Parallels

were not of their own design to come here and attack your Earth.'

Fromm eyed Major Forest for several long seconds and then spoke to Trevor again.

'You say that there is a device in the Ring of Ice at the roof of my world that can end this invasion? That can stop the aliens from arriving?'

Trevor replied, 'You have consulted with your own guardian. You know I speak the truth. And you know that the runes here can do for your world what they did for mine; change the balance of power.'

'I have been told that you have risked much by telling me this. That you have placed my world in peril because you have broken one of the sacred rules that govern this invasion.'

Trevor corrected, 'I have given you an opportunity to take back your planet. Of course there is risk. I believe you are like me, in that you will take risks for great gain. However, we must hurry. It is important that I look at your maps and we compare…' he struggled with how best to phrase it. 'I must translate the coordinates I know with your maps.'

Stone remembered the latitude and longitude coordinates the Old Man had provided to lead John Brewer to the runes, but he needed to find a way to translate them into Chaktaw navigation.

'This we will do immediately,' Fromm announced.

'Have you agreed to my terms?'

Nina watched anxiously as Trevor attempted to close the deal.

Fromm answered then walked away. Jaff translated, 'If all is as you say, then you and the woman will be allowed through the runes. We will offer the humans at the city a chance to leave through the runes. If they decline, they will be slaughtered.'

Jaff followed his leader out of the cave.

Nina spoke with a hint of her soldier’s pride, 'Slaughtered? Yeah, right, we were holding them off easy.'

Trevor shook his head.

'No, Major. They’ve been playing with you to buy time.'

'Buy time for what?'

'I think he’s going to show us that, real soon.'

– They did not allow Major Forest to leave the holding pen but Trevor-under escort-spent several hours at a work station examining maps and grasping the fundamentals of Chaktaw topography. Once he understood they used scaled hexagons as their basic building block for mapping, he managed to work out the rest.

With the help of a pair of female Chaktaw scientists and Jaff as a translator, Trevor pinpointed the location of the runes, at least according to their coordinates on his home world. He considered the possibility that the runes might be hidden somewhere else on this Earth, but decided not to waste energy worrying about that.

During his time with Chaktaw, Stone learned a little about this world’s ingenious species. The biggest difference between his people and Fromm’s was that the latter had a better grasp of sub-atomic theory and nuclear reactions. Much of their power came from low-temperature fusion, a technology that, on Trevor’s world, had been relegated to science fiction.

Trevor also found out why he had not seen the Jaw-Wolves-or, rather, the Behemoths-on the battlefield sooner. Fromm explained that before the invasion the Behemoths served as herders, used mostly by farmers to control flocks of Huskers. The Behemoths were docile primarily because they had almost no appetite; their metabolism worked incredibly slow. Indeed, a Behemoth could survive for a month on a single Husker carcass.

This fit with the Chaktaw environment, one dominated by large animals such as the giant Rhino they encountered at the city, Rat-things, and truck-sized Armadillo-like creatures.

Why had a huge wall protected the Chaktaw city in the valley? Why were their towns and cities hidden in valleys or deep woods or built into mountainsides like caves? Because the Chaktaw were small in size compared to the wild animals of their environment. While the dominant sentient life in their ecosystem, they were not as dominant physically, hence a greater emphasis on community concealment and defense.

Trevor could only imagine how humanity might have developed differently if cows were the size of elephants, rats the size of cars, and wolves the size of vans.

According to Fromm, the Behemoths changed when the invasion came. Their appetites grew as did their ferocity and, of course, Fromm discovered he could control them.

On Trevor's Earth, however, hungry invading Jaw-Wolves found few large animals to satiate their appetites. A white-tailed deer or an entire family of human beings would provide maybe a tenth of the nourishment of a huge Husker. Therefore, the Jaw-Wolves/Behemoths remained perpetually on the hunt on Trevor's world, even if their metabolisms remained relatively slow.

In any case, Fromm's Behemoths had one Achilles’ heal; slow reproduction. One bitch delivered one offspring with each pregnancy and those pregnancies lasted nearly a full year (the Chaktaw’s calendar was also based on revolutions around the sun).

According to Fromm, Geryons attacked his estate early in the invasion. Behemoths had bought time for his people to escape at the expense of being slaughtered by the Steel Guard.

Trevor surmised the rest. With such long reproductive rates, Fromm hid away his Behemoths while they repopulated.

Despite the sharing of information and somewhat pleasant conversations, Trevor understood that his life depended on guiding Fromm to the runes. He also understood that Fromm already had a plan in store for his enemies.

– Trevor and Nina spent the night curled together on the dirt and rock floor of the prison pit under thin blankets provided by their captors. Having not bathed in days, the smell in the morning coming from the prisoners nearly matched the stench of the piss trench. In an act of either pity or self-interest, Chaktaw aids cleaned the human battle suits. They also returned all their other gear except, of course, weapons.

As they slipped back in to their apparel, a young, pleasant voice called in human words from above, 'My father has summoned you. It is time for you to go.'

Trevor and Nina gathered their gear and ascended the ramp. Two poncho-wearing soldiers provided an escort as Alenna led them from the detention area and through the corridors of the mountain base. The halls bustled with activity.

'Today’s the day, huh?'

Alenna answered, 'You are very perceptive. Much like my father.'

The group passed a scene of fond farewells. A Chaktaw officer held his child and whispered words in the young one’s ear. No doubt words of consolation and a promise to return home. The type of words many of Trevor’s soldiers had whispered to their children in the years since Armageddon.

Alenna appeared particularly interested in the tender moment. She strained her neck to watch the interaction between parent and child even as she led them further along.

Trevor said, 'Your father and I are alike in many ways.'

'Yes,' she agreed after forcing her eyes forward again.

Alenna led them across the central cavern that served as a kind of community gathering place, but few people loitered there and most of the kiosks were shuttered.

'My father and you are alike, and so are our people, are they not? Are we so different?'

Trevor found her tone curious. She spoke as if she grappled with a complex equation and had reached an answer that she hoped would prove correct, but could not be sure.

He replied, 'I don’t think we are that different.'

Alenna halted the procession at an intersection of sorts. Several passages led away into the bowels of the complex. One led up, ascending toward what appeared to be sun light. A cool, fresh breeze blew down from there.

The little Chaktaw girl turned and faced Trevor. She studied him, her head tilting side to side as she tried to see what lived behind his eyes. Perhaps she wondered if a soul lived there. A question Trevor often wondered himself.

She said, 'It seems a shame then, doesn’t it? A shame that we fight like this.'

He wondered if by 'this' she meant her Earth, or the larger picture of multiple Earths across multiple universes, each occupied by one race only to be invaded by all the others.

Alenna said, 'You have a son?'

'Yes. I’d say he’s exactly your age.'