Voyager Dawn

by Richard Patton

  “It’s stupid,” Mason agreed. All of Omicron were gathered in the mess, scarfing down newly-mandated half rations prior to leaving for their own excursion into the wild. “The ship’s a plenty defensible position. Just going out there to get killed.”

  “It’s our best shot,” Kyle argued. “If we hole up here, they’re in the perfect position to surround us and make sure we can’t leave the ship for supplies.”

  “There’s no guarantee we can eat or drink anything on this planet.”

  “We wouldn’t have landed if there weren’t at least some biological similarities in the wildlife,” Rebecca put in. “Why do you think we do pre-landing scans?” Mason had no reply, instead returning to his food.

  The PA squawked to life overhead. “Omicron squad, report to the motor pool.” Ethan and the squad glanced around at each other and stood.

  “I call the gun,” Ford said, pulling out a fresh cigar.

  *

  The serenity of the alien forest was shattered by the roar of a Cobra jeep hurtling through the underbrush, throwing up great plumes of dirt and debris in its wake. Omicron squad and Ethan were crammed within the open-canopy vehicle, eyes and guns on a constant swivel. The Naldím, no doubt, had a better lay of the land than the humans did; they could be anywhere.

  Ethan wrestled with the wheel, battling untamed terrain with every meter they travelled. It was certainly not his favorite mode of transportation, and it was not his specialty, but pilots on a colony ship were expected to operate any and all vehicles.

  Doing everything in his power not to flip the Cobra, Ethan brought Omicron into a small clearing several klicks away from Voyager Dawn, and came to a halt.

  “Alright,” Mason barked, fully assuming his role as squad leader, “get that sensor set up and let’s roll out.” Rebecca and Kyle set to work assembling the motion sensor from the storage capsules, Ford keeping watch over them from the rear-mounted turret. He chewed his cigar ponderously as he spun in a slow circle.

  “How many other squads are out right now?” he wondered aloud.

  “Three,” Ethan answered. He tapped the dashboard display to bring up the mission briefing. “Kappa squad is going to rendezvous with us at the next sensor drop, and we’ll go the rest of the way to the cliffs with them.” He pressed the screen again and a map sprung to life. It marked three locations at the moment; Dawn, the northern sensor, and the eastern sensor, both of which had already been set up. A few seconds later, the western sensor blipped into existence.

  “We’re falling behind,” Mason said, leaning out of the cab to look at the sensor, “What’s taking you guys so long?”

  “Done,” Rebecca said in answer. “Let’s move.”

  “Yeah, and step on it,” Ford said, suddenly swinging the turret about. “We’ve got inbound.” Ethan looked to where he was aiming, but saw nothing. The split second of hesitation prompted Ford to yell at him. “Haul your damn ass, Walker!”

  Ethan gunned the throttle, darting deeper into the forest as soon as Rebecca and Kyle were aboard. A moment later, the brush behind them exploded, dozens of Naldím pouring into the clearing. They turned on a dime and sprinted after the jeep at impossible speed.

  “You could have told me it was Naldím!” Ethan yelled defensively.

  “Just drive!” Ford grunted in reply. He flipped the safety off the gun and fired. One Naldím fell, spraying a blast of neon-green blood in every direction. His fellows ignored him entirely, continuing their pursuit. They charged into the hail of bullets with zeal, some making leaps at the tail of the Cobra but none finding their mark. Ford’s onslaught was finding targets, but to no effect. Either the Naldím were shrugging off the massive rounds that were being pelted into them, or they were impervious. Neither was a welcome thought to Ethan. It meant that the only way to win was to escape.

  Ethan drove and Ford fired, while Mason tried in vain to get ahold of Voyager Dawn. “Hostile contact on Omicron pattern off sensor site! Repeat, contact, contact!” If the ship acknowledged his distress call, though, none of the squad could hear it over the Cobra’s howling engine and the drumroll of the rear turret.

  Ethan maneuvered the Cobra into a small brook, preferring the openness of shallow water to the claustrophobia of the trees. The persistent stream of water spewing up from the rear tires caught a few of the Naldím off-guard, causing them to lose their footing in the slippery river bed, but they were also quick to recover.

  “Is there anything these guys can’t do?” Ethan said through gritted teeth, jerking the jeep away from its watery track and back onto dry land. He wasn’t going to lose the Naldím; that much was clear. He could only hope to survive until the rendezvous point and get reinforcements there.

  The rest of Omicron squad was now leaning out of their respective windows, taking whatever shot they could at the unrelenting mass of aliens. For all the ammunition spent, only a few Naldím were killed. It was Rebecca who first figured out what to do.

  “Shoot them in the head! They don’t have any armor from the neck up!” she shouted over the combined roar of engines and gunfire. Through the rear camera, Ethan couldn’t see that the Naldím had much armor at all; they were each wearing some sort of leg harness, and a variety of decorative sashes and bandoleers, but their skin was exposed beyond that. It was simply impervious to gunfire.

  It was no easy thing to hit them in the head. Although Ethan had returned to the trail, the ride was dangerously rough. More than once, Ethan’s head smacked against the roll bar.

  He did not know how long they had been driving, narrowly avoiding collisions and barely keeping ahead of the Naldím pack. One eye on the GPS, he tried to direct the chase toward the nearest friendly signal, ducking and weaving in a roundabout pattern through increasingly hostile terrain. The car cried out as it was thrown against boulders and trees, emitting more than a few jets of steam in protest. Only when it seemed to Ethan that they were not going to escape their predicament, another Cobra exploded out of the shadows, cutting in front of the Naldím pack and ferociously ripping the leaders apart.

  The jeep swung around and accelerated until it had pulled alongside Omicron’s. Ethan recognized the driver of Kappa squad.

  “We heard the shots,” the pilot yelled, no radio between them to ease communications, “Figured you wouldn’t make it to the rendezvous.”

  “Thanks for the help!” Ethan bellowed back. He pointed westward. “We’ll have more open ground if we head towards the cliffs.”

  The Kappa pilot nodded in agreement. Ethan jammed on the throttle and shot through the trees. The Naldím continued to follow them, casualties apparently of no concern to them.

  Within minutes the racing factions had reached the cliffs. There was more open space here for driving, but still no room for error. The ocean crashed eternally against the cliff a dozen meters below. Omicron and Kappa began to drive its length, accelerating to full speed in unison, leaving the Naldím pack in their dusty tracks.

  “Don’t stop,” Mason ordered, watching the receding aliens in the mirror. “Don’t let go of that throttle until we’re back on Dawn.”

  “Didn’t even cross my mind,” Ethan said, his voice shaking as he settled down from his adrenaline high. They continued to drive, Ethan constantly glancing to his right to look for entrances back into the forest. Voyager Dawn was just visible over the treetops, the runway glinting teasingly in the sun, but as close as it looked, it was still a long journey back.

  Concentrating on Dawn like a beacon of light, Ethan was taken completely off guard when Kappa’s jeep exploded in front of him, hurling fire and debris in every direction.

  Ethan swerved, the Cobra skidding along the finely grated sand, and made towards the forest. A dozen Naldím poured out of the darkness ahead of him, this time with weapons in hand.

  Ford opened fire overhead, mowing down several hostiles before a shrieking green energy bolt from one of their guns connected with his own, shattering the barrel and knocking him against the railing
.

  He reached down, yanking a shotgun out from behind the rear seats and scattering buckshot across the Naldím horde. Beneath him, Rebecca, Mason, and Kyle continued to fire, expending hundreds of rounds. Rebecca produced weapon after weapon, many more than Ethan remembered packing earlier that day. She experimented with a collection of calibers and attachments, but it proved ineffective. The Naldím continued to close the gap.

  The Cobra was jarred left and right again and again as bolts glanced it from every direction. Ethan desperately searched for an escape, but every way he turned was instantly blocked by an increasing number of Naldím. He twisted the wheel, attempting to bull his way through. A Naldím in his path turned, training his rifle on the windshield, and Ethan attempted to accelerate to hit his opponent before the latter could fire. It was too late. The shriek of the weapon blended with the deafening snap of Rebecca’s rifle next to Ethan’s ear. The Naldím buckled under the crushing weight of the Cobra, but his bolt still connected, striking low on the Cobra’s wheel. The jeep was out of control. It slid a few meters before tumbling into a blind spin off the cliff.

  *

  Ethan awoke – or perhaps only returned to his senses – as the peaceful sound of the ocean waves washing up against the rock reached his ears. He looked around, his aching head only remembering a blur of chaos, fear, and falling. He and Omicron squad were scattered across an outcropping of rock, ten meters from the ocean below, the Cobra mounted precariously on the edge of the cliff beside them. Ethan imagined a strong gust of wind would send it over the edge, but there was no use retrieving it now. The only path he could see was a small cave cutting into the earth opposite the water.

  Ford was nursing his spine nearby, and Kyle was scanning the top of the cliff, gun at the ready. “Rise and shine,” Ford grumbled at Ethan, finding his stride again and starting toward the cave, where Mason and Rebecca had already begun to investigate.

  “Looks like it goes pretty far,” Mason said. He chucked a flare into the darkness to reveal a tunnel at the back of the room. It was sloped ever so slightly upwards. “Could lead to the surface.”

  “That’s a dangerous assumption to make,” Rebecca said grimly.

  “When you’re sergeant you can choose to wait around. I say this is our best bet,” Mason argued. He retrieved the flare and held it in front of him like a torch as he treaded carefully into the darkness. “Let’s move!” he barked back to the others.

  Ethan fell into line alongside Ford. “I haven’t seen Mason like this in a long time,” Ethan observed, “Not since Four, at least.”

  “He’s in full-on sergeant mode,” Ford agreed, “but he’s damn good at it, so I’m not complaining. You can tell he’s anxious, though. Only does his sergeant thing when he’s worried.”

  Ethan, nervous himself, looked ahead at Mason, who was purposefully trekking into the abyss. Rebecca, a step behind him, looked back at Kyle, who glanced at Ethan and Ford. The look was clear: this wasn’t going to end well.

  The Others

  “Ten Humans fallen, and not a single true trophy to show for it. Many more of us lost our lives than should have been possible.”

  “I warned you not to underestimate them, and I tell you again: they are not simple animals. They are lesser beings, and they hide behind their technology, but that only makes them dangerous. The prey backed into a corner is the prey you should fear.”

  “What would you have me do?”

  “Contact the Master. I want the servants of the Great One at our head before we make another move.”

  The squad spent the night in the caves, rationing what few supplies they had before sleeping on the cold, damp rock. They had walked for several hours by Ethan’s count before deciding to stop, and while the tunnels continued to slope upward to apparent freedom, there was no light in sight.

  In the morning – or so the comm said – they awoke to find themselves still shrouded in darkness.

  “No use standing around,” Ford said gruffly. “Let’s get a move on.” He activated his rifle’s flashlight and started into the darkness.

  “I say when we leave,” Mason grunted, hauling his supply pack over his shoulder. “Help with cleanup, then we move.” Ford grudgingly obeyed, working with Rebecca to stow away the rest of their supplies, which comprised a heat lamp and a bundle of thermal blankets. For all the high-tech equipment and weaponry they carried with them, it seemed to Ethan they were very poorly equipped for this eventuality. He made a mental note to lodge a complaint when they made it back to the ship.

  “Is anyone getting a signal yet?” Kyle asked several minutes later as they resumed their trek. Everyone glanced down at their comms. The devices were still stubbornly unreceptive.

  “Not even a hyperwave could get through this much rock,” Ethan said. “Until we can see the exit, I don’t think anyone’s getting through.”

  “That’s assuming there is an exit,” Ford commented as they came to yet another junction in the network. Mason picked one at random and continued to forge ahead. “I’m not great at all that probability stuff,” Ford went on, “but what do you think are the chances we’ve been going the right way this whole time?”

  “One in seven thousand sixty-two,” Rebecca answered simply. Ford showed no shame in gawking at her. She shrugged.

  “Be helpful if there was something living down here,” Mason said a little while later.

  “How?” Ford asked incredulously.

  “We might be able to follow them to an exit. Animals always have a backdoor to the surface in case of cave-ins.”

  “Martian animals. No guarantee these guys behave the same way.”

  “It makes sense, though,” Ethan offered. “There’s no reason not to put in an escape route.”

  “Or a trap door. Like those spiders,” Mason said. “The ones that make a hatch to the surface that prey fall through.”

  Ford glanced around in the shadows. “If that’s the case, I don’t rightly want to find out what’s down here with us.”

  As if on cue, Ethan spotted a flash of white light darting across his peripheral vision. “Did you see that?” he said, on the brink of yelling. “The light?”

  Ford held up his gun. “It was just the flashlight, Walker.”

  “No, it wasn’t.” Again, something darted through the darkness. “There! It’s there!” Ethan ran to the front of the group, drawing his sidearm.

  “I don’t see anything…” Mason said. He raised his rifle slightly nonetheless.

  The flash of light appeared again, this time coming to a stop. They were two lights, it turned out, and more were appearing around them. Not lights, Ethan thought, eyes. Before he could react, a screaming pack of Naldím cascaded out of the shadows, slashing with vicious claws. Omicron Squad retaliated. The cavern erupted in yellow flashes of gunfire.

  In the strobe effect of the muzzle flashes, Ethan could see Naldím advancing and falling in a kinetoscope movie. Whenever he could spare a moment, he checked to see if his comrades were still standing. They had circled up, guns pointing outward in five directions.

  After a solid minute of ceaseless gunfire, Mason called for silence. A few pairs of eyes retreated back into the darkness, the aliens whimpering and clutching wounds.

  But far fewer escaped than had entered the fray. Ford swung his rifle around, checking for stragglers.

  “They died a lot easier than those other ones did,” Mason said, approaching a corpse and kicking it.

  “They’re obviously not the same.” Rebecca approached another body and began to examine it. “For one thing, their eyes were white, not green. And their skin is paler.”

  “That’s fascinating and all,” Ford said, agitated, “but can we concern ourselves with what we’re going to do when they come back with their friends?”

  “We’re going to keep going,” Mason said. “We’re getting out of here. Now.”

  A scream echoed through the caverns. Ethan turned to see the eyes once again peering out of the dark.
>
  “Damn right we are,” Ford growled. He spun around and fired off a volley.

  “Run!” Mason ordered. They needed no telling twice. Mason and Kyle led the way, sprinting full-tilt and picking pathways at random. Ethan and Rebecca followed behind, taking shots when they could at the pursuing Naldím, while Ford went about killing with much more enthusiasm, expending several magazines in barely a minute.

  Ethan ran harder and faster than he ever had in his life, struggling to keep up with Rebecca’s nimble form. At the junctions he turned in quick pirouettes, firing off a few rounds from his pistol before falling back into a sprint. The Naldím horde seemed innumerable behind him, however, and as they continued to run, it only seemed to grow.

  Between the war cries and the growing thundering of footsteps, Ethan could hear something new joining the fray. Something larger. He turned again at the next intersection and saw a Naldím, easily twice the size of the others, now leading the charge.

  “What the hell,” he gasped, turning to run again. Ford saw the monster too, and unloaded his rifle into its chest. It had little effect.

  “Dammit, Ford, run!” Mason called from ahead.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Ford followed after Ethan, catching up in an instant.

  Ethan did not know how, nor did he care, but suddenly the squad found itself on a final stretch towards an exit that was glowing with morning light. The sight renewed his energy in a way he didn’t think possible, and he quickened his pace. The others found the same spirit, charging towards the light with everything they had.

  In a sudden, glorious instant they burst out of the tunnel and into the forest. Mason ran forward and vaulted a wide bush, signaling for the others to follow. They all leapt behind it and into cover.

  A second later the Naldím followed. The large one exited first, taking only a few steps before a flash of green light hit its neck, severing his head from his body. The other aliens faltered, startled by his sudden death, but were not fast enough to retreat into the caves before a hail of energy bolts hit them from every side, mowing them down.