Blue Dawn Jay of Aves Read online

CHAPTER 20

  THE BATTLE FOR AVES

  George Keto was exhausted. The Corporation, that is to say Mark Helmins, was technically in charge of preparations for the great gathering that was about to happen, but George had been up almost all night helping to work out details and making sure things actually happened in a satisfactory way physically and of course politically. “Certainly other groups besides the Brethren will be represented and introduced to the head crow,” he reassured his constituents. “Yes, all participants will receive overtime and hazardous duty pay,” he assured everyone.

  How many seats and how many bird perches were needed on the stage, and how should they be arranged? How many portable-potties for more than ten thousand humans? What about drinks for the thirsty? Should they provide seed, water, and perches for the birds? How many birds? What about first harvesting enough of the field to accommodate the crowd and provide some bird food? What about transportation to and from the event for outlying personnel?

  Unfortunately, preparing for the morning extravaganza was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Full scale harvesting was to start immediately after the ceremony. Humans running huge harvest machines, protected mostly by birds, were to harvest thousands of acres of crops as quickly as possible. Grain harvest and transport equipment had been serviced and moved into place over the last two days, many weeks ahead of schedule. All harvesters, grain trucks, fuel, and other needed supplies were ready to go.

  Too soon now, after only two days of preparation, the gathering was finally going to happen. The first dull glow of dawn was still on the eastern horizon when twelve thousand men, women, and children, over ninety percent of the human population of Aves, including nearly everyone from Spaceport City and surrounding towns, began arriving and assembling in the field.

  Despite the recent worm attacks, people were in an almost festive mood. It was a psychological thing, he knew. They were excited about meeting with each other and the birds and with kicking-off the harvest. They also felt safer being all together like that, particularly since many of the adults were armed with guns.

  If like him they had seen videos of the worm attacks, they wouldn’t feel so safe. Keto had watched all the available videos several times. Captain Jack was right; small arms were useless against all but the smallest worms.

  Four hundred unarmed people dressed completely in black approached the stage as a coherent group. The Brethren had arrived. A tall, lean man separated from the group and approached the Governor. Brother Martin nodded at George Keto, then walked past him, mounted the stage and sat down in the chair to the immediate left of the Governor’s seat.

  That aspect of the seating arrangements had particularly upset the head of the labor union. George didn’t much like it either; there were many more voting union members than there were Brethren; but it couldn’t be helped. When the blackbird leaders reached the stage, they had to see the man they had met with before, side by side with Helmins and himself.

  Mark Helmins appeared out of the crowd, followed by the heavily armed Zeke Thomas. He was grinning as he approached the sullen Governor Keto. “What’s the matter George? Why the frown? It looks to me like everything is going very well, considering.”

  “Mark, I still don’t like concentrating everyone in one place this way. A morning worm attack would be catastrophic.”

  “You’ve been listening to your old ship captain too much. The worms have always attacked in the afternoon, or late morning at the earliest. We’ll have this ceremony completed and personnel dispersed before the worms know it. Besides, the geology team will COM us at the first sign of local worm movement. We’ll all be perfectly safe, just as in future mornings and evenings we will be safe as we harvest.” He spoke loud; making sure that nearby field-hands heard his reassuring words. “Now let’s go reassure this crowd of their safety and wait for our blackbird friends to arrive.”

  Mark Helmins, Governor Keto, and a dozen other leading citizens of Aves climbed up onto center of the hastily constructed wooden stage and Helmins stepped to the microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are assembled here to launch our harvesting efforts, and to welcome the beginning of a new era of increased cooperation with the birds. For some time now, as many of you know, we have been secretly communicating with blackbirds.”

  There were many gasps from the assembled crowd. Yes, most had heard the rumors, but this was the first admission of it from the Corporation.

  “Yes, we have recently discovered that some of the birds are indeed sentient." He let most of the resulting crowd murmurs again die down again before continuing. "Our suspicions in that regard had to be kept secret until it could be confirmed and we could work things out with the blackbirds. I am pleased to announce that we have negotiated their agreement to both help tend the crops and fight the monster worms.”

  Scattered applause rippled through the crowd, but most people were too stunned to respond.

  “We felt it appropriate to kick off our harvest effort, celebrate our good fortune, and begin this era of even closer human-to-bird cooperation by gathering here and presenting to you the leader of the blackbirds and his flock. That is, when the flock arrives.” Helmins looked skyward. There were no birds in sight. In fact, the sky was completely empty, except for a low, dense black cloud moving in from the north. It was approaching rapidly. Damn! The last thing they needed was a sudden Aves rainstorm!

  Others in the crowd also looked to the north and many pointed. “It’s birds!” shouted someone. “That’s not clouds, it’s a whole shit-load of birds!”

  Indeed, though still several kilometers distant, a great noise arose from the approaching dark cloud, as more than a hundred thousand giant crows and grackles cawed and cackled, and beat their monstrous wings.

  To the rear of the stage, Captain Jack Martin and Deputy Harold ‘Tiny’ Forge were anxiously watching the birds with binoculars. “Good lord Tiny, all together we don’t have enough bullets to take out a tenth of those birds, if this turns out to be some kind of setup.”

  “Maybe Captain, but if they do turn nasty, I plan to take plenty of them with me.” He patted the machine-gun barrel and smiled grimly. “The good news is, maybe they are a match for those giant worms after all.”

  Helmins paled as he watched the Black Flock approach. He had been expecting a few dozen birds, not many thousands of birds!

  As the birds rapidly advanced the humans watched, transfixed by the spectacle, but also increasingly fearful of the powerful force of nature that was coming ever closer. It was one thing when these birds were scattered, few, and had somehow been trained to be harmless, even beneficial, but it was something else when they were numerous enough to blot out the suns, their savage screams were deafening, they embodied an avowed but unknown alien intelligence, and they were coming straight at you by the thousands. A woman screamed.

  “Don’t be afraid,” said Helmins, his amplified voice barely audible above the increasing bird sound. “This is all according to plan; the birds are coming to protect us from the worms.”

  “I’d rather have the bloody worms,” shouted a man from the crowd.

  “If they shit on us we’ll drown,” commented a woman, also shouting to be heard above the cawing, yawing, and flapping.

  Not many people laughed. The immense cloud of birds split in two and circled the field of humans to either side, settling into two flocks, one circling the humans clock-wise and the other circling counter clock-wise outside the first flock, crows caw-cawing and grackles cack-cacking.

  “Son of a bitch!” exclaimed Tiny, as he watched the birds in amazement. “Them crows is big bastards, ain’t they?” He started to check his ammunition again. Few humans had ever seen a crow. This close, it was easy to distinguish between grackles and crows, the crows were so much larger: frightfully larger; with their feathers adding to their apparent size. The wingspans of the crows were at least double that of the grackles.

  Tiny’s COM buzzed, and he took it from his belt and cupp
ed it in his big hands to shield away some of the bird-noise as he held it near his mouth and one ear.

  “Hello, is that you, Tiny?” asked a woman’s voice.

  “This is a police COM, lady,” complained Tiny. “Official business only. How did you get on this frequency?”

  “John set my COM to broadcast it three days ago.”

  “John Weltman? I don't think so. He’s been missing for more than three days.”

  “Yeah, and I’ve been missing with him. This is Kate Deborg, Tiny.”

  Tiny's jaw dropped. “Kate? It can’t be!”

  “Give me that,” said Jack, wrestling the COM from Tiny’s limp grip. “Kate, its Captain Jack. Are you all right? Is John with you?”

  “I’m fine. No, John’s not with me. He’s OK though, as far as I know. Jack, what’s happening down there? Have the crows started to land yet? We can only see a mass of black from where we are.”

  “You're so close to here that you can see them? They’re circling above the crowd now, and their leaders are supposed to join our leaders soon. How did you know about the crows?”

  “No time to explain everything now. Listen carefully. We’re flying high above you now, riding on two friendly raptors, my friend Blue and myself. First of all, don’t shoot us down.”

  “No danger of that. Our radar-driven anti-bird grid is dismantled, Kate. Most big guns are lined up to cover the fields, waiting for worms; we have a lot of guns here, but most are aimed down also. But raptors? Did you say that you’re riding on raptors? And who is this Blue companion of yours, if it isn’t John?”

  “It’s the blackbirds you need to worry about first, Jack. They plan to kill the humans. Do you understand? They plan to kill all humans this morning. But Blue has a plan to take care of that, with our help. Now listen-up, we don’t have much time to stop the blackbirds. You've got to get control of the speaker system with your COM, and link it to my COM so that both you and Blue can talk to the crowd and the bird flock. Can you do that?”

  "We'll do it Kate," Jack replied, after a brief exchange with Tiny.

  The human crowd, in the meantime, watched a dozen huge crows glide down through the middle of the circling Black Flock. A hundred thousand blackbirds stopped their harsh cries as the lead crow, by far the largest, dropped towards the stage, cawing loudly.

  “That biggest one must be the leader,” said the Governor. “Lord, what a brute. I’m glad he’s on our side.”

  "Amen," said Brother Martin, who was smiling serenely. “The power of the Lord has come.”

  “Welcome, friend birds,” said Helmins, using the microphone, as he watched the bird leaders approach.

  In the back of Captain Jack’s jeep, the Captain and Tiny were less convinced than ever that these birds were friends. Thanks to a link with Kate's COM, Jack could read on his little fold-out screen the Human language translation of what the Crow leader was telling his flock, while Tiny worked furiously at the COM controls.

  “When all birds are in place next to their victims I will give the order to attack using the human singing device,” Black Heart sang, over and over. He also sang something else even more curious. “Spare the black covered humans for now. Kill and eat all other humans.”

  “Shit,” said Jack, reading the translation. His worst-case scenario was coming true. But he resisted the impulse to immediately warn the colonists that they were about to be slaughtered, or to open fire on the blackbirds. A warning now would only trigger panic and an immediate bird attack, and there were too damn many birds and too few weapons in the hands of even fewer trained personnel. No, there was only one hope, and it came in the form of a little sprig of a young woman named Kate and her friend Blue, whoever the hell that was. “I can do the math, Kate. We’ll do our part. Your plan damn well better work, or we’re all bird food. Hurry it up, Tiny.”

  “Everyone put down your guns to show that we’re friendly,” Helmins announced loudly, several times, as Black Heart and his lieutenants dropped down towards the stage. Most of the humans placed their guns on the ground at their feet, though a few grasped their guns even firmer.

  Black Heart was ecstatic. It wasn’t simply winning that mattered, it was how you won that counted. To be more clever, deceitful, and ruthless than a foe, that was the true measure of blackbird greatness. As he had requested, the stupid, naive humans were disarming themselves! The soon to erupt terror and carnage would be most delicious indeed!

  The lead crow landed next to Helmins, causing a rush of wing-caused wind. Helmins’ jaw dropped open. The black as coal bird that alighted on the perch next to him was frightfully enormous. The elevated box that Helmins stood on was supposed to be high enough to bring him level with the crow, but its designers were in error; this big bird’s head towered a meter above him.

  Its eyes were dark and shifty, and its beak looked big enough to easily rip off a man’s head and swallow it whole. Hell, it could probably swallow an entire human whole! It seemed be smiling sinisterly. In short, the bird looked like the devil himself. The seated humans on the stage were also nervously watching the other lead crows, which had ignored the man-made perches at the back of the stage and instead landed just off-stage, where they formed a tight circle around it, as though to block anyone from escaping.

  “Greetings Doctor Helmins,” the lead crow said, as clear as anything. Its deep harsh voice, picked up by the microphone and magnified a hundred-fold, sounded as dark and sinister as the creature looked. “You may call me Black. I am the leader of all blackbirds on Aves. King, you would perhaps say. I understand that you are the leader on our planet of this small group of humans that grows food for your home world Earth. For a group there called the Star Corporation.”

  “Yes, Black, and I am empowered by the Corporation to offer to share our food, in return for your continued help, including help against the giant worms.”

  “Yes, the worms,” replied the bird. “We of the Black Flock plan to destroy all great worms that emerge today. As you see, there are more than ten of my blackbirds here to protect each human.”

  “No black devil birds better follow me around,” exclaimed one of the men in the crowd that still held a rifle. Helmins recognized him; it was Luke Bass, one of the trouble-making old-timers that hung out with Captain Jack.

  “There is nothing to fear, human,” responded Black Heart, as his head twisted to eye Luke. “I will have some of my flock walk among you humans, so you can see that we are your friends.”

  The big bird squawked into the microphone for a fraction of a second and Jack watched as the horrifying translation formed on his COM screen: “Pick your victims and land near them, then wait for my signal to kill and eat them,” it said.

  “As of now, you can control the speaker system with my COM on broadcast mode, and you link in Kate's COM too," announced Tiny to Jack. Some people mistakenly thought that Harold ‘Tiny’ Forge was slow in the mind and without skills, but his friends knew that in a former life he was a good electronics engineer.

  “OK, Kate and Blue,” the Captain said into his COM. “This is it. I'm switching over control of the speakers to both you and me like you wanted. Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead.”

  “Who is this Blue guy, anyway?” the big deputy asked Jack. He wanted to also ask what the hells a torpedo was, but decided that question could wait.

  “Kate didn’t have time to explain, except to say that Blue will be coming down to talk to Black Heart.”

  “Black HEART?” asked Tiny. “Is that the crow’s full name? Nasty!”

  Hundreds of blackbirds were now landing among the humans. People backed away from the fearsome looking birds, which simply provided additional room for more birds to land and further infiltrate them. The humans held their fire, but many had their guns ready.

  “Take it easy, folks,” pleaded Helmins, intending to calm the crowd and prevent an incident, but he was shocked when his voice wasn’t picked up by the microphone anymore. “Shit,” he exclaimed in
exasperation. “What has happened to my microphone?”

  As the Black Flock silently listened for Black Heart’s order to attack, from high above them came a frightening sound. “WEEchew, WEEchew.” It was the cry of falcons! The blackbirds looked up anxiously, and were somewhat relieved to see only two of the dreaded bird-killers. However, as they watched, the larger of the two folded its wings and started to drop down towards the Flock, followed by the second raptor.

  “Stop them, stop them,” cawed several of the lead crows, but most of the Blackbirds were scattering this way and that, in an instinctive evasive maneuver designed to flee while confusing attackers. No longer flying in orderly, concentric circles, the blackbirds began to collide with each other in disarray.

  Black Heart, seeing the growing chaos, squawked in rage, but his bluster was mostly drowned out by the screams of the falcons and the squawking of scattering blackbirds as the dreaded raptors dropped through their ranks, somehow managing to dodge blackbirds that accidentally find themselves in their path.

  “Falcons,” yelled one of the men in the crowd, and many picked up their guns.

  A thousand blackbirds had already landed, but now half of them, nervous from the cry of the raptors and the re-arming of humans, took off again, further adding to the disarray.

  “Fix your speaking device now, human,” Black Heart ordered Helmins in a commanding voice. “I must sing into it.”

  “We’re trying,” said Helmins, confused and terrified.

  “Take it easy folks,” said a familiar voice over the speaker system. Most of the people immediately recognized Captain Jack Martin’s voice, the voice of a man they trusted. “It's all part of the show. The falcons are our new allies, and the first one carries another ally. Don’t be alarmed by their arrival. Don’t put your guns down, but don’t point them at anyone. Your guns won’t be needed. Again, the falcons are our friends.”

  “We hope,” added Tiny quietly.

  “I am happy to announce that one of the falcons carries Kate Deborg, the missing Space Directorate scientist,” added Captain Jack. “She’s been rescued by the falcons and her friend Blue.”

  “Blue!” hissed Black Heart.

  Excitement grew in the crowd. “I can see her,” said a woman with binoculars. “It's her! It’s that missing bird scientist all right, dressed in an orange glide-suit, riding the back of that second raptor! Don’t that beat all!” Many of the humans began cheering and clapping their hands. A hundred more skittish blackbirds returned to the air, as a result.

  Concerned with the turn of events, Brother Martin turned to the head of security. “Zeke, find that fool Captain Jack, shut him up and arrest him.” He made sure that he talked loud enough to be heard by Black Heart.

  Zeke looked at Helmins for instructions, and Helmins, though surprised by the vehemence of both Bother Martin and the crow, motioned with a nod for Zeke to do what the head of the Brethren had demanded.

  Black Heart was also busy screaming orders to his lieutenants, the dozen big crows that still surrounded the stage, though he used plan song, not human language. “Half of you come with me, the others stay here and be ready to hear and spread my command to attack.” Black Heart and six big crows lifted off and flew up towards the approaching falcons, screaming to their fellow birds to follow them. Few did.

  The falcons extended their wings to break their dive a hundred meters above the stage, and a smaller shape separated from the first falcon. Several humans at first shouted in dismay, thinking a person had fallen off, but the shape was obviously much larger than a human and quickly extended wings and flew close to the second falcon.

  “It’s a blue jay!” shouted someone in alarm.

  “It’s the Blue Death,” sang many blackbirds, also in alarm, and they scattered from him as though he were poison, and from the Falcons that followed him.

  Hung around Blue’s neck, like a charm on a rope necklace, was Kate’s COM unit, and it was turned on. “My name is Blue Dawn Jay, a blue jay flock leader,” sang a new voice from the human speaker system in the human language. “I am a friend to scientist Kate and to Sheriff John Weltman. I wish to be a friend to all humans. With our falcon allies Swift Wing and her mate, we bring the human named Kate home safe to you now.”

  Scattered cheering resumed as Kate’s falcon again folded its wings and resumed dropping towards the stage, skillfully dodging blackbirds that were still more interested in avoiding the big raptor than in confronting it. Black Heart had said nothing about raptors, jays, or humans arriving from above. Something had gone very wrong, and the blackbirds were confused and apprehensive, and were reverting to their instinct to retreat from strange situations. Several humans still pointed guns at the approaching raptor, but Kate was now sitting up on its back, waving and smiling as the bird approached. More humans put down their guns again so that they could clap their hands. More clutched their guns even harder. Crows and grackles, and now raptors and a jay?

  Remaining blackbirds in the vicinity of the stage hopped or flew away as the fearsome falcon gently landed on the perch that a minute ago had accommodated Black Heart. Doctor Helmins, who had been relieved when Black left his side, was now a mere arm’s length away from an even larger and more fearsome looking creature. No human and raptor had ever been so close, without death resulting, he knew.

  It stared down at the Corporation leader with huge, intelligent eyes. “Well, Helmins,” said the bird, opening its cruel beak, “are you going to help my friend Kate get off of my back?”

  In the meantime Blue found himself approached by Black Heart and a half dozen of his big lieutenants. Unlike most of the young crows he had earlier bested, these were all older, larger, seasoned fighters. Of course he did have Swift Wing flying next to him, which gave pause to all the crows temporarily, so that the two sides soon circled each other warily instead if immediately attacking. More grackles and crows by the score were converging on them though, as their confidence gradually returned, their courage bolstered by the presence of their great numbers and their great leader, the immortal Black Heart.

  “Cousins, I claim right of re-entry into the Black Flock,” sang Blue, in Plain Song. The announcement went out over the human speakers, and was heard clearly by the entire Black Flock. Thousands of stunned crows and grackles, intrigued by this completely unexpected statement, squawked in astonishment.

  “You are a fool, jay,” sang Black Heart. "We have you greatly outnumbered. You will enter our flock by entering our bellies."

  “Jays once flew with the Black Flock. Once in the Black Flock, always a bird may return. So it is sung. That is your own Law.”

  “So it is sung, so it is sung; the Law, Law, Law,” agreed the gathering Black Flock, in mass. They sensed the coming battle between Black Heart and the Blue Death. It was for that reason as much as orders from Black Heart that they now re-grouped, circling in closer and closer. Much more than they liked taking place in dangerous fights themselves, they enjoyed watching others battle to the death. What Black Heart had sung was going to happen was not yet happening, but things were certainly getting very interesting anyway.

  “What trick is this, blue fool? You would join my flock and take my orders, young prince of the forest?” asked Black Heart, mockingly.

  “No trick. I, Blue Dawn Jay, pledge to obey the commands of the great Black Heart,” sang Blue.

  The blackbirds squawked excitedly, their amusement evident, then again became very silent. This was all very entertaining indeed, and they didn’t want to miss any of it. They circled still closer to Blue and Swift Wing, a solid impenetrable mass of black that cut out most light. They mostly kept from squawking, but the sound of their beating wings was loud and ominous.

  "Then I welcome you to my Black Flock, egg eater. My first command is for you to attack that falcon that flies by your side, protecting your cowardly little self."

  The Black Flock crowed and cackled, unable to contain their delight, then quickly forced themselves silent
again, so they would not miss a single thing.

  "No," refused Blue. "I have pledged to obey the commands of Black Heart, mightiest of the Black Flock."

  "And I have given you my command, stupid one."

  “I don’t recognize you as Black Heart.”

  “Fool! I am Black Heart, leader of all the Black Flock; I am mightiest and wisest!”

  "I sing that it is me that is mightiest and wisest,” replied Blue. “I challenge you for the title of Black Heart, foul one."

  Thousands of crows and grackles squawked in delight! Then they snapped their jaws shut again and again, “clack, clack, clack,” signaling that a duel was expected. In a matter of moments they were all doing it in unison, more than a hundred thousand of them, making a thunderous, deafening racket.

  “Caw, caw,” screamed Black Heart angrily, signaling that he had agreed to duel. The clacking stopped as the big crow drifted up higher than Blue and approached him from above. "Do you know the rules, egg eater?"

  Blue was forming a reply when the huge crow twisted and dropped at him with surprising agility, seeking to impel the smaller bird's body with his weight-driven beak. Blue dodged the beak, which glanced off his feathers, but felt the massive head hit his back and felt the weight of the world’s largest blackbird press him downward, so that he collided solidly with one of the crows that surrounded them. Twisting, he barely dodged a second blow from Black Heart, which struck the crow below him instead, and sent it screaming and spiraling out of sight through its churning flock-mates.

  Swift Wing followed every move of the two combatants. The big crow was far more powerful, but Blue he judged to be the quicker of the two. If he could evade Black Heart’s blows, he had a chance, but the jay needed room to maneuver. “Back away, back away or die,” screamed Swift Wing menacingly at the surrounding blackbirds, brandishing deadly talons and ripping beak. “Give them room to fight, and your flock-mates a better chance to see, but do not interfere, or you will face me.” Shrieking, the raptor swept swiftly around the combatants, spiraling away from them as the Black Flock gradually backed away.

  Blue, thankful for increased maneuvering room, attacked next, sweeping over and behind his foe and striking at the crow’s left side, attempting a crippling blow to the blackbird’s wing while avoiding his powerful beak. Blue hit only feathers. The crow was surprisingly agile and unpredictable, as well as aggressive.

  “Surprised? Do you think I fear you, a mere jay?” asked Black Heart, as he turned to pursue Blue and again closed on him. “I have killed scores of birds, blue as well as black.”

  “By foully singing them to death?” taunted Blue. Black Heart struck as Blue made his reply, but Blue easily swept up and over him, this time pecking the big bird's back squarely as he did so, but doing no real damage through the big crow's thick armor of big feathers.

  Black Heart wheeled around to chase Blue, while again screaming at him in Plain Song. “Song Flame, that was the name of your worthless, dung eating, busy-body friend. He would have sang to your Council before I was ready. I drank his blood, and even that was weak and worthless, just like you, you mate-less freak, son of a cowardly blue freak.”

  Blue burned with anger, but knew that he had to control it. As was frequently the case with blackbirds, this was a battle of wits and wills, as well as fighting skills, and Blue decided to now go on the offense with his own song, song that all the Flock would hear over the human speaker system. "My father and I killed brave blackbirds sent by you, the coward-king that has others fight for him, by telling lies about a New Order, lies that can't come true."

  "You lie! Nothing can stop the New Order!" Black Heart screamed. The big blackbird chased after Blue, but Blue stayed ahead of him, circling within the area enclosed by the Black Flock.

  "Another lie! You are only the king of lies! If you kill these humans they will send warrior humans that will kill all the blackbirds."

  Black Heart was furious. Using the human devices, Blue was singing all of this to the entire Black Flock, and he could do nothing about it. "Fool, the humans are weak!"

  "The humans are also clever and deadly, and you would make them into our deadly enemies. You are a traitor to blackbirds and to all birds." Blue turned on the crow, and flew straight at him, only at the last moment swerving to avoid a head-on collision.

  Black Heart was angry and increasingly frustrated. This jay was bigger, faster, and cleverer than any he had ever faced. Try as he might, he could not catch him. "The humans are few. We will soon have all their food. We will rule all."

  "For a cycle or two only, king of fools. On their own world the humans are many more than blackbirds could ever be, and have mighty fighters they would send here to our world, if you make them our enemies. They would take back all that they have now, and in their revenge take far more. Your New Order would end up giving our entire World to the humans. This the humans have told me, and I believe them."

  “Turn and fight me, lying coward,” screamed Black Heart, as he lunged at his enemy with terrific force and speed.

  Blue had been watching every tactic, every move of the crow. Now he put to use what he had learned. With a powerful down stroke of his wings Blue swept up and over Black Heart. striking down squarely at the top of the crow’s head with a blow that had cracked open hundreds of acorns of similar size and hardness. There was a loud, sharp, cracking sound.

  Black Heart’s limp lifeless body dropped out of sight.

  “Yaw, yaw, yaw,” sang Blue in triumph. “WEEchew, WEEchew,” cried Swift Wing.

  The impossible had happened. Blue Death had triumphed over the immortal Black Heart! The blackbird flock was momentarily stunned and silent, except for the sound of their beating wings.

  “WEEchew,” answered Mate to Swift Wing two hundred meters below.

  “Look out,” shouted Luke, who still stood in front of the stage. Amid the chaos and human screams and blackbird squawks, he moved himself and two other people out of the way, just in time to avoid being crushed by Black Heart's body when it fell from the bird-filled sky. Surrounding humans and birds felt the ground shake when more than a metric ton of dead crow struck.

  “What does this mean?” Helmins asked Kate.

  “It means you have a chance to live longer, human,” answered Mate to Swift Wing. “It means that there is a new leader of all the blackbirds of Aves. Blue Dawn Jay will command them to not attack you humans. The plan of the crows to kill all humans has been defeated.”

  “It’s a very good thing for all of us, Helmins,” added Kate. “Trust me.”

  But Helmins was listening to a COM call. “Oh no! It’s the monster worms! They’re coming now!”

  High above, a victorious Blue flew. “I am the new Black Heart!” sang Blue. “Listen to me. The plan for the New Order cannot work! You will not attack the humans!”

  “No, we will kill them, and I will rule all,” sang one of the crow lieutenants. “I challenge you. I will sing into the song maker of the humans that you carry. I will be Black Heart!”

  “No, I will,” sang another and another, all eager to fight Blue.

  At that point Blue realized that there was a flaw in his plan.

  On the ground far below, people began to panic as word of crow threat and the coming of the worms spread.

  “Give me control of the speakers, Kate,” insisted Helmins.

  The ground abruptly shook so violently that most humans were thrown off their feet, and the blackbirds that remained took to the air, squawking in fear, as three mammoth worms the size of train box-cars reared their ugly heads out of the ground. The one nearest to the stage swallowed the dead Black Heart immediately.

  “ATTACK THE SCOURGE,” screamed Blue. “SAVE ALL THE HUMANS AND SAVE OUR WORLD.”

  “No!” Cried the crow lieutenant. “Remember the plan! I am the new Black Heart!”

  Blue flew at the bird, striking him dead as he had done to his master only a short time before. The bird fell and soon was being torn to p
ieces by two smaller worms, which were now surfacing by the dozens as humans ran away screaming. There were few gunshots; most guns were simply abandoned when it quickly became apparent that they were nearly useless.

  Blue faced the other crows and grackles that had wanted to challenge him. “The New Order is Dead. I, Black Heart, sing that it is dead. Remember the Law of the Scourge. It is the Law that all birds fight the Scourge. I also sing to you a new Law, a new Law of birds and humans. Birds will not harm humans and humans will not harm birds, but both will fight Scourge. So sings Black Heart. Obey me or die now.”

  Though shortly before the remaining lieutenants had been jockeying to be next to fight Blue, now they were maneuvering away from him. “So sings Black Heart,” sang several of them. “So sings Black Heart,” sang hundreds of blackbirds. “So sings Black Heart,” sang thousands of blackbirds. “So sings Black Heart,” sang tens of thousands of blackbirds, including all the lieutenants.

  “WEEchew,” screamed Mate to Swift Wing, far below.

  “Fight the Scourge, prey birds!” screamed Swift Wing, as she folded her wide wings and dropped screaming towards the ground, to rip flesh from the largest worm with talon and beak. The two falcons were immediately joined by thousands of blackbirds, forced by a primal instinct too strong to resist, more than by Blue’s orders, to attack the hundreds of emerging worms.

  “Follow me! Fight the Scourge! Save the humans!” cried Blue, as he too dove earthward.

  While most of the humans had successfully fled the field where the worms were beginning to emerge, many were not so fortunate. Some tried to fight the worms off with guns or chairs but the most effective tactic by far seemed to be to simply dodge the creatures, and to let the birds fight them. Crows and Grackles sliced the smaller worms apart with their sharp bills, and even successfully mobbed worms the size of busses, but the biggest of the worms seemed to be unstoppable. People and blackbirds were being killed by the dozens.

  Frank Jackson and his security men tried to use the lasers, but people or birds usually got in the way. They destroyed two big worms, than abandoned the lasers and barely escaped when worms emerged at their feet and smashed the lasers. Security forces turned their focus to getting themselves and other people to safety and on providing first aid to the injured. Tiny joined them, as did Zeke Thomas, to the surprise of some. The humans were totally overwhelmed, and quickly realized that birds and worms would decide how things worked out, and they could at best only attempt to dodge the battle and try to save as many human lives as possible.

  Fifty besieged terrified people still crowded what remained of the wooden stage, including Kate and the VIPs. Around them, hundreds of blackbirds battled nightmarish, many legged leviathans. The two Falcons were still in a desperate battle with one of the bigger worms, which towered ten meters into the air next to the stage. Though they tore great gashes in its body, it still continued to slowly emerge as it snapped at the falcons, who were too agile for it to catch.

  Blue took in the entire situation and decided what was needed. “Carry the humans away,” he cried, in plain language and in human song. “Fly the humans to safety.” The demolished human speaker system no longer broadcast his song, but his harsh jay voice carried well enough through the chaos.

  The blackbirds that followed him hesitated, the command was so strange. “Put your arms up,” he cried in human, as he dove towards the stage. Keto raised his arms, which were seized firmly by Blue. Soon the Governor was dangling above the fray, born up and away by Blue, who had to flap his wings furiously to carry him above the reach of the worms.

  “All humans, put your arms up. Blackbirds, carry the humans to safety.” Following Blue’s example, perhaps a hundred of the crows and grackles complied, though most birds could not sufficiently overcome their worm-fighting instincts to do so. The humans quickly caught on. Soon they were franticly waving their arms in the air, calling birds to them. The Brethren, who had lost many of their numbers to the worms, were as eager as anyone to be saved, including Brother Martin. Carrying such weight was not too difficult for the blackbirds; they had to only fly with their human cargo a few hundred meters before they reached relative safety on a nearby hill.

  Though the biggest worms were still in business, Frank Jackson was starting to think that a corner had been turned, though at a terrible price. At least for now most humans had escaped, thanks to the birds. From what remained of the stage, most humans had been removed, though Kate and Helmins still huddled in the wreckage as big worms knocked it to pieces. If he could only rescue Helmins and Kate he'd have this thing licked. But then Frank received a COM from Mike at Ops.

  “Lextor says more worms will soon emerge here, and there will be major worm attacks within minutes in all of the crop fields, in some forests at the edges of the crop areas, in Spaceport City, and even at the port itself. The worms that attacked already were only an advance batch. A hundred times more are coming.”

  “Crap,” was all Jackson could think to reply. Moments later, a monstrously huge worm surfaced near where the bulk of the human survivors were gathered. It was twice the size of any that had come before it. A dozen blackbirds attacked it, but it seemed not to notice them.

  Calls started coming in to Jackson from all over the colony, asking Security for help that they couldn’t give. The scattered laser cannons had quickly been overwhelmed. Loggers used huge logging machines to successfully fight off some of the worms at the edge of forests being logged, but even those big machines were being overwhelmed. Thousands of monster worms were emerging in fields, towns, and the city. Lumber yards and even giant live trees were being devoured. Reports came in from the space port that worms were beginning to break off huge chunks of the landing pad at its edges. It was the end of the colony, and nothing could be done to stop it.

  Jackson’s next COM from Ops was equally memorable.

  “We have bogies on air radar, Frank! Birds, lots of them.”

  “No shit. We’ve been up to our eyeballs in birds and worms for some time now.”

  “No, no, no!” exclaimed Mike, so excited he could hardly talk. “More birds! Big birds! Hot damn, thousands of big monster birds! Coming in so fast you wouldn’t believe it!”

  Helmins and Kate were cowering on the last section of disintegrating wooden stage when Blue landed next to them. “You must flee this place now,” he said, but then cocked his head as if listening.

  “What the hell is that sound?” asked Helmins. “It sounds like giant horns.”

  “The great raptors and water birds come,” said Blue. “They respond to messages from all the bird Councils, carried by the swiftest of falcons sent from Song Wood.”

  The humans looked up. From the west, high above the decimated ranks of blackbirds, thousands of truly enormous birds were approaching. In their lead flew a great golden eagle. “Kree, kee, kreeeeee,” it screamed, as it dropped from the sky. Hundreds more eagles followed, along with thousands of hawks and falcons of many types.

  “Blue’s plan,” said Kate, smiling. “The swiftest Accipitridae and the Falconidae arrive first.”

  “Who?” asked Helmins.

  “Eagles, hawks, and falcons,” explained Kate.

  The lead golden eagle dropped towards them, screaming, and struck the largest worm with great talons that ripped deep into its head. The worm, seriously injured immediately, tried to pull away, but the eagle pulled up on it with thirty-five-meter wings that almost blew everyone off the stage, halting its retreat, as the great bird tore into it deeper with hooked beak and claws.

  “John!” exclaimed Kate in astonishment, pointing. On the great golden eagle’s shoulders, a tiny figure was desperately clinging to feathers and shouting her name. Squawking, Blue flew to him, grasped his upper arms with his strong, grasping feet, and was soon carrying him away from the struggling titans.

  Swift Wing and her mate suddenly appeared, grasped Kate and Helmins by the shoulders, and lifted them up to follow Blue and Weltman away from the
battle.

  Though grasped uncomfortably, from their vantage point a hundred meters above the battle the three humans were able witness the amazing scene that unfolded before them. Thousands of enormous, screaming, dinosaur sized raptors, with wingspans ranging from ten to over thirty meters, were arriving. As they drew near, smaller birds that had ridden on their backs fell away from them: mostly blue jays. Soon they were all striking and tearing apart the worms with beak and claw. Arriving in their wake were thousands of even more massive creatures, twenty meter tall trumpeting cranes and croaking storks that ripped off great chunks of worm and swallowed them.

  From the north, great horned owls and gray owls with twenty-meter wingspans attacked, hooting loudly, accompanied by croaking great blue herons and great, fat, honking geese. Lesser owls and hawks also attacked, focusing on smaller worms. Thousands of sea birds attacked, giant gulls, turns, pelicans and others. Many of the sea birds flew so gracefully that they seemed to be part of the air itself. Finally, from the marshy east came thousands of bald eagles, swans, ducks, and scores more herons of many types. A great beaked bald eagle led them.

  Still more numerous were the tens of thousands of songbirds that swept in from all sides, including thousands of blue jays, many of which had arrived on the backs of bigger birds. Small worms and pieces of big worms were targeted by them. The world had become a mass of birds, blotting out the suns and sky from view, swirling the air with their great beating wings, trampling the earth with their giant clawed feet, and assaulting the ears with beating wings and harsh cries.

  Reports on the ongoing destruction of the worms by giant birds soon came in from all around the colony. Countless birds were at work throughout the human-cultivated lands, destroying the Scourge. It took most of the remaining day, but the great battle for Aves was finally won. The worms had met their match. Blue’s plan to turn the blackbirds and use them to fight the worms until more help arrived had worked.

  Arriving to the cheers of humans and the cries of the birds that were already there, victorious human and bird heroes of the day continued to gather and greet each other with hugs and song of celebration. The humans George Keto and Zeke Thomas had harsh words with Brother Martin, but the general atmosphere was definitely joyful. Helmins was seen smiling and actually hugging Captain Jack. "Early estimates indicate a ten percent lumber loss, a twenty to thirty percent food crop loss, and nearly a hundred human deaths," Helmins told Jack. "Bad yes, but very good news, considering we damn near lost all crops and humans."

  The jays included familiar birds. Blue greeted Bob and Nod with playful head-buts, while Strike True and Scar playfully pecked at each other, then yawed and squawked with Blue. Blue was relieved when a giant raptor landed and a tiny brown bird slipped off its back. It was Brownie, who immediately hopped to Captain Jack and was greeted joyfully by his happy human friend.

  The humans John and Kate seemed particularly happy to see each other, judging from the hugging and kissing that ensued, which their bird friends watched with interest. Swift Wing and her mate twisted their heads almost upside down to better stare at them with their great, keen, raptor eyes.

  “You see my love,” said Mate to Swift Wing. “It is as I told you. Those two humans intend to mate for sure.”

  “I believe you are right,” agreed Swift Wing. “Perhaps humans are not so different from birds after all. While we are on the subject of mating, is that a young female jay with Blue?”

  Blue had hopped away from the central throng in the company of a female jay.

  “I heard him sang that her name is Fly Free. A tasty looking prey bird; she would make a fine meal.”

  As the falcons watched the two jays exchanged song and butted heads playfully. “I can’t make out what he is singing to her,” remarked Swift Wing, “but it seems to me that Blue also has romantic intensions.”

  “Don’t we all?” sang her mate, gazing with huge eyes at his beloved.

  ****