Orbs

by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

  “Wow, cool,” David said as they rounded the last corner and the train came into view. “We get to ride on that?”

  Overton hushed him with a finger. “Quiet, kid.”

  The boy ignored him and rushed toward the automatic doors of the first cabin.

  “Wait up,” Jeff shouted after him.

  Their voices echoed off the concrete tunnel walls. Sophie smiled as Jeff chased his brother onto the platform, stopping him before he could enter the train. The boys wrestled playfully at the doors, David squirming in his brother’s grasp.

  A shadow danced across their path.

  Overton saw it at the same moment Sophie did. She froze, her stomach tightening as the blue glow washed over the dimly lit tunnel.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered into her com. From her angle, she could vaguely make out the shape of the shadows approaching, but there was no mistaking the thin and bony legs of the Spiders. The black shadows raced across the platform. They extended their monstrous claws, reaching for the children.

  Scratch, scrape, scratch, scrape.

  The sound drowned out the boys’ arguing voices and they froze. Slowly, they tilted their heads and saw it—a tunnel overflowing with monsters, an entire army of them.

  “Run!” Overton screamed, holding the trigger down on his rifle. Conserving ammo was no longer a concern. If he didn’t push the horde back quickly, he wasn’t going to need the bullets later.

  Shocked into motion, Jeff shoved David forward, but the train’s automatic doors remained shut, and the boy crashed into the side. He bounced off with a bang and immediately started whimpering.

  Sophie watched, horrified. She distinctly remembered leaving the train’s power on, just in case they needed to make a quick getaway, which meant the connection to the power source had been severed.

  “Alexia, any suggestions on how to get this train started?” Sophie barked into the com.

  “Yes, Dr. Winston. There should be an additional power interface in the engine car. My fuel cell should provide adequate energy.”

  “Won’t that cause the RVM to fail?”

  “Does it look like we need it right now?” Overton yelled.

  Sophie risked a glance over her shoulder and watched what appeared to be hundreds of Spiders spilling out of the tunnel. Terror gripped her, but she forced herself forward and fired two shots into the closed train door. They hissed open and Sophie ordered both of the boys inside.

  “Stay away from the windows,” she yelled before returning to the platform.

  She raced to Overton, and with one swift tug she pulled Alexia’s fuel cell free of the device on his back. “I just need a few seconds,” she said.

  Overton finished his magazine. The shots bounced off the creatures’ shields harmlessly. They were getting close, now only a few hundred yards away. A brilliant blue glow filled the tunnel, making the scene beautiful and eerie at the same time.

  Sophie retreated to the rear of the train. She had almost reached the doors when a shadow consumed her. This time it wasn’t from a Spider. It was something different—something larger.

  Her stomach sank as she turned to see a Sentinel towering over her. It wasted no time cracking its mouth open and releasing a deafening roar. She turned to run, but the creature lunged at her with its spiked tail. The impact penetrated her armor and sent her sailing through the air. She landed with a thud a few feet away from the train.

  Farther down the platform, the Spiders surrounded Overton, clawing at the ground and shrieking like predators trying to intimidate their prey. He fired the last of his rounds and threw his rifle at the closest one before retrieving his pistol. “Come on, you bastards!” he screamed, squeezing off several shots, which ricocheted harmlessly off their shields.

  Sophie watched him fall to his knees, overwhelmed by the creatures closing in around him.

  Scratch, scrape, scratch, scrape.

  Soon the sound would be replaced with tearing flesh and human screams. She couldn’t bear to watch. The sound of Spiders’ claws was drowned out by the scraping of the Sentinel’s tail as it dragged its spikes across the concrete.

  Defeated, she watched the ugly creature slither toward her.

  Good-bye, Emanuel. I tried.

  Tears crept down her cheeks just as a brilliant flash of light washed over the platform, killing her HUD. Sophie blinked, struggling to see through the fuzzy display. She heard gunfire, the chatter of high-powered rifles. When her vision finally returned, she saw Jeff step out of the train and fire a round of shots at the Sentinel. The bullets sunk into the alien’s chest, blowing several melon-sized holes out of its back.

  The boy grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into the belly of the train. He then raced back outside and began firing at the Spiders that were still circling Overton. His shots were surprisingly accurate, dropping several of the creatures.

  Overton scooted back across the concrete and managed to push himself off the ground. He took off running, the bullets from Jeff’s gun whizzing dangerously close to him.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you had electromagnetic concussion grenades?” he shouted, jumping onto the train.

  “You didn’t ask,” Jeff said. He pried the fuel cell from Sophie’s numb grasp and ducked into the conductor’s cabin. Scanning the dashboard, he quickly located the power interface and shoved it home. The display panel glowed to life.

  “Now my HUD’s dead and I can barely see shit,” Overton said. He slipped into the compartment and shoved the boy out of the way. “I got this.”

  With a single click of a button, the train flared to life. It rolled forward, picking up momentum. Overton watched the Spiders and several Sentinels racing across the tracks toward the train, and with a grin hidden behind his helmet, he engaged the autopilot.

  “Watch this, kid.”

  The train picked up speed and raced forward, splattering the Organics in its path all over the tunnel.

  Overton returned to the second car to check on Sophie. He found her spread out on one of the benches, David kneeling next to her.

  “She’s hurt bad, mister,” he said.

  “Don’t worry, kid, she’s going to be all right,” Overton said. But his eyes had already found the foot-long gash along her side.

  “Shit,” he whispered. “Hang in there, Sophie. I’m going to get you home.”

  Somewhere inside her head, Sophie could hear Overton’s voice, but as the adrenaline in her system was replaced by pain, she slipped into shock, closed her eyes, and drifted into unconsciousness.

  * * *

  Bouma strained his ears. Somewhere in the distance, a series of metallic clicks rang out, followed by the ambient sound of the ventilation system turning on.

  He continued on, wriggling through the tight ductwork. Checking his HUD first for heat signatures, he blinked his night vision back on. The passage was clear.

  Stopping at an intersection, he managed to push himself onto his knees, first looking to his left and then to his right.

  “Damn,” he muttered. He had only been crawling through the guts of the system for fifteen minutes, and he was already lost.

  He reached for his tablet and slid it in front of him, blinking off his night vision. The screen displayed the internal blueprints of the Biosphere. Running his finger along the surface, he followed one of the red lines. It didn’t take long to find his approximate location. He wasn’t far from the vent above the med ward, the area where the Spiders most likely would have sought refuge after they feasted on Saafi.

  He slid the tablet back into its pouch and peeked around the corner. As the screen dimmed, he saw there was another light source. Resisting the urge to turn his night vision back on, he crawled forward. At the end of the passage he could see the outlines of what appeared to be several balls.

  Moments later he was feet away from a cluster of glowing o
rbs—smaller ones, no larger than a basketball. He felt his heart beating faster, his breathing becoming labored. These were unlike the others. They were different—they were eggs.

  He closed his eyes, trying to blink the sight away. But all it did was enhance his night vision, filling his display with a vibrant green glow.

  He forced himself to crawl a few paces forward. With a quick jab, he poked one of the eggs with his rifle barrel.

  The skin of the orb pulsated to life, revealing a tiny creature inside. Startled, Bouma scooted away from the thing, smashing into the side of the duct. He took a deep breath and focused on calming his heart rate. He watched the creature unfold one of its many legs, each with a miniature claw on the end. As the baby Spider began to tear through the fragile skin of the orb, Bouma grabbed his rifle. He didn’t stop to think about what the eggs signified—he didn’t stop to consider what it meant for the future of the human race. He simply squeezed off a single volley of shots, turning the cluster of eggs into messy blue pulp before continuing forward.

  He had a promise to keep. He was going to kill them all.

  CHAPTER 30

  SOPHIE opened her eyes to an endless sea of red sand and a bright, unforgiving sun. At first she thought she was in the Wastelands, but as she examined her surroundings she saw the unmistakable impact scars from asteroids. She was on Mars.

  She closed her eyes, expecting to wake up when she opened them. But as soon as her eyelids flicked open, her vision was filled once more with red sand.

  Am I dead?

  It was the only explanation.

  “Dr. Winston,” a familiar voice said from behind her.

  She turned to see a hologram of Dr. Hoffman standing a few feet away, his arms folded across his chest.

  “If you are seeing this message, then not only have I underestimated you, but you have beaten the odds. You have shown an impressive resilience, Dr. Winston. In fact, I never believed you had it in you. Now, what I am about to tell you is going to come as a shock. You’re going to be confused and angry. But you have to understand that what I have done was for the good of all mankind.”

  He paused and looked down in her direction, his obsidian eyes burning into her own.

  “You see, the Biosphere mission was always a failsafe. It was one of many we strategically placed throughout the world in preparation for the invasion, little vaults of humanity’s treasures, if you will. We selected teams of people from all walks of life, promising them all whatever they needed to be offered in order to accept the mission. In your case, it was a trip to Mars—a trip I’m afraid you will never be making.”

  Sophie tried to move, but she was paralyzed. Her lips quivered with anger as she listened, unable to respond.

  “I know this information must be devastating, but as I said, I did this to save our species. When we realized the world was dying faster than we ever predicted, we decided it was time to colonize Mars. But when we found out about the Organics, we knew we couldn’t pin all our hopes on the Red Planet. We needed to plant the seeds for our survival on Earth as well.”

  Dr. Hoffman sighed, dropping his hands to his sides.

  “You see, the Organics weren’t trying to exterminate us in 2055—they were just testing our defenses. They came here, as you probably know by now, for water. We don’t know how much they will take or if they will ever leave, but I do know if even a few of the Biospheres survive, our species will have a fighting chance.”

  “If I know you as well as I think I do, you are probably furious right now, and this last bit of information I am going to share is going to upset you even more. By the time you get this message, we will probably be well on our way. I set up one final failsafe: Secundo Casu.”

  The words raced through Sophie’s mind. There had never been a seat on the ship for her or her team. Hoffman had manipulated them all. The contract, the mission—it was all based on a series of well-planned lies. But knowing what she knew now, could she blame him?

  “Please know I take no pleasure in telling you this. I do wish you could be here when we open the doors and step out onto the red sand. There is one gift I have left for you in case everything else fails. Inside the command center, you will find a two-way radio that operates on only one frequency. It’s encrypted, and virtually indestructible. You can use it to communicate with the other Biospheres. I wish you the best of luck, Dr. Winston.”

  She watched his image fade. It took a few minutes for the information to saturate her brain, but it was more than enough time to grasp the fact she had been completely deceived. As she sat, replaying the message in her mind, another pair of voices drifted through the wind.

  “Sophie, can you hear me?” one of them said.

  A calm, robotic voice quickly followed. “Dr. Winston, are you awake?”

  She blinked, and the red sand was replaced by the white walls of the med ward.

  “Sophie!” Emanuel reached for her, naked relief on his face.

  “Give her some space,” a rough voice said from her other side. She didn’t need to turn to see Overton’s scarred face peering down at her.

  “Dr. Hoffman! The radio! We have to find the radio,” she said, struggling to get out of her bed.

  “It’s okay, Sophie, we heard the message too,” Emanuel said, soothingly.

  “But, how? What happened?” she asked.

  “A couple of kids saved our asses. That’s what happened.”

  Sophie managed a smile. She turned her head to the right to see Holly sitting with Jamie and Owen. David and Jeff sat on another bench, digging into a couple of freeze-dried meals. Standing next to them was Bouma. He winked at her.

  She finished scanning the room and realized someone was missing. “Where’s Timothy?”

  Emanuel took her hand. “There were two Spiders hibernating in the ceiling. They killed him. But that isn’t all.” Emanuel paused, realizing the information might be too much for her to handle right away.

  “Tell me,” she ordered.

  “Do you want the good news or bad news first?”

  “Bad.”

  “First, the radio Dr. Hoffman was referring to doesn’t work,” he said. “We can’t get any other Biospheres online. Which either means everyone else is dead, or the disruption outside is preventing communication.”

  “And second?” Sophie asked.

  Emanuel took a deep breath. “Second, the Organics are reproducing, and by the looks of it they are doing so at an alarming rate.”

  Her stomach lurched. She didn’t need a seasoned Marine like Overton to tell her what it meant. If they were spawning, then the survivors wouldn’t just be fighting against an army with a set number of soldiers—they would be fighting against an enemy with the ability to replace its dead. And judging by the radio silence, it sounded like they would be doing so alone.

  “What’s the good news?”

  “I may have found a way to kill them.”

  Overton’s ears perked up immediately. “What do you mean?”

  Emanuel rubbed his hands together. “It’s fascinating, actually. Their blood is made up of about 80 percent H2O and 20 percent plasma-like substance. The ions are what charge their shields. I think their shields function sort of like the suit an astronaut wears in space: It protects them from a hostile environment, one I don’t believe they could survive without their defenses.” He paused to check whether Overton and Bouma were following.

  “Go on,” Overton growled.

  “Yeah, get on with it,” Bouma said. “No need to wait for the slow kids.” He caught a glimpse of Holly smiling at him, and felt his cheeks glow red.

  “As I was saying, when they feed or reproduce, their shields drop. Not all the way, just enough so their blood can regenerate. Now, if we can find a way to drop their shields all the way on a massive level, I think we can kill them. Kill all of them.”

  �
�Like some sort of EMP?” Overton asked.

  “Honestly, I’m not sure. I need to do more research.”

  “This should be our number one priority from here on out,” Overton said.

  Sophie coughed deeply, interrupting the conversation.

  “Are you okay, Dr. Winston? Your heart rate is elevated,” Alexia said. Her hologram emerged over the corner console, and for a split second Sophie thought she saw a flicker of concern cross her face.

  “I feel pretty good, considering,” she said, attempting to sit up. The slight movement sent a wave of fatigue through her body. She rested her head back on the pillow. “How long have I been out?”

  “Almost five days. Your heart rate was so low when we got you back here that we had no choice but to put you in a cryo chamber. You also had a nasty gash on your side that required Alexia to perform emergency surgery,” Emanuel said. “You look a heck of a lot better now.”

  “Did you listen to the message from Dr. Hoffman?” Holly asked.

  Sophie reached under the covers of her bed and massaged her injury. The rough surface of what would be a very nasty scar ran from her hip to her belly button.

  “Yes, I heard it all.”

  “Good. We hoped if we hooked you up to one of Alexia’s AI consoles with electrical nodes you would hear the message. We thought it might trigger something in your implant,” said Emanuel. “It was playing on all our monitors for a day and a half.”

  “Smart thinking there,” Overton said, patting Emanuel on the back.

  The Marine smiled and ran a hand through his hair before turning back to Sophie. “You should rest.” He began ushering the team out of the room. “Come on, everyone.”

  Sophie watched them leave as a wave of drowsiness swept over her. With one last ounce of energy, she grabbed Emanuel and tugged gently on his arm.

  “Will you stay with me a bit longer?”