The Lost Voyager: A Carson March Space Opera

by A. C. Hadfield

  The room fell silent. Sanchez thrust his boot against the chest plate of the exosuit and it crashed to the ground.

  Both arachnids twitched on the ground.

  “You’re moving well for man at death’s door,” Adira said to Sanchez.

  “Being attacked has a funny way of putting a rocket up anyone’s ass” he replied. “Nothing changes.”

  Mach took a deep breath and checked his smart-screen. “We need to find that bomb before an army descends on us. Let’s move.”

  Chapter 23

  Mach followed Adira and Sanchez back through the tunnel. The smoke thinned as they neared the open cavernous space of the feeding chamber. Mach arced his Stinger from left to right and covered their rear, training it at small dark passages on either side, expecting something to scuttle out at any moment.

  “Through here,” Adira said and headed right through a narrow gap in the wall.

  “They took the bomb this way?” Sanchez asked.

  “No. We got sidetracked after you wandered off. It’s a short cut to the western section’s transport route. It leads to the mineral face where the Voyager team planted the device.”

  “Makes sense,” Mach said. “If they didn’t destroy the planet, at least they’d obliterate the deposit. Do you think the phane even know about the bomb?”

  “What makes you say that?” Adira asked.

  “It feels like we’re being treated as a minor inconvenience. If I were in their shoes, claws, pincers or whatever, I’d throw everything at us.”

  “We’ll soon find out,” Adira said. “The route is around the next corner. It’s half a klick from there.”

  Mach edged sideways through the thin gap and flashed his helmet strip around the rough dark brown walls on either side. They rose up as far as his beam’s range and had the appearance of a natural fissure, rather than an OreCorp-made tunnel.

  The walls widened out to a cave bathed in a light green glow from light shining in through its mouth. Adira crept to the edge and peered around the corner. Mach moved to her side. Equally spaced luminous blocks lined the two-lane road in either direction in the square-cut tunnel.

  “Looks like the phane have quite an operation going on down here,” Mach said. “Perfect for when we detonate the bomb.”

  “Which way is it?” Sanchez asked.

  “Left to the mineral face,” Adira said. “We can follow the transport route back. It’ll take us out on the other side of the mountain.”

  “Seems straightforward. I’ll lead the way.”

  Adira glanced across to Mach and raised an eyebrow. He also wondered about the hunter’s vitality since being injected in the chest, especially as he no longer had the breathing support from his suit.

  Sanchez shouldered his rifle and moved forward in a series of short sprints, hugging the side of the green glowing wall, aiming from side to side.

  A faint whine of machinery echoed along the tunnel. The group paused. Mach peered through his scope and searched for any heat signatures. The only ones he could detect were from the luminous blocks. A light flashed around the distant bend and the whining increased in volume.

  “In here,” Adira said and stooped into a small cave.

  Mach followed and looked around. There was only one way in and out. Not great if they were caught in here, but good for an ambush situation for anything passing. They had no idea what was heading their way, but the element of surprise could mean the difference between life and death.

  Sanchez ducked inside and grunted. “Why wait in here? We’ll take whatever it is head-on.”

  “I’m glad to see the phane bravery injection’s working,” Adira said in a sarcastic tone. “Think about if we come across an army of those creatures in exosuits?”

  “She’s got a point,” Mach said. “It was a close-run thing in the lab. Let’s see what we’re facing before deciding how to tackle it.”

  Adira glanced at her smart-screen. “It’s the only way to the mineral face from here. It’s wait here or be caught in the open.”

  Mach edged back toward the front of the cave and peered into the distant gloom. Hundreds of small white objects jerked along the ground. In a matter of seconds, hundreds turned to thousands as they rapidly bobbed in the direction of the mine’s entrance.

  “What is it?” Adira asked.

  “I’m not sure yet; give me a moment.”

  The sea of white objects covered the entire road and moved forward in an eerie wave. It soon became obvious what was happening as the front rank of the procession neared and the area filled with the clatter of legs against stone. Thousands of fist-sized arachnids carried an egg on their two front pincers. Mach retreated back inside, out of view of the transport route. “There’re thousands of little ones carrying out eggs. Looks like they’re bugging out.”

  “Great pun,” Sanchez replied. “Anything else?”

  “Not yet, but we’ll be swamped if we try to attack that many.”

  “We’ve only got one sensible option,” Adira said. “Staying out of sight.”

  “After I’ve found out what else is heading our way,” Mach said. He killed his helmet strip, crouched and moved back to the edge of the cave. The front of the wave had already passed by and arachnids filled the road in either direction. The thought of what this amount would do to a planet in the Salus Sphere, once fully grown, sent a chill down Mach’s spine.

  For a further minute, the small phane soldiers scuttled past with their cargo until they thinned out to just the odd one or two. Mach estimated there must’ve been at least fifty thousand.

  At the far end of the tunnel, more lights shone from around the bend, brightening the cave wall.

  A weapons platform drifted around the corner and shone a thick white beam along the tunnel. Three mechs, with rectangular bodies and stumpy folding legs, followed, crashing along the ground behind it. Each had a searchlight on top that scanned around the ceiling and walls. Cannons hanging off either side of the machines extended forward.

  Mach looked over his shoulder. “We’ve got a different kind of procession heading our way. A platform, mechs and goodness knows what.”

  “Do you think they’re leaving Noven Alpha?” Adira asked.

  “They’ve killed pretty much everything here,” Sanchez said. “Makes sense that they’d move on to suck another planet dry.”

  Mach nodded. “We need the bomb to go off with them still in the atmosphere.”

  A large dark shape followed the mechs. Mach crawled back a couple of yards to observe from the cave’s gloomy confines.

  The platform hovered past. Its light briefly flashed across the cave’s mouth before continuing forward. The three mechs stomped past a few seconds later. Mach held his breath and glanced across to Sanchez and Adira. Both hugged the wall, weapons raised, waiting to attack if a phane machine decided to investigate.

  Long deep moans echoed through the tunnel along with a collective thump of metal against stone.

  Half a minute later, a mech led a large white slug-type creature, similar in size to the scimitar APC, by a thick metallic cable attached around its neck. Eight biped phane soldiers in exosuits marched on either side of it.

  “That’ll be a breeder,” Sanchez whispered and edged forward. “Babs reckoned—”

  Mach held an arm across his chest. “What the hell’s got into you? Keep quiet.”

  Two more breeders followed with the same type of escort. The third stopped crawling in front of the cave, opened its wide downturned mouth and bellowed. The mech jerked the lead and dragged it forward.

  A weapons platform completed the strange phane parade, rotating its four stubby cannons around the tunnel.

  Nobody said a word while they waited to see if anything else came from the mineral face. The sound of the machines and creatures gradually grew fainter, heading out of the mine. Mach leopard-crawled to the edge of the cave and peered in either direction. Sanchez and Adira followed.

  A single small arachnid scuttled along the
road. Sanchez tracked it with his rifle until it disappeared out of sight.

  “If they’re heading off planet, we need to move our asses,” Adira said.

  “I don’t see us having any other option,” Sanchez replied. “We take out whatever’s left down there, arm the bomb, and get the hell out of here.”

  Mach jumped to his feet and shouldered his Stinger. Options didn’t need to be discussed. If the phane weren’t leaving, that might also mean they could be coming back. The three of them would have no chance against platforms, mechs and exosuits in a confined space, not to mention thousands of venomous arachnids. He stepped out to the transport route and headed down its slight incline between the luminous blocks.

  Adira held a laser in each hand and darted along the right side of the tunnel. Sanchez took the left, advancing with long strides, rifle aimed from the hip.

  The route bent around to the right and straightened. In the distance, the end of the tunnel opened up into a huge cavernous space, also bathed in soft green light, beyond two ten-meter-wide open rusty blast doors. The only detectable sound was the team’s boots crunching against parts of shell, but that was unavoidable as it covered most of the ground.

  Adira knelt by the side of the right door and checked her smart-screen. She turned toward Mach and waved him over.

  Mach headed in Adira’s direction but maintained his aim into the cavern. It was only once he drew level with her that he got a full view of what was beyond the doors. Hundreds of luminous blocks, placed on ledges and outcrops at differing heights, brightened the six-story-high space. Thousands of the local creatures’ transparent bones were heaped in the center of the rocky ground. A few white ones were amongst them. The thought of one of the breeders eating a member of the Voyager crew turned Mach’s stomach.

  “It’s in a small chamber on the other side,” Adira said and pointed her laser across the cavern. “That’s where they first found the mineral.”

  Sanchez immediately headed for it but stopped close to the pile of bones and quickly swung his rifle down. A moment later, he shook his head and stamped his left boot against the ground. “Just a baby one, no problem…”

  Clattering came from the tunnel. Heavier, more spaced, and louder than the noise the small arachnids made.

  Mach and Adira ran for a large boulder and scrambled behind it. Sanchez, who was closer to the chamber, sprinted toward its dark entrance.

  “I think we’ve got company,” Mach said.

  Adira rolled her eyes. “Has anyone ever said you’re a master of the understatement?”

  Babcock peered at the holoscreen and attempted to transmit again. Since getting a brief sight of Sanchez on the floating table, nothing had come back from the mines or Felix leading the phane around in the scimitar. Lassea and Tulula, guiding the Intrepid around the planet at high altitude, had also lost contact. Communications needed to be established again, if anyone on the mission remained alive.

  Squid Two chirped and extended its tentacles.

  “That’s what I’ve been contemplating,” Babcock replied. “I can’t think of another way.”

  Sereva stepped close, invading his personal space. “What did your machine just say?”

  “It has a name,” Babcock said and edged back until he bumped against a table. He considered Adira aggressive, but she had nothing on Voyager’s captain. “Squid Two can go out, lay some more transceivers and search the mines. Our objective would be to create a link back to the team or find them.”

  “Sounds like a plan. If they’re dead, we’re next in line. You do realize that?”

  “I have faith when it comes to Carson Mach. Using Squid Two is an appropriate use of resources, considering the circumstances.”

  Sereva gave him a lingering glare before her face softened. “I’ll open the bunker doors when you’re ready.”

  Babcock nodded and headed to the docking bay. He pushed his deepest fears about the fate of the team to one side and refused to believe the possibility they might be already dead.

  Squid Two waited next to the doors. Babcock grabbed two handfuls of the spherical transceivers, placed them in a plastic tray, and held it up. “Always follow the path of least risk based on your logical conclusions. Only allow the percentages to rise if the crew’s lives are in danger.”

  The little droid wrapped two tentacles under the tray and chirped an acknowledgment.

  Babcock turned to face the orb camera in the corner of the bay, held up a thumb, and waited. He decided to use the time it took Squid Two to reach the mines to continue working on a way to cure the symbiosite in Sanchez’s body. A solution had been impossible to find so far.

  The solid blast doors parted in the center, revealing the ramp leading to the forest under Noven Alpha’s clear night sky.

  Squid Two floated through the gap and disappeared into the darkness.

  Chapter 24

  Mach aimed his Stinger around the side of the boulder at the blast doors. Judging by the increasingly loud thumps echoing down the transport route, this wasn’t a swarm of small or large phane arachnids approaching but something much bigger. He took a deep breath and prepared himself for action.

  Adira shot him a nervous glance. “I thought they were leaving?”

  “Maybe they picked up our transceiver signals?” Mach said. “Doesn’t really matter. We have to kill it.”

  “I’ve found the bomb,” Sanchez said through comm. “You deal with whatever’s coming and I’ll set the manual timer to go off in an hour.”

  Dust dropped from the ceiling as the footsteps pounded closer.

  “Go for it,” Mach replied. “But we might be need you out here.”

  “No problem. Just say the word.”

  “Is the bomb damaged?” Adira asked.

  Sanchez grunted. “The remote control unit’s smashed. Part of the configuration pad’s covered in slime, but I think we’ll be okay. Leave it with me.”

  Adira stood with her back to the boulder and brushed her finger across her smart-screen. “If we’ve got an hour, our only option is to leave by the western entrance and hope Felix is still around.”

  Mach nodded. “The Intrepid can’t be risked.”

  “What if we can’t make it back in time?”

  “We go out with bang.” Mach peered into Adira’s eyes and detected a hint of fear for the first time in his life. He gave her a reassuring smile and patted her shoulder. “Trust me, it won’t come to that.”

  Adira sighed. “I’ve heard you say that before.”

  Two thick black tentacles, the size of tree trunks, poked through the blast doors and swayed around. Pincers rapidly clicked together on the end of each one. Moments later, the head of a giant bug appeared. Its silvery eyes flicked around the ground and ledges. Saliva dripped from two large yellow fangs that curled out of its mouth.

  The bug squeezed its graphite colored bulky body, comprising of three spherical sections, through the cavern’s entrance and hunched up on its six hairy black legs. It opened its mouth and let out an ear-piercing screech.

  “What the hell?” Adira said. “Look above it.”

  A metallic strap wrapped around the middle section of the bug. At the top, A lens swiveled around on the end of a chrome rod. Two small cannons on square base units attached to either side.

  “Sanchez,” Mach whispered through the comm. “We need your incendiary and armor piercing rounds.”

  “I can’t get the manual timer working. Give me a couple of minutes.”

  “We haven’t got two minutes,” Adira snapped. “Move your ass.”

  The lens swept around and stopped on the boulder. Mach and Adira ducked behind it and braced.

  A bright light flashed and a boom reverberated around the cavern. Shards of rock sprayed in all directions and peppered the walls, smashing two of the luminous blocks on the surrounding ledges.

  The force of the blast pushed the boulder back, knocking Mach and Adira off their feet. Smoke filled the air and formed a light green shrou
d. The bug scuttled across the ground.

  A black leg dropped through the haze and landed close to Mach. He wiped dust from his visor, grabbed Adira’s arm, and sprinted for the opposite side of the cavern, hoping to draw attention away from chamber containing Sanchez and the bomb. The big hunter would a clear shot from behind if it worked.

  Mach raced up a ledge, dropped to one knee and shouldered his Stinger. He fired at the advancing dark shadow. Adira’s red laser beams sliced through smoke and struck the creatures head.

  The bug snarled, jumped forward, and lashed out its tentacles. Mach and Adira dove to their left behind large overhanging stalactite. Both pincers thudded against the wall and quickly retreated.

  “Sanchez, where the hell are you?” Mach said. “We need you out here.”

  “Your wish is my command.”

  A burst of automatic gunfire echoed from the other side of the cavern. Fire engulfed the rear section of the bug and it rose on its back legs. The cannons simultaneously fired; bolts exploded against the ceiling.

  Large chunks of rock fell to the ground and the cavern shook. An ominous rumble groaned overhead.

  The stalactite, providing temporary cover for Mach and Adira, fell and shattered into hundreds of pieces. Others dropped through the smoke and crashed against the ground. It was impossible to avoid taking brusing hits from the flying debris.

  Mach winced after taking a blow to his ribs and shin. He glanced up after hearing a cracking sound. Black fractures spread from the two gouges created by the cannons and raced across the ceiling.

  Sanchez fired again. The green streaks of armor piercing rounds zipped from his muzzle and punched straight through the front section of the bug. The exit wound cracked open the bug’s shell. White guts spewed out and hung from its side.

  The bug sank on its legs and its silver eyes closed, but the lens turned toward Sanchez. The cannons quickly followed and fired in his direction. One shot hit the top of the chamber’s entrance, leaving a pile of rubble around it. The other fired wide and hit the pile of bones, scattering them across the cavern.