by C. W Tickner
Shots flew passed them as the Aylen below tried to stop the larger ship’s inevitable descent.
Kane yanked the stick to one side, throwing them across the room as a volley struck the side of the dropship. The cockpit rocked and rattled as the ship’s armour broke apart under the impacts. A console exploded in to the side of the room throwing Tess back against the wall. Troy rushed over, dragging her away from the sparking console and out of the room.
‘Tess?’ Kane called, looking around.
‘She’ll be alright,’ Harl assured him. ‘Just get us down.’
‘The ship can’t take another hit like that,’ Kane said, edging closer to the bigger ship and using it for cover. The move gave them a view of the battle below.
Vorock stood, breaking the surface and was wading through the water, making a break for barrier. He fired relentlessly at the Aylen between him and the wall but his suit was slowing. A shot punctured a section of tubing and a gush of black liquid sprayed out. The mech’s movements became jerky as if time was pausing and starting then the mech seized up. Vorock stepped out from the machine and strode towards the wall and the last Aylen protecting it. But before Vorock could reach the enemy, Orbital soared over Vorock’s head and struck the enemy Aylen.
The lone giant looked up and raised both hands like a man attempting to stop a two storey building before Orbital smashed headlong in to him. The conical point of the cannon that protruded from Orbital’s bow, battered aside the feeble arms, ploughing through the Aylen’s head and reducing it to a pulpy yellow mush. For an instant the yellow blood splattered the wall behind then Orbital shattered its way deep through the metal, sending up a teeth grinding screech. It tore the entire section apart, carving it in two like a sword splitting a shield. Turrets on top of the posts either side bent inwards, sparks flying as they powered down.
Orbital obliterated the structure, throwing out a geyser of smoke and steel fragments before crash landing with a deep boom that rippled the water around the island. Its tip scraped over the land and dug deep into the lush vegetation behind the wall.
The dropship’s cockpit shook. Kane clutched hard at the controls as if he cold stop the vibrations. He hunched over the screen as flashes burst against the hull and smoke shot up from panels just outside the window.
‘We’re hit,’ Kane called as more tremors rocked the room and the constant droning of engines died to an eerie silence, only the roar of wind was audible outside.
Kane punched buttons and pulled levers. The engines whirred to life then sputtered to nothing.
‘Come on!’ he cried. He shook his head, ‘no, no.’ after a moment he looked around at their expectant faces. ‘We’re going down.’
‘Really?’ Troy said, crouching in terror in his seat.
The ship pitched sharp left as the front dipped, shifting the water in to view and they lost sight of the gap in the wall.
‘Strap in,’ Kane said, clipping a belt around his dirty white coat. ‘We’re not going to make it passed the wall.’
Harl’s heart sank. How many of the two thousand men, women and children would die as they tried to swim to the island amid the tumultuous waves.
Tess regained consciousness and Troy helped her into a seat as he took the one beside her and Sonora, leaving Dana, Damen and Harl to stand, clutching the back of the chairs as the shaking intensified.
Harl spread his legs wider, distributing his weight as the ship rocked into a diving roll. He gripped the chair as his feet left the floor. Vision blurred from the shaking, he glimpsed blue water rushing towards the window. He thought of the thousands of people crammed in the cargo hold like splinters in a piece of wood. Their screams were like a dull roar behind the walls, now that the engines were silent. If the ropes holding the cargo had slipped or snapped, the boxes would crush the hundreds of families huddling together.
They were all thrown forward as the nose of the ship smashed into the water, deafening Harl as the thick windshield cracked and the metal wings sheared off, ripping gashes in the hull as the entire ship plunged deep into the frigid water. Harl wiped the blood trickling into his left eye as he clambered unsteadily to his feet. Dana and Damen were untangling themselves as Troy cursed, trying to unbuckle from his seat which had snapped off its stand, leaning him against the floor at an unnatural angle. Sonora had unclipped and was staring up at the single crack in the window as it resisted the pressure of water from the other side. The ship descended slowly. A trickle of water was running from the split in the window, seeping inside onto the control panels below it.
Sonora jumped as the line fractured, splitting jagged streaks across the pane.
‘Unlock the docking bay doors,’ Damen called, eyeing the crack as it spread like the branches of a tree. ‘We need to let them out or they’ll drown.’
‘I can’t,’ Kane said staring down at a blank unlit screen as water seeped on to the controls and sparked.
‘We’ll open them manually,’ Harl said with no idea how to force the solid steel doors open. He had to get to Yara and Elo before the water flooded the entire ship, already it must be pouring in from the holes where the wings had been.
Dana stood, slipped a knife from her thigh sheath and walked to Troy who was still on his side, fighting the restraints as water lapped his cheeks. She knelt and slid the blade under the thick black strap then sawed back and forward. He dropped to the floor, his face splashing in the water puddling on the cold metal plating.
‘Ow,’ he said rubbing his jaw, ‘you didn’t have to-’
A rumble shook the cabin floor and a familiar rhythmic boom grew louder.
‘Aylen,’ Damen said, smashing open a secured weapons locker with a well placed palm only to find it empty.
The window cracked again as another vibration stomped closer and a fist sized triangle of glass burst inwards from the pressure followed by a constant stream of water pouring onto the floor.
‘Get out!’ Kane yelled, unclipping his belt and scrambling for the door.
He skidded to a halt as the cockpit rolled to one side making him tumble backwards against the wall. The hull creaked and the cockpit rocked as the water pouring in became a trickle then stopped. The ship rose above the water line, revealing giant grey fingers clasped around the crumpled nose of the vessel. The wash of blue-green had dropped away to be replaced with the sapphire tone of the sky as the ship was hoisted high in the air above the waves. Clouds spun before Vorock’s face looked in as the battered ship was rotated to his eye level as the Aylen inspected the arm length object for signs of life.
They cried out, cheering and screaming to let him know they were inside, knowing he could get them through the wall and across the border. His eyelids opened wider as he spotted them waving and shouting inside through the shattered window.
The cockpit juddered as if he wanted to drop them and a scowl spread across the grey, pitted face. As he moved the ship further back they saw red lasers whipping passed his body. He was under fire from somewhere out of sight.
Harl’s bracelet crackled from static to Manny’s panicked voice.
‘Vorocks been hit. We’re taking heavy fire from across the water-’ The voice buzzed to static again and the signal was lost.
Harl felt weightless as Vorock sped up, striding towards the broken wall. With each step. They bounced in rhythm, protected from the shots by the bulk of the Aylen. Red flashes whipped passed the window between Vorock’s fingers that filled most of the view. Vorock roared above the ship, the vibrations shaking the cockpit.
Smoke drifted up in huge plumes above the rear bell housing of orbital’s engines that jutted up from the ground between the gap in the wall ahead.
The dropship jerked as Vorock stumbled, jolting them violently inside cockpit. Vorock’s hands clasped protectively around the vessel, tightening their hold as a horrendous howl echoed throughout the ship. The hideous noise drowned out Damen’s words as he yelled in to a radio attempting to contact Yara in the hold.
&nbs
p; Manny’s voice screeched through the speakers in Kane’s console.
‘We’re going down. Hold-’
Static poured from the speaker and the room lurched forward as Vorock fell, narrowly missing the jagged edges of the barricade on either side. Vorock’s hands stretched out as he buckled to his knees and Harl visualise the shots searing into the Aylen’s back as he toppled forwards.
The ship smashed hard against the ground but the hands raised the hull high enough that the impact was lessened. When the rocking stilled, the fingers released their hold, opening the window up to the sky above and surrounding grasslands.
The barrage of weapon fire ceased, leaving an ear popped fuzziness in Harl’s head. He staggered to Sonora who looked up from her seat, unhurt. Kane was slumped unconscious beside her in the captains chair, blood dripping from his head. Tess stumbled to the scientist and cradled his head. Her fingers searched for a pulse as Damen strode for the door, where Troy and Dana had landed in a tangled heap.
Damen froze as an Aylen strode into view through the remnants of the window, partially blocked by Vorock’s lifeless grey fingers. It was wrapped in soft green clothing with strange flowing marks painted across its face. Without knowing why Harl could tell this was the first female Aylen he had seen. Her skin was a subtle cloak of colours, far removed from the male’s grey tones. She knelt seeming to check Vorock’s life signs and shook her head, eyes closed for a moment before she beckoned to someone out of sight further inland.
‘What happened?’ Kane asked coming back to consciousness. Tess smiled and wrapped her arms around his head, muffling his questions. He tapped her arms and she released him.
‘Sorry,’ she said, ‘I’m just glad you’re alright. We landed, but Vorock...’
‘Manny?’ Harl said, grabbing up a fallen radio. They all waited. An expectant silence hung in the room as Tess rushed to nurse Troy and Dana’s cuts and bruises. Dana twitched away as she tried to get a closer look at a gash on the Hoarder’s arm.
‘Manny?’ Harl said, but he didn’t expect an answer.
When no reply came, Kane stood, wobbled and put a hand out on the chair to steady himself.
‘We have crossed the border?’ he said gazing at the green hillside rising outside the window. It was half a question and half statement as if he did not believe it.
‘Harl,’ Sonora said, ‘Elo?’
‘I’ll find Yara and Elo,’ Damen said, ‘and open up the cargo doors.’
A shaking in the ground announced the arrival of more Aylen and an armed group approached the female Aylen. They huddled around Vorock, their weapons pointed towards the gap in the wall that lay behind Orbital. Together they formed a solid line that stood as a warning to the Aylens outside not to cross the boundary.
Footsteps echoed in the corridor and Yara burst into the room before Damen could begin his search. Elo was wrapped in blankets and cradled in her arms. Sonora took the bundle as Damen held Yara in a silent embrace. Sonora checked Elo over then looked around at Harl, smiling.
‘We made it,’ she said.
Harl hugged her. Like Kane, he didn’t want to believe, but as the female Compassionate peered inside the cockpit window he knew they were finally safe.
Epilogue.
So many lost. I have begun to find other survivors and regroup. The dome has been removed and we will attempt to survive on what the giant left behind. So much work to do but Delta will survive.
- Dr R Martin. Signing out.
Manny was placed reverently on Vorock’s chest once the dropship had been lifted from his hands and the huge body had been turned face up to hide the carnage of burnt flesh on Vorock’s back.
Harl clutched Elo to his chest, feeling the warm breeze that blew across the island lap at his tender skin. He stared down at the scene from the verdant hillside overlooking the shell of the dropship and the half buried shell of Orbital.
Orbital had crashed deep into the ground. Its bow carved a trench behind the hole in the barricade, before burrowing into the soil at the bottom of a gently sloping hill.
Removed from between Vorock’s hands, the smaller dropship had been placed beside the mothership. The cargo doors had been forced open by a compassionate who stood towering over the smaller ship as two thousand souls streamed out into the warm sunlight, hands shielding their eyes. As they took in the lush open surroundings, the Aylens filed them towards a human enumerator team whose job it was to take notes on every single survivor. Some laid hands on Vorock’s still form as they passed the stiff hand, giving silent thanks. None yet knew the sacrifice of Gorman, of an old man few of them knew.
Damen and Harl had used the sword to cut their way to the control room where they’d found Gorman’s lifeless body in the smashed remnants of the room. They had carried him out, wrapped in a thin white sheet to hide the injuries and Sonora had grieved over the body before peeling the sheet down enough to kiss his forehead. It would take time but Harl knew she would heal.
Harl looked at those beside him. Sonora locked eyes with his, a smile playing her lips, the trauma of Gorman’s death left in the wreckage below. Damen scanned the wall and the retreating enemy Aylen through the hole, one hand toying with the butt of a rifle slung over his shoulder. Troy held Dana’s hand as both of them stared down at the giants moving about. Dana’s other hand clutched the flyer she’d become so attached to.
Tess let out a burst of curses. Her once pristine nails were now dull and broken from the rough descent. She pulled the comb out, as if to calm herself but it too had split in the journey. She shrugged and dragged the better half through the tangle of red locks and began pointing out the strange buildings further down the shoreline, oblivious to Kane’s silent tears as he surveyed the wrecked ships below.
‘What now? Troy said, breaking the silence and turning to look at them.
‘Simple,’ Harl said beaming down at Elo, ‘we settle down and start living.’
‘Bah,’ Troy blurted. ‘You mean that after everything, I start a farm and Damen goes back to hunting?’
Damen grunted.
Troy pointed at the remnants of the two ships. ‘While the two scientists try to rebuild that mountain of scrap? What a load of-’
‘And me?’ Dana asked, cutting him off.
‘If you don’t run away?’ he said smiling.
She punched his shoulder and he stumbled a pace down slope.
‘I’m not running,’ she said.
Troy’s grin widened, ‘then it’s the farm for you too,’ he said. ‘Bringing in the harvest, cooking meals, feeding the chickens-.
‘I won’t,’ she said hitting him with the drone and they all laughed.
‘Might be hard for our daughter,’ Sonora said giving Harl a wry smile, ‘now her life isn’t in constant peril.’
‘Wouldn’t want her to grow up normal,’ Damen agreed.
‘Oh yes you do,’ Tess said. She looked at them all, ‘we’re bruised and bloody and we could all do with a long rest.’ She glanced at the distant buildings, ‘who knows what this place has to offer.’
Dana stumbled back, looking behind for an escape as an Aylen stepped passed the wreckage of the shipmen and began a gentle stride up the hill.
‘We’re allies remember,’ Troy said giving her a smile.
She took a deep breath, clutched the flyer tighter and stood her ground with the rest of them.
The green metallic outfit that encased the Aylen, marked it as a compassionate and reflected in the sun as it loomed over them before he dropped to one knee to get closer to them.
The bracelet on Dana’s wrist broke into perfect translation as the Compassionate boomed over them.
‘My name is Sorack,’ the Aylen said, ‘We’ve just received communication from our Compassionate heads. Harvest Ten has responded to Vorock breaking through the barricade to bring you here and the others you killed.’
‘And?’ Damen prompted.
‘They’ve declared war against us.’
‘Us?’ Ha
rl asked fighting the twist in his stomach.
‘All the compassionates and everyone claiming refuge on the island are now enemies of the company.’
The Aylen looked at them all a sorrowful expression on his face and in his yellow eyes, but it turned to utter bewilderment as Troy burst out laughing.
‘That’s more like it,’ Troy said, ‘all back to normal.’
One by one they all broke into laughter as the Aylen cocked his head, perplexed. He rose slowly, turned and stalked back down the slope.
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