Kyrathaba Rising by William Bryan Miller

Author:William Bryan Miller
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: science-fiction
Publisher: Crocus Books
Published: 2013-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

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2283-07-10T11:07-5:00

Earth, Mt. Everest

Dukensenmatchlofel had landed in a small shuttle nearby, and had hiked the short distance to the spot pinpointed by ship scanners. He was in human form, not that he expected to be seen. There was no sign of life surviving on this blasted, scorched surface. He entered the tunnel. It was approximately of the same shape and width as the tunnels that Svareneketchmakull/Covington had reported in one of his many reports over the past few years. It had the distinct markings of having been formed by one of those machines these humans used for boring.

The first section of tunnel, which was fairly level, had been the beginning of a great engineering feat, in 2154. The humans had planned to drill a tunnel clear through the mountain, running north and south, and have a track built, upon which a maglev train would transport people at speeds of up to four hundred kilometers per hour. Fast and inexpensive transportation between the seaport on the Bay of Bengal, and the villages and cities of the Tibetan Plateau! Like many such beginnings in the history of human endeavor, this one lost steam partway through. The culprits were both financial and political, as well as the maniacal voices of Environmentalists: you’re destroying one of nature’s grandest monuments!

The alien could see well enough in the dark tunnel, accustomed as it was to the depths of watery environs. Soon, it transformed into its natural form and snaked along at significantly greater speed. Another few minutes brought it to a point where the tunnel took a steep downward grade. Dukensenmatchlofel paused and listened for several long minutes. He could hear human voices! Faint, but definite. He hefted the plasma cannon he’d brought with him from the shuttle. If circumstances were suitable, he would hide it somewhere and change places with one of the cowering natives in whatever foul warren they had dug themselves. If not, he would introduce them to superior alien weaponry, stunning them only, of course, so that he could then have his way with them over the next few hours. His shipmates would not miss him in that short length of time. He could gorge himself on their terror. This imagined feast made his entire body tremble.

He continued to descend the tunnel for almost another twenty minutes, snaking along rapidly. Finally, he could discern faint light up ahead, around a bend in the tunnel, and the voices were obviously coming from that location. He switched back to a humanoid form and edged closer, listening.

“You can’t possibly believe they’d fall for it!” one voice argued. Another countered, “Perhaps only once, but yes. They aren’t godlike, after all. We know of at least one of their attack ships that was annihilated during The Attack in 2276.” The other male voice conceded the point, but asserted that “surely their equipment is sensitive enough to detect the deception we have devised.”

Dukensenmatchlofel got down and wriggled on his belly, finally sticking his head around a large rock near the cavern’s entrance.

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