. An evacuation was called, and most of the city's population moved out, but there's a militia and some locals still there. They're not reporting anything special."

Lieutenant Colonel Juno's eyes widened. "Oh," he said.

"Oh what?" I asked.

"I... shouldn't say," he replied. He looked up, meeting my eyes, then nodded slightly. What... what was that supposed to mean?

He wants you to ask him anyway, Catherine.

Oh, he was being fucky. "Tell us anyway," I said.

"Is that an order?" he asked. The other Lieutenant Colonel was giving him a look, but wasn't stepping in.

"Yeah, sure," I said.

"In that case, I have no choice, I suppose. Echo Lake, to the north of us, east of Prévost. It was purchased from the government by a small private company."

"A company bought an entire lake?" Princess asked.

"The company was co-owned by Baytheon and Bonsanto. They used it for a joint venture, testing a prototype weapon's platform."

"They needed a whole ass lake for that?" I asked next. Judging by his annoyed look, he was getting pissed at all of the side-questions.

Still, Juno nodded. "Yes. They were developing a weapon to assist in the removal of underwater hive structures. They used the lake to test it. It was not successful. The lake and its surroundings are fenced off, and the area is considered a biohazard zone."

Myalis was kind enough to pull up a satellite image of the lake in question. From above, it was a roughly squarish lake, one that looked like it had dried up a whole lot. The area all around it was yellow, as if all the grass there had been burned away. It went on for a while, too, and I could trace the location of little rivers and shit because of the dead vegetation around them. "When was this?" I asked.

"Some five, six years ago," he said.

There are no public records of this. There are, however, tangential ones. The company's founding, its initial growth and hiring period, then its closing relatively recently. Furthermore, there are reports of a threefold increase in cardiovascular issues in the area, as well as a sixty percent increase in lung and kidney cancers for all humans within a hundred kilometre radius downwind of the site.

I shut off my helmet's mic. Myalis had sent that last tidbit to me alone. "Isn't New Montreal within a hundred kilometres?" I asked.

Yes.

"And no one's throwing a shitfit over it?" I asked.

Cardiovascular issues kill more humans than the antithesis do every year. Masking this wouldn't be overly difficult.

"Huh... add the CEOs and shareholders of both companies to my shitlist, then send it to the Family," I said.

Noted. Sent.

"Okay," I said, then remembered to turn the mic on. "Okay," I repeated as if I hadn't just fucked up. "So, good odds the hive's started in that spot, where whatever hyper-fucked insecticide is messing it up. Honestly, I kinda don't want to bring the soldiers in closer unless they're in full PE gear."

"PPE," Gomorrah said.

"That too. Which means it's just the samurai here. Can you guys hold off any aliens without us while we run up north and blow this hive up?"

"Is using explosives a good idea?" Hedgehog asked. "That's against standard procedures when dealing with any space where the dirt is a carcinogen. You don't want to toss it into the air."

"Ah, right... well, we'll kill it some other way, but it'll be dead in the end," I said. "I'm not anyone's mom, so I can't tell you guys what to do, but I'd suggest some gear to resist whatever fuckery's in the air."

"I am someone's mom," Tankette said. "And I'd really appreciate it if everyone took some basic precautions here. Better safe than sorry."

Princess nodded. "I'll do what I can. Knight too! We made a heap of points today, so it's no big deal."

"Cool," I said. "So, we ready to head out right away?" The sooner we headed out and hit the hive, the faster we'd be done. And I didn't want to be out there after night fell.

"Before that," Tankette said. "Maybe a light lunch, and some time to use the washroom?"

I blinked. "Yeah, okay, sure."

Fuck it, it wasn't like anyone wanted to piss behind a radioactive bush, not when there were good odds the bush was part antithesis and was just waiting to bite your ass.

***