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."

  She smiled at his remark and replied, "I’d say you’re right, Trevor Stone. Tell me, what will you tell your son when you get back to your Earth?"

  Trevor knelt to her level.

  "I’ll tell him about the marvelous little girl I met over here. I’ll tell him about the brave and resourceful Chaktaw people, who have earned my respect."

  "Hmm," she wondered. "Then you will fight the Chaktaw who have come to your home. You will kill them if you can."

  He did not know how to answer.

  Alenna said, "It is rather silly, isn’t it? All this fighting. Sometimes I wonder if it serves any purpose. And if it does, exactly whose purpose does it serve in the end?"

  "It's all I've known," he said. "I can't even remember what my life was like before the war began. I've spent the last few years fighting, and not much else."

  "My father has lost much for this war. My mother is dead. He had a life before this, you know. He helped people plan for their future. Helped people get ready for-what do you call it? — ready for their‘re-tire-ment’. Yes. He helped them so they could live comfortably. Then the war came and the only future my people can plan for now is a future of fighting."

  This time Trevor-still kneeling to face her eye to eye-studied her, and he believed without a doubt that, yes, a soul lived inside Alenna.

  Alenna went on in a voice laced with sadness at not only what had happened, but what was to come: "All of our people had to run and hide. But that time is over. We have gathered again."

  She pointed to the passage leading toward the light. Trevor stood and followed her outstretched finger. He and Nina ascended the rock tunnel. The light at the end of the passage grew wider and brighter. The air smelled fresh and clean.

  The passage opened to a stone balcony high on the mountainside offering a marvelous view of endless mountains rolling off into the distance like ocean waves in a painting.

  Fromm stood on the balcony joined by both the human female slave who served as his translator and the Chaktaw guard holding her leash.

  Trevor first glanced at Fromm then looked down on the long, wide stretch of grassland below. There gathered an army; Fromm's army.

  Thousands of poncho-wearing Chaktaw infantry lined in columns, a thousand Jaw-Wolves standing as still as statues like armored vehicles parked on a parade ground. Pack lizards hauling catapult-like artillery batteries, three-wheeled motor bikes, flat trucks carrying rocket-planes, and hundreds of carts piled high with supplies.

  As he witnessed the gathered power of the Chaktaw, Trevor pieced Fromm's story together, taking the parts he already knew and tying them together into one narrative. After the defeat at the lakeside estate, the Chaktaw had separated and hid in dozens of redoubts to survive until the time to fight came again.

  They gathered resources and prepared while sending smaller forces-like the army that had consistently attacked Thebes-to keep watch on their enemies, to probe their defenses, and to sap their resources.

  Now the scattered tribes of Chaktaw regrouped with the ranks of the Behemoths replenished. Now the war machine mustered to be unleashed upon the invaders who had dared come to this world.

  Fromm glanced at the two humans before speaking briefly, stoically, to the slave translator. As the Chaktaw savior turned and disappeared down the tunnel, the woman offered the simple translation.

  "We march."

  31. Attack of the Behemoths

  The armada split into three massive columns and pushed across the wilderness in a tempest of marching soldiers and thundering beasts and rolling wagons. The army climbed mountains and descended into valleys and flowed through forests as it drove east.

  Trevor and Major Forest accompanied that army and while they remained under close guard as they rode atop one of the pack lizards, Fromm unbound their hands. Not so much a sign of trust but an acknowledgement that the two humans posed no threat to cause harm or escape.

  They traveled without a break for the entire first day, stopping only for a few hours after night fell and resuming again before dawn. Once again, Chaktaw stamina impressed Trevor and he noted they did not require nearly as much sleep as humans.

  However, on the second night they paused at the base of a rocky hill for a longer spell. Trevor got the sense that Fromm needed to reign in stragglers and regroup his army, most likely because their destination neared.

  Whatever the reason, the Chaktaw constructed a series of temporary shelters out of wood posts and canvass tents that shared the same material as their camouflage ponchos. As a result, the tents ranged in color from black to rust to green, depending on whether they sat near one of the rocky ledges, in a grassy patch, or alongside one of the several streams crisscrossing the bivouac spot. Ten or more Chaktaw shared each shelter, possibly by squad.

  Fromm joined Trevor and Nina who rested near a campfire. The woman slave serving as his translator sat just outside the ring of flickering light.

  "Your army is impressive," Trevor said. "But even more impressive is your patience. You waited a long time to gather your strength. I don't know if I could be so patient."

  "Yes, I have seen. You humans fight with great emotion. Sometimes too much. You make mistakes as a result."

  Trevor prompted, "And we can get lulled into a false sense of security. All this time you’ve been launching attacks against both Thebes in the west and the Geryons in the east, haven’t you? And it was the same army. They’d hit Thebes, go east and hit the Geryons, then march on back to hit Thebes again. Like clockwork."

  The translator struggled with ‘clockwork’ but managed to get the point across.

  "It has been effective."

  Their conversation halted as a sound drifted across the camp, starting lower than the chirping crickets but growing to their ears like a soft breeze carrying through the trees. At first, Trevor thought it a moan but then realized he heard a chant. A gentle, somber chant coming from a group of Fromm's soldiers gathered around their own campfire.

  Trevor did not understand the Chaktaw language, but he understood the song well enough. The verses spoke of lost friends and family; of a people splintered and driven to the brink of extinction. But the chant did not merely bemoan the loss; it carried a tone of resolve. Less anger or vengeance, more determination.

  In that song, Trevor felt the undercurrent of strength that gave the Chaktaw their endurance and stamina; that gave them the patience to wait for their day. And as he listened, he realized that Fromm and his people would win back their Earth.

  He closed his eyes for a moment and envisioned Chaktaw infantry pouring through the streets of Thebes, their terrifying artillery shells blasting buildings, their Behemoths-Jaw-Wolves-chasing down and tearing apart not only foot soldiers but armored vehicles, too.

  A gruesome vision. And while he understood Fromm’s people had a right to their Earth, he could not help but feel pity for his fellow humans.

  He looked over at Major Forest as she sat silently in the glow of the campfire while the Chaktaw chant echoed about the camp. Her blond hair seemed nearly black with grit and grime, her distinctive twin ponytails masses of tangles now. The woman appeared completely exhausted, both physically and mentally.

  "Fromm," Trevor spoke quietly so his voice would not disrupt the flow of the chant. "Will you keep your promise? Will you offer Thebes a chance to leave through the runes?"

  "If all you have told me is true, then when we turn our armies on the human cancer upon my planet, I will offer them passage through those runes. I will not offer twice. Should they not accept I will destroy them without mercy."

  Just a week ago, Trevor Stone was the Emperor of Thebes fighting to reclaim a planet he thought belonged to mankind. He showed no mercy, offered no quarter. Then came the truth. Suddenly he was one of the invaders, and they were not faceless devils.

  To his side, Nina sat quietly making eye contact with no one, the type of diminutive behavior he would have expected from the Nina Forest back home during those months before they fell in love. A quiet, shy woman despite her talents for battle.

  In this case, however, Major Forest had good reason to try and pass unnoticed. While Fromm needed Trevor and seemed to believe his story of alternate worlds and deceptions, Forest could claim no such excuse, no such ignorance. She was an original member of an invading army and remained alive only as a result of Fromm's benevolence.

  Trevor brought her into the conversation nonetheless.

  "You fought in a big battle, seven different armies, right?"

  She answered with a nod.

  "What armies? What races were there?"

  At first she did not understand the question, or maybe she hoped he would just let it drop. Yet Fromm and Trevor both sat and waited for an answer.

  "Well, I mean, there were the Duass and the Geryons and ourselves and the Chaktaw. I think, wait, yeah, the Centaurians were there and the Witiko," she looked skyward as if maybe the answer flickered up there with the stars. "Oh, yeah, and a bunch of Malebranches."

  While the slave translated for Fromm, Trevor tried to translate the races into names he knew. Of course the Duass equated to the Platypuses and he knew the Geryons. He also knew that Malebranches were what he thought of as Mutants, one of the long list of creatures from the realm of Voggoth. That left two he did not recognized.

  "Centaurians? Witiko?"

  Fromm spoke before the Major could answer. "I remember we were without our Behemoths and on the run. We inflicted great casualties upon our enemies before withdrawing."

  "Who are the Centaurians and the Witiko?"

  Fromm spoke to his translator who relayed, "The Centaurians are disciplined but arrogant and easily confused, easily tricked. They have powerful weapons and aircraft, but they do not use their aircraft for fighting, only to watch. This is but one of their many weaknesses. Before we knew their name we called them the ‘Black Eyes’ for their eyes are big and black underneath their helmets."

  "Red uniforms with helmets? Guns that become more powerful as they charge?"

  Fromm answered, "Gold armor, slightly taller than you. Their aircraft use water for fuel."

  "Okay, so their colors are different but we called them Redcoats on our Earth. I have to remember even the invading armies are from different universes. Those hitting my Earth are from my universe; those attacking here are of this, well, reality or dimension or whatever. Point is, they are a lot alike, but still with some differences. Red armor invading my earth, gold invading yours. Still, armor and air ships. The civilizations must all be about the same level. That was probably planned, too. Anyway, who are the Witiko?"

  For the first time during the conversation, Fromm looked directly at Major Forest who, for her part, looked to him as well. Trevor judged that by the way they glanced at one another-eyes a little wide, mouths a little open-the two shared an understanding of these Witiko that Trevor lacked.

  "Well, who are they?"

  "They are dangerous," Nina said. "They've got air power and solid infantry, and they can make animals fight for them. But more than that, they're clever. Trevor-my Trevor, that is-couldn't stand them and didn't trust them, even when we were supposed to be working together."