Star Splinter

by J G Cressey

  “Well, let’s oblige, shall we?” Cal said, stepping the Infiltrator out of the ship’s cockpit and down onto the rocky ground.

  “It looks like there’s a storm brewing on the horizon, Cal.”

  “There always is.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  LYING IN WAIT

  Jumper grimaced as he looked to the horizon and saw the gathering storm clouds. He didn’t mind a good storm but was unsure whether this one would help or hinder their plan. One thing was for sure: It wouldn’t make his long-range targeting any easier. Bringing his longeye bliss rifle up to firing position, he directed the sights on the little Mosquito ship far below. It was hard to see the dark figure against the equally dark landscape, but he could just about make out Cal and Kaia’s synthetic Carcarrion as it left the ship and swiftly negotiated the rocky terrain toward the prison camp.

  “Cal’s on the move,” he called to Eddy and Toker. Both were uncharacteristically calm and quiet as they gazed out of the Star Splinter’s open cargo doors. Toker sat on the deck, slouched against a weapons crate and idly rubbing his adrenalin cuff that was firmly strapped to his wrist. Eddy stood by his side, eyes hard like a boxer’s before a bout as she twiddled one of the Xcel syringes between her fingers. The Gibson gun was laying at her feet.

  As the Star Splinter was a much larger ship, they had decided to land it much further away from the Insidion base than the little Mosquito. The effectiveness of the ghosting net technology had proven successful multiple times now, but landing a ship the size of a Star Splinter would cause heat changes to the ground on which it settled—a very subtle giveaway but an unnecessary risk nonetheless. When the time came, Viktor would maneuver the ship closer to the prison camp.

  As always, Jumper found the feel of the bliss rifle in his hands reassuring. He’d always disliked pulse weapons. They were powerful and effective, no argument there, but he’d never liked the complexity of their workings—too much opportunity for malfunction. Of course, now, with the Insidions’ ability to disable pulse-based technology, the rifle felt more reassuring than ever.

  He continued to scan the landscape through the weapon’s sights then brought them into focus on the relatively flat area of ground where the dropships would be landing. Just looking at it reminded him how nervous he was about that aspect of the plan. His worries weren’t concerning the functioning of the dropships; he and Cal had physically checked and rechecked all ninety-eight of them. Neither was he worried about the starship; Kaia had assured them she could take control of it as easily as she had the Star Splinter. He also trusted Viktor’s ability to have successfully fitted the starship with the ghosting net technology. The aspect of the plan where his confidence waned, however, was in the fact that they’d not had the time, or indeed the means, for the individual dropships to be fitted with that same cloaking technology. As it stood, there would be a race to get all the escapees to the dropships and back to the safety of the cloaked starship before the Insidions managed to take action. It was a race he feared they could lose.

  “It is time for me to go, Jumper.”

  The voice was Melinda’s, and Jumper turned to see the cybernetic woman approaching him. She was dressed from neck to toe in black to provide as much camouflage against the landscape as possible.

  “Okay, Melinda. You have the cube key?”

  “Yes,” she replied, holding up the tiny box between her forefinger and thumb. The nano threads within the box were already set to deactivate the camp’s force field. Melinda was to make her way down to the camp unseen and await the signal.

  “You want some camo cream for your face?” Jumper asked, eying her pale skin. “I’ve got some here somewhere,” he continued, looking down and patting at the multitude of pockets on his combat jacket.

  “That won’t be required.”

  When Jumper looked back up, the synthetic woman’s blonde hair had turned jet black and had begun to move, something Jumper thought he’d never get used to, until it had wrapped firmly around her neck and face. Before long, the only part of her that was no longer black were her bright blue eyes.

  Jumper grinned. “Looks like you’ve got it covered.”

  “Good luck to all of you,” she said as her eyes darkened until they too were black.

  Before any of them had a chance to reply, she silently sped off down the Star Splinter’s cargo ramp and exited the relative safety of the ship’s ghosting net like a panther in the night.

  Chapter Forty

  INFILTRATION

  The Infiltrator’s long, powerful legs handled the rugged terrain well as Cal guided it across the harsh C9 landscape. As he closed in on the five gleaming structures, the scale of the Insidion base really started to sink in. He’d been aware of its immense size from studying the birds-eye views, but with the nearest cube looming over him like some sort of colossal, alien castle, he couldn’t help feeling they’d bitten off more than they could chew. He took a moment to glance back at the now distant prison camp. There was no one following him, but that did little to extinguish his foreboding. The low rumbles from the approaching storm weren’t helping either—they seemed nothing but growls of warning.

  Bar one rather messy dive over the prison camp’s force field, so far everything had gone smoothly. The pop platform had easily adjusted to the synthetic Carcarrion’s extra weight, and its heavy, cybernetic form had cleared the force field with room to spare, but Cal had found controlling the Infiltrator’s descent within the sync sphere tricky to say the least. He’d gone into a tumble and had landed face first. Fortunately, the avatar had remained undamaged and, doing his best to play the part by glaring at various prisoners along the way, he’d guided it through the prison camp untroubled. Taking advantage of a fortunate opportunity, he’d then boldly followed a Carcarrion drone straight out of the camp’s exit and continued to follow it as it strode parallel to the conveyor belt in the direction of the Insidion base.

  Of the half dozen drones that had come within close proximity thus far, not one of them had paid the Infiltrator the least bit of attention. He and Kaia had been fairly confident that this would be the case. Three days previously, they had presented the synthetic to the two captive drones on board The Orillian. Their reaction had been entirely promising. On sighting the Infiltrator through the smart-glass barrier, both drones had become immediately alert, excited even, at the prospect of one of their own appearing. It had taken the drones some time to realize they were looking at some sort of impostor.

  The giant Insidion cubes were constructed of no material Cal could name, a shimmering kind of metal that seemed to take on a life of its own while reflecting the surrounding landscape and skies. It was entirely fortunate that, of the five structures that made up the base, the source of the weapon-disabling signal was emanating from the closest. It was also fortunate that the drone inadvertently guiding him was heading directly for that very structure.

  As they neared, Cal saw a tall, hard-edged entranceway that looked as though a block had simply been removed from the side of the structure. Bright light was pouring from it and falling across the dark rocks. He could see no guards. What would such a superior, arrogant race need to guard against?

  “They’re not overly keen on curves,” he muttered to Kaia as he followed the drone through the entranceway into a wide, straight-edged corridor. Despite the Infiltrator’s agility, he was relieved to leave behind the rocky terrain in exchange for a smooth, well-lit floor. The corridor was completely featureless with no doors or windows apparent, just more corridor that seemed to stretch endlessly straight ahead.

  “Well this is a little underwhelming,” he said as he urged the Infiltrator on with a confident march, making sure to stride no faster or slower than his guide, who was a good twenty meters ahead.

  “Yes,” Kaia agreed. “Still, I’m quite happy with underwhelming.”

  “So I guess there’s not a lot of point asking which way?”

  Kaia let out a small, nervous laugh. “Not y
et at least.” She had assured him that she’d managed to pinpoint the signal to quite an accurate degree and, assuming that they would at some point have a choice in their route, was confident she could direct him to it with ease. “It’s coming from the center of the ship,” she reminded him. “Eventually, we’re going to have to find a way to go up, but for now, straight ahead is good for us.”

  Cal felt it was an eternity before he could make out any sort of end to the corridor. It started with a muffled din, then colors and lights ahead. As he continued on, it became apparent that whatever they were heading towards certainly didn’t match the bland, featureless design they’d witnessed so far.

  “What do you suppose is going on up there?” Kaia asked.

  “I’ve no idea, but I’ve a nasty feeling we’re approaching a party without an invite.” Cal could feel his heart pounding against his chest and wondered for a brief moment if the sync sphere was sensitive enough to pick up on such a subtle movement.

  As the corridor finally came to an end, Cal sucked in a breath and had to force himself not to sweep the Infiltrator’s head up and around like some kind of awed tourist. The space was so large that no matter which direction he looked, not even the Infiltrator’s synthetic eyes could see an end to it.

  He hadn’t been far off when he’d said “party.” The area was bursting with activity. Close to chaos in fact. So much so that it reminded Cal of Vangos, the once capital city of Earth’s pleasure moon. Everything he saw could easily have been human in design but was at the same time distinctly alien. There were countless establishments, all set around huge pillars, offering strange foods, drinks, and who knew what else. All were adorned with dazzling bursts of color.

  There were Carcarrion drones everywhere, but the life forms didn’t end there. A host of different alien breeds meandered around the great space. Most were approximately humanoid, but rather disconcertingly, the Carcarrions were among the smallest in stature. The aliens on view weren’t limited to live flesh and blood either; in the distance, Cal could see crowds gathered around massive hologram projections that hovered in the air, displaying images of monsters the likes of which he’d never seen. Crowds were gathered around the holograms, hissing and screeching in what he assumed was appreciation or disappointment as they watched the monsters violently rip and grapple at each other with huge claws.

  “My God, Cal.”

  “You took the words right out of my mouth,” he replied. He was doing his utmost not to break his stride as he moved the Infiltrator directly into the throng. Looking up, he saw a high, transparent ceiling that seemed to double as a floor for the level above, and he could make out at least two other floors above that before his vision became a confusing blur of color and movement. It seemed the array of chaotic bustle was replicated on multiple levels overhead, and having witnessed the colossal height of the structure from the outside, he could only imagine how many levels that might be.

  “I think we should make this visit brief,” he said, trying his best to remain level headed as he continued to move deeper into the strange, internal city.

  “Definitely,” Kaia agreed. “When you can, start veering to your right.”

  Cal did so, all the while doing his best to avoid any sort of physical contact with the city’s occupants. The last thing they needed was to get into a tussle. “You recognise any of these species, Kaia?”

  “Not even remotely. They all appear far more sentient and evolved than any of the aliens in our little corner of space. I suspect they’re from far beyond.”

  Cal agreed and did his best not to stare as he continued on.

  “I think we better pick up the pace, Cal,” Kaia suggested after a time. “There’s a lot of communication going on. I don’t fancy our chances if we’re talked at.”

  “We need to go up at some point, right?”

  “Yes, quite a way up.”

  “I might be wrong, but that huge, opaque cylinder ahead looks to be stretching through the floors. See the red cubes moving up and down it? Could be elevators.”

  “Looks promising.”

  Cal manipulated the Infiltrator carefully through the crowds and soon found himself having to skirt around an area filled with multiple aliens slouched in hanging cradles. There were brightly colored tubes entering their arms. He didn’t waste any time studying or musing over the sight; everything he saw was being recorded by the sync sphere and could be reviewed at a later time. One detail he had taken the time to observe, however, was that the slug-like Insidions were attached to every neck he’d seen. So far, all seemed to be drones.

  Eventually, he brought the Infiltrator to a halt in front of the massive, opaque cylinder. At closer inspection, it looked more like a wide, fizzing beam of energy. Inside were numerous static cubes all of which were blue. “What do you think?” he asked Kaia as he peered through the haze at one of the cubes, “Should I just walk on through?”

  As if in answer to his question, two Carcarrion drones barged the Infiltrator aside and walked through the shaft’s hazy wall until they had disappeared into one of the cubes. Moments later, the cube turned red, seeming to solidify as it did so, and took off in a rapid ascent.

  “I guess that answers—”

  Cal’s words caught in his throat as a large, powerful hand clamped onto the Infiltrator’s right shoulder. Managing to twist around, he saw no less than five bulbous eyes—all on the one face—peering down at him. The owner of the eyes was more or less human in shape but was at least a head taller than the Infiltrator. The creature had pale, yellowish skin that was stretched tightly over a particularly bony head and body and was translucent enough to reveal a network of pulsating, brown veins beneath. The creature also sported four stubby arms, the short length of which was more than made up for by long, multi-jointed fingers that protruded, spider-like, from each hand.

  Cal glared at the alien, hoping the icy Carcarrion stare would cause it to reconsider its aggressive proximity. Achieving little success, he casually swiped at its bony arm in order to knock the hand away. The long fingers, however, were surprisingly strong, and the swipe did nothing more than aggravate the tall brute. All five of its eyes were beginning to bulge to the point of popping. With a stab of alarm, Cal wondered whether any of those bulbous eyes could see through the Infiltrator’s synthetic trickery. As if in answer, the creature turned its bony head and began to hiss loudly, attracting the attention from some of the nearest bystanders.

  “How does it know?” There was fear in Kaia’s tone.

  “I’ve no idea.”

  “You’ve got to get away from it.”

  Inclined to agree, Cal attempted to twist free, but incredibly, the alien’s long-fingered grip remained firm. Desperate measures, he thought as he seized hold of the creature’s lower arms and launched the Infiltrator’s heavy, cybernetic form back through the energy shaft. After a few meters of awkward stumbling, the Infiltrator hit the floor with a thud, the big brute landing heavily on top of it. Fortunately, they’d landed where Cal had planned—or at least hoped. Seeming to register their presence, the lift’s fuzzy blue walls solidified and turned red, and they started to ascend.

  Quick to recover from its abduction, the multi-limbed alien soon had all four of its massive, spidery hands grappling in determination. Instinctively, Cal tightened his grip on the big brute’s lower arms. “Christ, this bastard’s strong. Heavy too,” he exclaimed, shocked that the Infiltrator’s cybernetic arms seemed to be struggling.

  “You’re going to have to finish this quickly, Cal. The lift’s automatic, and it’s going up fast.”

  Cal’s vision was suddenly obscured as one of the big, spider-like hands clamped onto the Infiltrator’s face and another wrapped around its neck. The alien was undoubtedly exerting immense pressure, but fortunately, any pain emitted by the sync sphere’s feelers was preset not go past a certain level.

  “Six hundred and fifty meters to go, Cal. Then we need to get out of this thing.”

  Still gri
pping both of the alien’s lower arms, Cal was becoming acutely aware of the advantage of multiple limbs when it came to a fight. Reluctantly releasing one of his opponent’s wrists, he began issuing a series of fast, powerful punches to its rib cage. Despite the crunch of bone, any pain response from the alien was worryingly absent.

  “Tough bastard.” Cal’s voice was strained. Even with the immense, cybernetic strength at his disposal, he was still having to work hard within the sphere.

  “It’s nothing but a drone, Cal. It maybe doesn’t register the pain. Try going for the Insidion.”

  Grateful for the advice, Cal blindly reached the Infiltrator’s free arm up and around and began to feel for the back of the creature’s neck.

  “Four hundred and fifty meters.”

  He felt a hard, lumpy spine then soft flesh. The Insidion wriggled as he gripped it. Then he squeezed. The reaction was immediate: a pained noise, somewhere between a rasp and a roar rushed out of the alien’s mouth. Unfortunately, the long fingers around the Infiltrator’s face and neck tightened further.

  “Three hundred meters.”

  Cal squeezed again, but the Insidion had obviously activated some sort of defence mechanism and become hard as stone. Abandoning the direct attack on the slug-like creature, he forced the free arm back underneath the drone’s body and pushed with all his might. Slowly, the cybernetics began to overwhelm the alien’s impressive strength and forced it upwards. Feeling the positioning was right, he swung the Infiltrator’s right leg up in an arc and hooked it around his opponent’s head.

  “Two hundred meters.”

  Feeling multiple eyes squashed against hard, cybernetic calf, Cal used the power of the hooked leg to twist and force the brute further back. Taking a gurgling cry and a slight loosening of pressure around his neck as his cue, Cal planted the Infiltrator’s other foot on the drone’s chest and pushed hard and fast. Its spidery grip finally failing it, the creature was thrust backwards, and there was a loud crunch as it hit one of the cube’s solid walls. Springing the Infiltrator up, Cal slammed a knee into his dazed opponent’s head.