Nebula Nights: Love Among The Stars

by Melisse Aires

  The freighter lurched and listed to starboard. Red lights flashed and an alarm blared an urgent warning. Strike on the upper rear. Stabilizers taken out on the port side. Saahren fought to keep the nose up. The proximity sensors blared and suddenly disappeared. Too low. He dragged back on the controls. No response. He braced himself as noise exploded all around him. Crashes, cracks, thuds, clangs as the ship tore through the canopy and ground to rest in a tangle of broken forest.

  Saahren thrust the harness away before the ship stopped moving. Allysha hung in her seat, eyes closed. He pressed his fingers to her throat. Please, please don’t be dead. I’ve only just found you. A pulse feathered against his fingers and he breathed again. He had to get her out and fast. The fighter would be back to finish the job. He slapped the quick release on her harness and dragged her down the ramp. With Allysha thrown over his shoulder he stumbled into the surrounding trees and hid behind the largest bole he could find.

  The Centurion’s engines howled as it crossed, examining the wreck site. The flash of the bay opening warned Saahren. He fell to the ground behind his tree, covering Allysha with his body. The boom reverberated in his ears. He lifted his head. The freighter had erupted into a roaring, crackling ball of flame. What sort of idiot fired a missile at such short range? At any rate, the Centurion had disappeared.

  "Allysha?" He knelt beside her, legs aching and sweat stinging as it trickled into grazes on his face. She stirred. "Allysha."

  Her eyelids flickered. He stroked her cheek, all the while aware of trees crowding close, shadows, crackling flame. He’d have to get her away from here.

  "Brad?"

  He almost cried with relief. "Are you hurt?"

  "Nothing… nothing serious. A bit sore. And a headache."

  "Can you get up? We have to find shelter."

  She nodded and tried to sit up. He helped her to her feet and tucked her up against him, his left arm around her waist, the Emson in his right hand. She leaned close, warm against his side.

  The fire growled like a living thing, devouring the remains of the insides of the XP32, sending up steam and acrid black smoke. Only the hull, toughened to withstand the heat of re-entry, was untouched. Flames licked the leaves of the surrounding trees. They wouldn’t last long. It must have rained; the forest was saturated.

  The mountain loomed, a dark mass, thirty meters away through the trees. Jungles at night were not a good idea for unprotected people. Maybe he could find a cave. And hope it wasn’t inhabited. He tuned his senses to his surroundings. Behind him steam hissed, metal pinged, the heat of the fire seared his back. Beside him Allysha breathed softly. All around the heavy drip of water from sodden leaves punctuated the silence. They were knowns, things he had to consign to the background.

  He urged her forward, toward the mountain, feet squelching in the soaking ground.

  Something snapped to his right. He stopped, straining with his senses, searching the darkness.

  Over there, under the trees, a deeper darkness. He concentrated on it, and hoped against hope that the creature, whatever it was, was as disturbed and frightened as him. It was a little shorter and broader than him, its hide well camouflaged in the jungle. But the eyes glowed and teeth glinted in a slightly opened jaw. He tensed. A kartek. And all he had was a pistol. He raised his gun and fired. The predator howled and disappeared. There would be others; they hunted in packs.

  "Quickly, Allysha, we have to get out of here."

  She nodded "If we can get to the mountain we might be able to hide in the Ptorix workings."

  A second howl reverberated behind him. He whirled and sensed rather than saw the beast advancing at a clumsy run, thudding toward him between the trees. The Emson’s energy beam carved a bright red trace through the darkness and splattered on the beast’s hide. It stopped, shook its head. Holding tight to Allysha he backed away toward the nearest tree trunk. He fired two more shots. The kartek retreated. He dodged behind the tree, grabbed her arm and ran for the jungle’s edge, ears straining for sounds of pursuit. Another howl split the air. She stumbled over a tree root and staggered. He slowed to steady her. He sensed the predator before he saw it, advancing from his left. He grabbed Allysha and ran. The beast’s howl gave him the additional adrenaline spurt he needed to surge free, out from under the trees into the perimeter between the jungle and the solid wall of the mountain, towing her in his wake. Rain sheeted down, trickling into his eyes.

  A jumble of rocks lay at the base of the cliff. They might at least offer them some protection. He ran, dragging her with him. The rhythmic pounding of the beast’s two great hind legs thumped dully in his ears. A few meters more; at least they could hide among the rocks. Closer now, closer. A hole, a cave beyond the rubble. The beast’s footsteps thudded. Allysha lagged, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The thing was going to catch her. He stopped, dragged her in front of him and shoved her up the rocks. She disappeared. He leapt after her. Fetid breath cloyed his nostrils. The pain in his side made him gasp but he pushed on, as the talon scored his flesh just above the hip. Blotting out the agony he dragged himself free, scrambled up the rocks to the hole and slid down rough rock into dry darkness.

  Allysha leant against the cave wall, her chest heaving. She hadn’t done so much running for a long time and never with a murderous predator at her heels. Brad staggered down the rock slide, clutching at his hip, the gun still in his other hand, a kartek howl as an accompaniment. He slipped, stumbled and pitched forward off the rocks. He hit the ground with a thud and lay still.

  Oh shit. Her heart jolting, she scrambled to his side. Oh, please don’t be dead.

  Claws scrabbled on rocks. Stone grated on stone and a few pebbles clattered. A kartek head blocked the entrance, its eyes red lamps. Allysha snatched Brad’s gun from where it had fallen and fired into its face. The kartek reared back howling but it didn’t withdraw. More howls chorused. Oh shit, there were more of them. Even before the reverberations in the tunnel had died away the head was back in the opening, eyes on her as it strained at the rocks. Its claws scraped again. One of the boulders started to slip, then another one. The thing grunted, pushed forward. Her nerves jangling, she edged backwards. Another claw appeared where a second beast began to help.

  If they got through, Brad would be finished. She rose to her feet. That attracted its attention. Two eyes like lamps fixed on her, red and resentful. The scrabbling stopped. She could smell its breath, like rotting meat. The stink caught in her throat. It growled and thrust forward, half its body through the gap. Fear gripped her throat. She stood with her feet apart, raised the pistol to eye level in both trembling hands, and squeezed the trigger. A red bolt of energy caught the kartek squarely on its tooth-filled muzzle.

  It disappeared with a howl of pain. Allysha punched the air. "Yes."

  She listened for a moment as the howls receded. It had gone. She gazed at the entrance, still tensed to fight. It couldn’t have actually entered…. Could it? She had to get Brad away, further down the tunnel. She tucked the gun into her waistband, rolled him on his back and felt for a pulse. Yes, alive, but unconscious. A flood of relief left her weak-kneed. No time for that. She hooked her hands under his shoulders and dragged him away. One body length; two. He was starting to stir.

  A deep growl almost stopped her heart. Two of them, trying to clamber through. She pulled the gun out and fired and fired again. An ominous creak warned her. The ceiling. Shit. Brad staggered to his knees. She grabbed his arm.

  "Quick, the ceiling’s going."

  He stumbled along with her towing him, away from the entrance.

  Rocks rumbled and crashed and boomed. Dust and grit billowed out, surrounding them. A few last clatters and the avalanche ended. The hole was blocked. Completely.

  He leaned on her shoulder, swaying slightly, his chest heaving. "Well, we’re safe from the karteks."

  Thank the spirits for that. He was all right. "Are you okay?" she said.

  "Yes. Just hit my head. Where are we?"
/>
  "I haven’t had a chance to look."

  He unclipped the torch from his belt, turned it on and played the light over the walls. "I think this has been formed. See? You can see where stone cutters were used."

  Lichen and webs sparkled in the light of the torch. Droppings and small animal bones littered the ground. But he was right; the straight lines left by cutters were discernible. So this was a disused tunnel, rather than a natural cave. Well, that was a start. "Give me a minute. I’ll see if I can find it in the graphics." She pulled out her techpack, concentrated on the tiny data port and connected with the processor. Show me the mine graphic as a holograph. She thought the words.

  The image projected from the techpack’s display port.

  Brad gasped. "How did you do that?"

  "I’ll tell you later." Blocked up exits. The image rotated. No, not that one. More. Ah. "Looks like we’re here." She set the point to a red dot. "These are the old Ptorix workings. And just there," she pointed to a spot up the tunnel from where they stood, "is a lift foyer that only goes up. There’s a place up there that I was tempted to visit, just to see what was there. It’s marked ‘mountain garden’."

  "Garden? Outside the mountain?"

  She zoomed in on the place. "Looks like it. There’s a subsidence at that part." It was as if part of the mountain’s rim had collapsed and slid down, leaving a gouge in its side that ended two hundred meters above the ground.

  "I’d rather get away from here, at any rate. Let’s find this lift foyer."

  They walked close together over ground covered in litter. Her foot crunched on bone. Some other animal’s den? What a happy thought. But Brad seemed calm and assured, his gun in his hand, although he was limping slightly. Something scurried in a corner and her heart raced. A multi-legged thing edged away from the light. Urrk. The tunnel ended in a Ptorix stone door. She pressed the two symbols in the complex pattern and it slid back and across. Soft lights began to glow. Swirling decorations covered the walls, complicated patterns in reds and pinks and greens.

  "This is a lift foyer?" Brad said, staring around him.

  "Yes. See the door?" She showed him the pointed arch and pressed the button on the wall to summon a car. Would it work? Nobody had been here for at least thirty years. A light above the doorway flashed briefly and the doors slid apart.

  "I don’t think we should do this now, Allysha. We’re safe for the moment. We need to rest before we do anything else."

  She smiled. The very thought of getting into that lift sent jitters flying about in her stomach. "I suppose." She turned to face him. A stain darkened the material around his right hip, around a gash in his pants. "What’s that? You’ve been hurt."

  He managed a half-grin. "Ah. Yes, we’ll have to deal with this. The kartek caught me."

  Allysha’s stomach lurched. "If we don’t treat that quickly, you’ll die."

  Sean hesitated behind van Tongeren as the mine manager slammed his hand down on the panel to open his office door and stepped inside.

  "She’s gone. I don’t understand it. The system says she’s in her room."

  The man in the visitor’s chair eased his bulk. "What do you mean, gone?"

  Ah. This had to be Tepich.

  "Gone," repeated van Tongeren. He waved his hand. "We don’t know where she is." He turned around to lean on his desk, his face suddenly white. "You don’t think she was in that freighter with Stone?" He pulled out his comm. and pushed buttons.

  Ludovic’s voice answered.

  "Have you found anything?" van Tongeren said.

  "We checked the wreck site as best we could." Ludovic’s voice twanged with annoyance. "They put a missile into the wreck at close range and it burned like a furnace. Just as well it was pouring with rain. We could have had a forest fire. As it is, we’ll be lucky to get near it tomorrow."

  Van Tongeren scowled. "How many bodies?"

  "Can’t tell, boss. Um… who else?"

  "The woman. Maybe."

  "Oh. Well, if she was with him, she’s dead. If they escaped the fire, they wouldn’t have escaped the karteks. We saw plenty of evidence of those." Ludovic chuckled. "I wonder if they like their meat cooked?"

  "Not funny, Ludovic." Van Tongeren snapped the comlink closed.

  Shit. Sean felt cold. He hoped she wasn’t dead, of course he did, but if she was, he was in trouble. But maybe she wasn’t. "You can’t be sure she’s dead. Maybe that’s what she wants you to think."

  Van Tongeren wheeled on him. "What do you mean?"

  Sean shrugged. "She’s not stupid. Maybe she’s got some other reason for disappearing." His eyes slid to Tepich, who sat unmoved in the chair. The man with the second, very lucrative, contract.

  "Such as?"

  Ah, yes. There was the rub. "She’s pretty straitlaced is Allysha. If she found out about the weapons smuggling she might have decided she didn’t want to play."

  Van Tongeren’s eyes narrowed. "How would she find out? Did you tell her?"

  "Me? I haven’t been near her. But there’s the stuff in the hangar."

  The mine manager snorted but his expression cleared. "So where do you think she is?"

  "Somewhere in the mine," Sean said. "There’s nowhere else she could be. She can fool the IS."

  "Do you know how?" asked Tepich. He spoke softly, his voice surprisingly high pitched for such a big man.

  "Believe me, if there’s an IS, she can fool it. For example, your system still says she’s in her room. I’m not as good as her but I can have a look for you, if you like. My name’s O’Reilly, by the way." He took a stride toward the other, hand outstretched. "And you are?"

  The big man pointedly ignored the proffered hand. "You may call me Tepich." He took a deep breath and let it out. "This incident is unfortunate. I understand that Mister van Tongeren is impressed with your wife’s abilities. I have no doubt that we can come to an understanding." He raised one fat finger. "But only if she is delivered."

  "Naturally," said van Tongeren. "Right, O’Reilly, see if you can find out if she’s fooling the security system. Do you have any other suggestions?"

  Unfortunate? You can say that again. They’d better find her or he was in deep shit. "Several. Keep her quarters under surveillance. Keep an eye on your inventory—bear in mind she can alter it. Double check your surveillance equipment. Even Allysha can’t get around cameras but you have to be sure they’re functioning. She can stop them. And keep a close eye on where she might go for food or shelter."

  "Shelter’s easy enough," van Tongeren answered. "But as you say, she’ll need to eat." He nodded to himself. "Don’t worry, Tepich, we’ll get her back for you. Tell your masters there will be a short delay."

  "It had better be a short delay, Mister van Tongeren," Tepich said softly as he heaved himself to his feet. "I don’t like it here. I don’t like the thought of alien artifacts and I don’t like the climate; it gives me asthma. If you will excuse me, I shall go to my room."

  Sean and van Tongeren shared a glance as the door closed behind the fat man.

  "I’m not involved in her disappearance," Sean said, shaking his head. "It’s not in my interests any more than yours."

  "No, I suppose not." Van Tongeren walked around his desk and dropped into his chair. "All right. Get out. See if you can find out what she’s done to the computer system." He flicked his hand in the direction of the door. "And tell my secretary to fetch Ludovic for me."

  Sean squared his shoulders and headed for the control room. He hadn’t expected to have to do anything technical here, fuck it. Stupid, stupid girl. They’d find her. She was trapped, with nowhere to go and no way of escape even if there was somewhere to go. She’d have to eat. Yes, she’d see sense. A few days, at most and she’d turn up. No one wanted to hurt her; she’d know that, surely.

  "The venom takes time to act, Allysha. I’ll be all right for a while," Brad said.

  "An hour. I’ve seen the info on karteks, too. Sorry, not having that," Allysha said. "You stay
here and rest and I’ll get some antivenin."

  "Allysha…"

  "The less you move around, the better. I’ll be okay. They can’t see me, remember?"

  "They’ll be looking, darling."

  He’d saved her and risked his own life, and here he was, still worried about her. He really did care about her. And she really did care about him. She pressed a kiss on his lips and jumped into the lift before he could react. The door closed behind her. A faint, even light glowed, adding soft illumination to the tooled metal interior. The car didn’t even rock. So far so good. She crossed her fingers, took a deep breath and pressed the button for the next level. The car rose, smooth and silent, but the slight jolt when it stopped was enough to send a sharp tingle through her nerves. After a tiny pause, as though the system had to remember how to do something long forgotten, the door slid open. She stepped out, blew out a long, relieved breath, and waited for her heart rate to settle. The Ptorix tunnel glowed with a soft phosphorescence, enough for her to see by. She scurried along, her feet scuffing over smooth, dusty stone until she reached another rock door. She checked the mine graphic again. Through here and to the right. This way she should be able to get into the new main drive and locate the first aid area.

  She slipped around the ‘do not enter’ sign where the Ptorix tunnel met the main passage and paused for a moment to calm herself. If she met anybody at this time of night, she’d be in trouble. She took out her techpack and had it gleam. Another two hundred meters to go; further than she thought. She’d be cutting it fine for time. She loped along, already feeling the burn in her legs. At last. Ahead, the red cross on the door of the first aid room shone with its own light. She slipped inside. A bed in an alcove took up most of one wall, its privacy curtain tied back. An array of instruments covered a desk in a corner and crowded shelves lined the walls. Allysha scanned the labels. Anesthetic antiseptic. She tutted. A for antivenin, surely. She kept looking; bandages, headache pills; Voices outside. Her heart racing, she darted into the alcove and jammed her back against the wall just as the door opened. Damn it. Please hurry.