by Steve Perry
—and there was a shock of sensation, of many, ice and wet and pain. Maxellis screamed soundlessly, born into the terrible cold, pulled from their womb of sustenance—
—and then there was nothing.
* * *
Lara sat in the center of the circular console, confused, not sure what to touch to make the alien ship come to life. She’d found the controls, at least—there were a dozen flat squares that might be buttons facing the blank front viewscreen, with two thick handles sitting above them. She’d punched the first square in the line and it had lit up, a deep red color. As far as she could tell, that was all it had done.
Intuitive, right…
She was about to try the next when she heard Noguchi’s voice coming from the open hatch behind her.
“I can pilot, come help—”
Lara stood and turned, hugely relieved at the sound of the woman’s firm voice—until she saw Ellis in Noguchi’s arms, streaks of drying blood on his ashen face. His hair was matted with red.
“Oh, shit,” Lara said weakly, and hurried out from behind the controls, stumbling to where Noguchi stood. Together, they moved Ellis to one of the benches against the wall, laying him down as gently as possible.
Noguchi moved to the controls and slid into the pilot seat, running her hand across the buttons from left to right. Immediately, the ship began to rumble, a steady sound of working machinery filling the faintly unpleasant air. At the same time, the front viewscreen flickered on, and Lara glanced up at it from where she’d collapsed, cradling Ellis’s poor head in her lap.
The picture was surprisingly sharp, the colors muted, the view of the hill’s base where the clearing met the jungle. Lara started to look away, to look for a supply cabinet, they have to have bandages of some kind—
—when she saw the darkness coil out into the open space.
“Jess!” Lara screamed, staring at the dozens of bugs that were surging out of the trees, at the running black tide of teeth and claws erupting into the clearing.
“He said he was—” Noguchi started, but then Jess was falling inside, tripping across the smooth floor to where Lara sat, landing in the seat next to her.
“Go, go, I’m in!” Jess shouted.
“Hang on, we’re—”
Bam bam bam bam!
Noguchi whipped around, staring at the still-open hatch. “Who’s shooting?”
“Briggs, I put him in Max,” Jess said. “Now go!”
The drones were coming, the dark wave drawing closer, and over the sound of a pulse rifle Lara could hear their rising screams—and could see the front line crumbling, the closest of the trumpeting animals blown back by the steady beat of Max’s firing—
—and then the hatch was closed, and Lara held on to Ellis as the transport jerked and lifted, rising up from in front of the teeming mass, from the sudden river of liquid fire that swept across the dark, insectile bodies.
Flamethrower.
Lara turned wide eyes to Jess, still not sure that she’d heard right.
“You put Briggs—”
Jess reached down and touched Ellis’s forehead, brushing the hair away from his waxy brow. “Thought he could do some good with the time he has left,” Jess muttered.
The transport rose for another few seconds and then shot away.
30
Lara and Jess had done what they could for their friend, bandaging him with a few pieces of soft leather they’d found for cleaning weapons. There was a medkit on board, but the tough plastic patches that Hunters used as bandages weren’t made for humans, and Noguchi didn’t know about any of the shots or drug packs.
There was plenty of air, enough for at least two weeks, and ancient emergency rations that had been stocked on the slight chance that something went wrong on a Hunt, stranding the Hunters. The protein jerky would taste terrible, she knew from experience, but it would sustain them.
As the transport began its ascent into Bunda’s outer atmosphere, Lara and Jess moved forward, taking seats near the piloting console. Noguchi glanced back and saw that they’d strapped the unconscious Ellis to a bench, his arms folded across his narrow chest. It was amazing to her, how young he was. She’d pictured him as much older, as a lined and weathered man, but the person Jess had pulled out of the suit barely looked out of his teens. With his face wiped clean, he seemed even more like a child, pale and fragile.
“How is he?” Noguchi asked.
Lara answered. “His pulse is good, but beyond that…”
She trailed off, and the three of them sat quietly for a moment. Noguchi could hardly believe that it was over; not just their experience on Bunda, but her life with the Clan.
“So, where do we go from here?” Jess asked softly, his eyes closed, his voice thick with approaching sleep.
“Home,” Lara said, looking out at the approaching stars, her expression peaceful, tired, and a little sad but at rest.
Home.
Lara was talking about Earth, but Noguchi thought there was more to it, the planet’s name inspiring none of the warm and lovely things that Lara’s answer had inspired. It was the word for feelings she’d never fully understood and she savored it, tasting it, wondering how it could mean so much now.
Home. Someplace I haven’t been, yet.
They moved out into the void; the soothing lull of the engines putting her passengers to sleep, Noguchi looking forward to experiences she knew would put the Hunt to shame, to a life that would be whole and fulfilling and new; they were going home.
EPILOGUE
He slept, and as he had before, he dreamed.
He dreamed in concepts, in pictures of ideas. That there was strength and heat in the cold emptiness, that there was light in the dark, that time and thought were fluid, yielding to the pressure of his touch. He dreamed that there was no loneliness, no pain—and when the fabric of his dreams began to thin, when shredded, ugly holes began to appear in the fine cloth, he fought bitterly to keep his dreams close to him, to keep himself whole.
It was no use. After what seemed an eternal struggle the beautiful darkness melted away, and there was pain, and he was alone. The war was lost… but he thought that his name was Brian, and in thinking it, felt that perhaps losing wasn’t the end of everything good.
He settled into a deep and healing sleep, and did not dream anymore.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Steve Perry was born and raised in the Deep South and has lived in Louisiana, California, Washington and Oregon. Perry has written over fifty novels and numerous short stories. He has written a number of teleplays, including those for The Real Ghostbusters and the animated Batman television series. One of his scripts for Batman: The Animated Series was an Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Writing. He has also taught classes in writing in the Portland and Washington Country public school systems, and adult writing classes at the University of Washington in Seattle. Perry now lives near Portland, Oregon with his wife, who edits and publishes a small newspaper.
Stephani (S. D.) Perry is the author of several tie-in novels to popular series such as Aliens, Alien vs. Predator, Star Trek and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Perry also wrote the movie novelizations for Timecop and Virus. She is the daughter of bestselling sci-fi author Steve Perry and lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two children.
David Bischoff writes science fiction books, short stories, and scripts for television. Though he has been writing since the early 1970s, and has had over 80 books published, David is best known for novelizations of popular movies and TV series including Aliens, Gremlins, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and WarGames.
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