The Last Star Trek: Chapter Twenty-Three - Nest
...Aa monstrous intelligence was stirring. She was old, very old, and her will was enormous, all-encompassing. She exercised it now, putting out feelers of thought to her nearest minions gathered in the nest with her...
We meet the foul creature that has spawned the warrior monsters which beseiged Captain Kirk and his starship Enterprise crew - the creature that is intent on conquering the Universe.
If this is your first encounter with Brian William Neal's unsurpassably thrilling space adventure, click on The Last Star Trek in the menu on this page and start reading it from the beginning.
Beneath the clearing from which the four survivors now fled, and out of range of their scanning instruments, a monstrous intelligence was stirring. She was old, very old, and her will was enormous, all-encompassing. She exercised it now, putting out feelers of thought to her nearest minions gathered in the nest with her. From the central hub where she sat, bloated and evil, full to bursting with eggs, spidery tunnels radiated outwards in all directions. Long had been their building, and their influence over the planet was universal.
Slowly, almost languidly, she sent out her signals. She had detected movement on the surface where there should be none. The children had done their work; perpetuation had been assured, and she had relaxed her vigilance. Not totally; that she would never do, but enough so that a small signal might not be interpreted correctly.
Rousing herself, she increased the strength of her summons. Almost immediately, two of her personal guard approached, flinching and cringing in her presence. They stopped before her and, like the mindless creatures they were, awaited her command. She sat for a moment longer, and reveled, wallowed, in the sensation of birth as the umbilical pumped out yet another of the precious eggs. Each one joined the others that lined the nest, stretching out in all directions in their thousands upon thousands, all carrying the children within.
The gigantic queen looked down at the two creatures cowering beneath her, her fetid breath steaming in the dank, humid air of the nest. She felt the movement again, faint but unmistakable, and bent her will towards the two. Instantly, they received their instructions, and turned away from her sight. She watched them go, her creations, and felt nothing for them at all. Although they were of her body, she felt as much empathy and tenderness as a mantis feels for the mate it devours after its singular moment of passion. But she, being all sexes and all things, needed no mate.
The species must be preserved. Even she, all-knowing though she thought herself to be, was unaware of her kind’s history, of their creation by a long-dead alien in his laboratory for his own dark purposes. She was here, and she was now; she reigned supreme, and that was all that mattered, all she needed to know.
There was not another being on the entire planet that could oppose her will; she held millions under her sway, and her rule was absolute. The queen was the product of a thousand centuries of evolution, ever since the first of her kind had been created back in the distant past of which even she did not know. With each generation, a little more knowledge was passed on, a little more sentience gained, until now she had more than enough to instruct her offspring.
Mindless, she had called them. Perhaps not; they could still be taught tasks of surprising complexity. Their savant mentality was perfect for her purposes, and it made them the ideal troops. With enough of them, she could remain where she was and, by exercising her massive intellect, direct her forces and conquer the universe.
Already, her progeny could pilot the spacecraft that the Elder race had left behind. Once she had the secret of the star-spanning drive that she knew to be resting within the downed alien ship, she would be ready to begin her campaign. Then, at last, she and her kind would finally be ready to move out into the greater galaxy and begin the advance, the spread.
The Spawn.
Her thoughts quickened at the prospect; soon, she thought, very soon we can begin. Nothing will stand in our way, and soon the whole universe will belong to us. To me. These aliens who had come to her world had mighty weapons, it was true, but without them they were almost unbelievably puny. With such weapons in her possession, it would be a simple task to sweep them aside, and create a dynasty that would last forever.
Pulsing with satisfaction, she felt another of her children exit from the proboscis and join the waiting thousands. Then she applied her will to the direction of her troops. A moment later, a tremor ran through her, a momentary upset in the fabric of the nest that caused the nearby disciples to quiver and, just for a moment, disorientate. She recovered almost at once, and stability was restored. The information she had received was a minor annoyance, nothing more. The alien creatures had escaped, but she was not concerned. After all, their ship was disabled; where could they go?
But just to be sure, she sent a legion of her disciples after them. Her mental command went out to several parts of the nest simultaneously, and a large group of the creatures stirred and headed for the surface. They had their instructions, and they would not fail. The alien intruders should not be allowed to reach their ship; if that were to happen, they might prove difficult to dislodge. And they must be preserved, at least until the children were safe. That was the paramount command of the queen, and it would be obeyed, whatever the cost.
Moving swiftly, the black, shining shapes made their way up through the tunnels to the planet’s surface. The Queen had commanded, and her will was all. They would not fail her.
***
