The monstrous alien, its attention focused solely on the transport, was taken completely by surprise and, therefore, received the full force of the explosions, killing it instantly. Even as shouts of triumph and relief were being formed in their throats, a new danger cut off any thought of celebration. The carcass of the giant beast, blackened and smoldering, fell toward the street below.
Rysth-nuul managed to narrowly avoid the majority of the creature's body, its tail slapping hard against the roof of the transport as it passed beneath. The second transport, however, slammed hard into the giant body, causing the vehicle to careen into one of the ruined buildings.
The flyer circled around to get into position for a strafing run in order to aid the trapped vehicle. However, the pilot did not notice that one of the three dragons that had been chasing the transports had maneuvered underneath it. As the fighter was preparing to open fire on the remaining two dragons that were even now disabling the ensnared vehicle with acid blasts from their beaked jaws, a sudden jolt rocked the ship from below, causing the pilot to lose control as the acid began to eat through the rockets that held the craft aloft. The last that the crew of the foremost transport could see was the flyer spinning out of control and diving into the ruined city.
Immediately after the dead dragon's charred carcass had blocked the second transport, Rysth-nuul brought their vehicle to a sudden halt, giving Sikaris and Druen clean shots on the two dragons attacking their comrades.
Frantic cries and a chaotic mixture of sounds came out of the radio transceiver, but Rebecca's translator was unable to sort them out. Suddenly, a deafening roar that would have caused even the bravest of warriors to shrink in fear rent the air. The dragon that had destroyed the flyer had returned and was headed straight toward them, its fangs still dripping acid.
"Go!" Sikaris bellowed over its shoulder, never ceasing the endless barrage of gunfire.
Rysth-nuul, shaking off the paralyzing fear from the dragon's roar, throttled the engine and turned quickly into the open street on their left, causing the dragon to abort its dive in order to change directions to pursue them. The beast swerved erratically as it followed, keeping the weapons' fire from Sikaris and Druen from hitting any of its weak points.
"Tarrsk!" Rysth-nuul spat vehemently at the copilot. "Which way?"
"There." Looking toward the front window, Rebecca saw a building looming up before them as they rounded a corner.
A sudden silence rang loudly in the vehicle as both Druen and Sikaris ceased fire. Rebecca turned to see that the dragon had seemingly given up the chase. "Why did..." She gulped in air, her heart still pounding heavily from adrenaline. "Where... where did it go?"
Prin, still scanning all of the windows frantically for signs of the creature, responded without looking at her. "It most likely returned to the other transport to help its clan mates finish off the others—lucky for us."
Noting that the transport continued on in the opposite direction, Rebecca looked to Prin. "Aren't we going back to help them?" she asked, fully expecting a positive response.
"You really are insane," Prin replied, now turning his mismatched eyes to look over its shoulder at her.
"But...aren't they your clan mates? Aren't you going to at least try to save them?"
The coldness in Prin's eyes caused Rebecca for the first time to view it as it truly was: an intelligent, emotionless animal that lacked any kind of concern for others whatsoever. When it spoke, its voice was lower and more feral than Rebecca had ever heard before, causing her to draw back from it in fear. "They served their purpose. 'Power to the strong, death to the weak.' In this case, we are the strong."
"Lucky is more like it," snickered the ape alien quietly.
Rebecca stared at Prin, dumbfounded. But before she could even form a thought in response to this statement, her eyes caught movement outside the window behind Prin. "Look out!" she screamed, her hand seemingly moving of its own accord to point over the alien scientist's shoulder. The lithe form of the dragon that had been chasing them loomed up suddenly out of the side street they were passing and launched its massive body at the vehicle, catching Druen by surprise and knocking it from its position on the small platform on the back of the transport.
A moment later, a loud hiss burst from the ceiling directly above Rebecca as acid began eating its way through. Even as she recovered her senses and started moving off of the bench, she felt a sudden searing pain on her left forearm. Letting out a cry, she grabbed her burned arm with her right hand and lost her balance, falling hard onto her right hip.
For a split second, she felt her grip on consciousness begin to slip as the acid burned mercilessly through her protective armor and began eating its way through her skin and muscle. The sudden emergence of the dragon's claw through the now weakened ceiling, however, succeeded in snapping her mind back to the present. Its gigantic claw tore large chunks of the ceiling away, leaving the center of the vehicle exposed.
The dragon perched upon the back of the transport where Druen had once stood glared maliciously down at Rebecca through the hole it had just created, the fangs in its beaked maw oozing with murderous intent.
Frozen from fear, Rebecca could do nothing but watch helplessly as a claw on the end of the beast's wing descended toward her. Sikaris's body suddenly eclipsed the horrific visage before her as it grabbed her and rolled across the floor of the vehicle away from the razor sharp claw. In that same instant, Prin pulled a cylinder from its bandolier, charged it with a sudden flash of blue light, and tossed it through the torn ceiling.
The dragon, not realizing the danger of the explosive, ignored it and kept its claw groping about the interior of the vehicle, searching for its intended victim. A second later, a numbing explosion rocked the transport.
At the same moment that the explosion went off, Rysth-nuul changed course once again to circle back around to the building that Tarrsk had indicated. The dragon, not expecting either the explosion or the sudden direction change, was thrown off balance and fell from the vehicle, its body reducing a small nearby building to rubble.
Sikaris eased itself off Rebecca and calmly returned to its post, almost as if nothing had happened. Although weak from the excruciating pain in her arm as well as still recovering from having the wind knocked out of her, she, nonetheless, gritted her teeth and forced her body into a sitting position so she could look out the back window to see what had become of the vile beast that pursued them.
Did we get it? she wondered feebly. In answer to her unspoken question, a violent bellow erupted from the smoke and dust that hung thick in the air over the area where the dragon had fallen. A moment later, portions of the crumbled building were flung aside as the beast emerged from the debris. Stumbling back onto the street, the reptilian creature resumed the pursuit. This time, however, it chased them on the ground, its right wing having been shredded by the explosion, making flight impossible. Rebecca watched in awe as the beast began limping faster and faster toward them on all fours until the transport turned another corner, removing the creature from sight.
"There!"Tarrsk said. "The entrance should be—"
Before the translator could finish, Rysth-nuul spoke, causing the device to switch focus to its voice instead. "Forget the entrance. I am taking us in here!" With that, Rysth-nuul pressed the accelerator. "Prepare for collision!"
Rebecca crawled back to her bench. However, instead of climbing onto it, she merely wrapped her legs and one good arm around the legs of the bench and held on tightly. Despite her fear, she looked out the front window and watched as the hard mud and clay building drew ever nearer.
Gunfire from Sikaris's weapon broke the relative silence with jarring suddenness. Leaping from the top of a ruined building onto the rubble-strewn street behind them was the injured dragon, its face contorted in rage.
"Incoming!" Sikaris barely had time to yell before the sickening splat of acid hit the back of the vehicle. The yellowish-green liquid immediately ate through Sikaris we
apon, causing it to cease its steady drumming in an instant.
A second later, the vehicle struck the wall of the building full force. Although Prin and the ape alien had weakened the wall with gunfire prior to impact, it still retained enough structural integrity to jar the occupants of the vehicle considerably. Prin and the others, having wrapped their tails around the benches tightly, were affected little. Sikaris, however, who was in mid leap from its bench to avoid being burned by the acid, was not so lucky. Its body sailed past Rebecca and slammed hard into the front panel between the two benches.
The momentum carried the heavy transport into the building, causing the walls and ceiling of the structure to be torn asunder with abandon. Large chunks of debris fell through the hole in the roof of the transport and landed heavily upon the metal bench above Rebecca, nearly crushing it beneath the weight. After several bone-shattering seconds of destruction, the vehicle entered a larger meeting room of some sort where the vehicle momentarily ceased its demolition. The room looked to be about the size of an average auditorium or conference center, but any furniture or other décor had long since been removed.
Once Rysth-nuul had stopped the vehicle, Sikaris, surprisingly unhurt, regained its feet and strode back to its bench without a word. All eyes in the transport turned to look down the path of destruction to see if the dragon was attempting to follow.
Several intense moments of silence reigned as they stared through the hole behind them, trying to pierce through the haze of dust left in their wake. Suddenly, the building shook around them as if being rocked by an earthquake, sending another layer of dust and debris down upon the transport. Through the hole behind them lumbered the giant creature bellowing in rage.
"It didn't work," Prin said in defeat as Rebecca rose and resumed her seat on the bench.
"What..." she said slowly, pain, fatigue, and exhaustion beginning to take their toll. "What didn't work?"
Prin looked at her in disappointment. "Mrdangam will not usually enter into unknown places that will not let them move freely or fly. That is why we came in here. But"—it looked out the rear window once more—"my explosive crippled it and made it angry. Now it will not stop until we are dead."
Everyone stood motionless, staring hopelessly down the freshly made entrance and watching as the dragon tore away large chunks of wall, widening the hole as it came.
"Rysth-nuul, go!" Sikaris growled. "Try to outrun it or lose it among the buildings."
The vehicle groaned to life once again, the transport's engine gushing foul exhaust fumes into the tunnel. Gaining speed, Rysth-nuul slammed the vehicle into the opposite wall and opened an exit onto the surrounding streets, leading them to the right and back toward where they had last seen the other transport. A tremendous crash and roar a few seconds later informed them that the dragon alien had cleared the building and was once again in hot pursuit.
"Tarrsk, are there any other streets? This one is leading us back,"came the translation of Rysth-nuul's exasperated question.
"None that are clear. Most streets around here are blocked by fallen buildings."
As if to accentuate its words, the street they were following turned to the left and ended abruptly where a building had collapsed, preventing them from going any farther.
Rysth-nuul let out a vicious snarl and threw the transport into reverse. But before it could even move the vehicle more than a few feet, the dragon rounded the corner.
Seeing its prey cornered, it gave out a roar of triumph and sprayed its deadly liquid at the vehicle once more. In a moment, the engine died and the back window of the transport had dissolved, leaving them exposed to the air. Grabbing another explosive from its bandolier, Prin prepared to arm it.
Then suddenly, to their utter shock and amazement, another form appeared from behind the dragon. Before the Mrdangam could react, four long horns pierced through the tough hide, skewering it and pinning it to the nearby wall.
Druen, on all fours, quickly withdrew its horns and tusks from the dragon's body. Before it could recover, the dinosaur alien stood up, unslung its cannon-like weapon from its back, and promptly ended the beast's life.
The occupants of the vehicle, still too stunned from this sudden development, offered no gratitude but simply stood staring at their companion in disbelief. With its cannon still smoldering, the large alien turned and began walking toward the transport.
The sound of leathery wings beating against the air was immediately accompanied by the roar of yet another of the hunting beasts. At the sound of the approaching Mrdangam, Druen quickly scanned the area for cover. Finding none close enough to be of use, it simply dropped into a crouch, its weapon aimed high over the roof of the transport. Giving out its own roar of defiance, Druen fired, and a look of fierce determination was etched on its mismatched features.
Rebecca and the others watched in fascinated horror as a dragon swooped out of the sky from the left and drove Druen's body into the ground with its razor-sharp talons. As swiftly as it came, it flew off, the limp form of their giant companion in its clutches. A second later, the dark shadow of another dragon flew low over the top of their vehicle to land next to the carcass of its dead companion. The creature examined it for a moment, then picked it up unceremoniously in its large claws and lifted off to join its two remaining clan mates, leaving the survivors to watch as the Mrdangam flew toward the mountains, their claws full from a successful hunt.
8
The Aftermath
THE SOFT whisper of the gentle breeze was the only sound that could be heard for several moments. The shock of all that had happened began to ebb, leaving the survivors feeling drained and exhausted. With the weariness also came pain.
Now that the immediate danger was gone, Rebecca slumped on the bench weakly. Closing her eyes tightly, she fought the urge to curl into a ball and weep. As she sat in silence to let the tension drain from her body, her left arm began to throb and burn anew, begging for attention. Sitting upright on the bench, she gingerly examined the wound. Reaching up with an unsteady hand, she tenderly pulled the Dakkar-nil skin away from her burned flesh, wincing as pain lanced up her arm.
A sudden grating sound filled the air, causing her to jump reflexively, followed by a brief grinding as the engine below struggled to come to life. Swearing and cursing could be heard coming up through the access hatches accompanied by the sounds of fists slamming against machinery. A moment later, the alligator-like torso of Tarrsk appeared from the left-side hatch.
"Sikaris, we have a problem. That last attack seems to have damaged the engine." Rebecca noted that the creature's throaty voice seemed to come from nowhere, as it had no jaw on its head that she could detect.
"How bad is it?" Sikaris said as it dismounted its bench and turned around to face the front of the vehicle.
"We will not know until we look closer at the engine, but it may take some time," Tarrsk replied.
"Very well. You and Rysth-nuul get to work," Sikaris commanded. Immediately, the creature disappeared through the hole. Looking at each of the others, Sikaris issued instructions. "Lohgar," it said to the ape alien. "You and I are going to secure the perimeter of the area from the ground. Kyen'tir, I want you to do a quick survey from above. We need to make sure that nothing has made this place its home since the last scouting party was here. Prin, take Rebecca below and patch up that arm and then stand guard outside the vehicle." As its fathomless eyes rested on her, Rebecca felt a cold shudder run the length of her spine. "Once Rysth-nuul and Tarrsk finish repairs, we will continue with our mission as planned. If anyone needs to contact me, use the first frequency. Now go."
Kyen'tir bobbed its scaled orange head in acknowledgment and, not bothering with the main hatch, flew out the hole in the back of the vehicle created by the last blast of dragon acid. With its armor clacking noisily, Lohgar descended the ladder with ease followed immediately by Sikaris, leaving only Prin and Rebecca on the top level.
"Come," Prin said simply, gesturing to the hatch
.
Rebecca, her body stiff and bruised, rose from the bench and made her way toward the exit, her arm once again demanding attention. Painfully, she descended the short distance to the lower level, where Rysth-nuul and Tarrsk were already hard at work examining the damaged engine. Various arrhythmic noises of metal tools at work filled the room.
Upon reaching the floor, Rebecca waited in silence as Prin climbed down and then walked on all six of its claws over to one of the storage units mounted on the left wall. Opening the door, Prin reached in and withdrew a cup-sized container. Returning to where Rebecca stood near the bottom of the ladder, it removed the lid. "Take off the upper parts of your Dakkar-nil skin and sit," Prin said, indicating the driver's bench.
She hesitated, uncertainty written on her face. "What's that?" she asked, leaning forward to try to peer into the container to view its contents.
"Ager gel. It will ease the pain in your arm and help you heal quickly."
"Aaarrrgh!" came a loud cry from the rear of the vehicle. "Watch what you are doing, slave scum!"
Rebecca looked toward the engine housing to see Rysth-nuul and Tarrsk glaring at one another. For a brief moment, she held her breath, expecting one of the two reptiles to attack the other. Then just as suddenly as it had begun, Tarrsk averted its gaze and returned to working on the engine.
"Now," Prin said, drawing attention back to the task at hand. "Sit."
Obeying her companion's command, Rebecca sat on the edge of the nearby bench. She slowly removed the burned upper sections of armor, careful not to aggravate the injured tissue further. Once they were removed, Prin ripped the sleeve off her jumpsuit without mercy, causing Rebecca to clench her teeth to keep from crying out. Looking down at her left arm, Rebecca was finally able to see fully the extent of the damage from the acid.
A patch of flesh about three inches in diameter just above the elbow had been eaten away by the deadly liquid, leaving portions of her triceps exposed. Prin examined the wound carefully and then nodded in satisfaction. "You were very lucky. If you had not been wearing the Dakkar-nil skin, the acid would have eaten all the way through your arm."
Logic's End Page 10
