A Question of Navigation by Kevin Hearne

Author:Kevin Hearne
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781596069824
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Published: 2021-01-31T05:00:00+00:00

Emily TV

The hidden cameras that Gregory had posited were everywhere also extended to hidden monitors. As the mishawan alternately pounded at the door and tried to turn the handle open, a square portion of the surface rippled and smoothed out and then flickered to life.

“Hi, Clint!” Emily said. She was beaming radiantly at me as if we were close friends instead of a predator who’d promised to eat me later. She had no right to smile at me like that.

“Hey, fuck you, kid,” I said, and grunted as the door handle nearly slipped out of my grasp and unlocked. I dropped my shield and placed both hands on it, white-knuckled, the left pressing down and the right pushing up to keep it horizontal.

“Just wanted to thank you for surprising us and keeping this interesting. Humans can be clever when they’re not being ambushed, and we needed to know that. Couldn’t really do something like this on your planet and guarantee operational security. Too many variables and unpredictable results, as you’ve aptly demonstrated. Well done.”

“I thought you watched a bunch of our movies and stuff. Studied our history. You should have figured it out from that.”

“Yes, well, the movies are fiction, aren’t they? Stories you like to tell each other involving stuntmen and a script, and most of the stunts are digitally manipulated fantasies. Doesn’t mean you can do anything real.”

“We’re really pretty good at war.”

“Ehhh, not so much, lately. Last time you really got into it was generations ago—you called them the Greatest Generation, isn’t that right?”

“I’m a millennial and we destroy all kinds of shit. Just ask the boomers.”

“I saw some of that discourse and didn’t really understand that. Seemed like a lot of shouting about avocado toast. But kudos for improvising that shield, Clint, and again, I wanted to deliver a sincere thank-you before we eat you. This is fantastic intel. All this stuff you’re doing is going to help us develop security protocols for colonization later.”

“What I’m doing is kicking your ass.”

“Are you, though? You’ve managed to kill five unarmed mishawan when you outnumbered them and have yet to face a serious assault.”

“You telling me the mishawan trying to get through this door aren’t serious?”

“They’re seriously hungry,” Emily said, and then giggled and said something I missed because distractions abounded.

“What was that?”

“Oh, you’re having trouble hearing. Hold on a second.” She turned her head to the side and spoke to someone off camera. “Kill the alarm.” Behind her I saw some monitors and panels with buttons and lights on them. She might be on the bridge. The alarm ceased and the red lights returned to their normal white. I could hear the shrieks of the mishawan behind the door much better now, as well as those who were converging from elsewhere on the deck. Four figures appeared down the hall on my left, human shapes with ballcaps on their heads, and one of them pointed me out. To my right, five mishawan dogs rounded the corner and ululated.

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