Alien Storm

by A. G. Taylor

“Makarov is on the 153rd floor. That’s where we need to get to.”

  “Easier said than done,” Octavio shouted above the wind. “Makarov isn’t just going to let us walk up there.”

  Nestor nodded. “I know. But we have to reach that beacon. Or tear this tower apart getting there.”

  As they ran out of the corridor, Robert stole a look across the snowy landscape and thought he made out the shape of buildings on the other side of the distant mountains.

  He hoped Sarah arrived soon.

  34

  Sarah held on for dear life as the tiny supply plane from the village was buffeted around by the harsh winds that swept the empty Chukotkan landscape. She looked round and saw Alex looking a little green in the back seat. Beside her, Yuri controlled the small aircraft expertly, eyes locked on the Spire as it loomed ahead of them.

  “No more robowolves,” Sarah said, scanning the empty plain below them anxiously. “Do you think we destroyed them all when we blew up the village?”

  Yuri said, “Don’t underestimate Makarov’s resources. Last time I was inside the Spire he was building an army. It looked like he was gearing up to take on the world. I just hope Laika is okay down there.” The robodog had been too large to fit inside the small aircraft, so Yuri had sent her towards the Spire on foot – something that she had not been happy about. Seeing the Russian’s concern for his pet, Sarah gave him a reassuring pat on the arm.

  Ahead, the Spire stood alone amidst the flatness of the ice desert. There was no sign of HIDRA. No hovercopters or jets in the air. Sarah realized that it was up to them – they were the last chance to take out Makarov before the storm hit.

  A glass section on the upper levels of the Spire exploded outwards. They watched as fire burst forth from the gap and a body was thrown out of the tower. No one breathed for a second as the dark object fell the length of the Spire, hit the angled glass of the lower levels and spun off.

  “It’s just a robowolf,” Alex said with relief as the body hit the ground.

  Sarah nodded. “Looks like Robert and the others are keeping Makarov distracted up there. We need to get inside as quickly as possible.”

  “Where’s this landing strip you were talking about?” Yuri asked. The Spire was getting so close now it filled the front window of the plane.

  “Hold us level around the middle of the tower,” Sarah ordered and Yuri pulled left on the joystick, sending the plane round in a wide circle of the Spire.

  Sarah closed her eyes and reached out with her mind. This close, the psychic energy used to power the Spire’s computer systems shone like a star, incredibly clear to her now that her mind’s eye had been opened. She sensed the sleepers in the caskets, the meteorite fragment spinning in its chamber, robowolves in their dozens rushing towards one of the upper levels. Focus, Sarah told herself. The amount of information threatened to overwhelm her brain. However, she managed to ride the stream, finding the thing she was looking for: the controls for the landing strip on the 70th floor. She sent an order to simultaneously open the door and extend the strip.

  “Something’s happening!” Yuri exclaimed and she opened her eyes. As the plane came round for another pass, they made out the large section of wall sliding open on the side of the Spire. Yuri’s eyes widened as the landing strip began to extend outwards like a long finger.

  “Unbelievable! You’re telling me Makarov lands a plane on that?”

  “Just take us down fast!” Sarah exclaimed. “Before Makarov overrides the runway control!”

  “This plane is not designed to stop in such a short distance!” Yuri protested. “Even if I manage to land on that strip, we’ll crash right into the far wall of the tower.”

  Sarah gave him a hard look. “What choice do we have?”

  The Russian thought it over for a second, before giving his head a shake. “Oh well, we’ve all got to die sometime. Brace yourself for a bumpy landing.”

  With that, he pulled back on the joystick, sending the plane into a climb away from the building, before bringing it back round in a wide arc. Through the windscreen, Sarah watched the Spire come into line as Yuri pushed forward on the stick, putting them on an angle of descent towards the runway. Then he did something unexpected – he reached down and killed the plane engine. With a sputter, the propeller came to a stop.

  “What are you doing?” Sarah said.

  “We’re going to glide in,” Yuri snapped back. “Only chance not to totally demolish this plane.”

  Sure enough, the plane continued to glide towards the side of the Spire. As they drew closer, the runway began to look alarmingly short. A second later, the wheels of the small plane hit the runway with a jolt. Yuri fought the controls as he pushed the brakes to full. With a screech of rubber, the plane continued to hurtle towards the open side of the building.

  “We’re going to hit Makarov’s jet!” Alex cried as they sped towards the black aircraft sitting before them. Then, without warning, something hit the front of their plane hard – an emergency net that sprang from the floor at the end of the runway. Sarah and Yuri were thrown forwards as their vehicle was brought to an abrupt stop, the force tearing off both wings with a screech of metal. The plane – travelling too fast and too flimsy for the impact against the netting – jackknifed and rolled over twice, completely tangled in the mesh. Finally, it came to a stop in the centre of the circular room, upside down, just metres from the stealth jet.

  Untangling herself from her seat belt, Sarah lowered herself onto the ceiling of the plane (which had become the floor) and reached over to help Alex free as well.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “I think so,” Alex replied, before looking round at their pilot. “Nice landing.”

  “Let’s get out of here,” Yuri said and pushed open the door of the plane with a grunt, having to force it against the netting. They staggered out and looked back at the remains of the plane: both wings had sheared off and the propeller was a twisted mess.

  Three robowolves tore out of the shadows at the side of the stealth jet, jumping at Sarah, gleaming claws extended. As they leaped, she raised her hand.

  “No.”

  The robots twisted in mid-air and crashed to the ground, jerking around as if they were being electrocuted. For a few seconds longer, they continued to thrash madly, before coming to a rest, the red light of their eyes slowly dimming to black.

  “How did you do that?” Alex marvelled.

  “I’m not sure,” Sarah said, looking around the room. The walls seemed to glow with an energy only she could see. The Spire was hers to control now, as were the electronic brains of the robowolves. She walked to the control panel and passed a hand over it. “Computer, where are my friends?”

  “Currently on the 141st floor,” the electronic voice replied. The jungle level, Sarah recalled.

  “Call the lift, please.”

  “Nikolai Makarov has ordered a lock down of all—”

  Sarah snapped, “Call the lift.”

  “Yes, Sarah,” the computer answered, a dull, submissive tone coming to its voice. “Is there anything else?”

  “Where is Makarov?”

  “On the 153rd floor.”

  “Give him a message from me,” Sarah said. “Tell him I’m in charge now.”

  “Yes, Sarah.”

  “And tell him I’m coming for him.”

  “Yes, Sarah.”

  The lift doors pinged open and Sarah turned to Yuri. “Come on.”

  Alex gave her a look. “You’re not messing around, are you?”

  “I’m just getting started,” she replied with a grin as Yuri came up with the bag of explosives slung over his shoulder. “I’m going to take care of Makarov then get control of the meteor beacon. You two are in charge of releasing the sleepers and taking care of the meteorite fragment.”

  Behind her, the lift doors opened and she stepped inside.

  “Good luck,” Alex said as the doors closed on her and the lift began to ascend. He loo
ked round at Yuri. “Let’s take the stairs. The meteorite chamber is just a few floors below us.”

  35

  The airborne battle against Makarov’s drone fighters had raged around the HS Ulysses. The drones were light, flimsy aircraft equipped with basic weaponry, but they were fast moving and highly agile. The more sturdy hovercopters were having a hard time against the larger force. Although they had engaged the drones closer to the Chukotkan coastline, they had been driven back towards the Ulysses. The hovercopter lead pilot barked a warning to the bridge as another drone broke through their protective formation and hurtled towards the deck, kamikaze-style. It exploded in a ball of flame, metres from the flight tower of the Ulysses.

  As the explosion rocked the lower levels of the ship, Rachel Andersen joined Commander Craig in a room adjacent to the observation cell holding Major Bright. Through a two-way mirror it was possible to see the giant man handcuffed to a metal chair in the centre of the empty room. He looked directly at the mirrored glass on his side, eyes blazing with anger, as if trying to make out who was in the chamber beyond. Rachel walked to the glass, gave their prisoner the once-over and sighed.

  “This had better be good, Commander,” she said. “I don’t have time to waste on this madman and neither do you.”

  “I want to put Major Bright into the fight against Makarov, Colonel,” Commander Craig replied. “Those drones are keeping our hovercopters too busy to get anywhere near the Russian coast, let alone the Spire. We can’t provide backup for Sarah and the others. But Bright can.”

  Rachel shook her head. “Are you serious? The minute we let Bright off his leash, he’ll turn on us. You know he can’t be trusted.”

  “Except there’s a more dangerous enemy out there now. An enemy that doesn’t care about the major’s plans to take over the world – it’s too busy with its own. Present Bright with the choice between rotting in that cell and the chance to get involved in the fight, sir. He’s a soldier. He’ll take it.”

  Despite the craziness of the scheme, Rachel played along. “And how do you propose getting him to the Spire?”

  “He can teleport large distances, right, Colonel?”

  “Only when he has serum,” Rachel corrected. “He used the last of his supply in Melbourne.”

  Commander Craig gave an embarrassed cough. “I always assumed some samples of the super-serum might have fallen into your possession…”

  Rachel gave him a hard look and he stopped talking.

  “I’m sorry, Colonel, I’ve overstepped the mark,” he began, but stopped talking as Rachel removed two vials from her jacket. “Is that what I think it is?”

  “Two samples of the serum survived the destruction of Colonel Moss’s experiment.” She turned them over in her hand. “I should have destroyed them myself, but just couldn’t bring myself to do it. They were so hard come by. And at such cost.”

  Craig smiled slightly. “And do you always carry them around in your pocket, sir?”

  Rachel looked back at the glass, her expression unreadable. “Okay, so I had the same idea as you, Commander. Bright could mean the difference between winning and losing this one. But once he’s in the Spire, how do we know he isn’t going to swap sides on us?”

  “He might be crazy, but he’s still human,” Craig replied. “That’s got to be enough incentive for him to side with us rather than some alien monster.”

  “And once the battle is over?”

  “No two ways about it, he’ll try to escape at the very least. That’s why I want to go along for the ride.” He patted the pistol on his hip. “Make sure he behaves himself. Even if he doesn’t, he’ll act as another problem for Makarov to worry about – give Sarah and the others the chance to get the upper hand.”

  “Don’t make the mistake of underestimating him, Commander,” Rachel said. “Or have you forgotten what happened in the desert?”

  “Oh, I haven’t forgotten, sir,” Craig said darkly. “I won’t let him off the hook a second time, I promise.”

  “I don’t like sending my men on a suicide mission.”

  “Unless they volunteer for one.”

  Rachel studied the Commander and saw he was deadly serious. An explosion shook the ship as another of the kamikaze drones made it through the hovercopters.

  “Don’t make me regret this, Commander.” With that, she walked to the door into the cell and threw it open.

  Major Bright looked up and grinned. “Well, well, it’s Colonel Dr. Andersen. I was beginning to think you’d forgotten about me. Even your interrogator seems to have lost interest. I haven’t seen him in days.”

  “We’ve had better things to do than worry about you, believe me,” Rachel replied as she entered, closely followed by Commander Craig. “I’ve got a proposal.”

  Rachel held up the two vials of serum, along with a syringe-gun from her pocket. Bright’s eyes widened at the sight and he fidgeted in his chair, pulling against the restrain on his left wrist irritatedly.

  “What do you want from me?” he said.

  Rachel noticed the beads of sweat that appeared on his forehead and realized that he would do anything she asked in return for another shot of the super-serum. Was it really so addictive? she wondered. Or was it just the power that he craved?

  Bright leaned forward and licked his lips impatiently. “Well?”

  “I want you to do what you do best,” Rachel said, and laid the syringe-gun on the table before him. “Cause some havoc.”

  Alex led Yuri into the circular chamber containing the rows of sleeper modules.

  “The meteorite chamber is up those stairs,” he said, but Yuri was already on his way, opening the bag containing the explosives as he went.

  Alex made to follow him, but stopped as he saw Ilya appear from beside one of the sleeper caskets. The Russian kid held up a hand.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “I’m free of Makarov’s control. His attention is too distracted to notice.”

  Alex nodded and approached the casket Ilya was standing beside. The boy indicated the bearded man inside the module. “It’s my father. I came here to wake him.”

  Ilya reached for the door open control on the casket, but Alex placed a hand on his arm.

  “No!” he said. “Not until we’ve deflected the meteor storm. If we unhook the sleepers, the beacon will shut down.”

  A pained look passed over Ilya’s face, but Alex said to him reassuringly, “Just a little longer.”

  A sound from the corner of the sleeper chamber made Alex look round, and he saw a group of the tower workers huddled together.

  “I freed them from Makarov’s control,” Ilya explained. “With my mind. Did I do good?”

  “Yes,” Alex said. “Tell them as soon as Sarah and the others take control of the beacon, we’ll wake the sleepers and get out of here.”

  Ilya went off to reassure the women, speaking to them urgently in Russian. Alex just hoped it would be as easy as he had made out.

  A tornado raged through the tall trees of the rainforest on the 141st floor. Nestor walked along the jungle floor, arms stretched out before him, blasting robowolves in his path. Beside him, Wei ignited the trees, sending up a wall of fire that began to spread though the rainforest, fanned by the howling tornado.

  Robert looked around at the others as they fought back robowolves attacking on all sides. They’d become cornered as they fought their way up the stairwell and forced onto the 141st floor. Now the ground was littered with smashed components from the machines, but still they came – a seemingly endless supply from the depths of Makarov’s lair.

  “We don’t have time for this!” he yelled to the others. “We have to get off this level!”

  Octavio sent a robowolf sailing through the air into the distance with a push of his hand. “Yeah, but how?”

  “They’re blocking our way back to the stairs!” Louise added as an attacker imploded before her. Robert looked round and saw the red eyes of robowolves moving in the trees near the stairwell e
ntrance. Despite the dampness of the atmosphere, the fire Wei had started was spreading fast, sending up a choking black smoke.

  Over here!

  They all looked round at the familiar voice in their heads. Sarah approached through the trees.

  “Watch out!” Nestor cried as a robowolf jumped at her, teeth and claws bared. Sarah showed little concern, however, giving it the barest look before the machine crashed at her feet, motionless.

  “Sarah!” Robert cried and ran towards her, throwing his arms around her as the others joined them.

  “How did you trash that wolf?” Octavio asked, looking down at the motionless body of the robot.

  “Magic,” she replied with a wink. “Makarov’s on the top floor. Let’s take him out.”

  “But the computer has the lifts locked down,” Nestor protested as she grabbed Robert’s hand and began leading the group through the smoke.

  “Not for me!” she yelled over her shoulder. Sure enough, the lift doors were standing open for them as they crossed the final few metres.

  “I knew you’d come back!” Robert said, looking up at his sister, tears forming in his eyes. She put her arms around him and gave him a hug.

  After the chaos of the battle, everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the doors closed on them and the lift car began to ascend. A few seconds later, the doors opened onto the 153rd floor. The grassy area was deserted, silent. For a moment they all looked at the scene, trying to take in the unexpected emptiness.

  “I thought Makarov was supposed to be up here,” Louise whispered.

  Sarah nodded. “Let’s be careful.”

  They stepped out of the lift as a group, Sarah leading the way. As the doors closed behind them, they walked across the grass towards the stone table in the centre. Outside the pyramidal glass ceiling the Chukotkan sky was a brilliant blue. Inside, a strange silence had fallen, relieved only by the synthetic breeze blowing through the leaves of the trees.

  It was almost peaceful.

  “Where is he?” Nestor asked in frustration.

  The silence was broken by a slow handclap from the trees, then a familiar figure appeared, albeit strangely deformed from the man they knew. Makarov looked bigger, physically stronger than before, but at the same time his body was hunched, as if every muscle in his body was twisted in knots. He regarded them with hungry, staring eyes, like those of a predator, as he approached.