Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet

by Matthew Kadish

  “Better him than me,” muttered Faruuz as he got to his feet. “The browner shoulda warned me about that foothold. It was his fault.”

  “I am so glad you saved him,” Jack said to Scallywag dryly.

  Another grenade explosion sounded as Yeoman Porter came flying up. The men pulled him in just before Grohm lumbered over the edge.

  “Good work, Grohm,” Ganix said.

  Grohm simply snorted in response.

  “Hold the firing line; keep them off us as long as possible,” Ganix ordered his men as they lined up at the edge, weapons aiming downward toward the encroaching zombie hoard. “Jack, the exit!” barked Ganix. “Where is it?”

  “This way!” said Jack, pointing further into the recess.

  Those not on the firing line followed Jack as he ran further back into the opening in the cave wall. But a few feet in, he stopped. Before him was nothing but a solid black wall of rock with no exit in sight. The men gathered around him and Jack looked about, confused.

  “Where’s the exit?” asked Rodham.

  “It… it’s supposed to be right here!” said Jack, a sinking feeling suddenly popping up in the pit of his stomach.

  “What do you mean, supposed to be?” snarled the Sergeant.

  Jack scanned the wall frantically for some type of door, a hole, anything that would signal a way out. But there was only solid rock.

  “The Earthman led us to a bloody dead end!” said Faruuz. “I shoulda kept my right ta shoot ya in the face.”

  “Spread out, search the wall,” ordered Ganix. “See if there’s a hidden door, a control panel – anything.”

  The men went about searching the wall before them. Heckubus stood by Jack, the gears in his head whirling.

  “My sensors are not picking up any sign of an exit,” the robot said, turning to Jack. “Bravo on leading a group of ninny-wats to their ultimate doom, Earthman. However, I do wish you would have left me out of it! I shall not underestimate you again.”

  Jack’s head was reeling. It didn’t make any sense. The map in his brain told him the exit was there, right in front of him. Why would his ship tell him there was a way out if there weren’t one?

  “Fall back!” came the cry from the firing line. Jack turned and saw Yeoman Porter backing up with the rest of those at the front as zombies started to climb over the edge of the cliff to their position.

  Ganix turned and saw his men retreating. “Blast it!” he snarled. “In formation!”

  Ganix ran to join his men, followed by Rodham and the other soldiers. Scallywag approached Jack and grabbed him by his shirt, pulling him close.

  “Listen up, lad,” the pirate said. “You best get your head on straight and find us this exit you’ve been going on about, savvy?”

  “I’m telling you, the map says it’s supposed to be right there!” said Jack, pointing at the wall.

  “There is nothing there! Only rock!” lamented Heckubus.

  “Can I shoot him in the face, now?” asked Faruuz.

  Grohm snorted.

  Jack went over the map again in his mind. He knew the images were showing him the exit was supposed to be right there. Suddenly, he remembered his dream with Anna.

  “Focus, Jack,” she had said. “You need to focus.”

  Jack tried to concentrate on the back of his mind, the place that always seemed to respond when he made communication with his ship. Jack felt a slight tingle there and tried to focus on that area, reaching out with his consciousness.

  I’m here, Jack thought. What do I do now?

  Jack felt his head buzz, as though there were a response to his thoughts. Suddenly, a crack appeared in the wall before him.

  “Look!” said Jack, pointing.

  The group turned and saw the crack in the rock wall. Then, the rock around the crack began turning to dust, rolling away and forming an opening to a deep tunnel. Jack let out an excited “whoop.”

  “Blimee,” smiled Scallywag.

  “It’s the ship!” said Jack. “I just needed to ask it to open the door!”

  “Where’s it lead to?” inquired Heckubus.

  “Who cares!” said Scallywag. “Anywhere is better than here. Everyone in! Now!”

  The group moved to the exit. Scallywag let out a loud whistle that caught Ganix’s attention.

  “Move it, Major!” shouted Scallywag.

  Ganix’s eyes lit up as he saw the opening in the cave wall. “Fall back!” he yelled.

  The soldiers began their retreat as more and more zombies crested over the edge of the cliff, bearing down on them. The men continued firing as they made their way to the exit.

  Ganix took out another thermal grenade and tossed it toward the hoard as he made a run for the opening.

  “Close it!” he ordered.

  The explosion from the grenade sent zombies flying and propelled Ganix forward onto the ground. His men dragged him into the tunnel as the exit began to close back up. More zombies rushed forward, desperately reaching out for the survivors, but they were too late.

  The opening closed, sealing out the zombies, and plunging the group into complete darkness.

  Chapter 26

  The metal door opened with a hiss and Abraxas stepped through to the monotonous hum of generators. His Dark Soldiers spread out through the room, plasma rifles at ready, searching behind the pipes and any alcove in which the intruders could be hiding.

  Rage bubbled deep within the Deathlord’s gut. After giving up searching the Ancient starship for his prey, he’d spent hours organizing the search aboard the mothership, sending troops down as many hallways, corridors, and maintenance shafts as he could find.

  The ship is too big, he cursed silently to himself. The intruders could be anywhere, hiding in any number of places, and the longer the search went on, the more vexed he found himself becoming.

  “Anything?” Abraxas barked.

  “The room is empty, Warlord,” Vishni replied.

  Abraxas seethed. Battle he could deal with. Combat he understood. Chasing cowardly prey was another matter entirely.

  “Where is the access console?” he grumbled.

  Vishni led Abraxas to a computer panel tucked away from the door’s line of sight. Abraxas glared at it.

  “It’s been deactivated,” reported Vishni. “If the Acolytes hadn’t detected the unscheduled access, we’d never have known it had been used.”

  Abraxas did not know what upset him more - the fact that his prey seemed more than capable of eluding him on his own ship, or that such dishonorable infidels were trying to access their sacred technology.

  “And they were able to use it?” inquired Abraxas. “Have they somehow figured out our systems?”

  “The Acolytes seem to think so,” responded Vishni. “Of course, it is impossible to tell based on the alert we received. They may have blindly been hitting buttons out of desperation.”

  “Have the Acolytes access the data logs from this panel,” ordered Abraxas. “I want to know what they did, what they were looking at, and how long they were looking at it.”

  “Thy will be done, my Warlord.” Vishni bowed.

  Abraxas turned to leave, making his way for the door before stopping. Standing in the doorway was Zarrod, accompanied by the Vicar General, and a small squad of Dark Soldiers.

  Upon seeing the Deathlord Supreme, Abraxas immediately dropped to one knee in deference, as did his men.

  “Rise,” ordered Zarrod.

  Abraxas returned to his feet. “Supreme,” he said. “To what do I owe the honor of your presence?”

  “The Vicar General has delivered to me a troubling report of unscheduled system accesses around the ship.”

  Abraxas glared at the Vicar General, whose pale red eyes were expressionless behind his plain white faceguard.

  “We believe the companions of the Regal Princess may be attempting to access our ship’s computers,” reported Abraxas. “No doubt they are lost, frightened, and desperate. It is only a matter of time befor
e we catch them.”

  “My Acolytes have back-traced a number of unauthorized computer accesses around the ship,” the Vicar General said softly. “This generator station shows hours of unsanctioned activity. It is my belief the intruders were successful in deciphering our systems.”

  “Impossible,” growled Abraxas. “No mere infidels could decipher our sacred language in a matter of hours.”

  “These are not mere infidels,” said Zarrod. “They repelled your attack on the planet, defeated a squad of our shards, nearly escaped from our fleet, and have freely moved about on our ship undetected for some time now. Yet you still wish to dismiss them as such?”

  Abraxas bowed his head. “I will admit, they are more resourceful than I had anticipated,” he replied. “But to think they are capable of accessing our systems…”

  “It may explain why they are able to elude us,” said the Vicar General. “If indeed they have access to our internal sensors, they would be able to track our movements.”

  “If what you say is true,” said Abraxas, “and our technology has been breached, that presents a grave danger to the entire fleet. We must take immediate action to neutralize the threat. I say we vent all oxygen from the ship and disable life support immediately. Let the infidels wither and die in whatever hole they’ve crawled into.”

  “A rash strategy, Warlord,” replied the Vicar General quietly. “Cutting off the ship’s life support would cost us hundreds of thousands of sacrifices within the temple, to the detriment of our power core. Not to mention the subjects we have in the assimilation chambers, and the slythru hatchlings…”

  “Which is why we will be doing no such thing,” said Zarrod. “Killing all life support to deal with two intruders is completely unnecessary.”

  “But Supreme,” insisted Abraxas, “if indeed these intruders can operate our systems, it opens up untold threats to the ship and our mission.”

  “I am aware of the dangers, Abraxas,” replied Zarrod. “This is the reason I have taken the fleet out of hyperspace for the time being. Until we secure this threat, I am halting our journey to the ghost planet.”

  “A wise decision, my lord,” replied the Vicar General.

  Abraxas glared at the Vicar General for a moment, anger simmering within him. The fool obviously knew nothing of battle, or else he’d see how perilous it was to allow the warrior who had defeated so many of their soldiers to run loose within the fleet’s flagship. Everything lost by disabling life support could be replaced in time, yet there was no telling what type of damage the fugitives would cause if they were allowed to continue to sneak around unchallenged. However, Zarrod agreed with the Vicar General, and it was not Abraxas’s place to challenge the decisions of his superior.

  “As you command, Supreme,” said Abraxas, relenting. “If such is your will, I promise you, our journey will not be halted for long. Now that we know how they are eluding us, I will have the Acolytes monitor all computer access around the ship. We will increase patrols, search every corner of this vessel, and flush them out from wherever they may be hiding.”

  “That will not be necessary,” said Zarrod.

  Abraxas blinked. It took him a moment to overcome the surprise of the Deathlord Supreme’s words. “Supreme?” he questioned. “Am I to understand you wish to call off the search?”

  “The search is a waste of time,” Zarrod said simply. “We already know where they are going.”

  Realization sparked in Abraxas’s mind, and instantly he felt foolish for not realizing it before. “The Regal Princess,” he growled.

  “And the ship,” said Zarrod. “They’ll attempt a rescue and an escape.”

  “It is a poor plan,” said Abraxas. “Even if they succeed in locating the Princess, they will never get near their ship.”

  “Yet they were able to get off it, even surrounded by our soldiers,” said the Vicar General. “Our investigation into the ship is only bringing up more questions. Thus far, our mainframe has been able to interface with the Ancient vessel’s systems, but we have been unable to extract any useful knowledge from it. However, I theorize there must be some type of teleportation system on board.”

  “Which means they may not have to be anywhere near the vessel to get on it,” said Zarrod, completing the Vicar General’s line of thought.

  “Then I recommend we destroy the ship immediately,” said Abraxas. “Give them no access to escape.”

  “Destroying that vessel is not an option,” said Zarrod flatly.

  “But, Supreme,” protested Abraxas. “The ship is able to disappear. We’ve seen it happen before. If they are able to get on board, they could easily—”

  “You are correct,” interrupted Zarrod. “The ship is able to disappear. This is why it is valuable. With that type of technology at our disposal, the Deathlord Fleet would be unstoppable. And I will not needlessly destroy it if I do not have to.”

  Abraxas bowed his head submissively. As usual, the Deathlord Supreme was right. Abraxas’s gut twisted in shame for being so foolish.

  “Apologies, Supreme,” the Deathlord said. “If that is your wish, I will triple the guards in the docking bay containing the Ancient vessel and will have the Regal Princess moved to a more secure location.”

  “Leave the Princess where she is,” ordered Zarrod. “The intruders may already be on their way there. Monitor the room and have a squad of soldiers at one of our teleportation hubs ready to materialize when they make their attempt to rescue her.”

  Abraxas nodded. “It will be done at once, Supreme,” he replied. “I will also have soldiers hidden along the corridors between the Princess’s cell and the docking bay, in case the intruders are able to escape our initial trap.”

  “Might I also suggest a troop presence around the temple entrance?” recommended the Vicar General. “They may also attempt to rescue the Princess’s companion.”

  The image of that sniveling boy flashed into Abraxas’s head. “It would be foolish for them to try,” he said.

  “We have seen evidence of their foolishness before,” said the Vicar General. “The Regals do not like to leave their allies behind.”

  “Even if they were stupid enough to go after their companion, there is no way they’d find him in the temple,” said Abraxas. “It is far too large. The boy is probably dead already anyway.”

  “They may not know that,” replied the Vicar General. “Besides, what harm would it do to be a bit more cautious than we may need?”

  “Caution is one thing, wasting our resources is quite another,” said Zarrod. “Even if the intruders deduced their comrade’s whereabouts, and assuming they figured out how to enter the temple, they would not be able to leave again. In fact, by entering, they’d have done our job for us.”

  The Vicar General bowed. “I submit to your wisdom, Supreme.”

  “Have reinforcements stationed at all active teleportation hubs,” ordered Zarrod. “That will give us flexibility should they pop up anywhere unexpectedly or in case our initial attack is repelled too quickly. Lock down all computer access hubs outside of the bridge. Jam all subspace frequencies as well as known Regal Ultrawave communication channels. I want our prey deaf, blind, and stumbling into our trap unprepared. This time, there will be no escape for them.”

  “As you command, Supreme,” said both Abraxas and the Vicar General.

  “Oh, and Abraxas,” said Zarrod before turning to leave.

  “Yes, Supreme?” responded the Deathlord.

  “I will be leading our forces in this endeavor, personally.”

  “It is not my place to question your orders, Supreme,” responded Abraxas. “But I can assure you, if given the chance, I will bring these intruders in.”

  “Whoever these intruders are, they have defeated you once already, along with a large number of our soldiers,” said Zarrod. “I want to see how well they stand up against me.”

  With a flourish of his cape, the Deathlord Supreme turned and walked away, followed by his entourage an
d the Vicar General. Abraxas watched him go. Deep down, he felt the turmoil of anger and shame whirling inside him for failing to capture the infidels himself before the Deathlord Supreme had to get involved.

  But a small part of him tingled with joy and excitement. He remembered the armored warrior he had faced off with in the Ancient temple and the skill with which he had fought. He tried to imagine what it would look like when that same warrior was facing the full might and terror of a Deathlord Supreme.

  Abraxas could almost hear the screams of agony the warrior would unleash before the Supreme tore the very essence of life from his chest, and the Deathlord couldn’t help but smile at the thought. It would be a glorious death, indeed.

  And he just hoped he was there to see it.

  Chapter 27

  "I can’t see!” whined Faruuz.

  “Shut it, ya git,” replied Scallywag. “No one can.”

  “Did nobody think to bring any kitten torches?” grumbled Rodham.

  “Does anybody have a light?” inquired Ganix. “Anything at all?”

  Jack heard shuffling as the men checked for something they could use for illumination. He never realized how much light the energy pillar gave off in the Pit until now. Wherever they were, the darkness was so thick that it was like a bag had been placed over his head before being dunked into a tar pit on a moonless night.

  Then, two bright beams of light cut through the veil of black that had enveloped them. The group cringed and groaned, the sudden blast of illumination causing many to shield their eyes. Jack blinked, trying to focus on its source, eventually seeing two glowing circles hovering in the air like large, disembodied flashlights.

  “Watch where you’re shining those things!” barked Sergeant Rodham.

  “Just seconds ago you were complaining about lack of light,” responded Heckubus. “Make up your minds, you sniveling meatballs.”

  The beams of light dimmed slightly and finally Jack could make out the familiar shape of Heckubus’s head, his large eyes revealed as the source of the illumination.

  “Ya mean to tell me you’ve had bloody flashlight eyes this whole time???” growled Scallywag.