The Bug Wars

CHAPTER TEN

The loss of three teammates had a definite impact on the remaining members. Of particular note was Tzu, sorely missed as a Scientist, and irreplaceable as the head of the Scientists' team. Of no less loss, though some might dispute it, were Kor and Vahr. The loss of two veteran Warriors, particularly one of Kor's abilities, could only lessen our chances of success or even survival. Although still nine strong, the team was disproportionately weakened.

The situation was serious enough to require my calling a staff meeting. I was loath to do this, as I felt our meetings were becoming needlessly frequent, but we could ill afford uncoordinated action or thought at this time. Lack of information, and therefore lack of unity, has doomed many a campaign in a crisis that could have been salvaged.

"An appraisal of the Warrior situation, Zur?" I asked, to begin the meeting.

"The Warriors should be able to perform with the existing force, Commander. It cannot be discounted, however, that with the loss of four teammates, three of them Warriors, we may be pitted against a force we are incapable of dealing with. Of particular concern is the potential ineffectiveness of our cold-beams. Both Warriors lost on the last assignment were armed with cold-beam hand blasters, and Kor's reflexes were all known to all. Still, they were unable to secure sufficient time to beam a distress call or even a warning to the fortification. From this we must assume increased probability that such weapons are as ineffective against the Ants as they were against the Spiders. I would therefore recommend we give serious consideration to widespread use of hot-beams for the duration of the mission."

I considered this. Zome, now representing the Scientists remained silent, a fact for which I was grateful. It was obviously the Scientists' role to raise protest at the danger to the local ecology that use of the hot-beams would involve. The danger was obvious enough to go without saying, and he didn't say a thing. Lost in concentration though I was, I appreciated it.

"Horc," I said finally, "would it be possible for the Technicians to devise some method for containing any incidental fires started by the use of the hot-beams within the Defense Network?"

"We could do it either by establishing a firebreak around the network, or by a similar circular array of heat-triggered fire extinguishers. Of course, neither of these solutions are acceptable."

"Why not?"

"Either method would be difficult if not impossible to camouflage, and would therefore effectively pinpoint our position to the enemy."

"If I might point out, Horc, we have already lost three, possibly four, teammates to the Enemy. This indicates that they are fully aware of our presence, and if our exact location is not currently known, it very probably soon will be. I will therefore instruct you to install the necessary devices for fire containment. It is better that we begin to plan our defenses for such a confrontation than merely hope it will not occur."

"Very well, Commander."

"Zome, I realize the difficulty of your position, and would normally allow you a certain grace period to reacclimate yourself to the duties of command. Unfortunately, circumstances do not permit this. Do you have even an estimate for us as to how much additional time will be required to find an acceptable natural enemy to the Leapers?"

"I do, Commander. It is my belief we have already found it."

"Explain."

"For some time now the Scientists have been investigating a species of warm-bloods indigenous to this planet. They are small, only about a half meter in length, and are completely harmless to the Tzen. Their specific food is the eggs of the Leapers, which they sniff out and burrow after, each one consuming ten to fifty a day. It is our belief that seeding the Leaper-held planets with large quantities of these warm-bloods, coupled with a concentrated ground and air strike against the adult Leapers, could effectively eliminate that species of the Insect Coalition." His voice was uncharacteristically enthusiastic.

"Warm-bloods are notoriously short-lived," interrupted Horc. "How will they survive the flight back to the colony ship?"

"This particular species is highly prolific," answered Zome. "They should be able to produce new generations while on board the transport ship to replace those that die."

"If they are so potentially effective," interjected Zur, "why have they been unable to eliminate the Leapers on this planet?"

"The natural enemy for this species, a carnivorous plant, also abounds on this planet. It claims such a high percentage of the species' population that only its high reproductive rate has allowed the species to survive at all. For this particular planet, we would raise a high population in the colony ships to offset the normal mortality rate. Then, including the carnivorous plants on the target list along with the adult Leapers, we would dump them back here to deal with the eggs. By the time the plants reestablished themselves from seeds, the warm-bloods' work should be done."

"What do they eat besides Leaper eggs?" asked Horc. "What would we feed them in transit, or on the colony ships for that matter?"

"We have induced them to accept a chemical substitute in the lab, one which we can easily produce, even on board ship. I should note that we were careful to test one thing. They will not eat Tzen eggs:"

"How hard are they to catch?" Zur inquired. "What will be involved in obtaining a breeding stock to take back with us?"

"There is a particular chirp they emit when ready to breed, a chirp they use to attract a mate. It is possible to reproduce this sound mechanically, and properly amplified by the Technicians, it should be easy to draw them to our fortification for capture and transport.

"This trait is particularly advantageous, since if they begin to overpopulate the target planets, we will be able to attract them to a central point for disposal or dispersal."

"I have a question, Zome."

"Yes, Commander?"

"The species you describe seems to be the perfect solution to our problem. In fact, it is so perfect, I must inquire as to why it was not brought to our attention before?"

For the first time in his presentation, Zome hesitated before replying.

"Tzu does...did not like warm-bloods. She was at best reluctant to recommend spreading this species or any warm-blood through the universe. As such, she delayed reporting our findings while she searched for another alternative. She was investigating another predatory species of Insect, one outside the Coalition, when she had her encounter with the Ants."

"What was her objection to warm-bloods?" asked Zur.

"She expressed what I believe to be a personal theory. It maintains that considering the brain-size-to-body-mass ratio, that the warm-bloods are potentially intelligent, even more intelligent than the Insects or even the Tzen. If properly directed, that intelligence could be a potential threat to the Empire. "

"Warm-bloods?" interrupted Horc. "A threat to the Empire?"

"Having insufficient data to calculate the relative intelligence of warm-blood species, much less the probability of such an occurrence, she was prone to treat all warm-bloods with equal suspicion."

"I'm no Scientist, Zome," Horc commented, "but I find that theory hard to accept. To challenge the Empire would require not only intelligence, but technology. To the best of my knowledge, warm-bloods are not physically able to operate machines, much less develop them."

"As you have said, Horc, you are not a Scientist. Species of warm-bloods have been discovered with grasping forepaws not unlike our own hands, and therefore capable of operating machinery. What is more, until we discovered the notes of the First Ones, we would have insisted it was physically impossible for an Insect to operate a machine. Intelligent beings will develop devices which can be operated by their own physical configuration."

"Zome-" Zur began, but the Scientist raised a restraining hand.

"Before we pursue the subject further, I would like to clarify my own position. I personally disagree with Tzu's theory. If nothing else, I feel the narrow temperature range warm-bloods can tolerate negates their effective danger to the Empire. However, as a Scientist, I must acknowledge the possibility-just as Tzu did. I merely discount the probability."

"Tzu's apprehensions are noted, Zome," I said. "However, I believe we are in agreement. Any species we find will have potential dangers inherent, and searching for a probably nonexistent perfect species is both time-consuming and dangerous. The one benefit I can see to the species under examination is that if we have made a mistake, it can be recalled by the chirp machines. If there are no objections, then, I will accept the designated warm-blood species as our target, and we will proceed with collection." Once our target was agreed upon, the mission proceeded smoothly. The chirp machine devised by the Technicians drew the warm-bloods in at such a high rate that for a while we were hard-pressed to construct cages fast enough to hold them.

A booster beam call to the transport ship brought the crew back to full active status, and the cage problem was soon solved. The Technicians on board began constructing large holding pens, and daily runs from the shuttle craft began filling them, leaving us with empty cages to fill.

The ground team was not lulled just because the end of the mission was in sight, however. Horc and Rahk had taken assignment on board the ship looking after the warm-bloods as they were ferried up, leaving us with only seven team members on the ground. To counterbalance our weakness, Zome and Ihr armed themselves from the arsenal and accepted temporary assignment with the Warriors as guards, leaving only Krahn to collect the warm-bloods and load the cages.

It was interesting that these two, Zome from the Scientists and Ihr from the Technicians, would volunteer for this duty. I had detected in Zome's eagerness to accept field assignments a hunger for action and admiration for the Warriors. In his case, it was a chance to try another role without changing castes.

Ihr was a different story entirely. From the onset of the mission, she had been openly disdainful of the Warriors, to a point where Horc had found it necessary to reprimand her several times. Her willingness to stand guard could only be interpreted in one way she was out to prove that she could do a Warrior's job as well as or better than any Warrior.

Two non-Warriors, one friendly, one hostile-I did not care what their motives were. They were Tzen, and I was glad to have them armed and watching the perimeter.

Despite the smoothness of the mission I was uneasy. My Warrior's instinct told me no plan, including our current one, would transpire as predicted.

I was right.

I was in conference with Zome when it happened. We were discussing the necessary quantities of warm-bloods to transport and had reached agreement. The load currently waiting to be picked up and one more should provide breeding stock of sufficient quantity for the proposed project. It was then the call came.

"Attack Alert! Weapons ready!"

I reacted instantly to the message beamed into my head, as did every other team member in sight. We waited for clarification, but none came. The message had been in a strained tone, negating identification.

"Who sounded the Alert?' I beamed at last.

There was no answer.

"Mahz!" I beamed. He was currently covering the gun turret.

"Yes, Commander!"

"Anything on the Network?"

"No, Commander."

I pondered the problem, weapon in hand.

"Commander!"

It was Hif's voice beamed into my head.

"Report, Hif!"

"I have visual contact. Something moving toward the fortification from the Southeast...fifty meters out"

"Identify!"

"Unknown. I can see brush moving, but that's all."

"All members pull back to the fortification!" I beamed. "Mahz!"

"Here, Commander."

"Anything on the network to the Southeast?"

"No, Commander."

The team was assembling now, Zur hastily assigning them positions with gestures and telepathy.

"I can see it now, Commander," came Mahz's voice.

"It's Kor!"

"Kor?" I echoed.

It was Kor. We watched her final painful approach, Zur moving to help her. She was badly mangled and missing one arm.

"Hold your position," I beamed to the rest of the team.