by Tom Chattle
~Your mind is weak. Answer~
"I am human. What are you?" The dull ache in her temple was now spreading, a prickling burn that made her eye twitch uncontrollably.
The creature ignored her question, its hand now tracing the features of her face.
~Human~ It seemed to toss the word around; assessing the meaning. ~How do you activate our technology?~
"You mean the console?" Chen tried not to squirm under the relentless presence of the monster. "I don't know. My friend touched it. We didn't mean to activate it."
~Where do you come from? Why do you trespass on a Syrax world?~
"Syrax? Is that your species?" Chen asked. Any information she could pry from her captor would be immensely valuable. If she ever got out alive, that is.
When it didn't respond, Chen tried a different tack. "We're just here to rescue some friends. If you let me go, we'll leave this world, leave you in peace."
~No,~ the beast hissed. ~Your world, where is it?~ The long, chitinous head pressed in at Chen with the demand. Jaw now barely a hand span from Chen's face, it opened and growled, exposing a cavern of needle-sharp fangs. ~The Syrax Empire owns this space~
Chen stared down the eyeless carapace before her. The alien visage was terrifying, but she held her voice as steady as she could. "Our world is of no concern to you." She clenched her jaw, deciding that if the creature wouldn't respond to reason, it was best to show force. "I have never heard of your empire. I don't care if this planet is yours, this region of space belongs to humanity. It is our home, and we will defend it."
~Your home will be ours~
Two more hands, much larger than the first, swept from the darkness to either side of Chen. They roamed her scalp, the skeletal fingers picking through her disheveled hair like they sought the right spots.
"You think I'll just tell you the location?" Her breaths ragged, Chen's skin prickled as the fingers stopped, their needle-sharp tips drawing trickles of blood where they sunk into her flesh.
~I will find it within you~
A burning wave of light erupted through Chen's mind, and her limbs went rigid in pain. Eyes rolling back into her head, she screamed.
***
Images raced through Chen's mind. She was back on the Valiant's dimly lit bridge, entering the very edges of the Arcturus system. The memory was fuzzy, distortion creeping in the edges of her vision, everything tinted in muted tones of amethyst and violet. Feeling out of place and uncomfortable in the center of the room, Chen watched the crew go about their duty.
She felt a sickening tugging in her chest, and then, Chen was suddenly in her cabin, stretched out on the cramped bed with a strong, creamy arm wrapped around her—one of the many moments she'd spent alone with Alex on the long voyage. A soft sigh prickled the back of her neck, and Chen longed to roll over—to stay in this memory. Soft, comforting hands turned into razor-sharp claws, and her vision exploded with stars.
Chen watched from an observation gantry on one of the smaller space docks in Earth orbit. She gazed at the pitted, discolored hull of the Valiant. It was in refit, panels removed, upgraded engines being ponderously towed into place by ungainly fleet tugs. Chen knew she was late for a status report with the Admiral, but she didn't care—wanting to stay and admire the ship that was now hers. Wally's hand tapped her on the shoulder. She swallowed the thought, never admitting she felt any love for the aging vessel.
Spinning to see what he wanted, she was in a dark room, music, and lights pounding as cadets danced around her. When she checked her commpad she saw messages that filled her with anger, her skin flushing at the thought of what was to come. Yet another wild party—a night of drinking and poor choices, followed by Chen's ultimate embarrassment and the reason she almost failed out of the Academy and got stuck on the Valiant.
More and more memories flashed through her mind in a painful, blurry stream. Past romances, first experiences. One of the many screaming matches with her mother than ended with a teenage Chen storming out and wandering the streets until she had to go crawling back home—hungry, cold, and tired.
One moment, she roamed through the Pacific rainforests, but soon she stood at the San Francisco spaceport, holding her mother's hand as her father said goodbye, his starched uniform flawless, medals gleaming. Stepping onto the shuttle, he grinned and waved to the small girl smiling across the landing pad. Chen waved back furiously, tugging at her mother's hand to try and break free so she could follow him into space. Was there a hint of sadness in his eyes, masked by the smile he put forth? Chen would never know. That was the last time young Auri had seen him. His death weeks later at the battle of Proxima Centauri shaped her future in so many ways.
"No," Chen spat out, blood trickling from both nostrils. Suddenly, she was back in the dark cavern, the hot, putrid breath of the alien monster washing across her skin.
A rasping hiss escaping its fang-filled jaw, and the creature recoiled in surprise, then clamped its clawed hands down harder on her skull. The pressure elicited a low sob from Chen as an icy pain radiated from its grip.
~You cannot resist. You will tell me all~
Memories began to replay once again, but the lock the creature had on Chen's mind was no longer what it had been. Grinding her teeth, Chen focused, trying her best to break free from the overwhelming cycle. The images didn't stop, but they were no longer anything she remembered from her own life. Now, suddenly, they were chronicling the deterioration of an ancient galactic empire. Vast armies of aliens—both the brutal Syrax warriors and distorted shadows of their slender enemies—lay butchered, explosions lighting up the battlefields. Fighting for their lives, gradual withdrawal from far-flung outposts, consolidating their strength as they battled within themselves as well as their enemies. Thousands more scenes played out in her mind, the information flowing so fast that Chen couldn't think, senses inundated at the mental assault.
The creature screeched in anger and detached itself from her head, shrinking back into the shadows, the tip of a long tail whipping through the cold air. Finally free from the barrage of images, Chen gasped, slumping in her bindings as her vision swam in and out of focus. She was confused about what had happened. All she could think about was San Francisco. The alien monster had seen Earth, seen the endless cities and sprawling space docks, seen a target that was totally unprepared for a race of alien warriors. The pain throbbing through her skull overcame her concern, and the room around Chen faded further into blackness.
- 26 -
2208.02.20 // 04:12
Mountain cavern, Arcturus b
Chen drifted back into consciousness, her mind a jumbled mess. She groaned, stretched her neck to work out the stiffness, and winced when sore muscles protested, threatening to seize up.
Muffled shouts came from nearby, growing closer, the staccato whine of rail-rifles following. Chen tugged at her restraints, but they were no looser than before when that...thing had been there. Adrenaline surged through her body, and she snapped her eyes open, darting them around the gloomy room. Was the beast still here? She tried to cry out a warning but choked on her dry throat instead. Her head pulsed with pain at the sudden movement, eyes jamming shut as a torturous shriek exploded through her mind. All Chen could think was that it sounded angry and confused, but then it was gone, leaving her ears ringing.
"Ma'am, I've found her!"
Chen blinked at the cry. Bleary silhouettes moved in the faint light that was growing from across the cavern. Flashlight beams played across her face, and she squinted at the sudden, harsh brightness that blinded her.
Out of the dark, a gloved hand cupped Chen's chin and pulled her head up to face the light.
"Auri, what the hell happened to you?" Bauer's worried expression was visible in the dim internal lighting of her combat helmet.
"Good question." Chen coughed, forcing the words out. "About time you showed up like a big damn hero."
Bauer screwed up her face as she examined the restraints binding Chen. She turned to s
omeone in the shadows. "How is she being held up?"
Chen heard the faint pinging of a scanner.
"I don't know, Lieutenant," Moreau responded. "It's like some sort of anti-grav field, but I can't detect where it's emanating from."
"Moreau, is that you?" Chen croaked, licking her lips to try and moisten them. "Are you okay?"
"Don't worry about me, ma'am," Moreau replied, her voice surprisingly spirited. "The Lieutenant's taken good care of me."
"Can you get her down?" Bauer asked, glancing back at the exit. "More of those things could show up at any minute."
"Things? You saw it?" Chen coughed.
Bauer tilted her head. "Saw what?"
Chen tried to speak, but the words caught in her throat again.
Bauer pulled a canteen from the side of her suit, deployed the straw, and eased it between Chen's cracked lips.
Sucking greedily at the straw as Bauer gently squeezed the canteen, Chen felt cool water flowing out the side of her mouth, but she didn't care. Whatever that creature had done to her had left her mouth as parched as the Martian deserts.
Bauer pulled the straw back. "Not too much."
Swallowing, Chen nodded. "You didn't see the thing that was in here?"
Bauer shook her head. "No, but we fought our way through several of those monsters that attacked the camp to find you."
"How did you find me?" Chen could barely remember the attack where she'd been taken. The entire mission up until this point felt like a dim memory, crowded out by things she couldn't pin down.
"Moreau tracked the locater in your comm. The aliens must have taken it off you when they strapped you up," Bauer nodded at Chen's ripped sleeves and legs, "but it got us in the general area at least."
"The Syrax," Chen corrected without thinking.
Bauer narrowed her eyes. "What?"
"The aliens, they're called the Syrax."
"How do you know that?" Bauer asked
How did she know that? A wave of nausea flashed through Chen, confusing her. "I, uh..."
Bauer frowned at her inability to respond. "What did they do to you?"
Chen was about to reply when she fell. She smacked hard onto the cold, hard floor, and the air rushed out of her lungs. Her shackled limbs took the brunt of the impact. She wobbled onto her side, face pressing against the stony surface.
"Uhh, I interrupted the anti-grav field," Moreau said sheepishly.
"Thanks, Ensign," Chen wheezed, trying to catch her breath. Once again bound by gravity, the devices restraining her limbs awkwardly behind her felt like cumbersome lumps of lead. "Any way you can get me out of this bondage gear next?"
Moreau blushed and nodded, bending down to examine the restraints as Chen ungracefully pushed herself into a sitting position. Bauer caught Chen's eyes and smirked at the ensign's embarrassment.
While Moreau was frowning and tutting her way through the restraints, Chen took the opportunity to better examine the room in which she'd been held—now lit by enough flashlight beams to make out some details. Gunny Haynes and a trio of Marines covered the tall, arched exit that had been behind Chen. She craned her neck up. The room was similar to the execution chamber from earlier but less broad. Chen thought she could make out some structural detail in the shadowy abyss above, but no light penetrated that far.
There were no obvious signs of a second exit, so if the alien monster hadn't passed Bauer and the Marines on their journey in, it had to have gone somewhere. Chen glanced back up into the darkness and shuddered at the idea it was still up there, lurking. Trying to shake the feeling off, she scanned the remaining Marines who were exploring the area, all of them with their armor locked down in full battle mode, rifles held at the ready. She caught Kaufman's eye, and he shot a venomous glare at her before spinning away, talking to one of his squad. Chen frowned; there didn't seem to be nearly enough Marines present to match up with the Valiant's complement. She turned her head to Bauer and raised an eyebrow, nodding to the nearby Marines.
Understanding the question, Bauer's shoulders sagged. "We lost three in the camp attack. Sukhavasi, Coombes, and Vallejo." The woman's mouth was taught with sorrow. "Kato bought it on the fight in. One of those damn tentacles got him, ripped his face off before we could stop it."
A shiver ran down Chen's spine. "With losing Tanner on the way into the mountain the first time..."
"Right," Bauer snarled. "It leaves us with way too few fucking Marines on this shit hole of a planet."
Chen frowned at the outburst. In the short time Chen had known her, Bauer was not the type prone to ranting or outbursts of emotion. Clearly the strain of leading troops through their dangerous situation—deaths racking up fast—was getting to her.
"What is this place?" a smooth voice questioned from behind them.
"I don't know, Ms. Wilde. I wasn't given the welcome tour." Chen stared at Bauer, who shrugged.
"Couldn't exactly leave her behind at the camp, could I?"
A whine emitted from behind Chen, followed by a long hiss, and the restraints retracted into themselves, fell from her limbs, and clattered on the hard floor. Flexing her hands and feet with sudden relief, Chen examined them ruefully in the faint light. Her arms and hands were a pale purple from the mid of her forearm down, dotted with tiny pinpricks where the devices had interacted with them in some way. The same effect ran from mid-calf down. Chen massaged her legs, trying to get feeling other than a dull ache back into them. "Ow."
"These devices are fascinating," Moreau muttered, turning them over on the ground. "I'd love to be able to study them."
"We're not carting more stuff around," Bauer replied brusquely. "It's more important we get out of here."
Chen stared down at her shackles. Their dark coloration and twisted shape matched the armor of the alien warriors. She felt like she knew how they worked but couldn't explain why. A sudden itch on her neck distracted her. She rubbed at it and grimaced when her hand came away with the dark, sticky remains of the blood the alien hound had shed on her in the camp.
"Okay, we better get going." Bauer held out a hand to Chen. "Can you move okay?"
"Yeah, I think so." Chen leaned forward, grabbed Bauer's wrist, and hauled herself off the floor, staring at her bare feet as she steadied herself. "I don't suppose anyone has some spare shoes?" She rubbed her arms to try and get some warmth into them. "Or any clothes for that matter."
Bauer shook her head. "Sorry, I don't carry a wardrobe change."
"I had a whole selection back on the Wilde Star." Wilde twisted her mouth. "But that's not much help."
Chen sighed. It wasn't nearly as cold inside the mountain as out, but it could hardly be called warm. "Well, traipsing barefoot across a hostile alien planet certainly seems on-par with the rest of this mission."
She followed Bauer's lead and limped forward a few steps, trying to will feeling back into her legs. Another blinding light pulsed into her brain, sending her tumbling back to the floor.
Eyes squeezed shut, she could still see—except it wasn't the room they were in. Long hallways stretched before her and purple luminescence pulsed along their ridged walls; a guiding light in the dark. Nothing felt right. Glancing down, she saw a huge rifle in her hands, a third arm moving deftly over unfamiliar controls.
Chen jerked awake in alarm, only to find herself face-down on the dark, shiny surface, vision still shimmering with residual light. Her ears rang, but she could make out muffled shouting through the shrill whine.
"Auri, are you okay?" Bauer crouched next to her.
"They're coming," Chen gasped, rolling over and trying to get up.
"What, the aliens?" Bauer asked, brow creasing with puzzlement. "How do you know?"
Chen shook her head, feeling like she was going to throw up. "I don't know, but there's several of them."
"Hey, LT?" One of the Marines called from the exit. "We've got incoming."
Bauer's gaze lingered on Chen for a moment before she sprang into action and raced to th
e Marines at the exit.
Chen held a palm to her forehead and tried to clear her vision. When she opened her eyes again, Wilde was standing in front of her, head tilted curiously.
"How did you know that?"
"I don't know, okay?" Chen growled, gulping back lingering nausea. "I just saw it."
Wilde's eyes widened. "Like a psychic vision?"
"There's no such thing," Moreau snorted derisively.
Chen had never heard the quiet woman sound so sure of herself.
A sharp bang of explosives and some bellowed commands from Gunny Haynes echoed from outside the huge doorway.
"I don't think now is the time for this discussion." Chen heaved herself off the floor and stumbled toward Bauer and the Marines. Feeling around for the sidearm that should have been strapped to her hip, she swore. The aliens must have taken it when they had bound her.
"Lieutenant?"
Chen turned to find Moreau offering her sidearm. "I was never that good with it anyway."
Nodding, Chen grasped the weapon and checked the ammunition level on the side like they had taught her at the Academy. She smacked the heel of her hand against the arming switch and ducked down next to Bauer. The Marine leaned out and let loose a burst of fire down the hallway. The hypersonic rounds screamed toward their targets, leaving ripples in the humid air.
"What can I do?" Chen called over the barrage.
Bauer glanced in her direction before sighting back down her rifle. "Keep your head down. I don't think your peashooter is going to do much against these brutes."
Chen risked a peek at their aggressors. Two large Syrax warriors—the same kind that had attacked the camp—were slowly making their way up the hallway, absorbing the heavy fire from the Marines but taking no cover of any kind.
"Why are they just letting us hit them?" Chen asked.
"No damn clue," Bauer growled. "Just be thankful they go down eventually."
One of the aliens stopped its march and steadied itself, raising the large weapon slung in its arms and aiming it toward the group.
